Johnson Semya

Happy Birthday Nedra!

2011-12-09T15:26:00.004-07:00

Happy Birthday Grandma!

I love you, I hope you like my picture and I’m sorry I can’t go to your birthday. Today is Friday and we will have a treat and movie, sorry you can’t come. I love you, Bye.

-Jack

Wawa’s Happy to you!

-Leyla

Dear Grandma Ned, Happy Birthday to you! I wish I could go to your birthday, but I can’t because I have school. So, I am sending you a picture and wishing you a happy birthday.

-Owen

I just can't say enough how much we love and appreciate Grandma Ned. From day one she has been completely supportive and interested in our lives. From planning a wedding reception for us to traveling overnight to see our new born babies in the hospital to sending the funnest packages for each and every holiday, she's truly amazing. Although we only see her a couple times a year she has made a point to know her grand kids and to keep up with our lives. I have always appreciated how much she does to keep us (mainly me :) informed on everything happening in the family, as well. Ned, you will always be my favorite mother-in-law!

Nedra and Owen while we were in Oregon for Christmas in 2006

In the Provo NICU

Leyla's blessing

In Rexburg for Jack and Owen's 2nd birthday

Good Luck Santa!

2011-12-09T12:50:00.004-07:00

Santa may not come through on these Christmas lists this year!

The boys helped Leyla decide what to put on her list. She finds that dang drum playing Elmo at every single store we go to, sits down in front of it and just stares in amazement!

As you can tell, Owen doesn't like to put much effort into his writing, something we're desperately trying to change. I'll help you out a little. He wants a yellow remote control plane, a pogo stick, a scooter, a skateboard, a computer, and a jet pack (because what little boy doesn't want a jet pack?)

And then we have sweet Jack who actually put some effort into his Christmas list. He wants a rubber T-Rex, a number two Batman castle (he got one for his birthday and now there's another one), a ninja sword (I didn't know they used swords), a remote control shark, and a Crayola glow dome.

Does Santa ever send back the lists stamped "re-do"?

All Smiles

2011-09-11T15:12:00.003-06:00

Aunt Kenzie took some really cute shots of all the kids at Brad and Jenn's wedding, love them!

A Bonding Moment

2011-07-08T16:33:00.002-06:00

Heather really did pull it out eventually but I didn't get it on camera,

Jack didn't even know it had come out yet, so funny!

Make it Snappy!

2011-07-08T16:10:00.004-06:00

We made a quick trip to Utah earlier this week to celebrate some pretty big events!

First, was fireworks at Grandma Murph's house for 4th of July. Aunt Heather even lit some off in the rain for the boys, we love our great aunts!

Next, was Nick's 31st birthday. He came back down to Springville after work Tuesday and we had birthday dinner with Grandma and opened some gifts from the kids. On Wednesday we met him and uncle Brad at Tucanos Brazillian Grill for lunch, which was delicious, as always.

The kids and I hung out at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake while we waited for dad to get off work. We played at the Children's Discovery Center for most of the afternoon then cooled off in the fountains afterwards. It was a really great day.

Scherer Family Reunion

2011-07-08T14:42:00.007-06:00

We recently had our Scherer family reunion at the West Piney Girls Camp. It was so much fun seeing all our family that we rarely get to see. It was beautiful the entire time we were there, perfect weather. There was no chance to get bored, either. There was a ton of stuff to do. The cabin is up on a hill and down below is a huge field for baseball and other sports, swings, outdoor bowling lane, hiking trails, and a huge slide to get there! I swear I never saw my boys unless they were hungry or time for bed, it was great!

GO Green Monsters!

2011-07-08T14:16:00.003-06:00

This was the first summer we've put the boys in soccer...and it will most likely be the last! For the most part it was miserable. Every single game, except for the last, they would both be in tears at some point.

They couldn't run fast enough, they never got the ball, the other team always got to kick the ball, they were tired, they were cold, it was too windy!

Neither of them were very aggressive in trying to get to the ball and kick it. BUT! They both managed to score a goal at some point during the season, they loved bring treats and drinks when it was our turn, they got trophies, and absolutely no tears during the final game! Yay!

We're not giving up on sports just yet. Maybe they're not soccer players but there's got to be something they'll end up loving! They really want to try baseball next... and karate and gymnastics, and roller skating, and swimming.

House For Sale

2011-05-19T14:25:00.002-06:00

We're headed to Salt Lake. So we're selling our house.

We've got a separate blog for it at www.pocatellohouseforsale.blogspot.com. It is incomplete but has the basic stuff on there.

Feel free to offer suggestions.

Family Picture

2011-04-14T22:16:00.000-06:00

Birthday Number 6

2011-03-13T20:22:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was Owen and Jack's sixth birthday!

Boy did we party hard!

Friday evening Papa Brent and Grandma Jodi came to spend the night with us. They took us all out for a birthday dinner to Texas Roadhouse. It's the boys' favorite place to eat, they love steak, 1-A sauce (as they call it) and throwing peanut shells on the ground. Afterwards we went to see 'Mars Needs Moms' and they were thrilled that we were going to the "BIG theater" and not the little $2 theater their cheap parents usually take them to. So we all stayed up way too late and were super excited for the next day and the big party.

It was their first party with friends, and they both loved it all. We had two cakes, two half-gallons of ice cream, two dozen cans of soda, five pizzas, and eleven kids. The kids started out by coloring their paper (goody) bags. Then they did a treasure hunt, which included dropping parachute men off the loft ledge, popping balloons filled with candy, running out to find a surprise in the mailbox, and decoding secret messages. There was a game of pin the fin on the shark, and finally, before cake and presents, the kids drew all over the sidewalk with chalk. The party went very well, despite our house being super crowded. It was fun to spoil the boys, they both got lots of presents that they wanted: Owen got his hamburger play-doh, Jack got his Batman castle (and Superman cake), they both got baseball bats and balls, coloring books, kites, action figures, and race cars, among other things. This was the first time that we've bought them totally different things, before we would always just get two of everything. It's fun to see how different they're becoming.

I can't help but reminisce about that day 6 years ago. I actually don't remember a whole lot about what happened but it certainly didn't go as planned. It's amazing that they both had so few problems at birth and that there were no lasting effects on them, despite being born so early. Now they're 6, they're at the top of their classes in school, they can read and we love them dearly. They don't look that tiny in this picture but combined they only weighed 7 pounds! I can't believe I was bigger during my pregnancy with one kid than I was with twins. We were so naive back then.

Mouse or Kid?

2011-02-05T14:13:00.002-07:00

Leyla's verbal development started with three words. "daddy," "mommy," and, "CHEESE!"

Just like that, too-- always shouted. Here she is about fifteen seconds after we left her alone while we were making dinner.

Michael Finnagain Beginagain

2011-01-23T17:42:00.003-07:00

I feel like all we ever do is start over and begin again. We have been married for six years and there has never really been a time where we weren't waiting for the next school semester. A new semester, a new schedule, a new beginning, every four months. It's exhausting. I'm two weeks into this semester and I just can't get into it yet. Every day I have a different schedule with school and work, it's hard to keep straight and to remember which building I need to be in each day. I come home and the first thing the boys ask is if I'm done with work and school yet. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. They want me home, they want me to play with them; I want to be home and I want to play with them, too. I try to make my time with them count. I try to play with them, to let them talk on and on and ask questions and tell me stories because they have plenty to say. One thing both the boys love to do is help out in the kitchen and they had been asking to make pizza for a few weeks so we finally tried it out. We had never done it before and about half way through I realized I didn't have a plan B if they turned out awful, thankfully it didn't matter because they were pretty dang delicious.

If you've seen Jack's school picture this year you know this is his trademark smile, if you can really call it a smile. Neither of the boys can smile very well on cue, it's funny.

Leyla mostly ate olives.

Watching daddy spin the pizza in the air.

Owen says he wants to be a pizza guy when he grows up...

I'm pretty sure this one landed on the floor.

So, another week starts tomorrow. What will it bring? A review for my first A&P exam, for one, and a quick trip to Provo, for another. Two days off from work, hopefully some visiting teaching since it's my last week for January, and a very special 96th birth day party for my sweet great grandma next Sunday. Throw in school for the boys, homework, home teachers, grocery shopping, never ending laundry and a shower here and there and welcome to our life.

Come & Gone

2010-12-28T21:01:00.007-07:00

Well, we survived Christmas. It really was great this year. We rented a cabin in Island Park for the weekend, where we knew we'd be in for a white Christmas. It was great driving from green grass and jackets in Poky to 4 feet of snow and parkas up in the mountains. I must say I have never packed our car as full as I did for that trip, it's hard to pack up Christmas and travel! Our first night there, Christmas Eve, ended up being such an awful night. We stayed up until 1 am putting together the boys' train set and since Leyla simply hates sleeping anywhere but her crib she was up with us. She then woke up around 2 am, screamed for literally an hour, then was up until 5am playing. Everyone decided that Christmas needed to start at 7 am so that nap was short lived! Everyone really enjoyed their gifts, and each other, though so it turned out to be a great day. Every single present Jack opened he exclaimed, "It's just what I always wanted!" even though all he would ask for was a yellow remote control plane (which he did not get). They all got pillow pets this year. We first bought them out of desperation because we didn't have a clue what to get any of them this year. Shortly before Christmas the boys saw them at Fred Meyer and started making all sorts of plans on how to make money to buy them themselves, it was cute. Leyla even loves hers, she's slept with it every night since. Nick was sneaky with my favorite present, some Ugg boots. He kept making comments that made me believe they would be the last thing he'd ever buy me as a gift. I had been pretty excited to give Nick's present to him, I got him a years membership to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake, I think he is pretty excited about it, too.

I hope everyone else was able to enjoy Christmas as much as we did. But alas, it's come and gone and it's back to school for us all.

Let's Be Friends

2010-10-17T18:14:00.002-06:00

I've been thinking about friends a lot lately. I've always felt very strongly that family comes first but I also think having friends in your life is quite vital.

We knew that with the boys starting kindergarten this year that we wanted them in separate classes. We felt that they needed that time to be away from each other and develop more as individuals. They're both very smart and we knew that this year would mostly be for them to grow socially and not necessarily academically. They've stayed home this past year and really haven't been around a ton of other kids so we didn't know what to expect. Jack ended up in the same class as about 5 other kids from primary, while Owen didn't know anyone in his class. We thought this wasn't too bad of a setup since Owen has no problems making friends, and Jack is a bit more awkward around other kids. The first couple weeks both the boys would say they hadn't made any friends and they didn't know anyone's name. The last two weeks, however, Owen comes home telling us about a new friend everyday, Jack...not so much. The only person Jack says he wants to play with is his brother Owen, but Owen says he only wants to play with Jack at home and never at school. I guess this has started a few fights between them at recess, they've even had to meet with the principal about it twice. What do you do? This is the first time that I've ever seriously wished they weren't twins. I never imagined that it could be like this, in my head it was either they would always have the same friends, or they would have totally different groups of friends but be fine with it. Jack was just crying the other day because Owen said he couldn't play with him and his friends, they even ended up taking Jack's shoes away from him and hiding them. I just don't get it. They are great at home, they play all the time and seem to genuinely love being together. It makes me so upset that Owen would be like that at school. I feel very helpless in this situation.

All of this has gotten me thinking more about having friends later in life. I am always having times where I really wish I had some close friends here. Even just one! I'm okay with admitting I don't have any friends on here because I'm pretty sure the only people who read this are my sister-in-laws :) Seriously though, just because you get married and have kids doesn't mean you shouldn't have friends anymore. Even couple friends would be wonderful, though that's even harder to come by since there's four of you that all need to like each other! I guess that dream you have with your best friend when your 10 years old about living next door to each other and having your kids grow up together never really goes away.

I hope Jack and Owen can work things out. I hope that they both realize that the bond of a family is greater than that of friendships, and that you protect your family at all cost. I hope they will love each other always, no matter what. I hope that even if they end up with different friends that they'll support one another and always stick up for one another.

Oh yeah, our camera is broke; has been for a couple months. I hate blogging with out pictures, hence the no blogging. Do you have my name for Christmas???

Gone are the days of toddlerhood

2010-08-12T10:36:00.002-06:00

We have been trying since winter ended to teach the boys how to ride bikes. They got their first bikes 2.5 years ago for Christmas, and they did pretty good with them (except on hills, where they'd accelerate until they went out of control and then just crash). Those bikes had training wheels. So when this summer rolled around, and we pulled the bikes out of the shed, and in addition to re-inflating the tires and greasing everything up real good, we took off the training wheels. And we invested in kneepads, elbow pads, and helmets.

We would take them to parks, out in the driveway, to running tracks, and would try to teach them how to ride without training wheels. They'd never go for more than 20-30 feet before giving up... they'd never even fall over! They'd just kind of slow down and then put their feet out and wait for mom or dad to catch up to help them get started again.

Recently the twin boys whose grandma lives next door demonstrated for Jack and Owen how to ride their bikes without training wheels. And just like that, our boys decided they could ride, and they did. This video is a clip taken up in Rigby yesterday (I think), where they've been with Grandma and Grandpa Ward the last couple of days, on their brand new bikes.

I am personally a little traumatized from bike-riding on my mission. The accidents, the soreness, being run off the road by cars, having beer bottles thrown at me, etc. I gave away my $400 bike at the end of my mission and couldn't have been happier to see it go. I probably haven't ridden 10 miles on a bike since coming home. But maybe that will change now.

They just aren't little boys anymore. Look at how they ride, as if they've been doing it forever.

Puzzling

2010-05-28T22:05:00.003-06:00

This puzzle took us three weeks, but we finally finished! Two thousand pieces. All for nine bucks, and we get to keep the puzzle and try again!

But we won't. We'll donate it tomorrow. And next time we feel like a project we'll build a time machine or perpetual motion device or something easier than this puzzle.

One down...

2010-05-25T14:21:00.004-06:00

Know why it's called a "toothbrush" and not a "teethbrush"? It was invented in Arkansas! Ha ha...

Last week Jack and Owen eagerly announced that they each had a loose tooth. They'd show anyone who would give them ten seconds of attention how they could wiggle it with their tongues and then their fingers.

Today that ended for Jack. After spending all morning with his finger in his mouth, he came to me to let me know he couldn't get it back; it was stuck protruding forward. I decided it was time.

Right after sterilizing my trusty needle-nose pliers, I gave Jack a damp paper towel to bite on after the extraction. He asked if it was going to hurt and I told him I thought it would a little bit (lacking memories of my own teeth falling out).

The next ten seconds were traumatizing. The pliers gripped the incisor nicely, and the connecting tissue tore slowly, so that I could feel the tension in the flesh as it tried to hold onto that little guy but failed. I don't think tearing off a limb could have made me feel more nauseous. Then I wrote up an invoice for $6,800. Ha ha, just kidding, I'm not a doctor/dentist. But Jack survived the ordeal just fine, unlike his dad, who will stick to cleaning up blood, diarrhea, broken bones, and puke, and let Mom handle the teeth-pulling.

Jack is so excited to put it under his pillow for money tonight. I guess I'll go get a small stack of dollar bills for the ensuing months.

Winner winner winner!!!

2010-04-19T12:34:00.002-06:00

You may not have thought someone could ever actually enjoy sucking grease off a bike but as you can see, Miss Leyla sure did! Nasty.

Quiz Time

2010-04-18T08:48:00.003-06:00

Was this photo snapped after Leyla

a)found some black licorice?

b)ate a crayon?

c)opened a pen with her mouth?

d)chewed on a freshly greased bike chain?

2010-04-10T14:31:00.002-06:00

It never really occurred to me that anyone would want to attend this graduation. But here's the info if you'd like to come (just got it today from the timely university).

-----

Idaho State University

Commencement Information

Saturday, 8 May 2010

10:00 AM

Holt Arena

Tickets are not required, but seating will be on a first come, first served basis. Parking is available on the north side of Holt Arena, located at 15h Avenue and Memorial Drive.

-----

Also, I hear this is really long so charge up your phone so you can play games or bring your iPod or do whatever you do to kill time. The boys have already begun mocking me about wearing a dress.

Smiles

2010-03-19T18:53:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I Forget

2010-03-06T13:18:00.003-07:00

The other night Leyla and I went to Fred Meyer to pick up a few things. I went to check out, got everything scanned, reached for my purse only to realize my debit card was sitting on top of my chest of drawers at home. Did I mention how everything was scanned, cashier waiting for payment, line of people behind me? Sad huh? What's sad is that's probably happened to me at least 3 other times in the past year.

We've been trying to make a week long menu before we go grocery shopping each week. We've only done it for a few weeks now but it seems to get easier each week. We go grocery shopping on Friday or Saturday and we tend to plan our best meals for the weekend because by the end of the week we've somehow depleted our entire stock of food. I must have been feeling extra ambitious this week because on the menu for Sunday was german pancakes for breakfast and baked salmon for lunch. I seriously dreamed about the upcoming feast all night Saturday. The kids all slept in, no one woke up until after 8 am, what a perfect way to start the morning. As I was just really waking up Nick turns to me and announces that it was fast Sunday. Of course it was. My mind quickly raced back to my New Year's resolutions...like the one where I was glad we had 1 o'clock church because it would help me have a meaningful fast each and every month. Was it too early in the year to give that one up? After church we ate turkey pot pie, and no, it will not be on the menu again.

I forget a lot of things. I forget where I put my keys, I forget the load of wet laundry waiting to be dried, I then forget to push the button to start the dryer. I forget that 3 hours of church is too long for Leyla to go without a bottle or her binki- and they're both sitting on the kitchen counter...and we've walked the 6 blocks to church that day. I forget that it's after 8 pm, my kids remind me we haven't had dinner yet, and they haven't had a shower in two days, oh and their bedtime is 8 o'clock. But those are the small things, at least I try to remind myself that those are the small things.

I forget that just 5 years ago I became a mom. That it was the craziest, most wonderful, inexperienced day of my life. I would forget that I had kids because for two months they were in the hospital, but once they were home I didn't think I could ever forget my children. I did though. I forgot my baby girl in the car that was only a few weeks old. I didn't make it into the house before our friends reminded me of the precious cargo I had just forgotten. Humiliating. I forget that my boys will start school this fall, that maybe I haven't taught them enough, and that I haven't played with them enough.

Sometimes I forget to say family prayer before bed, but my kids remind me. Sometimes I forget to read my scriptures, the Spirit tries to remind me, but I don't always listen. Sometimes I forget to pray for my husband, my kids, myself, and I wonder if life wouldn't be so hard if I would just remember to do these things, to not forget.

Insurance

2010-02-26T14:22:00.004-07:00

It's that time of year again, when health insurance companies arbitrarily decide to increase rates. We got the standard increase: 30%. Last year it was a 32% increase, the year before that it was a 29% increase. So, yep, we're paying more than twice as much for our premium as we were three years ago, even though our risk (according to our company) has not changed.

Seriously, I want someone to defend that, to show me how this is a fair and reasonable example of how a market ought to work.

And since I'm now unemployed I'm fairly certain this will be the year I decide the risk/cost of going without health insurance trumps the fake sense of security that comes with it.

Sorry, everyone else that has insurance, I know that will make your rates go up a bit (but let's be honest, your rates are going to go up no matter what). I'd rather watch healthcare crash and burn and be rebuilt the right way than continue to fund a corrupt system.

EDIT:

There are a few things here.

1. When I said I was dropping, I meant I was dropping myself. Kids are still covered, and so is Kara for now.

2. The idea that you are protected from financial hardship if you carry health insurance. It's totally false. We could run all sorts of scenario analyses, and you just don't win in the long run. It's the same concept as believing that steadily buying a lottery ticket will pay off in the long run. It might, but it's not a responsible use of money. Pay me $900 a month and I'll be glad to cash out $50,000 ten years from now. Really, I will.

3. In the event of a medical emergency that racks up $2M in bills, guess what? We're filing bankruptcy. No way I can get away from $2M in debt otherwise. So let's assume I continue to carry insurance and rack up $2M in bills. Well, I pay the first $10,000, then I pay my 20% copay ($250,000) while my insurance company pays their max ($1M), then they are done, and I'm left with the balance of $650,000. So I'm still left responsible for everything over $125,000, and 20% below that. So... I'm filing bankruptcy. Because we could probably liquidate everything we own and in 30 years maybe pay off the debt, but that's financially retarded. As an MBA with a finance emphasis, let me just say that one more time: that's financially retarded. For anyone. Hey, if you can work hard and get out of debt in a few years, more power to you. Don't waste away your entire life protecting your pride. Bankruptcy is a tool. Use it if you need to. So if I'm left with a mere $1M in debt, we're filing bankruptcy. You know, I'd probably have to work some numbers, but I think I'd file bankruptcy for $100k in medical debt. In 7 years a bankruptcy is off my record. At 18% interest, my payment would be $2,100 a month for seven years. Sorry, ain't gonna happen.

4. Inevitably, whenever I discuss this with anyone, nobody who has to pay for health insurance out of pocket disagrees with me. It's always (but maybe not you guys, Alisha) disagreement from people who get (usually good) coverage from their work. I don't. I never have. I've picked the wrong line of work, apparently.

5. Crystal, high costs are probably the biggest part of the problem. You may get billed $500k, but the hospital will settle that bill for something like 2/3 that with their negotiated rates and closer to 1/2 if it were covered by Medicaid. PROFITABLY. What does that tell you? Hospitals can profit on their lowest rate (Medicaid) but regularly bill multiple times that. Also-- how much has your insurance helped you with the other costs- missing work, commuting, etc?

6. I DO have solutions. Here they are.

a. Increase transparency. With the exception of emergencies, people should know up front exactly how much they are going to pay. When Kara's bills for Leyla came in, we went over them, and surprise surprise (I'm being sarcastic, there was no surprise at all), there was a crapload of stuff on there that was not legitimate at all. There must have been a dozen charges on there for c-section related charges... and she didn't have a c-section. "Oh, our mistake" they said after we made all sorts of calls and finally met with them, and they did eventually drop them. But what does that tell you about the industry? They are systematically dishonest. Their approach is, "we're going to go ahead and charge you for this, and then if we get unlucky, you'll catch us and we'll drop that charge." But being healthcare, it's not like you can just take your business elsewhere. Sure, you can doctor-shop to some extent, but it's hardly free-market competition. Crystal, I'll bet if I had my hospital administrator friend sit down with you guys, you could cut $100k off those bills just by scratching illegitimate charges. Dishonest, dishonest, dishonest. You will never pin the blame on anyone. It's always "an honest mistake." BS.

b. Allow insurance companies to compete across state lines. Too few options, too much collusion.

c. Enforce antitrust law.

d. No more negotiated rates with insurance companies. That is, no price-discrimination. If I need my appendix removed, don't charge me triple what you charge John Doe who carries Blue Shield insurance. In fact, stop negotiating rates on everything. Charge what you charge, and don't pay out until some chosen cost is met. You don't see Geico agreeing with Joe's Auto Shop to offer car parts at half price, do you? Just get rid of it. Have a set list of prices and insurance doesn't even get billed. Leave it to the patients to keep the bills and submit them once the deductible has been met. There, you reduce fraud, reduce costs, and increase transparency all in one fell swoop.

e. Government reform. There's lots here. Obama's plans aren't bad. I challenge you to specify anything he's calling for that's a bad idea, besides the premise that it's government paying for healthcare in the first place.

Keep in mind that 30% per annum growth is unsustainable. The median household income in the U.S. is about $50k. The average health insurance premium last year was $13,375. At 30% growth (which is what it's been for the last three years), it will only be another 7 years before the cost of health care exceeds the entire income of a family in a year, even accounting for inflation.

Finally, I don't think I'll ever understand the "licking the boot that kicks you" mentality with people accepting the status quo. It SUCKS. The U.S. ranks lower that almost every developed country in terms of care, and way higher in terms of cost. Hey, you can hate Obama, you can hate Congress, you can love capitalism, you can point out that some government official flew from his sparsely populated nation in Canada to have an operation in Miami, you can take all the lies out there about how perfect our system is and repeat them, but this system simply is not working and it's senseless to defend it. We've got good doctors, good facilities, and there's no reason we can't revamp the system and stop bankrupting people (and killing them through neglect) along the way.

2010-02-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

Pebble Creek

2010-01-08T08:59:00.005-07:00

On Monday we went skiing. The week before we had driven up to the resort to watch people ski, and Jack was thrilled with the prospect of going. So we decided on Monday Dad would go with Jack (Owen wanted to stay home and play with Mom).

So I woke up that morning to find Jack bundled up and ready to go. The equipment rental store wasn't open for another two hours, and every five minutes Jack asked, "Are you ready to go skiing yet Daddy?" We were mildly annoyed that the only kids' skis they had were pink skis. But finally we went, and here's a representative video of how Jack liked it.

It took us about two hours to make it all the way down. And the last half of that was Jack crying. But, in fairness to Jack, it wasn't all bad. He got hot chocolate at the lodge.

But we had an all day pass, and Jack was done before noon, so we drove home, picked up the rest of the family, and headed back up. Owen decided he wanted a turn, while Kara, Jack, and Leyla hung out in the lodge. Owen's experience was a little bit different.

Neither of the boys would use the snowplow/pizza technique. They both just figured the easiest way to slow down was to fall over.

Headlines 2009

2009-12-30T13:59:00.001-07:00

Quick background. My favorite news site is fark.com. It’s an aggregator, much like google news, drawing articles from thousands of different sources. In addition to being a news site, it’s also a user-based community. The main page lists headlines that have been submitted by users. So the headlines on fark.com are different from the actual headlines, but still summarize the article. For example, the first headline below (about American obesity) actually linked to a Newsweek article with the headline, “Is the Recession Making Americans Fatter?”

Anyway, the creativity of submissions is sometimes just awesome. Here are my highlights from the year.

Newsweek: American obesity jumps in last year. But not very high

Researchers use YouTube to study brain injuries. Presumably by reading the user comments

Sharks can be "cuddled like Dolphins", according to Dr Stumpy McStumperson from the institute of really bad ideas

Medical community applauds first double-hand transplant in U.S

Glacier threatens capital city of Bolivia, sparking warnings that people may one day have to walk for their lives

Experts warn that the Internet is running out of bandw

Good language skills in your youth may stave off Alzheimer's later. Good news for us people who have a way with words, not so much for those of you who...um...not have way, I guess

350-year-old skeleton discovered in England. Fans gather in hopes of hearing latest rendition of Like a Virgin

Sea turtle that lost flippers to shark attack fitted with artificial flippers so it can be attacked by shark again

Jehovah's Witnesses more likely to die in childbirth. Also more likely to be standing in doorway in event of earthquake

Astronomers are getting a close-up look at a cosmic eating machine that devours the mass equivalent of two Earths per hour and in the past has replaced Shelley Long on "Cheers"

Scientists discover first vegetarian spider, easily identified as the one shunned by other spiders and getting picked on by ants

Elementary school kids run through blocking and tackling drills with the Detroit Lions. Advice and encouragement were given, as well as physical fitness pointers. Hopefully the Lions learned something

Bolivian animal rights activists succeed in banning circuses from using animals, but now have to figure out what to do with 22 useless lions, a problem Detroit has faced for years

Before you get all outraged that Michael Vick is only getting a 4 game suspension, take note that it's a 28 game suspension in dog years

Kevin Costner and wife give birth to baby boy. Labor took three hours, cost $150 million, and was panned by the critics

Jessica Rabbit voted cartoon sex bomb, followed closely by Betty Boop, because every guy's fantasy is a head like a deformed potato with no chin who talks like a 9-year-old with Down's syndrome

Tired of her blowing away all the time, Harrison Ford puts large metal ring on Calista Flockhart

Michael Jackson's autopsy underway. Coroner struggling with first question: "Race: __________"

Shrek sidekick Donkey voted the most-loved movie animal, slightly ahead of Joan Cusack

Rosie O'Donnell denies that her partner has somehow escaped her gravitational field

Former ABC anchor Carole Simpson says legitimate TV news is dying. We'll have more on this story after a Jon and Kate Plus 8 update, and it looks like Britney and Li-Lo are at it again

To honor her brother, Janet Jackson will wear black for a year. If she really wanted to honor him, she would slowly fade it to white

Six Flags on the verge of filing Chapter 11. Restructuring terms will force debt collectors to stand in a gigantic zig-zag line for hours, only to have the check printing machine break down when they're next in line

Car manfacturers are listening to proposals to equip cars with social networking technology like Facebook. What could pos.... Michael is wrapped around a tree

Live Nation to acquire Ticketmaster for $2.5 billion, plus $700 million in convenience charges

General Motors bankruptcy inevitable. GM shares set to fall like a rock. OOOOOOHHHHH like a rock

Applications to the top liberal-arts schools drop 20% as students realize there is no longer any need to earn a Liberal Arts degree to remain unemployable

Citigroup analyst weighs in on which banks need to raise capital after recent stress test, which is kind of like a blind guy telling you your girlfriend is ugly

Target profit beats estimates on news that people are still willing to pay 20% more than Walmart for the same stuff on clean floors

MySpace slashes itself by 30%, a move that resonates with its user base

Clear Channel posts $3.7B loss. I'd explain more, but I have to cut to 10 minutes of commercials, followed by the new Nickelback song

New Gallup poll reveals Cheney is more popular than Pelosi, much in the same way that prostate exams are more popular than colonoscopies

Cheney accuses Obama of politicizing the Justice Department. Cheney. Accuses Obama. Of politicizing the Justice Department

Obama declares swine flu a national emergency, eyes Nobel Prize in Medicine

New Jersey likely to legalize medical marijuana, which can help to alleviate the pain of having to live in New Jersey

Carpenters face higher-than-average asbestos death rate, higher-than-average resurrection rate

...a lot like Christmas

2009-12-02T20:40:00.003-07:00

4 Months and Counting

2009-11-07T15:57:00.004-07:00

Weight: 15 pounds 6 ounces

90th percentile

Length: 26 inches

95th percentile

Did ya hear?!?! Leyla has 2 teeth! (I only took about 50 pictures trying to get a shot of them...don't mind the crazy eyes this was the best picture of the teeth!)

She continues to love baths, they're just getting wetter and wetter (for mom) as she learns to splash a little harder each time.

She loves baths so much that her mom can't help but let her stay in until the water starts getting cold and her feet wrinkle up. (Her piggies are quite ticklish)

She's starting to like baby food and it's a good thing, too, because I love feeding babies baby food! I think it's so exciting to watch them try things for the first time. She doesn't care for pears but she really likes sweet potatoes and bananas. (We're still working on keeping it all inside her mouth!)

Her brothers still adore her but they don't like that she's getting so heavy. They last about 10 seconds holding her most times. (I'm slowly learning that it's next to impossible to have all three looking at the camera at the same time...and to have them smiling [normal] forget about it)

She has been rolling for quite a while but now she almost never stays on her back. Now that she has that down she's been trying to get her legs under her and scootin' a bit. CRAZY!

Except for dealing with her first (and second) ear infections she's perfect!

A Few of My Favorite Things

2009-10-19T11:46:00.005-06:00

Owen & Jack are definitely at the top of my list. It's ony been in the last year that I've felt so blessed to have twins. I will be the first to admit how hard the first couple years were, well maybe Nick would be the first to say it but I'm a very close second! We didn't have a clue what we were doing but we've managed and they still love us! They love being outside and always want to make sure we're watching them do all their "tricks" on the playground.

I love little girl tights! Leyla now has several pairs and they're just the cutest. I just can't resist tights and a cute dress.

(she's finally getting some chubs on her)

Snuggly footie pajamas from Costco. I've been impatiently waiting for Leyla to fit into 6 month clothes to buy these. I really wanted the cute pink pig ones but this was the only pair in her size. The boys even love them (I don't have any pictures of theirs). I've got to admit, though, that it kinda bothers me to buy footie pajamas in 5T, they're HUGE!

I love bath time with Leyla. It's pretty rare for the boys to ever take a bath- they do get clean, they just prefer showers. I've forgotten how fun it is to watch babies play in the water and soap them all up. Let's face it, I've basically forgotten everything about babies! It's exciting going through it all again, and this time we're able to enjoy it a whole lot more.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-12T14:30:00.006-06:00

And we're not even in Oregon!

I heart Oregon, big time, and this time of year always makes me yearn to be there! I think pumpkin patches and Christmas tree farms are among the best things ever. It's just not the same going to Fred Meyer and digging through the giant cardboard boxes searching for those perfect pumpkins. Aunt Kenzie came to visit us for the weekend and we decided to search for somewhere more thrilling than Fred Meyer for some pumpkins. The boys are going on a little field trip in a couple weeks to a little farm so we thought we'd check that place out first. This 10 minute drive ended up being double that because we just didn't quite know where we were going. Once we found it Nick just drove right on by, not giving it a second look. It was a pretty sad little farm and it made me pretty sad thinking that it might be as good as it gets here. Nick had heard of another place about 30 more minutes away so, on we drove. Again, we really didn't know where we were going so we stopped at a gas station to ask around. No one seemed to know of anywhere to go except for one super nice guy who thought he saw a sign for pumpkins that very morning. Yay! He said he was headed that way and that we could follow him out there so, on we drove. Another 10 minutes of driving and we arrive to a little country house with pumpkins no where in sight. I guess it was just other produce a family grew and sold on their farm. Dang it. Feeling desperate, I call my dad to ask if he knew of anywhere we could go. He asks around his work and calls back about a little Red Barn that does pumpkins. By this time the boys were snoozin'

and the rest of us wished we were, but it was only another 30 minutes away so, on we drove.

Oh the pumpkins! The beautiful orange pumkins, green pumpkins, the cute gords, the kiddie straw maze- I loved it! And for a short while I was in Oregon...right here in Idaho.

Here's our loot back at home, and check out my bats!. I need a bail of straw to put them on (and the star needs to go) and I could definitely make another trip to the little Red Barn, I didn't even think about the inside of my house!

High On a Mountain Top

2009-10-09T23:18:00.007-06:00

As you can tell by the posts below, we had a great weekend. Almost all my family met down in Park City, which just doesn't happen often enough anymore. It's hard when individual families start getting so big and busy that we can't coordinate a time when everyone can make it. There are now great great grandkids running around! My family is so great and it's such a privilege to be in their company. It was especially fun to see the cousins that I grew up with getting to know my family and all our kids being able to play together.

Not only was it a great weekend because I was nestled with my family up in the mountains but, also because it was conference weekend, and, although I have a lot to watch on DVR, still, the talks that I did listen to were, of course, quite inspiring. One such talk was exactly what I have been needing. I think we all go through times where we see other families and can't imagine them being anything but put together and perfect. Lately I feel like I just can't get it together, there's always something needing to be done. Always more cleaning, always more work, never enough time with my kids and husband. My testimony should be stronger, my prayers more thoughtful, and my knowledge of scripture stories more...shall I say, accurate? It's incredibly hard to prioritize all these things, to do any of them well, and to ever go to bed feeling like I did pretty good that day. A part of this talk talked about how we should pray to the Lord to help us love our spouses more; to earnestly pray for our spouses. It's made me think about how much I should be asking for help, such a simple (should be anyways) thing that I honestly don't hardly think about. I'm not just talking about asking Nick to do the dishes or Jack to put his clothes away. I'm talking about sincerely asking our Father in Heaven for help with the things that we truly desire. More loving relationships, more meaningful service, and more happiness. I know He wants to give us these things and it takes but a small effort on our part. So do it. We can do it together.

Hanging Out: Park City Style

2009-10-09T23:03:00.002-06:00

We stayed in a great Cabin, fit the whole family, Nick and I even scored a king size bed! Six bedrooms, four "family rooms", two dining rooms, a theater room, and deer outside the bedroom window every morning- it really was great! It's the kind of place I've always wanted to spend Christmas, maybe someday.

Owie is certainly getting better with the camera, you can see all of our heads in this one!

Grandpa with Leyla.

Colby had been talking to Leyla and she thought he was just so funny! Wish I could have gotten her smiling with him, it was so cute to watch.

My pretty sister, Jessi. We missed having Jeremiah there with us.

The boys' best bud there, Brylee.

Conference Weekend at Park City

2009-10-09T22:34:00.003-06:00

I can't even tell you how many times the kids watched Robin Hood. Brylee, Jack, and Owen could always be found snuggled up together watching movies on the couch.

So fun to see Janice and her daughter, Ayla (who has the most beautiful hair with ringlets all over!)

Shaylee playing Go Fish with the boys. There were a few times when it was just her and Owen, and he loved that. She was so great to play with the boys. I remember when she was a baby I was so in love with her, always wanting to hold her and be with her. She has grown up so fast I can't believe it!

Here's Mackade, my cutie nephew! He loves Leyla, he just stares at her and steals her sucky.

Lyssa and Leyla. She, too, was super great with the kids. She LOVES babies and couldn't keep away from Leyla and Mackade the whole weekend. Wish she lived closer, I'd make her into a real babysitter!

Delicious

2009-09-20T14:10:00.001-06:00

My sweet baby, that is.

Typical Night

2009-09-14T10:47:00.004-06:00

For the longest time we really struggled with bedtime. The boys would never stay in their beds, there'd be screaming, crying (and not always just from the kids) and it would seriously take us a couple hours of fighting with them before they'd finally go to sleep. It's drastically different now. Promise them a couple books before bed and everything goes as smoothly as possible, even the three nights when Nick has night school and I'm home alone with the kids. After a shower they'll get themselves dressed, we have them finish picking up any toys, brush teeth, say prayer, read books, and they jump right in bed! Usually the only real fight is who gets to sleep on the bottom bed, odd how neither of them ever wants to sleep on top. So here's a few shots of a now typical night in our house.

Even dad is smiling!

Don't mind the spots of spit up. Leyla hasn't been feeling good for a couple days and is continually spitting up. Poor girl.

Remember I said the boys dress themselves at night? We are almost in desperate need of jammies. We're down to odds and ends and stuff too small. I've been waiting for it to get colder because all the jammies at the stores are winter ones and would be way too hot right now. Soon though.

Owen is always asking to hold Leyla, then almost immediately starts complaining how heavy and big she is for him.

He also loves to read to her. Owen is much more attached to Leyla than Jack is. I think most times Jack asks to help with Leyla just because Owen does and he feels neglected from Owen. See, they don't care much that mommy can't spend as much time with them, they care when their brother isn't paying as much attention!

Practically a Professional

2009-09-14T10:31:00.002-06:00

Every year my work sponsors us to participate in the Pocatello Marathon, aka Run the Gap. We can choose from the 5K, 10K, half, and full marathon. I, not being a true runner, participate in the 5K. Last year I was pretty proud of myself by not walking at all, and this year I was proud of myself just for finishing! I think I about doubled my time, haha. I had origonally planned and really training for it and running it. I was about 10 weeks post pardum and thought I could be pretty prepared for it in a months time but I just didn't have the time to get out much. I borrwed a jogging stroller from a lady at work and brought Leyla along with me. It was a great morning, kinda cloudy and breezy but not too cold. It really was pretty enjoyable.

My Helpers

2009-09-14T10:21:00.002-06:00

The boys are such great helpers with Leyla. They want to feed her, they want to hold her, they want to pick out her clothes every day, and they even like to fold her laundry! What more could a mom ask for?! The other day they were helping me fold her laundry and they were fighting over who got to fold specific items. Obviously Owen didn't get to fold this particular pair of pants and he was quite upset about it. Jack's sporting a goofy little victory smile. It's always the same "say cheese" fake smile.

Owen's view of the BBQ

2009-09-14T10:12:00.003-06:00

Unlike Jack and Owen's cousins the boys don't have much experience with a camera! We have always been so cautious about ever letting them touch it, you all know the stories that would make us that way. Lately they have both been asking to take pictures more and more (especially Owen) so at the party I finally let him take a turn...being outside on the gras had a lot to do with my decision :)

Volleyball at the company BBQ

2009-09-14T10:01:00.003-06:00

You'll notice that I am not in any of the volleyball pictures because I'm basically a wimp when it comes to volleyball. I have bad memories of playing in P.E. in high school! I was never able to make the ball go in the right direction, and that's even if I was able to make contact with the ball when it came my way. The worst part, though, is that it always hurt my wrists! Wimp, I know.

WPA Summer BBQ

2009-09-14T09:48:00.004-06:00

Every summer my work has a big BBQ out at the boss' house. It always promises great food and fun times. With pulled pork sandwiches, great quacamole dip, and yummy dulce de leche bites (made by me!) this year was no exception!

August Rush

2009-08-26T16:58:00.004-06:00

August was super busy for our family, but tons of fun. It was the first time in SO LONG that Nick wasn't in school and I totally got spoiled by having him with us so much! That has now officially ended because he started school again this week. Boo.

The first of the month brought friends and family to our home for Leyla's blessing. It was fun to show off our sweet baby girl to everyone, and Nick gave a very special blessing to his daughter. Her dress fit perfectly! If we had waited even one more week I don't think it would have fit her. The pink dress she is wearing in the last picture is my blessing dress.

Leyla also had her two month well baby visit and shots. She's doing great and is in the 75% for both height and weight which were:

Weight: 11 pounds 4 ounces

Height: 22 2/3 inches long

She is such a smily girl. Owen likes to lay on the ground beside her and sing her "Owen songs" which are basically odd sounds he puts together in a sing-song sort of way. Cute to watch...kind of annoyng to hear all the time!

We also made two trips to Utah. We first went down to go to a surprise birthday party for some of Nick's old friends. We also spent the day at the Gateway in Salt Lake going to the Discovery Center and playing in the fountains. The next weekend we were back down to attend the sealing of my aunt and uncle (Ben & Stacey) in the Bountiful Temple. It was fun being back there, we haven't been since our own sealing. We then headed down to Springville to spend some time with Murph & Wally (grandma and grandpa). So good to see them.

I'm sure September will be just as busy and exciting so stay tuned!

Our Friends the Phillips

2009-08-26T16:39:00.006-06:00

Chris, Jayme, and their two girls came to visit us (and meet Leyla) back in July. It was tons of fun having them here and it's sad that we only get to see them a couple times a year. We were sure excited for them to come see us. One of the days we took them up to my parents house for dinner, water balloons, and a few rides on Coco. Except for the sudden thunder storm it was a lot of fun. We even got to have Jayme's sister, Bree and her friend spend the day with us. They were here more than that one day but of course I have no other pictures :)

Come one Come ALL!

2009-07-17T13:38:00.007-06:00

Consider yourself officially invited to Leyla's blessing!

Sunday, August 2nd

9 am

Lakeview Chapel in Pocatello

We will be having a BBQ at noon,

everyone's invited.

Please let us know if you'll be able to make it,

we'd love to see you all there.

So sweet...

2009-07-14T14:07:00.002-06:00

She actually looks a lot chunkier here than she actually is,

too cute.

Oh Happy Day!

2009-07-14T13:37:00.005-06:00

Last week was rough, to which I can thank all three of my children. Leyla's not the type of baby who will willingly fall asleep on her own whenever she's tired. She's more of a bundled, rocked, shushed, jiggled, bounced, walked, paci in place kind of baby....and sometimes it just doesn't work! As for my boys, they just refuse to obey. They know exactly what they're doing wrong, they'll tell you! They just don't want to obey the rules because "they don't want to". Seriously, how do you teach obedience? To willingly obey not just because that's what's expected of you but because it's the right thing to do? The boys are back to needing almost constant supervision and that's been hard with Leyla being so needy, as well.

So, Sunday I was super sick and Nick did a great job of taking care of everyone, it was actually a pretty relaxing day (except for the being super sick part, I even fainted- a first for me). Monday was probably the worst day I've had since staying home with all the kids. I couldn't even count how many times both the boys were in time out, they probably sat on their beds or against a wall more than they did anything else the whole day. They even went to bed an entire hour early because I was just done with it. I feel ashamed to say it but I just wanted to give up on them yesterday. I didn't want to try anymore; just give in and admit my failure. Leyla had quite the day, herself. The morning wasn't too bad but between noon and 8pm she had slept maybe 20 minutes.

Guess what she was doing the majority of the time?

Still love her.

On to today, my baby is 4 weeks old, yay! Look what she's doing...

And look what my boys are doing...

They've only been in time out ONCE and it's already 2pm! WooHoo! Oh yeah, I'm totally into letting them dress themselves, does that explain what they're wearing? I should make it easier on them (or maybe me :) and take out all their non summer clothes and stick with t-shirts and jeans that all match...but I don't. What's really hard is they don't even wear the same size of clothes anymore, super annoying with twins! We're going to have to get them separate drawers here soon so that Jack doesn't put on Owen's pants anymore and have them end rght at his shins.

So, yeah, pretty happy day. We even walked to the park for free lunch today and now that it's after 2 I think Happy Hour at Sonic is calling our names! Hope you all have a happy day, too!

What's a weekend without some destruction?

2009-07-12T20:52:00.002-06:00

Do you know what dryer exhaust vents are great for? Tennis balls and hoses, turned on full blast. And mom and dad won't notice until they see a steady stream of water coming out from underneath the dryer.

Rub a dub dub

2009-07-09T18:47:00.003-06:00

This was Leyla's second bath at home, she doesn't look super happy but she really did like it. There are sadly no pictures from her first bath because it was after midnight and Leyla and mommy were the only ones awake, Leyla was so awake that she was screaming and the bath was the last resort for calming her down. It worked.

Those who have never had a baby, and possibly those who it's been a long time since they had a baby wonder what you could possibly do all day. I mean, all a baby does is eat sleep and poop, right? I, too, naively wondered what I would do all day with my baby. I thought maybe I would get to lay around, hold my sweet baby, and just enjoy the moments. The first week was pure bliss. The second week was a little sketchy, and since then I want to pull my hair out several times a day! She's no longer eating very well and certainly not sleeping well, either. She always acts hungry but will only eat for a couple minutes, and when she does fall asleep I can't put her down because she immediately starts screaming. To add to my frustration, I will try something new to calm her down and it'll work great, but the next time I try it it does nothing. Also, I go back to work in two weeks and I'm suppose to have her on some great schedule to help the transition! Ha! Like that's gonna happen.

Once Upon a Time

2009-06-27T00:02:00.004-06:00

Okay, so it was no fairy tale and some of the details are a little hazy but we did end up with our very own little princess. After stripping my membranes four different times with little progress (3 cm by 40 weeks) my doctor decided to let me be induced Tuesday, June 16th. A little background, I had a c-section with the boys and I really wanted to try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) this time. Not because I cared to have the birth experience but because I didn't want to go through the pain of healing from surgery. There are pretty serious risks to having a VBAC, and those risks are increased when being induced, but I felt very good with my decision to try. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am and I got settled in the room while Nick went to get me admitted. The IV was started and monitors were put in place pretty quickly but my doctor wasn't at the hospital yet so I was told they would need to wait to start the induction. When a VBAC patient comes into the hospital they require the doctor to stay at the hospital the entire labor process, there needs to be a full surgical staff and anesthesiologist there, as well. So we wait. Not long into the wait my contractions started and were immediately painful. During the pregnancy I would get a lot of contractions when I was particularly stressed about something so I didn't think much of these contractions, I didn't even time them. This went on for probably 30 minutes and then my nurse came in to check on me. I told her I was in quite a bit of pain and she decided to check my even though the contractions were barely registering on the monitor. She was shocked to find I was 5 cm and completely thinned, especially since the induction meds hadn't been started yet. She then said she'd call the anesthesiologist and my doctor and get them there as quick as she could. Another half hour or so goes painfully by and the nurse asks if I want something to help with the pain while I waited, I said yes! Immediately after she gave me the meds through my IV the room started spinning and I felt really out of it. That's when the crazy starts. Leyla's heart rate went way down into the 60's, they started putting me into all sorts of positions to get it back up and put the oxygen mask on me. That's about the time the anesthesiologist shows up. I somewhat remember him going over the procedure and says he'll get started right away. By this time Leyla was doing better, the on call doctor checks me and I am now at an 8. He starts pushing around on my belly asking if it hurt anywhere when he pushed and if it hurt in between contractions. I said yes, that I had a constant pain in my lower abdomen. This being a VBAC the doctor is suspicious that the pain may be from my previous c-section incision (which could indicate the possibility of a uterine rupture) and with Leyla having had the heart rate problem he decides an emergency c-section needs to be done. He then tells the anesthesiologist not to start the epidural because there wasn't enough time, that I would just have to be put out. At this point I honestly didn't care what they did to me, the thought of being put out and not feeling a thing was the most welcome thought! So, they prep me for the surgery and just before they start to wheel me down to the OR my doctor walks in. He quickly checks me and not only am I at a 10 now but he says the baby's head is "right there". He tells me to try a "practice push", so I do, and says we're gonna have this baby right now! Now I know that should have been an exciting thing to hear but I was actually pretty devastated. The thought of having to push this baby out with no pain meds and that there was no choice but to just do it was awful. There's no way to describe the experience. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, and thankfully it was over in about 20 minutes (I know it could have been a whole lot longer!) Leyla Jane Johnson was born at 8:38 am weighing 8 lbs 9 ounces. When the doctor placed Leyla on me I couldn't believe she was actually my baby, it was so surreal. I felt as though I were watching it from a distance, that it was someone else that it was happening to. She screamed...a lot, and did so for quite some time, I felt so stressed hearing her cry and not being able to do anything. We went in thinking we wouldn't have the baby until late that afternoon/evening but there we were, not even 9 am and we had her! The rest of the day went great, I felt great, too, and we were home by 1pm the next day. There are still times I look at her and it just doesn't seem real that she's here finally. When you wait that long for something you're so excited about it kind of catches you by surprise when it gets here. I'm so in love with her. She's absolutely a doll. I can't wait for everyone to meet her!

Short update

2009-06-20T00:04:00.003-06:00

I thought I should post a couple more pictures of Leyla for those of you who haven't been able to see her yet. I don't have many on the computer yet so it's not a great selection, but I assure you this blog will be bombarded with her adorable face from here on out.

We took her back into the nursery at the hospital for a quick check up and doc thinks she looks great. She's down to 8 lbs even and ever so slightly jaundice but he didn't think either of those things were cause for concern. He didn't expect her to get any worse since she's eating so well. I know not many people have heard the whole birth story, I apologize for not having talked to so many of you and updating you so I promise to get that up soon with some more pictures. Thanks for everyone's love and well wishes, it's truly appreciated.

Leyla Jane Johnson

2009-06-16T19:43:00.001-06:00

Here's little Leyla just a few minutes after she was born. That is, it's her first non-naked picture. We'll post more soon.

Fashion Advice

2009-05-17T11:40:00.003-06:00

The other morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for work when Owen walks in.

Owen: Mommy, what are you doing to your hair?

Mom: I'm making it straight so it's not silly anymore, like an iron.

Owen: Oh! Then it'll be beautiful, like a princess!

Mom: Exactly like a princess!

Owen: But mommy? (sounding a little disgusted) Your shirt's just not cute and princesses only wear cute shirts.

I tried not to be offended by my 4 year olds fashion advice, and to his credit if you combine the pictures below you'll get a pretty good idea of what I looked like that morning- definitely not my cutest.

Smashmallow please?

2009-05-17T11:27:00.003-06:00

The boys LOVE to go camping. They started asking about camping a few months ago when it was still way too cold and for a few weeks everyday I'd pick them up from daycare and they'd ask if it was time to go camping. My parents decided to take them on a little overnight trip in their camp trailer and I think that took care of their camping fix, for a while at least. There's a little town about an hour away called Lava Hot Springs. Yup, you guessed it, there's actually a hot springs there! We love going down there but really don't seem to find the time to get there too often. So the boys got to sleep in grandma and papa's camp trailer, go swimming, play outside, and eat a whole bunch of "s'nores" (no, that is not a type-o, they refuse to believe they're really called s'mores). We probably won't get a whole lot of camping in this year with the new baby coming (I kinda hope I won't get any camping in!) so the boys are pretty dang lucky their grandparents like taking them so much!

Too late to post Easter pictures?

2009-05-17T11:15:00.003-06:00

I think that as long as the event happened within the last 6 months I'm safe to post about it. Anytime after that I may as well wait until the holiday comes around again, right? We really did have a great easter weekend, it was one of the first really nice weekends we had here. The boys had fun finding eggs outside and eating candy all day and I had fun eating the yummy pineapple upside down cake I made! We also dyed some eggs but I had forgotten to buy eggs so we had only had 8 to dye! Oh well, I don't think they actually ever got eaten, we left them up at my parents house.

Brush your teeth brush your teeth...

2009-04-28T20:30:00.003-06:00

I've got to admit that one of our pitfalls in parenting is brushing teeth. Bedtime with the boys use to be so hectic and long and frustrating that we never got into a good routine with brushing teeth. So, now we find it quite hard to keep up on it and most of the time it's such a fight. I've really been trying to establish the routine, especially at night and it seems to be getting a little easier except that they always want to do it without any help, which consists of them basically sucking the water and toothpaste off their toothbrush and saying they're done. We're working on it, though. I was super excited today when I picked them up from daycare (and so were they!) because they ran up to me with these bags full of dental care stuff they got because a dentist came in to talk to all the kids. They got a new toothbrush, some toothpaste, kids flossers, and (my favorite) some of those little pink pills you chew to find out where to brush your teeth more! I've actually never tried one myself but I knew the boys would think they were pretty cool, and I was right! Tonight they were so excited to do the whole routine and were very good about me helping them get all the pink off their teeth. I am trying to remind myself of all the other things that seemed to take so long to teach the boys and remember that eventually it clicked with them and this will too, in time. Hooray for a good night!

You knew I was pregnant right?

2009-03-29T23:38:00.002-06:00

We've gotten a few comments from people we don't hear from too often that didn't know we were having another baby so I thought I'd post a picture to make sure there was no doubt in everyone's mind! And even though I certainly look like I'm due any day (and plenty of people remind me of that everyday!) this was taken at about 27 weeks (I'll be 30 weeks this week).

The Nursery!

2009-03-29T23:25:00.003-06:00

My husband is incredible! While I was in San Diego he got started on the nursery and totally surprised me. I kept thinking that we'd never get anything started until it was actually time for her to be born, we've been so busy lately. I've been pretty frustrated that nothing seems to be coming together, we hadn't started the nursery, we're no where near having her named, I haven't picked out bedding, I haven't even gone shopping for her yet! And now I am so excited that something is happening and that it will be completed (fingers crossed) before she comes! There's still quite a bit to do, though. We need to patch up all the seams in the wood, get it sanded down smooth, and a whole lot of painting. There's also that part of the room where we didn't do paneling and it sits back a couple feet, we're planning on putting in some built in storage there and a built in changing table. Maybe this means all the other stuff will start coming together, too. So excited!

San Diego

2009-03-29T22:43:00.003-06:00

I was sent to San Diego this past week for a work conference and I was lucky enough to have my mom come with me. I couldn't believe the sun still exists! It was incredibly beautiful. I'm never great about taking pictures so there's not much to show but I really did have a great time. We stayed at The Omni Hotel, which was easily the nicest place I've ever stayed. We found some yummy places to eat, good dessert, did some shopping, walked around some great little tourist shops on the bay, and just enjoyed not having to wear a coat!

Baby GIRL Johnson!

2009-01-27T21:59:00.003-07:00

Inauguration Day

2009-01-27T21:51:00.003-07:00

More Pictures of Inauguration Day

2009-01-27T21:38:00.003-07:00

4:11 am in the metro

4:32 am waiting at the Silver Ticket Gate

The sun joins us at 7:14 am

9:10 am

Good Eats in Washington DC

2009-01-27T21:27:00.003-07:00

We ate a lot of amazing food on our trip. Even the cafes in the museums had pretty incredible food. We had a pretty interesting experience one of our first nights at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant. None of us had ever eaten anywhere like this so it was new to us all. No menu, no prices listed anywhere, just a set 7 course meal to share between us with no silverware.

Oh...and belly dancing!

Mt. Vernon

2009-01-27T21:10:00.004-07:00

Mt. Vernon is where we traveled the furthest to. It's right on the Potomac river and really a stunning place to see. It was quite large even though it only comprised of a portion of the land that George Washington actually owned. This is where he retired to after being President and very much loved his life there.

Here is the Mansion.

The back of the Mansion.

And the line to get into the Mansion. Needless to say we didn't wait in line.

This is a small monument dedicated to George Washington's slaves, and their burial place.

The burial place of George and Martha Washington.

Other Outside Attractions

2009-01-27T20:38:00.002-07:00

As I'm sure you will see, we weren't very good at taking a lot of pictures. We feel like we saw just about every monument and site you could possibly see while in DC but it was so cold and we were so bundles up that it took too much effort to take pictures! Ah, excuses.

These first couple pictures are at the World War II Memorial. These cold winter pictures don't do it justice, it's a beautiful site that I'd love to go back and see in warmer weather.

Here's Kara with the Washington Monument in the background. This is the same spot we took the picture of the White House (below). It's really cool how all these places, along with the museums, are all relatively close to one another.

The White House, the place that's not decorated with cheap stuff like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, you know, the places where I dream to one day shop!

I could have sworn we took pictures while at the Jefferson Memorial but, alas, they are nowhere to be found. We were there the day of the big concert but we thought it started a whole lot earlier than it actually did! We were just about as close as you could get but when we realized it wasn't for another 4 hours and we hadn't eaten anything in hours we decided to leave.

Smithsonian

2009-01-27T20:23:00.002-07:00

The Smithsonian wasn't too high on my priority list for this trip, I basically thought it was just some old building with old paintings in it. Little did I know, literally, that it was made up of several different museums each incredible in their own respect.

Seriously?! The ruby slippers?! Sure, they're really not very stylish, and sequins haven't been used in how many years, but certainly a sight to see. This was in The National Museum of American History.

This is what you walk in to see when you enter The National Museum of Natural History, by far my favorite museum. There's no way you could see it all in one day, or maybe even two! Such a great place to take kids to with everything from gems and rocks to whales and dinosaurs, Jack and Owen would have loved it!

Here's the Hope Diamond, in the same museum.

Still in the same museum we spent way too much to watch a 40 minute 3D movie on Dinosaurs. Oh well, experiences.

The US Capitol Building

2009-01-27T19:46:00.005-07:00

It's pretty dang impressive standing on Capitol grounds, it's an amazing building.

Here's Kara, looking fab, right before the tour. The statue in the background is Lady Liberty, the same statue that is on the top of the outside of the building.

Nick and Kara outside the Capitol after the tour. It was such a beautiful day, great for pictures.

This is inside the Capitol and it's called the Crypt. It was built to bury George Washington in but he died before it was ever finished, he was instead buried at his home at Mt. Vernon.

This "compass" is where the four zip codes of DC intersect, it's also where the President Elects' sign papers for their Inaguration.

Kara, Keara, and Jayme standing on the "compass".

This is the inside of the copper rotunda; it's absolutely amazing. There's a whole explanation to the painting on the ceiling but do you think I actually remember it? I just know George Washington is up there somewhere.

Hail to the Chief

2009-01-27T14:09:00.002-07:00

This is how it was for us. Well, actually, run your hands and feet under ice cold water until they ache, then stick them in the freezer, then watch this. THAT'S how it was for us.

More Headlines

2008-12-31T13:18:00.003-07:00

These are from fark.com's headline of the year contest. I am deleting those that aren't that funny and that are overly inappropriate.

Also, we had some unbelievers last time, so let me explain how fark works-- it's a news aggregator, with submissions from all over the world. People find stories, create their own headlines, and then submit the original article. So the stories are real, headlines are made up by non-journalists.

Here we go:

One armed girl swims circles around competition

Two swimmers dead, Juan Moore missing

Disagreements shake Djibouti. Shake, shake, shake. Shake, shake, shake. Shake Djibouti

Now that certain words -- like the other word for donkey -- must be filtered on the Internet: President Abraham Lincoln was buttbuttinated by an armed buttailant after a life devoted to the reform of the U.S. consbreastution

Father of two crushed to death after falling into printing press. This story is continued on Pages 3, 4, 9 and 10

Last German WWI veteran dies at age 107. WE WIN

Four ex-AOL executives reach plea deal with SEC, must surrender stolen money and perform 5,000 HOURS OF FREE SERVICE

General Motors post a $15.5 billion second-quarter net loss. Sales plummet like a rock. Oooooohhhhh, Like a Rock

QVC to lay off 6 percent of workers. But if you call in now, they'll cut another 10 percent

Halliburton bidding $3.4 billion for Expro, which is the first time in years Halliburton actually bid on something

Ticketmaster fires 300 employees due to financial crunch, collects 10 percent of their severance in convenience fees

Not ones to deviate from their business model, GM admits that they "wont make a dime" from the Chevy Volt

Stark candy heart plant is closing. It must be a DREAM. This pink slip can't BE MINE. Guess nothing lasts FOREVER

3M sends 1800 employees pink post-it notes

Krispy Kreme loss widens in 3rd quarter, hindquarter

Sony makes 8000 walk, man

Scientists create rubber that repairs itself. Your parents wish they had had this

Schoolboy collapses and goes into convulsions playing World of Warcraft, which inadvertently gives him more exercise than he's had for months

Alaska's black population says he has felt ignored by Palin

Not one to stall for time, Larry Craig intends to tap out his memoirs

"Obama tax plan will retard growth, job creation" as opposed to Palin's plan of job growth and retard creation

Anonymous package of bacon closes congressman's office, which marks the first time in history a politician ran away from pork

Suri Cruise named best-dressed tot in show business, just barely edging out her dad Tom

Supermodel sorry for disappearance, promises to never turn sideways again

"24" executive producer Joel Surnow opts to leave the show after his contract RAN OUT OF TIME

A little more of our Christmas

2008-12-25T22:07:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas to All!

2008-12-25T21:44:00.002-07:00

We had a great Christmas this year. Just about anything was going to be better than last year when Owen and I were hanging over a bowl with the flu all day! But it really was a fun, relaxing, great day. And to prove it, I'll even post bad pictures of myself, well maybe just one! Here's us all in our pj's Christmas Eve. My parents were with us and Jack & Owen were thrilled to have grandma and papa stay the night with us.

The boys basically got the same things, it wasn't much but I was happy that they liked their gifts so much. I keep wondering how many more years we can get away with buying them the same things. When will they grow to be different enough that they'll be asking for completely different things for Christmas?

They were excited about every little thing stuffed inside their stockings- even the toy cars they already had down in their toy box that we threw in just to have something else!

Such sweet boys.

And all they kept asking to do was open another present! Something about being allowed to tear something open just lights up their faces! Sometimes it also brings frustration when mom uses too much tape and they can't find anywhere to start from, woops!

None of us really got a Christmas nap but we wanted to make extra sure that we wore out the boys enough for a good sleep tonight so we took them sledding with all their new snow clothes and sleds they got from Grandma & Papa Ward. We kept waiting to go throughout the day thinking it would soon stop snowing and as you can see we gave up because there was, and still is, no end in sight! We all had a blast sledding, which is great because the snow's not going anywhere and we've got to get out of the house to do something!

We hope you all had as great of a day as we did. Enjoy the rest of 2008

and get ready to ring in the new year!

Mackade William Lowe

2008-12-23T21:33:00.003-07:00

My little sister was finally able to have her baby today and we're all so in love with him!

She checked into the hospital early Monday morning but by the next morning she had barely dilated to a 4, poor thing. Then all of a sudden things sped right up and after just a couple more hours and two pushes there he was! 8 pounds 2 ounces. The whole family family is so excited to have him, and the boys know it's Christmas because we kept telling them Jessi's baby couldn't come out until Christmas!

On the sixth day 'til Christmas...

2008-12-19T21:52:00.002-07:00

We put up our Christmas tree.

June 14, 2009

2008-11-30T15:01:00.002-07:00

That's right, we're

Our Helpers

2008-10-26T10:45:00.003-06:00

We never take the cans downstairs to the pantry. The boys always do it, and they love to help. Here's a fine example of the results. (EDIT: These were undented cans prior to the boys taking them downstairs).

A taste of what's to come...

2008-10-26T10:42:00.003-06:00

There's still a lot of work ahead.

Inside Outside Upside Down

2008-10-10T22:03:00.002-06:00

Mom brought home a big box!

No tricks here. Honest.

Shout Out to Ashlee!

2008-10-03T16:48:00.003-06:00

For all of you who may not know, my amazing sister-in-law Ashlee is having a big birthday today! I've only know her for a little over four years now but she has undoubtedly been a great blessing in my life. She's been through quite a bit in her young life and has helped me get through a few trying times of my own. Although she's only done my hair once (it's not like I'm around much for her to do it!) she's a very talented hairdresser, I also know that she seems to always be doing fun things for friends and family members, helping them out however she can, and she remembers everything! We always get birthday and anniversary wishes as I'm sure you all do, too from her. More than anything else, though, she's an incredible mom; definitely someone I will always look to for guidance and inspiration in motherhood. Her happy kids and husband will attest to that! She's the kind of person that seems to have everything put together but is able to remain "real" and doesn't act like life is always perfect. I've grown to admire her so much and love her like a sister. I wish we lived closer, especially when there's bowling birthday parties with cake!

Ashlee, I hope your birthday has been great, that your party's a blast, and that you look forward to each new year of life!
Happy Birthday!

WaMu Failed

2008-09-26T00:53:00.004-06:00

We're no longer Washington Mutual customers. Neither are you. WaMu failed this evening, marking the largest bank failure in the history of the US. As far as our finances go, nothing has changed. The FDIC brokered a deal and sold off everything WaMu to JPMorgan Chase. So now we're Chase customers. But the transition will take a few months. And I'll still go deposit my paycheck in the local WaMu branch tomorrow.

This is kind of sad. Washington Mutual has been good to us. We've liked them.

Bonus for Alan Fishman, though. He was hired as Washington Mutual's CEO on September 8, 2008. Seventeen days ago. He was awared a $7.5 million signing bonus and now presumably gets a severance package of $3.65 million. Yes, you read that right, the man gets over $11 million for seventeen days of work. Had he stayed on board, his annual salary was $1 million a year (plus options). It would have taken him years to earn with a successful business what he earned in two weeks with his own bank failing. No conflict of interest there, right?

Anyone want to recommend a good bank for us?

Run the Gap

2008-08-31T22:52:00.004-06:00

WooHoo!!! I did it!

Never in my life did I think I'd be a "runner" (and I'm still not sure if I'd classify myself as that) but I ran my very first 5K this weekend and it was fantastic! I'm torn because even though I'm just so proud of myself for actually doing it I'm kind of disappointed in my performance....I really wanted a trophy! I finished 7th in my age group, but there were only 10 anyways. Oh well. I've been super nervous about the whole thing and very glad that
I survived!

Skating

2008-08-21T22:00:00.006-06:00

The boys were so excited to go skating for their first time ever.

The above picture was taken at 7:06PM, immediately after their skates were strapped on.

"Daddy... these shoes have tires!"--Owen

The above picture was taken at 7:11 PM.

And this final picture, taken once they decided they were done skating, was taken at 7:18 PM.

Twins

2008-08-08T09:37:00.001-06:00

I remember with clarity the day we found out Kara was pregnant with twins. We were sitting there in the ultrasound room when the doctor came in to confirm what the technician thought she saw and said, “Congratulations! You’re having two!” My first reaction included a skipped heart beat (not the good kind) and an incredulous, “Are you serious?”

The trials associated with having twins are dynamic. It’s this competition where you constantly work to outsmart your own children. And they usually win, and then you have to invest in more tools and more time and more purchases to install more locks, gates, barriers, etc. You have to tell yourself to relax when you see the rug being melted from the hair dryer, the dirty diapers being smeared into the carpet, the toys already disassembled, the pages torn out of the textbooks, or one of the other endless list of ways they have managed and continue to manage to destroy things.

Once in a while we get a break, usually from grandparents watching them. Sometimes it’s planned out. Usually it includes us going to bed relatively early and sleeping in pretty late. We have unconsciously learned to use those occasions as a chance to catch up on lost sleep.

So it strikes me as odd that at those times we do get some time without the boys, our conversation is all about them. We talk about the funny things they have said or done, and even fall asleep laughing about their antics. It’s hard to not mimic their behaviors, like leaving to go to the store and fake-arguing about who gets to “sit by Costco!” on the way, or suggesting, “my feet broken! Daddy/Mommy carry me!” when we’re tired of walking. We get sentimental just hours after they’ve left.

It’s true: we miss them when they’re gone. It feels weird going to bed without reading their chosen four books to them—and for that matter, not dedicating an hour to bed time. I sort of miss having one of them (but not both of them) climb into bed with us after “it’s no more dark outside” but before the alarm goes off. I miss hearing those random 6AM whispers to me like, “Daddy make Owen waffles and ice cream please.” Or the excited announcement, “Daddy! Dad! Dad! Daddy! Daddy! Dad! Nick! NICK! I built a boat!” and his boat, made of those large Lego blocks, is indistinguishable (to me) from his tower, his truck, his “dinner I cooked,” his computer, or his doggy.

They come back home tonight. Getting them to go to bed will probably be a fight. And I’m confident I’ll wake up tomorrow morning sometime between 5AM and 7AM with an urgent, “Wake up! We go Lowe’s, do project!”

It will be fun to have them back home.

More interesting than rocks

2008-08-05T10:54:00.002-06:00

Owen stopped throwing rocks for a minute because, "I want to watch the sun go to bed."

We love Saturdays

2008-08-05T10:35:00.004-06:00

Three times a month (first Saturday at Home Depot, second and fourth Saturday at Lowe's), Jack and Owen get to do a kid's project. These projects vary with the season but all involve some hammering. We just started about three months ago and have built

a Mother's Day planter (complete with wooden flowers)

an actual planner (and we grew real flowers in these but they died)

a bird house

a dune buggy (with working wheels)

a baseball stadium toy

a catamaran (kudos if you know what that is without looking it up)

a sailboat

a tape measure

a miniature toy of that game you play with the pole that has a rope attached to the top and a ball attached to the end of the rope, I can't remember the name of it

We usually take it to the next level by letting the boys pick out a color and buying a can of spray paint to colorize their project afterwards. Fortunately (and, at the same time, unfortunately), Jack is happy with painting everything purple.

Saturday is also the day that Mom and Dad do other projects around the house, which this past weekend included painting the two remaining walls in the boys' room, installing a ceiling fan in our bedroom (haven't finished), some landscaping work, and replacing our front porch lamp. The last lamp busted somehow and someone cut it off at ground level. So replacing it means digging up the entire concrete foundation and putting a new one in. I'm halfway there. The concrete is too heavy for me to take out myself and I have no concrete breaking tools.

Anyway we also built a shelf for Jack and Owen's room, as pictured below. Plank: $7, supports, $21, wall anchors, $2. We routed off three edges, stained it, and glued it all together. Also we had to move Neptune and Pluto to a different place in their orbits.

So the picture above demonstrates our painting efforts, our shelf-building efforts, and most of the boys' projects to date (one of each-- in most cases one of the two toys is destroyed within 12 hours).

Pet-sitting

2008-07-29T17:13:00.002-06:00

It really is the best way to have a pet, I think. I imagine it's similar to being a grandparent- it's fun while it lasts but it's always nice to send them home afterwards! This is "Plumber" Ellie's hampster and we're watching him for 10 days while they're having some fun in the sun in San Diego- wish I were, too! He's staying in the laundry room and all we have to do is feed him before we go to bed, not too bad. The boys love him and always have to say hi to him every morning and night but they really don't care to touch him. That's probably a good thing, though, since I don't have to worry about them squishing him a little too hard- if you know what I mean.

And yes, Jack's wearing Christmas jammies because they're just about his absolute favorite ones- even though they're tight as can be on him!

You can call me Betty

2008-07-28T20:10:00.003-06:00

There have been several occasions that I've taken little goodies to work since I started full time a few months ago. Well, it didn't take long for the girls in the office to start calling me "Betty" whenever I'd bring something in. I made these oreo truffles this morning for a guy that's leaving us. They may not be that spectacular looking (I'm working on that) but they are definitly spectacular tasting! The only thing the girls at work don't know is that the only cooking I excel at is sweets, you should see what we had for dinner tonight- cheese sandwhiches and peas, interesting combination huh?

They LOVE to talk

2008-07-14T21:31:00.002-06:00

Lately Owen and Jack have been so funny to listen to. I absolutely love that they can talk so well and never before have I been more thankful that I have twins because I would be expected to answer a whole lot more than I have to! It's pretty funny to go through all these phases with them. They'll get set on a few different words and that's all you'll hear for a few days. Last week was awesome because suddenly they asked for everything instead of just assuming they can do whatever they want (which they're not back to doing)! "Can Owen..." Can Jack..." EVERYTHING! This week they say "actually" a lot. On the way to the pool they were talking back and forth trying to decide what color the pool was. "Actually, the pool is blue" "No, actually, it's red" "No, Owen, actually it's white". So funny, where do these things come from? Then when we got home I was in the kitchen cleaning up and they came up to me like this...

"What color are my eyes mom?" "What kind of eyes does Jack and Owen have?" They're at such a fun age where they constantly come up with all these questions that I would never think to ask them. They also have an explanation for everything. For example; we always have to drive by the hospital and look at the life flight helicopter (which tyey call the sick helicopter because we told them it helps sick people get better). Tonight on our way home from the pool it wasn't at the hospital and very matter of factly Owen says the sick helicopter was tired and went to bed and that's why we couldn't see it. It's nights like tonight that make me so grateful I get to share my life with such sweet souls. I'm so thankful to my father in heaven for being so persistent in getting them to our family. I wish we lived closer to all our family so that you could all experience these same sweet memories along with us.

Sum sum summertime!

2008-07-14T21:23:00.004-06:00

With how the previous two summers have been I was beginning to lose faith that my boys would ever enjoy being in the water. Every time we'd try to get them to swim or play in the sprinklers it end in with the boys in tears and Nick and I frustrated and annoyed! What kid doesn't like the water? Once again, this year hadn't been going very well- no interest in the blow up pool I brought home for them, they lasted less than ten minutes in a three foot pool at their cousins house, and I practically had to throw them in the sprinkler out at my parents' house! The other day the girls at work were talking about the local pool being half price Monday nights and that happens to be one of the nights Nick has school and I hate being home all night trying to entertain the boys. So, I finally did it, I took them to the pool tonight and amazingly they loved it! I am so excited to know that they actually liked being in the water today and neither of them threw a fit about it! It's the funnest little wading pool for kids with a slide, squirt toys, and tire swing. You know where we'll be every Monday night!

We've had a birthday!

2008-07-14T21:14:00.003-06:00

Okay okay so it was over a week ago now that we had this birthday but you know how it goes. My hubby turned 28! Yay for birthdays! Even though the special day landed on a Sunday we managed to have a pretty great day and Nick even got to enjoy two of his most favorite things to eat. Can you name them? Both of them are pretty obvious things- and they really were great! Steak for dinner and pineapple upside down cake for desert. Yum! I just had to show off my cooking skills- especially since I only make this kind of cake once a year :)

More weekend fun

2008-07-08T21:57:00.002-06:00

We had such a blast this past weekend! It didn't hurt that I had a four day weekend from work, either. We mostly hung out with friends and family at Bret & Ashlee's beautiful new home.

It was great to relax, let the kids play, and spend some time with people we don't see very often. As you can all see, I'm no great photographer and half the weekend I forgot I even had my camera with me!

Holiday Weekend

2008-07-08T21:47:00.002-06:00

Great food

Great people

Great fireworks

Another week another adventure

2008-06-06T21:57:00.003-06:00

We haven't done a whole lot this last week, it's been pouring most of the week. We did take the boys mini-golfing the other day, though. Nick found a fun little place with an indoor play place, arcade games, and mini-golf. I think the boys liked it pretty well but they got bored after a while. It was a cool course, though, it was really dark with lots of neon glow-in-the-dark paint everywhere.

The highlight of Jack and Owen's week was getting an awesome package from non other than Grandma Ned! They think they're so cool wearing their Batman shirts! True, they're a little bit big but they don't seem to mind one bit!

The highlight of my week? Haircuts for the boys! First of all, I just adore those little boys with the longer "beach boy" hair, but of course my boys have such fine straight hair they just look homely with long hair. So sad. I still hope to one day have a little boy with curly locks! Second, I'm not into the super short buzz cut look either, but after cutting, and cutting, and trimming, and fixing, and fixing again....that's what I ended up with! Ahhh! This is why I'm in such need of a trip to Oregon! You promised to teach me Ashlee!

Before & After

2008-06-06T20:21:00.003-06:00

Here's my hairy monsters...

And here's my bald little boys!

A week in the life of....

2008-05-18T21:15:00.003-06:00

Now that I finally have a few minutes to upload some pictures I can let you all know what's been going on with us! Mother's Day was great! We ended up having dinner at our house and it was so fun to have a place that we could have a bunch of people over and not feel cramped. My parents, Jessi & Jeremiah (Chachi & Myre to the boys), Grandma & Grandpa Scherer, Grandma P., Bret & Ashlee and their girls were all over. It was quite a bit of work but still a ton of fun. My mom was bringing most of the food down so I decided to try my hand at home made rolls. I've always wanted to do it because I love eating them but I've been too nervous to try it myself. I have to say, though, they turned out wonderful! They don't look like much, but shortly after dinner these were the last two left, and they didn't last much longer. I'm totally excited to make them again.

Nick surprised me with a vacuum for Mother's Day! You should see how clean my carpets finally are, we've been needing a new vacuum for quite a while now. We got one from my parents a couple Christmas' ago but the last few months of its life we'd have to unclog it every time we used it, yuck. Thanks sweetie!

I think the best present of all was my parents taking the boys home for the night. You'd think I'd want to spend time with my kids while celebrating being a mother but they have seriously been trying our patience lately, moreso than ever before. It was such a great relief to have a night to ourselves, plus the boys absolutely love going to my parents house. Thanks mom and dad!

We have a corner in our backyard that the previous owners used as a garden but I don't think we'll do such a large garden, especially since we've never planted anything before and have no ideas what we're doing, so I bought some flower seeds to take up some of the room. The boys and I went to Walmart to get some little shovels and they were thrilled to put them to use! They are such boys! They like being dirty, playing with rocks, climbing up everything, and riding their bikes- I am so glad it's finally warm enough to do all those things outside of my house! Well, the flowers haven't quite been planted yet but I've got my fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Question for all you grandma's (and probably some moms out there, too)-

WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU FIND CUTE ABOUT THESE?!?

We met my mom shopping the other day and while I was shopping with my sister my mom said she was going to take the boys for a walk....and then they came back wearing these! Not only are they "crocs" which I despise but they're bright red cars! And it's not like I could have taken them back, you should have seen the huge grins on those boys' faces, they were in love! My mom loves things like this, or maybe not specifically these items but maybe just how much the boys love them. I didn't think much about it until later at dinner. We went out with my parents and a few of their friends and the two other ladies just raved about these shoes saying how they were so excited to go byu them for their own grandkids! I couldn't believe it, it's got to be a grandma thing, I guess. Oh well, easy clean and they don't make marks on my floors.

Another Project

2008-05-11T14:10:00.005-06:00

I was going to type out the entire process for completing this project, then thought that would be pretty boring. I'll summarize. It's a touch-screen computer built into the boys' wall. We intend for it to serve a few purposes. First, they play a game on sesamestreet.com where they help Elmo design a hat. They love it. They've also played with Paint and done some online coloring pages. Last night they were being whiny at bedtime and so we turned on a youtube video of a guy playing classical music on the piano. And when it's idle, it uses the standard Windows XP slideshow screensaver so they get to look at family pictures. I was concerned about the brightness, but that's adjustable; also because it's got an overlay for the touchscreen feature, the monitor is dimmer than most. So it glows... but barely. In a lighted room you'd have a hard time telling it apart from a standard picture frame. The shelf above the screen has the speakers on it. Not wireless-- I just punched a small hole in the wall at the base of the shelf and ran the wires back behind the wall before mounting the screen in.

But the possibilities are endless. Intercom, webcam, teaching/training videos (sign language, Discovery Channel, etc.), movies at naptime... all just a few thoughts.

Nick's Yellowstone Pictures

2008-05-05T21:58:00.002-06:00

More Yellowstone Pictures

2008-05-05T21:44:00.003-06:00

Quick Trip to Yellowstone

2008-05-05T21:32:00.004-06:00

Last Sunday we took a drive with my parents to Yellowstone to spend the day. Even with all the snow they still have it was a beautiful day, as you can see the boys enjoyed their first day wearing shorts! And with shorts comes scratched up knees...like Owens, OUCH! We drove up to Old Faithful Geiser, it's the only road open right now, and got to see quite a few animals out enjoying the day, as well. It was a great day and we can't wait for summer to fully get here for more fun outside...finally!

Earth!, Updated

2008-04-26T17:01:00.002-06:00

I was premature in posting a picture last night. I was just so glad to get the wallpapering aspect complete. Anyway here's the project finished. Except we'll probably put a coat of polyurethane on the frame right before we leave town next.

I also came to understand that I made a big mistake in this project. I took out a wall outlet (so the map would be flush) and falsely believed I was okay to just clip the wires and wrap the loose ends in electrical tape to be safe. What I didn't realize was that, like a string of old Christmas lights, this outlet was part of a line of outlets. So when I clipped those wires, I broke the circuit, and now the fixture and outlet in the next room don't work. To correct this, I've got to wire the whole room over again or reconnect those loose ends from the outlet. And to do that I'll have to go through the wall, behind the map. So I'm going to try and bust open the box from the other side in the pink room, cause, well, we're going to repaint that room anyway so who cares if I have to do some wall repair there.

Anyway we're talking about a length-of-the-room long strip of corkboard for the wall opposite this one. We'll see what we decide. Other projects in the meantime.

Earth!

2008-04-25T23:26:00.003-06:00

We are midway through Project #2 in the boys' room. Earth. (Picture is blurry because it's 11:30PM and the room is dark and the boys are asleep; the camera flashed but didn't focus). This map is about ten feet wide by a little over six feet tall. Came in three panels. There were lots of "little jobs" that had to be done to get it up. Removing a socket, filling the hole where it was at, applying primer, and then lining up each panel perfectly. Also measuring and marking where everything was supposed to go. It should have been simple math but turned out to get a little more complicated.

The next step is to put a frame around the edges (mostly to keep the boys from picking it off the wall). Then we'll paint the remainder of the wall. Green. Then we'll be done with the project. Next up (not necessarily in this order)-- an electric train set that circles the room (maybe tunnels through into the next? Not sure yet), a touchscreen built into the wall (Sesame Street's website has educational games), and who knows what we'll do with the other walls. We've toyed with a few ideas. Suggestions welcome.

Also, the boys have the planets all memorized now.

Space!

2008-04-10T00:49:00.006-06:00

The project took a lot longer than planned, but we're fairly pleased with the (semi) final result. We used about three times as much paint as we had expected to get the ceiling navy blue, and about triple the anticipated time for that part alone. We replaced the fixture with one more spherical and "sun-like", and put in a bug bulb that burns yellow instead of white. Then we took some string and chalk and measured out the orbits of each of the planets. We included Pluto even though it got voted out of the planet club. It came in the set. Anyway the orbits aren't perfect because they aren't perfectly circular but I wasn't about to try and get it THAT accurate. After we drew the scale orbits (which, by the way, are 100 million km per inch, e.g. Pluto sits 59 inches from the "sun", which means Pluto's orbit is about 5.9 billion km away). It got tricky with the four inner planets because they're all within about four inches of the lamp. After the planets we added ten constellations but again, were limited with a rectangular flat ceiling and had to improvise since we didn't have the sky. It's pretty accurate. Then we tossed in the glow in the dark stars cause, well, we wanted more glowy stuff.

Now for the rest of the room...

One more time!

2008-03-19T13:20:00.002-06:00

We had yet another winter snowstorm this past Saturday! We didn't mind it so much this time though. We got about 6 inches that morning and it was the most perfect snowman snow I've ever seen so of course we had to get outside and make us one last snowman for the year. As you can see, Nick and I were only in sweatshirts and we were still pretty hot from being outside and playing so it was nice, plus just a few days later it was completely gone! Spring here we come!