Belated Annual Annoying Cliche Family Letter

Happy 2013 everyone!  Here’s a Rasmussen recap of our 2012:

The first half of 2012 was blissfully calm.  We were enjoying our new Riverview home and neighborhood, where we spent each afternoon at the pool.  We were taking advantage of our season tickets to Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL) games.  Lance was doing well as a Project Manager for a concrete restoration company and Kira loved her part-time work as a literacy coach for local homeless students.  All was calm and right with the world…

And then everything changed.

Lance was offered a promotion within his company to their branch in Houston, Texas.  Within a matter of weeks, we traded in our flip-flops for cowboy boots and hightailed it out of Tampa.

Our adjustment to Texas has been an easy one.  We love our town, Kingwood—a master planned community about 20 miles north of Houston.  We spent the summer exploring the pools and parks in the area and going on bike rides through wooded trails.  We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the schools, church, and people here.  It’s not hard to see why Texans are so dang proud of their state.

Lance has handled the added pressures of his new position at work very well.  He still gets frantic phone calls at all hours, but has had to travel very little this year.  Lance has found a renewed love of hunting and guns here in Texas.  He has had to endure countless mocking remarks from his wife each and every time he dons his camouflage, but it’s worth it.  Lance serves in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency in the ward and played on their softball team last fall.  After 35 years, he has finally sprouted facial hair and is having way too much fun exploring the world of goatees and mustaches…

After the chaos of the move, Kira thoroughly enjoyed a lazy summer by the pool.  She recently started a part-time position as a reading coach at a local elementary school and will be completing her Master’s in Education this year.  It was no surprise when Kira was called back into the Primary (where she has served since 2008).  In her spare time, Kira enjoys a borderline addiction to reading/popcorn/diet coke and finding creative and clever new ways to avoid cooking and cleaning.

Zoie will be 8 in a few weeks.  She is so excited about her upcoming birthday and baptism.  Zoie is growing up quickly and spends more and more time in front of the bathroom mirror fixing her hair and trying on clothes.   She is anxiously looking forward to swim season so she can compete on the swim team.

Tobin is 5 and started kindergarten this year.  He was moved into a dual language class where he is taught in both English and Spanish.  Tobin joined the soccer team this year and was surprisingly good.  He has developed a love of video games—which we will have to keep an eye on.

Chase (Slappy) is 3, and is the epitome of a pesty little brother.  He is loud, energetic, and has a constant need to play.  His whole world is superheroes right now.  While he is resistant to learning his numbers and letters, he can tell you the difference between Bruce Wayne and Bruce Banner.  That kid makes us laugh every day.

Over the past year, our family was able to visit Utah (3 times!), where we went hiking, shooting, hunting, snowboarding and sledding.  We took up camping on the weekends and made a few day trips to Austin.  Our goal in 2013 is to explore the great state of Texas! 

Yes, Lance chose to "try out" a pervy mustache the same week we took family pictures.

May 2013 be just every bit as fun (and maybe a bit less eventful) than 2012!

Utah 2012

We spent over 10 days in Utah.  It was such a great time. 

We were able to spend time with both the Rasmussens and the Slovaceks for Christmas. 
We ate at my Mom's AMAZING pizzeria (Nicolitalia's in Provo) no less than three times.
We took the kids sledding for the first time.
We all went to see the lights at Temple Square.
Lance was able to snowboard for the first time in 8 years (and only ran into one tree!)

It was amazing to have so much uninterrupted family time.  The kids were in heaven with aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. We relaxed and did whatever we wanted.

The only drawback: it was freezing cold and snowy.  Everyday.  As much fun as we had, it was a relief to get back to the South where single digits temps are unheard of.

Some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Braving the cold at Temple Square in Salt Lake

The whole Slovacek family

One of my favorite pictures of all time

Zoie- all bundles up to go sledding

The boys-- sledding

Lamest little snowman ever

Lunch with my old roomies

The kids loved helping at Papa's restaurant

Future busboy

The Drive

To celebrate Christmas with our families and attend Matthew's wedding, we drove to Utah.  From Texas.  We DROVE from Texas to Utah.  And back.  23 hours each way.  Once a family gets so big, airplane trips become a limited experience.

The Car: 

Thank goodness for Barbara-- our recently acquired minivan.  (I always swore I would never drive a minivan.  There's a whole story behind this purchase).  She was a trooper-- great gas mileage and comfortable.  The dvd player and XM radio proved crucial to the success of the trip. 
Poor Barbara is a southern automobile, though.  After a few days in the driveway in freezing Utah temperatures, she refused to run until we made room for her in my parents' garage.  I can totally relate.

The Kids:

I was terrified of this drive.  My fears were unwarranted.  The kids were fantastic.  They quietly watched movies the WHOLE time and never asked for unscheduled bathroom breaks (although the boys did make a few "side of the road" stops).  One surprising fact:  the kids did not sleep.  We had to finally force them to close their eyes and nap.

The Route:
Funny story.  I was so careful about avoiding winter storms and snowy weather that I had mapped out the trip using the southern route.  Somewhere around Trinidad, Colorado I realized that we were, in fact, not following the route I had intended.  Lance blames me for this, although all blame is clearly to be heaped upon my gps.

Hard to tell, but the road was completely iced over

The second day of the trip was driven almost entirely on ice-laden cliffs.  This may be a slight exaggeration-- but not much.  Since I wasn't driving, it was kind of amazing.  We got a very early start and saw the sunrise over the canyons.  We saw elk, deer, and wild horses.  We wound our way around a (practically) uninhabited highway through the Rocky Mountains, passing weird little towns.  Looking back, it was not the ideal route-- but it was a pretty cool day.

Wild elk in Colorado

We drove through Arches National Park on the way home

On the way home, we carefully avoided icy cliffs.  We drove through New Mexico (which is a very creepy place.  Yes, I realize that I have made a generalization about an entire state.  I stand by it).  The snow that frequented Utah chased us all the way to Dallas-- where it turned into torrential rain.  Needless to say, Lance did almost all of the driving on the way home.

In Summary:
The drive was surprisingly great.  I would definitely do it again.

Matthew and Tiffany

My youngest brother Matthew was married on December 22nd.  It kind of made me feel old to watch my youngest sibling get married.  But it was an awesome event.  Matthew could not have found a more perfect wife for himself.  Tiffany is great and she is crazy about my nerdy little brother.  We were so happy to be able to be there with the entire Slovacek family for the event.

There were many, many sealings that took place on that day at the Salt Lake City Temple.  But I can promise you with absolute certainty that no photography session was met with more irreverence and gut-busting laughter than the Slovacek session.  It was pretty fun.  Here are some of the results:

Thanksgiving: A Look Back

In an effort to be a responsible journalist, I am going to document our Thanksgiving-- even though it is well into January.

Thanksgiving 2012 was a simple affair.  My little brother Steven flew in from New York to spend the weekend with us.  Its always a party with Steve in the house! 

Actually, the kids were little monsters the whole time he was here.  I am fairly certain we scared him away from ever wanting kids.  Here is a picture of Uncle Steve and the monsters at the Houston Zoo:

This year was my first time attempting the entire Thanksgiving dinner-- turkey and all.  We found a great recipe for bacon wrapped turkey.  It wasn't as good as fried turkey (which is what we are used to)-- but it was good.  However, the turkey took up so much time and effort, we decided to forgo turkey next year.  I like ham.

We spent the day watching the Texans play and eating.  It was a good day.  We have so much to be grateful for in 2012.  We love living in Texas.