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.