How cute is my Sophie?? I was feeling creative today so I made her take a very cold outing to the park so I could snap these.
I'm satisfied.

I know, I know. I'm a blogcrastinator, and a bad one at that. I'm fully aware that this post is about my Halloween adventures and it is already into November.
It's partly not my fault. Stupid computers.
Anyways, lets focus here. The Johnson house was a little scarier than usual this year, a la spook alley extraordinaire, courtesy of Aunt Bert, Chloe, Taylor, Sophie, and Walker. And they did a rather nice job if I do say so myself.
We were quite the highlight of the neighborhood. Most kids went through at least two or three times. By the time I got around to having my turn, it was starting to show the wear and tear and we eventually had to pull it apart before someone got hurt.
Now, these pictures don't quite capture the mood. It's hard to take scary pictures when you either have to use a flash and light everything up, or just take a picture in the dark. So just use your imagination here. Pretend its dark and there's fog and there's creepy Halloween music in the background.



Skeleton head lights that lined the sidewalk.

Front porch graveyard.

Window art.

Giant, hairy, glow-in-the-dark spider.

Tunnel o' death.

This guy was my fav. When you crawled past him he predicted your future, in a scary Halloweeny manner of course.

Treasure hungry skeleton.

Flying skeleton ghost. I love how this picture turned out. Once you crawled out of the tunnel, he was supposed to swing down and scare you.

I'm confused. Is that a costume?

Happy 18th birthday to my baby brother!! One year clean and sober!!
Tay-Tay, I'm so proud of you. I love your guts and you are my favorite.
I tried to get this posted on Sunday, the actual day of celebration, but I was sadly thwarted in all attempts. (Stupid computer.)
Is anyone else having problems with Blogger? I am. I'm having picture uploading trauma for some strange reason and it's driving me nuts!.
I love my little bro and he knows it! He's my bestest friend and I can't imagine life without him.
I'm so proud of everything you've done. You're my favorite little cadet and I'll love you forever!
Remember the old days when I used to make you dress up in Mom's clothes and put curlers in your hair? We used to play "video games" on Dad's old computer monitors in the basement. And when Dad used to make us pick up the apricots from the backyard and he'd squish them in our hands? Gross!
I'm so glad you'll always be my baby brother.

We had quite the shindig at our house on Sunday. Almost the whole family showed up and we celebrated with Hawaiian haystacks and yummy Costco cake.
Taylor is way excited about his Shrek playdoh from Aunt Bert.
Yummy food.
Cousins
Cousins
And more Cousins
Stressed and somehow, still smiling.

Happy birthday to me...I now am twenty!!
Turning 20 sure does have its perks. I'm already a better rhymer than I've ever been before.
Wow, two decades later and here I am. Seems like just yesterday that I was being born.
Well, not really. I don't really recall that day. Although I must say, I think I heard more about it today than I have the whole rest of my life combined.
I discovered something today. Having a birthday on a Sunday is about one of the most unbirthdayish things that can happen.
For example, I can illustrate, quite plainly what I mean.
Let me give you a run down of what usually happens at my house on Sundays.

8:30-Drag our butts out of bed
9:15-Stumble into church
1:15-Stumble back out to the car
1:30-Finally drive home because Mom's been talking
1:35-Drag our butts back to bed and take a Sunday nap
6:00-Wake up from our naps and eat dinner
7:00-Crawl back into bed and watch TV
1:00-Fall asleep one last time

And here's the run down of what happened today.

8:30-Drug our butts out of bed
9:15-Stumbled into church
1:15-Stumbled back out to the car
1:30-Finally drove home because Mom's been talking
1:35-Drug our butts back to bed and took a Sunday nap
6:00-Woke up from our naps and ate dinner
7:00-Crawled back into bed and watched TV
1:00-Fell asleep one last time

There were a few minor changes, but that was basically it. The only variation was my constant whining and the occasional outbursts of "It's Birthday Time!"
No one cared.

I was about to give up on the whole birthday thing. My faith in today being a special day had all but diminished.
However, Dad saved the day and was able to redeem himself by supplying me with a kick-ass present (iPod speakers) and some yummy, yet quite untraditional, birthday cake (Tiramisu).
Now that I'm getting to the point in my life where anyone under the age of 7 wouldn't hesitate to call me "old," I was bracing myself for the cliche scenario of trying to blow out more than enough candles needed to set off the smoke alarm.
But with either my family's unpreparedness or their determination to downplay the meaning of "one-year-older-and-wiser-too," I was left to scrounge for my own candles and was only able to dig up three previously used nubs of wax.
They were all yellow too, which I thought was strange.
But if we look at this in perspective, I think all in all, the day was great.
I didn't have to go to work, I didn't have to do any dishes or fold any laundry, and I am now counting down the days until I give myself the best birthday present ever. Vacation in So. Cal! (More on that later.)
So if in order for this great celebration of me to take place, I had to sit around all day and sing Happy Birthday to myself while the rest of the family napped, I'll take it.
Cause I'm going to San Diego and they're not! Ha!

I just returned from the happiest place on earth. No, not Disneyland. (Although I will be going there at the end of the month!)
I'm talking about Lake Powell!! It may not have coined the name happiest place on earth, but it is for me.


Don't laugh. I have delicate skin.


Dad, Chloe, and I took a great hike.


Our tin can. Er, houseboat.


Cleanliness is a must. Even while camping.


Check me out in all my skiing glory.


Slalom baby! I almost drowned trying to get up.


Headfirst! Aren't I daring?

Taylor and I are nuts!

We had way to much fun with the campfire.


Doing our "fire dance."


You may be wondering what this is.


No. We're not possessed.


It's a little thing called 15 second exposure!!


Creepy, huh.

Times sure change quickly. When I was younger, my idea of a good time was pretty uncompli- cated. Climbing trees, making forts in the backyard, jumping on the trampoline, kiddie rides at Lagoon....
Things were much more simple back then. The biggest stresses in my life were missing cartoons or being sent to my room because I didn't wash the dishes.
School was a walk, so I didn't really ever have to worry about that. My basic objective in life was to do whatever I needed to get Mom off my back, and then play the day away.
Sounds pretty typical kid right?
And of course, like all kids, you can't wait to grow up. You want to be able to do all the cool stuff adults do. You like the freedom of being little, but you don't want to be a kid anymore.
You want people to treat you older, with respect. You want to drive, to have money, to do whatever you want without people telling you what to do.
But, you don't want the obligatory responsibilities that come along with all the grown-up perks. It's sort of a conundrum. Most people are left wanting the best of both worlds.
I admit, I fall into that category. I feel like I'm at the age where you're stuck in the middle of both. I still have opportunities to play and still be a kid, but I also have responsibilties that I don't always want.
I still have fun, but life isn't as carefree as it used to be.
I miss the days when on any given Saturday, you'd know I'd have spent the whole morning watching cartoons. It makes me sad to know that those days are over.

Part of me doesn't want to grow up. Like on Peter Pan. I want to stay a kid forever.
I remember the day when I was too tall to ride the little blue boats at Lagoon.
I cried. I loved that ride.
But I must admit, I don't think I'd get quite the same thrill out of riding those boats as I used to. Now days I need a real boat. Speed, adrenaline, grown-up fun.
Now my kind of adventures are waterskiing and trying out the Skycoaster at Lagoon. (I did it for the first time last Saturday! What a thrill!)
I suppose all I can do is just make the most of it. I can't slow time, I can't stop the clock. I might as well enjoy life as it comes, taking the good and the bad.
Ya, I might have to hold down a job and do things that I just don't want to, but at least I know that a good boating trip is just around the corner.