1st Visit to the Zoo!

We finally took James to the zoo!! Dave and I have been wanting to go for sometime but work, school and illnesses have kept us from going. Despite the fact that James was more interested in the dirt on the ground, his shoes and the other people at the park than any of the animals it was still a lot of fun!

They have a cute little barn and petting zoo where the kids can touch and interact with a bunch of goats...it was a little unnerving for me, especially when one of the goats grabbed the park map out of my back pocket to eat it. Apparently there were multiple signs up in the barn warning visitors of goats eating maps out of their hands and pockets. I of course did not notice any of them until after the fact. But I think James liked it!

James and Daddy checking out the farm animals.

James was wearing little 'squeaky' shoes that make a loud squeak with each step...well this turkey loved (or maybe hated) the noise and came right over to the fence when he heard James' shoes. The turkey was fixated on James. Every time he took a step the bird would try to get closer to him and peck at the fence. James thought it was hysterical.

Loving the slide!

And the toys....probably could have just taken him to a park.

James and daddy 'driving'...very exciting!

James and I playing at the little barn playground.

This might have been James' favorite part of the whole zoo experience. He loved turning the tractor steering wheel back and forth! I didn't quite capture it but there were LOTS of smiles and giggles!!

Watching the birds at the 'wetlands'
It really was such a great outing! Everything is so much more fun now that we have this little guy to experience things with.

Good Bye 2010...Hello 2011!!!!

2010 has been a happy and blessed year, I am a little sad to see it go so quickly. Dave and I often feel overwhelmed with how much our Father in Heaven blesses us. We are so grateful for a healthy and happy year and look forward to this new one. We are especially grateful for our amazing family and dear friends. We hope and pray that you and yours will have a joyous and blessed New Year too!
This Christmas was a very merry one sharing it with our sweet little boy. Here are a few of the highlights...

Meeting Santa at the ward Christmas Party...James really couldn't have cared less but it was about an hour past his bedtime so we were just impressed he was still awake.

Here is James with his cousin David. David is 5 1/2 months older than James, but you wouldn't knowing looking at them! We traveled to Utah for the Holidays. The 10 hour drive there was uneventful (wish we could say the same about coming home). James had a great time playing with all his Cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents...we did too!

Christmas Eve with the Johnston Cousins.
He also loved playing with his Freestone Cousins they gave him LOTS of love and attention, but his spacey mom didn't get ANY pictures!

Christmas Morning.
We didn't think James would be that into opening gifts and playing with toys (He would rather play with my eye lash curler than most any other toy he has). But he was actually quite excited Christmas morning and loved playing with his new things.

Nativity Scene with all the Johnston Cousins and 2nd Cousins.

James was the Donkey for the Nativity Scene...a pretty darn cute one if I do say so myself.
Dave and James at the Grand Canyon so happy to be okay after our VERY scary event and oblivious to the excitement just ahead of us.
Our drive home was absolutely CRAZY!! Our safe arrival home was truly an answer to our MANY prayers!! We left very early (4:30am) on Wednesday morning from Richfield UT. A storm had started just an hour or so before we left. The roads were slick and covered with icey snow and visibility was poor. We had made it just past Panguitch and was coming up on Kanab when Dave took a turn that slid us into a spin pushing us across the highway and into a snowy embankment on the other side of Highway 89. There were many tender mercies to this event. First we were completely unharmed. Second our car (miraculously) was unscathed, not even a scratch. Third we landed perfectly, had we slid off to the right we would have likely rolled due to the slopped terrain, but because we slid across to the left and hit a hill our car was safely stopped. It is truly miraculous that we didn't hit any other cars or the many boulders and trees that were nearby. The final tender mercy in this event was a very kind good Samaritan that stopped just 5 minutes after we spun out. He had a large truck and was able to pull us out in just a few short minutes. James just cooed and played through the whole event. After a very heartfelt prayer of thanks and gratitude we were on our way. We thought we were in the clear until we reached Flagstaff where the roads were just as bad, if not worse. We were stuck behind a large line of cars waiting for other drivers to struggle up the snowy hills, many of which were sliding off the road or unable to make it up. After a nearly 3 hour stand still we were on our way. Our would be 8 hour journey from Richfield took just over 13 hours. But we made it safe and sound, what a blessing!!!!

A Little Catch-up Before Christmas

Time sure flies during this time of year. Since my last post we celebrated two holidays, went on two trips, cut four more teeth (James), learned to cruise all over the house (also James), had a wedding and a baptism and all the little stuff in between...its been a busy few weeks.

Halloween 2010

We are lawn ornaments. James and Dave are Garden Gnomes and I am supposed to be a pink flamingo...okay so James' costume has been ready for over a year Dave and I threw ours together the night of our first Halloween party.


Our cute Garden Gnome.

Thanksgiving 2010

I feel like all I do is take pictures of this cute little guy and yet I don't have ANY pictures from any of our Thanksgiving dinners. But here he is the night of Thanksgiving getting ready to go for a walk to see the neighbors' Christmas lights. As you can see he is SUPER excited!
We had three Thanksgiving dinners this year. The week before Thanksgiving we traveled to San Diego to see Dave's niece Jessie get baptized and had an early Thanksgiving dinner with the Freestones. On Thanksgiving Day Dave's sweet Aunt Pat and Uncle Chris had us over with some of their family. The following Sunday my parents flew in from Salt Lake and we had a small Thanksgiving dinner with the five of us. Needless to say we have already put on our extra holiday weight.

Utah v. BYU 2010
James cheering on his Utes. It was a GREAT game!!

Getting Ready for Christmas
James wearing his new Jammies from his Lady. She actually got all three of us matching ones...we will get a picture of that eventually.


Utah December 2, 2010
Our little snow angel. James loved playing in the snow...for about 5 minutes.

Justin & Mariah's Wedding December 2, 2010We went to Utah last week for my brother's wedding. He has found a fantastic girl. We are so happy for them.


Someone is ready for Christmas.
James is good to leave the tree alone but he does love to play with the wrapping and bows on his gifts under the tree. We got him just a couple small gifts but I think he would be fine if I had just wrapped some empty boxes.

Only 19 days till Christmas!!!

Ooooooklahoma!!

For the past four weeks Dave has been doing a pediatric rotation at The Children's Hospital of St. Francis in Tulsa Oklahoma. James and I were able to join him for his last week. We loved Oklahoma. It had beautiful fall weather with the leaves just starting to turn. We were able to see many beautiful parks, visit the new city library, see the cute children's hospital where Dave worked, walked along the Arkansas river...basically it was a great trip! But best of all we got to be with Daddy again!!!!!
On our way home from Tulsa James and I had a layover in Salt Lake City. My Dad extended the layover a day so that we could spend time with family. It was a busy few hours in Salt Lake we saw all of James' cousins on my side, his four great-grandparents on my side and all my brothers and sisters. Our flight home that night ended up getting canceled so we were stuck in Salt Lake an extra night, it was a little stressful, especially since I was supposed to work the next day...but in the end it was okay and we got to spend a little more time with Grandpa!

Happy Fall everyone!!!

Six month pictures

Our little baby is six months old!! I really wanted to get some pictures of him at this fun stage of life, but as poor students we really don't have extra income for things like that anymore. So I solicited the help of my father-in-law (Phil) and mother-in-law (Liz) and with their help we were able to get some cute pictures (if I do say so myself) of our sweet baby James.

Our drooly boy cut his first tooth about a week ago.

He doesn't "pout" much so I am excited we caught this on film.

Yes James is crawling!! He started to army crawl when he was just five months old but he is working hard at getting the on-all-fours down.

Our little man.

James was pulling himself up to stand in the basket through most of the shoot. I know I am biased but he really is a strong little guy.
So there you have it. Our Sweet Baby James at 6 months old!!
Thanks to Phil for letting me use his camera and Liz for all your help and Baby James for being so darn cute!!!

Visitors, road trip and much more

The past three weekends we have been filled with family, friends and lots of firsts for James.

First we had a visit from Uncle Justin, his friend Mariah and her son Bronson. They watched James for us so we could celebrate our fifth anniversary. On Saturday we took the boys to the Peoria splash pad and had a picnic (both firsts for James).James & Daddy cooling off.

Bronson "not" feeding the ducks.


James enjoying his first picnic.

While Justin was in town we also had a quick visit from the Moore's (Dave's sister's family). Here is James with his cousin Thomas. It was so good getting to see them even if it was for just a little while.

The weekend after Justin's visit my mom, also known as Lady, came to see us. It was so much fun getting to see her. She left just a couple of days before her birthday so we had an early celebration. Here is James helping Lady blow out her birthday candle.
Happy Birthday Lady!!!! We love you and miss you!!!

For Labor Day weekend Dave and I decided we would take a quick road trip to L.A. and see my friend Stacy. Stacy and I have been best friends since elementary school. She had her first baby just a few weeks before James. She and her husband Nick live in Sherman Oaks now and were nice enough to let Dave and I come stay with them.

Stacy and I with the babies. Dave took about 5 or 6 of these pictures and little Amelia is staring and touching James in each one. These two were so cute with each other!

We went sightseeing on Hollywood Blvd. Here we are at the Chinese Theater.

James and Shrek just outside the wax museum.
Dave and I love the beach were so-o excited to take James. Nick and Stacy took us to a Beautiful beach in Malibu. Even the drive there was stunning. We were a little worried it would be crowded because of the holiday, but we got there at the perfect time and it wasn't crowded at all.
James!!
He LOVED the beach...not so much the ocean though. It was a little chilly.

James and Daddy checking out the waves.

We finally took James to the park. He has been before in his stroller. But now he is strong enough to go in the swings. And as you can see he LOVED it!
This has been an amazing summer with our sweet little baby!!!