My Baby Girl is 1 Year!

I know it took me forever again to post Audrey's cupcake party pics but what can I say. My excuse is that it is summer time, I am never home, and my kids always need to be doing something outside so I don't go crazy on our little place! Anyways getting back to the subject of my baby girl Audrey....She is my determined little girl who is growing up WAY too fast. Some of the words she says now are "NO, mama, dada, Daisy, dog, Ma--for Max, all done". Some of the things she loves to do is take all the stuff out of my linen cabinets, purses, pantry, trash cans, etc. She LOVES being messy and I swear I give her a bath a few times a day now. She likes crawling up stairs but has not figured out how to go down them without rolling down head first :) She has 4 teeth on top, 2 on bottom, and molars starting to come in. She likes to feed herself (Ms. Independent), doesn't like people to watch her sleep, has the funniest fake laugh ever, and has an obsession with pinching and blowing on my arms. She thinks her brother is hilarious (he is) and likes dancing in her car seat to music. She's a wild one but I love her sooooo much. Daddy can't help but love the little stinker either. Happy 1st Birthday Otter-Pop!

Packasport Story

So, Josh and I realized that there is NO WAY we can fit all our camping gear, all the stuff for the DX triathlon, a dog, and 4 people in our Honda Pilot as we get ready to cruise up to Wyoming for the Annual Proffit family reunion in Wyoming. our solution is a luggage car top carrier. Since we do this Wyoming trek 2 times a year we decided that we needed a good, strong, car top carrier that will hold lots of stuff as our family will only be getting bigger in the future. The Packasport 90 seemed to be the best solution. We looked online everywhere and found one in Ojai on craigslist for $400 which is a smoking deal since they are over $1000 new. We decided to have Josh leave work early Wednesday and stop at the beach house in Ventura since Ojai is pretty close to there and the drive is about 3 hours with traffic. The kids had fun playing on the beach for an hour, we cleaned up (audrey took a bath in the sink), and then we headed to Ojai. We purchased the carrier, headed home feeling good about our purchase....

Then 3 days we had a community garage sale. Our neighbor just happened to be selling the exact same Packasport we just purchased, in better condition, for $50. So being the entrepreneurs that we are we bought it and now have 2! We are selling one of the packasports for $500 on craigslist. If you are interested in purchasing one please let us know!

Love My Girls

Yes, I consider My Dog Daisy as one of my girls. I just can't imagine our family without her. We are actually going to get her certified as a Therapy Dog to go to hospitals and visit cancer patients, sick kids, etc. She will absolutly LOVE it and it will be so rewarding. When you have a dog as good as Daisy you want to share her sweetness with everyone. And yes, she is a pitbull :)

Ms. Mischief

The pictures say it all but yes, Audrey is officially into everything! She is so quiet about it but definitely causes a huge mess in no time. She actually broke off one of the handles on the cabints in our kitchen after getting so mad that I put a child safety latch on it. Don't let the cute face fool you....she is crazy!

Too smart....

The other day our whole family was driving down to Pat and Larry's (Josh's parents) in San Clemente when Max started making this awful screaming noise...like on Dumb and Dumber. It was seriously so annoying and dangerous in my opinion as Josh was driving. Max continued to scream after I asked him not to since it was making Audrey crack up laughing. I asked him why he does stuff like that and he said "because it makes Audrey funny." So I said that I didn't think it was funny and neither did Daddy and that's 2 against 1 so he better stop right now. Then that little stinker responded by saying, "Well I like it too and so that's 2 against 2." Can he really already add??? At this point all Josh and I could do was laugh.

The picture is of one of Max's many train tracks and the paper trail is a waterfall and river. Max is so creative :)

Beach Club Babes

Can I just say how much I LOVE that the beach club is finally open!!! Max loves to swim and Audrey loves to crawl by the sandy banks playing with her toys and splashing in the water. This last week, Audrey had a play date and invited our friends Christine and her daughter Samira. Audrey and Samira are only 2 weeks apart and enjoy each others company immensely! It's days like this that I know why I live in a little townhouse with a mortgage that would get me a 4000ft home somewhere else where it snows. To each his own....and let mine be in Sunny California.

Where did April Go?

O.k., So once again I've gotten caught up in "life" and forgot to blog the entire month of April. The first week (General Conference weekend) we went to the beach house to see Mima who was going in for surgery the following week. The first night we went to my cousin Jeffrey's documentary of India which was totally awesome, found out that Audrey is allergic to cumin pita bread, and later Max and Dad camped out in the bed of his truck. Josh said he woke up to Max right in his face saying "Dad, I heard a train". Considering the tracks are right next to the beach house this was not a shocker. The next day we watched conference at the Ventura building and later went on a walk/bike ride from the beach house to town. It was a 5 mile walk one way and Max insisted on riding his bike the whole way to town and back. We found a really cool campground there that had a little store where we got ice cream and tried to cool down from the heat. Max still managed to get heat stroke from riding his bike too long and not drinking enough water, Audrey and Josh got sunburned and I took care of everyone.
The second week of April was Easter weekend. We had the Johnson clan and the Proffit clan all congregate at Pat and Larry's house for an Easter feast and egg hunt. This was yet another fun and crazy weekend. Max helped me bake treats. Josh and I stayed up way too late Sat. night hiding eggs at home. I think we were more excited than Max was.
The third week of April my sis Shanny came down to visit. We went to the San Diego zoo and had fun right before it started to rain. Later that week we went to St. George for my cousin Ben and Jodi's temple sealing. Their 3 kids were also sealed to them in the St. George temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and thankfully my BFF Heather watched the kids so Josh and I could go. Lots of food, family and nice weather made the weekend wonderful.(In between this we went to Don Jose for Russ's 20th B-day)
The forth week of April my sis-in-law Elise, my mom, Audrey and I went to Palm Springs. You would think we were all but vacationed out by now but Elise and I wanted to go to the country music festival StageCoach! We found some tickets for Sat. on Craigslist and decided to make a girls trip. The thought of leaving Josh alone with both kids (esp. while Audrey was teething) was too mean so we took OtterPop with us. My mom stayed and laid out by the pool while, Audrey, Elise and I threw on our cowgirl hats and did the country thang. We saw some awesome bands such as Little Big Town, Darius Rucker, Reba and Brad Paisley. I seriously think that country is the best music to listen to. It's upbeat, fun and I don't feel bad having my kids listen to it. I loved how this concert felt like a hometown county fair and was so family friendly. Yes, I think next year I will have to bring the whole fam and get an RV and campout. Anyone else interested?
So, looking back at the past month, it's no wonder I didn't blog, some of my plants died from being neglected, and I'm racing to get caught up with "life". But it's experiences like this that make life worth living.

4 Years Old

I cannot believe that my baby boy is 4 years old now. He had an awesome dinosaur birthday party at Melinda park. We made a dinosaur egg pinata for the special day which I am glad is now finally out of my house---we had it hanging from the dining room chandelier for a week while letting the layers of paper mache dry. A few days after the big party (60 people!) I took Max to Disneyland California Adventure since he got in free on his birthday. He had a blast going to the tortilla factory, playing in the fountains and his favorite was the zip line at brother bear country. He is still not a fan of going on rides but enjoys watching them. I'm actually glad he didn't want to go on all the rides since I had Audrey there too. Josh later joined us in Downtown Disney for dinner. Happy Birthday to Max!

Train Ride to San Clemente

Since taking our family pics in San Juan at the train Depot last week, Max has been obsessed with going on a real train ride. We told him he could go on a train ride if he earned it by doing chores and paying for his own train ticket. This past week Max was WONDERFUL! He fed the dog, set the table, stayed in the "Happy Box" at school every day, and made sure that he collected enough coins in his piggy bank for the amazing train ride. I kept telling him it cost $4.50 to ride the train from San Juan to San Clemente. So, when we went to Costco and he starting begging to buy the DVD Horton Hears A who, I told him it cost $18.99 which was like 4 train rides. I then asked him if he'd rather buy the movie or go on 4 train rides. He put the DVD back and said "4 Train rides mom, this DVD is way too much money". I had to laugh but am so glad that for a moment he understood the concept that money isn't just something mom has in her magical bag to give to him whenever he wants it. We'll see how long this lasts for. So Sat night we went to the train depot in San Juan and rode the train. Grammy, Audrey, Max and I went and Papa picked us up in San Clemente since the train only went one way after 7pm. He was sooooo excited. He thought it was especially fun when the conductor overshot the peir by 2 miles and we rode the train backwards. The only thing I'm nervous about now is his motivation to continue to do good in the weeks to come. I hope the train ride thing works still :)

Family Portraits in San Juan...

O.K. here is a sneak peak of some of the amazing photos Christine Bentley did with us on Saturday at the train depot in San Juan. I am so excited to see the rest! Trust me it is worth it to check out her blog. She is truly a great photographer! Her link is on the side bar or you can just go to http://www.christinebentley.com/

Mom, There's Ants In My Hand!!!!

This was the phrase Max kept saying over and over at 3am this morning. I later realized that his hand had fallen asleep. He was seriously freaked out!!! I then explained to him that his hand would feel better in a little bit. A few good snuggles and a half hour later we fell asleep together in his bunk bed. What did I do before I had kids?

We are getting professional family pics by Christine Bentley this Saturday and I can't wait. I won an essay contest in November and the prize was a free family photo session. We are going to do some Urban setting pics in San Juan. I know they will turn out great since she is an amazing photographer and let's face it, I do have the cutest kids ever!

Oh, the pics above are of Max at Nursery Graduation and Audrey at the park :)

Wow, I'm Bad.

So sorry to you all for not blogging anything over Christmas and New Year! I was actually lucky to even get all my Christmas cards out this year---a bit late but they were sent non the less. As I reflect on the events that occurred over the past few months here is what comes to mind:

We did all the Christmas things we could squeeze in during the Holidays. Pics with Santa at the Laguna Hills Mall--they had the best looking Santa ever! That is where I found out that Max wanted a bike fore Christmas---3 days before Christmas! So the next day I went to Walmart with everyone else and almost fought over the last red big boy bike I could find. We made a home-made gingerbread house--it looked awesome and actually tasted good too. We spent Christmas Eve at Pat and Larry's in San Clemente where the kids reenacted the REAL Christmas Story of Christ's birth and yes Audrey was baby Jesus. Christmas Day was spent with my parents and Grandma and Grandpa Johnson (sr.). I gave Vyla (g-ma) her long awaited Life Scrap Book that I have worked on for over a year---it turned out awesome I must say. We watched Mama Mia on the new Blue Ray, played with legos, watched Batman, ate a yummy Christmas dinner and basically vegged ALL day--it was a delicious time.
Then the next day we packed for the ranch and headed up to the frozen tundra in Wyoming. We first stopped at my Aunt Erin's house in Orem, hung out, saw Ryan and Elise, ate, and hung out some more. Max had a blast playing with my cousin Amy in the snow and Audrey got lots of Love from Bruce and Erin. She also started eating solid foods on this trip and even made her self gag on some bananas (not surprised since she makes herself gag on anything but advent bottles and pacifiers). I was still nursing at this time but decided I would stop shortly after. By the time we got to the ranch I hardly saw Audrey and Max. They were too busy playing and having a ball with all their cousins! The few times I could take Audrey away to nurse her she would get so mad that she couldn't talk and be social while nursing. The bottle became her new best friend allowing her to see All that was going on while eating at the same time. That way she didn't miss a thing! Our social little butterfly wouldn't even go to sleep until about midnight every night---after most of us went to bed :) She and Max had no problem sleeping in until about 9:30 the next morning though. We played board games, danced, swam at the rec center, wrestled, advertised in the community for the DX guest ranch, went sledding, made a snowman, ate snow, ate good food, let off fireworks, took family pictures, went on a horse drawn sleigh ride, went sledding, celebrated in the New Year and drove home. When I asked Max what his favorite thing about the trip was he said "I like watching movies". And yes, he watched movies on the little DVD player for about 10 hours straight on the way home. Boy it's feels good to finally be Home. I'm exhausted from playing so hard.