Craziness on the Johnson Farm

So I told you about the wild hog hanging out with the horses, well now we have another wild animal pest. A Skunk has been hanging out in the front yard. I think it's been digging up the nuts that the squirrels have been hiding because it looks like it is digging it's head in the ground all around the yard. Scary I know. The reason why it freaks me out so much is because he's missing a lot of hair on his rear end. I think it might have rabies because it's coming out during the day. My dad said it may have been hit by a car, but either way it's weird for a skunk to come into the yard during the day. Also the wild hog is back, but this time it's hanging out with my sister's horses just a little way down the road. My brother-in-law shot at it, but because it was close to a house he had to shoot at it's feet, so he didn't kill it. Also this is the craziest story of all. The other day we were getting ready to head to my brother's house and I was doing binky round up! Logan loves to jump in his crib and chunk binkies all around the room. You never know where you are going to find them, and because of this we have lost quite a few. Well anyways I found as many as I could, but not enough so my mom went into his room to find more under the bed. Well instead of finding a binky, you will never guess what she found. Part of a SNAKE skin! YUCK and SCARY!! My dad said since it was such a small piece that it probably came in on someone's shoe, but geez who likes the idea of a snake being in their babies bedroom. My mom hunted high and low,and didn't find a snake, so I guess we are in the clear. So as you can see we've had a lot of run ins with crazy scary animals on the Johnson Farm!!

~Best of Friends~

"Friends are the most important ingredient in this recipe of life."

Today I was baking cupcakes and I immediately thought of Claire. So many times in college she baked me cupcakes because she knew how much I love them. For my 21st birthday she welcomed me at the door of our dorm with a sign telling me all the ways she loved me and of course with a pan full of cupcakes! Thanks to Claire college was fun, exciting, and unforgettable! When we became friends, I really learned what it was like to have a best friend. Even though we live forever apart, I will never forget the many ways she influenced my life!! Here are a few things I love about Claire!
Her eye for fashion
How she laughs and smiles at herself while she cry
She finds the best in everyone, or at least looks for it
She's creative at planning fun activities
She's a good listener and great advise giver
She's very spiritual, and I've never seen her waiver in her testimony
Always head strong in the gospel and following the rules
Quick to give compliments
Compassionate to those in need
Forgiving
Always upbeat and happy

I love you Claire, and think about you often! Thanks for always being there for me!

Our Hobby

Dustin and I have a shared interest in woodworking. He likes to build things and I like to restore old wood furniture. My family had some old furniture that was just sitting in a shed, so Dustin and I asked my cousin if we could restore it and she said yes. We've done 3 pieces so far, and we love it! It's a great way for us to spend time together working on a project, but most of all it's great to see how beautiful old furniture can be with a little TLC. This piece right here had a lot of water damage, but look how beautiful it turned out. They are never perfect, but will make great decorations when we get a house someday.We still have to get the drawer pulls and lock covers, so the picture isn't quite complete. Those things are very tricky to find at a reasonable price.

Home Again Jig Jig Jig......

Logan loves to run free, and the open deck area at the hotel was a great place for him to run his little legs off! As you can see he was very excited to be free of his stroller.

This is the phrase my mom always uses when we are back home from a long trip. Home again, home again...Jig, Jig, Jig. Don't ask me what it means because I have no idea, but I thought it would be a good title for this post because our trip was great, but of course home is great too. Beware all the long post as you read, but it's impossible to fit a 7 day trip into one post. We are grateful for all the support, and I just hope that Dustin's hard work will finally pay off!

Slugger Museum

SAFE!!!

The front of the building has a giant bat leaning against it. It's actually impossible to take a picture of the whole bat without your family looking like ants!

As you can see the mini bats became lethal weapons, and Dad took them away. Sad huh?

Logan and Dad made the giant glove into a fun peek-a-boo game with Mom!! I love these guys!

You can't visit Louisville without visiting the slugger museum, so the day after the interview we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum. It was a lot of fun watching the bats being made, and all the TLC that goes into making them perfect. I couldn't really hear anything the guide said because I was at the very back and it was VERY loud, but Logan loved watching the machinery and of course the mini bat we received at the end of the tour.

What a view.......

Here are some pictures of the Ohio River! It was so beautiful when the sun was setting that these pictures don't do it justice. We took the opportunity after dinner to walk along the river and watch people fish. We fed the ducks Logan's cheerios and of course Logan thought it was awesome that finally it was ok to throw his food at something. The weather was cool with no humidity, so that was a plus when we spent the whole trip walking everywhere. We loved everything about Louisville, so we are really hoping that we get the opportunity to live there while Dustin is in school.

Memphis- Not all it's quacked up to be!

Ok so I know my title is cheesy, but I think you get the point. On the way to Kentucky we stopped in Memphis,Tennessee, and I have to say I was anything but impressed. It was kind of a dirty city with lots of panhandlers and scary people. The picture above is of the famous Peabody ducks. Everyday at 11am they ride the elevator from the roof and walk down(actually it's more of a sprint) a red carpet to the lobby fountain where they spend their whole day. At 5pm they jump out of the water and head back up the elevator to spend the night on the roof. It's a pretty big production they have been doing at this hotel since 1930ish. This was the highlight of our stay in Memphis.

This was Logan's fascination while we waited for the ducks. He loves to push things around. Notice his left eye. He decided to dive off the steps at the hotel, and I didn't catch him in time! OOPS!

Beale Street, Memphis' famous downtown area. It was kind of neat because there were live bands playing on the street, but like I said it was just dirty and there were a lot of panhandlers.

Logan crashed in the car! I had to take this picture because of his chubby little legs!

This was our hotel room in Louisville. It was a very posh hotel, and normally we could have never afforded to stay there, but we got the rooms half price. Our room came with a fabulous view of the Ohio River and downtown area. The cool thing about Louisville is right across the river is Indiana, so we spent some of our trip there because it was so close to where we were staying.

Vacation with a purpose

We are finally headed on our dream vacation! About time, right?!? For those who don't know Dustin got his 1st dental interview and we are way excited! We decided to make a trip of it so that if he does get accepted that I've seen the city also. He's interviewing in Louisville, Kentucky, it's about a 10 hour drive from where we live now. On the way, since Logan doesn't do will on LONG trips, we are stopping in Memphis and maybe even Nashville, Tennessee. Who knows! So please keep Dustin in your prayers on Monday (the big day) that would mean a lot to him and me! He's kind of private, so I"m sure this interview is news to most of you! We hope all goes well, and I'll be blogging in a week or so!

Cowardly Lion

This past week Great Mom (my Dad's mom) and I spent time together making Logan's Halloween costume! We had a great time. She's a professional seamstress and so she did the major sewing, but I did all the detail stuff and as you can see there is a lot of it. Logan didn't like the hood at first, so we've been practicing wearing it around the house so he gets used to it. We praised him when he put it on so now he knows he looks cute and prances around when he has it on. He also has been working on his roar and has it pretty much down pat. We are so excited for Halloween, but who isn't excited for endless candy, pumpkin carving, and great costumes! Oh the morning I finished the costume we put it on and rode in his car around the driveway until Granna and Papaw woke up to show them the little lion. So here are a few pictures of that!

Born to Ride

This is Joseph and Rebecca's old 4-wheeler. Logan loves to sit on it while watching Baby Einstein.

Granna and Papaw did it again! They love to spoil their grand kids and boy do they do a great job. We went to Price's Hardware our local True Value and they saw this car and even though I said he didn't need it they just insisted that he did! So guess who won? Anyways he loves the car, and we spend many hours outside pushing him around and him pushing his car around. The handle adjust so he can push it himself.

He looks so much like his dad here I had to post this picture.

Jaida wanted a ride, but of course Logan was being stingy with his space!

Uncle Nathan's Farm

Logan and Rebecca playing in the tall grass at her family's land.

Logan was playing in the water while Uncle Nathan was flushing the system!

The grass and flower were as tall as Logan!

He wasn't quite sure he wanted to get in the water, and by the time we went home he was drenched....he had a blast!
We went to Nathan and Lanessa's land the other day so the boys could shoot guns! They had a blast because Nathan has like 4 guns and they took turn shooting at bottles. He's a real country boy! Oh and by the way, Rebecca has a little BB gun and she's great at hitting targets on the 1st try! What brought on the gun enthusiasm? Well I told you before about the wild bore. Well they didn't kill him, but they did scare him off. One night they were hunting him and walked around the corner of the barn, and they didn't see him and he didn't see them until they were right up on him. The bore jumped up and took off and the boys jumped on my Dad's flat bed trailer (bores are really mean). Fortunately he's gone, but sadly Dustin didn't get to shoot "his" pig. Dustin and Nathan looked for him for 3 nights with no luck. So on Saturday they went to shoot guns and Rebecca, Logan, and I tagged along for the ride. While we were there Rebecca was the biggest helper. She loves Logan and plays with him every chance she gets. The other day she kissed him on the cheek when getting out of the car and said "I love you Logan, see ya later!" It was so sweet. Anyways here are a few pictures of our day together!