Napoleon Dynamite Moment

Yesterday was Walt's birthday, and it was fun to do special things for him and to remember the first birthday that I knew him. It was October, 2005, and we'd just started noticing each other. I left a cupcake and a note on his truck that morning before he went to work, and in the evening when I was coming home from my cousin's house I noticed his truck driving slowly past my door. I parked and got out, and he and his sister invited me to come to a movie with them. My thinking was something like "Oh Baby! YESSSSSSSS!" But I just said, "Sure, that'd be fun!" :) And here we are four birthdays later.

My Aunt Kelley and some of her family came to visit from Arizona and were staying at another aunt's house in Highland, so yesterday I packed Isaac up and spent a good part of the day with them having fun. On the freeway as I drove there, traffic suddenly slowed to a crawl. I could see flashing lights ahead and thought there must be an accident. But moments later a trooper SUV passed me on the shoulder, parked a few cars ahead of me, and the trooper jumped out with a rifle! "Oh there's a bad guy! This is getting exciting!", I thought. It wasn't long before the bad guy ran past my car window. But he wasn't a bad guy at all - just a poor frantic cow trying to figure out how he got on the freeway. The trooper pointed the rifle at him (must have been a tranquilizer gun)and I suddenly saw in my mind the scene from Napoleon Dynamite where the farmer shoots his cow right as the school bus full of children drives by. Luckily no school buses were around, and cow was faster than the trooper. Traffic picked up again and I'll never know the rest of the story. But it was sure a unique experience!

Things and stuff

I've put off writing a new entry because I can't think of anything interesting to write about. I mean my life is interesting to me, but I'm not sure the day to day ordinary stuff will always be very interesting to other people.

Hey, tomorrow I get to go to the church meat packing plant to help pack meat. That's cool. Hmmm. BYU lost their game pretty badly yesterday. But at least we got to be at my grandma's house with lots of family to cringe and sob through the game together. Oh, I finished making a quilted table runner (my first) and received a walking foot I'd ordered in the mail for my sewing machine. Walt said he's going to tell people I've started using a walker, and he mentioned with a twinkle in his eye that the new foot "seams" to work really well.

Please vote on my poll on the right side of my blog. Thanks!

Moab Trip

We left Thursday evening for a weekend in Moab. Walt and his brother love mountain biking, so the last few years they've met up to do several rides together. I think we're starting an annual tradition. Stan and his riding buddy drove up from Arizona, two more friends from their graduate school days drove down from Logan, we drove from Provo, and one of Walt's co-workers and his wife (who is an awesome biker) drove down from Salt Lake. They decided to do a ride called "The Whole Enchilada". Turned out they bit off almost more than they could chew once several repairs and a broken foot were factored in. Walt left the hotel at 8:00 in the morning and they got to the end of the trail at 6:30 that evening. The friend who broke his foot had to be carried out for the last mile and taken straight to the emergency room. He was a trooper! The break was pretty bad and will require pins. Ouch!! They were all exhausted but loved it. The next morning we all went shooting for a couple hours. I shot five bullets and got a bullseye and knocked a can off an old couch. Just call me Crackshot Johnson. :)

Yesterday we hosted a Graden family Birthday Bash. My brother and step-mom have the same October birthday, Dad and step-brother have the same October birthday, and Walt also has an October birthday. We put the couches downstairs and had tables in the kitchen and living room so there would be seating for all 20 people to eat dinner. It was a blast!!

Here are a couple pictures from the past week:

Lilli helping me wash the carrots from our garden. We love carrots with character. This one would like to give you a High 5.




Isaac waking up from a nap.

Hey, I made cinnamon rolls and they actually turned out really good! Wow! Last time (5 years ago) I had to throw them all away. Be excited for me. :) And come over and get one if you want!

Sweet Memories

Walt and Isaac accompanied me to my 10th Mission Anniversary last night. It was so fun to see my first two companions there, both of whom I loved dearly and had great experiences with. I couldn't stop smiling remembering the sweet time that was for me and the personal growth I experienced. Difficult, yes, but so worth it!

On Sunday in Relief Society Isaac perked right up as soon as the opening hymn started and began "singing" along with a big smile on his face. Made the sisters giggle. I love my boy.