ChRiSTmAs CaRD

Merry Christmas!

The End of a Decade...Well, Almost!

I wasn't sure what to name this post, not even sure if I should write this post but because I don't think anyone reads this, who cares right? Two weeks ago I was told that my job would be relocating back to Utah. I was given the choice to move with it (if I could start in Utah Jan 3rd) or be laid off. Since I'm not singe and have kids and a loving husband I couldn't just pick up and leave so I had to lose my job after working there 9+ years (almost a decade!). I'm very sad about this choice and still have weekly panic attacks but my husband seems very optimistic about it all. I'm glad to be able to focus more on my kids, Andrew's in Kindergarten and struggles with his writing so it'll be nice to have some one on one time to work on that. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this post, I just had to get it off my chest. No one at work knows yet, I hate that everything is kept a secret there so if anyone does read this, please keep it to yourself until January. Anyway, thanks for letting me talk some things over, if you see me and I seem misplaced, I'm just trying to work things out in my head. Until we can get over Christmas and the few more items we need to go with what we had already bought, then I can focus on our new budget and new plan of attack. Thanks for everyone's kind words and thoughts. I appreciate you all!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Since our plans for Utah didn't work out, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving here at home. We started with breakfast. I found a recipe for these omelet roll things, not too bad, and then Andrew got Mark and Julie to play dinosaurs while I cleaned up a bit.After breakfast Mark went out in the 12 degree weather to get me the adds. The kids had a lot of fun looking them over and dancing on them, don't ask me about the dancing on them but they had fun.While dinner was cooking, the kids and I were watching Christmas shows. The best part was at the end when the credits would come on and we would all dance around the living room to the music.

For dinner we had ham, green beans, carrotts, sweet potatoes and a roll. We had some sparkling drinks, cheesecake, pumpkin pie and icecream for dessert. Everything was SO YUMMY!After dinner Mark took a nap. It wasn't a long one since Julie kept trying to tickle his feet while he slept. Andrew felt left out so he started climbing through the table. What a cutie!Julie was having such a great time following her brother around. Here he was hiding behind the table trying to scare Julie. Later he was sitting on our cut out things in the wall and she would follow him. He didn't seem too hapy about it but it was so cute how often she would follow him around. I even cought Andrew egging her on to follow him. Such a great brother!Friday, after I got back from my black Friday shopping we decided to pull out the Christmas decorations and steam clean the carpets. In our Christmas box I have this great piano book my mom sent us last year(or the year before, I forget). I like to keep it with the Christmas stuff so the kids forget about it and love pulling it out to sing/play. They had a lot of fun with it! Julie then started using the butter fly net as a mask. Andrew used to always do it too, not sure what it is about kids and putting things over their head. Thankfully this one was full of holes!I bought a stick vac on my black Friday shopping trip and LOVE IT! I love the fact that once I brought it out Andrew had to test it out everywhere! I set up the Christmas decorations while Mark cleaned the carpet. The steam clean vaccuum leaves behind hair that the vaccuum missed every once in a while. Andrew would clean it up with the new vac. Such a great job both of them did! I LOVE the carpet now, makes the entire living room feel so much cleaner. Long overdue! Overall we had a great vacation at home for the Holiday. We got a lot done, most of the shopping done, spent some quality time together and had a blast. I'm sad we didn't make it to Utah but so glad we got so much done while we were home. I can't wait to see the family again! I love and miss you all! Have a great last few days of November everyone!!!

Next Years Goal

I've wanted to do one for a while but I'm really going to try and make a Quiet Book this next year. If anyone out there has any tips or wants to do one with me, let me know. So far I found two ... great sites that have referenced some other great sites too so we'll see if I can do it or not. I don't have a sewing machine so it might take me a bit but we'll see. Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving and other updates...

So I'm sitting around, sad that I can't go to Utah for Thanksgiving due to all of the snow and road closures from the weather and the ice and wanted to get into better spirits. I thought looking through some of the recent pictures might help. Here's what the Johnson family has been doing lately...Andrew and Julie have been really cute watching TV together and just playing around the house. I love it when they all get along :)Andrew used to hide in this bed too, it's a couch that converts to a bed so when Andrew comes in our room due to a bad dream he gets this bed instead of crawling into ours.

My car has been stalling while at stop lights lately so I had to take it in. Julie LOVED climbing in the car seats while we had them in the house. Andrew even put his on the couch one day to watch tv while I was at a meeting.Andrew has loved to draw lately. He drew smiley faces all over one sheet of paper and then had to cut them out. He then came to show Mark while he was in the tub to explain what each face was. I love that he's becoming so artistic! More artwork below...I let Andrew take his own pictures of his work.Another one of the kids watching TV together.I just LOVEd how Julie looked for church...For Andrew's school this week he had to make a turkey. Not just any turkey, he had to make a disguise for the turkey to help him survive Thanksgiving without getting eaten. He wanted to make a, who else, Luke Skywalker turkey.We have been getting about an inch of snow the past few mornings. Most of it melts by the evening but it's still SUPER cold outside!

These pictures make me sad, Julie was excited to pack so she climbed right into the suitcase and was ready to go, 'baby' and all!

Sorry for the combined post, even more sorry that we couldn't be there for Thanksgiving! Watching the news right now and they already had a lot of road closures today, cars spinning out, semi's being blown off the road, etc. Really glad we are all home and safe! Maybe next year. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be safe!!!

The ABC's of Callie

A- Attached or Single: Attached

B- Best Friends: Shersten, Stormy and Mark

C- Cake or Pie: Pink Lemonade Pie

D- Day of Choice: Saturday

E- Essential item: My phone F- Favorite Color: Blue

G- Gummy worms or gummy bears: Gummy Worms

H- Hometown: West Jordan, Utah

I- Indulgences: Mini Cadbury Eggs (only available at Easter)J- January or July: July

K- Kids: Julie and Andrew

L- Life is incomplete without: Family M- Marriage Date: A very windy May 23rd, 2003 N- Number of siblings: 2 brothers, 3 brother-in-laws, 3 sister-in-lawsO- Oranges or apples: Apples P- Phobias: Spiders (I refuse to post REAL spiders on here!) Q- Quotes: There are so many about Chuck Norris to pick just one!

R- Reason to Smile: Julie, Andrew, and Mark!

S- Sports: 49ERS T- Tag 3 friends: Erin, Leah, Shersten
U- Unknown fact about me: I watch the DCC even though I hate the Cowboys. I'm so ashamed...V- Very favorite store: IKEA and Target (Can't pick just one!)
W- Worst habit: Procrastination/LazynessX- (e)X-traordinary talent: My hubby taught me how to solve the Rubic Cube

Y- Your favorite food: Village Baker sandwiches and soup

Z- Zodiac: Cancer (Crab) June 22nd

I changed one or two of these to better suit myself so feel free to do the same. Hope you enjoyed!