Cami and Lyndsey-


Kirsten & Taylie-Stephanie's oldest



Cami, Bryson, Riley-Julie's oldest




Jake-Niki's husband and Cody





Cody in the Lamborghini

Here are some pictures of our trip back to Utah and Wyoming. We had a blast. It was great to see family, meet a nephew and niece that we haven't got to see before, and spend some time with all our loved ones.
We arrived on Friday, July 3. We were excited, because "Maggie" our GPS, took us a different route which cut off our time to Logan by 1 1/2 hours. We drove over to Stephanie's house, where we got to see her youngest, Lyndsey, for the first time. She is so cute. Mom was there with Dean's kids and Bryson, Aaron's little boy. We arrived in time to watch Krisann run barrels in the Lewiston, UT rodeo. We then went over to the Cache Valley Specialty hospital to watch the fireworks at USU. By the time the events for the night was over we were very tired, we stayed at Niki's house. She has a very beautiful house in Smithfield.
The next morning we got up and went to the Hyrum Parade. That was a cool parade. Usually they toss lame candy at parades, but this one tossed frisbees, ice water bottles, t-shirts, and yummy candy. It was fun for the kids.
After the parade, we went over and helped Krisann haul 180 bales of Alfalfa for her boss. That was a lot of work, but we got it done. We then watched a car show. They have 1500 cars drive down Main Street in Logan doing about 35mph. Niki and Jake drove a friend's Lamborghini. It was way cool. After the show, Jake gave Cody and Bryson a ride home in the car. They really enjoyed that. We then went back to Niki's and rode ATVs up behind their house. It was very fun, but scary when it got dark. When we finished ride those, the adults played Lazer Tag in the house. The kids were quite confused when the parents turned off all the lights and ran through the house like little kids. It was fun. We drove to Wyoming on Sunday. I was really happy to be home. I love seeing the Uintah Mountains-especially with all the green in the front. Jeff went horseback riding to Kabell with Dean and Dad, they had a great time and caught a lot of fish. We did have a very sad moment; Stephanie's favorite horse in the whole world, Little Alf, got really sick and died Monday morning. We were all very upset about this. He was a wonderful horse. I was glad to get to see him one more time before he died.
On Wednesday, we headed to Bear Lake. I haven't been to Bear Lake since I graduated in '95, so it was fun to be back, but a little disappointed because there were very few trees, and the lake was quite a distance. We had fun though, playing in the water, playing volleyball in the sand, riding on the boat, eating Dad's BBQ chicken and the Johnson Reunion Talent Show. It was great to see my extended family. I miss everyone so much, It would be nice if the Lord had decided not to put Nevada on the map. I would love living here if it wasn't so far away from "HOME". Just before we left to head back to CA, we got a call from Niki. She said that there had been a canal break and that Krisann's house was in danger of flooding. There was a mother and 2 children, 13 and 12 who were killed 2 houses away from her's. It was very upsetting to Krisann. But luckily for her, she was with us and her house didn't receive very much damage. Well this is my blog/journal of the trip. Goodbye for now.

Cami catching her first fish.

Cody caught a misquito fish that was attatched to his worm. Cami caught her first fish, and Kirsten likes to play with the worms. I am hoping I can help these girls to not be so "girly". We had a blast.

Cody and Cami fishing in the pond at our house.

Here is Cody and Cami fishing in the pond at our house. We stocked the pond with rainbow trout last November. We weren't sure if they would make it, so we decided to go fishing tonight to see if they were still there. The kids had a blast catching and releasing them. Well, catching was fun but Cami wasn't too happy when we put it back, because she wanted to eat her fish.

Hello Everyone,
Today, Sunday, I asked the kids to wash the dinner dishes while I rested on the couch. Growing up it was always the kids job to wash the dinner dishes. Two kids were assigned to this because there were a lot more dishes than on a week night. So we each took our turn on Sundays. It seems without fail though, that this would end up being a discipline day because we would always start complaining or fighting about who had to wash. We would usually wake up Dad or Mom from their nap, and get in big trouble. Why we didn't learn sooner to just be quiet and get the job done rather than making it last two hours longer than nessesary, I am not sure.
Anyways, it was fun watching Cody and Cami today do the dishes. Cami was trying to put a lid on the soup and dumped it all over the table and floor. I could see the frustration on Cody's face, that same look we have given him for the past almost 10 years when he made a mistake. I had to laugh. It was fun seeing the two of them try to clean up a mess as best they could without letting the parents know what was going on. I think I am going to start enjoying Sunday afternoons more.

Cami loses her 1st tooth.

Hi Everyone,
Just to let you know Cami has lost her first tooth. Let me tell you that it was very difficult to have self-control and just pull it out. I started reading the book 'The Parenting Breakthrough" which teaches you how to teach your children to be responsible adult. The main point being, Let them do it themselves. I have never seen Cami so excited as when she was sitting in Primary, I was playing piano. She came running over to me to say that her tooth had just fallen out. The music director stopped to give her some attention. She beamed the rest of sharing time. I am sure that letting them do it themselves is not for everyone. But between Cody (who I pinned down and pulled his out), as compared to Cami, who did it on her own sweet time, even though it took a week to watch a dangling tooth, Cami gleemed the most. Anyways, I hope that you are all doing well the week.

I have been reading this book called "The Parenting Breakthrough". I am learning so much, it helps parents teach their kids how to be a more responsible adult. It is a good thing that Cody has a few years, because if he were a Dad right now, CPS would have stepped in a long time ago. I don't understand when you tell him to go upstairs, brush his teeth and make his bed, he will come down 5 minutes later with a hot wheels and totally forgot about anything I had just asked him to do. I have found that I do way too much for my kids, which is now backfiring on me. So if you get a call from one of the kids saying "my mom is mean" you'll back me up and say it not mean, it just "tough love". Thank you for all your support. Read the book, it is great.

Here is a picture of Jenna and Justin's newest addition: Jaedon Jack Whiting. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19.5" long. He is welcomed home by Jonathan (3) and Kaitlyn (14 months).

This makes 10 boys and 12 girls for the Philip Johnson Grandkids. We have 2 more due in February and March: Candice and Stephanie.

Kirsten discovers her shadow

The other day, Kirsten kept lifting her foot up then putting it down and looking underneath it. At first, I thought she had stepped in something, but after watching her for a while, she had discovered her shadow. When she lifted her foot up and the shadow would move away, when she put her foot down the shadow became attached. So she would sit down and try to take it off. We watched her for about 5 minutes while she tried to figure out how to get it off. It is so cute see life through the innocence of a child. I laughed all day thinking about it.

Hi Everyone! I am writing my New Year's Resolutions down so that everyone can see and remimd me how I am doing.
#1-You always put lose weight down just because that seems to be the thing to do, but I am going to change that to: Be able to run a mile without stopping, before July. Many may think that this is a silly challenge, but it's mine and I would like to be able to do it again. Once I get that goal reached, I'll start putting a time limit on it.
#2- Lori Nate has a good goal-Enjoy the moment-My kids are growing so fast, and I am feeling guilty that I can't remember some of the kids "FIRSTS". So I am going to slow down, listen, observe, and enjoy them.
#3-I want to read the Doctrine & Covenants completely through. I read most of it in Seminary, but have only browsed it since, so I am going to become more familiar with our modern day revelations.
These are the goals that I am going to set now. They seem achieveable. Let me know yours okay.