The Marshall's

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Halloween is finally here. I love this holiday, especially with kids. This year, Josh dressed up as Roronoa Zoro. Not a whole lot of people out there know who he is, so I will enlighten you. He is a pirate off of the Japanese Anime "One Piece." It's actually a pretty cool cartoon (the English version isn't as good as the Japanese version, though). Anyway, this character has 3 very special swords and is fighting his way to become the World's Greatest Sword Fighter. Here's a picture to compare Josh to the picture from the cartoon. Ammon and I were up until 2 am finishing the swords and sheaths, and they look awesome!

Alauna is in love with everything Tinkerbell. So, of course she wanted to be Tinkerbell for Halloween. Her wings glow in the dark and light up, and her shoes light up when she walks in them. Here is a picture, even though I know most of you know what Tinkerbell looks like.

We have a lot planned for this Halloween week and weekend. We went to Story Time at the library this morning and they got to dress up. Then tomorrow, we are going Trick-or-Treating down old Magna Main Street. Then Saturday, we have Boo at the Zoo, Trunk-or-Treat at Habitat for Humanity, and then our church's Halloween Party. Then a dinner with some family on Sunday. Then on Monday (actual Halloween), we will be going to my mom's school to show off. And that night we will be joining Ammon's sister, Sue, and her girls to go Trick-or-Treating around their neighborhood. The kids will be so tired of going Trick-or-Treating by the end. Hopefully they will get a lot of candy that they will share with their mom and dad. ;)

What is Koda doing?

2011-08-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my neighbors were telling me that my dog has been trying to commit suicide lately. They said they think he is just so depressed and bored out of his mind. And I don't blame him. Once school started, we haven't been going on our runs like we used to. And it is so hot outside, that I am usually not out there unless it is dark.

So, I asked my neighbors what he was doing that they thought he was trying to kill himself. They said he just lays down in the middle of the road in hopes that a car will run him over. I didn't believe them, until I saw this one day. So I took a picture.

And now to explain. I had Petsmart cut his hair really short because I am usually the one who cuts it and I needed them to fix all the mistakes I had made. Plus, I really didn't want to have to give him a hair cut for a long time. So, he gets REALLY cold inside our house. It is usually in the 70's in our house, but he still freezes. So this is him, laying on the road because it is black and it is very hot from the sun. Therefore, he is not trying to kill himself.

Secondly, yes, he is wearing his "Cone of Shame." That's because he likes to play with the neighbor dog who is at least 3 times his size until the dog gets so annoyed, she bites him. She always bites him on the neck, and I have had to give first aid to over 4 of these really bad bites. And of course, I have to put his medical collar on or else he will just scratch it until he bleeds to death.

However, if you combine his cone of shame and horribly short hair cut (he looked like a naked mole rat), it does appear that he is trying to kill himself. "Get me out of my misery" is what he could be thinking. But he is a healthy and happy dog. So don't worry.

Our Summer

2011-08-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

We splurged and purchased another year pass to the Hogle Zoo. We live about 20 minutes away from it and I figured it would be a great addition to our Field Trip Fridays I have planned for Josh's Home School.

I usually take a picture of Josh standing by our front door on his first day of school (my mom did that with us kids by our front door of our house). But since he is doing Home School this year (maybe some more after) I decided to take a picture of him in front of his nifty new desk (we are still waiting for a computer for him).

This project has taken a while but is sure fun to do. Ammon is great with his hands and wood, so we decided to build a shed instead of move. It's a pretty big one (10x12) and takes up a bit of our yard. It has been hard work and we are thinking it may have been worth the extra $800 it would have cost to have Lowe's build it for us. There has been literally blood, sweat, and tears put in to this shed. I would show you a picture of my thumb, but this is a G-rated blog.

I fried the mother board of our computer that Ammon built, so we had to buy a new one. It isn't as good as the one Ammon built, but it will do. We kept the boxes and Alauna and Josh made Space Ships (or Pirate Ships - depending on the time of day you ask them). They have played in them quite a bit. Aren't boxes wonderful?

Josh celebrated his 6th birthday. We had a party the Saturday before. It was a pirate party, and we invited alot of his little friends and family. They had a blast! Then on his birthday, I made him a cake and he got to pick what he wanted to eat for dinner. He chose Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Bacon, Hot Chocolate with BIG marshmallows, and olives. Unfortunately he had the stomach flu that day so he didn't quite enjoy it as much as he would have. Poor kid.

Another picture from the zoo, but I don't have the patience to put it in the right order. Love the Zoo!

I just can't get over how cute my corn is. I planted them quite late, but I just wanted to see how green my thumb was. I have 4 cute little corn cobs growing on my very short corn plants. We will do much better next year once the shed is done and we have more than one garden box built. And I will start much earlier now that I know kind of what I am doing.

And these are my tomato plants. I think they are doing quite well for this being my first time. I haven't seen any tomato buds, but again, I planted them quite late.

And that's what we have been up to this summer! Hope you enjoyed reading and looking!

Half-Marathon #3!

2011-07-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post this since I posted about the other 2. This Half-Marathon took place down Provo Canyon and ended in Provo by the Tabernacle. It is my favorite out of all of them. It was so beautiful running down the canyon, looking at the waterfalls, listening to the foot-fall of the runners in such quiet and pristine beauty. Don't worry. After about mile 7 I stopped paying attention to all that and paid attention to the pain in my feet. I was privileged to run with Ammon's sister, Sue. She was a great running partner. She had a watch that told us how fast we were running each mile. Without her, I would have gotten a lot longer time. In the end, we finished together at 2 hours and 6 minutes. Our goal was 2 hours or less, but we did our best and I am happy with the time. We had a lot of fun, laughing, making fun of each other, and sweating together. Will enjoy those memories forever.

What the Marshall's Have Been Up To

2011-06-19T08:59:00.001-07:00

We have been working on some fun things for our back yard. We are making 4 garden boxes to plant Corn, Tomatoes, Peas, Carrots, Potatoes, and some Raspberry bushes. Soon I will add some pictures of the shed we are building as well. It's been fun working with Ammon and the kids outside.

This is a picture of Josh and his cousin Caiden at a park where we met with my dad and my brother Jayson and his family to celebrate Father's Day. They had so much fun together and got very dirty. Boys will be boys.

This is a shot of Alauna going down the "May-may slide". She called it that because it is pink and everything pink is considered May-may's.

This shot is of us enjoying the nice weather and swing at the park. I would have loved to have Josh in the picture, but he was too busy having fun with his cousin.

New Pic!

2011-02-28T15:16:00.001-08:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Alauna!

2011-01-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

Kids are FUN!

2011-01-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

So, Josh got a Nerf gun for Christmas (he calls it his "six-shooter" because he can shoot six bullets). Anyway, he loves shooting everything, and asks me all the time to take pictures of him posing with it. So here are a couple of my favorites. (Just in case you didn't guess, he is "dead" in one of them)

WOW!

2011-01-08T07:04:00.001-08:00

So, I usually use my blog as the place I go to link up with other people's blogs. I was astounded to see that I still had Halloween pictures up, and the background was Fall-ish. What is wrong with me? It's not that I don't have cute pictures I would like to share. I'm thinking I am just so put back by looking at all your blogs that I don't even try because of my lack of creativity. So.....my apologies for anyone just dieing to see our going-on's as the Marshall family. It will come soon.....maybe.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

Oregon Trip

2010-08-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

This is us at the Oregon Coast. We went to the 1st ever James H. Marshall, Sr. Family Reunion. It was in Hammond, OR (just South of Astoria). It was July 21-25. We had a blast. I seriously didn't want to come home. The high temperature was 65, and the low was 55. This is a picture of us after we combed the beach looking for seashells. It's called Shipwreck Beach because....well....look behind us.

This is a picture of the WHOLE family. 48 of us (all from Ammon's dad - even Grandma made it in the picture). There's only 1 missing, and that's because he is on a mission in Chile. It was VERY cold and VERY windy, and all the kids are crying, but we got a picture.

We did, in fact, "camp". See....a fire! Actually, we stayed in Kamping Kabins at a KOA. Showers, plumbing, ahhh.....that's what I call camping. Anyway, this is Ammon with Alauna and Josh sitting by the fire and chatting with family.

This area of Oregon was the area Ammon and I went on our Honeymoon. So we stopped at as many places as we could to relive the memories. This is a picture of us at Bigfoot's Pub and Grill. It is Bigfoot in the background (not a gorilla, like many are thinking). We ate at many of the restaurants we had visited, and walked the Seaside shops. Ahhh....how romantical. Well, Ammon and I thought it was. Josh and Alauna were bored to tears.

This is the best of all the pictures of us. But I just love the ocean in the background. I told Ammon if we ever moved here, this is where I want to be sent to "time out."

This last picture is one of my favorites. Yes, I know, there isn't anyone in it, but they were all going to the car and I wasn't done taking pictures. This is at the Stonehenge replica in Washington. I loved the shadows. Do you know what time it is?

Anyway, after this trip, Ammon and I decided the next time we take a long trip with a child less than 2 years old, we are going to fly. The trip to Oregon was supposed to take 14 hours. Instead, it took 19. The car just kept getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

It's hard to be THIS beautiful.

2010-06-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

I love her curly hair. I hope it stays forever (she will probably hate it).

Half-Marathon #2!

2010-05-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Josh and I after running my second half-marathon. The first one, I ran with a friend from my ward who was in much better shape than I was. I stayed with her half the race, but then ran out of "stuff" afterwards, so was quite miserable running it. This time, I didn't run with anyone, and paced myself. I had a lot of fun (despite falling at mile 4 and making my knee into a hamburger patty). I ended up getting almost the same finish time as I did the first time I ran, and I had more fun. Looking forward to doing it again. Maybe in September.....we'll see.

Happy Baby Girl!

2010-03-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I was experimenting with Alauna's short hair, and thought this was too cute to pass up. Love my baby girl!

Batman!

2010-03-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, while Dad was working, Josh, Alauna and I went to the Safe Kid's Fair (for free!) at the South Towne Expo Center. I wasn't expecting too much, but the advertisement said Batman would be there, so of course we had to go. We didn't learn too much about being safe, but we sure got a lot of cool (free) stuff. And, of course, Batman was a blast. We got his autograph, and as you can see, his picture. His costume was quite amazing. It was very realistic, like the one in the movies. Oh, and did I mention this was free? I love free stuff. We had fun, so that's what matters. (Alauna wasn't really sure what to think about the masked man in black, so she's hiding).This is a picture of Josh pretending to drive a firetruck. Maybe one day he will be a firefighter....

And this one is of Josh playing pilot in a helicopter. Again, maybe one day he will be a pilot....

Josh, the Photographer

2010-02-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

I gave Josh my old digital camera when I got my new one 2 Christmases ago. I finally loaded what he had taken pictures of because his card was full. I just finished looking at them, and I laughed so hard. It's amazing what one can learn from the eyes of a child. Here are some of my favorite pictures he took. Enjoy!

Alauna is 1!

2010-01-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

I sure can't believe Alauna is 1 already. I think we may have skipped a few months in there somewhere. She doesn't have any teeth yet, so people think she is younger than she really is. We had a fun party with family, cake, ice cream, and presents. Here she is in her tu-tu that Grandma Wadsworth made. So cute!

Halloween Fun

2009-11-07T06:54:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. We carved pumpkins, and then went to Josh's cousin's (Caiden) house in West Point to go Trick-or-Treating. (Usually, we would join Ammon's sister and her 3 girls, but they up and moved to California. Booo hooooooo :( ) Anyway, they had a blast. In case you can't figure it out, Caiden is Batman, Alauna is the Li'l Pumpkin, and Josh is Spiderman. I asked him if his real name was Peter Parker, and he said, "Yes, but don't tell anyone, because the bad guys would hurt my family."

My Review of Dri Nights Bedwetter Pants

2009-11-06T06:37:00.001-08:00

Originally submitted at One Step Ahead

More than 5 million kids struggle with bedwetting...isn't it time for an alternative to bulky, uncomfortable pull-ons (not to mention expensive disposables)? Our design team performed months of research to bring you these remarkably soft, leak-resistant cloth pants. Very slim, and more absorben...

Not all it's cracked up to be.

By MommyOf2 from Magna, UT on 11/6/2009

Gift: No

Pros: Easily Cleaned

Cons: Leaks

Best Uses: Toilet Training

Describe Yourself: Parent of Two or More Children

The description in the catalog said these were leakproof. I bought 6 hoping to save some money on disposables for my 4-year-old who is potty-trained during the day, but not at night. He is constantly waking up drenched because they leak. Also, I followed all the sizing guidelines and purchased 4T, but they are very small for him and even gave him a rash from chafing around his legs.

(legalese)

Newer Family Picture 2009

2009-10-29T19:33:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh....much better!

Family Picture 2009

2009-09-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

We may be taking a better one on a different day, but this one was okay.

Koda!

2009-08-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I think it has been long enough for me to not have introduced everyone to the newest member of our family. His name is Koda. He is a Cavachon (Cavalier St. Charles mixed with a Bichon Freeze). The first few weeks was a nightmare as I struggled to take care of two 5-month-olds (Koda was born February 7, 2009). Now, I can breathe easy and know things will be great with him. He was potty-trained when we got him, but the new surroundings seemed to have confused him a little bit. We have also had to "train" Josh with his new "brother." Not to leave fun toys on the floor or Koda will eat them, not to be a "bad guy" to Koda because he has feelings, too. Stuff like that. It has been hard, but is well worth it. Koda is a cuddler and just loves to please me by doing what I ask. He is friendly to all the dogs in the neighborhood. He doesn't like water, which is a little strange for a dog, I think. He loves to dig in my flower bed, so I moved his tie-out to the back yard. The next-door neighbors ask if they can take him on walks all the time. Ammon commented last night that he makes a VERY good foot warmer. He likes to look out our big window at the kids playing. You can tell a kid comes close to the window because you can hear the loud thud, thud, thud, thud of Koda's tail wagging and hitting the window. We love him, and are very glad he is a part of our family.

I Love My Cuties....

2009-07-16T16:00:00.001-07:00

Alauna May

2009-06-15T17:31:00.001-07:00

Cutest Baby EVER!

2009-06-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video I thought you all would enjoy. She is almost always smiling and laughing, so I thought I would share the joy.

Family

2009-06-07T05:15:00.001-07:00

We all just looked so nice one Sunday morning, so I thought it a good photo opportunity. Not the best picture, but oh well.

Wolverine....Grrrr!!!

2009-06-07T05:09:00.001-07:00

So, Josh has been on this Super Hero kick since he learned how to play our Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game on the computer. He wants to be a different Super Hero every day. This day, Ammon hooked him up with some Wolverine claws (ice cream spoons and masking tape) and he wore his wolverine PJ's to match. He loved it! He asks for his claws almost every day. I even hooked up one of his friends with some claws so they could play together (not sure if his mom liked that).

Alauna trying to talk and laugh.

2009-05-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

Sleep Time or Play Time?

2009-04-27T10:44:00.001-07:00

This is what she looks like when she is trying to sleep. Just soooo happy all the time.

Brother and Sister!

2009-04-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Just a cute picture that needed to be shared.

Diaper Loading 72% Complete

2009-04-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is a shirt Ammon found that fits Alauna perfectly. She seems to save everything she has to fill up one diaper to capacity. This picture shows her looking so innocent as she "does her doo-dee."

All Smiles!

2009-03-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

Does this picture really need an explanation?

"I just pooped on my mama!"

2009-03-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

So, she was fussy after I fed her, and after a while, I felt her diaper fill up. I waited a bit to make sure she was done, and she pooped a little more. Then I changed her and noticed the diaper filled up and some poop went up her back. So I undressed her so I could give her a bath and wrapped her in a blanket so she wouldn't get cold while I got everything ready. As I was almost to the bathroom, she pooped again. It was so much, it soaked through the blanket and onto my shirt and pants. Luckily, none got on the carpet. I just had to take a picture of her innocent looking face as she was so proud of what she had done.

It's a Girl!

2009-01-30T00:45:00.000-08:00

Stats: Alauna May Marshall Born January 25, 2009 8:48 am 7 lbs. 4.3 oz. 18 1/2 in. long

Story: At 11:30 pm on Saturday night, I first experienced labor contractions. We got all our stuff together, called my Visiting Teacher to come be with Josh, and rushed to the hospital (rushing because Josh was born 5 hours after the first labor contraction). We got there, and got hooked up, and after a bit of monitoring, the nurse told me she thought I was just dehydrated, and wanted to send me home. I drank 1 1/2 Litres of water, and my contractions started slowing down. The doctor told my nurse to observe me one more hour to see if they would stop. They didn't stop, and at 8:48 am (right after we watched Music and the Spoken Word with the MoTab), she came out after just one push.

Here's a picture of her at 4 days old. She looks a bit jaundiced, but otherwise my beautiful girl. Also, a picture of the proud big brother loving his little sister.

The Shiner!

2009-01-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

So, boys will be boys. I had to post this picture because it is pretty cool (at least, I think). Josh was so excited to go throw something in the garbage, he slipped on our kitchen floor and hit the corner of our kitchen table just below his eye. If it had been up a little more, we would probably would have had to pop his eye back in. Thank goodness that didn't happen. Anyway, he told everyone at church (no matter who they were) that he had a black eye. I think he is quite proud of it. So here he is in his spiffy new church outfit that matches his eye.

I am the HULK!

2009-01-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

Finger painting usually turns into body painting. Josh had fun painting himself as the Hulk. Grr......doesn't he look scary? Don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he is angry. ;)

Josh and Santa

2008-12-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

Josh sat on Santa's lap successfully this year. The last two years, I had to sit on Santa and Josh sat on my lap. He asked for a little talking train Gordon (Gordon from Thomas and Friends) and a little talking car Sarge (Sarge, from Pixar Cars movie). Maybe Santa will bring them for him this year (wink, wink).

My Little Snow Angel

2008-12-13T23:50:00.000-08:00

Josh and I had fun while Ammon shoveled the drive way. What a great time of year!

NKOTB Concert

2008-12-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, of course I went to the New Kids on the Block Concert! Who would pass up free tickets to them? (Ammon did offer to buy me some before I learned about free tickets, and although it was tempting, I figured I could live without spending $75 a ticket to see my first loves perform). Anyway, it was a great evening. I went with my sister-in-law Sue, and her two girls, Annie and Lucy. The seats were good, but the girls couldn't see, so we got moved to a place where some other kids were watching the concert. Then out of the blue, the NKOTB came and performed on a little pop-up stage right in front of us. Not only that, but David Archuleta was standing right next to us as well. I got his autograph on my arm (hey, I didn't have any paper with me). While at the concert, Ammon was so nice and watched Josh and Sue's other little girl, Ruby. As you can see from the picutre, they had a lot of fun. Nothing like a movie, PB & J, and some milk to entertain two toddlers.

Halloween!

2008-11-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

What a great holiday! I love Halloween, and I think I may have gone overboard this year. First, Josh and I went to "Boo at the Zoo." We have a membership to the zoo, so it was free. We spent two hours there and got a huge loot of candy. Josh had so much fun. Then, on Halloween, we went to "Grandma's School-Work" and went Trick-or-treating to some of the classes that have teachers who remember me. He loved going up and down the halls of the school and growling at all the big kids. They thought he was the cutest thing in the world. After, we joined Josh's cousin, Caiden, and his mom at Arctic Circle, had lunch, and went Trick-or-treating at a local supermarket. Then, that night, we joined Josh's other cousins, Lucy, Annie, and Ruby, and went Trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. Besides the occasional rain shower, we all had fun and go SO MUCH candy. Ammon and I have been lusting after Josh's candy bag, but we have set a time limit on when we can indulge ourselves without stealing from Josh (on November 31st, if there is any candy left, we will be partaking freely-with Josh's permission, of course).

Joshua Turns 3!

2008-08-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here is Josh in his new "Big Boy Bed." He loves it quite a bit. I had some anxiety giving it to him. I loved the idea of a crib that you couldn't get out of. But, he is such a good boy (or hasn't quite figured out that he can get out of it without my permission) that he still calls for me in the morning to "let him out."

100% Boy

2008-04-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

I found this shirt at Wal-mart. It says 30% boo-boo's, 15% dirt, 25% bumps, 30% bruises and cuts in a little pie chart. Then at the bottom it says 100% boy. As you can kind of see, this shirt is appropriate for him. He is sporting a huge bruise on his head, a cut on his left ring finger, and multiple bruises on his legs and feet. I couldn't resist it!

Half Marathon

2008-04-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 19th, I fulfilled my life-time goal of running a half-marathon. I ran it in 2 hrs and 7 min (that's less than a 10-minute mile, which was my goal). It was fun running with so many people. For the first half, we were running with the people doing a full marathon, but they eventually turned off and went another way. So, at one point, I was in a pack of 13,000 people. I am glad I did it, but I don't think I will be doing another one any time soon. I got the coolest blisters. Come over and see them sometime when you're bored. I'm kind of weird, but I don't think one can really believe that I did it, unless I have some battle wounds to show.

Elder Marshall

2008-04-06T22:55:00.001-07:00

We had the missionaries over for dinner a week ago, and ever since, Josh has been on a missionary kick. He wears Ammon's old missionary tag and runs around saying "Hi, Elder Marshall" and then shakes your hand. It's so darn cute. It adds a new perspective to the lyrics "I hope they call me on a mission, when I have a grown a foot or two" or three, or four, for that matter. Now he thinks everyone in a suit is a missionary and runs up to them and says, "Hi Mission!"

Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T00:30:00.002-08:00

My husband must love me. Look what he made me for Valentine's Day breakfast! Yummmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!

"Tiny" The Snowman

2008-02-15T00:25:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be fun for us, since Ammon took the day off, to go and build a snowman. Even being married for almost 7 years to Ammon, I had forgotten he likes to do things perfectly and, for lack of a better word, awesome-ly (is that even a word?). Anyway, 4 hours and sunburns later, we finished our snowman, we named "Tiny", since, as you can see from the picture, he really isn't. "Tiny" is sporting a carrot nose, bucket hat with a frisbee brim, bottle tops for eyes, crayon mouth, a tie, and a flower in his lapel (the black thing below his chin was supposed to be a goatee, but we took it off later). Not even 3 hours later, he had melted enough that he was leaning, but he still looked cute!

"Big" The Snowman

2008-02-13T02:30:00.000-08:00

This is the snowman Josh and I built. When I asked Josh what we should name it, he thought for a moment, and then said "Big." So, this is "Big", the snowman.

Pee-pee's in the Potty!

2008-02-13T01:56:00.000-08:00

Time to brag! After a couple of month's effort, Josh is now potty-trained. He caught on so fast (once we started using toy cars as rewards, and not just "fun" stickers). I am very proud of him. We have an accident here and there, but I can proudly say we did it! However, the money we save on diapers is getting put into buying toy cars (from the Disney Pixar movie "Cars). But, hey! It works!

Cheese!

2008-02-13T01:52:00.001-08:00

Whenever we take a picture of Josh, he always says "Cheese," but instead of smiling when he says it, he contorts his mouth into an awkward smile. I estimate that at least 75% of the pictures we have of him from the last few months all look like this one.

My 26th Birthday!

2008-02-13T01:36:00.000-08:00

We drove an hour to eat at my favorite restaurant (Melina's - in Farr West, UT). Mom and Neil, Grandma and Grandpa Ellis, and Jayson, Selina, and Caiden came to help celebrate. I love Melina's enchilada's so much that we had them pre-make a dozen of them for me so I could take them home and freeze them and eat them later. Yummmy!