Oregon!

Both flights went really well. Little Abraham was so good, especially considering the adventure of almost missing both flights! Here he is quietly sitting in the airplane, wearing his airplane suit.



We saw some awesome sea life when the tide was low.

Baby Abey at the beach with his sunscreen and sun hat


At least take off your shirt and towel first!




Little Hammie knows what's good for him. He said it was too cold to swim. He was kept warm and happy by Papa.


Andrew found this poor drowning man, and decided to pose for a picture with him, instead of help him.


The first and last full day we had were warm. The rest were cold. For the cold days, whenever we went to the beach, Abraham would fall asleep in his sling, and stay there asleep for hours until we left.


Here we are, eating Tillamook cheese sandwiches!


We always knew Abe was a puffin! Here we are at the Seaside aquarium.


Portugal narrowly won the 25m dash, followed closely by Venezuela at our family olympics.


Andrew felt a little sick after this rainy dip, and he was the only one in the ocean, but he could never fight the impulse to jump in. All the Oregonians watched from the beach.


Andrew scaling the knife edge at his favorite beach...


where he later broke off his big toenail trying to fly this kite!





It was a great vacation!

Is there no dignity?

"Do you really have to take pictures of me in my dipe? Show a little respect for a man who can't control what he wears or when he wears it!"

More beach pics from Oregon to come . . .

Happy Birthday Love!

It's sweet Ariel's birthday today. If only I could pen the deep, indelible feelings of love, admiration, and fondness I have for Ariel. She really does complete me. I can't think of an unhappy day in my life since I married her. Really. I'm not one to hyperbolize about things that mean a lot. I live to see and be with my lovely wife, and my obligation to bring home the bacon is becoming increasingly difficult, tearing me from her and the little Ham.

One day, when Ariel and I were engaged, my future father-in-law sent me this picture of Ariel with her cousin, Catherine.

When I saw it, I fell more in love with Ariel than ever. There was something so natural and beautiful about her holding a baby. It just made me happy. I realized when I saw it that she was going to be a wonderful, wise, enthusiastic, loving mother, and I became more excited than ever to marry her. Up to that point I had thought about her more as a future wife than as a future mother. Now I'm seeing her innate ability to mother she is more wonderful, wiser, more enthusiastic, and more loving than I ever could have imagined. Baby Hammer, and any other little Marshalls to arrive down the road, are the luckiest tikes in the world.

I love you Beautious Maximus! Para-bens!

Smileage!

We got a good one on the camera! And he's wearing a sailor outfit that I wore as a baby! He is just loaded with smiles these days! Smile eruption city! We can't get enough of this fella. As always . . . more to come.

Cousins!!

Nonie had her baby on August 7th, a beautiful 8 lb. 7 oz. boy. His name is Samuel Marshall Reesor. Our dear sister labored long and hard for 35 hours, with the support of Keenan, Mom, Meredith and two great midwives. She was spared a C-section and other medical intervention when the baby finally decided to come. It was a miracle. Nonie, Keenan and Samuel, we love and admire you so much!

He's getting so big!

Today Abraham met his cousin! Keenan and Nonie had a beautiful boy today around noon. He was 8 lbs 7 oz, and it looks like he might have red hair too! Nonie had a long, difficult labor, and handled the whole thing beautifully (& without pain medication). We love you, Nonie!
It sure was hard to believe that just 6 weeks ago, Abe was almost that small! He is growing so fast! He wants to try to hold his head up all the time, and prefers sitting or standing to being on his back. Here are two recent pics of the big guy. We'll post pics of his cousin soon!
Oh yeah, and here we also have Andrew pictured with his own personal shade he picked up on our walk.

Green Jello, etc.

Everything's more fun with a baby. We've had a great time these last few weeks showing Abe what summer is all about!


Andrew has enjoyed working for the Mormon Times (a section in the Deseret News). He's been able to write lots of interesting stories, and interview lots of interesting people. Last weekend we were able to go to St. George (Abe's first trip!) to cover stories on a Mormon motorcycle group that travels to temples, Miss Utah, and a tour of historic St. George. This picture was taken at a Mormon Times party. What Mormon party would be complete without a competition in Jello-Art? This was my first attempt. How did I do? The water would have been blue... except there was no blue jello. So, the color you're actually seeing is three small packs of yellow jello, one big pack of green jello, and about five drops of blue food coloring. Makes for a dark green. I'm happy to say that despite all this, we somehow won the jello competition. One funny side note is that although it was not a requirement, all the jello entries were green.
Wow, that's definitely the most I've ever written about jello...


Abraham had his first Summer Star Wars party. Andrew didn't want to wait too long to introduce Abraham to the series, especially while we had enthusists Neil and Winston in town.
We were able to get the real heroes to join our party. Here they are caught in an unusual action shot- Luke holding Master Yoda.


Here they are in the kitchen, sporting their jedi-in-training ponytails.


I love being the mom. No one can tell me what not to try with my baby. If he's been taking a nap for too long and I miss him, I can just get him up. If I want to see what he'll do if I put a carrot in his mouth, I can do it. Please do not comment and tell me those are bad things to do. I don't want to hear it. He liked the carrot anyway. He sucked on it for quite a while.


Another important summer activity: Jumping on the tramp


And what summer is complete without a family reunion? Here Grandpa is reenacting how he broke a plate of mashed potatoes over his brother Ted's head.


A long awaited summer event- meeting the final of the 9 aunts- Meredith! Welcome home, Merzi! Meredith left to Israel just days before little Abraham was born.


Last but not least, we had the opportunity to bless Abraham Craig Marshall in our Hispanic ward last Sunday. It was a beautiful blessing, and it was wonderful to be there among so many friends.