Merry Christmas!

Since Christmas is on a Tuesday, we had Monday off from work too. I drove down to spend the loooong weekend at mom and dads. We saved Christmas caroling this year for when Jodie was in town. We went Sunday night to some people from the home ward and then finished up with people in the Spanish ward. One of the families we went to, the mom has stage 4 cancer. Her husband helped her into the room so she could hear us singing. It made everyone cry, including the singers. (She passed away later in the week.)

 

We had the music recital before our Christmas Eve party. Besides the usual, Brett and Jeremy did a violin duet, TJ played the piano, and I played the cello while Jenny was on violin. Then, I also played the guitar and sang a song for dad that mom requested I do. Dad has loved the song ever since we heard it at Cowboy Church in Heber. He even contacted the singer about it to get the words for it. Mom and dad did a special number to finish up. They sang a song that announced they are planning to go on a mission. It was a huge surprise for everyone!...especially Grandma Backlund. She did not take the news well. The rest of us were very excited!

 

For Christmas, I commissioned some special artwork to be painted for mom, then for dad I got a DVD of his family videos from when he was a boy, as well as getting 9-generation fan charts done for each of them. It was a little weird having those be the only presents under the tree, but turned out really well. Mom cried a little when she opened it. She asked if the painter was related to Aaron Johnson too because why else would his home be painted into the picture? She REALLY started crying when she realized it was painted just for her. Good times, good times.

 

 

 

 

 

Nate giving Ari a piggyback. She loves it!

Zabel boys wearing the BYU shirts grandpa gave them for Xmas.

Unframed painting for mom's Christmas.

Airport Hitchhikers

Last night I hit the airport so that I could see Alyssa Allred arrive home from China. That means I also got to chat a bit with Karen and her family. After they left, I killed two hours there and then picked Jodie up. She's flown in from school at Southern Virginia University for Christmas with the family. Her flight didn't get in until 11:04 p.m. though so it was a late night for me who needs to get up for work in the morning.

 

This past week I went out pricing frames for mom's Christmas present. I didn't feel like dressing up for it so I did a rare hat day. Still love this hat that mom and I got at Lids in New York when we were there for New Year's a few years ago. I may have also had pigtail braids at the same time...

 



Give Up

I was sick at work on Friday and ended up coming home early. Those fabulous Felix's texted me to say they had the day off and wondered if I wanted to go to lunch. When they found out I was at home sick, they brought lunch to me! It was very sweet.

 

It is Tithing Settlement time and I have gone to the Bishop's office on multiple occasions trying to sign up for a decent time. There hasn't been anything available. Today I decided to give it one more try and then was going to give up because I'd made enough of a good-faith effort. What happens as soon as I walk in the door for Church? I'm grabbed by the executive secretary and asked if I've had tithing settlement yet because they had an opening and needed to fill it. I should give up more often after doing good-faith efforts and maybe my plans would work out more often! ;-)

Throwback Thursday

For my throwback Thursday, I reminisced with cousin Karen. She was up in Salt Lake for family history of course so I picked her up from the library and we went to eat at Sawadee's. I could definitely have spent more time there talking with her.

 

Jon got married yesterday in Hawaii for 12/12/12 by a female minister. I thought about the wedding multiple times during the day. Mostly, my thoughts were...I could be in Hawaii RIGHT NOW. Ahhh, Hawaii!

 

I met up with my visiting teachees last night at a little sandwich shop here in downtown SL. Made me miss living downtown! I've been researching a little bit lately to see if I could find anything down here for a decent price to move to, but no success!

L-O-V-E Them!

As it snowed most of the day yesterday, I left work a little early so I could make it through Parley's canyon without it being dark and icy. I went up to see Jenny play her violin in the Messiah Singalong in Heber. She did great! Nathan graduated to being one of the grownups this time and he joined us for the event. I do love singing some of Handel's songs.

 

I had to get some play time in with the boys before bedtime. I took them all on, individually, in groups, however, and still beat them as we played fooseball. That's right! I DO feel good about beating little boys. ;-)

 

Micah came and woke me up at 6:30 this morning so we could have Brett's birthday breakfast and see him open his presents. Then I had a leisurely morning with the boys as they all got ready and headed out to school. Once they left, I took off myself to drive the canyon again and go to work. Micah and TJ (he wrote Timothy on the car), left me a little message on my car when I got out to it to leave for the day. Love it!

 

Grant and Matthew playing 'Away in a Manger'

Getting ready for the big performance

Telling me goodbye!

 

Weekend Whoopee

I went to Pleasant Grove for the weekend. Dad was having his sibling Christmas dinner on Friday night so I went with Lori and Ari to the movies. My favorite thing is to see the faces of the people around us when they realize we have a baby with us. Those noise-cancelling earphones go on and you don't hear a peep out of her the whole time. Take that random, judging strangers!

 

Saturday morning Lori and I met up with Chance and Amy at the AF Rec for some racquetball. They all hit much harder than me. It's novel being the worst one in the group! Apparently I need to go play with Jer and Nate more... It is fun though and I think we should play more. I also never have to worry about my partner missing their shot. They cannot say the same though...

 

Mom and I hit the movies in the afternoon. I thought we were going to see Pitch Perfect which is what she's wanted to see with me for weeks now. Apparently, he who shall not be named, told her Here Comes the Boom is one of the funniest movies he's ever seen. I parked the car while mom bought the tickets, and next thing I know, we're walking into a movie that already started to go watch that! It was okay. It will NOT be joining my personal collection though like Pitch Perfect will.

 

That night was the Johnson Family Christmas party. Chris was in fine form and all over the place! I helped Jer and Nate buy their dad's Christmas present so I've been hauling it around in the boot of my car, but there wasn't enough space in their car still so we weren't able to smuggle it over. The party was decent, as in better than previous years. I think everyone agreed that it was better at mom and dad's house rather than the PG Rec Center.

 

Today, I drove back to Salt Lake in the morning, shoveled snow as soon as I got home, made it to Church to play piano in Relief Society, and then went to Dinner Groups with my ward. We got one of the...lower-functioning...guys in our group which makes the whole thing uncomfortable. Made me remember why I stopped doing these groups. So much for giving it one more try!

 

Here is the popcorn machine I helped Nate and Jeremy get. My work friend that I bought it from, brought in the giant popcorn container for the boys to give to their dad. It was really nice of her!

I french-tipped my own nails this week.
Not bad if you ask me!

 

Out of Comfort Zone

I've been outside of my comfort zone the past few days. I made an effort to talk with two guys in my ward on Sunday and today I sang at the First Presidency Appreciation Luncheon for our Department. It was a four-part quartet and I was very glad when it was over! Bishop Dean Davies was the speaker from the Presiding Bishopric. He is also the brother of Elder Davies whose condo I lived in for two years Downtown. I miss being Downtown!

Longest Birthday Ever!

Melissa Morris Larson and I met up at Thanksgiving Point a few nights ago so we could watch the movie Pitch Perfect. Yes, I've already seen that one before, but I loved it so much I had to go see it again. Rebel Wilson just makes me laugh so hard!

 

Yesterday was Nate's actual birthday even though we've celebrated it now for the past two weekends already. He and Jer came down to Temple Square with their ward youth group. Amy Felix and I walked all the way around Temple Square three times looking for them so I could give Nate a hot chocolate and a cookie for his birthday. Jer had his mom's phone so we could find out where they were, but he didn't answer the first 30 times I called... Not a big deal, except that it was raining the whole time. I got a little wet. I had just decided to give up, but gave Jer one last chance to answer the phone and he picked up! Turns out they weren't even to Temple Square yet and were still at Crown Burger where they'd all gone to eat. Fortunately I know where that is, so we stopped by there.

 

Amy and I were in a hurry by this point as we were the ones picking up dinner and then driving to Bountiful to watch a movie with Amanda. We got there late but it worked out okay. We watched the Italian Job (had to watch my MINI!) in the theatre room at the house where Amanda lives. They have this new projector which made the movie look like it was in 3D. It. Was. AMAZING! It actually made the actors look like they were in the room with us. You'd think you'd get used to it, but it kept surprising me whenever the scene would change and things would jump out at us again.

 

This morning, Nate called to say thanks for coming the night before. Apparently he was surprised I'd shown up and was glad I had. It was a cute call. He's very excited about the present I've helped him and Jer get their dad for Christmas. My friend MaryAnn at work left a little present for them on my desk to go along with the gift she helped me get with them:

 



Flashbacks

It has been awhile since I've experienced my heart issues to the extent that I did today. I had to go lie down in the bathroom again in the morning for over a half an hour trying to get my heart to stop hurting. After an episode like that, I just feel unwell for quite some time, so I ended up going home early for the day. Sure wish the doctors could diagnose this problem!

Shoplifting Disruption

MaryAnn, my friend and co-worker, and I headed over to City Creek for lunch today. We enjoyed some Kneaders and then stopped at the Tricked Out Accessories store to get protective covers put on a couple of iPhones. There was a group of teenage boys in the store when we entered and the salesman left them to come over and help us. As he installed the covers, I was aimlessly looking around the store and happened to notice one of the kids acting oddly by fiddling with his shirt and then smoothing it down carefully before turning around and walking extra slowly toward the door. He glanced up and saw me staring at him and so he did a slow turn again, went back to his original place by the display case and lifted his shirt back up to replace the earphones back on the wall that he'd had stuffed up his shirt. He acted like he was browsing again, and once again, our watching him stopped him from stealing an iPhone case when he reached to take one and glanced back to see us watching him. We mentioned the groups behavior to the salesperson and he went to where the kids had been before they left and believes that they did get away with an iPhone case, but we managed to keep them from getting anything else! So crazy!

Zabelicious

I do love me some Zabel boy cuddles in the morning. They are so sweet! Brett makes a mean breakfast burrito and we got plenty of exercise to burn those calories off when we went to play basketball at the Church. We couldn't play racquetball because family pictures were scheduled for the evening and Jenny didn't want any bumps, bruises, or scrapes on their faces beforehand. As it was, I pulled out my makeup beforehand and helped touch up their existing marks and blemishes. Yes, three of the boys (including Brett), got touch ups. =D

 

To celebrate Jeremy and Nate's birthdays, I took them out to the Yo Bar for some frozen yogurt which we then took to the park to enjoy. They are growing up so fast! And are great boys. We brainstormed about gifts that they wanted to get their parents and I was able to help them locate the present they want to give Brett. Thanks Nate for letting me be there for your steak birthday dinner!

 

The picture in white was...an experience. It was at the high school gym so there were A LOT of people who got to see them all walk inside in white. Jenny was a bit embarrassed. I was there to help get the kids to smile, but the photographer made me stand away from everyone because all the kids were looking at me instead of him. What can I say? They like me better than him! It meant though that I couldn't snap a picture when they were all sitting there so I tried to catch one when we got back to their house.

 

Nathan got a few BYU gifts: earphones, hat, and chair!

Waiting an hour in the bleachers for our turn.

Apparently Brett and Jer have been arguing a bit more than usual
lately. So glad I was able to catch one of the times on camera!

TJ and Chris were the HARDEST to get to give real smiles!



Friday Night Fun

Traditionally in our family, the day after Thanksgiving is spent putting up the Christmas decorations. Mom wasn't home in the morning so I decided I would start without her and at least put up the nativity sets. She still wasn't home so I did the living room Christmas tree. She still wasn't home so I did the banisters. When she still wasn't home, I did the family room nativity as well, the Christmas tree in there and hung up all the wall decorations. I had time to vacuum and sweep and then headed in to shower. Which is when she got home, and then turned around and headed out again for Tucano's and a movie with Kevin. I have since decided that on my next work holiday, I'm going to be checking out what is going on before spending the day on my own.

 

Fortunately, most of the rest of the family met up in the evening to go to the Jazz basketball game together. We had the highest nose bleed seats you can get, but as the game was against Sacramento so we got to see Jimmer AND there was a come from behind win in the last two minutes of the game, it was all worth it! I hitched a ride with the Zabel's back to Heber to spend the night so we could celebrate Nathan's birthday tomorrow a week early.

 

We enjoyed some cotton candy at the game if you can't tell.
That and making crazy faces at the camera.

 

Thanksgiving Improvement

This year was not as bad as past years have been for our Thanksgiving celebration. I even baked for it and made Oreo truffles and Crack bars. The division of labor was better and people seemed a bit happier than usual. That's success right there! We had the monthly family birthday party afterward to celebrate Nate, Brett, and Jeremy.

 

Black Friday started early with what is now called Gray Thursday. Lori and Cody went and hit the sales and left a sleeping Ari at home...sleeping for 20 min that is. She decided she wanted to get up after that and pulled some pretty sad faces during the course of the evening. I did not get the TV I wanted. :-(  I need to pull some Ari faces now.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma Backlund's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. She went and ate at Sherry's, but when she got back to our house, I pulled out my cello and played In the Garden for her. She sang along for the two verses I played. I thought it turned out nice!

Shaken, Not Stirred

The couple missionaries in my parents ward were asked to put on the Thanksgiving dinner for their Spanish ward. As my parents are the diligent ones for that, they begged me to come down and help them do this dinner. Taylor and Kevin were also recruited and Lori even came with Ari. The sister missionaries were a huge help too. It was A LOT of setup and cleanup and was probably the first time in that ward that I felt used instead of appreciated. It didn't help that when one of the ward members spoke to me, I was called the 'grandota', meaning the big, huge girl. I may be taking a break from this ward for awhile now.

 

Saturday, my friend Melissa came over and cut and straightened my hair before I headed to the movies with mom, dad, Cody, Lori, and Ari (who doesn't make a peep when she has her noise-cancelling headphones on!). We saw the new James Bond movie which I thought was really good...except for an uncomfortable moment when Javier Bardem's bad guy character made a partial pass at Bond. That was just weird. I had to send Jodie a picture of me after the movie and told her in my text that I'd just caught dad ogling my chest. Her response? "Hahahhaha-was gonna say ew. But that's hilarious." I do love this sweatshirt. French Connection United Kingdom, baby!

 

 

Today I got a new calling at Church. I am now Relief Society 4's pianist. There are five Relief Society's and 3 Elder's Quorums in my ward.

Twilight Ends at Last

My brother, Dana, won a bunch of tickets to go see the final movie in the Twilight saga at it's pre-showing before it's released tonight at midnight. I battled the rush-hour traffic to make it to PG and had dinner with my mom before heading to the Thanksgiving Point Theatre. While eating dinner, mom and I heard a funny noise. She said that she didn't know where most of the noises in her house come from anymore. I insisted that it was the garage door latching. She denied this claim. To prove I was right, I got up and opened the door into the garage...at the exact same moment that my brother-in-law, Brett, was reaching for the door to come in from the darkened garage. Needless to say...it may have scared me just a little. Okay, maybe more than a little. In fact, I may have sprayed the cracker that I was in the process of eating all over the kitchen. Mom laughed so hard there were tears. And at the end of it, what does she say? 'NOW how do you feel about being right?!' It was pretty humorous.

 

The whole evening was a success in my book. It was a free movie, we got gift bags entering the theatre which had $5 gift cards in each one that you could use in any Megaplex theatre, my number was drawn in the pre-showing raffle and I won a camouflage hat (not as cool as Dana's $15 iTunes gift card, but Micah is going to seriously love this hat!), Ari sported her noise-cancelling headphones and was quiet the entire show, and it was a good movie! What more can you ask for?

Winter at Last!

The meterologist broadcast snowy conditions for this past weekend. It ended up snowing non-stop in Salt Lake all day Friday. I petitioned all day at work to be let out early, but the roads were still warm enough that the snow wasn't piling up there even though it was everywhere else. Turns out the general authorities let all their secretaries go early but everyone else had to stay. :-( 

 

As this was my first weekend home in quite some time, I decided to make the most of it. I slept 10 1/2 hours Friday night, took a two hour soak in the bathtub, and then made a run to Sweet Tooth Fairy to pick up a caramel apple for Dana for his birthday. The snow was really piled up by this point but I made it safely on the roads still. It was a lovely day. Especially since I'd picked myself up a Red Velvet Cupcake...

 

Sunday I was supposed to drive down after Church to Pleasant Grove for the combined family bday party. My Church was cancelled for the day though because of the bad weather (it was still snowing). I couldn't get ahold of anyone though to see if the party was cancelled too so I decided to brave the roads and make the journey. Turns out that once you hit 4500 South, it was clear roads and skies. By the time I got to PG, there was hardly even a skiff of snow in the yards! It was a completely different world. I'm glad I got the snow though because winter is my favorite time of year! The family party was fun and I spent the night afterward and drove up to work this morning from Utah County. I got in some good time with mom.

 

Tonight I pulled the cello out to start practicing a song for grandma's birthday next week. It's pretty much been a year since I played last and the total time that I played last year was really only about 4 to 5 months. Four months really. So, it was like starting over from scratch again. I even had to google what note the strings are supposed to be so I could tune them correctly! Then I went through all my old books to re-teach myself the notes and then played. It was almost two hours total and I pretty much relearned the cello completely. I could play grandma's song by the end of the practice session, but I'm going to have to keep practicing to make it perfect. Made my string finger SORE though!

The snow piling up when it was still early in the weekend.
Two of us shoveled twice Sunday morning and it still needed
it again so the third roommate did it that afternoon!

Lori and Cody heard about the Zabel's rubber spider in the bed trick so
they tried the rubber mouse tactic. Made me laugh so hard when I saw it!

I love Sudoku and a co-worker sent this Samurai
version to me. I finished it in two hours. Yay!

 

Catch Up

Since this week was just more of the usual now that I've finally gotten caught up at work from before my Alaska trip, and extra-curricular activities slowed down a bit too, I thought I would take the chance to catch up on some pictures that I thought were super cute and missed putting them in earlier in my blog.  I love Jeffrey's pink kissy lips! And the boys were all trying to raise one eybrow without much success. Either I was winked at, scowled at, or was on the receiving end of some pretty funny looks!

 



Did I mention that for my birthday, the Zabel boys drew things that reminded them of me or of both us on coasters? They are on display in my room. Also, I found this picture of a bearded winter cap. It's called a Beardo and I wish they weren't $45 because I want to get one for Jeremy and Nate so bad!

 

 

Cowboy Church

Cowboy Poetry has been in Heber this past weekend. To wrap up the event, they do an event on Sunday called Cowboy Church where all the performers sing religious songs or tell religious stories. Jenny got mom, dad, grandma Backlund, and I tickets to attend with her family. Brett went a little early and saved us seats. Micah had a drawing on display during the weekend that he had submitted. He was the winner of the contest and received $50 for it! The show was SO good! I had tears just pouring down my face when one of the cowboys sang How Great Thou Art. The Bar J Wranglers were the main act and did a great job. They always make me laugh! I loved seeing Nate helping mom walk out to the car afterward and Jeremy and Brett helped grandma. They're such good boys (Brett included)!

 

 

Traveling South Again

I've decided to do a more personal approach towards birthday gifts for the nieces and nephews. Bryan and Bailey were my first guinea pigs. I drove down to Pleasant Grove Friday night and picked up Bailey and Bryan and took them to McDonald's for an ice cream. Turns out they hadn't had dinner so I also got them a hamburger and then let them play on the playground. I was going to let them play for as long as they wanted, but after there weren't any signs of letting up an hour and a half later, I rounded them up and we headed home.

 

Today is Dana's birthday and also Bryan's baptism. What a good present for a father! Mom gave the baptism talk. She said she never gets to just sit back and relax at these events. I mentioned that it's because it's the grandchildren choosing who speaks and they always want someone special to do it like grandma. We met at Dana's afterward for lunch and a chat. They didn't look like they were going to be playing games so Lori and I took off and went to see the movie Taken 2. Lori had gotten some noise-cancelling headphones for Ari (my suggestion) and we decided to try it out. She was quiet the entire movie! Plus she looked super cute like she was out on the town with the girls and enjoying it. Turns out the family ended up playing games afterall, but oh well because we had fun at the movies!

 

I was taking the picture of Bryan and Bailey photobombed us!

Oh yeah!



Felix Fun and Friend Flashbacks

To belatedly celebrate Amanda's birthday, we went out to eat last night at a Vietnamese restaurant downtown, did a traditional Hatch's run, and then went to the movies and saw Pitch Perfect. I laughed so hard in the movie and at one point, actually had to hide my face in Amy's shoulder because I was grossing out from the scene on screen. Fun times!

 

Tonight I met up with my old visiting teachers for dinner at City Creek. One has left the Church and is dating all these non-member guys. I asked her about how she is doing and we had a good conversation. She even got teary-eyed and cried at one point where I'm pretty sure she felt the spirit. Who knows if this night might have a good effect on her in the future!



Zabel Zoo

The title of this blog entry isn't quite right because the Zabel boys are actually quite well-mannered. They push me out of the kitchen so that they can make dinner, do the dishes, etc. Jer even cleaned toilets at one point!

 

Brett had a conference in St. George so Jenny went with him for a long weekend away/anniversary celebration. I drove to Heber Thursday after work and spent the night there. I. LOVE. spending. time. with. these. boys! They say the funniest things! Yes I did scare myself to death Thursday night in the dim hall lighting by the plastic Halloween decoration spider on the wall. What do they do when they hear the story? Hide a giant rubber spider in my bed after which TJ comes to me and emphatically says, 'T, we didn't put anything in your bed. There's nothing in your bed!' Suspicious much? Hilarious more like it. I drove in to work Friday morning but it was so hard leaving them at the house still to get off to school and the babysitters. They did a good job of it though and I took off a bit early so I could get there by the time they got out of school in the afternoon. Lori came up Friday night and spent the night w/Ari so we could go and play racquetball in the morning. After she left from the Rec, I stayed there w/the boys and let them tire themselves out playing soccer and football. Then we picked up a pizza and watched a movie together. I think they enjoy having me over as much as I like going there. I spent Saturday night there too because Sunday was the Primary program. Micah had his part memorized which he'd done on his own. TJ did really well reading his and Chris even had his sentence memorized. I was sad to leave and go back to my own house!

 

Jer having 1st dinner. He went back for more that night.

Love the kisses!

The giant rubber spider in my bed.



Stuffed to the Gills

This week has caused me to be stuffed to the gills, but it was worth it!

 

Monday was a nice surprise when Sarah called and asked if she could come up for lunch with me, Lori, Ari, and Brittany. We met at the Nauvoo Cafe and had a good chat. I'm so glad they came!

 

Tuesday I had two lunches and a dinner. The first lunch was at Nauvoo Cafe again to do a review with some of the ushers of how the seminar went last week. I left immediately from there and met up at Farr's Sandwich and Ice Cream Shop across the street to have lunch with Shauna and Karen who were up again for family history. Shauna brought me a jug of fresh pressed cider from the apple orchard that she has. They also treated me to lunch. Have I mentioned how much I like spending time with them? We always laugh so hard! Then that night, Brittany Pacini and I met up to pick up Winger's and to listen to the last hour and a half of our Audiobook that we didn't get to finish from our Alaska trip. I felt like I rolled to bed after this day of food!

 

Wednesday my entire division at work went to the Lion House for a farewell luncheon for my boss Randy Rasmussen. He retires at the end of this week and we wanted to give him a proper send-off.

 

Thursday I had lunch with a friend in my ward who also works at the Church Office Building. It's a standing appointment that we have every other week. It almost made me late though to my boss' retirement farewell over in the chapel of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Considering I was the prelude music...it was not good. Desserts were served there. Loved the key lime because it had this delicious nut crust! Of course, I really didn't need anymore food by this time...