Happy Rainy Sunday

    So the wheat in my neighbor farmer’s field is sooo pretty.  And for some reason, our neighbors have been training their cow to run.  They’ve practiced a few nights in a row now.  They have horses, but perhaps they want to get double duty from their cows.  Who knows.On Saturday our little village had a Music Fest and since Hazel and Jethro’s classes were singing, we went up for a little while.  Not too long, but long enough to see a traditionally dressed Swiss girl,   and  a cow-bell parade/band. They were really loud but pretty cool.  I have a short video, but I’m too lazy to upload it.Here’s Hazel’s class.  Can you see her near the right?  I also have a video of her song, but again, not feeling the uploading vibe. Here’s Jethro.  His class and three or four others had some great songs, including an Indian one, English one, and an African one.  Kami, you would be impressed with his African song.  Maybe someday I’ll upload the clip.  But- not today. Talmage ran into a radio.  (The radio that didn’t work that Brett had taken out of the van and brought it home for the kids to play with.  Ethne was holding the radio at the time of the accident.)  Those pajamas he’s wearing now have no feet because I cut them off so I could put his pajamas on backwards, thus keeping him from removing them and his diaper which has too frequently occurred. All the kids love Daddy. Talmage grabbed Ethne’s dress from church today and wanted to put it on, so I did (of course).   Then when I took his picture, he tilted his head to the side as if he knew that would make him cuter.  Wonder where he got that idea from? And this picture?  This is my new favorite picture.  There’s just something so right about it.  Andrea, you should post the picture of you and Derek, and Lindsay, you should post the picture of  Wyatt, you, and Ethan.  Good, good times.  (Much MUUUUCH giggling and laughing whenever they saw each other or themselves.) (Ethne’s little face is so cute here.  And Talmage is just sooo pretty.)  :)The End

but p.s. stay tuned this week for the much anticipated post… it’s getting better and better all the time, though I may just have to split it into two installments because of length.  I’m so excited.

10 for Tuesday

1. Today I hugged Talmage so hard that he threw up on me. Luckily not too much. I guess that'll teach me to squeeze him. But I can't help it. He's so cute. I've just got to squeeeeeeeeeze.

2. When Jethro and Hazel got home from school, Talmage stood there waving to them and then he gave Jethro a big hug, and then Hazel, and then Jethro, and then Hazel. It was the sweetest thing ever.

3. Tonight the kids and I watched the movie 'Savage Sam' on youtube. It's the sequel to 'Old Yeller.' Strangely enough, Young Yeller is not in this movie. But a dog named Savage Sam is. It's pretty cool to see Travis and Arliss older-- but Arliss is the same old rock-chuckin crazy kid. Go watch. It's good. Especially good if you watch it with a 7-year-old boy. Oh my Jethro is so cute.

4. Today I had the itch for fresh salsa. So I went to the store and tomatoes were on sale for half price. Clearly, it was meant to be. Then I made the salsa, then I ate a bunch and it was so good it made me want to sing songs of praise to it.

5. Brett is coming back to me from the far-off isle of England tonight! I won't be so lonely in my big, rock-hard bed. Sigh.

6. I forgot to tell about how we went to the Embassy to get our house papers notarized. We looked up how much such a thing would cost in Switzerland and it was OUTRAGEOUS. Like, 750 franks outrageous. Apparently, in Switzerland you don't just pay for the notary, but for the services of a lawyer or something crazy like that. So I had the genius idea to see if the US Embassy would do that, and they did! But we got to go through the crazy-strict security and then wait a million hours which drove Brett crazy but it was all worth the money we got to keep in our wallet.

7. Also, I had my first experience at a doctor's office in Switzerland. It was even for myself, and not one of the kids. I had a gross nasty pinkeye infection, so I just called up the nearest doctor (who conveniently works out of a little place inside an apartment building in our little village) and scheduled a visit. It was soooo awesome. I didn't have to wait, I didn't have to fill out a million bajillion papers on my life's health history, in fact-I didn't even remember to bring in my cell phone out of the car so I couldn't even write down my phone number. I just wrote my address, my insurance, and umm, birthday I think. Then the doctor looked at my eye, asked if I was allergic to anything, and walked into the next room and got the eye drops and ointments for me and handed them to me. Doctors do that here- you don't have to go to the pharmacy. I guess we'll see how great it still was after I get the bill in the mail (which I will then promptly send to my insurance.)

8. When Ethne says 'pretty please' it sounds like 'fitty feese.' Very funny.

9. When I was still pushing snooze on my alarm this morning Jethro came in and told me that Talmage had taken off his diaper. Sometimes Talmage takes off a stinky pooey diaper when he's in his crib and chucks it onto the floor, so I was not so happy that my morning was going to start off with cleaning poo from sheets, floor, and baby.

10. When I went in, I saw that the diaper on the floor was not pooey, only wet. How I loved that wet diaper!

I can’t think of a title.

• Talmage likes to play with his horse and tractor.  And he likes to be read to.

   Oh goodness, he’s so cute. Talmage also likes to run around naked. Ethne got into my makeup.  How nice. Talmage with Nutella.  I know, we’ve seen Talmage with Nutella before, but this one just reminds me of someone…  Ethne scared of the tractor that she thought was going to come run over her.  And cute siblings.  And some pictures in honor of Mother’s Day- I know, they’re late. 

• On Sunday we walked around the Botanical Gardens again.  The favorite thing was this pond with lots and lots of tadpoles.

  

•   Right now Brett is on an airplane going to London.  He’s there for a conference, and he’ll be back tomorrow.

Speaking of Brett, today we went for a short walk before he had to go (I tried to get him to play with us all morning (I do my best to keep him from working) but he decided he had better go to work and prepare for the conference), and we just walked by the farm next to us.  He was looking at all their crops, seeing how dry their cut hay was, and then as we were walking home he saw another tractor coming down the road, and he was betting that they were going to put all the hay into the silage.  Then when we got home, he took a chair out on to the deck and watched for awhile.  I told my sister Andrea that and she said, “You can take the boy out of the farm…”

The other day in German class I was talking to a guy from Portugal and I asked him if he had kids and he said he had two sons, then he asked me if I had kids and I told him four (this was all in German, by the way, since he doesn’t speak English), and he said, “MAMA MIA!!”  It was so funny.

Also at German class, some people were planning to maybe go somewhere that weekend, and they asked if I wanted to come along.  I knew it was fairly doubtful that I’d go, but I thought I’d keep the option open, so I gave Juan from Dominican Republic my phone number and as he was entering it into his phone he looked up and said, “Is your husband yealous?”  I wanted to say, “Yeah, if he picks up the phone you’d better hang up…”  ha ha.

I have a really REALLY good post coming up soon.  I’m just waiting for some things from my mom.  It’s going to rock, and it will also be long.  But you like long posts, right?

I wanted to make a treat today, but I have no chocolate to make chocolate chip cookies, or even better, Scotcheroos. –They’re my favorite, and I had Allison bring me some of the ingredients that are unavailable here.  Thanks again Allison!  But alas, the stores were closed because it’s a holiday (yay!) because it’s Pentecost. 

Fortunately, we have Nutella in the house, and though we have no bread to spread it on, I’m very happy to just eat it by the spoonful.

Some funnies for today.

So, my wonderful sister Megan sent me cd’s with all the pictures from Lindsay’s wedding.  It was fun to see all of them.  I have picked out a few to share with you.  First, classic Dad: Now he’s getting out his wallet to show it’s emptiness after all the wedding preparations (though I think I still see some green… send it my way Dad, to give credence to your whining):I don’t know what he just finished saying, but it must have been funny. This one I like too.  One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong.  Wyatt must have been getting antsy to be in front of the camera, so he had to jump into the Latorre family picture. And finally, a very very VERY funny little video clip of the Smothers Brothers.  Watch it.  It’s hilarious.  It can only be made funnier by watching it with Wyatt, who, in true Wyatt fashion, rewinds his favorite parts and watches them over and over twenty million times, and then repeats all the funny lines a million more times.  Just picturing Wyatt saying ‘naked bacon’ makes me laugh.

Reunion

So, it’s been wet, rainy, and overcast for oh, about the last twenty years.  (Feels like.)  And this morning I woke up to a GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, HAPPY, BRIGHT blue sky with sunshine streaming everywhere.  Ahhhh. 

And then, clouds moved in and covered all the blue.  Ruff.  So, for today, I thought I would hark back to a happier, sunnier, warmer time.  Here are some pictures from the reunion that I never posted because 1) I was moving to I didn’t know where and that consumed much of my time, 2) my sister already posted all about it, and 3) there were so many pictures that I was overwhelmed. 

But anyhow, now we can have a delightful little reminisce about the 2009 Rasmussen Family Reunion.  All out of order, but that’s okay.

There was the annual karaoke contest (karaoke used loosely, meaning lip-synch, sing-along, or whatever).  Derek and Brooke’s family won.  Again.  Ruff.  ;)  I have to say, their Mormon rap song was pretty sweet.  Bear Lake.  Ethne had a fun time.Races, tackle football games, eating sandy chips and sandwiches.  Good times.  

Wyatt posed.w Brett and I did a trick.

Then Hazel and Uncle Ethan did a trick too.

  This was from the Carnival Day, which was way WAY awesome.  Grandpa with Ornery Ethne. Brett was assigned to do the Mad Scientist booth. Ethan’s job was the Dip of Death.  Later, in the afternoon when the sun had shone on the water and warmed it up, kids took turns getting dumped.  And listen to this—my brother Wyatt convinced me to get in and sit there –with all my clothes on—and let him have JUST ONE throw.  So, I did.  And after his ONE throw, he ran up and hit the thingee with his hand.  I scraped up my arms grabbing on to keep myself up (I deserved it for being so gullible).  My bottom half was soaked, but at least not my whole self.  It kept me comfortably cool for the rest of the day till I dried out.  :) Wyatt and Megan were in charge of Pony Rides.

Uncle Tim had scoured D.I. and the Dollar Store (I think) for weeks and had incredibly cool prizes at his Balloon-Dart game. Kami and Lindsay Ann were the AWESOME face-painters.  They were awesome.   Frozen Snowcones served by Strong Man Jack himself.  (A reunion with Grandpa ALWAYS includes snowcones.)

And there were hotdogs, as any good carnival should have.

  Brett’s face painting job was a little trick—see if you can tell which eye is the real one and which is the fake.  (Because of this exciting incident two days before.)

There was some slip-and-slidin’.

I am so lucky to have such a gorgeous mom.

  Me and Lindsay Ann looking gorgeous.  (I was borrowing Ethan’s hat.) And our daughters.  Ethne and Cassidy are incredible posers.

Wow- the following pictures… well, I can’t put it any better than how Andrea put it:

Rules to live by according to Derek:
IF YOU CAN'T BE BUFF,
BE WEIRD.
Girls dig it.

 

Isn’t the likeness of the real Jack and the poster Jack startlingly similar? (Kami is responsible for the awesome posters I believe.) Lindsay hung out in the Magic Tree House and gave away books.  I like that in a carnival. During the races, I insisted on a crawling race between Talmage and Isabel.  Talmage smoked her, as you can see.  Yeehaw!! Andrea introduced a new race that was how to get across the gym the CRAZIEST way.  It was awesome.

  There are so many more pictures.  But that’s enough.  Good times, very good times I say.