Our Christmas Cards 2009

Almost every year we need to make two seperate christmas cards due to one of the cards not being understood by half of our family and friends who live out of state. So we make one "cutesy" card and one card that Jake does that has to be funny and clever :)

We all know that Jake is a HUGE sports fanatic, especially when it comes to the University of Utah's football team. He always has to involve the Utes somehow and this year was no exeption (especially after Max Hall's comments after the rivalry game)!

So here's the sweet, spiritual card...
And here's the other one. This is the outside of the card...

And this is the inside!

Thank you Max Hall for helping us have one of the best cards we've ever done!

Merry Christmas too all and Happy New Year!!!

Our Christmas Week!!!

The week of Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love it, especially when Jake takes off the whole week. We thought it would be fun to do something as a family every day this week. Lydia and I have been in the house a lot due to me still being sick with this baby in my belly! We really needed to get out of the house.

Sunday- cousin family party. Good food and fun to catch up with everyone.

Monday-We went and saw the movie "The Blind Side" (great movie). Jake thought it would be a good idea to take Lydia to her first adult movie and guess what? She was perfect. She just sat there the whole time watching the movie, eating her popcorn. Love her!

Tuesday-Baked goodies all day for our friends and neighbors. I made over 200 PB Balls, 56 sugar cookies (Jake made those, I frosted) and 75 gold bars. It was a LOOONG day!!!

Wednesday- When Lydia danced at the Festival of Trees I promised her that we could do anything she wanted and she chose to go to Chuck E. Cheeese's. So after a month of avoiding it, we finally went. Somewhere I have a picture of me riding this thing. It's changed over the years; plus I was in KS so it isn't the exact one but you get the idea. It's the same ride and Lydia loved it as much as I did!

Lydia had the best time. I forgot how crappy their pizza was! But hey, Lydia enjoyed herself and the pizza.

Thursday- Christmas Eve is the big party with Jake's immediate family. I of course deleted the only family picture we took!!!! But here's one of Lydia in her Christmas dress! We have a program where every family does some sort of performance. I was going to sing this year but due to my nausea I didn't want to deal with a nervous stomach on top of it. Jake came up with the most hilarious concept. I'll be putting it on Youtube soon but it's 99% inside jokes so you wouldn't get it anyway. Let's just say it involved a reamake of "The Office". It was classic!

Friday-Christmas Day!!! We were so excited to see Lydia's face when she saw what Santa brought her. But for the second year in a row, she didn't respond the way we had hoped. She came down the stairs, saw all the toys, leaned up against the couch, looked around and said,

"Who ate all the cookies?"

We had to remind her that we left the cookies for Santa then we had to once again talk her into getting closer to her gifts. She got a HUGE bear and a battery powered Jeep. She loves that she has her own car to drive. I can't wait for Spring so we can enjoy it out in the cul de sac!

She also got this amazing jewlery box as a gift. Thank you SOOO much. She loves it and puts all of her precious rings and necklaces in it!!

Larry was so fun to watch...a lot more exciting than Lyd's :) He went nuts on the wrapping paper to get out all of the toys Santa and G-ma Frandsen got him! We took a lot of video with our new Flip HD video that we got so I'll probably make a video movie of our Christmas soon.

Most all of Lydia's loot!

Saturday- We met The Clark's at Cheesecake Factory for lunch, then went shopping at the Gateway, then took all the big kids to a movie "Princess and the Frog". Then we finished the day with more shopping. I was very tired.

Since becoming prego I can't remember the last time I was gone all day. I'm now 15 weeks and can only fit into two pair of my jeans so I gave in and finally bought maternity clothes with some of my Christmas money! My pants are getting too tight and my shirts are getting shorter...happy days for me, it just means that I have a healthy, growing baby inside of me :)

Here's Lyd's at the arcade before going into our movie.

This was Lizzy's first theater movie....very happy girls. The movie was very cute and we had fun hanging out with our buds today! Thanks for a good time!!!

Tomorrow our Christmas vaca will officially be over. We have our last family party with the other set of cousins on Jake's side. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!!!

Last week Lydia had her last performance of the year. Of course, she did amazing. She's really enjoying this whole dance thing. All day, every day that's seriously all she does is dance and sing. Just like her mama, we have the same interests :)

She was excited to see Miss Mo and excited to dance for her mommy, daddy and family and have them clap for her. Thanks for coming again. We love you guys and I know Lydia appreciates it. I took another video but didn't get pics. But once again, she was thrilled to be on stage and did the dance wonderfully. As she was running off stage she banged heads with another girl and Lyd's started bawling but I guess she was ok because she came back out on stage and danced some more so the night was a success.

And we're so excited to have Lizzy in our dance class next year!!!!

On Saturday we drove down to Fairview for a surprise b-day party for our friend Emilee. For years and years she has wanted a surprise 30th b-day party and Ben gave it to her. And even though she was partly expecting it, she was still really surprised and had no idea. We love Ben and Emilee so much and we are so glad they're our friends. Of course I forgot my camera so I had to use the phone. There were so many people there it was crazy. Since they live a couple of hours away we don't get to see them as much as we'd like but when we do it's always a good time. We love you guys. Happy birthday Emilee...enjoy Hawaii...sucks that we can't go with you!!!!

Lots of Exciting News....

A lot of exciting things have been going on lately in the Johnsen household. The most exciting news though, is that Jake and I are expecting little baby #2 to come mid June 2010. We're so excited and can't wait for our new, little baby boy or girl to love. We've had two US's so far and things are perfect. This US was taken at 7 weeks pregnant and I had another one just two days ago and the wonderful Dr. Melissa Brown said that things look great and that we have a healthy baby.
It has been a bit of a long and emotional road to get to this point but we are here and it's wonderful. I've learned so much and I'm so grateful for the experiences I've had since Mother's Day weekend earlier this year. That's when I miscarried. My due date for that baby actually just passed Thanksgiving weekend and I have to say I wasn't sad at all. I mean, it was weird to think that I could've had a little baby in my arms but I know the Lord knows me and He comforted me and blessed me with this current pregnancy to help me through. And I learned SOOO much, so how can I be sad that this experience happened when it made me a much better person, mother and wife. It really has. I'm actually enjoying this pregnancy and I haven't complained once because I know what a miracle this actually is (I couldn't say that in the past). I'm naseated every day 24 hours a day and I throw up 5-6 times a month but I love it and I'm grateful for it.

Jake has always wanted a little baby boy to grow into another crazed Ute fan just like him but he has changed his mind. He wants a clone of Lydia. I wonder why?! :)

She is our precious, little angel and we love her to death. Another reason Jake loves her so much is that she LOVES going to Utah football and basketball games. She's so happy there. She loves the music, the crowds and all the loud cheering. She's Jake's little buddy and he wants another just like her. I can't blame him. I love her quite a bit myself. She's so sweet, kind, polite and loving. She's really started becoming her own little person. She's WAY more outgoing than she was a few months ago (I owe a lot of that to her dance class and teacher Miss Mo). She's becoming a Jake Jr. and Jake is eating it up! Love you Lyd's.

Jake has been so great this pregnancy always willing to get me anything I need or want. He's always bringing me surprises (mostly food) and I love all of them. I LOVE glazed donuts and he found this place that has glazed donuts with these toppings that are flavored like different things (chocolate strawberries, PB chocolate, S'mores). They were delish. Thanks hun, you're the best.

We got the coolest gift in the mail, most of you have probably heard of the Elf on the Shelf. Well, Jake and I knew nothing about it but we love it now and Lydia has really caught on to it. I really wanted Lydia to name him so we sat there until she blurted out a name. She decided on "Patrick". I have no idea where she got that name but we love it. Thank you so much for this gift. We love it and Lydia can't wait to find him every morning.

Here's just a few pics of our house. We finally decorated our charlie brown tree. We can't get him very straight but we love our guy!

He has to have the U in there...always.

Here's part of my Christmas village.

And lastly, I've finally become an officialy season ticket holder of the Capitol Theater musicals this season. Luckily I have my pal Lynette who went in with me on the tickets. Our first show was last night. We saw "The Wedding Singer". It was really good. I love Adam Sandler and I loved that movie so it was fun to see it in musical form. Lynette and I had so much fun together and laughed a lot. I'm so glad we're dong this and I can't wait for the next show :)

Tis the Season...

I just love Christmas time. Minus the cold, crappy weather, I could live like this all year long. I love the decorations, the real meaning of Christmas and of course all the fun stuff such as dressing my dog up every year. Lydia wanted to sit with Larry this time.

Last week we went to our new favorite place to buy a tree (Clem's or Redwood Rd). It's like a dollar a foot...such a good deal. It was so cold out there so here's Jake pretending to rifle through the trees to find the perfect Charlie Brown tree.

Here he is...what a beaut!
Last Thursday was Lydia's second performance with her dance group. I was pretty nervous that she wouldn't perform again and get stage fright (just like her mama). But she's been telling me ever since her Halloween performance, where she just stood there with her finger in her mouth, that she wants to dance on stage. She totally had regrets and has wanted to redeem herself ever since. Here's Madds and Lyd's before the performance at the Festival of Trees (Madelyn is in the same dance company but different age group).

Here she is about an hour before showtime. This is her "hit it" pose that they do before they start dancing. I had just hoped that she would do it on stage.It's showtime. She was the first one to walk out on stage and when she stood on her star she immediately put her finger in her mouth. Uh oh!!! Then Miss Mo said "Hit it" and Bam, Lydia was a different person. She was all smiles and was so happy to be on stage. She loved every second of it.

She knew every dance move and she was even in time with the music. She had that chorus memorized and she was so proud of herself. "Down through the chimney" was my favorite dance move, so adorable.

"Ho, ho, ho who wouldn't go?"

Down through the chimney was "Old Saint Nick". That's how the dance ended and Lydia could not have been happier that she actually did it this time.

Look at that smile as she walked off the stage. Adorable. I could not have been more proud. She did the dance perfectly and wasn't scared AT ALL! She loved it and I was so happy for her for this accomplishment. Good job Lyd's.

Mama and daughter after the performance. If you want to see her perform click HERE

Then on Friday night we went to Flip's to see Santa Claus. She sat on his lap but was scared to talk or even move a muscle. It was so funny. We practiced what to say when he asked what she wanted for Christmas but she choked. Then on Saturday night it was my turn to get on stage. As some of you know I'm in a singing group called "Utah Voices" and we have a few concerts this season and our first one was at Libby Gardner Hall at the U of U. It was so much fun and I loved being on stage performing "The Messiah" for everyone. It is the most beautiful music and I loved being part of the experience.

Here I am before I left for the show.

Here we are at the concert hall. It was such a cool place. Thank you to everyone who came on Saturday night and for those that are coming tonight. You guys are the best and I SOOO appreciate your support!

Free day at the Zoo/Thanksgiving weekend!

Last Wednesday was free day at the zoo day so Lynette and I took the girls' to see the new baby elephant. The weather actually wasn't too bad unless you stood in the shade for a long time. The girls' had a lot of fun together!
How precious is little baby Zuri!

Here's the annual picture Lyd's and I take.

Our Thanksgiving was fun this year. Everyone in Jake's family was able to make it so we were all together this year. We thought we'd attempt to get a picture of all 26 grand kids (a picture I don't think has ever been attempted). This is the best I got :) Lydia is on the far right, you know the one with her finger in her mouth...shocker!

We had a great time and enjoyed hanging out, eating and chatting with everyone!

I braved the crowds again this year and did the whole "Black Friday" thing again. This year Ducka and I did it together. It was actually better this year. The Walmart workers were more lenient this year and I snuck most of the "hot" items in my cart before the madness began at 5am. So at 5:05am I was already in line and checking out with a full cart. It was great. No pushing and shoving for me this year!!!

Also this year, Jake was kind enough to go with me. We wanted to get this Barbie jeep for Lyd's that was on sale for $88 and is regularly about $300. And of course we found out that they only had 6 in the store. Well, it's a good thing Jake and I got up at 2:45am to get there to wait in line, because Jake got it!!!! Yay. Lydia is going to be so excited. Now she doesn't have to play with Brock's car anymore :)

We had a fun weekend now to prepare for Lydia's second dance recital tomorrow! Wish her luck that she does more than just stand there with her finger in her mouth wondering when the people are going to stop staring at her :) Love you Lyd's!

SHE FINALLY DID IT!!!!!

After months and months of struggle, Lydia finally went "pee pee in the potty"!!! Oh my goodness, I never thought the day would happen. But, alas, today has been the day!!! Now granted, today is the first day so I know there will probably be some set backs but at least I know that it can be done. After she went once, she went two times after that within ten minutes (I think she was scared to let it all out at first). So I just said to her, "Relax and let it all out". And she did. Then 20 minutes later I had to go to the bathroom so Lydia walked into the bathroom and said, "Mama, just let it ALL out!" It was hilarious.

Lydia has been trying to potty train since about April (off and on) and she always says that she's scared of the potty so that's what's been prohibiting her from actually doing the deed. Well, today she overcame that fear and I am so proud of her. A couple of months ago I put her on the potty for 45 minutes and we sang and read books...nothing!!!! As soon as I got her off the toilet, she peed all over the floor. So frustrating and that's why we took a break.

She was running around naked today watching tv so I thought I'd put the little potty in their with her and I said go potty if you feel like you have to. About 3 hours later I saw her sitting on it off and on then suddenly she said she went. Her face looked proud so I knew something was different.

After she went for the first time today, she exclaimed, "It's not scary!!!". What a proud moment. You could just see the glow in her face and we just screamed, laughed and danced together in the living room for 5 minutes, literally. It was perfect!
Then I told her we could go get an ice cream cone and I let her choose what she wanted to wear (she had been running around the house naked for 4 hours prior to her "achievement"...oh yeah, she sure knows how to hold it, sometimes in the past she'd hold it for 6 hours, crazy!). She chose her cupcake shirt and heels, she wanted on lipstick and mascara (I obliged) then off we went to the Mav for an ice cream cone. She was thrilled.

My only question for you people out there who have potty trained a child: What now? Do I just go cold turkey and do no more diapers? Or should I have my security blanket and put her in a pull up when we're out for a long time? See, the only problem is, is that she's still scared of the big potty so she's using a little potty that we borrowed. So if we're out for a while, I know there will be an accident because she won't go on the big potty yet! Oh the joys of motherhood :)

P.S. During the writing of this post Lydia has gone two more times (yeah, she pees a lot...she's a drinker), once on the floor (whoops) and once in the potty where right after she peed she yelled,

"Hey mom, I just let it all out"!!!

Oh how I love that child!

Lydia's 3 Year Old Pictures

Every year I get Lydia's pictures taken professionally and lucky me I have an amazing photog friend who does an incredible job making my daughter look beautiful. I love all the shots and backrounds; I'm just sad that I couldn't get Lydia to use her natural smile very often. A lot of it is a weird, forced "say cheese"smile but there are still a ton of cute ones. Thanks Lynette so much. You are the best!

Here are a few of my favorites!

P.S. The sweater Lydia is wearing is one that I bought for Lydia while I was in Ireland a couple of months ago. It's 90% real Irish sheep wool and 10% Alpaca. I love it and I'm so glad she looks adorable in it. It was on sale in one of the Irish shops we went into so I got it for a pretty good deal...until I got home and saw in my bank account the conversion from euros to american dollars...still not too bad though for an irish wool sweater :)