Big Girl Bed and More Halloween Fun!!!

Before I begin my post, take a moment and take the awesome quiz that I've created. There are a couple trick questions, so think carefully :) Jake doesn't think anyone will get 100%, but that's only because he got 90% and he's ticked about it! And taking the test twice doesn't count, Jacob!

Ok, as you know, Lydia turned two last week and I wondered when I would make the transfer from crib to big girl bed. My doctor urged me to do it asap due to children getting broken arms from trying to climb out. Lydia has attempted this, so I knew it was time.

I got this adorable comforter at Target and the twin bed at Ikea. Lydia is so proud of her bed and LOVES it, especially the "jumping on it" part...until I tried to put her down for the first time in it.

I attempted to put her down for her first nap yesterday and she wanted no part of it. She climbed right out of bed and ran to the gate screaming (I thought we'd ease into shutting the door and just use the gate for now...baby steps). Anyway, she didn't want the bed, so she climbed out and was so tired from the screaming that she fell asleep on the floor. Needless to say, she didn't take a nap.

That night, it was time for bed and once again, she screamed bloody murder and ran to the gate. But after 20 minutes of crying, she slowly walked over to her bed, climbed in and fell right asleep and slept straight through the night. So I think it's going ok and I know it will only get better!

Well, it's Halloween season and we LOVE carving pumpkins so Lynette had the idea to get some friends together and carve our pumpkins together. So the Davies, Watts and Jones families gathered at our house and away we went on the carving.
Here are the finished products! Pretty good lookin' pumpkins if I do say so myself! I bet you can guess which one Jake's is :)

And tonight, Rod and Sue volunteered to take Lydia to Duck and Bird's Ward Halloween party (sure we'll crash it...who cares if we're not in your ward:) Here's Lyd's and her cousin the Incredible Hulk...

I LOVE Halloween and I'm so glad it's here. My family always has a fun costume party with a yummy dinner, games and contests...so I think I'll have to continue that tradition here in Utah next year :)

Frightmares With the Fam!

We went with some of MY family that I have here in Utah (my wonderful Aunt, Uncle and cousins) to Frightmares on Saturday and we had SOOO much fun, I just love them! We've only recently reconnected, so it was nice to hang out with them for the day to get reacquainted!

Last time I went to Lagoon, Lydia wasn't having it and she wouldn't get on any rides...this time, she couldn't get enough. It was great!

Lydia had fun riding all of the rides with her second cousins Emily and Easton.


Lydia rode a couple "big kid" rides for the first time and she did great. I took her on the dragon roller coaster and when we went down the first hill she got the sad, pouty face and clung to me the rest of the ride, but the second we got off, she said, "Again" so I'm not sure whether she liked it or not!
The Flying Aces was so much fun and I didn't even know that ride existed. Apparently the Dukes do it every time they come and now I can see why! There are 10 planes and our family took up all 10 of them. It was fun that all of us were on the ride together...cheesy I know, but it's the little things, right?!
Here's the whole gang. My cousin Robert, the the 5th one from the right, went up on the stage of one of the shows to be hypnotized. I don't really believe in that kind of stuff but Robert seemed to be hypnotized and was doing all of these crazy things. The hypnotist told him that he was a rapper that only rapped gibberish and the next thing you know, Robert's up there dancing as a gibberish rapper. And Lisa said that Robert's not the type that would do those kinds of things without being a little embarrassed, and from what I saw, he was pretty into it! So maybe I'm a believer afterall, I'm still not sure!
We had a very fun day and we're so glad that you guys invited us along on your Annual Duke Lagoon Day!

On another note, Lydia had her 2 year check up last week and she did wonderfully. When she got her shot, she just stared in shock wondering what happend...no tears. And she let the doctor poke her and stick things in her mouth and ears with no problems. What a good baby girl :) Here's how she measured up:

29 lbs- 80th percentile

35.5 inches- 90th percentile

So if they're right in saying that you double your height from when you're two, Lyd's is going to be 5'9" like her mama!

Pumpkin Hunting!

On Monday we went searching for the perfect pumpkins for Halloween this year. Our friends Lynette, Joey and Madds invited us to the cutest little pumpkin patch in Farmington. Aren't the mountains gorgeous?!

Lydia had so much fun chasing Maddie around everywhere she went. Madelyn is quite a bit faster than Lyd's...that's why she's not in the picture =)

We found our three pumpkins and if only you could see Lydia's face in this picture...she was so proud to be helping daddy push the cart to the car :)

And that concludes the 2nd Annual Johnsen Pumpkin Patch Hunting...until next year!

How Many Activities Can You Cram Into Two Days?

Day #5 of Lydia's b-day week of fun,

Friday the 17th:

Hogle Zoo

Lydia always has lots of fun at the zoo, especially when she has people there to share it with. My friend, Becky, from Kansas (whom I haven't seen for probably more than 7 years) came with her two kids and of course you can always count on family to show up.

We had lots of fun on the train, talking and looking at animals. Lyd's and I stayed the longest...a record 4 hours. Doesn't Bird look pleased to be there with a bunch of kids and a few chatty women? You know I'm just messin' wich ya Bird!

As you look at the picture below, let me just say NO, I did not do anything crazy with my bangs, those darn trees make the weirdest shadows...perfect positioning though. When we saw this picture, we all had a good laugh! Thanks a lot Bird for not telling me that I looked all crazy and that your wife looked liked a ghost! That's the last time I have a guy take my picture :)
Kyler and Lyd's had fun feeding the swan and ducks.
We've never gone to the little park they have there and since we were there for so long, Lydia finally got to enjoy it!

Saturday the 18th:

I got up WAY early to get a massage with my friend Michelle...that's always a good time. Then at noon Lydia experienced something Jake has looked forward to seeing for years...Lydia's first Utah Football Game!!! When the game began and everyone cheered, Lydia couldn't stand all the noise and began to cry, which is weird because if you knew Jake's family, you'd know that they are about as loud as you can get. But sometime toward the end of the 1st quarter she started to get into it and cheered along with everyone else for the rest of the game! It just takes her time to warm up, she just so dang sensitive (like her mommy)!

Bones and Darcie came

and we invited our friends' the Watts to come.

Here's Lydia with her proud daddy and eating some VERY MESSY cotton candy with mommy!

Here's Beash holding Lydia pointing out Swoop the bird.

Swoop came up and tried to give Lydia 5 but she wasn't having any of that. She always cracks under pressure.

Later that night, we were invited by the Watts to go to Frightmares at Lagoon.

It is decorated so cute, we loved it. We're going again next weekend so I'm sure I'll take more pictures then.

I love it when Lydia gets all cuddly!

It was a crazy busy week and a wild Saturday filled with lots of fun activities and I'm so glad that we experienced them with our friends and family. Thanks to everyone who came this week to celebrate Lydia's b-day with us. You guys are the best. We love you all!

Happy 2nd Birthday Lydia!!!

Yesterday we celebrated Lydia's second birthday and honestly, it feels like just last week we were celebrating her first. I can't believe how fast time flies on by. It was a very low key party, but we had a really good time together. As you know from yesterday's post, we started off her special day with the Tracy Aviery. Then we opened gifts after her nap and she will not put this stroller down. The second she wakes up in the morning she grabs the stroller, puts her bunny and her baby in and takes off pushing them all around the house. It's adorable.

Later that night we had a few family and friends over. My friend Lynette made Lydia this ADORABLE tutu. I think she said it took her 5 hours to make. Is it to die for or what? I can't wait to put her in dance class. Thanks again Lynette, it's gorgeous! And you're the best :)
I can't believe I'm telling this story, but whatever. Jake asked me to bless the food for the party so of course I did. As I was saying the prayer and thanking Heavenly Father for blessing us with Lydia I just started to cry in front of everyone. Before I broke completely down, I tried to pause and compose myself so noone would know, but no luck. I couldn't control myself, as I was overwhelmed with graditude. Hey, when the spirit hits you, it hits you right? But honestly, Jake and I truely are blessed to have this precious, little angel in our lives. She is such a sweet, polite baby girl (who's not our baby anymore). Although she can be a pain sometimes (but who isn't, you know what I mean?), I love her to death and would change nothing! We love you Lydia and hope you will one day understand how much.
Anyway, after the party we headed to the Rec Center for some swimming. We haven't gone at all this summer and I don't know why, because Lydia had a blast. She LOVED it (I've said that a lot this week haven't I?) and had a great time. Jake only swam for a tiny bit claiming that he didn't feel well. But I'm not stupid...the rec center has a huge tv and I knew that BYU was getting killed by TCU and Jake wanted to witness their defeat! Man, am I an understanding wife or what? Can I get some props? Thank you!

The Watts were the only ones brave enough to get in their swimsuits (minus prego Nettie, it's ok, all of us women understand). Thanks guys for coming. You're the best!

Happy Birthday Lyd's. Each year we love you more and more !

Days #2 and #3 of Lydia's B-day Week!

Day #2: Fireman's Park

So we were supposed to go to The Children's Museum BUT I forgot that I hadn't registered to vote yet, so I had to drag Lyd's up to Farmington to do that and by the time we were done, I didn't want to go all the way back downtown. So I called up my friend who knows ALL about the places to go to entertain kids, and she told me about this park. Lydia loves parks so it worked out just fine. And what do you know, she went straight for the steering wheel.

P.S. I never found a cheap plastic car, so I'll have to do it for Christmas!

Day #4: Tracy Aviery

Lyd's and I have never been here and I have no idea why, because it was so much fun. Lydia LOVES birds so she fully enjoyed herself. And it was fun to have Aunt Beash come along. Because of UEA, we got in free. Here we are feeding the Sun Conure's. They were so beautiful. Lydia kept trying to grab their tails though...they didn't like that too much :) We each got to hold a stick with an apple on the end and the birds landed on the stick and ate away!

Here's Beash helping Lydia feed the birds!

They just landed where ever, but Lydia didn't mind that they were on her back.

We went to the bird show and Leash got chosen out of the audience to be a volunteer. You can't really tell what's going on, but she used her arms as branches and the bird hopped from one arm to another eating the fruit out of her hands.

They had birds flying into the show from all directions. It was really fun to see.

Thanks Beash for coming. Although Lydia didn't act like it at first, she loved that you came with us. She loves her Aunt Beash :)

Day #2 of Lydia's Week of Fun!

Clark Planetarium

We went to the planetarium and realized there wasn't much to do (I guess that's why it's free, right?). The kids walked on the moon and Mars for a bit. After a while, we realized that us mom's had been chatting away for about 30 minutes and the kids were still having a blast on Mars and the moon. It's nice to have kids little enough that they don't need much to be entertained.

Here's Lydia, and Lincoln in the back trying to make his way through the rough terrain of rocks, which, btw, he almost split his head open a million times.

It was so cute, when Lizzie showed up, her and Lyd's had on the same exact shirt. They are only 2 months apart so they totally looked like little twins. It was adorable!
Thanks to everyone for coming. It's been nice for Lydia to have some friends to play with this week :)

Lydia's Birthday Week Begins!

As some of you know, I've decided to celebrate Lydia's 2nd birthday every day this week. Due to my laziness, Lydia doesn't get out as much as I'd like. So I thought, what better way to make it up to her than by letting her have fun every day for 5 straight days!

Day #1:

KANGAROO ZOO

Today was the first time that we had been to Kangaroo Zoo and Lydia loved it. She could jump on a trampoline all day, so this was right up her alley! It's this big room that has about 8 or 9 different bounce houses and slides to go on. They were huge!

Lydia had her "happy" face,

and her "scared" face. She only made that face a couple times, due to gravity making her go down the slide faster than she appreciated!
Grandpa Johnsen REALLY had a good time :)

Thanks for coming to our day #1 of fun! Can't wait for tomorrow!