RARARA 2016

Another cross-country road trip in the books, y'all, this time to the South. The Rasmusson family reunion was in Gatlinburg, TN. We thought it would be fun to leave a couple of days early and visit Monticello in Charlottesville, VA. It was a successful trip, with no vehicle break-downs. The real hero of this experience was our wonderful Swagger Wagon. What a champ the ol' minivan is.

Nothing like being blinded before driving for 31 hours. 

Clouds in Kansas

Monticello is awesome, and we all enjoyed our day there. I've always wanted to visit it, so I'm happy to check an item off the bucket list. They do a great job of making it fun for kids as well, and it's super neat to see how the house/plantation has been preserved. Thomas Jefferson was a fascinating person. Also, it was really, really hot, and the humidity almost killed these desert rats. After about 4 hours, we started to melt. But I digress. Go to Monticello if you can! It will make you feel patriotic and thankful for smart people like Thomas Jefferson.

 This is the ice house, where they would store ice from the winter, and it would last most of the summer. Whuuuut?

Writing with feather quills. Fancy!

Inside the children's exhibit.

Trying out the polygraph 

The kids get to pretend to be slaves... so that's fun?

Overlooking Thomas Jefferson's garden

The back of Monticello

Word 'em up, Tommy J.

We used Airbnb for the first time in Virginia, and it was great. Such a nice break from hotels. Here's Nils, enjoying a gourmet breakfast. 

The kiddies thought the hammock was just swell. What a novelty to have trees to hang a hammock from. Sigh. Desert problems.

We found an orange with a bum. We will never grow up.

Found this amazing hat at a rest stop on our way to Tennessee. 'Merica!

After a couple of lovely days in Virginia, it was time for RARARA! We drove about 7 hours to TN, which felt really long at that point. But it was worth it! We basically didn't see our kids for 4 days. Between cousins and a ginormous cabin, they were in hog heaven. Tennessee was also really, really hot and humid. Just have to mention that.

Tosh

Addie making a scarf on Haven's loom

Hooligans together again

Ari

Tie Dye extravaganza, courtesy Uncle Shiloh!

Crantzdorf Lodge

Ava and Saada

We visited Wonder Works in Pigeon Forge. 

Downtown Gatlinburg. Quite the tourist trap!

Ripley's Believe it or Not- skip it. Not impressed.

But, I got to spend some time with my boyfriend Optimus Prime, so I suppose it was okay.

It was a fun and memorable trip. I'm thinking it's time to start flying places, though. These buns are getting too old for all that driving.

It's summer, and I still love my children

 'Tis summer- the days are long, hot, and lazy. I think I'm starting to embrace it. This summer has been better than the last one. The kids have friends here now, so that's helping in many aspects of life.

We attempted night games, but too many kids came (because our kids invited everyone in the whole world), and it turned a little Lord of the Flies-ish. It ended badly, and we are still hanging our heads in shame. Maybe we'll try again. Meh.

Took the girls to the Dinosaur Museum while Anders and Nils were at scout camp. We haven't been here in years. I think it's so boring. I'm sure it's amazing if you care AT ALL about dinosaurs, but I really, really don't. The girls had fun. It's an excellent once-every-5-years event.

Classic Skating- all kinds of legit. I have so many memories here. These three are good little roller-skaters! I love it.

I'm a really messy painter. I am pretty good at painting, but I myself am a complete mess when I'm done. These orange scrubs are my painting clothes. I was helping a friend paint her basement, and warned her that I'm really messy. This picture was before I even started painting! I opened the bucket of paint and it splattered on my face. Oh man, CLASSIC KATRINA! Snort!

 I got one of those curling wands, because my hair isn't curly enough? No, I got it for the girls' hair. Being the genius I am, I wasn't looking, and grabbed the hot part instead of the handle. Oh daddy, that hurt for a long time.

Nils had the opportunity to attend our stake's "Priest Encampment". He told me the agenda and I said, "you know this is exactly girls camp, don't you?" It was an ultra-spiritual, highly detailed event for priest-aged boys, not at all like scout camp. Nils said it was very impressive and had a good time. He also came home wanting to buy land in Mt. Pleasant where it was held. Hilarious. 

Speaking of scout camp, Anders spent a week having a ball there. They went to Rock Canyon all the way in Provo! It was rather cushy- I think they ate more fast food than they did camping food. They did sleep in tents and go on a hike. They floated the Provo River and zip-lined. Pretty rough stuff. Nils spent a couple of days and a night, and told me that some of the boys were dry heaving and screaming on the hike. In their defense, it was 9 miles and pretty brutal (they got lost), but still. So funny (for me, because I wasn't there).

Anders has awesome leaders who have tons of patience. His loves his deacons quorum and had so much fun spending the week with them. I think they even earned some merit badges.

Top of Squaw Peak

Aani turned 9 on Father's Day and had a fun few days celebrating. She had some friends over for a movie and games, got to go to breakfast at Kneaders with Nils, where they both got free food- free french toast for dads, free pastry for birthdays! You know we loves our free stuff.

Birthday ice cream sandwich at Grandma's. Fancy! You can see my nephew, Stockton, blowing out the napkins that were on fire. We forgot matches...the stovetop burners were used to light the candle...it turned into a whole thing. Thanks, Stockton, for helping prevent Granny's house from burning down.

Last but not least, this massive beast was slithering around our yard. It's really not okay. We do live in the wilderness, but snakes should really try to respect our boundaries. Nils chopped its head off with a shovel, and it kept moving. Nope. Nopeity nope nope nope.

And that's all she wrote!

Oh, Crazy May

May is nuts. It's the storm before the unsettling calm of summer. There are band concerts, class plays, graduations from kindergarten, campouts, school 3K races, Hope of America programs, tumbling showcases...it goes on and on.

Ava's last day of tumbling for the school year.

We finished the Book of Mormon as a family, so we went to Hang Time to celebrate. It's really fun! I felt much safer there than other trampoline parks I've been to in the past. I'm sure it also helps that the kids are all old and sturdy now.

We went to dinner at my old workplace, Sensuous Sandwich. I don't believe we'd ever taken the kids here before, because they are ridiculous people and haven't liked sandwiches ever. Well, they're growing up and getting a smidge less ridiculous, and everyone got something they liked here at the Sench.

I worked here for my last few months of high school, and a few years of college. I couldn't break away. I tried so many times to quit, but they lured me back with their 50 cent raises and a dress code that was more than ok with pajama pants. Sigh. Those were the days.

Oh, Hope of America. How shall I feel about you? 2 kids done, 2 to go. Positive adjectives to describe it: Impressive, cool experience for the 5th graders performing, touching with all its patriotism. 

Negative adjectives: Longest night ever, nose bleed seating unless you get there insanely early, same thing as it was 2 years ago when we did this. I don't think the program has changed in 20 years. I dunno. Next time I'm getting a Cougar Tail, and maybe that will help me through it. 

Final band concert for the year. I think it's fun to see how much these kids have improved! Anders hasn't even been playing a year, and they sound pretty darn good!

Fathers and Sons campout. Good times were had by all.

Shark 3K at the school. The girls did great! I was fully expecting them to walk/crawl the whole thing, but they ran most of the way and finished in the middle of the pack!

Aani's last class play about social skills. It was spectacular!

Kindergarten graduation for my baby girl. I can't talk about it. It's too soon.

This is my favorite. I love finding random notes around the house or on the fridge. 

School year in review: This year was kind of amazing for all the kids. 

7th grade for Anders was so much better than we thought it would be. He had great teachers, formed a group of good friends, had fun in lots of clubs and after school activities, and did well academically. Please bless that it's always like this! 

5th grade was fabulous for Addie Paige. Her teacher, Mr. Ferre, is a wizard with the kids in his class. Beyond that, she has an unlikely combination of friends that love each other like crazy and call each other "The Squad".  She's grown up a lot.

3rd grade for Aani was challenging, frustrating and fun. Her teacher is the same that Anders and Addie had, and I think she specializes in making 3rd graders struggle in good ways so that they grow and become stronger. It makes for a somewhat stressful year, but I've seen how the older kids have benefitted from it, and know Aani will too. This teacher puts her heart and soul into her job. It's unbelievable. 

Kindergarten for the Flave was fun and fabulous. Her teacher, Mrs. Bryson is fantastic and has this business down to a science. I was always impressed with her when I was in the classroom. So glad Ava got her. 

Price and Ferron

We sluffed church today (gasp!) and took a trip down to Price and Ferron, Utah, to pay a visit to our relatives who are buried down yonder. My mom grew up in Emery and Carbon Counties. Her parents, and many generations back were settlers there, so lots of folks to honor.

My Grandma and Grandpa's gravesite, my mom's parents.

This is a monument to my ancestor Ann Singleton, who was a total stud muffin. She was the second wife of Jospeh Singleton (a polygamist...GASP again!), and moved to/settled Ferron by herself with 5 kids and had to fight off Native Americans to protect herself and her kids.

How many kids can we fit in a trunk?

This is the headstone of my Grandpa's parents. My mom, Kathryn, was named after her grandmother Catherine. Ava's middle name is Catherine, in honor of the original spelling. Also, Lars is a cool name. I wish we could have used that at some point. Maybe one of our kids will have a boy named Lars (hint hint, kids).