Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I know we did. We spent eve at my parents house eating massive goodies and dinner. We read the Christmas story, wrote down some acts of service we will do this year, and opened gifts. We awoke early to see if Santa really came, and of course he did. We hung out all day, then went to the Johnson's for some food and rock band. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Have you ever been somewhere (someone else's house) and realized how incredibly grateful you are for your own? Last night I had the opportunity to go visit a couple little children. As I walked up to one of the homes, there was a strong odor of different things. As I walked in the door, I saw food and garbage all over the floor. I have never seen anything like it besides on tv. I can't describe to you the sadness I felt for these poor children living there. I wanted to just take them home with me. I know everyone has different circumstances, and I don't have the perfectly clean house of Martha Stewart. However, leaving that house, I was so incredibly grateful for the home I have. I am grateful, that I have a warm house, with lights, and running water. Sure, I need to vacuum more than once a day, and I should dust more often. I may have a "little old house", but I love it. I love that I can take care of my family here. There are days that I just wish so bad for a garage, for a bigger kitchen (even though this one is cute),
for a bed on the floor,
(this bed is for real, you need a ladder to get on)
a bigger bathroom, or maybe 2 bathrooms. After last night,however, I hope I never have those feelings again. I am so lucky to have what I do.

Believer

KJ is 9 years old

couple weeks ago...this is pretty much exactly word for word.

KJ-mom i really want this robot for christmas

me-uh, do you really think that you would play with a robot that is controlled by the computer? for real dude, it's 269 bucks.

kj-don't worry mom (pats me on the arm) i am going to ask santa for it.

me-oh, ok. but wouldn't you like something you would actually use more than a month?

kj-yeah, maybe i will ask him for shoulder pads since i think those are more anyway.

me-chuckle chuckle, ok. sounds good to me

kj-don't you think it's cool when you go to the store and all the toys and things are in boxes, then when santa brings them for christmas they are in the same kind of package as the store? it's like the elves know exactly what it looks like!

me-i know, it's pretty cool hu.

kj-can you ask for anything like 100 bucks or a house?

me-no, it needs to be a toy they can make.

kj-oh, ok. i want football pads.

me-k

--------------------------

last week

kj-mom the tooth fairy didn't come last night!

me-oh no, it must have been too windy for her

kj-mom, it wasn't windy last night. oh, but maybe it's cause i put the tooth in a bag with a knot in it and she couldn't get it open. we'll have to put it in a ziplock.

me-yeah, you are probably right. we'll do that tonight.

boys

my boys:)

i am loved-however wish i wasn't by this one

i made a smart move almost 8 years ago to go to work for Dr. Brenden R. White. we opened a new office and have grown the practice to almost 1 million a year in gross revenue. we started with just the 2 of us, now there are 6 and 1 other doctor too! last year when i had sam he let me take my work home and work whenever it's convenient for me. i get to log on at midnight and do my billing, or i can get on at noon. it is so awesome. i have the best boss ever and couldn't be more lucky. this is possible for we have such awesome people working there now that i am truly not needed. this fantastic coworker sends my things every few days so i don't have to drive up and get it. the whole reason for this post is.....





no those aren't lips from mandy, those are lips from the postal worker next door to our office. you see, i used to take the mail over every day. of course we would small talk and such. but don't you think this is a bit much? i wish i could go on about how much this totally grosses me out, but i don't feel right explaining exactly why since you never know who is reading this.... anyhow, i just wanted everyone to know that i get packages every few days that look like the above. too bad it isn't from a keith urban or shad would have a run for his money

yadda yadda

wish i had more pictures, but i got a new camera/dvd from the in laws and i am still trying to figure out how to download and bla bla bla.

have you ever realized what your parents were going through when you went on dates? so last night my brother called asking if i had heard from my parents, i told him no, but i tried to call them earlier and they didn't answer. he told me that he and his family had been waiting at our parents house for 2 hours and they weren't there. he said both of their phones were sitting on the counter, along with mom's purse, and there was a stew on the oven that was boiling. now, it wouldn't be unusual for their phones to be there, but mom's purse, and especially the stew? i began to panic. i told shad and bless his heart, he asked if i wanted to drive down there (he asked from the bathroom-where he lived all day yesterday). i decided no, they are big, they probably went for a drive and lost track of time. however the stove kept bugging me. i literally felt sick. my chest was hurting with panic that they went for a short ride and went into a ravine, were kidnapped, or hurt somewhere. i was about ready to start calling hospitals to see if they were there, but then thought mom's purse is in the house, their phones are in the house, how will anyone know who to contact. then i realized that our home phone wasn't charged enough and if they were trying to call us by looking in the phone book for our number, i wouldn't get the call. after about a half hour of total freak out (but not in front of kj-otherwise he would freak out) i called my brother to see if they were back yet, and sure enough they were. they went for a drive, she thought she turned the stove off, but really she just put a lid on the pot. lol. moral to the story, i now know what it will feel like when my kids go out, and i haven't heard from them and they are late. don't do that again.

sam is cutting 4 teeth right now. he is such a trooper. i have tried to take a few pictures of them poking out, but he doesn't really want to cooperate with me. you can see the little points all over in there. it's pretty funny.

thanksgiving was awesome. i haven't had thanksgiving with my family since shad and i started dating, actually before that, but not sure if it was just once before that or what. we have been married 10 years, so that is 11 thanksgivings. i always thought it felt weird having thanksgiving somewhere else, but i realized that it was weird having it somewhere else this year. oh, don't get me wrong, being together with my parents was fantastic, but i realized that just because you aren't with your "blood" family, doesn't make the day any different. i ate way too much, hung out with my family, relaxed, played with the kids, and had an all around fantastic time. i'm thinking next year i will have to do both families. i missed the johnson's, but don't want to miss the wall family thanksgiving either. oh life is so rough.

i am so thankful for my family, for a house that is warm (may be small-but it's warm), i am so happy that i get to work from home so i can be here while sam is cutting more teeth. i love picking up kj from school everyday, and i love that my parents are living here in utah. life is really, really good.

Welcome to the family Grady Myers Wall!

i am a proud aunt again! this is now my 6th nephew on the wall side (i have 2 nieces on this side as well). i am so excited for Matt and Erica. Congrats! Love you and wish i could be there right now.

stevesongs

ok,i don't know what my problem is, but i love stevesongs. steve is on pbs every morning. he sings in between shows such as sid the science kid, curious george, and sam's favorite, super why. i don't know why, but every time he comes on i get totally distracted and have to watch. anyway, i decided to do a little research on stevesongs via pbs.org, and i see he has released a cd/dvd. do i buy it? do i not? i really want to, but i am afraid that all i will want to do is watch steve songs. i am worried that my stevesong happiness during the day will turn into stevesong dreams at night.

Happy Birthday Shad!

Happy Birthday Shad! It's not like he is going to see this, but had to put it up anyway. We love ya!

halloween

cousin addie

long time no write

everyday i say to myself i am going to update this, and everyday i end up thinking, oh tomorrow. it's not like not much has happened, i just don't know where to start. kelton finished flag football with flying colors, sam got his 1 year pictures done, he officially says ball, he took his first steps, and is now teething once again.
since i have no idea what to put into words right now, here are some pictures. since those are what you are looking for anyway, right?



fishing with dad and kevin



eating dinner, and of course the melon gets hungry too.



after the last flag football game, he received dog tags as his medal.



watching baby einstein's



normal day at the johnson's



"ball"



Sam and Dad



Loving it

Michelle

my sister, michelle, was in a triathlon this last weekend. i am so proud of her. i would probably get tired just watching one. she has been training for it for a while, and has done numerous other races over the summer, but this was the first triathlon. she placed 7th in her age group, which is fantastic! way to go shell.

so i was reading my sisters (the one mentioned above) blog (which is "private" so i can't even give you a link) but she found her old diary from the early 80's and has been posting some silly entries. i thought i would copy her, since that is what little sisters are for. so every once and again i will enlighten you with my 2nd grade ongoings. here is a photo of the front of it, please note michelle, my lock is also cut open. must have been the same person who put chap stick on my Raggedy Anne doll.





i will type my entries the exact way they are in the "diary"


Day1 Date 22nd Nov. 1984

Dear diary
today I went to Jim and Jan's for thanksgiving. Then I went to grandma's house to get something. I had a fun day.
Amy

24th nov 1984
Dear Dairy, I had a good day today nothing realy happend.
love, amy
P.s. I went to Michelle's B.B. practice!

25 nov
today was Matt's Birthday! Happy Birthday Matt!

26th nov.
Dear Dairy,
I went to school today it was fun. we had P.E. FINALLY!!!

28th nov
Dear Dairy
Today was fun. I get to do a play on Henry, and the club house! I'm Ramona. I bother Henry on this paper route. Ha!! Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!

29th nov.
Today I had fun! I played outside! I played jurman baseball.

nov. 30
Dear Dairy,
today i got alout of things done, in my room but it's still a little messy i fixed my bed for enstence!

dec. 3 1984
Dear Dairy,
today i got in big trouble and had to stay in my room for the rest of the night. But I got out of it. Bye!

Kangaroo Zoo

While Shayleen was here, Grandma Johnson took all the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. Here are some pics.

7 things

7 things you probably don't know about me

1. i honestly love the smell of cow poo more than almost anything in the world
2. i can't stand the feel of cotton balls-yarn-sos pads-or anything like that. it seriously makes my hair stand on end even thinking about any of them
3. only kraft mac and cheese-or my mom's home made is the only kind of mac and cheese i like
4. i not only not like wearing socks, seeing others wear socks when it's warm kills me. when shad falls asleep with them on, i swear i can't breathe
5. i love liver and onions
6. i like to fold clothes-doing laudry.
7. i love to read true crime books. not sure why, since they totally creep me out, but i get totally into the search/detective work

tag...whoever...

Sam's birthday pics

Olivia (cousin) brought over a cake on Sam's birthday that she made! He got a practice run at eating his own cake before we had a family get together on Sunday evening. It was fun watching him dig into his cake and enjoyed all the kids over to play with. Thank you so much to everyone for coming, and for the phone calls and drop ins for those who couldn't make it. It was a great first birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

I can't believe it has been a year already! I am so incredibly lucky to have little Sam.

little sam
We waited and waited for you to come to us and it finally happened. We didn't know if you were a girl or boy, and your big brother was sure hoping for a boy. When the nurses wheeled me into surgery, I remember feeling so weird, excited, and scared. . Dr. Mower pulled you out and I saw your little head, I knew we had a little Sam. Your head was so perfectly round. I got to touch your little head for a second and say hi and then the nurses took you away to weigh you and check you out. When dad walked out with you, I could hear screams of joy. Kelton said "yes! a brother!" I remember going back into my room hoping to see you, Kelton, Grandma and Dad, but everyone was in the nursery looking at you! You were so perfect. I spent the next few days holding and feeding you and just staring at you.

You love to listen to music (especially Keith Urban and childrens music), you love lights and fans. You are the fastest crawler I have ever seen. You are such a happy little boy, who can thrive on very little sleep. There isn't a food you don't like,sometimes I think that you can't feel that you are full because you just keep eating and eating. Kelton loves to play with you every morning before school, and the second he gets home does the same. I spend most of my day just watching you and laughing. You are seriously so funny. When dad gets home from work the first thing he does is say SAMMY! then you go crawling over to him. You love to take baths and can get to the bathroom door in record time every time you hear it open. You love your big brother and are such a great little boy.

We are so excited to have you in our family. We love you.