A New Fashion Statement created by Will Johnson

The other day Will was sitting on my lap and we were talking about life. After a few minutes, he looked at my necklace and started laughing. "Mom,"  he chuckled, "you have a zip line on your necklace and if you had a little wizard with litle teeny arms, he could ride on that zip line."

I was completely baffled until I looked down to my necklace and sure enough, he was right...

I told him that I didn't know where to find any little teeny wizards, but I did know where some Lego men were hanging out. We ran up to his bedroom and this is what we created...

         We picked a police officer to make it "official"...

 I am pretty sure everyone is going to be wearing this style soon!!

 Will loved zipping the Lego man around...

 And when the Lego man got really brave, Will tried sending him off the drawers!!!!

 And then Will convinced Lego police officer man, that he would have the time of his life if he zip lined off of a flying airplane. Later the Lego man mentioned to me that it was truly thrilling, but a bit much for him. He asked if we could use one of his buddies next time, like "Lego man who only has one arm", or "Headless Lego man/woman"

Here is my crazy conspirator with his amazing imagination. Love you Will!!!

Bird is the word!

Lately my kids have been OBSESSED with birds!!! (thank you Garino family for gettng them started!) The Garino's told us about an exotic bird store not far from our house and since then, they ask us EVERYDAY to go to Cage World!

 I am sure the kids would LOVE to have one of these at home, but they cost upwards of 5,000.00

 This is more what we are looking for. All my kids are madly saving their money to get a parakeet.

                             Even Will isn't intimiated by the little ones...

 And this HUGE guy is 10,000.00 and his bird poop is nothing to luagh at!!! In this picture, he is actually taking my button from my shirt in one fail swoop!! At least he didn't decide to take my nose or something!

                                 This is a Brazillian something or other...

 It is crazy how "up close and personal" everything is!! I am still waiting for one of my kiddos to get a big bite on the finger. But, I think they would want to go back even if the bird took the whole finger off!!!

And here is their favorite bird, "Meggie". He is a Gumbrella as you can see by his beautiful headress!!! And he talks which is a HUGE bonus to my kids!!!

I wonder what they will be into next.......We have now had quite the extensive variety of pets in the Johnson house. Including: Two ball pyhon snakes, about 6 rats, cats, dogs, African Sulcutta tortioses, fish, parakeet, and a tarantuala. (the spider only lasted a day before we gave it to the missionaries, it FREAKED me out!!)

My Story...

A couple of months ago, a fellow cancer patient in one of my support groups asked me if I would be willing to be in a book a friend was writing. I told her that I would love to help her and that was that. Fast forward to a month ago when I get a call from a photographer that wants to do the "photography shoot" with me for the book. Oh boy, now you've done it Christa!! I graciously accepted and then later wondered what on Earth I was going to wear to this photo shoot. In the end, I just went as myself. I wore jeans, a pink shirt with a black and white polka dot sweater on stop. The necklace my parents brought me from Hawaii, and of course my "William and Kate wedding" hat. You know, the kind the Brittish are famous for, and bald people love because it covers more head.
 And today I just finished my "write up" for the one page of information that is going with the photo shoot. I thought I would share it with you guys even though I don't know if I will ever see the book or photos. Still, it was a fun opportunity to delve into my "creative brain". (I was pretty sure they zapped it right out of my head during whole brain radiation, but alas, there are still traces of creativity left! buried.........deep!)

My Story by Christa Johnson (Stage 4 breast cancer)

I am at the dentist office with two of my children, my boys today. My oldest, Lund, is sketching with intensity on a piece of paper as he glances at the Army tank picture in his sketching book. My younger boy, Will, is climbing on my lap and asking me to read the Scooby Doo book to him, “just one more time.” As if to make his point clear, he bursts out, “Mom, it is a pop-up book, we just HAVE to read it again.” And I look down at his sky blue eyes and give in. Half way through Scooby Doo, the answer hits me like a ton of bricks!!!!!

THIS IS WHY I FIGHT CANCER !

To be here with my boys in the dentist office today, and next year, and the year after. To go with my 12-year-old daughter to the latest ‘tween movie in a theater filled with other mothers and their daughters. To watch my 8-year-old as she runs up to me with a one-legged parakeet on her finger. “Look mom, He loves me!” And indeed he does, as all animals do. No animal can resist Sarah.

THIS IS WHY I FIGHT!

I want to see my husband day after day as he bursts in the door after work and hugs me, commenting as ususal...”You didn’t overdo it today, did you honey?”

“Of course not” I reply through a smirk, “You know me.”

“Yeah, that’s what scares me!!!” He hollers as he heads up the stairs, “I DO know you!!!”… and he races off to change so he can roughhouse with the kids.

So, that’s my story…

I am a young mom with stage 4 breast cancer, going to chemo two days a week and raising my kids the other five days. I take more pills that most moms. I have no hair. I get tired really easy. I AM BREAST CANCER!!!

Yet, life is wonderful! My family is wonderful! I fight to be here as their mother and as a wife enjoying all the good life has to offer for many more years to come.

I WILL watch them walk down the aisle at their weddings.

I WILL watch them as they throw their caps in the air on graduation day, and

I WILL hold my grandbabies in a rocking chair on my front porch. But most importantly,

I WILL grow old with my husband and best friend by my side,

And there WILL be many more trips to the dentist office….

Beautiful family faces all around..

We had a great Sunday Family Dinner at our house after Archie was blessed in my living room. By the way, we were honored to have a baby blessing in our home! Such a wonderful Spirit!

Then it was onto the food and family......

                                          Here is the whole Shumway clan.

 And I got this great idea off the internet to give the kids a roll of painters tape to use as a "road". Totally worth it!!! It was so fun to see how the "road" evolved around the whole house!

 Man, that is one cute kid!!! Little Chase!

 And there was an impromptu "Fashion Show" after Cassidy and Lucy had fun up in my closet.

 See, look how much fun they are having! My couch was even included in the "road". I love how Elliot is looking like, "I had nothing to do with this at all."

                                        Cousins lining up the hotwheels cars.

 Papa and little Ellie!

 Elliot added the "boardwalk". How creative!

 Such happy folks. This was right after the blessing!  Gramma Karen, Juliet, and proud mommy and daddy, Bonnie and Mike. And of course, the star.......Archer!!!

But watch out, there are crazy relatives like this lurking about!!!! he he he.

Old Stomping Grounds...

While a lot of Morgan's family was around for their gathering, we opted to visit the "old stomping grounds". This is the house that Morgan grew up in. His parents lived there for 15 years before moving to Pocatello. For the Johnson's, these pictures might be a trip down memory lane.

                                                          Recognize these adorable folks?

                                 Good ole' 1734 E. Glade. Here we have Ruth, Juliet, Morgan, and his parents.

 This is the same swingset Morgan played on as a child. They changed the other half of the backyard and added a pool.

 This is the chalkboard where Morgan's mom homeschooled Ruth and many a message was shared.

And while we were in the basement, Cassidy found this goody. Does anyone out there remember "Pogo" balls? They are about the same era as "Moon shoes". That really dates me, but I guess they are bringing these silly things back. I didn't really think they went over all that well the first go round.
   Thank you Householder family for hooking us up with this great tour. It was awesome!

The Big Surprize.....

This week our kids were at a wonderful camp for kids with parents who have cancer. They had the greatest time ever and I will write more about that on my next post, but for now, I want to tell you about our big suprize. The whole week, while the kids were enjoying s'mores and swimming and rockin' dance parties and ropes coarses, we were WORKING HARD!  We decided to suprize the kids by redoing their rooms while they were at camp. I forgot to take "before" pictures, but you're sure to enjoy the "after".

 I picked bubblegum pink and lime green for the girls room and I LOVED the end result! Morgan did all the chair moulding and that is what made it all look so great. Thanks Morgan!

 I wanted a vanity table for the girls so they can get ready for school in style. Love the mirror! (Thx Ikea)

 Sarah was the first one to see her room and she was REALLY excited!!!!

Lund was excited as well about his room. We did the boys' room a little more low-key with two shades of blue.

 My girls really liked the vanity!!! Such beautiful girls!
 
 Cassidy LOVED her new pink, soft body pillow and decided to hide under all the softness.

 And Sarah got a lime green body pillow and loved enveloping herself in comfort.

 Daddy was pretty excited for the girls too. (And that the project was finally over!)

 Here are some more views of the boys' room. I haven't hung up any picutures yet though.

 The boys were excited to get a new bean bag chair, which they quickly used as a weapon.
And we need to give a HUGE thank you to Grandpa Wiemer who brought over his "paint box" and got to work. He is an amazing painter and it was so great to have his help. Grandma Wiemer also came over and made sure Will was out of the way, which is a HUGE job!! Thanks, and thanks again to Mom and Dad.

I don't think we will embark on another project for a while, but it was sure worth all the work to see the kids light up after they saw their rooms.

Beautiful Faces Saga, Episode 2

Morgan and I have been busy this week re-doing the kids' bedrooms to suprize them when they get home from Cancer Camp this Saturday. Soooo, I am now very, very behind in my posting.

Here we go, back to the Family Reunion...

 We watched a couple of "shows" out front... What kind of shows you ask?

 The "Bike show" was pretty good until the actors crashed mid-scene....

 The "skateboard" show was also a big hit!

 The "Squirt yourself in the face"  show was very entertaining!

 Oh, and we LOVED the "night swimming" show...

 Actors: Elliot, Mike, and Archie

 Actors: Sarah, and Morgan.

 I really enjoyed watching the "I love my cousin" show!! Lund holding Archie

                                                      awwwwwwwwwwww....

And last, but not least, the "I hope they call me on a mission" show was sooooo thrilling, except the actor wasn't quite big enough for his outfit.

Taking a break from the "Beautiful faces saga" to bring you......"Injuries"...

I am taking a break from all the events of the Family Gathering, to tell you all about the injuries sustained this year....


Poor Karver! We couldn't decide if he had a heat rash or was allergic to his sunscreen. Either way, it didn't look fun!

Guilio had an eye misshap and ended up having a lot of pain for a couple of days.

And this may look like a happy picture to you... but not ten minutes later poor Ruth was stung/bit by a wasp and it really got her bad. Poor Ruth!

And since I don't have any pictures of the rest of the injuries/sicknesses, I will just compile a list for you...
1. Kason got an ear infection
2. Lund' ear drum burst (young Lund)
3. Sarah scraped her knee on the slip and slide.
4. A lot of people in the family got sick with some kind of cold/sinus deal.

But hey! It wouldn't be a family reunion if we didn't all get sick or injured. he he.... All in all, it was a successful family reunion and we all are healthy now.

Stay tuned as we return to our "Beautiful Faces Saga" tomorrow.