It was someone's birthday yesterday...

Our birthday girl enjoying her treat yesterday.

She walked around this place like she owned it. She must have known it was her bday.

So this is really happening. Amelie is officially a year old and I seriously can't believe it. Yesterday I just kept looking at her thinking, how did this happen, and how are you walking and jabbering and laughing and being such a big girl playing alongside your brother. This girl gives my life such complete joy, that's really all I can say about her. She emits happiness and joy wherever she is. I feel like she will bring so many people throughout her life that light that they've been looking for. She will make everyone so happy for knowing her. Seriously, what more can you ask for as a mom. Here are some of my favorite things about my sweet AmiJane...

-I don't believe for a second that she is shy but sometimes just for fun, she likes to tilt her head to the side, being bashful and grin. It is so cute, I could just eat it up.

-She is super tough. She has fallen in the pool (neglectful parent?) like 3 times this past week, nothing crazy but enough that most kids would be in tears. Well she pops right out of the water and looks around and smiles, like, mom did you see that?!

-She has been in this big pointing phase lately. I love to see all the things she deems point-worthy and watch her little chubby pointer finger pop up at the first sight of something interesting. Lately it's been birds, or anything in the sky.

-She greets everyone with a huge smile and both arms held high over her head.

-She follows me around the house all day, wanting to be apart of anything I'm doing. When I finally cave and pick her up, she sighs, puts her fingers in her mouth, and sometimes lays her head on my shoulder, like, finally mom, this is where I've wanted to be all day.

-She loves music, especially our Yo Gabba Gabba cd and will sit and listen to it until it's over. Sometimes I'll peek in and she's balancing on something and bouncing up and down with the beat.

-Lately she has realized that the louder you are in our house, the more attention you get (awesome). She was sick of being seen as this good-natured, quiet, submissive gal and has found her inner Oliver. Well those two can have some screaming matches just for the fun of it. Well it's mostly fun for Ami cause Ollie is usually saying "Ami, too loud", and she gets a kick out of this huge voice coming out of such a small body.

I remember that Ryan and I prayed, almost every night when I was pregnant, that we'd get sent this sweetheart baby girl of our dreams. A baby that would be easy, laid-back, happy, and joyful. Prayers are definitely heard and answered because we got just that. So to our big one year old girl, we love you and can't wait to see you grow into a more beautiful girl every day. Love you! Mom, Dad, and Ollie

Fun at the beach

On Sunday night we all had a craving to see the ocean so we headed down just in time to see the sunset. It was seriously amazing. The kids played on the playground in the dark and us adults planned future trips.

Thursday we went to Leslie beach and enjoyed the afternoon. Ryan is still between jobs and basically doesn't have a whole lot to do on Bloomingdale's so he's been home early and we've been hitting the beach frequently. It has been heavenly. Ami said her first "bye-bye" to the train as it passed.

This is one of Oliver's favorite games, the Ami chasing game. The more kids there are to join in on the chase, the better. I cannot get enough of the squeals of delight on both ends of the chase.

Amelie practicing her walking skills on the sand. She is getting to be quite the mover these days. You can tell she's just so pleased with herself and is already planning on how to keep up with Ollie.

What is with 1 year olds and stairs? Well Ami is no different in her obsession with stairs lately. All she wants to do is go up and down, walking of course, none of this crawling business. I LOVE this walkway and I love the above picture. The future is so bright.

This is such a classic Facer face I can't even handle it.

Hello Gerber baby. Wait, I'm not sure if a true Gerber baby would be caught eating so much sand. To Ami's defense, her sand eating has actually calmed down a bit. She is much more interested in storing things in her mouth like rocks, coal, seaweed, shells, all that good stuff. Occasionally she starts actually eating the seaweed. She must think it's really tasty.

We stayed until dark and topped the night off with some sushi. Seriously what is with the sushi obsession lately? It is the only thing we want to eat lately. It just leaves you feeling so satisfied in the best way possible. I need to learn how to make some delicious sushi.

Go Angels!

So Ryan got four tickets through work for the Angels game on Sept. 8 (totally behind, sorry) and we had casually mentioned to Ryan and Mary on the Lake Powell trip that they should totally come. In true Johnson fashion they booked tickets when they got home and planned a short, 22 hour trip, just to see us, oh and the game:) So we picked them up from the airport a half hour before the game and then took off.

This was the longest game in history, ok maybe not, but it seriously felt like it. It was actually a really good game with a couple amazing moments and then all the sudden we blasted through 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, all the way to 16 innings when finally the Angels won! So we got out of there late, decided to get some dinner in Laguna and luckily we found a restaurant that would serve us food. The next morning we went to the beach and just soaked in the serenity before they had to leave to the land of no ocean. Ryan and Mary were both ready for the airplane and I totally made them get up on the rocks to take pictures, especially of Mary's baby bump and they got soaked by the waves. It was really funny to watch but probably not that comfortable. I blame it on the lack of wave knowledge. I did not get wet when I climbed up:)

As usual, it always feels wrong when we leave each other. Let's not do that anymore.

Amelie at the beach

And I HAD to mention the arrival of some very special people to our neck of the woods. My cousin Andrea just moved here with her family from Arizona and I am seriously so excited to have them close by, the town next door in fact. I can see the beach days and bonfires now:) Oh btw, she is an amazing photographer in case your in the market.

My son the artist

Oliver calls this one car rocketship. I think it's absolutely amazing. As we all know, Ollie is a very active, energetic kid who most of the time has a hard time sitting still. Well if you sit him down in front of some blank paper and a pen, he creates some major masterpieces. His little hand is so focused and concise, I am amazed at watching him at work. He is truly an artist. Ryan and I are excited that out of the major artists on both our sides, Ollie inherited that talent.

Oliver decided one day that he was very curious about names and writing them. First he asked me to write grandma's name "suzie". Then he wanted me to write his name, "ollie". Well he exclaimed with pure excitement that grandma and his name had letters that were "same same". The i and e became the focus. He immediately was on a quest to write an e. The above was his first attempt, he got it on that last one. I am amazed at little minds learning.

These were the next e's. Pretty impressive.This is Ollie writing his whole name all by himself. A little out of order but you get the idea. What a smart kid. I can't wait for joyschool to start next week. Back to school and time to learn!

Out of my way, I'm walking here!

I meant to post this a week ago but it got lost in the massive updating I needed to do, but watch out world, Amelie is almost an official walker. She has to date taken 8 steps on her own and frequently lets go of my hand to take a few steps towards her desired location. She might actually skip walking all together and take off running. With Ollie and his friends to watch, the girl is ready to get going. My sweet little baby girl AmiJane turns 1 on the 28th! Seriously, what's a mom to do! Anyone have any fun birthday party ideas?

*Ignore the horrendous video quality. I had our camera set on the wrong setting, so sad.

Powell time

Here's what happens after a long drive and desperate parents. You give a 10 month old a piece of licorice and never look back. Well you only look back when it's over and you take full credit for the mess and of course snap a picture. Probably best 20 minutes of Ami's life thus far. We had time to kill before we met the Johnson's at the Wal-Mart in Page and so we went to the visitors center at the St George Temple. It was a good time.

Family Picture!
Team Cash and Ollie, back together again.

Captain Ollie and Captain Cash take the wheel to scout out our sweet spot.

Prego Mary looking gorgeous as always. I'm so excited to see another baby girl Johnson!

Ryan's totally rad 80's lifejacket. That jacket had Ryan written all over it.

Ollie sporting his own life jacket looking stylish.

Johnson family photo on Roxie.

This is basically how Ami was 80% of the trip; nacked, in the sand, playing by the water. The beach that we pulled up to was so perfect for the kids. It's funny being at a beach where you're not worrying about your kids getting taken out by waves. Kinda nice.

This water was the most glorious water, seriously. I have a little phobia about deep water. I admit, there may have been a water shoe purchase made before the trip on my account. I know, they are so dorky but they just make me feel safer. Well my friends, I did not put on my water shoes once. Not even while I went surfing. It's good to conquer your fears.

I just have to say that I can already see a connection being made here with Ollie and Marley. And don't even get me started on the love between Cash and Ami. So they might grow up feeling more life cousins than friends but is it still ok if we force them to date?

Mary charging the waves. You almost can't tell that she's carrying a baby bundle under that jacket. I must say that Mary and I both rocked at surfing, well until the second day when I couldn't get up and got frusterated. But that first day I was proud of myself.

My husband doing what he does best. Such a natural. And so good looking too.

Check it.

Playing in the water. Oliver is a water child in every way. He always wants to be in it and always wants to be doing whatever his Dad is...as you can see below. He is a fantastic swimmer.

He could have done this all day.

Just a couple sunbathers.

Ryan tubing with the three kids.

Marley Jane being cute.Well gente festejana (as Ryan would say). It was so much fun. Thanks for inviting us along. We can't get enough of you. When will we resolve this California/ Idaho issue? Or better yet, when will we vacation in Hawaii three months out of the year so we can all live in the water together. We love you guys, thanks for the awesome trip.