The Johnson Family

This is a picture of my brother Josh, Rachel, and Addie. They are so wonderful, and I feel very blessed to have them as family and to be so close to them! For the past while, Rachel has been trying to get pregnant, and they are now doing adoption. I post about their story because I want to spread the word for any of you that know of someone that is giving their child up for adoption or just anything helpful for their family during this process. They truly are a wonderful family!

Here is their story...told by Rachel.

As many of you know, Josh and I have been trying to conceive for over the past 1 1/2 years. It has been a long, painful, and hopeful time for us. We have been to many doctors and countless visits. We have tested everything possible and tried it all. Last year we did two Artificial Insemination visits. Neither was successful. Then this summer we decided it was time to do Invitro Fertilization (IVF). We were so sure that IVF would work for us because I had gotten pregnant so easily with Addie and my body knew now to be pregnant, obviously. We figured it was a given. But it was not successful either. We were heart broken. All the pain, time, money, hope, and everything that went into that IVF cycle and it didnt work! But one thing helped get us threw it. I still had 2 strong, frozen embryos to use for another cycle. So as soon as my body was back to normal after all the hormones I had to inject into myself, we tried again. And the 2nd time we REALLY thought that it would work. It had to. It was our last shot with IVF for a long time. We prayed so hard. We went to the temple. I got priesthood blessings. This time it had to work. But the phone call I got a few weeks later was a shock. My blood pregnancy test was negative. I held the phone in my hand and couldn't speak. I asked the doctor if there was a mistake and maybe I tested too early. She said no. The test was right. Heart broken. Again. Josh and I tried to pick up the pieces of our hopes for another child. It took awhile to be able to even talk about what we do from there. Now we have decided it is time for us to pursue ADOPTION. We are excited about this new adventure. I know it brings along a lot of stress, hope, worry, ect. But we are ready to continue working towards making our family grow. Whatever it takes. We met with an adoption agency today and got started with them. We are currently working on a TON of paperwork, ect but we are started in the process. This is exciting! So to you, our family and friends. If you ever hear of anyone thinking about or looking into putting a child for adoption. Please think of us. Recommend us. We need to spread the word that we are ready for another precious child in our home to love. Wish us luck! :)

Halloween Bash!

This was our second annual Halloween Bash at Tauni and Nicks house! It is always so much fun, we eat dinner and than play Crazy Bridge all night! Tyler and I were a plug and an outlet. It went over well.

Here are the guys...well, we forgot to get pictures until nearly everyone was gone. These are the cool ones who stayed for the after party :)

And the lovely girls :)

Halloween Party!

Every Monday before Halloween my aunt Melinda throws a KILLER Halloween FHE Bash. I seriously look forward to it every year! And I love that EVERYONE dresses up!! My extended fam really honestly is the coolest :) Here is my family minus Jonny.
This is the cutest picture in the world. Papa loves his little girls SO much!! They love him too :)

Our cute little Hula Girl. Me and Lily were Hula girls and Tyler was a sight seer (umm how do you spell that?). I made Lilys litlte headband, it was fun to do! I loved her little pink coconut bra too :)

At this party we all get to participate in the games, and we even win prizes! This is Tyler at the fishing pond. He won some skeleton candies.

Here I am at the fishing pond...I won some Halloween window decorations!! Lily won a teether and a fleece blanket!

Our cute little family.

My wonderful cousin Jenny who just returned home off her mission! Oh I just love her!

My little cousin...well he isn't so little anymore but I still like to say that...he was/is a nerd :)

Rach the sexy bee and Addie the beautiful Bell Princess.

Aunt Jami doing the Halloween Cake Walk with Lily! She won her a good prize :)

I think that Halloween could possibly be my favorite Holiday. I love the Christmas season...but not particularly Christmas Day itself. If I had to choose just one day to celebrate, it would for sure be Halloween. I love dressing up!

Carving Pumpkins 2010!

This year for carving pumpkins we went to Shawnee and Prestons house, our good friends. Shawnee made some wonderful taco soup and we ate it in bread bowls...I love doing that when the weather starts getting colder! It was delicious! Then we started carving away. We always have so much fun with Shawnee Preston and their cute boy Cohen! :)

I made me and Lily matching Halloween flowers...haha I have always wanted to do that :)
Lily Bear is so cute!

I made Tyler wear Halloween colors! I am sure glad I did because this is a fun Halloween family photo! :)

Preston, Shawnee, me and Ty!

I did the batman symbol, Tyler the 'portrait of Lily', Shawnee did the amazing owl and she also carved Cohens little pumpkin, Preston of course did the Green Armadillo :)

1 Year Anniversary!

On October 16th 2009 I married the love of my life for eternity! It has been a wonderful year full of many wonderful times! Tyler is so good to me and such a hard worker. We have grown together so much, and I look forward to our years together in the future. I love you Tyler!

Here we are cutting our cake! :)

Boating

On Tyler and I's anniversary we went BOATING!! Yup, call us crazy but we went boating on October 16th to Yuba Lake! It was pretty chilly, but TOTALLY worth it. It was actually a nice day, just the water was freezing. It was Lilys very first boating trips of many :) She wore my life jacket from when I was her age! It was a touch big, but she loved it and the boat lulled her right asleep the whole time! It was so much fun to go boating, it seemed like forever since we had!

Tyler and Lily Bear.
It has been over 2 years since I have wakeboarded...and boy did it feel good! I blew out my knee at the beginning of the summer of 2009 and had knee surgery so I was out for awhile, and then I got pregnant so I was out of comission for quite sometime. I can't wait until I can do it again!

Wakeboarding a little over a month after I had a baby via C-section...not too bad eh? :)

Papa and Nana with baby Lily!

River Walk

My favorite place to walk in Logan is at the River Walk...it is so beautiful there! My friend Meghan and I took our babies for walks there a lot before it got cold....it was so great to get out and walk and talk with a good friend, thanks Meghan! :)

Meghan and her precious baby Belle! She is 4 weeks older than Lily.

St George Vacation

Over conference weekend we drove to St. George! It was so hot and wonderful! Jordan sat in the back seat and took care of Lily...what a good uncle. And yes...Jordan does have a mullet. I quite like it.

Lily slept pretty much the whole way. This was her first vacation, she was almost one month old!

We stopped at a park in Cedar City and met Tylers family there! Most of them had not met Lily yet! It was fun to see his family.

Lily asleep at the pool.

Tyler and Jordan playing in the pool.

I can't wait until it is hot again so we can go to the pool!!!

Lily and Tyler

So Tyler is just the cutest dad. When he doesnt have work he helps me take care of Lily a LOT, and Lily sure does love him. It seems like she always falls right asleep in his arms, he must have some sort of magic touch or something! Or maybe its because she likes to be held likea football? Anyway, this picture is just so cute! Lily looks SO little in Tylers arms!

Random Pictures!

Lily has the most interesting facial expressions...