Monday, December 29, 2008

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone's was enjoyable!
Breanna and Matt were here, which was terrific; they were even here for my Crescendo concert.
They brought their dog, Charlie, with whom Asher apparently fell in love. It was like the little nerdy kid tagging along after the cool football player.

On Christmas Day, Maya brought her boyfriend, Marty--very nice guy.

Breanna spent most of her time until Christmas Eve working on a beautiful quilt for her mother-in-law. She used special transfer paper to put photographs of all TEN of Virla's children and their families on fabric squares, then put them together to make the quilt. (I should have taken a picture!)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Global Warming?

The high temp on Sunday is going to be 58, not to bad for this time of year.
The next day the HIGH temp will be 17. Ouch

Monday, December 1, 2008

Hi, Everyone,

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I don't remember every turkey I ever tasted, but I think Alia's just may be the best of all (Sorry, Peter).
David wants to know: Does anyone know what happened to Grandpa Thompson's shooting trophies? Just curious.

Betty

Monday, November 24, 2008

Twilight (what else?)

Alyx and I went to see "Twilight". Fortunately, she had no school, so we were able to hit an early matinee and completely missed the crowds. (Still, $9.50 for a matinee??!?)

Anyway, I enjoyed it very much. I thought it was quite faithful to the book, but even better in that both Edward and Bella got over their grumpiness much more quickly than in the book.

So go see it; I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Saturday, November 15, 2008




Here's what we saw today; these fires are closer than any we've seen in recent years (Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills!), and have also caused more property damage than any in a long time.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Thank you, Dennis Prager!


I've always liked Dennis Prager tremendously, but now he has shown how truly noble he is. In response to the hateful gay-rights activists who are protesting outside our temples, he says, "We are ALL Mormons!" (Even though he's Jewish.)

This reminds me of Denmark's beloved King Christian, who, when the Nazis marched in, donned a Star of David, and all his faithful subjects followed suit.

Veterans' Day

Thank you to our veterans! I heard that there's still ONE MAN LEFT who fought in World War I--of course, he's 108 years old. Amazing.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Mario's e-mail to a soldier in Iraq

Mario wrote this email to a soldier that is currently in Iraq and whose
platoon he used to be in until he came home. I found it very moving and definitely worth sharing and preserving.


Hi Brian,

Sorry for writing to your Army email address, but I don't know any
other one.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and let you know a bit about what's
going on in my life right now.

I found a job (very blessed) as a programmer analyst, and am quite
happy, thank you. There's no yelling, no threatening, and the
employees work hard voluntarily and cheerfully. We all want to be
there.

There's a massage room, and exercise room, and sometimes the company
sponsors lunch.

I respect my co-workers and boss; I wear no uniform; I don't lift heavy
items all day in the motor pool. I don't wait for somebody to tell me
what to do or release me so I can go home. There's none of that. I
only work 8 hours per day. In fact, sometimes I choose to work longer.
Why? Because I enjoy my job. I want the company to succeed. Because
commerce is important; it supports families; it feeds children. In
fact, with the proper perspective, commerce is even virtuous.

I do my job how I want to do it. Nobody micro-manages me. After I'm
done with a project, my supervisor checks my work; he cares mainly
about one thing--does it work?

I don't have to tell someone where I'm going if I choose to take a
break. I can work from 7 until 3 p.m. I can work from 8 to 4, or 9 to
5 or get to work at 9, take an hour for lunch, then finish at 6 p.m.

There is an on-call programmer but that's fine with me. Why? Because
I'm loyal to the company, they treat me well, and I actually want to do
well. We have a clear mission that relates directly to adding value to
our customers' lives.

I wake up around 7:15. I still shave, although I don't have to feel
under the gun about it. I have hair to comb and now wear contacts
rather than glasses.

When I get to work, I use my brain. I analyze, problem solve, learn,
discover.

There are of course, some downsides. Theresa is still having medical
problems, which could get very expensive. While I do have insurance,
it's very expensive. I have no guarantee that my job will be there the
next day.

But I do value some things more highly than safety and security:
freedom, liberty, the dignity of the individual, and the pursuit of
happiness.

War should only be used as a last resort, in self-defense, not in a
pre-emptive strike derived from fear. Peace is should be sought after
always and should only be sacrificed for liberty. Fear is never a
reason to sacrifice peace.

Before we seek war, let us repent of our lies, adulteries, and take
care of our poor. Then let us have faith that God will protect and
defend us as a nation as long as we prepare ourselves and stay strong
morally as well as militarily.

Wish you all the best, my friend,

Mario


Monday, October 20, 2008

A Bit of a Scare

Oh, my gosh!!
Last Saturday, a strange woman tried to get in my car! I had just come out of Der Wienerschnitzel (they have the closest ATM to my house), got back in my car, and could see her approaching. In slow motion, it seemed--just like a bad dream. She was not hesitant; I could tell she was going to try the car door. I pushed the button to lock the doors, but in my panic, I foolishly UNlocked the doors instead.
She opened the passenger-side door and I yelled at her to get out. She said, "Do you want my coat?" and took off said coat. I kept yelling, "GET OUT OF MY CAR! GET OUT!" She offered me her coat again and tossed it on the passenger seat. I told her, "I'M CALLING THE POLICE!" She was completely unfazed. I yelled some more and she finally started to leave. I yelled at her to take her coat, too, which she did.
By then I'd dialed 911, and had this delightful exchange:
911: 911; what is your emergency?
Me: Some woman just tried to get in my car!
911: Tell me what happened, ma'am.
(I give her an account of the events to that point.)
Me: Now she's getting in the car next to me! There's a whole family in there, but they don't seem to be doing anything.
Other Driver: Is she with you?
Me: NO! I'M ON THE PHONE WITH THE POLICE!
Me (to dispatcher): Oh, they're going into the restaurant, and the man is holding the door for her. Maybe they're going to buy her lunch??
Well (my panic subsiding), she doesn't appear to be dangerous. Clearly, she's mentally ill, though.
911: What makes you say that, ma'am? (Catches herself) Other than her trying to get in your car, I mean?
The nice dispatcher lady then told me the officers were on their way. The other driver man came out; I rolled down the window (just a bit) and told him the police were coming. He said, "Well, I don't want to get involved. I'm leaving right now." But just then the police arrived. One of the officers talked to the car-invader woman, and the other talked to me and a gal from the other family.
Me: I'm the one who called.
PO: Can I see your license, ma'am? (I gave it to him.)
Gal: I don't want to get involved; I'm just going to go...
PO: That's fine, ma'am; can I just get your name?
Gal: Ok--(gives her name)
PO: What's your birthdate, ma'am?
Gal: (gives birthdate)
PO: Great. You got a phone, ma'am?
Gal: Yeah. (gives phone number)
Gotta love those hard-line interrogation techniques.
Kind of anti-climactic from that point. I told the officer what had happened, and he said they'd probably be taking the woman to the hospital, which is really what she needed. Whew! A little scary for a moment, but all ended well.


Sunday, October 19, 2008

COLLEGE!

I have been accepeted to my number one choice for college! The Academy Of Art University in Sanfran! So this time next year i will be sitting in my DORM room blogging! I am super stoked. It wasn't that hard.. i spent a month talking to the admissions guy and then just applied and i got in! I'm majoring in the motion pictures productions stuff, I'm going there for acting, as you probably all know it's been my dream since i was 9 years old when i was in my very first play to be an actress and now I'm going to go out there and do it :D

Friday, October 17, 2008

Pictures

In case I have an out-of-date email for you...we've posted pictures of our baby at our blog http://mattnbreannastevens.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Life's funny little coincidences

I pull up to the post office just as Dennis Prager is saying, "Save time and gas. DON'T drive to the post office; use stamps.com!"

Walking the dog, I round the corner, facing directly into the late afternoon sun, and a neighbor's stereo is playing "Blinded By the Light".

Friday, October 3, 2008

My new friend...?


Miriam is so much more brave than I am!! Here's the creepy spider that took up residence in my garage. It's the size of a hermit crab, and I've built it a little house, and take it on walks daily.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Arachnophobia




The other night, as I approached my car after song practice, I saw a fantastic, large economy-sized spider rising in the air (climbing its silk). I thought it would be great for Thomas to take to his entomology class. Didn't have a container of any kind in the car, so I went back in the church building, hoping to find a plastic cup or two, which I did. Still didn't know how I was going to reach the darn thing, but on my way out I came across three of Thomas' friends—all Boy Scouts—who were eager to lend a hand.

The spider was still there, but pretty high up, so two of the boys interlaced their fingers while the third stood on their hands and clapped the cups together, capturing the spider.

Now, of course the cups weren't stuck together, so I had to HOLD them together all the way home! Drove one-handed, turned the radio up so I couldn't hear the skritch-skritch noises coming from oh-so-near my hand and tried not to think about the extra passenger I'd taken on. (The creepy-crawlies are fascinating—from a distance!)

Unfortunately, in my excitement and haste, I was almost home when I realized I'd FORGOTTEN to PICK UP ALYX!! Don't know that she'd have wanted to be in the car, anyway. (I went back and got her after delivering the spider to Thomas. For some reason, she wasn't even surprised I'd forgotten her—sorry, Baby!)

I hoped Thomas would be as excited as I was, and he was. He identified the creature as an Orb Weaver—entirely harmless, but impressive nonetheless.

Now the challenge is keeping the sucker ALIVE for a week, until Thomas' next class. So it's in our fridge (to slow its metabolism). Just don't look in that paper bag...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

See our new look!

Thought we could try something different, for a while, at least...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Another Musician?


Ashley has decided to give the Viola a try. She decided on it without knowing I used to attempt
to play it. The other picture shows some local wildlife (baby rabbit).

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Big Day



Michael started kindergarten on Monday. He finally got a "big boy" haircut, and he looks so grown up!

Ralph Johnston

Al's brother Ralph passed away on Thursday, Sept. 4. He was 78 years old, and he died of cancer. Ralph worked for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for many years, and he was well thought of among his colleagues. He was one of the first smoke jumpers in Southern California and he and others pioneered the use of helicopters in fighting forest fires. A memorial service will be held on October 18, at which time the heliport at Chilao in the Angeles National Forest will be renamed the Ralph Johnston Heliport.

Al was able to spend some time with Ralph a couple of weeks ago.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Stork Announcement

I'm sure some of you have already heard, but thanks to faith, a great fertility specialist (and the modern marvel of drugs) we're having a baby. I'm finally in my 12th week; I should also say that I'm very grateful for Zofran (that little pill that helps me still feel like a person, rather than spending my time praying to the porcelain god). More on us and the baby later.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Aaack! Your parents LET you DYE your HAIR???
They must be sooo cool!

Updatesss

i updated my profile a bit, there's a pic of me up on there now :]

the parents finally let me dye my hair so for the moment it is dark brown with purple streaks and chunks its pretty sweet.

so check it out if you want, i have my email address on there if you have any questions about me or my life as of now :]

tty[all]l♥ [ttyl= talk to you later]

Monday, August 18, 2008

First Day of School




It's that time of year again, Yeah!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

...which leads to another...

So we got the big ol' TV, and we got the Wii (now working together), and now we're being good consumers and getting more games, the latest being Rock Band. It is very groovy, indeed, though I'm hopelessly inept at it. I reckon it would give me a Fitness Age of "Old Fogey", considering I've only ever HEARD of two songs on it!
The young'uns are having fun, though, which is the whole point.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Grrr

It seems the ghostly fingers of something-or-other are reaching out through cyberspace and touching us. Comments are appearing here on our blog from sites such as "online gambling" and "lottery numbers". They must be automated, because they seem to appear immediately after a post.

Please go ahead and delete them permanently. What a pain! It's fun to get comments from (the few) friends who read us, so I don't want to disallow comments unless I have to.

Anyone else know anything about this??

One thing leads to another...



So after we got the Wii, I thought it would be nifty to play it on a big-screen TV. (Another major consideration was that the living room stays about ten degrees cooler than the family room--more comfortable for TV-viewing in the evening.)

Then the new TV necessitated new furniture...and the next thing will be new carpeting--after the dog is fully potty-trained!

Finally Moved In!

It seems like it took forever, but we finally are in our new condo and paying a mortgage instead of rent! Thanks to Mommy for coming and helping with lots of unpacking! We love it and will be posting new pictures of it (with our stuff instead of the old pictures on the seller's blog). Although we're not terribly fond of HOA's, the one we're in is pretty good, we have a pool, playground, workout room, the grounds and buildings are maintained regularly--in fact even though our buildings are a few years old than the condo-complex right next to us, ours looks significantly newer because the HOA is on top of keeping things up. Charlie has gotten a little territorial of the condo, but with the advice of the lady on "It's Me or the Dog" we're working on some behavior modification to stop him from barking when people come to the door and waiting a few feet from the door while we open it so he doesn't charge at visitors to try and smell them. Anyway, I should get back from my lunch, I'll post more on our blog (http://mattnbreannastevens.blogspot.com/) later.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Cute kids!

Betty, I took the liberty of posting the pictures you sent.
Congratulations, Alia and Brian!!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Julybugs?



It's a little late for these critters--they're not affixing themselves to the screen door anymore--but Asher found one in the grass. I tried to upload a video of him torturing it, but it was taking WAY too long. Here are some stills.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

A Farewell to Wheels...



...AKA "The Bubble".
Well, more like au revoir. It's now in Utah, with Breanna and Matt. Check out the odometer!
After a major repair job last year, though, it should be good for another long while. I got to make a solo road trip (whoo hoo!) and had a great visit with the kiddies.

I got there in time to help them move, though Matt hardly needed any help. He manhandled both couches into the truck by himself.

Their new condo is beautiful!! New Pergo flooring, new paint, and those modern rounded corners on all the walls. The complex looks very upscale, and it's very quiet--can't hear the neighbors at all.
And there's very pretty sparkly rock on the exterior! (I think I've used up my quota of exclamation points.)

Before I left to come home, Breanna took me to a place called "Pudding on the Rice", where they sell--of all things--rice pudding, in quite an array of flavors. VERY yummy!

I got to meet their dog, Charlie, too. He has moments of boisterousness, but is very good-natured.

Congrats, Kiddos! Well done!!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Announcing:

the arrival of Clara Bea Johnston at 4:30 PM today. Yes, a GIRL! She is a little bit early - there were a couple of complications - but she and Mommy are OK. She weighs 5 lbs. 15 oz. We haven't seen her yet; she is in isolation for the first six hours to make sure her lungs are OK. Brian just called to say she is improving rapidly and probably will be with Alia tonight. Will post pictures as soon as we can take some.

Betty

Saturday, July 5, 2008

A series of unfortunate events



Fireworks are illegal in Orange, but 4 or 5 houses down the street, it becomes Garden Grove, where they ARE legal. The kids had some money to burn (literally), and decided to buy some fireworks. I needed to come along because one must be 18 in order to buy said FW.

I decided to bring the dog along and walk to the stand.

We'd gotten about 100 yards down the street when we noticed a German Shepherd in a neighbor's driveway--unleashed and unattended. We proceeded anyway, not confronting the other dog, just minding our own business. After we passed the house, Alyx said, "Mom, he's following us; pick up Asher." I hesitated, not wanting to do anything that might provoke an attack. In that moment, however, the German Shepherd DID attack!

Of course, we yelled at him; fortunately, he released Asher immediately, and I picked him up. I turned around and went all "Dog Whisperer" on the GS, shouting "No!" and pointing my finger at him and stepping toward him. I was nervous as all get out, but tried not to show it. The dog turned around and went back.

Meanwhile, Alyx had run back to the house where the dog had been, and banged on the door. When a woman answered the door, she yelled, "Your dog just attacked my dog!" The woman said, "We don't have a dog." The German Shepherd had returned by then, and Alyx pointed to him. "That dog!"

Turned out that he was visiting for the 4th of July. The owner hadn't realized he was outside. He apologized profusely and gave me his name and phone number, in case some damage came to light later. The bite didn't break Asher's skin; there doesn't seem to be any injury.

Now get this: the owner's name is Bitderback--which is exactly what his dog did!

So we took a walk we don't usually take, in a direction we don't usually go, and encountered a dog who usually isn't there, but it all turned out ok in the end. Whew!

Asher got a haircut a couple weeks ago; cuter that ever, don'tcha think?

Mario was here...



We had a nice visit with Mario last week when he was here jobhunting. I wanted to get a picture, though I am by far the least proficient photog in the fam. You know how there's a delay with the digital cameras? Well, Mario kept closing his eyes at the moment the picture was taken, and I was just sure if he would only hold his eyes open long enough, we'd get a good one. He said it was the flash that messed him up, but I didn't believe him until I took the flash off, and voila! We got some!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A couple more of our faves...

Now, it is widely acknowledged that I watch a lot of TV (making up for all those years when we weren't allowed to watch!)-- just thought I'd let you know that Monk and Psych are coming back on July 18.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

It's almost time, folks...

...for one of the best TV shows to make its return. Not that I'm a fanatic or anything, but you can count down the days with me!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

address

Well, we're not in the Provo apartment anymore, (don't worry Betty we got your graduation card it was so cute! thanks). Sunday we found mold growing in the bathroom wall. All the drywall in that wall is being replaced. We got the heck out of there; we're sleeping at the American Fork house (Della and Mike were kind enough so we have somewhere to sleep). To make a long story short, we are now condo-shopping. We'll keep you updated.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

one more day!

tomorrow is the last day of the school year.
it was a good year, i got very good grades [no lower than a B the entire year] i was involved [i was part of ASB [[student government]] and will continue that next year was well. i don't really have anything planned for the summer, i was suppost to have a job right now... but... we wont get into that [long story short i couldnt make a perfect cone so i didn't get the job i was PROMISED.]
anyway.

over all, a pretty good year :]

It's June, and that means...

Junebugs! Aren't they the ugliest things ever? Except for potato bugs. At least they're slow movers, and they really are only around for a month. The puppy found one and tortured it for a while.
Gross.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Birthday Greetings-to Miriam

In case I forget.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Birthday greetings

Happy (belated) Birthday, Mario!
Hope it was a good one, and that you got to do something fun.

Can I ask y'all (other than my immediate siblings) to post your birthdates? I'll try to remember them, and at least send happy thoughts your way...

Friday, May 30, 2008

We're moving....

Thought y'all would want to have our new address. It's 707 W Center St. Provo, UT 84601. It's not the nicest apartment, but they allow pets and we're not about to give up Charlie--so it will do for now.

Friday, May 16, 2008

End of the year school program

I know other peoples kids video can be a bore, but if you are interested
Hope had her end of the year preschool program today.

Hope's B-Day Party

Had Hope's 5th Birthday party last Saturday.
Just a small party at home with some kids from
her preschool class and some from the neighborhood. If you look closely you can see
Joseph, Andrea and Theresa in the picture below.



How about some recent pictures?



Hey Miriam, Maya and others,
I realized the other day that it's been quite a while since we saw Thomas and Alyx. In my mind
I still remember them as little kids but Mom told me they are 15 and 16 (?) now.
And I can't remember the last time we saw Maya.
Here's some of Ashley and Hope.

Monday, May 12, 2008

New dog, old tricks...



So here's our new puppy--Thomas's, really, but we're all having fun with him (and cleaning up after him!) His name is Asher; he's two months old.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Speaking of dogs...

Today we adopted Charlie a black lab/pointer. We started our own blog, you can see pictures of Charlie there (there's not much on it yet, but we'll be adding to it ---http://mattnbreannastevens.blogspot.com/).

Monday, May 5, 2008

Old dog, new tricks...

So Thomas got me to try the Wii last night. Have to say, it was waii more fun than I expected! I've always declined to play video/computer games with the excuse that I didn't want to get "hooked", but the truth of the matter is that I suspected I wouldn't be able to play worth a darn--an assumption which was amply borne out when I finally tried "Flat Out 2" last year.
In any case, I particularly enjoyed the golf, and I'm not at all discouraged by the fact that the Wii gave me a "fitness age" of 75!!

Miriam

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Family Trip to San Diego





Here are some pix from our trip to San Diego a few weeks ago. David has better ones; maybe he will post them.
The Studio Diner, which we saw on the Food Network, and wanted to visit. Michael likes to entertain Brian Jr. Michael with Alia (4 1/2 mos. pregnant). The Hotel del Coronado, which is beautiful (and expensive!).
Betty

Saturday, May 3, 2008

More graduation photos






Quite a vicious cougar, evidently, though Matt and Breanna escaped unscathed.
And there's the new, clean-shaven Brigham Young. Maybe sometime I'll figure out how to align the text with the pictures...
(Miriam)

OK, here goes. It's taking me a while to figure this stuff out. (Obviously I still haven't!)