Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Day after Christmas...

The Strong Bunch
(missing brother Dave who's taking the picture, and my sister Maria and her family of 8 who couldn't make it to Arizona. We missed you!)


Look at all those handsome boys...and the sweet little girl



Cuddle Time with Aunt Jill and Cousin Carter


Sweet Kisses for Cousin Trenton


Silly Uncle Dave & Uncle Derek



Playing "Mommy" to Cousin Adon



Guitar Hero- Max & Daddy Rock & Roll'n



Playing Matching Game with brothers (No Cheaters Allowed!)



Girly time with Aunt Lina


Making Sugar Cookies with Grandma & Abuelita



Cassidy loved extra attention from Cousin Max



My brother Doug made these Marshmallow guns for everyone! It was one of the highlights of our Christmas in Sierra Vista. We played on teams and played games of capture the flag. It was so much fun!

Play time with Strong Cousins

Cassidy LOVED playing with all of her cousins...she definitely proved herself with keeping up with the BOYS!








Sam & Phil drew a farewell picture for Cassidy, Derek and I


Christmas Continues in Phoenix...

Even though this year was the year for a Strong Christmas it was nice that we were able to spend some time with Derek's mom AKA Grammy and Derek's brother Scott, sister-in-law Sara and cousins Michael, Matthew, & Macey. It was wonderful for Cassidy to have MORE FUN with MORE COUSINS! We enjoyed sharing gifts, shopping, playing the Wii, getting caught up looking at Grammy's scrapbooks. She does an amazing job! And just spending some good time visiting. Thank you Grammy for spoiling us like always and to Scott and Sara for extending your stay so we can be together. We love you! We look forward to having a Johnson Reunion soon!




Michael using Incredible Hulk strength on Uncle Derek


The kids LOVED playing Hungry Hippo


Cassidy enjoyed playing in Grammy's Shower


Momma's Boys


Macey Claire such a cutie pie!


Lov'n from Aunt Angie


Michael carries on the tradition of reading to Cassidy



Playing with cousin Matthew (they're only 3 weeks apart)


Cassidy & Macey wearing the same cute PJ's

Sunday, January 04, 2009

The Christmas Season started with a "Brave Man" who put up our Christmas Lights. (Thanks Honey!)



Decorating the Christmas Tree and inside our home for Christmas



A daughter sharing what Christmas is all about... Jesus Birthday!



Making a Home-made ornament for an ornament exchange party



Attending Ava's Preschool Christmas Concert. Big Hugs for a job well done!



Hosting a Christmas party. We had fun decorating gingerbread houses, laughing at each other during our white elephant gift exchange, and pigging out on yummy goodies.



A fun photo shoot of Cassidy dressed up and playing in the snow. I know I'm not a professional. :) (More pictures to come!)




Then of course between other Christmas parties,
last minute Dentist appointments, flu shots, final gift shopping, and volunteering at a Woman's Shelter and being able to have the opportunity to serve the families during their Santa Shop Event, it was time to start packing for our trip for Christmas...

ARIZONA Here We Come

Monday, December 08, 2008

Ice Skating Experience



My HERO





One morning as I was waiting for a load of laundry to finish I noticed a huge puddle of water on the floor and saw it was coming from the washing machine. I thought, just what I need! Right around the holidays, and wasn't planning on spending extra money on a new washing machine or on a plumber. So Derek told me he would take a look at it once he got home from work.

Let's just say I'm soooo grateful for my Handy Man! He got straight to work and learned all about how a washing machine works. I thought it was cute because then he would demonstrate how the washing machine works inside and out to me. He's definitely my engineer! He solved the mystery! It was all because of one of my socks getting stuck in the water hose, which didn't allow the machine to drain. So that explains the water flowing over the top and making a mess all over the floor. I definitely count my blessings for my dearest. And he has been, and will be MY HERO always! Thanks honey you saved the day!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Snow Day


"Crystal" the SnowGirl
Cassidy's New Friend





Between making a snowman, creating snow angels, throwing snowballs, chasing each other, eating snow, and falling. It was a pretty successful Snow Day!

Thanks..Thanks..Thanksgiving!



This Thanksgiving was pretty quiet and was just the three of us, well four if you count Oakley. :) We let Daddy sleep in, because Derek did the newspaper route without me and insisted that I stayed home to sleep in. HE'S THE BEST!! Early that morning that was already something to be grateful for.

The girls got busy in the kitchen preparing our Thanksgiving Feast, while Daddy was snoozing away. Cassidy sat on the counter to watch me get the turkey ready. It was pretty funny because the first time I showed her the turkey she said it looked like an elephant. I couldn't help but laugh. It was so cute. But once I spread the wings she says, "Oh it's a bird!"

While the Turkey was roasting Cassidy and I snuggled and watched The Diamond Castle-Barbie movie. It was a special movie on TV, it was perfect because just the night before she was asking to watch that particular movie (We don't own it we just rented it a couple of weeks ago). Then we read some Thanksgiving books that we checked out from the library. She had me read The Littlest Pilgrim over and over. For breakfast we ate some yummy Cinnabon cinnamon rolls.

Around noon it was time to tackle Daddy in bed and wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. Once he got out of bed Derek decided to take Cassidy for a little walk while I continued to cook some more. They bundled up real good and when they returned Cassidy came running to me with an excited voice that it had just started to snow a little bit. They found that I was taking my time with cooking and decided to pinch in and help me out. It was fun to all be in the kitchen cooking together. I tried some new recipes this year. I asked Carol (my mother-in-law) for her Merry Cranberry Freeze recipe, that Derek loves. It was delicious! Of course Carol and I both agree the yummy stuff tastes much better unfrozen. Derek disagrees, prefers it frozen. But I saved a little for me. :) I also made a sweet potato casserole with a german cake like topping, instead of marshmallows. It turned out delicious, thanks to my friend Nickell for the recipe. Then we had the rest of the original dishes, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole (still a favorite), stuffing, glazed carrots, croissants, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream.

As we were getting ready to take out the turkey from the oven my brother Dave called with some news. He and Brianna are cooking something of their own in the oven, and expecting their first baby. We were all excited to hear the news! Congrats Dave & Brianna!

After finishing our delicious meal with no room for dessert we decided to read some more books and then we all took naps. That evening we had some leftovers and finally some dessert. Like I said it was a very relaxing, quiet, Thanksgiving. Even though we would have loved to spend the day with family and friends, it was also kind of nice for it just to be US and to start some of our own traditions. We truly are BLESSED and there's so much to be GRATEFUL for!


So since we have been eating Thanksgiving leftovers since Thursday, (and still enjoying it) everytime Cassidy eats turkey she says, "Gobble! Gobble!" The first time she said it Derek and I were surprised and it made us laugh. And actually each time since it has been pretty funny.