The Hunger Games . . .

. . is the title of another great book. If you want a fast read that you just can't put down, this book is it. I would put it in the Young Adult fantasy genera - but, anyway . . .

This past Christmas we held a White Elephant contest. Each of us tried to come up with something that cost the least amount of money while being the most sought after gift. This is one of the gifts Dave won - a marshmallow shooting gun. Dave is gun guy. He loves guns of any size, shape, or ammunition type, so when Kenny pulled out this marshmallow shooting gun, he was all over trying to end up with it, and he won! Last weekend when things quieted down somewhat, the boys pulled out the marshmallow gun and put it to the test.


Porter and Chase loved it because, although Drew was shooting at them . . . and that was a little scary . . .


When it was over, there was a marshmallow to eat! And Porter just sucked his right up off the floor - a floor that had just been mopped, or we would never have allowed him to suck marshmallows off it ;)


It was fun for everyone. The shooter, the shoo tees, and those of us watching and laughing. Thanks for the great gift, Kenny. We are still working on getting Dave to wear his "fifth pocket" around, though.

The Days Are Just Packed . . .

is the title of one of our favorite Calvin and Hobbs books. I am starting to see a theme here in my titles, by the way. It must be a carry over from my 50 books year last year, although Calvin and Hobbs wasn't one of the 50 books I read.
We had an overwhelmingly, over the top, fun weekend - in fact, it was so overwhelming I didn't pull out my camera until Sunday afternoon when most of the fun people were gone and things were starting to settle back down. My nephew, Tristan was baptized on Saturday so we jaunted off to Huntington while Drew headed in the opposite direction for one last snowboarding weekend at Telluride. Brennan stayed in Moab to hang with his friends who were home from college to hear his homecoming talk. On the way to Huntington we got a call from Brennan telling us that Drew had hit a deer on HIS way to Telluride, so instead of hanging with his friends, Brennan would spend the day hooking up trailers, gathering tie downs and traveling to Paradox to rescue Drew. When Drew hit the deer, in Drew's words, "the antlers just fell right off" so he, considering them sheds at that point, gathered them up and brought them home.

The only three point buck this family has killed in years and Drew got him with our Tundra - and Dave is short one work truck :( But the boys are O.K., and that is what is important - or so I keep telling Dave.

Brennan did a wonderful job reporting at High Council and in Sacrament Meeting and the support of friends and family was heartwarming. We had a breakfast bar afterward and all basked in the glow of Brennan and his missionary spirit.

My sisters drug me away for a quick "sisters" picture. Here we are, the three Johnson sisters. And yes, I am the only non red head. I always have been. The only non red head. Because I'm unique. And I'm O.K. with that, believe it or not.

Our thoughts were also with Dave's niece, Lisa and those family members who stayed to support her as she was giving her farewell talk before heading to the MTC and a mission in Japan. As Dave's Mom said, apparently in this family when we bring one missionary home, we have to send another one out. Good luck Lisa. My goodness, the days are just packed!

We're Goin' To France

Yes, it's official. The plane tickets are bought, there's no backing out now. It was always a plan in the works that when Brennan returned from his mission we would go back to France with Bren as our guide/translator, and since he has talked non stop about returning since he unboarded the airplane a week ago, we decided to go now. RIGHT now. We will leave in two weeks! February 18th and return on March 4th - my Dad and Dave's Mom's birthdays. Wow. I'm a little panicked.


We HAVE been saving money for the trip. In this Eiffel Tower piggy bank that was supposed to be full after two years. Don't worry, those are mostly quarters. We'll be fine. I think.

Ten Minutes From Normal . . .

. . . is the title of a book about Karen Hughes, former counselor to former President Bush. I liked the book, but the best thing about it is the title - it so fully describes my life. We aren't normal in this household, but we can see it from here and are perpetually about ten minutes away. Brennan is further - I'd say 20 minutes from normal for him - but considering that he was about a day away from normal last week, he's doing well.

He spent the weekend getting reacquainted with Aiden, working with Dave, and creating a Facebook account with which he found every friend he's ever had between here and France in about 3.5 minutes. Now, I'm wondering, are we getting closer? Is THAT normal?

It Was One of Those Days

There are a few days in a lifetime that stand out above all other days. Like when you hold your newborn child for the very first time, or when you serve as escort for your daughter's first Temple experience, or when your son comes off the plane after serving the Lord for two years. Those days are head and shoulders above any other day on this earth. Yesterday was one of those days.


I've got a lot to learn about photography, but right up near the top I need to learn to be more ready for candid shots. I thought I was ready for this one, my camera was set to the right settings, I even had my distance setting perfect, I just didn't recognize my own son and had to whip the camera back up to my face to get a shot of him coming through the door. Thus, it is blurry. The only shot I have of him when he left was one I took in front of the MTC and his eyes are closed. I'm a nervous photographer.


Kimbrey posted this picture on her blog, but I'm posting it again because I love it. Those were new shoes when he left. Shoes worn out in the service of our God. But then Brennan has never been one to give up on a pair of shoes. I should post a picture of the ones he left here at home!

It was emotional watching him say good bye to his missionary buddies. And watching him wipe tears away all day yesterday as the realization hit that he was home and his mission was over. He misses it, and that's a good thing. He doesn't get released until tonight, so he's at work this morning in some of Drew's old jeans, an old sweatshirt, coveralls, and his missionary name tag is pinned to those coveralls. Sitting here now, I wish I had taken a picture of that.

Anticipation

Not that I'm counting, but we pick up Brennan in THREE MORE DAYS!! In his last letter he said "I can't believe this is my last week! I don't want to go home! Every time I think about it it just doesn't seem real! It can't have already been two years! It is going to be so weird!" But here at home, we are just a little bit excited.


To distract ourselves, we took a drive out to Anticline Overlook today. I hadn't been there in years and Drew never had, so we made the journey to enjoy the beautiful scenery. What a view! It was cold, so we didn't spend much time there, but we had some good family time and renewed our gratitude to Heavenly Father for placing us in such a beautiful place and blessing us with such a wonderful life here.



Drew took this picture of me. As Dave was watching he said, "What is a Fish Wife? I think you look like a Fish Wife there." Does anyone know what a Fish Wife is, and should I be offended?

What ????

I thought I would share some of Michelle's creativity with you. I have to admit, when I saw this picture, I laughed pretty hard. But Kyle's comment when he sent me the photo, "I think this captures everyone's true emotions at a family gathering" . . . I don't think I know what that means. Or maybe I don't WANT to know what that means. So, don't try too hard to read anything into it. Just laugh :)