Im Memory of Courtney-Warning, not for the tenderhearted

I found this story on one of my craft blogs: http://greysonsgift.blogspot.com/

I thought that I would participate in memory of Courtney.

This is the result:

8 blankets that are 12x12. It felt great making them and sending them on to this dear sweet mother who is trying to heal from her wounded heart. I have been there, I know, there is need to heal.

I thought I would post a little bit about the story of Courtney:

She was born 4 and a half years ago, it will be 5 years this Christmas.

She was an angel.

She touched my life, she changed my life. I am a better person because of her.

I have a greater faith in my Heavenly Father's plan for me, if you are not familiar with it, check it out here: www.lds.org

I am grateful for her.

Courtney, this is for you. I love you.

Love, Mom

Lily's Room

When I did the house tour before I didn't have any pictures of Lily's Room because she is ALWAYS sleeping, which I am not complaining about. I finally got everything put away and organized thanks to this beautiful new dresser, thanks Grandma and Grandpa Norway. I kept her other old dresser in the closet to keep random things like candles and party supplies. She has a huge closet, so it is hard not to utilize the storage space.

Day O' Fun

Today we spent the whole day with Uncle Brad and the cousins. It started out with an early morning treat of Viera's Bakery, the most amazing doughnuts ever. We hung out for a bit at our house and then headed off to the park for a pic nic for Brad's College Course that he teaches. It was at a park right by the river. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and also getting very wet, more pics on that later. We then took a short break for naps, but reunited again and went to this great event here in Pasco. It was called Heritage Days, or something like that. It was fantastic. They had all these crazy people who dressed up like they were real old time explorers and pioneers. Many of them had been camping at the park since Wednesday and were living there in canvas tents, eating out of their dutch ovens like that was completely normal. It was fun to see the rustic way of life. The kids got to feel many different coats of fur like fox, raccoon, beaver and even deer. I don't know if they appreciated it, but I loved it and ran around like a wild woman trying to get them to see everything that was there. Here are some pictures of this great event:

Spencer doing his best Daniel Boone impression

Sims just being rock star awesome

Seriously, there were some crazy people there, this lady was one of them. She just sat in front of her TP with the gigantic dog. The kids loved to pet it, but I seriously wondered the last time the dog and the woman frankly had bathed?

The had these 2 huge canoes hand carved out of wood. It was great.

This guy apparently is a history teacher at the high school. Brad knows him and he is how we found out about the festival. He was dressed in a complete old school uniform of like the civil war complete with a spear. Lily was scared to death of him, it was like the whole Santa Claus fasination, you want to be near them, but you cry because they look so scary...

One booth had a cross bow shooting thing that the kids loved. This is a touching moment where Matt taught Sims how to use his first crossbow.

Just Chilling

Awe the swings, probably the most favorite moment of the day. The kids all had fun swinging and jumping and so did Brad and Matt!

The wonder twins. So funny to see them side by side and know that they are only 12 hours apart. Austin was just chill while Lily was trying to put every rock in site in her mouth. It was great.

Possibly Sims most favorite moment. A steam engine.

That wraps up the fun filled day. On the way home tonight Sims was listing off all the fun things we did today and he said, we can do this again tomorrow right?

Haircut

My sweet and precious daughter was blessed with a ton of hair. I love it, but as of late it has been driving me crazy because she will NOT leave her hair alone. If I put it in piggy's she has them pulled out after nap time. The same with a pony. So I have been flabbergasted as to what to do. The end result is me giving up and her having hair in her eyes. Believe me when I say, I do put up her hair in those tiny little rubber bands that have to hurt her head, but to no avail, she has them pulled out after nap time. So one night at dinner, I looked over at here with crap all over her face and hair in here eyes and I lost it. I seriously LOST it. I pulled open the junk drawer, grabbed the scissors and went over to my sweet little girl and chopped off her hair. Yep, I am every mom's nightmare. I made my kids hair look like it had been hacked up with the kitchen knives. But let me tell you that the calmness and sanity that reclaimed my life was worth it. Not to mention that Sims, Daddy and I laughed and laughed all night long because I had given our Lily an official Mullet. These pictures do not do justice.

She Speaks

Untitled from Jennifer Johnson on Vimeo.

Matt and I went on a trip to San Fransisco this weekend to shoot a wedding (pictures to follow). We left the little ones with Uncle Brad and Aunt Karen. They had a fabulous time. When we picked up the kiddos there was one thing I noticed....more vocab from my little girl. Lily now says "Uh oh" and "Cheese". She is really getting interested in speaking words and tries to imitate me and Sims more often now. I think she will be talking up a storm before I know it!

Finished

Here is the finished product. I love it. I has such a warmer feeling to it. It will be a perfect fit for my craft area!

Swinging

This is for you Grandma's

Message to Grandma's from Jennifer Johnson on Vimeo.

Time

I have been thinking a lot today about Time. Here is how it breaks down.

Before the move:

Time was my enemy. I never had enough time to do anything. I was frantically running around doing errands/trying to be a good mom/fulfill church callings/work, etc. I hated it because I never had the time to do things I really enjoy.

After the move:

Time is my friend. I love it. I have time to play with my kids because I have time later to do the laundry and clean the house. I have time to craft. I have time to think about my sweet husband and all he does for me. I have time to write him love notes.

I am so happy now. I miss my old friends and my dear family, but I don't miss the chaos and craziness that I called my life.

Simsography

Here are some more Pictures by Sims. He took a picture of his new train cars he got today. We went around the house and rounded up all the spare change we could find and took it to walmart. I noticed they had one of those cool "Coinstar" machines that counts all your change for you. We went to the machine and like the good mom I am, I wanted Sims to have the experience to do it himself. He was so excited that he didn't listen to well to mom's direction of pressing the green button, so we had to do the whole thing in Spanish. It all worked out in the end and he got his cool train. He has been playing with it all day and has been such a sweet boy. He even let Lily play with the little cows and sheep. Such a good brother.

Preview

Here is a preview of my next crafting experience....Tune in for the results.

What did you say...Summer's over, well not for us!

The kids and I headed out in the backyard today to celebrate a warm almost hot day. We are adjusting to the new house, but miss our pool. To compromise we use our little inflateable pool and make a "water slide" out of it. I made a video of the kids playing, but like the renob that I am I videod it sideways, I apologize, but it is worth the head tilt to see how cute the kiddos are. Enjoy.

Untitled from Jennifer Johnson on Vimeo.

Fall Wreath

So I have this favorite Craft blog that I have been following. I have wanted to try several things that she has had featured on her blog but with the move and such, I have never had a chance. Finally it was like everything lined up to make this craft come together for me. I went out garage selling yesterday and found all this great fall foliage for only 11 dollars. I got a ton, enough to do at least one more wreath or center piece. So here is my finished product:

Here is the props of the lady who started all this wreath madness for me: http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/2009/08/letter-wreath.html, she was featured on my favorite craft blog: http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/

Pasco Fiery Food Festival

On Saturday Matt had to work all day to get stuff done from his old job, so I decided to get the kids out of the house so we wouldn't distract him. We went to the Pasco Fiery Foods Festival. I am all about festivals, they are always entertaining, and this one in particular was special because it had a train ride. Sims was super excited so we set out on our adventure. I am very proud of myself for being able to find it and we found a great parking place and set out. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

This thing scared me, so I was certain Sims wouldn't go near it, but he said he wanted to do it. It really is like 2 stories high it is incredible. We got his tickets and up he went. He LOVED it. I was so surprised. He went on it over and over till the guy finally kicked him off.

Lily really is the perfect baby. She was so content to sit in the stroller the WHOLE time we were at the festival. We were there for about 2 hours. I just kept throwing food at her and she was happy as a lark. She found great joy in watching her brother have fun.

Here it is, the moment we waited for. The Train ride. It cost 6 bucks but was completely worth it. Sims loved it and Lily enjoyed it too.

Footsteps

Sims is following in his daddy's footsteps with photography. His favorite moments are when I let him take pictures with the camera. He is getting good at actually taking pictures of people and things versus his toes and Jacks nose. I thought I would post these to show off some of his talents.

"The little wit's cup"

"mom"

New House Part 2

Here is the next set of pics of the house, I had to leave out Lily's room because it always seems that she is sleeping...always. Hence why here room is also the last to be completely unpacked and put together, so it is a good thing I left it out! Please excuse the mess in the pics, I just moved in!

This is the other view of our family room. There is a fire place, but because of the placement of the TV and couches, it is hidden. There it is, you can see it behind the couch. We have put our family picture above it for now!

This is my new kitchen. It has much less cupboard space than the old house, but much more pantry space, so it evens out. We often sit at the bar for meals and Sims loves to be able to sit there and do crafts and talk with mom while I work in the kitchen.

This messy room is going to be the office/guest bedroom. It is quite a big room, so I have a good feeling about how it will turn out when all is said and done. I just have to put myself into it and organize! I will do after pictures when it is all done.

This lovely room is my master bedroom. My dear, sweet sister-in-laws Tiff and Karen painted this room green for me. For some reason as of late I am having an obsession with green, so this is perfectly lovely for me. This room too, is huge. I don't know what to do with all the space, in the future you may see a reading chair and maybe a bookshelf. We will see....

And this cute room is Sims room. He loves it! You can see the cute little guy asleep in his bed for these pics (taken during nap time). He loves the sports motif and gets a kick out of the fact that his door handle is a basketball. It was like this house was made for our little family!