Our Christmas Card

This year the pressure was on to make a creative card for everyone. I think Jake pulled off a pretty good one this year. My only request was that he didn't involve the Utes in any way. Well, as you can see, that didn't happen. At least I got a normal family photo this time, right? One step at a time people!

As we've talked to those that have recieved this card, it's been taken two different ways...the right way and the wrong way :)

Some people think the pictures at the bottom are "things we like". Well, they're not. The pictures work together to form a sentence,

a greeting if you will.

Wii (remote), Whisk, U, A, Mary, Kiss, Muss

(the student section at the UofU is called "The Muss")

Figure it out yet?

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

Some people got it right away and for some it took a bit longer, so I think it was the perfect card. Sorry for those of you (mostly the ones outside of Utah) who don't know about the muss.

Happy New Year!

Johnsen Christmas 2008

Our Christmas festivities started at a dinner party with our friends' the Watts and Davies. I forgot to take pictures but we had so much fun talking, eating, playing games and somehow getting a bowl game in (where Jake is, sports are). There was only one problem: while Lydia, Lincoln and Madelyn were playing Lydia and Lincoln slammed right into each other...SO HARD while running! After about 20 seconds of crying, the blood started pouring. Lydia's nose hit perfectly into Lincoln's forehead. It was so sad to watch knowing there was nothing I could do to take the pain away.

Here's Lydia's nose the next day, swollen and a tad purple.

Here it is two days later, very swollen, purple and blue.
And by the third day, it was a bright color green for all the world to see! It looks WAY worse in person. I couldn't get the right lighting to show it's true colors and how swollen it really was. But Lydia hasn't mentioned it hurting one bit since the incident, so hopefully it heals fine. What a brave little girl we have.

(that's not a shadow either; it really bruised up the whole left side of her nose and all the way under her eye)
Christmas Eve with the Johnsen Clan
Every Christmas Eve, our tradition is to get together with Jake's immediate family, which consists of more than 35 people (I know, big family). And all of us weren't even there this year!

We dress up, eat, chat and have a program where each family does a performance of some sort.We watched piano performances (not Lizzy and Lyd's, I just thought it was a cute bff pic), people sang songs, but Jake and I decided to, once again, poke fun at the family by playing a game of Jepordy. We got some good laughs; we had a great time.

Christmas Morning

I've been waiting for this day ever since I knew Lydia was getting her car. She walked down the stairs and just stood there, not knowing what to think. She finally warmed up to the idea that this car was actually sitting in her living room, so she got in...and NEVER got out.

She opened every single one of her gifts in that car. She refused to get out.SOOOO HAPPY!

Larry had a good time as well. He got more gifts than Jake and I combined. Spoiled dog!

Jake buys a family gift every year and this time he surprised us with Guitar Hero.

Lydia LOVES to play the drums, just like her mama.

The day after Christmas we met up with the Watts at Gateway so the kids could play.
Jake's never been so he asked if he'd be bored there.

Nope. He's such a kid! That's one of the things Lyd's and I love about him!

The dad's had a great time pretending like they were news anchors. It was so funny. I took some videos but promised I wouldn't post them.

We've had a nice break so far and will be so sad to see daddy go back to work. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

And the Winner Is...drumroll please!

By a vote of 17 to 12, the winner of the

4th Annual Gingerbread House Making contest is

HOUSE B

Jake and Erin

It was close this year. Last year the vote was 19 to 1 so it was a bit more challenging to pull out a win this year but we did it...and it feels good :)

It's a fun tradition that we have and we can't wait til next year.

Thanks Danny and Katie for the good times and hosting it at your house this year.

I finally finished Lydia's 2nd b-day video. If anyone is interested in watching it, here's the link. It's nothing fancy, just something for Lyd's to have when she get's older.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-484421134212339890

On Friday night, Jake and I put together a date night (the classic dinner and a movie) with our friends' the Watts and Davies. We ate the most delicious sushi rolls EVER at Happy Sumo and afterward, we saw "7 Pounds" with Will Smith. Loved it!!! Lynette and I pretty much cried our way through it. Lynette's excuse: she's prego. Mine: I'm just a big, emotional baby...all the time.

Thanks for hanging out kids. It was fun.
------------------

Last Wednesday (the 17th), Lydia and I surprised Jake with this sign:

(HAPPY 10 YR KIDNEY ANNIVERSARY!)

10 years ago both of Jake's kidneys failed. Long story short, he was put on dialysis for four months while all of the paperwork/surgery stuff was scheduled and the proper donor was found. Jake's brother Josh was a match so he so unselfishly donated his kidney to his little brother. Shout out to you Joshy! Post surgery the doctor's told Jake that his kidney would last about ten years. Well that time has come and gone and as Jake says, "Everything from here on out is gravy baby!"

I love you Jake more than you'll ever know, you really have no idea. You're my best friend and I know we were meant to be together and one of the reasons I know this is because of the perfect little angel that we created together :) I'm so thankful for technology and the blessing that it is to live in these latter days because I have you here with me, healthy and strong, to share our life together.

Here's to another ten years with Joshy's kidney...Cheers!!!

Christmas Parties and Vote for Your Fav Gingerbread House

We crammed four Christmas parties in this weekend. Lydia never got to bed before 10:30pm every night, poor thing. But we did have a great time.

Friday:

Our first party was for Jake's work. Hung out, chatted, ate BBQ, played Rockband where Jake killed it on the singing. Nice job honey. Good times were had by all. We all like "The Office" right? So do all of Jake's co-workers. Jake and Marci decided to create their own version of the Dundee awards and give them out that night. Jake was the ring leader of course and handed out all the awards. It was hilarious. And it's not a party without Jake (at the request of many) doing his "But they'll never take our freedom" speech from "Braveheart"...always the center of attention.

Saturday:

Ward Christmas Breakfast. Watched a slide show, watched a play members of the ward put on (Jake was Nephite #7 and of course one of his lines had to have a valley girl accent; always the funny man) and we visited Santa. Lydia didn't cry. She just sat there wondering why she was sitting there :) Later that day Lydia and Madelyn had to go play in the many inches of snow we got that day.
Sunday:
Annual Johnsen cousin get together. I forgot my camera but let me tell you, it's a madhouse. Jake's family is SOOO big I think the church gym is even getting too small. No exaggeration. But it was fun catching up with everyone.
And finally, we had our
4th Annual
Gingerbread House Making Contest
with our friends Danny and Katie on Saturday night. This is a VERY competitive event for us. We hate the candy they give in the box, so we always go out and get our own after thinking of marvelous ideas for our house. Anyway, we put it to a vote and leave it all in your hands, the viewers of my blog. Please look at the pictures closely and vote for your favorite house. To make it fair, we leave it anonymous and after all the votes are tallied, I'll announce the winner in a week. One vote per person, but everyone in your house can vote. C'mon people, this is serious business. This year, we got to the point where next year we might use a sheet so there is no looking and cheating. If you know the Johnsen's, you know their competitive nature :) If you don't have a blogger account, you can leave a comment anonymously but put your name after your vote. We don't want anyone cheating now! Happy voting.
HOUSE A
House:
Front Yard:
Roof: Ariel View:

HOUSE B
House

Front Yard: Roof:Ariel View: We had 19 votes last year and hope to break that record this year, so please vote and let's just hope our's wins. This is my blog after all :)

Precious Moments!

Today was a great day for me...Lydia and I had our first jam session! It was adorable. I'm trying to play my flute more frequently so I'm not so rusty when I'm asked to play in church (which I have to do in 2 weeks, yikes).

So I got out my flute, my flute accompaniment cd's and a mic for Lyd's.

I started playing and she started singing.

And boy did she sing.

It was freakin' awesome.

I was so proud.

I've ALWAYS loved music and to see my little Lyd's enjoying herself singing with her mommy was the best feeling. It may sound weird to some, but music is so special to me and to share that with my daughter was so sweet. I'll always cherish all of our special times together and this moment was no exception.

Lydia sang before she talked.....every day we sing songs together......she loves to dance.....she loves music.....more and more she's just like her mommy,

and I LOVE it :)

P.S. Go to this website

http://portablenorthpole.sympatico.msn.ca/home/

and Santa will personally talk to you. It's so cute!

Christmas List of Fun!!!

My sister-in-law Jillesha (shout out to you Beash) shared with me something she does every year. She has a Christmas list of fun things that she does. She makes a list and goes and does all of these fun things during the holidays. So I've decided that I'm going to do this as well, make a list of things to do throughout this winter so Lydia doesn't go stir crazy!

On Friday night we went to the Electric Light Parade that goes down Main St. in Bountiful every year. I had no idea this went on. It was pretty cute, but the most important thing was that Lydia LOVED it and remained entertained the whole time.

Every car was lit up with lights that pulled a trailor with some sort of theme to them (mostly Christmas themed of course). But my favorite was the dinosaur car that held about 6 dino's on it all lit up. It was adorable.

It was free and it was something to do so I'm not complaining. If anyone does anything fun (especially free fun), let me know...we have a lot of weeks to fill before winter is over :)

Tree Hunting & The Polar Express

For FHE we went out for our Annual Christmas Tree Search. We usually go for the big, round and beautiful trees, but this year we decided to go for the Charlie Brown look. We were told about this place just north of our house on Redwood Road called Clem's Closeout Center...they sell trees there, go figure. So this year, we bought our 9 1/2 foot tree for $12. Not too shabby!

We think he's handsome!

Yesterday, we went with some family and friends to Heber City to ride the Heber Creeper. During the Christmas season they turn the train into the Polar Express just like the book. When we got there, we jumped in our designated train car and rode up to the North Pole, picked up Santa then headed back home. On the way up, they gave us hot chocolate, we ate Mrs. Claus' "homemade" cookies and we read the Polar Express book. It was really cute.

Here's Grandpa Johnsen with some of the grandkids.

More grandkids (9 of the grandkids made it)...sorry I chopped off the Watts' heads...oops, my bad! We thought it would be so cute to have Madelyn and Lydia in matchie, matchie pj's.
The ride was an hour and a half.

We sang songs together, we met Mrs. Claus then picked up Santa at the N. Pole (I love the way Lydia is looking at Santa),
and we had lots of fun with cousins. Every time Lizzy would come back to visit our seat, Lydia would have an instant laugh and smile for her and so would Lizzy. They kept staring at each other giggling. Who knows what secrets they share :) Best Friends For Life!

Black Friday & Temple Square

Our whole weekend was filled with our friends Lynette, Joey and Madds and we LOVED it.

On Friday, Lynette made me get my butt out of bed at 2:45am to get an "early" start on the Black Friday shopping. We got to Walmart at 3:15am and the parking lot was already full. The Centerville Walmart is opened 24 hours so we headed in and there were already a lot of people hovering over their selection. You see, even though it's a 24 hour store, they still have all of the sale items wrapped in plastic in the main isles until 5am.

As Lynette was staking her claim on the item she wanted (there were only 6), I went off and planned out my 5am route to get toys for Lynette, Ducka and myself!

Just as the clock struck 5, the sound of plastic ripping and people screaming rang in the air. My heart was pounding with excitement (hey, you had to be there) so I knew it was time to shop!

I reached in for the first toy and what do you know, it was suddenly ripped from my hands. So I tried again, and BAM, taken from me again. Third try, stolen once more. Fourth try...are you kidding me? Where's the ghetto Erin that I used to know? And finally, my fifth attempt was a success.

As I turned to continue on my route, I couldn't move (yes, there were that many people) so I ditched my cart and shoved my way through the crowds. Minutes later, my vision was finally blinded by the toys that were piling up in my arms. I found a friend and threw the toys in her cart. I couldn't believe the madness. It's amazing how greedy us Americans can be just to save a few measly bucks. But I have to tell you, it was exciting. I'll never forget it :) Thanks Lynette for opening my eyes to this CRAZY tradition!

On Saturday, we went with the Watts' to yummy Litza's Pizza for dinner then headed off to see the lights at Temple Square. Love that place and the bonus was that it actually wasn't that cold.
We finally got all of our Christmas decorations up this weekend. I can't believe it's already that time of year again. My favorite is our village. This isn't all of it (I couldn't fit it all in one pic), but here's part of our Main Street. I just love miniature things...the little houses, little people, little trees. So cute. I LOVE this time of year and I'm so happy that the wonderful holidays are here!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We've had a fun Thanksgiving week so far. On Wednesday Lynette invited Lyd's and I to go to the zoo with our other friend Kristen for the day. The last Wed of Nov, Dec and Jan are free so why not, right? The weather was great and it wasn't even very crowded. Here's Lyd's and Madelyn with the gorilla!

Quick story:

Last Friday Lydia got a cold. Pretty normal right? So five days later she broke out in a rash all over her legs. I called my bro-in-law doctor who said that rashes are normal following viruses. Ok, great. I gave her some benedryl to help with the itching and the rash was gone by morning. The next night, almost 24 hours later, the rash came back with a vengeance and consumed her whole upper body...huge red rash all over her face, neck, stomach, arms and back. Here's what was all over her... I call the bro-in-law doc again and he thinks it's an allergic reaction. I rack my brain and can't think of any changes she's had with food or anything. I give her benedryl and the rash goes away 30 minutes later. Ok, fine! And what do you know, exactly 24 hours later, the rash comes back all over her back for the 3rd straight day. It's Thanksgiving and I don't want to go to instacare so I call the dr's office and they contact the doctor on call. I spoke with the doctor and she says almost immediately, "She has hives." Oh thank goodness. If you know me, I always think the worst. I'm thinking she has some weird disease and it turns out she's going to be fine. The doctor said some virus end with a rash and go away after a day or two and some kids get hives that attack every day for a week or two.
Well this ordeal made Lydia very tired, so while we were eating dinner last night I gave her a bite then she laid her head down and instantly fell asleep! Precious! Her hives itched worse with clothes on, that's why she's naked! I saw on another friend's blog (thanks Veronica) that she had a Thankful Tree and I thought that was a brilliant idea for this week. So we had an FHE night and started our tree. Every day you add a leaf and on that leaf you write one thing that you are thankful for. I think this will become our yearly tradition.
One week later, here's our beautiful tree. And Jake reminded me that we could have a hundred trees with a thousand leaves and still have more to be grateful for. I take for granted all the little things but I realized how truely blessed I really am. I have an amazing husband, a perfect little angel of a daughter, wonderful friends and an eternal family. That's all you really need in this life right? On Thanksgiving morn, I decided to run one last 5K, The Thanksgiving run in Kaysville. I know I said I was done for the year, but I needed motivation to run this week (you know, to burn those extra calories for Turkey day) and my only motivation is a race. And I'm proud to say that I ran my best race EVER!
Race:5K (3.1 miles)
Time: 25 min 32 seconds
Pace: 8 min 16 sec miles
I was only 1 1/2 minutes behind the 3rd place girl. One of these days I'll win a medal.
After the first few seconds of running only two people passed me for the remaining 2.5 miles. I was shocked that as I was running, no one was passing me. I had to look behind me to make sure I wasn't in last. Turns out I finished at the front of the pack! Yeah for me! There is hope for improvements to happen. I pushed myself SOOO hard that after I crossed the finish line, I thought I was going to throw up then pass out. It was awesome, the best feeling. Ok, now I'm done with races until next year, I promise...maybe!
Our Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Jake's parents and pigged out....great food!
Here are some of the grandkids with their Grandpa Johnsen! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Now I must go to bed because Lynette is dragging me out of bed at 3am for the Black Friday shopping experience!!!! I'm scared!