Summer Lovin'

Love, love, love SUMMER TIME!

Been awhile since I posted, and after reading through my last post, I really need to update.  There was a BIG supprise in store for me for my birthday.  As I was expecting to go to Canada, I was tricked by everyone and Richie supprised me with a Carribean Cruise the night before we were leaving.  So I quickly and litterally threw out all the sweaters and snow gear and got ready for a nice tropical paradise vacation!

Then at the end of Jan. Ella turned 3... we celebrated with a party at the Carousel!  In Feb. Eston Stanley was born to my sister Mary and her husband Jason, and then in March Sofia Rose was born to Richie's sister Kriste!  In April we made our first of 3 long road trips to Utah for Richie's brother Jon and Megan's wedding! Then we were back in May for Richie's sister Sandy and Matthew's wedding. In June MaKenna turned 5 and we celebrated with a field day birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Hildebrant's house!  We had a family camping trip and we also attended a wedding in Seattle and visited my aunt  Gloria and uncle Pete. Then in July we celebrated the 4th of July with friends and family and then we were off to Utah again for Roller Hockey nationals where Richie's team with his uncle, brother, and cousins got a silver medal!  and it was fun to watch all the Trussell relatives playing in the tournament and the girls love spending time with their cousins.  We also go to take them to the Salt Lake Temple and walk around, go horseback riding with aunt Ali and Lilly and do lots of swimming.  Then we finised it off with some R&R at a lake house with about 35 people for a little (or shall I say big) family reunion!  All great fun.

This summer has been packed full and now here we are in August and we are done with our major trips, but we are working on our hot tub deck and MaKenna just started Ballet class with her cousin Ayla and Ella will start gymnastics with her cousin Preston in October.  MaKenna will start Kindergarten in Sept. and Ella will be attending a Spanish immersion preschool.  We are also planning one more big camping trip over Labor Day weekend to Diamond Lake and Crater Lake.  This is what Richie want's to do for his 30th birthday!  Then in Jan. for my 30th we are planning a trip to VEGAS.... I have never been there so it will be fun and we are asking any friends and family who want to join us to come as well if they can!  Other than all of that we are busy with work and little hobbies.  Lately Richie and I have been playing some tennis just for fun at the park and we are enjoying the summertime fun...  On Friday we took the girls to the Drive In movie and saw the Smurfs and it just happened to be the clearest night with a full moon and we got to see some of the meteor showers at the same time which were amazing!

Please enjoy this slide show of pictures since there are so many I decided to put them in a slide show and post that!  Hope you all are having an amazing summer as well!

Welcome 2011!

2011 is going to be GREAT!!!

                      Richie and I on NYE 2011


I always love the feeling of new year.  It is like a fresh start.  We accomplished many things in 2010, but I'm looking forward to 2011.  


We already have GREAT things planed for 2011...


First GREAT thing is that Ella is now a Sunbeam. This is the first sundsay school class at our chruch that kids start when they are 3.  Technically she is still 2 until the end of the month, but we moved her up early so she wouldn't have to stay in nursery another whole year.  Sunday was her first class and I got to sit in the Primary becasue I was a sub for Kenna's class, and I was so impressed at how well she did.  I was a littel concerned she wouldn't sit still, but she was so great and reverent and she was just watching all the big kids and I kept catching her looking over at MaKenna, it was so cute <3.


Next GREAT thing... we are going on vacation next week to Whistler, Canada.  Jason (my brother in law) won a trip through his work and Richie and I are lucky enough to get to tag along with them to stay in a cabin!  I'm so excited, as it is my birthday week as well, and we are leaving the kids home with Grandmas and Grandpa for the week.  I'm looking forward to skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, sledding, or whatever playing in the snow we might end up doing. We don't get to do those events as often now that we have young kids, so it will be fun!  I'm also looking forward to the cabin time to just relax, play games, do puzzles, knit, read, watch movies, and just enjoy ourselves.


In February my sister Mary is expecting a baby boy, and in March Richie's sister Kriste is expecting a baby girl.  We are looking forward to holding these precious babies and I have some crafts planned for them.  I want to try to crochet a blanket and make some burp clothes for them as well.


We also know we will be making some trips to Utah this year, which are long overdue anyway.  Sandy (Richie's sister) and Jon (Richie's brother) are both engaged and will be having weddings.  Plus roller hockey nationals are at Richie's uncle's rink in Salt Lake City in July so I'm sure we will make it out there for that as well. Lots of driving but it will be fun to see family and the kids will have fun with their cousins.  Plus we have a new baby nephew Trace to meet!


Then in September, MaKenna will start Kindergarten.  WOW, that's scary... and Richie will turn 30!!!! (that's scary too, especially since I'm right behind him).


We also have plans to continue working on our house.  We are looking at a bathroom remodel and a new deck around our hot tub, not sure if those will get done in 2011 for sure, but let's hope!


Looking forward to a good year.  I have made some personal, spiritual, financial, and family goals, and I hope I will be able to reach those and have fun at the same time!


Wishing you all a HAPPY 2011! 

Trussell Holidays 2010!

Merry Christmas!
We had a very Merry Christmas at the Trussell House this year!  


This year we took the kids along with Grandmas, cousins, aunts and uncles to the Polar Express!  The Mount Hood Railroad does a fun re-enactment of the Polar Express.  The kids wear their pjs and board the train.  The chefs serve cookies and hot chocolate,they read the book over the speakers, the conductor punches their tickets, the train goes up to the North Pole and you can even see the elves working in the toy shop!  Then SANTA boards the train and meets each child and gives them a sleigh bell!  On the way back you sing Christmas Carols!  It was so much fun, the girls just loved it especially MaKenna.  It was so fun to see the wheels in her mind turning.  At one point the train got kind of bumpy and was swaying and she said, "mom, I think we are on the ice" (like in the movie)!  It was so cute, she really believes and it is fun to see their excitment.

 Ella getting her ticket punched

Kenna glued to the story book the chef was holding

Of course we also did all of our traditional Christmas traditions. Watched the Star Trees being lit at Willamette Univeristy, went to our church's nativity exibit, MaKenna sang at our chruch Ward Christmas party and SANTA came there as well! We decorated cookies for SANTA and made gingerbread houses!  On Christmas eve, we remembered the true meaning of Christmas by watching Joy to the World and remembering the birth of the Savior, then they kids opened their Christmas pjs before loading them in the car to drive around and look at lights.  Our plan worked perfectly as the girls fell asleep and we were able to do our duties and be in bed by 11:00pm :)  

 MaKenna singing at our ward Christmas party

Mommy and Kenna went on a date to see some of her friends perform in the Children's Nutcracker (or the "peanut cracker" as Ella calls it).  Now she wants to start taking dance too, so we'll see about that in 2011.

It's a pillow...it's a pet....it's a pillowpet!  "just what I wanted mommy"

Christmas morning when the girls woke up, they opened their stockings and gifts from SANTA, then family came over for crepes and breakfast and more gift opening!  We had Christmas dinner at my sister Mary's house!  We just feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and we were able to celebrate this special time of year and remember Jesus and the spirit of giving and peace!


We hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and that 2011 will bring you a year full of great memories!

MaKenna Turns 4!!!

I can't believe it is possible.  Time just keeps going by so fast.  MaKenna turned 4 on June 4th.  We had  a Princess and the Frog themed Bayou Birthday Boogie!!  We had a pizza party on her birthday, Friday night after work.  I attempted to make frog cake balls.  They turned out okay, but it took me awhile to get the hang of the dipping technique.  We played pin the kiss on the frog, but it wasn't a big hit (maybe they are still too young for this game).  MaKenna wanted to just peak so she could get the lips right on the frog's mouth :)  We also did some dancing to The Princess and the Frog soundtrack!  I am just loving her at this age.  She is becoming so independent, and she is learning to make choices for herself.  So far so good.  Let's just hope she continues to make good choices throughout her life!  After her party we shifted gears to pack for camping for the weekend.  I know... sometimes I wonder why we do it to ourselves, but it is all worth it.

She got a Princess fishing pole!

Don't laugh at those frog cake balls.  I tried.

Saturday morning Richie and my dad took off around 5 am to head to Diamond Lake with our 5th-wheel RV in tow.  They were meeting up with my dad's cousin Clark for some trout fishing on the lake.  My mom, Mary, Ayla, the girls, and I took off around 10:30 to head over there and meet them.  We had a great time camping.  It wasn't very warm though and rained a little.  We've had a very slow start to the summer season around here.  In fact there were still patches of snow up where we were camping.  On Sunday we took the girls out on the boat and it was fun because we had bought MaKenna a fishing pole for her birthday so she got to fish with it.  We were hoping to catch a fish with her pole, but it didn't happen.  We did however catch a lot of fish and we cooked up some fresh trout for dinner one night!  And I happened to catch the biggest one, 21 inches!!! (no bragging here) :)  So MaKenna had a fun birthday weekend camping!

                                                                         YUM! Breakfast in the camper!

MaKenna playing Lasso Golf...so fun!

Mary, Ayla & Kenna on the boat!

My friend gave Kenna a camping hand-me-down shirt and it is so cool because it even glows in the dark!  She loved it :)




                                              



MaKenna using her new fishing pole!



Then my sister's birthday follows MaKenna's.  Mary's birthday is June 9th.  It was a big one for her because it was her 30th!!! I couldn't let her get away without celebrating 30 years, so last night (Friday) we went to Portland and celebrated the decade of her birth the 1980s!  We dressed up in 80s attire and ate at a restaurant called Oba! then headed over the Crystal Ballroom for the 80s dance video attack that they do on Friday nights!  So much fun to be silly once in a while and just have fun!

Today the sun finally decided to come to Salem!!! This is the latest date to reach 80 degrees in the recorded history.  But we finally did it and I'm so happy to see the sun.  We went to a couple garage sales this morning (love, love, love garage sales)!  Then came home and did yard work.  I got the pool out for the girls and they had a ton of fun in the pool.  I got a little sun burn, not bad, but I wanted to get some color, so it will be okay.  Now I am relaxing and blogging. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 was crazy busy, but so much fun!!!

Started out with a Birthday Party for a friend of the girls' at the NW Kids Club indoor park on Friday evening! We are so sad that the Kids Club will be closing at the end of the month.  We hope they find a new location to continue their business.  MaKenna and Ella had a blast and the goal was to get them tired because we left directly after the party to head up to Washington to stay with my aunt Gloria and her husband Pete for the weekend.  We drove up with my parents in their Suburban.  I love Suburbans! So great to fit everyone in one car!  We arrived in Everett, WA about 11:45pm.  We were tired.  My aunt and uncle let us sleep on their boat and that was a lot of fun!

Saturday we ate breakfast at Gloria and Pete's house.  They made an awesome French Toast dish, then Gloria took us to the YMCA so the girls could go for a swim.  It was a lot of fun.  Thank goodness for indoor swimming pools that are heated!  The weather outside was very drizzly.  We had BBQ ribs that Pete grilled up on his Traeger.  Another delicious meal!  Saturday night was the main purpose of our trip.  For Christmas my sister had gotten me tickets to Carrie Underwood!  The event center was within walking distance of my aunt's house, but since it was raining she dropped us off.  The girls stayed with them, while Mary, Jason, Richie and I got to go to the concert!  It was an amazing concert.  Carrie did a great job putting on a show.  At one point she sang a song while swinging on a swing.  Later she was in a truck that raised up into the air and went out over the audience.  She also had a dress that lit up!  So very awesome stuff and the setting in itself was very entertaining.  I loved it!  After the show we walked home and then went back down on the boat to sleep.

Sunday morning, Mary and Jason had to come back to Salem for a wedding, but we stayed up in Everett and Gloria and Pete took us out on their boat!  It was a nice cruise around the island and we got to see the Lady Washington in action.  The Lady Washington was one of the ships used in the Pirates of the Caribbean film.  They were giving tours of the ship and private trips on it for Memorial Day!  We cruised right up close to it to see it in action!  It was pretty cool and I got some good pictures of it!  The girls took a good nap on the boat too.  Nothing like sleeping to a motor sound and a rocking boat!  After the cruise we went to a local farmers market and bought some asparagus for dinner.  That night we had a fresh salmon dinner from a fish that my mom caught on the Clackamas River.  It was delicious.  We also went in the hot tub that evening and just relaxed around the house.

Monday morning we got up and went out to breakfast and headed home.  It was a great time in WA.

I also had Tuesday off from work, so we got to meet up with some friends form CA who were in town.  A Willamette Alum who played basketball at WU when my sister and I were "ball girls".  Lori and her daughter Maija came down and we went down to Willamette to get some WU Gear and look at some changes to the campus.  Then we had Pizza Hut at our house before Richie and I had to head to our Parenting class.  Richie then went from the class to a hockey game in Portland (he had a very long day). He is playing in a long stick league and I hope to make it to some of his games that are a bit earlier and hopefully I can post some pictures.  He is trying to get in some sort of shape before he goes to hardball nationals in WA in July.

Well that was a catch up... Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day and thank you to all of those who serve for our country.

E

Parenting With Love & Logic

So as I mentioned in the last post... Richie and I are taking a Love & Logic parenting class.  I am really liking the class so far, but have a long way to go before perfection.  I have certainly learned that I am the "helicopter" parent, which in some situations is necessary, but in the long run the helicopter parent doesn't allow the children to learn for themselves through experiences.  It sends them the message that they can't do anything without you there helping them or saving them from failure.  The idea of Love and Logic is to have your kids learn through natural consequences for their actions.  Consequences are not punishment given by you, but rather a consequence for their choice.  You use empathy to show them you feel bad for them and sad that they made that choice, but the consequence would be a natural one.  The only time you intervene as a "drill sergeant" is if the consequence would hurt them or someone else.

So the other day I put to test the love and logic model... This was my experience

MaKenna was refusing to wear socks with her shoes, so I decided to give her the choice (since not wearing socks would not kill her).  So she went without socks and like the Love & Logic classes say, I was hoping it would go awful for her so that she could learn a lesson about why she should wear socks.  It was a success!!! She got a blister!  Mean I know.  I was actually excited that she got a blister, but the idea is that she is learning to make good choices young before the consequences are too serious.  The price to pay for learning young is small and that is the whole idea behind it.  So wish us luck in our journey of parenting with love & logic.  I'll continue to post more love & logic stories.  I may even start a Love & Logic blog or FB page separate since I know a lot of my friends are also love & logic fans and maybe we can share ideas, concepts, and stories.

Let me know if you are interested in such a thing.

E

Fun with the Molloys

Sarah (Richie's oldest sister) and her five kids: Naomi 9, Grahm 8, Noah 4, Lincoln 2, and Georgia 10mos, came out to visit us for a week in Oregon and they stayed at our house. It was a full house, but so much fun. MaKenna and Ella just loved having them here. I needed to take vacation time at work or I was going to loose it so I took the whole week off and we filled it with lots of fun activities!

Ella holding Georgia

Saturday: We drove up to the Portland Temple to go through the temple with Marissa, who is a childhood friend of the Trussell family's. The temple grounds are so beautiful this time of year with the tulips and it was a very spiritual experience. I also was reflecting on how it has been four years since we first went through the temple and what a blessing it has been in our lives.

Sunday: Church, which was fun in Primary with my niece and nephews there.

Monday: We took the kids to the Kroc Center, which is an amazing recreation center that is new in Salem. We had not been there yet and we were totally missing out. I'm sure we will be going back there a lot. Mostly we swam in the play pool and it was nice because it was so shallow I could leave the girls and not have to hold them the whole time! MaKenna loved the slide and went down it over and over again!










Tuesday: We went to the movies and saw How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. It was a lot of fun. I love the new 3D technology! MaKenna and the bigger kids liked the movie, but it was the first time that I have taken Ella to the movies and I think she is still a bit young. She did not want to sit the whole time. Thankfully we were the ONLY ones in the theatre so it was fine to let her run around a little! The only bad thing was how expensive the movies are they were $11 each even for the kids in the middle of the day. And they need to make some smaller 3D glasses for the young ones, Ella couldn't even keep the glasses on because they kept falling off. In the evening Richie and I went to our first Parenting with Love and Logic class. We are enrolled in a 6 week class every Tuesday. Hopefully we will gain some good new techniques to help with discipline as the kiddos get older and too smart for our tricks :)

Wednesday: We went to the Gilbert House Children's Museum. Another one of Salem's attractions that I had not taken my kids to. MaKenna and Ella loved it there and they didn't want to leave. Then that evening we celebrated Mother's Day with Richie's mom Kathy since Sarah was in town. She requested shrimp so we made shrimp kabobs (spelling?). They were so delicious! She is an amazing mother who was a strong woman raising 7 kids. I certainly have learned a lot from her and am blessed to have her as my mother-in-law!

Thursday: We took the folks from Utah to the ocean, since they rarely get to see it! It was a beautiful day in Pacific City, OR! We climbed the big sand hill and got a workout doing so. Kenna climbed it twice all by herself, I was so impressed. She was attached to her big cousin Naomi the whole time. Ella also made it to the top twice with a little help. We also got to climb on the rocks at the tide was out and we saw some starfish on the rocks. I have never seen starfish like that out in the wild, it was pretty neat! Everyone was worn out and passed out on the way home! Then the Molloys had to head back to Utah and we were sad to say good bye. Hopefully we will see them again soon.

Dad tuckered from carrying Ella on the shoulders up the hill and MaKenna crawling to the top while Naomi pushes herself as well.












Family Photo opp at the top (windy, but beautiful)
















Friday: I went back to work just for a bit and then my work had a staff yoga class! I have found a new love in yoga this past year as I was introduced to it by my good friend and co-worker Margot, who is a yoga instructor. I have found it to be very good for my flexibility, balance, and overall energy flow!

Saturday: I ran in a race. It is called the Hippie Chick run. It is an all women's run at Champoeg State Park. It was a beautiful day for a race! I originally signed up for a half marathon, but I had to reduce it to a quarter marathon because I have been struggling with an IT band issue. So I was kind of bummed to not be able to do another half marathon, but I ended up running most of the way (only stopping once to strech the IT band) and I finished 30th out of 206 with the time of 1hour and 2mins. Not too bad for not being able to train my best. It was fun because my mom, Richie, the girls, and Charlene (my grandpa Augie's girlfriend) all came up to meet me at the finish line! Then they had a pancake feed and live music! After that we went to one of my favorite places, Bauman's Farms. We got plants to plant in our vegetable garden! And the girls love it there because they can pet the animals. They have a goat who just had triplets, so we got to see the baby goats and they were so cute. The girls got to feed another goat with a bottle, they loved it! The we went home and I worked in our yard at home. I've got our beds all cleaned out and we planted bell peppers, jalapenos, and lettuce in one of our raised beds! Busy day I was exhausted.

Our Veggie raised bed!




Ayla feeding the goats at Bauman's


Sunday: MOTHER'S DAY!!! Got to sleep in a bit, but woke up with a bit of a sore throat. Not surprising considering how busy I've been this past week. I guess it is just catching up with me :( Then we had a Mother's Day Brunch with my side of the family at our house. It was wonderful food! Then we went to church and MaKenna sang a mother's day song with all the primary kids. It was her first time singing in front of the whole church and she did AWESOME! I was so proud of her, she didn't know every word, but she sang the ones she knew and wasn't shy. We only stayed for the sacrament meeting because I was loosing my voice and so we came home and I planted some flowers that richie got me! We have impatients in the shade out front and petunias and marigolds in the sunny spots in the back! I'm so excited our yard is looking good so far this year! Next we need bark to make it look all nice and clean! I have to reflect on Mother's Day 2010 about the amazing and miraculous job of being a mother. It is the most rewarding thing in my life. Although very hard sometimes, it is a challenge that is rewarding beyond no other. So that brings us to blogging on Sunday night. We got a new computer and it is a MAC laptop, so hopefully I'll be a better blogger now that I can do it in the living room!

Thanks for following our family activities

E