Important Cousin Addendum!

In writing that last blog, I neglected to mention that I already have one very cute niece, Lucy, and two very playful nephews, Simon and Thomas. We are so glad our little one has such playmates waiting to befriend him. I loved my cousins growing up, so I'm glad my boy has four all ready for him!!

A New Nephew & A Handsome Husband

We got the greatest baby present for our little boy last week... a best cousin! Just what he wanted. Abraham Craig Marshall joined the family on 24 June at a lovely 8 lbs. 15 oz. Happy parents pictured here:
Here are the proud uncle/aunt/unborn cousin/dad:
For cuter close-ups of little Abe, see the AAa Team's blog. We are so proud of Ariel, who weathered the entire long labor and birth without pain medication. This is what I'm hoping to do, and she has beautifully paved the way. And we are also proud of Andrew, who stuck with her through the whole incredible experience as her partner and needed support. I feel so lucky to have Keenan by my side. He has full confidence in me and shares my ideals about how a birth can be. He has prepared with me and in doing so has gained my complete trust as "labor coach." I bet he could smoothly deliver this baby in a car if necessary...and breech! :) With regard to the decision to birth "naturally," we of course realize that the unforeseen does arise, and we are prepared to have some decisions to make in the moment as necessary. But as to where we are right now, I feel we have prepared well together for this exciting event!

Keenan has also been a pregnant wife's Super Husband. He has supported me in all my endeavors, made me meal after meal, cleaned the apartment, made phone calls I haven't had time to make, stewed over upcoming decisions so I don't have to, routinely rubbed my feet and back, taken and enjoyed a fantastic childbirth class with me, and taken much better care of me and baby than I could by myself. See, here he is feeding me liver for my first time...
We are fast approaching our two-year anniversary, and I couldn't be happier. I hope my little boy turns out just like Keenan.

Baby Dalton

Could this not be my baby? (This is 6-week-old Dalton, our first cousin once removed on Keenan's side...) I don't know if my baby will have red hair, seeing as Andrew, Meredith, and I are the only red heads in our whole huge extended family. I think there's actually more red on Keenan's side, so we'll see what happens. In the end, I definitely don't want to have a family full of redheads (heaven forbid), but I could take a child or two as cute as this one!

Spectacular, Superlative, Sublime.

Keenan had never been to Yellowstone.
So we took a trip, anticipating flowers and sunshine.
And grizzlies.
The first night, we built a fire in the rain/snow, using a thousand matches.
The second night, we built a fire using no matches at all, nor lighter fluid of any sort.
The food was spectacular.
The company superlative. (Amanda not pictured here.)
The scenery sublime. Fortunately, the cold did not penetrate the entire landscape.


For a better narrative, see Adam's blog. Thanks to all those who braved the journey! This was a great memory.

Back in Business

Welcome back for another exciting NEWS FLASH! We found our camera just in time for Keenan's afternoon Graduation ceremony. I was so happy...it was like finding $300. So our blog's back in the works. Perhaps we'll manage to update again before Small Fry is born. Here's the little tyke now, pictured at nearly 28 weeks...

So most importantly, Keenan is now a GRADUATE! We are very excited about this, as it's the first time he's graduated from anything. :) And he did it with style...3.91 GPA in the end (with an almost perfect 4.0 for the entire duration of our marriage... can I take a little credit for that?). I am proud of my Aggie.

Second-most importantly, my BIRTHDAY was on Monday! :) Keenan is great at planning these sorts of things. He gave me a couple gifts in the morning then took me around doing all sorts of exciting things, like breakfasting at this incredible new discovery: The Original Pancake House in Sugar House. Best breakfast diner we've yet seen...
Me petting a stingray...so soft I could take it to bed with me.
Finishing off an Iceberg black raspberry shake we shared...
Curving a ball down the alley at 120 mph...
Sharing a free-meal root beer at Café Rio...
As my photo-loving Dad says, "Pretend like you're blowing them out!" Mom's carrot cake is THE best...
We also went to a fantastic Utah Chamber Artists concert in the evening, but sadly didn't get any pictures there. If you want to know more about UCA, click here. It was one of the best birthdays yet.

In more inspiring news, a little while ago we received a HUGE basket of baby boy clothes on our doorstep, the thoughtful mark of a kind RS sister in our ward (who I don't even know all that well). There were so many clothes I cannot possibly keep them all for fear of space issues...so AA Team, you can watch out for a bagful...
How's that for making up for more than a month's worth? Really, all is well. We are busy preparing for labor/birth/parenthood, as well as the big move to California. (We hope these two events don't correspond TOO closely.) We're also looking into investing in a piano, so Nonie won't be spending those early mothering days by her lonesome. More on that to come.

Until the next time...

MISSING!! (Our updating disclaimer)

I realize that we've not been superlative updaters. It's been weighing on my mind for some time. However, I can't bring myself to update for one important reason: we've lost our camera. It's been some time since we've seen it now, and I just can't bring myself to post without some pictures! I have a list of things in my mind about which we ought to be updating, but in my mind, there are pictures next to each one! We're about to pull out the old 38 mm! So thanks for your patience, and hopefully we'll get this worked out spit-spot. Meanwhile, know that all's well. Keenan's graduating and Nonie's getting bigger.