In Memory of Bertha Johnson, 1908-2007

This turned out to be a bit of a sad holiday for us. Marty's Grandma Johnson passed away on Monday night. We are all very relieved for her, as she has been really suffering for the last month, but we all wanted to see her live to be 100. The last couple of years that I have known her, she has absolutely amazed me. She was SO witty. She had the body of a 99 year old, but the mind of a brilliant woman in her prime (even if she did tend to repeat things!). She taught in Relief Society until she was 88 and was always having long and deep gospel discussions with us about the block of scripture that she had read that day. She is such an example of enduring to the end. She NEVER missed a BYU game, and was one of the few people that I've met who could out-shine Marty as a Cougar fan. In fact, her funeral was held on Saturday (right in the middle of the BYU-UT) game and I think I heard about 15 different people say that she was probably missing her own funeral to go to the game instead. My first experience with her was her thoughtful commentary of a jazz game and hearing, "LeBron James looks like a demon!" Yes, she was very sassy. I am grateful to have known her, and grateful that Brynn was able to meet her. She will be greatly missed.

Marty loves this picture because he loves to see Brynn's soft, newborn hands placed on top of Grandma Johnson's wrinkled...and more experienced hands. They are two sets of Heavenly hands and two very spiritual beings.

She served as an LDS missionary in the North Central States Mission, and she served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II, earning the commission of lieutenant, as well as commendations for her diligence. I think she was one of the very first women in the Coast Guard.

She graduated from Spanish Fork High School as Valedictorian and from Brigham Young University with honors. In 1928, she started her 30 year career as a Nebo School District teacher at Goshen Elementary. Decades later she was honored as one of Springville's most outstanding teachers. She was also honored as one of Nebo School District's top three teachers one year.

But as I sat in the funeral and looked over her amazing posterity, I realized that that is the most important thing she has done on this earth. The most important and eternal title she ever held was that of a mother.

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness...."

2 Timothy 4: 7-8

Thanks for Thanksgiving

This is a book I've been reading to Brynn a LOT lately! It's called "Thanks for Thanksgiving" by Julie Markes. And since our camera isn't working, I hope you don't mind all the old pictures! It was fun to go back through all of them.

Thanks for Thanksgiving, for turkey and pie.
Thank you for fall and gold leaves floating by.

Thank you for school. I love to feel smart!

Thank you for music, and dancing, and art!

Thank you for play dates, for swings and for slides.

Thank you for hopscotch and piggyback rides.

Thanks for umberellas, for rain boots and puddles.
Thank you for Mommy and warm, cozy cuddles.
Thank you for daddy and rides on a sled. (ha ha)

Thank you for kisses and tucks into bed.

Thanks for the moon and the stars up above,

But MOST of all thanks for the family I love!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

All Brynn wants for Christmas is her two front teeth

Wow, it has been SUCH a long time since I posted anything! Our camera is throwing a tantrum and we are having a hard time importing pictures, so this will probably not be my most exciting post ever. But then I did leave a post about a vegetable up for 2 weeks, right?

This has been a rough week for Brynn. She has been teething and about a week ago the poor girl cried all night long and there was nothing we could do to calm her down. We tried oragel, infant Tylenol, teething toys. We finally just put some ice in a baggie and let her chew on it. The outside of her mouth and her nose were bright red, but anytime we took it away she would SCREAM! It was heartbreaking to see how miserable she was, but she has now officially cut her teeth and she is feeling much more like herself. Which means LOTS of cute games, giggles, smiles, kisses, hugs, melting mommy's heart and wrapping daddy around her little finger!
As for Marty and me, we have been busy trying to get our little 2 bedroom town home ready to accommodate SIX guests (yes, that's in addition to our three!) over the Thanksgiving holiday. We are SOOOOO excited to welcome Marty's brother and sister in law and their adorable twin boys as well as another brother and Brynn's Grandpa Neil! I can't wait to see you all!
As soon as we figure out what's wrong with our camera, I will be sure to post some pictures - we have some REALLY fun new ones!

I have a date with my squash partner

I actually do have some idea about how nerdy this is, and yes, I will probably regret posting this later...but I'm doing it anyway! Ok, so I am borderline obsessed with squash. It is one of my absolute favorite foods and one of the reasons I was excited for fall this year. Unfortunately, there are not many (including Marty) who share my...passion for this food. So you can imagine how excited, no - ECSTATIC I was when I discovered how much Brynn loves squash. I can put just about type of food, even sweet foods, on her high chair and she will eat the squash before anything else. So, everyday for the last couple of weeks Brynn and I have been eating squash for lunch and it has been SO fun! As Brynn has been growing and learning how to play games she has really become my little buddy keeping me company during the day. So now I just have a couple of questions. 1. Does anyone out there have any good squash recipes? I have a really good acorn squash recipe, but pretty much all other squashes I just bake. 2. Why is it so hard to find banana squash around here? And 3. Did I lose any friends with this post? :)