Happy December!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Grandma wants to be Mrs. Clause when she grows up! Tanner thought there were 2 Grandmas.

Tanner was a little unsure about Santa. At least he didn't cry like he did last year. No smile, but at least he wasn't sad. We waited in line for a little while for Tan to get his picture taken.

We just got lucky and Santa walked by us. Kipp was on the phone and I yelled at him that Santa was here! Kipp held the phone down so we could get a family picture! I LOVE December, it is my favorite month. It is my birthday month and I love Christmas time so much! I hope you all have a wonderful December!!

I'm a Sucker!

How do you shop with your kids? Tanner loves suckers and they buy me more time when I need to shop. I was running around the other day and I bought this sucker at the check out stand. Little did I know that it was going to stain his mouth and hands. When we got home he had to take a bath before his nap. I just thought that even though he was a mess he was too darn cute!!

A Fall Wedding

Last weekend Tanner spent the night at Grandma's house and Kipp and I went to a wedding. It was the wedding of our friends Katherine and Adam and it was at Dana Point. It was very cold for an outside eventing wedding but it was beautiful.
Adam is Ashton's brother and he was the Best Man. Ashton, Tammy, Derek, Jackie, Kipp and I all had a great time together.

Jackie and I are all bundled up so we can keep warm.

Our cute friends Derek and Jackie danced the night away!

Kipp and I had a fun night together. It is good for married couple to remember all those feelings that we felt on our wedding day. Kipp and I have been married for 6 years and life easily turns into a routine. It is nice to hold hands during a wedding and promise to love, honor and cherish one another.

I Am Very Thankful!!

I am very thankful
I am very glad
for food I eat
for friends I meet
for mother home and dad.

I feel so blessed that God has given me a husband who will set up Christmas at our house in November. I am thankful for Tanner who warms my heart everyday. I am thankful every time I feel Peyton girl gives me a kick.

I am thankful for our parents that they love and support us as a family. I am thankful for our brothers and sisters and their beautiful children who we get to see this week. I am thankful for friends as close as family. Friends that Tanner and Peyton will grow up calling Aunt and Uncle.

With the stress of life, it is easy to let that pull you down. God has blessed us so much. I hope this week you are aware of all the blessings in your life.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Dino Dash

On your marks get set go!!!

Tanner had his first fun run at the Tustin Dino Dash to support Tustin Public Schools.

It was rainy and cold. We thought we were in Washington! We saw Randy and Shelly Gordon on the run. They were running while we were walking/running with the kids.

I wish that Tanner loved Jafta and India more! They had so much fun together. We were laughing that next year this time we will have Peyton, baby Howerton and our little boy from Haiti. A fun run with 6 kids sound very fun!!

Tanner and I went home and took a 3 hour nap. I was still tired from Halloween so after a 3 mile walk/run a rest felt good. By the way my mom and I finished in 1 hour and 5 minutes. I know!

A HOT Halloween

Last Saturday Kipp had his Halloween event. It was so hot that we didn't want to make Tanner wear his hot monkey outfit. We all dressed up like tourists. We had a great time and Kipp got a sick farmers tan!

Tanner with his cousins Spider Man and Team USA Cheerleader. Go Team!!

This is the first time that Tan got to ride on a pony. He really like it. He gave us a smile every time he went passed us.

Surf's Up Dudes!

Check out The Johnson's blog to see a picture of Tanner on Halloween. We are parents of the year and forget our camera on Halloween night. Tanner had fun with baby Emily.

My Sister

Our kids, Tanner and Peyton. Kipp and I had an easy time coming up with Tanner's name and it was a little more difficult thinking of our girl name. Elizabeth is a family name from both sides so that is her middle name.
Peyton Elizabeth Lyons is the name of our little girl.

We bought a little doll for our house and we call it sister. Tanner will give her hugs and kisses. We practice telling her goodnight and holding her. Who knows if it will help him get ready for baby Peyton to come into our lives but it's worth a shot.

Country Farm

We went to this amazing Farm about an hour away from our house with Kipp's parents.
It really felt like fall. Tanner loved running around and looking at all of the pumpkins.

We went on a hay ride. Tanner kept saying choo choo! At the end of the ride he started saying all done!


I am wearing my Jack-o-lantern shirt with 6 month baby girl hiding inside.

Tanner had a great day and he loved the pumpkins. We took one of these home. Happy fall friends!

A Trip to the FIREHOUSE

October 2007
Every October in So.Cal seems to be fire season. All the fire stations have an Open House in October. This was our second year going. Tanner got a fire hat, got to sit in a truck and talk to a real firefighter.
October 2008


Me and my little future firefighter.

I love this look he has. It looks like someone is ready for longer jeans!

My two heroes! What a fun fall day!

It's OCTOBER!

It's October and fall is here. We had a break from our heat wave and it was so cool on the night we went to the Pumpkin Patch. Tanner loved seeing all the pumpkins.


Tanner went on the car ride and the train ride. The looks he was giving us during the train ride were so funny. He loves trains but was so scared as he was riding on this train. He thought the car ride was a lot more fun.

What a happy boy on the pony! I love this smile. Look at our big boy! 19 month old.

What a difference a year makes. Here he is last October in our front yard. His hair was so short last year. Next October our little girl will be the same age Tanner was last year. I wonder if she will look like Tanner or have her own look?
Happy Harvest time everyone!!

India's Birthday Party!

India is 2! We went to Build-A-Bear for her party and it was so much fun!! Happy Birthday Pooh Bear!

Bun In The Oven Party

We made our families guess what they thought the baby was. Then they all grabbed a sucker from under the bag. Then we counted to 3 and revealed.

Tanner didn't understand why everyone was yelling!

The Grandmas! Our daughter's middle name is Elizabeth after our Grandmas.
Ellen Elizabeth Soft and Mary Elizabeth Lyons.

Kipp made us Hot Dogs and Hamburgers for our Bun in the Oven Party.

India and Tanner loved the candy!

Kristen and I were pregnant with Tanner and India together. India is 5 months older than Tan to the day. Now I am 20 weeks and Kristen is 12 weeks and we are both doing great.
People have asked me if India and Tanner are twins, they are the same size and both have blond curly hair. I wounder what these next 2 babies will look like?

Thank You India

Today India turns 2 years old! What a big girl. Tomorrow is her birthday party at Build-A-Bear Workshop. I asked Kristen if I could bring the cupcakes. I made them look like bears to go with the rest of the party.

DON'T TAKE MY SKATEBOARD AWAY!!!!

For those who do not know, Tanner is 18 months old and has no fear. When he sees the skateboard in the garage, he goes nuts and wants to ride it so bad. I thought it would be fun to show all of you what Tanner does when I take his board away. I think I am a nominee for father of the year by laughing at Tanner while I take his skateboard away, letting him go down a hill head first (without a helmet, sorry Child Protection Agency), and watching him almost hit a curb (again, ditto to the CPA). This just shows me that I need to invest in a helmet and pads for Tony Hawk Jr (for those who do not know, Tony Hawk is the Michael Jordan (greatest basketball player ever) of Skateboarding).

P.S. For those of you who do not speak "Tanner" he is saying: Please, Please, Please, cry, cry, some sort of laugh, bye, and at the end he says done.

Baby #2 is a ...

I am so overwhelmed in God's blessings on our life. Tanner has brought us so much joy in our lives. Yesterday we talked to our Washington and Idaho family and had our local family over for dinner. We felt so blessed that they wanted to share in our joy of our second child.

Kipp and I had an ultrasound yesterday to see how our second baby was doing. We are 20 weeks along and baby looks great. We got to see the strong heart working so hard.

So here is what you have been waiting for...It's a GIRL!!! Tanner is going to have a little sister. I tried to have his say sister but it sounds a lot like thank you. We'll work on it. Tanner loves to kiss my belly and say night-night baby.

Before we had dinner we passed out pink suckers to tell our family that it was a girl. I'll share pictures of the night soon!!