How did this happen?

How did this......

Turn into this......

so quickly??

Yep, our baby girl is now a one-year old!
Here are some highlights from Alli's big day.

Brotherly Love

Presents and cake.

Of course Chad pulled the lady bug right off

and immediately decapitated it.....with his mouth.

Chad wanted "candles" on his piece of cake so

we sang happy birthday to him as well.

Beautiful Mornings

Mary's always saying how the sunsets in Arizona are the best. Well, she's still right on that count. But we all agree that the sunrises in Nebraska are pretty darn amazing too.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

We learned that the thing to do in Omaha this time of year is to go to Vala's Pumpkin Patch. There was quite a lot of things to do including watching pigs race, viewing a pumpkin launched from a canon (seriously LAUNCHED incredibly far), jumping on trampoline-like contraptions, and pedaling around a track on a bike/car. The place was also filled with anamatronic ghosts and ghouls and several kid friendly haunted houses. It was a beautiful fall day in Omaha, and we had a great time.

Omaha Mighty Kickers

Chad is a officially a shin-guard wearing member of YMCA youth soccer. Our friends invited us to join their 3-4 year old soccer team, and we somewhat hesitantly decided to sign him up. Mark and Chad practiced regularly leading up to the first game, mostly because Mark was worried Chad wouldn't have a clue what he was doing when he got out there. Well, he was partly right (Chad scores at least one goal for the other team every game,) but he's starting to get the hang of it and having lots of fun. Every Saturday morning, you can find us on the sidelines cheering on our Mighty Kickers.

Chad's Big Day

Chad turned 3 years old on the 27th and boy was he excited!! Mary made a big Toy Story cake (which Chad didn't even bite. But Alli loved it.) He got lots of presents including a Mickey Mouse train set from Maka & Papa and a super cute hoodie towel from Grandpa and Grandma Johnson. He also got a new tee to play baseball with Mark. Thanks to all the Johnson siblings for the fun gifts as well. He had a great birthday and loved every minute of it!

Maka & Papa Come For A Visit

We were so excited to have Mary's parents come to visit us for a week. We showed them around the sights of Omaha and even saw some new ones ourselves.

Winter Quarters Temple

We took a little trip down to Kansas City where we went to the downtown Crown Center, Kaliedescope, and Union Station. We also visited a few church sights including the Independence Visitor's Center, Liberty Jail, Far West, and Adam-Ondi-Ahman.

Of course, if there is anything sports-related nearby, Mark will find it. We were actually going to go to the Ultimate College Basketball Experience in Kansas City, but it was closed. But luckily, we found that the Chiefs were practicing nearby.

And we also went to the Omaha zoo.

Thanks Maka and Papa! We had a blast!

(I did two new posts so keep scrolling down)

Homeward Bound

A few weeks ago, we took a trip back to Utah for Mark's sister Chris's wedding. It was great to be back and see family and enjoy the nice non-humid weather. Here are a few of the things we did:

Played with cousins

Went kayaking at Palisade Lake....

Relaxed....

And of course attended Chris and Dave's wedding and reception.

The Johnson Family