Texas Vacation

We just returned a few days ago from my family's yearly Texas Family Reunion. We always have such a great time, and needless to say, Jared and I were desperate for some sort of vacation, so the timing was awesome. We were able to visit with family and the boys got to play with their only cousins, which they haven't seen in 2 years, so they didn't really remember each other.
I think we rode on just about every sort of mode of transportation that week possible. We rode in a car, on an airplane, boat, jet ski, train, bus, four wheel, and EZ Go (golf cart).

This is us on our way from our grandparents to Lake Murray in Northern Texas/ Oklahoma.

Here are most of the little kiddos, minus a cousin. The girls, Annie and Chloe took a liking to both our boys, but they loved to baby Carson. They just kept loving on him, picking him up and carrying him. In the picture he doesn't seem too opposed. Oh, and the picture that was taken on the rocks, can you Scorpions? I don't know how many scorpions we killed, but several. I didn't sleep very well at nighttime scared there were little buggies in bed with us. Ugh.
Papa Nobles and Carson.

One of the days we were at the Lake, my cousin talked us into going to this drive-thru zoo called Arbuckle Wilderness. It was the craziest thing I have ever been to in the avenue of zoo's. You know how you watch those hilarious clips on America's Funniest Home videos of the people in their cars at these zoos, well I wish I would have had a video camera because we all just about peed our pants at several different times during our excursion. We had Goats practically climbing into our car, Camel's that stuck their heads into our car and stole our cups of food, drueling (?) Giraffe's that got slobber all over us, and as for the Ostrich's - well we rolled up our windows and sped on past them. We had such a great time.

As an ending to our vacation, we were just about in the midst of a tornado. We were told there was a 20% chance of storms Saturday evening. Well, I'm not totally sure who was in charge of the forecast for the day, but they probably ought to be looking for a job elsewhere going from 20% chance of RAIN to a massive thunder and lightening storm and tornadoes. I should probably preface this by saying ever since I was a little girl, I have feared that while I was in Texas there would be a tornado. Well, we saw the rain clouds start moving in and I didn't think much of it until we were at my grandparents and my uncle drove in and said we needed to turn on the news for tornado updates. I figured he had to be joking, but when I went outside across the way, sure enough the sky was that sea green color, the wind had picked up and there were funnel clouds starting to form, several of them and they were heading straight towards us. The wind started blowing so hard it was fiercely splashing water from the pool. It was a sight to be seen for me.
Thankfully, eventually the storm lessened as it passed, but we received a message about 1 am on Jared's phone that our 8:50 flight was canceled the following morning and not re-scheduled until almost 48 hours later and I love my grandparents, but I did not want to stay in Texas any longer after the storm. I wanted my own home and bed. We ended up flying into a different airport and taking a shuttle to our car an hour away. But, we are home and getting ready for Jared's parents who will be driving in tomorrow from AZ.

Hello 2's... We Have Arrived!!!

Well, Carson took a few weeks to settle into this new and exciting phase of life. His birthday was in May and it's almost July and he is finally starting to act his age, darn it. My mom came over today to watch the boys for a little bit so I could go run some errands and Carson cried when I left, which is totally not like him. He usually prefers my mom over anyone else. I know if I would have taken him with me, he would have cried. When I got home he was busy doing something and when he was done and realized my mom was gone, he just cried and cried. He has started hitting and telling me "no" and when Jared walked in the front door tonight he bawled and tried to not let him in the front door. I am hoping he is still just exhausted from our week in Texas, but I am not so sure. He has also started climbing out of his crib. Look out!

Jared's Latest Project

Here is Jared's latest project. As most of you know, after the bank originally accepted our offer, we signed the initial paperwork and had our inspection done and then there was a flood in the house. So, the linoleum that was in the kitchen was ripped up and never replaced by the bank who owned the home due to various reasons, way too many details I don't want to explain bc it would probably really bore you. Needless to say, we were living on cement flooring the first few weeks we were in the home, so putting in flooring was one of the top priorities. So, here is a before and after...(it still needs to be completed, i.e. grouted and cleaned)

Homeward Bound

As the 4th of July is approaching, I have thought a lot about our freedom's, especially as our country seems to be slowly deteriorating with various bills passing, such as the recent over-ruling by a panel of judges in California who decided marriage is unconstitutional as determined to be just between a man and woman. There are other recent rulings where the government has chosen to micro-manage our lives (like what we can and can't do in our cars- such as talk on the phone), and other bills being brought before the Senate. When I think about our country, I think of our forefathers and what our great country was originally founded upon. I am so grateful that I was born of goodly parents and into a free nation. I am also grateful for those giving their lives fighting for our freedoms at home and abroad.

Me and my little Boys

Keys

So after 2 months of waiting, a flood, a police report of vandalism, a cancellation of escrow, meetings with attorney's, dis-honest agents, a bank that wanted to cut all corners, lots of nausea and loss of weight, and a few Xanax, we received the keys on our new home today- Yeah!!! I had informed all my friends and family a few days ago that we decided it would be best to back out of the entire deal, and that I didn't even want to talk or think about it, then later on that day our agents arranged a meeting with a few individuals and after much prayer, fasting, and talking to dad's, we decided it would be best if we continued to go through with purchasing our home. So, over the next week we have a friend, who does flood remediation and re-build, who will be tearing out a few walls and cleaning things up like the bank should have done after a faulty valve in an upstairs bathroom leaked and flooded about half the home well over a month ago, and the bank decided they just wanted to paint over the water stains on the walls and replace the carpet. So, when that work is completed and the home is safe for us to move into, we will do so hopefully next weekend. We are half-way excited about it, still a little nervous about what the next few days will hold, but ready for this next step in our lives.

This made me Chuckle...

Why did the chicken cross the road?
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...
ANDERSON COOPER - CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain. Alone.
JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?' That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% .........reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath th chicken?
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE: I invented the chicken!
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?
AL SHARPTON: Why are all chickens white? We need some black chickens.

REFLECTIONS OF CHRIST

Beautiful- You have to watch this

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Happy Birthday Carson

Our little Carson Barson turned 2 on Monday. It was such a fun day for him. He sang Happy birthday to himself just about all day long. As family members called in to wish him HB-day, he sang with every one of them. Today, 3 days later, he was still singing it to himself. I made a monster cake for him- I was trying really hard to make a cake like my friend who is a total pro- you should check out her site, she is listed under "Our Peeps" - Jacob & Bethany. She is amazing- anyways, I felt pretty good about how it turned out, considering most of my birthday cakes fall apart. All day long, the boys asked to see the Monster Cake. A miracle occurred that day as well, the cake made it through a 12 hour period without a single finger poking, although it did get a fishy cracker stuck into it's side. Batman even came to the party. It was awesome.

Mothers Day Tea

So, I am a little late posting this, but this is Hayden at his Pre-School. Every year they put on a Mother's-Day Tea Program/ Luncheon. It was so fun. The kids sang songs and served us lunch. Hayden was such a little gentleman, getting my chair and making sure I had food to eat and something to drink. He even chose the teeny tiny table and chairs for us to sit in. It was really a lot of fun.

Blessings

Happy Mothers Day to any woman reading this who influences the world for good, but hasn't necessarily born a child. I have been blessed by so many "mothers" in my own life. My children have three of the best aunts one could ever ask for, who are like mothers to my children. I am so thankful for their influences on my boys.
Last night I had the privilege of hearing Carson scream at about 10:00 p.m.. I grabbed him a drink of water then headed upstairs for a moment I hope I will never forget. I picked him up and gave him a drink, then he just lay on my chest with his beloved blanky and I just rocked him, staring at him. I had so many impressions and emotions as I sat there holding this beautiful child. I never wanted that moment to end. It was complete bliss to me. This time of year, I always feel humbled and grateful, and at times emotionally overwhelmed as I ponder on the events that occurred around Carson's birth. He will be two years old tomorrow, and two years ago at this time he was in a hospital over an hour-and-a-half away from me, while I was recovering from a C-Section in a totally different county. The only life-line I had to him was the video Jared had taken of him, that I watched over and over...and over, and the phone calls I would make to his nurses, at all hours, to get an update on his progress, since he had been taken away from me in an incubator and diagnosed with congenital pneumonia hours after birth. The day I was released from the hospital and able to be with my baby for the first time, was Mother's Day. The hospital took a photograph of us and gave all the mom's a bear as a gift from all our babyies in the NICU. Those two items represent so much to me and today I am so thankful to be a mom, and I am so thankful for the health we each enjoy.

Strong-Willed

This is a quote to all you mommy's out there who have a strong-willed child. Jared printed off an article called,
"Making Peace with your Strong-Willed Child." Learning Expert Cynthia Ulrich Tobias offers help and hope. Interview by Carla Barnhill.
I haven't read the entire article through yet, but at breakfast I was glancing through it and saw this quote and loved it.
"These strong-willed kids are not going to let the world change them. They will change the world. That's something to admire."
I had so much peace when I read that. One of my dearest friends here, Jen often reminds me that our Heavenly Father has saved the best for last. Our children need to be strong-willed in these last days so they can overcome the temptations of the adversary. At times it is rough trying to direct kids with strong-wills, but if channeled properly, I know these kids will change the world and I am thankful to have such great kids.

When we were at the zoo back in March, Aunt Niece took these photos and I wanted to post them bc they are so cute. There were a group of people watching the elephants, when Carson drew all their attention to him with first trying to jump off a curb, he would go down and pop up then step down. He tried so hard to jump off the curb, but never boosted the courage to do it. Then he ran off and everyone started clapping for him, he has an adorable run, yeah I am a little partial. Anyways...

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Jared and I have started taking dance lessons, this is our latest routine...

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Just A Mom?

This was forwarded to me today and I had to post it...

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. "What I mean is," explained the recorder, "do you have a job or are you just a......?" "Of course I have a job," snapped the woman. "I'm a Mom." "We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it," said the recorder emphatically. I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised efficient and possessed of a high sounding title like, "Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar." "What is your occupation?" she probed. What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. "I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations." The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire. "Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in your field?" Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money." There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up and personally ushered me to the door. As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another Mom." Motherhood!
What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door. Does this make grandmothers "Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations" and great grandmothers "Executive Senior Research Associates"? I think so!!! I also think it makes Aunts "Associate Research Assistants".

Confession

I just thought I should confess something that has been on my mind, to all you moms with kids, you know how we go through crackers pretty quickly. Well, I pretend to buy them for the kids, but really I end up eating almost all of the crackers. I never used to buy them when I didn't have kids, but now that I do on a regular basis, I am starting to feel it. My favorites are Reduced Fat (because they are crunchier) Cheeze-Its. I think I will have to lay off though because starting tomorrow we have a Johnson Biggest Loser Challenge starting up and going through the next 6 weeks, and I am all about the Jackpot. I am getting my fill of Cheeze-its tonight.

All or Nothing

I have pretty much decided it is all or nothing with me and blog postings. I can go two weeks without writing anything, then all of a sudden I write several days in a row. Sorry for the bombardment, but I wanted to post these two items, mostly for myself.
The first, I thought it was so cute today, we take a daily stroll in the late afternoon up to the mail box then usually stay outside and play until daddy gets home. When daddy gets changed, I go inside to make dinner (if it isn't already going) while Jared stays outside, Hayden generally rides his bike and Carson kicks around the soccer ball. Well, today we were walking down from the mailbox and I noticed Carson had discovered his pockets and I wished I had my camera at that very moment because it was so cute to see him walking beside me, one hand holding mine and the other stuffed in his little shorts pocket. It made me think about how big he is getting, and we all know what that means...just kidding I still need a few more years, between Carson and number 3. I tried to have him re-pose, but he and cameras don't go so well. He is always wanting to see himself on the camera and has a hard time staying still so I can take one, but here he is.This is Hayden, the bug man. He is so tender and sweet when it comes to animals, but this is all very recent. A few weeks ago we were getting in the car to go to my moms and he found a fly, you know how fly's on their way out of this world, they stop flying and just kind of walk around and slow way down. Well, that is what this guy did and Hayden was so happy that this fly just sat on his hand and he even put him in the car to bring to Grammy's, although we lost him somewhere on the way over...somehow...hmmm...anyways, ever since then he has freed a mouse we caught in our house so the mouse could go back to live with it's family, problem is the mouse came back inside and ended up dying in our closet. He brought in a snail yesterday and told me how much the snail loved him bc he was laying his head on Hayden's hand. Sometimes he gets bee's in his room, I think through the skylight and Hayden makes sure I am so gentle with them. Today I put a bee back outside and as I was putting him out a gust of wind blew him back in and the bee landed in the windowsill, and I quickly shut the window, well Hayden literally freaked out thinking I had squished the bee. Mr. Wormy is his newest friend. He was very concerned that Mr. Wormy had a red vain and looked like he was bleeding. Hayden is already asking for a snake. We saw a fish that looks like a snake at Wal-Mart yesterday, my vote is definitely the fish snake. I am not sure me and a real snake could live under the same roof. The next picture is just Hayden being the silly kid he is.


P.S. I can't figure out how to rotate the picture, so sorry.

Howdy

My favorite thing to do when my mom is getting ready in the morning (this would be on the days she does actually get ready) is to play in her makeup drawer. It's pretty much my favorite thing to do in the bathroom, but mom says it's our little secret and daddy can't know about it (she promises this is the only secret it's ok to keep from daddy because he just wouldn't understand), I love to take the Q-tips and see how many I can fit in my ears. The record so far is 3 Q-tips in one ear. It's a really good thing my big brother Hayden has never seen me do this because he always tries to out-do me and I don't even want to think about how many Q-tips he could find places for. My mom says it used to take her an hour to get ready in the morning, I have no idea what she did for an hour, but that is way longer than the 10 minutes she takes now. She says life changes when you have kids and we keep her busy.

This other picture is of me with my newest owie. Last night I was playing around with our friends who joined us for Conference Dinner and I tripped and hit the end of the cocoa table. My mom and dad said I got blood all over our shirts, but I got to eat an Otter Pop out of the whole deal. I can't smile like I usually do and it feels funny to eat and my words are a little bit slurred, but mom says the swelling should be down in a few days. Nice lip huh.

This is a picture of me in the clothes basket. I love to be with my blue-blue and cup of milk anywhere I can fit. I especially like getting into closed and confined spaces. I think it makes me feel secure.

This is a picture of me and my big brother Hayden. We love to play hide-and-seek, even if we are obviously able to be seen out in the open. My mom really hopes we don't have to replace the blinds when we move in a few weeks, but they are looking pretty shaggy from me and my brother pulling on them.

Oh and my mom wanted to put a picture of the front of our house (hopefully), she didn't have one when she put the photos in the slideshow below.

Funny Moment

This morning the boys did something funny and I thought, I need to blog that. Usually I think I need to write it in their journal, but this is so much quicker. I need to start printing off pages from my blog to stick in their journals, I better get started with that.
Anyways, this morning the boys were playing on a chair in our bedroom. They were both standing on it and Hayden's shoulder bumped Carson's cheek bone, where he already has a bruise from Hayden and him playing yesterday, and Carson started to cry. Hayden apologized then suddenly flung his own face/cheek into the arm of the chair and started sort of crying- ow. Then they both looked at each other and started laughing. It was so cute, I thought it was especially cute of Hayden to want to hurt himself to help ease the pain of his little brother. They have been so sweet with each other the last few weeks.
This morning I went up to get Carson, and I could hear Hayden had picked the lock and gotten into Carson's room, which the whole purpose of locking Carson's door is to keep Hayden out, I guess it's not working too well. When I got upstairs, Carson was out of his crib and they were just playing on the floor with their toys. Hayden had apparently moved the toy bin over to Carson's crib and lifted him out of his bed. It makes me nervous to picture exactly how he got him out, but none the less there he was. Funny boys.

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We had a great Easter weekend. Jared's parents and sister, Janiece came down and stayed with us. We thoroughly enjoyed their company. We were able to go to the temple, the zoo and had lots of time to relax and play. We spent Easter Sunday at our home with Jared and my family. The boys had a fun time hunting for eggs and got a lot of fun treats from the grandma's. Oh yeah, we also bought a house in Temecula. If all goes as planned we will close on April 29. We are very excited and nervous about it, and the home needs work, but we are very excited, did I happen to mention we are excited???

Long Time Gone

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. LOTs has been going on with us the last few weeks. First of all, we put two offers in on homes. The anxiety from waiting to hear back from the banks pretty much put me out of commission. I needed a good week to recover from all the hoopla. We ended up not getting either one, which we feel good about, but from all the stress and everything, I got sick then the kids got sick. Carson is still getting over his yucky croupy cold. We went looking again this past Saturday and are putting in another offer today, so nerves are winding up again. From all the getting in and out of cars Saturday (we looked at 16 homes in 5 hours) I threw out my back and have been in a lot of pain. I threw out my back, same place and everything about 2 1/2 years ago and have stretches from my physical therapist and this time with starting to stretch immediately, I am seeing a huge difference already. So, hopefully it is not a 6 month recovery like it was last time. Other than that, we are excited to have Jared's parents and sister, Aunt Niece come to visit this Thursday through Monday. We are very excited for this.

I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I was put into Young Women's as a secretary and am really enjoying it so far. The YW Pres. said on top of the regular secretarial responsibilities, she would like for me to work with the girls on teaching them music. So, we are going to start working on a song for Girls Camp.

The reason for this entry though was because I came across an article on my hotmail about baby names that are outrageous and I wanted to put up some of these names parents name their little babies...

Harry Pitts
Penny Nickel
Fanny Large
Wanna Towell
Moon Unit
Moxie Crimefighter
Pilot Inspector
Audio Science
Envy Burger
Mary A. Belcher
Mary A. Fool
Ima Nutt
Ima Bumm
Ima Reck
Comma Vowells
Verb Ruff

Poor children!!!

Tagged

A. The rules of this game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the question about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog to get the directions.

Tagged by my cous Shelly

Questions:
10 yrs ago:I was 17, wow crazy to think about. I was a senior in High School living it up with my best of friends, Heidi, Holly, Becky, and Sara. I was in my own world and did everything just for me. Wow how times have changed 10 years later. Now I spend my spare time downing Excedrine Migraine or being beat up by a 4-year old.
5 Things on my list of things to do today: Well, how about for tomorrow since I am going to bed after writing this. Tomorrow, 5 items...work, take Hayden to school, run on the treadmill, figure out what to make for dinner, laundry, wow that is usually my day.
Things I would do if I was suddenly a Billionaire: Invest it in California municipal bonds (I have no idea what that means, but Jared just told me what we would invest it in), which would be about 30 million a year. I guess that would be enough to travel to Italy. I have wanted to go there a long time. I would buy a house on Balboa Island with our own yaught on the dock. But, that would just be our vacation home. I would purchase a home in Morgan Hills, Temecula (I totally want to live here), and I would hire a nanny and a house cleaner. I would also love to get a condo or home someplace where it snows so we could have a place to visit to ski and play in snow. I would love to give money to people in foreign country's, and you know how they say $20 in africa could change the life of a family/ individual. I would want to change as many lives as I could. I am going to start collecting donations from family and friends. So, if you would like to donate to the Johnson Family Billionaire fund, just see the paypal link at the bottom of the blog and we will see that your money goes to a worthy cause, hahaha.
3 of my bad habits: I am a picker. If I have a zit or something on my face, it becomes a scab and usually doesn't heal up for a while, bc I just keep picking it. Sometimes I am a couch mom, I sometimes find that I plant myself on the couch and mommy from there. This is usually when I am really tired, and I always feel really bad afterwards. I lay in bed in the morning as long as I possibly can most mornings. My kids are up way too early, Hayden usually comes bouncing down the stairs at 6 am.
Places I have lived: La Crescenta, CA, Fallbrook/ Bonsall, CA, Provo, UT, Rexburg, ID., Denton, TX.
Jobs I have had: Currently KIDZUI website editor, Pizza Hut delivery driver and Waitress/ CSR, Nordstrom Women's Shoes Cashier, Franklin Covey 7 Habits Profile Center, I can't remember what else at the moment.
Things most people don't know about me: I get stressed out/ anxiety frequently. I think about things way too much which exhausts me physically. I love watching LOST, and a new show called Just For Laughs. This show cracks me up. My bud Jen Nye just introduced me to a great comedian, Brian Regan that is clean and I love his DVD. If you ever need a good laugh, you have to get his DVD and a box of tissues. I love running, you can't really tell from looking at my legs, but running is about the only way I feel a great workout.

Okay, I am going to tag, Jenn, Lori, Jared, Jeremy, Katie

Yummy Quick Dinner Idea

This is a great recipe we had last night. I think Jared's food was gone by the time I finished dishing out the boys. It was yummy, quick, cheap and easy. The hardest part is remembering to prepare it in advance. Most of the ingredients are items you most likely have in the cupboard or fridge as well. So if you would like, give it a try. I found it last week on a crock pot recipe website. I love my crock pot lately. Here it is...

Crock Pot Chicken Stroganoff
4-5 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 (12 0z) container Sour Cream
1 can Cream of Mushroom
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

Place chicken in crock pot. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on Low for 4-6 hours or until chicken is tender -I cooked mine on high 3 hours and low the last hour. Then I turned off my crock pot and while it cooled down, the sauce thickened. I also shredded the chicken in the crock pot and let it sit about 15 min. Serve over cooked noodles (we used egg noodles) or rice. Yummy!!!

Hayden and Carson Meeting Snow

So, we enjoyed a fun day in the snow today. We had such a great time. Hayden and Carson have never before been in snow, and we were sick of just watching the view of the snow and decided to go and enjoy it hands on. On the way there, we passed snow along side the road and Hayden kept asking us to pull over so he could feel it. We assured him he would do enough feeling it throughout the day. Carson was not a fan, it didn't help he refused to put on his gloves. He didn't want to have much to do with it, especially after he and I face-planted on the sled. Hayden's favorite thing was making a snow man. We played tackle daddy and had a real Johnson "snow-ball fight." We had a great time. Here are some pics.

I took this picture after a recent storm we had last week. As I waited for the clouds to clear over the mountains to see if it had snowed I saw snow so low I thought it was just really low lying clouds. As the clouds cleared completely, the mountains were covered in snow. It was so beautiful. I felt for a few hours like I was back in Utah.

The rest of the pics are from our snow trip today...

This was after Carson and I fell on the sled -
We have lift off, thanks Hayden -

Crossing The Bar

I loved the song sung at President Hinckley's funeral, here are the lyrics that are so beautiful:

Crossing The Bar

Poem lyrics of Crossing The Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

Fun at the Zoo

So, yesterday Hayden didn't have any school and I desperately needed to get out of the house. We hadn't been to the zoo since right before I had Carson so I decided to take the boys down to San Diego for the day. We had so much fun. Hayden's favorite part was this reptile house. We went back there several times throughout the day. I think we will be taking a trip to the Library to get some books on Reptiles.
This next picture is so disgusting, but I had to post it. WARNING: If you are eating or have a weak stomach, move on.
We visited the monkeys, which of course are incredibly amusing. So, what you think is happening really is happening, only the monkey below ate what he pulled out of his friend.


My little Bugs...
These are some pictures of the kids at the petting zoo...

Family Date Night

Every few weeks we try to do something fun with the family on a Friday night, to make it a little bit more special than the other nights. On these nights, I am usually a lot more lenient on the 7 pm bedtime, and we all just relax and have fun. Well on this Family Date Night, we ran down to the Library and picked up Dumbo, which Hayden and Carson had never seen, and grabbed a Little Ceasar's $5 pizza, (which I think is just the best deal). Voila, that was our Family Date Night and we all had a great time eating pizza and watching Dumbo. My favorite part is still when Mrs. Jumbo gets put in the "crazy elephant" train car and Dumbo goes to visit her there, she rocks him in his trunk and that beautiful song, "Close your eyes" or whatever it is. That part always makes me cry. Anyway, we had fun.

Bumper Sticker

Jared pointed out this bumper sticker we saw the other night that made us just laugh, and I have been laughing ever since, sorry if any of you my dear friends are voting or are in favor of her...

"Monica Lewenski's x-boyfriends wife for President?"

I hope that was as funny to you as it was to us.

Women's Conference

We had our stake women's conference on Saturday and Mary Ellen Edmonds came to speak to us. I took a few notes that I wanted to share. The main topic of her talk was Happiness. I thought, if she can be happy, I have no reason not to be. She is I would guess in her 60's, never been married and has no kids, and she is so happy. She said that we have no reason to not be the happiest people on earth. Here are a few bullet-points of things she talked about...
- How can we each cultivate a Spirit of gladness?
- Something is wrong if we aren't having joy now.
- If we have to stand alone, we must do it.
- If we as women will be united, our strength will be uncalcuable.

Then a member of the stake presidency spoke to us and I loved this analogy he made. He talked about Peter, when he got out of the boat and was trying to go ashore to be beside the Savior, his eyes were looking down at his feet and his focus was not the Savior, he wasn't at first successful on his way to the Savior and he was falling. When children learn to walk they lock eyes with you or whom ever they are walking towards, and they put one foot in front of the other, focused on their target. We need to keep our gaze on the Savior, so we don't sink and fall.

Gratitude

Wow, so I have been thinking a ton lately about all that I am blessed with. Do you ever feel like as a mom that some days you are just trapped. Don't get me wrong, motherhood is like the most amazing and rewarding experience of my life, but some days I just feel trapped, like the world around me doesn't exist and that I am going to lose it. I have also thought about how much I love reading my friends blogs because it makes me feel I am not the only one going through these life experiences. I think blogging was an inspired concept, it is my group therapy...really. You spill your guts out and friends read and comment, giving encouragement, then you can read your friends ups and downs and it makes you feel they are real just like you.
This week I have been noticing the beauty that is around me. It has been raining here this last week. I love the rain, in moderation, I love the rain. I need the sun, but rain is so nice and refreshing. I feel so thankful to live in such a beautiful place. Out of some of the windows in our home, we have a view of the local snow capped mountains and out of Hayden's upstairs window (three stories high) we can just about see the ocean. If one of the hills wasn't in the way, we would have an ocean view. Too often I get caught up (especially lately) in thinking about all the things I want, mainly a house. For some people their trial is that they suffer from depression, maybe they have a hard time getting pregnant, for me my trial right now is that we still haven't been able to purchase our own home and it is killing me. Amongst this and struggling with Hayden's hopefully age-related horrible behavior, by the way, I was told at 4 it gets easier. I was totally expecting the day he turned four, two weeks ago, to be a changing day for us. Then the other day someone said it changes when they are five, ahhh. In the meantime hopefully one of the three books I purchased off Amazon in a desperate search for some answers will help me. I hope they get here quickly. So, as I have been thinking about all of this lately, I have really been looking for answers and help, peace. My prayers lately have consisted of nothing but asking for things. Instead of reading my scriptures the other day I picked up my patriarchal blessing and read through that. In it it tells me to "take frequent opportunities to pour out your heart to your Father in Heaven for all the things you are blessed with, good health, living in a favored land...then as you do this Heavenly Father will bless you with things even without your asking." So, I have turned my focus instead to that of gratitude and I am amazed that such a simple thing has made all the difference. It is so easy sometimes to get caught up in selfishness, and I am guilty of that more than I realize. But today and hopefully from here on out, I am grateful.

I have been tagged, thanks cousin Nicki

Alright, so my cous Nicki tagged me I don't want to be a party pooper (here I go potty talking, it's a good thing Hayden can't read yet or he would probably give me a time out, J/K), so apparently I have to write 10 quirky, weird, random things, facts, habits about myself. So, I am sucking down my pride, hold on, big gulp, and here we go.

1) I have a huge dream of composing a song, words and music. The whole shebang. I have wanted to do this for a very long time, and one of these days I will.
2) Two different times in my life I have trained for a marathon, but both times I had to stop running at about 8 miles due to either my knee or my back going out on me. Running a marathon is still a huge goal for me. Right now I run about 10 miles a week with my running buddies.
3) I have always wanted to learn to clog, ever since I went to Ireland my senior year. I was fascinated with the way they danced. I am waiting until I lose some more flab though because who wants to see a clogger with flab bouncing around? Not me, so I have a little more work to do before working on this one.
4) For about a year, I have been working memorizing The Familiy Proclamation. I have been stuck on the 4th paragraph for about that long, a year. After I memorize this, I want to work on memorizing my patriarchal blessing.
5) This next item would fall under weird, if you haven't already thought some of the above things are weird enough, I am obsessive about keeping lists, files and so forth. I keep an on-going list of what I want my dream house to look like (clipping photos from wherever any time I see something I like), I keep a file with kids games, activities, FHE Lessons, health or church articles, Quotes, websites, cute invitations I receive and on and on. You name it and I probably have a file for it in the file cabinet.
6) Maybe some of you already knew this about me, but I am way cheap. If it is not on sale, I usually won't buy it. This is especially true when it comes to clothing. I NEVER look at regular priced items. Clearance racks are always the place you will find me in a clothing store, target, Wal-Mart- anywhere there is a clearance rack, there will you find me also.
7) Something way quirky about me is my left eye brow. Ever since I started paying attention to my eyebrows, my left eye brow is never tame. The hair at the beginning of my brow fans out and drives me nuts. If I pluck it back to where I get rid of the fanning hair, my eye brows look even more funky because it makes it short. Hayden has this same quirk.
8) Speaking of hair, this one may be too personal but here it goes, for years I have noticed two black hairs that grow side by side on my right forearm. I have to pluck these every few weeks. And even worse, a few months ago I noticed black hairs popping up on my face that I have had to start plucking. Please if you ever notice a black hair on my chin or around my lips, tell me people. I was so embarrassed when I noticed these and wondered how long they had been there. I have tried to tame the black hairs now that I know they are there. I think I am producing too much testosterone, The boys hormones are rubbing off on me in ways I never imagined. A few times I have been tempted to grab the razor in the shower and just shave, but I am pretty sure that would make the situation way out of control.
9) I love hot cocoa. I have a cup of it just about every night. I put the kids in bed, come downstairs and boil my water and sit at the computer. In fact I am waiting for it to boil as I type. So far Stephen's is my very favorite. Hot cocoa makes me feel happy and so warm inside. Mmmm. I totally use food to comfort me, hence my un-forgivable thighs.
10) For the last one, I have a dream of becoming a franchise owner of either a Cafe Rio or In-N-Out, even though I think both are still corporate owned, I still have a dream of running a restaurant or having a coin-op Car Wash Bay, or running a children's singing/music studio.
11) OK, so I am going to add two more, I am terrified of flying. That is probably my greatest fear, even before 9/11, I hated it- but since 9/11 I hate it so much more.
12) I am a terrible house cleaner. It is usually not first on my list of things to do, especially since I started working and blogging. I spend a lot of time on the computer- mainly for my job.
13) Lastly, I know I said only two more, I lied. This last one is a confession- what the heck does i.e. stand for??? Can someone help me out with that one because I use it, but I don't totally know what it stands for, in essence???
14) Last one I promise, blue is my favorite color since it makes me think of the three "men" in my life.

Ecco

If you have children, and your children speak, then I am sure you have heard similar things to the story I am about to relate to you. The other night it was time to get for bed, the kids were in the bath so I decided to run up before they were done (don't freak out, they weren't left in the tub alone, Jared was in there with them), and grab their jammies. Well, I came down, the kids got out of the bath and dried off (Hayden streaked through the house like a mad man, his after bath/being naked ritual) then the jammie routine began. As soon as he saw the jammies I had picked out for him, he said "mom, I can't wear those jammies, they make me too sweatie." Well, he is his own heater, even if it has been in the thirties at night lately, I believe him when he says he isn't cold, so I said he could run upstairs and grab another pair of jammies, but to take up the ones I had brought down and to please put them away. His response to my request, "mom, you got those jammies out and it is your responsibility to put them away." Jared and I just started laughing while Hayden tried to do all he could to not laugh himself. I took his hand and we went upstairs together and found a different pair of jammies.
I hear myself in the things he says way too much though, silly kid.

Lesson Learned...

Oft times I am humbled by the wisdom and innocence of my little Hayden. Tonight was one of those times. We were in his room getting him ready for bed and he had a sword he got from SeaWorld today (Grammy and Papa took him for his birthday, I think this is the final last hooray- although he has already started asking when his next birthday is). I told him he could only keep the sword in his room as long as it stayed on his floor and he didn't get out of bed to play with it, he is funny about being able to see where some of his favorite toys are, even if he can't play with them he just wants to know they are there. He thought for a moment then asked, "well how will you know if I get out of my bed?" My response was quick and I was thinking about relaxing on the couch for a few minutes, having the house to myself, so I said "because mommy knows everything, please get into bed." He thought for only a moment then said, "mommy, if you know everything isn't that being prideful?" I was immediately humbled and told him I was sorry and explained to him how I could hear his feet from downstairs when he gets out of bed. He was more satisfied with that answer, as was I.
I was walking through the mall with Carson today when I happened to read the height limit for the children's play area, which is 42'' in the mall. Yesterday Hayden had his 4 year physical and the nurse told us he is 41 1/2''. I never thought the time would come so soon when my little boy is too big for the kid play area. It made me sad to think about how quickly he is growing up. Then I reflect on the poem I put up earlier today about how babies don't keep, and to put everything else aside to enjoy this time with my kids while they are young. They are so precious.

Love This...

" Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
For babies grow up, I've learned, to my sorrow.
So Quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."
- Author Unknown

Check out my Slide Show!

Happy Birthday Hayden

Wow, we have had a crazy last few weeks. Our Christmas was so great, I can't believe I haven't written since then, but we had a great time at home with the kids. We spent the day at my parents and played with toys all day long. We all got the stomach flu right after Christmas and Jared ended up taking the whole week off due to being sick, so it was actually kind of nice. Hayden started school again last week, hallelujah. We were so excited for that to start again and to get back into our routine. We celebrated Hayden's 4th birthday last week. He had several celebrations. The first was a party at our house about a week ago with some friends. He has been talking about having a party with a pinata for months, so I decided this year I couldn't just get away as I always have with just doing something with the family. So, he insisted on having a Spiderman party and we had a great time. After the party, I can't tell you how many times he came up and hugged my leg and said "thanks so much for my spiderman party." It was very fun for him. His actual birthday was about 5 days after his party, and he was very confused about us celebrating his birthday again. He kept saying, but I already turned four. On his birthday he also kept telling everyone he had gotten taller when he woke up that morning. I think he was expecting a literal change in his size. He went to school and shared cupcakes with all his friends and insisted on Ramen for dinner, I could manage with that. To top it all off, my grandparents were visiting this week from Texas, straying in Newport Beach. So, we saw them several times and had a great time with them. So, off to start a new week.