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!

Emily's interest in photography

Last year Emily decided that she was very interested in photography. She asked for a camera for Christmas. She got a beginning camera and has loved it! She uses it often with Brittany as her main subject. Their favorite poses are dance or wedding pictures. She also takes some of herself. Here is a small portfolio of some of the MANY pictures that she has taken. She enjoys taking some of her pictures and put them into a magazine picture. Another interesting note about Emily (13 1/2), she had very straight hair until about a year ago. She now has curly hair and she is really enjoying it. She sometimes straightens it still, but she really enjoys wearing it curly. She is also taller than I am. I think she'll be the tallest girl in the family.

I took the above picture of Emily, but she took the rest of the pictures.

She also likes to take a few silly ones!

Amber

Amber received a 1/2 tuition scholarship from BYU for her first year. She did excellent and received a 3.91 GPA! She applied for a scholarship again and this time received a full tuition scholarship! We are proud of her and she definitely deserved it. She worked so hard this past school year in hopes for a scholarship again for her second year. (This cute picture of her and some of her good friends was taken at a BYU basketball game.)

The 4th of July!

Brittany and Tyler made a pinata at our backyard neighbors home last month. They painted it red, white, and blue and decided to break it open on the 4th of July. They were so excited. Even though we don't like how close behind us their house is, after many years of empty fields behind us, we love having this family close. They have a daughter Emily's age, a daughter Brittany's age and a girl a year older than Ty and a boy a year younger. Tyler enjoys playing with both of them. they all three had a lot of fun on the 4th with them. They went swimming together, decorated cupcakes, and broke the pinata.
The kids thought scooter would be cute in a 4th of July hat and they were right!

Emily and Brittany, sisters and best friends! They really do have a lot of fun together. They play daily and if one is gone with a friend the other can't wait until she returns.

In the evening on the 4th we went on a family bike ride and picnic. After the picnic Amy and Cory's family came over for homemade raspberry ice cream and home fire works.

Tyler, Jack, Lauryn, Emily, Brittany, and Sydney

Fun with sparklers!
Mike fell asleep while the kids were playing with sparklers! The younger kids piled all these blankets on him.

Girls Camp!

This year Girl's Camp was a Stake camp. The Stake leaders did such a good job preparing it. The theme was "No Strangers Among Us". Every ward in the Stake picked a country to represent. Ours was Tonga. Other wards chose Germany, French Polynesia, Italy, Denmark, Madagascar, Mexico, and the Stake leaders chose the USA. Ashlee was asked to be one of the Stake YCLs. She was involved in much of the planning. The girls got to participate in a fun "Amazing Race." They traveled to the different "countries" (ward camp sites). At each country they did a camp certification requirement and an activity from the country. When the girls came to Tonga (ours) They learned knot tying, bed rolls, or emergency shelters and the activity they did was a Tongan music stick game. The other activities in the "amazing race included canoeing and a zip line. The ward YCLs traveled with the girls in groups and the stake YCLs ran part of the Amazing Race. Ashlee ran the zip line. She loved it and had a lot of great leadership experience.

Mike, me, and Emily during our 8 mile hike. The girls had an 8 mile or a 4 mile hike to choose from. Ashlee was asked to lead the 4 mile hike. I heard she did a great job. She planned team work activities at the top that everyone enjoyed.

The last night of girls camp we did a culture night. All the wards planned a skit or dance that represented their country and then we all sampled desserts from the country. Our ward did the Hakka. It turned out great! The dessert sample we brought for everyone to try was coconut bread. I got the recipe from the Polynesian Cultural Center when we were there a few years ago. (I was assistant camp director and was assigned to do the all the food for our ward.)

While performing the Hakka, the women have designs on their chins.

While we were getting our designs painted on our chins, a few of the girls had a lot of fun with the paint and added eyeballs. Emily's eyes are closed in this picture.

All of the girls in this picture have their eyes closed and have painted eyes on their eyelids. It looks quite real doesn't it?!

Canyon View ward girls and leaders performing the Hakka. Mike said he was amazed by the performance! We are all wearing pink and yellow tie-dye shirts. In this picture it looks like some are shirtless, but of course none of us are!

Ashlee at EFY and on her 50 miler

Ashlee went to Utah State in Logan for EFY. This was her 3rd and last time going. She loved the classes and had really fun counselors. She didn't enjoy the food, but the rest of it was so great that it made it her favorite year.

Savannah Slater and Ashlee

(Savannah moved here from Arizona about 5 years ago and she was Breanne's- Ashlee's cousin- best friend. Soon after moving here she and Ashlee became very good friends and about a year later discovered this connection.)

Whitney, Erika, Ashlee, Savannah enjoying EFY together

Ashlee returned from EFY on Saturday, June 20 and left the following Monday for her High Adventure 50 Miler with her Venture Crew. They did all 50 Miles over the course of 5 days in the beautiful mountains near our home. The hiked, mountain biked and rode mules to cover the 50 miles. (They actually went over and ended up with about 56 miles.)

They enjoyed many breath taking views. Beautiful mountains!!

Ashlee, doing a handstand on the top of Box Elder.

Ashlee and her friend, Lydia, kissing the top of Mount Timpanogus from The peak of Box Elder. They also climbed to the top of Lone Peak.

Mike and I got to join them on their last day. (Mike, Ashlee, and I are in the center of this picture.) We went up Thursday night, camped with them and then biked with them the next day. We were going to bike and canoe, but it was too cold and and so we just biked further. We biked down from the Alpine summit and then down Provo Canyon. It was so much fun. I discovered I really enjoy mountain biking. It was pretty muddy because it was lightly raining and so it was a little slippery. It was beautiful though, we felt like we were biking through a rain forest.

Fun swimming with cousins

This week my sister Danica and her family stayed a couple of days with us. Today, we have Amy's (Mike's sister) kids with us while she is running the Wasatch Back. We all always enjoy family and friends visiting.

Emily, Porter, Tyler, Brittany (It was a little cold and cloudy. we didn't get a picture before the other boys got out. None of the kids lasted in the water very long. We have had such a cold summer. I think they all had fun though.)
Brittany, Emily, Jack, Avery, Sydney, and Lauryn having fun in the pool. It's finally starting to warm up. They played in the pool for hours. This is the first time the kids have gone swimming when it is not cool outside. Today it's 80 degrees. Lately it's been in the mid 60s.

Cast off!

Tyler was so excited to get his cast off today! He was in the cast for 6 weeks and was such a good sport. He never complained and got around really well.

He thought it tickled while she was cutting it off. Tyler was a little disappointed that he was sore and it hurt to bend his knee.
Just to be cautious, the doctor put him in a boot to wear for two weeks. (Since Ashlee needed a boot after her ankle surgery, he asked me if he was going to need a boot when he got his cast off. I told him that he did not and that he would be able to walk with it being just a little sore right after getting the cast off. I had to explain that I was wrong. oops!) He is supposed to walk on his foot without any crutches as soon as he can. He is only putting a little weight on it now. He says it's to sore to walk on, but I'm sure he'll be running around again in no time!

Fun at the cabin with Jones cousins!

This past weekend, Mike went to Camp Helaman with the young men in our stake, Amber went to a retreat with her ward, Ashlee had to work a lot and I took Emily, Brittany, and Tyler to the Jones family cabin. We had so much fun being with extended family.

Hailey, posing in front of the cabin
Emma, Brittany, and Lauryn enjoying hot chocolate on a cool, rainy day
It was a little muddy, but the kids decided to go outside. I went out a few minutes later and had found that Tyler hiked the hill. The hill is much steeper than it looks. I asked him to come down. He insisted on coming down by himself. He wanted to keep up with his cousins and doesn't even let a broken leg and crutches stop him.

Emily and Katie played a little tether ball and discovered it was too muddy to play for too long.

The kids came inside, it was too wet to play outside. Soon after they came in it started raining again and poured for the rest of the day! Abbey had made a treasure hunt all by herself. In this picture she is explaining where to start. It was fun to watch the kids figure out the clues with abbey's cute, almost phonetic spelling. They all got a sucker at the end. (The boy 3rd from the left is Kerstin's, brother's son.)

The kids found a few other activities to enjoy on a rainy day!Tyler and Jack playing Sleeping Queens.

Avery, rock painting

Abbey, Anna, and Hailey rock painting

The pool is almost ready!

We put 3 hoses in so that the pool would fill faster. It's been filling for about 5 hours. It is about 2" from being full. The kids decided to go swimming. They lasted for about 10 minutes and are now in my jetted tub to warm up. It's 68 degrees, very windy, almost 8 o'clock, and the water hasn't had a chance to warm up at all. It's been cloudy all day. It's cold outside even not being in water. They did have fun, but can't wait until we get the solar blanket and can actually heat the pool a little.

A fun pool!

We decided to get a big pool for the summer! It is 15' in diameter and 48" deep. We got a small saltwater cleaning system to keep the pool germ free with out the chlorine that burns the eyes. The kids are all so excited and were a great help in setting it up. We decided for this year at least to keep it on the back deck. The pool is so big that we had to move our grill and table! We are going to keep the ladder in the garage when the pool is not in use to prevent small children from getting in the pool.

We are filling the pool. It's supposed to take 8 - 12 hours!

Jessica's baby shower

My cousin, Jessica Whitesell Bird, just had her first baby. She lives in Springville, but all of her siblings and parents live in South Carolina. Her mom and sisters bought plane tickets to come the night before her due date. I decided to give her a baby shower and planned to do it on her due date so that her mom and sisters could be here for the shower. About 3 hours before the shower I got the call that she was in the hospital. We decided to bring the shower there. We all went to the hospital and visited with cousins, Aunts, Uncles, parents and grandparents. We didn't go visit Jessica as she was in labor, but we still had a good time visiting with relatives that we don't get to see very often.

Amber made this amazing Dr. Seuss cake. She molded the cat in the hat from a homemade fondant. Many still came to my house for dinner before going to the hospital. We had French Dip sandwiches (Who Roast Beast), Lemonade (pink ink drink), baked beans (Who hash), Fruit and fruit dip (Who pudding).

Jessica's last name is Bird. The baby's name had not been decided at the time and that's why the cake says, "Welcome Baby Bird! By Kevin and Jessica." She ended up naming him, Cory Dee Bird.
Heather Whitesell Rogers, Danica Russell Kester, Celesta (Russell) Hilton Rimington, Heather Russell Jones, Aimee Whitesell Childs