I love my kids

Of course I have always loved my kids.... but recently they have been really cute to me. Even through the crying and tantrums, I'm really liking the stage that they are at. Whitney couldn't be more full of life and is still narrating our lives. She also makes sure she says Whitney instead of me or I = That's Whitney, or Whitney is happy ect.. I call her Curious Whitney because she climbs on everything she can and is into everything that isn't a toy. Travis just got over a battle with something and seems to be much happier these days - His smile still makes me melt and he is so anxious to start crawling. Although I'm dreading could weather - we'll just have to bundle up and keep going outside. Other than that there really isn't any latest news with us - we are just really enjoying life right now and having fun!

Party at the Hoopes'

For the last three weeks we have had a lot of welcome company - Whitney has been in heaven waking up each morning and talking through who would be coming to play with her that day. When we got back from Idaho in the middle of August Bethany and Neal were between housing - so we got to enjoy having them here for a week and a half. I don't know if they will dare to do that again, Whitney put them to work as soon as they got home everyday and I think Bethany did more housework than I did! As soon as they moved into their apartments I went down to play with family for a day at my mom's house and kidnapped Lindsay to take her to college. We got to enjoy a nice run and play at the park the next morning before we ditched her off. We had a Saturday off and then Mom Hoopes came to play for a couple days over Labor Day weekend before she took off for Houston. Then our last party ended with Matt, Lacy and Reagan coming for a couple days while Matt dished out free icecream to lonely freshman at BYU. It was so fun to have everyone come and play - honestly I think this upcoming week will be harder since I will have to entertain Whitney, Aaron, Travis, and myself. So if anyone is up for a party - come on over. Here are some pics.


I was almost dumbfounded to see Neal get into the babysitting thing. He must be hiding some of the Bethany babysitting touch because he got Travis to sleep!

These are some pictures of when Jeff, Selly, and Lindsay came to play with Lacy and Reagan. We enjoyed some good Salsa and homemade peach icecream - I'm still wanting more! As you can see - people playing at Whitney's brings great joy to her heart!

I fell in love with Reagan - she is so fun. This is my kind of kid - give her a snack and she'll give you a huge hug, I wish my kids were won over so easy. My favorite though was that she kept shoving this woofle ball into her mouth and amazingly fit the whole thing - It made me laugh! Lacy was a little worried about the chocking factor but then realized no matter how far down it got, it had holes so she could still breath :).

I am pretty proud of this picture I took of Aaron - but even more amazed that he can actually do something like this. Pretty sure I'd have to get my face redone if I tried this.

We are level headed

You Are 55% Left Brained, 45% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Those were my (melanie) test results -

Here are Aarons

You Are 60% Left Brained, 40% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

http://www.blogthings.com/areyourightorleftbrainedquiz/">Are You Right or Left Brained?

Summer's End :(

This summer had the same problem of all the summer's I've ever had - it went by too fast! I love summer, probably because I don't have to dress up like an eskimo just to go outside. We decided to have a swim party - possibly the last of the season. Whitney couldn't have been more excited to put her swimsoup on! Whitney poored water on everything in sight while Travis ate any non-food item in sight (the kid is pooping grass!) We shopped in the morning, played with Grandma and Bethany for a little bit, swam, and then had a good Bbque. Grandma and Bethany were nice enough to babysit so me and Aaron could get our first Tennis match in this summer. We've had a lot going on since Idaho - which I'll fill you in on soon enough. But for now here are some pictures of our little Labor Day Party!!

The Half-Grand Hike

We just got home from another trip to Idaho - or as Whitney calls it "Hidaho." We went up so Aaron could hike the Grand with his Dad, Bethany, and Neal. They started on Thursday which was a gorgeous hot day, but by the end of their 6 hour hike that day the weather changed. They got dumped on by a pretty good storm - good enough to crush their hopes of going completely to the top the next day. I was sort of happy because that meant my husband came back a day early and alive - but sad they didn't get to do what they've been planning on doing for a long time now. Here is practically a day by day breakdown analysis of the trip.

We took off Wednesday afternoon and played at Grandma Rasmussens for a couple hours and then headed the rest of the way. We stopped of at good 'ole Burger King mid-way and became fans of the dollar menu - not bad actually! I wish I could've taken a picture of Whitney coming out of Burger King - because she looks drunk in this picture - but the situation was too funny too resist a picture. We got little dollar shakes and when Aaron when to the bathroom Whitney claimed his too. As she walked out of Burger King with a shake in each hand she proudly and enthusiastically told everyone in the huge group coming in that "I love my Burger King see.

Thursday Aaron headed off hiking and we enjoyed a nice quiet day at Grandma Hoopes' jumping of the trampoline, playing on the gigantor swing, four-wheeling, and playing with toys. Here is a view of the storm starting to show that afternoon over the Grand.

Whitney found a toy dog that barked and sniffed as it rolled along - Travis liked watching!

Here is a classic Whitney - trying to pick up as much as possible

After we got hit with a big storm Thursday night and took a look at the view of the Grand Friday morning - things weren't looking to good for the hikers

Friday was a lot of fun. We went to Justin and Harley's new house which is absolutely gorgeous and played with the cousins. Amy and the kids were nice enough to come up and play too. Whitney was more than happy when we saw how many toys there were in their playroom. Her latest thing is to stuff everything in her pockets - good thing I checked them when we got into the car, she had a ton of necklaces and balls hiding in them! Here are all the kids playing and haging out. We played some mean games of hide and seek where they would tell me where they were hiding - my kind of game!

When we got home I put the midgets in their new pajamas - they looked so cute I just had to take some pictures!

Travis is going to get me!

Midgets making faces

Whitney enchanted Travis with her musical skills

Aaron got back late Friday night so Saturday ended up being a fun play-day. I got a nice run in the mountains that morning which gives me a dose of freedom - always starts my day off good.
I came home to Whitney ready to go hiking - I guess all the talk of everybody hiking the last two days made her want to - so Grandpa consented to go hiking with her and I think she made it a whole 5 min. before turning around!

Probably the highlight of the trip for me was that day we went on a fun four-wheeler ride where I got to show Aaron where I got "lost" the last time I ran in the mountains. It was a gorgeous day and when we got to the top we took a nature walk which Whitney loved. Travis seemed to really enjoy it too - double bonus!

That night we watched Sahara at Justin & Harley's (Aaron would say the reason I liked the movie was because Matthew Mconahey was in it - which I can't entirely deny). The next day we went to the big city of Dubios to go to church with the Murdock family and have lunch all together. It was a good finish. The miracle of the whole trip was that Travis slept all the way from Idaho to the Rasmussen's and Whitney slept most of the way. We had a lot of fun - but I'm glad to be home - Travis finally let me sleep good again last night.

Travis is 6 months old!!!

It's crazy to me that six months ago I was having another child. In some ways the time has gone fast, but in many other ways it has definately felt like six months! I have been tired, sleep deprived, and felt like I had a permanent attachment - on the other hand, what a blessing to have such a fun, cute, happy, healthy boy. My heart still melts when he looks at me with his big blue eyes and gives me a big gummy grin or giggle. Honestly despite loosing what little freedom I had - I wouldn't want it any other way - besides, things are just starting to get really fun!

Here are some latest pics and video of Travis

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Rasmussen Reunion Marathon

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted so here is what we've been up too. The Schelins have come into town for a couple weeks to visit and check out the dental situation here. A couple days after they arrived all the family in Utah at the time met at Lehi Legacy pool (pretty impressive) for a swim party and then played and ate pizza at the park. It was so fun to see Amy and Bryan and the kids again. It is so amazing to me how much kids grow up in a year. Avery is finally no longer scared of me and doesn't flash me anymore crusties. Austin is the adventure boy who is always up for fighting the bad guys. Zach knows too much about Star Wars and is still the sweetest kid - he was the nicest to Whitney - always willing to help her if she was struggling. They warmed up to everyone so fast I honestly was shocked that these were the same kids! It was so fun to be able to play games with them at the park and see their personalities shine through while Amy battled with Travis and got him to sleep - she claims it was to get her "Travis fix" - but I still think it was a cover-up for giving me some free time to play.

Here are some pictures of the pool and park on Saturday the 28th of July.

The next week our family was blessed with some wicked sicknesses. Whitney got it first - her tummy hurt and she layed on the couch for about three days. At the same time Aaron was sick enough with a cold to cancel/postpone his trip to Idaho to climb the Grand. And then last Friday I came down with the stomach flu that Whitney had and it nearly killed me. It took four days of living on 7up and crackers and living in the bathroom to recover. Truly I'm glad that week is over - do not want to relive that one anytime soon! Apperantly everyone else that went to the Lehi pool got sick too - so we weren't the only ones.

By Tuesday everyone felt mostly normal and my family was nice enough to travel all the way to our house to play. Jeff and Selly were even able to come this time. We put together a small waterpark in the back yard and the kids explored new territory and new toys. Whitney was in heaven to have so many friends come to play!

The next day we invaded Grandma - just to see how good her endurance has gotten. We went swimming at a neighbors pool in the morning and then came back for lunch/play and then hit the pool again in the afternoon. Travis was good and of course whitney was in heaven with all the people - plus Austin let her borrow his goggles so she could show off how hot she is in them! My highlight of the day is that my mom and Selly were nice enough to stay at home and listen for Travis (who was sleeping) so I could go to the pool with just whitney - oh the freedom! It felt so good to actually swim and dive and be able to play with all the kids with both hands free!!! Almost all the adults (Lori chickened out) tested thier back flip skills out on the diving board. For whitney this was a long waited for day. For about two weeks everyday she has asked me to go to Grandma's house for a "green one popsicle." It was really fun - thanks mom for the food and hospitality!!