Update...

Birthday Boy, the big 01!  June 19

Birthday Cupcakes taste the best.

Dork #3 (He's all Daddy...)

Cornrows only took me 45 mins to braid.  Awesome!

Birthday Party!  Taylor is now 6 years old.  May 6th

Best Buddies.

Spring Break

Hello Fall!

The seasons go by so fast. It's Fall, which means school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and that Walmart has had all their Christmas stuff out for weeks. So amazing...

Taylor started Kindergarten! She of course was so excited and eager to learn and make new friends. Here she is on the first day of school in her new school clothes and backpack, her hair and nails done perfectly. What a girl. :)



Brothers are best buds for life. And that means that Mom gets to dress them alike for as long as they let her...

Logan turned 3! He is still stuck in his terrible 2 stage though...when does that end?

He didn't escape the birthday spankens! Mommy and Taylor even got to give him a few...

We were able to bless Austin (FINALLY!) this past Sunday. He was so cute all in white and he's such a good mellow baby that other than changing a stinky diaper 2 minutes before sacrament meeting, we had no problems.

What a blessing he is. So happy and pleasant all the time. I love him so much!

We picked out a perfect pumpkin from Winco's and were able to carve it together. The kids scooped out all the guts and watched mommy weild the knife. We decided on a scary one this year, and a nice funny one next year. So fun making memories!

Summer Thus Far...

My only excuse is: things got really crazy and went down hill after Taylor's birthday. I have every right (in my own mind) to be really behind this time :)

Okay, let's start in chronological order. Taylor played t-ball on post and had tons of fun. Being Washington, it rained just about every time we were there, but it didn't deter her in any way. But I will think twice next time I am 8 months pregnant and chasing around a two year old boy...

Taylor lost her very first tooth!!!!! It was actually a pretty funny story. I am such a horrible mother. She had been telling me for a couple of days that her tooth hurt. Of course, I just wrote it off as a dramatic 5 year old girl thing. But finally she bugged me enough, I sat down and looked at it. And my jaw dropped. The poor girl had a tooth growing in behind her other tooth, very crooked and sharp. Well, let's just say that her tooth needed to come out ASAP and this experience was quite tramatic for her and she really doesn't want another loose tooth EVER.

Baby Austin is born!!! July 19th, just two days past his due date this time! YAY! He was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long. All arms and legs and skinny as a toothpick, but he is still cute to his mama:)

Labor and delivery went really well and we sure couldn't wait to get outta that hospital and home and back into routine.

The kids were sure excited about their new baby brother. They are both so gentle with him (yes, Logan, I know!) and are very helpful.

My parents came and took the kids home with them. (My sister Tressa had been here helping while I was pregnant and my mom stayed to help with the baby) It was SO nice to have a quiet, clean house just to ourselves. We sure enjoyed taking care of just baby Austin for a little while.







Before they left, we took everyone to the beach at the Sound. It was a gorgeous day and the tide was out, so there was lots of sand and critters to enjoy and explore.

We sure enjoyed containing Logan by burying him in the sand...

Gramma and Grampa Marshall enjoying their newest grandson...




Ty had a two week block leave for the first half of July. So we went to Idaho and had a blast.

The whole fam damily was there, so of course we had to take new and updated family pictures, since we had 2 new additions since Christmas (Joey's Morgan and of course baby Austin).

All the grandkids together. This was a fleeting moment, lemme tell ya.

We just keep growing and growing! Pretty soon we'll just have to photo shop and be satisfied..

Camping trip to Independence Lakes. The ones that were able rode horses up to the 2nd lake before the snow made them turn back, then we all met at the trail head that night for hotdogs and smores. Then the women and kids went home while the men and Morgan slept under the stars. Sad I couldn't be with them :(

Like father like son...

My parents dog had puppies just before we got there. Nine puppies. 9!!!! So the kids had a blast playing with all of them.

It was very sad to leave and have to come home. But we were relieved to be able to walk in the door and get things back to normal. Oh, but wait. When are things ever normal?!?!?!?

We hadn't even gotten all the luggage inside before Logan had to go and get himself sent to the emergency room. Again. He fell and split his chin open and yes, it went all the way through. But it was a nice clean cut and has since healed up nicely. And he has another scar on his face. I guess it just adds to his rugged good looks. Now he looks like Harrison Ford. What a crazy kid!

So far, our summer has been great. But things are going to settle down and there won't be much to report on for awhile. Ty goes to Georgia for the next month for mortar leader training and by the time he gets back, summer will be over! So, we'll check in sometime in the Fall.... Til then, love and miss you all!

TAYLOR IS 5!!!

Taylor had her 5th birthday Friday. 5! She can go to kindergarten in the fall! Wowzers. Here are some pics from the festivities.

Easter!

This Easter was pretty low key. We celebrated at home and enjoyed the wonderful sunny and warm weather. What a great day to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior!


We sent the kids out to the backyard Saturday for an Easter Egg hunt. They had a blast.

Here they are with their treasures.

This is Sunday morning after the Easter Bunny visited. Taylor was so excited she woke up just before 6 am. We sent her back to bed :)

Here is Logan in his handsome Easter suit from Gramma Marshall. He looked like a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone, good enough to eat! He was the handsomest man at church. :)

Here is Taylor looking beautiful in her Easter dress and her hair all dolled up in ringlets. She just loves to dress up all girly, and I enjoy it as well, since she will be the only girl for awhile!

Awww, aren't they so cute? Best siblings 4life. :)

Being in primary helps me focus on the importance of my kids learning the true meaning of holidays. I had sharing time yesterday, and I can assure you that if your kids went to primary yesterday, they learned all about Jesus and the reason we celebrate Easter. What a blessing!

Duty Calls..

Tyler has been doing ALOT of training lately. Luckily they took time out of one of their busy days to stop and take some pictures.



This is the company leadership. One captain, four lieutenants. As you can tell, Ty thinks he's some pretty hot stuff... :)

This is a pic of the same leadership, but included are all the right hand men. The sargeants, whom without, the entire Army would fall apart.

Here is a picture of Ty's platoon. He is in charge of all these men. He is in the far left of the pic.

Well, hope this was educational for you all, and that you liked this very small glimpse into what it's like to be in Tyler's shoes.