It's been 4 months?!

It's hard to believe this1 week old little guy: 

Is this 4 month old cutie!!!

He is getting so big!! We weighed him a week ago on Saturday and he was 14.7 lbs! He has doubled his birth weight :) Go, Zayne!! He is such a good little nurser and I enjoy that special time with him, as well :) He is such a good baby! He only cries when he is super tired or hungry. When he wakes up during the night, he's usually just sucking on his fist (one of his favorite things to do!) Whenever he sees me his eyes light up and he gives me a sweet smile. He loves to grab his feet and is working on rolling over! I can get him to laugh by singing "You are my Sunshine" while taking big dramatic breaths in between phrases! He loves his sister and his daddy and is the cutest little guy in the world! We love you Zayne!!

Evie is always on the go. She is officially potty trained and will be starting preschool next week! She is so excited :) We went last week for an orientation and she acted very comfortable while she was there! She is super outgoing and LOVES to talk -I have NO idea where she gets that ;) She is such a good listener and loves to help with Zayne. She LOVES Zayne and is always telling me things like "don't forget Zayme, MOM!" She loves to dress up as a princess. She is super independent and wants to do EVERYTHING on her own. A common saying with her right now is "I do it all by myself." This includes, making sandwiches, going potty, getting water or milk, getting dressed and taking showers. She is fully of energy and we love her!

I feel incredibly blessed to know that we were blessed with these children of our Heavenly Father. I love being a mommy, despite the days when it is really, really hard! There are always, tender little moments that make it all worth it! I am so grateful for Owen and his hard work so that I am able to stay at home with our little ones. Sure, it would be nice to have extra money, but nothing is as important as raising our children in a loving and Christ centered home. I am grateful to know that our family can be together forever and I can't think of anything more joyful. I know that My Heavenly Father knows me and loves me and wants what is best for me. I know that His hand is always in my life and if I am obedient to His commandments, He will bless me and guide me.

Johnston Family Reunion 2012

WARNING: PICTURES, PICTURES and MORE PICTURES!

This past weekend we had our annual Johnston family reunion. All of Owen's siblings were there except one (we definitely missed Roxi and her cute family).

 This is Zayne with her cousin Hayley. She LOVED this little guy (who doesn't? ;) She was like my personal nanny the whole weekend. It was a win, win situation!

 Evie having fun with some of her cousins.

 We did skeet shooting on Saturday morning, which Owen was in charge of and I think everybody had fun! While the older kids and adults were skeet shooting, the little ones had fun doing a rodeo type competition.

 Here the kids are, coloring their horses

 The shooting might have been a little loud for some of us ;)

 Zayne passed out!

 A little jump roping with our "lasso"

 Evie so badly wanted to jump rope. A few more years, Ev's and you will have it down!

 Cousin Morgan holding Zayne.

 All of the kids riding their horses in the barrel race!

 Evie doing the barrel race!

 Evie had help roping the "cow"

 And she won the milking contest! Way to go, Evie!

 I love this picture of Zayne and Grandma Johnston! We sure are going to miss them while they are on their mission!

 We went to this place called Christensen Pond. It's located between Parma and Fruitland. It was awesome!! It had a zip line out into the water, several diving boards and a water slide. It also had canoes.

 Owen doing the zip line! I did it as well....once. It's a lot higher up than it looks in the picture! It was kind of scary. It took me a while to finally do it!

 Our beautiful baby boy :)

 Every time I turned around, someone else was holding Zayne! He was very well loved by all!! He is such an easy baby to love. He rarely ever cries and is pretty laid back, just like his daddy :)

 Almost all of the grand kids. Owen's parents are leaving for a 6 month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the beginning of September. They will be serving in the Lubbock, TX mission. They both gave a talk on Sunday. I didn't get to hear either of their talks, due to wee ones, I was a little disappointed.

 Zayne and Cousin Brindisi

 Zayne and Cousin Morgan. These two young women have grown up to be so beautiful! I'm grateful for their great example to all of the younger cousins.

Zayne and Evie with Cousin Hayley and Torri.

An attempted family photo...............leave it up to Ev's to NOT smile  for the camera!

We had such a fun time with family this last weekend. I have said this many times before, but I am really lucky that I have such great in-laws! I love them! Owen is one of 10 and so it can get pretty crazy and chaotic at times, but I think that's part of the fun. It actually makes me want to have a lot of kids...we will see ;)
It was great! Until next year, Johnston's!

Road trip!

The middle of July brought myself and the kiddos a trip back to Moses Lake to visit our long lost friends!

This was Evie as excited as ever to get going. She couldn't wait to see her friends!

Such a cute little guy. He was ready to go as well :)

 On our drive to Moses Lake we stopped in Pendeleton, Oregon. Evie refused to get in the picture with Zayne. Little stinker! I fed Zayne during our stop and got Evie an ice cream cone from the McDonalds. The kids did great on the 5 hour drive except the last 20 miles! So close :)

 We arrived Thursday night. This is a picture of my friend Jenny's little guy, Weston and Zayne. They are only 3 days apart. Jenny was throwing a surprise baby shower for our friend Edra. I was part of the surprise. Edra wasn't expecting me until that Saturday.

 This was Edra's surprise face :)

 We opted to hang out outside because Jenny's air conditioner went out earlier in the day. It was only a little hot ;) I hope you finally got it fixed, Jenny!

 There were some serious storm clouds that night. It was a magnificent sight! We made it inside right before it started pouring rain.

 Zayne was loving his time with Edra and baby Mable.

Evie was scared to death to go down this slide last year. She has come a long way, folks!

 Zayne was sure spoiled on our trip! Someone was always holding him!

 We met with our friends, Annie and Nathan and their kids, for dinner!

 He's looking at me like "more pictures, mom? Really?"

 We went to a birthday party......

 Where the kids colored with crayons on to a piece of sand paper then it was ironed onto a shirt. It was pretty cool! Sounds like a good Family Home Evening idea!

 All of the kids in their shirts!

 My friend Courtney drew her dog, Bentley, on a onsie for Zayne.

 Evie chose to scribble with yellow crayon.....it ended up looking like a big stain on her shirt ;)

 Miss these gals! After the birthday party, we headed back home. We were gone for 10 days and we were ready to get back to daddy!

 I love this girl. She does the funniest little things!

We sure enjoyed our time with our friends back in Washington. We enjoyed going to the gym, playing, swimming, sewing, cooking, eating, laughing and talking. We miss all of our friends, dearly, but are so glad we can still keep in touch! We look forward to seeing baby Mable in a few more weeks! Its hard to believe that we moved 3 months ago. I still feel like we are in transition because we are still living with my parents. We finally found a house to rent and we move in Sep. 15th! Our crazy, upside down world will finally start settling down soon and we can't wait :)