So Big

Sean is missing his kids and has requested an update, so this is for our favorite Daddy. June is my big girl, and tells me so all the time. She likes me to list off all of her friends, to tell me who is a boy and who is a girl, and to sing "speckled frogs" with her. We are working on learning all of the ABC's, and she is very good at counting. Mostly she likes helping me take care of Jack.

You may think hell has frozen over Sean, but yes that is me sitting behind a sewing machine. We visited Grandma Moulton one day and she helped me learn how. I suppose now I have no excuse to not use my own sewing machine that I have had for several years now.

My Jack is learning new tricks left and right. He claps, waves (sometimes), crawls, and pulls himself up to things whenever possible. I feel like he too is turning into a big kid - my sweet baby boy is growing up. He is the cutest boy in the world and I love him absolutely to pieces.

Come Fly With Me

The Past week has been a busy one for the Marshall's. Usually we are pretty laid back, but last week was very eventful. To start off, my dear brother Stuart brought his girlfriend Kathryn home to meet us. She was so sweet and I very much enjoyed being around her. Hopefully we will be seeing lots more of her in the future! Saturday morning my in-laws came and picked me and my kids up and we started on our journey down to visit Sean. We drove to SLC, and from there we flew to El Paso, TX. Upon arrival we rented a van and drove 3 hours north up to Artesia, NM. It was a huge travel day - especially for my little ones, but they were troopers and were exceptionally good. June loved the airplane ride, and told me we were flying just like Peter Pan. Last month I made this trip all by myself with Jack in arms. I was so grateful to have my in-laws to help me along the way this time. Sean was thrilled that we made it, and we were happy to see him again too. We stayed at a hotel in town and got to go swimming. It was my Jack's first time in the pool, and he absolutely loved it!

June just couldn't get enough of her Daddy. It had been 12 long weeks since they had seen each other, and it was so cute to watch them together. Usually she wants me to do everything for her, but once she was with Sean only he could help her.

On Sunday we had a little Super Bowl Party in the hotel room after church. It was fun, even though Peyton Manning lost.

On Monday Sean had to work all day, so we drove up to Roswell for a visit. Kim and Julie found out about a free Zoo, so we took the kids there. There was also a playground just outside the zoo, and June loved running around on it.

Tuesday was Sean's graduation day. I had never seen him in his uniform before, and I must admit - I like a man in a uniform! Jack was a bit of a pill during the ceremony, but we made it through.

There were 27 of them that graduated out of the 43 that started. I am so proud of Sean for accomplishing this goal.

Kim got to pin Sean's badge on him because he also works in law enforcement, which I thought was very nice.

After the ceremony was over we got to go down and take pictures. It was a great day, and now Sean is officially a Border Patrol Agent. He has to stay at the academy for another 8 weeks to learn Spanish, so sadly we had to leave him in Artesia. I'm sure April will come quickly and then we will get to be a normal family again. Until then the kids and I are happy living with grandma, grandpa, and Rose.

January

I thought January would be the month that would drag by for me, but surprisingly it has gone by quickly. I visited Sean over the New Year holiday and got back on the 3rd, and since then I have just been with my kids. I am proud to report that June is potty trained!!! I am tickeled pink that she has it down now, and that I don't have to buy diapers for two kids. June continues to be my joy each day - yes she has her two year old moments, but she is so much fun to be around that I tend to forget about the rough spots.

Here are some of the highlights from our month. Here is June in her new Dora jammies (the fabulous wand came with them), she loves them and would wear them all day if I let her. Here she is the morning after lathering her hair up with the bum cream. I seriously washed it out (or so I thought) the night before, but this is what I woke up to. It took 5 long days and multiple tubs before her beautiful hair went back to normal. Two year olds are FUN.

In other news, my brother Preston turned 20. He is serving his mission in Brazil, but I made a cake for him anyways.

And here is my baby Jack up on all fours. He is so dang close to crawling. He gets up and starts rocking, but no forward motion just yet. I know it won't be too long before he takes off. He is as sweet as ever and he melts my heart with those big blue eyes.

Winter Fun

While at the cabin we got to play out in the snow. There wasn't a ton of snow, but enough to go sledding and have some fun in. This is Sydney, Max, June, and Rose waiting for their turn on the sled. June had a good time being pulled in the sled, and going down the hill.

My brother Stuart and I went cross country skiing.

My cousin Kari invited us out to be pulled behind his horses on a sled. It was a beautiful clear day in Teton Valley, and it was so much fun.

The view was spectacular as well!

Christmas 2009 at the Cabin

For Christmas this year we combined with the James Rammell family and stayed at a cabin up in Island Park. There were 22 of us in total, and we had a wonderful time celebrating together. You can just see the excitement on Junes face! She really enjoyed Christmas this year, and it was fun for me to watch her and experience the season from a two year olds point of view. There was a hot tub there, so June got to go swimming with some of her cousins. She loved it and wishes we had a pool all year round.

The kids acted out the nativity, and June was a wiseman - although she wanted to be a horse like at the Marshall party.

Santa did indeed fing us and brought lots of presents for everybody. June loved her Cinderella doll the most, and Jack really didn't care what he got - he was just happy to be part of the action.

He was a good sport the whole time. I just love this boy!!

Marshall Holiday

Since we were going to be out of town over Christmas, the Marshall side of the family celebrated a couple days early. Santa even found time to come over and visit. June was scared of him, but all of the other kids (and some big kids too) had fun sitting on his lap and telling him what they wanted for Christmas. This is just a glimpse of the madness that ensued when the kids were able to open their presents. It was great to watch!

Here the grand kids are trying to be nice so grandpa Marshall can tell them something important. There are getting to be so many of them now - my Jack is #15, and sixteen is coming in May.

The kids, with lots of help from Aunt Amber, put on the Nativity. It was very sweet, and Jack got to be the star of the show - Baby Jesus. June got to choose what she wanted to be, and when I asked her she told me she wanted to be a horse. Her costume consisted of a brown towel and a Davey Crockett coon hat!

The shepherds and their noble steed.

It was a great party. The Marshall's are a fun group to be a part of, and we are very blessed to call them family.

50

Yesterday my dad celebrated his 50th birthday. He is one of the finest men I know, and I love him dearly. Here he is as a baby, a five year old, in the 2nd grade, and as a senior in high school.