Merry Christmas!

Our family had a great Christmas! The kids cleaned up between Santa and two sets of Grandparents!

Mush Koda, Mush!

We may have started a new family tradition for Christmas Eve (well, if there is snow!) We took the kids sledding this morning, there is a big hill at their school. They had a great time and we put our Siberian Husky to work pulling them. They always wanted to try having Koda pull them since he was a puppy, he did pretty good and they had a ball! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Is Anybody Ready?

I was feeling pretty good about Christmas when December started and now bang it's in 10 days and there is so much to do! Is everybody in the same boat? In the craziness I'm just posting gingerbread house pictures from last Sunday. The kids had a great time, they really didn't need any help from us this time. We also took a picture of all my nieces and nephews that day, what a group! I can't believe that my youngest nephew, Stockton, is five! No more babies in our family, just lots of kids and teenagers!

LET IT SNOW!

The kids were really excited to wake up this morning to SNOW! They missed snow living in St. George, and have been waiting to play in it! What a perfect day, no school! They have already been out playing for over an hour!

The Pack Wins Again!

10 and 1, yEsSSSsssssss! We were so excited to have Jeremiah's brother Joe over for the Thanksgiving game...Our Packer vs. His Lions...And guess who won? Of course the Packers!
Happy Turkey Day!

Book Fair...

After living at the school from 8:00am to 8:30pm the book fair is over! It was a great success, breaking any previous sale records! My favorite part is talking to the kids about the books they have read or want to read. We had a lot of kids spending their own money on books. Some that come highly recommended (and adults would go for too) are,

"The Lightening Thief,"
"the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,"
"The Princess Academy,"
"The Invention of Hugo Carbet,"
"Rules,"
"Diary of a Whimpy Kid,"
The list goes on and on you can never read enough books! Well after the paperwork I take a book fair break until spring! Yea!

Baptism...

This morning Elisabeth and her cousin Ashlyn were baptized! For a just a moment they were the newest members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! We are so proud of both of them. They looked beautiful in their baptism white and in their dresses for their confirmation. Elisabeth was really excited, her dad baptized her and her Grandpa Rigby confirmed her, it was a great morning. We had lunch afterwards at my sister house for everyone, and we can all rest ... well for a minute then its on to book fair and isn't Christmas just around the corner?!

Halloween...

Halloween is over again for another year! The kids had a great time trick or treating in my mom and dad's neighborhood, they know lots of kids from school there. They got so much candy! And as Jeremiah said, real candy not all that cheap junk! Sam was a presidential candidate, perfect because he loves attention, and Elisabeth was Hermione from Harry Potter, perfect for our little know it all! Happy Halloween!

The End of Flag Football

The End of Flag Football!
Tonight was the last game of flag football, and finally it didn't rain so I got some pictures. Sam might not be a super star, but he had a lot of fun! This is a picture of him and his buds Josh, Johnny and Jordan.

6 and 1 Baby!

Hopefully, you all watched the Monday Night Football Game last night!? Yea, all you doubters, that Brett is to old...did you see those to 80 plus yard touchdowns!!! And i'm sure you saw us up in the third bowl! It's really crazy when you go to Denver, with all their "loyal" fans, and you see cheeseheads everywhere! We had a great weekend? day? 36 hours? Sunday we left about 10:00am and we got to Brooke and Ryan Weirs house about 7:00pm. Thank you Brooke for the yummy dinner and bed to crash in! (We had so much fun playing with the boys, our kids are getting so big!) Monday we did some shopping and visited the Air Force Academy, which is awesome, both of us dreamed of flying jets in our younger years. Then we headed downtown, when we got there it was so crazy it was like a home game, their were Green Bay fans tailgating everywhere!
And what a great game, the Pack finally got a running game going and oh you gotta love Brett Favre just letting those long ones rip!
Then we jumped in the car, and drove home to Salt Lake, we got here about 5:45am, slept until 11:00am and then it was off to work and back to the kids!
Was it worth it you ask?
YES!!!

Oh Jack O' Lantern!
With the beautiful weather our annual family pumpkin carving got moved outdoors! The kids love getting really messy, an our kids were big enough to it mostly on their own! Yea, no sticky mommy!

And...Guess What?...a friend of a friend offered us tickets to the Packers vs. Broncos game on Monday night! We decided to call it an adventure, bought the tickets (for cheap) and Sunday we are driving to Denver! We'll drive back after the game, crazy huh? Go Pack Go!

Go Sam!

Sam is playing flag football with his buddies from school. He usually play defense, but today he was feeling kinda bummed about never touching the ball. He played 3 offensive plays, and got to "run a screen," talk about a little thing making a boy happy. He made it 2 or 3 yards before his flag was pulled, but yea he ran the ball!

Finally the birthday is over!
Elisabeth and Ashlyn had their friend party tonight at Build-A-Bear. They had a great time! They each invited friends and they all made bears, dogs or whatever. I must thank Miss Erin there, what a great thing to just give them over to her, and she held their attention the whole time! And the best part is...no mess at my house!

Look Who's 8!
Our baby girl turned 8 yesterday! She told us she really doesn't feel that much different than when she was 7! What a birthday she had, thanks to grandma and grandpa Johnson, and Joe and Randi for the iPOD she has danced and sang for two days! Thanks grandma and grandpa Rigby for the new bike! Maybe she'll learn to ride without training will now! Elisabeth took treats to school and is student of the week! She also thinks it is cool that her birthday was on Columbus Day and Red Ribbon week! Elisabeth is a good girl, we are so happy to have her in our family!
Elisabeth is going to join Activity Days now too, that is a church group for girl 8-12 years old. They asked her her greatest blessing and she said her family, and if she had hour to do what ever she wanted what would she do? She said just hang out with my cousin Ashlyn. So I thought I would include some cute cousin shots! Ashlyn and Elisabeth are three days apart in age and both have the birthday silly's. And the group shot is all my nieces and nephews (12 plus my kids!) and the baby is Jeremiah's niece Aynsley! She is so cute!

Shopping, Eating, Pictures and Fun!
What an awesome weekend we just spent in Chicago and Green Bay!!! The weather was fantastic! We spent two great days in the Windy City, we visited the American Girl Doll Store (Elisabeth's top pick, and we had birthday tea for her there!), the Art Institute, a boat tour, shopped, took tons of pictures and laughed so much! And don't forget the food! Dunkin' Donuts, Chicago Pizza and awesome hamburgers @ a pub right on Michigan Ave! Even losing Joe's luggage, and a crazy hotel couldn't damper our spirits!
Brats, Brett Favre and Packer Football!
Sunday morning it was off to the game, Miah and I were so excited!!! It was the best game ever! We played the San Diego Chargers, there is just nothing like being at Lambeau Field (this was Miah and I's second visit), there is nothing like watching Brett Favre play (he is the best QB of all time!) and there is nothing like a win! This was the first time we had seen them win and it was real close they took the lead with only 2 minutes left! This TD also put #4 tied with Marino for the touchdown record! The place went crazy we went crazy!!!!
Anyways, we couldn't have asked for a better weekend! We had such a ball! The kids were great! And we love you Uncle Joe and Aunt Randi!

T-I-M-B-E-R
There is nothing like coming home to a tree lying across your front lawn! That's what we found Tuesday after that crazy wind storm, we had just gone to see my dad for about 20 minutes and we came back to find the tree out by the curb down. Many other trees were lost in the neighborhood including a huge pine tree! The kids were so scared! They were afraid that trees were going to crash the house! Thankfully it was Miah's day off the next day, we borrowed his parents chain saw and went to work! We had another tree that was dying also, and decided to take it out too. By 3:30 when we picked up the kids it was all done and cleaned up, and it really looks like a different house!
Tomatoes, pumpkins, cantaloupe, cucumber, carrots, corn, watermelon and lots of squash!
The kids have always wanted a garden and the "little house" has a great spot! After we planted it rained and Koda (the dog) got in it and scrambled everything! So we didn't really think anything would grow, and for a while all we had was a "lot of green stuff" but now we have had a couple of each thing and lots of mini pumpkins and lots of these huge yellow squash! To bad we don't eat squash! The kids and I already have plans to remove and bush and expand next year, we had everything a little to close, since we didn't think it would grow!
Happy Harvest!

Back 2 School

Well we made it through the first week of school. The kids have been really excited and it has made mornings a breeze. They both are adjusting great, Sam had new friends, but as usual he can't remember their names, and Elisabeth talks endlessly about her new friend Parker, who likes pink! Jeremiah wonders why she always has boys for friends? Sam is in 4th grade, that means we have a "child in the upper grades" and has Mrs. Bruce for a teacher, she loves music and her and Sam have hit it off well! Elisabeth is in 2nd grade, and "so far it is easy and a review!" Her teacher is Mrs. Andersen and she is into reading which is also a perfect fit. The only excitement for the new school week was Elisabeth being stung by hornet before school even started on Thursday, they said she was very brave. That same day we had check-ups and both kids are healthy, but neither of them are going to break any size records! I've already got a spot on the PTA board and I am going to be in charge of book fair, and will spend as much time as I can in their classes, something I really missed last year! So life keeps moving, and all is well! (except we still have that darn house in St. George.)

Bye, Bye Tonsils

I'll keep this short since i'm still pretty groggy on loratab, but I finally got my tonsils out Tuesday, hopefully no more sore throats! I wanted to give a big thank you to Grandpa Craig for taking Sam all day and Grandma Bonnie for taking Elisabeth, they both had a good time going to work with their grandparents. Thanks to Lisa for homemade soup and treats and letting the kids sleepover! And I can't tell Miah enough thanks, he's been the best nurse ever! He actually took off two whole days off work! He got so much done around here while also taking great care of me!

Lagoon!

Ticket to Lagoon = $25 (and a lot of books from Deseret Book)
B.B.Q. Dinner = $9
Snow Cones = $4
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Spending the day at Lagoon with your cousins = PRICELESS

We just got home from our yearly excursion to Lagoon with all the cousins. The kids had such a great time and it is a lot more fun with them than just mom and dad! All the kids, except Stockton, are now big enough to ride most of the rides and they couldn't get enough! Funny Elisabeth cried on the Terror Rides but never holds on, on any roller coasters! Sam is also not afraid of anything from the Rocket to the new ride Wicked! All the kids are so much fun and everybody got a long great! But boy were all the mom ready to come home, good thing that we don't have to go back for a year! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Rigby, and thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson for the tickets!

Ah, Summer Time!
Saturdays are meant for "ladies lunch" at Becky's! Last Saturday the occasion was my cousin Joe and his family moving to Boise Idaho, it is all very familiar to us a year ago! The kids love to play together and there is always water involved, Elisabeth and Eliza thought Ellie was super cute cooling off with her ice cream, she had it everywhere! We all got many laughs watching Ellie and her cousin AnneMarie and their love/hate relationship! I'm glad I'm back close to my cousins and I'm glad they have always been part of my life!

Happy Pioneer Day!

Yesterday we got up real early to go to the Pioneer Day parade. The kids and I go every year with my parents and whoever else is willing to get there my about 7:30am. We used to go spend the night when I was a kid, I don't know how my Aunt Becky and Uncle Mark could stand our grumpy faces the next day! This year the kids had a good time with my cousins kids; Josh, Lacey, Roxanne, Shelby, Eric and Elly. The kids were really impressed by the super low fly over of an F-16 and always love the motorcycle officers. We were fortunate to have cooler weather, but no rain, and it made for great parade. We spent the rest of the day relaxing! And then dinner with daddy!

In other fun happenings, well at our house we think its BIG, our tickets to the Green Packers vs. San Diego Chargers game came Monday! "Sweet!" is what Jeremiah said! We will be traveling in September, stopping first for a visit to Chicago and the American Girl Store (Elisabeth is so excited) and then to Green Bay, Jeremiah calls it a pilgrimage to mecca to pray before the shrine of Lambeau Field!

A "Blog" Sounds Fun!?

After seeing my friend Jen's cute blog of her little boys I thought I would give it a try. So here it goes! For those who don't know the Johnson family's time in St. George was short, we spent the spring with Miah in Salt Lake and the rest of us finishing the school year there, thankfully now we are all together, yea! I have huge respect for mom's who send their husband away in the military, three months was long enough for us!
So now we are trying to make the best out of summer, but it is going fast, school starts one month from today! We've done Lagoon twice, the kids LOVE roller coasters, Elisabeth does "no hands" for everything! Last night we went to Cherry Hills, they also love anything involving water! There has also been fun summer movies, rodeo, 4th of July parade and fireworks and oh yea, did I mention we laid 2000 sq. feet of sod! (After we moved 2000 sq. feet of bark)
We are living in a little house in Murray, I think its cute, Miah is not commenting, but we are all happy and it suits are needs right now. We are still trying to sell our St. George house, we love it and wish we could just pick it up and move it, oh well, what a life lesson we have had!