The Johnson Girls... and Kyle and AUSTIN!!!

Cabin weekend

2009-07-27T18:53:00.002-06:00

We went to the Johnson cabin last weekend and had a great time. The girls had so much fun playing outside in the dirt (or soil as Josie calls it). Here are a few pictures to show you just how dirty they got:

The kids got to make crowns and visors out of those foam stickers. Josie wouldn't take hers off!!

We can't wait until the next time we get to go up. Thanks Keli for planning such a fun time for us all!!

Easter

2009-04-16T15:22:00.002-06:00

Here are our Easter pictures. It is hard to believe after taking about 150 pictures, I didn't get ONE that all three kids look half decent. I mean, this one is okay, but Josie is acting like the other two have rabies or something.

Oh, and notice my glasses? I have just been diagnosed with severe dry eye and I haven't been able to wear my contacts for almost a month. My eye doctor just told me yesterday that I may never be able to wear contacts again!!!!! I am just hoping he was just being overly cautious.

Things of late

2009-03-24T14:25:00.002-06:00

I haven't updated my blog for quite a while. I have found a new addiction - Facebook. It seems like I am on FB way more than I am looking at blogs anymore. Anyway, here are some pics of us lately...

The boy is getting SO big. He is smiling and laughing at us. He is losing his hair though. I guess in this picture you can't really see his hair much anyway, but it is going - fast. Poor thing. He is three months old now.

This is Josie falling asleep during dinner a few weeks ago. I don't know how it is possible to fall asleep on cold granite sitting on a bar stool and not falling off, but here is the proof.

And it wasn't like it was very quite when she fell asleep either. Halli was eating right next to her obviously very happy and alert. (ps. we were eating tacos. these pictures make it look very questionable).

A few weeks ago we took all the kids to the last BYU home game of the regular season. (thanks for the tickets Nate). I am sad too because I hauled my camera the whole way in and this is the only picture we got. You can't see either that the boy has a BYU shirt on (thanks max & becky). It is way cute. The girls did really well at the game until about the last ten minutes. I asked the girls what their favorite part of the game was.
Halli : The cheerleaders
Josie: The popcorn and sprite.

That's about it. Peace.

Blessing Day

2009-02-09T10:03:00.005-07:00

We blessed Austin yesterday and everything turned out so great. Thanks everyone for coming and supporting us, we love you!! Here are some pictures of the big day...

All 5 of us.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

Me and the boy. Grandma and Grandpa Price and cousin Taylor

Grandma Chris

My three kids

2009-01-26T10:56:00.002-07:00

Austin is doing well, he is off the oxygen and monitors and we couldn't be happier. Now I can move him from one room in the house to another without a huge production. I can't really tell who he looks like. What do you think?

I really can't believe I have THREE kids.

Home for Christmas!

2008-12-26T17:06:00.005-07:00

Austin was home for Christmas!!!

All that we wanted for Christmas was for Austin to be home. Our Christmas wish came true! We spent a straight 48 hours at the hospital in order to make it happen. We brought him home on the 23rd. He is doing better and we are so happy to have him home. He will be on oxygen and a monitor for a little while but we can live with that. We are just excited he is finally home.

Halli had a good Christmas and was excited to get her new desk!!

Josie has not stopped playing with her new baby bunk bed and her new baby twins.

Austin got some sweet BYU gear and a few cars to play with.

Alison got to hold her baby ALL DAY!

...as for me... a BYU book, a BYU blanket and a griddle to use when I cook breakfast. All in all it was a perfect Christmas!

Making Progress

2008-12-14T17:43:00.005-07:00

Austin is making good progress. Alison and I were able to go to the hospital last night and hold him!!! There is NOTHING like holding your own baby.

We know that he still has several days left in the hospital. It is very hard for us to leave after we visit him but we know that one of these times he will be coming home with us!!! He is on day three of a seven day anti-biotic treatment and is reacting very well. The cultures for pneumonia have all came back negative. They will continue to test the culture for two more days to see if they can see any signs of infection.

His breathing is doing A LOT better and they removed the CPAP this morning (A devise used to help him breath). We can finally see his face!!! Alison got to hold him this morning for a little while. She loved every minute. Josie said she thinks Austin looks like me! I will take it!!! He is a cutie!!

HE IS HERE!!!

2008-12-13T15:43:00.005-07:00

We are proud to announce that little Austin has arrived!!!

He is a few weeks early but is as cute as they come! He was born at 2am on Thursday the 11th. He weights in at a solid 6 lbs 1 oz. He has a towering height of 20 inches. Austin is in the NICU for a little stay while they train his lungs to work the right way. They are thinking that he might have a small case of pneumonia but he is responding very well to the antibiotics and the other medicines he it taking. He has been taken completely of the blood pressure medicine and the ventilator. He still has a machine that is helping him breath... but he has shown a lot of progress over the last 24 hours. We will continue to pray for him and hope we will be able to bring him home soon.

We love our little Austin!

Halloween

2008-11-03T12:04:00.003-07:00

The girls were BYU cheerleaders for Halloween this year.

Josie was excited about it.

Halli doing a cheer.

BYU / Utah State Game

2008-10-07T17:49:00.003-06:00

This past weekend Kyle and I went to the BYU / Utah State game in Logan. We met my mom in Tremonton and she took the kids to Burley. (thanks mom!) Then after the game we went to Burley for conference weekend. We had a great time and even though the Cougs won, it got pretty intense there at the end.

We went with Kyle's brother Riley and wife Stephanie and...

Kyle's sister Becky and her husband Max.

Along with a few other couples (Max's brother and wife, Steph's brother and wife, and Riley & Steph's friends). Thanks for getting the tickets Riley & Steph!

Whatever

2008-09-24T14:38:00.002-06:00

I haven't done much blogging lately, I am in a rut. I have a headache today. I also have something wrong with my right eye and my lame-o eye doctor can't get me in until Friday. So, I have to wear my glasses with only one leg. Josie broke the one leg off a while back and I never had the time or energy to get it fixed. Not to mention that this prescription is probably 5 years old so I can't see much anyway. And when I do wear them they get all lopsided. Very attractive. Yesterday my contact started hurting really bad so I took it out and it just got worse and worse. I COULD put in a new contact but I am all out - that was my last one. So, alas, here I am stuck with the not being able to see my eye doctor until Friday dilemma.
PLUS, I have been depressed because I went to my baby doctor on Monday and I have GAINED SEVEN POUNDS IN ONE MONTH!!!!!!!! Is that even healthy??? This baby will probably weigh 30 pounds at birth. I just can't help it... I crave candy and anything sweet. After I eat anything even somewhat healthy, I HAVE to have something sweet. Right now isn't the best time to be pregnant with a sweet tooth craving either... all that Halloween candy on the shelves just calls to me when I am at the store. I forget to get half the stuff I went in for because I get so excited to break open that package of candy corns or whatever.
THEN, I can't decide what to do with my hair. I cut it to my shoulders a while back and I think it makes me look old. Not just old like: "oh, she ISN'T really 13?!" but "wow that lady is OLD to have two kids that young, maybe she is the grandma" old. Should I cut it even shorter? or should I let it grow out some more?? I would almost put on a picture so I could get some advice, but I just can't, not to mention the fact that I gained 7 pounds, my face is all broken out, my contacts aren't working, my glasses look hideous...

Oh well, I will put on a picture of my girls when we went to bridal veil a few weeks ago. I haven't been there forever and we thought the girls would like it. thanks for letting me vent...

Halli's 1st day of Pre-School!

2008-09-02T15:46:00.002-06:00

This is Halli on her first day of pre-school. She is in the Little Learners Pre-School in Lehi.

Me: How did you like your first day of pre-school?
Halli: Ummm.. good
Me: What did you do?
Halli: Ummm.. did stamps and painting
Me: What else?
Halli: At the end we got treats. That's all.

Here is Halli showing off her hew backpack. She had to get one exactly like her cousin Katelyn. Hopefully Katelyn won't mind too much.
Josie felt left out so we had to take a picture of her outside before school too.
She was not sad for too long. She had all the toys to herself for two whole hours!

It's a BOY!!!

2008-08-21T12:00:00.002-06:00

Start thinking blue thoughts everyone. We are having a BOY!!! We also need a bunch of help with names so we need ideas. We will have to change the name of our blog now too. I told Kyle we should just name the boy Kyle, so we can just change the blog name to The Johnson Girls...and Kyles. This boy has really started to act up too... last week I was in the Emergency Room twice with horrible headaches. They had to do a CT scan and when that showed up normal, and the headache was not gone, they did a spinal tap (not recommended) to make sure everything was okay. It came back normal also. The last thing I expected was to have to have TWO epidurals in one pregnancy. I was in bed almost all week because I couldn't get my strength back.
I am doing a lot better now - still tired but I don't know if that ever goes away with children around. I just wanted to thank everyone (Christa, Ryan, Anne Marie, Mom, Aaron, Stacy, Becky and everyone else) for all the help/meals/babysitting/calls they gave us while I was sick. I could have never done it without you all. Love!

Happy Birthday Alison!!!

2008-08-04T09:40:00.003-06:00

Alison is 30!!! Ok she has asked me to say that she is 29 from now on.... so here is to another 29th birthday. Love you!

Here we go... here is my Alison top 29 (30) list.

Things I love about my wife...
1- She is the best mom in the world
2- Alison said yes when I asked her to marry me after only 6 weeks of dating
3- She loves the sun
4- She loves Lake Powell
5- Alison loves tomatoes
6- Her and her sister use to sneak Coke in the basement and drink them - little rebels!
7- Harry Potter books
8- Stephenie Meyer books
9- I love her nickname - Ali-cat
10- She is so cute when she is pregnant
11- She loves anything to do with family
12- Sometimes she thinks dreams are reality. She has even gotten mad at me before for things I have done to upset her in her dreams!!
13-She cuts my hair perfectly every time
14-She loves Orange Shasta - Black Cherry is a close second
15- She makes lists for everything
16- I love how she can sit and read a good book for hours
17- She makes the best cookies
18- and brownies
19- and caramel popcorn
20- and pork chops... and that is just to get started
21- She has recently picked up stitching and she is very good
22- My favorite story of hers is the dead dog and the drive through... you will have to ask her to tell you all about it
23- She has never talked down to me
24- She loves me for being me
25- If you need anything she is always there for you
26- She is always the one cooking and cleaning - she always does more than her share
27- She is very organized
28- She tells me everyday that she loves me
29- Alison is really close to her brothers and sisters
(30-) She is my best friend and I am hers - (I am followed closely by her mom!)

I love you!

Baby #3

2008-07-14T10:41:00.002-06:00

We are expecting baby #3 in the Johnson house. Due: January 2nd, 2009!!! YES folks, that is a LONG time away. Kyle says we have to have the baby this year for tax reasons. He is also hoping for boy which will probably not happen. That is partially the reason for no updates in the last few months. I have been way sick (not to mention tired). My kids are being raised by the tv lately. For example, the other day Halli asked me if Hannah Montana was lame. I didn't even know she even knew who Hannah Montana is. I asked her what Hannah Montana does. She told me, "rock and roll". Great, just great!

Josie is 2!

2008-07-14T10:15:00.005-06:00

I am going to attempt to update this lame blog. I just about deleted the whole dang thing because so much has happened this summer. I'll start by saying that Josie is now a terrible 2-year old. She actually turned 2 on June 3rd, so she has been terrible for a few months now.

This first pic is when Halli and I went into her room on the morning of her birthday. She wasn't too happy with us snapping pictures of her. She kept saying, "NO Mamma, Daddy!" So she was mad it was me and not her daddy getting her up.

Later that evening we went to Carl's Jr. This is Josie showing that she is now 2. She has a hard time putting up the first two fingers. What a little rockstar.

This is later at home opening her three presents. haha. She was thrilled when she opened her "tato-heads". I can't believe she is already two.

Rock Wall

2008-04-28T16:53:00.002-06:00

Here is the progress of our rock wall. Kyle has been working so hard to smooth out all the dirt and make it look good, so we can put in sprinklers and grass soon. We had a guy come and do the wall, but if you can see the two rocks that sit right up by the house - Kyle did that all by himself. I think it looks pretty good. The other two rocks that are sitting by the sidewalk are WAY heavy and we might just have to put the sprinklers and grass around them because they are so heavy!

MS Walk

2008-04-28T16:43:00.003-06:00

My sister-in-law Deborah was diagnosed with MS a few weeks ago. (she is in the middle - pink shirt, brown jacket) On Saturday we participated in a walk to support MS. It was in Provo at Exchange Park. It was a lot of fun and we are really grateful for Deborah and what a great person she is. She has the best attitude and is always in a good mood. We love you Deb!!!

This picture is everyone that came to participate in the walk.

Stitching Crazy

2008-04-18T18:06:00.004-06:00

I have been a little crazy about stitching lately. This is my latest project:

This is after the stitching and tea-dying.

And here is the completed project.

You can make this pattern in girl colors or boy colors. I am going to make one for one of my girls, but I thought it would be cute to try in boy colors too. It was my nephew Mason's birthday on Wednesday (he turned 4). So I am going to give it to him. I doubt he will like it, but I think his mom will like it.

29 big ones!!

2008-04-02T17:37:00.004-06:00

It is Kyle's 29th birthday today (April 3rd). I thought it would be fun for him to write 25 things about himself, and then I will write a few things about him too. Happy Birthday Kyle, we love you!

Kyle's list:
1. My favorite place to go backpacking is Escalante / Death Hollow in Southern Utah.
2. Snowmobiling is my newest favorite thing to do in the winter.
3. I love to buy my wife things.
4. I have horrible grammar.
5. My spelling ability is nothing to be proud of.
6. Horses make me sick. My poor kids will never have pets.
7. I love coming home from work.
8. I married above myself.
9. I love pork chops.
10. I speak Canadian - Eh!
11. Halli is my "bug."
12. Josie is my "J."
13. Before I was married I never make lists. Now I can't operate without one.
14. When I was little (like 4), I wanted to be a police dog. It didn't work out.
15. I love Fruity Pebbles cereal.
16. I live for BYU football. My mood relies on the outcome of each game.
17. I have an enlarged pituitary gland.
18. I have always wanted to find an arrow head.
19. I love to explore Indian ruins.
20. I love to go on long rides on 4-wheelers.
21. I prefer to drive - not be a passenger in a car.
22. I get car sick easily.
23. My favorite color is blue. (Go BYU)
24. I never went to college.
25. I love how Halli has an accent.
26. I love to golf.

My list about Kyle:
1. He is always thinking about everyone BUT himself.
2. Halli and Josie like him more than they like me.
3. Kyle can fix anything.
4. Kyle is never in a bad mood.
5. Kyle rarely gets angry.
6. He can always make me smile.
7. Kyle is always joking around (to the point of frustration sometimes. )
8. Kyle can get along with just about everyone.
9. He makes friends wherever we go.
10. He is very genuine.
11. He is a good driver.
12. Kyle can laugh at himself.
13. Kyle has dyslexia but wasn't diagnosed until he was on his mission.
14. He went to Canada on his mission.
15. Kyle makes me and the girls waffles almost every Saturday.
16. He gets up in the night with the kids WAY more than I do. (most nights he doesn't even let me get up)
17. If he goes to the store by himself without a list, he will forget 90% of the things he was supposed to get.
18. Kyle has a hard time NOT buying something for Halli and Josie every time he goes anywhere.
19. Kyle loves to make his girls laugh.
20. Halli and Josie LOVE when Kyle comes home from work.
21. Kyle makes me happy.
22. Kyle has a hard time with discipline. He can't punish the girls, he feels too bad.
23. Kyle is the nice/fun one, and I am the mean one.
24. Kyle makes me feel special.
25. He is my best friend.
26. He is the greatest dad/husband anyone could ever ask for.

Happy Birthday Kyle!!

Blaze Game

2008-03-24T13:06:00.002-06:00

Deek and Kyle got the girls tickets to the Blaze game on Friday night. We had a great time eating popcorn, watching Chief, and hanging out. Abby even fell asleep for a while! The Blaze lost in the last second of the game, but we still had a good time. Thanks Deek and Kyle!

Easter

2008-03-24T13:00:00.003-06:00

Here are pics of the kids on Easter. Halli put the earrings on herself. She was so proud.

Can't stand ya!

2008-03-11T14:20:00.003-06:00

These three idiots are called the Doodlebops. I don't know if you have the Disney Channel, but if you do, you probably have seen and heard them. I just barely got the Disney Channel since we moved in to our new house and I have to say that I really, really dislike the Doodlebops. Halli actually likes them and wants to watch, but I usually try and change it to something else. One day Kyle was turning on the TV for her and the Doodlebops were on and Halli told him that she can't watch that because mom says they are "really annoying". At least she is learning something from me.
oh, and the picture is fuzzy, I don't know why but these morons don't really deserve a clear picture. I apologize if any of you actually like them.

They're NOT dirty!

2008-03-11T14:03:00.005-06:00

I am still working on my 100 so I thought I would post a few pictures of my girls. Do any of your kids have clothes that they want to wear every single day? Well the picture of Halli she is in a black skirt and a pink shirt that her cousin Morgan handed down to her. She wants to wear them EVERY DAY!! If they are clean, she has them on (even if they aren't clean). I try to hide them from her, but she always seems to find them. The skirt is really cute, it is just that it is still winter and cold. She doesn't care. When she gets up in the morning she gets dressed before she does anything else. So even if it is 5 am, she can't go back to bed because she is already dressed. What a nerd.

Swimming in Snow!!!

2008-02-20T11:34:00.007-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the Cabin Trip!

Here are a few pictures of the Annual Winter Cabin Trip. Kyle, Kyle and Ryan braved the cold weather and loaded a few sleds hooked them behind the snowmobiles and headed into the cabin. The snow was deep. Around 6 feet in places. The cabin warmed up to 70 plus degrees. It was a good time for all!!!

Glenn Beck Talking About President Hinkley

2008-02-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

I love my house, I love my nest...

2008-01-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of our new house in Lehi. We are so excited!!

We have to be out of our condo on the 16th, so we are in a huge rush to move and get packed up before we get kicked out. We hopefully can close on this new house on the 24th of Jan. We will be homeless for a week or so, but it will all be worth it when we get to move in. I don't know why but my girls are obsessed with showers. Especially the kind that don't have the bath tub attached. Every time we looked at houses and had the girls with us, they would run to the master bath to see if there was a separate shower. Are they really THAT cool? I guess I will find out.

SOLD!!!!!!!

2007-12-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago we decided to put our condo up for sale. We knew that the market is really slow right now and so we figured it would take a few months to get any interest. We have had two people walk through in the last week - one on Monday and one on Tuesday. The Monday People brought their own agent and the Tuesday people had our agent (Ken) walk them through. Ken said the guy that came through on Tuesday was VERY interested and just had one other place that he wanted to look at before he made a decision. Ken was taking him to see the other place last night. We were interested to see if the guy liked the other place better or what, so Kyle called Ken. Ken said that the dude liked the other place, but it was more money than he wanted to spend but he still liked it etc. So we figured it was not going to happen. Literally two minutes after Kyle got off the phone with Ken, Ken called back. He said that the people that came through on Monday night (the FIRST people that walked through) wanted to come and look through again, and he was pretty sure they were planning on making an offer. WHAT!!?!?! They wanted to come over in a half hour so we cleaned up as fast as we could. We left about 15 minutes after Ken called and the people with their agent were waiting outside. Come on, a half hour?? More like.... we are waiting outside, can we come in? At least it wasn't TOO terrible when they came through. Also we saw what they were driving so we would know when they left. Well, one hour and 45 minutes later they FINALLY left. We had been driving around looking at Christmas lights, bored out of our minds, kids screaming because we had left in such a hurry that we didn't have time to grab much for them. Well, they made an offer and we have until today at 5:00 pm to accept, decline, or counter. AHHH! We have NO IDEA where we are going to go if we accept. The crazy thing about this whole thing is that there are 2 other condos in our complex that have been for sale for months and months and haven't sold, and here we are, less than a week after we had it listed we get an offer! I know the picture is pretty lame, but you can check out our listing - we are MLS#752323. (just go to www.blueroof.com, or www.utahrealestate.com and put in the MLS number). The contract will probably expire mid January, so we will have about a month to find somewhere new to live. So, now my question for all of you: Who is going to let us move in?

A Cougar Christmas

2007-11-29T14:59:00.001-07:00

Yes, folks, this is what my husband did when I asked him to put up some Christmas lights on our balcony. If you can't tell, or don't know... it is a blue Y with the football-shape thing around it in white lights. (click on the picture and you can see it better) I hope there aren't any Utah fans that live by us because we might wake up some morning and find it destroyed. He very possibly could be the biggest BYU fan in history. I am kind of surprised that he didn't want to spell out: Fully Invested to the side of the Y.
Now, when any of you come over to visit, we need to talk only in sports lingo. For example, you might hear shouts of "boo-yah" at regular intervals, or when someone says something funny: "up top" (high 5). Maybe a chorus of "rise and shout" will be mandatory to get in the door. Any other suggestions? I think Kyle deserves to have a little more time to bask in the glory of BYU's win over Utah (good teams finish it). Conference champs (out right, mind you). But wait... we still have San Diego State to worry about, we still need to figure them in. And then what bowl game will they go to? I think I know more about BYU football than anything else in the whole world. Not by choice either. Sure, I love the Cougs, how can you not? But when I married Kyle I had NO IDEA of the true love that can come from just a simple game of football. He quizzes me on different stats from time to time just to make sure I am keeping up. I am almost embarrassed to admit how much I really know. In just a few short weeks it will be over, well football anyway, then we are on to March Madness and did you hear that the BYU basketball team almost beat the #1 team last week? Wow... I don't think it ever ends.

Tagged

2007-11-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by Anne Marie to list a few interesting things about myself and I have really been trying to think of at least a few, I may not get 7, but here we go...

1. I am a Modbe Fashion Consultant for Modbe Clothing. It is a really fun job that I can do from home as much or as little as I want. I get to go to parties where I can get away for an evening and when I get home my kids are already in bed and sleeping (hopefully). I know that the people that know me are thinking that the last thing that I should be qualified to consult is fashion, but they let me do it and I really enjoy it. I just take the no pressure approach. Hey, if you want to buy great, if not, great, just whatever you want will be just fine.

2. I am having a Modbe Party at my house this next week. Wednesday, November 14th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. It is an open house and you are ALL invited to come and try things on and get away for the evening. I know this probably doesn't qualify as a separate entry, but I am trying to stretch this out. If you want to come please feel free - seriously - Just let me know and I will let you know where I live etc.

3. I have two girls. Halli who turned three on Sunday, and Josie who is 17 months. Still, to this day they both don't sleep through the night. What did I do to deserve this? I keep thinking that if I end up having more kids it will be a miracle. One problem is that I live in a condo, so if I let the kids scream my neighbors start screaming too - so a lose lose. I have gotten used to the bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. The bags are now just a part of who I am, and they are getting so big I can bring the groceries home in them sometimes. More like black garbage bags! I hear about all these newborns (some from all of your blogs), that are now, "three months old and sleeping through the night, etc. etc." I hate you all. In fact, my sister Anne Marie's new little girl Abby who is like 6 weeks old is almost sleeping all night. (but I don't hate her). WHAT!?!! I don't even understand how that is even possible. Last night Josie got up (and I am NOT exaggerating) 4 times in between 10 and 6 am! Being a parent is very difficult sometimes. I thought that maybe that will be my battle with my girls, the not sleeping. Then they will be little angels in all other aspects. I thought that until Tuesday morning. I heard Halli in her bathroom opening drawers and I asked her what she was doing. She said she was cleaning up. Cleaning up what, was the question. I go in to her bathroom to find her standing on her step stool, winnie-the pooh style (only in a shirt), rinsing out her soiled panties in the sink. There is poo ALL OVER the bathroom and all over her that she had been trying to clean up by herself. Oh t'dear. Needless to say, potty-training has been a big nightmare.

4. I hate to mop. Of all the house cleaning duties I have, mopping is the absolute worst for me! I hate that I have to take everything out of the room I am mopping, and that I have to let it dry forever before I can go in again. Maybe part of the reason is that I have (well, had because I got so mad the last time I mopped I took it straight out to the dumpster) a horrible mop that leaves the floor dirtier than it was in the beginning. And now that it is gone, I don't know what kind I should buy that will be better than the last one. Really it is just an excuse for me to NOT mop because I'm sorry, I don't have one.

5. I have been to Europe. My sister Anne Marie was in London for study abroad with BYU, so I flew over and we packed around for about 10 days or so. It was so much fun. We tried to ride the train at night to our next destination so we wouldn't have to find somewhere to sleep. We played Phase 10 for hours at a time and ate Swiss chocolate until we were sick. It was a great time.

6. I, like Julia, LOVE tomatoes. I mean like true love. A ripe tomato sliced (fresh from the garden is best) on toasted bread with miracle whip and salt. SO GOOD!!! I am proud of my family because one by one they are starting to enjoy them as well. Halli loves tomatoes too, but it is probably because I was pregnant with her during the summer - the best tomato time and I ate them by the truckload! When I was dating Kyle one of my first questions was: do you like tomatoes? Yes, of course, he LOVED tomatoes, he couldn't get enough of them ya-da-ya-da-ya-da. Come to find out, he really DOESN'T LIKE THEM!!!!!!!!! Yes, I found that out AFTER we were married.

7. I love the summer. Winter is overrated. Who wants to be cold all the time? The only benefit to winter is the cute sweaters and jeans you can wear. But summer - I love it. I love the heat, the fact that everyone looks better when they are a little tan, and being able to go outside at 10 pm in shorts and not be cold. And going to Lake Powell - nothing could be better than being stuck on a houseboat for a week with your family in the sun! I think I need to move.

Well, that is a few, well I don't know about interesting, but a few things about me anyway.
Love you all!

Halloween

2007-11-01T09:46:00.001-06:00

After the tie on the poll as to what my girls should be for Halloween, we decided to have them be Bo-Peep and a Sheep. Halli changed her mind almost daily. One day she wanted to be Bo-Peep, the next Dorothy, then one day she decided she wanted to be a witch. We ended up with Bo-Peep because it was the cutest of the costumes. As you can probably tell, Josie didn't like the sheep costume very
much. Every time I would even get the sheep head out, she would start screaming. But the second I took it off she was just fine. We were planning on going over to a girl's house in our ward to get their pictures taken, but Josie was too mad.
Here is about the only picture that Josie wasn't screaming bloody murder:

Well, maybe next year will be better.

Family Pictures

2007-10-23T09:49:00.001-06:00

We had family pictures taken at the first of the month. I am always worried the the kids won't cooperate and the pictures will turn out horrible. We were getting family pictures taken with all of the Johnson brothers and sisters and their families. Thank heavens we got there early and got our pictures taken first. By the end, my kids were not very impressed. Here are my favorites:
Halli is almost three. She looks so much older to me in this pic. And Josie is 16 months.

Look at their chins and noses. Exactly the same huh?! It is crazy that I can have two kids that look so much alike, but at the same time - totally different!

First Black Eye

2007-10-14T21:35:00.000-06:00

Well, it was bound to happen someday. Halli got her first black eye on Friday night. She was running into the bathroom to get ready for bed and slipped on the rug and hit her eye bone on the tile. This picture is on Saturday: (what a sad face!)

And this picture is on Sunday evening. It is turning some pretty nice shades of green now.

The poor thing. She doesn't think she has a black eye. She tells people that she hurt her cheek and her daddy gave her a kiss and now it is all better. A daddy's girl through and through.

Before and After

2007-10-12T15:48:00.000-06:00

I have been without couches for a little while now. We finally broke down and bought a new one.
So, here is the before picture of my living room : (the spots on the wall are actually on the camera, not the wall)

And here is the after:

We have finally gotten a new couch! Halli took full advantage from the minute they got here and was climbing and jumping all over them. So, what do you all think?

Dress Up

2007-10-09T14:02:00.000-06:00

It really started with Halli. She loves to dress-up. This Cinderella costume is her Halloween costume from last year. Then she stole a Sleeping Beauty one from one of her cousins as well as this purple and pink number that Josie has on. So, we are trying to decide what to have
Halli be for Halloween this year. My sister-in-law Becky has a Dorothy costume that would fit Halli and my other sister-in-law Christa has a lion costume that would be perfect for Josie. So that would be cute. But Becky also has a Little Bo Peep costume for Halli and a Sheep costume that would fit Josie. Which do you think we should choose? I am too cheap to actually buy something, but when everyone else has such cute costumes that fit,
why bother!?!

Good-bye my LOVE!!

2007-09-26T15:35:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I was having one of those "I need a change in my life" moments and decided to put my couch on ksl and try to sell it. It is SO big that I can't have it all together as a set anyway, so I thought I could sell them and get something a little smaller. I didn't really think that anyone would want them - until this week. I have people fighting for them. Well, not really fighting, but I have had three people in the last two days call and want them. A nice lady from Holliday came over last night and gave us a cash deposit to hold them until Saturday when she can come and pick them up. I was worried at first that we would never sell them, and now I am so sad to see them go. I have LOVED them so much. They are so comfy and now I need to find some new couches pretty soon. I guess we will be living on Banana chairs until we can find something else. Sorry mom and dad, when you come and stay now, you won't have anywhere to rest your weary heads. It really is bad timing too, because right when Anne Marie is going to have her baby and everyone is going to be in town, I go and sell my couch and so no one will be comfortable if they stay with me. Well, I guess they wouldn't be comfortable anyway because my kids still don't sleep through the night. (that is a whole different blog entry story all together.) So, if anyone has any ideas of where I could get a couch... I'm in the market.

You know you are real parent when...

2007-09-21T16:12:00.001-06:00

I really could be the most boring person I know... at least in print. I go back and read these lame-o excuse for a life blog entries and I must apologize to all of you out there! Aaron has been after me, okay everyone has been after me to update my blog but I just can't seem to find anything interesting to say. It seems like all I ever talk about is my kids. Oh well, here we go again...
Today we went down to Springville to Johnson Tire Service to get a free Hot Dog and Drink. They are having their grand re-opening of becoming an American Car Car Center (or something like that) so they were having free lunch. A boiled dog, what could be a better lunch? Anyway, if any of you know my daughter Halli (almost 3), she has a gag reflex that tops just about anyone else's I have ever known. If she so much as coughs, she figures it is close enough and just lets it blow. Well, I guess what I am saying is that you know you are a real parent when you screech to a stop because your kid is barfing all over herself, the car, and everything else within reach and have to clean it all up on the side of the road. Of course I have no extra clothes for her because for heavens sakes - she is almost three years old!! So, I wrapped an extra blanket around her and off we went to Johnson Tire. We ate our lunch without causing too much of a scene and decided we better get home to get Halli some clothes on. I was holding Josie (15 months) on my hip face-out and we were saying goodbye to everyone and I noticed that something dripped on my foot. Weird, Josie must have drooled or something. Okay, I guess #2 reason when you know you are a real parent: when your kid wets all over you at a public place. And when I say "wet" I mean, it was pouring down her legs onto me! How sick can you get? So now not only am I covered in barf from #1, I am now covered in urine from #2!!! So with two kids fully dressed on our way to Johnson Tire, I was down to two kids in diapers on the way back. And to top the story off more, when I went to get my camera out to take a picture of it all, my batteries were dead. Just GREAT!! ( As Elaine says on Seinfeld).

No chance of YWP over here!

2007-08-09T15:55:00.000-06:00

Well, I am very proud of AMPY and her new calling. More glad that it isn't me really, but still I know she will do a great job. Over in my neck of the woods I realized just yesterday that there is NO chance that I will ever be called to such a big calling. I am on the Enrichment committee, for those of you who don't know. I am in charge of the Playgroup - we meet twice a month on Wednesdays at 11:30. So, I am in charge of figuring out where to have it and what we do at it. Uusually we just go to someone's house and let the kids destroy and fight to their hearts' content. So, for the August playgroup I thought that we would do something different and have a swim party because it is so nice outside. I decided that I would have it in our common area on the grass and have a blow-up pool and let the kids run around and swim and play on the playground. Since I don't have a pool and I didn't want to buy one, I had to find someone that does have one and didn't mind letting me use it for a million kids ages 0-4 to probably destroy. A girl that lives upstairs kindly let me borrow her pool. I had an announcement in RS for the previous two Sundays, it was announced in the Ward Bulletin, and in the Ward Newsletter, OH, and in the RS newsletter. So, I knew that people knew about it and I was planning on having a lot of people come. The morning of Playgroup came and Halli was beside herself with excitement that a whole bunch of "friends" were going to come over and play with her. (maybe she needs more attention from me.) Anyway, I went and got the pool which is a VERY nice pool. It is huge and has two benches - one on each end, and a place you hook the hose up and it has sprinklers that spray into the pool. A few problems... it was so dirty. It looked like it had been sitting outside for five months in the elements and no one had looked at it. The last time it was used it had been put away still wet, so it had a bunch of mold growing and bugs mutating all over it. So I spent a long time just cleaning and disinfecting it so we could actually be safe swimming in it. Then I had to blow it up. I have a air pump (thank heavens) but I had to use the cigarette lighter in the Explorer in order to make the pump work. So, I backed the Explorer over to the Pavilion and brought the pool over and blew it up. It took forever because the pool was so big. Then I went up and got my kids all suited and sunscreened up. I had originally planned on buying some Otter Pops and having them frozen so all the kids could have a fun treat, but I forgot to buy them and then by the time I remembered it was too late to have them frozen. Anyway, we went down and had everything set up and ready by 11:30 when playgroup was going to start. Well, to make a long story short: No one came. Well, one girl (I am sure accidentally) came home with her son and they had just been to swimming lessons, and saw us and came over for a few minutes and let her son get in the water. She had other plans though and had to leave very soon after. Boy was I glad that I hadn't bought all those Otter Pops! Thankfully I had invited Deek over and so she, Halli, Josie and I played in the water by ourselves. Halli wasn't as sad that her "friends" didn't come because she had Deek there. Thanks for coming Deek!
So, now I am not worried that I will get a big calling because I can't even get anyone to come to a lame playgroup - how could I be expected to do anything bigger?

Walk like a man

2007-08-07T09:16:00.001-06:00

After a long battle, Josie finally decided about a week and a half ago that she was done with crawling and decided to walk. We couldn't be prouder of her. It was literally days before she turned 14 months old. So technically I really can say that she walked at 13 months - that doesn't sound quite as bad. Josie loves Halli and wants to do everything Halli does and be everywhere Halli is. Halli likes to sit in her white chair (she originally wanted the blue one and then fell on it and broke the back of it, so she gave the blue one to Josie and took over the white one) and drink her milk with a blanket while watching toons. So, naturally Josie wants to do the same thing. Halli is pretty crazy - this other picture is when we went down to visit the Teicherts in St. George. Yes, she is my child even though sometimes I wonder about her. Especially when the other day she came in with some of her fake food that she got with her shopping cart. She brought me a chicken leg and told me that it's name is Chicken Marie Johnson. Where did she come from?

We're Baaaack....

2007-07-12T14:13:00.001-06:00

Hello to one and all!!

I am very sorry that my Blog has not been updated for a LONG time. I apologize. But, the good news is that we are back in action!! This is a picture of me and the girls on the boat in Burley last weekend where we watched Aaron become KING of the wakeboard. (and Kyle did pretty well too). Halli is still talking about it all. We missed having all of you there.

Kyle's good news

2007-04-19T14:16:00.000-06:00

Well, Kyle took the first half of the Escrow test this morning and passed with flying colors!!! This was the hard part of the test too. He will take the rest of the test sometime next week and then he will be an offical Escrow Officer. Which means he will now be able to (legally) close loans. So now he will be doing more at work than just taking people to lunch and golfing! Way to go Kyle!!

40 days and 40 nights!!!

2007-04-19T08:43:00.000-06:00

YES people, Lake Powell is only 40, well I guess 39 now, days away!!! Please check your email and respond to the LP message I sent out. Also, I would LOVE some ideas for shirts this year. What should we put on the shirts? What color do you all vote for? Do you want white again? maybe grey? maybe dark purple? Oh, and congrats to Shayna-bayna for getting asked to Prom - what a beautiful young woman she is growing into.

A camel for KD!!

2007-04-10T10:09:00.000-06:00

While at the zoo we stopped to see the camels. We had to get a picture for Kristen, the camel-lover in the family. Halli said that there were big "bumps" on their backs. The picture was supposed to turn out like Halli was feeding the camel, but being a two-year-old, it didn't turn out so well.

I love Grilla's!!

2007-04-08T13:11:00.000-06:00

Well, Kyle and I finally decided to take pity on our poor kids and take them to the zoo. I guess it is time that they start having a little fun too.

The good ol' Hogle Zoo, bless it's heart. I was a little worried because in the last few years the only news I have heard about the zoo was that all the animals were dying. We were lucky that there were still a few animals living that we could see. Halli and Josie had a great time. We borrowed Kyle's sister's double stroller for easier commuting through the zoo. Josie thought she was the coolest thing around sitting in the back of the stroller teasing Halli and pulling on Halli's hair and sunglasses. Halli's favorite animal was the "grilla." Probably because when Halli came to the window the gorilla came over and sat right in front of her and just watched her. (sorry the picture is a little fuzzy). I don't know if that should make me scared or proud. She also liked the "Gee-Raff" and the zebra. Really she liked all the monkeys - or anything that looked and acted like one. She saw a "big ol' snake" and loved when the peacock would squawk. It was a perfect day too - in the lower 70's and sunny. After we arrived at the zoo we were walking around and who do we bump into but the entire Hobson family (minus Steve and Kristen)!!!

The day was complete with everything from drinking from the lion's mouth, to the train ride, to souvenirs. The next time mom and dad come to town we should all go. What a fun day we had!!

What a Great Idea!!!

2007-04-06T10:34:00.000-06:00

This is such a great way for all of us to stay in touch. It is fun to be able to get on the internet and be able to see what everyone is up to. I think I am going to leave alot of the writing up to Alison (I am not a very good speller and my grammer... well it is horrible!!!)

Halli: Where do we start. She loves to draw H's. She is now working on her A's, L's and I's. When Alison was in Kansas Halli had to teach me a few things. First of all when I put her on the counter to do her hair she quickly informed me that I had put her on the wrong side of the sink. Later I got out the vacuum and plugged it in. I have learned that Alison does not use the plug by the coutch. NO she uses the one by the door and Halli made sure that I used that one as well!!! She is such a funny little girl. We have been using several bribe tactics to get her to go to bed. Well a few nights ago I let her take a piece of toritlla to bed. That was a HUGE mistake. Now that is all she wants. On Wednesday night I was getting her out ofd the tub and I told her if she was good we could share a big bowl of... and she shouted out TORTILLA!!!! I was thinking ice cream, but what ever works!!! I love that girl.

Josie: Josie is about two inches away from crawling. I don't know why but our kids have not wanted to crawl until they are about 10 month's. She is very close to taking that first crawl. We will keep you all posted! She has been sick and we hope she gets feeling better soon.

Alison: ModBe city. She has been very busy getting things up and going. With her first party under her belt I think things will keep going in the right direction. It is crazy to see how much work goes into on of these 'party things' that you girls love so much.

Me: I got a set of golf clubs for my birthday!!! That is great news for me and for Ryan. Now I can gives his set back to him. Thanks Ryan!!! Keep us updated on all of you!!