bad dreams

I have often wondered what little ones dream about, what constitutes a bad dream for a three year old. Well early this morning Eliza woke screaming in terror for me. I ran in she was so distraught and trying to tell me what was wrong. All I understood was "Julie, Julie, Julie." I showed her that Julia was sleeping next to her and was ok. Julia woke up and Eliza just threw her arms around her neck and said “oh Julie."
Once I got her calmed down a bit she finally said, “Mama the gingerbread man caught Julia.”

thanks to my kiddos!

Wow where has the month gone? Life has been a little crazy but who's hasn't, right?
I have spent a great deal of time in meetings for the past month. This of course meant that my girls have had to be very well behaved and left to their own "quiet entertainment" in the church gym. Directly across the hall from my meeting. They have been fabulous! Especially Julia and Eliza (for anyone that knows Julia this is truly a divinely bestowed blessing!) the two of them are not in school full time yet so they have been pulled along for the majority of the ride. So here are some of our meeting house adventures. . .
Eliza-

• in the process of potty training has pooped once on the sunbeam room floor, once on the bathroom tile and only one episode of pee!
• She sat perfectly quiet, ate her picnic lunch and waved to me at least once every 30 seconds while I helped prepare and serve a missionary zone luncheon.
• She said hi to every missionary as they walked passed and said look mama another missionary- that made them smile (OK me too)
• Every week she has sat in my lap for at least an hour meeting. None of my other 3 years old were capable of that.

Julia-

• while playing in the gym was asked by a sister who had come in to help set up for enrichment, "what are you doing in here?" Her reply, "mom's in another meeting but it's OK we are doing the Lord's work and I guess we will get blessed!" (Julia said that?? Are you sure?)

Eve and Anna-

• Bret had another meeting scheduled on the same night as my welfare/ward council. I carefully placed them in a room close enough to still hear them, but far enough away that the Barbie movie playing would not interfere. BUT the bishop moved the meeting directly next to their room with only the accordion door dividing us. So a very spiritual meeting, great things accomplished all with the barbie princesses serenading us in the background!
• Eve said, "Mom we were super quiet like you asked but you guys were not! We could barely hear the movie." Julia said "yeah, I don't think you get a frosty for being quiet" (yes I did use some bribery for that meeting)
• Anna striving not to raise her voice asked "next time can I just wear regular clothes- I don't want to be seen by the bishop in my pj's again." I should of known- but I was just trying to make the transition for our late bedtime easier for me. . .
• Eve says, "Mom I know you are supposed to do this job for Heavenly Father but I kinda liked it better when dad had to do it."

My girls and my hubby have been great while I wrap my brain around how to properly divide my time between, family, calling, school and all the other errands of life!

changes

I have always been one who enjoys a new adventure a change of scenery. . . we have gotten a few of those in the past few weeks.
They have reorganized our ward boundaries, our ward is now the Palmer Park ward and has doubled in size. Bret got a new calling to the high council and I have been called as the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society. I am feeling incredibly inadequate! We have 266 sisters on our roster and as I look over it I see a number of sisters who are far more qualified for this job than me! I still am asking why I have been given this calling- what I do I have to give to the sisters? But both the relief society president and the bishop feel I am the one for the job. So I will give it my best. I have had several callings that were for my "benefit and learning" and not for those I am serving. I am guessing this might be the case again!! I know I have so much to learn and my testimony and understanding of the gospel will grow immensely- I just hope those sisters I am serving will be patient with my learning curve!
In other changes I just got accepted into the BYU bachelor's of general studies program. Yes, I am going back to school for I believe the third time!! I am all registered for my 1st class and hoping to get done with my degree before Eve graduates!! Of course those of you who know me well also know that whenever I start school I get pregnant. I am not- but I am assuming it will be another change to look forward to-- it seems to go hand in hand with my goal of finishing school.
Bret has also decided on going back to school. He wants to get a P.h.d. but he just missed the cut off for the Fall program so it will be a bit before he actually starts. (thank goodness)
Anyways we like to pile it all on when we get the chance!

domestic diva

OK well not yet. This is the sight every week at my house. I spend a few days washing and drying all the many loads of laundry that need to be done but I just can't seem to finish it off. So I wash, dry and stack. . . I can't seem to get it folded! I know, I know it would be so much easier if I just folded it as it came out of the dryer. But laundry is the task I do in between everything else. Aaahh, I really don't like laundry. I hate the fact that it is never done. Maybe that is why I wait until I have it all washed before I fold it. I have been know to stand over the washing machine and take my clothes off and throw them into the washer. My husband thinks I am crazy when I tell him to take his clothes off too so I can for one hour have all the laundry in the house washed and put away!!

It drives my family crazy that they seem to always have to go find their clean clothes in the well organized baskets (as you can see from the picture) down stairs.

So each week I set out complete the task wash, fold and put away- I succeed occasionally but usually not. I will keep trying to reach perfection in the laundry department. So until then "your clean underwear is in the basket downstairs!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2 CANDACE!

Today is my little sister's birthday! She turns 25 today. I can't believe it. . .I guess if she is getting older than I am getting even OLDER!!

Here are some of the many reasons I love Candace.

1. She is one of the bravest girls I know. She has endured many, many, many, many trials with faith and paitence.

2. She understands the importance of family and love.

3. She stills love me even though I can be a bossy older sister!

4. She is loving mom to her three boys, all under age of 4.

5. She is smart and creative.

6. That girl can cook. . . of course I have yet to enjoy it. But I hear all about it. (miles and miles away!)

7. She is so very talented and always willing to help others anyway she can even at great sacrifice of herself.

8. She has a beautiful singing voice. She is the only one in the family that can make music in any form.

9. Life gets her down, she just keeps going knowing that there will be an end or a purpose to it all.

10. I have mentioned that she endures. . . she currently has three church callings (one being nursery leader), her husbands the elder's quroum president. So she has a good cry and then gets to work!

11. She lives in a teany tiny town (the Macbeth girls are bigger city folk) so we tease her about it, but she has the love her life and her boys there and although it has been an adjustment Burns has become home & that is perfect.

12. It is not funny-but is too! She and her family spend more time in the emergency room than at the grocery store. I always look forward to the latest Johnson family adventure. But I love that she can laugh about that. Maybe not that day but eventually!

13. She has a beautiful testimony. Her faith is strong, she relies on the Lord and her spirit shines bright.

14. She has three boys so she must be PATIENT!

15. I love her because she is my sister. There is nothing like having good sisters.

Fabulous and Fun and Prizes. . .

My cousin is doing this! She is always so fun. . . I am one of her 1st five which in turn means. . . well read on.

Something for YOU!!Something just for you! Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while) (I will be waiting until I get my FAB-U-LOUS prize!)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Good luck!

Heart day!

Bret and I have never been big Valentiner's. In fact, I told him not to propose to me on Valentine's Day because it was to cheesy for me! (So he proposed on the 12th and went fishing with his brothers on V-day!)

I've decided it is because he's my "valentine" year around. He always does little things for me to show me that he loves me. He'll bring me home a hamburger @ lunch time because he knows I had a rough night up with sick kids. Or when he orders himself a Jamba juice he will get it with no banana (even though banana is his favorite and I am allergic) because he knows I will want just one sip!! Or he will mop the floor when I am running kids to dance class (he knows he will get lucky with that one- I hate mopping the floor!) And of course he tells me everyday how much he loves me. . . geez, I love that boy!!

So Valentine's day has become a family day at our house. We decorate the table and have pink pancakes and strawberry milk (yuck) for breakfast. Bret gets all his girls a valentine. This year he got them all lollipops that were as big as their heads! I don't know what he was thinking. He wanted to see their faces when they saw these monstrous suckers. Now that they are pumped full of sugar and literally bouncing off the furniture and walls, I am not sure it was worth it. But he loves his girls and the love him.

We took them swimming (Julia has been begging for weeks). That was fun to see them in swimsuits and winter coats loading up in the car to go swimming in 23 degree weather. It was fun we have this great pool with a slide, a wave pool and a lazy river. It was great.

Then Bret took the kiddos so I could go get my hair done. Cut it short and dyed it chocolate brown. LOVE IT! (that was scheduled pre-valentines day)

Then we put the kiddos to bed early due to too much sugar intake. Then we made dinner and watched a movie and went to bed. I love nights in with my hubby!

I'd love to post pictures. . . of the kiddos Valentine's day fun but the camera was lost on the last great ice fishing trip. Bret entered a fishing tournament but that is a whole different post! So until it is found amongst the worms and hooks or a new one purchased you are stuck with my words and that is it! But here is a picture of the love of my life from the computer. Can you believe he is fishing??? hee hee.

All in a days work. . .

We had planned a few weeks ago to take the kiddos ice fishing. I assumed that it would be a short lived activity. Especially if it was particularly cold outside or if the ice was cracking and shifting like it sometimes does. I was wrong. . . it was gorgeous, almost 60 degrees and the girls thought the popping noise of the ice was the sound of the fish getting ready to bite the hook! We spent 6 hours on the ice and needless to say my list of "to do" did not get done. But we had a such a great time!! The girls loved it!

Anna was a master fishergirl! She was putting on her own live bait, reeling 'em in, and tossing them back all by herself! Everyone caught plenty of fish! Eliza and Julia's favorite part was "sharing"their fish. They would caught one out of their own hole and then put it back in another hole. Eve caught a few and then the excitement of catching fish wore off. So she spent most of the afternoon messing around on the ice, pulling her sisters, her mother and herself on the sled.

Eliza was a crack up- she LOVES fishing

She just giggled and laughed the whole

time. She reels in her own fish and talks

to them like they are dear old friends!

And of course we can't have a day on the ice without grilling up some hotdogs! The thought that was pretty cool to barbeque right there out on the ice. It was a great day- with lots of great memories made. I am so grateful to live in such a beautiful place, to be blessed with such a wonderful family. These are the things I treasure the most.

Not pregnant. . . yet

Alright I have to edit the title of my blog. I am not pregnant. I only listed that as the title because we plan on having more. Just not yet!!! I did not even think that everyone would assume that I was by my title! So I have changed it and when I add "and counting" back on then I will expecting.
After today I will be putting off the addition. I had one home with the"runs", Julia got shots today for kindergarten and is suffering the side effects of them. She cried out today in pain "my legs don't work. Mommy why did you do this to me? I am a good kid mom!" Eliza decided that she needed to add to all the whining and whimpering and thus decided that she does not feel good either and needs a spot on my lap too.
Aaahh I love those days. . . is it bedtime yet?

Here We Go.

I have debated for the past 2 years as to whether or not to start a blog. I love reading my families and friends blogs- in fact it has become my Sunday afternoon ritual. I check up on everyone and see how they are doing. I haven't started my own because really how exciting can my life be? Does anyone really want to read about the comings and goings of good old Jessie?! Well if so great if not then this will serve as an excellent journal- since I have fallen off the wagon in writing in that too! So here it goes- hope you enjoy!