Tucker Turns 1!!!

Last month we celebrated Tucker's first birthday. I love first birthdays. They are such a fun milestone. Tucker's birthday was no exception. We had a monster bash. 

The kids and I had a lot of fun making these monsters. I let Hanna play with the modeling chocolate which she loved. Tucker just liked eating it, as did his daddy.

Michelle, Kaylee, Tucker, Grammie Cindy (my mom), and Papa Mike (Dave's dad) waiting for the party to start.

Tucker was not really into the presents. He wanted the toys once they were opened, but I think really he just wanted to get down to play with the other kids. He was very spoiled this year, so he had a lot to open.

Tysin, Me, Tucker opening his new tractor.

Hanna insisted on wearing her cowgirl hat that night. It was really cute.

My brother Austin, his wife Sydnee, and their kids Raleigh and Heath were visiting from Washington so they were able to be there for the party. We loved having them. Sydnee and Raleigh are in the left of this picture with Hanna.

We had to let the little kids at the party help Tucker open his presents. He lost interest too quickly, especially when clothes were coming out of the wrapping paper.

Tysin, me, Tucker, Hanna, and Grammie and Grandpa Rasmussen 

Heath was so happy to be bouncing in the horse.

This ball was the number one favorite gift for ALL of the kids.

Giving Tucker his cake was my favorite part of the night.

At first he just wanted the frosting.

The finished product. I am still finding odd little splatters of green frosting in our house.

Cute little Hanna loved watching Tucker eat his cake. She kept saying "Kucker is so funny."

It has been an amazing ride this last year. We have loved having a little man in our house. I can't believe how much Tucker has grown and changed just in this little time. He knows quite a few words: Mamma, Daddy, hi, yeah, no, and buddy. His favorite things to do are jabbering, pestering Hanna (already!), dancing to any and all music, and exchanging the cutest "hi buddy" with his all time favorite person: Daddy. He is working on learning to walk. He can take one or two steps but has not yet ventured beyond that. He brings so much joy and laughter to our home. He is the comic relief of our family for sure. Tucker Man- we love you so much and we are so excited to see what the years ahead will hold for you.

Long Overdue

A new post is so long overdue! I cannot possibly catch up everything that we have done in the past few months. Just like all of my other journals I have dropped the ball, and I am sure there are some important things that will fall through the cracks and not be documented. But unlike my other journals I am not going to give up now. I am going to do my best to give an overview of what our family has been doing. Then I will start fresh and try to be better about keeping up.


So, in the last few months we have gone from winter to spring. The kids have been able to play outside again, and we are chomping at the bit for summer to get here. I do believe it is right around the corner. in anticipation of this blessed season we purchased a new truck to pull our camping trailer. It is a Nissan Titan and I love it. It will also serve as my mom-mobile. We have also finished up a few projects around our house so that we might be able to spend as much time soaking up sun as possible. We spring cleaned our house, which was awful but is such a breath of fresh air in our house. We also painted our Master Bedroom. We said goodbye to the horrible Walmart blue and hello to a gorgeous brick red. On St Patrick's day we got to travel to Montpelier for Dave's grandparents 50th Anniversary. It was fun to go and see everyone and spend time with family, even though our kids did not let us sleep AT ALL. We celebrated Easter in Montpelier as well because Dave's Grandpa had surgery so we went to help with what we could. While there we went to Logan's baby animal fair where we adopted Phineas and Ferb, two really cute black and white bunnies. They have been a lot of fun. Dave was a really good sport about getting them and building them a bunny palace. Hanna loves them to death, but I think Koda loves them the most.


Dave:
Dave has been working so hard, as usual. He has put in up to 80 hour weeks, as well as thousands of miles on his truck. But, he has still found time to be an awesome dad and hubby. He takes great care of me and the kids. In his free time he has been able to start doing some horse riding which he is loving. He is also participating  the spring bear hunt, which has been a lot of fun for him. He has yet to come across a bear, but  it has lead to many fun horse rides.


Brianna:
I have been busy doing the mom thing, which I completely love even though some days it is not obvious. I have been filling up my spare time sewing, mostly levi quilts. I have also started to dabble in jewelry making, which is fun. Since the weather has been nice I have been taking the kids outside as much as possible. I have also been making plans for the summer, playing outside, going on outings with the kids, camping, horse riding, and growing a garden. I am looking forward to it all.


Hanna:
I can't believe how much Hanna is growing and changing. My baby is gone, and now I have a little girl. She continues to amaze us with how smart she is. She can remember so much. She almost has the whole ABC song down, although you just have to catch her singing it. She will not sing it on demand. Hanna amazes me with how well she can speak. She is also potty training right now. This is not my favorite thing in the world! My parents recently gave her a princess Belle doll with a matching dress for her. She decided that this dress and her Tangled dress are going to be her permanent attire from now until the end of time. I did convince her that all dresses are princess dresses and thanks to the Walmart $5 sundresses we have managed to satisfy everyone.


Tucker:
My little man is getting so grown up. He has started crawling (real crawling, not belly crawling). He is also pulling himself up to the furniture and walking around it. He thinks this is awesome, and has also started standing on his own. I am not sure that I am OK with it. He also now has eight teeth that he got almost over night. It took him two weeks to get the same amount of teeth that Hanna got in a year. We just celebrated his first birthday, which was awesome and I will be blogging about that soon.


Life is flying by, but getting sweeter everyday. We live for summer and being outside. We are watching our babies grow and discover the world. Right now we are in Boise, ID for the PBR competition. Last night we got to go to the aquarium. It was awesome to see our kids watch and feel the fish and baby sharks and watch their eyes light up with fascination. Stay tuned for Tucker's first birthday, our first camping trip, and our trip to Boise.