Family pictures, desert style!

Before giving Auntie Bonnie back to the Boise folk, we decided that we needed to take some family pictures in the desert. Bonnie was the willing photographer and the kids were kind of willing too because they had a chance to climb on big rocks in the process. The place we went is just a few miles from our house... so now you realize that we really DO live in the middle of the desert!
Here is a cameo of our newly turned 11-year-old and her new guitar. Doesn't she actually even look like she knows what she is doing??? Trick photography!! he he.. Cassidy's theory in her own words is, "I don't need to learn how to play the guitar! I just play the guitar and my voice follows!"

Here we have our willing Auntie who came and helped for a whole week with the gang!! We love you Bonnie!!

Here are my children hidden amongst the rocks

Here are the proud Johnson women!!

And our handsome menfolk!

I threw this one in as well because we are all happily posed for the picture... meanwhile, Will is about to strangle somebody!!!

Gotta love those red rocks in the background.

Cassidy turns 11 !!

Cassidy's birthday came, just like it always does about this time of year. The only difference was, I was watching this one from the sidelines. Auntie Bonnie made the cake, the kids wrapped the presents, and I slept on. But, it was still wonderful, because Cassidy is wonderful and everyone helping was also a wonderful experience. So, I will try to recap via pictures...

I thought this was such a classic moment. Will wrapped up two of his guns and gave them to Cassidy so that they could duel!! How thoughtful! Love their faces in this picture!

Here is Cassidy with all her "loot". She is into art, books, lip gloss, and more. And we had to wait until the UPS man arrived for her "big gift"! .....

Mario to the rescue!!!! We love our UPS man, and yes, we know him by name. And he was right in the nick of time with her present!! ..... But what can it be???????

No way!!! A Blue guitar!!! Just like the one Cassidy has been asking for specifically and repeatedly for a long time!!

And this is ONE HAPPY GIRL!!! We love you Cassidy!!! You have been a star in our lives since February 11th at 10:18am in the year 1999!!!!

Umm... I think Sarah has been here...

I can't seem to find my rings..... But alas, I think Sarah thought her dragons needed new collars. What a funny kiddo!!

Sarah, will you always love animals so much??? I sure hope so!!

Ode to Randomness...

As I sit here consumed with nausea from my chemo treatment yesterday, I thought I would take a few minutes to post about random things...
The first, and most important random thing is that we found out yesterday that my cancer is completely random, not hereditary. This is great news in so many different ways. This means that my sisters and mother and daughters will not need to be tested. This means that my ovaries can stay put. This means that Cassidy is releived that I didn't increase her chances of getting cancer by 50% (the statistic is entirely her quote, I am not sure when she conducted the study). It makes me very happy to get this news. It also leaves me with a lot of questions...like for instance "how did I get cancer?" The genetic counselor asked me right before she sent in my genetic test, "Do you have any clue why you have cancer?" I replied that maybe one month, deep in baseball season, I ate too many hot dogs in one month. Or maybe it is because I occasionaly drink out of plastic water bottles... or maybe my cell phone did it to me....or maybe.... the list could go on and on and on, but the bottom line is... No one really knows! That is what I thought, at least, until I re-read my patriarcal blessing from a loving Heavenly Father who knows me better than anyone else. I recieved this blessing when I was 14-years-old and it has been a great guide in my life. I will now quote from that blessing...." You have a very special opportunity in life to have a full and abundant life, Christa, so be always aware that even though there will be times when challenges come to you, remember somtimes the greatest blessings come in the form of challenges. When you have sickness or disappointments it will be an opportunity for you to become closer to the Lord. You can expect these things in your life but they will not remain a part of your life for you can quickly overcome them if you will stay close to the Lord, be humble, and prayerful." So, I have been told that this will just be a short season in my life, and I also have things that I need to do as well... be humble and prayerful. Humble is an easy emotion to reach when dealing with cancer because you lose your hair, pride, you name it... so being humble isn't hard. You just have to be humble the right way. that means that anger and frustration can't have a place in my heart.... there just isn't room for it in my heart. I also have to realize that this sickness can be a blessing in my life, if I let it! So let it I will!!!
So there is some randomness for ya!!! I have chemo brain today and it won't stay on track, so I think that will be enough for now! But truly, I love you all!! (I especially love Bonnie, my sister-in-law right now who is at this very moment, bathing my poopy 4-year-old....he he. Lucky her! She is here this week from Boise and what a blessing she is in my life, as you all are! )

Will turns 4 !!

I can't believe that 4 years have gone by so fast!! When Will was born, I was in the hospital for a week with him and that whole week, he and I watched the Winter Olympics while bonding. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a commercial for the Winter Olympics and I knew what that meant.....No, it didn't mean that my speed skating was up to par, what it meant was that Will was actually born 4 years ago!!! Crazy!!
I pulled the "cancer card" and got his cake at Costco this year...of course it was triple chocolate, cuz he is MY son!!!

Here Will is before church today with his new remote control car, and of course, his sippy cup. Cassidy told him today that he is now too old for his sippy cup. I told her that we will tackle that this summer, when chemo is over. Pick your battles, I say!

Here are his pre-church model pictures... he is going for demure here!

now he is going for SEXY!!

My next pictures are mixed up a bit, but no stress! Here is Will eating chocolate cake and playing with his new legos that his brother got him.

We celbrated his birthday at 9am on Saturday morning because Morgan had to get to Prescott for some church meetings. But, my kids were up for cake that early....why not?

Again, he is enjoying his Toy Story Lego set...

I like this picture because Lund is showing Will how to play Legos. Will sure looks up to Lund! Will knows how much Lund loves his Legos, so he waits until Lund goes off to school and then you can find him in Lund's room on his belly in front of all the Lego's trying to emulate his brother.

Blowing out the candles!

I love this picture because his face looks a little leary of the candle fire...

I am really scared that I have a child old enough to light the candles..... Wowzers!!

Here is Cassidy playing with Will's nerf gun... isn't she the one that just lit the candles????!!! Scary!! This is the present Cassidy got for her brother (or maybe for herself....hummmmmm)

Will is going to play T-ball this year on Sarah's team. He is really excited and he got this present to help him get ready. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Johnson.

This is what Sarah got Will. It is a backpack that has a sleeping bag in it, a flashlight and a water bottle. It has a picture of monsters on it and Will says it is his "Monster hunting back pack!" Thanks Sarah!

P.S. we would also like to thank Grandma and Grandpa Wiemer for the Mega Blocks set, which he loves dearly but is not pictured here.

Family Home Evening----- Heart Attack Style!!

Tonight for Family Night we had a wonderful activity which was an idea I stole from another blog friend. I loved the idea so much, we just had to use it. We "Heart Attacked" our own kitchen. Everyone made 6 hearts and had to write something they liked about everyone in the family, including themselves. Some of the responses were so cute, I just had to include them..
This one cracked me up. Lund decided to make half-hearts, just to be ornery. And what does he like about Cassidy, "Cassidy is good to fight with"......hummmm....... does that count???

Sarah is so great lately with her writing. She tries to sound out everything and spell it herself... This one translates to, "I like you because he likes cars."

You gotta love this... Why does Sarah love me??? "I love that she is bald!" He He

Here is the finished product.....

Then the kids found the clothespins I had in the craft box.... and went crazy!!! Oh, and guess what I just noticed...... Will's pants!!! he has just wet his pants!!!! What an observant mom I am!!!!

Sometimes there is just no explaining our children!!

Trying to surprise Cassidy isn't as easy as it sounds...

Next week is Cassidy's 11th birthday, but it also happens to be my "chemo week", so it is pretty much garanteed that I will be sick on her b-day. So, I tried to suprise her today at her school by bringing cupcakes and flowers and a balloon for her. But as the cupcakes were in the oven and I was slowly getting everything ready, I got a phone call. "Mom, I am sick today. Can you come pick me up from school?" Dang it!!! I had to tell her about the birthday suprise I had already planned and I asked her if she could wait a little while so I could finish up the cupcakes and run out to her school (her school is 30 minutes away). She graciously complied (especially because there were cupcakes involved). So Will and I headed out to Hillside and here are the pictures..
This is "Bear" the dog that loves to hang out at the school and has pretty much been dubbed the school mascot. Will is telling him that he is definitley NOT going to share his cupcake!

Here is Cassidy with Miss Gloria. It also happened to be her birthday today, so we sang to both of them.

You can just picture this.... It is Lund complaining that he never gets cupcakes at school because his birthday is in the summer. He is saying "Why meeeeeeeee!!"

Here are the flowers I brought to Cassidy, the only blue flowers I could find at the store (Delphinia's ?). Blue is her favorite color and she was really excited. She is going to keep the flowers on her desk at school.