california dreamin

So last week we took a trip to California with my family. We spent four days in the sun and we had an awesome time. It was a nice little getaway. Here's a rundown of what we did:

Day One - Disneyland

We all had a good time at Disneyland. I sat out on most of the rides and was sort of disappointed every time I walked up to a ride and the sign said "not recommended for expectant mothers" with a picture of a pregnant woman and a big red circle with an X through it, like "going on this ride is as bad as smoking." Oh well, I'd rather be pregnant than be able to ride the rides at Disneyland.

The big kids outside of Indiana Jones - the best ride at Disneyland

Scott, Thomas, Will, and Meg with Buzz Lightyear

Tom waiting for Jedi training. He is a Star Wars FREAK! But not as freaky as the kid sitting to the right of him. This kid came dressed for the occasion and Tom kept staring at him like he was nuts. We were laughing pretty hard at the faces Thomas was making at the nerd.

Libby LOVES Scott. In fact, all my brothers and sisters love him. It's more of an obsession and I think Scott was glad to get some alone time when we got home. But I love that they adore him.

Scott's other best friend - Will. Will would not leave Scott alone and I had to lecture him a couple times about coming into our bedroom before knocking. He just had to know what Scott was doing at all times.

My mom is so cool.

The always-beautiful Lauren. Here she is either saying "No pictures please." or "Talk to the hand because I miss Brandon." One night while shopping she told Meg that she needed to get home because she had to make a phone call. Like we didn't know who that phone call was going to be to.

Scott and me getting ready to enter the Haunted Mansion. It was one of the three rides I went on. The other two were Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Nemo. FUN HUH? And yes, I am that pale. Sorry if any of you are blinded.

Mom, Meg, Libby, and Tom on the Teacups - the second best ride at Disneyland.

Day Two - Universal Studios

I don't have many pictures of Universal but it was still just as fun. It was not crowded at all so everyone rode The Mummy and Jurassic Park at least three times. Libby and I became best friends while we sat out of these fun rides. We all went on the studio tour, which is the best part anyway.

This is how Libby felt about being left out. Just kidding, she was actually quite happy because when everyone went on the rides, my dad always slipped me some cash to get treats. He did this because Libby is his favorite youngest daugher and I am his favorite oldest daughter (and he felt bad that I had to sit there and babysit while everyone else had fun). He's the best.

Day Three - the beach

We stayed in a house on Hermosa Beach and boy was it awesome! The house was really nice and the beach was beautiful. The waves were big enough to be fun. We rented some boogie boards and everyone caught some good waves.

Libby having the time of her life.

Some of the kids laughing at Tom after he was taken out by a huge wave.

Libby was so excited to find sea shells. She found some pretty neat ones.

Libby again. Sorry, but I just love her so much.

Two beautiful beach babes. After some hard core boogie boarding, Emma lost the big yellow bow on her swimsuit. Sad huh? It's a cute swim suit!

And you can't leave the beach without burying at least one person in the sand.

Day Four - California Adventure or the worst day of my life so far.

Just kidding, it wasn't THAT bad. But it was pretty bad. It was 94 degrees and California Adventure is pretty much all outside. At Disneyland they have gift shops right outside of all the exits, so I would just go chill inside the nice air conditioned building. But this was not so at California Adventure. It was hard. I got really ornery and was only happy after I had eaten a good meal in an air conditioned restaurant and basically you will see later in the post what the effects of the heat had on my pregnant body.

This is actually at Disneyland on the train. We went back to Disneyland after the lines at California Adventure were 70 minutes long. Totally not worth it to stand in a line for 70 minutes in 94 degree weather.

This is Libcorn from Cornis (she made that up herself).

On the way home from California Adventure we decided to drive down to Huntington Beach (which is amazing by the way) and then take the Pacific Coast Highway back to the house. I guess Emma got a craving for popcorn, so we stopped at a movie theater and bought her some popcorn. Libby spent the next two hours crafting this hat from the popcorn bag and when we stopped at a grocery store, this is what we saw. We asked her what her name was and where she was from and she said that she was Libcorn from Cornis. That weekend she was also Wigglytooth from Toothville because she got her first loose tooth, which by the way was one of her favorite parts of the trip. Funny what kids think is entertaining. She is such a goofball sometimes and I just love it.

Driving on the PCH was beautiful when we were in Orange County and once we got to Los Angeles County, it just got really ugly. I'm never living in Los Angeles or the vicinity. It's just not very attractive and when we got home I was really grateful to live in such a beautiful, clean place.

So this is what happened to my body when I spent the day walking in really hot weather being pregnant:

Not too bad when you're looking at them from an angle and they're being raised in the air. But you can definitely tell the left foot is retaining a little bit of water.

But this is what they look like from straight-on. GROSS HUH? I'm okay with you laughing at them. I actually laugh really hard every time I see this picture.

So what it boils down to is that I'm not looking forward to the summer. This was not cool. Luckily they have gone back down to their normal size. When we got home Sunday morning, I ran immediately to the bedroom, grabbed three pillows, placed them on the couch in the comfy corner, laid down with my feet elevated, and didn't get up for probably six or seven or eight hours. It was really cool to have an excuse to lie there ALL DAY LONG.

So all together, we had an awesome trip. We seriously love my family so much and we were so glad to get to spend a couple days with them. We were DEFINITELY ready for some quiet time when the trip was over though. Thanks to Mom and Dad for making it happen!

a green thumb?

This was my special little crafty project today and I think it turned out pretty cute, it being my first successful attempt at planting a pot. I say first successful attempt because last year Scott and I planted a pot for his mom for Mothers' Day and it was pretty much a disaster. It probably didn't work out because we chose some really strange flowers that mostly were supposed to bloom in the late summer (not good for a pot you want your mother to enjoy on Mothers' Day in early May). So anyway, I'm hoping they don't die or anything because I really had fun picking out the flowers and planting them. While I was planting these works of art Scott enjoyed working in the yard with Grandpa. I hear he's really pumped to do all the yard work this summer since I won't be able to help much (yes!) with a baby in the oven. Taking care of Grandpa's yard is really a piece of cake...

so i guess i'm awesome

88 words

Speed test

Since this is sort of my journal, I thought it would be a good idea to post my time for all my posterity to see. Can anybody beat me?

double date

I have a love-hate relationship with bowling. On one hand, it's a fun activity and usually the people you go with aren't very good either, so it doesn't matter when you bowl a 55. On the other hand, it hurts my fingers, I can't aim very well so it's not surprising that I bowl 55s quite often, and the shoes are nasty. So we go anyway mostly because it's pretty fun.



We had a good time last Friday with my sister Lauren and her boyfriend (yeah, that is Brandon that you see there. Weird huh? I went to high school with that kid!). We got some yummy sandwiches, soups, and salads at Paradise and then hit up Orchard Bowl. I think Lauren won one game and Scott won the other, but of course it doesn't matter what my score was. I didn't get any good action shots, but here are some pictures of the happy couples.

Um, yeah, I've gained weight. So what?

Brandon is so excited to be there!

So the night wasn't awkward at all until about thirty minutes into it when Scott asked Lauren if she was excited to be an aunt. She, of course, said "Yeah!" And then, yes then, Scott asked Brandon if he was excited to be an uncle. I about fell out of my chair and I couldn't figure out if Brandon was embarrased or mad. I don't think he was mad, but I felt bad for him. Scott says he just has to give him a hard time, which is understandable because he got a lot of crap while we were dating. I feel bad for my four sisters who are going to have to go through this everytime they seriously date someone. It definitely makes things interesting!

well, well, well.

Were we ever surprised when we found out that we're having a boy! I thought for sure that it was a girl, but I guess I don't have that mothers' intuition they speak of yet. It was a really good surprise, though, and we are extremely excited. I'm looking forward to our other children having an older brother and having a momma's boy. Scott is looking forward to the years ahead of basketball, baseball, and football games and basically living his dreams through his son. He is also looking forward to us dressing our son like a stud. He threatened me that I better dress him well, or else...Or else what? Like I'm going to have an ugly-dressed son! Oh and good news, my due date didn't change. Woo hoo! Here is an ultrasound picture of the sweet boy's little face. My sister thinks his little hand poking out looks like he's doing the Soulja Boy dance. Sweet! He's going to be so cool.

a few things

I haven't posted in a while because from the time of my last post (March 30th) to April 15th, I was basically living at work, coming home, eating, and then sleeping. From April 16th to the present, I have had a very blissful and stress-free week, so I was pretty much milking it for all it was worth. So here are a couple of things:

• Last Saturday, Scott and his sisters began their racing careers. They ran in the Salt Lake Marathon 5K and did pretty well, meaning at least they didn't finish last. Just kidding, they did great! It was fun to watch them come in at the finish line. I brought my camera and of course the batteries died right after I turned it on, so I whipped out the Blackberry and now I can't figure out how to get the pictures onto my computer. So if anyone knows how to do this, please help me. I consider myself pretty "computer smart" but I'm struggling with this one!
• I'm really excited about spring! I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the tulips to start blooming and the trees to get green and it seems like I walked outside on Sunday and all of the sudden, spring had arrived. The world is so much more beautiful when it's green outside.
• Since Scott decided to start training for two triathlons this summer, we decided to leave the good old gym and get memberships at the new rec center so he could do the running, biking, and swimming all in one place. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I pretty much hate running and it's really tough on my joints now that I'm getting fatter by the minute. So now I swim and I love it! I've always enjoyed it, but now I feel like I can get a really good workout without feeling the pain and the heat of doing an aerobic exercise outside of the water. I've gone every day this week so far and I think I'll finally be motivated to exercise now that I've found something I actually enjoy. Plus, I really like the rec center because I don't see many hopped-up-mid-life-crisis-stage men who go to the gym not to work out (hey, the drugs do the work for them), but to hit on the mid-thirties-blonde-hot-moms.
• Speaking of getting fatter by the minute, I've really grown in the past week. We visited my family on Saturday and when my five year old sister saw me for the first time, she said, "Look at all that fat in there!" Thanks a lot! I'm growing a flippin' baby in there.
• Speaking of growing a baby in my stomach, tomorrow is the big day! No, we're not having the baby tomorrow, we're just finding out what exactly is in there. I'm halfway through the pregnancy and I'm feeling better than ever. We're pretty excited for tomorrow and I still am betting on it being a girl. If it's a boy, we'll definitely be excited, but every time I talk to the baby in my head, I talk to it as if it's a girl. So that might be a little weird and might take some adjustment.

Anyway, we'll be sure to let everyone know how tomorrow goes. I'm really just nervous that they're going to tell me "You're not measuring at twenty weeks, it's more like you're about 12 or 13 weeks along. Your new due date is October 31st." We won't be able to wait that long. We're already so anxious to meet this baby!

momentous

Friday was a most momentous day in the history of the Russell family. Two very special things happened. First, I went ahead and bought my first MATERNITY PANTS. Yes, no more zippers and buttons here. Just elastic waists from here on out. Embarrassing huh? I do have a couple pairs of pants that I can still wear but most of them are getting a little tight on the waist and it mostly hurts to wear them. And I'm not going to lie, maternity pants are actually quite comfortable.

Second, we bought a car! And wow, is it the nicest car ever! Just kidding, we are the proud new owners of a 1994 (yes, 1994) Mazda 626. And we are pumped about it! We are mostly pumped because we paid cash for it. Let me tell you, probably the best feeling in the world is to have one more car but not one more car payment. We figure if it lasts us two years then it will have been more than worth it. Scott gets the privilege of driving it (which is FINE by me) and he's loving it so far. We were thinking about buying a small SUV for me and keeping the Volvo for Scott but we just didn't feel good about spending $15K on a car (who can feel good about that when you're newlyweds, students, and have a baby on the way?). We finally humbled ourselves and I'm telling you, we feel so great about it. We had a lesson on financial preparedness today in Sunday school and the whole time I was thinking about how guilty I would have felt the whole lesson if we had bought the Explorer we were looking at. So for anyone who wants to join the Crappy Car Club, we are now accepting applications and pictures of your crappy car. We highly recommend it!

Here's a picture of the car (and yes, it is light blue!). We're also taking name suggestions.

In other news, our baby is now about the size of an avocado--in height, not width thank goodness. I'm starting to feel some flutterings. It's the coolest thing in the world! And apparently our baby gets excited about bowling. We went bowling last weekend with some friends and every time I sat down when my turn was over, I could feel it flopping around in there. We're getting so dang excited and it is definitely becoming more real to us. We can't wait until April 24th when have our big ultrasound. We'll be sure to let everyone know what flavor we're having!

something really neat

I would like to tell you about something pretty cool. I should be in bed right now because I'm pretty sick and tired, but I just found this really cool thing and I think you should know about it as well (you're welcome) and my homework's done so it's okay--I can do whatever I want now. Here's the really cool thing: radio on the internet. I know you're thinking "Mattie, you're a little behind the times. I can just go to the website of 101.9 or 100.3 or 102.7 or whatever and listen to it, duh." But no, this is much better. Following is a list of benefits:

a. It's totally free.
b. There are virtually, no I mean literally, NO commercials.
c. It doesn't take forever for songs to download, even on your really slow Qwest Broadband at your grandpa's house that takes thirty minutes to download a two minute video. In fact, they don't even have to download. You don't even have to wait half-way through a song for it to "buffer" (whatever that means).
d. You can pick your songs.
e. You can skip songs you don't like (there's a limit to how many songs you skip) and you can tell the station to never play a song again if you absolutely hate it.
f. You can create multiple "stations" with different genres of music to fit your every mood.

Okay, so now are you excited? Yeah, it's really awesome. I've been listening to it for a while and I really enjoy it and I'm really pumped to use it at work tomorrow because I'm thinking music is probably about the only thing that will get me through another day of tax season. If you want to try it, just go to www.pandora.com and register. I'm telling you, it's a pretty cool thing.

a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders

I really cut my hair! I was really proud of myself because I did it in a style that I haven't had for the past twelve years of my life. So anyway, I didn't cut off ten inches. I was pretty unsure about it and Kylee told me, "You don't have to cut off the ten inches just so you feel like you're changing the world." So I thought about it and I knew she was right. I've already donated my hair once so I think that's enough. We decided to cut six or seven inches off instead and thin it out a lot. I should have taken a picture of the pile of hair, but I think it weighed probably twelve or thirteen pounds (not really). Kylee did an awesome job and I am extremely happy with the results. So shout out to Kylee and please go visit her because she's the best! Plus she's fun to chat with, not awkward like most hair-cutter ladies who try to talk to you like they're interested in your life but you know they're mostly not. This was my inspiration for the haircut and it turned out pretty much like it but better and without the bangs. I think Reese shows it off better and I don't like taking pictures of myself.

i'm really doing it...

I made an appointment for a haircut. Tomorrow at 10 am. I'm pretty nervous about it and I don't think I'm going to cut off ten inches. I just don't know what style to cut it in, but I'm confident Kylee will come up with something good. She's pretty amazing like that. So wish me luck and maybe I'll post some before and after pictures when it's all said and done.

typical

I'm always tired. I hear it's pretty typical for the first months of pregnancy. I always make Scott late to things because I wait until the very last second to drag myself out of bed. It doesn't even matter if I go to bed early the night before. I guess I have always done this, but it's a lot worse lately. And Scott has never once gotten mad at me (at least to my face). He's very patient with me.

Anyway, last Sunday Scott had to be early to church to put the hymn books out and make sure there were enough deacons to pass the sacrament. I woke up a little late and was really trying to hurry to get him there on time, but I didn't make it. He decided just to get a ride with his grandpa and that I would meet him there when I was ready. I was honestly ten minutes away from being ready. So I finished getting ready and walked out the door at 8:55-sort of on time. I got to the car, tried to open the door, but it was FROZEN SHUT. Oh great, I thought. Perfect. I finally got one of the back doors open, started the car, blasted the heat, and found an ice scraper to scrape the four inches of ice all over the car. After doing that for five minutes, I decided that the doors were probably unfrozen, but no. I thought I could climb over the seat, but our car is so dang small that I couldn't make it. I tried to open the driver's side door from the inside, but it still wouldn't open. I thought, even if I can climb over, I'm not going to be able to get out of the car when I get to church! So yes, I decided that I would just have to walk. It's not that far of a walk, but when I got there my cheeks were very rosy and my nose was very runny. I made it to church by 9:15 and Scott and I had the giggles all through sacrament meeting because of it. The thing I can't believe is that the morning before it was 60 degrees outside! I am SO sick of this winter. And I need a hair cut because my hair takes me the longest to do. I am going to chop ten inches off and donate it again. Don't worry, it grows back in a few months (literally). This morning, I had to finish doing my hair at work because I was running late again to take Scott to school. That's it...I'm going to be a mother, and with that comes the opportunity and responsibility to chop off your hair. My hair is down to my butt, so it won't be that short. Anyway, my hope is that soon I'll find some energy somewhere and be able to get up on time and get to the places I need to be on time.

Tag

I guess I've been tagged by Tarisa. So here we go.

Ten years ago:
I was in fourth grade (I think). Mrs. Hyde's class. Probably the best year of my life thus far. Just kidding. But she was my favorite teacher so it was good.

Five things on my "to do" list today:
Today is almost over, but this is what I would like to accomplish:
-Write on my blog
-Eat dinner
-Sleep through the whole night. This has become almost impossible since I have been pregnant. It's only happened once the whole time!
-Maybe clean the bathroom
-Watch "The Office" or "Seinfeld" episodes

What would I do if I suddenly won a billion dollars?
-Consult my dad on the best way to cheat the government out of the most money...just kidding.
-Buy a house
-Buy another car
-Buy lots of clothes and nursery things from places I can't afford now for the baby and then quit my job and stay home and clean my house and actually get things done every day
-Donate a bunch of it to the Perpetual Education Fund
-Travel the world

Three of my bad habits:
-Sleeping in.
-Procrastinating
-Not being able to stay motivated...wow I sound like a loser!

Jobs I have had:
-Filing invoices at Making Memories when I was 15
-Helper/hostess at the Mandarin
-Cashier at Bahio
-Delivery girl at Daines Goodwin
-Receptionist/bookkeeper at Daines Goodwin

Five things people don't know about me:
-While taking AP English my senior year, I loved to write essays and poetry. I was also pretty good at it. I have lost my ability to do that now, which is sad.
-Although I consider myself a fairly avid reader, I've never read a whole Jane Austen book. I have started Pride and Prejudice and Emma probably three times each, but I've never finished them. So, I never tell people that I LOVE Jane Austen like some girls do because technically I've only seen the movies. Don't kill me!
-I'm REALLY excited for summer and I don't care how hot it's gonna be. I used to love winter when I was a child, but I have no desire lately to go skiing or sledding or build a snowman. It's just too dang cold.
-I cry a lot in Primary. Two Sundays ago, we watched a video tribute of President Hinckley and I bawled my eyes out. Then one of the boys in my class turned to me and said, "President Hinckley wasn't the most importantest person." I had to laugh about that because of course he's only four and doesn't understand how important President Hinckley was.
-I don't listen to music as much as I used to. I used to always have music on in the car, but now I'm turning into my mother. She always turns down the volume when she gets in the car.

Five snacks I enjoy:
-SweetTarts. I crave these all the time now!
-Ice cream
-Peanut butter bars
-Chips and salsa
-Ritz crackers

Five TV shows I watch:
-The Office
-American Idol
-The Office
-American Idol
-American Idol
We only have channel 13 and occasionally the other network stations, so yeah.

Places I have vacationed:
-Island Park
-Playa del Carmen
-Cabo San Lucas
-Washington D.C.
-England
-Flaming Gorge
-Yellowstone
-Grand Cayman
-Jamaica
-Cozumel

Five things I want to learn:
-How to knit and crochet really cute outfits for my baby
-Play the piano well again
-How to speak French fluently
-My family history
-How to play the guitar

Ok there you go. Now I tag Jamie, Tara, and Brooke (but I don't think she'll do it - that is a challenge Brooke!). Hope you learned lots!

Top Ten Newsworthy Stories of 2007

All right...I know that it's February 6th and that it's a little late to be blogging about our favorite things of 2007, but maybe after you read the list, you'll understand why I've been such a slacker. So here is our "Top Ten" of 2007:

10. We moved! I don't really have any pictures of this event, but it sure was big. We had a lot of help from our great friends and it only took a couple hours to get everything loaded, driven to the new place, and unloaded again. I decided that we moved from a really cute (but teeny) apartment to a really ugly (but huge) one. I can't decide which I would rather have...I think in a couple days I'll be posting about the ugliness of our apartment.

9. Attending Will's football games. We love football! And it so much more fun when you have someone specific to watch. We were pretty good at going to support him and it was a blast, especially watching my dad coach. It's a side of him I've never seen before. Here's a picture with both of them. Doesn't Will look huge and so intense?

8. Lots of weddings. We attended lots of weddings in 2007, which was awesome because I love it when our friends get married! That mostly means that they don't feel awkward hanging out with us old married people anymore, so it's easier to stay in touch. One wedding in particular was really special. My cousin, who was baptized two years ago, got married in June...in the Salt Lake Temple! We were so excited and it was a really special experience for me and my parents to be there.

7. Christmas. Christmas was great this year as you know from my previous post. We loved being with family and celebrating the season. I love Christmas!

6. Trip to Pineview. For my family's family vacation this year, we took a weekend and rented a condo at Pineview. We went boating, ate good food, watched the premiere of High School Musical 2, played games and just hung out. It was awesome!

5. Flaming Gorge. Scott and I decided to take a little weekend trip by ourselves sometime in June or July up to Flaming Gorge. I love that place more than words can express. It reminds me so much of being a child. My grandparents have a trailer up there (yes, it is in a trailer park, and no, we're not white trash) so the best part was that it was free. We drove around the lake, barbequed some hamburgers, went fishing at my family's secret spot (which is secret for a reason, see picture below), and had a nice, relaxing time.

4. Island Park. Every July, my dad's family heads up to Island Park for a family reunion. Not everyone was there this year, but we still had a great time hanging out. We, of course, went boating, played games, ate amazing food (the married grandkids were each in charge of two meals this year....that was really scary for me), hiked at Yellowstone, saw Footloose at the Playmill, walked the streets of West Yellowstone, and as always, had a great time.

3. Thanksgiving. We drove down to Orderville, Utah for a traditional Thanksgiving with the Russell side of the family. We don't see Scott's dad's siblings very often so it was nice to get to know them better. They are really awesome people and I'm glad we went down there. We went to Orderville because that is where Sterling grew up (Scott's dad) and they still own his parents' house but they are getting ready to sell it. So it was kind of a little bit of a last hoorah. Orderville is a REALLY small town and we had fun walking around the whole town in oh, about....thirty minutes. This picture below was at the cemetery where Scott's grandparents are buried. This headstone was classic. We're probably related to him in some form, but I thought it was appropriate especially because he died on our wedding day (but two years earlier). I think Kyle Nelson would get a kick out of this. Is it bad to laugh at the dead? Sorry....

2. Washington D.C. In August (don't ever go there in August), we took a little trip to our nation's capital. It was a blast to say the least! We had an amazing time seeing all the sights. Scott just got excited to see everything in real life that he had only seen in movies before. And I was just amazed the whole time that we were actually able to do it. It was just so funny to me that we could just get around Washington D.C. all by ourselves! No parents, no other adults...I guess it was my little taste of freedom! But of course we would have been dead meat without the GPS that came with our rental car. That was a life saver. So we did all the normal stuff...Mount Vernon, Arlington National Cemetery, the mall, Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson Memorials, the Smithsonians, the White House, the FBI Headquarters for Scott, the Washinton D.C. temple, yadda, yadda, yadda. We also visited our good friends the Stevens. They took us to dinner and Nick's football game and then we came home and watched home videos of us when us kids were all little. It was great, but I think Scott felt a little awkward. Anyway, it was the trip of a lifetime! And again, don't EVER EVER EVER go to Washington D.C. in August, unless you're used to 98 degree weather with 100,000% humidity. It was unbelievable. I thought Utah summers were bad, but I had no idea. You can tell it's definitely hot by my bright read face in this picture at the White House. Over all we had a great time and we're excited to continue traveling. When? We don't know, probably not until we're retired.

And drumroll please..............

The number one most newsworthy story of 2007 for the Russell Family is................

WE'RE PREGNANT! Yep, it's true. We found out on December 27th. I'm ten weeks along, my due date is September 7th, and I'm feeling really crappy. That is why I don't blog much anymore. Good excuse huh? And that is why I'm blogging right now in the middle of the day. Lucky me, I'm sick as a dog and I get to stay home from work! But hopefully it's just a couple more weeks and then I'll be on to feeling great. We went to the doctor last week and she said everything looks great. We even got a little ultrasound, which I wasn't expecting. We're getting really excited to welcome a little baby into our humble family and we're just praying that everything goes well. Here's a picture of the little person. It's the blob inside the black hole. I think it looks like the cutest baby ever, but am I just being partial? I also think it looks like a girl, but we'll be excited for whatever we have, just as long as it's healthy.

So as you can see, 2007 was quite eventful for us. We had an amazing year together and we're counting on 2008 being even better!

tribute to a car

Well, she's gone, out of our lives before we could even think twice about selling her. She was the best car we ever owned together, but we had to give her away (not because we couldn't afford her car payments or anything...don't worry). We had some good times together. She took us to exotic places around the country, such as Los Angeles in ten hours for the BYU-UCLA game, Island Park for a family reunion, and Orderville for Thanksgiving. We will never forget her. You are welcome to leave your goodbyes.

merry christmas!

We had a most eventful Christmas this year, although it was not nearly as bad as last year. It's getting to the point that we'll probably want to do the every-other-year thing from now on. Just too much fun!

On Christmas Eve Eve - the Sunday before Christmas - we had a traditional Russell family Christmas Eve (untainted by the relatives). We had a nice dinner of fondue, Christmas jello, veggies, and Shirley Temples. This is a picture of Scott sporting the napkin rings. I laugh so hard every time I see it.

We then delivered some of Kelli's, Kerri's, and Brooke's Christmas presents to their friends and along the way, we wished all people walking by a "Feliz Navidad" or "Mele Kalikimaka." I had a hilarious video of Scott yelling "MELE KALIKILAKA!!!!!!" to someone walking by but I accidentally deleted it and now I'm kicking myself for it. When we arrived home, we read Christmas stories, sang Christmas carols (The Friendly Beasts was the best - complete with all the animal noises by Scott and Brooke), opened a present, and had dessert. Some of us stayed up until the late hours of the night playing Monopoly and Life. It was awesome. The traditional Russell family Christmas Eve (untainted by the relatives) was a success! This is a picture of Kelli, Brooke, and Kerri in the car on our adventure. There is also a picture of Kelli, Kerri, and me in Scott's 3XL shirt that his mom gave him with a picture of the family ironed-on. It was hilarious that we could all fit inside it.

On Christmas Eve, we had the usual party at Grandpa IVon's, which is always fun. I didn't take any pictures though. We opened a gift from Lorie and Sterling there. I got a really cute pair of pajamas and Scott got an awesome jacket that he's been wearing pretty much everyday since.

Then we went to my parents' house to open "Pixie Presents." We each draw a name of a family member after Thanksgiving and do kind deeds in secret for that person during December and then get them a gift for Christmas. We find out who our Pixie was and then open the present on Christmas Eve. That was fun. Lauren gave Scott and me a gift card to Megaplex 12 at the Gateway to see a couple movies. We were so excited for that! Then my mom and dad gave us each a pair of pajamas to wear that night. Here are two pictures of all of us in our pajamas. A cute pose and a funny pose.

On Christmas morning, we woke up at 7 to open presents with the kids. My family got a Wii! I used to think it would be stupid, but it is awesome! We had so much fun playing it and Lauren and I were even a little bit sore after. Scott gave me a beautiful Brighton necklace and I gave him some cologne. We also gave each other some smaller gifts and a new entertainment center. I didn't really take any spectacular pictures on Christmas day, which I'm bummed about now.

After opening presents, we went to breakfast at Little America, which is always a good time. We then went back to the Russells' and opened presents there. Scott and I got a nice new printer from his parents, some Jazz tickets from Brooke, and I got a cute shirt from Kelli.

I'm a little tired of writing so the rest will be brief: we went back to my parents' house for lunch, to our house to open the rest of our presents, to Scott's parents for dinner, and then home to bed, and for me, work the next day! Scott didn't have to work the day after Christmas and he surprised me with clean laundry and a clean house. I was so excited when I came home. He's the best.

Christmas this year was awesome. It's so much fun when you're married, to have someone special to share it with. We had a very merry eventful Christmas to say the least. We hope you did too!