Nancy plays catch-up: Take 5 (This & That)

Here's a little assortment of pictures from some of the moments of interest in our lives over the last couple of months. And if you can believe it, I think that this post brings us up to date now. Woohoo!! Now I can start the New Year with a clean blog conscience. Hope your holidays are great!!

Once upon an August evening, I was rushing as usual to get the laundry folded, keep the kids from killing one another and get dinner on the table all at the same time. Matt came in from work, I called the kids and finished pouring the milk. We said the prayer, passed the dishes around--oh, up again for the salt and pepper shakers--when suddenly I looked down at my plate and time stood still. How can something so simple and ordinary be so beautiful?? A plate full of garden bounty on a beautiful summer evening. It really is one of life's little joys. All the more appreciated this summer since due to our landscaping we didn't do our own garden. Thanks to Dad for the corn, new potatoes, summer squash and carrots, and our wonderful neighbors for the string beans. Yummy!
The kids at the The Labor Day parade.Spencer woke up one day and said he wanted to go fishing. That pretty much settled it for Matt right then and there. Here are pictures of two fish that he caught all by himself!

Here is Spencer in his Knight costume at his preschool Halloween party.
Spencer wasn't feeling well and wouldn't keep his helmet on, Paige couldn't see, Claire was shivering and her lips had turned blue by the third house, and it was raining all evening. But they still got their candy so it was a great Halloween.
We had a great Thanksgiving week with cousins. We went to the Utah State/Utah game on Wednesday and gorged ourselves on Thursday. On Friday of that week we celebrated Grandma's birthday at a party at my sister's house. It was a fun celebration and as you can see Grandma had plenty of help with her presents and candles. We had much to be thankful for this year.
The girls trying their hand at foosball at Grandma's party.
On Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, the girls and Grandma Pat and I went to the Rockette's Christmas Extravaganza in SLC. It was really, really fun! The show was amazing and a fun way to "kick off" the Christmas season. (See what I did there? Clever, aren't I?)

A careful mom I ought to be,

these little people follow me:

Paige, Spencer and Claire made this little fort the other night and had "book club". They would each read a book for a few minutes and then tell why they liked their book, "I like this book because it has a horse on the cover." "I like this book because the penguin falls down." Then they had their refreshment and adjourned for a month. It did my heart proud!

And finally, for those of you with any last minute shopping to do, here is a preview of next years hottest toy: The Jiggle-Me-Claire!

Nancy plays catch-up: Take 4 (Landscaping)

This summer we took on the BIG project of getting our yard landscaped. The first crew pulled in about mid-July and our final tree was planted last week. (They weren't really THAT slow. It was just a replacement tree.) Grass will be planted in the spring and then, Hallelujah!, it's done!! Here are a few pics of the progress.

This is a view from the back of our old "yard" with the pasture still behind me. We shrunk the yard a bit. We really didn't have a desire to mow all of that! The big poplar tree on the right of the picture is now gone.

Pouring the pad in front of the shop.
The kids enjoying breakfast and a show.
Moving the playhouse twenty-ish feet to the NE. This was AWESOME! There was a small part of me that was morbidly hoping the thing would fall or collapse or something since I had my video camera rolling, but it was an uneventful, perfect move.
The giant dirt pile that the kids were hoping was a permanent feature.
The sidewalk and fire pit are in.
Grading the back yard.
Curbing around our front bed.
Front yard from the street.
A completed bed and the trampoline border.
Our inaugural use of the fire pit. It works great. The smores were delicious!

Nancy plays catch-up: Take 3 (August)

Whew! It's nice to be done with July. That was the big one! And here I am ready to move on to August. You didn't think I'd really stick with it, did you??

In August, Matt and I paused long enough to tell each other Happy 14th Anniversary and then got back to life. We really did schedule so much fun last summer that we had to work really hard in the down times to feel justified! The weekend after Jackson Hole, we spent a day on the beach at Bear Lake. The kids love this--especially Paige! She asks for it all year long. So we decided to go for her birthday. We had great weather the whole time we were there. After we packed everything up, we drove to a yummy little "greasy spoon" and ate our food while watching a HUGE storm blow in over the lake. We drove home in pouring rain! It was a great day--but not too surprising to anyone who knows Bear Lake.

Our budding artist. She used herself and anyone who would hold still as her palette.




Our Paigie bug turned seven on August 8th. When I asked what kind of cake she wanted? "Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!" She comes by that honestly. We love you, Paige!
Here is a picture of Nicole at her end-of-summer violin recital. She's really getting good! A while ago I was in my room and she was practicing in the kitchen. After a few minutes she started fiddling and I came out to see if it was still her playing or if Matt had taken the violin from her--it was that good!
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and our summer vacation was no exception. But to be honest, I was so tired that I was looking forward to the "slower pace" of school, homework, music lessons, etc. We had just returned a few days previous from our family reunion in Colorado (See below--I had a fluke moment where I WAS on top of things for a minute and posted the pics from that trip.) and the kids were ready to go!

Nicole on her first day of 7th grade:
Corinne, first day of 5th grade:
Paige, first day of second grade:
And here is my little man! He started preschool this year and was SO excited. I posted two pictures of him because really, would you be able to choose between these two?

Nancy plays catch-up: Take 2 (July)

Continuing on with my summer in December...the dust had barely settled from our busy 4th of July weekend when Nicole packed up her bucket, donned her skirt and bonnet and set off for the 19th century. Having turned 12 less than two weeks earlier, she was able to join the rest of the Wellsville Youth on a Pioneer Trek. It was quite an introduction to Young Womens! She pushed her handcart across Wyoming and had a great time. It was a wonderful opportunity for her to walk the same trail that her pioneer ancestors walked a century and a half earlier. We missed her and worried about her and were very glad to see her smiling face 4 days later.

All packed and ready to go!
Sun-kissed cheeks and sore feet were the souvenirs from her trip.

Also in July, Matt took Nicole and Corinne backpacking in the Uintah Mountains. They went with Matt's friend and his kids and they all had a great time--and good luck with the fish!

They returned from that trip only for Nicole to turn around two days later and go to Girl's Camp. This was her first year and was extra fun for me because I got to go with as the Camp Director. It was a fun week but we both came home EXHAUSTED!! And, masochists that we are, we did laundry as fast as our Maytag would allow and packed our bags again for our annual trip to Jackson Hole. We have such wonderful friends who invite us each year to disrupt their peaceful summer for a few days at their cabin. It was a very fun and relaxing weekend after a VERY busy month.

Carter, Spencer and Nicole canoeing the Snake River.

Cute kids and gorgeous scenery

Paige and Spencer at the cabin

The kids at the cabin

We went to the Bar J Wranglers Chuckwagon dinner and show. Matt and I loved it, the kids thought it was too long!

Paige and Spencer with their new hats in Jackson.

Claire, trying on hats in Jackson.

There's a story behind this cone. We were getting ice cream at this cute little shop, but knowing our Claire, Matt put her up on his shoulders so she wouldn't touch anything. We forgot to take into account the height of the counter where the cones were kept, and too late we noticed her taking bites out of this $4.00 chocolate dipped waffle cone (the same one that we told all the other kids "No, it's too expensive!"). So as usual, she won--but we made her share, and it was GOOD!! Almost worth the $4.

Lunch at Billy's--the best burgers and fries in town!

Nancy plays catch-up: Take 1 (July)

Hola, mi amigos! So, I've been called out lately (Pat!) on my lackadaisical attitude toward my blog. I could give excuses but we all know that's all they are--so let's just get down to it. I'm back and I have some catching up to do. I'll warn you now, that I'm not paring down any of it! These posts are going up for my own selfish reasons so that I can enjoy them forever. Of course there are some of you out there with genetic ties to the little people in these pictures that will pore over every word and image I create. But as for the rest of you...well, these posts are almost 1/2 a year old, so thanks for humoring me!

Aside from the reunion pics, I haven't updated since JUNE! We had a busy July though--which come to think of it, makes sense!

We celebrated the 4th of July with Matt's ENTIRE family in town. It was the first time in years that we were all together. We enjoyed the parade, the fireworks and a fun party with them all. (And thanks Andy for sharing your pics with us!)

Nicole, Corinne, Ethan and the dogs getting ready for a walk/ride.
Claire and Lainey riding in style.
Dutch oven dinner on the deck with the whole gang.
Just hanging out while the food cooks.

Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen

Grandma Felt, Calvin and Paige

Ethan, Spencer and Calvin (Spencer is SOOOO happy when there are boys to play with)
Paige and Ethan

Cowgirl Paige

Claire and Charlotte

Some of the cousins on the trampoline (AKA: the calm before the storm)

Claire and Lainey with Uncle Jake