Summer is over

So today is the last day of school for our oldest boy to be a Junior in HS. He is a good kid. No, he's a great kid. I never have had a real problem with him. He's a kid so I get on him once in a while but not too much, really. He's setting a good example for the underlings. However I came to the realization that today is the 1st and last day of his summer... Stacy always says that kids need "down time". Especially ours since we keep them so so busy. Vance is like me a bit that "down time" isn't so fun. So he's scheduled his whole summer. He's off to eager today to play with his friend Shawn, then off to work in Eloy for a week (5 days of 6:00 AM - 10:00 PM), once he gets home it's YM encampment, more work in Eloy, Trip to Utah for CC Camp then school starts! However it's what he wanted. I admire it I guess. I remember day after day as a teenager of "Mom, What is there to do"...

I heard that if you keep kids busy it keeps them out of trouble. However I think that a side effect is they can't relax. All of the kids are so busy all the time that when they have a day to do nothing they can't do nothing. I'm the same way. I hated being alone as a kid, which I was a lot. So I don't want my kids to have to feel that. So I make sure we do stuff. I mean camping, trips, vacations, activities etc. There would be weeks upon weeks that I'd go without ever getting out of the routine when I was kid. I don't really remember any cool vacations except trips to see family, which is fine, but I've tried to force memories upon my kids in a positive manner. So now what I've done is just that. We have some GREAT memories even just a weekend camping trip they can talk about and laugh about (and they do). It's something positive. BUT now if we do have a weekend with nothing or a week during summer vacation with nothing planned they whine about it. "Dad, What can we do". so I guess with all my efforts I still have same result. Kids need to learn to entertain themselves. I did. My parents both worked and we lived where mostly it wasn't convenient to hang out with friends. So I'd have time to do nothing. I learned to entertain myself. My kids will have to do the same... but not Vance, at least not this summer PEACE!

Camping Trip

We went on a camping trip on Memorial Day Weekend and had a FANTASTIC time. If you want to read the full scoop check out our hiking blog for the summer of '09

The Predictable Life

There isn't much going on in my life that I don't expect. I'm happy about that. I think I've always wanted a big family, even expected to have one. I thought a lot about things like family and church and sports and schools. You have these moments in your life I think where you reflect on your life to that point and look forward to what's left. I feel like I'm at summer of halftime... :) It's funny to think that in 2010 we will welcome and new baby and perhaps send our first baby off into the world. We are a revolving door now. I wonder what a 16 year old version of me would say if he ran into the 39 year old version today? would he say "Who are you?" or would he say "Sweet!"... I'm not sure. I remember on my mission once we were sitting around the mission office and there were about 6 of us late at night working and we got to talking about where we'd be at 40. One guy said he'd be a pilot and another said he'd be a bishop (HA HA) and another said he'd have 8 kids and would work for his Dad! Another said he'd be a doctor and he is! I don't know if the one ever became a Bishop, other other had their 8th kid (might have)... But I said that I'd live in Mesa and work at a job in business and have a big family! Funny kinda was right... I guess

I don't like to be surprised much... Not meaning "BOO" but more like a unexpected bill that I can't pay or a new "Problem" that I can't solve. The predictable life is great... as long as it's on your own term.... Here are a few things that I didn't predict.
1) Football Coaching... Don't know how I fumbled into this
2) 8 kids - ummm I think we passed "Big family" a while ago
3) Greatest wife ever... Either the Lord blessed me or cursed her...
4) Kids that want to do whats right... I guess I could have predicted it see #3
5) Living in the QC... I made fun of people that moved this far away before ...


There are many more I'm sure... so is your life as you expected, better I bet! Mine is much better than I expected but about what I predicted. The difference is "It's better then I thought, even though I knew it"

Schedule - whew!

So a few posts I wrote how busy we are with the summer an what not... Well Here is a snapshot of our summer. Check it out.. I have to use Excel to keep up. Not to mention work and my PMP Certification test one day in June...

Hey You!

311 is the only band that I've wanted to see this much, now I got my tickets on July 10th.

ROCK IT

New Blog

Now I'm a geek! I've started a new Blog for our hiking this summer (http://johnsonsgohiking2009.blogspot.com/). If you didn't know we are going to Emerald Lake in the San Juan National Forest in Southern Colorado. I went there three times as a kid and can't wait to share it with the next generation of Johnsons. My first trip was when I was 7. My Dad and I went with his brother and his kids and also My grandpa Johnson went. It was a good three generations trip. I don't remember that much other then the fun of fishing, eating good food and playing in the water with my cousins. My older cousins thought my dad was the coolest because he could fly fish in the river and their dad just sat on the bank of the lake. It's an amazing place... Now my kids can do the same with three generations and their cousins...

Here is a picture of where we are going, looks like heaven to me!