Which One Of These Things Doesn't Belong?

The last few nights while I am filling up the tub for Marshall's bath he stands by me and puts each one of his toys in the tub one by one. Then, when we are all done with his bath he hands them to me, again, one by one, to put away in the basket. It is very cute and just makes him seem so grown up.

So, tonight we were getting his bath ready and as usual he was putting his toys in the water one at a time. Once all his toys were in I turned off the water then turned around to dry my hands and when I looked back in the tub, this is what I saw...


Yes, that is a whole roll of toilet paper sitting in the bathtub. :) We have a basket of rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom and I guess Marshall was just having so much fun throwing things in the tub he decided to keep going! Well, all I could do was laugh, which I actually did for quite some time, and then grabbed the camera to document this funny moment.

I Think We May Be A Little Crazy...

So, between Richard (a 3rd year medical student) and myself (a little bit of a worrier), here are some of the things we have discussed in the last week regarding Marshall and his development...

*We are worried that his limbs are too short, especially his legs. He is almost 15 months old and is wearing 12 month pants that we are still rolling up two inches. Richard is scared to death that he is only going to be 5'4". Richard is worried that Marshall has some weird Toney/Yancey gene because the Leakes all have long legs and short torsos and Marshall is exactly the opposite.

*As you all know, Marshall has a very large head, which I just love, but Richard is now concerned that it is growing too big front to back and not side to side at all. We really talked about getting the approximate measurements for a 15 month old head.

*Lastly, his speech. The more I think about it, I don't think that any parent of a 15 month old should be worried about their child's speech, I mean they're only 15 months old. But, while Marshall is definitely a babbler, he doesn't say any real words. But, then again, he has completely mastered four different animal sounds, I guess we'll stick with that.

Wow, can you all tell that we are first time parents and big worriers?! The more I think about these things the less I worry and the more I laugh, we may be just a little crazy!

"Babes in Toyland"

As I mentioned in my previous post, "Babes in Toyland" consumed my last week. My studio presents two ballets each year and my first year here I was heavily involved with both of them. Last year, after having Marshall, I didn't do anything for the ballets except attend. I must admit, I did enjoy the break, these rehearsals end up being very time consuming! But, in August my boss asked me if I would like to help choreograph and/or perform in our holiday ballet, "Babes in Toyland". Richard and I talked about it and decided that I would help choreograph, but I could only give three Saturdays and then help out with rehearsals during the last week. Well, three rehearsals quickly turned into many and then into performing-hence the crazy week!

Despite the crazy time commitments, it ended up being a very fun experience and it was fun to be on stage dancing and performing again. I, along with my co-worker Sarah, played the thugs of the show. We were the evil, but clueless, bad guys. We had a lot of fun creating our dances and there was much laughter involved! Lori, another co-worker, played the evil toymaker and did a phenomenal job.


Here's a picture of the entire adult cast. Mother Goose, the narrator, was played by our theatre teacher Katie. The man in the picture is the father of one of our dancers. He played Uncle Barnabee and was the boss of the incompitent thugs. :) Quick story about him, for our spring ballet last year my boss needed a prince for one scene. The week of the show she asked the parents if they knew anyone who would be willing to be in one simple scene. This man's wife volunteered him and he was very, very mad! But, when it was all said and done he loved it! So, when my boss asked him this fall if he would like to perform again he didn't even hesitate! He grew up playing sports and still coaches sports, but said that performing and being on stage gives him the biggest rush he has ever experienced-even more exhilirating than scoring a touchdown or winning a big game. Anyway, he ended up doing a great job. I keep telling Richard about this in hopes that someday when we have a daughter who needs a dad to help out with a performance he will do it; he tells me that this will never happen, but we will see!

And of course, a picture of the kids, not all of them, but most.

Fun At The Park

We have had a crazy week here at the Leake house. Richard is super busy with his surgery rotation and I have been at rehearsals every night for Babes in Toyland (more on that later). All of this has resulted in Marshall being passed from baby-sitter to baby-sitter and pretty much zero family time with all of us together since Monday, not fun at all!

Anyway, I stayed up late last night after rehearsal getting caught up on some laundry and dishes that had been building up all week long so that I could give Marshall my undivided attention today before I left for the performance. We ended up having a really fun morning and thanks to some great weather we were able to play outside!

I took Marshall on a run and on our way home we stopped at the park to play. We had a really fun time and I definitely enjoyed my time with him.


Marshall has become fascinated with leaves this fall. He loves to walk through them and hear the crunch, he loves to pick them up and crinkle them in his hands, and today he just got a thrill out of watching them being picked up and blown by the wind. That's when I snapped this picture; I think it captured his excitement very well!

So here are just a few other pictures from our fun morning; I sure love this little tike!

Cougar Basketball

2009-10 BYU Basketball Commercial from BYU Basketball on Vimeo.

Ronnie Ron & Roscoe - Episode 02 - Welcome to the Marriott. from BYU Basketball on Vimeo.

Ronnie Ron & Roscoe - Episode 01 - Introduction from BYU Basketball on Vimeo.

Halloween, Just A Little Late!

We had a lot of fun for Halloween this year. Marshall picked out this cute little dog costume a couple of weeks ago and he just loves it. So, here's the story, I have to tell it...

Richard and I began looking for a Halloween costume for Marshall back in September, but we couldn't agree on anything. Naturally Richard wanted Marshall to be something cool and manly like Spiderman, Batman, etc. But, I really wanted Marshall to be something cute because I figured at just one year old a boy can still pull that off. Anyway, a few weeks ago Marshall and I were at Walgreens so I could get a flu shot. After the shot they told me to stay in the store for ten minutes just in case I had a major allergic reaction (that's comforting, thankfully I was fine). So, we started roaming the isles and found the Halloween costumes. I started looking through the racks and all of a sudden Marshall started barking and pointing. When I looked up I saw that he was pointing at this dog costume that was hanging on the end of the rack. I picked it up and gave it to him and he kept barking and started laughing and wouldn't let go of it, so of course I had to buy it! And Richard, being the good husband and father that he is, consented to this cute, furry costume-thank you! :) Before Halloween we kept the costume hanging in his closet and every time he heard his closet open he would run into his room and start barking, what a cutie-I just love him!

Anyway, back to Halloween. We had a branch playgroup Halloween party where Marshall was able to sport his costume. We had a lot of fun and we enjoyed great friends and delicious Halloween food!

On Halloween morning we went to the branch Halloween party that was hosted by the primary. Richard couldn't be at the party so mostly Marshall was passed from person to person because he just wanted to be held, but we still had a good time.

Some Videos of the Cutest Boy

Marshall has started to babble a lot and we are just loving it. Multiple times a day I just sit down by him and listen to him go on and on about who knows what. It is so cute and also pretty funny. He has also started to read books to himself. He will go grab a book from the basket, bring it to wherever we are and then just sit down, flip through the pages, and talk to himself. So, here are a few videos of the little tike, enjoy!