Happy New Year.

I am excited to see what 2010 will bring.

I am so happy of the blessings that we received during 2009.

I know that it might not be a good idea to put goals on here since some of you might hold me to them.

But I have always been a big fan of accountability so here goes.

1. I want to prioritize my kids and family first. I need to focus on what makes us happy and function as a family.

2. I want to spend time each day strengthening my spirit.

3. I want to be more thoughtful in my gratitude for others who are such blessings in my life.

4. I want to learn how to appreciate myself and my role in the family.

5. I want to have a better relationship with God.

That is good. I am sure there are 20 more, but I have to focus and narrow it down. These are the things that are really important to me. I hope you all have a great New Year! I love and appreciate you all.

This is for you mom:

This dress that Lily is wearing is a dress that I wore as a baby.

She looked darling in it. I just hope that I was that cute!

If you are wondering where I have been...

I have been making this:



These cute houses I found a tutorial for on my favorite blog of course: http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/

I got this crazy notion in my head to make these for my nieces here since we are trying to be thrify in our gift giving this year. I made two...they took a little more time than I anticipated (ok, maybe WAY more time), but it was fun.

We exchanged gifts tonight. Once niece had pure joy for hers and the younger niece said "I don't like it". (in her defense, she was beyond miserable tired and she is 4 so I will cut her some slack.)

It was worth it.

For your Viewing Pleasure

This should make you smile today:

Untitled from Matt Johnson on Vimeo.

I will remember:

Today marks the 5th anneversary of Courtney's birth.

I still remember her. I remember what a great Spirit she is. I know she is watching over our little family. I wanted to share this beautiful poem that was written for Courtney:

A Special Call

I was waiting, oh so patiently
In the Spirit world above
for the special day to come
to meet the parents I so love

Moments before my turn to go
Heavenly Father said
"My little child, a special call,
I have for you instead."

He told me I could choose
the sacrifice so great,
but the work He had for me
really couldn't wait.

It didn't take me long to choose.
I knew what I must do.
And so my dear sweet mom and dad,
My sacrifice was you.

My little body came to earth.
Never to feel you touch.
But my Spirit lingers near
Loving you so much.

The work keeps me so busy.
The time goes quickly by.
I know it won't be long until
Mom and Dad, you're at my side.

My parents don't you worry
I'll be just fine 'til then.
Our savior will sustain us
Until we meet again.

-Michelle Sims

Thanks so much Michelle for those beautiful words, they were truly inspired. I know that this is where Courtney is. She is doing a greater call than we can ever imagine. I am glad that I could be that sacrifice if it means that the work of our Lord will progress.

She changed many lives that day. Mine included. I hope that you all can know and feel the happiness that the Savior has given to us, by giving us eternal families. I give you today my testimony that this work will go forth. We are just a small part of a huge plan. I know that Courtney is happy and doing great and because of that I rejoice. We will be together soon as a family!

I love you all for your support, strength and encouragement.

On the mind of a 3 year old:

Sims was coloring Santa on a coloring page. I took the opportunity to discuss Santa with Sims with the upcoming holiday. Here is how our conversation went.

Mom we don't have one of these.

What?

This thing that Santa comes down (chimney)

Yes we do (finally in this house we do have a fireplace! Which I have carefully hung the stockings by). It is right here.

Well it won't work.

Why?

Because there is glass on it.

Oh.

Well your in luck we are going to Grandma's for Christmas and she has a real fireplace. Never fear, Santa will bring you your presents!!

Way to go Gas fireplaces. Thanks for keeping the magic in Christmas.

Coming to you from the Johnson home:

One night and one night only!

Lily Johnson:

Lily from Matt Johnson on Vimeo.

Things I love about Lily:

*Her constant need to "have a snack" where she goes to the pantry and grabs a box of cereal to munch on. She is very self sufficient and cute.

*Her laid back attitude, most of the day she spends chillin. Which includes her finding toys to play with and then laying down to play with them, because really, she is a Johnson and they don't do anything standing up!

*Her constant chatter. And every once in a while her songs. I hear her singing some of the random little songs that I make up about everything and it makes my heart swell.

I love this thing called motherhood.

Gingerbread fun!

Making gingerbread houses was a family tradition I grew up with. I always remember my mom making the gingerbread, and hand cutting each piece with her knife from their home made pattern. Then my dad would get set up with plates, gingerbread, and the "glue" (frosting). He would carefully put each one together every year. Some years we just decorated the houses as a family and other years we would have friend too. As I was going through the same routine myself this last weekend, I just sat there and smiled at all the fond memories that I have from my parents hard work in putting this together. So now I give that gift to my children and family. I am so grateful to be able to carry on this tradition and I felt so close to my parents as I worked on this FHE. Here are the results:

13 Homemade gingerbread houses and one long table.

This pattern is from my mom and dad. Isn't it cute?

13 wonderful people. We had Brad and Karen and kids and our wonderful neighbors, the Hatches, over for the fun. The kids LOVED it! They could hardly wait for the Hatches to arrive. The excitement in the are was energizing!

Even the boys sat down and had some fun. Even though I sorta made them. Now I know how my mom felt with my brothers...

The finished Projects:

Hannah

Hunter

Matt and Brad (notice that Brad's house doesn't have anything on it but icing. I think he ate all his candy?)

Shane (notice the love addition of the foam cup that we had our icing in...Lovely.)

Karen and Kristin with Austin

Spencer

Dillion (masterfully pulled apart his whole house and stacked everything up in some sort of tower?)

My house. Beautiful.

Katelyn

Mom's Little Helper

Yesterday I got the itch in me to bake some yummy holiday treats. I literally spent the whole day in the kitchen and didn't shower till...um...4pm. BUT, I got a ton done. I made gingerbread to make 13 gingerbread houses for FHE tomorrow night, I made sugar cookies, I made ginger snaps and lastly I made some yummy buck eye balls (peanut butter yummies). As I was working away in the kitchen, Matt was busily working on the new entertainment center. He successfully put crown molding on the top and molding on all the front to make it look more finished. We were in working heaven, caught up in some wonderful Christmas music (found on pandora.com...if you don't know about pandora.com go there now and thank me later).

So what were our little helpers doing while we were so busily working? Well, Sims was at the neighbors house playing...have I mentioned how much I love our neighbors? Well we love them so much. Such a blessing. And Lily was, well Lily was doing this:


Such a sweet girl. She was happily playing and talking to herself. Her favorite thing is to pull all the towels out of the drawer and now she likes to sit in them. It's not my favorite thing, but hey, if it keeps her happy I am all for it. I love this time of year. I feel so much holiday happiness and I love the spirit that you find every where you go. I hope you all are finding the same happiness and joy in your lives.

Today I Will:

*Finish Painting the Bathroom
*Order Christmas Cards
*Start working on a new Christmas card list since my old one was lost...send me addresses!
*Make cookies with Sims
*Cuddle my sweet babies
*Make dinner
*Finish my home made present for my brother for Christmas. I think he will love it!
*Go to the post office

We will see how much I actually will get done.

Beautiful New Entertainment Center

Matt spent the Holiday building a custom entertainment center for our TV and electronics. Here it is, isn't it beautiful?

Not only is it beautiful, but it serves so many purposes. His main goal was to get all our electronics off the ground and away from little baby hands. This is going to make my life so much easier. No more trying to get the little ones to not play with the computer, phone, xbox, etc. I am super stoked. Also I now have a ton more storage space! I am so excited to be able to organize and put some toys in baskets for the kids to be able to pull out and play with, but also to put back in baskets and put back in their right places. It will be so nice!

Great job honey. I love it. Thanks so Brad and Paul for all their help too!

Isn't he cute.

Untitled from Jennifer Johnson on Vimeo.

Sims loves to sing songs. I thought you would enjoy hearing him. This little ditty is one that he has learned at Preschool with our favorite teachers, Ms. Kristin and Ms. Julie. He is constantly singing (maybe because I am too).

Christmas is coming!

We didn't waste any time. The day after Thanksgiving Brad and Karen and fam came over and we got out all our Christmas stuff. Karen helped me create some wonderful Christmas spots. I am so excited for this wonderful time of the year!

Linda and Paul came over the Thanksgiving. While they were here, Linda helped me make this beautiful fabric wreath. She had brought all her Christmas fabric. We found the on line tutorial Here: kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/2009/11/fabulous-wreaths.html. I love the look of the wreath and I love how this space turned out!!

So sorry about the bad photography...I will have to start taking lessons from Matt. Karen created this space with a hodge podge of Christmas items I had. Since this is a new house to us, I didn't have any ideas where to put anything. I think this turned out super cute. I hope you can see how awesome it is! Notice the super cute JOY. My sister Debbie in all her craftiness made these adorable letters and sent them to me as a Christmas surprise! Thanks Deb.

And lastly, my new Christmas wreath. I found the online tutorial here: http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/2009/11/kathryn-nannygoat-made-this-gorgeous.html. It was super easy to make and was cheap. The whole thing cost me less then $10. I love it! I am so excited about this holiday season! I hope each of you can find happiness and joy in your lives.

Thankful

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but I am still finding so much gratitude in my heart. We had such a wonderful holiday. I did spend most of the day missing my family, but I was surrounded by Matt's wonderful family. Karen hosted Thanksgiving at her house this year. We had a beautifully set table including a little thankful present for each guest and delicious sparkling cider (that I got for a super good price with coupons!).

There was a lot of great food
There was a lot of talking and laughter
There was a lot to be grateful for including good health, a caring and loving family, a new beginning, a good job and the blessing went on.

We ate a ton, too much probably.
We took naps on the couch and floor
We watched a parade.

What more could you want our of a great holiday?

She's growing Up!

Lily is almost 18 months old!!
It seems like yesterday that she was born.
Lily is my sweet angel, so full of life and energy.
She is happy and content almost all the time (I did say almost :)
What she likes to do:
Talk
Eat
Play with big brother
Talk some more
Sit on Jack
Suck her thumb
Talk
Did I mention she likes to talk? She is constantly babbling about something and the funny thing is, I am starting to understand what she is saying. Her words are getting more clear. It is so fun and often brings tears to my eyes to see her becoming such a big girl.

Making Room

With all this coupon shopping I have been doing lately ( I am an addict) I needed to make room in my pantry to store the food I am stocking up with. The concept with couponing is buying in bulk so you get your supply and build your own grocery store. It cuts out on the "I have to run to the store for this one item" When you end up buying 20 and pay full price for everything. I have a fantastic tutor, Bonnie, she is great. We go out shopping together and have a fantastic time. So not only am I getting great deals, I am making a really great friend.

I cleaned out my pantry, the closet under the stairs and Lily's closet so now I have plenty of room to build my own grocery store. It makes me feel so good to have a nice and orderly house too. I love it! I have a nice big pile of stuff to donate, I know, I just moved here, but I didn't go through anything before I moved.

I firmly believe in an orderly house. I know that it makes me more of a sane person. I am going to keep my pantry open and stare at the beautiful order till it morphs, as it always does, into chaos.

Free Moment

This free moment came faster than I expected!! I went to a wonderful enrichment tonight. I am surrounded by talented and lovely ladies in this ward! Amazing. The theme was "Women who Create". They focused on how each of us as women create something that is amazing to behold. And they stressed how each of us has something that we do and that we can share with one another. I love how they promote us to be strong women and women who appreciate each other. They talked about all the different ways we create, like our homes, talents that we may have, missionary opportunities, etc. Nothing was left unturned. They made us these beautiful journals for each of us that tells of things that they notice we create. It is amazing, they made probably over 100 journals and each one has special points about ourselves. Then when they served refreshments, we each had the opportunity to write in others journals.

Amazing.

Uplifting.

Inspiring.

I came home very uplifted and happy. I feel like I am in the right place. I am at home with these women. I love it.

I was so excited when I got home that I had to do something. Remember this rocking chair for Lil? I finally finished it. What do you think?

I am still here

The Shade sale went fantastic on Saturday. Thanks to everyone that helped, it was amazing how giving you are...I love you for it!!

I am now watching my lovely nieces and nephew for the next 5 days. We are busy making decorations for Thanksgiving.

More to come when I get a free moment!

Shade Sale!

Seriously Ladies, come to my Shade seconds Sale. I have hundreds of shirts, skirts, and some specialty items in my very own mini store.

Here is the info:

When: Saturday November 14th
8am
Where: My House 8207 Camano Dr
Pasco

EVERYTHING IS $5!!!

And if you aren't excited enough...look what came in the mail today...MORE!!!

A Tale of Two Friends

Since I have moved to lovely Pasco, WA, I have been FLOORED by how nice everyone is. I never realized how stand offish people were in Boise. I don't think anyone ment to be, but we were all soooo busy and the wards so big that we didn't notice when new people moved in. So when we came here my mouth dropped open at the reception. I have friends and a ton of them too! The people here are all so great and so lovely. I have absolutely loved every minute of it. One of my new friends, Amy, and I clicked instantly. She is spunky and full of life just like me. She has been so warm and receptive from the beginning of my life here. I LOVE her.

We were hanging out the other day painting another good friends nursery, talking about life when it came up that she had a twin bed she no longer needed. I was so excited!! I have been thinking and planning on getting Sims a new twin bed for Christmas but decided to put it off because we can't afford that expense right now. Amy was so excited because she just wanted the bed out of her house, so she GAVE it to us!! Can you believe the generosity. I am so amazed! Not only did they give it to us, but she and her husband brought it over to our house and took the whole thing upstairs!! I know, they rock.

Amy, I love you for your kindness and generosity. Sims loves you for his new bed. He feels like such a big boy now!! Thanks a billion

Love, jen

This is for you Mom!

When we moved into this house we brought a beautiful red couch with us. My mom made a fantastic suggestion that the couch would look even more lovely with cushions on it. I took it on to make cushions for my lovely couch, but didn't want to spend a ton. Here is what I made (thanks to my mother-in-law Linda for all her help making these).


Total spent: $16.

I went to the thrift store and bought 3 cushions for forms (I already had 2 cushions I wanted to redo) and 2 different bed sheets for fabric. I was so excited! I love the look and Sims loves the softness of the pillows!

I am a Convert!

I have been resisting couponing because I have always said "I am too busy". Well when we moved to Pasco I decided to give it a try as a new full time stay at home mom. I came to the right place. There are many wonderful and talented couponers here to learn from. My good friend Bonnie has taken me under here wing. Here is what we did tonight on my first couponing trip:

15 boxes cereal
1 healthy choice meal
14 bottles of dove shampoo and conditioner
3-6 pk of Danimals
2 pkgs crescent rolls
4 pkg cookie mix
12 boxes of kleenex
5 lb bag flour
7 frosting
3 rice side
3 paper towels
3 cans progresso soup
2 cans corn
3 bags chex mix
1 bag frozen corn
11 lbs of chicken
2 box of cinabon bars

Total Spent: $38.53

I am converted.

Pumpkin Carving Fun

So I am finally getting caught up on my posts!! Yea. Man I promise never to take a week off again! We went to Brad and Karen's house for pumpkin carving. It was a great night as usual. The kids were so excited to carve the pumpkins and I have to admit some of the parents were as equally excited...

Matt got out the skill saw to cut off the tops of the pumpkins. That man is such a genius. It is so much easier this way!

The kids were so excited to get started. It could have been because they were all anticipating having a GIGANTIC cupcake after all the carving was over, but I really think they were just excited about getting messy and creating a face!

Even "Uncle Karen" as Sims calls her got into it.

And Lily was just chillin' the whole time, walking around babbling to herself and pushing around a chair. She had a great time. Happy Halloween (I know, it's too late, but lets just pretend I did the post last week!)