A Conversation With Maren

As I was putting my make-up on this morning, Maren walks into the bathroom. She survey's the situation and asks: "I need some lip gloss!" I answer: "how about after we do your hair" Maren says,"um no, now!" "How about after I do your hair?" I ask...she doesn't like the answer and walks away.
Not thirty seconds later she walks back in fake coughing...."Mom, I need a cough drop!" she says while opening the bathroom closet and pulling out the hamper so she can climb the shelves. "Um...no" I tell her. She proceeds to hang and swing on the closet handle. She then stops and looks right at me and says,"Mom, stop sassing me!" She gets distracted by the pile of TP stacked by the toilet..."Mom, watch me make a towering castle" "OK" She proceeds to stack all the rolls up into a large tower..."look how pretty my castle is- I think I'll take it down to show Joran" after which she makes numerous trips to her room with the toilet paper...when I went down stairs I found out why. She had filled her doll crib and stroller with the rolls and carried them downstairs and has rebuilt the tower right in front of the TV so Joran has to notice it!
What I learned from all of this-after I stopped laughing-Maren is going to push me on everything, so stick to my guns! She actually listens, if only to throw my words back in my face later! ( I didn't think that happened until much later in life!) Most importantly....move over LEGOS-make room for Northern!
You have to remember...she is still only 2!!!

Poor Kitty!

Jeff put Joran and Maren in our shower before he left this morning. I follow behind and get them out when they are done. I heard the cat meowing so I go upstairs thinking he is locked in the bathroom...when I get there the door is open and the little ones are in the shower .... with the cat! After getting them in their towels I decide it is a photo opportunity...

our cat is really old...like almost 17 years old...he occasionally walks into the shower (while you are showering) to get a drink...our walk in showers are pretty big so he doesn't get too wet. What a shock to him to walk in and find two little children who love their kitty so much to give him a bath...Joran did the shampoo work and Maren lathered him up with soap! Such helpful and loving children I have!

He was soaking wet!

He is so fluffy it was funny to see how small he really is!

ready to make his escape!
He is such a good cat...he didn't even scratch or bite them!

Cheyenne's First Stake Dance!

This is Cheyenne and Emily...off to their first stake dance! Oh the memories and fun I had during stake dances...I met so many people that are still good friends (and now their wives and husbands)that live all over the country!

She had a great time and of course the "friend" she had hoped was going to be there danced with her-many times :)

Cheyenne Runs For National Junior Honor Society

Cheyenne decided to run for National Junior Honor Society office. I didn't get a picture of her posters, but here is what they said:

1. Replace Connor Johnson with Cheyenne Johnson for NJHS office (she had a picture of the both of them together on it-Connor was mortified, but he was threatened to leave it alone...someone actually put a heart around his face while the poster was hanging!)

2. Cheyenne rhymes with cayenne...next year will be HOT! she had pictures of peppers all over it.
After qualifying in the prelims she made it to the final cuts...she wore this shirt we made on the last voting day!


here is the back!

Those are real peppers that we glued to her shirt...she said people were picking them off and eating them...glue and all!
The good news is that she made NJHS office! Way to go Cheyenne!

Cereal anyone??

Any of you who know me at all, know that I love to coupon! Some might scoff at this, but I will be the one smiling all the way to the bank with my savings :)
Today I went after cereal...in case you are wondering...that is a total of 50 boxes of captain crunch and oatmeal...the final cost...$21.50! That is 40 cents a box...and I still have coupons for another 6 boxes free...I will pick those up probably tomorrow...you have to remember I have two small children who accompany me on these trips so I have to keep it simple and make sure I have room in the cart for my shopping companions as well as my groceries...
I am sure some of you wonder what in the world we do with big shopping trip purchases like this. The main reason we bought our current home...a 6 foot high storage room under our family room...it has shelves on two walls for our food storage (the other wall has tubs with clothing being passed down, a tub for gifts, a tub for backpacks, etc...the other wall has our decorations and holiday tubs...) We use our storage room as a mini store...and we are now stocked in the captain crunch department. Maybe when I get my table cleared off down there I will add some pictures of the storage room...just thought I would share my obsession!

Joran-

Joran was goofing around after dinner last night...nothing new. He grabbed a couple clementines out of the fruit basket on the table and did this with them...

The best part is what he said...of course I totally can't remember now...I do remember he went on to explain that it was what the zombie on x-box says...when I asked him about it today he told me "I am under your power" of course he said it in a scary voice as well...I told him he was welcome to put clementines on his eyes and be under my power any time he wanted...funny boy!

Bountiful Baskets 3

This is week three of our Bountiful Baskets...potatoes, bananas, apples lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, mangoes, celery artichokes, clementines and zucchini. We are going to take week4 off due to other early commitments on that Saturday morning.

Sierra D.A.R.E. Graduation

This is Sierra shaking hands with the Chief of Police and some of his officers who worked with their school during their DARE classes.


This is really hard to see...she is shaking hands with her teachers...

Here she is in her shirt with her graduation certificate! Way to go Sierra!

Cheyenne's 14th Birthday

Cheyenne was pretty busy on her birthday...it started with me delivering a bouquet of flowers and balloons to her at school! As soon as she got home Grandma Stephens took her to Texas Roadhouse for dinner...they both rolled in the door a while later. She opened her gifts after that:
Cheyenne holding her new dress

opening "New Moon"...just a little excited ( you can see her shoes that match her dress in the background) After we were done she had to have Rachel and Abby over to watch the Twilight series -all two-that night!

she also got a Kelly Clarkston CD, lip gloss, capri's , and shorts with a matching hoodie. Grandpa and Grandma Stephens gave her $$$, Grandpa and Grandma Johnson gave her movies passes, Josi and Jeff provided a gift card to Vanity to quench her shopping desire and Lisa and Bret got the cute headband you saw in the Easter pictures.

Cheyenne wanted a volleyball cheesecake...so this is what she got (the frosting was runny so the 'H' didn't turn out too well...it tasted great though!
Happy Birthday Cheyenne...we love you!

Cheyenne's New 'Do'

Cheyenne wanted to get the highlights put back in her hair. The girl that did it thought it would be fun and 'look soooo cute' to curl it. This is how it turned out...she really is a girl! We wonder sometimes considering the boys she has always hung out with and all the sports she plays...and of course her appetite! She totally admits to eating like a teenage boy...beautiful Cheyenne!

Boston's 10th Birthday

Boston's Birthday is really on the 3rd...he was so busy that day we hardly saw him. He had Dallin sleepover and then we all went to Grandma's for breakfast. Boston then went with Dallin, Connor and Uncle Bret to the gun museum. After lunch Dallin took Boston to a movie for his birthday. Boston wanted to wait for his dad (who was in SLC for the Priesthood session) to open his presents, but they didn't get home until really late. Sunday was full of Easter festivities so we decided to celebrate on Monday night.
Monday afternoon he went with his dad to spend his birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Stephens, pick his cake and pick his dinner. After a delicious dinner of pizza, Grandpa and Grandma Johnson and Josi and Jeff came over to help us celebrate.
He received a chess set, a St. Louis Cardinals hat (any guesses on that one???), a Wii game, a basketball, clothes, Battleship and a scrabble card game.

Here is the cake he picked:


Blowing out the candles


Happy Birthday Boston! We sure love you...hope your special day was worth the wait!

Family Pictures

Here are Grandpa and Grandma with Charlie


Here is the whole gang!


This is all the kids in Grandma and Grandpa's feather bed


All the kids in the feather bed.


You have to understand that everyone loves grandma and grandpa's bed...all the napping kids nap in it...when you're cold you climb in it...the older kids lay in it to watch TV...when there are sleepovers you climb in the middle...it's a favorite place at grandma and grandpa's house!


Here are Boston and Dallin...we could hardly separate them all weekend!

Easter Sunday Afternoon

Easter Sunday afternoon everyone was happily engaged in activity...Uncle Jeff, Sierra, Dallin and Boston were playing Monopoly cards Boston got in his basket.

Josi and Pat were making deviled eggs

Cheyenne and Brita were playing Othello

Connor and Grandma were talking stocks

Lisa woke up Bret to show him a costume she was looking at for Dallin for the play he is in

Grandpa and Jeff relaxing

Annicha, Maren, Libby and Joran went downstairs to watch "kids shows"

Egg Hunt at Grandma's House

Josi and her husband Jeff put together an egg hunt...there were 80 colored eggs and 40 something plastic eggs. The plastic eggs had quarters in them and each colored egg was worth a dollar...there were special bonus eggs as well. Here is everyone receiving instruction:


The younger ones got a head start


Finding eggs in front of the house: Annicha and Maren


Joran and Connor


Annicha tired after the hunt


Handing over the eggs to the banker...Josi


Joran pleased with his reward


Boston scored some dough as well

Here they all are holding their envelopes full of cash from the hunt...thanks for a great hunt Josi and Jeff! Joran is holding up the $5 egg he found!

Easter Morn

Here they are anticipating coming down for the baskets and the hunt...the older ones just want to go back to bed I think. They were lucky...the younger kids didn't even wake them up until 7:30 this year!


Connor's Basket:


Cheyenne's Basket:


Sierra's Basket:


Boston's Basket:


Annicha's Basket:


Joran's Basket:


Maren's Basket:


Here are Maren and Connor inspecting their baskets


Joran upset because he got a word find book that has Mickey Mouse on it-which he is way too old for!


Maren and Connor eating Peeps!


Lots of people have asked how we do our hunting since we have so many children and how we make it fair so the little ones find the eggs...next to each of their baskets there is a colored egg...they find only the eggs that are their color...our Easter Bunny then hides the eggs with a difficulty level of the child...it has worked out really well!

On the hunt-Cheyenne still looking-Joran finding!


Sierra hunting...


Way to go Joran...you seem to be the only one finding eggs!


Boston with a victory!


Maren found one of her pink ones


Annicha looking for her last egg


Connor finding everyone else's eggs


Here he is helping Cheyenne ....LOL


The colored eggs or at least part of them...


Annicha and Sierra both got jump ropes in their baskets...Sierra made the comment that Annicha is BYU and she is BYU vs. Utah...if you look closely Annicha's is blue and white and Sierra's is blue and red....I thought she was pretty clever-she's a BYU die hard I guess!

more Easter will be posted as we continue the egg hunting at Grandma's with the cousins!