Some December Fun

Each December we sit down and make a list of all the fun things we want to do that month together as a family.

We always start with the decorating. We go get our tree the first Saturday in December and then the festivities begin.

Here is Brynna with the Christmas countdown. This year they got a piece of candy each day from the Countdown to Christmas elf. Brynna was very excited, but also a bit confused when the elf would miss a day or come at different times in the day. I told her he must be a new elf, still in training :)

We made gingerbread houses for FHE with friends and afterwards all piled in one car to see the Festival of Lights at the Spanish Fork Golf Course.

Here are the houses.

Joshua and Brynna proudly posing with their works of art.

Here is Jonah's reaction to the first little snowfall. That face expresses it correctly. He was stunned. It was difficult to get a picture because he was too busy checking it out and yelling, Oh!

This year for the first time ever in our lives we put up Christmas lights. I was stunned when Don told me he ordered some lights, but it was fun to have them.

And yes I say "We" hung the lights because I cheered him on and even held the ladder when he was at the very highest point of the house. I didn't know what I would do to help him if he started to fall, but I guess I can call 911, fortunately he did a wonderful job without any mishaps.

Fun things we did that I didn't get any pictures of include baking Christmas bread for friends and neighbors, this year I baked 24 loaves. Sorry if you missed yours, the family rule is you must be home to receive it, if not, better luck next year. We celebrated Jonah's 2nd birthday, had a candlelight dinner and Christmas lesson, visited Santa with all the Snyder cousins, and various other parties. It was a fun December. The only thing on the list we didn't get to were the lights at Temple Square (the weather didn't cooperate with that plan very well) maybe next year.

Thanksgiving

I am playing catch-up. I know it is after Christmas and I am just posting Thanksgiving, but sometimes life happens and blogging just doesn't.

Here is our lovely chef with some of the delicious dishes. We ate at my mom's house where she did most of the cooking.


Cute baby Nico (Nate's son) and Jonah.


Yes, I took a picture of my Thanksgiving feast. I mostly wanted to see my cute place card made by Brynna. She made one for almost everyone. Mine had hearts around my name. I was a little concerned when I saw Maleah's place card. Brynna put "It is all about me!" multiple times on Maleah's. I was thinking that we had some serious sibling issues that we might need to talk about until I asked Brynna why she put that on Maleah's. Brynna said, "That is what it says on her jacket." Sure enough Maleah has a sweatshirt that says that on it. (It was not a purchase of mine, but given to her by a friend) It is always interesting what you learn just by asking your kids, instead of jumping to conclusions. I've learned my lesson...again.


There she is. She took the job of making place cards very seriously and she was so proud.


Josh, Jonah and Garrett ready to eat.

Dan and Chris got put at the kid table, just Big kids.

It was a great day and since this year it was my birthday also I didn't have to cook or do dishes and my mom watched the kids so that we could go and see a movie after dinner. Plus I got lots of yummy pie, (thanks Heathe) which is better than birthday cake any day!

Family Pictures

So, I finally did it. This has been on my to do list so long that I actually had to change our outfits a couple of times, well since the season changed. It is so painful trying to get six people all dressed decently with haircuts and without any permanent marker anywhere noticeable or facial lacerations, but we did it and just in time.

Here are a few of the fun pictures we got.

Our pictures were taken by our friend Jodi Christensen Gallagher. (memoriesbyjodi.blogspot.com) She did such a great job! It was well worth all the stress and strain to get our family ready for pictures. Thanks Jodi for all your patience and hard work! Now if only the kids would stop growing then we wouldn't have to go through all this again next year.

Girl's Retreat 2008

I can't seem to keep up with anything these days, but I didn't want to let the pictures and fun we had this year at our retreat be forgotten. Every fall my girlfriends from highschool plan an overnight trip. This year we just went to Park City, ate, shopped, talked until the wee hours of the morning, slept a little and did it all again the next day. All the girls were able to make it this year, except Calee, she couldn't make the trip from New Mexico. We missed her.


Kelli, Natilee, Allyson (came all the way from Iowa), Diana (California), Lynette, Me.
Suzy, Jennifer, Dixie, and Melanie (Wyoming)


Here we are getting our picture taken with our cameras. I always try to get some pictures, but usually only get one or two and have to get the rest from my other more faithful picture taking friends.

I included this picture because my husband was so confused as to what we were doing in all these pictures. We are talking. What else would we be doing? I think it finally clicked for him that we spend most of the weekend just sitting around talking. I don't think he is any less confused, but now he knows.
It was lots of fun, as usual and a much needed break, so until next year....

Happy Birthday, on October 31st!

Since Don's birthday is on Halloween, yes I know what you are all thinking, "hmmm, that explains a lot." I have heard it all before. But really he doesn't get the attention he deserves. This year on top of all the Halloween festivities I made him dress up as Dracula. He resisted at first, but then he really got into it. He wouldn't talk to me because he couldn't hold his teeth in and talk at the same time. I promise pictures will eventually come, hopefully by Christmas. I did get him a pie, put Happy Birthday candles in it and sing to him at a neighborhood Halloween party. Anyhow, the point of this post is to wish him a Happy Birthday! He is such a good sport! He is a sweet husband and father. He has kindly given his birthday to the children for the last 10 years, maybe one day he will get to celebrate on his birthday. He is good at giving everyone a hard time, but he has such a big heart and will do anything to help anyone. I was laughing that one of my friend's recently got him to go get her car for her in the rain. He is always willing to help. If I were a really good wife I would list 43 things I love about him, but if he wanted me to do that much writing he should have come on a day other than Halloween because I'm still recovering.
Happy Birthday anyway, Sweetie! We love you!

Halloween Hangover

Am I the only one who has this day after Halloween experience? This year it was so much fun that I had to take pictures. It seems everywhere I turned there was a bucket of candy. Close by is usually a kid that has sticky drool running down their chin. When I got up this morning I kept stepping in something sticky. I demanded that all the kids put up their candy so that Jonah couldn't get anymore stuck to the floor. After they all put it up and he still came in with more candy I finally figured out he had his own bucket that he was getting in to. Uuuggghhh!


This is Jonah after I put up his bucket of candy. Yes, he is throwing a tantrum because he can't get to it.


And as if all the candy everywhere isn't enough we seem to have pieces of everyone's costumes strewn about. Here is Brynna posing with the mess. Yes, she slept in her costume, but she did get her teeth brushed before bed even if she never got around to pj's. This is totally Brynna!

I hope everyone recovers from their day after Halloween and if your day is just smooth sailing with no stepping in sticky or tantrums, please don't tell me....lie!

Halloween Fun

The kids were invited to a Rockstar Halloween Party this year. The girls posed for pictures, but Joshua protested and ran off before I could get one. Aren't they cute! Brynna loves her blue hair and has been looking for an excuse to use it. This was the perfect opportunity.


On Halloween day I got to go to school to help with Josh's class. His class got to frost cookies and watch the Sound of Music. I am not sure what the Sound of Music has to do with Halloween, but he has a really good teacher that doesn't want to do anything non-educational so since they have been reading a book that references the Sound of Music they got to watch that.
After the parties the kids had a costume parade.
I somehow ended up with a picture of Brynna and Josh, but none of Maleah. For Maleah just picture the same costume on a taller body with a bob hairdo. Maleah really looked super cute in this costume as did Brynna.

Joshua just went with the all black costume this year. He says he is organization 13. It is a guy on the Kingdom Hearts video game.

Here is our sweet baby vampire. He wasn't sure what was going on and in the middle of the parade he completely lost it and had to be rushed home for his nap.

Luckily he got the rest he needed and was back out for trick-or-treating. After trick-or-treating we went to a friend's house for food and fun. Don was dracula and I was a witch. We got a family picture taken of everyone in their costumes, but you'll have to wait for me to get those back. I will post them and soon as I have them! We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

For Family Night we got together with friends to carve pumpkins. We had a lot of carving to do and a limited amount of daylight so we had to get right to work.

Don doesn't like to carve pumpkins, but he sure worked hard anyway. What a good daddy!

Maleah chose a simple pumpkin face because she wanted to get done quickly so she could go play.

Here we all are hard at work.

Luckily my friend Sheri took over picture taking so we got a couple pictures of me. Brynna talked me into a cute pumpkin pattern with a mouth that said, "BOO!" See how happy Brynna is.

Joshua hard at work on the skull pumpkin pattern he picked.

After getting the pumpkins carved we had a delicious dinner of chili, ham chowder, and corn muffins. We then roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Fall is the perfect time for roasting marshmallows. It was lots of fun. Thanks to everyone for their hard work so we could have a fun family night.

Fall Break, aaaaahhhh!

Notice I said, aaaahhh! That is the same aaaahhhh as when you sink into a warm bubble bath, not the screaming aaaahhhh like when you want to tear out your own hair or rip off your own arm and beat yourself with it. Yes, this fall break was like sinking into a warm bubble bath and not the kind where small children run in screaming, taking off their clothes and begging to get in with you either. It was a pleasant surprise to have such a fun and enjoyable fall break. I have a few people to thank for making it all possible. But first I will start with the events of the weekend. We did start the weekend with a little bit of fighting to get our chores done so we could go to the pumpkin patch, but chores wouldn't be chores without a little bit of resistance.

Heather and I took our kids to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin. Here is Jonah looking out at the fields and the hay wagon that we ride in to get to the pumpkin patch.


Josh, Garrett, Brynna, Hunter,Maleah, and Jonah all ready for their ride to pick out the perfect pumpkin. This was Jonah's first year to really get in on the fun. Note: I was not responsible for Josh's "faux" hawk or Brynna's gypsy attire. Those two definitely have fashion ideas of their own.


All of my kids happily posing with their pumpkins. This is possibly the longest amount of time Jonah held his pumpkin. He kept throwing it and saying "ball". Fortunately I was smart enough to get a very hard pumpkin. He has yet to break it even though he has thrown it many times. You might notice Brynna's legs are a little awkward because Brynna had her pose all set when Maleah sat down. Brynna was not changing her position for anyone.


This is how the pose was supposed to look, aaahhh Brynna.

After getting treats in the Red barn boutique and sending the girls to the cabin with Grammie and Grandfather the relaxing part of my weekend began. I was left with only two children and although the youngest is definitely the hardest he does nap and his older brother can do a limited amount of babysitting. I got to go to the scrapbook store and get a haircut.


On Friday the scrapbook weekend began,

many thanks to my good friend Brianna for inviting me. We scrapbooked, did a little shopping, went to dinner, scrapbooked some more, slept a little, went to the scrapbook store, and finished up with more scrapbooking. It was lots of fun and all I can say is, aaaahhhh. Thanks, I really needed that. Brianna is such a good little hostess, she gets everything all clean and ready for everyone to come. She even makes a big breakfast in the morning, which I am sorry to say I missed because of my getting out of bed issues, but she still saved me a plate. So, thanks Bri!

Special thanks also to my mom and dad for taking the girls, Josh for babysitting without much complaint and Don for always being so supportive of my girl time. He even brought me a dc while I scrapbooked.

OK, OK, I'm it!

I guess I have put this off long enough. I have been tagged twice now and the natives (my sister and cousins) are getting restless so I guess I can procrastinate no longer.

The first tag is from my favorite sister, Heather. Now that I look at her blog she tagged me a month ago, wow, time sure flies when you are having fun.

Now for the quirks...

1. I love to-do lists. I have to make one every night before bed. Every to-do list is dated and the first thing on my list is always Get up. I am afraid if I don't plan on it I won't do it, plus just by getting out of bed I get to cross something off my list. And if I do something that is not on the list I will write it down, just so I can cross it off.

2. When I eat I can only eat so much because I have a full lever. We call it the full shivers. Once I am full I can not eat or smell any food or I start to gag and shudder. Don thinks it is great fun to put food in my face and watch me gag. I recently found out that my brother, Spencer also gets the full shivers.

3. When I put on my deodorant I have to have the same number of strokes under each arm. I count and usually as high as 15-20 strokes.

4. I love salt. I put salt on everything. I salt my ketchup instead of my fries because it sticks better to the ketchup than the fries.

5. I have two cordless phones that are exactly the same, but one has a scratch on it. The scratched one has to go on the base in my bedroom and the other one in the kitchen. And I WILL go to the effort of switching them if I find the scratched one in the kitchen. This is a little OCD, I know.

6. I hate blogging. Don't get me wrong, I love reading others blogs, but the idea of others reading mine completely weirds me out, not just others I don't know either. Which is why I have invited very few people to read mine. I am trying to get more comfortable with the whole thing, but while I am writing this I am cringing about posting it.

And for a bonus quirk, I frequently say my prayers in the shower or while drying my hair. It is the only time when everyone will leave alone, but if I have my choice I prefer to pray in the pilates position, "a little piece of heaven".


Phew... Now for my second tag, thanks Kristin

8 things I did today...

1. Got up and resisted the urge to go back to bed.
2. Exercised.
3. Made phone calls for work.
4. Helped arrange childcare and meals for a sister in my ward who fell and hurt her back. More phone calls.
5. Took a friend to the store and went to get a dc.
6. Made the agenda and attended primary presidency meeting.
7. Picked up a neighbors kid from school and ran to another school to give a poor little girl with chapped lips some chapstick.
8. Blogged while helping kids do homework, get snacks and get along. (Oh I wish I would have finished while they were at school.)

8 Shows I Love...
1. Lost
2. Heroes
3. Medium
4. Survivor
And mostly a bunch of reruns...
5. Scrubs
6. King of Queens
7. Still Standing
8. Yes, Dear

8 Restaurants I Love...
1. Pizza Factory
2. Outback
3. PF Changs
4. Art City Trolley
5. Los Hermanos
6. Chick Fil A
7. Olive Garden
8. Training Table

8 Things I am Looking forward to...

1. My next dc (diet coke)

2. My husband coming home from golfing.

3. I am with my sister on this one...Spring!
4. Sleep, always!
5. Scrapbooking...this weekend
6. Girls Retreat...Oct. 24th & 25th
7. A haircut and a pedicure...I am due for both.
8. My basement being finished.

8 Things I am wishing for...
1. A decorated home.
2. More time to scrapbook.
3. A fence on the other half of my yard.
4. Financial Freedom
5. A scrapbook room, completely stocked and organized.
6. A chef that will feed me and my family delicious, healthy well balanced meals.
7. A new car, that is not a gas guzzler, is not a minivan and still fits all my kids and their stuff. (Let me know if you have any suggestions.)
8. A good presidential candidate, but while I'm wishing maybe I will just wish for the Savior to return so he can rule and rein.

And I almost forgot, since I don't let enough people read my blog to possibly tag 6 or 8 people I will just do one for each. I want to hear my sister-in-law Kristy's 6 quirks and my friend and neighbor Lindsey's 8 things.

My Grandpa Zobrist

My Grandpa Zobrist passed away early yesterday morning. He was 88 years old. Grandpa lived a good, full life and will be missed by many. He has 6 children, 34 grandchildren, over 100 great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. A couple of my cousins, Larae and Melanie have written some beautiful tributes to Grandpa. They are older, wiser, and have a better memory than I do.
To me Grandpa was just who he was, no excuses. Sometimes when you went to visit you had to wait for him to get his pants on. Often times he didn't have a shirt on. I was so glad to find I had a picture of him with his shirt on, but I do remember him putting it on right before we took pictures. He was often watching T.V. in the other room when we were there and just when you thought he wasn't listening he would hollar in some comment from the other room. He always said things just how they were. I loved riding in style in the back of the Lincoln Towncar and listening to a few of the choice words he had for other drivers. He cracked me up! I also loved being in the temple with him because you never saw a sweeter guy than Grandpa in the temple. One other random thing I loved about Grandpa is how much he loved T.V. and how he recorded cartoons and mailed them to us. I will sure miss visiting him in Las Vegas and having him tell me good-bye before I'm quite ready to leave. Good-bye to you for now Grandpa! I look forward to the time when we will all be together again.

Family Night - Temple Marriage

We had our annual anniversary family night. Every year the Monday closest to our anniversary we have a family home evening lesson about temple marriage. I put on my wedding dress and talk to the kids about being an eternal family. We watch our wedding video and the kids love to see Mom & Dad smash each other with the cake. This year the girls found some old dresses of mine and put them on so they could be the bridesmaids. The girls love this! They each have to have a turn wearing the wedding dress also. Joshua isn't as into this as the girls are. We had a nice talk about marriage, the right time and place to get married. Joshua just sits there and grins when we talk about it. He is finally admitting he likes girls, but Maleah...well... she is not quite ready for the whole idea. She stated that she was making a note to herself about marriage and the answer is NO, she is not doing that! We shall see! We finished up our family night with cake of course. It is a fun tradition and only a little embarrassing when someone shows up at the house and your husband invites them in. I am truly thankful for my sweet husband, that we were married in the temple, and for the knowledge that I have that we can be together forever.

Happy 12th Anniversary to Us!

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson on our happy day, completely oblivious to all that lay ahead.

Our 12th anniversary day began when I was awoken by a little girl saying, "Mommy, I puked." In a bit of a daze I asked, "Where?" To which she replied, "Upstairs, on the carpet." Which wasn't exactly accurate since it was down the side of the bed, on the books, toys, carpet, door handle, and bathroom floor. At this moment I knew our day would not go as planned and I really regretted not leaving town. Then I stumbled back to bed and remembered one of the many reasons I chose to have kids with Don Johnson. Don cleans up puke! Don has watched me dry heave on multiple occasions anywhere near puke. He usually orders me from the room. So, my amazing, sweet, fantastic husband cleaned up all the puke. He truly is the best! So, our 12th anniversary didn't end up being all that fun, but all the days in between have been great! The Lord managed to lead me to the one man on earth that through all the craziness of life, kids, bills, and puke I still Like and I mean really Like. He is still my favorite person to be with, who knew? I give God all the credit because he is the only one who could have known.

Happy Anniversary, honey!

DigiScrapping

I have been working on learning how to scrapbook, digitally. Slowly but surely I am figuring things out. Here is a layout I just completed from last Halloween. Many thanks to Ryan Lemon for taking these cute pictures and editing them so that I didn't look completely bad...

Our Little Rockstar

This is the view I saw when I looked out my kitchen window. Jonah is such a little climber. He was able to climb on my desk before he could even take a single step. Because of all the climbing he can get himself into a bit of trouble. He likes to climb on the air conditioner, but I have never seen him do it while it is going. He thought it was so funny that I had to take a picture before pulling him off, telling him no, and taking him in the house. His fun in the backyard was definitely done for the day. I had no idea when I became a mother that I would spend so much time trying to keep the kids from getting killed or injured. It is definitely a full time job!

Don's New Mode of Transportation

I almost forgot to post this. I think because I am not sure what to say about it. So I'll just say this Don has lots of experience riding motorcycles, although none since we met. He rode his motorcycle from Ohio to California. He always wears a helmet and I have good life insurance.

So say an extra prayer for Don, just know I will be. Then when winter hits I can rest easy, he will be back to driving his car, while eating, texting, talking on the phone, and checking his laptop. (Maybe he IS right about him being safer on a motorcycle.) All safety concerns aside, he loves it, my bank account loves it, and the kids love it!

First Day of School

Despite all the complaining, mostly from Joshua. They were all up bright and early, getting their hair done and making sure that their outfit was just right.Joshua was a little nervous. He had not met his new teacher and the girls saw her and told him she was scary. Don Johnson and I looked in on him about 5 minutes after class started and the whole class was working, not a smile in the room. I asked for a teacher with good classroom control and I think I got it.

Brynna and Maleah were so excited they couldn't stand it. Brynna got a teacher that asked for her to be in her class, apparently there were a few who wanted her. Brynna was so excited to go all day and eat school lunch. Maleah got the cute, young, fun teacher that she wanted. She came home and told me, "I love my teacher! I just want to stay at school!" I hope that feeling lasts.
Jonah is now at home all by himself with Mommy. He is a little lonely and so happy when they all come home.