December, thus far...

I'm behind in my blogging (really, what else is new??)... It's already the middle of December and almost CHRISTMAS--that, I can't even believe... The month of December started off with a much needed weekend away with my husband in Crosslake, Minnesota at a cute little lodge resort. I say it was much needed because of many reasons but mainly because life gets crazy, our jobs get crazy, our son IS crazy, (well, sometimes!), and because probably just like every other couple in the world, sometimes we just don't get to connect and have uninterrupted time alone, together. So we went, we shopped, we ate (lots), we toured the brainerd area, and we took naps.... Ahhhh wonderful :)
Then as always, it was back to real life in Darwin for the Johnsons! (Which, by that time, we were more than ready to be back home to our little monster known as Ryder) Since then we have stayed busy... Last week we took Ryder to the Holidazzle Parade and to the Macy's 8th Floor Display - A Day in the Life of an Elf :) He loved every minute of the parade and was more than excited to have a little chit chat with Santa at Macy's... He was a little dissapointed after we left Santa and I couldn't figure out why, but then I realized that he actually thought that Santa GIVES you the toy you tell him you want right then and there... Ooops! Nice going mom, didn't explain that one very well! Haha...It was nothing a big sugar cookie couldn't fix, and that is exactly what we did --grabbed some delicious cookies and headed home for the night! As for this week, it has honestly been a blur. Things have really picked up at work and I am COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS until Christmas vacation where I will have some time off! This weekend will be another busy one with college graduation parties of good friends, last minute Christmas baking, and Max's birthday is coming up on Monday! :) The big 2-6.....(What an old man!) I am also ecstatic to say that my best friend is coming home to visit from Florida next week (hope you bring your Uggs, my friend--no sandals needed here! Brrrr)
Overall, we have stayed busy this month, which is probably a good thing as we have had plenty of ups and downs to deal with lately. We are fortunate to have the amazing support of our family, our friends, and eachother to help get us through each and every obstacle that life throws at us...Patience is a virtue that I have yet to master, but I am slowly learning to take things as they come, one day at a time.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, it is the Johnson household anyway! Our tree is up (pictures posted soon....if you're lucky;) the Christmas lights are up on the house, and (the few) Christmas decorations we have are all up! I also got Ryder to take some winter pictures for me one snowy day last week for our Christmas card (which I LOVE by the way, thanks to Miss Emily Binsfeld!! I love her work and let's just say she is saving me LOTS of money on Christmas cards this year)--love it. Now if only I could finish up with the shopping! I don't have much left, but I'm definitely not done yet either.

The other exciting thing we have going on is our basement project has finally started! It is all framed up and we just picked out the bathtub this weekend so hopefully the plumbers/electrician get over here soon. I am sooooo excited to have the other half of our house to use, it is going to give us so much more space!! The basement will consist of the family/living room, a bedroom, and office/spare bedroom, storage room, full bathroom, and walkout to the (one day, when finished) patio! The upstairs will then have the master bedroom and master bathroom/closet, Ryder's bedroom, the guest bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, and what is now being used as a living room upstairs will eventually be the formal dining room! Other projects will be some painting projects, some renovation in Max and I's bathroom (knocking down a wall and installing a bathtub), and a tiled backsplash in our kitchen. Our house is a never ending project, but then again, who's isn't??

As a side note, Ryder has had a bad cold for the last week or so. It really hasn't stopped him from doing too much, since it's just a bad cough and runny nose, but his attitude has been soooooo bad. I've really had to practice some 'tough love' parenting lately. Seriously, this girl doesn't deal with backtalk from a three year old. Needless to say, I've had to whip out the "Santa is watching...." threat more than a few times lately.

Blessed with Bliss...*

Thanksgiving came and went and once again it was good food, great family time, and lots to be thankful for!Max and I are truly blessed with all the amazing things we have going for us in our lives... Our family, who we love very much, the true friends who have always been there for us, Ryder who keeps laughter in our home, Mickey--who I swear is the most calm and peaceful dog in the world, our house that we are lucky enough to call home, our jobs that help us to provide for our family with, our faith that keeps hope in our hearts, and last but not least, we are thankful for eachother.


It doesn't get much better than that :)


Thank you to anyone/everyone who falls into any of the above categories in our lives! Well....If Thanksgiving was here, that means BLACK FRIDAY also came!! I spend a lot of time arguing my case for BF shopping, but mostly it comes down to this -- Black Friday shopping is about the experience, it's about a fun holiday tradition with my mom and my sister, and if we happen to get some good deals while we're at it, then so be it! This year we tried something new and attempted to do some shopping on Thanksgiving night at Toys R Us and then spend the night with my Uncle in St.Cloud... Well, that didn't exactly happen. We drove past the store and said, ummm.....no thank you--the line was out the door and alllllll the way around to the back of the store and it was eleven degrees outside! We headed to my uncles and decided that the deals would still be there in the morning so we went to sleep and at 5:40am we were at it again! Started at Toys R us, then headed to Target and the mall.... It was a successful day shopping to say the least and I accomplished a lot! Now I can't wait to *hopefully* head to Holidazzle Parade tonight (depending on how Ryder is feeling), go to Turck's Trees tomorrow to have a chit-chat with Santa Claus and pick out our Christmas tree. Then we will string the lights and decorate the house and life will be just grand :)

Ohhhhh Starr....

Taking care of my horse is very similar to that of a dog. It's true. For instance, this afternoon (beautiful outside!!) I came home from work, headed out to Star's pasture where she happily greeted me at the gate and gave me a low whinny... I opened up the gate, snapped on a lead rope, and brought her into the front yard to let her mow down on all the grass her little heart desires since the grass in her pasture is pretty much depleted (don't worry, she gets plenty of hay to make up for this!). I then brushed her for a bit and headed inside to start some laundry and clean my house before the monster (aka: Ryder) got home... Every once in a while I would peek out the front window and there Starr would be, just happily chomping away in front of the house. About an hour and half later it dawned on me that it was begiinning to get dark outside and I stepped out on the front porch and there was Starr, just kind of hanging out right by the steps like, ummm shouldn't I be put back in my fence now?! She's kind of cute sometimes, as slow and as old as she is - at least she is loyal :)

Wedding Chimes, Jingle Bells, and Everything in Between!

I know, I know... Wedding chimes, AGAIN?!? Yes my friends....one more round and then my diet-like-crazy-to-squeeze-my-ass-into-yet-another-bridesmaid-dress season will finally come to an end! AMEN! :) (I must admit that's not entirely true, I have not been dieting like crazy, just the opposite in fact, I've been eating everything in sight --how can you resist fall sweets and halloween treats!?) Speaking of sweets, apple pie is in the oven.....delish.
Anyways, Mellissa and Nate's big day is this FRIDAY in Little Falls and I can't wait! Best wishes to the happy couple!! I'm kind of surprised for the wedding because I really did not partake in a lot of planning, so everything is kind of a surprise to me as well! The color is a deep dark teal with accent colors of black and cream, should be beautiful! More than anything, pretty sure Ryder is going be a STUD MUFFIN in his little black suit pants, white shirt, and black tie. :) Who doesn't love a kid in a tie!?
Side note--> I did a little Christmas shopping today! I'm finally starting to get in the holiday spirit!! I haven't done a whole lot of Christmas shopping, but peice by peice I've been picking up a few things! Ryder joined me shopping today and helped me to pick out a few gifts for a couple of his cousins...I know its only early November but I know all too well that these next couple of months will FLY by and Christmas will be here before I know it! I've been thinking of all the fun things I want to do with Ryder this year INCLUDING: Macy's holiday display in Minneapolis, HOLIDAZZLE PARADE, Sledding, Snowmobiling, Turck's Trees (family tradition!) and about a million other things that are fresh on my mind.... I seriously love this time of year...

As excited as I am to do all those fun things with Ryder, I am equally excited to spend a whole weekend ALONE with my husband!! ----> December 3rd and 4th Max and I are headed to a resort in Crosslake for a small getaway to just be together. I am so thankful that we are able to take a few 'mini-vacations' throughout the year because I think they are SO important! Don't get me wrong, I love our life and am thankful for our son and our jobs but sometimes life gets so busy and hectic that it's just nice to slow down and have nothing on the agenda other than enjoying time together without distractions... Ahhhhhhh can't wait!!

A picture is worth a thousand words....

Life as we know it...

has been changing a lot lately! Yes, my poor blog has been neglected but honestly, EXHAUSTED has been the only word that comes to mind when I think back on the last couple of weeks! I began my new job as the Meeker County Truancy Specialist and I. LOVE. IT. :) It has been exhausting, challenging, fun, and exciting since day one. I love having a job that I can look forward to going to each day, it makes SUCH a difference and my anxiety levels have gone wayyyyy down! Okay, what else.... Halloween is coming up and I have a little Spiderman crawling on the walls over here. Okay, not literally but he would if he could. I can't count how many times he's asked if he can try on his costume because he "woves having biiiigg musows" (we are still working on the LLLLLLLLLL sounds!) He also had his kindergarten screening this past week and I may or may not have been the lame mom who teared up the whole time. True story. Oh and also, when I tucked him in to bed not long ago I reminded him that he's a big boy and he needs to sleep in his own bed (sometimes he sneaks in our bed) and his response was "I will mom, unless that bear comes back outside my window again" ----ummmmmmm?? Okay? Sick of hearing about Ryder yet?? Too bad, my blog :)

I'm sad to say that my biggest guilty pleasure ended yesterday. Okay, so I love Teen Mom. Sometimes I like to pretend that Maci and I are secretely best friends (except that I really wouldn't be a good friend to her because I would probably try to sleep with both Kyle AND Ryan....Yum :)) and I also cringe and want to throw things at the TV everytime Amber goes crazy. As a mandated reporter I find myself questioning how she even has a child sometimes....A little harsh?? Oh well. Anyways, it's over and life sucks once again.

The weather has been fabulous lately and I love it! Baking has started in full force and am hoping ot whip out some apple pies this weekend if I get to the orchard. I made the pie crusts last week but just haven't found time to do anything with them yet so in the freezer they sit. I did, however, just make granola bars and they were quite tasty if I do say so myself! They are Ryder's favoooorrriiiteee snack and they're super healthy so I'm all about it. I've also been able to saddle up and ride Starr quite a bit lately although I've been worried about her so I'm going to stay off of her for a while. She recently started losing weight, and quite a bit of it. Not a good sign for a horse. She seems to have her appetite back now, which is a good thing so we've just been increasing her hay/oats lately to put some weight on her before winter comes. Sadly, she's also been a little 'stumbly' lately which is also not a good sign--poor girl. Anyways, she is up to date with all her shots, has been dewormed recently,and the ferrier was just out this week so at this point I guess we just wait and hope that things start to improve... I have faith in her, she's just too sweet...

Lately in my free time I've been editing and playing around with some pictures from my friend Elicia's wedding that I was able to take for her. I got to play photographer for a day and it was so much fun (with the help of Max during some of the wedding party photos -- I LOVE photography and am hoping to one day make a dark room in our basement and kick it old school with an old 35mm film camera and develop my own film. Film photography was my favorite class in college at Montana State and I haven't done it since.... My Nikon is fun to play with as well but nothing beats the classic b&w film....

It's MEA this week so that means a 4 day weekend for this girl! I have one quick court hearing tomorrow for a kid I work with that shouldn't last too long and other than that, Ryder and I are going to head to willmar for lunch with some old coworkers and then relax all day! Gosh my blogs get long lately...

10 Things On My Mind....(this ended up being super long!)

1. I CAN'T STAND FLIES. Nothing puts me in a worse mood than when I am toodling along, minding my own business, and then I hear/see a nasty beaty eyed little mass of disgustingness flying around and buzzing in my ear, trying to get in my food, or just plain annoying me. If you knew the satisfaction I get from picking up my handy-dandy fly swatter and smashing those little buggers to the ground you would probably be concerned for my mental health. Enough said.

2. Earlier this summer, I made what I consider to be a "lifestyle change" when it comes to what I eat. I decided to cut carbs from my diet because everytime I eat them I swell up and just feel disgusting (and yes, pasta was my FAVORITE food --now I can barely look at the stuff!) Anyways, it's been months now and I feel MUCH better, and even have more energy during the day (I know this sounds confusing since carbs can give you energy, but trust me, it works). The only downfall is on days like today when I decide to be a good wife and make my husband's favorite cookies -oatmeal chocolate chip -yum :) Needless to say, I had to indulge and have one....(Okay, two - but to be fair, they were small cookies!)

3. Since I'm talking about eating healthy I may as well talk about exercising... Recently I have fallen back in love with my treadmill - our relationship is about as consistent as Amber & Gary's (yes I just compared my exercise life with a ridiculous relationship from Teen Mom- haha!) What I mean is, I consider myself to be a pretty active person for the most part but at times I just get into lazy moods where I can pretty much find any excuse/reason not to work out. However, I've managed to learn the art of walking and watching. It sounds so simple, yet for so long I just could not do it -- watching tv while walking/running on the treadmill just was too much for me. Talk about lack of coordination! Anyways, I've figured it out now and me and my treadmill are just peachy :) My hips will thank me for it one day...

4. Speaking of hips... Nevermind, I won't get into that, but to those of you without children yet, cherish your hips dearly :)

5. I am ridiculously excited for Christmas. I'm not going to lie though, I get excited for Christmas around July. I'm just a freak like that, I come by it honestly. I start shopping super early too because I always think that it's nice for financial reasons to 'space it out' over the few months before Christmas. At least, that's what I tell Max... Really I just get antsy and want to buy gifts! In all seriousness though, it does probably save us money. August is usually when we start putting money away for the season and it seems to work out well for us. Being as organized as we both try to be, we start making lists and jotting down ideas right away so that we know what to look for in the sale ads... If you ask my co-workers they could verify this -- at a training in July I got SO BORED that I turned my notebook to a new page and made Christmas lists for the people we have to buy for this year...

6. I start my new job on Monday--lots of mixed feelings about this but mostly just excited and a little nervous! It will be SO NICE to be off of work at 3:45 everyday and be just a few minutes away from home -- ahhhhh wonderful!

7. In the next month or so, our basement project begins! We are hiring our good friend Kyle to finish the basement for us and we are thrilled to add more living space to our house! We have been waiting and waiting on one final detail to decide if we can finish the basement this year or not and we just found out that we can and are going to go ahead and do it now while we have the money... I am looking forward to it not only for more room but mainly for a big project like that to keep us busy and occupied this winter because those months can go so slow sometimes. I am excited to start picking out paint colors, decorations, furniture, etc. There are still alot of things upstairs that now that we've been in the house for a while (a year and a half now!) we've decided we want to change, but they are mostly smaller things and they've been coming together slowly. I've realized that making a house a home is not always the easiest thing in the world, but eventually it starts coming together.... :)

8. Another thing I've realized is that some things you always thought was so easy is not always so easy to do... In fact, it can be frustrating, upsetting, and can really take an emotional tole on you! Enough on that..

9. Next weekend is going to be a busy one-- My sister's bachelorette party is on Saturday night during which we will be going on a little party-bus adventure to all the greatest bars in the land, including Jacks in Darwin, Heroes in Litchy, SOBS in Kimball, Red Goat in Watkins, and Side Bar/Winners in Cold Spring....FABULOUS. :) I may be the lamest 23 year old around on most weekends (such as this weekend --it's friday night and I'm blogging, haha!) but I know how to hold my own at such festivities which require lots of booze, dancing, and ridiculous picture taking ;). Then on Sunday I have my nephew Calvin's 4th birthday party! I asked him what he wanted for his birthday today on the way to school and his reply was, "cake, ice cream, and ice cream cones" --Woah, dream big Cal! :)

10. Okay, enough blogging, seriously how did this get so long!?!

One Perfect Autumn Afternoon...

Today was BEAUTIFUL outside, absolutely gorgeous! The type of fall day that you wait all year for.... And fortunately for us, the johnson family was able to spend this perfect day together! We headed to New London this morning to celebrate with my newest nephew, Zane, on his baptism. Then we headed back to Jeb and Amy's to celebrate Gus's 6th birthday!

The kids had SO much fun together and the highlight of the afternoon for them was probably jumping in a huge pile of leaves! Ryder LOVES to be with his cousins, and he should, because there are alot of them! :)

Good News! :)

Yesterday (Monday) brought some GREAT news! I had interviewed a couple weeks ago for a position in the Litchfield School District and yesterday I received the phone call that I had been hoping for! I was offered the position and I accepted :) The position is for the Meeker County Truancy Prevention Specialist and I will be working with chronically truant youth and their families addressing the barriers they have in getting to school. It is very very similar to the work that I am currently doing (working with high-risk teens) so I'm very excited about that, but even more excited that I will no longer have to drive to Willmar/Renville everyday anymore! In addition to being closer to home, it's also very part-time which is perfect for us since I've been wanting more time at home with Ryder.... I am hoping to begin the position the first week in October and I can't wait!

Nothing too exciting happened this past weekend...Max and I were able to go out on a little date night to dinner at the Blue Heron (they have AMAZING prime rib--yummy!!) Saturday night but our night was cut short as Ryder wasn't feeling well so we had to pick him up from his Dad's house and bring him home...Nothing replaces a 'mommy' when you aren't feeling well! ;)

Okay, enough procrastinating, I need to get a work out in and clean my house....

This is how I know FALL has finally arrived....

I woke up this morning and could not find my husband anywhere....An hour and half later he comes in decked out from head to toe in the 'oh so sexy' look known as camoflouge..

This afternoon after church I remind him we have some birthdays coming up that we'll need gifts for and suggest we make a Target run....His reply "The Vikings are on, I'm booked from 12-3pm, Sorry"

Later in the afternoon.....
Danielle: "Babe, what should we do for supper??"
Max: "I'll be hunting, doesn't matter"

Yep, there ya have it! Fall is officially here when hunting and football are the ONLY things on Max's mind! Although I will admit, I went out with him tonight in the deer stand and we saw SEVEN deer!! None of them got in shooting range, but still kind of exciting... My hunting season is very short in comparison to others. I will go out from opening weekend (which was this weekend for all you avid bow hunters) til about a week or two into October, then it starts getting too cold for me and I happily volunteer to stay home, bake, and get the hot-cocoa ready! ;)

Year 22 Recapped:

Tomorrow is my birthday! Unfortunately, the day will be spent by getting Ryder sent off to preschool in the morning, then heading to work for a 12 hour day, MISSING our first week of indoor volleyball league (bummer!) and finally coming home only to get Ryder to bed and hit the sack myself! We will be celebrating some other night this week, needless to say...

Should we recap the fabulous year of being 22??

....two weeks before I turned 22, I married an amazing man on a beautiful sunny day, life as a newlywed began!
....in october, my best friend got engaged and wedding festivities began all over again :)
....november =good food and GREAT DEALS Christmas shopping, whats not to love!?
....in december we celebrated our first real Christmas as a FAMILY. Our house was hung with Christmas lights, we picked out the perfect Christmas tree from Turck's Trees and Ryder opened his presents on Christmas morning with his whole family, which is super important to me and at times when I can't remember why I try so hard at the relationships that I have to work so hard at for him, it's time like those that make me remember why I do put that effort in..
....january we celebrated new years eve with friends at SOB's --good times!
....february brought a mini-family vaca to Breezy Point: snowmobiling, swimming, family time...
....march was....apparently a boring month??
....april, ryder turns THREE and a trip to the zoo was made!
....may was filled with LANDSCAPING and outside work..
....june was another vacation to ATLANTIC BEACH, NC! To sum it up in one word: heaven.
....july was filled with monday night volleball league in darwin - so much fun and also Starr, our beautiful quarter horse came to live with us!
....august, wedding season once again! congrats kristin and eric--best friend also moved away this month, but a new favorite vacation spot was created --woohoo for key west!
....september so far.... another wedding (congrats elicia and ryan!) and our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY (not a fun day, sick as hell), and last weekend was a wonderful trip to Nelson Farm with Ryder and Grandma Janet...This coming weekend is my sister' s bridal shower and possibly a trip to the circus with Ryder! Life is good :)

Overall, a great year -- but 23 is looking wonderful as well! Life is finally calming down which I couldn't be happier about... I look so forward to empty weekends and weekends filled with family stuff. I love being home, I love spending nights in, it's baking season and fall is my favorite time of year!

Ryder is officially a preschooler!

Yesterday was Ryder Scott's very first day of preschool....and he loved it! I am not sure who was more excited about this, mommy or Ryder ;) It was such an exciting day for him, he woke up extra early and came and woke ME up saying he was all ready for school! We then proceeded to make some breakfast, get dressed, pack our school bag, and hit the road... Ryder was asking me all sorts of questions on the way into town and I was also reminding him of all sorts of last minute reminders (ie: Ryder, tell Miss Julie if you have to go potty.... Ryder, you need to listen to what your told....Ryder, you need to help pick up the toys, etc etc) Once we got to school we went in the classroom, he greeted his teacher, put away his backpack in his cubby, and checked out the other kids suspiciously. I was a little nervous about how this first day would go because a while back he went through a pretty bad shy stage and I was worried that he would get all shy and cry when it was time for me to leave. Well, I didn't have to worry about that. He couldn't have cared less whether or not I left! He saw the kids, the markers, the toys, and basically said, "See ya later mom!" Haha... I think it helps that his cousin, Calvin, is also in his class so he knew someone right away. Either way, I am SO proud of my little man! After school I picked him up and he just chatted away about the songs they sang, games they played, and I even got the low-down on what everyone brought for snacktime! Haha...

Tomorrow he goes back to preschool which means I need to stop blogging and head to bed soon --this weather is leaving me exhausted lately! I went to bed at EIGHT THIRTY last night and it was faaaabbbbuuullllooouusss!!! Wait, what am I talking about?? I can't go to bed yet....The VIKINGS ARE ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can someone explain to me how Brett Favre gets HOTTER and HOTTER each damn year??? Yum.... :)

"In Sickness and In Health...."

Yesterday was our FIRST anniversary, and ohhhhh will we always remember it.

Without all the gory details, I spent Saturday night (post-Elicia's wedding) up ALL NIGHT throwing up, crying, and not sleeping a wink! (No, it had nothing to do with alcohol -- I was sober) Apparently, I came down with a flu bug or something, and it was NOT FUN. We left right away on Sunday morning, skipped the twins game (sad!!), canceled our dinner reservations, and drove straight home. I slept the three hours home from Chippewa Falls, then took another nap from 12-3pm, was up for about an hour and half, and then slept again from 4:30-8:30pm...Talk about a romantic anniversary! :( Finally, at this point I was starting to feel better so my WONDERFUL HUSBAND made me some chicken noodle soup and we snuggled on the couch and watched a chic flick for the night... I also got the PLEASANT surprise of opening my annniversary card and finding a SPA DAY gift card inside!! ---SOOOOO excited for this!! --love you babe ;) Around midnight we went back to bed and slept a solid 9 more hours! I was exhausted and so upset all day, but I'm happy to say that today Max and I are both feeling 100X better! (I was also on top of the world when I stepped on the scale this morning! --haha!)

Now, we are happy to have our little tyke back home and he's running around like crazy as per usual. Side note: HE STARTS HIS FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY!! I'm not sure who's more excited...Mommy or Ryder!?!

YUM :)

I can't believe I'm saying this ALREADY, but... On Sunday, it will be Max and I's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! I have no idea where the last year has gone, it seems like just a couple months ago I was planning our wedding and now, it's already been one full year together.

For our anniversary weekend, I actually have another wedding to be in, my long time friend Elicia's in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I am excited to celebrate her big day with her, and even more excited to celebrate my first anniversary with my hubby the next day on Sunday! Since we'll be in Wisconsin, Max and I will be heading back to the cities Sunday morning to catch an afternoon TWINS GAME (so excited for!) and then possibly a little shopping, and then dinner (which I chose the restaurant and am keeping it top-secret because I want it to be special for Max!)

So apparently a 'tradition' for newleyweds is to eat the top of their cake on their one year anniversary, but since we had a little 'incident' with our downstairs freezer a while back, that simply wont be possible anymore since our cake pretty much went to hell and we had to throw it away. Anyways, when we were picking out a wedding cake over a year ago, Max rallied for carrot cake for the top layer. I have NEVER had carrot cake and was completely anti the idea, but gave in anyway since Max claimed it was his favorite. Since we'll be gone all this weekend, I decided to surprise Max before he got home on Sunday from golfing with my FIRST EVER homemade carrot cake--he was very happy, and I'm pleased to say that it was deeeeelicious!

It wasn't until halfway through making this scrumptious cake (I just found it in a church cookbook) that I realized it was my momma-in-law's recipe!

::My best friend's wedding::

My best friend was married on Saturday...

I wish I could be happier about this, but in all honesty, it is a sad subject for me! I'll get to the sad part later, but first off, CONGRATULATIONS KRISTIN AND ERIC KAMMERMEIR (yes, I know, I probably just butchered your new last name, deal with it). It was such a beautiful day and the wedding was just perfect... The morning started off bright and early at 8AM (what??) at the Hampton Hotel in St.Cloud where the girly festivities of hair, makeup, food, etc began. From there it was rehearsal, lunch, bonding with our boys (ps, groomsmen of the wedding, I adore all of you--so glad I was able to meet such a fabulous group of guys!) and then of course, pictures, pictures, and more pictures. At 5pm (and about 90degrees!) at the Grands at Mulligans, the ceremony began and the happy couple said their "I do's" and happily ever after began, as well as the party of course! The reception was a GREAT time and no doubt did we end up downtown, St.Cloud at the Red Carpet for shots, dancing, and other crazy nonsense. (The next morning, however, no so cool. This girl just can't handle a hangover like I once could--->lame.)

The sad part is, Eric and Kristin are now off to KEY WEST, FLORIDA to begin their new life as husband and wife! I have no idea how I'm going to adjust to life without Kris here -- she's practically a member of the Johnson household and we pretty much do everything together. Not to mention my sister just moved 5 hours away as well, which has also been an adjustment. I am so excited for all of them and I know how exciting moving away and starting out somewhere new can be, so even though I will be lost without them for a while, I am thrilled for the new adventure they are beginning!! I'm also excited to go visit -- trip to Florida in October??? Hmmm...I think so! :) Get on that, hubby!

On a side note, I think Ryder played hookie today from daycare. I made it to Kandiyohi this morning only to get a phone call from Max saying that Ryder threw up this morning. I, being the concerned mommy that I was, turned around right away and called into work to be home with my poor little man.... I got home a half hour later to a very tired/sick looking little boy. I wasn't feeling the best either so we tucked ourselves into bed and went back to sleep all snuggled up.... After that, we woke up and Ryder was F-I-N-E the rest of the day! Running around, playing, eating, no big deal..... I secretly think he just likes to stay home with his momma! ;)

Only In Darwin....

do you see in broad daylight, in someone's FRONT yard, with a crowd of enthusiastic, beer holding, pot bellied individuals as spectators....a pickup truck decide to drive up on top of two little cars. Wait, I'm not finished -- this particular truck could not make it all the way on top of the two cars, so then next up comes a BIG BRONCO (out of nowhere??) that makes the biiiiiggg climb all the way on top, then over the two little cars, then proceeds to back up back on the little cars, park his precious Bronco (on top of the two cars), get out of the bronco and do a victory "shake". What I mean by this is he lifted his shirt and SHOOK his belly in victory as the crowd cheered.

You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not. This was just one of many highlights of Darwin Day this year. Moving right along.... For the second year in a row, Max and I got a volleyball team put together. It was me, Max, John, Megan, Mellissa, and Joe. We weren't the best this year (haha--who is surprised by this??) but it was a good time anyway! Ryder was with his daddy for the weekend so later in the evening we went out to the cabin, grilled some delicious food (my husband is an amazing griller, no lie) and hung out with our good friends, Joe and Kate. My sister and Nate re-joined us again at one point in time (after they were done screaming with eachother...For anyone reading this who thinks I am difficult.....Have you met my sister Mellissa?? :)) Anyways, as tradition goes, Max, Joe, Kate, and I made the long trek (like 2 miles?) into Darwin and visited with the local darwinites! SUCH a fun night-- great crowd!! Then when Jacks decided it was time to close up shop, we made the long WALKING trek to Jen and Josh's house and harassed them into hanging out with us in their garage for another hour or so. I won't go into details about our trip home for the night, only I will admit their was a golf cart in our yard the next morning-haha! :S

Okay, that was my excitement for the weekend last weekend. Now, it's Thursday and I am DONE with work for the week and have a FULL WEEKEND OF WEDDING BLISS ahead of me!! T-Minus 2 days until Kristin and Eric's big day!! Tonight, however, is all about the little man and we are headed to the McLeod County Fair Motorcross tonight!! He is so excited! He's been riding his little dirtbike around all afternoon since I picked him up from daycare! :)

A Few Images of Our Summer :)

BUSY!!!!!

Holy Shit - I really have NEGLECTED this blog for a long time, but honestly if you knew how BUSY this familia has been you would understand, hands down. Let me just TRY to catch you all up to speed on as much as I can think back to... Probably the most exciting news that we have is that STAR, our BEAUTIFUL and SWEET registered quarter horse is finally settled in here with our family! She has been such a joy to have around, honestly, she is so calm mannered and sweet we've just fallen in love with her. Once it FINALLY cooled off tonight, we were able to saddle her up again for another ride and even Ryder got to take a little stroll on her! :)

What else.... I have been GONE way too much lately for work -- in the cities for a few days two weeks ago and then spent three days this past week in Duluth for a youth conference with some of the boys in our program. I HATE being away from home for work, so needless to say, I was not impressed. Not in the least.

On a positive note, I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW!!!! Max's brother and his wife just had their new baby boy, Zane Preston on July 27th. He is doing really well and we were able to go visit him at his home this afternoon :) I forgot how tiny newborns are, he was so precious! Awwweee babies! :)

My best friend is getting married in TWO weeks!! Can't wait for the wedding but will be sad to see them leave for Florida a few days after the wedding -- good thing my husband has already been checking plane tickets for me in October--woohoo! After that is another wedding of one of my longtime friends, Elicia, and then my sisters wedding in November -- I will be happy if I never have to squeeze my ass in a bridesmaid dress for a LONG time :)

Okay, I know there is more to update but for now, mommyhood calls and Ryder needs to go to bed...

Love/Hate...

A few things I have a love/hate relationship with:

...jillian michaels, need I say more?? Worst 20 minutes of my life, but when it's over I feel GREAT!!

...my job, office drama is NOT my thing, in addition to long hours away from my family and overnight work trips (SUCK.) however, the youth in my program are THE BEST! :)

...red beets. Okay, so my sister in law, Amy, raved about these things one night while Max and I were just about to start planting our garden, she swore up and down that her kids loved them and that they taste IDENTICAL to sweet corn...... Low and behold, it's true. We made them for the first time tonight and they are SUPER YUMMY and taste JUST LIKE sweet corn!! However, the DEEP red purple and texture throws me off a little bit, and it makes your teeth resemble that of a blood sucking vampire (Speaking of vampires...I have YET to go see the new Eclipse movie---ooohhhhhh jacob!!! :))

...central air -- I love being outside on a hot summer day and then walking into a fresh cool house, but within minutes I am digging through my closet for sweat pants and a hoodie because then I just start to freeze. I prefer the good ol' open windows and ceiling fans any day!

...the idea of Ryder starting preschool in a few short months, when did my sweet baby turn into a preschooler????

...CANDY -- In my opinion, the path to hell is paved with tootsie rolls, smarties, licorice, and chocolate!! I consider myself to be a pretty healthy eater, I usually have a decent breakfast, soymilk, an apple everyday, love veggies, salads for lunch, etc... HOWEVER, if there is the slightest hint of something sugary (candy) around me, I fall for it everytime. Sometimes all I need is a little smartie or jolly rancher to get me going, but honestly, it's my downfall. Very frustrating...

I could go on forever, but I should really catch up on our past weekend... It was afterall, WATERCADE ! :) Ahhhh, nothing like Watercade to bring out the best in Litchy Patch ;) Friday night was the beach party where Ryder had a blast running around to all of our friends and harassing them as best he could, then he got to stay up super late to watch a SPECTACULAR fireworks show over the lake which he loved, then it was back home and into bed we went! Saturday morning was supposed to be the lake ripley run, although we didn't really have a sitter and the run started super early in the morning, so instead, I did the walk at 9:30 with Sam and Gavin, Kristin and Beth, and of course, Ryder in his stroller.... Well, apparently God decided to punish me for not waking my lazy ass up for the run, and it rained nearly the whole 4 mile walk around Lake Ripley -- Ryder was not so impressed, as you can imagine.... However, we made it! Then of course later that evening came the parade and then Ryder was brought to "Mema Nancy's" for the night so Max and I could attend the highly anticipated street dances... Ummmmm, not so much. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood or something, but due to the rain (no parking lot street dance) everyone and their mother's brother packed into every bar in town and wow, was it crowded! After about an hour (maybe less?) at the VFW, a very sober Max and Danielle returned home for a good night's sleep!

As a side note....... All of my horse talk is finally being put into action! Sunday Max and I drove to Alexandria to look at Star, a registered quarter horse mare who we fell in love with--she is pretty much everything we have been wanting for our 'perfect first horse', she's older, in her upper teens, so very calm, great around children, and seemingly very easygoing! We decided not to make a decision that very day as we really wanted to think on it to be sure, but we have decided to go ahead and get her--due to our schedules we won't be able to go pick her up for a couple weeks and we have a lot to get done before then, but it's definitely still exciting for us! Wish us luck :)

Wow, what a random/all over the place blog post -- deal with it.... :)

Barefoot. Bikini. Beach.

Those three words have pretty summed up our last week, and what a wonderful week it was! Unfortunately, we are back to reality now, and although life in Darwin is pretty exciting - nothing can compare to the memories we made in Kure Beach, North Carolina. Between spending time with family, lounging in the pool, shopping with the hubby, spending lazy afternoons at the beach, eating the MARVELOUS southern food, and checking out local attractions, we were busy to say the least! I wasn't sure how Ryder was going to take the beach, the sand, the ocean, the people, etc, but he LOVED it!! He loved to spend his time building jumps in the sand for his trucks and running in and out of the ocean squealing with delight as the tide would wash up on his little toes...It was so precious to watch him, and yes, I took a MILLION pictures :) (Will post some eventually...) I am so proud of my little man and how well he did on the WHOLE vacation, I can't believe how adapting and cheerful he was! I am so glad we spent the money and decided to go, it was a vacation we will never forget...

Although vacation was amazing, we are also very happy to be home with our puppies again (who are currently snoozing at the bottom of my feet as I write this). We missed them so much! We also were excited to come home and see what new flowers have bloomed and how BIG everything had gotten in our garden! Ryder and I enjoyed some yummy sugar snap peas fresh out of the garden today--they were delicious! Makes all that hard work well worth it...

Now this weekend we are looking forward to a long fourth of July weekend-- hanging out with family and getting stuff done around the house, story of my life! :)

Heat, and a lot of it!!!

It's official, we are on VACATION!!! :) Meaning, I am not going to blog for very long, but as I sit and wait for Ryder to fall asleep - I will fill you all in on the details of our trip..... I know the curiosity is just killing you ;)

5:30am came bright and early this morning and off we were to pick up my mom and head to the airport! Ryder was so excited, he just chatted our ears off the whole way to the airport... When it finally came time to load the plane, I was one anxious mommy. I have been flying my whole life, but it wasn't until I had kids (okay, KID, no...I'm not spilling any secret news via my blog) that I started to DREAD flights. I just start panicking and keep thinking "what if", etc, etc. However, as you can see, we made it just fine! Ryder LOVED everything about the airplane ride...he thought the take off was exciting, then decided he was tired and laid down and took a nap! When he woke up he was full of energy, had some snacks, and then we landed! All in all, couldn't have asked for an easier trip...Hoping the way back home is just as relaxed... Since then, we've just been at my grandpa's house and we've had a lot of visitors which has been fun, but exhausting at the same time. Not sure of our plans for tomorrow but since the weather is supposed to be 100 degrees again (it's like a sauna here!) I'm guessing it will involve a POOL, and..... possibly some shopping ;) Can't wait to head to the BEACH!!!

I'd rather be in bed....

It's 10:36pm on a Saturday night and I wish I could be sleeping right now... Lame, I know. My work week was exhausting this past week working 12-14 hour days and not getting home until 11pm and I still haven't quite caught up with sleep.... Why am I not in bed now, you may ask? Because I'm waiting for a DELICIOUS apple pie to finish baking for Father's Day tomorrow.

Long story short: My mommy-in-law taught me how to make the best apple pies in the world, I made one for Thanksgiving for my parents, my dad fell in love, and now for Father's day he is getting a homemade apple pie :) Currently, it's in the oven and starting to smell amazing, meaning it's almost done!

As I wait, you'll have to deal with me rambling on about nothing in particular... Started packing today for our trip! Countdown = t minus 4 days until VACATION!! I'm SO READY to get away for a while with Max and Ryder for a whole week just to relax, enjoy the sun (hopefully!), introduce Ryder to the ocean, feel the sand between my toes, enjoy a glass of delicious wine, eat amazing and FRESH seafood (yum!) and lose track of days and time in general.... If you couldn't tell, I'm pretty excited.

Another thing I'm pretty excited for (I told you I was going to start rambling....It's sleep deprivation, I swear) is adding another addition to the johnson farm :) Ever since I moved in with Max over a year ago on this quaint little 'farmstead' I have been dreaming of getting a horse! I think they are by far the most beautiful animals in the entire world and would love to be able to have one here to admire each day grazing in our pasture... That is, the pasture that doesn't quite exist yet, but will soon! Anyways...I've continued to bring up the idea of getting horse and somewhere along the way, someone (Max) started taking me seriously apparently. We've now been looking at a few horses and currently have been making some plans on whether or not we can/will bite the bullet and get a horse! My dad has also gotten involved in our plans lately and has offered to let us keep the horse in his pastures until we get our barn up and running and a fence up. Since he also bale's his own hay, that will help us out alot! Anyways...It could be a week, a month, or a year (who knows?) before we actually get to follow through with this horse business, but either way, the idea gives me something to look forward to!

Is it time for bed yet????

oohhhhhh ryder!!

As I'm sitting at work yesterday at approximately noon, I get a call from my hubby... I can't answer right away so I later send him a text and ask what he needed.... He then comments, "Oh nothing, I just noticed when I went home for lunch today that Ryder colored on his walls last night"...... Ummmm.....WHAT!?!? I burst out laughing because seriously, this is such a sneaky little Ryder move!!
Every night we have a bedtime routine of teeth brushing, peeing, jammies, story, and prayers. Ryder then kicks us out of his room and he secretly continues to play. We really don't mind, because usually he just gets down to get a few toys and then hops back up to bed where we are then serenaded by some great tunes like "bah bah back sheep" and "ipsy bipsy spider", etc. Well, apparently, he switched up the routine last night and was feeling rather creative as he drew a masterpeice on his wall :) Max couldn't figure out how/why I thought it was so precious that he did that, but for me, I just think of it as one of those adorable toddler moments that when I first found out I was pregnant I knew I would one day encounter....

As for my little Picaso-to-be, when asked about the incident a big sly smile creeped across his face and he said, "I'm sorry for doing that, I won't do it again, mommy"...How do you stay mad at that?!?!
.......On a small side note, Max just made homemade bread, I love that man :)

life, in general

I feel like I haven't blogged in a while... I'm trying to think of what all has happened in our lives since the last time I wrote... I'm drawing a blank, although I know we've been SUPER busy! This past weekend, especially, was a busy one for us. Friday I had off of work and ran errands with Kristin and Ryder for most of the day... Sadly, Ryder then left us for the weekend to spend it in Breezy Point (which is becomming his favorite place in the world!) with his Daddy and grandparents.... That left this mommy itching for a night out with the girls, and man, did we have just that! I won't go into any of the fabulous details, but I will tell you that we ended up at Kickers, and well, if you're from Litchfield, you know that means that you should have been cut off right around the time you closed the FIRST bar down at (which for us, was the VFW)...Needless to say, 7AM came quite early the next morning when I had to get up and get ready for Kristin's bridal shower!
Unfortunately, there was no time for a nap on Saturday. We finished up with Kristin's shower around 11 and then I headed out to the cabin to watch the Lake Stella Triatholon, which really is just a fancy name for Max, his brothers, and a few friends to compete in some kayaking, running, and biking, and then of course beer drinking and food after it's all said and done. ;) I am happy to report that my husband did NOT take last this year -- woohoo Max!! After some wonderful food and conversation with Max's family, we then headed home to shower and then immediately take off to Blaise's 3rd Birthday party... Which was then followed with Blair's birthday party, which we didn't really stick around for, because this sad excuse of a 22 year old was SPENT and needed a long back massage from my husband followed by sweet dreams in my bed! :) Sunday was a lot of landscaping and we even scored the BEST deals on perennials (except of course for the free ones we get from Cindy!!) from a local lady in town, I'm so exciting for them to bloom!!

Lastly, today is Monday which means VOLLEYBALL :) Our first game was tonight and we didn't do too bad at all! We won one game and lost two but they were SUPER close and we went into overtime every game -- our team consists of me, Max, Emily, Andy, Kristin, John, and Kyle... We are currently in the process of making shirts, yes, we are that cool.

One small note, for those of you on the facebook world, you are already aware of this, but today was my first and LAST day of a no carb diet.... NEVER AGAIN!!! I realize now that I can not live without fruit, yogurt, milk, bread, pasta, and just about EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE PLANET!! I think in celebration of this decision I may just make delicious shrimp alfredo tomorrow--bring it on carbs, oh how I've missed you!!!

A little emotional....

Max and I are on a cleaning spree at the moment (as you can see, I'm taking a break;)) However...I was cleaning/organizing our closet and began to take a trip down memory lane... At the moment, all of my scrapbooking stuff was in the closet so of course I had to take a peak at some of my favorite pictures (and realized how behind I am at printing pictures, Gosh I am awful at doing that!)...went through some clothes to decide what is going on the garage sale load....and then found myself face to face with my wedding dress. I couldn't help it. I haven't put it on since the wedding over 8 months ago!
.....Needless to say, there I was at 10:30 at night hopping into my wedding gown and no, it didn't end there. I rummaged through my bathroom and put my headpeice in my hair, earrings in my ears, and my wedding necklace. I walked out and Max just kind of gave me a weird look...Luckily, after 8 months of being married, he no longer questions my randomness :)

Well then since I had the dress on, OF COURSE I had to flip through my wedding album (where I also realized how many more pictures I have to print!!) and got a little emotional! My sister is getting married, my best friends are getting married and all this wedding talk just makes me want to get married all over again! However....I will say that my lovely little stroll down memory lane makes me realize how grateful I am for the way my wedding turned out. It was truly the EXACT wedding I have been dreaming about since I was a little girl.... Nothing big, nothing over the top fancy, just close friends and family out enjoying the amazing gift of nature that God put in our world celebrating love and happiness.... I honestly don't think I would change a single thing, and THAT my friends, is a feeling of contentment like no other :)

"It won't be like this for long...."

As I'm reflecting back on the last couple of days in the johnson household, that song is what comes to mind, anyone with a small child in your house right now more than understands the meaning of this wonderful song by Darius Rucker....For those of you unfamiliar with the lyrics, the song talks about being up all night with a newborn, then dealing with toddler tantrums down the road, etc etc. The point of the song being that sometimes we all just need to take a deep breath and realize that although sometimes raising a little one can seem like the most chaotic/frustrating thing in the whole world, we need to still appreciate every minute with our child (good and bad) because 'it won't be like this for long' and soon they will be grown....

It has been battle royale at our house for the past few days involving a 3 foot tall little monster with a bad case of napolean complex (aka, Ryder). Everything has been a huge power struggle in our house, as Ryder seems to think that he makes ALL the rules. Not a chance, little man.... Needless to say it has been extremely frustrating for allllll of us and can lead to a very emotional mommy... So far, I have survived this wonderful toddler stage that can make me oh so crazy, but believe me, at the moment, I am hanging by a thread ;) --However, I did just go peep in at Ryder to say one last 'goodnight' and he said "I'm sorry mommy, I won't make you sad anymore, I will be good boy" ....ahhhhhh love :)

Other than that, nothing too exciting to blog about at the moment... This weekend was super busy (as I have a feeling they all will be from here on out!) as we celebrated with Mellissa and Nate on Friday night in St.Cloud and had a housewarming party for our friends Ryan and Kelly in town on Saturday night, very laidback night but spent with GREAT friends, nonetheless! Today we spend majority of the day outside, doing more landscaping, moving stuff around, cleaning up, and checking on our GARDEN!! Which, by the way, I am PLEASED to say is thriving!! Max and I planted tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, sweet corn, cantaloup, peas, green beans, beets, carrots, onions, dill, strawberries, raspberries, chives, basil, tarragon, lettuce, and spinach. So far, everything has been coming along great! Shocker for us, because last year was a bit of a different story ;)

Ps...Just asked Max if there was anything else that would be blog worthy to write about and he thought for a long time and said, "Well, our dogs stayed home all weekend..." So there ya have it folks, Props to Mickey and Macie for doing what most dogs do naturally, staying home! (I also feel obligated to say that this is nothing new for Mickey (my dog), as he ALWAYS stays home and is obedient, Macie (max's dog) however, is quite the wanderer.

.....Wedding Bells Are Ringing!!!

Let me start this blog first by wishing my sister and her new "fiance", Nate, CONGRATULATIONS on their engagement!!!! FINALLY....IT'S ABOUT TIME ;) Mellissa and Nate have been dating for a little over three years and Nate just proposed to Mellissa on Saturday--we couldn't be happier!! Of course, I got excited right away and it didn't take me long to get 100% in wedding mode.... Within hours, I had her surfing wedding websites and chatting up plans -- we even found a HUGE bargain on a BEAUTIFUL wedding dress, and we even ordered it!! Yes, that seems a little crazy, but that's how I roll ;) As of now, they are currently talking about having a DESTINATION WEDDING, possibly as early as MEA of this year, so mid-October....Very exciting, and even better, it means I have yet ANOTHER vacation to look forward to other than our Atlantic Beach trip which is coming up in the end of June... Again, Congratulations Mellissa and Nate!!

The rest of our weekend was just as amazing... The weather was GORGEOUS which made me soooooooo happy!! We were able to spend ALL of our time outside as a family. Saturday morning I went to Babe's Blossoms, a nursery outside of Cosmos/Hector area, and wow. It is now my new FAVORITE nursery! They had soooooo much stuff, and such a great selection! It ended up being a spendy trip, but I consider plants an investment for our house, so that's okay ;) So, approximately two carts full of wonderful perinnials and shrubs later, I was one happy girl... Ryder and I spent the rest of our day hanging out with my mom since it was her birthday! Max was off doing his own thing since it was fishing opener and turkey hunting this weekend, blah. Then came today, Sunday....Although we didn't make it to church (oops), it was what I would consider very close to being the PERFECT day! For majority of the afternoon, if you would have driven by my house, you would have seen this mommy laying out soaking up the sun in some lawn chairs, a little blue eyed blonde running around screaming and giggling running through a sprinkler, and my shirtless husband puttsing around the house doing who knows what...What a great day!

We also have quite a few new additions to the johnson farm :) However, it is with great sadness that I announce the death of our beloved kitty, OJ. OJ was tragically killed during an unfortuante (yet accidental) car accident. (Okay, so my brother ran the poor little thing over). However, only minutes later it was discovered that our OTHER cat (who I could have sworn was a MALE all this time) suddenly gave birth to SIX, repeat SIX, new baby kitties!! So, within a matter of minutes, we went from two cats, down to one, and then up to SEVEN within a time span of approximately one hour! Also, tonight, we added three new little baby ducklings to our family :) Welcome, Fatso (named by Max, he's so rude.), Daffy and Donald! They will fit in nicely with our baby chics that will be arriving soon..... According to my husband, baby lambs will be joining us soon as well! --There is also the prospect of a horse joining the farm in the future, Max just doesn't know that yet ;)

Only in Darwin, Minnesota....

Do you hear the dreaded four letter word, S-N-O-W in the forecast in MAY!!! What the?!?! If you haven't already figured it out, this may not be the most 'cheerful' blog, considering the fact that it is FREEZING outside, RAINING, WINDY (yet again) and I even have heard talk about 'up to three inches of snow tonight'... Really, Minnesota?? Really??

First of all, this week has been a bluuurrrr because I had Monday off, which was nice to hang out with Ryder and relax after his party on Sunday...But then worked three 12 hour days on Tues, Wed, and Thurs this week. It was suuupppppeerrrr busy at work this week, but I am glad to be done with it and happy to have today off (Friday) but wish it wasn't so damn gross outside! Poor little Ryder is going nuts lately not being able to go outside, and so am I! I am so frustrated because Max and I have spent BIIIGGGG bucks lately on getting ALL of our landscaping done (although still have a ways to go!) and now all of it looks like a tornado has come and torn everything up/apart! A lot of our mulch has blown away since we just laid it down last week, which sucks because it is so spendy! My beeeaaauuutttiifffullll poor little plants are all drooping from all the nasty wind and everything just basically looks like hell. I'm not impressed.

Which makes me MORE THAN HAPPY to annouce that Max and I and Ryder are hopefully going to the BEACH for one week in June :) We keep scouring ticket prices daily and I'm hoping they go back down because they just shot up, but my mom and her sisters reserved a house on the beach in sunny North Carolina for the last week of June, and my sister and Nate are going too. Hopefully we are able to buy tickets soon and be on our way, this girl needs some sun, a cocktail in my hand, and niiiiiccceee dark tan :)

Screw you, Minnesota.... :)

...I am now officially mother of a three year old.. :(

So, Ryder's third birthday came and went... I still can't believe that my little boy is already three years old!! Makes me miss having a little baby in the house, although Ryder's in such a fun stage that it makes up for it ;)
April 28th, 2010: We started off Ryder's birthday morning by sleeping in as a family (LOVE THAT!) and then having some breakfast where I was surprised with a huge bouquet of flowers, just for bringing Ryder into the world! What a great surprise!! My husband has his moments :) We then gave Ryder a small gift (just some books, small trucks etc) since he already had gotten his REAL birthday present (Backyard Adventures Swingset) a few weeks earlier.. Then, we allpacked up and took off to COMO ZOO :) We were so blessed to have had a BEAUTIFUL day to check out all the animals and have some yummy lunch outside! Ryder was so sweet, he insisted that all the animals were wishing him a happy birthday, and then for a while he forgot that it was his birthday, so he started telling all the animals "Happy Bir-day, Lion, Happy Bir-day Zebwa" etc, etc. So cute! We then played at a park and eventually headed home where Ryder (and Mommy ;) took a nice afternoon nap while Max drove.. In the evening, Ryder went to spend some time at his daddy's house and played --overall, a great birthday for my little man! He is so excited to be "free" (aka-three!)..
THEN.... Yesterday (Sunday) was Ryder's birthday party at our house... With about 25 people in our home, things were a little "cozy" but we made do just fine and I think everyone was comfortable. It's so fun to see Ryder get together with all of his cousins on the Johnson side... All in all,there are 6 cousins (and one on the way, Amy is due in July with another little boy:)) Yes...that will make SIX boys and ONE girl in the family ranging from age 2-7-- crazy!! The odds are not looking that great for me to bring a little girl into this world someday, but I plan to try anyway ;) Anyway, the kids played like crazy, we had a great lunch, yummy chocolate cake, and then of course opened presents. I couldn't help but feel guilty about all the presents Ryder received... An automated tball baseball machine, a scooter, basketballs, baseballs, bow and arrow, clothes, sandbox toys, a set of golf clubs, money, cowboy hat, etc just to name a few...Then, we took him outside to show him his final present from his Dad.... It was a DIRTBIKE! If you know my son, you would know that he ABSOLUTELY LOVES anything with a motor and moves! He talks about dirtbikes all the time and was so excited to find out he now has one of his own! It's a yamaha pw50 (and yes, it has training wheels on it, THANK GOD!!)...It seems crazy for a three year old to own a dirtbike, but I think he will love it eventually once he gets a little better at driving it, I couldn't believe that he wasn't scared of it at all, but he wasn't. He had to take it for a drive right away and loved it.. It makes me one nervous mommy, but I know he'll get it eventually and we will make sure he is SAFE as can be on it!
As for today...I'm working three tens this week so I have Monday off AND Friday off this week, love weeks like that! Praying for some nicer weather soon, this windy/cloudy/mess that we've been having I can do without....

Okay....So I'm a little behind!

Alright, I admit that my blog has been, well...neglected for lack of better words. I just started it a few months ago and really haven't thought too much about it until recently. Anyways, I hereby promise to TRY to update it a little more often. If no one ever reads it or finds my life interesting, that's okay. I simply want a 'journal' of sometype to remember all the wonderful 'small things' that happen in our everyday life. For example, the cute little things that Ryder says day to day that make my heart melt with emotion, or my eyes water from laughing so hard, NEED to be documented so that I always have it to look back at and remember what an amazing child he is.....Especially for those days when he is being not quite so amazing ;) I also promise to try and make this blog a HAPPY one, for the most part. In other words, I will try not to use this blog to complain about every single thing/person/experience that makes me mad. I will try to keep it as positive and upbeat as possible, but...I am human and can have my days ;) So anyways...Here we go, back at it again!

Ahhhhh...What is new at the Johnsons?! In a nutshell, Ryder got his three year old pictures taken last week by the lovely Sarah Pollio Photography....She came to our house and I think/hope we got some great pics! (Of course, I will post when I get the pics back!) The day after pictures, Ryder got sick which was NOT fun! He threw up absolutely EVERYTHING that entered his mouth for a little over three days, poor little man.... There is nothing worse than a sick child :( However, we made it and now have a healthy little man again who is running around at ninety miles per hour once again! Other than that, we have been getting ready for Ryder's birthday party which will be May 2nd (His birthday is April 28th). I'm still trying to figure out how in the world my son is turning three?? He is turning into such a sweet but independent little boy, it makes me sad to see how "old" he is getting! He will even start preschool with cousin Calvin this fall in Litchfield, I can't believe it.... He also got a new swingset/fort for his birthday from Max and I and so far he loves it!

On a happier note, we have been outside CONSTANTLY and we have been SO BLESSED with such a beautiful Spring this year! We have been out working on our landscaping, bought and planted some new colorful flowers to brighten everything up, and will be HOPEFULLY planting our garden this weekend! I have never gotten into landscaping and 'outside work' like this before but I found last year how therapeutic it can be! It is so much fun to be outside with Ryder running around and spend some time with the hubby planting things to make our home look better. As far as the garden goes...You can expect to hear about it in future blogs I'm sure as last year we did not have the best luck... We'll see!

Other than that, most of my excitement has been from work lately. The program that I work for (chemical health intervention for youth ages 13-22) has truly taken off lately and our numbers have been multiplying like crazy lately. It is the most rewarding/difficult work I have ever done... The relationships that I have built with my youth are so priceless to me, I'm not sure if I am helping them more or if it is the other way around! Their stories are so different, yet they've each faced hardships and have lived lives that I could not even imagine, and yet they continue to amaze me day after day with the hurdles they are overcoming and the great things they are doing with their lives. We had a talking circle with our youth last night and an officer from the Willmar PD came and gave an inspiring presentation on drinking and driving. We had about thirty kids present from 4 different counties, pretty impressive :) It was so touching when we gathered them in a circle after the presentation and watched them open up to us about how alcohol has affected their lives in some way or another... I ended up working a 12 hour day yesterday and left work feeling more energized than I have in a long time :) Speaking of work, it brings me to my OTHER favorite thing about my job....The fact that I have Fridays off with my little man which is tomorrow, yay!! Have a great weekend everyone!

Finally... A Vacation!!

...well, sort of! After debating for a LONG time whether or not we should/could do a vacation this year, an opportunity came to us that we decided was too good to pass up. Through family (Ryder's grandparents) we were able to spend an entire week up at Breezy Point Resort this past week. It was just the type of vacation we were looking for (although I admit I would have preferred to go somewhere warm!!). We wanted to go somewhere that was kid friendly and not too expensive, and Breezy was perfect. We shared a condo with my sister and her boyfriend Nate, which was nice because we could kind of take turns taking care of Ryder every once in a while... We basically fell into a routine every day of waking up, making breakfast/lounging, going to the swimming pool (where Ryder was OBSESSED with a waterslide there that he had to go down all by himself!) working out, eating lunch back at the condo, and then NAPTIME (which we all participated in, of course) and then doing some snowmobiling, tourist type stuff, and shopping in the afternoons. As far as the shopping goes.....my family is lucky that I didn't make it to Nissawa to shop at all their little shops until the afternoon of the last full day we were there. If I had found out how FABULOUS they were earlier in the week, I'm afraid I would not have spent too much time on the resort as I am now officially obsessed with those little stores! I WILL be taking another trip back for the shopping when it warms up! Overall, the whole trip was so much fun, we hope to be able to go back for another week this summer...unless of course I can convince my husband to take us to my FAVORITE place on earth, Bozeman, Montana!!! (I have been dying to get back there, it's been almost three years :( ....maybe someday!

...a little catching up to do!

The past year has been crazy for our new family! 2009 went by so fast I don't even know where to start!! The majority of our excitement began last spring when construction of Max's house was finished....It seemed to take FOREVER but in the end was well worth the wait! We LOVE spending time decorating our house and are not completely done yet but it continues to be an ongoing project...Shortly after that on April 28th, Ryder turned TWO and we were able to celebrate with family and friends in our new home! Then on June 5th, 2009 while Max and I were laying on our front porch watching the sunset, a very shaky Max dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him....Of course I said YES!!! and wedding planning began! We didn't want to waste any time in starting a new lives together so our wedding date was set for September 5th, 2009. Our wedding was everything we had ever imagined with the ceremony held at the Johnson Cottage on Lake Stella. It was a beautiful day and everything went PERFECT!! Following the ceremony we tore it up on the dance floor at Peters on Lake Ripley. Max and I then spent the next week at a FANTASTIC bed and breakfast, Solglimt, in Duluth and from there our life as husband and wife began...
Since then we have been busy making our house into a home, working to pay the bills, and chasing a very busy Ryder around!!