They are HOME!!!

 Yesterday was the day we had been waiting for, for the last 3 years!  My parent's got home from their mission in Moscow!  

We have been counting down the weeks & days and even though it seemed like they were gone forever, the time went really fast!   We prepared for their arrival by making signs...

Then, we got to the airport nice and early.  We teased Mike that he had been at the airport since lunch time - their flight landed about 7:30 p.m.   The kids practiced holding up our homemade sign.

While we were waiting, someone asked if anyone spoke French.   My brother Pete does.  He helped this girl who had come to Utah to be a nanny for the summer.   We have a lot of languages spoken in our family:  Pete speaks French.   Rich speaks German.   Mike speaks Spanish.  My dad speaks Russian & Finnish.  My mom speaks grocery-store Russian.   And, Becky & I speak English.

We waited and waited and finally the moment arrived that we saw them turn the corner and come down the escalator.  Such a great sight!

And then, as if scripted, Brooklyn ran under the rope-thing and ran to them with her arms out-stretched!  So, so sweet & cute & heart-wrenching!

We were all so, so happy to give them a hug and see them again!  So many people came out to support them at the airport and it was such a great moment for our family!

Welcome home Mom & Dad!  Oh, how we've missed you!!

A baby quilt & a goodbye quilt

 Wow!  Last day of June already!

Here are a couple of recent quilts....

This was for Gabriela Bowen - baby daughter of Jon's nephew, Kelly Bowen.

This one was fun because it was nearly all triangles and trapezoids...and different with borders on only 2 sides.

 



 And then, poor Emily found out over spring break that 2 of her best friends were moving this summer.   We decided to make them quilts, so they would always remember how loved they are.

 

This quilt was for Kenzie Madsen.  She just moved to Phoenix, AZ, where I doubt she will ever really need a quilt to stay warm, but at least she'll remember Emily and all of her friends in Murray.

 

It's hard to see, but I stitched in "We love you Kenzie!!"  

Lagoon - Memorial Day

We got back a few days ago from a wonderful, fun trip to Santa Cruz, CA and discovered at Pier 39 in San Fransisco that my camera wouldn't turn on.  I was so disappointed.  We tried to take a few pictures on the video camera and once we met up with our family, we asked them to help take pictures.    But, anyway, I had already downloaded these pictures of Lagoon before the camera malfunctioned..

The kids were great when I took them to Lagoon on Memorial Day!  We met up with the Spackman's by chance, so the kids had fun riding rides with friends.   Emily was such a good sport to hang out with friends for a couple of hours and then meet back up with me so that she could take Kate & Jack on some bigger kid rides.

The big kids started the morning on Samuri

 And Kate started on the parasailing things

 

 Then straight to the bumper cars for these 3 little ones....

 

 These 3 (Lindsey, her friend Olivia, and Jack) literally went on this ride 7 times in the row!  They were soaked to the bone!

 

Yay for cool summer days at Lagoon!

Memorial Day Weekend

 We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!   The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Jon didn't have to work so much of it!  Poor guy!

The weather was perfect though and the kids & I spent a ton of time outside.   On Saturday, we went to Lagoon.   We gave the kids season passes for Christmas and they LOVE it.   If you ask Hailey (who is 2) what she wants to do, she always replies "goon."  

We got to Lagoon when it opened at 10 a.m.    The bigger kids went on rides together (including a friend of Jack's who we met there) and I took the little girls on rides.   We met up at noon - ate a picnic lunch - and then rode more rides.   Jack's friend stayed with us too for the day.  Jon woke up from sleeping and got to Lagoon around 3.   He brought in KFC with him, so we ate that for dinner and stayed until about 8:30 that night.  Perfect, perfect weather!

On Sunday, again while Jon was working, we went to our Primary, came home and rested and then went to the cemetery to visit my Grandpa Clyde's grave.   Last year we looked and looked for it, only to find out I had the section wrong.  This year, we found it right away.   Hannah & Hailey were asleep in the car, but here are pictures of the other kids.  

Then we went to Sacrament Meeting at my parent's ward.  William White just got home from his mission and Amelia White is getting ready to leave.  It was a great meeting and then we hung out at my parent's house with Mike.  

Then, we went to Lindsay Garden's for dinner with all the Olsen families!  Again, it was such a beautiful night and we had a great time.  After dinner, we all headed to the Salt Lake Cemetery to visit my dad's parent's graves. 

On Monday, Jon worked again and I headed to Lagoon with the kids again.  They are all so, so good, so it's easy.  The weather again was perfect and the lines weren't very long.   On the way home, we stopped at Rich & Misty's for a BBQ!  So delicious!  It was a great way to end the very fun weekend we had! 

Hannah's Preschool Graduation

 A couple of weeks ago, Hannah officially graduated from preschool!  It's hard to believe that I'll be sending my 5th Kindergartener to school in the fall!   She is by far my youngest Kindergartener, so I've really been grateful for the awesome preschool experience that she has had.

Ms. Lorie (her teacher) always puts together a darling graduation.   There are lots of songs and poems!  Of course, Hannah and Heidi did everything together - sat by each other, recited a poem together, sang in a quartet for "Puff the Magic Dragon" together, etc.  

Well Done Hannah! 

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

 



 Singing "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".   Hannah was the black sheep.

 

 Being handed her diploma

 

 The Dynamic Duo of Heidi & Hannah!

 

Grandpa Avery, Hannah & Ms. Lorie

Hannah and the Banana

 

I really, really love this girl!   She wakes up every day with a smile on her face and whenever I do something for her she always says "Thanks Mom!"

 

She is a busy little human with lots of say and lots of spunk.  She loves going next door to visit our neighbor, Denny.  Denny is so nice to the kids, lets them feed snacks to his dog and usually sends them home with a bag of candy.  

 

When Hannah feels like candy, she heads over for a "visit." 

 

Yesterday, she had a sugar craving, so Denny was visited.  Some times, Denny will try to get the kids to take a healthy treat too - like cheese, fruit, nuts, etc.   Yesterday, he gave her a banana and told her to take it too. 

Hannah said "No thanks, I don't like bananas."   Denny then said "But, you're Hannah Banana, you should take the banana.   You could give it to someone else in your family." 

 

Hannah's reply was "We don't eat fruit in our family." 

Denny laughed and told her again to take the banana.   Apparently, she was sitting in his porch at this point and he started visiting with a different neighbor.  Pretty soon, Hannah was gone and Denny went back inside his house.

 

On his couch, was Hannah's banana.

 

She had snuck back in his house and left the banana there, determined to not let that healthy treat make it's way to our house!

Ending of spring soccer

 About a week and a half ago, we finished another successful spring soccer season!   Emily, Lindsey, Jack, Kate & Hannah all played soccer - so we were busy!   All the kids did great!  We were so lucky that they had great coaches and great kids on their teams!

This is a game in Tooele.  I love watching Jack on the bench because he still stays so focused on the game.   Jack scored a goal in this game, so that was really fun!



 Emily had a great season too!  She is my most dedicated soccer player.  Never complains about practices/trainings/games.  She just loves it!

 

 Kate tolerated soccer.  She did love playing with her friends, Josie & Nicole, but she's not a big fan of the sport.   (Hence the reason I have signed her up for 2 dances in the fall).

 

I'm not sure where the ball is in this picture, but I think it's cute that Kate is super determined to get to it.

 



Lindsey played well too!  She is such a good passer and got several great assists.  She's decided not to do competitive soccer next year and I'm not sure why, but I'm having a really hard time with that.    I truly want what's best for her and want her to be happy.   We'll see what she decides to do now! 

Wish us luck!

Latest quilt projects

Yeah for more reasons to make quilts!!

This little baby quilt is for McKinley Rasmussen, Kirsten's new baby.

My quilter, Jen, gave me this pattern and I loved it!   So simple and sweet.  

But, like on most quilts, I messed up and cut the fabric wrong. 

You'll notice that there is gray fabric as sashing in between the blocks.   That was supposed to be the inner border fabric as well, but I came up about 2 inches short.

I looked a 2 or 3 quilt stores to find it again, but couldn't.  

So, I compromised and used some left-over yellow minkee that I had.

McKinley is absolutely darling and is such a wonderful addition to the Rasmussen family!

I loaded this picture 3 times and I have no idea why it's rotated wrong.  It's not that way on my computer, so I'm sorry you have to kink your head to the side to see it.

 

Anyway, this really, really cute quilt is for Max, my newest nephew!  I fell in love with this quilt and fabric when I first saw it.  It was a quick, easy quilt to make and my quilter did a fantastic job, as usual.

 You can see on the black row that Jen quilted in little sailboats.

 

 Max is just a doll!  He's a perfect combination of his dad (my brother Rich) and his sister Sophia.  

 

 And this table topper was fun....I made this for my friend, Alisha.  Alisha and I walk every morning at 6:15 and it was fun to make her something for her birthday. 

 

 If you look close, there are bells on the toes of the elves shoes.