Chelsea put in her 2 weeks yesterday. UGH! Now I have to find someone new who I feel comfortable bringing into my house, driving my car and especially taking care of my kids. I hate trying to find someone new. If anyone knows of someone fabulous let me know.

I always thought finding the right person would be the hardest part and I'll admit it took me a good while and I had to kiss a lot of frogs to find my prince. But now I know better I've learned over the last 9 years how hard marriage can be and what real love is.

All of our disagreements and trials and hard times have brought us closer together. I can't imagine a day in my life without Todd there. Who would make me laugh? Who would I clean up after? Who would put up with all my crazy? Thank goodness we will be together forever. I love you so much Todd.

I am the luckiest girl ever. This guy rocks!!!

2004
Luke's first ChristmasJan (My MIL) holding Carson and Luke
and Tayson (missing his pants of course) in the background


2006
Claire's first Christmas

soon to come....Sophie's First Christmas

I mailed out lots of cards yesterday but I didn't put a letter in them because my entire life is online for your reading pleasure.


So here are the highlights of 2008 for the Johnson Family:


Todd got a new job with Perficient a few months ago as Lead Technical Consultant. He is either traveling or working from home which is working out well so far since he's been at home more than on the road. It's the perfect job for him since he loves change and will be working with different companies, teams and projects every few months. He also did 2 triathlons this past summer.


I changed jobs at Nu Skin and am now the Regional Director of Web Marketing and I LOVE it! It's fast paced, fun and I work with great people. I had a baby last summer, went on a diet, started a goal to run in a 5K every month and am now training for the Moab half marathon in March (what in the world...whose big idea was that!?!)


Tayson is 6 and is in 1st grade and having a hard time behaving in school but he seems to be doing well academically and he likes school. (He can even spell school!) He loves to play outside with his friends but now that it's cold he can usually be found playing "Spore" on the computer.


Luke is 4 and goes to preschool. He loves to do homework, can even read simple books (the Sam at Bat type). He might not be a clone of Todd like Tayson but he has the same calm personality and those big brown eyes that I love so much.


Claire is 2 - need I say more? This year Claire has managed to destroy most of our board books and loves to tear magazines into tiny shreds while hiding under her bed (she's my little hamster). She loves princesses, butterflies, Dora and carries her purse everywhere. Every time she wets her diaper she feels the need to take it off herself wherever she is and then while she's at it takes off the rest of her clothes. We find her naked and her clothes and dirty diapers throughout the house on a regular basis. It's so annoying.


Sophie is 5 months old. She is such a good baby. She sleeps great and eats great and rarely cries. When she wants something she usually yells at us instead of crying. It's so cute! She loves to cuddle and smile and roll. She's getting good at sitting up and loves to swim when she's on her tummy.


We have been so blessed this year and are so grateful for our family and friends. I can only hope that 2009 brings as much fun into our lives.

Today Todd asked me to go by the pet store on my way home to pick up 16 small crickets. I'm not a big fan of purchasing something alive for food but I did it anyways. The funny part to me is how different a trip to the pet store is for Todd and I.....

Two weeks ago Todd went to the pet store to pick up 16 small crickets and when I was online banking I noticed the bill was $58....HOLY COW that lizard is livin' large if he's eating for that price! Of course I found out that the high price was due to the fact that Todd can't leave the pet store without something for his fish tank. I bet he took his time and looked around and thought about things he would come back to get next time.

On the other hand, my trip was as fast as I could make it. It stank so bad in there and there was nothing I wanted there. My trip to the pet store for 16 small crickets cost $1.07.

New Christmas Outfits
Luke, Claire, Tayson and Sophie

Sadly the best picture was of them making "silly faces"Even Sophie is sticking out her tongue!


Too cute to leave off...


Schultz Christmas:
We always get together with my family before some of us leave to have Christmas dinner and open presents. The kids loved it and were extremely spoiled. We had the kids open most of our presents too so that we wouldn't have to pack them down and back to Cali. We got Tayson a Nintendo DS and Luke a Leapster 2 (and we hope this will make the long drive a little better).

Luke with his Leapster

Claire got the talking princess vanity from my parents.
This morning she didn't come out of her room because she was busy making herself beautiful with her plastic makeup!

Tayson with his DS. He was so excited and didn't want to wait for it to charge.


Let it snow

This morning we woke up to all of this BEAUTIFUL snow.

Christmas is here!!!

Last Friday Luke was complaining about having something in his eye. He would rub it then stop so it seemed like things were normal.


Then on Saturday he went to a soccer game with my parents and they noticed something in his eye but couldn't get it out and his eye was watering like crazy. Then he seemed fine again.


On Sunday he was being a total pill and the light, noises and his siblings were all making him cranky. So we thought he must have had a headache (which he gets frequently) and gave him some Tylenol and had him rest for a half hour. It helped a lot so we figured he was better. Then Sunday night right before bed we noticed something BIG in his eye. We tried holding him down and getting it out but nothing worked.


So on Monday we made an appointment with the doctor. They tried getting it out with a q-tip but it wasn't working so they gave him numbing drops and then the doc went to town with metal tweezers and got it out. Somehow he didn't scratch Luke's eye or anything.

it's about 1 cm by 1 cm
(it's taped on a piece of paper so I outlined it)

I thought I would flashback to the last time I went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was in 2002 right after Tayson was born. I remember it was freezing and we did a quick walk through, went in to see a concert in the Tabernacle and only stayed for a few minutes because Tayson was his normal crazy self. He might look adorable but he was the hardest baby!!!

Last night for YW we took the youth to SLC to see the lights at Temple Square. We left at 6:00 and it took us FOREVER to find a place to park. It was really, really cold and there were about 100 other youth groups there last night so it was really crowded with a bunch of kids the same age. There were only 3 leaders so it was stressful trying to keep an eye on all the girls, and I had to drive in my car without another adult to talk to so I had to listen to crazy singing the whole time. But even with all that...it was fun and I do LOVE the lights at Temple Square.

My friend Jill set a goal to run a 5K every month - what an inspiration!!! Sounds like fun to me I'm always up for a new challenge. I started in October with the NieNie 5K. Did the "Earn your Turkey" run on Thanksgiving. And for this month the Nutcracker 5K. It was so much fun!

I'll admit I stressed about making a tutu. And since I have no crafty bones in my body it took quite a bit longer than it did on the youtube video I watched. But I did it and now I have a tutu for years to come.

My Workout Buddies

I thought I'd add this one just for fun

I got this via e-mail but figured I'd rather post my answers here.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend
4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime after we get back from California and before I go back to work.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes but sparingly....it is way too rich!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My music box that my Grandpa Giboney made me. It is still up on a shelf in my bedroom.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Grandparents
8. Easiest person to buy for? Todd or the kids
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes the willow tree version
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both. I try to always send Christmas cards and last year I posted on my blog and sent an email.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? This is a hard one....but I'm going to have to go with the first Christmas we were married (we'd been married 4 days by Christmas) and Todd got me these crazy shoe slippers from a kiosk at the mall. Knowing I would never wear them I gave them to Timmy as soon as we got home from our honeymoon. I'm such a jerk!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation, Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, Elf....anything except "The night they saved Christmas" (just kidding Todd)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December (sometimes the week before Christmas I'm sooooooo bad)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? white elephant gifts for sure
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? chocolate covered pretzels and homemade Carmel's (from my MIL)
16. Lights on the tree? Yes
17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Of course...I know the song!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? We open presents the week before Christmas with my family then one present on Christmas Eve (jammies of course), then the rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? When my kids are greedy instead of grateful for all they have.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? No theme - just lots of crazy ornaments. We go for the good old Charlie Brown tree
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey or Ham with all the fixin's
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A running skirt

Grandpa Giboney and I
(nice hair!)

While I'm talking about Christmas I'll put up our Christmas wish list for our families:

Tayson: Nintendo DS games, anything Star Wars, Spiderman, clothes (size 7), jammies, books, cars, he's pretty easy going.

Luke: Leapster 2 games, Star Wars, Hulk, Superman, clothes (size 5), pre-school workbooks or books, puzzles

Claire: the more girlie the better....purse, dress up clothes, lip gloss, plastic jewelry, barbies, dolls, clothes (size 3)

Sophie: anything...she hasn't asked for anything specific at this point :)

Kathy: running skirt, winter running tops (white), gift cards, shoes, iPod shuffle, nice black or chocolate brown dress coat

Todd: Griddle (that cooks grilled cheese evenly), Firefly (on blue ray), a blue fish that will stay alive in our fish tank for more than a week,

In case you were wondering.....the results are in and posted here.

Can you believe it .... I didn't take one picture all day!?!

I started the day with the "Earn Your Turkey" 4 mile race and the weather was great this year. Only Danny and I ran so it was pretty low key. I was really excited with my time though (31:45)- I finished faster than last year. And I was really excited that my mom and dad came to cheer us on. There isn't much better than coming to the finish and hearing my mom's whistle and her loud yelling. It definitely gives me the added energy to sprint it in.

Then I came home and started cooking. I was in charge of the ham and the appetizers. Then we went to my parent's house to hang out and for dinner. Dinner was delicious and I ate way too much. The kids got hungry before we were ready to eat so we fed all of them then sent them downstairs to play. Fantastic! I actually got to enjoy my food and spend time talking to my family. It was so fun.

Then the boys played ping pong. We played a board game. We brought the kids over here for a movie and playtime and then all the boys went back over to my parents for all night game night (Call of Duty 5). And I am at home with 7 kids all asleep by 9:00 (since all the 6 year old cousins wanted a slumber party).

It was a GREAT turkey day! I am so thankful for my blessings - my family, my health, my many temporal blessings and above all for the knowledge that I am a child of God.

I hope you all had a great thanksgiving too!!!

Last year was our big Thanksgiving with everyone here except Mark of course (but he'll be back from his mission next year ... yippee!).

The last few nights Sophie has woken up to eat in the middle of the night. I realize this is not uncommon for a 4 month old - but she has been sleeping through the night since about 5 weeks so it's kind of a big deal to me and I really don't like getting up. So I thought maybe it was time to add in a little extra meal before bed. Tonight Sophie had some yummy rice cereal and I think she did well. She actually reminded me of Luke's first time eating (which is a very good sign he was a super eater).

Now I just hope she sleeps good tonight!!!

Last week I saw an article on my MSN homepage about how to NOT turn into your mother. Are you kidding me? There is no-one I would rather turn into than my mom. She is absolutely amazing.

I have a bad head cold and felt horrible yesterday. So the first thing I did when we got to my parent's house for Sunday dinner was ask my mom to take care of me. She of course got straight to work - made me fenugreek tea, rubbed all my points, popped my achy neck and back and made sure I didn't have to deal with my kids the rest of the night.

Then when I went home last night I took the girls and Todd was following a few minutes later with the boys. Claire let herself out of the back door and when she closed it she managed to get her hand closed in the door (she pushed the fancy button to close the door and didn't get her hand moved in time - OUCH). She was on the opposite side of the van so by the time she screamed I had to run around the van holding Sophie in my arms, pull open the door, sweep her into my arms and carry them both inside (using my super powers that mom's get when they are scared for their kids). I set Sophie in her bumbo (luckily it was just sitting right there on the table so it took all of 0.5 seconds) grabbed Claire a bag of ice and called my mom. In near hysterics I just said "Mom. Claire shut her hand in the door come over." Then I hung up the phone and just held my sweet baby with ice on her hand to calm her down. Todd was there 2 minutes later and then my mom showed up right behind him. He hurried and took care of the kids and my mom checked Claire's hand. Luckily, Claire's little hand is almost all cartilage so everything OK and nothing was broken. We slathered it with Arnica, covered it up and put Claire to bed.

Then this morning when I came out of my room from getting ready I saw my mom's coat hanging on the stair rail so I went downstairs to find her. She had already cleaned the boys room (not a small task since they are boys), picked up all the trash out of the basement and put it in a nice little pile, started a load of wash, folded a load of wash (you know the last one that never quite makes it out of the dryer - for me it's always towels), pulled out the kitchen trash to take outside and was planning on taking the trash can out to the street for trash day (I beat her to it though), all after checking Claire's hand. She really is amazing and can do it all. Her super powers don't turn on only in times of need like mine. She has them permanently. I hope I can earn mine too!!!

So today (and everyday) I am so thankful for my mom. I am so glad that she lives less than a half-mile away. I love that she rides her bike over to my house just to stop by and check on us.

Thanks mom. I love you!

p.s. isn't she the cutest mom????

I don't have a lot of childhood memories of Thanksgiving. We never really went anywhere because we lived too far away to go anywhere for a weekend. I spent almost every Thanksgiving when I was at BYU in Provo or at my roomies houses. But then when my parents moved out to Utah everything changed with the holiday. It is now my favorite of all the holidays.

What's not to like? 2 days off work, family, lots of food, and no presents to be bought. I LOVE it. The best part of the holiday for me is that it's one of the few times my entire family gets together.

For several years we went up to Spokane to my grandpa's house. The funniest part is that we would NEVER leave the house and all the girls go stir crazy. The boys would all bring their computers and set them up in grandpa's basement and play games all night long.

Some of our family traditions are: all night game nights (as many as the boys can get away with), family volleyball, shopping or a movie for Emily's b-day, and now the turkey trot (hopefully we can make this one a tradition - last year was soooo much fun!)

First let me just say my hubby ROCKS!!! For the last few weeks I haven't left work by 5:00 once. I've just been really since busy since I got my new job. And every night when I get home he or Timmy is holding Sophie and takin' care of business. He hasn't complained once. Did I mention he rocks?

So tonight at 5:45 when I was leaving work I called to tell him I had to stop by the grocery store to pick up some treats for YW tonight and asked him if he wanted me to pick up something for dinner since I wouldn't have time to make anything and he said not to worry about it that he would fix dinner. Seriously? HE ROCKS!!!

It's known in our family that Todd makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches, it's his meal when he cooks. We used to enjoy his grilled cheese every Sunday after church but since we have 1:00 church we haven't had them in a while. It was such a simple meal but it was so great to come home to the table set, dinner cooking on the griddle and happy kids.

When I got home from YW the kids were in bed, teeth were brushed, homework was done and Todd was holding one not-sleeping baby. He rocks I tell you.

While I'm thinking about grilled cheese....Todd and I eat them differently. We both like white bread and real butter, he likes American Cheese. I'll do American or Cheddar. Todd puts peanut butter and jelly on top of his after it's cooked. Isn't that crazy??? Growing up my mom always put mayo inside it or grilled them with tuna. But I like a nice basic grilled cheese and I love soup on the side.

How do you eat yours?

P.S. Did I mention Todd ROCKS!?!

I got tagged by Brandy (I'd link but she's private). So here I go....

Where is your mobile phone? charging
Where is your significant other? computer
Your hair color? black
Your mother? crazy
Your father? planner
One favorite thing? exercise
Your dream last night? weird
Your dream goal? happy
The room you're in? bedroom
Your hobby? running
Your fear? mice
Where do you want to be in six years? here
Where were you last night? home
What you're not? selfish
One of your wish list items? tummy-tuck (does the hyphen make it one word???)
Where you grew up? Missouri
The last thing you did? FHE
What are you wearing? jammies
Your TV? off
Your pets? Todd's
Your computer? laptop
Your mood? happy
Missing someone? no
Your car? Durango
Something you're not wearing? socks
Favorite drink? coke
Your summer? memorable
Love someone? unconditionally
Your favorite color? red
When was the last time you laughed? tonight
When was the last time you cried? October

Today I woke up to a sweet beautiful baby hungry and ready to eat instead of the alarm clock. She greeted me with her big toothless smile and I forgot all about how many times I was up with her last night and how long I paced the floors begging her to go back to sleep.

Today I hit my goal weight.

Today I didn't get mad when Todd got a few extra minutes of shut eye because I knew he was just as tired as I was for holding his sweet little girl for hours instead of getting his fill of computer time.

Today I went running even though I really didn't want to and felt so much better by the end of the run. I was so glad for a great friend and workout buddy to keep me going and listen to me complain about my long night.

Today I took both my girls to the grocery store and no-one cried. I even managed to say no to the candy requests at the checkout without a fit.

Today I did 4 loads of laundry.

Today I took all my kids to play at grandma and grandpa's house and got to just sit there while the kids played talking to my mom and holding my precious baby.

Today I looked at Tayson and wondered where the time went and when he got so big. Have I been a good enough mother to him? Does he know just how much I love him and how funny I think he is? Will the next 6 years go by even faster?

Today I went to dinner with my family and enjoyed eating out. No fits or fights over eating. No crying or being embarrassed in public. Just good times enjoying being waited on, eating yummy food even desert and spending time together as a family.

Today I had to buy new pants for Luke because he has already outgrown his new fall clothes that I bought a month ago. Thank goodness for friends and family day at the Gap.

Today I am so grateful for my marriage. I couldn't ask for a better man. He's HOT, he loves me, he loves our kids, he honors his priesthood, he's a very hard worker, he's very funny, he went to the mall with me and watched the kids while I shopped, he is everything I ever wanted and so much more.

Today I looked into Luke's big brown eyes and melted.

Today was a good day!

Mike on Bass