Long time...

Wow! It has been a long time since I last posted. Since I don't have internet at my house it is always the last thing on my list to check. I was thinking the other day how I wish I could blog more, but that would probably take more of my time than I need it to. We just want to wish all of you a wonderful Valentine's day! We love you and wish you could all come see us!!

Love,

the Johnson's

Halloween

Here are our little monsters, Mr. Incredible, Blue Toad and Mario. They look sweet and cute...but don't let that fool you!!! Happy Halloweening!!

Moved..mostly

Well, we aren't completely and totally moved in (still boxes in the garage), but we are getting there. We love our house and like our neighborhood. We like being back in st. george, but miss bunkerville and hyde park (mostly our friends). We still think of you often. Please keep in touch with us, you are all such an important part of our lives. We will do our best to keep in touch with you. Anyone is welcome to come visit us...anytime. Please let us know when you will be in town, we'd love to see you!! Take care and enjoy the rest of your summer.

Excited...

I can't believe that our house is almost done. They've got a few things to fix and touch up and then this house will be ours!! We have met a couple of our neighbors and they have been so nice. We are excited to get to know them.

I am so torn having to live here in Bunkerville until Owen gets done with school. It's only a few weeks away and I've waited for almost two years to get to this point, so I guess a few weeks won't hurt. I'm excited to be able to move in and be in our spot. I feel very blessed that we were able to get this beautiful home and be back in St. George where Jared loves his job and we have friends who can't wait for us to be there. Thank you everyone for helping us out (mostly watching our kids soooo many times). Thank you for loving us and wishing us only the best. We LOVE you and wish you ONLY the best!! Please come visit us...everyone!

Birthdays

I'm feeling a little guilty that all my friends have posted pictures of their kids and their birthdays and I haven't. So I guess we will do it a little late, if anyone cares (that its late and if anyone wants to look at it). Maybe I need to justify doing it for journaling purposes since my journal is soooo far behind.

For my birthday, my mom surprised me by flying down for a couple of days. She ended up helping me out with Aidan and Owen for the day because I forgot that my driver's license expired. I panicked trying to figure out what to do since I don't live in Utah, yet or anywhere, really. I made a mad dash for the DMV and it all worked out. I still have a license in Utah. By the time I got home, my room was decorated with streamers and balloons. We played pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and playdough pictionary. The boys LOVED it! We ate cupcakes that I made for Aidan's class for Valentine's day. I got chocolates and a gift card to Kohls where I was able to finally get some clothes to fit the after-baby me.

Next it was FINALLY Aidan's birthday. After Christmas, he started asking for stuff for Christmas and we reminded him that it was his birthday soon (after mom's). He counted down the days. For his birthday, he was spoiled with his favorite things. A green scooter (his favorite color is green), more Thomas trains, Transformers, Super Mario Bros, and race cars. He had to have a NASCAR "Dale Hart (Earnhardt) Jr." race car chocolate cake. He loved that it was his birthday and loved celebrating it. He was excited about every present. Then he got a trip to Vernal and another party with the Clark's. I made a pathetic Polar Express cake decorated with candy. It looked more like the trains on the Disney cartoon, Chuggington. Oh well, it got eaten and he liked it.

Then for Jared's birthday, we had a small party, just us (mostly for the boys). I made his favorite cake, candy bar cake, and the boys enjoyed bumping him on the head with their presents. Unfortunately, to Jared's dismay ;), my mom didn't fly up to surprise him and there was no pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey or playdough pictionary. His real present was a weekend of NASCAR. Any party can't compare to that!

We're certainly a year older around here and hopefully wiser too.

Updates

I've been putting this off for a while now. It's not that I don't want to do it...it just gets put on the end of my priority list. I've been trying to catch up with house work and laundry which I seem buried in every day. I have a moment, so I am using it up!

This is my 6 month old baby. He's getting not to be a baby any more. He's sitting up better and better each day and we're off and running with solids now. I can't believe that he's half way to one (glass half empty perspective)! He's such a joy to our family. Everyone just smothers him to death, including me. I think he is the cutest baby ever!! We love our Luker so much!

Our house is only weeks away from being finished. I'd post a picture, but Jared does such a good job keeping it updated, I'll just give you our house blog address and you can see for yourself: http://jmjohnsonhouse.blogspot.com/ .

We are excited to get to St. George and are so grateful for all our friends there who have helped us out so much! We appreciate and love you!

Our Little Plot of Heaven

Here is a couple pictures (exciting, huh?) of our little plot of ground where our house will be. It's so nice out there and I am happy we picked this spot. Hopefully we will be here for a long while to enjoy it.

This is looking toward the front of the house (garage really) from the back corner (behind the master bedroom). And in the background it's St. George looking towards the mall and everything behind it. Our house will look somewhat similar to our neighbors house,

but of course different.

This is standing in front of our house looking to what will be our view out back. Nice.

The Lukester!

We undressed Luke the other night and sat him up to play for a bit. I couldn't resist taking a picture. Love those rolls and cheeks! I can't decide if he looks more like the Michelin tire man or Buddah? What do you think?

NASCAR weekend

On Feb. 26, Jared took the boys to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a day of NASCAR fun. There wasn't any real racing that day, just practice and qualifying for spots in the race the next day, but the boys LOVED it!! They each have their own favorite car and driver and cheered them on all day. I think this could be the beginning of a Johnson boys family tradition. (Except I might have to go next year ;)

Nice, comfy set up, eh?

Let's go racing boys!

Aidan driving his favorite race cars on the bleachers

Aidan, the race track, and his nose-reducing headphones. It's really loud!

Owen and his favorite race car#48, Jimmy Johnson, (behind him ready to qualify).

Owen and Aidan with #48, Jimmy Johnson, Lowe's car

Aidan and the 88 car, "Dale Hart Jun-yr" (Dale Earnhart Jr.) as Aidan says.

Our Little Luke!

I took this one this morning. Cute boys!

Ahhh...tuckered out from playing so hard :)

A usual site... one or two or more fingers....whatever will fit!

I have been SOOO behind in updating my blog. I barely say much on Facebook either. Here are some picts of our little Luke. He's a cute little boy. We all love him very much and he is malled by all. I probably gives him way too many kisses on his soft, chubby cheeks. He is now 4 months old and growing and learning so fast. I keep reminding myself to enjoy him because it is going by quickly. He is quite a vocal baby, more so than the other two were and it's fun to make him laugh and squeal. He is a joy to our family. We love you so very much Lukey!! (that's as nicknamey as you can get with his name!)

PS...We SOLD our house!!! YAAAAAAAAAH! We're building again in Washington Fields. See"this link" for our house plan.

Happy New Year!

We took a long vacation over Christmas. It was nice but busy at the same time. We hope everyone had a great holiday season. I have some footage of Christmas morning that I need to get from Jared that I would love to share with all. Our boys had great reactions to what Santa left.

We are enjoying the nice weather here. It has been so nice that the boys can go out and ride bikes or play until dark. I guess that's the great thing about living here in the winter.

I just wanted to share some family picts that we had over the holidays. My sister in law, Emily took them for us in Vernal. It was a VERY cold day and everyone was a trooper. We kept Luke in the car until it was his turn and he was out for a minute and then we put him back. It took us less then 10 minutes and we were done. But she got some great ones of Aidan and the faces that I just can't seem to capture on camera. I'll post them when I get them. But here is a few of us..our newest family pictures.

Blessing Day

Today we blessed our little Luke Henry. He looked quite adorable in his whites. He was very good and quiet during the blessing. Jared did an awesome job. Aidan was MIA during it all. He took off during the opening prayer. My Uncle Brent & Aunt Celeste Merkley from Logandale, NV and Grandma and Grandpa Merkley were there to join us.

Jared bore his testimony and Owen asked me if I would go up with him and we bore our testimonies. We are grateful to have the gospel so we can be with our family forever. We love you all and are grateful for all of the love you show to us.

Love,

Jared, Michelle, Owen, Aidan, & Luke

Luke's Announcement

Here is the baby announcement that my sister-in-law, Emily Clark, did for Luke. I love it!! If you want one or a holiday card, she is very resonable in price and does cute stuff. Let me know and I'll hook you up!!

Thanks Em!

Fall is here!!!

The air has finally cooled down and we are really liking this time of year!! We remembered really fast why we like fall in So. Utah or No. Nevada (for our sake). The boys had a ball with Halloween. They both wanted new costumes, but we told them that no one here saw their costumes from last year, so they could wear those. They didn't like that answer at first, but once the costumes came out and were tried on, they were just fine!

The boys had a Halloween carnival with lots of junk food, tickets, games, cheap prizes, and people. While we were there, Aidan kept saying, "This is the best Halloween ever!"

Tiffany, my sister from Logan, came down to visit us and to hold her new nephew. The boys all had fun playing with her. I am glad she made the long trip too. We were glad to have some company. She dressed up and went Trunk or Treating with the boys. We finally decorated (we went all out :) our trunk this year. As you can tell, we had a lot of fun with the sticky eyeballs;)

Halloween was another hit! I can't believe it's November and that the holiday season is about upon us!! Crazy how time flies!!

We have a new addition to our Family

We'd like to announce the addition of "Luke Henry Johnson" to our family.
Luke came to us last night at 8:18pm, 7'11lbs, 19 in with dark brown hair. Owen and Aidan are excited to be Big Brothers.l

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is our 8th year anniversary. It seems so long ago that we were married, but the number just doesn't seem as big. We've been though a lot together and it surely has brought us closer. We're certainly not perfect, but I am always amazed at how well we get along and go so well together. I couldn't imagine my life without Jared. I love you, babe!!!

Almost there!!!!

Time has gone by really fast. I can't believe that I will have a new child to care for in less than a week. It doesn't seem real, but I know it soon will be.

I go to my 39th week appointment on Wednesday and if I haven't progressed enough to have him, then I will be induced on Thursday. So far I'm a 4+ and more than halfway effaced. I am excited to not be pregnant anymore (excited to be able to bend over again and sleep on my back), but know I will miss not feeling him move inside me.

I have been anxious about being 45 min. from our hospital and my doctor. I've been praying for peace that everything will be ok. I feel that it will, but if you can remember to pray as well, it won't hurt :)

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable fall. It's finally in the 70's and 80's here and I'm lovin' it!!!

Possible baby boy names

I think we need some help with some baby boy names. It can't start with a vowel and we'd prefer it not be too trendy because Johnson is such a common name.

We have a list, but it's not getting any longer or shorter and I've looked through several baby name websites without any luck. I know you've all heard cool names, so bring them on in!!

It's a waiting game...

Now that we're down to the last 4.5 weeks, it's a waiting game! I don't know when things will go down, but I hope that there is as little drama as possible. I go to the doctor on Tuesday, so we'll see how we're doing. We'll keep you posted!!

Lazy this summer...

Owen's first day of school

I was looking at last year pictures and we started and ended with a StarWars shirt!

Aidan at the SLC Temple

Aren't they pretty?

I realized that I've been quite lazy this summer taking pictures. I did not take very many which is really sad. No swimming, no grandma's house, no wedding. Wow, I regret it now. I guess I'd better step up my game and soon.

This week has been a busy one. Owen started school on Monday, August 24th. He's in first grade and his teacher is Mrs. Burton. We met her the first day and she seems really nice. Owen has enjoyed going to school, making new friends and seeing old ones. We are back to making it to school right as the bell rings (at least he's there on time :)

Last weekend I made a fast trip to Logan to get all of our baby stuff. We realized that there was no way we could get us and all of the stuff in our car. So I went by myself and it was a good thing. I filled it right up. I think we have the essentials and maybe just a little more. We will be ready for that day (hopefully). I stayed with my sister-in-law and their family. Thanks Jann and Chad for letting me stay. They were kind enough to go through the trouble to get me a ticket to the Oquirrh Temple dedication. I hadn't been to a temple dedication for awhile and it was really nice.

I also stopped in Brigham City to get some peaches and pears. I swear I'm in the nesting stage, if it's possible this early, I have a list of projects and want to can and cook. It's crazy. Unfortunately cleaning my house isn't one of the things I want to do. But I spent this week doing peaches and pears. I got 14 bottles of each and they were, to my memory, the best peaches and pears I have ever tasted. Especially the peaches--so sweet and so juicy. I wish I could go back and get more just to eat. It was a lot of work and wore me out each day, but they sure look nice and taste good too!

Aidan, I am happy to say, is basically potty trained...YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Funny story, you never know what is going to work...

When we were at my mom's, I was fed up with him because he kept going in his pull-ups and we had a few gross messes to clean up. So I went to buy him some diapers. On the way out of the baby section, I saw some Thomas the Train underwear. Something he knew he could get if he would stop pottying in his pull-ups. I stood there for a minute or two deciding whether it would be worth it or not. I decided to give it a shot and bought the diapers AND the underwear. I gave him the bag when I got home and said, "Here's your diapers, Aidan." He looked in there and noticed that there was something else in there. He pulled out the underwear and asked what they were. I said, "Oh, those are underwear, but they're not for you, they're for big boys who potty in the toilet all the time." (Reverse psychology works almost every time on my kids). And the rest is history. He immediately went to the bathroom so he could put on his underwear. We have had a few accidents, but he has been so good and we are sooooo proud of him. Now he has Transformers underwear, too (he's so proud of them) and a new train that he earned. Goal accomplished! Now I've got to start buying newborn diapers!!

We are still making it work here in Bunkerville, thanks to Uncle David. The kids have friends to play with and the people here have been so nice and welcoming (I don't know if that's a word). They keep telling us to stay and we might be for awhile since our house is still sitting there waiting for someone to buy it! Who knows what will happen. We are just rolling with it...