Johnsens

2009-12-30T20:58:00.000-08:00

This is us trying to get a good christmas card picture......

We finally found one!!!

2009-12-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

Anna with her cousin Olivia. Aren't they cute?!

2009-12-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

Kate at dance class
Daddy's birthday

2009-11-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

More Halloween
Carving pumpkins
Kate at her school parade
Mikey the knight and Benny the cowboy

2009-11-17T18:28:00.000-08:00

Cowboys and Indians
We had a lot of fun dressing up like cowboys and Indians for Halloween. Here we are at a party my mom had. Lots of fun!!!

2009-11-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Kate. We love you!!!

2009-11-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

Kate turns 7!

We had a fun party with Kate's friends in our backyard.

2009-11-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Anna and mommy
Anna, Kate, Ben and Mikey
Anna, Mimi and Luke playing with her new toys.
Anna opening her presents

2009-11-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

Anna loved her first taste of cake.

2009-11-17T15:39:00.000-08:00

Then we got to celebrate her birthday a couple of days later. Daddy calls Anna his little ladybug so mommy made a ladybug cake.

Kate and Ben are excited for Anna's birthday

Anna's actual birthday (mom was in the hospital from a reaction to the flu mist). Happy 1 year old!

2009-11-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Practicing for Halloween. Everyone was so excited for get dressed up for Halloween that we had to practice. The girls were Indians and the boys were cowboys. More pictures later.

Anna loves dirt. Whenever we put her down outside she crawls right to the dirt and sits in it and touches it and obviously eats it. She is so different from our first two. They both hated dirt. What a bad mom, I ran to get my camera instead get the dirt out of her mouth. But isn't it a priceless picture. She will love it when she is older!!

That is dirt, not chocolate!!

more catch up

2009-11-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

Kate's first day at school, 1st grade with friend Maura
Ben is excited for Kate to go to school

2009-10-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Kate in the primary parade Anna and Daddy in Park City

Ben, Mikey(cousin) and Luke(cousin) in the tub

Playing in the pool at Park City, only dad looks good here!

Mom and Anna, she is getting too big, too fast!!

Update

2009-10-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it's been forever since I last posted. I have to admit I was blogging for my parents who were in Mexico as the Mission president and they came home in July so I didn't see any reason to continue but I decided I would try to update every once in a while. Life moves too fast and I can't keep up with regular duties let alone blogging, but I will try. Anyway, here are some pictures from our summer. Ben and Anna in the tub... tub time is one of our favorites!!

Anna at 9 months old

4th of July family photo

Everyone loves to get in Anna's crib with her

Kate on her last day of Kindergarten. Mrs. Root was such a great teacher!

2009-06-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

Over looking the tidal basin and Washington monument Thomas Jefferson monument

Washington D.C.

2009-06-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

In May we got to go back to Washington D.C. and visit our old friends and places. It was so great to see everyone. It was quite difficult traveling with a 2 year old and a 7 month old. They just wanted their regular routine and own beds, but they made it and it was nice to go back. The Washington D.C. temple

Our friends the Waites, in the picture, Ben, Adrienne Waite, Kate and Cooper Waite

Kate and Adrienne had soo much fun together. It was like they had never been apart. We are sad we can't see them more often!!

Teddy Roosevelt Island, one of our favorite places in D.C.

Catch up

2009-06-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here are the kids after Ben's bath.

Ben wearing his new b-ball base jammies

This is the best picture I could get on Mother's day. Anna and I had been really sick for 2 weeks. We're not sure what Kate's problem is!

Ben's Birthday

2009-04-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

Ben loves "b-ball base" (his word for baseball) so I made him a baseball cake. I thought it turned out pretty good. It was fun to celebrate with grandma and grandpa Johnsen. Next year we will have mimi and bampa here and that will be even more fun!! I can't believe that my little guy is 2 years old. Here he is right before he opened his presents. He had a temperature of 103.5 Poor kid, but he still had fun.

Big boy, big driver.

Here is Ben's first car. He loves it and we are really glad that he got it for his birthday!!

Kate is really excited to celebrate Ben's birthday!!

Kate and Anna

2009-04-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

2009-04-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Anna and Grandpa Johnsen. She loves him!! Ben got some mister potato head parts for Easter and loved wearing them himself.

Kate and Anna in matching Easter dresses. I never thought that I would have them match, but I love it!!!!

Easter

2009-04-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

We had a fun easter. Ben really got into looking for the eggs and realizing there was candy in them. I had Herb read some Easter scriptures to the kids. This is the same look I expect from them when they are teenagers and we are reading scriptures on Easter morning. (probably the same look I had on my face when my mom made us read scriptures before hunting for eggs!!)

2009-04-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Ben and Anna hanging out.

Ben loves pirates lately and he makes pirate faces at us all the time. It's really cute!!

Spring pictures

2009-04-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

Dying easter eggs was a lot of fun. Anna was really happy about it. It was so fun to have Bampa with us to dye eggs.

Ben, mom and Kate on Mom's birthday. They decorated the house soo very nicely. It was a great day!!

Blowing out the candles on my birthday cake. Thanks Sarah and Brad for an awesome birthday dinner. It was soo fun!!

2009-04-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is Kate dancing at her school. The pictures didn't really turn out very well. Ben found an old pair of Kate's goggles and loved wearing them around the house.

This is Anna eating solids for the first time on March 17. She has done very well.

Ben and Anna

2009-04-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

This is Ben and Anna hanging out at home. Ben loves to see himself in the camera so he can't sit still in front of it.

2009-03-04T15:20:00.000-08:00

I realized the other day that Anna is 5 months old and I don't have a picture of the two of us yet!! (poor 3rd child!) So here we are, isn't she cute!! I love this smiley little baby. She adds so much to our family!(if at the very least a little chaos)

At the beginning of February I started to think that we had made it through the winter without getting seriously sick and then we all got very sick. Each child ended up with running noses, deep coughs and an ear infection. It was a hard couple weeks but we are through that one and here we all are smiling!!

Ben loves buckets

2009-03-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

Everyday life

2009-03-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

I love these pictures of Anna. Where did my baby go? I can't believe how big she is. It was kind of a rough first 4 months. Anna was colicky and spent a lot of the day crying (me too!), but she is officially out of that stage and is a happy baby now. She loves any kind of attention and will smile at anyone willing to smile at her, especially her big brother and sister!! We love her soo much and we are very glad she is in our family!!

Ben is obsessed with this cowboy hat!! He wears it all day long and loves to sit in any sort of bucket or basket. He is such a fun kid! We get a kick out of Ben!!

2009-01-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

Now I am up to date with pictures but can't guarantee that it won't be another 3 months before I post again :)

Kate at ballet class

Ben hanging out with Anna

Anna, Kate and Ben

2009-01-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning

I was trying to get a good picture for our Christmas card but failed!!

Few more pictures

2009-01-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

The whole family Anna's blessing

Lights at Temple Square

Go UTES!!!!

Long time no post

2009-01-21T14:19:00.001-08:00

I find it quite appropriate that the last time I posted was when I came home from the hosptial, because that was the last time I had a free second to myself. Having 3 children has been very busy for me. I know that I am a whimp but I can't get everything done. And if I seem to have a free second I fill it with other things besides blogging, like sleeping, cleaning, doing the laundry, doing the dishes etc. I don't know how all you moms out there do it. Anyway, here are some pictures from the last 3 months or so.

Halloween

(Kate the cat, Ben the frog and Anna the ghost)

A fun visit from Mimi (shhh,don't tell anyone!!)

Opening presents

Kate's birthday

Hanging out with our new sister

going home with baby

2008-10-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

This was right before we brought Annaliese home. Ben had just woken up from a nap and wasn't very happy.

Annaliese in her new bed. We are so happy she is here in our family!!

Even more of baby

2008-10-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

Ben will definitely be the protective older brother, he has shown signs of that

More pictures of baby

2008-10-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

The kids are very excited to see their new baby sister Ben was trying to feed her pretzels.

I love how happy Ben looks here, hopefully that will last ;)

Baby Annaliese

2008-10-11T16:09:00.001-07:00

On October 6th Annaliese Sue Johnsen was born. She was 7lbs 9oz and 19 inches long. We are so happy that she is here safe and sound. I shouldn't post a picture that bad but I had to show my involvement!
Daddy and his girls. Oh, we can't wait until the teenage years!!

Kate's first day of Kindergarten

2008-09-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

Here is Kate with her new backpack all ready for Kindergarten. The first day went really well. She was so excited to go and when the teacher blew the whistle she didn't even look back. I was a little less excited and had to shed a tear or two, but we are so proud of her and we are glad that she is happy to be there.

Ben is excited for Kate too, although he misses her when she is gone!

Summer pictures

2008-08-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here is some of the zuccinni that we have grown in our garden. I was not expecting to have so much zuccinni and to have it grow so big. Needless to say we have been eating a lot of zuccinni and I have made a lot of bread. Herb and Ben warming up the grill. What a great father and son thing to do!!
Against my better judgment I have decided to post of picture of me 7 months pregnant. I am always curious to see what other people look like pregnant. I am huge and starting to feel ready to have this baby. But she needs to cook a little longer.

2008-08-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

On August 9th Jonas, Herb's youngest brother got married. We are so happy for him and love his new bride Darcie. This is a picture of the 6 brothers, brother-in-law and Darcie. Herb, Jacob, Jonas, Darcie, Josh, Jared, Brad and Justin. Here are the original 8 children, plus Darcie.
This is a picture of all the grandchildren minus 3 (in colorado). If you think it looks like chaos, you are right... it was!!!!!
Here is our little family. Darcie's mother is from Hawaii, so we all got to wear Lai's.
Kate loves Darcie. She is such a great addition to our family and we are so happy for her and Jonas!!

The many faces of Ben

2008-08-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

I think I have said this before but Ben loves to put on hats. In one afternoon these are all the hats he found.
His gangster look with bling and all. He is the one that puts the hat on sideways
Cowboy Benny.
And then he found one of Kate's headbands. Is it a problem that he likes to wear his sisters accesories? I'm not too worried. This one only lasted a minute. He likes his gangster look much better.

More Ben

2008-07-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Ben loves to put on hats. Here he is with Kate's bike helmet.
What a Cheese ball!!
Howdy partner

Our boy Ben

2008-07-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

As I went through our pictures I realized I had a lot of fun pictures of Ben just doing funny things. He is so fun and just gets more fun the older he gets. We love him soo much! Sitting in his floaty

I found these two outside wacking away at the vines. It was a great father son thing to do!!

4th of July

2008-07-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

We watched some amazing fireworks up at Eaglewood golf course. It was a fun way to celebrate!!

These pictures are NOT pretty but it was all we had

Johnsen Family trip to Park City

2008-07-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

In July we went to Park City with the whole Johnsen Crew. 35 of us. We all had a blast. Thanks Rod and Sue and Thanks Ducka for planning it!! Kate and Elle
Ben headbutting Matthew with Lydia in front

All the girls getting a make over
Some of the cousins on a hike

Friends

2008-07-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

Our friends the Croskeys came to town to visit. We had so much fun with them. We went to "This is the place" park and up to Park City for the alpine slide. Kate had so much fun with Anna and Leon and we wished they lived closer so we could see them more!!

Father's Day

2008-07-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken on Father's day. My children are soo lucky to have the father they have. He is so fun and loving and willing to do anything for them. He is so good at getting down on the ground and playing with them. I am grateful for the father he is!!

More Zion's

2008-07-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

Kate on horseback and on the trampoline
These are the welts Herb got after playing paintball. I'm not sure it was worth it!!

Busy summer

2008-07-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

We got to go on a work retreat with Herb's law firm. We went to Zion's national park. It was so much fun and very beautiful!!

This is how Ben got to Hike, in a stroller!

I went to download my pictures and realized I have let the whole summer by without downloading any pictures. It has been busy and fun. Here are some of the pictures of what we have done.

Kate's last day of Preschool

2008-06-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

When I dropped Kate off at preschool for the first time I was very brave to her face and as I drove off I started crying. Pretty typical, I think. But today as I dropped her off at preschool for the last time I also cried. I think the reason is number 1, I'm pregnant (good excuse for a lot of things) and number 2 is I can't believe that she will be going to Kindergarten. She is getting so big. We have loved her preschool experience. It has been so good for her and she has learned alot. She has made some fun friends and had fabulous teachers. We will miss Challenger. The last day of school is called Clown day and the kids can dress up however they want. She wanted to be Minney Mouse.
Here is Kate with her friends. They are called the kitchen group, because they play with the kitchen everyday.
After the girls posed the boys all got up there and posed, even though I didn't ask them to. Aren't they cute.
Here are Kate's teachers Miss Alyssa and Miss Teri. They have been wonderful and we will miss them. On to Kindergarten!!!

Poor Ben

2008-06-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ben is learning how to walk and loves to play on the stairs. Daddy was watching him go up and down the outside concrete stairs when mommy distracted him and Ben sat down and tumbled down the stairs landing on his nose. Sadly, I'm sure this won't be the last time he does that. This picture is of him taking his jammies off and his shirt got stuck. I thought it was pretty funny. He's very concerned.

Hanging out at home

2008-06-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the kids just hanging out at home, which we seem to do a lot. We thought it was so cute that Ben would sit on the bench for a second and look at the T.V.
Kate got these two kids (Ben and cousin Abigail) up on the couch and settled with a book on her own. She is such an amazing big sister and cousin. Ben looks really happy doesn't he?

Girls rule

2008-05-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

On May 20th we had an ultrasound and found out we are having a baby girl. Kate is soo excited. She has said "Mom, now the girls win!!!" And she also has said "Mom, I knew it was a girl, you and dad and Ben thought it was a boy but I knew it was a girl" We are so very happy to be having another girl. Kate and Ben will be a great big sister and big brother.

Kate's school performance

2008-05-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

Kate had her school performance the other day. They have been working on it since Christmas. They did an excellent job. Kate has loved her school experience, friends and teachers. We are so glad that she has gotten this chance. We will all miss it.

Mother's Day

2008-05-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

O.k. I know I'm a bit late for Mother's day but I had to post these pictures taken on Mother's day. I love my children soo much and I am soo grateful for them. They bring me such great joy. And they made my mother's day very nice!!

2008-04-28T12:50:00.001-07:00

Ben found a pair of Kate's sunglasses. We had a lot of fun putting them on him. He looks stylish!!

2008-04-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Ben had a lot of fun with his cousins and sister
He wasn't so sure about the cake!!

But he finally dove in and had some. Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Ben is ONE!!

2008-04-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

Here is Ben on his birthday. He is such a big boy He did his first really naughty thing on his birthday. I was trying to clean the house to get ready for the party and he found a pen and drew all over the kitchen floor. Luckily it is tile and the pen wiped right up. I'm sure there will be worse!!

Ben loves his dad so much. Aren't they cute in their UTAH red?! Go Utes!!

Ben and Caroline

2008-04-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Ben with his cousin Caroline. She is only 5 weeks younger but as you can see quite a bit smaller. My brother Brennan said you would look at this picture and think 1 year old and six month old. At least he will be able to protect her!!!

Everyday pictures

2008-04-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

This is us just hanging out at home.

Here is the new swing we got for Ben. He doesn't like it much and Kate has been in it more than he has.

Spring in Utah

2008-04-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love spring in Utah?! Yesterday it was warm enough to be in a bathing suit and today it is freezing. Kate and her friends decided to jump on the tramp with the sprinklers on. They had a lot of fun. Hopefully next week they will get to do it again.

2008-04-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

I love this video of Ben. He is such a happy kid. What joy he adds to our home. We are so grateful to have him.

Random Pictures

2008-04-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a while so here are just some random pictures. This is one from my birthday, Kate with her cousin Mikey and Ben making my favorite face. He loves to make duck lips.

Fun bath time

2008-03-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ben has started crawling and I have forgotten how vigilant I have to be in watching him. I went to clean up the dishes while Kate was in the bath and when I came back this is what I found. Kate loved getting her brother all wet and he loved playing with her in the bath. Luckily it was only water.

More of Colorado

2008-03-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of our trip. The kids got a lot of candy and had a great Easter.

Our trip to Colorado

2008-03-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

For Easter we went to Colorado to visit Herb's brother and his family. We had a great time. The kids got to have 2 Easter egg hunts and Kate and Elle had a great time playing together. The kids also loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a fun trip.

Our big news

2008-03-11T10:50:00.001-07:00

This last Friday we announced that we are having another baby in October. We were shocked to find out that we were pregnant. We are soo excited. Kate can't wait for her "baby sister" to come. I try to prepare her that it could be a boy but she is adamant that it is a girl. We will be grateful for either one. Ben and the baby will be 18 months apart. It is close but we aren't the first ones to do it!!

Our Children

2008-03-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

Ben is 10 months old and a lot of fun. He is almost crawling and is good at playing by himself. He loves his "dada" and can't get enough of his big sister. He loves to watch her and laughs at anything she does. They are very cute together.

Kate is 5 years old and a lot of fun also. She has just learned how to tie her shoes and zip up her coat. She loves going to preschool where she is learning to read and has a lot of friends. I love this picture of her reading to Ben because it shows how patient she is with him. We have been surprised at how good she is with him. Even when he is bugging her she is patient and still loves him. We love our children and feel so grateful for them.

2008-02-25T12:37:00.000-08:00

This is my first time Blogging. After much coaxing by family members (especially Jake) I have decided to blog. I don't know how often I will update it but I will try.