Good Times and Sad Goodbyes

What a CRAZY FUN weekend this has been. We had a weekend full of family, fun, games, food, swimming and waterslides..  Carmen and Ben are moving to the Phillipines and Uncle Adam came for the weekend as well. We celebrated both events with quite a bang! I don't have many pictures just because my mind was seriously absent due to the house project I blogged about on the previous post. But I did get some of the girls swimming and the farewell of Carmen, Ben and Adam.

(check out her muscley arms.. holy crap!)

(Hailey doing cannon balls that Uncle Ben taught her)

This summer, we have spent MANY hours in this pool. Thanks to my inlaws for providing such a fun summer activity for us. The girls favorite was Uncle Adam throwing them in the pool. On the day he left, he got Hailey so high that she was pushing off the floor of the deep end to pop back up out of the water. She LOVED it. She also has a new love of swimming UNDER water. Now when going off the slide, she goes with her head IN the water. Addy has gotten pretty good at swimming herself to the edge and getting out all by herself. Such a big girl these days.

I tried uploading a cute video of uncle Adam throwing them, but it wouldn't work, I'll post it later.

This was the middle of packing project. Stuff everywhere. I did get to reap some benefits of being the keeper of fun stuff for two years while they are gone. :-) Thanks guys!

Then, it was goodbye. Adam left first. The girls love Adam. In fact, the morning he left, we were at

home and Hailey says to me,

"mom, I love Adam. But don't tell him I said that"

Then, it was Carmen and Ben. Carmen and I have become pretty close over the years and i've really been trying to not think of them moving. It makes me really sad. Luckily, I had this house project to keep me busy and not thinking about it. But, the time came and I lost it. I was trying really hard to not cry, but I did. Then everyone else started crying. It sucked, I'm not gonna lie.

But i'll get over it, i'm sure. :-)

The good news is, Nate and I are seriously

considering a trip out to see them!!!

We love you guys and you will be missed. We're looking forward to Christmas when we get to see EVERYONE again!

Project Johnson Home

Last year it was the basement, and this year, it was the rest of the house. So, once we made the decision to go ahead and get new flooring, we started prepping the house. This meant, having a garage sale to get rid of as much stuff as we could, taking everything off the walls, moving furniture out of the way 5 million different times, buying necessary tools and paint to prepare the entire inside of our house for a makeover. This is what it looked like before:

It was BLUE! When we first moved in, EVERYTHING was blue. Even the door frames. For most people, it's not really noticeable, but for those of you who know me well, you KNOW about those door frames, the ceiling, the walls, the carpet, even the KITCHEN and dining room had blue carpet.

Who does that?

So next, it was off to painting. What a project that was. We had to paint door frames, chair rail, baseboards, etc. It was a lot of work. Nate and I would stay up past midnight painting, then I would get up at 5am or earlier to get as much done as I could before the monkeys woke up. No Bueno!

Then, the night before the kitchen flooring was laid, we had to rip out the carpet. This consisted of the following areas:

Kitchen, Dining Room, Laundry room, 3 bathrooms and the entry way to the basement.

check out the arms! Such a stud of a husband he is.

Then it was moving appliances into the livingroom.

This was just the beginning. We had a fridge, a stove, washer and dryer, toilet, diningroom table and chairs, living room furniture all in the livingroom. Poor Hailey and Addy, they had a small square of carpet to play on.

Once the kitchen floor was complete, we had to start moving all the furniture again to the diningroom to prepare for carpet. Once the furniture was moved to Hailey's room and to the diningroom, it was pull out time. Nate and Ben (our awesome brother in law) pulled out all the carpet and padding.

this is the livingroom with no flooring

this is standing in the livingroom, looking at the stairs and front door.

and this is Nate screwing down loose boards in the office entry

this is our bedroom with no floor. the girls were waiting to go to bed and had to wear shoes the whole time because of all the nail boards everywhere.

this is looking into Hailey's room where we put everything while they carpeted everywhere else

and this is the diningroom where we kept all the downstairs furniture

and this is our brother in law Ben. Such a trooper. He hung out with me ALL day waiting to help me move furniture around for the carpet guys. He got really bored.

and this is our bedroom after Ben and I moved it all in from Hailey's room

Yeah, most of this junk is all Nate's Ebay stuff. I was a little bitter at having to move it so much. It was a LOT of stuff.

and now for the finale!

Here are the after pictures!

this is the livingroom

our bedroom

my cute yellow laundry room

entry to the office

top of the stairs (and the new light sconces that I hung and wired myself)

nobody got electricuted and they work! :-)

Hailey's room (we didn't paint her room, it's still the original paint, but the carpet is new)

dining room

kitchen and Addy

and the last 'after' picture I have is of the entryway

D.O.N.E

I can't believe I don't have to get up at 5am to paint anymore. Instead, I can get up and go to the gym.. well, we'll see. :-)

What's Up? Not much...

Yeah, RIGHT! We have had a lot going on lately! Since Addy's birthday, we have just been going NON-STOP!  We made another trip to Vegas, Nate's been playing a lot of softball, as usual and a bazillion other things.  I've been planning baby showers, deep cleaning the house (don't let that fool you, it's still a mess), paying doctor bills, making several trips to the hospital to visit a friend who was in a bad accident, planning lessons for Young Women's, taking the kids swimming A LOT, having play dates, major yard work, getting ready for a garage sale (which went very well, by the way, thanks for asking) and washing walls.

PHEW! that's a lot of stuff. I can't remember the rest, it's all sort of a blurr. Hence the reason i'm not on the computer much anymore. I just don't have time.  Plus, I'd rather be playing outside in the awesome weather anyways!

Nate had a triple header the other night at softball. After a couple homeruns and a sweet slide into home-base, i've decided he's pretty much the best softball player ever. I'm not joking. He makes me proud. His team made it to the championship game!!! They took home a sweet 2nd place trophie and a lot of yucky sweat and dirt. But, 3 games people.. in ONE night. That's a lot of sweat and dirt from the wives and their kids as well. Thanks Valerie for keeping us company and helping with my kids. I always have a sigh of relief when my mother in law comes to things with us!

So, after a few weeks of craziness and fun, and a really hot day selling stuff, we decided to make life even more crazy by planning to paint the entire inside of our house. We are prepping for new flooring in a week or so. (so excited... insert a jump for joy (here))

But first, this is how we roll:

We drove the impala to church today. The girls loved every minute of it. I have to admit that I felt pretty cool too. Nothing like driving a convertible, that's for sure.

Hailey also offered to give a talk in Primary next week. Can't believe how big she's getting! CRAZY! I could go on and on about all the cool stuff she's learning, but it would be a painfully long post, so I won't. :-)

Addy is hillarious these days. She sings all. the. time. And again, learning all kinds of fun stuff like animals and shapes and words and numbers. So fun.

So, if you call me and ask "what's up?" and my response is "not much" just know that for me, that means, nothing traumatic has happened but a WHOLE lot of other stuff has! :-)

Just Love This

I couldn't help but post this picture.. it cracks me up every time I see it.

Happy Birthday Addy!!

I'm about a week late, but I wanted to wish my little Addy a Happy Birthday! We had such a great time. My parents came into town for the weekend and helped me plan a fun little party for her. We had lots of great food and treats. Thanks to all those who helped out to make it such a fun night. Although, I think I lucked out in having the most fun with the planning. :-)

First, I had to take a trip to the past and see my baby girl when she was born...

The true excitement from Daddy... love this picture...

Then, I had to remember how fun her birthday was last year... Addy, at 1.

Destroying her cake...

And now, such a grown up girl...

Addy at 2.

Happy 2 Years Addy!!!

Princess Hailey

I took Hailey to the Princess Festival in Lindon today and it far exeeded my expectations. This place was amazing and WELL worth the $30 registration fee. When we got there, they had Hailey's Princess Packet all ready  for her and she was off running around meeting Princesses and playing in Ariel's fountain.

The festivities began for Hailey's group and off they went to defeat the Season Queen's and give them all a change of Heart. Not to mention the Princess they rescued from the tower..

They all referred to her as 'Princess Hailey' and were so incredibly kind. She went 'flying' with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell on the tramp, after getting sprinkled with Pixie Dust.

The Prince fitted her for a princess shoe and 'magically' it fit just right. All the characters gave an amazing performance that included singing, dancing and a fun story of courage.

There were booths with yummy food and snacks, waterbottles with a princess label and a huge covered playground. I was blown away with how amazing this charity event was and all the characters who volunteer their time to put together this great even for little girls. Hailey felt like a princess all day and could not stop talking about it.

Grandma even had to spoil her with some new princess dress ups from the festival itself. Hailey offered to take a picture with Addy as Cinderella and Addy was VERY excited to ablige! So cute.

I will definitely be making this a yearly tradition from now on.

My Heart Took A Picture Yesterday

Yesterday while mowing the lawn, I hear a faint scream. Not thinking anything of it, I kept mowing. A few minutes later, Hailey came walking into the backyard crying. She had been attacked by our kitty and it made her really sad. I sat on the front porch with her trying to console her while watching these cute little girls set up a drink shop across the street.

Suddenly, this little girl from our neighborhood runs over to see if Hailey is ok, since she saw her crying. Then she asked if Hailey would like to come hang out with them and help them sell drinks. Of course she was THRILLED. This was the first time I have ever let Hailey play across the street by herself with some friends. Those of you who are familiar with my neighborhood, know why.

I went back to mowing my lawn when a little while later, I see all three girls AND Hailey running into the backyard. They held up an ice cream that was clearly bought by the ice cream truck (I hate Ice Cream trucks-but I let this one slide). They said:

"We bought this for Hailey, but we wanted to make sure it was ok with you first."

Okay, REALLY? These three little girls spent ALL the little coins they had made selling drinks to buy my little Hailey an ice cream. They took care of her, let her help them yell at cars to buy some drinks, walked her across the street every time she needed to come home for any reason, let her drink ALL the juice she wanted AND even asked if I wanted her to get paid for being hired by them. How CUTE is that?

Later that evening, they came to the house after they were all done with some change in their hands. They said they heard Hailey say she wanted to buy a toy at Walmart so they were bringing her some money to do that. My heart took a picture of my little BIG girl and her sweet friends

that took such good care of her.

Thanks A Lot

The other day, I had to go to the American Fork Police Department to pay a dumb ticket. Ugh. I hate paying for tickets. It was a rainy day and I was trying to run in with my two little ones so I could hurry and get home in time for Addy's nap. I was a little flustered trying to find a parking spot and run through the rain with my kiddos. 

We enter the Police Department through the front doors where they have the cop sitting their waiting to check you in and make sure you don't have any dangerous weapons or anything like that. Right as we enter, Hailey runs up to him and announces,

"My mom was driving too fast. The police man got her in trouble."

Thank you Hailey!! 

Laughing histerically, the cop says,

"wow, no secrets can be held in this home from now on,

I guess you need to know where the clerks office is." 

 Pointing to the elevator, he's still laughing.

Upon leaving, we enter the entry where the same cop is sitting.

Again.. Hailey runs up and says

 "my mom has to pay a LOT of money cuz she was driving too fast."

Laughing again... the cop asks to hear the whole story so he can share this experience with other people.

I'm glad I could be the brunt of comedic delivery.

So, here's the story:

I was on my way to an ultrasound appointment which I was extremely late for. Or was about to be late for. I had just dropped the girls off at my friend Megan's house in American Fork and was headed to my doctor's office when I look up and see flashing lights. 'You have GOT to be kidding' I thought to myself. Not today...

So, I do what every other american is suppose to do and I pull over. I'm thinking, maybe a blown tail light, maybe registration.. nope and nope.  He asks if I know why he pulled me over. I said that I was in a hurry so I may have been going about 30 or so and he replied "it's 25 through here".  STUNNED.. I looked at him like 'REALLY'? No stinkin way is this happening! So.. after giving him license and registration and insurance, I sit there crying because

1. i'm hormonal, and

2. i'm late for a very important appointment.

He comes back, see's me bawling and I tell him that i'm pregnant, on my way to an ultrasound and i'm sorry for crying.  He hands me my ticket and sends me on my way. I get to my appointment only to see that Nate is nowhere in sight. He thought I was picking him up in PROVO before my appointment. Misscommunication. So, I start crying AGAIN, in the office. Then the worst happened. No baby. they couldn't find a baby. You can read more about that a few blog entries below.

So pretty much it was the worst day ever. 

But I have to say, that I'm grateful for little ones who bring out the laughter, even in bad memories to make them kind of funny.  And also, thanks to little ones who constantly remind you that if you drive too fast, the police man will come. :-)

Ugh.. Mother's Day...

So, in the past, I have HATED Mother's Day. It's the day where everything seems to go wrong. The kids are constantly whining, nobody does the 'expected mother's day' traditions like breakfast in bed or special treatment, or even awarded a nap. It's just another day only the problem is, there is this train of guilt for even feeling like you should have that special treatment. Well, not THIS Mother's Day.

I had a great day. I woke up to the quiet sound of Hailey waking Nate up in a whisper. I knew she was trying so hard to not wake me up.  Loving the day already, I fell back asleep. A while later, Hailey runs in my room holding a fork and yelling 'Happy Mother's Day'. Nate followed with a plate filled with strawberries, eggs and toast.  Hailey jumped in bed and helped me eat my breakfast. A while later, we were sitting in sacrament meeting when they called the primary to come up and sing. Hailey eagerly made her way up to the stand and was very excited to sing. She pretty much just waved at us most of the time, but it was so cute, I could hardly stand it. Besides that, watching Addy get excited and wave back was the cutest thing ever. Such a proud mom, I was. She later gave me a gift she made for me in her Sunbeam class. The weather was gorgeous, we had a great walk home. Then Nate and I sat outside and watched little H bask in the sun and draw endless pictures on the sidewalk.  The evening ended with steaks cooked by Nate and my father in law and good company with family. Aside from all that, one of the greatest things of the day was the way Nate worked so hard at every little situation to make it a great day for me. It worked.

I love being a mom. Especially since I have these two little joys. I know I blog about them more than anything else, but that is my life.  THEY are my life.  Nate and my girls.  Recently, i've been down a lot given certain circumstances but I can't begin to explain the joy I feel knowing that these three people are mine forever.

While watching Hailey play that afternoon, I couldn't help but realize how big she's getting. Random, but I had to post this picture because for some reason, she just looks so grown up to me.

A week ago, my mom came to help me around the house and take care of the girls so I could get a little rest.  It was a really fun trip. It was great to be able to just hang out with my mom and my girls. They love her so much and so do I. I really am so grateful to her this mother's day for all she has done for me. I can't even begin to thank her for everything. As kids, we take for granted all the things our parents do for us. Until I became a mother myself, I didn't realize this. I look back now and am SO thankful to have such a loving mother to watch over me my entire life.

It's been a great mother's day. I hope other mom's can say the same. It's the hardest job, but the best.  I am so blessed to have the life that I do. I mostly have my husband to thank for that.

P.S. sorry for the low Resolution pictures, it's 11pm and i'm too tired to fix it right now. :-)