This old thing???!!!

This old thing has seen it's last day... er, year..? So I have begun a new and improved (and super cute!) blog!! :)

I have promised myself I will try to post often. I am going to try once a week and see how it goes since we all know I shouldn't push myself. haha
I mean really, the last post on this was literally a YEAR ago! So I'm going easy on myself and not making any outrageous goals :) Enjoy the new cuteness!!


oh, you want the address you say?? well ok :) marshallfam2008.blogspot.com

Now enjoy!

Yesterday...

I need to VENT about the ridiculous day I had yesterday...

First, I left work early because there was nothing to do, and normally I would be ecstatic to leave, but rent is due today... So I was pretty unhappy about leaving with only $12 dollars in my pocket after 2 1/2 hours.

Second, I went to get gas and locked myself out of my car with the keys and my PHONE staring at me from the driver's seat. Luckily, Drew Lanham was there and let me use his cell phone to call my dad to go to Hobby Lobby to get the keys from Bryce and bring them to me..... 45 minutes later!!! It was Fuh-REEZING outside and I was ridiculously too prideful to accept Drew's gracious offer of letting me have his coat. So, there i stood frozen, receiving dirty looks from people who wanted my gas pump... stupid old ladies.

THIRD! (And this is the cause of the RIDICULOUS anger i have pent up in me....) Our apartment complex is trying to tell me we still owe them rent from November, WHICH WE DONT, and it led to 3 trips to and from the bank and the office, and angry phone calls between our bank and the office, and me turning red in the office at the bank because i wanted to shove the phone down the apartment ladies throat. ( the bank guy was FABULOUS) Turns out the bank our complex uses LOST our check and told the complex that it was because of insufficient funds (which it wasnt) so they returned it and now they want us to pay and extra $135. I wont do it I tell you!!! I now have to wait till they contact their bank and contact me back.. Ad now they wont take personal checks from us so I have to go out of my way every month to get a money order... I wanna strangle someone!

So, my day ended up being less than relaxing yesterday and to top it all off, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that my life is about to change drastically. Bryce is joining the Army and I'm very proud of him and happy for him, but I'm still anxious about all the things we're about to experience.

Livin the Life!

Well, Bryce and I have finally gotten our routines down in our new place and life went back to normal. (kinda)

Bryce was going to school at UAH but some monthly finances that we were supposed to receive never came..... so he is having to drop his classes THIS semester and ONLY this semester to get some work to help me pay the billsies. :) I really honestly don't mind being the working wife while my hubby focuses on his education, but sometimes it's hard to pay ALL the bills on a waitress's salary.

We are now in the stage of every one thinking they have a say in our lives and telling us that quiting school right now is soo crazy, when if they would actually listen in the first place they would know that it's JUST for this one semester. Bryce will be picking back up in January. He had a meeting with some high and mighty guy at UAH and they are in the process of getting this semester erased basically so that it doesn't affect his GPA and starting "repeat" classes next semester.

On an awesome note, Brycie got a JOB!! He started today at Hobby Lobby and I'm so proud of him for finally taking charge of his life. He's been kind of like a zombie for the past 5 moths trying to please everyone but himself which basically just made him depressed. It was really hard as his wife to watch him be so unhappy and know that there was nothing I could do about it. He had to realize that pleasing other people is not always the best choice for you. He's been looking at all of his options and I think he has finally realized that he actually has control of his life. Not sure what his "career choice" is going to be, but I have faith that my husband will always go to the Lord when big decisions need to be made and that's all I need.

Our marriage has gotten a lot stronger through this trial of being lost, and I'm so extremely grateful for it. We actually had a sleepover in our living room the other night. tehe... We are loving all the time we've gotten to spend together and are trying to get back in our routine of daily scripture study and prayers. My Heavenly Father definitely loves me and my family and I'm grateful for the patience he has with me. :)

So, for now, we are living the life!!

Money doesn't always bring Happiness....

So brycie and I moved into our apartment about 2 weeks ago, and I LOVE it! We were able to find a two bedroom, two bath for a reasonable price so we jumped on the opportunity! I guess I had taken for granted how nice it is to not have to put all of your clothes on right after you get out of bed in the mornings.. Now I can eat breakfast in my skivies :) :)

We are definitley not rich by any means, but we are most definitely happy!!

(sorry for the short post, I just figured the more I do this, the more I can get into a routine of meaningful posts :))

Oops!!!

SOOoo! Lots of things have happened in the past few months..... (be prepared fo a long picture post;))

we moved out of our house in boaz, (sad day)

welcome 2 new nephews!

sorry no pics of the other one on my camera...

Bryce worked on some landscaping

We celebrated birthdays and other happenings!

I'm not telling whose tongues are whose....

yeah thats typical me in pictures

don't be scared Jessica!

yeah....... :)

Went to idaho and Utah for family reunions, and

played NINJA! :)

(View from our cabin in the mornings)

(other side... We were ON TOP of the mountains)

Our cute cabin :)

ROAD TRIP!

Temple! First time I was able to be on the steps!

from on top of the Church Office building

crazy Wyoming windmills... ( i LOVE them!)

Stupid Nebraska corn that NEVER ENDS!!

more windmills...

love those mountains!

All in all, we had a fantastic summer! We are now in the process of getting an apartment which I am So INexplicably HAPPY about! :)

I am STILLLL working at OH Bryans, which i hope to change if i can ever find a job :/

Brycie is back full force in school :)

We are extremely happy and blessed :)

p.s. Now i can get back into this blog thing! Sorry for my absence!!!

New/Old Job??

So! I have begun a new job here in Madison. (Yes we still live in Boaz...) I guess it's kind of an old job too. I work once again at Oh! Bryan's Family Steakhouse behind Kroger, but this time instead of being just a plain hostess, I have graduated to MANAGER. I can't even tell you how anxious/nervous/scared/excited I was to start this about 2 weeks ago. My old boss had called me and heard I was wanting to come back maybe in May and asked if I could start a little earlier and manage. Bryce and I prayed about it hard because seeing as how the job is here and we live there, we would be apart ALOT. Even so, we got a pretty good feeling about it. I think the definite selling point was that not only would I have insurance, Valerie (owner) pays it for me!! That's about $250 a month that we were planning on spending in the near future so that I could actually go to the doctor/dentist and so that we could start thinking about having a family. We feel very blessed and humbled at the same time. (We were starting to be complainers about the things we didn't have.) The past two weeks have been kinda rough, but we're learning to deal with the schedule. Plus, it'll only be about another month before we move to the Huntsville area. About my job.... It's \basically the same as I was doing before, except this time I'm in charge of "the front of the the house." All the hostesses and servers are supposed to look to me for example and approval. I'm the one now who gets to deal with the UNREASONABLE customers who just want everything free, and I'm the one who gets yelled at for others mistakes. I guess it has its ups and down, but for now, its where I need to be and I'm extremely grateful for my new/old job! :)

Late, Late, Late

Alright already, I know it's March, but I wanted to post something about our Valentine's Day.

This is what awaited me when I got home from work. Notice the table is on the ground???

Ah, the blue kool-aid in the wine glasses, classic mormons trying to be fancy. :)

Brycie made this AMAZING, yummy, scrum-diddly-umcious cake. It had French Vanilla Pirouettes on the sides and crumbled on top and it was a yellow cake with delicious chocolate frosting.

MMMM.......



I know, YIKES. But really, who cares? It was an awesome date night at the house.


OH!! And a big Happy 20th Birthday to my best friend Stefanie!!!

(It's actually not till tomorrow, but I wanted to be the first to let her know! hehe)

Is Anyone There??

Yes! I am still here and alive! I guess I haven't updated for about 3 months now... Well let's have a quick overview then, shall we?

November- Young women and Young men activities, work, attended a baby blessing and said our goodbyes to some great friends headed for Idaho, work, Thanksgiving and lots of family get-togethers..

December- Practice, practice, and more practice for Brycie, (less time for us), work, Christmas!!, more family time! :) work, And more and more practice...

January- Wind down time, Learn Kendra is pregnant, work, PRACTICE! and crunch time for Bryce, stay with mom and dad for 4 days while Bryce competes in Orlando..

I think that about sums up the important stuff. It doesn't seem like we were very busy, but we definitely were. I mentioned that Bryce competed in Orlando, at Disney World for the cheerleading National Championships. They did pretty well! They placed 3rd in the nation and I'm very proud of him!! Here's the uplink for th video. http://varsity.com/event.aspx?event=1105 Go down to Snead State on the right-hand side. There are two to choose from. The second one is the one they placed 3rd for.

I also got a new Camera from SANTA!! Do I have any pictures?!?! No.. haha But I promise I'll have lots of good ones! I'll post pictures of our house once i get the house clean :) Promise Stefanie! hehe

I think thats about it for now, more to come soon!

I couldn't resist ;)

At this point, he HATED it. But after we put him out in the cold with it on, he loves it! :)

P.S. The post below is brand new also

The past five or so months that we've lived here I have tried and tried to stop being a nay-sayer and just accept it. I know we need to be here and that Heavenly Father led us here, but i was still unconvinced. As I was driving home Thursday morning from Madison, I payed attention to the drive and the beauty outside. It was absolutely breathtaking! As Bryce and I were driving to and from the temple on Saturday, we were able to enjoy the amazing landscape of the south. He made a comment that turned my view of living here around. He said, "Look how beautiful it is going down this side of the mountain. (Sand Mountain) If we didn't live here, you wouldn't get to see that very often." In that simple, but powerful statement I realized how grateful I am to be out here. I'm grateful to be away from our families to where we can't go running home if we get into a fight. I'm grateful that I don't have anyone to go grocery shopping with so that I can learn how to on my own. I'm grateful for the time that Bryce and I spend together because we don't have as many friends here.
These are all things I never thought I would be thankful for, but I am. :)

HELP!!

Ok, I finally broke down and let go of my pride... I must admit I am THE WORST housekeeper EVER! My husband is amazing and does everything around the house. Every night when he leaves for practice I tell him I'll do something to help clean up one of the rooms in this messy house, and then i look around and get so extremely overwhelmed that I never do anything.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else was like this when they got married, or when they moved out of their house?? It's so hard for me to get into a cleaning routine. I get home from work 5-6 days out of the week and I just want to relax. I don't know how to motivate myself... any ideas!?! I want to become the best housewife for not only me, but for Bryce. He deserves the perfect wife and I just want to try to be that for him.

Clarifying...

Ok, just to clarify... By saying the comment about "men", I didn't say husbands because i was talking about all the women i work with you talk badly about their husbands/boyfriends/baby-daddys.... Sorry if I hurt someone's feelings! It was not intentional.

So Lucky

Well I was thinking the other day about how amazing the hubs is to me and then I read Stefanie's blog and thought some things definitely needed to be said so i don't forget.
Bryce has ALWAYS treated me better than i could ever have asked to be treated, but last week he went above and beyond the call of duty. (his duty, that is) So a little bit of background, our house has had cockroaches since before we moved in. We've had terminex come and spray twice inside and out but our efforts seem futile. Well lately both of us have been slacking on the housework. (me) Meaning the dishes haven't been done in a week, meaning the cockroaches are feeding off of them, meaning we lived in disgust... Well I work between 5 and 6 days a week, Bryce goes to school and has practice 3 nights a week, and we are both staying busy in our callings. We are just trying to get by right now and do what the Lord wants us to, but it's hard :) So therefore, the housework gets put on the back-burner. Last Thursday I came home and this is what greeted me as I walked in... (Now before this every single room in the house was DISGUSTING) The living room was clean, the kitchen was clean and ALL the dishes were done, at least 3 or 4 loads of laundry had been done and was folded on the couch. I walked into the back of the house into our room and the pile of Murphy's "rats nest" of stuffing and ripped apart paper had been swept out from under the bed, and the spare bedroom was no longer under a sea of clothing, but had everything separated and put into piles. And there, in the middle of all of it, listening to his Gladys Knight CD was my sweet, sweet husband. Now, I don't give enough credit to Bryce like I should. He does so much more around the house than me. He's the "perfect" housewife and I've no idea what I ever did to him to make him treat me so amazing. I wish I could pay him pack for everything he's done for me thus far. I have a feeling it'll only get better from here too. Bryce isn't like most men. He continues to surprise me as I listen to different women complain about their "men" and I have nothing to say except, Bryce is so much better than that! I guess all I'm really trying to say tonight is, I love my husband more than words can express, and it just keeps on gettin better! Eternity doesn't seem so long anymore...

Best Weekend!

This weekend we were able to be a part of an amazing miracle! Some good friends from the Fayetteville Ward had their first baby and we went to the hospital and cheered them on! Everything went as planned and this little man came into the world at 10:35 p.m. on Friday evening. He was 7 lbs 6 oz and so freakin precious!!! :) I want one ;)

(If you notice under my chin, I have on a doctor's mask. I was extremely sick with the "crud" and had to wear it at all times around Baby Robby. I couldn't resist a Kodak moment though! I had to hold my breath and everything!)

Daddy's Little Girl...

Well I finally got a hold of my reception pictures from my brother-in-law, and I ran across one of the most touching moments of my life.

Now, my dad and I have definitely had our rough spots in life. There was the beginning of my depression when Iwas 16 and took a bunch of pills. Then there was the time that I basically dropped out of high school because I had an anxiety WEEK an he told me I was messing up my life, except in more colorful language. Granted, my dad isn't perfect, but he had good reasoning to be so upset with me. I made some MAJOR mistakes in my teenage years and I admit it. I hurt alot of people around me and I deserved to be chastised i guess you could say. My dad seemed too harsh at the time but now I realize it as because he was scared. Scared I wouldn't come back from my mistakes and scared I would blame him for it.

All these things are still a touchy subject for my dad and me, but I know he's proud of me now. I know it because I'll never forget what he said with tears in his eyes right before this picture was taken. He told me he had never been more proud of me because I had made all the right choices he knew I could. He said I was an example to people around me and he loved me and he would never stop loving me.

I guess I'm feeling a bit of a daddy's girl today and i just wanted to share those feelings. :)

In the Library!

SO! I don't have any internet at the house yet and i'm so sorry to those of you who actually check my blog because all you've seen for the past two months is the same ol' thing! Bryce and I are on campus making sure all of his school stuff is ready to go for tomorrow and realized that the library has internet!!! Amazing!

Here is our update.... We are living in Boaz for real now. No more going back and forth for the heck of it cause we're bored out here. We actually have responsibilities now! Bryce was called to be the 1st Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency at church a few weeks ago and I was called to be the Secretary in the Young Women's Presidency. Bryce has already had a campout, stake meeting, BYC, and activities in 3 weeks! I've been doing the same also. The Lord really had a need for us in this Ward and we love, love, love our new callings!

As for home life, I've been trying to adjust to being the good housewife I know I can be. I am getting ready to talk to the owner of a deli to try and get a job there so as to make some moula! Bryce is having a hard time with the whole me being the breadwinner because he's too busy with school. Bless his heart, he doesn't even realize that in the long-run he IS the breadwinner! I'm happy to do my part now so he can do his part for the rest of our lives.... Murphy is finally figuring out that his real home is here in Boaz, but still loves to visit his "grandma" in Madison. He's starting to chew on our shoes too so we have to constantly look under the bed and save them!

I'm finally starting to accept that my life (at least for a year) is here and i need to make the best of it! :)

Marriage... Highly Recommended!

So, I am a married woman. I couldn't be happier. I can't even express how good I feel every morning now that I have him to wake up next to. He is the most loving, spiritual, patient, generous, handsome man I could have asked for.

This is, of course, not the only picture. ;) This is just the only one I wanted to take time posting seeing as how I am tired and it is late. I will definitely post more when I have them all together and organized.

Ok, the honeymoon was awesome! We went to the Gatlinburg area and had a blast! We stayed in our own cabin which was very nice. (even though I was scared out of my mind due to listening to a scary book on the way up) We were able to go the the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum and aquarium and walked around the jam-packed city of Gatlinburg Tuesday. That evening Bryce surprised me with tickets to a dinner-and-a-show type thing. It was definitely worth the $50 dollars a plate. They had live horses and tricks on horses, chicken chasing by some kids from the audience, piggy races, and dun, dun, dun.... Ostrich races! Haha it was a blast! Thursday we ventured to Dollywood, which is actually ALOT more fun than it sounds! For me, it was better than six flags. People were friendlier, prices were better, and they provided trams from every parking lot. Ah, the simple things we grown ups enjoy! We went back the next day and then we were on our way home! It wasn't a long trip, but it was an amazing one no matter what.

Now my life begins. I can't wait to see where it goes!!

No Words, Just Very Good Feelings

Tuesday night I went to the temple to take out my endowments. I really have no words to describe the feelings that were going through me. I had no idea you could feel so many different emotions all at the same time. I'm very extremely grateful that Bryce and I are worthy to be sealed in the temple on Saturday morning and that he was able to be there with me Tuesday night. I love my life right now and I wouldn't change anything in it! :)

7 DAYS! :)

So, it's finally come down to the final week. I can't even begin to explain how many things are running through my mind. Let's make a list shall we?

1. CLEAN ROOM

2. Start packing

3. Call Terri about dress

4. Potty train the dang dog!

5. Figure out how to do hair

6. Kennel train the dang dog!

7. Begin those stinking thankyou cards

8. Call Sharon and make sure everything is ready to go

9. STOP STRESSING

10. Go to temple for me Tuesday

11. Wash and clean my car

There ya have it. I could add more, but having to think about everything is just more overwhelming. I want to publically thank SHERN :) She has done SO MUCH for this wedding and I don't know how I would have done it without her!!!

That said... I CAN'T WAIT TO GET MARRIED!!! I've been having those freak-out moments where I look at Bryce and wonder, "Is he REALLY the one for me?" or, "Do i REALLY want to marry him?" and last, but not least, "How can a man like that love a girl like me?"

None of those thoughts mean i have doubts because as soon as I think them I do a 360 and throw them out because I know the answer to all of them is yes. (Not too sure bout the last one..) I guess I have the typical bride "jitters".

Last night was my last day at work and as I was driving away I started to cry. I kept thinking about how I haven't had any huge changes in my life for about 10 years now and that everything is about to change. The place I've gone 5-6 days a week for work is no longer my place of employment. The people I've lived with for 19 years will no longer be my "roommates". The friends I have that have lived so close to me will now live an hour and a half away. I can no longer get up late Sunday morning and just have my mom iron my stuff for me. I can't just throw a load of laundry in and leave for work knowing that'll probaby be out of the dryer and folded when i get home. I never realized how incredibly spoiled I was my entire life by my mom until last night.

ALSO... I had no idead how many things i SHARE with my sister till the other day. I have to get my own blow dryer, shampoo and conditioner, face wash, toothpaste, hair brush, mouse and hairspray, and the list goes on and on and on! I didn't realize I'd be spending a fortune BEFORE the honeymoon! :)

Now that I've had my time to ramble I guess I had better get to that list of mine.. Oh, and does anyone have some fool-proof advice on how to potty train my handsome pup?

Story Time

As I was driving home tonight from hanging out with Bryce, I felt the need to share my story about how I gained my testimony. I don't know why... Maybe someone can benefit from hearing it somehow. Anyways, here goes....

Many of you have known me for several years. My story starts almost 4 years ago. We had a youth conference that was amazing for us to be a part of the summer i after my ninth grade year. Most of you will remember, and a few were extremely involved in some way. We basically put together a performance that had 7 or 8 skits with singing in the beginning and so forth. At the dance during that youth conference, a "popular, older" guy asked me to dance. I, of course, assumed he had lost a bet or something. :) His name was Bryce. (This story is ironically not really about him, I just wanted to throw that in!) Haha ok so at this youth conference i started to have a crush on another older guy, but not quite as old as Bryce. I won't mention names, but most of you know who he is.

So anyways, i started to get a crush on him at that point. About 2 months later we started "going out." I thought i was the luckiest girl alive because not only was he "perfect," he was also a senior and i was only a sophomore. We dated pretty seriously without ever really dating seeing as how I was only 15. I fell in love with him, and i fell hard. (or what i thought was love) After 6 months of being together, and anticipating my 16Th birthday the whole time, he told me he didn't love me anymore 3 days before my birthday. It devastated me. I ended up having an amazing birthday with all of the my friends in our little "group," but it still wasn't the one i had been planning for 6 months.

Two days after my birthday that year, I tried to kill myself. I was very close to succeeding and it's a miracle I'm still here. That was the first time I was diagnosed with depression, even though I had probably had it for a long time before that.

Now, I am in no way blaming that young man for my actions. In fact, the next time I see him, I would like to thank him. And this is the reason. That is the time in my life when I gained my testimony.

A few weeks after that incident the bishop came over to my house and simply handed me a CD he had burned for me. He told me the two songs on there helped him get through a year before when his son was killed. He smiled, gave me a hug and walked away. That was all I needed was to know that people really did care.

I started going to church and realized that it made me happy. Being with people who knew nothing about what had happened and were still nice to me made me realize that I really was loved. Heavenly Father loved me too.

When you do something very wrong it's very hard to feel like you can go to your Heavenly Father and ask for forgiveness. Like he would be mad or something. I know that's not true anymore. The atonement is there for a reason. We should never not feel good enough to go to our Father in Heaven to ask for forgiveness.

Some people can grow up in the church and just have a wonderful testimony that has grown within them for years. Others, have to have an experience, either good or bad, to give them that knowledge.

I'm grateful to a young man who was brave enough to end a "not-so-great" relationship because I grew from it. At the time, I thought my life was over, literally. But I have come to realize that even a bad experience such as that was good because it got me where I am today. I have an amazing man in my life right now that holds the priesthood and is worthy to use it and we're going to be sealed for all time and eternity in 19 days. I'm thankful for the Atonement and I know it's real....

I hope someone can get something out of that long mess :) I just felt like I needed to get it out.