I had hoped to blog more frequently when summer arrived. Instead I’ve blogged less frequently, finding less time to sit and focus on my writing than I have in the past. It frustrates me because I don’t like writing in between doing work while at work, which is not good for me and my employers, and then I get frustrated because I want to keep up with my blog but can’t. Sound silly? Well, it is.

I’ve decided to let you all (those that still check in every once in awhile) know that you can expect fewer entries from me. I don’t think I’ll write just to update you on my lame weekends, unless something extremely exciting happens and I won’t write just for the sake of keeping my blog updated. I’m just going to write if things are weighing on my mind or if there is any change in what is happening with Lisy or our lives.

I’ll try to post pictures but as I may have already mentioned something is wrong with our camera or the memory card and it might be sometime before we’re up and running again.

I’ve actually surprised myself by keeping up with my blog for over two years now. I had tried numerous times in the past to create and keep up with a journal but I never had the success I had with this blog. Most of that has to do with the feedback I have gotten through the years, all positive and encouraging.

My family and I have always been big on surprises! For instance, last November we flew down to California and surprised my Mom’s longtime friend by showing up at her son’s wedding. Last August we organized perhaps the greatest surprise party in the history of surprise parties for my Grandparent’s 50^th anniversary. Even when I graduated my parent’s threw two surprises into one. First by having my Mom’s friend (the same mentioned above) and her son, the same one that got hitched, surprise me at the airport – I was waiting for my Aunt Janice when I noticed Jane and Chris come walking off the plane. A couple days later my Grandpa Wells flew up and surprised me after he wasn’t sure he’d be able to attend because of work.

So when I heard that my good friend Dennis had been diagnosed with cancer, my first thought was to have Josh and I fly down and surprise him with a visit.

Luckily for Josh and I, Josh’s parents are generous with their frequent flyer miles. Once Josh contacted his Mom we were hooked up. We’d fly to Burbank to meet Randy and then the three of us would make the 2-hour trek to San Diego to shock Dennis.

And shock him we did.

Randy pulled into his driveway and flicked off his headlights. We rolled up the steep driveway and got out of the truck. Randy grabbed the video camera and like burglars in the night Josh and I crept toward Dennis’ front door.

I banged loudly and Dennis confused, and snacking on Frosted Flakes, walked to the door and peeked outside. Surprise!

He was in complete shock to see us. He stood dumbfounded for about 15 minutes wondering what the heck we were doing there. "Just passing by," Josh said.

Dennis’ wife, Allie, had been pacing nervously for a few hours before our arrival. We had told her we’d be there between 7 to 8 p.m. but didn’t arrive till close to 9 p.m. on Saturday night.

It was good to see our old high school buddy. We spent the weekend just hanging out with him and his family. Saturday we spent the evening chatting it up.

Sunday we hung out in his house far too long watching VH1’s World Series of Pop Culture, before heading to Allie’s parent’s house and their kick arse swimming pool.

There we spent hours swimming, perfecting a stupid game (video soon) and sipping suds next to the pool. We felt like rockstars and played it off like we were visiting Randy’s Hollywood mansion in the hills. Allie’s dad also made us some stellar New York steaks and some moist potatoes. It was gooood!

That evening Josh busted out his Wii and the four of us played golf (Winner: Dennis) and bowling (Winner: Randy) together. It was then that I had my sneezing attack (Dennis and his family have two cats and Kevy’s allergic to cats), and decided to finish my yummy drink that Dennis concocted for me and take the Benadryl that we had gotten earlier in the day. It pretty much knocked me out and I spent the rest of the night snoring on the couch while the other three played more Nintendo.

On Sunday Randy went back to his real Hollywood "mansion" and Josh, Dennis and I took in San Diego and a Padres game at Petco Park. We walked to the mall and I got my lil’ man a Chargers jersey so he and I can sit on the couch on Sunday mornings this fall sporting our football jerseys. We went to a local brewery and spent Happy Hour talking about life and mostly sports, while trying the different beer that the brewery makes. I’m not much of a beer drinker so I just stuck with what tasted good. Coincidentally the brewery we went to was also the same place that I had been the last time I was in downtown San Diego for my cousin’s wedding – seven years ago.

We didn’t do much this past weekend, just the same thing we did when we were teenagers. A lot of hanging out, playing video games, talking sports and watching a game. Dennis hadn’t seen Josh for 2-1/2 years so it was a nice little reunion of sorts for them.

The three of us – plus Randy – had a good time spending time with each other and I enjoyed talking to Allie and spending time getting to know Ellena, their 1-year-old daughter.

I think it made Dennis feel good. He said that he doesn’t get a lot of time to just hang out. The purpose of our trip was to spend some time with him and show him, through our jokes and friendship, that we’re right there with him in his fight against lymphoma.

When I returned home Lis and Lukas were both happy to see us. Lukas adores Josh (but why?) and spent the hour drive home chatting it up with him.

I was hoping that with summer upon us I’d be able to blog more frequently. Instead its been the total opposite.

As I mentioned previously things have been quite hectic for the Johnson clan. In the last 12 weekends just once did we not have something -- work, wedding, birthday party, casino night, Relay for Life, retirement party -- planned. Fortunately, it should all slow down after this weekend.

Not that I’m complaining about having things planned. The majority of the things we’ve done the past couple of months have been a ton of fun. It’s just nice though knowing that on a Saturday afternoon, if the three of us want to go for a bike ride or a hike we can get up and go.

So now I’m writing with just another boring update on what’s happening with the Johnson clan.

And the answer: Not a whole heckuva lot.

This past weekend my brothers and I DJ’d a retirement party for some friends of our family. The three of us spent a good portion of the night drinking wine and entertaining ourselves. That’s all I will say about it, well maybe I’ll add this, while adjusting my collar, "tough crowd."

That night I got sick. I felt like I was going to faint, I felt like I needed to vomit, something wicked was inside of me. I ended up spending most of the night in the bathroom straining my intestines. Good thing for me I had to get up early to cover a triathlon.

After failing to get a hold of a fellow Goonie, and co-worker Mike, I got myself prepared and headed to the triathlon. Thankfully I’m married to a wonderful wife who drove me to the triathlon, allowing me to rest on the drive there, and hung out while I interviewed men and women that are in incredible shape.

After the triathlon I came home and rested. I had a softball game scheduled at 3:30pm and wasn’t sure if I’d be good to go. At 1:30 I was. At 2:00 I wasn’t. At 2:30, and after watching a clip of Kirk Gibson’s dramatic walk-off home run in the 1988 World Series, I was and I told Lis and Lukas to get ready for some softball in the sun.

I was glad I went as the entire crew was there and Graham brought us our dark green jerseys with our killer trucker-style hats. It was like Little League all over again. That one day after practice or before a game when the coach plops the big box full of hats and t-shirts and starts passing out the uni’s.

We went on to win the first game and get blasted in the second. I was a designated hitter for the better part of the two games, playing just four innings in the field. Good thing too because I recorded three errors. I’ll blame my glove first and then my illness second. All three plays I caught the ball in the webbing of my mitt only to have the ball fall out of my glove. Argh!

Things have worked have changed a bit. The Boss Lady is out and the new guy is in. He showed up last Friday and we rearranged the office. It looks sharp and I’m excited for the new era to begin. I also got new business cards with my photo on it. They took look sharp, so sharp that I haven’t been doing a good job of passing them out.

Wednesday I went to a Chamber of Commerce luncheon and hobnobbed with other business peoples in the local town. I actually knew quite a few people, mostly from the cancer walk, playing softball and working for the newspaper. Made me feel good knowing that people in the community know me because I’ve been doing things in the community.

That’s about us in a nutshell.

While others were lighting fireworks, watching fireworks, or creating fireworks, we were celebrating my Mom turning the page on a new chapter of her life. On July 4 my Mom turned the big five-oh. That’s right 50 and one of the hippest 50-year-old Mom of three boys in the West.

Unfortunately, we didn’t celebrate her birthday with a bang. Sure we had a barbecue and lit some sparklers, oh and Dad made some daiquiri’s but there was no big hoopla. I felt kind of bad and was hoping she wasn’t disappointed that we didn’t throw her a huge party, but I think she understands that a) her birthday fell on a Wednesday and everyone had to work the following day and b) the family flew up last year for Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th wedding anniversary. And frankly that was a damn good party and nothing I could try to plan would top that.

So we kept with the usual family barbecue and had a relaxing Fourth of July.

We did do some partying for her birthday, though it wasn’t on her actual b-day.

On Saturday we partied like rock stars hitting up Pioneer Square in Seattle for a night on the town. Mom mentioned wanting to go clubbin’ and we did. Lis, my brothers, our friends, my Dad, Mom’s brother Steve, Mom’s aunt June and even my Grandparents, all went partying with us.

I had set up reservations at a club for my Mom’s party. They hooked us up with a taco buffet, balloons, drink specials and a little reserved seating area for our crew. The food was good and we were able to hang out and chit-chat for a few hours before hitting the dance floor.

Oh I forgot to mention that we turned the motor home into a party wagon and drove that downtown. Once we arrived we took a few shots (four) and smoked on some stogies (cigars). Randy and I had bought a cigar for all the guys. I don’t usually smoke but a cigar once every four years doesn’t really hurt anyone does it?

We hit up three clubs that night and we all had a fun time celebrating my Mom’s birthday.

Sunday morning I woke up and Lis and I realized that we’re just too darn old for this stuff. We were very thankful for our friends Sarah and Graham, who along with Hudson, babysat Lukas for us for the night. I guess Lukas gave them a little trouble when nighttime came but overall he was a good kid. At least that’s what they told us.

Sunday we had softball and it was just too awful to talk about. I hit the ball well (6-for-8, four RBI) but defensively we sucked. Hopefully we bounce back this weekend.

Tuesday I took the day off and took Randy to see "Transformers" for his birthday. He had blabbed on about Shia LeBeouf, the human lead in the movie, and about how cool this kid was. Well he didn’t disappoint. The movie was entertaining and I left satisfied. It’s your typical summer blockbuster. I’m not going to leave thinking this movie "transformed" by life, but it was very entertaining and fun to watch.

Wednesday was the Fourth and like I said we didn’t do much. My parents brought over sparklers for Lukas to play with and surprisingly he had a fun time with them. He wasn’t afraid of the fire or the spark and wanted more and more. I think Lis and I were more frightened than he was.

Things at work have been going well. The Boss Lady is retiring and sold her agency to a friend of hers from way back when. I was a little weary by this change, just because the Boss Lady had spoken to me about taking over the agency when she decided to retire. She never talked to me and I wondered what the future had in store for me. If some dude was going to take over, am I just stuck in a job that I can’t go anywhere in.

Well this new guy has some things in store for us. First he reorganized the office, which we spent half the day doing today. It looks great and I’m already excited. He put up a new neon sign which should attract some people. And most importantly, he’s a sales guy that rewards people when they sell. Which means incentives, commissions, and the potential to make some serious dough. I’m excited. I never really thought of myself as a sales person as all I’ve done is sat behind a desk and wait for the phone to ring. Now I’ll go on sales calls, attend meetings, luncheons and help in promoting myself and the agency. I’m excited about this new venture - a new challenge. I even got business cards with my picture on it!

So as you might tell I’m now a bit more excited about work. Of course once the "newness" wears off I’m sure I’ll go back to being grumpy, but in the meantime I’ll do my best to enjoy it.