Friday, January 4, 2013

Johnston Christmas 2012

After celebrating Christmas with our immediate family at Grandma and Grandad's, we joined the entire Johnston clan for a Chinese Gift Exchange at Aunt Vickie and Uncle Jerry's house. We had so much fun eating a yummy brunch with way too much delicious food, visiting and opening gifts. I loved all of the squeals from the little girls running around! There seems to be a trend in our family and my cousins all have little girls at the moment-- that is until Mr. Bowen joins the group in the spring! We are so blessed to be able to enjoy precious moments like these with our amazing family.

Isn't Grace the cutest in her Grinch dress?

Grandad playing a game with the girls


Daicee and Kirby

Josh and Vicki, who are expecting baby Bowen in the spring. So happy for them!





Aunt Pat & Carl







Sarah and Daicee with her sassy face :)

Shelby, Kendra, Ken & Aubrey

Josh & his princess

Aunt Vickie & Jacob






Sibling pic


This family is the sweetest. I had fun doing a mini photo shoot of them!

Congrats to Kristina and Dathan, who are getting married in March. So excited for these two!

There's no place like Grandma & Grandad's

We kicked off the tour of Texas with a visit to Comanche. It was wonderful to be at my grandparent's house, as we had not visited in about a year and a half. I treasure the times that I am able to be with the entire family at Grandma and Grandad's house, and it's always super cozy as the family continues to grow! We ate the traditional steaks, opened gifts and just enjoyed hanging out together. It's not very often that we all get to be in one place! Because I went a little camera crazy, I'll do a photo dump of all the fun.



Devyn, 16 months


Karsyn, 4 years








Grandad was surprised to receive his first gift- a golf ball. Little did he know this was the first of three balls which would lead him to his big surprise!

You're not officially part of the family until you've accomplished a Christmas scavenger hunt. Cody got to search high and low, inside and out for his gift.

All of clues finally led him to a vintage game of Clue!



Bet you wish you had some glasses like these, huh?

Stacey with the sweet gift the girls made for her


When Molly wasn't teasing Rio, she was busy lounging under the tree

Now that's a sight! Real men carry little dogs. :)



Grandma and Grandad were so not expecting their big gift from all the kids- a golf cart! Now they can ride around their property in style, and they sure did.

Priceless!

Takin' her for a spin

Hold on, Grandma! (Love that face)





We're already counting down to the next visit to Grandma and Grandad's. Life is just so much better when you're at the grandparents' house, no?


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

I now round to 30.

I celebrated the big 2-6 on Christmas day, and Cody was very quick to remind me that now I "officially" round to 30 years old. What a guy. I'm so fortunate that I robbed the cradle and will get to be reminded of that every year, especially when I hit 30, 40, 50... you get the picture. Despite my increasing age, I had a blast spending my birthday with my wonderful family and friends. We went to Houlihan's the week of Christmas to celebrate with some of my best friends, and it was just perfect. I can't wait to see everyone again on our next trip to SA!

Excuse the darkness of the pics... we were clearly all about the ambience of the restaurant that evening!
Cody and Stephen were so happy to having a little man bonding time.

My first official night out in SA with my 21-year-old sister!

Brittany, Carrie, Christina, me and Kirby
Love these girls!

Carrie got me these fantastic Best Friend hats, and we had to wear them proudly. Aren't we presh? I sure miss that girl and hope we get to wear them together again soon!

The three musketeers, reunited! Carrie, Christina and me
I love spending time with these girls and miss them so much. Thank you both for your sweet gifts and for coming to celebrate with me!

Just being fabulous with her martini, as usual.

A little sister-brother love. Aren't they adorable? 

25 was a pretty great year, and I am super excited to see what's in store for 26. I am one blessed gal, that's for sure!

'Twas the day (or two) before Christmas...

Well, the tour of Texas has officially come to an end. Cody and I were very sad to say goodbye to all of the family that we got to spend quality time with over the past week and a half, and we can't believe how much more quickly Christmas seems to fly by each year. We had so much fun in Comanche, San Angelo and San Antonio and are once again reminded of how incredibly blessed we are to have amazing families with which to celebrate the holidays. Before we get into the nitty gritty of the Christmas and New Year's festivities, however, I must document all of the fun that preceded my favorite time of year.

Cody, Rio and I welcomed a new member to our household the week before Christmas. A trophy from Cody's first elk hunt, this very large mount can now be found taking up its post in Cody's office. One day, when we live in our rustic lodge with tremendously high vaulted ceilings, this baby will look fantastic. For now, Rio will just make sure he knows his place, which happens to be face to face with Cody while he's seated at his desk. All joking aside though- I am quite proud of my hubby and his mad hunting skills, even if I'm still a bit uncertain about the eyes that follow me down the hallway as I do laundry every week. :)

This post wouldn't be complete without a pic of our sweet niece, Princess Addison. She continues to grow like a weed and remains the most fabulous infant around. (But that should come as no surprise, right?) I could just eat her up in this hat and Christmas outfit.

On Christmas Eve, Dad decided to kick it old school and take us on a putt putt golfing and ice cream afternoon date. We enjoyed channelling our inner adolescents and showing off our tremendous golf abilities. If you can't tell how good we are by these pics, then I don't know what to tell you.

After careful observation, Kirby finally realized that the ducks were not, in fact, real.

Cody, the putt putt champ

Awkward, but we still had to document the end of the game.

After one round of Christmas with the Brown family, Rio was ready for a nap. Little did he know there was so much more to come! I think he'll be recuperating for at least the next month. Poor guy. 

Stay tuned for the first installment in our family's version of "Four Christmases"... I still can't believe it's over!