A day with Jordan and Allie

My brother's wife Rachel and their two youngest daughters, Jordan and Allie came to Butte to visit her mother last week. So on Thursday my parents, my sister and my boys and I all met them in Bozeman for the day to visit. We only get to see them about once a year, since they live in Logan, UT. My nieces Jordan and Allie are such fun little girls. Jordan is 6 and Allie is 4 so they have a great time playing with my boys since they are so close in age. We went to a park and then the Museum of the Rockies. Dustin and their oldest kids, Tyler and Mackenzie weren't able to make it out this trip so we missed them, but it was great spending the day with Jo and Allie.

Jordan and Dylan

Allie and ColtonGrandpa and Grandma Russell with 5 of their 7 grandkids
Dylan, Allie, Jordan, Colton and Logan by the dinosaurs
Allie, Grandpa Mike, Grandma Sherry, Colton, Logan, me, Jordan, Aunt Holly, Dylan

Happy 30th Birthday Brian!!

We celebrated Brian's 30th birthday on July 17 with a surprise party at the Big Timber water slide. Brian and I hadn't been there in about 15 years so it was fun. He was snoopy and hard to keep a secret from but we managed to pull it off. I know there are a lot of pictures with this entry but I just couldn't resist putting so many in. We had a great day and we are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Big thanks to everyone for helping me and for coming to celebrate with us. It means the world that all of you came!



Daddy and his boys opening presents to start off the day Daddy with Dylan and Colton
Lynn Brian and Brayden
Darlene and Chase
Jeremy with Dylan and Brian with Brayden
Brayden
Dylan
Lynn and Brayden Paul and NatalieJeremy and Chase
Darlene and Brayden
Lindy and I
Mommy and Colton Brian and I
Daddy and Logan coming down
Daddy and Logan at the bottom
Natalie on the munchkin slide
Gunnar and Natalie
Mommy and Logan
Koleman splashing
Uncle Jeremy with Logan, Natalie and Chase lounging at the pool
Lindy and Koleman
Lindy on the suicide
Paul on the suicide
Justin on the suicide Brian on the suicide Dylan
Colton
Brayden
Thanks everyone for a great time! Happy Birthday Brian!!

4th of July

Happy Independence Day! We had a very fun but busy weekend. To start it off on Thursday Brian and I went to the rodeo and then out to the bar with my sister Holly and her boyfriend Travis, Brian's brother Jeremy and his wife Darlene, and Brian's cousin Lindy and her hubby Paul. We were all excited to have a childless night so we started celebrating early and ended up having a fun night. The next day Brian and I took the kids to a parade and rodeo and they had a great time. On Saturday we had our now annual picnic with about 50 family and friends. We played some volleyball and baseball and the kids had a great time on the new swingset that Brian built from scratch last week.(he did an awesome job) Then we watched the fireworks from our hayfield. Finally, on Sunday after church, we went to a nearby lake with Holly, Trav and his parents Lynn and Debbie, and our friends Jeff and Jeni. The boys fished for a little while and then Brian got his first ride in a kayak. He did really well and only flipped over once. I didn't get a picture of him though because I was too freaked out to get the camera up in time!

the boys playing on the new swingset

waiting for the parade to start
Aunt Holly, Travis and Logan
Aunt Darlene, Uncle Jeremy and Chase

Travis going under
Brian and Travis
Dylan practicing
Colton going fishing

Logan paddling