President's Day Get Away!!!!!

     For Presidents Day this year we decided to head down to CALI!  Josh wanted to visit his Grandma & Grandpa Johnson, who live in San Luis Obispo. Which he hadn't seen in oh like 15 years! So we got everything packed and headed out Saturday morning at 2:30 am!!  YES 2:30 am~  We thought that would be great since Braxton would sleep the whole way!  

     Well he slept till I made the turn off to go to Bakersfield and then decided that he was hungry.  Good thing when we stopped at McDonald's in Mesquite I got a fruit and yogurt parfait-- it became his breakfast!  The ride down was gorgeous......everything was so lush and green from all of the rain!  Then we got to Highway 58.....so we turn off on this little tiny dinky road, and we are thinking that the GPS has stopped working.....so we  check the next crossroad and make sure we are in the right place, and we are; so we keep driving.  Well for all of you who aren't familiar with California Highway 58 let me just give you the quick and dirty.......DON"T TAKE IT!!! STAY FAR FAR AWAY!!!! It is a little farm road that weaves up the huge mountain.TO make matters worse it's incredibly windy/curvy/twisted!  Needless to say I got very car sick! Like lets stop and throw up every 15 minutes~ Then we lovingly found out that Braxton has my weak stomach! So after 3 stops and outfit changes and car seat clean-ups we went 15-20 mph the rest of the way off that road!  Needless to say, that added an hour or two to the journey!  The best part is when I called Jack ( Josh's dad) and he's like why the heck are you on that road!!  My only answer was the DANG GPS!!!!  But we did arrive safely!

This is Braxton with his Great Grandma Johnson

We went and saw the Hearst Castle on Sunday, we did one of the guided tours......it was sweet!  

This swimming pool is the indoor pool and all the Gold that you can see in the tile is real!  They say that you get to walk on gold while your at the Hearst Castle!

Just up the street 6 miles from the castle was the Pregnant Elephant Seals......We went up to check them out and they were all over the place, the babies were so cute, we only saw them from the road though.......they have them pretty protected, designated viewing areas and all!

We went to lunch at Fat Cats, per Jacks suggestion!  It was yummy!  But rather crowded, we kinda spaced that it was Valentines Day! :) The beaches were packed too! But then again it was 78 and sunny!  Oh I just soaked up the rays!!  Braxton was being so cute while we were waiting to be seated, he kept wanting Grandma to pick him up so he could sit on her lap!  Too cute!

After lunch we went to the beach, it was Braxton's first time!!  He was so cute, he would pick up the rocks that were in front of him to clear his walking path! When the tide came up the first time he wasn't so sure about that cold water, but he soon got used to it and was loving it!

This is Great Grandpa Johnson and Braxton before we left Monday morning!  All smiles! :)

We decided since we had gone that far we would stop over in Apple Valley and visit Grandma Cramer and Uncle Bill's graves.  Braxton loved the pictures he just kept pointing!

Josh & Grandpa

Leslie  & Grandpa

We had a wonderful time, lots of fun memories, and I'll have to post some pics later with Grandpa's amazing handy work!

I'm 1!

Braxton turned One Year old on December 31st!  My how time flies I can't believe that I had a brand new baby boy a year ago!  He is such a joy and pleasure to have.  He can always make me smile, he is so inquisitive and has a contagious smile :)  

We got to have two different celebrations for his BIG DAY!  We had a fun party on New Years eve at our house, then we went up to SLC for my cousin's wedding that weekend and we got to have another fun party while there.  He had lots of cool new toys and some super cute new outfits!  The draw back to having a birthday right after Christmas I'll have to buy all his clothes for the rest of the year! Ha Ha!!

Christmas

For Christmas this year we were up in SLC we stayed with Josh's sis Jamie and her hubby Chase.  This is their dog Brody opening his present from our dogs Buddy & Jake.  He is really getting into it, pushing it all around, hilarious! :)

    

This was the reward for getting the present open a lollipop! (for doggies)

Braxton opening his present from Aunt Jamie and Uncle Chase, he did such a good job of holding it up for the picture!

After helping daddy open our present from Jamie a& Chase, he thought that it was a toy to climb on!  Ha ha the boxes are just as entertaining as the toys!

Braxton going after another present from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson.

Oh, sweet a toy!  I'm all done!  Mom dad you open the rest of the presents when I'm done with this one I'll come investigate! :)

When we got home from Salt Lake we had Christmas with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Jeff, didn't get any pics but he sure got spoiled!!  He loved every minute of Christmas!

Floody Floody :)

I came home from dinner and games with some ladies at work and found this, for those who are unfamiliar with my house, it's not normally this piled up in one location! 

When I walked around the desk I found Josh working away on a flood, in our house, yes!  Well the perk of the whole situation is that i didn't have to pay someone to come and and fix it since that is what my hubby does!!

This is what the wall ended up looking like. There was mold on the baseboard and climbing up the back of the dry wall so it all got replaced~

This my beautiful strawberry patch was the culprit of it all, the drain comes down off of the roof right into the dirt, well apparently it wasn't draining down like it's supposed to, it was soaking up all of the dirt underneath the patio and seeping into our basement! So now I have plastic coving my strawberry's and when that comes off it will be a pig black plastic pipe to ensure the water makes it as far away from the house as possible.

Bottom line.....it pays to have a handy husband!

Happy Thanksgiving & Birthday! :)

Braxton is so ready for his tatoes and gravy~  Yum Yum ~ He wasn't too thrilled about the cute little 'My first Thanksgiving' hat that grandma gave him.

Our Thanksgiving feast!  Randee, Moser, Miles, Braxton, Josh, Dad & Mom

Happy 25th Leslie!  Look at that pretty cake Josh made! :)

 We musn't forget the beautiful flowers that my wonderful Girl SAM sent me !!

......and she wears whitey tighty's.....

So today in my class we were writing who am I poems.....one of them was hilarious so I thought I would share.

I am the biggest in the class.
I have long hair.
I have smelly feet.
I wear a necklas.
and she wears whitey tighty's!
Who am I?


Well....if you couldn't guess he was describing me, so after the class guessed Mrs. Johnson the kids were asking if I really wore whitey tighty's and I said well that's what he says...and another boy piped up and said they are called garments!  Ah the beauty of teaching 2nd grade!

I love my job! :)