St. Patty's Day.......

So a couple of years ago, our office was in the middle of this huge case and unfortunately for me I had a lot of work to do before going home. We were to have a couple attorneys on the other side was to come over to our office to look through boxes and boxes of documents and I was in charge of labeling them all. It happened to be St. Patrick's day on the day that I had to stay late. Luckily for me I didn't really have anything planned and wasn't feeling too sad to be staying at the office late, but what did my wandering eye appear.....but my lovely boss with two bottles of green beer and fish and chips for the both of us. Talk about how cool is that!!! We ate our dinner and drank our beer and finished labeling all the documents with a nice little warm glow.


This year was a little different......we didn't have any messy case or needy clients, so we were able to run out and have a nice enjoyable lunch at Bohemian Brewery. We had so much fun drinking our green beer (again)....................................


having a wonderful lunch of salad, soup, and an awesome grilled cheese (gourmet style).











After our wonderful lunch, it was back to work and signing up new clients. I am now beginning to love St. Patty's Day even if it is just for the wonderful green beer.

After work was all done though, it was time to go home and I had a fantastic surprise waiting for me for dinner. Dave had decided that he wanted to try and cook Corn Beef and Cabbage for dinner......




all I can say is after we had it on the table it was gone in 5 seconds (well, not really that long, but it felt that way) flat. It was so yummy and not greasy or anything. Harley kept asking for more and more and more.....





he even enjoyed the cabbage and had two big helpings of it. Dave kept asking us if it was good and we couldn't say anything until it was all gone because (1) our mouths were full (2) we kept shoveling it in (3) we were just enjoying it too much. Yes honey it was totally awesome!!!!!

New Addition......

It has been as crazy few months and then not blogging....what is going on in my life? Well, there has been so much. One of the newest things in our lives is our new addition to our family. Our wonderful dog, Boog, decided to take off and never come back right before our trip to Texas. It was so sad. Once we got back from Texas, we all had hopes that Boog would be in our front yard jumping up and down with excitement. Since that didn't happen Dave started to check out the local pounds. After three weeks of searching, we ended up meeting and then instantly falling in love with our new addition.

His original name was Scooby, but Harley decided that he looked more like a Rudy. I think that the real reason was because my sister-in-law (Sherry) had a Rudy in her house and that dog was so skid-dish around people that Harley never got to play with that dog. You could always hear Harley running after Rudy and saying "I love you, I love you." So, now we have our own Rudy!!

I think that he is the perfect fit for our family. The only downside that I have come to find is that he is too attached to Dave. I wanted him to my little baby. Rudy follows Dave around all the time. I think a lot of it is because the two of them spend the whole day together. Really they are together almost 24/7. Dave says that he is the best dog, because they do the sames things together.....sit around the house and take naps. Perfect dog.

Christmas and all that Jazz.....Jr. Jazz..that is

I can't believe that Christmas is only 16 days away....where the heck did the time go??? The last time I looked, I was sitting down with my family for Thanksgiving dinner now here it is rapidly approaching Christmas and I feel that I am going around and around in circles and not getting anything done...well, I guess that is not true...I do have my Christmas tree up, along with my Christmas village and most of the packages wrapped...Harley is one freak'n spoiled boy....but the gingerbread house is not done...and this year I wanted to count down the days in a special way with Harley and did I get a change to even get started on that....NOPE!! So does that make me a slow mom or an unprepared mom?? I so hope not. I am hoping that Christmas will come even with out the advent calendar done and my hopes of a gingerbread house finished. Every year we have done one....it is now one of our "Johnson" Traditions....it is so much fun making up new traditions every year.

This year we were able to put up our Christmas tree together and we were even able to listen to Christmas music while we did it. Dave has a thing against Christmas music, but I was happy that he let us listen to it this year. It was a lot of fun to have Harley help us put up all of the tree ornaments this year. The only sad thing that happened this year with the Christmas tree was that half of our lights went out on it...what do you expect from a tree that is eight years old. Dave said that it was ok, because we had color lights that we could cover up and then next year I get to buy a new tree!!! YIPPEEE!!!! FOR ME!!!

So, an update on Harley::

Harley started karate about 2 months ago and has now have three stripes on his belt and on this Saturday he will be testing for his yellow belt. I am so freak'n proud of him. He has been working really hard at learning everything from his instructor and he has now told me that he would like to be a karate instructor when he gets bigger. It is so funny to see him practice with his Daddy....if Dave tries out a move and he does it wrong Harley is right there to tell him he is doing it wrong and then he shows him the right way to do it. It is great to see how much he has learned in such a little amount of time...

Besides the Karate on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Harley also goes to the gym with us and works out, well, actually he plays with other kids in the gym in the daycare...he loves doing this and has been such a little motivator for me. I have a hard time really wanting to go and exercise, but for him I will do anything. He always tells me in the morning what we are going to be doing that night....Mondays = gym, Tuesdays = karate, Wednesdays=gym, Thursdays=karate....oh, yea Saturdays = gym and now Junior Jazz.....

Starting in December, Harley has been enrolled in Junior Jazz....it was so much fun to see him working on what the instructors have been telling the boys about basketball. Harley told me that he was going really slow dribbling the ball down the court because he was listening to his instructor and wanted to do it just right because he is the best basketball player ever. Oh, yea...that is my son alright. Best at everything. Harley has a couple of friends that also plays on his team. Brandon's son (the other attorney in our office) Andrew is on Harley's team. These are some pictures that I took during their first team game. They have a couple of whole team practices and then about the third or forth game they will play against each other. I had a lot of fun watching Harley and how he was really trying to do things just the way the
coach told him to do.

I told Harley that he should get number 34 jersey because that is how old his Daddy was and of course he loved that idea a lot.

Ok, Now it is time for me to sign off...going to gym with Hubby....more to come as Christmas comes near!!!

Mixbook Party.....

This last Saturday (Nov. 20), I held a Mixbook.com party. It was so much fun. I wish that all my friends could have come, but I know how busy that day was. I did have a lot of friends come and we were able to go over what Mixbook.com is and how easy to use it is. My dad has his computer hooked up to the television set, so it was so wonderful to be able to watch the little video that Mixbook.com sent and then go right into the program and show personally how it works for me.

My boss, Tammy, was one of many that I have introduced to Mixbook.com to. She has also been the one that I have been totally amazed by in her ability to understand the versatility and limitlessness ability of the Mixbook program. Below is an example of the wonderful book she was able to make with Mixbook. Her mother made a scrapbook of when she met Tammy's dad. This scrapbook was over 40 years old and kinda falling apart and had missing pictures and such. Tammy was able scan these pages into the Mixbook program and add extra pictures and statements to make this wonderful 8.5 x 11 book that you can hold in your lap and not be afraid to ruin any of the wonderful work that her mother had done so many years ago. I think that this is one of the best examples of how outstanding this company's program works.

Not only did we have fun sharing what we had already done, but we had new friends come out and learn all about the program.

We also found that not everyone needed to be into the digital scrapbooking to have a good time with each other. We are now hoping that many more friends will come out to our scrapbooking days and not only bring their digital scrapbooking projects, but also there regular scrapbooking.






And what is better to end the post about how amazing Mixbook.com is than to have them have there very own cake that was totally yummy and everyone enjoyed!!! Thanks so much Mixbook.com for allowing me to share this great program with everyone that I know.

P.S. I forgot to mention one of the many things that I have just discovered that you could do with the Mixbook program....you can scan in items like movie ticket stubs, wrist bands, postcards, itineraries and any other kind of memorabilia that you have into the sticker format of the program and place it just like a sticker. I thought this was wonderful especially when I have been working on my cruise from last year and I wanted to have the plane tickets and such in with all of my pictures. Love this!!!!

Update.....

Wow....I haven't been blogging much these last couple of months, but let me tell you it has not been for not having anything to write about. We have been so busy doing so many wonderful things. I think this blog will be dedicated to all the fun stuff that we have done that I haven't written about yet.

FIRST.....Three weeks ago, Dave and I decided that we should check out a Karate place for Harley. We had been talking about putting him in Karate for the last three years and never really got around to finding a place. Dave had been talking to a couple of his buddies and saw this little studio over by where he was working one night. He said that there was tons of kids there and maybe Harley would like it. We went in one night just to talk and find out how much. Harley was so excited about the place and we decided that it wasn't all that much and it would be good for him.

After the first introductory week, we signed Harley up for a full year. We made him promise that he would do his best and practice everything every day. I must confess that this later promise we really don't enforce all that much. He does do his sit ups, push ups, and jumping jacks all the time. His dad loves to tell him to do the sit ups and of course Harley does as many as his dad says....just like that.

This last Thursday, was Harley's fourth class (2 classes as a maybe student and then 2 more as a student) and he was able to get two stripes to his belt already. He really has learned a lot and does the blocks, punches, and other moves quite well. He remembers stuff that I thought for sure he would forget. Oh, yea that is my sewing skills coming out. I sewed on the patches all by myself and I have to confess that I think that I did a stellar job. GO ME!!!

He can't wait to get into the yellow belt. This morning he asked me if I had taken Karate before and of course I told him that I had. He then asked me what belt I had gotten to....orange....I replied...."WOW!!! that is awesome!!" Kids. Have to love them...they always seem to make you feel like superman or woman!!

Let's see.....also on last Thursday....My mom, my sister and all of the cousins and I went to see Mickey Mouses' Magic Show on Ice at the Energy Solutions Arena. It was great. We had killer seats!!! YEA...no freaking out for me....more about that in another post.....

Of course, my favorite part was Arial. I love this princess and it was great to see it on ice.



Harley's favorite part was all of it, but I think that it was Peter Pan when Tick Tock Crock was eating Captain Hook. I don't have a picture of that one, but my mom does and hopefully I could get it. Tick was a big inflatable balloon that Captain Hook fell into. He was talking about that a couple of days later.




Ok....well, I actually have to go and take Harley to Karate right now, but tomorrow I am hoping to catch ya all up....there is so much more.....

Weekend in Idaho.....

This last weekend we spent in Idaho with my sister, her family, and my family. It was great. We all had such a wonderful time and according to Harley that is our new home. It is so funny when he says "ok, let's go home" I say "we are almost there" then he goes "no, our home is in Idaho now." How funny is that? I know that he wants to be around his cousins a lot more and maybe someday, but right now we will just have to plan more trips up there.

Friday, we left a little late, but made it in time for Harley to start playing with his cousins. Teancum wanted to show Harley his new video game. It was pretty cool. It was Lego Star Wars. I thought it was great because when the bad guys would die instead of blood and such they just broke apart into little pieces of Legos. Wonderful!! I know that I am a paranoid mom, but what can I say....I like games that doesn't have that much blood and guts in it.

While these three was working on defeating Darth Vader....I was, of course, holding that cute little niece of mine and Kathy was working on making hair clips for tomorrows pictures.




Isn't she just the cutiest thing you have ever seen??






On Saturday morning, we all woke up and got ready. Let me tell you that was fun.....six kids and seven adults running around trying to get everything ready for pictures...it was great entertainment, I'll tell ya what.

After we all got ready and in the car, we went over to the photographer's shop and ended up following him out to the location where we were going to shoot the pictures. It was only about 15 minutes away which was great. Kathy and Nephi ended up having all six kids with them and Dave and I had my parents and Blair with us. Here are some pictures which I took with my camera. It was a gorgeous site and very peaceful. Dave and I have fallen in love with this area of Idaho.





























Below is the backdrop of many of our photos.









After pictures we all went up on the bridge and had fun playing on it. I was also able to take some amazing photos of the bridge. I wish I would have had the photographer do some of us up there. They would have been amazing!!

After all the picture taking was done, we went back to Aunt Kathy's house, changed our clothes, and then headed out to the ranch for lunch. When we got out there we were amazed to see this great big huge shop on their property. It was big...oh, yea, I already said that, but it was HUGE!!! Three car garage with a little semi house attached to it. I believe they are going to have a master bedroom down stairs with a bath room and then upstairs that is going to be the kid room. Right now it is all unfinished except for the outside and the frame work. I now wish that I had a picture of it, but alas I don't. Maybe next time.

After playing in the fire, dirt and on the big construction equipment out on the property we went back to the house and either fell asleep for a little nap or played a game called get BLAIR!!!

We had a lot of fun seeing all the kids going after Blair...Harley was excited at first to get in on the action, but then he wandered over to the video game and I had to tell him no. Not now. After the fighting with Blair we had the kids run and get their swimming suits on for showers and baths. It was great getting them all washed at the same time. Saved a lot of time. After all the kids were all cleaned up (yet again) we all piled into the cars and headed over to Jackson Hole for the Bar J Chuckwagon. That was so much fun. The dinner was great and the entertainment was wonderful as well. The kids were a little restless by the end of it all and we were all ready to go. Grandma took all the grandkids on the little train ride right before dinner was to be served. It was wonderful to partake in the western hospitality.


It was a great weekend and we had so much fun. When we asked Harley what was his favorite part about the weekend he told us that it was "getting the pictures taken." Go figure that one out.

Venting.....

So, I know that my job is not that tough and I have been doing this job for almost the past 10 years, so I tend to think that I know how to do my FREAKEN job. I have this one client that I swear if he goes missing I would not mind in the least. Maybe I shouldn't say that, but really?? When you have been in four accidents and you think that your last case is my top priority let me just tell you now that it is not. I have 85 other clients that are just as important as you and calling me every day to bitch me out for something that is BEYOND MY FREAKEN control will not help matters. I do my job. I call the person. I call the person every day. I am not about to call the person 7 times a day and then spend what additional time I might have tracking someone else down to see if they could help me work on your stupid case. I feel that I have done everything to the best of my FREAKEN ability and I do not need you condescending voice to tell me that I need to work harder for you. LET ME TELL YOU......YOUR CASE IS NOT WORTH MY TIME!!!!

Thank you for letting me vent!