This was SOOOOOOO fun....

So I have a son on a mission! Have I mentioned that?? And I love thinking of super fun things I can do for him!!! And he loves the super fun things I have done!! It hasn't caused any homesickness and he says it's actually helped and made him not feet so isolated and "alone" in knowing what's going on at home {we've had LOOOOONG email talks about it}!! So I love Pinterest and don't take credit for almost any of the ideas I do!! But I do take them and give 'em a little twist!!! Well with little chirps from one of my sisters and Pinterest, I came up with this idea for Elder Russell's HUMP DAY!!! His one year mark in the mission field!! Now, Elder Russell's one year mark isn't until February 27, 2014!!! But I had to get this done while the weather was nice and I WAS SO EXCITED I JUST COULDN'T WAIT!!!! So.......when a missionary is out one year the call it HUMP DAY!!! They're over the one year "hump" per say and the rest is downhill from there!! With this "Hump Day" they have long associated it with camels ~ camels have humps!! Get it?? So like I said my sister had said something about a lady that had camels and I had seen this lady with her camels around ~ get where I'm going with this?? So Mandie actually knew the lady cause they came to the dentist office where she worked and her son is on Tanner's football team!! So my idea was to have our family picture taken with this camel, blow it up HUGE, and mail it to Elder Russell on his "HUMP DAY"!!!!! How fun is that? Well let me tell you....it was a blast!! John and J always roll their eyes at my ideas {I have another fun one I'll share later, still working on it a bit} but EVERY TIME we are done with these "crazy ideas" or "stupid" as J likes to say, they end up having a great time or they do turn out to be quite fun!!! So we headed up to Ucon with a storm on our heels!! I just prayed it would hold out till we were done!!! This is what we saw when we pull up....

 This is Dude! He was little and I thought, "good gravy, our whole family is bigger than him"!!

 But then brought out Ralphie! And he was HUGE.....

And he was SO nice....

In this next picture I think either...

 a) Ralphie wanted to be in the picture and is smiling or b) is trying to eat Hannah's bun.....

It kinda freaked Hannah and I out for a minute!!! And apparently the other member of the family had no idea of the terror unfolding to the right of them ;) !!! Luckily we survived!!!

Then we each SAT on Ralphie!! It was a little strange...

John and J checkin' out Ralphie....

And Hal and I got to feed him...

The weather was beautiful!!!! No wind! And as we were saying thank-you's and good-bye's the storm rolled in and the wind and rain blew and fell! It was great timing!!!

And these are the awesome owners of Ralphie, The William's...

They are so awesome!!! And guess what?? I got to ride Ralphie!! EEEK!!! It was crazy!!! Mr. Campbell wanted Hal to ride Raplhie back to where he puts him but she was so scared so he said, "come on mom"!! And I did!!! It was a little scary when he got up cause he lifts his back end first but it wasn't bad!! It was actually fun once I got the rhythm!! Now I can cross "ride a camel" off my bucket list!! I was curious about why The Campbell's had camels so I asked her!! She said her hubby wanted an elephant but they decided on a camel instead!!! She does a live nativity every year and the camel would finish it off!!! So they got one!!! And these camels are from Mongolia so they are used to the cold temperatures and do great in the winter!!! They now have 3...Ralphie, Humphrey, and the little one Dude!! 

Here's a preview of what Elder Russell will get!! I am going to have an engineer print made {like a big print, in black and white} and then print this one in color! I am so excited...

And of course find everything to do with camel's I can get my hands on in the next 5 months!!! Someone suggested Camel cigarettes, but I think we'll not send those!!! ;} So in 158 days Elder Russell will have a "HAPPY HUMP DAY"!!!

One year of his mission will be in the books!!! It has flown by so fast!!!

And here's a sneak peak of what will be in his birthday package in 31 days!!

He will be 20 in 31 days!!! But that's a whole 'nother can of worms {AND TEARS} we don't even want to get into yet!! Believe me....they will come and I will write about it....

EEEEEK!!!! I can not wait!!!