March had a little of everything for the Johnsons. It feels like a lot happened and nothing much happened. The weather improved and so did our moods. Spring was on its way in and winter was on its way out and that felt great! Flowers were starting to come up and the sun was shining! The mask mandate for WA State finally ended and it felt great to rip that thing off of our faces.
St. Patrick's Day came and went and we celebrated! We ate my mom's corned beef and her beer bread, my grandma's green punch, Ailey's mint brownies, and all the sides. It was fabulous and we need to eat this meal more often than once a year. We also sent a St. Patrick's Day care package to Kameron.
Reilly and Hunter sadly missed out. Hunter's family was celebrating several family birthdays on the day that we celebrated. The girls (and Tyler) requested green lunches and...shamrock shakes were consumed. It was delightful!
Kameron had transfers this month but stayed in New Prague. He was really happy about that and he also got a new companion. His new comp is a kid from Pocatello. He and Kameron get along really well. Kameron's still a district leader. They've had a fun and productive month while still managing to squeeze in some P-Day fun.
One of the members of their branch has a cotton candy business. She had the elders come over and create some new flavors. They had a blast!
They played a lot of basketball on those snowy Minnesota P-Days.
Bryn enjoyed critiquing his "form." LOL.
Kameron was happy that his mission president finally lifted all of the COVID restrictions. They can street contact now. That is a new experience for him. We finally got to take our masks off at church too. It's the first time we haven't had to wear masks in the State of WA since last June! Kameron also hit his "last hundred days" of his mission. We are super excited for him to come home in July. This last stretch has been really dragging for us (me). Also this month, Jackson, one of Kam's cousins on Tyler's side got his mission call to the Minneapolis Minnesota Mission!! It was so exciting! Unfortunately these two cousins will miss each other by two weeks but Kameron will be a good resource for him. Go Minnesota! Apparently the Lord needs the Kofford cousins to do His work in Minnesota right now. One leaves and another arrives to take his place.
Ailey had her Spring Choir Concert. This was her last *choir only* concert. She will have one more big music department concert in May and then...that's it. She did a great job and it was fun to watch her!
It was so fun to get all of the missionaries serving in our stake involved with the primary kids and get them all hyped to serve a mission. The missionaries were so cute and helped with all of the activities, stations, and crowd control. LOL. Tyler was off with the YM and Ailey was working so Bryn came and volunteered at the activity and did an awesome job!
Ailey spent most of the month prepping for her Orlando trip. There was a mandatory parent night about all of the travel details. She also had a lot of choir practices, shopping for warm weather clothes, and working extra shifts at work.
Ailey and her best friend Maren.
The high school dance team went to the middle school one day during lunch to talk to the incoming freshman about trying out for the dance team. Ailey got to see Brynnie.
Ailey said that some of the middle school boys were taking pictures of the dance team and asking for their snap chats. There are several boys from our ward who are in middle school and know Ailey. A kid from our ward's friends bet him $20 to go ask one of the dance team to take a picture with him and ask for her snap chat. This kid boldly went up to Ailey, to his friends amazement, and hilariously won the $20!!
Ailey also got asked to Prom by her friend James. Not that many promproposals around here unless you are LDS or extremely *extra.* Utah must be SO exhausting with everything having to be such a big deal. Ailey's prom date was like, "Wanna go to Prom?" and Ailey said, "Sure." End of story. Not even a picture was taken. LOL.
At the end of the month Ailey headed to Florida and had the time of her life!!
Bryn had a more low-key month. She is in between sports seasons which was kind of nice for all of us. She stayed busy enough with piano, orchestra, field trips, friends, and YW. Bryn had her spring orchestra concert. I was the only one able to go and I was sitting in a horrible location so I don't have any good videos or even a decent picture. #momfail. She got the 80s treatment. I don't think my mom ever took one picture of me performing at anything! Ha ha!
Tyler and I had some fun date night/days this month. We found a new hiking trail that we are super excited about and can't wait to drag the kids along. Most of our children don't *love* hiking so this one is pretty nonthreatening, It will be a good trail to start them on.
Tyler did more hiking with the YM and went on a camp out with them in the Washington scab lands. He had a great time!
He is very excited to take the whole family out here to hike to a series of little water falls.
We also dusted off our bikes and hit the trail! It felt so good to be back on our bikes!
We did 16 miles along the Lake CDA shore. The weather was gorgeous and I do feel like the Peloton kept me in better bike riding shape over the winter. We also bought another kayak so that we can get on the water earlier this year. I prefer paddle boarding but I can get on the water several months earlier with the kayak so I'm excited about that!
We didn't see a whole lot of Reilly this month. A few days here and there. March is a big month for Hunter's family with a lot of events. She house sat and watched Beverly for us when we headed out of town at the end of the month and she came over and did Ailey's eyelashes before she left for Orlando. Reilly started an online marketing company as a side gig and she is having a lot of fun getting that off the ground. She is our little entrepreneur!
We had a lot of appointments and some sickies. Bryn got sick and missed a few days of school. Thank goodness it wasn't COVID. Ailey had a dental appointment and got two fillings. She also got a referral to the oral surgeon to get her wisdom teeth removed. We still need to schedule it. It's hard navigating tooth removal around things like senior trips and prom etc. Bryn had her dental appointment and got a referral to the orthodontist. Ailey has the same weird knee issues that Kameron had. Weak muscles that hold their knee caps in place. She went to the orthopedic surgeon and PT was recommended. Tyler had an appointment with his endocrinologist and his A1C was the best it has ever been so that was really exciting! I battled migraines this month. They were truly awful. I think they are hormone related. Thanks perimenopause. I think I need to up my migraine prescription. My regular dose wasn't working. I spent way too much time in a darkened bedroom with a heating pad on my head. Ugh. I have an appointment next month to get my hormone levels checked. I also got my yearly mammogram. This year I had some anxiety around this, which I usually never do, but two of my friends (who are my age) are currently battling breast cancer. They are troopers. I was relieved that my results were normal. Even Beverly had her vet check up. The little fatty is now two pounds over weight (she is still the smallest pug I see around town) but now we are on a strict after dinner walk regimen with her. She's not a fan! She is like a lazy cat.
Exhibit A!
She loves to just lay in the sun. Me too Bevs! Me too. She also had her birthday and turned three. She's the best!
We had an ant invasion (in Bryn's room) and Tyler nearly ripped the house apart in his rage to find the source of the "little bastards" which to his credit... he did... but it was after being a contortionist and shimming up into our attic and then also crawling on his stomach army style in our crawl space under the house all while delighting us with his moods. Thankfully the source was found and the ants departed.
He also informed me that up in our attic there is an old mattress and sleeping bag and some other stuff that looks like someone used to hang out up there. Did I freak? Yes. After he calmed me down that it didn't look *recent* he told me that the stuff looks like it's from the Vietnam War era (army stuff). Don't care. (Our house was built in 1952.) The attic is extremely difficult to get into...you have to remove a panel in Tyler's closet...shimmy into a VERY TIGHT SPACE (in the wall) heave yourself up into the attic and then army crawl to the other side of the house. I asked him how long he has known about the *stuff in the attic* and he said "since we moved in" and when I asked why he didn't tell me this before he replied with, "Because I didn't want to freak you out". Too late sir. I feel this is a story that never needed to be told. Does that closet door randomly bang shut for no reason? Of course it does.
Also after the great ant hunt we did a huge spring de-junking of the house/garage/storage units. It was awesome! I also paid Bryn to organize my closet. Best money ever spent. I finally found a shoe shelving system that SPARKS such joy! I literally open my closet multiple times a day just to gaze at the beautiful organization. We also bought a new bed for Kameron. Ailey took his bed when he left for his mission and doesn't plan to give it back. Since he will be home in a few short months we needed to find him a bed.
This was the last month of ward conferences and it was a doozy. Every Sunday I was in one, two, or even three different wards and that included the Swahili branch. On some of the long Sundays a lunch was provided for stake leaders and it was definitely appreciated! I enjoyed visiting all of the wards and primaries. It was fun to see so many friends and I enjoyed the camaraderie of the stake leaders. The Swahili branch was especially interesting to visit. The service is completely in Swahili with English translations projected onto the wall for talks but not for anything else. It was so cool! I loved the music! It was actually loud, joyful, uplifting, and inspiring music with drumming. Not the usual funeral dirges we hear/sing in church on Sunday. We need a music upgrade! Ailey's friend's parents are over the Swahili branch and Ailey and Maren attended a dinner that the Swahili branch had. Ailey said that it was really fun and was super proud of herself (a vegetarian) for eating goat. Not just any old goat. A goat that had been slaughtered the day before and then prepared especially for the celebration!
Our ward had a talent show. Tyler performed a funny act with the bishopric and Bryn performed a lip sync with the YW. It was pretty hilarious!
My Stake Primary Presidency put on a huge Stake Primary Missionary Activity. It was A LOT of work but it was also a lot of fun and turned out really well!! We do two big activities a year. One down and one to go!
That same weekend Bryn and I got to have some fun Mother/Daughter time. We shopped, ate out several times, got froyo and petit fours, and watched an 80s double feature of Dirty Dancing and Say Anything. She was a fan! Bryn is fun to hang out with and she is so easy going which is appreciated and not a word that describes any of our other children. LOL.
In some sad news...my BFF from college, Tiffany, lost her dad this month. Parents are dropping like flies these days. Her dad was only 73 and it was quite unexpected. I love her family and this was HARD. Her dad was a single dad at the same time that my mom was a single mom and we were always trying to get them together Brady Bunch style. LOL.
Speaking of fathers...my father did all of his estate planning this month. He wanted me to be a co-executor of his estate along with his stepson, Doug. I said... NO WAY!!! I NEVER want to have to deal with my sisters in this capacity EVER again. Eventually he went with Doug as the primary and Doug's wife as the secondary which I was thrilled about. There is no way that I ever want to have to deal with my sisters in another situation like the one we continue to be in with my mom's estate!!
Speaking of that...it's tax season and it ain't pretty. Capital Gains. There were too many sibling emails in my inbox this month. One sister in particular needs to give it a REST and move on with her life. She spends ALOT of time and energy contacting Kirk and I to tell us how much she can't wait to have no contact with us. It's actually so ridiculous that it's hilarious. Kirk and I have had zero contact with any of them. We only speak directly to our trust accountant.
Then in the midst of all of this... another sister contacts all of our daughters to invite them (and Hunter) to dinner at the Olive Garden to celebrate her daughter's birthday! I can't make this stuff up! My kids were like "What do we do?" It's insanity. I love my nieces and nephews and said that they should probably go and support their cousin. They sent me this picture from the parking lot. LOL.
They said that dinner went okay. This particular sister stayed away from sensitive topics (good) and I was glad that our niece was able to celebrate her birthday with her cousins. Although an escape plan was in place should the dinner have gone south.
I also got my final payout from my grandparents trust. Hallelujah. No more contact needed from that uncle either. So the great news is that both family trusts closed out this month! Buh-bye! Maybe we can finally get some peace and quiet.
In some *happy* family news...occasionally it does happen...ha ha. My cousin Wendy, her husband Ben, and their kids came to town. We met up with them and got all of the kids together including my cousin Justin's kids. It was good to visit with Wendy and Ben!! Ailey and their daughter are going to be roomies next fall! I was too busy chatting and took zero pictures.
One weekend Tyler and I went to a vintage show in Idaho, as customers not vendors, and it felt great! It was fun to see friends and I found some great things for my house. Midtown Market's sales continue to be steady. This month was a little slower but we have our big Spring Open House coming up next month that I've been busy prepping for. Inflation, gas prices, the war in Ukraine, and the continuing effects of COVID have taken such a toll on small businesses. I'm grateful for steady sales and grateful to be able to support my friends too.
That's really about it this month. We filled our house with tulips all month to combat the gray outside. I was kicking myself for not planting crocuses. I need EARLY color. My flowers are just starting to come up. We saw friends...ate sushi...tried to be outside as much as possible...found a new gelato place...watched a couple of movies...continued to be heartsick over Ukraine...and I joined WW again hopefully that combined with intermittent fasting will do some good!
Then on the 30th Tyler dropped Ailey off at the airport at 3:30 am to fly to Orlando and the next day we left for Seattle for our Spring Break!
