Johnson

Christmas eve & Christmas

2012-01-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we went over to Deven's parents house and had dinner and played games.

We played Adult Headbands. You had to guess what or who you were?

Payten opened her new jammies

Christmas Day- Santa came!!!

Still not sure about the opening of the presnts, but loved what was inside the presents.

Christmas Day Stephen & Lisa blessed baby Aliyah!

Hugs!

We had a very good christmas and very blessed with everything we have. We enjoyed spending time with our families. The only thing that would have made it better was if we had snow. We are still patiently waiting for the snow to come :(

Happy 1st Birthday Payten -December 22nd

2012-01-10T12:19:00.001-08:00

For Payten's 1st birthday I wanted to make her a cake! And not a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. So I made her a funfetti cake with fondant. This was my first fondant cake so I made a huge mess and it took me a long time to make. Now I know some tricks and how to make it go faster the next time. Since I made Payten's 1st cake, I am going to have to make all our kids cakes. But that is ok because I had a lot of fun doing it!

I need a few more cake supplies at my house, so I had to improvise. It is so much easier decorating cakes at Baskin Robbins where I have a lot more supplies.

The finished cake! I really cant complain for my first fondant cake. However, we are always hardest on ourselves, so there were a lot of little areas I did not like.

Payten had no clue what was going on and that all the presents and people were for her.

A few of her cousins

Ethan and Payten are good little buddies. They are only 5 months apart.

Payten was not sure about opening the presents. Her cousins however were all about helping her open them.

Once the presents were out of the wrapping paper she loved her new toys.

Grandpa Alan and Grandma Kim got Payten her own recliner. She loved it! And Deven had to make it even better by having a Dr. Pepper in her hand! She is her fathers daughter.

She thought it tasted pretty good!

Buds again sharing the new chair!

A few of the cousins on the bird side. Getting pictures with kids is not the easiest thing. Ethan LOVES to always get Paytens hair bows.

12 month check up:

Height: 30" (76%)

Weight: 20 lbs 13 oz (44%)

Head: 17" (6%)

She is a very big daddy's girl! Every time he is about to leave she gets so upsets and has to be held by him. If I try to take her from him she cries and puts her head into Deven. She snuggles with him and loves to play with him. If I leave she does not care! I love how much she loves her dad.
Loves to sing to Old Mcdonald! She is really good at the ee-i-ee-i-o.
Has learned how to push the home key on our iphones. So when she has my phone I constantly hear Siri asking "how can I help". And Payten jabbers at her and she then responds with "I'm not sure what you are asking"!
If there are clothes by her I'm trying to fold she will go over to them and try to put them on or throws them around.
Can take a couple steps when she feels like it. The most steps she has taken is about 5. She would much rather crawl because she is so fast.
She loves to blow kisses
Loves to sound like an indian with her mouth and hand.
Kinda strange but loves to slap her hands to her face or over her ears. Maybe because we always laugh at her when she does it.
Loves drinking regular milk. Well actually I don't think she notices a difference from her formula. I think we like it more than her, so much easier and cheaper. Right after she started drinking regular milk I found a coupon for her formula for $5 off. Man it would have been nice to have that before she switched!
If we laugh at something she thinks that she needs to laugh out loud too :)
Has 5 teeth coming in, including 1 of her molars
Claps whenever she hears people clapping.
Loves to drink juice or water. If we did not limit her, she would drink so much!
Loves to climb up on her chairs or toy train she can sit on.
Loves being outside. Gets mad when we bring her inside.
A big help when we load/unload the dish washer. Loves to take things out and then climb onto the dish washer.
Good at re-organizing my cupboards daily.
Loves ice-cream! I think that just comes with being a Bird!
Been on 9 different planes
Finally can hold a bottle by herself, she would rather us hold it though! And I don't mind, I love those times to cuddle!

At a year she has been a really good sleeper! She sleeps about 10.5 hours at night and then about 5 hours during the day between her 2 naps each day. She goes to sleep around 10 and wakes up around 8:30 (unless she gets all out of schedule during the day, and will randomly wake up for a bottle around 6:30-7, then sleeps until 9-9:30). Then she will have her first nap around 11:30-12 for about 2.5 to 3 hrs. Then her second nap is around 5pm for about 2 to 2.5 hrs. I know it seems really late for her going to bed, but I think it is important for Payten to have time with her daddy whenever he gets home! And with her good napping during the day, she gets plenty of sleep!

She drinks 4 bottles a day. When she wakes up, before her first nap, before her second nap, and then before she goes to sleep. Totaling around 20-25 ounces each day.

Florida & Cruise- December 8th-17th

2012-01-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

**WARNING:Most of these pictures are in order. But towards the end they are not, and I did not feel like moving them all around :)

*** AND I do not do well in humidity!!! So don't mind how gross I look and how soggy my hair looks!

We flew into Florida at 10 pm on thursday. Payten did really well for such long flights. Thankfully the 2nd flight that was 4 hours, she fell asleep for about 2 hours. Then she was entertained by a little boy acrossed the isle and by Deven, Grandma Bird, and I!!!

Then friday we spent the day exploring what Miami had to offer. We went to the everglades and were going to do an airboat ride but as you can see in the picture below it was a little stormy just then. So we just explored the animals that were there. It may look like it was not bright for us, but the direction we were looking for the picture was extremely bright!

Deven was brave and held an alligator, I DID NOT! I would not even touch it!

We took a duck tour (land and water) through Miami. It was a 2 hour tour and surprisingly Payten did good checking things out!

Chris & Shani's family got there on friday night. And then we left for our cruise on saturday morning! Us waiting for the shuttle to pick us up!

Now waiting in line to get on the ship. That day for some reason we did ALOT of waiting!

They had dress up nights on the cruise ship for 2 nights, but we only dressed up for one of the nights. The other night we wanted to be lazy and just relax watching an out door movie!!
Our dinners each night took us about 2 hours and Brighton and Payten did really well sitting through the long dinner.

There was a couple behind Payten she loved to play with and throw things at. She was entertained by them. Luckily they had a one year old (they left him home) so they loved Payten!

We would always meet in the same spot to have breakfast in the morning and touch basis with everyones plans.

Payten loved the cruise and checking everything/everyone out!

The sunsets on the cruise were gorgeous!

My adorable parents!

St. Thomas- absolutely beautiful!

My dad, Chris & Deven did a lot of snorkeling.

I HATE HATE HATE FISH!!! But I did really well for how friendly the fish were at our stops. I would swim by myself if Deven was off snorkeling, but if he was around he would usually be holding Payten and Me :)!!!

There was something about the calming of the ocean because it put Payten right to sleep when we would be out swimming!

A lady gave us some dog bones and tolds us the fish with come up to you and nibble at the food. The dog food does not dissolve like a normal cracker and lasts a long time! I was not too sure about using the bone to attract the fish around us! It worked really good though!

Grandma Bird was very nice to hold wet Payten as she slept! Grandma was definitely wet after Payten woke up. Payten LOVED Grandma Bird!

St. Johns was behind us.

The taxi in St. Thomas! It was like a roller coaster getting over to the beach we swam at. Sapphire beach!
After about 3 hours of swimming we went back to the ship to change and then headed back out to explore the little shops at St. Thomas.

2nd stop- Puerto Rico! Payten was ready for the next day of exploring.

Out on my parents balcony on the ship looking at Puerto Rico.

While at Puerto Rico we took a tour around the city! Another 2 hour tour and the kids did really good again! The streets were so tight, and yet the tour guide still drove a big 12 seater van down the tight roads.
This was a little scary going down the hill and seeing how sharp this corner was going to be. The driver did have to do a lot of backwards and forwards driving to maneuver around Puerto Rico.
This is the worlds smallest home in the Guiness book. The yellow building is a guys home!
After our tour we then walked around exploring Puerto Rico.

Leaving Puerto Rico

The cruise ship had a big outside movie theater. During the days at ports Payten did not get her full naps so by the evening times she was a little tired.

She was such a good girl at dinner!

At dinner they would have a thing called Didja (did you ever want to try...) and every night was something different. Deven and my brother Chris were the only daring ones. This is alligator!

Who doesnt love dessert!!! Deven would always get the chocolate melting cake with an extra scoop of ice cream. I loved the unlimited amount of soft serve.

Brighton and Payten absolutely loved each other. Every time Payten saw Brighton she got so excited and had to try and touch him! She is pretty close to being able to say his name!

Turks & Caicos
This place was absolutely beautiful! I must say the caribbean all around is pretty amazing!

Once again we were playing in the water and it put Payten right to sleep again. 2nd time falling asleep in the ocean!

This time we put Payten on the sand so she did not get Grandma all wet again.

I was very proud of myself because I actually snorkeled in Grand Turks. Since our honeymoon Deven told me I was banned from snorkeling with him. On our honeymoon I snorkeled but swam on top of Deven in the water and every time I saw a fish come really close I would push Deven under and almost drowned him :(. But this time I just swam next to him and did not freak out when the fish came close! Man I must say, in my older age I am getting a little braver :)

Random pictures on the ship

On the last night they had a let it snow party. You cant see in the picture but they had big bubble machines that made it look like it was snowing. Payten got them in her face.

Our waiter was great and always tried to make and entertain Brighton and Payten.

We walked into the store on the ship and Payten had to have every stuffed animal. We got her one and then a couple days later Deven went for a walk with Payten and he came back with another stuffed animal. We are going to be in trouble when she gets older.

The nightly towel animals Payten was not sure about. She thought she needed the sunglasses and not the animal.

We were famous, on the big screen on the ship!

Payten loves loves loves the water. She could not get enough of it.

More pictures of St. Thomas

We kept trying to get her to give him a kiss, but she would not!

Overall she was so happy the whole time.

A couple more of Grand Turks

Randomly and a bit gross, Payten put her cereal on the table and started eating it off like a dog.

This was her bed, It was just the metal bars with no patting on it. And Payten was excited when she first saw it and bunked her head on the bars. She likes to sleep pushed to the edges, so I took sheets/blankets and made her own bumper.

There was a little crack under the door where she could see our feet, so whenever someone went into the bathroom, she crawled over so fast to peek under and jabber at us!

Getting ready to fly back home

The cruise was an absolute blast! Taking Payten on the cruise made it so we did things a little different. Like going back to the room a couple times a day for her to take naps, didn't do so much of the night life on the ship, etc. But truly we still had an amazing time. We loved taking naps with her each day and just enjoyed having a little more of a laid back cruise. I could not imagine going on it without her. We loved having her there and getting to see her face so happy when she explored and saw new things. We wanted to go on a family trip and knew it would be a little different having a one year old! Stoping at the ports were a little hard having them back to back so she did not get good naps. But at the ports at she was able to fall asleep in her stroller or in the water. She had so much fun and so did we! We can't wait for more family trips, I think until all our kids are out of the house, I hope that all our trips are with our kids!

11 months- November 22, 2011

2012-01-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

On November 11th, it would have been 11/11/11 and in 11 days she would be 11 months!!! I just thought it was pretty cool how that worked out!

Payten randomly has started putting her arm up like that all by herself. I have gotten a couple of pictures of her doing that and it is do dang cute and funny!

In case anyone was still wondering, I do still have a thumb sucker!!!! You can kinda see in this picture, but her new thing is rubbing her top lip with her pointer finger while sucking on her thumb.

Payten absolutely loves little kids. She gets so happy when she sees them. And for some reason usually if it is a boy she will growl at them. She just can't get enough of being around other kids. With that said, she will not be getting another sibling any time soon, so she will have to enjoy her cousins!

Payten still has no interest in walking. She will take one and then just fall down and think that crawling is the better way to go.

She loves to wave hi or bye to people but it is usually when she wants too, never usually on cue when the person is looking. And she does this little wave with her hand that looks like she is telling you to come here.

She continues to sleep well and through the night if she is not sick, and got her good naps and well feed throughout the day. She still takes her bottle 4 times a day with 5 oz. and enjoys eating 3 meals a day!

Deven and I laugh at this little girl so much every day! She brings so much joy into our lives and is constantly entertaining us. We are so grateful for her in our lives!

Halloween

2012-01-06T12:49:00.001-08:00

Payten was the cutest kitty ever for Halloween! She actually let us keep her in it all day. And even let us keep the hood part on her. Payten went to our ward Trunk or Treat and helped hand out candy. I did not want to take her around and get candy because she is too little to eat it and so I would have felt dumb getting the candy for me to eat :) Next year she will be able to eat her own candy though!!!

Deven and I did not dress up but we at least wore orange and black, so I think we get points for that one!

10 months- October 22, 2011

2012-01-05T18:55:00.001-08:00

-Continues to love playing with her tongue, constantly sticks it out.

-If you say, "Look at mommy" she looks at me. Or,"Look at daddy" she looks at Deven.

It is really nice when I need her to pay attention to me or have her look at me.

-She points at everything and every one.

-Loves to sit on her knees and bounce up and down.

-Dances, when told to "Dance, Dance".

-learned how to maneuver her walker by herself. She can go until she needs to turn and then turns it by herself and readjusts it to be able to keep walking.

-When getting her ready for bed Deven and I both take her to her room to get her ready. On the way up to her room Deven chases us there and Payten laughs the whole way. Then when in her room we lay her on her changing table and then Deven says," Ok, buh bye" and walks out the door. She knows what he is doing and stares at the door. He then runs back in and says "boo" she laughs so hard and throws her body down and laughs more. We continue that for a couple minutes. Then we change her and Deven gives her loves. And then gives her to me. I finish feeding her and then we go brush her teeth and then bring her back in her room and tell her we love her and lay her down. She then goes to sleep!

-Still takes 2 naps a day and continues to sleep through the night until about 6 for a bottle and then back to bed until around 8-9. She will wake up in the middle of the night if she does not get enough food to eat during the day or does not get her 2 good naps.

-She LOVES food. Anything we eat, she loves to eat. Deven and I would feed her dinner and she would then be done eating. Then if she saw my parents eating anything, she would then have to eat what they were eating.

9 months- September 22, 2011

2012-01-05T18:33:00.000-08:00

She just keeps getting so big and changing every day. We just love her so much!

Height: 28 3/4" 76%

Weight: 19 lb. 12 oz 55%

Head: 17" 18%

-2 days before her 9th month she learned how to walk by herself with her walker. Before we would have to help her do it because she would get out of control going too fast and would fall.

-You ask her where her tongue is and she will show you her tongue.

-Leads music when she hears music.

-Started walking along furniture

-If you tell her to kick or splash she will do it in the bath tub.

-Says "ooohh" constantly when she wants something. Which is pretty much everything she sees.

-Plays pat-a-cake

-Loves to babble

-Got top two front teeth!

She continues to take 2 naps a day for around 2 hours. If her first name is only 1.5 hours then her second one will be about 2.5. She keeps pretty constant with her naps being around 4 hours. She goes to bed at 9 and usually wakes up around 6-7 and has a bottle and then goes back to sleep until 8-9am.

San Juan Islands Aug 4th - 7th

2011-11-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

We spent a much needed vacation over in the San Juan islands. Deven's summer was packed full of work, so we thought it would be a nice get away!

Us on 1 of the many ferry rides we took that weekend!

Payten loved to watch the hermit crabs run around when Deven would turn rocks over!

Payten was a little unsure where and what we were doing.

We sat and watched the orcas for a long time! We saw so many of them, it was so cool!

We rented a cabin. Deven cooking some steaks!

The trip was a lot of fun! Payten loved seeing everything and seeing new animals. I have always loved the San Juan islands growing up and was very excited to share it with Deven & Payten!

8 months!

2011-11-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

8 months!!! Aug. 22 2011

Deven told me the other day that I was fired from doing the blog. So I was happy and said "oh good, they you will do it." I did not get any response though. He can't believe at how far behind I am. I really need to get better. But every 3 months or so I at least catch up to date.

A week after Payten turned 7 months she started army crawling.

The following week she sat up from laying down. Sadly I didn't see her do it the first time. She did it after she woke up from a nap and when I went in to get her she was sitting up!!!

The day before she turned 8 months she started CRAWLING!!!!! All the baby proofing begun.

She also started:

Clapping

Mooing at the cows in the back yard

feeding herself puffs and small things of food

Putting everything in her mouth (she is a human vacuum, she finds the smallest pieces too)

8.5 months started crawling upstairs. She was sitting by them and then the next thing we knew, she was crawling up them.

She continues to take 2 naps during the day from 1-2hrs each nap.

She keeps changing and growing everyday! :( Time needs to slow down!

7 months (July 22nd)

2011-08-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

With us being in WA for the summer Payten did not get her 6 month appointment when she was 6 months. So we had her check up when she was 7 months.

Heigh: 26 1/8 inches 50%

Weight: 16.13 lbs 50%

Head: 16.5 inchs

We still have a thumb sucker. She doesn't suck on her fingers much anymore but she sucks on her thumb when she is tired or hungry. The pictures below were taken right before her nap. So she was getting pretty tired.

She loves to suck on her toes! She is practicing her flexibility to be a cheerleader ;)!!!

She loves to give cheeser smiles.

She usually goes down for her naps really well. I tell her "good night I love you" and lay her down. She will then roll over and go to sleep. However, if I put her in bed before she is truly tired and ready for bed, she will let you know. She now also loves to sleep on her stomach, sometimes I'm not sure she can even breathe because he head looks like it is straight down. I try to move her but she goes back to her same position. So she must be just fine.

She loves eating food...and I'm not meaning baby food. If you are eating around her she has to be eating what you are eating. If you try to give her a bottle or baby food she does not want it because she knows that we are eating other stuff that is a lot better than what she eats. I have to give her a bottle and baby food when we are not eating or drinking, that way she will eat her food good and drink her bottle.

She loves popsicles and shaved ice. If you even think about eating those around her you just need to plan on not having any. She gets very upset if you do not let her lick it fast enough. She makes a very growling upset noise until she gets what she wants. I do not understand where babies learn these things.

She is a very happy baby all the time unless she does not get what she wants then she makes a very mad growling noise.

She goes to bed around 9-9:30 pm, wakes up around 6 and drinks her bottle and then goes back to sleep until 8-8:30 am. Randomly she will decide to wake up a little earlier for her morning bottle. Once in a blue moon she will wake up in the middle of the night. Usually that happens if her day time schedule gets all messed up and does not have her same night time routine.

She takes two two hour naps a day. 1st at 10:30 ish and 2nd around 2:30 ish.

She is trying so hard to crawl to get things but ends up getting very frustrated because when she wants to go forward she ends up pushing herself backwards. She will get up into crawling position and rock her body a little and then gets very frustrated. So it will be interesting to see when she finally figures it out.

She hates to have her face washed after eating, she likes her face washed in the bath tub but not after eating. She also hates her diaper and clothes being changed.

She loves splashing in the bath tub or any water. She could play for hours in water if I let her.

She gets so happy when daddy gets home. As soon as she seems him her face lights up and gets so jittery. If dad does not pick her up right away she gets very mad (little does she realize how dirty dad is when he gets home and needs to wash up before he holds her).

She loves to get peoples attention by face coughing or spitting. When she does both it is pretty funny but when she is constantly coughing to get peoples attention they all probably think she is sick. ;) Little do they know she just wants them to talk to her.

She loves seeing other babies and little kids. She makes squealing sounds of excitement when she sees them and just wants to watch and play with them.

We love this little girl so much and can't believe how fast she is growing and changing. She hates to be held like a baby so when she is half asleep in the mornings drinking her bottle I really cherish those moments. And at nights when she is getting really sleepy and should be put in bed Deven and I fight over having cuddle time with her. She brings so much joy in our lives, we can't even imagine our life without her.

4th of July!

2011-08-01T17:17:00.001-07:00

Don't mind how tired and nasty we look but it was after a long day of playing outside. It was just about Payten's bedtime and I wanted a family picture.

She did not want to sit still. She kept trying to move around and get things.

Loves outside, especially playing in the water!

2011-08-01T16:36:00.001-07:00

First time playing in her little pool!

You may notice there is a lake to the side of us. However, that water was just a little to chilly at that time, so we decided to fill up Payten's pool with warm water!!! Brilliant idea if you ask me!

We try to spend every weekend at my parents lake house! It is just a nice little getaway that is not a long drive. Payten loves being there!!!

It was still a little chilly so Payten didn't get a real ride on the jet ski

Now for her real ride! And she LOVED IT!!!

The weather warmed up and Payten loved playing in the lake! She loves to splash and kick in the water!

First boat ride! This was on the way home and it was in the evening time and a little windy! So we covered our precious cargo!

She loved boating as well and looked all around!

We love to play on the Aquaglide!

Payten loved having her cousins come and play with her!

Payten meets Kensie

2011-08-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

My longtime friend (since we were very little ;)) came to WA to visit her family! So we for sure needed to get together and make hair bows, catch up, and have our girls play together. Kensie is 3 months and 6 days older than Payten. Payten was not sure of Kensie but was just interested in watching what she was doing. Kensie loved to try and get Payten. She especially loved to try to get Payten's feet. The two girls were so cute together and had so much fun. Only wish we lived closer so our girls could be best friends like we are.

6 months (June 22nd)

2011-08-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

Isn't she just so cute...she learned how to pull at her bow to take it off. She usually is pretty good at leaving it on and will only pull at it if by chance she reaches up and feels it with her hands, then she will take it off.

Every day Payten keeps changing so much and learning new things. Since she learned how to sit up, every time you try to lay her down on her back she tries so hard to keep her head off the ground and tries so hard to sit up. She has killer ab muscles from doing that constantly. When she gets a diaper changed she really refuses to lay down not only will she not lay down, she also squeezes her legs together a couple inches off the ground. Needless to say it is a very big challenge to change her diaper.

She learned how to wave, so she waves hi and bye to people and really understands what she is doing. When we walk by different people she will wave to them. Also if you tell her goodnight she will wave to you.

She still loves her tongue and loves spitting. The bad thing about her making the spitting sounds with her lips is she does it when she needs to be quiet. Especially loves to do it at church during a pray or talk. And if I cover her mouth to make her quiet that only ticks her off and makes her do it even more.

She will let you know when she does not want to play with something or when she is done eating or drinking. She will either throw the toy or push the spoon or bottle coming her way. She is a strong baby. If she hasn't finished her bottle all the way yet and I try to give her some more she will push your hands and bottle away and squeeze her lips together. If you keep trying to get her to eat or drink she will get really mad and give you some attitude.

She especially loves to throw her toys down when she is sitting in a high chair. See her nice pile of toys...

Caught in the act of getting rid of them. She is very fast at getting rid of them too. She doesn't play with them for a little while and then slowly throw them off one by one. As soon as there are toys on her tray they are off in a matter of seconds.

Sitting UP 5 months

2011-08-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

I really need to get better at staying on top of my blogging! It makes it hard to catch up.

About a week after Payten turned 5 months (may 22nd) it was like she woke up from her nap and decided that she was going to start sitting up. She absolutely hates laying down now that she knows how to sit up.

A week after sitting up she got her first tooth bottom left tooth (5.5 months). I thought it was the cutest tooth and checked on its progress cutting through 24/7. The week after she got her second tooth bottom right. So now I have the cutest baby with her two bottom teeth.

5 months

2011-06-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

May 22, 2011

In the time I was taking her pictures she made so many different faces and sucked on a number of different fingers or thumbs. She does not prefer a thumb or finger over the other, she switches between them all.

She does love to suck on her ring finger like this a lot! It is so funny how she really likes to suck on her finger like that.

Payten:

-Moves her hands all around and loves to hold onto her toys.

-Scratch people, especially couches and her bed (whenever she wakes up in her bed she loves to reach to the side of her bed and lay there scratching her bed).

-Has no desire to hold her bottle yet, loves to stretch her hands when she drinks and hold on to your fingers! I love when she rubs her soft little hands on my hands.

-Loves to talk, say da da da (I'm working on her saying mom), scream, growl, fake cough, fake laugh, and any other new sound she can make.

-She smiles at everything and anyone. Loves to talk and smile at the lights and ceiling fans.

-Loves to roll over, it amazes me at how fast she is starting to roll over from back to front.

-Puts everything in her mouth and then loves to see how loud she can be with it in her mouth.

-When you lay her on her back she tries so hard to not lay down and tries to keep her head off the floor.

-Has found her toes and loves to examine them and grab her feet. She really likes to eat them as well.

-When sitting on your lap at dinner or at the computer whatever is in front of her she will try so hard to reach and grab whatever she can get.

-Loves to stand!

-Wears 6-9 month clothes depending on the brand. Our little peanut is growing so fast! I cant wait to find out how much she weighs and her percentiles!

Payten always has a smile on her face and is such a good baby! She now takes 1.5-2 hour naps. She has gotten on a schedule when she has her first nap at 10am and then her second one at 2pm. She goes to bed at 9pm and wakes up usually between 6:30-7am, eats real quick and then goes back to bed until around 8-8:30. I love having her scheduled! She eats during the day every 3-3.5 hours and usually eats about 4-5 ounces. If she goes longer between eating then she will wake up once during the night. She started eating her greens. Started with green beans and then green peas. She is still not too sure about them and would rather gag than swallow. She is good at opening her mouth to eat but thinks it is pretty gross after she has it in her mouth.

She is so good at going to sleep for her naps and bed time as well. We give her kisses and tell her good night and lay her down. She then rolls over and goes to sleep! I love how good she is at going to bed!

2 year anniversary!

2011-06-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

May 21st we had our 2 year anniversary! I can't believe we have been married for 2 amazing years. I love spending every day with my best friend. Deven truly is the most amazing husband and dad anyone could ask for. I love how he is with Payten! Every day when he comes home from work he gives Payten big hugs and kisses, she smiles so big when she sees her dad and lights up so much! She loves to laugh and play with her daddy so much! Deven and I truly have been blessed with a precious baby who makes our day every day!

For our anniversary we wanted so spend it with Payten!

Graduation

2011-06-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

Official College Graduate!

I officially graduated December 17th, 2010 but our class did not walk until April 29th.

My friend Jessica and I

About to get my diploma!

My high school friend Amanda and I! Amanda and I became best friends when she lived in my home town, unfortunately she moved to Kansas with her family before she graduated and we always had a dream to have our 2nd grade classes across from each other. Then we lost touch with our busy lives and then realized we ended up at the same college and graduated together!!! Our birthdays are the same day just a year apart and she is actually expecting her first on our birthday- pretty crazy!!!

I DID IT!!!

My princess did an amazing job at my graduation. Poor thing was extremely tired though.

Our little family!!

Deven's parents, my parents and my brother Stephen. It was pretty cold outside so my little bundle of joy was all bundled up!

3 generations! Too bad Payten was under the blanket!

These 4 girls were my best friends that helped me get through each day of classes!

Welcome Baby Troy Alan

2011-06-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

April 26th, 2011

My brother Chris and his wife Shani had a handsome baby boy! Brighton loves his little brother! He can't wait until he gets to run around and play together!

Unfortunately Payten slept through meeting her new cousin. As you can see she is asleep in her car seat!

Thumb, Finger, hand sucker

2011-05-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

Payten still won't use a binkie! I constantly try to get her to use one but she spits it out and puts her thumb in. However, she sucks on whatever finger, thumb, or hand at the time she feels like. Even after constantly gaging herself, she stills sucks on her fingers. I have no idea what I am going to do with her.

4 Months- April 22, 2011

2011-05-07T17:54:00.001-07:00

My good friend I went to school with took these cute pictures of Payten! So if you need a good photographer let me know, she is amazing! She is sending me more, so I cant wait to see them!

Payten is growing up so fast! Time really needs to slow down. Life since sleep training has been wonderful...for about a month now she sleeps through the night and let me say I feel so energized! Since being in Washington I love spending every minute playing with Payten and not working (even though when I worked she came with me) being here we play all day. Sometimes I think of all the unpacking I should finish doing but I just don't want to stop play with her.

4 Months Stats

Height- 25'' 79%

Weight- 12lbs 8 oz 27%

Head- 15 1/4'' 3%

She loves to:

Spits

Laugh

Smiles

Grab things, always likes to be holding something

Puts everything in her mouth

Rolls over (stomach to back, back to stomach)

Screams

Talks

When drinking her bottle she has to have her hands next to her mouth and most of the time she puts her fingers in her mouth while drinking.

Kicks

Rolling Over!

2011-04-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

Once again I have a sick voice so just turn your sound off!!! I started filming after she rolled to her side. But she started on her back!!!

Payten Laughing

2011-04-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

Her first time laughing April 6th! I randomly started filming her and was lucky to catch her laughing for the first time!!

Sleep Training!

2011-04-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

This is mostly for me so that with my next child I remember what I did ;)

Last week I decided that it was time to start sleep training Payten, let me tell you I was not looking forward to it and did not want to hear her screaming and crying for a long time. I had read in my book, "What to Expect the first year" and it said at 3 months they should start only waking up about once a night and by the time they are 11 lbs they are just fine sleeping through the night without eating. So I thought it was time to start getting her to sleep through the night. She has been a random sleeper, sometimes she wakes up a couple times during the night and others just once. A handful of times she will sleep all through the night until about 6 or 7am. She would just tease me when she did that because she would never do it the next night.

So last week I started when she would wake up at 3 am (was a regular at that time waking up and then usually again around 5-6 am) so when she woke up at 3 I let her cry for about 10 minutes and then get her and feed her. I did that a couple nights and then extended it to 15 minutes. Then after we did about 15 minutes and then feed her, the next night we picked her up and walked around the house trying to distract her by looking at the lights outside. When we did that she cried and then stopped and then cried and then stopped for the whole time. Then we feed her. Each night we did that it pushed her waking up to be a little later each night. The next night after we waited a half hour she woke up around 4. So I kept her in her bed and put her binky in her mouth, she calmed down and then would start to whimper a little, I would talk to her and calm her down and tell her that she was alright. After about a half hour of doing that she fell asleep for about 10 minutes!! I thought wow that wasn't so hard after all! But then she woke up again and I repeated the same things again, "shhhhhh", "you are alright", binky, patty her on the back, "shhhhhhhh", etc and repeat for another half hour. For the whole hour I did that I calmed her down so that she would not cry the whole time. In the book it said that you just need to get them out of the habit of eating at the same time and that it is good to pick them up and calm them to push it a little later until the eat. So after an hour exactly I feed her. She drank her bottle really fast and then went right to sleep.

The next night she sleep until 6 am, eat in 15 minutes and then went back to bed until 9:30. The next night she sleep until 7 am and then ate really quick and then went back to bed until 9:30. The next 2 nights she sleep until 8am! So I think we have conquered the dreaded sleep training! I did not have to have her cry it out for too long and when I did let her cry it out, I would talk to her to try and sooth her. I feel so refreshed now when I wake up. However, I will be honest I do need to sleep train myself because I still wake up about once during the night out of habit. So once I can sleep through the night myself I will feel like a million dollars!

When I put Payten down to bed at night I make sure she does not fall asleep while she is drinking her bottle. After she is done drinking I finish getting her all swaddled up and put her mittens on her and then lay her in bed while she is awake. Then she rolls over and looks around for a little bit and then falls asleep. I wanted to make sure that she knew that when it's night time and she is tired that she can fall asleep on her own. In the video I put her down and then heard me talking so she turned and looked at me, but after I finished filming she rolled over and closed her eyes and went to sleep!

Dont mind my sick sounding voice, we have all had colds and Payten and mine are lingering for a long time. I'm doing tons better but poor Payten still has a stuffy nose.

4 months!

2011-04-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take her pictures a week before she turns 4 months because the end of the month is getting crazy with Stephen & Lisa graduating, Chris & Shani having their new baby boy and then I graduate and then off to Washington!

I had my sister-in-law Shani come over to my house and take a couple of quick pictures of Payten. Her skirt is from my best friend Leslie! I have been meaning to take pictures in it forever and now I finally did.

A couple of the pictures I played with the color and effect a little!

3 months March 22nd

2011-04-01T16:58:00.001-07:00

Payten's cousin Brighton loves to play with her and talk with her. He wanted in on some of the pictures. ;)

Trip to Washington March 7th-21st!

2011-03-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

Payten went on her first plane ride when she was 2.5 months old. I was a little worried but she did amazing. I just gave her a bottle on take off and when we were coming down to land to help pop her ears. Going there and flying back she did amazing!

The flight was not full so we were able to take her car seat on with us and put in on the seat next to us. She fell asleep after take off and I was pretty jealous of her seat of how comfy she looked.
When we got there we met Grandpa Bill (my moms dad)! We surprised him when he was driving tractor. So Payten had her first tractor ride at 2 1/2 months. I dont think I was that little when I had my first ride. On the tractor ride all the bumping made her fall asleep.

Its amazing that all four of us fit in the tractor for a ride.
She met her great great aunt (I love you Aunt Lynette) :) obviously she is very young though. She is my moms aunt who is actually younger than my mom.
She met some of her cousins and my aunt and uncle. While there we celebrated my grandma and grandpas birthday!
She met grandma Judy! Payten loved sitting on her lap and being rocked by grandma.

My parents got a bouncer for her to play in and she absolutely loved all the toys on it. She would play so much on it that she would get worn out and fall asleep.

Deven was not able to be there the whole time we were. So we were away from him for a week. We missed him so much...I especially missed him at night times when he usually helps me with her during the night. Deven flew in on the 16th and Payten was all smiles when she saw him. She just grinned and talked to him the whole drive back to my parents house.

Payten's baby blessing March 6th

2011-03-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Bird side- Parents, siblings, grandma, and aunt

Johnson side- Parents, Grandparents, siblings (missing Deven's brother who is on a mission and his twin sister Katie's family who lives in Ohio.

Payten's photo shoot after her blessing at our house!

Bumbos are perfect to take pictures of her sitting up since she is not able to sit up by herself.

She was very tired of the photo shoot and all the flashing-

Later that night we took cousin pictures on the Bird side. This is her cousin Ethan

Payten and Ethan are 5 months apart

Youngest to oldest- 2.5 months, 7.5 months, 2, 4, and 7 years old

The newest grand baby coming April 28th!

My brother Josh and Nikki's 3 kids

My brother Chris & Shani's boy and baby boy on the way!

2 months February 22nd

2011-03-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

I am a month behind :(

Each day Payten keeps becoming more and more alert. She has also started to become aware of strangers (meaning anyone not her mom or dad). I can't believe how young she is and is already starting to be afraid of strangers. She usually turns her bottom lip down and then start to whimper and then starts to cry. She also starts to smile so big every time you look at her and talk to her. She loves to sit up and if she is laid back she tries to sit up. As you can see in the bottom picture she loves to sit in the bumbo. That bumbo is her cousins but we gave it a try and she sat in it for about 15 minutes, she absolutely loved it. So a couple days later we bought her her very own bumbo.

Sleeping Payten

2011-02-27T19:19:00.001-08:00

First Smiles

2011-02-27T18:48:00.001-08:00

These pictures were taken with my phone so they are not the best quality. But I was trying to hurry and capture her first big smiles. Her dad sure knows how to make her smile!

Life the past month!

2011-02-15T16:40:00.000-08:00

Payten turned 1 month on January 22!

She got a little shy!

Her first time doing tummy time! She was very unsure of it and rolled to her side. She got pretty tired of it so we had to roll her onto her back to be a little happier!

She loves to sleep in her bouncer...she loves that it vibrates and puts her to sleep!

Payten being a big girl and just hanging out on the couch

This is Payten's favorite toy. It plays music for 5 minutes and lets just say we dont leave home without it. It is always next to Payten and when she starts to fuss a little we turn it on and it calms her right down and puts her to sleep. This is what we use since she wont take a binky.

Paytens 1st real bath. Unfortunately for her and us her umbilical cord stayed on for 17 days. And when it did fall of part of it was still attached so we had to wait even longer to give her a real bath. Thankfully it only took about 3 days for the other part to fall off. Payten absolutely loves her baths!

We are already in trouble with her being a little model!

One night I fed Payten and gave her to Deven to burp her and then get her in her bed while I got ready for bed. Well when Deven holds Payten right before bed she always looks at him and starts smiling. Deven tells me, "how am I supposed to put her in her bed when she is smiling and wants to play?" Payten knows just what to do when her dad holds her to not go to bed. Then one night I go out and find the two of them watching the Jazz sports highlights. Payten loves her daddy!

Sometimes I just wish I was as little as her and can cuddle up and fall asleep all cozy like that!

Sadly Payten's first valentines day was not the best. As you can tell from her in this picture. She had her 2 month check up and I had my 6 week check up (we just split the difference of those days so we could just go in once to the doctor). She got her 2 months shots, 2 in 1 leg and 1 in the other. That was the worst thing ever to see her just laying there not knowing what was coming her way and then to see her scream in pain :(. But she is very health and doing great! The doctor said that she is tall and skinny. I was concerned maybe too skinny but he said she was great and nothing to worry about. Along with Payten getting shots, Deven and I also got shots. We got the whooping cough shot and I was very proud of Deven because he does not do shots at all and hasnt gotten one for like 6 years. Way to go Babe!!!

2 month measurements (2/14/11 7.5 weeks old) & Percentiles:

Height: 22 in 43%

Weight: 8lb 12 oz 10%

Head: 14 1/4 4%

She was still not happy after changing her diaper since her legs hurt so bad :(

Today was a pretty nice day out so I decided to still bundle Payten up and go for a walk to get the mail. Her outfit is a 3 months and just a little big, she was not sure what I was yet again doing to her. But she is still cute as a button!

I got her all bundled up and as soon as I started to walk she fell asleep. So she missed her first walk to the mail box.

We absolutely love her to death and can't picture our lives without her. She always brings a smile to our face every day. On January 30th is when she really started smiling at us. And then the next day she started talking back to us. And since then she loves to talk and smile every day. We for sure would like a little more sleep but it is totally worth it. She goes to bed around 10 and wakes up around 3-4am to eat and then falls back asleep usually for another 3-4 hours depending on how long she eats the time before. And then is up and ready for the day around 8 am. She is so cute in the morning because she just lays in her bed looking around and talking and then if she doesn't get attention after awhile then she starts to let out some cries. We realized when she was about 3 1/2 weeks old that it seemed like she had acid reflux, so we got her on some medicine she takes every morning and that seems to really help her. It was so sad before she got on the medicine because it just seemed like she was just in pain when she cried. So we are so thankful for medicine to help relieve her pain! Other than that Payten is doing fabulous and always look forward to seeing what new thing she will do next!

Payten's Photo shoot

2011-01-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

When Payten was in the hospital they came and took pictures of her, my little model! She was only 2 Days Old!!

Payten Lynn

2011-01-07T18:21:00.000-08:00

I downloaded these pictures backwards- so scroll down to see them in order :)

She did not like her first bath

She liked it when it was over!

Christmas Day- Payten got spoiled

On the way home from the hospital on Christmas Day we stopped by Devens parents house to talk to Devens little brother who is on his mission in Taiwan! He is doing great!

About to leave the hospital on Christmas with the best present ever!!!

She loves to be on your shoulder and looking all around.

Our family on Christmas Eve

Just had lotion put on

Getting ready to go on our first walk around the hospital.

We never thought we would have such a little peanut, had to buy more newborn clothes after she was born.

They brought her too me in a cute christmas stocking!

I'm not sure I can look any hotter in this picture! Man I was looking so good. About 2 hours after surgery :)

Such a big stocking for our little girl!

Did not like her bath here either, but loved it when they washed her hair.

She loves her hands next to her face

A very proud and happy dad!!!

Payten Lynn

12-22-2010

11:17 a.m.

6.9 lbs & 18.5 inches

40 Weeks

2011-01-07T17:29:00.001-08:00

Man not only did my belly grow like a weed, my face did too :(!

Week 37 & 38

2010-12-20T15:07:00.000-08:00

Life has been none stop- I thought after I finished school I would have sometime to catch up on blogging but NO! It is ok though, I have been busy getting things done around the house to get ready for our precious little girl to arrive. However, I am not liking the fact that she is almost a week over due...I'm ready for her now!!!! Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy this time and I for sure have, but we are ready to hold our little girl!

I finished school on the 9th, completely finished with my college degree!!!!!!!!! Then I have been working on a to do list I had of things to do around the house! My mom got here a week ago and has been so much help helping me finish up things before Payten comes. My dad got here friday night, we all thought we would have a couple day old baby when he got here, but we are still waiting on her. So it is very nice that my dad will be here for when Payten finally decides to come!

The plans are to induce me on wednesday (22nd) morning! Lets hope she is not stubborn still and will be ready to come and play!! The rate things are going this means there is a good chance we could be coming home from the hospital christmas eve ;-/ It is no longer our fault that her birthday is getting closer and closer to christmas...she was supposed to come 10 days before christmas, so now it is her fault if she hates when her birthday is! :) We are just waiting on her to be cooking and come out!

38 Weeks

37 Weeks

Payten's room!

2010-10-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Baby Payten's room is coming along! I just tinkle on it here and there! It is hard to see what her vinyl lettering says above her crib but it says, "Some people dream of ANGELS, I hold one in my arms!"

I love doing crafts and painting so I made her name and painted the shadow boxes. Deven's grandma before she passed away made blankets for her grandkids! So that is a blanket from her and I have one more and also a cute little hat she made. I'm sad I wasn't able to meet her but Payten will for sure know of her great grandma who made her blankets- Thanks Grandma Millie

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

Tarzan & Jane

Man I really look fat in this picture. :( Don't forget that I am pregnant ;)

We had a doughnut eating contest, I LOST! We had to eat it without hands.

I was very proud of Deven for competing in the jello eating contest. He stuck his head down and went to town ;)

32 Weeks 10/20/10

2010-10-21T19:17:00.001-07:00

32 weeks and for sure on the count down! The count down means many good things!! 1st Baby Payten!!!! 2nd done with student teaching, 3rd graduate!!!

Payten continues to kick, push, elbow, and push her bum out. She is very active but for sure running out of room for her to play. Last night I woke up at 4 in the morning to use the little girls room, I was very happy that I still had a couple more hours of sleep but when returning to bed I laid there watching the clock for an hour not being able to fall asleep. I guess my body is just starting to prepare me for our little angel to come. Other than the lack of sleep and the terrible smells I can't complain. I continue to think of how blessed I am to have such a good pregnancy and only hope it is like that for all of them. It has especially been nice to have a good pregnancy with finishing up my degree.

30 Weeks!

2010-10-07T18:12:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I'm already at 30 weeks! Looking back I can't believe how fast the time has gone. And it seems like I still have forever long to go but I know the time will go quickly by and in not too long I will be holding out precious baby girl!

I tell you what, I think this little girl is a stomach sleeper with her bum in the air. I always have a big bulge on my belly and it is not a foot or elbow because I can tell when it is a smaller body part. She loves to stretch out with her bum in the air just like we saw her in the ultra sound. Deven laughs when he sees a big bulge in my stomach.

But i'm continuing to feel great and grow bigger every day. I will say I have a very keen sense of smell on my hands and let me tell you being with 6th graders everyday...I will let you just imagine what my nose is like all day. And now back to preparing my lessons for those adorable 6th graders ;)

I passed!!!

2010-09-18T08:10:00.001-07:00

I would just like to post that my gestational diabetes test went great! I am not anemic or a diabetic. I was worried about the drink but my flavor was lemon-lime and just tasted like pop. I had no problem drinking it ;) Then I took my blood and just sat there so nicely ;) Man I am just growing up so much that I can just go and have my blood taken. I have never been a big fan of needles, but am quickly learning to get over that because if I want my bundle of joy here I will have a lot of getting poked. So now for the future children we have, I will know that the test is not bad at all!

Hello 3rd Trimester- 27 weeks!

2010-09-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Wow I'm 2/3rds of the way done! That is very exciting! Deven was very cute and sang Happy 3rd trimester to me (to the tune of happy birthday). He then brought me up a couple of pop tarts with our lighter and put the lighter over the pop tarts and lit it. I had to blow the lighter out while he sang me the song again. He was very cute and it really made my morning/day!!

Now I'm off to take my gestational diabetes test. I'm very interested in knowing what this drink will taste like...i have heard many different things about it. And then I get to have my blood drawn, not a big fan of getting that done but what do you do. These are the joys that come with bringing my little Payten to us! Which she is very active! She is constantly jabbing me with one of her body parts and moving all around. I love that feeling except when she takes me by surprise and throws a punch ;)! Well off to take me test- wish me luck!

Boating

2010-09-08T17:57:00.001-07:00

I am not good at taking pictures of activities we do ;( but this was a picture from boating at Deer Creek a couple weeks ago. Notice my lovely life jacket can't be zipped up. But at least I could do the straps to the loosest.

Labor day weekend we went down to lake Powell and spent a couple nights there. It was a lot of fun and really nice temperature. The water was amazing just the way I like it, warm!! But I of course took zero pictures. Maybe once Payten comes I will be alot better at keeping up with taking pictures.

26 Weeks!

2010-09-08T17:47:00.001-07:00

Today i'm 26 weeks and feeling great! Except for occasionally having some soreness but I guess that comes with me growing like a weed. I'm not sure why my face looks so terrible but it does, Dont mind the ghostly color I have going on either. Lets just blame everything on me being pregnant ;)

Payten's room is slowly coming together. We now have her crib, dresser, glider (rocker), and changing table set up. So these are just a couple pictures of them. Pictures of her room will slowly get posted as I work on her room slowly! But at least she has her furniture!!!

I'm thankful to have married such a handy man! He is great at putting everything together for me!! I love him to death!

Baby Payten Lynn Johnson

2010-08-07T10:32:00.001-07:00

Our precious little angle!

During the ultra sound she would always cross her legs.

Perfect little left foot.

She loves her belly.

Kept putting her hand up on her face. You can see those white dots are her fingers.

Sadly looks like an alien, but a very cute one. Her head and eyes!

And again laying on her belly sticking her butt in the air!

Her whole body!

Looking down on the top of her back.

I believe this one is her arm. (not really sure though :) )

To start the ultra sound off the doctor thought he would be funny and do a picture of Payten but flipped it to look like two babies in me. So baby A and baby B are both Payten!

21 Weeks

2010-08-07T09:23:00.001-07:00

21 weeks and still feeling great!

Payten is moving like crazy. She loves to move the most whenever I lay down, she must think its play time when I'm about to go to bed. But its nice that you can feel her kicking so much at night time because then Deven has been able to feel her. Last night she was kicking so much Deven asked me if that was just all of her kicking...she must have been doing her aerobics!

I must say how lucky this pregnancy has been for me so far. I cannot complain one bit- However, a few things that I have experienced is feeling a little sick to my stomach if I eat too many hot things, like my favorite salsa and hot chips ;(. but other than that its great!

We're having a baby GIRL!!!!

2010-07-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

WE LOVE LITTLE GIRLS!!!~

We had our ultra sound yesterday and were able to see our little princess!

She was not wanting to show herself to us, she was being very modest and kept her legs crossed very tight! The doctor knew what she was but wanted to wait until he could get a clear shot for us to see. She is very much like her mom and had one leg straight out and the other leg crossed over. Deven thinks it is so weird how I like to sleep like that, but we have our little girl already taking after me.

During the ultra sound she kept moving constantly. Her hands were either over her face or her legs crossed. She also likes to lay on her tummy with her butt sticking in the air. I must say she does have a lot of traits her mom has ;) Deven thinks she is going to be a mini me to the "T" when she comes out!

We are both tickled pink to have a little girl! This is the 4th girl on Devens family out of four. And she will be the 2nd girl on my side out of 5. We are all so excited and I just cant wait to start shopping for pinks! This little girl unfortunately (she might change her mind on her favorite color when she can say her opinion) will be born into loving pink since that is my favorite color.

Well most probably wouldn't think we have a name for her yet...BUT WE DO!!! Deven and I both decided on a boys and girls name right when we found out we were pregnant.

So our little princess's name is going to be PAYTEN LYNN!!!

We love missions!

2010-07-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

We took Devens brother to the MTC on the 21st of July. So he has only been in there for about a week and a half. Then on this last monday I went to the temple and as I was standing talking outside with my family Elder Johnson walked out of the temple! I yelled for him and he say Stephen first and got a smile on his face, and then he saw me and got an even bigger smile on his face. We talked for a little while and found out that everything was going great for him and that he was loving it. He looked so good! We could not believe that we ran into each other. Deven and his family were pretty jealous I got to see Blake!

New Nephew!!!

2010-07-31T07:32:00.001-07:00

We have a new addition to our family! My brother Josh and his wife Nikki had their third child. Ethan Joshua is about a week old and is doing great! I just cant get enough of him! His older brother Tanner and older sister Madison just can't get enough of him. Madison could hold him for hours on end, but Tanner holds him for a couple minutes and then says, "he is too heavy" and wants someone to come and take him.

July 4th

2010-07-10T13:13:00.001-07:00

For the fourth of July we stayed the weekend up at Devens family cabin! This extremely small mining town was packed of people for the parade!

Deven and Blake were like little kids running out and getting all the candy! Thanks to them we actually ended up getting a lot of good candy!

I struggle for some reason not wearing any patriot colors! Next year I'm determined to be better and wear a better fourth of July outfit! I told Deven I thought we should wear matching shirts but he didn't think that idea was very funny- I guess I will have to match our new baby! I can match the baby at least until it has an opinion ;)

Washington continued...

2010-07-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

While I was at home my mom helped Madison and I sew blankets! My mom and Madison made a quilt and my mom helped me sew my first baby blanket. Since we still dont know what we are having we made it a generic blanket- it is really soft and just the kind of blanket I was wanting! I have the best mom ever who helped me figure out how to sew with the difficult fabric I picked out- and it turned out beautiful!!! Thanks mom!!!!

My parents this summer started a very big project at their house! They decided to do a big water feature in the front and put up all these big column rocks! Which the front big rock will have water coming out of it and then run down the front of the rocks into a little pond area! They keep sending us updated pictures and it looks great!! I cant wait to see the final project!

Deven and my brother Josh helped to put all those rocks- that day they moved 17,000 lbs of rocks!!

My dad drove the tractor! The rocks were so heavy that one ended up making it go up onto his front wheels. It scared me so bad but my dad looked very calm as he sat being lifted in the tractor. It is a good thing the rock landed up on the big pile or else he would have tipped up a whole lot more :(

Washington vacation June 16-28th

2010-07-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

The rest of the weekend and the next week I enjoyed being at my parents Lake house and home! I was so sad because Deven was not there. Thankfully he surprised me and got to Washington earlier than I thought on the 24th! So he was able to spend 4 days there!

Madison got the guts to jump off the boat garage if Adam and her dad jumped with her. She is a brave 6 year old!
Tanner and Madison loved jumping back and forth between docks on the aqua glide!

Can you find my cute husband in this picture? I see a leg ;)

Look at my cute husband ski away!

Nikki loves to finish and always had her fishing poll in the water!

Doing what we love to do is just relax at the lake!

My cute mom and nephew tanner! Tanner loved riding the jet ski with grandma!

Madison knee boarding- she is very good at it

Another fish they caught!

I loved floating on the tube and would paddle alittle ways out in the water but Tanner would keep pulling us back in-

Madison was very brave and swam back to the dock!! She is a little fish..

Stephen and Lisa going for a little float!

Lisa's Birthday!!!! We had our traditional birthday breakfast of waffles, ice cream and strawberries!

We were their for fathers day but missed mothers day so we celebrate both with my parents! I loved being home and spending time with them!! We got them decorations for them to put up at their lake house!!

Tanner and Madison decorated cookies for fathers day!

June 16th and 17th

2010-07-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

For my mothers day present Deven wanted me to go home!!! He was going to fly me home but then it ended up working out around the same time my brother Stephen would be driving there as well. So I rode to Washington with Stephen and his fiance Lisa!

We got to Washington on thursday night and drove all the way to Seattle. We met my parents there and spent the night. My cousin Camery was getting married on Friday morning so we went to her beautiful wedding!

My aunt and uncles family! They all just look so cute!

My aunt and uncle and cousins with some of my family! Just watching the bride and groom take pictures!

The beautiful bride and her beautiful daughter Natalie!

Congrats to the Bride and Groom!

My sister-in-law Nikki and I are both pregnant! She is getting induced on July 20th! Its just around the corner--

My niece and nephew and my cousins!

Uncle Kevin and Natalie

I love this reenactment they are dong with the statue! Looks just like the statue ;)

1st time mowing our lawn

2010-07-10T12:23:00.001-07:00

Thankfully our yard continues to keep making progress! We mowed our lawn for the first time the beginning of June! I had Deven make the first passes with it and we did find one sprinkler too high! So Deven ran it over with the mower. But we got a new one for it and have not had a problem since! I'm so excited to finally have a yard to walk on and sit on!

New Addition to Our Family!

2010-07-10T12:15:00.001-07:00

Baby Johnson will be coming to our family in December! We couldnt ask for a better christmas present than our sweet baby! My next doctors appointment is on wednesday the 14th! I will be 18 weeks. At that appointment we schedule the ultrasound appointment-- it is killing us not knowing what we are having yet :(

17 weeks

11 weeks

1st year Anniversary

2010-07-10T12:12:00.001-07:00

May 21st was our 1st year anniversary!!! We stayed the weekend up in Midway at these cute condos! We had lots of fun relaxing and exploring around Park City!

Saturday 4 wheeler trip!!

2010-05-20T18:33:00.001-07:00

We went down to Cherry Creek riding with Devens parents and brother last saturday! Well I wanted to go up this hill but got a terrible start at going up it and didnt make it all the way to the top. I was SO close ;) but unfortunately I got it stuck in all the sand ;)!! So Deven is trying to get it out and I captured a sweet picture!

Unfortunately it got stuck even more! Deven was so excited to get to finally use his winch! I told him I got it stuck just for him!!!! That way he could try his winch out!
We hooked it up to his dads. It was at a downward pull though so it took a little more to get it out.
Then once we got ours unstuck we couldnt unhook the winch. So Deven had to get down and dirty to try to unhook it!

After we rode we made a fire and cooked hot dogs! I LOVE hot dogs and Deven always makes fun of me for liking them so much!
We had a great time 4-wheeling!

We have grass growing!!!

2010-05-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

We have grass popping up now so its great! Just the wait is killing me until I am able to run through the grass when the sprinklers are on! ;)

Time to get caught up on blogging!

2010-05-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

SCHOOLS OUT FOR THE SUMMER!!!!

Lets just start off by saying how excited we are that school is done for the summer. We have very much been waiting for the semester to be over. We just have so much we have t do with our yard!! We are tired of having dirt and having the dirt tracked all throughout our house! But lucky for us these last couple of weeks we have been solving that problem!

Things that are checked off our list:

Sprinklers- done
flowers- done
trees- done
mulch (we needed to add something to our clay)- done
gravel- done
hydroid seed- done tomorrow (friday) at 2!!!!

Our yard is finally coming together! Even though it will take around 3 weeks for our grass to fully grow in it is worth the wait!! We are saving tons of money to have it hydroid seeded. The perks without having any kids right now to run all over it and ruin it!

Here are some pictures of our yard coming together!

Side note- Jackets from when you were 12 work great for working in the yard!! Who doesnt love my jacket!!!???

Valentines Weekend

2010-02-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

This last weekend Deven and I went down to St. George for the weekend with our friends. We had such an amazing time down there and loved every minute. It was fun being with our friends and being in the sunshine and warm weather!

Deven and I carpooled down with Jessica and Mitch. On our way down we stopped at the Cache Valley Cheese factory in Beaver. I love squeaky cheese and I have been craving it for so long, I had no idea there was a factory until Mitch and Jessica told us about it.

Once we got down to St. George we planned out our festivities for our saturday. We decided that we would go the outlet mall, fiesta fun, dinner, and a movie!

Our ticket to ride the go carts! Deven and I always like to try to beat each other but we always know who is going to win....Deven! I sure wish it was me but sadly its not me. However, this time I was really determined to beat him this time.

Us just about to go and sit down on the carts!

And we are off!

Sari looking a little scared because she knew Deven was coming right behind her.

Somehow Deven was passing everyone, except Sari had a way fast cart!

Kelsey was doing way good until right at the end she got pushed into the side and was stuck. She had to wait until the guy came and helped her after everyone had parked their carts.

And sadly I was in last...my go cart was pretty slow and I could not pass a single person. I must have wanted to beat Deven too bad that of course I got the slow go cart :(

At the outlet mall they had this toy store that had these sweat shirts. They had them on sale for 3 for $15. Man we were tempted to buy these sweet shirts but we resisted. We would have thought it was funny for the day and then really regretted wasting money on those shirts. So we captured these hot shirts in a picture instead. Jessica, Kelsey, Sari, and Me

Brian and Kelsey looking hot in these shirts! I think they should have bought these and wore them!

Inside the toy store they had these sweet boas. And once again we needed to capture this moment with our cute boas. We are some hot mamas-

Deven said that I could not post this picture but I thought it was just too cute! Brian, Deven, and Mitch showing off their awesome color changing rings from Del Sol.

Us girls then had to show our awesome rings too! Those rings entertained us for so long. Every time we got in the sun we had to charge up our rings and wear them proudly.

Cute Brian and Kelsey walking to the next store..of course in the sun so we can charge our rings!

After the fun at Fiesta Fun and at the mall we went to dinner at Paula's. It is a mexican restaurant and it was really good! We all love mexican food and I especially love mexican food. Then after we ate we went to a movie, Dear John. Man that is for sure a tear jerky but a very cute movie. Nothing better than spending a night at a cute movie with our husbands! They may not of enjoyed it as much but they were really good sports and took one for the team.

Valentine's Day we all helped and cooked a delicious dinner of mash potatoes, gravy, corn, and steak. It was absolutely delicious and fun cooking it all together.

Kelsey and Brian finishing up their dinner!

McKell, Sari, Mitch, and Jessica eating the dessert that Jessica made. Chocolate melting cake

Deven has been in love with this dessert ever since we went on our honeymoon. He has been missing it ever since then. And when he found out that our dessert was the Chocolate melting cake Deven was pretty much in tears ;) because of how happy he was to have his favorite dessert again.

We had such a fun weekend in St. George and couldn't believe how fast the weekend went. We loved spending the weekend with our friends and had so much fun!

Jazz Game!!!!

2010-02-10T18:41:00.001-08:00

We went to the Jazz game last saturday night! Our favorite player is Deron Williams, if you remember we have a life size vinyl of him in our house. So that is who #8 is! Deven's parents for part of our christmas present got us tickets to a jazz game--!! So we went with his family.

Deven's mom made the little girls jazz dresses! They were so cute- and loved to cheer for the jazz team!

Before we went to the Jazz game!

Crafts from Craft Night

2010-02-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

Once a month some girls I go to school with get together for craft night! It is so fun because we get to talk the whole time while we are crafting. Talking is something we don't really get to do when we are at school unfortunately. Jessica always comes up with all the crafts and she does such a good job planning all the crafts! They are always so cute!

The first one is like an advent count down to valentines day! Under each magnet you can put candies or little notes in them.

The Johnson home finally coming together!

2009-12-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

Come right in and enjoy the tour~

There will not be any pictures of our front room (the one you enter when you walk in the front door) because that is the only room we have not done anything to it.

Here is our kitchen...

Through that door is our pantry and then it goes to the garage.

Our guest bedroom! Having a guest bedroom means we need our friends and family to come visit and stay with us. You can enjoy your stay in our lodge!

The office/sewing room/guest bedroom...

Our master bedroom! Deven made our whole bedroom set in our room! There is more that you can't see in the picture
Our closet-
As you can see our shoes are kinda thrown in there. We are going to build a shoe rack thingy ;)
Our bathroom

Just a little tour of our house! To see the rest you will just have to come and visit us to see it!!!

We are enjoying having our house, but there is a never ending story of things to be done around the house. As Deven knows I'm not very good at just relaxing because I'm constantly wanting to do different projects around the house. I have so many decorating ideas its just crazy. The only problem with having all these ideas is having the money to do them. So I work around that slight problem and make my own decorations- that is what I love to do!!! And with Deven being so good with wood, he helps me a lot!! I'm getting to the point that I can't really decided things without his input.

We have enjoyed my parents being here for the holiday break!!!! We are so thankful they have been helping us around our house putting up lots of shelves! We have lots of storage!!! They for sure have not had a relaxing break; between my house and my two brothers houses we have worked a lot this break on them all!! Thanks mom and dad for all your help, we love you guys!!!!

Sad day!

2009-12-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

A couple days ago was a very sad day for me. I had to get rid of my Washington plates. There is something about me living in Utah with a house here and a drivers license that made it so that I had to have Utah plates as well. It was so sad to say good bye to my plates. However, I will after we finish our garage will have my Washington plate hanging proud in our garage.

Oh, Christmas Tree ....Oh, Christmas Tree

2009-12-13T16:01:00.000-08:00

Deven and I went out to find our tree and then once we found it we had to come back for help to cut it down and bring it to the trailer.

Ta DA!!!!...... here is our perfect (well as perfect as we were going to find) first christmas tree!

Deven's mom was so nice to let him borrow her hat while we went on search for our tree.

As you can see the back side does not look perfect. But we thought hey thats ok because then we can push it up against the wall better ;)

Blake and Brandon were the lucky ones to sit on the back of the four-wheeler and held the christmas tree on our drive back.

Deven did an amazing job at putting the christmas lights up on our tree!

Man lets just say our tree looks beautiful! Gotta love our cheap little decorations from IKEA!!

Setting up the Christmas village Deven's mom gave to us! We love it so much!!

Meet the Johnson's!!

2009-12-13T15:30:00.001-08:00

The Johnson Family

On thanksgiving day since all of the family was in town we took family pictures!

Meet the Clarks!

This is Deven's twin sister Katie and her husband Matt and their baby Averi! Something pretty crazy is that Matt and my brother Chris were actually mission companions. And Matt and Katie had been on a double date long before Deven and I even met. Let me says its just a small world. We love this cute little family, we only wish they lived closer to us (they live in Ohio) so we can play more :(

Meet the Stradlings!

This is Deven's older sister Maranda and her husband Brandon and their two adorable girls Brinlee and Taylor. We are so pleased to live in the same town as they do! Maranda is my hair stylist! Let me tell you, all families should have one! We love hanging out with them!

The Johnsons ;)

Deven's adorable parents Greg and Janet! We are very blessed to live about 15 minutes away from them. They are always so good to Deven and I!

The girls

The boys

Last but not least to meet is Deven's younger brother Blake (the one in the red)! Blake just finished up his first semester of college. It is always a nice treat when we get to hang out with Blake. He for sure treats me like i'm his sister!!

The Day before thanksgiving!

2009-12-13T15:16:00.001-08:00

Our nephews and niece just can't get enough of playing with each other! Madison loves being the oldest and is great at taking care of the younger ones.

My parents brought apples galore from home so we could make a lot of apple pies! Deven was very good at peeling and cutting the apples.

The girls were in charge of making the pie crust. Madison was a great helper, she delivered all the washed apples over to Deven for him to cut them.

Stephen then cut the apples into small pieces!

Deven also got a new working vehicle/toy! Since in the winter Deven snow plows he needed to get a four-wheeler to plow the snow. It has been very nice for him doing this because our drive way is always so nicely plowed. I must say he enjoys riding the four wheeler but is not sure about all the early mornings it is going to entail for the winter season.

Happy Late Birthday to US!!

2009-12-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

Deven and I celebrated our birthdays in November! We are for sure behind on the blogging. Life has been so crazy though with the semester coming to a close end! I can't wait for the semester to be done. I'm on the count down... only 4 more days of schools (those are my finals)!

Deven's birthday was on the 20th of November and mine was the 21st! I must say that I love having our birthdays a day apart. Talk about two days of constant celebration! With my birthday so close to thanksgiving I have always celebrated my birthday with my parents. Well this birthday I did not think that was going to be possible :( My parents had just gotten back from a vacation and had lots to do around home and were not going to be able to make it here until monday :( I might have given my parents a bit of a guilt trip in the fact that in all my 22 years I have always had my birthday with them there and we can't stop that tradition now. So my amazing parents got it all worked out so they could come to Utah two days earlier!!! They got up saturday morning (my birthday) and left their house in Washington at 6 am so that they could drive here and be in time for our big birthday party! Let me just tell you how happy I was for them to do that for me. That truly meant the world to me that they were able to make it here for my birthday! Then the whole week they were here they worked their little fannies off!!! We really appreciate all the help they did for us on our house! We love them so much!!!

We had our nephew and niece help us blow the candles out

The birthday cake I made us!

Our nieces and nephew just wanted to sit up stairs reading books on the bed

If you don't know already and can't tell by the pictures, Deven really likes the Utah Jazz! You can see how much he loves them by the next pictures! His parents gave him a life size vinyl of his favorite player Deron Williams! So welcome to our Jazz room. It is still being put together!

The jerseys on the couch will go above the couch on both sides where it says Jazz!