Joy in the Journey

Mya turned 8!

2012-01-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Mya turned 8 years old in Novemeber and was baptized and confirmed Dec. 3rd. She is such a wonderful girl and a great example to her younger siblings. We were so blessed to have wonderful family and friends come into town to be with Mya on her special day!
(Sorry about the randomness of the underlining. Can't figure out how to turn it off)

Our good friends the Reynolds!

Mya with Granny and Grandpa!

Mya with Grandma and Grandpa!

We were lucky to have my grandmother come up for Mya's baptism.
Here is our four generation photo.

Thought this was so cute.
Maddy sure loved seeing Great Grandma K.

No more Hospitals PLEASE!

2011-08-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

So when we returned from our trip to Arizona Maddy started complaining that her Belly hurt. At first I was just thinking that she was tired as we all were since we had just returned home from our trip. It kept persisting and then I started to think that she was either gassy or constipated. She started complaining of pain on Sunday afternoon. The pain was very sporadic. She would be complaining one minute and the next minute she was fine and running around and playing. I knew something wasn't right when she woke up on thursday morning and wouldn't eat or drink anything. I started by just taking her to urgent care. They could tell that she was in pain but was not running a fever or anything. They sent us to the ER for a "Full work up". After blood test, Urine test, and an x-ray. They concluded that she was dehydrated. They started her on and IV and then told me they were going to do more investigating because they could tell something just wasn't right. ( I later found out that the original xray showed a small bowel obstruction.) They then proceeded to do a ct scan. What they thought they saw in the ct scan in that her small intestine was "malrotated" They then ordered an upper GI test. After the upper GI test they admitted her to the Peds. floor and the next morning they did a lower GI test. After the lower GI test they concluded she had something called "Intussusception". Which is where your intestines act like a telescope and they fold inside itself like a telescope. They then moved quickly and transported her to another hospital in Reno and had her in surgery very quickly to repair the intussusception. She was in PICU for a night to monitor her and moved her to the Peds floor when she was stable. She was released from the hospital on a monday. But the next day we took her right back to the ER because she spiked a fever that initially read 107.2. The ER sent her home once they got her fever down and did more blood tests. Everything came back n0rmal.

Once Maddy was feeling better she wanted to get out of bed and take a walk around the halls. But the IV came everywhere with her.

The only other thing she liked to do while in the hospital was watch movies. They brought in a tv with a vcr and dvd and she watched movies.

She is doing much better now and her incission looks great. She still complains of pain sometimes so we are watching that and if it doesn't go away we have been instructed to call the surgeon again. Her doc said worst case scenario is that it has folded in on itself again. The chance of this happening again is less than 5% chance. But I've learned that Worst case scenario is very possible. We're just praying that its not.

Summer Happenings!

2011-08-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

I know it has been over a year but I am now finally getting around to updating our blog! We luckily got a new/used computer so I can now update our blog. The only pictures I have on this computer is what I've taken very recently that were on our camera. Our other computer locked me out and won't let me in to do anything. So there aren't to many pictures to show for this post.

To start off our summer the day the kids got out of school in June the kids and I took a trip to California to help out my sister Terie who had just had her baby. The baby was 3 months pre-mature. His name is Samuel. He is now almost 7 oz. and is getting ready to come home from the NICU in a week or so.

Our next trip was as a family to Utah for the 4th of July. We had fun hanging with my family and had the amazing opportunity to go to BYU's Stadium of Fire. The whole show was amazing. Brad Paisley, and David Archiletta performed. The fireworks gave me goose bumps.

Next we took a trip to Arizona the first week in August. Yes it was Hot but we had such a good time. Jason is currently working on his Masters Degree in Human Movement. He is doing it all online through AT Still University. They are located in Mesa AZ. Luckily my sister Emilie and her family lives their so when Jason had to attend on campus lectures for one week we were able to stay with them. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and of course swimming. Granted the water was probably about 85 degrees but it was still fun.

Brianna started to learn to swim without a life jacket or water wings and did quite well.

Mya also learned to swim without any floaties. She is quite the fish. By the end of the week she was diving in and swimming so well. Without assistance.

Maddy started off the week by being terrified of being in the water without anyone holding her. She learned that with water wings she can float and have a great time. By the end of the week we could hardly keep her out of the pool she loved her new found freedom in the pool.
Adam made amazing strides as well. He started off by just sitting on the side putting his feet in the water he was so afraid of being in the water even with someone holding him. So I did what my nephews swim instructor did and just threw him in. Yes it was scary but it got him in and he also realized that he can float with the water wings and have a great time. He was swimming and floating all over the place by the end of the week.

I was so proud of my kids and all that they learned and accomplished.

Ongoing projects

2010-07-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

We constantly have some sort of project that we are working on. Recently Jason has felt the urge to work outside. So here is the most recent outside project.

When we bought the house there was a sort of rock garden in front of our house. Jason got sick of looking at the rocks and decided to take them out. It really wasnt to bad until we got to this rock. It took about 2 hours just to get this big granite rock out. It was much bigger than we had ancticipated. Jason eventually hooked it with rope and towed it across the driveway with the van.

Here's Adam trying to help daddy get the rock out.

Here are some finished pictures of the landscape outside. It looks so much nicer.

Here is the latest inside project. The 2nd full bath in the house was the worst by far. Covered with wall paper that was water stained and halfway peeling off the wall. The floor was laminate tile that was laid poorly and was coming up at almost every seam. We decided to gut the bathroom and retile. We retiled the floor and half the wall with Porcelain tile. It still isn't quite done but looks so much nicer than before. These pictures are backwards but you get the picture.

A few more from Zions

2010-07-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more picutres from our Zions Adventure. Here's the group that went on the zip line. It really isn't the most flattering picture. But it was sure fun.

From left to right. Dad, me, mom, Kareena, Chris, Ben, and Mya .

Maddy sure loved spending time with Kareena.

Poor Maddy was just to tired to make it up the stairs so she just crashed.

We're finally posting something!

2010-07-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

After many long months we are finally posting something. In June we had the wonderful opportunity to make a much to quick of a trip to Zions National Park in Southern Utah to be with my moms family for the Keddington family reunion. It had been atleast 20 years since we had been together for the Keddington reunion. We got to see family we hadn't seen in years and we got to hear my grandmother talk about my grandfather that many of us did not have the opportunity to know because he passed away 30 years ago. It was so fun to be there. And to be with all my siblings but one who is still on his mission. (We miss you Mike.)

We enjoyed some very beautiful scenery in Zions. We hiked and played in the ranch where we were staying.

Adam playing in the water on our hike.

Mya and Brianna on the pony ride.

Mya is our dare devil and did the zip line. She loved it.

Miss Madelyn playing in the water.

Mya and Brianna our posers.

More beautiful scenery.

Adam sporting his new sunglasses.

The whole gang, except Mike.

Winter Storm

2010-02-21T19:59:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest storm to come through. It dropped about 18 inches and then continued to snow all day today but it was too warm to have more stick. Church was cancelled due to the massive amounts of snow on the roads. We usually will only get a few inches at a time, not almost two feet in less than 24 hours.

I used our retaining wall to make a nice little snow slide for the kids. They had a blast. Here's some video and pics of them having fun on the slide.

My Montage 1/24/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-01-24T18:13:00.001-08:00

Here's our goings on for the last three months! Sorry!

This is for Chris. Thanks for all your nagging.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2009-11-18T10:59:00.000-08:00

So after being scolded from my brother for not updating our blog for 3 months here is a quick post of what we have been up too. Most recently we celebrated Mya's 6th birthday. Mya is growing up so fast. She is big into to makeup thing and was so excited that she got play makeup for her birthday. She puts in on every day, and is even nice enough to share and put some on Brianna as well. This picture below is Mya's kindergarten picture. She loved picture day, we tied her hair in socks the night before to give it the curly look. She doesn't have the curly hair like she used to.

We are currently in the process of buying our first home. Yay. We are so excited. We should close before Thanksgiving. There is still alot that needs to be done in the home; it needs alot of updating but we are excited to make it our own. Here is a little glimpse of what it looks like from the front. We are looking forward to having more space for the kids to run around and play in. We will have almost double the space that we have in our apartment.

Besides the house thing not to much else is happening. We are still waiting for Madelyn to walk. Hopefully soon. she will be a year old on Sunday the 22nd. Adam is in speech therapy and is doing so much better with his talking. He still has a long way to go but its better than it was before. Brianna is... Brianna thats all I can really say about her. She drives me nuts most of the time but I still love her.

Fun little bike ride

2009-08-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of hours after work on Saturday and went up the Whites Creek Trail and Dry Pond Trail. It was all together probably an hour ride up and down. It was a blast. I think I found a new hobby. Al though I will probably break my bike since it is coming up on 10 years old.

It was a nice workout going up and suprisingly down as well. My feet were tensing up at the bottom of the ride. I'll have to see how far it was but I'm guesing a couple of miles up and then a couple down. I probably topped out at near 8000 feet or so. There were some pretty good climbs in there.

It was certainly beautiful. The lower half of the trail was all covered and shaded by pine trees. When I broke off to the Dry Pond Trail it goes up the more barren south face. Up top is a cool looking meadow that is I guess a pond or was (hence "Dry" pond). It was fun.

I'm looking forward to checking out all the other trails that link together. We have the Thomas Creek Trail, Whites Creek Trail, Galena Creek Trail and some other connecting trails. All this is 10 minutes away and in the pretty Sierras.

I got some pics with my phone. Here they are.

Here's a little section of the trail on Dry Pond Trail. Fun single track on the south face of the mountain.

This is Dry Pond with Mt. Rose ski resort in the back.

When you reach the top this is what you see.

Here's a look back at the Sierras.

Our Family Vacation!

2009-08-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to take a much needed family Vacation. We went to Utah for the "Watkins Family Renuinion" and to Celebrate my Grandfathers 93 Birthday. We had a blast. Here are the highlights of our trip.

The reunion was an Indian theme.

My cousins put together a parade for all the

young children. Mya is too shy to participate

in things like this but not Brianna. If you can't

tell she is the one in the Bright pink swimsuit.

As long as there is water or dirt involved

Adam is happy. Directly below is Adam

playing in water during the program portion

of the reunion. To the right Adam was playing

in the dirt outside of the cabin after church in

his Sunday clothes.

We were fortunate to be able to stay at the Watkins Family cabin just past Sundance up

in the Provo Canyon. The cabin is atleast 50 years old and still has the original "Kelvinator"

refridgerator. That still works. I absolutely love this place.

My parents took us shopping to the Provo Mall and bought the girls new dresses.

Here they are sporting there new dresses. Notice "Grandpa" behind the screen.

"SILLY GRANDPA"

We were able to do some target shooting. Jason had to buy a BB gun for us to use.

Mya and Brianna got a kick out of shooting the gun. Jason tried to help Adam but he

didn't really like that idea.

Brianna and Mya sure love their Uncle Morgan. He was so nice to take them fishing one

morning and Mya even caught a fish. But it wiggled its way off the hook before they

could get a picture of it. They don't get to see family very often so when they do

they would much rather be with them than with us.

Thanks Morgan for playing with the kids and taking them fishing.

Grandpa trying to teach Brianna how to fish.

She's good for about 2 minutes then she's done.
Me with Madelyn.

Mya caught another fish with Grandma's help. She sure loved this and surprisingly didn't

mind touching the fish. Brianna would rather climb and play than stand and fish.

Grandpa's trademark. Holding kids in the air, and Madelyn loves it.

Jason and Morgan decided to make a good fishing hole just behind our cabin by building a dam. Here is a before and after shot. Jason decided to get in the river which is probably about 32 degree's Morgan couldn't let Jason show him up so Morgan had to get in as well. Boys will be boys.

Adam loved relaxing with Uncle Chris. Chris eventually put Adam to sleep doing this.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

We hiked up Bridal Veil Falls and cooled off a little. The kids did surprisingly well hiking.

They just didn't care much for getting sprayed by the cold water.

Madelyn loved it up there and didn't mind the spray as much as the other kids.

Hence Briannas pouty face.

It had been years since I had hiked the falls and I loved the opportunity to be

able to do it again.

ROCK CLIMBING

We were able to spend some time with Megan and Ben Jason's sister and her husband.

They took us rock climbing at Rock Canyon. Everyone got to try even Adam.

Before we left we met by brother at a park near his work for a picnic and to say goodbye. The kids loved playing with their uncle Chris and showing off there tricks.

Since Mya hs started school she has taught

herself how to do the monkey bars. Look at that concentration.

We've decided to call Madelyn "Bright eyes" or Blue eyes whichever comes out first.

Thanks Chris for taking time out of your day to spend time with us. We love you.

OUR ADVENTURE GOING HOME.

Its really hard to tell by this picture above but every

one of the cars down there is a police car besides one Truck.

We counted about 28 police cars. He're a quick story; On our drive home we hit traffic. Thinking it was just an accident and that we'd be moving soon we turned the radio to KSL 1160 am which informed us that there was a shooting on the freeway which closed east and west bound lanes. What started as a routine traffic stop ended with a police officer shooting someone. Two hours later they turned us around on the freeway.

Then there was a horrible fire burning up in Tooele canyon. It didn't stop us but it was sure smokey though.

Sorry this is so long but we had quite the trip. Now its back to reality.

Mya's first day of Kindergarten.

2009-07-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Mya started her first day of Kindergarten today and she loved it. Of course the first thing she told me about was playing at recess. That was the highlight of her day. She was a little disapointed that she didn't learn to read today and I explained to her that she will learn to read, it just won't happen in one day. She is definately ready and excited about all the adventures that Kindergarten will bring.

Brianna is so jelous of her older sister. She wishes that she were going to school too. Often times I find myself wishing that Brianna were in school too.

In other news. Jason and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on June 22. We didn't do anything for it then but the weekend of the 4th of July my parents took Mya, Brianna and Adam camping. The kids had a great time and we enjoyed a nice quiet night together with Madelyn. When the kids came back from camping My parents watched all the kids so we could go out on a much needed date. We spent the afternoon and early evening together. We went and saw Transformers 2, and went out to dinner. It had been a long time since we had gone out on an official date. That evening we went to see the fireworks show in Sparks. The kids had a great time watching the fireworks. Adam especially thought the noise was great he still walks around saying "Boom".

We took Madelyn into see a surgeon about an Umbilical Hernia that she has they found another hernia as well so she will have surgery on July 21st to repair two hernias.

We just got back from a visit back home to see family and friends. We had a great time out on the boat, at a surprise birthday party for a really good family friend, and celebrating Adam's 2nd Birthday, along with AJ's 4th birthday. We were able to spend some time with My brother Chris who was also in town. ( Thanks Chris for spending so much time with the girls, wrestling and sleeping on the trampoline with them. They sure miss you.)

Sorry, no more pictures right now. I will post more later.

Oh the Pain!

2009-05-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

I hurt really bad right now. I just got done (yesterday) running the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey.

So here's the scoop. The Odyssey is a 12 person relay. It is a 178 mile course that starts in downtown Reno and finishes there. However, it loops through Verdi to Truckee, to South Lake Tahoe, to Genoa, to Carson City, to Virginia City, back through Sparks to downtown again.

Each person runs three legs. It essentially is a 24-hour race. We finished in 26 hours, 26 minutes. You can check out the race details at renotahoeodyssey.com Check out the Course page. I was runner 8. I had legs 8, 20, 32.

The worst one for pain and total body devastation was the second leg I had. It took me down Kingsbury Grade, 4.3 miles straight downhill. Half way down my calves started wrenching tighter and tighter. Once I stopped, my butt seized. I could tell my quads were tired but my calves were tied in knots. And they still are. That is what is killing me right now. Yeah my quads and glutes are tired and a little sore but I tell you what, it's like my ankles are fuzed.

My third leg was hard but I think it was hard because of how beat up my legs were from the second run. It was on the last one that I was thinking I don't want to run any more. The third run was half uphill and then half down. Even on the downhill I didn't want to run any more. At that point, everything hurts and you're exhausted from lack of sleep.

Here are my stats from each leg:

Leg 8:

Distance- 4.8 miles

Total Time- 37:06 minutes

Time ran- 6:02 pm

Speed- 7.76 mph

Pace- 7:45 minutes/mile

This was my easiest run. Through downtown Truckee. I should have run faster.

Leg 20:

Distance- 4.3 miles

Total Time- 27:40 minutes

Time ran- 2:31 am

Speed- 9.33 mph

Pace- 6:26 minutes/mile

This one was straight downhill. The elevation map shows some uphill, pfffffgh! There was no uphill! All down, all the way!

Leg 32:

Distance- 3.7 miles

Total Time- 28 minutes

Time ran- 9:44 am

Speed- 7.93 mph

Pace- 7:34 minutes/mile

This wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't so beat up. There was a nice 2-mile climb then down.

Totals:

Distance- 12.8 miles

Total Time- 92:46 minutes

Avg. Speed- 8.34 mph

Avg. Pace- 7:12 minutes/mile

I killed it on my second leg! Unfortunately it also killed me. Then I realized one of the guys I ran with ran that same pace on flat ground! For 6.2 miles! Then he ran 7.5 miles at a 6:45 minute/mile pace!

I did well for myself. I wanted to be able to have a 7:30 minute pace. I knew I would be sore, I just didn't think I would be this sore in my calves. Everything else is about expected though. It was a great challenge and something to show myself what I could do. We'll see if I get myself into any other races.

Here are some pictures Leslie took at the finish line. We meet up with the last runner about 100 yards out and we all run in together. We were missing a couple of our teammates in these.

Hair cut and other random pictures.

2009-05-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

So I've been promising my sister that I would post pictures of my hair cut. When I went home for a visit a couple of months ago I got my hair cut to surprise Jason who randomly informed me that he thought I should get my hair cut. I asked him if he thought he needed a new wife. Jokeingly he replied "no well yeah now that you said something" So this is the end result.

Since the girls have learned how to ride there bikes without training wheels they had been begging for us to take them on a long bike ride. So Jason took Adam and the girls on a bike ride. Adam loved being in the back pack on the ride.

The Handsom men in my life!

Madelyn is such a happy smilely baby. Thank heavens.

Winnemucca Sand Dunes!

2009-05-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

For Memorial day weekend we went riding in Winnemucca at some sand dunes and had a blast. We met Ryan and Rachel there who came out from Utah and Jasons Parents came out as well. The kids had a blast playing with AJ and Sarah whom they miss teribbly.

Adam going for a ride on the kids quad with daddy!

Wishing he could be one of the big kids and ride by himself.
He loved just sitting on the quad.

After a long day of playing in the sun it sure didn't take hime long to pass out!

What a big boy, he sure takes after his dad.

Adam sure loved playing with Sarah.

Sarah would take his lion and he would take her dolls.

It was sure fun to watch them play together.

Brianna is such a mom. She loved just walking around with Sarah

while she pushed her new dolls in the stoller that she got for her birthday.

AJ pretty muched mastered the quad this trip. He did well riding it all on his own. Here he is taking Mya for a ride.

AJ taking Brianna for a ride.

We got there Thursday night late and set up camp and went to bed.

When the kids got up us up at 6:00am they had a blast walking up the sand dune that was just behind our tent and sliding down it.

And of course Adam trying everything that the girls did.

TRAINFOR10.COM

2009-05-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

That's right! In a very short while, you will be able to have a personal trainer for 0.33 cents a day! I am just weeks a way from launching my new online personal taining website, trainfor10.com

Here's a teaser. Go look at onlinefitnesspersonaltrainers.com You can get ONE MONTH FREE of Online Personal Training!

Take a look, let me know what your first impression is. Please be honest, even if it means being brutally honest. I truly want this site to be beneficial to all and it wont be if it doesn't have an appeal. Let me know the good and the bad.

I will give you all the behind the scenes link in a week. This will be the full site as it is at the time. Look for it!

Look Ma! No training wheels!

2009-04-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

Mya and Brianna decided to learn how to ride their bikes without training wheels. They both did great and picked up on it right away. Mya goes up and over the speed bumps now and goes off the curb and stands up when pedaling. Brianna was the brave one and went over the speed bumps first.

Here's a couple of videos:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pictures of Madelyn as Promised

2009-04-04T18:14:00.001-07:00

So I promised my sister that I would post more pictures of Madelyn. So here they are. She just had her 4 month check up and she weighs 14lbs. 3oz. and is 23 1/2 inches long. She is our petite little girl and I think its great. I'm really going to miss the baby fase. They grow up way too fast. She loves to sit up and is very alert. She has figured out how to role from her tummy to her back and almost has conquered back to tummy except for that arm that just gets caught.
She is always so happy and smilely.

Day of Fun!

2009-04-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we decided to make it a family fun day. We didn't do any work around the house instead we spent the day out with the kids. First we took them to Jasons work for a 10 year anniversary party. They had a bounce house for the kids and a bunch of booths set up. somehow we neglected to get a picture of the kids in the bounce house. They also had a couple fire trucks that came toward the end. Here we are standing in line for the kids to go sit in the fire truck.

Mya is our poser.

They also had a group come out from Sacramento to do some stunt motocross tricks on street bikes. This was very entertaining for Jason and Adam got a kick out of it too. The girls didn't like it because it was LOUD. This is just an example of one of the tricks that they did.

And here is the end result. This guy spun his tires until it blew and he also blew his radiator hose. They just did there stunts up and down the parking lot.

We then took the kids to the circus. One of Jasons clients gave us some tickets for free. I thought it was very entertaining and loved the opportunity to take the kids to it. The Elephants are quite amazing to watch.

The circus just ins't a circus without cotton candy. Adam just loved this. The girls also had snow cones. Lets just say that by the end of the day Mya and Brianna Had a tummy ache from all the sugar. They very rarely get treats like they did

The tigers were quite entertaining. Or as Adam says "giger". Such amazing animals.

Recent Events!

2009-03-24T12:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my family stopped in for breakfast on there way to Provo. My not so little brother will be entering the MTC on Wednesday serving in the Mexico Guadalajara South Mission. It is always so hard to say goodbye for two years buy I know he is on the Lords errand.

Adam is quite the curious little boy and wants to experience everything. Especially when it comes to shaving like daddy.

Once again Adam also loves his baby sister Madelyn. Loves to hold her, lay down next to her and even sometimes sit on her. Luckily that doesn't happen all that often.

The girls love to help me clean the bathrooms. Hopefully this continues when they get older because I despise cleaning the bathrooms. Here they are cleaning there bathtub. Adam saw what they were doing and quickly ran to the kitchen to get a washcloth.

About a week ago Mya lost her first tooth. It had been loose for a couple of weeks and it finally got to the point where it was more of annusance for her and she let me pull it out. When she first discovered her loose tooth she came to me with Crocodile tears saying "Mommy my tooth is loose" I just had to laugh. I quickly consoled her and told her about the tooth fairy. She then became really excited. Her new nickname is toothless.

Happy Birthday Brianna!

2009-03-02T21:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Brianna's birthday. She turned 4 years old. We can hardly believe how fast time flies, and how big she is getting. Everything for her is Princess right now. So the theme for her little party was Princess. We just held a little family party for her after church. We took her out shopping on Saturday to let her choose the things she wanted.

Notice the Barbie. I made her a Barbie cake. The cake is the dress part. It didn't quite turn out like the picture but hey it was my first try. To me it looked more like a pink Volcano with a Barbie sticking out of the middle.

Here is the finished product of her Barbie cake. It was a complete surprise for her wich was probably the best part. Notice the Princess crown, with earings and a ring, and a Princess watch. That is what she chose for her presents.

My Mom and Mikey came for a quick visit on Friday afternoon. My Dad was unable to be there but we still had a great time with them. Brianna got to open her present from them. She has wanted skate shoes since Mya got some for Christmas so she got a pair from Grandma, Grandpa and mikey. Thanks for coming we enjoyed the time spent even though it was short.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-27T17:07:00.000-08:00

We were lucky too be able to travel back to California to spend time with family. We spent a total of 9 days their for Christmas. Everyone was there from both families and we had a great time. The kids had a great time playing with there cousins and it was so nice for me too continue to recover.

Here's Mya, Brianna and Adam after opening the traditional Christmas Pajamas on Christmas Eve.

We had the great opportunity of blessing Mady while there for Christmas. It was great for us to be able to have all of our family there. Including my youngest brother Mikey and Jasons youngest brother Jared. They will both be leaving on missions in 2009.

Here is our latest family picture.

Update

2009-01-27T16:00:00.001-08:00

Sorry for not posting for a long time. I'm beginning to realize how little time I have to myself to do things. So here's an update on each of us starting with the oldest ( I guess thats me).

I spend my days cleaning, vacumming, doing laundry, doing dishes, breaking up fights, feeding a hungry baby every 2-3 hours, trying to keep my kids from killing each other, making dinner etc... By 7:30 we're reading scriptures, saying a family prayer and the girls are in bed. Then I feel like I can finally relax a little. Adam stays up with Jason and I so he can have some alone time too wrestle with dad. I'm recovering well from the horrific experience with the birth of Madelyn. But have another surgery Next Monday the 2nd to have the stent removed.

Jason is gone most of the day at work. I'vebeen lucky to be able to have him here in the morning to help get the kids breakfast so I can sleep in a little longer. He gets home about 7:30pm. He is looking for another Job right now due to hours being cut back at work. (no its not because of the economy either) He's been a great help with the kids.

Mya is now in CTR 6 in Primary and loves being the big sister. She recently gave a talk in Primary and did great. She is a very shy girl in large crowds and is also very very sensetive. So therefore we have lots of crying and whining associated with Drama in ours house. Between Mya and Brianna they cry and whine more that Adam does. She was so excited at Christmas when she opened up Heely's that she's been begging for. (Here she is opening up her heely's)

Brianna is now in Sunbeams and she is finally loving it. Her first sunday in sunbeams she cried and wanted to go to nursery. By the next week the Primary presidency was telling me that she will be fine in primary. I got too experience how Brianna is in Primary when I was there too help Mya with her talk. She has a comment for everything, and talks all the time. We now are trying to teach her to raise her hand and wait till she is called on. She asks every sunday if she can give a talk. Here she is just after she opened up her motorcycle helmet at Christmas. So now she and Mya have a helmet to go with there quad they got for last Christmas.

Adam is such a lover boy. He loves Nursery and doesn't every want to leave. He is finally learning more words although he still doesn't talk very much. His big thing now is too yell to get attention. He loves to chase Mya and Brianna all day long. He also loves to hold Mady. He does really well with her. He tries to sit on her every once in a while but for the most part he is pretty soft with her. Thanks goodness. That was my big concern.

Madelyn is such a sweet baby. She is happy and patient (thank heavens for that). She is a great sleeper at night too. She goes 6 hours on an average at night between feedings. She is awake alot more and smiles alot. Although she does look alot like Brianna did as a baby she definately doesn't have Briannas temperment. We are very grateful for that. We love Brianna but one of her is enough.

Our Funny Boy!

2009-01-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

So I've been telling my family for a while that I would be posting this so after a month of not posting I'm finally getting around to it. Here's the story. A couple months back Brianna was pretty sick with the stomach flu, and after she had thrown up I had to give her a bath. Meanwhile Adam comes in saying Baba (Bath in his language). I was telling him that he couldn't because Brianna was sick and she needed to be alone this time. I then had to go get the shampoo from the other bathroom to wash Brianna and this is what I found when I returned about 30 seconds later.

I just love the inocent look on his face. Like he's saying "what did I do?" I guess thats what I get when I try to tell him no.

Happy Birthday Jason!

2008-12-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. I feel very lucky to be married to such a wonderful man. He is a great husband and Father. Who lately has had to play to role of Mother too. Because of our recent scare bringing Madelyn into this world I have been forced to really take it easy this last couple of weeks; which has meant a whole lot more for Jason to worry about. Cooking, cleaning, vaccuming, grocery shopping. You name it he has had to do it. He has been taking such good care of me. I deffinately could not have gone through this whole experience without his constant love, spport and unwaivering faith that everything would be okay.

Thanks Jason for everything. I love you!

Series of Unfortunate Events with a Happy Ending.

2008-11-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the long story but there is really no way to shorten it.

What started out as being routinely induced went the exact opposite direction. On Saturday Nonember 22nd we got to the hospital at 9:00am and they started me on pitocin. By about 2:00pm I couldn't take the pain of the contractions and back labor so I got the epidural. I was feeling great and the nurse checked me and I was dialated to 7cm and 100% effaced. About 10 minutes later my nurse came back in saying that they werent catching the baby's hear rate right and decided to check me. I had been feeling preasure but not necessarily the urge to push. My nurse checked me and thats where it all changed. I was complete 10cm and ready to push but they discovered that she was breach. The doctor quickly came in to double check with the ultrasound and sure enough. I was immediately in tears. Jason was great and comforting me. They quickly got everything ready to do and emergency c section and 10 minutes later I was in surgery. They got the baby out fine but since the baby was down in my pelvis so far the doctor had to get down pretty far to pick the baby up out of my pelvis and in the process it tore my uteris. There was lots of bleeding and it took the doctor a while to get me fixed up. We thought we were out of the woods but then after they had transfered me to post partum my nurses discovered that I was still bleeding alot and my doctor was quickly called back in. She quickly decided I needed to go back to surgery. My baby was rushed back to the nursery and I was back in surgery. They had to readminister the epidural and by that time I had lost so much blood that I was laying on the operating table on the verge of passing out and was gasping for air. I honestly could not breath. Its so hard to describe the feelings I was having. I was in tears. I was honestly so afraid that I was going to pass out from all the blood loss and die. As it turns out there was some more tearing that the doctor didn't see at first. Once again they fixed me up and I was sent to ICU where they could take better care of me. They put me on blood transfusions, platelates and plasma from all the blood loss. The next morning they did a CT Scan to make sure there wasn't any more bleeding internally and noticed that part of my ureter tube was obstructed. (The ureter tube is the tube that connects the bladder to the kidney) On Tuesday they I had to have a nephrostomy tube placed in by back to drain my kidney. On wednesday they put in a stent to internalize the tube and help open the obstructed uretar tube. I spent two nights in ICU and by Tuesday afternoon was back in post partum with my baby. I was only able to spend a couple of hours with my baby before the madness occured. My baby spent the first 3 days of her life in the nursery with Jason in and out checking on her and being with me as much as much as he could. I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and his unfailing faith that everything would be okay in the end because I sure had my doubts. In situations like these you sure learn to have faith and trust in Heavenly Father.

We decided to name the baby Madelyn Anne Johnson. She weighs 7lbs 7ozs and is 19 1/2 inches long.

I had great nurses while I was in the ICU and when I was stable enough to get out of bed they took up to the nursery to see Madelyn. (Definately not the best picture of me)

As soon as I saw her I was in tears. It was like I was seeing her for the first time even though she was 3 days old.

Finally we made it back to post partum and I was able to be with Madelyn.

She had just finished her bottle. Can you tell; she was feeling good having a full tummy.

I have to thank my parents for being there for our kids while Jason was with me in the hospital. My parents were great with the kids and the kids sure had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to visit us as often as they could. But while I was in the hospital everyone took there turn having the 24 hour flu bug. The girls were always so excited to come and visit so thy could hold their new baby sister Maddy.

Poor Adam was traumatized comeing to see me while I was in the hospital. When they first came to see me I was in the ICU and was looking pretty pale and hooked up to wires and such. He took one look at me and started to cry and just burried his head in my dad's shoulder so he wouldn't see me. It made me cry too. Ater they came to see me when I was back in postpartum he warmed up a little and started to play peek a boo and play in the curtains.

When we got home Adam did great at being curious about Maddy and gentle.

We made it home just in time for thanksgiving dinner. Thank you Mom, Dad, Mikey, Terie, and Morgan for cooking a wonderful thanksgiving dinner. It was great food and company. We couldn't have gotten through any of this without you.

I've Been Tagged

2008-11-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

What is your husbands name? Jason Paul Johnson

How long have you been married? 6 Years

How long did you date? Beggining my senior year of High School. We dated 2 years then he left on his mission and I waited for him while he was gone. When he got home we picked it back up where we left off.

How old is he? 28 in a few weeks. He likes to tease me because I am just over 1 year older than him.

Who eats more sweets? I'd have to say me.

Who said I love you first? I did.

Who is taller? He is by 2 inches

Who can sing the best? Definately me. He'd admit that too.

Who is smarter? He is by far.

Who does the laundry? We both do. If he's home and notices that a load needs to be put in he'll do it. I always fold it though.

Who pays the bills? We both do. He always does the budget and then we pay the bills together. So we know where the heck all the money has gone.

Who mows the lawn? Wish that I could say that we had one. But if we had one he would probably.

Who cooks dinner? I do during the week and on sundays he does. He is actually quite the chef.

Who drives? When we're in the car together he does. I'm not very good at directions.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Usually me.

Who kissed who first? He kissed me first but I wasn't going to object.

Who asked who out first? Can't quite remember back that far, but probably me. I was a bit forward in High School.

The rules for this tag: answer questions about your spouse, list names of people you are tagging in your post, then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they've been tagged. I'm tagging Terie

Halloween Fun!

2008-11-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

Friday morning Jason's work had a kids party at the club. They had a bounce house, pony rides, a firetruck, Trick-or-Treating in the club, and the kids got to dress up. Mya got upset before her pony ride because Leslie couldn't put her on the horse. She eventually enjoyed it. Brianna jumped on no problem.

After I got done with work we went out Trick or Treating. The kids made out pretty well, they got their buckets full. Brianna was suppossed to be Clifford the big red dog but decided she wanted to wear her dress instead. We didn't have anything for Adam, so he was a makeshift cowboy. And Mya? I still don't know what she was. It is one of Emilie's old dance outfits that she got from Grandma and Grandpa's house. She said it was a dancing spider. It doesn't matter, they were all cute.

Such cute kids. We love them.

DIRTY KIDS!

2008-11-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

We went out riding last weekend out by Pyramid lake. Lets just say that by the end of summer, everything turns to dust. The kids loved it! They rolled in it, threw it, sat in it, smeared it, and Adam ate it. They were covered from head to toe, as you can see. It was great though, we didn't have to worry about them at all. They went off and played together all day.

It was fun getting out there with family. We had Kevin and Lori and Ryan and Rachel and AJ and Sarah. It was a nice break.

Mya is starting to get the hang of riding their quad. She is beginning to be able to ride on her own. She did a great job (except for a near miss at our van, I had to jump between the van and the quad and yank on the handlebars).

Brianna is more content getting a ride from Granny but she gave it a try.

As before, Adam loved getting rides. He does prefer the little quad than riding on Leslie's quad.

First Snow! Already!

2008-10-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

The weather in Northern Nevada in October is crazy. It goes from mid-seventies to 50 degrees and windy back to 70 and then to a high of 40 degrees and snowing. Because it is still relatively warm, no snow stuck on the ground here in the Truckee Meadows but some accumulated on the surrounding hills and mountains. We will probably get some more tonight. The girls and Adam had fun running around in it. It's only October 10th and it's snowing, crazy! Maybe we will have a nice heavy snow fall this winter and replenish the much depleted lakes. We shall see.

A little nostalgia and a lot of laughter

2008-10-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

We got some snow on the tops of the mountains yesterday and with it being much colder, I got thinking of the coming winter (it even smelled like snow for a little bit). I remembered this wonderfully hilarious and somewhat painful experience last winter and figured I would share it. It is quite funny. Try just watching it once; It's impossible. Every time I watch it I have to see it again and again. Scroll down and push pause on the music to hear the audio from the video.

Kids enjoying their quad

2008-09-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

The kids enjoyed riding their quad at my expense. Mya ran into me and I had to chase them as they rode around. No, it was a blast and it was fun to see them learning how to control the quad: Push the throttle and then hit the brake back and forth, riding in circles or not turning at all. They'll get it. It was fun to see.

Out for some practice

2008-09-28T20:35:00.001-07:00

We took the kids out so they could ride their quad. The girls had fun but Adam could not get enough. He chased me down to try and climb on. He loved it. Here's some pics.

Bad Week for Injuries!

2008-09-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

So Mya throws a rock and it hits Brianna in the back of the head. She got a nice little gash on her head. Then Mya tries to carry Adam across the bridge on the playground and drops him on his face. He got some nice purple bruises on his chin and cheek and a little on his forehead. Our kids are battered and bruised.

These are not proof that we abuse our kids. They do it to themselves or to each other.

We've got a performer!

2008-09-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

Brianna was so cute this morning. She said she wanted to practice her singing. She went and got a piece of paper from the printer and sat down at the dinner table and "wrote her music". She got a chair and brought it over to the keyboard and sat her music up. She started to play and sing. It was so cute! She is definitely our musically inclined child. She has a very good voice and knows how to inflect for different tones. Brianna loves to sing and Mya loves to dance. We'll see if we can get some of Mya's dancing on video too.

What's Happening?

2008-09-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple or three weeks so, here is an update. We've been doing the usual day-to-day stuff and having a bit of fun on the weekends. Two weeks ago we went back to California and spent some time with both families since Jared and Chris (with his girlfriend marianne) were home for a couple of weeks. Saturday we spent time with Jason's family up at Coloma on the American River. That's some cold water. Adam was helping Leslie fold clothes.
Playing a little bit of catch in the sun.
Dirty boy. Adam sure loved it though. He didn't care for how cold the water was. He would lift his feet out of the water.
A little dirt never hurt.

Cute kid.

Dena and Mike got some good pictures of the kids.
A classic laugh by Mya. She sure has her dramatic phrases and laughter.

Last week Paul and Dena and Mike came out for the Labor Day weekend. We went for a short hike at Galena Creek park and tried to get to the "Best of the West" Rib Cookoff but only got to IN-N-OUT before they had to head home.

The girls had a great time playing with their Uncle Mikey.

Adam is growing up

2008-08-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Leslie and I have noticed that we don't have any pictures of Adam up on our walls. I figured we could at least put some on our blog. Plus he's starting to walk. We managed to get the camera out while he was pushing himself up from the floor to standing. He started that yesterday. He also took the most steps he has ever taken, while the camera was on. That never happens. He was so cute and trying so hard. Sorry the video is so dark. (Pause the music below so you can here the commentary)

Hair Cuts!

2008-08-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

For the passed few weeks Brianna has been begging for me to cut her hair like her cousin Rachel Zufelt. So this passed week I finally decided to cut it. So here is a before and after shot of Briannas new cut. We think she looks so cute and it is of course so much easier to brush her hair now. Why didn't I do this sooner.

Before:

After:

And of course what one girl does the other one has to do also. So then I cut Mya's hair. She would have preffered that I cut her hair like Rachel as well but I can't bring myself to cut her hair that short yet. She has such amazing hair. So I took off about 2 in. Sorry no before shot but here is the after shot. I did go back and layer it more after this photo was taken but don't have a newer photo yet.

Adam is finally beginning to stand on his own. Yeah!!! Next to come is walking. He loves to stand on his own and watch our reaction. He will sometimes try to take a couple of steps but mostly just lunges for us. He has great balance and if he is holding onto one of our fingers then he walks great. He just doesn't realize that he could do it just as well on his own.

It's a...

2008-08-06T13:11:00.001-07:00

Click on photo to get bigger image.

We are having a girl! The first photo shows that (Sorry for the upshot). The second picture is a little creepy. All I see is a skull and a jaw bone. By the third picture it looks like we have a thumb sucker.

Wow, three girls and a boy. Adam and I are severely out numbered. Here's an idea, leave some names for a girl. Leslie and I just started looking again yesterday and don't have too many that we like.

Tagged!

2008-08-02T22:58:00.000-07:00

Jason
What is your name? Jason Paul Johnson
How long have you been together? Married for 6 years
How long did you date? ~2 years, mission, 2 months, engaged 4.5 months
How old are you? 27
Who eats more? I certainly can
Who said I love you first? She did
Who's taller? I am but not by much
Who can sing better? She does by far
Who is smarter? Depends on what it is
Who does the laundry? Mostly Leslie al though I will throw the clothes in the washer and dryer
Who pays the bills? She does but I like to remind her that we need to empty our bank account.
Who sleeps on the right side? Which way do you look at the bed? When your sleeping, she is.
Who mows the lawn? don't need to but I would. I would much rather do outside chores.
Who cooks dinner? Leslie does
Who drives? I do. I am too much a back seat driver.
Who is more stubborn? I am
Who kissed who first? I did but I know she very much wanted to. It is my charm
Who proposed? I did on top of a rocket on a playground. It was the future site of the Sacramento Temple.
Who has more friends? She does
Who is more sensitive? Leslie but I roughened her up a bit
Who has more siblings? We have the same. We both have 2 brothers and two sisters.
Who wears the pants? She lets me.
Jobs I've had: Serrano Country Club, Folsom Century Theatres, FM Graphics, Inc., Millennium Sportsclub, Double Diamond Athletic Club
Movies I could watch over and over again: Most action movies
Places I've lived: Citrus Heights, Ca Tualatain, Or (sp?) San Jose, Ca Cameron Park, Ca Reno, Nv
Favorite TV Shows: 24, Smallville, So you think you can dance,
Favorite Foods:
Favorite websites: I don't visit many. craigslist.com, rustysoffroad.com, motors.ebay.com, family and friends blogs
Places I'd rather be: not working, motorcycle riding, on a boat waterskiing, with my family
Mya,Brianna, and Adam's responses coming soon.
I tag: Ben and Emilie Cox

Hot August Nights!

2008-08-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's August and that means classic cars here in Reno for the next week. It's awesome! Can anyone tell me what this car is?

We went to a Show and Shine here in S. Reno to walk around and admire all the beautiful cars. A very nice gentleman let Mya and Brianna sit in his SHELBY GT 500! I haven't even done that. It was a beautiful car.

Here's some more awesome cars there. I only shot the ones I liked, so if you don't see your favorite, sorry.

The wood just made this old beauty stand out.

Definitely a classic. Ford Thunderbird circa 1965. I loved all the white wall tires there.

1955 Chevy Bel Air.

This is how flames are supposed to look. This is easily a $20,000 paint job. One of my old clients had a similar paint job on his Plymouth Prowler.

Here's one for my dad. A black 1957 Chevy Bel Air. Does it look like Steve's old one?

And here's one for Jared. Chevy Corvette Stingray, I believe it is a 1971. Nice sharp lines.

A great looking mob/ganster car. Again, awesome white walls.

The fins on this are unbelievable! There is so much chrome on this car (take a look at the first picture in this post). If I remember right it is a Cadillac, and a heck of a boat. I couldn't get the whole thing in a shot without backing up.

I love the shape and the grill on these cars.

This is amazing. The paint just shimmered. It has air bags or hydraulics to lower it when parked. Not to mention the LS1 Corvette engine driving the thing.

The next pictures are of my favorites that were there.

I love the GTO! This is a great looking 1969 Pontiac GTO. There were several GTO's there. I know I saw a '69, a '70, and a '71.

This shot came out just right with the tether visible.

I love the shape of the Road Runner.

The white and orange is a great combination on this Camaro. This is one of the most sought after classic muscle cars, ever.

This is one of my all time favorites, the Ford Mustang Mach 1. This is a 1971 with the 351 CID engine. I love the fastback on these. I would prefer the 429 Cobra jet engine though. I take this one in a heart beat too.

This is such a sleek, clean looking car. It is the Barracuda.

This is a monster of a muscle car. The 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS. That engine is definitely not stock, they have a monstrous supercharger on there. Even the stock V8 could pull the front end up.

Here's the Shelby GT500 with the classic white and blue.

Brief Update

2008-07-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

Just to keep people coming back, I figured I would let you all in on what's been happening. Nothing much.
Well we went to Galena Creek Park which is a trailhead for three different trail loops. (I'll probably hit the trails and see how they are for all of you hikers. I know one is a 9 mile loop.) It is up Mount Rose highway heading into N. Lake Tahoe. It was nice. We went for a short walk (probably 1/3-1/2 mile) with the girls through the tree line. We got to the creek and let them play in it for a while. This is straight snow melt water and is COLD. Brianna and Mya weren't detered. They splashed and sat in it. Adam got his feet wet but promptly pulled them back out. It was nice to cool your feet off though.
This park is quite nice. It has tons of picnic/BBQ areas and tables with a couple of ampitheaters, a pond for fishing, an old stone building that was a fish hatchery in the early 1900's but now is a dinner hall. It's a pretty area just above the tree line with lots of pines all around. Sorry no pictures this time, we were just checking it out but I'm sure we'll go back.
Other than that we have been doing the normal things; work and kids (or work and more work).
Hope everyone is doing well. Leave us a message and let us know how you all are doing.

Jason's Health and Fitness Blog

2008-07-16T18:10:00.001-07:00

Instead of using this blog for fitness/health postings I have decided to create another blog specifically for me to use to transmit health related information as well as give feedback to others. Please check it out and give me some feedback and post any questions you may have. I will have the link on this blog just above our family and friends blog links.
The URL address is http://crossbridgefitness.blogspot.com/
If you have any questions use the response option on the most recent post or email at crossbridgefitness@yahoo.com

Happy 4th and Happy Birthday Adam!

2008-07-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

We spent Friday purchasing everything we would need for our camping trip. We then drove to Sparks and fought our way through a very slow, meandering flow of traffic and eventually found a spot where we could watch the Fireworks. We spent the next hour or so killing time. We didn't plan too well. No food or drinks or toys. Just an empty lot to run around in. The show was good and the kids enjoyed it except for a slight cool breeze once the sun went down (again, not so good planning, no jackets or blankets). We opened the back of the van and folded the seats down for some stadium seating. I think everyone in the area comes to watch this show. It is put on by John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino and Hotel. It is actually quite good. They have both towers shooting off fireworks and another station shooting off rockets from the ground.

Just so no one is wondering or worried, here is an udate on my clavicle. I had surgery and all is well as of two and a half weeks later. The scar looks good. I am quite surprised at how well the orthopod closed up the incision, al though at first glance it was longer than I anticipated. I should be in a sling for about a month or longer but over the vacation I refused to wear it and seem to be ok so far.

Still bruised more than a month later.

The incision is approximately 4 inches, running along the clavicle.

This is what it looks like on the inside. A titanium plate with 7 screws. As you can see it spans about 2/3 - 3/4 of the clavicle.

Here are a couple of photos that i didn't put on the vacation post.

n
Our "animal" with his little bear, waking up from his afternoon hibernation.Adam loves to go upside down and just generally rough house and wrestle. There's a reason why we call him "Animal".Father and Son having fun on the water. Man we look good in our hats. No wonder the ladies can't leave us alone.Adam taking a swim with Grandpa. Sorry about the pink floaties Adam, not my call.After our camping trip, we came back to California and saw Leslie's family before they took off to Saint George and then take Mike up to BYU-Idaho for his first semester. Good luck Mike!

Vacation on Topaz Lake

2008-07-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize in advance for how jumbled this post is. It's all over the place but I don't want to repost it. Deal with it!

As you can tell, we celebrated Adam's first birthday while we were camping on Topaz Lake. He had fun, stuck his fingers in his cake, licked them off and went back for more. He also came out on the tube with me so we both could at least get a little ride in. Brave kid.

Mya was our little swimmer. She's starting to get the arm action but mainly does the doggy paddle wonderfully. She had a blast in the water.

She loved going on the tube and getting splashed and going over the bumps. She has gotten fearless on the tube. Well, almost. A couple of large wakes got her looking pretty serious.

Brianna surprised us all. She normally would cling to the sides of the Watkin's pool but she decided she wanted to be in the water and swim freely. She was all over the place. We definitely have some water loving kids.

The girls were relentless with granny. "Granny, swim with me". "Granny, float with me". "Granny, hold me". "Granny, eat with me". She was an awesome sport and probably wore herself out trying to please them.

We camped there Monday through Thursday. We had some wind come up occasionally since the lake is in the high desert just on the east side of the Sierra's. It was a lot of fun though. All of us got lots of sun and pretty much ended up different shades of red.

Now it's back to normal life. Could you all here the large, desperate sigh as I typed?

Surgery and other Happenings

2008-06-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures to update you on my clavicle. The first is a pre-op pic and the rest are post-op.

Despite having surgery on Thursday, I went with Leslie and family back to California. Leslie took the girls to see Mike's last performance. I tried to recover as much as I could but I could tell traveling took a bit out of me. The girls spent Saturday with Paul and Dena swimming in the morning and then at the Snowline Engineering company BBQ. Mya watched the 4th of July fireworks at Cameron Park lake with Dena while Paul and Brianna slept.

Adam has become quite the climber. He really enjoys the blue rocking chair. He especially loves the shower. He actually climbed/fell head first into the shower while Leslie was washing. He was proud of himself.

Summer Fun Starts Now!

2008-06-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

The girls and Adam had some fun in the sun and sprinklers. Dena spent a few hours while Paul was working here in Reno.

Here's an update on my clavicle. I went and saw an orthopaedic surgeon and it is still broken. I am going to have surgery next Thursday. I will have some more hardware added on. They will make an incision along the clavicle and and screw a plate on the bone. Sounds like fun huh?

Here's a chronological photo spread of my shoulder. Notice the increasing bruising. It traveled down and increased in color.

Day 2: Still swollen, some bruising to the armpit.

Day 3: Bruising starting to appear as well as the fractured clavicle.

Day 4: Bruise now yellowing and still spreading down. Left side of my chest is swollen compared to the right.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

So everyone knows my little accident didn't put a damper on our father's day. Sure I had to take it easy but we had a good time. We had Paul and Dena come out with Terie and Morgan. They brought Cal and Debora's old couch out to us and had dinner. Morgan and Paul gave me a blessing that has brought down the blessings of heaven. Thank you Paul and Morgan. We enjoyed their company and the girls enjoyed seeing grandma and grandpa and showing everyone the park. Here's a few pics.

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

2008-06-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

We had Ryan and Rachel come out with AJ and Sarah and went dirt bike and quad riding. we found a great spot where the kids got to ride and learn on their own. As well as let Leslie get used to her new quad. Yes, Leslie has her own quad now. It is becoming a family affair. They all had fun. All the bikes ran well and we were having a blast.

Ryan took AJ with him on his dirt bike and I rode with them. We were checking the place out and followed the trail all the way around. Then I decided I would jump my bike from rock to rock and hit as many as I possibly could. Basically I bounced around through a rocky section of the trail and instead of just locking up my brakes and possibly laying the bike down I tried to save it and ride through. It didn't work out so well. I ended up hitting a rock head on with my front tire causing the bike to "endo" or flip over the front and tossing me 8-10 feet. I was upside down about 5 feet in the air when I landed, on a rock, on my left shoulder. If you have ever seen a slow motion video of a boxer being punched in the face and seeing it distort, that's what my shoulder did. It imploded and didn't come back out.
It's odd when you crash how everything seems to slow down. I can perfectly visualize the wreck. As I flip head first, I can see my bike endoing back tire up in the air. Then I tuck and take the rock on my left shoulder. My head is next and smashes into another rock. I roll out of it with my left arm tucked into my body. I know immediately what I did and but still tried to move my arm even just a little bit. No way, not happening. I walk back up on the trail, pacing back and forth trying to subdue the now emerging pain and to make sure Ryan was able to spot me. I am trying to strip off my gear as Ryan notices and spins his bike back around. He approaches, shuts his bike off, and asks if it is my shoulder. "Yeah, it's my collar bone."
He parked his bike and came over. I pulled my shirt down so he could take a look and a surprised look come over his face, eyes wide and lips tight. "Yeah it's done" was the response. By now I was getting light headed and nausious. I sat down as Ryan got his bike and told me he be back as fast as he could if I was ok by myself. I said I would be as long as I was sitting or lying down. Sitting got uncomfortable very quickly so I lied down. That's the last Ryan saw before he left.
I said two prayers after he left. The first was that the pain may be bearable and that I could have the strength needed. Also that Ryan and who else may return could do so in safety as so many times in stressful cases people also injure themselves or put themselves at risk. Probably 20 minutes later, I asked that Leslie would know I was ok and that she would be comforted in that. Probably 40 minutes later, Ryan was back with his truck and Leslie. Let me tell you the ride back was not a pleasant one, in a 4x4 pickup on a rocky dirt road. several times I had to have Leslie stop so I could gather myself and bring the pain back within reason. Ryan and Rachel graciously stayed and watched the kids, loaded up and brought them home while Leslie took me the emergency room.

As you can see from the next couple of pictures I have an amazing disappearing clavicle. In place of my left clavicle is a large bump, the tell-tale of a fractured clavicle.
This one shows the difference between both sides. Ryan said immediately after he could see the jagged pieces pressing against the skin. Since it is now swollen, you have to rely on the x-rays.

And now for the x-rays! These are beautiful shots, al though they are not for the weak. Can anyone tell me what's wrong?

You can probably notice that my shoulder is pressed in by an inch or so and depressed by about two inches. Notice how many pieces and their orientation?
Close up. I am pretty sure the vertical piece is fractured down the middle.

Don't try this at home!

Johnson Family Fun

2008-05-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Recently we just returned from a trip back home to see family and for a couple graduations. It began with Mya's pre-school graduation and then ended with Jason's brother Jared and my brother Mikey's graduation. We had a great week visiting with family.

Here is Mya getting her certificate. She was so excited

to wear the gown and the hat. She seemed a little scared during

the ceremony... But after!

Below: Wow we can actually see a smile on her face.

She sure enjoyed being back with her "old friends" as she put it and

showing Brianna the ropes of the playground

BACK AT HOME!

When we got back we decided that Adam was in need of a hair cut. As it turns out his hair was alot longer than Jason's.

Here's my two men after their hair cuts. Jason got one before Adam.

Below: Adam sure loves playing with the legos. Mostly he likes to throw them around.

A True Boy!

BELOW:

In memory of Jason's Jeep. His seconed Love.

Before we returned back from our visit home he sold his jeep.

We've Moved

2008-05-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hey we're still here. Sorry its has been months since our last post but we are back. We've relocated to Reno Nevada and so far we like it. We've only been here a few weeks so we're still getting settled and unpacked but things are going well. The ward here is great with lots of young and old people but they seem very friendly. The girls love it here. We are on the bottom level of our apartment complex and it makes it nice for them. They can run around the sidewalk in front of our apartment and ride there scooter. The complex has two park area's and a nice big grass area. Jason loves his job and is doing well at it. I am still trying to catch up on sleep but with three kids I will probably always be sleep deprived. Adam has finally figured out how the crawl the right way instead of the army crawl that he's been doing for moths. We can't believe that he is 10 and 1/2 months old. He is still a pretty happy easy going kid. I'm kind of hoping that he learns to walk sooner than later because he is deffinately getting to heavy to carry around every where. We'll post pictures soon.

Latest Happenings

2008-02-27T13:24:00.000-08:00

The lastest news from the Jason Johnson clan. Mya is finally over the sickness that was ailing her for weeks. Brianna continues to be more crazy than ever. Adam still just as cute as can be still does not crawl. He would like to and does try but I think its because of the huge belly he has to carry around with him. He does sit up. When he gets on his belly he can scoot in circles but he's just lazy. Hopefully he'll figure out the crawling thing soon. He's our late bloomer.

Mya's 4 year photo shoot. These are
the best ones in the bunch. She is
quite the poser.

In preschool Mya gets to cut out shapes
and things and Brianna has to do whatever
Mya does so. I went and got them a little pair
of scissors so they can cut shapes together.
They only cut when supervised of course.

"What the heck is this huge thing in my mouth"

Adam loves to play with his tounge.

Such a cute happy chubby cheeked baby.

As for Jason and I. Jason is starting a new Job next week in Reno. So we are giving our 30 days notice tommorow to our apartment managers and will be out by the end of March. Until things are ready for us in Reno we will be living with My parents. Jason will work one day a week here and 4 days a week in Reno. He'll come back here for the weekends. Our hope is to Be completely moved to Reno by the end of April. We are excited for this move, and will deffinately miss the convenience of being so close to both his parents and my parents. Thanks goodness the drive is only a couple to hours.

The Kids

2008-01-31T15:44:00.000-08:00

To Left: Remember 'Squints' from the movie
Sandlot. Adam often resembles him. The only
thing missing is the glasses. This is one of his
many funny faces that he makes. We were
finally able to catch it on camera.

Below: Brianna's Turns 3 years old in 1 Month so
I decided to see what kind of pictures I could take
of her instead of taking her to the studio and paying
an arm and a leg. Turned out pretty cute I think. Notice
the new hair cut. I decided to cut her hair to even it out.
It took forever. Not very fun to try and cut hair on a
little girl that can't sit still for anything. 2 and 1/2 hours
later it turned out pretty cute. My first time cutting long hair too.

Poor Mya has been sick for the last week. It started out as a cold and turned into the stomach flu.

Adam's 6 Month Photo Shoot.

2008-01-31T14:21:00.000-08:00

When my sister Emilie was in town in January she
helped me take pictures of Adam for his 6 month Photo
Shoot. Here are the best of the best. Thanks again Ems for
all your help with these pictures.

This picture depicts what Adam does
all the time. One of his trademarks is sucking his
two middle fingers.

2008 Family Update!

2008-01-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry for such a long span between post. What a busy couple of months we've had. We are so excited to announce that Jason has graduated from CSUS in Kinesiology. He's excited to only be working full time and so are the rest of us because now we see him more often. We also just got news from Jason's Orthopedic doctor who performed surgery on Jason's wrist found that he is finally beginning to heal. After graduation we had Christmas, New Years and Then on the worst storm day yet in 2008 we celebrated the Marriage of Leslie's sister Terie to Morgan Young. The wedding was beautiful and the storm made it even more memorable. Especially for the Bride and Groom.

Mya and Brianna were flower girls in the wedding. They looked
so addorable. Thanks to There aunt Megan ( Jasons sister ) who
came over and did there hair. Here is Mya getting her hair done.

Here's me with Brianna and my dad aka.. Papa; doing our best to
stay warm while watching the Bride and groom drive off. That
was Mya's favorite part of the night. She had to chase them while
they drove away.

Our Little Man! Doesn't he look to cute for words in his Tux.

What a trooper he is. He sure didn't like wearing his Tux but

he tollerated it.

Halloween Fun!

2007-11-11T13:32:00.001-08:00

We had a great time carving pumpkins with the girls. Mya had already carved a pumpkin at pre-school so she knew exactly what to do when it came time to clean out the inside of the pumpkin.

Brianna wasn't to sure of the gooo and seeds on the inside of the pumpkin at first. But after a little bit she wasn't too afraid of getting her hands dirty. And as a side note; she often just runs around the house in her panties we can't seem to keep clothes on her. Only when we go somewhere is she fully clothed.

For Halloween Brianna was a Lion. Which just seems to fit her personallity. This costume was given to us it just came without a had piece. She sure had a great time trick or treating. We went to our stake trunk or treat were handing out candy. What a fun time.

Mya decided she wanted to dress up as Clifford the Big Red Dog. She even had a choice of being Clifford or Cinderella and she chose Clifford. She was a very enthusiastic trick or treater.

Howdy Partner! We found this costume on sale a few days before Halloween and thought it was too cute. Couldn't get him to smile for any pitures because he wasn't to sure of the hat. But he sure looked cute. He even slept most of the time while at the trunk or treat.

Johnson family update!

2007-10-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

Mya continues to love pre-school and is getting so smart. She is also a good little helper with Adam. She was able to participate in her first primary program today and did so well. She memorized her part practiced it all week and said it all by herself today. She and Brianna love to play pretend. They pretend everything. Its so fun to watch them grow and learn.
She is looking forward to halloween. She has decided to be Clifford the big red dog.

Brianna is our crazy child. She is constantly running and doesn't stop. Not even to sleep. We think she runs in her sleep. She loves to play dress up . We were given a bag of hand me down clothes from some relatives and as you can see they are 5 sizes too big for Brianna but that doesn't matter to her. She found this outfit all by herself shoes and all. We call her our hoodlum. She loves to help with Adam as well but isn't always so gentle. We've found her sitting on him and sticking her fingers in his eyes. Notice there are no pictures of Brianna holding Adam. She likes to hold him but Adam doesn't like it.

Ahhhh! So peaceful. (But look at that belly.) He is such a peaceful happy baby. The perfect number three child. When we first learned we were pregnant with Adam we were a little concerned what number three would be like after having Brianna. Heavenly Father new exactly what we could handle. He is so good. He doesn't usually cry. He loves to talk and laugh and is quite tickelish. He sleeps so well for us and has since the 3rd day home from the hospital. He goes usually 6 hours before getting up to eat and often times goes longer. And we are discovering now that he is a thumb sucker.

Our Pudge! That's his nickname given to him by his dad. "Pudge" He's got quite the belly on him as you can tell. He weighs about 16lbs and is over 25inches long. Only four pounds away from being too big for his infant car seat.

Okay for those of you who are wondering, no I didn't do this to him. He did this to himself 7 years ago on his mission playing ultimate frisbee. We decided it was time to get it taken care of finally. So about 7 weeks ago he had surgery on it. They took part of his Radius bone and put it up into the scaffoid bone (which is the bone that he broke) and put a screw in. He has since downgraded to a smaller cast. He had a "puss bucket" added on to it this last week. It is actually just a port to be able to place an ultrasound on his wrist to stimulate bone growth and healing. By Christmas we're hoping that he'll have his cast off. He has started school and we are looking forward to December because he is going to be graduating. Yeah!

Lake Shasta Family Vacation

2007-09-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

Soon after Chris got home from his mission we headed up the Lake Shasta with the whole Watkins Clan and our good friends the Reynolds. We swam, skiied, tubed and played on a Jet Ski. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Once we could finally get Brianna in the water she did okay
if you distracted her. Mya on the other hand is our fish. She takes
after her dad and is carrying on his nick name of water weenie.

Jason is showing all of us his mad skills on the wake skate.
Its like a wake board with out the bindings so your feet aren't
aren't locked in place.

Adam was quite the trooper on the boat all day. He slept most of the time.

Along with swimming Mya got a kick out of being on the Jet ski. She liked to drive it too.

Wow! Look at her go. My summer time hobby is water skiing when I can.

Busy, Busy Week

2007-08-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last week was a busy one with lots of exciting events. It started with Chris coming home from his mission. We spent the morning of Tuesday at the airport and then at home with him the rest of the day. On the way home, we all made a stop at the Sacramento Temple since Chris had never seen it or been there since it was constructed and dedicated. That is where Paul, as Stake President released Chris from being a full-time missionary. The Watkins had a BBQ that night for friends and family which George catered with Filet Mignon in the Dutch oven and London Broil. Good food and good company.

Mya was so excited for Chris to come home. She gave him a big hug, of course after Dena got her hug (it's a maternal right to hug her son first), and loved to hold his hand.

It was great to have everyone at the temple and to have Chris be able to tour the temple outside and in. Paul worked his magic so that Chris got a tour from one of the temple PFR guys although the temple is currently closed for renovations.

As you can see it was very emotional for Chris (and the women) when Paul released Chris and had to remove his name tags. It's hard to have someone tell you that you no longer have the calling and power that you have dedicated two years of your life to, especially as one as rewarding and challlenging as being a missionary.

Then later that week, our family piled into my Jeep and we took Chris and Ben Cox up to the mountains and did a little four-wheeling. We had to make sure that Chris used his truck appropriately since no one had taken it out wheelin' for two years. It was time to get it dirty.

Sunday was the day that we blessed Adam. We were fortunate to have most of our family there for it. It was an awesome experience to bless my son and to have so much Priesthood power around him as an example to him from family members.From left to right: Rendell Johnson, Ben Cox, Ryan Johnson, Matt Wooden, Kevin Johnson, Jason and Adam, Paul Watkins, Chris Watkins, Kerry , Cal Reynolds, Bryan Zufelt, Derek Carter, and Rendy Johnson.

Monday Mya started pre-school. She loves it. She was sooooo excited to start school. She enjoys all the fun activities they do. She is such a smart little girl and loves to talk. Her sentences keep getting better and better. She communicates like a grown up.

Weekend Getaway

2007-08-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

I took off early from work on a Friday and headed up to Fordyce Lake off of I-80. I took the chance to get away by myself for a day and camped alone. As you can see, I played on the rocks for awhile on Friday.

Then on Saturday I hiked around and simply took in the scenery. It was very relaxing and beautiful.

This is a pretty gnarled tree that sat at the top of a granite outcropping. I thought it looked cool. There is something intriguing about barrenness.

Adam Paul is finally here

2007-07-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce that Adam Paul Johnson has finally arrived. Born on Sunday July 8th at 9:41am. Weighing in at 8lbs 13.6oz. and 21 in. long. He is a very healthy boy and we are all very excited that he is here. The girls love to hold him which can be scary at times. Jason and I are doing well just a little tired.

Finally a new update!

2007-06-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here's an update without pics sorry. I had some real cute pictures to post of the girls but Brianna being her usual destructive self decided to put our digital camera in the pool and its dead. But anyhow. Mya got her first hair cut this week. Yes it really is her first. She is three and a half almost 4 years old. I just couldn't bring myself to cut her long curly locks but I finally broke down and had her aunt Rachel trim it for us. It is still pretty long though. Brianna continues to drive me crazy. She is two years old and you can deffinately tell. Baby Adam is due in 1 week although we hope he comes sooner. Jason and I are doing well we just celebrated our 5th anniversary. It is so nice living close to family so they can watch the girls while we go out. Wow, five years and three kids. Many times we find ourselves wondering, "What were we thinking". But all in all we're getting along. Hopefully we'll have a camera so we can post pictures next time.

Sisterly Love

2007-05-20T15:47:00.001-07:00

We just got home from Mikey's PGY performance and the girls were both tired so they climbed on the recliner together.

Brianna fell asleep on Mya's lap after a long day of playing and no nap.

The girls have a really good time playing with each other lately. They climbed on there rocking chair together and asked me to take pictures.

Too Cute! Need we say more.

Mya loves being a big sister. Hopefully she wants to help hold baby Adam when he's born.

Our trip to Arizona

2007-04-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

The girls and I took a trip with Grandma and Mikey to Arizona to visit Ben, Emy and Charlie for Spring Break. Unfortunately Jason was unbale to come on this trip.

Here's Mya holding baby Charlie

Brianna sporting Charlie's sun glasses while site seeing. Notice the harness and leash attatched to Brianna. We discovered that it was a necessary thing to have with Brianna. She is quite the busy body and loves to run off.

Here we are at the Montazuma Castle.

Here's Brianna and I at the Tutzigoot Indian ruins.

Mya at the Tutzigoot Indian ruins; she is quite the trooper walking around all these different places.

Brianna showing off her horse at the Grand Canyon. She sure loved the scenery today. But thank goodness for the leash.

Mya at the Grand Canyon.

Two beautiful girls at the Grand Canyon.

2006-12-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

Brianna wants to be a mommy. Or at least she is practicing to be a big sister. Ben, Emily, and Charlie came up for Christmas and the girls had a blast with "baby Charlie".

Mya wants to make sure she is protected when

she and Brianna go terrorizing around the house.

Jason got a new set of motorcycle riding gear for

his birthday and Christmas. The girls think it is for them too.

Here's the clan at Jason's birthday party at Granny and Grandpa Johnson's house.

Happy 26th Birthday you old man!

Hello

2006-11-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

We got this wonderful idea from Ben and Emilie Cox, Leslie's sister and brother-in-law. So, I figured we could give it a try as well. It seemed like a good way to keep updating and informing family and friends what is happening with our little family. Look for updates in the future.