First Day of School

School started yesterday. Ashlee is a senior, Emily is in 8th grade, Brittany is in 5th, and Tyler is in 1st. Amber will start her second year at BYU in a little over a week.

Fun with cousins just before school starts!

Last week Danica and her kids came for a few days. Tyler loved having a lot of boys around. We went to the Dinosaur Museum while they were here.

This past weekend we went to the Jone's family cabin with Chris and Melanie and Amy and their kids. It is always so fun to be there with family. We played a lot of games and had fun talking. Then, on Monday, we went to Lagoon with Amy and her kids. We had a lot of fun. Multiple times over the next few days, Tyler would say, "Thanks for taking us to Lagoon!"

Lauryn, Sydney, Jack, Tyler, Brittany

Avery and Tyler riding the Ladybug Bop. This was Tyler's and Avery's favorite ride.

When we first arrived, I took Tyler on Wild Mouse and he did not like it. It was so jerky and it scared him. He spent quite a while in Kiddie land with Avery after that. Amber finally convinced him to try the Bat, their smallest roller coaster that's not a kiddie roller coaster. He loved it! He then road on Spider (a new large and fast roller coaster) and loved that! He had a lot of fun riding these rides with Jack. As we were leaving the park we walked by Wild Mouse and he said he wanted to go again, even though he hated it the first time! Ashlee rode it with him. This picture was taken at the end of the ride so he must not have been as scared as the first time, but when I asked him if he liked it he said "no". He had a really fun day, but he started and ended with a ride that he did not like.

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!

Amber; a little bit of a Harry Potter fanatic :) ; just had to make him a birthday cake! All of the figures are made out of gum paste. She molded them and painted them with food coloring.

Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, another Slytherin player

Madam Hooch

Harry, about to catch the snitch!

Russell family reunion in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone!

We had an extended Russell family reunion this summer. We did the first one four years ago and we decided to have a reunion every four years. A lot of my cousins were there and it was so much fun to see them. A lot couldn't make it and we missed them, but we had a lot of fun. First, we went to Jackson and stayed in these little cabins. We had so much fun. The kids played together a lot outside the cabins and we all stayed near each other.

Jarom, Collin, Tyler, Porter, James, Nathan, and Brittany

having fun at the Kester cabin!

We went white water rafting on the Snake River. Our boat had our family, Cameron's family, and a family of four that we didn't know.

Russell cousins enjoying a family talent show.

After watching a few talents, Bethanie (Greg and Dione's daughter), jumped onto the stage and started dancing!

Porter, my cousin's daughter, Natalie, Brittany

Joseph

Riding the fairy at Jenny Lake

We went on a fun hike. These two pictures are taken at Hidden Falls.

Tyler got carried some of the way. His leg is still a little week from his brake.

At the top of the Hike, Inspiration Point.

After Jenny lake, we headed to Yellowstone. We did a lot of sight seeing with Greg and Dione's family. Tyler has always wanted a younger sibling. He started asking when he was two and he still asks for one. He really took to Bethanie and she took to him. She started copying everything he did. How and where he would walk and she sat how and where he sat. . . One time she started crawling and tried to get others to crawl and Tyler joined her.

Tyler, helping Bethanie hold a bug.

Mammoth Hot Springs was one of our favorite spots. It was very cool looking and pretty.

We also really enjoyed the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.

Picnicking in Yellowstone.

The family reunion ended and we headed to Idaho Falls. We stayed with my cousin, Brett and his family. We really enjoyed their family and the kids enjoyed getting to know each other. When we lived there we saw them a lot, but hadn't seen them since we moved nine years ago. We went there so that we could take Ashlee to visit BYU Idaho. They have one of the best Interior Design programs in the country and that's what she is interested in. She enjoyed the visit and is getting excited about probably going there. She has not ruled out BYU Provo. They don't have an Interior Design program, but she is thinking about a secondary teaching degree in Home and Family Sciences. She is leaning toward interior design though.

We're enjoying ice cream after a yummy dinner with Brett and Carmonie.

We went to visit the West family that lived across the street from us in Idaho. Megan was Emily's first best friend. Ashlee was good friends with her brother Shawn.

We went to see the falls and the Idaho Falls temple. (You can barely see the temple in the background.) We attended our old ward on Sunday and enjoyed seeing many friends.

We went to the Idaho Falls zoo!
The kids, especially Tyler, got a real kick out of these monkeys!

All of us were excited to see that Cocanie was still there. She was Mike's favorite bird when he was a Docent at the zoo. We had a fun trip!