Animal Kingdom

Tuesday was our Animal Kingdom Day… and everyone was excited.  We were the only ones who had been here before and within an hour or two some were saying they could spend a second day here.  It is a fun jungley atmosphere… totally different from Magic Kingdom. 

As soon as we entered the park we made our way back to Mt. Everest – the big roller coaster ride.  A few of us stayed back with the babies and strollers and the large group proceeded towards the gate to use the fast passes.  Megan was so excited… but when she got to the gate she was just barely not tall enough.  Crestfallen she walked back to sit with me.  Life is so unfair.  A couple minutes after the crowd cleared she walked back over to measure herself again…. just in case.

When they got out it was my turn to ride and most people opted to ride again.  Only this time while our roller coasters were zooming through the mountain someone just finishing the ride was having a medical emergency which required the entire ride to be shut down.  After ten minutes sitting in our stopped roller coaster at the highest point in the mountain we were ‘rescued’.  Disney workers climbed 17 floors to come escort us back down and what started out being a roller coaster ride ended up being a cool behind the scenes tour.  We walked in single file through a door  into a cavernous building full of tracks and support beams…then into the stair wells to climb down 17 flights of stairs.  At floor 9 we ran into the rest of our riders… Chris, Emily, Mike and Grandpa who were stranded in a different location.  It was a happy reunion and we couldn’t stop laughing about our new adventure.  And for our troubles… a cold water bottle and tickets to ride the mountain later.

   

 More Magical Memories of Animal Kingdom

• Letting the kids play in the dinosaur play land full of stairs, nets, slides and lots of dinosaur bones
• Taking a picture with Pluto
• Katie and Ryan getting soaked down to their underwear on River Rapids!
• Watching Grandpa love the ‘museum’ on the way into the Mt. Everest ride
• Megan re-measuring herself for the Mt. Everest ride
• Seeing alligators, elephants, giraffes, rhinos and tons of cool animals on the bumpy jeep African Safari
• Watching the 3D Bug’s Life show in the trunk of the big Tree of Life
• Being with Luke as he spotted the characters during the parade
• 3 girls screaming in the River Rapids… Leah, Annie and Megan
• Megan stating that her favorite ride was the ‘bunny ride’… which we finally figured out was the River Rapids ride… she thought everyone was saying River Rabbits ride and she preferred ‘bunny’ ride.  So funny.
• Being at the exit at the perfect time for a Donald, Minnie, Goofy dance party where our kiddos danced in a little parade.  So cute!

 

 

 

Magic Kingdom

We had decided early this year that we wanted to take advantage of the amazing military deals for Disneyworld.  We picked a week where the kids would only miss four days of school… (a big deal here in Georgia),  researched cheap flights for my parents and got on the phone prepared with a list of reasons why they should come with us.   But we didn’t need the list.   They said, ‘we’re in’ after the first sentence.  Dan and Sarah had already been wanting to make the trip and no one else could resist the perfect ‘Walton Disney Vacation of a Lifetime’.

We caravanned down to Orlando with Dan and Sarah and girls.  Grandpa and Grandma flew from Seattle.  Mike, Amy, Scott and Elisha and kids flew from Utah and Brian sent us his ‘magical best wishes’ from his mission in Arizona.  We met up Sunday night and got settled in the two 2-bedroom condos right outside Disneyworld (through Armed Forces Vacation Club.) and got excited for the week.

Monday morning we got our 5 days Disney tickets and headed to the happiest place on earth… The Magic Kingdom.

First of all, traveling anywhere with the Walton family is kind of hilarious.  6 cameras and 2 video cameras documented everything we did…  and although I don’t have official written releases for all of my siblings photos, I’m pretending I do.  Really everyone should travel with an entourage of wanna-be photographers, a photojournalist brother, a videographer planning each magical scene in his head and a video-clip happy Dad.  It’s so fun.

Our most magical memories of the day…

• Wearing the matching Mickey t-shirts Grandma and Grandpa bought for the kids
• Being so excited on the monorail we can hardly stand it
• Laughing to the funny ‘one-liners’ on our first ride of the day… Jungle Cruise… Ryan being the ‘skipper’
• Watching Luke on the Pooh Bear ride… reminded us so much of taking Ryan on that ride at the same age
• Seeing a few characters… Lilo and Stitch…  Jasmine
• All the cousins on the carousel
• Watching Grandpa and Grandma hold hands throughout the park
• Watching Megan be SOOO excited to do the big roller coasters… finally BIG ENOUGH!
• Hearing Luke say ‘dere mee mou’ every time he saw a picture of Mickey.
• Watching Luke be excited to see Buzz and go on the Buzz Lightyear ride
• Taking pictures by the castle
• Going on Splash Mountain… Chris, Megan and Dan got SOAKED in the back… all captured by Mike
• Watching the ‘Celebrate’ parade at 3:00   Molly was so cute!
• Riding Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Watching incredible fireworks while in line for Dumbo
• Witnessing Sarah’s unfortunate glow in the dark bracelet explosion flinging glow in the dark liquid into her hair and eyes… not very magical but memorable none the less…  complete with Dan capturing funny pictures of her trying to wash the toxic stuff out of her eyes.  ouch!
• Listening to Grandpa do a traditional seal hunt with the grandkids, in the dark, in the middle of Fantasy Land while we waited for Sarah to wash toxic stuff out of her eyes.
• Running onto rides like Peter Pan, Snow White and It’s a Small World with no lines, at the very end of the night, all together
• Favorite rides of the day… unanimously ‘Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain, and watching Luke on Pooh Bear’

 

 

  

 

And my favorite bunch of photos… captured by Mike on Splash mountain…

Look what Matthew found

   

Matthew is five months old today.    

He’s 16.2 pounds – 38th percentile.     He’s 27 inches long – 81st percentile.

He’s outgrown most of his 3-6 clothes mostly because of his length.

He’s super excited about his fingers and toes these days.  He lifts his legs up and then grabs his toes with his hands, pulling them closer… especially when he’s getting dressed.

He constantly has a finger in his mouth… just one, and he hooks it right around his gums like that’ll help it stay in or something.  We laugh and laugh.   He’s starting to get pretty drooley because of his new finger-sucking habit too.

He likes to sit in his exersaucer and play with the noisy roller toys.  He likes hanging out in the jolly jumper.

Like all of our kids he is a little behind in learning to roll but with trying to protect him from Luke he doesn’t get that much floor time.  We were shocked when he rolled over from back to front a couple days ago.  Since then he has mastered it.  He doesn’t love being on his stomach once he rolls over.

He just grabbed Chris’ plate at dinner last night and we all went ‘uh-oh.’

He smiles all the time.      He laughs at Ryan all the time.

He really is a mellow baby – except when he sees me and then he wants me to pick him up.

He loves hanging out in Daddy’s arms.

He is starting to bite me when he’s nursing except he has no teeth!   He nurses frequently but he’s really quick.

He sleeps through the night about half the time, the other half he wakes up once.  He still sleeps in our closet and we are getting frantic about where to put him.  Now that he can roll over the little tiny crib has got to go. Help!

He loves to grab at toys and loves to hold anyone’s hands.  We say he’s holding us hostage.

Conference Weekend

When the kids came home from school on Friday they walked into the family room to find this… the Conference Wall.  I found something on-line this week that sparked this idea and decided it would be fun to try.  The kids were thrilled.  They didn’t even know what it would be used for (I didn’t really either… in typical Lisa ‘making it up as I go’ fashion…) but they were excited nonetheless. Then they saw the Conference Basket.

• Conference packets printed out from Sugardoodle.net on brand new clip boards
• Prophet finger puppets for Megan
• New Boxes of Crayons – (25 cents from the Back to School sale)
• Apostle Bingo Boards
• Special treats for each session
• Cute homemade notebooks left over from my Young Women ‘pre-Conference party’
• General Authority flashcards
• Secret ‘Do not open until…’ envelopes with special activities to do before each session

They were allowed to look into the basket but couldn’t touch anything.  Oh… the torture!  “Mom, Thanks so much for celebrating Conference!” Emily said.

 

Our first ‘Do not open until…’ envelope contained small pictures of the first presidency, twelve apostles and the Primary, YW and Relief Society presidencies.  Found on Sugardoodle.net. There was no Elder Neil L. Anderson picture so we had to write him in.  Then we added two President Monson pictures and a ‘quorum of 70 speaker’ to complete the whole page.  While we glued we reviewed the apostles names.  I was amazed at how many they knew.  “That’s President Eyring”, Megan yelled.  (Our primary has been reviewing.) “Uchdorf is such a funny name” she giggled as she glued.  After we finished our BINGO boards we taped them to wall. After every talk we circled the appropriate speaker.  No BINGO’s yet!

When the first session started, (at noon for us) the kids were busy busy with their packets… writing down who was conducting, coloring the choir robes, noticing Apostles ties, writing the color of the flowers, copying down the name of the song.  It was priceless to watch.   We looked on the globe to find the new temples, circled the speaker on our Apostle Bingo boards and paused after each talk to tape their picture to our Conference Wall and write down some key words about what they spoke on.

The first session took us 2 hours and 43 minutes.  No, not because we paused to go play outside.  Ryan and Katie were taking such detailed notes that they wanted to ‘rewind’ so they could accurately copy the sentence.  They filled up pages and pages of their notebooks with great notes.  They did so well!  Katie’s favorite talk was President Uchdorf’s.  She said, “Mom, he’s just saying so many good things that I can’t write them all down.”  She threw her pen down on the floor and looked frustrated.  Just then President Uchdorf said, “Don’t be discouraged!”  We all looked at her and repeated his statement to make her giggle.   Saturday ‘morning’ session was fabulous. We loved it.

Our ‘don’t open until Saturday afternoon session’ envelope was a story from the May 2008 Friend about a Conference Reverence Tent.  We read it together and then built a tent in the living room so they could pretend to be like the people listening to King Benjamin.  Ryan was the only one that spent the entire second session in the tent although Luke visited him there quite often.  We ate smarties. We sustained the Prophet.  We wrote and wrote…   

Sunday morning the kids transformed the ‘tent’ (dining room table pulled into the family room) back into a table and sat there for most of the session… the perfect place to spread out all their papers and crayons and take notes.  Despite a small ‘meltdown’ from Emily because she colored the apostles tie the wrong color, it was a great session… especially since Luke and Matthew were taking a nap.  We were once again 25 minutes behind ‘real time’ because of the kids detailed note-taking and they busted me for trying to fast forward through one of the songs.  ‘Mom, those are really good songs.’  I know, I know.  Sorry.  Emily was the one to finally get the first BINGO on her apostle chart.

Things we're looking forward to in October...

• enjoying the beautiful 'cooler' weather
• taking more Family walks around the block
• seeing Grandma and Grandpa and all of the Waltons
• making carmel apples
• trick or treating
• watching Ryan's soccer games
• decorating Halloween sugar cookies
• vacationing with Mickey Mouse
• eating pumpkin squares with creamcheese frosting
• watching General Conference
• enjoying a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner
• going to the Fire Station with Megan's Pre-K class
• eating at the Ward Apple Fest activity
• cheering for more BYU games
• visiting the kids school Halloween parties
• playing in the backyard
• encouraging Matthew to roll over
• shopping for Christmas presents!!
• getting exciting for Thanksgiving with the Christoffersons

Nap time

I guess I waited a little too long to serve lunch today.  Luke 22 months old

Katie’s favorite show

 

Katie had a sick day this week… the kind of sick day where you’re too sick to go to school, but not too sick to shower, do you hair, and wear a necklace. Our school district is being strict with the ‘don’t come to school for 24 hours after your fever breaks’ rule so we kept her home on Monday.      …and what do you suppose she wanted to do?

I’ve been missing it actually.  Everyday this summer, Katie and I watched at least two episodes a day – sometimes four!  It plays two times a day on two different channels so we always had a huge selection to choose from.  We’d go between ‘young Laura’ and ‘old Laura’ episodes whenever we felt like it.  We folded a lot of laundry as we watched almost every episode there is…   Laura riding Bunny in the big race, Nellie pretending to be in the wheelchair, Charles buried alive in the mine, Carrie falling down the mine shaft, Mary going blind, Laura climbing to the top of the mountain, all the fun Laura and Almonzo ones… all of them.  We are ‘Little House on the Prairie’ junkies. 

We are still recording them but don’t have any time to watch them these days.  A ‘sick day’ is exactly what we both needed to get a little ‘LH on the P’ kick.  So fun that she loves them as much as I do.

We love Emily

Anyone who knows Emily knows that the pictures of  big sparkly blue eyes and perfect photogenic smiles are only half the picture.  This girl has always had a good little pouty lip.

For some reason the beginning of this school year has been rough for Emily.  She didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to get dressed and whimpered (well, that’s mild, maybe ‘screamed’ is better) while getting her hair done every morning as she told me she DID NOT want to go to school that day.   She assured me that she loved her teacher, and couldn’t specifically think of anything she didn’t like about first grade…  but every morning we went through the same routine again.    Some days we barely had enough time to wipe the tears away before getting to the front door of the school.  

That is, until the 10 day program.

Absolutely fed up and with no clue what to do I asked her what on earth she wanted.  I was actually trying to bribe her to be happy. Do you want a book, a stuffed animal, a trip to Toys R Us, a movie with Mom, a trip to Paris, an ice cream date with Dad…  BINGO, her face lit up.  “I want an ice cream date with Dad!” she squealed. 

Ok, Emmy lou, 10 days in a row of a happy attitude before school will earn you a very special ice cream date with Dad.

Well, exactly 10 days later Emily earned her special date… and in the process has become quite enjoyable in the morning.  Happy, eager, smiley, obedient… and no more pouty lip.    It’s amazing what chocolate with sprinkles and alone time with Dad will accomplish.   Life is good again.

The trip that never was

We had been excited about getting down to the BYU/Tulane game ever since BYU’s schedule came out.  A quick 6 hour drive, a night visiting with good friends from Washington, a New Orleans style BYU tailgating party, wearing our Cougar Blue’s in the Superdome for a fabulous win, out to eat in the French district, a night in the downtown Marriott, quality time with Ryan and Katie, not to mention the fun of leaving three of our kiddos behind with a babysitter…  Ah, but it was not to be.

Friday morning after our hotel was booked, tickets were purchased, bags were packed, babysitter schedule typed, grocery shopping done, menu options listed, and a whole family pumped up for a great weekend, Chris called to say it was a no-go.  The new hospital commander revoked everyone’s leave and issued a mandatory Saturday lecture and safety project for all active duty doctors and hospital staff.  Better yet, Chris being Chief of Radiology had to be in meetings Friday night as well.

There was nothing we could do except try to figure out how our friends would be able to get their tickets… which were sitting in Chris’ wallet.    Chris brought them home after our phone call and I Fed Ex them ‘priority mail express Saturday delivery guaranteed by noon’ to Mississippi.  With a noon guarantee, the game starting at 2:30 and an hour travel time,  it was going to be tight but doable.  

Our friends were bummed too.  Their daughter, Sierra, tried praying for a miracle hoping something would happen that would ‘let the Johnsons be able to drive here in the morning.’  But a miracle didn’t seem likely.

Saturday at noon Eric called for the tracking number.  Crap… no tickets.  He and I both started calling to see where they were.  Two hours and a few phone calls later I picked up the phone to Stephanie asking, “Are you ready to laugh?”  “Where are the tickets, Stephanie?” I responded flatly.  “They were misrouted to Washington DC.”  Oh, great.  Now both of our weekends were ruined.  8 tickets to the BYU game lost and 8 fans disappointed.  Sorry again, friends!

At least BYU had a strong win.  We recorded it and watched it late when Chris was ‘formally dismissed’ from his mandatory day.  And every time we saw BYU fans cheering we said, “We should be there.’  

…Maybe next time.

Matthew – 4 months old

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew is four months old now and such a part of the family that we really can’t imagine not having him. 

The whole family is just in love with him.  Megan says “Mom, I just want him to stay this size forever!” and I think we all agree. 

We are treasuring this last baby’s every movement, smile and giggle.

He’s doing so much these days…

• Giggling all the time… so ticklish right under his chin
• Loves being held up in the air and dropped slowly to our face
• Sits in his exersaucer but doesn’t really play yet
• Just started grabbing for his hanging toys in his Baby Einstein floor mat
• Loves to splash and kick his feet in the tub
• Says ‘goo’ and makes a funny spitting-like sound that makes us laugh
• Slowly grasps a toy if we hold it in front of him
• Likes to grab onto our hands
• Gets really distracted when eating and just wants to look up at me and smile
• Sleeps 7 – 8 hours at night usually waking at 6:00am for an early breakfast and then back to sleep
• Has lots of little naps and a couple really long naps
• Gets a little panicked when I put him in the swing because he knows I’m going to leave him
• Loves to be held and see what’s going on
• Moves all around when on the floor… starting to curl onto his right side
• Still sleeps in the Master closet
• Sucks on his hands… sometimes his thumb
• Straightens out his legs and points his toes when he’s really excited
• Arches his back when he’s propped up so that he slides down and then gets mad
• Sits in his Bumbo but big brother Lukey gets jealous so we don’t pull it out much
• Calms down when mom runs the bath water or uses the blow dryer
• Is using the big soother now… stays in better
• Wearing 3-6 month clothes with a few 6-12 exceptions
• Loves when the kids come up to him to say HI
• Likes his pants changed
• Likes to hold onto his soft blankets and pull them up by his face
• Loves when we sit him on our lap and hold onto his hands to do “This is the Way the Farmer Rides, Hobledee hoy…”
• Is very calm just hanging out on Dad’s lap late at night
• Has more hair than Luke had at this age
• Has adorable blue eyes, obviously

There's nothing to do

Great day to be a Cougar.

No pictures for this one but just imagine... 8 Johnsons decked out in BYU colors, four other impressively dressed cougar families, blue and white table decorations with hamburgers, hot dogs and all kinds of sides, lots of cheering, lots of excitement, four guys pacing with delightful anxiety, Chris clutching his football and hollering so loud he made Matthew cry, lots of 'wow' texts from our friends, a perfectly wonderful win against Oklahoma, kids jumping up and down screaming, phone calls coming in to review the game play by play and glory in the win, Chris grinning from ear to ear listening to the post game show. You get the picture... it's a great day to be a Cougar.

Balloon Glow

Friday night was the annual Callaway Gardens Balloon Glow. We went last year and loved it. This year we added a Subway sandwich picnic, some friends and a package of extra Fourth of July sparklers. It was a fun night.

 

Sneaky service

I found these sneaky service notes while preparing for my yw lesson and thought I'd use them for family home evening last night. I shrunk them down so that four fit on a page and put them in a little envelope. We talked about service, sung my very favorite song "When my Mother calls me, quickly I obey..." and then I handed each person in the family their packet of sneaky service notes and charged them to do sneaky service to several members of the family. They were SO excited. We quickly headed in different directions trying not pay attention to each other. Somebody (Megan) filled up ice and water in plastic cups so everyone could have a drink. Somebody (Emily) made my bed and Ryan's bed. Somebody (Katie) cleaned the family room. Somebody (Ryan) got out the next John Adams DVD all ready to push play and got all the popcorn stuff out ready to make. (We are watching the series with Ryan and Katie and it is so good and has been so fun to do together!) Somebody (me) wrote happy notes to my girls and put them on their pillows. Somebody (Dad) cleaned the girls messy room. There were sneaky service notes placed all over the house. Actually the kids still did sneaky service even though they ran out of notes to leave. When we all gathered back together Katie said, "Mom, that was so much fun! I was so excited to surprise you and when I saw you head upstairs and I couldn't wait to see what you did up there." Sneaky service was so much fun.