Christmas in the happiest place in the world...

DISNEYLAND

Our trip to Disneyland was very fun!! We left Christmas day at 8:30am and drove for 6 hours to Anaheim, CA . We arrived at the hotel at about 4:00 in the afternoon. After unloading the cars and checking-in we decided to start the impossible task of finding a restaurant to eat at on Christmas night. The only thing open was good 'ol Denny's! We filled our bellies with some good eats and then we were off to get our rest for our fun day in the morning!!!


OUR CAR!!!

(which ended up not being such a good idea since it rained the whole way there!- but it's okay you all know we were cool anyways!!)

The one Christmas present Brody got was a huge success it kept him busy the 6 hours there and the miserable 10 hour trip back. We had scoped this out but were unsure about how it would work, we went to Wal-mart and it was on sale for $45.00, and we wanted to get a few extra games but they were priced at 19.99, there were a couple on sale for 15.00 so we thought we would just get one or two. But I decided to go price check them at the scanner in the toy section just to make sure they were on sale, they were, but they were only 5.00!!!! And two of them were only 3.00!! So needless to say we bougght all the ones age appropriate for Brody! I thought it was quite the steal!! And after the trip well worth $100 bucks!!


Here is Grandma, Brody, and I waiting in line!!


This is a ride in Space Mountain that Kip really wanted to take Brody on but it went really high and around in circles so I thought Brody was going to be scared but he LOVED IT!! Here he is giving me a thumbs up after finishing the ride!!

Brody and I went and waited for and hour to ride at Autotopia, which was well worth it Brody drove and my stomach hurt because I was laughing so hard. They have guards so you can't drive crazy, they let him drive and everytime it would go over and hit the guard Brody thought it was hilarious, and so did I we were lauging hysterically at one point I think I was crying. We got off and he was so excited, he told me, "Cool Mom!"

But the best part was when Brody got to see Buzz Lightyear!! This was a life-sized Buzz inside the Astro Blaster ride, Brody was beside him self when he saw this talking Buzz!!! I thought he would get all excited asnd start yelling or something but all he could do was stand there with his eyes- wide and jaw-dropped, he didn't say a word it was really funny. Even on the ride you sit in this car and have a gun to help shoot Zurg and the enemies of Buzz and Brody didn't move!

This was after the ride Brody was looking at this picture of Buzz!!

That night we were sitting on the curb in Main Street waiting for the parade when Brody saw WOODY! Brody kept saying, "Dad you, Woody!! Then he would clap and say, "yeah!!" That was until he saw...


BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!
He jumped up and said,"BUZZ, mom look BUZZ!!"


The next day we spent the whole day in California Adventures, where we saw so many of the characters...

WALL-E

The Incredibles

and we saw Woody walking down the street!!

There were lots of characters walking around CA Adventures but lines were too long to wait for pics. But we saw: Handy Manny, Goofy, Minnie, Stitch, Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell, and others.

Other than seeing Buzz Lightyear the other highlight was over in CA Adventures they have a Pixar Parade that was GREAT!!! And brody was so excited to see who led the parade....

LIGHTNING McQUEEN

Our camera died after these pictures, but Woody and Buzz made another Debut in this parade as well. Then to close off the parade Brody was so excited to see, "MATER, LOOK, LOOK!!" The Cars characters were amazing and McQueen looked and sounded like a race car it was amazing!!

Besides being very cold, the whole time we had a blast. I loved watching Fantasmic!!! It was great I love that everything Disneyland does and puts on is huge and very exciting! I didn't get to go on any rides, because of the "new baby" (except the ones with Brody) but I really enjoyed just getting to walk around and take everything in, especially with Brod-man!!

P.S. he was sooooo GOOD the whole time- even the 10 HOUR trip back home. It was ridiculous!! There was so much traffic it put us way behind. At one point we sat in stop and roll traffic for an hour and a half!!! Besides that it was fun to come HOME!! (our home :) even exhausted, that feeling doesn't wear off!!

Baby Shower

Baby Shower for Jamie & Nora

Here is the e-vite if you would like to attend send me an email address and I'll forward the e-vite to you!! We hope to see u there!!

Hostesses: Becka Wiser & Jenni Russell

Thanksgiving Family Pictures

RUSSELL FAMILY PHOTO SHOOT

Kip's Family have not had a formal family picture done since before Kip went on his mission in 2001. So we figured hey, Thanksgiving- Perfect let's do it! SO... this is what came of the photo shoot that lasted ALL DAY!! We all took turns taking each others family pictures, and tried the whole, set the timer thing, and run and get in place for the big family picture (that didn't go so well, so we had to call in reinforcements!!) It was interesting. But always funny with his family!! *WARNING: I put ALOT of pictures on here, sorry!- but It's my blog, and I'll do as I please!

THE RUSSELL PACK

JENNY & ALAN BRADFORD

(Kip's sister)

I think this one is so funny- there "Napoleon Dynamite pose" they are the joke-sters in the family so this cracks me up!!

KAYLEE RUSSELL

(Kip's little sister)

Kaylee, & Jenny- I like this one so I thought I'd add it and give Kaylee a spot!

RYAN & KATIE RUSSELL
(Kip's Brother- if u can't tell.)

EMMA & LAUREN

WESLEY & KELLI RUSSELL
(The In-Laws)

THE ORIGINAL RUSSELL SIX

THE TESTOSTERONE

THE ESTROGEN

THE RUSSELL FAMILY 2008

(FINALLY!!)

We were all done taking pictures and this was a good thought, but after an ALL DAY photo shoot, this is what we got. I still think it's cute, because it looks so natural, just everyday and it has personality!! (And if you look close you can tell the kids and Kip's Brother- ARE DONE!)

A GRADUATE!!

That's right y'all-

** I AM A BEAUTY SCHOOL GRADUATE!! **

Soon I'll be out there in the world making it a beautiful place one head (or hand/foot) at a time!!

1600 hours

+
1 yr & 3 mon.

+
$15,000 tuition

___________________

A CERTIFIED COSMETOLOGIST

(well until I go to Boards and am LICENSED!)

When you graduate they decorate your station to match your personality or something you like. The girls thought it would be funny if they decorated it Chritmas themed, because for some reason whenever I am in a good mood and I feel like singing a song, the first one that ever comes to mind is "We wish you a Merry Christmas." They hate it- cuz I have been singing it since I started school- I know, Christmas Carols all year round!! What can I say, I don't mind it Christmas is my favorite holiday???! But my station was cute, and that was a clever idea!!
I'll give them that much!!

We also had a cotton candy machine for my party!! (pink too!!- watermelon, it was really good!- and I don't even like cotton candy??) Who has that?? It felt like I was on that TV show: "My Super Sweet Graduation Party!" And they let me play my Christmas CD's over the loud speaker the whole night!! Thanks Prescott EBS for everything and- especially to my mom, for making it SUPER SPECIAL, and the Grow family for being there for support- AND ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR LETTERS OF SUPPORT!!!

It was so much fun!

RUSSELL UPDATE!!

RUSSELL UPDATE!!

Hey y'all sorry it has been so long for an update. I know we don't need excuses but things are back on track to being normal once again!! For those who don't know Kip and I moved in with the in-laws back in April while trying to sell the house. We moved here for jobs after Kip was laid-off. He found a great job and is doing very well. I transferred down here to go to school, but it wasn't going well. So in September I transferred back up to Prescott and was living with mom, meanwhile Kip was still down in the valley. After months of weekend visits:

I HAVE FINALLY GRADUATED FROM BEAUTY SCHOOL!!

And have since then moved our stuff from up there to a cute little rental home here with my honey!! We are so excited to be under one roof again, and learned alot about eachother and about how strong love is throughout this process. We are hoping things will look up for us in 2009.

(Those wondering- no, we did NOT sell the house. With being on the market for almost a year with nothing we have decided to walk away, I know not the smartest thing to most of you. But it has probably been one of the best things we have done thus far!!)

Kip has been doing GREAT he is almost in his second semester at Chandler-Gilbert Community College underway to receiving an Associates Degree in Administrative Justice with a certificate in Forensic Investigations. He is loving it!!! He is working for the company he had been working for previous to us moving up to Prescott, and they are very busy and doing well, so Kip feels blessed to have a pretty stable job (& work) in such an unstable market.

Anyways so I have been really busy with making up hours at school, and haven't had much time, being at my mom's and now we don't have internet yet? But, I will try to do some more recent updates from the in-laws!! Thanks for checking on us y'all!

Lots of love from the RUSSELL PACK!

To infinity.... AND BEYOND!!!!