Birthday Girl

Happy 1st birthday to our little Bridget!
We love you!

Zoo Day

We have been enjoying spring-like weather the last two days. Yesterday the high was 55 so after lunch I packed up the kids and we went to the zoo. We had a grand time.

Marshall reported that his favorite animal was the rhino.

It was so much fun to spend the entire afternoon outside; I cannot wait for the summer! And, one of the best parts for me is that the kids went to bed so well last night and both slept in until 8:00 am! Hooray!

Get This Monkey Off My Back

For our entertainment one night last week Richard put this monkey on Bridget. :) Oh, the things we do at the expense of our children! We all got a good laugh out of it and Bridget didn't mind it too much. Just this week she learned her first animal sound (aside from her growl). She now knows what sound a monkey makes, so this was fitting. Enjoy the video. I love how she keeps trying to find the monkey and just turns in circles. :)

Marshall Funnies

I have become quite sentimental about my kids lately. I tell Richard at least once a day that time is going by way too quickly, our kids are growing up too fast, and that the prime time of our life is slipping through our fingers. Alright, that may be a little dramatic, but this really is how I feel. Richard, by now, is tired of hearing these phrases day after day, and continually has to remind me that this is how life goes. Kids grow up, people get older, and that we have lots of good years ahead of us. I know he is right. But, while I am still in this sentimental state, I wanted to take some time and jot down some things about my kids that I always want to remember. Tonight it is Marshall's turn. He is almost 3 1/2 years old and while we have hardly made any progress with potty-training, I still love him. :)

Marshall has a fascination with the human body. Just today he ran upstairs to tell me that he was looking at pictures of bones on the computer with daddy. His favorite pajamas are his Halloween pajamas with a skeleton on them. He calls them his "skeleton bones pajamas". We recently got him another pair from Old Navy, but these ones also have muscles, heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines. He loves them.

Back in December one of his friends broke her arm falling down the stairs. Marshall is now terrified of breaking his arm and has reverted back to crawling backwards down the stairs as a safety precaution.

Marshall is very possessive of just about everything in this house. Even things we buy for Bridget usually end up in his bedroom. We have been having a lot of talks lately about how Bridget's birthday is coming up and she is going to be getting presents that are hers and not his. We'll see how this goes.

Marshall has a vivid imagination. Some days he could play in our basement for hours. He turns planes into fire trucks, buses into trucks, basketball hoops into buildings, the list goes on. His current project these last two days has been to build "a new green house for us to live in". This entails his "worker hat" and two basketball hoops.


Speaking of his "worker hat"...for his birthday in September Richard and I got him a tool set and a yellow construction hat almost identical to this one. His tool set is played with almost every single day, he loves it, but I could probably count on one hand the number of times he has put that hat on. Well, on Sunday a lady at church, who Marshall adores, gave him this hat. She teaches school and they were doing something that involved these hats and they ended up having extras. It is just a flimsy hat that we have pushed numerous dents out of this week. But, despite its cheapness, Marshall loves it, loves it, loves it. He wears it probably half of the day and when its not on his head it is close by.

And back to his imagination...Marshall uses the string for his bedroom blinds to make things into cranes.

I think this is pretty impressive for a three year old to tie knots like this. Today I walked into his room and he had a car wrapped up in the string.


On Monday Richard had the day off so Marshall and I had a little outing the The Domes. We visit The Domes every winter because they have this train exhibit set up. Marshall thinks it is pretty cool, can you tell?!

It was so fun to have a morning out with him. His favorite trains were the log train and the tractor train.

He would get so excited every time he would see one of these trains coming around the bend. He would point, jump, and smile and tell me it was coming. This picture does not capture even half of his excitement. Oh my...this boy is looking way too old.

And lastly, Marshall has started to say some pretty hilarious things. I am so intrigued with his little mind and how it all works. Here are just a few of his random comments.

"I am going to take out my intestines because I am a bone."

Marshall said this to me the other day while we were driving in the car and I was singing along to his CD. "You need to stop singing all the day because you are making me sick."

"I choose the right. Do you choose the left?"

Oh Marshall Man, we love you! Now if you could just learn to use the potty.

My Poor Daughter

Any suggestions on how to do hair? I obviously have no idea what I'm doing.

Chicago Vacation

Last week Richard and I took our first vacation without children and it was wonderful! My sweet mother flew out to be the baby-sitter and we sure appreciated it. We didn't do anything big: with a small budget, limited time, and I will admit, this being our first time going away overnight, I didn't want to go too far. Anyway, Chicago was the perfect option for us. We spent three days away and came back rested, refreshed, and somewhat missing our children. :)

Richard got us a steal of a deal on our hotel using Priceline. We stayed at the Millennium Knickerbocker, a four star hotel right downtown for only $60 a night!

We visited the Museum of Contemporary Art. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought and found that some modern art really can be quite interesting. Here's the display outside the building.

Here's a picture of one of my favorite pieces. Peacock feathers!

And my least favorite. Art. Really?

They had a traveling exhibit on the top floor entitled, "Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s". This was actually pretty interesting and also somewhat disturbing at the same time. But, here's one display, sorry its blurry.


Each TV was playing a different station and over the top of each one in big, black, bold letters were written words like, "Self-censorship", "People with Aids". Richard noticed that the TV on the top right was BYUTV! It reads, "No Criticism". Made us chuckle.

I had to take a picture of this. This was great! But, what was it doing in this museum? I think it was misplaced.

On our way out we stopped in the gift shop and found this great literary work.

We also ate on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. I loved it! Richard, not so much. As many of you know, Richard is terrified of heights, but he was actually the one who suggested this idea. I was so proud of him! But, as our reservation time got closer, Richard got more and more nervous. Here we are waiting for the elevator to take us up 95 floors! I love Richard's expression. :)

And here I am at our table. It was all Richard could do to take this picture. We were at a table with four chairs. I sat right by the window and Richard sat on the other side at the far chair. He wanted to be as close to the middle of the room as possible.

Here are the views from up there. It was a cloudy day, but probably better for Richard. They said that on a clear day you can see four states.


One last picture, that's a tall, tall building!

We also walked up and down the Magnificent Mile every day going into just about every store. But, we did what some would claim to be impossible, we only spent $5 there! I have friends who are shocked at this, but its true, we left with a $5 Garfield shirt for Marshall from H&M. :)

It sure was nice to get away and just enjoy each other without kids to take care of. Thanks again to my wonderful mom for coming; we appreciate it and we love you!

Ah...I'm already planning our next kid-free getaway. :)

Visit From Grandma Laura

We were lucky enough to have a visit this last week from my dear mother. She flew out here one day post-stomach flu and took care of our kids for three days so Richard and I could have a little getaway. More on that little trip later, but for now, here are some pictures from her visit.

Marshall adores Grandma Laura. He woke up at 5:45 am the day she arrived and was bouncing off the walls until we left for the airport at 1:30 that afternoon. Let's just say it was a long morning for me and we were both glad to have some Grandma Laura time.

The next day was Valentine's. We all slept in, had a hot breakfast, and exchanged some little presents before Richard and I took off.

Marshall has the craziest smiles.

While Richard and I were gone my mom ventured out with the kids to the library and to playgroup. She did a great job keeping them entertained and on the go.


The day after Richard and I got home my mom and I took the kids to Monkey Joe's and spent our afternoon making cookies. A perfect day.

Marshall is looking way too old for my liking.


Look at that face, just put a hearty belly laugh with this grin. Love it.

Thanks for the visit Grandma Laura; we love you!