The Johnson Family Holiday Fiasco

It all started with the Thanksgiving weekend....

*By the way, this is a very lengthy blog...that is my disclaimer to anyone who is not in my family and has already lost interest. Or anyone IN my family that has already lost interest... :)

We were so excited to have so much family coming to visit our beloved Mesa for Thanksgiving. It was going to be crowded, but I prefer the term cozy. Four people flew here on a Saturday, and we were expecting two more by the next Wednesday. But on Monday, we found out that we were all going to be making the trek back to Utah for a funeral. Neil and Greg were able to change their plane tickets, and the seven of us here in Mesa rented a van and drove 12 looooong hours to Saratoga Springs, UT. With three babies in the back. Really, we only had all three of them screaming for about an hour, and I guess 1 hour out of 12 isn't so bad. But between the crying babies and trying to coordinate a Thanksgiving dinner in a matter of hours (we arrived in UT at about 2:30 am the day before Thanksgiving) our nerves were a little shot. However, we managed to actually really enjoy most of the car ride. Marty chatted the entire way with his big brother Kelly, and I got to have some fun girl talk with my Sister-in-law Christy. I am so blessed with wonderful in-laws!

We managed to cram a lot into the couple of days the Johnson's were here.

Freestone Park

The three kids had so much fun together! They were so sweet and never even beat up on each other! For some time Carter would play outside and bring rocks inside to give to Brynn, who could not have been happier to receive such a wonderful gift! So we put her outside in the exersaucer to enjoy them. Stupidly, we figured they would be fine out there if we just left the door open and listened for them and check on them every few minutes, forgetting how much two 17 month olds can do in a few minutes. When we came back out to check on them, Brynn's exersaucer was absolutely completely covered in rocks! There were rocks in the top, bottom, in her pants, diaper, and in her mouth! And once again, they just couldn't be happier!


They made beautiful music together!

Of course every visitor who comes wants to go to In and Out so I happily obliged and we brought it to Marty on his lunch break. We also went to Organ Stop Pizza, which I know is so nerdy, but I LOVE it!

The answer is yes, the pool was freezing cold! But we had FUN!!!
















Here is Thanksgiving dinner at Kelly and Christy's! It was SOOO yummy - and don't the babies look so sweet in their matching overalls? It was so great to have all the Johnson's together again. Kris Anne and her baby Joseph came from Missouri and Greg stayed at Kelly and Christy's as well. We had lots of fun playing Dance Dance Revolution with the master - Greg.

We spent a day with my family as well. I was SO excited to see my brother Corey there! He was visiting from Albuquerque with his girlfriend and we had a really fun game night. I wrestled with myself for quite a while trying to decide if I wanted to blog the video of him pretending to be a mermaid while playing Cranium, but I finally came to the conclusion that if I posted that, he would probably stick me in a sleeping bag and put the end under the couch thereby reinforcing my claustrophobia, just as a big brother should!

The fiasco continued as we put up our Christmas stuff because I am a dork and decided that I just wanted to get a little tree because I didn't want to spend the entire month of December trying to keep Brynn away from it and we wouldn't even be here on Christmas to enjoy it. So we braved the crazy holiday shoppers and got a three-footer. Then as we started decorating it I got totally depressed and homesick and decided that I needed a BIG tree like The Good Ole' Days, so we put the small tree away, got our big one out of storage and REDECORATED. I'm not picky. Or indecisive. Or a total PAIN for my sweet wonderful husband who supported me that whole long Saturday without a single complaint. I love you, Marty!

Now for the random things I probably should post by themselves...but I'm not going to.




I gave Brynn a ponytail one day and could not BELIEVE how old it made her look!

Brynn loved the last rain storm even more than I did. My arms were getting tired holding her up to the window to watch the rain, so I created a little set up for her to look through the window herself. She was there a really long time! Maybe I have a nature lover on my hands. Unless of course she was more interested in the buildings than the rain....


So that is my lengthy blog. Congrats, Mom and Dad, and maybe one or two others - you made it!