Adventures Galore

 July has been as crazy as expected, mostly in good ways. 

Aani got her driver license, but hasn't had a lot of chances to use it since she's been so dang busy and gone for most of the month. Still exciting. Today she drove herself to Ulta and it was pretty weird that she can just do that. 

What a Schweetie

For the 4th of July, we took the camper trailer up to Fairview and camped overnight. We made peach cobbler in the dutch oven over the fire, worked on the property a bit to make a better fire pit and a trail, chopped some wood, rode 4-wheelers, enjoyed the pretty scenery. Then as we drove home that evening, we got to see all the fireworks in the valley and it was insane. We stopped at In-N-Out for dinner and it was kind of a nice li'l moment. Utahns love their fireworks, which works well for us, since we don't ever buy them. 

Fairview is awfully pretty! We had a fun 24 hours. :) 

The following week, Aani and Ava went to girls camp at Heber Valley Camp and had a great time. Here's a couple of pictures I got off the ward FB page, hehehehehehehahahaha.

Later that evening, Nils and I realized that we only had the adult children at home, and WHAT WERE WE EVEN DOING WITH OUR LIVES? We decided to take a trip by ourselves, but to where? We talked through some options, did a li'l internet research, and within the hour decided to leave for Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons. 

On our way up at dusk, somewhere in the wilderness of Wyoming, a few deer ran out into the road right in front of our car. I was driving and had a little panic attack. I slammed on the breaks, and then was able to maneuver in between the deer and didn't hit any. It was quite a moment of terror, but all was well. All we need is another car accident in the middle of nowhere, amiright? 

We had lots of fun after that. We went on a 6 mile hike in Grand Teton National Park, to Taggart Lake and Bryant Lake. It was so beautiful. We stayed in a crappy Super 8 Motel, which was stupid expensive (everything in Jackson is crazy expensive). However, the best part of the motel was that there was a movie theater in the same parking lot. So, each night we were there, we went to a movie. We saw Mission Impossible and Indiana Jones, and it was pretty awesome.

We drove to Granite Hot Springs where there's a swimming pool. The setting was quite breathtaking, and the pool was pretty mediocre, but it was an adventure anyway. We drove all around the Grand Tetons and loved the beauty. We made a goal to see all the national parks, and we have a really long way to go. We've been to 12 together, and there are 60-something, so we've got some work to do. 

Thanks, Nils, for taking all of these pictures. I just show up and enjoy, and then summarize at the end of every month.

This place is too gosh darn beautiful.

SHOT OF THE YEAR!!!

I have a little problem with nachos. They are everything that's good and true and I can't get enough. 

We came home for one day, enough time to do everyone's laundry, and then it was off to Bear Lake for our Raggy Family Reunion, which we've been planning for a year. 

Oh man, we did all the things and had all the fun. I think this reunion was a success. The kids and adults had a blast. We were all able to stay in one big house, which made for lots of together time and connections. One main bad thing was there were only 3 bathrooms, and we have A LOT of teenage girls right now in the Rasmusson family. That was a genuine problem. 

Lots of beach time, lake time, we rented a boat, jet skis, went see The Little Mermaid at the Pickleville Playhouse, which was actually really, really awesome and well done. We did a cave tour of Minnetonka Cave, we played a lot of pickle ball, tennis, some corn hole, ping pong, ate lots of good food and enjoyed a great week. Shiloh and Brian brought a cooler full of about 60 lbs of See's Chocolates, so that was a total highlight of the week. 

Photo dump:

Bear Lake: 10/10

Aani and Ava went straight from Bear Lake, with a day in between to do laundry again, to FSY. I don't have any pictures, but they loved it and had a great time. 

Now Ava is at tennis camp until Friday. Geez Louise. 

Nils started converting our garage into a wood shop this month- hopefully we'll be able to make more progress on it next month since we will be home more. We do have a little trip to Kauai coming up, however. No one is sad about that. Then school starts. INSANITY, I TELL YOU! 

June Things

Nils ended his soda fast on June 4th, so we had a party to celebrate. Did I remember to take pictures of said party? No I didn't. I'm really bad at taking pictures of things I'm in charge of. We had friends from the neighborhood come, and it was good times. 

The house has footings and a foundation. We enjoy checking on its progress a little too much. It's nice that it's about a 10 minute drive, and we may be a little over eager. Pretty weird to be this excited about a house we won't live in, I think. 

Father's Day ice cream after church, and Father's Day lunch for Nils: his traditional cookie dough, club crackers, extra sharp cheddar cheese, and Coke. Quite the combo. 

Aani turned 16! She wanted a fancy picnic with friends. The weather didn't cooperate, so she had a fancy picnic inside the house. Again, I took no pictures (too busy doing all the things). She had a charcuterie board and fruit platter, Italian sodas, and a fancy cake that had gross frosting and cost a lot. Note to self: learn how to make fancy cakes with good frosting.

She's finishing up all her driving requirements to get her license and is excited! 

Bear Lake: We took a recon and research trip up to Bear Lake before our family reunion. We spent one night to get a lay of the land as it stands currently. We had some grand times in those 28 hours.

This made me LOL.

We spent our one night at the KOA in this cute cabin, and it was inspirational for what we might want one day in Fairview. Tiny home vibes for sure, but great for a little getaway? 

We drove all the way around the lake, and enjoyed the gorgeous sunset. We stopped and skipped rocks for about an hour. We do love our rock skipping time.

Anders was sad because he hurt his shoulder by jumping off a li'l cliff to get to the water, instead of going down the safer way. :( 

Spent some time at the Bridgerland Adventure Park. Ropes course, giant swing, tubing downhill, etc. 
Family reunion approved! 

I do love me a good Kermit meme:

 

Updates:

Anders is working, feeling a li'l better, tryna figure out what comes next. His job might be ending soon, depending if they can secure more funding at this start up. Regardless, he's loved it and it has been just what he's needed, so we're thankful.

Addie's head guarding at the pool and would spend the rest of her life at the outdoor pool if that was an option. She still has school in the mornings for her billing and coding course. She loves her downtime. 

Aani is having a pretty relaxing summer. Not too many hours are happening and McDonald's lately, which is lame. She's burning through Gilmore Girls, and we've all decided that everyone on that show is toxic. 

Ava has had tennis most mornings in June, has been burning through audio books, and has an insane next 6 or so weeks coming up. Girls camp, family reunion, FSY, tennis camp, Hawaii, and then school starts. Aani has all that too, minus tennis camp. Hope they've enjoyed a relaxing June, cuz things are about to get cray! 

Nils is currently at Priest/Teachers Camp at Flaming Gorge. I'm drowning in RS at the moment. Calgon take me away!

Suns Out, Kinda

School's out, and the first week of summer is in full swing. We're having lots of rainy days, which is nice because the wildfires haven't started yet, hehe. Things are green and lovely for the time being. 

I woke Ava up today at around 12:45 pm, and she made herself and Aani pancakes for breakfast/lunch. She starts tennis in the mornings for all of June, so we won't be making a habit of sleeping all day, now will we? 

She had her last band concert of the year, what a cutie.

Aani's working at Mickey D's and thinks it's just great. She has a lot of friends who turn their noses up at working there, but Aani says it's a pretty easy job and they pay well. They're flexible with hours and time off, so it's a pretty nice li'l gig if you ask us. Plus they feed her every shift. She's become a Hot n' Spicy fan and says she isn't sick of the food yet. She's working her way through the Gilmore Girls series at the moment when she's not working.

Addie still has MTECH every morning at 7:30 until she finishes her program, so that's pretty sad. She's head life guard at the outdoor pool, so she's working a lot and gets to be the head honcho this year. She graduated from high school and is not at all sad about that. She makes no bake cookies on the regular, and will pack herself cute lunches for work. She bought Anders' old car officially yesterday, so she's got a loan and is just a real big kid. 

Seminary graduation with friends Lia and Kibby (McKinley).

Anders is hanging in there. He's got a job that is quite flexible which is good for him right now. He bought a new to him car that will hopefully give him a good reason to get up and go to work and make the moneys. His girlfriend left on her mission last week, and they're both real sad. We shall see how this goes. The last 3 months have been extremely difficult for him and for us, and we're all pretty spent emotionally. We've been doing all we can to help him, and it feels like we've been up to our armpits in sludge while trying to move forward. No bueno.

Having said that, we have some fun and exciting things on the horizon.

First of all, we're building a house that we won't live in! We've wanted to get into real estate for our entire marriage and are finally at a point that we can. After talking with some people to learn about our options, we learned about this house that can be rented as a duplex. The top 2 floors will have 4 bedrooms + a loft, which is great for a family. We will finish the basement ourselves to save money and for video content, and rent it as a 2 bedroom apartment. The basement will have a separate entrance and parking on the side of the house. We're pretty excited and have had fun choosing everything. 

It will look very similar to this, except with a green front door, and a different garage door. Same floor plan. We were pretty thrilled when we learned we could do board and batten for no extra charge. Wahoo! 

I think I enjoyed picking all of this out a little too much. We tried to stay reasonable with cost, but also upgrade the things that will need to be more durable as a rental. We'll see how it all goes! I know we're in for an adventure and we hope to do more of this eventually. 

They started digging our hole! 

The other fun thing we have coming up is a trip to Kauai in August. We found a great deal on airfare and pounced. The more research I do about it, the more excited I am. I think it'll be dreamy! In July we have the Rasmusson family reunion at Bear Lake which should be a lot of fun as well. 

Nils went to Florida for a few days to work on a project with some other DIY YouTubers. They worked hard and sweated a lot and got to know each other better.

While he was gone, I took the girls out for "Super Cool Fun Time with Mom":

It was super cool and such a fun time, obviously! 

I pushed Addie around Target and we just piled things on top of her. I had to go the bathroom, so I parked her here. Then some lady came up to her and told her she liked her dinosaur shirt. See? Super cool fun times! 

Things that have made me LOL: 

I think Instagram has me figured out- I can waste more time on there than ever before, and I laugh and I laugh.

This is courtesy of my friend Ruth. We were texting with our other friends Kat and Cheri about how to get out of church callings, and she sent this. If you're scared you're going to be made camp director, it's time to put on your jam pants. Maybe you had to be there, and maybe you have to know Ruth, but I was dying.

Okay, I think that's all I have for now. Thanks for reading, now get yourself a snackaroo.