The best recipe for happiness? Baby on board.

So I promised occasional posts during our cruise not realizing that I'd have NO service the entire trip. It was nice to get away from my phone/computer for a week but it did mean no posts. So sorry. I'm currently in the process of collecting pictures from family so I will have more to show. Brady and I decided we'd rather soak it all in than take pictures, which was awesome in the moment but not so awesome when you're trying to remember it all and show your family everything you did. While I'm working on the posts from the cruise, here are some pictures of my adorable baby. The first few days were really difficult for Tessa but she gradually got used to the new faces and new noises around her. She's such a little trooper.

The best recipe for happiness? Alaskan cruise!

Bon Voyage! Today we're embarking on an amazing adventure to Alaska with Brady's family. We couldn't be more excited! See you in 8 days. We'll have occasional updates during the week so be sure to stop by again!

The best recipe for happiness? Father's Day.

I saw this video and just cried. Ron, Seth, Kash, Doug, but most especially Dad and Brady... when I watch this video I immediately think of you and the amazing fathers that you are. 

I love you! Happy Father's Day!

The best recipe for happiness? An evening at the beach.

   

Yesterday we went to Mathews Park for family home evening. I decided to change it up a bit and make a video rather than make Brady take a million pictures. Let me know if you like it and we'll make sure to include those on the blog more often.  Oh, and shout out to Melissa who is spending the week with us and who just so happens to be awesome. If you're new to the blog, she's the pretty little blond too old to be my baby. We love her. Happy Tuesday!

The best recipe for happiness? Family Videos.

Hello there. I'm sorry for my long absence. We're doing sleep training over here which ends up taking all of this moms time and energy. But I'll blog more about that adventure later. I've honestly missed this little family journal I've created for myself. Writing is my lifeblood and I feel like an empty human shell without it. I guess I should probably update everyone on a couple of things. Brady is on his final rotation at UW, something we're both really relieved about, and he thinks he's finally found the lab he wants to spend the rest of his time in, also something we're relieved about. Tessa is truly the coolest person I know and I find myself wanting to be exactly like her. She's started reaching and it makes my heart soar every time those little arms reach out in my direction. As for me, I'm just doing what moms do best...trying to stay afloat :) We're happy and healthy and love spending as much time together as we all possibly can.

Now for the actual topic of this post.

While visiting Cedar City for Easter we had the chance to take Tessa to see her great grandparents.

We live so far away and weren't sure the next time we'd see them so we wanted to make a visit top priority. It was such a treasure to watch Tessa play with her great grandpa Herman. Herman is the last of our grandpas so we think he's pretty special. Tessa thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. We took a little video so Tessa could remember him always:

And just for fun here's Brady playing his new favorite game with Tessa...bulldozing.

I truly am so grateful for technology. Whenever I go home I always pull out our old family videos and reminisce. I want Tessa to watch her own videos and see how much she was adored and how much she belongs. Hopefully the family videos we're making for Tessa will make her family roots a little deeper and her family ties a little tighter.

The best recipe for happiness? Pen pals.

Dear Matilda,

Mommy and Aunt Marie thought it would be a fun idea if we became pen pals when we are a little older. When mommy told me I got so excited that I made her sing the alphabet all afternoon so I could practice my letters. I couldn't wait until kindergarten to send my first letter and since I can't quite reach the drawer with the envelopes, I thought our family blog would be the perfect place to put it! Aunt Marie tells mommy that you always blow kisses at the computer screen when you see my picture on the blog, so I know you're sure to see my letter. Today mommy dressed me up in the same outfit you wore when you were my age. I've been sucking on those pretty frills all day! We even had a fashion show for daddy this morning and I showed him the pretty white flower in my hair. I bet your daddy oohed and aah-ed when you wore this, just like mine did. Mommy helped me put your picture on the blog so everyone could see us match! Thanks for sharing your pretty clothes with me! Someday I'll be able to write you a letter all by myself without any help from mommy.

Love your pen pal,

Tessa   

The best recipe for happiness? A surprise or two.

Last week we decided to head down to Utah to surprise our families for Easter (the reason for my absence). We packed up our bags and traveled the 14 hour car ride all through the night. It wasn't too bad considering we have a 5 month old whose longest time in her car seat has only ever been a whopping 45 minutes. It was a week full of hugs and kisses, unbearable allergies (thank you Cedar City), hidden easter baskets, and family togetherness. Tessa ate up all the attention she got from cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmas... and complete strangers (that girl is a people magnet). I can't tell you how awesome it feels to be back in the "wet." I could just lap up this thick, moist air. Delicious. Here is a video of Tessa in her new bouncer to hold you off until my next post.

It only took one time watching mom bounce across the room for this little girl to realize what she needed to do to make her bouncer work. She catches on quick. We've both been bouncing all day :) 

The best recipe for happiness? A little Christmas spirit in March (Part II).

^Every man in Seattle seems to have a beard. I think it looks pretty darn good on my hubby.^

^Brady built this huge train track around the tree. It wound through presents and under the couch and even went up a ramp. Pretty awesome.^

^I made Brady take pictures of my favorite ornaments. I was so in love with that glass ballerina. Someday, maybe Tessa will be my little ballerina. One can only hope.^

^Since we never seemed to get the chance to take newborn pictures we had a special photo shoot with Tessa. Isn't she just precious!^

I can't tell you how much I love this picture of two grown men playing with an old train set. Here's why I love it. One of my "must haves" on my list for my future husband was that he had to be invested in his children. I thought Brady could be that way but I wasn't sure. Then I met Ron (Brady's dad). A couple evenings with Ron and I knew Brady was the right man. Ron is as invested in his children as someone could possibly be. He never missed a game, a choir concert, or a dance recital. Wherever his kids are in the house, you'll find Ron. He knows how to play and he genuinely loves being around his family. Brady is 25 years old and Ron will still take him out back to play catch. I knew that Brady would love my children and nurture them always because he grew up experiencing that. I love this picture so much because it shows perfectly the kind of dad Ron is and the kind of dad Brady will be.  

The best recipe for happiness? A little Christmas spirit in March.

I never really had the chance to document our adventures during Christmas on the blog. Or maybe I had the chance but I just didn't take it. Pretty sure it's the latter. As sad as it is that it's March and I'm just starting to post about Christmas, it's better late than never, right? Honestly, Tessa and I have been singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" since December anyway so it's pretty much like the holidays never ended. The main reason I'm doing this though is because I realized Grandma and Grandpa Johnson never got to see Tessa's first Christmas. No bueno! Isn't technology wonderful? I love that not only am I able to capture those moments but I'm also able to share them with people states away. Here are a couple of videos from Christmas morning:

^Tessa's Christmas pajamas were for a six-month-old so that's why her legs look unnaturally long :)^ 

^I don't know why I had her swaddled. One of my many "first time mom" hiccups.^

Thanks for the fun day Houston family and I'm glad, in a way, you get to experience it with us Johnson family! Happy it's-march-but-we're-still-having-Christmas-on-this-blog-Holidays!

The best recipe for happiness? Brady's younger sister and brother, Tessa's aunt and uncle, and two of my most favorite people.

I mentioned in this post that Melissa and Curtis were coming up for the weekend. Gosh, I sure love them. I don't have little siblings of my own but these two sure come close. We thought it would be fun to show them around the university's campus. We visited the library from this post and walked around the campus grounds. And of course we had to take them to Pikes Place Market because we ALWAYS take everyone who visits to Pikes (see our Pike adventures here and here). The weather was a little nippy but definitely better than Utah.

^Oh Tessa just loves that coat! More about that here.^

Brady (but I really mean me) wanted to take pictures of everything.We stopped to snap some shots on a bench which would have been really easy/fast if it wasn't for the pesky person in the middle.

^Brady: Kate you didn't smile (meaning you didn't smile right, lol).

Kate: I was smiling... with my whole body.^

^Brady: (looks at picture) Kate! Take a normal picture!

Kate: (sigh) Fine...^

^Much better.^

^Here is our very patient and did I mention awesome photographer.^

Hopefully it's not too long before those two come visit us again. Brady and I will have to go out a little more before they do because we're running out of places to take our family when they visit! 

The best recipe for happiness? Grandparents.

Grandma and grandpa Houston came to Seattle for a quick visit this week. Tessa was in heaven. Her fan club increased by two, she never had to do tummy time and she was the center of attention for two whole days. Who are we kidding. She is the center of attention every day in this house! Brady and I are so grateful that Tessa has such great grandparents. We have really fond memories with our own grandmas and grandpas and we're so happy that she is creating some of her own. We decided to go to Pikes Place Market to get some fresh, snow-less air.

 ^Those donuts were literally the size of my head.^

 ^Forget the fish! Check out how red my hair looks in this picture. Wha?^

 ^I didn't expect to see so much fruit but there you have it.^

 ^Oh, the things you find at Pikes Place.^

^Some of us needed to shut down for awhile and recharge our batteries.^

It was a fun visit and we are anxiously awaiting Tessa's Aunt Melissa and Uncle Curtis' arrival. 

Matilda Kate.

Well everyone today is my niece Matilda's 1st birthday. I can hardly believe it's been a year! It's amazing how fast they grow up. One of the things I think is so cute about Matilda, aside from having my name in hers, is how she ALWAYS has something in her mouth. Brady and I noticed that all of the pictures we took of Matilda at our family's thanksgiving she had something stuffed in there. We thought it was just the funniest thing. Here are just a few of them:

I wish I lived closer to them so I could be around this little beam of light all the time. Her smile will melt your heart. Other than Tessa, Brady just thinks she's the cutest thing in the whole world.

Happy 1st birthday baby Tilda... who sadly isn't so much of a baby anymore. 

Family Trees

I've been thinking a lot about families lately. It's really cool how they just grow and grow. Sometimes I think family trees should be called family weeds instead because they grow so fast but that doesn't sound as nice, does it? 

It's amazing how you can go from two people like this:

To a group like this:

Which eventually turns to this: 

And it's just going to keep getting bigger! Isn't that awesome? Family is such a wonderful thing. I just love this particular family to pieces and they sure love us "newer" members just as much. 

Especially this little one :)

This and that (Thanksgiving 2012 cont.).

Its been a LONG time since my family has had family photos. Luckily Brady was willing to take some shots for us. Here are some highlights from our photo shoot

^^^Sisters: Kate, Marie, Jenny and Jodie^^^

 ^^^In my 9th grade art class I chose a picture of my sisters and I flexing to paint. It's currently hanging in my parent's kitchen. For some reason my parents love it and wanted us to reenact it :) ^^^

 ^^^The women: Abi, Marie, Kate, Jenny, Jodie, Mary Ann and Kendra. Kendra and I dwarf everyone. ^^^

 ^^^The famous grandkids with grandparents shot. Always harder to take than we think it's going to be. Mary's smile is sure cute, though.^^^ 

 ^^^Brothers: Seth, Andrew and Barry.^^^

^^^The Men: Brady, Seth, Andrew, Don, Barry, Doug and Kash. Apparently I picked the worst one but I'm too lazy to upload a better one. Sorry men.^^^

Click here for the first Thanksgiving this and that post.