4th of July and the 12th and the 18th

JULY 4TH

The boys really got into lighting stuff on fire this year

Especially Brax!

Ashlyn, not so much

JULY 12TH
Dad Rasmussen's birthday...alas no pictures of the actual day, but Saturday the 17th we painted the garages as a birthday present

Before

 

After, Primed

Painted

Both garage and person if you can tell from Tim's happy smiling face.

Since the kids couldn't paint, we took them swimming!

 Jace about to do a cannonball

Jace doing a cannonball

three happy swimmers

And I couldn't help but post these faces of Jace and Ashlyn

Or this picture of Ashlyn

 Or this one:)

After all the painting, my dear husband helped me put the finishing touches to this

 I had finished sewing the cushions but needed some manpower stapling the new cushion to the ottoman. It was after 10pm and he had been painting all day and I know helping me finish this project was the last thing he wanted to do, but it was Saturday and I didnt want to wait all the way until Monday to cross this project off my list! Well, he was a champ and didnt say one word as he helped me staple the ottoman. Doesnt it look nice...$20 for the glider off KSL, $12 for the new fabric and voila!

This glider really needs a before though, so

Fresh off the block

After tearing off the old fabric, washing the foam cushions and recovering them with a muslin cover so the foam is better protected and...

The after shot of the whole thing again. That pillow also really needs a close up of its own, and possibly its own post because Ive spent hours doing handwork on it

 You cant see in this picture that I embroidered the birds and branches and added sequins...heres another upclose shot

I really enjoy doing handwork and this pillow I think turned out soo cute!

So then I let Tyler go to bed

JULY 18TH

The sacrament meeting I was supposed to play the piano for our ward...instead I played the piano in front of over 300 people for a mission president's homecoming who served in the Texas Fort Worth mission. We get to the church about 10 minutes early so I can warm up before playing and the parking lot was already full. This NEVER happens even when both wards are at the building at the same time. I was in shock walking into the building. I asked our neighbor, who was walking in too, why there were so many people and she said it was this homecoming and they invited all their missionaries, which over the course of 3 years and in Utah is obviously a lot. If I would have thought about it I would have snapped a picture of the inside--there were people sitting on chairs in the foyer and all the way through the cultural hall, people filled the choir seats and were standing against the wall. I was soo NERVOUS! This is why I never play in front of people because i cant control my nerves.
Well everything turned out okay, thanks to some fervent prayers in my behalf and I am grateful that I practiced so much so the Lord had something to actually work with!

SNEAK PEEK

I wanted to include a closeup picture of the duvet cover I finished for the bed in the nursery, so here are the adorable buttons at the top. You can see that it is yellow and purple and pink to match with the other decor. I will wait to post a picture of the whole effect (those pillow cases behind are not part of the done look) when I get it all set up and stuff so I bet you cant wait!

Youve finally reached the end of the mega post! hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for some belly pics!

4th of July, kinda

I know a lot of you know about Utah's Stadium of Fire they do for the 4th each year and well, I've never really been that big of a fan because how much cooler can the fireworks be from the stadium? and is it really worth the buckos? Well, this year, due to an unfortunate event (something to do with a diabetic FIL and forgetting who his kids were and a quick and uneventful trip to the ER), Tyler and I got to go in place of his parents.

See how excited we are:) I don't really listen to country or watch American Idol and I don't really stay up on pop culture so I hadn't heard Carrie Underwood before but she definitely didn't disappoint. In fact, I think I might start listening to her...I started writing a whole spiel about pop culture and my opinions, but decided that I would scrap it and do less talking and more pictures:)

This one I know you all want to see! Me at 30 weeks.

Oh, and aren't those shorts I'm wearing in the pic so cute?? They're from that Heidi Klum line at Motherhood Maternity. I don't know why people knock maternity clothes so much, all the pieces that I have that are maternity are AWESOME! So far that's some jeans from Old Navy and a pair of jean capris, a skirt and these shorts. I already had to get all new tops because they stopped fitting in the beginning of the second trimester but of course I didn't have a belly so I just bought bigger shirts that could stretch for when I got a belly and it's been working great. I didn't like doing the rubberband around the button on my regular jeans because it just made my pants fall down or I'd get very bad plumber's pants. I just bought maternity pants in the size smaller than what I wear normally and they fit much better. Leggings are also the best solution for maternity inbetweenness!

Contrary to what the picture suggests I don't suffer from back pain thankfully! I will reiterate again and again the power of yoga, stretching, and walking/running. Of course I get tired more easily but no bad aches and pains to speak of.

We've moved back to Provo into Tyler's parents house (thanks M&D) and I've been diligently finishing projects and working on the baby's room. Like recovering the old carseat to use as a travel seat

Don't mind the fact that the straps aren't in there yet...I do have them:) And the cute cover to go over it

Well that's all for now folks and I am almost finished with the baby's room so I'll post pics of that too!