Life According to Katie

“Mom’s Not Home Yet”

2011-12-04T09:52:00.001-08:00

I’ve been babysitting for my mom a lot the last week. Every time she leaves Matthew is taking a nap, and he’s really grumpy when I come to get him instead of Mom. On Saturday morning, he was calling for me. I went to get him and he said “datie, mommy not home yet”. It was sad and funny. I agreed with him, for mom was in a deep sleep.

11 year old activity

2011-08-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I went rock climbing with all the 11 year olds in the stake. It was so fun! I went to the top of every wall. Then we had lunch … pizza and watermelon. The Activity Day leader explained that the wall is like life. Sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it’s easy where you can find the handle and grab it. You also have the person belaying you, like Heavenly Father holding you and telling you which way to go. Some young women were talking about the young women program and girls camp (I will be going next year) and EFY. It got me exited!

Monastery Ruins

2011-08-24T16:21:00.001-07:00

We went to the Monastery Ruins with the Chuggs! It was so fun!

These are the ruins of the monastery that Hitler took apart to build an amphitheater.

Us being crazy.

Emily and Hanna.

Matt is so cute!!!

The amphitheater.

Silly faces.

Cole.

The Chuggs :)

Into the Woods Jr.

2011-08-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

I did theater camp in July – August. The play was called Into the Woods Jr. We performed it on August 5. I was little Red’s mom. I had singing and a few lines. I was also a dancer. The show went really well and it was really fun!

We were seeing if our costumes worked out.

The cow sellers talking to the baker. (Those are the cows).

Plastic Dress

2011-07-11T00:20:00.001-07:00

I designed this dress for fun out of a blue garbage bag. I took this quick picture of it because Emily wanted to take it off. Funny. Huh? It’s still hanging in my closet.

Photographer

2011-06-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

My mom got her new camera many months ago. She’s teaching me to use her old one. (Nikon D40) Sometimes we refer to it as “My Camera”. (Katie’s Camera) I don’t know if that is completely true or not. Anyway, it’s fun to take it places and take pictures of anything I want to remember. I love Nikons.

Chris and Amy’s Wedding

2011-04-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

I got to go to Utah to see Amy and Chris’s wedding in March!!!!!!! It was really FUN! It was great to see our family!!

Here are some of the the pictures.

I love her wedding dress!!!

The cute boys.

Getting Ready for the reception.

Taylor Swift Concert

2011-04-03T11:31:00.001-07:00

The Taylor Swift concert was so awesome!!!!! Taylor performed about 14 songs. She was amazing!!!!!!! I made a fan T-shirt and a poster. (Sparks Fly is one of her songs). Once she walked past our side. She was about 2 yards away from me! I went crazy!!!!!!! When she left the stage a curtain came over her she grabbed onto it and it pulled her up. It was so cool!!!!!!!! My favorite song she performed was Enchanted. At the end a security guard gave me a free Taylor Swift guitar pick. It was so fun!!!!

I love Taylor Swift!

2011-03-03T11:34:00.000-08:00

Taylor Swift is a 21 year old country singer. Her new album, Speak Now, came out in November. I got it for Christmas. It’s so awesome! I also have her other two albums. My favorite songs from the new album are Speak Now and Mine … well all of them. My moms favorite is Back to December. You can see some music videos on http://www.taylorswift.com/videos. My favorite music video is you belong with me.

Guess what? TAYLOR SWIFT IS COMIN TO GERMANY! She’s having a concert in Oberhausen, Germany about three hours away from Heidelberg on March 12. My parents said if I earn 50 dollars by then I can go to the concert. I’ve been doing jobs and stuff a lot. Right now I have $46.00. What am I doing blogging?

The Gillespie Weekend

2011-03-01T11:37:00.001-08:00

Our friends the Gillespies came to live at our house for six days because their mom was going to Utah. They have four kids an 11 year old boy, a 9 year old girl, a 7 year old girl, and a 3 year old boy. We had ten kids at our house. It was crazy! Lindsay and 3 year old Spencer slept in my bed. They girls rode the bus with us. In the mornings we woke up at 6:00 (which they were not used to) and got dressed and ate and made our lunches and did our hair and got our homework and got on the bus.

We had a party the whole time! We played BANG! a lot. It was so fun! One of the games we played was ‘make a story’. Each person writes a funny sentence without looking at the other peoples parts. Here's what the stories ended up like.

1. Once … I started hugging Taylor Swift

when … I was walking and M&Ms fell

then … people started laughing

so … the cow jumped on a person

maybe … they were ladybugs

then … I went to bed

THE END

2. Once upon a time … Lukey was kissing! Oh-No! ( Megan)

when … he made a funny face

then … Bob bought big bunnies

so … I fainted

maybe … they had pink pajamas

then … a clown jumped on somebody’s head

I guess … I died

I think … they watched the Jonas bros.

THE END

We had a really fun time with the Gillespies!

The Awesome Day

2011-02-26T07:56:00.001-08:00

Christmas was so awesome this year! Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came to visit us in Germany!

I had a hard time going to sleep. But when I did, a second later I heard Ryan running up stairs yelling “It’s 7 o’clock!” I got out of bed without knowing what I was doing and ran to my bed where my parents were sleeping. We practically jumped on my dad. Then everybody got up and ready and we got in our Christmas lineup.

Ryan gave me Taylor Swift’s new album, Speak Now! I have to say this was definitely one of my favorite presents!

My new vest! I gave my dad a Christmas book that I made at school about our family’s Christmas. (Hardbound)

Look at the snow in the background. It’s awesome!!!

Grandma gave me a Justin Bieber CD! Mom’s new camera.

The movie Cars for Luke and a stuffed animal monkey for Megan. (From Katie)

This is our Christmas tree. We bought a real one this year. I’m super happy about that:)

Emily and Megan got scooters from Santa.

Ryan’s bike, Katie’s roller blades, & Luke’s German bike from Santa.

All the boys got cute pajama pants from G & G. Mom & Dad got new bikes from G & G Johnson.

Girls nightgowns from Grandma and Grandpa:)

G & G’s Saint Nickolas nutcracker

Luke and Matthew got Toy Story potatoes heads.

To Grandpa From the Johnsons

Dad, Mom, Ryan, and I all got IPOD shuffles. They are Awesome!!!

I LOVE CHRISTRMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Brother

2011-01-21T14:59:00.001-08:00

Cutie Matthew is getting bigger. We all want him to be a baby forever. He’ll always be the little boy.

so cute,

Matthew follows Luke around the house all day.

Matthew always copies what people say, I taught him to say please: Matt has an A+, he says please nicely whenever I ask him to. Luke is getting there.

He grunts all the time trying to get food. I also help him say eat, drink, yes, no, apple, popcorn, mood-vie, and some other words.

Every Saturday, Sunday, and any day off school I am the 3rd one to wake up. I turn on a movie for the boys, feed them breakfast, get them dressed, and play with them. (plus the clearing and wiping the table)

The little boys like to play trains, cars, animals, legos, anything that has to do with toy story, and they like watching Diego. I’ve been showing Luke the friend.org. He does little puzzles and matching games with me. I love my little boys!

Telephone

2011-01-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

We had the funniest time playing telephone after dinner. Telephone is a game where you sit in a circle with a few people and tell the person next to you a sentence. The last person in the circle says the saying out loud. Find out if everyone heard it correctly or they completely changed it. Everyone thought of such funny things to say.

Once my mom passed on, “Cowboy Shmucamuk likes to dance in his underwear.” It was so funny that I could not tell it to Megan. We played that for a long time. It was so funny!

Rome, Italy; The Colosseum

2011-01-15T09:43:00.001-08:00

I loved going to the Colosseum! There was a big stage that people used to fight on. Half of the stage was broken off to show the secret underground passage ways that they kept the animals in. Tons of people could fit in the stadium to watch the “battle to the death”. There used to be more seats, but apparently they were broken off.

Lukey and Matt.

The kids.

Megan’s Sasha.

Lots of cool stuff in Rome

2011-01-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

Arch of Constantine

In November we went on a family vacation to Rome, Italy. It was so fun.

This is the Arch of Constantine. It is very big. It’s right beside the Colosseum.

Roman Forum

We walked through the Roman Forum. There were a lot of columns.

St. Peters Basilica

St. Peters is the world’s biggest church. The atrium (front part) of the church is bigger than most churches.

We walked on the roof. It was so awesome!

There were guards for the Vatican City. They were dressed in something that according to my dad looked like pajamas. They wouldn’t move, they just stood still while15 people took pictures of them.

Some of my favorite things in Rome were playing Settlers with my parents, eating gelati :) trying new pizza and pasta, pretending to be statues, walking on the streets, & keeping a journal to write everything we learned or saw. Here are some more pictures.

Fun at School

2010-12-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

At school we did a big Christmas carol sing-along. We did the actions to all the songs. At the end of the sing-along the teachers performed a dance to Santa Clause is Comin' to town. Rockstar style! It was so so funny. They were all doing the same dance. They were all elves with silly hats.

On Friday I was getting ready for school until I found out that school would start 2 hours late because of the deep snow. It was pajama day! Once I got to school, Ms. Ryan turned on the Polar Express. When we were halfway through the movie we saw a play by some other 5th graders. We went to lunch, finished the movie, and watched the Elf. The whole time, my friends and I were making bookmarks and doing crafts. We were going to do an honor roll ceremony but since school started a little late, we will have to do it after Christmas. My 4 friends and I all got all As.

Gingerbread houses

2010-12-15T07:09:00.001-08:00

We made gingerbread houses at school. We made the dough, cut out pieces, and parents took them home to bake. It was really fun to make the dough. Everybodyt had a partner. We used measuring cups and put lots of ingredients in my blue bowl. We mixed it. Then we cut out the dough that made our hands very messy. It was kind of hard to put the baked gingerbread pieces together. Parts of everybody's gingerbread had fallen off. Next we decorated them. My mom came for the decorating. It was really fun!

Piano

2010-12-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

Ryan, Emily, and I have been taking piano lessons. We take them from a lady in our ward on Wednesday afternoon. We walk to her house with her daughters, Lindsay 9 and Brooklyn 6. Her house is very close to the Elementary school. I love playing Christmas songs. The Christmas songs I learned this year are Do You Hear What I Hear, I'll be home for Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolf the Rudolf the red-nosed Reindeer. I love piano!
.

Soccer

2010-11-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

We just finished our season of soccer. ( Dad, Ryan, and I) We never lost a game! I played defense and some midfield. This is my first season for a long time. I can't wait until next season. This is our team! This is before our last game. We are in Wiesbaden, an hour away. This is our second time because we came here for our first game ,too. I LOVE soccer!

Our new house

2010-06-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

This is our new house! It's a duplex where you only get half of the house. It has four floors.

This is the attic bathroom. I'm probably going to sleep in the attic. It is HUGE. The toilet is behind the door.

This is the right side of the attic. I know, it's huge! To the right of Megan is where I hope my bed goes. There is a corner right there and I want to put a reading light on the wall. I want a queen sized bed. My dresser and desk will go right beside my bed.

This is the other half of the attic. I like the slanted roof. The door right there is a door to a very big closet.

This is a picture from the kitchen to the dining room to the family room to the backyard. Everything is very white... but not for long. Mostly because our furniture will make it more colorful.

This is the kitchen. It has lots of cabinets. That big cabinet in the middle is the small German fridge. The one below it is the freezer. We get another fridge from the military to go downstairs in our storage room. In Germany every room has doors, including the kitchen. Even our front entry has a door which is kind of weird. It will never be closed unless Matthew is loose in the house and we want to keep him in a certain area.

This is the family room. We are going to put our big couch in here and our big TV in here and our big piano in here. The backyard is small and all closed up. Our trampoline is probably half the size of it... but we can go to the park and play tag. There is dirt for Luke and Matthew to play in.

This is one of the two rooms that are right beside each other and that look exactly the same. Megan might be in one room and Matthew and Luke might be in the other? Mom and Dad's bedroom is on this same floor on the other side of the house. There is also a square white bathroom.

These are the marble stairs... and that door to the right is a closet and then if you keep going you'll get to the half bathroom and then to the front door.

This is a great biking trail. I'm so excited to ride my bike on it.

Bowling

2010-06-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

We went bowling for Ryan's birthday. The three girls bowled on one lane. I was the first one in the family to get a strike! During most of the first game I was beating everyone. I beat the birthday boy in the first game. I got 92 on the first game with two strikes. The second game I did horrible. I got 65. I ate chicken fingers and fries and I had a Fanta orange drink. (But in Germany it is more yellow and less orange and tastes more like orange juice.) It is yummy. I want to go back soon. There is a playground there and miniature golf.

We are here

2010-06-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

We are in Germany! We went on an overnight 9 hour plane. Every one had their own TV and we could watch movies like Planet 51, Alice in Wonderland, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The squeakquel, and the Blind Side. Those are all the movies I watched. That's probably why I slept for only two hours. My Dad watched TV all night so he didn't sleep at all. We were so tired that when were on the ground we felt like we were moving. We got a snack, dinner and breakfast on the airplane.

We went throught a lot of lines to get on an hour bus to go to Heidelberg. So far we live in a hotel room. (4 hotel rooms. Dad and mom sleep in a room with Matthew. The girls share a big bed and room. Ryan and I have our own twin size beds. We share a room with Lukey. Then we have a family room area and small kitchen too which is not as big as my old laundry room. All the rooms connect. We have three bathrooms too.

Lukey was screaming all night. I tried sleeping with the girls but they were awake and louder. At 1:00am, about 10 minutes later, Emily bonked her head and my Dad told me to go back to bed. Luke cried some more and we both went to bed at 2:00 in the morning and both got 7 hours of sleep.

In our area of base there is a movie theater, a bowling place and a park that we can walk to. The park is HUGE and it is across the street. We went to the movie theater once to see Karate Kid.

Germany

2010-03-20T19:49:00.001-07:00

There are some up and downs about moving to Germany.

The good things are:

We get to visit really cool places like Paris, France.
We get to have a new house.
We get to learn German.
We get to visit castles.
We get to go skiing.
We’ve going to have more snow.
Lots of people are probably going to visit. (I know you want to!)

The bad things are:

We’re going to miss our house – like our big closets, a big shower,tons of room and a big backyard.
We’re going to miss all our friends in Georgia, especially the Starbucks.
We’re going to miss Callaway Gardens, the Chattahoochee River, Flat Rock Park and all those park places we go.
We have to move schools (I don’t know if that’s bad or good yet.)

Lukey and me

2010-03-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

Luke is an awesome little brother. He is funny and cute and vicious. I like to play with Luke in his room. We play football (throwing a football in a basketball hoop), soccer (where we kick the ball to each other), and basketball. We also play outside and jump on the trampoline, play pirates, and swing on the swings. We play trains in the bonus room and watch Diego. We also read books together. Right now Luke likes me best. He changes siblings all the time.

Luke is two and one quarter. I’m seven and a half years older than him. I’ve always wanted to be seven and a half years older than somebody.

Luke likes to make his siblings laugh… and it works. When he’s mad, he’s mad. When he’s silly, he’s silly. When he’s cute, he’s faking it.

Silver tooth

2010-01-13T18:11:00.000-08:00

I got a silver tooth. It’s good and bad. The bad thing is I got a cavity. The good thing is it’s shiny and Megan always wants to look at it. Ok, that’s all.

American Girls’ Night

2010-01-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

For the American Girl’s Night Mom, Emily, Megan and I all watched Anne of Green Gables #1. Dad set up the projector in my room. We dressed our dolls and brushed each other’s hair until Dad’s laptop ran out of batteries. Then we went downstairs to watch the movie with big bowls of popcorn. I wore my cute owl pajamas. After the movie was over we went back upstairs and got our journals and took a journal test. I asked everybody questions and we wrote the answers in our journals. A few of the questions were: favorite drinks, favorite foods and what you want to be when you grow up. After that we turned off the lights and talked in bed. Mom went to sleep in my bed with me until Dad came and took her out.

I want another girls’ night soon.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas was really fun! Once I woke up I went into Ryan’s room. We waited together and after a while Dad came in. He took us into his room and we got all ready. We got into our Christmas morning lineup and took a picture. Next we went in to see our presents. It was really fun! From Santa I got Lego’s to make a big house, a stuffed animal leopard, a Barnes and Noble gift card, and candies in my stocking. Then we ate Christmas breakfast. It was very yummy. When we were done with breakfast we played with our toys and then opened the rest of the presents. I got a robe, a green sweater, owl pajamas, two undershirts and a blue scarf, two stuffed animal bunnies, Funglish game, a Zhu zhu pet, a skirt, Anne of Green Gables books, Kingdom Keepers books, cooking supplies, a ‘no empty chairs’ necklace and some other stuff that I probably forgot. Christmas was really fun. I can’t believe that the next Christmas will be in Germany.

I'm writing a book...

2009-10-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

In my spare time I'm writing a book. Here it is so far.... Life with a Dozen + one

Chapter one - The Walton Family

"Bp bp bp bp bp bp beep". That was the sound of Elizabeth's phone. "Dinner Time," Mom called. Elizabeth walked into the kitchen while texting. Olivia was babysitting down the street. "Elizabeth, can you go pick up Mark from soccer?", asked Mom. "Sure" said Lizzy. She put down her phone and got into her Dad's car. She could drive but she didn't have her own car. Baby Amy was sleeping. Brandon and Brian were screaming and Sidney, Mega and Drew were waiting for their food. Riley was giving everyone full plates. Will was trying to finish his last problem of weekend homework. It was Saturday, September 5th, 2009. They had just started school about four weeks ago.

Mom put Brandon and Brian on the couch in the family room, gave them each a sippy cup and turned on Elmo. "ELMO!" Brandon screamed happily. "MELMO!" Brian hollered after him.

As you can see this family has not one, not two, but 11 kids! Wow. I'll name them from oldest to youngest... Elizabeth 17, Olivia 16, Mark 14, Riley 12, Drew 10, Will 9, Megan 6, Sidney 4, Brandon and Brian, twins almost 2, and baby Amy, 4 months old. The happy parents: Jack and Sarah. They lived in a big house with three floors.

The Dad was in his office. He is a Radiologist. Elizabeth and Mark got home and everybody ate fruit salad and spaghetti that Riley made.

Chapter two - The Long Drive

The next day after church Mom and Dad called for a family meeting in the living room. Their living room was small for the whole family. "You father has something to say," their Mom said. All the kids looked at their dad eagerly to hear what he had to say. "We're going to Las Vegas for a family vacation!" Everybody screamed for about 10 seconds. "When?" asked Will. "Tomorrow", his Mom replied. "We tried to tell you earlier" she said, "but this is one of the only times that everyone is here!" "Can we go pack?" Mark asked loudly. "Sure," their Dad said, "and I will too". Then everybody ran to their room while talking about packing. All of them have their own bright and colorful suitcase. The only people that shared were the parents, Brian and Brandon, and Megan and Sidney.

Olivia's room was organized and tidy so she could find all her cute elegant clothes. Elizabeth was jealous. Her room was opposite. There were clothes scattered everywhere but she cleaned it up fast. She has had 17 years to practice cleaning. About two hours later everybody was done packing.

"What time are we leaving tomorrow?" Olivia asked her dad. "At about 5:30" he replied, "so you should get some sleep because you're going to be in the passenger seat passing out snacks and activities. "OK" she said and went to her room.

The next day at school all the Walton kids were jumping up and down in their head. They were so excited they couldn't help it. When they all got home it was 4:13. When their Dad got home at 4:30 they all put all the suitcases, books, snacks, papers, journals, blankets, pillows, phones, cameras and iPods in the car. It was 5:5. Their mom made the kids get in a line so she could check them. First in line was Sidney. "Do you have your backpack?" asked the Mom. "Yep," Sidney replied. "You're good." Mom said, "Now go pick a van." When everyone was done they all got in a van. In the blue van was Mom, baby Amy, Olivia, Brian, Drew, Will and Mark. In the gray van was Dad, Elizabeth, Riley, Megan, Sidney and Brandon.

"I want a fruit roll up" Will asked. "Me too" Drew exclaimed. "OK, two fruit roll ups comin' up!" Mom told them. Mark was listening to his iPod. Amy was asleep and Brian was watching Elmo on the portable TV.

Meanwhile in the gray van Sidney and Megan were playing with magnets on a little magnet board. "Can you pass my camera" Riley asked " I see the sunset and I want to take a picture of it." "Sure" Elizabeth said, "there you go". Her camera was bright orange. Brandon was sleeping with his fingers in his mouth. Lizzy was texting while she passed stuff out.

It was about an hour later until they got to the airport. All the kids carried a suitcase, a backpack or both. Mom pushed the three headed stroller with Brian, Brandon and Amy in it. Dad carried his and his wife's suitcase, Brandon and Brian's suitcase and Amy's tiny suitcase. They all walked in the airport swiftly because they were so excited. 'I wish they all had leashes but everybody would think we were crazy' the Mom thought to herself. She was worried they would lose someone again. Once they lost Megan and Sidney in an airport and found them in the bathroom. Riley with her bright orange suitcase and backpack told her parents "Thanks, this is going to be so much fun!"

Gymnastics

2009-10-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

Gymnastics is so much fun! Last year I did it, too. This year I started out in a 7-8 level 1 class, so my coach moved me up to a 9-12 level 1. I spent 2 weeks in that class and after everything I did my coach kept saying "I'm going to move you up to level two class!" I'm exited about being in a level 2 class. Last Thursday was my first week in my Level 2 class. My coach thinks I'm really good.

Gymnastics is fun because we get to go on bars, beams, trampolines, ropes and we get to do stuff like cartwheels and back bends, that we do on the floor. I like bars because I can do pull overs real easy. They are fun. I like beams because I can do cartwheels off them. I like trampolines because the trampolines there are really bouncy. The rope is fun because I can climb up to the top and ring the bell. I also like doing the stuff on the ground. Just this week I learned how to trust myself when I do a back bend! I'm so excited.

My Favorite Shows

2009-09-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite shows is Little House on the Prairie. Most of you have seen Little House on the Prairie. Usually I watch Little House on the Prairie with my mom(because she likes it too of course).

Another one of my favorite shows is Wizards Of Waverly Place. My mom likes to watch Wizards Of Waverly Place, too. We saw Wizards Of Waverly Place The Movie! It was so so awesome!! My favorite character is Selena Gomez as Alex. It's about a wizard family with three children... just watch the show and then you'll know.

My third favorite show is Jonas. The characters are Macy, Stella, Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas, and Nick Jonas (the cutest!) Ryan likes Jonas too but I still watch it more than him. I usually watch them all once a week. They are all very funny.

Fourth Grade

2009-08-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

School is awesome. My teacher is Mrs. Harmon. There are a few people in my class that were in my class last year. Everyday in the morning I drop Megan off at her classroom and tell her teacher if she's bus or parent pick up. Then I go to my classroom and write down all about what I read the night before. And then I read more. I'm reading the best book ever... called 'Series of Unfortunate Events'. I'm on the second book. Lunch is my favorite part. I'm always waiting till lunch. I like it because it's a nice break and because I sit beside Rachel and Bianca. The hardest part about fourth grade is the math... but I've only been in school for 4days. On the third day of school I saw my sisters, Emily and Megan in the hallway. I'm really excited about fourth grade because I've heard lots of cool things that we're going to do. In art we're going to make huge sculptures.

Nashville

2009-07-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

We went to Nashville with dan, Sarah, Annie and Leah.It was so fun! It was fun seeing Annie and Leah. They were cute. At first Leah was shy and then she started getting used to us. We played with them a lot. These are the things we did...

MAMMOTH CAVES

Mamoth Caves was fun! It was big and beautiful. There were lots of cracks. And we saw a few spiders. They were huge. Once the Mammoth cave tour guy turned off the lights and I couldn't see the outline of my hand. It was so dark.

DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE HOTEL

The hotel was awesome. One hotel rom had two queen sized beds. That was our room. The other room had 1 king sized bed for Dan and Sarah. Anndie and Leah slept in the room with Dan and sarah of course. The elevator was fast, scary and FUN. I always got excited whe we were about to go on the elevator. It made me have butterflies in my stomach. It was so cool. We went to the pool in the hotel. The pool water almost tasted like salt water. (I didn't taste it on purpose.) The pool was 8 feet deep in the deep end.

THE PARTHENON

The parthenon was so pretty and big. There was a lake right across the street from it. We took a lot of pictures.

My cute brother, Luke.
DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE

Downtown Nashville we walked past lots of stores. Lots of the buildings had people singing in it. There was a hat store that we went in and tried on a buch of cowboy hats.

My uncle Dan with Elvis.

THE FOURTH OF JULY

On the fourth of July in the morning we all got red white and blue clothes on and went downtown Nashville and played on lots of blow up toys. We got free ice cream and there were lots of lemonade stands and stuff around us. Then we started looking for a place to watch the fireworks. It took a long time. When we finally found a place to go we got all the chairs set and started playing until it started raining. We didn't want to get wet so we went beside a building. Then it started pouring really hard and we got soaked even though we were close to the building. Then when the fireworks were over we ran to our hotel. It took about 10 mintues to get back. We were all soaked and all the little kids were crying the whole time... but all the adults and Ryan and I were laughing the whole time.

FIREWORKS

The fireworks were awesome. There were so many different colors. At first the fireworks were to loud and the little kids got scared. They were crying so we went to a place that was farther away from the fireworks.

NASHVILLE TEMPLE

The Nashville temple was tiny and beautiful. It was right next to the church we went to. After church we gave the Walton hugs because we left on that day.

The Future

2009-05-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of my journal entry's from my school journal. My mom wanted me to post it...

"In the future (in the late 2020's to the early 2030's) I'll be having about 6 or 7 children. I want to have 3 girls and 4 boys because I have more good boy names.

The girl names I want are Riley, Olivia and Elizabeth. The boy names I want are Mark, Drew, Will and Login. I'm excited to be a mom. I've had a ton of practice. Now, it's easy.

But sometimes when I'm tired I'm glad I'm not dealing with Luke, even though it's easy.

And I am really excited to babysit. The biggest adjectie of being a mom or babysitting is... FUN!"

Mother's Day party with Grandma

2009-05-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to an Achievement Day party. It was for Mother's and Daughters but my mother was in the hospital with Matthew. My Grandma Johnson came with me instead of my Mom. The food was sandwiches, bananas and strawberries. And of course the dirt dessert. It was pudding and crushed up oreo cookies and gummy worms and a home made flower in the middle. It was very pretty. We played a game. The moms (and grandma) did the girls hair and made it crazy and the girls did the moms (and grandma's) hair and made it crazy. Here is a picture of me and my grandma. We even wore it to the hospital so we could show my Mom. Thank you Sister Starbuck for planning and making such a fun Mothers/Daughters party. Thank you Grandma for replacing my tired mom.

Little Peanut

2009-05-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

On Friday, May 8th, Matthew David Johnson was born. He is my new baby brother. In fact, I'm holding him right now and I can't put him down. He's so cute. I just want to hold him ALL the time. As soon as I get home from school I race to him and take him from my Dad. He has lots of dark brown hair just like any Johnson baby. He opens his eyes more now than he did at the hospital. He has lots of cute outfits thanks to my mom. I love holding him. He's pretty wiggly if he's awake and I think he looks a lot like Ryan and Luke did when they were babies. He sleeps a lot. He is very soft. My plan for the summer is to hold him all day and take care of him and give mom a break. He uses his soother a lot. He yawns a lot. He gets the hic-ups a lot. He is such a cutie patootie. He's so cute -- just look at the pictures.

All about my little sister, Megan.

2009-04-24T17:42:00.001-07:00

I have a little sister, Megan. She is very pretty. I'm going to tell you a few stories about Megan.

Once when we were eating Sunday dinner Megan went to the bathroom and we heard her singing High School Musical songs while she was in there. She does that all the time. All of us laughed.

Another time Megan lost her money so I gave her a quarter of mine and she treated me like the best sister ever that day.

Once Megan found scissors and decided to cut her own hair so then my Mom had to take her to a hair salon to get a new hair style... and the new hair style is in the picture.

Another time when she came into the kitchen for dinner she walked in with sunglasses and her hands on her hips, shaking her hips. It was so funny.

Megan is funny, pretty, happy, smart, helpful, playful, beautiful, cute, sassy, marvelous, and fun.

A few things I have to help Megan with are: picking out her clothes, help give her a bath, do her hair, give her something to do, play a game with her, put on a movie for her, play a game with her, get a snack for her and many more things that I probably forgot.

About my little brother Luke

2009-04-24T17:21:00.001-07:00

I have a little brother Luke. He's not a baby anymore... he's a toddler. I always have to babysit him. The things I have to help him (and my mom) with are: getting his jammies on, getting his clothes on, doing his hair, giving him snacks, putting him in his high chair, taking him outside on the tramp, putting a movie on for him, play cars with him, reading him books, figuring out what he wants, trying to distract him, teaching him words and lots more that I can't remember.

It used to be hard to take care of him but I've had lots of practice so it's easy. And it is very fun!

A few things I love about Luke is when he says GO after somebody says 'ready'.... how he tips his spoon over so the food falls off and he still eats the spoon... how he smiles and frowns because sometimes he frowns on purpose... how he acts when he's mad about something (he buries his head in his arms against the floor)... how he looks exactly like Ryan did and does now. Actually I love everything about him.

Luke is silly, wiggly, funny, happy (usually), squirmy, sometimes screamy, awesome, chubby, fun and cute.

2009-03-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

What I am doing: Blogging with Mom
What I’m proud of today: Talk in Primary
What I’m thinking about: My best friend
Who is home: Everyone but Dad
Plans tonight: Stay up late
My weekend was: Awesome and fun
What’s for dinner: Applesause and leftovers
Feelings about love: Happy and wonderful
Feelings about life: I am glad
What I need: An alarm clock
What I want: To stay up
What I have: A nice family
My pet peeve: One mean bully
My guilty pleasure: Eating fruity snacks
What you don’t know about me: Like mommy movies
What I can hear: Luke being cute
What I can smell: Mom's Grape Soda
My style: Girly, fashionable, cute
My hairdo: Long, curly, bangs
My outfit: Dress, crop sweater
My mood: Fun, happy, good
The weather today: Sunny and hot
Thoughts on parenting: Want six kids
Thoughts on marriage: Exciting and romantic
Thoughts on politics: Rather have McCain
Thoughts on celebrity gossip: Kind of weird
Thoughts on beauty: I am beautiful
Thoughts on sleep: Wonderful, hard, pleasant
Thoughts on writing: Love to write
My favorite appliance: Blow dryer, TV
My favorite car: must call Grandpa
My favorite splurge: watch little TV
My favorite beauty secret: stick with mom
My favorite treat: Popcorn, Pudding, Gogurts
My favorite everyday pleasure: Jump on trampoline
Ten years ago: I wasn't born
Five years ago: I was naughty
One year ago: Excited for baptism
One year from now: In 4th Grade
Five years from now: Babysit a lot
Ten years from now: Going to college
I’m famous for: Cute brothers, sisters
Who I am: eager happy person
Who I hope to be: Like my mom
What I’m thankful for: Family, Gospel, Happiness

Activity Days

2009-03-05T18:11:00.000-08:00

I love Activity Days. We do very fun activities. The girls in my activity day class are: Madison, Emma, Casidy, Hailey, Taylor, Baylee, Elizabeth, Brianna, Jayden, and me.

Some of the fun activities we're done are

our snowflake party... we made all the snowflakes and decorations before the snowflake party and all of our families were invited. First in the party we all of our moms/or dads came up to the front with us to tell a few special things about us. My dad said I am a good babysitter and that I am a good example and that I'm very creative and active. I said the closing prayer but I said it too quiet so when I said something about Jesus Christ then everyone said Amen but I was still praying so everybody starting laughing. When I was done I didn't know why everyone was laughing but my Dad told me the whole story. After the prayer we had ice cream with lots of different toppings. It was very delicious. I had vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce with chocolate chips, sprinkles and marshmallows. And then I mixed it all together and ate it. It looked very good.
last week we had an activity where we made the 'armor of God'. Madison and I had to make the swords which stands for the spirit. We made the sword out of tin foil and tape. Then we put the armor on our leader, Sis. Starbuck.
next activity we are bringing our pillows and blankets and we're making a big fort. I'm so excited. It's going to be so fun. I love making forts at our house too.

My wrist is broken.

2009-03-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

I broke my wrist. We were getting ready for ballet, and my ballet leotard was on the top of the shelf. I climbed up and reached for it, but the shelf slid out and so I fell and landed on my wrist. I was crying and it hurt. I thought it was maybe broken but Dad wanted to wait and see. Then we went to soccer practice with Ryan, and I hurt my wrist again and then Dad said, "I'm pretty sure it's broken." We left Ryan at soccer practice while everyone else went to the hospital. A doctor took me into this room and took x-rays of my wrist at different positions. My mom put the x-rays on her blog. Then I went to Dad's office while he checked the x-rays and he showed me where the fracture is. Then we went to the Emergency Room and I got a splint. It was navy blue. Then we went back to pick up Ryan from soccer practice and then we went to the airport to pick up my Mom from her trip to Utah.

Now my cast has lots of names all over it. I wish all my family and friends far away could sign it too. I am getting it off on Tuesday. That means I had it on for three weeks. Then I will get another splint for one more week and then I'll be free hopefully forever.

Have any of you broken any bones? Leave a comment if you have... or if you just feel like it!

Aprons

2009-01-20T12:48:00.001-08:00

After Christmas we got a package from Grandma and Grandpa Walton. So we got our computers hooked up so we could see eachother and we opened our presents. I opened my present first. It was a really really really cute apron. Grandma had sewed it with cute fabrics. When Emily, Megan and my Mom opened their presents they got really cute aprons too, but all of the aprons had different fabrics. In the pantry my Dad screwed hangers on the wall and my mom put the aprons up and put our names on top of our aprons on the wall. It looks really good.

All about my Sunday

2009-01-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we had to go to church at 8:oo instead of 9:oo because my parents both have meetings. So, we played in the nursery. We played with our friends, Madison, Haylee and Choe. We played school. Then we went to Sacrament Meeting and then went to class. In class I learned about Joseph Smith and Angel Moroni. Moroni buried the brass plates. When he was an angel he went to Joseph and told him about the brass plates. In primary we played two games, one about families, and one about articles of faith. We also learned the last verse of "God gave us Families". I had fun at church.

Sunday night we had a kids' night. We slept in the bonus room and we watched movies and wrote in our journals. We watched church movies because it's Sunday. We watched about Nephi and his brothers getting the Brass plates. It was fun. Then Ryan read a chapter in his book called "The wizard and the Hopping Pot." Then we watched a movie about Nephi building the boat and sailing the sea. Then Ryan read the second chapter called "The fountain of fair Fortune." Then we watched a movie about "The tree of Life" and then another one about Alma and King Noah. I fell asleep during the last movie because it was almost one o'clock in the morning. We got to stay up late because we didn't have school on Monday. It was a fun Sunday.

Christmas

2008-12-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my mom's whole family came. There is twenty people in all except my Grandparents couldn't come because they are not doing very well. So there were 18 people.

Christmas Eve night I slept in my parents closet with Ryan, Emily and Megan and we tried to get to sleep really fast because the next day would be Christmas. Later I woke up and my mom walked in the room to get something because some people were still wrapping presents. I thought it was Christmas morning but it wasn't. I went back to sleep and the next time I woke up my parents and Ryan were getting ready. I was so excited. Later we were all ready and sitting on the bed. Starting with Ryan my Dad took us up stairs to wait with everyone. We took a picture with eachother on the stairs and then walked into the family room. I saw that Santa had brought me an American Girl Concession Stand. Emily and Megan got twin Bitty Babies. Luke got a little basketball hoop and Ryan got a big soccer goal and a soccer Wii game. It was cool. All the little girls climbed in it because they thought it was a fort.

My two favorite presents were my American Girl Concession Stand from Santa and my new desk from my parents. Some other presents I got were a Fairy book from Ryan, a red Christmas dress for my American Girl, (Kit looks cute in it.) a blue sweater, a brown turtleneck and a cute brown and pink plaid skirt. I also opened up a present and I found a little horse figurine with a paper that said, "You will be starting Horseback Riding lessons on January 15th." I was very excited about that. I got the Kit movie and the Samantha movie. We watched both of them already and they are very good. Amy gave us 'Newsies' but we haven't watched it yet but I want to watch it.

I am the babysitter of my family. Everyday I babysat my two little sisters... Emily (6), Megan (3 1/2), my three little cousins... Annie (4), Leah (almost 2), and Molly (2) and I also take care of Luke (1) and baby Foster (4 months).

Some of the fun things we did while they were all here were...
-We went to a field to run, exercise and play.
-We went to Flat Rock Park a couple times to hike and play on the playground.
-We celebrated Emily's 6th birthday and all the little girls dressed up like princesses.
-We went to the Coke Factory in Atlanta.
-We went to Callaway Gardens to have a picnic and go through the Butterfly house.
-Almost my whole family jumped on the trampoline together.
-We played the chimes with everyone on Christmas Eve.
-We made snowman sugar cookies on Christmas Eve. We ate some ourselves and gave some to Santa. He left half a cookie and a cookie that he took one bite of.
-We went to the River walk and sled down the hill on cardboard boxes. (Annie said it was better than Disneyland.)
-We watched Kung Fu Panda together and The Christmas Story. (At the store we saw the lamp that is in the Christmas Story movie.)
-We talked to my Grandma and Grandpa on the webcam. It was fun. They watched us when we were opening presents and Molly kept on getting in the way and looking at them.

My Rock Project

2008-12-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

At school we were assigned to do a rock project. It was fun working on it with my mom. I think mine was the best because of the scrapbook paper. Almost everybody elses had marker all over it. We went to Flat Rock Park to collect all the rocks for my project. My brothers and sisters helped me find good ones. We made a Rock Talk Book. I had to draw a picture of my rock, tell what shape it was, tell if it reflected light, tell about the texture, and I had to see if a penny, my fingernail or a nail could scratch it (and none of them could scratch it -- my rock was really hard.) I got a 100 on my project!

My Christmas wish list

2008-11-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

- clothes
- High school Musical 3 the movie
- easy bake oven
- American girl furniture
- a desk
- anything from the American Girl catalogue

Halloween!

2008-10-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

This Halloween I was a Cowgirl. First my mom took pictures of us and then we ate soup. Then we started to trick or treat at a few houses in our neighborhood. Then we drove to Arbor Ridge and got lots of candy. We went to a lot of houses in Arbor Ridge. We saw Bishop Ence. When we were finished treat or treating in Arbor Ridge Emily, Megan, Luke and Mom went home to start eating their candy. Ryan, Dad and I went to Waterstone and trick or treated some more. One of the last houses that we went to was really scary. There was a gorilla on the mailbox. At first I thought it was a toy gorilla that moved a little bit but then when we went to the next house it turned and kept staring at Ryan and I. My dad kept laughing because he knew that it was a person dressed up in a gorilla outfit. When we went to the next house it turned and kept looking. When we were finished trick or treating we ran to the car. When we were walking to the car the gorilla pretended he was about to jump off the mailbox and chase us. I was very scared. Ryan and I had tons of candy. We went home to watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In the middle of the movie Mom, Emily and Megan fell asleep. Ryan and I stayed up almost the whole night. We watched the whole movie and ate our candy. I had a fun Halloween.

All about Me (Katie)

2008-09-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

- I want to learn cursive.

- My favorite food is lasagna.

- My favorite color is orange.

- I want to learn how to play Tennis.

- My friends are Sophie, Maddie, Emily W, Josephine, Elizabeth, Madison, Hailey, Baylee, Brianna, Ally and Noura.

- My favorite shape is a star.

- I want to be a cook when I grow up.

- My favorite subject in school is spelling.

- I hate Math.

- My favorite activity is rock climbing.

- I love to doodle.

- My eyes and hair are brown.

- I like to stay up with my Mom and blog.

- I like to snuggle with Dad.

- I like to play on the tramp with my brothers and sisters.

- I get distracted very easily.

- My favorite drink is orange juice.

- I love brownies and cookies.

- I love to stay up late and watch Family Movies on Friday night.

- (Opps, I just got distracted again...)

- I love babysitting babies.

- I'm very ticklish.

- I like to listen to songs on my CD player.

- I like Junie B. Jones because she says she doesn't like the color 'clear' because the color 'clear' is the color of spit.

- My favorite underwater creature is a dolphin.

- My favorite animal is a bunny.

- But I don't want any pets because then I'll have to clean their poop.

- I love my grandparents and my aunts and uncles.

- When I grow up I want to have six kids. Two boys and then three girls in the middle and then a baby boy. There names will be... Mark, Andrew, Riley, Emma, Olivia and Trevor.

- I want earrings.

- I want to babysit so I can get money.

Things I did in August...

2008-08-31T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Start of Third Grade About three weeks ago I started third grade. I have a really nice teacher. Her name is Mrs. Elliott. She's not used to Mrs. Elliott though because she just barely got married and she used to be Miss Walsh. I have met lots of nice people in my class. So far I like third grade.

The Atlanta Braves Game One night my parents and my brother Ryan went to a baseball game while Mychel-Anne watched the other kids. Ryan and I brought our journals so we could keep track of the score. We had a really long hot dog and we had ice cream in little plastic baseball hats. After we ate the ice cream we washed off the hats to bring them home for our American Girls. It was a fun night.

A visit from the Flakes

A couple weeks ago our friends, The Flakes, came to our house because they were buying a car in Atlanta. They were our friends in Washington and now they live in Mississippi. They stayed with us overnight and we played a lot. Most of the time Ryan and Landon played Wii. We made a cool train with the jeep and the wagon. It was fun to see the Flakes again.

Daddy Daughter Luau

Last night my Dad and I went to a Daddy-Daughter activity at the church in the gym. It was a Luau. First we came in and got our food. There was fruit salad, rice and turkey with sauce. After we finished our food we learned a hula dance... and the Dad's did too. It was so funny to watch the Dad's shake their hips. After that a lady did two hula dances for us. We did the Limbo and the dad that won would get a prize and the girl would get a prize. The dad who won was Bishop Ence and the girl who won was Madison. She's in my Achievement Days group. Then I got some cake and two cookies. I love spending time with my Dad.

Splashing at splash park

2008-08-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time at the splash park at Gateway in Salt Lake City. It was a park where water sprayed up from the ground. Ryan and I got soaking wet. Everyone else not so much. Tyler and Spencer, our cousins, were there playing with us too. Megan wouldn't get in the water.

Fun on the Fourth of July

2008-07-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

This was such a fun day on the fourth of July. All of the kids were having fun throwing water balloons and trying to get my Dad and John and Scott. Me trying to get John with my water balloon.

Lukey trying to pick grass
Ryan with a sparkler
Emmy smiling
Megan trying to stay away from the water. Me having a bad hair day. Ryan trying to jump over the water with out getting wet.

Luke being cute

My 8th birthday

2008-07-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

I had a really fun 8th birthday. Lots of my family was there. We had yummy chocolate cake.
Grandma Walton gave me a beautiful dress that she sewed all by herself. This is the second dress she made me.

I got a new American Girl from my parents. Her name is Kit Kitredge. Now I have two American Girls... Kit and Samantha. I was very surprised. I love American Girls.

This is a shirt from my parents. I like getting clothes for my birthday. My grandma Johnson took me shopping to buy clothes too. She bought a cute dress for church and school, a cute shirt with legging and it was fun. Scott Elisha & Molly got me a 10 dollar bill so I could buy whatever I wanted. I bought the Camp Rock CD.

Almost 8

2008-06-27T19:25:00.001-07:00

My mom said I could start my own blog when I turned 8 and I have been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. I'm so excited to have my own blog!