Hello from the Johnsen's

Hello everyone! I hope you all like the blog. I think this is another great way for all of us to stay in touch and a great place to share little pieces of our lives with each other. I hope you blog often!
We missed being in Utah for Thanksgiving with everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic day and enjoyed being together. We spent the day with our friends Kerrie and Terry. It was nice to spend the day with them. There was, of course, no shortage of food. Kerrie's kids were not able to be there - because her chump ex-husband decided not to send them, even though Kerrie had purchased their plane tickets and everything. I know it was a hard day for her so we were happy we could be there. There were other families there, and we even ended up bringing one of the boys home with us for the rest of the weekend. His name is Cody and he and Michael are the same age and hit it off very quickly. They were -basically- best of friends before we even left and had planned for him to stay the weekend with us. Cody lives with his dad about an hour or more south of Phoenix in Casa Grande. So, the boys got their way and Cody came home with us. He and Michael had a great time. They went Wakeboarding Friday, where Michael tried a tantrum (aka a back flip!). He didn't quite make it, but apparently tried a few times. I see him getting it down by next summer! I think he is crazy, and not the back flip thing, but wakeboarding at the end of November! Anyway, Cody went home tonight. I have a feeling we will be seeing him again!
The other kids are doing well. Tyler is in Pre-school now. It is a state funded program that he qualified for because of his speech. He is talking so much, but he is not articulating very well, so he qualified for FREE pre-school! Woo Hoo! He was not too happy about it the first day, but by the 3rd day he was fine. He goes 5 days a week for 2.5 hours. Ryan is in pre-school too. He goes 3 days/wk. He loves it! It's more a social thing for him than it is a learning thing! What a fun lovable kid! I absolutely love his laugh! Amanda turned 7 at the beginning of the month, and is doing very well at school. We were told she is in the top 3 in reading and math. She is reading so well! Chapter books already! Christina is so excited to be 12 and go to Young Women's in 3 weeks! We have been working on the sleepover thing, she is terrified to go to Science Camp and Girls Camp if I am not with her. You all know how she is. Well, she actually stayed overnight at a friends house (it was her 12th birthday party) and had a great time! She is still a little worried about the camps, but I think she will be fine!
David is still working like crazy. He finally took his 2 days off last week after not having a day off in 6 weeks!! (since my trip out there!) Because he took his days off, and stopped moving, he got sick. He is feeling better, but still a little stuffy. I am doing fine. Still trying to figure out this Stay-Home-Mom thing. I am trying not to run my kids like a business! David jokes that I need to learn that I can't 'fire my own kids'. It's true. Parenting is very different than running a business! haa haa...
Anyway, there is a brief rundown of our lives here in Arizona. We still love living here. (Minus the scorpions that keep popping up...) It has been fun to have -almost- all of you come to visit. Looking forward to having you all again -or for the first time- hopefully soon! We love you all!