Rasmania 101: Thinking about my parents this week

Last Saturday I received an email from Nan asking me if I could do the last edit of our father's autobiography. She informed me that if we wanted it by Christmas, I would have to read it by November 1st. She brought a printed copy by for me to edit. It was 277 pages. I figured, okay, 30 pages a day and I'll have it read in 10 days. I can do that. Nan sent me another email the next day, which I failed to see until the day after that, which informed me that the publisher wanted the final copy by October 27. That meant I had to at least double the amount of pages I read each day, so I geared up to put my focus on this book for this past week. It was a wonderful week, I enjoyed every minute of this assignment. The book was easy to read, fully of interest to me, the reader, and I learned so much about my dad. I had heard many of his stories before, of course, but there were some trials and events in his life that he didn't talk much about, and the book clarified these parts of his life for me. I felt very close to my dad. While I was reading, I could feel the spirit of his testimony emanate from every page. My dad closes his portion of the book with his patriarchal blessing and his testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Following this, there is a short history of my mother, and memories of her, written by each of her children. She was an elect lady and, though I've read her history in the past, this reading renewed my love of her and reminded me of so many things I hadn't thought of in a while.

Ila and Vernon Cook

The publisher called me yesterday to see if I would be ready for him by tomorrow, the 26th. I said I would be, but note that this date is one day earlier than the 2nd deadline I was given. :)

While reading this book, life went on, thankfully. Monday was Doyeon's birthday. I wished her happy birthday last week, but I'll say it again. "Happy birthday, Doyeon." We were invited to stop by the Kangaroo Zoo for cake, cookies, and fruit. I'm happy to brag that I only had fruit. I wasn't that disciplined the rest of the week, though.

Wednesday night Roy and I went to a 3-high school Orchestra concert. Bountiful, Viewmont, and Woodscross Orchestras put on a fun concert. They each payed 2 numbers and then one all together. That one was Chaconne, (I don't know who wrote it but it's usually performed by Cold Play) and was pretty powerful with all those instruments. It's great that I could listen to the concert and read my dad's book at the same time. But I listened, Caitlyn, I promise.

By the weekend I had a pretty good handle on the book and Roy and I were able to play a little bit. I had a Water Aerobics workshop in the afternoon. We are partnering with Silver Sneakers at the Rec Center and our boss wanted us all to learn the "Splash" part of that program. It was fun and a pretty vigorous workout. We all thought it would replace our arthritis classes, but it was way too intense for that particular demographic. It was a good workout for all of us and we do it regularly. I may have been tired because I had ice skated for 80 minutes earlier in the day, and that's 20 minutes longer than normal.
As soon as I completed my class, I walked over to the skating rink to get Caitlyn. We hurried home to change and then headed directly to Logan to spend the evening with some of the family. Crista had invited all of us to her home for "The Great Pumpkin Walk" and dinner. We all brought stuff to eat and Crista provided us with delicious pork roast sandwiches. The pumpkin walk was fun, though crowded. I didn't know what to expect, but the community in Logan had painted, carved, and displayed pumpkins in various scenes and they were very creative in their presentations. There is one example below. The heads are painted pumpkins. The scenes included everything from Looney Tunes, to Dumb and Dumber, environmental messages, literacy messages, etc.

The consensus was that the ski lady looked like Nan. Luckily, the guy
with his tongue stuck doesn't resemble Bruce at all. Nan--you're looking
so thin!

Below are some more pictures from Friday evening.

Ruby has learned to growl like a lion. She mimics her parents when they growl at her.

Saturday morning we meant to get a lot done, but as usual, it didn't really turn out that way. Roy helped Nick on some chores, and then we went to visit Uncle Noel at the care center. Boy, is he in poor shape. He had a positive attitude and said he wasn't too uncomfortable, except for the big chest cast that he is wrapped in. Someone is picking up Lori everyday to bring her to be with Noel. I worry about her, too, as she would be completely lost without Noel. (Note for those of you who don't know Noel--he is Verl Rasband's youngest brother and is handicapped and legally blind. His wife is more seriously handicapped than he is and is completely blind). Before we got to the care center, we stopped at the new Tractor Supply Store down on Redwood Rd. We had Nick, Sara, Ori, Dan, Jieun, Hyeji, Doyeon, and Yuna with us for both activities. Below are pictures at the hardware store. They were giving away free mustache stickers, and cookies, too.

Yuna always comes to grandma--that made Ori want
to come to grandma, too.

Following our visit with Noel, we ate Korean at Ejo, Jieun's Aunt's, sister-in-law's restaurant. Jennie--their potstickers were super yummy. You'll have to go there sometime.

Dan's family had invited us to the zoo, so that was our next stop. Nick and Sara went home to accomplish something. Luckily, when we arrived, "Boo at the Zoo" was just ending and people were going home. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed spending the time there.

Saturday night, Caitlyn performed at the Spooktacular at the South Davis Rec Center. Because of a time mix-up, I missed her performance, but Roy was able to get over there and get a couple of pictures.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Max this week, but we saw some cute pictures:

He has now learned to climb up on the counters.
This means a new chapter of difficulties for his mother.

And Max all ready for church this morning:

Sunday evening we had the family over (well, those that live close). We enjoyed a delicious Salmon dinner with broiled potatoes, made by Roy, salad, made from a salad kit, and Dan's luscious homemade bread. Philip and Charlotte and Cameron stopped by to deliver an invitation to Charlotte's annual Witches Tea (Wednesday at 12:00--Crista do you want to come down?--you're invited, too), and they came in for a short visit.