My Daddy

I am tired so this won't be a long post, I do feel a need to write a little note about my dad. I have always adored this sweet, kind man. Always. He has taught me my most powerful life lessons. As a little girl, the only girl of 5 kids for 12 years, I was called openly and often his "little princess." He is the hardest worker I know. He has taught me how important it is to serve, to give and to expect nothing in return. I certainly don't come close to doing these things as well as he does, but I do try.
He is a man of honor, integrity and quite frankly, the word 'hero' falls short. He has a life story that should be written and published. He has a history rich with a Tongan culture mixed with beauty and pain.
I love you Dad, Happy Father's day.

Honey Bees

Our neighbors are bee keepers. A few weeks back, Shaun came over and asked if we wanted to watch him catch a swarm of bees. It was one of the coolest things we have ever seen. This particular swarm was in an orchard hanging off a fruit tree. That giant cluster is ALL bees. He climbed up in his bee suit and shook the branch with the swarm and they all feel into those boxes. It was amazing. The bees all dropped into the box without flying away. It was like something you would see on Animal Planet. Very cool, and no one was stung.

R. Doran Johnson

I've expressed my feelings for our wet rainy weather, yesterday I spent the rainy day with my grandpa Doran's personal history. Last week I had to give a Sunday church lesson on family history. I enjoy this topic. It doesn't scare me like say the topic of temple marriage. Temple marriage is tough for me, it's important, it's a big one and I am always so worried I won't help the girls understand and fully comprehend the BIG issues of the gospel. I joke around a lot, and I'm sarcastic and I always have a can of diet coke in my hand, the cuss words, "shit, damn and hell" come out of my mouth several times a day. But, truth be told, I have a strong conviction of the truth of the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I worry that the girls I work with don't see that part of me enough.
Back to the point of this entry, I was working on the family history lesson and I came across a big black binder of my grandfathers history. Ralph Doran Johnson, what an amazing man. This was 90 something single spaced type written pages of his life. I spent most of yesterday reading it. He wrote it specifically for me and my siblings. It was such a treat to know more about this man I knew for 20 years. I delighted each time I saw my name in print. He adored my grandma Millie, and told about his courtship, and being jealous of any other young man who looked her way. I remember hiding down the stair case with my brothers laughing at them kiss and really giggling each time he called her "baby." He wrote about his battle with cancer and wow, if I thought I knew the pain he had while I watched him in the end, was I ever wrong. He hid so much of his physical pain so well. He was such a sweet, kind, loving man. The lesson I learned from reading my grandpa's history, family history IS one of the big lessons in life. The people that came before us, in this case even during our lives matter. We need to write things down so our posterity knows what life is like, we can learn from them. Over the 20 something years he wrote this he was careful with money, he worked hard. Most important he had a rock solid testimony of Christ. He acted on his beliefs by serving and praying and following the teachings of Jesus Christ. I have always felt I owe my testimony of prayer to my grandfather. When I was 6 or 7 as a family we were told he had cancer. That is such a scary word to a child. I prayed every night for years for God not to let him die. It was a child's prayer so it was simply, "Dear God, don't let grandpa die. I need him. Amen" God let him live for 13 more years. He lived until I was old enough to understand death. I am convinced of this. I have experienced a lot of death in my life. It's never easy, some have been more tragic than others, unbearable even, but I know what comes after. I just do and that makes it tolerable. This was definitely one of those church lessons that benefited me more than those I taught. I've got work to do, especially since my memory is not what it used to be!

The new neighbor

The other day as I was outside I notice the lady who just bought the house down the street was outside. For our church we have callings. I worth with the teenage girls in our ward. I was told there was a 12 year old girl living in this house with her grandparents. I saw them outside, so I decided to introduce myself. As I walked down the street I gathered Miles out of his usual spot in the middle of the road. He had on a pair of shorts, no shoes, no shirt and was very chocolatey. Furthermore, currently I do not know where 2 matching shoes are. I realized I may not be making the best first impression as I walk with my screaming, homeless looking child to meet this kind lady, yet against better judgement I proceeded. I was warned the girl is extremely shy, being the mother of 2 extremely shy daughters I thought to myself, no problem, 'I GOT THIS.' I introduce myself to Grandma and tell her who am I and what I do for my church calling. She told me her grand daughter had not been to church since before she was 8. I really went in with the intentions of trying to see if I could help this girl with making some friends, not really dragging her to church, that's not my style. Grandma asks me where I live, I pointed to our house and tell her I have 4 children and that of course Miles does not always look like this, there are a good 2-3 minutes post bath that he appears to be cared for. Grandma has a strange look on her face and then says, "Oh your the mom with the all those kids that are always in the middle of the road." I defensively replied, "actually only 4 of them are mine."
So our first meeting didn't go so well. And, grandma had no intentions of sending grand daughter to play softball with me today. She kindly replied maybe they would stop by the game but they never showed up. I've decided to turn the fellowshipping of new girl over to the other neighbors. Heaton's are on it now, Emily has already been over, and certainly could not have crashed and burned as badly as I did.

Go away June

I'm a little frustrated with June, June and I are not current friends. Perhaps it is the rain. No, it is certainly the rain. I love rain, but this is summer and I have plans for summer. It's a short time before my kids return to school, and I intended for this to be our time. We have hikes to do, swimming to be done, snowies to be downed, and lazy park days under a tree with kids perfecting monkey bars. This is not fair, not acceptable. I watched the weather last night, rain, rain and more rain coming our way, even through next week. Blasted, cursed rain, raining on my summertime parade. Oh, my flower garden is in full of color, and so are weeds overtaking all their brilliance. I'm to depressed to get out there and fight them. So, inside I find myself angry at June. July, please be better to my summertime dreams.

June is here

This top picture is of Robby's cast OFF of him. It was so disgusting after almost 8 long weeks. He is doing so well one week out of the cast. He is limping and by night time he is limping more dramatically than in the morning, but refuses to admit it hurts. There are also a couple pictures of Tom at Starvation lake, it is a few miles from where he works. And, then there are some adorable pictures of my new little nephew Sunia Sanft. He is the sweetest little baby ever! I think Kameron should let me take him for a few years, I'll give him back when he starts to say "No." Really, I could hold a new baby, any new baby for hours.
We are definitely having summer here. I think I have gone through a bag of popsicles today, and kids are outside having water fights. I'll try to catch up more later.

Cast Away

It has been so long since I've posted anything. Hopefully, I can get back in the blogging groove again. Today Robby's cast came off! He is amazing, an absolute inspiration to all of us. He never complained about having the cast on, he figured out how to crawl and move around the second week and by week three he was walking. I will eventually get around to posting video of him walking, but I need to figure out how to upload the video from my dinosaur camcorder.
Today, the doctor told us he wouldn't be able to walk for probably close to a week, due to sore muscles, joints, etc. When the cast first came off I looked over at him on the table and he looked miserable, he wanted to cry but wouldn't until I told him he could. He is currently most comfortable being in the same body position as the cast had him in.
Now, I said he is amazing and he is, he has already figured out how to crawl, it hurts, but, this child has never waited around for anyone to get him where he wants to be. He is bearing wait on his good leg and told me to just give him a stick and he could walk! I did not give him a stick, he has gone 7 1/2 half weeks being in that cast, he can wait a day or two to start walking.
The doctor also said lots of swimming, water is the best thing for him right now. That is such a great thing to hear, especially because the poor kid had a stench that could be smelled miles away! He is in the bath tub as I write.
He is the bravest kid I know, he is my little hero.

Simple Joys

The kids and I have taken several walks around the neighborhood lately with Robby. It's one of the things he can do. Miles has very reluctantly let Robby use his stroller, leaving him scurrying the sidewalks, gutter and often middle of the road on foot. Yesterday, as I was chasing Miles out of a neighbors backyard, he stopped suddenly and looked up and said 'airplane der t iz.' Airplanes always stop him in his tracks, he looks up, locates the plane, (or thinks he does) and his face lights up. He also gets excited when he hears a train, a fire engine, (any thing with lights is a fire engine), birds, and today I explained what a wood pecker sound was. He repeated 'kecker' over and over. One of my favorite's is our dear garbage man, he waves, and has even asked both of my boy's names. He acknowledges them. This sweet man has no idea how these kids delight in his coming. We had a replacemnent this past Monday, and oh how I am hoping our regular friend was taking the day off. What a miracle my not-so-little Miles hears these things. As I picked him up to come inside I found myself thinking there is nothing more wonderful than a 2 year old that delights in the sound of an airplane. These small moments I wish I could hold on to forever; these sound are simply a few of the many, MANY things that I treasure as things in my life that are simpler and HUGE, events.

April

April means birthdays in the Crist family, not just ours, but lots of cousins as well. April also means spring break, this year we had snow, a lot of snow and I refused to shovel. We went to the Mayan restaurant and the aquarium in Sandy on Maya's birthday. The kids loved the Mayan, the aquarium made me have some cruel thoughts about humanity because everyone in Utah was in that small building the same time we were. Robby is adjusting to his broken leg/femur, he is such a sweet boy. I asked him if he was tired of the cast and he said, "It's ok, I like it." It does stink, and can be revealing. My mom made him several 'custom' made pants with velcro so he doesn't have to wear a huge t-shirt for 2 months. Yes, we are down to 8-9 weeks of spica, that's the name of the cast.
Max update; great news, he is headed home today. The La Sal mountains will definitely help him heal. Thanks for keeping him in your thoughts, to know more click on Jeanne VZ name over on the side.
Enjoy the pictures.

Robby

I don't have a lot of time to write about Robby, he broke his femur. He is in this huge uncomfortable cast and still in a lot of pain. He pretty much needs me to be right next him ALL the time. I am putting up a few pictures. He is a brave little guy and so far hasn't complained to much. He is very pleased with his green cast, he LOVES GREEN! He turned 5 yesterday which means I am the mother of two, five year olds for the next 7 days.
This boy, he truly makes me smile. He says the funniest things ever, like when this happened he wanted to know if "President Obama knows my leg is broken?" When I told him no, of course he wanted to know why not. Well, I'll get right on that letter to the white house. After all, a spica cast on Robert J. Crist is something our president should know. He also makes me a little crazy, the week this happened he brought a snake in my house, and then a day later scared the bejeebees out of me by undoing his seat belt and showing me a baby one as I was driving down our street. Luckily we were right out of our drive way, because any place else I would of wrecked the car. Now, most of you know how I feel about snakes, if you don't read past post on snakes and brothers. Regardless of Robby's attempt at having me face my phobia I love this little guy, he truly has my heart.

Max

This is Max von Zastrow. He is the son of our dear friends Dave and Jeanne von Zastrow who live in Moab, Utah. Jeanne is the older sister of my best friend Heidi who passed away 7 years ago. From the time Heidi passed away, her family, including sisters, nieces and nephews and parents have truly become family to me. Yesterday, Max was assaulted with a baseball bat to his head by a kid at his high school. He is currently in critical condition in a hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado. The next 48 hours are crucial. I am asking anyone who reads this to offer up a prayer for Max. As mothers, can you imagine what Jeanne must be going through? I can't. I am truly having trouble wrapping my mind around violence like this. Emotions are high and very mixed. I am a believer of the power of prayer in numbers. I also know the handful of you who check in and our mothers, and sisters will empathize with the agony this family I treasure so much is going through.
We love you so much Max, get better and make us all laugh again soon.

Pay it Forward

Here's a game I haven't seen. Think before you post - you have to give 3 hand made gifts away. If you live close enough to me you just might get dinner! If you don't make sure I have your address and be patient, I love to procrastinate. Well, I don't know that I love it, but it happens none the less.

And, I am aware of the blogging funk. Funk it is, can't say as to when it will end, that it sort of why it's a funk.

Pay-it-forward game: This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones.

Viva Las Vegas

It's so close I can't stop thinking about it, Tom and I are going to Las Vegas on Friday and staying until Sunday. I was thinking I couldn't remember the last time we had a getaway from kids. Pathetically, it was actually not that long ago, I think it was in September, we spent a night in Park City. I love my kids dearly, truly I do, I don't need to write this to convince myself or any of you, I know that. I am simply one of those mom's, and apparently wives that needs a night away a few times a year. We have the most amazing babysitter/nanny for our kids. We call her Mary Poppins, actually she is better than Poppins. The kids also have 2 sets of grandparents with in 5 miles of us. Tom's parents are within walking distance, and both will be helping. It's so much easier to leave knowing they are surrounded by people who love them. For those of you who do get away once in a while if you are like me, I miss my kids a lot while I'm gone and come back such a better mother.
I put pictures up to brag about the beautiful accommodations we will be temporary residents of, the new Marriott Grand Chateau. We are going to the final games of the Mountain West basketball tournament. This will be the 4th time we have attended this event. I love college basketball, it might be my favorite sport to watch. March Madness is the greatest sporting event ever. I love it. Watching so many games that come down last minute shots, and overtime and double overtime, it's the best. I have sat in the Thomas and Mac Center 7 months pregnant, suppose to be on bed rest watching 4 games in one day. 3 weeks later, Maya was born. Maybe that's why she was born early. Anyway, I'm a fan, and you'll get my "I love baseball season" post in the early fall.
Oh, but mostly I am so excited to be alone for 72 hours at least, uninterrupted with just Tom.

Best job ever

There are moments that are priceless being a mother. Tonight as I put my kids in bed, tucking each one in, they were so amazing. Maya and Ris both thanked me for letting them dance, and taking them to see Tom - for about 10 minutes as he was passing through town back to work. He had Braden's recital in SLC and came through Orem (the long way to Duchesne) so he could say hi to the kids. Robby got in bed after only being asked once, that in itself brings tears to my eyes, and then as I got him all cozy, gave him my heart, and told him I love you, he said, "Mom, I love you more." Which I always is the general response of mine to the kids when I tell them I love them, they say it back and my response is I love you more, and often times I love to the moon and back. Miles, he melted my heart when he saw Tom, (he is finally starting to speak in short sentences) he said, "Daddy home," and he said it 3-4 times and I teared up. This was only Tom's first day back for the week. We will hopefully have him home Saturday and then we get him Tuesday for 7 days. It really is moments that make my job of these precious childrens mother the best job I could dream of. They are so great, so talented and sweet and thankful. I love you kiddos!

GOOD MORNING!

Maya came upstairs to tell me someone was at the door, I've had so many solicitors at my door lately so when my kids don't know who it is, it's usually someone selling something. Today it was Kelly! Her and Heath were in town for a minute and stopped by for a quick hug. I love her! She is one of my very best friends and lives in Florida now with her beautiful family. I of course was still in pajamas and completely disheveled. Kel is the kind of friend that CAN show up at my door and catch me like that and it's o.k. It's o.k. that I still have Christmas stuff by my door in March, and that my kids aren't dressed, dishes not done, oh I can go on. Point made. She's a good friend and I love that she surprised me. The thought that enters my brain after she is gone is that I should of taken a picture of us - first for proof that she was all the way out here, and second for my blog! Love you Thompson's, thanks Heath for bringing her to me, you made my day!