The fun that keeps me from Blogging

Suprised not to see Obama and Palin ??!! I know! I have been awful at blogging! I almost decided to get rid of the blog cause it was another thing to feel guilty about "not doing", but the kiddos have provided some entertainment that needed to be shared with the few of you who have checked back! Thanks for keepin' the faith!

This is what happens when FM 100 is played in the car from October to January!!

Alyssa's Own Indoor Carnival Ride!!

Election 2008!!! Who will it be?!

Disneyland 2008

We're Back !!

Well, we survived our trip to Disneyland AND we had a blast !! This picture explains just how tired we are :

yes Alyssa actually fell asleep on top of our unpacked luggage!

When this is put away, I will update on our trip!

But in one sentence: We made memories for a lifetime!

So I know I haven't posted in a while. The reason...every time I get on the Internet I am searching Disneyland stuff for our "Doing our part to stimulate the economy trip." Well here is a little post that I created for the fam and thought it was too great to not share with the rest of the world! Enjoy! This only took me forever to create..I should have been cleaning my house!

By the way, what is it about me that feels my house must be spotless before I leave for a vacation..like clean the carpet, sort closets and have every stitch of laundry done?? Anyone else ever feel that way?! I STILL have yet to pack a thing!

Grandpa Dave is a "Wantabee Harley Man Biker"

Vice-Principal,Jewelry loving Grandma Debbie

Josh-Self-explanatory!

Me-the Disney loving fool

Byron and his new job attire

Natalie and her perfect hair

Dustin-The main reason he is coming on this trip is for the overnight stop in Vegas

Miss Krust and her flowing locks..though she just had a cut Ive yet to see so she maybe somewhat manly now :)

Hollie and her sophistication but yet she runs like a toddler when she gets to Disneyland

Livy-what more can I say

Alyssa-Hers is the best pic only because when you ask Alyssa to smile, she really smiles just like this( See her pic above).

Gracee and her little pony tails and rosy cheeks

Jaxon-the boy of the house-with his big smile and unruly hair.

The Next American Idol !!!

Here's a little ditty from 'Livy in the Hood' !! No, I did not teach her the words, she wrote them herself !! I especially love the ending note she hits. Enjoy!!

Note: Please press play and tip your head to the right. Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate the video!

The Osmonds

Last Saturday I went with my in-law gals and cousin Darin to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Osmonds! I didn't realize the Osmonds were so popular until watching an Oprah episode and learning a little about the family's history. The concert was NOT your ordinary choir concert! Though the MOTAB did sound great..the strobe lights, screaming and cheering, 70's dance moves and jumbotron large screen cartoon video clips in the conference center made for great entertainment!! The other fun was watching Ladies 50 and older totally freak (think 30 year olds and NKOTB :)) out when the Osmond boys came on stage! It was priceless!! I wish my mom had been there! Im not sure I will be able to watch conference again without thinking about the rockin concert ;) !! I have been converted to fanhood for the fabulously cute Donny Osmond (Though he could be my Dad)! The energy in the room was amazing,they gave a wonderful tribute to their parents and we had a total blast !! Here is some video of the actual concert I recorded off my TV ! Enjoy! Thanks Coleen for the tickets!

A Friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway!!!

Its amazing how this :


grew up to this :


and produced this (minus little Liliann and Tess):


and this (Thanks to Liseanne and her Home Depot Basement!)




Thanks Girls for being in my life and for the memories we have all made together!
It's not very often one finds and keeps wonderful friends who have known you all your life from being young, fun, dumb to becoming young adults with families of our own, careers, wonderful experiences and challenges of our own! Thanks for being there through the journey and for the lessons each of you have taught me! Seriously...You Girls Rock!!!!

I can't wait till we are still meeting for lunch at Red Robin when we are 80!

Lyman Family Reunion 2008 Rockin R Ranch

This past week we have been at the Rockin R Ranch in Antimony, Utah for the Lyman Family Reunion. We had a good time riding horses (not me!), playing games, great conversation and beautiful scenery. The little girls had a blast playing with cousins, getting dirty, riding and petting the animals, and running from dawn till dusk! Josh had a great time going on trail rides, riding in the family rodeo and getting bucked of a calf after 2 seconds (poor calf!). I had a great time catching up with the family (Josh's Dad has 10 kids in the family!) getting baby hungry while holding cute little CJ, taking pictures ( I looked at my pics and the only ones of me are livy taking some of my backside while I was getting ready, yes I was clothed!) and chasing the kiddies around. It was fun to see everyone again and we had a great time!

Here are a few pics from my camera!

Also, Here is a link to see Ross the Intern at the Rockin R Ranch!! Way funny!http://www.rockinrranch.com/tonight_show.php

The View (Finally) in Vegas !!!

Finally I have downloaded my pictures from ALL my memory cards and can blog some of the happenings from this summer (I hate big SD cards! I always leave pics on them for too long!) !!

First up...The View in Vegas! We had a blast!! We left good old Utah and after MANY stops made it to Vegas about 8 PM. We checked into the Planet Hollywood Hotel and were extremely excited to be upgraded to a panoramic Rocky Balboa Suite! This totally made the trip! There were two wings with bedrooms, 2 huge sofas, 2 sitting areas, 3 huge flat screen tvs, and two deep soaker tubs and the wonderful bidet! Us country folk Marshalls had never seen or used one, so it was one of the highlights of the trip! :)

The View was Fantastic!! The Ladies were great to see in real life and it was awesome to see behind the scenes of the taping. We saw Jessica Simpson (great), Cirque de Soleil (weird, but entertaining) and Rita Rudner (Funny!). It was a good time, but no free stuff :( ! Boo! Oh well, we had a great time!

We also shopped on the strip and at the outlet stores FOREVER!! We saw the nightlife, met Napoleon Dynamite, and watched the Bellagio Fountains, which I had never seen and totally loved! A shout out to the girls for watching them with me for an hour! (HAHA!! Just one more time!)

We had an awesome trip and the best part: The Marshall Girl Bonding Time!! Thanks gals for making it GREAT!!!!!

The View

Planet Hollywood Suite

The Vegas Life

Just for Hollie !!!

Here is a little tidbit just for you Hollie, to add to your excitement! I knew you would enjoy!!





http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/calendar/specialEvents/detail?name=HalloweenTimeSpecialEventPage
( view the podcast !)

My Chicken Helper Smells Like What ??!

Hopefully I will get to our trip to The View later this week, but the short version...IT WAS A BLAST!!!!
I did want to update with a something funny Livy said yesterday. I'm am by no means the world's best chef..in fact, in our house, we enjoy an nice meal of hamburger helper every now and then (more now than then..haha). Yesterday I fixed this lovely chicken helper with some soft tortillas to put the chicken mix in. We were eating and Livy said " Sissy is stinky! Change her mom!" I said "She can't be. I just changed her." I gave Alyssa the formal mother sniff and she smelled fine. We ate for a minute longer then Livy said " Never mind, its just this dinner," pointing to my chicken helper! Sad!!

The Bumper That Never Died !!! (Long Post But Extremely FUNNY..READ!!!)

As anyone who has passed Dave and Deb's house, you know that are a gratuitous amount of cars in their driveway and its hard to back out of without watching closely to make sure you don't hit anyone. Our poor toyota has been hit 4 TIMES: by Mom (2x), Hollie and Krista. Whenever someone would leave the house I would yell " Don't hit my car!" I can't yell that anymore as two months ago I backed into Krista's bumper as we were leaving the house. It was quite comical. $350.00 later our new friend Walt from Dentpro finally fixed the car this week.

Before (This is a photo- After
shopped version as we
didn't take a pic of
the dent but pretty
close resemblence!)


I called Krista to see if the car looked ok, as I had not seen the fixed result, and this is our conversation :
Krista: Ya, it looked great, but I was on the freeway and my bumper totally fell off!

Me: What??!! How?! What Happened?!

Krista: I was driving , the bumper fell off in the middle of the freeway and I had to get out and pick it up!

Me: Seriously! Did you run out in the freeway? Were you ok? Did the bumper make it? Great! 350.00 later and Dentpro sucks! I totally just paid Walt over the phone!!!

Krista (Busts up laughing loudly with Dustin and his girl-laugh in the backgroud :) ) : Just kidding!! Its ok!! Dustin wanted me to totally tell you that the bumper fell of on the freeway.

Me(relief and comical anger): You guys suck! Tell Dustin I will totally get him back..bigger and better!
End of phone call!

Now the opportunity to get back Krista and Dustin presents itself on a highway overpass. Natalie, Olivia and I are in the car (byron and grandpa dave have all the little kids) and I see an abandoned bumper just laying on the side of the road. I say to Nat jokingly, "Wouldn't be funny if we picked up that abandoned bumper and left it on Krista and Dustin's doorstep as my payback ?!" Then the wish becomes a reality! We call Cop Josh to see if its ok to take stuff left on the road (he as been out of town all week for training) and he said he doesn't think its a problem. Nat and I flip around, stop the car, and shove (almost folded in half) the plastic bumper in her trunk. We run back to my mom's house to get the camera out of my car to capture our triumph. We head to Krista's (we know they are gone) and leave the lovely bumper on their door step with the following message:

Then, we kindly asked her curious neighbors to take a picture of the bumper and us! It was classic! I believe if anyone asks Dustin who won the bumper war, he would say me!!!

See Krista's blog for her take on the story !

My Great Hubby

In honor of our 9th anniversary (June 18th) and Father's Day, here are 9 random things I love about Josh for 9 great years (technically I'm not copying your post Krust, cause its not ten things:)! )

1. I love that you love your Girls (Livy, Alyssa and me)
2. I love that you are a hard worker, love your job and are a wonderful
provider (even if you do randomly remind family members their plates are expired, HA HA).
3. I love that you are willing to ride Disneyland rides and enjoy every minute of it as much as I do.
4. I love that you love scuba diving and are willing to sell the junk in our house on ebay to fund your "hobby" ! :)
5. I love that you watch 'Friends' every night and laugh just as hard as the
first time you saw them even though its the 50th time!!
6. I love that you love my family and will put up with the craziness called
THE MARSHALLS !
7. I love that you will eat anything I cook and not make fun of me for how
gross it really tastes.
8. I love that you hold the priesthood and honor it.
9. I love that you chose me to marry 9 years ago!

Love ya and Miss ya Babe!!

Note: I totally tried to change the time zone on my blog so this would post on June 18th , the day our anniversary, but it changed a bunch of other stuff too so its posting the 19th.
Sorry Babe! Late night!

THE VIEW IN VEGAS BABY !!!!

One of my favorite shows to watch is The View. Everyday I DVR it and watch it during "mommy time" while the girls take a nap. I've said that if I ever get to New York, I am going to see The View. Well, they are coming to Las Vegas in two weeks and I just randomly put in for tickets and .... I GOT FOUR!! My Mom (also a View fan) and sisters are making a SUPER QUICK (like 1 1/2 days) trip to see them and coming right back! Josh has so lovingly taken off a few days from work to watch the kids. I told him he can use this as my anniversary present :) Thanks honey!!! I can't wait!!!

The Fam!

Seriously, I was way bored and did not want to type up a post. Instead, I updated my blog background and found this cute little pic! Make your own and enjoy!

Happy Birthday Byron! Can't wait to play your (or it is Nat's) new wii!

Tag!

Here a tag from My sis-in-law Alyson- Im just finally getting to it!!

A) Four places I go over and over...
1. Walmart (Sad, I know!)
2. My Mom's house and Krista's Preschool (My car just drives straight there. One time Livy had to remind me I missed the turn for "Miss Krista's House" cause I was so out of it!)
3. The Library!
4. Chasing my kids down the sidewalk in front of our condo while they try to escape!! ( I want a house!)

B) Four people who e-mail ME the most:
1. Coleen
2. Natalie (ebay postings she find humorous!)
3. Disney Shopping.com (Buy one thing, they stalk me for life!)
4. Weber State Server (They want me to empty my in-box, 99% of which are from them!)

C) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Cafe Rio Fire Grilled Steak Salad!
2. Natalie and Byron's Chili
3. Diet Pepsi ( Does that count as food?!)
4. Anyone's cooking but my own!

D) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. The Library! (Its so peaceful!! No kids!)
2. Sleeping
3. Watching Ugly Betty Season Finale (Still on my DVR)

4. Disneyland ( 140 Days!)


E) Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea
2. Bridget Jones Diary: (Every time it comes on TV, I crack up!)
3. Friends: (Not really a movie, but Josh and I love to watch them over and over! Can't wait till we're 80 and still watching them!)
4. Beaches: I bawl EVERY time! (No, its not my fav because I look like Bette Midler, Natalie!!!)

F) Four people I am Tagging:
1. Kerri
2. Liseanne
3. Krista
4. Natalie

A Streaker in the Making!!!

Ever since Alyssa was able to figure out how her fingers work, she LOVES to take her clothes and diaper off and get naked!!! The last few weeks have been especially bad!! At least 3 times a day (mornings, naptime, lunchtime, anytime!) she is streaking down the hall naked!! Well, today being the Sabbath and all (you may know where this is going!), we went to church. Josh had to work today and I am in the nursery with the girls. I'm blowing bubbles with the other kids and next thing I know there's Alyssa and NO DRESS ON!! She has a huge "be proud of me Mom" smile on her face and is streaking around the room !!! The tights stopped her from get the diaper off, Thanks Heavens!! I can't believe how fast she can undress. There must be a record for her to break! Today we learned about hands, so maybe she just had to add her thoughts to the lesson on how to use her hands!! We love our little streaker!!

# 1 I BLOGGED!!!

It's a Miracle!! Yes, I have updated my blog!! After being repeatedly harassed and cyber-blogged by my sisters, I was time to do the deed! I have been meaning to update, but all of your lives are so much more interesting that I would sit to post and read everyone's blogs and an hour would pass!! Seriously, could you all be a little more boring?! Anyways, I uber-blogged and gave you ten little things that have happened since I have last posted. Enjoy, cause this may not happen again till the year 2010!! Love all you fellow blogger!! :)

# 2 The BINKIE WENT BYE –BYE!! Or the week from H*&L!!!”

Im the first to admit that BEFORE I had children, I was a person who passed judgement on others whose kids still had binkies after about 1 or 1 1/2, I now know why mothers let their screaming children keep a plug, its called SANITY!!! My child, Olivia, had the binkie up until about two months ago. Yes , you are adding the age correctly: she was three!! The binkie was a divine gift from above and I never would have made it through the last 3 years if it werent for that beautiful, wonderful, remarkable little piece of plastic. But, alas the peer pressure from society crept up and next came the task of taking away my little babys comfort item (if someone took away my Coke, I would cry too)! We got Olivia down to only using the binkie at naps and nighttime, so far she was doing ok!! Then we took her to Build-a-Bear, let her pick an animal and put the binkie inside! She had fun ($50 flippin bucks later!), but she definitely did not realized what was about to come!! It was late that night on the way home when all hell broke loose!! Look below to see the pics! It took about a week of knock-down, drag-out crying and whining at night, but the deed is done and I'm proud of my little girl !!

Build-a-Bear Girl and Livy putting her Binkie in her kitty! Bye-Bye Binkie!!! (What you cant see is me crying behind the camera! HAHA!!)

Livy and "Babycakes"


Livy and the drive home! She didnt like Babycakes so much anymore (or MOM and DAD)!!