Goofing around

At school yesterday, it was family and friends day.  I took Bella and Ali and Sam Pitts to the school to have lunch together.  As we were eating, the kids found these cool leaves from some kind of tree that looked like a green mustache.  We forgot to take our camera to the school, but we took some of the leaves home with us and the kids put them on their mouths for the camera in our backyard. 

They made really fancy earrings for Sarah.

I don't know what you would call this on Ryan.

Baby Cousins

This past month we had the opportunity to go to 2 different baby blessings!  I don't know if there is anything more special than new babies straight from our Heavenly Father.  

On Mother's Day, Jim and Kathie came from Baltimore to bless Baby Gavin.  

Sarah, Ryan, and Gavin (sorry, I couldn't flip the picture the right way).

Bella was very proud she could hold Gavin all by herself.

Ryan got a chance to have Gavin all to himself as well.

Sarah could make Gavin talk anytime she looked at him.  I think there is a special bond between the two of them.

Over Memorial Weekend, we were able to go to Las Vegas and be there for Baby Luke's blessing.  Clark and Susan are living there while Clark goes to Physical Therapy school.

Lucas Clark Johnson and Ryan sharing a moment.

Ryan showing off his photography skills with Luke as his subject.

Baby Josh showing off his GUNS!!!!  Should we just call him Cruise, Tom Cruise.

I was enjoying a moment with Luke while he was sleeping.

Sarah, Ryan, and Bella sad to leave Luke.

Sarah, Bella, Megan, Sam and Susan's neice and nephew playing in the pool and hot tub at Clark and Susan's home.

Bruce and Shannon had a baby, Colton Ray Johnson, on April 20.  We have not been able to see him yet since they live in Oregon.  We are so excited to meet him this summer.  He will have a lot of cousins to love him to death, good luck new parents, we love you.

Any minute now I am expecting news from Josh and Mary about their new baby.  They went in this morning to be induced and we don't yet know what they are having.  This is a very exciting time for the Kendall family.  Good luck to you on your new addition.  We love you guys so much.

Next week, I think, Marty and Angela will be having a baby as well.  I am not sure what they will be having, but we will be anxious to find that out.  Good luck to you.

In September Jake and Ashley will be having their first baby also.  They will be having a boy as well.  We are so excited and hope things continue to go well for you.  We love you!

There will be babies everywhere.  Fun times to be had at all the upcoming family events.  And for all who may be wondering, No, I am not pregnant, nor do I wish to be at this time.  I hope that clears up any questions you may have.

P.S.

FYI -- One more sick kid.  

What time is it? SUMMERTIME!!!!!

Warning to all readers: no pictures provided due to a lost camera that was not really lost!!!

Summer has begun!!! Oh, wait, not for us, no, we still have ummmmm, lets see, aaaaaa, oh my, a whole 2 weeks left. Is Salt Lake the only place that's lame enough to keep kids in school after Memorial Day? Don't they realize that EVERYONE, me included, checks out at that point. I think my kids will watch a lot of movies and play a lot of games and who knows what else to pass the time away during "school hours" until it really is summer. Well, that's where I live so I guess I best be getting used to it. One lonely voice wont do much to change the monster.

So on that note, we had a really fun weekend with lots of excitement both wanted and not really desired, but it turned out to be great. After changing our minds a few times, not paying any attention to the "real" date of Memorial Day, sickness, and whatever else might have stood in our way, we ended up kind of inviting ourselves to go with some friends to St. George for the weekend. (aren't we good friends?) Oh, and does anyone else want to invite us to go anywhere with them? (just kidding)

On Friday we were able to head out a little earlier than expected, which turned out to be better than we imagined due to the overwhelming amount to traffic also trying to flee the dreaded sight of the city. Please, don't get me wrong, I don't mind Salt Lake, but bear in mind of where I grew up as well, DELTA, where you can actually drive a mile in less than a minute, and you pass more cows than people. (got off subject for a bit, sorry!) Anyway, so on our 4 1/2 hour drive, just about 2 1/2 hours of that time were spent listening to our dearest Ali scream. She is not the most pleasant child to travel with since somehow she has decided that she must compete with everyone for attention and the loudest one seems to get that all desired outcome. Finally we made it! We took the kids swimming and after that tried to put 8 kids to bed in one room. Did you catch the "try" part that was exactly the case . It took about 2 good hours for them to finally calm down and give in (I guess I can't really blame them).

On Saturday, we took our time getting up and out, but in the end we headed up to Snow Canyon to have a picnic lunch at the sand hills there. After about 4 - 5 u-turns, we were about 5 minutes from our destination and Ali threw-up (not just a little either). Jeff decided to go back to the condo and clean her up while the kids and I climbed in the Moores van, just a little squishy, and continued with our plans. We had a great time, we buried most of the kids about neck deep and got a small amount of sand in places we would rather not have it, and when we were done with that, we headed back to the condo. We decided the best bath for all of us would be an immediate plunge in the pool. I'm sure they really appreciated the sand bar we brought with us. At the end of the day, Ali had managed to heave 4 separate times, making it only once into the sink. Jeff was the lucky one who got to clean it all up as well, thank you dear!!!! I love you!!! This night it seemed to only take a little less than 2 hours to get all the kids to sleep, I think we are getting the hang of it now.

Sunday we woke up really early because our family need to be in Las Vegas for a baby blessing at 10:00 am. We thought if we were gone by 7:45 we would be there in good time. In the end we left about 8:00 but still we thought we would be fine. After crossing in to Nevada, I was fiddling with my cell phone and realized we forgot to take into account the time change. OK, so we are idiots at times, I know that, but we really could have gotten an extra hour of much needed sleep. Well, we can just believe we wanted to be there really early so to be sure we would not miss the beautiful baby blessing of my brother, Clark and Susans baby, Lucas. That was great to see Susans family again, after only meeting them once at the wedding. And most of all we got to see baby Luke for the first time. He is adorable, stick thin like most of the Johnson babies, and slept through most of the days festivities. I was glad we were able to attend the parties. After we got back to St. George, the group decided to walk around the Temple grounds and we watched the family presentation, which is fabulous if you ever want something fun to do for FHE (it's at the SL visitors center as well). After our return to the condo, another round of "how long will it take us this time" began. I don't think we improved our time from the last.

Monday finally arrived and no one wanted to leave. The condo was a mess, we still had a few more Jelly Bellies left, and we hadn't got any sun either. Shameful!!!! So what do you do? Let's go swimming for 4 hours, I think that will motivate us to clean and get on the road. And so we did. In the end, we arrived back at home around 10:30 pm, we walk upstairs and Bella throws up all over the carpet in her room. WELCOME HOME!!!! Obligation kicked in and I went right to work at cleaning this round of puke all over the floor. How in the world do you get the smell out of carpet? I certainly don't know.

All in all, we had a really fun weekend, even though, so far 4 out of the 8 kids (including the Moores 4) have gotten sick. Sorry guys for infecting your family with whatever kind of bug it is. At least it only lasts for less than 12 hours so far.

Great friends, yummy food, beautiful scenery, and a place to lay our heads. That makes for a fabulous vacation that will be remembered.

"Keep Bleeding"

Most days Ali is hollering at us to turn on this song by Leona Lewis whenever we go any where in the car. 

Who's First???????

Yip, it's that time of year again, we get to take all the kids to the DENTIST!!!!!  Oh, I am so sorry for the coolest dentist in the world, Dr. Jason Horgensheimerwhateverhislastnameis.  I am not kidding, I love this dentist, not in a sick kind of way though.  

On our way in this was the conversation:

Bella: "I want to go first,"

Sarah: "I want to go last this time,"

Ryan: "I think I want to go third or fourth,"

Ali: "I WANT TO GO FIRST!!!!!"

Bella: "No, I want to go first"

Ali, crying: "I WANT TO GO FIRST AND I NEVER GET TO GO FIRST AND I WANT TO GO FIRST AND I WILL NEVER EVER BE ABLE TO GO FIRST!!!"

Bella crying at this point (keep in mind we are not even to the front door yet) "I want to go first mom, it's not fair!"

Ryan: "I don't care which place I go, I just don't want to be first or second"

Sarah: "well, I really want to go last, I went first last time and this time I don't want to."

(I am sure I am missing some of the conversation)  At this point, I have Ryan nervous as can be, Sarah is fine, and both Bella and Ali crying (Ali is inconsolable), and I am "calmly" (not really) telling everyone to be quiet, the Doctor will decide who goes first.

Please believe me when I say that was not the end of the conversation.  It went on, and on, and on, and on.  Gosh I love my kids though.  They sure do give me a lot of entertainment if I can actually enjoy the silly little things they say instead of going crazy :)

I know the suspense is killing you about what the true order was in the dreaded dentists chair, so, Ryan got the privilege of blazing the trail.  

 

Followed by Sarah.....
Then Bella.....
And last, but not least, Ali.

At the end of the day we only had to do extra work on Bella, which they were able to do right then.  Wow, I'm glad that excursion is over.  Only to look forward to it all over again in November.  Hopefully a lot less drama.

Pre-School Graduation

The big event has arrived.  What we have been waiting 5 years for!!!  Bella graduated from pre-school with flying colors.  That there is a big accomplishment.  Let's see, just what have we been getting for our money?  5 hours of babysitting/week, something for Bella to do twice a week (without siblings!), made new friends, colored a lot, sang songs, and she made some fun memories that she may or may not remember.  Needless to say, she loved every minute of it and looked forward to the days she had school.  

She went to Taylorsville High School where the students at the high school were actually their teachers.  At any given time there were at least 5 HS students, an adult advisor, and up to 14 4-5 year olds.  The HS students were generally very cute with all the kids.  Bella really enjoyed it and was very sad when she knew she would not be going back.  I am so grateful for opportunities like this for my children.  It makes them feel so grown up (good or bad).

Here is Bella walking in.

Bella (on the end) sang so good.  She did all the actions and participated suprisingly well.

The adult supervision, Mrs. Rockwell (left) & Miss Annie (right).  They are the ones who trained and supervised the HS students.  They said something special about each one of the kids as they received their diploma.  The following is what was said about Bella: "Bella is an amazing child.  She is extremely intelligent and always the first to know the answer to even the hardest questions.  She was a delight at singing time always learning the words to the songs well and singing them proudly.  Bella was always cooperative, focused and willing to help.  She makes friends easily and is a good friend in return; we loved having Bella in our class this year.  She will do fabulous in kindergarten."  Being a parent, that was a special tribute to our daughter.  We are so proud of her.  She definitly has some special talents that will help her throughout her life.

Dad and Bella

Our little graduate!!!

We love you Bella!

Women in my Life

It is only fitting to pay tribute to all the moms in my life.  I have been truly blessed to be surrounded by good women who stand for truth and righteousness, not only in their words but more by their actions.  I only hope I can learn from each of them and, in return, create a legacy of my own that I can be proud of.   

Grandma Della died when I was very young, only 3 years old.  I do have one memory of her that always stands out whenever I think of her.  She was dying of cancer and was in bed a lot.  I lived right next door to them (in fact I lived next door to both of my grandparents, our home was sandwiched in between both of them), so I would go over often and lay in bed with her just talking.  I'm sure a three year old had lots to say!  However short the time was with my Grandma Della, I learned so much from her (mostly from the stories I have been told).  What do I remember the most?  *She was loved by everyone; *She was a famous baker (especially bread); *She loved her family more than anything; *She never gave up; *She saw the potential in everyone.  I love my grandma so much and I am waiting for the day that I can meet her once again, and feel her loving arms around me.

Grandma Laurel, she married my grandpa after Grandma Della had passed away.  I remember her well, living next door to her, we saw them often.  Grandpa and Grandma would come over every Sunday and have dinner together.  She would bring the jello salad, my favorite being the jello with cottage cheese mixed in with fruit.  She always looked perfect and acted very sophisticated.  She would get her hair done once a week and I could never understand why her hair was blue, but it did look great.  A good memory of her is my brother Keith talking her into riding on the back of the motorcycle.  Wow, that was a sight, I don't think she liked it very much, but we all were laughing hysterically.  The good things she taught me were: always keep lotion handy, and don't ever forget to put it on your elbows; she stood by my grandpa until she died; her home was always spotless; she was always interested in my school dances and loved being apart of designing my dresses, in fact, just before she died, I was going to the Junior Prom and my date and I went to the hospital to see her while we were all dressed up.  That was the last time I saw her alive.  

Grandma Campbell (Maurine) lived on the other side of our home.  In fact, growing up I was always so sad that I could not travel anywhere to visit my grandparents, (what a rough life).  All my friends would go somewhere to visit grandparents and I just had to walk across a bridge for one of them and through a gate for the other.  Wow, the perspective of a child.  But living so close to grandparents is such a blessing.  I remember spending the night at Grandma Campbells a lot on Saturday nights, then go to church with her, right across the street.  Only to sit with my parents again, since she would always sit with us anyways.  But those Saturday nights were filled with Lawrence Welk, the Love Boat, and Fantasy Island.  Along with a lot of goodies.  Those were good times.  She would even put my hair up in rags for me if I wanted her to.  Wow, I spent a lot of time with her, she always took the time to listen to me.  Grandpa Campbell died when I was 6 so she spent a lot of time alone.  I remember "helping her out when a bug got in her grass, so Duane and I decided to pull out all her grass that we could.  I don't think she was too thrilled with us when she saw what we had done.  Good memories of her are many, especially the good desserts she would bring over every Sunday for the dinner.  She kept her mind going all the time, often times doing crosswords.  She always was crocheting something for someone.  She loved family and spent a lot of time with each one of her children, most of them living in California.  After I graduated from high school, she took Jacki and I to California and that was one of the funnest times I remember with her.  I love you Grandma Campbell.   

OK, here is the greatest story ever!!!!  This picture is of my Grandma Campbell and my Grandpa Johnson.  Yes, it is my mom's mom and my dad's dad.  After Grandma Laurel passed away, my grandparents started dating.  I remember coming home from college one weekend and was helping Grandma in her yard.  She made the comment to me, "you really should get a boyfriend, it's fun," I just about died.  I didn't want to hear that from my grandma!  Anyway, they kept dating and then one day my sister called me at college to tell me grandma and grandpa are getting married.  I was so excited I started hollering to my roommates that my grandma and grandpa are getting married.  They all looked at me funny and said "arn't they already?"  I just replied, "no, you don't understand."  Anyway, they got married and enjoyed each others company for several more years.

My mom!  What can I say, she puts up with my dad and they are still married:)  (knowing their history you would understand that better). She is so patient and she knows how to work.  My dad was not home a lot to do the small things around the house, so she just found out how to do it and did it herself.  She will help with anything she is asked to do and just gets it done.  She loves to read and she is so handy.  She has taught me how to make a quilt, sew (even though I hate it), cook, bake bread, fix stuff (I still leave a lot of that for Jeff), and she has shown me the true essence of charity.  My mom is so special and will always be such an important part of my life.  I love you mom!

Jeff's mom has been equally important to me in showing me an inspiring example of womanhood.  For the past 11 1/2 years she has been my mom-away-from-home.  I have loved her from the beginning, but I never cease to be amazed at how much she has taught me.  She does everything she can to help all of her children, no matter how old they get.  The patience she shows is inspiring, and the love she gives to everyone is something I can only pray to gain, because it will take a lot of work to achieve.  I am blessed by her daily and I don't have the words to thank her for what she had done for me and shown by example.

The women in my life is never-ending, and I will never have enough time nor space to share with you who has been instrumental in my life.  I have a sister, sister-in-laws, and friends who all play an intregal part in my life.  Thank you to all and I pray to become a little like all of you as I am shaped and molded into who I will become.  

Bella's Birthday Cake

I actually made this cake!!!  I was so proud of myself when I saw the finished product.  However, I did need a lot of help from the Family Fun magazine :(  I am just not that creative.  

Bella blowing out the 5 candles.

Bella got the coolest outfit; pink wig, sunglasses, earrings, braclets, rings, microphone, necklace beads, a tiny Tina Turner dress, and shoes (thanks Jake and Ash)

Bella, Sydney, Lauren and Sarah

Sarah jammin'

Sunday, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for Jakes birthday and to celebrate Bella's birthday with the family.  We had a fun time playing games, eating lots of pizza, and just being with family.  What a blessing family is to us.  We are so lucky to have great parents and siblings who we enjoy spending time with.  The older I get, the more I realize that there are not too many families who like, or rather tolerate, being with each other.  Luckily that is not the case.  We are so excited for Jim and Kathie to come for a visit, but (sorry guys) we are probably more excited to see Gavin.  I can't think of anything more important than keeping close ties with our families.  Love you all!!!  

"Enchanted, Starring You"

Friday, May 1, Bella and Sarah were stars in the play put on by "Up With Kids."  The name of the play is "Enchanted, Starring You."  Sarah's parts were Petunia Pigeon, Thing 1, and a Bride. Bella was Private Penguin and a spike on the dragon.  They both did such a great job and I was so proud of them.  They both had speaking parts and Sarah was able to sing a part of the "Happy Working Song" from Enchanted.  It is so fun to see your kids performing or doing a sport and doing well.  I guess this is where being a mother can really pay off.  My children are the joy of my life and I feel so blessed to have four.  

Bella as Private Penguin

Sarah as Thing 1

Sarah is in the middle with the blue hair.

Bella singing and dancing to "Bad Day"

The three penguins

Both of the girls really enjoyed doing this play.  They practiced every week since September, and spent a lot of time memorizing their parts.  We were so lucky to have so many friends and family come and support the kids.  Thank you so much to all who were there!!!  It means a lot to not only the girls, but to us as parents as well.  We can't forget the brownies and ice cream afterwards!!!  Thanks Sam and Leatherby's:)