Spring Piano Recital . . .

Jordan and Kate have the greatest piano teacher EVER! We love Heidi. She does such a great job with the kids. They learn so much and have a blast doing it. It's fun watching their talent with the piano grow and expand. Here are some pictures of their most recent recital.

Jordan played Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter. When he first tried to play that song, he said that he'd NEVER be able to play it and it was too hard. If you would have heard him tonight, you would have heard him play it perfectly. I guess persistence pays off!

Kate played Tarantella. She did a brilliant job! I'm so proud of her. She tries her best every time she sits down to play. She's competitive, so on top of her own assigned piano songs to learn, she likes to try and learn Jordan's songs, too! (And they're WAY too hard for her, but that doesn't stop her!)

(And her feet STILL don't touch the ground or reach the pedals!)

I think I'll be sad the day they can reach the pedals. It's just so cute to watch them swing and dangle there.

Easter 2011

Easter was at Uncle Scott and Aunt Tera's house again this year. Thank you guys for always being such wonderful sports about us using your house for EVERY family get together! We love you!!

Our tradition is to let the older grandchildren hide the eggs, then the youngest group of grandchildren go first to look for eggs, then the next youngest group get to go, and so on. Here are the youngest 4 that went first ( all 5-yr. olds!)

(Nate, Emma, Ethan and Jake)

Ethan can NOT move fast enough on his hunt for cand-filled eggs!

Emma moving almost as fast as Ethan.

Jordan found the coveted gold egg filled with money!!

NBA Finals for Middle-Aged Men . . .

Tom loves basketball. He can watch it, listen to it, or play it for countless hours on end. And he does. Since it is something he enjoys so much, I thought it would be fun to post some fun and exciting shots here.

This is a church game with a neighboring ward. I really like to go watch him play. I like watching him do something he is good at and that he enjoys so much. And it also helps to have seen the game - so when he talks about it OVER AND OVER, dissecting each play of the game - I know what he's actually talking about.

These guys play SO hard. They leave it all on the court, playing their hearts out. To watch them, you would almost think it was the NBA Finals! Sometimes I wonder if these men realize they've aged? In their minds, they think their bodies can still do all the things they could do when they were 18. And because of this, they inevitably come home with injuries - jammed fingers, bloody noses, sprained ankles, broken hands, torn ACLs. (All real injuries that have occurred in our ward!)

It must still be worth it though since they all still show up every Wednesday night.

My Mom's Apple Pie (AKA - heaven on earth!)

Anyone who has ever had my mom's apple pie knows it is the best in the world. Honestly. In the back of my mind I've always wanted to be able to learn how to make her pie, but have felt slightly (okay, really) intimidated by how yummy it is and not wanting to fall short and thus be known as the 'sub-par pie baker'. But I finally decided it was worth the risk! So I went down to visit my parents for a few days and while there, my amazing mom taught me how to make her amazing pie (and her amazing orange rolls). Are you getting the picture?

My mom is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

And guess what? My pie was exactly like hers! It smelled like hers, looked like hers, and even better - tasted like hers! Here is the finished product:

(I'm only a little bit proud - okay, I'm actually A LOT proud!)

I've yet to try to make another one. Why tempt fate?

Time Out For Women . . .

What an awesome experience! I was able to go up to Fresno to a Time Out For Women Conference with some of my favorite women - my mom, my sister Jaimee, my sisters-in-law Tera and Esther, and my Aunt Melanie. It was a MUCH needed break with lots of girl time, and even more positive motivation and uplifting moments. I felt like there was too much to digest all at once. I took pages of notes and still missed so much. I need to go through my notes and break it all down so I can digest it all in smaller doses. How wonderful this weekend was. It's so nice to hear about other people who have had challenges in their life and are still happy, hopeful and have had their faith strengthened. I would do well to learn from their experiences.

One of my favorite moments was when my sister and I got to meet John Bytheway, have our picture taken with him and have him sign a book he wrote that I had just bought. (I think I have EVERY book, talk on cd, and dvd he has made!)

He is one of my favorite speakers, and has been since I was a teenager and first heard him at EFY in Provo, Utah. I actually have a picture of him from my first EFY when I was 14, 21 years ago. (Sheesh, that makes me sound really old!)

John Bytheway and I at EFY in Provo, UT in July, 1990.)

Here is Tera, Esther and Aunt Mel with John Bytheway, too.

This was taken by the staff of Time Out For Women right after they gave us our free bags. They put this picture on their TOFW website. I thought it was fun of all us, so I thought I'd include it here. (The woman next to Tera is her mom who met us up there. I'm not sure who the woman on the far right is, she wasn't part of our group.)

Some of the other presenters that were there were Michael McLean, Hilary Weeks, Laurel Christiansen, Mariama Kallon, Kris Belcher, DeAnn Flynn, Wendy Ulrich, and Mary Ellen Edmunds. Each one had beautiful, powerful, hopeful messages they shared with us, whether it was in word or music.

I'm really grateful for this experience. I've been to BYU Women's Conference and Time Out For Women several times now. Each time I leave with a renewed desire to do better, be better, and with a greater appreciation for my blessings. And now, I hope I've finally convinced the great women in my family how awesome these conferences are! I was so glad to share this time with all of you!! I love you so much.

23 new posts!

Okay, I realize I've been a HUGE blog slacker. So in the past 2 days, I've caught up over the past year or so that I've been behind.

There are 23 NEW POSTS!

I was able to get pictures off my broken camera through the genius of my husband. I was so grateful for that, I was afraid I'd lost some priceless moments. Now I can say my journal is completely current and will be ready to be put in a book in a few more months.

Kate . . . Angry Eyes!

Kate had a great basketball season, despite a coach who wasn't great. (Why do we keep getting these teenage girls that don't know what they're doing??) Kate scored in every game, most games she was the high scorer with as many as HALF the team's points coming from her.

SHE IS SO FUN TO WATCH!! I am amzed how little fear she has. She will take on anyone - no matter what the size or skill level. She was always the first one up and down the court using her "hustle muscle", what she calls it when she runs fast. Being one of the shorter girls playing, you would think she'd be at a disadvantage. Not this little girl! She had countless rebounds, blocks, assists, and was really good at stealing the ball from the other team; resulting in a fast break and score for her.

Other parents have made comments to us about her, like: "She's really intense when she plays", "She has angry eyes!" (Hence her nickname.), "She's awesome, a little fireball!", "She has no fear!", and so on. Her teammates even made comments about her skill, like: "You're on fire, Kate!", "I'm sure glad you're on our team!", etc.

She LOVES to play basketball. On top of her own team's practice, she would go to practice with Susannah's 6th grade team that Tom was coaching (to make the numbers even) and scrimmage with them. She routinely scored on the bigger girls and when the 6th grade boys team scrimmaged against the 6th grade girls team, Kate even scored on a 6th grade boy! This boy promptly was teased by the other boys. Tom heard one say to the boy Kate beat, "Dude! That little girl just scored on you!" That was a proud moment for Daddy!

Susannah . . . Best Forward!

This year was a really fun year for Susannah playing basketball. Her dad was her coach, and they won most of their games. Last year, they had a LAME coach (who was like 16) and they didn't win any games. Despite her knee hurting at times from her Osgood-Schlotter syndrome, she had a blast and improved quite a bit. She was one of the best defenders on her team, scored several times, and had many, many steals, blocks, assists and rebounds. She played against so many girls that were bigger and broader than her, but I was proud of how well she held her own. After the last game, Tom gave out awards to every girl along with a LIVESTRONG bracelet. The girls all loved it. Susannah was awarded "Best Forward" which is perfect for her. It's so much fun to watch my kids play a sport I love so much. Way to go, Susie! You're awesome!!

16th Anniversary . . .

We spent our 16th anniversary in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. We had a blast! 4 days with no kids and sleeping in -aaaahhh, blessed, uninterrupted sleep. When the hotel staff found out it was our anniversary, they upgraded our room to a suite! So cool!

While we were there we went outlet shopping (thank you Tom!), we saw The Lion King (awesome!), went to Shark Reef (the jellyfish were my favorite), had a cartoon drawn of us (our Vegas tradition - we now have 3. Few couples grow old in cartoons, but we do. Haha!), saw The Titanic exhibit at The Luxor (overpriced, but really interesting), visited some other hotels (my favorite was The Wynn - they had a Ferrari & Maserati dealership, museum and display that was incredible! I even got to sit in a red Ferrari and have my picture taken!! This was definitely my highlight of the trip.) We also got to spend a day with Tom's sister and family in Las Vegas. While we were there, we found out Tom's sister, Marie, had her first baby! A beautiful boy named Samuel. That was a lot of fun. There's never a dull moment at the Rasmussen's! We even got to Skype with Jacqueline at BYU-H.

I have to give credit where it's due . . . Tom planned this whole anniversary trip! It's the first time in 16 years he's ever done that. Can I just say how shocked I was? And how sweet, thoughtful, and sexy it was they he did it himself? It made me love him all the more! Thanks for a great getaway weekend, babe. I loved all of it, but being with you was the BEST part.

New Beginnings . . .

"Is she really so grown-up?" This was the thought running through my head all evening. Susannah and I went to New Beginnings for the Young Women tonight. This is for all the girls turning 12 this year. Susannah will be 12 in August. It was a great program. Each girl was spotlighted by one of the Laurels. Then they talked about the Young Women's program, Personal Progress, and Girls Camp. Susannah loved it all, felt very grown up and had a smile on her cute face all night. I, on the other hand, could feel the gray hairs and wrinkles sprouting as my age started to creep up on me. Despite this, it was a fun night with my oldest daughter, who is growing into the most beautiful, talented, sweet, thoughtful, perfect girl I know. She is the dream daughter that other moms wish they had. She's a great cook, fabulous big sister and babysitter, has the funniest sense of humor, is amazingly talented with drawing and making things, and has the most tender heart I have ever seen. I've had school teachers tell me they see her going all the time to the kids who are alone during lunch or recess and playing with them. She has made friends with most of the special needs students at her school. I've had parents thank me for her being their lonely child's friend. I didn't teach her that. This is just Susannah's nature. I take no credit. She just came to us good. It has been my greatest joy being her mother - and the mother of her 4 siblings. It's moments like this that make it all worth it.