We are home!

Updates are really hard to do when you are out of town for a week! It was great to see so much family at the funeral. We enjoyed spending a day with Marneen and her family also! JJ and Josie didn't want to leave. Josie had a great time going with Avery and Aunt Chaelaine to the pumpkin patch. She put her pumpkin in front of our house to display it to the neighborhood.

We came home to a garden that was over ready for harvest. We picked tomatos until there wasn't any more room to put them...salsa will be made today. We got 9 good sized pumpkins to put with Josie's. There are 2 more that are still getting ready to pick. We have tons of watermelon that will have to continue rotting in the garden. And there were quite a few cucumbers that are ready to harvest. Some of the cauliflower and broccoli are coming back, we'll have more of that is a couple of weeks. Yippee!

Yesterday, Josie decided that she didn't want the dinner I made. She went out the back door, through the gate, (everything was open because I was mowing the lawn) and into the garage where she opened the freezer to get a popsicle. She handed the group of them to me and pointed to the one she wanted to open.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Josie!

It is hard to believe that 3 years can pass by so quickly. Josie is growing up so fast. She loves to wash JJ up when he is a mess. She loves to pretend to cook and make me eat it. She carries her babies around with a packed diaper bag and then goes to Wal-Mart to buy milk. Wal-Mart is her favorite place and she wants to go there everyday. Recently she will come over to me and say, "Mom, I want to sit on you." She may be growing up fast, but she'll still cuddle with me every now and then. Happy Birthday, Josie!

Good-Bye Mormor

Maja Gulli Ellstrom Johansson is my mormor. That is Swedish for grandma. She was born on August 16, 1917 and she passed away September 17, 2008. We are leaving tomorrow evening headed for her funeral in Salt Lake City. (either Saturday or Monday) Mormor will be missed by so many people, but how can we be sad when we know she'll be with Morfar and her family. She has worked so hard to bring her family members to our Heavenly Father's presence through Temple work. Good-bye for now Mormor! We love you!

Uncles, Aunts & Cousins

A last minute decision was made late Saturday evening to go to La Grande and see the new baby (still no name announced). We didn't even unpack Jason's camping stuff. We packed the rest of us up and left town. As we drove, we let Aunt Charie and Uncle Jay know we were headed their way. Josie loves to play with all the cousins at their house. Even though they had a couple of extra kiddos (sisters of the new baby) they offered to let us stay with them ... so we did. The kids were all up early Sunday morning and played together until they were ready for church. JJ loved the attention he got from the older boys. Jayson twirled him around and around and Jaxon danced "Ring Around the Rosie". JJ couldn't get enough of the chickens once he realized they were outside and close enough to try to touch. Josie enjoyed playing with Jayda, Macy and Cambry. Carter kept a watchful eye on Josie and JJ as they mauled Camilla.

The baby boy is beautiful! He has a dark head of hair with some red when the light hits it just right. We had a good visit with Uncle Tyson, Aunt Shannon and their son. As we arrived home I realized that we didn't take any pictures of the impromptu trip. What a bummer!

Today Josie, JJ and I were lucky enough to pick up Uncle Troy and Aunt Robin at the airport. JJ was looking forward to it all day long. He refused to take a nap afraid that he'd miss the airplanes. He fell asleep on the 10 minute ride to the airport and didn't see a thing. Josie was really interested in the baggage claim belt as it moved through the area.

Regular Saturday ritual is upsidedown!

Our Saturdays are usually spent in the house for the morning doing the chores that did not get done during the week. When the time comes, we load into the van and head to the Temple. We wait for grandma and grandpa to finish their temple shift. Then the race is on for Costco! Lunch is either pizza or the famous polish dogs there. The afternoon is all about running errands and following grandma and grandpa around town until they are ready to go home.



We are upside down today because Tyson and Shannon had a baby yesterday and grandma and grandpa left last night to see him. Jason is camping with his scout this weekend. (there is only 1 eleven year old in our ward...they combine with the other 2 wards in our building that have only 1 eleven year old scout)



It is really hard to keep a ritual going when half of the ritualists are out of town. We can't wait to hear more about the baby and find out about Jason's trip.

Doctors and Physical Therapy

Jason was ill on Sunday and the kiddos were not letting go of their coughs, so I took them all to see our Doctor on Monday. Josie and JJ are too familiar with that office! They open all the drawers and cabinets while we wait to find all kinds of treasures. Whatever they have is viral so they just need to ride it out.

Potty training is still in process. JJ seems to enjoy the toilet more than Josie. Josie brought me a diaper last night and said she wants to wear them instead of panties.

I am going to Physical Therapy 2-3 times a week. We are still working on the injuries from the car accident last October. New exercises were added last night and man can I feel the difference!

Too much pressure...we've created a blog!

Well, here we go...I will attempt to keep a blog up to date. The harder part will be to keep it interesting for anyone that reads it. The photo is nearly a year old now, but we won't have an updated one until the end of October or early November.

Josie and JJ are potty training at the same time right now. When Josie says, "I want to go potty." she means: I want to play in the sink and flush the toilet as many times as I can before I get into trouble. JJ is doing really well, he just hasn't figured out that he can tell me that he needs to go...he just waits until I ask him if he'd like to.