Playing Cars with Daddy

Greg and I thought this video was definitely worth posting on our blog. We watched it over and over!

Xander's first time in snow!!!

Last time it snowed here in Atlanta we didn't have a winter coat for Xander, so we decided not to go play in the snow. This time we have a gigantic coat for him so we jumped on in!!

Xander fell down a few times in the snow, so we decided he might need thicker gloves on his hands. We were surprised that Xander liked the big gloves on!! We couldn't stop laughing about how cute and funny he looked!

Xander's Big Boy Bed!!

So the Monday after Christmas we decided to change Xander's crib into a big boy bed!! We were worried that it might ruin his sleep, but nothing has really changed. We are very proud him. We are still waiting for him to discover that he can get up and play in the middle of the night, but he hasn't figured that out yet.

Ironically Xander is much happier when he wakes up from his naps now. I think he likes the freedom to get out of his bed when he chooses to. Sometimes he just lays in bed awake. Silly Boy!!

Here are a couple of videos that we took the night we converted his bed. He was soooooo excited!!!

Our Christmas Letter

So we decided to post our Christmas Letter on our blog this year. Sorry it's a little late!

Merry Christmas! We can’t believe that it’s already that time of year again! We love and miss you all! We have had a busy and blessed year. Besides school and work, we have really enjoyed spending time together as a family. We have been able to enjoy the beautiful outdoors here in Georgia through hiking, biking, and even river rafting. This spring we were able to take a trip to the gorgeous city of Savannah Georgia (which we would recommend to all of you!) We were able to enjoy the beach, tour the historic sites, and even see a bunch of dolphins! In August, we were able to make it out to Utah and enjoyed seeing most of our family and friends there. It was great to spend time with them in the great outdoors of Utah (which was wonderfully dry compared to Atlanta in August).

Wendy has been keeping herself busy as a bee. She loves the time that she and Xander spend together at work and at home. Wendy works at a small daycare that is only open for four hours in the mornings. Xander loves to go play with his friends and Wendy loves to chat with the ladies there at work. She has also begun to sing again and will be getting a vocal coach soon. She has loved being in the ward choir and hopes to join a local singing group this next year. She sang O Holy Night as a solo in our Christmas program for church and did an amazing job! Greg is very supportive in any talents or hobbies that Wendy has wanted to pursue.

Through school, research, and teaching at a middle school, Greg has been managing to keep his schedule quite busy. He has still been enjoying it, which is good because he still has a few years left. He likes to play with his robotic toys at work and try to get them to obey him. He is studying Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in Control Theory and loves it (perhaps he just doesn’t get enough control at home J, just kidding, Wendy is making me say that she is nice and not controlling). His favorite part of the day is when he comes home and plays with his cute family. He spends most of his evenings chasing Xander around, pushing cars back and forth, passing the ball, or being a horse. After putting Xander to bed, he gets to spend some time playing with his wonder wife Wendy. We all love the weekends when Greg can spend most of his days with us as we explore Atlanta.

Xander has grown like weed. Even those of you who saw him in August would barely recognize him (except for the fact that he still looks the same). He has finally gotten more hair on the top of his head so people have stopped calling him a baby. He is a cute little boy now! His Grandpa Johnson gave him a bunch of matchbox cars and those have been his favorite toys for the past few months. As soon as his daddy comes in the door he yells, “Dadda, cars!” He has also grown quite attached to Elmo, which he is not allowed to watch more than a few times a week, but yet asks for it multiple times a day! He loves singing songs. He loves both twinkle-twinkle and his ABCs, although he usually starts with one and ends with the other (we have learned not to teach him two songs with the same tune J). He also loves ring-around-the-roses and will sing it nonstop if we let him. He likes to count, but hates the number one, which he always replaces with the number two. The other day he wanted a piece of candy from his cousins so Wendy had him repeat after her, “Can I have one?” and he said “Can I have two?” He is a nonstop source of entertainment.

We love you all and hope that things are going well with you and yours. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Love,

Greg, Wendy, and Xander

Day at the Atlanta Zoo and More!

We decided since the weather has been perfect mid 70's we needed to spend some time in the outdoors. So we went to the Atlanta Zoo!

The Zoo has a great park inside!

Weeeee!

Xander loves slides! He goes up and down all by himself! He is definately not scared of heights.

The Petting Zoo

This was the closest that Xander would get to the animals. He was so timid! I think this is the best picture I've ever taken! It looks fake, but is totally real.

Xander decided that it was too scary to touch the animals so he decided to pet the tree stump.

He would pet it then say, "Nice", and "soft". So funny!!!

Xander loved putting his face in this! He would come back

and forth looking at the picture on the camera then going back for a retake!

Inside the bird area. He loved seeing them fly around.

Xander and Greg love playing cars together!

Thanks to Grandpa Johnson, Xander has around 15 cars. He loves them so much!!!

As soon as we go home everyday he says, "Cars!", and runs to go play with them. Also when watching this clip, notice that Xander recently learned the word, "Funny".

Having a blast and loving it!

We've been having so much fun that it is hard to make it to the computer lately!!!

Here are a few pics of what we have been up to:

My Birthday!!! I turned the big 23 in March!

I know that it is crooked but I don't know how to fix it. Suggestions anyone?

I just have to point out that Greg made my birthday cake! Well, sort of....he wanted me to touch it up after he was done:-)

Our Trip to Savannah GA

Greg and Xander at the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse. It was so beautiful and fun, but very windy!

All of us at the top of the Lighthouse

Me(Wendy) at the top with Xander

If anyone wants a great vacation we definately reccomend Tybee Island!

Ok, another crooked picture....pretend you don't even notice.....

We went out on a Dolphin Tour in the ocean!!!

Xander wasn't sure what to think about being on a boat

Check out this great pic that I took of a dolphin that came up to our boat! It was amazing! The tour guide was talking about this pic the rest of the journey!



Xander still wasn't sure what to think, but we had a blast!

Not only did we go to the Lighthouse and the Dolphin Tour, but we also went on a mini-cruise/ferry boat up the river!

Here we are about to set sail into the Savannah River

Here are a few pics of us hanging out on the boat:

And it's not even May yet!!!!

We live in Georgia now! So far we love it! The weather has been amazing, raining every few days. We love our duplex and it is gorgeous here! We have doubled our square footage from Provo to Atlanta and Xander has his own room now!

So, we thought we would catch up on the good old days in Provo and then the next blog will be about our new life in Atlanta.

But First, we thought we should share with you the 3 Great reasons everyone should move to Atlanta: Great weather, it’s beautiful, and we miss you all!

DINNER TIME!

These pics were taken in Provo right before we moved:

This video is hilarious! Greg thought I was just taking another picture! :-)

Our precious little man

Going for walks is fun to do, to do, to do, to do.

Our little man loves to sleep in the car

Happy Happy Little Xander!

Xander loved playing on that toy!

May is still a great month!

Yet again May has come and we are finally updating our blog! Yes it's true and heck has not frozen over! We are having so much fun with our new son! We love being parents! Tonight he won't go to sleep, but hey it's ok. That is why we are here writing this post. So you can thank our cute little son for not falling asleep.

Here's what we are up to:

Greg walked at his graduation last month, and he is now finishing up two classes and he will be done! Well, for about a month. We are moving to Georgia so he can get his Ph D at Georgia Tech. He is also trying to fit in 40 hours of work each week. He is very busy and we are so happy when we can play with him! I was going to find more to write about Greg, but that is really all he is up to.

Xander is the cutest baby in the world! He loves to coo and tries to laugh. At first I thought he was coughing, but that's the way he laughs. He loves to stand (with some help), and he loves to look in the mirror (I wonder where he got that from?). He is currently sleeping 7-9 hrs at night! Finally! It feels good to sleep again! Xander loves to smile and will try to bat at toys. We love watching him grow!

Wendy

I am having the time of my life playing with Xander and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! I love to figure out new ways to organize and new places to scrub. And right when I feel like the house is finally clean, Greg comes home and messes it up. :-)

Other than that if you are ever at home during the day and would like to know what is on tv, give me a call. I am basically a tv guide. While Greg is studying engineering, I am studying how to win prizes and money from some of my favorite game shows. I could easily win if I was on The Price is Right, or Deal or No Deal! Yay! We are going to be rich!

I also love to make jewelry(thanks to Becca Droge), scrapbook, and go on long walks on the beach.....or State Street, whichever is closer.

We had our 2 year aniversary last week. It was great! Greg surprised me with a candle lit dinner, dancing, and my favorite ice cream! It was so romantic! A big thank you to Annie who babysat Xander! He made me a coupon book with multiple massage coupons, ice cream coupons, babysitting coupons, homemade dinner coupons, and much more ;-) He also gave me a gift card to Ross my favorite store! I gave him some comfy flip flops and a part for his RC car.

Here are a few cute pictures that we have of our newest little addition.

Xander and Cali Johnson