Trip to Arizona: Gender Reveal

Jeremy and I found out the gender of baby #4 a week before our trip to AZ - but we decided to wait until the whole family was together to share the news.  We wanted to share the news in a simple, memorable, and FUN way - so we got a "gender reveal" cake made.  I mean, cake always makes things more fun - right?  A gender reveal cake is all white on the outside but when you cut into it it reveals (with blue or pink cream in the middle) whether the baby is a boy or a girl.  (Obviously you tell the bakery the ultrasound results when you order the cake :).  

So the first evening that the entire Niland clan was together we got out the cake and the camera.  First we had everyone make their guesses, then Jeremy and I cut into the cake together (wedding cake style) and pulled out a slice to reveal that Johnston baby #4 is............

a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so fun to hear and see everyone's reactions.  Everyone was thrilled, of course, but Elise..... Elise was adorable!!!!  It took her a moment to understand what was going on and then she literally teared up with joy about her own baby SISTER!!!   I still can't believe how lucky we are!  We are so excited to welcome another sweet beautiful Johnston GIRL to our family in January!  Happy, happy!!!

** About a day after we told the kids we were having another baby, Isaac and Elise had "voted" and decided that this baby should be a girl.  It was only fair, of course.  So I gently explained that is not how it works - that Heavenly Father (and biology!) determine the gender of the baby.  They listened.  Elise left the room.  She came right back in and said, "I prayed.  Heavenly Father said YES.  We can have a baby sister!"  So to say that their hearts were set on a baby sister, is a bit of an understatement.  They would always refer to the baby as a "she" and they would come up with names for the baby and I would try to correct them and continue explaining that it could be a boy or a girl.  I corrected them so much that Elise started saying "She is our baby.  But she might be a boy.  She might be.  We don't know yet."  Caleb, of course, had no idea what was going on.

On Jeremy and I's end of things,  we both were 100% rooting for a healthy baby and would have obviously been happy with a boy or girl.  But, honestly, we were both SO happy to find out the baby was a girl!!  First, I was relieved to not have to deal with telling the kids that the baby wasn't a girl. :)  But mostly, I grew up with sisters and I was really happy to find out the baby was a girl and that Elise would have the opportunity to have a sister as well.  And with Jeremy was super happy to have things balanced out.  We were (and still are!) REALLY excited about the news!  2 boys and 2 girls.  Sounds good to us. :)

Trip to AZ: Our Family Photos

During the Niland family photo shoot we had some individual family photos taken as well.  Here they are!

Trip to Arizona: Niland Family Photos

The next 2 days was spent at my parents' NEW house in Gilbert.  The first day we were there - it was just us and my parents.  It was perfect.  We were able to spend time just relaxing, hanging out, and visiting.  The kids loved having some time to just read books and play catch with their grandparents.  Down time.  We went to the park and we ate good food. We took naps.  It was low key and that was perfect.  Thursday the whole gang began to assemble!  Thursday afternoon we took official family pictures.  Then we came home to eat a YUMMY dinner, do our baby gender reveal, and kick-off the Niland Family Reunion!  Woo Hoo!!!!

Picture prep.  So glad Jeremy caught that photo op.

The family pictures.

 

Trip to Arizona: Seeing Jeremy's Grandparents

Next up was 2 days  with Poppy Rod and Grandma Cindy!  

Rod was kind enough to pick us up in Payson and drive us to stay at his new house in Queen Creek.  We went to the park, ate more yummy food, swam in his pool (the kids LOVED that), played mario cart and watched the disney channel (= happy kids), stayed up late visiting, played with their dog Angel (it was a love/hate relationship for the kids - they loved Angel but didn't actually want to be near her!), went to McDonalds, enjoyed an adult dinner out to Native New Yorker (my parents babysat - which was awesome), and the grand finale and highlight was getting out to visit both of Jeremy's grandparents and his half brothers (Jerrod, Jonathan, and Joseph).  Last time our had seen Jeremy's grandparents was when Isaac was a baby!  So it was high time to say hello and catch up and we thoroughly enjoyed our visits with them and were so happy to see them.  It's tough to live so far away sometimes. :(

Here we are visiting Grandpa Coy.  5 generations of handsome Johnstons!

And visiting Grandma Myrlene!  Jeremy and his dad actually lived in this house with Grandma Myrlene at one point - so Jeremy has lots of memories there.

The whole crew with Grandma Myrlene!

Trip to Arizona: Snowflake

The first stop on our grand adventure to Arizona was spending 2 days with the Johnston/Flake clan in Snowflake.  First of all, 2 days was TOO short!  We were busy every moment trying to pack in all the fun that we could.  The weather was cool and damp - but the company was ideal.  We stayed up late and talked, we did a gender reveal with the adults, we watched Cody's football game, played with cousins, Jeremy and Troy went golfing (and got rained on!), played games, talked and talked and talked, ate yummy food, jumped on the tramp, played at the Moore's house, had a dance party in the Moore's basement!, and more... So grateful that we got to spend even a little bit of time with our wonderful Snowflake family!!