It's that time of year again

The holidays!!!

Ok, not quite yet.

And not what this post is about.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have a general conference for our entire church every six months.  Every April and October actually.

Literally millions of people gather at the Conference Center in Utah, in church buildings across the world, and as families in their homes to hear the words spoken by living prophets and apostles.

In April we didn't really get a chance to pay attention because we had a baby that was hours old in our arms.  And I missed it dearly.

So I'm excited for October's conference.  We'll be gathering with our family in our home to watch it.  In fact, if anyone needs a place to watch it (or if you're not a member of our church and would like to come listen and learn more about our church) you're more than welcome to come to our home.  Just let us know :)

With that being said, I'm doing something special to prepare for this conference.  I'm doing a "social media fast."  For the two weeks before conference I will be removing Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Blogger, etc. from my phone, and not checking it on the computer.  Instead, I'm going to take the time to be with my son, ponder what the Lord wants me to learn, and try to really draw closer to the Spirit.  (Last time I did this I had a pretty awesome experience.  Read about it here.)

If you'd like to join me in this effort, I strongly encourage it!

See ya'll in about two weeks!!

Sleep, glorious sleep

Ok.  This post is partially because Neal's running late at work, Joey's asleep, and even though there are thousands of things around the house I could be doing, I'm sitting on my bum twiddling my thumbs because I'm bored.

But seriously.

Remember this cute little guy that caused so many Facebook posts about lack of naps?

You guys, he took 4 naps that were 45+ minutes today!  FOUR!  Woo-hoo!

Not only that, but each of them he went to sleep:

BY HIMSELF

IN HIS CRIB

WITHOUT ME IN THE ROOM

Every. Single. Time.

It's one of those days where I'm like "Yay!  I don't fail as a mom!"

I have painstakingly worked for the last two months to teach him how to fall asleep on his own.  I wanted SO BAD to avoid cry it out.  I hate the idea of it, and I just knew I was going to give in.  So each day I did something just a little bit different that would help him fall asleep more independently.

BAM.

Now, I will be cursed and it'll never happen again ;-)

But for reals.  I'm happy/relieved/exhausted/nervous all at the same time.

Woo-hoo!

Joey - 5 months

Joey's 5 months old now!

ONE more month and he will be a half a year old! (Insert happy but sad tears from his momma here).

- Joey started moving around a little bit this month.  Later in the month he figured out how to roll from back to front (apparently he likes to do things backwards).

- He went on his first hike.  We took the jogging stroller to Devil's Backbone in Loveland on one of Neal's days off, and hiked about a mile in.

- He sat in a baby swing in Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's back yard for the first time.

- Loved playing with his feet.

- Got to meet one of the local police officers and the fire department when mom about chopped the tip of her thumb off with a cheese slicer.  He thought mom's purple thumb was pretty cool.

- Tried bananas, sweet potatoes, peaches, and apples this month.

- Played outside lots.

- Went to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Psuik's 50th Anniversary celebration.  Spent some time at the temple while mom and dad went inside for part of the celebration that morning.

- Started falling asleep completely on his own.

- Started sitting up on his own.

- Started holding books on his own.

- Started "playing" the piano and the drums.

- Went to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's 50th Anniversary celebration.  Got to meet dad's cousin Sam, his wife Jaimee, and their kiddos.

- Probably started teething.  Mom can't tell for positive.

- Found his voice (I wish I could figure out how to post videos on here!)

Other cute pictures from this month:

Utah trip: July 2014

Mid-July we took a trip to Utah for the temple sealing of my sister, Tiffany, and brother-in-law, Chase.  They were sealed in the Draper, Utah Temple July 12.

We left for Utah the evening of the 10th.  Cole rode with us.  Our plan was for Joey to sleep peacefully the entire way, because one of his favorite places to sleep is the car.  Well, that went well.  Not.

We finally got him to sleep not too far north of Ted's Place, and about ten minutes later Neal got pulled over.  Car stopping = no movement = a child that wakes up.  And screams...loudly. You could tell the trooper felt bad, so he finished his business with us semi quickly and sent us on our way. 

Between there and Laramie, we stopped once so I could try and nurse him to sleep.  Nope.  We stopped in Laramie, and twice just west of Laramie.  It took us about 2 hours to go less than 100 miles.  Every time we would pull him out of the car, he would stop screaming, but the minute we put him back in the car, he'd start right up again.

Our last stop with him was somewhere on the side of I-80.  It was around 11 pm, and here I was, standing in the rain and spray from the cars driving by, on the side of I-80, in the dark, trying to rock this little boy to sleep.  I'm not going to lie.  I was in tears, and I'm pretty sure Neal was almost there (which SO does not happen very often).  In my heart I was pleading for Heavenly Father to help us.  I got in the back seat of the car with a still awake baby, and started trying to nurse him again.  Cue screaming.  Suddenly, Neal turned around (from the driver's seat) and said, "Give me his head."  I looked at him, rather puzzled about why he was requesting the head of our son.  Neal laid his hands on Joey's head, gave him a priesthood blessing, and in that blessing commanded him to go to sleep.  Half way through the blessing, Joey started to calm down, relax, and act sleepy.  Neal then placed his hands on my head and gave me a priesthood blessing, blessing me with the ability to know what Joey needed.  I then nursed him, he fell asleep, and we were on our way.  The only time we stopped was at Little America so we could get gas and feed Joey.

Tender mercies, folks.  Tender mercies.

We stayed at Neal's cousins, James and Jenn's, house. 

While we were there, we saw three of Neal's mission buddies and their spouses (two companions and a sister that was in his district for a long time).  On Friday we had a late breakfast with Adam and Ashley, dinner with Trevor and Aileen and their baby Jerek (who is just a couple weeks older than Joey), and Richard and Evelyn watched Joey at the temple while we went inside for the sealing on Saturday.

We also were able to see my Aunt Julianne (and she got to meet Joey) and her little girl, Ruby, and my cousin Christine and her husband Tyler and their little girl, Macie.  My sister, Amber watched Joey for about a half an hour, too, so that Neal and I could go on a quick date to In N Out (a must for me every time we're in Utah).

The Saturday that Tiffany and Chase were sealed ended up being a BEAUTIFUL day.  It was such a wonderful ceremony, and I'm so happy that they made such an important decision.  Knowing you're married to your best friend for time and all eternity is one of the best feelings ever.  After the sealing we went to Rachel (Chase's dad's girlfriend's) house for an early dinner.  She made some pretty amazing food for everyone!

Saturday night James, Jenn, and their son Jackson took us out to dinner at a delicious steak house.  We had such a wonderful time talking and laughing with them!  Joey absolutely loved them :)

Sunday morning Jenn made us german pancakes for breakfast and then we headed to church at Tiffany and Chase's ward, and then headed off for Idaho!

At In N Out

Being such a big boy and sitting at the table!

Joey and Jerek

Our little family outside the temple after Tiffany and Chase's sealing

First smiles that we caught on camera!!!!!