4th of July and More...

I feel like I am just coming into the land of the living again, and it is so nice! During my prayers this week, I marveled at how I had 4 children, 2 years apart. 9 months of pregnancy and 1 year of nursing and I was pregnant again within a few months...4 times! How did I do that?! I know it was the Lord holding my hand. After 5 years, being pregnant again is NOT easy! How grateful I am that I had the majority of my children before 30 and had the energy to enjoy them! Wow! In talking with my Mom and my brother Shawn the other night we realized that my Mom was 31 when she had Shawn. It was hard on her. This baby so far is hard on me. I feel like I'm really only 1/2 there most of the time. I slack on my callings, my house is so messy, it's driving me crazy, I've gained 15 pounds in 2 months (I'm so depressed!), I forget everything, my poor kids feel house driven and I don't like having people over (not like me at all!), husband is seriously neglected and a very patient man! I really have had to tell myself that this terrible nausea, dizziness, lack of wind, extreme fatigue, etc., will only last until about my 12th week (which is this week), and then I will begin to feel better, which I am. I've had to tell myself that I will have to let a few people down and let some things go, in order to get through this first part and probably the next 9 months. It's okay.

So...on the up side...I saw my new OB last week. Dr. Langer is wonderful! I'm so excited to have a woman for a doctor. She told me I was healthy as a horse...lol. I asked her all about exercise and she gave me the go ahead to listen to my body and keep lifting. I was so excited about this! I don't want to give up lifting heavy and working hard at the gym and although it's been difficult, I've been going most days of the week. I'm so thankful for my awesome gym buddy, Melanie. What a great friend! She keeps me going...I love you girl! Dr. Langer rolled in the little ultrasound machine and I was able to see our new little one's heart beating. What a miracles these little ones are! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to welcome a new little one into our home! These children are the GREATEST blessing!

July 4th was a total blast! We had plans with my family to all get together early in the day, but everyone was tired and had a lot to do, so we got together in the evening, ate and enjoyed a few fireworks. The neighbors put on an even better show! Hailey and Abby visited Dan's parents in Portland for 10 days and had the time of their lives! Hailey said "Mom...you can tell Grandma Johnson is a teacher...she was still in teacher mode." LOL. If you read this Mom, that is a good thing :) The girls had the tour of Portland and Vancouver, thanks to Mom and learned a lot about both cities. She is a wonderful teacher. I know I've learned a great deal from her. Thank you for having them, Mom!

The other day I attempted my first hike of the season. It was successful, but it will be the last. Hiking and pregnancy is not my bag. Brent, Shawn, Melanie and I hiked White Pine. It was beautiful! It was tough, but I made it to the lake. I huffed and puffed the whole way up, and my knees about gave on me the whole way down. I couldn't walk for 2 days. I'm thinking I will begin again next summer after baby comes. I can hardly wait! I will miss hiking :( I was looking forward to hiking Timpanogos this year. O-well. Growing a baby will be my adventure.

I have a few more pics. Joe fell asleep on the couch. He runs and plays so hard every day, he is often sleeping around 4:00 or so every day, lol. He's so big!

Dan and I took Ray and Joe fishing last weekend. We fished off of a bridge in the Jordan River and Dan caught this catfish. He was a happy boy. It was big! It took him awhile to get it out of the River and a boy about 12 was walking boy and was really excited to come and help Dan get it out. It was pretty funny.

My 4th of July pics are my new digital scrapbooking pages. I have not scrapbooked for years! Thanks to my neighbor Liesl teaching me a few things, I've had a lot of fun experimenting around! I love it!

Serious Updating!

This will be sort of random...but I will just tell you whats been happening with us in picture order :)

Dans new dirt bike. He has wanted one for years and after our tax return, I told him it would be now or never. He's so excited about it, he goes outside every night just to start it...lol.

We sold our van about a month ago. It was getting old and starting to break down and instead of putting thousands of dollars into it (more than it was worth), we decided to sell it and get something newer! I am soooooo excited! I love my 2005 Nissan Pathfinder! I have never liked vans, but it was practical for our family for many years and now I'm happy to have something more truck-like, even if it meant sacrificing my cell phone :( to pay the bill!

Joe is still doing so well riding a bike! It's his favorite thing to do. He loves riding Rachels bike. He doesn't care that it's pink and he gets so mad when Rachel won't let him ride it. He also loves to dress himself every day. He never matches and/or he wears pj's half the time. It's still cute!

Lately I've tried to grow Joe's hair out a little, for something different and because he doesn't like it spikey or messy. He likes it clean and combed down. Well, the other day, Dan had enough and decided to cut it short. Joe still won't let me spike it. O-well, he's cute no matter what. It's just funny how specific he wants things at such a young age.

This is me trying out my new camera for my b-day!!!! Dan also bought me a scanner, which I have wanted for years because I have so many pictures that are not digital. It came with Photoshop Elements (the cheaper version), and I love it, even though I still have to figure most of it out!

This is Rachel watching t.v. on the kitchen floor...lol. I have been so sick lately that all the kids do is watch t.v. and play outside. I feel terrible about this, but I just don't have the energy to entertain them. She's so cute all bundled up!

These are roses from my front yard. I had neglected to trim back this huge monstrosity, and so I decided I would enjoy the roses and cut this sucker back. Aren't they pretty?! I love giving myself flowers!

I just love this girl and her funky personality. She makes me laugh!

Dan has had magnets every night when he gets home from work. The kids think this is the funniest thing ever!

These two have found a new hobby....wrestling. They are constantly tackling each other and giggling like crazy. Instead of yelling at them to stop fighting, I have to yell at them to stop giggling so much! They are cute buddies!

When did she decide to grow up?! This girl will be 11 in just a couple of short months. She is growing into a young lady more and more every day! I can't believe my oldest will be this old! I was her age when my little brother Shawn was born. It was seriously the greatest thing in my whole life having a baby brother at this age. Hailey has shared her concern about how her friends will feel about them coming over with "all these kids in our house" and having to share a room, etc. I told her that's just part of being in a family and part of being more self-reliant and learning to share space and save money. She's now worrying more about what kinds of clothes to wear and spends wayyyyy to much time on her hair and steals my brush and straightener all the time. She is totally into cooking and anytime I let her, she will pull out a recipe and follow it with occasional questions but pulls it off pretty good! I'm beginning to have serious flash backs! Yikes, people! She also has so much more on the ball than I ever did! This girl is smart beyond her years in many ways and right on track in others :) I can't wait for a new little one in our house and hope that it does good things for her, just like having a new little one in my house at the age of 11 did for me. Pray for me, friends, I have a pre-teen BIG TIME!

My Morning Run

Lately, it's all I can do to get to the gym in the mornings. I have had good days and bad days and every day around 4:00 p.m., the nausea sets in something fierce. Well, yesterday I was supposed to meet my GBFFL (gym best friend for life...hehe), Melanie, but getting up at 5:30 was not making my tummy happy, so I slept in. After getting the kids off to school around 8 a.m., I knew I had to get my exercise in and it kept nagging at me that I missed my workout that morning. (gotta love good habits) I asked Rachel and Joe if they wanted to go on a long bike ride and they excitedly agreed. So, I put on my running shoes and we set off. I was surprised at how well they did! They stayed behind me as I ran and the only time they complained was when we were at the end of a 1 mile hill. Joe informed me he wanted to go home...I told him he could get off his bike and run with me and he said "no way! That would be harder!" They were excited to tell Daddy and Hailey and Abby they went outside the neighborhood on a long bike ride (lol...only about 3 miles). It was fun! I might just miss the gym and do that again!

February 2010

I'm so excited I'm NOT having a fall baby this time...lol...yes...I'm pregnant with baby #5! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! We knew that there was at least one more for us but after a year of trying, we were beginning to settle in with the fact that we were blessed with all we would have in our family. Last week as I was finishing with the Temple Celebration and after a couple of hard workouts where I was feeling quite fatigued and very sick...I took a test or two or three...lol. All were positive! I had wanted to wait to tell most people until I visited the doc, but we had to tell the kids because I have been so tired and sick that they were beginning to wonder what was wrong with me. We told them just the other night and they were sooooo excited! i knew they would tell their friends no matter what I said about keeping it quiet. (In fact yesterday, I heard Joe tell his friend Aiden and I yelled "Joe!", and he asked if he was grounded and all I could do was laugh) They have all been asking for a long time now, if I was ever going to have more. Frankly, having 4 has been just perfect! I love it that my youngest will be 5 years old. I am a little nervous having another little one in the house, but I know I will have 4 great helpers! This will be a whole new experience and unlike the other kiddo's when they were all 2 years apart. Anyway, I figure my due date will be February 2, 2010. I'll keep ya'll posted :)!!!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Celebration

Wow, what an experience of a lifetime and one in which I'm hoping I'll only have to do once in my lifetime! I was over the wardrobe for our ward, the second largest ward in the stake for the May 30th Temple Celebration Performance held for all the youth in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple District. It was a chaotic and overwhelming experience. I'm sorry to say that I was one of the complainers. Sewing over 14 dresses, washing ironing and mending over 60 costumes was quite the task! As I sat in the conference center this last week to watch dress rehearsals and the actual performance, I was very grateful to have a "small" part in this HUGE undertaking! It was amazing! The youth did an amazing job! The set was incredible! I hope you all had a chance to visit your local stake center to see it! I am so grateful for this new temple in our area! It's so beautiful! Next week, we will go through for the open house and I wanted to do it right around my birthday. I can't wait!

In other news...my computer has bit the dust and my camera was dropped, so I am hating technology right now. I have so many fun pix to post and things to share but it will all have to wait :( I'm hoping it won't take another month!

Joe's Riding a Bike!!!

We are officially a bike riding family. No training wheels here! Wow! I can't believe it! Joe Bean learned to ride his bike today! He's been more than ready for a little while now and every time his cousin Parker comes over to play, he feels left out, because he can't ride like Parker. So, Dan took him to the church parking lot today and let him ride. He took right off with little help from Dan. I took some video. I need a good editing program, so for now you get the long version. You don't have to watch the whole thing...lol! I'm so proud of my little buddy, who is not so little anymore!

Rainy Days and Saturdays...

Dan and I had all sorts of plans for cleaning up the yard on Saturday, but we woke up to rain :( We told the kids to get dressed, we were going to the store to let them pick out a craft! They all thought we were kidding, but we weren't...lol. They were really excited and Dan and I had a lot of fun watching them pick out things to do. Joe picked a little wood model airplane, the girls wanted to paint these little plaster monkeys and ponies. Here are some pics of our crafty day!