AHHHHHHHHH...LIFE!!

Well, usually when I blog it is to show off my adorable family and tell you our greatest (or funniest) news, but today I think I will take a break from my positive interactions to throw in a rave. So, here it goes-this week has been a bit rough. First I guess I should mention that last week when we had our ultrasound (I may have mentioned before that these cost us $250 each time we have one BTW) it took 2 1/2 hours to get the thing done. Half way through we realized the reason it was taking so long was that the girl doing it was a trainee and she had NO supervision. So the last 20 minutes her boss came in and basically redid the whole thing. I told the boss that she needed to make sure it was all right and all was well because we could not afford to come back in to get another one. She understood as sh has the same insurance we have since she is a hospital employee as well. So, just keep that in mind as I mention my week...

Wes was a=scheduled to take 2 applicants out to a dinner on Monday night , but when he called them over the weekend, he learned that they were actually scheduled for dinner on Sunday night. So, though we obviously don't usually go out on Sundays, we took the applicants out Sunday. Shortly after returning home from the dinner and from getting our kids, I started to hurt intensely in my back. Now, being 20 or so weeks pregnant, I thought it must be a pinched nerve or something, but it was more intense pain than I have had before. I had an appointment on Wednesday so I figured I'd just get through until then. This was a big painful mistake, as my back got worse as well as other symptoms. So by the time of my appointment Wednesday I had a whole list of crap going on. And when I got there the doctor had a report from the ultrasound, that basically had some weird measurements (most likely caused my the tech that was learning), but we have to go get another $250 ultrasound in 2 weeks to make sure it was her error in fact. Also the doctor has decided not to change my due date and is going to stick with the May 25th date (I am sticking to the May 17th). Also, I have some sort of bladder or kidney infection as well as a back injury that is going to have me going to physical therapy now (just more medical bills). This is obviously just another blow financially and to my state of mind, made even worse by the fact that (he will hate me mentioning this), Wes got in a car accident (small but somewhat significant to our car as the hood will not open) on Tuesday night too. So, basically, when it rains it pours!!!

Man, Life is crazy, and now I feel better having ranted and raved about that! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

Oh...and Happy Birthday Elvis...

I totally should have mentioned that today is also Elvis's birthday. Andrea and Elvis have always had a special bond of sorts, hey I think they even kinda look alike...OK, Maybe not that one, but I thought this was something worth a mention...

Happy January Birthdays!! (and a few December)

Today, on my little sister's 27th birthday (man is she old-and boring, just ask her son!!) I thought I would send out a shout out to all the many many January birthday's in my family. I hope I haven't missed any, but very well could have. Sorry! But Happy Birthday to all of you January babies!

Brooke, my cousin. 19 on Jan 1st (Yes, a New Years baby)Andrea, my sister, the BORING 27 year old today (Jan 8).
Papou (That's grandpa in Greek) in turning 86 tomorrow, Jan 9th.
My mom will be 51 on the 10th (will she hate that I put her age? Maybe...)
My Grandma Shirley's birthday is on Jan 13th. I have no clue how old she is...




Coach Jeremy,my brother-in-law (Andrea's husband) will be thirtysomething (32?) on Jan 16th. I should also note that my cousin JoJo's birthday is this same day and he is Andrea's boring old age of 27.
Action Jaxon, my nephew will be 6 on Jan 20th. Holy crap he is old! Happy birthday Jaxon!
I just thought I should note that my aunt Cathy was diagnosed with brain cancer about 9 months or so ago, and told she would live about 3 months. However, On Christmas Eve, 2007 we were blessed to be able to celebrate her 50th birthday with her!! I though that was worth a mention especially since I missed the birthdays while I was in Utah...

Ashley, Wes's sister had a birthday December 19th and I'm thinking she turned 23?

One other birthday I missed in December was Grandma Nelson who turned even younger on December 29th. We were lucky enough to spend that evening visiting with her before we had to return to Spokane.

In Memory of Checkers

Well, as we thought about the great year we had in 2007, Solace pointed out to me that it was great, but that we did have a big loss in the family with the death of Checkers dog. (This is all being brought up again for her as their classroom pet "Fireball Toadie" died over the holiday break). So, this is in loving memory of Checkers dog! (As a side note, the 3 things Ender asked Santa for were a kid set of tools, a puppy for himself, and a puppy for his grandpa so he wouldn't be so sad about checkers anymore.)

Wahoo-Solace gets a sister!!

Well, yesterday was the big ultrasound, and I am happy to report you can all stop sending boy names (We are still happily accepting girl suggestions though). As I am sure most of you know, they never give you 100% when they tell you it is a girl, but it really looked like this is a girl! So, We just wanted to share our exciting news with you all. I am including a few of the pictures they gave us (though not the crotch shot-Wes just didn't want me to post that one, but I promise, there are no boy parts visible). Also, FYI this ultrasound put the due date at May 15th. Here are the pics of baby girl Johnson...

This is a profile shot of baby poking herself in the eye with her thumb.Baby's face smiling at us.
Baby yawning.

Baby Johnson #4

Earlier I wrote a blog about what we should name this next child we are expecting in May. Now, as we are getting closer to this, you may have noticed I added a thing on the side where you can guess what day the baby will be born. Here is the pertinent info you might want to be able to guess. This baby's due date according to the date of my last period is like May 26th, but I have had 2 early ultrasounds which both said May 17th would be the due date. This also happens to be my 7th Anniversary and the HUGE fundraiser at the kids preschool.

My previous kids were all early:

Solace was due Dec 11 and born Dec 8
Ender was due April 14 and born April 5
Armour was due August 10 and born July 26.

So, make a guess as to what day you think this child will be born, and I will add it to the list on the side. Solace and Ender have already made their guesses. You can email your guesses or just add them as comments to this post! Oh the fun...

Thank you Janelle!

Thank you Janelle Money for posting wedding pictures on your facebook! I am totally stealing them so I can show off more of the wedding. Here are a few of Janelle's pics from Jecca's wedding!

They kiss (Also, notice Wes & Armour in the foreground-proves we were there!) The immediate family (Wes is further over on the right-basically I am saying he was cut out!)
Steve
Anne and Steve at the reception
The happy couple
See-I was totally there with the kids! Here we are with Stef eating ice cream.

Armour's first haircut!

Before
After


I was quite resistant to cutting off Armour's long, lovely locks of golden hair, and frankly I miss them a bit, but I think you will all agree that he looks absolutely GREAT with shorter hair!! I will not be letting his hair grow so long again-he just looks so handsome and grown up now! Handsome big boy!!

Well, she's hitched!!!

On Dec 27, 2007, Wesley's baby sister, Jessica got married to Eric...Oops, I mean Bret Gardner (At the wedding, the guy marrying them kept calling him Eric, which incidentally is his brother's name). So, I took a TON of really, really cute pics that actually turned out well, but as my previous blog mentioned my computer blipped, and this is the extent of the pics that survived, so enjoy these cake and bouquet throwing pics! Congrats Bret and Jessica Gardner! We are so excited to have a new uncle Bret!! As a total side note, Ender and his cousin Brenden (he is 5 months older then Ender) figured out that Bret is the tie breaker in Wesley's family that makes more boys than girls (grandma and grandpa cancel each other out, the 3 that were married before Jessica and their spouses cancel each other out, Tom and Stef cancel each other out, Ty's son and daughter cancel each other out, Solace and Ender cancel each other out, and before she was married, Jessica and Armour canceled each other out. Leaving Bret as the tie breaker). How these two little boys figured this out I do not know, but now I feel some pressure for this baby to be a girl and tie it up again! :) We will find out about that for sure tomorrow!

Stupid Computer!

So, When we got home from Salt Lake, I uploaded all my pictures, made sure they all worked, erased them from the camera, then my computer had some weird issue that I spent all day the other day working on, and basically, I lost more than half of my Utah pictures, including Armour's first haircut and most of the wedding pictures. I am pretty pissed! But, I will try to piece together some pics that will still show off the difference in the haircut and see if I have a few wedding ones I can still use...

Out with the old, In with the new...

I think this will be a fun one for me to look back on answering...

What did you do in 2007 that you’ve never done before? Move to Washington.
Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year? I don't think I made any, and have not made any this year yet.
Did anyone close to you give birth? Um...in 2007, I don't think so...But I got pregnant-does that count for anything?
Did anyone close to you die? Checkers...
What countries did you visit? Just the USA...lots of it on long drives...
What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Money
What date from 2007 will remain etched in your memory and why? June 4th-we moved into out new apt in Spokane. May 12, Wes's graduation from Med school.
What was your biggest achievement of the year? Continuing to raise 3 healthy happy kids, and somehow managing to move them across the country.
What was your biggest failure? Getting into credit card debt (when we moved)
Did you suffer illness or injury? Just a bit of illness at the beginning of this pregnancy.
What was the best thing you bought? Wii
Where did most of your money go? Moving expenses, Creighton Med school, travel for interviews.
What did you get really, really, really excited about? Spending time with Wes and the kids.
Happier or sadder? Than in the last year?! I guess about the same
Thinner or fatter? Fatter (Or pregnant-er might be more accurate. Before I got pregnant though I was thinner than I have been since before I got pregnant with Ender.)
Richer or poorer? Richer, but I feel like we are poorer.
What do you wish you’d done more of? Patiently taught my kids.
What do you wish you’d done less of? Yell
How did you spend Christmas? In Utah (only because Jessica was getting married that week)
Did you fall in love in 2007? Yes, with Wes all over every day.
What was your favorite TV show? Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Journeyman, The Apprentice, Dancing with the Stars, Monk...
What was the best book you read? Scarlet Pimpernel
What was your greatest musical discovery of 2007? Sexy/Back
What did you want and get? A nicer apartment
What did you want and not get? to match in Hawaii and to own our own house
What was your favorite film this year? I don't really know-didn't see many I guess...
What did you do on your birthday? Went out at a tepanyaki place (like Benihana's)
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Nothing I can think of.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Motherly?! Sad?! NO Fashion concept at all...
What kept you sane? Wes
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Absolutely non at all.
What political issue stirred you the most? I hate Politics! HATE!!
Who did you miss? Everyone back in Utah.
Who was the best new person you met? I have met way too many great new people here in Spokane to even begin to answer that question!
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Life is never what you expect it to be, but if you just run with it and have a good attitude, it seems to always work out for the best.

Random

60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me [But Now You Do]

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? It is a mess of lots of crap-and this is a bit of an unfair question as we just drove home yesterday from Utah.
2. When was the last time you threw up? Pretty much every time I brush my teeth this pregnancy-toothpaste makes me sick this time sadly...
3. What's your favorite word? Phalange.
4. Name 3 people who made you smile today? I have to pick 4-Wes, Solace, Ender, Armour
5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Sleeping.
6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Checking my email for the first time in a week.
7. How many first cousins do you have? Um...lets see...on my dad's side I have 17 (Actually there are many more than that with step cousins, but I am not sure how many, so I am just doing my full non-step cousins) and on my mom's side I have 9, so like 26. If I count all of Wes's cousins though, that would be a ton (I think he has like almost 40 first cousins).
8. Have you ever been to a strip club? NO
9. What is the last thing you said aloud? Ender please don't open that present right now.
10. What is the best ice cream flavor? Cherry Garcia and Peppermint are the only ones worth eating (well, I recently like cookie dough as well)
11. What was the last thing you had to drink? Fresca
12. What are you wearing right now? Black pants, a striped long sleeve shirt and my new warm leopard pattern robe and slippers (it is freezing!!!) BTW-shout out to Mel-thanks for the awesome robe-I LOVE it!!
13. What was the last thing you ate? Many Many Clementine oranges as Armour keeps peeling them and bringing them to me to eat (they are now up too high for him to get.
14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Yes-a dress fro Jecca's wedding.
15. When was the last time you ran? Thursday I spent a great deal of my time at the temple and the reception running after me kids.
16. What's the last sporting event you watched? The last Utah football game.
17. Where was your favorite vacation? I loved going to Hawaii, Greece, and Disneyland!
18. Who is the last person you sent a comment/message? Wes.
19. Ever go camping? Yes
20. Do you have a tan? Not currently
21. What did (or will) you name your first daughter? First son? Next child? Solace, Ender (my second son was Armour FYI), and we don't know what we will name the next one...Maybe Savannah if it's a girl. and maybe Creighton if it's a boy...
22. How often did you go on dates when you were in high school? In college? High school about 2-3 times a week, College much more than that-almost every night, but there were so,e drought times, so probably an average of 4-5 times a week...does that sound bad?!
23. Where was your first kiss? A New Years Eve Party when I was 15.
24. Do you drink your soda from a straw? As much as possible!
25. What did your last text message say? I won't go into the last one I received as it was a novel that pissed me off, but the last one a wrote said "R U still busy, or did U just forget me?"
26. Are you someones best friend? Yes (Wes better agree with that one!)
27. What are you doing tomorrow? Sleeping in after the whole New Years thing (Hopefully my children will sleep in as well!) Then I will get my house clean and make sure we are ready to go back to school and everything!
28. Where is your mom right now? Either at work or at her home making New Years Bread is my guess.
29. Look to your left, what do you see? My kitchen full of boxes of Christmas presents for me to unpack and find homes for.
30. What color is your watch? Don't were one. I just use my cell to keep time-it is black.
31. What do you think of when you think of Australia? Outback Steak House, Kangaroos, and Crocodile Dundee.
32. Ever ridden on a roller coaster? I LOVE them!!!!!! It is one of the drawbacks of pregnancy-that you cannot ride them...
33. What is your birthstone color? Blue (Sapphire)
34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Are you kidding? I have 3 kids-always drive thru!!
35. What is your favorite number? 13
36. Do you have a dog? No, never have.
37. Last person you talked to on the phone? Wes
38. Have you met anyone famous? Yes a few famous people actually...all strange stories, but the strangest was when I met Julia Roberts. If you are lucky, I will post that story some time.
39. Any plans today? Register Wes's car in Washington, clean up, update blog, take a nap, go to WalMart for food, make New Year's Bread, Make Sauerkraut with Hot dogs (traditional New Years stuff there), Ring in the New year tonight, and make sure to Kiss Wes.
40. How many states have you lived in? Um...Utah, Michigan, Colorado, California, Nebraska, Washington...so 6 I guess.
41. Ever go to college? Yes, graduated and everything!
42. Where are you right now? HOME!!
43. What are you most looking forward to in the New Year? A lot of things-new baby, new job for Wes (hopefully with better insurance), buying our first house, Solace starting kindergarten, just to name a few.
44. Last song listened to? I have no clue-I guess the one on Sesame Street that just ended.
45. Where do you wish you were right now? Somewhere warm-I'll go with Hawaii.
46. Are you allergic to anything? Yes I am.
47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? My boots from Wes, and my new shoes Wes got me for Christmas.
48. Favorite board or card game to play? Currently I LOVE Killer Bunnies.
49. Are you jealous of anyone? No
50. Is anyone jealous of you? No
51. Do you love anyone? Yes
52. Do any of your friends have children? Most do.
53. Do you eat healthy? 90 percent of the time.
54. What do you usually do during the day? Clean, take care of children, cook, run errands, (after I sit around and eat bon bons all day of course) you know, the usual stay-at-home mom stuff.
55. Do you hate anyone right now? No
56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Yes, I think so-though I certainly use "Hi" more often.
57. Who do you talk to on the phone the most? Wes
58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? This is frightening to admit...30...
59. Have you ever been to Six Flags? No
60. How did you get one of your scars? Taking the garbage out on my 12th B-Day. NO one told me it had broken glass in it and as the bag swung past my leg, the glass slashed it open. Pretty bloody and gory and gross!!