What's Up!

Lisa-I came home from work early one day so she asked if we could ride bikes to Harmons, so we did.  We bought two little packages of Kettle Chips, and then rode home.  Lisa gets so excited over the little things.  She is a lot of fun.

Eric

On my first foot ball game. I was versing one of my friends named Quinn.
The score was 12/12.If it was one more ening long we would of won the game.
It was the Venom versing Tigers.It was one hour long.I ran very fast.Cole and Cash made the two touch downs.
My coach brought the treats they were Capri Suns.
My 2nd game I was versing the sea hocks  I won.
My 3rd game I was  versing the wolfs I lost.
My 4th game I was versing the broncos I won.
My 5th game I was versing the hulks I won.
I am a really nice team-ate .
sincerely Eric.

Eric is playing basketball now.

I took Eric to a Jazz game a couple of weeks ago. He was excited and he had a good time.  His favorite part was having fun with all of his friends.  They went off and sat by themselves.  Our tickets were in the upper bowl.  I remember back in the day Wendy used to get tickets all the time.  We went to so many games that we refused to go unless it was lower bowl seating and on a weekend.  The suites were a lot of fun too.  We have been to a lot of venues across the country and I find it interesting the best pregame spread I have ever been to was BYU Football.  The stake and BBQ ribs were some of the best anywhere.   


David - I like his preschool.  They emphasize communication skills.  most every evening when David has finished eating he succinctly says " Thank you for dinner may i please be excused from the table"  The way he says it is very polite.

Eric 2014 Halloween

Our family ran into this bear at Yellowstone.  You can't tell from the picture but this grizzly was hungry and enormous.  Luckily he was focused on a moose or elk he took down. Even though I was carrying, I was still nervous until we were able to get back in the car. 

Update

Lisa – First game in All-Stars at Centerville Invitational.  Practices have all been in the morning so most parents do not know the individual players and how good they are. Bottom of the first inning, Lisa gets up with two outs, no runs scored, runner on second and third.  Lisa has two strikes.  Everyone is a little discouraged because Lisa has two strikes.  The next pitch Lisa blasts a line drive over the left fielder's head for a home run.  The crowd reaction was funny because as Lisa stepped to the plate they were thinking “great, a girl hitter.” Then when she hit the ball hard it made a big "ping" noise and you could hear a big gasp from the crowd like everyone was shocked at how hard the ball was hit, and then finally everyone went bonkers as the runners cleared the bases.  It was a lot of fun.

 Eric- I thought Eric was the best hitter on his team. He really worked hard and stepped up his game.

Eric played his first flag-football game.  He played quarterback and for the first time in his life that I have observed, he got nervous and didn’t know what to do.  He had to have a little help from the coach and then he got it.  The highlight of the game was when he ripped off a 50 yard run.

 

David- It seems everyone knows who David is. People will come up to me and say we saw David do.....

Wendy- Wendy is amazing.  She really cares about the kids' school, and our community. Last week she was fighting a group popular with the City, County, and the media.  At church she was getting a lot of attention from people telling her she should run for city council.  This week a committee asked her to meet with them to give her views on a particular subject; the group really just wants her support.  She definitely has become well connected. 

Scott- Rambling about parenting-  Thinking back during my childhood, I always wanted to be seen with my Dad.  Even during high school.  If my Dad thought it was cool, then I usually thought it was cool, and didn't care what anyone else thought.  I need to figure out how to gain (or keep) that Rasmussen coolness.  Right now my kids think I'm cool,  but I don't know how long that will last.   At the same time, as a teenager, I didn't want my parents to be a best friend.  I wanted a parent.  I thought my Dad was cool yet at the same time there was no question he was the boss.  Both Eric and David are stubborn, have alpha male type personalities,  or whatever you want to call their personality.  Often the only thing they respond to is force or the threat of force.  David and Eric are both just completly different than Lisa. 

Wendy gets after both Lisa and Eric for playing the piano.  Lisa will take a 15 minute practice session and turn it into an hour just messing around.  She might play other songs, she might be reading other books, who knows what she does.  Eric will make a 15 minute practice session into an hour by trying to negotiate with Wendy why he only needs to play the song four times instead of five...

End of Season

Both Wendy and I were involved with Eric and Lisa's baseball team. We really like the parents and the kids.  I had fun running around with the kids.  Maybe I like it so much because it takes me back to my youth.  Most importantly, Eric and Lisa had a great time this season2.  This last year might be the only time they will play together on the same team.  It was a regular occurrence at the plate to have Eric hit Lisa home (when they  were not blasting home runs.)  It was fun to watch.   I made a lot of new friends and was able to keep in touch with friends from last year.  Both Bryan and Bobby were saying after one of the games about how much Eric’s hitting had improved this year.  I really like those guys.  The kids have made a lot of new friends too.  Lisa is a celebrity. It is fun watching both Lisa and Eric interacting with teammates.

  

David's new girl friend

 Lisa after the tournament.

Eric taking a swing

Eric Lisa Dad next to house in the shade.

Ryan rented the Farmington swimming pool for the team.  The kids had an awards ceremony and there was a lot of pizza.

Eric and Lisa on the same team. 

- Eric playing third base, catches ground ball and holds it up to the base runner daring him to run with the meanest look. 

               - One of the coaches think Eric runs his mouth  too much. Once the coach was telling him to get down on the ball and Eric started waiving his fist at him. 

Today's Thoughts...

Baseball has started.  Eric and Lisa are on the same team and it’s a lot of fun.  The team right now has great chemistry.  The coach is awesome. We have four assistant coaches.  I’m one of them.  The coach gave Wendy a copy of the rules and told her to memorize them today.  I’m not sure why Wendy was picked--maybe she looks smart.  Today after practice we were all just BSing about little league-- it was fun.  I like getting out there and playing with the kids.  One thing that is becoming apparent though is that Lisa and Eric are starting to go in different directions.  Last year I wanted Eric to play because I thought he was wimpy.  Now, he is tough, and he can more than hold his own with all the older kids he is playing with. But this is not in his blood.  Eric likes to socialize with the kids.  After he bats, if you watch him make his way around the bases, he gabs with all the different players at each base.  He likes to act silly and he acts up because everyone thinks he’s funny.  I want him playing so he knows how to work.  Both Wendy and I take pride that we worked hard to earn nice things without help from parents or anyone.  And we try to talk care of our stuff because we worked hard for it. I want my kids to understand the pride that comes from hard work.  Anyway, the kids do a lot of church stuff and I think those principles are important, but baseball teaches good worldly lessons.

Anyway, it was funny watching all the kids and what they wanted to do after practice:
 

Eric- He went inside to play the piano for a half hour and then asked if he could play a game with the periodic elements on the internet.

Lisa- She wanted to hit off the tee for a while in the backyard. 

David wanted to ride his bike.  (By the way, David was very excited to go to his first birthday party at the karate dojo today)

-Coach showing movie of Quin Buckner. 

-Giving the kids big league chew for answering questions correctly. Of course Eric tries to answer every question.  So does Lisa, she’s just not as obnoxious. 

Misc

New Years- David doubled over laughing. 

David celebrating.

David so tired he was sleeping standing up.  He was like that for at least an hour.

FHE activity- Lisa and Dad making cookies.

No pictures of Eric but he gave a great FHE lesson last week.  He has us all dress up and we acted out the story with Ammon protecting the King's sheep.