Thursday, November 06, 2008

NYC

Despite the fact that my brothers are get better looking with age--thank goodness--and my nieces and nephews are adorable, it's time to shift gears and browse through a few NYC pix I took last month. I realize they can't compete with button noses and dimples (no, not on Todd and Scott) but I wanted to show a few since most of the pictures I take get stored on disks and are never seen by anyone but me. I also want to announce the completion of my soon-to-be-released website: keithjohnsonphoto.com. It's not up yet, but I will let you all know when the release date is.

Here is a bit of background on some of the pix. While visiting The Statue of Liberty, I found a coupld of kids with NY caps on and tried to shoot something a little different. The clouds and sky were perfect for a silhouette as well. The gentleman with the "Love" glasses on is from Sweden and plays his guitar in Times Square. He told me he was having an off night as far as the way his music sounded, but I could have told him that long before. The older gentleman was just traveling from East to West and was relaxing in Central Park. Nice guy. All he knew about Utah was that it, "snowed a lot and everyone looks the same." Accurate. You will no doubt recognize the "Naked Cowboy." Nice gentleman, and quite approachable for a being a muscular man in his underpants singing in the middle of the street. I'm thinking of learning how to play the Kazoo, buying a cowboy hat and wandering Times Square in my briefs. I'll call myself the Cashmere Kazoo Cowboy. I'll be able to outlast Mr. Naked due to my natural fur coat....also my trademark. The two 3-paneled pictures are just spliced images I shot in the subway where a preacher had lined scriptural cards agains the walls. You know I can't pass up a good religious-themed photo, so this is the result. I was going to frame one and enter it in this year's Relgion and Spiritual show in Springville, but ironically, the trip that produced the image also financially prevented it from being framed and entered. Cruel irony!!! I think the rest of the pix are pretty self-explanatory. I do want to point out the look on the Taxi driver's face. Priceless. Oh, there is also a rare photo of me, taken by Andrea who commandeered my camera while we were dining at a burger called the Shake Shack I think in a little park in Manhattan. The elusive photographer captured on film in his natural habitat.

Bubba and Weasel are busy and big. Bubba, of course, is playing soccer constantly. Note: steer your children toward less expensive sports such as checkers and badminton. Scott might not have to worry about soccer, but will be traveling extensively as the boys get older and are involved in the debate club, drama club, young entrepreneurs and the math olympics. The only real cost will be the medical bills when the two kids get their nerdy butts kicked everyday after school. Have no fear, Margie will protect them and fix the holes in their little sweater vests.
Todd will also probably have his hads full. Despite his lack of coordination, his girls actually show some athletic promise thanks to their mother. Sports camps will be expensive, but I'm not sure how much it costs to send young girls to filing camp. Look into that Todd.

Hope everyone's well. Again, my siblings all get better with age. Yes, I'm including myself in that distinguished group.

KJ





























Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Dragons and Skeletons and Birthday Boys...Oh, My!

Here are some pictures from our Halloween adventure and Rex's 2nd Birthday. There are also a few pictures from our most recent family photo shoot. We've taken family photos into our own hands lately with our trusty tripod. We get mixed results.
This picture was taken after the boys had just finished a huge smooch-fest between the two of them. They thought they were being pretty funny by giving each other big wet kisses...
on the mouth.

90% of the photos of us all together turned out like this.

One of the 10% that didn't

Enjoying the spoils of their labors

Heading out to Trick or Treat. Even though Felix was the dragon, Rex was the one telling all the neighbors in a scary voice, "I'm going to burn you!" After which, he'd blow "fire" out of his mouth.

Trucks, trucks, trucks! Thanks for all the birthday gifts everyone!
Blowing out the candles with big brother's help

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Happy Halloween!





Here are some pictures from our Halloween festivities the last few days. We're mad at ourselves for not having the camera at Melaleuca's Halloween Bash on Thursday. All the departments decorate in different themes and then the employees can go through with their kids (an estimated 1,400 kids went through between 8-5). Some of the different themes were: Star Wars, High School Musical (this group won the best overall award as they incorporated a choreographed dance routine every 15 minutes or so), Pirates, Rock Band, Spook Alley, Jungle, and more. The girls loved it - well, Macie was a little skeptical of Chewbacca, Darth Maul, Darth Vader and pretty much everything else.
Riley was WordGirl; Macie was WordGirl's greatest ally, Captain Huggy Face; and Charlotte was a little piggy.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Todd's Vegas Visit


We enjoyed having Todd visit for a few days last week. When he finished with meetings we were able to see a few sights, find a suit for him, and do lots of eating--after all, we are Johnsons!
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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Apple Pick'n















We went and picked apples last night at a small family-owned orchard. They sell yummy Honey Crisp apples for just $5 per bushel if you pick them. We had a great time. The family was making apple juice in the backyard and they let us have a taste - it was delicious. The dad joked that all his neighbors call it the 'Nectar of the Gods'.

Friday, October 17, 2008

My own blog...

Here's the link to my personal blog...check it out!

http://lvlibrarygirl.blogspot.com/

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Pumpkin Decorating





Riley and Macie wanted to showoff the pumpkins they grew and decorated. These pictures were taken this morning right before it started to snow. We're currently under a Winter Storm Warning. In other news, Macie is now fully potty trained -Hurray!

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Nothing Exciting




Well, nothing very exciting has happened in our family recently, but for the sake of updating the blog I thought I'd put up a few pictures of Riley and Macie. The weather has been great in Idaho Falls up until this last Friday. Valerie and the girls even went boating on Thursday it was so nice. The water was a little chilly, but everyone had a great time. Riley is busy with Preschool, Gymnastics and socializing. Macie is busy harassing Riley, trying to become potty-trained and making us laugh. Her new favorite saying when asked to do something is "Never Again!" We're not quite sure where it came from, we have a feeling she was egged on by her big sister to say it once and it stuck. Charlotte is great and helps us keep our sanity. We might change our tone once she starts talking, but we're enjoying the moment.






Sunday, September 21, 2008

Ahoy Thar Matey!


We went sailing (a treasure hunt included) with some friends on Saturday. This is an amazing family who has been so kind to us, especially in nurturing our boys' interests. Felix adores Rob, who you'll see below, and talks about him daily. He has even been known to talk about him in his sleep! Rob is a temporarily retired school teacher who is taking time off to build a sailboat in his back yard with his dad. They plan on taking an extended sailing trip starting next fall when the boat will be completed. We often go to their house and play in the sailboat. Rob will also push the boys in his vintage sportscar, let them ride in a kid size version of Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang that his dad built for Rob when he was a little boy, and just run around for hours, non-stop spoiling the boys with treasure hunts, golfing, swinging, etc. He even answers Felix's five million questions about how things work. Felix's favorite thing to do is play with Rob's dad's train set that he got when he was 5 years old making the train about 75 years old. It still works and every Christmas they set the huge train set up around their living room. Felix was invited to help set it up this Christmas, so every day I hear, "Mommy? Is it almost Christmas?" Rex is getting old enough to form an attachment as well, although it's not as well defined as Felix's. We feel lucky to have them as friends.


Felix finding his buried treasure (shark toys and M&M's)



Rex finding his buried treasure


The Crew Rex after eating a marker...can you guess what color? Felix on his bike

Captain Felix
Felix helping Rob hoist the sails
Felix's best bud, Rob
Flying the Jolly Roger
Felix uncorking the bottle we fished out of the Lake holding the treasure map which was left by Black Beard



Friday, September 05, 2008





We went camping for two days over Labor Day weekend. We stayed at a campsite just outside of West Yellowstone. We went waterskiing, fishing, played horseshoes, and then went into Yellowstone Park on Monday. Camping with three small chilidren was an adventure, but we survived.