Feeling Lonely

My life has gotten really slow paced these days. Summer is in the air and I seem to feel like doing nothing much besides having a picnic, going to the park, and splashing in the pool. This is the glitch though, I am a social person and at my happiest I hang out with some friend EVERYDAY. But alas Benjamin takes three naps a day. Do you know what that means? I am stuck at home. Which would be fine because thats all I really feel like doing but I wish someone would come over to my house and sit around with me. When I hit day number five with no girl friend interaction I get depressed and lonely. This is not a pity post just my thoughts. I think part of why I loved my life in Utah so much and have ached for it so often since we moved to Reno is because I'll I had to do was walk into my back yard and find friends to hang out with or walk down the street and be at my sister's house. But here in Reno to see my friends is an event. A planned limited time event that disrupts my children's naps, eating and such. So it is happening a lot less these days now that I have a major napper in my care. And while I enjoy the simplicity of my life and am trying to drink it up before the crazy days of going to school and soccer and such arrive I wish I had a girl friend next door. So.... two of my neighbors are moving? Any takers? ;O)

Tahoe Fun

Today I had to do some business up in Tahoe and I convinced my good friend Jessica and her little guy to come up with me and make a day of it. It was absolutely prefect weather up there. We found a nice free beach there (really hard to find there) with a playground and a little trail to walk on. We walked, played in the water, and had a fun little picnic. It was a great day and I am convinced we'll spend lots of our summer up there this year.

Angeli, Bridger, and their good buddy Memphis

Oh, such sweet hugs. ;)

Benjie was such a trooper! He missed two naps, is teething, and was hungry the whole time on account of his wishing his bottle was warmer and he still hardly fussed at all.
What a sweet heart!

In this picture I realize why people always ask if they are twins.

Clay Days

Clay days are fun days at our house. I make some money (always good), the kids get the excitement of meeting new "friends", I get to be a little crafty AND the kids get to play with my scraps!

After spending hours on a HUGE family platter (that I don't think is even going to fit in my kiln dang it! ) I found the kids doing their own impressions. It was really cute to me.

Bridger doing his foot impression

Angeli doing her hand impression

The castle Bridger and I built together ;)

And here are some of my favorite things I have have done recently:

This is my girl friends idea, mini-chains! So cute! This one is of her new darling girl.

I finally finished that plate I started along time ago of Angeli and Benjamin. Angeli loves it and has been talking about it for days. It makes me happy. :)

FHE for Toddlers

Stew and I sat down last night and made some goals for our family. Number one on our list was to be more consistent and formal in our Family Home Evenings. We have been trying to do FHE but really have been lame at it because at best it was CRAZY. Our kids were just too wild and too young to follow along so we would just dance to primary songs, have a gospel discussion over dinner, or have an extra long scripture study on Monday nights. But time has passed and our kids are a bit more mature. We realized that we needed to start real Family Home Evening now so it will be become an ingrained family tradition and so our kids can gain their own testimonies even in their very early years. So thanks to the advise of my great friend Amy we have decided to start using the nursery manual to do our Family Home Evening lessons. They are so great. Not only are they fun but also so easy for us to use and geared perfectly for little ones such as ours. Tonight was our first week using the manual and we loved it. I just wanted to pass it on to any of you who are looking for easy toddler friendly lessons.

Behold Your Little Ones

Baby Maker

In case you were wondering what Stew's reputation was at school here it is:

Stewart was awarded this at the Med school party they had two weeks ago to celebrate finishing their second year of med school. It was fitting because when they gave it to him the kids were running in circles around their daddy screaming. Very classic.;)

Stewy Congrats on completing 2 Years of Medical school! Half way there Babe!

A Special Night

Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Neal L. Anderson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder W. Craig Zwixk of the First Quorum of the Seventy came to Reno yesterday and held a special "discussion" for the young adults in the Northern Nevada area. It was a question and answer type thing and it was so fun to have such a personable unscripted interaction with them. They sort of asked us that we didn't go and blog about what they said and I will respect that and write those special things I felt in my personal journal but I just wanted to say that I really have a testimony that each of these men are Called of God. I am grateful for their love and testimony that they shared with us.

I also wanted to share how I thought it was so interesting that one of the overarching themes they seemed to teach us was that while having them there so close was special the Spirit that communes with us and teaches us truths and principles is the same whether an Apostle is there or not. It was empowering to realize that I just need to get down on my knees, open my scriptures, read the Ensign or whatever and I can tap into that same Spirit I felt last night. So, Yay! The Gospel is true. The Apostles are kind men with great senses of humor who are called of God. They really are special witnesses of Christ. The tomb still stands empty. Christ lives. The Atonement is the center of it all and I know it with my whole being!

P.S. We made a wrong turn on our way home from the stake center and found ourselves along the main strip in downtown Reno. There was a bus carting strippers around town stopped next to us at a couple stop lights and thus the contrast from where we had just been to that was startling and sad. It was so odd to see all these people going about doing worldly things so unaware that true Apostles of Christ were right there...just up the street. I am so grateful I knew. So very grateful.

I Heart Tara

Tara didn't win Biggest Loser last night and I totally thought she would. Helen won instead. She lost 140 pounds. That is a lot. She lost more weight then she currently weighs now. That is huge in my book. I guess I should be happy for her but I don't know, I think she went a little aggro at the end there. I feel like she lost sight of the real goal which I thought should be becoming healthy and happy, not anorexic and rich. But whatever. I might just be bitter that she voted her own daughter off, that she weighs less then me, and that Tara didn't win. :)

Here is the scary winner...I don't think women should have arms that look like that. ;)

Here are the runners up. Their wight loss is awesome too!

I think Tara could pursue her modeling again. Look how gorgeous this girl is. Tara, in my book you were the real winner! ;)

Here is Mike and his dad. My neighbor invited us over for a biggest loser party last night and the entire time she kept saying how "HOT" Mike was. It made me giggle every time because the lady is 60 years old and he is like 19 or something. Anyways, I think his weight loss was the most impressive.
We were sort of inspired by the finals of Biggest Loser last night. We are going to do our own finals on June Second. We will have before and after pictures and the whole bit - though we wont be fried tan or anything. ;) We'll be completely embarrassed but it will be motivating for us knowing we'll be having our final weigh in all public on our blog. I don't know if either of us will reach our goals but you'll just have to wait and see! ;o) June 2nd is the BIG day.* I like how I am eating chips while I am writing this! LOL

Being the Mommy

I am the Mommy at our house and I love it. Being the mommy is tiring, hard work, fun, exciting, rewarding, and exactly what I want. Yesterday after church Stew asked what he could do for me since it was Mother's day and all and after giving it some thought I realized I just wanted some pictures with my kiddos because I rarely make it in them. I thought it was about time I got some pictures with them so when the years pass and they flip through their scrapbooks they realize I really did like them. ;) So that is what Stewy did for me. Nothing fancy or real cutesy, just me and my kids. We tried to get some group shots and lets just say they captured what being the mommy around here is like. ;) Looking at these pictures now I cant believe how lucky I am to have three beautiful and delightful children. I am so blessed! Here's me and my babies whom I completely adore.

This picture makes me laugh it is really sweet except Angie laying on the ground throwing one of her little fits. This one was, "NO! I don't want to sit up!" fits. A minute later she was all smiles and giggles. GIRLS! ;)

I love Bridger's expression! Love that kid!

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

So I consider myself a pretty tough girl in the bug department . BUT, I met this guy today...

for the first time in years I screamed and did the wiggly dance when two of these giant things scampered out from under the stone I over turned. Once I recovered from my shock and dance I killed one with my shovel. I stood their looking down at its twitching body in pure disgust and horror. I tried to regain composer and carry on with my digging but I realized I had had it for the day. Really, why do such awful things exist?!?! It is now a fact that I hate centipedes. Especially these kind. Garden Centipedes. YUK!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5!

One, two, three, four, FIVE months have passed since Benjamin was born. So weird. I feel like I just got used to the idea of him being four months. Time is flying at an alarming rate. He WANTS solids and sort of tolerates the bottle these days.I keep telling him he is jumping the gun a bit on all those solids but he's determined to grow up as fast as possible to catch up with the Bridge and the Angie girl. He also needs entertainment, none of this just chill on the floor nonsense anymore. Nope he wants toys, tickling and chit chat all day long and between Bridger, Angie and I he gets it pretty much that way. Bridger and Benjamin's relationship has blossomed a lot and I am so excited to have two little boys that can do brotherly things together all through their lives. So fun for them! They are looking more and more alike to me too. I think when I am eighty and I go through old baby pictures I will have to think hard to tell who is who.

His latest talent is grabbing his feet and rolling all over the place. He can roll back to front and front to back and dose it all the time. His smile is one of my favorite things in this world and I am loving every moment with him. Such a delight! Oh, I just love this kid!

Benjamin Merlin Rasmussen' s Stats
weight: 18.4 lbs. (about 80%)
length: 27 in. (about 80 %)
head circumference: 17 in. (about 45%)

tHe BOyS!

The Bridge Man

My life is in a new place. Its a little new for me to have such a grown up kid around. I know Bridger is only three and all but really what a difference! He can dress himself...well, he needs help here and there but still that is huge. He can play and entertain himself for hours at a time playing all sorts of imaginary games, he talks to me all day long about what is on his mind (and his mind is a really adorable place). He is potty trained though he still has accidents about once a week or so but he hasn't wet his bed at all. He is a jolly little man with a tender heart and it "breaks" regularly when he thinks we are upset with him. He sits through long books now and asks questions and gives lots of commentary. He helps Benjie when he drops toys and lets me know when Benjie is sad. He loves to help his mom and dad with chores. He loves learning about everything around him. We love our happy, fun. smart, handsome, super energetic, tender hearted boy! Thank goodness he is ours.

Here are some small but significant moments with our Bridger

Awhile back he had been put in timeout for something... I don't remember what but he was still sulking about it when his daddy walked into the front door talking on the phone with his Grandma Rasmussen. Bridger wanted to talk too. So he gets the phone in his hands and what dose he tell his Grandma? Something like, "My mommy hurt my heart. My heart is broken. My Mommy broke my heart. Mommy did it." (big pout and everything). I got some giggles out of his telling on me and felt no remorse.:)

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The other night he gave his first unaided prayer...

"Dear Heavy Father. Thank you Angie and Daddy. Thank you Mommy and Benjie. Thank you PAPAS! Thank you nigh nigh time and then the sun come UP! Jesus Chist AMEN!"

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He and Angie act more like twins then big and little sister but he is starting to assume some big brother roles. He likes to help her with things that are hard for her to do. Sometimes she wants nothing to do with his help but when she lets him it is adorable. The other day she was trying to get her stroller up the steps to our back door. She was getting frustrated that it was stuck.
She screamed at the top of her lungs," Stuck. Mommy. Stuck!"
Bridger came smiling along, "Angie I help you. OK Angie? I help you."
She replied, "Ok Baba."
Bridger picked up her stroller like it was nothing carried it up the stairs and set it in the house. Angie smiled with glee that it was finally up and waddled up the stairs in her rather uncoordinated manner. Bridger rolled it over to her as she got to the top, "Here go Angie."
Angie almost giggling at him said, "Thank you Baba!"
Then they were off racing into the next room.

I cant believe my kids are finally at that point of social skills, language, and manners to do that all without me intervening.

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Bridger goes to speech or "big kid school" once a week. It is at our local elementary school. I love watching how confident he is about the whole thing. When we pulled up to school today Bridger told me he wanted to be the first one out of the car. I got him out and then he said "Bye Mommy." and took off running through the school. Angie, the baby, and I made our way behind him. I watched from across the little courtyard as he made his way to the classroom and knocked on the door. His teacher opened it and Bridger said, "Ello!" to his teacher and classmate. He then announced that he had to go potty and just like that he was off to the bathroom waving goodbye to me as he went. He is not afraid of the big school or the big kids or anything. He thinks its just a great place to be. I love how he greets everything with his arms wide open and with so much happiness. I hope he never loses that. Its one of his trademarks. ;)

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Here is the coloring he did at school all by himself. He even traced that "H" & "h" with no help. I am a little proud of him for that. He loves to color. I like to think that we have a little artist on our hands.

Homesick

Life is really really good. I am so happy in my life right now. I really don't think I could wish for anything to be different. (Well, except I wish I had some more money in the bank. We are used to poverty these days so we don't stress too much about it anymore, but basically life is fabulous.)

However, I have been homesick. I have been hoping it would just go away as I got busier and planned fun things here in Reno but it keeps getting harder to ignore. The homesick I have is not a wanting to getaway its just plain old missing my loved ones and my second homes. I want to walk into my parents' home, get a big hug, watch my children hug on their "papas" (as they call them) and let them play with their cousins. I want to feel the warmth of my Mom and Dad Ras' hospitality and love, I want to see beautiful Utah in the Spring and visit my dear Eden, siblings, and grandparents that all live there. I want to visit my family far away and be apart of their lives. I would love to see my brother and his sweet new wife and see their beautiful world in Alaska, or my sister in Alabama and meet her new little puppy and gush over all her home improvements, or my sweet sick sister in Arizona and cook her dinner, clean her house, and kiss on her kiddos, or go to Ohio and take in it's beauty and let me kids have the time of their life playing with their cousins. I want to be in my favorite places with my favorite people.

My heart hurts to think that most all my family has never even seen Benjamin, they are all missing his babyhood. Thanks to blogs I know they see him lots but its not the same as real interaction. I am seriously thinking of just loading up the car and leaving somewhere but every time I get all excited about just going I realize I cant. First, I cant afford the gas. Second, I have too many responsibilities here: dinners to cook for people, sharing times to teach, ceramics to finish up for Mother's day, a yard project to finish up before it gets too hot, and so on.

So I guess I just want all my family out there to know that I miss you. I really really miss you. I love you. I really really love you. And someday I will get to visit you again.

Until then thank goodness for phones, blogs, and email! :O)