Tiffany moves to Logan

Moving Tiffany's stuff in.

Really Mom!  A picture!

Now where do I put all this stuff?

 My new place.

On the 7th of January, we loaded up the truck and Tiffany's car and headed to my sister's house to pick up Tiffany's stuff and head to Clearfield to spend the night and Dallas and Valerie's house.  Saturday, Tiffany had the okay to move in her new apartment in Logan.  It was an air quality alert day along the Wasatch Front.  I was hoping that the inversion wouldn't be in Logan, but it was there too.  Tiffany moved to Oak ridge and we started to unload the truck and car.  I couldn't believe how much stuff Tiffany had, we ended up bringing back a few things because there was no room in the room.  We are now "Empty Nester's" again.  This time Tiffany won't be coming home as often being up in Logan.  I will really miss that, but I hope she will like her classes and the people up there.  It really is quiet at our house with just Dale and I here.  I can look on the bright side of things, I don't have to cook as much, and the upstairs stays really clean longer and I don't have loads of laundry to do everyday!  I do miss my kids!

2011 Goals

I thought that I would set a few goals for myself for 2011.  New Year resolutions sometimes don't work, so I'm calling them goals.  I want to de-clutter my house this year and get rid of stuff that we really don't use anymore.  This will take the whole year I'm afraid, but I have the whole year to do it.
Next, I want to become closer to my Savior.  Dale and I are reading the Book of Mormon together.  I would like to have it read by the end of this year.  I know that by reading the scriptures, you become closer to God.  Along with this, I want to attend the Temple as often as I can.  There you can feel the Lord's Spirit so strongly.  I have to admire Grandma Ruth, she attends the Temple pretty much every Wednesday over in Vernal.  What a wonderful example that is for me and her grandchildren.
I want to be able to visit my grand-babies and be able to play and spend time with them.  I'm hoping that we can do fun activities with our children this year.  We are not getting any younger and you better enjoy life while you can.
It's our 30th anniversary this year in July!  I can't believe it.  I want to be able to do something fun for this event.  Five years ago we went to Hawaii and that was a blast.  Not sure what to do on our 30th, but I will think of something.  Maybe we will get some oil money coming in!  One can only hope.
I think for now that is plenty to keep me busy for the year!  I have found that you just have to think positive to enjoy life.  Life is too short to be miserable.  I had a friend on facebook that loved life and the people she was around and her family.  She took care of Tyler by feeding him on Sunday's when he was in the Wooster Ohio area.  She also sent me pictures of Tyler which I appreciated very much.  Sadly this past December, she had a horrible accident and died before Christmas.  She also had a missionary daughter in California at the time.  I really miss her, even though I never personally met her, but you could tell that she loved her Savior and family and life and lived it to the fullest.  I want to be that type of person this year. 

Welcome the New Year 2011

It's hard to believe that 2010 has come and gone.  Where did that time go?  I thought I would put some of the highlights of 2010 that happened to our family down.  January 2010, Tyler got his long awaited mission call to serve in the Ohio,Cleveland Spanish speaking mission.  He was so excited to be able to learn a language.  Now he thinks that his mom and dad need to learn Spanish.  I've told him that it's to hard for old people to learn a language.  February 2010, all our loans were paid off!  Boy did that feel so good.  I don't want to take another loan out for sometime.  Then later that month, we went to Colorado with Grandma Ruth, Tyler and Tiffany to see Tim and Koren and the boys and go skiing before Tyler left on his mission.  They took us to Loveland Ski resort and boy did we have a blast.  We even came home without any broken limbs!  That was really a miracle in my eyes.  March 2010, we went as a family to Disneyland one last time with Tyler and Alicia's family joined us there.  It was their first time ever and they loved it.  We really had a wonderful time and Tiffany and Tyler really had a great time.  They will really miss each other.  April 2010, Tyler left for the MTC on April 7th.  It was a sad and happy day for me.  We had a last family get-together the night before, went to Temple Square the day Tyler entered the MTC and dropped him off "curbside" and said our good-byes.  I won't lie, it was hard leaving him, but Tyler was excited for his new adventure for the next two years.  May 2010, Dale and I were getting our stuff ready for Trek in July.  We were walking to get conditioned for the trip and making pioneer attire that we would be wearing.  We were picked to be a Ma and Pa in our ward and would be attending the Stake Trek.  June 2010 was one of the most exciting events for our family.  We became Grandparents for the first time.  Kadence Knowlton was born: 5 pounds 15 ounces, 19 inches long.  She was a month early, but is doing really well and has blue eyes and red hair.  It is so much fun being a grandparent.  Kadence has brought so much joy to our family.  July 2010, Trek finally came.  We left for three days with the youth of our Stake and walked the paths where Dale's ancestors had walked on.  We will remember this experience for some time and it was life changing for us.  August 2010, I helped out Valerie by tending Kadence each week on Monday's while Valerie went back to work.  It was so much fun seeing her change.  They grow up so fast.  September 2010, I got Dale to attend a Broadway play.  We went to the "Lion King" at the Capitol Theater in SLC.  Tiffany and my parents, along with my  sister Adele and her daughter Lexi went with us.  It was a fun family outing.  I think Dale enjoyed it.
October and November 2010, was the busiest months for our gravel business.  Dale had hundreds of orders to fill and deliver.  I guess this is a blessing of having a missionary son out.  Thanksgiving was also fun spending time with family and eating good, good food.  December 2010, was exciting, we were told by Jason and Alicia that we will be getting a grand-baby in June of 2011.  What a neat present that will be to be grandparents again.  Then on Christmas day, Tyler called us and that was the best present ever this year for Christmas!  He sounded so happy and he was really loving what he was doing.  It was different not having him home this year, but I'm so happy that he is loving serving his Father in Heaven.  But the biggest event in December is celebrating our Savior's birth.  I love this time of year.  It seems the the world has a little bit of peace on it during December and people are nicer to one another.  It was fun to look back at 2010.  I'm hoping that 2011 is filled with fun and memories can be made.

The Rasmussen Christmas Party 2010

When can we eat?

 We are the coolest cousins!

 Dale talking to his mom.

 So Mom . . what do you think about life in general?

Got to love Stella's hair do!

 Now that's a lot of little girls!  All but one born in 2010.

 The newest of the great-grand daughters.

 Smile for the camera.

 Santa really is coming.

 Mom! Get me off this guy's lap now!

 Tiffany and Kadence

 We can't open this package until June 2011!

 Paul and LaJean Rasmussen

 Bart and Jon, still friends after the big game.

Susan's family with Grandma Ruth

 Grandma Ruth with all her grandchildren.  Missing:

Ian, Adam, Rick, Colby, Lance & Tyler

 Ruth with her children: Back row, Tim, Betty. Shauna

Susan, Paul, Front row: Dale, Ruth, Sherrol

Our family 2010 

L-R Dale, Becky, Alicia, Jason, Dallas, Kadence

Tiffany, Grandma Ruth, Valerie

This year we had our Christmas Party the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  It was the same day as the Utah and BYU football game in Salt Lake.  So at the party you either saw red or blue clothes.  Good thing we are family and we like each other.  Utah won the game just barely.  It was a cold evening.  Felicia and Shauna and Anna put the party together.  It was really nice.  We really needed a big place cause our family is so big now.  We had dinner and then Felicia and Kevin put a video together that was really cute.  We then went into some rooms and taped some messages for Addie, Lance and Tyler that Felicia was going to send to them.  I thought that was really neat that she wanted to include them in our family party.  It was a wonderful evening.  Santa came to the little great-grand kids and gave them gifts.  The best gift was at the end.  Jason and Alicia were Santa's helpers and at the end, Santa asked if there were anymore gifts to give out.  Alicia looked in the sack and pulled out this huge silver bow and placed it on her tummy and said that this package wouldn't be able to be opened until June of 2011.  That is how they announced to the family that they will be getting a baby.  It was a cute way to announce their news to the family.  It was a wonderful evening.  We drove all the way back home which we were glad because really early in the morning, a storm came through and the roads were a white out in Strawberry.  Got to love the winter storms out here!  

Well I finally did it, got this year all wrapped up.  Wasn't sure I could do it, but it took a whole day.  We certainly had a wonderful year as a family.  Looking forward to 2011.

Christmas 2010 and Dale's birthday

I can't believe that it is Christmas time already again.  It seems like the year 2010 has flown by so fast.  Christmas at our house was very different.  Christmas Eve day Tiffany came down with a mean flu that
she caught from Luke Rasmussen.  She was so sick the whole day.  We were going to have a Christmas
Eve dinner, but changed that because Tiffany couldn't keep anything down.  I was hoping that Christmas
day would be better for her.  With only Dale, Tiffany and myself home, we watched a movie Toy Story
3 and then went to bed.  We even slept in.  That felt so good!  That has never happened before.  Tiffany
was feeling much better the next morning, so we decided to have a Christmas Dinner instead and invite
Grandma and Grandpa Tonks over so that they could talk to Tyler when he called around 5:00 p.m.
We opened up our gifts.  I can say it was the quietest Christmas we have ever had.  It was really different
not having Tyler here.  I really did miss him.  In the late afternoon we got out some games and played
Dairyopoly.  I think Dale had a great time.  He was winning at the game.  I'm glad he won, it was the first
time he ever got money in the Dairy business, even if it was play money.  Grandma and Grandpa came over.
We had the table set and getting ready to eat, when the phone rang, I looked on the caller ID and it said
LDS missionaries.  I answered the phone and it was so great to hear Tyler's voice.  He sounded so good.
It was the best part of Christmas this year to be able to talk to our son.  We talked for over and hour and
he got to say hi to everyone of us.  He is loving Cleveland and the Spanish people there.  He loves being a
missionary and said to tell all family members that he loves them and appreciates the letters he gets in the
mission field.  He also says that he appreciates the prayers in his behalf and to keep them coming.  So another
Christmas has come and gone and there will be one more without Tyler, but he is loving what he is doing.
The day after Christmas, Dale turned 52 years old.  Now he's the boss again for six months.  I had to leave and drive to Clearfield before the storm hit to babysit Kadence that week.  Tiffany took me to Heber and Valerie picked me up.  Dale and Tiffany were coming out on Wednesday to pick me up.
So Tiffany was in charge of making a birthday cake for her dad.  She did a great job and even took pictures of the event for me.  I'm glad she's around, I'm going to miss not seeing her as often when she moves to Logan.  She won't be coming home as often during the winter months.  It sure is a change in our lives to have our kids grown up and gone.  But we are getting a new grand-baby in June of 2011.  Jason and Alicia are expecting and that will be so much fun to add a new grand-baby to the family.  It's amazing how fast the time
is flying by.  I have found in these past two years that FAMILY is the most important thing in my life along with my good friends and the gospel.  I hope you all have had a wonderful year in 2010 as we have and look forward to a wonderful year in 2011.

 Bright eyed and bushy tailed!

 Opening gifts

 A new coat I can wear to special places.

 Mom really, do you have to take my picture this early?

 Dale winning at Dairyopoly.

 Christmas Dinner

Tyler's phone call that we had been waiting for

all day!  It was so good to hear his voice.

                                                                 Mom and Dad 2010

 Dale and Becky 2010

 Can't believe Dale is 52 years old!

 He had enough wind to blow out his candles!

Happy birthday Dale, we love you so much!

Pictures of Kadence 2010

One of the last trips out tending Kadence, we wanted to take some fall pictures of her, so we drove to the Lagoon trail the morning I was leaving and took these pictures.  The top one is my favorite.  I had to snap fast cause Kadence really didn't want to have her pictures taken.  I think we got some cute ones.  The ones in the apple basket were taken at Thanksgiving time.  She had turned 5 months old on Tyler's birthday.  Boy is she growing up fast.

Pictures taken on Lagoon trail 2010.

Kadence 5 months old.

We will have a White Christmas!

I went out the 15th of December to finish up the Christmas shopping.  Tiffany had finished up her finals and was moving her stuff out of her apartment.  She's moving up to Logan for Spring semester.  We kept having snow storms that was dumping a lot of snow and the car that I was to drive back to Roosevelt didn't have snow tires.  I tried to leave Friday and then Saturday and finally Sunday I was able to leave.  It wasn't a fun ride back.  Going through Daniels and Strawberry was a white knuckle drive and I hate those kinds of driving on snow packed roads.  I finally got home and it started to snow Sunday night, all night long and on Monday morning we woke up to this!  It had snowed almost 18 inches in Pleasant Valley!  Everything was buried in the snow and it took all day long to dig us and my parents home out.  I haven't seen this much snow out here for a couple of years.  It was good packing snow, the kind that makes good snowmen.  It snowed most of the day Monday.  I was hoping that the snow wouldn't come until the middle of January, but there were too many people praying for a white Christmas and they got their wish.  It really looked pretty and white around here, but then the cold weather came with it.  On January 2, 2011, Roosevelt was the coldest spot in the whole nation, -31 degrees below zero.  Tyler was warmer than us and so was Alaska!  Got to love the Unitah Basin winters . . . Not!

 Trying to dig out the F150 from the snow.

What the backyard looks like.

Thanksgiving 2010

Our cute little babies of 2010

Natalie, Kadence, Stella

Getting ready to eat!

 Kadence with Tiffany, Valerie and Jeana

Dale and Becky

Kristin with Stella, Rick with Natalie, Valerie with Kadence

Aunt Koren with Kadence

Eating the wonderful food!

 Maybe a sliver from each pie.

Paul finally has more hair than Stella

We are now in the holiday season, where family and friends get together and have parties and eat lots of yummy food and you gain 5-10 pounds, but who cares, there's always the New Year to start a new diet.  This year was our family's first year without Tyler being here.  It seemed really different with him gone.  He spent his Thanksgiving in Cleveland Ohio and he said that he had a good time there.  We all spent out Thanksgiving at Grandma Ruth's house and everyone in our little family was there.  It was Kadence's first Thanksgiving and Grandma Ruth had about 40 guests that were going to eat at her house!  Alicia's brother, John Eric came out with them.  He's going to BYU Idaho.  It was fun to have him visit us.  I'm sure he was over whelmed by all the people there.  I love Thanksgiving at Dale's mom's house.  Even though it's crowded, it is so fun to be with Dale's family.  They are so much fun to be around.  We had tons of good food, lots of pies, did I say lots of pies, and lots of babies there.  I really enjoyed the day spending it with family.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.