Utah State Fair '10

Red Butte Gardens minus the gardens

We went to Red Butte Gardens on a free admission day last fall!
There are not really any pictures of the gardens, but lots of this fam :)

{Museum of Natural History- with friends}

{Oh, my friends and followers are gonna be sooo excited!}

I've done it!
I've started blogging again!
Everyone shout Hoo-ray!

OK so it might just be catching up for the last year, but it's something right?

It's been almost exactly a year, so let's play a little game I like to call, "What did the Russell bunch do for the last year and just how cute were the kids, last year?"
(I know it's a long title, I'll work on that)

Jim and I got free, box seat tickets to a Jazz game, last year when the Jazz were good.

{Fro-Yo is all the rage}

It seems like frozen yogurt is all the rage in Utah and little hip shops are popping up all over the place. We (and when I say we, I mean Me) are planning on trying them all out ;)

This pic is from the first one we went to... FROGURT

Guess which one is mine!

They all seem to have the same theme, lots of flavors, self-serve, pay by the ounce, tons of weighty toppings that drive the price up, ....and I am willing to try them all :)

{I don't know what they're pointing at}

We were at a water conservation garden and there was a pasture across the street....

maybe they saw a cow or something :)

Ahhhh-gust!

Yay! I'm almost caught up!

It helps that I didn't take a lot of pictures the rest of the year :)

We discovered this bakery in American Fork

I had heard of it on several blogs and Jim went to it while I was still in California in July, so, when we all got home we had to go check it out!

DEEEEE-LICIOUS-NESS!!!!!

We also got a couple of their meat pies to go, but I didn't take a picture and I ate most of them before we left the building..... more yummy goodness! Take my word for it :)

wow.

I forgot how much time I used to spend tweaking my blog.... :)

the REAL rest of June...

My brother and his family came to visit and one of the big highlights was riding the TRAX up to Downtown Salt Lake City...

the travellers
it was really fun when we came back at the 5 o'clock commute and the train was
packed and I had 4 kids and a double stroller to manage :)
THANKS REX for all your help! And for coming to visit!

this kid wouldn't look at me...but he loved the train!

We went up to Temple Square and took the real tour for Lucy's birthday

ahhh Tourists!

Draper Temple Open House

Jim took a sick day the other day but Dr. Melis deemed him well enough to walk through the Draper Ut LDS Temple open house so we printed some tickets, took Jake out of school early, and were off.

We went to a church building first and watched a video presentation on the purpose of temples and the building of the Draper temple, then we rode a bus up to the temple site.

It was freezing cold and the tour guides kind of whisked us from the bus into a covered walkway across the parking lot into the Temple so I didn't take any pictures. We will have to go back in the springtime to take some family pics.

Inside the Temple was so beautiful. As calming and peaceful as any other temple I have been to. The architects used the Sego Lily (Ut state flower) in a lot of the accents and even in the woodwork. And I learned something I never knew, they hand scuplt the designs in the carpet! I had no idea :) The boys were pretty fascinated by the oxen and the baptismal font. They lingered there the longest. I felt like a pretty good parent for giving them the opportunity to feel the spirit and teaching them about temples. And it was a good reminder for me as well.

{all photos courtesy of Flickr*}

Ophir-Tintic Railroad Model Train Show

{Hogwarts/Quidditch out of LEGOs}

{If you look real close you can see a black LEGO train in the upper middle of the pic}

{The main Hogwarts replica}

{ Jake got to try being an engineer}

{the babies were cranky through most of it and couldn't get down and run around=no fun}

{Lagoon replica in Lego}

{CHEESE}

It's been a while since I last posted. So in the interest of full disclosure, basically, I thought I could keep up with blogging and my new found problem, Facebook, but I think I just got a little over excited about it. Now I have found a balance, and that is a whole other post that I wrote out but am not going to publish.

Then there was the HAIR CRISIS of 2009 and that was pretty consuming for a week or so... sorry no pictures of that mess, let's just say I am trying to commit to not doing my own hair color or hi-lites anymore but we'll have to see in 4-6 weeks if I can really keep that promise...

So, a couple weeks back we went to a model train show at Thanksgiving Point. The advertising was all about how exciting the "famous Hogwarts train" was and I must admit it was pretty cool, but can I just say,

the whole place was a GIANT NERD FEST!!

or at least many, many boys and men who have never had a date or ever will.

OK maybe that is a little harsh, but it was just the scent in the air.

Anyway, the trains sparked an interest in Jake but not really something we will probably pursue. You could tell tons of date night funds were spent elsewhere. Like on the whole city that must accompany the train to travel through around and around again. I guess I didn't get many pictures of actual trains, they were speeding around the tracks pretty fast and my camera doesn't do fast, but you get the idea.

After Moochies, BY Historic Park

After we got our food, there wasn't really anywhere to sit the crew to eat so we drove around a little and found this park we had never seen before just a couple blocks from Temple Square.

Brigham Young Historic Park

{photos taken with my cellphone}

the kids really enjoyed climbing on the rocks and statues...

probably in the summer it is even better with the water wheel going, the garden growing and the stream running, but they didn't seem to mind...

A little taste of Philly in the Beehive State

A couple of weekends ago Jim's sister Jen in Philadelphia, happened to call, and they were discussing Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches. She had seen an episode of Diners,Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network and Guy did a segment on this place "Moochies" in SLC.

Well we had to go check it out!It was definitely in the DIVE category but the food was DE-LIC-IOUS!!

When you come to visit us we will have to take you there!

So come visit us so we will have a reason to go back! Please?!!

Birthday Fun at the Dinosaur Museum

Saturday we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

This one wanted to give Jake a Birthday kiss

They look so unconcerned that there is a Giant Super Shark behind them

At the end of the museum there is an area to dig for dino bones yourself

Brooke thought she was at the beach :)