The Johnsons

Some pictures

2012-02-03T14:52:00.005-07:00

I had a minute to update the blog at the office today so I thought I would post a couple of pictures. The laptop is fixed and I have finally downloaded some pictures!!

This pic is from October-I love it! After scriptures and prayer Monte always gets to be a horse :)

Here is Mia on Dec 1st all bundled up and ready to go outside!

The girls in their christmas jammies from our friend Dana

Makayla loves to help me in the kitchen. She is helping me make homemade noodles. Such a good and happy helper!

Little Miss Mia with her one top tooth! So happy and ADOREABLE!

The girls playing with their present from Uncle Alex and Aunt Stephenie. Its a play do ice cream maker -- and it sure makes a mess!! The girls love it!

The Luckiest Girl Ever

2011-12-28T15:49:00.002-07:00

Santa left a note for Mindy on Christmas morning that told her she had been a very good girl this year and that he had a present for her that couldn't fit down the chimney so she needed to go outside to see what it was....Mindy has said many times:

"I'm the luckiest girl ever" and "my pony is so stinkin cute"

She was SOOO excited to get outside and use her new halter and lead rope from Granny so she could "train" and ride her horse. She kept asking Granny, "but how did you know to get me a pink halter and lead rope?!"

She has told everyone about her new pony from Santa. When she walked outside and pet her new horse she said "I am going to name her Lightening". She later told us that she named her Lightening because she knew that she would be really fast just like lightening. She just can't stop talking about her pony!

I think this picture pretty much says it all!

Since we have been home Mindy has gotten up every morning and just cannot wait to get outside and be with her new friend! Today was sunny and in the fifties so we headed outside. Lightening wouldn't let me catch her so Mindy did it all by herself. She brushed her, led her around, "trained" her to get into the horse trailer about 3 times, and rode her while I led her around. She is so happy! This is the gift that keeps on giving :)

Some pictures from Monte's iphone

2011-12-06T16:36:00.006-07:00

As you already know....We don't have the Internet at our house..... Unfortunately, the laptop where ALL my pictures are stored is broken and getting fixed (for over a month now)....AND I lost my camera for 3 weeks!! I'm so glad I found my camera, but I don't have the laptop to download any pictures to....So, as a result, here are some random snap shots from Monte's phone (sorry, they are out of order too!)

Mindy after church on November 11th

Makayla wearing Mia's beanie and being silly during dinner- December 2nd

Trying to take a picture of the girls together in their jammies.....does anyone else have this problem? :) Nov 13th

Poor Mia was in this stinkin stroller many many times while we were building our fence. She was usually very good just watching us. We finally finished our fence just in time to bring them home after Thanksgiving. I love looking our the window and seeing the horses. We have missed them the last 2 years. Mindy has been begging to ride Roper. I keep telling her we will have to wait for a warm Saturday :) (maybe in a couple of months???)

November 6th-The girls outside just before going on our Sunday walk. Unfortunately it was our last one until Spring :(

I did their hair in braids and sponge rollers for church. It brought back lots of memories for me!

December 3rd- All ready for the Boise State game!

Halloween!!

2011-11-04T14:38:00.006-06:00

Mindy was Pinkalicious (character in a book who eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink!) this year. Pinkalicious is one of the girls' favorite books-we read it all the time! Mindy has been waiting since September to wear pink make-up and have pink hair! She had so much fun trick or treating. She was so excited and ran from house to house helping Makayla along the way. She even waited for Makayla to get to the door before she would knock. No one had any idea who she was. In fact, one lady asked: "Who are you?" and she confidently replied: "Mindy!"

Makayla had plans to be Ariel this year. Aunt Judy sent a cute Ariel costume and we bought some red hair spray for her too. On Halloween morning I fixed her bangs so cute like Ariel and then sprayed her hair red. She looked adorable and she LOVED her hair! Her Ariel costume was a little too long so she kept tripping on it all morning. Then, she had a little accident in her costume -which sometimes happens when you are newly potty trained and wearing tights :)-so I put her in the tub to get the red out of her hair (which took 3 times to wash and rinse and it still had a pink tint) and convinced her to be Rapunzel. Granny bought Mindy a Rapunzel wig during the summer so we put her cute purple dress on and her wig and called it good! As I was putting her tights on she said "Mom, Rapunzel doesn't wear tights!!". She hated wearing the wig so I told her she only had to wear it while we were trick or treating. The moment we headed to the car to be done for the night she pulled it off! Because of the darkness, lots of people passing us asked if the wig was her real hair :) she looked so stinkin cute!

Then there is our little miss Mia baby......Thanks to Aunt Judy she was a cute little ladybug! It was perfect-she looked so cute and it kept her nice and warm! While the girls ran around getting their candy Mia was happily being pushed in her stroller. Monte said she had to wait until she could walk before she could trick or treat with the girls....Which is probably a good thing because Mindy and Makayla got a ton of candy without her help ;)

Chickens!

2011-10-31T15:32:00.000-06:00

The top three pictures are of when we brought the chickens home on Sept 14 and the bottom pics are from October 4th when we converted our shed into a chicken coop. The girls love the chickens. We have 7 Rhode Island Reds, 2 that we think are Barred Rock, and one that is brown that Monte named Butch. Mindy named one of the black chicks "Easter Egg" and Makayla named the other "Chicken Broccoli". I named the lightest chick "Chicken Nugget" but now all 7 of the Reds look the same so we have no idea which one it is! Other names include diamond, trampoline, chicken in a bobble, and sparkle....but they change depending on the day! Mindy is holding Butch in the bottom left picture. Butch is usually the one she can catch. She absolutely loves to try and catch the chickens. If they see her coming they run for cover! We have no idea which are hens and roosters.....i guess we will find out when the roosters start trying to crow :) The evening we (and when I say we, I mostly mean MONTE) finished the chicken coop and got all the chickens in there I had such a neat feeling. I just felt this overwhelming love for our new little home and our little family and our little flock of chickens. It was great to be together and make some great memories as a family. Getting the chickens and working on our fence has really given me a sense of ownership for our new home.

Boise State Baby

2011-10-19T10:22:00.004-06:00

Aunt Judy gave this adoreable outfit to Mia when we visited in August. She has worn it every game day this year. We all love showing our Boise State pride on game day!

Its been awhile!

2011-09-16T15:30:00.001-06:00

We moved and no longer have the internet at our house! In a way its nice becasue I don't waste my time on the internet BUT I pay my bills and blog online! I miss blogging the most- I feel like its a way to document life at the Johnson home and to let everyone know what our family is up to. I have SO MUCH to blog about that I wont be able to gt to it all! I've got to start somewhere-so I figured I would start with something current :)

Go BSU!

2011-09-16T14:58:00.004-06:00

Here we are all ready to start the Boise State game on Sept 3! We were so excited for the season to start....especially MONTE! We let the girls stay up past their bed time to watch the game with us and that was a mistake! They ran around the whole time and kept acting their age so we put them to bed at half time :)

Another Thumb Sucker??

2011-06-30T21:16:00.004-06:00

Mia can't decide what she wants to do.

For a little bit she took a pacifire. Then she started sucking on her bottom lip. But lately she has been favoring the thumb in her mouth. She doesn't actually sit there and suck on it-- but it keeps finding its way into her mouth!!!

I guess only time will tell :)

Today

2011-06-29T20:21:00.004-06:00

Surprise! I cut my hair after 6 years of growing it out! It was a very traumatic experience for Mindy. All weekend long she kept telling me not to cut my hair because I wouldn't look like a princess or that I would look like a boy. She has been VERY observant of how people lately. For example today at Sam's Club she had to point out (out loud of course!) the man with a very long pony tale and the girl with the immodest dress. Anyway, back to what I was saying before, Mindy watched with her eyes filled with tears and her thumb in her mouth as my friend Dana cut my hair. Dana put a little band in my hair and then cut it and gave it to Mindy to keep. When my hair was finished she told me that I still look like a princess--so that's a good sign! I do feel bad though because both the girls want to be just like their Mama (just like all little girls do!). The other day I got dressed after Mindy was already dressed and she went and changed so that our colors would match. Then Makayla went and picked out an outfit to match too! I have been dying in this humidity this year and it is so nice to have a cooler hair cut. Mindy has asked me several times how long it will be until my hair grows back.....

These first two pictures were taken by Mindy. She is becoming quite the photographer around here! She is always asking to take a picture!! :)

Mia is 4 months old now!

So....this is what we look like TODAY :)

A Father's Day Gift

2011-06-20T19:36:00.004-06:00

We gave Monte this picture in a frame for Father's Day.

Mindy just LOVES her "dada". Lately she will ask him non-stop if she can play a game on his ipod. She is always tagging along side Monte asking him questions and just talking :) she always ends each sentence with "huh dada". Monte and Mindy are best buddies.

Then there is Makayla......she is definitely a mama's girl but will occasionally give her Dada a kiss. Ever since Mia was born Monte has helped out a lot with the older two girls and so Makayla is slowly catching on that he is actually a good guy! She has such a cute laugh and Monte can always find a way to get one out of her. She especially loves him when he carries her to the trampoline (because she is scared of Harley) and jumps with her.

Little Miss Mia usually gets a holding session in each night with her daddy. A couple of weeks ago Monte was holding her at church and I couldn't believe how much they looked alike!!

Monte is a good daddy to our girls.I love that I can learn often how to be a better Mom by watching him be a great Dad

Photo Shoot

2011-06-16T21:06:00.003-06:00

Mia in her blessing dress

I love this picture!

This is SO Makayla!

Mindy is getting so big!

I got a sweet deal through Groupon for Clix Portrait Studios. I got 7 pictures on a CD for like $70! SWEETNESS! The girls did great!

My friend Dana helped at the studio, curled the girl's hair, and help me get to the appointment on time!

Easter 2011

2011-06-16T20:41:00.003-06:00

Mia's First Pony Tail

2011-06-16T20:03:00.004-06:00

Mia with her first pony tail at just 11 weeks! It looked SO cute but started breaking her hair so it didn't last long :)

The girls LOVE Mia and always want to touch and talk to her!

So Cute in Yellow

2011-06-16T19:52:00.004-06:00

I still cannot believe that I have a baby girl with brown hair--but I love it!!! She looks adoreable in Yellow!! I just love this picture. Just 10 weeks old :)

Happy Baby!

2011-06-16T19:48:00.001-06:00

Mia is ALWAYS Happy! She is very content with whatever and always has such an adorable smile for everyone! I feel so blessed to have such a good baby!

Mia - 6 weeks

2011-06-16T19:43:00.001-06:00

Here are the many faces of Mia at just 6 weeks old!

Mindy the Yodeling Cowgirl

2011-06-16T19:34:00.002-06:00

Ok so maybe she doesn't know how to Yodel - but she sure looks cute in this Jessie Costume!

Mindy is our little cowgirl. Lately everytime we get in the van she says to me

"Mama, pretend this is Skip"

When we ride in the truck she always wants to listen to the

George Strait song "How 'bout them cowgirls"

She loves to play with her toy horses, make corrals in the hallway, and make a halter for her stuffed horse and run around neighing! She is a true cowgirl at heart!

Trying to Update!

2011-06-12T21:30:00.002-06:00

I have been so bad lately about updating my blog! I plan on posting about everyday life going on around here. Mia is getting so big and now that summer is here we are very busy!

Stay tuned for more....

Mia's Blessing

2011-06-12T20:09:00.003-06:00

Mia was blessed on April 10, 2011. We had a wonderful weekend with lots of family. Granny, Grandpa, and Judy all came from Idaho. Alex and Stephenie came just in time after leaving right after school got out for the semester.

On Saturday Judy, Brookelynn, Mia and I all went shopping for a dress for me to wear on Sunday. It has become a tradition to get a new dress with each baby blessing. I love the dress-Thanks to Aunt Jude! All the girls had a lemonade party. We all dressed up in our dresses, hats and flowers, and make-up. We had yummy croissant sandwiches with cheese factory too! For dessert we had strawberry shortcake.

The girls wore their "wedding dresses" to church and looked so cute! Mia looked beautiful in her blessing dress handmade by Aunt Judy. Monte, Grandpa Waltman, Great Grandpa Garner, Bishop Steinagel, and Alex all stood in for her blessing. Monte gave a great blessing-and she didn't even cry.

We were so greatful to have family there for such a special event!

A little about our new life with 3 girls

2011-03-20T18:38:00.004-06:00

We have late church so it seems like every Sunday we are waiting around to go! Then when the time actually comes we are somehow not ready!! :) Well, this last Sunday we had about 15 minutes before we needed to get loaded into the car so of course I had to get the camera out. I took about 30 pictures to get one cute one!!! Is it just me or does everyone have this problem...my girls will not look at the camera!!!!!

So Monte felt the need to give baby sister a nickname. I'm not sure if it will stick but its Mimi. I told him it is too close to Nini but he keeps calling her that and now the girls have started to as well. (I like to use nicknames for the girls on the blog so it works for now)

I still cannot believe that Mimi has dark hair. She looks similar to the girls in their baby pictures but is totally her own self with her long dark hair. She is a good baby and wakes up about every 3 hours to eat during the night.

Sister Scott (Nini's BFF) gave us this adorable outfit. Honestly-I've never bought a blue outfit/dress because, if my babies are not in pink, people always ask "oh is it a boy or girl"(well, they actually sometimes even ask when they're wearing PINK--hello!!)

I thought Mimi looked so cute in this outfit and I just couldn't stop taking her picture!

Today she is 5 weeks old :)

Nini and Iya still get up at 6:30 every morning. Monte and I have this unspoken deal of I take care of the baby and he gets up with the girls. He has been a big help getting up and putting on a movie, filling cups with milk, and changing a usually stinky diaper. Every night I go to bed planning on getting up with the girls in the morning, but by the time their wake up call comes around, I'm so tired from getting up in the middle of the night that I just cannot bring myself to get out of bed. Maybe someday it will happen-but probably not any day soon! :)

My friend/visiting teaching companion did a baby shower for me 2 weeks ago. There was lots of yummy food. My mom and sisters even came too! It was so fun and I got lots of diapers and cute things. Dana made this ADORABLE diaper wreath!

After the baby shower my Mom and I tried baby Mimi's dress on her. Aunt Judy made it for her. She is going to look so beautiful on her blessing day!

I LOVE that the weather is getting nicer so the girls can get out of the house to run around and play. One of the days they were outside I told them Daddy was going to be home and to watch for him-I looked out the window to check on them and saw them sitting there waiting--so cute!
Monte is holding sleeping Mimi and watching basketball right now (surprise, surprise!). She is usually up and wants to eat or be patted in the late evening. I got a nap today for the first time in weeks while the girls had "quiet time"....who knew Peter Pan was ONLY an hour long! :)

Our Baby Girls

2011-03-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Each of these pictures were taken when the girls were 2 days old. I actually wore this outfit as a baby too! I cannot believe how different they look from each other. I feel so blessed to have 3 beautiful girls.

Baby Sister

2011-03-01T12:19:00.001-07:00

Here is our baby sister! She was born February 18 at 2:33. She weighed 8 lbs 14 oz. We love her so much and cannot believe she has so much dark hair! Nini loves to hold her and Iya loves to touch her hair and nose. She is such a sweet baby and we are so happy to finally have her as a part of our family!

Snow Day!

2011-01-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

The girls were SO excited to go outside and play in the snow. Nini woke up and got into the fridge to look for carrots for a snowman! Unfortunately it was not good snow man material snow......but it was fun to play in anyway! Daddy was such a good sport to go out with the girls. He pulled Nini on the snowboard and taught the girls how to make snow angels! Nini loved every minute and didn't want to come inside. She especially loved throwing snowballs at Daddy! Iya enjoyed the snow about as long as a 2 year old usually does and then wanted to come inside and take a tubby because her hands were freezing!! What a fun day in the snow!

Sunday Dresses

2011-01-08T13:55:00.001-07:00

Favorite Aunt Judy made these adoreable capes for the girls for Christmas. They have "fur" collars and are so so cute!! The girls love getting all dressed up and ready for church. They get to wear sticker earings and lipstick!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T11:08:00.002-07:00

Nini's 4th Birthday

2010-11-12T11:41:00.004-07:00

Nini decided that she wanted to go to the a Halloween Party on her birthday instead of have a birthday party this year. Her and Iya got to wear their new princess dresses from Favorite Aunt Judy! :)
I just love this picture.

Nini playing with her new Snow White and Prince dolls.

Nini wanted to have a "tea" party, so when we got back from the Halloween party, we got our hats on and begged Daddy to join us! Nini and her BARBIE CAKE!!

Aunt Judy sent this to her. Aunt Brookelynn helped her make them the next weekend when they came down. She named her bear "Sarah Cheerleader Johnson"

Of course no birthday is complete without going to RED ROBIN!

Nini was SO excited for them to sing to her and get ice cream with a cherry on top!

New Puppy

2010-10-27T18:52:00.004-06:00

Two weeks ago we got a new puppy for Nini's birthday. She is a lucky little girl and got her a week early. We picked her up on Friday evening before heading out to Oklahoma. Nini was so so excited and held her for at least half the drive there. She named her Harley and she is a registered chocolate lab. Nini was so excited to pick out a pink collar for her new little puppy on our way to pick her up.

The girls had so much fun running around with Harley chasing them. Iya is having the hardest time saying her name and keeps calling her Carley :)

Sonogram

2010-10-12T12:12:00.003-06:00

Last month we took the girls to my sonogram. Nini was so excited to see the baby on the tv.

The lady said "Well, I can't really tell, but I think its a girl, but I'm not sure"

I thought she was going to like keep checking until she could tell....then she said I was done. So I said" So...is it a girl?" and she said "I'm not sure, but I think so"

So we think we are having a GIRL!

Washington DC

2010-09-23T18:52:00.007-06:00

Eating at Five Guys Burgers and Fries (the first of MANY times Mmmmmm!)
These next few pictures are at the Museum of Natural History

Sitting on a bench resting at "The Mall" . I was really confused when everyone was talking about the mall but I didn't see one to shop at......then I realized it was the long strip of park by all the memorials. :)

Washington Memorial

Here we are with a bunch of other tourists at the front of the White House. I honestly thought the White House was way bigger than this! It looks huge in pictures but in person I didn't think it was that big (of course I didn't go inside though!)

Aunt Tiffany, Uncle Daniel and their cute kids! We had a blast hanging out with them!

I took this picture when we were on the top of the old post office tower.

This is my favorite picture. The Washington Monument again...this time on the opposite side taken from the war memorial.

The Lincoln Monument. It was beautiful and to get to the top you have to climb a million stairs. It was actually a long walk from the Washington Monument and an even farther walk back to the hotel!

Monte and Katie by the horse policeman. The horses were so tall. Monte was a good sport carrying Katie on his shoulders.....ahhh to be a kid again!

View of the White house at the TOP of the Washington Monument

Dad got up really early on Monday morning and walked all the way to the monument so we could get tickets to ride the elevator to the top. It was amazing!

We had a great trip and especially enjoyed the Boise State Game! It was so fun to hang out with Tiffany and her family and also Aunt Julie, Uncle Mike and Jadan. Tiffany and I are both due in February so we had a great time talking about baby stuff :)

We also got to hang out with Rich and Zach Porter! We had not seen Zach since before his mission. We all went out to dinner on Friday night-it was great catching up!

Boise State - Virginia Tech Game

2010-09-11T21:37:00.004-06:00

Riding the metro on the way to the game The sunset was beautiful just before the game started.

We sat 1 row from the very top, but the view was still great

We were losing at this point of the game and Dad DID NOT want me to take his picture

After the game celebrating our VICTORY! We had such a great time a the game. Monte lost his voice before the first quarter was over. We were in a section with some BSU fans but I could not believe how many and how loud the VT fans were. It was so loud with them yelling and shaking their keys on 3rd down for Boise. There were 86,000 people in the stadium-It was insane!

Definitely a game to remember

By the way....

2010-08-17T18:29:00.003-06:00

For those of you that don't already know.....

We are having a baby!

I'm due on February 5 so I am just over 15 weeks. We are so happy and excited to have another baby. Nini just cannot wait! Iya on the other hand is still totally clueless!

"Tea" Party

2010-08-17T18:00:00.003-06:00

For our Anniversary Monte and I got to go out to dinner and do some shopping while my Aunt Janna watched the girls. While we were at Dillards I found these adoreable hats for the girls and they were only $4. So of course the next day we had to have a tea party! The girls got some adoreable new dresses from Aunt Judy that they wore. We had monte cristo sandwitches, cottage cheese. grapes, strawberries, and oranges. For our tea we had lemonade. We finished off our party with some yummy sugar cookies with none other than SPRINKLES on top! I even got out a tea party set that I used as a little girl. The girls had SO much fun!

The girls were good helpers with the cookies!

All ready for our tea party
Iya pointed to her cottage cheese and said "more ranch!"

Nini loving life!

I had to crop Nini's finger out of this picture!

Hershey

2010-08-08T20:47:00.005-06:00

Hershey died today from the heat. Nini wanted to see a picture of her and Hershey together. This picture is on Monte's birthday almost 1 year ago. She has been a good family dog and mother to her puppies. She will be missed. It has been so hot here. The dogs have had a rough summer.

Corn

2010-07-21T19:24:00.004-06:00

We had corn on the cob for Sunday dinner. I knew Nini liked corn… but I had no idea she LOVED IT! She seriously ate 3 and a half ears of corn! I guess I should buy it more often…..

Cute Girls

2010-07-21T19:15:00.003-06:00

Nini made a necklace for Iya while she was taking a nap. When Iya woke up Nini gave her the new necklace. The girls have a love/hate relationship (I believe like most siblings) depending on the minute….in this particular one, they were having fun smiling and playing together.

Denny

2010-07-21T19:02:00.002-06:00

We finally got to go to my parents land and see the horses. It seems like it has been forever! This is Monte, Preston, Grandpa and Nini, and Alex

I love the wet horses and clouds in this picture Here is Denny and Skip. Alex had to go get them on the 4-wheeler because they wouldn't come. Dumb horses-or maybe smart :)

Denny is getting so big and he is loosing his baby hair and looks even more like Roper

June!

2010-07-14T11:31:00.003-06:00

The first week in June My Aunt Janna and Uncle Randy moved here. They arrived with Granny and Grandpa on Thursday evening. We helped them move in on Saturday and that night went to dinner for Granny's Birthday at none other than Red Robin.

Ross, Alex and Preston sportin their meals

Randy, Janna, and baby Jacob

Iya enjoying the ranch with her french fries.....she actually attempted to drink the ranch!
Silly Iya! :)

So I have been so lazy lately about taking pictures! I don’t know what’s up with me!
We went to Idaho for 2 weeks in June and I only have a couple of pictures to prove it! Not only did I not take many pictures but I also forgot my camera at the Johnson reunion! Gurr….
Well, here is what I have for June:

Bowling at Boise State--Such a blast!

All tired out at Roaring Springs!
Looking at the beautiful flowers at the Temple

The roses were so beautiful

Jumping at Granny Granny's house

There are so many things that we did that I didn’t even get my camera out for but that I really enjoyed:

• Going to lunch with my FRIENDS!! Corinne invited Stephanie, Tracy, and Tara to lunch at Red Robin. I really enjoyed catching up. My favorite was seeing baby Wrangler-He is so cute!

• The Waltman-Christensen Reunion. It was so fun to see all my family and kind of weird to see the Christensen’s in Idaho! :)

• Reading a book. I read Tregaron's Daughter by Madeline Brent. Aunt Judy gave me some books by Madeline Brent because I love Moonrakers Bride! It only took me two days to read and it was nice to just relax and read.

• Making a CD. I know what you are thinking but….its true! The younger 4 sister-in-laws: Maurny, Andrea, April, and I sang some beautiful church music and had it recorded. Grace and Morgan sang too. It was a blast and I have always wanted to do it. Thanks to Maurny for all her hard work playing the piano and setting everything up for us!

• Seeing Granny's new addition. Her house looks so beautiful! I got to sleep in Judy’s new room and bed. It is so nice and bright in her new room! We enjoyed great food and hospitality our entire trip-THANKS!

• The Johnson Reunion. Monte flew down for the weekend and we went to a cabin at the fork of the Weiser river. We all had so much fun being together. I really enjoyed being around the family. I was also reminded how much Monte is just like his Dad!! As always there was lots of delicious food and good times :)

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-02T12:04:00.004-06:00

Birthdays!

2010-05-26T12:57:00.005-06:00

On Friday we had a friends birthday party for Iya. It was Toy Story themed and was such a blast for the kids. I make a Jessie hat cake and we had some streamers up and toy story table cloth and plates. I let them throw water balloons and use squirt guns and try to get characters that I cut out from the movie. It was so rainy all week but was super nice on Friday so it was way nice. Iya is such a cutie-when you ask her how old she is she says "free" (she is only two!)

Here are all the kids coloring Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bullseye.

Makayla got "wiggle sprinkles" (as Nini says) and some toy story goggles from her party. After everyone left we had a water party of our own. :)

On my birthday we went to Red Robin together. It was a family tradition in Idaho to go with my parents and siblings and of course Granny, Grampa and Judy.....we loved it so of course we will continue it here (just by ourselves though)!

My family came on Sunday after church for Iyas birthday.

Iya holding her new favorite toy....

New Table

2010-05-14T08:18:00.004-06:00

I have been wanting a new table for a long time. Our old one is falling apart and is too small when we have family or the missionaries over. I have been looking online and at Sam's Club. Last Friday Alex and I went to Sam's to look for a gift for Mom for Mother's Day and they had the table that I was looking at online. It also has two more chairs and a butterfly leaf that stores underneath. I just love it! Happy Mother's Day and Birthday to ME!

Nini

2010-05-02T15:06:00.005-06:00

I had the camera out the other day and Nini wanted me to take a picture of her touching the wall. She was posing for the camera and smiling! She normally could care less when I get them camera and I can never get her to look and smile at the SAME time. I just cannot believe how big she is getting. She loves to play "I'm the mommy and Iya's the daddy" and she also loves being outside running around and playing with the puppies. She is so funny because one minute she will be outside feeding the dogs and playing in the dirt, and the next minute she will be putting on a princess dress and lipstick- she is definitely a well rounded little girl. She is so beautiful and I love her.

All Star Pest Control

2010-04-30T11:33:00.002-06:00

I finally finished the company website just before we went to Disneyland. If you haven't already checked it out, here is the web address:

www.allstarpestcontrol.biz.

We are starting to get really busy. My Dad and Alex have been up here this last week selling. Monte has been going out with them most evenings and I am so suprised at how well he is doing! Well, it definatley is in the Johnson blood to be a salesman but I didn't know HE had it in him!

He is doing great and I am so proud of him.

Baby Horse and Puppies!

2010-04-23T19:14:00.005-06:00

Skip finally had a COLT and he is SO cute!! His un-official name is Denny and he is a palomino just like his daddy Roper. Nini REALLY wanted a girl horse so she could name it Filly :) We went down to Oklahoma last week to see him and it was raining and super muddy. The video is of Monte getting him into the trailer to get him and Skip out of the rain.

Isn't he so cute!
Here are our puppies! There are 6 males and 2 females. They will be 4 weeks on Saturday 4/24 and are all so cute and chubby. The weather has been so nice and the girls have been outside everyday this last week playing with them. WE LOVE PUPPIES!
One week old...

Easter Weekend

2010-04-07T19:05:00.005-06:00

Thursday I meet my Mom half way between their house and ours and she took the girls home with her. That night Monte and I got to go out on a DATE to Texas Roadhouse! The next day I was able to go shopping for an Easter dress for myself with no kids. It was awesome! Then when Monte finished up work we headed down to Oklahoma. We meet my parents, Brian and Donna, and Aaron and Kim at Outback steakhouse. It was so fun talking and going on two dates in a row! After dinner we went to Aaron and Kim's house for some ice cream.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the double D and rode horses for a little bit, then all the girls headed to the local Easter egg hunt. Emma got a silver egg and won a Easter basket with an arch card and a barbie. I'm personally not into the public Easter egg hunts-I prefer just doing it at home without a million people-but the girls had fun :) and that's what counts! We then watched the afternoon session of conference while the Naughty boys played football. That night we got some Braums ice cream and a movie while the big boys went to priesthood session (an hour away!)
Easter morning the all kids were up and playing together and I was able to get all ready for Easter. I love being able to prepare for the day. It was such a nice day too. It felt so peaceful sitting outside pondering about the Savior's Resurrection, my testimony, and life in general. We then had a big breakfast and even cleared the table before conference started. I personally felt so inspired-it seemed like every talk was about motherhood and the importance of family. Between sessions we had a delicious dinner. We had beef brisket and it was SO good! Later that evening we went to Brian and Donna's house for some dessert, visiting, and egg hunting for the kids. On our way home there was a beautiful lightning storm in the clouds. It was so beautiful to watch.

All of us together for Easter Dinner

Disneyland

2010-03-31T19:17:00.013-06:00

OUR TRIP TO DISNEYLAND

SPRING BREAK 2010

Monday morning we got up SUPER early to be at the airport at 5:30 am. We were all so tired but so EXCITED!!

Mom helped a ton with Iya on the airplane ride. Here is Dad, Preston, Mom and Iya sleeping......all 4 of them at the same time!

The first thing Granny bought the girls was a Mickey sucker :)

Happy Iya and Granny

Iya helping feed her cousin Jacob. Janna and Randy came on Monday and Tuesday to the park and we got to meet little Jacob for the first time

The girls first ride at Disneyland....Winnie the Pooh ride!

Grandpa, Granny and the girls getting ready to go on the Disneyland train!

Nini on her FAVORITE ride....the carousel

The gang in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride...

Tuesday Morning we all went on SPLASH MOUNTAIN! All of my siblings and I rode together and it was so fun! Emma was SO scared and had to be reassured the entire ride that she would not fall out and no..they would not stop the ride to let her out :)

This year we did something so so fun for all the girls. We went to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for princess makeovers! They all looked like beautiful little princesses with their hair and nails and make up done. They got a bag of makeup and accessories to take, which Nini and Emma applied liberally to themselves every day! Nini looked so cute and was SO happy! Iya was too little to get a makeover but we put her in a little Tinkerbell outfit and she looked just as cute!

Look at all the gel and glitter!

After the makeovers we went to Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure for a princess luncheon. We started with a picture with Ariel, and then we sat at a royal long table. We had three courses of royal food. It was so delicious and such a blast. While we were eating, all of the princesses came around to our tables and visited with us and let us take our pictures with them.

Nini and her favorite princess (at the moment) Snow White

The girls just LOVED Cinderella. Iya was so excited to see her and loved to hug her!
The two Cinderellas :)

After lunch we saw Jessie and Iya LOVED LOVED her. She got a Jessie doll and hugged and kissed it all the time

Monte flew in Tuesday night. The Grannys and Grandpas took the little kids back to the hotel and we had a good time going on the big kid rides without them. Here we are on Thunder Mountain....my favorite ride :)

Our family on Wednesday morning.....aren't we so happy!!!

We could not get the girls to smile or look at the camera the entire trip!

Nini and Daddy on the Roger Rabbit Ride. The girls loved to finally have there daddy there!

Guess who???? Which one is Monte and which is Alex

We were so hot on Wednesday....it was in the 80's...... so we got some yummy ice cream- Iya loved it!

These are the brave ones that weren't afraid to get wet one more time on Grizzly River Rapids!
The WHOLE Gang on Thursday in our BSU orange!

The girls playing and havin fun!

On Thursday it was Preston's Birthday. I cannot believe he is 17!
This picture was very typical of us-A train of strollers and wheel chairs. Its hard to tell but it goes: Mom and stroller, Monte and stroller, Judy and stroller, Granny then Grandpa :)

Iya kissing her Jessie doll....

Iya and Preston at McDonald's before we left for the airport on Friday.

We had such a fun trip and loved taking our little girls. They had so much fun and we made lots of family memories! It was hard to leave sunny California and the "Happiest Place on Earth".........it was especially sad to come home to SNOW in Kansas!!

A crazy week

2010-03-09T20:12:00.002-07:00

I was in Oklahoma from Monday the 1st until the yesterday, Monday 8th watching my brothers and sisters while my parents were in Idaho. It was kind of a crazy week. On Tuesday Mindy was sick, Wednesday I was sick and then on Thursday Preston was sick-all of us throwing up! It was no fun! Friday after work Monte drove down. It was nice to have him come. On Saturday Isaac and Emma both had soccer games. Emma was hilarious and had NO CLUE what was going on! When we got home Preston asked her if she scored a goal and she said “I don’t know!?” Isaac did well in his game. He was goalie the first half and they only scored once on him, then he was a forward and scored a goal in the second half.
Sunday morning the girls woke up early so Brookelynn and Emma played with them while Monte and I tried to sleep in. Somehow-without anyone seeing her-Mindy pushed the fire button on the security system. It started alarming REALLY LOUD and would not stop! I tried to push a bunch of the buttons but nothing worked. So I tried calling Mom and of course her phone was off. So I tried Dad and he didn’t answer. Monte pulled apart the fire alarm and so it stopped but the security system was still flashing. Then the lady that owns that house called and asked if everything was ok and I told her what had happened and she said the FIREMAN ARE ON THEIR WAY! I was like noooooo! So the fireman showed up and I went outside and the first one got out of the truck and said “I take it there’s no fire!” I was SO embarrassed!!!!!!!!!!! I said I was sorry like a hundred times and explained that my parents were out of town and we didn’t have the code to turn it off and the security company called the owners but they don’t live here… So they tried to reset the system and could not-so the owner called back and she had talked to the security system company and they were going to reset the system. So the firemen left as I said sorry another 10 times! I felt so so embarrassed!!

I definitely wanted to be a kid again and let the adult take the blame and talk to the fireman-but I couldn’t- I WAS THE ADULT!!

Jonah was a Prophet

2010-02-22T18:43:00.004-07:00

I made some pictures for the story of Jonah a couple of years ago for my Sunbeam class and the other week for family night decited to pull them out and give a lesson. Nini LOVED it. Every night she begs to hear the story of Jonah. The first couple of days she kept asking to hear the Johnas story :) She loves the song Follow the Prophet and has the Jonah verse memorized. She now loves to hear and tell the story several times a day. For family night tonight she wanted to tell Iya the story. She is so cute and I love that she can now tell it all by herself.

Enjoy the Nini version of Jonah (sorry its so dark-our living room is SO dark at night)

Fun in Oklahoma

2010-02-21T19:23:00.005-07:00

Two weekends ago we went down to oklahoma to visit for the weekend. On Friday we went to Preston's game in Perry, OK (about half way between our house and my parents). It was fun to watch him play. He starts on the JV team. Then on Saturday we were able to go to the temple. It was so nice to be able to go, Monte and I both really enjoyed it.
Ok, so here is a little history.....read at your own risk :)
February 6, 2005 was the first day I met Monte. I cannot believe it has been five years. He came home from his mission on January 20th and we met at church just 3 1/2 weeks later. He came to chruch with his brother McKay and sister-in-law Andrea who were in the same ward as me. Andrea was my laurel advisor and wanted to set us up. When he walked into church that day I thought I was going to die he was so hot! :) I even remember the tie he was wearing. They sat 2 rows in front of us and to the side so I stared at him during all of sacrament meeting! After the meeting we talked for a little bit. After church I was SO scared to talk to him. Everytime I looked at him (or even thought about it) I would blush....which knowing me isn't much of a suprise. So we didn't talk again until he called me a week later to hang out and play games at Mckay's house. For the weeks and months to follow there were many memorable times spent together.....

Here is a picture we took after we got back from the temple

Here is a picture of us 5 years ago at our favorite place......Big Willow
Moving on...
Here is a pic of Preston in his game on Friday (Feb 5) in Perry

So call us crazy but we went down the next weekend as well to see Granny. My mom got a new car in Idaho so she flew down to get it and Granny drove back to Oklahoma with her. On Friday night we got to all go out to dinner together and hang out at the Christensens. Then on Saturday we went on a horse ride at "The Double D" (dad's land)
Here is Emma and Nini sitting on Spur waiting for us to finish up saddling up the horses.
Nini threw a fit because she wanted to ride BY HERSELF so Emma rode behind me and dad lead Nini!! She looked so big yet so little. I could not believe my little girl was big enough to ride alone but she looked so little on such a huge horse!

Havin FUN! The weather was so nice-It was in the high 50's and just perfect!

We drove the truck down so we could take some pictures of Dad and Monte for the website I am making for All Star Pest Control. This is one of my favorites that we took.

What We've been up to...

2010-01-20T18:45:00.009-07:00

I have been meaning to post these pictures for a long time! We went down to my parents house a couple of weeks ago and these pictures are of us playing on the ice out at the Christensen's cabin. My dad is the one with his hand in the air-this picture was taken RIGHT before he fell down. It was hillarious....too bad I wasn't recording!!!Brookelynn holding our last puppy that is still looking for a home (any takers?)
Monte sliding on a piece of wood
This is the cabin in the backgroundThis is video of Brookelynn pulling Nini on a piece of wood. I thought it was cute! I was watching from the car because it was SO COLD!!

While we were there Bronco got hurt. We have no idea what happened to him but it was nasty looking. When we got home he was very sickly so we decited to take him to the vet. As you can see he had to get stiches and they had to keep him overnight-- it was expensive!

For family night we frosted some heart sugar cookies and the girls got to put sprinkles on all by themselves. We had lots of fun. Nini cannot wait until Valentines Day.

Monte's cookie (notice no sprinkles)

Isn't she SO cute!

Mmmmm......

She licked more frosting off of the sprinkle container than the cookie!

Nini LOVED putting more and more and more sprinkles on her cookie.

Look at all those sprinkles!

When we all were done eating our cookies Nini was finially finished putting sprinkles on her cookie. This is her licking the sprinkles and frosting off the top.

We are going to.....

2010-01-16T12:36:00.004-07:00

DISNEYLAND!!!

We will be going with my parents and siblings, and Granny, Grandpa and Judy!

My mom told Nini that she has to go potty on the toilet like a big girl so we can go to Disneyland... so we started potty training this week! She has done really well and is officially wearing big girl panties!

I told Nini that at Disneyland they have a train and she was so excited. The other day she told me "I don't want to go on the potty train-I want to go on the choo-choo train at Disneyland!"

She is so cute and CAN'T WAIT!!

White Christmas...

2009-12-30T12:38:00.010-07:00

I know that it is way past Christmas now but I have been so busy lately that I haven't made time to get our blog updated.

Hope you enjoy!

The Saturday before Christmas we had our ward Christmas Party. I thought the girls looked so cute in their matching dresses but I could not get a picture of them together. So I had them hold a present (which was not the best idea) and Minster wanted to hold the one she got from Aunt Judy. So of course Iya had to do the same. Minster was SO excited to open her present from Aunt Jude. She sent everyone their own individual gift. It was so sweet! We thought FOR SURE Iya would SCREAM when we put her on Santa's lap....but she didn't! She just stared at him while Minster did all the talking.

The Girls

So we left on the 23rd for Oklahoma and were so happy we came then because there was a huge snow storm on Christmas Eve. The winds were in the 40's and it was snowing all day. It was just amazing how cold, snowy, and windy it was. Dad and Isaac had to go feed cows and were gone for 5 hours and had several near deaths experiences! It was amazing they made it home. When they got back Dad was so cold...

Brookelynn and Emma played Princesses with the girls and as always they loved it! It is officially Minsters new favorite thing!

Iya in her cute tinker bell outfit

The windows looked so festive with the snow on them.

Brookelynn and Iya

Preston and Iya

Isaac and the girls dancing to Christmas music

Iya and Granny

Minster was so ready for bed after dinner when it was time for our Christmas program. She only wanted Granny

Christmas Morning! Santa found us in Oklahoma! The girls both got BIKES!!

Iya loves her new puppy

and her new bike

playing with her new toy from Uncle Alex

Helping Granny make breakfast
Nice hair!

HAPPY on IYA'S bike. She said that hers is "broken" and that "Santa brought me the wrong one" so we have to take her bike to Walmart to "get one like Iya's"

Me and Monte on Christmas morning. He got me the Carheart vest I'm wearing.

Minster in Grandpa's truck on the Saturday after Christmas. We went to go see Grandpa's land.

Iya in the truck loving being out of a car seat

Can you believe how much it snowed in OKLAHOMA! This is Uncle John's Creek which runs right through Dad's land.

Isaac and Preston played in this snow drift that was just along the road. It was really deep. On Christmas day when we were on our way to dinner at Bryan and Donna's house we got stuck in the snow in the van. It was crazy, we were just going along and all of the sudden the road in front of us was completely covered in a snow drift. We got completely stuck! This farmer happened to be outside right where we were and he started up his tractor and pulled us out. It was so nice and we were so grateful. My Dad and Alex both got stuck too-in separate trucks. The snow was just crazy-the drifts were so deep!

When Puppies ATTACK!

2009-12-18T14:14:00.004-07:00

How could something so cute cause crying, screaming, and pandemonium......

She made it!!!!

If you didn't notice her hair -is is all pulled out from the first time she ran and got knocked down and mauled by the puppies. It took three times for her to be completely taken down before she was ready to go inside. And they called it puppy love...

Christmas Tree

2009-12-09T18:29:00.005-07:00

So for some reason I cannot change the order of these pictures! Anyway, I just wanted to share some fun ornaments we have on our Christmas Tree. This is definitely one of my faves! If you can't tell what it is, its Ralphie from A Christmas Story. Ya gotta love it!
We bought this ornament this year for Minster. She LOVES horses for those that didn't know. (just a side note.....ITS ALREADY BROKEN!!)
This ornament is what our Christmas tree is all about "Cowboy Christmas" :)
I made this one for our little cowgirl in 2007. I just love the memories of picture ornaments.

We got this one from Cabela's last year. The story behind it is.....Monte bought me a cowboy Santa for Christmas the year before. I never took it out of the box, we just put it away with our Christmas stuff. So last year we got it out with all the Christmas stuff and ...... THERE WAS NOTHING INSIDE!!! Monte bought the "display box" with the display ON display!!!!!!

So we took it back to Cabelas and tried to explain that we bought an empty box LAST YEAR and they took our word for it.....but they had no more cowboy Santa's. So we used our in store credit to buy some cowboy ornaments.....
We bought this one this year at Atwoods (comparable to D&B) There is really nothing special about it other than I thought it was cute.

This is one of the first cowboy ornaments that we bought and I just love it.

And here is the tree......in our new "cowboy room"

I decided to make another picture ornament this year and here is how it turned out.

FYI we count BSU as a cowboy ornament :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-12-02T11:49:00.005-07:00

For Thanksgiving we headed down to my parents house in Oklahoma. We left after work on Wednesday night (along with the whole state of Kansas!). The interstate was very busy and there were 2 sections of one lane construction that were very slow going. But, we arrived her safely. That night we watched Transformers and went to bed late. The next morning the boys left to play football (of course!) and mom and I prepared thanksgiving dinner. I made homemade pumpkin pies for the first time-usually Monte's mom makes PLENTY every year but, this year was definitely full of many firsts. I slaved over the pumpkin pies for hours trying to make them perfect....but, in the end I BURNT THEM!! I was so so so devastated!! My mom's oven is really weird and not normal so it was really hard to cook anything in it-especially delicate first time pumpkin pies!!!!

Minster was being a little turkey of her own before dinner and actually fell asleep right before we ate. I was sad to not have her awake and with us for dinner but she would not wake up and even if she would have, we all know she would not have been a happy camper!!

This is all of us right before we ate. We were a small group but very happy and grateful to be together. It was fun to have Alex home this year but Judson was very missed. We each had the opportunity to say something we were thankful for. I hope we can make that a tradition and continue it in the future. I felt so happy to be together and very grateful for that opportunity. Iya was very happy and ready to eat!

Brookelynn is such a great Aunt to the girls. She plays with them and is always so helpful.

The typical Monte with his eyes crossed!! :)

This picture of the house was actually taken the day they moved in. This picture was taken from the cowboy room towards the dining area.

After dinner we cleaned up and headed over to Brian and Donna's house for some pie. The next two days were watching none other than football. The best game by far was the Boise State game. It started at 9 our time and all the kids were asleep before halftime. Saturday afternoon we packed up and went home. It is about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive (depending if you have to stop for crying little girls). When we got home we brought up our Christmas stuff from the basement and put up our Christmas tree. Pictures coming soon........

Gratitude

2009-11-22T12:47:00.007-07:00

I have been pondering a lot lately about some of the things I am thankful for and just wanted to share a couple of thoughts that I had.

I would like to share this weeks Mormon Message. It is on gratitude. It is a great message- here is the link to the gratitude website where you can watch the message and learn more about gratitude.

Gratitude (link to church website)

*******

I really like this quote from the website:

"A grateful heart is the beginning of greatness. Gratitude builds humility as we recognize an act of kindness, service, or caring from someone else. True gratitude is a foundation for faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being. Being grateful leads us to look outside ourselves and turn to the bestower of the blessings.
As we regularly express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father, we cultivate an uplifting attitude. The Savior has promised, “He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious” (D&C 78:19). Bitterness, resentful feelings, or mean-spiritedness cannot exist in a grateful heart. Greater happiness is achieved as deeper gratitude is developed."

I just love reading that. I want to have an uplifting attitude and have greater happiness every day and the way to achieve that goal is one simple word GRATITUDE. Isn't that just amazing. I would like to share with you some things that I am grateful for.

Monte is such a good man, husband, and father. I couldn't have asked for a better person. We have had such a great opportunity to get to know one another more these last couple of months as we have moved away from our family and friends. I have realized even more how blessed I am to have him. One thing I am especially grateful for is his willingness to help and serve. My parents moved this last week to Oklahoma and we drove down to help then get all settled in. As I watched Monte help in so many ways I felt so grateful for him and his desires to help and to do good continually. He is also such a great daddy to our girls. There is nothing like growing up wanting to marry someone that will be a good father to your children, and then watching it happen before your eyes. I love the way he plays with and talks to the girls. I am so grateful to have him in my life.

I am so grateful to be a mother. What a great honor and responsibility we as mothers have to be responsible for the nurture of our children. I feel so honored to have that great responsibility and grateful for the blessing that is mine to have two beautiful daughters to love and care for. I feel so grateful to be able to bare children. Children bring sorrow and great joys and I am so thankful to our Heavenly Father for the things that I have learned and am learning every day from my little ones.

I am grateful.....

for the opportunity we had to move to Kansas

for this beautiful world God has created

for our little puppies

that we were able to find a renter for our house

for the health of my family

that my parents were able to create a new job for us

that I am a primary teacher

that I am a member of the only true church on this earth

for the atonement of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for me to repent

for prayer

for all of the people that helped us move and for the love and support they gave

for our house we live in now

that I can see

that we have a living prophet on the earth today

for my testimony of Jesus Christ

for the temple blessings

for eternal families

for a fireplace

for personal revelation

for the prophet Joseph Smith

for safety in all of our travels

for beautiful trees, plants, and flowers

for indoor plumbing

for our bishop

to live in a free country

to have a wonderful family

for my patriarchal blessing

for the scriptures

for modern revelation

to be a wife and mother

to be a sister and daughter

to laugh and smile

to be sealed for time and eternity

to have the knowledge of the gospel

I could go on but I will just stop there. I do want to end that I am grateful for my testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love the scripture in Moses 1:39

"For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"

It is my testimony that Christ came to earth and died that we may gain immortality and that he atoned for our sins so that we, through our faithfulness, might have eternal life.

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween

2009-11-05T11:31:00.007-07:00

The girls LOVED carving the pumpkins! They were SO excited!! They worked on this one for seriously over 30 minutes and loved every minute of it!

The girls and their pumpkins...
A couple of days later Monte and I carved our pumpkins (with our little helpers of course!).
I love this picture because the pumpkin is as big as her and she was determined to get EVERY seed out!I can't even remember what she was upset about but she sure was mad about something!

Monte worked long and hard on his pumpkin and it turned out Awesome! Me and my pumpkin

The girls standing by the row of pumpkins. They were so excited to see them all lit up.

Monte's Pumpkin

On Halloween Cinderella helped me make pumpkin squares.

and Cinderella shared her pumpkin square with Snow White.
Cinderella all dressed and ready for Trick or Treating!!

Snow White would not hold still to get her picture taken. This was the best shot of her. The girls love to play under this tree.

Cinderella had so much fun. We took the princesses to this nice subdivision that has some really nice big houses in it about 20 minutes from where we live. Cinderella LOVED knocking and saying "trick or treat" (before they even got to the door) on the door while Snow White was more interested in looking and touching all the pretty decorations at the door step. We had such a fun time!!

Birthday Week (and more!)

2009-10-23T19:18:00.007-06:00

Well, there are a lot of pictures here but I just had to share them. Today was birthday girl week. We have celebrated her birthday-no kidding-every day this week!!

Here are some pictures of playing in the leaves today and towards the end are some random pictures from the last couple of weeks.

So we (mostly me) swept the leaves off our driveway into the little rain drain ditch. The girls had such a BLAST. This little one was really getting into it. She would even run and jump. It was cold outside but that did not stop us from having some fun :)

This is my favorite one (even though I cut her head off) Look at the air she is getting!!This little cutie had a little different approach- but she still had fun!

Our puppies are 2 weeks old now and little missy just LOVES to give them kisses!!

For our big 3 year olds birthday (actual day) we went to McDonald's with the arch card from Granny-Granny and got to play on the toys!

Having Fun on the toys...

Wishing she could have fun on the toys...

Thursday was her true birthday, but Daddy was leaving for Idaho on Wednesday morning so we celebrated it Tuesday nightShe was SO excited-She had been waiting for this for a WHOLE YEAR :)

And she wanted nothing more than a pink cake!Granny got both the girls sunglasses!!
I want to say thank you to everyone that send cards and packages. It was so fun for the birthday girl to get presents and cards in the mail. She loved it.

It was kind of weird not being with family. We miss you all!!

This was from a couple weeks ago. I was so happy to see them both sitting on the couch together happily watching TV without fighting!

This is like a really random picture but its the only one I took of our trip to TULSA!! This was right before the big game, all of us went to McDonald's all PROUDLY wearing our BSU gear. After that the big boys and kids went to the game. Me and the girls went back to the hotel and watched the game and went swimming during half time. It was so fun to drive there sporting our BSU flags on our beautiful blue van. This Oklahoma state trooper even waved at us! Sometimes it feels so weird to think that we are so far away--I would have never thought we would be going to a BSU game in Oklahoma!

These pictures are for those of you that have not been to or seen the Oklahoma City Temple. We drove to Tulsa on Wednesday for the BSU game (3 hour drive) and then drove home on Thursday morning. Then on Friday we drove to Oklahoma City (almost 3 hours) to attend the temple for our stake fill the temple day. A big thanks to Dennis and Erica who watched our kids. It was great to be able to go to the temple. It is a really small temple, but beautiful.

What-Matters-Most

2009-10-15T18:37:00.002-06:00

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved"
President Thomas S. Monson
This is an amazing message from our prophet:
What-Matters-Most

He's Home!!

2009-10-11T20:11:00.005-06:00

Yeah! 2 weeks before he arrived my parents were here helping out with the business here. They took the girls home with them for 10 days. It was so crazy, sad, fun, and lonley without my little girls. The day before he came home I flew into Boise. He was supposed to come home around 8:00 but his flight from Germany was delayed and thus he missed his connection in Denver. Luckely there was another flight two hours later! There was lots of family and friends to welcome him home, it was quite an event!!

Little miss naughty wanted nothing to do with me when I got to Idaho. All she wanted was her Nanny! Its like she didn't even need me anymore!! It was so sad!She also did not want anything to do with him. She was like who on earth is this guy The princess here LOVED him. She just kept talking and talking and talking--which is nothing new--I don't know where she gets it...:) She did not want to leave his side. It was great to see them pick up right where they left off.

We all stayed up late to hear our RM tell stories every night.

Don't you just love the Russian hats!

I took the kids to the school on one of the days to let them have a change to play and run around. The girls loved the swings! She looks scared but she actually was having so much fun with her favorite Aunt and did not want to get off.

We had a great time with the family and had the oppurtunity to hear a lot of great stories. It was a blast to be with the family and enjoy the homecoming of one of our favorite missionaries!!

Our New Life in KANSAS

2009-09-04T20:08:00.007-06:00

I have been wanting to post some pictures for some time now but I couldn't find the box with my camera cord in it! Now that it has been found, I'm going to give just a little update. We left our home sweet home in IDAHO on Friday August 14 and headed on a LONG move to Kansas. We gave ourselves two days to travel and both days were just driving ALL DAY LONG!! Part of the reason it took so long was the moving truck was so slow. We stayed in a hotel in Laramie WY Friday night and then got back up and headed out Saturday morning to finish the other half of the drive. Monte called our new Bishop to let him know we were on our way and he said he would have people ready for us. When we arrived at 8 that night we had 6 ready and willing men from the ward there to help us. It was so great. We were exhausted from such a long drive and it would have taken us forever to unload that massive truck.

Sunday church started at 8:30 which was 7:30 Idaho time!! It was a killer! But church was great and there were lots of friendly people. One Sister came up to me after church and asked if we had a fridge-which we didn't- and offered to bring us dinner. It was so nice.

Anyway, I could go on, but I would be up all night. Here are some pictures of our house and what we have been up to the last couple of weeks.

Monte got a NEW GRILL from my parents for his birthday!! Its been fun great to have-we have used it 3 times already this week!

Mindy playing with the dogs on the porch

Dads Apartment in Wichita

Our HUGE back yard

The girls love being outside. It is so nice to just let them play and not worry they will wonder off or fall into a ditch.

Our "Cowboy" living room

living room looking towards the front door

GAME DAY!!

Makayla is such a fun, cute and good little girl. I cannot believe how much she is looking like a toddler now. I miss my little baby! She is getting so good at saying little words. This week she learned how to say "Nanny"

We have been super busy with work since we got here but things are supposed to start slowing down here soon. Its been crazy learning everything and getting all the office work done! We enjoy Kansas so far and hope to have a great and successful future here!

All because two people fell in love...

2009-07-27T16:32:00.005-06:00

Last Tuesday morning Mindy was asking me questions about the temple. She asked some questions like what color it is and was talking about getting married in the temple. I did not have anything particularly planned that day so, I decided to take the girls to the temple. It was a beautiful experience. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous and in full bloom. It was extremely hot outside so we didn't stay out there for long. When we were in the front looking at the flowers the gardener came up and gave us a flower and said it was a one day lilly so it would only bloom for that one day and then die so he thought we would enjoy it. It was so sweet and thoughtful. We also went inside and Aunt Judy gave Mindy her own picture of the temple and a temple coloring page. She sang "I love to see the temple" several times in the waiting area and all of the "grandmas and grandpas" were smiling at her. It was such a sweet experience. I'm so happy we had the opportunity to go and enjoy such a special blessing Heavenly Father has given us. The Boise Temple will always have a special place in my heart.

Matching Girls

2009-06-24T16:37:00.006-06:00

I saw these skirts at Carters and I just HAD to get them. The girls look so CUTE and I love it when they match!!

This the cutest picture of the girls together out of the bunch, but most look like.....

Makayla's Birthday

2009-06-14T19:27:00.009-06:00

I have been so bad lately about updating my blog so here are some pictures of Makayla on her first birthday May 23.

I cannot believe it has been a year!! It feels like we have always had baby Iya!! We love her so much! When we brought her home Mindy was 19 months and couldn't say Makayla but rather "I-ya"

I was so scared that Mindy would hurt her.....now its a daily occurrence :)

This is a picture of the girls both under a week old. Below is a picture of me wearing the same outfit after I was born. Makayla wore it 21 years later.

Here are some pictures of Makayla's Birthday Party. Makayla looked so cute!! Both the girls were matching and we had a blast at the snow shack.

Scentsy!!

2009-05-27T19:27:00.003-06:00

Well....I decided to become a Scentsy Consultant, so, to get me started, I’m throwing a launch party!! I love Scentsy because it is such a great product that everyone can enjoy- even our husbands!! There is nothing like coming home to a scent you love. For me, smells bring back memories of good times, family, and even food!!

If you live in the area I would love it if you could join me for my first party. It is on Tuesday, June 2 at 6:00. If not, you can visit my web site and check out all the amazing products!!

www.scentsy.com/meganjohnson

Isn't this month's warmer SO CUTE!!!

To My Dad

2009-05-05T14:35:00.004-06:00

For those that don't know, my dad left on Monday to sell pest control this summer in Wichita. I was just reflecting yesterday about him and thought of this experience we had together.

My family went to Disneyland several times through my school years. When I was a senior we had a great time like we did every year-but this one I will always remember. One of the evenings all of the "big kids" decited to go the big rides while mom and granny took the little kids on the kiddie rides. I didn't want to go on the big roller coaster so my Dad and I hung out and went shopping. He bought me the scarf that I am wearing in the picture. After we went shopping for something for mom we sat down on a bench in front of the huge christmas tree and talked. We talked for hours. I remember sitting there with him talking about what I wanted to accomplish in life and some of my plans for the future. I will never forget being with him and for the love I felt for him. I think of it often. It reminds me to slow down and take the time to talk, that my dad loves me, and, my moms favorite quote, "the most important things in life aren't things". We could have been screaming on rides and eating good food, but instead we just sat there and talked; and it is something I will never forget.

Thanks Dad for all the good times and the great advice. I love you.

Easter and Farewell to Jud

2009-04-20T13:15:00.004-06:00

For Easter we went to my parents ward in Middleton to hear Judson give his farewell talk. He did a great job!! Here are some pictures at the Johnsons before we changed out of our sunday clothes....

This is all the girls after Jud was set apart. Its official...."Elder Waltman"

We all love Jud and will miss him so much. My parents are leaving after school today to take him to Utah. He enters the MTC Wednesday morning.
Makayla loves Uncle Jud. She wouldn't come to me after I was done taking pictues...she just wanted Jud.

Spring Break in Oklahoma

2009-04-02T16:15:00.006-06:00

We decided to go to Oklahoma for Spring Break so we could see everything before we moved. We had been telling Mindy that we were moving far far away to Kansas, so she couldn't wait to go to "my Kansas" (even though we went to Oklahoma!)

Sorry, I know this picture is blurry but Monte and I laughed so hard when when we had been driving for a couple hours and look back and see our little girl reading "Western Horseman"

Brookelynn was such a good sport. She got stuck in our car all through Colorado and entertained Mindy and Makayla. She is a life saver!!

This is at Dad and Mom's land in Oklahoma. They own 160 acres and it is awesome!!

This is Monte and Preston at Dad and Mom's land. This is not an unusual site with Monte and teenagers!!

We could not believe the RED dirt!! If you look you can see the creek/river in the back...look how red it is!!

On Saturday Monte and I ventured out on our own to the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. It was a Museum full of things we love. It was awesome!!

This is a picture of Mindy touching a plaque under the "Hall of Great Westerners"

It reads "Jordan Flake Arizona 1959" He is my Great Great Great Grandfather who founded Snowflake, AR. William Jordan Flake's son is Joel White Flake, and his son is Dennis Edson Flake, and his daughter is Carol Irene Flake Waltman (my grandma), and her son is Darren Dennis Waltman (my dad).

This is Mindy inside the town jail. She was hilarious because she kept saying "Look, I'm in a horse trailer"

On the way home Makayla was screaming for over an hour when I finally got a great idea to give her some licorice. She made a HUGE mess but it kept her quiet for 30 minutes of the 26 1/2 hour drive home!!

It was a long long long drive, but we had a blast. A special thanks to Donna for letting us crash and trash her house with all the kids and for a bed to sleep in. We had a blast with the Christensens! Thank you!!

Change of Plans and CRAZY day

2009-03-18T14:23:00.005-06:00

For those of you that haven't heard....our buyers backed out on Friday the 13th. It was a crazy and stress full last couple of days trying to relocate boxes and get the house back in order. Right now we don't have a plan other than our house is still on the market. We hope it sells soon!!

Yesterday was a CRAZY day!!!

Treasure Valley Septic came out to try and locate the opening for the septic tank and get it pumped. After looking for a good 30 minutes, he found it!! I was so happy because we didn't need another problem for potential buyers.....Fun job, EH?

So later that evening I was at R.S. and Monte called me at about 8:00 and said that Mindy was watching a movie in our room and had gotten into our nightstand drawer and opened the Tylenol container. Makayla was playing in there and had Monte's deodorant in her hand from the drawer so he was unsure if she had gotten into it too. I gave him the number to poison control and left for home. The nurse told him to take the girls to the E.R. so as soon as I got home we headed for West Valley. We were in the waiting room for an hour before they took us back to get the girls blood drawn. That was a very traumatic experience to say the least!! After the hard part was over, they took us to our room and we awaited the results. Thank goodness they both came back negative. The Dr said they take this so seriously because the ingredients in Tylenol will ruin the child's kidney if left untreated. We had a long night at the hospital but are so grateful that the girls were fine.

When Monte was a baby he got into some medication and almost died. Jeanne (my mother in law) was telling me more about it this morning. Int the ER they pumped this colored stuff into his body to see if the medicine would cling to it, but it wouldn't, the meds had gotten too far into the blood stream. Then they gave him some medicine that they give to drug addicts to keep them awake and she said he was bouncing off the walls. They told her to keep him awake or he could die so she said she was holding him bouncing him around trying to keep him awake but he was so tired. She said that dad was home tending to the other kids and she knew he needed another blessing. She tried to call people in the ward but could get a hold of anyone. Then around 7 pm the bishop came because he had heard Monte was in the hospital. She said it was truly a miracle, that he was literally dying and after the blessing he started recovering.

It really opens our eyes when emergencies happen. Our life has been stressful and full of uncertainty lately but it makes me humble to know that God loves us and gives us miracles everyday.

Happy Little Girls

2009-03-09T19:01:00.002-06:00

I just had to post these pictures because they are SO CUTE!! I am so blessed to have such happy little girls. I will admit that they are not always happy but who can be angry with a smile like that!

Just to give an update on us....we got an offer on our house and are hoping to close on the 20th!!! We are way excited but still praying the kinks will unwind so it will happen. IT IS SO STRESSFUL!! I have a million phone calls to make everyday-it's truly insane. Our plan is to close on the 20th and move to OK the week of the 23rd. We will be in OK for a couple of weeks and then move up to Kansas and work there. We are excited to move but will miss all of our family and friends!

Daddy's are Great!!

2009-02-07T16:36:00.002-07:00

Mindy cannot wait for Monte to get home from work because she wants to "ride a horse". Even when Monte is tired from a long day at work, he is always happy to play with Mindy and Makayla. I am so greatful to have a fallen in love with a man who loves children. He is such a great daddy!! Mindy already knows that she just has to ask daddy and he will give her what she wants. He just can't say no :)

Monte always says he wants boys but, if you know Monte, he just cant admit that our girls have him wrapped around their pretty little fingers . Girls always have a special place in their daddy's hearts.

JUDSON'S MISSION CALL!!!!!

2009-01-22T18:46:00.005-07:00

Judson Opening his mission call.....

"You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

"You are assigned to labor in the..."

"...Russia Vladivostok Mission!!!!"

Everyone looking at the map

This is how far Alex and Judson will be from eachother

Judson is to report to the MTC on April 22, 2009!!!

We all CANNOT BELIEVE that he is serving in RUSSIA !!

Still For Sale

2009-01-19T20:20:00.003-07:00

It has been a crazy week. Wednesday morning Jeanne (my mother in law) was coming out to help me paint the girls room. Around 9:00 I got a phone call from some realtor saying they wanted to show my house at noon. I asked if they could come later because I was painting and she said they couldn't. After I got off the phone I started cleaning like mad to get the house all clean and ready to show before Jeanne got there to paint. My house wasn't a huge mess but you know when you show your house you want everything to look just perfect!! It also doesn't help that I don't have a dishwasher!!!!!!! Anyway, so my mom came and picked up the girls for me (which was a life saver!!) and we started sanding the walls we had fixed the day before and painted at the same time. I have never painted so fast in my life!! We were only halfway done when it was time to go and we had to make a run for it as the Realtor pulled up. We went on a drive and came back, and they were still there, so, we drove for a while longer, came back, and still they were there. They ended up staying 45 minutes!! I was so excited and hopeful that they were interested!! I got a call a couple hours later that we received an offer on our house so we went down to the office to check it out. I was so excited and hopeful!! Unfortunately it was way lower than we expected and they wanted/needed a new well put on the property to get the loan. I have been a mess the last couple of days calling drillers and worrying about our counter offer. To make this long story have a short ending, equity savers called today and the buyers declined our counter offer because they cannot qualify for the amount we need to put in a well and stay afloat. so.....

OUR HOUSE IS STILL FOR SALE!!!

Christmas and Janna's Wedding

2009-01-01T16:49:00.008-07:00

It snowed for like a week straight before Christmas it was crazy. we would point out the window and say "look Mindy, it's snowin' ". Now she thinks that snow is "snowin' ". i took her out to play in it when Makayla was taking a nap and she kept saying "look mommy, i walk in snowin' "

We had a great Christmas this year. It was great to be with all of our family and to enjoy the Christmas season.

Monte enlarged this picture of me on Spur last summer on our pack trip to Barren Lake and he and his dad made this frame for me. It is awesome!!

Monte got a gun cabinet for Christmas again this year!! Last year it was framed.....and this year it is finished!!! We love it and think it looks great in our cowboy room. Thanks Uncle Vaughn!!

Mindy was VERY animated when she opened her presents this year....

Makayla with her new toys from Granny

Twin Girls!!

Mindy's hair is getting so long. My mom says it is just like Brookelynn's hair was. We were getting ready to go to Janna's family wedding dinner and it looked so cute I just had to take a picture!

We were all FREEZING at the temple waiting for Janna and Randy to come out...

Especially Makayla!!

Janna looked so beautiful. We are all very happy for her and Randy!! Congrats guys!!

Christmas Time

2008-12-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

Last year Monte and I decided to do a "Cowboy Tree". We bought some shot gun shells from Cabella's to make our lights and went around to every store we could think of that sold cowboy ornaments. This year we have added a couple more ornaments and some horse shoes. We just love our cowboy Christmas tree. I took some pictures of the girls in front of it and it was quite the experience....

Mindy is such a Turkey...for the longest time we could not get her to both look at the camera and smile at the same time! she was either looking at the camera and not smiling or smiling but looking away!! Now she figured out that she is supposed to smile at the camera....but....i'm not sure who she learned this smile from!!

Last night was our Ward Christmas Party. Mindy was so cute and happy and Makayla slept the whole time. This is Mindy BEFORE we ate....

And this is the AFTER.....

She started gaging on some food and threw up just as we were finishing eating and someone else was sitting at our table to eat. It was very embarrassing!! But, she still looked cute!

She couldn't wait to see Santa. She was talking about it all day. She said she was going to ask Santa for a "barn with horses and cows". By the time we got up to where he was she wasn't so sure about him, so, i had to help her a little.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go up to Tamarack with the Johnson's over Thanksgiving weekend. It was so much fun to be with ALL the family. We watched the BSU game up there on Friday, had a wonderful Thanksgiving diner and gift exchange on Saturday, and then drove home Sunday. Monte was sick all Saturday day and night so he was a ball of fun!! The adult gift exchange was a such a blast! There was delish food, movies, and lots of kids and pies. We really had a good time and will never forget the great memories.

Our Family Photo

Our new van

the beautiful cabin we stayed in

Two sleeping kids and one sick sleeping Monte

Makayla was in the portable crib but she was still happy!

Cowgirl Pictures

2008-12-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

My friend Corinne took these amazing cowgirl pictures of the girls. She just got a new camera and took them for Mindy's Birthday. These are some of my FAVORITE!!