Great Grandpa's Birthday

Alan's Grandpa, Earl Rasmussen, turned 90 years old earlier this month!  Alan's Uncle Brent and Aunt Marilyn (who Grandpa lives with in Twin Falls) organized a big family celebration for the occasion so we made a quick trip to Idaho last weekend.

We drove to Boise to stay with Alan's brother Geoff on Friday.  The 7-hour trip felt like a piece of cake after our 30-hour road trip to AZ at Christmas.  Geoff and his family have a lovely new home about 30 miles west of Boise.  They were great hosts and Spencer LOVED playing with his cousins.  He cried when we left to come home on Sunday.

Since there was a half marathon going on in Boise on Saturday morning, Alan decided that he wanted to run it for part of his birthday present this year.  He's so busy timing races that he hardly ever gets to run them anymore and really misses it.  We had to get up at about 3:00 am Oregon time to get him to the start on time.  It turned out to be a great race though.  Perfect running weather and Alan had a good race.  He finished in 1:39 - two minutes faster than his last half marathon last October!

Waiting for Daddy to cross the finish line.

He always looks so happy when he's about to finish.

 

The steam coming off his head was awesome!  I'm still laughing about it.

Spencer got to do a fun, bouncy obstacle course while we waited for Alan to cool down.

After the steam evaporated, we jumped in the car and headed to Twin Falls for the birthday party.  We didn't want to drive all the way back to Geoff's house for Alan to shower so he just had to be stinky for the two hour drive.  Luckily, Uncle Brent let him take a quick shower at his house before heading to the party.

The party was at a pretty park along the Snake River.  It was sunny, but so windy.  I was freezing and kept two jackets on the whole time.   It was really fun to see Caralee and Alicia along with some of Alan's extended family that we don't see much.  We got to hear a little bit of the Rasmussen family history.  They were baptized in Denmark in the late 1860's and then immigrated to the US to join the Saints.

Grandpa Rasmussen has over 70 descendents.  This map shows all of the places they have served missions.

Then Grandpa told some stories about his childhood.  He is in good health and has a good mind for a 90-year-old!  And, he certainly still has his sense of humor.

It was less-windy and warmer right by the river.

Favorite Aunt Alicia with the kids.  They all adore her!

Four generations of Rasmussen guys.  Guess who has the least hair?!

After a yummy lunch, we headed back to Geoff's house for the evening.  We went to Sacrament Meeting on Sunday morning and then headed home.  It was a quick trip, but definitely worth the effort to get there.  We have such a wonderful heritage!

Crystal Springs Rhododenron Garden

Spencer had to have his arm poked about 15 times by his allergist a few weeks ago so I thought he deserved to do something fun after his appointment.  We decided to visit the rhododendron garden in Portland.  Alan and I took Spencer when he was a baby, but we went too late in the summer and missed all of the blooms.  This year, we went during the peak blooming time and it was gorgeous.  I didn't even know what rhododendrons were until we moved to Oregon, but they are one of my favorite things about the state now.  I didn't wind up with many good pictures, but we had a fun picnic and walk through the garden.  Spencer especially liked all of the ducks and ducklings in the ponds and the stepping stones across a stream.

Grandpa's Birthday

Darwin's birthday fell during our awesome early summer weather this year so we celebrated with a bbq in our backyard.  I love our backyard.  It was so nice out there even though we didn't have a whole lot planted yet.  Alan cooked burgers and I attempted the famous 3-layer German chocolate cake.  Mine didn't turn out as pretty as Debbie's always do, but it still tasted pretty darn good.  We feel so blessed to have a Grandma and Grandpa living so close to us.  Spencer adores both of them and loves wrestling with Grandpa.  Happy Birthday!

Kindergarten Round-Up

Our school district holds a Kindergarten Round-Up for the incoming class each spring.  Spencer was very excited to go check out his new school.  We got to visit his future classroom where Spencer met his future teacher, colored a picture, listened to a story and planted a sunflower seed to take home.  They told him that it would be almost time for kindergarten to start when the sunflower bloomed.  Then we met the principal in the library and Spencer got his fingerprints taken (just for fun).  The last activity was a ride on a school bus.  Spencer had been pretty adamant that he didn't want to ride a bus to school, but he changed his mind after having a great time with two of his preschool friends and Alan on the 15-minute ride.

We had planned to send Spencer to a morning kindergarten class because going to school first thing in the morning just makes sense to me.  Spencer came home from preschool very upset one day, however, because all of the kids in his preschool class were either doing full-day or pm kindergarten.  Alan and I decided that it was important for him to feel comfortable and know a few kids in his class, so we switched him to the pm class. 

Spencer is SUPER excited for school to start and talks about it almost every day.  He didn't even complain when I took him to his allergist for updated testing and his pediatrician for another round of shots.  He is so ready and is going to do awesome.  I might be the one struggling when the time comes to send him away.  I really am excited for him though.

Early Summer

We've had some unusually warm spring weather this year.  I took these pictures on April 23rd.  I think it was only about 70 degrees that day, but the neighbors decided it was warm enough for swimming.  Spencer couldn't resist getting his suit on and jumping in even though it was way too cold for me. Our early summer lasted about 3 weeks and now we're back to normal - rain, rain, rain.  Hopefully that wasn't our only summer!