Recent Happenings

We have been pretty busy around here lately. I need to figure out how to do those slide-show things that people put on their blogs so that I can just do one of those with all of the pics, but as you may know, technological stuff is intimidating to me. So, this will do for now.
A couple of weeks ago, we took Eden in for a major hair-chopping. Jeremy was just "slightly" attached to her long hair. Every time I have trimmed it, he gets all anxious like I am cutting one of her fingers off. What is it with Dad's and their little girls' hair??? Anyway, I finally convinced him that we could just cut it short this one time so that it could grow out thicker and would look a lot less raggedy. So, he finally caved. I will admit though that i was nervous to do it as well. After all is said and done though, it looks adorable on her and fits her personality very well. I have yet to figure out how to do it as poofy as the hair cutter girl did, but it's cute anyway.



Another new thing is that Eden came to me one afternoon while we were outside playing chalk saying "Mommy, look....look....I wrote my name!" I turned around and looked and she had written her name perfectly on the side-walk. What? I didn't teach her that! She has been very much into letters lately and is always asking us how you spell things, like her name, but I never sat down and tried to teach her how to write her name. Yeah, she's her father's child. So, now she can write her name, as well as 'Mom' and 'Dad'. You can see in the picture below that she drew herself and her name is in the top right corner. So stinkin' cute!

This final shot is a preggy shot because we have not taken ANY thus far. I figured I better take at least one. This is me and my little basketball belly at almost 23 weeks. It was taken just before church which is why I am wearing a dress.

Other than that, we have been trying to catch up on sleep due to staying up late for two weeks watching the olympics. We loved every minute of it though (despite the crummy judging in the women's gymnastics). Eden has finished her second round of swimming lessons and has completed her level 2. She is now officially a "Sea-Horse". Although, she has tried to convince me again and again that she is part fish. That girl loves the water and can't get enough. She started up her dance classes again, and of course is very passionate about dancing as well. It is pretty entertaining and invigorating just to watch her and kind of live vicariously through her.
I am enjoying being pregnant, except for the interrupted sleep, and am very anxious to see this new little girl and try to remember how to take care of a newborn again. It has been almost 4 years!

5 years and counting

We had our 5 year anniversary last week. I remember when we first got married and the idea of being married for 5 years seemed like such a long time. Now that we're here, I feel like we've been married for much longer....in a good way. I think it's because so much has happened in the last couple of years in our lives that normally would happen over a span of 10 years or so. Another reason may be that we have grown so accustomed to each other that it is hard to imagine life before we were together.
I'm not going to go all cheesy on y'all. I save that specifically for Jeremy.:) I did post a kissy face picture of us just because I know it makes Jeremy crazy, and hey....after five years, you've got to find ways to make your "spouse" (I hate that word!) cringe so that you can get a laugh. Don't be fooled, Jeremy is the best at this, but saves it for when I'm his only audience.
Anyway, we had a great anniversary. Jeremy planned the whole thing and I was so impressed. If any of you know Jer, you know that he doesn't pride himself on planning things or on being particulary romantic. Poor guy had to marry into a family where all of the men are rediculously romantic and apparently "ruin it for the rest of us". So, when he does it, I am always so proud of him. He really does underestimate himself when it comes to planning romantic things. He is very good at it.
So, here's to you, my lover dover. "You are the best" (said like Nacho Libre). And as for the next five years +, we better hold on tight and buckle up if it is as crazy as the last 5, which, knowing us, I'm sure it will be. Here's some cheese for you: How great and incredible to be married to your best friend who is just as weird as you are and loves you more because of it.

Sweet Kiddos

Last weekend, I did a family photo shoot with a family of 6 from my sister's neighborhood. Family photos or group photos actually scare me because I haven't had a lot of practice and therefore have a hard time getting everything in focus and everyone looking, etc.. It was good to get out and push myself again though.
The kiddos were really sweet and the 3 younger kids were quite photogenic. The funny part was that the oldest boy was the most challenging. He was not interested in looking at the camera. Oh well. You make the most of what you have to work with, right?
Thanks, Darla, for trusting me with this. I think I was lucky enough to get some great shots. Let me know what y'all think.

Fun on the Farm

We spent the 24th in with Jer's family. They actually pull off a pretty good fireworks show over Deer-Creek, in small-town, Charleston. Little Miss E had her first solo ride on one of Grandpa's horses. She LOVED it of course. This girl has a passion for everything. I love that about her.
The second shot is of my cute nephew who is full of energy. I was surprised we got him to hold still AND smile. What a handsome guy.
(Again, the exposure setting was way off...I fixed what I could, but that's what happens when you don't practice enough. Always learning.)

Motorboat

Did you ever wonder what you look like when you do your best, full-throttle motorboat mouth? Well, here is a look into a few of us at our best. Just be aware that my camera was way off on the whole exposure thing...I don't know what I was thinking with the settings, but these are too good not to share.Yes, I look like a tired horse (I was tired, and the rest is the combination of the big teeth and big lips...eau natural), but I know that I am at peace with my own self confidence when I am willing to post a shot of me looking like this. The sad part is that this is one of the very few photos of myself that you will see since I don't take pictures of myself, or post them hardly ever. It's a keeper though. Neigh! (By the way, who came up with the idea that a horse says, "Neigh". I mean, really, it's not even close. I guess you can't really spell out the noise that they really make, so that will have to do.)


This is my sister-in-law, who is just as nutty as Jeremy and I....what a good sport.

Speaking of big lips....pucker up, baby!

It's about....

time that we filled everyone in on our little semi-secret that we are expecting baby #2 in December. We are just over 18 weeks along and just went in for our ultra sound this morning. We are going have a GIRL. Yep. That's right. We are very excited , although a little surprised because we were kind of expecting it to be a boy and kind of hoping that it would be because we have a boys name picked out and cannot seem to agree on a girls name. We are excited to have another sweet girl though, especially so Eden can finally have a playmate. Everything looked normal on the ultra sound, which was a relief. It has been a rough road getting to this point (a healthy pregnancy), but we are so happy to be here and hope that everything continues to go well. We feel very blessed and will keep everyone updated from now on.
By the way, the poor little girl is due on December 23rd....we are hoping to go a kind of late so that she doesn't have to compete with Christmas, but hey, we'll take her whenever she wants to come.
We'll take another one of these any day!

Another Crazy month come and gone

So, here is my traditional monthly post. June seems to have flown by. It was a great month and we are already almost half way into July. Does anyone remember when you were a kid and the days and years seemed to creep slowly by. It seemed like we had all the time in the world. The worst was waiting for each Christmas to come. It always seemed like it would never happen. Now, as a grown-up (supposedly), it seems like I am still recovering from last Christmas and the year is half way gone. There are benefits to this though. Especially when I am waiting impatiently, of course, for a certain event. This is when it is good that time seems to have sped up, the older I have gotten.
Anyway, we had a great month. Busy of course, but great. Eden took swimming lessons for two weeks and absolutely loved every moment of it. This girl loves the water and cannot resist getting in it whether she is in a bathing suit or in her clothes. The odd thing is that lately she hates , no despises taking a bath and fights us every time. Maybe we could just let her run through the sprinkler and we can spray some soap on her in the process.....hmmm...that's a new idea.
We also had our annual Rasband Family camping trip. This was also a great time in which we were able to just relax and enjoy the out doors. This is one of the major benefits of living in Utah. There are beautiful camping places all over the state. That is something that I wondered about when I was in Texas. They didn't have mountains, so therefore the camping experience was dramatically different for me. I LOVE the mountains and the diversity that is found in this state.
Here are some pictures of some of June. There were so many other fun memories made, but this blog is already long enough.