A Short Vacation

We were fortunate enough to have our friends, the Nelsons, come up this past weekend for a mini-vacation. Being Ute Football fans, they couldn't resist a match-up with our U of O Ducks. Aaron and I went to the game sporting opposing colors. Despite the rain, fat-hairy-shirtless guy in front of us, and a loss for the Utes, we had a ton of fun.

To celebrate (or mourn depending on who you ask) we went to a local favorite, Papa's Soul Food. It goes down in history as the worst dining experience to date, not because of the food, but because we had 5 children under 3 at our table with 4 adults. There was a moment when all 5 kids were crying and pulling at dishes on the table. Heidi got maple syrup on her lap, and Aaron, a pitcher of water. Other patrons were certainly happy to be rid of the crazy people with too many kids. Chaos aside, I enjoyed my chicken and waffles.

The next day we went to the coast. At first the boys didn't like the waves because the water is so darn cold. By the time we left they were waiting for waves to come crash against them. They would just stand and laugh. Owen would walk straight out to the deep water if I let him. We also saw a seal swimming in the water just off the beach. He was there for about an hour.

We had a ton of fun. Having all those kids in one apartment for a few days was crazy. I've never seen such a concerted effort to make noise. Five kids, four adults, one crazy dog, and 1200 sq. ft. is quite the setup. Aaron and Heidi continued up the coast for a few days with their kids. I wish my schedule permitted us to go with them, but we couldn't. It was great seeing them. Here are a few pics.

Aaron reading to Austin, Zack, and Owen

Our little seal friend.

Aaron with the twins, Austin & Zack, and baby Gavin.

Together they will face their fears.

Zack waiting for the perfect wave.

Owen's best Baywatch pose.

The family.

Getting stuck in a porch.

Saying goodbye. I'm pretty sure Owen would have left with them if we let him.

Thanks Aaron and Heidi, it was a great trip.

Applesauce

About a week before Ella was born I decided to can applesauce for the year, so Blake and I went to a local orchard and picked nearly 90 pounds of gravenstein apples. This is the second year we have done this, but last year we picked 40 pounds of apples and we ended up with only like 6-8 quarts of applesauce. So we picked double that this year. I have to say, picking fruit at the orchard has to be one of my favorite things about Oregon. You can go pick just about anything you want at the various orchards around here. This fall, Blake wants to go pick hazelnuts, which I have never even seen on a tree before, so that should be fun.
Anyway, here are some pictures of our "adventure." It took us two nights of cooking the apples, putting them through the strainer (HUGE time saver!) and processing them all. It was a lot of work, but I am so happy with how it turned out. Blake was such a trooper, he had to put up with a lot of my nesting projects that I wanted done before Ella was born. This was the biggest and most time consuming of them all. Thanks honey! But now we have 30 quarts of yummy applesauce to last us until next year...sorry Blake, this is going to be a yearly tradition.

Owen helped by "washing" the apples, although there was a lot more throwing of the apples going on.

This is only half of the apples we processed.

This is where I sat all night long and cranked out the sauce.
Blake stirring in the sugar and cinnamon.
That's one huge pot of applesauce.

Blake's New Blog

I need a creative outlet. I have created a blog dedicated to my adventures teaching myself to cook with little time, money, or skill. Some of my regular posts will probably include:

"What Was I Thinking: Kitchen Failures"
"Manly Cooking Hints"
"I is awesome recipes"

It will also include random thoughts on how ridiculous cooking can be. My wife may also chime in from time to time. Please check it out. I will try to put up new posts regularly. Find me at http://kitchencomplicated.blogspot.com/. The website is also hurting for some of my wife's good blog design skills. It will get awesome in the future. I will also post on the family blog about other things.

Baby Ella

We got to welcome little Ella Jean Johnson into our family early this morning. She came at 4:31 am, weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long. She is such a good baby already, she eats and sleeps and hardly ever cries. It truly amazes me how these sweet little babes come into this world. One day she's in my belly and the next, I'm holding her. Every time I look at her I feel so grateful that I am given the opportunity to raise one of Heavenly Father's little babies.
The hospital bed is making my back ache, but other than that, I feel really good. SO much better than the first time.

Enjoying a well-deserved breakfast!

Owen meeting Ella for the first time. Notice the car that Ella brought with her for Owen.

(Thanks for the idea Candice!)

Owen "petting" Ella like he pets Parker.

Owen did really well around Ella, he still doesn't understand who she is, but he is gentle with her and even kissed her on the head a few times. I wonder how things will go when he realizes this baby is coming home with us and isn't leaving. Owen has been staying over at our friends' home so that Blake could spend some time with Ella and me at the hospital. It has been really nice having him around so much, thanks Landon and Heather!
And thanks for everyone who has given us gifts, offered help and best wishes- you are very appreciated.

Weber High School: Class of 2000 Reunion

It is coming time for us to come together for our 10 year Weber High School reunion. Stacey (Ropelato) Starley has set up this website to help aid the planning process. Please go to it, fill out the information, and pass this info on. Posting the link on facebook and your blog is also helpful. Initial plans indicate that the reunion will likely take place in June, 2010. As for the details, it will be at Chucky Cheese unless we hear from all of you. - Blake

4th of July Fun

The Johnson crew went out to Utah for the Fourth of July this year. It was really fun to see family and friends. Owen spent most of the waking hours in his swimming suit or just getting his regular clothes wet. Kristin is getting closer to her due date, but she was still able to have a lot of fun in the water. Thanks for all our family and friends that spent time with us this past weekend.

Loves corn.

Loves chips.

A lot of chips.

Loves cherries too.
(My parents have an a cherry tree out back and Kristin had fun eating her weight in fresh cherries.)

Grandma and Owen. (That is Kristin's old life vest. Check out the rainbow straps.)


Dangeresque III.

Beach Time

Kristin left for Utah ten days before I did. I spent one Saturday on the coast by myself. I went on four separate hikes during the day. The first was a two hour hike on the beach north of Florence. The second was an hour hike along the rocky tide pools near Devil's Churn. The third was about a two hour hike through the sand dunes south of Florence. The fourth was a 1/2 hour hike to Heceta Head lighthouse. It was a lot of fun just cruising the coast by myself without a stroller in tow. Unfortunately, I had to be my own camera man. It was like my own little vision quest. Spending time alone in nature made me feel wise, healthy, and strong. Kinda like Walker Texas Ranger.

I'm a big kid now

Update: Owen has done really well moving to his toddler bed. Sometimes we have to walk in and remind him that he needs to be in his bed and not playing with his toys and he usually says "uh oh!" and runs and jumps back on the bed. It's pretty cute. Here are some pictures of his first nap in his bed.

This is what I saw when I went in to check on him. His room was clean when I put him down, so you can tell he was pretty busy.
Then I spotted a little foot.

Tonight Owen has moved from being a "baby" to a "big boy". He'll always be my baby, but he gets to sleep in a big boy bed now. Well...we'll see how tonight goes before I get too excited. Blake and I set it up and rearranged everything in his room, but I started wondering if having everything different was going to be too much for him to handle, but I think he did really well tonight. Luckily he's always been a pretty flexible kid, so I'm hoping this will easy for him.

Here's his "baby" room:


Here's his "big boy" room:Owen waiting for his song, prayer and kisses.

I took Super Nanny's advice and sat in the middle of his room and placed him back in his bed every time he got out. After about 15 times of putting him back in, he got the hint and stayed on the bed, but then he started to try to play with me and test me. Super Nanny says to be as boring as you can be. No making eye contact, no talking or anything really. So I sat there like a statue for 45 minutes (which FELT like 2 hours) until he fell asleep. He did some whining and some playing and he even fell out of the bed once, but he finally tuckered out. Hopefully tomorrow night will be shorter because it's Daddy's turn, and he might not be able to sit in the dark for 45 minutes without falling asleep himself! Now I'm just praying he doesn't fall out, get scared or wake up at 5 in the morning.