Marriage retreat in Aspen Grove

Mike and I went to Aspen Grove for a marriage retreat this past weekend. We enjoyed listening to Scott Anderson speak and did a lot of other fun activities. Saturday morning before going home we played walleyball for 2 hours with my siblings and their spouses. It was an aggressive and fun game!Dad, Nancy and most of my siblings were there. Two of Mike's brothers also came. It was fun to be there, especially with family!

Nancy, dad, Greg, Dione, Mike, Heather, Deedra, Troy, Cameron, Connie, Danica (Nathan had to leave early for work.)

Brian and Kerstin
Melanie and Chris

Mike and I went mountain biking Friday afternoon right after we got there. What a fun weekend!

Happy 11th Birthday, Brittany!

Happy Birthday, "Britty Bee"!

Brittany loves Grandmas, Papas, cousins, family, friends, playing, holidays, and soccer. Her best friend is her sister, Emily. They get a long so well and have so much fun playing together. She is currently on two soccer teams. Mike coaches her recreational league and has for years. A few weeks ago Mike was approached by a coach of a competition league asking her to be on the team and Mike to be the assistant coach. They both accepted and have been very busy with soccer ever since and loving it! Mike overheard the coach say to his wife while watching Brittany, "See I told you she was fast!" Mike is beaming and is loving that she loves soccer and is good at it!

Some funny things Brittany has done or said:

2-loved dolls- She forgot her doll on a trip to Grandma's. She found a mini pumpkin. She picked it up, rocked it, put it up to her shoulder, patted it and said, "Shh, baby sleeping."

2- loved all animals and had no fears of any- One time she picked up a bee off of a flower and she got stung. After that she decided that she didn't like bees, but she still had no fear of any other insect or animal.

2 1/2 - Brittany got hurt, she ran to her daddy and said, "Daddy, your Britty Bee got hurt!"

2 1/2- loved to tell stories- One time she entertained a large family group and Grandma Nancy and Papa's by telling us a story about a Brady bunch she saw. The story began at 11:00 pm and went until midnight. Everyone was laughing and entertained the whole hour. We knew she had a story telling gift then! Friend's parents, teachers and others told us many times of her funny, partially true and really embellished, stories! She was told once by a missionary that came over for dinner, "You are the coolest 2 year old I have ever met!"

3- I had heated up a bunch of leftovers and put them on the counter. I asked everyone to serve themselves, not thinking about Brittany not being able to reach. We prayed, sat down and began eating when Brittany said looking at me and Mike, "Let me tell you a story. There once was a little girl. She was very, very hungry. Her parents didn't get her any dinner. And that little girl is me!"

3 1/2- Didn't like something that Heidi (dance teacher) had them do in their dance. (I don't know why, it was just putting some accessories on a large paper doll.) She refused to do the dance. For weeks she wouldn't even practice it. She would sit down at dance and watch during that dance. She had such a strong will. We couldn't do anything to get her to do that dance. Heidi changed the dance just for her right before the recital. She got up and did the whole dance perfectly as soon as that part was removed. Stubborn! During that recital she had 2 dances, the Bee dance (above picture) and the paper doll dance. She was adorable and did both dances.

Brittany you are a joy and we love having you in our family! We love your hugs! We love your joy and laughter! We love you!

Homecoming 2009

Ashlee went to the Homecoming dance last night with Thayne Thompson. They also went together to the Homecoming game the night before. Lone Peak played Brighton and won 23 - 7. It was an exciting game. Brighton has not only been undefeated for years, but no one has even scored on them for years!

Thayne, Ashlee, and one of her best friends, Whitney.

I made Ashlee's dress. It was much more of an ordeal than I planned on, but it was worth it. She loved the dress and looked so beautiful! The skirt didn't mach up to the bodice and so I unpicked all the pleats and redid them. . . (about 2 extra hours). When I had the whole dress sewn and ready for the zipper, which is the very last step, Ashlee tried it on and the skirt was twisted funny and didn't hang right. I looked over it and realized that the bubble on the bottom was twisted. After 2 1/2 hours of unpicking (I had to take dress apart to get the that seam), the dress was ready to be sewn again! Then, when I was about to sew the zipper in, I realized I had purchased the wrong size zipper!

Family Night at Liberty Land

For Family Home Evening last night we went to a new family fun center in Lehi called, Liberty Land. (libertylandfuncenter.com) They had a fun miniature golf course featuring sites in the US. Right now they are running a 1/2 price special every night after 5:00. That made it a really good deal. The kids had a lot of fun. There was a roller coaster that ran through "Mount Rushmore", bumper boats around "The Statue of Liberty", bounce houses, small swinging boat for little kids, a merry-go-round, go-carts, a rock climbing wall, Frog Hopper (a fun ride for younger kids that my kids loved years ago in Hershey Park. We were excited to see the ride), and a few other rides.

Brittany, climbing the wall

Mike, climbing

Emily, getting ready to climb
Tyler, climbing the wall
Ashlee, just finished climbing the wall
Fun on the go-carts!

Brittany and Emily at the "Empire State Building"

Amber, waiting for her ball to come out and Emily and Ashlee trying to help it along!
Tyler hit quite a few hole in 2s! He had a lot of fun!
Tyler, in front of "The Lincoln memorial" while waiting for his turn to golf! We had a really fun family night. We were only planning to golf, but when we saw the 1/2 price deal for unlimited rides, were purchased that for only an additional $2 per person. We ended up staying until 9:30. The kids all had to leave by 7:45 the next morning for school!

Tyler finished Harry Potter!

A few months ago, Tyler decided he wanted to read Harry Potter. It really is far above his reading level, but he wanted to read it anyway. He's watched all the movies a few times with Amber and so he is familiar with the story. He would read the words he knew and just skip the other words. Since he already knew the characters names and the names of the spells . . . he could read those. He finished it last night! He did a little move and chanted, "I'm on the last page, I'm on the last page!" Then he finished reading and looked up and said, "Where's Harry Potter II?" I convinced him to read a Horrible Harry book instead. I want him to read books at his own level. He sure was proud to have finished such a large book. What an accomplishment for a six year old!

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!