Elliot turns 11

Elliot the Great has turned 11! 

This is sadly the only picture we took at his birthday party. He took a group of friends to Main Event for laser tag, bowling, and pizza. I asked him just now (4 months after the party) about what he remembers. He response was "Uncle Blake was annoyingly good at laser tag. He would hide behind the obstacles and shoot you before you could do anything. I did win one round though. I beat YOU, Mom!" At that point he leaned in close with his trademark crazed wide-eyed look. 

Just a couple of weeks after his birthday, January rolled around and this guy moved up to the wild world of the Young Men's program at church! I have seen a huge development in him since then. He gave a lesson in Deacon's Quorum on Jacob & Esau, and a talk in Sacrament meeting. He did a great job of coming up with content, organizing it, and practicing for both. He's always been independent and capable, but his willingness to take on assignments like this has blown me away. 

He has some awesome youth leaders. The picture above was taken at a stake youth hike up Picacho Peak, which was the hardest, steepest hike he has ever done by a pretty wide margin. He has also been camping on an island that they accessed by boat, gone backpacking, built and launched rockets, did an iron chef competition, and has been on a temple trip- all in only 4 months as a Deacon! 

It was really cool taking him to the temple for the first time. 

He is still a creator. We find paper filled with symbols only he can decipher, and his school work has an abundance of doodles. Here he is making a robot that can draw at the Library Maker Fair. 

Elliot crossed over from Cub Scouts to the full Scout program. I think the program is a great fit for him, and he's pumped about going to Camp Geronimo with his troop this summer. 

Possibly my favorite side of Elliot comes out when he's playing with Felix. He'll read to him or try to get him to say funny things. It brings out his caring and responsible side and is so sweet to see. 

Elliot is a one of a kind kid! I love playing board games with him and chatting with him while driving to his increasing number of activates.  He keeps his homemade "Story Cards" in the van, and I love it when he is sitting back there with friends and they are busting a gut listening to him make up crazy stories. He loves giving cryptic comments and then refusing to explain them. He has a strong sense of justice, and is the only one who can reliably keep track of how much screen time Isaac lost on the previous day. He reads a TON, and we struggle to keep him stocked with reading material despite weekly trips to the library. 

Happy Birthday, Oat!

Christmas, with a Gender Reveal

The Johnson Family, gathered around for some Christmas Eve Fondue

We rounded out the night with a shadowbox play of the Nativity by Elliot and Mimi and some Christmas music with the guitar being passed back and forth. 

We opted to open presents on Christmas morning at our house with the early risers before heading over for pull-aparts and the rest of Christmas celebrations at Casa Johnson. Adorably, the present that Felix was the most excited about was an orange that we wrapped up for him. 

This is the present I was most excited for...

We opted to do the blood test with this pregnancy. Part of the appeal is that you can find out the gender early. We weren't sure if we would get the results before Christmas or if processing would be way delayed with the holiday. We got the results while at Reid park on the 23rd! We decided to make a little gender reveal box for the family to open on Christmas to surprise everyone. 

It's... a GIRL! 

We could not be more pumped about having this little girl coming our way! She really does feel like a gift. 

A wonderful part about Arizona is that you can have Christmas Day pool parties. I got my dad these inflatable battle logs for Christmas, knowing that he would take great joy in watching his posterity whack each other and fall off the wobbly logs. 

The party continued through the week to New Year's, with Max and Morgan able to join us after spending Christmas with Morgan's family. 

We watched movie, then played a YouTube video of a New Year's countdown before we put the kids to for a few hours. We let our newly minted 11 year old Elliot stay up until midnight with the grownups before we loaded everyone up in the car to sleep at our own house. 

So many streamers!

Felix was not so sure about the loud popping noise and streamers exploding into being. 

2025 was a great year for us Bloods!

All the Christmas Parties

Felix was a perfect model for his "baby in the Christmas lights" picture. I was worried he would be a terror pulling ornaments off the Christmas tree, but he did great with it. 

His first time independently standing up was by Mimi's Christmas tree. He loved saying "hi" to his favorite ornaments that she put down low for him. 

He also loved our Christmas coloring wall! He always found the one Santa head in the picture to point out. Mimi has a big collection of Santa's that she displays in her kitchen, and we didn't realize the impact it was having on him. He still demands that we draw "Santa, ho ho ho, Merry Christmas" for him months later. 

A major highlight of the holiday season for Isaac was this puzzle advent calendar that Mimi got him. He would wake up early and add the day's box of pieces to the puzzle first thing every morning. 

We had the great fortune of being at the clubhouse for Elder's Quorum pickleball on the day that happened to the the Rancho holiday party. 

Felix was truly astonished that he got to ride on a train. It was adorable. 

He's actually the cutest little guy in the whole wide world.

Candy cane mini golf! 

Felix is famous for saying "No tickles!" followed by "More tickles!" after a 5 second pause. 

Our ward Christmas party was excellent this year! It was a potluck followed by a talent show. One of my favorite acts was a series of shapes ranging from Christmas Tree to stable to santa's sleigh assembled by a few families working together, human pyramid style. 

I was talked into a dance number where we wore tan sweatshirts in a most undignified manner to do a turkey dance. There were open-mic dad jokes, dance performances, and so much more!

Mimi was involved in decorating for the Creche festival again this year, and I played some Viola duets with Hannah Gardner as background music. We had a great time in the photo booth and doing all the crafts.

Our angel and sheep 

Breezy was attempting to teach them star fingers

We always enjoy wandering through the town hall lights, strategically not on the Winterfest night. 

A scenic spot for some handstands! This girl lives her life upside down these days.

Annie's primary activities leader organized a time for the girls and their families to sing Christmas songs at a retirement home before Church on the Sunday before Christmas. They surprised the residents by turning around to reveal Rudolf noses from the balcony for the first number. 

Christmastime Bloods