The Marx's

Sophia 7 1/2 months

2011-10-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Sophia is now 7 1/2 months! She has 3 1/2 teeth; she sits; eats solids, paper, and price tags. She has actually pooped out a price tag that still said "suggested retail price." She is a big talker, especially at church (for some reason church inspires her squeals, grunts, and babbles) where she frequently competes for attention with her extremely adorable vocalizing. Relief Society loves her, however most of the women are pregnant with their first child, therefore I am positive they dream of having a sweet baby like Sophie.

Sophie the day after her hospital release. She ended up back in ER because she was horribly sick, but not too sick to enjoy the new toy attached to her arm. She didn't mind the IV at all, but loved biting, sucking, and analyzing the yellow bee wrap.

I love walks! And leaning forward to suck and bit on my tray.

This is the basket where we keep her toys. I'd love to say she did this on her own, but no, I posed her.

This is my favorite outfit for church. I love her leggings! Everyone told me how cute she looked, and, if I could take credit, many babies were in leggings after that. Right after this picture we had the prayer to begin Relief Society, during which Sophie made some suspicious sounds. Later, 30 minutes later, Sophie was scooting around for toys and I noticed a huge orangish goop on her beautiful quilt. Unfortunately, blowouts are always a risk.

Sophia

2011-07-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry, especially to my Mom, for not posting for 5 months! Seriously ashamed that Sophia is 4 months old and not one picture of her was posted. Well, for the few followers that I might still have, here are a few of our beautiful Sophia.

Feeling Huge!

2011-02-20T10:40:00.000-08:00

Finally in the home run of pregnancy, but I hear the last couple weeks is the longest... so far so true! I am still teaching and hope to teach up til the second I am in labor, and my kids are just as excited as I am. In fact I passed out paper for them to write down name ideas (they don't know we have one picked out yet) and told them if we picked their name I would give them a candybar.

Here is an updated picture at 35 weeks.

26 Weeks Pregnant

2010-12-12T16:36:00.000-08:00

I am starting to get big and still have 3 more months... any guesses on how big I will be? Really, getting bigger is uncomfortable, just when I think my tummy couldn't possible stretch any further it seems to keep growing! Although pregnancy doesn't feel that great sometimes, we are so excited for March to welcome our new addition!

It's a GIRL!

2010-09-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I was feeling some strange pains that made me worry, so Monday (yesterday) I made an appointment. They decided it was best to give me an ultrasound to check things out... nothing to worry about. The advantage was that I found out I was a week further than I thought and I could find out what we were having. Of course Andrew wasn't there because it was last minute, so I called him to come down so we could find out together. Luckily the nurse and office was so nice to let me wait until Andrew got there (45 minutes later).

The entire pregnancy we both felt we were having a girl (and most everyone we know thought so too) so we weren't too surprised, but still very happy. The majority of my family side is girls: sisters, aunts, cousins, etc; so, it would have been different for me to have a boy... but, maybe next time. I think Andrew is a little worried we'll have all girls, so he plans on TomBoying our girls a little until he gets a boy, but we all know I will girlify our little chick, so we'll have some super cute Girly soccer/softball/hunter/fisher girls.

Little Baby Marx

2010-08-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

I think most everyone we know knows by now, but hey what's a blog for but old information that comes too late to be real exciting. Still, we are excited to welcome little baby Marx to our little family in March. It's been a summer of newness- moving to a new place, new jobs, and a baby... keep the good luck rollin' in!

6.5 weeks- and the big black circle is not the head, it's the yolk sack.

Almost 10 weeks- crazy how fast they grow in there! You can see the body and if you look close you can even see little fingers. There is only a 3 week difference in these ultrasounds.

7th Grade

2010-06-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am the newest addition to Kennedy Jr. High in West Valley. I will be teaching 7th grade reading and English. I can't tell you how excited I am. Seems like I have been interviewing and waiting forever, but tomorrow I get to see my new classroom and start planning my first year of teaching! Yea!

Hair

2010-05-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I change my hair a lot. I guess I have never felt like I have found the "it" hair style for me. When I am brown hair I envy my blond pictures, and when I have blond hair I miss the dark. What to do! Such a dilemma.

Graduation

2010-05-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Finally! I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in English Education.

Student Teaching- Mission Accomplished

2010-04-02T09:16:00.001-07:00

I made it! Sometimes I wondered how I was going to get through, but finally the last day of student teaching has come! Really I still have another week, but I will only be observing other teachers and working on my Senior Project... so I am celebrating with my students today. I seriously can't wait for rest and recovering. Being a teacher is not a 9-5 job and it took all of the mental energy I could supply. I look forward to the day when I have no papers to grade and no planning to think about. Andrew is just as excited- now I can actually be a devoted wife and have a personal life with friends and family again.
By the way, I graduate April 30th... can't wait!

Stressed?

2010-03-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have realized the stress of being an English teacher. Sometimes I wonder... what have I done to myself? Only three more weeks and I am finished- seems like an eternity when I've got a stack of paper to grade that are a mile-high. Just remember if I seem disconnected with the world this is why.

Babies in class?

2010-02-19T10:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, as my most interesting and rowdy class was coming in from the bell, I heard a little wee cry and noticed a baby carrier. I assumed it was was one of those fake babies, so I nonchalantly asked, "Oh is that one of those fake babies for a class?" Well, the girl who was carrying the baby carrier said, "No, I'm just babysitting." She apparently thought it was no big deal. Of course I was confused, because why on earth would someone ask a high school student to babysit during 4th period? Of course, the whole class was mesmerized that there was baby in class saying, "Hey! A Baby!" or "How cute, a baby!" Really the whole thing was pretty funny... and random.
As I started my lesson for the day and talking to the students, the girl who was supposedly babysitting "SHHsh-ed" me saying, "Be quite the baby is sleeping," to which the whole class burst out laughing at the irony of the situation.
One of the funnier things that have happened, and just wanted to share!

Half-way there...

2010-02-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

Next week is my half-way point of student teaching to graduation in April. Trust me I am keeping count! The experience started out a little shaky (which I heard from all my teacher peers that it's normal), but I am really starting to feel confidence in myself as a teacher. For all those who are not teachers, let me tell you... you have no idea how much work, time, and effort teachers put into the classroom. I have never ever been so exhausted in all my life... AND I am never done; the work never stops (well, until summer). On top of all the papers and test to grade and the time-consuming, mentally frustrating lesson planning, I have my own college classes every Wed. night and a huge load of senior projects to finish by graduation. As bad as it all seems sometimes (and yes teaching has made me cry), I am finding more and more that I really enjoy the job.
I love the funny stuff that students say, or when they actually enjoy the lesson and seriously, teachers do care if you like it... I try so hard to interest students and it is a little depressing when my lesson falls flat.
You definitely have to have your wits about you in this job... one day I was doing a mind game with the students and they had to multiply 5 and 9, and under the pressure I was, I quickly shouted out that is was 35 (which it isn't). So, one of the students corrected me and we all had a good laugh about how it's good I am an English teacher and not teaching math.
Well I wanted to post more, but my fourth period is about to start so guess I will catch up later.

Recently

2010-01-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

Scary news has erupted in my family. My mom lost her vision in her left eye and then was diagnosed to have a tumor growing on her optical nerve. She is admitted at the U of U Hospital and will have brain surgery most likely on Monday. We are all very hopeful, supposedly this is the most common brain surgery and is regarded as a highly positive outcome. The doctors are very optimistic that the tumor is benign, and hope to recover my mom's vision. Although we are feeling extremely optimistic, we still ask for thoughts and prayers directed towards my mom's surgery success and to restore her vision.
Thanks.

Student Teaching Assignment: I'm going....

2009-12-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

Yes! It's finally here! I feel like I have been waiting forever... of course UVU had to wait till the very last minute of the entire semester to tell us, probably just to see how all us newbe student teachers could handle the suspense. But, yes I am so excited to tell you that I will be student teaching... (drum roll please...)
12th grade English at Spanish Fork High School.
If I am correct that will include regular senior English, AP English, and College English 1010, but I have not yet met with my cooperating teacher for all the details.

Honestly, I never thought student teaching would come. It always seemed so far away. Now that it's here I am both terrified and giddy; I was so excited in the UVU assignment meeting that I was making myself dizzy with turmoil. Wish me luck, I start Jan. 5th, 2010. Yippy!

Crafts

2009-10-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

These are the easiest and cheapest crafts you could possibly make, and yet they are so cute.

Supplies: mod podge
scrapbook paper
foam brushes (not the bristle kind)
cheap wooden frames or cut out
+ any artistic embellishments you want

For those of you who may not have mod podged before, it is really easy. Just cute out the paper to fit the frame or board, add mod podge with foam brush to the entire portion of wood, then lightly and carefully press the paper into place. After the paper is relatively dry, brush the outside of paper with mod podge and dry. Easy!

My mom and sister visited, and we had so much fun making our crafts. I wanted to get pictures of our messy crafts but forgot before they left, so these are all my crafts.

I added the letters and then chunky glitter.

The frames are way cheap at JoAnne's, only $2.00 and paper is usually only $.50 so this a relatively fun and yet cheap way to make a new look for bare walls.

Our house in Utah

2009-10-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

Actually, Andrew and I have lived here for almost two years, but I guess I didn't put any pictures on our blog. I probably meant to, but forgot. I didn't realize this until I talked to an old friend that asked me if I had posted pictures of our house (of course I had not), so then I decided to put some up.

Our house is a townhouse with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a GARAGE (this was Andrew's one stipulation when we were looking to buy).
As I took the pictures above, it actually started SNOWING for the first time this year! Yea for winter!

Dinning Room opens up into the kitchen and living room.

Kitchen and Dinning room

Living Room as it opens up to the kitchen and dinning rooms

Living room (Andrew is very proud of his T.V., we saved for months to buy exactly what he wanted... and we got a great deal on it at woot.com, check it out for some awesome daily deals).

Looking upstairs from the living room. I love the balcony, it was one of the major selling features for me!

Looking down to the living room from upstairs. The balcony has proved very entertaining because I will throw Maggie's toy from here and she will run and fetch it. She's a very active dog and needs to be worn out, so this has been a great tool (especially when cold outside and can't go for walks).

Part of the hallway upstairs, just so you can see the balcony a little better.

Master bedroom.

More master bedroom. I wanted to show this picture because of our crafty skills: I made the curtains, and Andrew installed the ceiling fan.

And one more of master bedroom.

Maggie's new find

2009-10-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Although many of you may have already seen this picture, I thought I'd put it up because it is so funny. Andrew was BBQing while I was inside preparing other dinner stuff, when Maggie ran inside with Andrew chasing behind. Andrew was laughing and told me that Maggie found this outside. This picture is exactly the way that she ran in with the Binky. Funny huh!

Real Salt Lake

2009-10-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

I decided quite awhile ago to surprise Andrew with a fun date. I thought for almost of month of stuff he would really like to do, and then the perfect idea came. "Of coarse, he's been wanting to go to RSL game ever since the new stadium was built." So, I began looking for tickets online. I wanted to make sure they were good seats (and since I had never been to a Real soccer game I had no idea what to expect), so I was often pulling up online stadium maps trying to decide how much to spend and where to sit. I was definitely getting excited. I started to imagine how happy he would be when we would dramatically drive up to the stadium parking lot and he would realize what kind of date I had planned for him. It was going to be perfect.
Clever as I thought I was, my angst for revealing my little secret became overbearing (I really can't keep a good secret from Andrew, and usually end up ruining my own surprises from excitement) til I finally had to tell. He liked my surprise, but (not surprisingly) already knew because I had left a paper trail of evidence on the computer of stadium seating maps.

Our little date night adventure was so fun. The game was so amazing. The fans at soccer games are like nothing I have ever seen. In one section there were several people with big flags and drums, and the ENTIRE game they beat on those drums, waved their flags, and jumped in a synchronized rhythm. I was very impressed with their energy and loyalty for RSL.

Our future family looks Bleak

2009-09-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

No, No.... we are not expecting sorry to get your hopes up! But we found this funny website where you can see what your future baby might look like. We really hope it is inaccurate, otherwise we should probably reconsider having children... they'd be really ugly!
Here's the link:
Little Baby Boy Marx

A Busy Week!

2009-06-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

The first week in June was extraordinarily busy! I got my hair done, so I am officially a blond chick again; one of my close friends, Katie Hanks, from high school was married in the Draper Temple, and Andrew and I went to the Hill Air Force Air-Show. We had a lot of fun with all our busy activities, but I suppose I must have been over-exerted because I came down hard with a miserable cold only days later.

Here's Andrew packing around nephews while we looked at airplanes. Behind him is a big hanger... I think this stuff is so cool!

I suppose this is my claim to fame in the Air force. I'm not sure why it was at Hill Air Force Base, but none-the-less it was exciting to see.

Becky (Andrew's sister) and me - I was hoping to get the plane behind us in the pic too, but too many people were in the way!
The show was actually really cool! They had tons of planes from gigantic to small for everyone to touch and look at. We spent literally the entire day watching the amazing flyers and looking at all the demonstrations. I tried to get pics of the trick planes in flight but I don't have that great of camera... so, they didn't really turn out.

Katie and Justin's Wedding

The Burley Clan- All my good ole' friends from Burley High!

I love this pic, because the picture lady had me sit on Andrew's knee and you would never guess that he was shaking under my body. Not that he is weak or that I am heavy, but Andrew has bad knees (one he has had surgery on), and the lady had us in that pose forever trying to get everyone right-- needless to say this wasn't his favorite pose.

Andrew and I driving up to Katie's Wedding at the Draper Temple. Also, a good look at my new dew -- all thanks to my neighbor Alene!

Two years and counting!

2009-05-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Today is our 2nd year anniversary-- yes, that's right, two years! Time flies when you're having as much fun as we do, and we couldn't be any happier!

Andrew and I were married May 4th, 2007 in the Salt Lake Temple.

Andrew surprised me with an anniversary weekend trip to Moab-- he is so sweet! Here is Andrew pumped up to hike up to Delicate Arch. The hike was so fun, but difficult. If you look close you will see a ton of people hiking up a gigantic rock like little ants... this is where we were headed!

Andrew and I under Delicate Arch... finally! I never would have guessed that Delicate Arch was hidden away within a 3 mile hike and perched atop a mountain. It was fun to explore, but the park was filled with what seemed thousands of people, so there wasn't much alone discovering.

Here I am (lovely wilderness lady) in front of Landscape Arch. Apparently hikers are not allowed to hike under the arch anymore because recent boulders have been falling off-- not really recent (1991), but they are worried more will fall.
I had a wonderful 2nd year anniversary, and I can't believe we are now working toward our third year. Anyway, thanks Andrew for a wonderful weekend!

My first day teaching!

2009-03-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 27, was my first day as a teacher (student teacher). I have lost a lot of sleep over this, and am so glad that first day has come and gone! For everyone who, like Senator Butters, think teaching is easy-- I am here to tell you it is so NOT! I have been preparing lessons like crazy, then doubting if they will work, and later re-writing the whole unit. I have never been more busy!
Although I was very nervous, wondering how my first day would turn out, I was relieved when the class was engaged and interested in my lesson. After all was said and done, I felt pretty darn good! Although making all the preparations was hard and stressful, teaching is really fun... I think I am going to love being a teacher (not all the time of course, that would be too good to be true).
Anyway, I still have a LONG way to go before I am licensed- summer and fall semesters of classes, and then student teaching-- woohoo! At least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Our New Living Room

2009-02-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to put up pics of our new t.v and t.v stand, and today I finally took some pictures. Andrew and I had been planning for a while to buy a nice t.v set for our living room, and now that we have it we absolutely LOVE it! We went from big, bulky, and ugly projector screen to this nice new look.
Before: (Sorry this is a really bad picture of the before)

After:

Exposure....

2009-02-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, the night of Friday, February 6th was very eventful. Andrew and I tripled with two other of our married friends to dinner and a movie (Taken- which was the best movie I have seen in a long time). We ended dinner slightly early, so we headed over to the University Mall to play the arcade "Mountain Fun" to waste our extra time. Two of the husbands ended up in a tournament for "Many Hoops" while we girls watched from behind- it was very close and a very intense shoot'um hoops. Monica and I were casually commenting about the close game when Joel (her husband) turns to us and asks, "Is that guys "thing" hanging out over his shorts?"
Monica and I wanted to look but he was standing right behind us, so we acted like we were heading across the arcade for another game. While we turned to walk away we quickly looked over, and sure enough IT was hanging out over his belt. WHAT A CREEP!
Once the guy realized we noticed him he began to walk out of the arcade, so everyone took quick action- Andrew let the manager know that this perv was walking around the store with children close by, and I ran out to follow the guy with 911 on my cell phone.
Well to quickly finish this exciting story, the manager was furious and followed the guy to "Greywhale" refusing to let him leave until the police showed up. During this time I was watching from outside "Greywhale" telling the 911 operator the circumstances of the situation.
Anyway, the guy was arrested, but most troubling was that he was arrested a week before for the same thing on a UTA bus! What a weirdo!
Needless to say, it was our "Pre" show before our Movie!

Sorry for not posting!

2009-01-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

So as you can probably tell I haven't posted in forever! Well the biggest reason is our camera is acting weird and the batteries die after one or two days... so it gets tedious to try and take pics all the time. Also, I like to post when I am procrastinating homework- for some reason this is my favorite and most spontaneous time to post- and since Christmas break I just haven't been in the right mood to post without something to put-off. Anyway, I apologize for anyone following our blog who is dying to know what we have been doing... I will try to post something more exciting in the near future!

Family Photos

2008-11-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

Andrew's brother Nathan is amazing at photography, so we took advantage and they turned out
amazing!

I loved these pictures a lot, especially with the effects Nathan added!

A Girl and her Dog!

These are under a bridge that is used only for snow melt. I really love how they turned out!

These are my two favorites! Andrew looks smokin' hot!

This was our funniest! Maggie was clean previous to muddy explorations.

2008-11-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to post that I have (after a very long list prerequisites, assessments, interviews and stress) been accepted to the Secondary Education Program! Yea! I start Jan. 2009 and I will graduate May 2010 -- hopefully. I have worked so hard and cried a lot, and by dang it I will make the best little English Teacher Utah has ever seen!
P.S. My blog is not grammatically correct and should not be used to judge my English ability!:)

Maggie's First Halloween

2008-10-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have decided that Halloween is a lot more fun when you are the kid or you have kids. Last year we had NO trick-or-treaters and we were a little bummed. Hopefully this year we are more successful; so in preparation we bought a huge bag of candy and made sure Maggie looked the part in her cute pumpkin costume. Actually, Maggie hates her costume and goes biz-irk when she in it... it's so funny to see her try to get out of it!

Pioneer Village

2008-10-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to go to Pioneer Village in Salt Lake since I was a little girl... finally I convinced Andrew that we had to go! The park is soo amazing; they have some REAL homes and buildings (one of Brigham Young's houses) and some duplicates that are really fun to look at. They had people dressed up like pioneers and some acting the part-- the guy in our "coffin" pictures is an actual furniture maker, he makes some beautiful pieces all by hand (yes, he made the coffins)! Right before we left the park a huge parade of pioneers came through the center street of the town singing hymns and shooting guns, the group was a stake at the end of a pioneer treck... it was very cool to see. Unfortunately we arrived to the park at 4 and they close at 5 on Saturdays, so I felt a little cheated by time!

Maggie

2008-08-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

We adopted Maggie about 5 months ago, she is almost 8 months. We love her so much, she is so much fun! Andrew has been amazing about teaching her things... she roles over, shakes, begs, sits and other cute things. Although, I have to admit our favorite trick is peeing outside!

Canoes

2008-08-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I have finally decided to join the bandwagon, we are officially bloggers! So to begin our first blog, I wanted to catch up on our summer adventures. Andrew, being the outdoors "man vs. wild" guy that he is, loves to do as much as possible to fill our summer days with excitement. We love to go down to Andrew's parents and enjoy the great outdoors with their equipment and their company! Canoeing, fishing and exploring are always at the top of our list of enjoyable recreational summer activities. Here are pictures of Andrew and I with his parents, Liz and Farrell. Liz and I were both a little wary of the canoes, once we were in we realized how easily they could tip (of course to fully understand our fright you must know that our husbands like to scare us)... but soon after we started rowing we enjoyed a very dry ride.