Counting Blessings: December 11 - 18

December 11th
Today I am that LDS Family Services have decided to hire a lawyer for us to keep Savvy FOR E VER! For more info, click on the Johnson Family Blog link to the right.

December 12th
Today I am thankful for the holiday season. This year as things a bit tight, it is easy to see the spirit of the season.

December 13th
Today I am thankful for some of the people I work with at my Denver station. Some of these people are so great to help me with my shifts and kind to me at work.

December 14th
Today I am thankful for my father in law Jack for providing a place for us to live during this rough time.

December 15th
Today I am thankful for my fun job. I am in Seattle helping out with our Employee Holiday Reception. I LOVE Alaska Airlines!

December 16th
Today I am thankful for Tiftin Clegg. She was my trainer when I first started with Alaska Air. Because I was a volunteer for the party, I didn’t get a hotel room so Tiftin let me crash at her honeymoon pad. She is so great (and Ben her Hubby too). I am also thankful for her spirit and love for Alaska Air, it was contagious, and I caught it too.

December 17th
Thinking about how great it was to be in Seattle, I am thankful for my class mates from training, they are a bunch of fun and great people to know…miss you all!

December 18th
Today I am thankful that Heavenly Father sent me to this family. I am so blessed to be born as a Bodell kid for so many reasons. 2 things are prevalent in my head today. #1 I am so grateful for my Grandparents. They are such an amazing example of love and spirituality. It is truly an honor to be their Granddaughter. #2 The Bodell family has taken upon themselves to give our family an amazing Christmas. I have been told that part of the magic is that I have no clue who donated the money. I got just one check from the organizer of the gift. I asked if I could know who participated so I could send out thank you notes…but I was told they didn’t want to be named. Thank you seems so small…(boy am I glad that computers can handle tears, otherwise I would have shorted out a while ago)…Thank you seem so small, but I love you all. When I look at this photo I think that each and every one of you helped me out this season. I pray that soon I will be on the giving side of this wonderful magical gift, but as for today, I am honored to be on the receiving side. Merry Christmas

Niagara Falls

Back in the spring we went to Niagra Falls with my parents

Counting Blessings: December 10

Today I am thankful that my Dad gave me his camera cord as mine is accidentally packed in storage.

Counting Blessings: December 5 - 9

December 5th
Today I am thankful that if does NOT snow year round.

December 6th
Today I am thankful that the church is the same everywhere. My current work schedule doesn’t allow me to attend my ward but rather another ward closer to work. I love that I can go into a church building anywhere around the world and it is comforting to see the sameness. The songs, the bishopric, the kids, the meetings, etc. The people are different, but the spirit is the same!

December 7th
Today I am thankful for FREE TEXTING! I changed my plan to include free texting, not that I was a big text-er but I would like to be. If you have free texting let me know so I can start texting!

December 8th
Today I am thankful for crab. Crab is my favorite food. Tonight Wayne and I did a mystery shop at Landry’s. http://www.landrysseafoodhouse.com/ I love spending other people’s money. We had a 70 budget! If you ever are looking for a fancy place to eat I would totally recommend them. I have been to Ruth Chris 2 times before, and this place was light years better than Ruth Chris.

December 9th
Today I am thankful for my cruise memories. Cruising is my favorite way to travel and thinking about my yummy dinner last night reminds me of the good food on the cruises. Good times! I am always on the lookout for a good deal to go again!

Counting Blessings: November 24 - December 4

November 24th
Today I am thankful that Southwest’s age for UM’s (unaccompanied minors) is 12. This way Darcy can bring all of the kids home from Nicki’s house. On Southwest the UM fee is $25 EACH! I am too spoiled to actually pay money to an airline!

November 25th
I am thankful today for Jack’s big house. We have 28 people in this house for thanksgiving.

November 26th
I am thankful for my kids. We had the entire Dittbrenner family together for thanksgiving dinner. It was a tradition in my home, growing up, to share what we are thankful for at the Thanksgiving dinner table. When I am the hostess or when it is only our family, we still do this. The Dittbrenners don’t do this. Maybe it is because every night before bed Kristie and their family all go around and tells what they are thankful for. However today, as the adults were sitting at their table and the kids at their table, I overheard the kids at their table going around and telling what they were thankful for. They didn’t need an adult to tell them that they had to, the just did it on their own.

November 27th
Today I guess I am thankful for Black Friday, Although today was the first black Friday that I have ever got flat out DENIED! I can’t tell you what I was waiting in line for because little eyes might be reading, but it was an AMAZING deal…I went at 2:30 AM and I was still denied! CRAZY!

November 28th
Today I am thankful for Overtime…Time and a half pay…Whoo Hoo!

November 29th
Today I am thankful for 2 things. #1 People at work that take my Sunday shift so I can go to church. #2 I know she made an appearance before in this blog, but, I gotta go with Nicki again. My kids have new church clothes thanks to Nicki.

November 30th
Today I am thankful for my kids school. Today being Monday the kids went back to school after the holiday. Years ago there was a commercial for Staples. I was shown in the Aug/Sept months. It had a Dad with a shopping cart dancing and frolicking to the tune of, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” The kids had the most sour looks on their faces and the Dad looks positively bursting with joy. The only sentence is at the end of the commercial, “All your back to school items are at Staples.” Now if you had ever seen this commercial I bet you are smiling and remembering it. If you are a parent with all your kids at school right now, you are also smiling and thinking, that is nice, when all the kids go back to school.

December 1st
Yesterday I was thankful that my kids went back to school and today I am thankful for the schools themselves. Darcy is in Junior High. It is a bit of a bummer because last year she was in 6th grade and in Las Vegas 6th grade is in Junior High. She was the youngest of the pack. This year in Denver, 7th grade starts Junior High so she is the youngest again. She is doing extremely well in math. She is in 9th grade pre-algebra. If she is still going to school here next year, she will need to do release time in High School. Dixie is doing pretty good. She misses Vegas the most as she had 2 great friends there, Sydney and Lana. She is so sensitive and misses both of them greatly! She is very involved this year. She does the morning news show at her school and also is playing the violin again in school. Even though she is only in 5th grade, she is in advanced orchestra (all other 5th graders are in beginning as this is the first year they can take orchestra or band). Dillon’s teacher is GREAT! This is what she put on his report card, “Dillon is sometimes very hyper, but I love his enthusiasm.” If only every teacher he has from here on out can see that good him. Denim is so great. She is in all day kindergarten which I am so glad for as she is learning like a sponge, sucking up all she can as she goes. Her teacher said she didn’t know if she ever had a student that smiled more than Denim.

December 2nd
Today I am thankful for the “In the spirit of Thanksgiving” movie clip below…I think put it on here right.

December 3rd
Today I am thankful for Brad Wilcox. http://www.bradwilcox.com/ Dixie is in that wonderful year of 5th grade. For those of you parents whom have a 5th grader, you know what this means. This year at Dixie’s school it is officially called “Grow and Change”. The school had a parents night on Monday to go over what is going to be taught. Some things I liked. They are being very thorough on the development of a baby in the womb. I think that is a good thing to learn. I did NOT like their stand on a word I will not even put on my blog. Have no fear, Brad Wilcox helped me out.
As I also did with Darcy, I purchased Brad book, Growing up, (available at http://deseretbook.com/store/product?sku=4024211). We went out to dinner and using Growing Up as a guide and reference we had our talk. This book is so great because it is specific and gives it from a church perspective. It is written in a great language that kids can understand and relate to. After our full talk, I then gave her the book and told her to ask me any questions anytime. With Darcy she asked what I thought were typical questions. Dixie on the other hand had different type of questions. I always knew what different girls and this was just another example of how different they are.

December 4th
Today I am thankful for Christmas Cards. Although I haven’t sent them out in YEARS, I am thankful for those friends whom still send them to me! Farnsworth and Pula’s you are the winners this year for 1st one received!

In-the-Spirit-of-Thanksgiving

In-the-Spirit-of-Thanksgiving

Saturday - I was thankful for the Bodell Bistro cookbook. It just seems like a bit of family is right with me when I cook from it.

Sunday - I was thankful for Nicki Patterson. She volunteered to have my kids come and stay with them for a few days while my kids were out of school. I ended up having to work a last minute double shift and I was glad that Nicki had my kids so I didn't feel like I was neglecting them. Thanks so much Nick!

Monday - Today I am thankful for my Huggy Hubby. This morning (with no kids or work after having worked a double shift yesterday), my husband woke me up with breakfast in bed.

I have been out of town in Seattle for 2 days so I have a few days to make up for. I am going to work backwards,

Today I am grateful for my Silverado Ward. Even though we have moved, this past Saturday, they had a service project at our home in Vegas and tore out a tree that was about to fall over on top of fence.

Yesterday I was thankful for my job at Alaska Airlines.

The day before I was thankful for JK Rowling.

Today I am thankful for mystery shopping! Thanks to Tiffany's inspiration and my husbands indeed.com searching, I am a mystery shopper and love it. Yesterday we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for Lunch and Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. I would never be able to afford to go out to eat if it wasn't for being a mystery shopper. If you would like to sign up to be a mystery shopper send me an email and I will forward the websites to you.

Yesterday I was thankful for my car. It started snowing Saturday night, A LOT! I had to be at work at 6:00 am on Sunday. I was not looking forward to a nights sleep stressing about the drive only to wake up and actually have drive on the icy roads. I decided to drive to the airport Saturday night and sleep in my car. Wayne put a mattress in the back for me and 3 sleeping bags. I drove to the airport, slept like a baby, woke up and went to work. There were 6 of us working that morning, myself and one other were the only ones on time.

Today I am thankful for overprotective schools. Dillon slipped this morning on ice before school. That is all I know for sure. After that I am told: as he walked into the cafeteria he was holding on to the walls for support and had a bloody nose. The school called, I was at work, and said that they felt that he needed to go home and be monitored and possibly go to the doctor. They said he was feeling nauseated (Who knew that Dillon knew what nauseated meant?). Work let me go home early and use some of my sick days (that I have been collecting and have never used). I picked him up and other than a nasty scrape on his head, seemed fine. I get to have this time to spend writing this blog and watching clone wars with Dillon.

Today I am thankful for my kids...Here is a "Mommy Moment" that I never want to forget. This happened a few years ago at Salt Lake Temple square. We were waiting in line to go see a movie and my sister-in-law, Kristie handed out fruit roll ups to the kids. As we walked in the to movie, it was dark. Dillon was sitting by me and said in a whisper, "Here Mom," and gave me this tiny little thing. "Oh, nice, Dillon is sharing this tiny piece of roll up," I thought. I popped it in my mouth just about the time that Dillon whispers, "It's my booger."

Today I am thankful for the ability to cry...I know that is kinda dumb...just know that computers can handle an amazing amount of tears....

Today I am grateful for my family that, who knows how often in the last year and a half have checked my blog for updates, and the day that I post, they are there with encouraging words.

I know, I know, it has been far too long. It has been over a year since my last post. I don’t know what to say other than; it has been a hard year. Here is the long of the short of it:
-We lost the house that we built. We still owe the bank money…OUCH!
-Wayne thought with construction being so bad that it might be good to find another line of work. He was accepted to the Las Vegas Police Department. He started the Police academy and realized that this was NOT the life he was looking for. He did not want his job to be “Officer Jerk”, which was what the academy was training him to become.
-Wayne’s last day at the academy, May 5th, I got my furlough notice from Alaska Airlines. (Cinco de Mayo was not a great night, other than my sister-in-law, Andrea’s wonderful dinner.)
-I can keep my job with Alaska Airlines if I move somewhere I have seniority. Denver, LAX, Washington DC, Chicago and Seattle were my main choices. We chose Denver.
-We moved to Denver and live with Jack, Wayne’s Dad
-Last week here in Denver, they furloughed everyone with less seniority than me, so who knows what the future holds.
I haven’t felt much like blogging as I didn’t feel blog worthy. Someday I am going to look back at this time in my life and quite frankly, I don’t know if I will even want to remember it.
BUT – I know the only way I am going to come out of this trial is if rise above it. (Of course there are many tears now on my computer keys as I am writing this.)
This is what I know:
#1 The Church is true.
#2 I love my kids so much it sometimes hurts my heart.
Quite frankly…the rest I am figuring out while I go.
Here is why I started blogging again:
1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,Count your many blessings; name them one by one,And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
[Chorus]Count your blessings;Name them one by one.Count your blessings;See what God hath done.Count your blessings;Name them one by one.Count your many blessings;See what God hath done.
2. Are you ever burdened with a load of care?Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?Count your many blessings; ev’ry doubt will fly,And you will be singing as the days go by.
3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.Count your many blessings; money cannot buyYour reward in heaven nor your home on high.
4. So amid the conflict, whether great or small,Do not be discouraged; God is over all.Count your many blessings; angels will attend,Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
So as of today, November 11, 2009
I am thankful for the blessing of my Grandfather and Father and the other Veterans that have come and gone through my life.

Serving our Country

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