{Wordless Easter 2010, well almost}

I think Max slept through the whole hunt....

{V-day 2010} pt 2

Last year for Valentines Day, Jim and I went to Monster Jam, Monster Truck Rally!

It was the first time either of us had been to one and it was so cool!

Extremely LOUD!!! and very fun :)
We like our romance big, dirty and dusty! Ha

{Sam is 7}

Sam turned 7 in January!

It was a Sunday bday and we had just driven home from California the day before so it was a little less planned than usual, but he didn't seem to mind the "Backyardigans" cupcakes :)

We had a party for him and all the other January bdays at Grandma's house the day before we left cali too so it was A-OK

Happy Birthday Buddy!

{Year End wrap-up ..OR.. I'm tired of playing catch-up!..OR..Totally Random stuff}

She say's she wants to be a wrestler when she's a big girl!

*another way I justify taking my iphone to church*
I am the assistant ward organist at church now and I haven't really played the organ for about 20 years so I take pictures of the settings I think sound right cuz I don't know how the memory buttons work and I don't play every week and I forget :)


~
No Pictures, but we had a fun family Thanksgiving with Jim's brother-in-law's family.
We had way too much Thanksgiving dinner though!
I think we will have a different meat this year....I'm still kind of sick of turkey.

~

For my birthday I got fancy cupcakes, which I LOVE, which seem to be the trend right now.
Cupcake/Bake shops popping up all along the Wasatch Front.

These were from the Sweet Tooth Fairy in Provo. YUMMY!

~

No pictures from Christmas but let's just say, the kids got everything they wanted and more and at this moment they are all basically grounded from all their gifts or could care less about stuff that was the most important thing a month ago. We spent just a little more than we had budgeted so that is progress, but I always feel the desire to return everything around the middle of January :) *Note to self!!! Less IS More!!!!!

~

The day after Christmas I drove the kids out to Cali to visit the farm and the fam. It was cooold out there! but no snow!! That's important :) It was a fun trip but I think I've had my fill of California for a little while again.

~

Finally!!! Happy NEW Year!!!

Next up! 2010!

Halloween 09

December Recap

A lot happened in December and I need to catch up with the NEW year... here's a recap with

A LOT of exclamation points:

the 1st part of the month we were all sickies and there was pretty much no Christmas Spirit to be found.

Then Sam was Santa's helper in the Jingle Jam at school.

Jim's brother Nathan came to visit on his way home from Rexburg

We made an INSANE trip to INDIANA for Christmas!!

3 days in the car, 4 days to visit, 3 days in the car.

Trip of a lifetime!

Never going to happen again!

Way too much family togetherness!

We found out Kansas is 1 of the worst drives ever!

Who knew that orange muppet was so good??

The midpoint in Kansas is a small town with a BIG name!


and in Abilene Kansas, they like our name and make some pretty good chocolate!


We drove right under this in St Louis

On Christmas Eve I turned 36 and took a pretty bad picture with Max



Max really enjoyed himself with the cupcakes

Our Christmas was pretty good but no pictures were taken to prove it.

We had good weather during the whole trip and no snow which made the drive a little more bearable. We spent a small fortune on new videos for the kids to watch in the car, but totally worth it! I am really glad we have that thing!

We got home to a couple feet of snow in the driveway but were so happy to be out of the car it didn't matter.



Our New Year's Eve was quiet except for the ROCK!

We had to try out the new Guitar Hero we got for Christmas.

Tomorrow is Sam's Birthday.

I am having a lot of trouble with Blogger.

I am CAUGHT UP!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a Wonderful New Year!

Today

number 11

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

Thank You.

at least 3 tips to remember for next year

{ I love this little vintage looking tag, the flash washes it out though}

SO I have just awoke from a candy coma and need to get this down before I forget and next year turns out like this year did... not that this year was bad or anything... it was really good but it could have been a little better...

Tip #1.

Plan dinner ahead of time and (feed daddy before t o' t-ing or else he will be grum-py!)

I thought about it all day, I almost put something in the crock pot, I really wanted to get the Jack o' lantern pizzas from Papa Murphys, when I finally called to order it was an hour wait...

I guess everyone had the same idea... plus it was already 5 o'clock. (dinner time)

We went to Jim's workplace to trick or treat around the cubicles



and ended up with a ton of candy before the main event even started.


Sam is sort of a half hearted, casual costumer.

He didn't want to wear all the parts of his costume ie. no fangs, white face, whatev...


So because we already had a bunch of junk, imean candy, we had plenty for when we had trick or treaters which were only a few because we were t o' t-ing at the same time as everyone else on our street.



Tip#2.
Don't buy a ton of candy unless you know you will need it or else you will have a mountain of candy to last til next Halloween (or at least through the holidays :)


This girl didn't care about smiling all she wants is candy!

This is the best I could get of this guy. He would not stay still or keep his horns on.

too much candy? perhaps.

Tip #3 bring an extra bag along.

I don't have a photo of, but i'm sure you can imagine,

by the end of t o' t-ing I was in full costume.

I had 2 capes on, a handful of glow sticks, a glow in the dark pirate ring, (that wasn't glowing) a princess wand and a princess candy bucket that got "too hebby". Oh, and a baby devil who wanted to ride in the stroller, but had to fight for it with his princess sister and lost. Next year they are all going as "beach bums" in shorts and t's so there is no complaining about their costumes all night. Unless it's cold, then they will go as "kids in coats". :)

When we got home we were so tired, we didn't even turn on the porch lights

which is why we have tip #2.

Now I must get back to my candy.

37 years ago...

today, these 2 crazy kids got married. Look how young they were! (My mom was only 19!) My dad will love this sentimental post~ Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! I love you more than the other kids do {wink, wink}

Photo Courtesy of Flickr

***Happy Pioneers Day!***

4th of July

Spring Break 08

Well, we made it back from THE Trip. We had a great time visiting with all the FAMILY and just relaxing on the farm. It was almost like I wasn't even there because my kids love my mom and went to her for everything, which is fine with me :) I was on my own vacation :) We spent the week roaming the orchards, visiting family and friends and a trip to the Thrift Store. The only pictures I took, were of trying to take pictures of the California born babies among the California Poppies. Like the bluebonnet pics of the Texas born boys. Needless to say Brooke was very uncooperative and there were a lot of bees so we had to keep it short. We'll have to try again next year maybe? If I can make myself drive that drive again. Maybe we'll just fly next time :) Thanks for a great time Mom and Dad! We miss you already!

Goin' Back to Cali

We have Spring Break this week and so me and the kids are going to California to visit the 'rents. Jim doesn't have time off so he has to stay home. Very sad. I'm writing this post from my brother's computer in Nevada, it's the last outpost of civilization i.e., fast internet connection before we hit the farm. Unfortunately I forgot the cable to connect my camera to the computer so there will be no pics of the trip until we get home. Also, since I am writing this from Nevada that means that I made it the 9 hr drive with the 4 kids without major incident. The babies even co-operated for the most part except for about the last hr. when the relentless screaming started. ;) But that is all in the past. Until tomorrow when we make the last 3 hrs of the trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Wish us luck!

Spring Sundays in Utah

Last Sunday...

The boys say "Happy Easter!"

Brooke says "I'm grumpy after church"

but I will smile if you play a game of "where's your head"

Jim and Max wore short sleeves and Max had on shorts...

I even wore sandals...

This Sunday...

Stinkin' snow is back...

Next Sunday....

General Conference or as I like to call it...

Home Churchin' Yeah!

Bucket Heads and Bunny Cake

Last Saturday we started a new tradition for the Russell Fam in Utah a lot like the tradition of the Goodman Fam in California where we have a big Easter lunch and egg hunt. This year we were lucky enough to have a lot of little kids around for the fun. Good thing since we had about a bazillion eggs to hunt! We had Russells, Goodmans, Eatons, and even Richardsons who just happened to be visiting from Texas last week to help celebrate!

Lots of bucket heads while we waited for the dads to hide eggs.


The hunt is ON!

Jake kind of hogged the eggs

Just open the egg for me MOM!

Can I fit 1 more in my mouth?
Watching from the tramp
These 2 are 2 days apart in age and their dads were mission companions,
so you know, they could be too!

Bunny Cake!

Definitely going to be hard to top this next year!