Getting crafty

So I have never in my life decorated a ginger bread house. So I thought as a good family home evening activity we would do this. Haylee was very exited and couldnt wait for Daddy to get home so we could decorated it. I have now found out why I have never decorated a ginger bread house. I looked at the box at the store and thought, "that looks easy enough." I was confindent that I could do it. Although the final product of our gingerbread house turned out alright, it in no way looked liked the one on the box. It is actually really hard. I think my frosting was too dry, so we had a hard time spreading it. Also I had a hard time explaining to Haylee that we couldnt just eat all the candy. Even though it was messy, and didnt turn out exactly the way I wanted, it was still a lot of fun. Haylee had a good time and was proud of it. She was also happy we didnt use all the candy cause she got to eat the leftovers.

Thanksgiving Memories

We had a lot of good times this thanksgiving. It was nice to be around some family. I am very thankful to have such a wonderful family. Don't worry, Seth is only chugging the sparkling cider bottle. It was so much fun to see Christopher again he liked uncle Seth and Haylee. He also thought that our little dog Oscar was hilarious.
Angie and I got to break the wishbone. She got the bigger half so I guess her wish will come true and mine won't, dang!!. Anyway thisthanksgiving was a good one. Their are so many things to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving is over. It seems like the time is just flying by at times. We had a great thanksgiving this year. My sister Angie and her Husband Jason and their baby Christopher came to visit from Rexburg. We also had my little brother Kevin visit us from Ridgecrest. It was a blast. It was nice to see my nephew Christopher he has grown so much. Angie and I had a good time trying to cook the turkey, since neither one of us had ever cooked a turkey and had absolutely no idea what we were doing. We new that we needed to take out the giblet bag (i think that is what it is called). So I got to be the luck one who stuck my hand in there to get it out. Our turkey was not all the way thawed so it was difficult to get it out.

After not knowing anything about cooking turkeys we realized that it really isnt that difficult and were actually quite proud of the way that our turkey turned out. We forgot to take a picture of it but it was BEAUTIFULL. It was golden brown and crispy on the outside and nice and juicy on the inside. We think that Thanksgiving was a success. We had a ton of food and all ate until we couldnt move.

A new best friend

We recently got a new puppy. He is a miniature doberman. He is very sweet. Although Haylee doesnt know how to pick him up and hold him very well she loves him very much and tries very hard. She is always making sure that he has enough water and is always feeding him his food. This is the most mellow dog, especially for a puppy. Whatever Haylee does to him he just sits there and lets her do it. Sometimes I feel a little sorry for him. He loves to snuggle up with you and just lay there for hours. I think that he is going to be a very good fit into our family. We still need a name for him however. We have been calling him Boogs because that is what the person who sold him to us was calling him but we think that we need to change it because sometimes Haylee say Boobs which is a little weird. So we are thinking of good names for our little guy. We love him and cant wait to become fast friends.

Halloween

I can't believe that Halloween has already come and gone. This year was fun because Haylee is a little older now. On Wednesday we went to the ward Trunk or Treat. This was really fun, everyone decorated their trunks and after we went trick or treating they had a cake walk and a bean bag toss. I dressed up like a witch, and Seth dressed up like Joe dirt. I thought our little family looked pretty cute.

On Friday we went out trick or treating. At first Haylee was a little nervous about going up to a strangers house and ringing the doorbell. She caught on real fast though and was soon ringing their bell five or six times. The people had to be careful giving Haylee candy though. If they put the bowl down low enough she would dive right in and get as much candy as she could fit in her little hand. Aaron and Sean came with us which was fun because Haylee got to go trick or treating with her couins. It was cute watching them all run up to all the doors and say trick or treat.

After we had trick or treated to the point where the kids could barely carry their buckets we went home and started going through all the candy. The kids were really anxious to dump all their candy on the floor and see what they had gotten. I don't know about Aaron and Sean but Haylee had a hard time winding down that night. I think she may have snuck one too many pieces of candy.

Carving Pumkins

Carving pumpkins this year was really fun. Haylee is a little older and was able to help a little bit more. She refused to stick her hand in the pumpkin to pull out all the stuff though. That was just a little too gross for her. We have always known that she doesnt like to get her hands dirty from her first birthday when she wouldnt play in her cake. So she would just try to clean out the pumpkins with the spoon. She liked making faces on them though and was very willing to help us blow them out at night after they were lit. All in all I think that we had a really good time and our pumpkins turned out great.

Calling Jesus Christ

Haylee sometimes likes to act like she is talking on the phone. Sometimes she actually does call someone without us knowing it. We will often get a phone call from friends or family saying that Haylee called to say Hello. But her most recent phone call was a bit unusual. She was sitting on the floor talking on the phone when we heard her say Hi Jesus. We then asked Haylee, "who are you talking to"? She said that she had called Jesus Christ and was talking to him. I told her to give him a message for me. It was a really cute moment. We took this opportunity to teach Haylee that you can "call" him when you need him when you say your prayers. This was a cute moment that turned into a good teaching opportunity. We will probably always remember when Haylee called Jesus to say Hello.

Silly Face Pumpkins

Haylees favorate pumpkins are the small ones that she can carry. So we have a lot of these little pumpkins that are really too small to carve. So I saw these silly faces and thought that would be fun. It is very similar to Mr. Potato Head. You can stick them in and take them out and rearrange them any way you want. Haylee liked this a lot, so she probably would like Mr potato head also. Anyway they actually turned out pretty cute.

Riding the Horses

Seth had a conference in Spokane this week, so Haylee and I decided to go along and make a trip out of it. It was fun, we spent the day at Riverside Park and Haylee got to ride the Carousel (spelling?). Needless to say she loved it and wanted to ride over and over again. When it was time to leave she through a bit of a fit and made some people around us feel sorry for her. One man even gave us about ten free tokens just so Haylee could keep riding. So Haylee got to ride a lot. She loved it.

Happy Fall

I just cant believe that it is already fall. The leaves are all turning colors and starting to fall from the trees. I like fall a lot more here in Washington than I did in the desert. It is amazing to see the colors. I tell my husband, who has lived here all his life how amazing I think it looks. I dont think he quite appreciates it the way that I do, because he doesnt know anything else. Although I love the leaves and the pumpkins and the cool air, I am not all too excited about the leaves falling from MY tree. I have a willow tree in my back yard. All the leaves are eventually going to fall from it and I will have a big job ahead of me. Even still I think fall is amazing. I love to decorate my house and pick out pumpkins. I just think it is a really great time of year.

On top of the world

Haylee and Daddy decided to try to tackle the big straw mountain. It was fun watching them climb their way to the top. When you get up there you just feel like you are on top of the world.

Straw Maze

We Went to Country Mercantile and got to run through the straw maze. It was actually not as easy as it looked. Haylee had a great time running through it. Everytime she would hit a dead end she would just try to climb over it. We tried to tell her that you cant do that, its cheating. I dont think she carred very much. We did eventually find the end. It was a lot of fun.

The Pumkin Patch

Well we went out to the pumkin patch today at Country Mercantile. It was fun we had lunch and went in the straw maze, we went to the petting zoo and found two great pumpkins. I had a hard time finding the perfect pumkin though. Haylee found hers right away. She likes the ones that are small enough for her to carry. She knows what she wants too, (she must get that from her Dad). When she saw the pumpkin that she wanted she knew. She saw this guy holding this little pumpkin and proceeded to tell him, "I want that one", and pointed to the one that he was holding. Thank goodness he was a nice guy and gave her the pumpkin. It turned out to be really fun. I am excited to carve them for Halloween, we have lots of pumpkins of all different sizes so it will be fun.

Daddys Girl

Although sometimes they may bump heads. Haylee is definately her Daddys girl. When we ask her what she wants to do this weekend her response many times is go to a football game. One of the first words she said is "Touchdown". She goes to Daddys basketball games and cheers on the coach. She has been able to say the words, "one two three Go Braves" and "Boxout" since before she was two, things that she often chants from the stands. She is definately the coaches assistant.

Halloween Cookies

This year we started a new Johnson family tradition, decorating pumpkin cookies. Haylee was a bit skeptical at first, she said that pumpkins are scary. But, after some practice found that she was pretty good at decorating cookies.

The Johnson Family

Well I am now a blogger. As a young stay at home Mom I am excited to have somewhere to put all the fun things that are happening in my family. It seems like my little girl Haylee is doing something new and exciting everyday. I sometimes find it hard to keep up. Many times I feel as if I cant even blink or she gets bigger. She is now two years old and very independent. I miss my baby but am so proud of the little girl that she has become and look forward to new and exciting things for her.