Take me down to the Paradise City

Some of you may know of my love for photography. After Jer and I were married, I made a small business of it. I started by taking engagement portraits for couples. Then, quickly it became bridal shots, weddings, family pictures and so on. I loved it. This was all before the photography world went digital. My only struggle was the nerve of taking the photos and not knowing if they were going to be acceptable until the film was developed. Having a digital camera it is immediate satisfaction (or disappointment, but then you know to retake). As time went on, life became busy and I started to have less time for my "hobby." Things continued to change as far as photography equipment, processing and talent. Holy Cow has the talent out there increased! There are amazingly creative people in the world of photography and to be honest, I have increasingly become more and more intimidated.

Now that my little one is in school a couple of days a week this year (and on to Kindergarten next year), I have started to think a lot about what I want to be when I grow up. The thought of having a life outside of motherhood again is exciting yet a little scary. Even for the few hours a week that I have now, it's hard not to feel lonely as I run to the store or to the gym ALL BY MYSELF! There's going somewhere without the infant car seat and then on to going without the diaper bag, but to go somewhere without a child?

So the question on my mind has been beauty school or back to photography? I have wished for a lot of years that I had just gone to beauty school right out of High School. I would love to do hair and my how that could have helped through the years. But, obviously, I love to take pictures. So do I invest thousands into school or do I invest hundreds into updated photo equipment/training?

I went last Saturday and did family portraits for this cute family. (I think I was the only photographer at Murray Park using film - took my good ole Canon Rebel G 35mm). What do you think? Do I run with it or away from it?

Thanks again to Dallin, Susi and Blake for trusting me with my camera after so many years. It reminded me of how much I love it! And, you were so fun to photograph - darling little family!!

(And thanks to Lynsee for having the confidence in me to actually suggest me to friends)

I {heart} Halloween; I {hate} that I missed it

I am so happy to be back! I can't believe how much I have missed the blogging world! I have felt so out of things. We are officially moved in and living out of boxes. I haven't found the box with my usb cord for my camera, so I don't have a way to download all of my Halloween pictures. I will share what I have and hopefully I will have more to post at a later date.

Cari and I took two car loads of kids to Lagoon for Frightmares. It was so much fun! I've never been there for Frightmares - and I can honestly say that I've been missing out! It becomes such a different place this time of year.


Erin still talks about the "nice witch" at Lagoon. I guess she was giving Erin a hard time about being Dorothy for Halloween because Dorothy drops a house on the witch.

Gosh my sisters are cute. I hate that I am the ugly sister. :)

They have "stretched" and deformed photos all over the kids haunted house at Lagoon - this was a favorite of mine. Too funny.

This is how Bryn naps at Lagoon. Her mama thinks she will nap anywhere, but I have yet to win that battle with her.

These are the winners of the "Best Couples Costumes."

Ok. I couldn't help but post this. It's Brian. I know you had no idea he had this in him. He put so much into this costume, I have to share (even though a picture doesn't do it justice).

I have no idea who these people are.

I had to barrow this picture from my mom's blog. Saturday was Halloween for most, but for Jer and I it was moving day. We had family members helping us all day - some were moving boxes, some were painting walls (okay, just one), some were cleaning the old house and some were cleaning the new house, and some were being mom to my kids. I'd have to say that was the hardest part about the move - I love Halloween with my kids and I missed it all. Cari took them to a party in Pleasant Grove and then brought them home, got them in costumes and took them trick-or-treating. She fed them and loved them along the way. I don't know what I would have done without her. I felt guilty missing all of the fun with the kids, but at least I knew they were happy with their "favorite aunt." :) Erin made one adorable little Dorothy, Emma was one sexy little Movie Star, and Josh was a very scary serial killer (?). He didn't dress up but told everyone he was a serial killer (or something like that) and still ended up with a pillow case full of candy.

So there you have it. Happy Halloween to all and to all a good night.

Just Another Week

I was just going through our week in my head and realized it's another typical week in the Johnson home. Clogging, Soccer, Activity Days, Young Women's, work, babysitting and school. Oh, and it's Halloween Saturday so we have all kinds of fun things planned: class parties, parties at dance, the school carnival and no school on Friday. I swear there's something I'm forgetting. Oh! I remember now - we're moving.

For those who haven't heard, we are moving from our current residency. We've been here for two years and I guess that's long enough. We're ready to box everything up and haul it all down the street. Actually, I hate moving. Well, not really "hate." I like moving. I just don't like the actual act of moving. I get all giddy about the idea of having a fresh start. I love taking all my decorations and giving them a new look in a new home. I love that every time you move, you get rid of all your unwanted goods (like all that stuff that's still in the garage in a box from the last move - obviously not needed). I love the idea of having 4 bedrooms instead of 3. And, 3 and 1/2 bathrooms instead of 2 and 1/2. I'm also very excited to be in a more permanent place. As much as I have found all the good that comes from uprooting, I am very excited to (hopefully) be done with bouncing.

Jer and I had a home in Magna in the ward he grew up in. We lived there for 7 awesome years. We really never thought we would leave that neighborhood. After lots of prayers and sleepless nights, we decided to put our house up for sale and pay off all of our debt. This was in 2007 so the economy was very different from what it is today. We had one open house and within hours we had three offers. So, needless to say, our home sold almost too fast. Fortunately, my parents were gracious enough to let us camp out in their basement until we found something. I'm so grateful for those few months we had there. It seemed crazy at the time, but so many things worked out so well that I can't imagine it any other way. Jer was traveling for work a lot so this way I wasn't home alone. And, one week while Jer was in Denver, I had the flu and didn't even leave my bedroom for two days. I thought I had died. Thank heaven for my mom. Not only did I not have to worry about my kids, but I knew they were loving their time with Grandma. I will be forever grateful for those few months in the basement.

After four months, we were ready to be done looking at homes. We were spending every minute we had searching for a home. We had Alisha (my sis-in-law that is a Real Estate Agent) taking us to look at homes so much I think she tried to fire us. One night she took us to nine homes. Sorry, Leesh. In the end, we decided to rent a home. Sorry again, Leesh. This was supposed to be a temporary roof over our heads until we found exactly what we were looking for. This brings us to today- two years later. Not as temporary as anticipated. But, someone forgot to tell us that you can't keep moving your kids like this. They don't appreciate it. In fact, they start to have a lot of anxiety. They decide to stop going to school and to sleep in your bed instead of their own.

Fortunately, we recently found a home to land in long term. We will be in the same Ward and in the same school zone. No change for the kids other than the scenery. We have drug our kids through a few rough years of change and adjustments. But, hopefully this will be it. As crazy as this little venture has been, we know it has been the right thing to do. We have been blessed all along the way. It seemed insane to be paying rent again when we decided to live in this home, but it has been so perfect in so many ways. While the economy has been killing a lot of people, we have benefited from the change. Our kids have been overwhelmed with new friends and great teachers. We live in a great Ward and a great neighborhood and we are super excited to stick around for a while!

So, if you read this entire post, I already know you are one of those great friends. Most people probably don't care to know so much detail about us, but I thought I would let our loved ones (and the other two readers of my blog) in on our little family secret: we're moving this week.

This is what my living room looked like before:

This is what it looks like now: :( so sad.

Wishful Thinking

A few fun finds for fall (say that 5x fast)

This time of year seems to be the time for yummy food, fun treats and oodles of stuff to do with the kids. Some of our favorites are Gardner Village (to see the witches), pumpkin patches, hayrides, pumpkin carving, kid crafts, caramel apples, homemade soups, playing in the leaves, shopping for costumes, fall clean up and scary movie nights. I honestly think if you get "bored" during the month of October, there is something wrong.

Our October is off to a good start. We have lots more to do on our list, but it's only the 11th.

Activity Days Mother Daughter Activity. The invitation said to "come dressed up." So, I threw together a quick Witch costume for me to wear (since we had to hurry from Josh's soccer game to the Activity). As we drove to the church, Emma kept giggling like she was embarrassed of me. When we pulled in the parking lot, she said "If no other moms are dressed up, you're leaving all that junk in the car." Lucky for her, 13 out of 14 moms were dressed up. So Emma wasn't so embarrassed of me after all.

Talk about cheap entertainment. We picked up this flashlight in the dollar bins at Target (it was really 2.50). It came with six different images to put on the end and shine on the wall. We traced the images on to black paper and cut them out to hang in the window. Erin is very good at tracing. :)

Someone in our neighborhood (we have no idea who it could be - even though we got a text right after the delivery making sure we were home) gave us a caramel apple kit. Erin was so excited. She has been begging for caramel apples.

And, lucky for us, we found our favorite cereal at Reams. I really want to take a serious wad of cash and go buy the whole display. Why do they only have these great cereals during Halloween. We love them year round.

Tah tah for now. We will keep you posted on our upcoming October fun.

Chewing Gum is VERY Gross! Chewing Gum I HATE the Most!

Josh came to me the other day and said he had put two packs of gum in his pants pocket. So, for the last couple of batches, I've been keeping an eye out for gum. I like to think I'm a regular pocket checker when I do laundry. I've been married to someone who wears a tie to work everyday for 13 years now. So, I take a lot of pride in my laundry skills. I'm very particular about how the laundry is done. It's not just about darks and lights. I do the pants up before they go in, I unroll sleeves, I take collar points out, and... I check pockets. However, I've never met a pair of soccer shorts that had pockets - until tonight. Yep! The gum was in the soccer shorts pocket. Did I mention there were TWO packs of gum? This is what two brand new unopened unchewed packs of gum look like after being washed:

"Well that's not a lot of gum" you might be saying to yourself. And, you're right. That is most definately not all of it. So where is it? Let me tell you - it's ALL OVER EVERYTHING! And, what I didn't sit and pick off the clothes was found here:

You can't see it, I know. But it's there. Have you ever noticed that if you chew gum long enough it ends up gray no matter what color it started as? This gum was purple. It's now gray... and smashed all over the sides of the washing machine. How awesome for me. While my sweet little family is catching some serious z's, I'm scraping gum off the walls of the wash tub. An ole credit card did the job okay. Now I'm waiting to see how the batch of sticky clothes ends up. I'm a little scared to tell Jer that not only was Josh's soccer uni in that batch, but so is his coach shirt and all his Adidas shirts (his favorites). I think I will start praying now that it all comes out in the wash.

So here's my question: Do I owe Josh a new pack of gum (or two)? Or, does Josh owe me (BIG TIME)? He did come to me ahead of time and "warn" me. But, he still put TWO packs of gum in his athletic shorts pocket!

Wake Up! And Do Something More!

This morning Jer and I were able to take the two older kids and my sweet Tasha (one of my YW) to General Conference. We're not sure why the Bishop chose us to have the tickets, but we're not complaining. It was a little hectic with the weather and parking, but so worth it.

It was wet and cold and overcast!

When everyone came out of the Conference Center, the Sister missionaries were lined up on the stairs ready to answer questions. They were holding signs with the language they spoke - Tasha was a little disappointed that there were no Russian speaking Sisters. :)

Everything the Church does is so organized... even if it is organized chaos.

Afterwards, we walked across the street to Temple Square. This is what the Conference Center looks like just after the session. That's a lot o' people! So why does it get so hot and stuffy in Sacrament Meeting yet the Conference center is stuffed with thousands of people and is completely comfortable???

While it was a long sit for the kids, they were good sports about the whole experience. We had to be there early for the Spoken Word so it was over 3 hours of sitting. No treats, no games, no coloring on the program. Jer even sat still and listened - with his eyes open. It is definitely a different feel in the Conference Center (rather than the Tabernacle). I remember as a youth sitting in the Tabernacle and how overwhelming the feeling was. It was just as overwhelming and absolutely amazing, but different for sure. I hope my kids remember this experience.

As we left the parking lot, we counted eleven states on license plates: Utah, Idaho, Nevada, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Montana, Arizona, Georgia, and Washington

A few funnies:

Josh: (Saturday night) "Why did you buy tickets to General Conference? Wouldn't you rather just watch it at home?" (on our way there) "Are our seats in the upper bowl?"

Emma: (Saturday - all day) "I don't really want to go to Conference. Can I just go to grandma's with Erin?"

Erin: (Sunday - after picking her up from grandma's) "I looked for you on the t.v. but I didn't see you."

me: "There were lots of people there."

Erin: "Did you look for me? I was at grandma's and there was only me, grandma and Cari. If you saw me, I was looking at an I Spy book."