Happy Birthday Family!

I can't believe it has been 8 YEARS! Time has flown by. I am married to a wonderful man! He is an amazing husband and father! I wanted to get a better picture, but the camera battery died and the candles were melting. Our traditional birthday breakfast (or sometimes dinner) is Grandpa Jones's "rolly pancakes" (aka swedish pancakes). For our anniversary it is usually dinner. The candles were melting from both ends because we stuck them into hot pancakes and lit the top. A little wax won't hurt us, right?

Mike has worked for the same company for our 4 anniversaries (half of the 8) which means we get to choose a different day to celebrate. Month-end is always crazy and he usually has to put in long hours. What were we thinking getting married on the 30th!? At least we got to have him home long enough to have dinner. He works so hard and does such a good job providing for our family! I don't know how he does everything he does.

Slip n Slidin' Away

Dale and Melinda went down to a concert in UT so I kept the kids for the afternoon and we decided to have fun. We set up the water wiggles hose for awhile and then it was time to bust out the slip n slide.

Go Savanna!

Kenna's posing again.

Even Cal was sliding. His dad would have been proud - sliding right in to home plate!

They loved it and I enjoyed having a "fun" aunt day. I have found that I am better at being fun when we go do something or we are not at my house where I can find other things to do. It was a good day!

MAT2's Visit

Mark and Melanie came to visit the weekend after Grandma left. So either we have been gone or had company for most of June. But it's been great. We didn't take enough pictures - but these were the best ones. The girls love to be silly - especially with Uncle Mark. As you can see how they are laughing.

Saturday all of us went boating with Val and his family. Nothing like having a dessert in front you that you can't eat. Pregnancy and playing behind the boat aren't a very good combo. Next summer, I guess. We had a lot of fun until the sun started to set and the mosquitos came out. I have NEVER seen mosquitos like that before! Needless to say - we make pretty good mosquito food.

Father's Day Photo Shoot

For Father's Day I took the girls to the river to take pictures - they turned out pretty good. They sure are pretty. He is going to have his hands full keeping the boys away!

Grandma Johanson's Visit

Right after we got back from our CO/KS trip, Grandma Johanson came to visit. She had been on a month long journey visiting everyone except Matthew. (Uruguay isn't really on the way to anything.) We had a great visit.

Friday, we met Mike at the river for a windy picnic. But here you only get a few days that aren't windy. Then we got to go shopping with Grandma - what can be more fun than that?!

Saturday we went to an air show in Rexburg. It was pretty warm, but breezy so we didn't roast. So it isn't all bad to be windy here. We got a little sunburned, but got to see some neat planes and cool stunts.

You can't see this very well, but the jelly belly plane landed on top of that truck. Pretty amazing!

The girls especially loved the big loud planes. Can't you tell?! Everytime they would pass, they girls would plug their ears. It made me laugh and I had to take a picture.

It's a girl!

Probably anyone reading this already knows - but I thought I would make an official announcement. We are having another girl! I guess that is all we know how to do. But I have to say we make pretty cute ones! We are due October 6th and are very excited. Kenna will be in Kindergarten and Whitney in 1st grade the end of August. I will have a month and a half of alone time and then we start all over again. Hopefully we will remember what to do! This picture was taken the end of May when I was almost 21 weeks. It was taken after weeks of proding from Lynette. I am currently 24 weeks and feeling good. Everything looks good so far. We will have an ultra sound with a Perinatologist in July to rule out any problems with this baby's heart. I will update after the appointment.

Road Trip 2008

After 2430 miles, we are back home and ready to be "real" bloggers. Lynette has been bugging me since I left her house. I am not sure I am ready to be tagged, but I will tell everyone about our fantastic road trip. We were gone for 10 days and it was hard to send Mike back to work!

First destination: Kansas - for everyone (except me) to meet Jake! (I got to meet him in February) The girls loved it - they couldn't get enough of him. It took us two days to get there. We stayed in a fabulous place called Ogallala, Nebraska. It kind of has a fun name. After a wonderful few days, we had to do the dreaded goodbyes and continued on our journey.

Next was on to Colorado to visit the Johanson Family. The girls loved playing together. And it was a great visit. We made so many memories along the way!

The girls are fantastic travelers - we are spoiled parents! It made it so nice! We had lots of fun things for them to do and different snacks and tricks and travel games and songs. Mike's favorite is the songs from when I was a kid. But even he warms up to them. (It usually takes him a few rounds though.) We packed PB and J so that we didn't have to stop too much at restaurants and it reminded me of traveling with my mom as a kid. We made many sandwiches on the road on our trips growing up. And I stole her idea to have a treat bag to pull out every hour if we had been good to choose a treat. It was a hit with my girls. If anyone is planning a long trip - I would be happy to email you some of our ideas that really work.

Kansas

We made all kinds of memories in Kansas. Before we came, I asked Alan and Lynette to order a Kansas rain/lightening storm and for the fireflies to be out. Before we came, they hadn't seen any fireflies, but said they would put in an order. Our second night there, Lynette and I went on a walk and I spotted my first one! The next night we let the girls stay up and see them. It was exciting. And amusing to try to catch them in the dark. We weren't successful. Then on Monday morning it got VERY dark and we got our cool storm. Uncle Alan ran out to put out the garbage and came back in soaked. So we all changed into our swimming suits and played and splashed in the puddles in the back yard rain and lightening and all. The boys played frisbee - like they did I think everyday we were there - rain or shine. So I guess when Giffords put in an order - they get it!

The puddles were pretty muddy - imagine that! But we made a great memory. I guess sometimes you have to let kids be kids and what does it hurt if you are kids along with them.



Alan and Lynette's Love Sac was a hit. Here they are reading bedtime stories with Aunt Nette.

A few of the days we were there - we moved the Love Sac to the bottom of the stairs and launched into it. Even the prego girl! The flying was fun, but it was really hard to get back out!

Everyone (except Alan and I) rode the carosel. We went for it's 100th birthday party. It was great fun!

Alan and Mike played a LOT of frisbee - it went with us wherever we went.

We visited a beautiful rose garden. Jake wasn't really cooperating on the picture thing - but we did get a little smile - even if he isn't looking.

Our little family - my favorite part is how my belly button is ALREADY poking out!

The boys sent us out to lunch and shopping. It was so fun! Lynette is one of the few people I like shopping with. We laughed so hard! Anyone who knows her should ask about removing the box around the volleyball BEFORE trying to play with it! HA HA! (No, Lynette - I am not making fun of you! It made for a great laugh though.)

Lynette has some friends with girls our girls ages - they were instant friends, just add water (literally). They invited Whitney and Kenna over to jump on the tramp with a sprinkler underneath. They had a blast!

Nothing like a popsicle with friends on a hot, humid Kansas day!

Colorado

Our next stop was in Colorado. We had a wonderful time with Jonathan and Christa and family.

They took us to this place called Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It was very cool - the kids loved climbing on all the rocks and made for pretty neat pictures. Even though it was pretty warm - we had a great time!

Like I said - cool picture spots. The lighting isn't very good but I didn't have time to mess with it. I am just working on getting it posted!

These girls LOVE their Daddy!

Nobody offered to give ME a ride on their shoulders!

Some friends that moved away from Idaho to Colorado, met us in Colorado Springs and then came back for a BBQ. It was great to see them too. We miss having them in Idaho!

Mike celebrated birthday #30 in Colorado - he is showing the "old" pains already!

Morgan celebrated birthday #6 the next day and we got to be there for the festivities.

The Three Johanson Princesses

We finally caved:)

It only took five days, but Lynette and Alan convinced us we NEED a blog:) So...here we go!