Bryn's 10th Birthday!

Happy Golden Birthday to Bryn!!

Bryn turned 10 years old on the 10th. Bryn at 10 is still a delightful breath of fresh air. She is sunny, happy, positive, loving, kind, helpful, smart, talented, and funny. Lately she has gotten a really dry sense of humor and I am LOVING it! That girl can hold her own with her older siblings!

This year for Bryn's birthday Tyler and I pulled off our best parental surprise yet! It nearly killed us to keep the secret. We had to keep it for two VERY LONG weeks! Bryn's dream has been to get a pug. She has wanted one since she was super tiny. She has grown up listening to stories about her older siblings and their beloved Mrs. Beasley; our pug who passed away before Bryn was born. She really was an awesome dog! So Bryn has heard Mrs. Beasley stories her whole life and has wanted a pug of her own but we have always said no and that we were just too busy to add a dog into the mix. Bryn has pug books, pug shirts, many many stuffed animal pugs, pug socks, draws pugs, and writes stories and poems about them all the time! That girl is crazy about pugs!!

After our Thanksgiving trip to Portland where we hung out with Susan and Dan and their cute bichon and havanese dogs we decided that *maybe* we should get a dog in the near future because we really enjoyed hanging out with their cute dogs! Particularly their Havanese  named Janie. We told the kids that we would *consider* getting a dog after Kam graduated and left on his mission. The girls were thrilled and decided that if we were to get a boy dog we would name him "Elder Johnson". LOL. Kameron really wanted us to get the dog before he left for his mission so that he could have time to enjoy the dog too. Tyler and I weren't totally convinced but we were definitely coming around to the idea. Tyler registered us on a Havanese rescue site.

Right around this time Kelley told us that Elle had been begging for a dog and that her co-worker had a pug who was having puppies and they were all spoken for but if there happened to be an extra puppy Kelley could buy it for Elle. Tyler and I knew that Bryn would be so happy for Elle and so sad for herself so we didn't say anything to her at the time just in case it didn't happen. Well, it did happen...and there happened to be not just one extra puppy but TWO extra puppies. Kelley and Elle went to visit their brand new pug puppy Henry and Kelley asked us if we would be interested in the other one... a little girl. We, of course, said YES!! We knew that we wanted to surprise Bryn with the puppy for her birthday. Kelley posted several pictures of Elle and their new puppy Henry and we had to tell Bryn that Elle was getting a pug for her birthday...which was two weeks before Bryn's birthday. Bryn was a little teary but very happy for Elle and was grateful that she would at least get to visit and play with a pug. But we knew that she was having a little bit of a hard time. It was so hard not to tell her as we heard her congratulate Elle and be excited for her. Bryn was really a little champ at trying to be happy for Elle and she genuinely was!! She started asking if we could check the rescue sites more often and try to find our Havanese as soon as possible. LOL.

Bryn's birthday arrived and it was festive from the start. She woke up to a GIGANTIC balloon, her favorite donuts, and chocolate milk from Tyler.

She headed off to school and I brought her our traditional birthday fast food lunch. She was so excited for that and had requested her usual: Taco Bell...two bean burritos and a slushy.

Then when school was over she was surprised to see Tyler with me when I came to pick her up. She was even more shocked to see Kameron and Ailey in the car!! We told her that we were off on a special birthday adventure and that it was a special surprise!!

Kelley's co-worker lives about 25 minutes away and Bryn had absolutely no idea where we were going. It wasn't near any place that we usually go or near any of her favorite places. When we drove into a random neighborhood she was so baffled. She was even more confused when she saw Reilly waiting in her car in front of the house. Tyler had us all wait in the car while he went to the door. Bryn thought maybe we were at the house of one of Tyler's co-workers. Ha ha! Tyler motioned for us all to come in and Bryn hesitantly walked in the house and into Jimmy's living room. He was holding his pug so she was already mesmerized and didn't even see the area with the puppies. Jimmy said to her, "Do you want to see the puppies? They are right over there." Bryn looked over and saw the puppies and I really think she was in shock! LOL. Tyler and I said, "Elle isn't the only one getting a puppy for her birthday day... you are too!!" The kids yelled "Happy Birthday Brynnie!!" She was so stunned and was like, "Wait, what?!" We had to repeat that she was getting a puppy too! Jimmy handed her the little girl pug and I thought Bryn was going to die of joy!!

Meet Miss Beverly Beatrice Beauchamp the pug!!

Beverly is absolutely darling!! Bryn is completely smitten and so are we!! We got to hold all of the puppies while we were there. Elle's pug Henry got a lot of love and so did the others. Who doesn't love cuddling puppies!!

Kam is holding Henry and Reilly is snuggling the cutest and fattest boy pug. Ailey was holding puppies too until she got pooped on and then she was done. Ha ha!!

Beverly is so little and still has several more weeks to go until she can come home with us. Her sweet owner is letting us visit weekly. It was really hard to tear ourselves away!! The minute we got into the car Bryn burst into tears. She was so happy!!

After that we all had to take a minute to calm down so we drove to the nearest Zips for celebratory shakes!! That was one happy bunch of Johnson kids!!

Later that night Bryn requested dinner at Senor Froggy's and Bryn declared it the best day of her entire life!!

Grandma Judie and Grandpa Joel had a package waiting for her at our house. They had sent Bryn a vintage 1960s Madame Alexander doll. Grandpa Joel had made a special chair for the doll to sit in. Our kids are vintage collectors... the next generation. LOL.

Bryn blew out her candles on a donut that night and said that she couldn't think of a wish because every time she makes a wish it is always for a pug and it had already come true! Tyler and I (and the kids) had the most fun surprising her!! I really can't believe we pulled it off! It was the SLOWEST two weeks ever!!

We celebrated Bryn some more that weekend. Bryn's day-of-fun included: sushi, dessert at the Couer d' Alene resort, and going to a trampoline park. We did it all!

After lunch we went shopping:

Then onto the resort for dessert:

Then to the trampoline park:

Sunday after church we had a fun visit with Jordin, Ramon, and the kids. We had Bryn's requested favorite meal: salad bar, tempura shrimp, Dr. Pepper, and Texas sheet cake!

Bryn's 10th Birthday was GOLDEN indeed!!

Happy Birthday Brynnie!! 

We love you very much!!

Bryn Is 9!!

This little cutie turned nine and we had several days of celebrating! Bryn had her birthday planned out in great detail and we followed it to a tee. Bryn at nine years old is still an absolute joy. She has the sunniest disposition. She is always in a good mood. She is cheerful and helpful. She is kind and friendly to everyone. She is an absolute sweetheart. I know those teen years are coming so I am going to enjoy every minute of her sweetness!!

Bryn's birthday was on a school day this year. She woke up to her room decorated by Ailey who did such a cute job! She had balloons, donuts, and chocolate milk from daddy too. As per our tradition she got to have a fast food lunch delivered to her at school. This year she requested Taco Bell. She wanted two bean burritos and a slushy. Done! Her classmates knew that I was coming and as they all filed past me headed to the lunch room it was so cute to see how excited they were for her!!

She was pretty excited and happy too!!

At school she got birthday surprises from her teacher Mr. O. The class sang Happy Birthday to her and she got a birthday sticker and new pair of sunglasses from the office. She loved it!

After school she had a busy day with Bloomsday Training at her school and then she came home really briefly before she headed over to the high school for track.

This is her first year running track and she is LOVING it!! Her XC coach for the past two years is also her track coach this year so that makes it really nice. He pushes her hard especially now that she is older. Bryn doesn't seem to mind it a bit and she is listening to him and doing so great!! It took her a couple of practices to change things from how you run XC to how you run track...like sprinting. Her coach is always yelling...NOW IS THE TIME YOU SPRINT!! Ha ha!

We had a super crazy day on her birthday. Everyone was gone until late that night with after school activities but Bryn came home that night to lots of texts, phone calls, and birthday packages. She was so excited and she got to make a late night wish too.

Earlier in the week Reilly took Bryn out for her birthday. They went and got pedicures and out to eat. Reilly asked Bryn to pick a restaurant and she picked Taco Bell!! Ha ha! She's a cheap date. Bryn had a fantastic time with her big sister all to herself!!

Brynnie-Johnson's-Day-O-Fun was the Saturday after her actual birthday. We had to be up bright and early because Ailey had dance team tryouts and Bryn had her very first track meet. It was super exciting!!

Before the meet trying to stay warm!!

Bryn's cheering section!!

And...cheering we did!! She absolutely KILLED IT at her very first track meet!! She ran the 4 x 400 relay, the 100 meter dash, and did javelin. She did SO AWESOME!!

Her team won the 4 x 400 relay. She had a big lead her entire lap. It was so exciting to watch her shine. She was so worried about the meet because she is used to pacing herself for distance running and so to basically sprint the entire time is a new concept for her but she did absolutely fantastic. See the video below:



Then she WON the 100 meter dash!! We didn't even film it because we were screaming so loud and jumping up and down!! It was super exciting. Not a bad first track meet!!

After the meet we said goodbye to Kameron who had to go to work and hello to Reilly who met up with us. We continued on with Bryn's day of fun. The next stop was the mall...and her very favorite store Build-a-Bear. One of the gifts that she wanted was a new bear from there. Wish granted. We have spent a lot of money over the years with three girls who have all loved stuffed animals and loved this store!!

So many to choose from! :)

Success!! A fluffy pink bear dressed in a pink cheerleading outfit that Bryn named Rose. She also got a scent for her bear...sugar n' sparkles...Rose smells really good!

Then we were off to Coeur d' Alene. Bryn wanted to go to our favorite sushi restaurant for lunch. Done and done! This girl has good taste!

I think she gets it from her parents!! No Chuck E. Cheese this year.

After that we had some shopping to do.... the candy store and the toy store.

Bryn got the winning gumball and got a free sack of candy!! How lucky was that? Then we were off to the CDA resort to walk the board walk.

Just a little chilly!!

Then to Dockside for Bryn's favorite Gooeys...enormous sundaes!! They were fantastic!! Bryn picked out the Strawberry Shortcake (our family favorite), the Strawberry Lemonade (also good), and the Chocolate obsession. Whoa... it was a good thing that the next item on her list was hiking. We needed it!!

By that point the sun was coming out and it started to warm up. It turned into a beautiful afternoon.

This girl was super nervous all day waiting to hear if she made the high school dance team. It was a good thing that we kept her busy and distracted all day. :) More on that later. That night Bryn got Mommy and Daddy all to herself!! It was a very fun day with our girl.

The next day we had our family birthday dinner for Bryn after church. (Bryn's favorite color is purple.) She picked her special birthday meal: salad bar, tempura shrimp, Dr.Pepper, and she requested Texas sheet cake for her birthday cake.

Ailey decorated her cake. Cute!

After dinner Bryn got to pick out what we were going to do that evening. She picked a marathon game of My Little Ponies Monopoly!! The whole family played for hours and with great gusto with The Greatest Showman soundtrack playing on repeat and a lot of Maroon Five. Bryn was the DJ. There was some crazy dancing and lip syncing going on too!!

Happy Birthday Darling Girl!! 

We love you very much!!