Happy Birthday Marshall

I love that I have known Marsh his whole life. Before he was born, I was so excited to have a new baby in our family and to see what a little brother was like. Babysitting Marshall allowed me to learn tons of useful baby skills, and feel more like an independent, grown-up sibling in our family. I relished the times I could make him rice cereal, swing with him in the yard, change him into his sweet, baby-blue clothes or his soft, cuddly jammies, and hold him and smell his sweet baby smell. He made me fall in love with babies, and then toddlers, and then children as I watched him grow through each phase. I am 8 years older which is enough distance to feel older and really appreciate his sweetness and laugh at his silliness. I will always remember how much joy and happiness our littlest brother brought into our home.

Marshall has an insatiable thirst for knowledge that is totally contagious. He is a fun uncle who will build Legos, climb into forts and race through the yard with his nephews (who absolutely adore the attention and his youthful energy). He is passionate, and totally and completely loves the things he loves (i.e. Tolkien, the founding fathers, Kansas and other classic rock bands, Ruth Ann's rolls, 24, etc...) I love that Marshall took a huge leap of faith in joining the swim team his senior year of high school. Now he is like a fish and happiest when he is in the water, testing his endurance and strengthening his body. I absolutely love Marshall when he is giddy or silly--he makes me laugh so hard that I cry like crazy and my face hurts from so much smiling.

Marshall and I have actually gotten to know one another more than we ever have before in the past year or so and it has been such a blessing in my life. Because of Marshall, I have learned about faith, honesty, character, prayer, and love in ways I never expected, but definitely needed in my life. He has such a good heart yet he doesn't always see how radiant, sincere and uplifting he can be. I have laughed out loud at his stories about finding classes as a freshman on campus and quietly cried as he's borne his testimony at Lake Powell or through simple emails to the family. He still has so much of his life ahead of him and I am thrilled for the possibilities and opportunities that are his. Happy Birthday Marsh--I love you.

Flower Girls and Boys

Today we strolled through the Thanksgiving Point Gardens at the annual Tulip Festival. It was absolutely beautiful! Cecily blogged perfectly about our experience provided by Grandma Bobbi and Grandpa Sherm. We all enjoyed the sunny skies, open fields of grass, bridges, streams, hidden gardens, fountains and colorful flowers everywhere we looked. It was the perfect place to be on such a perfect spring day!

Happy Birthday Justin

My brother-in-law, Justin, and my brother, Tye, share birthdays. So I thought I'd blog about Justin on his very own day even though it is a day late :)I think my favorite thing about Justin is his quiet, shoulder shrugging laugh. It seems to surface most often when the whole LeBaron gang is hanging out and making joke after joke. Justin won't laugh at everything but when someone can really get him going it is great fun. Justin is a very methodic ROOK player and really likes to win when he can fully cream his opponents instead of just scrape by with a win. Justin is totally enamored with the women in his life, Gracie and Maggie, and I love how content and comfy Gracie looks when she's on his lap or cuddled in his arms. I am always jealous of Justin in the summer because he gets the best tan (even if it is a farmer tan, it's still impressive!). If he and Maggie end up moving to St George for good then I will never be able to compete :) Happy Birthday Justin and good luck with all the big events and decisions coming up in the next little while. Don't forget to email us a picture of little Gracie in her cap and gown at graduation!

Happy Birthday Tye

Here's to my one and only big brother. It's funny that I can remember several birthdays of Tye's when we were growing up because I always wanted to be a part of them. It looked so fun to have Easter egg relay races and run around in the yard and play crazy boy games. If I didn't get included in his birthday games then Tye totally made up for it in our free time together. I remember him teaching me how to play all of our Nintendo games and Contra as a team became my favorite thing to play together. We spent many summer evenings rollerblading around the neighborhood or up in the Country Club, playing ping-pong out on the deck or badminton in the backyard.

When I started high school as a little, insecure, awkward Freshman, Tye was starting his Senior year. Although we all know he basically did his own thing, he was a cool guy and everyone at Highland knew who he was. I was so so scared to start high school but what made a huge difference to me those first few days was driving to school with Tye in the big Suburban and knowing that if I ran into his familiar face in the halls he would smile back and even say 'hi' to all my friends and me. A Senior actually acknowledged us! It was a huge deal in high school terms and I really appreciate how nice he was to us and that he let us join REEC (the coolest club ever :)

As we've grown up I have seen a lot of sides of my brother and learned a lot about him. He is incredibly smart. He is a good writer--the kind that holds my attention easily and quickly, even when I'm reading about sports (not so much my favorite:). He is a laundry fanatic, the best onion dicer I know, and full of trivial knowledge. I would say "useless trivial knowledge" but I have seen how sharp he is when playing Trivial Pursuit so I know it's actually useful. He is a good man and I am happy when I see him acknowledge and embrace it. He is in love with his wife and his cats and hope he will be equally devoted to his kids when he becomes a father. I am excited for that step in his life and how the future will shape him.

Thanks for the fun memories Tye! I hope you are having a relaxing and fun birthday today.

New Blog

Yay! Now I have 2 friends who are blogging. It is starting slowly but surely. Heather Hayes who lives all the way across the country in Charlotte, NC has joined the ranks. The quote in her first entry cracks me up--it's pretty true :) Check out her cute family and new Southern lifestyle by clicking here. Happy Blogday Heather and congrats on the birth of your new blog!Heather--how is the the most recent pic I have with you?? (Emily's wedding Aug. 2004)

Online Album Update

I have finally posted a whole collection of our best pics from Spring Break and Easter. Check out our Family Photos website to see more of our vacation last week.

To view the Easter pictures click on the link at the top of the Spring Break photos page or just click here. Hope you like tons of photos of my kids!

Happy Easter

We spent 5 days down in St George to celebrate Easter and play with the extended Smith family. The weather was gorgeous, the kids were wild and crazy, the food was delicious and the company was fabulous. We fit in a lot including several Easter crafts, golf cart rides, a glorious morning walk with Bentley and Maddie, lots of swimming, Easter egg dying, napping, shopping, egg hunting, Sunday morning church and so on. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Our Martha Stewart centerpiece project

Dying Easter eggs

Will and Ethan