7th Place!!

I scared Sean with my excitement this morning!  

I had my first placement in the I ♥ Faces contest!  Stop by and check out all the other winners at this link.

I ♥ Faces Pet Week

Man It's been a while since I have entered in an I ♥ Faces Competition!
This week is a 'Pets Only' week.

Here is my entry. I took this picture one morning as I was on my way up to the ski hill and saw these horses with frost on them from the cold Montana morning. The sun coming up over the mountain behind this horse was just perfect!




Now head over to I ♥ Faces and check out all the other entries.

Merry Christmas to all!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Good Homemade Bread

I have been venturing out recently trying my hand in baking breads. Store bought bread has become kind of expensive recently considering how little bread we actually eat in the week--half of it would go to waste before the two of us could finish it. So 2 weeks ago, I decided to make my own bread. I can use a little bit at a time and freeze the rest.

I tried my friend Lora's Whole Wheat Bread recipe, but had a little trouble with the yeast rising. Since I was out of honey and didn't want to make a run to the store just for honey to start over the liquid portion of the recipe again, I went ahead and mixed the ingredients together getting one heavy loaf of bread instead of the 2 I should have had. It didn't make good for sandwiches as 2 bites would make you feel like you at a brick; we used it for breakfast toast, broiling it with a little butter and brown sugar. YUMMMM!!!

Today, I found a Whole Wheat Beer Bread recipe online
I was searching for a recipe that didn't require yeast--one less thing for me to screw up. We had a bottle of leftover beer from the guys who poured out patio slab a few months ago. I combined all the dry ingredients, stirred in one bottle of beer, and now my home smells of yummy bread cooking in the oven. It smells DELISH! And Sean approved of the little snip of dough he stole before I could get it into the oven.
Yeah for bread!!!

Barefoot is better!

After posting a picture on my facebook account of my new Vibram Five Finger Shoes, I thought I'd give a little more explanation to the "what are those things on your feet?" statements I've been getting.

Over a month ago, Sean was working a city Triathlon as part of his Guard Drill weekend when he noticed a guy wearing these toe shoes while completing the running section of the triathlon. He came home and tried to explain what he saw to me--we immediately got online looking for information. We had no luck--just weren't Googling the correct terms. The next day our friend Nate sent me a link to the Vibram shoes and thus began our journey towards barefoot sports.

Remember when you were a little kid, running all over the place during the summer with no shoes on? I was one of those kids. And the more information I found about the Five Finger shoes, the more I knew these were the right shoe for me.

God made us perfect and in his own image; Man has screwed up the body with the shoes we have created. Now don't get me wrong--I LOVE shoes--but the reality is, out of the 15 or so pairs I own, I only wear 2-3 on a regular basis. Through Sean's and my investigation into barefoot sports, we have run into TONS of evidence that shows the shoes we put on our feet every day actually cause us quite a bit of harm. Our foot was engineered to hold out body in a certain posture, muscles were used for balance, and your gait falls perfectly because of the foot construction. Shoes put your foot in an unnatural position, causing all sorts of aliments--many times leg, knee, hip, and pack pain can all be traced back to your feet.

This barefoot shoe is a revolutionary, back-to-basics design based on the simple principle that being barefoot is the healthiest way for you and your feet to be! It gives you protection without harming God's perfect creation.

(Image copied from Vibram Five Finger web site)

I must say, I've noticed a BIG difference in my feet; once working past the few days of my feet being sore during and after wearing Five Finger Shoes, I have noticed less back pain, straighter posture and less leg pain during and after major physical activities. If you want more information on these shoes check out Vibram's website at www.vibramfivefingers.com

Summer Fun and Garden Goodies!

It's been a busy and quick summer! Can you believe it's August and school starts in 3 weeks?!? Sean and I have been SUPER busy. Between working in the garden, a trip to Idaho, hiking, biking and camping, finally pouring the patio, MANG, and our jobs, we've had little time to just sit around and do nothing. And it doesn't look like our Fall will slow down either--Sean will be taking an EMT class at the C.O.T. and refereeing high school football. I have had a small promotion at work to Assistant Project Manager which means I'm really have my hands in everything but the actual construction of the homes we are building. I am also toying with taking some online management classes. BUSY!
So here is a picture update of all we've done this summer! Enjoy!

Pictures of our trips. Finally!

A little catch up work to do!

I left you all with our upcoming trip to Michigan back in May and have been horribly busy and not able to update this blog since then. And to top it off, the few minutes I get to try and upload pictures to this blog and Facebook, my computer freezes during the process and the last hour's work of editing pictures is lost. Needless to say, I quit and haven't touched the blog in over a month!!

So here is the much needed update, and hopefully pictures to follow when I get home.
Michigan was a blast! We celebrated Teresa's graduation from MSU; Sean was able to enlist in the Air National Guard and his dad was able to swear him in; we FINALLY met the cutest niece ever as well as one of Sean's Aunts and her daughter; we also met Megan's husband and made it back home in 2 days! What a whirl wind trip!
As far as other news, we are almost ready to pour our patio--this has almost been a 3 month endeavor! Dig a hole, bad weather for a week, compact dirt, bad weather for a week, get advice how to form it, bad weather, get gravel down, bad weather...You get the idea. We are SO close! Now it is just a matter of timing our schedules with one of my co-workers to finish the concrete...we are shooting for the week of the 22nd -26th! Hopefully the stars will align and the '2-weekend' project will be done!
The garden is growing! I spotted my first little tomatoes today, and will have some peppers to follow if the cold night temperatures don't get them first! It has been in the low 30's the past 4 nights, and I have been covering all my little plants with anything I could find--old bed sheets, tyvek, buckets, and seedling pots. At lunch I was finally able to take everything off, and it looks like everything made it through the frost and rain!
The best news for Sean and me will actually happen this Friday, as we celebrate our 1st Anniversary! YEAH!! They say the 1st year is the hardest as you adjust to the married life, but I can happily say, this was the easiest year of my life!! Never have I been more happy to argue with Sean and know at the end of the day, we love each other more than before the fight began! Each day gets easier and easier as I fall more in love with my best friend.
Some other little updates: we are involved in Marriage Mentor group where a 'Young married' couple meets with a 'more experienced married' couple once a month. We have taken a few short hikes up into the Sluice Boxes. Sean plays ping-pong with my cute old grandpa and some of his friends once a week. We took a long kayak trip over Memorial Day with some good friends of ours. My work is CRAZY busy with one job really starting to roll and a second one coming to an end. We are both exercising like mad-dogs as Sean is getting prepared for basic, and I have plans to run a half-marathon in September.
So that about sums up the last month of our crazy life in Montana! Hopefully I can get some pictures up to document this long post! Until then, God bless!

Look out Michigan...

Yep, it's time for another Johnson vacation! This time, it should be a little more safe than our river float 2 weeks ago! It will be a whirlwind of a trip, but we will have much fun!
We will be heading out to the great state of Michigan to celebrate with my mother-in-love as she graduates with a degree in Nutrition. We are also going to cram in Sean's swearing in to the Air National Guard! It's a double blessing because my father-in-love, as an officer in the Air Force, will be able to oversee Sean's commitment! YEAH!

Many pictures of these great events to come!!
GIGATTAATTGIG

Kids say the funniest things...

Sean and I have been blessed to live in a really great neighborhood. People from all life styles live there--lawyers, counselors, car sales men, retirees, high schoolers and ankle biters.
Yesterday, I was blessed by some of the younger neighbors knocking on my door. The 2 younger girls had found a dog wandering the street, and they thought she might be mine. We chatted a bit and decided to phone animal control to pick up the dog. The girls wanted to sit on my deck keeping the stray dog company as we waited for animal control, and I happily enjoyed the chatty girls' company.
The previous 3 days had delivered over 2' of good snowmen snow, and earlier in the afternoon, as I waited for Sean to get home from work, I made 2 miniature snowmen and sat them on the BBQ and a pot on my deck. The girls noticed the snowmen as we sat there chatting. This is the conversation that followed.

Girl 1: Looking at the snow men, "Do you have kids?"
Me: "no, just 2 dogs."
Girl 2: "Then why do you have snowmen?"
Girl 1: "And why are they so small? Did you have a little kid make them for you?"

I giggled to myself. I guess only kids are allowed to make snowmen, and only little kids can make small snowmen on this block!
Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Smith River Float April 2009

Here are a few pictures of the float trip Sean and I took last week. We started out the day with 70+ degrees, 2 kayaks, 2 drift boats and 6 Smith River newbies! 9 miles down the river and Sean dumping his kayak twice, we were at our 1st camp for the night. We woke up to about 20 degrees and snow slowly falling. We all dug in and paddled as fast as we could to get to the next camp site 21 miles down stream. Sean and I made it in a little over 4 hours. Only once did we have any trouble due to the gusting winds. No matter how hard i paddled to go right, the wind was determined to push me left and we were forced to pull our kayaks a few hundred yards until the river turned and the wind was at our backs. I wish I had more pictures of the canyon cliffs on this day, but it was snowing, foggy, and the wind was blowing so hard, we could barely take our eyes off the river! It didn't help that the cold temperatures zapped the life out of my batteries! We got to camp 4 hours before the other 4 guys and got a roaring fire going! We were the little beacon on the hill for our drift boat buddies! Day 3 was 180 degree difference to day 2! 50+ degrees and no snow! We took our time fishing and floating the next 15 miles. As Sean and I pulled into our final camp, we could hear turkeys all over the place, but they managed to evade my camera! The last 14 miles of our float was marvelous! It was the final mile that almost did Sean and I in! There is a major split in the river 1.5 miles from our take out; the left side was very low and we would have to drag our boats; the right side was full of streamers and sweepers (our naive-ness lead us to choose the right side). About 400 yards down the right side, multiple trees were down in the river and there was a huge gravel deposit right in the middle. Sean was forced to go further right than he wanted and got slapped in the face by a branch and turned broad side to a huge downed tree. The undertow was so great, it sucked his kayak out from under him leaving him hanging on to the huge tree. I managed to pull out upstream from him and run over and help him off the tree. His kayak was about half a mile down river from us by then. I jumped in my kayak and Sean was picked up by some rafters behind us. I paddled my heart out trying to catch up with his kayak. It finally got lodged at a corner of the river on a tree branch. As I pulled up to it, I was trying to maneuver around when my paddle caught on a branch below me and flipped me--I was held under for a second by the cooler Sean had just placed at my feet--once I was able to free my foot, I popped up, and held on to my kayak as the current took us around the corner. I was able to pull up on a rocky beach next to another rafter that just had the same experience while trying to free Sean's kayak! What an adventure!! We were truly blessed the whole trip, but God was really looking out for us on mile 59! We were also very blessed by 3 other raft parties on the river helping us out. Which is amazing by itself as we only saw 1 other party on the river the whole time we were out there! Needless to say, we had quite an experience and adventure! I highly recommend this float trip to anyone! Just make sure to watch out for streamers and sweepers! They will get you every time!

We're Baaaack!

Yep! We made it back safe and sound!  The Smith River Float was AMAZING. The whole story and pictures are to come!

God is Good!!!

Time for a float...

And a vacation!  Sean and I are taking a few days off to float the Smith River!  WOO!  It is a challenge to get a permit to float the Smith, and we were able to get a 5 day trip the first time we applied!!  We leave tomorrow with 4 friends on an adventure down the most beautiful river in Montana!  

Wish us luck and pray for good weather!  It is predicted to be snowy and rainy most of the week. Ugh!

Pictures of our adventure to come!

I ♥ Faces Pouting

Here is my entry for I ♥ Faces Pouting.














Little Sara was such a ham when her family asked me to follow her around and take pictures. She climbed up into her grandma's lap and had had enough of my camera clicks.

And here is my Pet Entry.















My husband and I saw this little bambi laying down in the grass, hiding while we were out hiking last spring. He sure tried to make himself as flat as possible!

Going Green at home and at work

As part of Sean's and my Simplicity and Frugality life style, we have made the effort to 'Go Green' in as many ways as possible.  For example, we recently added on a carport to extend the protection for our vehicles as our one-car garage barely fit one of our big vehicles in it. It was added on late January, and so far it has been a blessing for us, and our neighbor.  It has and will block out that HOT afternoon sun, keeping our home cooler in the afternoon, keeping the AC from running less (of course in MT, we have yet to really see this as we just had 3" of snow drop on us this past week, but this summer, it will pay off!). It has also blessed our neighbor as she had the bright idea to extend the roof line a few more inches to let all the rain and snow melt fall onto her side of the property line, thus watering her beautiful trees for free! 

As we are getting close to gardening seasons, we have tried to figure out ways to cut down on our watering bill. I know--plants need water to grow--but our pocketbook doesn't have to suffer from it!  We have set up 2 of our drain spouts to let the snow and rain gather in big 75 gallon containers.  It will be a little more work to transfer the water back and forth instead of just turning on the spigot, but it will be much more rewarding knowing we are using the resources that God has freely given us!  Our next goal: solar panels!

 

Sean's motivation to be frugal and Green around the house has inspired me to take this lifestyle to work.  I work for a construction company--currently I manage 2 projects on the Air Force base, where we are building new homes for our military. The first Green move I am making is to ride my bike the 3 miles to work as soon as the temps warm up :).  One of my two dogs also makes this 6-mile round trip with me daily! It's an easy way of saving on gas and getting my daily exercise in! 

The second way I'm bringing the Greenness to work is by recycling!  It is the easiest Green move a company can make! As part of our contract, we demolish the existing homes. That means there is TONS of debris making it's way to the landfill daily.  Not very green.  But I have been able to set up agreements between my company and small local companies or individuals which has led to these people coming into the homes prior to demolition and salvaging as much as possible out of them.  The wood flooring, copper piping, the furnace and AC units, all the kitchen appliances, water heaters, cabinets, doors, windows and garage doors are all being taken out of these units and given or donated where they are needed.  

In the offices, I've set up different bins for the different products that we trash daily--plastics and paper. There is even one little bucket for produce (our breakfast and lunch waste) that makes it's way into my compost pile at home weekly. I've also convinced my company to spend a little more on special recycle bins for the scrap wood and scrap metal we produce while building the new homes.  When these bins fill up, they go to a recycle center instead of the landfill.  A definite Green plus here!

God is Good All the Time...

My heart breaks as I write this. For many of you YC people, your lives may have been touched greatly by one man--Kimball Matkins. I know my life was dramatically changed because of Kimball's involvement.
Kimball Matkins passed away last night from his long fight against ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
I was privileged to meet Kimball in 2001 and work with him for 2 years in the admission's office recruiting high school kids to come to York College. We took many long road trips together; we experienced rolling a school van on slick roads outside Billings, skiing accidents, and long delirious laughter as we drove the many miles between York and our surrounding states; we shared our life's stories and challenged each other daily to show how God blessed us each day.
As a sophomore in college and not knowing which way my life path was going, Kimball took me under his wing and showed me how to truly follow God and live my life to the fullest. He was a father figure and someone I could seek advice from. Kimball was a man of God.
While many of us left here on Earth mourn over the loss of a good friend, we can be confident that Heaven is rejoicing.
...All the Time, God is Good.

Week 11 I ♥ Faces Entry

This is my first attempt at an I ♥ Faces entry. Yikes, this is exciting! So drop by their blog and check out all the other beautiful entries!

This is my beautiful friend Katie! This picture was taken on a cloudy day at Yellowstone Bible Camp last summer.

Look what's popping up...

It is officially spring time in MT. As part of Sean's and my "Simplicity and Frugality" lifestyle, we have made it a goal to plant a garden and try to live off the 'land'. Here are just a few pictures of our plants and seed packets of what we will be planting as soon as Mother Nature agrees to keep temps above freezing at night!

Here is a picture of all our seeds: pumpkins, melons, corn, carrots, lettuce, and peas.  We will also be trying our luck with some hops rhizomes.  Sorry no pictures of them, they have to stay in the fridge for now!  We will also be getting some tomato plants from my wonderful friend Amy.  She is kind of a gardening nut--and is starting to specialize in heirloom plants!  I can't wait for warm juicy tomatoes right off the vine!

We will have blueberry and blackberry bushes! Oh I hope they are fruitful!  I would love to make my own jam!

My beautiful Dahlias! Ok, this is just a picture on the root packet I purchased from one of the local garden center; but I will be planting them and one day this summer, this is what will be popping up!

Here are the little sprouts of basil and oregano! I also have cilantro and chives starting to sprout!

And my little pride--the pepper plants! Beautiful Serrano and Tuscan Sun Sweet Peppers!! 

The herbs and peppers are sitting in our guest bedroom/hobby room in the only window in our home that faces the sun during the day. It is so fun to watch the soil and look for a change. And then, you walk in after a warm afternoon, and there is a little sprout peaking through the soil--a few days later, it's a centimeter tall--and almost 2 months later, you have a 3" tall plant with leaves that reach to the heavens.  

Oh I can't wait until I can put these little guys in the soil and see them take off!

Please pray!

Every Tuesday night, a few of the young professionals from my church get together for a bible study, food and fellowship. It is one of the few times in the week that I am blessed to be surrounded by Christians, my age, who have the same spiritual drive as I do.
Last night was amazing! There is a young Air Force Couple who have been coming off and on to church, but have been very devoted to coming to the bible study on Tuesdays. Sunny grew up Baptist, but really doesn't know much about living like a Christian. His wife Branda never really had exposure to a church or the bible while growing up--she comes to church/study because Sunny comes to church.
Last night was so amazing because after people started going their own ways, Sunny pulled aside a couple of us and started asking some really good questions--what do i have to do to be a member? When do you do baptisms? Can Branda and I be baptized at different times? I was baptized when i was little--is that ok? Some really good questions for 2 people who are looking and seeking out answers!
So pray for Sunny and Branda as they continue their search for Jesus; pray for open hearts and ears. And pray for those of us who will be starting a new studying with them, that they can give them the answers and information they need as they seek out Jesus.

No cable here...

I must say, I revel in the fact that we don't have cable. Talking with friends and co-workers, the conversation usually goes like this: "Sam, did you see last nights episode of ____?" and i almost always say, "No, I don't have cable" to which I get some of the best facial reactions. It's one of the few highlights in my work day. You want to really shock someone--tell them you don't have cable.
Now, I watch TV-I have 3 channels--ABC, CBS and the CW--only because we got a digital converter so we wouldn't be totally out of the bubble with what is going on in the world. I watch LOST, and before we go about our nightly life Sean and I watch both the national and local news, and sometimes catch a CSI or Criminal Minds episode--but it's a personal choice to not spend out money on cable.
Sean and I made a dedication when we got married, not just to love each other until death do us part, but to also live our life with Simplicity and Frugality--we actually have it engraved on our wedding rings. It's a reminder to us that we don't have to have the flashy new stuff, or to try and one-up the neighbor with a new toy. It's a reminder to live life without the distractions that the world throws at us. It is a reminder that we can entertain ourselves without having to pay for it--we walk the dogs, root around in our garden, we take day trips to the river and mountains. But the biggest thing we've done with out spare times is read our bible and attend a bible study with friends. As we fall more in love with our life style of simplicity and frugality, we have fallen more in love with God, and that makes me proud to say, I DON'T HAVE CABLE.

The busy life...

It has been a quick 2 months to start off 2009 with. I hope it slows down a bit so i can remember what actually happens this year!

Sean and I have been keeping our feet running these past 2 months. There have been 2 major changes we made: 1) we built a carport onto our house to a) help block out the sun in the afternoon and b) cover more of our driveway so we can have 2 vehicle protected from the weather.2) we traded in my Xterra for a little Ford Ranger! It wasn't a necessary move for us, but financially it saved us big bucks and it keeps the dogs from stinking up a vehicle!

Both of us have also had some major changes with our jobs. I have moved into an assistant Project Manager position with my company as we have started a second job on the Air Force Base. It has been crazy with the office move and having to sort thru and organize paperwork for 2 jobs, but I have quickly fallen into a routine that is working for me. I just hope my superintendent can keep up! On a side note, my SI's wife has been very sick off and on for these past 2 years. Currently she is in the hospital for a foot injury/surgery/recovery. Her constant health up's and down's are really starting to wear on my boss Jimmy. So if you guys could keep Jimmy and Hayden in your prayers, and my sanity, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Sean has decided to join the Montana Air National Guard (MANG). He has been very stressed out recently with this decision; is it the right thing to do? Is it the right time to do it? Will the MANG accept him in? More than anything, Sean wants a job and career where he can work with people who have a purpose, are driven, organized and take pride in their work. The 2 current jobs he has (UPS and Chili's) are all about making the cooperate guy big bucks. One of his supervisors at UPS actually scolded Sean because he was too efficient at his job! Seriously.
Sean and I have come to the conclusion that him joining the MANG is a good move for both of us. At first it will only by one weekend a month and 2 weeks a year, but it will allow him to leave UPS and have a normal routine. No more waking up at 3AM and to bed by 7PM. There is a full-time officer position open in Bio-engineering. Our hope and prayers is that Sean will quickly qualify for it and become a full-time employee.
But one of the biggest motivations for Sean to take this new career path is working with the church. His current schedule doesn't allow for him to be as active with our church family as he would like. He gets to attend Sunday morning worship and occasionally Small groups Sunday night, but that is the extent of his church activities. There is so much more he wants to be involved in and many people's lives he wants to be involved in, but the current 2-job situation doesn't allow for it.
So that is the update with the Montana Johnson's. Hopefully as my job settles down, I can be more consistent with updating our lives on this blog. Pray for us as we transition into the MANG and that Sean gets the officer position. Pray that we can touch the lives of the people around us and that when they see us in our daily lives, they see Jesus walking next to us.