The laws of straightness MUST be obeyed!

So in college on Monday night we were talking about Maths and were each given a small box of mini Smarties. We were asked to estimated how many were in the box and what the most common colour would be. I estimated 42 and yellow, however even though everyone else's boxes had 42, mine had 43 (an odd number, argh!) and the most common colour was in fact green. As we were counting, the teacher walked around the room to see how we had each organised our smarties, and told me specifically to leave mine how they were, because she later used mine as an example of a good way of showing how popular each colour was. As you can see from the picture, not only are they all in neat rows, but they're in rainbow order, which made the brown ones difficult to place but hey. The girl sat beside me also had fun with her smarties as you can see in the other picture.

Update on life!

So life has been pretty interesting recently, pretty much since the creation of the Chorley 3rd Ward in fact. It really is such a great ward with a great feeling of unity and togetherness, which is only helped by the amazing bishopric we have. They're all very young and dynamic, and fun! Each one of them has helped me in some way in the short time they have been called, whether just by listening or giving me counsel which has helped me. As a result I've been on a bit of a spiritual high recently, having spiritual experiences and answers to prayers. For example, after a challenge by the missionaries a few weeks ago, a new family moved in next door within a matter of days. Coincidence? I don't think so, and though unlike me, I went around and introduced myself and gave them chocolate (a Paul Scott initiative for the ward). They're really nice people and we look forward to getting to know them better and hopefully working with them. I'm loving my new calling in nursery and feel like I'm making progress with the children. There have been challenges along the way too, having to go through yet more tests at the hospital (often painful) and being made to wait several months for answers, but in July we should finally be able to start the whole IVF process. I have also recently started my NVQ level 2: Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools. It's a year long course but with only 12 lessons, the rest is all practical stuff in school. So, I've been spending a lot more time in school in the past few weeks, basically being a teaching assistant but on a voluntry basis, and I love that too! It feels really good to be working with children, like I'm meant to do it and it's something I can really enjoy and be good at, and I'm constantly learning how to do new things. Another thing I have been doing recently is trying to improve myself physically. Playing football every week and doing Body Combat at the gym once a week means I'm getting fitter and healthier, and (thanks to Paul McKenna) am now eating healthier too, let's hope it pays off!

Families are forever

A few weeks ago Tristram and I were asked to do a musical item in sacrament meeting the following week. We would be singing families can be together forever along with his mum and sister Paula. We worked out how we were going to do it and who would sing which bit. It was nerve wracking but exciting. Then two days later I received two emails that defined the whole rest of my week, if not longer. They were both family related and both were negative. The first one was from my mum, telling me that my dad had had a heart attack. Even though it wasn't serious and he was okay the words 'heart attack' in relation to a member of my family, or anyone who I loved really scared and upset me. The other email was from a sister in law in response to an email I had sent her, trying to mend the relationship of two family members, but she informed me that the reltionship was at an all time low point and explained why, and that some rather offensive words had been said by one of the people involved. This upset me and Tristram because I hate contention, especially when it involves family and people who I love and just want everyone to get along, and I want to have a good relationship with everyone. Tristram spent the evening making phone calls to various family members to talk about the situation, meanwhile I felt bad about having been part of it. I was just trying to be nice afterall.

The following Sunday we went to Darlington to visit my parents, particularly my dad. It was good to see them and spend time with them, and hearing my dad back to his old self and making light of the whole situation, and informing us it wasn't as bad as it seemed and he was actually in great health. This unfortunately meant we were unable to do our musical item in Chorley as we weren't there, but in sacrament meeting in Darlington we sang families can be together forever, which I thought was quite fitting.

Then the Sunday after that we were back in Chorley, and with my dad back to normal and the other family situation still unresolved the closing hymn in sacrament meeting was families can be together forever. This was too much of a coincidence and by now I knew that someone was trying to tell me something. I think that something was the importance of family. I still worry about my dad and other family members and anything bad happening to them, and while there has been progress in the other situation since, it's still not fully resolved, but I know my family will be together forever, and that's the most important thing.

Half term diary

Me and Jack

Tristram with his nephew and namesake

Jack Rockwell Johnson on the day of his blessing

For a while now something i have wanted to do is travel around the country and just visit everyone i know, so over half term that's what we decided to do. We went in a clockwise direction, so started off by visiting the north east. Darlington was our first stop. It was so good to be in the north east for the big derby match, which we won of course, and the fact that i got to watch it almost live was a real bonus. It was really good to spend time with my parents, walk around town and visit my old ward. There are a couple of people who i would've liked to see that i didn't get to, although not through lack of trying. Next we moved on to Billingham and Middlesbrough, where Tristram got to spend time with two of his closest friends from growing up, his dad and his entire step family, who are all really nice. We spent our evenings there playing pool and going to the Billingham ward Trunk n Treat, which is always fun. On Wednesday we made our way south. It was a frustrating day, as one wrong decision on the journey led to a more than three hour delay and a detour through Chesterfield, but at least we got to see the famous spire. After eight hours of travelling we finally arrived at Giles and Beth's house, where we got to see our new nephew Jack for the first time, he was so lovely too. Over the next three days we went on walks, played on the trampoline a lot, played with our nieces, watched films, got ready for Halloween and the blessing and generally just had a good, relaxing time. Friday night was the Farnborough ward Halloween party, which was a lot of fun. The most interesting activity was the eating game which involved the team having to eat a packet of crackers and a tub of icecream between them, and for those who wanted to earn bonus points there were also raw eggs and spoonfuls of maggots to be eaten. There was also a quiz, sweet making and various other activities, and there were very good costumes too. On Saturday afternoon the rest of the family started to arrive, so we decided to give them some space and went to the Toomeys house for the night, which was fun. We talked a lot, had a good meal and I got to see them whole family at various points throughout the night, some of them for the first time in three years, but watching match of the day with the boys was quite an experience. A good one though. On Sunday we got to witness the blessing of Jack which was really nice, and great to see Tritram involved. Afterwards we went back to the house for some food and a birthday party for one of our other neices Carmella who was celebrating her 4th birthday on the same day. It's so sweet seeing all the little cousins together, they're all so cute and love each other so much, it' great. Over all it was a really good week and I'm so glad I got to see and spend time with so many different friends and family, especially those we don't get to see very often, and it was the cheapest kind of holiday to have!

Our Wedding

About us

Welcome to our first blog. I suppose we should start at the beginning. We are the Johnsons. I am Justine Johnson and I am married to Tristram Jack Johnson. I used to be a Whitfield until we got married on the 27th November 2004 in the Preston temple, and what a great day it was. We don't yet have any children, but that is something we are trying to alter, we can't wait to be parents and have a family of our own.

I am 23 years old and currently work as a cleaner in a Primary school here in Chorley, from 3.30-6.30pm Monday to Friday. It's quite a good job and I enjoy it, and get plenty of time off. I also go in twice a week and help out in years 1, 2 and 3 and really enjoying listening to the children read. Apart from my husband, my main love is football. I am an avid Sunderland fan, and while I can't attend as many matches as I would like living so far away from the Stadium of Light, I try to attend the local away matches against Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan. I have supported them for 12 years, thanks to my former teacher, the late Mr. Bailey, and now my support for them is kind of a tribute to him, so I make sure I do it whole heartedly, as he did. My favourite all time player is Super Kevin Phillips, a true legend, as is Niall Quinn, both of whom I have met on more than one occassion and are just as nice in person. My favourite current player is Kenwynne Jones, which is strange because they're all strikers and I myself am a defender. I try to play twice a week with my friends, which is one of my few hobbies, but my favourite.

Another big part of my life is church. We are both active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As well as attending church every week we also attend other meeting for our callings. My current calling is as Faith in God leader, which I love. I am in charge of the spiritual wellbeing of the 8-11 year olds. I put on ativites for them twice a month which are both fun, and will help them to acheive goals in certain categories, such as service, talent development and living and understanding the gospel.

I am Tristram Johnson. I have a BA Degree in Military History and a Post Graduate in Teaching. I am now a Primary School teacher and work at St. James Primary School in Haydock. I am a Middlesbrough Football Club supporter and have been since I was born there in June 1981. I have recently taken a much greater interest and enjoy our ‘up and down’ seasons. I love lots of things. I roleplay with Dugeons and Dragons, Rune Quest, Vampire and Star Wars. I like several sports inculding football, cricket and volleyball specifically. I love reading and expecially science fiction and fantasy. Books I own include the entire Dragon Lance series, the Belgeriad and Mallorean by David Eddings, Several Forgotten Realms, Star Wars and David Gemmel Books, both The Raven Trilogies and more. My current favourites are the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, which I own in its entirity. I play several computer games, on X-box my current favourites include Dugeons and Dragons Heroes and Star Wars Battle Front 2. On the PC I enjoy Diablo 2 and am undefeated champion of an old game called Star Wars Supreamacy. I love films and several series. I watch 24, Alias, Babylon 5, Friends, Buffy, Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, Andromeda and Xena. Some favourite films are the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Star Wars series. Pay Cheque, The Bourne movies, Marvel movies (all of them) and Batman Begins and Equilibrium.

At church I am ward mission leader in Chorley 1st ward and enjoying it. I served a mission for the church for 2 years from September 2000 in Switzerland and Eastern France. It was a fantastic time of my life in which I learnt a lot. One last hobby and love of mine is writing. I have written several short stories including Defenitions of Honour, Coven and Travelling to Tar’mon Gai’don. I am currently writing the longer short story Sealed Memory which is based in the world of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. I have also written a trilogy entitled The Stars of Destiny. The books are called Chosen of Destiny, Controllers of Destiny and Champions of Desinty. There are two novels planned for after the trilogy called Magemind and The Avenger.
I have a tendency to be very chatty and I think this profile shows just how talkative I am :-)