The Reason

Isn't it amazing what a better place the world is just because so many more people are remembering our Savior? That's what "Christmas Spirit" is all about really don't you think?



We took a little anniversary trip to Salt Lake City Utah. It was fantastic! We had some really meaningful experiences. Notice that SECOND ROW seat there in the Conference Center for the Sunday morning concert??? Thanks to our dear friend Glen who sings in the Tabernacle Choir!!!!




Loving the snow!

Some of my Favs

Baby Names

Hi Y'all!
OK, here is a real list of considered names:

Aaron Adam Brooks Carsen Dylan David Garrett Gavin Hunter Isaac Jared Jeremy Nathan Noah Tanner.

What are your favs???
Jen

???

I did not know what to call this post.... "the unveiling", "me and my belly", "look how big I am"...... Nothing seemed to ring in just the right way. So if you feel inspired about a great title, let me know.

But here I am in my sixth month of pregnancy. Everyone is so kind and tells me how little I look.....most of the time....then there are those comments, "Are you SURE you aren't having twins???" And "wow, you have really popped out!!"

I tell people it is my sixth baby and I can't help it, but the truth of the matter is, I just get a big belly when I am pregnant, don't know why, that's just how I am. :) I'm OK with it. It all goes away eventually, usually; I've never had a sixth pregnancy before so we'll see won't we. If you don't see pics of me for awhile..... :)

One more piece

Sometimes the week schedule is like a huge complicated puzzle where you are just trying to fit all the pieces together just right and still have happy kids. I am having one of those weeks. For example, our dog needs to go to the groomer desperately. (she and I can't even be in the same room) So I call them and the ONLY time I could get her over there was between 8:30-8:45 AM on the way to Andrew's preschool, after I dropped off Mandi and her friend at their school.

I know everyone understands. We all have weeks like this so you will also understand how one more piece to the puzzle can just upset the whole picture. (this analogy is only half-working) :) So anyway, in the middle of all this, Ben's crown falls out. So I call this morning and they can fit him in at 11:30. "OK, right after my stake meeting and right before my trip to buy cans for Mandi's canned food drive" No problem I think, fits perfectly.

But during weeks like this, I forget to factor in my newly tempermental two year old and dear Andrew who is happy to do whatever but I really try not to abuse his good-naturedness.

So there we are at the dentist, fun place, movies, video games, you name it. And they call Ben back. I go to follow but Audrey won't come. So I leave her in the waiting room, watching Nemo. Not the smartest mom move, but what could I do? Then I check on her every few minutes. Andrew is sort of back by us playing video games. Then just as they come to see Ben in his chair, I hear Audrey screaming at Andrew. She likes to boss him around, but apparently he didn't want to listen. So I go to try and get her but she stiff bodies me and screams about not coming. Anyway, then I try to go back to Ben but she cries that I am leaving her, but she won't come. You've all been here at some point. So I leave her, screaming in the hallway and go back to talk to the dentist. They want to take more x-rays. (ridiculous, they ALWAYS want more x-rays) I would have fought them on this, but I had little willpower left. So we did that and all is well to put the crown back in. Audrey is now running down the hall crying, looking for me. She finds me just when they are trying to get Ben to bite down on the crown and he is screaming in pain with his mouth open, refusing to bite, while the lady is telling him to hurry so the cement doesn't seal without the crown being in place. So we are saying, "you can do it Ben, just bite, one more time, blah blah" while Audrey is officially freaked out by seeing her brother and just at this point, Andrew comes to find us. Not wanting to ruin his good opinion of the dentist, I quickly lead him down the hall back to the games, hearing Ben's cries behind me as I walk away. ETC etc etc.

We finally made it out of there alive.

And the saddest part about all this is, that there are plently of great friends and places where I could have dropped off the kiddos, but I simply did not have time to get them there.

OK, I feel a little bit better sharing. :)

Fall Letterboxing

I love to go letterboxing in the Fall. It is just crispy enough outside to have some real fun. And the change in the seasons brings out the adventure/explorer in me. Going to find a new box is the perfect excuse to be outside and visit new places.

You can find boxes where you live too. Find the clues online and you will be amazed when you follow them that there is actually a box hidden where they lead you!!
http://www.letterboxing.org
http://www.atlasquest.com

Share the Wealth!

I have been thinking alot about taxes lately and I am slightly bothered by the cartoon I posted. I LOVE it and think it is hilarious. But if taken seriously, it is not exactly how I feel. For example, I DON'T think that someone who has less than I do is lazy.

But I DO really think it should be my decision how I choose to share any small extra we might save up. I DO really LOVE to share. But how can I if the Government takes every last little bit I had to give to others? And then Congress votes on how to spend my hard earned precious dollars. They are precious because they could be used to help the women I love at our local Battered Women's Foundation or to send packages to our soldiers overseas or to feed the homeless in our shelter downtown or to give gifts at Christmas time to all the different Santa's Helper programs.....etc. I have treasured the little bit of extra we have had to share and felt such joy in giving. It has made all the difference in my life and some of the most valuable memories of my life. If you tax the heck out of a person, you take away all that freedom of choice and therefore the joy of giving and helping redistribute the wealth by personal preference. SO, there you have it, one more reason to vote REPUBLICAN!!

What makes it special?

For us, October 31st is special when we make time to keep up with our traditions! I had a really great (although exhausting) Halloween this year. Below are some highlights. I even took a picture of my new favorite Halloween beverage!






I also found some new reasons to really like this holiday. I LOVE to touch base with the moms and dads that come knocking on the door with their kiddos. I LOVE the cute kids that come. This one couple was taking around their 4-6 month old dressed like a bunny. SO cute! It is really great to make so many kids so happy all in one night. And I loved all of the things I got to do with my kids to make the day special for them. I won't mention all the reasons this day is not my favorite. I am on such a good warm fuzzy roll. :)

Obama Candy Tax

Thanks Sarah for sharing this little funny!

My Own Cowboy

The Ranch

Grandma and Grandpa moved a short 2 1/2 hours away!!!
What a fun place to visit too!

The lady to our right

OK, I don't want to take traffic away from the funny video I just posted below, but I had to say something about that super skinny pregnant woman over there on the right, counting down my days. First of all, when she says my days left are over 100, that is kind of depressing. Second of all, have you looked at her legs???? Who really looks like that when they are expecting? puulllleeeese! Even your hip bones expand!!!! So, if I didn't think she was otherwise super cute, she would be off of here and back into the void, where she can't make me think this will take forever and my legs will never look like that even a year after childbirth!!!
OK, I'm done. :) Now go enjoy the video.

Shoes left on the floor?????

Make them permanent!! :)
A little superglue is all it takes.



I would never really do this, but I thought it was pretty funny!!!

Audrey Update

October 2nd Audrey had her surgery. Technically what we had done was reimplant both her ureters into her bladder. They made a small incision at the base of her abdomen (think C-Section). It is just a couple days more than two weeks and she is doing just great!! We are so happy with her recovery and with her hospital experience. It was not easy, but much better than we thought. She went home after 24 hours and has really improved so much each day. November 4th we will go in for the Post-op check up to see if there is any swelling around the kidneys. As long as that is all normal, we are free to take her off the anti-biotics (yippeee!!).

We are very grateful for family and friends fasting and praying for us and Audrey. We felt such a strength and love in the hospital. And we know the Lord is with us...a blessing we do not take lightly.

Sarah's Broken Arm

Sarah fell off the monkey bars again and broke her arm...again. We were really very very blessed to find an incredible doctor for her and we know we avoided surgery only through the Lord's help. But here she is at our first doctor. I told her to look sad and this is the best she could do.Then I told her to really look sad and I got this one....much more appropriate.Here is our new doctor's office which is absolutely GREAT! This is one of the techs in the cast room. Our doctor, Dr. Sackett at the Carrell Memorial Clinic is a wonderful, sensible, good man.Here she is on the day we are going to take off the cast!!!There they are with the saw...apparently it doesn't saw through skin, only casts......

Votes for Women

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers;
they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

(Lucy Burns)

(Dora Lewis)

(Alice Paul)

Photographs from the Records of the National Women's Party.......
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

They fought hard and suffered much. When we stand at the polls it is in gratitude for their efforts. Let us not let one opportunity to place our vote pass us by.

Jeremiah, Luke, Mark, Winston....

It is for real.

I love to get sonograms, because I feel again the joy that there is actually someone in there! My scanner is not working so this is actually a photograph of the image they sent me home with. I put it on a VHS for the kids too.

And this was just fun. They are sitting under my computer desk together and there were playing together SO nicely!

Bean Bag Journeys

http://www.save-on-crafts.com Aren't these fun? I really think they are cool. Everyone else seems underwhelmed. They are "lampshades" that you slip on top of your wine stems. Then you put a tea light in the cup and you have a cute little light at the table.

Back in Business

I need to get used to the school schedule! We are having so much fun so far, but it sure is a change from our relaxing summer! I look at all we do and don't know quite how it all fits in, but somehow it does and magically, all practices and lessons fell on different days and times. We did not double up hardly at all this semester!! whew! And we have less this semester than others. The girls dropped their cheerleading. Football kind of takes up a lot of extra time, but it sure is fun!! We all get out there wearing our Dragon Green! Luckily, Andrew's soccer team is the same green color!

We have

Family night

Football

Soccer

Ballet

Piano

Swimming

Activity Days

Show kids

Theater

Here are the kids heading off on their first day:

Andrew went back to school a week later to his preschool. I will get shots of him in here later. He LOVES his teacher. When we drove away the first day, he said, "goodbye I love you!"

Cheaper by the...Half Dozen???

We are SO excited about our cute six kids. We will get to meet this new little sixth person in February around the 25th!!! Oh and NO ONE else knows so SHHHHHH. :) But I can't hide the belly any more, unlike my dear beautiful sister who is pregnant with number one and tiny as can be. :) http://www.krisncath.blogspot.com/ But I feel great, look great (I can say whatever I want, I am pregnant!) and feel super blessed.

Pick your Colors

http://www.benjaminmoore.com

I just thought I would share my favorite place to pick paint colors for the house. I LOVE Benjamin Moore paint and I LOVE their colors. Pottery Barn will usually share which shades of BM paint they are using in their catalogs. My favorite part on this website is that you can paint imaginary rooms with their colors and see how well they look together.

Also, the US colors are good, but the Canadian colours are SO much better. It is difficult to get a US store to be able to get the formula, but I have found they can call the Canadian store and mix it here. You can switch to Canadian at the bottom of the website in small print.

Also there is tons to be done with spray paint that I am just now feeling brave enough to try.....if I actually do it, I will post the pics.
Happy virtual painting!!

Voice of the People

OK, I am going to get political on you, and I am about to disagree with Hollywood and Television and even three California Supreme Court Judges.

California voters voted into law by 61% that they want marriage in their state to be defined as a union between a man and woman only. This past May the California Supreme Court voted (3-4) that the law is unconstitutional according to the California Constitution. So 4 people just nullified the wishes of 61% of California voters. That is not how our system is supposed to work. We are a rule by the voice of the people. We are all about majority rule; and we assume that the majority of Americans will not likely make poor choices. (that is why America needs a moral society, but that is a soapbox for another day)

Anyway, I know it is a confusing issue. I know we don't like to "deny" anyone anything. But we must protect marriage as a sacred covenant. If we loose that, surely, everything else will soon cave behind it. Opening up a definition of marriage to include anyone who wants to make that union would destroy the institution itself. We would soon have society and government not recognizing unions at all, only dealing with individuals, because anyone could be a union at any time for any purpose. (and dissolve it at any time as well)

Don't think I am making sense, how about this example: Let's say I want a marriage tax break. My roomates and I all decide to get "married" (only legally speaking) until we are done with school. Think of it: Polygamy, bygomy, sodomy, all those omy's. How about health insurance? Another great reason to create a "marriage."

I know you won't read a super long blog so I will stop. Of course there are many great moral reasons to not support a same sex marriage: firstly, children have the right to be raised in the safest environment possible and studies have proven this to be a traditional marriage between a man and a woman.

But let's help those Californians get their voice back!!! Please send in your $$$$ to the organization below. My church is even supporting them and has asked that we give our best efforts to do the same.

http://www.protectmarriage.com/

I love people, even those making different choices than I agree with. I really do. I disagree with their choices, their choices now affect me, and it is time to take a stand.

Christmas in July

I am one of those people who really starts to think about getting ready for Christmas....in July. I think the worst thing in the entire world for me would be to have to shop in late December for the family. I usually am shopping late December but that would be for the piano teacher or the preschool assistant...people I love but forgot to get a gift for.

I have tried all sorts of ways to organize it and make it manageable and fun for me too. But so far, nothing has totally solved the organizational nightmare that is Christmas prep. And usually it is full of fun craziness that I enjoy. But this year, as I started to get the toy catalogs in the mail (yes, they are already coming) I just felt sick. All that buying, all that getting, all that STUFF cluttering up our house. :) So, I have a new idea. In order for Mom to enjoy her holidays too, and so that we can really truly focus on the sacred nature of the season, I propose that each Johnson child gets ONE present and a stocking and then maybe a group family gift.

What do you think????

By the way, here is a GREAT Christmas blog: http://christmasmaking.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday to You!

Dustin really wanted Rice Krispie Treats for his birthday "cake." There is one candle sort of teetering on the top there. :) We got him a few good presents. As always, I would like to have bought him more and he said, "But I have everything I could ever want."
He picked a very casual dinner, one of his favorites: hamburgers and hot dogs.

We all played and swam together and then that weekend we went to see a movie: "Wall-E" Very strange show if you ask us.

It was a good calm birthday after so much travelling. It is always so great to do nice things for Dustin.

Almost Home

Well, it is with great mixed feelings that we finish out our last weekend here in Oregon. What an awesome trip! What a treat to spend so much time with family! Here are some of the highlights from the last few days.

We climbed to the first branch in a HUGE beautiful old pine tree in Grandma and Grandpa's front yard.
We took family pictures with our cowboy hats and jeans.
Here are the grandkids getting ready for their picture.We pulled the kids on the tubes.

The girls threw some pots on the wheel.What a trip!