Sunday Dec 20 Photo Shoot

Well, the Sunday before Christmas, Wes was on call at the hospital (as usual). But for some reason, I was so anxious this week about getting everyone ready and getting to church on time that we were ready like an hour early (yes-ready DOES mean Armour in a Santa Suit & yes he wore it to church-and everywhere else for the past 2 months). So, I took this rare opportunity to attempt to get some great kid pics...they are still only ok, but keep in mind, it is HARD to get kids to cooperate...enjoy a few of the best...

Kindle says cheese So beautiful!

Ladies

Sweet sisters

I literally took like 100 pics of all 4 of them, and these (sadly) were the best...

Another ok one of all 4

Santa & Solace

Pretty againLovely young lady...

K poses

All 4

Best Friends!

Shouldn't these 2 be models?!

All for one and 3 for all...or something

All

Ender the incredible

Something funny is afoot...

Cheese! (Who knew Santa had this much time to pose for pics 5 days before Christmas...)Grumpy Santa

Mom & Ladies (pic taken by E Dawg)

E dawg told me to look at Army like he was in trouble and for him to look like he did something silly...How did we do?

Ward Christmas Party

Well, for the ward Christmas party, we had dinner, the kids did s nativity play, and Santa came. Guess who was the ham onstage during the play?! I'll give you a hint, it was a Johnson that was playing a shepherd-I will have to get the video of it from our Primary song leader so you can enjoy the full effect of it...Here is that hammy shepherd onstage: Then another Johnson came out on stage as serious about her role as a wise (wo)man as could be...

Note her smile dims slightly as he hams it up right over to her onstage! Goofball!! He reminds me of someone when I was smaller...who could that be?!

There they are. Armour & Kindle did not participate as neither of them was in primary yet..

The whole scene
Like I said, Santa showed up later...with E

With S

With A

With K (she was only slightly nervous...)

Before the blizzard December

I am sure you have wondered what the Johnsons have been up to, well, we were snowed in for a month, and I was getting deals (see my deal blog for info on that). But a few other things happened, and I am going to go nuts posting pictures about that stuff right now! Starting with these sweet pictures of the snow BEFORE the blizzard-that's right, I said before...

Ah...Life...poor neglected blog

Ah my poor neglected family blog-how I miss thee! I promise, I have not forgotten thee and will surely have more updates to post shortly...

Friends & family, if you have been checking this blog frequently, as I am sure you have, I know I have been a disappointment, but I have started a new blog about deals. It has taken me a while to get it going, but now I am pretty good on that and can give some attention to this blog.

In the meantime, please check out my take on the past few book club books here or check out some awesome deals I have uncovered here.


Beckee

BTW-does anyone know how to put a cutsie signature at the end of my blogs?!

Funny Story...Wesley Goes Shopping...

One thing I love about my husband is that he loves a deal as much as I do. In fact, many people think he may be the cheapest man in the world. He really won't buy stuff unless he feels it is a great deal! Well, yesterday was one of those days where I was trying to get New Year's foods and games ready, and I just forget to get a whole list of things I needed for the day. I called him at work and gave him the list of what I wanted him to get: videos, Soy Milk (one of our kids is lactose intolerant so we have to buy this expensive stuff for her to get her calcium and stuff), 4-5 2 Liters of Diet Coke, Potatoes, Oranges, and Tampons. Well, my "cheap" husband usually will not shop at my preferred store as Walmart tends to be cheaper overall. But, last evening, Walmart was a mess, so he decided to go check out my HyVee. He was pleasantly surprised to find a few great deals there and ended up getting not just the items I send him for but also 3 bags of clearance chocolates for us and his total for everything came in under $30.

Here is the funny part. When Wes got home and we started unpacking the groceries, we laughed really hard that in the midst of all the groceries, the bagger still managed to pack one bag like this:

BJ&J Week 2-3ish German Tradition approaching quickly!

Eutychismenos o kainourgios chronos! (Greek)
Ein glückliches neues Jahr! (German)
Frohes Neues Jahr! (German)
Manigong Bagong Taon! (Tagalog)
Hauoli Makahiki hou! (Hawaiian)
Happy New Year! (Yeah I had to look those up!)


Um...if you speak any of the above languages, Just know that I found those online, so they may not be as accurate as I might like. In fact I may be saying something really bad, but you would tell me if I was right?! So, That is my incredible attempt at furthering my Greek and German language skills as per the BJ&J blog I wrote. (I had to include Tagalog since Wes is basically a Filipino and I needed a little Hawaii in there to make me feel warmer and more tropical)Seems weak though, so I have some more to share.

First I want to note that I have not been as derelict in my BJ&J goals as it seems-one of my activity days girls happens to know how to sing Happy Birthday in Greek and she is going to teach me how (She learned it in her Kindergarten class).

Now, Tonight is the night of the only German tradition I am aware of that has been celebrated in my family for at least my whole life, and probably longer. It is the New Years tradition of the Hot Dogs (or sausages) and Sauerkraut. That's right, in our house growing up, we ALWAYS rang in the new year with the smell of Sauerkraut in the house. At midnight, we eat hot dogs and sauerkraut and toast in the new year with our Sparkling Cider.

The sauerkraut would cook in the oven or crock pot for hours leading up to midnight so that, as my dad says "it will permeate through the whole house and ward off bad spirits for the coming year."

Now, I always believe my parents and I am great at taking their word for it, but for the sake of the blog and to learn more about it, I did some research about where that originated, and I found a website that said this about German New Years Traditions:

NEW YEAR'S DAY TRADITIONS

Pork & Sauerkraut are a main dish for New Years Day in the German heritage, as pigs are considered good luck charm symbols and cabbage leaves are symbolic of money, thus having pork and Sauerkraut are felt to be the best way to pave the way for the New Year. This goes back to the distant past when farm families who had a pig felt they were lucky enough to have one to feed their families during the winter. Pigs thus became good luck charms and were also used then for saving money in piggy banks. In German one says "ich habe Schwein gehabt," or I have had pig," which means colloquially that: I have had good luck!" Little pigs of cake or candy (marzipan - almond paste is popular) are also produced. The custom really demonstrates the ancient rural origins of this particular custom.

For New Year's Eve lentil, or split pea, soup, with Wienerwurst is also popular. Jelly-filled donuts, which are also popular for Fat Tuesday/Fastnacht, are also popular at New Year's. For those originating from northern Germany, herring might be a preferred good luck meal.

For beverages on the Eve, champagne and Kirschwasser, or cherry brandy are
popular, as are various wines.

Another old custom is Bleigiessen, or lead pouring, which is done by melting a small piece of lead in a spoon and then pouring it into a bowl filled with water. One then tries to interpret the form it takes, and read into the future. For example, if it looks like a pretzel, you might become a baker, or if you see a sheep, you might become a shepherd, etc., and all kinds of amusing shapes and forms are seen and various interpretations are come up with. A popular wish for the New Year is to wish someone "einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr," which means to wish someone "a good slide into the New Year."

Whereas Christmas is a close-knit family event, New Year's Eve celebrations often bring friends and family together for festive parties. An old German-American custom is called "shooting in the New Year," which described going throughout your village and firing a few shots into the air by your friends' homes. By now the transition, however, has gone to shooting off fireworks (though not always), which goes back to the ancient custom of trying to scare off any evil spirits lurking about as one enters the New Year! This is especially done at Midnight as one enters the transitional zone of the first hour of the New Year.

There you have it! I will be eating pig (in my hot dogs) and sauerkraut, but no alcohol here-so sticking to the sparkling cider. Also, I can't go about shooting anything here so I guess I will just have to stick to the other stuff.

Oh-and next year, I will figure out how to do some Bleigiessen! AWESOME!!

Happy New Year!!

Papou

We were blessed to be able to make it to my Papou's funeral in Utah. Thank you weather for cooperating for that trip!! We were sad by Papou's passing, but we know he is in a better place where he is finally pain free.  I have so so many wonderful memories of my Papou, and I want to share a few of the with you today.

1-He loved a deal!! I have already recounted the story of the ash trays in my blog about why I started a deal blog.  That is truly the best example of his deal loving ways, but they extended far past ash trays.  He took me the library every Saturday morning when I was growing up (on our way home from Sample Saturday at Dans).  At the library I usually left with as many of the for sale deal books as I did the ones I checked out. Boy did he love a deal!

2-He loved books.  My moms love of books came from her father and mine from both of them I am sure! We are a family of readers! So, for all of you bookclubbers I keep harassing to read the monthly books, you can blame him! 

3-As mentioned above, he took me to Dans for samples. What a great free activity for me to spend time with him and get to know my grandfather as a small child and growing up.

4-We never once completed a run to Dans run without someone shyly stopping us to ask him if he was the French teacher from TV (yes he was). People rmembered him from their childhood and never forgot him.

5-He was a professional piano player.  Why did I not have the patience to learn?! He played in a band for longer than I have been alive.  He was also an incredible singer and sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with his gorgous wife for  20 years (I believe).  I remember as a child going to the Red Flame restauranto see his band play on the weekends.  We went pretty often, but it was always a treat! He and his band played at my wedding. They were great! He famously sang the song "Georgia" often, always dedicating it to my XiaXia and his sweetheart (whose name happes to be Georgia).

6-Papou wrote a few songs. One was called "Rochelle" and written for my mom, another is a Christmas song entitled "Christmas Time Once More." 

7-Papou was hilarious! The younger grandkids may not remember him when he was younger, but I do. He was always up to something. I remember him dressing up as a woman for Halloween, bra and all. It was such a joke!  As a kid I remember laughing harder at that than anything else I can remember.  Somewhere there is a picture of that floating around.

8-

Wasn't I lucky to be his oldest grandchild? To live with him for a number of years growing up? Once when I was in junior high school, I fainted at school because I was anemic and had not eaten in a day or so.  The school could not get ahold of my parents, but Papou was home.  He came and picked me up and took me to a little neighborhood restaurant and fed me and getly reminded me to eat better and take care of myself in spite of the fact I was trying so hard to be an obnoxious teenager at the time. 

Papou will be missed.  I had a hard time imagining Christmas without him sitting at the piano playing music (and without celebrating Cathy's Christmas eve birthday as we did every year when she was alive).  BUt, imagine the reunion Papou had in heaven! Can you picture what this Christmas was like in Heaven with Papou playing the piano, with all his siblings, his parents, and his daughter?  I am sure Cathy still had a celebration of her earthly birthday and tht they particularly celebrated the Birth of our Savior here as well.  What a joyous occasion, what a party it must have been!

Papou is missed greatly, but we will do here on Earth until the time we WILL see him again.

Following are some pictures from the funeral. One of the crazy joyous parts of death is that it brings the family all together.

Better to post late than never...

Most of you are aware that my dear Papou passed away last month. I never posted his obiturary, and I wanted to post it here. Ive it a read, you might learn something you didn't know about this great man.  This is how the obituary appeared on the mortuary website. I will be posting somethng else about Papou shortly...

LYNN EVANS

Lynn Bird Evans 1922 ~ 2009 Lynn Bird Evans, 87, died peacefully in Salt Lake City, UT on November 8, 2009 in his sweetheart's arms. He was born January 9, 1922 to Albert Ophir and Mary Elma Bird Evans in Tooele, UT. Raised on the family farm, he learned to love and work the land. His parents taught him to love reading and value education. He graduated from Tooele High School and the University of Utah where he received Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degrees in Music, French, and Educational Administration. On May 26, 1955, he married Georgia Kanell in the Salt Lake Temple and they shared a sweet and tender relationship that will last through the eternities. Together they created a welcoming home where talents were nurtured, encouraged, and celebrated; a home filled with music and love for their six daughters, and countless friends and neighbors. A keyboardist extraordinaire, he loved performing in many jazz bands and singing in barbershop quartets for most of his life. He sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for over 25 years with his gorgeous wife; they traveled the world together with the choir, served in the Salt Lake Temple and also completed three missions for the LDS Church. Lynn was a master teacher, with a sharp wit and a ready smile. He is fondly remembered by a generation of students as "Monsieur Evans" from his French program "Encore," broadcast by KUED to all 6th graders in the 1960s. He was a pioneer in the field of Instructional Media. His true passions were his family, his music, his students, his garden, a clever pun, and any crossword or jigsaw puzzle. His grandchildren will forever love and remember the "magic heart." Lynn is survived by his wife, his children Rochelle (Stephen) Enderton, Marylynn, Kristine, Julie (David) Fairbourn, and Angela (Richard) Evans, 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter Cathy, his parents, his three brothers Ophir Albert, Mark Floyd, and Edward Kent, and his sisters Julia and Dorothy. The family especially wishes to thank mom for her tireless and loving care of dad; he knew he was cherished and loved. We also thank Caregivers Support Network for all their help. There will be a viewing in the social room at Canyon Road Towers on 123 E. 2nd Avenue, Salt Lake City on Thursday, November 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. Funeral services will be held Friday, November 13 at 11:30 a.m. at the Kenwood 1st Ward on 3080 South 1765 East with a viewing from 10 to 11 a.m. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park immediately following the service. See http://www.holbrookmortuary.com/ for more information and to send condolences. In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions be made to The LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund.

I started a new blog (about getting DEALS) and this is why...

Check out my new deals blog link on the sidebar...

About a month or so ago, my husband's cousin Christy, posted a picture on her Facebook page of a shopping trip where she saved more than half her bill by couponing and carefully budgeting. I had just that day heard about "Super couponing." I had a few months ago begun religiously going through my local grocery ads and price matching everything at Walmart (cheap, one-stop shopping). I was really trying to save money and spend very little on our monthly groceries and expenses. I was also trying to spend as little as possible on Christmas gifts while still making it a great Christmas all around. I was watching ads, but after Christy's post on Facebook I saw that she had posted the name of a frugal blog where she had seen the deals. I went there, and in the past month, I have discovered a whole new world and level of "saving" that I had no idea existed.

I have a confession about it, I became obsessed. From the first blog, I found a second, and a third, and many many more resources to save, save SAVE!! I admit it, I became obsessed, and I have truly spend a great deal of the past month glued to Wesley's new laptop checking frugal blogs, couponing sites, looking for freebies, finding ways to save. I just really want to get as much free stuff as possible...

Now, I should tell you all that I come by this obsession honestly!! There is a famous story in my family about my Papou (Greek for Grandfather) who recently passed away. Once many years ago, Papou went shopping and though I do not remember all the details accurately (my memory stinks), the basic jest is that on a shopping trip, he found ash trays on mega sale (I believe they were like 10 pr 20 for a dollar), so Papou bought a case or two of them. No one in our family smokes at all and no one ever has, but he could not resist that deal. 40 or so years later, my mom and XiaXia (grandma) are still using those ash treys as candy dishes...

I like a deal as much as Papou did, and I am constantly seeking them out. The few moments over the last month that I was not online seeking out deals and freebies, I was on the phone calling my mom, my sisters, my mother-in-law...whoever I could think of to share the great deals with! This blog is an attempt to share those deals I find without breaking the bank on my long distance bill! A previous obsession of mine is finding free family activities to do here in Omaha, so I will try to include those as I hear of them as well. I know that most of my family and friends that might read this do not live in Omaha, so I will post SLC things if I find any as well. My blog will certainly not be the best frugal blog out there, nor am I a great couponer, but I just want to let you know the deals I find and like. Hope you enjoy it-and please, feel free to check it out, and to leave comments and let me know what you think!

Beckee

BJ&J Week 1: It's all Greek to me...

Thursday I wrote a blog about a few goals to do weekly. See blog here. Goal 1 reads "I am Greek, but I rarely cook Greek foods-it would be awesome to cook something Greek, learn some of the Greek language, or learn something new about my Greek ancestors every week." I thought a good start for week 1 would be to throw out some of my Greek knowledge and let you all comment and throw in your 2 cents as well. So, here is goes...

My mom's mom, my XiaXia (pronounced yi ya)is full Greek. Both her parents were born in Greece and I believe they only spoke Greek even after they moved to the USA. XiaXia sent my mom and her sisters (at least the oldest ones-maybe all?) to Greek school when they were little so they learned Greek at least a bit. I remember as a child going to parties at th Greek church and with Greek family members. My main memory of those is eating rice pilaf (Mmmmm) and having all my relatives pull me aside to tell me what a cute littl Greek-a girl I was and even as a small child telling me they had to find a good Greek-a boy for me.

My family still does many Greek traditions. We make New Years bread with coins in it for luck and try to be the first to call XiaXia at the stroke of midnight for the New Year to get the money! You have to say something which I will phonetically type out what I think it is "Meghea k efta hea tonato etos." I do not know what he real words are nor am I quite sure what it means...maybe that what I should learn this week...

On easter we make sweet bread with a blod red egg cooked into it and say "Christos anesti" (Again-phonetic) Which means "Christ has Risen." You are supposed to respon with something that means "Indead He has." I always have to ask my mom how to say that one...maybe another thing to learn this week..

There are other Greek tradtions, but those a the 2 main ons I can think of right now offth top of my head. But if I am being honest, my favorite part about being Greek is the FOOD!!! Mmmmm...I already mentioned Rice pilaf, some of my other favorites include, but are not limited to Pasticio (a creamy lasagna-type dish), Tiropetes (Cheese fille phillo dough-Mmmmm) Spanikopita (like Tiropetes but with Spinach),Souvlaki (meat on a stick), Dilpes (Phillo dough rolled in honey and nuts) Baklava (But only homemade by a family member-never have I liked any other kind). Also, I love Kasseri (yummiest geek cheese-the stronger the better) and of course a goodGreek salad!

Now, I should note that while the Olympics were in my hometown in 2002, I was in the home of te Olympics with my husband, parents, XiaXia, & sister, Melanie. I learned there that the "Greek food" I have been eating all my life is pretty authentic, but that our Greek diet lacke some of the food staples from Greece. Namely, the most disgusting food I have ever tried, dandilion greens. Gross! Also, there is a lot of fish in the diet in Geece-calamari is a huge thing there. And reguardless of th fact that we are all Mormon and do not drink alcohol at all, the family in Greec obviously felt that we should have been downing uzo to make any meal complete (we did not drink any fyi).

I have so, so many more things to share with any of you that care, but I will leave it at that for now. So, here is your homework, comment on this with your Greek thoughts and knowledge (Mom, XiaXia, Aunts, I am sure you have a lot to correct me on here-feel free!) Tell me what you know or love about any and every thing Greek. And for heavens sake, if you have no idea what I am talking about rent "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" watch it and get back to me with any comments or questions.

Beckee, Julie, & Julia...

So, I just watched Julie and Julia. I liked it. I really liked it. Wes slept through it. If you do not know of this movie, it is really 2 stories in one-one is Julia Child's story of how she became a French chef and eventually got her cookbook published. The other story is about Julie Powers (I think) who is a woman that decided to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in a year and write a blog about it. I really liked Julie's character a lot. I related to her, and as I watched, I thought, "hey, I used to blog a lot, daily in fact, but I sort of gave up on it when I got behind and didn't think anyone would read it anymore or care." Well, I know that my wonderful family cares about the blog because it keeps them updated on the kids, but who would really read a blog full of writing vs my current blog of pictures and commentary?! I don't know if anyone will, but I want to write in my blog more than I have been and I want to get better at blogging again.

In that movie, Julie decides on this kind-of crazy goal and gives herself a deadline to do it in hopes she will stick to it. I thought, there is not one thing I am so obsessed with or passionate about that I could focus so fully on it like she did. Then I realized that is not entirely true...I am that passionate and obsessed with my family (which is why you get so many pictures with commentary posts). But, I also have other interests, ones that I could really learn more about. So, I am going to try to learn something new every week about one of my many interests.

A few of the things I want to learn more about:

1-I am Greek, but I rarely cook Greek foods-it would be awesome to cook something Greek, learn some of the Greek language, or learn something new about my Greek ancestors every week.
2-Wes pointed out a few years ago that I am actually more German than Greek. However, I know much less German traditions, food, and ancestry than about my Greek. So, I would like to do something German every week too.
3-I need to learn more about Wes's family history so I can teach my kids that as well. Luckily both sets of his grandparents have given us great resources for me to learn and teach the kids-we will be going over and learning that as well.
4-I need to sing more with the kids-they love it and my singing has been lacking...
5-I will audition for at least one show in 2010.

Lofty goals. I may not achieve them , but it's worth a shot. I will attempt to blog about what I learn and how I progress on these goals as well as posting all the cute stories and pictures of my great family. In fact, I have some great snow pictures to post...but not tonight. Tonight, I sleep! Sweet dreams friends!