2010 is here...whats going to change?

2009 was a great year for the Rasmussen family. Addison got to experience a year full of firsts, 2010 will likely have much of the same as she still have so many firsts to achieve. I can't wait to be there for every one of them. Her biggest first will be that she gets to be a big sister for the first time. I realized that that we hadn't announced that to our readers on here so let it be known that Meghan and I are expecting the arrival of our next child sometime in early July. While we are really excited for our new addition, it brings a little apprehension too. Adding Addison to the mix was a big change but having two children in the house under 2 could prove to be really crazy. Luckily we'll get to go through a similar experience with three of our closest friends, the Roelofs, the Hidlebaughs, and the Normans. We are all expecting our second children within about 3-4 months of each other! Clearly Addison is too young to know how this will impact her life but we hope she'll take it all in stride!

2010 will bring stability to our lives. There was a lot of change in 2009...new home, new church home, etc. It seems like every year since we've met has brought a lot of change, but I think 2010 will be a stabilizing year for us and I am really excited for that. We have a great home that is affordable along with good stable jobs (and hopefully a recovering economy). We feel like we have really solid renters at both of our rental homes which provides a HUGE amount of relief for us after the craziness of last year. While the new baby will bring some craziness and sleepless nights, the rest of our lives have finally stabilized which is something I thank God for!!

With stable lives, its time to start focusing on ourselves a little bit too. For me, that means its time to really start to make sure that both Meghan and I are taking care of the important things in our lives. At Eagle Brook, I've heard Bob talk a few times now about defining your values. Its something I've never officially done, but its time for me to really do that.

1. God (while its always important to me, I don't always make it a priority...its time to really change that. I need to make God ACTUALLY first, instead of on paper).
2. Family (Meghan and Addison are vitally important to me...this has never been a question...same with my extended family. I also need to find more time to push my relationship with Meghan as husband and wife...rather than Addison's parents)
3. Work (I like to think of myself as a hard worker, but I've developed some bad work habits that I need to clean up to be a harder, more efficient worker. With the football season winding down, its a good time to develop NEW better habits!)
4. Friends/Self (I need to find more time to cultivate my friendships away from my family. While I LOVE my time with my family, Meghan and I both need to find time to spend with others to cultivate our individual sides of ourselves as well)
5. Hobbies/Sports (I have no problem spending time watching sports, but playing them has always been something I enjoyed. I've put that on the side burner to be there for my daughter for her first year. I miss being in good shape...this might mean going out running or joining some kind of rec league.)

I haven't figured out how this is going to look yet. My life feels busy but I think there is way too much time spend watching TV and on the computer. This can clearly be reduced to free up some time for my other values. TV and computer are NOT core values of my life. They serve an entertainment purpose but I feel like they are causing me to become lazy at times...I hate feeling lazy. I figure a new year is a great time to work on this...

London Blitz

This is a blog Meghan wrote for Patrick and Susan's blog, but it really summed up the second half of our trip nicely so I am going to put it on our site as well. I added additional details about our day trip to Brighton:

Seeing London in five days means that you see many sites in a little amount of time. Our family planned a ten-day European getaway, first to Paris for five days and then to London for another five days. We left Paris and arrived in London on Thursday night via the Eurostar train. Patrick was kind enough to meet us at the train station to help us navigate our way to their place and to help haul our two big suitcases, two backpacks, a small duffel bag, a stroller, and a car seat. Addison was excited to finally get to meet her Uncle Patrick and Auntie Susan.

On Friday, our first blitz of London included the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben/House of Parliament. We made it home in time for dinner—our first experience with Indian food. We could not come to London where the best, most authentic Indian food is made (besides India) without trying it for the first time. It was some good stuff.

Saturday we decided to take the bus to Harrod’s where I was wowed by the monstrosity of a single store. We then took a stroll in Hyde Park and stopped at Blockbuster on our way home to get some movies for the evenings.

On Sunday we took a day trip to Brighton where we had a picnic on the beach and spent a few hours on the pier where we indulged in guiltless pleasures. (Written by Trevor) A couple very interesting things about Brighton: 1) The entire beach was made of stones, not a morsel of sand to be seen, 2) Brighton has a great pier kind of like Santa Monica, and 3) I can ride a bull for 35 seconds! We had a blast though. The coolest part we found was that one of the arcades had lots of 2 and 10 pence games...and they were the kinds of games where you could actually win money back. In the US those games would give out tickets for some lame prizes but out in England, they actually let you have the coins. It really makes the money last a lot longer which was a lot of fun!! To read more about our time in Brighton, you can see Patrick and Susan's blog where they did an entire blog about our day in Brighton. (End Trevor)

On Monday, Trevor, Addison, and I blitzed through Buckingham Palace, took a stroll by St. James’s Park, visited the Horse Guards, journeyed into Trafalgar Square, saw the National Gallery, walked through Leister Square, headed on up to the Piccadilly Circus, and from there also went into the British Museum until finally ending our day there and catching the tube back to Patrick and Susan’s flat for some dinner and a movie.

On our last full day, Patrick lead us through our final blitz of London. We visited the Somerset House, St. Clement Danes (the Royal Air Force church), and walked up Fleet Street to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese where Susan met us for some lunch where I had my first meal of fish and chips. After lunch Patrick brought us by St. Paul’s Cathedral where we then continued on our way across the Millennium Bridge to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. We finished up our day by taking the tube to the Imperial War Museum.

We spent Wednesday morning packing and had to leave the flat at 11:30 for our long flight home. I think in order to fully take in London (at least all the major attractions), you need at the very least a week there. We loved every day we were able to spend there. We saw a good majority of the major attractions, though we went for quantity, not quality.