Visit From the Rasmussen's - Part 1

I'm a little sad to be blogging about this, because it means that it's over....but, we had a wonderful visit from the Rasmussen's! Kirsten and the kids have literally driven thousands of miles this summer - visiting family & friends between Ohio & California.

We were so grateful that they were able to come to Utah and even though our visit together was much shorter then we had originally thought, we loved every minute of it and had a great time! They arrived on a Sunday evening and the kids were so excited. I think they had literally been dreaming of that moment for months and it was fun to see them instantly start to play together and act like they had never been apart.

On Monday morning, we took the kids to a park in West Jordan called the Wild West Jordan Park. It was really, really cute and even though it was really hot outside, the kids had a good time. Kirsten & I set up camping chairs in the shade and just visited. Beth and her boys were in town too, so they joined us for the last several minutes. We decided to cool down with $1 snowcones! Yum! Yum!

Jack & Brynlee

Karli

Jack

R1: Jack, Hannah, Brynlee, Kate & Hailey

R2: Lindsey, Ethan, Emily & Karli

Hannah & I

Kate

Karli

Hailey

Brynlee, Lindsey & Karli

Karli, Brynlee, Kate, Kyle & Hannah

We came home and fed the kids lunch. Then, the babies took naps and Kirsten & I cut out paper dolls from the Cricut machine. We had wanted to try to go to the Kearns Rec Center because we had heard the have a super fun outdoor pool, but just as we were dressed and ready to go, thunder & lightening started. Because it's a good 20 minute drive, one way, we decided to have a water balloon fight in the backyard instead. We had a great time filling up balloons and having the kids either jump with them on the trampoline or throw them at each other.

That night, we went to Emily's soccer scrimmage and then went back for round 2 of snowcones!

Jack & Kyle

Hailey

Best Friends - Hailey & Kate

Lindsey & Ethan cracking up over filling the balloons

Beth - the balloon tier

Cute Karli

Kyle - loving the trampoline

Ethan & Lindsey

Emily trying to pop a balloon over Ethan's head

Waiting for snowcones

On Tuesday, I took some lunch to my grandma, while Kirsten went to Deseret Book, the Distribution Center & Sam's Club. After we fed the kids, we were able to sneak away to the quilt store and scrapbook store. Jon is always such a great sport about watching the kids - thank you Jon!! We then got ready for a Buckeye BBQ - in honor of Kirsten being in town. We rented a bounce house again (a true winner!), had BBQ chicken and sides and enjoyed visiting with all the wonderful people who came. It's always great to get together!

Sam Nadauld, Noah Crockett, Luke & Jake Nadauld & Carter Brostrom

Kate in the bounce house

An amazing group of women: Row 1 - Beth, Kirsten, Sarah, Becca & Nina

Row 2 - AnnDee, me, Jessika, Andrea & Ali

Us again - I can't remember why we decided to lean forward though.

And to end the night...Jon pulled out little Eliza's first tooth!

Cute smile!

On Wednesday, Kirsten took her kids and Kate to get haircuts, while I went to a PTA meeting. Becky had taken the day off to spend time with Kirsten and was able to go with her John and my Jon to the hospital to do an ultrasound. That sweet little baby is a girl and we couldn't be more thrilled!

Our plan was to go to the Mayan for lunch, but once we got there, we realized they didn't open until 4:00 p.m. So, we headed to Wendy's and then to the Nickelcade. Hannah had a complete melt down at Wendy's and thankfully Jon was able to just take her home and put her down for a nap. The kids LOVE the Nickelcade. I had a coupon for $1 admission and then games are only 5 cents. The joke of the day came with a rather large man with a pony tail butted in front of Becky in the ticket line. He knew he had done it and said to her "I'll be just a minute." When we pointed him out to Kirsten, she said that he looked like a Lamanite. It was the perfect description - a real live Lamanite!

First attempt at the Mayan - it was so sunny the kids could hardly open their eyes.

Becky, Me & Kirsten

Becky standing next to the Lamanite - we were too scared to ask him to turn around!

After the Nickelcade, we went home and Kirsten was able to get her van all packed up. I don't know how she's done it! It's packed like a champ with everything from clothes, shoes, movies, swimming gear to the kid's scooters.

We let Emily skip soccer practice and went to The Mayan for dinner. It wasn't crowded at all and we got great seats for the diving show. The kids were so well behaved, the food was better than I anticipated and the show was great. The divers came up to our table as well, so we were able to see them up close.

The Mayan divers & the kids

All these cute kids in birth order:

Emily (10), Lindsey (8), Ethan (8), Jack (6), Brynlee (6), Hailey (4),

Kate (4), Karli (3) & Hannah (2)

Kirsten left from The Mayan to head to Springville and we went home to pack and get ready for our trip to Oregon for Jon's family reunion. We knew we'd see them again after this trip, so saying goodbye wasn't too bad.

Thank you again Kirsten, Ethan, Brynlee, Hailey & Karli for a wonderful visit! You're the very best!