Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The birth of Riley Jo

At around 9 A.M. on Saturday, October 9th, we received a message informing us that Stephanie was going into labor. Scotty and Kelsi had arrived earlier in the morning at our house around 3:30 A.M. We were all super excited and anxious to meet Riley. We took our time getting things ready, and then headed up to Vancouver, where we arrived at the hospital at about 2 P.M. I knew Stephanie was going to start pushing around then, so we had no idea how quickly or slowly this process was going to take. The four of us met up with Stephanie's dad, her sisters, and a couple friends in a waiting room outside the delivery room. We were representing the Ducks, while the rest of the crew was cheering on the Cougars. By watching the game, we were able to kill time and stay relaxed. Shortly after, we heard a baby cry, and the nurses coming in and out the room. We got confirmation from a nurse that Riley had been born. When Eric was able to leave the room, he came out to greet us all. It was the most incredible experience to see Eric and hear him say, "She is perfect!" He is an incredible Dad and so proud of his incredible wife for how well she handled the labor and delivery. Once we had a chance to go into the room, we saw first-hand how perfect Riley really was. The four of us spent as much time as we could in the room with everyone, and I am so happy we were all able to be a part of this incredible day. Also, it is incredible that Scotty and Kelsi were down that weekend for the birth as well. We all are looking forward to spending an enormous amount of time with Riley Jo, and watching her grow up. She is beautiful and she is blessed to have such incredible parents.

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Carrie Underwood Concert

Some pictures from the Carrie Underwood concert. Lindsey, Amber, and I had an incredible time watching and singing along with Carrie from the floor in the 16 row. We were so close!!

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Thursday, September 23, 2010

Posting entire albums!

While messing around on Shutterfly, I figured out how to post entire albums directly to our blog! Exciting, right?!

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Monday, September 13, 2010

It's been a while...

Hello! I apologize I have been so bad about posting. Since my last post, we finished up another school year, completed our summer vacation, are back into the swing of another school year, and Stephanie is getting close to having baby Riley Jo. This fall has served us well so far with quality time as a couple, along with our families. The opened the Duck football season off in Eugene together with friends as well as a full Autzen Stadium. Fortunately, the Ducks kicked butt against New Mexico and tied the school record with a 72-0 victory!


At the Oregon football game.


Beautiful Stephanie, who is now 36 weeks along!

The following week we headed up to Aberdeen, where we watched the Bobcats play a little football. We were also able to see Scotty's school and classroom. We then drove down to Vancouver where we cheered on Skyview to a close victory over Coeur d'Alene. Unfortunately, we had to call it an early night because we had a very early morning. Yesterday morning we woke up and drove to downtown Portland where we prepared to run in our first road race, the Pint to Pasta 10k. Scotty joined us in the 6.2 mile journey through Portland. Although it seemed like a terrible idea while we were running, we finished the race and are very proud of ourselves for finishing.


Eric and Stephanie after the 36-34 Skyview victory.


After our 6.2 mile run!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Baby girl in Stephanie's belly!

Yesterday, Stephanie and Eric headed to the doctor to hear whether they are having a girl or boy. Of course, we were all waiting on pins and needles, but we FINALLY heard the news. Eric and Stephanie are having a baby girl!!!!!!!!! We are so excited and Eric said the doctor commented on how large her lips were! I guess she did not have much of a chance to not have Eric's lips. Riley Jo is due on October 10th and we are very excited. Congratulations Eric and Stephanie. :)

Garren's 2nd birthday

We had a free weekend and we decided to make a surprise trip down to Yuba City, CA to visit Mandy, AJ, Garren, Linda, and Dennis. We thought we could make it down there in a solid eight hours, and then sneak into the house without a sound. Unfortunately, Avery and Aspen, their two yellow labs, heard us and could smell Jesi. Our surprise was blown, but at least we were there for Garren's birthday on Saturday! We made the trek in our new car, which was really nice for Jesi in the back. However, the following day, we offered to pick up the food for the party, which was Mexican from a neighboring town. When we arrived back into Yuba City at another restaurant to pick up some salsa, we noticed the disaster we had in the back seat. Not only had the container of beans opened, but it has spilt EVERY WHERE! Why would packaging of refined beans be safe with only tin foil as a "lid". Needless to say, we had quite the mess to clean up once back to the house. We survived and thank goodness there is not a single sign of beans in the car. We got everything set up and people began to arrive. It was adorable to see Garren with the other kiddos. Here are some pictures that highlight the day.


Linda and the birthday boy playing in the jump house.

Buddy and Garren playing with his new bubble machine.

Garren taking a break from his birthday celebration.

Here are the three dogs, Jesi, Aspen, and Avery.

The two of us enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

Here is Garren when everyone was singing him Happy Birthday. So cute!

Garren eating his Elmo birthday cupcake.

He got his first Giants hat and baseball glove from us.

Garren watching his DVD player to mellow down for the night.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Mountain Biking in McDonald Forest

Buddy bought a great mountain bike last spring and has continued to ride it for the past year. I have loved hearing his stories about how fun it has been, but I was still a little jealous I hadn't tried it yet. On Saturday, I borrow a friend's bike and helmet and I was ready to hit the trails with my husband and puppy. Jesi, Buddy and I loaded up the truck and took the adventure to Corvallis where we were planning on heading into McDonald Forest.
This is the two of us at the top of McDonald Forest.

At the top of the ride, there is a pond, and we had a blast throwing Jesi's buoy off the dock. Buddy has been trying to get her to be confident off the dock, so she is able to jump right into the water. She was pretty timid at first, but when other dogs came around, we couldn't stop her from jumping in!


Jesi did great and though she would ran away, she would always come right back beside one of us. After having a blast, we actually went and bought a mountain bike and helmet for me! We look forward to hitting the mountain as a family soon!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Jesi's poor paws



After a long beautiful bike ride yesterday afternoon, Buddy realized that Jesi's paws had cut open from the wear of the pavement. We have always joked around about purchasing little boots for her paws. While at Petco looking for ointment, the booties were on sale. So, naturally, we HAD to buy them. Here is a great picture of Jesi wearing her new booties around the house. So cute! :) It was quite entertaining watching her try to adjust to having something covering her paws.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter!



Happy Easter from the Johnsons! We are so thankful for our family, friends, and all the opportunities that have come our way. Thank you Jesus for everything you have blessed us with!

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." John 11:25-26

The past few weeks...

Our incredible group, minus the photographer, my Mom!


We had our spring break a couple weeks ago, which was followed by the rest of my family having their spring break. Fortunately, we were able to all spend time together, minus Katy, up in Vancouver. Our last weekend of our spring break, my parents and brother Scotty came down to Albany to visit before we all headed to Vancouver. We had a blast with Wii, playing games from "Minute to Win it" and the boys even got in some racquet ball at the gym. We wish we lived closer to them, but it sure is sweet when they come to visit.




When we headed up to Vancouver, we enjoyed our time playing Rockband, searching through baby books, eating at delicious restaurants with great trivia, and of course, each other.




All of use, except Katy, were able to celebrate Eric's 26th birthday together. We ate yummy pizza followed by chocolate cake for the birthday boy.



We are so blessed to have such an amazing family. We cannot wait to add another one to the family in September or October (whenever he or she comes out!) Stephanie had an adorable belly and we have loved being a part of the pregnancy as much as we can. Here are some fun pictures from the week:




Wednesday, February 17, 2010

It's been far too long...

It has been a very long time since we posted last and we have had a ton going on! We have been very bad about taking pictures but we do have some that highlight the past couple months. Though we did spend our Christmas apart due to Buddy's work schedule, Melissa was able to head home to see her family back in Spokane. Here are some pictures of Christmas mass:


The Rice family


All three kids


Eric, Stephanie and Blitz


Mom and Dad

After celebrating Christmas, Buddy and Melissa hopped on a plane early New Years morning to head down to Sacramento to spend time with Mandy, AJ and Garren. Unfortunately, we were there to watch the terrible loss of the Ducks in the Rose Bowl, but we totally forgot about it after spending such wonderful moments with the Dill family. We came back to Albany and were headed right back to work. Buddy and Melissa celebrated six months of marriage together and then a week later, we headed to Sun River, OR where we spent some time in the snow with friends. We recently found out Stephanie is pregnant so we are very excited to be aunts and uncles again. This is the adorable way Eric and Stephanie told everyone on Facebook:


We are so excited for the parents-to-be!!!

This past weekend, Buddy was fortunate enough to head down to California and spend an incredible weekend with his family at Bear Valley. Instead of attending this amazing event, Melissa was stuck in class at Oregon State. :( Here is a video of Garren and Buddy saying hi to me..aka Mizza or Pizza!



We promise to get better about taking pictures and videos so we can keep in touch. We love you!