Pasadena ROCKS!

A few weeks ago we were the lucky people to have our good friends from DC Jason and Katie join us in LA for a Dermatology Conference. When they decided to come out, Jason emailed and asked for some ideas for fun things to do in LA. I put together what I thought was a great list, and sent it off, thinking we'd host them around the city. Well, I underestimated the power of Jason Boyd. He instead hosted US in our own city, finding EVEN COOLER things to do, and showed us how much more we can make of our city life!

Since Jason was staying in Pasadena at the. most. awesome. hotel. ever.--we got to partake of all things Pasadena. As a growing tradition, I'll shout out again to Elizabeth and Jason, who really picked well by moving to Pasadena, it ROCKS!

The first day we went to Huntington Gardens, and Katie kept getting into trouble...









And Jason and Ryan were fighting over the trees:







My favorite spot was the Japanese section of the gardens--complete with Japanese bridges, pagodas, and awesome bonsai trees.










And here is our favorite Pavilion:



Note: we are really funny when you're there to see it. ha.

and...my favorite picture of the day:

Next stop: Eaton Falls! We decided it was a good time to take Ryan on his first hike. Note: Get a hiking backpack for the next hike.

Here we are at our destination!


Ryan thought he was hot stuff.


These two really are hot stuff.

But the water cooled them down!


I was so nervous to go in the falls for some reason!


I think seth was proposing again. Oh wait, I think he was trying to get used to the cold so he could go under the falls.


Nice try, small fry!


Oh, it was just so lovely!


There's nothing like a soggy swimsuit to hike back to the car in!


Jason was our provider of food--he lugged the bag all the way to the falls for us! And then I destroyed the bag on accident, and he carried it back anyway. These boys know how to impress!


Ryan was so funny, he wore these sunglasses from Grandma Price almost the whole way into the falls. He looked adorable, and it kept the sun out of his baby blues!

After the falls, Jason took us back to his hotel and the girls went to the spa while the boys swam, and then the girls took Ryan home to nap while the boys enjoyed a spa day. It was heavenly, and such a treat!

One of my favorite memories of DC is having brunch with our roommates/friends. It was so fun to have brunch again with Jason and Katie not once, but TWICE! Food is really what brings us all together, right? We enjoyed a taste-testing contest with the trail mix (with Raisins, Katie won't let us go without Raisins!) and we introduced them to one of Seth's finds: Beard Papas:

Oh, seriously, they are so delicious!

What a FUN weekend. To top it all off, the dermatologists loaded us up with awesome skin products--Ryan will never want for sunscreen, and I finally have lotion in the house again!! YAY!

Thanks for showing us around "our" Town, Jason and Katie! We love you guys!!!

Sundays with the Johnson Boys

So...Seth is kind of awesome. Okay, really awesome.

I'm in Primary now at church, and while I have Ryan come in sometimes, I'm terribly afraid of him getting germs, so often Seth will offer to take him to Elder's Quorum. Seth is the EQP right now, and so he kind of runs the show, including conducting I guess? Well, he looks great , and it's even a little greater with a little guy on his side!

A good friend in the ward Steve Eyre sent this to me a few weeks ago. I thought it was classic.

I love my boys!

While you were sleeping

With Ryan on a pretty great nap schedule, I've had a lot more free time on my hands! Since I can't ALWAYS clean and cook and watch TV...I have ventured into what we might call "home crafting". I'm still not sure about it. Like, I'm kind of embarrassed about it--I know it's not as cute or as crafty as most, but I figure it's at least ok...and it gives me something to do! Oh, I'm still just feeling so silly posting but...here are a few things I've attempted--some fails, some are okay!!

These shoes were kind of boring.
And then I saw these at nordstrom:
And decided to attempt a similar look by doing this:

STATUS: Eh, they're okay.

And then I saw this at JCrew:
And I really really really wanted it. So I got an old cardigan:
And made this:
...Okay, this one I'm embarrassed about. It's totally not professional quality. But it's kind of fun--and it's not as tacky as this picture makes it look, I promise. overall Status: Fail!

So...then I was getting daring, and I saw this at Antropologie:
...so I found this site that had a tutorial for making your own...and figured I'd try it out!
It doesn't have as many pintucks...because then the shirt would have been lopsided...but it's still kind of similar!
Status: Eh, I'll wear it.

I also made a nursing cover for a friend having a baby girl in September:
I really like the way this one turned out! Status: Success!

And my old roommate Katy started a non-profit called Angel HUGS. The nonprofit was started in memory of Abigail Mitarai, Katy's daughter that was born with Trisomy 13 and lived an amazing 12 hours before she was taken back to Heavenly Father. They make blankets for newborns who don't live long enough to go home from the hopital with their families. I think it's a great group, and I wanted to help out so I knitted a little blanket for a family to have in the hospital :)



Now, if I can get it in the mail! Status: Success!

And last but not least...I started re-learning how to crochet!

The flower is crocheted, and the headband part...is, well, a knitted disaster. I think I'll just stick with clips! Status: Flower: Success! Headband: FAIL!

I guess ultimately what I've learned is that it's not how well you do things....or how great they turn out...or anything like that. It's really all about celebrating accomplishment--celebrating the effort, and finding happiness in the trying! If that's what it takes to get me through the day, I'll take it! More on that topic later, though.

Ba-Ba-Ba Babble!

I love this video for a few reasons:

1. I love how before he starts babbling that he moves his mouth up and down...warming up?
2. I also love how he whispers the first few babbles.
3. I love that he cruises along the couch as he's talking.
4. I love how he pops up from behind the couch when I say his name
5. I love how his hair is in a mohawk, not because it looks cute but because I wanted to show how long it's getting (and how blonde it is!)
6. I love that after I uploaded this, Ryan came up to the computer and babbled at the video, and whenever it ended looked at me and pulled my hand to the computer so i'd restart it. Smart baby. :)

Morning Routine

One of my favorite things about the fact that Ryan can crawl is that he crawls to me (or Seth) before anything else :)

So in the mornings when I'm getting ready, he sits at my feet and crawls around me.

And looks up so I'll blow the hairdryer toward him.

And stands up on my feet!

It is the best looking down at those pretty blue eyes.

Patriotic Dessert

I love Pavlova. I find any excuse to make it. So even though it was an Australian dessert, I Americanized it and made it for the 4th of July!

I know I'm a little nerdy, but I was SO excited about this. Growing up we usually spent the 4th in Logan with the Mackays celebrating Jolene's birthday along with the USA's, and they often made sheet cakes with the flag in berries, so this was a little trip down memory lane.

Ryan's Gunna Drive the Car...

Ever since Ryan was a month old, one of the few ways to calm him down in the car was for Seth to sing the Beatles "Drive my Car" song to him. Not only did it help him stop crying, but usually he'd cheer up and giggle and smile for us, too. Seriously, this kid knows what he likes!

This is a pit stop we took on the way home from Arizona for the 4th. Baby, you can drive my car in about 17 years, but we'll let you pretend for now!

Happy Birthday Baby Shelby!

Or, I guess we might have to say Toddler Shelby now! This girl has such a special place in my heart. I just LOVE her--she's so dainty and girly, and takes after her sweet mother in so many ways!

Ryan can't get enough of her, either.

Who gets such an amazing 1 year old baby cake? Shelby does! And we LOVED watching her daintily dig in.

Happy 1 year Shelby, we sure like you!

Anniversary Date!

For our big #2 we decided to celebrate like it was 2008! (Meaning, when we splurged on restaurant week and went on dates sans baby!)

Meghan was nice and watched Ryan sleeping (providing me with periodic updates) and took this lovely picture of us before we headed out on the town.
We had a lovely booth at Ruth's Chris, where we savored (I mean, SAVORED every bite....mmmm I'm still thinking about it) lovely filets. Seth saved a few bites to take home so we could savor it some more....I ate the entire 11 oz. (with extra butter) and then polished off my potatoes au gratin (from Idaho!). While Seth was away from the table, the waiter came up and told me not to go anywhere so fast....because they were bringing us dessert on the house! (Note: ALWAYS tell Ruth's Chris the occasion you're going for--they go all out :) ).

Thanks for the Lovely Anniversary Date, Seth, and thanks for the delicious Dessert, Ruth's! I really feel so so so so lucky.

Two

Or 5, if you want to count that way.
July 2010
July 2009
July 2008
July 2007


July 2006
July 2005

Happy 2/5, Sethalicious! Here's to bazillions more. I wubba you.