The Johnson Family!

Fall Recital Party 2011

2011-10-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the only pictures I got of the after party. It was so much fun! I also wanted to say how awesome my husband is for setting this all up for me, and with the help of only one guy took it all down! I'm such a lucky gal to have him! And isn't Katelyn's face painting so cute!

Fall Piano Recital 2011

2011-10-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

This was such a fun recital! I was missing about 8 students though, and I was missing all of my flute students:( But it was still a really great recital and everyone did so well! Afterwards we had food (including a really fun cauldron of pink lemonade potion using dry ice), parachute games, balloons, glowsticks, and face painting. Unfortunately I don't have many great pictures of the party because, like I say every year, I wish there could be three of me!

Preschool Halloween Party

2011-10-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

This year for preschool it is just Ben and other friend. I really like it! They play really well together and I've never had to intervene like I did last year with more friends. For our little Halloween party we made cereal treat pumpkins, had orange crackers, and orange milk. We decorated a paper pumpkin, did a little school work and then played. It was so fun!

Ghostbuster Party!!

2011-10-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

We found a ghost pinata, and all of our ghostbusters did a great job busting this ghost!

Ghostbuster Party!

2011-10-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

We blew up a bunch of white balloons andwhen the kids got to the party they got to decorate the balloons like ghosts. Then we put them all on the trampoline and they bounced around with ghosts!

Ghostbuster party!

2011-10-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

This was Ben's first friend birthday party. He is really into Ghostbusters, so since it's Halloween time it was super easy to find a bunch of ghost decorations. I was having a hard time getting those ghost cake pops to stay on their sticks, so I did cake balls for the rest, and actually ended up liking those better. I bought a ghost cookie cutter and made peanut butter sandwiches for everyone, and decorated the plate with ghost peeps. For the cookies I took Nutter Butters and dipped them in white chocolate and then used a gel icing for the eyes and mouth. The purple cookies were from a package.

Corn Maze 2011

2011-10-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last year we went to the World's largest corn maze on a double date. It was so much fun we wanted to do it again. So this year for my birthday we invited eight others to come join in the fun. It was a blast, and such a fun birthday! We have such a fun group of friends! Afterwards we went to my friend Nikki's house for ice cream and games. I'm thinking we should make this a tradition!

Chuck E. Cheese

2011-10-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

Ben got to pick anything he wanted to do on his birthday, so he chose Chuck E. Cheese. Grandma and Grandpa Clift even tagged along to join in the fun!

Benjamin's 4th Birthday

2011-10-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

This was on Ben's actual birthday. Can't believe it's been 4 years since he came into our lives! He is a little class clown, usually to lighten up the mood. He's helpful around the house, and loves to help mom. We love you Ben!

Harvest 2011

2011-10-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

Katelyn 12 years old and 57". She's tall enough this year to go on all the rides at an amusement park, guess we'll have to get some season passes soon!

Benjamin is 4 years old and 42".

Alex is 9 years old and 55". Is there a way to stop my children from growing up??? Or at least slow them down!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

I really love Fall! I love how the leaves change colors. I love how the weather starts to get cooler. I love pumpkin patches, pumpkin pies, Halloween, Thanksgiving, I just really love Fall!

This pumpkin patch was a lot of fun. We did a hay ride, mazes, got pumpkins, and had a really great time.

Ride at the pumpkin patch

2011-10-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Clift came with us to a pumpkin patch. We want on a little quad ride where they are all connected and pulled by a larger quad around the pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun!

Benjamin is 4!

2011-10-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Katelyn

2011-10-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Katelyn is 12!

2011-10-08T20:14:00.001-07:00

Katelyn got a new outfit to wear for her birthday party, skinny jeans, shirt, vest, hat, and a shawl!

Our friend Nikki made this cake for Katelyn! She made a bed because it was a sleep over:) Isn't it beautiful!!

Katelyn's table spread. Chips, goodie bags, torilla roll ups, veggie tray, sodas, and the pizzas weren't here yet when I took te picture.

Katelyn's friends at her party (minus one who came late).

Katelyn and her frends painting their fingernails, a must at a girl party!

We love Katelyn so much, and we are so proud of her. She is a sweet, thoughtful, caring, loving, generous, and just plain fantastic young woman. (AAAAHHH she's officially a young woman now!) We are so lucky she is in our family. She is literally the BEST daughter a mom and dad could wish for!

Alexander

2011-09-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest, so I copied it:) It's a couple months late from his bday, but better late than never. We love you Alex!

A few sneak peaks at our home

2011-08-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Not the greatest pictures because my camera died and I'm using my phone for all of these pictures. But this is the boys' room that is painted. There's still some organizing and decorating to do in there.

I just had to throw this in because Ben made a big mess with the packing material and I was cleaning it up, and he came running up the stairs and said, "That's my mess, I'm going to clean it up!" Then he took the vaccum from me and cleaned it all up!

This is my garage floor. This floor was a lot of work. We used my dad's pressure washer and he got most of the old gross paint off the floor. Then the guys putting in our new carpet let me borrow a scraper tool and I worked for over 2 hours on my hands and knees scraping off the stubborn paint. Then my dad came back, pressure washed it again to get it all sparkly clean. Scrubbed it clean. And then he and Joel painted with the apoxy paint for a beautiful garage floor. Now if only we can find the time to go through all of the boxes that are still in the garage so I can see the pretty floor again:(

Our front door needs a lot of work. We need to put the screen door on. Paint the front door, can't decide what color yet. I like this color, it matches the trim of our house, but we'll see. I also made the curtain in the front window, and didn't even realize that it matched my door!

Our downstairs bathroom is in the middle of a remodel. We got a new toilet. Ripped out the old countertop, put in a new counter and faucet. Now we have to put in new baseboards, and repaint the walls, and I'd also like to paint the cabinet.

We had a door on our master bedroom, but it had a huge hole in it and there was no door knob, and no way to put one in. So we bought a new door and new door knob. I love this door and slowly we are going to turn all of our doors into these doors!

An eagle eye's view of our front room and beautiful new carpet. Since this picture I've moved things around a little. I put bookshelves on the wall where the halltree is, and moved the halltree to the wall on the bottom left of the picture. I'm also going to add in some nice chairs. One of these days we're going to buy a new sectional sofa. But that's probably a little ways off.

This is the kids' bathroom. We put in a new toilet. We bought a new curtain and a new rug that's not in this picture. Also we hung hooks on the wall instead of a towel rack because my kids have hooded towels and I'm trying to get them in the habit of using them instead of using a different towel every day, leaving them on the floor all over the house. It's halfway working, and my laundry pile has already showed improvement. Now if only I can get them to stop putting clean clothes in dirty hampers and vice versa!

Katelyn's room. It has gotten a lot more done to it since this picture, like she actually has a bed frame instead of mattresses on the floor. And she has a bunch of pictures on the wall.

Well, that's it for now. We have lots and lots of projects, and it's kind of overwhelming. But I'm trying to tell myself that we'll be here for a very long time and there's plenty of time to get it all done!

Father's Day

2011-08-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

This Father's day was pretty crazy, we had lots of visitors, and we were right in the middle of buying our house. But we still managed to take time out for Dad. We spoiled him with treats, and we gave him a day of rest and relaxation. He even got massages! We love Joel so much and are so grateful for all that he does for our family. He is our rock. (Especially mine!) Somehow he managed to stay out of the camera's way the last couple of months, so no picture:( Happy Father's Day!

Happy Birthday Alex!

2011-08-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Alex receiving his Wolf award at Cub Scouts. He moved on to Bears!

Alex's first time holding the flag.

Alex and his cake pop cake. This year we just had a family party with presents, cake pops, pizza, and soda. Yummy!

Alex turned 9 this year, right in middle of all the crazy moving. He also got his Wolf award in Cub Scouts and moved up to Bears. He really loves scouts.

Alex is a great brother, and is always willing to help out. He is the first one to the scene when somebody is sad. He loves to play video games. He is very charitable and tries to spend his money on everybody else. We love Alex so much and are so lucky that he is a part of our family! Happy Birthday!

Our Home

2011-07-07T19:32:00.001-07:00

I don't have any pictures for you on this post because my camera is packed somewhere, and I can't find it!

We got the keys to our new home on June 28. Got new carpet on June 28. And moved in June 30. We've already done some fun projects around the house and I can't wait to show you pictures. We are just so in love with our new house, we feel at home here. And really, we can't believe that this house is ours! Just a couple of years ago we thought we'd never be able to afford a house here in California. And here we are in a house we never thought we'd be able to afford to rent, let alone own!

Piano Room

2011-06-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

I thought I had included this on my downstairs post, but it's not there! So, here is a picture of my piano room. I am so excited for one of these. Now my children and husband don't have to hide upstairs while I teach piano lessons, they will now be free to roam as they please! I also love that the doors are glass and I can see out to make sure my children aren't running around like mad men!

Upstairs Before Tour!

2011-06-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

This picture belongs in the downstairs post, I just forgot it:)
I am so excited to have a laundry room and not a laundry hallway!

And if you turn around you will head down another part of the hallway that leads to the bathroom, linen closet, upstairs office, and Katelyn's room. We didn't get a picture of Katelyn's room because one of my kids locked the door and we couldn't get it unlocked. (The real estate agent had to call a locksmith!)

Love this office. It has tons of book shelves. The entire wall on the right is bookshelves. The window seat is a storage bench. And the doors are french doors like the piano room's doors.

I love this linen closet because right now I have a tiny linen cupboard that doesn't hold half of my blankets. I'm sure this will do much better!

Sooo in love with this bathtub. Baths are one of my favorite things. Although I think the water bill is probably going to go up:)

Huge master closet. How long before it gets filled?

This is the boy room, it is 2 bedrooms turned into one. The paint color is very interesting...

Downstairs Before Tour

2011-06-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

The carpet is so nasty. We are replacing all of it.

We're not totally sure what to do with this space. We are thinking we might make it into a huge kitchen. More cupboards along the walls. We'll see.

Can't stand the kitchen counter, I've got issues with that kind of tile. The last two houses we have lived in have it and it was just so nasty looking. This counter is actually in better condition than the one we have in our rental now. So it will stay for probably another year or so. We also want to put an island in.

Really nice sized room. We're thinking tv room!

10k

2011-06-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

These pictures are all out of order, I always forget to upload them in backwards order. This is me at the end, they handed me a bottle of water. I felt really good at the end, like maybe I could have kept running, gasp. I wasn't out of breath at all.

Running down the last hill to the finish line. And this hill is not even close to as steep as some of the other hills! I was expecting to finish somewhere around 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. But as I ran down the hill, I saw the clock and it said 1 hour 58 minutes! Aaack. Way slower than I'd hoped for. I crossed the finish line at 2 hours.

I fell twice. One time I caught myself and just had muddy hands, the second time I fell flat on my booty as the 1st place half marathon runner lapped me and ran past me! Kind of sad to be lapped. But hey, I didn't come in last place, so there you go. Good enough for me! There were times it was so muddy I kind of surfed down some of the hills.

I was pretty happy to be done.

My white shoes, not so white. My white socks, definitely not even close to being white. Pretty sure they'll never look white again. I had mud all up the side of my legs where I fell, but you can't really see it in this picture.

I arrived at Lynch canyon around 7:30 a.m. yesterday, it was pouring rain, and muddy, and I told Joel, I got my number and my t-shirt, maybe we can just go home and forget this race! But I got up the courage and went for it. I had on a shirt, a sweatshirt, and a windbreaker. I thought the windbreaker would be a little better keeping me somewhat dry underneath, fat chance. We walked down a hill to the starting line. I started off with my dad, but was very quickly shoveled backward and away from him. I thought about running fast to catch up, but then decided that I wanted to take it slow. So glad I did. I had no idea exactly how many hills we would be running up, honestly I didn't even think we'd be running up hills, just kind of assumed we'd be running around them! Wow, was I wrong, we ran straight up at least 4-5 hills. And I'm talking hills, not mounds. It was muddy and slippery, so a lot of the time I was running off the trail in tall grass so I could get some traction. But that made my shoes even worse because I had sloshy water in my shoes.

I ran alone pretty much the entire time. I passed some people, and others (a lot of others) passed me. There were times when I looked behind me and there was nobody in sight, and I looked in front of me and there was no one in sight. Sometimes I wondered if I was even on the right trail! It rained the ENTIRE time, not even a 5 minute break. The rain hurt my face a lot of the time too. And sometimes the wind got so intense it took everything I had to not fall over. My windbreaker didn't seem to help much because the wind made it look like I was a balloon about to fly away!

But despite all of the challenges of this race, I am so glad I did it. I trained for a couple of months, and followed through. Something that I have an extremely hard time doing when it comes to exercising. And I had so much fun that I thought I might even keep running and do another race, maybe even a half marathon. But my ankle is so stinking sore, and probably will be for 2 weeks, that I realized running is just too hard on my already not great joints. So now I'm in the market for a new exercise program, once again.

Updates

2011-06-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

We got our house! Now start all the inspections and appraisal! Hoping we don't get caught up on more stuff and we can be in before July!!
Also, I'm off to run my very first running race of any kind. I'm running a 10k trail run. I've been training all year, and I really hate running. I mean really. And to top if off I have a sore throat, and it's raining! I think that's what I'm most upset about, my nice shoes are going to go from white to brown:( But I'm doing this. And then I can stop running! :) I'll be taking it slow, and I have some new fun songs on my iPod. And off we go!

New House

2011-05-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

We are trying to buy a new house. Trying, being the operative word. We've put offers on several houses, with no luck. We finally found a house we love, it's the perfect size, perfect layout, and perfect price, and not just a house we'll eventually grow out of and have to upgrade, but a house that we can stay in until our children are grown, and even longer depending where life takes us. Our offer was accepted by the seller March 8th, but it's a short sale, so it has to go through the banks that the sellers owe a bunch of money to. We got approval from the bank on the 1st mortgage, and we finally got approval from the same bank that holds their 2nd mortgage. But there was a hiccup because the 2nd mortgage didn't release the seller from liability, and so we wait some more while they negotiate a deal. Things are still looking up and we will more than likely get the house, but it's really annoying to sit here waiting, hoping that every phone call is our real estate agent telling us yes, we got the house, or no, we didn't. Either way, I'd like to know! Here is a link to our maybe future house. There is work to do to it, but it's all cosmetic.

Okay, so the link doesn't work anymore because it was taken off of the listing page because it's all ours! I will put up pictures of before and after. We've got some work to do before we can move in, but we are so dang excited! Can't wait for closing, which if all goes well with the appraisal should be the 20th of June!

Sleeping

2011-05-27T08:46:00.001-07:00

My children are starting to get older, and this is becoming more and more evident in many ways, but I am especially starting to notice it because of how much they sleep! Especially little miss Katelyn. It used to be that my children would sneak downstairs to watch cartoons while I was asleep, or they would come into my room to wake me up (at 7 am). But now it's 8:47 am and they are ALL still sleeping and I have been up for almost 2 hours with all this time to myself. It's very interesting... I've checked my email, facebook, and blogs, read 3 articles from the recent General Conference talks, and have time to sit and do a little blogging myself. And to make things even better my sweet husband has been getting up before he goes to work every day and cleans the kitchen for me! It's so sweet that that little act of kindness has improved my days exponentially. I cook more, I play with the kids more, I teach the kids more, I relax more! I would have to say that life is really great!

Train bridge

2011-05-27T08:39:00.001-07:00

Aunt Kristin came to town and our mom took us out to a really yummy lunch at Putah Creek Cafe (it was on the Food Network!) and right down the street from our delicious lunch was on old railroad bridge that had been turned into a fun walkway. Benjamin is obsessed with trains and we could not pass up playing on the bridge.

Easter Pictures

2011-04-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Easter preschool

2011-04-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Preschool was at my house for the week of Easter. We had egg games, decorated bunny baskets, put eggs in a nest (chocolate eggs in a chocolate nest!) and had singing and dancing, of course! Alex and Katelyn are my awesome helpers, couldn't do it without them!

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Clift came over the day before Easter and we dyed easter eggs. Katelyn and grandpa were the big time dyers, they spent the most time very carefully making designs. I like to buy 5 dozen eggs so that they can all dye as much as they want--but now I'm stuck with all those eggs and it feels like we're eating them for every meal!
After eggs we went out to eat and then for a walk. What a fun day!

Easter morning the kids woke up to Easter baskets. Very simple this year, it seems like the Easter bunny gets simpler and simpler every year, wonder if they've noticed!?

After church we went over to Grandpa Mills' house for an Easter egg hunt and dinner. It was so great visiting, and dinner was delicious!

Spring Piano Recital

2011-04-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I've done a spring recital in a long time! Usually life is just too crazy! But I really loved it. More students came than normal, I was only missing 2 families (4 kids). We played potato sack races, spoon and egg (plastic) races, and a couple of little Minute to Win it games. And we had a potluck. I always wish that there were 3 of me when it comes time for a recital. I never get enough pictures, and don't have enough time to visit with parents because I'm playing with the kids!

There are a couple pictures of students that are on my phone and not in this post because I left my camera in Joel's car who I sent off to the store to buy ice. Benjamin performed at his first piano recital, and Alex and Katelyn of course played and did fantastically! I had 3 flute students play. I only got a picture of one of them because one of my flute students I played a flute/piano duet with, and the other student I played a flute/flute duet with. (That was so much fun I really miss playing the flute everyday!)

It was a really great recital, there were all sorts of different genres of music, songs from the radio, songs from movies, classical, romantic, jazz, folk, and more!

Church Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

I made him stop to pose for a picture during the egg hunt and he said I was "cramping his style!"

Katelyn opted to just help Ben get eggs this year. I'm not really fond of this growing up thing.

Before the egg hunt.

Joel was in charge of this year's Easter egg hunt at church and I thought we were going to be really stressed about getting it all ready and getting the BBQ ready, but he did a great job delegating, and we had some great people in our ward to a ton of work so it was very enjoyable! Lots of candy, and food and visiting with good friends!

Cute

2011-04-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Mom: "Ben, how come you're so cute!!?"

Ben: "Because you so cute!"

Just melts my heart. All ready a lady's man!

Drive-in

2011-04-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

Our friends invited us to the drive-in movies last week, and even though the movie didn't start until 8:00, I managed to get my husband to agree to tag along. The kids had a really fun time and want to only see movies at the drive-in instead of the theaters from now on.

Artichokes

2011-04-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

These plants are from our garden last year. They really got HUGE! Last year we got about 2-3 artichokes. This year we've already gotten over 6! These artichokes are the best artichokes ever! (Please excuse the play house that's knocked over, the kids were cleaning it out so they could play with it again.)

Happy Spring!

2011-04-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is about it for my spring decorations. We are hoping to be moving into a new house in the nearby future, and I'm packing a lot of stuff already and putting it away in the garage, and I just didn't feel like getting all of my spring stuff out. But it is feeling very lovely and springy with less stuff in the house!

Fun lunch

2011-04-18T15:07:00.001-07:00

Every now and again the kids and I splurge and go out to eat during the day, it's usually because they've been doing exceptionally well in school and with chores.

And I don't know what is up with this lighting (it is my phone's camera) but Katelyn looks so dang old it's ridiculous!

Beautiful young woman who refuses to listen to me when I tell her to stop growing up.

Handsome young man who is so sweet!

Preschool Field Trip

2011-04-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

Benjamin is in a little preschool group where the moms all take turns teaching a week. One of the moms owns a Grocery Outlet and took the little ones on a field trip. They went to the back and watched boxes get loaded with a forklift, boxes get smashed in a machine, went into a walk-in freezer, and even got to help stock shelves. Then they got to load up the conveyor belt with goodies while another child rang them up, then they paid with their "money" that they earned helping out, and got to take home their goodies. It was such a cute field trip! (Alex and Katelyn got to tag along and they were very helpful with all the little ones and they also had a blast!)

Etching Glass

2011-04-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

One of our friends got married last month, so for their wedding present I bought a Pyrex dish with a lid and used my Cricut to cut out a stencil of their name with contact paper. I stuck it on to the Pyrex, painted it heavily with etching cream, let it sit for 5 minutes and peeled it off and washed it off with water. So easy, and so cute! I can't wait to do this to our dishes!

Ben's Funny Faces

2011-04-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Benjamin is in to funny faces lately, they crack us all up. He has always been, and continues to be our little class clown. It is so hard to punish him because he has me laughing before I'm through with the punishment. When someone is sad he does whatever it takes to cheer them up. When I'm mad he does whatever it takes to lighten me up--and it most always works. We're going to have to look out for this little charmer!

Rainbow Cupcakes

2011-04-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

Make a box of white cake mix. Divide evenly into separate containers (depending on how many colors you're using) Add food coloring, and stir.

Put one spoonful of each color on top of one another in cupcake liners.

Bake according to box directions. Ice.

Serve.

Enjoy!

Joel's Birthday!

2011-04-06T20:17:00.001-07:00

Joel turned 35 years old this year!(Granted it was in January!) To celebrate we had pie and presents and surprised him with a bike! (really it was a present for me so that we can have family bike rides!) And then we went to Grandpa Mills' house for a muffin cake (Joel's not huge into cake) and dinner.

We love Joel because he works hard, is extremely patient, easy going, loving, caring, thoughtful, happy, a great husband, a fantastic father and loves to be home with his family!

We Love You!

2011-02-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

I just found these pictures from 2007. I think this is the day before we found out Benjamin was in my tummy! Where did these little children go? They're so grown up now! :(

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-20T14:26:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving all of my siblings came out here. We stayed in a hotel, which was a blast! We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.

Clift Christmas

2011-01-20T14:12:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas we got together with my parents and went out to dinner and then came back to my house to open up presents. It was a fun night!

Halloween 2010

2011-01-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

At the church trunk or treat we ate dinner, played games, rode ponies, and got candy! I also realize that I don't have many pictures of the big kids during this Halloween, and it's because they're big kids and ran off with friends the whole time! Alex was supposed to be some sort of dragon but didn't wear his mask, so he looks like a blue blob. Ben was supposed to match him, but decided to wear on old buzz lightyear costume instead (honestly I don't blame him). And Katelyn was a witch, which you can see her outfit on the pony, but without her hat, broom and shawl, so pretty much she just looks like she's wearing a skirt. And the picture of her with a sweatshirt was on actual Halloween passing out candy. She wasn't going trick or treating because it was Sunday, so she didn't feel the need to dress up.

Church Christmas Party

2011-01-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

Just trying to catch up a little bit on this blog. This was at the ward christmas party. They had a room set up for the kids to do crafts in. They then also dressed up in nativity clothes and sang a nativity song. But since I was in charge of it, I didn't get a picture of it. And I also just noticed that I put the date on there as 2011 instead of 2010. Oops.

Polar Express

2011-01-06T23:55:00.000-08:00

I took the kids for a ride on the Polar Express. It was so much fun! We wore pajamas, got hot chocolate, cookies, went to the North Pole, saw Santa, got a bell, and even had some dancing waiters! Hopefully we can do this every year!

Photo editing

2011-01-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

I discovered a photo editing website, and oh my, so fun! How cute is this?!

Benjamin's a photographer!

2011-01-06T23:26:00.000-08:00

Ben has loved taking my camera and going around the house taking pictures. It's so cute to watch him try to photograph his own face, or his cute toes. He also takes pictures of some of his favorite things at different angles, very methodically. If you look, anything that is yellow is some angle of his Little People bus. He's a funny guy. It's so interesting to watch him, and all of my kids, grow up and discover their own little personalities!

P.S. if you click on the picutre it will be bigger. (But please ignore the unvacuumed carpet, please!)

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-24T23:42:00.000-08:00

We have been so very blessed this year, so very busy, but so very blessed! We're busy homeschooling, horseback riding, doing archery, learning the alphabet, learning the piano, learning the flute, teaching piano, directing the music for a musical, working a bunch of transcribing jobs, working a lot of overtime and serving in our very busy and demanding callings at church. We are loving life, and can't help but see all of the many blessings around us.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Love,

The Johnson Family!

Corn maze date night

2010-12-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

We went to the world's largest corn maze in the dark for a super fun date night with our good friends, the Steers. We were so fast at the maze because of a bunch of lovely shortcuts that instead of finishing we turned around and went back to the beginning and did it all over again. Of course we had to sample some of the corn, and get dragged into the corn, we even took some time to take a little rest. It was such a blast, and a great double date!

More piano recital

2010-12-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

Couldn't figure out how to have two piacasa collages on one post, so here is the fun part of the recital. I love to have just fun recitals. It gets the kids used to playing in front of people in a totally relaxed and fun environment. They still seem to get nervous though! We played a version of the spoon and egg game with spoons and little balls that had spiders in them. Then we did a gunny sack race, and ended it with a really fun game of red light green light in the dark with glowsticks. (Didn't get a picture of that because I was the light switch person!) As always we had lots of yummy treats to munch on as we chatted. What a fun recital!

Halloween Piano Recital 2010

2010-12-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm aware that it is almost Christmas and I'm just getting this up. Life's a lot of fun, but a lot of busy!
I had 14/22 piano students at this recital. We held it at our ward building this year because even though I have a nice open floor plan, it's a little crowded with students and family members! This was a lot better, and hope to continue to have it at the church!

Circle Skirts

2010-11-21T21:48:00.001-08:00

My mom came across an idea for these circle skirts. You fold the fabric in quarters, cut along the fold and when you unfold it it is a complete circle skirt, no piecing anything together. So easy! So I had my dad cut me out a pattern for Katelyn and I got to work.

Pretty toile I added for fun. First I ruffled the toile by running a line done the whole length and I pulled the bobbin thread and ruffled it as evenly as I could. Then I sewed it on to the under part of her skirt. It was easy, and makes it so cute. However, the toile that I found that doesn't itch her (she is very, very picky about her fabric, shreds pretty easily, so I stopped adding it.)

I saw an idea on a blog that had a witch's hat appliqued onto a shirt and I just had to do it. I used some coordinating fabric and cut out a hat, sewed it on, so easy! I'm sure I should have used some sort of backing, but I like shortcuts!

The whole ensemble!

And of course a matching bow!

Since these pictures I have whipped out several skirts, probably at least 6. I haven't taken any pictures of them. Guess I should.

I just finished my last project for Katelyn and my cute niece Lily who is coming for Thanksgiving. I made them matching skirts, and matching applique turkey shirts, and of course matching bows. Stay tuned!

My 26th Birthday

2010-11-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

Seeing as it was my birthday not many pictures were taken:) Just the way I like it! My husband took the day off of work and helped out around the house. My mom came for lunch and took all of us to Olive Garden. It was so delicious, and so fun! Then we went shopping and then headed home so I could teach some piano lessons. After piano my mom and dad came over for cake! Yummy yum! And then cake was followed by more shopping:) My husband actually succeeded in surprising me with a present, so hard to do, somehow I always find out! He got me a charging cord for my camera! Wahoo!

Katelyn's 11th Birthday!

2010-11-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

See, no camera, but kind of a cool picture anyway.

Shaving cream and a razor! AAAAHhh!!

Twirly skirt from Grandma Clift.

Opening up her presents that she already knew what they all were. For her birthday week I took her out shopping with just us girls and we went to tons of stores, I gave her a budget and she went on a shopping spree. It was so much fun!

Ben's 3rd Birthday!

2010-11-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Ben with the cake he picked out. We got him a HUGE cake because they were having a special that was the same price as the smallest one, so being the gal I am that likes free stuff I got the bigger one!

We had so much cake that I decided last minute to invite our good friends over to help us eat it. It was a good cake!

I went to take Ben to ride the train for his birthday but it was closed! Luckily the Saturday before his birthday Grandma and Grandpa Clift came and took him to ride the train, so he wasn't too hurt. We rode on these little rides instead.

Ben is 3!!

Ben's presents! He got a new bike, Little People toys, trains, and of course clothes.
What a great birthday!!

Horseback Riding and Archery Lessons

2010-11-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Because my stinking blogger puts pictures on backwards and I don't feel like redoing it, we're going to start with the most recent pictures. Alex at archery, he hits bullseyes all the time, has good form, and just loves it.
He really wants to keep doing archery lessons until he can go to competitions. And bonus, if we ever are in a position where we have to hunt our food, Alex will be our guy! :)
Katelyn and her teacher. She is in love with her horse Sonny. She writes about him for school work, draws pictures of him for art. She even got some cute cowgirl boots just to ride him!
Katelyn's first day. Grooming the horse.

Walking the horse out. I rarely get to see Katelyn ride her horse because her lessons start at 9:30 and Alex's archery lessons are at 10:00, so we drop her off watch her for 10 minutes and then drive to Alex's lessons. I feel comfortable leaving Katelyn, but I don't feel comfortable leaving Alex in the middle of nowhere shooting arrows. At least with Katelyn there are a lot of other people around.

Alex's first day with the teacher helping him.

Good form Alex!

Carson City

2010-11-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

My parents were driving up to Carson City, NV to visit an old friend and like I tend to do my kids and I tagged along for the ride. (My husband was working)

We saw a cute little train museum and had to stop because Benjamin just adores trains. It was small, but Ben really enjoyed it. The bigger kids really wished we had gone to the Children's museum instead, and so did I.

We got to ride on a hand car, it went a lot faster than I was expecting, and the kids had a blast! (Pretty much the big kids' only highlight.)

On the way there we stopped because we were talking about the pretty river and Ben couldn't see it and really wanted to get out to see it, so we did. He's pretty much spoiled like that. I love this picture though, classic Grandpa Clift and Ben. Ben tags along with his grandpa wherever he goes, whatever he does. Two peas in a pod.

Cub Scouts

2010-11-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

When Alex turned 8 in June he joined the Cub Scouts, but they take off the summer months from their meetings, so this is of his first Pack meeting where all the different age groups meet together and they hand out awards, do ceremonies, and have a dessert.

Alex got a ton of awards he earned from Cub Scout day camp, and he also earned his Bobcat award and he graduated into the Wolf pack. He got to go up on stage for a ceremony and mom and dad got to paint his face the different symbols. He loves going every week to his activities. So proud of our Cub Scout!

Braces!

2010-11-05T13:52:00.001-07:00

As you can see Katelyn needed braces, pretty badly.

So we got her braces.

And now they're off! All the pain, and all the money was a small price to pay for that beautiful smile! :) She loves her teeth so much now, and she loves that no one makes fun of her anymore. (Aren't kids rude!)

We celebrated by going out to her favorite restaurant. They gave her a balloon with a package of all the goodies she couldn't eat with her braces on. She could possibly need braces a little later when all of her adult teeth come in, but she's wearing her retainer nightly, and she has a permanent retainer on her bottom teeth holding them in place. So our wallet is crossing its fingers we don't need them again!

Fall!

2010-11-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

I love Fall! Yes I know the first day of Fall was 2 months ago, but we've had a really busy and fun Fall so I haven't really blogged about it. I'm going to attempt to try and catch up a little bit.

First off I have been without a camera because my darling Benjamin thought it would be hillarious to cut the charging cord. I could have easily gone to Radio Shack and gotten another one, but it was just one of those things you never remember to get around to. So I used my phone's camera, which is actually not that bad during the day. Katelyn wearing her new fall skirt decorating stairs. It took me one day before I tore those down I couldn't stand all those little pumpkins being picked off and all over the stairs all of the time!

My new mirror, it was free from a friend.

Pumpkins from our garden! The fabric pumpkins I made, found the idea on a blog I follow, don't remember which one. Sorry.

Alex.

I made the 2 pillow cases in the back all by myself!

Happy Fall!

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

2010-10-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

Benjamin is 3! He is into anything trains. He is a happy boy. He loves to help, and likes to act like a big boy. If I ever slip and call him my cute little baby, he says, "I not baby! I big boy!" He loves to ride his bike, and he tries really hard to keep up with whatever his big brother and sister are doing! He is a little smarty, he knows his ABC's and knows most of the sounds of all the letters in the alphabet. He loves to sing and is spot on with his pitch! Benjamin keeps us all laughing. We are so happy he is a part of our family! We love you Ben!!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!!

2010-10-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

Our little Katelyn turned 11 today! 11! She got a lot of new clothes and shoes for her birthday(thank you very much growth spurt!) and she also got....shaving cream and a razor! Gasp!! When did she grow up, we tell her all the time she's not allowed to!

Katelyn is a super sweet, loving, and caring young lady. She is great at noticing all of the small things. She can tell when I am having a bad day and then will get me a drink, give me a little rub. And oh her rubs are so great! She is so helpful around the house. She is great at doing her chores, and she's learning to cook meals.

Katelyn loves art, and loves fashion. She is a wonderful musician and plays the piano so beautifully! We are so lucky and blessed to have Katelyn in our family! We love you!!!!

She's too grown up.

2010-09-23T00:15:00.001-07:00

Me to husband: What should we do when we get home?
Almost 11-year old daughter pipes in: I know, why don't you guys make a baby!

Oy vay!

Homeschool year 2010-2011

2010-09-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Today is our first day! I woke up early and made them a delicious breakfast, country potatoes, bacon, and eggs with juice.

We start off our day with devotional where they read scriptures (well you know those church books with pictures that summarize the scriptures for kids), write in a journal, and then we sing a church song that goes along with what they read.

Then we do an hour of math. Well today, we did 50 minutes of math becuase they got their whole lesson and problems done super fast! Now they are reading and practicing handwriting for a half an hour and then we will take a break.

After break we will do an hour of language arts: spelling, more reading, writing, etc. Then an hour of history. (We will do history one day, science the next, history, science. And on fridays we will do their music lesson and art. And that's it! We will be done with our whole day of school before 1:00!

Benjamin started homeschool today too. He woke up and was so excited. He got dressed and ran upstairs. He has his own little desk, and I have all sorts of little preschool activities for him to do throughout the day.

some cute comments from today:

Mom: You are being such a good boy at school, do you want a sticker?

Ben: I not at school, I at home!

Mom: You're right, but you're at homeschool!

and....

Mom: Make sure you listen to me because I'm your teacher!

Ben: You not my teacher! You mom!

and...

during our break Ben asked to take off his clothes. (He likes to run around the house in his underwear, the minute he gets home his clothes are off...)

Mom: Ben, you can't be naked at school!

Ben: PUHLEASE!! Yes be naked!

and now he's running around downstairs naked (okay, he's not technically naked he has on his underwear), screaming, laughing and playing with bubba and sissy for their break.

Preschool

2010-08-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

Homeschool is about to start up again on September 7, you know after Labor day when everybody "used" to start school. Benjamin is another year older, and another year smarter. He also LOVES to do what his big brother and sister are doing. So this year when I was buying all of the big kids' school supplies I bought one of everything for Benjamin too (level appropriate of course). I'm really hoping that this will help our year run a lot more smoothly.

I also am getting ready a bunch of curriculum for Benjamin to do. I cut out huge ABC's and posted them along the border of his room. (It was after that project that I really really wish I could have a Cricut die cut machine) I made him flash cards, and I am making him file folder games. I am also printing out and laminating alphabet activities for tracing and matching, a letter a week is the goal. This really great website http://confessionofahomeschooler.blogspot.com has tons of printables for preschoolers. He is so excited to start school with his big brother and sister.

I can't believe he's almost 3! He's fully potty trained (except for at night-even his naps are all dry), he can say all of his ABC's, put on his own shoes, pick out an outfit and get dressed by himself, brush his own teeth, the list goes on! He's just growing up too fast!

Because I know you're anxiously waiting...

2010-08-18T10:44:00.001-07:00

More potty training updates! No accidents in over a week!! Not even one! Not even at the stores, or while he's playing, or even at church! He even has gone 4 nights waking up completely dry, and all of his naps have been completely dry! Go Ben!!

Father and Sons Campout

2010-08-18T10:08:00.001-07:00

Every year our church has a father and sons campout, usually my dad's campout is one week, and then our campout is another week so they can go to both if they want. But this year it was the same weekend, so my boys went with my dad for a grandpa, dad, and sons campout. They had a blast!

My boys really love their grandpa!

(I promise Joel was there, he just took all the pictures! So dad, if you took any of him and his sons send them on over!)

Alex's baptism!

2010-08-07T23:33:00.001-07:00

Alex got baptized this year. It was such a great day, he was so happy and excited all day long. I made this cake for him. My friend Nikki told me about someone that did it and encouraged me to go for it. I have never made a cake that wasn't in a pan or in cupcakes. She even came with me to the store at 8:45 at night so we could get what I needed before Michael's closed. I was pretty pleased with my "first cake."

This is Alex's best friend Reese. Don't tell him I told you, but I really hope that they get married and we can frame this picture for display at their wedding reception. :)

We had family come from out of town, and we had so much visiting with them! From the left is Alex's grandma Lynda (Joel's mom), Brad (Joel's brother), Great Grandpa Mills, Alex and great grandma Loretta! Not standing here because he probably ducked out of the way is Uncle Ryan. Thanks for coming!

I took their picture as they were looking into the sun. Not a great idea.

Right before Alex got baptized by his daddy.

Good looking guys!

My boys before the baptism! What a great day! We're proud of you Alex and all of the great choices you are making in life. I am also so proud of how much you know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are such a great and amazing guy! We love you!!!!

Potty training update

2010-08-07T23:14:00.001-07:00

I'll have you all know that Ben is recovering very quickly, it can still be sore when he touches it in the right place, but he's doing well.

I thought we were doomed and that his little accident would set us back months. Well, I'm afraid to say this out loud, but I think I was wrong! The very next day he said, "I need go pee pee in the potty!" So we ran in and he sat down (I think standing is definitely out of the question for a long while) and he did. He did a couple more times that day. Then we went out to the store and he got to pick out underwear. He played with play dough that I had bought and got distracted and peed in his underwear when we got home. But I think it helped him to learn.

Because the next day he went several times in the potty!

And then the next day when we were out to lunch with grandma he was wearing a diaper (because I didn't want to stress out about it) and he said he had to go. We ran to the toilet and sure enough diaper was dry and he went. Then at grandma and grandpas he went in their little kid potty a couple of times! (awesome grandparents! Who's parent's that don't have little kids anymore actually have a little kid potty in their house, and no it wasn't any of ours when we were growing up!)

So today I took him to the store and we bought Pull Ups for night time and naps, and he saw this toilet seat cover and wanted it. It is so awesome, I was just thinking the day before how someone should really invent a toilet seat for kids that can fold up and fit in a bag for when we're out at restaurants and stores. And there it was the very next day. Today he has gone pee pee several times without being asked, had no accidents, and even went poo poo in the toilet. I'm amazed at how quickly he seems to be getting this. PLEASE cross your fingers that he keeps up with it! This morning after our little trip to the store I took him to ride the train. He definitely deserved it. He's a little too sneaky though because he asks for a train ride every time he goes, maybe once a week. We'll see. And might I add, thank you for reading a whole blog post about body waste, you're awesome!

Recent family picture

2010-08-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you can really say that February was recent, but it's the most recent one we've got! I am looking at my hair then and now, and I think I want to go get a haircut monday, it is just not doing anything cute anymore!

My kids!

2010-08-07T22:54:00.001-07:00

One of the fun things we got to do this summer was go to Nevada for a family reunion on my dad's side. There were probably at least 100 people there, and it was great to see cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents that we hadn't seen in a while!

It would have been better if this little cutie wasn't sick and I didn't have to keep him away from everybody. It's a good thing he's cute:)

But I have an awesome cousin Sarah that offered to take pictures of my kids. She got some really cute ones of the little guy, I just love how his eyes pop.

But my two older ones were just not cooperating with those cameras. We only had about 2 minutes to get some pictures because there was a fun activity starting. But we got some good ones in! Now if only I had done Alex's hair... :)

Katelyn was a great help during this camping trip, such a trooper. And she had lots of fun!

Can't believe she's almost 11.

Cute of the boys, poor Kate is squinting.

Thanks for the fun time and great memories Clift family! See you in a couple years!

Potty training

2010-08-04T21:10:00.001-07:00

First let me say that I haven't posted much because my perfect little angel 2 year old thought it would be fun to cut the charging cord of our new camera. So until I get myself to radio shack I will be half cameraless (I have a half way okay one on my phone for super cute moments).

Okay, potty training. Ben couldn't care less. I bribe the guy, I give the guy stickers, candy, offer toy trains, and lately I have slumped to offering him a ride on a train at the Nut Tree. He seemed like the train ride would be all right with him. Until it came down to it.

Mom: Ben, do you want to go pee pee on the potty?

Ben: No.

Mom: I'll take you for a train ride.

Ben: Go on train ride right now?

Mom: If you go on the potty.

Ben: I no go on train ride.

So that's pretty much how our conversations go. He cries and whines when we try to let him go without a diaper. He insists that he NEEDS a diaper. And if he does run around in the buff when it's time for him to go poo poo or pee pee he comes and finds me and insists that I put a diaper on him so he can go. I beg and plead with him to use the toilet and he just doesn't want to go!! Stubborn little guy. (I can hear my mom saying, "couldn't happen to a nicer person" right about now:)

Something wonderful happened today. Katelyn got Benjamin in cute little boxers, and he loved it. He put his little stuffed animal in boxers, and they hung out together. Ben went pee pee on the potty several times today. He knew when he had to go and he ran. It was his first time going pee pee standing up. Usually I have him sit, but he wanted to stand, and hey beggers can't be choosers.

WARNING: a little too much information below.

So after about his 5th trip to the potty he closed the toilet lid. Not gently. He slammed it shut. But he. forgot. to. move. his. penis. out. of. the. way.

I came running when I heard his awful scream to find blood and a very sad little 2 year old.

Now before you freak out it was just a little cut, but it was both sides, and it was swollen and bruised. We called the doctor and they told us to come in to the ER just to be safe. So we did. Everything is going to be fine. Nothing major happened thank goodness. But I'm pretty sure that this is going to damper our potty training success. That's just what he needed another excuse to not go in the potty:)

Water

2010-06-23T12:40:00.001-07:00

Alex got himself a drink of water and noticed that it was running low so he took it out of the refrigerator and started filling it up without being asked. I thought that I would blog about this because it is so rare that any male notices something and does it right away:)

Father's Day

2010-06-20T22:25:00.001-07:00

Today for Father's Day the kids made a gift certificate for "one romantic candlelight dinner for two." They made menus, made salad fresh from the garden, cooked potatoes fresh from the garden (okay I helped them cook all the hot things but they organized it), hot dogs and Dinty Moore stew from the can. They got all dressed up in waiter outfits and made us tickets for our reservation.

Then they started a "jacuzzi" hot tub for us (bath tub). After the hot tub they came in and gave us foot rubs. I'm not quite sure how I got treated so well for Father's Day, but I liked it. They were so thoughtful and creative. They even cleaned up some of the dishes after dinner.

I'm pretty sure that we have some of the greatest kids in the world:)

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband who is always there for me, my rock. I love how all you have to do is hug me and all my worries go away. I'm so proud of you and all of the hard work you do for our family. You are such a fun dad, and you are such a wonderful husband! I love you so much!!

And Happy Father's Day to my dad. Thanks for always being there to help us fix things around the house. Thanks for your awesome ice cream, for convincing us to buy an ice cream maker, and thanks for your delicious cookies and for teaching me to make them so that I can eat them whenever I want. Thanks for playing with my 2 year old so I can have a break because for some reason he behaves the best when he's with you! Thanks for being such a great example of what a father should be! We love you!!

And Happy Mother's Day to my mom, because I don't think that I did a post because I think I forgot. Thanks for your great example. I try every day to be as great as a mom as you were. You did so much for us, and you were always there for us. Thanks for teaching me how to sew, sorry it took me until I was grown to want to learn:) Thanks for playing with all my babies, and thanks for taking Ben for me when you can tell I need a break. Thanks for listening on the phone when all I do is whine, you always make me feel better!! We love you!!

And thanks to Kristin for doing a blog post for father's day so that I could remember to do one too!!

Happy Birthday Alex!!

2010-06-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

6 months old

almost 8 years old!!

Should have posted this yesterday but we were so busy having so much fun celebrating Alex's 8th birthday! He is so excited to go to his first cubscout meeting tonight and wore his new uniform last night until right before bed. He also can't wait until his baptism next month.

Alex is a really great, loving, helpful, fun guy. I am so lucky to have him as my son! Love you Alex!!!

NIGHT 7!

2010-06-13T23:53:00.001-07:00

Huge success!!

Thanks to grandpa Clift our bunk bed is fixed. So today Joel put it together. Benjamin was soooo excited to help daddy. He stayed with him the whole time. He got a screwdriver and was screwing in screws, and learning names of tools. So cute.

Then when the bed was finished he was saying it was "my bunk bed," and for those of you who know him well you might be shocked that he wasn't saying "baby's bunk bed." He tried to claim the top bunk, but once I put his Thomas the Train sheets on the bottom he was on board. Tonight Alex laid in the bottom bunk with Benjamin.

I went into the room to give Ben a bottle, he held my hand while I sang him a song. Then I said I would be right back. By the time I got back he was asleep cuddling Alex.

I must admit that "all you people" might actually be on to something. I actually stuck with this whole bed thing for a week and it has gotten easier and easier. However, I want to add that I have always had a hard time leaving him in his bed crying. I can just see him telling me when he's older that he has to take sleeping pills because he has abondonment issues from when he was 2. So, I made sure this was never a cry thing, it was an exciting thing. I stayed with him to comfort him, and left a little earlier every night.

Now I just need to keep up with it. 21 days I heard is how long you do something before it's actually a habit. But don't worry I won't blog for 14 more days.

Thanks for keeping me motivated to make this milestone!

Cupcakes

2010-06-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

This was a mini cupcake.

This was a big cupcake.

I got this idea from my awesome friend Nikki. You divide your white cake mix batter into however many colors you want. I did three: orange, blue, and green. Add food coloring until you like it. Then you take a spoonful from each color and layer into your cupcakes. When the kids bite into it they will see a burst of color. It was so much fun, and so much easier than I thought!

Night 6

2010-06-13T22:08:00.001-07:00

Success! It was a crazy busy day, Alex's birthday party, a baptism, and a wedding. I worked nonstop all day long on saturday! When we got home, Joel, without being asked, took Benjamin into his room and put him to bed so I could get a break! It was wonderful! He had to stay with him for a while, but Joel had a lot of fun singing a bunch of primary songs with all three kids.

Ben woke up around 6 a.m. but then went back to sleep and woke up after 8. Ahhhh. Joel was already gone for church for his first Bishopric's counsel meeting and I got all the kids ready for church by myself. And I'm guessing that it was extra blessings, but this sunday morning was much easier than we've had in a while. I'm going to go with blessing, not that for some reason maybe dad makes it a crazier morning. :)

Day 5

2010-06-11T23:13:00.001-07:00

I was off at a friend's house helping her do a little clean up and Ben fell asleep cuddling Katelyn. Well they have a friend over so Ben is in our bed:( We'll try again tomorrow night.

Day 4--I guess I should say Night 4

2010-06-10T20:59:00.001-07:00

Ben didn't get a nap today because by the time guests left there wasn't enough time before piano students started coming. So he was super cranky, and bossy, and demanding. After dinner he took a bath and then we went to his bed and we laid down. He snuggled me while I sang to him and he fell asleep. This might actually be working!

day 3

2010-06-09T22:53:00.001-07:00

Ben is asleep on his own bed. No fits! I held his hand for a minute and then sat at the end of his bed and sang primary songs as he fell asleep. And I might add there was no bottle tonight either!!

Hard worker

2010-06-08T19:49:00.003-07:00

I heard some banging around so I went to investigate. Ben got a knife and crawled under his little bike to "fix" it. (It's not broken)

I think he learned this from watching and helping Daddy and Grandpa Clift underneath our van changing the brakes. I guess his braking needs a little work! :)

Day 2

2010-06-08T19:49:00.001-07:00

I think I'm going to have to count this day as a failure. I didn't give Ben a nap because I have friends coming over tonight and I want him to sleep. While the kids and I did a little school work this evening Joel took Ben into his room and they watched Polar Express and Ben fell asleep. Sigh.

I think I will move him to his bed though, so maybe this could be a partial count?

Sleeping

2010-06-07T22:38:00.001-07:00

I think I will have more accountability if I blog about it. Ben fell asleep in his own room. Night one! (Okay he's done this before but it's always such a battle I always give up after night three.)

So my goal is one whole week and all you people out there say that that should be enough. He fell asleep in his sister's bed but I was holding his hand while he fell asleep. I put him down to bed and walked away. He came into me saying he wanted mom's bed and I brought him back in. I didn't even have to do any yelling and there wasn't any screaming on his part. Then I went back to my room. After I did a load of laundry and went to my bed he started crying a scared cry. His brother and sister had both fallen asleep. So I sat next to his bed and held his hand until he fell asleep.

I think I probably shouldn't have held his hand, but my goal is to be in there less and less every night. I am hoping I am strong enough to not turn this into a habit.

So now I am off to bed! Nighty night! There's no Ben in my bed!

Garden pictures

2010-06-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

These are the potatoes. Potatoes were an experiment, and so far so good. Next year I will have to plant them more in the back because they grow so big they take away sunlight from the other plants.

Most of the garden. We have another section of our backyard that we are dedicating to the pumpkins. But some mole or something dug up the giant pumpkins that we planted. So this next weekend we have to plant again. We have pumpkins growing up in a random spot where we threw all the dead pumpkin plants at the end of last year. And they are growing really well. So I think I will leave them.
The plant in the front is squash, and a little plant behind it is the little strawberry plant. It was behind the potatoes, but it was dying so I moved it and it is coming back to life.

The spikey plants are the artichokes. They look good. No fruit or blossoms yet. This is another experiment. We have no idea what we're doing, or what it will look like. But so far so good.

Lettuce, carrots, and amongst the carrots is lettuce from last year. Makes for a delicious salad. Just had another one for dinner. I'm hoping this garden will help me to lose some post-nursing weight:)

Clock

2010-06-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

I have been on a hunt for a clock that I love to go in this spot above my couch. (Speaking of the couch, I made those pillowcase covers. It was totally easy. And one of these days I will go back to the fabric store and buy a bunch of different fabrics so I can change up the look in my front room all year long!) While I'm teaching I always have to look at my phone to know what time it is. I wanted a huge clock here to take up most the wall. But they were all ridiculously expensive.

While shopping at Deseret Book getting new scriptures for Alex because he is turning 8, I found this clock, and loved it. It was on sale. And I love this saying! Families are Forever!!

Pizza

2010-06-06T17:07:00.001-07:00

I've been following some fun food blogs, so I thought I would do a little dinner that we love and that is so easy to do. We do this for those nights that I teach until 6:00 and there's not much time before the kids start going through the cupboards for snacks so I better hurry and feed them dinner.

I'm pretty sure the directions to making homemade bagel pizzas are self explanatory! But just in case we just tried Bagel Thins, and really loved them. Usually we would do english muffins or french bread. I guess you could be fancy and make your own dough, but I'm not that fancy at this stage in my life.

You spread on a little spaghetti sauce. ( I usually have half a jar in my fridge from spaghetti the night before.) you could add spices if you want, but I don't.

Sprinkle mozzerella cheese, or whatever cheese you like.

Put on your toppings. Sometimes it's just cheese. This time I thought ahead and bought pepporoni.

Since there's no cooking of the dough, I put it in the broiler for about 5 minutes until the cheese is all bubbly delicous and golden brown.

The pizza was gone before I had a chance to take a picture. But here's what's left!

Church

2010-06-06T14:16:00.001-07:00

Today Joel was called to be Elder's Quorum President. We're excited, and nervous, and I'm so proud of him! It was nice knowing you Joel! :)

Garden

2010-06-06T14:15:00.001-07:00

We planted a garden again this year. We are growing pumpkins, squash, peas, carrots, lettuce, potatoes and artichokes. It is so great having our own garden.

We've had a couple of different plants pop up from last year. So now we have two different types of lettuce, and we will have have two different types of pumpkins!

Today for lunch I wanted a salad. I didn't have any lettuce in our fridge and since it's sunday I won't go to the store. But now I will never have to go to the store because our lettuce is delicious and I just sent Katelyn out to pick me a couple of leaves. I poured on some homemade ranch, and yummy! I'll post some pictures soon. Did you know that when you grow your own lettuce you don't pluck the whole head of lettuce? You can just pick off some of the leaves and it will grow right back!

Homeschool

2010-05-26T08:29:00.001-07:00

Just thought I'd "brag" for a little bit, Alex was tested and he started off the year testing at 2nd grade level (which is what he is), now at almost the end of the year he is testing 4th grade level! Great job Alex! He is so excited to "skip" 3rd grade!

Projects

2010-05-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

I've had this sticker sitting on top of our entertainment center since probably September, and I finally found a scrap piece of wood, painted it with some light blue that I got for really cheap in clearance, put on the sticker, and hung it with some ribbon I found in my drawer. Katelyn took down all of her boxes in her closet and set up all of her porcelain dolls.

Our Wal-Mart store was getting rid of their fabric section so the striped fabric was on crazy clearance and Katelyn wanted it for her room. I bought what I thought was enough (couldn't go home and measure because it might not be there when we got back). I measured and realized I didn't have quite enough but thought maybe I could make it work. No, it didn't work. So I went to JoAnn's Fabric store and bought a contrasting fabric to let it reach the windowsill. I am so glad I didn't have enough striped because I think the green really makes the curtains!

I've had these shelves sitting in Katelyn's closet for over 2 years. They were black and used to be in my room in our old house, but I changed my room's colors, and it didn't work anymore. So finally with some more cheap green paint, and the same cheap blue paint I got around to painting her shelves. Just perfect for all her little nick nacks. Now all we need is to get Alex out of her room, and it will look great. (And poor Alex won't be surrounded by girly stuff!)

Nightstand

2010-05-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

Before

After!

I think it will look better centered, but then there wouldn't be room for my basket full of diapers and wipes:)

I'm tired of my room being the catch-all room. So slowly I have been trying to make it a nice place to go at the end of the day.

So, I took an old nightstand that we got from Joel's grandpa. It is a really nice and sturdy nightstand, but it just didn't go in the room. I got some paint in the clearance at Lowe's for $2.50, painted some of Katelyn's things with it and decided I liked it a lot. So I bought some antiquing glaze (the blue is a pretty light blue, but without the glazing the nightstand looked like it belonged in Katelyn's room, not mine.) and I went to work. I'm pretty proud of myself because instead of taking shortcuts like I normally do, I did all the steps, primer, paint, paint, glaze, and gloss. And I bought some new handles (thanks to my mom who went with me and stood there as I looked through probably every single handle they had until we found one that would work). I really love it a lot!

Empty Laundry Baskets

2010-05-24T12:32:00.001-07:00

Laundry is one of those awful chores that just never goes away! This is one of the first times in a long time that I can remember ALL of my laundry baskets being empty at once! I am enjoying this right now. But in about 20 minutes the dryer is going to beep and it will be no longer. But except for the load in the washer and dryer ALL of the laundry is cleaned, folded, and put away. WooHoo!!

Baptism

2010-05-23T15:57:00.001-07:00

For some reason I had July 11 in my head for Alex's baptism date, but it is actually July 10. I changed it on the post, but I thought I would make a new post. Thanks! Hope to see you there!