Where's Waldo?

So we got to see the baby on April 7th. It was so cool! When I first saw the baby pop up on the screen, it kind of took my breath away! I didn't see the heartbeat at first, but Doug did. He said "Oh! There it is!" I didn't really know what he was talking about. Figured he was just noticing the baby for the first time! lol! My heart kind of sank because I couldn't see the heartbeat and she was just all over the place taking pictures (remember the doctor thought I had a cyst?). I said "shouldn't we be able to see the heartbeat?" Her and Doug both were like "We already saw it!" She went back and put the pointer over this little tiny flickering white light and said "honey, that's your baby's heartbeat". SO AMAZING!!! I cried! I felt a trillion times better seeing the baby and heartbeat! I told her that people keep making me feel like I should be knocking on deaths door, but I feel ok for the most part! She said to count my lucky stars! I do...everyday...for so much more than not having that much morning sickness!
Other than that wonderful piece of news, we celebrated Easter yesterday with the family. We had a great dinner at Don and Cindy's with tons of cake!! Doug keeps telling me to slow down on the sweets! We also celebrated Mitch's 16th birthday on Saturday with the whole family at Shorebreak. Great food and of course, again, a great cake!! yummm!!!!
Here are a couple of pictures if you haven't already seen them!

love
johnson's x4 +1 in November!

It's going to be....A BABY!!!

I bet I caught your attention huh?! For those who don't know...I'm going to be a mommy in November!! Can you believe it?! I can't!! I'll be 7 weeks tomorrow!! It's amazing to even think about! I took my first pregnancy test on March 14th and took 6 more after that!! They all came back positive, so you would think I would have believed that!! We saw the doctor today and after having blood drawn, waiting, waiting, seeing the doctor, waiting, waiting, having the exam, waiting, waiting, waiting, and seeing her I would believe it, but I asked her probably 3 or 4 times if I was really pregnant! I told her that I feel great and no morning sickness so I must have something wrong with me! She laughed and said I was legit and I would be a mommy around November 19, 2009!! I feel like I can finally breathe and be excited about it! I can't even tell you how over the moon excited I am about the baby and all the possibilities. What a wonderful new chapter to start in our lives! **sigh inserted here** I had hoped to see the baby on an ultrasound today, but no go. She said that they don't typically do them this early, but since she felt something like a cyst (which she said was normal...no worries) she could justify me having an ultrasound this early. So on Tuesday the 7th we will get to see the baby...I hope! I go back again on May 5th to hear the heartbeat. Needless to say, Doug and I couldn't be any happier!!
I guess other things have happened over the past month that I can talk about! lol! Kammy and I went to South Carolina to see my grandparents and to see a friend for a weekend. I told my grandparents while I was down there and for those of you who know my grandma you know she is never one who is lost for words, but she was and it was classic!! We had a great time while we were there and saw so much and ate even more. I came back not even wating to look at food!! It was a great time and it gave me and Kammy a chance to catch up with eachother. Oh...by the way, we went to this place called Boone Hall Plantation (beautiful home and grounds) and we learned that some of the scenes from the Notebook were filmed there!
I also had a conference near Roanoke VA this past weekend. It was for an organization called the SVEA. It's a student group for teachers. It was a good time! My friend Jen and I drove up on Friday to Mountain Lake resort. Sound familiar? It's where Dirty Dancing was filmed!! It was a good learning experience for us and we left with a lot of good ideas!
I think I have one more good news bulletin. Doug got accepted to Old Dominion University!!! He will start this fall and I believe his major is going to political science. We are all very proud of him!!
Well I think that's it for now. I'll keep everyone posted over the next 9 months!! Well...almost 7 now, but who's counting?!

love,
the mommy, daddy and baby makes 3...well 5 because we CAN'T leave out Rowan and Abby!! love to everyone!!!

Fall in L*O*V*E with February

I'm such a huge dork for making that my title! LOL...Oh well! So today is the last day of February!! I can't believe it. Where does the time go?! I'm glad though because that means I have 1 more week of school before spring break and 2 more full weeks before me and my friend Kammy head to SC for the weekend!! We are planning on stopping in Myrtle Beach to visit my grandparents and have lunch/dinner and then head to Charleston to hang out with our friend Mike. I hear Charleston is a great place to visit (based on reports in my Southern Living magazine! lol) We are very excited to go. Due to school and work and of course life, Kammy and I don't see each other as much as we would like to, so this is going to be a great chance for us to catch up with each other and let loose for the weekend!!
My wonderful friend Jen celebrated her birthday this month. We all went out to dinner at Joe'sCrabshack and then to a place called Saddle Ridge to do some country line dancing. It was a ton of fun!!

This past Monday (the 23rd I believe) I went to the Williamsburg Prime Outlet Mall with my mother in law Charlene, sister in law Jan and my little niece Maggie. It was a pretty day, but a little chilly. We stayed for about 8 hours. Yes...you did read that correctly. Those two do it every year and this year I was included in the sport! It was fun, but I hardly bought anything. Just a couple of things for the kitchen. Imagine that!
Maggie is getting so big. She is six months now and she tries to talk to everyone and smiles a lot! She's very fun to watch and play with.
School is going ok I suppose. I really don't feel motivated this semester. I'm taking 1 online course and 4 classes at school and I guess technically a lab added to that, but we don't do anything for it. There is a TON of work for every class. I feel weighted down. My Science for Teachers class has a ridiculous amount of work and it seems like it is truly just busy work. My Microeconomics class is giving me a hard time. My teacher just teaches out of the book and it's very difficult to understand him, but I'm trying. I have a meeting with him Monday. My history teacher is crazy. It's supposed to be history from 1932-present which sound very interesting since I love that time frame, but she teaches it from a governmental point of view, which is hard to follow unless you are extremely up to date on your history and politics and I'm not! Doug's helping me a lot which makes it easier. He is so smart that he can fill me in on details that I'm lacking. Just a few more weeks left of this semester!!
I registered to take my PRAXIS exam again. This is an exam that teachers have to take to obtain a teaching license. Hopefully this will be my last time having to take it!! It's on March 12th...so thoughts and prayers or whatever else you use to give and wish luck would be most appreciated!
Before I go...2 great things happened this month! My aunt Lara found out she will be having a girl in July and my cousin Donny got word that his cancer is now in remission!! YAAAAAY!!!!
Well I should go since I need to get ready for work.

love to everyone!!
Sarah

Happy 2009!!!

2008 has come to a close and it was a fantastic year! So much happened within one years time. Doug and I got married, my niece was born, I finished two more semesters of school, my cousin Megan and a few great friends of mine got engaged!! Those are just the highlights!! 2008 did have its hard and sometimes sad times, but I don't really want to dwell on those. Lets recap on this past month...
December came and went so quickly! I can't believe Christmas is over! I'm kind of glad because if I had to hear 10 million versions of every single Christmas song again I was going to pull my hair out!! Aaahhh...gotta love retail.
I finished yet another semester of school. One more down and hopefully three more to go with a possibility of a summer class. This semester seemed so hard. I took four online classes and one I had to got to school for. My online classes seemed so unorganized and became extremely frustrating. I got through it and finished the semester with all A's and B's and a 3.2 gpa. I'm pretty proud of that! I just finished my registration for spring and I think I'm taking 6 classes (1 is a lab) and I'm thinking about putting in one more. I know...I'm crazy! I just want to get it over and done with. I really have my heart set on graduating in Spring 2010. Consider this your invitation in advance for a HUGE graduation party!! hahaha!!
Christmas was wonderful and Santa was very good to me this year. Doug got me a gift certificate for an hour long massage and a facial, a new karaoke game for xbox, 2 subscriptions to magazines that I wanted (Rachel Ray and Southern Living), and he got me my favorite perfume (Ralph Lauren-Blue and for some reason they don't sell it in stores anymore...poo on them). Santa was good to him also. He received (from me) 2 shirts, xbox points, flip flops for next year and an electric saw for his grand ideas! We did receive gifts from friends and family, but it would be too much to list! I'll just say they were awesome gifts!! This was also Maggie's first Christmas and she made out like a bandit from everyone!! Auntie Sarah and Uncle Doug gave her lots of new clothes and toys and a music player that displays images on the ceiling or wall. Her mommy says she loves it. Here are some pictures from my friend Kammy's annual Christmas Eve get together, our Christmas tree and our Rockband Christmas at Doug's parents house.


We also celebrated Charlene's birthday on our Rockband night. We had spaghetti made by Anthony, salad, bread, lots of good wine and a delicious cake.
Doug and I brought in 2009 at our house...with each other. I made homemade stuffed shells and we had wine (does anyone notice my trend with wine? I think I like it!) and by 1030 we were both in bed! At least we were with each other!!
I think this is all I will write for now. I'm sure I'll write again this month. Hope everyone is well and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Love,
Sarah

November News!!

November was a very exciting month for us!! Doug and I traveled to Pennsylvania earlier this month to visit my 2 aunts and their families. We had a GREAT time!! While we were there we went to an arcade place and played games and had lunch. My family also celebrated my birthday while I was there. They cooked a HUGE Mexican feast (because I love Mexican food!) and I even had a cake (2 chocolate tasteycake cupcakes...chocolate is so good!) We had so much fun and I miss it already. I can't wait to go back...hopefully sooner rather than later.








We had a delicious Thanksgiving!! We had dinner at Doug's parents with Clay, Charlene, Jan, Jeremy and Maggie. Maggie wore a shirt that said it was her first Thanksgiving and they took pictures of her surrounded by food, in a roasting pan, in the oven, (she wasn't IN the oven not was it on...don't be silly...she was on the edge in pan :) )They were very cute pictures!! Here are just a couple of how big she is getting.

What a bootiful month

Well the month of October is just about over. Kinda sad, but it means that my birthday is coming up!!! This month has been a blast for us. The weather finally changed and it feels like fall...my favorite season!!! The leaves are changing and Doug says it smells cold out which makes him happy.

My friends Kammy and Danny just bought their first home together, so on the 12th we went over to help them celebrate home-ownership. It's a cute little ranch in Va Beach. They have already done so much work to it. I know once they are done it will look beautiful!

On October 18th, Doug's parents held their annual oyster roast. We were a little nervous because the weather wasn't supposed to be in our favor, but it worked out. They put up tents just in case it rain, but it was just chilly and pretty windy. The turnout was a lot smaller than years past, but still fun!

On October 25th our friends Jen and Geoff hosted a Halloween party. I went as Betty Rubble and Doug decided to go as a man in his "birthday suit". We had a great time. Jen and Geoff put a lot of time into decorating and preparing food for all of us to enjoy. As you can tell by the pictures, we had a lot of fun!! In the picture are of course Doug and myself, the blond, domestic goddess is Jen, her husband is in the red and white t-shirt and our friend Anthony has the big letter P on his shirt and a black eye. He was a "black eyed pea"! Jen also dressed her dog up as a cat. It was very cute!








Speaking of dressing up their animals...Doug and I, well mostly me, dressed up Abby and Rowan in costumes. Rowan was a pumpkin and Abby was a ladybug. They were both too big for their costumes, but they still looked really cute. Rowan hated it and cried the whole time he had it on!! Abby pretty much just goes with the flow of things. She would run around the yard and look like she was flying!

School is going ok. I received my midterm grades and they were all great except for one class. I really need to work hard to improve in that one. I registered for spring classes today. I'm getting pretty excited because looking at it, I have about 1 year left!! I am hoping and planning on being finished spring 2010 I believe. I am so excited that I will finally have a degree. I'm pretty proud if I do say so myself. It's taken me such a long time, but I feel very rewarded.

I've had to go to the doctor recently. I have been very dizzy lately and I feel as though my heart palpitations have increased. The doctor did a complete blood panel which showed everything as normal (except my sugar...I need to call her about that) and has been doing tests on me. I had a table tilt test yesterday which tries to mimic my symptoms to diagnosis what is going on with my heart, if that's even what it is. Today I picked up an even monitor which monitors my heart. I have to wear it for 30 days and it is not all its cracked up to be! I've only had it on a few hours and I can't wait to get it off!! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on what's going on. I'm sure it will all work out to be fine.

I think that is all for now! I hope everyone is doing well!! Our family is doing great!! You can tell by the pictures that our niece Maggie is getting bigger! She is starting to smile now! I LOVE it!!! We have a lot going on next month as well, with my birthday, my dad's birthday (which I can't celebrate with him ... sorry dad...happy birthday! love you!!) my aunts birthday, my cousin's birthday and Thanksgiving so I can't wait to fill you all in next month!! We are hoping that our cousins from Canada will be able to come down for our Thanksgiving too!!! That would be wonderful!!!

Love,

Sarah