Saturday, January 5, 2008

whatchu been doin'?

Well, the holidays are officially behind us. Whew. I'm glad to be diving headlong into a new year, but my heart sank a little as we were taking down all signs of Christmas tonight at our home.


I'm excited about 2008 and all it promises to hold; my tummy gets that jittery feeling like waiting for a first date to show up on your front stoop. I have big plans for you, 2008, so hold on.

So I finally dumped the contents of both the cameras onto the computer and realized how jam-packed the last month or so really has been.

And so for your viewing pleasure I bring you a plethora of pics.



Payge's birthday party, November 17. Our theme this year was "Battle of the Bands". Her girlfriends showed up dressed like rock stars. They went "backstage" for makeup, wardrobe & hairstyling. The big finale was to have each "band" perform for their parents and one another. It was a great time!




Opening gifts:





Thanksgiving was next. We travelled back "home" to Kansas City and were able to spend some good time with family. Here's a sampling:





Cousin Nick, Cousin Brad, Brother-in-law Ben, Cousin Katie









Uncle Randall and Aunt Lisa








Us ladies, left to right: My sister Jessy, my sister Jenny, Aunt Sherie, Me, Grandma Helen, my "sister" Lynn.



I also got to see my "long lost" best friend from high school, Vallorie. It had been NINE years since we'd last laid eyes on one another! We managed to squeeze in a couple of hours for one another. Sorry it's such a horrible picture of us, Val!!!








Payge started playing the viola this school year, and had her first concert on December 18th. It was at 10:30 in the morning, so Paul wasn't able to see it. That's also why I couldn't manage to take a picture of her during the performance, because I was too busy recording it for Paul to see later. But nonetheless, here's Payge with her viola:










December 23rd my step-sister Stacy and her husband Kevin baptized their new son, Gage and then treated everyone to a delicious lunch at Old Chicago. Here's a picture of them:












Christmas was a bit different for us this year. It was the first year that we stayed here instead of spending some time in Kansas City. It was nice, relaxing, but we sure did miss everyone!



Oh Christmas Tree!








The girls on Christmas morning:














Before Christmas arrived (and baby Ruby!) some of us girls got together for what we like to call "Girls Day Out". This time it was to celebrate our friend Maria, who as you can tell, was great with child. We tried our culinary skills at Super Suppers, drank our favorite concoctions from Starbucks, and then laughed and laughed and laughed over lunch. Here we all are, pretending to be Rachel Ray:








L to R: Lacy, Maria, Me, Rachel, Stephanie










Steph, Rach, Maria with the "must-have"







Lacy and that dang meat!!!! (Lacy: I bet you thought I'd forgotten?)




The next big event was the birth of the much awaited Marshall #4, who turned out to be none other than Ms. Ruby Grace Marshall. She was born December 28th and weighed in at a tinsy 6 lbs, 4.5 oz.









After all this excitement, New Year's Eve seemed to come up on us fast. We decided to stick to our "regular" plans for NYE, which are to stay at home and party hard with our dearest friends. (Who could possibly find a sitter on a night like that? And even if we could, what in the world would we do with ourselves?) This year's theme was "Around the World". Everyone brought their favorite ethnic dish to share. We all sat around and gorged ourselves, then played a rambunctious game of Apples to Apples. We rang in the new year with some sparkling cider and toasted to all our friends.





James and Stephanie









Wendy and Jeremy








Kenton and Lacy












Paul and I have to resort to taking self-portraits because apparently our friends no longer own cameras. (Or they don't care to have pictures of us?!)


Okay, so there you go. Believe me, there were a lot more pics I could have put up here, but I'm sure by now you're bored of them. And even if you're not, I've been uploading pictures for the last hour and have tired of the process! (Especially after accidentally deleting one - ugggghhh!)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photos of family and friends....life CAN be good, huh? Love to all, Mom

Lacy said...

Thank you for being the first to re-post! The strike is OVER!!