Hello California .... I've Missed You!

After a few days in Vegas we headed out to L.A. We had such a good time with my family. Being back home is always so refreshing for me. It's all the little comforts of being at home and being with so many who are dear to my heart that makes me never want to leave. My mom pampered us with her divine food and veggies that are out of this world, my dad was as sweet as always and made us laugh with all his quirks, we watched movies, ate tons of fresh produce, spent time with my dear grandma, played with my sisters, stayed up late talking and joking around, watched our kids play with their adorable cousins and basically took in all the things that made my childhood lovely. It was totally therapeutic for me. Mom, Dad, Shay, and Anj thanks for a wonderful time! We love you!!!!

We didn't take tons of pictures but we did take some of our day trips we took to the L.A. Zoo and the beach. Here we are at the Zoo. We loved it!!! I had the best Zoo experience of my life. Their petting zoo was out of this world, Bridger came face to face with a giant chimp, the Sea Lion's training show was awesome, Angeli was right up close to a baby gorilla, the kids loved the misters, the bird show was really fun, and the awesome play ground they had for the little guys to run around on was so much fun too. We had a great time!




Later in the week we headed to the beach at Malibu with the Gunns. We had a great time playing on the beach and watching our little ones discovering so many new things. I wish we could take them all the time. Josh and Sherri it was so fun thanks to you, thanks for a great time!

Boy or Girl?

Today we finally got word that we will be finding out what the gender of our next little one will be and if everything is going well with his/her development on Monday. Yay! I haven't really felt excited and really realized we were having a baby until today. And I am glad I finally am. I felt the same way with my other two pregnancies as well. I just didn't feel the baby excitement until the second half of my pregnancy. Now I am starting to feel the baby move more and more and I look like a giant pregnant women (or hippo at times) :) so I realize there really is a baby in me. Wow, imagine that! :) Once we find out what we are having I am sure it will be even more real to us. Stew and I are leaning towards it being a girl, but we really would be happy with either. When you already have both a boy and a girl I think it is easier to picture the possibility of both and that boys and girls are equally delightful. So what do you think we are having?

Bryce Canyon & Zion's

On our way down to Vegas after the Rocking R Ranch Reunion we made a short stop in Bryce Canyon and Zion's. Although they were short stops, because of rain, it was beautiful!!! I had never been to Bryce's and I was really blown away. If you ever have the chance to go to either, Do! I cant wait until we have a chance to do more vacations in national forests and sites. It is just so much fun for me. It is an awe inspiring experience to be so close to some of God's natural wonders.

Welcome Home!

For all three of you who check my blog we are back! We have been gone for two days shy of a month. It feels weird to be back. I am still waiting for the panic of catchup but it is slow coming. I should have left myself a to do list for when I got back because I have forgotten everything. I know there was something with my business... something with the doctors.... things that need to be done but what?!??!?! I guess I am still in vacation mode. :) Anyways, we are back. We had a great vacation. Thank you everyone that made it possible and opened your homes to us. Later I will post some pictures. But for now I will get us some food so we don't starve, wash clothes so we aren't naked, and finish unpacking. While Stew and I try to decide if we are happy to be back or not the kids knew automatically how they felt... very happy! Bridger was so excited when we drove up to the house he started clapping and saying "Yay! Yay! Yay!". Once inside he ran around each room telling us what everything was and rediscovering how cool his toys were. Oh, welcome home.

Yee Haw!!!

This past week we had a family reunion at the ROCKING R RANCH. For four days we got to have a fabulous Wild West experience. We really had a great time even though I must admit that ranches were not designed with toddlers as their prime audience. :) We made memories we wont forget. Grandma Larsen, thank you a million times for such a great time! Stew got to ride a "bull" and get hurt from it :(, we all got to ride horses though I am not sure Bridger and my experiences count due to our own fear issues, we rode in a 4th of July parade, swam in a pond, river rafted and simply enjoyed being with so many loved ones. We certainly had a Rocking Time!!! :)

PS sorry about the picture overload. When Rasmussens get together there is a ton of picture taking going on. I tried my best to reduce 400+ pictures down for your viewing pleasure. :) Enjoy!

Larsen descendants at the reunion

The Ras crew that could make it. We missed you Seth, Brandi, Ammon, Kirsten, and all of your cute kiddos!!!

Us in the City of Antimony's 4th of July Parade

Me on my horse just long enough to take this picture. I chickened out, my excuse - one does not ride horses when prego. :) However, my real reason - plain old fear. I know I am going to be the next Rodeo Queen!

She actually had fun once the horse started to move, though you can't tell in this picture! :)




So manly!!! :O)

Stew roping his first "Bull"

handsome boy

Bridger was so afraid of horses he never actually rode one! He sat on them though, he must take after his mom. :)

Gosh, I love these people!!! And Paul you looked better then the real thing!

Me and my Sweet hubby before I got scared :)

Pond Play!

Zip Line fun

It was all FUN!!! Again, THANK YOU GRANDMA!!!

New Niece

My Sister Treva gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Father's day! We now have a new little niece named Isabella to love! I saw these pictures and wanted to show them off. http://greenfield-kmg.blogspot.com/2008/07/isabella_02.html. They really are some pretty pictures. Our kids certainly have an abundance of cousins. From the Smith side they have 32 cousins with one on the way and on the Ras side they have 9 cousins. We sure are blessed!!!

Spooner and Tahoe Lakes

This past Saturday we drove up to Spooner and Tahoe Lake for a day of family fun. It was a beautiful day. We first went on a short 2 1/2 mile, but not so short with kids, hike around Spooner lake. It was really pretty. There were so many wild flowers that I really loved. Everyone we met hiking around the lake was so nice. Letting the kids pet their dogs and such. After our hike we had a picnic and then we drove a couple miles down to Sand Harbor at Tahoe and played in the water for awhile. It really was the perfect day! Here are some pictures of our adventures.


Angeli loved the back pack until Bridger got tired and wanted a turn in it. Once she was able to hike on her own she wanted nothing more to do with the back pack.


Bridger loves the out doors. Everything from rocks, sand, and ants are exciting for him. We had to stop every couple of feet to let him explore something grand and new! I love seeing our kids enjoying the simple things so much.


Here is our trail blazer Angeli. We were surprised at what a tough hiker she is. She must have walked a third of the hike all by herself. Isn't she so cute just a hike'n away!?!??!?! The grass was taller then her but she just knew she was a big girl that could take on anything all by herself.

Bridger is such a handsome little guy. I think one of his favorite parts of the hike was saying "hi" to everyone that passed us up. We love how friendly and excited he is about life, what a joy!!!

Some nature shots I took around Spooner

And after getting wet and cooling off in Tahoe we were all tired. We plopped our diaper clad kiddos in the car and in a matter of minutes they were out. I love this picture. They are so very grown up but still very much our little babies.

Roll Out Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer!

Life has been lovely! I Love summer time! The smell of sun screen, chlorine, eating popsicles and hamburgers really captures it for me. We have had the perfect mixture of busy and lazy and it is wonderful. Stew is done with his preceptorship and I am almost done with my recent surge of ceramic craziness. Today I have my last big eventish thing and I will be very glad when it is over with. There is such a thing as too much ceramics!!! But I must admit I love days like today when my latest glazed load turns out great! I love unloading my kiln to find gleaming beautiful impressions.

Despight my busy work load we have been able to play a lot and get myself a really lovely sun burn! So FUN !!!! ;) We haven't been great about taking pictures but we have taken a few. Here are some of the fun things we have been up to that I thought to bring our camera to. :)

Playing at Lazy 5 park. Angeli was sick and was a trooper for letting us drag her along even though she was miserable. My poor baby girl she had alergies, teething, and a cold all at once!!!

She could hardly open her eyes they were so swollen, so sad!

We love building forts together . For father's day Stew got The Jungle Book movie from the kids and I. It has always been one of his favorites - Stew loves animals. :) So we made a jungle inspired fort covering our TV and had a fun movie night together. Note the tiger atop our fort. :) Angeli and Bridger were growling all night because of it. Angeli's growl is the most pathetic cute growl I have ever heard! We Love it!

Bridger on the prowl

Playing peek-a-boo

Look how sick she looks, but still smiling. That sweet girl.

We have actually been able to use our community pool now that we have two parent to go along. YAY!! Angeli is not a water baby. She clings to me like a baby monkey and cries if I try to do anything "daring" with her. She gets better each time we go though and Bridger... he just plain loves it. :O)

This is Angeli being very daring, standing in the water by herself!

* Although my blog is sporting this fun song I do not endorse beer, bikinis, the use of the word "wieners" in place of "hot dogs" and unwed couples making out in cars! ;) LOL

Primary What?

Today was a busy fun day. First of all, happy father's day to all you dad's out there!!! Especially to my hubby, my sweet Dad, and my gracious Dad Ras. You are all so wonderful! Thanks for all you do for me and those I love!

Today was crazy in my new calling. Let me expand. Today our first counselor was gone (haven't seen her yet, had a baby three/four weeks ago), the secretary was gone, the chorister was gone, the nursery was without teachers whom I had to find subs for and in our small ward it is hard to find them. Then on top of that we were supposed to be orienting new teachers that the last presidency called and we had no idea where they were supposed to be teaching. I was supposed to be teaching sharing time all at the same time. The president and I were fine but a little ... lost. The president has never been in primary before and has been in our ward a grand total of three weeks. With me being so closed off to the world of nursery we are a bad pair when it comes to knowing who the heck is who! But we made it. Sharing time went well and in the end it was really rather fun. I swear I walked half a mile in circles around my church building running to the library and such. I feel really bad for the president. I will be leaving for a month in two weeks. Everyone better come back by then or bless her heart, she'll be doing a one man show!!!

Movie Review

Life has been so crazy and busy. But I did want to blog about movies. I have been having late nights doing stuff for my business and thus watching movies while I glaze and such. I really love movies. My life long favs are old movies...that is what I was raised on, Oldies. I think that is why I am a little old fashioned, think we should break into song every time our mood shifts, and why I am a big time romantic. :O) Some of my favorites:

Seven Brides for Seven brothers - watched it last night as I glazed ceramics until 2:30 am!
Bringing Up Baby - the 30's black in white movie! Love it, It has Kathryn Hepburn and Cary Grant in it. Some of the best ever! It is really funny.


A&E's Pride and Prejudice - long but worth it! Best watched with sister's. :O)
The Court Jester - Fun and funny


Hello Dolly - The movie version with Barbra Streisand. This one is fun. Fun "old school" musical.
It's a Wonderful Life - Just love it, even when it's not Christmas time. Moving and happy. Meaningful for sure.
It Started With Eve - LOVE this one! SO funny!!! Happy ending and she has a great voice!

Recently I rented these two:

Lars and the Real Girl - this one is "A Whimsical, Funny, Moving Film!" I really liked it. It made me laugh, it made me smile, it made me happy, and it made me cry. It is a bit odd but very very pure and sweet. If you don't like oddness in your characters then skip it. One of my favorite parts is when all the old ladies at the church come to his home and bring him casseroles and SIT. "In time of tragedy this is what people do. They come and sit with you. Just sit. And bring casseroles too." Okay that is not the exact wording but it's something like that. They look so Mormon motherly and they all sit there knitting and I just thought that is exactly what I would want in "times of tragedy". Momish women to surround me and bring me yummy food and comfortably sit by my side.



Becoming Jane - I was disappointed in this one. The past few years I have really fallen out of love with sad endings. I hate thinking that life can be left undone, that people that are created in my movie world can be cut off in my consciousness in a sad state. It is very A & E ish (which to me was a good thing) But Stew swears he hardly knew what they were saying the whole time. I did think Anne Hathaway did a good job though. So if you like a movie that makes you sad and you have to really concentrate on what they are saying then you'd like this one.