Johnson Family Theme 2015!

Hello, hello!  I am so happy to finally be getting another blog post up :)  It seems like no matter how good my intentions are, I just cannot seem to find the time to sit down for a few minutes and compose a few scattered thoughts into a blog post.  However, as soon as I do, I remember how much I enjoy this little place of mine to share a few rambling thoughts and pieces of our lives. 

Today I wanted to share with you what we have chosen to be our Johnson Family Theme of 2015!  (Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?;)

Deciding on a theme turned out to be a really cool experience for my husband and I.  I mentioned that I wanted to pick a theme, and asked him to think and pray about what he thought our family needed this year.  I told him I would do the same, and we went on our separate ways for the day.  That night, before bed, I asked him if he had any ideas that he felt strongly about.  He said that one thing kept coming back to him, that we needed to teach our kids more about SERVICE, and the hymn Because I Have Been Given Much.  The interesting thing was, I had been having similar thoughts, about service but also about different types of giving as well.  I kept having a scripture come to me, where King Lamoni's Father is praying to Heavenly Father in the Book of Mormon and he says "I would give away my sins to know Thee".  From our two thoughts and the guidance of the Spirit we came up with our theme:

 

I just LOVE this theme!  In the short week that we have shared this with our kids we have already seen some great things and small blessing every single day.

 

We introduced our theme on Monday night for Family Home Evening, and did a fun activity to go along with it. 

 

I decided we needed simple ways to help the kids serve in little ways every, single day.  To help them get in that habit, we created a Simple Service Jar! 

 

 

 

All we did was tape this printable around a mason jar and fill it will slips of paper.  On every slip we wrote small, simple acts of service we can do for one another.  They were anything from giving 3 compliments that day to helping mom with the baby while she makes dinner.  Shoveling a neighbors driveway to writing letters to missionaries from our family and ward.  The whole point of this jar to help the kids see that serving can become a way of life, that a little bit of effort on our part can greatly bless the lives of others. 

 

 

I am happy to say we have already pulled 4 or 5 papers out of our service jar when the kids are bored or grumpy, and it really is amazing how doing something kind for someone else can change the attitude and spirit in our home! 

 

Going along with our theme of Giving this year we will be doing monthly service projects and as many other things as I can possibly think of.  Hopefully I will be on top of it enough to share some of those things here ;)  Thank you so much for stopping by and please share: do you do a family theme in your home?  If so...what is your family theme for 2015?!

8th Birthday Special Celebration!

 Even though I can still hardly believe it, a few weeks ago my daughter Skylar turned 8 years old!!

In our faith, 8 is a big deal!  We believe when children reach the age of 8, they become accountable.  This means they can now understand the difference between right and wrong, and they can choose to be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

It is an exciting time, and I wanted to put something together for Skylar that was fun but also meaningful as well.  

For a few months before the big day, Skylar kept saying she didn't want a party...she just wanted a day at the spa with me :)  Um...YES!  Sounds good to me! ;)

The more I got thinking about it though...I realized what a wonderful opportunity this was to express something so important to my precious little girl.  Instead of spending a whole day focused on our Outer Beauty (which is fun and wonderful!) I wanted to take the day and focus on ALL of the things that make my little one TRULY beautiful.

When we got in the car, I told her to get ready for a Day of Beauty!  Then I handed her this note rolled up and tied with a ribbon.

She was SO excited, and could not wait to find out where we were going!

Our first destination was all about celebrating her Beautiful Mind!  We went to our local Children's Museum and then picked out a fun new book at the bookstore.  She loved every minute of it, and I really emphasized all the things I love about her mind...how good she is at reading, what great imagination she has, and how she LOVES to learn!

The next stop was very special.  After a yummy lunch we went shopping for the perfect white dress for my little girl to wear to her baptism!  While we were shopping we talked all about her Beautiful Spirit, how proud I was of the choice she was making, and what a good example she was to her brothers and sisters.

Yeah...I totally cried :)  

Finally, we finished the day with some good old Outer Beauty too ;)  A trip to the salon for manicures and pedicures was the perfect way to end our day.

I cannot tell you how wonderful this day was.  We are raising children in a world that will teach them the MOST important things are just that...THINGS!  I am so grateful I had an opportunity to share with my daughter was makes her TRULY beautiful.  Yes, I think she is gorgeous...but she is so much more than that.  She has a heart of gold, and TRUE desire to choose the right.  She teaches me about forgiveness and love every single day.

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So I would love to know...what have you done for your childs birthday that has become a special tradition in your family?!

General Conference 2012!

We had an AMAZING conference weekend!

It probably wouldn't have looked that special to anyone else...but to me it was exactly what my spirit needed.

All day Saturday and Sunday, snuggled up with blankets, pillows and the people I love the very most. Dinner and dessert with extended family that I love dearly and count among my greatest blessings.

And OH the messages shared! I couldn't help but cry as I heard words over and over that felt like they were meant for me alone. I feel encouraged, inspired, repentant and renewed. I felt sad as President Monson closed the final Sunday session...I didn't want it to end! There were too many highlights to name them all, but some of the lessons I won't soon forget: (and I am TOTALLY paraphrasing here!:)

* When it comes to judging, holding on to grudges, envy and causing hurt....STOP IT.

* Look for every day moments to teach our children important gospel principles

* There IS a difference between the church and the gospel

* There is enough pain in life that will cause us misery...we don't need to go looking for it by being upset and envious anytime anyone has something GOOD happen in their life.

* Sacrifices are a beautiful thing. They refine us and our priorities...they are necessary to becoming the people we want to be.

And SO, so much more!!

I have already listened to a bunch of the talks again online, and cannot WAIT for my Ensign to come so I can really study and read the words again.

What a gift it is to have a living prophet on the earth. What a gift it is to KNOW of a loving Savior, His Atonement, and His Resurrection. My heart has been full these last few days. Full of gratitude, LOVE for my family, and a desire to be better.

So how about you?! Did everyone love conference as much as I did? And hey...if you aren't even quite sure what all this "conference" stuff I'm going ON and ON about is...check it out! :)

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/04?lang=eng&vid=1541950013001&cid=4

This was one of my favorite talks...I think it applies to everyone everywhere! :)

We will be back tomorrow with a fun, simple craft to do with your kids to get in the Easter spirit...and maybe some fun homemade Easter Basket filler ideas too!

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!

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Choose to Become...

I had the most amazing opportunity this weekend to join the women of my family and attend the Time Out For Women conference in Salt Lake City. Words don't quite do the experience justice, everything sounds too cheesy or cliche. But honestly...I came home changed. The speakers touched my soul, the music stirred my heart, and I was (and still am!) filled with more knowledge, desire, gratitude and love.

The theme for this year was Choose to Become. Could not have been more perfect for me. One of the things I love about the gospel of Jesus Christ is the doctrine about free agency and choice and accountability. I feel it is SO empowering...I HAVE THE CHOICE. I can choose every day to become the woman my Heavenly Father expects me to be.

One thought that kept coming to me as well through out the entire weekend was who I was before I came to this world. I believe we were all sent here with missions, divine works we are appointed to accomplish with specific spiritual gifts given to help us along our way. The thought kept coming to me as I pondered who I was choosing to become...perhaps I am choosing to REDISCOVER who I had already promised my Father in Heaven I would be. I am not trying to become someone I have never been, instead remembering who He promised me I could be. It was a pretty powerful recognition for me.

Joining me at the conference were my most amazing Johnson girls!! I am so blessed with my family. I was born into an amazing family and count my blessings every day for them. I am also lucky enough to be apart of the Johnson family. I feel as close to them as my own , and I know I was meant to be a part of them. I just found them through marriage instead of birth :)

Here are some pics of us gals at the hotel our AWESOME father-in-law paid for...what a guy!:)

Bet you wish you could have been a fly on the wall to hear all our conversations that night....actually...probably not ;)

A really fun tradition we have started at our annual Girls Weekends are to do our Favorite Things. We try to keep it at a dollar a person, but you think of one of your favorite things that you could share and give one to everyone. It is so fun to learn more about everyone and also get a bag of favorite things to take home!

How lucky I am to stand in the company of such amazing women!

I wanted to share with you some of the most inspiring words that I heard this weekend, I hope these can help and inspire someone as they did for me.

"One who chooses Christ chooses to be changed."

In regards to our Savior..."We need to remember not only what He has saved us from, but what He has saved us FOR."

"God's delays are NOT denials."

The above were all quotes from the amazing Brad Wilcox. He spoke about our Savior as our Redeemer,and His ability to mold and transform us. It was truly beautiful.

The person I was MOST excited to hear from did not disssapoint!! I LOVE Sheri Dew. I love her boldness, her faith and her ability to make me want to be more simply by listening to her. She had some very powerful things to say as well...

"There is not one cell in my body that is neutral about the gospel of Jesus Christ."

"We need to become seeking women, not silly women."

In regards to what to tell someone when they ask us mothers what it is that we actually do all day....you simply say, "I'm nurturing 4 children along the path to exaltation...how abou you?" :)

I have a journal with pages FULL of these quotes and so many more! The thing that was truly amazing about this weekend was that out of 8 women, we all heard exactly what WE needed to hear. Sheri Dew said "The Holy Ghost is the great translator" and I know that is true. He is able to take the message that is given and translate it into our hearts so we can hear what we need.

The other thing this tells me is that Heavenly Father knows ME. He knew what I needed to hear, if I would only listen. Within minutes of hearing the first speaker a word kept coming to me over and over. Throughout the weekend I kep thinking of this word as I pondered who I was choosing to become. When I came home I was impressed to read my patriarchal blessing. I was surprised to realize that same word is repeated over and over, and it had never really stood out to me before. I knew that Heavenly Father was telling me exactly who I could choose to become, because He knows exactly what I am capable of, and WHO I am capable of becoming.

The same is true for all of us. He knows you. And as we strive to become whoever we choose, He will be with us every step of the way.

Thank you for stopping by today. I know that not everyone that looks at my little blog is of the LDS faith, but I believe these concepts are true for ALL of us. We were all born with a divine nature and limitless possibilities...the challenge in this life is seeking those out and trusting ourselves and our Heavenly Father enough to let it all happen.

The Parable of the Pumpkins

I had to share this family home evening with everyone tonight in the hopes that it will be as successful in your home as it was in ours! I got the idea for this fhe years ago as I was praying for a way to help my then 4-year old realize the importance of telling the truth. I revamped it this year, wrote this poem, and tonight it was a wonderful lesson on repentance, doing our best, and finally being made clean through the atonement of our Savior.

I give you....The Parable of the Pumpkins

by Tonii Johnson

(I have a link below so you can download this for yourself if you like it!)

Once in a pumpkin patch, not far from here,

There were two little pumpkins, both friends so dear.

They were so much alike, both orange and round,

They both had a stem, and they both grew on the ground.

But that is where the similarity ends,

You see, there is one big differene between these closest of friends.

Patty the pumkin is not always nice,

She often tells lies, hits, screams and fights.

She never says sorry, and she really is quite mean,

Though she looks fine on the outside, her insides are not clean!

Then you have Perry, our other pumpkin friend,

Perry is someone on whom you can always depend!

Perry can make mistakes like all of us do,

But Perry says he's sorry, and you know what he says is true.

He tries his very hardest to be the best he can,

It's not always easy, but he has a plan!

He knows how important it is to be truly clean,

Not just on outside, but also where it CAN'T be seen.

He knows of the importance to stay clean and pure,

By saying I'm sorry, repenting, telling the truth and more!

As we leave our two pumpkin friends, there are great lessons to learn,

Our actions WILL determine what kind of insides we earn.

We all make mistakes, that is for sure,

What makes our insides different is our DESIRE to be pure.

As we strive our hardest to be the best we can be,

There will be rough times, days we have to say "Sorry!"

But just like in the pumpkin patch not far from here,

The way I want my insides is SO very clear!

I'll choose Perry over Patty every day of the week,

Even though I may look okay on the outside, clean on the inside is what I truly seek!

You can click

http://www.4shared.com/folder/G4JOhpiW/The_Parable_of_the_Pumpkins.html to download your very own printable version of The Parable of the Pumpkins.

Once you have your printable all ready to go the next thing you need are the two stars of tonights family home evening....Patty and Perry!

Don't laugh too hard...I think I have mentioned before that free-hand painting is not my strong suit! :)

After you have decorated them you want to scoop out all the gunk from your Perry pumpkin so he is nice and clean.

Patty pumpkin...not so much! Leave it all in there and hope its a super slimy one! :)
After we read our story we talked about how we want OUR insides to be. Then I let the kids pull of the tops of the pumpkins and see the insides. Their faces were priceless! It actually made me tear up (no big surprise) because you could see that they just GOT IT. They understood what we were trying to teach them, and there was no way they wanted their insides to look ANYTHING like Patty's!

I think the most successful part of the night was when we talked about how even though Patty had some yucky insides right now, through a loving Heavenly Father and the atonement of our Savior she too (and all of us!) could be made clean once more. I feel so strongly about teaching my children this principle. The fact is, they will sin. They will make mistakes. And they HAVE to know there is a way back, that it is never too late.

Thank you so much for visiting Blue Skies Ahead! We have SO many people visiting from SugarDoodle and other sites, I hope it has been worth your time :) I am grateful for a place like this little blog where I can share and cultivate some of the things I am passionate about like teaching my children, enjoying this crazy journey and striving to follow my Savior.

I can be a"COW"ntable Family Home Evening

If you couldn't tell from the play on words, we are learning about all things FARM this week :) This fhe was inspired by one of those books you get at Deseret Book that has family home evenings all done for you, you just have to copy them and cut them out! I have a bunch of those books that I browse through to get some idea. This book already the cows so I just cut them out and laminated them. If you DON't have the book you could just print out cows and write different scenarios on the back.

To make this a little more fun I decided to make a cute little barn we could use as a visual. We are actually going to be using this for a bunch of farm activities this week so it will get plenty of use. All you need is a empty oatmeal container, some contruction paper and a little white paint.

You simply cover the oatmeal container with red contruction paper and then use the white paint to make a little door and window. To make the top I traced a large circle and cut it out. Then you just cut a line to the center and fold the paper around to make a cone. I found the original idea HERE.

After my barn and cows were all ready to go we talked about what the word Accountability means. I explained its knowing the difference between right and wrong and taking responsibility for your actions. We asked the kids some different things that they have to be accountable for (praying before bed, brushing their teeth, treating everyone with kindness) and especially focused on NOT blaming others when you make a bad choice. This seems to happen a lot in our home :) Then it was time for our activity.

Each child would take turns coming up and picking out a cow. If the scenario on the cow demonstrated being accountable, they could put the cow in the nice, warm, cozy barn with its family. If it was NOT being accountable the cow had to go outside the barn in the cold weather all by itself.

Finally to finish off I took a bunch of scenarios that have happened lately in our house. I gave the kids cow-shaped paper plates I found at the store that I had cut the eyes out of. When I said a scenario that showed someone being accountable I told them I wanted my a''COW'ntability Cos to stand up and MOOOOO as loud as they could. If it wasn't being accountable to sit quitely on the floor. The kids LOVED this part and had lots of fun standing up, sitting down, and moooing their little hearts out :)

Some of our scenarios were:

When I went outside to play I went down the street to the neighbors house without asking mommy.

Even though I was already in bed, I reminded Daddy that we forgot to read our scriptures.

When I heard the baby crying I gave her a binky without mommy asking me to.

When I got in trouble for hitting I said it wasn't my fault because my sister yelled at me first.

I think it really helped the kids to use real-life things that had happened recently so they could understand what accountability truly means.

I hope this gave someone an idea for a different and fun way to teach your kids what I believe is an incredibly important principle. Thank you SO much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Conference Socks

I wanted to share with you today a fun tradition we started in our family last year that was really easy and inexpensive to do, but that the kids absolutely loved. It also ties in a wonderful spiritual message for the litte ones and makes General Conference just a little bit more fun!

Every year I try to come up with ways to help my little ones not only listen and pay attention during conference, but also get excited about it! It really is a beautiful thing, an entire weekend dedicated to hearing the words of our latter-day prophets, hearing the things our Father in Heaven needs us to be better in....but also renewing our love and dedication to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to share my love of General Conference and thought up this simple way to make it a little more special for them.

I blogged this idea last year but made up a printable this year and got much cuter pictures (my most fantastic hubby got me a new camera for my birthday....I am a little obsessed with it!:).

All you need to start this fun tradition with your family are a new pair of socks for each family member, a container to put them in, and our little Conference Socks poem :)

My girls LOVE anything Hello Kitty, and my little man is crazy about monkeys, so when I found these socks in the Dollar Spot at Target I knew it was my lucky day! I grabbed the container at the dollar store, it came in a pack of 2 so only .50 for that cute bucket.

Then I quickly threw together this printable today. Honestly, I wrote the poem and it is not my best work. If there are any poets out there, feel free to revamp it and send it over to me...I need all the help I can get. If not, this one works just fine and does a good job of expressing what exactly Conference Socks are :)

Once I printed the poem off I just backed it with some fun scrapbook paper like so:

And here is your finished product!!

I love our Conference Socks tradition, it is a simple way to try and help my kids understand feeling the Spirit just a little bit better.

Thank you SO much for stopping by this little blog of mine, and please share...what are some ways you make conference special for YOUR family?? :)

Monthly Service family home evening....lets try this again!

About two years ago I decided I wanted to have the first Family Home Evening of every month focused on service, where we either started or completed a service project that evening. Well....didn't quite take off :) Now here we are two years later and I am feeling strongly once again that my family could REALLY benefit and learn from serving others and forgetting ourselves. And let's be honest...I could really benefit from it too :) My kids have gotten older and I don't think I could teach them anything better than to learn to LOVE to serve. So we are kicking of September with our first service project...kind of fitting that its on Labor Day, right?!

To get us into the spirit I quickly threw together this printable. I think it will be a great reminder for our whole family, but honestly, mostly for me :) I love the trendiness of the Keep Calm signs and thought this would fit perfectly on our new monthly focus. Please feel free to copy and print to have one of your own...I made a few different colors.

For Monday night's fhe we are going to the store to buy school supplies for a drive our ward is doing. I thought that having the kids pick something out that they don't really have to pay for probably isn't going to take that much sacrifice on their part. So all week they have been doing extra chores and earning tickets. For every ticket they have they will be able to pick out one thing for the school supplies drive. This way they had to work and sacrifice in their own small way to bless the lives of others. Then on Sunday we will join with our ward at an activity where we put together these supplies for kids that really need them.

So tell me....what are some service projects you have done with your family? I am SO excited and motivated to show my children what a gift it is to be able to forget yourself and serve selflessly those around us. Until next time, thanks so much for stopping by, and KEEP CALM and SERVE ON :)

The First Vision Family Home Evening

Okay guys, tonight's family home evening was one I will never forget. It was so simple, peaceful and the spirit was felt by everyone. I'll tell you in advance, there was nothing cutesy about this fhe, no fun games, no cute printables, no themed snack. Just the family, a Book of Mormon and being surrounded by Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. Sometimes (like today) I really feel inspired as to what our fhe should include, and the inspiration I got today was to get out of the way and let the spirit do all the teaching.

Today I wanted to teach my children the story of the First Vision and Joseph Smith's experience in the Sacred Grove. I thought a fun, unique way to do this was to take the kids up the to the mountains, have a picnic dinner, and then quietly read from the Joseph Smith history and testify to my children of the incredible events that took place years ago.

As we sat surrounded by beautiful trees, the sound of the birds chirping and a nearby creek, the spirit was strong and testified of the truthfulness of the things we were reading about. The kids were calm and peaceful as we talked about how the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph, called him by name, and answered his humble prayer. It was a beautiful evening for our little family. We closed by singing Praise to the Man (one of the songs the kids have been learning in Primary this year) and a closing prayer.

It's hard to see in the first picture I posted, but its a picture of the Sacred Grove and at the bottom it says "What happened here changed the world. Let it change your life."

What happened in the Sacred Grove when Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ DID change my life. I love Joseph Smith. When I was a teenager there were many things with the gospel that I struggled with, things I didn't understand or agree with. But one thing I KNEW was that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that through him the gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored upon the earth. As my husband and I bore our testimonies to our children I was once again filled with wonder and gratitude for the wisdom and love of our Heavenly Father and the faithfulness and diligence of the prophet Joseph. I am so glad we had the chance to share these feelings with our children and encourage you to do the same! Even though they are so young, they have an amazing ability to feel the spirit and understand more than we can even comprehend. I certainly know I usually learn much more from them than they do from me!;)

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you all have a fantastic week!!

General Conference "UN"Wrap-up Family Home Evening

Ok, the "UN"Wrap-up part will all make sense in a minute :)

For Fhe tomorrow I really wanted to focus on the messages we heard in conference this weekend. I don't know if your home is like mine, but no matter how hard I try its tough to get my kids to pay really good attention for that long (I mean, they are 5, 3, and 1!:) I wanted to make sure we focused on a few talks that had messages that my young ones could understand. Here is what I have come up with:

First we are going to say several times together the 6th Article of Faith. Feel free to copy and print off the printable I made for it...I laminated mine so we will have it for future use.

Then we are going to talk about how lucky we are to have a modern day Prophet that speaks with Heavenly Father and Jesus and then talks to us. Then we will talk about things we remember from conference and how Heavenly Father gives us little “gifts” of truth and knowledge when we listen to the prophets and apostles. ACTIVITY: In a basket we will have several items wrapped up in wrapping paper. These are items that represent different topics we heard about in General Conference. The kids will take turns unwrapping each gift one at a time and we will discuss who spoke about the topic and one or two key points they mentioned. These are the speakers, their topic, and what I am wrapping up.

President Monson / Temples / Picture of a Temple

President Eyring / Serving Others / Completed Hygiene Kits

Elder Scott / Love to spouse and children / Heart-shaped Box

Elder Pratt / Tithing / Tithing Slip and Envelope

Elder Perry / Keep the Sabbath Day Holy / Sunday Books and Activities

In with the packages that I wrapped I have included these cards below. They just have a small picture of the speaker and one line from their talk that summed up the topic or that I wanted the kids to hear again.

Get it?! General Conference "UN"Wrap-up?! Oh my goodness, I am such a dork :) But I hope you can use this idea and some of the printables to reinforce some of the WONDERFUL messages that we heard this weekend :)