My BIG boy!

Jace had SO much fun at his birthday party. He had 14 kids come and it was WILD! A little too wild for mommy. I think next time we do a friend party we'll stick to the golden rule - only as many kids as they are old. He went with a spiderman theme and we had it at our community clubhouse. We played games like duck duck goose, hot potato, and pin the spider on the web, played outside at the park, did water balloons, a pinata, and had spiderman cupcakes & lemonade. Jace's favorite part was opening his presents. He made out like a bandit. Earlier he had a little party w/ his nani & grandpa and got a new bike with a spiderman helmet. Mommy, Daddy, Brooke, and Grandma & Grandpa JOhnson got him the new Ironman helmet he wanted and he got lots and lots of superhero toys, coloring books, etc at his party. I can't believe my baby is 5 yrs old and getting ready to start kindergarten. What a big boy he is! His comments on turning a year older were:

"It feels weird to be 5. I kinda miss being 4."

Arizona/ Utah Trip

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I had so much fun on my trip to Arizona!! My Mom & Dad had already gotten a condo in Scottsdale and were there with my sister Jenny. Becky and her kiddos picked me up from the airport in Las Vegas and we drove over together. It was SO good to see her. It had been almost 3 years. Her kids are all getting so big. We laughed the whole way ... even though I was a crappy navigator and we ended up taking a 40 min. detour. Where was the GPS when we needed it. I looked at lots of houses and got an idea of the area. It's very pretty - in a very different way then Washington. We spent tons of time in the pool cooling off. It got up to 117 degrees while we were there. I got to go exersising with dad in the morning and play with my nephews: Carter,Taylor,Hunter, and Ryker in the afternoon. I saw Eclipse in the theater with Jenny .. and dad ... that was kinda funny. I got lots of girl time in with massages and talking into the wee hours of the night. I'm really glad I got to see Becky and her boys before they move to Japan for 3 years. After driving back to Utah I got to see Jeremy & Brittany along w/ their two cuties Erik & Ryker and I got to help Jessi and Mom with Julie's Bridal shots. She looked SO beautiful! I'm bummed that I'll miss the wedding but at least I got to help out with this. SUch a fun trip. I missed my little family and I'm glad to be back but I sure had a great time! I love you all - thanks for making my trip great.

CRAZY 2 Weeks

Whoa! The last 2 weeks have been CRAZY busy! First of all, the Regal Movie theaters started their summer family fun festival so they show 2 new kids movie a week starting at 10am - for FREE so of course we had to take advantage of that. Also, the kids started swim lessons. They took a 2 week program where they would go Mon-Thurs. for 1/2 hour at 11:30am. Then I thought since we're already in Fisher's Landing area we might as well have a picnic and meet Craig at the park for lunch. We've been staying very busy being out and about almost everyday. Our schedule went like this: wake up and get the kids ready, exercise, pack a lunch and snacks for the movie, get out the door by 9am, movie at 10am, leave a little early to get to swim lessons at 11:30am, get the kids changed, head straight to the park, eat picnic lunch with Craig, hang out for 2 hours at the park, head home, plop on the couch exhausted, take a nap, kids stay up late since they took a nap, craziness, but lots of fun. I'm glad swim lessons are over. I've noticed that the kids are doing a little better in the pool though. Brooke will hold her breath for a longer amount of time underwater and Jace has been practicing pushing off of the side of the pool and gliding on his back. He rarely uses arm floaters anymore. Usually he just stays in the 3 - 4ft area. It was fun to watch both of them working with a teacher although Jace did get into trouble a few times for splashing the girls. He was the only boy in his class. Brooke was oblivious to what was happening most of the time. She just bounced around with smile on her face. I put them both in the same class but really Brooke probably should have been in the younger class - she was by far the smallest and just not quite as advanced as the others. It was fun watching them chase after the plastic fish, having to dunk their heads under the water to retrieve them.

At the park Brooke liked to swing and Jace had the most fun climbing trees.

Farmer's Market

It's sad really - that we only just discovered how fun farmer's markets can be. We still haven't ventured out into Portland for theirs but have checked out the Vancouver Saturday's Market several times now. It's great for buying fresh produce. Locally grown berries just seem to taste a little sweeter. We also love all the food carts. We try something new every time we go. We got Mexican food this time .... fajitas and shrimp tacos. Then the kids play at the park. It's really a lot of fun. They have music and entertainment and there is so many interesting and beautiful things for sale: everything from fresh flower bouquets, berries, tomatoes and other fruits & veggies, to wild mushrooms, hanging plants, and goat cheese soap. It always makes for an interesting Sat. morning.

Brooke dancing to the music and Craig enjoying his grilled fajitas.

'The Water Spot'

We've been frequenting waterfront park lately. Usually for family night. It has become known as 'the water spot'. There is this trail that leads down to the Colombia river and the kids LOVE to play there. The first time we went was about mid-June when the sun first showed up after such a LONG, rainy spring. The water level was really high. In fact, it came all the way up to the trail. Jace was on a vitemin D high and just a bubble of fun and happiness. He's asked repeatedly to go back ... so we have. Now, there is actually a rocky beach and the kids play in the water. The views are beautiful at dusk. The I5 bridge on one side and Mt. Hood on the other with the setting sun reflecting in the water. It's made for fun family memories.

4th of July Weekend

We started off going to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. We thought it was hilarious... the kids liked it too. ;) Here they are with their 3D glasses on. Jace kept looking at me and giggling that "it looks like it's coming right at us!" We have been waiting to go see this all together for quite awhile. It lived up to the expectations.

Later Saturday night we had a barbecue with friends. They moved into their new house a few months ago and the backyard is a kids paradise with a giant play place, and trampoline. The kids had a blast romping around the backyard while we adults played "bang"... the card game of course. They all 'banged' me good until I died. I guess I wasn't a very good deputy but since I was the first one out I took some pictures - surprising, right?

The kids gathering around Gen for a cupcake. Poor Brooke looked like the little piggy that just couldn't quite squeeze in to get some food. She kept moving around the circle trying to get close but just got butted out by the boys...don't worry. She finally got one. I feel bad for her sometimes because there aren't many girls for her to play with here and the boys are kind of mean to her. As soon as we arrived Jace and Brooke ran over to play and the boys started chanting "attack the little girl." For some reason she still loves all of them and they fight over which one of them she wants to marry. Kids are so funny!

Pretty sure I caught everyone off guard here, except for Craig who is scowling at me. He usually gives me this look when I'm taking pictures.

Finally - a smile.

After dinner, a water balloon fight, dessert and games we headed to the front yard to do some fireworks. Craig went a little crazy and bought a whole bunch of the BIG fireworks since nothing here is illegal. It was lots of fun!




On Sunday night we thought it might be fun to just sit out on our back porch and watch if anyone else was doing fireworks. This is our first year for the 4th up here in Washington. We were SHOCKED!! It got SO crazy we finally decided around 10pm to walk up to the park up the hill behind our house. It's a fun little park that overlooks all of Washougal, Camas, and across the Colombia River into Troutdale, and Portland, OR. It was AMAZING!! I've never seen fireworks like that before in my life. Since nothing is illegal EVERYONE had awesome, huge fireworks. Our neighborhood sounded like we had been dropped into a war zone. It was beautiful. We could see several city firework shows going along with everyone else from our neighbors up close to all the way across the river into Oregon. Jace went crazy running all over the place and screaming with excitement. Brooke was just in awe - she was pretty tired since we had woken her up. She did say "dis is SO cool." It took us a while to get to sleep since the explosions went on until the fee hours of the morning. Washington definitely knows how to celebrate the 4th!



Here is Craig and Jace sitting on our back deck watching fireworks. We also saw a frightened raccoon trotting across our backyard fence and into our green house...I'm sure scared from all the noise.




Finally, Craig had Monday off too so we headed to none other than CANNON BEACH. The beach is Brooke's favorite place on the whole earth - I think it might be mine too. The kids had a blast playing in the ocean and sand. It's sure beautiful there!











Jace was throwing sand so we put him in 'timeout'. lol :)

I loved this picture! My little beach babe. I had fun playing with the exposure . .just on the windows program - can't wait to get photoshop. We had an awesome 4th of July weekend. Hope you enjoyed yours too.