What's in a name?

I want to list how we came up with our kids names so it's not lost. Andrew's full name is Andrew Gordon Johnson. He is named after his dad and grandpa (Mark Andrew and Gordon Stanley Johnson).

Julie's full name is Julie DeAnn Johnson. This one is a little more tricky. I was born Callie Rae Stark. Callie came from someone who went to school with my mom, she really liked the name Callie. Rae came after my great aunt who died in a car accident when she was 7. Her name was Julie Rae Hales. Since I was a little girl I read all about Julie. I thought since I was named after her that I would name my daughter after her too, hence Julie. The DeAnn came from my very best friend, Shersten DeAnn (Dunn) Buchholzer.

If we have more kids, I don't think we'll use family names because of the other girl names we already have picked out but it was nice doing this for the first of each gender we had. I need to be better at my geneology and I'm hoping that in naming our kids after people, they will be interested in their history as well.

First Words

Now I'm not sure if Julie did this on purpose or not so I'm not sure if this is her first words but on Sunday night, Mark and I were playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii when we heard Julie start to cry. She had been crying for less than 30 seconds when we heard "ma ma" in the middle of her screaming. She stopped soon after that and went back to sleep but after, Mark and I looked at each other and we both think this might have been her first! I'm so excited!!! It hasn't happened again since but usually when she play talks she says mamamamama and not just the ma ma. Either way, I'm still really excited and I'm counting this as her first words at just over 8 months old! I love that little girl!!!

Light Saber

So a day or so after Christmas Andrew and I were playing around with his light saber. Andrew "got me" with the light saber so I played dead. He started telling me that I wasn't dead. "Why?" I asked. Andrew replied with, "Mom you're not dead because this light saber isn't real". How cute? He also said that his magic wand wasn't real either, such a smartie!!! I just love that boy.

Christmas 2009

As you know, all Andrew wanted for Christmas was a magic wand and a light saber. Well, here are our pictures of our Christmas and what we got...

Scrunch Face

Julie does the cutest scrunch face lately. We try to get a picture of it when she does it but she just looks like she's crying when she really is such a happy girl. We decided (Mark really) to just play around with her face and here are some of the pictures...

Ben Stein

I'm not sure if I should share this or even if it is, in fact, Ben Stein. I did like the message about being careful what you want and to not get offended by every little detail. Read it if you want...Makes you think.

My confession (by Ben Stein):

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shall not kill; thou shall not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing?

Pass this on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards.
Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

Santa List

Yesterday, out of no where, Andrew decided to write Santa a Christmas list. He came into the living room and asked me, "Mom, do we have a chimney?" I explained how Santa comes from the fireplace so he put his list next to the fireplace so Santa would see it when he came over. Then Andrew started asking about his stocking. He said he needed it in his room. Again, I had to explain that Santa stays in the living room and fills the stocking before he goes back up the chimney. Such a cute and curious little 4 year old! Here are some pictures of the list as well as the rest of our Christmas decor.

Table

So I haven't had a kitchen table in over a year and a half. It hasn't been a problem since we eat on our coffee table. I know it's not the most ideal situation but it works for us and I have a small dining area so a table there would be an inconvenience. Well, I signed up to feed the missionaries tonight and was wondering what to do about my table situation. Many people have told me not to worry about it, they can just eat on the coffee table and they don't really care as long as there's food. I heard what they said but I just couldn't come around to eating on the coffee table. Mark and I were out Saturday and saw a card table and chair set for about $55 at Walmart. I decided to see if one of my good neighbor friends could go with me Monday to pick it up since I was in my little car and the table wouldn't fit while Mark and I were there. When I called her today she had the same table and chairs that she was just going to let me borrow. This was perfect! Now I didn't have to spend an hour and a half to go get them when I needed to clean and get ready. After she dropped them off I got a text message from her saying to just keep them. How sweet was that? She knows I need a table, but I was really going to go purchase that same set later. I feel bad for accepting them but I know she wants me to have them and I do hope she gets blessed for her generosity. I love the friends I have made here. They are so generous and kind hearted; this is just one great example. Thank you again! Merry Christmas.

Star Wars

Mark has been playing a new computer game about Star Wars. Well, Andrew's been really into it. We didn't have episode 4 (the first movie) so Friday night we went out and bought it. Today the boys watched it and took a nap. Long story short, Mark decided to watch it again tonight as he sleeps so Andrew and him are curled up in the big bed (Mark's and mine) watching it again since they both fell asleep the first time. Mark had to leave the room for a second to record his Sunday night shows on Adult Swim so he started a chaper before but then Andrew had said, "Dad, I don't want to watch it without you". He is such a great kid and I'm so glad he loves his dad. We went through a phase with him where he said he didn't love dad because he had to go to work all the time. I'm glad he's over that and spends every moment he can with him when he's not at work. I love my family!

My Ward

Today is Sunday. I've grown to look forward to church like I used to. We have such an amazing ward and the sisters in it are just wonderful. We've discussed before in RS about things that happen for a reason. One sister had said that she moved to Dayton because there was too much going on in her life and here there isn't much to do so she can focus more on what's important. I do believe we moved here for a reason. This reason is to not only bring our family closer together but for us to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. We have tried many times to be active in the church back in Utah but we never stuck to it. Now, we've gone just about every week for almost a year now. We had great support when we were sealed in the Temple and we can feel the love from the ward. I just want to express my appreciation for the sisters in our ward and their strong testimony they share with us each and every week. I've always had the church in my life, but after my situation with my family when I was a kid I just put church on the back burner. I'm so thankful that I have started going to church with my family and I look forward to the lessons and the friendship each week. Thank you for all of those that have helped us in our growth and I really look forward to growing more and getting to know each of you better!

My First Post

Well, I was sitting around on this Saturday night, my husband was playing on the computer with my son, daughter asleep in her crib and I was playing on the computer. I didn't have anything to do really so I started looking around at other blogs from members of my ward. I started looking at their pictures and reading some of their stories and started thinking about creating my own blog. I'm not telling anyone about it to see if I can keep up with it. We'll see how this works out. If you know me at all, I don't like writing and I'm not very good at it so please don't point out all of my spelling or grammer mistakes.

For my first post, I want everyone to know how much I love and appreciate my husband. He is such a great guy. Sometimes I think that even though I tell him all the time I love him, he doesn't truely know how much I do. He is so sweet to me and I can tell that he cares a lot for me. He's such a rock. I see him playing with our kids and I just have to stare. He was meant to be a dad and he's great at it! Thank you for being such a great support and good example to our family. We have the best times! I have fond memories of him making me laugh and just cheering me up when I'm in a bad mood. Even tonight, when our son was playing on his lap while he was playing a game on the computer, he didn't get upset that Andrew wanted to do everything on his own and interrupting what he was doing, he kept his cool and even made us some dinner. Andrew fell asleep while he made it, but it was very sweet of him to do. I've been a little down lately so it's a little hard to function but it's great having such a wonderful man to help out in my time of need. Thank you honey, I love you so much!