Photo Challenge Day 7–Favorite

Favorite snack:  Anytime I go into the kitchen craving something little and delicious I reach into my bag of dried Mango’s – perched high enough in the sliding pantry cupboard that the kids can’t reach them.  I was pretty happy to find that my Commissary carries them– SOME of the time, so I stock up when I see them.  Favorite night time snack: Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn with a little sugar (Kettle corn) made perfectly by my man… almost every night.  

Photo Challenge Day 6–Makes me Smile

This guy makes me smile.  He has plenty of two year old tendencies that make me roll my eyes (and that make Luke and I whisper “he’s crazy!” and giggle behind his back) but honestly he’s a sweetheart and growing up so fast.  Only 2 1/2 months until he’s three!

Photo Challenge Day 5–Something I wear

I really needed some new slippers.  I think I hinted fairly well – but even still I was surprised when I opened these up from Chris on Christmas morning.  He picked them out and I LOVE them.   It’s been below 32 degrees for weeks now (actually below 20 degrees for most of that time) and our house is pretty cold… especially the floors which are all hard tile, marble or thin flat carpet.  These have been a lifesaver!  They are SO warm and so comfortable… and they are definitely something I wear… ALL THE TIME!

Photo Challenge Day 4–Mailbox

This is our mailbox… right outside our front door.  Our German mail lady, who in the summer rides by on her bike with a big basket in front, asked me to put my family name on the mailbox itself… so I did.  Below is the place where we collect German newspapers and then promptly recycle them.

The German package lady finds herself on my doorstep at least twice a week, sometimes more.  She has seen me in my loungewear and workout clothes with no makeup more times than not, which is actually the same as my extended family via skype) but I have stopped caring and she doesn’t seem to mind since I’m helping her out quite a bit.  I am now known as the ‘official stay at home mom’ of the block I suppose.  Everyone else on my street works, and if a package comes and they’re not home, which they never are, then she comes knocking on my door to be ‘the official package collector’ because I’m almost always home.  I sign my name to receiving their package and then they get a slip of paper in their mailbox that says their package is over at the Johnsons.    The funny thing is that MY packages come through the military (Chris has to pick them up on base)  so she never delivers anything to me.

The speaker is part of an intercom system which is really cool.  In my family room and upstairs in the hallway right outside my bedroom are the phones that attach to the outside intercom.  When someone rings I can pick up the phone upstairs and say hello.  Then I can push a button to automatically unlock the doors and let them in.  Very handy.

The two buttons under the speaker are the doorbells.  Yes, plural.  The top one for ringing the top floors and the bottom for ringing the bottom floors.  I’m not sure why we need two since we can hear them no matter where we are but there you go.  Two bells.   Germans NEVER knock on the door -- they always ring. At first we forgot and knocked on our neighbor, Sylvie’s, door and she asked about our knocking.   I  I told her that Americans always knock first and then maybe ring and she thought it was very fascinating.  I’m remembering to always ring instead of knock.

The button below the doorbells is the light switch so you can turn on the outside light –which also can be turned on and off from inside the entry way.

Photo Challenge Day 3–Something I Adore

I adore Nancy Kubo clip art.  These little friends are all over my family charts, cards, young women handouts and birthday invites.  These days her clip art is hard to find but she’s a designer over at TinyPrints and her stuff is adorable, as always.  I’ll be using the clip art girls to make a series of Young Women Value cards.  This month… divine nature…

Photo Challenge Day 2–Breakfast

  

These days I USUALLY just have a cup of hot chocolate for my breakfast.  I ran out of Stephens Mint Hot Chocolate, which is my favorite, so now I’m drinking Stephens Candy cane… which is just as good!!   Ummm…. In fact, I’m drinking some right this minute.  

Sometimes I have a half bagel with Strawberry cream cheese.   If Chris doesn’t have to rush out the door then I like to make him something yummy for breakfast so he’ll linger with me a little longer.  Scrambled eggs with sautéed onions, red and green peppers, and cheese.  Another of my favorites is Raisin Bran Crunch with fresh strawberries or red grapes on top.  Yum. 

Photo Challenge Day 1–Me

 

This is ME at my Ikea desk (from three houses ago) sitting on my fold up chair (given to us at our reception) where I spend time organizing and editing pictures, blogging, working on Young Women stuff, skyping, returning emails… etc.  It’s not grand, but it’s MY space… all mine.  

I have three bookshelves behind my desk with paper and supplies of all kinds – and then two filing cabinets filled with files of kids school work and wonderful creations. Chris surprised me with a laptop for my birthday so that I can take it on vacations with me (and to replace my ‘s-l-o-w’ desktop) – but mostly it just stays on the desk and is hooked up to a larger monitor. { I love my laptop but not my monitor since the old one I was using was Chris’ amazing radiology one and this one just doesn’t compare. }

Behind me, in vinyl, is my motto? I guess.  When we lived in Washington our good friend, Jim, started saying this after every positive thing I talked about – going on vacation, getting something for Christmas etc.  It became a thing we said all the time.  When we left Washington I took the motto with me.  I love it up on my wall reminding me of all the blessings I have in my life.   It’s so good to be ME.

Anyway…  this is ME in a place that I spend lots of time. 

Pictures and words by Luke

Luke’s picture of a cowboy – just love that little star on  his chest – and a bunch of words he wanted to write.

Luke Johnson – February 2012 – 4 years old

January at a glance…

I can’t believe how quickly that ‘empty January month’ filled up.  A few more highlights…

Date Nights – Chris and I enjoyed our date night to Mission Impossible at the beginning of the month.  Great movie.  We also watched spent a couple nights watching the Sherlock Holmes series on BBC… just 3 episodes.  We have the next season’s 3 episodes to watch still.  It’s modern day Sherlock Holmes.  We liked it a lot.

Emily cooking classes – I spent two Thursday afternoons cooking with Emily.  She actually helped out in the kitchen more than that… but these were our planned out cooking sessions using all her new supplies – just her and I.  We made potato and onion soup the first day and then she invited over a friend, Ally to help make homemade cookies for the second day.  I love that she loves to be in the kitchen helping me.  Next, a full dinner. 

Katie photography classes – Katie and I went out once to talk about photography and take some pictures but it didn’t last long.  It’s just too cold.   More photography sessions to come.

RS groups – Our RS has a lot of groups going on and I although I don’t make it to everything I sure hate to miss out on all the fun girl time.  This month I went to Recipe Club (theme: healthy stuff – I took homemade salsa) at Yvonne’s house and chatted till 10:00.  I also went to the RS ‘get to know you’ night where we played funny games.  Oh, and I went to craft group one Wednesday morning and took my laptop with me to go through pictures.  Fun.

Secret Garden Play – I took Ryan, Katie and Emily to go see Ryan’s buddy perform in the Secret Garden musical.  It was fun to be there to support him and see so many of our friends there too. 

3 Birthday Parties – Luke went to Josh Chugg’s pirate party, Megan went to Naomi’s Jungle party and Ryan went to Abby’s 13 year old ice skating party. 

Megan’s experience with the Spirit at Brooklyn’s baptism – I took Katie, Emily, Megan and Matthew to Brooklyn’s baptism one Saturday night.  The girls sang in the program and did a great job.  After the baptism Megan said to me… “Mom, when Brooklyn got baptized I felt a very happy feeling when she went under the water even though I wasn’t even the one getting baptized.”  She was very serious and tender.  We talked about how she had just had an experience with the Spirit and she was so excited about it.  She came home excited to tell Ryan and Dad all about it.  In Sacrament meeting the next day she wrote her ‘testimony’ down on piece of paper and then went and found the Bishop after church to show him.  He was very happy about it and it just thrilled her.  I think it really makes her feel like a big girl to have had an experience like this of her own.  Love that girl.  She’s a sweetheart.

Youth Standards Night – Ryan and I drove an hour to the Stake Center for Youth Standards Night.  The focus was on the Entertainment and the Media including the Internet.  It was great.  Plus we listened to part of Gene R. Cook’s talk ‘13 lines of Defense’ which led to some great discussions.  Love that Ryan boy.  He’s a good kid.  Got to visit with Geneva for a while too – fun to be in the same stake!!

Fondant Lesson – Megan G. and I got Fondant Lessons from Emma one morning this week.  Fun to learn something new… we’ll see if and when I try it out myself.  So nice to have time with good friends.

Zumba Class – a military gal leads Zumba classes at our church a couple times a month.  I took some toys for my boys to play with in the corner and gave it a try.  Totally fun.  Must go again.  I’m trying to be good about exercising – some weeks better than others – but Chris is doing great.  Nice to be motivated together.  We went to the gym together once which was so fun!

Frankfurt Temple trip – We drove up to the temple with our friends, the Boyers.  (he’s the other bishopric member with Chris).   Fun to chat with them on the drive.   The temple has 8:00pm English sessions on the Friday night before our Stake Temple day so we took advantage.    I’m still overwhelmed by the sweet love shown to me by the German sisters who work there.  Even though we don’t speak the same language I can feel their spirit so strongly.  I love that about the Temple.   I also love that Chris and I were able to experience some parts of the session with a German speaking something and us replying in English.  Very unique.

Girls lunch – I met Geneva and Stephanie at the craft store on base to do some fun fabric shopping.  Then they came over for Tortilla Avocado Cream Soup and chatting.  So fun.  I picked up my framed Florence picture!!  Love it, now where to put it?

New calling – I’ve been released from Visiting Teaching Supervisor (which I really enjoyed) and got put into YOUNG WOMEN’s again.  Yeah!!!  I’ve probably been in the Young Women’s Program for 10 years out of my 16 years of marriage – and I love it, especially since Katie will be coming in in JULY!!   I’m the Personal Progress Leader AND Camp Director!!  So fun!

New word.

Well, I ‘borrowed’ my new WORD OF THE YEAR from someone else – just like last year.  I can’t help it – I’ve always been a good copier.  And when I saw it, I knew it was exactly what I needed… 

Last year I had a page full of worthy goals.  A serious page full, broken up into multiple categories.  I posted them by my computer.  I read them often.  And when I read over them now I really didn’t do too bad… on SOME things.  Others were somewhat neglected.   Really my goals for this year are mostly the same, but now I have a plan.

This year I’ve decided to really FOCUS on one thing each month.  A MAIN goal that I put my heart and soul into. Anything else that gets accomplished is just a bonus.   For January it was: reading the Book of Mormon every day.  I really focused on it, and I did it… EVERY DAY and hopefully it’s a solid habit I’ll continue throughout the year.  Early in our marriage Chris and I went for over three years straight without missing a day of scripture reading, but lately I have not been so consistent.

In October I mentioned to my Visiting Teacher that I struggled with prioritizing my scripture reading and wanted to be better.   At the end of our conversation she asked if I would like to be reminded with a phone call or email.  I smiled and said whichever was easier.  Every single day for over a month she emailed me an inspired quote about the importance of reading your scriptures. I was truly overwhelmed at the dedication my cute friend had, to help me get refocused.  I have them all saved in a file and printed some out to go inside my scriptures.  I got back on track.  Slowly and inconsistently, but with honest desire.

When I decided on this year’s WORD OF THE YEAR, I knew that I should start with Reading my Book of Mormon. 

For February I have another goal in mind which will take daily action.  I’m excited.  I’m hoping the beginning of each month will be a mini New Year’s Day – with all the motivation and FOCUS that goes along with it. 

Garmisch Trip

We slept in on Friday morning. Chris had a post call day and the kids didn’t have school.  Ryan had left the night before for a winter scout camp in Garmisch and we were heading in the same direction but we wanted to start our great weekend with a good ‘sleep in’.  Megan kept coming into our room saying “When are we going to Garmisch?”  We finished packing and were on the road by noon.  The kids were so excited.  The military owned Edelweiss Lodge in Bavaria has been one of our favorite vacation spots.  The area is just beautiful – and the lodge itself has a pool, outdoor hot tub, ‘free’ little kid rides, a huge open area with a big fireplace and a buffet.  Besides that the room we get has a loft. We booked this weekend back in November when we found a 25% off package with free buffet breakfasts. 

As soon as we got into our room we had our first family counsel and planned out what we would do. 

• Make a snowman
• Swim in the pool (2 times)
• Eat dinner at the buffet (2 times)
• Watch a movie in the lounge
• Play games in our room
• Eat breakfast at the buffet (2 times)
• Go sledding
• Have another family council

First on the list, make a snowman.  There was tons of snow outside and it was perfect for making a snowman.  We borrowed some snow pants from our friends, the Pattersons, and headed out into the 30 degree weather to get started.  It started getting dark as soon as we got out there.

The kids did lots of ‘angel making’…

 

 

There was a playground nearby and Matthew just wanted to go down the curly slide… over and over and over again.  He loved it.  It was tough to pull him back over to the snowman.

 

We brought our ‘portable snowman pieces’ to make our snowman but then had to leave our snowman faceless as we headed away.    We could see our snowman from our balcony windows.

   

By the time we were done it was totally dark.  We walked around front to the main entrance and went in to stand by the fire.  Matthew just loves the little rocking chairs – just his size.

 

After a great buffet dinner {check} we let the kids watch some of the movie in the lounge {check} while we checked out the gift shop and asked about places to go sledding.  Then we ran upstairs and got our swimming suits on (all except me –too much hassle for only a half hour of swimming)  We played with our new GoPro in the pool and the kids had a ball.  So much fun. 

It was 9:00 by the time we got out of the pool.  I took the little boys up for a bath and to get into jammies while Chris went and worked out.  The girls got showered in their own bathroom downstairs. (so nice to have two bathrooms).   When Chris got back the kids were all in bed.  He and I played Ticket to Ride online on his iPad all cozy in bed.  We’ve played it a lot lately and love it.  It was a fun day.

Saturday morning we headed straight to the buffet for breakfast.  We love the waffles and omelet station.  Then we got all bundled up and ready for sledding.  It was a perfect day.  We had woken up to a another layer of snow icing all the tree branches and making everything fresh white.  We wandered in the direction of a good sledding hill, parked and trekked up the hill. 

   

The kids had a great time.  The boys took turns riding with Dad on the ‘2 person’ sled and the girls rode down the hill on the circular twisty sleds.  Megan particularly liked riding on her stomach… no fear.   After a few hours of sledding, we headed back to the lodge.  We relaxed in our room for an hour,  the kids watched a movie and I took a little nap while Chris went down to meet Ryan, who was being dropped off from Scout camp. He had been worried about him because it got pretty cold during the night, but he said they had a great time and that he was warm enough.

Once Ryan was there we went swimming again.   The highlight was tiptoeing out into the FREEZING cold air and getting into the oversized hot tub with the whole family.  Boy that felt good.  Matthew was so relaxed he almost fell asleep in my arms.    Back up to the room for showers and clothes for the buffet dinner.  Delicious roast and potatoes and a RICH chocolate cake that was amazing.  I think our family ate an entire cake.  Matthew ate my whole first piece and half of my second.  Rascal kid.

We were back in our room right quite early and put on a movie for the little boys while the big four joined us for a family council.  We had the kids come up with a list of jobs that needed doing in order for our home and family to function… it was a long list.  Then we had the kids help us plan the responsibilities that each person would be in charge of in four main categories… MORNING, AFTER SCHOOL ZONES, HOMEWORK & PIANO, EVENING.  We agreed upon responsibilities and made our assignments and rewards.  Chris and I had previously read most of ‘The Entitlement Trap’ by Richard and Linda Eyre and used some of their words as a basis for our program.  I love to start a new program… especially in January, when we’re feeling ready to organize every part of our lives.  It feels nice to get this program finally ready to go.

After family council we played a big game of Ticket to Ride Europe.  Dad, Ryan, Katie, Emily, and I played and Megan was on my team.  It was really fun and EMILY won with a few strategy tips from Dad.  Megan and I lost but we decided to blame that loss on Dad because he took all the colors we wanted.  

Sunday we had one more free breakfast buffet, packed up, checked out at 11:00 and drove home.  Good weekend.

Chris put together a music video of our fun – but he’s having some trouble getting it loaded because of our music restrictions in Germany.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post it soon!