Strawberries n' Creme

Here is a cute picture of Paul and I as we are waiting for the Rodeo to start. There were some really fun things to watch. We were able to watch the little jammers do mutton busting. You have to be a hard core cowboy if you are going to put your little kid on a sheep and let them get bucked off. I would have a difficult time letting my kid go through that punishment.

We met Brittani, Kenny, Bryce, Kristy, and the Glauser family at the rodeo and had a great time just spending time with them laughing and watching all of the different events.

Bryce is really good at making us all laugh. He can't ever keep a straight face for the camera.
One of the really funny events is to watch was the "cash cow." I had never seen this before and didn't know where the term came from, but now I know. :) They sent all of the kids out to chase two cows with cash taped to them. It was really funny to watch.

After the cash cow and mutton riding events are over the "big" events started. I haven't been to a rodeo for years and forgot how amazing these guys riding these bucking broncos are!!
Brittani and I did feel bad when the cowboys would tie up the calves and the little cows would just sit there. Paul rolled his eyes and would tell us that they were just fine.

About once I year I crave strawberries n' creme. Luckily there is a rodeo nearby our house where they serve strawberries n' creme.

Lagoon Day 2011

June 11, 2011 was the annual Russell Family-Visit-Lagoon Day. As always we had I blast, but every year I have to choose my roller coasters carefully.

Cami and I met up with Bryce (Cami's brother) and Kristy (Bryce's wife) at our house and drove up together. Upon entering the park we jumped in line for the "white roller coaster". The white roller coaster is the older ride still around at Lagoon. Every year I've ever been to Lagoon I ride this coaster first. Since this ride is so old it doesn't have the fear factor or whirl and twirl compared to newer rides at Lagoon such as: Spider, Mouse, Wicked, and the Rocket. Bryce, Kristy, Cami and I sat near the back of the coaster train and as we began ascending to the top of the first peak I started screaming. I had more than half the coaster train looking back at me. Throughout the ride I continued to scream random funny things. I wish I could remember now what I said.

After the ride was over I had that feeling it could be a very long day or short day depending on the next few rides I choose to stomach.

We rode the Colossus Firedragon and Wicked within 45 minutes of entering the park, but I knew I was done until after lunch. We met up with the rest of the Russell family and they rode on the "Turn of the Century" swing ride. I found out from the two kid rides I rode last year spinning in circles is no bueno. I don't think I'll ever be able to do the carousel again!

As you can see from the picture above we sat down for hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch. Bryce had finished his lunch before I sat down with my plate of food, so Bryce being bored, challenged me to put my chocolate chip cookie and potato salad in my double patty hamburger. The chocolate chips even melted a little to add a third dimension to my sandwich.

After lunch I had the stomach for just a few more rides; not because of the sandwich though. The entire family met over at the Sky Coaster: a bungee jump ride where Cami and I were strapped into harnesses, raised 145 feet, where I pulled the ripcord and plunged downward reaching 80 mph.

After this ride I felt I could do 2 more rides: Blast Off and Re-Entry. However the lines were too long because they were not working properly. After Cami and Bryce went on one more ride we left the park for our traditional visit to IHOP in Centerville.

I look back now and I can't ever think of a time where I only did 4 rides at an amusement park. There were years where I did each ride 2 or 3 times on a Saturday. A few years ago I found out my reason for my incapacity to do more than what I did a few Saturdays ago: too many concussions!

Adoption Walk

In May FSA (Families Supporting Adoption) put on an Adoption Walk. This was to celebrate all of the birth mothers that have placed their babies with adoptive couples.

The day in May that the walk is held on is birth mothers day. Paul's parents came out to support us and it was a great time that we could show our support for all of the wonderful birthparents out there and for their sacrifices.

The fire department came for the little kids and showed off their fire trucks. They blew their horns and the kids got to sit in the truck. It was cute.

Everyone who was there to participate received a balloon and walked around the track at Provo high school.

After we walked around the track everyone who was there participating met in the middle and we let our balloons go to represent our unity as adoptive couples and birthparents. It was neat!

Little Red Riding Hood

So at the beginning of June I was able to do a woman's bike ride called Little Red Riding Hood. I was really excited to experience a woman's ride. The ride was held in Cache County Utah close to Logan, UT. There were different options for lengths that I could ride and I was able to do 80 miles!!! That is to date the longest bike ride that I have done.

The ride had stops where there were treats and a staff to help out with any accomadations that would be needed. It was really awesome and Paul was the best supporter of all. He came to all of the stops that I asked him to. It was awesome to have him there rooting me on.

Having a road bike has been an awesome experience this summer! Paul and I have been able to spend more time time together and it is something that we can do together to be healthy. It has been so much fun and I am looking forward to doing more rides!!

Chandi and Jordo's Wedding

On March 31st my youngest sister Chandi got married to Jordan Shepard. They are a cute couple. Above is a video of the car that was trashed by Paul and some other family members. This is one of the only ways for Paul to stay sane at a wedding.

The day started with the actual ceremony which was beautiful and all of the "Russell" siblings all high-fived each other as we ended our walk down the aisle. It was such a fun memory.

After the ceremony we went to the luncheon downstairs and laughed a whole bunch with each other. Chandi and Jordo made goo goo eyes at each other as we all enjoyed the yummy food and told funny stories.

(Paul's talent show during the wedding luncheon)

After the luncheon Bryce, Kristy, Paul, and I went and purchased what would be used to decorate the car. After this we went to the reception.

The reception made my feet hurt and Paul was MIA quite a bit of the time as this is his least favorite part of weddings.

After the night was over as a whole family we went to dinner at IHOP. It was fun to talk to each other and spend some time talking and laughing some more. We all have a good time together and really enjoy each other's company.

New Bikes

Paul and I bought new road bikes in February and have enjoyed learning the tricks of riding these bikes around. Road bikes are the bikes with the really thin tires. They take a little more balance than the average mountain bike. This is something that Paul found out the hard way.

Paul went out for a ride close to our house. The tracks run at a 45-degree angle from the road. Paul re-learned the laws of inertia when his body followed the road and his bike followed the path of the tracks. Below are the pictures that show the proof of his crash. He had a nice elbow scrape, knee scrape, and his hand was a little scraped up too.

This month (April) we decided to go to St. George and we took the road bikes with us. We didn't realize how many awesome trails there are out there for beginners. It was a great way for me to familiarize myself with road biking on these trails and catch the excitement of road biking. Paul is great at pushing me on the bike too. I forgot to bring sunscreen and got a nice sunburn with the glove tan lines to go with it.

Here we are along one of the trails. The weather was so nice and warm in St. George. We were sad that our trip was so short. We still haven't had this nice of weather in Utah county. We now know why retired people live there for the cold months. We could get use to being in St. George riding around for a few more days at least.

AF High Lacrosse Season

Spring time means lacrosse season. I am the head lacrosse coach at American Fork High School. Lacrosse season actually started back in January with conditioning and weight lifting. This season hasn't treated us very kindly; but, I am excited about the future of the program. We just don't have much depth and we are a very young team.

There are three more games in the next week and a half until we complete our short 13-game season. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear we'll be moving to the post-season this year.

It has been fun coaching these players; also coaching with Bill Peperone, Wesley Duke, Josh Berrett, and my cousin Scott Nelson.

I'm looking forward to developing some of the younger players this summer and next fall. Hopefully they'll put the time and effort into their lacrosse skills after our season is over.