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.

Lindsay and Lauren's Piano Recital

Lindsay and Lauren started taking piano lessons from a lady in our ward in the fall. They are doing so well. Their teacher planned a recital with another teacher. We planned for it to be on their birthday so family would be in town to watch. They did such a good job and practiced a lot to learn their three songs. There were about 9 kids in all and a very crouded house with proud parents. Thanks to the Elmores and Sister Cashin (their teacher) for putting this together. It was great

Here is Lauren.Woah, bad picture! Lindsay would you look at the camara next time.

The Nutcracker

With Lindsay and Lauren's birthday so close to Christmas, we asked them if they wanted to go to the Nutcracker instead of birthday presents. They were very excited about this since they get presents in 10 days anyways for christmas. So in October, we booked the tickets for Dec. 13 (2 days before their birthday) and waited with anticipation. Lindsay and Lauren wanted to go to Applebees for dinner. They were so excited to just go by themselves. They are getting so big.

Because prices are so expensive, we got the nose bleed section, but it was still ok. This is a picture with the stage and curtain in the background.

Here the girls and Paul are as we anticipate the show starting.


This was the only picture of the Nutcracker advertisement we could find. It was outside the building up high. The girls had to be hoisted to this platform blow the advertisement. But the cool thing was that we were right be the door all the ballerina's were exiting the building from. So in the end, we got to see them up close, just not in costume. I thought that was cool. I even got to congratulate the snow queen. They were very nice. Overall, I think I liked it more than any of us, but the girls had a great evening. It was so fun to take them on an outing like this.

Andrew Turned 3!!!

I know it has been a month since he turned 3, but my camara has been out of comission because one of my kids took the battery out and lost it. It took me about 3 weeks to realize that that was the problem, so my mom graceously gave me a cd with his birthday pictures on it. They were so cute, I had to put them up.
He is growing up to be such a big boy. I just can't believe he is already 3. We are alone together in the mornings while his sisters are at school, and we have the best time together. He is the best grocery shopper, and is great for dr. visits, but most of all, he is great with hugs and kisses. If Paul doesn't let Andrew know when he is leaving for work in the morning, there are major tears out of that boy. He needs at least one kiss and two hugs. Paul loves it!!!!!

Of course, he loves his grandpa!
And his Grandma!!!

And his daddy and sister Sarah!!!!

And Lindsay and Lauren, Brycen and Andrea!!!!

But most of all, he loves his Mommy, don't you bud!!!

Me and My Hubby

I was tagged by my cousin Amy, so here goes.....

1.His full name: Paul Lindsay Johnson (that's where we get Lindsay's name from)
2.How long have you been married: 10 1/2 years (May 15th )
3.How long did we date: Since I turned 16. (he is 7 months older so he had to wait for me)
4.Who eats sweets: I do.
5.Who said I love you first: Is this pathetic, but I honestly can't remember. I called my husband says he did first. I will just have to take him at his word.
6.Who's taller: Him
7.Who sings better: This is actually a sore subject between us. I hurt his feelings once, making fun of his singing, so now he is always trying to prove to me that he can sing. Poor thing, he really does try. Why is it that none of the Johnson boys were blessed with their dad's voice. What a tragedy!
8.Who is smarter: Hello, all of my brain cells are gone from having kids, of course he is smarter.
9.Who does the laundry: Me, and it's a good thing, he doesn't even know how to turn it on.
10.Who pays the bills: HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11.Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: Paul does
12.Who mows the lawn: My hardworking hubby, and man am I thankful. I hate mowing the lawn! But I swear, he enjoys every minute he is outside working on the yard. It's his baby!
13.Who cooks dinner: Me.
14.Who drives: If we are all together, he drives. That's fine, I can sleep.
15.Who admits when they're wrong first: Paul definately does. I can hold a grudge a lot longer than he can.
16.Who kissed who first: Paul kissed me at my homecoming dance a month after I turned 16. He was a junior, I was a sophmore.
17.Who asked who out first: Paul asked me to go on a double date with two friends of his from his school that were dating. It was so funny because they fought the whole time. I think Paul was really embarassed, but we just laughed about it. That's when I asked Paul to my homecoming dance. It has been love ever since.
18.Who wears the pants: I definately voice my opinion, but Paul wears the pants in the family.
I'm supposed to tag 4 other people. Ok I am going to tag some of my family: Jenny, Kass, Marie, and Laurie Elmore (she is not family, but i would love to here what she has to say).

I hope you feel enlightened.

Yes, I am still alive

Sorry it has taken so long to get out some posts. So here are three posts of things that have happened in our lives. Enjoy!
Christy

We went Camping!

Paul was dying to take the kids camping, so a few weeks ago (Sept 19), we went out to Smithville lake and gave it a try. We had a great time. The kids had luchables for dinner (and were more excited about that than anything) and Paul and I made foil dinners. We had a big bon fire and cooked smores.
Here is our view of the lake from our campground. It was beautiful.
In the morning, we cooked pancakes and bacon and then we took a walk on the trail and the kids found all kinds of things to look at. Lindsay found a caterpillar and couldn't part from it. So we took it home for a few days and then set it free. I was afraid it was starving to death. We will definately do this again. We all had a great time!

I love my Grandpa Martin

"I just want you to know that my Grandpa Martin is the coolest. I worship the ground he walks on, and in return he plays with me all the time. I love it when he jumps on the trampoline with me." - Andrew
" I also love it when he plays lego's with me, oh by the way, he also reads me books and plays games and lets me pour Nerd candy in his ear when he is sleeping (haa haa)! I love you Grandpa" - Andrew