Mia's Christmas Tales

The Halloween Car

Mia: What if there was a Halloween car and it had a scary girl driving it? And what if I said to her, "Hey, it's not Halloween! Put a Christmas tree on your car!" Or "Put a Snowflake on your car, it's Christmas time!" And then she said "Okay." That would be so funny.

Mommy: That would be pretty neat.


The Christmas Crab

Mia: Hey mom, is there a Christmas Crab?

Mommy: A Christmas CRAB?

Mia: Yeah, and he used his claws to snip off the wrapping paper.

Mommy: That's cool, Mia. Is his name Sandy Claws?

Mia: No it's not Santa, mom. The Christmas Crab!

Mommy: Oh, sorry. So what is his name?

Mia: I think his name is Jordan. Yep, Jordan the Christmas Crab. And he lives on the beach and he is Blue, mom, blue not red. I hope he comes to visit this year.

Mommy: For being the Christmas Crab, does he get to do anything?

Mia: Yeah, he snips all the wrapping paper off the Presents!

Exciting... Delta?

Kev and I just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary and it was Kevin's year to plan it, so what does he decide to do... Take me to scenic Delta? He wanted to show me where he has been working and some of the cool ROCK FORMATIONS down in the region. It really is adventurous being married to a Geologist.

The Road to Nowhere...

The Intermountain Power Plant, that powers California. You can see the steam from anywhere across the valley.

Here is Notch Peak, a jet stream, and the Moon.

Kevin at Topaz Mountain. See the Power Plant?

Topaz we found

This really cool rock at Topaz Mountain that was crazy and fun!

Marjum Pass is huge. The depth was amazing! Like going through Zion.

Here is the awesome sunset.

And last, but definitely not least... Our Beautiful MOTEL room. There was the Great Basin Drill Team Competition on Saturday and everything was booked, but the Rancher Motel. It really was like sleeping in Grandma Thomas's basement, even down to the art work. It was really an adventure.

Spiiiduuurr ... Biite.... Legg... Huuurrt!

I thought that Jules has a spider bite and had irritated it by scratching and what not. Well, the bite grew and then there were other little red marks on her little legs that I couldn't figure out. By Sunday night, when I threw the kids in the bath, the swelling had grown so it looked like a golf ball was hidden inside her thigh. So Kevin took her to the hospital.

Turns out she has a serious Staff infection that entered her body when she go her immunizations. She's on severe antibiotics for the next 2 weeks. They are NASTY and she hates taking them: one she can handle, the other we have to disguise.

Poor girl...

Midnight Madness!!! An evening with Kooks and Tweeners!

Twilight finally came and we had a blast. The evening started with Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory with a few friends: Katie, Jan, Becka, Me, Andrea Colby, and Annette and Brandon Neily. The place was swarming with women and most supporting a Team Edward shirt. Our shirts were a little more tasteful. But it was nothing compared to the gaggle, that's right Gaggle of women that came dressed up in their PROM DRESSES. Not teens may I clarify, but grown women. I laughed out loud and them. I know they heard m, but I couldn't help myself. That was exactly what I wanted to see: people forgetting this is FICTION and living in the stupid FANTASY that Stephenie Meyer created.
Here are friends from work: Cassidy and Brie and Brie's sister Jacylyn. Cassidy I currently work with and yes, he is a boy, one of the only boy's there. He is dating Brie, who I use to work with, but is now in Pharm School. Brie's other friend had to bale, so she brought him. I don't know if he even knew what he was getting into, but I got the hint that he was kinda embarrassed.
Here we are with Andrea in our Forks, WA shirts. Katie and Jan's read on the back: ...Meanwhile in a town called Spoons... and Becka and I's shirts read: If you don't know where Forks is, your on the wrong map, but it had Forks crossed out and Spoons written in. We were very proud of those, but we were just trying to be stupid. I know it worked since we went to the Midnight show.

We all had an amazing time! I really loved watching the KOOKS and the TWEENERS. I had to work the next day and my little hour of sleep really sucked the next day, I was very delirious, but I'm glad that we reached this point in the year. It just made me miss Harry. The Harry Potter trailer was so amazing, I had to post it on Facebook for everyone to see. Everyone cross your fingers that they don't push it back again!

Lucky Day!

We went out to eat at Jim's restaurant the other day and as Mia was leaving she saw the Wizard gumball machine that tell you the future.

Dad: Should we ask it a question?

Mia: Sure!

Dad: Is Mia a good girl?

Wizard: YES... Definitely. And by the way, tomorrow is your Lucky Day...

Mia: (with absolute astonishment) How did he know Joe was coming?

Get a "Clue!"

My new passion. Since the movie isn't coming out until JULY (argh...) I need to fill my time with other ridiculous things. I bought this on a whim, but it is really fun. It has secret passages, spinning home rooms, and cool evil dudes.












Our first time playing we invited Mia to play, since it was complicated and we were still trying to figure it out. Well, big mistake. By the forth turn she guessed it right and the game was over.
Here are the winning cards: It was Peter Pettigrew, in the Great Hall, with Impentimentia.

And here is Jan laughing about it...

I don't know if I will allow Mia to play anymore. It does say 9 and up, probably so you don't get embarrassed when your five year old beats you.

International Trailer... you now, the Internaional trailer... Love - the International trailer of LOVE! It's from Candie!

I can hardly contain myself. I had to share.... Enjoy!!!

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/harry-potter-and-half-blood-prince/feature-trailer

Growing Up Creepie!!

For those of you who don't know who Creepie is, here you go. Mia refused to put on your Princess Leia costume before Halloween. So here she is as Creepie, an orphan girl raised by Praying Mantises and a family full of thousands of bugs.


I think we did pretty good.

Saturdays on Discovery Kids!

Mia's speak...

Just a few of the funny things Mia has said today that I thought you would enjoy...

Mia: Mom, I really need to go potty.
Mom: Well go then!
Mia: But I'm scared of Frankenstein.
Mom: Why?
Mia: because he lives in the toilet.
Mom: Frankenstein doesn't live in the toilet.
Mia: Where does Frankenstein live then?
Mom: In Europe.
Mia: Does Europe have a toilet?

...at Gardner Village to see the Witches.

Mia kept running away, easily distracted by the people and witches. So, I got out the Harness, or Baby Leash meant for Julia and strapped Mia in it. After a minute she got the idea.

Mia: What am I a dog or somethin'?

She stayed by us after that.

At one of the witches a girl looked over at Mia.

Mia: Mom, I think that girl is jealous of me.
Mom: Why?
Mia: Because I'm cute mom. She was jealous of my clothes, I think.

Aren't you a little short to be a ....Princess Leia?

Just giving you a taste of what is to come. Like the wig? I'm still not sure if I want to use it or not, but if she loves it.

I was thinking of making Jules Yoda or R2-D2. Give me your opinion.

Bad Idea?

Can you see what is wrong with this picture? Everything!
The kids wanted to make a house using real wood. They tried to balance it with the flimsy plastic patio chairs.
I think Becka and I were partly to blame. We saw what they were doing, and quickly left for Old Town in center Fort Collins.
I wished I had taken a picture of the pile of gold fish crackers. It was on the ground at the bottom of a tomato plant wire coop, which they tied to a pole with bungee cords and put Julia in the middle of like a cage. Really sorry I missed that one.

Sigur Ros

Red Rocks is such a cool place to see a concert. It was a sold out show!! The whole experience was fun.

Sigur Ros played a phenomenal show, and our seats were amazing. The band all dressed a little out-of-the-ordinary, Jonsi (Lead singer) looked like an homage to 80's Adam Ant. But the music was awesome!!! Does three exclamation points means enough?

Jonsi even broke his bow on the last song before the encore. My favorite was is Kjartan, the keyboard player. He is the talent of the band, doing all the arrangements and whatever, but he ROCKED!!! I loved watching him.

Here are the three of us: Kevin, Me, and David. They geeked out at the gear after the concert.

...and yes, that is Bilbo Baggins we found at the show.

My Political Views!!

With such a historical election year, I thought it only fair that I let others know my political views, like posting a sign in my lawn.

I know that it is a long shot... I mean... REALLY long shot... and some may question, "How could Harry Potter win, he's not even American?" Or "Why would Harry pick Ron as his running mate when we all know Hermione is such a better choice?" Let' not even point out that he isn't really, never lived, total fabrication of a genius mind... These are all valid arguments and I have one answer for you.

"Magic!"


...and the more I look at Sen. McCain, the more he is looking like Lord Voldemort. His eyes kinda look snakelike. Just an observation...

Baby "Beauregard?"

Look at this cute thing!! And he smells so sweet like yummy new baby!! I do not eat babies, but they have those sweet cheeks... EH!!

Josh's baby boy was born Sept. 13th around 8 pm and weighed 7 lb 11 oz. Katie really wanted to go through labor, so she went nearly two weeks over before they started her. Sixteen hours of labor before they took him by c-section. Poor girl, but the baby is cute and sweet... ah!! there I go again... (deep breath... no baby... no baby... no baby...)

We went to the hospital on Sunday to see him and by then they had still not thought of a name. But we asked Mia what they should name him and she said, "How about Beauregard Kevin Johnson?" And the name stuck. He is now baby Beauregard, regardless whether they like it or not. They eventually ended up naming him "Thomas Bryon Johnson." It is not in homage to Moi, more like the current prophet or something like that. I still think Kevin will tease him about it his entire life.

Good ole' Homeland Security!

Nothing like a healthy dose of fear on September 11th.

At the Blood Bank we had our alarm go off on our Irradiator, for no reason.

Okay, first, you need to understand that this IS a Radiation Devise, in which you have to go through a FBI back ground check, has a metal cage around it with huge locks, that cannot be opened without a key that is behind a keyed lock, you need a fingerprint and badge to open it, fill out an RPR1A form for the State Radiation Officer, and 2 letters of recommendation.

phewh...

So... the alarm went off for no reason and security was alerted. Now, this alarm is not a pretty sound and would not shut off. I felt myself turning into Rainman... Buzzing... def..definitely buzzing... Campus police showed up and Hospital security. It was my finger that opened the door and made the alarm go off, so they had to question me. Nothing like 5 alarmed police officer questioning you about your terrorist activities. Me? The Mormon wife of a member of the Bishopric. Great!! We finally got a hold of someone who turned the alarm off, but he had to shut off the system. Which meant, we got to irradiate our blood with an armed guard standing like a Sentinel watching our every move.

I'm sure we wouldn't have gotten the royal treatment if it were any other day!!

Aftermath!!

The Blood Bank has now moved to its new home, and I have to say, I'm really sad. I have been here 8 years and it is hard adjusting to our new home. Things started moving on Tuesday with the move of the Irradiator. This machine has a high radiation source and is encased in lead, weighing 4400 lbs!! (That's a Volvo, people!!) So, in order to move this we had to have the Irradiator guy to dismantle what he could, U of U security, ARUP security, Home land security (and any other sercurity person...), Corp. Safety officer of ARUP, Salt Lake City Police officer, Hospital Engineering, and Intermountain Rigging and Heavy Haul. There was around 20 people standing around, besides all the Blood Bankers that were there for the show, all there to watch this thing move down the hallway to its new home. It was entertaining to watch. The riggers used a fulcrum lever and jacks to lift it - side note: we were not aloud to touch it, so to watch this dumpy 170 lbs man try to lift up one of the sides of this monster was quite a sight, he was off the ground - and attach it to dollies, and Masonite to roll it and reinforce the floor. I wished I could eat popcorn in the lab it was so entertaining. Ah... it's the little things with me. Here is the aftermath. It felt that we were picking up after a tornado.

Here is our wall that the Irradiator used to sit at.
We decided to Graffiti it before we left, since it will get knocked down anyway. It all started with me drawing a fellow co-worker Heather on the wall, then I had to go to my boss and ask for forgiveness, it's okay, I drew here very cute...(ie: Kelly) I continued to draw everyone in smiley-face form and it turned out so cute!! Now no one wants to knock it down. They are going to feature it in our Lab Gab!


Here are some of my favorites! The likeness is uncanny! I'm in the middle somewhere.

New Face of West Valley

Thought I would post pictures of what 31st and Constitution looks like now.

The city cleared out all the trashy houses on the street to make way for something to do with tracks. I don't know what they will do, but I already think it looks better, don't you?

Jules Speak...

• Say Milk? -- Mok
• Say Juice? -- Mok
• Say Dr. Pepper? -- Mok
• Say Water? -- Waddy

• Say Mommy? -- Mama
• Say Daddy? -- Datee
• Say Julia -- Ooya
• Say Mia? -- No... (shakes head)

Common words:

• Pain -- Airplane
• Voom -- Car
• Nay -- Horsie
• Bockie -- Chicken
• Nax -- Snacks
• And -- Hand (she claps he hand together usually)
• Ooze -- Shoes
• Cucky -- Icky, nasty, or gross
  
• Poop -- which is poop... sorry about that one, but she tells us.
  

Kevin Excessive Need To Cut Things

My Little Tree Hugger!!

I came home from work on Friday and half of my trees were GONE! But I can't complain. I love my trees, but they were growing into our house. Now that Kevin has nothing to do on Fridays, (except... I don't know... finish the basement) he decided to give our trees a haircut.

Got to say, Kevin has magic hands and my yard looks FABULOUS now. It looks bigger, my house looks bigger and our spatchy-patchy grass is now growing.

Julia is such a helper, don't you think?