A little round-up, and a gift to you

What can I say, I'm still feeling that Christmas giving spirit. I've made these gingersnaps for a few years as neighbor gifts. I usually make about 300 cookies, and then I never want to bake again. 

No joke, whenever I make them, I get multiple comments on them. Comments like, "Those are the best gingersnaps I've ever had in my life." They're chewy, not hard. I'm no baking genius- this recipe is just really good. It's from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook my mom gave me when we got married. So, here's a gift for still reading this blog. You too can be a neighbor Christmas-gifting hero!

The girls had a Christmas Sing at school. Here's my little Happiest Christmas Tree.

On Christmas Eve, my brother took us all on a caroling hayride in the rain. It was fun, wet, and lasted about 10 minutes. :)

Addie, Aani, and Ava take tumbling from our friend in the neighborhood. It's so fun! I love how much they've learned. They're constantly practicing handstands, cartwheels and kick overs. I can't believe what those little bodies can do- even tall, gangly Addie.

There are 37 days a year that the kids' ages line up to 2 years apart. I just saw this on LDS Tools and thought I'd document before it changes in 6 days.

I keep seeing on the internet what a crappy year 2016 has been. I guess it has been a rough year for this old world. It's been a pretty okay year for us Rasmussons, though. Everyone is healthy, learning and growing. We're still trying to figure out how to be parents, especially as we have embarked on this teenage parenting  deal. We're almost always confounded on that one. Happy 2017 to all. May we all be pleasantly surprised by it. :)

No more running por moi (sads)

Warning: LOTS of groin-related talk coming up. Also, I know this isn't interesting to anyone but me, and all the people I've whined to over the last year and a half bout this. Probably not even to those people.

I can't run anymore. I can run really short distances, like from the car into a store because it's freezing, but I can't go on long runs these days. It's fine. It's only taken a year and a half to realize this and be fine with it. Here's what happened:

One day in the spring of 2015,  I woke up and I couldn't walk without tons of pain in my groin. There was no traumatic injury or event that I can recall to cause this pain. The only thing I can link it to is putting in our yard, digging trenches for sprinklers, etc., but I really don't know. Anyway, as the day progressed, I thought maybe my uterus was falling out. I waited a few days to see if it would improve, and it did. A couple of weeks later, I went for a run, and felt like my uterus was falling out again. (Spoiler, it's not.)

Ever since then, I can't run without feeling pain in my groin or pubic bone area. I know, it's embarrassing and awkward, but what are ya gonna do? I stopped running for a few months and things improved. On my birthday, which is January 14 if anyone wants to buy me a present, I decided I wanted to run. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill, and I walked like a cowboy for about 3 days afterward. What the heck?

Soon after this, Nils and I were invited to join a team for the Red Rock Relay, which was supposed to be in September of this year. I informed our friends that 1) I'm a pretty crappy runner, even when I'm not injured, and 2) I'm injured & having issues with my groin and pubic bone region. They insisted that they didn't care if I walked or crawled, and gave me the easiest leg of the relay. I figured I would have 6 or more months to figure out what was going on and get better, so I agreed to join the team.

I went to many a doctor; a GP, a sports medicine doc, and an OB/GYN. All of them said, "Hmm, everything looks normal." There were x-rays, ultrasounds, cavity searches (the uterus is high and tight!) and everything looks just great! So why does it feel like I'm being cracked in half? I went to physical therapy, where my inner thigh muscles were scraped. The PT said, "It shouldn't hurt so bad that you cry." Needless to say, there were bruises and clenched teeth for the 8 or so sessions of that. Nothing helped. The only thing that helps is not running.

In addition to the groin/pubic bone pain, my hamstring is chronically tight and painful on the same leg, and my IT band on the opposite leg gives me fits regularly. Because of the running! I trained for the relay all summer, and it was horrible. I never had a good run, I always felt like crap and had to run so, so slowly. A couple of weeks before the race, we were notified that it had been cancelled because not enough people signed up for it. I was disappointed, because I was planning on just muscling through the race and then never running again. The Red Rock Relay people made it so our team just runs another relay instead this coming Spring. The thought of going through all the horrid training again was unbearable, so I'm out. I haven't run since August, and I'm fine with it!

I can do lots of other exercises that don't cause injury. I've been enjoying lots of strength training and HIIT cardio. I love being done with workouts in about 30 minutes. I actually feel stronger now. My hamstring and groin still flare up from time to time, but not nearly as badly as before. Running has always been my go-to exercise. All those years of track ingrained in me that it's the best exercise. I think for some people it really is. There are people who are made to run. Sadly, this is not me. I've always, always been super injury-prone, and quite frankly, I've never been a "good" runner due to my turtle-like pace. I'll always enjoy the idea of it and respect people who do it. I've always loved a good run, so it's sad, but I also enjoy not walking like an injured cowboy, so there's that.

The lesson in all of this: YOU DO YOU. :)

The Flave is 7

Ava turned 7! These darn kids and all of their growing. I decided to spring for a (used) real American Girl doll, because she plays with her dolls all the time. Ava loves her, and named her Rachel. It's so fun to see her and her friends and sisters play with dolls.

I finally made her a blanket. She picked out the fabric 6 months ago. :)

Birthday breakfast with Dad

She wanted to go swimming for her b-day activity. We woke up bright and early the Saturday after her birthday to beat the crowds. We almost had the pool to ourselves!

Ava's writing is pretty fantastic these days. We LOVE the phonetic spelling. She wrote this note about her teacher.

 
She wrote her testimony down last fast Sunday, and read it in front of the whole congregation. So amazing.

We love this kid. She's sweet and fun, still loves snuggling, still loves mac n cheese, and still loves playing with friends. She also loves watching Kids YouTube in her "down time". She mentions to me a few times a week that she wishes I would drive them to school, instead of them having to walk the whole .4 miles. I know it's rough, but all that walking will make you a stronger person one day, my child.

Randoms since last time...

First things first: We're growing up and doing grown-up things sometimes. We've entered this strange and magical life phase where we can leave our kids for a few hours and nothing catastrophic happens. We also live on a street with people who are fun and social- so weird! We like people, but we don't ever plan things, because we're boring. Anyhoo, our fun neighbors planned a night out together to go see Jim Gaffigan. Oh man. So much laughing. My smiling muscles were sore. Yay for fun people! 

Some of the fun people! 

We just gotsta document this high honor roll situation. Neither Nils or I ever experienced this, but Anders will probably never NOT experience it. He checks his grades daily- I never have to.

On a related note, I need to document a conversation I had with him not too long ago. We've been quite open with our kids about how we were both terrible students back in the day, and how we're blown away with how smart they are, etc. We've muddled through life alright, but we definitely went about it the hard way and learned our lesson, and we both believe strongly in the value of edumacation. 

SO...one day out of the blue, Anders said to me, "Mom, I think you and dad are both geniuses. I just don't think you had the support that we have."

*Blink blink* First of all, he thinks we're geniuses?? Oh, how we have the poor child fooled. Nils and I were blessed with loving homes and loving parents, but there was some chaos going on in both of our households growing up, and I do think school was put on the back burners of importance. Illness, financial worries, general survival, and gospel-related things were more important than grades. Still are. Nils and I have been very blessed in our current lives, and our lives growing up. And, we'll see how long we can keep up this "genius" charade. Me thinks it's slipping already as the years tick by with this one. He's getting so teenager-ey.

Addie's class held a Greek Mythology Wax Museum, and Addie was Pandora. Such a giggly Pandora. Also, 6th graders in a large group smell like farts, FYI.

Helped some of the fun neighbors lay their sod 2 days after Thanksgiving. That hill was a real treat, so we all formed a bucket brigade, which worked much better.

Thanksgiving breakfast with cousins Wyatt and Levi who slept over. 

Then, we were in charge of mashed potatoes for the big dinner. 15 lbs this year. 

Thanksgiving was great fun, but we lost the garden gnome competition. AGAIN.

My Political Post

Last night was one of the weirdest nights of my life. I'm guessing that's probably the case for many, many people in our country. We're not a very political household. I can't stand the fear-based rhetoric that so many people spew, so I find it difficult to buy into either side of the political spectrum. 

I was 99.9% sure that Hillary Clinton was going to win this election. I had made peace with it, hoping that all of the right-wingers were wrong in their assessments of her. I wasn't happy with the prospect, but I kept telling my kids that everything was going to be okay, nothing in our immediate lives would probably change, and that we need to be the best we can be no matter who our president is. In fact, as we were finishing up dinner last night, we decided to hunker down in the basement and watch some Monty Python and the Holy Grail to distract ourselves from the nuttiness of the day. One of the kids said, "We're going to have our first woman president, aren't we?" Nils and I responded, "Yep. Too bad it's going to be Hillary Clinton." 

As we were watching the movie, I kept checking my phone every 10 seconds for election updates. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At first I thought nothing of it, thinking that the big states she needed to win were going to change the way things were going. But that never happened. I started calculating, realizing that Donald Trump was winning, and was going to keep winning...I couldn't believe it. Not once in the last many months have I let myself believe that he could win; NO WAY would people allow this vulgar, hateful, loose cannon be our leader. He was making it so easy for HC to win! 

My head started to pound (it's still pounding), and as the night went on, Nils and I were staring back and forth between each other and Google, with our mouths agape, not able to process what was happening, not knowing how to feel about any of it. I couldn't stay awake past 11:30 or so, but I woke up at 3:30 a.m. to check the final results and see if HC had conceded. I was trying to go back to sleep, and I heard a strange noise outside. Of all things, coyotes were howling up on the hill. I thought, "This is the weirdest night of my life." 

I'm thankful for the opportunity to vote, even though the choices were pretty crap-tastic.  

The thing is, I am surrounded by goodness. I have a great family; great kids, super fantastic husband, good siblings, a great mom. I have good neighbors, and my kids have friends who are being raised in righteous homes. We have a wonderful network of support and love. We live in a community where people care about issues, and are willing to speak out and serve to make good things happen.

I live an extremely blessed life, and I suspect that that isn't going to change based on what happened yesterday in the polls. We need to continue to do our part to be a force for good in society. Raise children who are kind and compassionate, who are willing to work and serve. Be examples of goodness, and appreciate the good examples of those around us- because they are everywhere. Recognize that we're children of a loving Heavenly Father, who is aware of us personally, and certainly aware of the state of our land. Last but not least, be thankful for the many, many blessings we enjoy every day.

I found this little quote the other day on lds.org: "You cannot be bitter, resentful, or mean-spirited when you are grateful." 

#troof

So, we're trying to wrap our heads around Pres. Trump. I hope and pray that he'll be a good president, that he'll surround himself with an administration that is rational and smart, and has the best interests of our country at heart.

Also: Coyotes? Now when our dog runs off, I get to fret that she's been eaten by coyotes. That would be fun to explain to the kids.

Halloween 2016

I'm generally a poop head when it comes to Halloween. I'm happy that there are lots of people that love it, because they compensate somewhat for my poop headedness. It's just that it requires so much, and it drags on for dayz.

The kids trick-or-treated 3 times in the last 3 days: once at Nils' work, the ward trunk-or-treat, and actual trick-or-treating tonight. If Halloween was contained to one night of trick-or-treating, I'd probably have a better attitude about it. Amen and amen.

Anyhoo, the kids wanted to carve watermelons this year, since we have such fond memories from a couple of years ago. It was actually a real pain in the neck to carve 4 watermelons this year. We're going back to pumpkins next year. Watermelon rinds are pretty flimsy, and did you know there's a copious amount of juice that comes from 4 watermelons? Yeah. Addie's sign says, "Wa-wa melons are lame." Hers didn't work out the way she wanted.

I've never been to a school Halloween parade, because honestly it always sounded torturous to me, dragging the littles to the school to watch the older ones, and BTW I've already seen my kids' costumes... So I attended my very first Halloween parade today, and it was oh-so underwhelming. How is this even a thing? Haven't all the parents seen their kids in their costumes? Didn't they just drop their kids off at school in their costumes? I'm confused. But it was great seeing my girls for 1/2 a second each as they sprinted past me to catch up with their class. See? I'm such a poop head!

Anders dressed as Bob Ross (this pic was taken pre-beard application), Addie was Smurfette, Aani was a little gray raincloud, and Ava was Ariel. And then there's NilsyNils the photo bomber rubbing his Budah belly. I do love these people! Trick-or-treating was quite fun tonight going around our neighborhood. This is the first year we've gone since we moved here, and it was pretty great. I do love the sense of community that trick-or-treating creates. 

I really could do without the 15 pre-Halloween celebrations, though. Did I mention that? :)

October Hodge Podge

There is Beauty All Around:

Nils and I went on a hike up American Fork Canyon. It looked fake! So pretty!

The pretty view out the kitchen windows. Even the weeds changed colors!

View of the full moon on top of the hill behind us.

Family Fun & Service:

York, Xan, and Tiago came to visit from Atlanta. The boys were able to do lots of fun things- BYU football game (a first for Nils and Anders), and they went to the Priesthood session at the conference center. 

Brotherly Bonding?

 Nils, Par (Nils' dad), Anders and Isaac (Anders' oldest friend) did a service project for the Sierra Club somewhere far away.

While they did that, the girls and I went to the mother-daughter Activity Days activity. So much cuteness was happening there. Lots of fun activities, crafts, and treats. We're thankful for awesome leaders!

Texas: 

Nils went to San Antonio for 4 days for a work conference. He saw the Alamo and learned lots of codey things.

He saw a famous codey person from the conference at a restaurant, so he took this creeper picture. :) 

This was me at the end of day three of holding down the fort solo. I handled it really well.

Nils brought home Alamo Crackers for the kiddos. Mmmmm?

Other haps:

Nils, my brother Greg, Anders, and Par got started putting a new roof on my mom's house. They're good men-folk.

Ava hasn't been a big fan of the reading. When I would have her read, it was a big struggle, and pretty frustrating for both of us. After a little bribery, a lot of flash cards, and some hard work, she's doing so much better. She jumped 3 levels in a month! I love her teacher. When Ava comes home from school and I ask her if she had a good day, she says, "Mom, I have a good day every day." I told her teacher that, and she got a little weepy. Seriously love me some good teachers!

Nils devised a way to put up Christmas lights without a ladder. Watch for a YouTube video coming soon!

He also finished the built-in shelves in the basement. We love them! There's always a project going on around here.

Running of the Balls et al

Howdy higgibus, neighbors! 

In case you didn't already know, we're pretty boring people. We like to putter around our house, and sometimes we venture into town to go to the Home Depot. Well, for Labor Day, we (I) thought we should exit the homestead and experience life on the outside. We don't have great ideas of what to do for fun (because we're boring), so I asked the internets for ideas. 

Turns out that Park City has this really weird annual Miners Day celebration on Labor Day, which includes the RUNNING OF THE BALLS! 8,000 golf balls let loose down Park City Main Street? Si, por favor! 

We waited around for a couple of hours to ensure a good viewing spot, and the balls were dumped out onto a ramp and went right on down Main Street. It lasted for 45 thrilling seconds, and I will say it was worth it. It was just so weird and funny. The kids thought it was awesome. A ball even bounced into my purse, and I found it on the drive home. What a lucky souvenir!

We watched the parade, and the kids got all kinds of free, useless crap that they loved until we got home, and they realized it was a bunch of useless crap. US Ski Team pins, stickers, pencils for Park City politicians, etc. Nils and I were reminded that parades are not our favorite activity. Actually, I do like a parade that lasts 10-15 minutes and throws edible treats at you.

Anyhoo... we all walked down to the City Park (in PARK CITY, wah-wah) and participated in the kids' races. There were sack races, running 50 feet races, and wheelbarrow races.

ADDIE WON THE SACK RACE! I think this is the first time anyone in our entire family has ever won anything. It was almost as thrilling as the 8,000 golf balls flying at us an hour earlier. Congratulations to Addie. 

The rest of this month has been normal schnormal. We're back into the school routine. Once the kids are home from school, the afternoons are busy with homework (seriously, so much homework), piano practice and lessons, tumbling, church activities, etc. It seems like we have hardly any time together!

I made a deal with Anders that if he tried out for Jazz Band, I'd let him quit piano lessons, so he is playing the piano in early morning Jazz Band Monday-Friday at school. Nils takes him on his way to work, so they're up and gone before the rest of us are even awake.

We had a little picnic up AF Canyon for FHE, and were rewarded with this blurry picture.

Thought I'd snap a picture of the motley crew leaving for school.

Aani got her braces off! Phase 1 is done, which surprisingly only took 6 months. Crazy, considering what a mess her mouth was. I took a picture of the picture the orthodontist took. She's a cute one, that chica.

So now that I have a few hours a day of quiet, I'm getting sort of crafty. It's scary, people! I made this wreath, and the flowers on it, even. Gasp.

I bought a wreath very similar to this on Etsy several months ago, and it was really expensive. When it arrived, I thought, "I know I could make this." The big question: Is it more worth your money or your time? The wreath below cost about $15 in materials, and about 10 HOURS of my time. I now understand why the one I bought was so much. Wrapping a straw wreath in yarn is fairly tedious, yo. But look at me- I crafted, and no one got yelled at.