Catch Up

I am at work so I can't post pictures - I will have to do that later - but I thought I would try to catch up on all the happenings.
The weekend before Thanksgiving we got LOTS of snow. Monday(after the weekend of blizzarding) I measured the snow in the front yard and it was 16 1/2 inches!!!! Tuesday the weatherman predicted another big storm and so school was let out early but we only got another 2 inches. But Saturday, in the blizzard, I had to drive down the canyon to take Anders to the emergency room - he slammed his finger in the door and it degloved the whole tip of his finger. I called Jared and he met us at the hospital. He got five stitches. Then Sunday I worked and so I stayed at the hospital since the roads were so bad- the nurses helped me put my Christmas presents for my YW together so it was still productive. Monday I got to drive down to the doctor again and once again it was blizzarding. Myles had strep throat- he got a shot in the behind. Poor kids.

Thanksgiving was wonderful!!! I didn't have to work Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, or Sun so the kids and I had a great weekend. Wednesday Jared took Danica, Myles and Lynnaea in the morning to the shooting range to practice shooting their 22 gun. They all took hunter safety in november and all failed because they couldn't hit the target 50% of the time (they all aced the written part). Then that night Jared took the five oldest kids to a Jazz game (he found tickets the day of for $3.33 each). They were pretty excited. Thursday morning we watched Toy Story 3 together and then that afternoon we went to the Barney Thanksgiving dinner in Pleasant View. Friday my entire family (in the Utah area) plus my Aunt Laverle and Uncle Larry from Canada came to my house for a second Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious and much fun. The kids had a great time playing and the adults visiting. That evening the adults played some games - Jared and I went to bed at 1:00am but my crazy siblings stayed up till 2:00am playing Settlers of Catan. Then Saturday, all my kids and Ana went sledding for 2 1/2 hours - they had a great time. After I made my kids clean the house spotless after all the company and then we went to see the play A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse. It was really good. I was nervous how my kids would do especially Devaney and Jared was at work so he wasn't there to help but they did soo good! They really enjoyed the play too. They are still talking about the ghost Jacob Marley. I had to go nurse Devaney for about 15 minutes of the play but before and after that she was super. It really was a fun holiday.

This Friday, Dec 3rd - the kids and I went to see the Weber State Institute Christmas Show. Lindsay came with us - and she sat in the middle with four of my kids while I sat by the aisle with Anders and Devaney. I was worried I might have to take Devaney out - she did get fussy but I just nursed her under a blanket. It was really fun. It had a hilarious song called Yingle Bells - reminded me of the song Derek and Brooke sang at Lindsay's wedding. Thanks Lindsay for helping me out with my kids!!!

Danica turned 12 on November 29th. I am in shock. I remember so well myself being 12 that it seems unreal to have a daughter that age. The YW in the ward went to do baptisms for the dead at the SLC temple on Saturday and Danica was old enought to come with us. It was really neat to be in the temple with Danica - plus my cousin Allan Walburger had sent us family names to do the baptisms for and so it was extra special to be doing our ancestors work. We walked around to see the lights on temple square after and I received a text from my mom saying my sister Kayli had a baby boy!!! No one knew she was pregnant!!! She was keeping it a surprise. Very easy to do since she lives in Switzerland so no one has seen her for the last year. But how exciting!! Devaney is surrounded by boy cousins - Sebastian, Jack and now Orrin. But now Brooke and Andrea are having girls in February so they can gang up on the boys. Plus, Lindsay is due in Aug so we will see what she is having.

Anyway, I think that is all. I will be sure to post pictures soon.

Cute Baby Devaney

Birthdays and Baptismand Evening of Excellence

Last week was extremely hectic. I worked a 24hr shift Monday and then spent Tues and Wed getting ready for the YW Evening og Excellence. It turned out phenomenal. We did a fairy tale theme based on Pres Uchtdorf's talk "Your Happily Ever After". You can watch the clip I played at the beginning of the program (thanks to my brother-in-law Tim) here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr_cZPnbdO4
We have a guy in our ward who sang in the tabernacle choir and he sang daughter of a king - it was awesome. A coulple of speakers who did great, then all th YW sang I Know my Redeemer Lives, then our guest speaker who was Miss Teen Utah - she was terrific. Then all the girls walked through the arch and were handed a rose and a your happily ever after book by one of the priests and walked down the aisle and then for the closing song all the yw leaders sang Walk Tall. It was great but lots of work.

Anders dressing up as dad again. Funny boy.

Kiersten's bday was this week. I can't believe she is six! That means we have been back in Utah for seven years - time flies.

She wanted a turkey cake.





What a sweetheart!

This is after Lynnaea's baptism - we sang happy b-day to her. It is a graveyard cake made by Aunt Andrea. I had the YW Evening of Excellence wed then sat morning, of Lynnaea's baptism, myself and two other leaders went and kidnapped a new beehive and took her out for breakfast and then all the yw met to clean the church. so, i was a little stressed about the baptism and food since I was gone all morning and the baptism was at 3pm.

New scriptures!

At the baptism waiting for dad to get dressed.

Lynnaea and dad.

SUPER KIDS!!!

My Super Kids!!!

Iron Girl AKA Danica

Wolverine AKA Myles

Spidergirl AKA Lynnaea

Flash AKA Anders

Supergirl AKA Kiersten

Batgirl AKA Devaney

The food at our halloween party - cat and bat homemade chips, pumpkin jiggler adn mummy on a stick.

Spider dip!

Lynnaea at Build a bear for her 8th birthday

One of my favorite outfits - look at her cute smile!

So cute!

Her shirt says batty for daddy - so cute!

Lynnaea at Tepankayi for her 8th birthday.

Sweet Babies

Devaney is so cute!!! She is smiling at me and cooing and her eyes light up when you talk to her. When I was nursing her yesterday, I was talking to her and she would stop eating and smile at me and milk would run down her chin. It was so sweet! She has been so happy too. She has to be the most kissed baby there is - all her siblings kiss her and love her and I have to kiss her 100 times a day she is just so adorable, and snuggly and lovable.

Anders was so sweet yesterday too. I dropped him off for preschool and he jumped out of the car and I said "bye, I love you" and he said "love you mom!" and then he was running to the door - he got about half way there and stopped and came back and said he needed to give me a hug and so I gave him a hug and he started running again and then he stopped and looked sad and walked back and said he wanted me to go to preschool with him. I said I couldn't but I would be back in just 2 hours to get him and so he gave me a kiss and slowly walked toward the door and then he stopped about almost there and waved to me - it was so sweet- that yes I was crying - love that boy!!!

The Primary program was last Sunday, grandma barney and grandpa and grandma rasmussen came to watch. Danica, Myles, Lynnaea and Kiersten played a primary song for the prelude adn they did a great job - I was so impressed they all got up there up in front of the whole church adn played their songs. Danica was the narrator and she did a super job (other than she needed to smile more), and Myles, Lynnaea, Kiersten and Anders all had their parts memorized and did a super job. They sang so well too- Kiersten knew all the words and sang so loud. I was very proud of all of them. Grandma and grandpa rasmussen came for dinner and then stayed to play horseopoly with us. It was a very nice day.

Chubby Cheeks!

Anders loves to play dressup. Today he is dad.

Devaney is smiling all the time now!! SO cute!

Sunset.

Blowing Bubbles

Grandpa babysitting Jack and Devaney.

Cutest Chubby Cheeks Ever!

Thank You, Kiersten!

Devaney is not a good sleeper. She catnaps- a little here and a little there but no really good long naps so I can get stuff done. My kitchen has needed to be cleaned for months now - really cleaned (like wash the fronts of the cupboards, wash the walls, etc) and I thought I would do it while I was on maternity leave - but not with Devaney around. Except for Kiersten. She is the best babysitter. She is willing to sit and hold her and to keep putting the soother in her mouth to keep her happy. That is how I got my kitchen cleaned yesterday. (Except for mopping which I did at 12:30am when I finally got Devaney to sleep for the night - and then I took a bath at 1:00am because the baby was FINALLY sleeping!) And I excerised for 30 minutes today while Kiersten was home to hold her and got the laundry going (it was flowing out of the laundry room and down the hall). But sadly, Kiersten goes to afternoon kindergarten so here I am typing this with one hand and jiggling the baby with the other when I really need to be digging up my potatoes and pulling up the garden. And YES, I know you are suppose to enjoy your babies - and I am - but eventually the house has to be cleaned and my potatoes dug up before they are ruined. She does have the cutest chubbiest cheeks though. Sweet baby.