Oh Mr Sun won't you please shine down on me?

So exciting, today the girls and I ate outside in our garden for the first time. Their wee faces were a treat, smiles all the way. The sun is shy in Ireland and rarely comes out to play so we had to sing Mr Sun about 3 times as he kept hiding behing the clouds. The girls both love music and Sophie was leading us in the wise man and foolish man and then she moved on to Barney's I love you, you love me. I love that spring is really here!!

Bring on the food

This last weekend was busy, but fun. Anyone that knows me knows I love my grubb (see college scrapbook page above, I am even willing to eat off the floor if needs be). Being my usual self I completely overdosed on muffins and scones whilst helping set up our stake culture hall for a fashion show, then ate over 30 mini sausages the night of the fashion show along with everything else on offer. I came home feeling so ill. But Saturday was a new day so along came a full on ulster fry (for those of you who haven’t experienced one of these, they are a traditional breakfast here full of nothing but fat) and that night was our religious Chinese takeout. Sunday we had a fantastic dinner where there was 4 desserts to try and of course I had to have them all! Leaving me feeling rough again….why do I never learn?
Our fashion show went well. I was wrapped in cling film at the start to show one of the things you wouldn’t be seeing on the catwalk that night (representing tight fitting clothes) but I’m afraid they wrapped me way too tight and I could hardly breathe, never mind prance down the catwalk, it was a scary sight and very embarrassing! Saturday morning Samantha went to her first primary service day. We were helping tidy an elderly lady’s garden from our ward, but Samantha has developed a fear of grass over the past 2 weeks and won’t walk on it if she doesn’t have too. She’s scared all the creepy crawlies are going to get her. So she held a plastic bag whilst mummy got down on her knees to do all the work. After 10 minutes she decided she was too cold and was dramatically shaking all over, so in true princess form she left the garden and in she went to the living room to get warmed by the fire and eat all the chocolate bars she wanted. (Luckily I had to accompany her lol). We chatted with Albina whilst everyone else froze and worked hard outside. Sunday I was travelling with my calling. Deldon and the girls rarely accompany me as Deldon has to be at EQ. But today we where in the ward of the stake RS President, my good friend Tricia Boyd. She invited us up for dinner after ward conference and to have the Pres meeting we’d had to cancel during the week. It is always lovely to be in her home to enjoy the good food and company and Sunday was no exception. The girls love the attention (they have 6 boys and 1 girl) and when it got too much Sophie found a bed on the sofa in the family room and Samantha went up stairs to Ashley’s room to watch a princess movie and fell asleep on Ashley’s bed, leaving us some time to chill. Now it’s back to the grind again, can’t wait for next weekend to come, as we’re headed out to a Spanish tapas bar with friends then on to the “Over 30’s karaoke night”. I've never gone to one of these nights before, we were always too young, well Deldon technically still is as he’s not 30 until next month. But figured why not embrace aging and have some fun with other oldies like us.

Modelling some modest bridal wear

My sister with "too cold to be interested" Samantha and cousin Lucy

Some of the primary children and their leaders that showed up to help

Silence from the kitchen is never a good sign

So I know when my daughter has been quiet for over an hour there is a problem, but I just can't help but enjoy the quiet time and get on with other things. Today was no exception, when I finally bothered to go into the kitchen this is what I found. It could have, and normally is a lot worse so I got off light this afternoon with just some ripping apart of felt-tip pens and using them as lip stick.

Trace Adkins - You're Gonna Miss This

I'm stealing this from a good friend of mine who posted it on her blog recently. Deldon and I love country music, but don't get to hear it a lot here in Northern Ireland. I love how the lyrics tell a story and are about real life, things that I can relate too. This song is no exception.

Mothers Who Know — Latter-day Saint Women

Standing Strong and Immovable!!!!

Julie B Beck is my hero. Last RS General Conference I just soaked up her talk "Stand Strong and Immovable". I came away feeling that what I was trying to do in life was valid and in line with what my Heavenly Father would have me do, and also came away with a renewed desire to do even better. A few weeks later I sat listening to her talk in general conference called "Mother's who know", and again was so touched by the spirit and the truths that she reminded women of. Another week passed and we were sitting as a Stake RS Presidency wondering what we could share with our sisters for 2008. We had a few ideas, mine being to use the stand strong and immovable talk for a basis as it covers being strong in faith, family, and relief, the three things that RS champions. We did indeed decide to go with standing strong and immovable for our theme and I was assigned to speak on standing strong and immovable in Family. I have used the Mother's Who Know talk as part of my lesson so was excited when my sister emailed me the link to this presentation above. The first time we were to give our lesson I was surprised to her a sister make comment that there had been quite a stirring among LDS circles regarding Sister Beck and her two talks. So being nosey me, I went home and did some research on the Internet and was really shocked to see the back lash and rebellion from women who supposedly believe, as I do, in this restored Gospel. Well as for me, I loved that she dared to speak plainly and boldly about the reality of my role not just here but in the eternities. She told us nothing new or out of line with Church doctrine. I am not someone who finds motherhood easy in fact it is quite the opposite, I struggle every day to deal with life in the home, I'd love to be out in the workforce if the truth be known! But I am determined to learn to love it and know that in the eternal scheme of things that it is mastering motherhood, not my career, that will bring me peace and happiness in this life and in the world to come, so that is what I intend to do and embrace it with all my heart. I am 100% sure when I stand before my Maker to be judged he will be more concerned about what I gave of myself to my family than how much I managed to earn in a job. I am grateful for my own "Mother who knew" and took many years of out of the workforce to devote her life to me and my siblings 24/7 and thankful for the example of Deldon's mom in doing the same for her family. So I say - Go Mum, Go Mom, Go Sister Beck and Go all of my friends out there who's example of devoting their time to motherhood full time gives me the strength and encouragement when I feel I can't keep going.

P.S Also have to give a big thank you Elder Ballard for a really helpful and inspired talk last weekend for the young mothers in the church, it was just what I needed.

I DON'T WANT TO SEE THE ANIMALS MUMMY...AHHHHHH!!!

So the circus rolled in to town last week and I happened upon a coupon in a newspaper on Friday. I mentioned to Samantha that it would be nice if she and dad could go to the circus that night, before consulting him. Well of course daddy didn't feel like a circus after a long week of work and church assignments so had been looking forward all day to chillin' out on the couch. Sure enough at the dinner table Samantha was telling daddy they were going to the circus to see the animals and I couldn't let her down again as earlier in the week a friend of mine and our kids had gone to a petting farm that no longer was open to the public......too bad they didn't mention that important fact on their website!! We told our 2 three year olds that the animals were sleeping. Samantha ran around all last week telling everyone that the animals on the farm were taking naps. So I got roped in to the circus - it's not my idea of fun sitting in a tent on a damp irish night puffing my inhaler every half hour to keep breathing (I'm so allegeric to horse hair). But along we went, we were no sooner out of the car walking towards the booth to collect our prepaid tickets when Samantha announces she doesn't want to see the animals anymore because she is to0 scared. So I end up having to drag her kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs across the carpark to get the tickets and in to the circus tent. You should have seen the looks I was getting, only my daughter would be afraid of a circus - serioulsy!! Luckily there was people selling the glow in the dark light up things at the entrance so that distracted her. Despite my asthma and her clinging to my arm for most of the evening it was actually really enjoyable, a real mummy-daughter date and good family entertainment. Samantha was waving her lit up whizzing mouse contraption in the air in time to the music (samantha loves music, she even performed for everyone in our stake center on Sunday as she got up and danced every time the Mormon Tab Choir sang during conference).

This is what happened Sophie when we left her in the capable hands of her dad the night of the circus.

The first grass cut of our married life !!!

Yes, the big day has finally arrived, we've been waiting over 6 years. We had turf (or sod as the yanks say) laid about 3 weeks ago and it was ready for cutting today. Lawn mowing has just officially become part of the Johnson family way of life. (Well that's not quite true, its now part of Deldon's life, not mine lol). You would think Deldon would get in to his grubbies for the occasion, but those of you who are familiar with our church life here will already know that Deldon and I just switch off evenings going out to do our callings. I serve as 1st counselor in Stake Relief Society and Deldon is EQ Pres. So it's a quick grass cut and out the door for PEC then PPI's. Tomorrow we have one of my widowed visiting teachees and the missionaries for dinner, then Deldon leaves for ward welfare followed by ward council. Ahhh Thursday at last we our home together, but wait we're not alone, my single brother comes every Thurs for dinner, then at 8pm we are having a missionary discussion in our home. We love to feel of the spirit of the missionaries and get to relive a little of our missions. The outlook for next week a/c to our calendar on the kitchen wall is no less packed with church work. Tues is PEC again, Deldon then rushes home to let me out for enrichment. I get there late but better late than never. Wednesday I have a presidency meeting, Thursday I am helping decorate our stake center for a fashion show, Friday is the fashion show, Saturday is primary service day, and Sunday I travel to Cavehill to speak in Relief Society as it's a ward conference there. And so our lives continue on and the next week is just as busy as before. We actually wonder what we would do with ourselves at night if we were home during the week????? Although we often feel overwhelmed we really wouldn't have it any other way! How did I get to our church schedule from grass cutting? Here is the journey our garden has been through in the past 1 1/2 years.

And we still have a ways to go before it's entirely done!!

Say "Cheese"

So yet another one of my reasons not to blog has been the background to our family pictures for the past 18 months. Many will know that both our houses since being here have been absolute dumps that we have bought because they were just that....dumps!! Deldon LOVES diy and I LOVE the shopping for new things like kitchens, bathrooms, tiles, carpet, appliances, and soft furnishings -basically anything a house needs. Our current home has taken WAY longer than planned to finish, probably because I gave birth to Sophie a month after we moved in and it slowed everything down. Needless to say all of our photos in this house are soooooo scary looking. We finally got the decor in the house pretty much finished so I was thinking to myself that at least the background will blend in instead of stick out like before. Easter Sunday we took some photos and when I looked at them 3 things stuck out - not the bad decor, but dirty shoes, sticky finger prints all over the tv screen and to top it off an ugly mop and bucket in the background of me trying to pose all cool. We just don't do well in this family with the photography side of things. There's always something to ruin them. Here's just some of the scary background moments courtesy of Killowen Grange (and there are plenty more where these came from).

Our patchwork walls

More patchwork walls and tools in the dumpy lean-to outside

Forget the ripped out fireplace in the background, my morning look took the prize in this one

Me trying to look all cool and letting everyknow I didn't put the mop and bucket away from washing the floors the night before, but hey at least you know I clean my floors right???

My first attempt to blog

So here it is, I have finally taken a leap of faith and started a blog. I LOVE reading my friends blogs and figured since I am so miserable at keeping a journal this could be a little start to record keeping for our family. Please forgive my english I have never been a writer and it's even worse now as I have have american and english puncuation and grammar in my head, which one do I choose? as both sides of the pond will read this blog, how about a mixture? I always think that the things that go on in my daily life are so mundane and boring, who would want to know about it anyways? But maybe this will also help me appreciate this time in my life that is mine to devote 24/7 to my kids. Being so far away from one side of our family and a lot of good friends, hopefully we will all feel a little more connected as I share a little bit of our lives with you.

Samantha has been off playschool for over 2 weeks now for Easter Holidays and boy are we all feeling it!! So I called my sister at 8 am this morning to have her 2 youngest kids come over and play. We had a great time and then lucky me got some time to myself whilst Samantha went back with Rachael to her house to play whilst Sophie napped. Rachael just doubled the size of her house with an extension so Samantha calls it the big house and ours the small house, and that's an understatement!! She keeps asking when we are going to make our house a bigger. Here's some pics from this morning and the front of Rachael's house, it is actually 3 stories now, which you would never guess from the front and it is show house perfect inside!

Luke and Sophie (they is only 8 days between them)

The best of Cousins, Samantha and Lucy

Rachael's house during construction