Valentine's Weekend!!!

We had a fun weekend. I was WAY too lazy to make Valentine's for all of Lydia's little friends like we normally do but we had to make something to keep our tradition going so we made Conversation Heart Valentine's Wreaths for her grandparent's. I told Lydia to smile for the picture and she just had to be silly!
For Valentine's Jake had the idea to go to a Utah basketball game...shocker, I know! But the real shocker is that I thought it would be a fun idea so we went to an early dinner at Happy Sumo (I've been craving some yummy sushi, the pregnancy friendly kind of course). Then we went on to the game, which was a really exciting one. It went into overtime, but we ended up losing.

So this year we decided not to get eachother anything. We thought just spending time together and going out as a family would be our gift to one another. Well, I kept my end of the deal...and of course, like always, Jake didn't. We had a knock on the door so I looked out the window and saw a Lowe's truck delivering something. Jake got me a brand new washer and dryer.

So pretty...but Jake HAD to get the red ones. They actually had glacier blue but Jake paid $60 extra to get the red ones. He's crazy. He just couldn't have blue in his house. He's a little on the extreme side if you ask me!

Every time we make this pact to not get each other anything he always ends up not paying attention that conversation. For our anniversary last year we decided that our BBQ of the Century would be our gift to eachother so what happened? Jake got me a brand new laptop and a really nice cannon camera. Oh and what did I get him, you ask? Utah Utes flip flops. Oh yeah, I'm awesome! So thank you honey for this awesome gift. You always surprise me and I love you for that! Even if it makes me look a fool! :)

So on a final note...some kinda bad news! I just found out I have SKIN CANCER!!! Ahhh!! I knew it was bound to happen at some point in my life, but not so early at age 30! I've decided 30 sucks and I want to be in my 20's again. Darn this red hair and fair skin!!!!

But knowledge is definitely power and luckily I worked for a Dermatologist for two years so I know all about skin cancer. I noticed this spot on my arm a few months ago and looking at it every day, I noticed it wasn't getting any better so I thought it might be a Basal Cell Carcinoma and today, the dr confirmed that I was right. BCC is the most common type of cancer in the world and my co workers would always tease me telling me that I would have hundreds of BCC's before I died. Well, let the counting begin :) Now I have a 40% chance of getting skin cancer again. I'm prepared for it!

A lot of people think to just look for moles but that's not always what skin cancer looks like. Mine looked like a healing scab that I had for about 3 months that just wouldn't go away. So if you've spent a lot of time in the sun or if you're fair skinned....then PLEASE see a dermatologist. Unfortunately I spend many hours in the tanning bed when I was younger and didn't know any better so I'm paying for it now.

People say that a little sun exposure is fine, which may be true but I think I'll get my Vitamin D from somewhere else, thank you! There's a reason that someone invtented spray tans. I love them and will continue spending my tanning hours there instead of killling myself in the sun and tanning beds. I was young and stupid and will never set foot in a tanning bed again!!!! Sunblock is our friend so please be careful!!!

A Family Reunion!!!

Last week (Feb 1st) my brother David flew in from Kansas City for some family time and we loved it. He only brought part of his family since it was kind of a short notice trip. The reason for this visit was because our father was having a pretty serious surgery and he wanted to be here for that. Its been almost 8 years since they've seen each other and dad has never met David's kids before so it was a great reunion. We decided to go down to Price to spend some one on one time with dad before his big day but on the way down I had an OB appt in Murray so David took the kids to the park while they waited. So this post is full of pictures that David took!
Cute Cousins!

Then we headed down to Price and thank goodness for the perfect weather. It was a beautiful drive through the canyon.

Then we got to dad's, hung out, ate dinner and just reconnected with one another at grandma Ada and Grandpa Bert's house. My dad LOVES fish and he has about 5 tanks in his house but this is by far the coolest one and the most popular!

Dad with two of his grandchildren.

Three cousins, Levi, Lydia and Kaleb.

So on Tuesday we drove back to SLC and hung out at my house for the afternoon and evening. But here's the cool part...my dad has 7 children and we have never all been in the same room together, ever! My dad's been married a few times so I have half siblings living in a few parts of the country and since dad was having such an important surgery, we all thought it imperative to come to SLC to be with him. So I invited everyone over to my house for the evening to spend time with our father. We all really had a good time together. We got along great and I loved reconnecting with all my brothers and sisters. There's a first time for everything so here's a picture of my dad with all 7 of his children.

(front) Tammie, Jenny, Me, Michele (back) David, Dad, Adam, Garry

As some of you know, just over 15 months ago my dad was diagnosed with tongue cancer, so he had surgery and thought that it was gone for good. He had half of his tongue removed and restructured from tissues of his arm. It took him months and months to learn how to eat and talk again and then last month we got horrible news...dad's cancer was back and worse this time. He could let it take him or go through the horrible surgery again and fight this thing. He decided to fight!

So last Thursday morning he went into his 14 hour surgery at Huntsman Cancer Institute and I've been in and out of the hospital visiting ever since.

Here's Grandma Great giving Levi some hugs while we waited...and waited.

Well, my dad made it through the surgery and is doing fairly well. He's had to have a few more surgeries/procedures since then due to some complications...he even had to have an emergency surgery because of a blood clot in the new artery they put in his tongue. It was so scary but the dr managed to fix the problem and his tongue is going to survive.

While waiting for dad to come out of surgery, Levi and Lydia played hide and seek with Kaleb...I don't know why they're hiding like this!

It's been stressful but dad has been so strong and positive throughout this whole thing. He hasn't complained once and I'm so happy with the decision he's made to have this horrible surgery again. He should be sent to transitional care sometime next week and hopefully back in his own home sometime mid/late March!

It's been a long road but I'm so happy that my old man is still around. He's told me many times how much it meant to him to have all of his children in the same room and that's what's been getting him through this hard time. I'm so glad he could have that moment and I hope that there will be many more in the years to come. Life is too short to not stay close to those that you love. Reuniting with my family has been one of the best experiences I've had...I'm just sad it's taken this long. But we look forward and create new memories from here :)

Love to you all!

20 Weeks and Girls' Night Out!

Wow, I can't believe I'm already halfway through this pregnancy. It has seriously gone by so fast. Even though I was nauseated and throwing up from 6 weeks to 18 weeks and I've now replaced that illness for daily headaches, it still has gone by very quickly. But you know what? It's all worth it. I've been feeling his little flutterings for the past few weeks and I finally felt him with my hands when he kicked just the other day. I love it. I love the comfort of knowing that he's alive and well when I feel his little body move around inside of me.

I went for my monthly check up yesterday and the doctor said everything was great. His HB is 150 bpm and he's quite the wiggly little fella. The coolest news I recieved was that in the past 4 weeks I've gained a whopping 10 pounds. How is that possible? I'm HUGE!!!!! But once again, so worth it. I've gained 25 pounds so far so I'm on the fast track to gaining 55 like I did with Lydia!! Here's my 20 week picture. See, I told you I was huge!!!
Last weekend while Jake went to the UTAH/BYU game with some of his buddies we decided to have a girls' night out and go get manicures. It's only $5 to get your nails painted. And the girls' even got flowers painted on for free. Here they are picking out their colors.

They held so still. We were so proud of them. Look how happy!

The next three pictures just make me smile every time I see them. Lydia is so thrilled to have her nails painted...and the pictures prove it! I love the funny faces she pulls.

Then after we met Anabel and her kids at the OG for dinner. It was so much fun hanging out and enjoying each other's company. Thanks for the fun day girls!!

All the cute kids together.

Ahh, the ups and downs of life....

Oh how I love the temple. Jake and I made it a goal of ours this year to make it at least once a month (although it should be more since we're surrounded by like, 15...but you gotta start somewhere right?). Anyway, luckily some friends of ours have the same goal for this year so we decided to do a temple swap once a month so we could each go and enjoy these temples.

I've had to deal with some family issues lately and people are worrying about the stress I'm under being pregnant so I thought that this temple visit I would focus thinking about my father and what he's going through and hopefully through this visit I can gain more peace and faith for my dad and for myself.

Isn't the Bountiful Temple gorgeous! I had to take a picture.

My dad has been faced with cancer, again, for the third time. He decided last week to go ahead with the same surgery he had just over a year ago to remove the cancer in his tongue. After only 15 months, his tongue cancer is back. But we all have faith that the Lord will take care of him. We just need to be sure and understand that what will happen is the Lord's will. I've come to terms with that and I think that's why I'm not as stressed as people may think. I know whatever happens, my dad is in a good place and I am so proud of him for the decisions he's made this past year. He truly is the perfect example of "it's never to late to change". We've had a lot of fun getting to know each other again these past two years and I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. I'm so grateful for this time we've had and hope to have many more years with my old papi :)

Look at that face! Lydia and I have had a lot of fun the past few weeks doing preschool together. This week was "Motor Skills" week so we've been using our hands a lot. She officially has her own pair of scissors which she thinks is the coolest thing in the world. You would have thought I gave her a million dollars. She would cut paper all day if I let her...funny kid.

Yesterday we learned how to make finger paints and she enjoyed the painting part of this activity over the making of the paints (what kid wouldn't :)

She was so dainty about it, dipping one finger in so carefully. Then all of her fingers went in on accident and she thought she was going to get in trouble for getting all messy. Of course not...the whole point of finger paints is to make a mess right? :)

Eventually the whole hand made it in and we made hand prints.

Another successful week of preschool.

Boy or girl? Grandma Frandsen Comes for a Visit!

It's official! Baby #2 in the Johnsen household is going to be a BOY!!! As you can see in the picture below, the no mistaking it! We all saw it before the nurse could even tell us. I had no idea what it was going to be but the idea of having a baby boy in the family is quickly growing on me. It looks like Jake and I are going for the All-American family here...we've got the mom and dad, our own little house and 2 1/2 kids. A girl, soon a boy and our crazy dog Larry! It's perfect!
The dr said that everything looks great. His heart rate was 156 bpm and all of his organs were perfectly formed. He was very active which is a great indication that I have a little Jake Jr. on my hands and that scares the crap out of me. Hopefully I can handle this :) Is that not the cutest profile picture EVER?! I just love it. My mom wanted to fly in and spend some time with us (when I say us, I mean Lydia) so it worked out perfectly that she got to come to the US with us. She flew in last Thursday and we had the US on Friday afternoon.

Lydia has had so much fun having her g-ma Frandsen here. The first evening she was shy but she's been my mom's little shadow ever since. This was a pretty low key visit. All we've done is eat out, played and shopped. We ate at this new ice cream place in C-ville called Sub Zero. It was a really cool place...a must see for the kiddos!

Here's G-ma and Lydia playing Let's Go Fishing. Don't you love the outfits Lydia chooses? She would not take off that KS Jayhawk shirt. I think subconsciously she knew that's where G-ma was from and she wanted to show it off :) And you've gotta love the "boobs". That's what Lydia calls bras so she gets the bikini tops and wears her "boobs' all the time. Silly gal!

On Saturday afternoon while Jake was at the Utes B-ball game, us girls went to see a chick flick, Leap Year. It was pretty cute and of course Lydia was an angel and sat there the whole time. It took place in Ireland so it was fun pointing out all the places we had been when we were there last Summer. It brought back memories when they mentioned towns like Tipperary that were out in the country. So pretty.

Then on Monday night Mom and I went to a play and saw "The Importance of Being Earnest" and Hale Center Theater. It was really good and I loved the round, stadium seating. I just hated that there was NO leg room; I just couldn't get comfortable. But the play was very funny and cute.

So my mom left today...always a sad day! Lydia and my mama formed quite the little bond. It was cute to see! She'll be back in June though to help with the baby so that will be fun. And my brother is flying in next week with one of his sons so it will be nice to have more family in for a visit!!! Love you mama. Thanks for a wonderful time, as always!

Our Weekend...

We had such a fun weekend. We got to hang out with our friends' the Newell's. It's been a long time since we've hung out so we thought it was way past due. And apparently it had been way too long because we ended up spending the whole weekend together.

On Friday night we invited them to our favorite Chinese restaurant, the Mandarin. Here's the cute Newell family. It was so funny...Brielle and Lydia sat across from each other and they're both so shy that it was like they weren't even there. They just sat and stared at each other. It was hilarious.
On Saturday, Lydia was invited to a b-day party for her little friend Hailey who was turning 4. It was so cute and Lyd's had a good time. Here's Brielle and Lyd's with their fruit loop necklaces on.
You gotta love the "fruit loops in the teeth" smile.
Then on Saturday Anabel invited me to have a girls' night out to see a movie. We couldn't find anything at the regular theater so we went to the dollar theater and saw "500 Days of Summer". It actually turned out to be a great movie. I really liked it a lot. I was pleasantly surprised for not knowing anything about it.
Brielle and Lydia had so much fun together at our house while Jake and Joe watched sports. As soon as Brielle came in, Lydia took her by the hand and off they went. Jake said they sat in this car for like a half an hour and just sat there talking. So cute. Best buds in the making :)

The good and the bad...

I finally started Lydia in her own little preschool at our house. We did Joyschool with friends last year but things didn't work out this time so I thought why not make it just Lyd's and I...and since I'm feeling better, I decided to start.

Lydia has so much fun learning. I've just made up my own curriculum so we had "Shapes Week" this week. Lydia's face just lights up when she gets the answers right. It's funny because now she tries to teach me. She'll aske me what the shape is and I'll get it right then she'll blurt out in this very motherly, happy tone, "That's right, good job!" It's so cute. I just love this girl.

Here she is playing musical shapes (just like musical chairs accept you don't take the shapes away, you just name the shape you've danced onto after you've stopped the music). Don't mind the outfit. She's in the phase of picking out her own clothes (I put my foot down when we leave the house though :)

Then today we learned about bubbles and how they're round and shaped like circles. Making snow angels was WAY too bright for Lyd's though. She had to sqeeze her eyes VERY tightly. She thought it was hilraious.

Larry has to always know what's going on. He can't just relax indoors if we're outside. If you know the Lar dog you know that he HATES cold weather but he stayed outside with us for 45 minutes and froze his butt off just to make sure nothing cool happened while we were out there. It was so sad to watch my shivering dog and this sad, pathetic, little face for 45 min. in the only snow free part of our yard.

Another step to becoming a young girl is that Lydia had her first official sleep over with her cousin Lizzy at G-ma and G-pa Johnsen's house on Tuesday night. They said that they had the best time. They laughed and played...just couldn't get enough of each other. Then sleep time came and of course that didn't go so well. They were put to bed but laughed and talked until almost midnight. Needless to say, they both took naps the next day. Thanks G-ma and G-pa. Lydia had the best time.

Now onto a bit of bad news. I won't really go into too much detail...I'll spare you. But we found out a few days ago that my dad's cancer is back. I'm not sure that I ever blogged about it the first time but he's only been cancer free for 15 months. And honestly it sucks that he has to go through all of this again, and so soon. Same surgery as last time, same horrible recovery (he's still not back to normal from the first surgery). My father is strong and I know he has a lot of faith but it's still such a sad thing to hear and take in. So any prayers you could give I know would help. We have a lot faith and I think we've all come to the conclusion that we will be okay with whatever the Lord's plan is. There's great peace in that way of thinking. It's hard but I know that the Lord knows all things and he will give us comfort if we just have faith in His plan.

Lydia's Year In Review

What a year 2009 was for Lydia and all of her accomplishments. I thought I'd take a moment and reflect on the wonderful year that we had with our little sweetheart.
First of all, how could you NOT love that face and that smile. Love, love, love this girl :)
She is just loving dance class. It's her favorite thing. She dances and sings ALL day long; it's all she thinks about. She's into this new show on Nick (I think) called The Fresh Beat Band. They sing and dance and have a storyline to go along with it. She dances and sings along and does it of course with a huge smile on her face.

She still loves the kitchen that she got for her b-day and makes us dinner on a daily basis. She also got this cute chef hat, apron, oven mit and hot pad. She thinks she's so grown up getting hot things out of the oven.

Lydia had her three year check up with Dr cox last week and she's doing great.

She's 90th percentile in height

75th percentile for weight

and her BMI is 25th percentile.

So basically she's tall and skinny. So many people think she's so much older than she actually is.

I love this next pic. I think it's one of Lyd's cutest smiles ever...so happy. I got these shirts when we were in Ireland last August.

Lucky for Lyd's her cousin Lizzy is now in her dance class and she couldn't be happier. They were so cute today and listened really well to Miss Mo. Look at those cute girls.

I really need to do a separate post on Lydia's bunny. She's her best friend and she has to have her when she's sad, in a bad mood or especially when she goes to bed. As she's falling asleep she rubs the bunny's ears and snuggles her face until she falls asleep. In this picture, she could not have gotten any closer to her with that scrunched up nose against hers.

This picture below is becoming more and more of a daily occurrence. Larry is always found sleeping with Lydia in her bed. Although she torments him every day he still loves her doesn't mind sleeping with her. I guess he knows he won't be bothered when she's fast asleep!

We seriously couldn't love our little Lydia any more than we do. Sometimes we look at her and our heart just hurts we love her so much. I know that's so cheesy to say, but it couldn't be more true. We are so proud of her. She continues to come out of her shell more and more...she finally potty trained herself when SHE was ready...she's no longer in nursery, she is officially a Sunbeam and she transitioned beautifully...She's learning new dance moves every week (and enjoys making up her own) and loves her Miss Mo...and she is turning into quite the comedian (just like her daddy). Her sense of humor grows every day and we love the funny things she says. We love you Lydia, our precious, little angel.

Here's to a great 2010!!!!!

Happy New Year! 16 Weeks Prego!

Well, the season is officially over. Time to get back to reality. But we did have a fun vacation together this year. We spent New Year's Eve with Jake's family and played games. New Year's Day we went and saw yet another movie..this time without Lyd's. We saw Sherlock Holmes with our friends the Davies'. It was a really good movie. Very entertaining. Then we spent the past couple days hanging out with Lydia's best friends Lizzy and Will. Good times!

I can't believe I am 16 weeks pregnant. I think I've gained about 12-15 pounds so far. I haven't stepped on the scale for a few weeks for fear that I've gained 20-25. I think I might gain more than 55 this time, which is what I gained with Lydia. Crazy, I know.

My 16 week picture

(and the first I've taken this pregnancy)!

It's amazing how fast its gone by, especially since I've been sick the past 10 weeks. I starting the nausea and throwing up at 6 weeks and it's finally coming to a close this week. I'm feeling much better in that dept. Although, I think my body has traded the nausea for headaches. I've had either a dull or pounding headache every day for the past 8-9 days. It sucks. But hey, you won't hear me complaining. I'm grateful for every pain I feel. It just means that there's a healthy baby in there growing like a weed.

My next dr appt is this week and then we'll schedule the US to determine the sex of the baby. We're so excited. Jake wants a girl and when I think about it, I don't really care. It'd be nice to have a boy so it would take the pressure off of getting that boy that Jake always wanted. But then again, it would be fun to have two little girls together.

We shall see.