A Great Weekend and Some Recommendations to Boot!

It's been an eventful and fun weekend around here. Family was abound and plentiful all weekend long. We had the great pleasure of having our cute cousins Riley and Kalli spend the night with us on Friday night. It was a night filled with games and laughter! For a Family game recommendation I suggest you ask Santa to bring your family Uno Spin! This game has a great SPIN on the original classic and our kids LOVED it. We played it for a couple of hours!

Saturday was yet another fun-family-filled day! It started with me shopping with my mom for Kalli's Birthday presents! We ended up at Justice for Girls! If you have girls from the ages of 5-16 this is the store for you! But full disclosure...it's pricey UNLESS you purchase their Justice Club Card. Mom's this is worth it's money in GOLD! It costs $25 and entitles you to 30% off year-round! But it gets better...if you have any of their special certificates, like their 40% off your entire purchase, you get an additional 5% off. That's nearly 50% off your entire purchase! That's huge!!!! I have more than received my $25 back. Oh, and their J-Bucks are going now! For every $50 you spend, you get $40 back in J-Bucks! These are good starting 11/28...Just in time for Christmas shopping! And for those of you who do the traditional Christmas PJs, you're gonna love what they have for you! Oh and don't forget to tell Santa about the awesome Stocking Stuffers! (Yeah this place is EVIL...Crack-Cocaine for Tweens and their shopoholic moms!)

Needless to say our little Kalli made out like a bandit with her Birthday Gifts! She's gonna be one hot lookin chic at school!

After shopping we met my dad and Chris and all the kids and we went to see "Michael Jackson's This is It" This was Chris' third time seeing it and my second time. So yeah, I think we love it. It truly is an amazing film and just shows without question what a talented star MJ was. It made me so sad to watch and know that he is gone as is his talent. The concert that he was putting together was amazing and I cannot imagine the heartbreak the performers involved have experienced. My dad was just enthralled the entire time! Watching the movie and him perform all of his biggest hits was like reliving my childhood. It was a great time! In fact it was such a great time, that at Kalli's birthday party later that night, we ALL decided, all 24 of us Johnson's to run to theatre and see it again! Babies, little kids and all in tow, we watched the late night showing...my siblings and I practically dancing in the isles! It was a great night! If you ever loved MJ...Go see this movie! It has been extended through Thanksgiving weekend!

Today has been a typical lazy Sunday with the kids. But the part that I wanted to share, not necessarily a recommendation, but just something fun to BLOG about. My sister and BIL bought Cydnee "Coraline" the movie with the 3D version. My kids have never seen a movie in 3D and let me tell you...it's been effin hilarious watching them go through this experience! Jaxon has been exclaiming every minute.."WHOA this is AWESOME!" or "UH Mommy, I don't like it!" So funny! To say the least we will be going to the 3D version of Disney's "A Christmas Carol"! (But not until after Thanksgiving!)

15 Days Ladies...GO TEAM EDWARD

Yeah, I'll be getting my copy of this magazine as well!!!!

18 Days Ladies..

Seriously??? Seriously!!!! OH MY EDWARD!!!!

A Vamptastic Halloween!

Why has Blogger become so difficult??? UGH! Loading pictures is a horrible time and a great struggle!!!! Anyone know what I am doing wrong or what has changed???

Sorry total sidebar there!

We had the most Fangtastic Halloween this year. I believe confidently that it was our best Halloween Bash yet. The only thing that would have improved it would to have all of our kids with us.

My friend's new boyfriend made a comment the other night that "I appear to make Halloween an investment!" I loved that! Because I absolutely do! And fortunately Chris has and does fully support that investment as he loves Halloween as much as I do!

This year's theme was Skull and Bones, and it turned out wonderful! As usual everything looked terrific and spooky! I decided to try something new this year and that is to put out our firepits in the drive-way and sit around fires as we handed out trick-or treaters! It was a HUGE success and we were by far the most popular house in the neighborhood!

As we all stood around the fires, completely decked out in our costumes, all the neighbors saw what serious Halloween Partiers we all were!

We warmed up after trick-or-treating with an awesome Hot Witches Brew! Then we finished up with gobs of good food and goodies!

My brother Jett dressed as Michael Jackson, so for nearly two hours we played homage to the King of Pop and we danced and lip-synced to just about every song MJ ever produced. It was great fun!

Everyone participated by dressing up which just added to the funness of the evening. My little brother delighted all of us with the scariest Joker outfit I've ever seen! But boy did he have fun with it. He dodged in and out of the street...chasing cars...and scaring all the teenagers! We had a blast watching him terrorize everyone!

Having the same kind of fun was Chris who surprised Jaxon, the Jedi, by dressing up as Chewbaca! Though with the height difference he looked more like an Ewok than Chewie! Love him for trying though!

Like I said, it was a fabulous night, and I'm not so sure I can top this one. And who knows where Chris and I will be next year. So this was a good year to end with a bang!

Hilarious BLOG about my new Vamp Show

This is soooo funny gals! Seriously, I am in LOVE, LOVE with "The Vampire Diaries!" Stefan is so incredibly beautiful and hot it's sick! Did I mention I wish I could just have one of those? My cute little Caitlin found this and shared it with me. Please just use the link below and ignore the rest of this Busy Bee's blog...it's RaTarDED! Girl is indeed a busy bee loving herself! (I digress!) Anywhoo...the season is totally heating up and I am so happy that I can have Vamplove YEAR-ROUND NOW!

30 days till Edward!


busy bee lauren: the lauren diaries: "lost girls"

People Magazine - Collector's Edition - New Moon

Ladie's...and you closet gents out there...People released it's In-Stores-Only Exclusive New Moon Edition. It is HOT! Lots of juicy pics and confirmation of Robsten's off-screen romance!

Get your copy today! I grabbed the last one at the Smith's in Herriman! (Whew and Sorry!)

New Moon micro widget

October Book Club Review

For October's Book Club we read "Mr. Darcy Vampyre!"

This was completely self-indulgent vampire fun! It had the beauty and love story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice" with a Vampire twist mixed in! Great fun!

The story pics up the morning of Elizabeth's and Jane's combined wedding day! Elizabeth's life was never the same from that moment on!

I thoroughly enjoyed the "Marriage Tour" throughout much of Europe and loved living vicariously through the Author's eyes.

If you're looking for an easy, and fun read... this book's for you!

Fall Randomness

We've had a Spooktacular October and Fall so far! Here are just a few highlights of what we've been up to!

Jaxon and I made our own version of a Halloween Countdown Calendar!

I don't have to answer now every morning, "How many more sleeps till Halloween?"

The first weekend we participated in the Garnder's Village Wee-Witch's Weekend!

We had such a great time! Perfect way to kick off the month!

I loved having Hayley, Sammy, and Lamar with Jaxon and I!

Yummy Country Food, Adorable Witches, and Lots of Fun!

Jaxon and I loved the Hayride to the Witch's Post! The stories and Witches were a real Hoot!

Jaxon wanted a Spider Balloon Hat...and that's exactly what he got!

Jaxon LOVES his Aunt Hayley and his Aunt Sammy

He really enjoyed all the crafts and Halloween Projects he got to do!

Our trip to the Pumpkin Patch was as usual, a great time!

Jaxon is REALLY into the Corn Mazes this year!

He loves running through them and finding his way out!

Been great fun for us!

We couldn't get Jaxon to put this "tiny for 5-year olds" Wheel Barrel!

An Amazing Journey

I wanted to share my thoughts on the journey that I just experienced reading "The Shack". Several weeks ago, a FB friend posted about the most amazing book she had just read. I happened to be at Barnes & Noble that very same day, and funny enough this was the first book that caught my eye as I roamed the store. I had no idea what the book was about, and certainly had no indication of how my life and spirit would be affected by reading the book. I was simply looking for a good book to read. I laugh to myself now, having read the book, and seeing that the most simple task brought an indescribable and unexpected joy to my life...a theme so prevalent throughout the story.

I do not want to go into any details of my experience. Not because I don't wish to share, but out of respect and hope of the experience you may too have if you choose to read this book.

I have experienced an awakening and path to self-revelation that I didn't ever believe or have faith in before. Who would have thought?

If you do decide to read this book, allow yourself some true solitude while reading. You will understand me later. Also, please contact me and I would love to discuss it with you one-on-one.

Enjoy!

Latest New Moon Posters

Facebook | New Moon Movie: Excellent New Moon Fan Made Desktop Wallpaper

Enjoy my friends!!!!

This beautiful pic is currently on my desktop!!!! Oh My Volturi!


Facebook New Moon Movie: Excellent New Moon Fan Made Desktop Wallpaper

I'm Back!!!! 'Bout Friggin Time!

Wow, wow, wow....I cannot believe that it has been three months and an entire season since I last posted. Well, I take that back, I absolutely can believe it because my life and our summer has been one incredible ride. In the past three months I have seen a lot of wonderful, a lot of fun, a lot of sorrow, and a whole lot of growing. Through a lot of personal heart ache I have been able to reach deep inside and find out some things about myself as a person, and as a mom. And through my trials I have found my place as a mom so rewarding and have enjoyed my time with my kids more than I have in a very long time. I was able to find time and the focus to do more with my kids this past summer than ever before and I have loved it. I also found some great new personal loves and passions, and that's pretty great also. I have been trying to figure out the best way to share of my favorite moments, and I can't think of any real way other than to just list those moments and ask you to join me on the walk down memory lane!

1) Like every summer, it began Memorial Day weekend! This was the beginning of some really bad times for me and my family, but it also had some good traditional moments. Luckily my parents were there to keep my mind off some intense moments, and we spent the beginning of the weekend taking care of my grandparents' grave sites and my sweet uncle's. I love my dad for his dedication and all that he has always taught me about this great holiday.

The weekend also brought about our first ever campout! We didn't go anywhere further than our backyard, but boy was it an adventure. We used our fire pit for some pretty awesome tin-foil dinners, and it was a total blast sleeping outside listening to the typical Memorial Day Weekend rain storm! Chris didn't like it so much, but the kids and I faired quite well.

2) For the first time in two years, we made plans to actually utilize our Park City timeshare! For 10 truly glorious days we, well that is, the kids and I, and actually even more specifically, Jaxon and I vacationed and relaxed like never before. Cyd and Chase only were able to stay the first few days with us, so Jaxon and I had some great quality, Mommy and son time. Chris' new kitchen at the U of U opened the weekend before, so unfortunately, we only saw him in the evenings. He was able to get one day off the second weekend there, and that was great for him. Since I was on my own, I was able to have a great day with my sisters, a couple of days with some of our closest BFF's, and time with my nieces! We swam and laid out under the sun constantly! Jaxon FINALLY overcame his fear of swimming, all thanks to his magical Spiderman goggles, and I haven't seen him have so much fun before. I loved having this time with Jaxon so much. This was the summer of falling madly in love with my little guy all over again. He is absolutely at the funnest age, and I am loving every minute of it. We snuggled every night, and every morning. Watched all his favorite movies, and of course spent hours at the pool. This little guy saved me this summer! I love him with all my heart!



3) July 4th weekend found us apart from Chris for the first time in our marriage. Until the opening of the new kitchen I have been truly blessed to not feel like a Chef's Widow. But this new piece of Chris's career has brought about that obstacle, and it has been one major hill to climb for all of us. With Abbie and Connor gone for the entire summer, it was just me and my kids for the festivities! I was so excited and so happy to have Mel and her kids, Wayne and Maritza, and my siblings come and spend the evening with us. Mom and Dad were unable to join us for the first time ever also because of Mom's knee surgery. But we managed to have a great evening nonetheless. After great food, a great parade, and of course a killer fireworks display, Mel and the kids, and all my sibs headed out to my place for some fire pit fun! We laughed and talked and laughed some more until 3:00 AM. It was a great night for me. I really loved having everyone around!

4) July is a big month for us in terms of birthdays...three in one month! We had to wait until August to celebrate them all due to Abbie and Connor being gone, and well me traveling for work. However we managed to have a great celebration once everyone was together again. We allowed Abbie, Connor, and Chase all invite a friend to our home for the day. We took all the kids, and my sisters, Hayley and Samantha to a brand new waterpark here in town. The kids had an awesome time at Cowabunga Bay, as did I. Later that evening we had the rest of the family, including mom who was out for one of her first outings since her surgery, out to the house for cake, ice cream, and presents! It was a great time for everyone!!!!

5) With Connor turning 12, that same August weekend found us traveling to Springville to see Chris ordain him a Deacon. It was a really great day for Chris and Connor. I was happy for both of them, and was glad to have my family there to share the day with us.

6) The last big event of the summer was my first ever, solo mom road trip! The kids and I drove to St. Helens, OR to go camping with Tiff and her family on the coast! I rented us a nice big vehicle that was so fancy, I couldn't even figure out how to turn the stupid thing on. I wasn't sure how the kids were going to fair in the car for a straight 12 hours, but they actually did extremely well! The drive to Portland was absolutely beautiful! The kids didn't complain one minute the entire drive. But of course as soon as they had an audience (Tiff and Paul) all the descriptions of how it was the worst drive of their lives came pouring out. Hilarious...but so typical as well! Camping with the Erickson's was a TOTAL blast. It was incredibly fun having all of our kids together for the first time ever. Tiff and I just laughed looking at where we were today in comparison to the 18 years ago when we were single and at BYU. My kids of course had never seen the ocean and were beyond thrilled to be at the beach. Well it took Jaxon quite some time to even get his feet wet, but once that happened and he realized it was okay to get his feet wet, all was good. The weather was a bit colder than we had planned on, but a shopping trip later and the kids were bundled up nicely. Tiff's parents came up and camped with us and that was great fun seeing them again. It was such a wonderful trip and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Now the kids are back in school, and well, it was just one incredible journey for us all. Cyd has started the 6th grade, Chase has started 5th grade, and my little guy has started Kindergarten. I just cannot believe it! I'll post about school another day! I thought I would end with just a few of my most special moments with the kids....one's that I don't want to ever forget.

*Cydnee and I having a mommy/daughter Spa day in Park City. I loved watching her enjoy being pampered, and having massages together was so much fun! Yep, I'm teaching her young just what a SPA is.

*Walking up and down Main Street Park City with Pookie. We went to a great little book store, and had a lot of good story times together!

*Flying a kite with Chasers on the beach!

*Walking hand-in-hand with Cydnee at night, looking at millions of stars, the last night of our camping trip.

*Visiting the Twilight movie location with the kids!

*Watching my kids play on the beach and in the Ocean! I've always wanted to do that!

*And last but not least, I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention my love and new found obsession with Sookie Stackhouse! 9 books in two months! What is it with Vampires that have a first name that start with an "E"? Edward, Eric,...Oh My!