Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!

I'm so thankful to live in this wonderful country! (Even if it's being run into the ground by Hitler himself..)

We are blessed to have two members of the military in our family! Captain Michael Johnson of the Air Force and Private Jordan Johnson of the US Army Reserves. So thankful for these two men and the service they give to our country!

Hope you all have a great celebration today for all the men and women serving and enjoy the freedom we have!

Aaron & Pam Johnson

Paul, Abby and I were able to go to Utah last week for Paul's brother's (Aaron) wedding. Aaron and Pam were married at Eaglewood Golf Course. It was a small wedding on the balcony of the reception hall, but it was absolutely gorgeous. Pam looked beautiful and Aaron looked so handsome. Pam has two kids, Kaylee and Kyler, and Aaron is so great with them.

It was lots of fun being in Utah and getting to visit with extended family. Extra fun meeting all the family members I've never met before! (There were tons :)

Kyler was such a stud ring bearer. :)





Our newest nephew, Caleb, and his big sister, Sarah.
And all Jamie and Steve's grandkids, minus Kaylee, Kyler, and Nate.

Elizabeth Anne: MHS Class of 2010!

Dear Beth,

I can't believe you've graduated high school. We all still think of you as our little, elementary school age, sister. I know that's not really a good thing because some times we treat you that way, too! Sorry about that, but it's just so hard to think that you're grown up and moving into the big bad world!

You are such a sweet, caring, sensitive, honest, trustworthy, amazing daughter of our Heavenly Father. I'm so glad that we were able to grow up together and become such good friends! You are such a great example to me. Every time we actually get a chance to talk, I'm just awestruck at how fast you've grown into such a mature, well rounded adult!

I know you're going to move on and do some great things in your life. You are going to make an awesome wife and mother one day. I can't wait to see what the future holds for you!

You have such a sweet testimony that I love to hear. I love how strong you are in the gospel and the great example you set for everyone around you. You have great character and everyone knows they can always count on you!

You're such a great aunt, and a vital member of our family. We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Love you so much!

It was so fun to go to Beth's graduation. I'm not going to lie, the heat was miserable. Major props to the members of my family out saving seats for everyone! I only had to wait in the heat for about an hour before it started! They've only had grad outside for the past two years. (Have to get some use out of that multi million dollar stadium they built!)

I also graduated from MHS 4 years ago.. Except we got to do it inside the air conditioned Potters House. It brought back so many fun high school memories while I was sitting there watching everyone cross the stage. Especially at the end when we were able to sing the school song. My how life has changed in these past 4 years!

These are some pictures from Beth's graduation. Paul's cousin, Wyatt, also graduated with Beth. So proud of all 520 of you guys! Congratulations class of 2010!

(The last pic is my favorite of all the seniors throwing their hats. That's always my favorite part of the graduation!)

Disclaimer: It was like 300 degrees that night. Therefore, we were all hot and sweaty!

A Poll

Who does Abby look like? We're all about 3 months old in these pictures! What say ye?

Blessed

(3 months)

I just can't believe how blessed we are to have this sweet baby in our lives. She is so much fun- laughing and "talking" (Oh I love baby talk). She makes the silliest faces and kicks all around when we say "kick kick kick kick!" She smiles as big as she is in this picture every time I get her out of bed, no matter how long she's been in there crying. She loves baths so much now, and seriously throws such a huge fit when I get her out. She loves her daddy so much. She loves her little toy duck, it's her little friend.

I am so thankful for her each and every day. She is such a doll when she falls asleep while I'm holding her. I lover her snuggles, because it doesn't happen too often anymore. She's an awesome sleeper and usually falls asleep best when we just lay her in her bed.

I used to have thoughts like "Man, I wish we would have waited longer to have a baby" because I dearly miss my alone time with Paul. But really, I wouldn't trade Abby for anything and I'm so glad she's in our lives right now. I'm so glad we have such a sweet little girl that we are trusted to raise. Even though Paul and I hardly ever get a moment to ourselves, it sure does make those moments sweeter when we get the chance.

Break the Addiction.

No Facebook for ONE week. You think I can do it? ...Neither do I... Well I'm about to shock and awe all of us! Lots to do these next two weeks. Time to get back on track with working out mostly! And my house could use a nice spring cleaning. Good luck to me!

p.s. Encouragement through blog/text will be welcomed :)

Abby's IPod

My little nephew, Lukas, was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma when he was just 11 months old. "He has since been through 13 surgeries, 13 rounds of high intensity radiation, 8 rounds of chemotherapy, 12 rounds of imunotherapy, numerous blood transfusions, and more arm and finger pokes than we can count. He has also endured numerous MRI, CT and other specialized scans." Because of all this, Lukas is partially blind, and for his 3rd birthday his mom and dad got him an ipod because he's obsessed with Jack Johnson! (He actually got his "Make a Wish" and gets to go meet him!) One day when we were down at my moms for Sunday dinner, Lukas felt on Abby's monitor chords and said "Nanna, is this Abby's IPod?" So ever since, my family called Abby's monitor her IPod. :)

If you look down Abby's shirt (ha), you can see where her band went for her monitor. Inside the band were two little pads that went under her armpits and picked up her heart rate and breath count.

Here's the actual little demon we had to carry around with us for 3 months!

This is Monday, May 17, 2010, the night we found Abby's "IPod" was officially released!!

So of course, we took it off of her as soon as possible!

These are her "battle scars". I hated seeing all these rashes. At one point, her skin was actually rubbed off where the pads where. The red square mark is from the black pad, and the lines on her tummy are from the pesky chords that would constantly be tangled around her. :(

It's been WONDERFUL not having that silly machine to haul around and silence when it goes off for no reason! The o.n.l.y. downside to not having it anymore is now I'm in the "Oh crap, is she still breathing?!" stage when she sleeps or takes a nap. Ugh, I hate it. It's already gotten a little better, but I still worry a little about it. Does that ever go away? I just have to have faith that she will be watched over (as all parents do).

So after a long, LONG fight with Abigail's doctor, she's IPod free! I'm so glad. She's starting to scoot around in her crib and all the chords made me very nervous!

Good Morning, Smiles!

Just a couple of random thoughts:

We tried to take some cute pictures for Mother's Day... It didn't quite work out! She was too distracted.. Nothing new there!

&

I love getting Abigail out of bed in the morning and after naps. No matter how long she's been crying, she always smiles so big. Maybe it's because she knows she will get lots of kisses :)

Our little Frogger

Abigail is 12 weeks old today! Some fun things about her are:

• She's talking a lot more (and now she's starting to be able to do so without the end result being spit up!)
• She smiles every time I go to get her out of bed, even if she's been crying.
• She kicks like crazy, so we call her Frogger.
• She has a ton of rolls all over her little body!
• She can do "push ups".
• She can sit in her boppy without her bobble head going crazy.
• She weighs 13 pounds and is 24 inches long.
• She goes to bed at 8:30/9pm every night and doesn't wake up at all until 8/9:30.
• She's getting closer and closer to laughing!

We love Abby so much. She makes us laugh with her cute little facial expressions and sweet little "baby coo's". She's getting to be so much fun and I can't wait to see how she will be in the next couple weeks! It seems like she's always changing.

Baby Love

We are just so ecstatic about our two new nephews coming to our family soon! One tomorrow and one the beginning of June!

Tomorrow my sweet sister in law, Liz, is having her baby. We are super excited to meet the little guy and for all the joy he will bring his proud mommy and daddy! They are going to be such great parents. Hopefully all goes well! We'll be thinking of you guys!

Here are a couple of burp rags and a blanket that I made with the generous help of my sister!