Storming New York

We took a lovely walk to start the day off. Ashley lives in the Flatiron District so we strolled south and saw Washington Square and continued on down going about 35 streets before taking a taxi the rest of the way to Battery Park. Mom LOVED staring at the ocean. She did it for quite some time until I really understood why she and dad talk about moving to San Diego so often.

We got an amazing tour guide who explained really well extra insight information about New York. We meant to get off the bus at the South Ferry stop but liked what he was saying so much we rode all the way back up to 51st street. Then we took a tour of northern Manhattan and Harlem and also stood in line again for Wicked tickets. We didn't win. :-(

We DID win at the NBC studios store! I went to TOWN buying stuff there. It made the whole trip! I love my Dwight, Sean, and Gus bobbleheads! Also the 'that's what she said' magnet and Soup Nazi 'no soup for you' t-shirt. The Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree was beautiful and so were all the bright lights of the city. The entire day was FABULOUS!

Brrr!

We headed out in the morning with high hopes of being able to see lots of New York. We dragged back in after heavy traffic, snow piles, and frozen bodies...ours. The roads had been cleared, but there was so much traffic around the Times Square area as they trucked snow out that it made a two hour loop of the hop on/hop off bus tour into five hours. Mom only got to see lower Manhattan. The heater wasn't on when we got back to Ashley's apartment. It took three hours before it turned on and then I warmed up and got nice and toasty. Sweet!

Travel Day

I drove us in Lisa's van to Union Station. Not bad considering our GPS wasn't working. We made it in record time. Even had time to drop Lisa off at the corner for her to run in to find a restroom while I parked out front to drop our bags off. Luckily she was able to find us. Unluckily our bus was two and a half hours late arriving. Mom got a little cold and had to use her new Christmas pashima over her head for warmth.

Mom was worried before our trip that the Bolt Bus we were going to use would be sketchy (horror stories from her home teachers). I talked her down from that ledge when she found out the cost of taking Amtrak in comparison and when Angelina Jolie used it between D.C. and NY in the movie we watched on the airplane on our way to JFK. Thank you Evelyn Salt!

A Day in D.C.

When mom and I visited D.C. back in 2008, it was 114 degrees so we didn't get out to see Arlington Cemetery. We decided to do it right this trip so we took a tour of the place. Grant cracked me up with the faces he was pulling all day.

We had a game night playing Boggle and Guillotine. Lisa cooked things up for us right. It was a fun day.

Day One

One flight, late night arrival, and bus ride later...we made it to NYC AND D.C.

Merry Christmas!

Kevin and Grandma Backlund joined mom, dad, Jodie, and I in opening presents up this morning. Jodie and I made each other blankets. The one she made me is a beautiful crocheted long lap blanket. Mom was very creative and wrapped up my Christmas presents from toys she got from the kids' play room. They were hilarious! She even labeled people in the little bus with our names.

She can finally start packing now because she got some new clothes that she is planning on taking with her. New York here we come!

It's a Pahr-tay!

Jenny and her family came down an hour before our Christmas Eve party to give a musical recital. Each of her boys play two instruments whether it's piano and violin, or piano and clarinet. Even Brett played a violin song! They are so good now. Nate even played the violin in Sacrament meeting at Church last week. TJ and Christian serenaded us with Jingle Bells while shaking bells. The Nativity scene was super cute. Jeremy was the donkey and Jenny even made him little ears to wear as he came out! Lots of presents, food, and laughing afterward.

Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus with a bow!

Long Day!

Did I say last night was a long night? Because today was a LONG day! First an early morning getting my car serviced, a movie with Mindy...and her kids...then to mom's to bind the quilts and finally picking Taylor and Bailey up to spend the night at my place.

We stopped at my library then McDonald's to pick up some dinner. They had brought some games from grandma's so we played Chickenfoot Domino's. I let them choose a movie for us to watch and they actually picked The Scarlet Pimpernel. Now that's my kind of movie! Taylor was so cute in his little pajamas looking at all the movies while on his tip-toes. I had to keep that in mind when he woke me up after we went to bed. He was screaming my name from the bathroom where he was throwing up. Great. Fortunately he made it to the toilet. But that was definitely a feeling of terror waking up startled like that not knowing what was going on, or what woke me up...until he screamed for me again. It's going to be awhile before they get to sleepover again is all I'm going to say!

Tibet

My Felix friends and I tried out a Tibetian restaurant before following it up with Hatch's hot chocolate. I got a double shot of caramel in my drink to make it worth my while and it was delicious! We watched a movie that Amy had just given me for Christmas while I finished up the quilts I was making for Lori and Jodie's Christmas present. Long night!

Another Snow Day!

I LOVE snow days at work! We got the completely surprising and unexpected email from HR saying we could go home at 3:00 p.m. due to weather.  (Really, the bad weather was in the morning and cleared by the afternoon, but I am NOT complaining!) I used the extra time to watch a movie and got a quilt up on the frames. My visiting teachers also came over. An hour and a half later...they finished and left. They are nice and all, but there is something to be said about the convenience of a 20 to 30 minute visit!

Christmas Caroling

I went to Dana and Deborah's ward for the Christmas performance of the choir (Dana and Taylor sang) and Primary children (Bailey and Bryan sang). There was a particularly nice version of Angel's We Have Heard on High where they had the children, choir, bells, piano, and organ all going at the same time. Plus it is always fun to sit with the kids during Church. It is such a huge difference between my ward of complete silence during the Sacrament and a family ward!

We went Christmas caroling as a family in the evening. With mom and dad in the Spanish ward, we visited a few of the families they are working with. One of the stops was to the 80 year old man I went to a dinner with last week. He started crying during our singing and gave dad a big hug afterward. Then he recognized me and got excited and gave me a hug and a kiss. It was very sweet. I was riding in the car with dad, mom, and Kevin. One of Dana's kids would take a turn riding with us and pretty soon we had a good game of Corners going on. Dad, as driver, was on our side so he helped us squish Kevin.

Afterward we played a few games of Scattergories. It has been a long time since that game has been pulled out! The total final score had me edging out Cody 60 to 59.

Archie Fans

I was given four tickets to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and David Archuleta concert (shout out to Laralynn - thanks!). We ended up on the 8th row and it was brilliant! I don't watch American Idol and I haven't ever been impressed with David's music, but his singing with the choir was quite good. I've become an Archie fan! I even circled the block afterwards in my car to see if I would be able to get in to the Deseret Book flagship store where he was signing CDs after the concert. No parking and a huge line soon settled that issue.

Unfortunately, mom, dad, and Jodie weren't able to find parking for the concert, so once it started at 7:30 p.m. and they were still circling looking for a place, they decided to just turn around and go home. Too bad since my aisle seat had me interacting with the dancers as their costumes twirled around and hit me!

Quilting Frames

The Temple Department potluck Christmas luncheon was today. So. Much. Food! Who would have thought that carrot souffle would be my favorite dish?!

I've finally put up some quilting frames that have been at my house for awhile now (thanks Laralynn!). Now all the fabric I was given can finally be put to use! We'll see how rusty my skills are...  Considering I had to google how to set up the frames? There could be cause for concern!

Snow Fight

There has been cold water at my apartment for two mornings now. Apparently the hot water heater has broken. Do you know how hard it is to wash your hair while trying to not actually touch the cold water? Brrr!

It snowed last night. As I walked to work, there was an angry man shoveling snow from across the street, and throwing it onto the cleared sidewalks in front of my building. A shovelful landed in front of me and he started grumbling saying he'd already talked to my management before that they shouldn't push snow onto his side of the street and then he threw another shovelful that landed directly behind me. Bah humbug! I just gave THE look and continued walking.

The Champion

Waking up at Jenny's house is fun because she is up reading scriptures and Ensign articles with Brett before he goes to work, and then Jer gets up for school and Nate comes out because he knows I'm there and wants to see me before I leave. Keep in mind this is all before 6:30 a.m.! I gave Jer a little bday gift since it was his actual birthday and then headed to work.

We had our division Christmas social at Edgardo's house for family night. He has a Christmas room that is left up year-round and then they decorate like mad for Christmas. Eight trees this year! They also have a fooseball table. The players were installed incorrectly so it was difficult to play, but I still managed a win against Kent. I'm not going to get any mileage out of that! ;-)

Kent cleaning off the table

Kent serving dessert
I can hear the Cinderelly song going through my head...

Trent and Jocelyn with the carved bear
she got as a white elephant gift

Jeremy's Birthday and the Messiah

Jenny was playing in the Heber Valley Messiah Sing-in, so I made it to her place in time for dinner with the family and cake for Jer's bday. (We managed to sneak some fooseball games in beforehand because Nate wanted to show me how much better he's gotten. Does that mean I should have let him win? Or Jer because it was his bday? Because I DIDN'T! I was better than usual and got a good time out of razzing them. Plus I had little Christian standing on a chair next to us and he started SCREAMING in his little high-pitched voice - 'Win T, Win!' Over, and over, and over again. So cute!) We also played the gun game where we loaded up the soft dart guns and shot each other while they ducked and tried to avoid the bullets. I took one to the eye which stung, but they seemed just fine all the times I got them in the head. =D

After dinner we went to the sing-in. Jenny was part of the orchestra playing second violin. I've never been to a Messiah sing-in before and it was very interesting. My favorite parts of course were where I got to sing. I went with Jeremy and Brett and while Brett didn't sing, Jer got better at it and tried to pick out his part as best he could. I think he liked the special attention of being out just him for his birthday. My favorites are still the Hallelujah Chorus and For Unto Us a Child is Born.

Getting back to their home, we played some more fooseball and then got ready for bed. Brett played fooseball with me but then he had to go sit out because he got frustrated and started swearing. Is it bad that I laughed when TJ started repeating what he said? Jenny said it was getting late and that Brett had to go to bed...just like she would with one of the boys who was being ornery. It was so funny! Nate asked that I come down to tuck them in, so after I kissed Micah for the night, I went down the stairs towards my room. The boys' room was dark which was suspicious...and sure enough! I was ambushed! They were lying on the floor on either side of the door with the dart guns and opened fire. I managed to corner them and get a gun for myself and hold my own against the two of them. They were very active still instead of wanting to go to bed so there was some wrestling and goofing off. It could have been set off by me cornering Nate and popping him 20 times with my gun in the head while he was trying to reload. When Jer saw all the darts on the ground he said it looked like a massacre. They finally got tucked into bed and Nate got up for something just so he could be tucked in again. Good times, good times!



Looks to me like they're BOTH losing in this wrestling match!



My Micah Boy

Brett got BYU basketball tickets for his birthday. He went with his dad, Jeremy and Nate and it was at the Energy Solutions Arena. I talked Jenny into letting Micah come down with them to play with me while the boys were at the game. We had so much fun! We started out with some games of Go Fish and Uno which he toasted me at, then went to the Church Museum (where we saw the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum, and also a model ship - and I picked up a small present for Micah to mark the occasion). Next was the nativity scene on Temple Square, seeing the Christus statue, looking at the model SL Temple with the interactive computer monitor, and then back to my place to wrap his present, make hot chocolate, and play more Go Fish. He loved it! and so did I!



Micah gave me a thank you card that reads - "Dear ante T, Thank you for leting me play with you. I hope we can have that much fun again someday. I think of geting you a christmas present. Sorry for the bad hand riteing. I sort of get mixed up. I hope we can see ech other on my briethday. Thank you for everything you do for me. love you. Sorry. See you in Febuary. love Micah  happy christmas."

The February part is because that is his birthday month and I spend the night at their house on the boys birthdays. Apparently he's very excited for me to come for his. How cute is that?!!

If I Have To...

Mom and dad invited the Spanish missionaries and a couple of one member/one non-member to come to their house for dinner so I was invited as well to keep the conversation going in Spanish. I didn't want to make the drive all the way down and back in one evening, but Laralynn talked me in to it and mom was very hopeful I would be there. So, I gave in.

It worked out really well though so it was good I went. Two investigators ended up at it, plus two small kids, a member daughter, Dana and also Taylor. Dana wouldn't speak his Spanish, but between dad and I, we kept the conversation going. I can't believe how much his Spanish has improved since getting this calling! Exponentially!  The missionaries were amazed at how fast my mom was able to put this together. She is amazing!

More Photos

Just got ahold of some photos from last weekend's activities. Nate's bday snowboarding trip with Cody teaching and Jer trying out the skiis, then Lori and me at the FP Christmas Devotional. How cute are those ski bums?!

Late Lunch

Due to a number of things I was busy with at work, I missed the open lunch time at the COB cafeteria. So, I headed over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to pick a sandwich up at the Nauvoo Cafe. There was a school choir there singing Christmas music so I sat down in the lobby and ate my lunch, listened to the music, and enjoyed the beautiful setting. It was rather nice!

Olden Days

Tonight my ward met up at Walmart to go shopping for the 203 kids we're supporting for Christmas. I submitted a family of four kids for our sub-4-santa project and so I supervised getting the presents on the list for my kids. I remember now why I hate shopping in a store. Crowded, lots of walking back and forth, and confusion. Online is always better! But, the kids are taken care of!

Alicia Roca, the woman my dad baptized while on his mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina, posted a picture of him on his mission with his mission companion, Alicia, and her sister who was also baptized. He is so CUTE! Look at that clean-cut handsome boy! Tall gringo!

FP Christmas Devotional

I had a few tickets to attend the First Presidency Christmas Devotional so quite a few of the family came up to go - Grandma Backlund, dad, mom, Kevin, Jodie, Rossy, Dana, Deborah, Lori, Cody, and three of my friends. I went early and saved some seats (thanks to the ushers!) and it was a really nice, relaxing evening. So nice that Cody fell asleep while Lori was tickling his back and jerked awake knocking his elbow into her...she knocked into me and I jumped into Amanda...who it turns out had also been nodding off and she thought me bumping her and laughing was because I knew she was asleep and had been head jerking. Once we could all stop laughing, the rest of the devotional was really nice!

Dana, Deborah, Cody, Lori, and the three Felixs came to my house afterward for hot chocolate. It is definitely nice living so close to temple square in times like these! Nobody could go look at the lights though because the fog was so thick you couldn't even see the Conference Center from my apartment windows let alone the temple! Cody and Dana were kind enough to help me rearrange my furniture so I could bring my treadmill into the living room. Need to watch my recorded shows while staying active!

Dana and Deborah waiting for the devotional to start

Jam PACKed Day

I decided to take Elder Scott up on his temple recommendation so I went to a session and took my time. I spent a half an hour beforehand in the chapel and afterward met up with my parents for lunch then did another session. It was a long day, but I'm glad I did it!

Right after my parents got off from their temple shift, we had our monthly family birthday party to celebrate Brett and Jeremy's bdays. Turns out I'm still faster than Jer and we got some good spankings in. Thirteen is still not too old!

The Johnson family Christmas party was afterward at the PG rec center. Micah and I stopped off at the store first to pick up some treats for my mom to pass out and then we headed to the party too. There was a white elephant gift exchange, and Cody and Lori really ended up with the best present. A money tree with twenty $1 bills on it! After dinner I headed into the gym with the kids and we played tag while having to stay on the lines. Turns out all the kids wanted to get me so it's a good thing I created safety spots! Lots of fun but man was I tired! Those kids are so sweet!

Jeffrey, Lori, Me, and Micah

First Presidency Appreciation Luncheon

Today was our annual First Presidency Appreciation Luncheon. Our department met together with all the members of our TDEC (Temple Department Executive Council - Elders Walker, Kikuchi, Zivic, Gibbons, and Baxter) and Elder Richard G. Scott for a program and then lunch. I was part of one of the musical numbers. We sang Away in a Manger. Tom Coburn our Managing Director, called us the singing septuplets.

Elder Scott also took some time to share a message. He said we should think about what we did before this life to merit and qualify us for having the blessing of working with temples - and that we had to have done something. He spoke on temples and said that we should go to the temple, take our watch off, and spend time there unhurried. If we finish a session, we should turn around and go again. The apostolic blessing he left with us was that we would be able to see the good parts of what we do, we'd be able to see the things that we need to change in our lives, and that we'd know of our Heavenly Father's love for us. Then he said he wanted to speak to us not as Richard Scott, but as one of our Heavenly Father's servants. That's when he bore a very powerful testimony about our Savior, Jesus Christ.

After the program we had a luncheon and I was seated at Elder Scott's table with Elder Gibbons, his wife, and a few other people. Everyone was pretty quiet at first so I asked Elder Scott about his watercolors on display at the Deseret Book flagship store and found out about how he got started painting, how many he's done, who's his favorite all-time artist, etc. His favorite painter is Carl Bloch and we were all recommended to go and see his display which is currently at BYU through May. He asked what each of us do in the temple department and then we spoke some about what he did when he worked as a nuclear engineer in Washington D.C. It was a great experience!

I came to mom and dad's to spend the night in order to attend the temple like Elder Scott said. Mom wrapped presents, I finished planning our NY/DC trip and dad tried setting up the new bluray player that I finally ended up helping him with.

Christie Whiting, Sharon Cook, Me, Leisha Olney, Debbie Loock,
and Karen Brown (Rachel Fournier not shown)



Tom Coburn, Elders Scott, Walker, Kikuchi, Zivic, Gibbons, and Baxter



Elder Scott, Sister Gibbons, Elder Gibbons, and Me

Elder Zivic's table - I really included this picture cuz I'm in the background!

Kathy Barlow and MaryAnn Falk - another picture
with me in the background talking to Elder Scott