Scrabble

Christmas came early to me this year. Nathan bought me this scrabble board and already gave it to me to enjoy. (It is an AWESOME board. It has the rollers on the bottom so you can move the board easy and it all fits like a suitcase. I LOVE IT!) This is not the reason for this post. The reason for this post is to share with you some of Nathan's words and his excuses for them....for example:

• fauxpope- a fake pope.
• souphut- a hut that sells soup.

Nathan said "There was a souphut in CA!" "OK fine so what about drugsoup!"He turns to Eliza and says,"They warn you guys about drugsoup in school, right?"

That brought on the next word:

• dogsoup- "They eat it in Taiwan!"me:"OK honey fine."

Last but not least...

• deafhug--a hug for a deaf person. This one brought on this conversation....

Nathan:"Sure if I would have put deafjam you would have taken it, but no not a hug for a deaf person! What is wrong with you?!!!!"

I can see that this present, will bring me YEARS and YEARS of enjoyment!=)

Year end letter...

Dearest family and friends,
This past year has been pretty good, it's been kind of uneventful, but staying with the tradition of other people who can't seem to find enough to fill their time during this joyous season...I have decided to sit down and write a year end letter, and just hit some of the high spots.
The beginning of the year started out with me in the hospital getting my pus filled sinuses cut and drained.I know it sounds bad but it was quite a delightful experience.I told Dena to take lots of pictures but she said some how they were deleted.(I think she is lying but I was riding the pink elephant at the time, so I can't be sure.)
Feb. brought about the same challenges as every year...valentine's day. It seems at this time of year that Dena spends ALOT more time on the Twilight websites.Not to blame her that Taylor Lautner is one hot dude.(yes I will admit it...I've got a man crush.) Yeah the man has got an awesome six pack, but you should see the keg I have been working on the last few years!(www largeandlucious.com=) Check it out, it's only $5.95 for the first three months!
By the way, I started a new internet business. The money isn't great right now, but I'm sure it will pick up after this post.(hint..hint... ladies)
It's hard to make a profit, Guido who got me started with the website, said I owe him 90% royalties on ever thing I make. He said this was an offer I couldn't refuse, but with a name like that, how could you?
Summer was much the same, farmers tan, a little swimming. The only interesting thing I did was timing my morning pee to get into the Guinness Book. 37 seconds folks, and still not a record. You may say "that's not that long", but you stop and stare at a clock for that long and you'll say "WOW!" Tried my hand at another garden, but things besides my thumbs started to turn green. So I had to stop that.Hey man, I really want that record!
Here we are back at Christmas time. So Merry Christmas to all, and have a great new year.
Nathan

Just a quick peek....

Just a peek at what we have been doing....

Thanksgiving with the bros and sis.

I love this one. My Mom looks tiny!=)Nate's cub scout thingy. He received his bobcat badge. He carried it around with him for 2 days.

My little elf. Her Christmas concert.

My other elf. Her first concert. We had to be there 2 hours early. Yep good times!

Holy cow! What a HOTTIE!=) Sorry this one is for me.

LOL! They look sooo much a like!

These are my "daughters." When we went on the field trip to Raleigh these were my girls.=)

This was the choir singing in the Capitols rotunda. It was heavenly!

Hopefully I will be able to post some more later.

Dear Grimm Reaper,

During this time of year I like to sit back and reflect on all my favorite people you have taken this year. For example.....

~favorite dancer: Michael Jackson
~favorite TV personality: Billy Mays
~favorite comedian: Soupy Sales
~favorite fat guy sidekick(besides myself!): Ed McMahon

Though it's sad to see my favorites go, I understand that you must do your job.

Sincerely,
Nathan

PS
by the way my favorite politician is Barack Obama.

PSS
A bit much? yeah OK.

This will give you that Christmas spirit.

Just make sure you have your hankies ready. I'm off to get mine.=)

I don't know why it won't work on exployer. If you go on to mozilla it will work. I haveit on my facebook page as well.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Just a little something for all y'all to enjoy for Christmas.

PS

Nathan said this hoe down made his bells jingle! Merry Christmas!

Cartmen's O holy Night...You're welcome.

Just pause the other, and press play. Enjoy!

Tickets please...

Yep I am set! You wanna to get up on this?

We came, we went, we par-tied!

Here are some pics from the Johnson's Halloween hayride. We had a great time and partied like it was 1999!(heehee)
Special Agent Noah Harward

Nate the scarecrow.

Eliza the witch.

and Agent Emma Harward

This is Jonah the flying monkey.

this is at church. Emma was a vampire. (My favorite costume) and Noah was Indiana Jones.

The name game....

I'm not saying I hate my name. That is not what this post is about. That being said...I hate my name. OK so not my name so much as people's lack to say it right. Let me clear this up for ya people....I AM NOT DANA HOWARD! It drives me crazy. I know I should just let it go, but....I can't! I have been Dana, Dee-anna, De-ann, and many, many, more.I know what you are thinking it could be worse right. Yeeah thanks. Haa, haa.

So knowing this about myself, why oh why did I name my daughter Eliza. Oh that poor girl. I guess being Mormon I never really thought of it as a odd name. Kind of old, yes, pioneery, yeah OK I get that, but hard to pronounce, not really. You may be thinking the same thing.
Well Eliza informed me the other day that since the first day of school the band teacher has called her E-lisa. She has corrected him several times, but he just can't get it.( He doesn't even try her last name.) So all I can say is," sorry kid."

Some of my fav songs are name songs. For example:
~Oh Sherry ( I l-o-v-ed this song growing up! I still do!)
~Mandy (classic Manilow, and I like Mandi too.=)
~Sweet Caroline (I mean Caroline is a really pretty name.)
~Annie's song (Nathan used to sing this all the time when we were dating. Annie, lovely name.)
~Jessie's Girl (I heart Rick Springfield. Really. I have the button to prove it. It is on my acid washed denim jacket.=)
~I almost forgot my fav. ROXANNE (this one can back fire though. Just ask Roxanne Miller. The poor women has to hear me sing it at her ALL the time. I am ashamed to say.)

There's more but I will spare you. All these choices and I picked Eliza. Oh well I guess she will just have to be E-lisa Howard with her Mom...Dana.sigh.

Looking at the past.....

We got to visit the Montgomery House for Little Nate's cub scouts. Brother and Sister Johnson invited everyone out to see the living history. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pics....

This is our "sweet little knuckle heads."(That is Nathan's words not mine.=)This is the front of the house. It is still a work in progress. They are raising money to restore it. Outside they had a camp set up for the soldiers.

Nate enjoying the solder's campfire.

Hello handsome! (Sorry I put this one in for me.=)

Roger's rifles. Hee heee sounds like a store in Randolph county.

This was one of the coolest displays. It is the field medic. He had everything including a stained bloody tablecloth! COOL!

"I'll save you Nate!"(yeah right!)

Nate,. Noah and our tour guide Zada.

The troops. The General is standing with little Nate. Everyone was very nice to explain things to the boys and let them hold and see their things. For example they let the boys feel how heavy their rifles were. (To which Noah kept saying he wanted to shoot something. Which made the guy give a nervous little giggle and take back his rifle.=)

Nathan and Sheriff Johnson.

This is Little Nate's Den mother, Sister Johnson, and MaKorah.(Sorry Debbie I got you with your eyes closed.=)Oops.

Sigh.....

How sick can one family get. I mean REALLY?! Yes, you guessed it we are sick AGAIN! I don't know what is going on! Yesterday I took Noah to the doctor and he has the flu. Not the pig one, just the regular one. So of course last night poor Eliza was coughing her lungs out...ALL NIGHT! Sigh. OK so I know it won't last, but man O man I am tired of being sick! We have hit our sick quota for this year! You hear me Natey and Emma! NO MORE SICKNESS!

Spreading the GLEE!

Has anyone else seen the new show called GLEE? Me and Nathan love it! (It was actually Nathan who told me about it.) If you haven't seen it then I will tell you it is a lot like FAME. Only funnier. Check it out. It comes on WED. at 9:00 on Fox. I believe. Check your local listings.=)

Just look at my tree!

I saw this at Hobby Lobby. Right as you walk into the store, and I loved it! So already having a
Christmas tree in my kitchen(It was on it's was to the building for storage) I thought,"Shoot Christmas is right around the corner(5 months away=) Why not put up a fall tree?!"
So I put it up in the corner of the kitchen. Of course if you wanted I am sure you could easily make it into a Halloween tree.

I bought some pie pumpkins from walmart.


Nathan helped me pick out my picks for the tree. I'm not sure who had more fun!

OK so I could have done better on the bow. All in all I like it!

The good stuff...

This shout out goes to Sister Cecil. She gave me the BEST recipe for buttermilk biscuits, that I now feel it is my duty ,NAY privilege to share it with you....

1st you will need:
3 cups of SELF rising flour
1 stick of cold butter or margarine
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup buttermilk (you have to get the good stuff. You can't add vinegar to milk.=)

add butter like this( I keep calling it butter but it is margarine. butter is easier to spell=) Mix it together. I put it in my stand mixer at a 2 speed.
till it looks like this...

roll it out on a lightly floured surface. and cut out your biscuits.


I like to do different shapes. These are supposed to be pumpkins, but I think I used the skull cookie cutter.


Bake at 425 for about 10 to 12 min. Oh yeah not pictured is me rubbing the tops with butter.

ENJOY! Throw in a little bacon, and you have one fine biscuit my friend! (yes drinking cranberry juice out of a martini glass makes me feel fancy!)

I love to laugh...haahaahaa...ha.

Laughing is one of my favorite pass times. Any of you that know me, knows that I like to throw out a joke or two. Anywho this post isn't about me. I know of some undiscovered talent that I am sure you will love.

This is my brother Kenneth. (sorry ladies he is taken.=)

Kenneth is on facebook. As you may or may not know, you can put the" what you are doing now..." sayings for everyone to read. So here are a few things Kenneth has been up to:

Kenneth R Brinkman has a day off. Hope i dont get fired,
but then again i did take some boxes home. I dont think i'm
on videotape, but maybe I am. Oh well back to building a
clubhouse!

Kenneth R Brinkman is living on a prayer, and I think I'm
about halfway there!

Kenneth R Brinkman got the skies shined up, grabbed a
stick of Juicy Fruit, and ready for the taste to move me!

Kenneth R Brinkman has never knocked on wood, but I
know someone who has!

Kenneth R Brinkman really enjoys walking around, cautiously
whispering "Abort," into his collar, and holding 2 fingers
over his ear.

Kenneth R Brinkman is in the woods leg-sweeping deer as
they walk by.

Kenneth R Brinkman hates it when his chinese stars fall out
his sleeve's

Kenneth R Brinkman is trying to bring back CB lingo, Over!

Just some more pics...

Pompey, Italy

Tower of London

Tower of London

Tower of London

Salisbury Cathedral

Shakespeare's birthplace