The Mesa Arizona Johnson Clan

The one weekend we spent in Arizona we drove 3 hours north to Mesa to stay with my brother Ray and his family.

We decided to leave Friday night so Bella would sleep on the 3 hour drive.  Arriving at around 10:30PM...I had just finished saying to John that I was certain we'd find Ray asleep in the kids room (since he always falls asleep putting them to bed, and Stephanie would be up and doing laundry and working on her church stuff. 

I should have bet a million dollars because Ray was snoozing, Stephanie was up doing laundry and working on her church lesson.  Do I know my family or what? 

John, on the other hand had just finished commenting on how hot it was at 10:30PM when Stephanie opened the door in a long sleeved jacket.  She was cold.  Crazy Arizonians.

The last time we saw the Johnson family was when we left Arizona to move to Germany.  Isabella was about 5 months old.  So, when the kids saw a walking, jabbering Bella they were amazed!

We started the weekend out a little rough.  John went outside to grab something and Bella followed him.  I called out that Bella followed him - he responded with OK...but hadn't heard what I said - he thought I was talking about something in the car. 

Bella ended up in the middle of the street intersection with our little 6 year old Lizzy calling to her to come back because a car was coming.  As Bella ran back toward the sidewalk she fell down - scraped her chin and forehead, bruised up her nose and cut a chunk out of her tongue that was about the size around of a pencil eraser.  It was awful. 

It was the first time I'd seen blood actually "pouring" from my daughter and to have it coming from out of her mouth put me in a bit of a panic.

Bella healed quickly, Mama and Daddy weren't too grumpy with each other about it and little Lizzy was the hero of the day...but let me please remind you to make double sure that your child is being watched appropriately.  I just shudder to think of the possibilities of what could have happened that day.

All the Johnson clan looked great.  Johnnie was soooo tall.  At 12 he is now towering over his Auntie Anna.  He had to spend most of the weekend working on a book report that he had procrastinated doing.  It was on Black Holes.  Uncle John gave him a great opening sentence - Black Holes suck.  ha ha ha.  My other favorite part of his report was where he talked about if you get sucked into a black hole - just forget it cuz you're dead.  ha ha ha.  Very creative report writer.  I loved it.

Katie is still absolutely beautiful.  At 10 she's definitely showing signs of preteen behavior with dangly earrings, 4 outfits in one day, fancy shoes, being bored ALL THE TIME and eye rolling.  It was fun watching her...she likes being with the adults now more than the kids.  And did I mention how beautiful she is?

Little Lizzie isn't so little anymore!  Her 6th birthday had just passed and she is growing up so fast.  She was the best playmate for Bella and was just amazed at all the "tricks" Bella could do now.  She also loves stories and both uncle John and I read story after story after story.  I'm still envious of her beautiful hair.  She's just such a pretty litle girl!

Bella, was absolutely smitten with their dog, Rocky.  I think every other word out of her mouth was PUPPY!  Only, it sounds more like this - puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy...  I think you get the idea.  She followed Rocky around the backyard and when she wasn't following him around she was peering out the windows looking for him.  When she found out where his food bowl was she decided to feed him as well.  So Rocky laid around all day long while Bella fetched food for him...

Soon, Bella was intrigued by that dog's food....and she started to lick it before giving it to Rocky.  And then eventually it turned into, "one for Rocky...one for Bella.  I even found her taking a break on the slide with a little snack of dog food.  :)

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday that we spent it playing outside.  Reminiscent of my childhood years, Lizzie turned on the sprinkler and jumped on the trampoline in the water...She's quite the little acrobat...

Bella stood just at the edge of the sprinkler spray watching for awhile...

...then got brave enough to join Lizzie in the fun...

We had to get video of our favorite two moves though - This being her first time on a trampoline when she could actually walk, it was hilarious to watch her run...



And try and jump...



Of course our main source of entertainment was John.  He juggles. 



The next morning we left the Johnson's right at their church hour and just in time for Bella to nap on the way home again - but not before we snapped a few photos...

We love you Johnson clan!  Can't wait to see you again SOOOON!