Favorite Carnival Shots

And Time Keeps On Going

Labor Day weekend we had the Johnson Family Reunion. As usual I was assigned a dessert so I opted for marshmallow brownies. Emily thoroughly enjoyed the beater afterwards...
Jeff's grandpa decided to bring his Model A and give rides. Emily had never been in it before and absolutely loved it. She giggled the whole time.

Then while most of the men watched football, the kids played games. Emily's favorite was the pinata.

As previously posted, Emily started school on the 8th. That night we had a "fancy" dinner to celebrate. Last Valentine's Day we had a candlelight dinner on my china. Emily kept talking about it and asking when we were going to have a fancy dinner again. So I decided her first day of school constituted a special event and I pulled out the dishes. She was very excited - although I think a lot of that could be attributed to the fact that she got to have punch that night.

Shortly after Jeff's surgery he slipped in the shower. Other than a large red mark on his bald head, he was fine. No problems with the foot. However, the tub didn't handle the fall as well as Jeff. The next morning when I went to shower I noticed this lovely crack in the tub.
After almost two weeks of showering in Emily's bathroom we finally were able to get the crack fixed. Hallelujah! Our rejoicing was due to two reasons. 1 - it only cost us $85 to fix and 2 - we didn't have to shower in Emily's small tub any more. Our larger, jetted tub is a lot more accommodating to me and my pregnant stomach...especially since most of the time I shower with Emily.

On another note - Jeff and I also had doctor appointments in the last week. Jeff did very well his first two weeks after surgery. There was less swelling than anticipated and he was given a boot to wear. Yeah for no hot and heavy cast! And double yeah for him not having to wear the boot to bed! (He still can't put weight on it for four more weeks).

The bubba (as Emily calls him) is doing well and getting bigger. His kicks are definitely getting stronger and fortunately being aimed at my cervix less and less - unfortunately I think he's starting to discover my ribs.

One of the biggest events in the past week or so was our fall primary activity. We decided to have a carnival for the kids and it was such a big task that we've been planning it since our very first presidency meeting nine weeks ago. All the hard work and time it took was definitely worth it though when we saw the kids on Saturday. We had an awesome turn out and everything ran so smoothly. All our teachers showed up and put together and ran a game booth and we had volunteers from the ward come and help with food and crafts and anything we asked of them. I am so grateful for all of their support. And can I just say that I have an awesome presidency? I don't know what I'd do without them. They are so supportive and willing to do anything I ask them. They even put up with my pregnant insanity and the fact that I can't remember anything right now. Thanks guys!! (And a big thank you to my mom for coming and helping Emily around the carnival!)

And we even got the bishopric to participate in a pie eating contest - the winner getting a gift card to Olive Garden. The kids loved it and I got lucky with Jeff being declared the winner. (Made even better by the fact that they are having their never-ending pasta bowl right now).

This is a picture of Emily checking out all of her prizes afterwards. We had a craft table with a bunch of beads. She was taking so long we put some in a bag to bring home and do later. She spent the whole rest of the day making necklaces and playing carnival with her leftover tickets.
Saturday night we went to Jeff's parents to see Brad, Heather, Ella and baby Maggie (whom we'd never met before). Emily and Ella were so excited to see each other and had so much fun together. They laughed and screamed and ran around and couldn't get enough of each other. I sure can't wait till we live closer to each other and those girls can see each other more often. Once or twice a year just isn't enough. Brad decided to pull out the flexi-flyer and take the girls for some rides. Emily, the experienced rider, was thrilled about it and couldn't get enough. Ella, who'd never ridden before was a bit more hesitant.

Gma Holbrook sporting one of Emily's carnival prizes

Sunday while Jeff was napping and I was working on the primary program, Emily played with her beads. She is often found singing and I was fortunate enough to have the camera next to me. The first video she had no idea I was filming. The second she'd just noticed me but decided to keep singing anyway.

1st Day of School!

Today was our first day of preschool. Emily was SO excited for it. She's been talking about it all summer. Last night she seemed to become a little scared and clingy. Jeff talked to her about it and told her it was ok to be scared and that it would be ok and she would have fun. Today she seemed totally fine. It was a laid back day - just playing in the different areas and letting the kids become familiar with everything. Parents came and stayed with them today, so we'll see how she does on Thursday without me there. I can't believe she's old enough to be starting school. Having four hours to myself every week is going to be a little weird - nice, but weird. Of course the alone time is only going to last for a few months till the baby comes. Although I'm sure I won't have any problem finding things to keep me busy in the mean time.

Catch Up

Has it really been over two weeks since I last posted? Where has the time gone? I can't believe how busy things have been lately, and unfortunately I don't see them calming down anytime soon. I've been busy with the normal everyday household things, as well as doing weddings, and trying to figure out primary. I don't know if I mentioned it before or not, but I was recently called as the primary president in our ward. I'm grateful for the calling and I'm enjoying it, it's just a lot of work right now. Of course I'm a big planner, as well as a perfectionist, so I'm trying to get everything squared away for the rest of this year as well as the first part of next year because I'll pretty much be out of commission when the baby comes. Thankfully I have a wonderful presidency that is welling to put up with my insanity.

I have managed to do a few fun things with Emily. Last week we all met at my mom's and pulled out her water slide. The kids of course loved it as usual. But then they have fun together no matter what they're doing together.

And then a lot of my time the past week has been taken up with this guy:

Jeff had surgery last Wednesday. For those of you who are more medically inclined and actually care about the terminology - he had his subtalar joint fused. Of course he was in pain afterwards and loopy from the medications, but he's doing better now. The first couple of days were a little rough - he wasn't able to do much of anything. But he's now able to do a lot more for himself, which in turn helps me a ton. I told him he was giving me a good taste of what it's going to be like to have two kids. He went back to work on Monday and he's done ok, but comes home completely drained. It's going to be a long couple of months till he's back to normal. Thank heavens this should all be over with by the time our little guy comes along.

One good thing about Jeff having surgery though is that I finally got my wood floor completely finished. Jeff (and his dad) put in all the trim and transition pieces before his surgery. I LOVE it! It is so much better than the nasty carpet that used to be there.