Things I Will Be VERY Grateful For...

With the freezing temperatures of winter upon us and being 33 weeks pregnant I've had the following thoughts...

*I will be thrilled when we don't live on the second floor of an apartment building.
*I will never take a garage for granted, especially an attached garage.
*And, I know this one is years and years away, but I cannot wait until our last child can put on his shoes, coat, hat, walk to the car, get in the car, and buckle himself in.

On another, and completely unrelated note, we hosted a fondu party last night and had a great group of friends over. I really should have taken a picture of the spread of food that was on our kitchen table, but of course, I did not. Just picture a chocolate fountain, a pot of cheese fondu, bread, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, pretzels, brownies, bananas, strawberries, cookies, Rice Krispie treats, marshmallows, and probably other things I am forgetting. But, it was great and it made me happy, food-wise and friend-wise. :)

After everyone had left and Richard and I were cleaning up I told him that this is exactly why I want to stay in Milwaukee. So many of our closest friends will be here for at least a few more years and it would be perfect to have some more time with them. But, we'll just see what Match Day brings us and until then, we'll enjoy every day we have with these great people.

October in Pictures

Well, its the end of January, this baby is coming in less than seven weeks, and I still have pictures from back in October that I want to post-ahh! So, here's October in just a few words, and plenty of pictures...

In October Richard's rotation was Master Clinician-super easy-hardly worked at all-loved it! We were able to spend a lot of time as a family which we all enjoyed. I also celebrated my birthday-27-gettin' old! Overall it was a great month with some fun pictures...enjoy.

One of my birthday festivities was a lunch with these great ladies (and all of our kids)-sure do love them!


One Sunday afternoon we took a trip to Holy Hill with our friends, the Rowans. Marshall and I had been there in the spring and Richard hadn't been at all. It is a beautiful cathedral and the fall colors were amazing.


The Rowans offered to take a family picture for us, so we found a good backdrop, away from the crowds. Marshall, who had been SO happy all day, for some unknown reason, began freaking out as soon as they started snapping pictures. Enjoy the progression of his attack...





And finally, a happy and peaceful family picture. :)


We also took a trip to Jim's Pumpkin Patch-a great little place. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day...






We took a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory for playgroup-Marshall loved it.


And of course, Halloween and all the parties that brought us...

Trick-or-treating at MCW.



The church Halloween Party-Marshall looks thrilled!



And just some festive Halloween pictures.




Happy October/January!

2010 in Review

Customize your own photo album

Marshall Man

Just wanted to do a post all about Marshall, again, probably mostly for the grandparents. But, I did just want to get this all down before he's moved on and I have forgotten it all.

Here are some things that he does that I always want to remember:

*He's had two bouts with the stomach flu this winter. Now, when he doesn't want to do something or go somewhere he will say, "I need to spit in the bowl" or "I'm sick". When we ask him if he's really sick he says, "No, spit is gone, I'm all better now". Makes me laugh every single time.

*I hear the phrase, "Watch this Mommy" about 100 times a day. I love that he says it, and its always followed by some silly face or crazy movement. Richard has tried to get him to say "Watch this Daddy", but so far he's had zero success.

*He started singing to himself just a few weeks ago. His favorite songs are: I am Glad for Many Things, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABCs, Follow the Prophet, Keep the Commandments, I Love to See the Temple, and of course, "The Cosmo Song" (the BYU fight song). I love listening to him sing. He's really pretty good with the words. When he and I were stranded in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago I woke up at 5:30, but was just staying in bed. At 5:45 I heard Marshall cough, roll around, and then I heard, "Keep the commandments, keep the commandments..." in his cute little singing voice. Loved it.

*For meals he often brings toys, books, and blankets to the table and tells me that they are watching him. We have started putting these things on a chair by him because they were getting covered in food. He frequently reminds me during the meal that "Blanket is watching you".

*He has developed quite the imagination and it is so fun to see and hear what he comes up with. The other night he made cookies out of his burrito. His toast frequently turns into animals, trucks, and other sorts of things during breakfast.

*He has become a little bossy, he frequently says, "Daddy sit here." "Daddy play with steam-roller." "Mommy sit on couch."

*When I need to get him dressed, clean him up, or change his diaper and he doesn't want that done he will say, "Mommy is tired now." He's actually right most of the time-too bad that's not a valid excuse!

*He has an incredibly expressive face and when we ask him to smile for the camera, he usually gives us a pretty good one.

*Every couple of days he tells me, "I need to check my emails." I guess we say that a lot!

*He still loves his sports, especially football and of course basketball. During football season Richard and Marshall would watch the weekly BYU highlight videos together. He now runs around the living room playing football and basketball and tells me that he is playing in a stadium.

We sure love this little guy and despite the hitting, spitting, and tantrums that occasionally find their way into his day, we are glad he's ours. Richard and I usually spend a few minutes every night recounting the funny things he said or did that day; he definitely makes us laugh.

Here are just a few pics and videos of Marshall in action. Enjoy.

I know I said this would be all about Marshall, but wanted to sneak in a 30 week pregnant picture. No face this time, just the belly. :)

Christmas Day

Well, let's be honest, this post is mostly for the grandparents. Seeing as we were in Milwaukee for Christmas we had to document almost the entire morning for grandparents to catch a glimpse at Marshall's Christmas morning experience. So, enjoy it all Grandpa Bob, Grandma Becky, Grandma Laura, and Grandpa Toney-this one is for you guys!

This is from Christmas Eve. It is so much fun to play Santa for your own children; definitely a highlight of the holiday! My parents purchased the table for Marshall and we (Santa Clause) bought him the train set. We originally purchased the train set this summer at Target on sale with the intention of giving it to him for his birthday, but after he got spoiled in Utah the entire month of September we decided to hold off until Christmas. So glad we did, this table is perfect for it and he is in heaven!


Marshall's stocking display. We picked up the tradition of cereal from Richard's family. I love it, makes Christmas breakfast easy, easy, easy and everyone is happy!

Moving onto Christmas morning...since Daylight Savings Time Marshall has been waking up between 6:00 and 6:30 screaming, unfortunately Christmas was no exception. (As a side note, just this week he has started sleeping past 7:00 and wakes up SO much happier, thank goodness!) Anyway, I was actually able to get him calmed down in his room before taking him out to see his presents, but you can still see the puffy and teary eyes. :(


And here's Marshall one minute later, love at first sight!



All smiles!


Santa Clause checking out the stocking loot.


Marshall going through his stocking. Another tradition we got from the Leakes, a stocking full of candy. Don't worry, he's limited to one piece after lunch and one more after dinner, and if he doesn't ask, we don't offer it-so he's not too sugarloaded!


After the stockings we took a break for breakfast before getting to the presents under the tree. Here's Marshall with the first present he opened; two cars from cousin Katelin-perfect!


I was up next with the biggest surprise of my morning...



Completely unexpected and very exciting.


And now for Richard's surprise...


Can't fake a smile like that...pure happiness.


Richard and his loot; another BYU-themed Christmas.


My Christmas, can't complain! Love that we are still spoiled by parents, yet another benefit from being in medical school without a paycheck. :)


And this is how the little man made out...definitely need a playroom now!


It was a fantastic Christmas morning. Relaxing and full of fun! Marshall is still at the age where he doesn't care about getting through the presents as fast as he can; he's content to play with one for a while before moving on. We didn't finish the morning festivities until 9:00 am-not bad considering our morning began at 6:30!

Later that morning we had five other families over for a Christmas brunch. Unfortunately it went completely picture-less as I forgot to take any pictures until I shut the door after the last family left. Oh well! We still had a great time with the Rabes, Barbers, Lindseys, Burtises, and Rowans. The kids played well, the food was delicious, and the conversation was wonderful.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, talking on the phone to family, and of course, playing the Wii!

Here's one more cute picture of Marshall with Richard's headphones. He really has become a little ham with an incredibly expressive face-makes me laugh every day!

Christmas Eve

We spent our Christmas Eve at home, relaxing, and just enjoying time together as a family. For dinner we had a fantastic meal: ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, veggies, and for dessert, a peach cobbler. These are pretty much all of our favorite foods, so it was a definite success! We also ate by candlelight; that was a lot of fun and made the evening extra special.

After dinner we just had fun playing with Marshall. We also watched some highlights from past Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts and we finished the evening with a short Nativity movie.

After that Marshall opened his Christmas pajamas. He was so excited to open a present that stopping him after just one resulted in a slight temper-tantrum, but it was short-lived and all was well once again!


Here's some pics of the little man sporting his pajamas. I LOVE these pajamas! He just looks so grown up, and he loves putting his hands in the pockets-so adorable!

How did this kid grow up so fast? Time is flying by!

And just for comparison sake, here we all are last year on Christmas Eve...I think I like my hair shorter (sorry Richard!)


Anyway, one last shot by the Christmas tree, sure do love this little boy!