Valentine & Snow Fun

The weekend of Valentines Day, we headed up to the snow. Of course we had to make a stop at our favorite store (Wal-Mart)... cuz Russ said he forgot to get me a V-day gift. So this is what he came up with. hahaha - not really. But in addition to the groceries, for some reason Russ wanted to get bandanas for everyone (and as my sister put it - "that is $6 you will never get back"). We became the bandido family. Why? - good question!

Sophs lookin pretty! We just got up and left that morning - nobody's hair got combed.

Other than the few times the truck got stuck in the snow - we had so much fun!

Russ gave us some wings on this ride down...

This is probably my favorite picture. I love how the kids are having so much fun and Russ is at the top watching them with a big smile on his face.

Cute sisters

Russ made Sophie some warm "boots" out of gloves...

Russ was wishing he brought his snowboard... we made do with the sled instead!

Tayler makes orange and red together look GOOD!

We had a fun time with our sweethearts at the cabin... but made it home in time to get cleaned up for my family's Valentine Progessive Dinner.

I took one picture then got lazy... here we are at the first stop - my parents' house for Italian Sodas. From there we hit up everyone's houses and had a good time together.

The next weekend - we went right back to the snow! From my "snowboarding" experience down a little tiny hill with a sled, I thought I would have a lot of fun trying the real thing. So I was excited when Russ invited me to tag along with him & a friend. We took Noah for his first time but unfortuneately didn't make it to Sunrise before the ski school started. That would've helped Noah and I a lot!

Instead, Russ became the instructor. I have so many pics of him helping Noah - I love it. He is such a good step-daddy to him.

My first time down, I fell backward and landed on my wrist - OUCH! I stopped before hurting myself even more - what a waste of money! At least there was good food in the lodge! That made up for it. ;)

Noah and I enjoyed sitting out in the snow and watching for Russ to come down the mountain over and over again. The weather was actually nice - considering that we were dressed warm!

This season was my first to enjoy the snow so much - I'm excited for more next year!

♥ My Valentine ♥

His name is Russell Price and to describe him in a few words ...
cute
hilarious
kind

thoughtful
selfless
patient
sweet
MINE

Because it's the 'month of LOVE'... here's a little history of me & my Valentine.

♥ We were set up by our mutual friend (Abby) with the help of Russ's sister (Megan). The night of our first date, we went to Oregano's then over to F1 Race Factory - but it was too late to race any of the cars and I was secretly so glad because I didn't want to put the protective gear on my head. Russ knew I was relieved. Instead of racing cars we just people-watched and talked a lot - we found out real quick how much we had in common. Russ took the long way home to stall the date from ending. I invited him to come in to stall it even longer! That's when Russ did karaoke in my family room - YES, on our first date! I knew that I liked him because he wasn't "too cool" or embarrased. Me - on the other hand, I was too embarrassed. Double standard!

(I captured the karaoke on my phone video recorder - here are some still shots I got from the video... kinda blurry but I love that I have a pic of Russ on our first date! The water bottle was his mic. LOL!)

♥ The next day we texted a lot until I hinted for Russ to just call me instead of using up all my texts in one day! So, of course he did - and that was just the beginning of Russ doing anything and everything I ask him to do! haha. We spent the next few days on the phone with each other and our second date was just 3 days after the first one. That's of course when he kissed me for the first time. We have never spent a day apart since then, except for when I went on the Family Feud trip - if that even counts - cuz I might have spent more time on the phone with him than I did off!

♥ I knew I was in love with Russ pretty quickly. We spent SO much time together that first week (he met my family 6 days after our first date). One week exactly after our first date, Russ took Noah and I out to where he lived. We met his dad and Russ played some guitar for us. I would've never thought that hearing a man play a guitar and sing to me would make me feel the way I did. Usually I would probably laugh at that. But hearing Russ play "You've Got Friend In Me" for Noah got me a little choked up and then when he sang me "I Wanna Grow Old With You" - it hit me that I really loved him. I still LOVE to hear him play that one and every time I request it, I get it! ;) That night, Russ (being the funny guy he is) - got me to tell him that I loved him - just so I could be the first one to say it. But I did mean it, and afterward he told me that he loved me too. It's funny to think how fast that all happened but I cannot even remember there being a time where I felt awkward or uncomfortable around him - even on our first date - it was always easy to just be ourselves. We have so much fun together.

♥ Next up in our relationship - Russ wanted me to meet his girls. So we planned a fun day at Amazing Jakes. The girls were so like-able. Noah and I both loved our new friends - and I loved to see Russ with his girls. When we said goodbye that day, Russ gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and Sophie said to him "Why you love that girl?" haha.

(pictures from Amazing Jakes that day)

♥ Well for the next 3 months we had a lot of fun together. We went on a few road trips, lots of dates, took our kids on a little weekend getaway together, and spent every minute possible with one another.

(Sunrise)

(Flagstaff)

(California)

♥ We decided around the end of October that we really wanted to get married. We wasted no time and were married on our "4-monthiversary" (as Tamn would call it)!

♥ Life is so great for us! We talk about how lucky we are to have found each other - thank goodness for Abby and her matchmaking skills. I only wish we could have found each other sooner than we did. I love my valentine and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be married to him. I know that sounds cliche but I really do! I still love to get his sweet texts and hear his voice every day at about 4:09 when I get off work. He makes me so happy!

Our little Valentines can't go unmentioned - I love them all!

January

My nephew Riggs turned 11 last month... so we decided to crash his party at Polar Ice!

Ellie and Noah loved hangin with the big kids... and Riggs was a good sport about it! The birthday boy:

Roxy:

Ellie:

Jaxen:

And Noah - pretty much every picture I got of him on the ice was not skating. That's because he couldn't. I thought it was funny but he didn't!

He started to enjoy it more at the end when Auburn and I each held one of his hands. Then we got kicked off the ice cuz our time was up! We'll have to go again soon.
Little boys are one adventure after another... this sounds much worse than it really was... so before reading on - Noah is perfectly fine! He was riding his bike a few weeks ago and darted right out in front of a car and got hit. Luckily I didn't see it happen - that probably would've been way worse. It was just in our neighborhood and the car was going slow - hopefully Noah learned the importance of looking both ways before crossing the street! We took him to the ER to make sure everything was OK. I think he liked the attention from grandparents, aunts, and uncles that came to the hospital - but it was kinda sad / cute at the same time - to see him in a mini hospital gown.

Lastly, here are some cute pics of some crazy kids at our house! Sophie dressed herself in these pajamas, then put her boots over them along with her church sweater.

Noah looked pretty crazy himself - but who cares on Sunday afternoon!