The Johnson Fam!

Call the Po Po, the Lloyd's are havin' a Partaaayyy!

2012-01-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

You know how we Lloyds are! We love us a family gathering, some yummy food and lots of laughs!! This year, we had a Christmas Eve celebration a couple of days before Christmas Eve and it was a good time! Enjoy the pics:

The wildest bunch at the party right here!!

I have the best family ever!

My lil' bro and his cutie patootie daughter. Love this pic!

My brothers got into a wrestling match with all the munchkins and I have to say that I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! It was EPIC!
We had some sparkling cider for "cheers" and my cute niece was emptying everyone's glass.

In true Ben fashion, he dipped his face in Jenn's pie. See pie above, and Ben's face below. So naughty!
This one's my favorite! I gave my sis Jenn this oober stylish chaps apron.

Miss Pretty is loving her Ariel dolly she got!

Couldn't you just squeeze those cheeks??

So cute!

My niece is waiting patiently to open gifts.

It was a night we will never forget! Very bittersweet for our family. We are so blessed with such an amazing family and it was nice to spend some time together and remember some of the good times with our dad!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2011-12-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of us decorating this year's Christmas tree! What a fun year for Miss Pretty! She had a blast.

Little America Buffet = Emotional Eating

2011-11-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

To those that still read my blog: I'm sorry you have to hear me vent so much, but this is truly therapy to me and it helps me to write things out and make sense (or try to) of it in my head!

With that out of the way. . . . D and I got a new calling at church. I saw that coming a mile away! :) Nursery! When they first called us in, I knew what it was and I was preparing myself to say "NO" even though I knew you're not supposed to say no and i've never said no before! But I just didn't feel ready. I felt like I was still reeling from everything that's happened. But once again, I was given one of the swift uppercuts by the Spirit (I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father has figured out that "nudges" don't work with me anymore!). I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I LOVE it in there! I miss the "grown ups" classes, but I truly feel that this is where we were meant to be right now. Back to the basics :). It's very refreshing!

I thought that by now things would feel a little better. Like i'd feel a bit more healed. WRONG!! I've found that grief has many layers and many stages. One day I'll think to myself "wow! I'm doing so good! Haven't cried today. I can do this!" Then the next, I'm a complete, blubbering mess of tears and snot. . . it just ain't pretty! A dear friend of mine recently lost one of her siblings and my heart ached when I heard the news. I was brought right back to that first day of finding out my dad was gone. My sister and I went to the viewing and I cried just thinking about going. What a devasating thing to deal with while we're here on earth. It's difficult approaching all the "firsts" without my dad. The first family birthday parties for the grandkids. The first Thanksgiving. The first Christmas. Etc. We've celebrated 3 birthdays for the grandkids without him already and each one, I'd look around thinking that something was missing. HIM! On Sunday, my cute little nephew celebrated his 4th birthday and it was such a great party filled with good food, laughter and fun. I guarantee my dad would have been hovering around the snack bar eating plenty of sammies and potato chips and definately olives! It's just so hard to believe that he's gone. That I'm not able to just call him up and tell him how much I love him! That we will be spending this Thanksgiving with a huge void left in our hearts. As we talked about Turkey Day this year, we decided that we'd do something we've never done before. So. . . . we're heading to the Little America. We are gettin' all gussied up and we're gonna stuff ourselves! Thanksgiving was one of my Dad's favorite holidays. He loved all the yummy food and he loved cooking it all.

I feel like there's this odd shaped hole and there's nothing quite the right size to fill it. I used to feel like he was really close right after he died, but now I don't as much. We joke around that he's probly in this eternal rehab and his sponsor is Michael Jackson. I'm sure he's really busy, but I still need him. We are going to finish cleaning out the house this week and i'm dreading it. It's so hard to be there at the house and to think of all the memories that we have there and to see it empty now.

Alright, I better stop. I can assure you that one day I'll be able to write about hope. One day my posts will be filled with happy things again, like puppies and candycanes! Those days have to come right? Until then, bear with me as I weep through my words. I pray for that hope to come. I seek it as much as I can.

Spooky Cookies anyone?

2011-10-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy couple of weeks! Just trying to get our lives to fit into this "new norm". Not fun! But we're trying. Last week Miss Pretty's cousins came to play at our house. We made some spooky Halloween cookies. It was hilarious watching them!

I love this pic. Look at Els' face in the background. Miss Pretty was shoving those candy corns in her mouth 10 at a time! Let's just say, we had a toothbrushing party after the cookie making party. :)

Isy is pretending he used the frosting to frost the cookies instead of eating it right off the butter knife. And yes, that's flour in his hair.

By the end of the evening, the sugar high was gone and they were all clocking each other in the head. They were all in time-out and grumpy pants by the time mommy and daddy came to pick them up. But it was fun and that's all that matters.

Last week I got this crazy brained idea one day on my way home from work. I was thinking, like I always do as soon as I get in my car, about my dad. I was thinking about how he loved to take us up to look at the fall leaves in the mountains and about how he loved camping and about how we didn't go camping at all this year! So I thought "why not go up today and at least roast hot dogs and have a fire?" So I rallied the troops (aka: my siblings and kiddos) and we headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon and found us a spot (that may or may not have said "closed for the winter"). It was a blast! The hot dogs were delish!

It was beautiful up there and I really felt a closeness to my dad up there. He loved taking all of us kids up there to have breakfast or to camp out for a night. Those were definately some of my best memories of him!

This week has been a rough one for me. I don't really have a reason, just that I'm bitter and playing the victim! We went to a new support group on Wednesday and it was just so sad for me. I just kept thinking "How did this become my life? I'm at a support group for suicide survivors and I still can't believe that I'm here." I know that probly sounds funny, but most of the time it's still very surreal.

From the Mouths of Babes

2011-10-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

Still numb. . . .but life seems to be moving on with or without me. It's still hard for me at family functions and gatherings, to not see him there. And my mind keeps going back through things (even though I know it's pointless) to see what I could have done differently. I know that I couldn't have done anything else to get him sober and I know that I couldn't have taken away his pain or his agency. But I know that I could have told him that I loved him more and I know that I could have been better about having Miss Pretty spend time with her Papa. It's hard to want to move on.

Anywho. . . our kiddos have kept us entertained! :)

Miss Pretty and her cousin Els seem to be getting along a little better lately! We were over at my sister's house one night and got this cute pic moment.

All tuckered out from playing!

Miss Pretty is in preschool now. We just switched her to a new one because the other one wasn't quite working out. She loves her new class though and is learning so much! She says the funniest things all the time and keeps us on our toes. Here's some funny pics of her baby that lost a leg the other night. Luckily Gma sewed it back on.

Everything else seems to be scooting along. D is on a new, regular work schedule which is nice for our little family! The first time in 5 years that we're both home at night and are able to go to church together. We celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary this year! Can't believe it's been that long already!

At church on Sunday, I got to help in nursery. Those kids were hilarious and I totally needed the uplifting spirit that they have!! The teacher was teaching about the Prophet's counsel and one of the things that He teaches us is to eat healthy. I said "like broccoli." One of the cute little boys got this disturbed look on his face and a few minutes later, looked at me and whispered "But I hate broccoli!" One of the little girls kept her dress lifted up to her face all through the lesson, showcasing her Minnie Mouse diaper. They kept me laughing the entire time!

Corky's Lament

2011-10-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's already been a month ago today that my dad passed away. This month has literally been a rollercoaster ride of emotions and experiences! I miss him so much and I think about him all day. Today was my first Sunday back to church and I was dreading it. I know that sounds bad huh. I thought a lot about why I was heavy-footed about going back today. I guess it's because I knew that i'd be so vulnerable to the Spirit and that scared me. Also, I have some anger toward my Father in Heaven. Logically, I know that this was something He had prepared me for and that He would never leave me comfortless during this difficult time. But I also question Him everyday about why? Why was our family chosen for this? Why couldn't He help my dad to overcome this more? Why couldn't my dad kick this? Just a lot of why's. . . .

So we went. . . it was an amazing Sabbath and I felt the Spirit very strong. The Sunday School lesson brought me to tears and that carried into Relief Society where I have a complete break down and couldn't make it stop. In the middle of the awesome lesson, I felt my dad near me so strongly. It was the first time that I had felt him near like that since he died. It didn't last nearly long enough though and I just kept thinking "don't go dad! Stay close!"

You know, you always hear about those people that have these really cool experiences after they lose a loved one. They have a dream about them, or they see them somewhere. So each night I go to sleep and think "tonight is the night that he's going to come and visit me and tell me that he is alright and that we're going to be alright." Still haven't had that dream. Perhaps he's visiting others still or perhaps he's not ready. I don't know.

I just miss him.

Sorry to ramble, just have a lot on my mind tonight as I think back over things. There's so much that I'm still trying to figure out! Miss Pretty randomly asks questions about Grandpa and that's still hard to think of what answers to give her.

I had a great friend take some amazing pictures for us of the viewing and the funeral. Here are some of them that touched my heart and show the true beauty of that day!

Check her out on her blog: Kristi Martin Photography

Aren't they gorgeous?! She did such a great job!

There are times that it still doesn't seem real. My sisters and I go to his grave every week before we go to our 12 step recovery meeting. That still seems foreign to me to be going to see "my dad's grave". Just doesn't seem like it's something that I should be doing or ever would be doing. I know that he fought some hard battles in his life. And I know that toward the end of his life Satan worked overtime on him. But I guess I thought we'd end up with a different outcome. I guess I thought that we had done a pretty darn good job at fighting back and helping him as hard as we possibly could. I'm sad that it's all so final now. That there is no longer any way to help him get better because he's gone.

Thanks for letting me get some of this out. So many things go through my head all day. I hope that one day, this will be a little bit easier.

Be Still My Soul

2011-09-11T21:47:00.001-07:00

It seems there are some things that happen in this life that we will never fully comprehend. Some things that don't seem at all fair and some things that tear our hearts apart.

Friday, September 9, 2011 our family experienced a loss that will forever leave an emptiness in our hearts. My dad took his own life that day. I wanted to share this experience in hopes that perhaps someone reading this, that maybe knows someone that needs help, will be able to recognize that and hopefully get that help!

I have so many fond memories of my dad. So many that make me laugh out loud. There are also some that make me sad. As many of you read this, you may recall 2 years ago, when we almost lost him. Some of you may even know how I've struggled, personally, with the fact that I grew up with a dad that was addicted to prescription drugs and at times, alcohol.

On Friday, when I got the phone call from my sister, I never knew it was possible to feel that much pain! I had just arrived in Idaho and my sweet mother-in-law put me in the car and started driving me back home. I felt as though I was in a tunnel and I don't remember much about the ride home, except that it felt like the longest trip EVER! From that dark and sad night until now has been a blur of tears and heartache. Everything seemed to happen so fast and I couldn't seem to grasp it all. Like trying to hold water in my hands, I couldn't seem to keep it from happening.

I do know that the only way that I could have made it through it all is with my amazing family and friends!! I have the best siblings in the whole entire world! I know that the Lord hand picked us for this life and to help each other carry this burden. We have shed many tears together, been a shoulder to cry on for each other, made each other laugh and helped hold one another up when it felt like there was no way to stand on our own. There were many times that we would just sit together and tell funny stories about dad and laugh. What a strength they have been in my life! We had to make a lot of tough decisions very quickly this week and also say goodbye to a very amazing man!

On Wednesday, September 14, 2011, we had a viewing for my dad. I was so overwhelmed and touched by the many, many amazing people that came to support my family and say goodbye to my dad. He touched so many lives while he was here on earth and it was truly an amazing experience to see so many lined up out the door to pay their respects.

I was dreading Thursday, September 15, 2011 because I knew it would all be over and I'd have to say goodbye to the man that taught me so much as a little girl and who helped make me the person that I am today! As I got up that morning and got ready, I felt as though I couldn't make it. I was brought to my knees to ask for the help that I desperately needed. What a beautiful day it was! There are 6 kids in my family and each of us took some time to talk about my dad. What an amazing spirit filled the chapel that day. There was laughter, there were tears and there was comfort knowing that we'd see him again one day. My siblings did such a good job. We had the most amazing home teacher, growing up. He is now the Stake Patriarch in my parent's ward. He has seen our family through so much and it was an honor to have him speak at my dad's funeral. He offered such kind words of comfort and peace. I was truly humbled standing up there and looking out at all the friends and loved ones that came out to share that day with us!

The graveside service was beautiful. A very dear family friend dedicated the grave. There was such an overwhelming spirit of peace there. The weather was gorgeous and we laughed at how dad would have wanted it that way.

My dad was a kind-hearted and loving man! He taught me how to fish. He taught me to love "Lord of the Rings". He taught me about good music like "Cat Stevens" and "Led Zepplin". He loved his family and especially his grandkids. They were his pride and joy! And they loved him! He could catch the biggest fish that I've ever seen! He had the best sense of humor and instilled that in all of us Lloyd kids!

Now that it's all over, I'm left sitting here, wondering what to do next? How do I make this ache in my heart not hurt so bad? How do I teach my little girl about papa so that she really, fully grasps how amazing he was? What do I tell her when she says "Mommy, I miss Papa a lot! Because I yub him so much!" How do I keep moving forward without forgetting about what his laugh sounded like and about what his hugs felt like?

I pray that his soul is finally at peace. I pray also that my family and I will be able to find peace in our hearts. He will be missed so much by so many!

Be at peace daddy! I will miss you so much! Watch over us and stay close by.

. . . . til we meet again.

Steven Merlyn Lloyd

If you know someone that is struggling with drug addiction or someone that is struggling with co-dependency, there are resources out there!! There are many that have helped our family. The LDS church has an "Addiction Recovery Program" that has support groups for addicts and for spouses, family and friends of addicts. You don't need to go through it alone.

Summer Funsies!!

2011-08-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Just when I think summer will be all nice and relaxin' it goes and does something like this. . . .gets CrAzY busy and then disappears!! Boo! I wish it lasted a little bit longer for sure.

Miss Pretty has been so much fun lately (she's always been fun, but seems to get funnier everyday!) She had her 3 year check up with Dreamy last week and she is in the 83% for her height! She only had to get one shot (can I get an Amen!) and demanded a milkshake afterward for being so brave!

Here is a funny sleepytime pic I was able to snap one night. Too funny!

We started some projects this summer. . .didn't necessarily finish them, but we're getting there! Here is our front room before I began painting it (word to the wise. . . hire someone if you can, painting is for the birds!) but we succeeded with lots of whining on my part! I don't have an after picture, because I haven't been able to really clean the front room all pretty to take one. But I promise, you'll get one soon! I do love the after much better! Here's my lil' "Rambo". She has this Tinkerbell headband that she wears like a sweatband! Cracks me right up. Reminds me of when my little brother Ben used to wear his Rambo headband ALL the TIME and that turquoise necklace that I often wondered if I could wear it too.

it's been a fun summer, not too hot (well until recently), we've played outside alot and worked on the house. Miss Pretty gets to go to preschool next week and she is so excited! She's also requesting to go to dance class. Here's a pic of her with her new bike and helmet "Gammy" Johnson got for her.

Grampa Vern

2011-08-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Johnson was the best fisherman I ever did know! I met this man 10 years ago and always felt loved from the minute I met him! D's has so many fun stories that he's always sharing with me about him and there are times that I even have to call D "Vernon" because he reminds me so much of him!

We went to Idaho at the end of June and got the opportunity to go up and visit Grandpa in the hospital. It was hard seeing him so ill, but fun to hear him still talking about his passion --FISHING!! A week later, he left this world and was reunited with his sweet wife and many others I'm sure. 3 years ago, on March 11, 2008, we welcomed a miracle into our lives -- Miss Pretty. That day, we also lost Grandma Johnson unexpectedly. It was hard for us to not be able to say goodbye, but at the same time, I know that she was up there to send Miss Pretty off to us. Until we meet again Grandma and Grandpa!! Miss Pretty and Grandpa on her blessing day.

Auntie Kyr and Miss Pretty being ultra glamorous!

I love this pic! My brother-in-law saying goodbye. It was very sad to see D and his brother weep for their grandpa. He taught them everything they know about fishing and then some.

All of the grandsons.

We got to see so much family while we were there and I'm sure that Grandpa was looking down on us and relishing in it all because it's not very often that we're all able to be together like that.

Sweet Land of Liberty

2011-07-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

What a fun 4th of July we had this year with lots of friends and family! A good friend and her fam came to visit from HOTLanta and it was so good to see her and catch up!
The kiddos had a blast with the fireworks!

A pic of the girls actually getting along. Too bad that a couple of minutes later, one was whipping the other with their glow necklace! Awww cousin love!!

Guess who??

Miss Pretty helping Daddy make homemade ice cream in our circa '75 ice cream makers!

This is always my favorite time of the year! Lots of fun memories!

Levicorpus!

2011-07-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

So I went (like many fellow muggles did) and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on Friday afternoon with my homegirl Gina! (aka: sista)

LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it!! Glad I didn't read the book right before so that I wouldn't sit and pick apart everything that was different. I could see it 20 more times!

(P.S. also loved the preview of "Breaking Dawn" that was at the beginning! Wheweee. . . gonna be good!)

We were invited to the cutest birthday party a few weeks ago. (speaking of Harry Potter). My good friend Camrann's son invited Miss Pretty to ride on the Hogwart's Express. Check out the fun pics:
Miss Ava gettin' tipsy on some Butter Beer (just rootbeer I promise!)

Operation Transformation has begun. . .

2011-07-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give ya'll some updates on some of my projects that I posted about earlier (see posts below).
Here is the "Before" shot of my new craft chair:

Here's the "After". Still not sure that I'm smitten with the aqua blue. It may or may not be red the next time you see it :)!

Here is the "Before" shot of the future home of "Corky's Craft Corner" - wow that was cheezy!!

And here's the work in progress. . . .

This is the stage we're at right now. Mostly painted, ready for some more shelving, peg board, my folding table and all my junk!

It sure is a lot brighter with the white paint in there. The hubby is going to be putting some lighting in there for me too. Never a good idea to use scissors in a dark closet. . . just sayin'! We found lots of treasures while cleaning it out, that I have been looking for. All of my holiday flags were stashed up there and I'm still not convinced that the hubby didn't bury them up there on purpose! Stay tuned for an update. . . .

We went to Idaho this past weekend. I always LOVE hitting the yard sales with my Yard Sale mentor. . .my mother in law! She knows her stuff. Well, here's the best yard sale story ever! We headed out Saturday morn, with myself, hubby's sis, and my MIL in the Malibu. It's got a BIG trunk and we'd already hit some yard sales and almost filled the trunk with toys, books, etc. In the back seat was sis and a bike that we'd found for Miss Pretty and the car seat. Well we're cruising through a neighborhood, when all of a sudden, we see some recliners and a "Siesta Sak"
with signs on them that say "FREE!" I got out to inspect the Siesta Sak because I couldn't imagine anyone giving it away for FREE! It looked perfectly fine! Now the decision came. . . how are we gonna get that bad boy home?? Well, we tried the trunk. . .full. Back seat. . . full. So we got creative and put everything in the trunk:
I was so proud of my MIL. . . .springing into action and even fashioning a rope out of a garbage sack to tie down the trunk so none of our treasures fell out!

Next was the real task. . .getting that sucker into the back seat!! Just close your eyes and imagine my MIL on one side pulling and myself and sis on the other pushing and shoving. At one point the Jehovah's Witnesses walked past and were wondering what on earth we were doing!! I could even hear the neighbors across the street giggling from their window. But hey, we got it in there!

When we got back to the house we opened that door that this is what it looked like! Hilarious! We took the cover off and washed it and it's in perfect shape. We of course still had to shove it into our jeep for the drive back to Utah. FUN fun!!

Some other summer projects:

Here's Miss Pretty painting a bird house for our tree:

And here's the "After" of the deer picture frame that I talked about in an earlier post. It looks much better and I love this pic of the Tetons!

Kris Kross will make ya JUMP JUMP!!

2011-07-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to share this funny story!

A few weeks ago, I got a call from my lil' bro asking for a favor.

He sent me this pic:

This is his bestie Nate and Nate's lil' bro. Nate is like a brother to me and I was happy to help out. . . .that is until I found out what my task would be. :)

I was given some gray courdoroy fabric, some different colored felt and some buttons. I was also given my own copy of this pic and was asked to fashion some adult sized jumpers for the boys to wear to surprise their mom for her birthday.

Quite a fun project considering that I'm very far from being any sort of seamstress. But Gracie and I made the best of it, as you can see:

And I have to say, I was pretty proud of my sewing skillz!

The best part was getting the pics of them on! Here are some, but for the full effect, check out my Facebook page. There's a video that I posted at the end of June and it will make you cry with laughter!
This one's my fave!

Thanks Nate for letting me be a part of this!

My Summer Project Preview. . . .

2011-07-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Now that summer is finally here, I have some big projects for myself and our family!! #1 Get organized! #2 update mi casa so that we can enjoy it!

Operation Organization:

Our lovely home has 3 bedrooms. One occupied by myself and hubby. One occupied by Miss Pretty. One looks like this:

Yikes right?? Well it's supposed to be a craft room, but instead it has become a "catch-all" for all the junk that we don't know what to do with. Somewhere under there is a table with my scrapbook supplies and a cricuit. But it might take a while to find that! :)

So you're probly wondering "Why are you showing us your junkiness??" Well people, I'm going to be condensing that up there to fit into this closet:

Envision with me, if you will, a "craft nook" that folds away when we need to access our crawlspace (that's filled with lots of other treasures). It should be a fun and interesting transformation. I will have to declutter and dejunktifiy a lot, so if you call me and I'm in tears, it's only because I may have had to part with something! :) We're hoping that room #3 can be a guest room until the day comes that we finally have another babe!

On to operation transformation:

This dazzling "civil war" chair (okay not really, family joke!) was sitting on the side of my MIL's house just begging to come to Utah! She's going to be part of my "craft nook". I'm heading out pretty soon here to pick up supplies to give this beauty a makeover!! Stay tuned. . . .

And last but not least, I found this at a yard sale. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE yard sales?? It's amazing what one can find for a fraction of the retail cost! Anywho. . .I brought this bad boy home and said "sweety. . . come and see what I got for you!" I thought the deer print was pretty humorous and I bought it strictly for the frame! Well he couldn't believe that I would throw that away! He snatched the print right up and said "you can't throw this away! It's signed and dated 1979! It's valuable!" It's currently hidden between our mattresses right now! I will update later with what I ended up doing with the frame!

Look out Piccaso. . .

2011-07-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

I've been very inspired by some fun blogs that I've found. I've listed them on the left. They do amazing things with junk and I'm just in aww of how they are able to do that! Well, I decided to start some fun projects of my own and try my hand at all that creativeness!!

A few months ago, a friend of mine gave me this cool looking chair that belonged to her grandmother. It was part of a very cool retro 50's dining set. I tried for the longest time, to think of something funky to overhaul the chair. Finally one day a couple of weeks ago, I need to channel some of my craziness! So I stopped into my least favorite store and picked up some spray paint, fabric and decorative thumbtacks. Enjoy the transformation!

Before:

After:

Work+Calling+Family=CRAZINESS!!

2011-07-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a LONG time since I felt that I had a minute to sit and blog!! So sorry! Life has had me running around like a crazy person. . . oh wait. . . I am a crazy person!! May and June were a bit of a blur for me. Work was craziness and not a place I wanted to be, but felt like I spent the majority of my time there :( Boo! My calling had me busy busy! I felt like I taught or spoke every week! I taught 2 coupon classes, spoke in sacrament, taught 2 R.S. lessons and conducted all of May! Those poor sisters couldn't get rid of me if they tried :)

And then I was supposed to find some time in there somewhere for my family?? But I made it! It's July 1st and here I am, sittin' on my duff, blogging again. . . aaaahhhhh. . . feels good.

As you can imagine, with all that, I didn't get too many pictures taken, but the ones that I did, I will be posting in this post and the ones above.

A month or two ago (I can't remember, isn't that sad??) we had a sibling day out. It was much needed, as I often have withdrawals when I don't see my bros and sistas often enough! We took the chitlins to a Jump n' Bounce place. HILARIOUS!! We giggled and laughed all day! Then we went to my bro's after that and laughed some more. I just love my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews! Here are some pictures from the bounce house fun!

I was surprised Miss Pretty attempted the big daddy!

Preparing ourselves for Mr. Bunny!

2011-04-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a blast this year, talking to Miss Pretty about Easter and what it means, but also about the Easter Bunny. There are always mixed reviews when it comes to "should you tell your kids about the fake, commercialized, holiday peeps?" But we've decided that it's fun and there's no harm in it! So all last week, we prepped ourselves for the egg hunts and what to do. Our practice run was at our church with her Cuz. Our ward is so fun and had treats on the lawn and cookies for them to decorate.

Decorating cookies. Miss Pretty inhaled hers of course, but her cousin just licked all the frosting and sprinkles off.
Miss Pretty is hilarious! Everyday she surprises me with something cute and adorable. Well the other day during lunch (yes she's still in her jammies, it was Spring Break!), she propped her feet right up and started eating that way. I promise, these aren't shinanagins learned from her parents!

Spring Break. . . oh how it's changed over the years. . . !

2011-04-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

So I had Spring Break from work this past week. As I lounged around most of my days in my stretchy pants and cleaned places that haven't been cleaned in 4 years, I thought of the Spring Breaks from back in the day. . . .*giggle* My most favorite Spring Break, was the one that I took with a couple of my besties, Brynn and Chandra. We went to St. George, dragged the strip, met boys and listened to Samantha Fox the entire time! Too much fun! Now here we are 15 or so years later and the highlight of my Spring Break was going to the Dinosaur Museum with my hubby and Miss Pretty. But I wouldn't have it any other way! :) (Although I wouldn't mind the venue changing to perhaps Hawaii next year or something!) She had a blast and couldn't stop talking about it!

Here are some fun pics of her:

Diggin' for gold. . . .or Dino bones, whichever we find first.

Everytime she'd see that I had the camera, she'd turn on the "cheese"!

A little hestitant at first. . . .
And the cheese. . .

Daddy and Miss Pretty under the BIG Dino!!

We went into the gift shop afterward and the prize that she picked out was a set of 3D glow-in-the-dark planets. She watched a "Bubble Guppies" episode about the Solar System and ever since then, she is obsessed with it. Too cute!

We also celebrated my SIL's birthday this past week and I made her a hippo cake. (she loves hippos) I thought it turned out pretty good.

My Dream Craft/Sewing Room. . . (sigh)

2011-04-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

One day, this will be my craft room!

http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2011/04/sewingcraft-room-ideas-and-updates.html

*Sigh*

Easter Bunny, laid some eggs. . .

2011-04-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

So for Conference weekend, we went to Idaho to visit the fam. It was so much fun and so relaxing! Conference was awsome and I got my coupon binder all up to date (I know, NERD ALERT!) We also were busy making these sugar eggs.It was so fun! I had a hard time stopping myself from adding more decor and foof! I was pretty proud of myself!

Dananana. . .you say it's yo birthday!

2011-04-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Finally some pics from Miss Pretty's birthday! It was a fun filled evening of friends, family, laughs and big bears! Thanks to all that came and celebrated our princess' 3rd birthday! We are very blessed with such amazing family and friends! Miss Pretty had so much fun having a party all about her! Enjoy the pic overload:

Mommy and Daddy gave her some presents before all the chaos began.

Our fun Dora Decor Dora was much harder to make than I thought she'd be! Love the hot pink pants! (they're supposed to be red :))

Eating her cake!

All our friends packed in our small family room.

Miss Ava checkin' out the goods.

Daddy was on pinata patrol.

Present overload! We had to do some major cleaning out of the toy room!

My favorite part of the evening was Aunt Suzee bear showing up with this massive teddy bear for Miss Pretty! Nearly knocked Miss Pretty over.

Got my HaIr DID!

2011-02-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

So it's been a busy, busy past month! What with the Johnson t.v. debut and all!

My new calling has also been keeping me busy. I'm really enjoying it, but also still in shock, I think! It's definately been a humbling experience!

Miss Pretty is almost 3 YEARS OlD! Less than a month away. She is hilarious and keeps us entertained everyday!

Here's a picture of her after she got herself dressed! Lovin' the skirt over the jeans look!

She's definately a Princess too! Always playing dress up and prancing through the house. I'm thinking it's almost time to enroll her in some dance classes.

Just bein' a goof ball!

This was a big month for my hair! It was time to chop it! It's been long for many years now, so I needed a change. My cute hair dresser asked me if I was ready before she cut off the braids and I quickly responded "YES!"

Here's the 12 inches or so that we chopped off!

And the after:

I LOVE it! So much fun!

Holy Randomness. . .

2011-01-24T11:54:00.001-08:00

Here's my random post for the month. Just some odds and ends kickin' around the ol' Nikon. Remember I told you about the fabulous food co-op that I use each month? Well here's my haul for this month! All this yummy, nutritious food for only 24 smackaroos!! About half what you'd pay at the grocery store and some of it is local!

One night we were hangin' out at my sista's casa and the kids were wild! Running 'round and 'round the front room screaming and dancing like silly kids! They were hilarious! After taking out Miss Els' hair ponies, we were left with the funniest hair-do! So I couldn't resist taking her pic! I think the flash scared her, what do you think?

This one's definately my fave!

And last but not least, one day (only one, because we hardly ever clean in my house, I think it's TOO boring!) we had a cleaning day. After I put on my ghetto bandana, Miss Pretty wanted one. So I fashioned one out of some CareBear material I had. Doesn't she look cute? Just gettin' her trained!

And to end my ramblings, I have accepted a new calling in my ward. . . drumroll please. . . .1st counselor in the Relief Society! Although I was very overwhelmed at first, I am now feeling very humbled by this calling! I know I shouldn't be, but I'm always shocked to find out what Heavenly Father already knows I'm capable of! It has definately made me take a personal inventory and start cleaning out some areas of my life that needed cleaning! Wish me luck!

Cabin Feva Anyone?

2011-01-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

So we Johnsons went on our very first family vacation by ourselves. I know, it's shocking! A good family friend had this killer deal on a cabin at the Cabins at Bear River Lodge, up in the Uintah's and I snatched it right up! I'd do it again if I could too, because it was the best!! It was so nice and relaxing! Just watched movies and did pretty much whatever we wanted! We cooked some yummy meals (well I did, with the help of my tot Miss Pretty).

I came back feeling recharged and well rested! I wish I could do that once a month!

Funny story: One of the days we suited up (see above pics) and headed out to go tubing on the hills behind the cabin. So there I am, prepping myself to go down one of the hills, wearing no make up, wearing my mismatched sledding attire (I so should have worn fur I know!), when this guy rolls up on a snowmobile. He's all "Do you mind if I film you going down the hill on that tube? I'm from 'Roughin' it Outdoors' with Channel 2." Which actually turned into interviewing each of us. It aired on Saturday, January 22 and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Miss Pretty looked adorable of course! Once they post it online, I'll link it up so you can all see our debut!

Miss Pretty had so much fun hanging out with us! We had an elegant dinner one night and used the wine glasses they had in the cabinet to drink our rootbeer out of. She LOVED that and kept telling me "I don't need help mom! I got it!"

C'mon Cinderella, we gotta get you ready for the ball!

2011-01-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

We had a blast on New Year's Eve! Miss Suzee Bear, our Aunty got hitched and had a beautiful wedding! We rang in the New Year with a few of my favorite things:Dancing of course! Miss Pretty and her cuz Kenna were shakin' it!
With my fam! Loves!

My hubby, hittin' the hard stuff. . . CocaCola!

The two Princesses. They were really good considering they stayed up past midnight!

I love this one! Kenna bug is totally posing! They both look so pretty!

Aunt Suzee looked gorgeous and we're so happy for her! It was a lot of fun hanging out with family!

My Favorite Food Co-op!

2011-01-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I'm a deal seeker. . . love me some free and cheap stuff!
Just wanted to share one of my favorite ways to do this each month! I'm a part of a local food co-op here in Salt Lake (they're available in most cities, just check). It's an amazing program that buys a lot of local produce and meat and we're able to purchase it at a very inexpensive price! I just order it online each month, pay for it online and then I go and pick it up at a church close to my house. Miss Pretty loves going with me because she gets to count out the produce and help me load up my bag. And my favorite part is that each month the produce and meat selection changes and it forces me to branch out a little bit and try new recipes.
If you're in Salt Lake, check out their website. I will even go with you the first time if you want! I usually buy the "Standard Share" for $24 and that includes 5 selections (sometimes more!) of produce and 4 selections of meat. It comes out to be a huge bag of produce (think Ikea blue bag, full!) and a box of meat. (i've linked an example of what a standard share has been before) I added it up for what I would spend on it at the grocery store and it's at least half the cost to get it through the co-op!! Who doesn't love that savings right? Plus it's local and I love supporting local businesses when I can!
So. . . check it out! I just wanted to share because it's a new year and I know many of you might be looking for ways to save and get out of debt like we are! I also wanted to share that I will be teaching a "coupon class" in February for my ward, but everyone is welcome to come! I would love to have friends and family there too for support since i'm super nervous! I'll let everyone know the date and time for sure!!

"For after much tribulation come the blessings. . "

2011-01-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to leave a link to the family blog that we did the Sub 4 Santa for. Get out your tissues boys and girls cuz this ones a tear jerker!

http://ingatukuafu.blogspot.com/2010/12/endless-blessings.html

Santa Claus is comin' to town. . .

2010-12-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

Tree decorating time always brings back such fond memories! We used to love this when we were kids and it was fun to see Miss Pretty get so excited about it! She lost interest while we were stringing the lights, but once we got out the ornaments, she loved it! She kept hanging them all on the same branch.

Daddy and Miss Pretty putting the finall touches on the tree.

Since I married D, we've made gingerbread houses (or graham cracker houses) with his family and it's something that I look forward to every year! So it's fun to have Miss Pretty to join in now. This year, we weren't able to go up to Idaho for this :(, due to Miss Pretty's surgery. So Gma Johnson brought the fun to us!

Miss Pretty had a blast decorating. . .

And eating frosting. . . .just like her dad and papa!The finished product!

"Sorry Steve, but that leg's gonna have to come off!"

2010-12-27T14:15:00.001-08:00

December was an eventful month for us! Miss Pretty had to get her tonsils out. And that was the only time that worked. We had it done at the beginning of the month though, so that she'd be up and runnin' before Santa arrived. The surgery went really well and Dr. Hill said that once he got in there, he was glad they were taking them out because they were huge!
Here she is waiting for her surgery. I wish they had cute pink jammies for the girls.

They gave her some Versed before she went in and I asked the Anasthesiologist where mine was?? I think the parents should get a lil' somethin'! The anxiety was killin' me!

When I went back to see her after, I was in tears, but the nurses were all laughing because this is how she was sleeping! The funniest is she used to sleep like this in her isolette!
And here we are in the wagon, getting ready to leave Primary's. The 2 weeks that followed were rough! Not a fun experience! Poor thang didn't want to take her Loratab. I don't blame her, that stuff was nasty! She cried a lot, wet the bed a lot, slept a lot (and not at the normal times) and was just unhappy. It was hard to get out of our routine so much and I was glad for my christmas break from work so that I could catch up on my sleep!!

Dashing through the snow. . .

2010-12-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Well Sunday we went to my sis' house for Sunday dinner and a Birthday celebration for my sis Gina!! It just kept snowing all day long! The above pic is of my drive way when I got home. I think I scraped off a couple inches with the front my car, Stella! What a crazy storm. D came home from work that night and shoveled for the 3rd time that day. It was gorgeous out there! The snow looked like big hills of sparkly sugar!

So my lil' Miss Pretty showed us the other night that she can touch her feet to her ears! While at my sis' house, she thought she'd show her cousins as well! Here they all are trying for themselves! Too funny. I don't know where she got her flexability from, certainly not me! I don't think my feet have touched my head since I was in the womb!

Santa came early for me this year! I've been dreaming of a nice freezer to put all my sweet bargains in!

I've also been dreaming of a stove with all functioning burners and that matches my other appliances!

This year seems to have flown by! I can't believe that it's already Christmas again! Our lil' tot keeps us on our toes for sure! We're still waiting for the next Johnson addition. . . .waiting stinks!

We'll be decorating the house the weekend. Miss Pretty is very into all the decor and Santa this year which has been blast! We thought we'd get it all out and decorated because she will be going in for surgery on Wednesday to get her tonsils out. Those suckers have been inflamed for about 2 months now and giving us grief! Poor thang snores like you wouldn't believe! Pretty tramatic for mommy!

In January D, Miss Pretty and I will be taking a much needed vaca by ourselves! We've never done that before. . . .in 9 years, never taken a vaca by ourselves. Pretty sad. So I rented us a nice cabin for 4 days and we get to do whatever we want!! I can't hardly wait!

That's all for now! I'll post pics of the tree next week.

Everytime a Bell Rings. . . and Angel Gets its Wings!

2010-12-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

I am always amazed at what wonderful friends and family I am blessed with!!

We are doing this Sub 4 Santa this year and it has been quite amazing! We have been able to get everything on the list for the kids and then some!! We've also been able to help out another family that wouldn't otherwise be able to have Christmas!

I will post pics of "Operation Drop-Off" after we take our stash over to the families!

I will also resume blogging, hopefully later today with some recent pics from my new fancy shmancy camera! My sis and I braved the Black Friday crowds and got some pretty sweet deals! The jury is still out on if it was worth it or not? We went to Toys R Us. . . almost had a throw down. . .totally awsome! Then we debated on going to bed or going straight to Target. . . ya, we went to Target! Got a sweet place in line, stood in the 11 degree weather for 3 hours, came this close to losing both my pinky toes, got a new camera and some other sweet deals and lived to tell the story!

Our funny story this year was the one we overheard a lady telling at Shopko:

Some lady at Toys R Us got the last pack of Toy Story 3 characters but it was missing the Woody doll. She then proceeded to walk around yelling "Does anyone have a Woody? I just need a Woody!" I giggle everytime I think about it!

Thanks again to our wonderful friends that sent money and gifts for our Sub 4 Santa!
Janel. . .girl you ROCK and I love you dearly! I only hope that I can pay it forward one day!

Santa Claus is comin' to town. . . .

2010-11-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

What up ya'll!!

We are well on our way to filling up Santa's workshop with lot's of goodies and toys for our Sub 4 Santa family. There have been lots of my peeps that want to help. Here is a list of what we have left to get for the fam:

*Kung Zhu pet w/ armor

*Battle arena for Kung Zhu pets.

*Air Hog

*Hannah Montana Game for the Didj

*Imaginex Space Shuttle and Tower

*Hot Wheels Color Shifters Blaster Play Set

Also if anyone is interested in donating cashola, we're hoping to buy the family a Wii!

Leave me a comment if you interested in helping out and I can email you my address if you want to have something shipped or drop something off. We're hoping to have everything by the 15th so that we can wrap everything and drop it off on the 21st.

Sub 4 Santa Family

2010-11-16T07:51:00.001-08:00

Our family will be doing a Sub 4 Santa this holiday season. Here is the AmAzIng family that we will be helping out! I had my sis write up a little background on them. Anyone that is interested in helping us out, please send me an email: mexiprincess89@hotmail.com or leave me a comment, or facebook me too.

Ben & Viola are the proud parents of Fanga (7), Anela (5) and Ben Jr (3)

In March 2010, they welcomed a precious new baby boy. SioSaia. After several months of health problems and numerous visits to Primary Childrens Medical Center, Saia returned home to his Heavenly Father. He was 5 months old.
A few weeks ago Ben Sr. started feeling sick. Headache, dizzy, nausea… he finally went in to the hospital and they found a tumor in his pituitary gland (the home base for all of your hormones in your body). 3 weeks later (today) he will be admitted to neurosurgery and the tumor will be removed. He will remain in ICU until he is stable to be transferred to a transitional floor.

As you can guess, the medical bills (for the baby and Ben) are enourmous, living expenses have piled up – with both parents not working and trying to survive- it’s impossible.

They are such an amazing example of Faith.

They know that this year has been their trial. They know everything will work out.
Anything we can do to lift the burden. They could use your prayers.

UPDATE****

My sis and I went up to the hospital last night to visit the fam and see how Ben was doing after surgery. He is doing really good, just pretty sore. The doctors are very positive that they were able to remove the entire tumor! He was in really good spirits. We have been really trying to get some ideas about what the kids would like for Christmas. For sure any sports stuff for the little boys and any Hannah Montana or princess stuff for the little girl. We were able to get out of Viola last night that they would all love the Wii!!

Sub for Santa!!

2010-11-15T12:19:00.000-08:00

The Holiday Season is right around the corner!! There is a family that our family will be helping provide Christmas for. It is my brother-in-laws brother. They've been through some true hardships these past few months! I will have a full write up of their story very soon, but I would like to invite all those who are reading this, to consider helping out. Even if you're just able to donate a couple dollars, we'll take it! They have 3 young kiddos. 2 boys and 1 girl. We will need toys, clothes, food and $$ to help this family have a good Christmas this year.

Please email me: mexiprincess89@hotmail.com or leave a comment if you're interested. Also, please pass this along!!

Happy Holidays!!

We Could All Use a Lil' HOPE!

2010-10-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago, my cousin Heather suffered a stroke. She had given birth to her sweet baby boy Jax just 2 weeks before that! She remained in ICU for quite a while and the outcome was unknown for a while. I'm happy to say that she has since been released from the hospital and is working with a physical therapist to get things operating properly again!

A couple of weeks ago, my sis Gina organized a really cool benefit concert with the help of some awsome guys! Scott, Josh and Tim! It was amazing to see the charity that so many came and showed! Most of whom didn't know us, didn't know our family, but wanted to help! THANK YOU! Scott Foster put on an awsome show! Check him out on Facebook! We had a blast! Laughing and brewing hot chocolate!

Me and Gina!

J-Lo and J-man!

The girlz! Checkin' out all the hot guyz!

Mom and Aunty holding baby Jax!

Our hot cousins and Aunty!

Scott Foster brought his own stage!

We had some really good ticket takers. Aren't they good lookin'!

Setting up the stage on wheels.

This experience has been amazing! Just like last year with my dad, we learned very quickly what is really important and what is not! We learned how there are still really good people in the world! I know sometimes it seems like we don't have time to show compassion and service to others anymore, but it is sooooo important to find that time!

Hey Tommy. . . Quit playin' with your dingy!

2010-09-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

We bought us a boat from my parents! The Sea Nymph was born in 1978 and has been part of many of my childhood memories! We recently bought it from mom and dad Lloyd and took her out for a spin on ol' Strawberry last weekend. What a blast!

Daddy and Miss Pretty very serious about fishin'!
Here fishy fishy!

Mommy and Miss Pretty!

It was a fun day trip! Miss Pretty was quite the trooper. She wanted to take that life jacket off a couple of times so she could lay down and go to sleep, but we made her keep it on! So she became delirious and started singing silly songs.

In other news, Miss Pretty got her bed converted into a "big girl bed"! I will take better pictures of her new bed and post them later. But she is doing great and LOVES sleeping and jumping in her new bed! I thought we'd have problems with her wandering out in the middle of the night, but the only time she comes out of her room, is in the morning when she wakes up, she tip toes out and whispers "Mommy?" in our room. Too fun!

We are potty training this weekend. Should be quite interesting!

Check out this awsome blog!

2010-09-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hi family and friends! Check out this blog dedicated to my cousin Heather!

http://heatherissleeping.blogspot.com/

My cousin Heather is the sweet mother of two beautiful boys! She suffered a stroke last Friday and is still in ICU. There is information on there if you would like to donate anything to help cover medical costs and to help with child expenses. You're love and prayers are needed with this one guys!

Oh in the Summa Time when the weather is hot. . .

2010-08-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

To all my faithful followers. .. . I promise that I am coming back soon to post pics and updates more frequently. It has been a cRazY BuSy summer! But also a FUN summer!

We have been able to take a couple of small family trips, which I will hopefully be able to put pics up about soon! And we've been playing, playing, playing! Oh and we can't forget that thing called "Work" (boo)!

Miss Pretty is growing up so much and is so stinkin' adorable! She is 2 1/2 now and quite the diva these days! She talks so much! My favorite is that she loves to dance and sing. She's had a blast this summer, playing in the pool and always wanting to go fishing! Thanks to her daddy who tells her all the time "tell mommy we need to go fishing!"

I haven't really felt like I've had much of a break this summer, which is a bummer! I'm not used to working in the summer, so it's been an adjustment for me! I've been doing lots of couponing of course! I even help write for my favorite blog Freebies2Deals! I write the Rite Aid deal matchups each week, so check it out! As for Daddy D, he's been fishin' up a storm of course! Got himself a brand new boat and we also bought my dad's old boat, I'll post pics of that later too! He's so excited to go out on the open water in that bad boy! Can't wait!

I will hopefully get some pics up of some of our trips this summer and I'll be better about posting, I promise!

Guess who's back. . . back again. . . Corky's back. . .tell a friend. .

2010-06-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

I know, I should totally win "worst blogger of the year"! I've been so busy lately, haven't had time to breath! But I thought I should get back into the swing of things and post some pics and give everyone an update on the Johnson Fam!

Miss Pretty is becoming very fluent en Engles! She says the funniest things sometimes and I just love her so much!
D and I are doing well, both still working (have been very blessed!) I am getting close to summa time and my hours change, so I can't hardly wait for that! Fridays off! Woohoo! Maybe I'll actually get something done! D just got himself a shiny new pontoon boat to go out and catch him some fish! I swear, if we had a pond, he'd be out there right now just paddling around!

My little bro graduated from the Police Academy in April! So if you're out driving the streets of the ol' Dub V.C., look out! He's on the loose! So proud of him!

This past weekend, we took a trip with my BFF, Brynn and her hubby Chad and Miss Pretty's boyfriend, T-dogg to their family cabin. It was a blast and I bet Miss Pretty would have stayed for 2 weeks if we could! She loved "camping in Trevor's Camper". (that's what she called it.) This was our first time taking her camping since she was only 4 months old! Last summer was kind of a wash for us, as you all remember, so I'm determined to go camping as much as possible this year! With these gorgeous mountains so close, how could we not? Enjoy the pics! We couldn't keep Miss Pretty off of the 4 wheeler! The two little ones had fun playing together and T-Dogg taught Miss Pretty all about the art of throwing rocks and how to really launch them! It was so nice to get away for the weekend and hang out with friends.
The men folk roastin' some dogs!

We ventured down to the lake one day. Probly not the smartest thing to do with 2 toddlers and and a woman who's 8 months prego, but we did it! It was cold! Miss Pretty wanted to fish pretty bad! She found a stick on the ground that was her "fishin' pole". She's so stinkin' cute.
Helpin' daddy.Trevor in a sea o' rocks! After, freezing our tooshies off at the lake and the kids throwing a couple of tantrums, we headed down to Chad's uncle's fishing pond so that the kids could see them catch a fish. That was a blast, minus the freaky geese chasing us and hissing at us! Yes they hiss!

Trevor was pretty excited to squeeze that fishie's head!

On the way back to the cabin that night, the kids were pretty pooped after a long day's play!

T-Dogg, chillaxin'!

Miss Pretty watchin' some cartoons. Trevor was sitting next to her, but bolted when I got my camera out.

Miss Pretty and Daddy went on lots of "motorcycle rides"! She wanted to steer and tell him which direction he needed to go.

My new obsession!!

2010-05-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of you have been wondering "Where oh where is CorkY??" Life gets so busy sometimes don't you agree? I promise I have a lot of updates still to come, but I had to post my exciting adventures of this past weekend!! This post is pretty NeRdY I realize, but I have to share my knowledge! As many of you now know, I'm a coupon junkie! I've crossed over to the other side!! I've been converted!! And for all you non-believers out there, here is proof, that it really does work!! First I have to give props where props are due!! Melea on www.freebies2deals.com is amazing!! She does all the hard work, so that you don't have to! And I also got some of my deals from www.utahdealdiva.com , www.thekrazycouponlady.com , & the Savvy Shopper link from Freebies2Deals!! The women are awsome!! So now to my biggest deal so far. .. Smith's has this fun event going on from Sunday, May 16 through Tuesday, May 18 where they will round any coupon under $1 up to $1!! Check out my haul:

Before coupons, this was $123.41. After all of my coupons, it was $44.01, but then I got back $5 to use on my next purchase at Smith's, so it was really only $39.01!! Plus I got $.15 fuel rewards!! Is that awsome or what? I saved %76 on this load! Most of these items were free and only 3 items were over $1 after the coupons.
Here is my receipt, pretty crazy! And below is my shopping list and what the price for each came to:

Land O' Lakes spreadable butter with Olive Oil - (4) @ .50 ea

Yoplait Yogurt Cups - (6) @ .27 ea

Yoplait Greek Yogurt Cups - (7) @ FREE!

Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes - (1) @ FREE!

Febreeze Air Effects - (6) @ .49 ea

Sunny D - (4) @ .29 ea

Birdseye Steam Veggies and Sides - (5) @ .66 ea

Mentos Gum - (6) @ FREE!

3 Musketeers - (2) @ FREE!

No Yolk Pasta Noodles - (2) .59 ea

Suddenly Salad - (2) @ FREE!

McComick Grill Mates Steak Seasoning packet - (1) @ FREE!

Bounty Basics papertowels single roll - (5) @ .09 ea

Crest Toothpaste - (5) @ .50 ea

Soft Soap Hand soap - (1) @ FREE!

C & H Brown Sugar - (1) @ .58 ea

French's Mustard - (1) @ .25 ea

French's Mustard Brown Sugar Flavor - (1) @ .69 ea

French's Mustard Honey Flavor - (1) @ .69 ea

Kraft Salad Dressing - (3) @ .69 ea

Wacky Mac Pasta - (2) @ .25 ea

Nature Valley Nut Clusters - (4) @ FREE!

Satin Care Shaving Cream - (5) @ .36 ea

Lady Speedstick - (1) @ FREE!

Totinos Pizzas - (5) @ .77 ea

Totinos Pizza Rolls - (1) @ 1.29 ea

Covergirl Nail Color - (2) @ 2.77 ea

So there it is! Pretty cool eh? You might be wondering how I decided on how many of each and that just depended on how many coupons of each I had.

Here's my deal from yesterday on Covergirl Makeup from Smith's. My mom and I made out like bandits! This makeup would have normally been $43! But I only paid $7 for it!

And last but definately not least, here's my Target trip with my mom! Paid $6 for this! The razors and Air Wick air fresheners were free!

I will post some family updates later on tonight! Happy couponing ya'll! Check out the sites I posted and if you're not a couponer and want to be, let me know and I'll give ya the 411!

LiTtlE PetEr CoTTon TaLe. . . .HoppIN' dOwN the BunNy TrAiL. . .

2010-04-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter this year! We are so blessed with amazing families! I opted out of taking Miss Pretty to an Easter Egg Hunt, for fear of the chaos that could occur. Instead we had a good old fashioned home Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Tukuafu residence. We spent the morning at J-Lo's for conference brunch (we call it that, but somehow didn't really watch any of it! Thank goodness for DVR's!) The kids ran amuck, as usual and then we got down to business. Word had it, that the Grandbunny Mama and Grandbunny Papa were in town and we got the hook ups!! Grandbunny Mama really outdid herself this year. The boys got to go first. Ben and Levi were very helpful, as you can see!

About half way through the boy's turn, Miss Pretty quietly crept into the family room and sat down all innocent-like. Notice where her hand is!
She jacked that piece of chocolate!
Here she is all prepped for her turn!

And here go the girls. Baby sis just kept filling up her bucket and dumping it back out!
Mommies assisting. . . . it's allowed!

Another break for chocolate! She takes after her great Aunt Pam, loves the chocolate!

Later that evening, once daddy was home from work, the Easter Bunny stopped by and left some goods on the front porch. She was baffled that he would do that and looked all over outside for any signs of him.

She was only interested in one thing. . . . you guessed it. . . .CHOCOLATE!!

It was a fun time!

Today was her 2 year checkup. Dr. D was lookin' very nice! He said she is doing great and has the vocabulary of a 3 year old! (Mommy feeling proud, very proud!) Here are her stats:

Height: 36 in. 95%!!

Weight: 26 lbs. 45%

We're heading out to Idaho tomorrow to see Geema and Papa Johnson!! Check out my "Feel the Burn" blog. . . I finished my 5K!!

Have yOur CaKe and EAt it ToO!

2010-03-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

So this is my bragging post. . . my mother-in-law does wedding cakes for some of our family members and this is her latest creation!! I think it's amazing!!

I'm COO COO for COUPONS!!

2010-03-24T14:26:00.001-07:00

I always thought those ladies in the supermarket in front of me, with all of their coupons were nuts and had way too much time on their hands!! Well, I got news for ya'll. . . . I've been converted! My BFF Brynn and her hubby gave me a tutorial about how to coupon shop and how simple it really is if you want it to be (trust me, it can be complicated, but only if you want it to be!) So this past month and a half, i've tested out the waters to see if it's worth it. WOW!! I'm seriously so ashamed to admit that i've been paying so much for food and misc. things this whole time!! The above picture is one of my many deals that i've gotten this past month at Target. I got this whole load for $11!! (I think the most expensive thing was the Hydrocortozone cream, but I had to buy that, due to Miss Pretty's rash) And just yesterday, I got jumbo packs of Huggies for $3.23 per package!! It's insane! I started out asking everyone at work to bring me their coupons inserts from the Sunday paper, if they didn't use them. I now get about 7 per week! So I don't even have to pay for a paper! I've listed a bunch of cool websites to check out if this is something that you've been thinking about trying. My favorite, is the first one "Freebies 2 Deals"! My sis and I went to a conference she had this past weekend and learned so much! Check them out! HAPPY COUPONING!

http://www.freebies2deals.com/
http://www.hip2save.com/
http://www.thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://www.totallytarget.com/

Happy Birthday Gus Gus!

2010-03-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

Miss Pretty and I celebrated a birthday last week! I still can't believe that she's 2!! Craziness!

Birthday Girl shirt she wore on her actual birthday. She didn't want to get her picture taken can you tell?

Spent the morning of my birthday breakin' a sweat to get this lil' girl to smile! We went to JC Penney for the photos. Didn't love the photographer who kept sighing and acting like we were a pain (like I didn't already know???) but we finally got 4 keepers! It doesn't look it, but Miss Pretty did NOT want to pose or cooperate at all!

A few days before her birthday, I was doing some chores and Miss Pretty decided it was time to go "Bye Bye". Here she is stylin' as usual. She kept saying "Bye bye! Go shoppin'!"

Miss Pretty was a trooper on the day of the festivities! We had a lot of family here and it was a busy, crazy day!! We found out a few days later that she had a double ear infection and roseola! So she was surprisingly chipper for having such an ear ache! My sweet mother-in-law helped me make her birthday cake. It turned out so cute! It was so much fun to have so much family come to visit and she loved having both "Geema's" here!

She got spoiled. I promise, I requested no toys because our basement has already been invaded! But as you can see, that didn't happen. She loved it all though!

On a side note, I turned the big 30!! Kinda wierd! I don't feel that old!

My favorite things about Miss Pretty:

"Nuggling" with her.

Her chicken legs.

When she tries to pick my nose!

When she tells me I look cute.

When she tells me that her blankie needs to be washed!

The fact that she likes to go "Shoppin'"

Her cute personality.

When she chases the cat.

Doing our nails.

And many many more! Happy Birthday Miss Pretty! Momma loves you!

GLAMOROUS

2010-03-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

Many of you know I work at East High School. We have this really cool program here that collects donated formal dresses and dress clothes. It's called "The Leopard Boutique" and when we have a dance here, students are able to borrow them for the dance for free. It's a really cool program and gives students a chance to go and get all "PROMMED" up!! So my plea is for donations. Please look around your closets, tell your brothers, sisters, whoever. . . to look around and see what formal wear they've been hanging on to. They need dresses (big, small, any), shoes, jewelry, clutches, slacks, dress shirts, ties, dress coats. . . .

If you're interested or have something to finally let go of (I still have that dress, that I KNOW I will fit into again!) leave me a comment. I will pick it up or you can always drop stuff off to East.

Wendover or Bust!!!

2010-03-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

I spent my last weekend of my 20's with my two BFF's, my sisters. J-Lo got us girls tickets to see Boyz II Men. We had a blast! Best birthday present ever!

This was my 4th time seeing them in concert. . . I know. . . obsess much? I was kinda hopin' they'd give me a rose again. They were lookin' mighty fine in their suits!! Woowee!

We were really good and refrained from throwing any unmentionables on stage! It was all I could do to hold Gina back! :) We giggled and laughed all night! Here are the highlights of the evening:

*All the silly ex boyfriend memories that their music brings back! Chad Gailey - 6th grade, Joe Quintana 7th grade and of course Hailame Tua'one-high school!

*People watching! Lady in the blue hair - ummm no! Lady in the bedazzled 4th of July shirt - it's March!

*Gina thinking the casino was closed because the front doors were tinted.

*The mirrored ceiling and walls in the casino.

*Not having the cash to go to the VIP aftershow party! Boo to the not so friendly hags that weren't helpful at all!

*Thinking we were getting held up at the gas station because some lady was asking where the Vault was? (meaning the Vault drink that was on sale).

*NO DING DONGS!

*But the number one highlight was Jenn asking if the Aleve single packs on the gas station counter were free? and the store clerk replying "NO! Does it say free on them?"

Ladies, it was a blast!! Let's do the Boyz cruise in Feb. 2011!

Howard the Duck

2010-03-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

Well we have a new residence in our yard. I like to call him Howie! He's a duck that has decided that he's going to call our yard and the neighbor's yard "home". I'm not sure where he came from, but he just struts around the yard and quacks all the time. Last night there was a gathering of cats in the driveway that looked like they might have a brawl and right when they were getting serious, Howie came waddling right through the middle like "Yo, what up ladies!" It was too funny! I'm not really sure what I should feed him or if I need to, I suppose I will google it.

I'm getting a little better at doing Miss Pretty's hair! Yesterday for church, she let me put little pig tails in. I still can't believe how big she's getting! She'll be 2 next week!! The other morning I went to wake her up to leave for the babysitters and she gave me a sleepy look with her eyes half open and said "Oh mommy, soooo cute!" Talk about melt my heart!

"Ohno" he didn't!!!

2010-02-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, you've all been wondering where I have been!! Well, with my new workout routine now in working order (most days anyway!), I have to be in bed by 9, and before that, I am glued to the T.V. watching the 2010 Winter Olympics!! I just can't seem to get enough of it! Does anyone else feel like that? My favs so far have been:
Of course Apolo!! I think he's an amazing athlete!
I loved the snowboarding! Shaun White and Seth Wescott were awsome!!
I've also watched some downhill skiing and some ice skating.
LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!

St. Valentine's Day was fun! D and I decided that we'd make sugar cookies with Miss Pretty! She's just like her momma and has a sweet tooth!

This is her idea of frosting a cookie!

And nibbling on one!

We celebrated a lot of birthdays in January and February! I made Levi and Duke's cake. I know, I should go pro! (not really, i'm joking) but we had fun with it! Oh and there's a tunnel of pudding in the middle!

Adorable Ava was blessed this month as well! She looked gorgeous and Levi did awsome! I am so blessed with an amazing family!!

Just a quick family update:
Miss Pretty is growing and amazing me everyday! She's so much fun, but at the same time can sure try my patience! She's a chatty patty lately and loves everything girl! Cute shoes, dollies, gettin' her hair did. . . .I love being a mother!

If you haven't already checked my weight loss blog, check it out. I've been really trying my hardest to be more active and lose some chubby wubby! I'm tired of feeling frumpy! I'm feeling great.
I have also been couponing thanks to my BFF Brynn and hubby Chad! It is a blast and sooooo addicting! I love getting things for so cheap!! ie: Chex mix for .33 cents a bag! Check out my link to "Freebies to Deals". She's awsome and finds all sorts of screamin' deals!
D is getting cabin fever and is ready to build whatever he can!! Can't wait for summer!

As you can tell from my blog background, Miss Pretty and I are getting ready to celebrate birthdays! Hers is the day before mine. We'll be 2 and 30!! I'm not sure how i'm feeling about turning 30, but ready or not here it comes!!

Peace out!

And One and Two. . .

2010-02-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll, I've created a new blog! Check it out!
http://corkythechubbybunny.blogspot.com/

It's to document my new goal for a Happier, Healthier Corky!

Don't worry, this won't be replacing my current family blog, just an addition!!

All My Friends. . .Own a lowrider. . . .

2010-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

Sunday dinner was a blast this past week! The kids have so much fun playing together now that they're all running and semi-talking. We got some good news from Ben and Terra. I'm going to be an Auntie again! Can't wait! Hearing the news confirmed what we've been feeling for a while now, that it's time to start trying for another babe! I must admit that I am terrified to get pg again, after my timultuous pregnancy with Miss Pretty. I'm still not sure how I survived, or how D survived for that matter!! I just know that we are supposed to have more and that Heavenly Father will help me to make it through! SCARY!

Anywho. . . .Here are some fun pics of all the chitlins having fun!Baby A chilaxin with G-ma. Everyone asks where she gets those cheeks? If you were to see Levi's baby pics, you'd know!! I'll have to scan one and post it! She is so adorable!
The best yard sale bargain, JLo and I ever found. . . .a Step 2 firetruck that resembles Fred Flinstone's ride! Only $5!! JLo got this out on Sunday and we couldn't keep the kids off of it!!

Baby sis and Miss Pretty were co drivers at one point, while Spidey pushed! Check out Baby Sis' outfit! Slammin! She thought she'd chance fate and stand while in route!
Cuz B is riding coach. Let me just tell you how hilarious they were!
Photo op! Notice Cuz B's shirt. . ."Big Brother"!

Funny story. . . Spidey asked Uncle Levi to pretend like he was a big scary bear and chase the kids around. Well. . . .Uncle Levi gladly abliged! I've never seen such horror on the faces of young children before!! Spidey made a b-line for the stairs, let the firetruck skid into the couch and give Cuz B & Baby Sis whiplash! Baby Sis started screaming bloody murder and Miss Pretty took off into the corner crying with fear! I think Cuz B was the only one that thought it was funny besides me of course! I was laughing so hard, that I couldn't tell everyone why the kids were all crying!!

We got Miss Pretty all dolled up for church on Sunday. . . I know, I know, we did actually go! Shocking! We now have the 9 o'clock and I couldn't be happier!! Miss Pretty is much more pleasant, as am I!

Here are a couple of random pics. She loves to try on daddy's shoes!

Hammin' it up for the camera.

And last but not least, her electrifying pic!!

Todos Juntos!

2010-01-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

My lil' Miss Pretty is getting so big and so hilarious!! She's a chatty patty these days and a mocking bird, so mommy really has to watch what she says! She will be 2 in March and I can't even believe it! We went to Idaho this past weekend and had so much fun with the fam! I miss them a lot. Miss Pretty played to her heart's content and clung to "Gamma's" hip the whole time demanding to go "bye bye" and "shoppin'".

She seems to be growing and will soon be taller than me I think!

This post is a tribute to her latin boyfriend "Manny Garcia" on the Disney Channel. She could watch those shows all day if I let her.

I'm dreaming of a Johnson Christmas. . .

2010-01-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

WARNING - Picture Overload! I'm finally getting our fun Christmas pics loaded on and updated. It was a blast this year with Miss Pretty! She had so much fun! It was fun having Santa come visit our house. We spent Christmas Eve at Ben and Terr's house. The kids had fun running amuck and playing with all their toys. We got Jenn and Duke matching snuggies, which were a big hit!

Christmas morning we had to wake sleeping beauty.
She was very sleepy and was wondering what all this early business was about?

We had to keep giving her presents and telling her to keep opening because she was sort of zoned. Her favorite present from Santa was granola bars! She wanted one opened and ate it while we helped her open presents too.

I made all the girls Christmas tutu's. It was a lot of fun. We never got them all together though, to get a picture.
Miss Pretty definately got spoiled by both grandparents! It was a really good Christmas and we are so blessed to have such great families!

Ballerina!

Here's her haul! Santa brought her the kitchen that's peeking out in the back. She loves making us pizza and cupcakes in there!

Up on the house top reindeer pause, out jumps good ol' SANTA CLAUS!!

2009-12-23T21:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Life has gotten us so busy that I haven't been able to blog and I'm having withdrawals!! December is always busy huh! We got us a tree and decorated the house! I swear it was the coldest night of the year when we went! But Miss Pretty had fun and wanted to stay outside. Decorating the tree was a bit of a challenge. I wanted to put the ornaments on the tree and she wanted them off. But she's gotten better and just wants me to turn the lights on all the time! "YIGHTS! YIGHTS!"

We went up to Pocatello this past weekend. It was so much fun! Miss Pretty had a blast! She played played played and snuggled with "Gamma!" We always do gingerbread houses with D's fam. It was hilarious this year! I had the honor of sitting next to my father in law and he's always so funny! D was a bit more creative this year with his "house". Check for yourself!

The girls had a hoot reorginizing Gamma's cupboards and dancin' up a storm!
My house. . .so cute!
And D's port-a-potty!

Here's Miss Pretty and daddy opening one of the presents that Gamma and Kyr got her.
Here are a couple of random cute pics of my Princess! Her babysitter put her hair in braids one day and this is what it looked like when I took them out.

And here she is hammin' it up with her stunna shades on!

This year has been so much fun with her for the holidays! She understands what everything is and she's talking so much more! We brought home some wrapped gifts from Gamma and Gpa Johnson and she's been very anxious to open them! Everyday she sorts through them and hands a bunch of them to me! Can't wait for tomorrow night when Santa comes to bring her some more!

We got together on Monday night with the Lloyd clan to make our traditional candy! Toffee, fudge, caramels and pumpkin rolls. It was a good ol' time and we laughed so much! The kids ran amuck and every one of them ended up with some sort of battle wound! Miss Pretty's being a lovely goose egg atop her forehead! I can't tell you how incredibly greatful I am to have such an awsome family! This year was a rough one for us and truly tested each of us in ways we didn't know were possible! But we made it through, and we got the best gift of all. . . .our dad! Merry Christmas!!!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. . .

2009-12-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

Well we did family pictures this last Saturday. I thought I had prepped myself, mentally, for lil' Miss Pretty to be uncooperative, but I still was a little shocked. For some reason, she didn't want to look at the camera -- AT ALL! Oh and she wouldn't let me put her down the whole time. But we did get some cute ones of our princess. This is just a sample of what she did the whole time.

Momma and Miss Pretty. I love her lots!

One of my favs! She only let us hold her hand for a split second and then she was done!

But she did let me know that she's ready for her driver's license!

This was the happiest that she was the whole time. They turned out cute!

Checkin' out the farm animals.

More farm animals.

Momma and Daddy.

My favorite one of them all. The only smile!

Our photographer, Stacie, was a trooper! Thanks so much!

http://pricelessphotosbystacie.wordpress.com

Sleepless in Salt Lake - Dr. Dreamy to the rescue!

2009-11-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

We had a sick lil' babe this past week. It started out a couple of weeks ago,

Miss Pretty was having these coughing fits at like 1 in the morning.

Last week, they turned into throwing up (fun!). I was a bit concerned because she was

throwing up a lot, so, naturally, we paid a visit to Dr. Dreamy (sigh).

Turns out, she had an ear infection (didn't see that one coming!)

Apparently some nerve that triggers coughing, runs right along

the ear drum, and the inflamed ear drum was triggering coughing and

that, coupled with her lovely gagging reflex, courtesy of the Lloyds,

was probably causing the vomit comet to emerge! After her yummy

amoxicilin kicked in, she was back to normal!

Here are some cute pics of her. She's a lot of fun! Playing with her baby, feeding her and

washing her face.

Playing outside with her daddy!

We can't wait for New Moon tomorrow! Yay!

Then comes a baby in the baby carriage. . . .

2009-11-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

Make sure that you read my other post below. . . I just had so much to post, but didn't want to make it too long and have my faithful readers get bored halfway through!

Okay now don't think that my post title implies any news for us Johnsons (not yet, the vomit comet is still too fresh in my brain!) Read below to find out our family announcement.

Here are some pics of Miss Pretty and her daddy. I came home the other day to a glorious fall day and Miss Pretty in our newly fenced backyard (courtesy of my wonderful husband!) Daddy was raking leaves and Miss Pretty was sweeping them with a broom. She was very intent on doing a good job so she kept a pretty concentrated look on her face the whole time! It was too cute! And NO I haven't cut her bangs! For some strange reason, the top of her hair doesn't want to grow, but the back is getting long. What's that saying? "Business in the front, party in the back" It does look really cute in pig tails though!

Hot off the press, I'm a new Auntie and couldn't be happier! I love my lil' nephews and nieces so much!! Last night J-Lo and I went up to see our newest Lloyd addition. Baby Ava Kaye was born yesterday (just a day shy of my prediction, dang it!) She was ready to join us though! Weighing in at 6 lbs, 11 oz and 21 inches long. She looks a lot like her momma, so dang cute! Both baby and mommy are doing well! Due to the stupid piggy flu, there's only 2 visitors allowed in the room at one time, so J-Lo and I had to switch off. For some reason Levicorpus thought he needed to be in there too, sheesh! Congrats to the new Mommy and Daddy!

The Monster Mashizzle in the Dub Vizzle

2009-11-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Halloween is already over and Thanksgiving is on its way! We had a fun Halloween this year. We always get together as a family and this year we headed on over to my sista's casa for some yummy soup and lot's o' laughs! J-Lo and I took funny FB profile pics and laughed at ourselves, while the chitlins ran amuck and the men watched boring sports. Miss Pretty looked adorable in her "Pink Monster" atire. Enjoy some pics:

So glad to have my Papa here still to enjoy these lil' girls! He had a dinner roll and they were like voltures, those two! They battled it out for it!
My cute nephew Spidey, making his baby sis laugh! Love this pic!

J-Lo and Corky. . . representin'!

I just love Miss Pretty so much!
Scary Gramma in Spidey's GI Joe mask!
She's definately her mother's child!

In full costume! Love it!

Get this thing off me mom!!

Carni folk. . . small hands. . .

2009-10-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

East High is having it's annual carnival!

Mark your calendars for Monday, October 26!

The carnival begins at 5:30 PM. It's for all ages and it's SO much fun!

The proceeds go to support our different clubs!

There are a lot of fun High School Musical things to check out.

And you can even take a tour if you'd like.

Bring some dinero and have some fun!

My milkshake brings all the boyz to the yard. . . .

2009-10-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

This is such a fun stage with Miss Pretty! She's very curious and quite the dare devil. She also has the funnest personality, makes me just wanna squeeze her sometimes. (Not to inflict harm, just to try to absorb all of her cuteness!)

She loves to go outside! The other day we put her stocking cap on because it was pretty chilly and she thought she was so cool! So she found it in her diaper bag the other morning and wanted it on because she thought that meant she'd be going outside. She wouldn't take it off for a while and looked so stinkin' cute! Notice her skin tight jammies! She's getting so tall!

Grandma Johnson bought her a baby stroller to tote her baby around. Well she thought she'd test it out.

She's mad because she couldn't get herself out.

She finally figured out how to ride her lil' car. She just gets high centered on the handle bars periodically, but other than that, she has lots o' fun on it!

And last but not least, many of you know how productive I was this harvest season! I'm still pretty shocked myself! We got all of our grapes juiced and got 6 jars of yummy grape juice!!

Here are the grapes being prepped for juicing!

Miss Pretty was such a good helper! She just snacked on them the whole time or squeezed them and said "EEEWWWW!!"

She goes in for her 18 month Dr. checkup with Dreamy soon! She's actually 19 months already! Some of the fun things that she's doing are:

*She no longer calls her blankie "ng ng ng". It's "beety". Which makes mommy sad because I loved it when she called it "ng ng!"

*She's so sassy! When we called her sassy the other day, she said "SASSY!" It was cute! (I know I won't be saying that in 13 years, but for now I'll enjoy the moment!)

*When I open the fridge or the pantry, she sits there and goes "hmmmm. . . " as if pondering what she should ask for!

*She can go down the stairs on her own now.

*She still tries to make friends with Gracie the cat! I think Grace is just too old and doesn't want to call it truce because she still boxes with her every chance she gets! Luckily she doesn't have any claws!

*She's quite the dancer! Just like her momma! Anytime she hears music, she tries to snap her lil' fingers and shakes her lil' booty! It's too funny!

Old MacDonald Had a Farm. . . eee. . . iiiii. . . . eee. . . .iiiii. . . oooooooo

2009-10-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

3 months ago, we were spending sleepless days up at the U of U hospital praying that our dad would pull through and that we would get to spend many more fun times with him! Last night, I saw what the power of the Atonement can do for a family! We got to go out to the Ranch and visit my dad for the first time since we took him there 2 months ago. He looks amazing! What an awsome experience it has been to be a witness to a miracle! We took pies and hung out in the barn. The kids had a blast and had us hootin' and a hollerin' the whole time. My dad is doing so good and will be released into the wild in a few weeks. I took a bunch of pics of all the kids playing and got a cute one of Papa and Miss Pretty. The whole way to the Ranch, she kept saying "Bye bye. . . Papa.. . . byebye. . .papa".

Top 10 of our night at the Ranch:

10. Hanging out in the barn "loft" above the horse stalls. Imagine the aroma and the flies if you will.

9. Miss Pretty face planting it multiple times on the dirty floor and being covered in filth.

8. Lil' B man givin' his cuz "Baby Sis" a smoochy and the look on her face afterword was priceless.

7. The two llamas out by the barn "Dumb & Dumber"

6. Marie Calendar for making us her famous pies. . . .m m m m. . .

Ben's famous hand-in-front-of-the-camera trick.

5. J-Lo thinking the bird feces on the couch was paint.

4. Spidey takin' out Miss Pretty with the punching bag. . . she didn't even see it coming.

3. Spidey killing flies with his bare hands.

2. Seeing my dad! He looks great!

1. Lil' B man turning out the lights and being in complete darkness!! Bennie said "Don't move bud! So when he turned on the light on his phone to find B man, he was frozen with his hand in mid air by the light switch! "Hey who turned out the lights!"

Lil' B man cheezin' it up.

"I'm gonna knock you out. . . momma said knock you out. . . hoooo" Spidey playing with the punching bag.

Bad boys bad boys. . whatchya gonna do. . .

2009-10-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to brag about my lil bro. He was hired on with West Valley Police Department who will put him through Police Academy to become a police officer! Good thing, i'll be callin' him up to come check on my ghetto neighbors!

Bad boys bad boys. . .whatchya gonna do. . .whatchya gonna do when they come for you.

I will be posting pics later and an update.

You Say Tomato. . .I Say Tomoto. . .

2009-09-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

It's harvest season ya'll!! And i've turned into a true blue suzy home maker for sure!! My sweet mother in law taught me how to can after Doug and I got hitched. It definately gives me a sense of accomplishment to look at all my hard work and then to enjoy it a few months later! I've canned various things before, like apple pie filling, jams & salsa. Well this year, Grammy Geri hooked a girl up with some serious maters! This is a pic of 1/3 of them! I had to get them done this week because they were ripe and ready!

This is what I started with:
After coring them, blanching them and peeling them, they look like this:

Then I shove them all into these jars. . . & I give them a nice hot 45 minute bath. . .
Then walaah. . . my masterpiece. . . I was able to do 33 jars by the time I was all done! It's definately time consuming and a lot harder with a toddler. We will be making concord grape juice pretty soon. So yummy!

While we were out watering the other night, I looked above D's head and saw something large and black. I'd like to introduce "Big Mamma", she's our lovely large Cat Face Spider that lives in the pine tree out front. As you can see, she's quite large and very creepy. I looked online and she's harmless and likes to live in the trees so I don't have to worry about her making a home visit!

I'm boycotting Kanye West!!!

2009-09-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Corky the slacker, back again with my monthly Johnson update! I will be posting pics a little later with our fun Labor day festivities. Dad is doing great. He's been on family restriction though, so we haven't actually seen him since we dropped him off at the ol' rancherooney. But from what we've heard, he is doing really good! We have found some good support groups to join. The church has been amazing to help pay for the rehab.

Our little family is doing great! Finally caught up on the housework! I'm pretty sure that DCFS could have come in there and classified it as a disaster area! But rest assured, it is clean now. Well except for the gazillion tomatoes that I'm going to can this week! Miss Pretty is growing like you wouldn't believe! She makes me laugh every single day! We've been over at my sistas a lot and the cuzzins have been so hilarious!! My lil' nephew "Spidey" is really having a hard time sharing with everyone. If you haven't read my sista's blog, check it out, it's under "Superhero family".

Many of you may be wondering about my post title. Last night was the MTV Music Awards. I DVR'd it, but heard this morning about the Kanye West controversy. I actually really like Kanye West's older music, but love Taylor Swift more. I will now be deleting all of Kanye West from my IPOD and throwing my cd's away. Total and utter disrespect!!

Friday, marked the 8 year anniversary of 9/11. As I drove to work that morning, I thought about that day and went over the events in my mind. It's funny how we remember so many details about that day, like what I was wearing and what I was doing when I heard the sad news. I was getting ready for work and heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. They were thinking it was a joke or an accident, and I turned on the news right when the 2nd plane hit. When the 3rd and 4th planes crashed, I remember thinking "Why can't they stop them? We're in America!" I'll never forget the images displayed throughout the media and the reactions of the news reporters who aren't supposed to show raw emotion like that. At work on Friday, our ROTC class had a flag raising ceremony in the front of the school. I lost it, once the flag was raised and then dropped back to half staff. My heart goes out to those amazing family members that lost fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters, grandmas, grandpas and friends that day!!

DIVAS!

2009-08-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

This blog is an ode to my two DIVAS!! First is my sweet princess Miss Pretty! She has been such a trooper through this whole journey with my dad. D has been such a great daddy to stay home with her when I need him to and Gramma Johnson has come down a lot to play and help out to! Thanks so much!
Miss Pretty is growing like crazy and getting so big! Last night I broke down and cut off some of her hair. It was getting so straggly in the back and I wanted it even, so here's a pic of her with her new hair.
After all of our exhausting trips to the hospital. . . She didn't even have the energy to take out the sippy!

Gramma Lloyd bought her a water table and she thought that was the coolest thing!

Her first beater. I made whipped cream and she got to lick off the beater. Yummmm. . . . . The Johnson playland, otherwise known as our family room! We charge a $2 admission to go into Miss Pretty's college fund! :)
She is saying lots of new words and crackin' me right up! She says: car, juice, shoes, dadda, momma, cracker. She's also started drinking out of a straw and thinks she's so cool now! It's fun to see her getting so big, but I wish it lasted longer!

On to my other DIVA. . . Miss Pretty's cuz, my niece, Baby Sis. We celebrated her 1st birthday last week. She wasn't too interested in her cake, but she tasted it. She got lots of cute things for the celebration. Miss Pretty got her her first baby doll and Baby Sis chewed on the baby doll's head all night! Happy Birthday!

A D D I C T I O N

2009-08-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

2 1/2 weeks ago I got the phone call that I have been dreading my whole life. Something had happened to my dad and we needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Since that day, we've been through a whole range of emotions: sadness, anger, heartbreak, anger, humility, love, friendship. . . .
Yesterday, my dad was moved out of ICU and into a recovery room. I can't begin to explain how greatful I am to my Heavenly Father for keeping him here on this earth. It's only through His mercy that my dad is still here. It's taken all the faith that I could muster to trust that He would do what's right for our family. 3 times, we almost lost him and last Sunday, I really thought it was it. Dad went into cardiac arrest. I know now, that the comfort I felt on the way up there, was not that of loss, but of hope. Throughout this experience we have grown so much closer as siblings! Life tends to get busy and pulls away from the things that truly matter in life: FAMILY! So I am very greatful that through all of the sadness and heartache, I had my family to pull me through. We've also seen the amazing compassion of others, friends, family, who have come up to visit "our" waiting room and brought us delicious meals, snacks, comfort and friendship. I am so overcome with gratitude for them!

We have crossed a huge bridge to get where we are now. But now, the hardest part of all begins. . . healing. With my dad awake, he's started to talk a little bit about what happened. I think part of me was expecting him to wake up and be miraculously healed from his addiction. But that is so not the case. It's hard to see him struggle physically, for the drugs. And it's even harder to see him try to wheel and deal with the nurses, dr's and my grandma for them. We are at a crossroads with his addiction. He can either get the help that we truly know he needs. Or he can continue to let this addiction ruin his life and eventually kill him. I guess my biggest fear is that he'll choose the latter and after all that we've been through these past couple of weeks, I'm not sure that I could handle that. Addiction is such a powerful thing that Satan has put on this earth. It's taken someone that I love soooo much and turned him into someone that despise at times. We will hope for the best and be supportive.

Here are some pics of our shinnanigans on the 4th floor of the U of U hospital. We've met some amazing people there that will never fully know how much they've impacted our lives! Aaron, Tiffany, Kate, Whitney, Stephen, Dave, Tara, Dr. Coles, Dr. Steenbeck, the cute janitor that was so good to clean up after us, and many many more!! Thanks!

Daddy it's Sunday. . . you missed church. . .

2009-07-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Daddy, it's Sunday today. You're starting to open your eyes a little bit and I'm pretty sure you've figured out that whatever you were trying to do, it didn't work. I just wanted to let you know that we're all wanting you here so much! All these little grandbabies that are being sent to our family right now need their grampa! So it's time to get better and plan a camping trip and make your favorite daughter chile verde, eggs and hashbrowns!! I love you!

Wake me Cuz I must be Dreaming!!

2009-07-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Most of my blogger followers have probably seen my updates on Facebook and have been thinking WTF? Here's my update:

On Wednesday, my dad overdosed on some prescription medicine. A jogger found him up Big Cottonwood canyon off a trail and he was really out of it. She was a nurse from Colorado who is definately also an angel!! He stopped breathing and she administered CPR until the ambulance arrived. He ended up being life flighted to the U of U where we've been camped out since. The doctors aren't sure what he took or how much and so they thought the effect would wear off after some time, but now they're not sure. They're measuring his brain activity. It's been seizing so they've been giving him antiseizure medication to help it stop. We are in limbo right now.
It feels like a big bad dream that we've been in for 4 days now!! It's very surreal to be in there and see him hooked up to so many machines!
We are so blessed with an AMAZING family and I couldn't have asked for better brothers and sisters! Heavenly Father truly knew what he was doing when he created this family! He knew that we would need each other throughout these trials with our dad! This has definately humbled me like you couldn't believe and has brought me to my knees quite often! The power of the priesthood blows my mind and it has been truly awsome to have that power present throughout this experience! Even if you're not a religious person, I ask you to keep him in your hearts and pray for him and for our family. We have seen each other through a lot with our dad, but we will need everything we can get with this one!

Thank you so much for all of the kind words and prayers and everything that everyone has sent or brought up to our family!

I Dream of Dreamy!

2009-07-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today was Miss Pretty's 15 month checkup and here are her stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 1 oz (23%)

Length: 32 inches (80%)

She had to get 2 shots (devastating for both her and I). Dr Dreamy was so sweet as usual and she kept shootin' him cheezy grins! He said that everything looks great and she's right where she should be! She has become quite the girlie girl and it's so cute! Of course she loves her blankies (luckily we have two). But she's discovered a love for purses. Here she is toting around her princess purse. She carries it everywhere. She is so much fun and has such a fun personality! We discovered that she has 2 molars coming in right now. Poor thang!
Mommy and Miss Pretty on the 4th. She's my snuggle bear.

Lastly. . . my lil' blog stalker to the right has been showing that someone (s) from the "Lancer" page keeps checkin' out my page. . . just wantin' to know who you are? I know one of them has got to me my Montana girl Katie, but anyone else. . . leave me a comment so that I know who you are.

First Comes Love. . . Then Comes Marriage. . .

2009-07-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and relaxing 4th of July. Our friends' the Paredes Fam came over and we BBQ'd it up! We lit some fireworks as you can see and surprisingly enough, Miss Pretty wasn't scared of them.

This past weekend was the big Johnson wedding. D's bro Matt got married in Idaho Falls so we headed up there for a fun filled weekend. Miss Pretty had a blast and loved seeing her Gramma again! She was so cute and snuggly with her and it was fun to see them get some bonding time in! The wedding was beautiful (I got a bit frazzled chasing Miss Pretty here and there and everywhere, so I was sweatin' up a storm)! Although D did say afterwards that we should have had shirts made that said "I survived a Johnson wedding!" It was really good to see all the family that came for it and the Bride and Groom looked blissful and gorgeous! Mommy, Daddy and Miss Pretty. We were able to have the photographer take a pic of the three of us, so once I get that one, I'll post it too.
Miss Pretty loved being in her foo foo frilly dress.

D's mom makes wedding cakes and this is her recent masterpiece for the wedding of course.

My favorite part about this weekend was seeing Great Aunt Suzee from hotlanta! It was the most fun visiting with her! She took Miss Pretty for a ride on her Jazzy. So cute! Love you Aunt Sue!

Weebles Wobble but They Don't fall Down. . .

2009-07-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

First we'll start with a bit of good news. . . .drum roll please. . . .I have a new job! I interviewed this past week for the head Secretary job at East. And today we finally got the much anticipated good news that they were very impressed with my experience and would like to offer me the postion! Yay! It's quite a substantial pay increase for our little family, which will be nice! We can finally take a vacation (long awaited honeymoon perhaps)! The only bummer is that I work all year long (I know, like normal people) but for someone that's had summers off for 5 years now, that's a bit hard to adjust to!

We've had quite the busy month of June. I enjoyed my limited week and a half off :(. This past weekend, Miss Pretty and I went up to Pocatello for a bridal shower. D's brother Matt is gettin' hitched and we had a shower for her. It turned out way cute and at times funny! We're really excited to welcome Steph into the family and I'm excited to get a new sister in law! It's quite the adjustment for me though because it's just been me for almost 8 years now, so i'm feeling a little territorial, but I think it's going to be fun! She's an RN at a hospital in Idaho and at one point D's gma asked her if she had any experience in the psych ward! We got a good laugh out of that one!

Miss Pretty had fun spending some time with Gramma and Grampa Johnson! She spent most of the time making the rounds up and down the hallway and around the kitchen saying "cracker" and "HI". Here are some pics of Grampa pushing the girls on the swings. She loved it and would have stayed in the blue dolphin all day if it wasn't getting cold!

She's been quite the helper in the kitchen these days. Now that she's on the move, we've barracaded the stairs off and she just walks around and around getting into whatever she possibly can while I cook! She loves the oven mits and had to try them on!

I bought her a baby bottle for her baby doll. You know the kind that the liquid magically disappears. Well she figured it right out and now carries her baby around (usually upside down by one foot) with the bottle and stops occasionally to feed her. It's way cute!
Today she found the plastic wand that turns the blinds up. I know, so child friendly right!! Well she thought it was perfect for prodding Graceroonie with it! Poor kitty!
And finally, I was able to get her mullet pulled into pig tails. I'm thinking this is what we'll do with it for the wedding next week. Perhaps put some red bows on them or something.

She's been doing so many funny things these past few weeks! She's becoming quite the walking expert! She loves to walk on her tip toes! She also loves the stairs and has to climb them every chance that she gets. She is a singer and a dancer. Tonight we were watching our favorite show "So You Think You Can Dance" and she was jammin' out! I'm pretty sure she'll be a dancer when she grows up. She has a new word this week: HAPPY! She's become the picky eater that I was hoping to avoid! I fed her everything when she was a baby so that she would be well accustomed to a variety of flavors and textures. . . . .didn't work! She's like her daddy! Currently, she'll eat bananas, spagetti, and sloppy joes! Such a well balanced diet! Talk about frustrating! If anyone has any ideas. .. . let me hear em people!

The nerd herd is preparing for the upcoming release of The Half Blood Prince movie. I've been listening to it on CD to remember what it was about because they have all merged together in my brain. I forgot how funny this one is, well except for the devastating sad ending but the "snogging" cracks me right up! We'll have to whip up a batch of Butterbeer before the movie!

I've also been reading this month's book club selection "Picture Perfect". It's quite different than anything I've read before. A bit racey at times, but good!

And I've become a fan of a new TV series on A&E called "The Cleaner". Besides the fact that it stars Benjamin Bratt who is positively srumptious in it, I love this show! You'll have to check it out sometime!

This is Why I'm HOT!

2009-06-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

"I'm hot cuz i'm fly. . .you ain't cuz you not!"
Sorry I just added that song to my IPOD and I thought it fit the occasion. We took our first trip to the swimming pool today in K Town. It was the first non rainy day that we've had but it was windy. The girls had fun playing and showing off their suits.

Baby Cuz checkin' out her palm tree flotation device.
The girls divying up the snacks.
Miss Pretty: "4 for me, 1 for you."
Baby Cuz: "I'm so getting ripped off here, gimme those!"

Just puttin' out the vibes mom!

I got the half smile from Baby Cuz. Not too impressed with Auntie and her camera.

Miss Pretty didn't like the pool at all. I think the big bucket o' water that fills up and dings when it's gonna tip over and dump water on all the crazy kids, scared her from the beginning. But when we got close to the pool, all the noise and splashing put her over the edge. I took her over and put her in her floaty and she screamed bloody murder and tried to get out. Everyone looked at me like I was some horrible mother for making her get in. I think she lasted 4.5 seconds and then we got out. Getting out was worse because it was windy and she got cold. She finally calmed down and decided playing on the grass was way funner! It was fun to get out though and get some Vitamin D.

Tonight Leatherby's or Bust!

Walk this Way. . . Talk this Way!

2009-06-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the moment we've all been waiting for. . . .our Princess is walking!! Last week she decided it was time and she took her first steps! It's been so much fun and she is so proud of herself! I've snapped a few pics of her in action. Poor Gracie doesn't stand a chance now!

She's no longer interested in the walker, I can't imagine why, so she was on the loose while I made dinner the other day and she found my keys and was trying her hardest to get that door open.
She also did a very good job at unloading whatever she could in the kitchen!

She found the lint remover and figured out that it was a pretty good push car. She pushed that thing around the whole house. I should have given her a sponge to mop while she was at it!

Storytime has become quite the event for Miss Pretty. She loves to read stories and point to the pictures. She has her favorite books to read, but she also has one that scares her! For whatever reason, this cute "Dinosaur Kisses" book makes her hysterical. It's a pop up book, so that could be a factor, but I had to put it away today because she saw it on the bottom shelf and just started crying. It was hard not to laugh, because this doesn't look scary to me.
She's growing and changing everyday. I love being a mommy so much! I am finally off for a few weeks, so i'm excited to get some much needed cleaning done and spend some quality time with my babe and her daddy. The rain has been a little bit of a downer, but I also love to hear the thunder and the rain. Can't wait to take Miss Pretty swimming!

It's the pits man, the pits!!

2009-06-06T23:51:00.000-07:00

This one goes out to the girlz at book club! Brynn, hopefully you remember this!

So last night while at book club, the topic of movie theaters came up and our movie theater experiences. Well I think mine topped them all!! You can all laugh because it was a long time ago, but just know that at the time, I was horrified!

One time, my BFF Brynn and I were at the movies watching some chick flick, I can't even remember what it was now. We were well into the movie when I had an urge to itch the back of my arm. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and as I felt the back of my arm to itch it, I also felt something back there that didn't belong to me! For whatever reason, I do not know and I will probably never know, the creepy pedifile of a man behind us, had nuzzled his chubby fat toes into my armpit without me knowing it. When I felt them back there, I jerked away and he got up really fast and left. I was like "Brynn! That guy had his foot in my armpit!" Ewww!!!

To the creepy foot/armpit fettish man. . . keep your pigs in your own barn! And to those unsuspecting women out there, check to see who's sitting behind you at the movie theater!!

"Here it is, a groove, slighty transformed. . .just a bit of a break from the norm. . "

2009-06-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

I love love love Summertime! Will Smith really knew what he was singin' about! Here's your monthly update of all the Johnson happenin's!
Miss Pretty is now a free stander! "Look mom, no hands!" She thinks she's so cool just standin' there. I'm sure that she's so close to walking. She's hilarious and just has the funniest personality! She's become quite the groover and shaker just like her momma! "My milkshake brings all the boyz to the yard. . ." She's getting some new teeth finally which has been hard for her, but I'm glad for them to finally come in.

Here's mommy and Miss pretty strikin' a pose. She had some marinara for dinner and decided to paint her face with it.

Miss pretty and Cuz Munch chillin' on Gma and Gpa's rockin' chair.

Her baby mullet is becoming a bit more managable finally! Today I was able to pull the top into an ever so tiny pony and put a bow on top.

Mommy and Miss Pretty again. We went to the mountains for our Cuz's graduation BBQ and this was the only snap we got.
She's become the chatty patty these days. Here she is chillin' in daddy's lap talkin' to her girlz on her cell phone! She puts it to her ear and says something that sounds like "hello". If you ask her what a monkey says, she's says "ah ah ah ah". She's also saying "cracker", "up", "night night", and "kitty cat".
She's such a silly sleeper. The other morning when I went in to wake her up, her onsie that is obviously too small, had come unbuttoned and her booty was hangin' out. This is her usual sleeping pose. I've been very lucky to have a good sleeper baby! If I could give one piece of advice to any new mother, it would be to get your baby into a good routine and don't waver from it. Also, if possible, take away that binkie as soon as you can after 12 months. Since we took away the bink, she sleeps for 12 hours every night!

Here's Miss Pretty's new dresser. We found a different one than we had originally found. My mom found this one at a yard sale a few weeks ago for $15. It was blue with blue knobs, but I painted it white and put hot pink knobs on it. It looks dang cute in her room and only costed $25 by the time I bought the paint and new hardware!! Plus, I sold the other one that I had originally bought on KSL and made $22 bucks off of it! BTW, I have 6 blue knobs if anyone needs any.

Book Club this month was fun! It's nice to get out with the girls. We read "Angels and Demons". Dang good! Can't wait for next months' read! I will be double timin' it because I will also be reading Harry Potter to get ready for the movie! Can't wait!

I'm almost out for the summer! Next week is my last week until August. I'm so excited to spend some time with Miss Pretty and get some much needed walking in!

These are a few of my favorite things. . .

2009-05-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to do a list of a couple of my favorite things this week!

1. America First Credit Union. I've been a member of America First since before we were married and have loved every minute of it! But just today I was reminded why I stay with them! We applied for a new loan with them and when the nice loan officer called to verify everything, we were also able to refinance my car for 1 1/2% lower than it was right now and extend our line of credit! 3 deals all over the phone!

2. Reusable shopping bags. Every Earth day, I watch Oprah and she gives awsome tips about how to do our part to save our Mother Earth. She always stresses the importance of using reusable shopping bags instead of the plastic ones. So i've built me up quite the stock pile of them when I go to the store (they're only .99 at most stores). Well I had a horrible experience at Walmart 2 weeks ago. If you're ever at the one on 6200 S and 5600 W, and your checker's name is Patti (or "Unfriendly Patti" as I like to refer to her as), make sure and whip out those reusable bags, because she just loves filling those bad boys with groceries! (sarcasm, very thick!) But they seriously hold so many groceries. Today I went to the Library, Costco, Harmon's and Home Depot and didn't have to use a plastic bag at any of them! TIP: Harmons, Smiths, Sunflower Market, Albertson's and I think IKEA all credit you 5 cents for every reusable bag that you use!

3. Sunflower Market. My sweet sis introduced me to this market. It's on State St and about 6600 S right across from Fashion Place Mall. They have killer deals on produce there and they have all sorts of bulk items like grains, candies, granola, honey, etc. Last week we went and got strawberries for 88 cents! Check out their website and look at their weekly ads. If you sign up to get them by email, you get it a day early and can shop on Wednesdays when the ads overlap and there's even more things on sale! http://www.sfmarkets.com/

4. KSL.com. I'm a sucker for deals, so I usually browse the classifieds just to see what people are selling and what people are looking for and even what people are giving away for FREE! Sometimes I laugh so hard at the free section and just read it for the fun of it, because some people are so funny. But I'm also quite the seller on there. This weekend we sold a dresser, swamp cooler and a set of golf clubs! Speaking of KSL, does anyone have some red paint that they're getting rid of or done using? I have my cute little bench that I want to paint red, but i'm not sure that I'd use a whole can. I'm hoping to use like a colonial red. Let me know yo!

There ya, go. Hopefully if you've never used any of these, you'll try one and see why I love them so much!

In a castle far, far away. . .

2009-05-20T17:41:00.001-07:00

Miss Pretty got herself her very own castle with a slide/climbing wall and swing! Grandma Johnson sent it from ID (well not really, but she sent the $ with the ad cut out to go and pick it on up!) I guess for some odd reason, I was thinking we would set the sucker up in the back yard. . . .silly me! D decided that it would get stolen by our ghetto neighbors so he put that thing up in my basement. Let's just say it looks like the invasion of the Munchkins down there! I'm not sure where we're supposed to hang out because there's toys everywhere. But she does love it and she even has learned (with the help of Grandma Lloyd, naughty) to climb up the slide and then slide down on her stomach. Too funny!

Sunday we though we'd be brave and do a photo shoot of her in her cute Sunday dresses. Plus Grandma Johnson wanted pics of her in the dress that she made for her birthday. She wasn't so hip on the whole "dress up/photo shoot" and we couldn't get a smile out of her for nothin'! But she still looked dang cute trying to grab the camera whenever she could!

Here's what she thought of picture time! There used to be a cute white daisy on her head band, but she ripped that sucka off!

And last but not least, she's playing by her castle and attempting to scale the faux rock wall. So pretty!

I'm so 3008, you're so 2000 and late!

2009-05-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

April was quite the busy month for us! Hence the lack of posts! Here's my run down of the past month with a couple of funny stories thrown in!
The first pics have a story behind them. This is our head custodian at East. . . let me first say that he started it! On that first lovely day of April, all of us Secretaries got to work and could not figure out why our key boards weren't working. That's right, he went through and unplugged them all! The battle was on and I was quite the plotter. Someone should have reminded me about the cameras all over the school though cuz we were totally busted! After trashing his office twice and getting our cars shrink wrapped. . our last hoorah was to decorate his scooter while it was being worked on at school. He was proud to ride it around for us and then my friend at work made a voodoo doll that looks so much like him! He even wore the right outfit the day she brought him! We had fun and we're hoping the fued has fizzled out!

Miss Pretty is now 14 months already! She is so much fun and always has me laughing! She's trying all sorts of new foods because she's like totally bored with her baby food! I went in to wake her up two days ago to leave in the morning and she was sleeping in the funniest position. She was sitting, but leaned forward all the way so that her stomach was flat against the bed, folded right in half. I don't know how that seemed comfortable. She's not walking yet, taking her time with that one for sure, but I don't mind at all. Here are some pics of her in her sun hat. I love those eyes of hers.

Mother's day was fun. We took our Ma out to brunch along with all the other yeahoos that decided to do the same thing. But then after, Hailey took a two hour nap and I also took one! ahhh, so nice.

Last but not least, my mom and I went yard selling last weekend. It was a blast, except for when Miss Pretty yacked her milk all over herself, me and the car seat. She went through some weird phase last weekend, not sick, but she would throw up her milk every morning for 3 days. And boy, oh boy, let me tell ya, that stinks BAD! So after cleaning it up and changing her, we were back at it, stinky and all, but I needed to to find a dresser for her room! Here are some of our bargains. . . I found this cute bench that I'm going to refinish and paint red. (only $1!) And the dresser was $18, i'm going to refinish that and paint it white. It's time to store away the changing table and get the dresser put in. I'll have to get the bench pic put on later, my blog is being dummo! Is anyone else's acting up? or is it just mine? For some reason, some of my pics don't load and my page isn't fully loading either. Wierd!

Yard selling is so much fun when you actually find usable junk! We found a bunch of way cute clothes for the babe for only 50 cents each and my mom found an Eddie Bauer bassinette/cradle for the mini Levi that will be joining us in November.

Got the bench loaded, it's cute huh!

Weee are the Champions. . my friends. . .

2009-04-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to report that yesterday, April 18, 2009, I finised my first 1/2 marathon!!! It was quite the experience! A shout out to Brynn for getting my ace moving and actually doing this. Thanks girl! The morning began around 4 AM when I rolled out of bed and got myself moving. We headed downtown and took tracks up to the Olympic Bridge. It was freezing out there! We kept getting in the elevator that takes you up the bridge because it was heated. Finally around 6:45 AM we started to migrate toward the starting line. So many people and Brynn kept warning me to stay to the right because the crazies will push you out of the way. I tried to get a good pic of all the people lined up and ready to go, but I'm a bit short.
She wasn't kidding. As soon as that gun went off, it was chaos. I almost got mowed down a few times, but eventually it thinned out. We really got tuckered out about mile 10 when we hit State and were literally "draggin'" State. It was quite the climb up to South Temple and my feet were killing me. Poor thangs had to carry my hefty self all over SLC! The finish line was great and Brynn's fam was so good to come out and make posters for us! Thanks Nancy!

Me and my BFF Brynn in the Hometown Heroes tent having stuffed our faces with yummy sandwiches and cookies. We got cool medals for finishing. I chose to wear purple for the race because a good friend and coworker of mine lost her mom to Pancreatic Cancer last year and her favorite color was purple.

It was an awsome experience and definately one that i'll do again! We are going to be running/walking the Provo Half in August and then next year, I will be joining the "Hometown Heroes" team to raise $ for the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

My name is Miss Pretty and I'm a recovering Binkiaholic. . .

2009-04-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

It worked! We have successfully removed the binky. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, but still not easy! I've come to this conculsion. . . the hardest part about taking away the binky, was that it was the last thing that made her my lil' baby still. Does that make sense? The first night was rough. She cried for about 45 minutes, talked for 30 minutes and then dosed restlessly for another hour, but then she slept through the night. Naps are harder because it takes her longer to fall asleep, but I think she's getting the hang of it! Thanks for everyone's words of wisdom. They helped me!

. . . .went hoppin' through the forest. . .

2009-04-15T22:26:00.001-07:00

Little Bunny Foo Foo. . .

2009-04-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Easter was a blast! It was wierd to think that it was actually Miss Pretty's 2nd Easter!

Here she was last year! So tiny and sweet!

The Easter Bunny visited us again this year and brought Miss Pretty lots of new books with the touch and feel spots on them. She loves those. She also got spoiled by both sets of Grandparents. It was fun!

We finally had her 12 month Dr appointment last week. Everything is great! Here's her stats:

Weight: 19 lbs, 13 oz. (21%)

Height: 30 1/2 inches (80%) surprising considering her parents are oompa loompa's.

She hasn't gotten her shots yet. They were out of MMR so we have to go back this week to get them. We are also going to attempt to remove the binky this week. She's gotten very attached to it when she sleeps so when she loses it in the night, she screams until I get up to give it back and I find that it's not very healthy for either of us. I'm surprised with all of the controversy that we've gotten about it from both sides of the fence. In my own opinion. . .which really is the one that matters in this case because i'm the parent. . . it's totally up to the parents and what works for them. If it's time, it's time! Okay, i'll get off my soap box now.

Anywhoo. . . she's been doing a lot of funny things these past few weeks! Here are a few:

She knows where her tummy is and when you say "Booda booda booda" she pats her tummy with her hands. It's cute! (no i'm not implying that she's overweight!)

She loves to make a mess. . . give her a bucket of toys and she'll have it emptied in no time and scattered! Also works with laundry (see pic in slide show).

She's found that her finger fits nicely into her nostril and often sticks it up there. Reminds me of her Uncle Ben!

This Saturday is the Salt Lake Half Marathon. I'm proud to be representin' EAst High! I did have a chance to change my race to the 5K, but decided that I needed to stick it out with my BFF Brynn. So I've been doing some last minute training and on Monday was so freakin' proud of myself. While we were in Pocatello, I actually ran/walked 8 miles throughout the streets of Poky. Brynn can vouch for me, she called me while I was in route. While it was hard and the next day, I thought my legs might actually fall off at the hips, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I made it! So this Saturday is the 13.1 miler. I'll post pics if I survive. I will also be posting a new post with my weight loss challenge to myself. It's time guys! I'm tired of being chubby and not having any clothes that fit.

Enjoy the slide show.

Chubby Bunny, Chubby Bunny, Chubby Bunny. . .

2009-04-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

So let me just start this post by first letting you all know that this experience i'm about to share is still fresh in my mind and thus I am so peeved and annoyed by it!! Now let me give you all some very good and safe advice. . . . .Never ask someone if they're pregnant unless you are absolutely positive that they are!!

Yesterday I was asked this lovely question by one our ding bat teachers! Talk about a slap in the face! I know my ace is getting big, but did you have to ask me that? BTW I am not!!

Play is safe peeps! If that doesn't motivate me to lose all this weight, I'm not sure what will!

Houston. . . we have lift Off!

2009-03-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Mission control to Houston. . . we are go for launch! This past week, after I got home from work and Miss Pretty and I were chillin' downstairs, playing with toys and watching Oprah. . . she surprised me by showing me her new skillz!! One minute she was crawling, the next, standing! She is now able to pull herself in to the standing position and she also dances once standing. She gets her moves from her momma fo sho!

Step 1: One must find something to lean against.Step 2: the stare down with the kitty! "What Gracie? You want some of this?"Step 3: Lift off! She was so proud of herself!One of the downsides of becoming more adventureous is that there are bound to be battle wounds :(. Miss Pretty was playing with her closet doors and pulled herself up a little, lost her balance and conked the noggin. I felt so bad.
Here she is in her cute red overalls. She looks so cute in these!

She's cutting a lot of teeth this week. (Sonja, be glad that you're not babysitting her this week, she's sooo winey!) Her two top front teeth are finally breaking through and it looks as though her eye teeth are next. So today has been rough for her. We've been putting the orajel on her gums. Has anyone tried that stuff? BEGACK!!! I had a little on my finger and wanted to see what it tasted like. I almost yacked! It reminds me of the stuff the dentist puts on your cheek before he's gonna give you a shot. It seems to be helping her though!

She is also not liking changing time so much. It's seriously Wrestle Mania IX! Once the diaper's off, she off and headed for the door! It takes 20 minutes to get her into her jammies every night.

Weaner, weaner. . chicken deaner. . .

2009-03-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

I neglected to mention in my previous post that we have successfully weaned Miss Pretty off the bottle. Dr Dreamy suggested that we do it at 12 months for many reasons: it's easier, they don't need all the nutrients from formula any more, they won't develop bottle rot, etc. etc. Whatever Dreamy wants, Dreamy gets! Not to mention it's much more economical! So the Sunday after her party, we did the cold turkey method. Worked like a charm! (minus the bottle that daddy snuck in there the next day! He was reprimanded!) She had the hardest time in the mornings and would whimper a bit, but other than that, she hasn't been upset about it at all! We've chosen the Nuby sippy cups. We tried countless others long before weaning time to get her used to it, but she wouldn't drink out of them much. I finally bought the Nuby brand, and she guzzled them. YAY for Miss Pretty!We have also changed babysitters this week :(. Shout out to Sonja. What a champ for taking care of her as long as you did! I wouldn't have been so nice when I was prego! Thanks so much for taking care of my lil' lovey for us!
The transition has been harder on mommy than it has been on Miss Pretty. I can't believe how guilt ridden I've been! But it seems to all be working out one way or another and next year, she may be on her way to being a Highland Ram!! They have an awsome daycare for District Employees and she's on the waiting list. Keep your fingers crossed!
Here's her cute dress that Gma Johnson made for her. She wasn't very happy about picture time in this pic (hence the grimace) but I had to get a pic before naptime!

She's become quite the pro at pushing her baby around in her stroller!

Playing with Gpa Johnson's funny stache!! She got a kick out of that!

And last but not least, her cute new cruiser. She likes to be pushed around on that thing.

Party like a rockstar. . .party like a rockstar. .

2009-03-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

So I totally agree that I've been a slacker at getting Miss Pretty's party posted! (say that 3x's fast!) It's been a busy couple of weeks for us here at the Johnson ranch! But fun! Miss Pretty's Birthday was very reminiscent for me! I am amazed at how fulfilling motherhood is and how much i've enjoyed this past year with her! I'm still not quite sure why Heavenly Father had us wait so long, but i'm sure one day I'll see it more clearly! I am very greatful to Him for sending her to us! She is an amazing little person and I'm so excited to watch her grow up and do amazing things with her life! I am constantly worried that I will do something wrong and forget to teach her something. I just wish that I could be assured that she won't make any of the same mistakes as her mommy and that she'll just make good choices. I'm not sure how my mom handled me at times! (sorry mom!)
Anyway. . . it's definately been an awsome year with her here! I mentioned in my last post, that she's a crawlin' machine! Here's a pic of her crawling around in her jammies. She's so cutE!

The Birthday girl and her daddy!

I wanted to get some pics of her in the morning when I went to wake her up to take her to the babysitters. She's been quite mobile in her sleep lately and falls asleep on her tummy. Here she is on her Birthday with her blankies pulled up over her. So adorable.

I even pulled the blankies off and she stayed a snoozin'!

Her princess party was a big success. All the fam was there and we had fun celebrating! Thanks so much to all of our family for coming and for the wonderful gifts! We are so greatful to have such a wonderful family!
Here she is with her first doll from her Auntie Kyr! She loves on that thing whenever she sees it!

She got loads of new clothes and toys! I had to clean out her closet today so that we could fit it all in!

Grandma Johnson is so talented! She made this adorable princess castle cake for Miss Pretty and she also made a cute new dress for her!

This was the cake that she got to dig into and make a mess with! She did love the frosting, but was very modest and didn't get as messy as I thought! I envisioned her tearing the thing apart and having it everywhere!

Instead, this was all the damage she did to it!

It was a fun party!

As for the family updates. . . .I also celebrated a Birthday this past week. The big 29er. It was a much better birthday than last year. Not as weepy and I wasn't in the hospital, so much better. My mom sent me flowers and my friends at work all celebrated with me. Thanks for all the shout outs on FB and all the wonderful gifts!

Slick is doing well. He had his head split open at work last week (he didn't even call me! so fired!) and he had 7 staples put in. But he's better now. Got the staples out a few days ago. He's ready for fishin' weather!

I'm ready for the nice weather! Ready to lose all this annoying weight that inhibits me from wearing most of my cute pants that I can't get rid of! I just can't seem to find the time! But I must, because I refuse to buy a bigger size! So that's my goal before my brother in laws wedding this summer!

I'm also considering going back to school. I've been thinking a lot more about it lately and just know that it's something I need to do. I'll keep you posted on that!

Strike a pose. . there's nothin' to it. . .Vogue. . vogue

2009-03-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

Today was the monumentous 1 year picture day for Miss Pretty and 6 month picture day for her cuz. . .baby sis. Let me just tell you that these two lil' girlz were full of drama today and I doubt i'll ever go and get her pictures taken again until she's in preschool. Too much stress! But. . .they did turn out dang cute once we got out the blocks and let them play with them. Not too pleased with the photographer who kept scaring Miss Pretty and not encouraging much!

Cuz Queen Bee and Miss Pretty at their finest. These are classic faces for the two of them so we thought it was hilarious! Of course we couldn't get one of them smiling. It was all we could do to get one or both of them to stop crying!

So sweet and innocent! I just love her so much!

I love this one! She's very focused on those sparkly shoes! So pretty!

And my favorite one! Just makes ya laugh doesn't it?

Happy Birthday to Miss Pretty this week!

I'm sending out an SoS!

2009-03-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

So I got the sad, but expected news on Wednesday that our favorite babysitter is going to need to possibly go on bed rest at the end of March :(. All the lil' chitlins are giving her high blood pressure and that's not good for her or baby (trust me, I speak from experience!) So I am now asking for any help that I can get to find a new trustworthy babysitter for 2 1/2 months. My contract ends June 14 at East. I would need someone to watch Miss Pretty, Wednesday - Friday. I would need to drop her off at 6:30 AM and she would be picked up by 4 at the latest, but a lot of times daddy gets off at 2. I would prefer that they live fairly close to me, or on my way to East, but if they're good and trustworthy, we'll take what we can get. Let me know yo!

On to some more exciting news. . . Miss Pretty decided that yesterday would be the day that she's an official crawler! She was cruisin' all over the place and I was crying the whole time! I can't believe it! She's also upgraded to first class travel in Stella (that's my car's name)! We got out her new "Big Girl" car seat and got it all strapped in. She will be riding in style!

Both of our birthdays are next week! We are in need of baby gates if anyone is wondering! Now that she's on the loose, I don't want her falling down our hardwood stairs! As much as I'd love to see Dr. Dreamy . . . .(sigh)!

Call the Hazmat team, the Johnsons are sick again!

2009-02-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

What up everyone! This past month has been rough! Ever since Pretty's brush with RSV, she's been sick every weekend I swear! She's had a cold, stomach flu and fire water this past month. Not my idea of a good time! We haven't been to church in about a month. I'm sure the Bishop is getting ready to stop by because he thinks we're inactive!
Here's our update:
2 weeks ago, my cuz got married. We went to her bachelorette partttaay and had a blast! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! Let's just say there was a theme and "it" was everywhere. . . from the shaped ice cubes in our punch to the pinata at the end! Thanks to the Lloyd cuzzin's for knowing how to throw a party!
Valentine's Day was my cuz's wedding. Mommacita, Jenn and I made the flowers for the wedding. Then we spent the afternoon at the wedding. It turned out so cute (minus our crazy uncle bustin' out the balloons and making animals for everyone) and it was so good to see everyone! Miss pretty had a cold and was super whiny so I was frazzled by the end of the day.

Here's our masterpiece! It was fun and a quick shout out to my awsome mother-in-law for teaching me to make these!

Last weekend was Book Club! So much fun and it's just nice to get out with da girlz and have a good time! We went to Red Robin and had our pic taken with the bird! We discussed the book selection "Confessions of a Shopaholic" which I didn't get time to to read but just nodded along with everyone else and smiled. Then we went to see the movie. It was pretty funny.

That night I came home to Miss Pretty throwing up :(. I hate it when she's sick and miserable. So we sat up in the recliner all night and she slept for a few hours at a time in between throwing up. By morning she was back to new and as cute as ever! We took her 11 month pics with the dog. Here's her picture from when she was 2 months! So tiny!

Here she is now!

She loved the doggy pics and kept poking at his eyes.

So after Miss Pretty got sick, mommy and daddy got sick too and threw up for a day. Talk about wipe me out! I had flash backs of being pregnant (which i'm positive I'm not by the way!) uuugghh!

Hopefully we're through being sick for a long time!

I'm getting everything ready for Miss Pretty's birthday party! I finally finished her invites and mailed them off yesterday. I think they turned out cute. It will be a Princess theme. My friend Kiersti made her an adorable Tutu that she will be wearing in her 1 year pics! She also made Pretty's cuzzin, Baby sister one so that they can get their pictures taken together! I am still in shock that she will be 1 in a few weeks!

Some funny things that she's been doing:

*crawling! She can't go too far still, but she's on her way! And she's so proud of herself!

*the fake whine has begun!

*stranger anxiety. When she's being shy lately, she gets this huge frown on her face and huge tears in her eyes. It's sad, but cute!

*splashing in the tub! She gets her legs going and loves it!

Does Miss Pretty have a new BFF?

2009-02-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Miss Pretty will be 11 months old already!! I am bracing myself for the day she turns 1 year old, which is next month!! I love her more and more everyday and am continuously grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who truly hears and answers prayers! They may not always be the timing that we would have liked or expected, but they do get answered!

So this week I discovered that Miss Pretty is a little DIVA (I wonder where she got that from? hmmm. . I don't know!) She loves the camera and everytime I turned it on, she could hear it and would come right over in her walker and give me a big cheeser! See exhibit A:

We also discovered that her and Gracie are not destined to be BFF's! Although Miss Pretty would absolutely love it and she still tries, Gracie isn't havin' it and demonstrates that very well! I tried to get a good picture of the way these two really feel about each other, but Miss Pretty heard the camera everytime! So this is the best I could do:

Let's just say, it's a good thing Gracie is declawed because she was swatting at Miss Pretty like you wouldn't believe! But the funniest part was that Miss Pretty just kept looking at her and tilting her head jabberin' on! So cute!

She definately loves her days off with daddy! Those two crack me right up!

Some other funny things she's done this week:

When I tell her that something is "Kaka" she mimicks me and says "kaka!"

She is sooooo close to crawling! Can't quite coordinate the arms and legs yet, but she's getting there!

Once her diaper's off, she flips right over and tries to crawl. She must feel more free in the nude!

As for Slick and I, we are doing well! Both still have jobs! Thank goodness and we're just enjoying parenthood! I'm glad that I get to share it with him! We have so much fun watching her grow up! We're supposed to go on a date this weekend for Vday. I think we're going to see a laser show at the planetarium, so that will be fun!

Until next time. . . have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Dr Dreamy in the Hizzzouse!

2009-01-31T10:47:00.000-08:00

So this past week was even longer than the last! Work was crazy for mommy, Miss Pretty was sick and sleep was not really something that mommy did much of! Miss Pretty got some nasty cold and by Monday it had peaked at it's worst! She wouldn't lay down at night and fussed all night long! So on Tuesday I call the Dr to see if I should bring her in. The nurse thought she probably had an ear infection and got us squeezed in to see Dr Dreamy that afternoon. Sure enough as soon as he checked her ears, she screamed bloody murder and looked at him as though he was the meanest Dr she'd ever met! Both ears had infections and he said she might have a mild case of RSV. Bummer! So we got some yummy Amoxicilin to get her started on!

It still smells the same as when we guzzled it as children! Miss Pretty loves it and is very upset when the dropper is empty! She is doing much better now, but still has a nasty cough.

As many of you know, I make most of Pretty's baby food. But she's at the stage where she needs a little more variety and more meats. Momma and Daddy aren't big meat eaters, so I don't get to make her much very often. I thought that we'd buy some baby food to incorporate into her diet. Blah! She's not a big fan and gags a lot. I even tasted them and they are very bland! So I have to mix it with the fresh stuff and she'll eat it then.

Some funny things that Miss Pretty is doing this week:

She loves the puff treats. We sprinkle some on her tray and she gobbles them right up! She holds 3 or 4 in one of her hands until she's eaten all of the rest and only then, will she open that hand and eat her reserve.

bnnnnnnnnhg b nhh mgy gj (she loves to chat online, this is her typing skills!)

She cruises in her walker! she's figured out how to navigate that sucker and follows me all over the kitchen. She can also help in the dishwasher!

She lounges in her bath chair! It's one of those rings and she was so worn out from her cold this week that when I'd give her vapor baths, she'd just sit back and chill and play with her tummy. So cute!

I love this little girl!

I haven't the foggiest!

2009-01-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

For being a short week at work this week, it sure felt like the longest ever! It's the end of the term and semester, which equates to lots and lots of work for me! It wasn't the greatest, but I'm glad it's over! While mommy worked, Miss Pretty was sharpening her crawling skills at her favorite babysitter's. That's right I said crawling. She's getting so close and loves to be on her tummy all of a sudden! It's fun to watch her!
This week was also the inauguration of our 44th president of the United States. While I don't agree with President Obama's views and I did not vote for him, he is our President and it was a very moving ceremony to see him sworn in and hear his well said speech to our nation! I truly hope that he means what he says and that there is good change on the horizon! Plus I hear he's giving out free money!! :)

It's also been so foggy outside! This is a shot from our porch last night! It felt like a scene out of a scary movie! If you look to the left of the pic, you'll see our Christmas tree leaning over. Slick took it down in December and put it out in the snow so it looked like we grew a tree this winter! But now the snow is almost melted and our tree is almost in our driveway now!

This is how we found Miss Pretty after her nap yesterday! She's so adventurous these days!

We ordered Miss Pretty a walker from Amazon and it arrived this week! It's fun to see her move around and she loves it! She tries her hardest to get to Gracie!

So I guess Quidditch is out of the question!!

2009-01-18T08:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was cleaning day for Miss Pretty and I! My goal was to get the messy kitchen back in working order! It just gets so cluttered and everything gets dropped in there when we get home from somewhere! Especially the table! It gets piled high with junk! For example: our gingerbread house from Christmas was still there minus a couple of chunks that Gracie snacked on! A lint roller that had obviously gotten stuck to Gracie's behind while she snacked on the above said gingerbread house! Junk mail. Stuff that I'd taken out of the diaper bag, but didn't take up to the hamper, etc, etc. . .
So I was almost done and just needed to sweep and mop the floor. I gave her a bowl of sweet potatoe chunks to entertain her and that worked until she looked up and saw me sweeping. She became histerical! I thought maybe she'd gotten hurt somehow so I walked over to her with the broom in hand and she started waving her arms and screaming! She's terrified of the broom! Once I finished and put it away she calmed down a bit. She did the same thing with the vaccum last week and that was a little more understandable because it's loud and scary, but the broom?? Is that normal?
A quick Johnson update. . . Slick turned 30 last week. We went out to eat with his fam who came to town for the day and then we went to the Home Show! He's easily entertained. The Golden Globes were on last weekend! I'm an award show junky! I love to see what everyone wears and who wins what! I was disappointed the Leo didn't win for best actor! I think he's an amazing actor and has aged well! I was happy that Heath Ledger won for his role in the Dark Knight. Such a good movie.
Miss Pretty is close to crawling! She loves the remote control! And she is not fooled by imposters like the old one that doesn't work anymore! She wants full power! So we bribe her with that! It's cute!
My momacita and little bro also celebrated a birthday this week! I won't list their ages, for privacy purposes :). Today in honor of them, my dad is making the best chili verde on the face of this planet!
And last but not least, I have joined a book club! Not a nerdy book club, I can assure you. We went out to eat on Friday night and although I didn't read Pride and Prejudice, I have seen the movie, so I could offer my two cents here and there. But our next selection, despite Camie's plea for Twilight, is "Confessions of a Shopaholic". After we meet to discuss it, we're going to see the movie. It should be a nice get away once a month for mommy!

We were also doing a photo shoot while we were cleaning the kitchen!! Work it! Own it!

I don't think I've posted pics of her two little front teeth yet!

I said so what. . . I'm still a ROCKSTAR!!!

2009-01-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

Today was Miss Pretty's 9 month well baby checkup with Dr Dreamy! He is so good with her! He seriously is one of the best Dr's I've ever been to! He never makes you feel rushed or stupid for any questions that you ask! And he explains everything very well! Plus the added bonus that he's handsome! :)
Here's Pretty's stats:

Weight: 17lbs 12oz (I swear she weighs more than that! But he said it's normal for her weight to level out a bit because she's becoming more active)
Height: 29 in
Head Circumference: 44 cm

He said that she's doing great! I told him that I was concerned that she's not crawling and he just said "You know, about half of the babies her age crawl by now. . . and obviously the other half don't. Don't worry, she's doing great." This is me. . . "uh huh. . whatever you say. . "

Here she is in her new rocking chair that Gma and Gpa J got her! She rocks herself pretty good in there!
This week is Slick's 30th Birthday!!

How much wood could a woodchuck, chuck. . .

2009-01-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

And last but not least. . . Before the year ended I thought it would be fun to get all 4 of my wisdom teeth out! Not really, but it had to be done, 2 of them were impacted and another was almost coming through. So on Tuesday, Doug took me to the oral surgeon and they knocked me out and pulled the suckers! It was quite an interesting experience! Doug said that when he came in to see me and wake me up, I said "What up DOG!!" I don't remember too much until I got home and became a bit more coherent! My good friend Heather called me sometime during that doped up time and I don't really remember talking to her. Sorry Heather! So for New Year's Eve, my dad made Prime Rib like he always does, and for the 2nd year in a row, I couldn't have any! (last year I was prego and yacking) We came home at 9 and were asleep by 10! What a bunch of party poopers eh? I vaguely remember all the neighbors letting off fireworks and waking up Hailey.

So for this next year. . I've made a couple of New Year's resolutions:
1. No surgeries! Boo!
2. I'm running my half marathon in April!!
3. Gain a stronger testimony of my Savior and Heavenly Father!! Definately go the temple more!
Happy New Year Everyone! Enjoy my Chubby Bunny pics!

And here I am today. Yes that is swelling and not just fat! (although there is a little of that too.)