Christmas Eve... and Day

Christmas Eve was spent at my Aunt's house with almost the whole fam. My aunt makes this fantastic shrimp dinner and then we all have a "sharing time" where we can read a story, sing a little song, do a little dance, play a game, or whatever we feel like doing. Grant and I read a funny story, my brother's family had us play a game with chocolate, there were some magic tricks, and songs... even some presents! It was such a fun night. Wes seemed to enjoy the singing by his cousins the most. They sang a rousing rendition of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and Wes was riveted.


Me-- looking a little scary-- and my little Santa

My aunt has this great tradition of reading a cute story and then making all of the kids something to go along. This year it was gloves!

Wes was fascinated with his!

We got home at a pretty decent hour, however Wes was having a rough time with his teeth and a little cold, so going to bed (and staying asleep) were rough for most of the night. Yet we were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning, ready for Christmas Day! This was the first Christmas Grant and I had alone in our little house. It was nice and cozy with our sweet baby boy and our funny little dogs. Santa was good to Wes (as were his grandparents, aunts and uncles!!) He got a ball, and a big-boy toothbrush, several books, and his own phone that talks to him when he pushes the buttons, his own set of kid car keys, clothes, more toys... he was so happy!
Grant made us a wonderful Christmas Breakfast, and after a nap for Wes (and the rest of us) we went to visit our families. We hung out and Grant's mom's for a while, and then made a stop at my parent's place as well. It was so nice to be with our families, but the weather was getting nasty, and a big storm was predicted for the evening, so we had to head back home. All in all, it was one lovely Christmas.


Just chillin' on Christmas morning.

Wes sees his present...

... but thinks the ribbon is far more interesting
than what is in the wrapping paper...

...then finally figures out it is a ball!

Yay! His own keys! Now he can stop stealing mommy's!

Wes just being happy with his book.

'Tis the Season

I don't think a woman is truly broken in as a mother until her kiddo has a cold for the first time.
To carry around a pocketful of Kleenex, to constantly have a slimy shoulder thanks to a baby who rubs his adorable yet snotty face all over it before the aforementioned Kleenex can even be accessed.... that is what true motherhood is about!!
Yes, Wes has a cold for the first time. And just after he got over his four top teeth coming in at the same time! Oy, that was rough. My Christmas Eve (after the fun family festivities) was spent trying to get Wes to bed.... again.... and again.... the fun didn't end until about 3 in the morning. But enough about that stuff! I would much rather tell you about all of the fun festivities! Let me back up a bit. A couple of weeks ago, my brother, his fiancee, and my nephew all came up to go on a hay ride in the park near our house to see The Lights Before Christmas. It is this super short hay ride through the most random lights display imaginable, few of which have anything to do with Christmas. It was a blast! A good, old fashioned, rip roarin', freezing cold, good time!

Wes was so bundled up it was hard to hold him!

Dan and Corrie, Wes and yours truly

This is Wes's opinion of the lights display.

Giving Thanks

Ok, some I'm a little behind on my blogging. Sorry about that. This years Thanksgiving was one of our favorites.
Here is the story:
We decided to keep things very simple this year. Traditionally I come down to my mom's the day before Thanksgiving to help polish silver and wash crystal and china... the whole nine yards. Then we come down again for the actual holiday. Also, Grant had to work the day after Thanksgiving, so to save a lot of time and driving, we decided to use this great promotion Marriott is having, and stay at a hotel downtown. It felt like a mini vacation.


Wes thinks we got this bed just for him. Forget watching TV... eating the remote is way more fun!
We took Wes swimming for the first time Wednesday night (he seemed to enjoy it.)

Look at this chub in his swimming trunks! He could double as a sumo wrestler.

Though Wes LOVES water, the pool was a little cold, and he just wasn't sure about it at first.

He liked it more after a bit.

Wes looking very suspiciously at the pool after we took him out.


On the morning of Thanksgiving, we took a long walk around Temple Square.

It was practically empty, except for the missionaries and a few visitors. It was so quiet and peaceful. There was such a wonderful spirit there. The Christmas displays were all set up (they turn on the lights the day after, but I would take our experience any day over the crowded, noisy nights once the lights are on.) We talked to the missionaries, and stopped in the visitors center. Grant was so sweet with Wes and talked to him all the way about Jesus and His life. We saw this darling little family going around and giving packages of M&M's to all of the missionaries, and saying, "today we are thankful for missionaries." How awesome is that? What a great example that was... to not only be thankful, but to show that we are thankful.
We had a delicious dinner at my parents, including my dad's famous stuffing. Then Grant and my brothers and nephews went to the park for some football to work up an appetite for pumpkin pie! We topped off the evening with a visit to Grant's mom's, and then took a very tired and cranky baby boy back to the hotel to go to bed. Nothing like a big, soft, comfy bed to fall into after a hard day's eating... Ahhhhhh.
It was so nice for Grant to be closer to work, since he had to be there at the crack of dawn Friday morning. I was able to take Wes to visit my old work, and the pick up the dogs (and yummy leftovers) from my parent's house. What a great time! I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. I love that it can't be commercialized. (Have you noticed how all of the stores go straight from Halloween decorations to Christmas stuff?) It is just a great day to spend with family, eating good food, having a good time, and pondering all we have to be thankful for. What a perfect day.

Wes playing with Grandpa and Mitzu.

I Hear Wedding Bells!

Just a quick congrats to my little brother and his new fiance! They just got engaged last Thursday, and I am so stinkin' happy for them that I can't even stand it. Dan and Corrie make one great couple. I look forward to having Corrie in our family! She is one great gal. Good work, Dan.

Halloween

I know, I know, I am a little behind on the whole Halloween thing, but things have been a little crazy. Grant had to fly out to Maui to help settle his dad's affairs, and so I thought Wes and I would just hang around at home. Wes is just too little to care about dressing up, and can't even eat any candy! But that plan was very boring. Things also get pretty lonely around here when Grant is out of town, so I headed down south to hang out with the fam.
Grant's mom gave Wes a darling little bear costume to wear on Halloween. I took him to my dad's office Halloween party. Then I stopped by mom's house, followed by a nice visit to Grant's mom's house where we hung out with Grant's sisters and Wes's one and only cousin on Grant's side (until February, that is!) It was so nice to see everyone.


Wes the bear cub

Cousin Jada, the peacock.


Jessie and cousin ? the pumpkin!

Who knew peacocks and bears were such buddies?


Wes giving big smiles to his Aunt Sheri.

Sad News

I am so sorry to share the news that Grant's father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep early Thursday morning. It is such a shock to everyone that he is gone. We are so thankful that he was in town visiting. (The above picture was taken just last Saturday.) In fact, we were with him on Wednesday night. He took Grant, his brother Tom, and me (with Wes, of course) to the Body Worlds exhibit. He rushed through the exhibit, then came back and took care of Wes so Grant and I could take our time and enjoy ourselves. That was just the kind of person he was. He was such an fantastic Grandpa, wonderful father and a kind and loving father-in-law to me. I am so thankful for the time we had with him while he was here.

Here is his obituary:

David William Johnson 1955 ~ 2008 On October 23, 2008, our beloved father, spouse, brother, son, grandfather and friend, David William Johnson, passed away in his sleep in Park City, Utah.Born August 3, 1955 in Salt Lake City, Utah, David lived in the Salt Lake area most of his life and later moved to Lahaina, Hawaii. David loved music and was an accomplished pianist, composer and arranger. He worked for Daynes Music and other businesses in the music industry for many years, and then later worked in real estate. Employed by Marriott Vacation Club for the past 13 years he has enjoyed working both in Park City and Lahaina. He was recognized with many awards for his dedication and success, enjoying his final working days with the Ritz-Carlton Club. An active member of the LDS church, David served a mission to the Fresno, CA mission and has held many callings including counselor in the bishopric, member of the high council, teacher and organist. David was extremely generous and kind. He rarely thought of himself and always made time to make others around him feel safe and happy. He married Helen (Tami) Fields in 1978 and had five children, Jessica, Grant, Sheri, Tom and Elise. They later divorced. He married Janette Crouch Randall in 1996. Survivors include his five children, Jessica (Shane) Powers, Grant (Kate) Johnson, Sheri Mata, Tom Johnson, Elise Johnson, and two grandchildren. He is also survived by his wife Janette and her three children Sunny, Beau, Cam, god-children Marvin and Uilani Tevaga, his mother, Cherill (Barlow) Gilbert, siblings Jill (Richard) Rowley, Stephen (Ruth) Johnson and Mary (Bill) Thorup. David's greatest love was his family. He will be sorely missed. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Wed. Oct. 29, 2008 at Linquist's Bountfiul Mortuary 727 N. 400 E. 1 pm. where friends and family may call Tues. from 6-8 p.m. and 11:45-12:45 prior to the services. Interment at Lakeview Cemetery. Condolences may be shared at http://www.lindquistmortuary.com/

[from Grant: I just wanted to say how touched you all have made me feel. I have received so much love and support from my friends and family. Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. I have recently been going through my father's old music files that he recorded and saved on his Kurzweil 250 keyboard that he left me. I have saved one particular song that I wanted to share. I'm not sure when it was written, but it must have been about 20 years ago. I'll never be as good as he was. He was my inspiration in music. Click the link to listen: http://www.grantandkate.com/Jazz_Song_(by_Dave_Johnson).mp3 ]

Multitasking

This is a picture of the ultimate multitasker. Grant is watching football, working on the computer, and reading a book to Wes all at the same time. Evidently Wes takes after his dad in this regard. Lately Wes has been trying to nurse and suck his thumb at the same time. As I am sure you can imagine, it doesn't really work, but he tries to anyway... every time.

The Best Sound in the World Part II

Wes was teething at the time of this video clip, and had been grumpy, crabby, and cranky all day. That evening Steve and Staci came over for a visit and they turned his frown upside down! Man, was I grateful they came over. It cheered us both up!

That Was Then

This is now!

It feels like I just barely wrote about Wes's four month stats, and here we are at six already! Wes is coming in at a whopping 29 inches and 21 pounds! He is growing so stinkin' fast. He loves to eat and it shows. Wes prefers oat cereal over rice, and loves veggies while he barely tolerates any fruit except real mashed bananas. None of that jarred stuff for him!

Here are some darling pictures we have taken recently.

Still won't smile for the camera.

I want more carrots! NOW!

Just playin'.

Lookin' more like daddy everyday.

Grant went out of town on business for a week, and hanging out alone with a six month old didn't exactly appeal to me, so I went to my parents for a few days. I was a little worried about how Wes would do, since he had never slept anywhere but in his own crib in his own room. I was thrilled that he did wonderfully. Better than usual, in fact. He slept all the way from 8pm to 7 am two out of the three nights we were there. Happily, he continued the habit when we came back home, allowing me to get 8 or more consecutive hours of sleep for a week straight. I was finally putting a dent in my sleep debt that is bigger than the national debt. And then we got a visit from the teething fairy. Yup, Wes's first tooth is just barely breaking through. Thankfully, it hasn't been too bad (knock on wood.) Nothing that a little Infant Tylenol and Baby Orajel couldn't fix.

It has been awhile since we mentioned Oscar and Scooter (those poor, neglected pups.) They are still alive and well and loving Wes. They are near him every opportunity they get. Oscar is much more gentle and will just lay down by Wes, but not Scooter! Scooter wants to lick every inch of his body. Wes just takes it, and even laughs sometimes. Every once in awhile, Wes will even grab Scooters tongue, just to show him whose boss! Needless to say, I keep Scooter away from Wes most of the time. Oscar has a little more freedom. I sat Wes on the couch today while I was getting things together to leave the house, and Oscar hunkered down by Wes resulting in the following pictures....

I had grabbed Wes's hand just before I took this picture so that Wes wouldn't yank on Oscar's ears. Sadly, it left Wes vulnerable to an onslaught of puppy kisses!

Harvest

We have more tomatoes than you can poke a stick at. (I tried to poke a stick at them and I just couldn't.) The funny thing is, we didn't even put forth much of an effort this year. Planting time coincided with having a newborn, and so we almost didn't even have a garden. My aunt bought a whole bunch of sprouts from a local school for kids with special needs. (At this school, the kids plant the seeds, and cultivate the plants until they are ready to sell to the public. Cool, huh?) She had so many that she shared her abundance with us. Grant had tilled the garden earlier this year with a bag of peet moss and a bag of manure, so we plopped our plants in the ground and that was that. No rhyme or reason to it, and we just hoped for the best. We didn't fertilize, we didn't spray for bugs, we barely remembered to water.... and yet somehow our tomatoes did just as wonderfully as they did last year, if not better. We have picked literally hundreds of tomatoes so far. We also go a decent crop of peppers, squash, and a few zucchini (which is still plenty, if you ask me.) Our cantaloupe, which did awesome last year, have failed us this year. Darn.

We have become pros at canning. We have made LOTS of salsa and spaghetti sauce. I am glad we could this year. We had to give all of our tomatoes away last year because I was newly pregnant and I had a major aversion to tomatoes. I couldn't even be in the same room with a tomato. Just reading the word salsa would make me gag!

During such hard times with rising prices and a crummy economy, we are so grateful to have our garden and our home canned goods to helps us get by.

Good Question

Last week, Grant's Coke fizzed and foamed so much when he added ice that it overflowed all over his desk at work. He wanted to know why it did that, gosh dang it! So he decided to Get Gephardt. Grant wrote it to Gephardt's "Good Question" segment wherein you can write in with a question, and if your question is chosen, Gephardt will investigate the answer and air it on the news. He picked Grant's question, and it aired on TV last Friday. Good work, Grant. Anyhow, if you would like to check out the answer, go to http://www.kutv.com/content/gephardt/story.aspx?content_id=3c0e8d2c-a2dc-474e-b31a-7f843770ef92

To the Birthday Boy

Today is Grant's birthday, and in honor of him, I just wanted to tell him (and all of you, apparently) how gosh darn much I love him. In fact, here are the top 10 reasons that Grant rocks (in no particular order.)

1. He is incredibly thoughtful and caring. From the day I met Grant, I was struck by how thoughtful he is of everyone around him. He is just always thinking of others and does whatever he can to help out when someone is in need.

2. He is super smart. No, freakishly intelligent is more like it. There is nothing that he can't figure out or fix. He is one of those people you don't want to play against in Trivial Pursuit. I have a nephew with a thirst for knowledge, and it didn't take long for him to figure out that Grant was a fountain of information. Grant would sit with my nephew and explain everything from the bones in his hand to how magnets work. Pretty soon when we would visit, my nephew would sit next to Grant and simply say, "tell me more interesting things."

3. He works very hard. Whether it is his day job, or projects at home, Grant always works hard and does it thoroughly and well. He even finishes what he starts. I have trouble with that, so I appreciate it in him!

4. Grant is so grateful. That is an awesome quality to have in a husband, believe me. I have been doing his laundry now for over 4 years, and yet he never fails to thank me for his clean undies! It doesn't matter if it I made his favorite dinner or simply cleaned the bathroom, he always notices and always says thank you.

5. He has so many amazing talents. In fact, he is the most well-rounded person I know. He is smart, outdoorsy, athletic, very spiritual, incredibly talented in music... the list goes on. Grant is good at pretty much everything he tries!

6. Grant can make me laugh harder than I have ever laughed before. He has the best sense of humor... that and he knows where I am ticklish.

7. He is darn good lookin'. It certainly doesn't hurt that I get to look at him everyday... and for the rest of eternity.

8. He likes my cooking. Any wife will tell you how nice it is to have a husband that enjoys what you make for him!

9. Grant has a great sense of adventure. We love to travel, go camping and hiking... anything. He is so much fun to do things with. And, anyone who has ever gone camping with him will tell you, he is the ultimate Eagle Scout-- always prepared. Our friends nicknamed him Grant "Wait-a-second-I-think-I-have-that." No matter what anyone needs or forgot to bring, you can always bet on Grant saying, "Wait a second, I think I have that." He loves to whisk me away on some new excursion as often as possible. The greatest adventure yet: parenthood!

10. Last, yet most importantly, Grant is the most amazing husband and father you will ever meet. Seeing him with our baby boy just melts my heart. Wes loves his daddy, that is evident in the way Wes looks at Grant, and the way Grant can get him to laugh the harder than anyone else. Grant loves his little boy, and is so great with him!

The list could go on and on! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! I love you!

-ME

GQ Baby

Wes is such a smiley, happy kid... until we whip out the camera to capture all the adorableness, at which point he is so distracted by the camera that he won't smile. Therefore we have a lot of pictures like this one wherein he looks serious and brooding, like he could be on the cover of GQ.

I finally captured some good smiles, and since it is so rare, I thought I would share 'em with ya'll!

Music

I am looking for some good running music. I know a lot of you are athletes and runners, so please give me some suggestions on some awesome music that will keep me movin'!

Wes at 4 Months

Wesley just had his four month well-baby visit, and he is one big boy! He is now above the 95th percentile in height (27 inches) and weight (18 lbs 9 oz.) He is eating well (obviously,) sleeping well (he slept all the way through the night from 8pm to 7am for the first time last night,) and is an all around delight. Since Wes is so big (he is at four months the size of your average 8 month old) we were instructed to go ahead and start him on solid foods. We jumped in with the standard rice cereal. Wes wasn't such a big fan at first....

Apparently it's an acquired taste.

Wes is also gaining more control over his head, arms and hands. He can lift himself up on his arms, he is on the verge of rolling over, he can swat at and grab his toys (and my hair,) and everything he grabs goes directly into his mouth (including his bib when I am trying to feed him.)

A day in the life of Wes might include tummy time, watching his bug mobile (he likes the spider best,) taking a couple of naps, playing with his favorite toys and books, and - his personal favorite- bath time! This is followed by his least favorite-- getting out of the bath!

Have ya noticed the rolls on this kid?! Ya gotta love a dimply, chubby, rolly polly baby! Being a mom is a blast. It is so awesome to watch Wes grow and develop. What a blessing he has been!