This year I asked Brian to write our Christmas letter...
It has been a busy and a great year for us. We are still in lovely Stansbury Park, Utah and have been here now for 8 years. When we moved in we received a thick packet in the mail warning us of what to do if a chemical leak happened at the Army’s Chemical Depot. So far we still haven’t had to use the duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal off our doors and windows. Despite the risk of a painful death, we really like it here. We live in a great ward and neighborhood, have some good friends, and enjoy some pretty amazing sunsets.
That is not to say that excitement doesn’t happen here, it is just that usually the excitement is home grown.
For example, we were pretty sure that Ben broke his toe a couple months ago when he kicked the door late on a Saturday night but decided to wait until Sunday to be “sure”. Well, it was black and blue in the morning so we took him to InstaCare. We figured that we might as well take Elyssa too since she had been limping since Monday. She is constantly nursing one little injury or another with this one happening when she jumped off the playground at school. The InstaCare folks were excited to see us and x-rayed 2 little feet. Yep, Ben’s toe was broken, and yep, Elyssa’s lower leg was broken (cracked)….but they both got better. Ben also had to deal with stitches on his chin twice this year and over Elyssa’s short life she has had cracked bones in her leg, foot, arm, another leg and had a dislocated elbow. She has absolutely no fear and gets herself into the worst situations daily. The orthopedic doctor said her bones look good and that he is looking forward to our visit again next year.
This year, Andrew had surgery on his jaw. He had an under bite like a piranha or spawning salmon so this surgery had been planned for quite a while. We just didn’t realize how big of a deal it was going to be. The surgeon suggested we do other “work” while we were at it but we decided to stick with the surgery that would help him to actually bite and chew food. The surgery lasted 3 hours and involved detaching all the muscles and tendons around his jaw, moving both upper and lower jaws and screwing in titanium plates to hold everything in place. This left him trying to figure out how to breathe and how to drink his meals through his mouth which was rubber banded shut. For 5 weeks he had to keep scissors close by to cut the bands if at some point he couldn’t breathe anymore. Andrew’s favorite meal was a coconut/choco/peanut butter shake. (Thanks Linda!)
Gavin’s adventure was less planned. He celebrated his birthday in January by having a seizure during lunch at the school cafeteria. Brittany ran to get help from the office and Julie called me on her way to the school. It was terrible not knowing what was happening as I headed to the hospital where Gavin was slowly becoming aware of what was going on around him. He didn’t remember lunch/seizure/or the ride to the hospital. He had a lot of tests which was good because we were able to rule out all of the really bad stuff that could be the cause. The Neurologist said that there was a good chance that he would never have another seizure. His second seizure came in October during his Language Arts class. Gavin has decided that they aren’t any fun. The plus side is that everyone at school knows who he is. Unfortunately, it seems to have affected his grades since he has fewer A+’s and more grades that are just A’s.
I love the scouting program and took the boys backpacking up into the High Uintah’s this year. I was glad I brought along a big umbrella and a huge tarp because it rained constantly. The first night we huddled around little backpacking stoves and tried to stay dry in our tents and under the tarp. Gavin figured out a way to stay warm when he dropped a faulty stove that burst into flames. I kicked it away from the backpacks and ended up catching a small pine tree on fire. The second night we found a secluded valley away from the lakes where we could light a fire in a more traditional manner. It took us awhile to get it lit with the wet wood but we warmed up nicely when I showed the scouts how to build a campfire by feeding it with long tree trunks.
Our kids experienced new things this year at the Johnson Family Reunion near Bear Lake; jet skiing, making PVC bow and arrows, playing sardines, looking through Mike’s telescope at galaxies and trying to spot meteors during the meteor shower. My most memorable experience was hiking through the Minnetonka Caves with the family. When we got all the way to the back of the cave Elyssa informed our tour guide that she really had to pee. Unfortunately, there was no way we were going to make it back to the entrance. I think there is a rule against peeing in the cave but I told Elyssa that the bats do it all the time. Elyssa’s other pee story is that we found a half filled Mason jar in her bedroom. Amazing huh?! I’m not even sure my boys could do that successfully.
It is difficult even for us to tell whether or not Ben and Sam are playing or fighting. Sometimes I think that they alternate between the two every few minutes. The weapons of choice are usually swords. But what they seem really good at is working together to sneak in time on the computer or Wii after they are supposed to be asleep. Sometimes they also get caught reading when they should be asleep, but this seems to be a problem(?) for all of the kids.
Brittany is now a freshman in high school and has found that she loves debate. I’m not surprised how good she is at it considering that she has been practicing with her parents for years. Brittany has grown a lot this year but is still a little shorter than her mom. I think that she is hoping that regularly sleeping in will help her grow that last inch.
After 4 years of working with the scouts and young men I was released in August and Julie was called to be the young women’s president. I am still suffering from severe withdrawals but I am excited for the experiences Julie will have. I am now the Family History Consultant for the ward and I am loving it.
I still work for the church working with FamilySearch. My work takes me to North and South America to capture digital copies of Birth, Marriage and Death records from archives that then get published on FamilySearch so that people can use them to do genealogy work. I love what I do and work with some pretty amazing people.
I cannot believe that Elyssa is now a kindergartner. She loves going to school with 3 of her big brothers, loves lunch, and drawing. She tells everyone that she is an artist and frequently opens up the store to sell her artwork. You could say I am a patron of the arts but I was less excited when she turned her bedroom walls into her canvas using Sharpie markers to express herself. (Sharpie markers have been removed from her craft supplies).
Everybody is growing up and we all celebrated birthdays this year. I turned 45, Julie 30, Andrew 19, Brittany 15, Gavin 13, Ben 10, Sam 7, and Elyssa 5. Really, everybody is doing great. I’m proud of my kids, I love my wife, I can tolerate the cat, and I am happy that we can call you our friend.
In this holiday season we wish you and yours the very best. Our family has ups and downs like any family but we find joy and peace in trying to learn how to love others more than ourselves and in trying to follow the Savior’s example. Through him we find hope for a bright future and happiness today. The journey can be pretty challenging at times but the company is great and the views along the way are amazing.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
