June and Tan Toes...

WARNING: I've uploaded a crazy amount of pictures...

strike a pose

Tally got her face painted in Lake Arrowhead by her cousin, Rachel.

Aricin got Lightning McQueen painted on his face

Lake Arrowhead with cousins Anna and Emie

First Carousel ride in Lake Arrowhead

Lake Arrowhead

feeding the ducks

Aricin and his buddy Seth in Santa Barbara

Jason and Zoe let us stay with them for a week in Santa Barbara

Aaron went Paddleboarding

Tally practicing her running form at Westmont

The Westmont fountain

Westmont bookstore find

Beach time...

lunch with Great Grandma Marshall

surfing down the hill at the zoo

Tally sliding down the hill at the zoo

And this is where we got married at the Santa Barbara Zoo... 7 years ago

Aricin feeding Betty Lou the Giraffe at the Zoo

Duncan the Dinosaur

Tally in a Dinosaur foot print

Whale bones at the Natural History Museum

Ring around the Rosies at the Santa Barbara Mission

Playtime at the park

24 weeks preggers pic

7th anniversary dinner at Longboards

Cousins Attison and Aricin

Cousins Ayla and Talia

Aaron with his dad and brother (The Marshall Boys)

Ramos Family pic... note the fake baby my mom's holding- just in case she opts to use the pic as a Christmas card when baby #3 will already be here :)

Spa surfing with Uncle Jasun and Uncle Jon

In-N-Out... it's what a hamburger is all about

Slide races with Grandpa

Playing with Grandpa Marshall

Twins day with Uncle Parker

Newport Beach

Backyard campout with daddy

Summer Backyard fun

trampoline tricks

Aaron's birthday sticker... in honor of our last car's "roll"

Papaya-shrimp yumminess

Caprese Salad

pre-haircut hair

we made sponge balls for water fun

June was soo fun. I don't even know where to begin... We went to our first concert at Red Rocks- an amazing venue where we saw Dispatch a pretty awesome band. We've been enjoying lots of evening walks (one of my favorite things) and i've been trying lots of new recipes (also one of my favorite things). The kids have seen lots of pool and sprinkler time and we've just been trying to enjoy as much outside time as we can. It's funny i think we appreciate being outside so much more because of the snow and cold that we got this spring. Aaron's been busy doing research for his PhD and has also demo'd the basement and is planning on renovating it sometime soon. I've been nesting and reorganizing everything i can get my hands on. Tally's vocabulary is growing and i love hearing her sweet girly voice say new words. Aricin is potty trained and loves helping us with everything from cooking to house projects.

We had an awesome time in California. We flew into Orange County and went straight to Newport Beach with our In-N-Out burgers. We stayed the night in Irvine with the Parkers and then drove up to Pasadena and spent some time with Aaron's dad and Diane. We stayed 2 nights with my Aunt and Uncle in Thousand Oaks and got to hang out with my parents and brothers which was awesome. We spent fathers day with Aaron's dad and his brother, Andy and his wife, Star and kiddos Attison and Ayla. It was so good to see family. We then headed over to Santa Barbara where we went Longboards on the pier for dinner on our 7th anniversary. We stayed with my old roommate Zoe and her husband Jason and appreciated their hospitality. In the week we were there we spent a lot of time at the beach, went to the zoo, the mission, state st., Westmont, we did it all and enjoyed great meals with friends. A small part of my heart will always remain in Santa Barbara- oh how i love that city. Aaron got to do some Paddle boarding (thank you Kevin and Amber) and Aricin got to feed Betty Lou the giraffe. I got to sneak out and go shopping with Zoe and Tally got to see turtles at the park. Our trip was awesome, refreshing, relaxing, and very much a vacation. We spent our last night up in Lake Arrowhead visiting my grandparents and aunt and uncle. Aaron got to do some Kayaking around the lake before we left. It's funny as good as it was to be in California it was also really good to be back home. As much as I whine about the winter cold and spring snow I think i do love it here and love the seasons.

May 2011

We spent mothers day weekend in Mesa with family

Aricin and Uncle Rondo

Ahhhh Tally

Playing with the cousins

Tally, Carter, Aricin, and Jonas

Aricin and Carter

We spent a weekend up at Breckenridge with our small group.

The guys had an intense game of tether ball.

Uncle Bri reading to Aricin and Carly

Bath time for all the kiddos at Breck

fun times with friends

We threw a surprise birthday party for my friend, Jen

(she's a huge Michael Jackson fan)

Valor had a family bowling night. Aricin got to bowl with his buddy Caleb

Tally at our first Rockies game of the year

Aricin at the Rockies game

(21 weeks)

Our latest BIG news is that we aren't going to Edinburgh this summer. Aaron's advisor told him he could do the same research here in colorado and Pete (his advisor) will be spending all of july in Lakewood, Colorado (10 minutes from here) with his wife and in-laws. As a result Pete told Aaron he could meet with him while he's out here and count it as their would be meetings in Edinburgh this summer. Horray! Aaron's stoked because it's going to save us a lot of money. I was initially bummed but have come to the realization that being as pregnant as i am- it's probably a good thing to just stay put, besides we would have been on the 5th floor of a building that doesn't have elevators and that would have been rough carrying the stroller and kids up and down throughout the day. The good news is we will be returning to Edi in January as Aaron will need to present his research before a progression board, this trip will probably just be me, aaron, and the baby. We'll also return to the UK next summer so that he can do more research and writing and we're hoping to be able to stay a little longer to catch some of the olympics. Another note in regards to Aaron's research and writing... A paper he co-wrote last summer has been accepted at a conference in London, Aaron isn't able to travel to speak on it but his partner will go. And two of the chapters Aaron collaborated on last summer have been published in books- kind of exciting!

We had our big ultrasound a couple weeks ago and opted to not find out the sex of the baby. Whew it was hard for me, but i'm anxiously looking forward to finding out what this kiddo is. It's currently measuring 1-2 weeks early which would put my due dates sometime between the end of September and early October- which means baby will probably arrive in early septemberish. We've nicknamed the baby "trey" rather then calling the baby "it." All and all we are thankful that everything looks healthy thus far and are praying the last half of the this pregnancy will also be stress free. Tally loves to rub my belly and say "baby" and give it kisses. Aricin keeps telling us he doesn't want a baby because they cry. Poor guy i think he's a little nervous for what changes will take place.

More big news is that Aaron is done with his tutoring company, his partner bought him out. He's stoked because it's one less thing for him to stress about and we're considering using some of the money to renovate the basement. We are also planning on taking a trip to Cali from June 16th to June 25th. We will spend most of our time in Santa Barbara on the beach and a couple days in the LA area. I'm soo looking forward to the beach and i think Aaron is too. One other random snippet, i just brought our dog, Jeremiah in for his annual physical and... he now weighs 112 pounds. I realized that's a lot, but i was a little surprised when they marked him as "Obese." I felt a little defensive like i'm failing as a puppy parent. Needless to say we've been taking more walks with our awesome jogging stroller (thanks Rick for the Christmas present) over to the dog park. One last thing, Aaron is getting more and more excited about a company he started with two buddies (Impact Edventures) they are launching a Uganda trip this summer that his partners are leading and he's leading a week long sailing trip to the Bahamas. The trips are experientially driven focusing on developing leadership skills and making an "impact" in the areas they visit through service projects. I'm a little jealous that he'll be spending a week (July 22nd-29th) on boat in the Bahamas but am excited that my parents are going to fly out and help with the kids.

May flew by. We kept busy and were out of town quiet a bit. We love going to Mesa, Colorado. It's on the western slope and is known as Colorado's wine country. There are lots of peach orchards and vineyards and life just seems a bit slower. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend filled with bike rides along the Colorado and good times with family. We also spent a weekend up in Breckenridge with our small group. Through a valor connection we were allowed to stay at a pretty amazing cabin. It doesn't seem right using the word "cabin" when it's soo much nicer then any house i've ever stayed in. From the bar with it's Breckenridge Brewery tap and keg to the hot rock heater for the massage table and sharper image massage chair, to the hot tub, to the flat screen tv's everywhere- the place was pretty awesome and we enjoyed that it was walking distance to starbucks. It snowed a little while we were there- the snow just won't quit this year! All and all it was good times with our good friends. Our small group has grown to feel more like family then friends, we love them dearly. Last week we threw a surprise birthday party for my good friend, Jen who's a Michael Jackson fan- i had so much fun planning and prepping and things turned out pretty well.