come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me.

Johnson Family Cruise - 2011

(warning... picture overload!!)

We have returned from an adventure on the high seas! We left Long Beach on Sunday, August 7th, and set out to Mexico. The Carnival Splendor was splendid!

Matthew's 4th birthday was Monday, August 8th. Lucky boy, not many 4 year olds get to be on a cruise for their 4th birthday!



Star Wars, Cars, and Legos... Matthew's favorite!























































Beautiful ocean sunset.






























Brian didn't want to look up for the picture.

Our first day in Cabo started out cloudy. We walked around, had lunch, and then returned to the boat.

holding a huge iguana!

Gabe chillin' on deck.

the elephant was our favorite towel animal!

Second day in Cabo was AMAZING. Beautiful, warm, crystal clear water.

when on land, Matthew would say, "I see our truise!!"

(and Brian would say, "It's a cruise, Matthew, not a truise...")









tourists.












sebastian crabs.













Beautiful Cabo.













Puerto Vallarta

Jungle Mountains.

Sailing home.

Baby Natalie.

Emily loved wearing my floppy hat!

Gramma brought a craft activity for the kids... Emily liked making her Sesame Street puppets.

there was a huge family of people wearing shirts and hats that said, "I'm With Freddy." Freddy was their grandfather and they were having a huge family reunion. My dad said if we found Freddy, he'd give us $5. i found Freddy on our last day!

Karaoke!

Even the boys sang!

Emily was sad that she didn't get a chance to sing Pokerface.

it was an AMAZING trip! we had so much fun with everyone!! thank you mom & dad!!!

would you be my valentine?

Behold - Baby Medina!

it's true, i am pregnant!! i'm 10 weeks along and i'm due on February 14th (valentines!)

according my book, my baby is the size of a prune. "IT" wouldn't pose very well for the ultrasound on wednesday... he/she was moving a lot! it was pretty exciting when he/she waved to me!! (hi, mom)

we found out the week before father's day - which made for a special father's day for Gabe. :)

it's been hard to keep a secret... especially when people can read me so well. about a week after I found out, I was having a particularly disgusting feeling morning during a meeting. Nauseous, exhausted, irritable, turning down diet coke, turning down coffee, AND it was a monday... i heard one of my lovely coworkers say to another, "she's pregnant..." i played it off OK in the meeting so they didn't think so, but that girl knew for sure. she came over later and was like, "don't bother denying it, rachel. i know it when i see it!"

Our families have known since 4th of July weekend. i know that they've shared the happy news around, so i figure it's time to go public and let everyone in on the news - there's a baby in there!! (though, when i showed emily the above picture she said, "that's not a baby... i want to see your baby!")

so, in case you're wondering...

• we don't know what IT is yet. my sister and i lovingly refer to it as my seamonkey or my seahorse. gabe calls IT baby or his baby or our baby. i call IT baby, IT, or he/she.


• yes - we're going to find out what it is before it's born.
  yes - morning sickness is real and it lasts ALL DAY


• pasta is the best. i guess you could call it my craving, but i don't really crave anything... i'd prefer not to eat but force myself anyways.


• i haven't gained weight, i've lost it - what with the lack of appetite


• OJ is another craving


• i'm exhausted - been going to bed around 9:30 on most nights


• anything with bbq sauce makes me sick, even just thinking about it


• IT doesn't like it when i brush my teeth... so that's interesting


• my back has been sore this week


• the first few weeks i was crying at everything - scrubs reruns, taylor swift songs, carrie underwood songs, the end of OVERBOARD (good lord). i haven't been all that weepy lately, but i think more irritable.


• cooking is a challenge, especially if i'm cooking meat. luckily, my sweet husband has taken on most dinner responsibilities.


• i've mostly given up caffiene. maybe a caffienated soda in a week. i've had one caffienated coffee since i've found out.

so, there you have it, folks. you heard it straight from the momma's mouth...

beach time

sadly, last summer came and went without a trip to the beach. (i know, right??)

this summer, i've decided to be more proactive and visit this beautiful friend of mine more often.

a couple sundays ago, we just decided to go to the beach for the sunset. it was so relaxing and beautiful.

we went again on 4th of July weekend. (sorry - no pics)

with going to the beach more often, i need to be much more strict about sunscreen. yesterday was a beach day with my sister. i was good about putting sunscreen on the top half of my body and my face. unfortunately, i was completely DUMB about my bottom half and didn't sunscreen at all.

right now my legs are on FIRE. i think this is just about the worst sunburn i've ever had. i can barely walk and even putting on the aloe vera is hurting me.

NEW RULE - Sunscreen EVERYWHERE. on the hour EVERY hour. (and keep a aloe lotion in the fridge....)

memorial day fun

Gabe and i had a simple and fun memorial day this year (much better than our last couple memorial days...)

we went to the mall and did a little shopping and lunching. it was such a beautiful day, so we decided to keep the fun going with a quick trip to Disneyland (gotta love having the deluxe pass!)

after Disneyland we decided it would be a perfect end to our day to have a bbq and make s'mores. we headed to the store and got the necessary fixin's to have a delicious bbq.

the s'mores part was especially fun because Gabe had never made them before! (how is that possible??) so, i coached him on how to do it and we made some delicious, gooey s'mores!!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Memorial Day!!

choo choo, i like you.

a couple sundays ago, we had Emily over for craft time. we were so excited to do this adorable train craft with her! when we went to the craft store, there were SO many different things to choose from, we were having trouble deciding which would be best. gabe zeroed in on this adorable train. each piece is sold separately (for about $0.50/each) and you can spell out whatever you like.

Gabe was very maticulous about his letter (the Y). in the time he painted one, emily and i painted all the rest!

it was a great craft and we had so much fun working together. the final product is so cute!!!

she explained it all on "wake up seattle."

weekend before last, the Johnson clan met up in Seattle, WA and Bellingham, WA to celebrate baby Natalie's addition to our family. Eric and Michelle welcomed Natalie Lauren into their home on 2/5/2011. My parents had already been up to meet the little girl, but for the rest of us this was our first time meeting her. She is a sweet little girl and was very tired the whole time, so i didn't get many pictures of her.

after we arrived in Seattle, we all met up at the Woodland Park Zoo. the kids LOVED it!

Emily and Matthew checking out the penguins.

Eric and Matthew (love their matching outfits.)

the scenery was beautiful. who's that handsome guy??

i couldn't quite get them to pose (they were irritated that i got in their way and demanded a picture.) but it was sweet how they were all walking together and holding hands together.


saturday was a bit chillier, but we enjoyed a lovely trail walk on one of Bellingham's many trails.

i liked this cool bridge over the trail. (gabe's keeping his hands in his sweatshirt because he's so cold!)

matthew kept finding walking sticks along the trail.

saturday afternoon we went swimming at the hotel. the kids were hilarious in the pool. (sorry, no pictures...) saturday night we had dinner and made crafts. again - no pics!

Sunday, we went to church. Gabe, Elizabeth and I explored the downtown area. then we all met up for some food/games.

all the Johnson grandchildren....

after we got back to the hotel, emily visited our room and we played make-up... (oh, how she loves to play make-up!)

look at that beautiful niece!

we had a great trip and we can't wait to see Eric & Michelle's family again!

Wild Animal Park (san diego - part 3)

the last day of our San Diego adventure was spent at the Wild Animal Park and the beach. It was a perfectly beautiful day. Clear blue sky, puffy white clouds, and sunshine galore.

Lion napping in the sunshine