This week we.....

Hi Family! We had a great week here at the Williams household!

* We are one week away from our SPRING BREAK! We wish the funds were around to make the trip to see you guys. But with the Johnson's here we will not be so lonely.

* Curtis was offered the ASM job at Harkin's Theater (you probably all know that!). We feel so blessed that this job has come along for him. The benefits are great and they are so flexible with his schedule. I know he will be so-o much happier here than with U-Haul (not that we were not grateful for that job!). He will be working with people again and doing a job that has physical labor, he just needs that in a job. Plus, we get to see movies anytime for free! Oh goodness that is going to be fun!

*We bought Caitlyn tickets for the premiere of Episode 8 for Kid History here in Mesa. She was so-o excited! We were able to meet the cast and get a picture taken with them. It was so fun! Such nice guys. Someone from our audience bought Brett a Big Trak!! He was so excited!

*Caitlyn has been asking me about a mommy/daughter day so on Saturday we went to see Mesa High's performance of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I cannot put into words how amazing this performance was. They have gone to state and national competitions for so many years and won many times. I am not surprised. They had such incredible voices and the sets and costumes were right from Broadway. The boy who played The Beast was amazing, his ballad If I Can't Love Her brought me to tears. They were selling light up roses to for the kids to hold when the Beast transforms.Caitlyn got one and was so excited to hold it up, she LOVED the effect in the audience. During the song Be Our Guest some of the actors were down in the isles singing, the ones dressed as different food and utensils, and they were carrying around platters and handing people on the end seats little cups of ice cream with sprinkles!! I am telling you this was such a production!

*On Friday my supervisor Karen showed up to work with bags and bags of harvest from her garden! We have been spoiled all weekend snacking on those goodies! I made some refrigerator pickles beets that are to DIE FOR! I think that would be one thing that would keep me in Arizona, being able to have a garden all year long. We also received some purple carrots and two gigantic rutabagas that I roasted tonight with some white carrots - YUMMY! I cannot wait for her artichokes to be ready.

*When we had that potluck dinner a few weekends ago before the Adult Session of Stake Conference, the Sister Missionaries came and asked if they could come and give Caitlyn and our family the discussions. To help them practice and to teach Caitlyn about our Church. We happily said yes. They came on Wednesday. They brought such a beautiful spirit into our home, we loved it. One of the Sister's is from Lehi! We are excited to have them coming back on Wednesday. I even went out of my comfort zone and invited a friend from work who has been asking me a lot of questions about my Church. We will see!

Well sweet family, I best be off to bed. Early day tomorrow to roll 600 cheese crisps.

We love you all so much and miss you terribly!

Love, Curtis, Aubrey, Caitlyn, and Penny

Buddhism

I'm doing an assignment in my Ethnic Diversity class where I had to pick a religion and research it, compare it, etc.
I chose Buddhism.
Everything I read is EXACTLY how I feel about spirituality. It's like someone read my mind about how I feel things are and should be, and then wrote this article. It's really awesome. What are your guys' thoughts?
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm.

family and teeth

First of all, I'm really sad mom and dad are gone. SO sad. It really sucks not having everyone in the same state! Elise and Aaron, you guys were truly missed.

So, here I go with one of my "Try this! It's amazing!" tirades.
A cheap way to whiten your teeth:
After flossing and before brushing, take a Q-tip dipped in Hydrogen Peroxide and apply to your teeth. Leave on for 30 seconds to a minute. Brush.
Hydrogen Peroxide is the main ingredient in all teeth whitening systems. I've been doing it for about a week and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ....

*We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on ofhands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I can't believe I remembered that! Call upon my memory from when I was 12 years old, yikes.

I want to start by saying {thanks} again to all the family who were able to make it this weekend and that we missed those who could not. We felt the Spirit so strongly on Saturday. I felt as though my chest would explode there was not enough room for it. Heavenly Father loves his children so much and I felt that love. Caitlyn amazes me each day with her strength and her strong spirit. As we sit down each week to have Family Home Evening I am always touched by her knowledge and her belief in the gospel. I truly believe that the spirits being sent to earth are the most prepared for the world as it is right now. It is not enough for them to just be told the principles, they want reasons and to have their testimonies truly strengthened, to truly be converted to our Heavenly Father's plan for us.

At different times throughout our lives we make sacred covenants with God, but your baptism is the first. When we make this sacred covenant we show our love to Him. We promise to take the name of Jesus Christ upon us, to always remember Him and to keep Him commandments. To live our lives as our brother did upon this earth. I am grateful for the examples of Mom and Dad, growing up in their home and even now. I am so grateful for a husband who is worthy to carry the priesthood power and the blessings that me and my family receive from that power. I am grateful that he keeps his covenants with God. I am grateful he was able to baptize our beautiful daughter and use that power so that she was able to receive the Holy Ghost to bless her and give her that guidance in her life.

I am grateful for this restored gospel, for the fullness of our Church. Heavenly Father made it simple for us. One truth. He lives. I have no doubt that He does. He has a plan for me. He loves me and I love Him. I am grateful for all my family, for their support and their unconditional love for me and my little family. I am grateful for the blessings that I receive each day. My testimony grows each day as I see the Lords hands in my life.

Caitlyn has made the right choice to be baptized a member of the Lord's true church and I know she will be blessed for that. She is a choice spirit and a blessing to me and Curtis. A true privilege and pleasure to raise on this earth. I am so proud of her!

Why You Should Follow the Recipe

I had some lemon curd (basically lemon jelly) that I needed to use so I decided to make this wonderful butter cake with a lemon filling between the four layers. I didn't have the two, 2" deep cake pans the recipe called for so I thought I would be really smart and just divide the batter between 3 less deep cake pans and make three layers instead of four. I won't go into detail about why it didn't work and bore you...I'll just show the results....

Hey even Julia Child had straight to the trash bin creations! So Aubrey called and I was telling her about my "crater" cake. By this time I was making /cooking the seven minute frosting. With her experience and wisdom as a baker she said , "If there's a problem just fill it in with frosting.

So I cooked and whipped my frosting into firm peaks...apparently not firm enough. And there was not enough frosting to "fill in" the problems as you can see.
Now for the moment of ...I don't know what, Aaron cut into the cake and the frosting flowed like lava. So this is why you follow the recipe. I have dubbed my creation Mount St. Helens. Because it looks just like the side of the volcanoe/mountain where the top blew off and there's a sideways crater. The flowing white lava was my special touch.
It tasted pretty good actually--it all got eaten. And it was a good laugh!!

In Love

Mae and I were reading the book Grandma and Grandpa sent her for Christmas, "Everything On It" by Shel Silverstein.
We came across this poem and thought it was written just for dad:

In Love


If my face could only twist,
Then I could give my cheek a kiss
And whisper in my lovely ear,
"You're so beautiful, my dear,"
And look into my eyes and see
Just how much I'm in love with me.


As dad always says,"I love myself"

Johnson happenings

Great idea, mom!

Well, the Johnsons are pretty busy.

I just started school on Monday and so far I like it. I take 2 classes every 9 weeks. Right now I'm taking Skills for Learning in an Information Age, and Cultural Diversity. It's all online. Basically it's like a online forum where we do our assignments and get participation points by discussing certain topics with other students. I am drawing every single day. Mondays and Wednesdays I go to Barnes and Noble from about 8-10 and just sit and draw or look through art books for inspiration. Toms friend from school recently asked me if I'd be interested in being a back up singer in their band. They play oldies, which I'm way excited about. My favorite!

Tom is busy at work and with Rugby. He is looking into other jobs as well.

Mae is doing school at home on abcmouse.com and really likes it. We're working on her reading. She is an amazing big sister. She and Sawyer are soooo cute together, and he just lights up when she walks in the room. We're going to sign her up for ballet soon.

Sawyer is just the happiest little guy. He's pretty much always elated about everything. We adore him. He is sitting up on his own. He's a bit wobbly. He's starting to look more like a little boy and less like a baby. It's awesome and sad at the same time. It goes too fast! He is saying "dada" "baba" and sometimes "mama". He is eating "solids" and loves sweet potatoes. He is a really good eater.

Here is his 6 month old picture:

Well, I think that's about it! Love you guys.