MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everyone! Time for a little update on our blog.......I know you've all been so anxious! The last three months have been just like the rest of our lives........CRAZY! We decided that we had outgrown our townhouse after Eli was born, and we started looking for new housing options quite awhile ago. We found a nice little house much closer to many of our friends in Michigan that we moved into a few weeks ago. That makes move #7 for us. If we have to move again in less than 3 years, I will literally set fire to everything we own in protest - mark my words! I can't express adequately how difficult it was for me to mentally wrap my head around this move. The very thoughts of packing up a box made me want to hurl. It took Ben actually taping together the first box, putting it in front of me, and practically holding my hand while I put in an object to get me through it. Fortunately for us all, we did it, and not without a lot of help. God bless the Elders Quorum and the willing members of it to spend hours helping to do the painful grunt work of assiting people move! Another nice aspect of this move was our ability to fly for free. I was able to drop off the kids in Utah while I flew back to be with Ben on his days off to pack up and move our things. I believe it was a much less traumatic experience for them than it otherwise would have been had they been with us during the whole process. Now that the move is behind us, I am happy to say that the house has turned out to be just what we needed. I had my doubts. I am not above admitting that I am extremely vain and have been spoiled to live in places throughout my life that are nice, clean, and new. This is my first experience living in a place that is maybe not AS clean, not AS nice, and not AS new. The townhouse we came from was only a few years old, and we were the first ones to live in it....nice, new, clean appliances, carpet, paint, hardwood, 2 1/2 baths......ahhhhhh, that's my kind of place. Our new house is older, kind of smells funny (like a cabin), and only has ONE BATHROOM!!! The trade off is that the new house has a fenced in yard that you can see from the kitchen, a playscape for the kids, an extra bedroom, and.......(drumroll)............A BASEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has a partially-finished, fairly large basement that has become a fantastic playroom for the kids, and I can't tell you the euphoria that I feel when the kids are running around in my face while I am making dinner or working, and I can look at them and say, "Go downstairs!" It makes me giddy just thinking about it. I HATED not being able to send the kids anywhere to play in the townhouse. Sooo, even though I had to sacrifice some of my vanity, I am going to admit that this house is much healthier for all of us. Ben knew this all along, and he tried to convince me of it. He maintains that he is "always right," which we all know is not true, but he is usually right in making big decisions, and he was definitely right about this one. Sorry I doubted you honey. :)

That is our biggest news by far. Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season this year! Here are some pictures from the past three months. Daxton had his fifth birthday (we had the party in our garage in the townhouse). Elijah is almost crawling. Jacy turns 3 in just a few days. We took the kids to see Santa, and they really enjoyed it. Jacy was a little hesitant and didn't want to get too close. Elijah just goes along with anything. Daxton is much more aware this year of Christmas and what it is all about. He composed a letter to Santa and asked for a "red kar," an "unbrelu," and a "choo choo chran." I enjoy the fact that he has simple requests, not brand specific or lavish. He's a sweet boy with a good heart, and very practical. Just like his dad.

We hope that all of our friends and family have a wonderful Christmas this year! We have some exciting trips/celebrations in our near future, which may necessitate a blog posting before another six months go by.....time permitting. We love you all!

Love,

The Johnsons