T minus TWO days in Illinois

I can't believe we are actually moving back to Minnesota. I am filled with many different emotions as I sit here thinking about it. Mostly I am exhausted right now. Work is overwhelmingly busy right now which makes the rest of life SO much crazier. I am struggling to find time to get all my work done. At the same time we are packing, getting everything taken care of for the move, and of course renting out our place. I haven't really had time to think about how much I am going to our great friends here. While I am excited to be around everyone up in MN again, we've made some great friends here that we are going to miss dearly! To all of you from our group, you all have a special place in our hearts, thanks for being a part of our first year of marriage and our lives in IL! Our lives would have been so boring if it wasn't for all of you.

Just tonight I finally rented out our house here!! After trying to sell for over 4 months we just gave up on that mission and we are pulling our house off the market. We found a young family that is REALLY excited about living in our house. They signed a one year lease which means we'll be able to start saving up a down payment right away starting next month and then hopefully in 3-6 months we can be back on our own again!

To everyone back in MN, we hope to have time to spend with all of you in the coming month! We are going to be busy with a lot of things, but we can't wait to get in touch with you all again and pick up our friendships where they left off! Everyone down here in IL, we won't forget you and we'll be back to see you after we have our little girl so you can all meet her!

Sorry no pictures with this one! I'll try to get back to blogging again when things settle back down some in October...until my baby comes...then who knows!! haha

Sexy at EIGHT?

I ran into this article this morning on MSN while going to check my hotmail (Trevor speaking) and my mind is just racing as a soon to be daddy of a little girl:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26037851/?GT1=43001

I fully expect girls in middle school to be riddled with questions of her body and how she looks and getting pressures from friends and such. Its unfortunate but part of where life is right now. But in this article, it sounds like its starting WAY back in the early grade school years. I can't imagine having a kid come home from 1st grade and asking what a BJ is. I don't even know how I'd react, even thinking about that situation for like 10 minutes now I still don't know how I'd react!!

I know most of our readers have started families now and have young kids...I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on this? Has it come to this even in the midwest where values seem to be taken more serious? What do you think is to blame for this escalation? Have any of you encountered any of this yet with your kids or even others?

Reading this article just made me sad for this new generation of kids. The pressures they are going to feel and at SUCH a young age. I know about the age I was when sex first become something I was aware of...I was MUCH MUCH older, like 6th/7th grade. I don't know if I was even ready for it at that age though. I remember my first girlfriend in 5th grade...we never even kissed. I remember my first kiss, which was before that, it was from a friends neighbor and I basically ran away! haha Now it seems like this is all starting so much earlier...how is that going to affect kids? Will it affect them at all?

I kinda slid this in between what will be a two part series on our vacation, but I wanted to see what people's thoughts were on this AND get you parents ready for what could be a very early start to sex ed with our generation of children!!

Vacation Part 1 - Wausau, Wisconsin

The Rasmussen Family Reunion - Wausau, Wisconsin - July 18-20

We stayed at a newly built Holiday Inn Express for Friday and Saturday night. On Saturday we met Trevor's, what seemed to be, hundreds relatives at a park for a reunion. We engaged in a cribbage tournament, too much eating, an adult pinata, fun, and games. Unfortunately, the hands dealt to us for the cribbage tournament (Trevor and I were partners) did now allow for us to much of anything as far as winning.

Later on at the hotel, the kiddos had their way with the pool area and played for hours!

The Beginning of the End?

I just realized today that this weekend is the beginning of the end for us. This weekend marks the weekend that we are gone from home almost every weekend (except two) from now until we move on September 6. It it kind of bittersweet. That only means that our month and a half left here in Illinois is going to fly right by us. That's good and bad. We have made some great friends here in Illinois and just this past summer were starting to finally get a bit comfortable living here. Not that we (I more specifically) like living here itself, but our friends are great and will be missed a lot. So about being gone. We decided that we haven't been spending enough money on gas lately, so we are wanting to travel some more to contribute to the failing economy.

OUR VACATION WEEK:
This weekend (Friday-Sunday): Wausau, Wisconsin.
What: Rasmussen Family Reunion, staying in hotel.

Next week, part 1 (Sunday-Wednesday): White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
What: We celebrate our 1 year anniversary (man that went fast), catch up with some friends, and enjoy a week off of work.

Next week, part 2 (Wednesday-Saturday): Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
What: Langenbrunner family get together at Little Wabana Lake property. Camping, fishing, swimming, visiting, bonfires, wood ticks, and mosquitos.

Next weekend (Saturday-Sunday): White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
What: Hang out with friends. Leave on Sunday back to Illinois.

THE REST OF AUGUST THROUGH MOVING DAY
August 2, 3: Appleton, Wisconsin.
What: Krista's (Trevor's sister) bridal shower on Saturday morning and combined bachelorette/bachelor parties Saturday afternoon and evening.

August 8, 9: Lakemoor, Illinois.
What: Relaxing!

August 15, 16: Lakemoor, Illinois.
What: We will apparently be enjoying our very last weekend ever in Illinois.

August 22, 23: Rochester, Minnesota.
What: Fantasy football draft, our first baby shower, hanging out with friends.

August 28-30 (aka Labor Day weekend): Appleton, Wisconsin.
What: We are both attendants in Krista's wedding on Friday night.

September 6: Lakemoor, Illinois, to White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
What: We are moving! The day will be here sooner than we will be able to believe. Will somebody please tell me when are we going to have time to pack?

So come back to visit our blog often. We hope to write more blogs and post a lot of pictures during the rest of our summer!

Uh oh! Is it really a girl? Or is that little thing between our baby's legs an extra appendage?

The first picture that you are going to look at is just the plain ultrasound. In the second picture you are going to see "drawings" that Trevor "drew" (via PDF) that indicate what the ultrasound tech pointed out to us. The little circle that Trev drew above our baby's butt is what we think to be that extra little appendage that girls do not possess. So this has turned into a poll. Is it a boy or is it a girl? Keep in mind our ultrasound tech (we were told) has never been wrong. Though I am no expert, I think it's a boy, and I think what the ultrasound tech pointed out to us as the baby's vagina might be his/her feet.