Pictures - Hello November!

Anna @ the park by our house.

GQ @home eating lunch

1st fire of the season!

Went off roading with Uncle Karl and cousin Emmin. It was so fun. (Thats Reid in our 4Runner)

Uncle Karl found a narrow tunnel under a railroad that we went through in order to do some off roading.

The holidays are approaching us quickly. Every other year we trade off for Christmas and Thanksgiving. This year we will be in Kansas for Thanksgiving which we call Thanksmas because that's when we do Christmas with my family on the off year. We will be in Arizona for Christmas this year and vise versa next year. ;)

Sickness has been going around the family. First, the little girl that I nanny kept coming over with a fever and I kept sending her home... finnally her family took her to the doctor and she ended up having STREP. So I ended up with strep and a heavy dose of meds. Luckly Colton and Anna didn't catch it. I was so upset as I was excited to go help my cute sister in law Edith with her new baby girl that arrived a day early to be born on election day this year. Edith- once our coughs and runny noses go away I'm determined to come hug that cute new niece! 

I'm busy busy busy with my church calling as counselor in the Primary Presidency. We have a up coming service project that we will be doing with the kids on Friday. We are having the kids each put together gift baskets for parents in need that show up to one of the local hospitals last minute with nothing but a shirt on their backs while there kids are in the hospital for a illness or trauma. One of the other counselors works in the ICU and helped us with this service project as she see's a lot of parents that have to go and find a convenience store just to grab a tooth brush because the child was rushed in without much warning. We are also having other neat little stations, I'm in charge of the sugar cookie decorating station for their treat to have while they are there and we will be making "Thankful Tree's" as a neat way to get ready for Thanksgiving.

Reid went and saw a specialist for his ears that actually knows about Meniers desease. There are not many ENT's that know about this disease so when he was able to get an appointment to see one he jumped at the opportunity. The one meniers ENT doctor in Phoenix has a waiting list till April of next year. The doctor told him he will need to make some major life style changes, go to bed at a good time at the same time every night, exercise, and eat this fancy diet.

Colton has not wet the bed in 3 weeks, that's including naps and all night long!!! He has been doing really well with the potty training. This boy is growing like a weed! He is LOVING preschool and has been learning so much. 

Anna is so much like Reid. She is so serious all the time and looks for Reid all day when he is at work. Then when Reid is home she loves to cuddle with him. She is a daddies girl for sure.

Family Update

Amber came to visit me! I really enjoyed her company and help with the crazy kids!

Amber and I braved Toys R Us with a shopping cart full of kids in order to get this new sandbox. Reid wanted to make one and it has been months of rain and so the sand that we purchased started going everywhere as the bags were callapsing. So we went out and purchase this one. So much better looking than those ugly turtles.

This is Colton and his friend Cara right before swim lessons on their 1st day!

This is a photo of Colton and Anna after a warm day of soccer.

Daddy playing with his kids in Coltons room.

My desert candy corn bush (thats what I call it) and my cute little scarecrow.

Colton at soccer practice. (Yellow Shirt!)

Colton at soccer practice. (Yellow Shirt!)

Colton and Mommie enjoying some Mizzou football while daddy was at a all day saturday meeting for work and Anna was napping.

Colton - I took this picture because his outfit reminded me of my Dad.

Anna enjoying a chocolate doughnut with orange and black sprinkles!

Colton enjoying his fall/ halloween doughnut.

A few of us went to Dairy Queen after the primary saturday practice and ward fiesta. (Colton is the blurry boy on the left)

Anna and Mommie watching Colton play soccer.

At church with tired kids. 1pm church is tough with nap times.

Colton and Anna at Lowes (last night). Getting ready for Christmas before halloween is even here. Haha.

HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!

Thought I would just do a quick update! HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY! Hope all is doing well. We are busy over here with work, preschool, refinishing furniture, and trying to keep Reid from falling or tripping as he had another Meneires attack over Labor day. Each day has been a little better. ;)

August

WOW, WHAT A CRAZY MONTH!!!

My "baby" sister Brooklyn came to town so that she could have a summer job with all the traveling and sports camps she has attended. I had her watch my kids and the kids I usually nanny during the day. On week 3 of 4 we drove to Grand Junction, CO to meet up with our sister Nicole and her cute kids and piled into my mini van and drove to my parents house in Shawnee, Kansas. 26ish hours later (from Phoenix) we finally arrived! We had a wonderful trip in Kansas and enjoyed the family time we got to spend together. We celebrated Colton & Emma's 3rd birthdays a few weeks early and are so grateful for the gifts from extended family. We drove back to Phoenix and Brooklyn put in another hard week of watching kids. We did take her to the water park which was open late at night and left the kids with a babysitter. All in all I would say it was a very eventful job/vacation for her and I. While Brooklyn was watching my kids I was at our ASU rental home repainting walls, ceilings, baseboards, putting on new door hardware, and new kitchen appliance and updated kitchen pulls. It was SOOOO much work but looks really great now.

We have started a little tradition of taking Brooklyn to Olive Garden as her "going away" dinner or lunch. Below is a picture of me and her at Olive Garden the night before she left. The picture below that are picture Brooklyn took with our crappy digital cameras.... even though one of them is brand new and not cheap, we still have yet to find a point and shoot camera that does decent photos with low light indoors. I'm starting to think they don't make such a thing. ;)

Brooklyn & Meagan at Olive Garden

Family Picture

Family Picture

Johnson's

Anna's Baby Curls

Colton - I can't believe how grown up he looks here!

Love Birds...  ;)

Momma & Wild Child

Mission Call - Ronnie

Congrats to my little cousin Ronnie Sloop Jr.! He just opened his mission call papers to serve for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints:


Manchester England  -  Chinese Manderain Speaking


So excited for you Ronnie and we wish you all the best on your journey starting in November!

LOTS OF GOING'S ON'S - Dr Seuse

We have really been doing well with our goal of doing Monday night Family nights together every week. Reid and I have taken turns switching off each Monday. This was one of our fun snacks after a very nice lesson.

We had a be-lated birthday party for our sweet Anna Marie Johnson who turned 1 years old on the day we left town with Reid's co-workers. We had a 9am Saturday morning breakfast party. It was Strawberry Shortcake themed and all the decorations and food turned out pretty cute. We had cinnamon roll cupcakes instead of cake since it was breakfast time. It was a fun time with family!

This was the same day as Anna's party, we had a mid day dust storm... you were able to look right at the sun without any eye protection because the dust was so thick. There was one point when the sun disappeared completely because of the thick dust.

Fathers Day was the next day, Reid got some new Kennith Cole dress slacks, a Kennith Cole reversable (brown/black) belt, some more titiey whities ;)  a pencil holder made by Colton at preschool, some airhead candies and lots of love. Happy Fathers Day, Reid!