catch-up

I just downloaded a ton of pictures, and I found some of the pictures I took over the holidays........... I figured it was better to put them all in a collage than try to put on a million pictures!!!

THANKSGIVING
I already posted about Thanksgiving.......great food, the whole Johnson clan (except Foster on a mission), football, playing in the leaves, play station, new cousins, Evan engaged, and late nights!!

TEMPLE SQUARE LIGHTS


EVAN'S WEDDING
My younger brother Evan and his gorgeous fiance Erin got married 2 days before Christmas (made Christmas a little stressful, but it was worth it!!). They had only about 3 weeks to plan a wedding - good think Erin has more talent in her pinkie than anyone I know. Everything turned out so perfect! Her mom sewed her dress, Erin made the cake, and all of her friends and family did flowers, decorations, food, photography, etc. We all love her and we're so happy she's part of the family now.
*I should mention that I was married 10 years (and had 5 1/2 kids) before my brother just younger than me finally got married, and it's been 5 years now since that wedding. I'm hoping to get the next 5 siblings married off in the next 5 years to make up for lost time. My kids need more cousins!!!!!



CHRISTMAS

We got home from grandma & bumpa's house on Christmas Eve at about 5:00 p.m. I rushed to get our traditional ham, scalloped potatoes, pretzel salad, veggie tray, & green salad meal prepared. We didn't eat until 9:30 but it was really nice. We ate by candlelight and we talked and laughed. Then we read some Christmas stories and read Luke 2 together. Then we settled all the kids in the theater room and turned on The Santa Clause.

We've always done the jammies on Christmas Eve - this year was a little different though because our neighbor (a sweet older woman) sewed all of the jammies. The younger kids all looked really cute in their matching nightgowns, but it was pretty traumatic for my older girls. We told them they had to wear their new nightgowns (including a house dress :D) for just one hour on Christmas Eve. They were both crying.......it was hilarious! Who knew some old fashioned pajamas would cause such an uproar!

Dave & I had to wrap all the presents and fill the stockings still, so we didn't go to bed until 4:00 a.m. I'm so glad our kids didn't wake us up until about 8:00 the next morning. Such good children!!!

We bought a wii about 1 1/2 years ago when we had some money and we planned on selling it this year, but it didn't work out so we wrapped it up. It turned out to be the best gift of the year!

Favorite gifts:

Akayla: A CD player/speaker system to hook up her mp3 player to
Corina: the wii (she cried when they all opened it!!!)
Tanner: 4 laser tag guns - it's been well used already (Tanner, daddy, and daddy's 2 brothers took them to the church and played for a few hours in the dark!)
Adriana: The American Girl doll Kit with lots of new outfits for her to wear
Annalisa: A beautiful barbie from grandma
Mariah: Same as Anna
Elli: A baby doll that cries and talks (drives us all crazy!)

It was a great year!


NEW YEARS EVE - FONDUE PARTY
Dave's family has always had this huge fondue party on New Years Eve, and since we've been married we have followed the tradition in our family. It's a day we look forward to all year. There are tons of appetizers, and we have a huge tray of veggies & another one of meat and cheese cubes. We do most things like Dave's family, but we've added some new ones also. We fondue in oil, but we have also discovered how tasty (and less fattening) chicken broth is for cooking the veggies and chicken. We also do a cheese fondue for bread cubes and the vegetables. The best part is the chocolate. After we've cleaned up some of the mess and let our tummies settle a little we pull out all the fruit and angel-food cake cubes and go to town!
This year we got to have Dave's 2 brothers Matt (from BYU -I), and Jim and his wife Amber spend the evening with us. Amber is about 4 1/2 months pregnant with a boy (we're so jealous!!!), and she's SOOOO cute!!! It was a blast!!

I think that will bring me almost up to date with my blog. HOORAY FOR ME!!!

good things:
holidays
I didn't gain any weight over the last 3 months
traditions