An Excuse to Eat S'mores

We finally got the chance to go camping Friday night with family and friends. (We went in May, but I don't count that because it was up at Bear Lake for Ben's race and it was freezing!) We camped at Hope Campground up by the Squaw Peak overlook and it actually made me feel like I was out in the boondocks despite the fact that we were only a 20 drive from our house, and barring the car alarms sounding and shouting children at the site next to us.

I grew up going camping often with my family (although you'd never guess it from my severe fire-making handicap) so each time we go it brings back lots of memories for me. This is what makes all the packing, loading, unloading, setting up, taking down, cold hard ground and smelly bathrooms worth it!

Here are some great things I love about camping:

Toys get dirty and it is completely ok



Time to actually sit and just talk, no interruptions



Dirty hands and the chance to shove handfuls of dirt and rocks into your mouth and in your hair (ok, that 's Logan's favorite part...)


Tin foil dinners and campfire smoke that sticks to your clothes and hair



Family time


Friend time]



Fuzzy jammies and looking like a deer caught in headlights (ok, that was Solomon's favorite part)



More family time (yes, Tamara is pregnant but luckily had a blow up mattress)



Drinking hot Tang for breakfast


Being outside, beautiful scenery and appreciating God's amazing creations



Children that take 3+ hour naps after getting home

Pictures to Appease

Alright, alright. I know I am horrible at updating this blog. We have been busy and enjoying the summer and, per the request of my sick sister on bed rest, here are some pictures to prove it.


At the Orem Summer fest Parade they were handing out hair-sprayed hair do's instead of candy. This is Logan with his cousin, Mercer.



Happy Father's Day Ben! (I know, that was over a month ago)



July 4th weekend we went to see a Hot Air Balloon festival and got to watch them all launch off early in the morning.



On the 4th of July in the afternoon we went up to Cascade Springs with Ben's family (however, Ben was off mountain biking down Sundance, hence the reason he's not in these pictures)


Jera loving her grandbabies



One of the many pictures I took of Logan




This is more recent. I heard a noise in the kitchen the other day and I looked around the corner to see this:

My little peanut. He took the liberty of climbing into a box that I got from Costco ( Note: this was the box they packed my groceries in...no I didn't buy a whole box of Peanut M&M's.... I wish!)



And this is his famous downward dog yoga move that he does all the time.

Mullet No More!

For a long time we embraced Logan's mullet, but today I had had enough of it and decided I was finally ready to accept that my baby was old enough to get a hair cut. The unfortunate part was that I decided to do it myself tonight before bedtime...not so bueno.


I was just going to trim off the mullet and a little off the bangs, but my scissors just kept on cutting and this is what we got. wow. In my defense, though, Logan would not stay still for one millisecond, so I got a snip here and snip there and, well, you can see the finished product below for yourself. I think we'll make a trip to the salon this week.


Funny thing is who knew a hair cut could be so emotional for a mom. I actually cried after I took the first big snip...and the second... and the third! I was a mess! What a baby.


Before the cut

Check out the mullet!


After the cut....I feel the same way kid


The back view

yikes.


I'll post pictures of the first real hair cut when it happens (hopefully soon!). Stay tuned for better hair. Until then, go ahead, laugh it up.

Cake Time

So, I realize I just did a tribute post to Logan for his first year, but I wanted to put up some pictures of the family gathering we had for his birthday. This is for the grandmas who couldn't be there!
The theme of his bash was camping.


If you can't tell his smash cake was a my measly attempt at a campfire. We had a BBQ, campfire and s'mores roasting in our back yard.



Opening presents, kind of.



This was hilarious so I had to include it...this is Logan's cousin. So we had dinner and cake in our backyard and so I planted some flowers a couple nights before to try to spiffy our yard up. Here's one of them that Abby found and was walking around with. I am happy to report that flower is still alive.


Just starting to dig in...




The smearing stage...



Pretty much demolished.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Last Thursday, May 22, Logan turned 1 year old! I am so proud of all of his accomplishments in the past year; he has done and learned so much.

We waited a long time for him to come into our family, but he was worth every minute of waiting, every minute of throwing up my first two trimesters, and every minute of my extremely swollen feet (ok, let's be real...every minute of my extremely swollen body.) I never knew I could be so excited to see my own ankles and collar bone again!



Here are a few things that make him who he is, and some of my favorite things about him:

1. His absolute favorite food is applesauce. We call it the magic food because we can pretty much combine it with anything green and he will eat it. Magic!

2. Logan was one week late. Ug. 12 hours after my water broke he finally made his debut into the world.

3. He stands up in his crib and jumps on the mattress out of excitement when we walk into his room when he wakes up from a nap. Of course the mattress is old and bows in the middle, so it is pretty much like a trampoline for him.

4. He has a contagious smile. From very early on Logan has been brimming with smiles to share with everyone.

5. He is a wonderful sleeper. From 3 or 4 weeks on he has slept pretty much through the night (with exception of bouts of sickness and teething, don't we just love teething?). I attribute all of his success to three things: (1) I am very blessed from above (2) He weighed a great 9 lb 5 oz when born and (3) This book.

6.His hair. We are embracing the mullet for now until I can get up the courage to admit that my baby is old enough for his first hair cut!

7. When either Ben or I walk in the door, Logan will now crawl over to greet us waiting to be picked up and hugged and loved on.

8. He absolutely hates having his face wiped off. He screams like I am cutting off his arms any time we get close to his face with a rag. So this may explain any dirty faces you will see on him in the future.



9. Logan is very, very ticklish, especially on his back.

10. He is a very content kid, most of the time. He has always had a laid-back personality and is very content with life most of the time. He has always been patient with Ben and me, for sure.

11. Last time we checked, his head was in the 95th percentile. That would be the Johnson genes. :-)

Happy Birthday Logan- congratulations, you survived your first year with me as your mom. We love you very much!

Bear Lake Classic

Last Saturday we ventured up to Bear Lake where Ben rode in a 50 mile race. The race went all the way around the lake so it was a pretty view, but he pretty much didn't see anything but the road and the tires 6" in front of him.


Dave Cook also came to ride in the race with Ben. We actually packed everything (very snuggly) into his car to drive up there.


We camped the night before at the resort where the race starts and ends. It was Logan's second time camping, and it was freezing that night, but he did great! We cheered the boys on at the starting line, played around for a couple hours then made the 1 mile trek from the campground to the finish line to watch the guys come in.


Here are the guys and their bikes before the race, just about to take off for a warm up ride. Here they are at the front of the starting line waiting for the go. Logan at the finish line. Can you tell it was nap time? Ben crossing the finish line after 2 hours 16 minutes of a grueling pace of 22.4 avg mph. As you can tell, the finish line was out in the middle of no where, but it was very beautiful. The cheering crowd. :-) There really was a crowd of spectators on the other side of the road, you just can't see them.

Logan even got to see his first cows in person on the walk back to the campground. Always exciting.

Family pic after the race with Bear Lake in the background. Too bad the water was way too cold to swim in! On the trip home. After a day of being in the sun and wind, and 2 hours past his nap time, Logan was ready to go. He was asleep not even 5 minutes into the trip. What a trooper! Good job Dave and Ben - you guys did awesome! Ben is going to post more pics of the race with more attention to detail here soon.

Fatherhood and Heat

Two updates from my day:


1. Ben took his newly clean, favorite pair of jeans out of the dryer this morning and put them on to wear to work.

15 minutes later there was a big smear of Logan-poo on them due to a blow out. Oh the joys of fatherhood and diarrhea.

2. It is currently 83 degrees in my house. Time to break out the swamp cooler.