The Adventures of the Johnson Clan: A Life and a Legacy

There are few people in this world with a true understanding of their purpose here, Travis's Grandma Juliene was one of those people.

From the moment I joined the Johnson Family, I was another grandchild. I constantly received phone calls to see how I was doing, and anytime we had time, an invitation to lunch (often this was Cafe Rio at Rock Canyon park, or Olive Garden and she'd give me her mints because she never ate sugar).

Grandma had these stories that typically ended in, "and they never had a chance to say they were sorry." These were my favorite stories because they just ripped your heart out, yet she told them like bedtime stories. The last story she told the boys was "Sassy Susan," a family history story.

She used to love having us come over and having me play the piano any chance she got.

She was so proud of Travis's accomplishments and would say, "Travis, I'm so proud of you. I know we're not supposed to be prideful, but I am, I'm so proud of you." She was a big fan of higher education.

She LOVED our boys; genuinely loved them and commented on how much they reminded her of her favorite times raising her own crazy boys.

And honestly her love towards our boys just made me love her that much more.

She will be missed.

I hope we can properly preserve her wonderful memory to our boys just as that of Papi's has been done. And speaking of Papi, we're so grateful to know that after 14yrs of missing the love of her life, she is finally reunited with him; and THAT is was eases the pain of absence.

I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and the blessing of temple marriage.

What a comfort it gives, just knowing that the Gospel is true.

I wish everyone knew.

So then in order to make it back for the funeral we had to rent a car, "the rolling turd" it was affectionately named by us, and hit the road Friday night at 9pm, just after Travis got off work. He was able to drive until 2am, at which point we began alternating through the long, stormy night.

Has anyone ever hopped in a tin can and then rolled into a windstorm? We we can now say we did. That stupid light car got blown around the freeway from Nebraska to the edge of Utah; it. was. the. worst.

Saturday we rolled into town at 1:30pm, exhausted, but in one piece.

Travis planned a date to Cafe Rio, then over to the mall for some maternity shopping and a stroll through RC Willy to dream about future furniture.

Sunday's highlight came from dinner at A. Betty's where all the Johnson family reunited after a long absence from each other.

Monday: What a beautiful and heart wrenching service. It was just perfect.

As soon the luncheon was over we rushed home to pack up the car and were back on the road by 4:30pm. This drive was far less windy, seeing as we didn't have to drive through storms. By the next morning, just outside Des Moines, Maddix's car sickness caught up with him (due to massive shaking of the car and a lack of vents in the back seats). We BARELY pulled into a rest stop and got the door open before he threw up all over the ground.

We rolled into home at 11:00am, cleaned out the "rolling turd" and got rid of it as FAST as we could. The rest of the day was spent in a napping haze, and then Travis had to go work 6pm-6am! Poor guy has been pushing it so hard, but is so grateful we were able to take the whole family back to celebrate Grandma Juliene.

And here at home: We've. Been. Dying!

Our a/c broke just before we left... and we've been having a heat wave! When they came to fix the part that was broken, the new circuit board instantly shorted out and then the fan caught fire; the guy was freaking out.

Long story short, our cheap fix turned into an expensive and complete replacement of our furnace.

We just laughed. Because that's life, right? When it rains it pours.

And then there is a rainbow.

-One neighbor has been housing Nala so she doesn't have to suffer.

-We've had fans lent to us.

-My sweet friend brought us dinner the other night just because she could tell I just couldn't do it.

- Our service guys weren't going to make it back until Monday, but knowing I'm very pregnant and this weekend will hit record highs, they bumped another customer and fit us in... and now my house feels HEAVENLY!!!!!

- We received an unexpected refund check on a medical bill we recently overpaid, so that will help to take the sting off the expense of the new furnace.

- The new furnace will help with the re-sale of the house because the previous one was OLD.

- I'm grateful it didn't happen during the winter!

So... a rainbow in the midst of life's storms.

And I'm truly grateful we're now at a point of life where we CAN laugh instead of cry. We can be broke, but not broken. And we know that we will be okay.

Sorry it's so long, but I really wanted to record some of this in our family history book, which is hopefully what this blog will become someday.

(Pictures from the past two weeks)

Blessing: Maddix was knocked
the top of the playground,
BUT by a miracle, was able
to grab the bars and catch himself
before crashing to the ground
where I'm convinced we'd have
been in the E.R.