Camping at Cherry Creek with our neighbors

We literally have the BEST neighbors/friends in the entire world.  We love spending time with them whether it be a backyard BBQ, a date night at Leatherbys, or playing games at the monthly game night.  This time we spent an entire weekend with them camping at Cherry Creek.  We all had so much fun riding 4-wheelers, playing games, and eating; the weekend went by too quickly.  The only downer to the entire weekend was the rain.  However, we simply all moved in to the back of our trailer and played card games until the wee hours of the morning.  (It's amazing what you can learn about people in such a close setting, but those secrets shall remain unsaid.)  

Alex trying out the motorcycle for the first time.  He preferred the "blueberry bomb" (the small, blue 4-wheeler)

Abbi is pretty fearless.  She feels pretty confident driving a 4-wheeler, especially since she passed the 4-wheeler test and got her "license"

Adam loved zooming up and down on the motorcycle.  He has begged us several times to get him one.

Alex on the Blueberry Bomb

The Aaron's

Abbi, Riley, Saydee, and Emalee at the pond

The lovebirds

"Take me for a ride, Daddy"

Alex's Preschool Graduation

Another milestone has come and gone.  Alex is an official preschool graduate!  He has had so much fun with Ms. Cindy at preschool.  They did so many cute and fun things!  I loved seeing him come through the door from preschool with a big smile on his face.  He always had so much fun and came home with the cutest worksheets and activities.  We will miss Ms. Cindy and preschool but now we move on to the "big" school.  Next stop, Kindergarten!

Random conversations with Alex

Last Sunday as I was getting Alex ready for church, he asks, "Mom, is today fast food day?"

Last night, I was tucking Alex into bed and our conversation went like this:

       Me: "Alex, you know what I could use?"

       Alex: "What?"

       Me:  "One of your great, big hugs; you give the best hugs."

       Alex:  (Big smile) "I think them in my head and they come out my arms."

I am one lucky lady!

Well, its official, I am (ahem) 33 years old.  My birthday (week) has come and gone and I am sad to see it go.  I must say that I love my birthday!  What other day can we have that is just about us?  Right?!

Let's see, the celebrations began with a birthday lunch with friends a couple days before my birthday.  We all met at Cafe Rio and had a great lunch talking and laughing - Awesome!

Then, on my day, I heard a little knock on my door.  I opened it and found my cute little neighbor girls standing there with a chocolate zinger, a candle, and a card.  They had come to sing "Happy Birthday" to me - totally made my day.  I had to take a picture of their cuteness.  Please pardon my morning hair/makeup and jammies.

After that, it was to the mall to go shopping with my mom and sister, Ali.  I found a very cute purse and matching wallet.  Love it!  I get so many compliments on it.  Then, later that evening, it was to Park City to spend 2 nights with Aaron at a condo.  It was a great get-away.  We shopped the outlet malls, saw a movie, ate out, and shared an apple-pie flavored caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  Thanks Ali for taking our kids!

So, you'd think "Wow!" That is one great birthday celebration!  But, it wasn't over yet, because Aaron had also planned a trip, just the two of us, to Las Vegas the following weekend.  We drove down Thursday and went to several shows over the weekend.  We saw "Phantom of the Opera" at the Venetian, "Lion King" at Mandalay Bay, and even went to "The Price is Right Live" at Bally's.  We had so much fun being together and the all three shows were absolutely amazing!  We even took a quick tour of the wax museum where we saw lots of "celebrities" and were able to get our pictures with them.  Too funny!  Although, we actually did see Donald Trump.  He was coming in to the Treasure Island Hotel as we were coming out.  Keith Urban was in Vegas too that weekend and I would have rather seen him, but maybe next time.

All in all, 33 was the best birthday ever!  Thanks Aaron for making me feel like a special princess! 

Hanging out with Will Smith

That's right, He is!

Yep, that's Tim MacGraw

Waiting to hear our names to "Come on Down"  - we're still waiting.

Salt Lake City Marathon (5K)

Call us crazy, but Aaron and I entered and finished our 2nd 5K.  We participated in the Salt Lake City Marathon 5K edition.  We had so much fun running with our friends Debbie and Shelly and Shelly's 2 daughters.  I say running with because we all started at the same time, but that was about the end of "running with" them.  We all had our own pace and finished at different times, but we were all there cheering each other on at the finish line.  It was a great day and a great accomplishment.  Although I still haven't met my goal of running the entire thing, I came a lot closer to it.  I only stopped and walked for 2 minutes and that was after running up a hill.  It was funny because as I was running down the hill I saw a lot of runners running up the same hill and I thought to myself, "Oh, that sucks that the marathon runners have to run up the hill."  Then I turned the corner and realized those "marathoners" were actually the 5K people.  "That sucks!"  But I kept running and made it all the way to the top.  After my short 2 min. walk, I made it back to the Gateway and crossed the finish line in 35 min. 47 secs.  Woohoo!  Here are the results for the race for Aaron and I:
NAME          TIME   PACE   AGE DIV  PLACE OVERALL      

Andrea Marshall 0:35:47 11:31  78/160     800/1574     

Aaron Marshall 0:33:15  10:42   42/66     621/1574   

I am so proud we did it.  Now I'm contemplating signing up for the race for the cure coming up on May 7th.  Who's in?

Freaky Friday

Tonight, Abbi and I were able to go on a "date" together for her Activity Days Mother/Daughter dinner.  The theme was "Freaky Friday" and we were supposed to dress up as each other.  Abbi was so excited about this because that meant that she got to wear fake nails.  As I was contemplating how I was going to dress us up, Aaron informed me that I already dress her like me.  I had to laugh because it is so true.  But, what can I say, she's my only daughter and looks just like me.

This afternoon, Abbi and I spent time getting ready.  I put the fake nails on her and painted her toes.  We went shopping and found me a ponytail extender so I could have long hair and we put on our green shirts so we could match.

At the dinner, they fed us some yummy sweet and sour chicken.  After dinner, we played games and had a nail painting party (hmmm, now they tell us).  One of the games was pretty funny.  It was a mother/daughter version of the Newlywed game.  The leaders asked the girls "What does your mom like to do in her spare time?"  Some of the answers were pretty humorous.  Watch TV, do the dishes, clean the house, and Abbi said, "Color."  Forget shopping, blogging, decorating the house.... Nope, I like to color.  We all got a good laugh.  Overall, it was a great night and I loved spending one-on-one time with Abbi - my little twin!

April Fools!

This is what a lot of our friends woke up to find in their yards this morning!  I had a good time last night, with the help of an accomplice who shall remain nameless, setting up for sale signs, for rent signs, and bank repo signs.  It was pretty funny!  

April Fools!

Lazy days of Lego Building

Today, Alex brought me his Legos he got for his birthday and asked me if I would help him build the semi truck, trailer, and helicopter.  So, we sat down, me in my jammies, Alex in his underwear and started building.  We first separated all the pieces into blues, whites, grays, etc.  Once that was done, we opened the manual and started building.  I was amazed at how well Alex could build Legos.  He built it all on his own.  I was just there to help him find the needed pieces.  What a great lazy morning!  

Here's to 13 wonderful years and eternity

13 years ago, Aaron and I went to the Salt Lake Temple to be married for time and all eternity.  Although I loved him then, it's hard to comprehend the love I feel for him now.  He truly is my best friend and the one I want to be with forever.

Since we will be camping on our actual anniversary, we celebrated our anniversary a week before.  Aaron took me to The Roof for dinner and let me pick out the movie we went to.  When we got to The Roof he had arranged to have a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me at our table.  Total surprise!  They were beautiful and even had some of the same flowers that were in my wedding bouquet.  We sat in the beautiful view of the temple while we ate and ate and ate.  Aaron even let me steal bites of his yummy dessert - something I am notorious for but he doesn't mind, I think.  When we were beyond full, we headed over to the movie theater to catch a movie.  It was a great evening!  I always love spending time with Aaron.  He is a great guy, husband, father, and friend.  I am so blessed to be his wife.  Here's to 13 years and an eternity with the one I love.

 Then (1998)

Now (2011)

Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex was one lucky 5 year old.  He got to spend his birthday in Disneyland.  He was so excited!  We got him a button that said "It's my birthday" and every employee at Disneyland would wish him Happy Birthday when they saw his button.  At first he couldn't figure out how they all knew it was his birthday, but he soon learned that it was because of his button.  We decorated the condo the night before his birthday so when he woke up, he was excited to see the birthday banner and balloons.  We also took him to RaceMakerz to build a remote control car.  This place was so super fun!  It is from the makers of Build-a-Bear and basically you get to go in, choose whatever car you want, pick out tires, rims, and any other accessories you want on your car.  Alex, Adam, and Abbi all had a blast building their cars and driving them all over downtown Disney.

I think Alex had a blast on his birthday!  What a lucky little boy getting to spend it in Disneyland with his family.

Building his awesome car with Daddy

Alex,

You are my little buddy and I love spending all day with you.  I am excited for you to go to Kindergarten this year although I will totally miss you during the day.  I love your little laugh and happy attitude.  You are such a little prankster right now.  You love to "trick" people and I love hearing you giggle when you know you actually "tricked" us.  Right now, you love riding your bike, building forts, playing with friends, watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and "Handy Manny" on TV, and eating In-n-Out hamburgers.  Thanks for being my little buddy!  Happy Birthday Alex!

Love,
Mom