Definitely not in Idaho...

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman...
In the sun it melted, melted, melted...
Our snow certainly can't compete with that stuff you grow in Idaho, but here's a taste of a Pittsburgh winter for you. You'd think that since the grass looks somewhat green you'd want to go outside and play. Think again! It's cold! And windy! We lost our garbage cans in a wind storm last week. Spring can't come soon enough!

REUNION UPDATE...

I'm sure you all know by now, but just to record it on the blog for future reference, we are booked at the Northstar Lodge for July 2009. We check in on Thursday, July 2nd, at 3pm and check out on Sunday, the 5th, at 10am. We were able to book for 3 days which will save us all some money; however, we want to keep the monthly payment plan Scott proposed the same. By doing this, we will have plenty of money for food and extra curricular activities, so we don't have to dig in our pockets for extra cash while we're there because it will already be paid for. Some things to look forward to, in addition to being together as a family:

1.) 4th of July fireworks show over the lake
2.) Paddle boats on the pond by the cabin
3.) More hot-tubbing
4.) Hiking through Glacier National Park
5.) Indoor pools and slides nearby at The Wave
6.) And much more!

Don't forget to get those payments to Grandpa J. at the end of each month. He's already put money down for a deposit, so let's make sure he gets paid back!

Can't wait to see you all! Only 147 days to go!

Will it ever end?!

The girls were stir crazy yesterday so we ventured out and built a snow cave, swung on the swings and jumped on the trampoline. With no end in sight for the snow, we had to do something to break the monotony. We are hoping the snow melts before it starts falling again next fall.

Scooped Again

By now I suspect most of you have heard that President Hinckley passed away tonight. I just IM'ed the news to the Arvada clan and learned I had been scooped by Amy. We will miss him.

Moreover, on one other related note, we went to desnews.com to "read all about it" only to get...nothing. So we had to turn to the SL Trib and its article prominently reporting how he promised when the 2002 Olympics came that "everyone could get a drink here."

Can you pass along my frustration that the website was down, Keith? Or am I going to have to write to the editor?

Viva Mexico!!

It's official...I'm going to Mexico next month with the charity that I am going to do the book drive for. They take trips down there every month or so to do work for the orphanages that they support and spend time with the kids. I found out officially last night that I need to raise money to go, so I'm starting with you...my favorite people in the world! :) Now, please keep in mind that I will also be coming to you when I start doing the book drive, so don't put all of your charitable eggs into one basket! If any of you are willing/able to donate some money for my trip, I would be ever so grateful! I'm supposed to raise $100, but also have to pay a $100 registration fee, so I'm shooting higher than $100. I'll take whatever you can give me...$5.00, $10.00, whatever! And if donating money for my trip to Mexico isn't in your budget right now, I totally understand, and hope you'll just pray that I survive camping on the beach (not exactly my cup of tea!). Gracias in advance! :D

Keep Christmas with You

Reunion News

From Karen:
I'm using my "blogging buddy" to help me post a message again because when Amy was home for Christmas, she tried to figure out what our problem is and she said that we're still not "authorized contributors" on the blog.

It looks like Glacier National Park is a GO for the 2009 Reunion! It sound like there's a lot to do there, no one has been there before, and it's a reasonable distance for everyone to travel...except Scott and Margie, but they're willing to make the trip. We'll go ahead and use the payment plan that Scott suggested. It will probably be better to have one person in charge of the money because I'm sure we'll have to make a deposit at some point...Dad will be the banker. (I hope we can trust him with his sweater fettish!) So, the first installment will be due by Jan. 31st!!

Amy's co-worker, Patrick, saw our calendar from the last reunion and said that he wants to be a Johnson. We are so lucky to have such a close-knit, loving family.

We love you all!
Karen

Tractor Sledding

Two videos and a few pictures of Riley and her cousins sledding at Great Grandma Madsen's Farm. Riley thought this was the coolest thing, ever!

1st Ever JFRF

I think you're definitely onto something with the JFRF, Grandma. And although I hate to admit it, because your math works to my own family's advantage, I don't know that the exact solution you proposed is completely fair yet.

Seems like a fairer solution would be to have the base rate be maybe more like $16.00 for each of the people you mentioned, with an additional $4.50 for each member of the boys' families (the ones with kids).

This particularly strikes me as more equitable considering that the solution you propose will result in a situation where some of the individual contributors will be sharing rooms or even beds with one or more "roommates" (possibly loud snorers at that!), despite having paid just as much as the families, who'll be eating more food and presumably getting at least their own room (or more than one split rooms, albeit with some of their own loud snorers, too).

I think a "middle-ground" solution that shares the burden but also does take into account family size and still gets us to the same total amount would be a good compromise. The split I have proposed above is only one possible way to split the load...the split could be designed to require either more or less money from the families with kids, depending on the group's perceptions of fairness.

Below follows the math I did. I based my calculation on my best understanding of how Grandma and Grandpa arrived at their original JFRF proposal. The main place where I made an assumption was that I understood from Grandma’s note (and my attempt to re-create Grandma and Grandpa's math seemed to support this conclusion) that Grandma and Grandpa would be contributing a double payment. If I misunderstood, I can easily change my spreadsheet to adjust for any inaccuracies in my assumptions.

Thanks for the good idea, Grandma. What does everyone think of it? The Pittsburgh Johnson are on board as long as everyone agrees and we can find a solution that's just.

Scott

Big Sky Country (JFR 2009)

In an earlier post, you might recall that we suggested holding the next Johnson Family Reunion (JFR) at Glacier National Park (GNP). There wasn't much response to this suggestion, but we did a bit of research anyway, since group lodging quickly fills far in advance at Glacier. We researched doing a cabin like in Wyoming where we all can stay or doing separate hotel rooms, and the group cabin turned out to be the cheapest. Here is a link to the cabin we found:

http://www.haymoonresort.com/LODGING/northstar.htm

It does require a 4 night minimum stay which, after the Montana 7% bed tax, would bring the lodging total to $147 per person for a four night stay. (Rates go up slightly after Feb. 1st, 2008). We thought it might be convienient to hold the reunion around the 4th of July and know that the cabin has no current bookings for the month of July, 2009.

We're also researching a Bed and Breakfast that we hope to have more info on after talking to someone there. Here's the link to it:

http://www.badrock.com/index.html

Let us know who's interested. We're definitely planning on going to Glacier that summer, and think it would be a great place to hold a JFR. There aren't many places that compare to the beauty of Glacier as seen above, so how can you resist? If we plan on it now, it gives everyone

1 1/2 years to save money and plan for transportation. The good news is that it's conceivably within driving distance for most everyone. See below:

Idaho Falls: 434 mi – about 6 hours 48 mins

Salt Lake City: 646 mi – about 9 hours 38 mins

Springville: 693 mi – about 10 hours 23 mins

Arvada: 1,018 mi – about 14 hours 36 mins
Las Vegas: 1,064 mi – about 15 hours 28 mins

Pittsburgh: 2,056 mi – about 1 day 8 hours

Share your thoughts! We're waiting...

Christmas in the 'Burgh

We had a Merry Christmas in Pittsburgh and have a few pictures to share. I never take as many as I intend to on Christmas Day, so some are from a day or 2 after the big celebration. We had a Christmas house guest who made his way into a couple of the shots. We are very ready for Otto's mommy and daddy to come pick him up this evening. We never thought we'd meet another soul more needy than our boys, but this Christmas we did.

Christmas In Idaho Falls - 2007

Here are some pictures of Christmas in Idaho Falls. As evidenced by the pictures, Riley and Macie made out like Queens. We are just waiting for the broken limbs to occur due to the rollerskates and trampoline.

KJ needs a new shoe...

I'm sure it is no secret to our family, my co-workers and now UTA commuters in SLC, that I LOVE my freaky shoes. So if anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas, feel free to go onto Zappos.com, find the craziest size 13 you can find and order me only the left shoe. (There's got to be a market for single shoes out there with all the amputees hobbling around and tipping over out there. Maybe my million $ idea...ANYWAY)

The reason I need the new shoe is because I rammed my foot so far down my gullet with my last blog rant that I can't seem to retrieve my shoe. Everytime I burp it tastes like rubber. If only I had put that Heinze horseradish sauce on it. Next time.

This is the part where I apologize to Valerie for being a jackass (me being the jackass not her). Certainly she and Todd have a lot on their plate right now. I obviously wasn't taking anyone else's situation into account when I let me fingers do the walking and my brain do the napping. But coming from a dad of two girls, I can say with some authority on the subject, that T&V are great parents and have amazing kids. There is no debating that my fiesty little 4-yr-old niece is giving Todd premature gray hair. Good. He deserves it. :-) But don't be discouraged. Riles is, and always will be, a head-strong individual. Heaven knows there are a few of those types who have done the doggie paddle around the Johnson gene pool over the years. In the meantime, hang in there. If you need to send her to Uncle KJ's Boot Camp for Nieces and Midgets (the two markets were too small to stay afloat on their own) send her on a long-distance field trip. I don't have any magic tricks or wise advice to give when it comes to raising kids, but I can take her everywhere I go on the bus and train and keep her occupied during my adventures downtown. It helped Wendy and me with both Bubba and The Weasel.

In conclusion (finally) let it be known that I concur that there are more important things than a $15 gift at Christmas. Fortunately, in our family, there is no doubt in anyone's mind whether they are loved....no matter what (I can attest to this personally from many situations that have occured in my life. I've never felt any judgement or lack of support. Thanks) so in actuality, a small gift is just a simple token of a much larger, more important gift that could never be purchased, packaged or EVER returned.

If you need anything T&V, just say the word.

KJ

Our chumpty little ELVES???

Apparently I have too much time on my hands, but hopefully the result will be entertaining for the rest of you!! Watch our little elves get dddooowwwnnn!! :)

(You have to click on the link below to see the action!!)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1530892445

Let's hear it for ME!!

I just submitted the grades for my class, and I am happy to have it over with! Whew! Here's hoping that I don't find reasons to stress and second-guess...that became a hobby of mine this semester. It was a good experience, but I am GLAD it is over and look forward to having some free time on my hands! Free time...what's that??

On a completely unrelated note, here's a picture from my Disneyland adventure with Jamie. There are many more to share, but this will be a little teaser for you!

Riley's 4th B-Day/Santa Clause/Snow

Here are a few pictures of Riley's Birthday and the happenings since.