Mary's Birthday Bash

The day before her birthday, Mary found this paper laying on the bed. She enjoys surprises but also likes to "be prepared" and "plan ahead" for things, so Mark left this to give her an idea and time frame of what would be happening on her big day.

Breakfast turned out to be Ruth's Diner. A quaint little place up Emigration Canyon where they serve the biggest, most fluffy and delicious biscuits you've ever had!

After breakfast, Mary received some cute cards from Chad and Alli.

Mark sent Mary out for a pedicure. Talk about relaxation!

"What reason have ye to be merry?" Watching a great

performance of A Christmas Carol of course!

And where else to have a swashbuckling good time, but Pirate Island Pizza! What a fun Birthday! And what a very sweet husband to plan a great and memorable day for his wife! Thanks Mark!

The Lights on Temple Square

If there is one thing Mary gets excited about every winter it's the lights on temple square. We froze our rear-ends off, but it was fun to walk through looking at the lights below the illuminated temple. Chad got to see the nativity scene on a life-size scale and Mary even ran into Sister's Knabe and Smith from her mission, which was a pleasant surprise.

Chad couldn't see why this was a bad idea.

The Kid's Photo Shoot - Take Two

Chad turned "monster" on Mary the first time she attempted to get pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids, so naturally she came home empty handed. Since then, in random moments of regret Chad would say, "wanna take a picture" as if he was remorseful and wanted a chance to redeem himself. Thankfully the second attempt was a success, though Alli struggled mightily with the concept of "look at the camera" (I guess we'll cut her some slack, at least until she's 2 months old :)

Chad (Almost) Sits on Santa's Lap

(no caption necessary)

Chad Does Cougar Town

Chad finally got a chance to drop the line that he's been practicing for weeks, "Go Cougarrrs!" Mark and Chad met up with some of Mark's siblings to catch the BYU v. Air Force game down in Provo. The weather was a little chilly, but Chad was bundled up from head to toe including his cougar paw tattoo. The action was superb as the Cougars took care of business, but the highlight was when Chad, from 120 rows away, spotted the Air Force mascot and shouted, "Duck!" How can you blame him, that big blue bird didn't look any more like a Falcon than it did any other species of flying vertebrates (Mark can't wait to tell his brother Nate, USAF pilot, that Chad was dissing the Air Force mascot.) "Rah-rah-rah-rah-rah, Go Cougars!"

Two smiling dudes amid the masses of 64,000 Cougar faithful.

Aunt Jen and Chad from the top of the world.

"I see you."

Chad Rides Trains

Mark offered to "take Chad off of Mary's hands" on Friday afternoon by taking him up to Rice-Eccles stadium for a high school football playoff game (yeah right, we all know his real motive.) Anyway, to satisfy Chad's love of "choo-choo trains," Mark decided to take him up to the game on TRAX. Chad had a blast riding public transport as he continually shouted "train go fast!"

Alli is here!

Alli Laurel Johnson was born on Oct. 29th at 7:43 pm,
weighing in at 7lbs 13 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She has
lots of light brown hair and is as cute as can be.

Proud Mommy and Daddy

Chad was excited to see his baby sister. Unfortunately

he and Mark have been sick ever since we brought
Alli home, so they've had to keep their distance

(as seen above.)

Good thing Maka was here to help.

Sweet baby

Pumpkin Carvin'

Of course even for carving pumpkins we had to
stick to Chad's favorite theme. He was grossed out
at first by the "pumpkin guts" but then he got into
it and loved holding it in his hands.

Gardner Village

We took Chad to Gardner Village in West Jordan
to see all the witches, animals, and shops. He still
talks about "sitting with witches."

Just Because...

Here are just some random pics. These first two are from our
trip to Oregon in August.

Here we have Chad on his first day of potty training. We went through about 7 pairs of underwear by 11:00 that morning. What a rough day!

Playing Tennis

Ready for Church. (mostly ready for nursery)