It took six or seven months, but she decided she did want to sing again. She "got up the courage" to find a manager, go to Nashville and record a CD.

She released a CD in 2004 that didn't do much business. She's done a few other things along the way — acted a bit (a small part in the 2003 movie "Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy"); done some commercials; appeared on a celebrity edition of the TV show "Fear Factor," and performed various concerts at a variety of venues.

In 2007, Rasmusen signed a new recording contract and released an album and a single that appeared briefly on the Billboard charts. And she spent several months on the road promoting them — time that was spent away from her husband, Bradley Herbert (the son of Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert), whom she met at BYU and married in December 2005.

"It was really hard being away from him five days a week. I mean, we're newlyweds." Rasmusen said. "But I thought, 'This is my life. This is what I've chosen to do.' And I want to really give this a shot. And I gave it everything I had."

Then she wrote a book toward the end of 2007 titled "Staying in Tune."

"It's basically about all my experiences and, specifically, about how all the LDS Young Women values helped me when I was on 'American Idol' and touring the country and doing this Nashville career," Rasmusen said. "And I enjoyed it so much. I've always wanted to write, and I thought maybe I could do something with writing."

While promoting the book, she "took another step back and thought, 'What do I want out of my life and what do I want to do?"'

She wasn't excited about the prospect of spending the next few years trying to build a big-time country music career.

"I don't know that I'm willing to sacrifice my life, my husband's life and my future family life for possibly five to 10 more years, and then that would be my life for who knows how long?" Rasmusen said. "I love singing so much, but I thought maybe there's a way to do this where I can write and do things that I love and sing and ultimately have a family, which is what I really want. So, that's kind of the road that I've decided to go down."

She's not giving up singing altogether. She still performs frequently, like at the Picabo Street charity gala at the Sundance Film Festival last week. This week, she's at a convention in North Carolina.

"I just made the decision that I would still sing and still release CDs but maybe not focus so much on the national market," Rasmusen said. "And kind of tone things down, I guess, so I would be able to have a family but still do what I love. Family has been, and always will be, my No. 1 priority."