The Russell Family

Friday, October 16, 2015

Happy Sunday

Mason and I are sick, so we are having a pajama and movie day. I hope everyone has a good week!

We just got back from our second annual national park trip with the Garrisons! Last year we went to Bryce Canyon, this time we drove to Northern California to visit the Redwoods. We stayed in a cabin and did a few hikes, we even survived a six mile hike with three kids under the age of 5.

Hiking makes Mason tired.

On the way home we stopped in Crescent City, California and walked on the beach.

When did my boy get so big?

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Happy hump day!

We love short work weeks. ❤️

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Mom update

This summer, my mom told us that she has been having strange symptoms recently; she had been forgetting words and her memory seemed to be failing her. She was also experiencing neurological problems, her arms and legs felt like they weren't working together, her motor skills felt off. Over the 4th of July weekend, she went into the ER for these symptoms. They did a CT scan and a large mass in the posterior portion of her brain. Of course we were all devastated. The ER doctor made her an appointment with a radiation oncologist for the following week. At her appointment, the doctor told her that the tumor was able to be surgically removed, so that night they drove up to Boise to go to St. Alphonsus hospital. She had surgery the next day, and it went very well; it took less than an hour! The mass was 4 cm x 3 cm and the pathology showed it was a metastatic tumor from ovarian cancer. The oncologist thinks that the cells were in her brain at the time of diagnosis over eight years ago and the tumor has been growing slowly since. She recently finished 16 treatments of radiation to kill any possible remaining cells. According to the radiation oncologist, her prognosis is good and she will just have to have an MRI every couple of years to watch for any new growth. She is still healing but getting better every day. She even went back to work full time! We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers from everyone. We love you all!

Catching up on summer

Since I have been terrible about blogging this summer, I'll post a few pictures of different trips we took over the last few months. First Trent and I went to San Francisco so he could go to a conference. I just tagged along to play. :)

Chinatown.

Alcatraz Island

We got our exercise on those steep streets!

We also met Ernie and Jackie in San Diego for a quick trip to the beach! Mason and I visited my Uncle Hal and Aunt Ann for a day, then the Garrisons and Trent flew in to meet us. Mason saw the ocean for the first time. The first day all three kids loved the beach, they played in the water and the sand all day. The second day, we took them back to the same beach...and all three of them screamed and cried and ran away in terror. The adults stood there dumbfounded. Apparently the kids were done being on vacation.

Swimming in Hal and Ann's pool.

Balboa Park.

We're back!!

It's been way too long since I've written anything, we have been so busy this summer. We moved to Vancouver Washington about 5 weeks ago, and it's been crazy and stressful, but we're finally getting settled in. Both Trent and I have started our jobs and Mason loves his new daycare. We live in a smaller city called Camas, just east of Vancouver and north of Portland. Camas is known for it's schools and close knit community, and so far everyone we've met here has been very friendly and kind. We like Camas so far, but we have been driving around every weekend exploring different areas of our new home. It's beautiful here, there are trees everywhere, we live close to a lake that has a running trail around it, and the Columbia river has trails and parks and little beaches all along the riverfront. Portland has all of the big city activities to do, but we avoid the traffic (mostly) living across the river.