Fall Traditions

Last Sunday we had our annual Halloween Dinner with my family. My mom's been doing it for over 20 years. It's a fun tradition where we all order 3 courses of food that have been named different things (ie: cat vomit... which is really disgusting and my mom was particularly gross this year). The fun part is that the utinsels, napkin, and drink are all included in the menu. I was fortunate enough to get one utinsel with each course this time. I think my favorite memory was when my brother got a plate of peas, a knife and a napkin ... and no drink. He hates peas.

All the cousins in the costume before dinner

We also celebrated Chris's birthday.

Last week we also went to my brother Matthew's last game (before playoffs anyway). Matthew played the whole game and did awesome. He got the 2nd touchdown of the game ... right after I turned my camera off. So no pics of that unfortunately. It was fun to see him play. It made Jeff miss reffing even more ... although he didn't miss working with sloppy crews. He says the officials that night were horrible with their mechanics. Fortunately, they didn't make bad calls and affect the game however. Skyline beat Murray 59 to 35.

Last Friday my mom and sisters and I had our annual lunch at Gardner Village. It was a lot of fun to be away from kids and be able to carry on a complete conversation without interruption. I'm glad we all live so close to each other and can get together so often - even if it is with the kids sometimes.

Don't Stop Believin'

Special Olympics fall games was this past weekend. For the last 3 or 4 years Jeff and I have been saying that we're done being on the committee - yet we've always gone back and done it. This year when we knew I'd be 7 months pregnant and Jeff would be on crutches we decided we were finally done. However as the games got closer and closer Jeff started working harder and harder to try and convince me that we should do it again. One of my good friends was the director again this year so I finally just told her that if we wouldn't be a hinderance in our current condition we'd be up for another year. Mal said to come - So we spent Friday and Saturday up on campus.

Emily absolutely loved it. Mal made Emily her own credentials this year so she was an official member of the GOC (even if she didn't get a t-shirt for the 4th year in a row). Friday she helped hand out lunches and just had a blast doing it. She loved just being involved and helping out.
Emily sees Mallory quite often and was excited to see her this weekend. Actually, excited might be an understatement. She absolutely loved her and was always wanting to play and dance with her. Emily also got to know a lot of the other GOC members and by the end of the weekend was running around playing with them.

This year's Miss Utah was there again so we got another picture. Emily also met Miss Legacy and got a jazz ball from the Bear.

One thing Emily wanted to do all weekend was play bocce. So as soon as the competition was over we pulled out the bocce balls and played a few games. She loved it (and of course won everytime).

Olympic Town had an AMAZING face painter this year. She did the most elaborte painting and was so quick. Emily has never liked having her face painted and at first wouldn't even consider it. I finally told her I was going to do it and asked her if she'd like to too. She reluctantly agreed and after waiting in line (that never ended because she was so good) Emily got more and more excited. As she watched the woman paint she not only decided she couldn't wait to have her face painted, but she had to do it before me. She said she wanted a pink and blue butterfly. I got a red and purple butterfly. Isn't it amazing??

Friday night after the opening ceremonies there was a dance. Emily was very excited for it. She told Jeff that he had to dance with just her. When he asked who I was going to dance with she promptly said I could just watch - then later added that I could dance with Jacob (aka: her brother). I love the 2nd video where she wanted to dance alone. You can't hear it really well, but after a few seconds Jeff tells her to shake it and I love how her dancing changes. (And sorry they're so dark. There usually isn't a lot of lighting at dances).

It was a long weekend and we were all completely worn out afterwards. But we were all extremely glad we went back "for on more year." Actaully, one thing we learned from this past weekend was to not try and predict the future. This was the 7th time we've geen on the GOC and like I mentioned before, we've been saying we were done for the last 4 years. At first it was because we had baby and then because Jeff graduated from school. But we've always made it work and still been involved. Next year we'll have a 9 month old running around and who knows what else may be going on. SOUT staff kept saying see you next year and they made Emily promise to come back. But - we'll see ... it might have been our last year.

Pumpkins

On Sunday we went on our annual trip to my dad's friend's pumpkin patch. Emily was the only grandkid able to go this year. But she still had a blast picking out pumpkins and running around outside.
I made a comment to Jeff earlier in the week about how we don't have any pregnant pictures of me. I had refused to have any taken when I was pregnant with Emily and looking back on it I wished I had at least a couple. So Jeff took it upon himself to snap several pictures of my oh so lovely stomach.

Thursday was Emily's first field trip with her preschool class. We went to a cute little nursery to pick out pumpkins. The kids got to sit inside a tee pee and sing Halloween songs and read spooky stories. Then they each got to pick out a pumpkin. Emily had a blast running around with all her friends.

Family, Family, & More Family

We have had night after night of family activities. Jeff's youngest brother, Stan, and his family came into town conference weekend. We spent a lot of time with the Holbrooks the past week watching conference, playing games, and of course, eating. Emily loved playing with baby Heidi and making her smile. She also loved being chased by Stan. We're glad Jeff's brothers have been in town the past month to chase Emily around - she hasn't been getting that lately with Jeff being on crutches and you could tell she'd missed it. Thursday my family got together to watch my brother's football game. With a cripple, a pregnant woman, and a 3 year old, we weren't able to get out the door as quickly as we'd hoped and we only got to see the last couple of minutes of the game. However we were able to be there long enough for Emily to be satisfied, Jeff to be completely unimpressed with the officiating, and to see Matthew intercept the ball.
Emily sure loves going to Matthew's games and was disappointed we weren't there very long. But she was quite happy when she discovered we were going to Gma's after for dinner and she could keep playing with her cousins. The girls had a blast jumping on the tramp (and having Gpa "get them"). The boys however were in short supply that night - Sam didn't come, Jackson was sick, and we didn't think it was a good idea to put baby Cameron on the tramp.

Another Marathon

As previously mentioned Brad & Heather came into town with their two girls a couple weeks ago. We were able to see them their first night here (and see cute baby Maggie for the first time), but then we didn't see them again for another week till we watched the U game together. A couple nights later we got together again and had dinner. Both of those times I totally spaced to bring my camera. I don't know if it's the forgetful pregnant gene that is constantly plaguing me or if it's a sign of what's to come ... we'll have a million pictures of Emily and our poor boy will be lucky to have a couple of pictures to show his posterity. Hopefully it's my pregnant mind and not that I'm getting burned out with taking pictures. I did happen to remember it when we went to the zoo with the Holbrooks on the 23rd though. So this post isn't completely devoid of pictures (and if you haven't noticed, I got better as the week went on).

Jeff's work had their 5th anniversary last week. To celebrate they had a big open house where family and past patients were able to attend. They provided dinner - an amazing spread of prime rib, chicken, veggies, rice, and potatoes. And of course the desserts were amazing too. There must have been at least 5 different kinds of cake, a dozen different finger desserts, and of course, a chocolate fountain. Since half of Jeff's family also work at Aspen Ridge they were there to enjoy it all with us. Emily and Ella also got one last time to play. And boy did they have fun...

After eating we ended up going into the therapy gym where the girls had a blast. Emily LOVES visiting her dad at work and she was more than willing to show Ella all the things she likes to do.

After playing with the balloons they soon discovered how much fun the tables were.

These girls just laughed and laughed that night. I can't wait till Brad & Heather are out here again and can stay for two whole months! The girls are going to love it.

After the open house we went up to my parents' house. My dad has been out of town for the past 5 1/2 weeks and had just gotten home the night before. Emily was so excited to see Gpa Newman again. She kept giving him hugs and following him around the house. It was so cute. We are all SO glad to have him back home. We missed you dad!!!

For our birthdays this year Jeff's parents treated us to an overnight retreat at Aspen Grove. The mountains were gorgeous! I couldn't get over all the bright colors. It was just beautiful. The retreat was focused on marriage and Scott Anderson from the Sandy Institute taught several lectures. It was amazing! He was so hilarious and kept your attention so well and could really bring the spirit into the room. It was one of those things that I just didn't want to have end. Thank you mom & dad for taking Emily overnight so we could enjoy a night away!

We raced home from Aspen Grove to get ready for the U vs Louisville game. We'd forgotten how much fun it is to be AT the game instead of just watching it. It'd been a long time. Of course having the Utes win made it even more fun. Emily was really good the whole time. A big thanks to Dave for bringing his binoculars - they entertained Emily for a lot of the time. She also learned how to shell peanuts and that kept her attention for a while. Towards the end she really got into it and was screaming and yelling "GO UTES!"

Thanks for the great weekend Dave & Arline!

After having such a busy week last week, it was nice to not have anything going on this week. Of course that doesn't mean I didn't do anything. I've spent the majority of my time cleaning out and re-organizing all of our closets and cupboards. Emily was a big helper ... some of the time. Here she is cleaning her kitchen while I worked on the linen closet.
We decided to brave the crowds and go to Tracy Aviary today. Emily was thrilled to see all of her cousins and play with them again. It'd been about a month since they'd all been together and they were all so excited to see each other. Emily loved watching the pelicans and was ok with the eagles and flamingos, but mostly she just wanted to be with Jackson & Sara.

Gma let them choose one ride to go on at the park. We were all a little surprised when they chose the airplanes over the carousel. But they loved it.

After the ride we went over to the playground to play for a bit and have lunch.

PS Sorry for the marathon post. I know my last several posts have been this way. When I have free time and can check peoples blogs it always bugs me when they're not updated for several weeks. And here I am, doing just that. So to those of you that are like me, I'm sorry. I completely admit I am a hypocrite. Hopefully things are calming down now and I can do better at blogging. But let's be realistic, I still have a 5 page to do list before this kids arrives and christmas shopping and the primary program trump blogging.

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.