Fun in the Sun


I get pretty sick of the cold weather we have in the winter. Once the middle of January hits, i'm done. So, what better way to remedy the situation than to visit family in sunny Las Vegas??!!


The girls and I started our trek on Monday morning and stayed for almost an entire week. We spent a lot of time playing with cousins, hanging out with in-laws, seeing my brothers and my parents, shopping, etc. One night, we went to a place called Flip N Out. I think the adults had just as much fun as the kiddos.

 

That place was a blast. Trampolines and bounce houses galore. 

A couple pictures that are blog worthy... 

Although these are blurry, they're AWESOME!

The top is Summer and I doing back flips at the same time.

The bottom is my brother Jared coming after me after I tagged him with a ball right in the gut.

Nothing like a little sibling ruff-housing.

Another fun thing we did was take the kids to the Dinosaur Park. My kids ask every time we are in Vegas to go to this park.

I'll admit, i'm a little sad we are back in the frozen tundra. 

It was a really great week. I'm sad it's over.

Till next time...

Winter Palooza

"Cinderella is proof that a pair of shoes can change a girls life"

Love that quote.

Although the Winter Palooza was about more than just Princesses, that was the highlight for these sweet girls.

Included in the festivities for the day were:

Bounce Houses

A Pony

A Climbing Wall

(yes, that's Hailey at the very top)

Hailey had no fear of climbing this wall whatsoever until the time came to climb back down. She froze, then a worker had to climb up and get her down.

Addy on the other hand, wanted to follow in big sisters foot steps SO BAD but her little legs were just too little to climb it. Kudos to her for trying though.

another highlight was the

Face Painting

The girls absolutely loved their painted faces. Hailey and Addy got so mad that night when they realized that it needed to be washed off before they went to bed.

Grandma Johnson came and joined in the festivities with us.

We didn't leave without a stop at the princess booth.

Hailey and Avery came home as Rapunzel and Addy came home as TinkerBell.

Pretty cute little princess's if you ask me.

Despite the ringing in my ears from the crazy loud crowds it was a great day out with some 

really fun little ladies.

CHUBS


They both were in the 98th percentile... but I think Addy takes the cake on this one...

Hailey at her two month appointment:

Addy at her two month appointment:

Inseparable


I cannot explain the happiness that it brings us as parents to see our little ones be such great friends. 
Addy gets sad every day when Hailey goes to school. 
Hailey waits anxiously for Addy to get up from her daily nap.
They are kindred spirits and I love it.


At night, things go like this...
We take a bath.
We put jammies on.
We brush teeth.
We read a story or two.
We say prayers.
I sing a song.
Turn on the box fan. (background noise)
The lava lamp gets turned on.
Kisses and hugs, then night-night.


Well, an hour later or so, I usually go up to their room and do the following:
Tuck them back in with blankets that have been kicked off.
Take Scratch, the cat out of the room.
Turn off the lava lamp and any dimmed lights.
Turn off the overhead fan. (it makes scary shadows on the ceiling if its not moving)
Shut the door.

Well, a couple weeks ago, I go upstairs to do the usual, shut things down, and I found this...

then a couple nights later, I found this...

Since then, this happens all the time. It makes me wonder why we bought bunk beds if they are just going to continue to end up in the same bed.

Addy wants so badly to be just like big sister. When Hailey gets her backpack ready for school, Addy wants to do the same...

I love my girls. 

And I love that they can't get enough of each other.

Happy New Year! 2011

I only have a couple pictures from this night, but I figured I better document the moments. Nate's family all came over so that we could put the girls to bed but still hang out with everyone. It was also Nate's brother Jordan's birthday.  We had some traditional Chocolate Roll provided by my mother in law... yum! It's one of the greatest desserts ever! We also spent the evening playing the game Celebrity. For those of you who haven't played it, it is SUCH a fun game. We played it more than a dozen times over the holidays and couldn't get enough of it. My sister in law posted a great explanation of the game complete with some awesome pictures, but her blog is private, so if you want to know how to play, I might have to copy her post or something.

Here are a few pictures that were taken right about midnight on New Year's Eve.

Carmen and Ben

Haha! Jessie! Sorry, I had to post it..

I had an awesome picture of Nate's dad sleeping right through all the festivities, but I was SURE he wouldn't like the picture, so I spared it. :-) 

This is the first New Year's Eve in about 5 years that I have actually stayed up and watched the ball drop. I'm boring, I know.. but I just can't stay up like I use to.

Happy New Year!!

Another Christmas Morning...

We were super spoiled this year. Well, we are every year, but this year, we got two Christmas mornings. We came back from Vegas the day after Christmas and the following morning, we got to hang out with the Johnson clan for some traditional waffles and ice cream, along with opening gifts from the rest of the family. This year was especially fun because Nate's sister Carmen and her husband Ben were able to join us from the Philippines for an entire week! We all miss them, but the girls especially do. They haven't quite understood why we don't see them at Sunday dinners anymore. Also, Adam and Tonna who live in Maine were here, who we don't see just as often as Carmen and Ben. It was so much fun for me being able to hang out with my sister in law Tonna who was here for 6 weeks for an internship. I'm now having Tonna withdrawls. :-)

Kristen and Nolan and their kids were also here, who we don't see often enough. They were visiting from LA. Jordan and Melissa were here from St. George, who we get to see more than the others and Jessica and Justin were here who are also from St. George. It was a VERY busy morning, but SO MUCH FUN!

It all started with the traditional reading of the story of baby Jesus read by Papa (as Addy calls him)

Then, it was go time.

Carmen and Ben brought all the grand kids/cousins personalized shirts from the Philippines.

I LOVE Addy's face in this picture.

(she was being such a ham that morning)

Who knew that when you put a hat on Addy, she'd get her groove on?!

This is her busin' a move for everyone.

These are matching dresses the girls got from Grandpa and Grandma Johnson

I also got the opportunity that week to take some pictures for my awesome

 brother and sister in law, Adam and Tonna. Aren't they just a gorgeous couple?

And this years Candid Award goes to... drum roll please...

NOLAN!

This guy ALWAYS gives me a good reason to take pictures! I love it.

Then, there's Nater.

Always a goof!

Then beautiful Jessie. No matter the face she makes, she's still gorgeous.

(I think she might be irritated that I'm taking pictures. hee hee)

And even though she might HATE me for posting this picture, I think it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Adam and Tonna are always entertaining to be around...

 Kristen and Nolan.. 

I think this is such a cute picture!

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning was SO. MUCH. FUN! 

This was Hailey's reaction to her

 'Tangled Guitar' 

she's been asking Santa for.

 I love the look on their faces...

My awesomely cozy slippers Nate got me

What a mess!!

I love the look on Nate's face when I gave him his big present. It was money I had been saving and making from selling things he needed help with selling for quite some time. He loved it!

 My mom and her cute sock hat.

 Dad and his matching sock hat

 Addy and her new Tinkerbell jammies

Hailey and her new Tangled jammies and Addy with her new bouncer ball. As you can tell, she loves it.

 Addy and her babydoll...

The girls were spoiled and had a great time opening presents, but as usual, it gets a little overwhelming and emotional. It was nice to have the rest of the day to relax and play with grandpa and grandma.