Roundup!

Gather one Gather all, I gotta a story to tell. One that I am super behind on. I realize my blog is so far behind you might actually view this post as a novel! :) Well I am rounding up all my pictures and memories and here goes nothing! One jumbo post.

So let begin with Christmas... Yes I realize that was almost four months ago(sigh).
Christmas Eve, we invited everyone over to our house for a pasta bar. Justin made pasta and several different sauces to choose from, along with some delicious meatballs. Yes I know I am soooo lucky to have a wonderful chef that not only loves to cook but is good at it as well. The night was a hit and we had tons of fun visiting, playing games, and eating pasta. Janice spoiled us rotten with these fabulous robes for our whole family. Boy oh boy are they cozy. That night Santa worked hard at getting everything put together and out for the boys. Christmas morning we woke bright and early and got spoiled once again. Yes the boys got super spoiled but I think that big ole papa Santa spoiled mama the most. A new camera, braces, and other fabulous stuff. Im one lucky gal. (Now I know many of you think braces wouldn't be a great gift but for me I was ecstatic. I have hated the space in between my two front teeth for so long. Justin didn't want me to get braces because he likes the space, but he knew how much I wanted them. So yes I feel pretty dang excited about them. Also because he is so wonderful he already had the appointment set up, babysitting set up so I could go, and had talked to the Dr, about not letting me know the price.Still to this day I don't know how much they cost. What a sweetie I have hu.) We let the boys play with their toys for awhile then we headed down to pa and tutus to wish them a Merry Christmas. They spoiled the boys rotten with gifts. We then headed to my parents house for the rest of the day. We ate, opened gifts, chatted, and had lots of fun. My mom is so good to us, she got our boys lots of fun stuff and some very useful stuff for Justin and I. It was a great Christmas!



















That next morning we headed up to Island Park. We had a very fun day of riding snow mobiles, ice fishing, pulling the boys on the sled and enjoying the great outdoors.









The next week we kept super busy. For Christmas the boys got ski lessons from pa and tutu. (Such a great gift!) So every day Justin took the boys up to the ski hill, while in lessons he got to enjoy skiing. Both boys did pretty good, but Kamden picked it up really quick. He really enjoyed going, and at the end was going down hills with Justin.
On New Years Eve we headed up to Chad and Debbies house to ring in the New Year with the Johnson Clan. We love hanging out together and always have so much fun. Our kids are all pretty close in age and play so well together. They truly are some of my best friends. New Years eve we ate good food, played lots of games and toasted in the new year. I wish I could have got a picture of all the kids in the center of the room watching the ball drop with excitement then toasting each other. It was priceless! Oliver didn't quite stay awake to ring in the new year. Poor kid feel asleep right on the hardwood floor behind the table where we were playing games. He was out cold! What a great night!

Of course that New Years Eve we got a wild hair and decided that we were going to plan a trip to Denver that very next weekend. At first it was kinda like ha ha we should go see the Bronco/Steelers game, then it turned into a full blown plan. So the three couples (Us, Chad & Debbie, and Dave & Jamie) loaded into our expedition Friday mid morning and headed to Denver. We all shared a hotel suite and it was super fun all hanging out. What would a Johnson Family trip be without stopping at Food Networks Dinners, drive ins and dives. If you have seen the show you will know what I am talking about. The place was called the Bagel Deli and it was super packed with people but worth it. It was super good. We did some shopping then ate at PF Changs that night. Sunday was game day. (Because the tickets cost quite a bit of money us girls decided to take one for the team and go hang out instead of go to the game.) Good times were had by all though, us girls enjoyed shopping, went to the movie War Horse, and finished of our day with a meal at the cheesecake factory. The boys enjoyed themselves at the game, Dave the Broncos fan I think left the stadium the happiest because in over time the Broncos ended up beating the Steelers. Sad! Justin and Chad have been long time Steelers fan. So I don't think they were quite as happy about the Broncos win. Alas a good time was had by all. Justin has always dreamed about going to a Steelers game. So glad he got to go. That night we headed half way home, stayed in a Hotel along the way then got up and went the rest of the way home Monday. It was a great trip. Even the car ride was super fun. I couldn't ask for better friends and family.








Also in January Justin did some ice fishing. He caught some pretty big fish and the boys had tons of fun cleaning them out with him. For Christmas he wanted stuff so that he could grind and make his own sausage. Well ask and you shall receive. He has really been enjoying making sausage. I helped plan and prepare the pine wood derby for our ward cub scouts. For anyone who had been to this event you know what a big deal it is. The night went went great and I was so glad! Towards the end of the month I decided to take on a huge project and painted my entire upstairs. (Besides bedrooms.) I was so sick all the brown in my house I had to do something. I am so glad I did it! It looks great. We also decided to rip the carpet up in our hallway and family room. The new carpet looks and feels great.





In February we celebrated V-day with our usual heart shaped pizza. The boys love that tradition. That morning Justin text me and asked me to call him. I tried calling him and it gave me a message about this call cannot go through because there is no service. So Justin asked me to get online to talk to him. He told me that he was on the phone with Verizon fixing the problem. He then asked me if I could look for some papers he had left at home in the drawer. So I went to go look, and when I pulled open the drawer I found an i-phone. It already had a cute case on it and was all set up ready to go. What a sneaky valentine I have. So sweet!!! He is the best!

Also the weekend before valentines day I helped plan a huge Valentines day party at our church four 90 people. Two other girls and myself did all the planning decorating and made all the food. It was super hectic, and I was so glad when the night was over. I think everyone who went had a pretty good time. At least I hope they did. :)


At the end of February our little Ollie pop turned the big two. This deserves a post all on its on so I will hold off on that event.
For the most part February was a great month but with it also came a lot of sadness. This story really begins back in October. I had been noticing that Oliver had been having a constant runny nose. At first I just chalked it up to a cold but it just kept going and going and going. When I got home from our cruise in October I mentioned to my mom that I couldn't believe he still had a runny nose. She told me that was kinda weird because he hadn't had a runny nose the whole week we were gone, and he was at her house. So obviously something at my house he was having allergies too. The only difference between my house and my parents. THE DOGS. So we ventured in and talked to the DR. about it and suggested putting Oliver on a daily Clariten to see if it stopped his symptoms. Sure enough four days in runny nose and all were gone. So we headed back to the Dr. to try making a decision, not only do alergies cause runny noses but can also contribute to ear infections and so on. Well my friends I can't tell you how many ear infections Oliver has had in the past two years. We also talked about the affects of dogs on asthma. Well while the Dr. was talking little did he know my husband has asthma and how it has gotten super bad in the last year. Who knew our dogs could be the cause. So as a family we decided that the dogs had to go so Oliver and Dad could feel better. The hardest part was telling Kamden. He has such a soft sweet heart and he was heart broken. I explained to him that we had to so dad and oliver could feel better, but he had a solution. He explained to me how all we needed to do was buy a new house that was bigger and had a room just for the dogs. We wouldn't let them in the rest of the house. That way he would be able to go in the room and play with the dogs still. Although it was a very clever idea I had to explain to him that wouldn't be happening. He cried as I held him in my arms fighting back my own tears. Then he said to me "You can't get rid of the dogs, they are my best friends." Well yup there went my tears and out tore my heart. It was so sad. Luckily we found some great people to take her. A girl I went to High School with that lives in town wanted her. The day that they took her we were all a little sad. I have to admit I cried a ton. It was super hard for me. I get really attached to animals. Ellie was the best dog there ever was! I have so many found memories with her, but I knew the choice we were making was the right one. Shortly after we said good-by to Ellie we also found a home for Zoey. Getting rid of Ellie was much harder for me, because she truly was the best dog but also because we had had her for three years. Hopefully someday we will be able to move out to the country and have more land where we can have outside dogs. I can't wait!





In march we had a fun St. Patricks day. Mr. Leprechaun visited our house and left footprints and a treat for the boys. Kamden loves this and gets super excited. This year he wanted to set a trap to catch the Leprechaun. Funny boy.
Also in March Kamden started playing on a YMCA basketball team. He does pretty good and even makes a couple baskets most games. He is super fun to watch as he bounces around the court. He is just happy to be there. We need to work on being a tad more aggressive, but he is doing pretty good. In march we also visited the local museum. Right now its all about Dinosaurs. The boys had a ton of fun and when i say boys I mean Justin too. We had some good friends come along and all had a fantastic time.
I'm just glad we were able to get Justin out of there alive.



Towards the end of March we took and overnight trip to Layton Utah for not only some fun but also some business. Our good friends Kassie and Jeremy Harris came along for the fun. We left Friday drove to Layton ate at Oliver Garden then checked into our hotel. All the kids and dads enjoyed swimming in the Hotel pool and we finally got in bed around 11:00 that night. In the morning we drove to the mall parking lot and...SOLD our expedition. Although I had a great fondness of my Expedition the 12.2 MPG I was getting and the fact that it had almost 90,000 miles on it was just not cutting it. It was bittersweet seeing the man who bought it from us drive off, I really did enjoy that car. The rest of the day we spent our time playing at Chuck-E-Cheese and then it was time to head back home to make it to Kams basketball game. Although it was a short trip we had lots of fun.
The next weekend my dear sweet husband watched the kids for me Friday-Sunday while me, my parents and my sister Audra went down to help Tessa and Page move. I was glad to be able to be there for her and we got the move done pretty quick. I am so glad I have a husband I can leave the kids home with. Of course the boys all had a blast while mom was gone.

Two weekends ago we had a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating with family. Jade and Meghan came into town and we got to meet our niece for the first time. Boy is she super cute. The boys enjoyed loving upon her, and I did too. She was super precious! It was fun hanging out with Jade and Meghan all weekend. The boys got spoiled rotten by the Easter bunny. They enjoyed 4 different Easter Egg hunts. Oliver was super funny to watch because after finding an egg he would pick it up and inspect it. The boys really enjoyed dying eggs with grandma Voyles. She was super patient with them and such a good sport to be willing to get so messy to help them. We were able to have a Easter brunch Saturday at my parents house, then Sunday lunch at Johnsons, then Easter dinner we had at our house with Jade, Meghan, Janice and Jim. We are so very thankful for such wonderful family!






















Last but not least. Yes I know you know already that I have the best husband in the world but one more reason he is so fabulous. He got me this! and I am loving it!