Rasmania 101: 4th of July

We'd like to announce the engagement of our daughter, Jennie Melia Rasband, to Jordan Howell. They got engaged on July 4.

July 4th is also the birthday of the amazing J. Verl Rasband. He turned 90 this year and that called for a celebration. We waited until the 6th to celebrate his life. Most of his family and many of his friends were present. I'm sure he was exhausted by the end of the evening, but I know he was delighted to see so many of the people he loved. The food was definitely in honor of the Rasbands. We had the traditional fare of Kentucky Fried Chicken, homemade potato salad and coleslaw, pasta salad, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, watermelon, rolls, and sheet cake with strawberry topping (I remember my Aunt Carol and my mom making this cake with Danish Dessert). With all this food, Yuna informed us that the only things she liked were rolls and watermelon. Caitlyn enjoyed her Chocolate Boost Protein shake. When she was done Yuna pointed to the empty bottle and said that she wanted one of those.

Lance Rasband with Dan.

Effie (looks like she only liked the watermelon and rolls, also)

Jieun, Sara, Avie and Nick

Caitlyn and Catharine (Caitlyn's looking a lot better. She has to
relearn how to smile as the doctor severed her muscles so her jaw
won't move back to its original position).

Finn

Ori and Dojin (Dojin thinks he's one of the big kids now)

Grandpa Verl (right) with Roy's cousins Mark and Shirley Pyper

AJ, Adrienne and Ila. Jordan and Jennie, Lance, Dan, Sara and Nick

Nan Theobald cutting the cake that Adrienne made in honor of Grandpa's 90th. Notice the layers. I think this is one of Adrienne's most delicious cakes yet. It was gone in seconds.

Olie

Caitlyn and I left the party after only a little more than an hour. I'm sure even that was taxing for her, but I'm sure it meant a lot to grandpa that she made the effort. We missed Crista and Matt, obviously recovering from Bridget's birth, and Elise and Andy.

Elise and Andy celebrated by sharing Grandpa Verl's picture with the kids:

Beverly. This was a video originally and she
was kissing the picture.

Like everyone else we celebrated our country's birth. Our celebration lasted 3 days. On the 3rd, Catharine, Roy, Caitlyn, Jennie and Jordan, went to Adrienne's house for pizza and fireworks. On the 4th everyone was invited to dinner at Mark and Lisa Green's. Dan and Nick and their families had been hiking so they didn't make it for dinner. We were going to head over to our house for fireworks, but as it was raining and everyone was so tired, we decided to postpone until the following night. I got my phone out to take pictures Friday night, but it was after Adrienne had taken her boys home to bed. She's so quick to leave when her kids get tired (understandably), that I often miss her kids when the camera comes out.