Russ Turns 29!!

29...Can you believe that? One more year till 30!! That sounds old. I remember when you turned 16! haha (I think I just managed to make myself sound even older)
We didn't get much time to celebrate last Thursday because Integrative Sports and Wellness was having an Open House.

But we did give him a couple presents open when we got back that night.

Kenzie picked out this hat for Russ and was sooo excited to give it to him.

He didn't blow any candles out till Friday night though. He asked for a banana cream pie for his birthday this year...so I rose to the occasion and made my very first pie...ever. Russ always makes the pies in this house. Mostly because he knew how, and I didn't. So I always pushed that one over to him. But now I'm happy to say that I at least know how to make a pie. I admit his are better than mine turned out, but practice makes perfect right? :) ANYWAY... Friday we left our girls sleeping with our nephew Ben and went out to dinner and a movie. Neither of us sadly can remember the last time we did that, so it was SO NICE. We ate dinner at the Steiner Ranch Steak House, and then we planned on seeing Inception, but were a little late getting there, so we saw Dinner with the Shmucks instead. (NOT a favorite)

Happy Birthday Russ, you're amazing!! Thanks for everything you do! We love you!!

A Visit to Utah

Again, I am so happy we were able to make it out to Utah this last month. I would say I really needed the break, but I can't say it was much of a break, doing the trip without Russ. BUT--it was nice to get a change of scenery, and see some grandparents and Lindsey. We had lots of fun hanging out with them. We were able to go to 7-peaks, Boondocks (which turns out to be the Schaack Daddy's favorite place), Temple Square. We hit a parade (we really love parades...really. one of the few maybe.), a fountain park, a craft fair or two, and a few visits with great grandma cook....it was great!! And of course the reunion and wedding were great. Utah in the summer is AWESOME!!
Here's a few pics to highlight the trip.

Boondocks..gotta love the arcade

Temple Square..the only day I was really on top of the picture taking.





Highland City Parade..you can see Kenzie's cheek full of candy


Fountain Park

Grandpa and Grandma J's house! We missed seeing you guys. We're excited that next time we come some one will be home!

10 year Reunion

This year marked my and Russ' 10 year high school reunion! I can't believe it! Really, I always thought I would FEEL a lot older at my ten year reunion. I guess that's a good thing. I am really happy I was able to go, but I felt really bad Russ had to stay and hold down the fort (a.k.a. work). It felt weird to be there without him. But he was nice to let us girls go. It was really fun to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in a really long while, and to also hang out with my girls! I was lucky to have a great great group of friends through junior high and high school, and we have stayed close throughout the years. A few of them came in from out of town without their husbands as well, which actually made for some really fun girl time to catch up. There were a couple late nights, lots of reminiscing, a few confessions I think, and even an accusation or two (which I still deny! haha!) These girls know me inside and out and I LOVE them! It was just like old times!! SO FUN!




There were a couple others at the reunion that I WISH and SHOULD HAVE gotten a quick picture with as well, but you know me, I'm never quite on top of stuff like that.

The same weekend one of our good friends Brandon Boulter got married as well, so I was able to hit both events in one weekend! We were able to snag him for long enough to snap a quick pic with everyone. I have soo many great memories with this gang and think the world of all of them--It was really good to see everyone, and to see Brandon with his cute new wife!

Other Summer Fun

Father's day was shortly after the flood, so we were in a hotel that Sunday. Not ideal, but we did our best to celebrate Russ.


He's such a good dad and we love him!!

Next we did some house/dog sitting for some friend for a couple weeks. The girls really loved Ollie! Kenzie says when (meaning "if") we get a dog, it will be a girl dog, and its name will be "Mollie" instead of "Ollie".



We were at their house over the 4th and did a few fireworks outside. Brinley LOVED them. She was really excited about it. Kenzie wasn't so impressed, but it was still fun! I LOVE the 4th of July! Its right up there with Christmas for me. It was a little disappointing this year because it rained most the weekend, but at least we got a few fireworks in!

outside on the driveway doing fireworks in their pajamas.

Kenzie did a little swimming camp this summer which she LOVED. At the end she got a T-shirt and a medal that she was SO PROUD of. Really. SO PROUD. She kept saying, "Mom, I never won a medal before!" She wore them both the rest of the day. Her shirt was like a dress, but she was so excited I couldn't make her take it off.


Then on the 24th of July we went up to Dallas for the weekend. Russ had a seminar up there that weekend, so we all went up to spend some time with Jon and Lisa and kids, and Robbie and Jessica who recently moved there!! Robbie and Jessica had actually been at our house a few days prior to that, which was so fun! Then we all left and drove up to Dallas Friday. It was a fun weekend. We were able to hit a Rangers Baseball game with Jon's family, which is always fun. We didn't get there until about the 5th inning (which made me and Brinley happy--I like going to those games--but a 5th inning arrival is about right for me... :) ). And we spent some time swimming and checking out Jon and Lisa's new area and house. It was really fun to spend time with everyone!

at the Rangers game with cousins, you can see her still wearing her shirt and medal.

After the game we were walking back to the car and the kids were running around and goofing off as we walked, and Kenzie tripped and face planted it on the road. Her face was all bleeding, and of course Dentist Jon was worried about her teeth, she being the drama queen that she is was SCREAMING, and bystanders were asking if we needed ice, first aid, parametics...haha. She was fine, but her face a lip did kind of take a beating.




its a pretty good lookin' group if you ask me :)

The Flood

A week after we got the office open, and we were hoping for some CALMER days, our life got a tiny bit more hectic.

At about 6:30 on a Tuesday night, I was getting dinner ready, Brinley was screaming at me in typical Brinley fashion for want of food. I was beginning to think that if Russ did not walk through our door soon, I might lose it, or Brinley might, I'm not sure which. :) One of those days. Then I heard a knock at the door. I thought, Oh good! Russ is home! But I opened the door and it was the poor man that lives upstairs, reporting that one of his bathroom pipes had just broken and his place was flooding and we might start seeing some water come down--he was trying to get a hold of maintenance to turn off the water, but because it was after hours, his calls were being sent to a third party emergency answering service which could only page our maintenance crew. So I said OK and didn't really give it much thought. Afterall, who could really think about anything with Brin YELLING like she was, and surely the water would get turned off in a few minutes.

5 minutes later Russ walked through the door, Hooray! That six'o'clock celebration never gets old. Then Kenzie noticed there was some water coming down in her bathroom. Oh ya! So I gave Russ the run down from what the guy said upstairs. He goes out and finds out, the water is still on, and no one has been able to talk to anyone from management yet. I notice the water is dripping in the bathroom, doorway, and by the girls bedroom door now. (within 15-20 minutes).



Fast forward 2 HOURS...the water is STILL ON, and by now its a full on RAINSTORM IN OUR HOUSE!! What the??? Where is maintenance??? Where is Management?? We've called the city, the fire dept (our fire alarms were going off for a good hour, 911...nobody can turn off our water. The water was leaking through any little hole, fire alarms, light fixtures, light switches, so it messed with all the wiring and turned off half our electricity.

Now..rewind a little bit. About 30 minutes into this Kenzie was stripping down to her swimsuit, pulling out her umbrella and rainboots and running crazy. We called sweet Aunt Laurie to come pick her up ASAP. :) We called some friends for some tarps and boxes, who made some calls and brought in the forces to come help us move our stuff out. And we CAN'T THANK THEM ENOUGH!!! My friend took Brinley for the night, (although she didn't know it at the time,) with no change of clothes, no diapers or wipes, or food, or instructions.....Bless her heart! So by about 7:30(roughly) the 11 year old scout leaders and scout troop, who ironically had been at the church having an emergency preparedness lesson, came to help us move everything out. Other ward members and neighbors which we had never met came too and I was frankly OVERWHELMED at the generosity of others and their willingness to help. Really, moved to tears. I didn't even care that the scouts were slip'n'sliding in the living room.

The water was finally turned off around 8:45pm. We got all of our big and important stuff out of our house around 9-10 ish??...kind of lost track of time throughout this. Then Management finally showed up and apologizes profusely, and then tells us that people were coming to rip up the carpet the same night and we had to have EVERYTHING OUT! What? Nobody told me I was moving today!! I haven't had time to de-clutter and do all the pre-moving stuff, aka get rid of my junk that nobody is supposed to see!! aaahhh..!! Oh well, it was no time to be prideful I guess. Anyway...we left our apartment--completely empty--at midnight, threw away the dinner that had been left on the oven all night, and headed to Bryan and Laurie's for the night. We stayed there for a few nights and then in a hotel for a few nights before getting into a new apartment a week later! WHOA. So here's some more pics.

There were all these weird water bubbles on the walls.




12 hours later...it looked like this...

12 hours after that the sheet rock was torn down too. so fun.

First Things First....

This was such a huge thing for us, I can't go without mentioning it.

Introducing...
Integrative Sports and Wellness....


On June 7, 2010 the office officially opened for business. Hooray! We were so glad to FINALLY get things going and move on to this next stage! Russ worked (and works) soo hard to get this all going! Way to go babe! The office has been opened two months now and it looks great!

You can see more at integrativesportsandwellness.com.

Sooooo Far Behind

In the next few days I'm going to attempt to get caught up on this. I'm a little overwhelmed, but a little encouragement from Grandma J. yesterday has given me the motivation to try! (Thanks, I needed it!) So look forward to a re-cap of our crazy summer!