February Family Update

FUN at the PARK!

Time to update on what is keeping us busy! Sorry for the monstrous post- I figure I have time to do it today, so its gotta cover alot!

Daniel:

Swinging in the backyard swing- he loved it! Crawling around at the park!

Daniel has learned how to crawl! It happened fast- a couple of weeks ago he took his first steps ( I don't what to call it!) and moved forward. Now he is all over the place. So we are babyproofing now and trying to teach Nathan that Daniel can't play with his small toys! Now that he has mastered crawling, he is pulling himself up by the toy bins, chairs, the dishwasher. He is not sure what to do at that point, so he often falls over and starts crying! Daniel has also decided that baby food tastes good- he will swallow the food now instead of just spitting it out. He still prefers to feed himself or have what we are having, so maybe we will progress to table food quickly!

He is so proud when he stands up! He just laughs and smiles until he falls down.

Nathan:

We went to Cabela's on President's Day- a great outing for Nathan! He loved seeing the fish and all of the animals.

He has worn his army uniform everyday for at least part of the day since we got it from Oma and Opa. But, I have been able to wash it! He is also learning how to do some chores around the house- feed the cat, pick up toys, put clothes away and taking out the trash. More than anything, his new chore chart is a reminder for us to have him help do the chores. Legos are still the cool toy, we play with those daily! He is wearing his Stormtrooper jammies below (really his Christmas pj's!). He has worn them every night practically, and already has holes for his big toes to poke out! I guess he only needs to outfits- army uniform and stormtrooper jammies.

I LOVE the warmer weather- Nathan is having fun playing in the backyard, its great for him to get out and run around. I have had fun picking out the dead leaves from the flower beds and seeing the tulips coming up! It is really exciting! I am excited to plant a few things this spring and watch them grow! Hopefully we have some success here in Utah. It was easy in New York to grow things; it rained so much that we just threw some seeds down and we had a garden!

Playing in the sandbox with Landon today, another warm day!

Liz and Scott:

We have started running (sporadically at this point, i.e 1-2 runs a week!) and plan on running the Berlin Marathon this September. Dad will be finishing his 50th marathon (yea! We are proud of him!) there and Scott and I will join him. It will be awesome- I did the 1/2 Marathon my Sr. year of High School with dad, and it was great. The Marathon should be cooler- 40,000 runners is motivating! The roads are closed for the runners and there is music and lots of spectators, both good things when running 26 miles.

I also started working again. I had my first night last week and it went well. I am working with an agency and plan to pick up 2-3 Med/Surg shifts a month. It was certainly nice to go to work and just be done the next morning without worry about working the next night or worrying about the politics. It will be interesting working at the different hospitals in the area. 12 hour night shifts are long- I did 8-hr shifts in NY and that seemed a lot quicker than the 12 hours! Thank goodness for a wonderful husband who let me sleep all morning and most of the afternoon the next day!

Scott's job is going well and he is working hard to get more audits done each week. He is also working with the Young Men in the ward. I think he is enjoying it. He made a photo slide show of Daniel for me this week- I will see if we can post it on the blog. It made me cry- seeing how quickly these children grow up!

Yesterday for my B-day Scott took me skiing. I was a little nervous, because I hadn't been since 2002 when Scott took me to Alta on one of our first few dates! Brighton was great yesterday- not busy at all and the weather was perfect. I am really not used to such good snow, it was always icy in Garmisch! I hope that we can go at least once every winter. I really like skiing, I may not be a pro, but its fun!

Soldier Nathan

HE IS A REAL SOLDIER NOW!

As many of you know, Nathan LOVES soldiers. He likes to remind us of that every day and is constantly talking about who is the general, what soldiers like to do and having battles. So, with much thanks to Opa and Oma, Nathan now has a uniform. He has worn it for the last 2 days and probably will again today. And he loves it! Daniel got the bear with the uniform and Nathan likes to show Daniel how big its boots are and his hat.

January

I don't know why this one is turned funny, but this was Nathan's first day of sunbeams. He is getting so grown up!

I know I am a bit slow, and really don't have much of an excuse! We are having fun with Nathan and Daniel. I amhaving fun being a "momma" as Nathan calls me for my 2 boys! They are my symphony, today while on the phone, Nathan was making some weird noises and Daniel was cooing and crying. Nathan is constantly emitting noises from his mouth, and fits this definition of boy VERY well:

Boy: A noise with dirt on it.

I feel like I am constantly asking him to quiet down or stop moving or hitting! Mostly it is the hitting and pulling of Daniel that I worry about. Daniel is going to be a tough little guy, he is learning early how to deal with a big brother. He is so patient right now and doesn't mind too much when Nathan takes toys away, as long as he gets something else to chew on!

Daniel is very interested in this whole food idea: he likes to try and grab food off our plates if we are holding him while we are eating. He is not a fan a baby food yet, but will eat yoghurt on a BIG spoon, not a baby spoon. He also likes anything he can pick up and get to his mouth, which isnt' a whole lot yet due to his tiny fingers and limited dexterity. He certainly tries though!

As far as moving around, he has perfected the belly 360, and goes backward great. No forward movement yet though. We decided that Daniel is a cute poster boy for WCF. So, be careful out there!

At his 6 month checkup, he weighed 20 lbs 5 oz, and was 28 inches long. Both in the 95th percentile!

We were able to go to Delta for a few days this month, and we had a great time! Scott did some audits around town, and we spent time with the Jefferys and the Jacksons. Nathan loved going to "Great-Grandpa's Farm" and seeing all the cows and tractors. Then, he loved riding the 4-wheeler with Great-Grandpa Jeffery. He thinks Delta is a great place. I am glad that we were able to go!

This is how Daniel likes to spend his time, sitting up and SURROUNDED by toys!

We were able to go to the Draper Temple open house a few weeks ago. It is a beautiful place. Nathan and Daniel behaved so well. Nathan really liked the baptismal font, he was ready to go swimming in his suit and pink bowtie! At the end of the tour, we sat in one of the sealing rooms and it was so amazing to see our little family there together. I hope I can do my part to see them there again someday.

Happy Holidays

Now that the rush of the holidays is over, I feel like it is time to update our blog! We have had a great Christmas season. To kick if off, we went up to Heber and took a ride on the Polar Express. It was very fun for Nathan, well, all of us I think. We had hot chocolate and cookies on the train, and when we got to the "North Pole," Santa climbed on board for a visit. Each of the boys got a silver bell, "from the reindeer's harness," as Nathan says. Nathan was quiet and didn't say anything to Santa, but was excited afterwards. The elves were also on the train telling jokes and singing songs. A fun experience I think we'll repeat a few years down the road when the boys are older.

Each of the kids got a nametag from the elves, then Santa was able to remember their names!

Every year at the Johnson Christmas Party, the kids dress up and take part in the Christmas Story while Grandpa reads from the Bible. Nathan was a sheperd. Scott helped to get the kids ready and out on cue.

Daniel was the smallest cousin, but as it turned out, too big for the manger! We had to put him in though and get some pictures. He loved it- he got lots of attention. So he kept smiling!

This is our remote entry into the annual Jackson Gingerbread house competition. We made Knapford Station, which if anyone has little boys who love Thomas the Tank Engine, will know that it is the train station on the island of Sodor. Nathan promptly ate all the candy off the roof about 2 hours after this picture!! I guess there is no sense in leaving perfectly good candy out like that!

Christmas Eve morning Nathan and I made some sugar cookies for Santa. In the past, I am always the one snitching cookie dough to eat, and Nathan turns it down. This time, Nathan thought the objective was to cut a cookie out and then eat it right away. It took some convincing to get him to put them on the cookie sheet to bake.

Oma Jackson sent these adorable sweaters for the boys. Nathan has loved wearing it. We knew we had to get pictures, but didn't realize quite how hard it would be to get both of them looking and smiling! It seems easier to get Daniel to smile than Nathan. He always is making goofy smiles. I guess that means he is 3?

This is funny now, but it wasn't at the time: the Sunday before Christmas, Nathan was having a really hard time during church, and was not behaving very reverently. I was frustrated and embarassed and sooo ready to leave by the end of the meeting! A sister sitting near us told me that she remembered the times when her boys were wearing their matching sweaters and how hard it can be. She said, "don't worry, you'll make it!" I think it was just what I needed to hear.

I love these pictures of the boys separately. They look so cute!

Christmas Eve we had a wonderful dinner with Scott's sisters and their families. Grandma Merrill also joined us. Daniel really lights up when he sees her, I think it really makes her happy to see him smile. She usually has a hard time holding him, cause he is so big and squirmy, but she managed it for this picture! Here are all the kids with their Christmas Eve presents to open. Nathan had fallen asleep earlier in the evening, but woke up to open presents! It was very fun to see the kids looking at their books after they opened them.

Christmas Eve, it started snowing, and snowing, and snowing....


and snowing, right thru til the day after Christmas! It was a perfect white Christmas. We had about 10 inches of snow! It was really fun to not have to be anywhere or worry about being snowed in.

We got up around 7:30 Christmas morning and had cinnamon rolls before going in the family room to open presents. It was so much fun to watch Nathan play with his presents. He really took his time opening and then playing with the toys. He did pick up speed later in the morning when we were webcam-ing to Germany and Greece.

Nathan got a Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Emperor Zurg from Santa. They have been a big hit.


And Daniel got his jumperoo, it has been so fun to watch him in this! He can really get going. He has drifted off to sleep in here a few times, only to start jumping again when we reach down to pick him up. It is really fun, it seems like he is really trying to stay awake so he can keep jumping, but is so tired he can't fight it. I guess the only down-side of the jumperoo- if you hear or smell any signs of a messy diaper, get him out quick- the more he jumps after the fact, the more poop gets out of the diaper and up his back!

We got a BYU blanket- yeah! Scott also got a BYU memorabilia book (I think he loves it) from me. He likes to relax with the blanket and read his book- true blue all the way! Scott got a Wii Fit for me, it has been motivating and really fun to "exercise." My philosophy: it's better to do something rather than nothing. And I really don't want to start running in the middle of winter. So I will Wii away the winter months til Spring comes!



We went sledding with the Barney's. Nathan and Landon had a great time on the red sled together. Nathan also liked to go by himself. He really is quite brave on his sled. I think we need to go again when there is fresh powdery snow. This snow was really icy and slushy.

And here is the describing picture of Nathan's holiday weeks- asleep at dinner. He can't hold still long enough to take naps during the day, so he is exhausted by 6 pm. Then he gets enough of a boost to keep going, and going, and going. Then he goes to bed late, and gets up early to play with all of his new toys, and the cycle continues! But, it is so fun to see how excited he is to play with all his new toys. Christmas was a "sucess" and will be fondly remembered. Nathan is already asking for Star Wars legos for Christmas next year!

Daniel is learning how to crawl and scoot!

So, here is Daniel! He is so fun to watch on the floor. (well anytime actually!)He is figuring out how to move and roll around. He always been a tummy-sleeper, and now when he wakes up he is rolling over to his back. The last few days I have been finding him on his back when he has been falling asleep on his tummy. Its pretty cute!

These pictures are from mid-November when Scott spent a saturday blowing, raking and bagging the leaves with some help from Nathan.

The pile was HUGE!

And, finally, this was the afternoom before Thanksgiving when I was making pies. Daniel was interested at first, but then decided napping was a better way to spend the afternoon!

Daniel's Bouncy Chair

I sound really cheesy in this clip, but Daniel was so excited and having fun, that I was trying to get video. He LOVES his bouncy chair, its where he sits while we have meals and I clean the kitchen, make dinner... His seat in the kitchen. Nathan usually ignores him unless Scott or I are playing or talking with Daniel.

Upcoming videos will feature Daniel and his scooting technique- it is so fun to watch! As far as Scott and I can remember, Nathan was crawling at about 6 months. Daniel will be 5 months old next week, I think he might keep up with his brother and be crawling in January.

Where does time go?

What cute boys!! Daniel is getting ready to be a movin' baby, he can wiggle pretty good on the floor. Nathan is beginning to realize that having a brother might be fun...

We have internet again, yay! Life without internet is much too complicated! We are finally done with moving. I am very happy about that. We got the house looking great for Thanksgiving last week and had a fun time. I got to use my Burgenland dishes for a big meal for the first time, they are such pretty dishes. I am glad that Mom is building up my collection. Here is a picture of the table, didn't Scott do a good job setting it so nicely?

This is the kids table. They were sitting and done with their Thanksgiving feast in record time and off playing happily in the basement. The older cousins, i.e. Whitney and Kali set up school in the playroom. You'd think they would be tired of it! The little boys played along pretty well.
And this is Nathan and George in their mummy hats. (empty ice cream buckets) And his red suit and sword. Its pretty easy to keep Nathan happy.

Anyway, it is late, I need to get some sleep! I will have to post videos of Daniel and Nathan soon.