Brian & Celia Purcell

Out door weather

2011-09-29T21:22:00.001-07:00

We have only been in Texas for a few months but we spend a lot of time outdoors. Maden likes to play at the park, got for walks and bike rides. He even likes to take ralphy out side too. Brian taught him how to swing on the big kid swing and go down the big slide. Maden like to climb the stairs and go up the slides. Brian races maden to the big trees. One time Brian and I raced to the tree except he was carrying maden and maden's friend. Brian still won.

Cabela's

2011-06-11T18:58:00.001-07:00

Today we went to cabela's. It was a lot of fun. They had huge catfish and other large fish. They had zebra's, elephants, all kinds of African animals and even polar bears. It was fun to walk around and maden loved it. They had stuffed animals that he carried around with him. He relaxed in kids size recliners and had a good time. We haven't met any hunting friends yet. Most land in Texas is private land so hunting with out knowing someone will be expensive and therefor not happen. I'm a little surprised that most of the guys at brian's work don't hunt. It's just going to take some time to get to know people. We have made a few friends. All the people we have met have been transplants too. We will work on that.

Riding a zebra

2011-06-11T18:47:00.001-07:00

Maden has gotten very adventurous lately. He climbs on everything; couches, bathtubs, jumps into pools. This picture is of maden riding his zebra standing up. He was even jumping on it like that. That's how a zebra is ridden in Texas.

Tennis in Texas

2011-05-31T18:32:00.001-07:00

We make good use of the tennis courts at the apartment complex. We haven't seen anyone else on them. So it's like our own private court. It is the only redeeming quality of this apt. We play a lot. I actually beat Brian in one game. That has never happened before. They were some lucky shots, but still, a win is a win. Maden runs around yelling 'ball ball ball'. He throws the tennis ball and chases it while carrying his tennis racket. He runs all over the court. Some times he is my partner (Brian has to hit it away from maden) and some times he is my enemy ( he runs into me, throw his ball at me, or makes me laugh and I mess up). We like the exercise. And as long as we play before 10:30am it isn't too hot.

Outlets

2011-05-21T20:16:00.001-07:00

Today we drove around the entire belt loop of fort worth. We found some outlets on the exact opposite side of town. We took one way there and took the opposite way home. It was fun to see the whole city. The outlets were huge. And of course it had a Dallas cowboys store. But it also had those inflatable balls you go in and float on water. It had a Lego land and a rain forest for kids. It is so easy to spend a lot of money when everything is on sale. Brian is very proud of his new shoes. He says it's the one thing that can stay the same even on Texas. He found the exact shoe he was wearing for $40. Then we went into other stores and it was $70. Maden got a bubble gun shooter. I got Jean shorts that fit awesome. It was a dun day walking around. It turns out maden is cite in Texas too. He gets a lot of attention where ever we go.

Weatherford

2011-05-17T11:24:00.001-07:00

We went to weatherford to meet Brian after his first day of work. We walked around the hospital and went out to eat at a local steakhouse called Logan's. Brian is excited about his new job. He said at the end of the first day of orientation they called over the loud speaker that it was meet and greet the new employees. People from all over the hospital came to say hello. They focus on employee satisfaction.

TCU

2011-05-14T19:02:00.001-07:00

Today it was unseasonably cool. So we took a trip to visit the TCU tennis courts to check out the scene. It is about 10 mins from our apt. It was nice. There are 16 courts open to the public for only $5 person for 1 1/2 hrs. The picture above was of Maden and Brian in front of the professional courts. They are all recessed into the ground to keep the wind down. They whole campus was very impressive. We just missed the TCU tennis season, but we will take advantage of other school sports, I'm sure. They said the men's tennis is free to watch and some times they give out free pizza. We just walked around to get a feel for it. Next time we go we will play. We got maden his own racket. He likes to carry it around the court while we play. All over the campus were flags saying the 2011 rose bowl champions.

Texas!

2011-05-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

Well, we made it to Texas on may 10th. We barely made it to our apt on time to get our keys. We had to get there by 6pm, before the office closed. We got there at 5pm. We were tired and unpacked quickly. We needed a shower curtain and then planed on going to bed early. So we went down the street to the walmart. It said 'neighborhood walmart'. Which means only food. No shower curtain, but that didn't stop us. We just showered with nothing. But it did stop us from playing tennis, no balls.

Maden wants to play tennis

2011-05-06T17:30:00.001-07:00

We were at Apple watching blake's tennis match and maden wanted to play too. Brian had to run after maden so he didn't disturb the match. He like laying on the court with his blankie. it's hard for a baby to have tennis etiquette.

Packing up

2011-05-06T08:04:00.001-07:00

We started packing the trailer. It all just barely fit. It took 2 days to load and another day to finish cleaning. It made me realize that we have a lot of stuff. (junk). We gave away a lot of stuff. We just hope that it all fits in our new apartment.

Our last Sunday

2011-05-03T05:36:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday was our last Sunday in our ward in Idaho falls. We made it relatively uneventful thanks to not telling half the ward that we were moving. Let alone telling them it was our last Sunday. Maden and Brian wore their matching ties. Randall and Courtney came too. I told every one they were the replacement Purcell's.

Mother's Day Surprise!

2009-05-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

this mother's day we had a little surprise for each of our mom's. We gave them the same present. It is a picture slide show. Take a look. Let us know what you think.

Fighter's Frozen Treats

2009-04-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

It wasn't a particular hot day. But you got to start sometime. Opening day was April 25, 2009. We only went around for two hours to the development across the street and our own development. We sold about 70 pieces of ice cream. The most popular: Sponge Bob Square Pants. The kids were so excited, they were following me around with their bikes buying more. It was tons of fun and hopefully was just the begining of a great summer. We found out alot of things. The Freezer stayed cooled, the music lasted, and now we know what sells. Bring on the summer.

Hunter's Ed

2009-04-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally figured out that we have double the chances of getting drawn a tag if we both put in for it. So for Brian's birthday present i took the hunter's safety course. Turns out i'm amazing. I got a 100% on the test and I was the best shooter in my field day lesson. It's not hard to beat a bunch of 12 year olds.

It was a good learning experience and now that we have a freezer chest there is nothing left to do but to shoot an animal. They make the lefty's go to the end of the shooting range. Check out those camo pants. I think that was the secret to my success.

Dunking

2009-03-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

Cindy sent some of Ken's clothes. Brian liked them but he had to make sure that they worked good. So here is the test trial. I'll let you be the judge. What score will you give him? Here is me dunking it too. Who won the dunk contest?

The Return of The Escape

2009-03-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

The City of Idaho Falls never looked so good as from behind Brian's favorite little white Escape with the stupid decal. Yes, it is the Return of the Escape. Two years ago we regrettably said goodbye to our 2001 white escape. We have been leasing a 2007 Red F-150. We handed the truck back in only to drive by another dealership that was "coincidentally" selling that same Escape that we traded in. It was a sign. It was a Birthday Miracle. The Escape is now safely in our garage as if it had never left. You don't get many do overs in life. We are greatful to be older and wiser, and this time we won't let it go. Brian was so excited, that after he got all the water out of his eyes, we took it for a spin up Bone Rd to see the city lights from the hill.

Ralphy got run over

2009-02-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Ralphy's recovery has been slow but steady. His pelvis is broken in two places. He spends lots of time laying down. We put a dog bed in every room so he can follow us around but lay down too. The pain medicine has been working great. He hops around with three legs. He is eating and drinking on his own now. But he doesn't clean him self as you can see by this video.

Ralph and the Cat, Perry like playing and snuggling together. Perry likes taking care of him. Raloh will be bake to normal in no time.

Wishful Hunting

2008-10-19T16:24:00.001-07:00

So, we ran into Brian's cousin Becky at roudhouse and she told us that her brothers had just shot some elks and were cutting them up. So Brian and i raced over to see. Here is Brian posing with the elk, he's pretending that he got it in the picture. It was huge. Brian has been talking about hunting the rest of the week, now. He even threw a fit that he had not got the picture of him with the elk emailed to him fast enough. Now he's planning to go hunting for cow elks later this season.

Potato

2008-10-11T08:31:00.001-07:00

We spent the weekend in Blackfoot for conference. It was spud harvest too. So we had some fun with potatoes all weekend.
Brian didn't bring any chruch clothes on purpose so he could wear Randall's clothes. He thinks he's funny. We are looking forward to the snow and coldness. Mostly because Brian has fun clearing the driveway after it snows.

More Pics

2008-09-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

LPN

2008-09-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

Brian is almost halfway through this semester. He loves the clinical experiences and is doing very well in his classes. Our hope is that he gets an offer for a job before he graduates. Now that he is just going to school full time he has time to do all the laundry and dishes and cleaning. I am very happy about our decision to cut expenses and live off my income. Besides, Brian and I have had time for running and playing more tennis. Brian has lost over 5 pounds and i lost 2 pounds. With our new found confidence in our fitness we dominated last weekends' tennis tournament by winning 4 out of 4 games. We are praticing for an october tennis tournament that we could win money. I'll be playing singles and mixed doubles. Brian will be playing men's singles, mixed doubles w/ me, and men's doubles with a new friend Bryan Nelson. This Bryan is pretty competitive too(known to chuck his racket from time to time), so it should make for a great show.

Tennis

2008-04-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well, with both of us working full time and Brian going to school full time, we don't get alot of time together. So time together is valuable. This past weekend we played in a tennis tournament. We both played in singles and doubles events. I had to play up because there were not any other 3.0 singles women players. Even though i lost i had alot of fun. Hopfully my skills will improve with lessons and leauge play this summer. It is motivation for brian to finish school. Once he is only working full time he will have more time for tennis and having fun with me. Brian took second place and is looking forward to getting the dust off his tennis shoes.