My 2012 Word of the Year

Happy New Year's Everyone!

We had such a wonderful day yesterday, it was the perfect way to end one year, and start another.

I love all the possibilities of a new year. I love a fresh start and the feeling that anything is possible. I also LOVE choosing one word to keep in my mind all year long, something I hope to focus on to help me become closer to the person I want to be.

This year the word I have chosen is CHERISH.

My life is such a beautiful gift, but am I truly cherishing it?!

I have a wonderful husband that provides for our family, not only supports my choice in staying home with my children, but LOVES that I do, and tells me everyday how much he loves me....do I truly show him how much I cherish him?

I have 4 fantastic, loud, wacky, dramatic, precious children. They have given my life purpose that I had never known, they have made me better and each has stolen a piece of my heart. Do I show them daily how much I truly cherish being their mother?

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Do I cherish the opportunity I have to serve? Do I cherish the chance I have to listen to a modern day prophet, read sacred scripture and commune daily with my Heavenly Father? Do I cherish the covenants I made in the temple and attend regularly to serve there?

There are so many more things in my life to cherish. I think we get in a rut sometimes of thinking "I will just be happy when...." I don't want to waste a minute of 2012 waiting for "when...."! I also tend to get a little nervous when things are going well. Anyone else? Almost like I'm waiting for something bad to happen, because really, isn't that how life can sometimes be? But really, how can you cherish your life if you are just waiting for something bad to happen??

Life can be SO hard! Some days I feel completely overwhelmed, inadequate and underappreciated! But on those days all it takes is to look around, see all the things I have been blessed with, to see there is truly SO much to cherish.

So if you are picking a word this year, I wish you luck!! I am excited to begin my year of recognizing, appreciating and CHERISHING all that my life has to offer. Life is not perfect, but it was never intented to be. Without the trials and tribulations there would be no growth, no progression. And looking back on my life and thinking I didn't learn a thing is scarier to me than those inevitable twists and turns anyway :)

A very Happy New Year's to you all and may we all have a very cherished 2012!!

Family Motto 2012

I LOVE the start of a new year! A fresh beginning, a chance to be better in some things, and let some things go.

Paul and I decided this year we wanted to choose a family motto that would help us as we strive to grow closer as a family, and have a better spirit in our home. As I was thinking about what our family really needed, a tune kept coming into my head. I mentioned it to Paul and he thought it was perfect for the Johnson Family Motto of 2012!

Love is spoken here!

As we talked about how we want our home to be, I thought about how home should be a safe place, a place where no matter how harsh the world is, you can always go and feel loved and special.

In an effort to make that more of a reality for us I made this printable and quickly painted this old wood frame to display on our mantle all year long!

I love how it turned out, but mostly I love the wonderful reminder that it is for me. Honestly...right after I put it up my kids starting fighting upstairs over which characters they were from Backyardigans (does anyone elses kids do this?!) and I was about to yell up at them to knock it off (not so nicely :) One look at my sign reminded me that our home NEEDS to have that spirit of kindness, patience, charity and LOVE.

So tell me...do you choose a family theme at your house? If so, what is it?! I would love to hear what is working for you in your home and your great ideas! Thanks for checking us out today and enjoy this New Year's with the people you love the most!

Linking up at

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Gluesticks

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Family Goals FHE

The fhe this week is very different from what we normally do. There are no cute handouts, no themed desserts and very little fluff! :) Kind of a stretch for me. However, after ward conference last week and a great combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting yesterday, I have felt inspired to share some things with my children that we all need to work on.

We just moved a few weeks ago and the new stake we are in has listed 4 goals for the upcoming year for members of our stake. They are as follows:

1. Spend 30 minutes a day in the scriptures.

2. Make our Sabbath Day more holy.

3. Attend the temple monthly (at least!)

4. Be free of consumer debt within 3 years.

Our bishop pointed out yesterday that its kind of cool how the first goal is something we can do every day, the next something every week, the next something every month and the next we can work on for the next year and then some :) That really made it feel not quite so overwhelming to me and made me excited to share these goals with our little ones. Even though they are young they play a big part in these goals...especially numbers 1 and 2.

We are going to mostly talk about having family scripture study and how we can make our Sabbath Day more holy. I have some fun ideas about the latter that I will hopefully be sharing with you tomorrow in a throwback to "Cutting the Chaos...one week at a time!" Remember that??

Anyway, it will be short and sweet but I am excited to get the whole family on board with the goals we are going to be working on. I know these are things that will be pleasing unto the Lord, and I know He will bless us as we strive dilligently to do the things the leaders of our church have asked us to do. Hope you all have a great family night!!

Word of the Year!

I cannot believe it is already time again to choose a word to focus on for the upcoming year! 2010 was a big year for our family, LOTS of twists and turns, amazing blessings and humbling trials. I think 2011 will have just as many changes as we will again be moving, welcoming a new baby to the family and who knows what else?!

As with the last two years I have done this, the word I have chosen came to me quickly and without a doubt! There are so many things I need to work on, but this one immediately struck me as what I want to focus on this year. My word of the year for 2011 is......

SERVICE!!

As I said 2011 was a very humbling year for us, and in the midst of it all our blessings and the service of others was what shone through. I am thrilled to take 2011 to focus on all the different ways I can serve in my life. First and foremost, serving my family. I am excited to serve my family, to help all of us become better and closer to our Savior. I am looking forward to serving in the Church, while we have been staying in Eagle Mountain we have not had the opportunity of serving in callings. I have been so surprised to find out how much I have missed it! I love the associations it brings, I love how much more I depend on the Lord to make up for what I lack. I am excited to serve in the Temple. I am excited to look past my little family and our needs and serve those in our community that have so little. On Christmas Eve this year we went to The Road Home shelter and donated a trunk full of toys and baby clothes. It was a life changing experience for me and hopefully my kids too. Often in our prayers now Skylar will ask Heavenly Father to bless the kids at the homeless shelter. We were so humbled and only wished we had done more. We have made a family commitment to do something each month (ie make blankets, put together hygeine kits etc) so by the time next Christmas Eve rolls around we will have a donation that really means something, that we have all worked for.

If you feel overwhelmed by New Year's Resolutions I encourage you to pick just one word, its a great way to feel your making a change without going overboard :) If you need some ideas, here are my words for the last two years!! Have a Happy New Year everyone!!

EMBRACE
BALANCE

Wake-up Call!

Before I get to the point of this post, I have to tell a quick story. And to understand this story you need a little bit of background on ME :) Here's the thing, I tend to be a very "all-or-nothing" type person. This can be very good, but also very bad. When I am "all", I am unstoppable. But if I feel like I can't be "all", I tend to do the other part...."nothing". The funny thing is, I'll just be going along with my life when something will happen and a switch will go off in my brain making me go "all" on some aspect of my life. This is what happened to me a few weeks ago:

Skylar was complaining of some health issues in a sensitive area and I started to do a little research. After I checked her out and did some research online, I came up with my diagnosis :) I was horrified with what I found. What she had was caused by dehydration, lack of excercise and poor diet!! I felt like the worst mom EVER! In all the research I did it was very uncommon for children to have this condition, and that made me feel even worse. Here's where the "all" kicks in! In one fail swoop I completely changed the way our family eats. Out with the enriched flour, high fructose corn syrup, and processed foods. It's hard to change a lifestyle, but when you think your childs health is at risk, it suddenly becomes much easier!!

Now are you ready for the funny part? When I took Skylar to the doctor to get her issue checked out, it turns out I was totally wrong!! :) She didn't have what I thought she did, jokes on me! So here I made this huge lifestyle change, for really no reason at all :) BUT, that doesn't change the fact that I am glad we did. A few weeks later I am seeing that I need balance and to be a little more flexible, but I am still really happy with the changes we have made. I quickly wanted to post some of my favorite things that I have found in our quest to be a little bit healthier, simply in the hopes that you will do the same! What are some healthy things you give your kids to eat? I have a pretty easy time with meals, but snacks are a little bit harder for me. Here are a few of my fave things: (and just a sidenote, I am no nutritionist, but I feel pretty good about giving my kids these things!)

My kids LOVE these Annie's Homegrown Bunny Snacks. They taste just like Teddy Grahams and Goldfish, but they are all-natural and made with whole-wheat flour. You can find them almost anywhere I think, I like to buy the variety pack at Costco.



Yogurt is one of my kids favorite things to eat. I really thought I was giving them a healthy snack, not realizing that the second ingredient listed on Gogurts is high fructose corn syrup! So needless to say I was thrilled when they recently came out with Simply Gogurts. I know, I know, these still have a bunch of sugar, but they did take out all the high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors. Its better at least, right? :)


Finally, we LOVE us some hummus!! I get any old brand of pita bread, bake it in the oven for about 7-10 minutes and bake our own pita chips. My sister in law introduced me to this particular brand from Costco while I was in New York. It is our fave new snack!!



I think one of the biggest obstacles for me when it comes to eating healthy is the financial aspect. Let's get real folks, it ain't cheap!! But after talking to my husband and looking at our budget, we decided to take the money out of our entertainment fund to add to the grocery budget. I feel like it is an investment in our health, one that I am sure will pay off in the long run.

One more sidenote: I don't think there is anything wrong with yummy, unhealthy treats!! The problem in our house is that those kinds of foods were no longer special treats, they were snacks that the kids could eat all day. So take what I am saying with a grain of salt and if you ever have the Johnson's over, don't worry about what we will and won't eat!! I have decided you can't control the situation everywhere you go, and thats just fine!! I am simply trying to teach my children (and really my husband and myself too!) how to live a little bit healthier life :)

Now don't forget when you comment :) to leave me all of YOUR wonderful healthy snack ideas!!

What to do, what to do...

Lately I've been trying to decide what to do with this blog. I love being able to record some fun things about my darling family, and I will continue to do that! But I have been really inspired by many of the blogs out there, I feel like I want there to be a little more to it. I think I finally figured it out!

Once a week I am going to post about my attempt to "Cut the chaos, one week at a time!" Pretty exciting, huh? :) Once a week I will post something, it can be big or small, that is making my life a little too chaotic and the solution I have come up with to fix it!!

I am really excited about this for two reasons: First off, if anyone can benefit from something I am doing, then right on! But even more importantly, I figure a few months of this and my life will be sufficiently less chaotic. Some of the weeks will be big projects, and some of them will be silly little things that most people had probably all thought of years ago ;) But in short, it is my attempt to clear out the clutter and chaos in my life, so I can more clearly see the joy and the blessings that are all around!

So stay tuned on Monday for the very first installment of "Cutting the chaos, one week at a time!"

Welcome 2010!!

I LOVE the start of a new year!! My list of resolutions is a mile long, and I can't wait to get going on them :) Somewhere towards the bottom of that list is keeping up on my blogs. Since I know I will never catch up, I am going to skip posting Christmas and all of that fun, and just start fresh again!!

I have a feeling 2010 is going to be a great year for our family. Skylar will be starting Kindergarten next year and Kendall preschool. I (for once:) have more kids out of diapers than in, WAHOO!! And maybe, just maybe, we'll start working on another addition for the family :) Big things are happening with Pauls job and its exciting to see where they may take him (and us!)

Last year I picked one word to work on for the year. It was balance, and honestly, I think I did ok. Thinking about how I was last year, and I how I am today, I DO feel more balanced. I wanted to choose another word for this year and after some experiences I had this last week it has been very obvious. And the new word is....


EMBRACE!!!

Kind of weird, right? :) But once again, I have seen firsthand how our lives pass by much too quickly. I want to look back on 2010 and KNOW that I embraced every challenge, every trial, every accomplishment that came our way. I want to feel like I treasured and embraced the mundane moments of motherhood that now can feel tedious, but that I know in my later years I will miss. I want to embrace my own personal weaknesses until I can conquer them and they become my strengths. I want to embrace my family relationships that may need a little more work, but that will be that much sweeter for it.

So on that note, since I am now "embracing" our new church time (1:00:) I'm going to go cuddle my kiddos in my bed. Happy New Year everyone!

Word of the Year

Happy new year everyone!! I have been waiting to blog all of our holidays until I can figure out how to get the pics off our new camera, but I couldn't wait any longer :) I have seen on a few blogs the idea of choosing a word for the year that you try to focus on. I love this idea and quickly found the perfect word for me:

BALANCE!!

I don't know about you guys, but I am such an all or nothing person! I will either be keeping my house spotless and completely ignoring my kids, or doing SO much for my calling and completely ignoring my friends. It seem like I do one thing REALLY awesome, and everything else just gets put on the back burner. My goal for this year (and I am sure many years to come) is to find balance in my life, doing little things in every area of my life every day. I've narrowed it down to 5 areas:
Family
Social
Spiritual
Physical
Creative

Of course that doesn't cover everything, but I think its a great start. An example of a well-balanced day would be waking up early and reading my scriptures (Spiritual), doing some of my pregnancy pilates (Physical), doing a fun activity with my kids or watching a movie with my husband (Family), commenting on a friends blog or meeting up at Chili's (Social), and maybe doing a quick scrapbook page while the kiddies are sleeping. I've got to tell you, I have been doing this this week, and I am loving it! It has been so interesting to see how our days have flowed so much more smoothly, the house has been cleaner, I have been happier because I have spending a little bit of time on the things I need. It never ceases to amaze me, how when I devote my time to the things the Lord would have me do first, how I am blessed to be able to accomplish so much more! I know its impossible to be balanced every day, but in my life there is so much room for improvement! If you haven't picked a word, try it out!