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? :)

Welcome, Oldhams!

About a month ago my parents and my brother Corey came to visit us. It was SO fun and so good to see them! I feel bad that I didn't post it earlier, but I realized I didn't take any pictures with my camera because my parents camera is so much nicer. Well, on Saturday my mom sent the cutest Halloween care package with a few pictures from the trip inside, so better late than never, I guess!


We visited the Arizona Museum of Natural History. The only thing Brynn loved more than the dinosaurs was Grandpa!

There is nothing in the world that is sweeter than a big, wet kiss from Brynn!

Yes, it was September, but Brynn tried on her Halloween costume for the fam since they wouldn't see her until Christmas. That is my brother Corey in the background. Handsome, I know, but sorry ladies - he's taken!

And true to character, my mom TRIED not to send any pictures of her, but I did find one with her ARM in it, so...I win!

I was trying to think of a reason to post this one, but to be honest I added it just because I thought it was CUTE!

Thank you so much for coming to visit, guys! I love you!

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

I just read a good book by Mitch Albom (Tuesday's with Morrie author) called "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and thought I would post a quick quote from the book.

"Sacrifice," the captain said. "You made one. I made one. We all make them. But you were angry over yours. You kept thinking about what you lost.
"You didn't get it. Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father.
"A man goes to war...."
H stopped for a mement and looked off into the cloudy gray sky.
"Robozzo didn't die for nothing, you know. He sacrificed for his country, and his family knew it, and his kid brother went on to be a good soldier and a great man because he was inspired by it.
"I didn't die for nothing, either. That night, we might have all driven over that land mine. Then the four of us would have been gone."
Eddie shook his head. "But you..." He lowered his voice. "You lost your life."
The captain smacked his tongue on his teeth. "That's the thing. Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."

I recommend the book. Mitch Albom isn't trying to be "the authority" on heaven. He just presents some really nice concepts in the book, and I respect him for putting his "wish" (as he puts it) of what heaven is like out there.

New Carpet!

We finally have new carpet in our upstairs and it feels SO nice! The carpet was in pretty bad shape when we moved in and I have since discovered the unsettling feeling of not knowing what caused the stains that your little baby is crawling on. Brynn and I spent pretty much all day on the floor today!