O Christmas Tree

I love it when my house is decorated for Christmas!  I try to put my decorations up right after Thanksgiving so I can enjoy them for as long as possible.

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon hauling everything up from the basement and putting up my tree.  Hanging all of the ornaments on my tree is so much fun because most of them bring back lots of memories.  I listened to my favorite Amy Grant Christmas songs and burned a pine scented candle while I decorated and now I am so excited for Christmas!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Note: My family has played shanghai rummy every night for the past three nights.  I have won every game!  I think they all hate me now...

Moana

Yesterday afternoon my Mom, Marilyn, Sean, Tashena, and I went to see the new Disney movie Moana.  I loved this movie so much!  As soon as the credits started rolling I started the applause!  In fact, you should probably stop reading right now and go see it because it is that amazing!  I loved the characters, the story, the animation, and the music (one of the composers is Lin-Manuel Miranda!).  Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) is the daughter of the Chief of the island of Motunui.  She feels like she is being called to the ocean but her father warns her not to go beyond the reef.  When her island is threatened, she learns a legend from her grandmother that says the heart of Te Fiti was stolen by the shape-shifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and it must be returned to bring life back to the islands.  When the ocean gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti, she sets out on an adventure to find Maui and return it.  I loved the character of Moana because she is strong and finds the strength to do what needs to be done to save her people even when she doubts herself.  I loved that Maui is not Moana's love interest but a goofy sidekick and that they work together as a team.  Maui is a fun character and his tattoos are involved in telling the story.  It is hilarious when they mock him!  I also loved the character of Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement), a crab who has stolen Maui's hook because he likes shiny things.  I loved the story of finding your identity and believing in yourself (I may or may not have had a tear in my eye at a crucial moment).  The animation is lush and beautiful and I especially loved how the ocean is used as a character.  Finally, I absolutely loved the music!  My favorite songs are "We Know The Way," (sung by Lin-Manuel Miranda, sigh), "How Far I'll Go," (it gave me goosebumps) "You're Welcome," (who knew that The Rock could sing?) and "Shiny," (I love Jemaine Clement).  We all enjoyed this movie so much we went to see it again late last night!  You should go see it, too!

Note:  We always have fun stories to tell when we see a Disney movie the day after Thanksgiving.  When Tangled was released we were camping in the motor home and the tiny theater in St. George could not deal with the huge crowds who wanted to see it.  Seating was not assigned and it was kill or be killed to get a good seat.  People were climbing across us and spilled our popcorn.  Then a kid climbed over the seats in front of us and spilled Marilyn's drink!  When I took Sean and Tashena to see Frozen, we didn't buy advance tickets and the theater was packed.  We ended up having to sit in the middle of the second row and Sean and Tashena got into a huge fight over who would have to sit by a stranger!  During our first screening of Moana, there were tons of really noisy kids and babies!  Good times!

Thanksgiving 2016

Yesterday was wonderful!  We had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house and everyone was assigned to bring something.  I was assigned rolls and I actually made them (Rhodes Bake and Serve) and they turned out great (I have burned them before).  We had turkey and ham, cheesy potatoes, stuffing, the aforementioned rolls, pomegranate salad (a tradition), and a relish tray.  Everything tasted great!

After dinner we all took naps for a few hours and then we reconvened for a ruthless game of shanghai rummy!  Everyone was assigned to bring a treat (we will play this game every night over the break).  I made caramel corn and we also had fudge, caramels, my Grandma Johnson's traditional scones, and, of course, pie!  Sean is modeling the whipped cream from the pie!

Marilyn is modeling the caramels.

This game is absolutely crazy!  Tashena won the last game we played so we were all gunning for her and she was not happy!

It is kill or be killed, Tashena!  I actually won but I know that everyone will be gunning for me when we play again!  It was so much fun to spend the day with my family!  I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving as well!

Johnson Family Pictures 2016

My parents have a big anniversary coming up and, in honor of the occasion, my Mom really wanted some new family pictures taken.  A couple of weeks ago we had our family friend, Lesa, take some and we love how they turned out!

2009

2008

Note:  Lesa took all of these photos and her first comment was how much Sean and Tashena have grown!  How did this happen?

Miss Basketball Star

This week Tashena tried out for the Bountiful High basketball team and, of course, she made it!  Even though she is a sophomore she will be playing varsity.  The coach told my brother-in-law that college scouts are already interested in her!  What?  She is amazing and we are so incredibly proud of her!