more Christmas!

Okay. I lied earlier. I just had to post a few more pics before I went to bed. She's just too cute! Becky wasn't really into opening presents, but she played with everything for a few minutes before she went on to other toys.
Gotta love a new touch and feel book. This one is about wild animals!!

Becky has even started to be able to pick out Elmo. Hopefully she'll still like Elmo by her 2nd birthday so I can make her another cake!
Where's Becky?
There she is!! She had more fun playing peek-a-boo with Al's shoe box than anything else she got. She sure was fun to watch. Such a little ham! I got the video camera out to catch her being adorable. If you ask, I'd be happy to let you watch sometime! Ha!

Merry Christmas, Everyone. I'm off to bed now...as it's back to work for me tomorrow. Ugh!

Christmas!

Can't believe Christmas has come and gone. What a nice day the three of us had. Becky wasn't feeling the greatest, she's a little congested and teething. It was nice to spend the day at home though. Becky went to bed at 7 (has been waking up in the middle of the night because she can't have her binky in her mouth and breathe at the same time. FUN!!!) Al finally got to go downstairs and play his new X-Box game. He was a sport and waited as long as he possibly could! I had to download some new songs on my iPod anyway for exercising. Holiday is over; time to start trying to lose some weight again!!!

We had a great time with family this weekend. We are truly blessed. I know I haven't posted in forever. Have been busy trying to get ready for the holidays and trying not to be sick over the holiday. I managed with the exception of a little pinkeye, but I was able to get into the doctor on Saturday morning and get some eye drops. I think I caught it before I passed it on to anyone else! I, of course, took a few more pictures than what I've posted here. I hope to be able to get them loaded onto Shutterfly in the next day or two. I will put in a post when I do and publish them as albums so you can suffer through them if you like!

This time of year is always a litttle bittersweet for me. I am so fortunate to have what I do, but I am constantly reminded of my mom and am saddened that she's not here to share my happiness during this time. I know she is always with me. As you may know, Mom and I cherished our day after Thanksgiving shopping spree. I took Becky out for a few hours this year. I had fun. I don't know about Becky, but she was a trouper anyway! Every time a car pulls out and I get a great parking spot, I chuckle to myself and say, "Thanks, Mom!" Just my little way of being reminded that even though she's not physically here, she lives on in me and will always be here in my heart. Love you, Mom! Miss you terribly, but am thankful for the time we had together and for all the precious memories I have that I relive in my mind and heart every day.

May all of you reading this be blessed in your lives, and may you never take those you love for granted. Spend every possible moment with them you can, because you just never know when it may be their time to move on to a better place.

new tooth!

Had a nice weekend in Spencer throwing a surprise party for Larry and Donna's 25th anniversary. Becky had a top tooth break through sometime Saturday afternoon. Her other front top tooth is right there ready to pop. It looks like there might be two others on top that will come pretty quick as well. She wasn't feeling the best through the weekend, but she's such a trouper! She just kept going and going and going. She did have a bout with diaper rash, but I think that's finally over. She must have been a tired girl tonight...she fell asleep in the car a little before 6. I brought her in and laid her down in her crib. I've gone to check on her twice, and she's sound asleep. It's now 7:44 p.m.! Hopefully she won't wake up at 9 and decide she's hungry and needs to eat something!

Whew!

I just spent 15 mintues trying to get to this stage. I sure am glad I elected to switch to the new version and then couldn't remember my password and then hadn't activated my Google account... good grief! Oh well. I'm ready to go now though!

Had a nice weekend. Becky had a sore bottom due to diarrhea, but other than that, she was pretty joyful. Got to spend a couple hours playing with Bode and Aunt Brenda while Al and I went to my work Christmas party. It was nice to have a night out for a couple hours among other adults, no kids! Looks like Becky has about 4 teeth ready to break through on her top gum. She may actually have top teeth by Christmas-time! She is still only taking a few steps here and there as she lunges from one of us to the other. I'm sure it won't be long though, and she'll just take off!

I'm actually trying to get a little caught up on scrapbooking. I can proudly say that I am ready to scrap last year's Christmas pictures. It is my goal to get Christmas last year done before this year. Don't think I'll put in all those pictures I took, just the most important ones. I have actually been pretty good about just choosing a few and putting the other ones in an album. That way Becky won't have to have three albums all about her first year!

Have a great week everyone!

Becky's birthday

Here are a couple pictures of Becky eating her birthday cake. As you can imagine, I took more than just these two pictures. If you want to look at all of them from her birthday, check it out on Shutterfly (aljosjohnson.shutterfly.com) I created another album. The party was a great success. Becky wasn't sure about opening the presents, but there were a lot of people just sitting around looking at her. You can't really blame her for being a little shy. There were 27 guests in our home! It's nice to be so loved, isn't it?

I just can't believe her party has come and gone. (what's more is that it's been a week and I'm just now having time to post!) I think our holiday rush is going to be starting on November 10 every year instead of Thanksgiving! At least Becky will always get plenty of presents this time of year!

It was just so much fun in California, I had to post more pictures. There was record-breaking weather while we were there. Temperatures were in the 90s! Good thing we packed a few pairs of shorts :) It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with family we don't get to see very often and to just hang out on vacation. The only way it could have been any better would have been if Al could have joined us, but I think he missed us enough that he'll be sure he gets to go with us next time! Thanks Heidi, Brian, Jacey, and Luke for opening your home up to us. We had a wonderful time. It was great to see you Janet, Tom, Allison, and Shane. Can't wait until the next time we can see you all again!

Here is a pic of Heidi and me and one of Jacey, Becky, and Luke in a car at Disneyland. The three of them had so much fun. Jacey and Luke were pretty excited to play with Becky and only got upset a couple times when she put their toys in her mouth. I'm sure they'll both be great siblings to their new baby brother or sister!

Thought I had also better add (for those of you wondering) that Becky did wonderful flying on the airplane. She slept most of the time. She was very good while we were in Mission Viejo, too. She was a little clingy and often cried if I wasn't right there and didn't want anyone else to hold her until the last day, but otherwise, everything was great. I think she missed her Daddy something terrible and her crib too. She sure had a big smile and kiss for Al when she saw him though. Should have had my camera out and ready. Oh well. Maybe next time!

Laguna Beach

Here we are at Laguna Beach. Becky wasn't crazy about the sand or the water. She was content just to be held by me and take everything in. I think she was also getting pretty homesick, as it was our last day.

Be sure to check out my Shutterfly album to see more pics of our trip. I took a few. These are just some that my cousin took and gave me so I could just enjoy vacation without having to snap pictures all the time. Thanks, Heidi!

Disneyland

Here are a couple pics of Becky and I at Disneyland. She had a wonderful time. She really liked Minnie Mouse. She seemed to be all smiles with the rides too. What great weather we had!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures we took this weekend and tonight for Beggar's Night. Becky wasn't crazy about the costume, but she was a trouper and let us put it on her a couple times anyway! A big thanks to Aunt Dawn for letting Becky borrow the elephant costume that Mom bought for Kaitlyn. It sure helped to make it a special Halloween for me. I am sure Mom never thought she would have three beautiful granddaughters who would all be able to wear the costume, but I know she would be so proud!

We had a pretty nice weekend. Ran around Saturday and got some last minute things for our trip to California. Can't believe Becky and I are leaving on Thursday! On Sunday, we had several visitors. We got to see Dad and Patti, Donna, Larry, and Grandma Willie, plus Stew, Brenda, and Bode. Even got to see Sean and Jennie and meet Tate. What a cutie! Of course I was busy chasing after Becky and hardly got to hold Tate. Next time I'll be sure I get him a little longer! It was great to see Doug and Heather and Sydney too. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends in our lives.

Yesterday was a little hard on me. I cried for about an hour in the morning. Had to mentally relive the day that changed my life forever five years ago. After I got done feeling sorry for myself and feeling sad that Becky would never get to know her Grandma Becky, I started thinking about everything I have that I am thankful for and about how blessed I truly am. While my mom may no longer be with me, I have many other people who care about me and my family. Everyone has stepped up to try and help me feel her loss less. For that, I am grateful. While I miss Mom every day, I know that she would be so proud of Becky and all that she has accomplished in just this one very short year (can't believe it's been that long!), and that she would be proud of Al and I too and how much we have grown over the past five years. I just hope and pray that I can be good and decent like she was and get to heaven to see her again someday. What a glorious occasion that will be for me!

Hope all of you have a wonderful Halloween and don't eat as much candy as I have!

I posted a bunch of pictures from the weekend on Shutterfly. If you want to visit the link, go to aljosjohnson.shutterfly.com.

eating all by herself

Since Becky always want to eat when we eat and seems to like what we're eating as long as it's in small pieces, we really let her go to town tonight. (it was bath night, of course!) She did pretty good with the banana and the veggies. Then she decided to demolish the cookie more than eat it. She sure was having fun though!

new toy!

Becky sure likes to play with the TV and stereo!

Al and I decided to get Becky a walker for an early birthday present. She sure has been having fun walking up and down the living room/dining room this week!

11 months old!!!!!

Oh my gosh! I can't believe that MY LITTLE BECKY RAE is going to be a year old in a month. It just doesn't seem possible! I don't know how this year has gone by so quickly. It sure seems like it has been only a couple months since she was born. Not a whole lot new to report this month. She is starting to walk holding onto things, and she likes to push the little walker toy at day care. She has been a little clingy to Mommy lately. We hope it's just a phase. She even cried when Al dropped her off at day care on Thursday. She hasn't done that in forever. He was running late too, so he had to leave her there crying, and he's never had to do that before! It was a rough morning for them both!

Our weekend with my grandparents in Tingley

Becky loved playing on Great Grandma's bench. It was made for the dolls, and I'm sure she will be too heavy to sit on it next time, but she sure had fun playing with it!!

Reading a story with Great Grandma

Ready to go to church with Great Grandpa Becky and I got to see my nieces Kaitlyn and Becca too. Kaitlyn got to sing with Great Grandma.

Becca had fun dancing and singing

Becky was dancing and singing too

Then Kaitlyn and Becca tried to play together.
What a fun, relaxing weekend! Al had some friends come visit for a "male bonding weekend," so Becky and I headed south to Tinlgey to visit my mom's parents. Becky slept pretty well in her pack n play. I considered it a trial run for when Becky and I go to California in a few weeks. I think she'll be all right sleeping in there, even though it does get pretty small. She didn't nap very well though, and I'm sure there will be so much to do that naps will get overlooked. Oh well. She can sleep when we get home!

She still has just the three teeth, but she's got some pretty white gums and has been a little fussy, so we think she's working on a few more. She had an ear check-up on Friday. Everything with her tubes looks great. She goes back in six months to make sure they haven't fallen out. Her cough and runny nose are almost gone. I think we only had to wipe her nose once tonight before she went down for the night. She'll get rid of her cold just before the constant one she'll probably have all winther!

interesting toys

Becky enjoyed playing with the cat toys this weekend. She really is into everything. After three time on Sunday of Al or I putting picture frames back, we decided toys were better. Hopefully now she won't try to climb the shelf and pull it over on herself to get what she's not supposed to have. If that's the case, we may have to put the shelf away for a while! She's just so curious! That's okay. Keeps us busy on the weekends! We wouldn't have it any other way!

playing in the leaves

Becky had a good time playing in the leaves on Saturday. The weather was so nice! As you can imagine, I took more than three pictures. I've got them downloaded to Shutterfly, and I have an album collection started. If you want to check them out, try this web site:
http://aljosjohnson.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8Actm7Vq4cuWIH

eating bananas

Becky ate some banana tonight. I decided to take some pictures because she was so darn cute, and this is what face she gave me on the first picture. She sure loves the camera. She is going to have the best scrapbook EVER!!!!

Still hamming it up for me!
All right, Mom, but this better be the last one!