Guardian Angels

Sometimes in life there are moments that make you step back and realize you truely are being watched over and protected by Heavenly Father. This was one of those moments and it was caught on video. Okay, it was caught on video because at first we figured something stupidly funny was about to happen. Our first clue was when the boys came running in yelling for us, "you gotta see this mom!!! And bring the camera!" After hearing that, you know something is going to happen that, while it may not be funny now, in retrospect will make me almost pee my pants. Over and over and over again. For those who are faint of heart. Don't worry, everyone was fine in the end. There was only one scratch.

It's okay, you can rewind and replay that part over and over. We did. Cyndie can't believe it looks so horrible. It looks like she shouldn't be walking. But the trooper that she is she gets right up. I doubt she, or any other child in our homes who have seen this footage, will attempt such a silly stunt again. So, I would like to thank all involved; Andrew, Cameron, Tyler, and Cyndie. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this educational performance.

See Just a little road rash.

We didn't do it!!

14th Article of faith: We believe in organized games, in having fun with others and sharing our knowledge of new games. We also believe that as we come to act upon organizing these games we will be given chocolate. We now also believe the fire department will respond when the alarm in the church goes off.

We started off with musical chairs, because what young child doesn't love a calming game of musical chairs????

We moved on to Uno. It's a fun game that doesn't require reading skills. Perfect for kids!!
Right about that time, the fire alarm went off.

At first we weren't sure if it was real or a ploy by the elders quorum presidency to get more elders there! Nevertheless, we waited outside for the firemen to show up. Either way it worked. Brother Fails arrived to save the day, but was a little too soon for the dessert.

Sorry guys!( we didn't pull the alarm, really, it was some weird wiring thing) From there we broke up into groups and some had fun with Scattergories:
While others learned the very fun, quick game of Speed Scrabble:Andrew and Cameron played on a team and thought they won until the words were closely examined. Sorry boys you lose qecqo and wasert are not real words!! You LOSE!!!!

That's right, all these fun things happened and after the appropriate time of waiting I got my chocolate.

So sometimes, just for fun, we will give the kids the camera. It gives them a chance to be creative, have some fun, and feel grown up because they know if they break the camera they will be busted. I was downloading the pictures off the camera and ran across a few that were taken without our knowledge:

At first it looked like it was one of the girls. After all "the Jonas Brothers are sooooo cute." Then there is Zak Effron, Please please, please can we watch High School Musical just one more time??? Again not really a boy thing
But then the light dawns and the photographer reveals his other interests....Ian brought this plant home from school. ( it was just a bulb in a bag with a few leaves on it) His teacher told him it was a dried up carrot. I of course realized what it was. I have a little experience with iris bulbs... a story for another time. After explaining it was an iris bulb I had to prove it by showing Ian pictures online. Apparently, a teachers word is the gospel truth and when the teacher says its a dried up carrot, it is very hard to convince the child of anything different.

By the time I got to this picture it was obvious Ian was the photographer:
It is his Star of the Week poster from Kindergarten. He has it hanging in his room.
And what photo shoot is complete without a self portrait! Well, with such short arms I think this is the best he could do. I know it's hard to tell but I can make out his long stragly bangs.



Sometimes we find videos on the camera too. I will have to find the one where Anna is lip singing and dancing to Hannah Montana's "7 things I hate about you!" I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants!

I hope they call me on a mission

Last Thursaday the young men and women went to the temple in St. George to do baptisms. It was a mad rushed day for me and at the last minute I grabbed subway and shoved them into the Johnson family van and heaved a sigh of releif that one more thing was crossed off my list. There was a van full of kids and I was a little glad it was the Johnson's driving and not me.

I think there are times when I wonder how my kids really behave when I am not around, I mean here they were going off with friends on what should be a very spiritual trip... Would it really end up that way? It would be nice because it was Brooke's first time going. That night when Andrew and Brooke came home they told us how much fun it was and how they got shakes from Iceberg and how Cameron dropped his. Brooke talked about how annoying the boys in the back seat were being and how everyone was goofing off. So much for spirituality.

I went to work the next morning and Tonya was looking at the pictures that Cameron took of the trip. And there it was, a wonderful picture thatmade my heart smile because I was not there to "make" him pose for it!

At Some point they actually looked at the temple...

They went into the visitors center and looked at the displays, saw the words written on the wall.

And so there is a part of me that hopes it was more than just goofing off and making a mess of the Johnson van.

Let's go fly a kite!

Monster Truck Finals fell on Lili's birthday so lucky for us we enjoyed the company of Sarah's fam for this wonderful event!! We live so far from all the cousins we usually don't get to be around for birthdays!! The kids had cupcakes and I was offered a frozen twinkie. Hadn't had one in forever and thought maybe I remembered wrong how they tasted. Nope, still not good. After the blowing out of candles and the fake blowing out of candles and the fake fake blowing out of candles (seriously how many times does it take) we sent the kids outside with kites. And since a pisture is worth a thousand words:

One day the kids will learn that you can stop running and the kite will stay up. But for now it is fun to watch them run around Julie's front yard until they wear themselves out and fall on the ground.

Ian, Emily, and Lili's other cousin whose name has escaped me...Kody maybe?

Run Katie, run!!!

Technical difficulties...
Laura thinks running is not as fun as playing with a chair or riding a bike!