Dear Aunt Brette

I hope you're not too bored, incase you are here's a video from me. I hope your levels cooperate so you can come home soon! Love, Mazee

And P.S. Happy Birthday to Uncle Kade!

Daily Dose

of some afternoon kitchen dancing. Necessary for some sanity in our house.

Sneak A Peek

at our family photos. More to come soon!!

Counting Cuteness

I love the way Mazee counts, it always makes me laugh. Once I pull the camera out, she puts on her "cheese" face. So glad she's mine!

For a kid who doesn't have much hair...

she sure gets some mad bed head!! But, who wouldn't want to wake up to this?! Love her.

What a difference a year makes....

As I was scrapbooking our boating pictures, I realized I had almost an identical picture from last year. Last years picture looks like the life jacket is getting the best of Mazee, and this year she definitely enjoyed every minute of it, as shown by her cheesy cheese face. My beautiful mama doesn't look a day older than she did last year. Or since she was 30 for that matter. 2009

2008

Celebrating the Pioneers

We enjoyed a great weekend in St. George with my fam. We didn't necessarily do anything real pioneer-ish, but we're always thankful for a holiday weekend! We did some boating at the new & beautiful Sand Hollow Reservoir, some outlet shopping, some relaxing, some swimming, some eating, some fire-working, and enjoyed some all around FUN. We had some good rain accompanied by lightning, nothing a towel couldn't shield. Here's a sampling of my pictures, I'll let them speak for themselves.

We're grateful for good family and the fun times we have with them.

Pathetic, I know.

I'm feeling good about Jillian and Ed. I'm a hopeless romantic and I like a good fairytale ending. That's why I love The Bachelor/Bachelorette, although, I've been severely disappointed the last few seasons when things take weird twists and turns. It seems like it's been awhile since we've seen a normal, successful ending, and what a relief, we finally got one. I was rooting for Reid, however, I've cleared a special place in my heart for Ed. Should my hopes and dreams for them be dashed, well, such is reality T.V. and I'd be lying if I said I'd never watch it again. Something keeps me coming back for more, season after season. For now, I feel that this season of The Bachelorette was a real success and I'm excited to see who the next Bachelor will be..... pathetic, I know. Someone please back me up on this....

Sweet Memories

My mom and her siblings at our family party in May from L to R: Cheryl, Mom, Kris, Dave, Dane, Jim, Pete

Kristine "Nama" Anderson Johnston 1951~2009

Our cherished wife, mother, sister, and grandmother passed away peacefully at her home in Elk Ridge, UT on July 8, 2009 at the age of 58 after battling cancer. Kris was born April 2, 1951 in Springville, UT and was the third of seven children born to Mays and Orpha Anderson. She is remembered by her siblings as being a spunky and humorous child. Kris graduated from Springville High School in 1969 and soon thereafter attended BYU where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education. While pursuing her education, she met Steven C. Johnston and after a quick courtship they were married in the SLC Temple on November 16, 1973. They enjoyed nearly 36 years of marriage together. During this time she was able to serve in many church capacities living in various locations, including twice overseas, and serve an LDS humanitarian mission, along with her husband, to the Romania Bucharest mission. All of these, plus many other experiences, blessed her with an increased amount of faith and understanding of Heavenly Father's plan for His children. Kris will always be remembered for her compassion, acts of service, love for her family and those around her, and faith in her Savior Jesus Christ.

Kris was survived by her husband Steve, her five children: Matt (Monica) Johnston, Amy (Neil) Andersen, Laurie (Kevin) Wilson, Dana (Mark) Purcell, and Katie (Jeremy) Bailey, several grandchildren, along with her brothers and sisters. She is preceded in death by her parents Mays and Orpha Anderson, and her granddaughter Lindsey Kate Johnston.

Until we meet again, we will always love and miss you Aunt Kris.

I hate that feeling...

This is hilarious!

Easter Fun

Wow, what an Easter! What do you get when a child has both sets of grandparents, and three sets of great grandparents, all within 10 miles, put together with a holiday? Lots and LOTS of spoiling for that little one, and this Easter was no exception! Mazee is so blessed to have them all, and we appreciate all that they do for her. It was fun to watch her catch onto the idea of gathering the eggs and candy and put them in her bucket. We had so much fun spending time with all the families. But most importantly, what a great time to remember the ultimate sacrifice. For that, we are most grateful. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Here's a preview of ours...

Firstly, Nextly, and Lastly

I'm back. Where do I begin on updating you on our awesomely exciting lives?! First things first-- Mazee has finally reached a serious milestone-- a long and luscious PONYTAIL! Not so much the long part, but luscious, yes. All 10 hairs. And would you believe that even with her hair 'did' and all pinked out she's still been mistaken for a boy?! I know what you're thinking, awesomely exciting. Right?!

Moving on... the first week in March we decided to take a little getaway to St. George before Jake started back into the work season. We enjoyed the warmer weather, relaxing, shopping, and I got so much scrapbooking done, which was great. We were also able to meet up with some of our good friends, Jesse and Stacy along with Ryker, and Casey. We went to eat at Texas Roadhouse and had so much fun!

With the few warm days we've had, Jake & I have been working hard on our yard as well as getting a garden planted. The people that lived here previously told us they couldn't ever get a garden to grow, but we decided to take the chance anyway. Having never planted a garden before, I had no idea how much work it took to get it ready, let alone plant the stuff. Could've had something to do with the fact that we had no clue what we were doing. We made it up as we went. So thank heavens my peas started poking through yesterday, or else I would have thrown all "green thumbness" to the wind. With all the yardwork Mazee had her first dinner/date with dirt. I think she had a pretty good time and I'm sure it'll happen again sometime soon.

Jake had a birthday at the end of March. 25 years old. Whoa. Old. Phart. We celebrated by going to the Cheesecake Factory and seeing Monsters vs. Aliens 3D on the IMAX screen, which was fun. It felt like we were on a Disneyland ride. Right up the Martinez alley. Then on Sunday we had a delicious dinner with his family which included King Crab Legs, his favorite, and an awesome Bob the Builder ice cream cake. Thank you Albertson's.

And lastly, Mazee is now 18 months old. Crazy. She's growing like a weed. Literally. I'm the nursery leader in our ward, so she's been going to nursery with me since about 9 months. At about 14 months she was taller than almost all the 2 year olds, so I've known for a while she was tall. When we went for her 18 month well check, I was afraid the Doc was going to tell me she was 120th percentile for height and diagnose her with gigantism, but luckily that wasn't the case. She is in the 99th percentile though, and healthy as can be. She's a smart little stinker, and we are constantly amazed by all the things she is learning. We couldn't love her more. Here she is caught in just one act of "stinkerness." There are many more. *sigh* Many.

I know.

I'm horrible. Why has blogging become so hard for me? I don't know, but I promise I will update soon. Don't lose hope in me....

Oh, to be a mom....

Home Away From Home

We spent last week going on a Western Caribbean cruise on Princess Cruiselines. This ship is only a two month old ship, it was so nice, clean, and new. We went with half my family, and missed the other half, especially Mazee. She stayed with Jake's family, we were so grateful for their help, and instead of being sad to leave a great vacation, we were happy to come home to our sweet baby girl. This was a wonderful "Home Away From Home" for a week, we enjoyed every minute and REALLY tried to soak up the sun. We were definitely glad we missed the huge snowstorms!
The food was really great, but the highlight was King Crab Legs, which Jake and I are in love with. They had delicious lobster and shrimp and Jake was able to try escargot and fish eggs for the first time. YUM!
In Ocho Rios, Jamaica, we went on 9 zip lines that were so fun, right through the jungle.

In Grand Cayman we went snorkeling in Stingray City. We saw some really pretty fish as well as the amazing stingrays! I love my face in this picture, it says it all. Everyone else is enjoying the beautiful creatures while I frantically try to keep my eyes on all 20-30 of them. I totally underestimated the size of these things. They are massive, they loved the squid we had, and would rub their fins/bodies all over us, which I wasn't real fond of. All the while I'm thinking, "Please help me Steve Irwin! Oh yeah, HE CAN'T!" It honestly was really awesome, but I definitely wasn't kissing them for good luck like others were.

In Cozumel we visited the Mayan Ruins of Tulum, which are situated on a cliff right on the coastline. It was really beautiful and amazing to see. All in all it was a wonderful vacation topped with the much needed relaxation we needed. Now we're longing for the warmth of Spring....

We're Baaaaack!

Yes, I know, I've been horrible at blogging. I won't lie, we have been extremely busy, but mostly I'm just plain old lazy. Blogging was the last thing I wanted to do, but now I'm refreshed and renewed, so hopefully I'll be better. No promises though. Anyway, here's what we've been doing....

Jake surprised me with some tickets to the Carrie Underwood concert on my birthday. Awesome, is all I can say.Here's Mazee's latest favorite thing to do. So much fun!Making gingerbread houses with Kade and BretteCute Miss Mazee3 Year Anniversary eating at The Roof Mazee's first time playing in the snow! She loved it, especially the mittens.
Meeting Santa, no crying, just a lot of observingChristmas DressJust couldn't resist anymore...
Christmas morning- if you look closely in the center of the picture you'll see the one and only thing I wanted for Christmas--- a Wii! Jake was a good surpriser, as usual!