Austin at Arlington National Cemetery

The following, about our son, Austin, is written by his sweet wife, Jessica:

After a buddy of Austin's from basic found out where Austin was being stationed, he asked him to please visit his grandfather, LTC Raymond N Clark. He fought in three wars and was awarded a Purple Heart.

On Saturday Austin and I made a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, to pay our respects to a true American hero. Austin wore his blues; however, when wearing them for "personals" they must be altered. One of the cap straps was removed, no belt was worn, he had to take off his metals and wear his ribbons instead and he wore the shoes he wore to our wedding rather than his steals. It was quite a trip for both of us!

When we got there, rather than parking in the parking lot, because he was in his blues we got to literally park right up front by the gates! We were the only ones parked there the entire time, so I think it is a quite a rarity to be allowed to. It all felt so foreign to Austin, being in his blues in public and not having to keep ceremonial composure. Also, when Austin does ceremonies he's a dime a dozen, but on our personal visit it was just him, so people stared and pointed, even said "Thank you" to him in passing.

A group of little girls "oohed and aahed" over him. It was amazing for me to see everyone responses to him as well! I felt so honored, proud, happy, etc, to be his wife (I always feels this way, but Saturday I felt it more than ever). It was truly an amazing experience!

Skype, a blessing!

No matter how you look at it, Paul is too far away right now. Today, I calculated that he is 8285 kilometers or 5148 miles or 4474 nautical miles from our home here in Highlands Ranch, Co. Every day, if not twice a day we talk or Skype. Now the phone is a miracle, but Skype is a mega miracle. It allows me to talk to Paul and see him at the same time. When I was pretty little, my family and I were at Disneyland where we went into Monsanto's House of The Future, and I had the opportunity to go into a futuristic phone booth and speak and see someone in another state talk back to me. It was like Dick Tracy talking on that TV watch thing out of the Sunday comics. I never thought the day would come. Well, it came and is here in full living color, Skype. I never used Skype much before, but now it is a necessity, an everyday occurrence, a blessing. So, thank you Disneyland, Western Electric, Bell Labs and everyone else who pioneered this technology, because Paul is too far away!!!

Girl-bonding RULES!!!

So, with Paul working in Suisse, we are now having a little more mom and daughter bonding time. We are finding that we are watching a little more Jane Austen, chatting in the evenings too late and not going to bed on time, as well as stopping spontaneously for girly treats. The last part not being too good for our girlish figures. :)

...This last weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, was General Conference for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For our family, it consists of watching the morning proceedings at home home on TV, from Salt Lake City, Utah. After the first session on Saturday, Laura and I watched the Disney movie, Tangled. Laura had baked up a peach dessert and we sat on the coach, eating it while we laughed at the antics of the characters in the movie. I had a moment to take it all in. I am so grateful for a sweet daughter that I love being with. She brings great joy and so much laughter into my life. I am also realizing that being with her brings more calories into my life. :( I am going to work on that, but girl-bonding still rules!

A Swiss Bank Account

Yesterday, Paul revealed that we now have a Swiss Bank Account. Somehow this is not as exciting as it sounds. He was happy to say that he is actually getting used to counting colored money and identifying coins. The Franc notes come in different lengths as well as colors. This way, you can have them all laying flat in your wallet and choose the shortest one for a 10, next larger for a 20, and so on. I like this system. Those Swiss are so clever. Now where are those gold bars?

Paul and Susan in Geneve, Suisse Feb 2011

Enjoy the pictures of our house hunting trip in Geneve, Suisse.

il neige! Un Garcon et un chien. (It is snowing... A boy and a dog.

Yep, it is snowing here in Colorado...again. We are awaiting a snow blast from Alaska. So far, in the three years we have lived here, we have never gotten sick of snow. We love hunkering down as a family with a fire in the fireplace, hot chocolate and a good movie. Today we have the fireplace on, but instead of a movie we are working on our french. Paul and I will travel to Geneva (French speaking portion of Switzerland) and France next week, so we are trying to learn some useful phrases. A friend lent us her Rosetta Stone and we have been working our way through the units and self tests. So far we are prepared to declare, "There is a boy and a dog." "There is a young girl and a horse." "The boy is under the plane." (which come to think of it could make us heros at the Geneva airport.) We are in great hopes that the Rosetta Stone units will start to come up with more useful information. We will let you know how all this winter hunkering down with learning french goes, but until then....Au revoir, une fille et un chat. (Goodbye, a girl and a cat!)

Work the Suisse Way!

Paul, started the first week of his new job in Geneva, Switzerland. We have had some phone calls, at really odd hours. This whole, him being awake when I am asleep takes some getting use to and planning. My phone calls to him consist of his yawning and dropping at the end of a busy day. It will be good when we join him in the same hemisphere and we can have conversations at normal hours. According to Paul, the scenery is beautiful, with the lake, mountains and gardens. His company occupies the fifth floor, of a seven floor Genevese style building.(see the view from his office) Pretty nice view from his office, huh? The first floor of the building is taken up by a chocolate factory. Seriously, I am wondering how you would get anything done with Chocolate wafting in the air?

The Johnsons of Colorado are moving to Switzerland

Life is an adventure and that is what this move will be. First, we moved from California and on to Colorado. Now we are off for our European Adventure. We will be living in Geneva, Switzerland. This is surreal. Now where is that French dictionary...and does that mean we need to change the name of our blog??? :/

The count up to Happy St Nicholas Day!!!

December 6th is here in Highlands Ranch, Co, but no snow. We have a lot of brown lawns though. Paul takes his last business trip of the year this week. After each trip, he seems to be able to add a few days of travel to see one of our boys. He got to see Cortland a few times this year, and in the last month alone he has seen Austin and Jessica in Arlington, VA. Laura is counting down the days to Christmas Vacation and I have been busy cooking and getting ready for St. Nicholas Day. Today, December 6th, St Nicholas brought surprises to tuck in our wooden shoes, and lots of treats to start off our Christmas season. So, Happy St Nicholas Day to you all!!!

Infantryman PVT2 Austin Johnson