New Nephews

I couldn't resist sharing these cute announcements of my two new nephews. 
It must be the year for boys!  I can't wait for our little guy to join them in this world.

Grand Canyon

Grandma & Grandpa Johnson joined us at the Grand Canyon on our way home.  We stopped at the North rim and had a great time.  Grandma packed a delicious picnic.  We talked to the kids about the rules before we got there.  Everyone had to hold some one's hand because we didn't want anyone to fall into the big hole in the ground.  When we got to the Grand viewpoint Brooke looked around and said " Is this the big hole evey ones worried about falling in ?"  Everyone around us started laughing.  She's such a nut.  What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  We parted ways with my parents and headed back to Phoenix.  The kids were pretty well behaved.  Brooke made up lots of songs.  Most of which went like this "I love my mom ... my mom is the bestest mom in the whole world ... I love her so much."  I liked this one.  She explained " Mom, I will sing this one to you when you are having a hard time.  Like if Jace is grouchy and makes you feel sad.  I will sing it to you." She's at such a fun age right now.  I wish I could freeze time and make her stay 4yrs old forever.  Jace was so curious about the Grand Canyon and wanted to keep the map.  He asked about 100 questions about it.  Craig was happy to answer as much as he could.  This was the first time we drove back to Phoenix through the Jacob's Lake route.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!  We loved the Vermillion Cliffs and Cliff Dwellers.  I wish my camera's battery hadn't of died - I would have captured some of the views.  Anyway,  we had a wonderful weekend away.

Weekend Visit

Craig really wanted to take the kids to the Grand Canyon while he had some time off. We talked about it and decided to make a weekend trip to Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's house in southern Utah and hit the Grand Canyon on the way home.  That way we could see my adorable new nephew Dylan, we could get Craig's laptop fixed (my brother Jeremy is a computer genius - I'm very lucky), and we could have fun visiting family.  The kids were super excited to go.  Brooke couldn't wait to get back to Grandma & Grandpa's house after spending most of the summer with them.  I think Jace was most excited to see the dogs. lol. .. and to hang out with cool Uncle Justin on Grandpa's "speeder" boat.  We didn't leave until Jace got out of school on Friday and got stuck in horrific traffic due to a bad accident.  We were at a stand still for 2 hours.  Brooke peed her pants because there was no where to take her.  She was pretty embarrassed.  We finally pulled into Hurricane at around 1:30am.  What a long trip.  The next day was totally worth it though.  We spent the next morning holding baby Dylan.  I love babies and I think because I'm pregnant right now I just loved it even more because it made me think of what's in store for me later this year.  He's such a beautiful baby.  We got Craig's laptop fixed at Jeremy's new house... which I LOVE.  Congratulations Jeremy and thank you so much.  We gave Craig the grand tour and I got to hold my other very new nephew Alex who is 2 months old.  I couldn't believe how much he had grown since I saw him last.  Such a fat, happy, adorable little guy!  Craig played monsters with Eric and Ryan while we were there too.  We spent the afternoon boating at Sand Hollow.  Which is one of my favorite things to do.  I had a great time watching everyone else ski and cliff jump.  I was so proud of Brooke and Jace for making the big jump (it wasn't too high) with a little help from daddy and Uncle Justin.  Jace LOVES being in Grandpa's "speeder" boat especially when it choppy because there are lots of bumps.  Brooke had fun hanging out with Grandma on the beach building sand castles and swimming.  Then that night we had a big get together for Ryan's 3rd birthday party.  It was super fun.  The next morning we packed up and headed home.  It was a short trip but a fun one.  Get ready for picture overload:

Brookster bean driving the boat.

This kid couldn't be happier.

Craig getting ready to water ski for the first time in yrs.

Yahoo!  He did it.

Jewlz & Jessi

So good to see Julie up and having fun. 

Jace taking a swimming break in the middle of Sand Hollow while Jessi switched her skis out.

Yeah!!  She made it up!

Grandma holding baby Dylan and playing with Brooke on shore.

"Cool Uncle Justin"  quote by Jace

Sorry - I couldn't get a good pic of any of his jumps.  It was too bumpy in the boat.

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Me and my Dad. :)

Jen & Aaron

• Craig cliff jumping.

Ryan's 3rd Birthday Party Celebration:

Ryan blowing out the candles.

Fun party.

Sweet baby Alex.  I love fat, happy babies! :)

I think Jenny & Aaron tried to sneak one of the babies home. 

Baby Dylan

Little guy in a big world.

We were all happy to welcome the newest member of the Johnson family: Dylan Asher Vorheis born on August 5, 2011 (at 34 weeks).  He's a bit of a little miracle.  My sister Julie has been in and out of the ER for the past 7 months trying to carry this little guy to term.  She has been on IVs almost daily and on bed rest.  Finally her body couldn't take it anymore and at 34 weeks they induced due to pre eclampsia, toxemia, etc.  He surprised us all by heading straight to the nursery instead of the NICU.  He is by far the smallest baby I ever seen in my life.  At birth he weighed 4lbs. 11ounces and was 17 inches long.  He's lost some weight and hasn't made it back to his birth weight yet but he sure is a cute little grunt. .. and so good natured.  I had such a fun weekend snuggling him like crazy.  I claim favorite Aunt. :) lol

He must be dreaming about his favorite Aunt Heather ... or maybe a boob.

Big yawns ...

So tired ... can't keep those eyes open any longer. 

 I wasn't the only one that couldn't get enough of holding baby Dylan. 
I think Brooke is going to be an 'extra' good (wink wink) helper when our baby comes.

Bump to Bump



Bump to Bump with a Brooke in the middle.

Here I am close to 23 weeks along with my friend Tracie.  We had a great weekend hanging out with her and her husband Mark whom also goes to Thunderbird with pizza nights, swimming, etc.  Although, he has graduated and is moving back to UT so we will miss them dearly.  Tracie and I are both due in December and it's fun to be pregnant with someone.  We had a great time talking baby talk and Craig and Mark argued about who is going to win their bet with the BYU vs. UTAH college football game coming up in Sept.  If their team looses they have to wear opposing team colors, face paint, etc and post that pic at their facebook profile picture for the rest of the football season.  It should be quite interesting because they are both DIE HARD fans for their teams.  Craig is planning on going to that game with Jace in hopes of  "getting him to be as passionate about BYU football" as he is.   Hopefully it works so he has a permanent football buddy for life.  I haven't been much of a trooper.  Every year I say that I'm really going to try to get into it. ... but it still hasn't happened.  I have another Doctor's appt. next week so I'll update you on baby then...



Brooke's Preschool

Brooke started preschool at Oasis Elementary.  Ms. Rademacher is her teacher.  She gets to go Mon. - Thurs. from 7:45am - 10:45am.  It's kind of hard to wake up that early but she absolutely LOVES going to school.  When she got the acceptance letter in the mail she ran around the house dancing and yelling "Brooke's goin' to be a school girl, Brooke's goin' to be a school girl, etc."  I love dropping her off and picking her up and having her tell me all about her day.  I can hardly ever get anything out of Jace.  "How was your day today, Jace?"  "Good"  "What did you do?"  "I don't know ... stuff"  and he will only talk about it if I ask specific questions.  Usually he's just ready for an after school snack and his allotted hour to play games on my smart phone.  Brooke is totally the opposite.  It's hilarious to listen to her go on and on.  "How was your day today, Brooke?"  "It was so fun!  I stretched real high and hung my pack pack up, then we did circle time, and we read a silly book, and played with toys, and then they turned music on and we danced.  I'm a real good dancer.  Then we had a snack and I ate applesauce and had chocolate milk.  I LOVE chocolate milk.  It's my favorite.  I got a golden ticket for sharing and we didn't get to play outside today because it was too TOO hot.  Then I got my pack pack down and said goodbye to my teacher and drived home."  She doesn't leave anything out.  I love it.  When she gets home we make some lunch and watch a Disney movie like The Little Mermaid together or she has some special time with daddy until we go pick up Jace at 3pm.  I'm so happy that she loves school.  She's such a sweetheart. 

Here she is in front of our palm tree that looks like a pineapple.

She loves her new "pack pack".

On her first day of school Jace gave her a big hug and told her that everything would be okay.

Playing in the classroom.  I wanted to get an up close picture but she was too busy.

When we went to the open house last week where she got to meet her teacher and see the classroom she LOVED it.  In fact she played and played and played ... they had SO many fun toys.  When we had to leave she threw a tantrum and cried for 30 min.  We've NEVER seen her do that about anything so we figured she wasn't going to have any problems getting dropped off there every morning. .. and she hasn't.

Little Pancake Helper

Brooke loves to be my little pancake breakfast helper on Saturday mornings.