Daily Happenings in November
Monday, November 1st
Chris is working up in Wyoming.
75 Soft Challenge: I exercised, drank water, read 10 pages of Work and Wonder. 3/5
I can’t quite remember what I was up to on this day, but since it was one of ten days at home without company or gone on a trip, I’m sure I was busy shopping for presents for Ryan and Cassie, working on Christmas cards, doing laundry, cleaning the house, blogging and journaling a little, exercising and shopping online. So much going on this month!Matt had piano lessons 7:30-8:00.
Tuesday, November 2nd
Chris is working up in Wyoming.
75 Soft Challenge: I exercised, drank water, read 10 pages of Work and Wonder 3/5
I had a hair appointment with Makayla. It was more than I was thinking it would be but I think I’m happy with it. Nice to have that scheduled and over with before Mexico. I also scheduled flu shots at CVS, signed up the boys for indoor soccer, took pictures of the Halloween decor and took it down and packed it away, emailed Sarah, ordered Claire a wedding present, made and sent Katie a cleaning chart per her request (and Annie’s idea).
Luke’s Tics: Luke came home from school pretty frustrated today with his tics. That’s been a reoccurring theme lately and it breaks my heart. Right now his tics are worse than they’ve ever been. When Chris called before dinner, then Luke started talking to him about how he was feeling and we talked in detail about what needed to be adjusted. For his ADHD he’s been on Adderal 15mg but just moved up to Adderal 20mg at the end of September. We talked through some of the history of why we or others thought he might be ADHD and a lot of those symptoms aren’t there as much. He’s able to focus on his work at home and at school. Is the medicine helping with that? It’s hard to tell. Chris worries that it could be making his tics worse. We decided to have him stop taking that for a month and document how it will affect him. He also just started talking Guanfacine ER which is supposed to help for sleep and tics. He was taking two 1mg pills in the morning but Chris looked up the medicine online and feels like we should be trying it at night. So here we go… praying that this new regiment helps to control things better — or at least that we can move forward and try something else. We decided to keep a notebook to more accurately keep track of symptoms and moods. Luke started by writing a very long paragraph of how he was feeling…
It must be so hard to deal with that. I feel so bad for him.
Megan had indoor soccer practice today and drove herself to the Soccer Haus and back. When she got home she dropped something off at Romney’s house and then was invited in to have pizza with Jane’s soccer team. Then she took the boys over to the church for Youth Activities: Megan’s activity was learning how to lead music. Luke’s activity was playing something in the gym. Matt’s activity was learning how to make salsa and then eating quesadillas with it.
Grateful for: More time on the phone with Chris this week
Wednesday, November 3rd
Chris is working up in Wyoming.
75 Soft Challenge: I exercised, drank water, read 10 pages of Girl of the Limberlost, and had no sugar or treats. 4/5
The big accomplishment of the day was to get my Christmas cards finalized and ordered. That’s a big one!! So glad to have that done. I went with ‘Simply to Impress’ this year. I hope they turn out well. Nice to have that off the list. Additionally, I researched ELF gift basket ideas for Scott and for Lindsey, sent out text invites for Luke’s birthday party and heard back from almost everyone (coming up on November 19th), cleaned out the junk drawer in the kitchen, called Amy, talked to my Mom, talked to Katie, called Target customer service to receive a $50 giftcard in the mail because of a Target Circle error.
The boys had Swing Dance from 4:30 - 5:30. After dinner I took Luke and Matt with me to COSTCO. It’s been awhile since they’ve come with me. They were overjoyed with everything I put in the cart and so disappointed with everything else I passed up. It was pretty funny. The boys helped me take the food inside and put everything away. Nice to have that done and especially grateful for time with the boys. Matthew bought himself a COSTCO sundae and it’s now one of his favorite things.
Thursday, November 4th
Chris is working up in Wyoming.
75 Soft Challenge: I exercised, drank water, read 10 pages of Girl of the Limberlost, and blogged in this November post. 4/5
After exercising, cleaning the kitchen and starting some laundry I showered, got ready and headed up to Park Meadows Mall to buy a few gifts for Scott’s family and Lindsey’s family. Then I wandered the mall for a little while and tried my hardest to show restraint and NOT buy a few things for myself. On the way there I listened to DUNE and on the way back I listed to Emily Belle Freeman in the Thursday Inklings Devotional. So good. I stopped by Scheels and ordered something for my Dad and then headed home to see the kids. Matt hung out with Ian for the evening, Luke headed with Max to a extra swing dance class to practice some cool stunts at the end of the opening number, and Megan headed to Blacklight DODGEBALL at the school - a fun event planned by the school. Austin and Mitchell signed up Megan to be on their team without her even knowing it… and I’m so glad they did. She ended up having a great time! With an empty house I decided to head to Target and wander down every isle looking for ideas and getting prepared for Luke’s birthday party, Thanksgiving week etc. using my 10% off military discount.
Friday, November 5th
75 Soft Challenge: I exercised, drank water, read 10 pages of Girl of the Limberlost, and had no sugar or treats. 4/5
I can’t quite remember what I was up to on this day, but since it was one of ten days at home without company or gone on a trip, I’m sure I was busy shopping for presents for Ryan and Cassie, working on Christmas cards, blogging and journaling a little, doing laundry, cleaning the house, making dinner, exercising and shopping online. So much going on this month!
Saturday, November 6th
All five of us headed to Target at 11:00 for our flu shots. At 1:30 we hosted a BYU football party and had a lot of families over to watch with us. Some of the Larsons, Jacksons, Harveys, and Hales joined us. BYU played Idaho State and we won 59-14. Lots of fun plays and touchdowns and always fun to watch with friends.
Sunday, November 7th
We enjoyed church and Come Follow Me as a family. At 4:30 the kids headed to a fireside with President Eccles and Chris and I did some calendaring on the bed. At 6:00 we had a new family, the Cherringtons, over for ice cream. It was fun to meet them and visit for awhile. Megan, Luke and Matthew took their two teenage boys downstairs to play ping pong, Chinese Checkers and fusbol and had a great time with them.
Monday, November 8th
I can’t quite remember what I was up to on this day, but since it was one of ten days at home without company or gone on a trip, I’m sure I was busy shopping for presents for Ryan and Cassie, working on Christmas cards, cleaning the house, doing laundry, making dinner, blogging and journaling a little, exercising and shopping online. So much going on this month!
Piano Lessons for Matthew from 7:30 - 8:00
Tuesday, November 9th
Chris easily convinced me to come with him to pick up his mom from the airport. We stopped at Torchy’s and ate dinner while I gave suggestions on Chris’ latest spreadsheet — outlining the months of the next several years with his Wyoming schedule attached. It was fun. Boy do we love planning ahead. We did a little shopping in the Park Meadows Mall and then headed to the airport to pick up Shelley.
When we got home Chris urged me to wait for him as we walked in the house. Are we having a party of something? I thought as we entered the mudroom. Sure enough, the kids had cleaned the kitchen, made brownies, put up streamers and balloons and had all of my birthday presents sitting on the coffee table. Everything looked cute and I was definitely surprised.
Wednesday, November 10th
Chris had the day off but filled it with appointments. An oil change for the car and an orthodontist apointment. We went out to lunch with Shelley at Biaggi’s and did some shopping at Anthropologie, which was fun.
For dinner we had rice, sauted vegetables and teriyaki chicken bowls.
We made sure to register Megan for Humanitarian XP by the deadline today and Dad helped her rank choices on the website. During our travels the next day — Megan to Arizona and Chris and I to Cancun — we got word that Megan got one of her top choices… Tahiti from June 22nd to July 9th. SO EXCITED FOR HER!
Thursday, November 11th - Sunday, November 14th Megan’s Soccer Tournament in Arizona
Megan had a blast on her weekend in Arizona. She flew with Charlee and her dad, Dan and they ended up winning all of their games and got the highest point total for the tournament. So much fun!!
Thursday, November 11th - Tuesday, November 16th Walton Cancun Trip
We’ve been planning this trip for about a year now… a trip with my parents and all my siblings and their spouses. It was such a fun trip, and despite the gloomy forecast of rain we ended up with some sunshine and clear skies, great conversations, delicious dinners, fun games and memorable moments. So fun to be all together. More Pictures in a separate post.
Wednesday, November 17th
Shelley and I did a few errands and then went out to lunch at On the Border… a Mexican restaurant that ended up being not great. : P
I worked for quite a while on the ELF packages. They are coming along well! Good to be home and so much to do before Ryan, Cassie, Katie and Emily get here on Saturday!!
Thursday, November 18th
I finally got the BEST night sleep. Feels like forever since I’ve got close to 100% on my Sleep Cycle App. I got 98% and was aparently asleep for 8 hours and 11 minutes. So grateful!
We got the sweetest email from one of Luke’s teachers today. She said:
Dear Johnson Family, Good afternoon! I wanted to offer a quick thank you for raising such an amazing son and sharing him with us at CTMS. My sub made a point of noting how fabulous Luke was all last week, and he earned his way to a little library reward this week for having all his work in. It’s such a blessing to have students who are wonderful humans as well as hard workers! Sincerely, Lisa Thomassen
I took Shelley out for breakfast this morning to a place called FIRST WATCH. We both enjoyed our food and had a great talk about parenting and her daughters and struggles and thoughts she’s having.
Peggy and Tara came over to visit and wish me a happy birthday. We talked for an hour and it was fun to connect!
At 3:00 I took Shelley up to the airport for her flight. It was really great of her to come and watch the boys while we were gone.
When I got home I headed to the Fall Relief Society Service Project at the church. We cut and tied fleece blankets and sat around visiting. Good to talk to Ashley, Jenny, Crystal and others.
Friday, November 19th
We had a Primary Presidency Meeting at Anne’s house from 10:30 - 12:00. Lots of things planned for the end of the year and the beginning of next. Anne served us chocolate pumpkin bread which was delicious.
At 12:30, some friends met me at Torchy’s for my birthday lunch… Tiffany, Mindy, Amy, Megan, Saralyn, Jen W. So fun to be together and talk for hours! I got some cute things from these friends. Socks, notecards, Yorks, chocolate, candles, Holiday spray, and thoughtful cards.
Luke’s 14th Birthday party was Friday night. At 6:30 I faked a panicked “Oh no, I don’t have enough ice cream!” and sent Chris and Luke to Target to pick up some ice cream while Isaac and Bryce came over to secretly set up his new ‘air trax’ … a thoughtful group gift from six of his friends. They blew it up and set it up outside and were waiting excitedly for Luke to get home.
Luke had 25 people come to his party… half guys and half girls… and he had SO MUCH FUN. They hung out downstairs with a big snack bar and music and then came upstairs about 7:30 to open presents. He was spoiled with giftcards, cash, candy, games and lastly his ‘golden soccer ball’ (from a joke conversation where they were trying to trick him) and his Air Trax outside. He was THRILLED and later when I told him that the “I don’t have enough ice cream” was all scripted, he was in complete SHOCK. It was so fun.
Chris helped Luke and his friends play the TIE GAME and then they had brownies and ice cream sundaes with chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, mini m&m’s, crushed up oreos and mini marshmellows and then they headed downstairs to watch LOVE and MONSTERS and play some games. The party ended at 10:30 and when the last of his friends left he wandered into our room and said, “That was the best night ever!”
Saturday, November 20th
Chris went to play basketball at the church with friends — first time in years — and then went straight to work since he was on call.
Megan, Luke, Matt and I got straight to work cleaning the house, organizing their rooms and closets, going through clothes, deep cleaning the bathrooms, and cleaning up after Luke’s party. Then I tackled my ELF packages. I had just a few more things to design and print out. I’m pleased with how everything looks! It’s been a fun project to work on.
At 2:30 we headed to the Soccer Haus for Megan’s HS indoor game (they won) and then Luke and Matt’s ANGLERS indoor game (they won). Dad met us there. It was fun to watch the kids play. Matthew scored two goals.
Back at home Dad wrapped presents for me while we watched the Sweet 16 BYU girls soccer defeat Virginia, and then went straight into the Mens Basketball game.
Ryan, Cassie, Katie and Emily drove home on the 70. They were all the way down in Springville picking up Cassie from work. We debated about them headed up to the 80 since it was better weather but decided the 70 was probably ok. It wasn’t. Really bad weather and the 70 closed for a bit so bad side road conditions and a scary drive. Yikes! They finally pulled in at 11:15 and we were so excited to see them!!
GRATEFUL FOR: The safe arrival of my kids, getting big projects done, Chris working hard for us.
Sunday, November 21st - Saturday, November 27th
Thanksgiving Week with the Kids
Having the kids home for the week was fantastic. Cassie didn’t have school the entire week so Ryan, Katie and Emily decided to skip their Monday and Tuesday classes and do their school from home. It’s wonderful to have a full house but it’s tricky to bounce from cooking and cleaning, to playing games and making sure everyone’s needs are met. I sure love to host though. We had so much fun! More details on a separate post.