The Johnson J's...

All of the grandchildren on Jonathan's side of the family all have a name that starts with a "J".

This year for Thanksgiving, we went down to Jonathan's little sister's home in South Jordan. We were lucky to be able to have the boys with us this year, and so we had all of the Johnson grandkids there. They are all getting so old, who knows if we will all be together again like this... so we had to capture the kids in some pictures. Jonathan's mom, Shirley called them her "beauties". There was nothing she loved more than her grandchildren. I wish she would have been there, but maybe she was!!

So let me introduce you to the Johnson Cousins:

(L-R) Top: Jeremy (17), Jessie (18), Joseph (19), Jared (22)
Bottom: Julles (3), Jenna (15), Jaclyn (10), Jordan (15), Jillian (4), and Jason (14)


And of course, we ALWAYS have to have a silly picture!!! This one is especially funny to us because it shows their personalities.

I would have to concur with Shirley when I say that they are definatly some "beauties" in my book!!! I am so thankful for such a loving wonderful family!!

Gobble, Gobble!!!

Today, I made these fun cupcakes for Thanksgiving treats of the girls friends!! They were easy to do, and taste yummy!! I found the idea on familyfun.com, under thanksgiving ideas. The kids thought they were super cute, however... they ate them with all the "fun" things off of them!! The heads and wings are those 100 calorie pack's of Sandies, the feathers are Candy Corn's as well as the beak, which is just the white tips. The waddle of these cute little guys is just a piece of fruit roll up, and the eye is just a dot of black decorating gel. The frosting is supposed to be chocolate as well as chocolate cake, but seeing that I am the only one in my family that enjoy's chocolate flavored conffections, I had to do a yellow butter cake, and color my vanilla frosing brown, but they turned out just as cute as the one in the picture!

My Thanksgiving post will be later on in the week... I have a ton to finish today!!! Lots of love, and thanks to you all!!

My super fun night with friends...

So, Friday night I had my long awaited girls night out with my gal pal's and went to Twilight!!! Thanks to Katie, we got our tickets last month, and have been sooo very excited!!! Our movie was at 7:00, so we headed to the theater with time to hang out. Yes, we are crazy... we got there at 5:00, but only after a stop at the local candy store Alvey's in the mall to get my favorite Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears!!! I got there, and a group of our gang had gotten us a cherry spot in line!! We only had 2 other groups in front of us, and it was awesome!! We were worried that they had oversold the theater, and so we wanted NO risk of not getting in!!! We were glad we got there early though, because by 6 the line was out the door, and around the back of the building!!!

This was the start of our group, it grew a bit while we were waiting for 6:10!!



Our super awesome friend Jill went on a food run and got us some pizza and bread sticks to snack on while we waited! We didn't want to JUST eat theater food, that would cause for some sick stomachs!!! While we were eating, one of the managers came and asked us if we "snuck that in", and we looked at her and said "no, we just brought it in!" She told us that there is a sign on the door that states, "No outside food, or drink allowed", and Jill then turned to her and said that if we had to get rid of it, she would be cleaning up popcorn puke!!! We all got a giggle, when she didn't make us take it out... we think it is because we are older than she is. The funniest thing, is they let us take it into the movie theater while we watched!!! So we smelled popcorn, pizza and garlicy breadsticks the whole movie!! YUM!

Pizza, Drinks, Girl Friends, Chatting... could it get any better??!!

We got all decked out with our drinks (that may have been a little to big for the bladder!!), and they let us be seated at 6:10, what a funny time that was, watching Katie running for her covetted seat, only to find out while sitting down quickly, that her chair was broken!! She stayed in it the whole movie though... it is in the middle of the first upper row, where no one is in front of you and you get a bar to rest your feet on!!! Keri and I also scored a bar to rest our feet on as well!!! GREAT SEATS!!!

Katie showing us her BROKEN favorite seat!!!

It was a great night, I enjoyed chatting with these two lovely ladies who sat next to Keri and I!! We don't ever really have the chance to really chat, and I got to know more about them!!!

The movie was awesome! I loved it, I think!! There were parts that I wished would have been different, but for the whole, it was very, very FABULOUS!!! Jasper's face made the whole theater errupt with laughter everytime he was on the screen, he looked as if he were is pain, or as Bethany put it, constipated!!! James, who in the books didn't interest me at all, seeing that he was the evil man in the book, WAS HOT!!! Edward was in my opinion a great cast for the role, and Bella was a spittin image of what I imagined her as in the book! The only disappointment for me was that they stopped with book 1!!! I would have sat there all night for the whole series!! Now, I wait... as patiently as I can until the next ones come out!!

Thanks to Jonathan, who hung out with the kids, and kept everyone entertained, and in one piece while I was out!! He is an amazing husband who I am very greatful for!!!

Thanks to my wonderful friends that shared this experience with me, I had a blast with you and can't wait to do it again!!! All the pictures in this post are from other friend's blog's... My camera was too big to take with me!!! So thank you Emily and Katie for letting me take from your posts!!!

Beene and the Nativity...

On Saturday, I was busily getting ready for Jonathan's dad and his wife to visit. I ran out and got the mail, we got some lovely bills and other fun things. One of those lovely things was a Hallmark Christmas mini book. Beene was looking through it, telling me all the things that she wants for Christmas. Boy does she want a lot of things, and she THINKS she is going to get everything that she asks for. Anyway, I was finishing the counters in the kitchen and I heard her talking to Julles, she was explaining some things.

Here is how the conversation went:

Julles: I want that for Christmas!!!

Beene: Yeah, me too!

Julles: What is that?

Beene: This is Jesus, Mary and JOE!!

Julles: Oh, Mommy look there is Jesus, Mary and JOE!!

Mommy: Oh, do you mean Joseph?

Beene: No mom, Joseph is my brother... this is JOE!!

She was so determined and serious while talking about this. How funny!! Then this morning, I had gotten out of the shower, and came into my room and she was talking to me about some random things. Out of the blue, she asked me what Jesus' mommy's name was... I said, "Mary"... She looked at me confused, and then thought a moment more... "But mom, is that the same Mary as 'Mary had a little lamb'?" I tried hard not to laugh, and told her that it was ok to have two different Mary's!! She is really into "mom, that rhyms!!" and usually it doesn't and we have to have the same conversationon a daily basis, that they just sound the same, or that they start with the same letter. This was a whole new ball game... Mary/Jesus' mom, Mary/and the lamb!!

I love how she is trying so hard to be a big kid, and learning so much!

Shameless Publicity Stunt...

This is not an invitation... this is an instruction!!! Everyone needs to check out my Sweety's blog... theoceanisdeep.blogspot.com and watch the Jesus/Terminator Christmas parody!! Be prepared to laugh your socks off!

And when Jesus says, "I've got a lot on my mind right now..." precious!!!

Cake Truffels

I have had a lot of people ask me for the recipe of the Cake Balls (I call them truffles) I have been making lately. (this picture is curtousy of Bakerella!!)

I can't take the credit for these tasty treats, however, I can share where I got them from, and you can see how cute they can be.

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/search?q=cupcake+pops (click on the link!!) is the place you want to go. There are tons and tons of ideas, for anything you could possibly think of!!!

Enjoy these tasty treats, and by the way... they look intimidating to make, however... they are pretty easy!!!

Spice Cookies and Pumpkin Dip (I had to share)

At my cousins baby shower on Saturday, my sister Stacey had these fabulous treats for us to eat. She had made Spice Cookies (kind of like Molasses cookies) and some super yummy Pumpkin dip, to dip the cookies in!!! YUMMY!!!! So, since I was having girls night last night, and we were supposed to bring cookies for an exchange... I used her recipe's. WOW, they are tastey, and I had to share!!!

Spice Cookies:

1 1/2 C. butter or margarine, or butter flavored Crisco

2 C. Sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c. molasses

4 C. Flour

4 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. ground ginger

1 t. cloves

3/4 t. salt

Additional sugar to roll cookies in

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add molasses; mix well. Combine flour, baking soday, spices and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape into small balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375' for 6-7 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire rack. Serve with pumpkin dip. Store in a container with a lid.

Makes 48 cookies

Pumpkin Dip:

1/4 c. dark brown sugar

2 T. sugar

1/4 c. water

1/2 t. allspice

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ginger

1/4 t. cloves

1/4 t. nutmeg

1 1/2 c. canned pumpkin (one 15 oz. can)

1 (8 ounce) pkg cream cheese (softened)

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1 (8 ounce) container cool whip

Combine the two sugars, water and spices in a 4 C. glass measuring cup. Mix well and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes; stir. Add pumpkin and mix well. Microwave on high 3-5 minutes, let cool in fridge for a half hour or so. In a mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Then add the cooled pumpkin mixture, and mix well. Finally, fold in the cool whip until combined. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve with Spice Cookies. (Makes 24 servings)

Also great with grahm crackers, nilla wafers, and other yummy "dipable" treats.

So, you must try these. Even people who don't like pumpkin things... like pie... loved this dip!!! It has cream cheese in it, could it get any better???

Thanks to Stacey for introducing us to these tasty treats, and for sharing your friends recipe!!!

Feeling like a mean-o...

This morning, my girls had a really hard time going to school. I waited at Miss Erica's house with them, trying to talk them into staying for 15 minutes. Beene finally decided that she would stay if she could show off her drawings that she made yesterday. She had brought them in the car and I had told her to leave them there. So, out came the pictures, and she stayed. Julles on the other hand, would not budge. Usually when she says she doesn't want to stay, I tell her she has to go home and go to sleep, with NO blanky and bink!! Usually by the time I get the car started, she is begging to go back in! Today though, she called my bluff, or atleast tried.

So, as I am typing this... Julles is in on her bed, with no bink or blanky, and just sitting there. We have now been home for 1 hour and we have a little over an hour to go. I feel really bad that she is in there, but I can't NOT follow through with a consequence.

She will be in there until 12:30, at which time she will come and have lunch, then we will go and pick up Beene. Can I just say that when I used to stay home from school, if I wasn't sick, I had to sleep... no tv, no music, no toys... nothing, and I HATED IT!!!


update: right after I posted this, she told me she was ready to go to school!! I don't think she'll call my bluff anymore!!! Now, she can be at the last hour of school, and I can get ready for the day!

Grease - Summer Nights Lego Stop Motion Animation

This weekend, Jonathan and I spent some time on YouTube. We are huge Lego fans at our house and started finding cool music video's done with lego people. This one came up, and I am a HUGE Grease fan, and I had to post it!!

Amber and Bethany... I know you will appreciate this more than anyone!!!

Just call us supportive parents...

Jonathan and I aren't huge into polotics. Jonathan hasn't found anyone that he loves and supports like he did Reagan, and I can't wait until after tomorrow and all this election crap is over!!!

However, Joseph and Jeremy are very political minded these days. Both with thier own beliefs and people they support. Joseph has been an Obama supporter since before he announced he was running. A few weeks ago, he made a treck to Colorado to campaign for Obama. Jeremy has just made his political agenda known to us recently. Last wednesday, he drove down to SLC with Jonathan and Rick, and went to the Nadar/Gonzales ralley. He picked up a bunch of free stuff including, bumper stikers, pins, and a few yard signs. On Halloween, while we were trick or treating downtown logan, we stopped in at the Obama headquarters, and ended up walking out of there with a shirt for Joseph, that normally is $15, but because my husband is incredibly talented, he got it FREE. We also got him some bumper stickers and little round stickers, and last but not least, a yard sign!!!

This is what the park strip in front of our home looks like:

There is lots of buzz going on in our neighborhood now about these signs. One lady who brought her kids to our house trick or treating, told her daughter "These are nice democrats that live here!", and another neighbor told our kids that he wasn't going to give them candy because we have an Obama sign in our yard!! (Of course, he did give them candy, he was just joking, but Beene thought he was serious!!)

I am just glad that we can support our kids in thier freedom of choice, and though we may or may not always agree with who they may choose, we are very proud of them for having a voice! Sunday dinners get a little heated with political debate, but it always ends nicely! So, we have one who has already voted, and one who is just 3 months shy of being able to, and is not happy about missing his chance!

Just call us supportive!

Rockin' Halloween!!

We had one rock n' roller filled Halloween this year!!! Sorry, but there are a lot of pictures... I couldn't pick just a few, I had to document our whole day for the Grandparents!! Here is what our day intelled!!!

First, the kids had school! They had normal school until 12:00, when the mom's came with their costumes, and treats. They sang us a song called, "I'm a mean old witch" (pictured above), and then they "practiced" trick or treating, and saying thank you to all the mom's. We also had a parade in which they walked around to "Thriller". It was tons of fun and was a great way to start off the festivities!!

Then we went home to touch up their costumes. Jonathan trimmed up thier Hannah Montana wigs so that they could see, while I put on some rock star make-up on them. They only left the hair on long enough for me to take a picture or two of them!! But, they make some cute little diva's!!

This is the girls post wigs and lookin hot in thier make-up!! The shades completed the outfits completely!!!

Since the girls didn't wear the wigs, Jonathan seized the opportunity to have hair again, and dawned the wig as a rocker!! He was looking quite smashing in his new do! Then, I felt stupid not dressing up, so I put on my old Foot Locker uniform, and decided to forgo a photo shoot!!

Now, the Trick or Treating traditions start.... First, we hit Macey's grocery store, for thier yearly trick or treating!! The girls always look forward to this, and have a contest to see who can find the next balloon/treat stand!! What fun they had, and they loved seeing all the other kids in their different costumes!!!

Then, it was to downtown Logan for their annual Trick or Treats Walk. We have done this the last 3 Halloweens, and love it!! We walk through all the downtown businesses, and the kids get candy (a ton!), we walked farther this year than any other year!! It also goes a lot faster when you don't have a stroller to push, and when Julles walks the same speed as everyone else this year!!! We had to stop and take a few pictures in the huge leaves at the Logan Tabernacle, seeing that our trees aren't mature enough to have great piles of leaves yet!!! They also loved spinning and kicking in the leaves as well!!!

This photo is of Julles doing the spinning, and Beene doing the kicking of the leaves!!!

I had to snap a few shots of the Daddy Rocker and the Diva Rockers!! They had fun posing with eachother, while we were waiting to cross Main Street!!!

My rock star hubby had some rock star run-ins this day...

Here he is partying hard with Kieth Richards from Rolling Stones at the local Lawn and Garden store! They had a great time, and had lots of laughs! See what drinking too much Mtn. Dew can do to your face kids??

We also ran into one of biggest ROCKERS of them all.... Ozzy Osbourne!! What a treat that was!!! Jonathan had a bit of a hard time understanding what he said through all the slurring of Ozzy's words!! It was sure nice of him to let us have this great photo op!!

We finished our downtown experience and went home to see all the loot the kids gathered, and then went to visit Amy, so she could see her little rocker girls!! We came home and took the kids around the neighborhood with all our friends. The girls had a great time running from house to house, and being with all the fun neighbors that we have! When that was done, we came home to have the traditional Cincinnati Chili with the boys, and the girls handed out candy to all the trick or treators!! We watched the new Tinkerbell Movie, and ate lots of candy!!

We hope you all had a great halloween, because we sure did!