Merry Christmas!

Once again, Christmas brought good food, good fun, and lots of good presents. Christmas Eve was filled with lots of cooking and playing together as a family. We stayed up late watching a Christmas movie and everyone had a great time. We had a snow storm blow through overnight with really warm temperatures, turning our soft snow-laiden hills into slush. Christmas morning didn't start too early (thanks to the late night movie) and was ushered in with stockings full of goodies and toys from Santa and his helpers. After the excitement of stockings, we all filled our bellies with some breakfast. Soon thereafter the rest of the gifts were opened. As you can see from the photos below, we have some fairly content children. They must of been good boys and girls in 2009. Here are a few photos from the morning...

Double Trouble!!!

So much for being a tiny puppy. Here's a photo of Wyatt and Beemer that I took this morning. Even though Beemer is only 6 months old, he now over 60lbs. Actually, these two have a lot in common. They both are very smart, eat like a horse, have more energy than a nuclear reactor, are growing like a weed, and are always having fun around the place.

A Little Fencing Work

We've been doing a little fencing around the place. We have a long way to go, but we are getting there. Here are a couple of shots of the yard on the side of our house and of the round pen. Next spring we'll actually have some grass too!

Politics? Religion? How about Wolves!

If you think politics and religion are controversial, then you don't live in Idaho. True controversy revolves around the critters seen below. It appears there are a few (i.e. hollywood types) that love the wolves and feel that they should be protected, but most (and by most I mean everyone that I have met in Idaho) don't. The cattle ranchers, the sheepherders, and the hunters don't want them having free reign in Idaho. They are proving to be hard on livestock and are quickly diminishing elk populations. The hard part of this battle is the total amount of money raised by those who want the wolves controlled is in the tens of thousands and the money raised by those who don't is in the tens of millions. I'm not sure what will come of the whole thing and how anyone will ever get the straight truth, but here's a photo taken a few weeks ago north of Ketchum, ID to prove that the wolves are alive and well in Idaho. We haven't seen any on our land yet, but know of sightings by our place.

Family Vacation Time

We had a couple of fun trips this summer. We started out with a trip to get a new German Shepherd puppy. His name is Beemer...

Then we went to the Open House at the Twin Falls Temple and got to see the beautiful Temple and Shoshone Falls...

We also made a trip over to Yellowstone and saw lots of animals. Here's five of them...

A few Pictures from Summer '08

Here are a few pictures from the Summer. If you want to make the photos bigger, just click on the image...

We had fun with friends (Torgesens)...



We we're able to move into our new house!


We had fun with cousins...

September 2008 Family Letter

Hello everyone! We survived September! We started the month with celebrating Wyatt’s 8th birthday. We were fortunate to have Grandma Stevens and Uncle Todd come down for his birthday and his baptism!!! Wyatt was really excited about being baptized. We had a lot of friends attend and it was extra special to have Grandma and Uncle Todd here. Wade baptized Wyatt and I stood back and cried! My little boy isn’t so little anymore!

After a fun weekend of birthday cake and playing, we headed to Rexburg, Idaho. We took a three-day vacation to Yellowstone and stayed in Rexburg. We drove through the park and it took all day as we did the entire loop. We were fortunate to see a bald eagle, elk, buffalo, a wolf, and elk. At one point the buffalo were coming down the road and they were so close to the van Wade could have reached out and gave one a good rub between the eyes. Not encouraged, but they were that close. We even managed to see Old Faithful blow. The kids had never seen the geyser before. It was a quick trip but at least got us away for a few days.

We have started home schooling. We actually started at the end of August, which I do believe I already told you in our August letter. I apologize for the repetitiveness. The kids are doing well. We start about 8:30 or so and are done between 1pm and 2pm. The kids also have an art class at the private school they attended last year. A professor from a local college teaches it. They are also doing PE with their old private school twice a month.

Bekah and Wyatt are back into piano lessons. Wyatt and Annika are both playing soccer, which has only one week left!!!!! (It has since ended as this letter took a bit to get out) Bekah and Annika start clogging in another week or so! (They HAVE started clogging) My children are not bored! Will gets to tag along on all the outings.

OH!! Wyatt is now in cub scouts and loves it. We had our first pack meeting last night (ok, about 2 ½ weeks ago) and he was able to be part of the flag ceremony and carry in a flag. The whole scouting thing is brand new to Wade and I. Wyatt loves scouts and is anxious to start earning badges. (He has since earned his bobcat!)

The hospital officially made its transition to St Luke’s Health System September 1st. Wade was pleased to see if finally come together as envisioned. Not much has changed for him, although is now he working for St Luke’s. He enjoys the networking and interaction he is able to have with the CEOs of the other St Luke’s hospitals. On a separate note, he was nominated to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors of the Idaho Hospital Association. I’m not sure when he will start that. Oh, he was also nominated to be the Idaho Regent for the American College of Healthcare Executives and was newly chosen as the President of the Idaho Healthcare Executive Forum.


The weather is thinking about cooling down. Still have had some temps close to 90. I am ready for cooler weather! I would love some grass as well. All in good time I suppose. We finished our round pen, which works very nicely for riding, and we started on some other fencing. Always something to do!

Our horses have been naughty. We had a two-week stint where they kept getting out. We couldn’t figure out what was going on and discovered the battery to our solar fencer was shot. The mares kept getting out. Our geldings stayed put. The fence was lying on the ground but the boys wouldn’t step over it. I love geldings!!! I am sick of the girls!! I told Wade we are not getting any more mares. Anyone want three!!!!????

After fixing the fence a couple of times, we bought a very good electric fencer with the hopes that if they tested the fence it would zap them all the way to town!!! The pony escaped the other day, not sure how, but for the most part they are minding their manners.

I have managed to get out and right a little. Bekah enjoys riding her pony. The round pen sure makes it nice for her to build up her confidence. Our next project is the riding arena.

We had a short visit from Grandma and Grandpa Dashiell. They were on their way to Colorado for an Elk hunt. (Grandpa did get an elk!! Way to go Grandpa!!) They stayed a night with us. We had a good visit and the kid’s loved seeing their grandparents.

I think that is about it for now. I am doing well. Just trying to keep up with the kids and keep my sanity. Wade and I both have new callings at church. Wade teaches the Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday school and I have been called as the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. Relief Society is a woman’s organization in our church. Among other duties, I am responsible for the activities we hold. Wade loves teaching and I am slowly getting over feeling overwhelmed.

We hope fall finds you in beautiful colors and enjoy the cooler weather!!! Consider yourself hugged from the Johnson’s!