Wednesday, October 16, 2013

October Fest

It's nothing but vampires and jack o lanterns and we even have some vampire jack o lanterns here at our house. Evelyn has been singing her songs from preschool. Its adorable. Welcome October, people. Sing along like you know it. Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate. The first one said oh my its getting late. The second one said there are witches in the air. The third one said we don't care. The fourth one said lets run and run and run. The fifth one said its only Halloween fun!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Spidey donut kind of birthday

What a cutie. He is in birthday heaven with chocolate plus Spiderman. Totally awesome. Three years of awesome on earth for this kid. He brings happy and funny and violence to my heart. He is always and forever wrestling and beating up his brothers. He gave away his three foot tall dragon to his brother who asked him for it. What a rock star.

Howdy, Pardner

My partner. My lover. My bebe. My man. So grateful for the life we create together. So humbled by all we have together.

Scotter

This boy is coming into himself. Love it. Love him. He is using so many words to communicate what he wants. He cuddles his blanket. He wants to do everything he sees happening around him. He sat in the boxcar lawnmower train at Hee Haw tonight. Thank you Jimmy for hosting our family of eight and two friends extra. That was so fun to bring home pumpkins and slide down the plastic mountain on a gunny sack not to mention the yummy Dunford donuts and hot chocolate. Yum. I love you more than the four donuts I ate, Scotty...

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Let's go ride a bike. Up to the highest height.

None of my kids know how to ride a bike. Davis wanted to put all the gear on. He is an animal. He gets all the third child benefits. He sees everyone do everything age appropriately and then he wants to join in and gets to learn everything early. This photo may or may not be in black and white because his inherited bike and helmet may or may not be pink. High ho, ranger and away.

Six pack intact

This boy has abs, man. He is so strong. I'm crossing my fingers and trying to nurture a gentle kind of strong. Like his dad that beat up the mean boys who were teasing his little sister. That is at least admirable violence. We will see. He's famous for wrestling his neighbor little brother in a violent way that always ends in tears from the poor one year old. I wonder if Scotty will catch up and repay Dave for all the lessons he is learning. I also love the full sleeves Davis applied to himself. This kid is awesome.

Dreams Do Come True

Johnny came to the pet store tonight so sad because he saw every animal possible, including the ball python that his daddy wanted so bad when he was little, but did not see any kittens. Found them!!!!!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Self Portrait, Ears Intact

Love this boy and the station on the field trip where they glue nature on a piece of paper to look like their own face. I'm proud of him for doing it all by himself instead of some of his friends who had their parents doing their work. This boy will write his own college entrance essay, that is for sure. So awesome.

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world

The primary program is coming up and the kids write their own part after answering a prompt.  Johnny's question was,  What are you thankful for and why? I love what his response was. I am thankful to God for the birds because they start from an egg and grow to a baby bird and into a mom or a dad.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

No shirt No service

Davis is making me soup.  We are sitting in the front yard and I am utilizing the virtue of a phone filled with technology.  Blogging, thank you Katie for telling me about it, while I sit and watch my children and their friends run around our toy play land, thank you Becca for giving us your leftover toys. My heart is full and sad and full of sad. I just got some sad news. My heart breaks for the evil raging in the hearts of humans. For the influence of Satan. For the happiness forfeited. For the deception taking place.  Humans lie to each other, we lie to ourselves and we lie to God. And what a bummer. I'm so disheartened. Thank goodness for shirtless soup makers. He turns 3 next week. So crazy. So adorable. His golden locks are long as ever. Thank goodness for the love of children today. Despite the hole kicked in the ceiling from the bunk bed. I think of Carlie Sue ''What goes around comes around'' and I think of my white skates with purple wheels and brake and the hole I kicked in the Ashby Hills house. Sheesh, karma!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Sunday afternoon strolls

I love our walk around our 2.1 mile block. Today, Davis was out of the stroller, walking barefoot on the bike path and we saw a snake in the middle of the road. From the looks of the pinkish pieces poking out of the middle of it's body, I deduced it was dead. Germ-ridden, but dead, so I told Davey to walk around it. Of course, he walked right up to it and said, "Mom! That snake is super cool. That snake is super dead." I love this boy.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Bitter Butter Milk

My heart almost broke when Skyla took a huge swig of milk. She spit it right out and exclaimed, "This milk is sour!" Poor darlin' had poured from the buttermilk quart jug. We just turned into a gallon a day family and I had not gone to the store to restock with six more gallons. What a gross way to find out you don't like the taste of buttermilk. I personally have only used it in baking - it is the secret to moist banana bread. So, here's the evidence of our distaste for the vile viscous liquid.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Muss tash

West Yellowstone shenanigans


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Ingenuity at its finest

Johnny boy thought this one up all by himself. We had a big slurpee to start our trip to Hebgen Lake. The leftover straws got connected together later in the same trip so he could reach his soda can with enough room to relax while still enjoying his refreshment. So much like his dad and yet at the exact same time, so much like his mom for completely different reasons.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Happy Birthday, dear Nigel


Dearest Nigel,
I love you so much. You are adorable. What a good cousin and son and nephew and grandson and brother you are. The other day, I went over to your house and saw you had painted eyebrows onto your face. With every gesture that you made, I saw your dad's face in your face. You are such a good boy. You asked us for a life jacket for your birthday. I couldn't wait to give it to you, so I gave it to you when we went to Seven Peaks about a month before your actual birthday. Your mom invited all of us over to your house for your birthday dinner. I love to be near you. You are a thoughtful and excited, adorable and happy child. I love you so much. Happy Birthday.
Love,
Teenie

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

And waive them like you just don't care

Lily came over to help us give a touchdown sign for Collette, who was in labor to get Zak here to earth. Even the bear gave his support for such a momentous occasion. Way to go, Johnstons!

Welcome to Earth, Zak!!

Zak Covey Johnston
born on July 3, 2013
at 12:26pm
weighs 8lbs 2oz
Height 20.5 inches

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Thumbs up for marriage

Way to go, mom & dad. Keep it up!

Happy Anniversary, Baby

8 years old to the day. Our marriage is 8 years old. That makes our marriage accountable and baptizable. Totally appropriate. 8 years old is a magic number of years. And we have learned so much. Back to accountability. Now, I feel like we really know eachother. I remember the day we got married and thinking that our marriage was going to be different from everyone else's and that our love was different from everyone else's. And oh what a fool I was. A young fool in love. Because marriage is hard work, yo. It means intentional nurturing and loving and focus and connection and learning and working our booties off. Happiness in family life is still most likely to be achieved when founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Successful marriages are still established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. This is where it's at. Seriously. So rewarding. So painful and so stretching and so getting ready for the rest of our eternal lives together. I feel like I'm ready to take the training wheels off this marriage bicycle. Here's to another 800 million years together, babe. I love you so much.

"Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered...Pure love is an incomparable, potent power for good and the foundation of a successful marriage." Elder Richard G. Scott VIDEO

Monday, June 24, 2013

Thumbs up for sister missionaries

Bruthas

These adorable cousins are so...adorable. #minimountainmen, #indoorcamping, #bruthas

Friday, June 21, 2013

The team that needs no introduction

Ragnar Relay 2013 was so awesome. I got to be with my family and run and not sleep and pee my pants and eat perfect combinations of protein and carbs and drink so much water that I used every toilet available and nap in a park and it was totally awesome. I loved it so much. I ran a midnight run in the moonlight. It was so beautiful. I listened to Enya the entire time. It was a touching and meaningful run for me, totally worth the inconvenience of training. Ragnar 2014, here we come.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Cutie Patootie

Evelyn brought me a piece of watermelon and a grape connected together on a toothpick. She told me it was her invention, to be known as a fruitee patootie. What a cutie!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Welcome To Earth, Olivia

I was going crazy over pictures of baby Olivia and Johnny said, "Mom, I think you're in love with her!" I showed Davis the pictures and he said, "Mom! I like her! I know her!" Johnny also said, "Mom, don't we need to tell her 'Welcome to Earth!'?"

Totally awesome. I just got to hold the cutie and she is cute and perfect and the 13th grandchild born from the wombs of Davis women. She is the 4th Vineyard grandbaby so these are her lucky numbers for life. Welcome to Earth, Olivia. Born June 12, 2013 6 pounds, 10 ounces and 19 inches long of adorable.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Monday, June 3, 2013

Arrgh, Matey!

The Pirate Park is so fun! I love the fact that they are so imaginative. Nigel wanted to stop by his house to pick up his pirate ensemble before we went to the pirate ship. I love that he had it on for all of 10 minutes before it became too hot to enjoy the layers.
Johnny: Hey, friend, would you like to come play pirate with us? We'll let you be the captain.
Evelyn: Come play with us, Captain.
Friend: Yes, and you can be the mate and you can be the cook.
Evelyn: Here's your food, pirates. Do you like it?
Never mind the fact that we had excrement emergencies (EE for the faint of heart). We handled it with pirate pizazz.



Friday, May 31, 2013

Bring on the Summer

Please pass the pass of all passes and we went at a secret time that we will not disclose so that it can stay our secret where we have an empty kiddie pool and worn out babies. Fun!!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Bring on the Garten of Kinder

We are done with Preschool! Johnny boy attended Hillcrest Elementary Preschool program. 5 days a week, 3 hours a day and by the time he comes home on the bus, he's been away from me for 3 1/2 hours. Crazy. Same hours as kindergarten. And he and Evelyn could potentially ride the bus together next year. Johnny has done so well at preschool. He's learned so many letters and made so many friends. I love watching him grow up. He is adorable. At graduation, they performed the Little Pig Blues. And Johnny starred as Brown Bear and sang to us about what he saw. The red bird, of course. So much fun. Congratulations, brother!





Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Smarty Pants

How old are you, cutie?

Monday, May 27, 2013

Memorable Memorial Day

Sunday dinner yesterday, we decided at Beal's that we want to do Dead Man Dinner on Memorial Day to honor those who are...dead. We can sit around the table and eat recipes from our dearly departed. Yesterday we ate Grandma Bebosby's chocolate cake. Which is a deliciously moist chocolate cake with butter melted on top. None of the brother-in-laws understand how bomb.com it is because it looks so plain. But it is awesome. Right after our first official dead man dinner, we whisked away to our camping ground-Nana and Papa's backyard. We roasted 'mallows for s'mores and set up our rockin' tent that we all fit inside, set up the baby monitor so Scotty was spared sleeping with the family, and cuddled ourselves to sleep. Evelyn kept asking, "Can we go to bed? When can we go to sleep?" She was sick of the fire and wanted in on the tent. Awesome camping. I brought Davis in with me at 4:30 am to feed Scotty and we stayed inside to finish our sleepies. Our dad left at 7:30 to help the young men in the ward set up flags for Memorial Day. I left at 7:45 to run with my neighbors for our visiting teaching appointment. It was killer. I wish I could say we ran 6 miles, but I bet it was 5. And I made them walk more than I care to admit. But I did it! Bring on the Ragnar last month of training! Peek-a-boo, Dave. I see you!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

And if you're too school for cool


Then just come hang out with this guy. He will understand you. He will learn with you. He is so grown up. We've just wrapped up some really hard potty training. And like most things in life, hard only because I was making it hard. I have started the first day of potty training Davis literally ten times. And I hate it so I give up. And finally Katie Mangus gave me some reading material that reminded me that the first day is the lamest and hardest part and I felt completely justified in my frustration because the lady that wrote the article changed her child's underwear 23 times on the first day. And I only had changed Davie's 9 times. I was freaking out over 9 pair of underwear because I do not do laundry that often. Truly - only a couple loads a month because of a few reasons.
A) We don't wear pajamas. That fact alone saves me a million outfits.
B) We wear our outfits at least 2 days in a row. I learned this from a sister missionary in the IBM. That's Idaho Boise Mission. What's the point? She said. Who and I trying to impress? She said. Easy way to cut down on laundry. Bodily fluids and food spills supersede the 2 day suggestion. And it is just a suggestion.
C) I have inherited SO many outfits for me and for all of my children that we truly have so much clothing that I only wash a couple loads a month - underwear, guaranteed and my favorite black stretchy pants and Johnny's favorite shirts always get in the loads.
So laundry is a sensitive issue for me if I am forced to change my laundry habits, I fight it. Hence the giving up on potty training because it added a third monthly load. But this boy did it!!! He made it through the nasty days of underwear accidents and now this boy is potty trained. Hallelujah! Insert heavenly hosts singing praises.
Case in point on my laundry habits: My mother's day gift from Johnny was to wash my entire mountain of laundry. He spic and spanned the house. I came home frustrated and ready to relax and was pounding the door down because my hands were full and why in the world was the front door locked!? And I opened it up to an immaculate home and the smell of laundry. 15 loads later, he was finished and we were cramming everyone's clothes in every square inch of every closet we could. Happy Mother's Day. To me. It was rockin'. In fact, here's the talk I gave on Mother's Day.

I wanted to start my talk out by acknowledging the mothers that have gone on before us and are no longer living with us on earth. They love us. Brigham Young said that the spirit world is right here with us and they are working to help us. You can request a copy of patriarchal blessings of those people who are dead that you are related to - you just have to have their birthday and show how you are related. I have the patriarchal blessing of my dad's mom, who died before I was born. So I've never met her, but I am inspired by what Heavenly Father had to say to her. "Learn of Him and His ways and appreciate your mission in life and live to fulfill the measure of your creation."
Marjorie Pay Hinckley was a young married woman and had orchards of peach trees on her property. She talks about sitting at the table surrounded by jars and jars of peaches in the middle of the long process of canning them all and feeling a little overwhelmed by the continual labor demanded of her said, "Is this what I was born to do?"
I know we all mundane tasks that overwhelm us and make us wonder if we were born to suffer. I was given the scripture in Mosiah 18 where it talks about the baptismal covenant and our responsibility to "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life". I was asked to talk about how we can stand as witnesses of God as mothers. I know that we know what we need to do to stand as witnesses for our children. I wanted to talk about how we can have the strength to stand as witnesses as mothers. And the first thing we can do is to fill our minds with truth. We can read through our own patriarchal blessings. Mine is laminated and shrunk so it fits in my scriptures. At my house, there are often sticky hands and hands that destroy loose papers that are found, so this has been a great way for me to protect and read my patriarchal blessing often so I can be reminded of how Heavenly Father sees me.
I'm so glad that my parents-in-law are here today. They surprised me and I'm grateful they're helping my family to be reverent while I'm up here. One of the great traditions in their family is to write notes on special occasions, like mother's day or birthdays or anniversaries. So, this morning, as I was reading my note from my five year old, it had spots to fill in the blank and then in his teacher's handwriting, his responses were written. "My mom is 100 years old. My mom looks prettiest when she puts on her make up." This is comical because I don't wear make up but I know my son thinks I'm pretty. The last one was "My mom is funny when she makes this face." And I asked Johnny boy what face I make and he show me this face with his tongue sticking out and nose scrunched up. On my kitchen counter, I have one of my favorite notes that my husband wrote to me. And I read it often to remind myself of how he feels about me. And I also keep a note that I wrote to him to remind myself of how I feel about him. And if you don't write notes in your family culture, you can start doing it. And if you don't want to start writing notes on special occasions, you can ask for one note from someone to tell you how they feel about you. You can ask for what you want. Notes have been a great way to fill my mind with truth.
There are other great sources of truth in the scriptures as we read the truth that has been revealed to prophets that have gone before us who had testimonies of Jesus Christ. I recently had a situation where I wanted an increase of the Spirit in my life so that I could be certain about a question I had and an answer I thought I had received. And I asked Heavenly Father for that increase of His Spirit and He told me that I needed to put in the time studying the scriptures. And He told me that it couldn't just be a verse at the end of the day. And He told me that it needed to be in the morning when no one else was awake so that I could have uninterrupted communion and worship with Him in His word. And I was sad because I'm tired and it's hard to be a mom and I would much rather go back to sleep after nursing my baby in the morning. And yet I knew that I would have to make this sacrifice in order to receive the answer to my prayer and have an increase of the Spirit. And it has been amazing. And it has been hard. And I am trying my best. We all of our lists and we have a finite amount of time to accomplish what seems like an infinite amount of responsibilities. We've got to just do what we can and when the Spirit tugs at our hearts to commit our time to something, we've got to do it. And we've got to be okay when we're not doing everything ever expected of us. In Stephen Robinson's book, Believing Christ, he shares the experience of his wife when she gets overwhelmed with all that was expected of her. She just wants to cry and give up because there are so many expectations and responsibilities of us as women in all of our different roles as wives and mothers and friends and disciples. Marjorie Pay Hinckley said, "We each do the best we can. My best may not be as good as your best, but it's my best. The fact is that we know when we are doing our best and when we are not. If we are not doing our best, it leaves us with a gnawing hunger and frustration But when we do our level best, we experience a peace." It is that peace that has changed my life. It is a power of the Atonement I didn't know existed - the power that can take my offering to the Lord and make it whole. It is a miracle in my life.
Another way that we can find the strength to stand as witnesses as mothers is to recognize the lies that Satan tells us in our lives. When I was growing up in California, I shared a room with my little sister. And she is tall and gorgeous and blonde. And I was completely satisfied in highschool after I figured out that I could be the athletic funny girl and that was good enough for me. I didn't know then what I know now about beauty and how it comes from nurturing the Light of Christ within and making right choices. My sister was standing in front of a mirror and noticing some blemishes on her skin and not feeling pretty. And she's beautiful! And I was in the room with her. And what she said has changed my life. She straightened her posture and looked directly into her reflection and said, "Shut up, Satan!" And we don't say that word in our house, but I'm telling you what my sister said. "Shut up, Satan! You don't even have a body!" And Satan doesn't have a body, so he's going to tell us lies about ours. And Satan doesn't have a family, so he's going to tell us lies about our family. And Satan doesn't have a marriage, so he's going to tell us lies about our marriage. As we recognize the lies that Satan is telling us in our lives, we can diminish the power he has over us. We know that we have been given power over him because of Jesus Christ. And we can have the strength that we need to stand as witnesses of God as mothers as we fill our minds with truth, by reading our patriarchal blessings and reading notes and reading the scriptures and also by recognizing the lies that Satan is trying to tell us in our lives. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Take me out to the ball game

We mowed a baseball diamond into our backyard. Thanks to Nannie for the right tools to use it!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Put your first wrinkle in your birthday suit...

Scott and his dad - both on their first birthdays!

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Thank you, BYU statue family


Happy Birthday, sweet Scotty! We love you so much. You are adorable. You LOVE to be with your momma and you let us know when you don't like to be away from her. You took 3 steps to Papa on your birthday. You have 4 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth and you have started to sink your teeth into people that sit still for too long. You love to be tickled and giggle in an awesome way. You are a great eater and your sleeping schedule has fallen into place. You like to ride in the stroller. You love your forward facing car seat so you can be part of all the action. Happy Birthday, cutie pie. We love you.

Friday, May 3, 2013

You got blood on your face, you big disgrace

Poor girl went nose first into her brother's cheek on the brand new trampoline at Nana and Papa's house. She is so tough! She freaked out at the sight of the enormous amounts of blood flowing from her face, but after some soda and starbursts, she was willing to pose for a bloody pic. Her dad is the nose bleed pro, although his usually come from changes in humidity, not from blunt force trauma...

Saturday, April 27, 2013