The Johnson Clan

Last Tuesday we were having a Johnson family conference call when Scott told us that Kathy's health was really going downhill and that he thinks we need to be there soon. We booked flights that night and flew to Utah the next morning. We were picked up from the airport and drove straight to the hospital where Kathy had been for several weeks. We had been getting updates about her from the family ever since she was diagnosed with brain cancer last October, but there was always a disconnect since we live so far away. We were never there to watch the progression of her sickness, and we think the family may have been downplaying how severe her symptoms and complications were. When we came to her hospital room she was in a coma and was having a lot of difficulty breathing. She had contracted pneumonia and had been in a comatose state since Monday. The doctor's had her on the strongest antibiotics they had, but it was going to take 2-5 days for them to kick in. In the mean time ...

A friend from our Ward has a brother who gets free tickets to the Sabres games. Hockey is as big in New York as football is in Texas. So just like the Dallas Cowboys, although the Sabers aren't a really good team all of Buffalo is fiercely loyal to them and the games are a big deal. Clayton and I were invited to go to their game last night, but Clayton had to go on a business trip out of town. I brought my friend Maria as my date. Turns out she loves hockey about as much as I do, so I'm glad we had each other to talk to during the boring parts. Don't get me wrong, I like hockey... but only when a fight breaks out or someone scores. The company was fun though, and it was a true Buffalo experience. Plus I was glad to get out and do something with friends while Clayton is away. I have a plan for every night this week so that I'm not bored.

We have started putting up Christmas decorations. We bought a tree that was fairly small in our minds, and then we were surprised by how big it was when we took it home. The only place we could find that it would fit is in the kitchen. Getting the tree this year has been quite the ordeal. Last year we bought our little tree from Home Depot, set it up, decorated, easy lemon squeezey. This year we bought our tree from a similar store and brought it home to find that it didn't fit in our tree stand. It still had a few little branches sprouting from the bottom of the stump. So what did we do? We grabbed Clayton's super old, super dull, samurai sword, took the tree outside, and tried to fix the problem ourselves. Well the sword broke after a couple of swings, which to be honest I was kind of expecting, and we ended up trying to saw off the branches with a pocket knife. After an hour of setting up, we finally got the tree to fit in the stand at a slightly crooked angle. ...

We didn't get to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family, but we did get to see them this weekend. My family was in Ohio visiting our grandparents, so we decided to meet halfway between Miamisburg and Buffalo in Cleveland. First stop was the A Christmas Story house. It was super cool to walk on the set, and it put me in the Christmas mood. People pinned where they came from on a map. There were so many pins on the northeast side of the country that you couldn't even fit another pin in there. Next we went to the West Side Market. It reminded me of the market places in Romania. We bought a big bag of corn, a bucket of fruit, and several awesome desserts. Which we promptly ate picnic style. Clayton and I recently bought a fancy shmancy camera with the intention of documenting our lives in higher quality. I brought it to Cleveland and made Hannah and my mom models. It was fun! I got tons of great shots of Hannah, and selected a few good ones to ...

(This is our friend's backyard. Can you see the swing set in the left corner?) (This was taken at the beginning of our drive) This fall in Buffalo has been B-E-A-utiful! The weather was clear and crisp most of the time, the colors of the trees was gorgeous, and it was what everyone was calling "unseasonably warm." I thought that this was all a precursor to a mild winter. But then the lake effect happened yesterday, and it's all gone down hill since then. Yesterday the south towns got 3-7 feet of snow! We have friends that live down there who sent us pictures of their car that was so covered in snow that you could only see the top of it. There was a driving ban, the highways were shut down, and every business and school was closed. Unlucky people who were driving that morning were stuck in their cars for hours, and many still are. There are a couple places that haven't been reached yet by emergency vehicles, and the stuck cars have been stuck the...

We have been crazy busy lately. I started working at my new job last week, and it has been exhausting. I work for a company located in Niagara Falls called Community Missions. There are a lot of divisions of the company, but our jobs all overlap a little. I am a Case Manager, and it has been a whirlwind learning the ropes. We work with clients who have a mental illness but are trying to gain independence to live in the community. Already I've had some interactions that have blown my mind.  Aside from work, we have been enjoying the weather. We went on a hike called the "Eternal Flame". It's a permanent methane gas leak that allows there to be a constant flame. It's in the middle of a small, slippery waterfall. The hike was really pretty and fun. We also hiked the Gorge, down by Niagara Falls. Before the actual falls, there is a long stretch of whirlpools and rapids. They are classified as class 6, and are considered unnavigable. There is a trail that ...

One great perk of having the Palmyra temple as our home temple is that there are church history sites nearby. We were able to visit the Hill Cumorah, the Smith farm, and the Sacred Grove after going to the temple.  The weather was beautiful, I had that handsome man by my side, and visiting the sites for the first time was a special experience for me. I'm so grateful for my eternal marriage, my life in the gospel, and the beautiful legacy of the church.  www.mormon.org