Imaginary Fishing

Bracken played "fishing" for over an hour. He caught huge Daddy fish, Mommy fish, baby fish, and mean "traitor and tyrant fish" (He'd asked what traitors and tyrants were after we sang "Praise to the Man" and I told him it meant mean people who didn't tell the truth and were bossy...so he decided the mean fish were traitors and tyrants), then put them in grocery bags or rolled them up in washcloths and towels. I pretended to eat one for dinner and he had a fit because he told me they were pets, not for food. Ooops. This kid has an overactive imagination.

Notice how nicely all the towels and washcloths are folded and rolled. Bracken's new hobby is folding washcloths, towels, and blankets. I'm not complaining!

Bathtime...A Favorite Time of Day

Bracken and Chandra love taking baths and getting blowdried afterward. During the day Chandra will often go and pull herself up by the side of the bath and lean over the edge trying to get into the empty tub. If I put Bracken in the bath, but haven't put her in yet, she starts waving her arms, kicking her legs and talking like crazy, then starts squealing if she can't get in too. I think they look forward to being blow dried as much as the bath, they'd lay on the floor wrapped in their towels for twenty minutes if I'd keep blow drying them.

Little Puppy

I came in the kitchen to find Chandra happily eating her brothers spilled snacks off the floor. Sometimes Bracken calls her "Little Puppy" because she crawls around with her tongue out and eats everything she can find off the floor. It sounds bad, but most of her first foods have probably been from her grabbing them off the kitchen floor rather than me purposefully giving her a new food. Eggs, cheerios, goldfish, and bread are all on that list! She loves crawling around under the table, around the chair legs, and over the table legs. I usually get dishes done while she'd doing this, and she's probably trying to find little snacks.

Nap Time

Bracken's naps have become less and less frequent...and so much more appreciated.

Acting out the Scriptures

Bracken and I have been trying to sing a hymn together each day. We were singing Hymn #13 "An Angel From On High." He started asking me, "What does 'the long silence broke' mean?", "What is 'descending'?", "What sacred record?", "What does, "Sealed by Mornoi's hand' mean?"

I started doing a lot of explaining, then had an idea. "Do you want to act out the story?" He thought this was a great idea, so we headed to the kitchen for cereal boxes and aluminum foil to make gold plates. ("Mom, we have to have rings too. Like in the picture." Thankfully I had little rings in my craft box) He pretended to be Moroni and wrote some scriptures (scribbles) on the plates with permanent markers. Then we found sunglasses for the urim and thummim. He used his tools to pretend to make a stone box to put the gold plates in and we buried them. Then he was Joseph Smith and I was the angel Moroni and I told him the gold plates were in the Hill Cumorah. He had to come back 4 times before he could take them out. Then he put on the Urim and Thummim and "translated" the gold plates. He thought this was the coolest game ever, and we played the same version at least five times that day. That night when he went to bed he said, "Let's act out the scriptures again tomorrow!"

Visit from Grandparents

My Grandma and Grandpa Gunderson came to visit us on their way to Arizona. We had lunch together and a nice visit. Chandra really liked her Grandpa! My Grandpa got a nice DSLR camera for Christmas too and I had fun trying out his cool lenses. I wish we lived closer so we could learn how to use our new cameras together!

Grandpa and Grandma gave us a big box of Idaho Potatoes. Yummy and thanks guys! I grew up on these delicious baking potatoes, they were one of the few things I'd eat as a super-picky-kid. After my grandparents left, I was reading in the living room and Bracken was quietly playing in the kitchen. When I went to check on him I found he had taken every pot and pan out of my cupboard and filled them with our Idaho Potatoes. When he saw me he held out his hand and said, "Don't put them away yet! I'm cooking!" We had potatoes for dinner that night.

Little Readers

Bracken loves books! I love to watch him read to Chandra. Sometimes he "reads" the stories almost word for word because he has them memorized. Sometimes he comes up with pretty interesting or crazy stories. Chandra is finally a little interested in books, and will listen for a minute or two. She likes to turn the pages of the board books, or just shake the books back and forth.

Our little reader.

Apples with Daddy

Brian watched the kids for me while I went to the gym. I came back to find Bracken sleeping and Chandra happily eating apples on the kitchen floor with Brian. She loves her Daddy!

Band-Aids for his Little Friends

Bracken takes good care of his little animals. Lately they've been getting "hurt" and needing band-aids. Lots of them. Almost every stuffed animal has at least one band-aid stuck to them. Some of his animals are completely covered. Thank goodness we can get band-aids at the dollar store!

Lazy Morning

My favorite January photo: The kids and I had a lazy morning. We played on the floor, built forts, and read stories until lunch time. When we were getting ready to pick up Bracken came over to me, put his head on my knee and said, "Yeah, I love you and Chandra." I'm so happy I was playing with my camera at the time!

Reading Time

Rubber Band Guns

Grandpa Rob and Grandma Sue gave Bracken and Chandra army men and rubber band guns for Christmas. Brian has as much fun with the new toys as Bracken does! Bracken thinks it is hilarious when he hits one of the army men and they go flying. I love to hear him giggle...then say, "I need more rubber bands, lets do it again!"

Christmas Break in Richfield

Chandra was fascinated by the Christmas tree lights and ornaments. I loved watching her try to grab the ornaments or carefully touch the lights. With wrapping paper she wasn't so delicate. She'd rip into in and try to eat it every chance she got.

My Mom and Dad...good looking parents, huh?

Mom and Grandma Ginger. We had my whole family--My parents, all my brothers and sisters and their families-- together right after Christmas, and Grandpa and Grandma Ellingford came too! We had a fun couple of days together.

We received a lot of new games for Christmas and put them to good use! We played Citadels, Ticket to Ride, Monopoly Deal, and Settler's of Catan: Traders and Barbarians extension. We also played several games of Hand and Foot with Grandma and Grandpa...the girls smoked the guys on that game!

Grandma loved to snuggle and hold Chandra, and Chandra enjoyed all the attention! We went bowling one night and had a great time. It was fun to watch the little kids bowl. They can be crackups!

Christmas in Arizona

Christmas morning: Chandra, Kira, Brian and Bracken. Bracken was so excited to see a little stuffed owl and snow leopard peeking out the top of his stocking.
I love the Johnson family! We had so much fun Christmas morning. Stockings, watching Chandra eat the wrapping paper, sharing presents, making their crazily enormous Christmas breakfast(biscuits and gravy, waffles, french toast, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, english muffins, orange juice, toast...gotta have everyone's favorites!) church, and lots and lots of games. ` Bracken made his own little bed in the ottoman on Christmas Eve. "I'm sleeping in a manger, just like baby Jesus!"
The Johnson's all LOVE getting their backs scratched. So while we visited one night we did it in a backscratching circle. :) The whole family was together for the first time in years, so we had to get family pictures! Jeff and Niki, Sue and Rob, Kristi, Rick, Melissa, Sally and Mike, Brian and Kira.
Grandpa, Grandma and all the grandkids!
Ben and Chandra, they're just one week apart.
Acting out the nativity on Christmas Eve. Bracken was Joseph, Ella was Mary, and Ethan was the donkey.
Is there any room in the Inn?
All dressed up for acting out the Christmas nativity!

On Christmas Eve morning the adults ran a 5K. The kids had their own little races while we were running.

One morning before Christmas we hiked up Camelback mountain. Chandra and Bracken came with us. We let Bracken walk the whole way and he cracked us up finding pebbles to throw, pointing out all the dogs, and singing little songs at the top of his lungs. We made it all the way to the "18" post.

Bracken was able to play with cousins every day while we were in Arizona. He had so much fun with all of them. Ella and Bracken became best friends and played so well together. Bracken asks if Ella can come play with us or if he can go to her house almost every day now. Too bad they're 8 hours away!

We always try to go the zoo when we're in Arizona. Bracken loves to see the animals, and we usually get culture passes from the library so it's free to go.

We love you family! Thanks for a fun week and Merry Christmas!