Maggs

 We just had this little missy's B-day.

She is now six years old.

 She recently graduated from Kindergarten, which is kind of a big deal.

 Here she is with her teacher.

She LOVES Mrs Schimmer.

 She and her friend Kaylee celebrating her Birthday at Splash.

 We had a pink puppy party, of course.

We love this girl.

             Birthday Questionnaire (an idea I stole from my friend Julie)

How old are you?  6

What makes you happy?  When somebody asks if I can pet their puppy and my  Mom says "Yes!"

What makes you sad?  When I get hurt

When do you laugh?  When somebody does something funny.

What is something Mom always says to you?  "Silly Goose"

Dad?  "Hi"

What is your favorite thing to eat?  Pasta and Strawberries

What is your favorite thing to do?  Ride my scooter

What is your favorite TV show?  Scooby Doo and Tom & Jerry

What is your favorite Scripture story?  Jonah and the whale

What are you really good at?  Riding my scooter

What is your favorite movie?  Tangled

Who is your best friend?  Kaylee

What is your favorite primary song?  I am a Child of God

What do you and your Mom do together?  Read books

Dad?  Play games on his phone

Your favorite place to go?  Camping

What is your favorite animal?  Puppies

How do you know Mom and Dad love you?  Because they give me Hugs and Kisses

What does your mom do for a job?  Cleans the dishes

Dad?  Builds buildings.

What do you want to be when you grow up?  a vet

We're back

We were having a few technical difficulties with the blog and ended up taking a little break!  After 6 months....here we are again.  A lot has happened since Christmas and I will do my best to give you an update of the Johnston household.

The first big thing this year....we attended the first game in the U of O Matthew Knight Arena.  Dan's company finished building it this winter and it was so fun to be there and to see all of Dan's hard work!  Dan was over all of the interior finishes...and he did a great job getting it all together.  We are so proud of him.  Here we are at the big game:

 Mom, Ikey, and Uncle Craig.

 The scoreboard and floor.

 The kids having fun.

Looks like Zach is in a popcorn coma.

It was fun to finally see the Arena full of people!



Sharing seats with cousin Beau.

Lincoln actually fell asleep...which really was amazing considering the noise level in there.

I guess we were all a little tuckered out after those last 2 weeks of finishing up the Arena.

Christmas

We spent Christmas in Fallon this year.

My whole family was all under one roof.

It was great!

Most of the pictures I took ended up blurry for some reason.

Here are a few decent ones:

Waiting (not-so patiently) to open Christmas jammies.

Ikes.

Maggs.

Lincs.

Cousins.

Now we are home and having treat/game night/movie/cousin withdrawals.

It's hard adjusting back to REAL life after all that!

family pics

Here are some family pics we took last month.

Stephanie did an amazing job.

Especially considering that it was POURING rain.

Dan & Ikey

Lincoln

We used the umbrella because we HAD to.
This ended up being my favorite family photo.


I love this.

Close up.

I have a few more I will post soon...

COOKIE TIME

Wow...I've blogged 3 days in a row.

Shocked?

Me too!

This is actually just a quick recipe post.

Remember the recipe I talked about HERE ?

It has only taken me 2 years to get the recipe to you!

I just made them for the ward Christmas party and had a few requests for the recipe.

Here goes...

Candy Cane Cookies

from a Southern Living Cookie Cookbook

1 cup butter

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp peppermint extract

1/8 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour

Beat butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar, extract, salt. Gradually add flour. Mix. Chill dough for at least 30 min.

Roll out 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters for desired shape.

You could also roll them into 2" logs and curve the end down like a candy cane.

Bake 325 for 18 minutes.

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp milk

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

As soon as they come out of the oven, I roll them in powdered sugar and put a little glaze on top and let it melt. Then sprinkle crushed peppermint candy canes on top.

I also usually double the recipe. A doubled recipe will use about 1 box of candy canes.

Mmmmmm.

My mouth is watering.

ENJOY!

Christmas lists

Our neighbors have a Christmas count down on their front lawn. I was looking at it as I pulled in the driveway this morning.

only 16 days 'till Christmas!

Wow, it's really sneaking up on me.

Here are some of the Christmas wishes at our house this year:

Lincoln wants a green zhuzhu pet.

All of my children are wishing and hoping for a PillowPet.

Does anyone else's children think they can't live without these darn things?!
All I can say is someone is making a KILLING off of these.
I must say...they really are genius.

Maggie is leaving hints all around the house for Santa.

Just making sure that there is no mistaking what she wants for Christmas.

So fun.

I am wishing and hoping for good weather...

and clear roads. So we can travel to Nevada to spend some time with my fam.

Dan's countdown is a little different.

Only 20 days until they hand over the Matthew Knight Arena keys.

It's a little stressful...but what a fun time to be working on the U of O campus.

GO DUCKS!!

Getting into the Spirit

We spent the weekend getting into the Holiday Spirit.

We attended the Creche Exhibit (very COOL!)

We also had the Ward Christmas party.

Ikey looking dapper.

Santa's lap.

We also let the kids FINALLY put up the Christmas tree.
They have been begging for weeks.

Here we are trimmin the tree.

Attempting to put the Angel on top (a group effort).

Poor Dad is taking one for the team here.


Finished product.

We decided on another FRESH tree this year.

I actually was pushing to save some cash and put up our artificial one.

I'm so glad Dan talked me out of it.

The smell is HEAVEN. Smells like Christmas!