Rasmussen Halloween Party

Yes, this was the party after Hailey's baptism. The baptism where Ruthie fell into the font. In her dress. And tights. And shoes. And hair bows. Yup. Everyone keeps asking me who pulled her out. I don't even remember. Lindsay Ann? Wyatt? I think they were getting after Kiersten and Cassidy for being in the bathroom (which is how Ruth got in there). I was looking for Ruth when she turned up howling. I knew she was missing, so that's something, right? Anyway. On to the festivities.

Cousins. Ruthie, Devaney, Harriet.

kisses.

Cutest little Mickey and Minnie there ever was!

More cousins! 

What a happy Mickey!

 Due to the fact that we like to pick on people in our family, and with an upcoming wedding Ethan and Kourtney are the obvious choice, the kids---boys v. girls---got to mummy wrap them. It went against Ethan's competitive nature a bit that the boys were SO far behind the girls.

Kourtney's in there somewhere.

 For some reason Ruthie really loves her Uncle Ethan. I can't figure out why. He always scares her and makes faces at her and she keeps coming back. He is nice sometimes though, and he was really impressed with her pumpkin and that made her really happy.

 Lining up for the piñata!

Ruthie got to go first, she barely tapped the thing.

When did Danica get SO MUCH taller than me?!?!

 Luckily, Uncle Ethan does love Ruthie back and he made sure to watch out for her when the pinata was broken. See those pocketfuls? No wonder she has such a big smile on!

Strange things happen when Danica has your baby.

But then she put him to sleep so I can't really complain.

Such a sweet Natalie.

And now, we're off to more Halloween activities! Thanks for a great party everyone!

Will and Friend

Will and Sam. Will pretty much thinks Sam is the greatest thing ever. Unluckily for Sam, that means he takes a little bit of tough lovin' that he is not used to! See this first picture? See how happy Will is? See Sam's sock? Yeah, Sam was not so happy about that.

Will also likes to rock Sam in his swing, which can get a little too intense at times. Oh my kids love having friends to play with!

 Look mom! I have his sock!

 Later that day, Will was giving Sam hugs and kisses on the floor when Sam started to cry...Will scratched Sam's perfect little baby soft cheek with his fingernail. Like I said, a little too much tough lovin'. It does make me happy though, that Will is so excited to see other babies. And Sam could not be more perfect, he puts up with enough that my kids enjoy him, and then he is perfectly happy and content to swing all day while I keep my kids away from him-haha! If every baby was as easy as Sam, this three-kid thing would be a breeze!

 Oh I just love this little man! Those smiles! Those cheeks! Those neck rolls! Those big teeth!

 Apparently we're on a sock phase, cause he really liked my sock too.

 Ruthie would not look at me when I tried to get a picture of her playing the piano. Ruff. She's pretty cute though. This makes me laugh cause she has her minnie mouse shirt on AND socks!

Catching the Last of Fall

Most of the leaves are already brown and off the trees now, but we caught some beautiful golden last leaves of fall on our hike yesterday!

Also, props to myself for carrying both children. I knew Ruthie would have a tough time, but I didn't think it would be THAT rough. (Props to Andrea too, for carrying Ruthie.) I weighed them on my home scale the other day and Will was 19.5 pounds and Ruthie was 26. Which means...I was carrying a lot of weight up that steep trail! It was more steep than either Andrea or I remember, but it was definitely beautiful!

Eli was really into having his picture taken. 

Look at that incredibly picturesque tiny waterfall in the background!. Also, Eli's hair blends in with the background. It's like he's Halt without a cape!

Cowen on the other hand, was not very into having his picture taken.

Aww Andrea's hair is glowing in the light. Those leaves and the lighting and all the redheads...made for some awesome colors! That is my sister by the way. She's part of the reason why Ruth has red hair. Even though people look at me and really wonder.

Ruthie fits right in with her redheaded cousins! (there was another picture with Eli and Emeline smiling, but of course, I picked the one that Ruth was smiling in.)

Ruthie wanted a picture of her rock, not herself. She liked to carry the biggest. rock. possible. Which might be why she had such a hard time walking.

This picture was a total fail. But that kinda makes it funny. Look at all those beautiful leaves and that cute wooden bridge! 

I thought this was really adorable even if she is hiding a bit.

No worries. We were protected by the mighty Eli. 

These pictures are the reason I want to live in Ogden forever. To get up in these mountains on this incredibly beautiful trail? Took about a three minute drive from my house--and that's hitting lights. Oh how I love thee, Wasatch front hiking trails! You are so close it makes the Loganites jealous! I will miss you so much when we move to Miami, or Des Moines. But I promise to come back! To visit at the very least. (That just made me think how very, very many memories I really do have on these trails. Went on hikes for YW, Singles Ward FHE, probably with just about every guy I dated, and I ran on them in college ALL the time. My roommate and I used to walk them on Sunday afternoons when we were both home. Then of course Sterling and I hiked on them several times while dating. Actually our second date was a hike carrying kids much like my experience yesterday. We had many important discussions on those mountains. We also have pretty much mapped out and memorized all of the best and favorite hikes. We are also pro at hiking with babies because of these mountains. All of those are really great memories. Anyway. I'll stop ranting.)

 And this is Ruth's minnie mouse shirt that she won't take off.

Umm...cheeser??!?!

 I only added the next picture because Ruthie looks SO BIG! When did she start looking SO BIG and stop looking like my baby?!?!?!! Thats what I want to know.

Two Kids o' Mine

Those eyes. I just love him.

 Sometimes Will is a little CRAZY happy. Like when I bob him up and down on my legs. I think that his face is hilarious!

 This is what love between these two usually looks likes. A kiss. A bit of strangling. A bit of protesting. Ya know, what is sibling love without all of that?

 This picture below of Will. I am SO in love with it. He is just the handsomest. And Ruthie is the craziest. An old lady at church could NOT get over Ruth's curls and Will's tie. "She is so angelic. He is just the perfect gentleman!" Why thank you. I think so myself.

Please can I ride the bear too? 

Awwww. So sweet.

Sometimes.

At church on Sunday Ruthie threw one of her MAJOR tantrums. The kind I try to describe to Sterling when I call him and tell him I'm a horrible mother because she just goes on and on and on and on. She has a bit of a mind of her own. She has been REALLY good at church lately. But yesterday she threw a fit because she couldn't have Will's puff snacks (she isn't ever allowed to have them, I don't know why it was so hard yesterday) and I took her out and went into a classroom and made her fold her arms and calm down and say sorry. Then I took her potty and we came back in. She did really well until we asked her to fold her arms for the closing prayer. This is usually no big deal. Not so much yesterday. She went into complete MAJOR tantrum mode. Sterling ignored her and held her while they finished up the prayer and then took her out to the car. I went into our class...and chatted with everyone, since he was on lesson. He tried to describe how major her tantrum was to me after church, and I just smiled and said "That's EXACTLY what I've been trying to explain to you!" 

The worst part about it was the comments from EVERYONE. "Wow, I didn't realize Ruthie was so strong-willed!" or "Ruth is definitely two isn't she!" Or when I took Will out of class and got him to sleep in the hallway and was holding him and chatting with a couple of people, and the bishop was chatting to a few people, and the first counselor walked by and said "That Ruthie! She is always so perfectly sweet, I wouldn't have thought she ever threw fits at all!" to which I said in a somewhat astonished voice "I guess you haven't been around Ruth very much." To which ALL the small groups around started laughing. Then I felt kinda bad for saying that about my daughter, but really. Her tantrums are something else lately. He is right though, she is so kind and sweet and really, really helpful. She washes cupboards with me, puts away the utensils every day from the dishwasher, puts Will's diapers in the garbage for me, sometimes runs and grabs things in other rooms for me. She is helpful and kind and sweet, but man! When she decides to throw a tantrum, she puts in her very best effort. I'm hoping its a phase?!?! 

On the flip side, every. single. old. lady. every. single. week. comments on Ruth's adorable red curls and how cute she is. A friend of mine in nursery yesterday said how everyone always comments on how cute Ruth is when they are there for the first time, or walking by, or picking up kids. Ruthie is really cute. Especially with that red hair all curly. I wouldn't trade her for anything, tantrums and all. Especially because she loves Will so much. Even if a couple days ago while doing dishes I heard Will squawking and turned around to Ruthie dragging him across the kitchen floor by one arm "I pull him mom, I pull him." Good?!?! It's so funny to me how she thinks she can do stuff like that with him when he's only a few pounds smaller than she is! All I can say is, we have definitely hit the stage where they are truly siblings. I'm excited. I hope they're best friends forever!