Highlights Video

What a great weekend! I'm headed to Vegas for the National League Showcase AND I just got the first draft of my highlights video. Check it out!

Meet Me in the Delivery Room

Meet Me in the Delivery Room

I promised to share the story of why I am the TRUE miracle baby in my family.  Sure, my mom says that each of us (as siblings) is a miracle, each in our own way.  But let’s be clear… I went from being “blue” to talking to you; and that is a miracle.  Here’s how it went down…

My mom had 3 C-sections before me, 1 with each of my siblings.  She really wanted to have that experience of birthing a child naturally.  So, she convinced a doctor to support her in that decision when I was born.  I’ll save all the tedious details and get right to the good stuff… I was born, just the way I should be!  J  They wrapped me up and put me on my mom’s chest so she could see me and hold me.  This was the part that she had been waiting all her life for…  But when they laid me on my mom and she started talking to me, she knew immediately that something was wrong.  “This baby is turning blue!’  She called to the doctor and nurses.  Instantly, the nurse snatched me from her and began rubbing me vigorously.  The doctor watched sideways for a moment, but not being pleased with the progress the nurse was making to get me to breath, she snatched me from the nurse and began suctioning my airways again.  Within mili-seconds, the hospital room door burst open and the neonatal intensive care team sprang into the room.  The better part of them went straight to a special table in the corner while one retrieved me from the doctor.

I heard my mom tell this story many times… And every time, I hear the panic in her voice as se describes the agony of helplessly watching a team of strangers working to save her child.  She describes the bartering she did in that moment with the Lord.  She asked Him to take her in my place if one was needed with Him and then she rethought that decision.  She told her Heavenly Father that I would need her here on earth and that He could take her legs or her arms or her sight and she would figure it out.  But she wanted to make sure I learned everything I needed to here on earth.  A loving Heavenly Father heard and answered her prayers.

It seems totally anti-climatic to admit that I had thick mucus plugs, which prevented me from breathing.  But it didn’t stop the neonatal intensive care team from intubating me and getting me cleared out.  A couple hours in the NICU and I was good to go.  The jury is still out on whether there was any lasting damage…  I’ll let you decide. ;)

No matter what you decide, I am and always will be the miracle baby in the Johanson Family.

Meet Me in the Laundry Room

Meet Me in the Laundry Room

NOT!  Ha, ha!  That’s a big joke.  I’m not a fan of doing laundry.  That’s why I have perfected alternatives to this chore.  I wear the same size as my sister who is 8 years older than me.  So, when I run out of clean jeans, I can simply borrow a pair of hers.

I’m not kidding about the “I have perfected this alternative” part.  My sister freaks out from time to time, okay.  But she has a ton of clothes, right?  My mom says I need a 12- step recovery program for this so-called clothes-thieving problem.  The challenge with that is that the first step is “admitting it;” and quite honestly, I don’t have the problem… my sister does...  She is the one missing the clothes.  I’m good to go! ;)

Meet Me in Class

Meet Me in Class

I told my mom I hated science a few years ago… but I was just being spiteful in a very pre-teen sort-of way.  In reality, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree and I really enjoy science.  Both my parents have degrees in the science/medical fields.  So, there’s a lot of very anatomically/physiologically correct conversation.  But that’s a conversation for another blog post…

As a sophomore, I am taking AP Biology.  Most of the time sophomores don’t get to take those Advanced Placement classes.  I’m just lucky, I guess!  My mom tried to talk me out of taking it, especially since I have an honors math class too.  She says I’m stubborn.  I just smile!

I’m very quiet in class, actually around most people in general.  And I’m not a lover of homework!  Because of my busy soccer schedule, I need to be efficient.  Still, I never sacrifice my decompression time.  (I’ll have to write another post, called Meet Me in the Decompression Chamber.  That would be on my couch in the great room with my favorite TV show on and maybe with a friend or two by my side.  Definitely there would be a family member or two there.)

Meet Me in the Family Room

Meet Me in the Family Room

I am the baby of the family.  I should say that I am the youngest of 4 siblings.  But the truth is that I am the baby.  It is a place of honor and privilege.  I remind my siblings all the time that I earned the right to be the baby and that I am the miracle child.  I’ll tell that story in another post too….

Speaking of siblings… I have a sister who is 8 years older than me, a brother who is 6 years older than me, and a brother who is 2 years older than me.  Being more crazy than cruel, my parents named us all names that start with “Br.”  You should hear my dad cluck like a chicken when he is trying to get the right name for any one of us.  Breighlin, Brock, Braxton, Brecken....

We are a funny family… I mean that literally.  We laugh and joke a lot.  The conversation at the dinner table in my home would scare a normal person.   We have hosted foreign exchange students for the past 4 years in a row.  Believe me!  Our exchange students have major culture shock just because of our family’s culture, not to mention because of their entry into a new country.  But in the end, EVERY exchange student that has ever lived in our family recognizes what an amazing bond we have with each other and they miss this closeness and spirit when they return to their home country.

Meet Me at the Table

I live in Idaho.  So, I’m a “meat and potatoes” kind-of girl.    However, I was born and raised for my first 10 years in San Luis Obispo, CA.  The Central Coast is famous for its Santa Maria-style Bar-B-Q.  That means tri-tip spice-rubbed and slow cooked on the grill over a flame or big meaty beef ribs spice-rubbed and grilled over an open hickory flame.  I’ll eat any kid of meat, steak, chicken, pork, etc…  But, to this day, grilled tri-tip and ribs are my favorite; and my family still buys and stashes (okay, hoards) the special Rib Round-Up rub made by a local deli in San Luis Obispo.

But let’s talk potatoes!  After all, I live in Idaho…  My mom and dad like to tell the story about when they were newly-married and going to graduate school in Eastern Idaho…  One of their friends was a potato farmer's son and his dad grew potatoes for McDonalds (you know which McDonlads I’m talking about… hamburger and French fries giant).  My mom and dad describe one potato that he brought home one day as the biggest potato they have ever seen.  It was so big that it fed 4, young, newly-married couples a full meal from just that one potato.  That’s a full meal for 8 people!   This MUST be where “king fries” come from!

I may live on the opposite side of the state from where they grow the potatoes, but we know how to fix ‘em and eat ‘em here!  In fact, my Grandma Hiatt makes the BEST mashed potatoes in the world!  And in the true spirit of tradition, she has taught me and my siblings how to make them too.   So, not only am I a potato connoisseur, I am a master-potato chef too!  Come for dinner sometime, you’ll see….  I just hope you are not lactose-intolerant because MY mashed potatoes have cream cheese in them.  That’s just one of my super, special, secret ingredients…