Family Pictures-November 2009

So this is where I decided to begin playing catch up. Last November we went out to Lake Las Vegas and had a friend in our ward take our family pictures-she did an amazing job and got them ready for us just in time to put some of the pictures on a Christmas card! It was perfect weather, beautiful scenery and just a fun-filled day making memories! You can check out Angela's work at http://www.angelasalazarphotography.blogspot.com/. She does a great job and comes highly recommended-we will definately be using her again!!!

Updates Are Coming!!!

This has been a long time coming-over a year now! I can't believe I have neglected my blog for over a year! So much has happened in the past year and the thought of trying to catch up on all that for my own records is simply overwhelming. I changed some pictures tonight and read over some of my captions and couldn't believe how out-dated our lives have become in just 1 year-it kind of made me sad. I am going to make it a goal to start posting some pictures of the fun memories our family has created over the past year and what everyone is up to these days! Wishing myself luck-I gotta a lot of work to do!!!

July Happenings

Why can't I seem to find time to post-I guess I am just too tired when I get the chance to do it without an 18 month old climbing on me every time I sit down to the computer. So since she is still sleeping this morning I thought I would take advantage and update what has been going on in our lives. We had a really busy, but really fun July!

(Aren't we so cute?-Love you babe! Hope you had a great birthday!)

First-we celebrated Wade's birthday-he turned the big '31' on July 14. We took him out to dinner and came home for cake and icecream. For his birthday, I surprised him with a trip to L.A. to see a Dodger game, just the 2 of us, no kids-woo-hoo!!! We left for L.A. on the 17th and came back on the 18th. It was a short trip, but extremely nice to have a little break from the kids!

(The Heiselbetz clan waiting for the parade to begin)

Second-we took a trip to Panaca to celebrate the 24th of July with Wade's family. It was fun to have all the cousins together and the weather was perfect. I enjoyed a nice 10 mile run with my sis-in-law Lindsay on Friday and on Saturday we took the kids to breakfast at the church and then let them do the races on the lawn. After that we all headed back to Grandma's to play on Unlce Kyle & Aunt Gerilyn's fun waterslide. Then we went to the parade and the BBQ dinner. After all that fun the kids still weren't worn out, so we all headed out to the spring to let them swim. Jakob informed me that since he swam in the spring he is officially a country boy! (That's what his Grandma told him!) He was quite proud of himself! The one that surprised me the most was Hannah. I wasn't planning on letting her swim-I didn't even bring her suit, but she was itchin' to get in, so I finally stripped her down to her diaper and put her in with Grandpa and she loved it so much, we had a hard time getting her out! It was a fun weekend spent with family!

(Our Little Family)

(My cute kids with their goofy goggles!)

(The whole Johnson Clan-we were only missing 1 grandkid-Sarah was at girls camp :( )

Third-we headed up to Duck Creek for the Johnson Family annual campout. It was so nice to leave Vegas at 115 degrees and arrive in Duck Creek at 60 degrees. The weather was absolutely beautiful! On Thursday we woke up to a Rhino that wouldn't start and took Wade all morning to fix. After lunch we took a little cruise around the neighborhood and a little hike down to a creek near the cabin. Thursday evening all the fun started arriving! We enjoyed a fun weekend together as a family playing cards, riding atv's, and eating too much yummy food! After spending 4 days in the beautiful, cool, green mountains, it was almost depressing to come back to the heat, but such is life-right? It was fun while it lasted and I think we will be planning more trips to go up there next summer. It is just too close to not go and enjoy the beatiful weather and scenery and the awesome trails!

Now I have a week and a half to get things ready for our little family's annual trip to the beach and another Dodger game! Gotta enjoy these last two weeks of summer vacation before it's back to the grind stone with school and getting back on a schedule!

Fourth of July!

We had a pretty low key 4th of July, but it was really nice! The day began with a nice, long run for me and then we attempted to take the kids to a breakfast buffet, but upon arrival realized that it was a brunch and I was not okay to pay 12 bucks per child for breakfast, so we ended up at IHOP and it was yummy! Then we came home to start cooking for our BBQ, watch some baseball and let the kids splash around in our little pool in the backyard!

My cute kiddies! I love these 3 to pieces!

Oma and Opa came over to celebrate the holiday with us and help us eat the way too much food we had! Wade smoked some awesome ribs and we had yummy baked beans, dutch oven potatoes, corn on the cob and watermelon. It's a good thing I started the day off with a long run because I ate way too much!

This is the yummy dessert Oma made-quite festive and delicious!

Daddy helping Hannah do a sparkler-I don't know how she felt about this?

Jakob was really into it this year and not quite afraid as in years past-he loved every second of it! We also had plenty of neighbor's setting off the illegal fireworks, so we had quite the show. Overall it was a fun-filled day! I love holidays and spending time together as a family!

Track Break Fun!!!

With Jakob being in year-round school we have to squeeze in all our fun on his track breaks and since this last one was his "summer break" we kind of lived it up a bit!

One day we met up with Oma and cousins, Treyvan and Rowyn, at the Lied Children's Discovery Museum. My kids had never been there before and had a complete blast! We were there for a couple of hours and could have easily stayed a couple more. They had a lot of fun!

We also spent a couple days of his track break hanging out at the rec. center pool. All three of my kids are like little fish and would love to swim everyday if they could. They especially love going to the rec. center because of the fun slides and yummy ice tickles!

One of the days we met up with all of the Johnson Family cousins at my brother Matt's house for a swim day. It was fun to watch all the cousins have a blast together! They can never have enough of each other and it was nice to visit with my mom, sister and sister-in-law and enjoy some of Oma's yummy homemade cinnamon rolls!

Some of the other fun things we were able to do were visit the library for books, songs and movies, swim at friend's houses, go to the movies and have cousin sleepovers! My kids are too spoiled and Jakob had so much fun on his break from school that it was really hard for him to go back this week! We love track breaks!

Mom, What Letter Does My Teeth Spell?

A couple weeks ago Mason and Jakob were sent to the bathroom to brush their teeth and get ready for bed. When I came around the corner I found Mason with his teeth clenched together, staring at himself in the mirror. I said, "What are you looking at Mason?" and he turned to me and said, "Mom, what letter does my teeth spell?" So I looked closely and lo and behold there in the middle of his top teeth and bottom teeth gaps stood the perfect letter "T"! It gave me a pretty good laugh and I just love this little monster to pieces-he is always coming up with silly things to make his family laugh!

Jakob's the BIG 7!!!

Last Saturday our little guy turned the big 7! We can't believe how time flies! It seems Jakob got to celebrate his birthday for 4 days. It all started Thursday with a visit from Grandma & Grandpa Heiselbetz to wish him a happy birthday and bring him a gift. Then Friday was taking dounts to school to share with his class. On the big day, he woke up to being sprayed with Silly String by his dad, then unfortunately had to wait to have birthday breakfast and open presents until mom got back from her run (am I mean?) Once mom was back, he insisted on opening presents right away-he got lots of fun things and a few surprises too! Then we fixed a yummy breakfast for him and it was time to get ready for his baseball game (they lost-but he had a good time and it was fun to watch him). Then we hurried home to give everyone a bath (I will not miss the orange/red baseball dirt) and then we had to make a pit stop at the mall to exchange his Heely's he got (they were too small), before we headed out to the ESPNZone for dinner and games. Jakob has been looking forward to going there since we saw the one at Downtown Disney back in February. It was a little crowded because of the NBA game that was on, but not too bad. For birthdays, they put a happy birthday wish up on their information screen that runs around the roof of the resturant, once Jakob saw his name go by wishing him a Happy 7th Birthday, he felt pretty special the rest of the night! After dinner we went upstairs and had a blast playing some fun games. After all the fun, we headed home for cake and icecream. Then on Sunday after Dad headed off to work, the kids and I took a drive over to Oma & Opa's to celebrate Jakob and Opa's birthday's. Jakob got another couple gifts and was sang to again and had some more cake. It was fun to celebrate this weekend with him and our families. We are so lucky to have him in our lives! Happy Birthday Bud!

Got Guacamole?

This girl LOVES to dip anything and everything into anything and everthing, and that's probably an understatement! But I think her ultimate favorite dip is guacamole! The other night we were eating dinner and I fixed her a cheese quesadilla and gave her a handful of chips with a little scoop of guacamole. I think the quesadilla was thrown on the floor and once the chips were gone, she dug right in face first, licking it right off the plate. Wade and I just sat and stared and she was so consumed with her guacamole I don't think she even noticed we were watching her. This is the 2nd time this has happened and this time was just too funny to not get the camera out! Hannah is quite the character and keeps her family very entertained (and busy) with her spunky, little personality-we love you sis!

P.S. That last pic is a little devlish looking-fits my little Hannah perfectly!

Easter Weekend 2009...

was a really busy one! It all started Wednesday morning hurrying to color eggs before Wade and the boys left for Logandale to help his parents set up their booth for the CC Fair. Lucky for me, that day was spent shopping with Hannah and having some yummy Cafe Rio with my parents. What a difference a day makes when you only have 1 kid to deal with! Then Thursday and Friday were spent hanging out at the fair, eating too much junk, going on scary carnival rides, spending way too much money on games and face painting, and get filthy, dirty feet (one of my pet peeves), but having a blast all at the same time! It seemed I had to literally tear the boys away from all the fun and excitment both nights. Saturday, Wade went back out to the fair to help his parents, while the kids and I stayed home to have a picnic and easter egg hunt with my family. We were suppose to go to a park, but because of the weather and limited table space, when ended up at my sister's house, which I was grateful for because it was much easier to keep my eye on Hannah. The kids had a fun time hunting eggs and decorating easter basket cupcakes that Aunt Julie prepared. Last, but not least Easter morning arrived and the kids were very excited to see that the Easter Bunny came. We hurried through all the excitement to head back out to Logandale. Wade headed back up to the fair and the kids and I went to church with Kyle, Gerilyn and their kids. After church, the kids went on another easter egg hunt and got way too much candy, but had a blast hunting for eggs with their cousins. After some dinner with the fam, the kids and I went up to the fair to see Wade for a little bit and then we all headed home tired and exhausted from a long weekend and Jakob dreading the fact that he had to get in bed early to head back to school after a really fun spring break!

Long Time, No Post...

It seems like life has been really busy lately and blogging seems to be the last thing on my to do list, so it always gets put off. So here is an update of our lives this past month.

Jakob started Little League Baseball the beginning of March. Baseball is one of my most favorite sports (probably because it's the only one I understand), so it has been fun to go to Jakob's games and he is very excited to play coach-pitch this year. He has been doing an awesome job for being one of the youngest and smallest kids on his team. He has been playing catcher, pitcher and outfield and was extremely excited to have his 1st turn at 2nd base at his last game. I am a horrible mom and have not taken any pictures yet, so I will have to post those later. I guess that is what happens when your hubby is the score keeper and you have a busy toddler that doesn't sit still for 2 seconds and a 4 year old that whines about going to the park and snack shack as soon as we arrive at the baseball fields and doesn't stop until you give in!

Jakob also started his track break the beginning of March and we kicked it off with a day at Pump It Up (also don't have any pictures of that-I already have too many from our previous visits). We spent a day at our favorite park in Boulder City, had a few sleepovers with cousins who were also on track break, and then the rest of the break was spent playing outside with friends and helping Mom and Dad in the backyard.

Yes, we (or should I say Wade) has spent the past month spending his days off in the backyard. I am happy to say that it is finally done, except for a few minor details, but I am so excited to finally be rid of all the dirt and rocks that were getting tracked through the house and to have a beautiful backyard to enjoy for a few weeks before it gets too hot! Wade did an amazing job and I am always amazed at how much he knows and can do-I am a lucky girl to have such a talented and handy husband. Thank you babe!

We had lots of "help" from all of the neighbor kids. I know it was driving Wade nuts have a million kids scattering his dirt pile everywhere, but he let them live it up while they could! And a big thanks to our wonderful neighbor Joel, who helped Wade out several times!

Wade haulin' in the dirt!

Hannah was loving being outside and getting dirty!

Onto my next reason why my posts are so few and far between-Hannah. My sweet, little angel baby has turned into a Holy Terror! I really hope it is a phase she is going through right now, but it seems like for the past 2-3 weeks all she wants to do is be held and walked around and if she's not doing that, she is hanging on my leg crying. Unfortunately, since Wade has to sleep during the day, it is really hard for me to just ignore her and let her cry, because than he gets woken up, but somethings gotta change, because my nerves are beyond fried by the end of each day! She is still busy as ever and loves to get into everything. This is what I found today, as I was trying to fix dinner, she was doing what she does best, making a mess for me to clean up (as if I don't have enough to do already)! She got in her closet, got out the wipes and had a blast pulling them out 1 by 1. When I found her, she gave me her biggest, cheesiest smile and I could help but laugh and give her a big kiss and a squeeze! I feel like I have a seriuosly love-hate (or should I say dislike) relationship with her right now. She is lucky she is so dang cute!

Litttle stinker!

Hopefully now I will be able to stay caught up and try to be better at taking more pictures to capture these moments that I know I will look back on and appreciate!

Happy 4th Birthday Mason!

My Big, Handsome 4 Year Old

Mason's Superman Cake

Enjoying his favorite food-Pizza!

Playing Duck, Duck, Goose!

Opening his presents-FUN!!!

Mason celebrated his 4th birthday on February 7th. He has seen Jakob go to birthday parties throughout the past year and that was all he would talk about, when his birthday gets here what kind of party he was going to have. He really would have liked to have it at Chuckie Cheeses or Pump It Up, but we ended up going to Disneyland, so he had to settle for a Superman party at home. It turned out really fun though! He invited his friends over for pizza, a few games and cake and icecream. He got some really fun gifts and was simply extactic just to have a party all centered around him! It was his first friend party and he really loved every minute of it. We are glad you had a fun day bud and we love you tons!

Happy 1st Birthday Hannah!

1 week

3 Months

6 Months

9 Months

1 Year!!!

Wow-I cannot believe my baby is already 1! It seems like the year just flew by us. Looking back through her baby pictures makes me kind of sad that she grew up soooo fast! We celebrated her 1st birthday on the 6th of February. We had all of my family and Wade brother's family over for some munchies and cake and icecream. It was a little crazy because we had just gotten back from Disneyland at midnight the night before and Wade and I were both feeling miserable, but we made the best of it. Hannah got some fun gifts and attached to one of them was a little dum-dum succor. That made her night! She really could have cared less about her cake, she was completely satisfied with the succor. When we tried to take it away she threw a huge fit. We finally had to put her hands in the cake for her and that sparked her attention enough to play in the cake for a little bit.

Hannah seems to be ahead of her game in life and I really wish she would just slow down. She began walking at 9 months and hasn't stopped since. She loves to give and blow kisses and it is the sweetest thing and melts our hearts. She also is very good at folding her arms for the prayers and sits very still for a 1 year old (she even sits more still than her big brother!) She loves candy and knows where I keep it and will stand at the cabinet and point and cry until someone gets it for her. She is learning where everyone's eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hair are. The only thing she is lacking is talking and that would be because she is very good at pointing and screaming and someone will get her what she needs, so what's the point, but we are still trying. We have loved having this little one in our home and she makes us smile and laugh often. Mason loves to tell people that his Mommy got our family a funny baby! We love you Hannah!

Disneyland 2009!

2 weeks ago we were able to spend 3 days at Disneyland. We decided to take a trip in honor of Mason and Hannah's birthdays. We had a ton of fun the first 2 days, and then the last day was horrible. Wade and I both ended up sick and feeling miserable, but trying to be in good spirits for the sake of our kids and then there was the rain, that was a whole other issue. It began at noon and never let up. We had umbrella's and ponchos, but those only cover your top half, so needless to say our feet and up to our knees were sopping wet and extremely cold, so we ended up calling it a day at 4 pm, which turned out to be okay, because we had to drive back that night anyway. Hannah was quite a little pill. She really prefers to do her own thing and not be strapped down in a stroller, but she did enjoy the rides and luckily none of the lines were extremely long. She was absolutely terrified of the characters, must be a girl thing, because both the boys loved them at her age. She didn't mind talking to Cinderella though, she was the only princess we got to see. Mason was kind of funny the first day. I think he wasn't quite sure what to think about anything and kept telling us he wanted to go back to the hotel. Towards the end of the day, he warmed up and decided he was having fun. The 2nd day was even better! Jakob surprised us the most and went on all of the big rides and loved them. He conquered his 1st big, upside-down roller coaster and loved it so much he went on it 3 times in a row. He and Mason also braved the Hollywood Tower of Terror (even their mom is too chicken to ride that one)! We had a such a great time and can't wait to go back again!

Dress Up Already?

Hannah loves to play dress up! It doesn't matter what it is: her own clothes, the boys clothes, old halloween costumes, washclothes, backpacks, purses, shoes, hats etc. You name it. If it can be worn or carried she's all over it. She is constantly in the boy's dresser pulling out clothes and trying to put them on, getting shoes out of her basket trying to put them on, lugging around Jakob's backpack that is the size of her, putting washclothes on her head, etc. The other night Mason got the "dress-up" box out and she carried this football jersey around and kept trying to put it on her head and screaming in frustration that she couldn't get it, so I finally helped her out and then she found a hat to go with it. She walked around the house as proud as a peacock for the rest of the night and threw a huge fit when I took it off to get her ready for bed. She's not even 1 yet, am I in trouble or what? Girls are fun, but I don't know if I could handle another one-the drama of one is going to be more than I can handle!

So Sweet!

A couple nights ago I had been bathing all of the kids and as I was in Hannah's room getting her dressed and ready for bed, Wade was so kind to go in and clean up the bathtub from all of the kid's toys and dirty clothes, etc. He took care of everything and shut the light off and I never went back in there that night. The next day I went to get in the shower and found this sweet message written on the shower wall with the kids bathtub crayons! It truly made my heart melt! I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful of him to take time out from the everyday chores that he and I are endlessly doing to let me know he loves me! It was a very simple act, but it meant the world to me and helped get my day off to a better start that day! I love you Wade-thanks for all you do for me and the kids-you are the BEST!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve is usually very uneventful for us, with Wade's profession he is never home to celebrate with us, but we make the best of it! This year I was planning on going over to my sister's to help her throw a party for my niece and her friends, but Hannah wasn't feeling the greatest and she likes to cling to me when lots of people are around, so I decided to spare myself the irritability of dealing with her and stay home. Jakob ended up going over there for a sleep over with Ben, so I brought Andrew home so Mason would have a buddy! We ended up going over to my neighbor, who graciously opened her home to us! We ate some junk and more junk and talked while the kids played for a couple hours. When we came home I let Mason and Andrew go out in the backyard and do some poppers and yell "Happy New Year!" They thought it was the greatest. They had a little campout in the playroom and watched a movie, while I got Hannah to bed and turned on the news in hopes to see my hubby patrolling the crowded streets of the LV Strip-and guess what-I did (just for a brief second though)!

My little New Year Princess! (The hat barely lasted long enough for a picture!)

Mason and Andrew with the streamers from the poppers-cute, little buddies!

New Year's Day was spent hanging out at home, Wade watching football and my parents coming over for some yummy, homemade Baked Potato Soup in bread bowls and playing a couple games of Sorry Sliders! It was a fun, relaxing day, minus the fact that I started coming down with a cold, that Wade and Hannah also had-bummer!

So our New Year got off to kind of a bum start. Hannah started with her cold Christmas day and I finally took her to the doctor last week after almost 2 weeks of being miserable. She ended up having an ear infection. As her, myself and Wade were on the mend, Jakob came down with a bad cough and fever this past Friday and has had a fever off and on all weekend, so I finally took him to the doctor after church today and he has a yucky sinus infection. Hopefully he will feel better soon, so he can go back to school and hopefully we will have some luck in the New Year with Mason not catching any of this, I really don't want to make another trip to the doctor's office, if I can help it! Maybe when I don't have to play nurse anymore, I can sit down and make some goals for myself-I have plenty I need to work on!

Opa, Jakob, Oma and Mason playing Sorry Sliders!

Christmas!

Christmas morning the kids woke up around 7:30 and could hardley wait for us to get out of bed! I, myself, couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces-that is probably my most favorite part about Christmas morning-seeing the happiness and joy on their faces! Santa was pretty good to the kids-they all got everything they wanted and probably more than they needed!

Jakob with his pocket flyer! (not recommended for young children-they break easy). His favorite gifts from Santa were Guitar Hero for his DS and Sorry Sliders!

Mason was super-duper excited to finally get his very own cowboy boots! (Now he won't have to stalk his buddy Jack for his!) His favorite gift he got from Santa was the only thing he asked for and that was PBR-Bull Riding for the Wii!

Hannah's favorite gifts were the only 3 she got-she loved everything! Santa brought a very cute babydoll! She surprised both Wade and myself with the sweet way she carried her baby around and gave her hugs and kisses. It was so cute to watch her!

Her other gift from Santa was this fun, little car. It has a handle on the back and she doesn't mind one bit being pushed around, I don't think she would mind if that's what she got to do all day, she loved it. Spoiled little, stinker!

Later in the afternoon we headed over to my parents for Christmas dinner and let the cousins exchange their gifts! With 18 kids and 12 adults, it was complete chaos, but also lots of fun! Wade and I ended up staying there way to late playing my Dad's new Monopoly on the Wii-it was fun! We had a really fun and enjoyable day! The day after Christmas we packed up and headed to Panaca to visit Wade's family for a couple of days and have a yummy prime rib dinner with them. There was some snow on the ground, but it was so cold there that the snow was really hard and crunchy, but the kids didn't care-they had fun playing outside in the freezing cold with their cousins-I just observed from the window-once again, not a fan of being cold!

Afton and Hannah hanging out and chatting on Afton's new Dora couch-aren't they cute?

Uncle Neil giving Jakob, Mason, Dallin and Afton a ride in the trailor of Grandpa's lawnmower. (I'm glad he doesn't mind being cold because the kids had a blast!)