Johnson's Journal

Crazy Hair Day and Halloween

2011-11-17T14:21:00.001-08:00

The kids had Crazy hair day at school. Kennedy wanted a mohawk. This was as close as I could get it.

Preston's was painted blue and we glued an army guy to a surfboard and clipped it in his hair.

Carter just wanted a mohawk and painted a little blue. This was nearly 2 weeks ago and the boys STILL have some blue on their scalps.

For Halloween Preston wanted to be an angry bird. I thought I can make that. So I did.

Carter decided to be the yellow bird.

Our family while trick or treating at Ryan's work.

The girls got tired while trick or treating so Ryan pulled them in the wagon. My oldest and youngest. What a good daddy they have.

The boys decided to lay down and rest while waiting for us to catch up.

Summer Vacation

2011-08-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

We've had a great summer. Ryan and I were able to go to Philadelphia and Washington D.C. at the beginning of July. We had a bit of a break and then we were on our 2 week trip to So Cal and on to Utah.

Ryan was gong on a business trip to Philadelphia and I wanted to tag along. It worked out that my sister Kami could come and watch my kids. I was so excited to have alone time with my hubby. It was odd getting up and just getting myself ready. I mean we have really not been on vacation without the kids hmmm... since well.... never. We have done some overnighters while down in So Cal and my mom will watch the kids but never a week long trip. I was a little nervous going into it. I was wondering if we should hurry up and make a will. I was a little comforted in the fact that Ryan and I had seperate flights going and coming because I wasn't able to get on his flights that were already booked through work. So I figured at least the kids wouldn't be orphaned. :) The first day in Philadelphia Ryan had a conference. I slept in. Worked out at the hotel and then made my way out to do some sightseeing. Our hotel was close to everything so I walked to the Liberty Bell.

And saw some other sights like the basement to the house of George Washington. I met Ryan and his coworker for lunch and then made my way to the Betsy Ross house,

Benjamin Franklins grave

and finally Independance Hall. I had a real special feeling inside that building just knowing that this was where amazing men had signed the Declaration of Independance.

Our stay in Philly was short lived because Ryan's work had booked us arriving on Sunday rather than Monday. When we didn't show up on Sunday they cancelled his reservation. They were able to get us a room Monday night but because of this conference we were unable to get a hotel room anywhere in Philly. So we left that night for Washington D.C. The 2 things that we weren't able to do in Philadelphia were to see the Rocky steps and get a Philly Cheesesteak.

What we've been up to....

2011-06-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

These past six months were really a blur for me. When I last posted we had Kennedy, Preston and Carter in soccer. Preston was also playing flag football on Friday nights. We had soccer practice Monday through Thursday then football games Friday nights followed by 3 soccer games on Saturday. Then we went into basketball which Kennedy and Preston played. There was about a 3 week overlap of baseball and basketball. Both boys were playing baseball and Kennedy was in softball. Oh and did I mention that Ryan was in a softball league on Friday nights too? So yep we've been kind of busy. Now we are just down to a co-ed softball league that Ryan and I are in and I LOVE it!!

I got a new calling......can you guess what it is? Yep the one that I was MOST terrified of, well actually primary chorister would be the worst, so that will be my next one. Anyway when Preston turned 8 I turned all cub scouting over to Ryan. That was a Dad job. Ryan is amazing and did an AWESOME job with my little P-diddy. He earned his wolf last month. I didn't want to know what a bear or wolf or even webelo was. But now I know. ;) Preston was excited to have me be his leader. I wasn't sure that he would be. It is really fun. The boys are so excited and I work with some great gals too.

Savannah begged my friend Ali to hold her baby. I was shocked that Ali let her. My baby Savannah looks so HUGE and like such a big girl now. Boo. Good thing we spoil her rotten and give her whatever she wants. That'll keep her as my baby forever. Sydney graduated from her first year of Joy School. She is really so sweet and tells me everyday that "you are cute and dad is awesome." Seriously....EVERYDAY! If she gets mad at me she says I won't tell you that you are cute. We had a great group of kids and moms for this co-op. It really helped Sydney come out of her shell.

Carter's itty-bitty baby tooth. he lost his first tooth over Memorial Day weekend. We had friends over and were in the middle of playing games when Carter came to show Dad his wiggly tooth. Big mistake. HUGE! Now if you know me, when I see a zit I have to pop it. Ryan is the same way but just with wiggly teeth. Like a moth to a flame...just draws him in. He will not let a wiggler stay there. He even pulled out one of Kennedy's teeth in Sacrament meeting!

I don't know what I did to deserve a daughter like Kennedy. Aren't you supposed to get a brat like you were? Well maybe she will turn into a teenage brat like her mom was but until then I am counting my blessings everyday that she is mine.
Then there's the hubs. Poor guy continues to slave away for his wife and 5 kidlets. Love you hubby!

Preston turns 8!

2010-11-08T08:44:00.001-08:00

Today is my sweet little Preston's 8th birthday. He is such a smart amazing kid. A funny thing happened Saturday night that explains a little about how his obedient mind works. We were in the adult session of Stake Conference when my cell phone began to ring. I looked around to see who was so rude as to have their cell phone on during the conference. Then I quickly realized that it was coming from my own purse. I grabbed the phone and noticed that someone from home was calling. I opened the phone and made my way through the other people and went to the back of the cultural hall to see what was going on. Preston was on the other end telling me how Savannah had dropped something. Several times I asked him to repeat the whole story I couldn't understand what was dropped but that it must be very important for him to be calling me. Then he told me that Savannah had dropped the American Flag on the ground and that now we needed to burn it. I laughed a bit and was relieved that something else wasn't dropped. I told him not to burn the flag that we would take care of it later. Kennedy then got on the phone and said I told him you can only burn it if you are a boy scout or a veteran. She put the babysitter on the phone and I told her to make sure that he didn't burn the flag. We talked about the importance of the American Flag while we were at the Flag Ceremony at Mount Rushmore. He is such a sweet dedicated little boy. I love him so much. He's got a big party planned for Friday. We tried narrowing his list down to about 17 kids. he wanted his whole soccer team plus friends from church and school.

Summer

2010-09-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Summer is over and I am just realizing that I have totally neglected to blog anything about it. We had an awesome summer. I dream of the lazy days of summer. Sitting on the porch sipping lemonade while kids run out in the field then swing from our tire swing and swim in the nearby pond. I know sounds like a Country-Time commercial. So our summer wasn't that picturesque, but still we had a great time. We started out with a summer bucket list. I always dream of big fun things to do and then it never seems like we get around to it. So if we had a day that the kids were just bored with we could look on our list and plan to do that. The list included things like fly a kite, pick berries, go camping, sleep on the trampoline. When a lady at the dentist asked me what we were doing this summer I told her all those things. She said oh all the free stuff. I thought well yes it is free stuff but also creative and fun ways of spending time together as a family. Just enough down time to feel like summer but not too much to feel scheduled.

So what if the sleeping on the trampoline was interrupted by the sprinkler system going on at 2am or if the painting of the forts resulted in paint all over Sydney's cute shorts(practically the only pair not purchased from a garage sale) and the fact that one tomato plant NEVER produced and the other gave us the tiniest cherry tomatoes you've ever seen....it's all about building memories, right?

Memorial Weekend Camping

2010-06-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

The kiddos minus Preston, Calvin and Claire.

Savannah and her caretaker Ashley, boy was I glad she came. :)

Ryan wakeboarding

Shad barefoot skiing

Kennedy and Preston on the inner tube.

Kennedy waving to our crew on shore.

Yep I'm hot even while camping, or maybe it was just the camp stove that was hot. :)

Carter cruising the street.

Righty-Lefty candy bar game. Candy was thrown everywhere. Chaotic but fun.

Savannah gnawing on her Snickers.

I told the kids to make up skits. At first they asked me how much I was going to pay them to do it. Then we couldn't get them to stop performing all of their plays. This was Little Red Riding Hood.

Parkway Half Marathon

2010-05-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

I ran the Parkway half marathon on Saturday. This was my second half marathon, so I just consider it running a whole marathon with a long break in the middle. :) I improved my time by almost 11 minutes from my first. My time was 2:06 and 59 seconds, but hey all anyone is going to hear is the 2:06 part. :) I felt much more prepared for this one. And the big key I stuck with my friends. Half way through the Santa Cruz race I had to go potty :) I was then seperated from everyone. Those last few miles by myself were brutal. So this time I was going to do whatever it took to stay with the others.

Of course these are all pre-race when we were excited.

Okay here we are steps away from the finish line. There's my friend Rachel, my eyes poking over the guy, Jennica and Heather.

Yep that's me right behind the guy. Nope not the lady in the sunglasses but the one being completely covered by this man. After laughing about it my photography genius friend Heather decided to photoshop me in. So here I am....

I know kind of huge and creepy, but so funny.

These were the shirts we wore. "Run Like A Girl"
The family to congratulate me. Kennedy was at her softball game.

Overall this time was a great experience and now we are considering a relay race. Either the Ragnar Relay or the Wasatch Back.

Play Ball!

2010-04-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

I love Kennedy's careful scoop here.

Today was our typical Saturday flooded with activities. I know one day Ryan and I will be bored to tears on Saturdays, (at least I keep telling myself that so that I don't lose my mind) but today was not one of those. I started out with an 8 mile run at 7am, Kennedy's game at 8:30am, Carter's at 10am, baby shower for a friend at 11:30 and finally Preston's game at 1pm. Next Saturday is the Parkway Half Marathon that I am running in. I'm excited for it and anxious for all of this training to be over. It's been tough squeezing all of my runs in but I think it is important for me to do something for myself. But maybe next time I'll do a getaway at a spa, much easier :)

Update on the stolen gum

2010-02-23T22:11:00.000-08:00

We made a quick trip down to So Cal last week since the kids had the week off. Ryan and I looked up on our bank statements from November to find the gas station where Carter stole the gum. Yeah we found it!! So on our trip we stopped at the gas station to pay for the gum. The only problem, the nice guy behind the counter just told Carter not to do it again and didn't make us pay. I insisted and he wouldn't let us. I understand his point of view, but I was trying to teach Carter a lesson. I'm still going to make him do a couple extra chores to earn the money that he would've paid.

Preston and the Case of the Stolen Gum

2010-01-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

In November we drove down to So Cal to visit my parents. On our drive down, either in Lost Hills or Los Banos, Carter stole a pack of gum from a gas station. Very typical of this kid. We regularly pat him down walking out of stores. I finally have told him that people who steal go to jail. This is true, maybe not for a pack of gum, but... So we didn't notice it until a few miles had passed and we were on I-5 again. I made a mental note of it so that on our return trip we would return the stolen gum. Of course on the trip back up we forgot and the gum remained in the side pocket in our car.

On Sunday while driving to church Ryan reached over and got some gum out. He said when did you get this Mango gum, I said oh that's the gum that Carter stole. Hmmmm, what were we to do with it now? We chewed it. While sitting in Sacrament Meeting I leaned over to talk to Preston after smelling his breath and detecting that he hadn't brushed his teeth I told him to have some gum. I handed him a piece. He quickly recognized it as the stolen gum from 2 months ago. "Mom why are we chewing the stolen gum?", he innocently asked. What do you tell your seven year old who asks you this while in church? I said something like "Honey, we can't do anything about it now, just go ahead and chew it." Several minutes later as I spoke to Preston again, I noticed by his breath :) that he hadn't chewed the gum. I asked him where it was. He said "I gave it to Kennedy." I look over and Kennedy was gladly chomping on the stolen gum. I said "Why didn't you chew it?" he gave me this look like, Mom you know better. He simply said "Mom it was stolen gum."

I am lucky to be his mom. He makes me want to be a better person. Or maybe he guilts me into being a better person. :)

Sledding on New Year's Day

2010-01-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Kennedy and Sydney making their first run up the hill.

The family with the snowman everyone (mostly Dad) made.

Savannah's snot freezing.

Me and my snow bunny

The jump wasn't big enough for Preston, so he added snow to it. Just for the record ALL of the kids started out with gloves on.

Getting some air off the jump.

Kennedy and Carter heading down the hill.

Ry and Syd

The older kids take a tumble.

Ryan and Kennedy

Sydney was done.

Poor Kennedy, if she'd just put her gloves back on.
Now Syd was really done. She sat in the back of the car eating cookies and chips.

Kennedy and Carter

I love Carter's face in this one.

Ry and Preston.

This was SO hilarious, I nearly peed my pants watching it. Oh my little Tarter.

Preston

Preston.

Halloween

2009-11-02T20:15:00.000-08:00

This year the kids got 3 times the amount of candy because we had so many fun things to got to. The first was trick or treating at Ryan's work on Friday. The kids had a great time and got way too much candy.

Later that night was the ward trunk or treat. Carter decided the day before that he wanted to be a dalmation for Halloween because his friend Dallen was going to be one. So I borrowed a few costumes from friends and luckily rounded up this Cruella Deville costume.

But of course after trick or treating at Ryan's work Carter changed his mind and decided to go the Darth Vader route once again.

Here are the kids on Halloween night.

They had so much fun running from house to house. It was quite amusing to watch. We had a great time.

Temples

2009-09-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

While in Utah we drove by several temples. Preston was so impressed that there are so many in Utah. Here are pictures of us in front of the Salt Lake Temple, where Ryan and I were married and the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Pioneer Day

2009-08-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

Me and three of my sisters at the Pioneer Day Parade. I had to post this one because I look so very pretty in it. No really it was the only one where most of the kids were looking.

My nanny, I mean my niece Kassidy. I could always find Savannah in her arms.

Sydney enjoying a popsicle at the parade.

YEAH UVSC! Well now it is Utah Valley University. I think my degree would look better coming from a University. Should've waited a few years, oh well.

Here's BYU's float in the parade.

My brother Tyler and all of his nephews.

Ryan and I in front of the Salt Lake temple 10 years after our original picture like this. Well I did have a dress on in the original.

Spending time at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's

2009-08-11T10:36:00.001-07:00

Singing "The Wheels on the Bus" with Grandma.

Grandma and Savannah

Kennedy and Savannah

Grandma and Grandpa always get the kids great gifts that they love.

Spilled soda? No problem, Syd will lick it up.

She'll even lick anything dripping down the cup.

Ryan and the kids at Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum

Ryan and Carter putting together the Tinker Toys that Grandma and Grandpa got him.

Summer Vacation (Lagoon)

2009-08-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

This summer we went to Utah, then to Southern California with my family. We had a great time visiting with family and realized that we hate living so far from everyone.

The only way I don't feel overwhelmed by this blog is if I do a little bit each day. We went to Lagoon amusement park while we were there. I will start there.

Grandma Johnson, Sydney and her cousin.

The girls watching a show. Sydney was really into it.

Ryan and Carter on the Dragon ride

Preston and Sydney on the boats.

Preston
Preston and his cousins acting crazy after getting off the rapids ride.
This is my great-great-great Grandfather's cabin.

(This picture is just for you Tyler Monson) :)

Sad yet funny

2009-07-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

On Saturday our neighbors invited the kids to go swimming. I only allowed Kennedy and Preston to go because they can both swim. Ryan and I were out working in the yard and could hear the kids splashing and having a great time. But poor little Carter heard the same joyous sounds. I had to laugh and wanted to cry at the same time I was taking these pictures.

Entryway Bench

2009-07-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

This is my $5 garage sale find. Ryan's look when I brought it in was priceless. He did NOT like it. He said it was my 70's bench. I assurred him that I would make it look nice. I think he doubted me.

$15 worth of fabric and tada. Now I just need to get some accessories to complete it.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

We went over to our friend's house for swimming, barbecue and fireworks to celebrate our independance.

Preston's cannonball!

A pool party wouldn't be fun without dad's chucking balls at the older kids.

Ready, aim...FIRE!!

Kennedy and two of her friends had the same swimsuits. We thought it was funny that they all wore them.

The triplets jumping in.

Kennedy

Carter's amazing sparkler show.

Sydney was'nt as into the sparklers as the others.

Ryan and Sydney watching the show.

Ryan and Savannah

Sydney and her little friend

Preston really getting into the sparkler show.

Sydney looks so adorable in this one. She even put her hand over her heart (so what if it's the left hand)

I saved the best for last. My friend Heather is a great photographer. She kept trying to get me leaping in front of the fireworks. I was the only guinea pig there that would do it. We were laughing hysterically at how dumb I looked. Our friends other neighbors were also watching and laughing. But this one turned out too awesome not to post. She called this one firebum!

The story of us

2009-06-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

On Friday Ryan and I will celebrate our ten year anniversary. It feels like we have been together forever. I wanted to write “Our Story” down before I get too old to remember it. So if you want to continue, pull up a chair and grab a snack cause this will be a long one.

Ryan had returned from his mission in October of 1998. I returned from mine in November 1998. We both moved to Provo to begin school at BYU in January 1999. We were in the same apartment complex, King Henry, and the same ward. We met on Sunday January 3, 1999. I think I remember seeing him at church that day. But our official meeting was that evening. Ryan’s high school friend, Kenny was dating my roommate Amy. They came over so that Kenny could introduce Ryan to Amy. All of my roommates were gone and I was the only one home. I felt very awkward sitting there with 2 guys. I had spent the last 18 months not flirting and wasn’t sure that I could do it again. Ryan seemed nice but it wasn’t love at first sight for either of us. He later asked me to go out on a date with him. Our first date was January 22. We went on a double date with Amy and Kenny. We went ice skating and out to a little taco shop. We went back to Kenny’s place and watched the Rainmaker. I fell asleep.

My roommates and I went on a group date together. I asked another guy and one of my roommates asked me if it was okay if she asked Ryan. I said sure because I thought he was a great guy, but “it” wasn’t there for us. We made the guys wear funny clothes, find us through a maze of clues and made them a spaghetti dinner. We took the guys roller skating. I remember being a little jealous as Ryan and Brenda were holding hands while roller skating. I was thinking, hmm I don’t really like him so why am I a tad bit jealous?

We continued dating others but he and his roommates would come over to hang out regularly. My roommates must’ve known that deep down I was starting to like him because they would always say things about “Ryan”. On President’s weekend a group of us went up to my roommates cabin in Island Park Idaho. That night Ryan, Amy and I had a great snowball fight. The next day we were riding on a sled behind a truck. A couple of people jumped on and then Ryan did too, so I jumped on as well. My roommate warned me that I would be leading Ryan on but I was thinking hmm maybe I do like him.

Ryan and I drove back to Utah with his roommate Jason. We were dropping Ryan off in Ogden at his parents home to celebrate his dad’s birthday. I of course had to go to the bathroom when we got there, but I also really wanted to check out his family. His dad was in the kitchen making dinner. I checked out the family pictures on the wall and could tell that he came from a good family. At that point his 1990 Geo Metro (his car was just like the picture only white) and ugly clothes didn’t matter to me as much.

One night I was out on a date with another guy but told him I had to be home early because, honestly, I had to study for a test. Just as Amy and I began to review for the test, Ryan came over to ask me to watch a movie with him. I, of course, jumped at the chance.

It is still funny to me that my parents came up to Utah in the middle of March for my sisters sealing. I kind of wanted them to meet Ryan, but we weren’t THAT serious yet so i didn't have them meet. (We were engaged the next month) One night after a date to Johnny B’s comedy club I was tired and didn’t walk him to the door. I was the next to ask him to do whatever activity it was that we did. He later told me that he wasn’t going to ask me out again because he was tired of always doing the asking. One night after a date I walked him to the door. He asked me “Do you care if I kiss you?” I said no. So he kissed me! He then started walking backwards and tripped over a bike by my doorstep!! :) We then decided to start dating each other exclusively. I still had dates lined up for the next two weekends, so I went on those. But after that it was just the two of us.

We got engaged in April. He proposed while meeting my family in so Cal. We were on the beach, videotaped and on Good Morning America....well that's a whole other post.

Bubblegum Showdown

2009-06-15T12:12:00.001-07:00

Anyone that knows Ryan and me knows that we are competitive people. That competitiveness doesn't stop with each other either. Yesterday when I was teaching the kids how to blow a bubble I amazed them with my big bubble. They quickly got Ryan to show him mine. Ryan then had to try and show me up. Here are pictures of our bubblegum showdown. I think I won, until he popped the bubble on my face. The gum was everywhere even on my eyebrows.

Please Ry, Savannah blows bubbles bigger than that!

I had to really zoom in to see that my eyes were actually opened. I was just concentrating very hard on making it big.

Look how envious he is of my bubble.

Nice pink goatee.

He popped it on my face. Then HE giggled like a little girl.

He punched you where?

2009-06-03T12:43:00.001-07:00

So this year Preston has learned the word "weiner". At baseball practice all of the boys seem to talk about that or hit each other there. So two nights ago Kennedy came upstairs to tell Ryan and I that Preston hit her in her weiner. I was laughing so hard, and had to tell her that only boys have weiners. She just assummed that the area down there was called that. Oh funny girl. We obviously haven't let her watch "Kindergarten Cop."

Preston

2009-06-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Nearly two weeks ago Preston crashed while riding our neighbor's motorized electric bike. He did have a helmet on but he was knocked unconscious, broke his nose, fractured his cheekbone and got stitches on his chin. We were first told that he suffered an additional 2 fractures on his skull. So we were transferred to the main trauma hospital. Preston received a priesthood blessing upon arriving at UC Davis hospital. The radiologist came in and told us they were unable to find the 2 other fractures on his skull. I know it was because of the priesthood blessing that he got. I know Heavenly Father was watching over our little guy. He is doing great now and just has a little bit of tenderness under his eye. We are so happy to still have this little boy in our family.

Preston at the hospital

Thursday night when he came home.

Exactly one week after the accident

The little bike he was on.

Mean Girls

2009-04-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have been stewing over this for a few weeks now, so hopefully getting it out will help. There are a couple of little girls and when I say little I mean 5 years old who are SO mean to my little 7 1/2 year old Kennedy. They are little sisters of boys from Preston's baseball team. I'm not sure what bothers me more, that they are mean or that Kennedy really cares what they think. Kennedy is my girl who gets the kindness award as well as the respectful award at school. Her teacher adores her and her friends' parents tell me that Kennedy is such a good influence on their children. She is not a mean person. But these two are BRATS! We only see them at Preston's games and practices so at least that's not too often. At last night's game both Ryan and I were getting so frustrated that Kennedy kept trying to play with them. It was seriously sad. We told her to come over with us and I let her use my cell phone to call her friend from school. Then the girls came over and said is that a real cell phone? One of them asked, "Will you buy me one? PLEASE?" She then continued to bug me about buying her a real cell phone! I simply said go ask your mom to buy you one. I won't tell you what I really wanted to say to her. :) I told Ryan that at the next game I am letting Kennedy invite a friend. I don't want my children to be rude like that, but how do I teach them to ignore others when they are just mean? Why do we have a sense of belonging to those who push us away?

Savannah Jayne Johnson

2009-03-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

Most of you have already heard, but last week we had our little baby girl. She was born March 23, 2009 at 2:33am. She weighed 8lbs. 1 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. She came right on her due date. I had contractions on Sunday morning so Ryan and I went into the hospital at 4 am. The contractions stopped a little while later and the doctor sent me home quite dissapointed. So I was a little weary when I woke up Monday morning with contractions at 1:25am. Again the contractions were 8 minutes apart just like the night before. This time they were a little more intense so I woke Ryan up again and we left for the hospital. We are about 30 minutes away from the hospital. I was still doubting myself and didn't want to be sent home again for false labor. But contractions were geting closer and stronger. A couple of blocks away from the hospital I told Ryan I felt the need to push. He said well don't! We ran the last red light, luckily the only other car out at 2:30am was a cop. He saw us turn into the hospital so we were fine. As soon we got to the front of the hospital a security guard came rushing out with a wheel chair. Ryan went to park the car as I was wheeled in. The nurse looked at me and said do you feel the need to push? I said yes. She then asked what baby this was for me. I told her baby #5. So they skipped the triage and put me right in a delivery room. One funny thing I asked if I would be able to get my epidural :) I pretty much knew the answer, but get freaked out thinking about delivery with no pain relief. I kicked my shoes off and started pulling down my pants because I could feel her head coming. Two pushes later and Savannah was out. Ryan walked in moments later and said Are you kidding? Savannah was already under the warmer and I was laying on the bed. He missed the entire birth. We were both shocked at how fast she came.

Savannah is beautiful and we all love her so much already.

We can barely squeeze onto the bed with all of us now.

Savannah with Grandma Carter
My girls.

Savannah's first bath. Everyone wanted to help.

My Genius Husband

2009-02-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

I really think that my husband is one of the smartest people I know. But when it comes to pregnancy, I think that I am not the only one that loses brain cells while I am prego.

Here are a few of Ryan's funny random quotes from this pregnancy of mine.

"I love your belly when you are pregnant it is so tight." Okay so I think he meant it as a compliment, but what was I thinking?....Oh so when I'm NOT pregnant my belly is not tight but flabby?

He recently got a new female employee working for him. I said so is she young and cute. His response, "No! She just had a baby" What the heck Ryan? So she is obviously NOT young and cute because she just had a baby? :)

I found a measuring tape and decided to wrap it around my waist. My waist was bigger than the measuring tape. I was laughing as I showed Ryan, he said "Don't go blaming the baby." Again, WHAT Ryan? Don't blame the baby? I don't think that I normally have a 38 inch waist.

I think the poor guy is learning to keep the peace by keeping his comments to himself now.

Going Private

2009-02-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

Okay I just got my first weird random comment and don't know how to delete it. Help anyone. I think it may be time to go private. So if you want to keep reading all about our exciting :) life please leave me your email address. Thanks.
Karyn

The Plan for Kennedy

2009-01-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Kennedy and I were discussing eternal families because she gave a talk on them today in primary. We talked about marriage. I told her she could never get married and that she had to stay 7 years old forever and never leave me. She simply said so matter of factly, "Mom that's not Heavenly Father's Plan for me!" She's so cute and I know that she's right, boo hoo for me. :( Why do they grow up so soon? Last week I watched Mamma Mia and during the scene where the mother is helping the daughter get ready for her wedding made me tear up thinking of my sweet little first born Kennedy.

American River

2009-01-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we headed out for a little adventure. We went to the American River. The kids were all impressed with Ryan's rock skipping skills. I think he was trying to impress me as well, cause he kept betting me different things whether or not he could make the rock go to the bank on the other side. And of course he delivered.

I couldn't quite keep up with them all.
Here the kids are trying to pick out the perfect skipping rocks. Unfortunately for Sydney she was standing in FRONT of the boys while they were throwing their rocks. Sure enough she got pelted on the ear.

Daddy trying to comfort her.

Then Carter decided to look out for her.

She wasn't quite making it over the rocks so he helped. I thought this was so sweet of him that I had to document it.

Me and my girls.

Of course Carter couldn't come away with dry shoes on, or shoes for that matter.

Too bold? Opinions, please....

2009-01-11T18:16:00.001-08:00

We finally bought a house! We close on it on the 23rd. I'm very excited to finally be able to get everything settled in and of course to decorate!

We are going back and forth on the idea of painting the whole house before we move in, or live it in for a while to see what we like and then paint. Anyway Ryan really likes this green color for the dining room. I think it looks great in the picture, but is it too bold? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions are welcome.

This will be our dining room. It currently has a lovely :) copper orange accent wall.
This is just a picture of our dining room in our Portland home. We had the red accent wall and this is our dining room set we'll use.

Is Christmas Break REALLY over?

2009-01-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

I think that I might be more sad for school to start tomorrow than the kids. We've had a great couple of weeks chillin' at home. Maybe that's thanks to some of the new video games acquired by the kids at Christmas. But I have enjoyed my time with all four kids and Ryan all day.

We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner. We had the missionaries over to eat with us. Then we played our traditional Christmas chimes. We are definitely not a musical family, but we had fun anyway. One of these days you will be able to tell what song we are playing. Then before going to bed Ryan read the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2. Sydney was really paying close attention. :)

Of course the kids were excited and couldn't wait to get downstairs on Christmas morning. Maybe that is why Kennedy is carrying Sydney down, to get there faster.

Sydney was excited to get her little bike. It is cute but has the MOST annoying buttons that play songs. Syd loves to press them over and over and over.

Sydney also loved anything that her big sister got.

Preston pretty excited for his new skateboard.
I love the reaction on both of their faces. Unfortunately Moon Sand is not as great as it claims.

I think this was the reaction to the Batman Lego video game that Carter got.

We feel so fortunate for so many things. We had and are continuing to have fun with our "material" things but what a blessing it is to know of our Saviors birth, life and love for each of us. I love this little family of mine so much and am glad that He provided a way to be together forever. Hope you all had a great Christmas as well!

Flirtin' for the free stuff

2008-12-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

While still single and in college I think I mastered the art of flirting for the free stuff. Later as a married mother I stopped that. Well the other night I went to Costco 15 minutes before it closed to get some "sample" copies of pictures for our Christmas cards. The man was very helpful and explained the lighting and adjusting for the pictures. After printing my 8 pictures, I asked him if I pay there or at check out. He told me since there were only 8 copies that I made as test prints he wouldn't charge me. I was very grateful and figured he felt sorry for me. After seeing my pictures I'm sure he realized this poor tired mother of four can only escape by herself at 8:15pm. Or maybe he could see the barbecue sauce spilt on my shirt from dropping dinner on my huge pregnant belly. Or maybe he just wanted to get out of there on time. But for whatever reason I was glad he was so nice and didn't charge me and I didn't even have to flirt! :)

Silverware

2008-12-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

The other night as I was finishing up dinner I asked the kids to wash up and set the table. They had placed glasses and plates on. I said "would you please put the silverware on the table?" They said "what is that?" I was kind of surprised that I've never used the word silverware. So I said "look on the table and see what is missing, that is silverware." Preston said "oh the forks!" I said Yes. Then he asked me, "Mom is 'silverware' spanish for forks?" Oh my upper crust children. :)

I am thankful for....

2008-11-30T18:29:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for emergency rooms open all night. While visiting Grandma and Grandpa Johnson, Carter fell off of the rocker and then the rocker came back and smacked the back of his head. Ryan and I took him to the ER where he got 4 staples put in his head. He winced a little when he got the shots to numb his head but that was it. He also had a black eye from a light saber that he poked in his own eye. I was a bit afraid they were going to turn Ryan and I into Child Protective Services for 2 injuries in one day. But Carter inflicted both wounds on himself.

I am thankful for lots and lots of family. We had a great time visiting Utah. Everyday was filled with visits. We were able to see Ryan's 97 year old grandmother. What a sweetheart she is! I love visiting her. We also stayed with my grandma and her hubby Jack one night. I am thankful that they have each other and are happily enjoying this stage in life. My parents also came up from So Cal so we were able to spend time with them. They are such fun grandparents. They know how to party. We packed in many activities in the 30 hours that we were together.

Carter cousins at jungle jim's

A game of Uno Attack with some Johnson cousins and Uncle Mike and Aunt Sam.

I am thankful for my sweet hubby.

Even after the long drive to and from Utah I am still grateful for my four children.

Kindness Award

2008-11-13T22:13:00.001-08:00

Kennedy received the Kindness Award from her class last week. They had an assembly with the whole school. I think there were 6 different awards per class. Two were for kindness, two for responsibility and I don't remember the other one (doesn't matter my kid didn't get it.) I am so proud of my sweet, "kind" girl.

Joy School

2008-11-13T21:59:00.001-08:00

This year I am doing a co-op preschool for Carter. I teach it every 5 weeks. He loves it. I was a little worried that it might be a little too much for me to handle at this point in my life, but it really is working out well.

Here we are working on an art project. You are supposed to paint with the string and make a mirror image, not finger paint. I love that all of the kids are so individualistic and do their own thing.

20 weeks

2008-11-13T20:03:00.001-08:00

I was trying to get a good profile picture to show off my new bump. But Ryan kept taking random photos and half of them are of me making crazy faces asking him what is he doing. He thought he was pretty funny.

So this was last week at 20 weeks. Half way point!

Halloween

2008-11-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

Here are the kids before trunk or treating. Kennedy was an "East High School" cheerleader, Preston was a Jedi, Carter was Darth Vader and Sydney was Princess Leia. I told Carter to fling out his light saber and it "accidently" hit Preston in the head. Carter felt really bad as you can tell.

I had to step in to get the kids in order. I wanted to dress up with the kids too but getting all of their costumes together was enough work for me, besides I didn't think that the Princess Leia prisoner of Jabba the Hut costume was very appropriate for our ward party.

Princess Leia showing off her thighs.

We're having a ....

2008-10-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

GIRL!! Much to the dismay of our boys. The ultrasound showed my due date as March 20th three days sooner than was first said, but it doesn't really move it up. We're really excited. It took about 5 minutes of Preston sulking to finally come back in and tell me that he will help out with his new little sister. Carter just thinks that we need to have one more boy to even up the score. I'm not so sure that will happen.

Of course it's a girl because we have no idea what to name her. We had a name picked out for a boy. So we are open to suggestions. As my friend Lisa pointed out our theme seems to be obviously president names (Kennedy and Carter) or cities Sydney and Preston (Idaho and England). Help us out!

Are you kidding?

2008-10-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Preston loves our little I-Pod and always asks to listen to it. So Sydney caught on and loves the thing. She was so funny and feisty when I tried taking it away. She is eighteen months old not eighteen years old!

Carter turns 4

2008-10-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

Last week Carter turned four years old. We celebrated as a family on his birthday and then had a party for him at Chuck E Cheese on Saturday. We are so glad to have this little rascal in our family. Who else would keep us laughing all day?

Kennedy helped him read all of his cards.

Carter asked for a purple light saber. Ryan didn't think they made them, but Carter knew what he was talking about.

Carter did not want to take his picture with Chuck E Cheese, so a couple of his friends did.

Kennedy trying to keep Sydney from taking her tickets.
Carter and his friend playing a game.
This boy has moves!

Carter won his first ticket
Kennedy hitting Dad up for more tokens.
This made me laugh. The boys sprawled across the lane and Carter has his cup on Preston's head.
Ryan was wondering how Carter kept going through his tokens so fast. He just put them in this machine and it would spit out a lot of tickets. So he didn't want to bother with playing a whole game to earn 2 tickets.

I love both of their reactions to the motorcycles. Their mouths say it all.
I can't stop laughing each time I look at this picture. We were all wiped out by the time we got home. We had had two soccer games earlier and then about an hour after the party the kids had a practice for the primary program. It was one long but very fun Saturday.

Who Will You Be?

2008-10-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

No I'm not asking who will you be for Halloween.

I just read this short book of Maria Shriver's entitled "Just Who Will You Be?" for our book club. Maria wrote it for a high school graduation speech. It made me reflect on seasons of my life and where I am right now.

I love being a mommy right now, thus you can tell because I keep having kiddos. :) I obsess over my babies. Poor Sydney still gets way too many smooches on her little round cheeks.

Maria first pointed out in the book that she was insulted when her son referred to her as a housewife. I thought that was funny. Among many things, I am a housewife and as I pointed out to my friends last night I love being associated with my fantastic husband Ryan. I often tease him that I will be holding on to his ankles and he'll have to drag me up to heaven with him. He's so good.

I know my value as a daughter of God isn't only placed on me being a mother or even a wife. So just who will I be? Hmmm. I think my mother is a wonderful example to me of a great woman. She was a devoted stay at home mom and valued that short time raising her family. Then she went on to get her master's degree and now that everyone is grown she is a resource teacher.

I love to plan for the future but don't want to wish away today to decide what I'll be when I grow up :) I definitely have days I want to savor and dig my heels into the ground to stop time in the moment and then there are the days that don't go fast enough for me. Right now I have such a short time to do such an important work of raising good children.

The great thing is that if I make right choices now it will positively affect me and my family later.

Bed Time or Party Time?

2008-10-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

My kids tend to think that 8pm is party time. Ryan and I send the kids back up to bed 20 times a night. They come down using every excuse in the book.... I need another drink, I need to give you a kiss good night, I need to get a book. It gets pretty old. The other night when the boys were suppose to be going to bed I heard a lot of giggles. This is what I found.

One less to brush!

2008-10-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Today during church Ryan pulled out Kennedy's front tooth! It has been pretty loose, but in the middle of Sacrament meeting? Yep that's my girl. Ryan took her out to wash her off. When she came back in she had the largest grin on her face, pretty darn proud of that gap toothed smile. She's a doll and now has a little bit of a lisp. Preston was a little jealous. He has yet to lose a tooth at all. I keep reassuring him that it will happen. Why do they want to grow up so fast?

Today Preston heard a woman from Texas speaking. He said, "Mom was she speaking Spanish?" I said no she is from a different part of the United States and they speak a little different. I reminded him of Trey and Kassidy his cousins from Alabama who also speak with a Southern drawl. Tonight at dinner he said, "Mom how do you speak Alabama?"

PPI or (Pee Pee Eye!)

2008-10-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

Monday night during Family Home Evening I suggested to Ryan that we talk one on one with each child to see how they are doing in school and such. I said like a PPI (Personal Priesthood Interview) For those of you not LDS it is just a one on one chat between 2 priesthood members (usually son and father.) Anyway after I said PPI Carter began laughing. I thought what is so funny about that? Then Carter began repeating Mom you said "Pee Pee Eye" and giggling hysterically. He thought I was talking about someone who had urine in their eye. :) That's Carter for you! Total class clown.

2 Goals! and belated birthday

2008-09-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

This is both Kennedy and Preston's second year of soccer. And Saturday was the first time a Johnson scored. It was actually Preston who scored 2 goals! He was so excited. We were so proud of him. He came over to the sidelines to give high fives to Ryan and I. The coach had to tell him to get back in the game. He was so proud of himself. He works so hard at everything he does. Sometimes it's to a fault because he gets so frustrated if he messes anything up.
Kennedy played goalie the second half. I get so nervous for her when she is goalie, but she didn't let any goals in. I was so proud of her.

Carter and Sydney trying to sneak on to the field at half time.

Here's a pic of Ryan's 31st birthday celebration. This is the kids saying the "High- Yah!!" at the end of "Happy Birthday". He got a new TV for his birthday so he was a happy boy. He is wearing his UCLA shirt to prove to his brothers that he does wear other t shirts than BYU. Or maybe just to stretch out the lingering happiness from the BYU vs. UCLA game.

New Blog Name?

2008-09-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

So I don't remember when we started calling Carter Smoochy. Then it kind of rubbed off on all of the others. Ryan has so many nicknames for each of the kids.. bisc (short for biscuit) and chimi (short for chimichanga) for Preston, Boo for Kennedy, I call Sydney Mimi. Anyway the list goes on. So I was considering changing the name of our blog because sometimes people misspell smoochy in the URL and figured it might be easier to make it more simplified, but the real reason I want to change it from fourlittlesmoochys is ....................................................................................

Next March we will have FIVE little smoochys! We are so thrilled! The kids are so excited and of course already have their preferences on whether it is a boy or a girl. I've been absolutely exhausted thus the lack of posts. I am 13 weeks along. But as of last Friday (knock on wood) I have felt great. I hope I am over the crummy part.

School and camping

2008-09-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately. We moved (we're still in the same city) the kids started school and soccer, Kennedy turned 7 and Carter starts Joy School tomorrow. We went camping this weekend with some friends. We had a great time and came home SO dirty. We got to play in the lake and go dirt biking. So here are some pics of what we've been up to.
Preston's first day of school.
Kennedy was so proud of the clothes that she picked out. This year I let her and Preston choose everything, since I still have brand new clothes from last year that I chose and they never wore.

Let the fun begin. Here is Carter with Ryan on Ryan's motorcycle. Both Carter and Preston LOVE riding with dad.

Preston on his bike. He is getting better all the time. We have a governer on his bike that controls the speed. He keeps asking Ryan when he can take it off.

Back at camp Sydney with her friend.

Carter and Sydney sucking on their dum dums that all the kids got after their scavenger hunt. My friends and I later joked that we should've put more impossible things for them to find. They were done in less than 10 minutes.

Carter and his friend flirting.

Ryan went into town to get some cough medicine for Sydney who kept us up all night coughing the night before, so I had bed duty all to myself. I washed each of the kids hands feet and faces and then carried them into the tent to go to bed. Since Sydney needed the most work I saved her for last. By the time I was done with the others she was laying down in the dirt drinking her bottle.

Sydney filthy and loving it.
Preston caught in the action of throwing mud at Kennedy.

This picture of my hand is on our drive home. I had rinsed my hands off as best I could and used hand sanitizer, but they still looked like this. Our neighbors were outside when we pulled up and commented to me that I was dirtier than the kids. I guess that is what happens when you have four kids climbing all over you. And it is no surprise that this is the only picture I have of me while camping.

Marriage

2008-08-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

I never use my blog to rant, preach or complain but my mind has been weighed down by a certain subject that I feel I need to express my views and opinions. The subject is marriage. Proposition 22 (an initiative to define marriage as between a man and a woman) was passed by the people of California in the year 2000 by 61%. Recently Prop 22 was overturned by Californian judges. Wait a minute I thought America was a democracy!? Hmmm. Anyway I recently read a blog of someone who was contemplating ending her marriage to her husband if the people once again voted that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. How truly sad that makes me. I feel marriage is SO extremely important and should not be used as a tool to protest.

What a blessing my marriage has been in my life! There was no question in my mind when Ryan proposed that everything about it was right. While it is in no way perfect Ryan and I love each other very much and are committed to each other and our children.

I know that children have the right to be born into families with a mother and a father who love and respect them as well as each other. Ryan and I are both so fortunate to have parents who are loyal to each other and the promises that they made in their marriages over 39 years ago (both couples were married in the same year) I want my children to know the same safety.

I teach my children to be respectful and to accept others and to stand up for what they believe in. I realize that I am in the minority here. It’s not always easy being a conservative living in a liberal state, but I love California! These are my opinions and thank goodness we live in the United States of America so I have the right to express them and do something about them!

http://www.protectmarriage.com/

Carter Family Vacation part 2

2008-07-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

Every summer we go beach camping at Carlsbad. But this year it was all booked up so we went to Leo Carillo beach in Malibu instead. Here is Grandma and Grandpa's tent. They were so lucky to get all of the grandkids to sleep with them!
Sydney was helping wash the dishes.
Preston is such a stud. The water was FREEZING! And the waves were ENORMOUS! Sydney kept getting into the water and getting knocked over by the waves. My mom kept trying to lift her up but finally I said if she wants to get in, let her. She had a few tumbles and I think had had enough at that point. I'm all about letting them learn life lessons on their own, even if she is just 15 months old! :)

Kennedy as a mermaid. Next to her cousin Morgan.

I started digging a hole. It was fun until the kids wanted to help and started caving in my walls.

I kindly started another hole for the kids, but Kathryn soon took that one over.
Here is our finished product. Okay so we were crouched down a bit, but we really got them deep. Ryan took over for a little bit and the walls and floor were perfectly packed in. My battery on my camera went dead after this, so I don't have any shots of Carter. Sorry little guy! I'll admit one guilty pleasure of mine is watching "Keeping up with the Kardashians" So when we were in Malibu we had to go to Dash the store owned by them. Khloe was there so we got our picture with her. She was super nice. I guess we got there just in time... this was Thursday and on Friday.....

Here is Khloe's mugshot. She went to jail on Friday for a DUI. Yeah I know I watch some quality shows huh?

Our last night we went to the Ahmanson Theater and saw the Drowsy Chaperone. We had a great time. The show was pretty funny. Here's my mom, Kelly, me, Kathryn, Krissy, my cousin Emalee and my aunt Cathy. Here we are goofing off trying to imitate the drowsy chaperone. We were just missing our martini's.
We got pedicures before the show. That was my first pedicure EVER!! I'm not very high maintenance...either that or I'm just too cheap! :) The guys wanted to show off their cute feet too. My poor bro in law Ernie's feet were still fried from the beach.
Me and my man.

Carter Family Vacation part 1

2008-07-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

I figure if I don't do this in parts I'll never get around to posting stuff. We just got back from So Cal with all of my family. We had such a fun time. The kids love their cousins so much.
Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's pool. Here is Ryan tossing Kennedy in the pool. Nothing like diving into the old doughboy pool after a 7 hour drive.
Sydney with her cousin Kassidy.
Aunt Krissy made these beautiful dresses for all of the granddaughters. They are embroidered with their initials.
Here is another shot of my sweet Sydney in her adorable dress. Thanks Aunt Krissy!

We went to Knott's Berry Farm. Here is Carter with his cousin Morgan and Aunt Kelly.
Eight of the 12 grandkids are on the ride. Preston is up front of course. He loves roller coasters.
Here are the guys all on the rapids ride. They came back soaked.
The girls on the train ride. Grandma bought them matching shirts. My niece Kaitlyn, in the middle, had a loose front tooth. She kept pushing it through her lips. We teased her that it looked like Nanny McPhee. She later let Krissy pull it.
Sydney was not too thrilled to be on the carousel even with Grandma holding her.
Preston with Trey and Grandma and Grandpa Carter. I love that my parents still know how to have a fun time.
Mexican Hat ride
Preston and Ryan on the swings.
This ride looked so scary. I seriously can't believe that Preston actually rode it. My bro in law Bryan said that he was trying to hold up Preston's head part of the time because he couldn't lift it.
Carter LOVED this bus ride. They rode it OVER and OVER again. I was happy to see him loving it.
Watch out! Red Baron on the loose!

Sydney or Shiloh?

2008-07-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Everywhere we go strangers always tell us that Sydney looks just like Shiloh Pitt. I think it's just because Ryan and I look just like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt :) Even as I was looking up some pics on the internet of Shiloh, Kennedy came in and said that looks like Syd! So can you tell which one is our beloved Sydney and which is the papparazzi baby?

Fourth of July

2008-07-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

There is a rodeo here on July 2-4th. They kick it off with a parade and cattle drive. There were actually people running in front of these bulls. Then later on the whole group of bulls rush down the street.
Kennedy and Preston at the parade. Radio Disney had a booth set up and was giving away these stick horses. Since we walked to the parade from our house they "rode their horses" part of the way home. :)

As the National Anthem was about to start I asked Preston to remove his hat. He questioned me. He knows that we take them off for prayers but didn't understand why he needed to take it off for a song. I explained that this was to show respect for our country. He said well none of the cowboys are taking off their hats, and just then they all did. I teared up and got chills as the man sang the National Anthem. How blessed are we to live here in America?!!

We took it easy during the day on the 4th and the kids had a little picnic lunch.

Then they rocked out to Sydney's mad piano skills. I thought this was so funny that they'd use the diapers and wipes boxes for her stand and bench.
Then the real fun began. We went over to our friends house for swimming and fireworks. Ryan got a workout entertaining all of the kids. He had scratches on his back but had a great time throwing kids into the pool and throwing balls at the boys.
I didn't get a picture of it, but all the kids ganged up on Ryan and pushed him in too!
Some of our fine firework display!

Thanks to my friend Christine (who emailed me instructions on photographing sparklers) I was able to get some fun shots of the kids. Here's Kennedy.
And Preston
And Carter.

Grand Canyon

2008-06-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

Last week(now 2 weeks ago, by the time I finish this LONG post) we went to the Grand Canyon with Ryan's family. We had a great time, aside from Carter nearly falling to the bottom. We went to Slide Rock Park and to a ski resort in Flagstaff. The hole under the fence where the rocks come together is where Carter nearly slipped and took the fast way down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was pretty scary and of course happened within the first five minutes of arriving there. The hole doesn't look that big from the photo, but his little body could have easily fit right through it. He got to spend the rest of the trip on our shoulders or holding our hands.
Can you say mischievous?
Sydney had a great time playing with her cousin Abby.
We can never resist a chance to ham it up in front of the camera.
Kennedy inside the Watchtower.
This is the watchtower that was built in the 1930's just to give better views of the Grand Canyon.
Carter was a little safer up in the tree.
Kennedy was off playing with her cousin Chloe so she didn't make it in this family shot.

Carter wondering how far down it is from the ski lift.
The kids and 2 of their cousins at the highest toilet in Arizona! Impressive huh?
Why would anyone take a squirmy 14 month old on an open air ski lift? I was asking myself that the whole half hour ride up. Poor Sydney is as adventurous as Carter. All she wanted to do was lean over the side. I was holding her so tight as she was trying to get loose. I kept making Kennedy and Chloe sing primary songs to calm Sydney (and me) down.
It was REALLY cold up on the top.
I dug through the kids hand me down suits and came up with this number for Preston. You can't see but the back is safety pinned together. I think he looks adorable in his John Stockton's.
I don't suggest wearing short shorts sliding on these rocks the day before you have to drive 12 hours sitting in a car.
Kennedy slipped down the rock. Luckily Uncle Cory was there to save her.
Ryan and his brothers jumping off of the rocks. I, of course, had to follow and barely cleared the rock. So I only did it once.
Kennedy got the soft ride on my lap down this. But she was still very nervous.
Ryan going down on his belly. It was actually a bit easier on your tummy.

The kids were all sacked out on the drive home from the slides.
We had to finish the last night of the trip with a lip sync. All of the cousins had so much fun singing together. I love how excited my kids are to spend time with their cousins.
Here they are rocking out again.
Here I am tucked in the corner, showing the kids their next move. We had such a fantastic time with Ryan's family. I am SO blessed to have married into the Johnson clan. I've got the BEST husband EVER and I owe it to his fabulous parents. Thanks again Bob and Lorna for all that you do for us.

Baby Brynna

2008-06-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

We finally met my newest little niece Brynna last weekend. Like I mentioned before my favorite little sister Kathryn and mom came to watch my kids while Ryan and I went to Yosemite. The kids were oh so excited to have Aunt Kathryn come and meeting little Brynna was the icing on the cake.

It was such a relief to know that my kids were well taken care of. And while Kathryn played with them all mountains of laundry was washed and folded by my mom.

Sorry Kelly, Kami, Krissy, Heather and Kendra, but by the ecstatic look on Brynna's face I think that I must be Brynna's favorite aunt

Brynna looks a little unsure about having Carter hold her. Preston has the magic touch. Or maybe just the bottle :)

This is the girls photo shoot in their matching pj's.
Syd loved being bigger than someone.
No that's not a booger on Sydney's nose, she is walking now.

Syd is already bribing her little cousin into giving her a back rub.

Half Dome

2008-06-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I hiked Half Dome at Yosemite this weekend. It is a 16 mile hike and straight up the mountain at the last part. My favorite little sister Kathryn and my mom came to watch the kids for us. We've been planning this for a while with some of our friends and were so glad that it all came together and that we all SURVIVED! The hike itself was a good hard hike, but the cables at the end................they are making my hands sweat again just by thinking about them.

Here we all are in the parking lot before the hike. The other 3 guys have hiked half dome before, but Ryan and all the girls had never done it. Maybe that is why we all look so excited. The last time I went to Yosemite was with my Field Biology class my senior year. We went on some amazing hikes but not this one.
By a beautiful waterfall on the way up.
These are my great friends who I ran in the half marathon with. They are awesome motivators.
I thought this sign was pretty funny. "If you go over the fall, you will die."

This is how you get to the top of half dome. Literally the scariest thing I have EVER done in my life. There are cables bolted into the mountain that you can grab onto and pull yourself up with. My arms were wrapped around those cables. The hard part is the long line to even get on the cables. You are standing on a narrow ledge for an hour contemplating whether or not you're really going to do this. I kept thinking of my kids and if these were going to be my last moments alive. So maybe I'm a little dramatic, but it is scary! A guy ahead of us was taking a picture and his camera slipped and fell down the mountain. As we were standing on the cables going nowhere news came down that someone had fainted while on the cables and was being helped down. People go up and down the same cables so you have to squeeze your way through.

I know you can barely see us, but there we are on the ledge. We aren't as daring as some other people we saw climbing to the edge or doing handstands out there. CRAZY! I have too much to live for to be that risky. But it was just amazing to see the beautiful views from on top. What an incredible world we live in.

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-27T20:05:00.001-07:00

Our friends the Lamb's from Monterey came to stay with us for the weekend. Friday night we went to the drive in movies. It was so fun but that place is kind of trashy. We took the kids to go see Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I'm the worst mom ever and my kids are going to have nightmares forever because of it. I guess it is rated PG-13 for a reason. They did love the candy and chillin' in the back of the car.
No Sydney is not eating raw meat, she got her little hands on a piece of red licorice leftover from the movies. She loved it.

On Memorial Day we went to the zoo. I tried explaining to the kids what Memorial day was. But making the connection between those who passed away because of war and us playing and barbequing might not have made much sense to them.

We ended the day by swimming at our friend's house. Here is Preston's awesome jump into the pool.

Kennedy is also jumping into the pool although it looks like she is still standing on the ledge.

Here are the kids with their funny faces. Kennedy's makes me crack up.

Field trips, carnivals and camping

2008-05-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

I went on a great field trip with Kennedy to Raley field where the Rivercats play. We were given a tour and talk by a great motivational speaker who reminded me of my Uncle Rick. It was such a great field trip. I was so happy to be able to spend the day with Kennedy. I was kind of suckered into going by her friend Julia, who asked Kennedy "Why doesn’t your mom ever go on field trips?" Now I have met her class at the farm and Preston’s at the zoo, but I haven’t been an actual chaperone because I’ve got 3 other children to find places for while I am chaperoning. But I felt like I should attend one. I was thrilled that this was the one.

Later that night we had the school carnival to attend. Here's my cute little lefty. Don't ask me why he insists on rolling up his shorts!
Kennedy used one of her tickets to get her hair spray painted. She's a cute punk rocker.
Last Tuesday Kennedy had a mother’s Day performance. I went and loved every second of it. I sobbed through most of it. The songs were ADORABLE. And then they read, of all the books…I’ll love you forever. When I saw what book they were going to read I was like oh great! I can’t even read that to my kids without breaking down. They wonder what is wrong with me so Ryan has to finish the story. I am so proud of Kennedy. She is a darling girl who makes good choices.

Before school Kennedy was helping Sydney walk. Syd is doing pretty good and is taking 5-7 steps at a time now.
So take away the boogers and the crumbs and isn't she just gorgeous? She gives the best hugs ever because she just wraps her little arms around you and holds on tight. Then as you pat her back she'll pat yours.

Last Friday Ryan took the boys camping on the Father and Sons trip for our ward. They rode motorcycles all day Friday and stayed up till midnight. They were SO filthy when they came home. Carter had a scabbed up chin which was hidden under some jelly and doritos crumbs. They left a ring in my bathtub, but I was so glad that they were able to go and have a great time with their papa. It was really quiet without my two favorite hoodlums around.

Why can't everyday be Mothers Day?

2008-05-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today was such a great day. I woke up to waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, my favorite. I hurried and ate them then woke the kids up to get ready for 8:30am church. Preston told me to get back in bed because it was Mother's Day and I would be served breakfast in bed. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Ryan had already fed me. He then saw the empty plate and glass in my room. Oops! Ryan took Sydney during Relief Society so that I could listen to the lesson and he even took her out to change her diaper during Sunday School. I'll have to ask him if they have a changing table in the men's bathroom....He later made lunch and ribs for dinner. I even got a nap in.

Ryan actually started Mother's Day early by sending me flowers on Wednesday, giving me my new Venus razor on Thursday (yeah smooth legs finally!), Friday we were too busy so it slipped by and Saturday he let me go shopping ALL BY MYSELF! Today he gave me new running clothes. Ryan deserves a golden star for his efforts. Maybe he just did it because I let him get those really expensive motorcycle boots! Hmmmm.
I am thankful to be a mom to my four awesome kids. We were looking through past photos today and the kids LOVED seeing themselves as babies. They didn't even recognize themselves in some of the pictures. My little rascals, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Sometimes I think what in the world am I doing with four kids? What an incredible responsibility is in my hands. I am so grateful for my mom and the example she is for me. On the days when I am yelling at the kids I think to myself I don't remember my mom ever yelling at me like this, then I secretly hope that she did and I just forgot and hopefully my kids will forget too! :) Someday when I grow up I'll be just like her. At the end of each day I still get hugs and kisses (it may be just an effort from the kids to stay up a little bit later) but I know that I am loved. I LOVE being a mom!

Haircut

2008-05-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

My boys have cute faces that I like to see. So today at church I was checking out a little shagginess and decided it was time....haircut time. Carter was fine while I was cutting his hair, because I always have to bribe him with candy. He went and took a shower, got out and the tears came. He was bawling and didn't like his haircut at all. I convinced him that he looked SO handsome. He went upstairs to get dressed as Preston took the chair. Preston pleaded with me not to cut his as short as Carter's. Ryan and I were cracking up as Carter came downstairs with his hat on.

Champions

2008-04-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

YEAH HOMERS! Ryan and his softball team won their recreation league. Friday night was the playoffs. If they won the first game they'd continue on. The second game was kind of intense. I was getting a little nervous for them. But they pulled it off by one run, which was batted in by Ryan. We had a fun victory celebration in the parking lot of McDonalds. Who knew only the drive -thru at McDonalds is open after 10pm here!? The guys won $135 which I think they decided to put towards shirts for the team.

We were the loyal fans that stuck it out through both games. It was a late night for our kids, but they loved staying out till 11pm! They were really proud of their Papa.

Super Dad!

2008-04-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what I love most about this picture........Preston's admiration for his dad, Ryan's perfectly pointed toes or Carter's shirtless pose. What do you think?

Sydney turns 1

2008-04-17T12:40:00.001-07:00

Sydney turned one year old on Monday. Kennedy woke up really early and came into our room asking if she could wake Sydney and the boys. I told her to wait a little. When Sydney did wake up Kennedy was wondering why Sydney wasn't walking yet. I guess she thought that Sydney would learn how to walk overnight because she is 1! We love her so much and are so happy that she's in our family.

She loved her cards and chewed or ripped each one.
I love how she is about to pounce on her cake.
Making sure that nobody is about to come around the corner and snag it from her.
Licking her fingers clean.
Ready for piece number 2. She has inherited the sweet tooth gene from us.

Santa Cruz

2008-04-13T21:07:00.001-07:00

I just returned from a great weekend away trip to Santa Cruz. My friends and I ran in the Santa Cruz half marathon! Thirteen of us caravaned down and then met up with two of our other loyal runners once we got there. We picked up our packets Friday night and then carbed up at an Italian restaurant.
Wake up call was at 5:30 am Saturday morning. So after quickly eating some english muffins caked in peanut butter we were off. I was so excited and nervous.

After the gun shot we were like cattle hustling up a hill. The run was beautiful, along the coast most of the way. We took a few trails and had to hurdle some serious horse droppings. The variety of runners was amazing. An older man was pushing a cart that I’m pretty sure had an oxygen tank on it.
The guy on the far right won it with a time of like 1:35. When he was heading back around the loop I was still at like mile 7.
The last couple miles were all a mind game for me. I felt like I was becoming schizophrenic, talking myself into finishing. Part of me was like okay it is time to stop and walk. The other side of me was saying you can do it. I kept thinking how hard self mastery is. My main goal was to run the whole thing without walking and I did it. The last ½ mile was so awesome with strangers cheering me on. Most of my friends had already finished so I could hear my name being yelled. Yeah me! As I finished I was handed a flyer for another half marathon, I was like yeah right. This was kind of like child birth. After each child I think, how can I go through that again? But then time passes and I do. So maybe someday….

My actual time was 2 hours and 17 minutes, cause I didn't cross the start line until a minute after the gun went off.

When I called Ryan and the kids, Preston asked me if I had won. I told him no. He later asked if I came in 2nd or 3rd. I said a little after that... :)
This is the view from the beach house we stayed at.

We got a chance to soak in some sun and relax our poor bodies.
Our dinner celebration.
Fun on the boardwalk.

The night wouldn't have been complete without a ride on a roller coaster. A HUGE Muchos Gracias goes out to Ryan and all the other hubbys who stayed home with the kids. And made it to 8:30am church the next day! Kennedy wasn't too happy about Ryan brushing her hair though.

On Purpose or Accident?

2008-04-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

The other day Preston got mad and kicked the wall. I told him not to. He said, "Mom it wasn’t on purpose." My response was, "Well it wasn’t on accident!" He then asked "so what was it on?" Sometimes Ryan and I find it hard to reprimand the kids when we are laughing about what they do. How effective is it to tell Carter to stop saying "butt" while trying to stiffle the giggles?

Tee ball and stuff

2008-04-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

This week was filled with all of our fun usual activites. On April Fool's Day I had to go to the dentist to get a cavity filled and a crown! Yeah that was BLAST. The next day I subbed for early morning seminary. They start at 6am! My lesson was on the Book Of Job. I found myself with too much material planned and not enough time, so at the end I was like okay and Job also got boils all over and then was blessed with more than he had before because he was faithful....Any questions? :) I was really impressed with these young teenagers and their dedication to the gospel.

Thursday was Preston's first tee ball game. It was hilarious! Kids running everywhere or not running at all. Anytime birds would fly by every kid was looking up. Saturday was the official opening day parade. Preston is on the Florida Marlins team. This was their little float.

Here he is with his friend.

He got to play catcher.
How cute is he?
Preston is my little southpaw. Takes after his Grandma Carter.

Sydney was listeneing intently to the speaker at the ceremony.
Carter was too. But he was just glad that he got some candy from the parade.
Carter can't wait till it's his turn to play ball.

Ryan's game was great this week. I felt sorry for the other team. They were not very good. One of their guys came over to our stands and said well you guys could at least cheer a little for us. So we switched our loyalty for a minute, but that didn't work out for them, our husbands still creamed them.

So Cal

2008-03-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

We just got back from spring break in Upland. The kids and I drove down last Monday. The 7 hour drive actually went okay. Carter was in the 3rd row all by himself and the others were right behind me. Besides the 3 pretzels that were chucked at the back of my head by Carter, he earned the award of being the best. Followed closely by Sydney, who only started to fuss as we drove through Pasadena. Kennedy and Preston...well they were okay too. I didn't want to use our portable dvd player, because it seems like everytime I do, I'm always turning around to fix something so since I was driving I didn't think that would be too safe. I just made the kids look out the windows and count the cows.

We were able to relax all week and play at the park everyday. I was able to visit with my good friends Lisa and Kelly. We've been friends since 7th grade. We got together for lunch one day with all of our cute kids.

I met up with my old roomies Eva and Julia at Newport Beach. We had so much fun back in our "Raintree" days. I had to remind them that since having 4 kids my bladder is not what it used to be so they couldn't make me laugh too hard. They said whatever, you peed your pants all of the time back then, which is true, because of our non stop laughter. We just had a lot of fun living together. Kennedy and Julia's son Ammon decided to be pen pals. Kennedy came home after the beach and wrote him a letter. She's so cute. I told Julia that she just needs to put a little more meat on her son, because I won't let Kennedy marry someone skinnier than her.
Only a good friend like Eva would retake a picture for me because the first one showed my triple chin. :) ....cause this one is so much better.

We had a great Easter. My mom took the kids on Saturday to go help clean up the church building. After a few minutes of "helping" someone told my mom that there was an Easter egg hunt at Memorial park. I'm not sure if they were trying to get rid of my kids or what....:) So they ran to the dollar store to pick up a few baskets and made there way over to the hunt. They were pretty happy with their stash of goods.
Here is Kennedy's pouting face. She was unhappy about getting her hair done or something.
Preston starts out every Sunday looking great. Fives minutes into Sacrament meeting he is a mess. His shirt is always untucked and his tie is undone. We try.

Carter's church shoes??? I swear I brought them.
Sydney, seriously don't you just die over this cute girl?

Uncle Tyler with all of the kids.

So the real reason for our trip down was my birthday present. Ryan got me tickets to see Wicked back in February. Ryan flew down on Saturday morning. We went out to dinner at a cool Brazilian restaurant and then headed over to the Pantages. While getting out of our car we ran into an old friend from UVSC days. Ryan and I had so much fun. The play was great and the music was awesome.

We drove home on Monday. Somehow the trip seemed longer while I was in the passenger side sleeping! I was glad that Ryan made the trip back with us.

Ryan's Softball game

2008-03-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

Ryan's first Rec league softball game was Friday night. His first at bat............HOME RUN! Seriously this guy is so good at everything he does, I'm jealous sometimes. I was bummed because I was in the bathroom with the kids and as I came up to the field I saw two guys rounding the bases followed by Ryan. I said to my friend please say that wasn't Ryan that hit the home run, she said yep he did!
So then I watched him at bat twice and he hit 2 pop flies and got out. Once again I left to take the kids to the bathroom and he hit a double. I figure that I must be a bad luck charm for him.
Sydney was supposed to fall asleep while we were there but it was just too exciting. She had to congratulate her Dad on his great game.
Carter was caught in the act of throwing bark on the slide, or maybe it was at the other kids.

The park was so great. The playground was right behind the bleachers, so the kids had a great time playing and I could still watch the game.

Holy Moley!

2008-03-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

I noticed Sydney's first mole the other day on her leg. Since I hate all mine and Ryan's moles I was dissapointed that she'd get one this soon. Kennedy on the other hand was so funny she said, "How cool! Her first mole!"

I've been down ond out with the flu for a week. (As you can tell by my first blog being back is about a mole:) Ryan came home from work early to help out and get my prescriptions. And my great neighbor took Syd and Carter so they wouldn't get sick, or maybe so they wouldn't be ignored. My friend brought us dinner, man it was great. I am a big fan of "SUCKING IT UP" (my family will tell you they don't get much sympathy from me) but this case of "wuss-itis" sure paid off.

Kickball

2008-02-18T10:11:00.001-08:00

Saturday was too nice of a day to let slip by. So after our Saturday chores we rounded up our friends and had an intense kickball game.

Kennedy and her friend were really into the game as you can see.

The favorite part for the kids was the gatorade at the end. Preston had so many that he had a little mustache that lasted through church on Sunday. I tried scrubbing it off with soap, but it was still a little visible.

Short end of the stick

2008-02-18T10:02:00.000-08:00

I gave each of the boys an otter pop after finishing lunch. They like to cut them in half and get a taste of each flavor usually. I had to laugh when I saw the size of each portion. Poor Carter got the short end of the otter pop deal. The funny thing was that Carter didn't seem to care or maybe he didn't really notice.

Goodbye to You

2008-02-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

After four and a half good years at Intel, we've decided that it was time to look for something new. Ryan was offered a position with Pearson, an educational publishing company, as a Senior Financial Analyst. After much discussion, contemplating and prayer we felt like we would have a better family/ work/ life balance at Pearson. We weren't expecting the great counter offer he got from Intel. Ryan was definitely flattered. He thought that Intel wouldn’t have to counter because there are many people there that would jump at a chance for his job with Intel Capital. But we felt good about the decision we had made. He was flying back and forth EVERYDAY from Folsom to Santa Clara on the Intel plane. So he had quite the commute. I was a little shocked the other day when he came home midday. Now I can’t sit around all day and throw things into high gear at 6pm like I used to! But we are so glad to have him around more.

But mom, they just give me money...

2008-02-10T22:23:00.000-08:00

I received a notice the other day from Kennedy's school that I owed money for school lunch. I thought hmm, I pack her a lunch everyday and on the special occasions that I do let her buy hot lunch I give her the $2. So I said Kennedy what is this for? She said well, sometimes when I leave my water bottle at my desk or you forget to put a drink in, I go to the office and they just give me money! Oh if life were only as easy as this sweet little girl thinks it is. I had to explain to her that we need to pay that back. The school doesn't just give money away.

Preston rarely removes his BYU cap, usually just for church and prayers. He wears it to school everyday. He got his new teeball cap this week, so he has been rotating them. But the other night in bed he had both of them on. I just noticed that he has the same shirt on in both of these pictures. Last week he wore it to school two days in a row. I let it slide cause I hate doing laundry. But when he tried to sneak it past me on the third day under a sweatshirt I had to put my foot down. Probably because it would make me look like a bad mom :)
Preston was 2 when we first started collecting Thomas the Train. He outgrew it but Carter loves it. The trains are pulled out everyday. They are supposed to be put away each night as well. The other night Carter was reporting his cleaning job to me. He said "The playroom is all clean, but don't go up there!" Carter and I played for a while the other day, but it is Dad who builds all of the cool tracks. Sometimes they have to baracade Sydney so that she doesn't mess up their track.

New Year's

2008-02-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post something since I just changed my background of my blog, but I can't find the cord to download my pictures from my camera, so I threw some on from our New Year's Eve Fondue Party. We have such fun friends here in our ward.

I still don't know what story Ryan is telling here, but he thinks it's pretty funny.

You Choose 2008

2008-01-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

My friend had this link on her blog and I thought it was a great political quiz. Try it and see who you will vote for! My results were Romney then Huckabee.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm

Running and Reading

2008-01-21T22:37:00.001-08:00

So here we are in a new year and of course those new year's resolutions come creeping up. I have started running with some friends of mine. We are going to run in a 10k Folsom Fun Run. Our first Saturday we were suppose to do a 2.5 mile run but somehow it ended up being 4 miles. About mile 3 I was struggling and my friend Mandy kept running back to stay with me. I teased her later that she was coming back to the rescue of the "Willie-Martin Handcart Company". Last Saturday we did 5 miles. Now you have to know that I do NOT like running, but I figured if I'm going to get in a swimming suit this summer, I better get running. Who am I kidding, I'll probably be pregnant this summer anyway and it won't matter.

Another thing that I am doing is reading! Yeah me. We have a book club here that I've never attended. The book this month was "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. What an amazing book! This sweet woman and her sister are such Christlike examples of forgiveness. I'm having a hard time forgiving the guy who yelled at me last week for blocking the sidewalk when I dropped Kennedy off at school and they were able to forgive terrible people under terrible conditions. Amazing!

Christmas

2008-01-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year! We had a great Christmas this year and had so much fun with family. Here are some highlights from our time spent with my family.

One of the best gifts this year was our little Sydney. She loved the Christmas tree and I often found her under it gnawing on ornaments.
Here are my two sweet boys on Christmas morning. I remember waking up Christmas morning and running down those same steps as a kid. You also had a great view if you were getting anything big like a bike.

This is Sydney with my cousin's Jeremy's little girl Bryton. They are a month apart and so cute. Who says black isn't for babies? It makes them look so sophisticated! :)
I think that every grandchild of my mother's has taken a bath in her sink.

On Christmas Eve my children and I did a lyp sync to a snowman song. I love how cool Preston looks. And I love that Carter did his part by being on stage! They were so excited when we practiced at home, but a little intimidated in front of all of the family.

Preston getting a little more into it. But Carter is in the same position with his finger still in his mouth.

Ahhhh, finally my little prodigy Kennedy. She came out of nowhere and rocked out. I'm so proud.

Here are the kids leaving the reindeer food out on the lawn.

We went to a boat parade in Chino Hills a couple of days before Christmas. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved it. I've heard it said that this is the poor man's version of the Newport boat parade which is actually in water, but then how would the kids get all of the candy??!!
This must've been the canoe that was decorated in the back of some guys truck, there seriously was one! :)

Kennedy is making some green jello with my mom. But there are no carrots in it! It was actually a margarita jello but there was no alcohol in it either! These aprons were made by my Aunt Linda and worn by me and my sisters when we were little. We all had the matching little ones.
The day after Christmas there was a Stake baketball tournament. Ryan took the place of my dad to play for his ward. Ryan made the first 7 points. There wasn't a lot of competition. My aunt Cathy and cousin Emalee came with us to cheer Ryan on. Here is the ever faithful child care provider Emalee with Sydney and Kennedy.

Ryan and I were given a break from the kids and went down to San Diego. We had so much fun together. Sadly it has been a while since we flirted so much and laughed so hard.
We went to SeaWorld for 2 days and had a great time. We got drenched on so many rides and finally got suckered into buying two ponchos there.

My Uncle Rick set up this death trap for the kids. It was actually just a rope for them to jump over. He said when he did this with his kids he used bungee cords so they wouldn't get a rope burn, my kids thought it was a great idea.

Preston was so proud of himself every time he cleared the rope. They did get it pretty high for the kids to jump over.

Late night update

2007-12-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

Ryan is out of town until Thursday night so I am doing my usual, stay up until I am so tired that I literally fall asleep. I have all of the kids sleep in my room, because it is a "special treat" for them, but really I feel like it is for my protection. I lock my bedroom door and have the phone and my cell phone by my side. I haven't watched a scary movie in years, but it is all of the "Dateline" shows that freak me out.

I realized that I haven't had a chance to update my blog in a while so I'll stay up doing something worthwhile.

We went riding a couple of weeks ago. Here is Carter on the bike. He only rides it with Ryan. They look really cute on it together. While we were at the off road park I was talking to a man who was there with his 2 sons. I told him that we had checked out getting a 150 bike for me and that was what his 12 year old son had. So a few moments later he brought his sons bike over for me to ride it. I was so excited. I think he felt sorry for me putting around on Preston's 50. So I tested it out and think that our next purchase should be a bike for me. I was very cautious because this was his son's new Early Christmas gift. The picture is of me looking lame but having fun on Preston's 50.

We recently took the training wheels off of Preston's dirtbike. He is doing pretty good. He is having a little bit of trouble with braking, he usually will just drop the bike or Ryan or I will run over to help him stop it.

Kennedy went to the Nutcracker with all of the first graders. She looked so adorable.

We took a train ride up to the "North Pole" to visit Santa. It was really fun. The city does it every year. When you get there Santa is there and they have cookies and cider.

We have been so busy lately with this great Christmas season and looking for a house for us to buy. I feel like I used to have an addiction to house hunting but now it feels like a chore. I can't wait to NEVER look at houses again! Well maybe I shouldn't say never....

Thanksgiving in Utah

2007-11-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Ryan's family in Utah. I love visiting Utah, must be from all of those trips up there as a child. I always remember after a long 10 hour drive, hopping out of our 15 passenger van, barefoot into snow. We had a great time visiting with family. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Here we are with my Grandma Brown (Windley since she recently remarried). As we were driving through Nevada we passed Wendover and Ryan said jokingly, "kids wave to Grandma Brown." She lives in Utah but sometimes hits those slots in Wendover. I tried calling her the first couple of days we were in Utah but couldn't get a hold of her. I later found out that she and her hubby Jack WERE in Wendover!

While in Utah we had to make a trip down to BYU and load up on shirts and hats for the kids. My sister Kelly and her kids Kaitlyn and Morgan joined us and so did my little prego sister Kathryn.

We took the kids to a park along with their cousins Carson and Issac. They had a blast with Ryan pushing the tire swing as hard as he could.

Ryan's Grandma Cragun is 96 years old. She is so sweet and still so sharp.

Last night for Family Home Evening we asked the kids to say what they are thankful for. Preston proceeded to tell us that he is thankful for his transformers and power rangers that he is getting for Christmas! Smart kid! I am thankful for our good family, good health, good friends, good hubby and most of all for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Homeless

2007-11-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

We are officially homeless, well not really homeless but just not home owners. We sold our Oregon home and are still in this rental in Folsom, CA until January.

Last month while we were in Oregon we decided to put our home on the market. We figured it would sit for a while, since the average on market days were 60-70. At that point we still weren't sure if we were just going to buy a larger home in Oregon or try to move back to California permantely. But we were thinking we'd have at least a couple of months to figure it all out. Much to our surprise we receieved a full offer price in less than a week.

Ryan and I went back up to Portland last weekend to pack up our stuff and move it here. We were SO grateful to have my parents come and watch the kids for us. I think they got more than they bargained for. Kennedy and Preston each had their last soccer games, then their end of the season parties and then Preston had a birthday party to go to. Sunday was the primary program at church so my mom helped the kids rehearse their lines and made sure that Kennedy had curled hair.

I am also so grateful for my hard working husband. Ryan bulldozes through tough jobs like moving. While I was sifting through journals and other memorabilia he was loading the truck. Although their was so much work to be done it was like a mini vacation. There is nobody that I'd rather work with or play with than Ryan.

I was sad to leave. We have many great memories of Hillsboro Oregon. But I am excited to be on the prowl for a new house here.

Brothers

2007-11-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

There is a definate love/hate relationship between Carter and Preston. But they usually do stick together. I caught this shot of them laying on the trampoline eating apples and looking up in the sky. I love memories like this.

So two nights ago Preston woke up with a wet bed and told me that it was probably from him sweating. He has not wet the bed in over a year but that was my first thought. Later I found out that Carter had climbed in Preston's bed when he was scared, wet the bed and then went in to sleep with my mom who was visiting us. Poor Preston couldn't figure out why he was all wet. But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Ryan had lots of nightmares as a child and would often sneak into one of his brothers rooms to sleep. One night he slept in his brother Cory's bed and wet it. He got out of there before Cory even knew he was there. Cory woke up thinking he had wet the bed! :)

Halloween

2007-11-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

Carter was Thomas the Train. I loved his little hat on him. He looked like a little boy from the 20's. I think he was eating popcorn off the ground.

Preston was a Power Ranger. Carter, Sydney and I went to his class party. Only the kindergarden classes were allowed to dress up. How sad. I remember the whole school dressing up and having a parade when I was little......back in the day.

Kennedy was Jasmine.

Sydney had a little too much bottle to drink. Here she is passed out at the trunk or treat at the church last Saturday.

Sydney was a mermaid. Have you ever seen a more modest mermaid costume. Only for babies! :)

Fog Willow Farm

2007-10-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

We went on a field trip with Kennedy to a pumpkin patch/farm. This was on a hay ride.

Here Sydney and I are posing for Carter since he wanted to take a picture. He actually did a pretty good job for a three year old.

We learned the difference between hay and straw. Hay the animals eat and straw is used for beds. Here Kennedy is making a hay bale.

Carter fit right in with his orange shirt.

R.A.O.K.

2007-10-17T11:29:00.001-07:00

Random Acts of Kindness. Kennedy came home from church with a new helpful attitude. I am so grateful for primary teachers who care so much about my children. It really takes a village to raise children and I'm so glad to be part of a great one. Her teacher had given her a card that said RAOK ( Random Acts of Kindness) on it. She was instructed to do a nice act for someone and then they would in turn do something for someone else. Kennedy came home from church and made our bed and left the card there. She was so excited and kept insisting that we go upstairs for whatever reason. Then I saw our bed made with the little card in place. I was so happy and thrilled to know that she actually follows through when instructed to do something. I'm also glad that she keeps reusing the card and I find it by my shoes when she has straightened them. She is a good example to us and we're so glad she's in our family.

Oregon

2007-10-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a week long visit to our home in Oregon. We are doing a "temporary relocation" with Intel in Folsom, California that was originally 6 months and now has turned into 11 months. On the drive up Ryan and I fell in love with the beauty of Oregon again. And walking in to my own home, with my furniture and pictures made me a little homesick. The home Intel is renting for us is great, but we have hotel bedding and basically hotel photos on the walls.

While we were up there we were having a problem with gnats. We couldn't keep them away. Then one day as I was opening up a cupboard I found a sack of potatoes!!!! It was basically liquid and disgusting. I should've taken a photo, but it was too gross. They have been sitting there for almost 8 months!!! Ryan even goes back up once a month to check on the home and never found it!

I am realizing that I am raising pampered Californians. Preston was a little annoyed with the rain each day. It first started out..."eh, it's raining." Then as each day progressed it was "Why does it always rain here?" And finally," mom let's never come back here again, it is always raining!" I explained that the rain helped keep Oregon so beautiful, but the kids weren't buying it. They wanted to play outside.

Ryan turns 30

2007-09-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my sweet OLD man. I'm so glad that 30 years ago this guy was born. He is the greatest husband, I always tell him that he is my favorite husband ever :) And my kids couldn't have a better father.
He started off the day motorcycle riding with his friend Shad. Then off to the stores, to exchange everything I got him. They just don't carry his sizes on the clearance rack. :) Then Ryan and I played frisbee football with some friends in our ward. The aged man still has some good moves left in him.
Kennedy loves that Daddy does Family Home Evening on Monday nights. Ryan is the faithful one in making sure that we do that each Monday night and reads scriptures every night with the kids.

Preston's favorite thing is playing with his dad in the water or just falling asleep on him.

Carter loves to play with daddy especially in the dirt. Carter is so loyal to his dad and thinks Ryan walks on water.

Sydney's favorite thing to do is snuggle with her daddy.

Soccer and Ward Campout

2007-09-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

After both soccer games we went directly to our ward campout. We had a fun time playing, making crafts and floating on little boats. Each auxiliary had to put on a skit. The Relief Society sang "girls just want to have fun" I was pretty embarrassed to get up there, but you should have seen Kennedy's face looking at me in my 80's garb belting out Cyndi Lauper. She was smiling so big like I was a movie star. I love her fun personality. This picture grasps her sweet spirit.

How cute is this goalie? I can't believe that it has only been a year since Preston's soccer clinic. I was dragging that boy out on the field to play. He is doing a great job now. His first block was hilarious. He jumped up and landed on the ball.

Here is Preston, #4, with his tag hanging out of his TOO BIG soccer shorts.

Preston is the one lying on the ground trying to get the ball or maybe just trying to lay out and get a tan.

Here is Kennedy making a mad dash for the ball. :)

It's official now, I am a soccer mom. I'm not quite sure how there is a picture of me just sitting by myself, because usually I am putting on shin guards or feeding a crying child during soccer. When you live in Folsom, California you are shunned if your child does not play soccer. There are literally 300 teams and nearly 3000 kids who play in our city alone! So we gave in to the kids, but we are all really enjoying it.

Monterey

2007-09-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a great weekend in Monterey. Our dear friends the Lamb's moved from Folsom to Monterey a couple of years ago, probably trying to lose us, but lucky for them we keep finding them. :) We went down with some other great friends, the Clarks and the Bergs. So between our four families we had 17 children and 8 adults! What good sports the Lamb's are to house all of us. We had a great day at the beach on Saturday. I'm not used to water that cold. I'm a definately a Southern California girl. We were the only ones out there without wetsuits. I'm glad the water was clear because the week before there was a great white shark attack in the Moneterey bay. So I kept checking the water around me. We made it home in time to watch the BYU game. As you can see in the picture with Ryan and Sydney she thought it was a nail biter. We all got kids in bed by 8pm so we could pull out the real treats and play games until nearly 1 am. And can you believe on Sunday, with all these families that we arrived at church 5 minutes early? It's because we had to follow my friend Wendy and they are always on time. We got back in Folsom on Monday in time to unpack and then head over to the Berg's for swimming and a barbeque. My 9 loads of laundry can wait. :) It is so great to have such fun friends.

Back To School

2007-08-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

Back to school and back to SANITY for me. The kids started school on August 13th. Kennedy is now in first grade and Preston is in kindergarten. He started early, since he is only4, but he is loving it. I'm not sure if he is learning anything he just tells me if his group (the yellow group) was able to ride bikes, play with cars or with the legos. Carter seems to like the extra attention he is now getting. He won't stop talking to me. But he is having a little bit of a problem with annunciation. When he pronounces the letter c it sounds like to the letter P. The other day at lunch we were having corn on the cob. He told me that he wanted to have some "PORN" too! He is seriously so cute.