SLIP & SLIDE

We bought a Slip & Slide the other day for some summer fun. We tried it out for our Family Home Evening activity on Monday. Josh was too cold and scared of getting hurt to really get into it, Matt had a great time, and well...you can see from Joe's face that he preferred to just watch. I pulled it out for them to play on last night and they all had fun. Josh keeps getting taller and taller and must be having height issues, because he still has a hard time diving onto the slide.

Chick a Wow Wow

I finally figured out how to do video on the blog! I saw some video on Tim and Heather's site and knew it could be done, and was finally able to figure it out on my own--it's been driving me nuts. 

The boys love the recent movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks. Joe laughed through the whole movie the first time he saw it, and continues to enjoy it every time he sees it. There is a part in the movie where Alvin does a little "chick a wow wow" dance and Joe would always dance at the same time. I caught some video of the boys doing "their version". Its not what Joe usually does, nor as funny, but I captured a memory.

A Blast of a Reunion!

The pictures of the boys and the rockets on the right are from our 7th annual Johnson Reunion. I didn't get very good pictures this year because Joe was a little afraid of the rockets and wouldn't leave my lap. We started off the reunion with our trip to the reunion--which was a little more eventful than we hoped for. Poor little Matt gets car sick sometimes, but not so often we remember its a problem. It's only happened a few times in the last year--and the boys tell Keith it is because of his crazy driving. Keith is driving every time it happens, so there might be something to their thinking. We got out of the car in Heber to get Matt some air and Josh said "Mom, why does Matt look white?" Dr. Obvious, as we call Josh, doesn't miss a thing--except the conversation about Matt being sick and not looking so good. We just made it through Provo Canyon when Matt couldn't hold it any longer. By the time we hit Macey's--we couldn't handle the smell any longer, so we stopped, picked up large zip lock baggies for cleanup and future issues and were able to throw the smell away! Matt hates being messy so he's pretty careful where he aims and made it mostly into the bag he had. Whew! 

We thought we were late to the reunion, but everyone got stuck behind the Eagle Mountain parade and we all got there at pretty much the same time--we were glad we hadn't missed anything. After lunch, each family was able to build a rocket. Josh decided to help Chellena and told us later that he had to do most of the work. We had a lot of fun launching and re-launching the rockets. They flew so far that we never thought we'd see some of them again, and some we didn't--Chellena and Josh's was never found. We were all surprised because we weren't sure it was going to fly at all due to technical or capable :) difficulties in the building process. 

We were able to end the evening with a pinata, bbq, and Family Home Evening at Dave and Darylin's. Josh made the comment earlier in the day that it wasn't really a Family Reunion because not everyone was there--Darylin had to stay home for part of it with the baby, Jessie and Sammy because the girls were quite sick. They were certainly missed, however they didn't let us forget them as Joe and Keith were able to share in their illness, as well as 14 other members of the family. Thanks for the memories Dave and Darylin! We really did have fun and were glad to be together.

We wished that was the end of our adventure. We stayed with Melanie and Cable Sunday night and she Annalee watched Josh and a sick Joe while we went to Primary Children's Hospital for Matt's Sweat test--which he handled very well and we enjoyed spending some one-on-one time with him. As we were leaving Mel's house that evening to go to Salt Lake to the hotel Keith had for his training that week--the van wouldn't start. After Mel gave us a jump and sent her cables with us, we were on our way--until the van died on the way into the parking garage at the hotel. We were able to coast into a parking spot where we waited for Chellena to come save us this time and gave us a jump so we could roll up the windows and go to the hotel room, then she took Keith to the auto part store to pick up a thing or two to hopefully help out our situation. The booster pack didn't work, but a nice guy who worked at the hotel gave us a jump and we were off again to take Keith to his training--which we drove around for an hour until the van died...again. Keith called his boss and he was able to find us--but before we were able to have him give us a jump, the van actually started! So we sent Keith with his boss, and we headed for home, praying the van wouldn't quit and that we wouldn't have to stop until we reached home. Prayers are answered. I pulled into the driveway, turned the van off, tried to turn it on again with no luck. The kids did well on the drive. Keith's dad was able to come and look at the van, and it was some loose battery cables. What a weird thing to suddenly have problems with, but we were grateful it wasn't costly. It was good to be home and not have to worry about the van anymore--especially for Keith, who ended up being really sick through his training and missed his classes on the last day. Glad we weren't all stuck in a hotel room together for that. We survived our adventure and challenges for the week and realized we must have needed some of the experiences to help us remember the blessings we have and the great families we have to help us out in times of need. Thank you everyone, and we love you!

My three sons!

I posted a picture below of what my boys turned into one day. I fell asleep with Joe for his nap one day, as I was pretty tired too. When I awoke, Josh and Matt had made new sons for me. I had just bought new hats for the boys, since their old ones weren't fitting so well anymore. They had fun explaining to me who was who, and I thought it was so funny I had to take a picture. I love those moments when you can get a glimpse into their little imagination and they had so much fun working together. They wanted to keep the basketball boys around until Keith got home, but Joe woke up and had too much fun tipping over the cans. We were glad we took pictures. 

Scooter or Skater?

Our little Matt....he's always doing something funny. I posted a picture below of him riding his scooter. Matt has "skate shoes" now and loves them for riding his bike and the skateboard and regular things. However, he says they slip off when he rides his scooter and he came up with a solution. He couldn't find both of his old shoes the other day, but was happy that he found the one he needed, so he put it on and went scootering. Since that is the foot he uses to push with, the old shoe worked great and didn't slip off while he played. It was a week or so before we found the mate hiding in the toy box. Matt is pretty flexible and didn't mind running around in two different shoes for a while. I was a little embarrassed the day we went to the store and noticed that he had mis-matched shoes on there. What is a mother to do? I just laughed and shook my head and told myself that no one really looks down at little feet, right? Even if they did, that our Matt!

Results...and Results!

Our first results we received this week were for Matt. As some of you know, he was tested for Cystic Fibrosis. That gave us a bit of a scare and worry as we waited for the results. Well, the good news came on Friday the 13th that he tested negative for the disease. I guess Friday the 13th isn't always bad, but then again, I'm not too superstitious. When I told Matt, he responded with "Awesome!" and was off playing again. That was good news for many of us, and we are so grateful and thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers. 

Our second results we have been waiting a bit longer for--we had our ultrasound today. The technician said that everything looked good, which puts a mother's mind at ease to some extent. So, Matt was hoping for a girl and Josh was hoping for a boy. The pictures show quite clearly the results, and Keith and I were just happy to know. Now we begin the grueling process of choosing another boy name. I asked Keith if he was up for a Keith the IV, because he joked last time that if we have a 4th boy, he should be named the IV. Apparently he's changed his mind--I think he would like to, it just gets confusing. So, if you would like to post suggestions--I'm all ears!

EIGHT YEARS!

We are celebrating our 8 years together on the  12th of May. While it is almost unreal to think it has been that long, we can't remember much from before. We enjoyed going to Spencer and Gabby's wedding just a month ago and relishing in marital bliss with them as we reflected on our own special day. 

Three and a half children later and all the joy they have brought to our lives, I have to say that the day we were married is the happiest, most exciting day of my life. The day that began the rest of the happiness that has and will come. 

Woodbadge

Keith earned his Woodbadge in November of 2005, but wanted to wait to receive it until his dad was home from his mission. Of course, that was somewhat of a delay tactic on his part, but we were able to make it happen on March 20, 2008. After all was said and done, I think he was glad to have received it. His dad was able to present the award and my dad, who also is a Woodbadge recipient, was able to be there. It was a good night.

New Baby!

As most of you know by now, we are expecting our fourth child. The whole family is excited and the boys like to get weekly updates on how big the baby is getting and what it looks like. However, they do not want a girl. They have picked out names: Grant (which is a cousin's name, and Matt wants his own Grant so that he doesn't have to go home.), David (Josh said that is it okay to have a David, because we call my brother Dave), George and Charlie.

When asked what we would name a girl, Josh said, "Rosella" I asked if he meant like my grandma and he said, "Yes, then she would be Rosella Keith Caldwell." I had to explain to him that even though he knows a lot of Keith Caldwells, not everyone is named Keith Caldwell. 

The due date is November 2, 2008, so hopefully the boys will get to go Trick or Treating this year, especially since they have it all figured out what they will be.

Valentine's Day Baking DON'TS

So I decided to bake sugar cookies today in celebration of this wonderful day. It must have been a while since I've done any baking because it didn't go so well.

1. Don't assume you know your recipes so well that you can just start mixing up the first one you flip open to.  I turned to a book that I knew had one of my favorite recipes, and instead of making sugar cookies, made a double batch of Snookerdoodles. Apparently the name at the top of the recipe didn't make any difference until I had 2 ingredients left to add. Goody! I have Snookerdoodle dough for another day.

2. Don't assume that you can substitute ingredients when doing cookies for a special day. So after starting over, I begin making a double batch of the Sugar Cookies I know and love. I decided to substitute butter shortening for the butter or margarine the recipe called for. Not a good idea. Hours later, after chilling, I attempt to roll out the dough and cut the cookies. It does nothing but crumble apart, but I made it work and baked the cookies.

3. Don't assume that the previous mistakes will yield cookies worth eating! There's not enough frosting in the world to choke down these cookies! Yuck!

Lesson Learned: Just bake the recipe that did work out, and don't mess with things you don't know won't work on a special day.

-Peggy