The Stables

We took a family trip to see horses that our friend Brianne sometimes takes care of.

Here's cowgirl Maddie ready to ride!

Miss Savannah waved and said "Hiii" to the horses! She was thrilled!

This horse may not look wild, but let me tell you...he was full of his own will.

Maddie loved watching Brianne ride.

We loved just being there looking at the horses, and learning a little about caring for them.

We'll come back another day for Mads to ride.

Daddy rode this tough guy, and stayed on!

We Make Transformations Every Day!

This link was very helpful to me as a mother with small children. If you have a moment, read this article on motherhood and think through how you use the gospel as you make transformations (big and small) in every day life. Rachel Jankovic has also written Loving the Little Years, which looks excellent. It's on my list next to read.

The Cripplegate

I love reading the blog my husband started with a few of his other pastor friends. It's called The Cripplegate. Here is the link to today's post, which I not only found incredibly helpful in parenting, but also to help guide my own life. Hope you enjoy!

Appointments

This morning was filled with appointments...first a hair cut for Madison (and dog joined, as you can see).

Then Savannah got to see Dr. Sherman for her 9 month well check.

(I love all his pins, crazy ties, and blue pants :)

Then Maddie had her 3 year old well check appointment.

Both girlies are lookin good and feelin healthy!

Savannah is Nine Months!

As you can see, Aunt Dottie is in town! We get to visit with her for the next month.

This sweet girl in her arms is nine months already! Here's what she's up to...crawling everywhere, standing and walking along anything she can remotely reach, clapping her hands, doing sign language for "more" and "all done" when eating, teething (4 in at this point), and she says "Ma Ma", "Da Da", and "Meh Meh" (for Maddie). Maddie happens to be her favorite person..Savanny (as M calls her) starts jumping like crazy and screeching with excitement when she hears her big sis coming!

Her stats are: 16 pounds, 9 ounces (12th percentile) and her length is 28 1/2 inches (86th percentile). Doctor Sherman says she's long and lean and healthy!

Savannah Grace is a joy to me. I just love cuddling this little one. She likes being sung to and held right before bed, other than that she's always on the move! We thank the Lord for this precious gift and pray for her salvation daily.

Dancing and Spaghetti

Some of Maddie's favorite things to do...

Dancing to princess music all dressed up with this cute skirt Aunt Melissa made.

She needed a prince.

We also made homemade Italian meatballs and sauce with Mimi the other day. Both girls were part of the process :)

This tomato sauce was made from the roma tomatoes we've grown in our garden, so it's a pretty special sauce! We made two huge pots of it, and then froze it in serving sizes for yummy dinners to come.

Our Washington Trip!

Two days after our NC trip, we repacked our bags and all four of us hopped on a plane to Washington. Jesse had the privilege of preaching at the high school camp for Eastridge Baptist, a church where one of his friends pastors in Seattle. The camp was at Cascades, which was one of the most beautiful facilities I've ever been to! While Jesse was preaching the girls and I explored the grounds:

We found this fun park!

I love spending time with this cutie. She is so fun to play and pretend with.

Here she is driving and singing to dog!

And Savannah is just adorable and so easy going. Here are a few of my favorite faces she makes these days...

This is her Granny face.

This face come along with some screeching!

Another day while Jesse was preaching we went on a hike. Savannah loves being in the ergo carrier and Maddie bounced along ahead of me!

The girls were so happy to see Daddy during free time!

There was a zip line, ropes course, and lake at the camp. Jesse and I did the zip line through the forest one day- super fun!

On another day we all went out on a canoe. After a while Savannah didn't love the life jacket, so she and I stayed on shore while Jesse took Maddie around the lake.

Rachel Drollinger came and picked the girls and I up from camp a couple days early, and we spent time visiting. It was great to having some girlfriend time and watching our kids interact, being that they are so close in age (Andrew- 4 years, Sierra and Maddie- 3 years and born the same day, and Brighton is only a week and a half younger than Savannah!)

The Drollingers have a beautiful view of Rainier right from their house and from the lake down the road. Rach and I took the kids to Lake Tapps one evening for dinner.

Brighton and Savannah loved getting into our sandwiches!

One evening Rachel read bedtime stories to the kids outside. Sierra and Mads matched in their blue princess nightgowns!

I LOVE the giggles! What could be better to get the kids ready for bed than a good jump on the trampoline?!

One morning while Andrew was at VBS, the girls had a tea party! They really enjoyed the snacks and painting nails.

Here's the cotton candy from the VBS BBQ lunch.

Brighton and Savannah tore things apart in their matching dresses.

Too cute!

We went to a fair one evening and watched a man riding a horse standing up, and than he did a back flip!

Once the dads made it home, we had an amazing outing to Crystal Mountain. The Drollingers were so kind to host us for a week and take us to many beautiful places. We're so thankful for our time with them- what sweet friends!

Here's the Johnson side of the gondola :)

Maddie loved the ride!

At the top of the gondola ride was THIS view!

Future hikers!

Maddie usually loves to hike, but this day she was just getting over being sick, so she stayed in the backpack the whole hike down the mountain.

The Drollingers also have little hikers, but Andrew was sick, too. So John ended up carrying him the whole way down.

Beautiful!

There was even a patch of snow on the hike!

Ahhhhh! So gorgeous!

Rach and me carrying our babies!

John and Jesse with the big kids :)

There were beautiful fields of wild flowers along the path.

We were also able to spend time with a bunch of our other Washington friends, but didn't get any photos unfortunately. Thanks to everyone who had meals with us and visited while we were there! We had a fantastic trip!

North Carolina

In July, Jesse and I got to spend five days in the mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina. We left the girls at home, so it was just the two of us (well, actually the two of us plus 400 high schoolers!). Jesse was preaching at a high school conference, and we saw a bunch of past seminary grads with their youth groups. It was super hard leaving the girls, and I don't think I'll be doing that again, but we were grateful that my parents were able to watch them, so Jesse and I could have a great trip together.

Here's the Robert E. Lee Hall. Built in the 1800's this originally was a house. It was incredibly large, and overlooked the Appalachian mountains.

From the porch of the hall you looked out at these beautiful mountains.

I loved all the rocking chairs!

We did a hike with the high schoolers one afternoon during free time.

Allen Cagel and Jesse were able to talk about church ministry, and I listened in :)

One morning Jesse and I took a little outing down to Asheville. We went to Tupelo Honey Cafe. This place was amazing- so cute and everything was delicious! I had the sweet potato pancakes.

After our big breakfast we walked around a few shops and bookstores. This one was Jesse's favorite.

One evening the conference had a Christian rapper, Tedashii, in for a concert. I had no idea who he was, but all the high schoolers certainly did! It was amazing to hear how God saved him and how he became a rapper.

Here's a bunch of the kids. We enjoyed getting to know them, and loved their passion for Christ.

It was neat for me to sit and listen to all of Jesse's messages (since I'm not always able to do that with little ones). The speakers also did a Q & A one afternoon, and I was impressed at how serious the students were about being humble learners and seeking to live for Christ at a young age.

Thanks again to Mimi and Papa for giving Jesse and I this time away. Madison and Savannah loved their time with you.