Late Johnson News

Hey, Family,

Once again there is not much news from the Johnson clan. Sadie got her hair cut really short. McKaylee also got her hair cut.

We are all looking forward to summer.

The other day we went out to dinner with a family here for conference from Colombia. Mike taught Orlando on his mission. He was baptized, served a mission, married, and has two sons who have served missions. He has served as a bishop, and is still strong in the church. The only problem is that none of his family speaks much English at all. And so it was a chance for me and Mike (but especially me) to realize how little Spanish we speak. Or in my case, how little I understand. When I speak it I can sort of get by with my extremely limited vocabulary, but other people use all kinds of words that I don't know at all. I wonder if I ever did know them. I still am a lot more comfortable discussing the gospel than any other subject.

The kids are all healthy and noisy.

That pretty much covers it.

Love to you all from the Johnsons!

April Newsletter

Just a note, I guess I was having a feminist streak today, so I put the girls initials after the same last names, after all the wives are named Nielson too. Unfortunately I’m too tired to be creative so those who didn’t get news in on time are just not here. Sorry to the Johnsons, and John’s family.

ELDER AND SISTER NIELSON

Dearest Family,

    Our only real news is that we are coming home!  We will be there in just under a month now.  We have had a good experience here and I wonder if we will talk ourselves into doing it again.  First we are going to come home and appreciate being there with all of you.  Family is really what it is all about. Take good care of yours. And thank you for being such a good family for us!  You are the greatest.

    I love you all,

       Mom

BENGES

I guess I will write to my own family this month instead of making poor Dave do it.  Last year he was emailing newsletters to his family, so I just told him to double it and paste it over, but really I just am intimidated because he is a funnier writer than me!  Dave is really busy as he studies to take the place of an associate who is retiring, so maybe this will lessen his stress. We have still been adjusting to life with a Hannah back in it (mostly she is adjusting back to US and having no life to speak of!)  She is getting very busy now though, with a job at Ross Dress-for-Less and one at Target Studios. If only she weren't so tired all the time I think she would be enjoying those! Isaac is at the MTC until April 15th, and he loves some things but pulled his leg muscle in a very painful spot, and has an obnoxious companion who was called to be district leader...and you know how that can be a slap in the face to pride!  Email Dave if you are not getting Anziano Benge's updates.

Miriam is finishing up on her junior high production of "Shrek", which will begin next week, ( she is the voice of the dragon and sings "Donkey Potpie")  She has also joined the track team and ran her first 5K  this month with a friend. Not only does she have asthma, but she had colored powder thrown all over her by the spectators. So she did great at running, and wasn't even tired the next day, but she wheezed the next day for about three hours until she coughed all the chalk out of her lungs. Gideon finished his online class of Health, so we no longer have to worry about him graduating! He was asked to sing his number for solo ensemble at the last concert, and sang "Amarilli, Mia Bella" like an angel. A friend of ours said "It was a transcendent experience". WOW.

He is also going to state with it, and got a 1 at region. He will be starting his mission papers in April. I am NOT ready for that!!! All of his best friends already have their calls in hand.  Oh...we had our Valentines'Day celebration on March 2nd, and we went to ancient Egypt this year.  It was very fun.  The only way this month made HISTORY however is because I did my last potty-training (in eternity, I hope)  Esther breezed through this milestone, was my easiest child, and I am NOT even crying to see it pass!  

Our funny moment this week was at the dinner table when Hannah was making us all laugh over dumb things she has said at work to costumers. Her statement that she is gifted at being awkward made Andrew burst out excitedly with "Hannah...that means we are LITERALLY brother and sister!" It was just too perfect of timing and we belly-laughed till we cried.

My newest delight in the children is that Enoch wakes up from his nap every day singing, at the top of his lungs, before he even gets out of bed.  It is usually "Eye of the Tiger". I wonder what he dreams about?  I made a list of precious things like this that I love once a couple years ago: when Rachel slides down the stair rail, when Isaac comes home covered in mud from a good slide in Ultimate Disc, etc. I encourage you to do the same if you have a day you need cheering up.  Life around here is crazy, and sometimes I cry like crazy too...but life with a family is good and sweet in ways that can't even be explained too.

I love you all, and Happy Resurrection Day!

NIELSONS, B

It’s official. We are unable to have children. Otherwise, life goes on. Mostly work.

Charles & Bryony

HARDMANS

The biggest news for our month is that Jimmy is home! His flight came in at 1 p.m. on March 31st, and he didn't get released until about 6 that evening, so even though he came home and showered, (to get the airplane smell off), he still got dressed in his suit and name tag again afterward. He is so cute and eager and fresh. We love having him back home! I took 2 days off work to be with him, and it has been so fun to have him back. His homecoming is on April 19th at 9 a.m.

Jacob went to California with his choir for tour last week, and had a great time. Abby got the main part in her drama class play. She is loving drama. I always knew she was the most Benge-ish kid in our family.

NIELSONS, M

Well, I usually leave this job to Sam, but I guess I can try to think of something! :)

Sam and Marilyn's family is enjoying baby Theo, who is somehow two months old already. Abe is going on lots of scout campouts and Seb is building lots of model airplanes out of sunflower stems and cardboard. Malachi moved downstairs to the "boys room" and now stays up late talking and telling stories with his brothers instead of staying up late talking and telling stories with his sisters.

The girls have their own little language and are always exchanging glances and singing little songs and giggling at things. Even Goldie is joining in with this, which seems alarming.

Sam did an art workshop in Toronto (Marilyn and Theo got to come too!) and it was really cold there, so they also got to see Niagara Falls all snowy and icy. It was really cool.

Love you all!

Love,

Sam and Marilyn

HUNTS

Ella and Gwen love to spend their time outside when they can now that it is springtime. They get very dirty playing in the sandbox.

Nothing too exciting has happened with us. Abe got a new job doing the exact same thing he is doing now. Jane is planning to come visit you all in July if you have time to see her.

On July 17th Katy and I are planning on doing an older grandkids party for the kids 12 years old and older. It will be at Katy's house at 1 pm, so we would love to have those who can make it come. We just wanted to let everyone know ahead of time. We will keep you updated.

Sent from my iPad

FROYDS

I don’t feel like we have much news from this month. Ronan has discovered screens. He uses his feet to push on the iPad if I’m using it, he’s noticed he can make it do things that way. He likes watching the Muppets, and likes to dance with me and his sister. Linaya is his favorite person, if she’s in the room he watches her constantly, even if she’s not really doing anything, maybe cause she never holds still. He also says “Hi” but we can’t document it. I swear he can tell if he’s on film, he gets a worried look and refuses to say anything. 

We all like to enjoy the spring weather.

Sandin is still struggling to get his medications correct. He had an ultrasound to check out his gallbladder, and they found a polyp in it, but apparently it’s benign. Anyway they have another test scheduled for him.

Linaya is doing well in school, she’s at the top of her class with her math scores. Her reading is about average I guess, but she’s ahead in passing off her reading books. She only has one left.

I’m still struggling with pain, mostly headaches. I think they are as bad as they are because I still don’t get enough sleep. The baby wakes up at least twice a night, sometimes staying awake for an hour, but even when he sleeps well through the night he makes noises in his sleep that wake me, since he’s really close to us and I’m a light sleeper. Oh well, what can you do.

ADAMSES

News from Pamela and Co.

   Well, our really big news this month is no longer news because Dad spilled the beans before I got a chance to tell anyone. So *yawn* Michael is now a bishop.

   That's it folks!

   No really, I can't come up with anything else. So I guess I'll just ramble off about that some more. We got called at the beginning of March, but they wouldn't be able to sustain him and set him apart until the 29th, so we knew for 3 weeks. We thought we would go insane, but surprisingly, we were just filled with a lot of peace and confidence. You know, like Alma 29:9.

   In case anyone is feeling as mad at me as my mother-in-law is for not telling her three weeks ago, we kept it a secret because our Stake Presidency requested that we didn't tell anyone until the 28th. But there might have been quite a few hints dropped. Oops. So I'm not super capable of keeping a life changing secret, and Michael felt like he had to repent every time he told someone he didn't know who the next bishop was. So there was a lot of blushing and fumbling with words and a lot of lousy misdirection. But we made it.

   Evelyn also had no idea until the 28th. We planned an ice cream party and wrote a family mission call that we could open together and discuss that night. When we started to tell her that a change was coming in our life, her first reaction was to exclaim, "Mom's having a baby?!?!" Um....no. Keep praying, babe, it'll happen someday. Then we told her that we have a call to serve. Suddenly Evelyn got a worried look on her face and her index fingers started creeping toward her ears to plug them. I asked her why she wanted to plug her ears and she said she didn't want life to change because it was so good right now. So we had to explain that you can't stop life from changing, and that all you can do is control your attitude about the change. Then we read the mission call.  Here is a copy of it, in case you're interested how we pulled it off without forging the First Presidency. Originally, it sounded way too official and we changed a lot of the wording to help Evelyn understand It better.

Michael Ray Adams and Family

3452 East Ridge Route Road #2

Eagle Mountain, Utah, 84005

26 March 2015

Dear Michael Ray Adams, Pamela Megan Adams, and Jane Evelyn Adams:

Michael has been called to serve as a Bishop in the Willow Springs Ward in the Eagle Mountain Cedar Pass Stake. This calling has come from the Lord through the prophet because of a recommendation from your Stake President, President Richards. It is anticipated that Michael will be serving in this capacity about 5 years. You will begin your labors on 29 March 2015.

As a Bishop there are 5 main areas in this calling. They are to preside over the ward, to help the poor and needy, to take care of the building and its security, manage the ward’s money, and doing what Jesus would do if He were there.

Pamela and Evelyn will also be an important part of making this calling successful. Some of the ways they can help out is by allowing there to be time that Michael can be away from your family to take care of those other families in the ward that need his help. You will need to stay extra close to each other especially at those times that Michael is away. You will need to be good examples all the time, but especially reach out to your ward members and love them as Jesus Christ loves them.

All of you will need to face this calling with faith, grace, and courage. With the help of our Father in Heaven and the Atonement of His Son Jesus Christ, you will meet with great success.

Although challenging at times this calling will bring immense joy and blessings to you and your family as you serve one another and those around you. Some blessings you may experience are: revelation, lasting friendships, growing closer to God and Jesus Christ, feeling closer as a family as we conquer hard things, understanding the power of the Atonement a little better, seeing the love of our Heavenly Father for all His children, being able to use the priesthood keys, and many more.  Remember that “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.”

Thank you for being willing to serve.

Evelyn wasn't super excited about the calling initially. She was scared she wouldn't see Daddy very much anymore. She was a little comforted that the calling came from Jesus, but she was still hesitant. I think she started to warm up to the idea when we got to the part where she could help, and she was really excited by the time we read the blessings. Of course she suggested that we should be able to get a baby from it, so we told her that now the whole ward is our family, so now she has over 400 brothers and sisters! She liked that too. Then we opened presents to help Sunday go by more easily. Michael got an insulated lunch box. Evelyn and I got a friendship bracelet kit.

Sunday went really well. It was fun to see the mantle on Michael as he took over the third hour. It was supposed to be taught by the high councilor, but he never showed up, so Michael winged it. It turned out great, and it was fun to see the ward members respond to him as bishop too. He was in meetings all day, but it wasn't too bad for either one of us. We've just felt supported by the Lord. It has been a really neat experience.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

I love homemade pizza, if it’s made with a good crust, but making a good crust is either time consuming or complicated or both. Then just last month I found one that I love, of course I modified it a little bit, but it means I’ve made pizza two or three times since. I feel like I may never order pizza again.

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

1 T. (1 pkg.) of yeast

1 t. white sugar

1 c. warm water

2 1/2 c. flour

2 T. olive oil

1 t. salt

4 T. butter, melted

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. Italian Season

Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450º. In medium bowl (glass or plastic) dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Let stand until frothy, 10-15 min. I keep my yeast frozen so it takes a little longer. Stir in the flour and salt and mix until it sticks together, then add the oil. Need the oil in and it makes it easy to work with. Let rise for  roll it out into pan and let rise 15 minutes, then put on desired toppings. Melt butter and add garlic and seasonings. Baste the edges of your pizza, and grate parmesan cheese over the edges. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

As a note this recipe makes good breadsticks too, just up the garlic butter and parmesan cheese and baste thoroughly and cut into breadsticks before cooking.