Where is the Johnson Family today?

   Hi All. It has been almost an entire year since I last posted on here. I have decided to do a final post.  I figure most of my previous readers no longer read this blog so, that being said, I feel I need to finalize this part of our family. 
 
   First let me tell you that I used variations of our names when I started this blog. My kids were younger and I felt like I needed to protect them at that time. I want to fill you in on that.

    Jeremiah is actually Jeremy (He always wished he was named Jeremiah)
    SunnyKaye is actually Sonya (Sunny was a nickname from high school and my middle name is Kay)
    Madilynne is actually Paige Madison (She named herself here. She wished her middle name was Madilynne)
    Ryder is actually Nathan Ryder (He chose his middle name)
    Johnson is our real last name

   
    Jeremy and I have been together for 27 years now.  We will celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary in December.  Paige has graduated from our homeschool and is attending college.  Nathan is in 11th grade of our homeschool.   

   I have an Instagram account that you are welcome to follow.  I do update that much more often.  IG is easier for me to keep up with.  I am sovojo on there.   Leave a message that you were a Pines reader!  Hope to see you there. 

   I have enjoyed my time on here and maybe one day I'll come back to Pines but for now, I'm going to stop and not have guilt. Thank you for reading our family blog and I have enjoyed this part of our journey.

Blueberry Soda!

   Madi arrived home from work last night with a big smile and announced she had a surprise!  She opened up a grocery bag and pulled out 10 bottles of this:

  

   Best Daughter Ever!!  Love her so much!

It tastes as good as I remember!

 

   You may remember me mentioning this soda in a previous post if not well, I did!  ;-)

My Favorite Appliances and Updates

   I can't believe that tomorrow is D.E.C.E.M.B.E.R.!!  Really?? Time has been buzzing by.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We spent a lot of time with family and did very little shopping!  Jeremiah, the kids and I ran out and got a few items like bird seed, bird suet and then ran to Wal-Mart and got Christmas cards, a calendar and the boys picked up some hunting supplies.  Madi got a few little items she wanted but nothing we got were Black Friday special items. 

   Jerm and the kids have been battling some head colds.  Nothing serious but tissue use has been up!  :-)  Jeremiah was able to go to work but Madi had to call in sick on Monday.  I have been drinking lots of water and staying consistent with my vitamins and so far I haven't gotten sick.  I have two diffusers and I have been diffusing essential oils.  I ordered another one on Monday because I didn't have enough for each of our bedrooms.  I diffused two different kinds of oils.  One was for respiratory and the other blend was to boost the immune system and fight off the germs.  I also put some lavender in to help with sleeping.  I also put the oils on the bottoms of the their feet and behind their ears.  I'm not going to say it "cured" them but it helped their symptoms.

 

   Since everyone has been feeling icky I have decided to stick with easy foods. One of my favorite appliances is my crockpot.  I have quite a few of them.  I'm thinking like 7/8 or so- maybe a few more.  I really don't know. I like how easy it is to throw some simple ingredients in it and let it cook!  I end up with a healthy dish to serve and I know what ingredients are in there. I use my crockpots for soups, stews, whole chickens, roasts, meat and to keep foods warm like pasta dishes.  I think the crockpot is pretty versatile so I try to use it often.

   I use my bread machine weekly also.  I make my own pizza dough and we eat pizza frequently.  I prefer homemade pizza to store bought or the local pizza shops.  As you can see in the picture I also use it for bread.  I have a bread recipe that I found online years and years ago.  I made quite a few changes to that original recipe until I finally got one my family likes.  The kids can eat half a loaf as soon as it's cool enough to slice.  Ryder likes butter and strawberry jam on his slices, Madi likes butter (the one and only time she likes butter) and I will occasionally eat mine with butter and honey, otherwise just butter. 
   
   I need to get some stuff ready for tomorrow and finish loading the dishwasher. I had to let the crockpot cool and the insert will go into the dishwasher and the leftovers need to go into the fridge.  I will have some leftover chicken to make into something for lunches for tomorrow.  Have a great evening!  

 

 

 

  

Where, oh where has the Johnson Family been?

   Oh boy!  Have we been busy.  Crazy days for us.  I'm not sure when I posted last but we started school for the new year in August.  I was really sad about the thought of starting this year because it is the last year of homeschooling for Madilynne. However, I am enjoying this year because when you have older kids you can really have some good discussions about the topics they are studying. They have some really good thoughts and sometimes challenge my thinking! 



View of VA Beach from our room balcony.

   We have been traveling a lot lately also.  As much as I like getting on the road and being together making memories, I am so glad the traveling is done.  The last trip was to Virginia Beach, Virginia.  I loved the trip even though I am not a huge water fan.  I loved waking up every morning to seeing the ocean, the surfers and dolphins while drinking my tea!  I was really surprised at how well Madi and Ryder got along.  When you have two teens, well, they can kind of get on each others last nerve.  Both kids were awesome to travel with....most of the time!  ;-)  The trip to the beach took us 7 hours to drive to.  That's a long time in the car.   

   We were at the beach while Hurricane Irma was bearing down on FL.  My brother J lives in FL and he hightailed it out to safety in NC.  I am so glad that he was safe and as far I know right now, his home didn't sustain any damage. 

   I have been busy getting the produce from the garden canned for the last month.  Our garden gave a lot of produce but the wildlife around here ate their fair share this year.  I was able to can several batches of salsa and some jars of green beans.  I froze some zucchini and green peppers too. I bought some carrots and my mom helped me can 29 quarts today.  That was a lot of chopping!  Jeremiah grew two nice pumpkins.  He brought them to the front porch to use as fall decorations. 

   Speaking of fall... some of the trees are starting to show their colors!  My dad has a saying that "The colored leaves are the flowers of fall." 

    I think that I will finish with that for the evening.  I hope to post more later! Blessings to you all!

Peek Into My Life

   At church several weeks ago before starting his sermon one of our pastors announced that the church cleaning crew found a note where a lot of the teens sit. 

 

 He read, "If you keep staring at her, you'll go blind."

   I personally loved this!  My "romantic heart" thought this was so awesome.

 

 Teen boy smitten with the lovely teen girl... Ahhh....  

  
   When we arrived back home I teasingly asked Jeremiah if he ever stared at me while we were dating?

Jeremiah: Yep, all the time!

 

Me: All the time? You must not have stared enough because you aren't blind.

 

Jeremiah: I stared enough. I wear glasses now.  ~wink~

 

   Let me tell you, that was one of the sweetest things he could have said to me! Yes, it falls into cheesy but it melted my heart!  ~Dreamy Sigh~