A new family Blog

We are starting a new family blog at http://5utahjohnsons.blogspot.com/
I hope to be a lot better at upadate this family record in the future.
Thanks!
Cindy

Our Family Vacation...

Okay, so this is my first time updating our family blog. Dan was the mastermind in the beginning, but I have decided I need to update our blog as well! Hopefully we can keep this up to date with the things that are going on in our lives.

The Drive
Last week our family set off on a "little" road trip that included the Disneyland, the beach, and visiting Grandma and Grandpa Blair... It was full of excitement, adventure and laughs.

Hailey - after 6 hours in the car!

Bryce - taking a little break from his movie...

Alan - Hangin' out after 6 hours in the car...

The Ocean


So, our first stop in Southern CA was the beach. Hailey was thrilled to see the ocean and wanted to run and play in the water.



She had a great time in the water:

Even after falling in the very cold water,

she got back up (after catching her breath) and continued playing.

Bryce didn't think the cold water was very enjoyable.

He spent most of his time in the sand:

Alan also enjoyed the sand:

We also spent some time on the pier watching the surfers:

It was a fun day!

Disneyland

We were thrilled to take our children to Disneyland. They were so very excited to go. We decided to purchase a 2 day pass so we could spend a lot of time enjoying the Princesses, Mickey, Minnie, and everything that goes along with Disneyland.

To our surprise, it was VERY HOT. On the big day, it was 105 degrees.

I hate to say it, but our first experience with Disneyland was miserable.

It was hot, crowded, and hot.

I think Hailey and Bryce enjoyed their time there, but they were happy with visiting the beach again and going swimming in the hotel pool - instead of using the second day of our passes. I was thrilled to not have to go back! I thought the hardest part of our trip would be all of the driving. It turned out to be Disneyland. Go figure!

Grandma and Grandpa Blair's House

We had a wonderful time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had a nice get-together with the family on Sunday night. It was so good to see everyone!

Our "little vacation" included more than 30 hours in the car with our three lively children... A day after returning home, Dan asked Hailey, "So would you like to go on another long car ride?" She replied, "Sure! Where are we going?"

We haven't made any plans for another road trip... but the children did so well, we won't be nervous to set off on another one!

An Inconvenient Timeline

Well, here it is. The great unveiling of the finished basement...
Let me pass along the timeline of events...

Summer 2005 - Begin work on the basement...



January 2008 - Finally finish framing, sheetrock, paint, moulding, etc...









Monday, January 30, 2008 - Carpet is laid, family is ecstatic about the new space...





Kids have a ball...




Baby Alan rolls around on the carpet...

... Five days later... Saturday, February 2, 2008... Sewer backs up in the basement, soaking a fair amount of the five day old carpet...

Spend all day cursing, dealing with roto-rooter, cursing at the home builder (who screwed up the main drain line, as as shown from the camera of roto-rooter man...), cursing, drying out the floor, dealing with the insurance company, cursing, cleaning up human waste on my hands and knees from the brand new carpet, and from the basement bath tub, drying the nasty brand new carpet, cursing, and wondering about the horrible timing of it all...

Sunday, February 3, 2008 - Shrug the shoulders, and enjoy the superbowl in the part of the basement that doesn't have fecal matter embedded into the carpet fibers...

Blog Bling...

Well, a good friend of mine in this little blog world nominated me for a very special award.

I am truly humbled by the honor that is mine... And in accordance with the bylaws of blogging, when extended an honor such as this, you must post it on the "I love me" column on the front page of the blog with the rest of your accolades.

And in carrying on with blog protocol, I must pass this honor along to the most deserving candidates...

My good friend, Hil.

My dear kind sister, Schtie.

And I think I will have to give the third award to myself. Because I really deserve it...

We're going to the Zoo-Zoo-Zoo... How about you...

The Zoo has long been a tradition on the 4th of July in our family, and is one of the rare occasion when a good majority of the Lubbers clan gathers. This year Cindy stayed home with Alan, and I took the kids to the zoo. Hailey really enjoyed seeing the Giraffe Poop. (Where would she get that potty humor from?)

After the zoo I took the kids across the street to the "This is the Place Monument". Glenn Beck was in Utah to host the "Stadium of Fire", but before that he taped his tv show at the "This is the Place State Park". Timing was just right, that we were able to meet him on the way back to the car. He was very kind, and spoke with the kids for a moment, and was on his way.

That evening we went enjoyed a show of illegal fireworks from our neighbors right from the comfort of our own back yard. It was fun to watch Bryce go from utter fear of the fireworks, to sheer joy. It is amazing how children change the way you feel about holiday traditions.

Happy Day

We'd like to introduce you to Alan Creed Johnson. Born June 23, 2007 at 12:07 pm. He is a healthy 7lbs-15oz, 20 inches long, with a Johnson sized noggin. Cindy is doing remarkably well, and baby Alan is doing great.

We were scheduled to be induced on Friday, but there were no beds available, so we came in today. As we were driving Hailey and Bryce to Grandma Hansen's house this morning, Bryce puked all over himself and the carseat, so we got there, took him and the carseat out, handed him over to Grandma and we were out of there. It was probably one of the rare chances where we get to just hand off one of our children to someone else after they barfed all over. So, we got to the hospital and our labor and delivery nurse was Janeal Hatch, an old Dixie Valley friend, which was great. So, they hooked Cindy up to the machines, and the medicine, she got the epidural before any painful contractions occured. At 12:05 the doctor "broke her water" and at 12:07 after a couple of little pushes, Alan made his appearance into the world. All in all, it was pretty easy (that's easy for Dan to say). But we are very happy, what an amazing experience this is.

Here are a few photos of the days events. Enjoy.

Because everyone is doing it...

I hope you are happy Christie, you made me do this... I have been pushed into creating this lovely blog to keep you all informed of the doings of our little family... So, sit back and enjoy. Keep your expectations low regarding the quality, frequency, and relevance of our postings.