Congratulations Alana Finlay Johnson, JD

 Steve and Alana Johnson right after the commencement.

 Ian and Evan with their sister, the new graduate.

 We had dinner every night at Steve's home.  Thanks for your wonderful hospitality, Pat.  What a beautiful location overlooking Utah Lake!  Thanks to Donna Georgino for coming up for graduation.

 Steve took us out on Utah Lake.  Grammie and Grampie liked getting out on the boat again.

 It was a beautiful day for a spin on the lake until. . .

 the motor gave out and we ended up paddling a bit until we could get towed back into the dock.

 Meg flew up for the day of boating and graduation. . .thanks Meg. . .we loved having you there.

 Just before the graduation.

 More graduation pix. . .

 Grammie and Grampie with Alana and Steve in front of the law school.

 Proud parents. . .

 Thanks, Mel and Linda, for coming to Alana's graduation and dinner.

 Just before Alana got her diploma.

 Alana getting her doctoral hood.

 Evan, still on crutches with a fractured foot, made it through the two-hour graduation.

 Alana and Eileen were best friends in law school.

 The tulips were lovely in Utah this time of year.  We went to Thanksgiving Point for the Tulip Festival.

On our way home with Donna, we stopped for a short hike in Zion National Park.  It was a great trip and the end of 7 years of hard work for Alana at BYU.

Awesome Times in Austin

 Last weekend Jeannie and Erin went to Austin for a friend's wedding.  They had both never been to Austin and this was the first time back in Texas since the family road trip of '99.

We enjoyed all the sights and sounds of Austin.  It is known as the live music capitol of the world.  They also have delicious BBQ and Tex Mex food - we sampled it all, of course!

We saw the capitol building and it's lovely grounds.  It's made completely of granite and looks similar to the California state capitol building.

Austin also has a Colorado River that runs through it but it is different than the one that is in Colorado and goes to California.

And here we are with the beautiful bride, our friend Rachel.  We can't wait to go back to Austin to enjoy more Southern hospitality.

American Mother Inc. Awards

This past Saturday, I was honored to receive the 2012 California Mother of Achievement Award by the American Mothers Inc. This is a national organization recognized by the United Nations and is the official sponsor of Mother's Day. My parents, Brad, and Megan and James were able were my guests at the La Canada Country Club for the gala luncheon. It was a lovely event and I was humbled by all of the very accomplished women at this function. I am grateful to Julie Sears for nominating me for this award.
I could never have done half of the things that I do without my best friend and husband, Brad.
Here I am pictured with the emcee for the event, Sonja Brown (2nd from the right), and then from left to right, the California Mother of the Year, Beverly Nelson, me, Darcy Ure (California Young Mother of the Year), Sonja, and Sara Vance (Outstanding Service to Children). All of these ladies have wonderful stories to tell about their lives. We will all be at the American Mothers Inc. Convention in Washington D.C. in May.
Alana sent me this picture to show that while she is studying for her law school finals, her younger brother and her husband are having scooter races (Evan rides a scooter now while his foot is healing from a fall in soccer) in the law school lunchroom. Evan was timing Steve here.
Here are the kids and grandkids shown in the ambulance that is being taken to El Salvador in June.
Baseball pictures were this week and Gavin looks like a real pro.

Happy Easter Everyone

Once again, we went to the ranch in San Marcos for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. It was wonderful as usual and the kids found dozens of eggs.
Here some of the kids are just relaxing on the lawn before the egg hunt.
The big attraction for Ethan was playing with the dogs.
The kids loved the games ahead of time.
Gavin, Coco and second cousin Larkin pose for a picture.
Megster led the kids in some warm up exercises just before they ran out into the field for the egg hunt.
And they're off. . .
The grass in the field was so high this year. . .the kids had to look extra hard to spot the eggs.
Ellie had a lovely time walking through the grass.
Gavin got plenty of eggs.
Stephanie helped little Sofia find her share of eggs.
Ethan was looking hard to find as many as he could.
Next it was time for the pinata. . .Gavin showed his skill gained from t-ball practice.
Ellie swung hard. The pinata finally broke and there was plenty of candy for all.
On Easter morning, we all got up extra early to make it for the Easter Sunrise Service at 6 a.m. at the Covina Forest Lawn. The speaker was very good and the So Cal Mormon Choir was exceptional. They let doves fly out at the end when the choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. . .it really started the day out well.

Our General Conference Weekend in Utah

Steve, Brad and I drove up to Utah for General Conference this past weekend. It was the Law School Ball on Friday night so Steve and Alana went to that, while Brad, Evan, Heather (Alana's neighbor) and I had tacos at the townhouse.
Evan messed up his foot playing soccer and has spent the last 3 weeks rolling around the BYU campus to class. He really looks like he is having way too much fun on it.
Don was able to get us tickets for the first session on Conference on Saturday.
We sat with the Reeves girls (Allyson, Jessica, and Jen) when their mother, Linda, offered us tickets in the 4th row of the Conference Center for the second session. . .none of us knew that Linda was being called as the 2nd counselor to the Relief Society General Presidency for the church. Congratulations to Linda - she will be perfect for the job - and thanks for great tickets to one of the best sessions ever.
While the men went to the Priesthood session, I went up to the Reeves' home in Bountiful and chatted with Linda and her girls for awhile. . .many of the ladies in her ward Relief Society showed up and serenaded her and congratulated her on her new calling.

March Birthdays

March is our month for birthdays. We start out first with Brad's mom, who lives in Ohio. Then it is Ethan's birthday and he turned 3 (and loves legos, hence the Lego cake made by his mom)
Here Ethan is enjoying his new green chair from his Utah grandparents, plus some money (loves money) and of course, Legos. What a happy birthday for him!
Next it was Meg's birthday. . . .if you are noticing the reuse of the "3" candle (from Coco and Ethan's birthdays), it just made sense to recycle the candle, since Meg and James are both in their 30's now.
Next it was Brad's birthday and the kids helped him to blow out the candles.
On James' birthday, St. Patrick's Day, we were supposed to do a 63 mile bike ride. . .but it was pouring rain in Los Angeles (darn, couldn't ride) so I made green shamrock pancakes for the little kids.
Since we had a whole unplanned day due to the rain, we all went bowling in Pasadena - and the little kids had a blast throwing the balls - the bowling alley will never be the same.
Brad is shown here teaching the little kids how to bowl - and they did a pretty good job.
Holding the different colored balls was fun.
Finally, we had a tremendous corned beef and cabbage dinner for James' birthday. . .the kids think there is nothing quite like 4 birthdays in 8 days - lots of cake and fun!