1.24.2010

"Long time no see!"

My dad would always say that - "Long time no see!" He's such a people person. I know it's been a while, and I wish I were more like some of you wonderfuls out there who blog regularly and share your lives with me. I love reading it, keep it coming! It's definitely an outlet for me to read your blogs.

Part of the issue is that....I'm pregnant! Yay! Due Sept. 15, 2010 and let's be honest, things can get crazy with a pregnant woman around. I know some women who live for being pregnant it seems, they glow and are so poise and peaceful. They look like the epitome of Zen, never getting agitated or stressed. Not me, I'm like a train wreck most of the time. At least for the first trimester - I develop a love/hate relationship with food and this time I'm way more tired than last time. Given! - last time I didn't have Samuel or Ethan so I guess I run around a bit more now. For me the second trimester is the glowing period, then the last couple months I just want to be done.

Ethan also has mouth sores right now, his gums are all swollen and he is just miserable. I have never seen him so uncomfortable, and all the doc said we could do was give him some Tylenol and wait it out. We probably have another 5-7 days before he's over it. Hopefully in the next few he'll be comfortable enough to eat regular foods. Sleeping is a trial each night, but I think D and I have a system going. I'll take the night shift because I'm a lighter sleeper and when awakened in the middle of the night I'm automatically in the "Mom Zone". You know what I'm talking about - It's that zone that makes you do anything and everything to comfort and help your child. It's the I'm-a-size-6-but-I-will-lift-a-car-off-the-ground-if-my-child-is-underneath-it - type of thing. Then D will wake up with him almost completely rested and use his amazing patience to play and coddle Ethan in the morning while I sleep in - taking up the whole bed of course. :)

So in my attempt to apologize and catch up I offer the long-awaited Christmas vacation pictures of our trip to Scottsdale. I'm sorry grandma Marcia, that they are so late in coming. We had such a wonderful time and felt so spoiled! Thanks for all of the love and support!


Here's the boy himself! He did really well on the 14 hr. trip over, especially with this cool tray! We love it, if you are looking for a tray I recommend this one. Durable, practical and easy to install. You might need a car seat with some arm rests, but Ethan's lap is higher than his arm rests on his Britax Marathon and it just rests on his lap - so no big deal.

One of the first games we played was Twister! Brought back fun memories of last year. Samuel is definitely more a contender this year though, he learned from Papa's "push you over" strategy. Ethan knows his colors well enough to play too!

We drove all day on Christmas Eve, then woke up for Christmas morning at Grandma's house!

One of Ethan's favorites was the Thomas the Train he got.

Samuel got a great load from Grandma and Papa too, he loves the bed set and they look great in his room.

Great Grandpa Vance and Margie came over for Christmas dinner. Here he is rolling around with the kids!

Samuel put on a little concert for everyone.

Papa Ed has a heavy duty train set around the tree and Ethan could not get enough.

My love on Christmas. :)

Ethan and Papa eating dinner together, this was toward the end after Ethan had migrated from one person to the next all the way around the table till he ended up with Papa who was willing to share his juice. You can see Ethan eye-ing it. Papas are the best!

Samuel in his new Christmas clothes. He's getting so handsome!

Papa made some Christmas treats for some families from church and we went out and sang carols to them. It was a great Christmas experience.

Ethan got to wear Uncle Nathan's old cub scout hat, he loved it! Thanks Uncle "Ity"!

Papa Ed is a marathon runner! He ran one last year and is training for another one. We went to the track with him one day and Ethan found one of his favorite things at Grandma's house - Papa's water bottle. He ended up biting off the top - sorry Papa. Ethan says it tasted great. :)

While there we had another ping pong tournament!

Samuel really improved his game this year thanks to learning from some greats :)

The boys also did the traditional Polar Bear Dip in the pool.

They stayed in a lot longer this year. :)

Ethan adores his Uncle "Ity"!

They played and played! Grandma has lots of fun toys.

He even let Uncle "Ity" feed him!

We did GINGERBREAD HOUSES this year!

Team Samuel/Uncle "Ity" vs. Momma/Ethan

Ethan did a great job helping!

After eating a few blue M&Ms and a few gum drops he was done and got down from the table. I think we all thought it would be worse, but the sugar was kept at a minimum.

I think I was the one that got into it the most. I had a blast!
Long after everyone left I was still there!

Samuel and Nathan worked well together and had fun too!

The finished houses!


Here's Ethan eating the left-over marshmellows

Later he got a piece of the ginger bread

There was a small train amusement park that Grandma suggested we go to and Ethan love it. He got to wear his new Thomas hoodie.

We all got to go on a fun train ride, Ethan's very first.

Papa took him on the carousel.

He was too scared to sit on a horse so he sat on Papa's lap. He swung his feet so much he kicked off his shoes.

Here's Papa trying to coax Ethan to be a penguin but he wouldn't do it.
Cute picture of Papa though.

One of the great excitements of this trip was that D and I were able to take our first over-night trip for our anniversary! I was so spoiled! We went to the Mesa temple, I got a new dress, we checked in our hotel, walked across the street to Fogo de Chao - loved it! D got to have some foods he hasn't had since his mission! Love you hun!

You could tell it was our first night away from Ethan cuz we got nervous and came back early. I guess we could have called but we just headed back home and we found him - oblivious to our being gone - playing with Papa at the park.


Three generations of Johnsons.

We also got to go out to the country to see where Nathan (Uncle "Ity") did his Eagle Scout project. It was huge! It was a wildlife enclosure at a wildlife rescue/veterinarian clinic. The place was beautiful and had these amazing wooden enclosures to house the animals and it was a few of those that Nathan supervised the building of.

The enclosures behind the boys are the ones that Nathan, and many others helping him, built. They are huge! What handsome boys!

On the way home I saw some horses. I'm a sucker for horses so we stopped and Ethan and I went to pet them. They were really nice.

This is the morning we left, we were all up early and we all said goodbye. I don't think Ethan understood - I think he thought we were just going bye-bye to do something and we would be coming back. He still asks "Go to Grandma's house??...Pleeeease" He really had a great time.

Samuel with bed-head, taller than Grandma Marcia now!

Ethan got a going home toy to play with to remember Grandma by. We love our Grandma and Papa Ed. See you soon!

5 comments:

Paige said...

I realize I'm late in commenting (I'm just getting to catch up on blogs), but congrats on being pregnant again!

Kylie said...

Wow, congratulations!!!!!

Lydia Story said...

Congratulations! Nate and I are so excited for you guys! Little girl maybe?? : ) I love the tray over the car seat! What a nice way to travel, I hadn't thought of that! Your gingerbread houses are very cute. I am so glad you were able to get a night away. It is nice to take a break every once in a while, and it actually makes you excited to go home and play mom again. We are so glad to hear you are all happy and doing well!

Anonymous said...

congrats again on the pregnancy Joce. I miss you guys so much. I just cant believe how tall Samuel is getting. He's gonna be freaking 14 next month. And so handsome, It's nuts! Tell him I said hi!! and Ethan is such a cute chubby little guy. I miss Austin's chub, now he's tall and skinny. love you.

Wild Banks' said...

Congratulations on the new baby!
I know I'm super late commenting too, but I just got back to checking blogs.
I'm due the 16th of Sept. (crazy huh) and "train wreck" would be the nice way to put this pregnancy. My husband is seriously considering banning any more kids. BUT I'm so excited for you! *hugs* and hi for Samuel!