Colonel Rasmussen

Soon after Jake left on his mission, Jay left for a year-long tour to Afghanistan.  I have a lot of different emotions swirling around inside me about being away from him for so long.  The first thing I'm feeling is that I feel sad for him.  People always feel sad for me when he is gone, they feel sorry for me, but really, it is harder on him.  Jay does not like to be alone.  He will miss me.  He will miss his kids.  He will miss his grandkids.  His living conditions will not be great.  It will be dangerous at times.  I will miss him terribly, but I think it is easier on me than him.  I still get all the comforts of home.  I get to go on trips and see the kids and grandkids.  My routine will not change that much.  I will be lonely, we both will.  I love him with all my heart.  I am also feeling very proud of him.  He is the best husband and father anyone could ever hope for.  I hope the year goes by fast, but, it's always good to have something to look forward to, and we can both look forward to Christmas and his mid-tour break!

Girls' Trip to Pennsylvania

While my (very pregnant) daughter Jessica was still here visiting, we decided to go on a little get-away to somewhere both she and I have always wanted to go- Falling Waters, which is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home that is open to the public for tours.  We decided to make an overnight trip out of it and visit some other sites that were close by to the house.  My two friends from book club and church, Denise and Elaine, came also.  For book club we had recently read David McCullough's book "The Johnstown Flood" so we went to the Johnstown museum and the site of the previous earthen dam that broke.  Also close by is the site where flight 93 went down on September 11.  There is a small makeshift memorial there, and they are working on a permanent memorial.  But, it was a very emotional place to visit, very somber, very sad.
 
It was a wonderful trip; fun, interesting, and emotional.  We were all quite drained by the time we got home!

Jessica, me, Denise, and Elaine at Falling Waters

At the Johnstown Flood museum

Site of the dam that broke and flooded Johnstown

Saying Goodbye to Elder Rasmussen

We enjoyed the fireworks on the 4th of July

We ate one last meal together at the Cheesecake Factory

Then we went to the airport

Gave hugs, shed a few tears

And said goodbye to him for two years!

 If you would like to follow the adventures of Elder Rasmussen on his mission, hop on over to his mission blog at ElderJacobRasmussen.blogspot.com

Back to blogging

Well, my son has left on his mission and I am starting a mission blog for him, so I thought I'd might as well keep up on my personal blog.  I am horrible at keeping a journal, so this is something that is important for me to do.  I will try to update on Sundays, I hope that is a realistic goal I can keep.  Wish me luck!

The Annual Rasmussen Family Reunion

Every year Jay's parents host a Rasmussen Family reunion. We hardly ever make it to the reunion since we are the only one of Jay's siblings not living in Utah, but we were fortunate to be there this year. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and being with the family. There were a lot of people there, but this little guy is the only person I took pictures of!

Grandpa sure loves his boy!

Back To Utah

Lucky me! I was fortunate enough to make the drive out to Utah twice in one summer! I had flown back to Virginia to go to Jake's Eagle Scout court of honor and to take care of some things with the apartment, so I was able to make the drive out to Utah with Jay and Jake. Three of us in the cab of a U-Haul that couldn't go much over 60 mph! Too much fun! We rented the U-Haul so that we could take Jordan all his childhood possessions now that he has a house with an unfinished basement (his wife is so excited to see his Star Wars collections). We also took out Julie's piano and some other things for Jake and Julie. It was a long, uneventful trip, and we were so glad to finally reach Utah.

Along the way we stopped in Grinnell, Iowa, the cutest little midwestern town ever!

Eagle Scout

I flew back to Virginia to attend Jake's Eagle Scout court of honor. It was a really nice event and we are really proud of Jake and all his hard work during scouting.

Saying a few words about his experiences with scouting

Dad putting on his Eagle Scout neckerchief

We're so proud of our Eagle Scout

They Will Always Be My Little Girls

Jessie and I went to the PX on Hill Air Force Base one day to do some shopping. I was thinking maybe I would get her a new outfit, maybe a piece of jewelry. What do you think caught her eye and caused her to squeal with excitement.....

That's right, a dollhouse! As we were in the toy section looking for a toy for Kaden she came across this dollhouse in the clearance aisle. It was originally $70 marked down to $15. When she saw it this is what I heard, "Please, please please, please." Now remember this is my 24-year-old daughter. She also added that she and Julie would have so much fun making it together (since children know that parents like it when they play nice together). Well, of course I bought it and when we took it back to Jordan's house and showed Julie she was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Now remember, she is my 20-year-old daughter. I have to say they did have lots of fun building, decorating, and painting their new dollhouse which is now in Jordan's basement waiting patiently for a granddaughter to play with it, or for Jessie and Julie to get it out and play with it again!

Deciding the color scheme for the new house

Working hard on their project

I love my girls!

Best Friends

I spent a lot of time with these two cuties over the summer in Utah. Kaden loves bouncing in his chair and Toby just hangs out underneath him.

Off To Utah

Well, we needed to move into the apartment a little sooner than I really wanted because Jake and Julie hadn't left for school yet and I didn't want to move until they were gone. Our renters needed to move in before school started, so we moved out. Life in a one bedroom/one bath apartment doesn't work so well with four people, so after a week or so Jay had the idea that Julie and I should head out to Utah early. Julie could get settled and find a job before all the other students got back and I could spend more time with Jessica and Justin while they were in Utah for the summer for Justin's internship. Jake had a summer internship with the Army National Guard doing some statistical work, so he needed to stay in Virginia. So Julie and I packed up her little car and made the trek west. We made it in four days. We listened to two Harry Potter books on the way. It was a good trip!

Our New Place

As many of you know, this has been Jay's life for the past 6 years. Up and down I-95 to get to work every day. It is a terrible stretch of freeway going into/out of Washington D.C. When we first moved here we settled in Stafford County because we could afford a large house there and the schools are really good there. So Jay made the sacrifice and commuted to work every day.

We had been talking for a while about having a grand adventure and moving to the city after Jake graduated. I wasn't sure if it would really happen, the housing market being what it is, there were so many houses for rent that I didn't know if we could rent ours. Jay and I made our lists of pros and cons, prayed about it, and decided that we would put our house up for rent, and if it was meant to be, it would all work out. Well, we put our house up for rent at 9 pm on a Wednesday night, and by Thursday we had 4 people come look at it. One man really wanted it for his family moving from Colorado, so we rented it to him that day. The next day we went out looking for apartments and found our new home.

We are loving city life, and our little one-bedroom apartment. Those who know me know that I am very good at purging, I don't hang on to much unless it really means something to me, so I pretty much sold all my furniture except the little that we brought with us. We have a storage unit that is full of our children's belongings that we will keep until they have places of their own to store them. Also, all my Christmas decorations are stored there.

I have never seen Jay so happy as the day he sold his lawn mower and weed-eater! He always worked hard on our yard, and always kept it nice, but it was not something that gave him much pleasure. Now he can spend his Saturdays on the golf course, he's earned it!

We are on the 16th floor, top balcony on the left

The view from our balcony

Jay and Molly on the balcony

Must Finish 2009 !!!

Well... I certainly did not get caught up on my blog like I said I would in my last post! I am trying to think what happened... Jay went golfing and I was going to spend the morning blogging, but it started raining and he came home, so we spent the day together and I didn't get my blog caught up. So here goes another try. I was supposed to work today, but it is a SNOW DAY. School is out, so I think today is a good day to catch up. I am hoping to print off my blog as a type of journal, so that is why I am determined to get everything posted. So, even though it is 2010, I am going back to finish 2009!