Book of Mormon in 45 days, o.k. maybe 47

Morgan's parents who are serving in the Bismarck, North Dakota Mission asked us if we would read the Book of Mormon with them in 45 days. Morgan and I accepted the challenge and we were only off by two days, so we were finished in 47 days. It was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to any and all who want to have a greater understanding of the Book of Mormon and especially the time frame of all the events. It really helped me to get a grasp on what happened when and the stories flowed together quite nicely.

Morgan's parents sent our prizes via the mail. The initial prize was to be taken out to dinner, but due to distance and mission regulations, we accepted our presents gracefully. He! He! We were sent two Space Aliens t-shirts. Space Alien's is a restaurant in North Dakota that Morgan's parents like to go to and the shirts were really fun with alien's on the front and everything. Sarah and Will loved them immediately once I opened the package and they HAD to wear them right off the bat for a picture moment. Lund and Karen also sent a puzzle of Mount Rushmore and Sarah was thrilled because she is in the "puzzle stage" and loves puzzles.

A funny story came from all of this.... They sent the t-shirts in a "Space Aliens" bag which I used to line the garbage can in the kids bathroom. Sarah wouldn't go to the bathroom because she claimed there was "an alien in the garbage can" and then when Lund came home from school and he commented, " Why is there an alien in our bathroom?" And I thought they wouldn't notice, silly me!

Sarah and Will are so proud to put on the Space Alien's shirts

Sarah tries to mimic the alien on her shirt...

This is Sarah doing the Mount Rushmore puzzl. She asked me why the heads don't have any bodies. What a goof, but I didn't have a good answer for that one... "Well, we only respected their heads" no, that can't be right... humm, I will have to think on that one...

Mignight Madness at Twilight Premiere

I need to catch up on my week and one of the highlights was this past Thursday and the Twilight Midnight Showing. Can you really say Twilight and Midnight in the same sentence??? that seems kind of weird! Better put-- it was the "Twilight" movie at Midnight.

o.k. so enough of that confusion, I was the "designated driver" for this spectacular event. In the Mormon world, "designated driver" means you have a big enough vehicle to haul everyone and you have had a Dr. Pepper so you aren't going to fall asleep on the drive there or back. So I qualified and we were off. There were five of us total and various camping chairs and jackets and blankets and gloves, so we needed to take my Pilot which seats eight to fit it all. We had a variety of ladies with us and it made for such an awesome evening! We had the Senior English Teacher from Bagdad High School, Sarah McRoberts, a college student at BYU-Idaho, Sara Mentzer, and three moms, myself, Becky Brimhall, and Destiny Bolinger. We had lively conversation on the way there and had to fill Sarah McRoberts in on such terms as "Premee's, RM's" and the like. She isn't a member and was a little confused by some of our conversation. I think next time we should bring a translation book along, that would probably be easier.

We got to the movie theater and didn't even have to wait outside (thank goodness)! We ditched our blankets, camping chairs and gloves and headed into the theater to wait it out. It was only about 8 o'clock at this time and the line consisted mostly of twelve-year-old girls, so we decided to head out for a while and eat some dinner. We hit the Garcia's across from the theater and we got to tease Sara Mentzer because she thought Garcia's served Italian food. I asked her how many of her Italian friends had the last name of Garcia?! We all had a good laugh and good food and great company.

We went back and the crowd was slowly growing older, teenagers and their poor dates that were probably dragged there kicking and screaming, and even a few other ladies our age!

I would just like to thank Prescott Valley Harkins and the wonderful General Manager who seated us at 9pm so we could wait out the last three hours in comfortable seats. He desirves a ribbon for that one! I did wish I had some sort of game system by this point or at least solitare on my cell phone. No such luck, so we had fun waiting out the hours by doing what we do best--- talking!!!

The did a great job of making the movie follow the book. It isn't easy to get everything exactly right when you are dealing with werewolves, vampires and the like. But very well done and I loved it!!!! I have never been in an "interactive" theater where everyone cheers and swoons, etc. It was quite the experience. I think it could have qualified for a ride at Disneyland, and it made for a wonderful experience! We finally got back to Bagdad at 4:30am and I got a quick three hours of sleep before the morning began.

Well, back to "Normal Life" where there are only mountain lions, scorpions, and rattlesnakes, nothing exciting there!! He! He!

In front of the theater at 2:30am, proof that we really went!

We tried to pose with the actors, but this was as close as we got!

Birthday Surprize Party!!!

o.k. so this has taken me all week to get to, but it has been a REALLY busy week, so that is my excuse.

Wednesday was Morgan's birthday, but we (Cassidy, Lund, and I) decided to throw him his first surpize party ever! So, we had it on Monday and called it a Family Ward Family Night Party and we had over 60 people there, which is probably more than we have at church some weeks. So, it was a great turn out. We played games like Pin the Tie on the Bishop and Make your Own Balloon Animal, which meant that Morgan didn't have to make any that night!

It was so fun and I can't believe that it actually turned out without Morgan finding out about it. I lucked out that he was on a Scouting outing last Friday and Saturday so while he was gone, Cassidy and Lund and I snuck to Prescott and picked up his present. It was a grill that he had been drooling over for a while and he had no idea that we got it. We got all the party suplies and the grill and came home at 2:ooam and then had to pretend we weren't tired the next day when he came home. We then passed out invitations to all the ward members and told them not to say anything, which was extremely hard because we had ward potluck the next day. Who said Mormons can't keep a secret???

Then all day Monday I set up the backyard and that was quite a feat and I had some help from some amazing sisters in the ward. All the while I had to pretend that nothing was going on when he called, and he called about 8 times that day..

Eventually he got home after I stalled him sufficiently with things like, "Could you go pick up a Magic Eraser at the store for me?" "What you don't know where they are, well could you look all over the store for me???" And after all of this, he came home and was kind of confused to see the backyard set up for a party, he just looked at me and I told him it was a party for his first counselor in the Bishopric. So he started grilling on his old grill and more and more people were coming and they each brought their own meat (thankfully!). I commented that we could sure use another grill. Our friends pulled up and backed up their truck and there was Morgan's fully assembled new grill with Brother Anderson holding the hot charcoals, praying they wouldn't spill on his lap. We started to sing "Happy Birthday" and he said, "Wait, isn't this for Brother Mentzer?" We explained it was for him and a little comprehension started to show on his face...

We did have another grill that was identical for Brother Mentzer due to some last minute planning between myself and his children so when he came we got to sing again and present another grill.

It was an amazing event!! And Morgan still can't believe how decietful I had been behind his back! I am good, what can I say!

I hope he remembers this birthday forever! I know that I will and I am really sure that Cassidy and Lund will because they were helpers during the whole process.

Everyone trying to make their own balloon creations...

More balloon creations..

showing off each of their creations...

The girls in the ward helping Brother Mentzer blow out his candles

This is how Will decided to eat his cake and ice cream... Maybe his mom should have given him a fork!

We gave Morgan some "real" juggling balls for his birthday so he can be a true clown

Here is Morgan and Brother Mentzer and the "Bishop" we used for "Pin the Tie on the Bishop"

My cubbies are at it again....

My Cub Scouts met this evening at my house for our den meeting. I wanted them to concentrate on being thankful for everything this Thanksgiving. So here they are with the craft that we made tonight. I call him "Thankful Tom" and what I had the boys do after they finished this craft was take their turkey home and hang it up and everyone in their family had to write a couple of things that they were thankful for. Hopefully, they will remember that we are all so blessed!

I put my "Thankful Tom" up right under some pictures of the Savior in my family room so that I will remember to be thankful and to remember from whence all blessings flow!

p.s. we had a good laugh with Cassidy tonight who always loves to come to Scouts because it is at our house and she loves to be involved in all the stuff the boys are doing. She decided not to finish her "Thankful Tom" and even drew tears under his eyes, so we dubbed her turkey "Pathetic Patrick" and you can see her proudly holding it in the front row of the pictures. (She is not a "back row" type of personality!) He!He! We love our Cass and we love our Pathetic Patrick!

Terrible Two's at their best, (or worst), it just depends how you look at it..

O.K. so here is a poem I wrote in about five seconds while the pictures were uploading for this entry. I know it is a corny poem, but it kind of describes his life right now. And the crazy thing is, I actually do watch him, so how does he do these things????? If you are a wise, experienced mom with answers, go ahead and take a stab at that one...

O.K. so what do you do

when your son is covered in blue?

when he finds the flour

and decides to make a shower?

oh, what do you do...

so, what do you do

when he shows a knife to you

and he sure looks just like

that scary guy named Mike?

Oh, what do you do???

Oh, I know what you should do

Blame it one the fact that he is two!!!

p.s. there has to be a scary guy named Mike in one of those crazy horror shows...

This is Colter, Will's little partner in crime...

Um, do you think your a dog??!!!!

o.k. so we have this wonderful African Sulcutta tortiose as you probably all know by now. But did you know that she thinks she is a dog, and that she thinks she should be an "inside dog"... I bet you didn't! They probably don't have too much of a problem with this in Africa where Dot is from originally. But then again, those tortoises weren't raised by my younger sister who loves to spoil her pets and even let the tortiose come in the dog door! He!He!

We actually don't really mind when Dot comes in, she just walks around the house for a couple of hours (usually shutting herself in one of the rooms accidently), and then she will find a nice place to go to sleep for about 20 hours. Oh, the life of a turtle......

here is Dot walking around like she owns the place....

here is Dot asleep in our bedroom. Sarah felt that she needed a blanket. "Wait a second, you didn't really mean to put me outside did you???" This is Dot trying to get back in the house by pushing on the door.

A Scoutin' Outin'

This past Thursday for our Den Activity, I took my Cub Scouts to the local park. We listened to the story of the pecan trees that surround our beautiful park.
They were planted 15-years-ago by our Bishop that passed away about four years ago. He planted the 10 or so pecan trees and hand watered them until they could make it on their own. The trees put forth many pecans each year and many people benefit from it. (Especially our family that has a tradition of picking them each year which will be included on my next entry...)
Anyways, the boys learned about this act of kindness that keeps on giving even after the giver has passed away. I made them sign their name committing them to a special radom act of kindess for November. Then the fun began.... Morgan yielded his citrus picker and started smacking the various branches of the pecan trees. The boys would stand under the trees braving both life and limb as they gathered their treasure... pecans to take home with them in huge 2-gallon bags. They loved getting hit with falling pecans and running around. And I am pretty sure that Morgan enjoyed hitting all the small scouts with the pecans as well. A Bishop has to get his frustrations out somewhere!!! He! He!
Then we proceeded to clean the park and eat a snack and then for the Grand Finale.... It was getting dark so we armed each boy with a glow stick and played glow stick tag, Red Rover, and of course Hide and Seek...
It was truly a night to remember and I hope the boys remember to spread seeds of kindness this month. I really love my Cubbies!!!!

Why mom's need naps!!!

O.K. everything that transpires in these pictures took place in less than a two hour span of time. This is a little look into the life of a 2 1/2-year-old boy! This isn't for the weak of heart, or those that are afraid of poop!

This story begins at 12:30pm Arizona time on Thursday, November 6th. The characters are the mom played by Christa Johnson and the "Terrible Two Monster" played by himself, Will Johnson. The scene opens with Mom and son at the table making cookies for Cub Scout activity that evening. The recipe is very messy and calls for rolling dough into a ball and then rolling it into powdered sugar and sticking it on a pan. Two-year-olds love mess so Will is in his element.

o.k. I have to switch to first person because it is too hard to tell the story in third person, I am too close to the situation. You could say that I am "personally vested" in this story.

Anyhow, I showed him how to roll the dough in the powdered sugar all the while saying "roll it, roll it, roll it" and then showed him how to place said dough on pan. He really got into it and kept repeating over and over "roll it, roll it, roll it," which sounded more like "row it! row it!" This goes on for a while and we are getting happily messy and I begin to take pictures. Pretty soon, Will sees his shovel on the ground and leaps from the chair, grabs his shovel and heads out the back door yelling "I dig rocks!"

I turn to put pans in oven and wash a few dishes. Pretty soon Will comes in to show me a rock he has found. I tell him to put it back outside and get back to dishes. Pretty soon I hear "row it, row it, row it" I turn to see him rolling more dough in the powdered sugar. "Will we are done, no more rolling." I come over to see what he is up to and low and behold, he is rolling a rock in the powdered sugar and looking content as ever. I expain the difference between rocks and dough and take the rock away to the backyard. He is very messy, so we opt for a bath.

Will takes a bath and washes up and plays with his Hot Wheels in the tub. I get him out to dry him off and say, "let's get a diaper on." and turn to grab one. But Will is nowhere to be found, he heard the word "diaper" and is off like a shot eager for his freedom. He runs straight out into the backyard and hides behind a tree. Can you see his cute little legs poking out? What a silly kiddo! I try chasing him, but he hides again and again and runs away. I give up chasing him, leave the door open and tell him that when he gets cold, he can come inside. (this shouldn't take long considering the weather today). I head back in to take cookies out of the oven. I set the diaper down, pull out a pan of cookies and hear Will coming up behind me running with something in his hand. "Will, what are you doing?" Will quickly responds "Put in toilet" and starts to run down the hall. "Will, put what in the toilet? I hope you don't have another rock!" His quick responce is "poopy in toilet." Now I am running over to see what he has in his hand and when I catch him, he has a nice size deposit of poop in his hand and was going to go flush it down the toilet. He had pooped outside and knew that poop needed to be in the toilet, hence the mad dash. Oh boy!!!! "Back in the tub Will!"

Will gets out of the tub again and this time I am much better at wrangling the Diaper Ditcher. I pull another batch of cookies out of the oven and go to remove an odd shaped cookie in the middle of the pan amist the other cookies. Oh look, a powdered sugar covered rock! How delightful, and fully cooked might I add. Yummy! Maybe the Cub Scouts wouldn't even notice! He! He!

Soon, Will marches in with just his diaper on and carries three different sized stools with him, one at a time. I watch wondering what will come of this. He lines them up in a row and carefully goes from one to the next until he reaches his desired destination; watching the canaries in their cage. (At least he didn't let them out today like he did two days ago, they aren't easy to catch you know, well, at least I know...)


I make him a sandwich and chips for a late lunch. He eats two chips and gets down and takes off. I catch him a few minutes later and take him to his bed and lock him in his room. (I know it is mean, but if he doesn't see me lock the door at nap time, he just leaves).

Now he is a perfect angel, blonde and beautiful with long eyelashes and a perfect expression of happiness on his pale face.... Me on the other hand, I think my hair is going in all different directions, I have chocolate all over my clothes, (at least that is what I hope it is...) and I still need to get ready for Cub Scouts tonight and oh no, it is time to pick up Sarah from Kindergarten..... What happened to MY naptime??????

Random Halloween Memories

Here are some random halloween memories that are fun to share..
Cassidy is pretending to be afraid of the scary guy...

Will was our cowboy one day and Batman another day

No comment needed....

My younger sister as Sarah Palin, her husband as Barak Obama and their baby as a spider..

My parents as a witch and Harley Riding dude! We always knew dad had a Harley side hidden deep..

Charlie Brown may have the Great Pumpkin, but we have "The Magic Pumpkin"

It is tradition in our home every fall to carve pumpkins for Family Night. And every year we have lucked out and had at least one "Magic pumpkin" in the lot...

Now, you are probably wondering why your pumpkins have never been lucky... well, are you shaking them, maybe you should.

So the idea with the magic pumpkin is that some of the pumpkins we carve each year have candy in them and sometimes even money. Our kids are never afraid to get their hands dirty during carving time because they are bound to find a treat among the goo. And those of you who don't like pumpkin gut covered candy, well you might not enjoy our tradition as much as our kids do.... aren't those M&Ms tempting you???

These are great memories for our family and we even had one Magic Pumpkin from our own garden this year. That is what we get for dropping candy right next to the seeds.......

Anticipation....

Dig in.....

Yummy M&Ms