Johnny Jumper

We have this device, for lack of a better term, that was made by April's parents. It is lovingly called "Johnny Jumper". Riley used it when we lived in the condo and it was among his favorite things. Millie didn't get to use it, as the time that she was the right age was when we moved to Orem and I never got it set up for her (Sorry, Boo). But now Bri is old enough to enjoy this contraption. It is a spring that hangs from a hook in the ceiling and then has a harness that the baby goes in to allow them to jump at will. Riley use to wake up in the middle of the night and want to jump. It seemed like it was about the only thing he wanted to do. Bri is quickly following in her brother's footstep, expect she sleeps thought the night (she goes down between 6:00 and 6:30 and sleep until between 7:00 and 7:30 usually (insert loud cheer from parents)). It is a great babysitter while dinner is being made and lets face it it's just fun to watch the smiles and laughter coming from the baby. See for yourself:

Pine Wood Derby

Well, Riley had his second Pine Wood Derby this past week on Tuesday night. He did pretty well and won most of his races (I think he only had one second place finish in the preliminary rounds). Unfortunately he lost in the last race against the three other fast cars that night and ended up in fourth place. But he did win for Outstanding Sportsmanship and Most Aerodynamic Car. He told me when he was drawing out the design that he wanted, that it needed to be very aerodynamic and he even drew arrows over the top of the car to show how the air would flow around his design. We had a good time and Riley had lots of fun racing. It is always fun to have family come to events like this and this time was no different as Grandma Johnson, Aunt Shelly, and Uncle David all came to cheer Riley on. Millie really got into the fun and was cheering for every car. Thank you to Megan for coming over and staying at our house with Brianna so that we didn't have to keep her up past her bed time (rested babies = happy parents). Riley even led the Flag Ceremony at the beginning of Pack Meeting all by his self. I thought that was a pretty big deal as we have two Packs meeting together and he did an outstanding job. He must have wanted to get back to more racing as he also offered to give the closing prayer when the Leader couldn't remember who had been assigned.

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year. We celebrated "New York Style". That means that a 10 o'clock mountain time we said "It's midnight in New York so kiss me and lets go to sleep". Exciting, I know, but with an almost 4 month old baby we are still trying to get sleep when ever we can.

We did have more fun on New Year's Day however. We meet with most of April's family at the Chinese Gourmet Buffet here in Orem for Lunch at 11:30. We thought we would try to beat the lunch rush but there really wasn't much of one. After eating lots of food and being loud we came back to our house to play games and talk. As usual we ending up just talking and not playing games but we had a good time and it was much less stressful than trying to have a meal at some one's house. I think we may make it in to a tradition as everyone really had a good time. April's parents didn't make it on New Year's Day so they stopped by on Saturday on their way to Tooele and we went to lunch with them at the same restaurant. I do like Chinese food but twice to a buffet in three days was plenty for me.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone had a good Christmas, we did. This year we just let the kids open presents and play with them right then if they wanted to. In the past we unwrapped all the presents first before actually opening the packaging and beginning to play. It made it a lot less stressful and it actually took us two hour to unwrap the presents rather than the usual twenty minutes. With the economy what it is we did cut back a little this year but it made it funner to shop as we tried to put more thought into each present we bought rather than how much we had spent on each one. We spent Christmas Eve with April's family and did the traditional reading on the Nativity and singing. Of course we had lots of food and this year it was held at Scott and Nadine's house in Provo. Christmas Day we went to Mark's family at about 4:00 pm. We had more food there and spent a little time playing Guitar Hero World Tour with two guitars, drums, and a "singer". I put quotes around singer since none of us really are but we had a good time trying.

Riley got a Nintendo DS and we have hardly heard from him since except to show us something about which ever game he is playing. Millie got a new Baby Doll and accessories that she loves along with a bike. We are hoping that she will get to ride it by May with all the snow we have received. April got some sweaters, which she can never seem to have enough of, and Mark got a backup camera for our Suburban.

Well New Year's Day in just around the corner so here are our wishes for you that it may be a happy and prosperous one.

Fountian Green

We went down to Fountain Green for this past weekend. It was cold and windy most of the time. That didn't matter much as we stayed inside and worked on tying two quilts. Sam's Club is working on doing 30 quilts to donate to the Women and Children in Crisis Center in Provo. We wanted to help out and thought this would be a great way to spend our weekend and help others at the same time. The kids just watched movies and played most of the time while we worked on the quilts. They did try to go outside once on Saturday, but quickly decided it was to cold and came back inside. We drove down to Manti to do a little shopping at one of the craft stores we sometimes go to. It was nice to see the temple with the fresh snow falling. As with all the temples it is just beautiful to see from the outside even when you don't have time go in to do a session.

Nativity

We went to the Living Nativity in Provo again this year. We went on Friday night to the 7:00 showing. It was a little different this year as they did it inside the Tabernacle. They have made new sets since it is inside but they are not able to use the animals as they use to. The animals were outside and you can go up to them and pet them if you choose to do so. This year they even had a camel that was there. It was kind of neat to see the camel up so close. Millie had a lot of fun during the performance but wasn't to happy to see the camel outside. Riley took his camera and took a few pictures of the evening. He was more excited that we let him take the camera than any thing else. Here are a couple of the pictures that he took:

It was nice to be inside as it wasn't freezing like it usually is. It made it a lot easier with Brianna and not having to worry as much about if she was cold. This activity has become a bit of a tradition for us and I look forward to it each year. It just helps to set the mood for the holiday season.

New Blog Started

Hello, we're new to this whole world of blogging and this is our first attempt. Today I'm just trying to get it set up so I don't have much to say but I will be adding to this soon. Thanks for taking a look.