Johnson Family Dish

We made the News Paper!

Scott’s Fish Tank

Scott has a new fish tank!  He is so excited about this.  Scott is going to earn marine life to put in his fish tank by keeping on task about his school work. 

We haven’t had a fish tank since the great fish tank catastophy of 1999.  Scott was just a baby then and can’t even remember this.  The fish tank was in the girls’ room on top of thier dresser.  One night right after Mom and Daddy had tucked everyone in for the night we heard a giant CRASH!!! from Kelcie and Morgan’s room.   When we went in there to see what had happened all we saw was debris and the fish tank smashed on the floor.  All I could figure was that Kelcie or Morgan must have tried climbing the dresser to get a better look at thier fish and the dresser crashed down so I was frantically searching for them in the debris (I am not clear headed when I am panicking).  When I finally looked at thier beds there they were safe and sound, wide eyed with horor!  Knowing my children were safe I began the rescue search for the many large goldfish who inhabited said fish tank and relocated them to the horse toughs outside, where they lived out thier lives happily. 

This frightening experience has kept me from getting another tank for the children.  However Scott has been asking for one for sometime, as well as Morgan, so when the Nevill’s had had it with thier bad luck with this fish tank we gladly said that we would take it and give it a go, we were going to be purchasing one anyway.

Scott has been struggling with motivation in school so we hope that this ‘incentive program’ will give him a reason to continue to work hard.    You can do it son! 

Disneyland Photos!

Our Disneyland Trip

LOVE this photo!!  I went back to the hotel with Charis, she had had ENOUGH!  Randon took the kids out to California Adventure and took this great photo, thanks babe.

Morgan, Scott, Kelcie (and the hat she bought) Randon, Addi (who did not want to be in the photo), & Charis

Our hotel was within walking distance of the park so we walked there each day.  This was our 3rd day.

This is a fraction of our Princess Brigade.  Between the 3 families we brought 17 children, 13 of which were girls!  Here are all of the youngest, except Addi.  Anna, Kylie, Lily, Charis, Grace, Lauren and Rose.

Scott, Ethan, Charis and Addison enjoying a tigger tail.  Scott had described this treat in such full detail to Sunny (Ethan) that he wanted one sight unseen!  I think he liked it too.

Randon, Scott, Me, Addi, and Matthew.  We stayed at Disneyland late while the little ones went back to the hotel for a rest.  We were waiting in line for Space Mnt. here.  We all LOVED it!

Randi and Emily took some additional photos with some great whole group shots and family group shots.  I didn’t take many because they took so many with thier great cameras.  I will be loading more photos (maybe a slide show) when I get a CD copy from them.

This was our absolute, hands down, FAVORITE trip to Disneyland.  Everyone had a friend or two or three to hang out with, including the Daddy’s, and cut up with.  Our big girls really did well with thier own room.  They roamed the park in a pack of 6 and were very responsible meeting us promptly at our check in places in the park, so proud of them!  At night when the little ones were in bed the Moms and Dads played Canasta together.  It was nice going with other adults, we all just cared for the children as a whole, mixing them and caring for them all as if they were our own.

On the last day Addi, Morgan, Kelcie and I enjoyed the park while Randon, Scott and Charis went back to the hotel for some R&R.

As a side note, I was not sore at all on the trip even though we left the day after my marathon.  My training prepared me well.   

Crossing the Finish Line!!

There are some fun pictures of me and my girls running the marathon & crossing the finish line here. 

BTW Wendy , I know you were there in spirit cheering me on, thanks!!  Can’t wait till you are ready to work with me again, I really need to start working on my speed. 

#1432, Lost Dutchman Marathon

Thank you to all of you who came out to cheer for me!  You should know that it meant so much to me.  It was so cool to see my husband and kids at many different stops along the way, thanks for your hugs and prayers and love.  Thanks Joni and boys for coming out too, you guys are wonderful!  And to my sister who sat at the finish line waiting for me, It gave me the strength to keep on going at the end when it was so hard!  Thanks for taking the little ones home with you while I got my wits about me.  (I was having a fainting spell at the end and had to lay on the grass for an hour, so mad about that!!)

This was such a great experience.  My running partners were ever positive and encouraging.  I will miss our long runs together, till next year.  In the mean time we still have boot camp!

My First True Love

Has got to be cooking.  When I was 7 years old my Mom taught me to make the bisquick coffee cake, I have been in love with cooking ever since.

With my newly re-discovered time I decided to pick up my passion again.  Don’t get me wrong, I have been cooking and baking for our family all along, I just haven’t had time/energy to try out/make new recipes so we have been sort of having the same old stuff for quite some time now.  I picked up the Taste of Home magazine at my sister-in-law Amy’s house, the day I was officially released, and decided it was time to dive into cooking again!

I think Scott has been the most enthusiastic about this.  He tells me every time I make something new how much he loves it, very sweet boy (and very nice to cook for his enthusiasm).  Anyway I thought I might mention here some of the recipes we have tried and how we liked them and how I modified them.  I have a couple of pictures too.  Here they are in order of which we tried first (these recipes are in the March 2008 Taste of Home Magazine, well worth the investment, there are so many GREAT recipes):

Broccoli Chicken Supreme, loved it but had to modify it because of all of the fat.  If you want to know how I modified it just let me know.

Layered Mocha Cheesecake, modified with melted Peanut Butter chips instead of  the coffee and topped with Reeces Peanut butter cups and chopped peanuts all around the edges. Turned out Great!!!

 Forgotten Jambalaya – The best Jambalaya Recipe EVER!!

Gingerbread Pudding Cake – Yummy with ice cream but a little bland for gingerbread to me.

Pot Roast with Gravy – good but too much vinegar in the gravy, will cut that in 1/2 next time.

 And Sunday Chicken Stew – good but not enough salt and I did not love the dumplings, I think I could find a better dumpling recipe.

Morgan’s New Specs

In her favorite color, green.

Friends

I am so thankful for my friends.  Thank you all for encouraging me when I am down (you know who you are , it is funny how you reflect on those things when you get back up, they mean the world to me.  Motherhood can be very challenging, thanks for bringing me back to Earth. 

 Everyone keeps asking me if I am sad that I am not R.S. Pres anymore.  I guess that some people experience some saddness with thier happiness when released from something like this?  I just feel happy about this weight that has been lifted, no saddness (yet anyway, I don’t anticipate any either).  I think that Julie Heywood is going to be so good!  She will bring things to the table that were not great strengths for me, so we will get some great balance.

Sweet, Wonderful, Blessed Release!

It has FINALLY come!  My time as Relief Society President of the Ocotillo Ward has come to an end.  Today is Jan. 27 but I cannot post this until next Sunday when everyone knows.  I just wanted to record the feelings that I have about this while they are fresh.

I have served as both counselors and President of the Relief Society for the last 4 1/2 years.  It has stretched me every step of the way, but most especially since I have been the President for the last 2 1/2.  I have learned so very much, things that I could not learn any other way.  I have learned to love (once) strangers, deeply.  I have celebrated with them, laughed with them, served with them, worked really hard next to them, learned with them, tried to soothe them, prayed for and with them, grieved with them, my heart broke with them.  You cannot do all of that and not feel love.  I have learned that the MOST important thing in this life is how we love eachother, what we mean to another person.  After all is said and done in this life it is only the knowledge we have gained and our relationships that we can take with us, so how could anything be more important than the greatest comandment, to love?  I have been blessed, through this calling, to have made the best friendships of my life!

 I have to thank all of the wonderful counselors I have had through these years, they have inspired and sustained me and were ALWAYS there for me when I needed help and encouragement, and I needed a lot sometimes.  I had a very good President that I learned under while working with her, thank you Christine, I did my best to carry on the good work that you started here. 

I also have to thank my sweetheart.  He is a great strength to me, and especially during this experience.  I am so thankful that he was our High Councelor during this time because when I needed to talk, he knew all about it and helped me through things.  Thank you my love.

I never thought that my heart could hold so much love for other people.  I am so thankful for the love and guidance from my Heavenly Father during this time.  I hope that through this I was able to help Him feed His sheep (St. John 21:17) for just a little while.  This experience, though I am glad that it is someone else’s turn, certainly fed me spiritually and made me grow in the most positive ways.