The R Team!

Friday, July 31, 2026

July Shenanigans...America Edition

Here are all things July!

Fireworks were banned for the 4th of July, which was sad since it was the 250th birthday of America, but Utah was sort of burning down so I think most everyone was okay with it. We had a gathering with family here at our house, which turned out fun, with lots of food, Neil Diamond on the big speaker, a waterslide, some poppers and sparklers, s'mores and fun drinks! I successfully smoked 2 pork shoulders which gave me the confidence to keep using the ol' smoker. God bless America!

Nils has been working on many things. He's spent a lot of time building a fitness app, the fitness app of his dreams! In other exciting news, the DIY Basement YT channel got monetized this month, so we're making a little bit of dough from it. Slowly but surely we will make this thing work. Bishop-ing continues to be a full time job, and an ever evolving learning experience. We took a couple of days to plan for the rest of the year. We went to Midway, and we discovered the Dairy Keen. It's possible that everyone else on Earth knows about the Dairy Keen in Heber, but we had never been there. It's the greatest!

Nils hiked Mt. Timpanogos with the teachers and priests, and then went on a campout in the Uintas last week with the priests and had good times.

I got a cortisone shot in my big toe after about 15 years of irregular, spontaneous, excruciating pain. So irregular that it would wake me up in the night about 2-3 times a year and hurt so much that I would talk about it the next day, but then forget about it until it happened months later. This has been going on, like I said, for about 15 years and I finally went to the doctor about it. I have a bone spur near my toenail that is near a nerve. I don't even know. Is it worth a surgical procedure? When I'm up in the night in agony, yes. The rest of time, no. Thanks for reading my boring story about my big toe spur.

Nils' tennis elbow is back, after months and months of PT, shots, and a PRP procedure. Getting old is so fun, we are just live laugh loving it.

We found the craziest deal of all time on a trip to Iceland, no joke the craziest deal, so we booked a trip with Kevin and Tonya for September. I've been spending the last week or so researching and planning all of that, and it should be fab.

Anders still loves Cameron, Don and Alex, probably in that order. Still making videos with AlexAnders Productions, still editing for LRN2DIY and DIY Basement, still selling little vans and trying to clear out his inventory. Is an utter delight. MAKE HIM FLOAT. IYKYK.

Addie got a new job! She was hired at the SS library! Hoorah! She will start fall semester of college, and work 4 days a week at the library, and it really feels like the perfect fit. She'll finish the pool season, but this year has been not the greatest for her and we think she's done with all of that. We shall see. Still does a lot of crocheting and knitting.

Aani is baptizing the state of Kansas. She's had 4 baptisms and has 3 more scheduled. She is still in Junction City, and has a new companion that she's now training. She went right from trainee to trainer. She was lucky to have the best trainer on Earth. We miss her and love talking to her every week. I asked her what she would do if I drove over to Kansas to see her and she said she would get in the car and come home with me, so I better not! She's got too much to do. Lowk she met Jaxon, that's all I'll say about that. Another IYKYK.

Ava has been working at the pool, saving lives, going to FSY, sleeping a lot, reading a lot and gearing up for jenior year. When asked how FSY went, she said her group wasn't "locked in spiritually, but they were locked in on having fun." Ava's a good kid, we love her and are thankful for her.

Pictures:

Uintas

Midway

Timpanogos sausage hands

Timp

Aanster on the 4th

Pulling weeds in Woodland Hills. Dang thistle.

Went to 5 Guys and ran into the Odekirks and maybe talked with them for 3 hours?

24th at Kevin and Tonya's. It was a little magical.

Me making a stupid face with my mascara smeared all over my face in Midway. Also, Nils thinking he was in Hawaii with that shaka. How cool are we??

Learned of GF chicken tenders in Provo at Chicken Boy. They were good. Will go again.

Anders with his crappy steak from Chili's in Banff.

Went on a walk and saw the Amazon delivery lady park in the middle of the road to make her delivery. Keep it classy.

Ava at FSY

Nacho and his turkey legs. He's an adorable potato. He still comes over looking for Pip. :(

Ava, Bailey, Gabe, Roman, Liam having a late night chat while Nils and I solved the world's problems with Doug and Sandi.

Addieyah at Guard Games

Enjoy these beautiful foreheads.

Anders and Alex got the deal of a lifetime on soda! $1.50 per 12 pack??

Our li'l Sister Rasmusson in Kansas.

Son in law?

Let's not forget Cameron's forehead

Movie night w/ YW.

Beautiful sunset on the Alpine Loop. One Sunday night I had a sudden craving to drive it, and was rewarded greatly.

Me and Tonya trying to deflate the water slide after the 4th of July party. It was like ten thousand degrees out there and we were grunting and groaning.

Took Saren, Randy, Red, Gracey, Anders, Addie, Ava and Cameron to Woodland Hills where we discovered the massive weeds. But it was still pretty and we still dream about it.

Lennon and Hayes living their best lives.

Behold my beautiful smoked pork shoulder.

A true labor of love.

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

June Shenanigans...Mountain Edition

We started out June with youth camp- it was stake camp and we had YM and YW camp both at Heber Valley at the same time, but not together. We were in separate camps and nothing was combined other than dates and location. Sandi and I cooked for the YW of the stake, and it was crazy and exhausting and a little traumatizing, but we pulled it off and have another bout in the trenches together. The morning of camp, we did the majority of the shopping so everything would be as fresh as possible and we wouldn't have to worry about storing food and keeping it cold. We cleaned out Heber's Walmart of parmesan cheese. We literally bought it all, and probably ended up using 1/3 of what we bought, so it was a continuous joke.

A small fraction of what we purchased.

Nils spent most of his time with the young men, I saw him for a few minutes here and there, and Ava would pop her head into the kitchen whenever she could. Sandi and I really didn't venture past the kitchen and pavilion, we were cooking/prepping/cleaning for about 18 hours a day. Totally nuts.

After camp, we needed to get a couple of videos shot, so Nils worked on two projects; a mini-split install, and a solar demo install. Neither were small projects, but they're done.

We had a couple of sprinklers break and start leaking into Aani's window well, and it took a few days to realize what was happening since she doesn't live in there at the moment. A good 3 days were spent sucking up water, trying to dry out the carpet, and get the horrible smell out. 0/10 do not recommend.

Aani had her golden birthday this month, and we got to talk to her 3 times in one week. P-day, her birthday, and then Father's Day 2 days later. And then we got to talk to her the day after Father's Day because it was P-day again. :) She's still doing well, has had 2 baptisms so far, and has 5 more scheduled. She's taking Kansas by storm.

We went on a 9 day road trip to Sun Valley/Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, and then we drove up to Banff in Canada. Both were beautiful. Idaho was way more chill, way less touristy and exceeded our expectations. Banff was jaw-droppingly beautiful, but totally packed and such a tourist trap. Anders and his 2 friends Alex and Don came along, but they drove separately, which worked out well. We had fun going on scenic drives, hikes, having a lake day at Stanley Lake. In Banff we saw Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and tons of stops along the Icefields Parkway. We drove and drove and drove, got lots of steps in, saw some of the most beautiful sites, and even saw a bear on our way out of Banff on the last day.

Okay, here are pictures, in no order. I will try to narrate.

Nils opened this can for me. It's hilarious. I don't open my soda can very wide, so he opened it as little as possible to mock me.

Sending Aani's birthday prezzies back to her in the box she sent to us.

This was not a great situation.

Same day as the window well/room flooding, I went to Taco Bell to get lunch for everyone after we all handled the flooding, and the wind blew the bag out of my hand. I had my hands totally full, and it was already precarious. This is Anders' taco on the blacktop. Not the best day ever.

We got locked out of our rental in Idaho, so Nils was climbing all the things to try to see if any doors or windows were opened. Then I literally picked the front door lock with a bobby pin and it worked. Who knew I was a natural burglar?