Ragnar 2012

 Let me just say- I love these relay races!!  I did my first one in 2009 and now I've just finished my 6th relay!  This one was a lot of fun because I got to do it with mom- sort of - we were in different vans so I only saw her when I passed off the baton to her but still we had fun at the finish line together :)

 I was pretty impressed with ourselves after 197 miles we were still able to jump!  Although this time I was awfully sore - one of our runners ended up getting injured after her 2nd leg so I got to run her third leg- I don't know if my legs were really thrilled with that but they still cooperated

 Ben was wonderful and came and volunteered at the finish line- you can tell that I had only really had 2 hours of sleep over the last 48 hours - I was feeling a little sleepy/goofy

 My van!  We were the the spankin spatulas again and I love our team!  Joel, Sarah, Josh, Terry, Me and Allie- I ran with Joel and Josh last year so it was fun to see them again!

Me hanging out and trying to stretch out in the van!  It is just a lot of fun to challenge yourself and do things that you just don't think you could - my second leg this year was 8.2 miles up a canyon and I still remember the first year I ran this race and my team member ran this and I thought 'I will never be able to do something like that!'  And this year I did!  I ran 8 miles up a canyon and didn't die - it was a pretty great feeling :)  I can't wait for my next race!

randomness

Well since I haven't updated my blog since September when Katie was born - here are some random pictures from Sept until now - enjoy :)

Katie was a witch for halloween this year

 Gracie was helping katelynn to play with barbies

Katelynn LOVED the swing and it was the only place I could get her to smile for the longest time 

Gracie learning to write her name at the beginning of the school year

We went to Disneyland in December and these next few are from our trip:

Katie just hanging out

 Smiling at our hands

 They had a HUGE christmas tree

 The small world ride was all lighted out

 The castle was so pretty at night!

 Snuggling with dad

 You can really tell how big the tree is from this picture

Gracie and I eating our suckers - yummy

Back home again and gracie was making katelynn laugh

Gracies christmas card she made for me

Happy baby without the swing

 Very happy baby with the swing!!

Katelynn did not want to crawl using her knees so she would try to push up and crawl in pushup form - it was weird but very cute

Katelynns special weekend

 It was a special weekend for Katelynn a couple of weeks ago!  On April 7th 2012 Katelynn because an official member of our eternal family!  It was very exciting and long awaited! 

 Almost 4 years ago - back in July of 2008- Ben called my from work one day and said that someone he worked with was pregnant and was going to give the baby up for adoption and did we want to express interest in adopting that baby- well it was kind of a confusing phone call for me because I knew I wasn't getting pregnant but I didn't know if I was ready to admit that I couldn't and that we needed to look for other ways to expand our family- anyhow as I got off the phone with him I was kind of stressed out and so I said a quick prayer to help me feel calm and to know what to do

Anyhow Gracie came into the room and wanted me to read to her - so I sat the phone call aside and I picked up the friend and flipped through trying to find a story that wasn't too long- because her attention span was like 5 seconds- anyhow so I start ready a story to her and it is about this little girl who was getting on her special clothes and doing her hair special because they were going to the temple that day to have their adopted baby sister sealed to them- anyhow as I read that story I felt the Spirit so strong - and I knew that our family would do that one day-

Anyhow so it is wonderful to me that after so many ups and downs with life that almost 4 years later Heavenly Father was able to fulfill that promise that He made to me one afternoon so many years ago- I just love that Katelynn came to our family and the blessing that she has been - and I love knowing that our Heavenly Father loves us so much and that He guided and directed our family to where we needed to be so that we could all gather together as a family one beautiful Saturday afternoon and seal Katelynn to our family forever

 Our happy family all in white

 Our wonderful friends who have been with my along the way :)

 The Johnsons

The Andersons

 No day would be complete without Gracie posing for the camera!

 The next day, Easter Sunday, we were able to bless Katelynn - and it was a wonderful blessing- I cried through of it - but I love where one part Katelynn was blessed - i'm paraphrasing- to receive all the good characteristics from all those who love her- which as a mom made me happy because even though I didn't give birth to her I can still pass to her things that will make up her character

 Our family

Its hard to see but it is suppose to be a picture of the two dresses I made

Anyhow it was a very good weekend!

the arrival of Katelynn Ruth. . .

Okay - so be prepared for a lot of pictures :) - oh and a lot of talking, but this is me we are talking about when is there never a lot of talking hahah
So we had another sweet miracle on Sept 3 - Katelynn was born!! It was very exciting and the most stressful thing ever- i guess that is the trade off - i didn't have to get big and pregnant for 9 months - i just got a lot of emotional stress! - but well worth it in the end! We are just feeling very blessed in our home - anyhow here is the story for those of you who do not already know it.

Back in June sometime we got a phone call from Tiffany - a lady that ben had worked with a few years ago and three years ago we was pregnant and we were going to adopt that little girl but tiffany ended up changing her mind when it started to get closer- anyhow so this time when she called and said she was pregnant again and couldn't keep this baby - i was not very optimistic - in fact i told ben to tell her to go away and leave me alone - it just hadn't been that easiest last year for me and i just didn't want to deal with anymore emotional turmoil! anyhow luckily ben didn't listen to me :) So i thought things had been dropped until a few weeks later ben is calling me telling me he found a lawyer and that the dad was going to sign over his rights- so we paid to have that done - and the expense was minimal so i wasn't too concerned- but as things started getting closer to her due date and tiffany still on board with adoption i started to get stressed because i just didn't want to get excited just to be disappointed but on the 3rd at about 4 in the morning we got a phone call from tiffany saying that her water broke and she was at the hospital- so ben being ben was super excited and went to the hospital right then - but then had to go to work around 8
Gracie and i went over around 11 - we had stopped in to drop off a present for tiffany and while we were there she started to complain about feeling the contractions so a nurse checked her and she was dilated to a 10 anyhow so i called mom who came and got gracie and called ben and told him to leave work and come now! anyhow the delivery went really well after 2 pushed Katelynn came out- and it was really neat i was crying my eyes out- and it was super sweet because tiffanys mom was there and kept pushing me right up front saying that this was my baby and i needed to be there to see her born- which was just super sweet of her because i was so worried about over stepping my place and making tiffany feel uncomfortable - anyhow and then at 11:48 katelynn came out weighing 5 lbs and 8 oz and 17.5 in - it was just beautiful!

Well we had planned on having tiffany signing over her rights the 24 hrs later at the hospital - but it was labor day weekend and we could not get a hold of our lawyer or our social worker - that part was slightly stressful because at first the hospital told us we couldn't take her until we had a lawyer-which they were right- but after a quick phone call to my roomie Jenny who had done this a few years earlier we found out that if tiffany handed her to us in the parking lot then we didn't need a lawyer around - so that is what we ended up doing.

Tiffany and Katelynn got discharged on Monday and i have to admit it was a lot more difficult then i thought - i figured i would be super excited to have Katelynn all to ourselves instead of sharing - which is how it felt in the hospital- but watching how hard it was for tiffany to give us Katelynn broke my heart - i just felt so sad for her and so grateful for her sacrifice all at the same time - anyhow but she brought the baby to us in the parking lot and then we took her home - which was wonderful - so on tuesday we finally got a hold of people and they got the paperwork all ready and ben went with tiffany on friday to sign over her rights- which was a sigh of relief!

anyhow we have felt very blessed and so grateful for Katelynn in our home- gracie is just the sweetest big sister and is so great at helping although she tells me all the time that she doesn't do diapers :)


If you look close at this picture you can see my red eyes- from all the crying :)
First day at the hospital
Tiffany right after the delivery
Katelynn Ruth Johnson
Me and my two girls- it is fun for me to use plurals - i never got to before :)
Katelynn getting ready to come home
Last picture at the hosptial

One of our first baths

One day i was in the shower and apparently Katelynn started crying so Gracie crawled up in the crib and started rocking her- it was darling
Gracie with her sister
Us girls- & i have to say i had just gotten done working out and don't look that bad



Me and my snuggler- i call her that because she will actually curl up on my shoulder which i love because gracie never did that all and always loved watching other babies do it - so now 5 years later i get one!