We Interupt You Regularly Scheduled Program...

So viewers today we are providing you with a special treat. We have brought to you a guest commentator.....J~sizzle (Justin for those not quite in the know) [Applause]

Ahem. Well hello, thanks for having me on. I thought today I would give our viewers a different take on the Johnson lifestyle. The last few months have been a roller coaster to say the least. I feel like the first guy that stepped into the ring with some guy name Cassius Clay. Punch after punch after punch. I won't rehash the whole saga of Detroit but lets suffice it to say that if Dante was alive today he would have started "As he journeyed into the first circle of purgatory he passed a curious sign, 'Welcome to Detroit'..." But even in the foulest mud sometimes a diamond exists. D-town had a few: 

1) We had a great ward and went through the temple together there.

2) Holy restaurant variety Batman. Seemed like there were a thousand choices 

3) Growing up. Funny thing you think that at this point we would have been adults. We had lived on our own for five years. I had finished two college degrees. But I have to say that Detroit was our forging fire. Chelsea and I reached (I think at least) the desirable place of becoming something special. We were a couple, sealed together for all eternity, but through it all we remained individuals as well. I see lots of people around who lose themselves as part of their marriage and family. I am not saying its a bad thing to be united with your spouse, but sometimes I want to shout "Think for yourself once in a while, you are not a robot". Anyways I digress 

4) The friends. We had great friends in Detroit. 

  Neil and Crystal, one of the most perfect couples. I finally found a cool nerd like me Prescotts/Olsens/Jorgensens, This was our family back there. All will be missed. 

Elliots: Who would have thought one of best friends would be an Englishman on the high side of 50. Top this off with his whole family being awesome and things worked out great. Coworkers/others: The other people that made everyday life just a little better. 

But alas they are all still trucking along as Detroit begins the encompass the third and fourth levels. Since we have moved back the the great 'Ho things have been mostly good sprinkled with incredible runs of misfortune. Take this streak for example: 

Friday: I am looking forward to the weekend. Had been saving my birthday money for a new game I wanted. I guess I just couldn't hold off and decided to get my present early. 

Yup a Speeding Ticket. In the 8 years I have lived away from here I have not gotten a single speeding ticket (besides freshman college, doesn't count). I have been back for about two months and what happens bam! I think cops here need more crime, I mean something to do.

Pretty good Weekend. 

Monday: Driving home from work, about a mile awayfrom home...thump thump thump.

 

A flat tire. Of all the rotten luck. $100 bucks down the pipe. O well, change the tire and get moving we are going to the park tonight for frisbee golf. So to end this run of three I lost my sunglasses at the park. Now this wasn't no Walmart pair, but a lovely pair of Maui Jims. Hopefully somebody finds and enjoys them and the lawnmower doesn't eat them.

So all of the events have made me take a step back a revaluate my life. I have came up with a list:

Things I Don't Like:

  1) Walmart. I mean in general I like it. But whenever you need that one particular item you think, 'I will go to walmart I mean they have 1,000,000 items right.' Wrong they only have 999,999 because they dont have the one you need.

2) Settling down. It kind of depresses me to think we might not move again. Even though I dislike moving (see item 3) the adventure is always so much fun. I think about being an Idaho Fallsian for a long time and it makes me sad. 

3) Moving: It seems like you can never find all your stuff again. If anyone sees my block cheese-grater please return it. It is pretty freaking hard to zest a lemon without it.

Things I am not sure about:

1) My job. I am not sure I really want to be an engineer. I really want to be a teacher but there is the unfortunate difference in pay. Wait! I have a great idea, it an election year we can cast votes for CHANGE. See #2

2) The presedential race. I can't seriously believe this is the best America has to offer. I don't know who to vote for. I like a few things about both canidates, but by enlarge I am disillusioned. I sort of like Palin (she is a vandle after all), but question if she makes up for McCain. I really like Obama's ideas until it comes to the whole 'pillage everyone who works hard so that people who don't can be better off' redistribution of wealth. If you are a billionair who worked hard for your fortune, good for you. If you are a crack mama who sniffs your welfare check, To D*mn bad that is a choice you made. Again I digress.

Things I really Like:

1) Idaho. Man I love this state. The mountains, outdoors, mostly nice people. Since Cheech and I got married we have lived in four states and two countries and this one is definitly my favorite.

2) My boys. The are a pain sometimes but man I love them. Sometimes I feel so young to be a dad. But i wouldn't trade those two for the whole world.

3) My wife. She is the best. Everyday she has to juggle so many things. Simply amazing.

I guess the best thing is that those last two things cancel everything else out. As long as thats here the rest doesn't really much matter. I am done ranting now, hopefully our loyal readers are not upset. I guess to sum things up, the Johnson's have never been better. We have taken our punches and am looking forward to round two...

A house is made with walls and beams, a home is built with loves and dreams.

Our house is finally starting to take shape and is looking more like a home every day. For all of those who were wondering, we did buy our house. We got a great deal that we couldn't turn down. Yes we still have our house in Michigan as well. We have dropped the price and are hoping that it will bring in a buyer. And yes we of course thought that it would be a great idea to have two house at a time of economical strife. :) We defiantly feel lucky to have this house here and that things have worked out for us so well. (Now just cross your fingers that we can get that house sold in Michigan!)

This last weekend was wonderful. My little sister Tessa came in to town so we have been having lots of fun. Friday all us girls went shopping then bought our tickets for the parade of homes. (For those of you not familiar with the parade of homes it is pretty much one big home show. Different builders or people put their homes in the show and the public is able to buy tickets to view the homes.) Most of these homes that are in the parade of homes are just magnificent. So it is fun to go and see them. We were able to fit in a few homes before our stomachs lead us in another direction and we went and had a great meal at Ruby River steak house. We laughed so much and had so much fun being together. Saturday we looked at more houses, ate more, and did some more shopping. It's been great! Thanks to my wonderful husband who watched the kids all weekend!

I'm back!

We finally got the internet at the house today so I am back in the land of the living. It is crazy how hard it is to go without the internet for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I haven't uploaded any pictures yet so I promise that I will post some very soon! We have been incredibly busy moving into our new house not to mention our little incident that turned into a big incident. So you see we bought a new washer and dryer @ Lowes and they delivered and installed them. Late one night after unpacking I decided to hurry and put a load in to wash before heading off to bed. Tired of waiting for the load I go to see how much time is left on the cycle. Well the wet carpet outside the door was my first clue, when I opened the door the laundry room floor was covered in water! It gets worse! There is a air vent right by the washer and since there is large amounts of water on floor it also started flowing down vent. So I wake up Justin and we run downstairs and water is dripping everywhere from the air vents! Well after putting the shop vacuum to some good use and using all our towels we finally got things somewhat cleaned up. So as it turns out the guy who installed the washer forgot to put the drain hose down the drain. Hmmmmm, I just don't even know what to say about that. So of course the next day we called Lowes and they sent people over to take care of damage. In their defense they have been great about getting this resolved. That still doesn't make me feel better about the fact that my carpet and carpet pad are ripped up, and that we had to have eight huge fans and two dehumidifiers running for two days straight to dry it all up. We were living in a wind tunnel! A very dry wind tunnel at that. So the fans have been removed and tomorrow morning the carpet will be back in place. We all have been suffering from bad allergies/colds since. I personally blame it on the dehumidifier. As if that all is not enough through all the excitement we have been trying to potty train kamden. Due to the circumstance things are going slow but he is doing good. Friday night we went to the fair, then we were able to see Uncle Jade for a bit. Saturday and Sunday Justin, his brothers, and dad went on a floating trip. I think that Justin would have had a lot more fun but he ended up coming home feeling crapy. (That dang dehumidifier I tell ya!) On Saturday Karsons cough was so dry I ended up running to Walmart at 12:30 in the morning for a humidifier. Ahhh the irony. So things have been pretty crazy! I think that those boxes down stairs might just have to stay packed up for awhile!!!

So excited!

So this week has been very eventful!!! Last Friday we went to the Hilton and celebrated Grandpa and Grandma Johnsons 50th wedding anniversary. (Their actual anniversary is the same day as ours, Aug 9th.) They are two of the most wonderful people I know. I admire them so much and think that 50 years of marriage is amazing! Congrats Grandpa and Grandma Johnson!
Friday night we put the kids to bed and then went over to the Pursers for a marsh mellow roast. We always have so much fun hanging out with Chad and Amy and the smores were great! Just a little tip: when making smores use a symphony bar instead of a herseys. YUMMY! Sunday we went over to Justins Dads house and had a wonderful birthday celebration for him. We had a great Birthday dinner and then topped it off with some cheese cake. The kids never get board over there because there is so much to do. Uncle Randy brought one of the horses over from the barn and the kids rode around the yard bare back. Then we got the kiddy pool out and let the boys play around in it. Well as if that is not enough fun we then got this bright idea to get the slide wet and put the pool at the end of it. It was hilarious to watch Kamden fly down the slide and land in the pool. He had a great time and Karson got to even enjoy the water slide with a little help. It was a great night!



The rest of our week has been filled with the summer flu. I never knew there was such a thing until this week. Kamden and Karson have both been throwing up, not to mention the other end of things. (If you know what I mean) Needless to say there has been a lot of laundry to do. Luckily I made it through the week without catching it. Whew!

So the most exciting news.......drumroll please.........Friday August 29th the Johnson family will be moving out of their parents house and into their own home! Yes we are so so so excited to say the least. I will make sure and post some pictures after we receive our keys tommarow. Till then happy trails! (Okay so I am a little giddy!)

Happy Birthday Justin.

Today we celebrated Justins 26th birthday. In celebration of him I would like to write some wonderful things about him. Although the list could go on and on (cause he is the most wonderful guy) I will narrow it down to a list of 10 wonderful things about Justin!

1) He is an incredibly optimistic person. He never complains about life, but always tries to see the good in everything and everyone.

2) He is stinkin smart! I am so proud of him for all his achievements.

3) He is very loyal to his friends and family. No matter what the situation Justin is always there for a friend or family member without question. His relationships with others is very important to him.

4) He is true to himself. He dose not let other peoples opinion change who he wants to be. He knows who he is and sticks with it.

5) He is a great dad. I love watching him get down on the ground and wrestle with the boys. He changes diapers and even helps out with them in the night. He is a very hands on dad. The boys just love him to pieces.

6) He is so adventurous. He is always up for anything. He loves to learn new things and is always doing new stuff. There isn't much that Justin can't do once he puts his mind to it.

7) Justin loves a good challenge. If you have ever played a game with Justin you can testify to this. He can get very competitive and it is fun to play with him. The best part about it is that he is always a good sport!

8) He is young at heart! I just love this about Justin. He is so fun to be around and silly. Justin and I always have a great time together and we never get board just hanging out. Sometimes people tease me that I have three kids. (Justin being my biggest one).

9) Justin is a great husband. He does the nicest things for me and is very considerate. He has a very romantic side to him. He is a huge help to me and I really appreciate all that he does.

10) He cooks, and he is dang good at it!

As you can all see, and I am sure a lot of you already knew, Justin is one wonderful guy! Happy Birthday Justin!!!

Tough times = gratitude.

It seems like in the last couple of months we have had more then our fair share of bad luck. Moving all on its own can be a very frustrating thing, but with everything else that has been going on I must admit things have been very hard and stressful. Last night was the straw that broke the camels back. Our little puppy dog Maggie got hit by a car and died. It is amazing how much a pet becomes a part of the family. It was heartbreaking. I have been feeling pretty sorry for myself but after loosing mags it did a very interesting thing for me. I am suddenly filled with gratitude for the things that I have. Makes me take a step back and realize what truly is important in life. My dear sweet husband. My two wonderful boys that are healthy and happy. My own health. Being near all our family and feeling their comfort and love. Having amazing friends near and far! I feel so blessed for all that I have. We will surely miss our cute little pup but her death humbled me and made me realize all that I still have to be thankful for. Although the deck seems stacked against us at times, I still have the most important things in my life near and dear to me, I guess that makes me pretty lucky!

We will miss you Maggie!

Bye Bye curls.

I had held Karson off on his first haircut as long as I possibly could. I just love his curls but they finally had to go. His hair was becoming a mess. Anytime I would get it all done up cute, as soon as he rubbed his head against anything it would become a fro. So we sat him in the sink, and snip snip snip my mom cut his hair. No more baby curls. He looks like a little man now instead of my little baby. It looks cute but I sure miss those baby curls.