Dr. Johnson

Well, it's official. Derek is now Dr. Derek Johnson DMD. How great does that sound! Last weekend we celebrated at several graduation festivities with lots of family. It was awesome. Derek told me a couple of weeks ago that dental school was the hardest thing he's ever done (even harder than the mission). I can't believe how fast those 4 years flew by. We're so proud of him and how hard he worked to get where he is. Good job honey!

The first party we went to was the Senior Gala on Wednesday night at the Red Rock. I was excited because I got to get all dressed up for the occasion (we're talking hair cut and color, new dress, shoes, jewelery, and makeup - the works!). Derek got to buy new shoes. Thanks to Blake and Courtney for babysitting Raegan during our fun night out. The food was great and Derek got presented with an award for Excellent Operative Dentistry. The high heels were a little much for this 7 1/2 month pregnant lady by the end of the night, but it was way fun.

Friday we had our family (Lyle, Lori, Ali, Emily, Mont, Elaine, Blake and Courtney) in town for the convocation (graduation ceremony only for the dental school). This ceremony was very personal and the best of the weekend. The faculty member who spoke was very funny. However, the lighting was terrible for my camera so this is the best shot I could get.

After the ceremony we all went to Lucille's BBQ to celebrate. The food was great. Oh yeah, and I surprised Derek with an iPad for a graduation present. Needless to say he was very surprised and can now be found playing angry birds quite often.

Saturday was graduation for all of UNLV at the T&M. It was cool that they got to sit in the front, but otherwise very typical. Lyle, Lori, and I may have left before it was even over.

It was a great weekend. Thanks to everyone for coming to share it with us. We decided we needed to celebrate a little more so on Monday we went to Disneyland!

Raegan update

What can we say Raegan? She is growing so fast and becoming such a cute little girl. She has such a fun personality. She makes us laugh every day with something she does or attempts to say. She is constantly chattering, but nothing she says makes any sense. She knows several words like Momma, Dadda, baby, bee, mine, ducky, doggy, and Minnie. She also uses sign language to say please and thank you. These pictures speak for themselves about how funny she is.

She got into the marker and drew a Hitler mustache.

Playing with Mommy's lipstick.

Coloring Easter eggs with Dad. All She wanted to do was color each egg with the green dye. Not only did she want to dye the eggs with the green coloring, but she also wanted to drink it. Eating ice cream from Harmon Junction.

Getting into mischief with Coral. These two are a lot alike.

Making funny hairdos in the bath.

Raegan's Photo Shoot

In February my good friend Brianne (who I played volleyball with) was in town for a photography convention. She stayed with us for one night and I just couldn't let a professional photographer stop by without getting her to take some photos of Raegan. We didn't have a place picked out and the weather was windy and cold, but because Raegan is so cute (and Bri is really patient) we got some good pics. Raegan wasn't very cooperative and almost all the photos were "action" photos. Eventually my mom and I had to leave Raegan alone with Bri because we were too distracting. I highly recommend Brianne as a photographer. He company is Brianne Hall Imagery and she lives in Pocatello, ID. Here is a link to her website: http://www.briannehallimagery.com/

Here are our favorite pictures. The following facebook link shows more photos from the shoot. http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=300156&id=31740234559 Also, Brianne is offering us a FREE PHOTO if we can get at least 25 people to comment on Raegan's page on her blog by Saturday. Please click on this link and leave a comment if you can. We would really appreciate it. http://www.briannehallimagery.com/blog/?p=751

A Love Hate Relationship

I currently have a love hate relationship with these people.

Yesterday I HATED them. Today, they're OK.

Raegan on the other hand LOVES them more than anything, especially Minnie.

I've come to the conclusion that our life quite literally revolves around Minnie Mouse. To say Raegan has an obsession is an understatement. She carries her Minnie Mouse with her everywhere (can you say dirty) and constantly wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. "Minnie" is the word she says most often. Every time we change her diaper she gets excited because they have a picture of Minnie and Mickey on them. Sometimes this is a great thing. She'll sit and watch the show and allow me to get things done. While Derek and I watched General Conference Raegan sat on our bed and watch MMC for hours. Last week we went to Applebees for dessert. Raegan spotted a picture of Minnie and Mickey on the wall and stared at them the entire time we were there, pointing and yelling (loudly) "Minnie" for everyone to hear. At the time it was very cute. However, her ability to spot Mickey and Minnie has led to my change of heart.

Lately Minnie has resulted in meltdown after meltdown. These are only of few of many. Example #1: Yesterday we went to the grocery store to pick out a card for Grandma Adams' birthday. Note to self: never take her there again. Do you have any idea how many cards have Mickey or Minnie on them. She proceeded to scream (no joke) and point at every card. I let her out hoping she would be content looking at them, but no. She started grabbing all the cards she could find and she ended up sitting in the cart with 20 of them while I make a quick getaway to a different aisle.

Now we literally have a meltdown every time we go to the store, be it Target, Walmart, Smith's, or Costco. She spots them everywhere. On books, or balloons, or clothing. At Costco she spotted the Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets so once it was time to buy new ones we caved. Yesterday while I was making lunch I took the nuggets out of the freezer. Well Raegan saw them and refused to stop crying until she could hold them. So this is how she ate lunch.

Well I feel better now after having vented my frustrations. But I'm sure there are worse problems to have.

Trip to San Diego

Last weekend we went to San Diego to support Derek's sister Corinne and her two girls Caylee and Coral. This is the reason we went: To welcome home Kyle from his 6 month deployment on the USS Abraham Lincoln (aircraft carrier). It was a short trip, but totally worth it. See the ship come in at Coronado was soooo cool. Here's the ship. It is three football fields long.

Here's Kyle "manning the rails" as they call it. He's in this picture, but I can't remember which one. Derek's Dad Lyle caught up with the ship in Hawaii and is also in this picture somewhere.

The whole process took about 4 hours, but we didn't mind waiting. Raegan even enjoyed herself, but was very tired by the time we left.

Coral and Raegan

After we picked up Kyle we made a little stop on Coronado to eat and so Aunt Ali could touch the ocean.

Before we left were also able to celebrate Grandma Lori's birthday. Here she is with all her grandkids!