Marisa Johnson - January - Temple Attendance

It has been so much fun and inspiring to read about my new "friends" and the amazing things you are accomplishing.

My name is Marisa Johnson, I met Nora about 11 years ago when I moved into her ward in West Jordan. Yes, I said her ward. She was the party planner, book club organizer, preschool teacher, and friend to everyone. I have tried to emulate many of her amazing qualities.

Enough about Nora :) this is supposed to be about me. Okay, so I have 4 lovely kids which I homeschool. Yes, my kids know how to read. Yes, my kids are well socialized. Yes, they have friends :) Reece is 13, Maya is 10, Mason is 8, Madelyn is 4. Reece is actually a nickname for Maurice if you were seeing the "M name" theme. When we named the first 2 kids we didn't think about the pattern, but then once you get started, you have to keep going.

My husband, Michael,  is freaking amazing. He is the romantic between the two of us, he is sensitive, caring, and a thoughtful gift giver. One of my favorite things is that he is an amazing cook. He makes us delicious healthy meals every night and prefers to do the shopping as well so he knows what he is cooking. I'm a lucky woman! We have been married for 15, almost 16, years.

Michael and I both had a goal to have a "backyard farm." We started a blog which we kind of let fizzle out. Our best articles were written by Jennifer Hatch who is on this Projects Connect. We moved to a home on an acre in Eagle Mountain, Utah. We have lived here 3 years.  Just as with anything, we had really great intentions and plans for our backyard farm, and have only accomplished a fraction of the goals. We do have chickens, a pig named Pork Chop,  2 dogs, 1 bunny, 1 cat, a large garden, and hopefully this spring we will have 2 goats named Nola and Elsie (named after my grandmas).

As a family we love to ski and snowboard and decided to invest in the sport as P.E. for homeschool, but more importantly to build memories as a family. We started last year with season passes at Sundance and this year at Brighton. Madelyn started at the age of 3 which awarded us with many funny memories & stories.

I work for doTERRA, helping others find natural solutions to their health issues. I retired from my photography business to focus my efforts on my doTERRA team. February-May doTERRA is paying for my travel so I can teach classes all over the Western United States. I have already taught in Washington and California this month. Coming up I'm going to Texas, Missouri, Phoenix, and Colorado!

January Goal: Visit the Temple Each Week

I wanted to start my first month with a more spiritual goal so I wouldn't feel so guilty about my goals for new counters and grass in the backyard. With all the traveling the next few months, I knew that temple attendance might be more difficult. My husband and I have made a goal to go to the temple early in the morning once a month to do baptisms with my 13 year old son, then we eat breakfast at Kneaders.  We have fulfilled this goal for the past 10 months. We are so faithful about getting Reece to the temple each month, and then we tend to forget about doing other temple work.

We only made it 3 out of the 4 weeks, but I'm very pleased with that.  The picture above is of my son Reece and I after doing baptisms for the dead. Michael is the photographer (he was there too).

I was surprised at how easy it was to fit in the 2 extra temple dates. I kept waiting for obstacles to strike right before it was time to leave, but they didn't! Having the temple as a focus each week helped me keep it a priority instead of something I could procrastinate until later in the month. My "excuse" for not making it the 4th time is that my dad was in town, but it is just that, an excuse.

Michael and I were even able to see the "new, new" movie the second day it was out. That was a fun surprise. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures at the other 2 temple sessions, so you just get to see one picture, but isn't my little Reecey boy cute?

~marisa