Beach

Cousins

Our last night in Arizona...we sure love our cousins

Zoo

A little zoo trip with some of our friends from the neighborhood

Hiking

One of my good friends came to Hawaii for vacation and we were lucky enough to snatch up some time to see them while they were here.  I'm so mad at myself for not getting a picture of us together, but I did manage to get one with her little boy Ronan.  I met Melanie when we were in maybe 1st or 2nd grade.  We went to high school together and were roommates in college.  I had not seen her for a few years so it was such a treat to be able to catch up.  We hiked the pillboxes in Lanikai with them and then hit the beach for a little bit.  We can't wait to see them again!

Brinlyn, Elli, Ronan

Jamba Run

Elli ran in her first official race and I think she liked it.  Maybe she will take after her dad and tear it up!

Our little Brinlyn...

She is quite the adventurer

Naughty

Audrey and Elli were missing for some time before one of the adults inquired as to where they were.  We found them in the bathroom "putting on makeup".  They had a red marker and they colored all over each other!  I was laughing so hard I couldn't even explain to them that they were being naughty.  The funniest part is, they took off their clothes and colored their entire body!

Grandma Moments 4/29/12

My girls love to help grandma do whatever it is she is doing and this day was no different.  Good thing my mom is super patient and can handle the helpers.

Snuggle time with grandma

Awww...green grass!

At Audrey's birthday party we did a three legged race which my girls had a blast doing--it was actually hilarious to watch.

Johnson Fun

This is the whole Johnson family, only missing Kevin--pretty amazing since we are spread out into six different states

All the Johnson cousins: Thomas, Grace, Audrey, Annie, Kyrie, Elayna, Brinlyn, Elli, Bennett, Reese, Charlotte, Mayley (Porter was at a baseball game)

Elayna and Bennett are only one day apart.

I love this picture of grandpa Johnson and Bennett

Grandmas Birthday 4/24/12

We were so lucky to get to spend some time with my grandma while we were in Arizona.  She flew in from California for a visit at the same time we did.  I'm so glad she was able to come!  We celebrated her birthday which of course my kids loved.  (Anytime there is cake and candles my girls get so excited!) 

Gilbert Temple 4/23/12

It was so great to be able to see the Gilbert Temple under construction while we were in Arizona.  It is a gorgeous temple...we can't wait to see it all completed.  The girls were given a small piece of rock that came from a broken piece they could no longer use for the temple.  The worker explained that if there are any flaws they will not use the piece.  The rock was sent from Texas and while in route sometimes some of it cracks.  My girls still have the piece of the temple they keep in a safe little box. 

Grandpa Great 4/22/12

This was one of the last pictures taken of Grandpa Lunt before he passed on to meet his dear wife.  We will always cherish this picture.  Grandpa was an amazing example of how we should live our lives.  He served the Lord with all his heart and was a great missionary.  We miss him but know he is happy to be with his wife and all others that have passed on.

Pat Tillman Run 4/21/2012

 We were lucky to be able to run the Pat Tillman race this year (we halfway planned our visit so we could run it).  It has been a fun race that Nate and I have run in every year since we have been married!  This was our sixth Tillman run.  I was completely out of shape and it was painful but I did it!  Nate ran awesome and placed 28th our of over 30,000 runners.  He is crazy fast and I was super proud.  I placed in the 29,000! :)

 Cyndi Mullenaux and I have tried to run the race together a few times and this year was no exception.  I love that girl!  She has so much energy and if it wasn't for her I probably would not have finished the race.  Nothing like trying to run 4.2 miles after not running for several months.

 Hopefully Bennett will find joy in running like his dad and have the ability like him and not his mama!

The girls stayed with grandma while we ran the race.  Grandma Karen had to come out to our house at some wicked early hour like before 5:00.  Bennett came for the run and did great rockin' it out in the double jogger with Cyndi's little girl, Lilly.

4-9-2012 Bennett

I got an iphone just before we left for our month long trip to Arizona.  I loved having the camera to take all sorts of pictures wherever we were.  I just uploaded all the pictures so now all my blog posts are out of order.  Oh well, at least I am getting it down I guess.  Here is our little man at almost two months old.  My sister gave me this outfit and it was a favorite.  Why do they have to grow out of their clothes so quickly?

Family Photo Shoot

 My good friend Janelle took our family pictures while we were in Arizona.  I love how they turned out in the orange groves, all green and fun.  The kids were good sports but wow, how in the world does she manage to get everyone looking at the camera and happy?  I printed a bunch of these pictures to hang on our walls here in Hawaii and I love that it reminds me of Arizona.  Thanks to Janelle for another great photo shoot!

5 months!

Bennett looks kind of chubby but really it's just the round head that gives that illusion. :)  We just can't get enough of this little guy.  We have had to teach the girls that Bennett sometimes doesn't want all the love (smothering).  They just adore this little man.  Most the time the girls make him so happy.  His hair has thinned out a lot since he was born but hopefully it grows back in thicker.  We have hair issues in our family so we shall see.  I still think he is one handsome man!

Elli turns 5!

Elli turned 5 on July 4th.  We asked her if she wanted to have a birthday party in our backyard with lots of friends or do something with just a few friends.  She knew right away that she wanted to go to Chuckie Cheese.  We invited out neighbor friends, played the token games for a bit, had some cake and called it a day.  Everyone had a great time and it was the easiest birthday party I've ever done!  

5 years old!  Oh my!

June 30-Passie Fairy

 It was a day I was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time.  Brinlyn now a solid 2 1/2 still had a pacifier that she so dearly loved.  Her pediatrician had said I needed to take it away at 1 1/2 and here we were at 2 1/2.  So, we started talking about the passie fairy who comes in the night and takes pacifiers that big kids don't need anymore and gives them to babies that need them.  Brinlyn has an imagination and this passie fairy seemed pretty neat.  I told her that she would leave some fun presents under her pillow when she took the pacifiers.  And so there, you have it...Brinlyn is passie free!  She found all five of her pacifiers and put them under her pillow and was super excited to find all her treasures in the morning.  As I am writing this post, it has been over a month now and she has only asked for her pacifier when she has been overtired.  It was WAY easier than I ever thought it would be.  She plays with the purse full of makeup, cell phone, keys, etc almost every day and reminds us that she got it from the passie fairy.

Nice outfit?  It was raining pretty hard so she had the idea right--boots and a suit and go at it!

4 Months

Growing like crazy and getting more and more personality.  He has quite the set of lungs and lets us know when he needs something or is being overlooked.  He gets excited when he gets to be a part in things.  He doesn't sleep well yet but maybe it's because he doesn't want to miss all the partying going on by his big sisters?  He is a super happy little buddy most the time.  He has a pretty serious look on his face most the time but if you look at him and say anything to him he lights up.  We love our little Bennett!

May 20, 3 months old

Oh how we love our little man!  Here is our little three monther!

Many babies love to be swaddled.  Bennett is an exception to that rule.  He would rather be sprawled out as much as possible and then he is one happy dude. 

May 21-Preschool

I did not bust out my camera near enough this year during preschool and now I am sad.  Here is a picture of the kids surfing.  I was assigned the theme summer fun (I think that's what it was), and we made surf boards and did some serious imagining.  We went out and did some water activities afterwards.  We loved this preschool group and only hope for another great year!

This picture tells of the craziness that happened during our preschool year.  There were five mamas in the group and four of us had babies during the year.  Kai was born in November, Bennett in February, Lizzie in December and Claire in January.  It added some spice fore sure.  Bennett clearly added in this picture!

Spotlight

In May all the kids in Elli's preschool did what we called "spotlight".  Each child was assigned a day where they brought a treat to share and a poster about themselves.  We had a fun time making this poster together for family night.  I wanted to post it mostly for myself to remember things about Elli.  Here are some of the things she wanted to include:
Favorite color-blue
Favorite song-"Families Can be Together Forever"
Favorite show- "My Little Pony"
Favorite food- ice cream
Loves: Disneyland and princesses, ballet, littlest pet shops, polly pockets, little sister Brinlyn and baby brother Bennett, crafts,
Broke her arm when she was 2
Has a great imagination

We sure love our little Elli.  She brings so much joy to our family.  I love that she is so helpful with Brinlyn and Bennett.  She never likes to see anyone sad and when they are she wants to fix it as soon as she can (well, unless she caused it)!  She could spend hours at the table doing crafts and coloring.  She loves to play house and dolls.  She plays great with friends and thinks she is bored if there isn't a friend to play with.  We are spoiled by all our friends and close neighbors to play with.  I'm not sure what will happen when we have to move!

Mother's Day-May 13

 Mother's Day just keeps getting better and better each year.  The older the kids get the more into holidays they get and Mother's Day was no exception.  Elli must have heard or seen a show that talked about serving breakfast in bed so that is what she wanted to do for Mother's Day this year.  Nate helped the kids make scones (I gave him the recipe which was super simple), and chocolate chip heart shaped pancakes (leftover from the day before).   The kids were SO excited to get to serve me their creation.  It was priceless to just see how happy they were.  They also made some butterflies with egg cartons, thanks to a creative dad.  They picked me out some gum and a sweet card and made me feel very loved and special.  I love my sweet little kiddos and can't imagine life without them.  What did I ever do?!!?

Now, as far as the scones go, Nate is still trying to figure out how to follow a recipe.  I have spoiled him for 6 years now and he likes to claim he doesn't cook.  Well, the scones were tasty but did look a little funny as clumps of dough.  I came into the kitchen afterwards to make another batch just to show him how its really done and decided to take a picture.  The top triangle shapes scones were mine and the clumps of dough were Nate's.  Too funny.  I sure love that guy for the many nice things he does and I guess I can excuse him from the kitchen. :)