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.