More child torture

This will be quick...I found the photos of Tate that Josh took when Tate was younger. For torture of course!


This is Tate as Carrot Man...


This was Foam boy (he's a superhero you know!)

I don't know WHAT this is...Just another one of the many ways Josh likes to humiliate our children...I guess I'm just as bad for putting these on my blog. Right now Tate thinks they are funny but give him a few years and I bet that will change!

One good thing about losing your memory!

I picked up a book I bought about 2 years ago. I read it then and I've since forgotten what was in those lovely pages...so I decided in an effort to save money and shelf space I would read it again. I love books that make you feel like you're on the right track, but there's a little more you could work on. This book is about being content. Do you ever feel like you have everything you need and just feel peace? I know I don't, there is always something; socks, cleaning supplies, totes, BOOKS, clothes, handbags, and the latest is sewing materials and ideas and many other THINGS. You might be laughing at what I have on my list, but think about if I was reading yours (please do share, it's fun to see what is important to others) I would be having a good laugh too! In the book I'm reading (which by the way is called "You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Need - The Quest for Contentment" By: Mary Ellen Edmunds) she talks about how we can learn to be content by comparing down instead of up. She says "There will always be someone somewhere who has more than I do. But there are far more that have less than I do." I Love it! We always notice who has a new car or in my case, handbag, but do we notice ALL of the people who don't have. They don't have a car at all or a warm place to go for that matter. The one thing I've learned is that we can never acheive contentment without gratitude. I was thinking about it, and I realized that I've never really felt grateful for having a plumbed toilet with privacy to do my business. I just have always had one, and never had to be without for an extended period of time. So last night I starting imagining what a tramatic event it would be to be without for who knows how long. Boy do I feel grateful now! I know there are a lot of times when we say "I'm grateful for"... but do we FEEL grateful or just say it? There are so many things that we here in the U.S. have always had, sometimes I think we forget they are blessings.
Wow, sorry, this should have probably been written in my journal, not on my blog. What better time of year to contemplate these things. Have a Grateful Day!

Blah...

I thought I was becoming the next victim of the stomach bug that has hit many families we know, but I don't think that's the case here. I am going to be avoiding Tasty's for a while, maybe forever, I love Tasty's as much as the next person, but this was too much for me. My grandma, the kids and I went there to eat lunch yesterday. Had the usual; Turkey and provolone on white bread. Well about 3 hours later I was feeling like it was going to come right back out. I stayed in bed for about 3 hours and then I started to feel a little better....then it struck again. I know it was the food because our neighbor Cathy just happened to be at Tasty's at the same time, just happened to also order the exact same sandwich, and just happened to be sick like me at about the same time! I know, I know, I'm just sayin'. YUCK!

At least this morning I can say how grateful I am for my health!

What is wrong with our family?!

Is it just our family or do other families torture their children too? Josh has made it a point to do something to humiliate each one of our children and he documents it with a photo (for future use, of course)! So yesterday was Boe's first encounter with daddy. Josh titles this one Baby Mr. Higgins (he says he's a butler).

I'll have to find the one of Tate to post later...he was carrot man!

Grandpa Blaine and Grandma Dawn made a quick stop by the house yesterday bearing gifts. We didn't tell the kids that they were coming so they were pleasantly surprised to say the least! Unfortunately the boys didn't get any golfing in this visit, but great for Dawn and I, we got to talk crafts. She made us the cutest advent calendar for Christmas, you take the magnets off each day and put them on the back of the cookie sheet to count down to Christmas day. The kids love doing it! Here's a photo...

A little bit sad

I never EVER thought I would say that I missed the farm we lived on...it was just so much darn work! This morning Tate wanted to take some of the photos of the animals from the farm, the kids at school didn't believe that he lived on a farm. It actually made me a little sad flipping through the photos. It made me miss all the animals believe it or not. I do have to say that was the greatest learning our family has ever had. Not just about the animals, but about what our family could endure, how much sleep you really can live off of when cows are birthing, how fast sheep can run not to mention how high they can jump (it's really true!), the experience of a new baby calf being born (I never thought that was a sight I would miss). You learn so much about life and death. We had a few lambs die and a cow. The kids usually handled it better than Josh and I did.

This photo is one I love. How many kids do you know who have a calf for a pet? That is CowPatty and Tate. When ever we go out to the farm she still comes when we call her and she will still let you pet her. She is MUCH bigger however.

Just a little reminiscing for the day.

Only 21 more days of Shopping!

I don't know how many of you have finished your Christmas shopping already, but we have not even begun! I am starting to feel the pressure now. I was reminded this morning that there is only 22 days until Christmas, 21 if you don't count Christmas Day! I can remember this thought as a child made me so excited, now all I feel is anxious about what needs to be done. I asked the kids what they would think if Santa decided to take the year off. That didn't go over so well. Every year I tell Josh that this year will be different, we're going to keep it simple and every year we look around and think where did all of this JUNK come from? It was from all of the time we spent looking for the perfect gift and picking up 10 others along the way that were not so perfect.
Then we pile on the stress of neighbor gifts! What do you get for an entire neighborhood? Our brillant friend Pam came up with a marvelous idea for this year! Instead of buying neighbor gifts we are having a canned food drive and donating it to the food bank. Not to mention she is providing hot chocolate too! Now if I could just convince my kids to go for something like that.
One thing that has worked out well so far is our Christmas tree. I decided this year that I was not going to go out and spend a small fortune on decorations for the tree. Let me explain:
Every New Years Day as we are taking down the tree Josh says "lets just get new ones next year", and then he throws them all away. So this year I decided we would make our decorations. While I was thinking of what we could make, my grandma was telling me about some geneology that she came across. Then the idea hit me, we'll have a real Family Tree! So we are going to cut out circles from cardstock and tie ribbon on them and write names from our pedigree charts on them. Yeah, not expensive and our kids might learn a little about our ancestors. When we are done I'll try and post a photo. Who knows it may end up looking horrible, but at least it didn't cost anything!
If anyone has some great ideas for simplifying Christmas (that won't put our children into shock) so we can celebrate the real reason for the season PLEASE let me know.

Thanksgiving Day!

Ode to Thanksgiving

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey plump,

May your potatoes and gravy

Have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs!

Thought you all could use a poem to get your day off to a good start.

We have so much to be grateful for this year....and every day! We are blessed with so many wonderful friends and family to share this holiday season with. We learn so much from each of you, some what to do, others what not to do. ha, ha. I am so grateful to have a wonderful husband who works just as hard as I do to maintain our family. He re-arranged his work schedule so that we would all see him more often! I have children who although they complain, still do what they are asked 90% of the time, and they give great hugs and kisses! Two of our greatest blessings this year were to give birth to our fourth child Boe who is the most content of all of our children. Also, to be able to move into a new home which is placed in the most perfect neighborhood! In all seriousness we love you guys and hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful and this finds you all healthy and happy. Now it's time to get cookin'... literally!

Today Béya's class had a "P" picnic. Everything that I packed for her lunch had to start with a "P". She got Pizza sticks, Pears and Pretzels. The pizza sticks were an act of desperation. I thought I would make the old standby; peanut butter and jam....but there wasn't any bread and only 20 minutes until we had to leave. So thanks to my friend Lori Erickson's wonderful pizza dough recipe the day was saved! It is so easy and so fast! I thought I would share this wonderful recipe with you. It only takes me about 15 minutes from start to finish. Cooking included.

Super Easy Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
1 T. yeast
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 T. salt
3 T. sugar (1/4 cup)
4-5 Cups of flour

(This recipe makes 2 pizza crusts, we double the recipe and make tons of personal size crusts and freeze them. They make a quick dinner when you don't have a lot of time.)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Stir together:
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 T. salt
3 T. sugar (1/4 cup)


Stir in 2 cups of flour
Sprinkle on, then stir in 1 T. yeast
Add 2-3 cups of flour (until dough is not too sticky)
Knead 2-5 minutes
Spray or grease pan.
Spread dough (roll it, throw it, however you would usually do it)
Add toppings of choice and cook until golden and cheese is melted.
We cook ours about 7-10 minutes. Check it frequently if you cook it any longer.

Tate's Fieldtrip

Josh had the privilage of attending Tate's fieldtrip to Kingsbury Hall for a play yesterday. Before leaving for the school I advised Josh to take some tylenol. A school bus full of 3rd graders sounds just like a headache waiting to happen. Tate was excited that he got to have Jace (his Layton Elementary Best Friend, he has best friends at each one of the schools he's attended) in his group. They had a blast. Interesting considering the play was about girl pirates and they had to wear their Sunday best. Who would have thought. They were only gone about 4 hours. Josh arrived home wishing he had taken the tylenol and stating that now he knows why Tate's teacher always seems so depressed.

Pack Meeting

So last night Josh was an Indian chief for cub scouts. He was so good at it! He really got into the part. I think he just got himself a permanent position. The kids loved it.

It's about time

I know, I know. Finally. The Russell's are now officially part of the blogging world. I finally figured out the system, and I think I understand it all now. That's not to say that in a week I still will, but you all should know how well my brain retains information. It goes in and comes right back out.
So, an explaination on the blog name. Dax started this infamous (in our house) saying. I was driving down the road last week in a hurry, but not speeding. We drove through an intersection and he yelled from the back seat "WHOA MOM! You're going like Fasty miles an hour!" I have to say that was one of the best kid quotes I have ever heard. So since our family is always on the go, we decided to call our blog Fasty Miles An Hour. Actually it was all we could agree on. You don't want to know the others...LAME!
So, in my effort to to be a better blogger I will do my best to do my duty to blog at least once a week. The cub scouts are rubbing off on me.
Well, I need some ideas of what to write, so send me some! Or this will be one dull blog.