My newest little love...

On Tuesday, January 26, our family grew by 8 pounds 7 ounces in the form of this sweet little man.

Our nephew, Crosby, was born in the early afternoon with a head full of hair and the squishiest cheeks you ever did see.

We patiently waited in the waiting room and because of the visitor restrictions, we had to go back three at a time. Jake was sooooo excited about meeting his littlest cousin, so I sent him on with Gramma and Claire. Uncle Drew sent me these sweet pics...


Claire wasn't quite sure what to think, but it only took her about 24 hours to become smitten.

Proud Aunt Jaclyn...

The squishiest, right?







Welcome to the world, Crosby. We love you so much and are so blessed that God brought you to our family.

#scout2016

Hey- good news! I've made it into 2016!

So, do you all remember last year when I mentioned something about a third vehicle for our family?

Well, meet the newest addition to the Johnson Family...

It arrived to our home via our friend, Patrick's, father, who graciously (and I am pretty sure sadly) sold it to Chad the Saturday we came home from Myrtle Beach.

Since that Saturday, this car truck SUV (?) vehicle, has taken residence in our garage and provided hours of entertainment (and sweat) as Chad works to spruce it up piece by piece.

It's a marathon, not a sprint, with this revitalization project, but it's been fun for Chad, and we even took it out on a Friday night for some family fun. :-)

#scout2016
We will keep you posted...

Beachin' in the New Year!

After a crazy two weeks of Christmas vacation, we were very fortunate enough to escape to Myrtle Beach with 4/6 of our Carolina Family to celebrate New Year's.
Day 1 was awesome weather and, though overcast, it hit mid-60's so the kids were so excited to enjoy the beach.




A little Duck, Duck, Goose with "camp counselors," Loryn and Jon. :-)



The scariest, yet also funniest game ever- Lightning Reaction.


Getting shocked for fun? Sure! But only if you are the slowest...


The kids were all so great and played so well together MOST of the time. (I mean, they are real, normal kids after all.)


New Year's Eve craziness...G-rated.

"Kids, if you sit and take picture you can open your Secret Santa gifts..."


A little "Happy Birthday, Jesus" on New Year's, too...

Watching the "9pm ball" drop...

An adult pic! Nice to have a 10 year old in attendance...




The next day, we drove to the Boardwalk and played arcade games and ate funnel cake and ice cream for lunch.


And then crab legs for dinner. 2016 was already the best year ever at this point!


It was a wonderful way to ring in the New Year, and we were so thankful for the getaway. While 2015 was much better than 2014, we are still so excited about all the hope and promise that 2016 should offer us.

16th Annual Johnzler Christmas Lights Spectacular!

It's hard to believe we have been visiting the Tanglewood Festival of Lights display since 2001- when Allie was just 6 months old!

And I am pretty sure in each of the 16 years the parents were more excited than the kids.*



A fun tradition with our Godfamily that we will continue to drag bring* our kids to each and every year until we can no longer fit in our minivan. :-)

*Though I am half kidding, I will tell you that our kids do whine about the space in the backseat, how cold and hot they are, how hungry they are, and so on. We just ignore them and blast our Neil Diamond Christmas Album and threaten every year to not bring them. It does help, though, to always go after Christmas and on a weeknight. Cuts your time down in half essentially, as I cannot even imagine listening to them whine TWICE as much.