A Little About My Life

As soon as Ruthie found out that we were resurrecting the blog, she was so excited that she wanted to contribute. So, introducing Ruth in her blogging debut:

First of all, if I were to describe myself in one word, that word would be Ruth Colleen Johnson. Now I realize that is three words but I have to count it as one because it wouldn't be complete without all three. Have you ever met someone like that? So unique that a single word cannot describe them, a person that can only be described as who they are? I know you have because honestly I think every person is like that. Even if their name might not be quite fitting it is still the only thing that could possibly describe them. Yup, that's me.

Currently I am twelve years old, I love to learn, and I can't wait to pick up my next good book. In my free time I like to read, write, and play with my friends and family. I can usually finish a book in 2-3 days if I am really enjoying it, and one day if I just can't put it down. Right now my favorite book series is the Lunar Chronicles. I love to write stories. In fact right now I am working on a book. It doesn't have a name yet but I am about 20 pages in so far. As of now I cannot play with friends outside of school due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so I have to be content with playing with my siblings and doing FaceTime calls.

I also love to act, sing, and dance. I go to an after school program called COPA. We have practice twice a week. We just had our first stage performance in January and it was great. I absolutely love school. Although right now we do have to wear masks all day it is still great to see my friends. You know all kids at some point in their life wish they were home schooled but after the brief experience I had with online learning I am very grateful to not be homeschooled.

When I grow up I hope to be either a Marine Biologist or an Actress. My friend Sienna also shares both of these interests so whatever we decide to do, we plan to do it together. We have already planned ahead, and if we decide the path of Marine Biology we want to study at California State University, Monterey Bay.

Some of my favorite things are, the color lavender, dogs, dolphins, donuts, Caesars salad, the smell of rain (which I found is called petrichor), my friends, my family, and books. Now to list all of my closest friends this year. Emma, Sienna, Claire, Hazel, Ellie, and Trevor.

Life is good.

Cupid's Crazy Cafe

Tonya has introduced a fun new Valentine's Day tradition into the family. It's called Cupid's Crazy Cafe.

She prepares a multi-course meal. Each "course" includes several items that the kids can order. However, they can only order them by number, and they don't know which number corresponds to which item.

In addition to normal food, ordered items may be things like a plate, a cup, or eating utensils. The kids' lack of knowledge as to which item they are ordering, in which order, leads to fun and silly eating situations. If you order the salad before ordering the plate and utensils, then you must eat the salad with your hands, straight off the table.

If you order the drink before the cup, then you get your drink poured onto the table, or straight into your mouth.

We all love this new tradition. Thanks Tonya!

Blog Resurrection

So I don't know if anyone out there has still subscribed to get notifications on this blog, but if you do, Hi! It's been a long time!

Since Heidi's last post in 2014, lots has happened in our family, as you likely already know. We are still living in Lehi, albeit in a different house. After Heidi's passing, Tonya joined our family in 2019. Austin is 14 and in the 8th grade, playing trumpet in the band. Ruth is 12, in 6th grade, and is part of a performing arts group. Summer, 9, is in the 4th grade and reading like crazy. Our family has somehow been able to recover from tragedy, and, I would say, is thriving again.

One thing Tonya and I have noticed is that the kids love going through memories. Some Sunday afternoons they'll go downstairs, turn on Plex, and go through all of our old videos, spending hours flipping through clip after clip, enjoying seeing themselves as toddlers. Also, after Heidi passed, I decided to take this blog as well as Heidi's cancer blog, and put them into books (at least, the parts of the blog that had not already been put into books). Now our living room has a basket full of coffee table books about our family. The kids will often cuddle up with one of these books and read about their youth through Heidi's voice.

While Tonya has been especially good about documenting our new adventures with pictures, I realize that there's great value in recording our impressions and thoughts beside those photos. So, with that in mind, here we are, posting here again. I'm going to attempt to resurrect this blog. While my primary intent for doing this is internal–so our kids will continue to have books they can cuddle up with and reminisce–you out there reading this are welcome to continue following this blog. I'll admit up front that I'm not as good as Heidi was at expressing myself, or at being consistent. Maybe this new initiative will fall flat. Nevertheless, we're going to give it a go.

Let the resurrection begin!