What I love about Fast Sunday..

one of my favorite things about Sunday..... a very sleepy boy after church....

I always eat TONS of Rhodes Rolls at fast sunday dinner......yummmm here is our traditional fast sunday meal.... Brother Stauffer's lasagna, Sister Rhodes Rolls, and some lovely steamed vegitables!

This month we had Fast Sunday on the 5th Sunday due to Stake Conference next week. If you aren't familiar with Fast Sunday, it is when we (the members of our church) go without two meals and then donate the money that we would have spent on those two meals to the church to feed and help those who are needy. We also "put off" our body/hunger, so that we can concentrate on the more spiritual aspects. It is a wonderful thing and I was very blessed to be able to fast today, the first time since before all my surgeries and chemo and everything. My kids who are 8 and up (Lund and Cassidy) get to ("have to" in their words), fast breakfast and don't eat lunch until we get home from church. They are still trying to grasp this concept and usually stuff themselves silly the day before and complain all day on Sunday until food reaches their lips. They are slowly understanding why..... ever so slowly.

Take today for example.... In primary, Lund's teacher gave him a little plastic frog after the lesson as a "treat" instead of food or anything edible.... and..... he ate it!! That would be how Lund handles it.....moaning that he is going to die at any minute.....pulling me directly to the car right after church so we can get to the food faster, you get the picture. He did bear his testimony today, and it was beautiful and very sincere--that will always be one of his strong points in life, he's definitley sincere!

Now Cassidy takes a bit of a different approach to Fast Sunday, barking at her younger brother and sister that they need to "eat quieter" and "how dare they eat near her", etc. And then when she does eat after church, she has a five-course meal followed by an ice cream cone, just to make up on any calories lost during those few hours. But, she doesn't complain during church, and she bore another beautiful testimony today. (She bears her testimony each and every fast Sunday, which is totally duable in a small town).

Well, now you know how Fast Sunday goes in the Johnson house.....

Annie and scarves

I am trying to catch up on some memories that I haven't blogged about yet. The first was an opportunity that Cassidy had while we were in the Valley for my 3rd chemo treatment. She was the lucky kiddo that got to see "Annie" at Gammage with Grandma Wiemer. She ABSOLUTELY LOVED it!!! And she still talks about the different songs and dances even now. It was a special treat for her to go and she especially liked going alone with grandma, so she got some wonderful one-on-one time with her. Thanks Grandma!!
Look how cute they are all dressed up ready for their show.

Aunt Alisha and cousin Kayla did a WONDERFUL job getting her all dressed up and hair done for the show. She felt like a million bucks!!

Later that day Cassidy wanted to be just like her mom and wear a scarf too. Doesn't she look adorable?? Oh, and I look pretty good too....he he

Monster Hunter

The other night Will was on a mission.... to rid our house of monsters! He was prepared with his daddy's favorite flashlight, his sunglasses (that he insists on wearing upside down), and of course, his monster-fighting gun! It doesn't get better than this....
Now you must be asking yourself.... Is your house monster-free???????!!!! Cuz you can hire our Monster Hunter Extrodinaire for a small fee!!!

10 seconds in the life of a 3-year-old

How much can you get accomplished in 10 seconds???? Think for a minute, how much can you truly accomplish in 10 seconds time? (Of course, now you have just wasted a minute thinking about 10 seconds....hummmmmmm)
Well, this will give you an idea of what a 3-year-old can do in 10 seconds...
First, Will runs and grabs a Sprite out of the food storage room, brings it inside to show me that he wants it and immediately drops it on the tile, exploding the can and soda goes everywhere. I run to put a towel on the mess, (you can see the towel and mess in the picture), and before I can clean up the first mess, he ran into the kitchen and dropped a whole bag of peanut butter M&Ms. So, now you know what can happen in 10 seconds at our house! I just wish it only took 10 seconds to clean up his 10 second mess!!!

Two pictures that escaped..

Here are two pictures that I meant to put in the last post......

This is Will right after he tried eating snow.......he liked it!!

here is Lund prepping to jump!!

Put me in the game coach..... I'm ready to play!!!!

Hip Hip Hurray!!! My Internet is up and running faster than ever, so I am back in the game everybody!!! I couldn't be happier, and to celebrate, I want to share a lot of pictures that I have been saving for this exact moment...
Last Friday, I was coming out of my "chemo coma" and our family decided to take a spontaneous and glorious trip to Prescott. We stayed at our favorite "Elephant Hotel" (it has a huge elephant in the pool that sprays water, thus was dubbed the "elephant hotel"). We swam at the hotel (I watched from a chair with camera in hand cuz I am banned from the pool because of my port) and enjoyed the Disney Channel from our room. The next day we woke up and played all day around town in the glorious, new, powdery snow. Then we slowly drove back to Bagdad relishing in each other's company. It was simply FABULOUS!! I think we all need a little bit more spontaneity in our lives!! I love you all and have missed you so much over my short sabbatical, so sit back and enjoy our vacation and pretend that you were right there with us, getting a snowball in the face occasionally!!
Sarah makes her first snow angel...
So, here is my silly husband... He stuck his face straight in the fresh snow....
And here is his snowy impression!

Will and I trying to make a snowman.....

humm.... interesting... I am definitely not a pro! Someone (I am assuming Morgan, cuz everyone else is in the picture).. threw a snowball at my head ..

Will and I were sharing a happy moment ...

Watch out Lund!! Your little brother is coming after you!!

That is going to be one cold head soon!

Cassidy decides to eat some fresh, powdery snow.

Lund cleared all the snow off the slide, by sliding down...so helpful!

Will learned how to throw snowballs for the first time. Back to Cassidy eating all the snow up.. Will decided to try to eat snow for the first time....

Sarah and her mound of snow she kept collecting.

I love the wonder in the eyes of a three-year-old!

Here is our star quarterback playing "snow football"

Lund REALLY loved the snowball fights!!

Again, with the snowball fights!

Cassidy asked to borrow one of my hats and I think she looks so beautiful!

Don't you hate it when you get a snowball in the face!!!

Ummm... Sarah, you'd better run, that is one BIG snowball!!!!!

Lund finds so much joy in little things like jumping in the snow!

I am pretty sure the camera is about to get a snowball in the face!

Sledding.....

I still love you all, I am just on a (forced) vacation!!

I have just confiscated Morgan's work computer and am hiding in a closet so he won't find me...... I MUST BLOG!!! I MUST!!! He! He!! Actually, it isn't really like that at all, but I am on a forced vacation for a bit until I get my internet up and running again. It all played out like this......
I was sitting in my Lazy Boy recliner (my usual position for Day 4 after chemo) and I had my wonderful laptop on my wonderful laptop desk on my wonderful lap. But, being the multitasker that I am, I was also simultaneously coloring out of a church approved coloring book for my Family Home Evening lesson for the next week, also on the laptop desk. Those church approved coloring books can be so slippery and I noticed only too late that the laptop was slipping on the glossy cover and off my wonderful laptop desk.
Now, my "regular agile self" could have easily maneuvered the issue and grabbed my laptop mid-air with no worries or sweat. But, sadly on Day 4 of chemo, I am about 85-1/2-years old and my reflexes are, well, that of an 85-1/2-year old. (Grandma Frazier is excluded, cause she still has the reflexes of a cat). So my 85-1/2 year-old eyes watched sadly as my 85-1/2-year old arms slowly, ever so slowly, tried to move forward, but basically completely failed to help at all, and my neon green, very cool laptop slid right to the tile floor. (A tear...) It was very anti-climatic really, but the end result, even after much blowing (hey, it worked for the old Nintendo), was a very non-working Verizon Internet card and a very, very, very sad 85-1/2-year old!
The End!!! (Just for now...)

It's Hoops time again!

It's basketball time again here in Bagdad!! Last year I had the opportunity to help coach the clinic with the Varsity coach, but this year I enjoy watching from the sidelines! The kids have really gotten better since last year and enjoy their weekly camps/games. I see Cassidy and Lund and Sarah getting better every Saturday and it does this "basketball-loving" mom's heart good!!

Cassidy sure loves basketball this year!

Here I am congradulating the kids after the game!

And for some reason, you get to see the picture again!

I love how Cassidy and Lund have to guard each other on opposite teams!

This is the most important part of the game---- water break!

here is Lund with some "sweet" moves! Sarah and her adorable friend Nathan, such cuties!

Sarah getting some instruction along the way!

More of Lund

here I am in the stands, staying in the action at all times!

These are definitely my kids, the buzzer goes off and my kids have their fingers in their ears! I am exactly the same way. I can't tell you how many races I lost as a child because on the starting block I would plug my ears so that I wouldn't be scared by the gunshot and then I would just wait for the other runners to start going and off I would go.

Lund is going to take a shot, and here comes Cassidy to guard him.

I love hanging out with the kids in the stands!

More of Lund dribbling down the court.

I love this picture for two reasons: The boys are really having fun, and you can also see that Lund has just shot up recently and is all legs these days!