THANKSGIVING IN UTAH

I don’t have any pictures, but the Johnson clan gathered and Mom & Dad Johnson’s for Thanksgiving this year. I found it ironic that we all traveled from Colorado to be there at my parents’ house! It was so fun having us all home on the “farm” again. What an adventure it was having 14 of us eating Thanksgiving dinner in my parents’ small house. I am so thankful for an AMAZING family and feel so blessed to have their support and love. It was so fun to be surrounded by nieces and nephews and just love on them all.

We had 2 baby showers for little Miles while we were there. Aaron’s mom threw one for the Van de Merwes. While it was a bit rushed, a fun time was had by all and it was wonderful to see all the aunts and cousins. My mom threw one for my side of the family and some of my close friends. We ended up having 50 people show up. I am SOOOOO incredibly blessed to be surrounded by family and friends who love us and support us! I never really realized just how many people there are out there that love us until they gathered together in celebration of our miracle. After these 2 showers, baby Miles will be the best dressed baby in the whole state of Colorado.

After an uneventful 9 hour drive home, I promptly went to bed. All the fun and excitement wore me, Aaron, and baby Miles out!!

FINALLY! UPDATES ARE HERE!

Oh my goodness!! It has been forever since I have updated our blog. I am such a slacker! Now that it is December and I have a few minutes, I’ll try to catch ya’ll up on the last 4 months in the lives of the Colorado Springs Conners:

We found out we are having a baby boy! We are going to name him Miles Aaron. Aaron is a great lover of jazz music and really enjoys the work of Miles Davis. We have had the name Miles picked out for several years and as soon as I saw the heartbeat at 7 weeks, I knew this was our little Miles. My “mother’s intuition” was confirmed in October.

He is already living up to his namesake. He starts “dancing” whenever I am listening to jazz music or whenever his daddy pulls out his saxophone. Since Aaron and I are both lovers of music, this is a blessing!

He is still growing healthy and strong. I am doing well and coping with the changes that come along with pregnancy. It is the most amazing thing to feel him move and to have him respond to our voices. We thank Heavenly Father every day for this amazing miracle.

Because of where I work, he is the most photographed baby ever. Here are a few fun pictures of him from the uterus. He is going to have Aaron’s nose and my lips.

COOL 3-D AT 11 WEEKS

PROFILE AT 19 WEEKS

BABY FEET AT 19 WEEKS

3-D AT 22 WEEKS

SHOWING OFF HIS BICEP AT 23 WEEKS

We are having a baby! :-)

After 6 years of marriage and 5 years of trying to get pregnant, the time has finally come! Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine and prayer, we are pregnant with our first baby.




It has been such a long journey. I'm still not sure that it has sunk in yet that we are actually pregnant. I am 8 1/2 weeks along; due March 10, 2010.

Thanks you so much to all of you who have prayed for us in this journey. We have seen the hand of our Heavenly Father in our lives as we have struggled to build our family. Our God is a WONDERFUL God. He really does love us. I forget that sometimes--especially when things aren't happening how I think they should happen! I am so grateful that I KNOW that I am a daughter of God and that He knows what's best for me and Aaron. I really don't have any idea how people who don't have a belief in God get though a trial like this. I would not have been able to and I don't know if our marriage would have survived either. Luckily, I don't have to worry about those what ifs because I do have that knowledge.

I'll try to keep this updated a little more now! :-)

Happy Birthday to Aaron!

So, my husband is officially OLD (which means I'm old because I'm only a year younger than him!)! He turned the big 3-0 today. I made him a nice salmon dinner and then took him to "Massage Envy" for a couples massage (Massage Envy is WONDERFUL! It's a national "chain" that is affordable and professional.) Aaron's parents sent him 30 memories/reasons they love him. I thought I'd add my reasons.

30 REASONS I LOVE AARON:
1--His smile
2--His loving & kind heart
3--His dedication to the gospel
4--His dedication to our family
5--He's the favorite uncle! (he is SO great with kids and loves them!)
6--He takes care of me.
7--He is a hard worker and is always trying to improve himself.
8--He does the laundry! (I'm so lucky!)
9--He does the dishes! (Again--very lucky!)
10--He loves to learn new things.
11--He loves music as much as I do.
12--His love of fishing
13--He is always concerned about others.
14--He likes my cooking and enjoys a good meal.
15--He has great faith.
16--He is optimistic about the future.
17--He would let me have a cat, even though he's allergic (I won't get one because I love him too much!)
18--His love for his family.
19--His love for my family.
20--He wants to be a father.
21--His patience in our journey to parenthood.
22--He helps me take life a little less seriously.
23--He makes me feel beautiful.
24--He gets along with my brothers.
25--His peacemaking abilities.
26--He is able to get me to focus on the important things in life.
27--He likes to give me jewelry!
28--He likes being with me.
29--He puts up with me!
30--He chose to be with me FOREVER!

Aaron, I am so grateful to have you in my life. Thanks for making me so happy! I love you!

MORE Adventures in Quilting

Here is the nearly finished project! All I need is a couple of borders and the back and it's done! Then I'll get it machine quilted and it will be ready to hang on the wall. I am so excited that I had to share!




There are 2 other towels that are not in the quilt. I will be piecing borders around them and then framing them to go on another wall in the room.

I can't wait to start on my next project!

Adventures in Quilting!

My grandmother Wirick was amazing at embroidery. I have been blessed to have a couple of sets of dish towels she embroidered. I have been trying to figure out a way to keep them safe and to honor her legacy. My best friend is an AMAZING quilter and we came up with the idea of using them as quilt blocks. It will be a wall hanging for our nursery and our decor will center around it. (They are bluebirds.)

Let me say that I have NEVER pieced a quilt before. I'm still a little nervous, but it will be worthwhile. I'm so excited to have our family legacy for our baby to see. Yesterday, we went to a quilting store. Oh my! All the fabric! All the colors! I could go crazy trying to figure it all out. But what a great way to go CRAZY!!

I learned how to strip piece today which is super easy and super fun. I pieced together several block then we laid them out with the birds. Unfortunately, they didn't work the way I wanted them to. They were so fun and bright that they detracted from the central focus of the quilt--the birds. So, they will be the back of the quilt and now I have to start at square one for the front. No matter what I do, it will be amazing because my grandmother's work will be on display. It's hard trying to come up with just the right design to honor that. How blessed I am to have this memento of her!

I just have to say--I think I found my new addiction (I mean hobby!!)

Holiday Newsletter

Make a Smilebox greeting

Knit Together With Love

Since this was our first Christmas together for awhile, I was able to get a picture of all our Christmas stockings. Here's the story behind them:

My great aunt started the tradition by knitting the stockings for my dad's generation. So he and all of his siblings have the same design. The same aunt started knitting them for the next generation as well (my mom thinks mine was one of the last ones she made). My Aunt Bev picked up the tradition from there. All 43 grandkids (and their spouses) have them as well as around 30+ great grandkids. What a legacy! Every time I look at my sock, it brings back memories of Christmases together and good times with Aunt Bev. I know she looks down from heaven on us all and enjoys the legacy she left. Now that she has gone, several others from the family have picked up the torch. Thanks to them, this legacy can continue. What a great way to show that we are all connected.

Chinese Food For Christmas

What a holiday break this has been. My parents flew in from Utah on Tuesday the 23rd. They spent time at each of our houses--my brother in Mead, my brother in Castle Rock, and here in Colorado Springs. It was so good to have the family all together. The last time we were all together was June.

What was really fun was our dinner for Christmas. Growing up, we used to go visit my grandma and grandpa Christmas afternoon. By the time we would leave, we would be starving so we went to the only restaurant that's open Christmas Day--Chinese. When my oldest brother called and asked what we should do for dinner, I suggested we keep the tradition alive, only make it homemade. So that's what we did! We had Orange Beef, Sesame Chicken, Egg Drop Soup, Steamed & Fried Rice, crab won tons, and spring rolls. What a feast. It was enjoyed by all. Our family loves food and it was great to catch up with my brothers as we cooked together.

Just call me..."Mrs. Fields!"

A few days ago, Aaron asked me to make some goodies for him to take to work for Christmas. I agreed, thinking that it would be fun. I haven't baked in quite awhile and decided it was time to do some baking (plus, our church choir is going caroling on Sunday and I've been asked to bring cookies, so I can kill 2 birds with one stone...). I have the day off from work today and decided that's how I'd spend my day.


I made chocolate chip cookies, Applesauce Raisin cookies, Chocolate cookies, & snicker doodles (my all-time favorite--and I've only eaten 1!!!). All told, I ended up with about 125 cookies. Plus, right now there are pumpkin cheesecake bars (with gingersnap crust) in the oven for my work Christmas party tomorrow. Wow! I think I might be crazy!!! :-) I don't think I have EVER spent all day in the kitchen! But, even as tired as I am, I feel SO good that I was able to accomplish so much and do something sweet for my hubby.