The Russell Family

5 YEARS!

2012-01-21T00:18:00.001-08:00

Happy 5 year Anniversary to my hubby!

I don't know what I would do without my grocery shopper/car fixer,gas filler upper/bill payer/money maker/school go-er/peacemaker/technology figure-outer/errand runner/the pretty much do everything-er who is my daily eye candy ;) and the best daddy in the whole wide world!

I LOVE you.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-20T23:01:00.000-08:00

Santa didn't need to bring me anything this year!

(actually last year,worst blogger ever)

Because:

First of all Santa has no money..seriously he spent it all at Weber State..and TJ Maxx, weird huh. Second-l I have all I ever need in this picture below!!

I will still keep the kindle he dropped off though ;)

We had the best Christmas, it was so fun how serious Preslie was about it this year.

Tenlie got atleast 8 new babies, not kidding. She is the cutest little octo-mom!

no time for putting on clothes,

there are messes to be made! She did her job well this day as you can see!

Jorgy Party 2011

2012-01-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

The Blotters were so sweet to have the Christmas party at their beautiful home!

the usually clean cut Garret growing his beard out (probably to make Nate jealous)

I love Grandma Jorgy, she is so hilarious! I hope when I lose my memory someday (when..not if) I hope my attitude is as good about it as hers. According to Nate this is already starting to happen :)

Tenlie giving cousin Grayson a "cuffin"

Jill (best hostess ever) & Julie (best shoes of the night award)

Grayson & Janie

Janie & Dan (who had me laughing so hard I had tears)

the whole group minus Jared

2011-08-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

My cousin Vicki is one of my very best friends, I always resented the fact that we had to live far away from each other growing up! She is one of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet, I love that it doesn't matter how long it's been since we have seen each other we always pick up right where we left off.

She married her sweetheart Kyle in the Idaho Falls Temple last month. They are so cute together! Even though the Temple grounds were all torn up during their wedding it didn't faze them one bit.. Congrats you two!

My other best friends :)

My favorite best friend :)

Thanks for sharing your special day with us! Love ya!

Happy Birthday to my girls!

2011-08-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

My baby is one! And Preslie turned 4!

(well actually she is 13 months now since I am such a slacker with blogging)

Since the girls b-days are only a few days apart we did a combined party at the swimming pool.

This is the cute pink flamingo swimsuit from Gram Shirley.

Preslie LOVES all her fun gifts! Thanks aunt Jill and family!

Weston helpin get the job done

cuties!

Grandma Josie made Preslie her dream rainbow cake, Thanks Gram!!

As usual I wish I had more pics of the party and everyone who came! Thanks everyone for coming and partying with us!

Grandma's Weekend!

2011-06-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Huddy and Preslie having fun on these new wiggle cars Grandma got em!

Best Buds..most of the time :)

For Mothers Day we gave my Mom a girls weekend in Salt Lake!

The first day we: shopped at Gateway, ate at Macaroni Grill for lunch, swam, and did facials in the hotel room!

second day we took a train ride and ate lunch at the Mayan!

We love you Grandma!!!

I realized long ago that I never had a shot at being the favorite aunt! I never stood a chance.. jeez Jami thanks a lot.

Preslie LOVES and looks up to these girls so much! They are so sweet to let her follow them around everywhere they go ;)

I hope we have started a new tradition.

Love you all!

Preslie's First Dance Review!

2011-06-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of our little dancer!! She was front and center and star of the show!

Preslie loved that her dance was to "under the sea" because Ariel is her favorite princess right now. Thanks for coming Grandpa, Grandma, and Jami!

Happy Birthday!

2011-04-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

I wish I could call and sing Happy Birthday to you today!

Or just stop by and do it in person.

But I will send the message tonight in my prayers.

(Jami, me, Shelli)

I will also let her know we miss her hugs and kisses.

I want her to know my Birthday was not the same without her cheery phone call.. but I am so happy for her because I know she got the best present in the whole world this year..

To return to our Father in Heaven and spend her Birthday with her sweetheart.

I hope I can live a life that makes her happy and proud of me. I know I will fall short sometimes, but just knowing she is watching down and cheering us on gives me the strength to keep going. My kids are missing out by not getting to grow up with her in their lives but I will always tell them about her and how wonderful she was.

I love and miss her so much!

2011-02-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

(daddy's mini me)

I can't believe Tenlie is half a year old!

I am loving every second of her liking to be held all the time, pretty soon she will be too busy and want to get down and crawl/walk.. but hopefully not too soon. It has been so fun for us to watch Preslie be a big sister. She is (usually) very helpful always running to get me a diaper, bink, toy, etc. The other day she told me "It's so much fun to have a little sister" that made my day.

I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us!

Dear Mom..

2011-01-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I could go on and on for pages why I think you are the most amazing woman in the entire universe. But I am already crying so I will keep it short :)

Thanks for showing me how a marriage should be, and always choosing Dad as your best friend.

Thanks for your hard work and talents poured in to these gorgeous blessing dresses that you made for Hadley and Tenlie. We will cherish them forever.

Thanks for the wonderful life you have given me and teaching me all I know, especially how to be a Mom. I will never measure up to you, but I will try!

I am so blessed to have you for my Mom.

I Love You!

LOVE

2010-12-05T19:09:00.000-08:00

Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings and in our livelihood. Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and talk.

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I LOVE this and I wanted to share it.

I also love this little baby Jesus they handed out at R.S. I think it's precious..

So does Preslie so I thought I better take a picture of it while it's still in one piece.

Happy December! Love you!

2010-10-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

Webb family picture 2010

Not sure why it's so small, more to come.

Thank you Shelli!

2010-10-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

It's so crazy my sweet niece Tayler-tot is old enough to be Baptized! I am so proud of her, she looked so beautiful on her big day. We love you Tayler!
Cortnie and Tenlie

Jace, Shae, Tayler, Preslie and Will
The kids thought it was fun watching Jeff Baptize Tayler!

Thanks Jeff, Jill and family for the fun Heber weekend! The fact that it happened on the same weekend as Swiss Days was just an extra bonus :)

This totally random picture is Preslie before her first day of dancing..It was so cute! Her favorite part about it is of course just wearing a princess skirt, love my girly girl.

Daddies little study buddy!

2010-09-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

I am so sad school has started again, I miss Nate being around and then even when he is home he is studying. I could NOT survive on his schedule of full time work and school! I am so thankful for him and all he does for us.

I told him I am going to enlarge this one someday and have him hang it in his office... many, many, many years from now... :)

Anyways these are some of the pictures from a photo shoot my sister did for us (including the one above) I LOVE them.

THANK YOU SHELLI!!

Very proud big sister!

Preslie 3

Tenlie one week

I love my girls, I feel so lucky to be their Mom! We just returned from a week long vacation in Park City and had family pictures of the whole group I can't wait to see them!

Congrats again to my sweet niece Tayler for getting Baptized! (pics to come)

Also Happy Birthday Cortnie and Will! Thanks for the fun weekend everyone, hope to see you all again soon!

2010-08-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Preslie! I can't believe you are 3!!
So the past week and a half have been crazy! I will give ya the shortest version possible..

Thursday morning I woke up with hard, consistent contractions. I was so relieved since I was scheduled to be induced the next day. I was really glad things started on their own. We checked in to the hospital at 7ish am, the doc said good thing you hurried in things are going really fast! He was right! At 9:58 am we became the very proud parents of our beautiful baby girl Tenlie!

Our pretty girl all cleaned up!
The first thing I thought when I saw her is she is so big already! She is definitely a full term baby! She was bruised and purple because she was delivered so fast. You would think that is a good thing? I'm still confused..

Can you believe those cheeks?!

I was SO excited when Preslie showed up to meet her new baby sister!
I will never forget how special that was.
She loves her so much.

Mom thanks for all your help during my pregnancy and delivery! By the way look at the gorgeous view from my hospital room.

Garret, Trulie, and Jace were some of my first visitors. I can't wait for their sweet baby coming in January! Thanks to everyone who came to visit, I have tried to remember to take pics of all the visitors but I have failed miserably.

Time to go home, Yay!

Happy Daddy!

Hadley and Tenlie (born 6 weeks apart)
Shelli came down with her kids to visit and we had so much fun taking pictures of the babies together. She did a darling photo shoot of my girls while she was here, check out her blog to see them. Thanks Shell! We love them.

The week got even more crazy when we added a Birthday party for Preslie!

Kylee, Preslie, Weston, Shae, and Jace
These kids were all on the bouncy house at the same time it was hilarious.
Thanks for all the gifts! She had such a fun day!

Introducing...

2010-07-31T21:13:00.000-07:00

Tenlie Mae Russell
born July 22 9:58 am
7 lbs 6 oz 20.5 inches
We are so happy our little angel is finally here!
Sorry such a short post, more to come!

BABY HADLEY!

2010-07-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

Is here! and we are so happy she is healthy and perfect! Hadley Jo Chambers was born June 9, 7:44 am 8 lbs 4 oz 18 1/2 inches (I am late getting to this and these are all out of order, sorry!)

Grandma was the first to get there to see her. Then Preslie, me, Grandpa, and Jami got there the first possible second we could, which wasn't until Shelli got home from the hospital a few days later. It about killed me it was that long, we were so excited to meet this precious angel!

I could not have imagined she could be any more adorable than the pictures they sent to my phone, but she is.

Her big sister and brother love her sooo much and want to hold her every second, it's so cute!

Here is the proud family bringing home their new treasure!

I just have to mention that I have never seen a more relaxed Mom, Shelli makes it all seem easy. I love watching her with her kids, you can tell she treasures every moment.

I LOVE this picture, this tells you all about her little personality. She is such a good baby I hardly heard her cry in the 3 days I was there. She loves to just look and around and take it all in, I wish I could hear her thoughts.

After seeing Preslie be so sweet and excited about her new cousin I am so thrilled she will have a baby sister of her own very soon. She will be such a good big sister!

We love you Hadley! We can't wait to see you again, we all miss you so much!

2010-06-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

Preslie-I can't even imagine that you won't be my only baby pretty soon..

You will always be my baby no matter how old you are. I have loved every second of being your Mom. You have brought so much happiness to me and your Daddy! We love you!

You are the reason that somedays I think wow! I want ten more of you!! (jk)

And then then the raging heartburn kicks in and keeps me up all night and I start to wonder, can I handle 5 more weeks of this?! If anyone has some good advice on getting some relief let me know. Between the rx, tums, and liquids, it's not working. Hence the reason I am bloggin at 5 am. It really helped to go meet my brand new niece Hadley over the weekend!

She made me so excited, she is so beautiful (pictures to come)! I miss her so much already.

2010-06-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Happy (very, very late) Birthday Nate!

which was the day before Mother's Day! So Happy (also very late) Mother's Day to all the great Mom's we know, we love you!

us with Grandma Shirley

Ya there is a lot of candles there, old man :) a little more than needed, but not many..

Weston and Preslie helping blow out the candles, or pretending to since I was slow getting the real action shot. Thanks for being such a good daddy and husband, we love you!

Also Happy Graduation to Jami! I can't believe my baby sister is graduated.

Preslie picked out the pink "flowehs"

We're all just thrilled you are done with LAME high school! woo hoo! Or maybe Nate was just really excited that the long boring ceremony was over. Or both..

We are so proud of you!

We miss you..

2010-05-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

After a couple weeks of moving, I am worn out (huge understatement, did I mention I am 7 months pregnant?) but apparently Nate just can't get enough, so he flew out to Virginia to help his buddy Colt move to Las Vegas. They are driving a huge U-haul back and towing a car and motorcycle. They are driving the 2500 (around) miles in 4 days. So we are home missing him...

Plus to make it worse they are driving right through all those places that just had massive tornadoes, which hasn't concerned them in the least. Their biggest concern is making sure they find the restaurant on their way (in Texas, I think) that serves a 72 oz. steak... yes you read that right! It sounds like they are having a blast.

Please return home safely Daddy we miss you!!

Ps. Preslie will not look at the camera these days so we just take what we can get :)

2010-04-27T23:29:00.000-07:00

Hudson and Kennedy had a Tumbling meet so me, Preslie and my Mom went up to watch,

they did such a good job it was so cute!

Hudson (3rd from left)

This is blurry but it's too funny, Hudson showing his muscles!

pretty sure he was the only one to go down backwards in his class :)

I was sad I didn't get very many of Kennedy but Preslie was having a freak out... she is two, enough said.

I am so glad we went up, poor Shelli is on bed rest for contracting way too early so we tried to help her out with her house and kids. She was just happy to have some visitors, I feel so bad for her! I really can't even comprehend. Her due date is only about 4-5 weeks before mine and I am guessing the babies will be about 2 months apart. Just get here safely please, sweet baby girls! Anyways Hudson came back to Utah with us to let her rest and we have had some fun adventures with him over the past week.

We took him to Riverdale, then after Nate showed us where his Great-Great? Grandma Pearson's house was. This big P was for Preslie though, or so she thought :)

cute little white house, where they still have family parties

The new bird at my parents house named Wally. Preslie was terrified of him at first, but is now a little too brave she tries to let him out of his cage when no one is looking. Don't worry Shelli Hudson won't come home asking for one he is still pretty scared of him, ha ha!

Treehouse Museum

Fat Cats

I LOVE the look on Nate's face, pretty sure we can tell who is most in to the game here!

Gotta love Grandpa, he actually buys tokens and they play these games for real. I would have just played pretend. Hudson is doing so well being away from home, So no worries Shell!

Just keep relaxing!

Easter!

2010-04-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

I first have to say I had to borrow some pictures from Easter because as usual my camera was dead. It's better than missing though, that happens a lot too... So I have some really cute pictures with Preslie and the Russell side Easter partytoo, but those are on Nate's phone and it would require me too see him to get to those. Which is really rare these days! That will change soon though! (But that's a whole other blog to come)

Anyways here are the cuties after their fun Easter egg hunt around Grandma's house! But I first have to start from the first of the weekend cause it was too fun to leave out.

Garret and Trulie came down on Friday night and we had a New Moon watching party. It was their first time seeing it if you can possibly imagine :) Then Saturday we shopped. By the time we hit RC Willey everyone was tired so we took advantage of the comfy furniture.

I'm not hiding the baby bump too easily anymore as you can see. Not that I bother to hide it but I really dislike the awkward stages of pregnancy hmm.. she is either pregnant or a little bulgy. I'm sure most of you know exactly what I am talking about!

We took Preslie and Jace to see some little bunnies and chicks, that was a huge hit!

Preslie wanted to hold them so bad, but doesn't dare, so luckily she could talk uncle Garret in to holding them for her.

Preslie's present from the "Easteh" bunny!

Sunday we watched Conference and had the hunt. We feel really lucky to have both our parents live within about ten minutes of each other we just skip back and forth and never miss much. We love that. Thanks for the fun parties!

look at her look at me with that sweet innocent face! So cute. She was probably asking for another piece of Easter candy, I always give in, how could ya not?

I just have to add that I love my husband so much, look at him pull off that hot pink shirt! The Easter bunny brought this to him and he just laughed and said "Ya I will wear it but only if you are with me". What a good sport! He pulls it off well :)

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Spring Break...

2010-03-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

Has made us feel like doing this.

But in a good way!! We had such a fun busy week! We took a much needed little trip together! A very last minute thing we planned.

Monday-we drove to St. George and stayed at Nate's sister Donelle's house, it was really fun for Preslie to play with all of her cousins, especially in the nice weather! Hello 70 degree weather I have missed you! Big thanks to Erin, Donelle, and your families for letting us stay and dropping everything to hang out with us for a couple days! (Sorry no pictures! I totally forgot. The sunshine distracted me)

Tuesday-Off to Las Vegas! We stayed at the Hilton, the best part of the room was the closet big enough for Preslie's bed. She loved her little cave, it made her feel right at home :)

We did all the usual things like m&m world

stopped at Rainforest Cafe to visit this "scary green monstah" that moves and snaps at ya! This was the only time on the trip she stayed close to us when she was out of the stroller. Two year olds are not the most ideal travel companions in Vegas, but she was pretty good for us.

We went sight-seeing..

caught a few shows... ha ha ha! just kidding! Preslie saw these shirtless men and said "oh sad they lost their shirts, they can't find them" :) Every night we ate at a huge buffet, this night was at Rio and Nate had his fair share of crab legs. Dang! All our food pictures are on his phone.

Did LOTS of shopping, if you've never shopped at the Premium outlets, go there the next chance you get. It has everything you can imagine all in one outdoor mall. I LOVE it!

They even have a Disney outlet store! These are Preslie's new treasures for being such a good girl all day while I did my boring shopping.

Our little trip to Vegas didn't last long enough! Nate had to get back to work all weekend. But I can't complain because I dropped Preslie off at Grandma Russell's the next day and headed to my scrapbook weekend in Idaho Falls! Yes I have been in 3 states this week.

Our hotel had a pretty view of the Idaho Falls Temple, and here are the gorgeous party animals I got to enjoy my weekend with!

The pregnant mamas, I love being pregnant the same time as Shelli, I wasn't the only one looking for Tums every second :)

Two days straight of scrappin may not sound fun to some, but we love it. By the time we leave the hotel there is not one secret or hilarious story left untold! It's awesome to get so much done and have no interruptions. Anyone is invited to come next time!

Thanks Shelli and your family for letting us stay over and recover from our late nights! It was a blast as usual! Thank you so much Shirley for watching Preslie all weekend!

What a great start to my Birthday week :)

It's a...

2010-03-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

BABY GIRL!!!!

We just back from the Ultrasound, we are so happy and excited!! It is such a good feeling to know she is perfect and healthy. I am very excited to share this news with Preslie...but she is napping and I will have to wait :)

Thanks for everyone's love and support for us!

*By the way sorry no pics, But they are not clear at ALL she was so stubborn today!

But there is no questions it is a girl, she just wanted to hide her face the whole time :)

July please come fast.

Happy Birthday Shelli!

2010-02-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

29 Reasons Why you're an Awesome Sister:

1. You were my second Mom growing up, I loved when you babysat me, we always did fun things together. (like those cooking videos, Brooke Walker would not have a job if KSL got their hands on that tape)

2. You always look like you are ready for a fancy occasion, your motto should be (if it's not already) I would rather be over dressed than under dressed. You always look perfect!

3. You taught me how to do hair, Me and Jami loved when you would do our hair for us! I remember those super tight twisties, one of my personal favorites.

4. You like good music, and you were as excited about going to Nickelback as I was!

5. You are always honest. I always know you will tell the truth, especially about the really important things like which shoe looks better with this outfit :)

6. You are an amazing photographer! You have done so many photo shoots for me and I always more than love the results.

7. You taught me that it's okay to throw something away rather than spend an hour trying to dig out the last few particles, particularly makeup.

8. You are always up for a party!! Your house is a party house, that is why I visit way too often.

9. You are an amazing Cook. Everything is yummy, Every single time, I just don't get it! and you are always so nice to share all your recipes. Even though mine never turn out the same!

10. You love to shop. Thanks for showing me how to find good deals!

11. You are a professional scrapbooker, and please don't make me sit by you at the upcoming getaway!! My work is embarrassing next to yours.

12. You always have a yummy treat on hand.

13. You are a good person, always wanting to share everything you have with others.

14. You love kids. Especially your own and your nieces and nephews and they know it. You always take time to show them and Preslie adores you!

15. You are the best Mom! Kennedy and Hudson are so lucky to have such a fun Mom that loves them so much. They chose you for their Mom and there is no question why. Thanks for showing me how fun it is to be a Mom.

16. You have the cutest handwriting I have ever seen. Looks like a freaking font!

17. You love good movies, I'm glad I have you to explain the confusing ones :)

18. You have an amazing purse collection, usually a new one every time I see you. They are the highest quality designer ones too. Always in mint :) I could have said that about anything you own though, just saying is all..

19. You are so smart. In many areas, I always think about you when I am having computer issues.

20. You are so funny! Always ready with a clever/quick come back

21. You have every beauty product I have ever heard of and always willing to share!

22. You are a perfect wife. Just ask Dustin.

23. You somehow have a perfectly clean house all the time, but make it look effortless.

24. You are the best nail/toe nailer painter EVER.

25. You always smell sooo good.

26. You got us all blogging which I love because now I always know what you're up to! (Except Jami, what a loser, whats it been a year now, jeez)

27. You have better hand me downs than I could ever find while shopping, also always in mint :)

28. You are always a good example.

29. You are hard act to follow!!!

Happy Birthday! I love you

ps. are you seriously 29?!?

I wish..

2010-02-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

I could live next door to all of these cuties! (and Jace!) These pictures are from last summer, I just barely found them and it makes me miss all of my cute nieces and nephews so bad!! So I just wanted to share them.

We were all in Idaho visiting Shelli and took the kids to ride on a carousel. Preslie loved it! (obviously)

So did Hudson..

and Tayler and Kennedy..

Will not so much...

but then he decided to try it and he loved it too! As long as Mommy was right there :)

I can't wait for Summer to be here again!

Finally..

2010-02-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

I can:

- wear perfume and it actually smells good now instead of making my stomach hurt

-eat food and it actually tastes good!

-ride in the car with out feeling extremely car sick!

-read with out getting dizzy

I always feel so sick my first trimester, like the flu that lasts at least 3 months. It's so hard because I feel like if I complain I am not grateful for such a huge blessing. Also I was feeling like the worst mom ever because I just wanted to lay down all day and I'm sure Preslie was thinking what is up with my mom?? But luckily I am starting to feel better and thank goodness for Nate and family to help me out! Other than all that I just can't even explain how excited I am! What a huge blessing and miracle it is to have a baby. I can't wait to see Preslie with the new baby, she will be such a good big sister she already helps me out so much. (Can you find my phone? Will you bring me the remote? and much more..) Today I have a regular check up, it feels like forever since the last one so I am very excited to hear the heartbeat and know everything is okay. Of course the really fun appointment is coming up in a few weeks...BOY or GIRL?

How do those people do it that choose not to find out what they are having? Crazy! I don't have that much patience!

2010-01-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Am I ready for another one of these??

Well ready or not! Here she (or he?) comes!!

We are so happy and excited to announce that we are having another baby this Summer! I was totally kidding by the way, I am totally ready for another one :)

Preslie is soooo excited to be a big sister!

Happy 3 Years!

2010-01-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

I felt so bad because this year because I forgot our Anniversary, Nate had to remind me the day before, oops! I don't really love how it follows so quickly after Christmas and New Years but still NO excuse! I apologized to him and he says "It's okay I don't mind, I am just so mad I reminded you cause I could have surprised you for once!" and that's one of the many reasons why I love him so much. So easy-going! I continue to be amazed by him everyday. I really can't say enough good things about him, he makes me better in every way possible.

(By the way I think I did a pretty good job making it up to him by letting him choose the dinner and movie, Avatar? pretty good, just not my thing)

Nate- Thanks for 3 wonderful, happy years. I am so proud of the person you are, the education goals you are working so hard to achieve, the long work hours you put in for our family, and the amazing daddy you are to our Princess (your movie star good looks are just an added bonus!) I am proud to be your wife.

I love you and am so thankful you are mine forever.

Hopefully I can do better with Valentine's Day :)

Be Naughty Save Santa a Trip!

2010-01-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

As hard as Preslie tried this year to save Santa a trip...

he still came :) the top two favorite things she can't get enough of: this cute little recliner just her size, with a bottowee-chocho holder, and the princess figurines lined up on the arm rest.

I had to throw in a picture of my fun stuff too! Yes that's a Juicy track suit, I about DIED. We had so much fun doing Christmas at my parents, Preslie actually understood what was going on this year (pretty much) and that made it such a blast!

giving Jace kisses at the Jorgy family Christmas party, I was bad at taking pictures of all the parties.

The Russell family party with Grandpa and Grandma

Nate's parents pretty tree

I had to throw this one in, these two playing on the big cupcake!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Webb Thanksgiving/Christmas Party

2009-12-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

We had the best Thanksgiving/Christmas party this year! My sister in law Jill invited the whole group to come stay at her families "cabin" in Deer Valley. When I say "cabin" I mean mansion on the hills, the word just does not do this place justice!

Everyone had their own personal suite and the kids had tons and tons of room to run and play... THANK YOU JILL!!

Shelli took some individual pictures of everyone for a posterity book my Mom is working on. I had to post this one of Preslie it just makes me laugh!

One of the presents from my parents was a ride on the Heber Creeper! They told Christmas stories and we were visited by Santa and the elves and Mrs Claus, it was SO fun!

Shelli and her family all bundled up and ready to board the train

Jeff and his family

The girls in our matching red vests

All ready in their jammies to ride the train, like in the Polar Express :)

Trulie, Jace, and Garret

Jami is such a good auntie, she bought every neice and nephew a train necklace, they LOVE her. Preslie ended up with about three of them by the way so who is missing one? She wants to wear all of them all day everyday.

The nativity scene

Preslie loves (putting it lightly) teasing Hudson and Will and Jace by taking their cars, she shoves them in her shirt after stealing them..

"These are mine" she tells them. Sorry for the stress boys!

This leg massager was a huge hit.

We had a talent show, story time, present exchange, Webb version of Oprah's favorite things and every meal was so delicious. The highlights were midnight shopping at Tanger outlets (it was madness, 45 minute lines in every store, but very fun and some good deals) Jeff's talent (headstand), watching endless hours of our old home videos! I am so sad I actually had a dead camera the whole trip so I only have the pictures I borrowed, but my Mom made the little girls aprons and little tiny ones for their dolls that matched! They are darling and we loved them, she also got them all miniature cooking utensils. We were all spoiled. The four days flew by way too fast!

Love you all, thanks for the fun time!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Preslie the Care Bear (friendship bear I think)

The night before Halloween we took Preslie and Shae to the Treehouse Museum for a Halloween party! My favorite part was Preslie meeting a real Lion!! If you don't already know she is terrified of them, so I thought it would be funny to get her picture by one. She did not seem to believe it was real one. This is not the usual reaction we get when we say lion..

Jami and Darin went to their Halloween dance on Friday night, dressed up as bikers, My dad had everything they needed on hand of course!

Here is my sweet little Pumpkin!

She had so much fun trick or treating, She wanted to eat every piece of candy right when they gave it to her.

After it was too late for the trick or treaters to come we headed over to Halli's Birthday party, Happy Birthday Halli! I am so bummed I didn't get pictures. Stewart (her husband) is a DJ now with the sweet equipment and all! He even let me scratch the disc like you see in movies, it was a fun dance party! Preslie LOVED it. I can not wait to get her in dancing! I am making her wait until she is potty trained, dreaming of that day...

HURRY!!

2009-10-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

Incase you didn't see Oprah today (well actually yesterday, I really need to start going to bed earlier..) You need to go to Oprah.com/payless and print off a coupon it is for half off anything in the store, but do it asap because the coupon expires tonight (Oct 30) when they close. If you don't want to have to print it off then just text oprahshow to 242424 and you can show them the coupon on your phone. I am sorry if you already read this on my facebook but don't try to act like your not excited I know it's just Payless, but even I can admit sometimes they have cute stuff. Plus it's half off everything that means purses and accessories and stuff. Like my Mom always taught me "you can't have too many shoes." You could fill that last word in with almost anything actually ha ha!!

Fall Randomness

2009-10-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

Look how cute Jace looks in his cop costume!! I hope Garret and Trulie don't mind me posting this little cutie in his uniform before Halloween but I just thought it was too darling! We went up to visit them last night and it's so fun to have these two play together, they are best little buds. I hope we can get some pictures with both Jace and Garret in their uniforms!

This is a little park walking distance from our house. Preslie drags either me or Nate up with her every single time, she is the funnest age right now we love doing all these fun things with her. Why does it have to get cold soon?

We wish we had our own playground in our backyard like Preslie's friend Shae that we babysit a few times a week now. I will have to get a picture of it sometime we love playing at her house, and it is so nice to have a friend for Preslie to play with that lives so close! These two are hilarious together..

Shae is my sister in laws niece (Jill) and it is not hard to believe, she looks all Dutro! Oh and it is super fun by the way to play with her hair it is gorgeous! Preslie it's time for you to get some hair now ok??!?

Webb family photo shoot...

2009-10-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

I had to post some of these on my blog for anyone who hasn't seen them on the the photo blog, Shelli- thanks again!

My angel

my family, Shelli, Kennedy, Hudson, Dustin, Dad, Mom, Jami, Will, Cortnie, Jeff, Tayler, and Jill. This is a wheat field about a yard from Shelli's house. (Garret, Trulie, and Jace weren't able to make it, we were sad!)

Preslie was so not cooperative during the photo shoot... We gave up!

Grandpa and Grandma's favorite little treasures. Preslie with her hands in her mouth, that's a constant these days no wonder she has been sick! I thought that ended with infancy?

Jeff's family, I love how Will is just barely tall enough to see over the wheat it's so darling

Shelli and her super photogenic family! Lots of practice I guess

Homecoming

2009-09-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

Jami went to homecoming this weekend (with Darin from Ben Lomond) and I loved her dress so I had to post some pictures of it, she looked so gorgeous!

I felt bad I couldn't really help her get ready for the big night, I have been so sick (even had to make a 3 am emergency room run just to be told I "might" have food poisoning, but I think the million dollar bill was well worth the morphine... ya not fun)

Preslie wanted to go with them!

2009-09-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for the best photographer EVER... please visit this blog: photodesignbyshelli.blogspot.com We recently had some family pictures done and she just continues to amaze me with her talent! Preslie is pretty hard to have a photo shoot with these days (what two year old isn't?) and we got some darling ones of her and her new cheesy smile. Thank you Shelli!!

Just wanted to share..

2009-09-10T23:21:00.001-07:00

I just have to say my new favorite show is Vampire Diaries! I am pretty sure I won't be missing one episode, I LOVED the first one. If you love Twilight check it out, it is very similar. The Vampire is such a hottie... anyways I hope you love it too, if not I don't want to know :)

I Wanna Be a Rockstar..

2009-08-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

What do we do when Nate has been going to school all Summer, and workin his buns off at the hospital, and finally gets one short break before Fall semester starts? First we packed up the four wheelers and went to Nate's family cabin up in Causey with Tanner (sorry girls.. I didn't get a pic, my bad) and did nothing but watch movies, eat and sleep, my fave!

oh and we went on lots of "gogocycle" rides!

Then we went to Rexburg for the "Webb Family Fun Weekend of Fun" is that right? and stayed for six whole days at Shelli's house and had a BLAST! The highlights: playing on the lake in the paddle boat, the DI run, the cheap chinese clothes store that is freakin awesome, the cookout with Brady's family, and getting our family pictures taken!! I am so excited to see them!

I freakin love this picture of my dad, this look says "I can't tell you how happy I am NOT to be at little Mountain right now" ha ha :) A classic quote from Dad right before we took this picture: "This umbrella was only a dollar? (looking at the price sticker) I would have bought ninety" I don't doubt it for a sec, Dad!

Naughty Nessa stealing a drink of Diet Coke from Gramp.

So..when we get together pretty much my camera is by far the lamest one in the group so I am sorry that's all the pictures. I am sure Shelli will have all the cute family ones up soon and you will see why I don't bother pulling mine out! Dustin and Shelli thank you so so much for the fun week, and sharing your house, food, and everything else! Kennedy-thanks for sharing your nice comfy bed!

After we left Idaho to come home we brought Hudson back with us and Preslie had so much fun sharing the pool with him, first it started by just getting all her clothes soaked then..

She decided they were too restricting to ride so she ditched em!

Then to top off the already awesome summer we went to the NICKELBACK concert!!

Hinder (love them), Saving Abel (pretty awesome), and Papa Roach (not my fave) all opened for them, it was so cool to see them live!

"Look at this photograph every time I do it makes me laugh" That was my favorite song because they had this slide show of pictures of their band in high school and random shots of around Utah like the mountains and the Temple, it was cool.

Luckily our seats were a row behind Shelli and Dustin's!

Does it mean your too old to go to concerts when you have ear plugs in and you play on your iphones during the show? I'm not saying anyone did that or anything, I am just wondering? ha ha ha I love that I can go to Nickelback with my parents! My parents rock!! And yes pretty much almost every person there could have been related to Joe Dirt, just saying is all..

Hope everyone had a great Summer! Does it have to end?

Welcome newest member of the Russell Family!

2009-08-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

Baby Lewis born to Nate's sister Erin on June 30th at 12:15 am, 6 lbs. 2 oz. 18 inches tall

I usually get better pictures with all the siblings and at least with his mommy but I didn't get a chance, so we will next time. We are so happy to have another family member!

Preslie is two!!

2009-08-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

I am still in shock that my baby is two years old!

I loved spoiling her all day and she loved being the center of attention!

Happy Birthday Princess!

My sweet Mom made this amazing Birthday cake that looks like it belongs at a wedding. It took her forever and she even made yummy home made buttercream frosting, so not only was it darling it was delicious! Thanks Mom!

Jill and Trulie at the food table, Nate and I originally planned a "simple" barbeque. Then it turned in to ribs and several different gourmet sides.. that is what happens when my parents help with the food. Believe me we were all very happy they made the food decisions!

Nate's sweet Grandpa and Grandma Widdison came with Taylor and Tanner. Preslie loves her "Tay-nanner"

My favorite part of the party was the "fishing game" we made a fishing pole and had the kids fish for a prize on the other side of the fence. I know it's not that original but the kids loved it!

Here is Jill's darling little Jacey she went fishing and got a princess bag and some toys to fill it, including the tiara. She is such a girly-girl I love it.

The proud parents! I don't think we can count how many times we sang Happy Birthday to her all day but she loved it every time. She also loved the cake, of course.

We got her a darling Barbie power wheels that goes about 3 mph. We were so excited to finally give it to her and she rode it for about 3 min and wants nothing to do with it ever since... her favorite present? That's a tie between Jami's baby doll that cries and moves and Jill's water baby doll. She loves babies right now it's so fun

the kiddos

The girls at the party, and Hudson, Jace, and Jed :)

The group, minus a few

At the very end of the party Jami's "friend" Darin played the bagpipes for us, it was cool!

But this is how Hudson felt about it!!

Thanks everyone for coming to spend Preslie's special day with her! Jill, Grandma Jorgy, and Trulie for driving from Cache Valley! And especially Shelli and Dustin from Rexburg with yummy fresh salsa too might add :)

Summer!

2009-07-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

Here is my random post of Summer Fun

This is how Preslie feels about Summer time! We have been partying non stop!

First we had a Webb family party in Pocatello, Idaho. It was so fun to see everyone! We had the party at Ross park, which was conveniently right next to a fun swim park. Hence the swimsuits..

Kennedy and Tayler were hilarious collecting donations to fill up Kennedy's new pink Roxy purse!

All Preslie did the whole time was play in the sand... eating it mostly, that's her favorite thing right now, SAND! I look happy but really I was thinkin really? can you please just play with it and not eat it.

More donations from Grandpa :)

Such a good big Sis

I can't get enough of that cheese!

Here are the four babies two and under

Preslie never wants to leave a party, it's always kicking and screaming. "Do you want the easy way or the hard way" ring any bells anyone?

Two good daddies who don't mind chasing the kiddos around the park

This was a fun day at the Logan Zoo, Jami had a Girls State dinner she had to speak at so we met up with Garret, Trulie, and Jace.

Cute little Jacer

on a side note: Jami threatened me with my life to not put any pictures on of her awesome speech. Now I know not to ask permission in the future!

Hope you're all having a fun Summer too!

Ps. After months of endless searching we found a place to live! We are getting ready to move. I will try to post some pictures of our little place when we get settled. It's a two minute walk to the hospital (where Nate works) and a five minute walk to campus. He could not be more thrilled. Let's hope this time around we get some non-ghetto neighbors...

Happy Fourth!

2009-07-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Garret and Trulie were in charge of planning the whole Lewiston Fourth of July parade this year, So my whole family went to support! Trulie had a craft booth in the fair afterwards too so they were busy! It all turned out really awesome Good Job G&T!

It was such a fun Fourth of July! All seven of the cousins were together, this is rare!

Cortnie, Will, Hudson, Kennedy, Tayler, Preslie, and Jace

My aunts, Denise, Julie, Jill, my Mom, and Shelli. After the parade we all met here at my Grandparents for a gourmet BBQ (thanks Jared it was yummy!) and it was fun to see my Mom's side of the family, it's been awhile! (We missed you Ward Family! and Dad and Nate!)

Grandma and her most prized possessions! Jace was not enjoying the photo shoot so we finally let him escape, it's so hard getting pictures with 4 kids under 2!

here are the kids enjoying their candy from the Lewiston parade. This is Dustin's darling neice Mckenna. It was a fun one this year because my grandparents Claire and Diane Jorgensen were the Grand Marshal's of the parade, we were late getting there so we only got to watch them at the end and didn't get a good picture. Oops!

Tayler

Willy (my little Polar Bear)

Huddy-Buddy, this is a permanent look on his face as long as he has some candy! What a cutie!

Tayler and Kennedy with their cute Shelli hair-dos

cute sisters :)

Here is the head chairman of the parade himself in his sweet parade staff shirt he got for free! Come on Garret that was all worth it for that sweet shirt!

I'm gonna miss all my cute neices and nephews til I see you again!

Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July!

Sweet Ride

2009-06-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is my dad's sweet Harley! It's a street glide. We LOVE it! We are super jealous.. We take it for spins as much as possible. I'm so happy he finally got his dream bike. It has all the extras on it you could possibly imagine. I told my Dad I am going to get my own someday and ride with him, maybe slightly smaller though :)

Preslie doesn't care about the Harley, it's all about the purple scooter! (or in her words the gogocycle). She begs us to take her for rides and never wants to get off.

Girls Night!

2009-06-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

My sweet friends from Logan came to Layton and we went shopping and to dinner it was so fun to see them!!

Natalie, Michelle, Hailey, Sharice, Maria, and me. Haley and Jake had to take off a little early so they aren't in the pictures. But it was so good seeing everyone, Thanks for coming! Lets do it again soon :)

Happy Birthday Jami!

2009-06-20T22:24:00.001-07:00

Jami and Nate tried out I Fly for her Birthday, it's sky diving in a tube! It looked really fun I will have to try it next time. Nate is showing the i fly sign language for bend your knees and good job

Here they are in their sweet jumpsuits

Jami flying (She had a huge crush on the instructor helping her). Preslie loved watching she thought it was so cool!

Happy 17th Birthday Jami! I am so glad we got to share your fun day with you! We love ya!

Vegas

2009-06-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Jami went to Girl's State at SUU for a week. I went when I was a Junior too (and Shelli and my mom). You learn a lot about the Government and how it works. It makes you really patriotic. I didn't get any pictures of the graduation because Preslie was such a monkey during the whole thing, so hopefully my mom will blog the event soon! We drove down on Friday night and stayed in Cedar City. After the ceremony we headed for Vegas to stay for four nights in a timeshare condo that Nate's grandpa Ray let us use. THANK YOU!

One day we drove to the Temple, it was my first time seeing this one. It is beautiful. This side has a view of the strip.

The landscaping was awesome, there is hardly any grass anywhere in Vegas because of the heat. But the temple has lots and it's perfectly green, it looks so good.

This is Lake Mead by Hoover Dam. It was a little scary to let Preslie run around because she wanted to jump over the edge of the rock wall.

These floating umbrellas were so cool looking! They were hanging in the miracle mile shops

We ran in to several celebrities while we were here too! (at Madam Tussauds) here is Elvis and Preslie :) This is her pose for most pictures these days.. Pretty sure the "terrible two" stage has hit because she is out of control!!

Mom and Tim Mcgraw

Cameron Diaz

"If ya like it then you shoulda put a ring on it!!" Oh wait we both do have rings! Beyonce's is probably ten carets bigger though!

Nicolas Cage, he is such a stud

Brad and Angie, Brad looks a little uncomfortable about my hand placement! I don't understand why?!

NO I will not be framing this picture.

Johnny Depp

George Clooney asking me to dance!

The Kennedys

Ben Affleck

Princess Di

George W

Julia Roberts

Hef and his bunnies :)

Here is some pictures of our amazing rooms we stayed in (for cheap!)

I had my own room with jetted tub and bathroom, You can see the tv from the tub it was awesome!

And we each had our own kitchen and dining room and living room. It was so fun! We shopped so much, my idea of a perfect vacation. So next time you go to Vegas check out the Premium Outlets we had never been to them and it was GOOD shopping. Preslie missed Nate so much while we were gone (me too!) and he missed her like crazy. Thank goodness for picture phones. Mom, Dad, and Jami sure know how to party thanks for letting me and Preslie tag along!

Meeting the makeup artist for the stars!!

2009-05-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is probably one the most exciting things I have ever done! I got to meet and take a class from a world known pro makeup artist Robert Willaimson!!! I am not sure if you would know him or not but maybe you happened to see him on Oprah! He is kind of a big deal... My mom and I were chosen to take his free class at the Newgate Mall and we got lots of free stuff. We first got there and had to take off all of our makeup (my worst nightmare in a busy mall) then re apply it with all E.L. product and it was scary having him watch you apply your makeup (he had to correct what I did several times, I have a bit of a "heavy hand" who would have guessed ha ha). He chose all the colors for us so we would know what colors look best on our skin tone and Lilac is the best color for me. We loved learning from a pro, I wish he could come live me and do my make up everyday! This picture was the after result of his work. Thanks for coming with me Mom! it was so fun!

Welcome Here Baby Logan!

2009-05-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

We are happy to welcome a new member of the Russell family!

Logan, Brett and Katy's new baby boy. He is darling and I love his cute dark brown hair, it will spike all by itself, it makes him look like his uncle Nate! Preslie LOVES him and kisses him over and over. She wants a baby brother of her own I think :)

and here is Weston, the proud older brother. Two boys under two is going to be a fun handful!

Yay! Good Weather!

2009-05-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

We do not miss the cold one bit, Preslie throws a fit when its time to go inside lately. She likes to smell Grandpa's "flowee's" and ride her sweet elmo bike. We can be outside and not freeze!!

Happy Birthday Nate!

2009-05-11T21:28:00.001-07:00

Nate has two weeks off from school before the summer semester starts again so we planned a last minute getaway!

We got to Shelli's and decided to start the vacay off right by going to get Pedicures at Evan's Beauty college in Rexburg. It was so cute how excited Kennedy was to come, this was nothin new for her of course :) Being there reminded me how glad I am to not be in beauty school anymore, it was so nice to be on the other end of that chair. It brought back nightmares of some scary, nasty feet I had to work on for free...ewww

This school had massage chairs, it was sweet!

Shelli, mine, Kennedy, and my Mom's piggies

We then went back to Shelli's and had a yummy turkey dinner, she is such a good cook and hostess! Randomly enough this same week Nate's mom and Grandpa and Grandma W and aunt Eileen had planned a trip to come visit the Rexburg temple. So we got to meet up and do a session together, it is such a neat Temple. Grandpa Widdison's late wifes cousin is the Temple President(catch that?). He gave us a tour around and told us some cool stories. I love having connections!

The next day we rented a 12 passenger van (so we could all drive together) and headed to Jackson Hole, which is only about a hour an half from Rexburg.

Shelli, Kennedy, and Hudson under the antler arch. Hudson was so excited cause Grandpa let him borrow his hat!

The big stuffed mouse, Preslie could not stop staring at it.

We had such a blast at the hotel pool that night. Nate was the ultimate entertainment for the kiddos! We figured out this night that Preslie has absolutely no fear of the water, she was mad we wouldn't just let her jump in by herself, scary!! This was Hudson's turn..

Then Kennedy's..

Then Preslie's! Then repeat 100 more times!

But how could you say no to those cute happy faces?

They both fought to sit on Grandma's lap, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the animal games on her iphone :)

Here is the The Snake River Lodge where we stayed, the weather was rainy and overcast the entire time. We didn't mind it was still gorgeous.

Then on our way home we met my aunt and cousins in Idaho for lunch, it was so fun to see all of them, I miss them so much!

Nate, me, Dad, Kennedy, Hudson, Shelli, Becca, Carly, Malory, Bruce, Miranda, Gavin, Jarvis, and Mom. We took this after Lori, Matt, and Vicki already left so they are missin in the picture.

Nate- I hope you had a Happy Birthday!! We celebrated your big day all week long! I was so excited you got to come with us for once, it feels like we always have to leave you behind. I love you! Thanks Mom, Dad, Shelli, and fam for making our getaway so fun!

A few of the greatest moms I know..

2009-05-09T22:18:00.001-07:00

My sister Shelli a very patient and loving and out going mom who makes it look easy. My own mom who just happens to be the best mom in the world, my best friend, who I have learned everything I know from. I hope I can be a mom just like you! Thanks for being such a hands on Grandma too, it is never taken for granted.

Nate's sweet mom Shirley who raised the man of my dreams to be a perfect gentleman,hard worker and good daddy. He has so many wonderful qualities thanks to his awesome mom. (This is his Grandpa Merrill Widdison, who he is named after) and another amazing mother Beth. Nate's grandpa's second wife, his Grandma Widdison passed away and I never met her but I know she was a great mom too.

My grandma Diane Jorgensen, who raised my mom to be the amazing person she is! She has always set such a good example for her eight kids and we love her!

Nate's Grandma Russell (and Grandpa Russell) a sweet lady who knows how to spoil her grandkids (and great-grandkids) to pieces!

And of course my loving Grandma Webb. She always knows what is going on in my life. Gives me great advice and more than anything always makes me and my family feel so special, thanks for raising my dad, he is the best. I know how much he loves you and I hope you know I love you too.

I am proud to have such great Mom's to look up to. This was just a few I have so many more, including my sisters in law and aunts. But I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all of you and I think this quote sums motherhood up perfectly "If you're doing it right, motherhood is the hardest job in the world, but the most rewarding"

Preslie was really naughty so we taught her a lesson...

2009-04-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Ha ha just kidding! Poor Preslie. Got her first big ouchy! She was crawling under a recliner and bumped her head on the pointy metal part underneath. She didn't cry more than about ten seconds and the weird thing is that this huge head goose egg went away in a few hours! It is amazing how fast babies heal.

I can't believe how busy she is every second of every day. She never slows down! After this happened she sat through us reading a whole story and that lasted five minutes then it was back to running wild again!

Warning: A very long story

2009-04-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

It was such an exciting day when we bought our home. Like everyone else Nate and I were a little nervous about our first really huge purchase. We found this darling condo that is 3 bed two bath, a garage, and many more good things. We had been living in a crowded apartment in Layton before and knew it was no place to bring a baby home to it had been smoked in previously and it was noisy and gross. So imagine our excitement when we found this cute little condo that had never had a smoker or pet inside! We bought the condo from a "really good family friend" that gave us a "really good deal" So we felt really good about the purchase and Nate got started updating it right away, we re-painted, laid new tile, got new carpet, changed all the fixtures out and pretty much made it brand new inside. It's darling. We were ecstatic to have a place we owned. The first several months were really fun, it was just like playing house when I was a little girl, a dream come true. The creepy neighbor upstairs was just a joke we laughed about every now and again and we thought hey everyone has a creepy neighbor right? Really more than anything he just seemed like a redneck joke, the greasy mullet, googly eye, smokes two packs a day, swears every other word. We befriended this guy right away because we knew it was the best way to handle it. Our "friendship" turned around real quick when his ex-convict son moved back home with him cause he couldn't afford to live on his own anymore (spent all his money on drugs, can't find a job with his long felony list). He would wait until his dad left for work then crank up the rap music so loud my ceiling would shake. We tried calling him to ask him to turn down and wouldn't answer the phone or door. His dad did nothing about it either so after several times of playing this game we called the cops for the first time at one am to complain about the noise one night. The HOA told us all they can do to help is write them a warning or violation and they won't pay it and there is nothing they can do since we they are home owners. So the first time we called the cops the punk kid wouldn't even answer the door so they busted the door down and he had jumped out the window so they tackled him right outside our back window, just like an episode of cops. The cops thanked us for calling because he had two warrants out for his arrest anyway but they can't pursue a take down unless they are felonies and these happened to be mis demeanors. Such a huge flaw in the system in my opinion. So we had two peaceful days with him gone at jail until his dad bailed him out and it only got worse and worse cause now they were pissed at us to say the least. The following month or so they would stomp on the ceiling and yell down "f*%# you" at Preslie for crying, the music got louder, they sell drugs out of their house (the cops told me) so there was always really scary people coming and going all the time. We had called the cops about 8 more times over the next two months and they would either arrest him again for other warrants or warn him and leave. It was a living nightmare for us. I had one cop tell me I am safe to be there when my husband is home but if he is not I should try not to stick around, it's not safe for me and Preslie. OK really?? Nate was taking 18 credits at school, and working full time doing night shifts at the hospital, he is never home. I hated being home I was terrified and didn't dare go outside and I was trying to keep Preslie quiet all the time. Words can not express our anger with this whole situation, no one can do anything to help us, so we put it up for sell (about the time the economy started taking a huge dive) packed our bags and have been living in my parents basement. They have been our refuge in the storm to say the least. It has been nine months of trying to sell this place and I just keep asking these same questions in my head. Why didn't the "family friend" warn us about these criminals we would be living under? (He knew it was a very shady thing to do and has admitted it to many others since). Why can't the law protect us from these people? Why do they have to jump through such hoops to lock these people up, especially when they know they are doing all these things against the law? Why can't the HOA step up and take care of the situation and throw these people out? We threw thousands of dollars down the toilet by paying for something we can't even use. To make a really long story short I hope I learned what I was supposed to from this trial, It has been so painful and I just really want to thank my parents for rescuing my family and taking us in. I am sure it feels like we have invaded your home but you have made us feel so welcome. Preslie loves having you around all the time and will miss you when we go. There is finally a light at the end of this tunnel though the condo is under contract and we are hoping to close in a few weeks. I am so grateful for my family and my sweet husband and Preslie. When things get so hard I have to count my blessings and I have so many. We are healthy and happy and our faith that everything will turn out okay has got us through this. I am so relieved to think this is finally coming to end and thanks to everyone who has been supportive and helped us out. Thanks for letting me vent! Be thankful for good neighbors, it is something we often take for granted!

Happy Easter

2009-04-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

It was a little too early to bring Preslie to see the Easter bunny this year, she was scared of him so I had to jump in so she would at least stay in the picture! She kept saying "sary, sary sary" I am glad they let us take pictures of our own I never would have paid for this shot, she would not look at the camera!! Plus she was trying so hard to get down and run away from the "sary" bunny.

We met Jeff and Jill to return Cortnie and Tayler after staying with us for a few days for a fun Hannah Montana party (refer to Jami's blog) and went to dinner at Red Robin. Try a pomegranate limeade there sometime they are YUMMM...

The kids loved these video games, Preslie and Will started crying their heads off when we finally left :)

On actual Easter Nate's parents were really excited to have some grandkids around for once so they had a small egg hunt in their yard for Preslie and Weston!

We forgot her easter egg basket, halo! We are new at this I guess, but she didn't mind one bit

Trying some of the candy they found! Preslie did really good finding all the treats and Weston didn't really understand what to do so she helped him fill his basket too!

Then for some reason... Preslie decided to go in the garden and start eating dirt so here she is showing off her favorite treat of the day

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Picture Princess Contest!

2009-03-31T23:27:00.000-07:00

My daughter is the "Picture Princess" She makes even the worst photographer's (me) work look good! She always knows when the camera comes out to put a big huge smile on her face and says "cheeese"! She has the cutest little personality and is so photogenic, She would look so darling in the Vineyard dress from the Shabby baby line!

2009-03-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

My Birthday was so fun! Me, Nate, and Preslie stayed with Garret, Trulie, and Jace in Park City for three nights (at the Marriott hotel in a really nice time share) and had one non stop party! The actual night of my Birthday (Tuesday) my parents, Jami, Nate's parents,Tanner and Taylor, Jeff and Jill and their kids met us at Baja Cantina. My favorite mexican restaraunt! Here is my free dessert and sweet sombrero.

This is what Richard and Shirley got me, a freakin hot pink CHI!! yay!! I absolutely love it, I don't even want to use it cause I want it to stay this shiny and clean, and it won't after about a week with me :) They also got me a cute blingy shirt and capris. My parents got me a darling Modbe swimsuit and shorts, and money, and Jami gave me Twilight and a carmel apple from Rocky Mtn Chocolate factory mmmm, Jeff and Jill gave me a cute watch that has changeable bands, and Nate gave me a huge 6 ft mirror for our room, I love it. Shelli gave me a HUGE supply of scrapbook supplies...It just goes on and on. I got spoiled, thank you all so much!!

Trulie and Jacer, he is hilarious, he kept us laughing the whole time we were there, I miss him already so does Preslie!

The group, Tanner and Taylor look so happy right?!

The next night Jeff and Jill invited us over for dinner at their house in Heber, it was so Yummy! We got to go out and see all Jeff's fun toys in his monster shed and visit his animals. Preslie missed most of the fun because Cortnie rocked her to sleep in the house, it was so cute. Cortnie is such a sweetheart. I love Preslie's milk goatee :) (how the heck do you spell that word?)

She loved this toy so much the good ol sit n' spin. She is so lucky to have such fun uncles they play so cute with her. After all the fun activities this night the boys gave Jeff a blessing. He is having major back problems and was scheduled for a huge surgery in a few weeks but they had to rush him in to the ER just last night(today is Saturday) because of all the pain he was in and moved his surgery to today, a last minute decision by his doc because of the intense pain. So last I heard (about 20 min ago) was they finished the surgery and it went well. The surgeon said it was a huge herniated disc on the left side, way worse than they thought. I hope this heals his back completely and he won't have this pain any more, I feel so bad. So luckily they did the blessing on Wednesday night because we didn't think the surgery was going to be for weeks, keep him in your prayers please!

Anyways here was some pictures we got of Preslie and Jace on their "car" as they both called it. This was their favorite thing to do! Garret was constantly having to take them on rides up and down the hotel halls, hilarious!

Getting ready to go to the pool, as you can see we couldn't leave their car in the hall it had to stay in the room with us

Thanks for the fun Birthday everyone!! I missed everyone who couldn't make it!

21 finally!

Junior Prom

2009-03-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Jami went to the Junior Prom last night! Crazy! This is her date Shaun Allen, he is my sister in law's, brother in law's brother, get it?!

She had the most gorgeous dress, It was so cute on her, Preslie kept saying "pwitty"

I was so happy to do her hair for her, I also did another girl's hair in the ward it was down to her butt and super thick! so I was a little overwhelmed but it turned out really cute, I wish I would have got a picture but forgot with all the craziness going on. Oh yeah by the way this is the day Twilight came out on DVD so I of course had to rock my Twilight shirt, yay! I am so happy I can get my Edward fix anytime I want now :)

And in the middle of all the chaos my sweeties Cortnie, Tayler and Will were over at Grandma's house, they stayed over two nights while Jill went to Boise to watch the Aggie games, they were so much fun to have around!

This is "brownie" and "polar bear" :) according to the girls

Cute enough to be a girl ha ha! What a good sport :)

2009-03-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

We had the chance to go see the Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and we loved it. I have always had a deep love and appreciation for him but it just grows even stronger as I learn more and more about him. It made it even more special to be there with Jeff's family, my parents and Jami. I recommend it!

Grandma and sweet little Willy

If you get a chance to see this awesome movie try to not bring a one year old, it is basically impossible to keep her entertained!!

Once it was over she was so relieved to be able to run around! Now I know this next picture is a little early but...

Happy Birthday Grandma!!! (April Fools Day)

I am sorry this happens to be the most recent picture of us, but I had so much fun doing your perm a few weeks ago! You are my favorite person to talk to in the world, I can tell you anything. I love your random phone calls just to see what I have going on and your always the first person I think to call when I have good or bad news. You are always so optomistic and happy. I really look up to you and hope I can be a cool Grandma like you someday :) I love you so much and I wish I lived closer to you so I could style your hair every single day. I will put an after picture once I see you again, sorry we forgot that night! That night was so fun cause we went with Garret, Trulie, and Jace to the Lewiston show-Marley & Me. Also a very good movie!

Perspective..

2009-03-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

I have tears streaming down my face and I am huggin my Preslie so tight today. Just when you think you have tough trials in your own life you see something like this... If you have a second please look at this blog (thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com) this is my cousin's friend. My heart just aches for this family that just endured this large trial in their life. It really puts things in to perspective about really matters in life. I love the gospel. I am so thankful that I have my family forever. I love you all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELLI!

2009-02-21T00:07:00.000-08:00

Shelli thanks for being such an awesome older sister!

I have learned so much from you about being a good wife and mother, well I try to take notes anyway. I just can't keep up with your freakin cute and immaculately clean house and cute clothes, shoes, jewelry, purses, pens, house decor, swimsuits, red kitchenaid mixer, designer kids clothes, cooking yummy dinners, baking yummy desserts, cupcake making skills, photography skills, giving good presents for every occasion, vocabulary skills, math skills, I.Q. level, always being nice to your husband skills, computer skills,art of d.i shopping, waking up early in the morning skills, getting your kids to bed early skills, homemade popcorn, toe nail and fingernail painting skills, anyway we hope you had a fun Birthday! See you soon!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

2009-02-15T20:40:00.003-08:00

My Valentine was so good to me this year, he took me to Salt Lake for a big day of shopping, yay! He said he hates trying to pick stuff out that I like so I was glad to help him out! And as usual I found plenty of things I really "need" :)

Then we had a party on Sunday with Kennedy and Hudson, my mom gave all of them some cute little books, toys and treats. Shelli knew she would miss the party so she had two little gift bags all ready for K & H. They loved all the cute stuff they got, now that's one prepared Mom!

This is my sweet little Valentine after polishing off her yummy cupcake! She didn't care about her toys one bit once she saw them, she is just like me, she LOVES a good treat. Did I mention I got a box of chocolate covered strawberries and chocolates? Yum.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Buddies!

2009-02-13T21:54:00.000-08:00

So... we were wondering if these two would get along while Shelli and Dustin are on their fun vacation! And they do!! They are so cute together, Preslie is loving having kids around to play with, she will be so bored when they go home! I took this picture right before we took them to McDonalds to go play. I wish I would have got some of them actually playing there but it was a quick trip cause Hudson threw up all over himself, poor guy :(

I think it was too much playing with a full tummy, I hope he isn't getting sick! When his mom is gone that would be no good. I am so proud of how well he is doing with them away. Kennedy is such a good little babysitter too! Shelli-If you happen to see this while your gone, take your time! We are loving every minute of having these two around!

Celebrity scoping..

2009-01-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

So, if you keep up with my mom's blog you already know that we went to Park City for the Sundance film festival! It was so much fun! We came within ten steps of Paris Hilton! Of course my camera was buried in the very bottom part of my purse so I don't have any evidence! Dang it! I am not a huge Paris fan or anything but I thought she was really cute in person and we were both rockin the fringe bang that day so I felt like we could be friends :)

Isn't this hot?! The fur protesters were outside of this fur store and so of course we had to go in and try some on, but this was by far my favorite piece in there! I wanted to get it for Nate sooo bad! And at that price for real fur I am crazy for passing it up!!

I could have had Valentines Day done.. Geez I hate having buyers remorse. Can I just add one thing off the subject, why aren't there groups of protestors yelling and screaming against people smoking everywhere? I am not kidding, I have never seen more smokers in my life. These people are so worried about animals and I wanted to say what about second hand smoke? and the pollution it puts in the air? If you are going to protest anything lets please start there... ok I will get off my soap box now.

Then we stayed at Jeff's that night and I got to play High School Musical Game with Cortnie and Tayler. I was doing so bad so they finally said "Have you even seen the movie?" and I hadn't so they insisted we watch it then play the game, good times! Did I do any better playing the game after? nope, sure didn't.

Here is the little cuties! They still play so cute, and Will has no problems wearing a cowboy hat, he kept it on for a long time! I was very impressed.

Here is Preslie in a photo shoot with out her "bottowee"

and this is a photo shoot with, so I decided it's not worth the fight sometimes! Yes, I know she is too old for a bottle and yes, we are trying to get rid of it. But the more we want it gone the more she thinks she needs it! aww, the joys of being a mommy :)

Jeff and Jill-Thanks for letting us crash at your house once again! And for those of you who have never braved a trip to Park City during Sundance, I recommend you try it. Even if you don't actually get to see any of the movies. It's fun seeing the craziness!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2009-01-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say I have the best mom in the whole world. I hope I can do even half as good as she did with me and my brothers and sisters. Being a perfect mom to me does not mean your kids are perfect or your house is immaculate or you never make mistakes. To me it is when your kids can come to you at any time with anything and know you will be there for them and love and support them no matter what.

Here is the top ten reasons why she is the best:

1. I really admire my mom for the special and unique friendship she has with all of her kids.

2. Her ability to always look perfect wherever she goes. From the shoes, jewelry, clothes, etc..

3. Her patience with Preslie.. That's really hard to have with a one year old! She is a good Grandma to all the kiddos and they love her so much.

4. She smiles at every person she sees!

5. She is the best cook I know, and I know some good ones!

6. She is the my favorite person to shop with, we always like the same stuff! It never gets old to either of us and we know a bargain when we see one :)

7. Her goals and dreams are never ending, I think thats always a good thing to be working toward something in life, her current dream? To build another house.

8. She has a strong testimony of the church and shares it with her family frequently.

9. When your around my mom it makes life feel like a party, she is such a blast! There is nothing in life that a little dessert can't fix :)

10. She helped me become the person I am today. I learned so many things from her and I love her for always making her kids and husband first priority.

SO Happy Happy Birthday!

Thanks for everything Mom!! We love you

Two Happy Years

2009-01-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

On January fifth we celebrated our two year wedding anniversary! I am shocked it has been that long. Preslie got to come on our romantic date to Zucca, a brand new Italian restaurant in South Ogden. I had been dying to eat there so it was sweet of him to let us (he is more of a Texas Roadhouse guy). Then we rented movie on the way home and ended the night with Tiramasu (a dessert he hates) watching The Women (a total chick flick which he hated and slept through the last half). SO this post is a to my sweet husband who spoils me and treats me like a Princess. He didn't complain one bit the whole night. He never thinks about himself, he is always doing things to make me happy and I am so in love with him! So thanks Nate, I owe you a day of football and a steak dinner :) I am looking forward to many more years to come!

Kuku wanna cracker?

2009-01-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

Grandma Russell got a bird (kuku) for Christmas and Preslie is terrified of it! This was so funny when Nate put it on her shoulder, she didn't even dare move, the look that she pulled was hilarious!!

Here is daddy trying to prove to her that he is nice and wont hurt her, and trying to make her pet it! As you can tell by her hand pulling away she was not buying it. She still thinks he is creepy.

By the end of the night she got a lot more comfortable around him, she even waved hi to him so maybe one day they can be friends..

2009

2009-01-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!

This year we partied at our friend's Leland and Robin's pretty new house with some of our buddies. There was at least six kids under three so Preslie was entertained every single second!

Kyle, Nate, Leland and Scott

Nate's friends from high school, when these guys get together it is hilarious!

me, Robin, Paige, and Katee

The wifeys

Mom what is that thing on your head??? :) by the way I know it's hard to tell but Preslie's hair can fit in piggys now! Yay! That should probably have a post all of its own. They are falling out in this picture but this was after hours of partying hard. What a joyous day for her mom!

There is no better way to start of the New Year right?

Hope you all have a great year!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T20:29:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!

This year was so different from any other, Nate had to work Christmas Eve so he had to miss the Russell side Christmas party at his parents. I didn't have my camera at the party but it was fun! Preslie got to play an angel in the nativity, a perfect fit for her! and thanks to Trulie for the fun white elephant game she gave to me it was the hit of the party.

My dad also had to work this year on Christmas Eve so it was just us girls who got to open our one Christmas present which always happens to be new jammies! Preslie was loving the wassail way to much to pose for the picture :) So this is us in our new jams. That is my favorite tradition we do on Christmas. Thanks for being the photographer Mom!

Then the boys got off work at 6 am and Jami wanted to see her Christmas presents before they went to sleep (cause in order to catch up on their sleep they usually have to sleep til at least one in the afternoon, those who work swing shift understand this crazy schedule) and she couldn't wait that long, so we all got up and saw what Santa brought Jami. She must have been a really good girl cause she got every single thing on her long list plus more! She even got a fourth ipod, wow what do you do with four ipods?! I'm just saying. I was mostly just jealous of all her Twilight stuff, like the Edwards kiss chapstick and shirts (3) and the Bella lotion and both of the soundtracks from the movie! Lucky! But it's not like I received a lump of coal, I got some clothes and a video camera, and other fun things. Nate got an outdoor canopy and clothes and a fun new cell phone. For poor students we both felt beyond spoiled this year!

This is a darling snow suit Santa brought Preslie and we were so happy to have it because...

the snow DUMPED on us! We were shoveling (well mostly Nate and Dad) all dang day! and she was thrilled to be able to go ride the johnny with her dad! Nate acts like the snow is a pain but secretly he loves it, and jumps at any opportunity to be out in it. How are we even compatible? I could live on a beach my whole life and be totally fine with it! Sorry snow-lovers. Where are we going to end up someday? We will never be able to agree!

Oh and here is some of the things Santa dropped of for Princess Preslie! She was so excited to have all this new stuff! She makes Christmas so exciting! Me and Nate loved recording her every move. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Twins!!

2008-12-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

Preslie and Jace are the exact same size right now and it's so fun! same height, almost same weight and pretty much the same hair color. They play so cute together!

They really could be girl and boy twins! But wow how does anyone have twins? It would be so chaotic!

Well.. they mostly play good together but sometimes they hit each other or steal toys or even yell at each other :)

But sometimes they share toys and give kisses and then its all better! The kisses just happen too fast it's pretty much impossible to get a picture of it! Cousins are the best!

Webb family Christmas party!

2008-12-14T23:02:00.000-08:00

My family party this year was such a blast! My parents bought 2 hotel nights for each family at the Hilton. We all checked in on Friday evening and rode the trax to Gateway to eat then we all came back to the hotel and went swimming, and ate lots of junk, well I know I did anyway :) Then Saturday was very eventful my mom took all of the girls to the Grand America for the Christmas Tea Party. Preslie is still to young to come so maybe in a few more years, I was sad to leave her behind in her matching pretty dress!

My mom gave them these pretty dresses the night before, they were so polite at the tea and they loved dancing to the Christmas songs that this lady played on the grand piano.

All of us girls love any excuse we can find to get all dressed up and fancy! Except Preslie, it was kind of a nightmare getting the pretty dress on, but I am sure she will catch on once she gets a little older! If you have never been to an actual tea you need to try it at least once. It is so fun! You order gourmet hot chocolate and they feed you scones and little yummy sandwiches and the best dessert EVER! The boys had their own fun time together, they went to some Smith and Edwards type store that sells discounted knives and other stuff...hmm I am so glad to be a girl :) How does that even sound fun?! But they seemed to love it just as much as we enjoyed our tea so go figure! By the way thanks mom for taking us to the tea! That was another gift from her to us.

The four princesses: Tayler, Kennedy, Preslie and Cortnie

and here is the royal Queen with the princesses!

When we got back from the tea we changed in to our matching shirts to go shopping! Which was kind of pointless because we all had to wear huge coats over them because there was a huge blizzard on Saturday!

I had to get a picture of us in our matching beanies, scarves and gloves

This was tooooo cute! Preslie was so worn out from this day that this was how she slept as we walked through the lights on Temple square. After the lights we went back to the hotel and had our huge gift exchange party with the kids and the d.i. gift game for the adults. It was so fun! This year we even attempted to do a talent show and the little kids loved it Tay and Cort played piano and Kennedy sang and Hudson told us the shapes that he knows and Jace told us what a car says and Preslie told us what Santa says! But I have to say the best part was Garret and Jami's combined talent. She pretended to resist getting arrested and he showed us what he would do in that situation ha ha!! priceless! Me and Nate also did a combined talent, it was a ballroom dancing stunt, that didn't turn out too great because we didn't have enough room, or thats at least our excuse! If we ever get real good at it I will video it and post it but don't wait around for it :) We ended the night by giving my parents a huge picture of the Salt Lake Temple that we had engraved for them, and we all had the same idea because my parents gave us all pictures of the temples we were married in.

The next morning was the Tabernacle Choir, it was amazing! Here is Jami and Cortnie waiting for it to start.

After the TC we went to the church museum and spent lots of time in the kids center, it was so relieving to be in a room where they couldn't break anything! But as you can see it was just as entertaining for the parents. Here is Nate showing off his great artwork, some boys never grow up!

Jace was terrified of these hand puppets

This is the nativity if you can't tell! It was a real struggle who got to hold baby Jesus but it finally got worked out and I think this picture is so hilarious! Nate lovin on some random black baby, Garret of course loves the animals, Hudson really jealous that his Dad is holding Jace and not him, Tayler flapping her angel wings like crazy hitting everyone in the face, and of course Preslie trying to run out of the picture using all her force throwing a fit! While poor patient Grandma tries to keep her in the picture! We had such a fun time! I was sad Jeff and Jill and Will couldn't make it cause they were in Florida for his job. But I am so grateful for my family I love every single one of them so much. I wish I could see all of them lots more than I do. Mom and Dad thanks for the fun weekend! I love you all, I am so happy we are together forever.

Please don't grow up so fast!!

2008-12-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

Please!! My sweet Preslie refuses to stop growing up! I just need her to not want to get down when I want to give her loves but she is just too darn busy all the time! Whether she is trying to get in to my makeup and knows how to apply it after she finally gets it open (yeah, she watches me and knows all about it!) or hiding the remotes cause she thinks it's funny when we can't find them, or wanting to use a utensil to eat instead of her hands, or actually paying attention to cartoons on t.v. Just stop!! You can't possibly be old enough to try talking and saying words?? Don't get me wrong it is all the cutest things in the world but just slow down for one minute! So after all the complaining here is a short video of her talking and this was at least a month ago so it has improved even more... Now she can say dad, mom cracker, tub, outside, bottle, fishy, shoes, and many more things that continue to surprise me, It's so fun to watch her grow!

catchin' up

2008-12-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

I just recently got the cd of the pictures from Halli's wedding, so here are a few of them, we didn't get an actual family group shot at the reception because the line started forming early. Good thing we got some at the temple. I just want to say I am very happy to welcome Stewart to the family, he is such a nice guy and he is such a good uncle to Preslie, Halli is lucky to have him!

My cute neices Madysen, Elle, Mandy (she is actually Nate's little cousin, but she looks just like the rest of them) and Grace. The wedding turned out really nice, Preslie had the best time because everyone kept feeding her their refreshments :)

They were married on August 9, 2008

parties, parties and more parties!

2008-12-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was so fun this year! We got to eat at Nate's parent's house early in the day and my parents had theirs late this year since my dad had to work. So it turned out perfect! This is Preslie and Weston on Grandmas piano at the Russell's house. This whole day Preslie was in heaven playing with all her cousins!

This is when I first caught em, they look so worried like they are going to get in big trouble! Anyways those are the only pictures I took because I always take advantage of Shelli and just use the ones she takes. We decided since all my brothers and sisters came to my mom's house this year we would do some family pictures so I will post some when she sends them to me, I got a sneek peek of them at her house over this past weekend and they turned out really cute! I am so thankful for my family, it was the best Thanksgiving EVER! Mom thanks for having such a fun party house!

We made a really quick trip up to Rexburg to see Kennedy perform her dance this weekend! She did so good! I am so proud of her, she has the perfect little ballerinas body, and she keeps a smile on her face the whole time. I asked her on the way if she gets scared to perform in front of all those people and she said not at all, she loves it! So I hope there is many more performances to come! Little Hannah is also in this picture she is my cousin Brady's little girl, I can't believe how big they are now. Everyone that lives up there is so lucky to get to dance at Dance Tech, my aunt Lori is the founder and owner and you couldn't find a better dance studio with nicer teachers. I wish I could enroll Preslie there in half a year! A two and a half hour drive to dancing each week doesn't sound too bad :) Once again Shelli thanks for letting us stay and crash your house, See everyone in a week for our Webb Christmas Party in Salt Lake I can't wait!

And the reward goes to...

2008-11-26T00:10:00.000-08:00

If there was a reward for older brother and sister of the year it should go to me and Nate! ha ha I went to all but one of Jami's volleyball games this season, and Nate went to almost all of his little brothers football games! The hard thing was that their games were almost always on the same day. Jami played excellent the whole season, she started varsity and even lettered!

We used to play together all the time growing up and I was so hard on her but now I am pretty sure she thanks me :) There was hardly a time you would see her on the bench throughout the whole varsity and junior game. They got a new coach this year that is pretty hard on them so I was proud of her for stickin with it.

We were excited when Garret, Trulie, and Jace came down for a game and it was so exciting for Preslie to have a buddy to play with!

Here is Jace taking Preslie for a stroll around the gym, too cute!

Here is the all star herself, and these are the famous Weber High volleyball shirts my mom got for us. Their team almost made it to finals, they got so close, hopefully they can do it next year, good job Jami! Also good job for maintaining a 4.0 through the whole season! The brains were divided equally between my two sisters and completely missed me :)

Nate's brothers Taylor and Tanner had an amazing season, last year their varsity didn't win one game because Syracuse was a brand new school so they didn't have any seniors. But this year they "tore it up" as Nate would say. They ended up ranking third in the state.

The news channels kept doing stories on their team. Tanner was quarterback and Taylor was safety. Please be impressed that I can even tell you that much, football is a sport I am still learning.

These were cute shirts that Nate's sister Donelle made for the final game, on the back it says "Go #3 and #33" We will save them for next year! I hope they keep the same numbers.

Here is the final game. We are hoping next year their team will be even better and they can take it all the way! Good job Tanner and Taylor!

In the meantime though I am going to enjoy the break from high school sports :) I don't think I can say the same for Nate though, he is a football freak, so he will have to endulge in college and professional football until next season to keep him going!

Husband tag

2008-11-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

Nathan Merrill Russell...

-Where did you meet your husband? At beauty school, He came in for a cheap haircut, and it took me forever because I really wanted him to love it. He supposedly "forgot" to give me a tip but he did ask for my number so that was better than a tip he says! He has been enjoying free haircuts ever since :) I have to admit I was very skeptical of him at first because in my mind I was thinkin "hmm.. 24 years old, return missionary, going to college, way nice and super hot there has to be some sort of catch here" what was his answer to that? he just hadn't found me yet! ha ha good answer!

-How long did you date? From March to December of 2006

-How long have you been married? Two years in January

-What does he do that surprises you? He does many things that continue to surprise me, but right now it shocks me how he can function on no sleep due to his insane schedule, and still be sweet and happy! (Maybe he is a vampire?)

-What is his best quality? He has the best personality, he always makes me laugh cause he is so goofy! He doesn't hold grudges. His best physical quality is his big dimples in his cheeks! So cute

-Does he have a nickname for you? My favorite one is toots

-Does he have a nickname for you? I am sure he does.. but I just can't think of it at the moment.

-What is his favorite food? anything and everything! I could cook the worse meal ever and he would eat it all and say how yummy it is.. aka my sick roast a few weeks ago :)

-What is his favorite sport? Football for sure. He got offensive player of the year his senior year and recieved a football scholarship to play but didn't end up using it (he regrets that now of course) His favorite team is the Steelers because he served his mission in Pittsburgh

-When and where did you kiss? At the drive-in movie on our second date

-What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We love watching movies together, we also love going to the family cabin and roughin it for a few days, I always complain but I actually do like it!

-Do you have children? Yes! princess Preslie! and hopefully lots more to come :)

-Does he have any hidden talents? a few of his sisters were big in tumbling and taught him some tricks a long time ago and he can still do a standing back tuck, most people don't know that :) you have to beg and beg for him to show you. The other one is not that hidden but I just can not leave it out, the good ol fashioned blue dart :)

-How old is he? 100 ha ha jk Nate! I always make fun of him for being old but he is just 25, but I can call him hold since he is 6 years my senior

-Who said "I love you" first? he did

-His favorite music? it used to be tool-gross. But now I think its Hinder, maybe? and he loves loves loves Avril Lavigne-no lie! He burned her cd and wrote on it "avril my love" should I be jealous?

-What do you admire most about him? his good attitude about life. Also his willingness to help others out. He is going in to the perfect profession he will take excellent care of his patients. I most admire him for letting me dream big and he doesn't ever make me feel like I can't have it all.

-What is his favorite color? I think blue?

-Will he read this? only if I show him, he teases me about bloggin

-Who do you tag? Everyone that hasn't done it

Ps. Nate if you do read this I am so happy to have you for my hubby I am so lucky, thanks for putting up with me:) I love you!!

St.George and Las Vegas!

2008-11-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

My parents went and listened to a time share presentation and scored two free nights in Las Vegas! Yay! They were nice enough to invite me and Nate and Preslie to come along but Nate's schedule wouldn't allow it so I still went and I felt guilty doing it, but I guess not enough to stay home, sorry Nate!! I am so mean! This is a view of St George behind us, if you look real close you can see the temple
We left on Friday and stayed in my dad's cousins house in St. George (Wayne Tanner) he is always so nice to let us stay. The house and neighborhood is amazing. So since we were in town we had Vicki, my cousin who is going to Dixie State come and stay over with us. It was a blast, we stayed up til 3 laughing our heads off and playing ping pong (I didn't used to know this but my dad is actually really good at ping pong ha ha) and catching up. I hate her, look how much tan she is! Just kidding I already miss you Vicki!!

By the way this is the house across the street, it is for sale if you are interested, it's only like 1.2 million

This is Wayne's house, I am super jealous, I can barely afford one home and this is his second??? While we were in St. George we shopped and ate at a few of the local places and mostly just relaxed, the weather was very nice, not hot but not cold. I could live there

So then on Monday we got to Vegas and checked in to Planet Hollywood and each room has a theme from a movie, the one we stayed in was Terms of Endearment...hmm..I have never seen it, it's from the early early 1980s thats probably why. So not that cool to me but my mom seemed to know all about it, this is a dress worn from the movie. Why couldn't the theme have been something like Legally Blonde or something? That would have been way better ha ha!

If Preslie was being naughty this was her play pen! The huge tub, she doesn't look to mad about it huh! Probably because she knew she was going to be able to figure out how to turn the water on in a minute! Oh by the way we put her port a crib up in the bathroom and so this was her room, it worked out perfect! But If you had to use the potty once she was down for the night too bad! I was so amazed at how good she was on this trip, I was nervous taking her but she was awesome as long as she had a bottle and her "soft" the blanket that she is currently obssesed with. The funniest thing on the whole trip was that my dad found this clip thingy on string and hooked it on her belt loop and turned it in to a leash for her! People did not stop staring, it was hilarious and she didn't like it too much, I couldn't get a good pic of it but trust me it was so dang funny

Here is the hotel behind us. Just a random side note, one night we ordered the movie "House Bunny" to our room and it was hilarious, according to me and Jami :) Just in case you were thinkin of seeing it.

I wish we could have stayed here instead (The Bellagio) it's only like a thousand a night, no big deal! From our hotel we could see the water show though so that was cool

Preslie loved pushing buttons on the elevator, she even pushed the alarm button once! Oh wait or was that Jami?

Caesar's Palace, the best shopping ever, it has the best stores like Chanel, Dior, D&G, Prada and more. I love looking but one of us always had to wait outside the store with Preslie I was too scared she would touch something and I would have to take out a loan to buy it :) But I have to say I splurged on the trip a little and bought a real BEBE shirt, it was deeply discounted and that has been a life long dream of mine to own something from there, I know I am a dork. Sorry I don't have a pic of it but I will wear it like everyday so I am sure you will see it at some point!

Here is Preslie on the famous piano from FAO toy store, it was so cute! Her favorite toy in the whole store? The elevator, go figure!

dinner at Spaghetti Factory yum,with that sweet view of the huge fish aquarium

Me and Jami tried to coordinate our outfits but now I decided we actually clashed instead! Admire her "Oprah" earrings that I talked her in to buying.

She loved watching the fish, she kept saying "shishie" over and over! On our way home(Tuesday) we drove to Provo and met Jeff and Jill for dinner at Pizza Factory for Jill's Birthday, Happy Birthday Jill! and it was fun to see the girls and Will, I didn't get any pics sorry! We had a blast on this trip. Thanks Mom and Dad and Jami for letting us tag along! We love you guys

Fall Pictures of the Princess

2008-11-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

Preslie is so hard to get pictures of right now, she just runs away, so this is our small attempt at some fall pictures of her, Shelli help!!

I took some for my parents the same day and they turned out really cute! So the effort wasn't a complete waste after all. If I ever see my husband again maybe we can try to get some too, but that won't be anytime soon, his school and work schedule is unreal, thanks for your hard work Nate!

Then after taking some pictures we all met up with Jace, Garret and Trulie for some lunch at the train station and managed to snap a picture with both of them looking yay!! Garret was down in Ogden for a dr. appointment. We hit the D after for some sweet treasures, as usual!

Preslie and her pumpkin hat

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-11-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

You can only imagine how difficult it was to get eyeliner on a one year old!

Preslie and Weston

This year for Halloween Preslie was a china doll, she looked so cute in this costume! Nate had to dress up for school because the professor threatened to take points away if they didn't so he was the green m&m (yes that is the girl one!!) But I am sorry to say I didn't get a picture of him before he left in the morning (hello it was like 5:45!) and he wouldn't keep it on the rest of the night, I couldn't make him since I was boring and didn't dress up this year. He claimed it was too hot to wear, by the way since when is it ever around 65 or 70 degrees on Halloween around here? To celebrate we went to Halli's (she was born on Halloween so what a clever name for her huh?) Birthday party and then did some light trick or treating..two houses to be exact! Good thing we have a little longer before Preslie realizes how important trick or treating is! We got the year off!

New Russell Family Pictures

2008-10-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

It is very rare that Nate's siblings are all here at the same time so when they were all here for Halli's wedding we had some family pictures done, and here are some of them..

Thank you Grandma Shirley for this cute outfit Preslie is wearing!

Richard and Shirley, These two were so calm even though the wedding was the next day! Halli had her reception in their back yard, so they put lots of time in to their yard and it really payed off! It looked awesome, so it was a great idea that we used it for the back drop of these pictures

Stewart and Halli... almost to be become Mr. and Mrs. Tinti

Brett (Nate's older brother)Katy, and little Weston, who is only few weeks younger than Preslie. They live down the street from Richard and Shirley in Syracuse.

Erin (Nate's older sister) Mark, and our nephews Marcus and Russell, live in St. George. Erin just graduated from the nursing program and donated several books to our cause, Thanks!

Ryan and Donelle (Nate's older sister) and their kids Elle, Grace, Teancum, and Decimus, they also live in St. George. I wish I lived closer to them so I could enroll Preslie in Raglan Coast Cheer, the cheering business they own down there. Elle and Grace are the best little cheerleaders!

Wendy (Nate's oldest sister) and her husband Danny
and their kids Madysen and Cooper, they live in California. We never hardly see these guys so I am always shocked how much Mady and Cooper grow up every time I see them!

I don't think Tanner and Tayler wanted individual shots but they are Nate's younger twin brothers, they are having an awesome football season at Syracuse High, they are juniors right now.

And that's everyone! I will post some pictures of the wedding soon...

Poor Grandpas!!

2008-10-21T23:12:00.000-07:00

My father in law Richard just recently had shoulder surgery to fix a torn rotator cuff and I know he had to fix other things too that I don't understand (hey it's me blogging not my husband!) but I know that is a major surgery and very painful. So the night before the surgery we went over to his house and Nate gave him a beautiful blessing. I could tell it meant a lot to his dad and I was so proud of him, he really made him feel comforted and Richard seems to be recovering very fast, although he is not one to complain so I am just assuming! I told him he amazes me because I had my wisdom teeth out and I was down for two weeks and he gets major surgery and went to a football game a few days later! I'm not a wuss, he is just tough! Ok maybe I am.. a little..

Anyway and my dad is going in for knee surgery in the next few weeks so we hope that all goes well with that surgery. I hope both our dads/grandpas get feeling better again real soon!! We love you both!

Conference Weekend, starting from the end...

2008-10-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

On Monday after Conference my parents, Shelli's family and Jill and her kids and me and Preslie went to Hogle Zoo together. I have always wondered what it would be like to take her to the zoo and she was a good girl and had lots of fun, but her favorite part of being there was not the animals, it was...

My dad's jazzy that he rented!!! He has a bad knee that is going to be operated on in the next few weeks and it saved him some pain, but it didn't save him from us making fun of him!

Now going back in time... For some reason my pictures all got flipped and that is a problem that I don't seem to know how to fix, I tried but finally gave up. So...

On Saturday (before conference Sunday) was Kennedy and Hudson's combined Birthday Party at Toad's! It was so fun! We were a little bummed because it rained that day so we couldn't ride the go-carts or play miniature golf but it still turned out awesome. The kids loved playing in the arcade, especially Preslie! Cortnie is the such a good helper with all the kids, We love having her around.

Tayler helping Will on the ride, she seems more entertained than him!

And here is the happy birthday boy, he was so excited and cheerful, which was a relief for Shelli because she said he hadn't had a nap all day! I can not believe he is two now, he is talking so good, and it's so fun to have him say whatever you wanna hear

Kennedy turned six, which is also very crazy and this was the pink coat that our family gave her, I knew the second I saw it that it had her name all over it, she is such a sweety, she didn't mind sharing the party one bit, in fact she even shared her brand new toys with Hudson. I was very impressed!

The babies!! I just love the expression Jace has, he has been workin on this glare lately and ''if looks could kill'' ha ha. Its obvious Will is not happy at the moment either but hey I am just amazed I got one picture with them all looking, kinda. They loved these balloons, right after this they all started hitting them at each other and the best part was that Hudson demanded to have the pink one! I think that is hilarious!

It was a fun weekend and I hope to see everyone again soon!

I got tagged!!

2008-09-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

3 Joys in my life:

-Family

-Religion

-Hair

3 Fears:

-losing a family member

-losing my hair, I can't imagine!

-Obama becoming our new president. Sick.

3 Goals:

-Building a home

-Owning my own salon

-Being the best mom and wife I can be

3 Obsessions:

-PRESLIE!! She is my whole world, I am so proud to be her mommy

-My absolutely perfect hubby! He is such a dream come true for me, cute and nice? I am one lucky girl :)

-shopping for deals! Thats the best feeling!

3 Random Facts:

-I want a dog so so so bad! Even though I am allergic! We just have to wait for house with a yard first

-I want a big family, I love having lots of siblings, I hope I am blessed with lots more kiddos!

- If I had any other job besides the one I have I would want to be a special ed teacher

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

2008-09-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

What a fun day!! We celebrated hard for my dad's birthday, it was a blast! We test drove some sweet trucks that he is "thinkin about" and so stay tuned cause I am sure my next post will have a new shiny truck that he will surprise us with! But don't get too excited he goes through the cars like mad. A direct quote from him "Atleast when I die I can say I have drove every car there is!" ha ha Anyways then we had a yummy lunch at Thanksgiving Point and shopped for a bit. Then we stopped for some Nielsen's custard, then hit the D for some treasures. Afterwards we stopped by the hospital to visit my poor hubby who had to work through all this fun, and had a late dinner with him in the hospital cafe. You would change your opinion of hospital food if you ate at this hospital, the food at this one is actually way good! Nate loves us to come see him at work and there is always a great story. So I hope it was a fun day Dad! I am so lucky to call him my dad! He is the funniest guy in the world and he has been so good to me and my family. He is always thinking of other people and what he can do to make them happy, like bringing me home a darling soft pink robe after getting my teeth ripped out! He is so much fun to be around, and if Preslie could talk she would say she loves her Grandpa to peices! He spoils her to no end. Thanks so much for all you do Dad, we love you!!! By the way sorry if these pictures are a little blurry these are off of a phone cause we all forgot our camera today-oops! Also my face is starting to look a little better, finally I can go out in public again! I am still sore though which is hard cause I want to eat anything but soup I am so sick of it!!

The Russell Family

5 YEARS!

Christmas 2011

Jorgy Party 2011

Happy Birthday to my girls!

Grandma's Weekend!

Preslie's First Dance Review!

Happy Birthday!

Dear Mom..

LOVE

Daddies little study buddy!

Introducing...

BABY HADLEY!

We miss you..

Easter!

Spring Break...

It's a...

Happy Birthday Shelli!

I wish..

Finally..

Happy 3 Years!

Be Naughty Save Santa a Trip!

Webb Thanksgiving/Christmas Party

Happy Halloween!

HURRY!!

Fall Randomness

Webb family photo shoot...

Homecoming

Just wanted to share..

I Wanna Be a Rockstar..

Welcome newest member of the Russell Family!

Preslie is two!!

Summer!

Happy Fourth!

Sweet Ride

Girls Night!

Happy Birthday Jami!

*Vegas*

Meeting the makeup artist for the stars!!

Welcome Here Baby Logan!

Yay! Good Weather!

Happy Birthday Nate!

A few of the greatest moms I know..

Preslie was really naughty so we taught her a lesson...

Warning: A very long story

Happy Easter

Picture Princess Contest!

Junior Prom

Perspective..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELLI!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Buddies!

Celebrity scoping..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Two Happy Years

Kuku wanna cracker?

2009

Merry Christmas!

Twins!!

Webb family Christmas party!

Please don't grow up so fast!!

catchin' up

parties, parties and more parties!

And the reward goes to...

Husband tag

St.George and Las Vegas!

Fall Pictures of the Princess

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

New Russell Family Pictures

Poor Grandpas!!

Conference Weekend, starting from the end...

I got tagged!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

Vegas