Kate's first day of Kindergarten

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

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.

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

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

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

Our boy Ben

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!!