What's New with the Johnson Family?

Our biggest news is the birth of our granddaughter Iris Jane Johnson on 31 March. She shares her birthday with her Uncle Alex, which he thinks is pretty cool. Iris has been a light in our lives.

The next biggest news is that Amy graduated from Salem Hills high School in May. She spent her summer touring with the Colt Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, headquartered in Iowa. She is now studying music at Snow College.

For Alex, the big news is that he finished driver's ed and just has to drive on the road road with an instructor before March 31 so he can get his license. He also got his first job as a Junior Sandwich Artist at Subway. He's been trying his hand at table tennis and boxing.

Laura is a junior at BYU. She is also president of the KPop Club, and she serves as the activities charis for her ward relief society. She adopted a ktten from the animal shelter and named her Scout.

Callie and Mac celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary and their 1st anniversary in their home in Saratoga Springs.

Deborah's big news is that has begun substitute teaching 1-2 times per week in our local schools. Leigh continues to teach botany classes at BYU. After 13 years in our home, he has to spend tiem fixing and replacing applicances. He also works hard taking care of the yard and chickens.

We wish there was enough space to tell you all the miracles we are enjoying in our lives--all the times when a million things are going wrong, but we coould still see God's hand; all the times when we learned valuable lessons from trials we went through; the times when we just had to go on faith. We are grateful for our friends who inspire us by pressing forward in spite of their own trials. We are so grateful for this journey we get to take, and we are so grateful that you are part of that journey. Merry Christmas to you. May you feel the Lord's love to a greater degree in your life throughout the coming year. Love, The Johnsons

Yes. It's Us!

As I write, the snow is falling outside. I can almost pretend it's Christmas, and that this is our annual family Christmas post, and I'm not behind at all. Here's a little update on us:

Our family is growing! Callie and Mac are expecting their first child within a month. She is going to be called Iris. Their other exciting news is that they are now homeowners; they bought a beautiful townhome in Saratoga Springs.

Laura, a sophomore at Brigham Young University goes to class by day to become a PE teacher, but she lives to dance after school. She is currently serving as the KPOP Club president at BYU and dances with the Golden Hour cover group. Click here to see one of their perfmormances. (Laura is the one with the plaid shirt tied around her waist)

Amy will graduate from Salem Hills High School in May. She plans to attend Snow College and major in music. Marching band has been "her life" for the past 4 years. Last summer she was a member of Battalion Drum and Bugle Corps. This fall, her high school band had a first place finish at the State competition in their division. Click to see their winning performance (Look for Amy in the front playing the marimba).

Alex is in 9th grade at Salem Jr High. He is currently working as a tech on the school play: Moana Jr. Recently, he decided to take up ping pong after watching the championships at the Tokyo Olympics.

Merry Christmas 2020--A year we'll always remember

A lot of people may remember this as the worst year ever, but a lot of good things happened too:

We had two graduations, and even though the commencement ceremonies were non-traditional, they were well-done and very memorable. Callie is now teaching special education part time in Lehi. Her husband Mac is working and going to school. Laura is attending BYU, and is pretty sure she's decided to major in elementary education.

Amy loves playing in the high school marching band. They missed a couple of competitions, because of quarantines,but still managed to place 5th at the state competition.

Alex's big adventure this year has been tricks on the tramp and creating videos of the experience.(See him in action by clicking on his picture at the right). This year has given us much cause for reflection. We are grateful for all that we have and all that we are learning. Our hope will forever remain in our Savior. With His help, we know that we can get through anything.

Wishing you joy and peace in 2021

Merry Christmas 2019

This is a landmark year for our family. Alex started junior high; Amy moved up to the high school; Laura began her last year of high school, and Callie began her last year of college. We know what this means--Leigh and Deborah are getting very old. For about 350 days of the year, we mostly did the usual stuff: Paid bills, cleaned toilets, mowed lawns, argued about how much screen time the kids were using, and nagged them to do homework....And the kids would tell you that we never do anything fun.

But we did have a couple of family adventures. Over Spring Break, we drove to Tijuana, Mexico to join with Spark of Hope Foundation to help construct a home for a young family whose 2-room basement house filled with mud every time it rained. Being there was a great reminder of how many blessings we take for granted every day. .

In July, Deborah's mom joined us on a trip to Missouri, Nebraska and Illinois to visit some Church History sites. It won't surprise you to learn that not everyone thought that was a very good idea for a vacation. Through Airbnb, we got to stay in the very charming Secret Service House right across the street from the home of Harry Truman. We hadn't known much about President Truman, but our experiences led us to be more interested--well, at least some of us.

And after our adventures, we went back to doing the same old, same old. And with both the work and the play and the usual routine and the adventures, it was a pretty great year. We hope your new year will be full of joy. With love, from the Johnsons

Merry Christmas 2018

This year we had a large wildfire just a couple of miles from our home. We were personally never in any danger, and our whole community was very blessed not to suffer the loss of life or property. But when we considered the possibility that we may have to evacuate, and we wondered what we would take with us, we realized there was very little we couldn't live without. We are grateful to have our family, our testimonies of our Savior and His gospel, wonderful friends, and lots of memories. All in all, it's been a pretty great year! There's been chess, engineering, the viola and piano for Alex. Amy has joined FFA, raised a pig, sung with the choir, and marched with the high school band. For Laura it's been a first date, driver's license, soccer, clubs, and choir. Callie and Mac have been working, going to school and enjoying their first year of marriage. The family said goodbye to Leigh's mother, six weeks after her 90th birthday (what a long, full life). We took a trip to Florida to experience Harry Potter World, met up with the Schumacher family who traveled to China with us at Christmas 2004. We got chickens. We washed a lot of dishes, paid a lot of bills, cleaned lots of toilets, mowed the lawn many times. We fought, we laughed, we cried. Just your average year! Here are a few of the highlights:

Merry Christmas 2017

Here's a run down of our year: Callie came home from her mission to Spain.

Laura tried her hand at being a thespian in the school production of "Guys and Dolls" Alex joined the robotics club and Chess club.

We moved Amy into a room downstairs and painted her old bedroom so Leigh's mom could move in with us.

We said our last earthly goodbyes to Deborah's dad. We are grateful for our knowledge that through the Plan of Salvation and our Savior's sacrifice, we will see him again. We went on a trip New York -- saw the Statue of Liberty, reunited with Laura's China "Sisters" (the girls from our 1st adoption group), saw Niagara Falls, visited many amazing Church history sites, and just had an amazing journey.

Girls Camp, soccer, FFA...just a few of the things to keep us hopping.

A Wedding

We have enjoyed doing our small part to #LighttheWorld

It has been a busy year. We have truly been blessed by the Lord in 2017. We wish you much joy in the coming year.