It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We have had a wonderful Christmas season and been able to celebrate in many ways. We are excited to celebrate out Saviors birth tomorrow and look forward to a new year.

At our ward Christmas celebration we reenacted Christs birth in Bethlehem. It was a wonderful evening. Here are a couple pictures of us in our costumes. As Aiden would say, "we have been Bethlehemed."

We were also able to make our annual gingerbread house. Although it took
many hours we had fun designing, building and decorating. My favorite part is being able to enjoy the wonderful gingerbread smell that permeates our home as well as look at it throughout the season.

A couple more highlights this season were visiting our downtown with my family to see the wonderful light and "cracknacker" (a.k.a. nutcrackers) displays. Santa also came into town on a firetruck that evening. Visiting Santa was fun this year as it was the first year we didn't have any tears from Aiden. Brooklyn, however, was a different story. The only thing she wanted to do with Santa was eat the candy cane he gave her.

Shae spent many hours decorating our home with lights this year and it looks beautiful. Thanks for all your hard work sweetie. If you are in the neighborhood come by and see it.

Holiday baking is also one of our favorites this time of year. We were able to make our traditional sugar cookies as well as many other goodies. The kids love to help measure and mix the ingredients.

Here are a few highlights of us in our holiday attires. Brooklyn has turned into quite the ham in front of the camera. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

From the Johnsons

Turducken... Have you heard of it?

We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving this year and I could not let it go without a post. We were blessed to have some of my family join us at our home for great food and wonderful company.

Now to the food. We have a good friend from the south that has introduced us to the Turducken and this year she was so generous to let us try hers. Now, what is a Turducken you ask... it is a chicken, inside a duck, inside a turkey. It is also stuffed with a sausage stuffing and cornbread dressing. I know you are thinking heart attack on a plate but if you have it only once a year it is okay. It was quite an experience and very delicious. We also tried a very delicious green bean recipe. Of course they were wrapped in bacon too. We had many other dishes and needless to say we were stuffed by the end of the meal.

We are thankful for so many blessings this year and for all of you and the love and support you have given to us. Thank you!

We Miss You...

I couldn't let this day go by without paying tribute to our wonderful mother and grandmother. I can hardly believe that it has been a year since my mom passed away. It still feels like yesterday we were talking, laughing, and sharing memories together. Mom, we miss you more and more everyday. Even though we wish you were still with us, we find comfort in knowing you are in a better place and that we will be there with you one day. We love you Mom and Grandma Susi!

"4" Alarm Fire!!!

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy! I know everyone says it, but time really does fly by. I can't believe Aiden is already 4. He is definitely maturing and turning into a "big boy" these days. He is always making us laugh and coming up with the funniest things to say. He is a very happy child and rarely is without a smile. We love you Aiden, Happy Birthday! Aiden's birthday party was a big surprise this year. Aiden and one of his best buds, Davis have birthdays just two weeks apart. This past April while at a silent auction for the Boys and Girls club we decided to bid on the fire station birthday party with our dear friends Erica and Jed and throw a joint party for the boys. Low and behold we won but kept it our little secret for 7 months. A couple of weeks ago we dressed up the boys in there fireman costumes and announced their surprise. They were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. Honestly it was the easiest party we have ever thrown and the fireman did a wonderful job with all the kids. Thank you firemen for making our boys birthday extra special.

Aiden and Davis loved their firetruck cake and new firetrucks from the firemen.

Aiden loved putting on the firefighters gear. He felt like a real fireman but it was all very heavy.

A good time was had by all! Exploring the firetruck and touring the station were a big hit.

Happy 4th Birthday Aiden and Davis!

Happy Halloween

As tradition holds in our family, every Halloween we like to all dress up in costume and go about our festive activities as a theme. Lately Aiden has been very into fire trucks, firemen, etc. So we decided to go with the fireman theme. Shae and I had a lot of fun making our costumes and Aiden loved his fire extinguisher treat bucket. All except for our little dalmatian costume are homemade. So without further ado...

Our little firefighting family

Aiden the Hero

Brooklyn the Dalmatian Sidekick

The cutest firefighters I've ever seen!

We had a great time trick-or-treating with our neighborhood friends. It is so fun to watch the excitement in our kids every year.

Happy Halloween 2009

Brooklyn Turns 1!

Happy 1st Birthday Brooklyn!!!

We can't believe you are one. This year has absolutely flown by with lots of ups and downs. We are so grateful that you are part of our family. We love you. Thanks for bringing so much joy to our lives.

Birthday Highlights...

Here's Brooklyn on her actual birthday, August 9! Don't mind the crazy hair, this was after a long day of traveling back to Reno from New Hampshire and we were all a bit exhausted.

Thank you to Auntie Tami and family for my very own birthday cake!

I loved every bite...

...especially the FROSTING!

Family photo on PARTY DAY!!! We had a wonderful party in Reno the next weekend. Thanks to all our wonderful family and friends who made Brooklyn feel so special. We appreciate you all.

Being ONE is all about being messy. Therefore, we had a MESSY PARTY for our #1 messy girl. Pudding paint was the highlight and all the kids enjoyed making a big mess! Of course nothing a sprinkler couldn't clean off.

Hanging out with Grandpa. What could be better? Well... maybe cake. Since Brooklyn had already experienced two of her own Birthday cakes this week, we decided to have fruit pizza's instead of cake. I don't think anyone minded. Yummy cookies, pudding frosting and delicious fruit was a big hit. Brooklyn has definitely inherited both of her parents sweet tooth's.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Thanks again to everyone who made it such a fun one!

Brooklyn's 1 year old stats...

Weight - 18 lbs -8th percentile

Height - 28 in - 13th percentile

Evidently we grow our children small.

Favorite words - ball, more, bampa (grandpa), bye-bye, da-da, ma-ma, peek-boo, moo, baa, woof

Brooklyn has taken her first steps but not quite fully walking.

Into everything and so much fun to play with.

Aunt Tara and NEW Uncle Dave!

I can't believe it has been a month already but it is official. We have a new Uncle Dave in the family. Tara (Shae's sister) and Dave were married on June 11, 2009. Despite the rainy weather the day was wonderful. We are so grateful that we were able to be part of their special day. Congratulations Tara and Dave! WE LOVE YOU!

Tara and Dave were sealed here in the Mount Timpanogos Temple! Don't let the sunny blue skies fool you. They only lasted about 30 minutes.

Here are some various pictures from the mornings events.

In the evening we went to Tuscany a beautiful Italian restaurant for the reception. Everything looked beautful especially the bride. A good time was had by all.

Back B'logging

I have been very behind in posts lately. I decided to back log a bunch of events over the past couple of months so you may have to scroll through things you have already seen to find the new ones because I dated them when they actually happened. Shae's birthday date April 5 is the newest post dated the farthest back. Hope you enjoy some extra glimpses from our life.

Good News...

My how time flies. I can't believe we are celebrating 5 years of marriage today. As I reflect back to when we were first married, I remember on our honeymoon we talked about what we would we thought we might do to celebrate our fifth anniversary. We had grand plans of traveling back to our honeymoon destination or somewhere new to explore, but something significant for sure. However, after two kids (both of which are ill right now) and a big reality check we settled for dinner and a movie. Unfortunately I came down with some yucky virus at the end of the movie promptly ending the evening. No cards or gifts exchanged, just some Tylenol and much needed sleep.

Now I bet you are all wondering why I titled this post good news and no we are not pregnant. The story starts during Shae's mission. His mission president told him that he wouldn't know if he married the right person until after five years of marriage. This has been an ongoing joke for us over the past 4 years but now that we have made it to five we are happy to share the good news that yes, we did marry the right person.

I am so lucky and grateful to have married such an exceptional man. Shae has been and continues to be a wonderful husband and father. He is so thoughtful and attentive to our family needs. I love him more today than ever and know that the love with continue to grow. I love you Shae!

...And, I am so lucky to have married such a wonderful and beautiful woman. I couldn't ask for a better mother for Aiden and Brooklyn. You can see it easily by how Aiden acts in church and home. Any roughness is from his dad. Brooklyn is not far behind. She is such a well-behaved, cute little girl. Beth is also a great wife who is supportive, loving, and forgiving of my shortcomings. I love you Beth! Thanks for 5 great years and many more to come.

Mary, Mary quite contrary...

...How does your garden grow?

It is that time of year again. We have planted our garden and are very excited about fresh veggies this summer. Before we get started we have a little guessing game for you. Can you guess what these very tall plants growing in our garden are?

This is our garden this year. We put in the lettuce first. When I asked Aiden what we were planting, he exclaimed, "salad, we are planting salad." I love what comes out of the mouths of little ones. This picture doesn't really do these strawberries justice but they are absolutely huge this year. Each single leaf is about six inches wide. We can't wait until our berries turn sweet and red.Finally, we feel like we have waited so long (a year to be exact) but we have our first artichokes. There are four on our plant and we can't wait to grill them up. Stay tuned to see how our garden continues to grow. We can't wait for our first harvest.

Life's Little Surprises

We often thought our first trip to the ER would be for a cracked open head or broken bone. Aiden is always jumping and diving off things and to be honest we are pretty surprised we haven't had to get stitches yet.

So, our story goes like this...

On Sunday morning, Aiden woke up and said that he couldn't walk, because his knee hurt. This happened about six weeks ago, too, and I freaked out made a doctors appointment. I,of course, thought the worst. However, by the time we saw the doctor, Aiden's knee was just fine and he was walking and running with no problems. We did X-rays anyway but of course they were clear. So on this day, we decided to wait and see if it went away. About 10 am he was able to walk on it and again it seemed to have cleared up. I thought maybe his leg was just asleep and he had never experienced that before. Well then Monday came. He woke up at 3am with the same problem and then at 8:30am still unable to walk. I watched and waited and around 10am he was playing with his friends and running around. But around noon he was down again and by 3pm his knee looked very swollen and it was very hot to touch. A quick call to Shae led to another appointment with the doctor, this time the knee still hurt a lot and our doctor reminded me that last time it was the opposite knee and then said those words you just don't want to hear. You need to go to the ER. UGH! Thank goodness our very sweet neighbor had come over to watch Brooklyn. I didn't want her anywhere near the germ fest of the ER and a germ fest it was. When we arrived it was packed. I thought because the pediatrician had called ahead we would get through faster. I was wrong. We were able to get X-rays again pretty quick and again they were normal, but then we were told to wait. I refused to wait in the actual waiting room, especially since the waiting room nurse would mask and glove up for certain patients but no one else would. So decided to wait in the next room over. So we waited...

Here is Aiden being a trooper getting his X-rays.
...and waited and waited some more. Shae arrived to wait with us and Aiden was very patient and well behaved through the whole ordeal. Then there was a glimmer of hope. I spotted a doctor come out of the ER doors and he was walking toward us. He was so nice, he said that the X-rays had come across his computer and they were normal. After it had been over an hour and he hadn't seen lab work he called over to see where we were at and they told him we would probably be a couple more hours. So he decided to come see us in the waiting room to assess if we needed to wait or if we could go home and see him later if needed. I was so glad to hear he didn't think it was too serious and told us to go home and call him in the morning.

This is us leaving the ER Aiden's souvenirs
So for the end of our episode we went home and gave Aiden some Motrin. By about 8pm he was walking again with a bit of a limp but at least mobile. He limped around for the next couple days but it seemed to clear up on its own. We kept in contact with the orthopedist he thinks it was an inflammation of the joint that might have been caused by a virus. We are hoping it was an isolated incident that won't ever return. If it does then we will have to have further testing done. But for now we will just watch it.