"Hanging" out with cousins

We got together this past Saturday with some of our family and weather was absolutely GORGEOUS, so the kids played a ton outside. They had a blast on our playset and loved making a train down the slide. Sarah and Evelyn had a blast hanging upside down on the swings also. It was a great time for all. Our kids can't wait for them to come over again.

Kendall is 2 Months!

Our little boy is growing up to be quite the big boy. We just took him to his two month appointment and he now weighs a whoppin' 13 lbs. 4 oz. and is 24 in. long. This boy likes his milk! He has been such a blessing to have in our home. He is our little ray of sunshine, you can always get a sweet smile from him that melts your heart! (keep scrolling down, I have added a few more posts)

Some 4th of July Pics

Every 4th of July, Platte City opens it's pool to everyone. They serve hot dogs and snow cones and the fire truck comes and sprays all the kids. The kids absolutely loved it. We will try and do this again next year.You can see the water coming down.
Lauren and Paul soaking it up.
Sarah and Andrew with Daddy
Lindsay was around with friends and Kendall and I were chillin where it was nice and dry. We went and watched the city fireworks that night. They were great. What a great day!

My Boys!

On a typical Sunday afternoon, you will find Paul on the couch trying to take a nap, but many times, our children have other ideas. This was one of those days. He doesn't mind so much. He loves hanging out with "his boys".

Say a little prayer for us!

We got some bad news on Thursday when Paul was told that he was being laid off from his job of nearly 3 years at JE Dunn Construction. These last few days for us have been a whirlwind of emotions. With having a baby 3 weeks ago, I was already a basket case, so you can imagine how I was when he broke the news to me. Paul has been remarkably optomistic about the whole thing which has helped me get a grip of this situation.
I was really nervous to go to church yesterday, because I still can't talk about it without getting emotional and I knew word would spread fast. Paul and I were so overwhelmed at the outpouring of love and support we received. We just want to thank everyone for their prayers (and cookies, you know who you are!). We KNOW that will help get us through this trial. Paul and I have great faith that this will only make us stronger and help us remember to rely more on the Lord and His plan.
With the economy being as it is, we are a little nervous that finding a new job may take a while, but we realize we are not alone in this struggle. You are a blessing in our lives and we are gratelful to have such a big support system. We love you all, please keep us in your prayers!

Our "not so little" Family

We have been so blessed to have Kendall join our family. The kids just ADORE him and want to hold him constantly. I finally got some cute pictures of the kids together since we have been home. This was remarkably not a torturous event and I got a really good one of them all for Kendall's baby annoucement. YEAH! Getting them all to look at me at the same time is next to impossible. Here are some cute ones I wanted to share with you. Emily (my sister), I am doing this just for you my dear! Enjoy.

p.s. you notice Kendall sleeping with his mouth open, he gets that from me, just ask my husband!
Kendall (2 weeks)

You should have seen what the kids and I had to do to get this little kid to open his eyes.

It was quite funny.

Andrew and Kendall


Sarah and Kendall



Lauren and Kendall

Lindsay and Kendall

The day we brought Kendall home from the hospital, Heather came over to visit. I just had to share this lovely photo of her holding our cute little bundle of joy. This is why we love her so much, never a dull moment with her around!

Paul with Kendall. I just love sleeping photo's! They are heavenly.

OUR ANGEL!!!!!

WELCOME baby Kendall Paul Johnson. We have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy! He is the sweetest mild mannered little one, and we are completely in love with this little bundle of joy. He was born May 21st at 3:58 p.m. after a very easy labor and delivery (mom was very happy about that). He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and is 21 in. long. So Paul and I went into the hospital to be induced at 7:30 a.m. I was hooked up and ready to go at 8:00. At that time, I was at a 2 and 70% effaced. It took me till 3:00 to get to a 3 and get fully effaced. At noon, the anesthesieologist (sp?) was next door, and the nurse noted that he was the only one that day, so if I wanted an epidural, now was a good time. I remember thinking, man I am only at a 3, what a wimp you are Christy. But what the heck, I am going to have this baby, pain or no pain. So I opted for no pain. So from noon to 3, I slept and Paul paced the floor being bored out of his mind. So when they checked me at 3:00 and I was still just at a 3, Paul asked if he could go to Lowes and check out some closet stuff for the basement, I didn't have a problem with that. He was dying to do something other than sit on their uncomfortable couch. Well, the problem was that while he was gone, I went from a 3 to a 10 in 45 minutes. My mom tried to get a hold of him from 3:40 to 3:50 and he wasn't answering his cell phone (it was dead and he was charging it in his car!!!!!!) I could have strangled him. Finally he answered his phone and mom told him to get back to the hospital. So meanwhile, the doctor was there and we were just waiting for him to show up so we could get this show on the road. Good thing I had an epidural or there was no way I would have waited. Needless to say, he felt a little sheepish for leaving, but we had no idea I would go that fast.

So here is our family. I still can't believe we have 5 kids!!!!! It doesn't seem real. Paul and I are feeling really blessed right now! How great it is to have 5 healthy children as sweet as they are. Heavenly Father has truly blessed my life with such a great family! The hardest thing about having Kendall is making sure each kid gets a chance to hold him. "That's not fair" is said WAY too much in our house. It is driving me crazy! Oh well, I will just have to deal with it. I really have no room for complaints. Oh, the nursing thing is tough, the only thing I have to say is "OUCH". It is getting better every day, but I have forgotten the pain since I last nursed Andrew. Speaking of nursing, it's about that time.

Thanks to those who have visited, brought flowers and yummy meals. It has helped out tons ad I am very grateful! Thanks again. And I owe a very special thank you to my mother in law who watched the kids ALL day on the 21st. She was truly worn out when Paul came to relieve her that night. And a very special thank you to my mom. She took my kids for a whole week and showed them a great time at her house so I could recover in peace with Kendall. You are a lifesaver. I love you so much!

Update on the Basement

I was talking to my sis-in -law this morning and they are renovating their home in New Mexico. They are needing color choices and asked me what colors we put on our basement. These pictures are close to the colors when you see it in person, but not quite. Anyways, for those of you who are interested to see how our basement is coming along, here are some pictures to kind of give you an idea. You really have to see it in person though. Paul is doing such a good job, it is really coming along. He is almost done with the trim. We hope to be done in March before Paul's brother Aaron and his new wife come over from Germany for their wedding reception. Paul left for Germany yesterday with a lot of his brothers for the wedding. They will be sealed in the Frankfort Temple tomorrow (Valentines Day). How romantic!!!!! Then he is off to Spain with his parents to visit his mission. He is very excited. He better bring back some good pictures. This is at the base of our stairs. Paul put this cool "picture window" in that we can display some sort of art or flowers. He has it lit to highlight whatever we have in there.

This will be our "Den". We plan on hanging a tv on the wall above where the tv you see is now. We have built-in cabinets (they are covered up in plastic to protect them) going all the way across the back wall. (They look the same as the bathroom caninets pictured below) There is a huge closet there for games and toys. Yes the kids have to practice the piano in this mess.

Paul is building a "beam" in this picture above. He bought some rustic pine to put up there. It will look AWESOME when he has all the trim up to make it look real.

This is Lauren and Lindsay's room. Paul built a shelf below the window that goes all the way across for the girls to put whatever they want on it. That light shining at the top of the picture is a light shelf Paul built to get more light in the room. He did that also in the hallway and in the other bedroom. It really makes a difference. Melanie, if you can see the blue and the green (far right wall), that is the blue I was telling you about. This is the best picture I have of that color.

These are the cabinets we had built for this bathroom. I LOVE them. They are maple, which we have discovered we love more than our oak cabinets upstairs. I have so much cabinet space in this bathroom, I could live in there. It's awesome.

Melanie, here is a picture of the slate for our backsplash in the the kitchen. I hope the picture makes it more clear to you.

Here is a picture with our black stove and microwave with our stainless refrigerator off to the left. Just a visual to see the two colors together. It does help that our fridge has some black trim on it.

I would like to introduce you to........

We were able to do our sonogram yesterday and I would like to introduce you to Kendall Paul Johnson, due May 25. I am sorry I haven't blogged about my being pregnant sooner, but I thought it would be more fun to break the news with a picture. We were very excited when we found out we were having another boy. Andrew needs a buddy (not another mother) really bad. The kids were so excited to find out, they all really wanted another boy too. I was a little nervous about how they were going to react if it was a girl, but thank goodness, I don't have to worry about that anymore. Mother an baby are doing great. I am just glad to finally be over the morning sickness. What a blessing! Just wanted to say "Hello" to everyone!
IT"S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celine Dion Concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom, my sisters and I are huge Celine Dion fans. I have been listening to her music since she debuted her first album in the US. I think I have all of her albums downloaded on my ipod. So needless to say, when she announced her "Taking Chances" world tour last year, we wanted to go. We bought the tickets the first day tickets went on sale (last thankgiving 2007), and waited patiently until the big day (November 13). Well, she got sick and had to cancel that date and it got moved to Jan. 3rd. But it was worth the wait. We paid $60 a ticket and that got us four rows from the very top, but it didn't matter. She was amazing. She opened up the concert singing "I drove all night" and I was hooked. She performed for almost 2 hours and it just flew by. She sang a lot of her great hits ( The Prayer (with Andrea Bochelli recorded), my heart will go on) and a lot of her new songs which I love. She is such a good performer and is to fun to watch. My kids were all gealous that they didn't get to go since they love her music just as much as I do. They were anxious to hear how it went the next day. I wish I had video to show you but it is on my mom's camara. My kids haven't even seen it yet and they are dying. I had a great time with my mom and sisters. We have decided we would like to try to do something like this every year. We will see if anyone can top Celine though. Have any of you been to a really good concert lately? Let me know. If you can make it to her concert before she is done, DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!
You won't be disappointed.