Holiday Flood and a break in

This weekend Joe, Seth and his dad decided to go ice-fishing. It had been pretty warm here the past few days, so they went to Vernal. I had choir practice in the morning and then Makenna and Maddie and I decided to go to Sandy to visit Grandma Helen and Anna's kids. Anna and Cody had gone to Memory Grove for a Wedding luncheon and so Helen had her kids. When they got back from the luncheon, Anna said that someone had shattered her side window and stolen her purse from the car. It had everything in it, of course. Even her social security card and temple recommend etc... She was supposed to go the wedding later that afternoon, but couldn't. Well not an hour after Anna had her incident, I got a call from my mother telling me that a water pipe had broken at my house. I was in a panic. I was a half an hour away from home and Joe was out of town. I jumped in my car and while I was on the way, my dad called and told me that the storage room window had broken and there was about 2 inches of water throughout the entire basement. I was not a happy camper. Here I am 9 months pregnant and pretty emotional anyway, so it was not good news to get.

I have wonderful neighbors that showed up and turned off the water before my dad got there and were over with their shop vacs when I got home. They are seriously so great. I think I would have had a nervous breakdown if I had been all alone. There were toys, clothes and crap from hell to breakfast, and it was all swimming. It was so bewildering. Thats the best word to use to describe it. I just started picking up what I could and we were vacuuming up what we could. Lucky for me Anna had the 2 girls for me. Makenna would have had a heart attack seeing all her stuff wet. It was hard for me and it wasn't even my stuff.

I have been thinking for the past few days that I needed to get rental insurance because of that family in Orem that lost everything in a fire a few days ago. My agent was out of town and so I thought I would wait until Monday. Well isn't it always how it works? We get the idea and then when we need it the most, we don't have it? I have to say that we were really lucky. Most of the stuff was just toys and crap that weren't all that important. I am so grateful that it wasn't worse. It can always be worse. Thank you neighbors and family for all your help. The disaster cleanup crew is here now and that is good. Anna also has the kids for the night so that takes a ton of stress off my shoulders. All I can say is that I am glad that my dad has insurance. It would totally suck for him. He just finished remodeling the entire house. What a pain. His famous line is that if is worth doing, its worth doing twice. I guess thats what we have here...

All Tuckered Out

So as most of you know, those that read a few blog posts ago, we have been doing a wee bit of moving in the past year or so. My sister and her family moved about 1 month and a half before we did and we got to be major players in the move. WE helped with their move and then turned around and did our own. This gets better... My parents decided after 19 1/2 years that they needed to move to a smaller place where they take care of the yard for them etc... Then we find out that Mark (my brother) is going to be moving in to my parents home. The best part is that my mom had major back surgery 3 weeks before she was scheduled to move, so she couldn't do any boxing or lifting or really much helping. So lets just say that I got to be a major player in that move too. My sister from New York was here for 10 days visiting, and needless to say most of her vacation was boxing up crap. Mark and Kristen were tons of help too.

So I had my house only 3/4 unpacked and I am packing up their house. Then I got to help them move and then unpack. WE still have tons and tons to unpack but none of us are in any real hurry. I got to help with Mark's too but he had Kristen and her family to do lots of helping.

All I have to say is that moving is for the BIRDS. Not recommended if not necessary. Don't do it!! Take my advice and stay away from it. I am really glad that my brother and his family live so close to me now and my parents are only about 1/2 mile away from where they used to live. It is really great. The process, not so great. All I have to say is that I am sick and tired of moving and if I see another moving box anytime soon, I may lose it!!

Last week Joe went hunting up in the Vernal mountains and we decided to join him on the weekend. We had a great time. The kids love it up there and camping in a tent!

New House, New School Year, New School...

So as most of you know, we moved into a new house (in Orem) on the 15th of August. My parents bought my sisters old house and they wanted us to live in it. We were living in Lehi (renting) so it seemed like a good idea. Better to rent from your parents then someone else, right? I wasn't thrilled to have to move AGAIN, but it all worked out. It was just a few days before school started and a little bit crazy. We were seriously lucky to have anything to wear the first few days of school. Makenna and Maddie had to go to another new school (different ones at that) and I was kind of sad about that. This is the 3rd school in 3 years, but they seem to be doing pretty well. They both adjust really well, I guess. I wish I had some pictures of what the house looks like, but I have a dead battery on my camera. My dad remodeled the whole entire house, so it looks totally different. He is even building a salon in the basement for me to do HAIR. I am so thrilled. I have never had a place of my own to do hair. It will be so great. Anyone that wants to get their hair done, let me know.

We also found out that we are having a BOY baby due at the beginning of January. We are so excited!! Seth is 5 and so we are going to have to learn all the baby things again. Maddie and Seth call him baby Albert so I need some ideas on how we can convince them that Albert is just NOT a good name. They are so funny. I have been a major slacker with my blogging, but I will post pictures of the house soon.

I took the kids to Canada to visit my Grandparents the last week of July. It was so much fun getting to see the family and the kids had a great time. Here are a few pictures.

Princess Festival

Maddie got invited to a Princess Tea Party and I thought that's just what it was going to be. Little did I know that they have a princess festival and that's where we were going. All I know is that someone sponsored 25 of our girls with Down Syndrome to and have fun at the princess festival. Isn't that so neat? It was such a blast. There was a hunt to help the princesses and then a ball at the end. It was great. Maddie loved it. I will have to start saving up now to take her again next year. I took my niece Lizzy with me because she thinks that she is Cinderella. She was thrilled. Here are a few pictures of the fun day.

Seth's Broken Arm

Last night at the park (while Makenna was playing softball) Maddie ran away. We aren't just talking wandered, she really was gone. Joe and I were looking everywhere while Seth was playing on the toys and Makenna was playing softball. We finally found Maddie in the neighborhood on the other side of the baseball park, 30 minutes later, but it was really far away. She was really lost. I could kill her. Just as we found her, Seth fell a long way down from sone slider thingy and hurt his arm. I called my dad and he said that we should wait until morning so it wouldn't be an emergency, so we did. He cried and cried and finally fell asleep. We had his arm wrapped up and in a sling. What a sad little dude. We felt so bad. Then this morning we had his graduation and then had to go and watch Makenna do her end of the year dance thingy and so we waited until almost 2 o'clock to see grandpa. He sent us over to Orem Community hopital and found out that he had broken both the bones in his wrist. The poor little dude. He now has a blue cast and at least it doesn't hurt so bad. He is so sweet. I was so worried about finding Maddie that I neglected my boy. Actually it was the teenage girl that was helping him to play on that dangerous toy thingy that I should blame, right? Just teasing. It was an accident. I don't think that I can go back to the park with that rascal girl anymore. She is such trouble. It is so funny that most of the traumatic things that I post about all have a little bit to do with Maddie.

Dentist experience/ Baldness

Monday morning I had to be to the dentist office with Seth and Maddie at 7:30 a.m. They couldn't eat for 12 hours (standard) because they were going to be put out to get their teeth done.
Seth, because he had so many cavities and Maddie because she just can't do the whole dentist thing, period. My children are blessed to have such great teeth. NOT! They sometimes make you take them up to Primary Children's Hospital to do it, but there is an anesthesiologist that comes right to the dental office and puts them out right there. It was so handy. Expensive, but handy. Maddie went first and she came out of anesthesia pretty well. She started to move around and got right mad about being there. It wasn't very long until she was asking to watch a movie. Seth on the other hand took forever to wake up. They must have had to give him more because he had more work to be done. He slept for about 45 minutes until I could finally just pick him up and take him home. He was so mad in the car that he didn't get to have his teeth fixed. He didn't remember being in the chair with the dentist so he was sure that he didn't get his done. It wasn't until we got home that he finally realized. It was not an adventure that I hope to repeat anytime soon.
A few hours after the dentist I had to take Maddie to the dermatologist to find out why she has such huge bald spots all over her head. The doctor said that she has what is called
"Traction Alopecia" and it happens when a person has really weak hair (ie: red) and even more so because of her Down Syndrome. Black kids get it all the time from their moms pulling their hair so tight and it causes the hair to fall out in patterns. The doctor told me that since I have been putting it in so many ponytails (because she cut all her hair off) that it was causing it. I am so sad that I caused her to go bald. He told me that I can't put her hair in any ponytails for a few months and it will grow back. At least it isn't permanent. I really do feel badly about it.

Just another day in PARADISE.

Just when you think that life is going along pretty well, something happens to change your mind, right? I haven't had too terribly much of a Maddie problem lately, but yesterday at Grandmas house she got a little crazy. We were all together celebrating my 30th birthday, and after dinner all the kids got together downstairs to play. They had been playing really well for a while and all was great. I hadn't heard too much from the kids in a while and when I got up to go to the bathroom, I noticed that the light was on in the bathroom and someone was in there. I knocked and said who is in there? Well Maddie responded its ME. When I opened the door, there was Maddie completely nude with water EVERYWHERE!! As I was picking up her soaking wet clothes I noticed that her underwear was missing. I asked her where it went and she said toilet-all gone. She had flushed them down. Well then she had tried to flush it and that's where all the water came from. So lucky for us Cyndi had an old N.K.O.T.B. (vintage) t-shirt for her to wear and away we went. Today I got a call from grandma Helen and she wondered if it could have been possible for Maddie to have flushed all the toothbrushes? Well apparently the toothbrushes are M.I.A. and the toilet is still clogged. I asked her where the toothbrushes went and she said gone. I can't believe that she is doing the toilet thing. I don't know where we all were and how we missed her going into the bathroom. I don't know if Phil is going to have to take the toilet off or what, but its not going to be fun. I feel so bad. I just can't take Maddie anywhere!!

I have been changed "For Good"

I have been thinking about Wicked non-stop since I got the opportunity to see it with my Dad last week. My Mom bought tickets for her and my Dad, and at the last minute decided that I should go and see it with him for my birthday. She had already seen it twice, and thought that I should too. I have to tell you all about the first time that I saw it...
It was December of 2005 and I had been talking constantly about the play and the music. I was obsessed with it. I was super determined to see it, and didn't know how I was going to, but I wanted to so badly. Joe bought tickets to go to New York, to see Wicked and he Blue Man Group, and lined up babysitters all by himself and surprised me for Christmas. It was about the most incredible thing he has EVER done. It was so wonderful. It was freezing, but a fabulous trip.
My brother Mark, and his wife Kristen got us all hooked on the show in 2004 and they even got the chance to see it with Idina Menzel before she stopped doing it. They gave me a CD and I was enchanted!! My little brother even loved it. He wasn't really into that kind of music, but he listened to it all the time. His favorite was For Good. I know this is kind of long, but I really love that song and it means a lot to me.
The words go: I've heard it said, that people come into our lives, for a reason bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them and we help them in return. I don't know if I believe it's true but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you. Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
It well may be, that we will never meet again, in this lifetime so let me say before we part. So much of me, is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart. And now whatever way our stories end, know you have rewritten mine by being my friend. Like a ship blown from its moring by a wind of the sea. Like a seed dropped by a sky-bird in a distant wood, who can say if I've been changed for the better but because I knew you I have been changed for good.It is the most beautiful song. My little brother Dave passed away on April 21st 2005. I knew that I needed to sing a song at his funeral (call me crazy) but I just knew that I needed to. My brother Mark told me how much Dave loved that song and it clicked that it was the song that we would sing. Kristen played and sang it with me (during the time of the family prayer). I know that he loved it. I miss him so much. To this day I can't listen to that song without thinking of Dave. I know that because I knew him that I have been changed for good. We even had the words "you'll be with me like a hand print on my heart" put on his headstone. He was such a great guy and so funny too. I am feeling especially sad today because it has been 4 years tomorrow since he died, and it was such a hard time. I just wanted to say how much I love him and miss him. I love you Dave, I can't wait to see you again!

Easter 2009

We had a great Easter this year. My niece Belle was baptized the day before Easter and we had a wonderful family gathering for that. Lizzy came over to color eggs with the kids, and then they also colored eggs at their grandma's house. Then on Easter we went over to grandma and grandpa Johnson's house for dinner and an egg hunt. Grandma Helen bought the kids these darling clothes and I thought that I would show off how cute they are.



Aunt Cyndi, Belle, and Makenna
I found one!
Makenna at the hunt
Lizzy looking for the eggs
Cute boy
All 8 of the Johnson grandkids
Lainee
Dezirae
Handsome Seth with the darling dimples
Cousins
Cheese
Kids right before church
Kissing Seth
My Boy in his Easter duds.

Oh no not again!!

I don't think that having a trampoline is in the cards for our family. When we tried to have a tramp the last time, we got it almost completely put together, and it started to make a taco. It was defective. We got a new one and had it up for a week and it got blown over the house, hit the fence, neighbors roof, and landed in their front yard. We didn't have a tramp for over a year and thought that we would try it one more time. (Makenna got it for her ninth birthday). We put it up one week ago, and today while we were at church, there was a huge windstorm and our tramp was blown across our yard and landed upside down on the roof of our shed. Talk about not having any luck with trampolines!! I feel so bad for the kids. Maddie was up yesterday morning at 6:30 and was trying to escape to jump. She LOVES it. I just wish that it hadn't happened AGAIN. What do you do??

Makenna's Birthday Party

We had a get together for Makenna for her 9th birthday at the park. It was on March 21st -last saturday. I love being so close to all the family so we can get together all the time. My sister in law Anna made her a cake that was a horse (she loves horses) and it was so cute!! We had a great time. If anyone wants to know how Anna made the cake, http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50134

St. George Trip

We had a wonderful trip to St. George this past weekend and I wanted to share some of the pictures that I took at the park. I told a bunch of friends that I would be in town and to meet me at the park. Nine people showed up with their kids and I was so pleased to see everyone. Thanks so much for coming and seeing me. I have missed all of you and loved to get a chance to catch up with you.

Blog Slacker

So it is official! I am a blog slacker. I can't think of anything neat-o to write about anymore, so I haven't been posting. What a lame excuse, right? I have a funny story to tell about my niece and Maddie. My niece Kassi is a hoot and she loves to play with Maddie. Kassi and Maddie were playing at my moms house the other day, and they were playing dress up. They were getting along famously. Well, Maddie had on a rather revealing dress that was a little bit low. She also does have just a WEE bit of cleavage. Well Kassi thought that Maddie looked so beautiful and told her that she was so pretty and looked so good and that she was just like Princess Belle. Then she looked over at her and said "Belle doesn't show her boobs". You have to remember that Kassi is only 2. She is so funny. I couldn't stop laughing when Kristen told me about it. Since it was such a funny thing that happened in my life I thought that I would share it. Kids say the darndest things...

Maddie's 7th Birthday Party

I am pretty sure that I have never seen a happier face on any other child as I did on my little Maddie on her 7th birthday. She was the most genuinely happy kid that I have ever seen. She was as thrilled about her cake as she was for the Kung Fu Panda. Also for the paper on the outside. My mom gave her a box of microwave popcorn and she shouted hooray!! Her cousin Dexter said to his mom, "I sure hope that no one gives me popcorn for my birthday." It was so funny. Amazing to me is that she truly is thrilled for all that she gets. She was actually the happiest just to have the whole family (and then some) over. She loves attention. My brother told me after the party was over that it was the best birthday party he had ever been too. He wished that all kids were that excited about every single gift and thing that they receive as Maddie had been. It really made us all think about how she doesn't take anything for granted and is truly happy. She makes us all want to be happier and appreciate the little things more. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we did. She has a sparkle to her that the pictures may or may not have captured, but she is a huge joy to all of her family. We love her so much and are so happy to have her in our family.

Opening Kung Fu Panda

Blowing out the candles with a little help from Seth

Her own mp3 player from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

Home made pillow from Belle.

Earlier that day opening them with just the immediate family.

Her very own white Christmas tree.

Oh my Gosh!

Hooray!!

I did it!

I wanted the cake to say happy birthday "Maddie Princess" since thats what she calls herself, but the cake lady decided that I had written it wrong and she put "Princess Maddie". Oh well.

My three loves sitting on Santa's lap at the UDSF Christmas party! It was so much fun.