London- Europe 2010

Back in November, Mike and I were lucky enough to get to spend a couple weeks in Europe. Our primary reason for taking this trip was to visit Mike's parents who were teaching in London for the entire fall semester. Little did we know when we originally planned this trip and bought our plane tickets that we would have an even better reason to travel to London to see Mike's parents. We had a "little" secret to share with them:)

Since we had been to London before, we decided that some of our time should be spent doing things away from the city. We planned 2 day trips, one to Bath & one to Windsor. We also took a few days and traveled to Scotland. I will have later posts on those 3 trips.

Our first night in London was a late one. Our flight didn't get in until around 11:00pm and we didn't arrive to the flat until after midnight. Since we had such a late night the night before, our first full day in the city was a rather light one. Mike's parents awoke early and headed to church and left us to get extra sleep. Once we woke up and showered we ventured out into the city. It was a very rainy day so we decided to grab some lunch, snap a few pictures and then head back to the flat to meet up with Mike's parents and reveal our big secret!

The rest of our time in London was spent doing random things. We visited several of our favorite markets, spent time in a few museums, and saw a couple musicals. This trip was very laid back which made for a very enjoyable vacation.

Here are some of the pictures from our time in London:

Our first meal in London was at The Globe Pub.

We were a little jet lagged:)

This is a picture Mike took. I thought it is really beautiful.

Surprise...We're Expecting!

No trip to London would be complete with out a visit to Harrods!

One of the museums we decided to visit was the Victoria & Albert Museum. They had this beautiful Chihuly Sculpture on display in the lobby.

They also have a life size replica of Michelangelo's David.

While in London we saw two amazing Musicals, Wicked & Oliver! We had front row seats for both shows!

If you look closely you can see the theater for Oliver in the background:)

Breakfast at a cafe around the corner from our flat.

This picture was taken at a French restaurant where we decided to stop for an afternoon snack.

Tube station snapshot;)

Portobello Road Market:

Covent Garden:

Europe 2010 was definitely a memorable trip! We had such a great time visiting family and traveling abroad.

Lordy Lordy Look Who's 40!

On December 28th, 2010, my sweet and wonderful husband turned 40 years old! Between all the traveling , the holidays, and the new baby excitement we didn't get to do anything special to celebrate this milestone...

but we did have balloons & cake!

Happy 40th Birthday to the greatest guy I know!

Cranberry Orange Scones

This past Saturday, Mike and I woke up to a very snowy morning. Since I knew we would be hanging around the house for the for the first part of the day I decided I would make scones for breakfast.

I had seen this recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones on Barefoot Contessa and had been wanting to try it out. I was a little nervous about making homemade scones. I always thought they would be difficult to make and very time consuming. I was wrong! These were so simple to make and best of all they were so yummy!

Here is what they looked like straight out of the oven.

This is the final product. Once they were cooled, I glazed them with an orange juice & powdered sugar mixture.

This recipe made 16 scones total. I baked 8 of them and wrapped and froze the other 8 to bake at a later time. I am now on a mission to find other scone recipes to try. Mike has already requested strawberry scones & blueberry scones:)

It's A Wonderful...Date Night!

I am so excited about our date night tonight! Mike and I are going to see It's a Wonderful Life at the Belcourt Theater. The Belcourt Theater will be showing the classic movie everyday through Sunday December 26. To make this event even more special, the theater will be serving wintry treats like hot chocolate and homemade vanilla bean marshmallows, half-dipped in dark Belgian chocolate sprinkled with peppermint dust!

Titans Vs. Jaguars

Last Sunday Mike & I braved the cold weather and the snow and headed downtown to enjoy an afternoon of football. It is no secret that our precious little Titans have been on a loosing streak, but the committed fans that we are, we weren't going to let a few losses stop us from cheering them on.

In the end they didn't win the game, but we had great time anyway.

The Big Baby Reveals

The first and biggest baby reveal of all was on August 29th, 2010. When I woke up on that Sunday morning I lay in bed for awhile trying to decide if I should take a pregnancy test or not. I knew I hadn't been feeling like myself for about a week and my period was 4 days late, but I didn't want to jump the gun and take a test only to have it come back negative. After thinking about should I or shouldn't I, I realized 4 days late is really late for me. So I figured I would take the test and if it came back negative I would throw it away and pretend like it never happened.

Once Mike was out of the bathroom and taking care of the dog, I snuck into the bathroom to take the test. I was too nervous to look at it, so I went about my morning bathroom routine and actually after a few minutes forgot I had even taken the test. But as soon as I remembered I looked down and saw two blue lines!

After I quickly calmed myself down I emerged from the bathroom to share the shocking, but great news with Mike...

Once the test had confirmed the pregnancy, Mike & I put together a plan and figured out when would be the perfect time to make our public reveals.

The next big baby reveal was to my family on September 8th, 2010 . It had been on the calendar for months that I would be travelling to Searcy this particular weekend to help my mom get ready for her first big trade show for Red Suit Studios. Mike and I originally wanted to wait until Thanksgiving to tell all the immediate family, but once we saw how sick I was during my first trimester we knew there was no way I could stay with my parents for 10 days and them not realize something wasn't right. So we decided it would be best for Mike & Martini to join me for the weekend and we would tell the Johnson clan then. Unfortunately, my sister was living in Florence, Italy for the semester so she wasn't there for the reveal, but we had something special planned for her later.

Instead of just telling our families the big news, I thought it would be neat to have them open a gift. I found this cute onesie online that could be personalized to read "An Organ and Johnson Production", so I spent way too much money, ordered it, and wrapped it and that is what both sets of parents opened to reveal the big news.

The next reveal was to our life group. We have been in this life group for almost 8 years and these families hold a special place in our heart. We knew the month of November was going to be crazy for us since we were traveling to Europe and then had the Thanksgiving Holiday in Arkansas. So we decided the reveal should happen at our "Annual Life Group Chili and Pumpkin Carving Party" on October 30th.

We wanted to share our news in a unique way, so I thought it would be a great idea to carve our announcement on a pumpkin. That evening, once all the pumpkins were carved and lit, they were placed together so everyone could take pictures. While everyone was looking at their great carving abilities, Mike went and lit our special pumpkin and added it to the group officially announcing our pregnancy!

Unfortunately, the night of the party we were without a few of the members due to sickness, but we had a great time revealing to everyone that was there.

We revealed the news to Mike's parents on November 14th. For this reveal we travelled all the way to London, England! We had arrived to London very late on the 13th and decided it best that everyone get a good night sleep before we shared our news. So the next day when Mike's parents got back from church we handed them a little wrapped gift. I think they were more that just a little surprised to open up a little onesie:)

(while in London we found the cute onesie in the picture)


On Thanksgiving day we made our final reveals. Not only did we call both of Mike's brothers and shared our exciting news with their families, we also Skyped with my sister in Florence, Italy. We knew ahead of time we were probably going to be able to talk to her that day via Skype, so along with her birthday present my mom sent an envelope that read "Do Not Open Until We Skype On Thanksgiving!". I don't think she peeked because she was totally surprised when she opened the envelope and saw this:

An extra treat was that my Aunt Sara and her boyfriend came for Thanksgiving dinner and were there while we Skyped with BJ so they got to hear the news too.

One special reveal that I made over the phone a few weeks ago was to my best friend and cousin Maya. Since she lives in St. Louis it just wasn't possible to tell her in person. Much to my surprise when I told her our great news, she had great news of her own...she was expecting too!!! Even more exciting is that she is due on May 14th, just nine days after me. I am so thankful that I will get to experience this journey with such a special person!

A big thanks to everyone for making this such a joyous time. It was so much fun letting everybody in on our little secret!

It's a BABY!!!

(Ultrasound Picture from 8 week OB visit)

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!

I know I am way behind on posting this news. The truth is Mike and I have been crazy busy! Between finding out we are pregnant, fighting morning sickness (let me rephrase, all-day sickness), traveling to Europe, Thanksgiving in Arkansas and now planning Christmas I just have not had time to devote to our blog.

Thankfully, right now it is snowing outside! That means we are hunkered down inside and I have plenty of time to get caught up on things that I have been neglecting.

Back to our big news...Baby Organ is expected to make his or her appearance on or around May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) 2011! Mike and I are so excited! We know we are in for a huge shock, but we have waited a long time for this and the timing seems perfect. We are ready to take on any and all challenges:)

Most people are surprised with how long we waited to break the news to all our family and friends, but the truth is I am glad we waited. I was so sick for the first 12-14 weeks I don't think I would have been able to enjoy and take in everyone's excitement about the upcoming arrival.

Now that the first trimester is over, I am feeling much better and have more energy and I am finally able to enjoy the pregnancy. I actually felt the baby move for the first time this past Friday!

Mike and I excited about what lies ahead and we are incredibly thankful to have been blessed with this precious little gift.