Thanksgiving Break

Brian was on call with the Ambulance most of Thanksgiving break, so we were very excited when his family decided to drive up and visit us for Thanksgiving this year. It was so fun to see Bracken around his "Grandpa RoB" (lots of emphasis on the "B"), "Gamma Sue," "Lissa," "Ricky" and "Kristi Sue." Bracken loved having such an attentive and adoring audience. He would dance, sing, and just go crazy for us every night before bedtime. He was so cute and fun that he usually got to stay up an extra hour or so while we laughed at and clapped for him. We also played in the snow a ton while everyone was here. Don't you love the little French snowman Kristi and Melissa made with Bracken?

After our delicious Thanksgiving dinner (complete with nine pies for seven people!) we ran outside to play in the snow. Bracken loved sledding and walking in the snow, as well as eating the snow.

Top Left: Kristi; Top Right: Melissa; Bottom Left: Brian and Rick pushing Bracken and I on the sled; Bottom Right: Kristi and Rob

I'm grateful for my family!

Ever since I joined the Johnson family I've heard about the "Newspaper game" but have never gotten a chance to play it. But on Thanksgiving we had some extra newspapers and our downstairs neighbors weren't home so we decided to play. That is one noisy, fun game! We were all jumping up and down, yelling out different animal names and getting smacked with a newspaper. Bracken wanted to play too, so we gave him his own rolled up newspaper. We were impressed that he knew which animal each of us was. We laughed a lot as he ran around yelling "Emu! Wombat! Buffalo!" and smacking us with the newspaper.

For Black Friday we looked around at CAL-Ranch (Rob's favorite store), played games while Bracken napped, and then went sledding. We all had a blast, and Bracken thought sledding was definitely a cool thing to do.

Left: Brian grooving down the hill; Right: Brian and Bracken racing Melissa

Left: Kristi and Melissa crashing at the bottom; Right: Family Tubing!

I love this picture of Melissa and Kristi right after they crashed. It just makes me smile! We all had so much fun over the whole break. I'm so glad our family was able (and willing) to make the long drive up here to be with us. We love you guys!

Our "Big" Boy

We love our little boy! He keeps us on our toes, learns constantly, and gives us hundreds of reasons to smile and laugh every day. He is talking more and more all the time (if that's possible) and using sentences now. Here are some funny things he's been saying and doing:

A few weeks ago Brian came home for dinner and Bracken had a hundred things to tell him. He literally would not stop talking. Finally I said, "Bracken, it's Mommy's turn." He was silent for about 20 seconds, then happily announced, "Bracken's Turn!" and continued to jabber at Brian.

Bracken was outside playing while we carried Costco groceries in the house. Brian was carrying a couple of boxes of rice milk in the house when Bracken looked up at him in amazement and said, "Ooo Daddy Strong!" That made Brian feel so proud.

A couple days ago Bracken and I were walking with my siblings when Bracken said, "I'm a boy." (while signing "boy") pause..."Mommy, I'm a BIG boy!"

Bracken loves horses. The other night when I was singing to him before putting him to bed he insisted that I sing a horse song. I couldn't think of any at the time so I just sang BINGO, but sang "There was a farmer had a horse" instead of a dog, and clucked my tongue instead of clapping for the letters. He loved it. As I laid him in his crib he quietly sang "Horse...Cluck, Cluck, N-G-O!" A few times.

Speaking of singing, Bracken sings bits of songs all the time. "Twinkle, twinkle little star," "The Colors of the Rainbow," "Holy Ghost Song," "ABC's" etc. If he finds a Hymn book or another book with music notes in it he opens it up and sings, "Song, song, La-la-la." I love to hear him sing, and he actually carries the right tune half the time.

Bracken repeats everything. I've really got to watch what I say. He kept saying, "crap!" one day over and over and I was feeling like a loser until I realized he was actually saying "crib." Boy was I relieved! Another night at a friends house he decided to say "Oh Man!" every time he dropped a toy or tripped or turned around. I know I say that sometimes, but he was saying it like a swear word every other second. Thankfully he's forgotten how much fun that is to say.

Bracken's favorite things to say:
"Mommy, look at this!"
"I see it!"
"No thank you." (At least it's not flat out "NO!")
"I love _____(fill in the blank)."
"Hello!" (to complete strangers.)
"I hear a dog!" (or a motorcycle.)
"Daddy fix it." (when he breaks something or gets hurt.)

We love our little man!

First Snow

Shortly after we woke up this morning the snow started coming down. There were groans from the oldest three in the house and the rest of the kids started celebrating and pulling out their snow gear. Bracken wasn't quite sure what to think of the snow, but he liked trying to catch it on his tongue and throwing the little snowballs we made him. Here we are with our cowboy snowman.

Down the Dirt Roads

Bracken and I are in Richfield with my brothers and sisters while my parents enjoy ten days in Hawaii! My parents are having an amazing time, and we're having lots of fun here. We've been going on daily walks down the dirt roads around our house. There are rocks to throw, old cattails to smash, and lots of animals to see: cows, horses, ducks, chickens, a goat and kittens. These three kittens live at one of the sheds we walk past and they usually follow us for our entire walk. (Above: Dallin, Tyson, Bracken, Sarah)

Bracken loves the kittens. He says, "Come here, little kitties, little kitties." and is always so happy when they let him pick them up.

At a chicken coop along the way...

Bracken loves horses. Breonna is always willing to take him to see and feed her horses. Here they are taking a quick ride on Nebo. Whenever Bracken sees Breonna he says, "Hi Breonna, horses?"