Anniversary Vacation

This year for our anniversary trip we went to Birch Bay, Washington. We used to live in Bellingham, WA for six years and I had never really been up there. I went up once with my family, but we didn't do any of the sights. Our first stop was the Birch Bay Waterslides. Here is a picture of us with my bestest friend Kim and her husband, Ryan.

We stayed at the Trendwest Resort up there (Thanks to my parents). We were able to go hiking and walk down to the state park there. Here are some pictures from our hike at the state park. I cut down this tree all by myself and am proud of it... :) And this is Russell "hiking!" He looked so cute that I had to take a picture.

We went down to the beach like everyday. We played bocce ball down there and it was a fun challenge, lots of obstacles. We drew a picture in the sand on our anniversary to commemorate our three years of marriage. We also went out to the resturant where we celebrated our engagement the day Russell proposed.

While we were up in Birch Bay we were able to go up to the temple in Vancouver, BC. It was just built up there and we were able to do some sealings for family.

All in all it was a great trip. Stay tuned, more posts to come.

Graduation BBQ

Here are some pictures from the end of the year BBQ for Russ's grad program. He just finished up the program at University of Washington. He met some great people and we had a lot of fun. Here are some of the people that attended this feast. The food was provided by Selma and her family. They treated us with some authentic Bosnian dishes. Her mom is a chef and the food was amazing. Other people also brought native dishes from China and Afghanistan. It was great!!!

Here is Russ with some of the people from the program. To the right is Russ, Bobby and Paul. They were in Russ's study group with them and are super fun to be around.

They are really smart too, which is always nice to have in a study group.

This is Russ with Karen, she was in the program with him and will be working at Bader Martin starting in July. Yay!!!

The BBQ was a hit, there were lots of people, tons of food and great weather. We were super lucky!

The swing was the place to be, first Gilad and Grant were cuddling. They are the best of friends and an awesome team.

Following the cuddling session it was time for tea!!! Gilad, Emily and Grant enjoyed some Bosnian coffee. Pinky's up!!

The Flight Home

The wedding in Houston was beautiful and we had so much fun, but rarely slept. So I was really excited to get onto the plane and take a good five hour nap on the way home. Well the airport had other plans for us. We got there okay and walked everyone that was on the Vancouver flight to their gate and then headed back to ours. We boarded the plane and got all comfortable. I had my flying pillow propped up against the window, when all of a sudden the flight attendant got on the intercom and told us we were going to be delayed a bit because they couldn't get the air conditioning to work properly. I leaned over to Russ and said "yeah right, I bet the engine is broken and they don't want us to freak out." Next thing we know they tell us that we have to get off the plane and board another one. Ah man!!! So we packed up all of our stuff and got off the plane. We were suppose to be reboarded 45 mins later, but you know that didn't happen so 80 mins later we were finally able to get back on the plane and fly home. It was really annoying, I am just glad that it was an day flight and not a night flight. Otherwise we would have gotten back super late and might have caused even more problems. Here are some pictures of how we felt when we were in the airport waiting to get back on the plane.

Matt and Amanda's Wedding

Over Memorial Day weekend we flew to Houston, Texas to be apart of Matt's (Russell's brother) wedding. He married this amazing girl, who is very gifted and fun to be around.
He met her online and they started talking and hit it off and are now married. She lived in Texas and he lived in Colorado. They got married in Texas and then moved to Colorado.

Here are some pictures from the wedding. Russell and I were both able to be in the wedding party and help out.

This is Matt and Amanda as they were coming out of the temple as a married couple. They are so cute.

Here is Sarah (Russ's sister) with her two kids, Jared and Kayla.

Russ was so cute holding the baby, here he is with his sister and another one with her daughter Kayla.

Here are the guys being guys. All of the brothers were groomsmen and their wives or significant others were bridesmaids. It was super fun and we all looked great.

Memorial Service

My Great Uncle Charles pasted away in April and we had his memorial service on May 14th. It was a great service and really good to see everyone on that side of the family. Here are some of the pictures from the after party:

Here is Grandma Brown with too many beers. What can I say, it was a really great party!


This is Natasha and her daughter Avery, I didn't even know that she had another baby. She was so adorable, whenever you ask her who the princess is she would raise her hand.

This is Aunt Neva with Aunt Suchie.

And here is one of Jennifer and Wayne. They live in California and had not seen me since I was still in grade school. It was really fun to see them.

I FINALLY got a good picture of cousin Debbie and Jim. Every time I seem to take a picture of them they are making funny faces.

Here is Grandma and Grandpa Brown (after all of the beers... haha).

Dad and Diane posed for a picture too.

Funerals are so bitter sweet. It is a great time to remember family and the time that we get to spend together while we are here.

Congrats Matt and Kari

My Aunt Kari is getting MARRIED!! She has been dating Matt for about a year or two and he popped the question right before heading off on their Cancun trip.

They haven't set a date yet, but will probably be sometime in the fall. It all kind of depends on what venue will fit the amount of people they will be inviting. Matt has a pretty big family.

This is a picture of Matt with Poco, Kari's dog. Poco loves Matt, I think sometimes more than Kari. So he passed the test :)

Mother's Day and B-Day Parties

We went over to my mom's house for Mother's Day and celebrated all of the moms and Russell's and my birthdays. Here is a picture of all of the moms - DeAnne (my Aunt), Shelley (my Mom) and Lenore (my Grandma). It was very fun to see everyone and eat such great food.

We got some great stuff for our birthday's too... Here is Russ with our new clapper. Haha, we are so lazy that we need this in order to turn off the lights before we go to bed. It has been working great so far.

This is what my mom got for Mother's Day from my little brother (and probably a little Geir too). They tore out all of the grass in the front yard and adding landscaping instead. It looks so much better. The plants in the front are suppose to grow about 5-6 ft tall and will make the little sitting area secluded.

Overall it was an great day and amazing weekend.