Junecember- a Real Doozy!

Well, well, well. We've been waiting for this day all year- the end of June. We've known June would be the craziest month of all, and we've been dreading it/preparing for it for like 6 months. 

I'm camp director for girls camp, so I've spent the last 4 months planning and preparing for camp. It's been a lot. We were gone the 2 weeks before camp, so I had to get everything squared away before we left town toward the beginning of June. 

We went to a camp in Mantua, Utah (pronounced Manoway, which makes no sense). We shared a campground with the YM, but tried to have as much separate time and activities and we could. We did meals together, and had a day together at Willard Bay boating and playing on the water. We also had lots of free time that the kids spent doing crafts and playing games. Hikes, devotionals, testimony meetings were all separate so we could focus on our messages and themes for each camp. 

Our theme was "Great in the sight of God", so we focused on our worth and God's unconditional love. It was pretty special. We had great devotionals given by our YW leaders, the YCLs had some time to talk with the younger girls about their gifts and talents. We had lots of crafts, like Shrinky Dinks, bracelet making, hair tinsel, and Addie, who came as our medical leader, taught all who wanted to how to crochet scrunchies. She was a real trooper and showed a lot of patience with that. She was also kept very busy as our medic. We had a lot of kids (mostly boys) needing attention. Getting cut with pocket knives, breaking fingers, having a little heat exhaustion, high emotions, etc. She dealt with a lot and handled it with a lot of kindness. Love her. 

Some thing that were hard for me but not that big of a deal: 

• Sleeping in a little shed/cabin with all the other YW leaders. I am a very restless sleeper. The first night, I laid awake for so long trying to relax, but my brain wouldn't turn off. I was tossing and turning and probably only got 3 hours of sleep. The next night, I moved my little air mattress into the back of Nils' truck so I could be with him and not have to worry about being annoying to 8 other people that I'm not used to sleeping next to. That did help me to get a little better sleep. 

• Peeing in the night. My #1 reason for not wanting to camp. I hate hate hate having to get up in the night and walk to a bathroom that is far away. And, I always have to pee in the night, multiple times sometimes. 

• Being dirty all the time. Utah mountains are super dusty, so being dirty is inevitable. I did shower 2 times at camp, but by the last day, I didn't care anymore. My clothes and shoes were so dirty, and I was stinky and disgusting. 

It was really nice having Nils in the same area as me. We got glimpses of each other once in awhile, and it did help me to be able to sleep in the back of the truck with him. 

The girls were cute and fun. We had very little drama, and everyone participated in all the things. Sometimes begrudgingly, but they did it. We are lucky to have truly great kids in our ward. 

Sandi and I are the camp directors. She's my church bestie, and this is the 3rd calling we've had together. Primary presidency, RS presidency, now camp. We inadvertently dressed alike.  

Human pinata, where Nils and two other leaders wore shirts with candy taped to them and were chased by the girls with pool noodles. 

YCLs leading us in the camp songs. "Just gimme that milk, moo moo moo moo!"

Hatchet throwing. Had to document my near bullseye. 

Fun hike with a beautiful view! 

Blurry, but a cute moment with the girls all hiking down the trail back to camp.

It was so much work! I was getting about 20,000 steps a day just running around doing all the things. I was running on adrenaline big time, and when we got home on Saturday, I crashed and am just starting to come out of the coma. 

But it was great, the kids all seemed to love it. We had some special moments together and made lots of memories. 

The week before camp, we went to Orlando for the Rasmusson family reunion. We did a couple of days at Disney at Epcot and Animal Kingdom, and at the new Universal Epic park. It was super hot, but we did the things and saw family a bit and had some good times. 

We played a game with everyone where we all went to the dollar store and had to find the best items and present them to the family. Whoever won got a prize- but I don't know if anyone actually got a prize. But Aani found these super awesome baby dolls with backwards hands that she named Bubble and Bubble. We left them in glasses for the next house guests to enjoy 

The little kids, Parker, Saylor and Tenzin threw a party for everyone. They had a disco ball, silly string, music, snacks and a dance party. They won the dollar store contest. 

Just Katrina being Katrina at the dollar store. What a nut. 

So we've done a lot of Disney in the last 9 months. We're good. 

We left for Orlando on Father's Day, but Nils got his favorite Father's Day snacks in: Coke, sharp cheddar cheese on Club Crackers and cookie dough before we left. 

We went to Dallas for a YouTube training. Flew in and out of Provo. Love those views, especially coming home. 

I can't this picture to move up to the camp part, but we had a cereal bar one night for a bedtime snack, and the kids were like raccoons. They went nuts. They loved it and made a bit of a mess. 

Before all of our trips, Nils and Anders spent two weeks putting up a new solar panel system on our roof, and it was big huge project. Just needed to mention that, because it's been a totally crazy month for Nilsy Nils as well. We're both really looking forward to July and August and having life be a bit more normal. 

Look at me, publishing this post before midnight on June 30! 

Maycember

*Hey Family! It's June 9 and I'm finishing this post that I started super late on May 31. Maycember bled into Junecember and it's been real nuts, which is why this is the first late post I've done in millions of years. I've had 3 or 4 people inquire about my monthly post- don't worry, I'm not dead. *

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It's 11:52 pm, am I late to the party or what? 

May was a blur. We got home from Japan late on May 3. Nils had jet lag for about 2 weeks after we got home, it was pretty impressive. He went night night so early and was waking up at 3 am on the regular. I don't know why, but I was pretty much back to normal within a couple of days. It's really hard for me to get over jet lag when we go somewhere, but coming home is easier. Go figure. 

Last few days of Japan:

We spent a couple of days in Akita chasing cherry blossoms, which turned out to be a bust. It was windy and rainy the whole time, so all the cherry blossoms were blown off the trees and it was pretty sad. As a result, we went back to Tokyo a day early. When we arrived, the girls and I were happy that Nils wanted to go to Tokyo Disney, since he missed out. We enjoyed an afternoon and evening at DisneySea. Anders ended up going to a different area up north to see cherry blossoms and different sights that were on his list, and he had a great time. 

On our last full day in Tokyo, we went to the Shibuya Scramble, did some shopping in that area, and then made our way to Costco. We had to hit up a Japanese Costco, naturally. It was quite a crazy trip getting there, on so many different subway lines, navigating everything in the pouring rain. 

Addie spent most of that day in Tokyo navigating the city by herself to go yarn shopping. She went all over the place, navigating the trains and finding her way. I was and am super impressed by this. She also found lots of yarn and had a great old time. 

Since we've been home, we all agree that Japan is a place we'd all like to return to. It was such an interesting experience, and we all felt like we barely scratched the surface of all the things to see and do. Japan is so safe, so organized and friendly. 

Samurai village in Kakunodate. It was not as exciting as we hoped, but we did it. 

Costco in Tokyo was our last stop of the trip. It felt very appropriate. It felt very familiar, and we were mostly curious about the food court. It was some of the same, and lots of different things. We might be the only people who care about this, but it's fun for us. 

We got home late on Saturday night, and the next day had to jump back into church and life and all the things. 

I got to spend 5 hours at school with Aani so she could do a whole bunch of services on me. She gave me a pedicure, manicure, facial, and scalp treatment. We had all the good times and just bonded for life. 

Do you love these pictures, li'l Aan Aan? 

Then this little jit done graduated from high school! Love her. She's still working hard at cosmetology school, she's working at Swig, and she's spending lots of time with her boyfriend, Aidan. (New Aidan...the Aidan she actually likes.) 

Pool season has begun! Addie is managing again, and Ava is now working at the pool as a lifeguard. Addie wanted to give me a tour of the Lehi Outdoor Pool, which is her happy place. She showed me ALL of the rooms, including the pump room! Truly riveting. 

Here she is, working away, being a manager and whatnot. Addie rules. 

Ava and Nils at the Daddy Daughter Night. Ava was by far the oldest daughter in attendance, so they didn't last too too long. :) 

This is Teddy. Addie has had Teddy since she was just a wee girl. She actually lost the original Teddy when she was about 7, and cried herself to sleep for a month. I was able to find a replacement Teddy, which she's had since. 

Welp...she took Teddy to Japan, and on the last day there, realized she had left him at one of the hotels, and she was physically sick. Tears upon tears upon tears. Long story short, I messaged the hotel, and they were so nice. They had found Teddy several days before and said they were keeping him safe. Then they arranged to have him shipped home to us. 

BUT while I was waiting for the hotel to message me back, and Addie was crying and crying, I went on eBay and found ANOTHER Teddy and ordered it, because I was super skeptical that the hotel would even message me back, and didn't think there was any way they had found Teddy, let alone had kept it if they had.

I can't be having a crying 20 year old, ya know. So, now Addie has 2 Teddys... Teddy 2 and Teddy 3. They're getting along just fine, they decided they are long lost brothers. We had some fun with it this whole scenario. 

May was nuts. And June is nutser. We keep lying to ourselves and saying that things will calm down, but so far that has never been true. 

Thanks for reading! The June post should be a real doozy. That should be done by August, hahahaha. 

Weird Themes in April

 I write from Akita, Japan. It's been an adventure so far, indeed. More on that in a minute. But first...

Our neighbor dog, Nacho, comes to play with Pip sometimes. They sniff each other, frolic, poop in the grass near each other, sometimes Nacho eats Pip's food, and then he goes home. Best friends. 

Anders' misson presidents, Pres. and Sister Mattsson, came to Utah from Sweden to visit missionaries and other people. They came to our house and visited for 2 hours, and it was amazing. What incredible people. It meant so much to Anders. He loves them.

This was on the lid to my overnight oats, and I thought it was pretty inspirational- just like overnight oats tend to be. 

Aani was rear-ended twice in like 5 days this month. The first time was on her way home from St. George with some friends, and the friend's car was minimally damaged. The second time was in the truck, and so we're dealing with all of that. Insurance, chiropractor visits, truck damage, etc. Laaaaaaaame. She's doing well, though, and she's gotten super good at filling out police reports. 

We went a little Maverick run and Pip was just looking funny as she waited. 

The girls beat me home from church one Sunday, and this is how I found them. It was like 70 degrees, so naturally sunbathing weather. I felt weird posting a picture of them sunbathing, which is why I took artistic liberties with this picture. 

Work continues on the basement, and it's been a little slow going. Everything always takes longer than you expect: Life lesson that keeps being taught. 

Nils hurt his back one day while working on the basement, enough that he had to take the rest of the week off from it. It was quite the strain. He was completely incapacitated for an evening. We had a neighbor/physical therapist come over and help with getting him realigned, which helped a whole bunch. 

We didn't do anything for spring break, I think we took Ava to Costco and Zupas. Crazy stuff. 

But we did take her to Japan a couple of weeks later! Quick rundown of Japan so far:

PS- Aani couldn't come on this trip with us because of cosmetology school. They told her 9 days was too many days to miss, and she'd have to re-enroll later. So, we desperately miss her and are so sad she's not here with us. She seems to be living her best life back at home, and I bought her a Snoopy zen garden here in Japan to make up for her missing the trip. 

She went to prom with Aidan and had lots of fun. She likes him. 

Nils and Anders did a 3-day Japanese joinery/woodworking class a couple of hours away from Tokyo. We all landed at the airport, and then we went our separate ways. The girls and I went to Tokyo Disney while the boys did their class. 

Here is a link to pictures of Nils and Anders. I'm having trouble getting them onto my laptop and I've had enough of that, so follow this link here to see! They had fun and learned some cool skills. They also walked for like 3 hours to get to this McDonald's and back. Anders was not pleased. 

I don't want to drone on and on about Tokyo Disney, so I'll try to be concise. It's probably the best Disney park we've been to as far as theming. It feels next level. Every cast member is smiling and waving non-stop. It's cute, cute, cute. It feels like Galaxy's Edge quality everywhere, if you know what I mean. We have turned into Disney nerds, and while we're not really ashamed, we are a little embarrassed. It's fine. 

ALSO! It's about 1/3 of the price of US Disney parks because it's not actually owned by Disney. I know, wrap your head around that one, folks. I still don't completely understand. Feel free to do Google search on that one, it's pretty interesting. 

Anyway, we had a blast for 3 days at Tokyo Disney. 10/10 recommend if you're ever in the area, and if you like Disney, and you're okay with everything being in Japanese. Tokyo Disney is the land of large gestures to communicate with the dumb Americans. It works. Also, many of the people speak great English, which is so nice of them, because we know literally 2 words of Japanese. 

Addie found rice at the hotel breakfast buffet. 

There was a shuttle bus from the hotel to the monorail. The monorail station was across the street from the hotel, but did that stop us from riding the bus? No, it did not. 

Cutest monorails ever. 

Rope droppers. We did this twice and it really didn't matter because it took an hour and a half to get into the dang parks!

After 3 days, we met up with Nils and Anders back at Tokyo Station and took a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. We have been on many, many a train. Subways, monorails, metro trains, and Shinkansen trains. So many trains. 

We visited Himeji Castle, then took a little boat ride around the castle. They gave everyone rice hats to wear, and it felt a little cultural appropriationish, but hey. Here we are, and it was amazing. 

We went to the Bamboo Forest in Kyoto, and did another boat ride down a river to get to the bamboo forest. It was pretty magical. 

There are things here that would just not fly in the US of A. Someone would get sued.

Shinkansen views from Kyoto to Akita. 

We got to Akita yesterday. We're here to see cherry blossoms, but it's really rainy and cold, so our plans may be disrupted. We shall see. It was about 8 hours on the Shinkansen, so we're on the other side of the country in the north. We'll head to Tokyo tomorrow, spend a couple of days, and then head back home on Saturday. 

Jet lag has been a factor, we've all been pretty tired and more than one night have gone to bed at around 5:30 pm and slept for 12 hours. It's been a week that we've been here, so we're all adjusted- just in time to go home in a couple of days, haha. 15 hour time difference is a killah.

Food has been rough. I have 7-Eleven to thank for keeping me alive, no joke. The 7-Elevens are actually amazing and are little food shops, and I'm not talking about hot dogs on rollers. They have all kinds of prepackaged meals, fruits, pastries, snacks, etc. etc. Addie has been eating lots of rice balls from 7-Eleven. There's just a lot of squiggly, slimy stuff here that does not appeal to us and our very American palates. Plus, there is wheat in nearly everything, so that makes it extra tough for moi. We're managing, though! 

Observations:

• Bidets on 99% of toilets.

• White noise inside toilet stalls.

• Trains are quiet spaces.

• Food from hotel buffets is room temperature, even food that would traditionally be served warm/hot, like fried eggs and cooked veggies. Not great. 

• They put a lot of ice in the sodas, which means less soda. We miss our free refills. 

• People are very friendly and smiley. 

• Surprisingly affordable. 

• The culture is very defined with rigid expectations and norms.

• It's very beautiful here.

• The respect for history is big.

• Sitting on the ground is considered disgusting. We've done that a couple of times out of desperation due to lack of seating options. Sorry, Japan. We're doing our best!

Well, I guess I'll see ya later. Looking forward to the next few days here in Japan, and then getting back home, which will be very nice, too. :)