CLICK HERE FOR FREE BLOG LAYOUTS, LINK BUTTONS AND MORE! »

Marshall and I have been married for 7 years! We have a daughter named Libby. We dream of traveling, retireing early and adopting. We can't have anymore children, somedays that makes me sad. But I know there are ways around it. So that is where this story begins. In january of 2010 we found out that having anymore children of our own, was out of the question. So we prayed and prayed, and decided that adoption was the next step in life. We have been so blessed with the roller coaster that it has provided, and hope that the ride continues to be all we hoped it would be.







How to contact us

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Cruise

About 12 years ago my parents went on a cruise at Halloween. Well as kids we were pretty upset that we did not get to go on the cruise.  Like most kids we complained about it.  One day my dad was going through the mail and in the Val-pac ads there was a coupon for a Christmas cruise.  He got really excited he thought this was just the thing to silence the kids about a cruise.  So he and my mom talked about taking us on a special cruise.  They told us not to pack anything and we were buying all new clothes once we got on the cruise.  As you can imagine we were elated.  We were so happy and they refused to tell us anything about the cruise so we let our imaginations go.  Well the day came that we were to leave on our trip.  We got in the car and my dad told us he had a last minute errand to run for work before we left on our cruise.  When we got pulled up to the Provo river cruise site you can only imagine how confused we all were.  I don't remember how mad we were or how hard we laughed or how much harder my parents laughed but to this day more than 12 years later we still go on our Christmas Cruise. Despite the cold and whining from the adults (my siblings) the little kids love the lights and they get to see Santa too.


Libby and Haley sitting in front of the should be fire.
  Marshall and Brittany standing in the cold.
 Santa came around the boat on gave all the kids a high five,
Just like before she was hiding from him.
 The pictures at night are hard to take there are like 6 flashes and then the picture is
taken Marshall couldn't keep his eyes open to save his life.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Family Christmas Party # 2

Marshall's Family has a Christmas party every year.  This year we had family pictures before the party and that was a lot of fun. At the party a number of things take place.  The children made a igloo, and an ornament.  They listen to a story centered on Christ, sit on Santa's lap, get their presents from Grandma and Grandpa and then the adults get to play pictionary, boys against girls.  The girls Won this year Yahoo.
I did not get a picture of the ornament making, but they were snowman made out of socks that they got to color.  I also did not get a picture of the Igloo that she made before she ate the entire plate of marshmallows.


Marshall's family picture


This year the kids read the story in the basement where they did a mad lib type story and they all laughed hard.  Everyone participated by picking the next word when there was a blank word.  The favorite word was sandpaper. Who knew. 

 Santa Showed up and we all got to sit on his lap and tell him if we had been good or bad. 

Here is a picture of the camera girls.  You wont usually see any of us
in the pictures because we are the ones taking all the pictures.

Libby was excited to see Santa! Until she had to sit on his lap and she just would not do it.  Grandpa went with her and as soon as they walked away she was ready to watch him again and ask for her candy cane.  
 2 year olds can be silly.

 Once she got her present she was thrilled.  Santa brings a present for all the little kids.
 Here we are sitting on Santa's lap.  He asked when our last date night was.  We both had think about it.  I think is was the night before we went to the festival of trees.  After that weekend it was the last week of school and then finals and then graduating.  So we were a little busy and promised to be better and go at least once a month but preferably more often.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Family Christmas Party

Like most families at Christmas we have a few Christmas parties we get to go to. 
Brittany's grandma has a party at her house and takes care of everything. We eat sandwiches with a fruit and veggie tray, but best of all are the pies.  We did miss out on all the pies at Thanksgiving this year so grandma made sure that I got my choice of pies first.  After we all stuff our faces with wonderful food and conversations.  We gather everyone together and hear from grandpa about the story of Christ's birth found in Luke.  This year we all went around and told what we were grateful for.  It really hits home some days when you have all your family together and they all doing well.  Knowing that the Lord does bless families with what they need.  It may not be what you expect,  but he still takes care of those who ask for his blessings. 

  
Brittany's Parents.  My mom was saying she was grateful
 for my dad.  He was getting a bit choked up.
The Wall of Christmas Presents!  (behind us)
We love having opportunities to sit together and talk at family gatherings
we look forward to being together for the holidays. 

 Every year my grandma gets everyone a bag of presents to open.  We really have fun opening the gifts and I know grandma loves to see everyone open them.  The following pictures are of us opening some of the presents that we get.  It is a lot more fun to watch the little kids open their gifts, and get really excited over little things like hats and gloves and coloring books.

 The Little kids got to shake the Bells for Jingle Bells. 
Libby had lots of fun carrying her bells everywhere.

Christmas time comes with a lot of little traditions that make it memorable. 
I Hope that we can create more memories each year, that our family with talk about forever.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Festival of Trees

This year we decided to go to the Festival of Trees.  I thought Libby would love to see all the trees and lights.  We invited my brother Joe and his family to join us.  They have a 3 1/2 year old and a 1 year old.  Libby loves to see them.  So as we walked around the festival we saw amazing trees.  Libby loves Toy Story and so we thought a picture by these tree's were a great idea, until after the picture.   I did not realized that she did not want her picture taken that day.  To bad for you, she really was happy and enjoyed some of the lights.  We hope to make this a tradition for our family.  It was nice to have the time together and see all there is to see.  Even though we did cut it short due to nap times and whining children.


At this wonderful time we remember that the season is about Christ! 
Please bring him into your life and embrace the true meaning of Christmas.


Friday, December 3, 2010

Thanksgiving

Our traditions  First let me tell you all that I do have good intentions of taking lots of pictures at every family gathering so that I have pictures to blog about our traditions but I forgot so when I get some from the extended family I will put them up. 

Thanksgiving day

This day like all holidays are busy. Marshall gets up and goes to play in the annual turkey bowl.  he has been doing this for as many years as we have been married.  They have a couple of trophies that are awarded by votes from all the players.  Marshall did have the trophy at one time and I can say I am glad he did not get it this year (I love you babe but its ugly and does not match even the jazz room Décor).  Not to mention it was very cold and Marshall was triple layered, I think.  But he had lots of fun.  I am glad that they have that tradition. 

We get all dressed up in weather(house temperature) appropriate clothes and head to the families for the day.  This year we ate lunch with Marshall's family.  It tasted amazing and we were glad that we can all get together.  I made Yams this was a first for me.  I think next time I make them I will make a much smaller batch.  We had BYU rolls and they are the best.  The spread was as good as it looked and I love thanksgiving food. 

After lunch the men took the children downstairs to "watch"  football.  while the girls did dishes and played scrabble.  I lost in scrabble like I always do, but playing is fun and that is the most important.  come to find out the men were all asleep while the toddlers were playing downstairs.  After "nap time" for the men we headed out to go see my family.  We skipped dessert since they were waiting for everyone else to show up for movie and dessert time. 

When we got to Brittany's families house the dessert was all gone.  Sadly...we did not get any pumpkin pie.  but for our diets sake that might be okay.  At my parents House all the extended family had left and it was just my 3 younger siblings and us. So we scoured the adds to find what we would be shopping for on black Friday.  This year we decided that it was way to cold to sit and wait for "maybe" items on our Christmas wish list.  So we spent the evening talking and relaxing after the yummy holiday. 

We do remember the many things that we are grateful for.  We are so blessed to have a job,  one that provides well for our family.  We are blessed to have the Gospel in our lives.  We are blessed to have wonderful and supportive family.  We are blessed to have a daughter and thank God each day for her.  We are blessed to have a home.  And we are blessed with wonderful friends.  We are thankful for so much more and pray each day that our family can be blessed by adoption.  Happy belated thanksgiving.  

Friday, November 19, 2010

Jazz Night Out

We were given some tickets to go to a NBA Basketball game and Marshall was so excited. We don’t often get a night out alone. So any opportunity we try to take it. We follow Marshall’s family in their tradition of eating at crown burger before the game. This gives us a free parking with purchase of a meal a 2 for one deal. We enjoyed out grease burgers and yummy fries. Then off to the game we went. We had a lot of fun. It was nice to be able to talk about something other than kids and work even if it was sports I can live with that. So here is a picture of our date out on the town.  Thanks to my brother joe and his wife Lindsay for the tickets and babysitting.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Todays thoughts

Well I thought back to the past week,  and realized that it was a pretty low key week.  I am always grateful for those really low key weeks.  So here are some thoughts of this past week.  Daylight savings time is not a moms best friend.  No matter how long you try to change the sleep schedules you either get no sleep or no sleep.  I am always wondering what will come next for our little family.  I realize that my family is not like any other family.  I am always thankful to Marshall for being supportive through this whole adoption process.  Some days you wonder if 3 is all the lord intends to bless you with.  Trying to make the most is what I look at each day.  When I feel this way, Marshall says to me "you cant worry about everything the lord has a plan and our job is patients"  I then breath and remember that Men only deal with one thing at a time and women  have everything (a helpful tip from psychology class).  So stepping back I looked at pictures of our little family from the beginning and smile.  I always have to remember that God's time is not Brittany time and each day I have to have patients that the lord will bless us.  So here are a few pictures of long ago times, younger days, lighter days. 

Christmas of 2006

family photo 2006

 someone from our family took this at my brothers wedding rehearsal dinner.
I got this 2 weeks later

the day our daughter was born

four wheeling up camels pass the view always makes me stand in awe

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Halloween trick or treating

This  year It RAINED!!!
I didn't have a plan this year for a costume.  My bad! But I was just undecided.  My parents have a cute lion and a pig costume so we thought why not she would be a cute pig or lion.  Like the stubborn little girl she is she wanted nothing to do with either outfit.  So back to the drawing board I went.  I decide on little red riding hood.  The problem was that she just did not want to try on the cape or even look at it.  I had to get clever so after the cape was made I safety pinned it to her jacket and we hid the jacket so she did not have a clue she was wearing a pretty little cape.  She was however excited to carry her basket around.  So Marshall and Libby went Trick or Treating.  I do have to admit one thing Sadly we are not the dress up for Halloween type.  I am not that creative or daring so I was mom and marshall was dad.  I worked out well for us.  So on to the rain.  It poured when we went to trick or treat with Brittany's parents we were very wet. We rushed around the neighborhood to fast.  Then off to see Marshall's parents.  As soon as we left it stopped raining so we thought we  were lucky but no such luck.  It poured in sheets when we got to payson.  So needless to say we got a sad candy stash...I mean Libby got a small candy stash. Which really is just fine with us. We did have lots of fun and are looking forward to next year maybe she will be into dressing up.  

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Halloween dinner

Every year Marshall's mom pulls out all the stops for Halloween.  She always plans a themed dinner that could make any monsters list.  This year we ate roadkill meatloaf and ghostly mashed potatoes.  We had a cake decorated as the bride of Frankenstein, and ... what do you get when you mix a witch and a ghost... and Oreo shake.  The kids had a good laugh.  After dinner the kids made mummy's.  I had lots of fun making it for, I mean with Libby.  She did pick the mouth and where to put the eyes.  She has been carrying it around since Sunday calling it her meemuu so as not to confuse mommy with her mummy (for all the Canadians out there mummy and mummy)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Cooking With MOM

Libby and I tried out some fun cooking activities this week.
We made homemade pizzas.
It is so fun to see how she is growing up and can follow
simple instructions and complete a task all by herself.


 It really did taste like I remember homemade pizzas to taste.
This was an activity that my mom did with me when I was little.

Next we made edible necklaces.
Fruit loops and pasta(I would not suggest eating the pasta 
its more of a filler). I had fun practicing being a little kid again.

The Best part of making something edible. Is finishing it off. Tasty!

We made Pancakes together.  It gives us opportunity to
do hands on things together.  What better than Pancakes from a box. 
Add water, mix and then stir.
Looking forward to more activities to do together.
Especially because the kitchen is my favorite place.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Hee Haws Fall Pumpkin Patch

This is our Family adventures at Hee Haws

We had a lot of fun.  Every October My (Brittany's) Grandma has a pick your pumpkin activity.  Well as the grandchildren have gotten older and had kids of their own, she has come up with a place to go pick pumpkins and have fun.  So we all get together and play.  So here are a few fun photos
of us having fun as a family.
 Libby Just wanted to play, but I am always trying
to get another picture for posterity's sake.
 Libby wanted to get up close and personal with the cow
but it was not as nice as it looked from a far.
Izaiah, Ian, Marshall, Libby, Harper 

 Everyone needs a good tractor shot
where none of you are looking at the camera
The Tee Pee made from corn was pretty cool,
so the little kids thought.

The Joke must have been really funny.

They had activities to keep the grown up happy too.
The Corn Cannon caught Marshall and grandpas attention.
They spent the next 15 min trying to out do each other.

Libby always wants to be where the fun is so, grandpa and dad
help her shoot the cannon.

We chose to stay in the "little kids maze" but the big boys
wanted to play too.  They had fun trying to get out of the "no left turn"
maze.  The little kids gave up too quick.



Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Aquarium

We try to go and do a fun activity away from home every other week.  This week we went to the Aquarium to see all the fish and interesting animals.  In the Amazon exhibit they have a little canoe and dock for picture taking opportunities.  I got her in and she thought she was so funny.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Getting to know Marshall!

A book I highly recommend is: Da Vinci Code - cause I couldn't put it down

My favorite flower is: Not a rose, cause we have a bunch in our yard and I hate having to care for them!

A game I like to play is: Basketball, soccer. football, and sports games on XBOX, if I ever have time.

The music I listen to most is: Alternative & Punk, anything that is upbeat and makes me happy.

My favorite band is: Dashboard Confessional has awesome lyrics.

A movie I watch over and over is: Any James Bond movie, the newest ones are the best.

A T.V. show I watch regularly is: The Office and Modern Family are both hilarious

My favorite quote is: "It's not bragging if you can back it up" - Muhammad Ali

My favorite thing to buy is: Food from a restaurant, I love to eat and I enjoy not having to make my wife cook.

I drive a: 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid and loving the gas mileage

I love to collect: Jazz Memorabilia, I just don't have much still.

If I could afford anything at this moment I would buy: A motorcycle, cause I can't justify spending money on one now.

If my house was burning down and I could only rescue three things, they would be: My Wife, Libby, and a clean pair of socks

A smell that makes me pause is: A dirty diaper!

My favorite sport to watch is: Depends on the season, I love college and NFL football, but come basketball season I am all Jazz.

The city I would most like to visit is: New York or Philadelphia area, I would love to see the historical sites.

My favorite restaurant is: Famous Dave's, greatest BBQ on earth.

A moment when I achieved absolute happiness was: Holding my daughter for the first time, especially now realizing that we will never get to experience that again.

My favorite meal is: Pizza, anything from Totino’s to Pizza Hut

Someone or something that made me laugh this week was: When we went to go on a date and as we leave Libby wasn't sad to see us go, she just yelled "Have fun!"

My earliest memory is: Sledding in the back yard as a child

My first paying job was: Selling cucumbers that I grew in my parents garden when I was 7 or 8. I would ride my bike to the neighbor’s houses to sell them.

The memory that still makes me laugh is: When I saw someones handle bars come off the bike when they tried to jump it.

My best birthday was: Getting my drivers’ license, I felt I was on top of the world.

A smell that reminds me of my childhood is: Cookies that are cooking in the oven cause that means I will get to eat some soon!

The story behind my name is: I am named after the Marshall Tucker and the Charlie Daniels bands, my dad had one last shot to get some rock and roll in there somewhere.

My favorite color to wear is: Everyone tells me I look good in blue, probably cause my eyes are blue.

My strangest possession is: a wet floor sign in my garage

My favorite dessert is: Peanut butter pie made by my wife.

When I exercise, I like to: Shower afterwards cause my wife won't get near me otherwise.

My favorite thing to do on a date is: Tell the waiter it is my wife's birthday so they will sing to her.

The best vacation I ever had was: The weekend we took a 6 hour 4-wheeling ride through the mountains.

The best thing about being married is: Having someone there to love you unconditionally always, and someone who believes in you more than you do.

The thing I am most passionate about is: sports, I love to talk about them with friends and to listen to sports talk radio.

Q1 Do we have a blog Why Yes we do! it is http://marshallandbrittanysecondbigstep.blogspot.com/

Q2 How cold do you like your Bedroom when you sleep If mom's not happy, nobody is happy, so look at Britt's answer and you have mine too....unfortunately.

Q3 Favorite song to listen to when having a bad day: I don't have anything specific, but it has to be upbeat.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Brittany! Get to know me better.


A book I highly recommend is: Twilight Gives me a chance to live someone else’s dream for a few days. If you are not into vampires then the Hannah Swenson murder mysteries by Joanne fluke are great.

My favorite flower is: Daisy, always have made me smile.

A game I like to play is: Phase 10 Dice, hand and foot, Dr Mario are easy 2 people games enough, for a quiet night together.

The music I listen to most is: 50's 60's 70's disco, current style the old stuff is my dads fault he never should have given me that tape.

My favorite band is: Secondhand Serenade is one of the few bands marshall has that I really like.

A movie I watch over and over is: Pride and Prejudice the 6 hour version is the best because it follows the book the best.

A T.V. show I watch regularly is: Dinner Impossible! I am always been amazed that he can cook is crazy situations

My favorite quote is: I am determined to be happy no matter what my situation may be, for I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness of misery depends upon our disposition and not our circumstance. My dad always quotes this to me when I am having a bad day.

My favorite thing to buy is: FOOD, fabric, new kitchen tools. Not shoes or purses sorry not a big shopper. It is probably a good thing but man life gets to be boring just window shopping!

I drive a: Hyundai Sonata

I love to collect: Quilts, and Kitchen tools, you can never have enough tools to make desserts

If I could afford anything at this moment I would buy: House, because I cant figure out what else to spend my money on

If my house was burning down and I could only rescue three things, they would be: My child, My pictures, my grandmother’s quilt. The first 2 are obvious but the second was a quilt made for my grandmother when she got married but the ward members. It is hand stitched blocks with dates and names. She kept it safe from ware and tare for 75 years. It is just a great remembrance from times past.

A smell that makes me pause is: Home made cinnamon rolls, because that is one thing I cant deny myself

My favorite sport to watch is: Hockey! My brothers played in high school and I would spend the entire game cheering and boy did I feel stress free afterwards

The city I would most like to visit is: Paris, the gardens have always intrigued me

My favorite restaurant is: Brick Oven. They have the best Alfredo sauce around

A moment when I achieved absolute happiness was: the first time I was able to look at my daughter

My favorite meal is: Tacos or baked potatoes, or ribs UMMMM

Someone or something that made me laugh this week was: Someone told me that I was not as emotional as the women he knows. He asked why. I laughed and said I was nice and normal because I thought they deserved to see that side of me. He said thanks and I still am laughing about it.

My earliest memory is: Of playing at my grandparents home. We were Easter egg hunting on the hill in the back yard that was a forest. I was with my cousins and we were all laughing.

My first paying job was: Baby sitting for a neighbor with 4 kids. I was excited that someone would trust me to care for their family.

The memory that still makes me laugh is: Watching my brother role-play as my parents. We were making a family video to send to an uncle for his birthday, and my brother thought he would be funny we spent days laughing about how good of an impression he did.

My best birthday was: When I turned 14. My parents gave me my presents throughout the day. I really think it is a great idea and try to do the same for Marshall and Libby

A smell that reminds me of my childhood is: Chocolate chip cookies. I always helped make cookies every Sunday and then taught my sibling how. They still have cookies every Sunday.

The story behind my name is: My mom heard my name in college and wrote it in her journal and when it came time to pick a name she gave my dad 3 options and he liked mine the best.

My favorite color to wear is: Green. I have hazel eyes and when I wear green it makes my eyes look very green

My strangest possession is: Courting candle, in the 1800's it was used to determine how long a couple was allowed to spend together by how much of the candle was showing. It was a gift from my dad who thought it was a great gag gift.

My favorite dessert is: Chocolate or strawberry trifle. I have a great brownie recipe and a yummy strawberry one too. I need to find one with peanut butter.

When I exercise, I like to: Do Richard Simons Sweating to the Oldies, because its funny to watch. And I love the music.

My favorite thing to do on a date is: Go to the theater. If that does not work I really enjoy playing cards with friends because we have a good time laughing.

The best vacation I ever had was: Going to Disney World with my family when we were all old enough to appreciate it. I was almost 15 and we had never been anywhere so amazing. I loved the Universal Studios tour

The best thing about being married is: That someone is always there to talk to me.

The thing I am most passionate about is: Being frugal and money smart. The way to make money is to save money.

Custom Questions

Q1 Do we have a blog: Why Yes we do! it is http://marshallandbrittanysecondbigstep.blogspot.com/

Q2 How cold do you like your Bedroom when you sleep: I prefer my bedroom to be as close to 60 as possible because that is as low as the window AC will get. But I like the rest of the house in the high seventy's (warm) in the morning.

favorite song to listen to when having a bad day: “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto”. I call my brother and he sings it to me and it always makes me laugh.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Brittany

How to talk about yourself without sounding horribly conceded? 
I am animated, bubbly outgoing, and humorous. I am down to earth. I openly show my love and affection. I am genuine and loyal. I am focused and driven, resourceful, and thrifty. I am reponsisble and reliable. I am, however, stubborn.  Marshall says the following about me:  She loves cooking, and judging by the weight that I have gained over the years, she is really good at it. She is very caring of others and respects them. She has an unnatural ability to be nice to others, no matter the circumstance. She is freakishly frugal, and very practical.

Libby Rose

Libby has been a wonderful addition to our family.  It took us a long while to get her here but the Lord knows best.  She is spunky.  She is constantly amazing me with her knowledge.  She is determined.  She is dramatic but I think most girls are.  She is calm and pensive.  She is sensitive and caring.  She loves to learn new things.  She is too smart for her own good.  She is mostly happy, except when she's frustrated because she can't communicate what she wants yet.  She loves to color, play with her babies, wear moms shoes, play with Mr. Potato Head, play with dice and watch Toy Story, Dora the Explorer, Backyardagains, and eat! She is the reason we do what we do each day!

Marshall, the love of my life!

So I will tell you a bit about Marshall.  Marshall is the silent type.  He is a no fuss kind of person who just wants to lay low.  He is optimistic and always positive.   He has a great sense of humor he always makes me laugh.  He smiles and laughs alot.  I love telling Marshall stories that I know will make him laugh because his facial expressions make it worth the telling.  He is a hard worker.  He always says just the right thing to make everything better.  He is an observant man.  He watches all that goes on around him and decides what is best for him.  He never does anything half way, he is an all or nothing person.  Marshall is a planner.  He thinks everything through before he talks about it.  He loves football, soccer, basketball, 4 wheeling, camping, music, and eating!

Saturday, August 21, 2010