WOW! Where Have I Been?

Well, since I last blogged, forgive my slackness, I don't feel like we have had a busy summer but I guess we have had lots of fun!  My sweet cousin, Lauren Cross, married the man of her dreams at the end of July, which brought lots of family to Montana from IL!  My dad has 6 siblings including his sister Mary here, and basically 3 siblings and their families came out for the wedding plus my grandma!  That was a ball and all my family came except my dear brother-in-law, next year we are going to get his butt out here!  Pardon my typing!  My family and my cousin Laura were blessed to spend time up at Flathead Lake at the Cross' cabin.  Tom, Titus and I camped one night in the yard there!  We all went to Glacier Nat. Park from there and did an amazing hike at Avalanche Lake there!  I was so excited to show my family the beauty of Montana and to make sure they had a good time.  We came back to Missoula for the wedding and before they all left we did some bike riding and we took my nieces to a sweet park and the Carousel while my parents and sisters went rafting down the Alberton Gorge!  My nieces are 8 yrs. and almost 2 yrs. and both of their first times here and Titus had a great time with them.  Gracie was a great helper with the two younger ones and Bella said Titus' name with the cutest ring to it, I miss hearing her say his name!

We also went for about a 20 mile bike ride on the path along Hwy 93 from Lolo to Florence and back!  When we pulled up to Subway in Florence to eat, this is what Titus was doing in the bike trailer!  So cute!  I thought I was going to die that day and I WASN'T pulling the trailer, Tom was!

We have been enjoying all kinds of food and smiles this summer!

Including trout on the grill and zucchini!  Mmmmmm!  Go hubs!

We went for a hike along Cache Creek Trail down off Hwy 12!  Titus loved the water and loves throwing rocks in the water (or down the neighbors stairs).

We made our first homemade ice cream with the ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid (we have had it since we got married in 2009).  Mmmmm!  Homemade Flathead Cherry Ice Cream!  Go hubs!

Labor Day weekend we traveled over to WA and visited some dear friends, the O'Dells, in Spokane.  Titus is missing due to the fact that he had not woken up for the day yet and this was at about 9 am their time!  Yes these 5 adorable kids are all theirs!  (L to R: Acacia, Naomi, Adelyn, John, Justus, Joyalise & Beth)

Once Titus woke up that morning, we headed on to Richland where Tom's brother and family now live.  We enjoyed our time with them as well and the girls definitely enjoyed showing us their ballerina moves, thank you Zowee and Noelle for always being ready to entertain us :)

We got one night of real camping in, which was interesting, Titus woke up and it felt like he was awake for about 2 hours before I could get him back to sleep!  Like our Jumbo Marshmallows?  The smores that night were terrific to say the least!

Our campsite out at Trout Creek off I-90, yes we have a little 2 man tent, which we love and stay warm that way on the cool Montana nights!

Our little camper and his poking stick that he loved walking around with!

Mother's Day Weekend with Some Family!

Tom's brother and his family made it here this last weekend after a busy week for them in their travels from AZ.  They visited family in Great Falls, Bozeman and Missoula all in the span of 10 days with their two girls!  Saturday we met them at the market downtown, yeah for spring, that is one our favorite spring/summer things to do, go to the Saturday Farmers/People's market and get some fresh produce while drinking some good coffee and eating yummy pastries from the great vendors down there.  This last weekend had only been their second week down there so some stuff is missing but I was surprised that there was still a lot of stuff there.  Then we went to Costco to get a few things and some of us ate some lunch there and then the boys needed to hit REI to look for some shoes and us girls headed back to Lolo where they were staying for the weekend so that the girls could possibly take some naps!

Cousin Zowee (6 yrs.) & uncle Kevin (ageless!) enjoying some kettle corn at the market!

Cousin Noelle (3 yrs) got to ride with Titus in his chariot when she was tired of walking at the market!  So nice!

Titus got his first taste of chocolate on the way to Lolo that day by surprise to all of us except little Noelle who was trying to feed it to him! It was in a kid's Clif energy bar so needless to say the poor boy did not have enough teeth to chew what he had been given and sadly the poor baby ended up choking on it! Poor Zowee was very grossed out by his chocolate puke all over his face and little Noelle did not know any better and little Titus I think was as scared as his mama was, he was crying and I was about to continue freaking out after my initial reaction but the Lord quickly reminded me that that would not help the situation and Noelle didn't know any better. It had slipped our adult minds to remind them not to give the baby anything without asking the mommy first! Anyway, enough of that, we learn from our mistakes!

We had a little cookout that night in the fire pit at the place where they were staying (Carolyn's parents' place). Had some good turkey dogs. We didn't stay too late, Titus needed to get to bed and hadn't had both naps he usually does during the day. He was very tired!

When we got home Saturday night, Titus pretty much stayed asleep from car seat to house!  Daddy was enjoying this!

...and an hour later, before we decided to disturb him to put his jammies on him.

 Sunday morning we met them at church and we attempted to put Titus in the nursery for the first time! He is just in that stage where he wants to be moving around and so we thought the nursery might be a better option for the time. Well he was not about to adjust to that the first try. He lasted about 10 minutes before our little number showed up on the screen to let us know we were needed for him. We will keep working on easing him into it. Then we all went our separate ways so that Titus could nap and they could get things in order for leaving on Monday. After his nap we went out to Lowe's to look for something to plant some flowers in that we can hang over our rail on our little porch out front and we found something that we think will work. Then we met up later with the fam at a Mexican place in Lolo and that was oh so delicious and stuffing! And then we went back to their place to hang out for a little bit and have some dessert! Carolyn had bought a pie at the market, it was supposed to be a blackberry? pie but it did have an M on it so maybe it was Marion berry? either way it was very yummy!

Uncle Kevin reading Titus a book just before we had to say goodbye!

How was your Mother's Day weekend?  Hope you spent some good time with family whether it was just your own or relatives included!  It was so nice for the cousins to get to play together and see how much Titus was interested in being with them, so cute!  And we had some really good time with Kevin and Carolyn and the girls, although I don't know how fond Zowee is of not having her uncle Tom to herself, now she has to share him with Titus and Noelle.  Noelle has grown so much in many ways and LOVED playing with Tom and I which was something new for us!  So special!

Exciting News!

Hey I have two exciting things to share!  One our family is here to visit this weekend from AZ!  Tom's brother, Kevin, and his wife and kids made it up to MT this week to visit her grandpa in Great Falls and sister who is about to have a baby any time in Bozeman and us here in Missoula!  We are excited for the cousins to play together and get some cute pics.

The other exciting thing is that I am starting my own business from home, which most of you may know!  I am making bracelets for Mothers, Grandmothers, etc. and I am calling it 'Adorned With Your Little Blessings'!  So check it out, I made a separate blog just for this, Adorned With Your Little Blessings , also listed under my blogs I follow down on the right or find us on facebook under same name!  I would love to make something special for you for yourself or for a gift for your mom or your grandma!

Crazy Summertime!!

The summer is going by so quickly and Titus is now 7 1/2 weeks old! Wow! What a blessing though to have his arrival start our summer. Then my parents were here June 20th thru July 1st. We had such a good visit with both of them but I had a really good time with my mom. I took her to the Saturday Farmers/Peoples Market and "Out to Lunch @ Caras Park" on Wednesday. Tom enjoyed cooking for them a few dinners on the grill and we got to celebrate Father's Day and my birthday while they were here. Gammie really got to enjoy her grandson and Papa did in the spare time that Gammie wasn't! My aunt Mary and my dad looked around at lots of property just in case they ever decide to head west! Who knows, only God right?
Then Tom's parents were here July 2nd thru the 11th. We also enjoyed their visit, we took them "Out to Lunch @ Caras Park" while they were here. We all hung out a lot in Lolo where Kevin and Carolyn and the girls live and played some games and ate lots of food. Grandma enjoyed rocking and walking Titus when he was fussy and snuggling with his warm body and Grandpa enjoyed afternoon naps with Titus.
Since then we have seen 3 old Missoula friends who were visiting. An old Missoula roommate of mine who now lives in Kansas with her husband and 2 girls. We are both moms now and that is so cool to me, I don't feel that old but I guess I am. A mutual friend of ours from California also came through, he had taught Tom how to fly fish and I was in his wedding, needless to say I was upset that his beautiful bride was not here to visit. And another mutual friend of ours, whom we both got to know at different times in our lives, from Colorado with her four children came through too. It was so good to catch up with these friends and to be encouraged in how their lives are still pursuing God.
Kevin and Carolyn and the girls are now in process of moving to Arizona. They are going to be support staff down at the New Tribes Mission Aviation Headquarters for possibly the next couple of years. They are still hoping that they can head to Papua New Guinea when they come through all the health issues with the girls. God already has them on that road in a huge way. Kevin actually left today with all of their stuff and Carolyn and the girls will fly down on Saturday. We are of course sad to see them go, it has been sweet to have them here the last year to get to know them for me and Tom has really enjoyed his time with his little brother.
Besides all the visiting we have just been trying to enjoy our summer with our new son. He is so adorable and beginning just in the last week and a half to smile at me in response to my smile. God's blessings are so sweet. Enjoy the pics and I hope to update sooner next time.

I just gave my horse, Piper, away to a man who is persistent yet has a kind hand. Piper is now 7 years old and to my neglect and lack of time he has not been broke yet, I had gotten a saddle on him and did lots of ground work with him but being his age, he was a handful and required someone more skilled than I to train him fully. I am actually a little over 29 weeks pregnant in this picture!

My parents took us up to Lindey's Steak House in Seeley Lake for my birthday for dinner. Mmmm it was so good, our dinners came with pickled watermelon rind and it was actually surprisingly good.

Tom took 3 students backpacking with him the 15th-18th into the Great Bear Wilderness which is part of the Bob Marshall Complex. He wanted to go in to visit one of our former students who is working in there for the summer, Ethan McKee in center of photo, to bring him encouragement. It was 18 miles in because of a misunderstanding and then 14 miles out, each all done in one day! Way to go, that is my awesome husband! While he did that, Titus and I went to Flathead Lake and spent the weekend at the Cross' cabin with them and about 10 others. It was very relaxing for me even though I missed my husband terribly.

The four Johnson men: Rich, Tom, Titus & Kevin, along with sweet Zowee, she adds beauty to the picture!

While Tom's parents were here we celebrated all three of our wedding anniversaries with a recipe for grilled chicken that Tom wanted to try. Of course, Kevin was helping in his own sort of weird way, ha, jk Kevin. His parents celebrated their 40th this year! Praise God for your love and commitment.

Our friend, Brad Trosen, was up for the challenge presented him while playing "Would You Rather...?" He had to keep his mouth wide open and have "Goof" written on his forehead with lipstick for one players full turn. Him and his family recently moved from Missoula, him and his wife Laura and son Ian are headed to serve in ministry with CMA in Senegal, Africa while their two daughters Hannah & my sweet Emily are living in Minnesota. This was our last hang out with them before they left in mid July.

His Abundance

I am so excited about Toms fishing trip today, I just have to let you all see the sweet way God provides some great fish for us. Mmmmmm. His brother, Kevin, and a friend of ours, Wayne Benson, and he went fishing again this spring (today at one of Toms traditional spots to go in the Spring (this is his 3rd yr going) and between the three of them they brought home 15 fish! They are whopper trouts, 2 to over 4 lbs. and about 20 inches long! Last year he and Wayne and another friend had brought home 11 and we fed our rehearsal dinner with them and still had some left to eat later in the year. They caught them fly fishing from the shore, I am so impressed by my husband, he is a good provider for me and lil muffin. I am so excited to sink my teeth in, Tom is preparing one now! Gotta go :)