Johnson Quad

I can't believe my baby turned 1 yesterday.  To say time flies is an understatement.  I have been trying to just live in the moment lately and cherish every moment.  Because time does fly by so much faster than it feels like it did when I was little.
Yesterday was a wonderful day, I am so glad I could spend it with family and friends.
Right after Brandon woke up he wanted to go outside.  Ever since he realized we have a swing set & slide in the backyard he wants to live out there.  Ryan mowed the front lawn and I played with Brandon.  Ryan even let Brandon help mow the lawn and he loved it!  He got mad when it was time to go back inside.  It made him happier when we put him in the bath with his toys.  He got to do two of his favorite things first thing in the morning on his birthday!  He was a happy boy.
After a much needed nap we went outside again and blew bubbles while Ryan tried to get his drone out of a tree. Lol  The wind did not help in the process of trying to fly the drone.  Eventually we got it down but the battery had died.  We will have to play with it again another day.  Palmer loves it!
We then went to the zoo, it was a little chilly but all of the animals didn't seem to mind.  The zoo is one of our favorite places and I'm glad my kids enjoy it as much as I do!  Brandon's favorite animal were some colorful birds in the amphibian house.  He got so excited when he saw them and watched them for several minutes.
In the evening we were able to have lots of family and friends over for dinner.  Ryan and I chose to do a construction theme and I had a blast with it!  Here are a few pictures from the party.

Ryan and I love this time of year!  We are so excited to be with family tomorrow and reflect upon the special blessings that we have received the past year.  Surrounded by good company and amazing food-what could be better?
Here are just a few updates about our little family:
* Ryan is working at Wells Fargo as a personal banker and he loves it, we are grateful he found a job he enjoys and he is grateful to be surrounded by fun energetic people at work!  They are a fun branch!! He works at the branch at Ivy Place on 45th South and 9th East
*In February I moved to Associated Food Stores corporate location and I am loving it.  I am a Sr. Administrative Support Specialist in the IT dept and am the admin for the VP of Technology.  Being away from Palmer is easier when I enjoy what I do at work:)  Associated is an awesome company to work for and I'm grateful for the relationships I have built during my time here so far.
*Ryan is currently the ward clerk and the 1st counselor in the Elders Quorum.  Sundays are very busy for him but I am grateful for the guidance and inspiration he has been able to receive from the Spirit while serving in his callings.
*I am still playing the piano in primary and I love it.  We have very special primary kids in our ward and I know I am in the right place:)  I also am a compassionate service assistant.  I haven't done much with that calling yet but I'm excited to get to know the sisters in the ward better and to be able to be given so many opportunities for service.
* In September we were able to visit Adam, Jess and Carter in Texas and we loved it!  We were able to see so many different places in Texas and we were so grateful that Adam and Jess let us stay at their cute new home!  Palmer misses Carter and at least once a day he asks if we can go see Aunt Jess and Carter on a big plane again.  We are looking forward to April because Adam, Jess, Carter and their new baby boy (due February 2015) are flying in to visit.  Our baby should be here by then as well!

*Palmer loves having aunt Rosie watch him.  We were able to turn our spare bedroom into a room for her so she usually stays with us a few nights a week, Mon through Thursday.  Rosie has a sweet spirit and we are blessed to have family watching our little guy.  Palmer loves to go to either Aunt Maureen's, Aunt Annie's or Grandpa Johnson's on Fridays.  We are so thankful to have so many family members willing to help us!!
*Palmer loves movies, but his favorite right now is Planes.  He loves Dusty! We are surprising him with Planes 2: Fire and Rescue for Christmas.  I think he'll be excited! He is such a happy kid, he makes me laugh all day long.  He is potty trained and doing pretty good at night.  We have to be careful about giving him drinks too close to bed time.  He thinks he is a big boy!

*Charlie dog is huge!  He is just a bundle of energy and we love having him around.  He is starting to settle down a little but still loves to wrestle with dad.  He thinks he is a lap dog and he loves to give kisses.
*We are all very excited to meet baby boy #2 in April!  Each day I can feel him moving around and kicking a little bit stronger.  He loves music, whenever I play the piano, sing or have music playing he's usually moving a ton.  We have a first name picked out but are still trying to find a middle name that fits.

We are so grateful to be surrounded by friends and family at this fun time of year.  We are grateful for our callings in our ward and grateful to be involved in the gospel!  We are so grateful for our warm house and the chance we are to be together:)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I am the worst Blogger in the history of blogging. . . . .But all that matters is that I am finally doing it again.  And this post is to Show our new house a little bit!




We moved in the Saturday before Father's Day and have really enjoyed living here.  Our new ward is filled with very friendly people, lots of new families with little kids. Palmer loves it!  The first week he made friends quick and followed them around through Sacrament and didn't even want to kiss us good bye when he went into nursery. We were thrilled! That family wasn't there today so it was a little harder for Palmer to go to nursery. 
Just a few fun facts about our home and the moving in process:
1) We had an adventure painting the upstairs bedrooms and discovered that neither Ryan or I should paint.  We are so grateful our wonderful brother and sister, Adam and Jess Johnson, pretty much took over  and made it look amazing.  Palmer's room used to have a nasty hand painted camo wall and our room used to be yellow with a purple strip around the whole perimeter.  We love the color we picked!


2) I have always wanted a red accent wall so now I have one! I absolutely love it!!!!






3) We replaced the carpet upstairs and are so pleased with it.  I love the smell and feel of new carpet:)
4) We were going to rip out the carpet in the front room and put new carpet and tile.  When Ryan ripped up the carpet we found beautiful hard wood floors!!! Ryan, being so amazing, rented a sander from Home Depot and refinished the wood. He really did a great job!

5) We both really love leather couches and now we have two!!! They are so comfy.



6) Palmer loves being outside!  The previous owners left a swingset.  Palmer loves the slide, but the swings not so much.  He's the first kid I've seen that doesn't beeline straight for the swings.


7) Ryan's favorite part about this house is the detached garage. It has it's own 200 amp power supply and he can't wait to work on cars, etc.
8) I love my kitchen! It has so much cabinet space.  It has two huge tuppeware drawers, yes Palmer tries to climb in them and he fits, a built in lazy susan and pull out drawers for food storage.  Palmer really likes the bar stools as well.  He has found that it is quite tricky to get down though.  It's funny to watch him. lol

We love and appreciate everyone who helped us move! We wouldn't have been able to do it in a day without all the help we received.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Little to say, it has been a while.  The past few months have been the happiest and busiest months of our lives!  We absolutely love our new addition, Palmer David Johnson. He arrived at 4:13 pm October 15th (he now shares a birthday with his grandmother!)  He entered the world with nothing but a grand entrance.  He had several nurses in the delivery room, along with the doctor, Mom and Dad.  About a half hour before he was born our main nurse, Jackie (it was easy to remember!) started trying different methods to get Palmer to turn.  He did not want to cooperate! The next thing I knew, about ten nurses rushed into the room along with my doctor and Jackie put an oxygen mask over my face.  Not only was he not turning but his heart rate started slowing down.  The doctor informed me that it was time to push.  Palmer was not handling delivery very well and they needed to get him out, they discovered that the chord was wrapped around his neck twice.  I only remember pushing a few times and he was born.  I was a nervous wreck!  They didn't tell me how he was doing and I hadn't heard him cry yet.  To my great relief I heard him cry and they started to tell me how he was doing.  His APGAR scores were getting better after a few minutes.  They took him to the NICU for half an hour, but thankfully  I got to see him and give him kisses!!! He gained his strength back very quickly and then we got to take him up to our room.  It was amazing to finally have him here!  Ever since he got here he has been healthy and strong!  He is almost as tall already as his 2 year old niece.  We absolutley love being parents:) He is such a good baby and we are blessed to call him our own! Here are a few facts about our little man:
*He started rice cereal two weeks ago and he absolutely loves it!
*His favorite person is his cousin Nate.  Nate loves to read to Palmer and gets so excited when he comes to visit!
*Palmer loves his daddy! He has a boys night on Wednesdays when I have to work, and Palmer loves it! I come home to two tired boys because they've exerted so much energy!
*Palmer loves the car
*He loves to pull hair! We are trying to teach him other methods of entertainment.
*He slept through the night for the first time about a week ago.
*He is the greatest blessing in our lives and we love him more than we ever thought possible!!!
We are eternally grateful to our Father in Heaven who sent this angel to us safely! We are so grateful that Palmer is so happy!  He brightens each moment we're with him:)

     We are down to 3 weeks!!! Wahoo!!! We had an appointment on Friday and the doctor said I've already started to dilate and I'm 70% effaced.  Our little man is letting my body know that he wants to come soon!  I could go in to labor tomorrow or I could still go past my due date, but I'm so excited to know that he's started to progress.  We have another appointment on Tuesday so we'll see if he's any closer!
      On Saturday we went to an all day birthing class.  Now first of all, they shouldn't do that to pregnant women! It was really difficult to sit for that long, little to say I was very uncomfortable.  But it was a refresher course and I feel a little more prepared for delivery. 
     The wonderful people at work threw us a shower on Thursday night and we have loads more stuff that is spread out in our living room. . . . yep, still trying to figure out where to put it all! We have almost everything we need and we still have one more shower to go.  Thank you all for being such amazing people! I love working with you and both Ryan and I appreciate all your love and support:)  We cannot wait to show off our little man! Palmer gets so excited when I tell him about all of the people around us who can't wait to meet him.  And I'm so grateful that I can count on everyone at work.  All the ladies watch out for me and check up on me all the time.  I truly am blessed to work with the people I do.  They assure me that if my water breaks they will drive me to the hospital! Ryan feels a little better about me working this close to the due date because he knows they will take care of me.
      We are starting to take down guesses of Palmer's due date, weight and heighth.  We'll see who guesses the closest!  Our excitement just keeps building and we're getting on top of our list of to dos before the big day:)

     The closer we get to the baby the more fun things we have planned.  It makes the time fly by, which I love:)  Over the past few weeks I have had a huge urge to nest!!  I'm glad Ryan loves me and lets me do whatever I want.  We managed to rearrange our whole house in the space of two days.  We reorganzied storage so we can fit more baby stuff and furniture so we can fit the baby easier.  I feel so much better now!
     We had our first baby shower on Saturday and it was a blast! I'm already wondering where we're going to put everything.  A baby needs a lot of stuff.  Whether it's a boy or girl, just the essentials take up a ton of space.  I absolutely love looking through his outfits and sorting all the fun things he has already.      
     I really wanted to find a picture of Christ for the baby's room and we found the perfect one! I was with my friend Whitney when I bought it and we both think the little boy sitting next to Christ looks like a mini Ryan.  The photo is entitled "Grace of God" by Jay Bryant Ward.



     I'm trying to keep myself busy.  I am working on a car seat cover and I finished crocheting him a blanket a few months ago.  I love crocheting so I think he'll have one or two more by the time he gets here:) I'm also trying to get a few scrapbooking pages ready and my friend Caren told me she would help me.  She's wonderful at it!



     We are getting more and more excited everyday! Palmer is getting so big and he's such an active baby.  I am so grateful!  7 more weeks!!!!