Baptism of Ellie Johnson

    

Ellie was baptized June 1, 2013 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She is the newest member of our family ward! It was a great day. We had lots of family and friends come and support Ellie in this righteous decision! Where has time gone?

Thanks to everyone for their love and support!

Instagram is killing my blog

I promise to be back!!!!!

 

 

Very soon!

Ev

Amerie’s first day of Kindergarten. Ellie’s first day of Second grade.

 

Amerie has been sooo excited to go to school with her sister Ellie. All of last year, Amerie has been getting ready for her big debut! Everyday driving Ellie to school and going to all the school functions, she has been ready for this place since last year! She was all smiles this morning and so excited to wear her uniform. (Hopefully that lasts..) Today was a momentous day! Both of my girls are officially in school. What am I and little Eva going to do? Miss these girls of course! But it is so peaceful to know that these girls are in the right place! I am thankful for finding such a great school for these girls.

 

When the girls got their tags with their classroom assignments and teachers, Eva kept saying “mine”. She wanted to have her own classroom too! All the way home I had to explain to her that she was too young to go to school and she needed to stay as my baby. She did not like that! Amerie never looked back when we dropped her off. Ellie walked right into her class and felt right at home. These girls had a great first day!

Sea Ranch

We started out our summer with a fun trip to Sea Ranch with some of our favorite cousins! This place is along the coast in the Sonoma County. It was a long drive, but well worth the memories we created with some of our family! Hot Tub on the balconySome great cousin time!

Our view from many morning walks and hikes. This place is very woodsy and green. Gorgeous!!

We hiked  lot right along the cliff of the ocean. It made it VERY chilly most mornings!! But a great warm hug from Bubba made it all worth it!

Eva had a blast chasing the water. It was so interesting to not be able to get into the water in Sea Ranch because it is soooo cold, nothing like what we are used to!!

Tide Pools

It was so cold, I had four layers underneath my jacket. I don’t know how the kids made it through the chill!!

One morning we found a gang of sea lions basking in the sun and beaching it for a time! They are the silliest things watching on sand and how they “scoot” around. The kids loved watching them!

Amerie found a star fish! She was so proud of herself she wanted a picture to document it!

We had a blast! Many mornings full of hikes, crafts, eating, swimming, hot tubing, late night laughing attacks in bed, deer, sea lions, freezing ocean water, tide pools and tons of FUN!!! What made this all worth while, was the pure exhaustion that my girls had the drive back home! It was a Blissful 8 hour drive home!!!

Ellie is Seven!

Her special request: “Mom, make sure you put all my presents out on the table before I wake up!” Her face says it all!!!

Summer clothes!

Pajamas, and a beach volleyball for gifts! Everything she wanted.

Dad woke up early and made her favorite breakfast: German puff pancakes!

That night we had a family dinner. Ellie’s dinner choice: plain pasta. (I made a delicious homemade spaghetti and sausage and Tia Mimi made the best garlic cheesy rolls from OBB).

Her favorite and only cake she will eat: chocolate sheet cake!!!

Ellie had a fun morning opening up present and eating her favorite breakfast, then off to school. That night we made it her “yes day”, meaning whatever she asked for, we would say yes to. Lets just say she didn't have to eat what she was “supposed” to eat and she didn't have to go to sleep when she had “supposed” to be in bed. She loved it!

Happy Birthday!!!! We love you, Ellie!

MAY-HEM!

The month of May flew by in a jiff! Probably because we had alot to celebrate! I celebrated my birthday at Disneyland riding ONLY the fast rides! (It’s ok, Eva, you had a blast with Vovo’) We ate at Blue Bayou restaurant, and it was delicious!!! Well worth the extra money for a real, sustainable meal at Disneyland! Then we got lucky enough to share the back of the monorail with a sweet couple that invited us to join with them. It was a great evening!!!

We fly to Sacramento for Christopher’s homecoming! Lots and lots of playing with the cousins!

And of course a fancy tea party for the girls!!!! Ellie and Amerie both came home from this trip completely exhausted from the constant playing, jumping and night story telling happening all weekend long! Memories are priceless!!!

My Mother’s day card from Ellie. She testifies that I run well!!! She’s my biggest fan!

My Mother’s day card from Amerie. The best present by far whole year long!!!

And the biggest thing we celebrated was Eva fully and completely being potty trained! She asked for “undies” on Wednesday, on Thursday we flew out to Sacramento, just a couple of oopsies all weekend long partying in Sac and by Wednesday the following week she has been completely potty trained!!! It is bitter sweet! I have lost my baby for sure!!! No more diapers!! She is so good about going to the bathroom. I will see her running inside the house and I will ask her where she is going, “pee pee” she will say and next thing I know, I hear the toilet flush! So independent!!!!! I have to admit the best thing ever in life is seeing little buns in little panties!!!

Ragnar Relay!

This was probably the most outrageous run I will ever do! It was both crazy and alot of fun all at the same time!!! Two days of relay racing with a team of twelve girls: pure craziness and fun! But I couldn't have had the best team for my first experience of Ragnar!!

  We started the race in Huntington beach and we ran for 48 hours relay style until we got to the finish line in San Diego, Coronado Island. Two teams of six, two vans, two meals, tons of snacks, two hours of sleep, three running outfits, 20o miles to complete, a full feature film break, and tons of girl talk! We had a blast!

Here is my second exchange in Lake Elsinore (I'm in bright yellow). I had to run 10 miles in a scorching 100’ F heat wave we had that weekend! I was sooo nervous! This was by far, the most intense mentally and physically run I have EVER completed! The first five miles all I could think about was how in the world was I ever going to finish this leg. It was horrible! My mouth was dry, I was so hot, and very thirsty! I had not trained for this kind of run in this weather!!! The one thing that got me through this run was my van! My team! If they hadn't stopped every half mile and dumped a bottle of water on me and given me some water to drink, I would have given up and cried my way to the exchange point!!!! I even got desperate and started asking other teams for water!!! I did not care how I was going to get it, I NEEDED WATER!!!! I kept telling myself that I would not walk! At mile 7 and 8 I had several people whizzing by me, and yes, I felt pathetic! But when I got to the last mile stretch-I passed them in my slow but steady pace! I had never been so happy to see a finish line before!

Me at the finish of my 10miler!!!! I now know the REAL meaning of a “runners high”! This was the sweetest feeling ever! Britney Scoffield, Katie Hadfield, Me, and Kari Armstrong! I was two runs over with: My first was the start at Huntington Beach running 5 miles on the river trail at 5:45 am.  My last run would be another 5 miles through Carlsbad at 3:30 am Saturday morning.It was pitch black running so early, but I had gotten 2 hours of sleep and was totally excited to be done with all my runs! I put on my trusty Sherri Dew talks and cruised to the finish! I even had a friend that was trailing me, tell me at the end that I made a great pacer for him!  I totaled 20 miles this race!

Our team picture at the finish! Team “Running Wild!” From left: Pilvi Bingham, Brandi Murray, Janine Wynn, Me, Katie Hadfield, Britney Scoffield, Jackie Card, Brittany Schafer, Back Row Left: Wendy Willardson, Camilla Rasmussen, Kari Armstrong and Liz Spiker!

So Cal Ragnar 2013!