Blessed, I am

Christmas has come and gone. The tree is down and most of the decorations are packed

away. Now, if I could just get the girls to organize their bedrooms! We had a wonderful Christmas filled with family and love. We spent Christmas eve with William's family. Ashley, William's daughter, came too! It was nice. We enjoyed watching my little niece, Camdyn, open her presents. I finally made a successful prime rib dinner. Don't ask how I could mess it up. The kids all opened gifts and we had a wonderful time. My brother Robert came with his son Gavin to spend the night and enjoy Christmas morning with us. It is so much fun to have little kids around on Christmas. The kids and grown-ups all enjoyed the gifts. We had my family up on Christmas day. It was a ton of fun and my shoulders are still sore from playing our new Wii game. Yesterday, my brother Ken and his family arrived from Denver to visit for a few days. We all gathered at Sara's home and had a fun visit. We are going back down this evening. Tomorrow everyone is coming back to my home for dinner and the Bronco game. We have really had a wonderful Christmas. The girls are really starting to understand the real meaning. I am very proud of them. They are beginning to understand the world is so much bigger than them and they have an important role in being kind and giving. In our local newspaper was an article about an older, sick woman who was nearly being evicted from her hotel room and would have no where to stay after Christmas eve. Here is the link-

http://web.thedailycourier.com/eedition/index.html?py=2008&pm=12&pd=23&pb=0&pg=A6

The girls were looking over my shoulder and read the story. As they read about her ailments, and her autism was mentioned, they both got very upset. They are very protective of people with Austim. My nephew, Joshua, who is Camille's age, has autism and they get very upset when someone is unkind to him. The girls brought me the phone and asked if I would call the motel and see if anyone had helped her yet. I called and asked the question and when they heard me say, "no one has", they ran to get my purse. They asked if I would take them by the bank so they could get some money and pay for her to stay for a while. Camille said she was sure she had enough money to pay for a year. (not quite, but I didn't tell her that!) I looked at them and told them they needed to save for college. They were so sad. I then told them that I would pay for them. They were so excited. We quickly drove to the small and dirty little motel 6 where the woman made her home. Camille and Megan walked ahead of me. When we got to the front desk, Camille said we were here to pay for a week for the lady in the paper. It was a really sweet moment. The girls never thought about not doing something. I was grateful for that moment to be able to see my girls, not as fighting and sometimes impatient girls, but as kind and compassionate spirits. They were both very quiet on the drive home. As we pulled into our driveway, I looked at Camille who was very deep in thought. I asked her what she was thinking about. She just looked at our home and told me how grateful she was that she got to live in a warm home. When I asked them why they felt they needed to do something this time, for this woman, when we read so many sad stories, they replied that they were doing what Grandma Johnson would do if she had read the article. I am a lucky, lucky mom.

Tonight, the girls and I decorated our Christmas Tree. William has been gone so much with work and then tithing settlement today, the girls took charge. We had a fun time hanging our generic ornaments, but it was the best when the girls hung their own ornaments. Troy's parents have given each of the kids an ornament each year since birth and I have done so also. We really enjoyed our walk down memory lane tonight! We saved Zac's ornaments for him to place on the tree himself. I am in hopes William can bring him by for a few minutes tonight. Usually Christmas is my favorite time of year. Our home is usually lit up like the Christmas Vacation (funny movie) house. But this year, it just seems more work than necessary. I haven't even decked out the banisters. I haven't even gotten around to getting my wreath on the front door. Ugh...well I can probably manage that soon enough. We really enjoyed the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional this evening. What a wonderful group of men! I loved the music tonight, too. Here are the pictures of the girls hanging on the ornaments that Grandma and Grandpa sent this year. Flip-flops, so cute. They must have been sent from far away and warm! The ornaments made me want a vacation desperately! I need sun and a beach soon!

Megan & Camille

Our Calendar Page 2008

Twilight Movie

I am officially the coolest mom, according to Megan and her friends in middle school. Not that I need to explain why, but I will. Most of our friends know that my girls and I are fans of the Twilight Series. The movie, based on the book, will be in theaters starting this Friday. I make a joke many months ago about renting out a theater for a midnight showing when it opened. It was originally scheduled to open in December, on a day that happened to be non-school day. Well, they moved the date of release up, and now if falls on a school day. I won't let the girls to the midnight show on a school night. Plus, it is totally sold out. So, true to my word, I rented out a theater, Friday night at 11:30! The girls are so excited! It is actually not very expensive if you can get 35 people or so. If they each pay $6, I break even. Anybody over that, then the theater just charges me per head. Well, word has spread that I have a theater for a "private showing". My phone rings many times a day asking if I still have room. I now have over 75 people coming! Many of them are adults. The ages of those coming are anywhere from 9yr olds to 50yrs+. The theater holds about 200 people, but I just wanted a "small group". I don't want anyone screaming when Edward comes on the screen. I think I will close the party now, it's full enough! It is going to be so much fun. The girls are laughing at all of the kids from school that want to come meet me. I have told the girls that no one is coming that I do not know. I am not dealing with a bunch of random kids at midnight! It's amazing how many "new" friends they have made! I have quite a few friends from church who are bringing their husbands. William is glad that he won't be the only guy there. He wants to check out this "Edward" guy. Maybe I should warn him that the screaming may be similar to when we took the girls to a Hillary Duff concert a few years ago. Ha! He sat there with his ears plugged the whole time! I will just let him figure it out!

It's Over!!

Okay, now you can all do this with me... breathe! Soccer season is over!! YEAH! Megan's season finished a couple of weeks ago and Camille's season ended on Sunday. Meg's team did not participate in the President's Cup, but Camille's team did. We went to Portland to play the weekend of William's birthday, the 8th. We had a wonderful weekend. Of course, I was able to shop. The girls went to Abercrombie and Zac bought shoes for basketball. I didn't buy myself anything. It was weird, I just wasn't in the mood. The best part of the weekend was when I "gave" William his birthday present. We were in the car driving to breakfast, (so he thought), and I told him to head to the airport. He was so, so excited when he realized that his present was at the airport. I flew Ashley, his daughter, in to spend his birthday weekend with him. Because she lives in LA, we don't get to see her as much as we would like, and this was an excellent opportunity. The girls love spending time with her. But, of course, I didn't take any pictures. We will get some at Christmas. The tournament was hard for the team. This past weekend we played at home. We ended up in 2nd place in our bracket. Only the 1st place team advanced to play in Portland again this weekend for the championship. I was sad for Camille, but thrilled for it to be over. We finally have our weekends free for a couple of months! I wonder what William will fix first? Maybe he'll finish the window in the bathroom, that would be great!

Stay off the Roads

Well, it's official. Zachary is driving. So scary! He turned 15 on the 12th and that makes his old enough for a learners permit. He studied and William and his mom took him to take his test. Well, he failed. He was so sad, but I was secretly kinda happy. Not that I wanted him to be sad, just that I wouldn't have to let him drive me around town. In Oregon, if you fail a test, you can come and re-take it the next day. Well, Zac did and he passed. He was so excited! He is getting better. It is so strange to be in a car with him while he is driving. So, when you are on the roads in Grants Pass, beware!

Earlier this week, Camille let me straighten her hair for school. She is very particular about her curls, so this was a special treat for me. She has let me straighten it a couple of times for school. One time, she asked me. I think she was in 1st or 2nd grade and was being bothered by some one at school. She asked me if I would straighten it so she could go to school in disguise! I usually flat iron it ever few months to see how long her hair really is and how bad her ends are. So, that was the plan this week. She didn't seem to mind this time as much as in the past. Her friends at school loved it, even a couple of teachers commented. So, take a good look, I don't know when she will let me do it again.


Last night was our ward Halloween "Trunk or Treat". I really, really dislike Halloween. It is so much work! I usually fight with Camille about her costume. I beg her every year to please be a princess or some type of girly costume. She was Raggedy Ann on year, but it's only because I forced her. So, for many years she has begged me to be a hot dog. No, no, no is always my answer. She has been so good this year. Her grades are all A's which is extremely hard this year because they have put her in 8th grade math. She has really been easy, so I gave in. I ordered the costume online and gave it to her as a surprise. I hate it and she loves it! It is totally Camille. Everyone at the party loved it! She was the only hot dog. Megan and her friends all are going as the same thing. We had a very difficult time finding costumes that were not skimpy. They wanted to be super hero's, but as soon as you get in the teen sized the costumes become either strapless, bare midriff, or mini-mini skirts. So, disappointed but modest, they are Josie and the Pussycats.

Spirit Week at North Middle School

This week is Spirit Week at school. Megan is president of her school, so she got to help decide the days. Today was "Favorite Team" day. Here is just a quick photo of the girls. I thought they looked so cute, plus Camille let me put a little mascara on her today!