Take a close look at these pictures. Which one is Marley??? I was deceived by my little bro who decided to trade Marley's outfit with her cousin Seth's outfit. My family then told me that Marley was poopy so I came up behind her and lifted her up, took a big sniff of her bum (which was not stinky, thank goodness) and turned her toward me. It was not Marley at all, but Seth. I did have to take a second look, but I knew it wasn't my daughter. My family pulled this same trick on many other people in the family, but the funniest was with my sister-in-law Akaela. Seth is 8 weeks younger than Marley and can stand, but doesn't have quite as much practice as Marley. Akeala was trying to get "Marley" to stand and kept saying, "Is she tired? She doesn't want to stand." She kept trying and trying, until someone said, "Do you like Seth's earrings?" Akaela finally realized that the baby she was trying to get to stand was not Marley at all, but Seth. Pretty funny stuff.
Here is Marley (in yellow) looking just like her older brother when he was her age!

WATER!!!
We went to Blake's dad house today and were outside enjoying the nice weather when Marley spotted the sprinkler on. She crawled right over to it and first, put her hand out, then crawled closer until the water just soaked her. She thoroughly enjoyed getting soaked and having the water sprinkle all over her. I'm sure it was freezing, but she didn't complain until I took her away from the water.

Here she is all dry!!!

Grandma Johnson

Today was Blake's Grandma Johnson's funeral. It was a tough day, but a day of remembering. Not only did we get to remember a great lady who was known for her remarkable gift of serving others in many ways, but we got to remember the reason we are here. It is amazing to me how one second a person is here and one second they are gone. It puts things into perspective. I am so thankful for so many things and I got to remember them today. I am thankful for the knowledge I have of the gospel, of premortal life and the purpose for life. I am thankful that I know families can be together forever and that our spirits never 'die'. I am thankful for a Savior who died for us and for a loving Heavenly Father who is always mindful of us.

The funeral was beautiful and we learned some fun things about Grandma Johnson. I just want to say that she was an awesome Great Grandma to Stratton and Marley and an equally awesome Grandma to Blake and I. She truly loved us!

We went to see her with the kids a couple of weeks ago and had a nice visit and took a few pictures....

We love you Grandma Johnson!

Stratton's new trick

As you can see, Stratton learned to ride a two-wheel bike this weekend. He was outside with his cousin who was apparently giving him tips on how to ride a bike. Then Blake decided to let him give it a try. Stratton took off and has been riding ever since. He doesn't want to ride his beloved hotwheels scooter anymore, only bikes! He is really doing a great job riding and it is a riot to watch him cruise around on this little purple bike.

Marley - 10 months

Marley is 10 months old (about two weeks ago). She now has five teeth and can stand without any help wherever she is. She has taken a few steps, but not too many. I expect that any day she will just take off and start walking. She goes to bed at about 7:30 and wakes up at about 8:30. New words she can say are 'yeah' and 'hi'. When my sister says "Spirit Fingers", she raises both hands in the air and smiles and when someone says, "Good job" she starts clapping. She points to things whenever I point and she has a great personality! I love her personality, she is so excited to be alive, curious, adventurous, she loves to make everyone around her smile and she loves to mimic what you are doing. Isn't it every child's dream to ride a pony? I guess my kids didn't get that gene!

Here is Stratton and Marley dancing. When music comes on Marley loves to shake her legs and do a little jig.

Marley has quite an exuberant growl.

She loves our dog, Shiloh! If Marley is crying or upset I show her the dog and she is happy again.

This is how Marley crawls around. It is not just because she is on grass and hates it. She crawls like a little monkey all over the place. She is super fast and it is a funny thing to watch. One day I'll learn how to put a video on this blog and you can see her in motion.

Fixing up the house...

So since we moved in our house in October it seems like each weekend is filled with some kind of house project. It is CRAZY...anyway I have to show off my husband's work on the kitchen. We decided to put new cabinets in from IKEA and having little experience with IKEA we didn't know that each thing comes in its own box and you have to put it together. I had to chuckle at the 'universal' instructions that have no words. However, the instructions do have a guy with a question mark over his head calling IKEA. So I guess when you get stuck you call IKEA. My husband did this all on his own, WHAT A GUY! So here is our kitchen and then Marley's room that we painted. And here is to many more house projects!!