2009 Johnson Family Christmas Card

I wanted to send this to all of you via snail mail, but... if you didn't get it you can know that you need to email me your address. Until you get around to doing that you can read it here. Merry Cristmas.

Carol of the Johnsons

Hark! We’re doing well,
not much new to tell.
While we lived day to day,
’09 quickly slipped away.

Ryan does persevere,
As he works in his career,
All his projects, they have rolled,
Won’t stay in Utah long, we are told.

Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong

We’ve been married 5 years long,
still pretty sure we didn’t pick wrong,
we celebrated with a fling,
to San Diego last spring.

Lisa’s enjoying the domestic sphere,
Cooking, cleaning, wiping a rear.
Not a moment to spare,
Her full time job is Sadie’s care.


A Puerto Rican location,
Our yearly family vacation,
The waves they did pound,
We relaxed and unwound.

I think we are finally getting the swing
Of this whole parenting thing,
It has brought us great cheer,
But we’ll let you know…the terrible two’s are drawing near.
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas,
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas.


Hark! Hear the yells
Sweet Sadie squeals,
All seem to say,
It’s time to play.

She’s walking here,
Then running there,
Growing so old,
Our hearts she does hold.

Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong

Her vocab is strong
New words all day long,
She’s a social little thing,
Except when to mom she does cling.

August brought a year
Since she came here,
Her cake she did wear,
At her birthday affair.

She needs to gain a pound
The dr. does sound,
She eats without fail,
But never tips the scale.

She likes to dance and sing
She keeps us smiling.
Oh what a year,
Filled with gladness and cheer.

Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas,
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas.
Our love we do send, On without end,
To every home, And all we’ve known.
Ding, Dong, Ding…Dong!

Love, Ryan Lisa & Sadie (16 months)

New Moon Party of the Century

Want to see pics from our New Moon Party? Click Here!

In t-minus 54 hours I am boarding a plane and heading to Seattle to attend the New Moon party of the century! My sister-in-law, Crystal, is throwing this not-to-be-missed party. This is the girl who, for me and Ryan's wedding reception, lined the walls of the ward cultural hall with 9 foot high bamboo that she personally cut with her machete that she bought in Africa. I couldn't make something like that up. This girl seriously knows how to throw a party.

Of course we will be attending the midnight showing of New Moon. I now officially declare my allegiance to Team Jacob.

And, oh no, the party does not end there. We will also be making the trip up to Forks as well next weekend. I can't wait to see Bella's red truck. Eat your heart out people.

And in case you are all still doubting whether or not I have the coolest sister-in-law ever, let me mention that I originally thought I wasn't going to be able to make the trip, which I informed her of, and the next thing I know she has bought me a plane ticket. Whatever! How awesome is that? I think it is the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me.

Sadie is also super duper excited to see the cousins and grandparents. I am nervous going on the plane alone with a 15 month old, but if the worst really happens at least I will have some good stories to tell you!

WHOO HOO! PARTY TIME!

My True Christmas Wish List

My mother-in-law asked for our Christmas Wish Lists the other day. I started brainstorming and came up with a list of stuff that would be really nice to have. But, what I realized is the stuff that I really, really need or want is either stuff that only I can do for myself and/or things that can’t be purchased at a store. So, without further ado, here is the list of what I wish I could do for myself this Christmas:

• Be debt free
• Gain the dedication and willpower to lose 20 pounds
• Develop a hobby that I am passionate about and have the time and money to enjoy
• Have my house stay spotlessly clean for at least 24 hours after I have cleaned it
• Get 8 hours of sleep per night
• Sleep in on the weekend
• Be selfless enough to think of other’s needs before my own and open minded enough to see opportunities to serve
• Have all of my husband’s time and attention all to myself for a couple of days
• Laugh at life with pure delight just like Sadie does

So, it got me wondering, what is it that people really, really want? If your willing to share leave a comment! I would love to hear what other people's true Christmas Wish lists are.

Family Pics

We had the family pics taken a few weeks ago. I think that they turned out pretty cute despite the fact that my ugly mug is in all of the shots. Thank goodness Ryan and Sadie are cute!


Thanks to Van Ausdal Photography for another wonderful photo experience!

Trick-or-Treat

At the last minute I decided that I should take Sadie trick-or-treating tonight. She caught on to the concept pretty quickly and enjoyed going up to the doors with the older kids in the neighborhood. And although she thought that the candy was pretty neat, her favorite houses were the ones with kids or pets. She terrorized our bishop's dog and crawled right into my neighbors house and sat down on the floor next to her baby.

When we got home she emptied her whole bag and carried around as much candy as would fit into her little hands at once and she wouldn't let me near her even to get a picture. (Smart girl, she knows I was really after the Reese's). And she cried when we put the candy away.

Overall it was a super fun night. Happy Halloween (again).

Happy Halloween

When searching for inspiration for this year's Halloween costumes I couldn't help but notice how often I have posted on this blog about what a monkey Sadie is (see here, here, here and here) and I realized I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to make her a real monkey costume.

Ryan and I, of course, are the zoo keepers. I specialize in primate training while Ryan handles waste management (yeah, I have an awesome husband).

Happy Halloween!

Umpa Lumpa

Today was the first snowfall of the winter. Sadie and I are trying super hard to avoid despair (we like to play outside in the warm weather) or the overwhelming desire to hole up and hibernate so we bundled up in our winter coats and went outside to play in the snow. Unfortunately, by the time we got outside it was mostly melted. I couldn't help but laugh at Sadie's coat though. It easily doubles her size. For some reason I started singing "Umpa, Umpa, Umpity doo..."

Sadie Could be the New Face of BabyGap

On a whim I entered Sadie into a cute baby contest that The Gap is sponsoring. The winner will be featured in the store windows of babyGap and GapKids in February 2010, which would be kinda fun. It also doesn't hurt that the winners will receive tickets to THE LION KING in either New York or Las Vegas.

Here is how it works:
A panel of judges will narrow down all of the entries received to 20 finalists (five baby boys, five baby girls, five boys, and five girls). Those finalists will have a professional Gap photo shoot and the public can vote on those pics until December 21, 2009. The four children who receive the most votes (one from each of the categories) will be announced as the winners on February 1, 2010. I realize that the chances of Sadie winning are about 0.0002% but it is kinda fun to participate anyway.

If you want to see Sadie's entries you can go to gap.com/castingcall and search for the numbers 371905164, 651905703 and 231905853

They are also having a Fan Favorite contest which you can vote (click here, here and here) on until November 17. If you think Sadie is cute, or if you can tell from the dark circles under my eyes that I could really use a trip to Jamaica, you could go vote for her. The annoying news is that in order to vote you have to register your email address at disneyfamily.com, supposedly to maintain the integrity of the contest voting process but more likely so that Disney can send you junk mail every day. Any whoo, you can vote once per entry per day per person/valid e-mail address.
Sadie only needs about 34,000 more votes to win!

Does entering my kid into a beauty contest mean that am I becoming one of those crazy parents? If you see me throwing a temper tantrum at your kid's soccer game next spring you will know I slipped down the slippery slope.

It May be Time for an Intervention

Sadie has cut 2 new teeth over the last couple of weeks and they have caused her quite a bit more pain than her first 4 teeth. One of the most noticeable side affects of the teeth coming through is a constant runny nose. To try to make her more comfortable, and, in turn save my sanity, I have been dosing her with IB Profen and Benedryl at night. I realized I may have a problem when I saw Sadie walking around the house sucking on medicine droppers. I became a little more concerned when Sadie brought me the bottle of IB Profen and cried until I gave her a dose. When she tried to chug the bottle of Benedryl I decided it was time for an intervention .

What a Reverent Little Girl We Have!

At night we follow a bedtime routine with Sadie. It begins with a bath and ends with prayers. Sadie really enjoys this time of the night. She loves splashing the water in her bath. She loves pointing out things in her story book. She loves wrestling with her dad. But it always seemed she just tolerated prayers.

Prayers are the start of rocking chair time and the end of playtime. I hold her on my lap and cross her arms. Ryan sits in front of us and folds his arms too and then one of us begins the prayer. Sadie sits verily reverently and listens to what we are saying with a random squeal here or there, the longer the prayer the more fidgety she gets.

Yesterday we charted new territory by trusting her to sit in the rocking chair all by herself.

Ryan folded his arms.
I folded my arms.

Sadie looked at Ryan.
Sadie looked at me.

And then she folded her arms all by herself!
She smiled her big "look at me, I am so proud of myself smile." It was definitely a heart-melt moment. And it looks like the arm folding is here to stay because she did it again tonight. It is very fun to see how fast she is learning so many new things.

Sadie is on the Move!

A couple of months ago I blogged that Sadie had taken her first steps and that I would take pics and post all about her new skill. And then, blog blackout, radio silence. If you were waiting with baited breath you were probably sorely disappointed. Before you go karate kid on me for not being the good blogger or parent I should be, let me state my case:


It is true that Sadie took her first steps more than 2 months ago. What you don't know is that after she took those first 5 or 6 steps she was like totally over it. If she could talk she would have been all, "Mom, walking is totally old news." And since crawling was like sooo the thing to be doing (or maybe it was just way easier and way faster or way less scary) she continued crawling everywhere she went for a couple more months. We tried to encourage her by holding her hands or calling out to her. I admit it. I even tried to bribe her. Nope. She wanted NOTHING to do with walking.


However, she has had a change of heart over the past few days and has decided that walking isn't that bad. In fact, today she walked more than she crawled and threw a tantrum if I tried to carry her or hold her hand. (more on this tantrum thing later) She is still pretty wobbly, swaying like a drunk, but she is the cutest little drunk I've ever seen!

(don't mind the crazy mom voice in the video...in fact, it might be best if you just turn your speakers off for this one) But without further ado, Sadie is walking!

Sadie's 1 Year Old Pics

Thank You Van Ausdal Photography

My Mammary Glands Hate Me.

I vividly remember the day that my mom took me to buy my very first bra. I was mortified. Ever since then I have believed that my bosoms were not so much a buddy of mine. And then I started breast feeding…

I don’t really have too much to say except this:



The other day I was running on the treadmill at the gym and the guy next to me seemed to grow increasing uncomfortable the longer he was next to me. I acted like I was wiping the sweat off my brow with my arm to discreetly sniff to see if it was my scent that was turning him off. I smelled as sweet as a flower. I couldn’t figure out what else might be wrong with me, and, frankly, I was starting to get a bit offended that I was so offensive to him. That is when I noticed that I was holding my chest tightly with my hands while I ran. Ok, a little inappropriate for the gym, I admit it, but what is a girl suppose to do? I am lugging a gallon of milk along with me!

Pre-nursing my clothes never fit right. If it fit my waist, my cleavage played peek-a-boo out the top. If the top was appropriately modest, the waist made me look fat. And that was before the baby! When I got home from the hospital (a.k.a. when I was in full milking mode) I tried to put on a button up shirt. By the time I had tried to squeeze all of the buttons closed my chest was touching my chin. Now THAT is a double chin.

You know when you sign up for a new membership on some website, say WebMD for example, you go through the whole sign up process to sign up for just that one website or just that one weekly email. But you have to be very careful to look for all of the pre-checked boxes or else you are not only signing up for WebMD but also diabetes monthly email, men’s prostate health daily thought AND weight loss weekly tips. Well, somehow I missed the checked boxes when I signed up for my extra x chromosome. Having breasts signed up for all night time baby duty regardless of if it was a feeding or not. Apparently changing diapers also requires having breasts, but I am not quite sure why. And I am still trying to figure out why, when the baby decides that 5am on a Saturday morning is the perfect time to wake up, that only people with breasts can hear them.

I was excited to start the weaning process and put all of this behind me. I was even more excited when I got on the scale after a week of not nursing and discovered I had lost 10 pounds. 10 pounds! And then I looked in the mirror. All 10 pounds came straight from my bust, which I am now going to have to strap back into place with this

…or maybe duct tape.


Dear Mammary Glands: the feeling is mutual!

THE TRUTH from Lynette Scavo:

"He's Almost Too Good Looking"

In the words of the most famous, Derek Zoolander

Ryan is just very "good looking"

What can I say people? I caught myself a super stud.

Wheeler Farm

We spent the day at Wheeler Farm last Saturday. It was super duper fun. Sadie totally freaked out every time we looked at a new animal. (Freaking out means jumping up and down, squawking like a monkey and pointing). Here are the pictorials.

Flock of Seagulls

One of the reasons I was so excited to have a little girl was so I could do cool hairstyles on her, like so:

Apparently though, Sadie is my daughter because, like me, she is over a year old and has only a little more hair than she did when she was born. In fact, she looks like she has less hair now because it has turned blond and is harder to see now.

But, just because she is a little baldy that doesn't mean that we can't do some awesome hair dos. She woke up sporting some Flock of Seagulls hair the other morning.

The Bob Ross Diet

I have to admit that when I was younger I would often fore go Saturday morning cartoons in favor of Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting program. I chose to enjoy my bowl of cereal to brush strokes and oil instead of anvils and roadrunners, not because I was really interested in painting, but because Bob Ross was so totally annoying!

As Ryan will attest to, my viewing choices haven't changed too much over the years. I really enjoy television shows that are stupid and annoying to the point that they are funny.

So, here's the thing about Bob Ross. He would go to all of this trouble to paint an absolutely gorgeous landscape picture. He would often have mountains and a stream or a lake, but whatever he created was always really, really good. And then, about half way through the program, he would get his paintbrush filled with black paint and paint an atrocious black line right through the middle of his painting!!! "Happy Trees," he called them. Then for the rest of his show he would destroy his beautiful paintings with big black lines, uh, I mean trees, all over the front of the picture while I would yell at him from the couch in frustration, "What the crap are you doing???You are ruining it!!!"

Here's my question: Why go to all that work of painting a good picture, if you are just going to make it ugly in the end anyway?

Well, it has been a year since Sadie was born and I am more than ready to get this baby weight off! I tried a few times to lose weight over the past year but due to lots of variables you don't want to be bored with, the Dr. and I decided that it was not a good idea for me to cut calories while breastfeeding. But, the day has come! Sadie is almost all the way weaned and it is time for me to start looking like me again. Jane Fonda, here I come.

Ryan and I have been on a diet for about a month now. Ryan is doing (and looking, I might add) fabulous and he is a good motivation for me. I am doing ok. I have lost about 5 1/2 pounds so far. Not too bad. But I know that I could be doing better.

The problem is that I have (somewhat unconsciously) decided to be on The Bob Ross Diet, meaning I go through all of the hard work during the day to count my calories, watch my carb intake, boost my water intake and faithfully make it to the gym (my beautiful landscape seems to be emerging on the horizon) just to end the day with a few too many "happy trees." Yesterday it was graham crackers and fruit snacks. (I am starting to suspect I am a carbaholic. It doesn't matter what it is, just that it has carbs).

Why do I do all that hard work if I am just going to ruin it at the end of the day? It just doesn't seem to make too much sense, yet here I am. Any suggestions, tips, advice? How do I cut down the happy trees when they just aren't that happy anymore? Maybe I just need someone to come and sit on my couch and yell at me, "What the crap are you doing???You are ruining it!!!" Any volunteers?

The Mercedes Benz of teeth

Lisa went to the dentist today and here's what they said: You have the Mercedes Benz of teeth!

PLUS

EQUALS

I have an appointment later this week. I am predicting they might compare my teeth to something like this:

Things to Consider Before You Start a Home Project

• Always estimate the time you think it will take you to finish your project before you start... and then multiply that time by 42.
• While completing a long-planned-for-but-never-started-home-project seems like an awesome fathers day surprise present, that CD he asked for would be just as, if not more, appreciated and a heck of lot less work.
• Always estimate the cost of the home project before you begin... and then multiply that cost by 3.
• It helps to understand the law of diminishing returns: Given a fixed amount of some input, when ever more amounts of the variable input are added, eventually, the marginal product declines. In other words, the longer it takes you to complete said project, the less you care about the quality of the work you perform and the outcome of said project.
• Realize that this law also applies to your home's previous owners. When you realize this fact you will need to consider either scrapping the whole project or starting over completely from scratch. In any case, multiply your current estimated time and cost by 5.
• Never, under any circumstances, set aside time or plan time to work on your project. It will rain. Always.
• Girls that can handle a power tool are sexy.
• When working with old and weathered wood expect to get massive splinters in your fingers and toes.
• Flip flops probably aren't the best shoe choice when working on a home project.
• There is actually a pretty significant difference between wood screws and deck screws. Namely, the top of wood screws break off when you are using them to assemble a deck.
• If you are using 2x4 pieces of wood and then you run out of 2x4s, it does little good to buy 2x5 pieces of wood.
• "Redwood" deck stain is really, really red.
• When cutting on an angle is needed, remember to measure it once, then measure it twice, then measure it again BEFORE you make the cut.
• If you are a girl and you go to Home Depot by yourself, expect to be ignored and then treated like you are completely stupid.
• Brothers come in handy when it come to home projects.
• Skilsaws and electric sanders are awesome!!! And the neighbors won't mind a bit when you are using them until 10pm multiple times a week.
• Doing a home project by yourself is completely overrated. Hire a professional.

Doctor Appt.

We went for Sadie's 1 year check up yesterday. She is doing great! She is beyond the milestones in speech and just about average in walking. Of course, she is still very, very small for her age so I still have to cram every ounce of food in her that I can. That justifies giving her a pop tart for breakfast, right?

The shots just get more and more horrible every time we go in. They make me hold her arms down while they put 4 shots in her legs. It is worse now than it was when she was younger because she knows better what is going on. When they put the first needle in her leg she looked up at me with shock and surprise, like "Mom, why are you letting them do this to me?" Then she started screaming. Now, Sadie is a good crier. She is especially good at fake crying when she is trying to get you to do something for her. But, she rarely cries for longer than a minute or two. After the shots she cried for almost a half hour. Sad! Oh well, it is all for the greater good I guess.

Here are her measurements:
Height: 27" (5th percentile)
Weight: 16 lbs. 12 oz. (less than the 3 percentile a.k.a. to small to be on the growth charts)
Head Circumference: 17.5" (25th percentile)

Sadie's First Steps

Sadie took her first independent steps tonight!! Very exciting. Ryan is with the scouts camping. I am sad he missed it. Oh well. More info to come later...and pics if I can capture them.

Sadie's Favorite Birthday Present

Sadie got a lot of really fun toys for her birthday. She got a ball popper toy that she could play with all day long. She got a big stuffed bear and a doll that she loves to give big hugs to. She even got some blocks that she loves to build up and tear apart. But, her all time favorite present wasn't even a present at all. It was birthday card she got from my aunt. It is a card that sings "Winnie the Pooh." It has only been 1 week since she got it and the battery is almost dead. She knows where I keep it up on the fireplace mantle and that is the first place she wants to go in the morning when she wakes up. This video is of her dancing to the music. It is one of her less enthusiastic dances, but the only one I have been able to catch on camera (she gets a little but of stage fright when the camera comes out).

Sadie is a Party Animal!

We had Sadie's birthday party on Saturday and despite the fact that it was a pool party and it just happened to be the coldest day of the summer (about 60 degrees), I think it turned out to be pretty fun. We had Grandma and Grandpa and other family, friends and Ryan's co-workers over for a bbq. We also had an inflatable water slide for the kids and the wii on a projector in the garage for the older (young at heart) kids. As it was so cold I don't think anyone used the water slide so the tramp ended up being a big hit. We also did the whole "stuff the cake in her face" thing and presents. We were going to show a movie outside in the backyard on the projector but it was just too cold. Oh well, maybe next year.

Thanks to everybody who came and partied with us. You really helped to make Sadie's birthday awesome.

Here are the fabulous pics of the night's events:

Ryan was he master chef of the night

Sadie's Cake. I found a lady who made cakes (contact me if you want her info. She is really good) because I wanted something extra cute and extra yummy for her first birthday. It was a chocolate mint oreo cake with mint whipping cream frosting.

Sadie's first bite with a little encouragement from mom. She wasn't quite sure what to do with this large object on her high chair.

"Hmmmm...maybe this stuff isn't so bad after all. Can I have more mom?"

"Yummy!"



"All Done!" Ryan put that bow in her hair cause he wanted her to smear frosting all over her face, but Sadie had had enough cake by then. This is about as messy as she got...good thing considering she wouldn't keep her bib on.

Next, it was swimming time. Sadie got in the pool and splashed around a bit even though it was really, really cold. She loves the water no matter the temp!

Lastly, Sadie opened her presents...with a little help from some friends.