Fishing at Tibble Fork

Before it got cold, we went on a family fishing expedition to Tibble Fork (up AF canyon). Jon and Sarah came with us. We love hanging out with them! They are so fun and sweet with our kids. Eleyna was in heaven playing in the mud and picking up rocks. The girl loves rocks-she may have a future in geology.
Sarah and I just talked while the boys did the dirty work of fishing. It was so fun.

We almost gave up hope of catching anything. Then, right before we left, Jonny got a bite! Yea!

Funny face

Over the last few days, Eleyna has started making a new face. It seems to appear when she is concentrating on something.I'm so glad we have her to make us laugh!

Kindred spirits

Make a Smilebox photobook

Sometimes when you have a special child, you have some pretty special friends too. April, Caleb, and Mitchell~ we sure love you guys!

Flu bug

The dreaded time of year is upon us...

Thanks to everyone who made this stay a little brighter,and got Hunter to smile despite his illness.

We are so relieved to have our little man back at home.

Reunion on the farm

See that tiny little girl in that great big tractor? Yup, that's Eleyna.

Basically since the dawn of time, the Rassmussens (that's Bry's mom's side of the family) have held their yearly family reunions on Grandma and Grandpa's potato farm just outside of Rexburg. Summertime visits to the farm make up some of Bryson's favorite memories from childhood. A few weeks ago we packed up the kids (again!) and drove up there to spend the weekend with the Rassmussen clan. It is always nice to visit with family you don't get to see very often, but the unanticipated highlight was watching Eleyna go hog-wild with happiness. There was neverending open space to play, rocks and sticks to pick up, motorcycles and dune buggies to ride, tractors and tricycles to climb on, and on and on and on. Plus, two of Bry's cousins have kids almost exactly Eleyna's age to play with. She did not want to come home to our boring house! It was pretty chilly up there for August so Hunter had to hang in the house with me most of the time. Hunter and Grandpa Rassmussen are special friends and they fell asleep together on the couch one night. So precious.

Eleyna can't wait for next year!

California!

In July, we got to spend a week in Newport Beach, California, with my family. Poor Bryson was sick the whole time we were gone, but we still made lots of fun memories. The first day there we went to Sea World. Grandpa and Eleyna were a cute pair-they chased seagulls, saw lots of fish and went to the Shamu show and did the "Shamu splash". (We did all of that too.) This picture was taken at the tide pools with an obliging starfish.Eleyna LOVED the beach! Grandma and Grandpa loved watching Eleyna at the beach. :)The girls! Eleyna had a blast playing in the sand with the toys her daddy bought her. (Since we don't really have any beaches here in Utah I'm not sure if Bry really thought that one through. Still, I think it is very cute he wanted her to have sand toys to play with at the beach.)


Hunter spent most of his time at the beach under the umbrella in the shade, looking handsome. It was a workout pushing him through the sand in his wheelchair! Good thing my biceps are so huge-not!
There were several pools at the hotel we stayed at. We made good use of them.
One night we went to grab some take-out for dinner. We sat outside of the restaurant to wait for our food. Eleyna kept running away from us in to the restaurant and playing peek-a-boo around the door. She's so cute and fun! There was a pond with enormous goldfish at our hotel and Eleyna was in love with it. She is totally fascinated by fish. Grandpa and her walked down there a couple of times to say hi to the fishies.

We had such a great time on this vacation. I feel so lucky to have parents who are willing and able to make trips like this happen. Hunter was a trooper and was the only one who didn't get sick on the trip or in the weeks that followed. (A tender mercy indeed.) Family is the best.

The Phoenix

Bryson had a house in the Parade of Homes this year. It was down off Carterville Rd in Orem. It was a remodel after a house fire. It was a very rewarding project, particularly because Bry got to work with such great homeowners (Jared and Jessica Connors) during the process. One night during the Parade, I got to take tickets at the door and it was fun to hear the nice comments of the people who walked through the home. I'm married to such a talented, creative guy. I'm very proud of how hard he works to provide for our family. I know it must be a lot of pressure for one person to deal with, but he handles it easily. I love to see his hard work pay off.

This is us in front of the house after the Parade was over.