Camping

We camped with my brother Travis and his family at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Their baby, Bo and our Ezra are just ten days apart.

Birthdays!

My two favorite little boys in the world had birthdays. Grae is now 6 and Jonah is 4. They both chose their cakes and we burned matches instead of candles. We also went to Elitch Gardens Amusement Park for their birthdays. Super fun!

Busy, busy

In the last six weeks, quite a bit has happened. Cora had a birthday, we had a baby, Lynn had a birthday, I had a birthday and Saturday is Jonah's birthday. Grae's birthday is nine days after that. Whew! Also, Aunt Arianne came to visit, the Easter Bunney showed up and we had a snowstorm! I had to post a few pics from the last month or so... before things get crazier. Pics in no particular order.

Zzzzzzzz

Sleep? What sleep? We love our baby. We will not be blogging for awhile.

We would like to invite all who want to attend to Ezra's baby blessing and Cora's baptism. They will be on Saturday, May 23rd in Snowflake. Please call us for details. We love you all!

Introducing...

Ezra Luke Johnson

Born Saturday, March 14th at 4:13pm

7lbs 10oz

20"

"Dad's a nurse!"

I was in my room studying as usual and I could hear the boys playing outside my door. After a while I could tell something was wrong but I was trying to ignore them and concentrate on the chapter about the female reproductive system and birthing process that I was thoroughly enjoying (heavy, heavy sarcasm). I then heard Granger say to Jonah, "I know. Let's go to dad. He's a nurse!" Technically, I'm only half a nurse because I'm only halfway through my program, maybe not even that far because I still have to pass the national boards after I graduate, but the kids don't know that. So after a while, Granger and Jonah come bursting through my door and asking me if I can help them with their medical emergency. It seems Leonardo suffered severe trauma when dropped from the top of the stairs onto the tile. I'm afraid he sustained too many injuries and although it's not usually the nurse's place to do so, I pronounced him DOA. Let this be a lesson to you all. Although there have been many advances in modern medicine, there is no cure better than prevention and even mutant reptiles can meet an untimely demise if they're not careful.

Garden of the Gods

Cameo's side note: My butt doesn't really go down to my knees. It's my shirt. Oh yeah, and it's my shirt that makes my belly look huge too, not the kid... (or the pecan craving).

Garden of the Dogs

When we went to Garden of the Gods,it seemed it should be Garden of the Dogs. We did not know that it prety much would be just that, Garden of the Dogs. "Doggies!"I said. I just saw two little dogs walking along the path. But then it was a different story. One big dog with curly brown hair passed by. Then a black dog with curly hair passed by. "Hmmm, I wander if this place should be called Garden of the Dogs." I thought. Two people walked by with dogs. Then more. And more. And more! "IT SHOULD BE CALLED GARDEN OF THE DOGS!" I screamed. "It should." said mom calmly. Then a black dog came by. "We should get a dog." I said. More dogs to be continued..........

by Cora

Woooo!

I am getting HUGE! Yesterday we went to Garden of the Gods and hiked around a bit with the kids and then went to the grocery store. Between those two places I got a, "Are you having twins?" "Are you due any second?" Three, "Would you like some help with that?" while putting groceries in my cart. (C'mon, a box of cereal is NOT that heavy.), a woman responding saying, "No, she wants to do that herself so she can go into labor." and two, "Wooo!"'s. What? Who just looks at a woman's prego belly, says Wo! and walks by a person? It happened not once, but twice! They were both men of course. And at the end of the day, I found a NEW stretch mark. (Like somehow the stretchmarks from the three previous kids aren't enough for him.) Man, this kid needs to be born!

A few pics of February

Here are some February pics. The kids love jumping on the trampoline in our backyard with their favorite friends also named the Johnson kids. Jonah calls them his "cousins". Also, here is Cora for crazy hair day. She got her picture taken for the school yearbook. I think it was a hit!

(On a side note, today is hump day. We are halfway through with Lynn's school sentence at Concorde... All downhill from here baby!)

Turn baby, turn...

So last month the doctor told us that the baby was breach. She said to go home and to lay on an ironing board against a couch or stairs so my head was below my stomach... and that it might help the baby flip. I thought it sounded kinda odd but what the heck did I have to lose? I did not want to have this baby cesarean. So after doing my own internet research on what has worked for other people, we came up with this concoction. The frozen bag of vegetables is supposed to make him want to move away from the cold. Then I read that if you talk to the area where you want his head to be, he might flip towards the sound and that it really works if you concentrate the sound through a paper towel roll and have familiar voices. The kids really wanted to help in all of this so they took turns talking through the roll to the baby. They kept saying things like, "Hey, come here. It's a lot warmer this way." And Jonah kept saying, "Come out!" We would say, "No, no. Don't say that. It's not time. Say turn around." So he'd say, "Okay, okay. My turn." and directly into the paper towel roll as loud as he could, "Come out!" The whole charade was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing but desperate times call for desperate measures... If anything, the kid was shaken to death with all my laughter. Perhaps that is what helped him to turn. Who knows, but the doctor says now he's no longer breach and I don't have to have a cesarean. Yeah!

Help us name Baby one more time...

Yes, round two for naming our kid. If you're sick of this game, I get it. If you're willing to vote again, though, I'd appreciate it. Your votes and comments last time really helped. We just have a new set of names to think about now... One of these I really don't like and one of these Lynn really doesn't like but I put them on the poll because I want unbiased opinions on these names. Not set on a middle name yet so don't let that sway you. You guys are awesome. Thanks for the help! (Also, I'm sick of seeing my big ol' pregnant belly on the top of the blog so I needed to get a new post up.)

I Love Livin' Large

Poor Cameo is getting to the point where almost everything she does makes her uncomfortable. While I truley feel sorry for her I've got to say she is great eye candy. Call me crazy but prego women are sexy and no one is sexier than my wife. You can keep all your toothpick models thank you verry much. They make me sick. I'll take a natural woman any day of the week. So here's my shout out to all you real women and your real bodies. You may not be as hot as Cameo but you're great as is.

Free Day is the Only Way

Living in a big city does have its perks. Yesterday was free day at the zoo. It was a little chilly but there were plenty of indoor exhibits for us to warm up in. Because Cameo and I are pretty much cheapscates we judge things not only on how fun they are but on how fun they are based on how much they cost. Using that rule the zoo trip was a success. The kids loved it and free gives anything a good chance of being fun when using the "cost to fun ratio" so even though the zoo is not my favorite I had fun too.

P.S. Thank you to everyone who voted on our baby names. We still haven't decided on a name, but it is almost certain that we wont use any of the names on the list from the blog (except maybe Trek). It's not that we don't value your opinions it's just that we don't like those names as much as we thought we did.

P.P.S. Mary you can use Quade if you want. It's a good name just not for us.(Of course you'd have to have another boy first).

P.P.P.S. Nathaniel I don't think we will name him Nathaniel but thanks for saving my life anyway.

We need your help!

You can vote for more than one name on the poll to the right but please help us out here and feel free to leave comments. We are SO at a loss for this kid's name this time. How do people do it who have like five and six kids of the same gender? I think if that were the case for me I'd just stop caring about their names and start using numbers or symbols. Anyway, keep in mind the middle name will most likely be Jones or Franklin. (Gotta do the family name thing.) Any input would be greatly appreciated although if we don't like what you have to say we'll just ignore it/you... :)

Last of the Mohawkians!

Granger needed a haircut and decided he wanted a mohawk. For days after this, he could be heard saying, "Rock on dude!" or "Born to be Wild!"while playing an air guitar. Such a fun kid!

Dorothy Was Right

What a fun time of year!

We couldn't fit our presents in the Tercel.........

So we had to have an early Christmas.

The kids loved "Fake Christmas". (That's what we called it.)

It was a long drive...

in a small car.

But it was worth it to see all our family and friends.

Jonah made Dave his new best friend.

We jumped and played like kids.

We were inspired by Grandpa and Grandma still going strong in their 9th decade.

Partied at Grandpa Wendell and Grandma Carolyn's house.

Fun times at the park...

With the Crouse's and the Shaws.

Two of the only people willing to call me a friend.

Our traditional "Jerusalem dinner" on Christmas Eve. (Sorry Dave)

It took a few years but the kids weren't surprised
when they opened their Christmas Eve pajamas this year.

Christmas day with Grandma Ney. (Thank you!)

It's hard to beat the excitement of Christmas.

So much fun!

Look at these crazy kids!

On to Snowflake... We stayed up talking until midnight every night.

Fun times at the Dog House.

Lining up for Pinata fun.

Happy New Year!

Looking forward to a great 2009!

What a great two weeks. It was so nice to get a break and see so many of the people we have been missing.

(Sorry, we didn't get pics of all of you but we love you just the same.)