A Weekend of Laughs

On Christmas morning I opened up a present from Dan. It was a DVD of our newest favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan. Tucked into the plastic on the back side of the DVD were 2 tickets to see him live on February 27th. I was so excited! Thanks hon! Then I opened up another present from Dan. "Oh my gosh, Brian Regan tickets?" I looked at the date on these tickets. "And for the night before?!" Yep, Dan bought tickets to Brian Regan for Friday, February 26th, and to Jim Gaffigan on Saturday, February 27th. And even better, he had arranged both nights with friends, so I knew it was going to be a great weekend.

Well, our comedy filled weekend finally came. On Friday night we set off to the Palace Theater with Rocky and Joni to see Brian Regan.
This was our first time seeing Brian Regan live, and he was even funnier in person than I had imagined. He was just so funny . . . . . I literally had tears pouring down my face for the whole hour! I love when he laughs at his own jokes . . . . it shows he is truly having fun on stage. And I love how he is just so crazy! Strutting around like he owns the stage (which he does) and making the wackiest facial expressions.

Then on Saturday night at the Ohio Theater we saw him:
with these guys:
and again, we laughed until our cheekbones hurt. The best part of Jim Gaffigan's show was his bit on Subway. He went off on the workers that are so depressed to be working at Subway, and how they squirt way too much mayo on your sandwich, and of course I can't even convey how funny it was. But what made it even funnier was that after walking around downtown Columbus, trying to find a place to eat before the show, (the restaurant we originally had planned to eat at had closed its doors to business literally a week before), we ended up eating at the Subway a few blocks down from the theater. How ironic! It was just too funny.

So, I have to say, after seeing both comedians back to back, Dan and I both agree that the winner was Brian Regan. Jim Gaffigan was hilarious as well, but I definitely was laughing much harder watching Brian Regan. But both nights were great, and if you ever get a chance to see one of them live, GO!

Leah's Strawberry Shortcake Party

A couple of weeks before Leah's birthday, I asked her what kind of party she wanted this year. I suggested a Strawberry Shortcake party, and she loved the idea. She loves Strawberry Shortcake, and I knew it would be pretty easy to do. Since she was only turning 3, I wanted to keep it really small and simple. Which it was. But still so fun - even Annie was totally into helping me plan everything. We made and sent out cute little Strawberry Shortcake invitations to a few of Leah's friends - like I said, small and simple:)

The first activity we did was to color Strawberry Shortcake pictures. I love how little girls love to color! They just sat there all nice and quiet, totally immersed in their pages. Then Dan did a little game with them where he printed off lots of strawberries, cut them out, and hid them all over the room for them to find. Again, so simple, but they loved it.

Then we opened presents, which is usually a happy time of the party right?

It started off well . . . . cute little Avery Young gave Leah a Rapunzel Barbie, which she loved! And then it was time for Leah to open Camille's present. Camille has the exact same birthday as Leah, and her mom told me later that Camille kept wanting to open the present at home because she thought it was for her. Her mom would explain to her that the present was for Leah, but she just didn't get it. After all, it was her birthday too! So when Leah finally reached for the present, Camille was not just going to hand it over. No way. A tug-of-war match started and both girls wanted that present bad.

I should have stepped in a little sooner, and because I didn't, Avery did. I guess she didn't really get that the present was supposed to be for Leah, either. Finally, a compromise was reached, and they both opened the present together. Although Camille was still firm about not giving up the coveted princess dominoes:)

Good thing they were all easily distracted with the idea of cake and ice cream! The menu included: Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes, strawberry ice cream, strawberry lemonade, and of course, strawberries! The party table: Cohen Burnett, Annie, Leah, Avery Young, Shannon Whitehead, and Camille Christensen.

"A berry happy birthday to you! Smile a smile from ear to ear. Make a wish to last all year. A berry happy birthday to you! We've got juice and we've got fruit. And the birthday girl who's berry cute! A berry happy birthday to you!"
I love blowing pictures, and we have a lot of them this time because she just couldn't blow out the candles! Poor girl. They weren't trick candles or anything, but for some reason she just couldn't do it. She was definitely on the verge of tears . . . .

When her berry best friend in the whole world stepped into help her! We ended the party with me reading the kids a Strawberry Shortcake book and then they watched a Strawberry Shortcake movie while we waited for parents to come. Leah had a few rough moments I guess, but it was definitely a success overall. Leah felt special, and that is what matters most!

After her party, Leah opened up her birthday presents from us! We didn't really celebrate on her actual birthday because Dan was gone the whole day (I did take the girls to Pump it Up though). So we did all the festivities the day after.
I love this picture . . . . . a classic Leah face. She didn't really want to take pictures, she just wanted to open her presents!

She was excited to get 3 new Strawberry Shortcake movies!! She likes to watch a movie while Annie is at preschool and 95% of the time she picks a Strawberry Shortcake movie. I was getting a little tired of the 2 we had. And she loves her new Strawberry Shortcake house (thanks G-ma!) and little dolls to play with!

Happy Birthday Leah!! We love you berry much!

Beautiful Vancouver

One day we went down to White Rock to let the kids explore the beach . . . . of course they loved it.

Annie and Leah had so much fun playing with Megan this week. Aren't cousins just the best?Dan with his two sisters, Amy and Lisa.Ahhhh!!! Who's that shady looking dark hooded character staring at the girls? oh . . . . it's just Grandpa. Good.

We also played at the park right next to the beach. We had the most fabulous weather while we were there. It was so nice to have a break from the grey snowy Ohio, and actually see the sun! In fact, the joke in Vancouver was that it wasn't the Winter Olympics going on, but the Spring Olympics!

Dan doing a crazy underdog . . . . he pushed Annie so high she went out of the picture!

A few other pictures from the week that I wanted to throw in here. Grandma and the girls making Valentine's necklaces:

And Mary also threw Leah an early little birthday party!

Mary got her some Strawberry Shortcake dolls and the Johnsons got her these little stuffed cats, which she named Lily (the brown one) and Sparkles (the black one).

Thanks for the fun week and everything you guys did for us, David and Mary!!!

Vancouver Lights

Thursday night, Dan, Mike, Amy, and Lisa drove an hour to Stanley Park to get some "night shots" of the city. They are all so into it, and I'm not sure if I would drive all that way to stand in the cold for a picture, but I love that Dan enjoys spending time with his siblings and that they can bond over their photography. And I have to admit, he did get some pretty cool shots!

Our Trip to the Olympics!!

I'm finally posting about our trip to the Olympics! A trip up to Vancouver to visit Dan's parents was long overdue (Leah had never been there and she is almost 3!). So, what better time to go than during the Olympics?! We went from February 17 - 23, right in the middle of the Olympics. I'm so happy we went . . . . . especially since I was having some serious 2nd thoughts about going at all, with being pregnant, and our weather in Ohio being so bad (OSU was even cancelled due to snow the day before we left!) But we went, and I'm glad. We had so much fun and it was a great experience.

From the get go, Canadian pride was thrust upon us. Dan's Mom bought each of us a pair of the famous Olympic Canadian mittens. We love them!
We were even served Canadian pride ice cream to go along with Mary's homemade pies . . . . so yummy. I wish I could eat some right now . . . . especially the blueberry pie . . . . yes, I'm pregnant:)
We had thought that it was just going to be us, the Johnsons (minus their 3 oldest kids) and Amy meeting up in Vancouver . . . . but when we got there, we were shocked to find Scott, Elisha, their 2 kids, and Mike hiding underneath a blanket! Surprise!! Of course, why would they want to miss out on the party? I was doubly happy we had decided to make the trip afterall.
We only had a few days all together, so one day we decided to head on down to Richmond and check out the O-zone and the Holland House. Inside the Holland House we practiced for our 4 man bobsled run:

Another day we headed downtown on the skytrain (Scott, Elisha, and Mike had left at this point).

We sat in front, and the kids loved helping Grandpa "drive" the train. Actually, yeah, who is driving this thing?

Walking around downtown was cRaZiNesS! But so fun.

Being 34 weeks pregnant, I was worried I wouldn't last long walking around. Good thing there were friendly Canadians around to give me a lift!

The Olympic Torch

On Monday, the 22nd, Dan and I went to a semi-final women's hockey game: USA vs. Sweden. We wanted to go to an event, and this one was the easiest to go to. We again took the skytrain downtown, and I could just sit inside the arena and watch the event. It was definitely fun, and I'm glad we went!! It really got us into the Olympic spirit cheering for the U.S., even though most of the Canadian fans in attendance cheered for Sweden because they were still bitter from their loss against the USA men's team the night before. But don't worry, I made Dan cheer for the U.S.:) A big cheers for Mary for watching the girls while we went!! They had some special Grandma time which they loved. Here we are in front of Canada Hockey Place, where the game was held. All along the river there were these really impressive rock formations/towers. The Canadians sure know how to stack their rocks!

When we found our seats inside, we were a little disappointed when we realized they were on the very top row of the arena. Hmmm, this wasn't going to work. I mean, this was our view:

And we paid big bucks for these tickets! Well, not that big . . . . but big to us:) We endured the first period in the nosebleeds while staking out which seats we would move down to. So during the first intermission, we made our move and snuck past the ticket checkers (who weren't really checking tickets at all) and settled confidently into our new 3rd row seats. With this view:

Go USA!

Victory! We won 9-1.