Let's start with Christmas Eve...

I had chemo #2 on Monday and so I am going to slowly update my blog... And just to let everyone know, this chemo round has been a COMPLETELY different experience. I am on a lot of anti-nausea medications and they have made all the difference in the world. Yes, my body aches a lot, yes my energy is low, yes I am a bit quesy, but I am a different woman from the first go round. A whole different woman! (I like this woman better!) Here are the kids with their surrogate Bagdad grandparents and surrogate uncle Collin (Nice afro Collin)! They always come over on Christmas Eve to give the kids a present...(the kids really look forward to this!)

Will is sooooo excited for his first present of the season...

And it just happens to be one of his favorite things in the world.. Hot Wheels!

Sarah is really excited....

And oh, how she loves Littlest Pet Shop! And Lund is estatic to get his favorite collectors stuff... Bakugan!

Cassidy gets a wonderful Barbie doll and a calendar, with instructions to fill in the dates for more sewing lessons. she is going to be making Barbie clothes for her Barbie and she is really excited for that. What a neat idea!!

Then the doorbell rings.... it is Santa?? No, it is one of my Cub Scouts delivering a boquet of flowers and a balloon to me... how cute is that... Love you William!
Here is Will playing with his new Tonka truck and new Hot Wheels... he played with them for hours... This is a favorite moment for a mom, my girls are playing together so great with Sarah's new Littlest Pet Shop. Oh, how I savor these moments!

And here is what the kiddos set out for Santa and his reindeer...
We finished up the evening by giving the kids "magic Christmas juice", which was Nightime Dimatap so they would go to sleep and not stay up all night long.... it worked like a charm!

Hat and Scarf party

To all of my cyberfriends out there..... If you are in the Valley of the Sun tomorrow (that would be Phoenix by the way), stop by and we will have some fun. We are having a "hat and scarf" party at my older sisters house and you are all invited, just call so we can make sure we have enough food for your tummy!!! Here are the rules: You wear a hat or scarf that you are willing to donate to my bald head and then we eat and laugh and eat and laugh some more. What could be better than that!!! (I guess hair would be better than that... but hey, beggers can't be choosers!)
Love you all...... my phone number is 928 830-8593. I love you all and hope you had a treeeeemendous Christmas!
Signed,
Cancer Christa (Hey, it might be the next superhero.. you never know!)

It's snowing and people are getting bald all at the same time!! Also known as... Snow and hair are falling all around!

Well, this will be my 2nd blog entry of the day (I started this entry last night and finished it today), but it has been a day full of new things! I called Morgan halfway through the day and told him that it was pretty much inevitable that it was time to shave my head... or I could tape my hair all back on... but I am a little too busy for that, so we went with option 1.

We started by letting the kids cut some of my hair so that they were involved in the whole process. Then Morgan got the clippers and had at it. And I was picturing this painful, pulling sensation and it wasn't like that at all. I couldn't even tell the buzzers were running over my head and I was pleasantly suprized that it felt good. Then I went to take a shower and I put some shampoo in my hand and then laughed. I decided to just use a bar of soap on my head and that worked wonders. What a wierd, new feeling. I did cry inside just a bit when I got out of the shower and saw my head in the mirror for the first time... but Morgan commented a whole bunch of times that I am simply beautiful and what a perfect head I have for shaving. Gosh, I love that man! oh, and by the way, a bald head is a cold head--- I am learning how to constantly wear something on my head, whether it is a scarf or a beanie. I haven't gotten to the "wig stage" yet, cause frankly, I am too lazy for that right now. I will worry about beauty another day!

Morgan took a few last shots of me with hair on my head....

One last shot with my pretty flower in my hair. A guy commented to me at the post office today, he said, "how can you be wearing a pretty flower today when it is so cold and dreary outside." I just told him, "I am celebrating the last hair day before it goes on vacation for a while, you would wear a flower too!" I think I stumped that poor old cowboy!

Lund wanted to cut my hair wearing his 3-D glasses, "why not?!"

Cassidy was thrilled to get her turn at the scissors...

At least she was thrilled until she had my hair in her hands!

Then Sarah took her turn and I decided to see if life was different in 3-D. I love that she is wearing ear muffs, maybe so she won't hear me scream!

then we decided it was time for Lund to get another haircut... his hair sure grows fast...he!he!

aggghhhhhhh.... much better!!!

the momma hair and the papa hair.

The end result is a very bald couple and lots of love!!!

But then again, I couldn't be sad for too long because we had this amazing dinner last night right after the "shaving party". It was homemade rolls, homemade oven baked chicken and a wonderful spinich salad with corn. Gotta love that good food! Morgan and I worked together to do all the cooking.... we sure do love cooking together!

And then to end the day on a wonderful note, it started snowing at around 9:00pm and we were sooooooo excited. This is Sarah trying to catch a flake on her tongue.

Here are my handsome boys after tithing settlement, enjoying the snow.

And my beautiful girls enjoying the snow as well!

This is a true "Arizona kid". He is out in the snow in his Pull-up!!!

Hair today, gone tomorrow.. and is that my nose bleeding??

Well, I suppose I always knew this day would come and I had been wondering if my head was just being stubborn. Everyone that knows me would understand that I have a very stubborn head, to go right along with a very stubborn personality!!! Well, everyday Morgan has been running his fingers through my hair and saying, "I just don't think it is going to fall out...." and even last night when he looked at his fingers after massaging my head he said, "Nope, not a single strand!" Oh what a mere 12 hours can do to a person...... I went to bed with stubborn, thick hair and I woke up with.... a nose bleed! wait, I know that has nothing to do with it, but that is true. I woke up this morning and had the first nose bleed of my life. I have successfully lived 31 years without one. I have gotten off lucky if you ask me, some people get these things all the time. I would have to say, since I had no experience to draw on, it was the weirdest feeling I have ever felt. It was like someone had turned my nose on just like you turn on a faucet. I learned really fast that tilting your head back is not the answer....uuuugggghhhh! I called Morgan on the phone and mumbled what was going on through a wad of tissues. I told him that if it didn't stop bleeding after a little while, I would probably need his help. But, just like any 2nd grader who gets them all the time, mine stopped after a bit of time as well. What a weird concept!

Back to the hair issue. So, once my nose bleed was over, I went to go take my usual morning shower and my head was hurting, not like a normal headache, but just tender and my scalp hurt if you touched it. I was washing my hair, and just like the books said, I was getting clumps of hair in my hands. I actually was quite amazed at the process and thoroughly washed my hair even though it meant losing a lot of it. I decided right then and there that today would be my last "hair day" for a while, so I did my hair and even plugged in a flower for good measure. I will see my hair again soon, it is just going to be on vacation for a while.

Also, the kids have been stir crazy and having "Christmas attacks" constantly. (If you don't know what a Christmas attack is, ask any one of the 10 Johnson children and they can tell you in great detail.) So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone... I set up a play date/ picnic at the Bagdad Community Campus gym and told everyone to bring their children, their lunches, and some food to share. The kids got to burn off some extra, bottled up energy and the moms got a chance to sit down and relax and chat (that's what we do best). It ended up being a wonderful idea for a rainy, cold day.

Will and his buddies rolling along on the big rolly thingy!

Will wanted a picture of "just me on top of the orange thingy"

This is Lund way across the gym, playing kickball with his buddies

Just rolling around!

Here are most of the moms (minus three) gathered together. (look, I have hair still)
Cassidy and Emms being their usual goofy selves!

What is on your list this year????

I am asking everyone today what they want for Christmas just for posterity sake... so let's begin.



Will: I want a light. I want a car that can go up there! A lightsaber. cars and trucks. A carsaber! A badsaber! And a mickeysaber! (What the heck!)... oh and a birthdaysaber! Two bikes!



Sarah: I want a kitten (a real one) And some stuffed animals and fake ponies and that's all.



Lund: I want Bakugan stuff, and a Nintendo DS



Cassidy: I just want a bike, a karake machine, and books



Christa: I would like a new camera to that takes really great pictures, and video too.



Morgan: I want a new trampoline that isn't missing more than a third of it's springs creating what the kids have dubbed "the pit of Karkoon". Oh, and I want a bigger chin... a David Hasslehoff chin!

Santa Clause is coming to town... a lot!

This is a happy Sarah after winning the "M&M counting contest"----you know the one where everyone guesses how many M&M's in the jar and then the closest one wins the candy. Well, there were about 50 or so people there, adults and children, and Sarah turned to me and said, "there are 909 M&Ms". We entered her guess and sure enough there were 928 and she was the closest. She is still working on eating all of her very own M&M's. Good guessing Sarah!!!!

We have had many visits with Santa in the last little while and have loved every one. First, he came to the Steakhouse here in Bagdad, then we saw him again in Hillside at the Elementary Christmas program and then he made another visit to our church building last night for our ward Christmas party. Santa sure has been busy!!!! This is the first year that Will hasn't screamed his head off while seeing Santa and so that is a big improvement! My camera has been on the fritz, so I don't have too many pictures, but I wanted to post a few recent memories for all to see.

no, my son isn't wearing make-up, he just has a very pretty bruise!

Sarah and the Big Man!

Lund and Santa. he is wearing the beanie my aunt made for me since his bald head has been getting cold lately and my hair is hanging on for now!

Cassidy rambling off her list to Santa!

“It's not the hair on your head that matters. It's the kind of hair you have inside.”---Gary Shandling

Now.. i bring you....live from Bagdad....Part Two of our story!

The girls did their service a little bit different because they wanted to donate their hair to "Locks of Love" to go to wigs for kids with cancers, etc.... So we had to braid their hair up, measure to make sure it was at least 10 inches (Sarah just barely made it whereas, Cassidy gave 12 inches of luscious locks), and then cut off the braids to send them in.

I will tell the rest of the story via pictures and clever commentary....

Cassidy wanted to go first... she was really the catalist for the "Locks of Love" idea and she was excited and ready.... (You can see that I still have my normal hair up on my headtop...(just like "Up on the housetop")
Lund runs over to appraise the work and he is thrilled too.. he remarked how pretty she looked immediatley (someday that will be an asset that his wife will love, he is free with his compliments)
After Cassidy runs off for a quick shower, she then convinces her sister that she, herself, should get to cut the braid this time and Sarah was willing to let her have a hand at it...
She got about half way through the braid and decided that it isn't easy to cut that much hair at once, so then mom took over to try to finish up a haircut on her... here she is so proud to hold up her braid.....I then started working on forming a workable haircut.. Here they all are after showering off the stray hairs. We then talked about how good it makes us feel and had a lesson about service, love, and respect for others.... And here is their friend, Jazzlyn, opening up some presents that some of the kids got her at school yesterday. She was happy to be with her peers again, even if just for a moment!!! We Love you Jazzlyn!!!

They went to school yesterday with "mom's haircut" which left much to be desired, but after school my wonderful friend and hairsylist, Felissa, had them come over and fixed them up and now.........here is Sarah right before we left for her school Christmas program last night..

This shows Cassidy in her costume for their Christmas program tonight. She is practicing a curtsy!!!

And here is the back of Cassidy's hair... It has an A-line style that works great for both girls. They look like a million bucks!!!!!! here is Sarah right before school today and this gives you a better view of her haircut (and her chocolate chip pancakes!) And here is the back of Sarah's hair... again a similar A-line style that works great on her!!!
I love my girls and they are such a great example to me of giving freely to others when they need it... even if they just need support and love and a little bit of hair!!!! Aren't kids amazing???!!!!