More Summer Fun 2009

This past summer was an eventful one in our family with the completion of our play set. We have been working on this project for a year. As some of you know, our backyard has many levels. We decided that in order to have more room for the kids to play, we needed to take out one of those levels. We were able to get a backhoe into the yard via our neighbor’s yard and dug down several feet in order to create more play room. We were also able to dig a hole for the trampoline so that visually, we have more space. Paul put a lot of back breaking work in order to transition the other levels. In Farmington we have a lot of big rocks so it tends to be slow work to remove earth and smooth things out. The end result is a nice big play set for the kids.

On one visit from the Lheron cousins, we had a water balloon fight and the play set was a big hit. As in most children wars, the boys were against the girls.

Miles didn’t understand why Gabe and Max were aiming at Mikaela and Adeline.

Sorry Dude, no muscle yet!

Miles broke a water balloon and was not too happy about it

The little kids decided it was more fun to break the balloons while jumping on the trampoline.

Gabe, Max, Miles, Adeline and Mikaela all ended up having a fun day.

California Summer 2009

We arrived at Morro Bay in the late afternoon and it was a cool 65 degrees, but didn't care because we were all starved for the beach. We found out later that Utah was a mere 100 degree scorcher that day. We were glad to be in California.

The kids didn't seem to care about the cold water. In fact, before we left for the day they were all wet and shivering. It was worth it. A smile tells it all.

Miles ran and splashed and jumped in all the holes that were left behind by others.

We also spent time at Avila Beach, which was sunny, warm and not much wind. Of all the beaches, Avila is my favorite.

Max and Mikaela had just finished four weeks of swimming lessons and they were trying to swim as the wave broke. Can you see Mikaela's arm coming out of the water on the left side of the photo?

Munch!

Paul burried both boys and then began to tickle necks.

Unfortunately, we were not able to get a very low tide at Shell Beach. We did see a few sea anemones and a star fish.

This was a wonderful vacation for our family. We stayed in Morro Bay and then were able to spend time at Avila, Pismo, Atascadero and San Luis Obispo. I took the kids on a tour of all the houses I lived in while growing up. (I think they were glad to have a movie on in the car.) I wish we were able to spend more time there. I miss it a lot!

Max's Story

During spring break, Max called me at work and said he was bored. I have always thought Max would be a good writer because he has an incredible imagination. So, I asked him to write a story based on the first sentence I gave him. (For anyone that has seen ‘Out of Africa’, knows where I stole this idea from.) The following story is what Max (age 10) wrote….

He opened the door and couldn’t believe his eyes, there were thousands of gumballs in his room. Yoshii Masaki was a boy living in Tokyo, Japan during WWII, so he expected the worst when he heard the crash.

Sergeant Maxwell was a World War II sergeant at the time and was supposed to drop a 13 ton bomb on a house in Tokyo. This is the story of how these two very different people came together.

Yoshii looked across his room over the multi-colored gumballs that littered his room. He could only think of two things, #1 was he going crazy? #2, what were all of these gumballs doing in his room? He looked at the huge hole in the ceiling. What was he going to do?

Sergeant Maxwell had just dropped the bomb and was heading to North America when he noticed something. What was a huge bomb doing in the plane? He thought he had just dropped that bomb a second ago. Dread spread over his mind as he saw the ticking red numbers of a timer on the side of the bomb. The frantic but the brave sergeant grabbed his M-1 and a parachute and jumped out the back of the plane.

It was getting late and Yoshii was wondering where his parents were. He decided he better get to bed so if his parents came home they wouldn’t be mad because he was still up. So, he tiptoed across his gumball littered room and picked up a blanket and a pillow. He laid down on the tatami mat floor and soon fell asleep.

Sergeant Maxwell had landed about 200 yards away from the house he was sure he dropped the bomb on, but saw no fire or smoke. So, the weary soldier pulled open the wood and paper door and collapsed on the floor.

Yoshii got up and looked in his parent’s room and was surprised to see them not there. Surely they couldn’t be at the party that long? Yoshii walked down the hall to the kitchen to make breakfast when he saw an American soldier laying on the floor.

Yoshii poked the sergeant with a kitchen spoon. Was he dead? What was he doing there? Did he have something to do with all the gumballs? Yoshii poked the sergeant some more and he finally woke up.

The first thing the sergeant said was “Where am I and who are you?” Luckily Yoshii knew some English and could tell what the man was saying so he led the sergeant to his room and pointed to the piles of gumballs and told the story of the loud crash and finding the gumballs. Then the sergeant told Yoshii about how the bomb was in the plane and how he had to parachute down.

No sooner had he finished the story than there was a knock at the door. Yoshii told the sergeant to hide in the closet while he answered the door. When he answered it was his parents friend Michiyo. She told him that there was an accident and he needed to go see his parents in the hospital so he ran to the closet and told his somewhat friend to stay while he saw his parents. Yoshii ran back to the door and he and Michiyo walked to the hospital. On the way, Michiyo told Yoshii how a plane with a time bomb inside had crashed into the building his parents were in and how they were severely injured.

When they reached the hospital, Yoshii talked to his parents and they said Michiyo was to look after him. When they got home, Michiyo told Yoshii if he needed anything to just run over to her house.

Yoshii talked to Sergeant Maxwell about the gumball incident. “What demonic things,” said Sergeant Maxwell.

“Kurosaki,” said Yoshii.

“What?” said Maxwell.

“Kurosaki, the god of demons,” said Yoshii.

“The god of the demons?” said Maxwell.

“Yes, the god of demons,” said Yoshii.

“I thought he was only in books?” Maxwell said.

“Apparently not,” said Yoshii. “He wreaks havoc upon our crops and animals. “

“What kind of havoc?” said Maxwell.

“He tramples our crops and eats our animals.”

“But gumballs aren’t what you would call evil or demonic,” said Maxwell.

“Well, they could be disguised smoke bombs,” said Yoshii.

“Smoke bombs?” Maxwell said quizzically.

“You’ve never heard of a smoke bomb?” said Yoshii. “I guess our country is more advanced,” said Yoshii.

“Hey, who’s the soldier here?” said Maxwell.

“Sorry, I’m just psyched that you’ve never heard of a smoke bomb before,” Yoshii said.

“Well, let’s just see if there gumballs or smoke bombs,” said Maxwell. He angrily marched down the hall into Yoshii’s room. Yoshii followed Sergeant Maxwell.

“Well,” said Sergeant Maxwell, “there is only one way to find out.” Sergeant Maxwell picked up a gumball as green as his uniform and put it into his mouth.

“Yuck,” cried Maxwell, “this tastes like a cigarette butt,” he said after he threw down the apparent smoke bomb.

“Watch out!” Yoshii cried, as ugly black smoke spewed out of the smoke bomb. Yoshii ran out of the room and shut the door. Sergeant Maxwell followed.

“I think we oughta teach this Kurosaki guy a lesson,” said Sergeant Maxwell.

“You cannot defeat him with your gun,” said Yoshii.

“Why?” Sergeant Maxwell asked.

“Because he is a god. The only way to defeat a god is my ancestors’ dragon sword.” Yoshii continued, “to get to him, we have to go down the stairwell to the underworld.”

“We better get you some new clogs,” said Sergeant Maxwell.

“Why?” Yoshii asked.

“Because kid, we are going to the underworld.”

Yoshii and Sergeant Maxwell and Yoshii’s pair of new clogs, were making their way down the stairwell to the underworld.

“How long do you think this is?” said Maxwell.

“If you want to see, why don’t you just jump off,” said Yoshii.

“Well, I could but I forgot my parachute,” said Sergeant Maxwell sarcastically.

When Yoshii and Sergeant Maxwell arrived they confronted Kurosaki. “Why did you send smoke bombs upon us?”

“Why I did no such thing!” Kurosaki roared.

“But if you didn’t who did?” Yoshii turned to Sergeant Maxwell. “Do you have some way of knowing how they got there?”

“Well, before the war, my family owned a candy store. So as a joke my brother put lots of gumballs in my backpack and suit case so when I discovered it, I decided I’d make the best of it and to use an old bomb shell as a vending machine.”

“But thousands of gumballs couldn’t fit in your suitcase,” Yoshii said, “and what about the smoke?” Yoshii and Sergeant Maxwell turned and glared at Kurosaki.

“Well, uh, I may have put a few smoke bombs in.”

“And the timer on the side of the bomb,” asked Sergeant Maxwell.

“Um, uh,” Kurosaki stuttered.

“You have caused enough trouble.” And with that, Yoshii pulled the dragon sword out of its sheath. The metal of the dragon swords blade was flaming red. Yoshii fearlessly jumped up and cut off Kuroski’s head.

When Yoshii and Sergeant Maxwell got to Yoshii’s home, his parents were home from the hospital. When they saw Sergeant Maxwell, Yoshii told the story of how he and Sergeant Maxwell had slain Kuroski and how much trouble he had caused. When Yoshii finished, Yoshii’s parents bowed in respect to Sergeant Maxwell. “Well, it is nice to meet you Sergeant Maxwell.”

“Thank you,” said Sergeant Maxwell.

“You boys better find something to do because dinner is not going to be ready for a while,” said Mr. Masaki.

Yoshii and Sergeant Maxwell went into Yoshii’s room. “I guess we can eat these gumballs now that Kurosaki’s not around.” They both picked up a gumball and popped it into their mouths.

“Well,” said Sergeant Maxwell, “I guess you can get a skylight for the hole in your ceiling.”

“Yea,” said Yoshii.

Yoshii looked up. “Uh-oh,” said Yoshii, “I think its raining suckers.”

As they were poured on by suckers, they heard a voice. “Ha, ha, ha. You’ll never defeat Shiji, the god of thunder storms.”

Sergeant Maxwell looked at Yoshii. Yoshii looked at Sergeant Maxwell. “Here we go again,” they said.

April

I gave Niko his first bath recently and he we couldn’t stop laughing. As soon as the water hits his fur, it melts and what is left is pink skin. It made us think about that hairless bread of dog...icky!

POOF!

Once Niko was dried he seemed about two sizes bigger than before.

As I was gathering the pictures for the blog, I found a series of pictures someone else took. I can only imagine it was Max.

This was Miles’ toy that has been in the garage for a while.

Good shot Max!

The Saturday before Easter, we had an egg hunt in our back yard. This year we hid 70 eggs and the kids found 69 of them. That is actually impressive, last year we found several eggs while doing yard work later in the summer. Max found the $5.00 golden egg, which was actually hidden in a small pink egg.

While waiting for Dad to finish hiding the eggs, Miles found a new use for his Easter basket.

Miles is kind of like “mini Max”.

The race is on for the egg up in the tree.

Mikaela got it!

This year, the rule was that any egg on the ground was for Miles.

Miles got most of the eggs on the ground.

We didn’t expect Miles to go up on the hill, but he wanted to compete with his big brother and sister and ran where ever Max and Mikaela ran.

The other big event in our life this month was taking down the crib and setting up the little bed for Miles. As I was taking the crib down I reflected on the fact that I would probably never do that again – unless for grandkids. I sure love our little family and I am still amazed the way in which we received each one.

Miles loves his little bed. I often find him sitting in his bed and playing with his cars, looking at books or putting dolls down for a nap. Miles and Mikaela like to both get in his bed and pretend they are sleeping. They giggle and laugh and move in and out of blankets. Mikaela is a wonderful big sister to Miles!

Niko likes the bed too!

NIKO

Arf! Arf!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Niko (pronounced Nee-koh). I am the Johnson's new puppy. I am a purebred male Bichon Frise (pronounced Bee-shawn Free-zay). I was adopted by the Johnsons on February 6, 2009, when I was 8 weeks old.

I am told that the Johnsons were not planning on having a dog for a while after Jazmin's death. However, they found they could not live without a dog in their lives, so here I am.

This is what I have learned so far. Miles likes me a lot, but does not like it when I lick him or try chew on his fingers or blanket. Miles does not understand that I have to chew on everything. It is a good thing Mom has a lot of chew sticks and chew toys all over the house. Dad lets me chew on his fingers and toes (oh, I guess just his fingers -- voluntarily). That's about all Dad is good for, as well as the food and water he provides every morning.





I've also learned I love boys. They like to play rough, which is fine with me. They also like to cuddle like everyone else. Max is my favorite boy. We like to play "Godzilla." That is where Max sets up blocks and little army guys in a fort formation and then lets me come trample and chew up army guys as the giant monster. We also like to play tug of war and tag. I spend a lot of time with Max.






I've learned Mikaela is the sweetest Johnson. She likes to carry me around and cuddle. I like to bite her hair. I especially like it when Mom puts me on Mikaela's bed in the morning to wake her up. I climb all over her body and get right to work on her hair. My favorite room is Mikaela's room because she has lots of clothes to lay on and toys laying all over the floor that I can chew on. Mom gets after Mikaela to keep her clothes and toys put away, but I don't mind.








One morning before church, Mom had a photo session while Dad was still getting ready. I was put in all sorts of goofy situations. In this picutre, Mom was trying to get both me and Miles to sit still at the same time. Good luck with that!




Don't you think I'm the cutest member of the family? I am fluffy, soft and like to cuddle every chance I get. I like to cuddle with Mom the best. She has the best hair to chew. As soon as Mom gets home I follow her around the house. We are pretty much inseparable. After all, she is the one that found me and brought me home.





My favorite thing to do to Miles is the "kiss torture." Some day he will like it.

It is great to be the center of attention. I hope it lasts!

I can already tell I'm going to like it here! As they say, it's a dog's life.

Our Sweet Jazzy

I've been avoiding updating our blog for over a month now because I have not wanted to report the passing of our sweet Jazzy. Jazmin died January 7, of old age. Jazzy was about 15 years old and the first dog I loved. Tears still come to my eyes thinking about her.

About a year after Paul and I were married, we decided to get a mini schnauzer to keep me company while Paul worked long hours. When Jazmin was a puppy, I would put her in my purse and take her everywhere with me and she never barked or made a sound. I snuck her into the grocery store, the mall, the movies, and work on occasion. Once we flew to California and took Jazzy with us on the plane in a pet travel bag. No one knew she was there. Jazzy was often referred to as our "hairy child" and to the dismay of our family, we treated her as such. Paul and I included Jazzy and Daizee in almost every family picture. (Daizee was about 12 when she died June of 2007.)

Here are a few pictures of the dogs over the years.

One of the big adjustments was when Max and Mikaela came into our family. The pups were curious about them and did not think anything wrong with cuddling with Max and Miki when they were babies. Jazzy was always the most patient with the kids and would let them pull on her. Mikaela always like Daizee better, which is evident in the picture below. We could not believe how gentle Miki was with Daizee even as a baby.

This was Max with Daizee about four years ago, which would make Max 6 years old.

Miles loves animals, which made Jazzy his pal.

I can't find all the pictures I took of Jazzy and Daizee prior to Max, Mikaela and Miles being born. There were some cute ones when Jazzy was a puppy. Jazzy was a tiny little thing. The neighbor kids used to come over and ask if they could play with Jazzy when she was a puppy. Jazzy was always good with kids.

Even though Jazzy and Daizee were not always obedient dogs, which drove my family crazy, they were wonderful to us. I guess what I really want to say is that we loved them and they made our live richer because of the love they shared with us.

THANKS JAZMIN AND DAIZEE FOR 15 AMAZING YEARS!

Summer 2008

In July 2008, we attended a Family Reunion at my Dad's Christmas Tree Farm in Alsea, Oregon. I think that was the first vacation in my life that I wasn't ready to leave by the end of the week. I could have stayed there another week visiting with my brothers and sisters, (step or not). While at the farm, we drove the 50 minutes to the beach the first day we were there. I could not resist spending as much time as possible at the beach. All my kids love the water, regardless of the purple legs they get from the water temperature. I love the sounds, sands and sun. Here are a few highlights of our trip.

Miles enjoyed playing with the new sand toys that I seem to have to buy every time we go to the beach because I can't find them when I am packing for the trip.

I love this picture because of the cute smirk on his face.

Mikaela wore this coat even though she was soaked up to her waist. Notice the pink legs, normally they are tan.

Max is enjoying the sensation of feet getting swallowed by the sand each time the water swoops in.

Mikaela and her cousin Adeline just excited to be wet, sandy and cold.

If you noticed all the kids are wearing coats that are too big. We were dumb and thought that since it was hot at the Farm, it would be warm at the beach. We were wrong! We didn't have enough coats for all the cousins and our kids so we shared what we had in the car.

Miles looking good with Paul's sunglasses.

Now we are back at the Farm. My Dad has a pond in his backyard that has a dock and fish and bull frogs and a canoe. It took us the entire week to get Mikaela in the canoe, but on the last day she was brave and got in. Can you see her in the middle? Mikaela loved it and was mad when she realized she could have been going in the canoe all week. My one regret is that I didn't get a picture of Max in the canoe. Max spent at least 2 hours a day in that thing.

Anyone that has spent more than 10 minutes with Miles, knows that he loves cars, trucks and tractors. When Miles discovered the tractor... lets just say that Paul and I spent a lot of time watching Miles sit in the tractor.

Miles also loves Dad's dog Kippers. They spent a lot of time together and aside from the tractor, this wagon was the second place we found Miles most often. Luckily for Paul and I there was always a kid around that would pull Miles and Kippers all over the yard.

Max found plenty of space to play with his airplane. Notice the pond in the background with the dock.

The ridding lawn mower was also another favorite for Miles. My cute nephew Isac was so kind to Miles. I think Isac was glad to have another kid smaller than him. It kind of looks from the picture that the lawnmower was moving, but it wasn't.

Bath time tends to bring out the uni-brow in Miles.