2014!!

This was the first time in 14 years that we didn't go to the cabin for New Years.  

The first time we have ever spent the holiday alone (as in our little family).

It was strange for sure (not as exciting as past years)...but also nice to be just us.  

Nice to know we like being together.

 I took the kids sledding on some ice hills in the area during the day (Darin was working).

We fondued as per the Rasmussen tradition.

(chocolate on broccoli??)

I don't have actual fondue pots but we made due.

We had a marathon game night. 

(in front of the fireplace...my favorite part of the new house that I didn't even know I wanted!)

Then we celebrated with the folks on the East Coast.

We sent the kids off to bed about 10:30 pm, but M was determined to stay up.  She read in her room, falling asleep a few times but woke at 11:53 pm and rushed into our room.  We had nothing to celebrate the moment with so I made her run outside barefoot screaming. Luckily lots of our neighbors and folks who live below us furnished some nice fireworks to complete the evening.

Random Winter Stuff

(dice, candy ball game...super fun)

Miriam has big ideas.  

That girl's brain is always going going going.  I love it, but I am also scared of it because her big ideas almost always involve me. I am trying to find balance as a mom in this area...when to help her take these ideas and fly and when to say no.  This is a constant battle with me. I am a pleaser and I love my kids! I also easily get lost in motherhood and forget that I am a person too...I have goals, I have dreams.  Tricky balance. 

Anyway the picture above is one of M's ideas that we said yes to.  Her teacher use to volunteer for Hogle Zoo, and she told them about the adopt an animal program the zoo has.  Miriam wanted to adopt an animal in her animal-loving-teachers name but at a high $ level which meant getting the whole class involved.  Since the basement is completely empty we came up with a hot chocolate party for the class.  They would walk home from school with Miriam, have hot chocolate, play games, and make a donation to the gift.  

The kids had a blast, and did something kind for both their teacher and the zoo.
I am proud of Miss Miriam for her kind heart and her motivation to take action.

We have had lots of snow play this year! This is one day where M and her friend M stayed out all day to build a snow fort...the boys came in before the camera came out but they have taken advantage of the snow as well.  Lots of sledding (and shoveling) going on around here!

Christmas Morning

I am pretty determined to keep our Christmas simple and relatively small. But every year, when I look at the room before I head off to bed I wonder if they will be disappointed, wonder if its enough. 

And it always is. 

It is always more than enough, even when it's not what they asked for, it seems to be enough.  

Some of the most loved gifts:

Some of the most meaningful gifts:

Miriam spent so much time ironing these plastic beads together.  We thought she was just making a village of Christmas figures which she was, but she was also making this surprise for G'ma and G'pa.

G'ma and G'pa gave us a wooden Noah's Ark.  G'ma loves Noah's Ark's and G'pa loves to create so it's the perfect reminder of them.  It is permanently on display in our bookcase.

I love sloths.
 So the kids surprised me by "adopting" a sloth through Hogle Zoo in my name.  They presented the gift with a certificate in the book "A Little Sloth" (cuteness overload).  Darin gave me many gifts this season....service related and otherwise but I think my favorite was a date night, the kids contributed by supplying babysitting money.

It was a delightful Christmas.
Just enough adventure.
Just enough singing.
Just enough giving.
Just enough relaxing.
Just enough.

Christmas Eve

In order to entertain the troops, and give G'ma and G'pa a bit of a break from the weekend, we decided to take the kids to lunch and then to the Cache Valley Fun Center.

We ate at the "best use for a gas station" restaurant called Tandori Oven.  It was small, but every good.  The kids loved mango lassi in fancy copper cups and naan.  They haven't ventured into much more than that although Miriam is branching out a bit.

Then we did it all!

Bowling (Soren won I came in dead last)

Arcade

Lazer Tag (Darin and Byron)

Roller Skating (Miriam and I)

We got home in time for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.

We put together a puzzle. 

The kids sang the Christmas song from their sacrament meeting performance.

Miriam played her piano songs.

We all sang "Christmas Bells" (Miriam and I tried to do the discant).

Grandma gave an impromptu oration of the poem "Old Father Christmas" 

(this was a highlight of the night) 

Read the Christmas Story.

Watched a Christmas Nativity movie.

We ended by singing Silent Night.

Then I put the kids to bed with a traditional favorite of Darin's family How Mrs. Claus Saves Christmas. Left the kids all snuggled together, happily exhausted, anticipating the morning!

  

Cousin Christmas Party

Those of us who could meet all gathered on Sunday night in Smithfield for a yummy dinner.  

We watched the movie "Christmas for a Dollar".  Then Grandma gave us all "good deed marbles", the movie, and a dollar bill. Such a touching way to start the holiday weekend.

The next the kids played all day together.

Darin is the gingerbread mortar master.  He does it the authentic Scandinavian way.

After the cousins left we entertained ourselves with the melting snow.

We left some HUGE snowmen for Grandma and Grandpa.

The Gingerbread boy goes to China

I love Byron's kindergarten teacher.  I feel like Mrs. Halverson is a blessing straight from heaven, the perfect personality for Bub.  I have wanted to tell her how grateful I am for her, but I know the tears will flow so I am trying to spare both of us that awkward situation.  If I can't get myself together enough to tell her, I will write a note at the end of the year (I promise...)

Anyway.....

Bub's class wrote their own Gingerbread boy play.  They picked the setting, characters, built the set, and created their own costumes.

Bub was the Gingerbread Boy.

He escaped the china doll, panda bears, komodo  dragon, regular lizards, but then was eaten by a Chinese Dragon.

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The Little Mermaid

Nerve wracking tryouts.

Three months of bi or tri weekly rehearsals.

Pounds of glitter and shinny red lipstick.

Miriam loved every minuet of it!

One of our neighbors said she "sparkled" on stage.  

She certainly looked as though she was having the time of her life.

 The cast and crew of Centerville Elementary's 

The Little Mermaid Jr.

The songs are permanently engraved on all of our brains.

Then comes Thanksgiving...

We were with my folks this year which was perfect because Miriam was lucky enough to draw Carbon County for her 4th grade Utah County report. She was so excited!!

We started our weekend with a trip to the Forgotten Carols with Grandpa. Very fun way to start the holidays.  The kids absolutely loved it. 

  

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, sweet expressions of Thanksgiving, great food, some fun games played, football watched.  

Darin entertained the boys with his new Blue Track while dinner was cooking.

The weather was a really strange frosty fog all weekend.  It was beautiful for sure, but not fun to be out in so the next day we headed to the dinosaur museum for some report photos. This was of course after Black Friday Zumba with the ladies. 

The men were working on a project so we headed onto Helper to snap more photos and then jump back in the heated car.

Big Ben

Swinging Bridge

Train Museum

It's going to be one heck of a report!

One more for Halloween...

It took some pouting and pleading, but I talked Darin into going to an adult Halloween party in our neighborhood.  We had a few options in mind (French KISS, Paul Bunyan and Babe, Skipper and Gilligan-inspired by Erik and Kelly) but things kept getting in the way...the beard made painting our faces like KISS hard and Darin wasn't thrilled about the tight black v-neck t-shirt I bought for him.  I wasn't totally comfortable going as a "Babe" even though she is an Ox (I don't like sexy anything on Halloween {it wouldn't really BE dressing up since I am sexy everyday right Darin...right?})...in retrospect I should have been Paul and Darin could have been the Ox.  We couldn't find a captain hat.

VERY last minute we went as "Identity Thieves". Not our best effort but we only had like 2 hours to put it together.

It was a very fun party and Darin doesn't have to dress up for a whole year.

Next year I am thinking Aqua Bats....or Duck Dynasty....or Toddlers and Tiaras (Mr. and Miss. Ultimate Sexy Baby).....

Friberg

When my parents came up for the Primary Program my dad really wanted to go see the Arnold Friberg exhibit at the Gateway.  I was like "eh, sure" because I thought we would be seeing huge versions of the Book of Mormon paintings...which would be cool don't get me wrong, but I didn't have a burning desire to see them.  We went to hang with my parents...and have dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.

This was beyond my expectations.

First of all, they showed Friberg's artwork starting when he was like 7 so you got to see him grow and expand as an artist.  The war years were really touching. Secondly (and I always forget this) there is something special about seeing artwork in person.  Third, the boys thought it was cool.  We had to go fairly quickly through the exhibit, and I took pictures of their favorite pieces (which may not have been allowed) to keep them occupied but they had a good time.  

Maybe not Mim's favorite, but the story of her namesake Miriam.

Bub's obvious choice because of Moses's staff turned to snakes.

Soren loved the animals in this one.  

I liked it too because it reminded me of a trip to Universal Studios when I was 6

Fire...horses

Brave Canadian Mountie

Another one...this time with sled dogs

Saloon hall???

The wonderful thing about grandparents is that they expose my children to so many things off my radar! 

The kids did great in the program! 

Melted Antiques

Miriam started her first week of "Melted Antiques and Treats".

Her store has a $1,600 loan of "Ms. Hansen Bucks" they have 4 weeks to earn enough to pay back the loan and make a profit.  Luckily she has a creative Grandpa who helped supply the shop with very popular melted glass goods.  Lesson learned from week 1, she needs to charge top dollar for them.  They sold out in the first 20 min! 

Halloween 2013

 First we carved our pumpkins....way too early.  They rotted before Halloween night, but it was our only free weekend so we went for it. An owl, Captain America's shield, and Wolverine (in case that isn't obvious.)

The kids off to school on Halloween morning.

The afternoon kindergarten got to go with the morning class to be in the school parade.

Soren and I got ready in like 30 min and ran down to see the parade.

Byron loved going to school in his costume, but he had no intention of parading in front of anyone. 

 I picked him up from his class so he could have a spectators view with Soren and I.

"What the fox say?"  I love our school staff!

Miriam is pretty much the polar opposite of Byron when it comes to parades. 

The boys and I ran to Three Little Monkey's so I could do a Halloween story time.

After a much needed Halloween nap (Soren and myself) we got the kids re-dressed for the real deal.

It was such a beautiful Fall evening! 

Chilly, but not cold enough for coats, the leaves were well into doing their Fall thing, so there was a satisfying crunch as we walked from house to house.  Our new neighborhood is a trick-or-treaters dream.  Although we do have to hike up a hill, we were rewarded with a gorgeous

view of the sun setting while we walked along.

The Haul.