Our 4th Granddaughter - Abigail Elise Johnson

Our 4th little granddaughter, Abigail, was born on March 2, 2009 in San Diego at Scripps Memorial Hospital. We waited 6 weeks to visit so that Eric, Steph and Big Sister Aja had plenty of time alone with their new little girl. We were excited to learn that they will be moving back to Salt Lake on April 12th! Eric has completed 2 years at the airport in San Diego and put in for a transfer to SLC and got it! They will be looking in Bountiful, Farmington, and Centerville for a new home. We are so excited our little family is all together again (within one hour driving time that is).

We had a great time in San Diego visiting with Aja and her family... She took us to Phil's, which is "Papa's" (grandpa) favorite ribs restaurant - even "Mimi" (grandma) enjoyed the meal. It is so much fun spending time with Aja - she is starting to talk a little more now, and copying words you say to her. When baby Abby is fussing, Aja goes over to her and says, "oh, no" and then pats her head or her tummy!

OUR HOLIDAY FUN - December 2008

We all went sledding one afternoon and everyone, including Grandma and Grandpa, had a great time!

We had a wonderful holiday season this year with all of our family home. We stayed up late at night playing our new favorite card game "Quiddler" and everyone loved it...we couldn't get enough of it! Thanks Kara for the gift!!

Eric, Steph and little Aja, who will turn 2 years old tomorrow, were able to come home from San Diego for the holidays. It was great having all of our family together - we created many happy memories together...

Halloween 2008

Cody and Elisa were a "redneck" couple this year. I have to ask myself, "what did I do wrong?" Just kidding, but don't they look good? I didn't know we had raised a redneck for a daughter!! The girls loved being "Doggies."

We took Grandma Beverly out with us that night, and while Cody and Lis took the girls out trick-or-treating, we handed out candy at their door and saw some pretty neat costumes. I had prepared a white bean chili with chicken (from our ward's cookbook) and cornbread. It was a pretty "scary"night.

I was able to "pirate" this cute picture of Aja from Eric and Steph's blogspot. They were originally going to have Aja wear an "Elmo" costume. When they put it on her she started to cry so they found another one for her. She is truly our "Little Princess." We can hardly wait for them to visit on Christmas this year... We are starting to count the days.

BOO AT THE ZOO!!

This year, we were able to spend the Saturday before Halloween with Skye and Lexy. We thought it would be fun to go to Hogle Zoo with them in their costumes. This year the Zoo had record numbers of attendees - 25,000! We were there to enjoy the crowds! The lines went fast and the girls had a great day. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day.

Skye and Lexy were doggies this year.

Our Visit to San Diego - October 2008

After we had been home from our cruise for a couple of weeks, we decided we needed to visit Eric, Steph and Aja in San Diego. Aja - now 21 months old - has started to pick up alot of words (bye-hi, etc...) We just couldn't miss out on that could we? She is so darn cute! She would open up the bedroom door and say, "hi pappa!" and then slam it shut, and on the way out, "bye, pappa!"

We were able to take the San Diego Harbor Cruise to the North end. Next time we will take the south end. We all had a great time...trying to keep Aja onboard!

Eric is such a cute daddy to Aja - we are so excited for their next little girl, who will be born the first of February, 2009.

Overlooking San Diego from Point Loma Lighthouse.

Aja wants to just run around and meet other people.

!

Cruising New England - September 2008

On August 31, we arrived in Boston, MA with our friends, Kathy and Neil Moyes. We stayed overnight at the Intercontinental Boston - a beautiful five star hotel (Wendy had a fun time on Priceline!)

Our hotel sat adjacent to the location of the Boston Tea Party!! For many years there had been a museum on the site, but about five years ago it burned to the ground. The history of this area was interesting to me since I had just finished reading John Adams by David McCullough.

Kathy and I enjoying the sites and flowers of downtown Boston. It is a beautiful, clean city. It is always fun to see the lifestyle of people who live around the ocean (like our kids, Eric, Steph and Aja!) Boston City gives FREE sailing to all who would like to learn the sport.

This is the Massachusetts State House where Governor Mitt Romney would have had his office. It is a beautiful building with gold guilding on the rotunda.

Below that is the Bunker Hill Monument...

Boston Tower (this was for Eric, who is an Air Traffic Controller at San Diego Tower). It was the most unusual tower we had seen.

Our ship - The Norweigan Dawn... Kevin and I had sailed on Norweigan before, so we decided why ruin a good thing? The food was EXCELLENT, the staterooms were quite large and we had alot of fun with our fellow cruisers, Neil and Kathy - card game wars every night!!

We visited the following New England destinations:

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

Bar Harbor, Maine

and Back to Boston, MA

In Sydney, we all decided to have a little fun...but, I only post Kevin's picture - mine wasn't great!

Here we are with our lobster dinner at the Seaside Grill in Bar Harbor, Maine. Of all the places we visited on the cruise, Bar Harbor was our favorite. It was possibly the most awesome harbor we had ever seen in our travels. We would love to return and take the "Freedom Walk" when we have more time...

"THE LAST SUPPER" onboard together. We had a wonderful time with Neil and Kathy. Kevin later said that we can't hang with the Moyes any longer because they have too much fun!!

Day at the Zoo

Spring 2008 - the weather is finally nice so we took everyone to the zoo. We all had a great time on "the train" first.