The Marriott Family

Joseph Keith Marriott

2011-09-24T12:01:00.001-07:00

Our newest family member finally arrived this last Tuesday, September 20th at 9:33 am. We are so grateful he finally decided to come (6 days late!) and are so thankful for a relatively seamless labor and delivery. One of my big worries was that he would come so quickly, that there would be no time for an epidural or even worse, that there would a delivery in the car! :) Thankfully, I woke up to contractions at about 3 in the morning and by 4 am we were on our way to the hospital, thanks to a quick early morning response from Daniel's mom to come watch our kids.

We arrived at the hospital and they found me to be dilated to a "4". They called for the anesthesiologist right away, and he responded so quickly that he had to wait in the doorway while the nurse finished with my IV. It was so nice to have my epidural so early on (the last two I have been in soo much pain before getting it) and Daniel and I were both able to sleep for about an hour and we essentially waited for my doctor to get to the hospital. By about 9:15 I was pushing, and ten minutes later, our little Joseph was born. He was positioned posterior, but was able to turn and finally exit.

An interesting aside, the next day I had been scheduled for an induction, and the doctor was planning on breaking my water to induce labor. I had resisted being induced, and had cancelled an earlier induction date, but had relented when I was getting to be so overdue. As the doctor examined the placenta and everything, she showed me how the umbilical cord had been more or less enmeshed with the membrane lining (the bag of water lining). She commented on how it may have created stress for the baby if she would have broken my water and then proceeded to have several hours of labor, possibly compromising the umbilical cord and blood supply to the baby during labor. I thought that was so interesting and I was so grateful that he had been born without that having to happen.

He was born healthy and calmly, weighing 8 lbs. 2 ozs. and 20-1/2 inches long. We were immediately taken with his newness and perfection and so grateful to finally be able to hold him. We feel blessed to have him in our family and can't express how much we love him. After some deliberation :) we named him Joseph Keith Marriott. Joseph for several reasons, it being Daniel's preferred name over the last few years and few boys :) and Keith for my wonderful father. Now for the pictures...

Holding the new new baby Joseph

Right after he was born, we saw a lot of similarities to Grant and James

Proud daddy and great labor supporter, go Daniel!

The boys check out their new brother

Proud big brother George

Tender big brother Grant

Joyful new big brother James

The prize for 9-months of mom's suffering

Peaceful, sweet perfect Joseph

Now we're seeing a bit more George in him, but really just a perfect Joseph :)

We're so grateful for all the love and support we have felt from our family, friends and neighbors. Thank you for helping this experience be such a wonderful one and we're so grateful to share our lives with yours. We're keeping our fingers crossed that some long stretches of sleep are coming our way one day soon, but for now we're deliriously sleep deprived and in love with our newest little son.

Halloween and Cute James

2010-11-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Some recent pictures from the last couple of weeks. We took the picture above of James as he hurried to sit under the radio after we had turned it on. The funny thing is that when we turned to radio on, it was woman singing opera, but nonetheless it drew James in and he sat underneath there for a few minutes, listening to the music. He loves music and won't let me sit alone at the piano bench. No matter where he is in the house, he immediately gravitates to the piano when I begin to play.

This is at David and Neill's house, Halloween night. Our favorite costume is "Thing 1 and Thing 2"...particularly because we have been reading Cat in the Hat to the boys recently--nice work Cannon and Emily. James couldn't see out from under his alligator teeth hat, so he'd just trust us when we were shoveling food into his mouth.

The big plan was to have James be Robin...but in interest of sleeping a couple of hours and making sure Mom maintained sanity, we went with the standby gator suit. Notice Grant throwing his gangster signs in his batman getup. Oh isn't Halloween so fun with children around? This is truly a child's holiday, so much fun going door to door with Dad. We have these great neighbors that made homemade doughnuts and had hot cocoa at their doorstep! Yummm!

This is George the morning of his Halloween parade at school. They weren't allowed to wear masks, but he was very concerned to appear like the true Ironman, so we decided we would paint his face. I had found red paint at the store, but had not been able to find yellow paint anywhere. I explained that to George the night before, and being very concerned, he included in his prayer, "Please help us to find yellow paint for my costume parade tomorrow." My first reaction was eeks! and to get on the phone and call a couple of more costume shops and see if they were still open that night. As I went to look up the phone numbers, I had the thought that in our holiday decorations box I had some yellow paint from a purchase I had made last year. Sure enough, I went downstairs and found the yellow face paint that George had prayed about! It was fun to share that experience with him the next morning and oh how grateful I am that Heavenly Father hear's all of our prayers!

Numbers 3, 4, and 5

2010-11-07T20:30:00.001-08:00

I wanted to add to my list of things I love about Utah, and reassure anyone who reads this blog that this list is not written in any order of importance. I'm just rattling things off as I think of them. Today being Sunday and just having had Saturday, I realized another thing I love about Utah.

3. The radio programming out here! On Saturday nights, one of the local stations devotes their entire evening to Broadway showtunes! They call it Showtune Saturday night and it's so much fun to have on and hear what they play. This may not appeal to everyone I understand :) but I do love me a good showtune! The other programming that I enjoy is on Sunday mornings, KBYU, which is the local classical station, does "Music for a Sunday Morning". They play the requisite Mormon Tabernacle Choir numbers, as well as songs from BYU and U of U choirs, but also they play classical sacred pieces, and it is so uplifting to have that playing while getting ready for church.

4. Okay, I'm stating the obvious here, but it must be stated so everyone doesn't worry that I'm taking for granted all that we are blessed with here. I am grateful to have so many temples within an hour drive; there are 4 alone in the valley where we live. Also there are so many neat things that we are able to participate in due to the fact that we live so close to the church's headquarters: the Conference Center and Temple Square which holds many free events throughout the year (including this year's Christmas concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and David Archuleta!!) and the Church History Museum and Family History Library...you get the idea. Wonderful things just outside our door! I remember as a child we would drive from Minnesota to Utah and we viewed Temple Square almost like a Disneyland! It's a great blessing! (Just like it would be a great blessing to live by Disneyland!) :)

5. I'd better write this as Daniel is looking over my shoulder, one of the greatest blessings of living in Utah is living only a couple of blocks from his parents and his good brother Cannon and his family. Not to mention 3 other brothers down at BYU, and soon to be Caroline, his sister who is returning to go to the University of Utah next fall. It is nice to be surrounded by family whilst so far away from my own!

Wonderful Fall Time

2010-10-14T20:12:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful time of year! It almost seems like the world slows down a bit, as the colors change and the air gets a bit chillier and I still get excited thinking about Halloween costumes and parties, and cozy things like warm soups and wearing sweaters...Just wanted to share a picture from a recent excursion to a pumpkin patch up in Farmington, UT about 30 minutes from where we live. This is probably our third year going and it's just a beautiful place. You get to take a wagon out in the pumpkin patch and choose from hundreds of pumpkins and amongst many different kinds. They also have this pint-sized haystack maze that my kids just loved.

What to love about Utah

2010-10-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm not a native Utahn, and never actually dreamed that I would live here post college. But I practically married Mr. Utah :) and we don't have any current plans to leave (despite horrendous begging and nagging on my part to return to the motherland). I'll be honest, there are many times that I have a poor attitude about living so far from my family and from where I grew up. I have been trying to work on this and in my mind have started to keep a mental list of things that I do love about Utah. I want to document this growing list, so I'm going to keep track of the things that I love about Utah as I think about them on the blog. These are not in any order.

Number one: I love the mountains. When I first moved here to go to BYU 14 years ago (I'm that old???), my first reaction to the mountains were that they were in the way and I couldn't see my beloved horizon. Tonight we went up Millcreek Canyon to see the leaves and it was so green and the leaves had begun to turn colors, and lush and there was a gurgling stream. I have soo missed the green surrounds of Minnesota and don't get to see much of that here in Salt Lake, but going up into the canyon provided me with a small respite of green, and I was so grateful. I bought a season pass and hope to frequent it more with hikes, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, running and more.

Number two: NPS. It's this junky, flea market type setting where you can find the most amazing deals. Apparently they are a "freight salvage" store, meaning they get their products from any misdirected freight. Okay, what does that mean? I'm not sure, but truly they get major name brands, Pottery Barn, name brand clothing and shoe lines, you name it they've got it. Everything is priced at about half it's retail value, and then they'll regularly have things advertised at 40% off that price. It's amazing, my heart starts pumping just writing about it. :) It's a pretty dangerous place, I try not to go there too much, I've got a budget to stick to! That will have to be it for tonight, but I will continue on as there are already many things that I do love about Utah.

Summer Vacation Part 1

2010-08-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

We are still here! I really didn't mean to take an 8 month break, but hopefully we're back. Next week George starts kindergarten (!) and Grant soon after will start up preschool twice a week. We've had a busy summer and would love to share little by little. We ended our summer with a trip back to Minnesota, but this time changed it up by driving through Independence, Missouri and surrounding church history sites and spending a couple of days in Nauvoo, IL before heading up to Minnesota. Kevin and MariAnne and their sweet girls joined us in Missouri, and my parents joined us all in Nauvoo. This picture was taken at the Liberty Jail visitor's center. More to come...

Grandma and Grandpa Curtis

2010-08-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

I found out yesterday that my Grandpa Curtis has had a stroke, leaving his face partially paralyzed and not able to speak very clearly or coherently. Thankfully my mom has been out there visiting them for the last couple of weeks (originally tending to my grandma who has had pneumonia) and has been able to be there to support them. She is being so strong as she's had to watch her parents' health dwindle, and especially over these last couple of weeks. I am so grateful to have been able to visit with them a couple of years ago when I was visiting San Francisco with Daniel's mother and sisters. This picture is from that trip.

Interestingly enough, yesterday I was flipping through a little journal that I've kept mainly for scripture reading, and happened upon this entry: "Dec. 13, 2005, I woke up at 5:09 am to go feed George and I had been woken from a dream about my Curtis grandparents' failing health--I need to reach out to them more often and consistently..I had tears in my eyes as I imagined what I would say to my grandparents... just about how much I love them, look up to them for all their goodness, how grateful I am for the daughter they raised that became my mother, and what heritage they've passed on to me through different gifts and talents and then also our pioneer heritage that is so special to me. I've had several dreams about them in the last few months and feel I need to be more active in showing my love towards them and even in honoring more fully." I was so grateful to have found that entry and to have been able to feel all those feelings again. I'm so grateful for my grandparents and grateful that we are eternally linked, come what may.

Sorry I'm already quitting!

2010-01-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Okay that sounds a bit drastic, but I've modified my new year's goal. I realized after only a few of these entries that my life just isn't super exciting for the rest of the world, and really the only ones interested in our daily life is going to be my own little family. I'm shifting the goal to writing in my journal briefly everyday, but I do resolve to post to the blog more.

I'm wondering if anyone else has love/hate relationships with blogs. I love love love to read blogs and keep up with people, but I do not love maintaining my own blog. Does anyone else have this experience? I've never really considered myself a super private person, but I do feel a bit self conscious sometimes when I attempt to share what's going on in our lives. I think truthfully I consider myself quite a nerd, and by thinking of sharing what's going on I fear that I'm only revealing how nerdy I truly am with everyone. :) So there it is. If I can overcome these mixed emotions I'm dealing with :) I will hopefully be able to strike a good balance and post some of our fun memories online to share in efforts to keep in touch with dear friends and family.

Darn entropy

2010-01-22T19:23:00.001-08:00

The weather this week has been surprisingly warm, and almost all the snow has melted off our lawn and driveway and has probably been in the mid-40s (at least) most of the day. As a result, it has been delightful to be outside, until the wind starts picking up, which it has been doing as well. We left today to go for a walk (me pushing James in the stroller and George on his training wheel bike and Grant on his trike), but when the wind started up, we turned around. When we got home, I picked up a broom and started sweeping up some leaves that had collected in our carport and started cleaning things up. I don't know what it is about cleaning up and putting things in order, but it feels very empowering and gives me such a sense of accomplishment. The only big disappointment is that everything always seems to become messy again; the handprint on a door window pane that you've just washed, or apple juice poured on a recently mopped kitchen floor. Oh well, what else would I do with my time, right? :)

But on a happy note, in all this cleaning up of our carport I rediscovered my rundown bike that my Dad had bought me probably 15 years ago and became rusty first in college then almost broken when used by an old college roommate. I immediately placed it in our now roomy car (yay minivan!) and put the kids in the car and drove to the local bike shop and dropped it off to be repaired. I am so excited for some biking this spring!

An Independent Soul

2010-01-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

Today as we were preparing to leave for the grocery store, George informed me that he "can stay at home and take care of himself" and so I proceeded to go through some scenarios to illustrate why that would not be so smart. For example, if he hurt himself, who would come help him? None of my scenarios seemed to phase him though, and he tried to comfort me by saying, "Don't worry, Mom, I won't start a fire in the house." Phew.

Runny

2010-01-20T22:25:00.000-08:00

After a record-breaking two months without any illnesses, I have come down with a cold and little James must have an ear infection, which will probably be checked out tomorrow. I think last year at this time we had two straight months of sickness, so I'm definitely counting my blessings.

Today was a busy day for Daniel, who just returned from work (at 11:30 pm) due to a study group that met for his MBA program. He's sooo busy with all the different things that are going on in his life right now; his church calling, his school work, his work work...but I'm sure he wouldn't have it any other way, he loves being busy! We went to his office at lunchtime so that the boys could see him. The boys love going to his work, and love to run down the hallways and say hi to Grandad in the office next door. I remember feeling similary when I was little and loved that at Dad's work they had all the packets of hot cocoa that you could want!

A New Year's Resolution

2010-01-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not sure I want to make this one, but I'm not sure there are that many people following this blog anyway, so if I fail, I may not get too much flack! :) I just read a friend's blog who is documenting every day of this year in the form of a blog post, whether it be with a picture or just some words. I want to do the same thing! So we'll see how it goes.

This morning, after nursing sweet little James at 5:00 am, I quickly got ready and was out the door to go to the Jordan River Temple. I haven't been in quite a bit, and Daniel and I have decided that we're going to try to go once a month together and then fit in another trip individually. It was such a great experience, I almost felt like I did when I was able to go to the temple on one of my last days of my mission in Venezuela. Because I hadn't been able to go to the temple for almost 1-1/2 years, yet I was teaching/eating/breathing/loving the gospel during that time, so much came alive to me and I understood things that I hadn't seen as clearly before. Similarly, this morning I saw things with new eyes and it was great. Funny enough, one of the reasons I had such a neat experience is that I've been reading books with George about space and have been so amazed at the universe and the testimony it is of its Creator. So with new eyes I went to the temple and learned a lot and was grateful to have the temple so close.

I haven't blogged for so long, I really could drown in trying to catch up, so I'm not going to try, but I might mention little things so that you can be caught somewhat up-to-date. James had his first tooth come through and we discovered it on Sunday, January 17, 2010. He's 8-1/2 months old, and I think he has taken the longest child to get his first tooth. George has started a new preschool that seems to be a great match for him. It's through the high school, and it's called Titan Tots and there are three adult teachers and then a high school student for each child. It's only twice a week, so in all it seems like a great combination of George seems to be doing well and the chaos that reigned with his hold preschool seems to be gone! We couldn't be happier :) We continue to do a playgroup twice a week with a group of 2-year old boys from our neighborhood. He's surprising us with his growing vocabularly and expressions, and is such a teddy bear. James is such a sweet, mild baby that he is already 8-1/2 months old and it's gone by so fast. There haven't been that many sleepless nights with this kid, and I really think that has made the time just fly by. What a wonderful year it has been with him.

Well, I'm excited by this goal as a great way to document our happenings around here. Here are some photos to start us off:

My non-napping buddy and me

Can you see the first tooth? :)

Christmas sweaters and pjs from Grandma and Grandpa Youngquist

I love this one! Look at the book title!

Our most recent picture all together

We love you all and hope that this year has been good to you so far! We'll see you tomorrow, right?

Introducing James David Marriott

2009-05-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

James David Marriott was born on April 30, 2009 at about 7:30 pm. His due date was May 1st, so we were pleasantly surprised at slightly early arrival. I had gone into labor with our other two sons in the middle of the night, so it was a bit different to go into labor in the middle of the day. I was so much more alert and awake for the whole experience, imagine that! All in all I believe I was in labor for only 3 hours, and everything went well. He weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 inches long. As soon as he was born, Daniel proclaimed that he was a "sweet baby James" and immediately started calling family to announce James' arrival. James had been on our list of names, and it was my first choice, but not Daniel's, so I was happy when he announced that that's what the baby looked like! I have liked that name ever since I read the story of a James Kirkwood who travelled in the Martin Willie handcart company as an 11-year old boy. He was given charge by his mother over his younger 4-year old brother Joseph. I saw a painting of James carrying Joseph on his back in what looks like a blizzard. James dutifully and faithfully carried Joseph the entire way, and arrived at their destination safely. From overexertion and exposure to the elements, James passed away, but Joseph survived. I was really moved by that story and wished my own son could have that courage and love for his family just like James Kirkwood. Our son's middle name, David, is named for Daniel's dad, another wonderful example of someone he will hopefully take after. Our boys both love the new baby--and constantly are smothering him with kisses and really being helpful in keeping him happy! James is a very mellow personality, and has been sleeping very well which did not happen with our first two boys. As a result, I feel more rested and am actually enjoying this phase, whereas before I think I was too sleep deprived to have anything but fuzzy memories of it! :)

My mom came out the next day and stayed with us for a week and we loved every minute of her stay. While she was here she planted our whole garden and several window boxes and pots full of flowers. George and Grant loved having Grandma here who doted on them all day and just loved and played with them.

I am also so grateful to my mother and father-in-law who amazingly showed up so fast to our house when Daniel picked me up to go to the hospital and then proceeded to watch our kids for the next couple of days. That's a lot of hard work! Thank you so much! We just love having James with us. He adds such a peaceful spirit to our home and we are excited for you all to meet him.

Easter Pictures

2009-05-27T15:43:00.001-07:00

Our neighbor, Heather Peterson, has done an Easter photo shoot every year and even brings in little chicks for the kids to hold. The pictures are always darling and I wanted to share the ones from this year. When we got the CD of photos back, I couldn't help but laugh at the photos. In almost all the photos, George is hamming it up, while Grant looks like he's mad and refuses to smile. I absolutely love these photos though because it's so telling of the big personalities that are in these little boys of ours, our performer George and our no nonsense Grant. The second photo is my favorite example of their different attitudes towards having their picture taken. We sure love them both! (sorry about the formatting, I have no idea how to get the alignment right, if anyone has any tips, let me know!)

A Reluctant Soccer Player

2009-05-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

After an attempt at t-ball last fall, we decided to see if soccer was more of George's thing this spring. Once again, we experienced a bit of stage fright but overall had a good time getting to know the other kids and their parents. We had such a sweet soccer coach who was the mother of one of the boys and her main goal was that the kids learned to love to play, with no pressure on winning. So all in all, it was a positive experience for George who in the end was able to stay on the field and actually kick the ball, after a bit of coaxing :). I wish we had more action shots, but our baby James arrived mid-season, so Daniel often attended alone and had to deal with a rascally Grant as well as getting George to stay on the field. The one experience that I had that I will never forget is his very first game. He began enthusiastically, and ran after the ball and was kicking it. Another child came and took the ball away, and George was devastated and immediately teared up and ran towards where I was sitting on the sidelines and buried his face in my lap. I don't think he realized that that was part of the game and was hurt that someone would just take the ball away from him! These are such tough life lessons that we have to learn! :)

Grant's 2nd Birthday

2009-05-27T14:59:00.002-07:00

In my attempt to catch up, I'm covering events chronologically, and hope to catch up to the present! On April 9th we celebrated Grant's 2nd birthday. We really enjoyed his birthday, and I think it was in large part due to a new tradition that Daniel wanted to start in which he takes the birthday child out for lunch. I think Grant felt very special, and George, although a bit jealous is already looking so forward to his lunch with Dad.

Our festivities actually began the Sunday before his birthday, where we congregated at Daniel's parents' home and shared a "dump truck" cake, which I resorted to after giving up on the idea of baking a cake in the shape of a truck! It was actually fun to make and pretty tasty, very chocolatey and rich.

The morning of his birthday we made cinnamon rolls and had another chance to blow out a candle (it should have been two!).

Then it was off to Cowboy Grub where they have free cowboy rides which Grant loved. As you can see from the second photo below, truly it is a hoppin' joint for real cowboys--check out that guy's handlebar mustache!

In the evening we opened a few presents which he loved, some construction vehicle toys from Grandma and Grandpa, a neat play-doh kit from our sweet neighbors the Petersons, a little stretchy lizard from George, and a Lightning McQueen car and Doc Hudson lego car from Mom and Dad. It was such a fun day and I think Grant felt special and that was definitely our goal for the day. We love you Grant and are grateful that you are part of our family!

This One's for Kevin

2009-05-27T14:59:00.001-07:00

February Disneyland Trip

2009-03-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

About a year ago I started pestering Daniel to go on another trip to Disneyland. I went to Disneyworld a couple of times when I was young, and only went to Disneyland for the first time when Daniel and I were engaged. It was five years ago and Daniel had a trade show for work that lasted more or less a week. Of course when you're engaged and apart, that is way too long! The trade show was in Anaheim and his hotel was conveniently located across the street from Disneyland. He left on a Monday, I missed him too much, so I purchased a ticket on a Tuesday, and was flying and on my way to CA the next day. I literally spent less than 24 hours in CA, but we managed to have such a fun time, including a trip to Disneyland, eating at Outback Steakhouse (one of our favorites!), and even took a dip in the hotel pool!

So five years later, Daniel made plans to attend this same trade show and invited us to come along, and we were more than obliged to accept! I was a bit worried that it would be a little stressful and overwhelming for me to do this trip, as it was a quick one (Wednesday afternoon to Saturday morning), and I was 6-1/2 months pregnant and not too full of energy. But I was so pleasantly surprised as I found it to be the perfect trip. After flying alone with our boys back and forth to Minnesota, this short plane ride was soo doable and the fact that our hotel was literally about 500 feet from Disneyland made everything so easy. We were even able to fit in a trip to visit Daniel's brother's family, Cannon and Emily and their five kids, a frigid morning dip in the hotel pool, a cold, windy evening trip to Newport beach, and a return visit to Outback Steakhouse to finish off our great week!

The kids in Toon Town, with a major part themed after the Roger Rabbit movie, which I personally think should be overhauled and updated. Who liked that movie anyway?

This is the closest the boys (or I should say mainly George) wanted to get close to any of the characters. We went to Mickey's "house" to meet him, and after waiting 30 minutes, George wouldn't even look at him, while Grant gave him a high five!

The little mouseketeers in their hats--this was George's one request at the park.

The most frigid 8:00 am dip I think I've ever witnessed, I had conveniently left behind my swimming suit at home. It had to be only about 50 degrees outside, but the palm trees were deceiving and the boys got in! So cold!

On King Arthur's Carousel

This was a treat as we had just read a story at home about King Arthur and the sword and the stone.

Right before we left Disneyland our last night there.

We truly had such a good time and would recommend this trip to everyone. Having the hotel so close meant we could come and go, which we did and so the kids were able to take naps and then return again in the afternoon. Disneyland is such a manageable size, and for our little ones it was just right. The kids were able to go on all the rides that I was able to go on, and even went on Pirates of the Caribbean (surprisingly my favorite!) and the Haunted Mansion--no nightmares yet! We only spent two days there and were able to cover everything we had wanted to do.

In the Throes of Winter

2009-02-09T13:39:00.000-08:00

I liked the way "throes" sounded, so I put it in my title--and then looked it up to make sure I got meaning right. I was trying to describe how we are surviving being cooped up this winter and to show pictures of life as we attempt to make it through to spring. Well the definition goes this way, "a hard or painful struggle" and offers the synonyms "pang, spasms" and the example phrase of "throes of childbirth". Well I can tell you, it has not been that bad, but aren't we all anxious for a little warm sunshine on our faces? To smell the earth that's been warmed by the sun, and to get excited about gardening again? To welcome a new spring baby? :) Well we are, but we're making it through these last weeks of winter and we're doing fine. Here are some photos of how we're making it!

The Unsung Grant

2009-02-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

I am a second child and do not personally feel any sort of lack in the parenting that I received. My mom will still comment to me once in awhile that she's concerned that I didn't get the attention I needed because of being a second child. Maybe I don't realize how really maladjusted I am! :) But now as a mother, I can recognize how the second child seemingly doesn't get all that the first child did. Countless hours of undivided attention, scrapbooks devoted entirely to your first year of life, photo albums full of pictures of just you...unfortunately things that Grant has not received, yet at least! Nonetheless, I adore him and have been surprised lately to see how quickly my baby has grown up. I wanted to post some of the pictures I took of him a couple of weeks ago, he is so much fun to just watch. He is not as coy and expressive as George is, so it was fun to catch some of his expressions. We just love our gravelly-voiced, car-loving, George-loving and baby-loving, incredible eating, adventure seeking, mechanically inclined little 22-month old Grant. He is a humble little boy, that while not getting all the attention he deserves all the time, doesn't complain or whine but is happy to share his mom with his older brother George. We love you Grant!

Dinosaur Museum with Dad

2009-02-09T13:06:00.001-08:00

This post is in honor of Daniel who a few weeks ago offered to give me the "day off" as advised by President Ballard in one of his last conference talks. What a husband, huh? I was so excited and in my enthusiasm packed a big cooler full of lunch and snacks, found some coupons for the Dinosaur Museum down at Thanksgiving Point and sent them on their way. Off they went, and about 45 minutes later, I realized that I hadn't sent a diaper bag with Daniel for our little Grant. I called Daniel to warn him, and the conversation we had still makes me laugh. When I called him, he was in a Smith's parking lot, attempting to change a squirmy Grant in the back of the car; having bought diapers, wipes and bandaids. Bandaids, you ask? Well, George slipped on the way into the grocery store and cut his hand, necessitating a box of Batman band-aids. Grant of course had a poopy diaper within minutes of them leaving the house. I loved that on the day Daniel offered to take the kids, all that could possibly happen to make the experience hard did happen and he got an eyeful of what daily life is like for us! Sweet Daniel...how did I enjoy my day? Miserably. I cleaned and cleaned and did nothing luxurious and as a result when they arrived home later in the afternoon, I was cranky and exhausted. If we ever do this again :) I vow to do something nice for myself--and make a big treat for Daniel who surely deserves it!

December Festivities

2009-02-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

We spent almost three weeks for the Christmas holidays in Minnesota this last year. This was due in part to using frequent flyer miles, but also Daniel had a trip planned with his brothers and dad to go to New Orleans to see the University of Utah play in the Sugar Bowl in January, so we were able to have some extra time in Minnesota. I learned a couple of things from that trip, namely that trips back home are quite a different experience now that we had kids, let's just say there are definitely more stressful moments and routines/schedules/familiar surroundings are so crucial to children, more than I realized. I also learned (more) the value of my spouse! :) With him gone, it was definitely more hard, but we are grateful he was able to go be with his family and enjoy such an amazing game and visit his Louisiana grandparents to boot. We are grateful our family members were so patient and giving to us, and truly bent over backwards to ensure we all had a good time--so thank you!! As I reviewed the photos I took over our trip, I was disappointed that all/most seemed to turn out blurry and just be random shots with no one looking at the camera. Maybe I can post some later from my parents' and brothers' cameras... For now, here are some pictures of our trip...

A Christmas tradition continued, a treasure hunt with clever clues crafted by Grandpa that sent the kids all over the house, retrieving little boxes wrapped in newspaper! To the glee of the kids, each box was a little box of sugar cereal--what more could a kid want!

Sadly one of the only pictures taken on Christmas Eve--the boys opened matching Spiderman slippers. Christmas Eve was so unique this year as my mom got the flu and had to stay in bed the entire evening and next day. But we may have started something new, a grand spaghetti dinner for Christmas Eve, thanks to my crafty sisters-in-law, Courtney and MariAnne, with Courtney's amazing ability to whip up a 20-gallon recipe for spaghetti sauce!

This was taken on Christmas day and is of George opening a carefully homemade Superman cape from my brother Kevin, who is quite handy at whatever piece of equipment he lays his hands on. What you don't see in this picture is the excited anticipation on all of our faces of what George's reaction will be, and the disappointment on my face especially when he somewhat poo-poos the gift and asks aloud where more toy presents are...so sad, so sad :(

True joy, I included the close-up so you could see their smiles. After many days of being cooped up inside, Grandpa takes them for a sled ride around our backyard. I don't think I've experienced that kind of cold in years. The temps were regularly at zero or below, even one night dipping to 20 below or possibly worse.

We were able to see our friends, Mike and Nikki Gray, and have our kids play for a while, which my kids enjoyed sooo much. Nikki was three weeks away from having her baby, but and I was five months along at that point. Sadly, our bellies looked about the same size :), compliment to her, not so much to me! ;) I hadn't seen them since our time at BYU, but they are doing great. I only wish we lived closer to keep better in touch with this great family...boo hoo...

We spent a lot of time with Kevin and MariAnne and baby Hannah. Kevin lived with us in Salt Lake for a bit while engaged to MariAnne, and George and he bonded. Grant LOVED little Hannah and whenever he saw her would grunt, "hey ba-by" (as I wrote that I realize there is no way to replicate exactly how he said it, but it was sooo funny) and constantly was giving her kisses. He just loves her. The pictures of the hugs with Kevin and Andrew and Elin below were when we had to say our goodbyes after our long stay there.

We loved being with our family and being able to celebrate Christmas with them. Sadly, I have very few pictures of Mom and Dad, and Courtney...so feel free to share some photos. We love our Minnesota family and wish we were closer!

Another Boy Coming Our Way

2009-01-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

This is so belated, but I thought an easy way to let many know that we are having our third boy come May 1st. We are so excited and can't wait for spring to arrive, for more reasons than one! Love you all!

November Recap

2008-12-14T10:21:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be easiest to get up to speed by posting some of the happenings of last month or so that never made our blog.

We made our first Halloween gingerbread house this year! As you can see the kids enjoyed eating the candy and saving a few for the tree, but I felt a little cheated as you literally just pull the entire house out of the box fully assembled. There was just something missing without having to at least assemble the pieces. But it was a fun decoration to have in our home during the holiday.

We all dressed up as characters from Peter Pan for Halloween. Just looking at the wig that Daniel wore as Captain Hook makes me laugh and shudder at the same time. Something about artificial long curly hair on my husband does not appeal! But he was a good sport to wear it, although he did tell me he "felt uncomfortable" being dressed up as the bad guy, and requested that next year he be a good guy! We ordered both George's and Grant's costumes online (phew no sewing!) and George wore it everyday for about 3 days until Halloween arrived. In fact he wore it today too, he just loves being Peter Pan. Uncle Bryce found a prehistoric looking "dagger" at WalMart and brought it home Halloween day so George's Peter Pan could carry a dagger. We had to bribe Grant with treats to keep his crocodile hood on, but he was very cute when he did, with the back of the costume having a long plush tail. I attempted to make a Wendy costume, even spray painting a pair of old white flats to match--unfortunately spray-painting them about two minutes before leaving for Daniel's parents' home, getting blue paint all over my feet! Daniel went trick-or-treating with Grant in the stroller as I stayed home to distribute candy, but know that George quickly became very adept at requesting treats at every door as he came home with quite a stash! Halloween is so fun, I just need to start preparing from now on in July, as I always seem to be at the sewing machine sewing like crazy!

I had to post these 2 pictures for memory-sake. Our two boys love playing with bubbles at the sink, we just fill up one of the sinks with bubbles and give them different utensils and they just have a hey-day. Grant will literally play at the sink for a good half hour before tiring of it.

Because this is becoming long, I will just finish with some remaining snapshots and a quick summary at the end!

The first picture is of us making rolls on Thanksgiving for our Marriott family dinner, which was amazing! George called it "making pies", they had so much fun patting that dough. The second picture is one where I finally caught the "Marriott stare" which is a phenomenon that only Marriott men endure, it's an unbreakable stare when any sort of audiovisual stimulus is present. :) The third picture is of the boys, Grant is still getting hugs after George gets back from preschool, and is often told "I missed you today Grant." And the last picture is of the pure enjoyment of making cookies, which is now becoming a regular Sunday night tradition, due to Marian's pregnancy. :)

The Campaign

2008-11-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well as many and or all have heard, Daniel unfortunately lost his bid for state legislator last week to the Democratic incumbent. I think we were both in shock the night of the election, as we were with many other Republicans at the Grand America in downtown Salt Lake and everyone was just getting creamed. It was quite a depressing party. So I think it helped to be surrounded by others going through the same thing. I woke up the next morning though, quite sad that Daniel hadn't won. He had worked so hard and put everything he had into his campaign, and I just didn't know how he was going to take it. He amazingly has felt so much peace throughout the whole outcome, and knows that there have been many people praying for him and his well-being. So in honor of a well fought campaign and an amazing person that would have been the best state legislator, I am posting pictures recapping some of the events of the last 9 plus months!

Signing up at the County Clerk's office to run and Daniel's easter egg--Marriott for State Legislature!

With Senator Bennett and quite red-faced after a July 4th 5K

Presenting the key "issues" at a Millcreek bbq and the very next day, a community bbq to network and shake hands

Modeling the campaign T-shirts and 2 stalwart volunteers--Katie Wrede and mom Neill Marriott

Right after voting, we took George with us to vote to witness the big event!

At the Grand America, awaiting the results, we're still optimistic and the TV screen showing the early votes posting

Taking signs down the day after, of course it blizzards on Daniel and a family picture for the campaign, this should have won it for us, no?

We love you Daniel and know this will not be our only time doing this! :) Thanks for all your hard work and optimism and love.

T-Ball and other adventures

2008-09-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last week George began playing t-ball through the local rec center league. It was so fun to go the first day and get an official "Red Angels" t-shirt and hat, and then practice for a bit with a tennis ball. We learned our lesson in that we should wake up George from his nap much earlier than when we need to leave. Otherwise we get an unhappy George as seen in the first picture! George seemed to be fascinated by this new environment, and afterwards we ran to the store and had him completely outfitted: a glove, two tee-balls, and a tee-ball stand. He had his first game last Wednesday, and when I pulled my camera out, the batteries were unfortunately dead. It was hilarious to watch a child hit the ball and then George's team all collectively swarm to the ball. Everyone swarmed except for George, who looked bored as he sat there on the field. The kind coach would at times hand the ball to George and encourage him to throw it to first base, but George in his own 3-year old way held on to it so tight and was not for the life of him going to give it away! This is a 3 to 5-year old team, so George is one of the littlest guys on the team and is very much still learning how it all goes.

Our other son never fails to amuse us, he is such a funny little guy. His new thing is climbing up on whatever he can and then putting out an arm and singing off-key, "da da-da da!". I'm posting a video that makes me laugh of him doing that, and George's reaction. A neighbor brought over a sack of peaches a couple of days ago, and my kids loved them. Both of them ate two peaches each before I stopped them.

George Starts Preschool

2008-09-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

After months of agonizing whether George should go to preschool this fall, we started just this week and are seeing how it goes. He is only three and I wasn't convinced that he needed to go this year and that I couldn't just teach him at home. I initially wanted to do a coop preschool with some parents in the neighborhood, but could not find any other interested parents. I decided to sign him up last year just in case, and before I knew it, fall had come and we both had to go this last Monday for an open house. His preschool is held at a neighboring elementary school, Oakwood, and meets on Mondays and Wednesdays for three hours in the morning. I was somewhat relieved on Monday morning when George said to me, "Mom, I just want to stay home with you today." I had to bite my tongue from agreeing with him and scooping him up and telling him that he never had to leave me ever! It wasn't until the very first day of preschool that I realized that in so many ways, George has not only been my son, but we have developed such a fun friendship, and I would be losing my little buddy for two mornings a week! We dropped off Grant at a neighbor's house, and headed to the school. George was tentative, but curious as he explored the classroom, not really listening to the teacher's invitations to sit down and listen but I've been assured that that will improve with time.

The teacher passed out popsicles, or jungle treats as she called them, at the end of class and George gleefully slurped away. As we left the school, a 1st grade class was being let out for recess and George got swept away in a crowd of boys and girls holding bouncy balls. Before I could help him, George's popsicle was on the ground and George was in tears. All the kids stopped to ask him what was wrong, but he was hysterical that he had lost his popsicle. I have to admit, I was so sad for him and sad to witness in such a small way my son's entry into this harsh world. :) Oh well, it was soon forgotten and we were off to pick up Grant. George had asked several times where Grant was, so I knew he had been missing him. I opened George's car door as soon as I had Grant and they immediately touched foreheads and George wrapped his arms around Grant in a huge, tight hug. After we got home, George lovingly put his arm around his little brother and it was so tender as he knew that he had missed Grant so much! What a dear sight! He's at his first full day of preschool today, and after some reticence this morning, he acted like such a big boy as he let me strap his crocs on, put his backpack on his back and he held on tight to this chain like thing that the teacher had brought outside to help all the children walk inside to the classroom. He is growing up and we're so proud of him!

The Beginning of a Blog

2008-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

For entirely selfish reasons, I have decided to start a blog. Once I discovered that you can have blogs printed and bound into a book, I realized this was the solution for my photo organization and memory collection needs! I have a friend that has had a blog for awhile and recently published a whole year of her posts into a book for her family from 2007. I thought it sounded like a great idea, and so am going to give it a try. That is why I am also keeping it private, as it will be mainly to suit the needs of our family and not necessarily be a commentary on the social problems of the world, or have to be extremely witty or funny, but just simply documenting the happenings and feelings and experiences of the Marriott family. I'm excited to do this! Of course, if you're reading this, I'm glad that you're sharing with us on these experiences and hope you enjoy them!