Life Lately & Thanksgiving

Hello blog.  It's been a while.

Here's what we've been up to....

Wednesday, November 23rd, we went to the library in the morning for storytime.

Sadie's working on a puzzle.  She loves this outfit.  Sorry if she seems to wear it in every post!

Jax's thinking face.  Very typical expression for him.

Andrew was at storytime, too.  They made these cute Turkey hats.  Sadie wore it all afternoon!  What a sweet boy he is.

This was a sticker she received at story time.  I told her to make a heart with her hands and put it around the sticker (like in a pregnancy photo).  She said, "I want to do a diamond instead."  Alrighty then.

That evening we went to Honeymoon Island with Ben. He was done with work at 3PM.  It was a beautiful evening but a little on the chilly side.  We still had fun, though. Sadie made sandcastles the whole evening while Jax investigated objects and shells along the beach.  I took pictures and Ben cuddled McKay.  Very typical behavior for all of us.

Oh I love him!

Sadie was cold in this picture.  Can you tell?  I feel sad for her looking it.  Note to self: keep sweaters in the car.

Thursday, November 24th aka Thanksgiving, Ben attended his Turkey bowl in the morning.  This year we went with him to the park.  Last year I told myself I was going to make Thanksgiving more fun for me and the kids this year because last year Ben played football all morning while I struggled to make all the food while keeping two kids occupied and feeling sick due to being pregnant.  Thanksgiving is such a man's holiday - play football, eat, watch football. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy Ben has his football (he looks forward to it ALL year) but I wanted the holiday to be enjoyable for the whole family so I took the kids, too.  Anyways, Cricchio and KT came along, too. We all had fun!  Yeah :)

Sadie Tee, Sadie J, and Andrew - the cutest of friends.

Ben may have been a little embarrassed I was taking pictures of him in front of everyone. 

Boy did Jax want to get in there and play.  A few more years buddy!

Sadly I didn't get any pictures of us at dinner or of the food.  It was good though.  Really, really good.  My mom takes food seriously!  And Julie made some amazing sweet potato casserole and cheese cake pumpkin pie stuff.  It was yummy.

So, after dinner but before dessert we went to a park to play tennis, throw frisbees, hit baseballs, and let the kids play on the playground.  These are my most favorite parts of holidays!  It was a beautiful evening and the park sits right along the water.  It's my heaven on earth.

She is amazing!  84 years old and still going strong.  I played her in tennis this night and she was still quite good.  Me on the other hand....I need a little practice.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Ben is very aware of how I feel about that holiday and tries extra hard to help me feel included.  He watched the kids while Gramma and I played tennis and I was able to hit baseballs for a while while he protected our children in the outfield.  He's a good husband.  He's what I am most thankful for.

Friday, November 25th, started off like this.....

That's right....that's Ben getting all of our Christmas decorations out of the attic.  A chore he dreads all year, by the way!

Sadie loved all the beautiful ornaments and Jax was quite curious about the event.  We had a great time.

Saturday, November 26th, we went Christmas shopping in the morning, took naps, Ben took the kids to the park while I cleaned up, KT (Katie Tickner) came over to practice piano, and then Melanie and Bishop came over for a date night.  It was a SPLENDID day!  Really, really, really a wonderful day.

Sunday, November 27th, my parents came to our ward again to see Sadie participate in the Primary program.  Guess what...she did it!  She delivered her line wonderfully. Ben and I thought it was a slim chance that she would even sit on the stand.  But, our little Sadie went up there, sat happily, and spoke perfectly.  She's really growing up!

Anyways, I know this is the never ending post, but here a few more happenings around the Johnson household lately....

We bought a new washer and dryer.  They are huge and great.  I do about half the number of loads per week now.

I've been trying to run.  My current goal is to make it 2 miles without stopping.  I was at 1.85 and my shoe came untied...so disappointing!  Anyways, usually I go after the kids are asleep but on this particular evening I put McKay down and then went while the other two were still awake.  When I came home I found Ben sitting on the sofa with all three kiddos.  He looked like this....

They were watching Wonder Pets, all were happy.

We bought this off of Craigslist for $40 and I'm in the process of painting it white for Sadie's room.

My garden is growing.  Hooray!

We eaten several of these lettuce leaves on sandwiches already.  They're quite tasty!

Natalie helped me get this picture wall put together while she was here.  We just got all the frames hung and I'm about to purchase the pictures to go in them.  Thanks Natalie!

This weekend we have James first birthday party and I have a real paid photo shoot.  I'm very excited for both!  Well, excited and nervous for the photo shoot.  I hope I'll be able to get some good photos!  Photography is an expensive hobby and I need to find a way to support myself :)  Also, I've already documented most every angle and expression of my children.  I need new subjects to work with.  Stressful but fun!

This is the end of the never ending blog post.  Thank you if you're still reading!