What Dessert Are You?

You Are a Brownie

Decadent and intense, you aren't for the weakhearted. Those who can deal with your strong flavor find out how sweet you really are.

What Dessert Are You Most Like?

Home Sweet Home

It really is sweet to be home. I was so happy to see my husband again! The kids were extremely excited to see him when he got home from work last night. I am glad to be in my house again! :)

The trip home was actually pretty good. The kids did amazingly well and I attribute most of that to lots of food and a Gummi Bears DVD. Did any of you ever watch that show on Disney? It was one of my favorites growing up. My brother found it on DVD and gave it to us for Christmas last year. The kids just love it and there's a whole season on 1 DVD so it lasts for about 5 hours or so. I'll be posting more updates and pics from the trip as soon as I finish reading the new Harry Potter!!!

Drive home last night

As we were driving home last night from Provo we encountered the huge fire in Nephi Canyon. Wow, it was crazy! I took some pictures of the smoke. The sky was overcast and it was raining in some places, but you could definitely tell the smoke cloud from the rain cloud. It was coming right down the canyon toward the freeway. I wonder if it is closed today. I hope they have it contained. It was just wild. There were also some rainbows so a couple of the pics show them.

Something sweet to go with my somewhat sour post below

For the past couple of days Megan keeps telling me "I want to go home to Keller, TX, and see Daddy because I miss him." Awwwww. Yes, we are all missing Daddy and I know how much Daddy is missing us! :) We have had a really wonderful trip out here in Utah and we are looking forward to being back home and being a family again in a few days. Ben and I are going on a little 10th anniversary trip next weekend. We are really looking forward to that... :) I even got to go shop for a few minutes today and find a little something "new" for the trip!

Interesting day

(Still in Utah...)
Yesterday we drove up to Provo to have birthday dinner with my brother, Spencer. He turns 25 on Sunday. Wow, do I feel old... We went to Outback Steakhouse and it was really yummy! I haven't been there for quite some time, but their Outback special was still great and to change it up from my usual I had a sweet potato instead of a regular baked potato. I'll have to do that more often. :) The kids did pretty well, but they got pretty out of control at times. When they are sitting together they just cannot seem to leave each other alone. This will make out trip home next week interesting with my mom and sister both traveling back with us so every seat in the van will be filled. We'll have to try to keep someone in between them most of the time.

Anyway, last night we stayed at Spencer and Missy's (his wife) apartment in the basement of her aunt's house. Today we were kind of all over the place, but I wanted to take the kids up to Temple Square so they could see the temple and I could get some cute pics. Well, as usual, they could not control themselves. Why is it that whenever we take them anywhere in public they feel the need to climb, run, yell, make noises, and touch everything in sight? We sat down on one of the beautiful little "islands" in the walkway that is full of gorgeous flowers. Well, I told them to sit, but they of course decided to march around on the grass around the flowers and that is so not acceptable to me and as they were doing this and I was trying to get them to come sit some nice sister missionaries stopped and started "visiting" with us. They thanked us for teaching the kids to respect the area (to not run around the flowers). Yeah, do you think the kids were listening and obeying? Brandon was the only one sitting however, he decided to lean over a little so Kate couldn't walk by so she kicked him in the face. The blood started flowing. My mom and I were livid with her, but how do you discipline your child in the middle of Temple Square where everything is supposed to be all calm and peaceful? I just wanted to scream at her! She could tell how upset we were and she actually sat on the side while we helped Brandon get cleaned up.

Total frustration is setting in with my children. Ben and I teach them about obedience and respect, but these are the 2 things they are having the most difficulty with. Anyone have any ideas for me? Something has got to change!

Sorry for venting the frustrations, but a friend of mine posted on her blog today that she didn't want people to think that her life was always happy and perfect--here's one of my times!

More park pictures

Arg. For some reason right now it won't upload any more pics so you'll have to wait for the rest of the cute park pictures. Bummer. I'll keep trying!

A Day at the Park

My friend, Michelle, moved from Fort Worth to St. George, UT, last Christmas. We only knew each other for a few weeks before she left, but we had a lot in common and the kids all played well together so it was sad to see them go. We went down to St. George last Wednesday and let the kids play at McD's while it rained outside and we chatted it up. Thursday they came up to Cedar City and we went to Canyon Park for a picnic. Here are some pics from the park.

Carli's Pigtails

Some of my favorite photos

These have all been taken in the past few weeks. Enjoy.

My cousin's son, Dawson.
Megan playing in the rocket sprinkler.
Carli loving her mini cupcake.
Megan posing.
Calri sharing her cupcake with Kate.

Awesome blog I found

I could look at it for hours: http://www.amyfurstenau.blogspot.com/

Her photographs are just amazing. I have a lot to learn. I really really want to look in to taking a photography class. Wow, I'm blown away and totally inspired by her beautiful pictures. Hope you enjoy it, too.

More fun Zion pics

Kate and I went horseback riding to the Court of the Patriarchs. Wow, it was amazing (hot as heck, but worth it). Kate rode a mule whose name was Wally and my horse's name was Havey. Yes, I was nice and sore after...I think this picture is hilarious. My three girls, all in almost the same position, leaning a little to the left. Kate playing with Carli out on the grassy field in front of the lodge.Brandon, Christian, and Aaron hanging out on the rocks at The Grotto. They had fun together. Brandon is sure happy when he has some boys around rather than just his sisters.
Mom with her cast. She was blinking. Sorry for the bad pic, Mom. :) Ben and Carli at The Grotto picnic area. These are all 2nd cousins. They had so much fun together. Here they are making visors to wear. Megan showing off her visor. We had a small visitor to our picnic area. We saw this turkey a couple days in a row.

Fun Geography Game

I was 16 miles off. What was your score?
http://www.addictinggames.com/50statesv2.html

Johnson Family Reunion at Zion National Park

What a blast our weekend at Zion was! We had almost the entire extended family on my dad's side there. We had family from California, Vegas, Utah, Texas, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was so nice to hang out with aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters-in-law, my sister, parents, and my grandma, who is the matriarch of our family. She's amazing. I'm so glad she could come and be with everyone! We had a grand time--especially the kids. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and went to a fun little mexican cafe in Springdale, just outside of the park.

If you ever go to Zion you must know that you cannot drive into the park anymore (years ago you actually could, but it was so hard to find a spot to park, congestion was awful and there were so many people) so you have to take a shuttle. I think these are great! It is so easy to hop on a shuttle and get on and off when you need to instead of fighting traffic and tons of people. The park is so peaceful and quiet and so beautiful. It has really made a huge difference in the way the park feels. You actually feel like you are enjoying the views and being outside than in a popular tourist attraction. So, since we were staying at the Zion Lodge inside the park, we had received these red parking permits that actually allowed us to drive inside the park. The trick was that we could go no farther than the Lodge or you would be in huge trouble. This would normally be fine, but with 40-some people in our group and the picnic area a 1/2 mile up the road it was not an option to just haul all the camp stoves, coolers, boxes of food, etc., up there on the shuttle or on foot. So, we were able to talk them into letting us have a handicap permit to drive up there (thanks to having a 90-yr old grandmother in our group--actually, she just turned 89, but my aunt thought it sounded better that she be 90 and it worked!). They didn't want to give us one just because we had tons of food and prep stuff to haul up there. Anyway, it worked out and we were allowed to drive the truck up to The Grotto, as it was called, to take all the stuff to fix our meals. It was fun cooking out every day with the fam. We stayed in cabins that were 4 rooms hooked together (each had their own bathroom).

In the evening the kids enjoyed playing Go Fish inside the cabin.

Claire (my cousin's daughter), Kate, and Megan posing for me at the lodge. It was so spectacular to stay in this setting!The dear came right into the lodge area to eat. The kids thought this was super cool (so did the grown-ups!).This is Carli hauling around a long tree branch she found. I just thought this was hilarious! It's so much bigger than she is. :)

My brother, Spencer, Kate, Missy (his wife), and Megan.
Carli had fun making William (my cousin, Beth's baby) smile. They were cute together.Kate and Megan were so excited when Aunt Missy got there! She is so sweet to them.Ok, I've spent a long time trying to get this post up so I'm going to sign off now, but I've got more Zion pictures coming!

Tip Junkie Giveaway!

Here are the rules to play! http://tipjunkie.blogspot.com/2007/07/contest-rules-1.html

Happy 4th of July!

We are so blessed to be in this country. We have so many freedoms that we don't even realize! I am so grateful to be in America and be able to raise my family here. So today is the 4th. Ben is spending today building shelves in our laundry room. What a guy! The kids and I are spending today in Cedar City, UT, at Grandpa and Grandma's house. I took Kate, Megan, and Carli to the parade downtown this morning. It was fun. Kate even got sprayed with the water--which she was waiting for. Megan, on the other hand, was not happy about getting wet. She just got a few drops on her back because she started running away when they came by. Carli was pretty content to hang out in the stroller, thankfully. We left the parade a little early because we were right next to the park where they were doing a carnival and Kate and Megan wanted to play on the inflatable castle. So we bought tickets for them to jump, then they wanted blue cotton candy (I forgot how yummy that stuff is!). We then headed back up the hill to my mom's. So now we're just hanging out and getting ready to have all the fam to dinner tonight, baked potato bar. Should be fun and yummy!

Watching the parade

Waiting in line for the inflatable castle. Beautiful mountains in the background!

Cotton Candy mustache.

Pouting Megan. Not sure why.

Katri's Etsy Store

This is a new friend of mine in Texas and she is just awesome! She makes the most darling things. I just wanted to put a shout out for her. Here is the link to her Etsy store. She makes wonderful blankets and lovies for kids and has just started making the lovliest little dresses for girls. Take a peek!

My 4 Faves

Four Jobs I've Held
(These were all before kids--I've been so blessed not to have to work since!)
Companion for my great-grandmother
Copy Center at Southern Utah University
Wal-Mart
Computer tech support

Four Movies I can watch over and over
Pride and Prejudice (newest and A&E versions)
Sense and Sensibility
You've Got Mail
Any of the Hayley Mills films (Parent Trap, Pollyanna to name 2)

Four places I have lived
*Hmmm, I've moved a ton so here are the last 4 (these are all since being married--before that is a whole other list!)
Texas (Austin then Ft. Worth)
Indiana
Michigan
Utah

Four TV shows I watch
Grey's Anatomy
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Rachael Ray
Heroes

Four places I have been on vacation
(basically growing up we went to Grandparents' houses in UT--these are all since being married)
Newport Beach, CA
Orlando, FL
Snowbird, UT
Virginia Beach, VA

(I've got big plans to see the world outside the US someday!)

Four Favorite Foods
(k, I love to eat, but here are some staples...hee hee)
Potatoes (in almost any way, shape, or form)
Chips and Salsa
Popcorn
Chocolate

Four Websites I Visit
MyFamily.com (Mavens site and family sites)
Friends' blogs
Executive Homemaker
LDS Friends

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now
With my hubby (he's in TX, I'm in UT)
Out with friends (anywhere would work!)
However, I'm so happy to be here with my family spending some good time with them. I love all these big family parties! We always miss out on these being in TX.
The only other place I can think of is somewhere in Europe seeing it's beauties.

Four People I'm Tagging--copy and tag four more people! Have fun!
Charisse
Thayne and Kailee
Rachelle (read her blog--she's having quints!)
Rochelle (I know you're on vaca, but you'll get to it eventually, right?)

(Wow, am I really not putting any pictures in this post?)