All Things January

Let's just get into it, shall we? Anders, he who consumes our stress and our prayers. Spoiler: he made it to Denmark, now we just gotta get him to stay there. 

He injured his wrist on December 30, as previously mentioned in the last post. He was told at the InstaCare that it was sprained- no breaks showed on the x-ray. Two weeks later, he still didn't have full motion so he went to the MTC doctor, who ordered an MRI. The MRI showed a broken bone and torn ligaments, and he was told he may need surgery. This was on a Friday, and he was scheduled to fly to Denmark on Monday. They canceled his travel plans and told him he would come home if he needed surgery. This set him on a spiral of just wanting to bag the mission and come home. 

Long story short, we prayed and asked everyone we know to pray for a miracle. His district left Monday for Denmark, and Tuesday he met with a hand surgeon. The surgeon put him in a cast and told him he wouldn't need surgery. On Tuesday at 4:00 pm, he was told he was flying to Denmark the next day. This was totally a miracle that we had prayed for for 5 days. Anders wasn't thrilled, but we were! 

He's been there for nearly 2 weeks now and is having a hard time adjusting to life as a missionary, so we continue to pray for a miracle that his heart will soften and he'll see the reasons he's doing this. He likes Denmark, he just says being a missionary is really hard. 

Pics from the MTC:

He really doesn't want to lose his patriotism while living in a foreign land.

Cousin Oakley, who's now serving in Italy. They had about 2 weeks of overlap in the MTC. 

Anyway... 

Earlier in the month, we hit 100,000,000 views on the YouTubes, so we went out to dinner to celebrate. We tried the Blue Lemon in SLC and it was pretty crappy. But, we walked through Nordstrom to get to Blue Lemon, and stopped to play "How Much Does it Cost?" You place your wagers and then turn the shoe/purse over to see the price tag. I think the highest we saw was around $450 for some sneakers. 

The employees were nice enough to steer us to the most expensive shoes and humor our game. 

We had birthday mania. I sent Anders a package with gifts, and ordered Krispy Kreme donuts for him and his district. 

For Addie's birthday, we took her to breakfast, and Barnes and Noble at night. She's a tough one to please, obviously. One of her gifts was a heart shaped bundt pan, which she used to make me a birthday cake. Awwww. 

I wanted to go to Sam's Club, so the night before my birthday we did just that. I just haven't been there in like 15 years and wanted to check it out. It wasn't super exciting (shocking), but their food court is on another level from Costco, so there's that. How did we get to be so classy? 

On my actual birthday, I wanted to go on a nice long walk. It's been so freaking cold for like 3 months, so outdoor walks haven't been happening. My birthday outdoor temp was actually in the 40's, so we were able to make my dreams come true. Later that evening, we and the Griffins and Marriotts went to the Melting Pot and had all the good times. 

Bananas foster fondue is the best thing evvvvveerrrrr.

In exciting news, we were able to purchase a bit of earth. It's in Fairview, about an hour and a half southeast-ish in the mountains. We split it with the Griffins, and went a couple weeks ago to check it out. Everything is buried in about 9 feet of snow right now, so we snowmobiled up to the property and around the area. It's an acre lot, and we hope to eventually build a cabin of sorts and have a nice retreat to go to in the warmer months. 

We've wanted to do something like this for so long and this opportunity popped up suddenly- and going in with another couple makes it much more palatable money wise. Should be some fun adventures ahead! 

Addie and Aani had their last swim meet of the season- maybe forever. Addie's graduating so she's for sure done, and Aani's just kind of over it and wants to do something else next year. We shall see. 

Nils built a replica of the Saratoga Springs Temple for our ward. We'll do temple related activities and earn a stick for each one. We'll cover the temple in our sticks and hope to have it completed by the dedication in August. :) Good old NilsyNils, coming in clutch 24/7. 

Aani got herself some curlers and looks like such a cute li'l old lady. 

I've been discharged from physical therapy. Now I just gotta do my exercises at home like a good patient. 

Sound advice:

Things are good and busy. The girls are all doing well, looking forward to spring activities like tennis, plays, working, etc. Lots of business opportunities are presenting themselves as well. We hired 2 hosts for our 3D printing channel and are going to have a meet-up with them in a couple of weeks to get things rolling. 

We've had all the snow and cold weather for months now. We're thankful, but also getting a little gray sky fatigue. We need a warm sunny vacation ASAP, but we have no time for that sort of nonsense. One day!

Décembre

December! The end of another year, and what a year it's been! We've had a year of all the things. Travel, business growth, growing pains, weird experiences, terrible experiences, miracles and miracles, stress and joy.

Anders was set apart as a missionary on December 5th. Home MTC for 9 days wasn't a super great experience for any of us, but we made it through. We dropped the boy off at the MTC on the 14th and were pretty curious to see how he would do there. He doesn't like to be told what to do, and isn't a big fan of rules. Seems like a recipe for disaster for a place like the MTC. After a whole week, we were able to talk to him, and it turns out he's having a blast and loves it. He loves his district, loves his zone, and it's like a big party all the time. I'll just copy his first email from this last week:

Apologies for the lack of emails. First P-day was home mtc (boring) second pday, had no time because I came to the MTC. Last Pday had no time because there was tons of stuff to do, so alas here we are. The MTC has been quite the good experience. Home MTC was a little not good, but the in person MTC has been exceedingly epic.

The spirit here is so strong, I had a lot of doubts before about whether or not I was really supposed to go, if I would be any good, etc etc. They haven't completely disappeared, but I've felt so much more comfort in the last couple weeks than ever before. My companion, district, and zone are all honestly amazing. I've felt the spirit more than I ever have.

I really do feel like I'm supposed to be here. Christmas was kinda sad not gonna lie, it was cool and fun but I did really miss home. I miss a lot of things, but strangely, I don't think about it too much. Usually only at night. Satan has no power here and its quite cool. I'm learning loads of Danish, it's really hard but the gift of tongues is definitely real. I have absolutely filled notebooks with words, phrases, and rules I've learned. It's only been a week now of Danish classes and I can already have decent conversation in Danish. There's a tonnnn I don't know but it's really cool to see it come along. I have received witness after witness that this church is true. I've fallen in love with the scriptures and the gospel. I'm never bored and it's amazing. I've been so blessed and am so grateful for this gospel. We have an insanely merciful God who loved us more than we can comprehend. I couldn't say 2 weeks ago that I had a firm testimony of a lot of things, but I know this church is true, and I've grown more already than I ever could have otherwise. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

Jeg ved at Jesus Kristi døde for os. Jeg ved det dette kirke er sand og Gud elsker alt af hans børn. I Jesu Kristi navn, amen.

-Ældste Rasmusson

So, we're happy to hear that he's doing well. We've been able to talk to him a lot, actually. Yesterday he fell off his bunk bed and injured his wrist bad enough that he had to go to Instacare. No break, but it's swollen and messed up so we'll see how that goes.

It might be hard to not turn this blog into the Anders' mission report. I'll try to contain myself.

In other news, Ava had a birthday and is now officially a teenager. 4 teenagers for another few days. Send help! 

I took her a pizza for lunch to share with her friends. She had a party a couple of days later with a bunch of screamy girls. Not a fan of screaming, so Nils and I hid as much as possible.

She also had a band concert. Same cardigan, different day. :) 

We had Christmas...

Addie played in a youth ensemble during sacrament meeting. Ava and I sang in the choir. Even though no one was super excited to have church first thing on Christmas, it was a nice way to start the day, I thought. 

The day after Christmas, Nils, Aani, Ava and I headed to St. George for a few days. Needed a change of scenery and a little warmer temps for a minute. Addie stayed home for work/mostly watching movies by herself. 

We had a nice time. We went to Snow Canyon and had fun exploring the lava tubes and the petrified sand dunes. We ate out, had a shopping day, watched a lot of The Office in the hotel room, went bowling, played mini golf in the rain (it was about 50 degrees, which felt fine compared to our usual 25-30), and enjoyed our little getaway. We met up with another couple who YouTubes for a living and had dinner with them. It was nice to talk shop and get to know them better. People in the YouTube community are generally pretty cool and willing to open up and share. It's neat-o. 

Welp. So long, 2022. We've been very blessed and a little traumatized this year- but that's par for the course, ain't it? 

Happy New Year! 

Novembre

Hello. November has been a stressful month. We've been trying to keep Anders sane as he's getting ready to leave for his mission. He's had nothing to do for the last few weeks, and it's not been great. I don't mean to paint a negative picture, but it's not been my favorite time of life. It's not been his favorite time of life, either. But we're still alive, and life ticks on even through it all. 

He begins home MTC on Dec. 5... FIVE MORE DAYS. He enters the Provo MTC on Dec. 14, then is scheduled to fly to Denmark on January 18. We're ready for all this to actually happen, but it's definitely bittersweet. We will miss him like crazy, indeed, and we're all pretty anxious and curious how this experience will be. We just gotta have all the faith!

Things with the bizness continue to plug along. We've had lots of growth this year, which is super exciting, but we're feeling those growing pains. We're in the process of hiring a new host for our 3D printing channel because we just don't have time for it- but we also don't have time to hire a new host! We've had several people apply and send in video samples, and we need to set aside some time to hop on a call with each of them to get to know them better. Who has time for that?? Not us! We're always trying to figure this stuff out. I s'pose it will always be interesting and challenging and we will never stop learning.

We need to convert the garage into a shop, but that's slowed by lack of time. We need someone to build a carport for us and convert the garage for us. We just don't have the time to do all the things! It's weird. 

Speaking of time, I started physical therapy a few weeks ago, and that's like a part time job. My shoulder, which I've named Shouldie, is seeing some improvement. I've been told that it will be a long recovery, still, since shoulders are a real pain to rehabilitate. But, it doesn't ache all the time anymore, and I think I have a bit more mobility with it. I'm working on my back as well, since I still have some pain there. Over Thanksgiving, we played the aggressive card game of Dutch Blitz- it involved some hunching over, which made my back hurt like crazy. No bueno. But! Good news! Today I ran on the treadmill and it felt normal. Shouldie and my back didn't mind that. Hoorah.

Alright, on to pictures. How does anyone remember anything about their lives if not for pictures? 

We went bowling a couple weeks ago with the fam. Ava wore this Elmo costume from when she was a 3 year old. Back then it didn't fit like a tight shirt, that's for sure. Bowling: Kinda fun? We're no professionals.

The replacement Tesla has arrived. The insurance check dropped and Nils was at the dealership within minutes. Not even kidding.

Anders' farewell brunch. We had Liege waffles and breakfast burritos and everyone seemed to like it. :) Anders friends said, "These waffles are BUSSIN'", which means they're good.

Nils is teaching Aani to drive. I can't do it because I just scream and stress everyone out. 

Look at all of our offspring at Thanksgiving.

Anders and I made a fancy steak dinner last Sunday. 

Anders likes to cook a lot- here he's making homemade pasta. 

You know what I like? A Jimmy John's unwich. Yum.a.roo. You gotta get oil and vinegar, though. It's a must. 

You know what Aani likes? Taking unattractive selfies on my phone. You know what I like? Texting each day one of her selfies. She usually replies, "Awwww. I'm so cute!"

Fancy steak dinner referred to above. Nerm nerm.

Yesterday Anders and I went to TWO temples! We went to Bountiful and Ogden. He has a goal to go to all the temples in Utah.

Today, Pip was sitting in this chair like she's a person and it just made me laugh and laugh. 

Photo submissions by the children:

Wish us luck as we embark on this mission experience! All the prayers!