Summer events...

Here are two of my sisters...The oldest girl is Jolene and Shamae is closest to me in age.

My dear sweet parents. My mom is recovering from knee surgery and my dad is still pushing himself with the yard work and gardening. They are so good to keep an open house for everyone! I felt like my mom was running a boarding house.

I need to apologize by having so many pictures...as I was uploading these I thought I need to put this on a slide show. So next time I will do just that. What have we done this summer? Well, I cut 5 inches off because I just wanted a change. I'm very conservative so I didn't do too much of a drastic cut. It's the same style I had 16 years ago only my bangs are grown out.

My sister and I hiked 2.9 miles to get to this spot. It is called Inspiration point. I personally did not feel inspired, instead I was relieved to hike the 1/2 mile that was straight up and say I did it with a soaking wet back. It is gorgeous country in Targhee National Park. It is very therapeutic for me!

My sister Shamae and I made it to Hidden Falls! This was 2.5 miles to get to. The total hike was 6 miles and 3/4's of it was up hill. My calves were filling it. My body is not used to uphill since everything in the valley is flat.

Madie is such a trooper. She hiked the whole thing. We stopped to enjoy the scenery. Behind me is Jenny's Lake.

Here we are just about ready to hike it. Jay stayed behind because of his back.

My boys totally enjoying the older cousins or cousins their own age. I wish they could see more of them, instead of an annual event.

Okay...so we are jumping from our trip to Idaho to swimming. Madie's first year as a swimmer. She did really good and the coaches were REALLY patient with her. She is chilling for her next swim heat. Being on the swim team is a great activity throughout our summer. It starts in mid May and ends in mid July. Drake will be finishing up this week in the Individual finals.

This is so typical. We hang out and wait until the younger kids swim. The boys were really good sports about it and never complained. Sometimes I offer there service to be timers and ribbon helpers. Drake about died when he was the ribbon guy. He never did do it again. We enjoy sitting with the Stigsell's.

Madie, me, and Drake waiting for the ice cream social to begin. (Madie showing her true colors in every photo).

Warm up begins...Drake just finishing a couple of laps. I never did get a good shot with him in action. I need a better camera, he is so fast!

Brock in action! He has such long arms that we call him the windmill guy. His butterfly stroke is amazing, I swear his arm length is the whole width of the lane.

Go Madie!

Waiting for her turn to swim back stroke.

Light

Last weekend our family actually went CAMPING in Williams, AZ. It was a Russell Reunion held at the KOA campground. It was great to get away from the valley and enjoy the mountains. On Saturday we decided to hike down into the Lava caves (Exit 185) with all the kiddos.

I just have to say that the excitement soon ended when I saw how many boulders I had to hike onto to get down into the cave and once we were in there it was a little bit easier but not much. The flashlight was a must to use. I couldn't help myself thinking of when Christ died and how it was pitch black. This is how it must have felt and then my mind went onto thinking this is what outer darkness will be like. Without the flashlight, a buddy by me, and never seeing light again made me realize just what Christ has done for us. The importance of being obedient and being good will pay off! It is not the most popular way but oh so wise.

I have no idea how long we were in the cave but I endured it and was ever happy to get out not only to get warm and see light again but I needed to take care of nature's business. My thighs were sore for a good 3 days after that adventure. I do recommend people to check out the "ice caves" once in there life time! I wish I had a picture to show for it, but I left my camera in the cabin.

It's only just begun....

Here is a glimpse of what we have been doing the past couple of weeks. Brock was promoted to go to High School. Since he is the first 8th grader to graduate from Copper Trails, he has made history with the Avondale school district...Not everyone can say that!

I finally have proof of just how tall he is compared to me. Now I just need one with his daddy!


Being recognized as a member of the NJHS club.

Brock and his friends from school. In this picture three of them will not be going to the same high school as Brock. It has been a roller coaster of emotions to figure out which high school to attend!

Moving on to football. This was Drake's first year in football. He was first put on a team in majors and we dropped him down to minors which he was able to gain much more confidence and have the killer instinct! He did a great job playing defensive and offensive line. He did injure his wrist and was out for two weeks toward the season. Great job Drake!

Playing in action. He is on the far left number 53.

Just before his game.

Madie's big year as a preschooler! She graduated and is ready to move onto Kindergarten in the fall. Here is a glimpse of her preschool graduation party. They are celebrating Alyss b-day too.

One of Madie's favorite things to do was play with Penelope, Miss Kendra's poodle. Towards the end of preschool she had 7 puppies and Madie was in heaven checking them out. Here they are ready to have a new home. Aren't they precious?!?

Giving loves.

Getting all the energy out by dancing!

Birthday wishes

Well this past week I turned 35! I wish I could say it was a wonderful birthday, having a lot of people wishing me happy birthday to me on facebook made it all the better! They made my day. I took out my side mirror the day before my birthday which was a nice expense that we don't have to fix. On my birthday Jay had a doctor's appointment and I started my summer class that was 3 1/2 hours long that night! I have come to realize more and more that girls bring in the spice into the family whether it is a daughter or mother. Madie was the only one who was SO EXCITED FOR ME TO BLOW MY CANDLES. I wish I recorded my kids and Jay when they sang to me...it was PRETTY BAD but I loved it because it was my family.

On a brighter note:

I did spend the day celebrating Madie's preschool graduation and Jay taking me to lunch at some Jewish sandwich shop near his work. That afternoon I had Jay home with me while we watched Valkyrie. It was nice to have him home and relax. He also treated me by making my favorite cake which is German Chocolate. It was heavenly! Thanks hun!

Mother's Day Weekend

On the white bench is my niece Kenzie and her baby Brooklyn. She is such a doll. I was planning on taking more pictures but we got carried away on visiting and shopping! It was a treat to see family! I haven't seen anyone since last July.






Christmas greetings from Jason?!? On Saturday he helped our YW with a car wash and yard sale fund raiser for girls camp. Apparently he forgot the sunscreen! This is what his legs looked like later on that night. I couldn't resist myself for taking a picture of his HOT legs!

If you look really close....Madie is on the Carousel...I took my kids out of school on Friday to meet their cousins and go shop.

Happy Mother's Day everyone! If you don't expect anything....you will have a great Mother's Day if something is given to you.

2nd Semester over!

WOOT, WOOT! I finished up my 2nd semester at ASU West with great accomplishments this past week! The grading scale was much tougher than last semester...being in special education to receive an A in the class you need 95% or better. Given with some classes only having 100 points I could only miss 5 points. Other classes had 200 points and could miss 10 points to get your A. I accomplished my goal by receiving 4 A's in four out of my 5 classes. I'm not sure about my last one. Still waiting to hear about my grade on my Research paper... Anyway, I don't mean to toot my own horn and I apologize for bragging. I'm just so relieved! I decided to award myself by shopping at AZ mills, figuring I buy some things for MYSELF and that would go towards my grades, Mother's Day present, and birthday gift for this month. It was a fun day and I got some cute carpi's and stocked up on Bath and Body Works!

Side note: Received word that Jay's back is more than arthritis... He has a disc that is completely shot S 1 by his hips and Lumbar 5 is more than 50% compressed...He will be taking more x-rays and saline shots until he has surgery, ugh! We are relieved to finally know why he has been in so much pain. Poor guy! I may be using my CNA skills on him after all, hee-hee.

Close one!

We had a close call today without our house getting blown up, thanks to Brock! Brock did a service project and was dropped off at the house. Well we had locked the doors, knowing he didn't have his key I told him (by phone) that he would have to hang out in the backyard until we got home. The rest of us went to Surprise to see Drake play his football game. Well, I get a call from Brock telling me to hurry and get home because he couldn't open the side gate...so as a teenager, he thought I'll just stand on the GAS PIPE and jump over the gate. This kid is not light weight and apparently lost his marbles. He breaks the pipe and hears a shhhhhhh sound. My neighbor across the street hears it and saves him and our home by shutting off the gas.

I swear we have angels watching over our house. This isn't the only close call we have had... That is for another story.

Oh to finish the story, we get home 30 minutes later, I quickly call SWG and they immediately come out and fixed it, FREE OF CHARGE. Don't ask me why, I just feel blessed! By this experience we have learned a lesson!

Hormones!

Is there such a thing known as pre-menopausal??? I have had chills, patience is short, and becoming emotional again. This weekend I watched Marley and Me, Fireproof, and Seven pounds I could not control the tears. Either I'm really stressed and don't realize it or I am beginning to "feel" again.

TFL is back in business!

The Tooth Fairy Lady, is coming back to meet the Russell household. Madie has been complaining about her bottom tooth hurting these last couple of days...so I checked it out and felt it. Low and behold she had a lose tooth! She is my only child to lose a tooth this early at age 5. She was brave and let me pull it out for her. Ya you guessed it, I'm the tooth puller in my family.

Spring break

For our spring break we took the kids to Sedona (one day trip) its all we can do since I'm in school full force. It was a great get away and I thought you might enjoy the pictures. Here is Jay sitting by his monument that he created. Jay and I enjoying the sun while the kids dip their feet in the COLD water and trying to convince us that the water is "just right".

The boys getting ready to kill a crawdad while Madie pesters them (that is her job in this family)

Our little picnic area, called Castle Rock. It's not as famous as Slide Rock, so their are less people (that is my kind of life). Great back view, huh?

Drake, Brock, and Madie posing for mom.




Madie pretending to fish while Drake is helping her. This creek was right by our lunch spot. It's beautiful during the summer and fall, obviously its not that season yet.