CA in November

My sister and her family came to town for Thanksgiving. She misses the beach now that her family moved to AZ, so we took the kids to Malibu the day before Thanksgiving. It was beautiful!

Papa and his AZ granddaughters.

It was great to have the beach to ourselves.

Climbing the big sand dune :)

Melissa and I swapped kids on the long walk back from the shore.

This was extremely cute- Emma was spooning sand on Madison's legs as Mads was eating a cookie.

The grandparents with their girlies.

After the beach, we hung out at Papa and Mimi's.

Ben and Melissa- what a cute couple.

And then a reindeer attacked us out of nowhere!

Mimi made a delicious dinner celebrating a few of our birthdays. And then the cousins watched a movie together.

Madison really enjoyed Mimi's chocolate ice cream cake.

Sweet Friends

One year, four months, and one week ago these little friends were born! Rachel and Sierra were in town, so Maddie and I met up with them for a visit. Rach and I have been close friends for about 10 years now, and the Lord planned for us to have our daughters on the same day! These two little girls are adorable together, and are well on their way to becoming fast friends like their mommies.

Sierra would take Madison's hand, and they would walk around together.

Here's Sierra giving Maddie a hug :)

After shopping a bit in the hectic Ontario Mills Mall, we went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

The girlies watching the "gish" (that's how Mads says fish).

Sierra couldn't decide if she was scared or excited by all the new sights and sounds. Roaring lions, snapping crocks, stomping elephants, swimming fish, flashing lights, and more.

Rach was so kind to treat me to an early birthday dinner!

It was delicious!

This lady made Madison a balloon butterfly.

She's been playing with it for two days now.

Sierra LOVED the ice cream! What a beautiful little girl she is. We had such a fun day- thanks for spending the time with us!

Girl Time!

The Johnsons love these girls! They are all a part of our CSUN study. Friday night Jesse and I had them over for dinner. Maddie loved being one of the big girls when it came time to watch a movie!

Montrose

This morning the three of us decided to follow my friend Karen's advice and do Montrose. We started out at Berolina Bakery for a pastry (which was amazing). Then we headed over to the Farmer's Market in town. Here is Maddie walking along with her slinky.

This cute jacket is from Grandma. Deb sent this for Madison's birthday. It's got little rine-stones all over and adorable pink fringe. As you can see, the back has bull horns on it (Grandma is from Colorado). Her blinged jacket fits her perfectly now!

Then we headed to the park where Maddie was able to climb, swing, and slide.

Aw! What a good Daddy.

After that we headed over to Once Upon a Child (a used kids store). I was able to sell some of my old teaching books and some items Mads no longer uses and made $48 (I did spend $30 of it on things she needed). Love those deals.

Here we are now at Schreiner's, a German deli, where we had amazing sausage sandwiches for lunch. As you can see, Maddie is kicking back enjoying the ride. It didn't take her more than 2 minutes to fall asleep once we got in the car!

Here is my silly girl wearing my hat! Lately she is enjoying trying on my shoes and hats. She even tries to help me clean and cook. I love this age! (It does come along with a strong will:)

Dates with Daddy

One of my favorite things these days is seeing Madison and Jesse together. It is precious to see how much she loves her Daddy (and how much Daddy loves Maddie). I just have to say that Jesse is such a great husband and father. He takes Maddie on a daughter date every other Thursday morning, while I get to meet with Kim Holland. It is a treat to talk with her about things I'm thinking through- she has such wisdom. During those times, Jesse does something special with Madison. I asked him last time to take the camera because I want to spy on them during their time together. Some places they have gone are: the pet store, parks, hiking, ice cream shop, watched soccer highlights, and more.

Here they are hiking at O'Melvany Park.

Maddie loves playing in cars.

I am so thankful for Jesse- what a fun Daddy he is!

Little Ladies

Check out these cute little ladies here. I love seeing Maddie playing with sweet friends. Merilly and I had a good time together, too :)

Dinner for Eight

Our Bible Study did dinners for 8 a couple Friday nights ago. We hosted one, and gave it the theme "breakfast for dinner". Everyone came in their sweats, brought their favorite stuffed animal, and a portion of the breakfast we made into dinner. It was so fun!

We played a game to start out the night where everyone had a different name on their back. You had to ask yes and no questions in order to guess who you were. Madison never guessed she was Dr. Seuss, but had fun with the game anyways!

It took Jesse a while to guess that he was Pink Panther.

It was a fun night of getting to know a few of the members of our study better. About 30 people signed up to do this event. So we picked names from a hat and a group was sent to one of three different homes. After we ate, we played a few more games, and just sat around and talked.

The guys getting seconds and thirds :)

Our table was filled with pumpkin pancakes, whole grain pancakes, toppings, eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit salad, orange juice, and hot drinks.

Last Couple of Days

The other night I gave Madison this bowl and spoon as I was cooking dinner. She was adorable with it- stirring away, smelling it, and saying "hot"!

Papa and Mimi came over to see the cowgirl.

Here's a picture of what our Johnson Reformation party looked like this year- 11 adults and 3 kids. We had a blast with Rich, Michelle, Andrew, Michelle, Mike, Rachel, Justin, Juli, Josh, and Jesse and me.

All the kiddos!

Dinner was BBQ meat, rolls, sweet potatoes, salad, and root beer, of course.

Hanging out talking about the Reformation :)

Josh was so kind to read Maddie bedtime stories.

This hand-me-down outfit has gone through at least 4 girls! Can you believe it? I love hand-me-downs!