Not so normal November... and Oh yeah October and our Annual Christmas Ode

 Aaron was asked to speak at a conference in La Caruna, Spain. We had enough frequent flyer miles for me to tag along- my parents had the kids for a week while we explored Espana and a day in New York. These pics are from one of my favorite spots- La Playa de la Catedrales in Galicia. It really was an amazing beach!

 Lobster Paella

 Saying good bye before we left on our trip

 Pulpo or Octopus is one of the most common dishes

 La Caruna is a great surf spot

 Graffiti- this one reminded me of Picasso, who actually lived here for a while as a kid while his dad taught art classes at the University

 The town had all sorts of cool art instalments

 view from our room

 I loved these door knockers- they were pretty common but soo cool!

 Silly video we made for the kids of us exploring the caves as the tide crept in at La Playa De Las Catedrales

 We rented a Fiat for a day to explore North East of La Caruna

 The Gala on our last night

 New York City for 22 hours...

 Cupcake from Cake Boss... yes please

 I LOVE Macroons- and apparently Laduree is the best- I had a salted carmel Dulche De Leche and a Rose Macroon and they were both AMAZING!

 Central Park

 Grand Central Station

 Super Cool shop that sold antiquities from Shell Fossils to Dinosaurs- only in NY

 We bought this big umbrella from a guy on the street and it tuned out to be the best purchase of our trip- It poured our whole time in NY

 After dinner walk on the beach and shell combing turned into this- they love the beach

 weekend at Great Grandma Ruth's house in Lake Arrowhead with Grandpa Rick

 Just an Elephant getting a drink

 Brave

 Luke Skywalker

 Captain America

 Disguised Turkeys... Ninja Turtle, Princess, and Darth Moll from Star Wars

Our Festive Front Door :) 

Tally got out of the shower and stuck a balloon in her towel- the kids thought it was hillarious and couldn't stop laughing

 Soccer studs

 Tally's team. The Magical Unicorn Frogs

Aricin's team. The Silver Jedi's

 Oli's 3rd birthday party

one tuckered out turtle 

 first trip to the Dentist

 Aricin's friend Ray

 Just another Fall day in SB

 Air One Jump House

 Cub Scouts build a boat project

 Checking out a Tall Ship at the Harbor Festival SB

 Urchins

 Oli and the Urchin

 We did the Color Run for my mom's birthday. Huge props to Aaron who was stuck at home with our sick kiddos. Such a fun run

 I stuck with my little bro- it was fun to run together. We couldn't keep up with my sis-n-law, Courtney or my Dad!

 The after party was crazy! Chalk everywhere

 I found some chalk and got him in the face like a true big sister would

 mom and dad. 

 my mom picked up crazy neon socks for all of us

 with a unicorn of course

 Pure Order Brewery- where we rehydrated

 Disney Days- Aaron had a conference in Orange County- so I brought the kiddos to Disney- solo and survived!

 Traumatic Ferris Wheel ride- my bad. Just call me mom of the year- poor Tally thought she was going to die :(

 The Boys

 Stroller with skateboard on back- this is literally how we roll at Disney

 pumpkin plug ins

Church Fall Festival Fun 

 Cub Scout Kayaking Trip in the Harbor- so fun!

 Talia's 5th Bday Party

 Trick or Treat

2014 School Pics (K and 1st)

Marshall Family Christmas Ode 2014, Volume 10

Hello friends, here’s a note from us to you

Filled with love and sharing what’s new…

Aricin lost his first tooth, turned 6, started first grade, and loves to surf

T-ball, soccer, and skate boarding parks are his favorite turf

Talia loves daddy dates, turned 5, started Kindergarten and loves soccer

Gymnastics, Ballet, and all things Frozen have turned her into quite the talker

Oliver is potty trained, turned 3 and loves going to Zoo Camp

He’s quite the jokester and loves to take his trainer bike on our ramp

In the spring we got annual passes to Disneyland

Making fun memories while these little guys still want to hold our hand

Aaron really loves his job as Director of Ed. at the SB Zoo

His PhD is still in progress always leaving him with something to do

My days are full of homeschooling, bible studies, MOPS, and running around town

I’m also a Local Childcare Coordinator with an Au Pair Agency ensuring no one gets down

And this year I started in Real Estate with Keller Williams  SB

If you know anyone buying or selling their home send them to me J

We celebrated 10 years since our wedding at the SB Zoo

With a stay-cation sans kiddos filled with fun times, great food, and good Brew

In September we made our 9^th move since our marriage, into a cozy place

While we don’t like moving we think Santa Barbara is our new home base

In November Aaron spoke at a conference in La Caruña, Spain

I tagged along as we explored and laughed in the sun and rain

We love SB and can’t get enough of the beach and sand

From combing for shells, building sandcastles, paddling, and surf it keeps us tanned

We are grateful for where we’re at, what we have, and who we get to do life with

God is good and his Providence is no myth

We are trying to learn how to slow down and rest more,

And be more intentional with those around us with an open door

We are trying to live simpler

Have less things without so many whimpers

For ourselves and others we want to let go of unreasonable expectations

Instead choosing to offer grace filled relations

We are trying to grasp a posture of Gratitude

To help us with a more joyful attitude

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,

According to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory- that is the Link.

So that’s our year so much to tell

We hope you are happy healthy and well

We wish you PEACE, LOVE, JOY and blessings this holiday season

And invite you to visit us anytime for any reason

With Love and Extending Big Hugs,

Aaron, Janay, Aricin, Talia, and Oliver

A Spectacular September...

Our kids love the sand and love being together

 This little ninja turtle was wiped out

 Tally's Under 5 soccer team name is The Magical Unicorn Frogs

 Martinet Ragin Cajun Family Reunion in Huntington Beach- So Fun!

 The kids always love abusing their uncle Jasun

 I call this bench the Whale Tail but the kids call it the Moustache bench :)

 Aricin and his cousin Samuel- best buddies and eatting the grapes with Crawfish Claws

 Soccer Fun- it's great and crazy having 2 kids in AYSO- I don't know what we're going to do When Oli's old enough for it

 Exploring Campus Point and UCSB

 Me and my little bro at Pure Order Brewery

 Aricin's experiment... He dropped his H2o bottle from our upstairs down onto the tile thinking his Nalgene wouldn't break- Surprise it shattered. Thank you REI for replacing it :) I'm sure this is just the first of many more of Aricin's experiments

 We said good bye to Jeremiah. We've loved this dog as our baby for the last 10 years but our new place has a strict NO DOG policy... so Jeremiah moved to my parents house in Visalia. It was sad for all of us but I think Jeremiah is happy to have a bigger yard to run in.

 Aaron and Aricin at the Skate park

 I love that they want to hold each other's hands- that for now they genuinely love each other. 

 I love Lemons and the Goleat Lemon Festival was fun for everything Lemon

 Oliver's 3rd birthday party and Pinata

 Aricin i think will always be a crazy climber

And my dad who dressed up in a Crocodile Costume for the Reunion. So fun!

September was crazy. We moved into our new place and are all unpacked. It's a cozy cottage filled with 800 square feet of us and our stuff. It's small but sufficient and we are happy here. Aaron spent a week in Orlando and I went down to Orange County for the Martinet Family reunion- so good to see all my cousins, aunts, uncles and eat so much good cajun food and crawfish! 

The kids have been busy with Soccer- practices during the week and games on the weekend. Tally scored all 4 of her teams goals in her last game- when she wants to play she's a beast and is fearless. Aricin prefers to play defense and is equally awesome at defending. Aricin has started Cub scouts and made a catapult at his last meeting- next week they are going to make boats out of duct tape and card board then race them before doing some kayaking- he loves this time with his dad. The kids have also started Awanas which has been really fun for them and a great date night for us :) Home schooling is going well. They love their Charter that they go to on Tuesdays and Thursdays and have started a home school science program on fridays at the Zoo. I've started a mom's bible study at church on thursdays as well as MOPS every other Friday. We are co-leading a home group with our good friends Zoe and Jason that just started- we're eager to get to know the people in our group on a deeper level. And for the first time in 7 years i'm starting to exercise regularly! We got a membership to the YMCA which is super close to us know and I've been trying to take advantage of the free child care- I've missed exercise and am excited to try to get back into shape :) Can you tell, we're a little bit busy? I'm jumping into a book club with some friends, i've been working sunday school at church, and am the Team Mom for Aricin's soccer team. I told Aaron- i need a vacation! Good news, a vacation is around the corner. Aaron's been asked to speak at a Conference in La Corntuna Spain in November- they are flying him out and we have enough frequent flyer miles for me to tag along also. So, in about 6 weeks we are going to take a Holiday in Spain. La Cortuna is an ancient port town on the North West Coast and I can't wait to explore it! 

People tell me it's fall, but unlike colorado it doesn't feel like fall. I enjoy the weather of Santa Barbara- I never have to check the weather here because it's almost always around 75- we did get extremes of 60 up to 85. but usually it's around 75 which is great, only now's like my favorite season other than summer. I've been baking pumpkin bread and hoping- secretly hoping for some cold weather to make the fall feel like it's really here.