Reunion 2007, cont'd

Well, although I am too stressed to even see straight most of the time these days, Scott's comment about the Wyoming reunion location and mom's reminder that I said I would do some searching led me to do a Google hunt for Colorado reunion locations. Here are four that I came up with. I didn't have a lot of time to go over them with a fine-tooth comb, so if they are unreasonable in any way, don't shoot the messenger! :) I'm sure someone who is a little less stressed than I am :P could look some more at Colorado locations, and also do a search for Utah.
http://www.vacationsinc.com/reunions_retreats.htm

http://www.sylvandale.com/group_events/reunions_main.html

http://www.rockymountainlodge.com/

http://www.ymcarockies.org/

Who's in charge of this thing, anyway? That would probably be a good place to start...someone to take the reigns and make some executive decisions. Normally I would volunteer, but not right now! :)

reunion 07

Karen wanted me to look into this for a Johnson family reunion this summer. A girl in my ward that I visit teach is in charge of booking it (her parents own it but are on a mission). It seems a little expensive for a weekend getaway, but I guess we would be able to split it between all of us. Check it out and let me know what you think. (Yes Janet and Maggie, you will be expected to come!) At the bottom of the page there is a calendar where you can check to see when it is available. It looks like the first half of June or August would be our best bets. It's called Reunion Ranch - http://www.vrbo.com/48100
I still have to do my visiting teaching this month ....I know...but I will ask her about it - see if I can get the inside scoop.
I don't really know of anything else, but I'll keep asking around.
In other news, we loved the video of Felix sledding. How great that you have a sledding hill in your backyard! Riley has started sunbeams and loves it. I guess the only problem is that her two little friends from preschool fight over who gets to sit by her :) She is being quite the sweetheart lately. I think we have exited the violent jealous stage and entered the (mostly) helpful big sister phase. She loves to do her "exercizes" while I run on the treadmill. Sometimes she will watch "Happy, Healthy Monsters" but usually she just runs around the basement a bunch and then does some sit ups. It is pretty cute. She will even turn to the side to work her obliques. I only wish my tummy was as flat as hers. Since Christmas Riley always wants to go to Grandma Johnson's house. She obviously forgot the 12 hour drive much more quickly than we did! She is also always talking about her friends Amy, Lisa and Lizzy. We read the Dinosaur friend book tonight and she gasped, "My friend Amy gave me this book!"
And finally, her favorite new word is "thinger". Like, "Mom, will you get that thinger down for me?" or, "Daddy, what's that thinger?" Fun times. Not much else new. The temperature hasn't risen but our gas bill has :) Love you all! Let me know what you think about reunion ranch - Val

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Hurt

We finally got enough snow to go sledding in the back yard and were very excited to do so. Well, at least I was excited because I was tired of being cooped up inside and slowly watching Felix turn into a couch potato courtesy of Thomas the Tank Engine, Elmo and our newest, most annoying friend of all, Zimmo.

We bundled up and headed out. Felix was a little resistant at first because the snow kept sticking to his mittens...he has a mess fetish. We finally made it up the hill and started sliding. Lots of fun. Then, I decided to record him going down alone. By this time we had worn a pretty smooth, slick trail down the hill, and I should have known better than to send him down face first on his belly. But, down he went and BOOM! face plant into the deck. The result...see pictures.

It ended up being just one of those days because later that afternoon, Felix suffered a bloody lip after falling face first into the futon bar.

Click here to see the sad footage of Felix sliding down the hill and crashing.

Thanks and update!

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for fasting for me, praying for me, putting my name in various temples, sending kind words of comfort and support, listening to me worry/complain/cry, and just generally for all your love. Certainly all of this has helped me come to grips (more, anyway) with what is going on with me. I have good days and bad days, but I feel much less hopeless and tragic than I did last week. I have an appointment with a doctor Monday morning, and I'm hoping that he can at least get me moving in the right direction and give me SOMETHING for the meantime, until I can really and truly figure out what is going on. It has been hard and frustrating, but I am very hopeful that with medical marvels and a spiritual "push," I will be okay! Thanks again! I love all of you very much, and I'm so grateful for your love and support!

Christmas In Big-D

Finally - I've been meaning to post these since we got back, but have been Mr. Lazy Pants. I have added a link to a web album of more pictures of the fam. Hope everyone is doing well. I do have one request - I need Dad, Keith, or Scott to move to Idaho Falls so I can have a Ping-Pong partner. I have started playing Valerie with my left hand, but it's just not the same. It is a little strang playing on a ping-pong table that is missing the Guinea Pig guts. I just thought that was part of the extreme ping-pong package.








http://picasaweb.google.com/ToddValerie/DenverChristmas2006

Christmas Gift-Exchange Thanks

To the two eldest Johnson siblings: Thank you!

At left and above, respectively, you can see pictures of Margie and me enjoying our Christmas gift-exchange presents.

Lisa gave Margie new measuring cups, nice new spatulas, and a gift certificate to Applebee's (pictures of us enjoying that one will have to be forthcoming at a later date!).

Keith gave me a fancy new pair of cufflinks at Margie's suggestion, as I previously only had one pair to go with my two French-cuffed shirts. Each of Margie, Keith, and I were concerned Keith's taste wouldn't be conservative enough for his boring, conservative younger brother, but I like them. The fact the white checks in the pattern are Mother of Pearl played to a long-standing but as-yet-unfulfilled weakness of mine for that particular material.

Hopefully everyone else is also enjoying their gifts. Happy New Year!

Sleeping in a strange house

Happy New Year, everyone! I don't necessarily have anything monumental to say, just wanted to say hi! Last week I stayed with my boss's kids while she is in Guatemala. It went really well...better than I thought it would, actually! We only had a couple of meltdowns, and even those were tolerable! Now the kids have gone with their dads, and I'm staying at the house with the goofy dog. You all know how much I love dogs! :P I haven't slept well, I think mostly because it is a big house, I'm staying there alone, and the dog doesn't offer any comfort at all! She looks very much like this:

So you can imagine that she is only scary if you don't like dogs with smooshed up faces that snort like a pig because they can't breath very well!

That's about it from my neck of the woods! Oh, I did have a date last night, but don't get too excited...I had a good time, but in Keith's words "there's just no spark." Sparks are important, I don't care what anyone says! :)

Hope everyone is well, and that you have all kept your New Year's Resolutions so far!