May Happenings

Owen is quite the picky eater these days....but red peppers doused in ranch seems to be going down ok! Foods that usually pass the Owen test right now include pb and j, 'nanas', crackers, veggie/fruit packets, and milk. Aaaaand that's about it! 

For Memorial Day, we went to the Provo City service at the Provo Cemetery. It was very moving and it felt good to honor those people and their families that have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. One of the speakers was a Vietnam Vet...I like that he said that the Vietnam War was what he liked to call the War on Communism and contrary to popular belief, that made it very necessary and a winning war. 

My sick baby. I hate seeing him sick but I love a good cuddle session 

We spent one spring sunday afternoon up at South Fork. Owen was in pure heaven! He lights up when he knows all attention of both of his parents is on him. It was the best family time. Owen just ran up and down the grassy knoll squealing in pure delight.  

Owen's first haircut! He sat still like a champ!

Katie Powers Wilson and her husband Adam came back into town from New Hampshire. So what did we do? We ate our favorite Thai chicken pizza at Slab in Provo. Aaaand....we revealed to each other that we were both pregnant! Katie is only a few weeks behind me! 

Porch sits are our favorite summer activity...complete with snacks and chalk. 

We entered Owen into a Ducky Derby contest at BYU. At first we thought it might be a bust. But lots of people were there, all with their rubber ducks, and ready to float the stream that circles the south side of BYU campus. Owen's heat had probably 30 other ducks racing. Owen's duck ended up crossing the finish line first in his heat! It was hilarious! We got a Jamba Juice certificate. We stuck around for the championship round but the duck got stuck on some rocks and came in close to last place. Oh well. It's so funny how much of a thrill we felt winning out a bunch of other rubber ducks in a stream race. 

Owen's best buddies! Riley (and Ty) McKinnon and Ethan Hale 

Owen loves to be outside! Our little balcony out the front is one of his favorite places. 

San Diego

One of Mark's friends Patrick Hillary was getting married this April in San Diego...so of course we packed up and decided to go party with them! A bunch of Mark's other buddies from college (they were all roommates together including Patrick) came as well and we rented a beach house together in Oceanside. It was a blast! 

Addison Beal, Owen, and Davis Decker 

Brady Decker, Quincy Beal, Lance Tolman, and Mark

Going Home

This pretty much sums up how we felt about our trip being over. Tantrums!!! We'll leave your ship, Disney, but only kicking and screaming and throwing ourselves on the ground! We had the best time. Highlights for us included dinner time questions and conversations. We loved time on the veranda that joined our three rooms. I definitely spent a lot of time just hanging in bed in the evening and watching lots of Disney shows that were playing while I dealt with feeling sick. We loved spending a few minutes on the front of the boat while sailing on the open ocean! Free flowing soft drinks was a Johnson family favorite. The shows included an entertaining rendition of Aladdin and a hilarious magician named Mike.  We also watched a few movies in the theatre on the ship. By far the best part was a solid ten days of just quality family time. It was the trip of a lifetime, thank you DAD!!

Castaway Cay

Castaway Cay is Disney's private Caribbean island. It was gorgeous!! Lots of blue water and so nice to have the beaches just to all of us on the ship....which actually turns out to be a lot of people when everybody starts sprawling out. It was a major production for Disney to bring us all onto the island. They had so much food and water to haul on shore. It was an amazing operation to watch. We rented bikes and biked a 3 mile tour around the island that included look out points and water coolers placed along the path with ice cold water. We snorkeled out to 'ship wrecks' of Disney ships gone down. Lots of tropical fish to see. Owen loved playing on the beach in the sand. Brad took him swimming, Luke showed him how to dig, Mom played with him in the sand...Owen was one spoiled boy!