Cuz I Ain't Too Sick To Blog!

*Fortunately all I'm doing is adding pics and hitting post! I started this post on Sunday, but I have been sick ever since.

This past weekend was Cydnee's first ever Dance Competition. She competed in four different categories: Lyrical Solo, Lyrical Team, Jazz Team, Hip-Hop Team. The event went for two VERY long days and was held down in Spanish Fork! Because of the length of the competition, Cyd and I decided to stay overnight in a hotel close by! Good thing we did. Abbie and Kira stayed with us as well, which made it even more fun! Kira is in the same dance company, along with her niece Sara, and because of it, we hung out with the Schultz/Ferre families for two days! Loads of fun!

Friday night were the Solo competitions! I was a nervous wreck!!!! I seriously almost threw-up waiting for Cyd to come on stage. Sara had already performed her Solo and did FANTASTIC. So we were all in the auditorium to watch Cyd. She was the last dance of the night! Cyd was so nervous, but she did soooo well! She made a small mistake at the end, but only her coach and I knew it. She was pretty upset. But her sadness went away once we got to the Awards Ceremony. Our entire team did awesome! Sara earned one of the five Queen Awards! We had one other 1st Place, 4th Place, and Miss Cydnee...she took 3rd in her category!!!! I was so proud of her and so very excited! The excitement of winning all these awards pumped the girls up for the next day!

Saturday morning, 6:00 a.m. came REALLY fast! We spent close to an hour getting Kira and Cyd all dolled up for their big day. Kira had 5 team events, and Cyd had her remaining three team events! They both did so well! We were all very proud parents. Cyd's team took 1st, 2nd, and 4th!!!! Not bad for the first competition of the year!

I of course could not blog about a dance competition, and not mention the Crazy, close to Psychotic MOTHERS of these competitions! There were some mom's there that I couldn't tell who was more dressed up, them or their daughters. I think I have a pretty smart and strong sense of style, but I am telling you all right here and now, that I will NEVER be a Pagent Mom! These women are over-the-top! Seriously???? Seriously!!!!! Sara's mom, Amy, and a few other moms from our group tried to warn me about these women...but it took some seeing to believe! Pure craziness I tell ya!

Cyd has two more competitions over the next two months. I am excited, but also, glad that I will be better prepared for the next one!

***Though my sister will say I have added this comment ONLY because she said something...it's just not true. I meant to give props to my awesome Brother-n-Law, Lamar, for the below photos. Check-out his Photography Blog and services at http://www.whitehorsephoto.blogspot.com/***

A Bit of Randomness

So Chris started this on Saturday with Jaxon...and now the kid won't eat unless everything is in the shape of a smiley face! And you better not forget the EARS! According to Jaxon, my Oranges were better than Daddy's Green Beans and Carrot Nose!!!!

Today I picked up this metal porch decoration for Easter! I couldn't get over how cute an idea it was...A Spring Snowman! So perfect for Utah spring weather. 70 Degrees one day, Snow Storm the next! Love it! So cute! (Well I think so anyway!)

And this next picture is really for my baby Sis and my little Cyd! I know it will seem close to blasphemy that I say this about someone other than my Edward, but DANG BOY!!!! You are one Cutie-Pa-Tootie!!!!

Me x Five!!!! - Item #2 - Sisters

There is no better friend than a sister. And there is no better sister than you. ~Author Unknown

I was delighted, if not surprised at Dana's request and association of me with "Sisters". My world is surrounded by my sisters, blood related, and those by circumstance. All of which I cannot imagine my life without.

I am the eldest of six children, 4 girls, 2 boys. And for the past 36 years of our existence, us Johnson Girls have always stuck together. With the exception of my sister Stacey, who was born when I was just two-years old, and due to a heart condition did not come home for months, and whom I believed was a breast pump, I remember with great detail the raising of my sisters. Although as a two-year old I wasn't much of a help in raising Stacey, boy do I have memories with this girl. My parents have mounds of movies of the two of us. Stacey always following my lead, or trying to do what I do. And the little stinker that I was, always found a way to take advantage of that. For instance, a certain Easter Egg hunt in our front yard. As Stacey would find her eggs and put them in her basket, I would sneak up behind her and steal them out. Nice! As we grew older, we always shared a room with one another, and I'm quite certain that Stacey's now insomnia problems have a lot to do with my sleepwalking and nightmares that would keep us both up every night! Nothing like flapping your sister of your king sized water bed out of complete terror! I believe that Stacey was always forced to follow in my lead, but fortunately she has found her own way in life! She is the devotee of our family and takes joy in all our lives.

Miss Hayley was the apple of everyone's eye back in the day. I loved dressing her up and taking care of her like nobody's business. I would love to dress her in her beautiful yellow silky gown and put a bow in her little hair and prop her in front of the back door so that Dad would run right into her when he got home from work. Hayley was so photogenic and I loved all the pictures that we would have taken of her. Somehow Jett always managed to destroy her beautiful pictures by gauging out the eyes, coloring them with white-out, etc. And she is just as beautiful and photogenic today as she was as a baby! The camera loves my sister, and she loves the camera!

And Miss Samantha...my baby sis! She was so gorgeous with her beautiful brunette hair and big brown eyes. And she was so obedient. Never fussed or cried about anything. She was a perfect baby sister. I couldn't get enough of her when she was brought home from the hospital. I loved playing dress-up with her as well, with Purple being my favorite color to put on her. She has grown up to be even more beautiful as a woman, and I love my baby sis with all my heart! I love her laugh, her love of children, and disciplinary skills I might add, and I love the many things that we obsess over together. I love to laugh and cry with her...always will!

As we grew up, so many wonderful times were to be had. Hayley and Samantha were always coming to my dorm to spend the night, and once I was married, staying over with me at the house was always a treat. Especially when Cyd and Chasers were born. My kids have the best aunts in the world.

As we have all come into our own, and as our lives have all evolved into their own stories, we have always remained close. Through the good and the bad, the fights and disagreements, the laughter and the crying, I know that my sisters are always there for me. We share everything with one another, and I love this part of our lives more than the times when they were all babies. I love that when life is falling apart my sisters are there for me, and vice versa. I love the associations we all have and the joy we receive in our commonalities. We have all bonded over our love for our family, and that of our growing family. We take joy in one another's successes, and sorrow with one another's failures. I love my sisters with all my heart and can't imagine a life without them.

A sister is a forever friend. ~Author Unknown

With all the blessings I have been given in my lifetime, my friends are counted at the top of my list. Because these friends that I have, are all sisters to me. Sometimes in ways, my own blood sisters have not been able to. These other "sisters" have come in the shape of my dear cousin(s), and of course the many special "sisters from another mother!" We all have friends that come and go throughout our lives, but those who stick with you no matter what, they are not just your friends, they truly are your sisters.

I look back over the years of my life, and every major occurrence has been shared with the love of my other "sisters". These sisters of mine, I know will be in my life now and forever. They know all there is to know of me, and yet they still remain devoted. We have shared school, work, love, heartache, weddings, births of our children, death of our loved ones...all making our sistership bond as tight as it can be. These sisters have saved my life on more than one occasion. I pray as YOU read this, you will know who you are and that I am speaking of you. And I hope that you will know what a kindred spirit you are to me. I love you and I thank you for being my sister.

You are my Sister by Chance, My Best Friend by Choice...Author Unknown

Of course growing up with sisters, I have always wanted to have at least two daughters. When Cydnee was born I was so excited for the possibility of her having a sister of her own. Though the Lord blessed me with two beautiful boys...I was never given the chance to get Cyd her sister. That is until I married Chris. Now I have a beautiful step-daughter, and Cydnee has a wonderful older sister! Not exactly how I imagined coming about a sister for her, but perfect nonetheless. Cyd and Abbie have been together now for over six years, and are getting to share all the great things of being a sister that I did growing up with mine. With them coming into their teen years it scares me in today's world what they may be sharing, but I am glad they are sharing regardless. I love seeing them becoming closer and becoming better friends. I love my girls! I love raising them, as difficult as it is at times. And I hope and pray that they will grow to love one another as I have my sisters!

My "5 ME" Requests for Jodi, Tiff, and Chanelle

Here are the Five "ME" topics that I hope to see from you on your blog soon! Tiff, I know that you're in March Madness, so I will be patient and wait for that to finish up! But here are your topics so you can begin thinking about what you want to say!

Jodi:
1) Marriage
2) Domestic Goddess
3) Mothers
4) Smiling
5) Cooking

Chanelle:
1) Home Organization
2) Wedding Planner
3) Motherhood
4) Friendship
5) Secondhand Shopping/Decorating

Tiff:
1) Friendship
2) Music
3) Family Traditions
4) Sports
5) Visiting every State

I'm just about to post my second item, so it's not too late to respond and receive your "ME" items!

Thanks ladies for the posts!

Me x Five - Item#1 - Twilight Follow-Up

Thanks for the posts so far ladies! Hoping more and more will come through so that I can send you your 5 Me requests!

Thanks to my friend Chanelle, I have this hilarious picture to add to my Twilight Collection!

Absolutely love it!

Me x Five!!!! - Item #1

So one of my closest friends started her own creative twist on the "Tell-us-a-bunch-of-things-about-you" surveys by listing five "ME" attributes about herself. If you responded to her post, she would then respond with the five attributes that she most commonly associated with you, and your assignment was to then discuss those five attributes about yourself. I of course always find it fun and interesting to see what others think about you or associate with you, so I definitely responded.

Over the next several days I'm going to post the five requested topics/attributes that my friend made to me.

I would love to keep this string going, so PLEASE drop me a quick comment and I'll return your comment with the five things I would love to hear more about you!

It will be of no surprise to any of you that the first association listed from my friend was "TWILIGHT." Hey, I'm not ashamed, and I embrace my PASSION for my Edward and this fantastic guilty pleasure!

(I mean seriously...who doesn't want to love that all life long????)

I have written before, hundreds of times about Twilight and all things related to it, and I even believe I mentioned in one of my posts how many wonderful opportunities this little hobby of mine has brought to my life in the past year and a half! I have my kindred sistership to thank for pushing me to read the series. Hayley had already devoured the first three books, and it was still more than a year out before the forth and final book was to be released. She had been crazy obsessed with the first three books, and for someone who never was a reader prior to these books, it was just nuts that she had become the reading fiend that she was. Admittingly, I was adamantly against reading books having to do with Vampires. I had been tricked before by my dear sistership when it came to non-scary movies, and I figured she was pulling the same ol' trick with me again.

It is true that I am the BIGGEST scaredy cat on the planet. I sincerely cannot separate reality from fiction. It is all so real to me and all scary things will haunt me, literally, for years! Reference here my sick and twisted haunted life with Samara from "The Ring!" That evil little well-dwelling girl will NOT get out of my bedroom! So needless to say I was not about to expose myself to a 400 page book about Vampires. In my mind I was envisioning Ann Rice's vampires or the really scary ones that existed in that horrific film....Oh crap, can't remember the name of it now, but it is a really old flick and I watched as a very young child and it scared the dickens out of me. Anyway, Hayley persisted and persisted and swore on the lives of my children that I would not be scared and that I would absolutely be in love with this Vampire Love story.

Good Heavens was she right! And there are many of you in my Coven that I gave the same line too, and you to came around! So truly, once I started Twilight, there was no stopping, and luckily I only had a few months to wait for Breaking Dawn to be released. Plenty of time to reread each book twice, Eclipse I read three times actually, AND I listened to the audio narration of each novel twice! I am a huge fan of the Audio versions. They received mixed reviews, but I loved them! Loved the narrator, and I loved Breaking Dawn with the Jacob narrator coming into the picture.

Once Edward sunk his teeth into my mind, heart, and soul, there was no turning back! My passion, note I'm not saying Obsession because I think that word has a negative connotation, and there isn't anything negative about my PASSION for Edward, has brought so many enjoyable times to my life. And surprisingly, I have found that this love has awakened some personal attributes that I didn't know existed. My love of Vampire novels has grown immensely. Grant it, I'm still quite choosy, making sure I'm not getting myself into some Steven King time horror story, but I have found some incredibly awesome books. None of which come close to the Twilight Saga, but are great entertainment nonetheless!

This love of Twilight has brought out a crazy fashion sense in me that didn't exist before, and I am loving it! I have also found inspiration in the book covers in decorating my bedroom. Great fun!

All in all, I look forward to the future when I get to look back on all these years of this Twilight Saga and say that I was one of those who loved it, embraced it, lived it! Call me crazy...I don't care!

Hey Friends and Family and Blogger Readers...Have I got some great Hotel Rates just for YOU!!!

Great News! I've enrolled in the IHG Friends and Family program and am now able to offer you discounted hotel stays. As a friend or family member, you now have access to special hotel rates only available to friends and family of IHG employees! Information and rules for booking the rate are available on the program web site accessible through the link below.
http://www.ihg.com/h/d/6c/1/en/friendsandfamily?key=PxyOqu9bjcqo0qAvnJO9avK5YWcui3GNxbbUsHmcjlM%253D&cm_mmc=DCE-_-FF-_-20090310-_-AM27684

Getting started is easy:

Click on the link to enter the exclusive booking site

Book a Friends & Family rate by May 31, 2009 at any of the over 4,100 IHG hotels anywhere in the world - including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels.

Download the voucher - which you must present at check-in

Enjoy your trip!

*The Friends and Family rate is only available through the link in this email. You must use the link provided to make your reservation or you will not get the discount.

Feel free to share this with other friends, but if you forward this to anyone else, please make sure they know to use the link to get the discount.

Regards and have fun traveling

The Morning After

Unfortunately, we are still getting snow storms here in Utah. I really really dislike this time of year because we will go from a gorgeous 70-Degree Sunny day, to Utah snow storms for the next three or four days. It's like the song from Katy Perry, "Hot and Cold." With the snow, and the time change, my body is so messed up!

Despite however much I want this cold stuff to go away for the next three seasons, I was able to capture some excellent photos the morning after the first snow storm a few days ago. No matter how much I dislike the cold right now, I can never deny that Utah truly has the Greatest Snow on Earth!

I CAN do Some Crafty Things!

Don't fall over dead...I actually worked on a craft project, AND it turned out pretty darn cute! Shocker! I know!

Jaxon's Pre-K program has been doing an amazing job of teaching the kids their alphabet, numbers, all the sounds associated with each, and they are even reading now! A great friend of mine had put together a wonderful little book for her daughter that had all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers 1-10. She decorated it with a cute paper doll figure that represented her daughter, and then every page had corresponding stickers or pictures. I loved it so much and thought "I can do this!"

So I headed to Office Max and Roberts, and three hours later (finding alphabet word stickers isn't as easy as it sounds!), I was home and putting Jaxon's little book together! It took me the better part of the afternoon to complete it and I am very pleased with the outcome!

Jaxon was so excited to have his own book! He even took it to school the next day to show Mrs. Miller! I love that he loves it, and I actually had a great time doing it! Who would've thought?!?

Dakota Fanning's "New Moon" Fate Revealed

Dakota Fanning's 'New Moon' Fate Revealed

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Complete the Cycle

I'm going to lose some people with this next statement, but I am really NOT a big Oprah fan! GASP! Yes, it's true! I used to really enjoy TiVoing her shows every once in a while, but ever since she became political and so very predictable, she's lost her appeal...TO ME! That being said, what I still love, almost to the point of obsessiveness ,(What??? Nat obsess over something...never!), is her magazine, O. Funny enough, as much as I love this magazine, and pick one up every month at the airport (Favorite Travel Material), I have never subscribed to it. Go figure!

I don't know if it's for the fact that I have so many emotional needs and turmoil going on in my life right now, or if the two new editors just honed in on some seriously good stuff, but the March Edition is probably one of the best that I have ever read!

I love to sit and study this magazine, almost as if I am studying for an exam, or at a motivational lecture, and I will highlight all the meaningful quotes, or websites I want to visit, or fashion ideas, etc. Well this edition is now BRIGHT Yellow throughout. I was like a mad woman highlighting stuff! If I wasn't finding something completely relevant to myself, I was finding things relevant to my friends or family members going through their own struggles. --- Don't be surprised if some of you receive this copy in the mail with pages marked for your reading!

I could sit and blog, journal, write all night long based on the numerous topics I was drawn to. But for now, I wanted to write about one that really hit home! The article is titled "A Spotless Mind" and it's an interview with the author of "Enough Already! Clearing Mental Clutter to Become the Best You" Note to self: Purchase this book tomorrow!!!!

The basis of the article is that Clutter in our lives, both literally and figuratively, "Robs us psychologically, by stealing our ability to feel motivated in our space." I Heart that statement! In diving deeper into this subject, the author, Peter Walsh, throws out a metaphor of doing Laundry. The interviewer asked about a typical scenario, one that we call relate to, in that one day you clean and clean your home, and yet within two days it's a disaster again, and you can't figure out how it happened! The author calls this the Cycle Problem. In relating it to laundry he states that it's as if yous started a load of laundry, stop it half way through, and then leave it for a few days. You come back to stinky, moldy clothes that you must wash again because "you didn't complete the cycle".

He goes on to further demonstrate this by asking "When you have a bowl of cereal, does the box go back in the cupboard? When you bring in the mail, do you immediately open and sort it? At night, do your clothes go in the hamper or in the floor?" I laughed in spite of myself as I read those questions because I either do them myself, or nag the heck out of Chris and the kids to stop doing it! He completes the metaphor with this statement, "We have a CHOICE: to me mindful and complete the cycle, or to end up with a stink load of washing in the metaphorical machine." I love this statement because it is so relevant and true to every one of us.

How many of us never complete the cycle? Even as anal as I am around the house, and my need to not have things cluttered, I still find so many situations that I have not completed the cycle. I love putting it into perspective that we all have a choice. Yes, some of these actions are the result of long-lived and formed bad habits, but that doesn't mean you can't Choose to make changes for the better.

The ad immediately following this article displays pictures of all the different situations life can bring to each of us. And in the middle of the page, in big bold letters it reads:

"Every Day is a Turning Point. Life can be tough, but we are not victims. If you want different, you have to DO different!"

That statement really hit to the center of my mind and heart. I really needed that statement in my life today. But I realize more that I need that statement in my life Every Day. I want different, so I must DO different. Good stuff my friends...Good stuff! I think I'm going to go do some laundry now! :-)