We are Gail Marshall and Lisa Maria Boyles, both journalists, both moms.

Gail Marshall started her newspaper career at The Bee as a part-time student writer composing wedding stories while finishing college. When a full-time position in the department opened, she was hired as a feature writer. She switched to the baby beat when her son, Scott, was born, and she worked part-time and full-time off and on, however it made sense, throughout his childhood. She also worked as an assistant metro editor and features editor and now writes for the Opinion pages, serving on The Bee's Editorial Board.

Gail and her husband, Rich, were faced with an empty nest when Scott went off to college, and that was way too boring. They started filling their four-bedroom house up with foreign-exchange students from all over the world. Last count, it's about 17 students, sometimes hosting two at a time. They've done senior year about a dozen times. By now, Gail and Rich are experts on Shakespeare, dress code and can do prom preparations in their sleep. Those exchange students have been a special comfort, since Scott passed away from a heart attack at age 33. Now, they are taking a year off from hosting, but they are still working with teenagers almost every day.

Lisa Maria Boyles started her journalism career in 1993 as a reporter at a weekly community newspaper The Fresno Bee used to publish. After moving to The Bee's copy desk in 1999, she finally got off the night shift when a position opened up in the Editorial Page section in 2006.

She was pretty happy with her career, until she had her baby in 2003, and realized that being a mom was the best thing ever.

Lisa's family -- blended and interracial, as many of today's families are -- includes four children from ages 4 to 18. She loves cooking ("Is that another one of your concoctions?") and taking pictures ("Step away from the camera.") She trains for half-marathons, figuring that staying in shape will help her keep up with her chaotic homelife.

Company is always welcome at their home -- just go in knowing that she's no Martha Stewart.