Johnson Family Dish

It’s been so LONG!

This is the last Johnson Family Dish that you will recieve on a monthly basis. I have decided that it is high time that I use my blogging site as a real blog! I will be posting several times a month, maybe even several times a week. The posts will then be a little bit shorter and less time consuming to read. It will be a bit like reading our family diary. You will find this and all other posts at our web site link below. Go ahead, put it on your favorites list! We welcome all comments that you may have there. We will be adding a picture gallery in the future and hopefully jazz up the monochromatic blue and grey a bit. We also hope to add a section for Kelcie to record her thoughts, and the other children to follow. We know that you can hardly wait, ha ha!

As you can see I haven’t posted an entry for some time now. So to sum up November thru January (as if I really could in any sizable post that you wouldn’t get bored to tears reading!), we made it through the holidays and even managed to enjoy ourselves immensely!

Our Kelcie has had her 11th birthday! She is becoming a young lady so fast. I am begining to see just what our parental predacessors were saying when they say that it happens so fast! Let’s face it, when you have a two year old, that is a hard statement to swallow. But our baby girl is becoming a lovely young woman whom we are unceasingly proud of!

Last night when Morgan was saying her prayers (I am still allowed to listen to her prayers, Kelcie is too old for that) she told her Father in Heaven that she wanted to grow up and be like her mother. You can imagine how this touched me and just what it means to me as her mother! WOW! Now that is some pressure to be a good example to her and my other girls! I could not understand why the Lord gave me so many girls, for a long time, I thought that I would naturally be better with sons. I am honored that he would entrust me to raise these beautiful daughters of His. I hope that I can share with them my passion for womanhood and life!

Now where does that leave my boy? I absolutely adore him, of course. And I have to say that I am naturally good with him (and none of that is really to my credit, he is just naturally easy going)! He is my valiant young man. Dare I say that he has been less challenging for me than his sisters, thus far. He wants to be just like his daddy, nothing would please me more!

Ocotber 2005

October was an incredibly busy month here. Lots of good times! So, this edition of the dish is ‘better late than never’.

Our really big events were the birthdays of our two girls, Addi and Morgan, and Becky (who was in Illinios for her b-day). Thier birthday fell on a Saturday (also SWEETEST day, how fitting) this year so we had thier double birthday. Addi had a tea (apple juice) and cup cakes party with a few of her friends. It was absolutely adorable, and so much fun! After Addi’s party we picked up Morgan’s friend Marissa and took them to ‘the Glitter Box’ in Mesa for a makeover. The glitter box is much like Libby Lu, so fun for the girls and so girly that some of you might not be able to handle it. After the makeover we brought some pizza home and Grandma Johnson joined us for cake and icce cream. It was a whirlwind day, that is for sure!

Randon and I got to go see ‘Joseph Smith the Prophet’ by Rob Gardner, at Grady Gammage, which was fantastic! Our Stake also did a presentation of this, which we did not attend, but if your stake does one it is definately worth attending! It is the same program and music that we saw at Gammage only the chior and performers would be from your local stake, as opposed to the full orchestra and touring singers and narators.

The kids had a fall break which was really rejuvenating for all of us! The rigors of 4 kids in school can be dizzying sometimes. So we enjoyed a much needed break together. We did nothing special but the kids caught up on some play time. We had our parent teacher conferences the following week. All of our children are doing so well. Kelcie and Morgan are achieving very well. I am happy with thier study habits. Scott and Addi are still in the early stages of developing good study habits. Which makes me so thankful that Kelcie and Morgan are a bit more independent in this area. I am not sure how I would manage without those in place already. I hope to instill in my children a love of reading, learning and knowledge. I agree with many that it is absolutely the key to success in life, in virtually ever aspect! What a joy to watch them grow in knowledge.

I have to say after that paragraph that this is not necessarily easy for me. I may have made that sound a bit too ‘Polyanna-ish’, like it just comes so naturally or easily. It is sometimes difficult for me to help my children with thier studies sometimes (patience is what I lack) but, my desire is pure and I do my best with that. It is amazing what a parent can conquer when they love thier children and just keep trying, despite repeated failure.

Halloween was a really fun day. The kids only had 1/2 a day of school and so we used the other half to have a nice lunch together, carve pumpkins and get into our Halloween disguises. We took it easy this year, just did something simple and it felt so good! It was fun instead of stressful. We also had a Halloween block party the Sat. before Halloween we met and visited with some of our neighbors, we have quite a few new neighbors since last years party.

Randon had a hard last couple of weeks. He says that he must have grown 6 inches from all of the new and some difficult things that he had to face – head on! It did not help that we have all been sharing some icky flu thing that he got during his most intense week, and couldn’t call off work. He is a tough ol’ boy and pushed on through. We are hoping that today is the last day of his very challenging couple of weeks. He responsible for setting up a large meeting house, a college LDS institute building, for our stake to attend Stake Conference at tomarrow. A general authority is coming and so some key people are busy with him, the pressure is on for Randon. He has learned today that he is responsible for setting up the mic.’s, video camera’s, screens for the video projection, chairs for all, a mothers lounge, overflow rooms and even a place for lost and found items! Just a tincie bit of stress for the man. He is enlisting the help of those who specialize in this stuff.

As for me it has been a busy month with the children and a thousand meetings etc. for the Relief Society. I am not complaining, I wouldn’t do it if I did not enjoy it most of the time. It is so happy to see how people help eachother out! We happen to have a lot of needs right now in our ward and we have so many people who give of themselves, thier resources, thier time, among other things, for thier friends. I am thankful for this human desire to help and lift eachother in our need. I find this so incredibly amazing. Thank God for friends with willing hearts and hands.

Last night was our scrapbooking extravaganza, aka therapy, at our house this month. It was so fun, thanks to you faithful scrapbooking friends/family.

Loves to all! Happy Thanksgiving!

September

I have to start this post off by saying how much I LOVE general conferance! This is a twice yearly event where we, the LDS people, get to hear from our beloved prophet and his appostles and various other leaders of the church, in the comfort of our own home! Randon and I have got two mornings of sleeping in! This absolutely NEVER happens in our life! So besides being spiritually fed, we didn’t schedule any goings on because of conferance and so we have enjoyed indulging in some (much needed) extra sleep.

We started off the month with a trip to Idaho, just Randon and I. We left early on the day of my birthday and came home in the early evening on Labor day. This was a really fun trip. What a lovely state. Randon and I went to hang out with the locals of New Meadows and McCall Idaho. We went to their farmers market where we bought the biggest peaches I have ever seen, they were over a pound in weight each! We ate at the local resturaunts, and we toured thier little town the way good little tourists do. But the best culture we took in that weekend was a logging competition. The initial draw was not the logging, of course, it was a car show. They fed the whole lot of anybody who came to this event, FOR FREE! After we saw all of the antique cars we made our way over to the big crowd and the P.A. There we found a curious piece of culture. Men competing to throw their ax into the center of a HUGE log, set up like a bulls eye, with a hole drilled into the center and a can of beer stuck in there. If they popped the beer can they got 5 points, and they got points for where their ax landed in relation to the beer can. Even women competed in this! I have to say that it was amazing to see them wield that ax around and throw it with such presicion. And I would not want to cross those women! They had other competitive events which involved the daily chores of a logger but the funniest one involved a woman and two men working as a team in a race, which I cannot for the life of me remeber the strange name that they gave this event. But it began with one of the men and a woman laying in bed, fiegning sleep, when a buzzer goes off and they get up quickly and the man pushes the woman in a wheel barrell over to a huge log that she begins chopping into a minimum of 4 quarters then she races to wait for him while he completes various skills with his man partner, the men finish and race to the bulls eye (huge log) where the woman hands them both axes until they wedge them both deep into the bulls eye. It is a timed race so the team with the best time wins. It was so funny, I couldn’t believe that it was real. We also met a very friendly logger who was apparently drunk, and just chatted with us about everything that was on his mind apparently, including the bar room brawl that he had, much to his chagrin, missed the night before. Ahhh….Culture.

Kelcie made her first batch of chocolate chip cookies this month. All by herself and they were really tasty. All of the “watch and learn” and “just help” has paid off. My child can make cookies on her own now. Morgan is well on her way to cooking too. They are both so helpful to me. It is nice to have two daughters who are getting old enough for these things, I really get a lot of enjoyment from watching them become little women. I wouldn’t miss this for the world!

Charis turned three this month. What a fun companion she is for me during the day. She is such a social butterfly, she loves to chat with anyone who will listen. And she loves to comment on how ‘big’ she is. Unless you are asking her to clean up her mess or buckle herself in, then she is too little.

Addi has had many birthday parties to attend lately, which she loves! She is liking school very much and likes to be like her older sibblings when they are doing homework, she wants to do hers too.

Scott is also doing well. He is a happy boy. His best friend is moving and so he is very sad about that.

Randon is doing well. He was out of town last week in Las Vegas for a VERY LONG DAY! He hates Vegas anyway but ran into some problems there with not bringing cash with him, only plastic. Las Vegas is still behind the times a bit in this area, or maybe this is some strategy for them to get you be tempted to gamble there (just had to throw that in, my conspiracy theory, he, he, ha, ha). We were so thankful to have him back safely at home.

We lost our little dog Sakie this month in a very shocking way. You can read about it at our web site. The rooster has made an absolutley miraculous recovery, he is fine now. I am going to have to say right here that the faith of little children is a wonderous thing! I will forever be in awe of this.

August 2005

The children are back in school. I wrote a post on thier first day, you can read it and comment at johnsonfamilydish.com . They are adjusting to the new school, schedule, and uniforms. I LOVE the uniforms, they have not let me down yet. Getting ready in the morning is so much easier with uniforms.

Charis and I are doing well at home while the others are at school. I was completely amazed that once they went to school she became quite the conversationist. I knew that her speach was good, clear and she formulates sentences well. I just did not really have the peace and quiet enough to really listen to her all of the time. I am blown away by how this child can communicate, she is sharp! (Having said how smart I think she is, I think that I should mention that every parent tends to think that they have the brightest child, and the prettiest. So, I know that you all have the brightest and prettiest children too, I can respect that.) She has been my little partner and helper. It has been so nice to have time for her alone. Charis is excited for her birthday in a few days. She wants a ‘pink birthday [cake], with cherries. She is hoping for some Polly Pockets, like all her sisters have and some my little ponies (she will get her birthday wishes). She is happy to be turning three.

Addi is doing well in Kindergarten. Her teacher is strict and that is an adjustment for any child. She is learning and doing fun things. She is so proud of her work that she brings home for me to see. She is finding that school is a challenge and that being away from Mom and having to follow the rules of her teacher is challenging. I think that it is good for her, I like her teacher and I am excited for her.

Scott, Kelcie and Morgan are all old hands at this school thing so they are doing well. We (my friend Melanie and I) are pushing the principle to set up an excellerated program for the children who are achieving a bit above thier classmates. This is an issue for some of my children and hers. I do not mean any offense by that comment, you might be suprised at who is offended by wanting an excellerate program, I was! I was not an over achiever as a student (I know that is hard to believe as you are reading all of my typo’s and mentally editing my posts) but, I have children that learn easily, and well and they are hungering for more information. I have as much right to be concerned about thier need for knowledge and learning as does the person with the child who is having a more difficult time in school. I am not trying to be snobbish or pretentious by asking for special attention to the children who achieve well and highly. I am now stepping down from the soap box.

On a very personal note, this month has been one for conquering fear and accomplishing things that I was doubting I could. There is nothing in the world like facing fear, and conquring! It makes you feel that you can do anything! I have to say here that these fears were not faced without LOTS of prayer and faith. I am thankful for the power of prayer. I am thankful that the Lord fills the gaps that we cannot.

My heart has been so sad for the people who are being affected by this hurricane, Katrina, that has destroyed their cities. It causes me to see that my ‘problems’ are really small.

Tomarrow is my (32nd) birthday. I am SO excited about it! (Hence all of the excalmation points!) Randon and I are leaving in the morning of my birthday for Idaho! For a four day vacation in McCall, a very small community in the pine trees, apparently 2 hours north-ish of Boise. The children will be staying with Becky and the Fletchers while we are gone. I am sure that they will have loads of fun too.

Now you are up to date with the Johnsons. Enjoy!

July 2005

What a month!! I think whirlwind might be a good description of July. Not to be negative but to be real, it was a tough challenging month for me and the kids. First of all it was one of those months that was hot enough to make the devil cry! And that is not exageration, “it was the 3rd hottest July on record in Az.” (12 news weather man). And it wasn’t just hot, we had some serriously humid days. I don’t do well with the humidity. It is one of the only things that will cause me to have athsma symptoms. So it has inspired this question of mine “if it is 107F outside with 50% humidity, what does that technically feel like” -HELL?!

Enough about the weather. The kids and I saw lots of movies this month. We went to see Madagasgar which the Johnsons give two thumbs up! We went to the AMC free movie deal on Wed.’s (the ones we could) and saw Peter Pan, which we liked, you can read about that in my last post. And we saw Sponge Bob Square pants which I have to say here and now I HATE! But I had promised the kids that we would go to see the free movie that Wed. and they tried really hard to do all of the things they have to do to go see a movie. So, I sat through all of the toilet bowl humor with them. This is not a show that I let them watch at home and so they were feeling quite happy about getting to watch this movie.

The fourth was really fun. We had our traditional ward bike parade in the morning. We went to a BBQ and fireworks with Grandpa and Grandma Gatti. The kids look forward to this day each year.

We went boating at Canyon Lake one Saturday. What a beautiful lake. We had tons of fun, we found that boating is a hobby that our whole family really enjoys. I learned to drive a boat, which is not 1/2 as daunting a task as I thought. Randon lost his glasses in the lake and some of you are not getting the whole story on why or how. I am here to set the story straight, for the record you know. Brother Fish (who’s boat we were ‘checking out’ so that Randon could fix a problem that it was having) is a smaller man than Randon. We were using his tube-like raft to pull behind the boat with a couple of us in it, it was fun. Randon had pulled all of us in it and wanted a turn so he gives me a crash course in boat driving (but I didn’t crash). So I gave him the only adult life jacket on the boat, brother Fishes, which I was wearing (and it was snug on me). Randon procedes to try and put it on. It fell about 4 inches short of being able to close, even when he was pulling both sides adound him. He keep tugging and streching until he got the bottom of the zipper to hook together and was encouraged. So he keeps going, as I am urging him to just forget the life jacket, and not to rip it. He actually manages to get the zipper completely shut. It made him incredibly stiff because the jacket was so tight. He tried to get into the tube and fell into the lake. My theory is that it was too tight for him to move and correct his balance when he lost it for a second and in he went. Now of course all of us safely in the boat were laughing very heartily. That is until he came up out of the water and said that his glasses were gone–OOOHHHH!!!! That stopped our laughter, almost. Some of you have been told that they just fell off of him while at the lake, well now you know the whole story. This left me to drive the boat home which would not be so bad if it were any lake but Canyon lake that we went to. The road is narrow and windy, with other large boat towing vehicles all over the road. The boat trailer took up all but one inch of space next to the white line and one inch next to the yellow lane. I drove really slow, driving the people behind me madd I am sure but, I pulled over for them when I could and we made it home in one peice and no damage to the
boat.

I donated blood this month which is only note worthy because this was my 3rd attempt to do so and I have never been able to complete donating a whole bag of blood (1 pint, or 2 cups). I always get very sick feeling and then I black out and I feel sick all the next day or so. This time I prepared myself by downing TONS of gatorade (which I absolutley HATE!) and drinking as much water as I could manage. This seems to have done the trick because I made it through a whole bag. I was not able to get up and walk away afterwards and I can’t say that it didn’t take some internal motivational speaches to keep going until the beep that meant the bag was full went off. I sat in thier chair for hours trying to recover, each time I was set up to the sitting position, I had to lay back down because I felt that blackout feeling. But I got up after some time and went home and had a nap and I am fine and so THRILLED! They actually sent me a donor card this time, so that I can donate in the future (that never happened before either). I feel quite accomplished:).

We had our scrapbooking retreat on the 15th and 16th at Grandpa’s cabin. That was fun and sooo theraputic! We left the valley in the morning and got to Showlow in the afternoon and Amy joined us and we scrapbooked into the evening, woke up the next day and scrapbooked some more. We took a quick break to replenish supplies and check out the Showlow scrapbooking store. I think that Sandi gets the award for the most pages done (and she had a baby to take care of) she managed to complete 26 pages! We had so much fun that we are going to make this an anual event. So, all of you who couldn’t come this time, there’s always next year.

I am happy to announce a new addition to our home. We got a digital camera! I LOVE it! It is changing the way that I take pictures, I can take tons now and not feel like I wasting film and money to develope them. I did my homework on this purchase and read consumer reports and various feedback on many cameras and we decided on the Casio Exilim p-700. We did not pay retail for it either, I did my homework here too. We got a fabulous deal on a really good camera. I highly recomend B&H photo, you can find them on line, they are helpful and you can actually talk to a real person to answer all of your questions and place your order.

The last day of July I was sustained as the new Relief Society President for the Ocotillo ward. It is hard to describe the feelings one experiences when you hear these words come out of your Bp.’s mouth! Out of body, surreal, are you serious… those and many more would describe my feelings. I am humbled and I will do the best job that I can. I have to say that I find it a little funny that I was first councelor for about 1 month. I have learned a lot working with my friend Christine in the R.S. presidency (I was her 2nd councelor for 17 months, and her 1st for 1 month). She is moving to Alabama and I will miss her so much! Some people walk into your life and leave thier imprint all over your heart, she is one of those kind of people.

The children start school in 8 days and to say that I was sad would just be a lie. I never thought that I was the sort of mother who would be happy to see them return to school after having a wonderful summer with them, I am. I miss the structure that school provides for the whole family. It really creates a routine. It is not just the routine I miss either. It is a bit of quiet, time to get the house cleaned (without it being undone while I work), it is running errands without all of them, it is a bit of freedom, and respite while they attend school. We have bought all of the uniforms and school supplies that they needed, and the backpacks are stuffed and waiting. Addi starts school this year, all day K. Charis and I will not know what to do with ourselves, although if you read the above paragraph, you can bet that we will be busy. It will be strange to only have one child at home, I’ll adjust .

May’s Dish

Dear Friends and Family,

It is time again for your update on the Johnson Family.  It has been a busy month here.

We started the month with our little mans birthday.  He turned seven this month.  He had a really fun birthday party.  The Fletchers suprised us by bringing all of the materials to build a marshmallow gun for all of the boys who were here for the party.  They had a marshmallow war.  I am not sure who had more fun, the little boys or the ‘big’ boys (i.e. the fathers).  Scott got a game boy, which he loves!  Randon and I were worried about starting the whole video game thing but we think that it will be a powerful bargaining tool (or motivator, when motivation is low).  As Dr. Phil would say it is more ‘Currency’.

Scott and I shared Mothers Day this year as his birthday was on the same day as Mothers Day.  We had nice day.

Morgan went to the Dentist three times this last month.  Once for a cleaning and then two follow-ups to fill some tooth decay.  She was petrified because her last dental experience was not great.  This time we found a very good Dr. here in Apache Jct. who was very informative.  Morgan had nightly talks with Grandma DeMarco so that she could tell her exactly what to expect the next day at the dentist.  This helped her to calm down for the procedures.  She was very brave and she loves her ‘new teeth’.  She is taking care of them well.

The boys enjoyed Father and Sons Campout this month.  The marshmallow guns joined them on this adventure and the boys had quite fun following Randon around and attacking him.  Randon would slyly go and stand by a few chioce older men in attendance and fake innocence when marshmallows began pelting the unsuspecting.  Paints a funny picture in my mind too.  Randon decided that setting up a tent was too much trouble this year, and with a jeep he has to pack light, so he got himself a hammock and slept under the stars while Scott and Aaron Scott slept in Scotts little boy tent. 

The girls of course are generally not very happy about this event that is expressly for the boys and men.  Thankfully Morgan had a friends birthday party to occupy her and so just Kelcie was majorly disgruntled about the situation.  She was forced to stay home with her Mom and Mom’s friends, while they scrapbooked and told old lady stories, and she watch both Princess Diary movies and ate take out chinese.  Sounds like torture, ehhh.

The next day brought only more torture for Keclie as she elected to come out shopping with Mom and Becky instead of staying home with Destiny (our babysitter) and her sisters.  And it wasn’t just shopping it was BATHING SUIT SHOPPING!!!  Something that all women (with a pleasantly plump frame, such as mine) would rather skip altogether.  But, Randon took that picture of me in my bathing suit on vacation in the ocean and ever since I have never liked that terrible suit, and the picture you can be sure was destroyed!  Because one of our primary activities this summer will be visiting our community pool daily, I though that I would rather like to have something that I feel half way decent in.  And the night before the (old) girls and I stayed up watching the proper bra and swimsuit wear show that our beloved Oprah did.  And so now armed with knowledge we were ready to tackle this necessary evil.  After trying on and looking through dozens and dozens of styles, and becoming thouroughly disgusted with my shape, we found just the right one.  I have dubbed it the one that holds in, holds up, supports and hides everything possible, for a swim suit.  It is called the ‘Miracle Suit”.  Let’s just say that miracles don’t come cheaply.  I came home and confessed to my husband who is dear and so understanding.  Don’t ask me any more about it, I plead the fifth. 

We are so proud to say that our children had a fabulous school year.  They all did very well!  They improved thier skills and study habits and gained a lot of knowledge.  Scott and Morgan had the most dramatic improvement, they worked especially hard at getting thier homework done every night before playing, and getting thier reading done.  Kelcie earned a metal for achieving and maintaining her grades in such a way that she was on the high honor roll all year long.  She also got a trophy for having 100% attendance.  Scott and Morgan were on the first and second honor roll all year.  We are so happy for thier achievements this year, they worked REALLY HARD! 

Jason and Randon finished the tile in the laundry room and pantry.  It looks so nice!  Thanks for making a special trip out here Jay!

We are so excited to tell you that we hope to start a family web site.  Mr. Bill Brown, of godaddy.com, informs me that Johnsonfamilydish.(something) is avaliable and we hope to have that up and running someday in the not too distant future.  I assume that this will mean learning lots of new skills for me.  Kinda scary.  So, it may take some time to get it all going, this is a VERY PRELIMINARY announcment.  I hope to use this as an excuse to have to get a digital camera so that I can learn to post photos (are you laughing Bill and Sandi?). 

The kids have thier last day of school today and it is a half day.  So, I need to get to Wal-Mart and get my errands done before they get home.  Tonight is also our monthly Scrapbooking Night; aka, time to unwind with the ladies.

Let the summer begin!

April’s Dish

Dear Friends and Family,

We began April with a field trip for Scott to the Az Science Center where I had the challenge of trying to keep up with him and another little boy all day as they went in complete opposite directions and both had a 2 second attention span. It was fun to enjoy all of those first graders. I loved watching them, and thinking of thier potential and wondering about their exciting futures. I was exhausted when we got home though.

Randon and I had a lovely weekend in Showlow at my Dad and Debbie’s Cabin. It snowed on us. It did not seem like snow weather as it was partly cloudy, and a cold wind was blowing. The clouds that were around were big and black and a few times that day they let snow fall which dropped the temp from 50F to 45F very quickly. We went to all of the botiques and antique shops that we could find up there, and a ATV/motorcycle dealer. We made no significant purchases but had fun looking. The children were home with Becky and went to see “Robots” which they absolutely LOVED! And Becky let them get a kids meal at Wendy’s which was a real treat especially because it came with a soda (as apposed to mean Mom who makes them drink a water or milk). Kelcie is growing out of the kids meal. She can eat a regular adult combo meal now, our little skinny bottom Kelcie can put it away when she is hungry!

Randon and various helpers (any of us he could wrangle) helped him to build a huge play set in the backyard. The instuctional video estimated the time at 16 hours, which Randon thinks is about how long it took, I think it was slightly over that. Randon was very enthusiastic about building it and the children could not wait to be unleashed on it. I on the other hand was enthusiastic for the first few nights of burning midnight oil to get the job done but after that it pretty much lost my interest. It is now finished and the children love it, and so do we.

Our attempt at chicken pox was unsucessful, unfortunately. So, I would love to know of anyone who you know who has chicken pox, I would still like my little girls to contract it before they start school.

I helped with a baby shower for my cousin Sandi who (a couple of days later) gave birth to a sweet little baby girl. Madeline Christine Brown, 6 lbs 10oz, and a beautiful child (the first baby to make me desire another baby since our Charis, but don’t read too much into that)! I was very fortunate to be included into the delivery process of Madeline. I went into the O.R. with Sandi, Bill and Bill’s mom to witness her delivery by c-section, a fascinating process. I discovered that I love birth, in all of its forms. It is just a miracle to see a new life emerge from a mothers body. That was the highlight of the month for me and a memory I will cherish.

After the birth it was sort of a slow slide down hill for me. Sure I had a few good days before my total and complete surender. I got the house really clean, did the grocery shopping, went shopping and to lunch with Becky, did lots of haircuts etc. And then I got sick. I know what your thinking here, weren’t we just reading about her being really sick a few short months ago, what a baby this lady is….. blah, blah. Well, lightening does strike twice I couldn’t believe it myself. I had somehow fooled myself into thinking that since I had been so sick those few months ago, I was not going to be really sick like that again for a LONG LONG TIME, if ever (why can my body not follow my logic, it would work for me). I will just tell you that my dear Becky called me, on the 3rd or 4th day of this thing ,and asked me if I would like to go see a DR.? Now, if you know me, as Becky does, you know that I generally do not like Dr.’s. And I prefer to tough things out myself and let things heal themselves, but I had been humbled over the course of several nights and days of various sorts of pain, fever and discomfort, not to mention no sleep, to the point that seeing a Dr. sounded like a delight to my sad little frame. So, the angel of mercy brought me to urgent care where I was diagnosed with quite an assortment of ailments and given medicine, the cough syrup actually CAUSED a great and powerful sleep to come upon me and I have been steadily improving ever since, THANK THE HEAVENS!!!! Just in case you are wondering, the Dr.’s guess (what I can remember of it) was that I had a viral infection, larengitis, and broncitis. He thinks that it started at the top (my head) and just bulldozed its way down strait to the lungs. I have to say here that I am thankful for Dr.’s and medicine. They definately have thier place.

Most of the children had a slight fever for 2 days and they are then done with this virus. Scott lasted for 3 days. I feel better today. I hope that you are all well and healthy. Health seems to be a blessing that I take for grantid too often. So in effort to appriciate health better I wish you all health!

March’s Dish

Dear Friends and Family,

March. March, March March, where ever to start? It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (thank you Charles Dickens). I shouldn’t say it was the WORST of times, it certainly was not but it was exciting, every single minute! I would more accurately describe it as unforgettable times.

We had a really great time in southern CA. We went to a lot of neat places and saw some fascinating things. The ocean alone is something one could ponder all day. We went to the coolest zoo in the world, the San Diego Zoo. The animals there are so alive, sounds dumb but, I have never seen animals so active in a zoo setting. Whatever they are doing there they do it really exceptionally well. Makes our beloved Phx. zoo animals look very lathargic. This and visiting Disneyland were our favorite experiences. We went to a few other parks etc. while there but these two were far and above the most fun. We spent St. Patricks Day at Disneyland, it was really just another day there for Disneyland except they opened a brand new ride, a Buzz Lightyear ride that was a HUGE HIT with our kids. We had a bit of a hiccup in our fun on St. Patricks Day because someone broke out the window of our Suburban and stole all of the tools and diagnostic computer that Randon had in there, should we have mechanical problems. So we had the window fixed while in CA and we are putting in a claim for all of Randons tools, it was a very large loss to our family (for more reasons than financial, as many of these tools were Randons fathers tools)! So, we didn’t feel like vacationing much for the rest of that day. It was a good teaching experience for our children, they were very upset and shaken by this experience and we all felt very violated, but we all sat down together and talked about how we could buy more tools and we were all together and well. It was a really good time to focus on what is really important to us. So, we put it all in perspective and had a wonderful remaining vacation.

I have to say that my favorite memory of this vacation was the night that we all went swimming in the heated pool at the hotel It was an outdoor pool and the temp. was 60 F outside, it was night time and the girls had all been hounding us about swimming since we arrived so we agreed to go, to get the girls off of our case, and because it was a heated pool, we would be warm enough, right? No, wrong. Kelcie was of course first to jump in, followed by Morgan and Addi. They were not bothered by the tepid (at best) water. Scott refused to put his bathing suit on, even though he was on our case about swimming all day too, the boy had sense enough that it was much to chilly and breezy out that night for swimming. Randon and I knew it would be cold but we wanted our girls to get swimming out of thier system and I was trying to encourage my sensible little man to live a bit and do something a little crazy. He refused and as we were all freezing he was shaking his head and calling us all crazy heads. By the way, Randon and I did jump in and enjoyed a brisk 30 second adventure after which time we had to pry our ‘crazy head’ girls out of the water because the hotel used the term heated very loosely.

Randon and I think that the next vacation that we take needs to be a little more restful. We were up and going each morning with the sun and I had activities scheduled for each day that left little time for relaxing. A trip to Yelowstone park or something a little bit lazy is what we are leaning towards. We got the congested city and theme park thing well out of our system for a few years to come, we think.

When we got home it was a whirlwind to prepare for Easter. We had a family reunion of sorts with my Grandmothers children and grandchildren and great grand children. It was really nice to sit and have a meal together and celebrate this very important holiday, TOGETHER! Aunt Gayle brought an Easter basket for each of the 12 children that were there that day and Uncle Gary put on a fun Easter egg hunt. I enjoyed so much visiting with my Cousin Charlene who brought her family down from Montana and inspired all of us to get together. The children had a great time, especially since Charlene’s family includes two boys Scotts age. The three boys ALL slept on Scotts top bunk bed, we had a bed for them each but they insisted on sleeping together on the top bunk. Scott was really sad when they left, he mourned and moped around the house for days. The girls also loved meeting their female cousins, they loved sweet Valarie, and Kelcie especially, enjoyed following 13 year old Ashley around and idolizing her. The other children also got a long really well and had fun together but, these ones really were old enough that you could just see the enjoyment beaming in them. Charis was still finding, unfound eggs for a few days after Easter.

Randon and I celebrated our 11th anniversary the day before Easter. We were so busy that we decided to put off celebrating it for another weekend and we actually didn’t remember about it until we were very late in the day driving to see Grandpa Gatti in PHX. I know that this is a normal thing for many couples but not for us. Our anniversary has always been a day of great importance to us, and a big deal to us both. So it was an unusual year for us but we plan to go off and celebrate this weekend, and hopefully have some much needed lazy time. Randon has been putting in LOTS of time at work this past few months and it seems that the older our children become the more impossible it seems to be able to fit everything in to a day, week, month etc. that we want to. Time has definately put on its running shoes!

For the upcoming month we are hoping that the little girls have sucessfully contracted the chicken pox. We had a “chicken pox” party with a young man in our ward this last week who had the chicken pox. Don’t get me wrong here though, I am not looking forward to the fevers, the irritability and all of the yuck that inevitably comes along with the chicken pox but, I believe that it is better than the vaccine. I know that this contriversial so please do not e-mail me the merits of the vaccine, I have had this discussion a million times. I have researched this, by reading all of those articles and weighing the options, and through my own experience and what I have observed, I feel that this is the right decision for me and my family. If you want to know why I feel this way I would be happy to explain. Wish us luck!

So here is April and we feel a good month in progress!

Love to all!

February’s Dish

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow! March is here already!

This will be a short edition of the ‘Dish’. Not because February was not jam packed with things to entertain and keep us on our toes, almost non-stop, but because I feel like keepin’ it a bit more simple this month. Maybe I am trying to compensate for how un-simple it was in reality. Nevertheless, you will recieve a very scaled back version this month and much to many of your delights, I have no doubt.

Kelcie and Morgan completed their Science projects. Kelcie on Popcorn and Morgan on Bread Mold.

We had colds that have circulated through the house this month. We seemed to have been recycling them as it seems we would get rid of it but then it was only stopping briefly to gather strength and come back with a vengance! The two little girls were hit the hardest with this.

Randon and I began doing a bit of research on health and proper nutrition. We have decided to make some lifestyle changes in this reguard and are feeling VERY GOOD! The children think that we are loosing our marbles, maybe we are. Truth be known, we are trying hard to shed a few unwanted pounds we have accumulated, and keep them off. I am fascinated at what we have learned and so disappointed in my high school health class, the only training I have taken opportunity to have on health and nutrition, prior to this. I should have researched this years ago!

We got new furniture for our beloved family room. We all love it. I was surpised at how attached our children were to the old couches. They actually miss them I don’t understand which part they miss, falling into the center when attempting to sit on the middle cussion? Setting a pencil on the couch and having the madd dust bunnies drag it down immediately to the deepest recesses of the couch? Maybe it was all of the stains, holes, and general shabby look of the old couches that they are mourning, I don’t know. Randon and I, however, do not miss them. We gave the new furniture a proper welcome and have educated the children the correct care and treatment of the new furniture. They all agree that it is worth taking care of and they love the recliner, of course, so they have agreed to co-operate in this indulgence of Mom and Dads.

We are preparing to go on a week long vacation in March. Actually, we have been waiting for what on our childrens time table has been YEARS, since January 2005. We have all been planning a really fun vacation to southern California. We only have 12 days left on the countdown to our Spring Break Vacation! We can hardly contain ourselves.

Spring is upon us and we hope that you all have a lovely one! We wish you a wonderful Easter Sunday!

January’s Dish

Dear Friends and Family,

This, the first month of the year, has brought ups and downs for the Johnsons. We have managed to maintain our very busy, and sometimes down right hectic, schedules. Sometimes this takes its toll on some of us and we have to deal with a few emotional break downs, but we pull each other through and happily life goes on.

Our BIG news is rather personal but we are so excited about it and feel that we should document this. We got a raise! This is news worthy to us because it has been a long 5 years since we have had an increase in pay. HOORAY!! Our family recieved a bonus also this year, also a milestone for us. We feel very blessed! Randon is driving a company truck home now too and so that is also a nice perk. Randon’s current job requires a lot more time than his former job so we are farming all of the extra automotive work out that he used to do out to some young men that are back yard mechanics, as he was. This is good. So, if you call for help with your car you just might get a referal from us.

I had two Scrapbooking nights with the girls this month, much needed too I might add. I also had the opportunity to visit the family history center with our ward and find some information on my Great Grandfather Gatti who came to this country from a very small community in Italy. I have been digging for this information for quite some time but due to the 1920 census records in Erie PA being destroyed by a fire, I was not able to find the information that I needed until the 1930 census was released. My Aunt Janet had been in touch with me before she passed away suddenly in June of 2002 and provided me with some wonderful and very helpful information, she was very much into geneology, and was encouraging me to use my “Mormon Resources” and find more information and let her know. Turns out that I did use the computers at the Family History Center in Mesa to find this information but it was at Familyhistory.com, not a “Mormon” web site where I found the information I needed. And I found further clues at the Ellis Island web site. It is infinitley fascinating, and causes you to feel a real and very valid connection to your progenetors. I am thankful for all who have inspired me to do this research, it feels really good to find out about the people who you have come from. I have lots more to find but, we have to celebrate the small victories in life, and this was a victory for me.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph this was a hectic month, it began with a bang and went out with a bang. I will not bore you with the details except for our day that turned out to be a roller coaster ride, on many levels! It started out at 5am, as our days usually do, but on this day we were taking Randon to work so that he could catch a flight out of town for a Fancy Food show in San Francisco with one of his co-workers. The children happened to be out of school this particular week because they have a new school facility and they were making the big move this particular week. Well having kissed him goodbye the children and I went home to have breakfast and proceed with the day. We decided that we wanted to pull all of the weeds on the side of our yard and suprise Daddy when he came home. It was a good idea but if you are ever thinking that you are in really great shape, that is the litmus test! Just go out and simply bend over for hours to pull weeds. I hurt my back so badly doing this, I must be getting old. But when we were done we got a call from my Grandma that she was not feeling any better, as she had been sick for a few days, and she wanted us to take her to the ER. We did and Grandma was admitted to the hospital, she stayed there for 6 days because they found that her heart is not beating properly. Her atrium is not doing its job well and this could be causing the blood clots that were happening in her leg. We went to Grandma’s house to get her dog and take care of her while Grandma was in the hospital. The gate was locked and so I used my superpowers (ha, ha, ha) to jump the gate (can you just picture me trying to hurdle my pleasantly plump frame over a 5ft. gate, with a hurt back? not pretty) and get the dog, the children were very impressed. Can you say stress? We got dinner and went home and went to bed waiting for Randon, he got home after midnight. Wouldn’t you know that this was a Monday.

Grandma is doing well. She has lots of Dr.’s to see, more medications to take and has given us quite a lot of worry. She was given a blessing from Randon and Kevin Fletcher. (Thanks Fletchers!) The dog is back with Grandma, the kids are sad about this one. You won’t see me shedding any tears about this. The children are back in school, at a new facility and they like that. My back is on its way to recovery, and I like that. I like all of the nice massages that my family have given me to help my back feel better. I have some great kids!

I have to close with a funny conversation that we had with our children last night on our way home from Grandmas house. The children were really dragging thier tails to get themselves buckled into thier seats so that we could leave. I decided to share with them a bit of information that I learned while watching the news last week that children should be in car seats until they weigh 80 lbs. or so say the firefighters, not clear if that is actually a law in AZ. We could not have imagined the firery protest that we got! We did not realize that there were such strong feelings on this issue. I really think that in our culture of automobiles, growing out of “the baby seat” has become a very serious right of passage for our children. I knew that it was a big deal to them but now I KNOW what a big deal it is! One of Kelcie’s arguments that “she has friends now and was maturing” (at age 10), it would be embarassing to drive up to school at 10 years old and be seen in a car seat. Or what if her friends went to the movies with us and SAW that she was still in a car seat, can we immagine her embarassment. Randon trying to be funny said that we would call it a “baja seat” and provide her friends with one too. That did not go over well quite as funny to her as it was to us. I have a question for you; how is it possible for us to embarrass her so very much when it is only us around? I sort of thought that there had to be some outside party around to be so embarrassed as our child gets at some of the “funny” things we say. Which do not seem to be remotely funny in any way to her. I have heard of the phenonmina of children being embarrassed by thier parents by I was always rather proud of mine. But, we won’t get into all of that. This really caused me to remember being her age and struggling for independence too. Although I don’t remember the struggle reaching its climax until I was much older than her, its going to be a bumpy ride to the top, hang on.

So, there you have a tiny glimpse into the goings on here. We hope that you are all doing well. We wish you a happy Valentines Day!