Weekend in Chicago

So, this weekend we went to The Infernal City, as Brett calls it, aka Chicago, to see Grandma Rasmussen and the new baby Isabel! She is the teeniest little teeny tiny thing you've ever seen!!! And so so sooo cute too! All of my kids loved her. We had a good visit and were able to see her blessed, during which she spit up (mostly on Leo and Brett). She's a funny kid already!

I took a (relatively) few pictures for Kami, and I thought I got some beautiful ones.When I posted these on our family website, my dad said about the above one: You're squeezing her brains out already. tsk tsk FOG
And then he commented on the above:

See, you squoze the breath out of her and she passed out!!!

We went to their apartment swimming pool for awhile, and everyone had a great time.
Ethne and Elena, who can't figure out if they're friends or foes, walked home from the pool holding hands almost the whole way. It was very cute.
Here's Grandma with the babies.
On Sunday I took pictures of everyone holding the baby. Except I didn't take any of Mommy and Baby--I can't believe it!--so pretty much I'm a loser as a wanna-be-photographer. Kami, next week you'll have to wear the same outfits and pretend it's still her blessing day and have someone take pictures for you.
What a beautiful family! (But Hazel said, "They have too many girls!" Rubbish!) (sorry Kami that I stole your thunder and posted all these, but hey--they were on my camera--I had to post them!)
Hazel's been saying quite a few weird things lately. Specifically, on the way home last night, she said out of the blue, "I'm not going to go to church when I'm a grown-up." Brett and I were rendered almost speechless with surprise, but said, "Why not?" And she said, "Because I already know about Jesus and the gospel." And we gaped some more, and I said, "But what about when you have children? Are you going to take them to church so they can learn about the gospel and Jesus?" and she said, "I'll just tell them." And Brett and I didn't really say anything for awhile. But we must have acted sufficiently mortified, because after a bit she said, "Just kidding." I don't think she had been meaning to say that all along. Crazy kid. So then I had a few words to say about why we have to go to church our whole lives. Anyway, pretty wild stuff these kids come up with. (And I think she had a really good time in primary that day--at least I thought she did?)

Tonight we had FHE, and Brett told Jethro he was in charge of the lesson, but that he would help them. So they squirreled themselves away for awhile, and came up with a cool lesson. But first, it was funny because Jethro was welcoming everyone, and Brett told him to choose someone for opening prayer, and he said, "Brett, would you say prayer?" and Brett's like, "Sure, SON." hee hee. Anyway, so Jethro had wanted to teach about the 2000 Stripling Warriors (he watched the Living Scriptures video about them on Sunday at Kami's house, and at the end he kindof shook his head and said, "I just love that." :) ). So they had us do a cool activity to learn about being courageous and having faith. One person was blindfolded and the other people set up a little obstacle course and two others held toy swords as obstacles, and then one person told the blindfolded person what to do to get through it. It was pretty fun. The best part was when we let Ethne try it (but she wasn't blindfolded), and Brett told her to crawl to go under a sword, and she just flopped down and didn't go anymore, and we all were laughing so hard. So she was the only one who died.

That reminds me of another FHE activity I meant to post about ages ago, where we were learning about family unity, so we went in the backyard and tied all of our feet together, like in a three-legged race, but everyone was tied). Then we were supposed to try to get somewhere by following the father's counsel, but even then it was just out of control. We were all laughing our heads off, and the only reason we didn't end up falling on top of each other and breaking several legs was that Brett held us up. I recommend it as a very fun FHE activity. That is, if you have a buff dad to keep you up. :)

Here is a survey I saw on someone's blog that you give to your kids about yourself. I thought it was funny, and I don't feel too bad about the first question because on my friend's blog, her kids' answers were pretty similar, clean your room, or something. So here it is, with Hazel's answers first and Jethro's next. Although sometimes Hazel thought the questions were too hard and didn't come up with an answer.

What does mom always say to you?
H: Pick up
J: pick up my clothes

What makes mom happy?
H: picking up
J: when I listen

What makes mom sad?
H:
J: when I don’t listen

How does mom make you laugh
H: say funny things
J: by saying jokes (I didn't know I was so funny!)

What was mom like when she was little?
H:
J: cute

How old is mom?
H: show me with your fingers
J: 44 (hmmm, a little off. Just a decade or two.)

How tall is mom?
H: 100
J: 2 feet

What does mom like to do?
H: work (this really puzzles me.)
J: be on the internet

What is something mom doesn't like to do?
H: drive the Scout
J: drive the Scout (this was the day after I'd had to drive the Scout to swimming lessons and I grumbled about it, evidently a lot. :) )

What does mom do for a job?
H: work, be on the computer
J: do the dishes

What is mom's favorite food?
H: so many things
J: lasagna (actually lasagna isn't my favorite at all)

What is mom's favorite color?
H: red
J: she likes all the colors

What do mom and Hazel/Jethro like to do together?
H: play
J: make crafts

How do you know mom loves you?
H: she tells nice things to me
J: she gives me kisses