A little overdue...better late than NEVER!!!

My sister Wendy and I thought we would get together for a little St. Patricks day party and then watch American Idol together. We decided to forgo the corned-beef and cabbage and just eat all green food. If it wasn't geen then we made it green. Our Menu consisted of: "green mashed potatoes, green hamburger gravy, green beans, green jello, green apple juice, and home-made oreos with green filling. The kids thought it was so fun. It was fun!!!

A few weeks back we decided to once agian head to Utah to see Mitch's parents, Natalie and Justin, and go to a Jazz game. We told Tanner we were going to the game and he kept thinking that we were going to the church to watch Mitch play church ball (Mitch plays church ball every Wednesday night). So when we were packing our bags to head to Utah he came out with Mitch's basketball shoes and ball. We just laughed...it gets better. When we were in Utah and said are your ready for the game... he said, "go to church." (That's where we go to watch Mitch play basketball) We finally got to the game and I wish we had a picture that did him justice. I think he was in utter shock of all the people and the noise. He had huge bug eyes, wide open mouth like WOW, and wouldn't talk! Finally by the second half he was having fun. He loved seeing the bear (mascot of the Jazz). He is still saying "do Dazz" (Go Jazz). If he sees a game going on TV he still says "daddy's dame (game)." We sure had Fun.

Natalie and Lexie. We love our aunt Natalie. She takes such good care of us.

Tanner does look a little shocked in this picture.

Cutie Pies!

What can I say....I know I am partial...but I have the cutest kids.

Grandpa Ramsey

My Grandpa Ramsey passed away early this morning. He was such a wonderful, kind, giving and happy person. A few of my favorite memories of Granpa are...One that sticks out so much, and I think Lacy and Mike will remember this too...One day Mike, Lacy and I (I think we were between the ages 7 and 10) were all at Grandma and Grandpa's, just playing. We had come in for lunch and of course were we being silly and laughing. Grandpa asked one of us to say the prayer and of course couldn't because we were laughing to hard...then he asked the next one and of couse couldn't because of laughing...then asked the next one of us and of course couldn't becuase of laughing...that's right none of us could because we were trying so hard to keep our giggles in. Grandpa finally said, "I guess I'll say it" with a giant smile on his face. He proceeded to say the prayer and then said the following..."Father please bless these silly kids" - that did it we all just bust out and could not hold it in any more. Even Grandpa started laughing. I don't think we even finished the prayer because we were all laughing to hard. Grandpa could always make us laugh. He was such a happy person with a good joke.
I will always rember the support my Grandpa showed for me and going to all my sporting events. Especailly my softball games. My dad was one of my softball coaches so Grandpa would travel with my dad to all the games. When we went to state in Coeur d' Alene my dad asked coach Jackman if it was alright if Grandpa (our #1 fan) could ride the bus with us - he did. I remember him saying as we were all getting on the bus, "Don't worry about me, I'll just be sitting up here in the front." I don't know why I think that's so funny but I can hear him saying it. Grandpa had a funny way of pointing out the obvious - if you know what I mean.
He would say or do the darndest things and Grandma would say "Good hell, BOB." We would all just laugh right along with him. He is such a wonderful person. I will truly miss him.

His funeral will be at 2:00pm on Feb 14th (Saturday) at the Burley Stake Center. All our welcome.

This is a video that my cousin Mike posted of my Grandpa. It's truly a treasured moment.
http://www.mikeandhill.blogspot.com/

All Bundled Up

We finally had the sun-shine last week so we took advantage of the nice day and walked around the corner to "boys town" to do some sledding.

Lex & her Diva glasses.

Tanner & his adorable smile.

Cari even took a trip down the hill with them. You can't really see the tree they about took out on the way.

How come when dad rides the snow sinks in 3 extra inches. Overall it was a fun time to get a change from everyday things of life and enjoy time as a family.

It's TIME!!!

Well the Lord sure works in mysterious ways. Some of you may know this but we have been trying to sell our house for the past I think 8 or 9 months. The market here isn't terrible but they have just overbuilt townhomes bad here. Anyway with that being said....there had been some discussion in past months of us moving to Mitch's parent house to take care of it while they are gone on a mission, but there never was a set plan and we orginally just wanted to sell our house and then if it worked out we would move there. I honestly don't know what started the conversation but it was just a few days before fast Sunday and we decided that we needed to fast about renting out our house and moving to his parents house. Well that was a Sunday. Tuesday we started talking about it again and we knew what we needed to do. I posted our house on the school bulletin board for rent on a Friday and Sunday morning I got a call. I didn't think much of it because they were going to "call back" and come see it that night and we would see if they actually called back. Sure enough, they did and wanted it. So we had two weeks to move out. When things are in the Lords hands they just work out.

The two weeks leading up to our move were CRAZY. I didn't want to live in mess for Christmas so I didn't pack much. I had tenants moving in and out of the apartments and it was snowing like crazy, which meant Mitch was plowing snow like 14+ hours a day. Then Christmas came with two trips one to Burley and then one to Utah. We came home and then moved. Thankfully it wasn't snowing so Mitch was great help.

Then when we got here (Mitch's parents house). We had a few "fun adventures".

1. Leaking toilet in upstairs bathroom cause dripping in downstairs bathroom - Mitch fixed, good job babe.

2. We noticed that the toilet and tub in the bathroom downstairs were having problem draining. I was so nervous that one of the kids had flushed a toy or something. We called the Rooter man. Luckily it wasn't our own kids toys. It was a tree root from the large willow in the backyard. This root was in the main sewer line going out to the city. Yes, that's a picture of it. CRAZY!!! 3. One night I go to start a load of laundry and notice the water wont work. (it had been really cold) I told Mitch and he said the pipes in that room are frozen. (this has happened before - so not to worry). We start trying to thaw the pipes and keep the heater on it overnight. The next day he moves the washer out from the wall so he can put a bucket under the pipe and turn it on so when it's starts to thaw it can break through. Several hours later Mitch turns the main water off the whole house so change some valves. Then he goes to turn the water back on and asks me to stay in the back bathroom to watch the valves and makes sure they are off so when he turns the water on it doesn't go every where. The valves were off and everything was great...oh wait...not so fast. Mitch comes in the house and hears gushing...Lexie says "Dad there's water all over." I was in the back of the house and couldn't hear that when Mitch turned the main water back on the laundry room pipe had thawed and was coming out full force. Now we had an about 2 inches of water in the laundry room. All cleaned and no problems now.

These three things all happened with in the 1st week of when we moved in. I guess all things come in threes and hopefully that's it. I am not complaining - I just started to wonder - what are we doing here? We are supposed to be here. Yes! and everything is great now.

*(NOTE: No TV for a week and no internet for 2.5 weeks makes for a cranky Cari. Very long story about the internet getting setup. If you really want to know-I'll tell you someday)
WE are here and HAPPY! Thanks Mom and Dad Johnson for letting us stay at your house while you're gone. We love you!

Late Christmas!

We had a wonderful & very white Christmas. We are so thankful that we had such a white Christmas. Really the two weeks prior to Christmas it would not stop snowing, which was a good thing for the area but when you're one of the ones trying to "clean-up" the snow it's hard to keep up with it. Poor Mitch would plow and not have much of a break. Thankfully it stopped snowing long enough for us to take a short break and go to my parents house for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day and then head to Utah. Then the day we got back from Utah we started packing our house so that we could move. That will be another post, so back to Christmas. We did have a wonderful Christmas. All Tanner wanted for Christmas was a "tanney-tane" (candy cane). Everytime we would ask him what Santa was going to bring him, he would say "tanney tane". I would even give him optoins, cars...trucks... he would just say "tanney tane". I think because Santa gave him a candy cane when we saw him...it was just so cute. Of course out of all the thing Santa brought him the 9 inch candy cane was the first thing he noticed and picked out. One day at church she was asking Mitch how to spell all these things. Mitch just kept helping her spell them and then when he was done she said, "Here's what I want for Christmas and the things down here are what Tanner wants." She had written a "letter" to Santa. It was so cute.

One of Lexie's favorite things was the suprise we had on Christmas Eve. We were all gathered around signing Christmas Carols and reading the Christmas Story when the doorbell rang. We went to the door and Santa's elves had left a great big package with pj's for everyone it. Yes, even Nana, Papa, Mom and Dad and of course the cute jammies you see the kids in above.

Tanner got this camera for Christmas and he would just walk around saying cheese and taking pictures.

Lex got this adorable hat and socks in her stocking and wore them most of the morning.

Lexie was passing out all the gifts to open and was trying to be very helpful...this picture doesn't do her justice or the kick we all got watching her try to carry all three great big bags. I guess you had to be there. LOL

These are pictures from Alexa's Christmas dance performance. They did a little dance to some Nutcracker music (it brought back many memories) and then they had a special visitor. Doesn't she look graceful? :)

NO - we didn't fall off the face of the planet.

Just a quick note-We are still alive and doing well. We had a crazy couple of weeks right around the holidays (we moved, snow, tenants moving, Christmas in Burley and Utah) and then we haven't had internet until Wednesday. It's late now and I will update with more details and pictures tomorrow or Sunday. Hopefully everyone is having a wonderful New Year!

Christmas List & Addresses

Maybe this is cheesy or maybe it's not but I am finding that many of my addresses are outdated. If you would like a Christmas card please e-mail me your address. mitchjohnsonfamily@yahoo.com Or I do usually try and do a post but I know it's really fun to get stuff in the mail and to hang up on the Christmas Hall of Fame in your House.

Utah Trip

We are a little behind on posts. Cari is a little busy and has a lot on her plate, while I am wondering what to do while I wait for it to snow so here is one of my first attempts to help us keep up. I will apologize right now for any errors. Dating back a few weeks Cari and I had a great opportunity to attend the BYU/Utah Game. Thanks to a very dedicated sister and brother in law who slept on a sidewalk for 18 hours to get us tickets. We cant thank you enough Nat and Justin. The game was awesome! However, I had to stop yelling 5 minutes into the game because I was already losing my voice. I hate to say it Justin but I still haven't convinced myself that I am a Utes fan even though you made me wear all red for the game. However, I would do it again for tickets to another big game.

We promised Lex a ride on the Tram through downtown Salt Lake, So hear they are with Grandma & Grandpa. It was all Tanner had in him to stay awake for the whole ride. As you can see if you ever go downtown during a Utes game you should probably wear red!

The only way we were able to attend the game was because we have great babysitters on Temple Square. When Grandma asked Lex what they should do while we were at the game Lex Said "Oh we should have a party". She thought they should have popcorn, blow up balloons, watch movies, and play games. She is as demanding as her mother. So Grandma spoiled her and that is what they did. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa.

Justin is doing his best to corrupt them while their young so they don't know any better. Tanner & Lex supporting the Utes. We still catch her yelling Go Utes quite often, but she likes to color things cougar blue. So we will see what she decides a few years down the road.

I just had to post this so that everyone can see a picture that I actually smiled in, because people say I never smile in pictures so see this is just proof.

The Big 26

Well its that time of year again...time for me to turn one year older. I can't belive how time flys. I still think that I am only 21. I think I will just stay that age for a while. If you know my daughter; she's just like her mother. She's been planning my birhtday party for weeks. She wanted to make me a cake. This is the cake that Alexa made. Mitch said she made 92% of it. Yes she decorated it and evn wrote the word "Mom" all by herself. Then that night she kept saying mom we need to call all your friends and have them over for cake and the party. We didn't have a big party but just a nice one with a few visitors that stopped by.

Thanks for the giant Cupcake Jesser! It was super cute and very yummy!

Me blowing out the candles on my cake and cupcake.

26 things that I love and/or that I am grateful for...
1. Mitch-he always makes me laugh and how he's such a great Dad
2. Alexa-she's so sweet & thoughtful with a tiny bit of spice
3. Tanner - just the coolest little man
4. My best friend and sister Wendy
5. Mom - her love and support and I am so thankful for all she has taught me
6. Dad - his quiet example and love
7. Great Family-in-laws (Brothers & Sisters and Mitch's amazing Parents)
8. Mitch's Job & great employers
9. My Job & great owner of the complex I work for
10. My calling - Nursery singing teacher
11. Loving Family & Friends
12. a wonderful community to live in
13. wakeboarding
14. swimming
15. scrapbooking
16. throwing a party
17. shopping
18. Chocolate covered cinnamon bears
19. eating at Red Lobster
20. decorating for Holidays
21.watching a good movie
22. bags & jackets
23. The gospel
24. Prayers - answered and unanswered
25. I am grateful for our Prophet Pres. Monson
26. My Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement

Our Halloween Adventures

This post is a little late...but better late than never. I think this is the first year that I was actually excited for Halloween to be over. The kids have dressed up three times and I dreseed up twice, I was host one Halloween Party and assisted in 2 others and none of these were on Halloween... so then we got to do all that fun trick or treating etc. Plus we had two different Family Home evenings that were Halloween centered (carving pumpkins and decorating sugar cookings). Well it's been fun--just a long month and I am looking forward to Christmas and winter just a touch.

Minnie & Mickey Mouse Trick-or-Treating.

Fireman & Belle for a Fun Halloween Party.

Nana surprised us the Monday before Halloween during FHE with a fun Halloween Package and the kids just loved the Dracula Teeth and Crazy Eyes.

Kids holding "their" pumpkins. They picked the pieces for their individual pumpkins.

Pumpkin Head pieces are my way of doing pumpkins...Mitch's way of pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns are good ole CARVING.

All our Crazy pumpkins.

This is the spider Mitch carved into his pumpkin. Patterns are work great. You can see the spider best when it's lit from the inside--that's why you can't really see the pumpkin/jack-o-lantern.

All I have to say is that the kids LOVED the SPRINKLES.

Sprinkles....Sprinkles....Sprinkles

Tanner's Medley

This is Tanner's favorite thing in life right now, he will walk around the house all day with our mini hymn book and just sing. It is pretty funny but he has done it enough now that I have to ask him to be quiet.

Halloween Party

Welcome Terrible Twos...Happy Birthday Tanner.

I just love this little man and I can't beleive that he is growing up so quick. I love his smile especially that dimple. A few of his "terrible two" tricks are...he only wants mom (to change him, feed him dress him, he tells dad, "uh-hu...MOM." He also likes to pinch his sister just to here her scream then when he gets in trouble he looks at you with an innocent face (kinda like his dad does). He's really a sweet little boyand pretty mellow.

Tanner really blew out his own candles.
Tanner got this big dump truck for his 2nd Birthday and his favorite thing to push in it is Alexa and Baby dolls. Tanner at two weeks.

I think this is when Tanner was about 7 or 8 months. That's 13 rolls from ankle to ankle. He was a chunk and a dang cute one.

Tanner's 1st Birthday eating his cake.