December 2005

Hi ya, folks. This is the Johnson’s here, or more specifically Tonya Beth Johnson. I somehow got stuck with the job of writing the Christmas letter for this year. Anyway, here we go on our usual long and lengthy explanation of everyone’s going ons.

Mom: Mom is her usual stressed out and happy self. To add to her stress, she was just called to be the Bear Den Leader in our new ward. The powers-that-be changed our stake and ward boundaries recently, so everything is new, different and exciting. Progressing in the forward direction, mom is still working part time at good old Liberts; while doing this, she attempts to juggle the family, church, and whatever else might happen to pop up. In the coming year, she is hoping to become the next Iron Man champion of the world. We wish her luck in her endeavors. (Tee-he-he)

Dad: As for dad, the usual long haul continues. Now, however, he has added master’s degree classes at UCCS. For some unknown reason, he desires to obtain a MBA (whatever the heck that means). He says that he wants to expand his horizons, but according to the laws of physics this is only possible when referring to his waistline. Moving on, he sold his beloved and quickly deteriorating New Yorker. This had disastrous results for the rest of the family because now we are a two-car family, and as such, I no longer have a car to drive. Oh well, life will go on. We all wish dad good luck and happy sailing in the upcoming year.

Shannon: Like a chick leaving the nest, Shannon ventured out into the wide world of college this year. Her college of choice is Utah State University in the wonderful iceland of Logan, Utah where she is studying diligently in an attempt to get into law school. In accordance with her debatable personality, she has joined up with the number one ranked USU forensic debate team. She has become overwhelmingly successful in all of her meets; her partner and she enjoy winning debate tournaments, for they are rather good at what they do. Before venturing off to college wonderland, Shannon went to the National Forensics Tournament in Philadelphia this summer; she was lucky enough to qualify in congress. In the future, she wants to acquire a villa in Italy and live in idyllic comfort writing books for the rest of her life; if, of course, she doesn’t freeze to death in Logan first. Yay for her.

Tonya: I am my usual studious self. In the time that I don’t apply to the never ending and always increasing pile of work that I have, I enjoy a new found sport called capoeira. This totally awesome sport is basically Brazillian Martial Arts; it combines fighting, dancing, acrobatics, and super cool music. With all of my nonexistent extra time, I attend way too much band. I am in both the Wind Ensemble and Jazz band at school where I rip it up on my trumpet. In the future, I hope to become less of a band nerd, and spend more time kicking hinny at capoeira.

Troy: Troy is no longer a boy. He has morphed before our very eyes into an especially tall and stringy young man. Every single day, he reminds his lovely older sister that he is now taller and somehow better than she. Oh well, he had to get some of the good genes. In addition to being a string bean, he is also a very good scout. He has earned 17 merit badges, became a Star and hopes to get a Life soon. After that, he will progress to that honored rank of Eagle. If you have any Eagle project ideas, please send them to troyijohnson@yahoo.com. Mom will be happy to receive them, and Troy will be happy to do them. In the coming year, Troy is hoping to win the national sister-heckling contest; I must say that he is in line for a gold medal.

Shelby: Shelby continues to enjoy flipping onto her head. To be more accurate, she excels in power tumbling. This summer mom and grandma drove her all the way to Texas so that she could compete in the national power tumbling meet; she did masterfully well in her glorious attempt, and enjoyed every minute of it. When she’s not flipping onto her head, she’s falling on it. Like many little children, she recently announced that she is going to run away and join the circus. However, unlike the others, they might actually hire her. Over the past months, she has been developing her skills as a Spanish Web Artist. Basically, she climbs up two long strands of silk and performs amazing feats of grace, flexibility and strength. Her favorite move is one in which she wraps herself a specific way in the silk, and then releases her hold, and gracefully plummets to the earth where she stops suddenly barely a foot above the ground. In the future, she hopes to convince our parents to get her a dog; we don’t wish her luck in this endeavor because we know that it will never happen.

As for Christmas, we are going to enjoy beating ourselves up on the ski and snowboarding slopes at Breckenridge. While we are literally knocking ourselves out, we wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that jazz.