8 Years ago Today ...

Craig proposed to me on top of Angel's Landing in Zion National Park... we have been madly in love ever since...

12 white roses.  One for each thing he loves about me. Then the ring. He was very romantic.  He still is.

 

Look how young we look.

Jenny's Wedding

The slideshow is taking a while to upload.  If you click on the title it goes much quicker.

We had a whirlwind weekend. My little sister got married on Saturday so we drove down last Friday. We dropped the kids off with my in-laws at a hotel (thank you Paula & Robert) in St. George and slept at my parents home in Hurricane. I was up the next morning at 6:30AM in hopes to get a hot shower and left for the temple by 8AM. Jenny made a beautiful bride. They had a white sealing in the St. George temple. It was beautiful! I passed on the tissues when they were handed around but soon regretted it. The spirit was so strong .. I cried tears of joy. The sealer spoke of how they were fulfilling years of prayers from parents, grandparents, and other loved ones. It's so true. I'm already praying for this for my own children. Also, when he spoke about how Aaron was just such a wonderful young man. .. I was so thankful to know that Jenny was in good hands and that he would always be there for her and take care of her forever. I loved being there with Craig and remembering our own wedding day.


After the ceremony we took pictures right up until it was time for the wedding luncheon. That was such a blast! Aaron had Polynesian friends of his do a luau. The food was really good and they had dancers that performed hulas from different islands and his friend did a slap dance. Then they had the bride and groom come up and dance while well wishers stuck money into their clothes. It was funny to watch. Jenny was pretty embarrassed since she wasn't expecting it. I think they were happy afterwards when they counted up their loot, though. Jace and Brooke thought the dancers were a hoot. They thought it was so funny that "they kept shaking their tushies." The kids and Craig took off and I stayed and helped with the reception. I took pictures for them. I included a slide show in this post but it's mostly pictures of my family. I'll make them a CD of all the pictures I took. They had a steady stream of visitors to greet the whole time. It was great to see my old roommate Mallory. She's related to Aaron. They cut the cake and I could tell they were eager to get out of their and get on to their honeymoon. Aaron's friends decorated his car and as they were driving away he spun a doughnut in the parking lot. A grand exit! Everyone was laughing. It was a great night. I helped take down the decorations and clean up and didn't get back over to my family until about 10PM. I'm glad that Jenny found the man of her dreams. I hope they live happily ever after. :)

LOVE

February is the month of LOVE. We have been busy making Valentines, chocolates, & cookies...
I learned how to make Oreo Truffles & Cake Pops (recipes coming soon) in Relief Society last week.  We also discussed the book about the 5 Love Languages.  If you haven't already done so I would suggest reading it and figuring out what love language you and those around you speak.  Mine is Acts of Service ... just in case you wanted to know.  It helps to show someone you love them when you are doing things that speak to them.

 I also picked up some construction paper, glue, and glitter. I know, glitter, what was I thinking? The kids spent an entire afternoon crafting away. They had so much fun making their Valentines extra sparkly. Jace picked out Iron Man Valentines to give away at school and worked on writing names on them. He is such a big kid now! He's reading. I'm amazed at how much he has learned at school. His teacher and school is amazing. They do a great job.

A few of the things I LOVE right now include:



The Arizona Sun, Victoria Secret's Pure Seduction Body Mist...

P90X (it's whipping me into shape), and the tulips Craig brought home today.  Brownie points for remembering that I like potted plants more than fresh cut ones since they last longer.

Mostly I LOVE my family!

I love my sweet little prima ballerina, Brooke.

I love my smart little reading Kindergartner, Jace.

and I love my sweet, hardworking, husband, Craig.  Sorry no picture.  He has been at the library all day today.  I think he has 5 papers due tomorrow morning.  He was up until 2AM last night.  I love you, sweetie!

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!

Other Happenings ...

Yes, Becky.  Crap like this happens at our house too.

I had just bought a huge thing of eggs at Costco and had hard boiled a few since I'm on a higher protein diet for the first month of p90x.  Jace likes hard boiled eggs ... discovered them in the fridge and when he had finished off the hard boiled ones he just kept looking for hard boiled ones... along with Brooke ... lets not discount her mischievousness.  I can just imagine their thoughts ... "Nope, this ones not a hard boiled.  Hmm this ones not either.  Lets keep checking."  They cracked a total of 10 eggs until I found them.  They were all over the counter too.  Yuck!

On the other hand, I can't help but laugh when I find things like this in Brooke's room in the morning.  Yes, that is Dino wearing her shoes and boots. I know it means that she's been up playing during the night.  She has the biggest imagination!  I LOVE it!  The other day in the car she told me that she had a pet rock and named it Rocko.. and that it also had the middle name Rockouvious and that the last name was Rochoush.  Rocko Rockouvious Rochoush - What a mouthful.  She cracks me up!

Dino wearing Brooke's shoes.

Endowments & Bridal Shower

 What an amazing day!  I got to be with my little sister while she took out her endowments in the St. George Temple.  It was so special to be there with her.  I'm so proud of the decisions she has made. I was so excited when I found out that she was engaged to be married. It seems so weird because she's still one of the 'little' kids. Okay ... I guess the 'little' kids aren't that little any more. Anyway, I happily volunteered to do the bridal shower for her. We decided to coincide with the reception theme and go Tropical. Mom sent out the invites' since I'm in AZ and they are in UT. I had a blast shopping for lingerie. It's been a long time. I went a little crazy and got her 5 different sets. When I got home, I showed Craig to see if they got the guy approval. He liked them so much that he wouldn't let me give them away. I had to go back to the store and buy duplicates of everything. lol. I even got her an Indiana Jones hat & whip set as a joke since she's had a thing for him for a long time (me too).  It got some good laughs.  I flew into Las Vegas on Friday Feb. 4th and Julie picked me up even though it was early and she's still so sick all the time (she has a baby growing in her tummy). For some reason Johnson girls get really sick when that happens. 

Jenny worked that morning, took her endowments out that afternoon, then we had the bridal shower that night.  What a busy day for her ... a lot to take in.  We picked up some island fruit, turkey roll ups, chicken salad sandwich stuff, and a red velvet cake for dessert. Mom made some delicious tropical drinks topped with fruit and those little parasols. They were so cute and very tasty. We started off with dinner and socializing. I had everyone fill out a questionnaire about Jenny to see who knew her the best. Mom provided the prize gifts for the winners - Victoria Secret lotions, body mists, & body wash. Everyone wanted to win. Jenny was so funny when she was filling it out ... she was like, "I'm not really sure if I even know myself." It was a lot of fun. Then we tested every one's culinary skills. I got Jenny a spice set and covered the tops with tinfoil except for little holes at the top. You had to guess what they were using your sense of smell. Surprisingly, Jenny won that one herself. We were all shocked. After that came the real fun. I had contacted Aaron and had him also fill out a questionnaire about himself. Everyone took turns asking Jenny questions about Aaron testing how well she knew her fiance. For every question she got wrong she had to chew a big piece of bubblicious bubble gum. She had a giant wad by the time the game was over. It was really funny to watch. We all laughed every time she got one wrong. She opened her presents and for every gift we tied a bow in her hair. When Aaron showed up at the end he had to kiss the bows out of her hair. It was very sweet. He was a great sport. I had an awesome time with the girls and was glad that I could be there for Jenny benny boo. That's what big sisters are for, right?

Sisters: Jessica, Heather, Jenny, & Julie with our tropical drinks.   Missing Becky (she's in Japan) :(

She got too many questions wrong. lol

Opening presents. . lots of lingerie.

Everyone that attended Jenny's bridal shower.

Kissing her bows out.

Aaron was a good sport.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

The kids had a blast at Disneyland!  The expressions on their faces as we walked through the park were priceless.  Brooke's favorite rides were: The Teacups, Pirates of the Caribbean, Whinnie the Pooh, Gadget's Go Coaster in Toon Town, The Haunted Mansion, The Toy Story Ride, the ladybug ride .... and of course she LOVED meeting all the Princesses. (Although it was quite embarrassing when she felt up Jasmine, twice - she loves boobs - good memories from nursing I hope?).  Jace liked The Toy Story Ride, The Buzz Lightyear Ride, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Soarin' over California, and The Swinging Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel the best... he did NOT like The Haunted Mansion or Tower of Terror - they were too scary.  He was very concerned that a ghost was going to follow him home. 

We all had an amazing, crazy busy 3 days there.  Thanks for coming with us Nani & Grandpa.  It was lots of fun.  The beach was great too.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  Mine & Craig's favorite ride was probably Soarin' over California but I had an awesome time taking Jace on Splash Mountain too.  And I rocked the house in both Buzz & Toy Story scoring the most points.  The Fireworks and shows Fantastmic & World of Colors were beyond amazing.  Disneyland sure knows how to entertain!  My feet haven't hurt that much before.... ever.  I think we walked about a marathon a day but we made it through.  We were a bit Disneyied out by the end of it and were thinking that the next time around will be when our next set of kids are 3 & 5 but now that it's been a week I think we could handle going again sooner than that.  As Brooke would put it "Disneyland is a Magical place!"

P.S. Becky,  I wanted to take my signature pic by the praying mantis in Bug land but unfortunately it has been removed to make room for a new Cars Ride.  Sorry to disappoint.

Holiday Lump

First of all I'm proud to say that after all that studying on Craig's part he is finished with his first trimester of Grad School and did wonderfully.  It was quite difficult .. especially during finals week and we hardly got to see him but now he has 5 weeks off.  YEAH!  I'm too far behind to a post about everything that happened individually so this is just a big holiday lump post.  We just spent the last 3 weeks traveling over the holidays but before we left we went on this adorable little Christmas train and got to visit Santa out in Scottsdale.  It was lots of fun.  We left the next day and our first stop was Mesquite, Nevada where Grandma & Grandpa Johnson had rented a villa for a week. Highlights from our time there include: 

*Having most of my family together (we missed you Becky) *Hitting golf balls into the driving range from our back yard. (Golfing is a lot harder than it looks!)  * Playing the animal game in the hot tub (Grandma does a great imitation of a manatee. lol) *Having cousins to play with. *Watching The Family Stone and other Christmas movies together. . *Tackling Grandpa in a heated game of spoons... most of us walked away with minor cuts and bruises but no one was seriously injured. The table stayed intact this time. (We played lots of card games since it rained the whole time.  Mostly Rook, Scum, & Spoons) *Driving around the golf cart that came with the villa. *Dipping chocolate pretzels with Grandma.  *Bowling! - Jace bowled 100 and the whole place cheered for him. He loved it. *Girl time watching Tangled in the Theatre ... it was very cute and Brooke promised not to cut her hair anymore.  *Hitting the gym together.  *Trying (key word 'trying') to keep Grant & Jace away from Kendal & Brooke.  Those boys loved teasing the girls and those girls loved screaming (LOUD) when the boys came to 'get' them.  It made for not much peace in a 2bed villa while it was raining outside -NO ESCAPE. *Walking into the bathroom to find the tub overflowing with bubbles and 4 little munchins. *Checking out the display homes in the area.  I love the way they decorate.  It felt like parade of homes. & *Wedding talk... since Jenny just recently got engaged.  Plus I gave Jenny a gift that keeps on giving.  I was so excited about it - she knows what it is and NO - it's NOT something dirty.  Becky - you need to get over here so we can throw this girl a Bridal shower!

We had a great time in Mesquite and after 4 days headed up to Centerville.  We were a little worried about the drive since St. George had received so much rain.  They weren't sure if the one of the bridges was going to wash out.  We made it safely and were very excited to be greeted by Christmas Lights on Nani & Grandpa's house.  The kids walked in and their eyes lit up with all the decorations, tree, & lights.  They went above and beyond to make their house feel magical with Christmas everything.  The kids LOVED it because we didn't set up anything at home this year.  I loved it too and that night I sat in the front room with the lights off and just watched the Christmas tree lights sparkle.  We spent 2 weeks there.  Here are some of the highlights:

*Making yummy treats with Nani & Katie like Reindeer cupcakes & chocolate chip cookies dipped in mint & bits of candy cane.  *Driving around looking at Christmas lights with Grandpa. *Shopping. *Jace & Brooke got to decorate their own little Christmas trees to put in their room. *Our Christmas Eve Feast.  (Paula made all her traditional appetizers like little smokies, 7 layer dip, tortilla roll ups, salsa, vegetable tray, & bacon wrapped chestnuts.  David grilled up the steaks, and I steamed the crab. * Watching Jace try to steal a crab leg before dinner and slamming it against the stove to try and crack it to get the meat out. *Giving our 'gifts' to Jesus and reading the Christmas Story *Putting Cookies out for Santa *Seeing my kids eyes light up at 6am when they discovered that they made it on the 'nice' list and got just what they asked for. *Opening presents. *Playing with new toys (Jace got an Iron Man mini car, Iron Man & Spiderman Transformers, an Iron Man robot, some new clothes, etc.. Brooke got Dress ups galore, a princess wand, jewelry & accessories, Cinderella paper doll set, zu zu pets w/ play area, pretend make up and new clothes) . *Visiting Great Grandparents. *Driving to Great Grandma Sundbergs annual Christmas party in a blizzard. *Girls nights snuggling under the electric blanket, painting nails, and watching Leap Year, Sense & Sensibility, & The Young Victoria.  *Eating the 'treats' that Jace made us while watching our girl movies... they were vanilla wafers with red hots glued on with frostine.... same as the reindeer noses for the cupcakes.  It was very sweet of him to think of us. *Watching the snow fall through the window while eating Christmas cookies.  *Getting pummeled in the face by Jace's constant snowballs.  *Making snow angels.  * Building a snowman. * Skiing with Craig at Snowbird.  *Crashing on the first run of the day.  *Being carried down the mountain in a toboggan by ski patrol.  *Spending the rest of the night in the ER. *Sledding with Uncle Joshie's family at the Craig's old elementary school.  *Swapping kids - Josh took Brooke and had the girls and we took Grant & Jace.  *Taking the boys out to eat.  *Having Grant tell Craig and I that we are his favorite. :) - he was quite the schmoozer.  *Taking the boys to krispy creams. *Taking the boys to the Christmas house in Centerville with lights galore that danced in time to music - you just had to tune your car radio to 91.5.  They giggled for 1/2 an hour.  Grant thought that we had a magical car because he noticed that the lights followed the music.  Jace thought it must be a computer program - quite the sceptic. *Staying up until 1am most nights.  *Celebrating the New Year at 10pm with the kids by banging on pots & pans and shooting silly spray.*Playing Apples to Apples on New Years Eve with the adults into the wee hours of the morning. *Getting lots of help with the kids (I've practically been a single mom lately so it was REALLY nice to have some help and enjoy time with just Craig).  *Enjoying time together.  *Having a poll on how many times Jace re gifted the Green Christmas Ornament to me. lol

Okay I do have to tell you about Jace's gifts.  Before school got out for the break I sent some money with Jace to buy a present for all his family members at Candy Cane lane.  He did so with a little help from his teacher.  He put quite a lot of thought into each gift.  They were the most special to open on Christmas morning.  Craig got a REALLY handsome (wink wink)  Christmas tie that had a picture of a Christmas tree and played music when you pressed it.  Daddy was so excited when he opened it.  Jace was beaming and was sure that daddy would want to wear it to church the next day.  He did.  It was a very musical Sunday. :) lol  Jace got Brooke a little baby doll dressed in a hippo costume.  She loved it and named it baby hippo.  He got me a beautiful green Christmas ball ornament that is very sparkly.  After I got in my skiing accident he was very worried about me and wanted to help take care of me.  He went through my things and found the green ball and made sure that I had it with me from then on.  We started a poll after a while because it was so funny.  At least 3 times a day Jace would find that I had left the ornament in my room or on the couch and would quickly re-gift it to me with a big smile.  It MADE my Christmas so special.  I love that little stinker!

Sorry - no Christmas morning pictures.  Can you believe it??  I didn't take one single picture on Christmas morning.  How weird.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!