~Be My VaLeNtInE~

How lucky am I? This year I had THREE valentines!

Morning time together:) 

Eating our Valentines cupcakes

Travis (thankfully, and not a moment too soon) was able to catch a flight home Wednesday, February 13th home to the Salt Lake Airport and I was SO excited (and so were the boys) to have our Travis back!

We woke up and while the boys played with Travis, I was able to break my new running shoes in with a 2mile run to the temple and back.

I had some intense mood music for my first run of the year, but funny enough, as I came up the hill my music switched to this classical song (one of my favorites), and it just set the mood. I decided to go walk the grounds, and took a seat on a bench and just stared at the temple. How lucky am I that I live exactly one mile from the Lord's Temple. I can go there whenever. It requires nO money. It requires no time to be taken off work for a weekend trip to it, and I can literally walk there if I didn't have a car. I am so grateful that as I drive home after work and it's late and dark and I'm all alone, I can just use that large beacon in the distance as my guide, my compass, and my destination of where I want to be. Every night as I drive home I am reminded that the Temple is my ultimate destination point! So I just sat and soaked that in before turning around to run home; what a wonderful moment in my day that was, where I could share in some Valentines love with the peaceful spirit that resides on the temple grounds. 

Shortly after arriving home we broke out the cupcakes and soon THIS is what Aaron looked like:)

Eat up

Oh this face:)

I had made Aaron his own personal little cupcake, thinking he'd like a tiny one, which he did; however, the rest of the day he had baby pink vomit (like a spewing waterfall) the rest of the day... something Travis wasn't happy with me for since I had to go to work and left him with with the colorful mess the rest of the night ;) 

Before I had to leave for work I decided to make a fun lunch; since last year we made a heart shaped pizza, this year we did Nachos. I think it turned out pretty fun. 

Before

After

We also exchanged gifts, and for the first time in the history of our marriage, Travis bought me a gift that didn't live up to his expectations... He bought me this beautiful outfit that consisted of a longer dress shirt, a cute yellow belt to cinch around the waist, and a pair of white jeans that would look perfect with sandals. Well, on the 7ft, 95lb model, this outfit was a knock out, but on my 5ft, just had a baby body it was awful! ha ha. Seriously, the first thing he's ever bought that we both just LAUGHED and LAUGHED over the sight of me in:) BUT what it did provide for me was a serious wake up call that I need to work a little harder to lose this remaining baby chub. I took some before pictures, and if I get to a point that I'm comfortable with the after shot, then I'll post it so you can share in our laughter at what I ONCE looked like ;) 

Besides that I went to work and had a crazy busy night full of the kindest people, seriously. I wish people could always be that nice, complimentative, and gracious. NOTE to SELF: take the day after Valentines off next time; people used up all their kindness the day before and are EXTRA rude!

The End

The Latest and GREATEST

We've had slow moments where we just stayed inside away from the cold weather:

Poor little guys has been sick
for at least a week

Some Nintendo wii sports

just playing with some toys
(brother's toys)

A slow morning at the library

We've had moments in preparation for life events:

FHE: preparing ourselves
against the world

New running shoes! Preparing
for the new season!

To Do List with Daddy, in preparation for his return:)

We've also had some really happy moments:

T (co-worker/friend) was great enough to
drive us to the airport since my
car is temporarily broken

Waiting for his "dadda"
which was his first word

priceless

ran right over to him
and got a big hug!

then he pulled off his hat and
gave Travis a Valentine
he'd made and then hid
in his hat for safe
keeping :)

We've also had some disheartening moments:

• A broken car (really not too depressing; more expected these days ;)

Worse, a sick Nala :(

About two weeks ago, Nala's mood changed; we assumed it was due to the breeding. She became depressed, mopy, and stopped eating. We tried a couple of different things, including purchasing a new brand of dog food we knew she loved, some cans of soft dog food, and some treats. 

 Today we received a call from my mom that Nala wasn't getting out of bed. We quickly called and scheduled an appointment to take her to the vet. The Vet was stumped and asked us to leave her a few hours for some x-rays. It was sweet, yet heartbreaking, as we were leaving Maddix gave her big hugs and said, "don't worry girl, we'll be back for you soon. Don't be afraid." She was.

So we went on with the day and waited for the call. They asked us to come back in and we were told that the x-ray showed relatively little, other than the fact that her uterus, stomach, and spleen are enlarged which is causing immense pain so she doesn't want to move or eat :(


We ordered a blood panel and should receive the results tomorrow. They gave us a medication to start with in hopes that it's a minor infection causing the bloating... and then perhaps puppies bloating the uterus; if the results come back with a large amount of infection in her uterus we will know that she has this one disease (can't remember the name) that will cause her to need a hysterectomy; meaning she was never pregnant.

All in all we just hope our baby girl is okay.
It breaks my heart to see her feeling so sick; however, when we left the vet at the end of the day she did seem to be feeling slightly better. Now it's just a waiting game... I'll update later.

In the meantime, tonight despite our exhaustion, we did find then energy to start some Valentines Day Cupcakes:)

My cooking buddy.
He was excited all night
to make these.

Experimenting with different colors and designs...
I think I'll finish the rest tomorrow ;) 

2013 in a Nutshell

It's now February, and I'm just realizing, I'd like a recap on 2013 so that in the future I can find this one post and see quickly how the year treated me and my family. 

January

Played in a LOT of snow

We announced the addition of
baby #2

February

Celebrated my bday

Stayed in because of the snow and bed rest... Travis studied. 

Then we celebrated Valentines day as a family

And continued to stay inside because of all the snow and my best rest 

Began "school time"

Developed Cabin Fever!

March

Decided to break free of the snow
and head for Warsaw
to our District Conference

Barely caught the train and
wound up sitting on our
suit cases

Well worth the adventure just to get out of LUBLIN
and get some American food, and stay
with some amazing friends, the
Armstrongs.

April

Easter! 

Conference/Anna's bday celebration

Soaking up our last views of Lublin as a family 

Enjoying the last of our
family walks
through our neighborhood

Enjoying some of the last of our
daily routine in Lublin,
as as a family of three

May

Arrival of Gma and Kara to Europe
(My neck of the woods)

Last trip through Poland, Prague, and Germany!

Reunited and it feels so good! 

June

Got our Travis back!

Very first Spartan for Travis
and his siblings

A lot of fun in the sun while
awaiting the arrival of baby Aaron 

July

Fourth of July and still pregnant... 

July 5th, 2013:
Aaron Falco Johnson Arrives!

Said our goodbye to my sister, Talya
who left to serve a mission in
Chicago, IL!

August

Experienced a LOT of downtime as we adjusted to
a new baby once again

We also celebrated our 5th anniversary (but saved the big celebration until Sept)

Experienced the most AMAZING rainstorm
with our good friends, the Steinagels/Nelsons

September

Trip to California for Ajay's Wedding

Hands down, the BEST vacation we've experienced
as a family! Such an amazing week!

Final Goodbye's until Christmas :`(

October

Celebrated Maddix's 3rd Birthday!

Halloween! Theme: Peter Pan
(B: P.Pan, M: Capt Hook, L: Tinkerbell, and A: Smee:) 

Novemeber

We were lucky enough to attend the homecoming of our beloved Ex-Elder Mikolyski (Chad). I worked a lot, but when I was home, we were SNUGGLING through the cold weather. I worked Thanksgiving, but we did have an amazing Very Unmerry Pirate Princess Party!

December

 ~Met Santa Claus~

Travis Celebrated his 28th birthday back
in Poland with our dear friends!

AND THEN WE GOT HIM BACK (for two weeks)!!

Celebrated Christmas with MANY family parties

Welcomed in the new year with a very quiet, low key, and
down right dull new years eve party ;0] 

2013, You were so good to us. 

           Bring on 2014!