Christmas Time = Good Times

We have had a lot of fun these past few days. Russell and I have spent a lot of time driving "the King" and "McQueen" around the halls, and I've even worn a new hole in a pair of my pants. It has also been raining a crazy amount for this area and we have been enjoying it. Natalie and Russell went out with umbrellas and somehow managed to still get soaked. Russell thought it fun to stand right by the house and get drenched where the water came off of the roof, with and without his umbrella. :)
For a special Christmas treat, Natalie came up with the idea of making whip cream snowmen in the tub. It was a hit, and each snowman met the same fate as Russell would say "yummmmm." This is Russell looking at his favorite present on Christmas morning. He probably would have played with it like this all morning if we didn't ask him to unwrap it.And here it is, a kitchen (that had soooo many pieces it took over two hours to assemble.)Russell sees me do a lot of things for my schooling/profession and likes to copy me any chance he can get a hold of any of my "tools." Here he is checking Elmo's ears...Needless to say, he was very excited when Grandma Johnson got him a pair of scrubs. If he looks a little grumpy in this picture, its because he's worked a long shift in the ER.We were able to go to Toddler time at Sky Zone where we set Russell loose in a warehouse full of trampolines. He really gets after it. The camera couldn't even keep up with him jumping/running around!

Christmas Countdown

Great Grandma Johnson has given these countdown calendars to the grandkids for as long as I can remember. Russell really loves his and sometimes tries to trick us by saying "what's under Santa" or "the house" etc. It has been very fun seeing him excited to open a new door every morning this month. We took Russell ice skating today. I had fun skating him around, but it was just too cold for him in spite of our efforts to keep him warm and he didn't enjoy himself as much as I'd hoped. However, afterwards he said "skate fun, fun" so it wasn't that bad. Poor Natalie sat on the sidelines and froze.
Our latest project was finishing a table we got back in May from the DI. It was orange and beat up, so Natalie painstakingly sanded the detailed legs and I stuck to the big flat surfaces. Then I stained it and put several coats of varnish until it looked rather good we think.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all a Good Night!

That canyon was grand!

Last week we had a day between rotations and so we took the opportunity to drive the 4 hours to the Grand Canyon! Chad had never been, and we figured that it was something that we should do as we will probably never be closer to it again, and since time is running out for us here we decided that it was now or never. It was fun and I think that Chad really enjoyed it, Russell on the other hand did not love the 8 hours in the car that day. But we did try to make it fun for him, we made a couple of stops just to get out and move, and when we got there, he got to play with snow for the first real time!

If you will notice in this first picture, Dad has built Russell a little snow man, move to the next picture...

Russell demolished the poor thing! Then he started to cry because it was gone, Chad and I busted up laughing, and made him a new one that he left standing and we said good by to it, on the trail.

Dad and Russell at the look out!

All of us with the sun in our face. We had a lot of fun, but I would have to say that I did not particularly enjoy the hours in the car with Russell being a pill.

Funny Names?

Russell was practicing saying names in the bathtub. We were going over Natalie's sisters' names and, well, one was more entertaining than the rest. It just so happens that Emily is Natalie's twin sister.

Random Russell

I got the cooler out one day to put some treats, water, and juice in it and I turned around and guess who decided to try out a new "seat" as he calls any new place he plants himself.
Ever since Chad got home Russell loves to walk around the house wearing Dad's backpack, and of course Dad has to wear one too!
Russell helped me make Grasshopper pie this week, this was his favorite part. And for those who don't know, No there are no grasshopper in this recipe, we use crickets... just kidding.
New game, Russell and Chad put all the stuffed animals into the crib and toss them back and forth to each other, and Russell does a lot of bouncing and laughing and all out he's super silly.
On Saturday we cleaned the garage up a bit. We went through all of our boxes and got rid of a bunch that were truly silly to keep because they were just too small. We built "houses" and "kitchens" and "Forts" for Russell and he had a blast. Even though each one only lasted about 10 seconds before he pulverized them.
I was doing the dishes and Russell comes in to the kitchen and asks for a treat, so I gave him a bowl of dry cereal, he then leaves the kitchen. The next thing that I hear is "hungry, hungry" I look around the corner and this is what I saw...

Gummy Bear

At night Russell loves to watch the Gummy Bear song! He loves it and says again, again. We watch it a fair number of times every night. If you are curious, you will have to check it out, and let us know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=astISOttCQ0

A little Frog

Well we had a fun Halloween we just did our wards trunk or treat on Thursday last week and it was a blast, and Russell aka our little frog prince had a blast!

Earlier in the week we went to the pumpkin patch and Russell really liked that too. We asked him to sit by this pumpkin he sat on it. He loves to lay on our bed and eat fruit snacks, I don't know what to do with him, too cute.

Back!

After a long dry spell, here we go I think that I will just spend the next week or so doing catch up stuff. My computer crashed so I had no way to post but we are still surviving. We are also so excited to have Dad home!

Chad has been gone for 4 months, and we are all ready to be back together as a family under one roof! And if you ask Russell how it is to have Dad home he says AWESOME, (it is really cute).

The pictures are all from time in Idaho playing with cousins, the last picture is at home though, Russell thinks it is funny to be a monkey, I came around the corner and found him doing this he thought he was so funny! It was!

Idaho Fun!

Well we got to get away and have some fun! Russell Loved the Idaho weather we played outside almost all the time. We had fun with family and cousin.
We turned around in the car and they were holding hands and they stayed that way till we got where we were going. Cousin Megan was such a good sport she pulled him around for a long time. They play so well together.

Grandpa Johnson and Russell feeding the cows! MOOOO

We even got to feed the ducks popcorn and bread.

Russell loved running through Grandma and Grandpa Fowers vertical garden.

Russell loved running around on the trampoline, it was scary he would run really close to the edge, I was trying to be where ever he was.

Riding the tire horse swing.

We even saw rain, and Russell got to borrow an umbrella, he had a blast.

He liked to sit on this little truck and scoot around.

More umbrella.

Bugs and Birthday!

Russell loves this book that has pop-up animals and the like in it. This particular page sticks up farther than any of the others, and the bug on the end of the stick is too desirable! One day I was just joking and said "don't eat that bug!" So now almost every time he sees this page he pretends to eat the bug and then he pulls away and goes, mmmmm.
And the hat inside well lately he has been insisting on wearing it almost always. He even made me put him down for a nap with it on, and getting it off for bath has been a battle between us. But he doesn't give me trouble about it being on outside so I really don't mind. I let Russell play with my Tupperware that holds flour, sugar, ect. With supervision because he can get them open if he wants. The other day he pulled them all out and then all by himself I watched as he figured out how to stack them. It took a few minuets but I was impressed. He sat down and just admired his work. It really was amazing because it is taller than he is.

And this week was my Birthday and it was a great one. I was so busy I was almost not even home the whole day! But Chad even arranged to have some beautiful flowers secretly delivered. Both Russell and I love them, he wants to smell them every day! Chad also got me an attachment for my kitchen aid that makes noodles. I am so excited! It is going to save me so much time! Thank you hun!

But thanks to Mel, I didn't even have to make my own Birthday dinner, and she even made me a cake! Thanks Mel for all of your hard work!

Thank you family and friends I had a great Birthday!

Stop and smell the tree.

Russell never passes up the chance to stop and smell a flower, and I guess that now we can add trees to the list. Chad's tangelo is doing well, don't you think? Russell Loves his Dad, they were rolling all over this chair I really liked this picture.

We had fun at the beach, Russell thought that it was the greatest thing ever I think. He would not stay and play in the sand, we try ed to make him but he would only stay long enough for us to sit down then he would run back to the water. He would not actually get in, he would run at the waves and run away, it was hilarious. The water was really really cold. Chad got in all the way, I only got in up to my knees, I am a chicken.

One of the seconds that we got him to sit.

I asked Russell to go get me his shoes, it was time to go, I came around the corner and he was walking in my shoe only one, but he actually was able to get around the kitchen, he thought he was pretty cool. He tryed both of them to see which one worked better for him.

I was eating a plum and of course he wanted one too, he dug right in.