Ramsey-Martineau Reunion -- Our California Adventure!

Here are a few pictures from our FUN adventure to California. We went to California Adventure, Disneyland, Seaworld, Legoland, San Diego Zoo, and the Beach. My whole family met up with my moms sisters family, the Martineaus. We had a BLAST!!! When we were younger we use to always go places with the Martineau's.

Our little Family at the Dumbo ride.
Us with the Martineau's @ Disneyland.

The whole Ramsey Family.
My mom and Aunt Leann.
Me, Wendy (my sister), Shaun & Missy (my cousins)

Gramp-a-Camp!!!

Oh how we love our Grandpa Johnson!!! One thing that the Johnson grandchildren really look forward to every summer is Gramp-a-Camp. Yes...this is when Grandpa takes all the grandkids camping. Origianally it was just him, grandma and the kids. Now that the family has grown so much it's turned into Grandpa (& daddy) camp. This way the littlest tikes (not potty trained) can go and all the moms go on their annual shopping trip. Grandpa plans all the activities, games, theme and place. The grandkids love it and will remember it the rest of their life. Thanks Granpa Johnson, we love you.

Tanner at Gramp-a-camp.

Lexie and cousin Kallie with the candy leis they made.

Grandpa & Grandkids

Sillies!!! Oh-what fun!!

Thanks again - Grandpa! oh and dads too!

This is all of us moms on our annual shopping trip. We have so much fun. I think 99% of the time we are laughing. I am so grateful that I have such amazing, fun sister-n-laws and a wonderful fun mother-n-law. To read more details read Natalie's version. Click Natatlie & Justin. Thanks for letting us get away dads. It really is great therapy.

What's the date again...SNOW

Will someone please remind me of the date because I keep forgetting it's JUNE. Let's just say the weather is of no help. YES, YES, YES...we had snow today. I can't beleive it. June 11th and we're still getting snow. I hope our summer goes into October because at this rate we're never going to get to go boating.

First Dance Recital

This was Alexa's first dance recital. She's been taking dance since last fall and absolutely loved it. She was in the same dance as her cousin Kallie. They had so much fun together and soon learned that Wednesday was dance day and that meant after dance they would get to play together. They would take turns at each other house. It's so fun having family close and those two little girls are already learning how to conspire against us moms because neither of us want to be the mean mom that says, "NO, not today." When it was time for rectial I was a little worried that Alexa would just stand on the stage and freeze. She did great, all the little girls did great.

Pictures Top to Bottom: Dance class train line up, Lexie and partner Madilyn, Lexie doing "Flip, Flop, Fly"; Angle's We Have Heard on High; Alexa and her cousin Kallie; Flowers daddy got her for after her recital.

Opening Day- Henry's Lake!!

This was the best opening fishing day on Henry's Lake Mitch has ever had. He said the fish were biting so much because the lake had just melted off the day to two before so they were hungry from the long winter freeze.

Mitch's Great Trout Catch - 7 lbs.

(I told Mitch "that's like the size of a baby"--that's huge)

Top tow are Mitch's and then two friends let Mitch bring theirs home for a fish fry. YUMMY!! Those are Mitch's feet - for length. (Trout 7 lbs; 5 lbs; 5 lbs; 4.5 lbs.)

Fun Pictures

One tired little boy. Apparently I was too busy to put Tanner down for a nap or maybe he was just really tired. I walked in and found Tanner asleep like this on the floor. If any of you know him--the arms up behind the head is Tanner's trademark. He's one relaxed kid. If he's just chilling, the arms go behind the head the legs are crossed. If we say Tanner "chill" that's what he does.

This was us swimming in Snow Bird on Memorial Day weekend. Notice the arms. You can't see his feet but they were crossed.

Poor Tanner all he has to play with is a big sister unless we go to my sister's house. So yes, he's subject to baby dolls, dress up, and Polly's which he likes to play. Mitch gets really mad. Don't get me wrong he really likes outside, dirt and his cars but we don't have a lot of "BOY" toys yet because most of his toys are baby and are unisex. We'll work on that.

I decided to do braids in Alexa’s hair for the first time. You know...you wash it, braid it and then take it out in the morning for some nice wavy hair. She thought it was so fun. I didn't want to do too many because I didn't want too wild of hair and she kept asking are you done yet. I think there were eleven.



One night the kids both had on pj's that were green or had green on them. I thought it would be fun to take a picture of them with the giant carebear we have. That was almost an impossible task. I don't know who is more impossible to take a picture of Alexa or Tanner. When I say Tanner look at mom, Alexa turns and looks at him. This was the best one I got. Sweet Dreams.

One night while the kids were in the bath tub Alexa called out, "Mom, get your camera and come take a picture." This is what I found. BUBBLE Beards-compliments of Alexa.

I tell you what....That little boy of mine is so sweet and so calm but some days I don't know what to do. I was doing some computer work and Lexie was sitting next to me coloring when I realized I hadn't heard Tanner for a little while. I asked Alexa to go and find him and see what he was doing. She walked out into the front room and came running back. "Mom, come look at Tanner --he has a pen." NOTE: Almost every day we come home from the office Mitch asks Tanner why he has pen or marker all over him. I don't know where he finds them but apparently we have pens hidden all over our house and office. Anyway to finish the story. I walked in and said, "Tanner Johnson--what are you doing?" He turned around with a huge smile and said, "CHEESE." That's one his favorite new words and knows to use it when we get out the camera. So that's just what I did--Took a picture. Now one of my biggest fears is when he turns 18 he's going to be the kid with like 25 tatoos. Yikes! I think he just thinks it's amazing that when he touches the pen to his arm...it leaves a mark.

Easter Morning

At about 2am on Easter morning my little girl woke me up with a little whisper saying,"Mom, I want to go down stairs." I asked her what for, wondering if she really knew or if she just wanted a drink of water. Being the bright little girl she said,"I want to see if the Easter bunny came." I told her we could go look, but she couldn't touch anything, and then she had to go back to bed. We went downstairs, looked, and sure enough, the Easter bunny found us. She looked up at me with a giant smile on her face and said, "He came." Then we went back to bed.

Darling Little Angel & Hansom Little Man

I just love these pictures of the kids on Easter Sunday in their Sunday Best.

Lexie lecturing Tanner..."Tanner look at the camera." Notice she's not looking at the camera either...

Yummy Worms!

I have to share the cutest thing that happended the other day. Mitch had just left to go ice fishing and I realized he left his lovely container of earth worms in the fridge. I asked Lexie to run get my phone so I could see if I could catch Mitch before he got to far. Lexie said okay but said I'll tell dad he forgot his worms. I agreed to let her call and tell him. She called him and was having an adorable little conversation with him and said, "Dad, you forgot your worms." She turned to me with a huge smile and an ecstatic look on her face and said to me, "Dad said we can eat his worms for lunch. I just laughed. Mitch was teasing her and she thought she was going to get those yummy sour worms for lunch. Little did she know the worms he was talking about were creepy, crawly, and just nasty. Yes, I hate bugs and anything dirty that moves!

What the February?

Oh what a month it has been...It sure came and went and just as soon as I thought that I had everything under control its March now. Well from more snow, to the Rexburg Temple dedication, to Las Vegas, to RSV, to pneumonia, to a concussion, oh what a month it has been. Hopefully it turns to spring soon because I am starting to get cabin fever and understand a little what seasonal depression might be like.

Rexburg Temple

Let me start at the beginning of the month. We finally got to see the dedication of the Rexburg temple. It has been such an amazing process to see all the work that the community/church has done and how everything came together so well. It really has been a blessing to this whole community. We were so blessed to have our new prophet Pres. Monson come and dedicate the temple. There were four different sessions held and Mitch and I went to the first one and I am so glad we did. President Monson, Elder Bednar and Elder Nelson were all there. While they sealed the cornerstone President Monson was so cute to watch; he kept on inviting people to come up and put a little mortar in, even the children. They told him that time was short and they needed to get moving on, and just like a sweet grandpa he said, "I know, they tell me we need to get going" and then he just kept going, inviting a few more to come up and then stopped to tell a story about a little red headed boy. He had everyone grinning from ear to ear. What a precious moment, one I will never forget. What a blessing to have the temple so close. I feel a little like the early saints might have felt. It’s hard to even describe.

Las Vegas

It makes me feel guilty to even write this after the temple dedication, but…We, Mitch and I and some friends or ours went to Vegas for a little vacation. We went to “O” by Cirque du Soleil, Phantom of the Opera, Hoover dam, Vantage Point, ate at some great restaurants, walked through some amazing hotels and just had fun. We really had a great time. Jesser and Jarred are great traveling partners. Hopefully they say the same things about us. The sad thing is I left my sick kids at home with my mom.
Pneumonia & RSV

My mom was so sweet to come up and watch our kids. Little did I know she would be a nurse the whole time. When we left Tanner had started to get a fever, but I didn’t think much of it, I just thought he’s getting more teeth. I wish it was just his teeth coming in. To make a long story short, my poor mother got to clean-up throw-up at least 6 times that I know about, hold Tanner all weekend, and then when I said maybe you should take him to the doctor…the doctor told her, we can’t treat him here, take him to the ER. Tanner had pneumonia and RSV. Lexie had a nice little cough and a fever, we never really did have her checked out, but she is getting better so I guess she’s okay. Sorry mom and thanks so much for taking care of my babies. Other then all that happening while we were in Vegas; we really did have a great time. Thanks to my sweet mother in law who got to pick up my kids at the hospital and take them to her house so they could cry and be sick there until I got home. I don’t know if my mom or mother in law will ever watch my kids again after that whole ordeal.

What a Fall

Oh, but don’t you worry that’s not the end of it all. So we got home Monday to all this exciting illness and what not. Monday evening I was walking down the stairs holding my sick baby Tanner, when I don’t exactly know what happened because I can’t remember, but I fell down the stairs. Luckily, somehow I didn’t land on Tanner, Mitch says when he came to us, Tanner was on top of me. We both hit our heads and put a dent in the front door (with our heads). I had a nice concussion and slight memory loss for a little while. Just ask my husband how many times I asked the same questions over and over. He said about 50. I couldn’t remember anything about Vegas and I still can’t remember the 15 to 20 minutes after my fall. Mitch says I was awake and conscious and that I just kept asking the same questions over and over. It makes me feel good that for once my husband really got worried about me; worried enough to take me to the ER. Yes, we had two ER visits in two days. That should fill our quota for the next 5 years. If any of you know Mitch…he’s pretty laid back…I know he loves me…but the key word there is worried…Mitch’s usually doesn’t worry. He even said, “Not much freaks me out, but there for a minute I was getting a little nervous.” I love you babe! I am so glad that he was home when that happened. I can’t even imagine what would have happened if it were just me and the kids home.
All you moms out there…be careful on the stairs and tell your little ones what to do if something ever happens to mommy and daddy’s not home. Lexie knows the speed dials for my mom and Mitch. Thank goodness she didn’t have to use them, because Mitch said she was crying when she saw us and because Tanner was crying.
We’re all good now. I get a few headaches every once in a while but other than that we’re good and on the up-hill climb to being healthy again. YEAH!

Food...I love food!

Tanner decided that mom and dad shouldn't feed him any more. He's the only one that can.

Of course...Lexie needed to be in a picture.

If any of you know Tanner, this is really how mellow he is...just easy going like his daddy.

Happy and carefree!!!

We're still here. Happy New Year!

Hello everyone. I know it's been a while but things are finally starting to slow down. Let’s just say… I am glad the holidays are over. I really love the holidays but I feel like we have been going 100 mph since Halloween. After Christmas we had the Johnson Christmas party which we got to see the new Rexburg temple. The temple is so amazing. Our area is so blessed to have the temple right here in our own town. After the New Year I was really busy at the office getting new tenants moved in. Yeah! They are all moved in and I don’t have any others moving in until April.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas Letter!!!

What a fun year it has been and I can’t believe it’s almost over. In April we finally got to move into our town house and it’s so nice to actually have a place to call home. In September Mitch and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been that long. This year Mitch and I, well me and Mitch said he’d go along with it started a dinner club and it has been so fun. We have, I think, 13 couples that are in it and each couple takes a different month of being in charge planning the dinner and/or activity. Sometimes the kids get to come and sometimes they don’t. It’s been really fun because if we didn’t do it there are some friends that we wouldn’t see for months and months because we just never cross paths. Not everyone can come every month but we always have a good turnout. I would encourage everyone to start one, even if you only have a few couples that will do it – it makes for a great date night.
Tanner-
He has been so fun to watch grow. He finally got passed the army crawl stage just before he turned 1 and is now working on walking. He actually does great at it when he decides he wants to, but crawling is just easier and he has no problem keeping up with everyone. I think my favorite thing he does is when he goes down the stairs. He goes feet first on his belly and goes really fast –it’s cute. It reminds me when we were kids and would go down like that. He also starting to talk, well Mama and Dada and mimic sounds. He loves blowing kisses and if he hears the word hello or bye his little hand automatically pops up and starts waving. Trust me this kid can seriously eat. I know this is the stuff that most kids do but I forgot all this stuff from when Lexie was little and I just love it. Oh! He also makes the cutest car sounds when he pushes them around on the floor. It’s definitely a boy thing – I don’t know where he learned it – it must just come ingrained in them from Heaven.
Alexa-
It’s amazing how smart three year olds can be. Lexie is constantly asking – WHY? She is also learning her alphabet and had learned how to spell her name. Now everything is spelled ending with ALEXA. For example…Mom is spelled M-ALEXA. It’s so cute! She is so silly. One thing that really scares me is how much like me she is. I guess that can’t be so bad-but some days we really clash. Lexie just finished doing a semester of pre-school up at the college and she loved it. She also loves going to dance. One of my favorite things that Mitch and I are always cracking up at is when Alexa sings. She takes the tune from one song and sings different words to it or not even real words and holy cow is it funny. She has recently learned the cupcake song and sings that about 25 times a day. What a little princess!
Cari-
Well that’s me. I am still managing and most days I love it. I think it gives me a way to stay connected to the “business world” –some how. I only work MWF for less than 3 hours each of those days. The owner is great and is very flexible with me if something comes up and I can’t go in. Sometimes it’s slow, like once I am full for a semester, so I don’t do as much time. It’s nice because I can take the kids with me and most days they take naps while we are there. My office is a whole apartment and so we have an extra bed and a pack-n-play there plus toys and some of Lexie’s craft stuff. They do really good and are so patient with me. I love scrapbooking and trying to do crafty things. It’s getting harder because my partner in scrapbook/craft crime is my sister and between the two of us there are usually five kids (who always want to cut or stamp or glue too). Some days it’s easy and some days we usually referee. I also belong to a BUNCO group which has been fun to get us girls together once a month and chat and play BUNCO. I have also found a new little hobby called blogging and found that I am better at keeping it updated then a journal so we’ll count that. Well I try to keep the real personal and spiritual stuff in my journal but the rest is all right here. I guess it’s better than nothing.
Mitch-
He is just a hardworking, fun loving dad. He still works for Lawn Buddies as a Spray Manager and loves it. He has a great boss, we couldn’t ask for much more. He keeps very busy in the summer and in the fall/winter he gets to lay back a bit and go hunting and play hard. Mitch loves hunting or maybe I should say driving around looking. He actually got a really nice dear this year. I’ll see if I can get a picture of it up. He also was getting good at wakeboarding this summer. He surpassed me even though I had been doing it longer; I guess that’s what happens when you have babies. Hopefully we get plenty of moisture this winter and spring so that we can still go boating. Mitch is such a good, patient dad. Let’s just say they like him more than me. He reads to them 85% of the time before bed and helps with everything but stinky diapers; unless Tanners has one while I am gone, good boy-Tanner. He is a great husband. One of Mitch’s other passions is baking. He’s a good cook but always wants to make treats. That’s why I say baking. He is always searching for new recipes online and trying them out. If he’s not busy you can bet he’ll be whipping something sweet up. One of my favorite things that Mitch does is on Sunday morning he makes us gourmet breakfast because we have such late church-1:30. I will really miss it next year because we have 8:30 church. Honey you could carry that tradition to Saturdays if you would like.

I have the greatest family in the world. I don’t know what I did to be so blessed. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and take a few moments to count your blessing starting with our Savior Jesus Christ and the path that he paved for all of us to return to our Heavenly Father. It’s though Him that we truly find happiness.

Merry Christmas!!!

Family Photos

Sumo Adventure!

Well Mitch and I had a very interesting experience yesterday... About a week ago I was talking with one of the mom's of a little girl in Lexie's dance class and she said that she tries to do 5 new things every year. Not just her but her family. I thought that was a good idea. Then she asked if I had heard that there was going to be a Sumo wrestling tournament here. I am not a huge fan but I have noticed that Mitch has watched it a few times on ESPN and thought I would mention it to him. He said he would be interested in going and I thought that it would be a good chance to go on a different date. Well different it was , BUT fun. I felt like a college kid again.
I think I mostly expected to see what you see on TV, but it was far from that. When they announced the first guy to come out... a 175 pound guy came out in his little thong or diaper thing-whatever they're called. I just laughed. He was actually quite fit and good. To spare you the details the smallest guy was 175 lbs. and the largest was 750 lbs. I learned what Sumo wrestling is and that it's not just Asian's that do it, several were from here in Idaho. One of the guys is the current US Open Sumo Champ and I think he was from Mongolia.
It was quite an experience. Mitch said he would do it agian. I haven't decided. It was fun doing something different and I would encourage everyone to step outside your comfort zone and try something new.
Anyone who reads this that's from Burley and maybe remember's the Smoker (boxing) thats what it reminded me of. It was a lot like that because it was at the Junior High - just a different sport. Everytime I think about it...I just keep laughing!!!

Thanksgiving

This year I think that I am most thankful for family. Mitch and I continually say how blessed we are that both of us have such great families. Neither of our families are perfect but we both have great relationships with our parents and siblings. My sister Wendy lives here close and we do just about everything together. It's so fun because our kids are the same age and play good together most of time. Mitch has two brothers that live close and we spend a lot of time with them too. We love all our family and couldn't ask for anything more. Oh, not to mention our beautiful children that we love so much and wonder sometimes why we are so blessed.

How many Johnson boys does it take to put up Christmas lights?
I just thought this was a cute picture of Alexa and her cousin Kallie that I took on Thanksgiving Day at Grandma Johnsons.

I'm an Elephant!?!?

One day while I was doing Alexa's hair she was playing with the Q-tips and she kept on saying, "I'm an elephant, I'm an elephant." I looked at her and laughed. This is what she looked like....

SILLY GIRL!!!

Christmas Lights - Daddy's little helpers

It's finally freezing cold in Rexburg. Well I said that like I was waiting for it to get cold. Not really. I enjoyed fall and I love the Christmas season and, I guess, the cold wintery weather that comes with it. I wish it would just snow more. The kids helped Mitch put up our Christmas lights outside and it was cold enough that they need all their winter clothes but the snow pants. We now have a skiff of snow on the ground. Hopefully we will get more in the next few days.