Cute Moments from March

Can you tell I am around Ren the most? The other kids are always gone to school or other activities, but Ren is always around for a little camera time. And he likes (for the most part) to pose. He is a beautiful subject.

Ren looks so good in green. I think the majority of his clothes have been green his whole life.

Here is Ren in another green shirt, that looks like its been through the ringer! But he loves it cause it has a dinosaur on it. Oh boy, time to clean out the book shelves, right? Anything he can reach gets pulled out often.

Ok, this picture isn't 'cute'. But it is pretty. These are my spoils from the farmers market that meets in my area every Friday. I love going there. I even get my honey there. The taste of the honey reminds me of the stuff we had growing up, that Grandpa hived...that's not the right word, maybe just collected from his beehives? Anyway, good stuff.

This is Ren and his little friend, Claire. They are playing barbies. Ren actually does love the pink barbie car.



I love these photos. About once or twice a week, Rusty and I get visitors in the night. (Hey, this is a major improvement from the past of nightly visitors!) MJ and Ren come in and sneak in bed with us, and we are asleep so don't even notice until the next morning when we are sweating and squished from their warm bodies. I had to snap these when I woke one morning and they were so pretty sleeping soundly.

Watch the video with a little laugh. Chloe taught Ren to do this and just couldn't resist posting it.

Concert Time.

Porter had a band concert last week. It was an area concert so all the school bands from around were there. All elementary 5th grade band students, the 2 middle school bands (which Porter was a part) and the high school band. It was a good show. Porter's band did really well. He also had a small solo in one song. He never mentioned it before so after the concert I asked him why he didn't tell me that he had a solo. He said he didn't know. And he explained it wasn't so much of a solo, just the other trumpeters couldn't play the part, so he had to do it alone. He never practices trumpet. The music was all new to me. But I guess his piano practice helps him out.? Anyway, I was a bit sad after the concert. It made me realize how much I don't know about him. During the other performances I could see him laughing and talking with his friends and I just felt so much love for him. I wish he would talk to me more. It isn't that he is quiet necessarily, cause when he wants he talks plenty. Just doesn't tell me stuff. I shouldn't compare, but Chloe tells me stuff all the time. When anything happens she comes home and can't wait to spill whatever is on her mind. Anyway, he isn't like that. I love him anyway. He is such a great kid.

Doesn't he look so handsome in his suit?

At the end of the concert, the high school drum line played. They were quite good! Ren was very jazzed about them. As we were walking to the car, he said when he is bigger he wants to play drums. (I thought it was funny that he knew he had to be bigger.) He then said 'Mom, like this' and proceeded to show me how he would do it by beating his hands on his legs like drumsticks. It was very cute. I used to want to play the drums too. But I played the flute. I liked that a lot too.
I was in the band in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. I also took private lessons from my band teacher. I was first chair. ;) I liked band a lot. I sat by one of my best girlfriends, Trisha Downs. I also sang in choir in junior high. So, I never took any of those 'required' health classes cause I got an excuse or something so I could do both music classes. Those were fun years. Very fun. :)

The Happiest Place on Earth!

After many years away, we took the kids to Disneyland. Many thanks to Disney's Give a Day - Get a Day program. (We made blankets for the Linus foundation.) We used our day credit towards year passes. So, this year, you'll see many photos of this special place, I'm sure. We are very excited! We had such a fun day. It was even more fun knowing we didn't have to cram everything we possibly could into a single day.


Since our family is a variety of ages/heights, we had to divide and conquer sometimes. So, I took Ren and MJ up Tarzan's treehouse, while Rusty took the older kids on Indiana Jones. I don't think Ren has ever seen Tarzan. We gotta pull that one out of the 'archives'.




Our Marsh cousins have passes and came for part of the day to hang out and ride a few rides. I took Alex and Ren on Dumbo. Ren was pretty clueless, but it was obvious that Alex had ridden many times, as he knew just what to do with the handle thing to go up and down.


Another case of divide and conquer, Nat and I took the smaller kids on the train, while Rusty, Porter and Chloe headed over to California Adventure to go on Tower of Terror. *MJ has been talking about going on that ride for a month now, but first, she is too small, and second, she chickened out. And I am so glad!


Here we are waiting to go on the Toy Story ride. It was hilarious listening to the kids compare their scores after the ride was over. MJ was so excited that she got 4600 points. Ava got a lot more than her...I can't remember the number. I didn't tell MJ that Ren got 4900 points. She may have been disappointed. :)

Fast forward one week. Fridays are like free days around here. No one has too do much of anything once school lets out! No piano practice, no homework, no cleaning. (Assuming your room is already clean, if not, it has to be done or no friends.) So, Chloe begged me to take her and her friends to Disneyland. (Lots of them of have passes.) I didn't really want to go, cause it was cold. But, she pretty much guilted me into it. I am so glad! We had such a good time. It ended up to be just Chloe, her friend Sarah and me. So, I asked Ellie to come so I'd have a partner on the rides. We ran around like little girls all night. We went on as many rides as we could! I am so glad we have that fun memory.

We went on the Tea Cups and It's a Small World. We even waited way too long (about 30 minutes for Alice in Wonderland. I've never actually been on that one, the lines are always long for it. Why? Couldn't tell you, pretty mediocre ride if you ask me. :)

All the girls had to pose at these silly little things. What are they constructions workers? I'm just not sure?

The girls couldn't resist this cute Arial's Carousel. We 'surfed' on the backs of fish and other water wildlife.



This was just as we are were about to leave. I think this is a candy shop along Main Street. As you can see, I was a little overboard and wore by puffy coat. I really did not want to be cold! In fact, I got a little too warm from running around so much.

OK, this shot was California Screamin' and was taken by there cameras and I took a photo of that photo. So, quality, not soo hot. But, you get the idea. Chloe and I are sceaming our heads off. Sarah has been on this ride many times and actually poses for the camera as we squeal around a corner at 50 miles an hour! (I don't know how fast. It felt super fast!) And Ellie is trying to shut out the ride by closing her eyes and thinking happy thoughts. You can see me holding her hand there...That is my new favorite ride! Sooo Fun!

What can I say about Splash Mountain...always a hit. We saved this ride for last since we knew we'd get wet. It turned out to be a good plan since no one but us (nearly) was still at the park at 11:30 at night. We went on it 3 times in a row, taking turns who would sit in front. In this photo Chloe is up front bracing herself, Ellie has finally loosened up behind her, Sarah tried to save her hair from getting wet in her hood and I was screaming with my arms in the air. Again, so fun!!!

Party Like You're 39!

Chocolate Cake, anyone? This enormous, gargantuan, chocolate, chocolate cake was given to Rusty by his friends at work. No, I didn't make this 7 layer, delicious cake. I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he asked me what kind of box we already had. I said chocolate, lemon and spice. He decided on lemon. That is Rus. A little practical, and thinking of what would be easiest for me. His team at work took him to breakfast at Denny's, where they also gave him this scrumptious, huge cake. They didn't even cut into it, and told him to bring it home. So, he called me and said, don't make a cake, I'm bringing one home. And bring it home, he did! And it was good. Very, very good! As you can see, we hardly made a dent in it.
Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! We love you dear, Rusty! Happy Birthday to you! And many more... We couldn't possibly fit 39 candles on, the cake wasn't THAT big. So, we put on 9 candles.

A wish was made and the candles blown out, with a bit of help from Ren! He is so cute over there blowing away! And Chloe couldn't help put add her pose to the joy of the event.

At a ward activity recently, we had ribs (and many other delicious things, I must say). That was not your normal ward activity! :) But anyway, I got the recipe for the ribs since they were so fabulous! And I've never made ribs, ever. I've left that up to Chili's or Claim Jumper in the past. But the recipe was so simple. And they turned out so good! The only thing was, I didn't realize that everyone would eat so many ribs! They were definitely a hit. Next time, I'll make more.

Ren (age 3), Rusty (age 39) and Porter (age 13)

Rusty's Birthday BBQ Ribs

1 rack of pork ribs (I got mine at Costco.)

Rub ribs with salt, pepper and minced garlic. Place single layer in pan that is suitable for oven. (I used a disposable one. I need to get a larger roaster.) Cover with foil.

Bake at 350 for 3 hours.

Pull out pan, remove foil and cover ribs with bbq sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays.)
Broil this for another 10 minutes or so...be careful, don't burn it...it took way too long and is too expensive to burn!! :)

I served this with mashed potatoes and asparagus, and a nice green salad. Delish!

Happy 3rd B-day!

February is here, whether we like it or not! I do like it though.
My baby is 3 years old! He is the sweetest little guy ever, his only competition being Porter in my opinion. (Seriously, I'm not biased.)

Ren loves his birthday balloons. We went to the grocery store earlier in the day and picked those up while there. We brought his friend, Chase with us. The store balloon girl was really nice to them and gave them suckers and let them pick out all the balloon colors and ribbons. They loved it.

Make a wish!

Here are a few favorites and facts about Renny.

TV show: Little Bear (all my kids have loved this show, I might have put this on more than others at first - hey I love it too - but now he asks for it all the time)

Food: Chips (doritos I think)

Color: orange (atleast that is what he said when I asked him, he actually does know his colors pretty well)

Movie: Cars, Toy Story, Shrek (ugh, I almost didn't put this, I am a little embarrassed we have Shrek in our collection but he does really like it)

Toy: If it is a car, truck or motorcycle, it is Ren's favorite!

Clothes: Yes, Ren has favorite clothes. His fav shirt right now is this Toy Story one that Aunt Natalie gave him. Before that it was this orange shirt with a dump truck on it. Before that it was a Diego shirt that Aunt Liz gave him. He is very picky about his clothes, no plain white t's for Ren. Oh, and he really loves jeans, prefering these over khakis or navy pants. :)

Animal: Interestingly, he loves dogs but is scared to death of them. Our friends just got a puppy and he always asks to play with her, but won't go near her when he gets the opportunity. He also asks for his own dog all the time. Go figure.

Ren also loves to play games. I think one of his favorites is hide-n-seek. Rusty plays with him on Saturday and Sunday mornings, before I'm even awake. I hear Ren rushing to hide behind the door or in my closet (he is always knocking down my clothes). Or I hear him counting 1, 2, 7, 8! Ready mumble mumble, hear I come! (We'll work some more on the counting.)

Ren always loves to wrestle. This is usually done with Dad or Porter, but sometimes I am his only option and he must put up with my poor wrestling skills.

Ren likes to sing. He used to sing really loudly to all the hymns in church, just whatever words he wanted..."My dad is nice, Porter likes me, I like nursery" you know stuff like that. I haven't noticed that lately. But he does sing the best he can anyway, at our FHEs. The usual songs are "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", where everyone pops up high in the sky on the word beam. (It gets a little wild.) And "Popcorn Popping". I need to video him singing that. It is precious, mostly mumble, mumble popping...mumble mumble popping, with lots of actions. Obviously, I'm crazy about this little guy.

Ren doesn't like to climb the stairs. He regularly complains something like, "my stomach hurts" whenever it's time to walk up. That's my cue to pick him up and cart him to the top. Lately, I can hardly heft his 30+ lbs up there.

He likes to be read to. I don't do it near enough. In fact, I often ask Ellie and MJ to go read to him. That makes me sad. I will do it more often.

I am so thankful for Ren.

January Round Up

Goodbye January. I know, it's the 9th of February, the month just really got away from me. This is more of a boring journal entry, so I won't feel bad if you don't care to read it.

Liz and I were able to get together to do some 'crafting'. We decided to make a birthday banner. We looked at several blogs where others had posted theirs and in fact, Liz has one that she made last summer in MO with Em and Cam. I sweet talked her into making one with me. :) It is made of greens and blues and it still isn't done. It is amazing how long things like this take when you have 9 children (hers + mine) pulling you in 9 different directions...yes, that is my excuse. We are getting together this weekend (Presidents weekend) to finish and maybe start something else that I have in mind.? Liz is the best!

So, I started WW with Liz too. I'm doing well, I should be slim/sleek by this summer! I did it about a year after Ren was born and it really helped keep me on track, but some of those pounds have creeped up on me again. Thus the rejoining. :) I just couldn't seem to get going on my own. I really like their program and it seems to work for me. I have been exercizing regularly for several years now, mostly walking. But this school year, I took up running. So, I was running with Cindy about 3 weeks ago, and we were on the home stretch with only about 1/4 of a mile left, of our 3 miles. My leg started to really hurt. Come to find out, Robb (Cindy's husband who is a doctor- examined my hairy leg, a little embarrasing) says I pulled a muscle in my calf. I would be out for a few weeks. Hum. I was so bummed. I just started running again last week, I seem to be healed. I will always stretch out really well before running, especially my calfs.

Rusty's brother, John came into town for some business. (He comes every Jan. for this convention in Long Beach.) We were lucky to get to spend some time with him, he lives in North Carolina. He always makes me laugh, he is such a funny guy. (Actually all the Marsh boys are pretty funny.) We went to this wonderful Italian restaurant in LA with Tony and Natalie. Delicious (definitly not part of the WW diet)! I look forward to the Marsh reunion this year so we can see all the NC relatives.

One thing I learned this month...UGGS are so awesome! Ok, not the cutest, but the warmth is worth the fashion error. I'm sure there are plenty of people who think Uggs are cute, I'm just one of them. But I have been converted! Chloe got a pair for Christmas. She has been asking for a pair for about 3 years. And we have bought knock offs through the years for her. But the real things are so expensive that I told her that when her feet reached my size, 8, I'd get her a pair. (That way she was either going to stop growing or I could wear them when she outgrew them, a little selfish, I know.) Anyway, her feet finally reached size 8, poor girl. And she got her longed for Uggs. Whoa, I had no idea how great they were! I love them, and wear them several times a week. Chloe laughs at me, and is nice to let me wear them. I love having warm feet. Now if I could just get my hands warm...

Speaking of warmth...I love the flannel jammies that Liz gave me. I used to always wear cotton pj bottoms and a t shirt to bed. But now I'm converted to flannel ones. It has made such a difference in how I sleep. I am never cold and it has changed my life. I know, a little dramatic, but what can I say. I'm serious!

My student piano recital was this month as well. It was so nice. I love all these kids. I really enjoy teaching them. I am lucky. All my children played too, except Ren. My home was full, about 30 people. And after all the performers tickled the ivory, we had gourmet cupcakes that I made from the cookbook that my mom-in-law gave me for my birthday. (They were delicious if I do say so myself, thanks, Mom.) I made the banana cream cupcakes, the key lime cupcakes and the pink lemonade cupcakes. I should have taken a photo, cause they were pretty too.

In closing, (does it sound like I'm giving a talk?) I am so lucky to be singing with the Orange County Mormon Chorale Organization this quarter. OCMCO for short. Chloe is singing with the Youth Chorus too. Brett Stewart is our director and he is so great. Very funny and serious at the same time. It is so exhilarating to sing with all these talented people. We rehearse every Thursday night for 2.5 hours and the time just flies by. I love it so much! We are doing an oratorio written by Brett all about the Book of Mormon. The music ranges from exciting, to reverent, and then to extremely moving at times. I am very excited about our concert coming up on March 31st.

The End...of January that is.

Happy New Year 2010

Can you believe it is 2010? I think when I was younger (like 19 and under) I never pictured myself this far. I always thought about 2000. Now that would be a milestone, and it was. Now, a decade later. Whew.

To celebrate, Liz and Charlie came for New Year's Eve. We went rollerskating. Yes, just us 'big kids'. It was so much fun. I think we were nearly the only adults on the rink. Little kids were everywhere. Some of them just flying by us, others falling front of us. I am one of those that can't stop without running into a wall or something, so I nearly ran over several kids. There was one little girl, she must have been about 7 years old, who was doing tricks. I enjoyed watching her. It was pretty funny watching Rusty and Charlie do the hokey pokey on rollerskates too!

Rusty tried doing some tricks. He wasn't bad, actually.

Liz and I were taken back to our childhood...ok, I was. Liz doesn't remember skating in Snowflake very much. I guess she was pretty young. FYI: Skating is quite the workout.


Waiting for the ball to drop, Ren holds Beaudie with a little help from Charlie.



So, with every new years, comes a birthday for me. Liz baked this cake for me. It was very festive. And yes, I'm still in my pj's. We had to sing and have cake before they left for home (Charlie had to get to work) so we had cake at 11:30 am. I had 5 candles, representing my 35 years. I love cake in the morning.

Make a wish...

Rusty helped me celebrate by taking me out for a nice dinner. That is probably my favorite things to do when I go out. Just hanging out and talking to Rusty, while eating a good meal that I didn't have to make!