Helaman's Newest Warrior!

How Amazing is this kid? He is truly my hero. He never complains about his medical challenges. Sometimes I feel like he is a much stronger "spirit" than I am. It is almost as though he is the one parenting me. Sometimes I feel like I can't do it all.... the doctors visits, the medications, the therapy appointments, the breathing treatments, the measuring and calculating every calorie that he gets.... It can seem so overwhelming and difficult.

But then I remember that I am just sitting and reading my book at these doctor's appointments. Cole is the one going through often excruciating pain. And yet he never complains. Someday when he reads this I want him to know... son, it is okay to complain. It is okay to be upset about what you have to go through. You do not ever need to feel bad for griping that life is sometimes more than you can bare.

Cole, you are an amazing son of God. You are truly Saturday's Warrior and it is a joy and a privilege being your mom!






Cole is very self sufficient. He likes to do everything himself. He is strongly determined, and he gets upset if you try to help him when he is struggling with something.

That being said, if he is trying to do something and he is having problems, he will scream and holler with all his might. But do NOT take that to mean he wants help! Oh no, it just means that he wants it known that he is really having to work for something!



Some things I want to remember about these pictures:

#1. Sometimes while I get Brighton dressed (because at 5 and a half, my darling, wonderful Brighton still needs help with every detail of getting dressed) I will leave Cole on my bed watching tv, hooked up to his tubes, but not dressed, so not in his backpack yet.

Cole gets impatient with having to wait for me to get him dressed. He went in and found his backpack, put it on, and clipped it in the front. I am telling you, this is not an easy thing to do! Especially without disconnecting the tubes, or at least getting them all tangled up!


#2. Notice that his shoes are on the wrong feet. He is so strong willed and determined, but still way to young to understand that sandals have specific feet they need to go on.


#3. Cole loves all things swords and Thomas. These are his two great joys!


#4. Check out his knees... He almost always has scabs on his knees. He is 100% rough and tumble. He loves to play tough, and if he gets hurt or bleeds, oh well. He loves going from one adventure to the next. So much for my bubble boy that the doctors told me would probably never sit up, walk on his own, or possibly even have any cognitive recognition. Cole, you are a daily miracle and we love you so much!!

So much to be thankful for...

I just got back from our stake Relief Society Conference, and I feel like I want to record some of my thoughts and emotions. This is more journal that storytelling, so friends... if you get bored, you can skip this post!

I am a daughter of God. I have an actual Father in Heaven who loves me, and has given me so many blessing to make me happy. My sons are strong and healthy and they love to do what is right. (Well, to be fair, Brighton loves to do what is right. Cole is being an absolute terror this past week. I think he was WAY TOO SPOILED two weeks ago after the surgery. Poor Cole... give him anything he wants... nobody get mad at Cole, let him make every decision.... HELLOOOO 3 year old monster!) But for the most part, he is a darling, loving angel!



I have wonderful friends who inspire me to be a better me. They expect me to do what is good and so I want to be better for them.

I have amazing siblings. I talk to at least one of them a day... I am so thankful for a cell phone plan with unlimited minutes. Here is where I earn my money back! (Name that show....) I am thankful for every one of my 10 brothers and sisters. They make me so happy.

In the scriptures we read that after so much trial and tribulations, and sorrow, and heartache... the Nephites "lived after a manner of happiness". They went through so much grief, but then they knew great joy! Great happiness! It is after the sorrow, the trials, that we are blessed. I feel this blessing in my life right now. I feel such love in our little home.

The speaker tonight talked about how when Nephi and his family kept the commandments, they prospered. She went on to say that she believes (and I realized that I totally agree) that prosperity is not always monetary riches... Sometimes prosperity is other blessings... maybe a better understanding of the plan of our Father in Heaven. Maybe it is health of your loved ones, maybe it is just being able to get through a day without grief or sorrow. Prosperity is just having things be better.

We were challenged to try to be Practically Perfect for one month. Here are some goals that were mentioned, that I am going to talk to my husband about our family trying to do for one month.
*Family Daily Scripture Study
*Family Daily Prayers (This one is easy, with Brighton and Cole both loving to pray... we have about 5 or 6 family prayers each day.)
*Personal prayer... Of course I do this, but I'd like to Learn and Practice better, more heartfelt prayers.
*Personal scriptures
*Weekly Family Home Evening
*Monthly Temple Attendance (Shout out to my girlfriends.... anyone up for kid swapping with me this month so we can all make it to the temple in March?)
*I'd like to add to this list exercise. I am still struggeling with some "depression" or "grief" ( I really don't know what word to use... one minute I am fine and the next I feel such sorrow that it is hard not to climb into bed. But seriously, I am ok :) ) Anyway, I feel like exercise is one key to overcoming grief and depression... So I am going to set my goal for 3 times a week of exercise.

I loved this thought by the speaker...
I want to be on the Lord's side... It is the winning team! I don't want to be on Satin's side... I've read the scriptures, I know what's going to happen to them!

This led me to think... what if you were a pro football player... and you had the ability to know the outcome of the Super Bowl before it was played, and you were given the choice of which team you wanted to be on. OBVIOUSLY you would choose the winning team. They get the money, the cool Super Bowl ring, and they get to go to Disney World! Who wouldn't choose that???

But we have that same choice! We have the option of choosing which team we want to be on here on Earth. We know the outcome of the game. We learn in the scriptures what happens to each team after our time here on Earth is finished! But better than money, a great ring and Disney World... being on the side of our Savior, Jesus Christ means that we get Eternal Life. We get to live with our families and those we love, FOREVER! With complete joy and perfection.

I love my husband Billy. I love when he is patient with me. I love him for being so supportive of me and my faults. (Apparently I am not a dedicated housekeeper when I am discouraged.) But Billy has been wonderful and never once complained about the pile of clean laundry that I keep saying I am going to get to. Or the floors that need to be swept, or the dishes that need to be done. (Before my mother passes out... let me say that I have totally blocked out tomorrow morning for only cleaning! I will get it done, I promise!!!)

I am so thankful for my husband, my sons, my beautiful home, and my health. I am so blessed, and I love my life so much.

Soccer Monsters

I'm a soccer monster, I love my soccer ball. I would rather play soccer than do anything at all.
You can be the kicker, I will be the blocker... It doesn't really matter as long as we play Soccer!
Soccer! yeah One, Two, Three, Four! Soccer! Put the ball on the floor.
Soccer, sing it one time more... Soccer! Pass, shoot, score! Pass, shoot, score! Pass, shoot, score!

Name that show... anyone? We hear that one all the time at our house!

Okay, so Brighton LOVES playing soccer. We do it through Saddleback Unified School District Community Recreation Program. It is $75 for seven weeks. They get a t-shirt, and soccer socks. This is our 4th session. Each session gets a new color of shirt. We started as the Gold Fish, then we were the Gray Sharks, the the Teal Tigers, and now the Green Dragons.
I think it is great! We go on Saturday mornings, usually from 9:00 to 10:30. They practice for 45 minutes, then play a game against another team for 45 minutes. Brighton has gotten pretty good. The score is usually about 3 goals on each side. Brighton almost always makes 2 of the 3 goals for our team. He and Cailyn often work together. She kicks it to him, and he kicks it in. We are trying to get him to realize that without his team, (especially Cailyn) he would not be making any goals.... but he has not quite gotten that down yet. We will keep working on it.

He loves it, and I like him learning teamwork and the rules of the game. I also love the exercise he is getting.
It makes for a beautiful Saturday morning for everyone involved...

EXCEPT COLE...

Cole is desperate to get out there!!! He begs and pleads for the entire hour and a half. At the end, they do the team tunnel, where the parents make a tunnel for the kids to run through. It is so cute! Cole asks the entire game... "tunnel now mom?" No, not yet. 2 minutes later... "Tunnel now mom? Argh!

So here is Brighton and Cole doing the tunnel run from Saturday.

And here is Brighton getting an award for making awesome goals. Watch to the end to see how well Cole cheers Brighton on, how well he is dealing with Brighton being the star, and not him.

Hilarious! Luckily Cole can start next January. We will be there the first day possible!

The cute little blondie is Cailyn, a friend from church who is also in Kids Are Music.
The other little girl is Alicia, who was adopted this year by our good friends Don and Patty. She and Brighton love to play together. They are darling little girls! Brighton is a lucky boy!

Brighton the Great!

Brighton is the student of the week, and so I was asked to make a poster all about him. It turned out so cute! He is such a terrific kid.

I LOVE MY NEW CRICUT MACHINE! It is so much fun.I am a way new beginner on it, but how cute is Brighton's name on this poster!!

My cute sister Mitzi taught me how to do these great Worldles... and I am hooked! They are so fun. Go to http://wordle.net/create to make your own.

Here is the writing from the poster.

My name is Brighton Kai Kahoku Johnson. My middle name means divine star,

but I like to think it means best surfer dude in the whole wide world!

Thunder Mountain, the wildest train, Is the coolest ride at Disneyland.

The greatest show on TV is Dino Squad and Curious George.

For a snack, I love to eat cheese-its and gummy worms.

Our family loves to go to Sea World and Lego Land.

I love my toys, racecars, balls and army guys.

The best color in the whole world is Orange!

I am a super duper great big brother.

My favorite animal is a Lizard.

My best dessert is Popsicles.

Soccer is my best sport.

Our family is forever!!

Who needs to move to Utah...

...when it snows right here in Sunny Southern California!!!!


Here is the Hail... It was so LOUD. They were like rick hard balls of solid ice. I expected it to be more like crunchy packed ice, like tiny snowballs... but no... these babies hurt when they hit you. It was like that scene in the bedtime stories movie when it rains gumballs! CRAZY!!!





Listen to how loud it was!!

Wake Up Grandma Bodell!

We were so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Bodell here for a couple of months. We tried to go over every Sunday and then at least one other time each week to play with them. I feel like we added to the many special memories I have of them, and my boys got to make some new memories.

Cole loved playing with grandma but he would get frustrated when she would fall asleep. He would always try to wake her up. It was hilarious! Here are some of his attempts!




And this one is my favorite!



I love you so much Grandma and Grandpa Bodell!

Good Morning Beautiful!

Good Morning Beautiful!


I have had the opportunity to do this fun talk seven times now. It started as a Relief Society lesson, and then I was asked to do it for a stake young women's Super Saturday. This last Friday night I was asked to do it for the Orange Stake's Beehive Special Evening. The girl in charge was darling! Tara Cattani did a great job making the whole evening tie in with my theme. It was really fun.

My talk in short is:
1. You are a divine daughter of a Father in Heaven who loves you!
2. Satan's goal is to get you to hate your body, and want to destroy and despise it.
3. Finding your personal beauty, inside and out and knowing who you are.
4. Serving others is the key to finding happiness.
5. Your body is a temple of God. You are a daughter of royalty!
There are some fun stories and cute object lessons that include.

They started in this room. All the girls were invited to come in their PJ's and bring a favorite blanket, pillow or stuffed animal.

They followed the Bees and bright colors theme throughout the night. The treats were brightly decorated dough nuts and smoothies. So Cute!

After my talk they split into two groups. There were two other rooms. One was making a mirror frame craft. They had it already for the girls to decoupage their mirrors. They were already assembled and the backs and sides were painted. They had all the cute paper ready to be torn up and glued on.






The next room had a morning relay set up.
Table #1 was masks and lipstick.

The second table was hair curlers.

The third table was mouthwash gurgling.

They had to memorize this scripture while waiting for their turn and recite it at the end.

They all got bright colored gum ball and candy goodie bags to take home.
You could tell that the leaders really put a lot into this event for the girls. It was a neat evening!

I am so thankful for the knowledge that I have that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father, and that he loves me and knows who I am. I know he hears my prayers, and that he understands my wants and needs. His plan of happiness provides a way for me to live with my family forever, even after this life on earth.