March 2019

March was a mix of sickness and travel for the Johnsons. The sickness lasted all month long including during some of the travel but despite Influenza B's best efforts (even after getting a flu shot in October) we refused to be stopped!

The month started off right with a romantic getaway weekend. A lovely stay at a beautiful hotel and room service. Perfection.

I love luxury hotels and romantic weekends!

Pretty much right after this all of the sickness hit. It has lasted and is still going strong for over three and a half weeks. Early in the month Ailey came home with a cold and it has been downhill since then. We all got colds and then seemed to get over them and then they kept coming back again and again.

During a day or two break from feeling crappy we traveled to the Tri-Cities, WA to watch Ailey and her dance team perform at Districts. They did such a great job!! Kameron was working so Tyler, Bryn, and I had a fun day in a town that we only ever drive through going other places.

We watched Ailey perform and then went out to explore the city. We went out for lunch and then went to get dessert at a cute little cupcake shop.

We went to some cute shops that had been recommended to me by my friend Brenda. There are some darling vintage shops in the Tri-Cities. We also walked along the Columbia River which was cold but super pretty!

We loved the swinging park benches!!

Ailey and most of the dance team came home from Districts sick and throwing up with some kind of stomach virus. We hoped that it wouldn't spread through the family since we were just getting over colds. Only Bryn got a mild case of it thank goodness.

We had a ton of snow that has lasted forever!! We had the worst cabin fever!! We tried to get out and get some fresh air despite feeling crappy and being SO OVER winter! That snow bank was almost as tall as Bryn.

Check out this enormous snowman that we saw on a walk. It was awesome!

When the snow got to be too much we headed inside to the Gaiser Conservatory to look at spring flowers. Besides at Christmas, this is when I enjoy the Conservatory the most. I love going inside and seeing all of the beautiful flowers when it is snowy and cold outside. It always gives me hope for spring.

There are even orange trees!

We celebrated Pi Day for the first time ever! I surprised my kids with a homemade pecan pie as their afternoon snack. They were shocked. Ha ha! I'm not sure that will become a regular *holiday* but who doesn't love an unexpected slice of homemade pecan pie?!

One Sunday in an early morning daze Ailey was so tired that she thought that she was putting on lip gloss but it turned out it was MASCARA!! We about died laughing!!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day!

We do enjoy this silly little holiday! It happened to fall on a Sunday so we were scrounging around trying to find green clothing for church. Let's just say that we don't have much in the hue of green to begin with and basically zero in dress clothes but we did our best to be festive.

Unfortunately Kam said NO! to this!! Ha ha!!

We forgot to put our corned beef in the crockpot before church and then I had to go with Tyler and Kam to pick up some furniture in Idaho that could only be picked up that Sunday afternoon so our St. Paddy's Day feast was quite a bit later than we normally eat but it all worked out. Hats and all!!

Reilly and Hunter weren't able to come and poor Reilly was really sad about that! She hates missing out on our weird family traditions. Our St. Patrick's Day meal is one of her favorites and she has even asked me to make it for her birthday...in November. Ha Ha! I loved the texting thread that occurred between me, my siblings, and my mom with all of us talking about what we were making for St. Patrick's Day. We were all making corned beef and we all think that we each have the best way of making it. LOL.

We ate by candlelight this year!

Bryn had spirit week at school but we only managed to take pictures of "Favorite Team Day" and a random pic on "Hat Day":

I got this pic while she was practicing piano that morning. Bryn is doing a great job with piano this year. She is flying through her books and is ready to move up a level. She loves to play and never complains about practicing! Hallelujah.

Hat Day...Bryn loves that crazy minion hat. She wore it LONG after school was over. Ha ha!

Ailey had her spring choir concert but unfortunately we had to leave right after she performed. Luckily her choir performed first because Bryn and Tyler both had fevers and felt terrible. Don't let that smile on Bryn's face fool you. She felt awful.

The next week Kameron had his spring band concert and I wasn't able to go to that because I was so sick! Ugh... this stuff we have had is horrible. We have had to cancel so many plans and miss so many things. It has sucked.

Track season and Bloomsday Training were supposed to start for Bryn but with all of the snow they were postponed indefinitely. It is now April 2nd and *hopefully* they start next week. That sucks for her though missing almost a month of track.

Kameron asked Abbey to Prom:

In case you need a translation... I did... It says: Abbey, You're always lookin sharp so I thought it'd be natural if I asked you flat out...Prom?

Luckily Abbey also plays the trumpet in the band so she got it! I also needed a translation for the poster that Kam used to ask Carly out to Homecoming that was political. The kid is hilarious. FYI- Abbey said yes.

Also, Kam's hair is something else right now. It is so curly and out of control. His friends bet him $50 to grow it out for several months and it is KILLING ME!! I have offered him $50 bucks to just cut it so many times and he has refused.

Ailey's dance team qualified for State so she got to travel to Yakima. The dance that qualified was one that only the upperclassmen were in... their Military routine. They came in fourth at Districts in Pom (the dance Ailey was in). But Ailey still got to go to state, stay overnight, and had a grand time. She was all dressed and ready to perform in case one of the older girls got sick or hurt. We were kind of relieved that Ailey wasn't performing because I was going to be out of town for 6 days and Kam was headed to Hawaii and that meant Tyler and Bryn didn't have to do a little road trip on their own to Yakima but Ailey still got to go and have fun.

Team Breakfast at Hogan's before they left for Yakima:

The dance team in their military costumes.

Ailey had a blast at State!

Then I flew to San Francisco for six days. More to come in another post. 

And...Kameron flew to Hawaii for a week on a school trip. 

While I was gone Tyler was sick, Ailey was sick, Bryn was sick, Kameron was sick, and I was sick. I thought we were on our third round of colds that just kept coming back with a vengeance. Turns out it was Influenza B...even after getting flu shots. :( It has been kicking our butts. I have never felt so sick in my life.

At the instacare...Tyler refused to be in our sickly photo. LOL.

We are on three and a half weeks of this crap. Tyler also now has a sinus infection and I have bronchitis. It is like the cold from hell that will not go away. I had to have blood drawn to make sure I didn't have mono or Epstein Bar or something else going on. Both tests came back negative. Tyler and I are now both on antibiotics. Kam, Ailey, and Bryn seem to be on the mend. Apparently symptoms from Influenza B can last 3-4 weeks. The doctor said that the flu vaccine covered the first strain of flu that went around and missed two other strains that hit later in the year. It is miserable.

We have missed so many things with friends and fun events this month. No book club for me because I was so sick but the book that we read was:

I learned a lot of helpful information!!

One bright spot was that by the time I got back from San Francisco all of the snow had melted at our house and we had three ft deep snowbanks when I left! Hooray! I couldn't believe my eyes. That fast of a thaw caused some minimal flooding in our basement while I was gone but nothing too crazy which was nice!

This momentous meeting occurred which was pretty cool for our church!

General Conference is just around the corner and I can't wait!

Ailey led the music in Sacrament Meeting one Sunday! Tyler's mother was SO THRILLED to see Ailey following in her footsteps!! LOL. Not the most reverent picture but one that was needed!!

Bryn had Parent/Teacher conference which I was also too sick to attend. Thank goodness Tyler was hanging in there and was able to go with Brynnie. She is doing FABULOUS!! I can't believe that we are already on the downhill side of the school year. It is so crazy.

We are now on Spring Break and it isn't our best one. We are trying to get over all this crap. We have scrubbed down and lysoled every surface of this house so many times!! Ugh...it is relentless.  Kam is still in Hawaii and having an AMAZING adventure!! More to come on that. Here's to April and to better health!!