The gang's all here! In April we have a full house once more! Ailey and Kameron are home and Reilly, Hunter, and Karson are over here a lot. It's been pretty wonderful to have everyone in the same city once again. The month started out with snow and ended in the 90s. Flowers are finally blooming and it has been a pretty great month.
We started April out with General Conference. We love it and were really looking forward to watching. Kameron, lucky boy, got tickets to not just one, or two, but three sessions of General Conference and road tripped from Rexburg to Salt Lake for the weekend with his friends. We picked out all of our snacks and conference foods. Ailey was facetiming us with her conference set-up with her friends and her snacks. There was a lot of live texting happening on our family chat throughout the weekend. Kam said there must be some sort of cell signal blocker or scrambler in the conference center because try as he might he wasn't able to live text us anything. He sent us one picture from inside and that was it.
He LOVED it! One of the sessions that he attended was the Sunday morning session so he got to see the prophet and hear him speak in person. He said that it was really powerful. Only Tyler has ever actually attended General Conference in person before. Also no Elder Holland this time. He and his wife were sick with COVID. Later in the month the church announced that he was taking some time off and has been excused from his church assignments and meetings for the next few months as he has some medical treatments and recovers from COVID. I guess he is on kidney dialysis. This kind of "time off" has never happened before.
Sunday of General Conference was Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week. I love Holy Week and I loved that it coincided with Conference this year. Tyler made us his delicious homemade crepes.
Here's Bryn's set up:
And Beverly's:
Pugs for Jesus!
Ailey's set-up and snacks:
There were no big announcements this time. It was pretty low key but nice with many talks about having unity and being decent kind human beings who are peacemakers.
It snowed most of conference weekend here and there was still quite a bit of snow in Utah too. It was weird not seeing the beautiful spring flowers on Temple Square.
Right after Conference weekend...Bryn's Spring Break began. Nothing says fun Spring Break like constant snow! We were leaving for Rexburg to pick up the college kids at the end of the week. Who knew that we would be watching the weather and the mountain passes like hawks. So crazy. Kameron and Ailey finished up their finals and were packed up to come home for almost 5 months. FIVE! I think we are all a little freaked out by that. BYU-Idaho and their weird trimester situation causes school to start late and end early.
Before we left town for Southern Idaho... Reilly and Karson came over and hung out. Karson turned two months old at the start of April. He is the absolute cutest little guy! He smiles and coos and loves to snuggle and be held. No complaints here. Lovey will take all the snuggles because soon we will have to share him with two more people. LOL. It's fun to have Reilly and Karson stopping by. Tyler grabbed Thai take out for all of us on his way home from work. Hunter has started working on his uncle's farm again. Reilly hung out with us from about two in the afternoon until about 9pm. It was wonderful! I remember going to my mom's house a lot when Reilly was a baby too. It was nice to get out of our apartment and to see other people. It was also nice to have a whole bunch of people who wanted to hold and help with the baby.
As it approached the time for us to head to Rexburg the snow remained and the kids told us to pack winter gear. Ailey rented a little storage unit to hold her stuff in until she comes back in the fall. Kam helped her move her stuff out of her apartment and into the storage unit. He had to borrow a pick ax to chip away the ice to get into her storage unit.
As the semester ended Kam was hanging out with a new girl and Ailey and her boyfriend were still going strong. That made heading home for several months somewhat less appealing.
Right before we headed out of town there was the Pink Full Moon. Here in Spokane there was actually a big pink ring around it which was beautiful to see! Our weather was starting to warm up here but the passes were still a bit iffy. Ugh. We headed out of town early on a Thursday morning. So Bryn actually DID get to go somewhere for Spring Break...Rexburg, Idaho! Lucky Duck!
I'll post about our trip/Easter in its own post. We actually had a REALLY fun trip!
The day after we got back in town was Bryn's Birthday! 14!! She had a big plan of what she wanted to do for her family celebration that weekend. On her actual birthday she woke up to donuts, chocolate milk, a balloon, and a cute little plant.
Bryn wore her "purple party pants" as she calls them to school. I love it! Her friends surprised her with Starbucks and gifts. Ailey brought her a fast food lunch at school as per tradition. She picked Taco Bell of course!
While Ailey was delivering Bryn her lunch I was here:
The gynecologist's office. It was my yearly exam and time for my pap too. Yehaw. My doctor retired and I have a new one now. I like her. The good news is that I am only a few short months away from being officially in menopause. If I can get to June without a period I am official. Last year I got close and then boom...period. Unfortunately being in menopause doesn't mean that all the horrible menopausal symptoms immediately go away. Hot flashes are straight from hell!! My apologies to my mother for mocking her wearing a tank top with the windows open in December! My doctor and I looked over my chart and previous history and my perimenopause seems pretty typical. Things started up in 2017 with my period getting super heavy and staying that way for a good 4 years and then about 2 years ago the hot flashes really kicked in. I am officially on year 6 of having perimenopausal symptoms. I wish I could talk to my mom about her menopausal history but from what I remember I think she was around 50 when she officially hit menopause.
Anyway...back to Bryn's birthday! Reilly, Hunter, and Karson stopped by after Bryn got home from school to bring her birthday gifts and a pink drink from Starbucks. Bryn was thrilled! Plus any extra time to snuggle Karson is a gift! After they left Tyler, Bryn, Ailey, and I went to our favorite local bookstore and Bryn got to pick out some books for her birthday! This store gives you a free book on your birthday and then I had a filled punch card so got her another free book and then Tyler and I bought her two more books. Is there anything better than getting books on your birthday?! Bryn's YW group and leaders stopped by with birthday surprises too and then we did a DQ run for dinner.
We almost forgot to have her make a wish on her actual birthday and not doing so would be bad luck! Luckily she had a few donuts left from that morning and some celebratory siblings and parents to sing to her just in the nick of time!
We love our Birthday Brynnie!! 14 and looks 18! Sheesh!!
Right around this time Bryn's track season started. She has practices 5 days a week and some are early morning. Her meets don't start until May though. Most of Bryn's besties are all running track too and she was happy to be back in some kind of sport. She is always the happiest when she is busy and involved in sports. It is also REALLY nice to have two extra drivers again!! It totally helps getting Bryn to and from all of her activities!! Tyler and I have been able to have some nice long and lengthy date nights/days since the college kids have come home!
The college kids were busy applying for jobs and catching up on their sleep. They hung out with Reilly quite a bit. One day they all went on an outing to Kendall Yards. Karson was in the stroller and they walked him all over and got ice cream. Then they went shopping. I'm glad that they enjoy being together and are good to want to help Reilly and give her a little break with Karson especially with Hunter back at work.
Kendall Yards is one of our favorite areas. The view is gorgeous and there are some amazing restaurants. We like to lime scooter on the path along the river!! I'm so glad that they revamped this part of the city that just used to be an old railroad yard.
Ailey had a weird health incident occur...of course she did. This kid has had the weirdest health situations this past year. Ailey went running at the park one afternoon and started feeling light headed. She had driven to the park so she went to the car and called us. She said that she felt like she had low blood sugar and that she was having a hard time seeing...black edges and blurry vision. Tyler and I weren't too far away. Tyler gave her a couple of glucose tablets and took her blood sugar. It was low. Very low. Her blood sugar started coming up pretty quickly and I drove her home. We think she might be hypoglycemic. She has had a few incidents before but not quite as severe. While she was on the dance team if she didn't eat something before practice she could feel light-headed and woozy. So she always tried to eat something before dancing. Then last summer when Tyler and I were on our trip to South Carolina she had another incident. Bryn called us to say that she thought Ailey was low. (Our kids are champs at intuitively knowing if someone has low or high blood sugar!) Tyler told Bryn to have Ailey drink some orange juice which she did and she was fine. That was the last incident...and then this situation at the park. It was a hot day and she was running. Heat and exercise make Tyler's blood sugar plummet. He always has to have some glucose tabs on him. It looked like the same thing was happening with Ailey. While diabetes doesn't necessarily run in families you can have a genetic predisposition. Our doctor said that the stats were about 1 in 4 for having a diabetic child. Tyler's dad was also a Type 1 diabetic. Tyler's good friend James who is a Type 1 has three of his four children who are diabetic. Kind of crazy. Also viruses can trigger diabetes. That's what happened with Tyler when he was seven. And...with all the dang viruses and everything else Ailey has had this last year...who knows. She made an appointment with her doctor but she couldn't get in for a couple of weeks.
Midtown Market had their Spring Open House and I did a TON of work prepping for that event! Two busy vendor nights in a row to bring a new SPRING vibe into my booth and the whole store was transformed.
I had a bunch of things stockpiled and set aside for the open house. Tyler and Kam hooked up the trailer and lugged all of my furniture for me. I love having extra furniture luggers! Our kids are really so kind to help out when needed. I appreciate it!
We did Bryn's Day-O-Fun family birthday celebration the Saturday after her birthday. She had a whole day's worth of activities picked out and it was really fun! First up, she wanted to go to the Funky Junk Antiques Show in Sandpoint, Idaho. This is the vintage show that I used to do and it used to be on Labor Day weekend. When we first started doing Funky Junk they used to have two shows...a spring show and then the Labor Day show. Anyway...they've stopped doing the Labor Day show and have gone back to having a spring show. I think it worked out really well for them this year!
Reilly, Hunter, and Karson met us at the show. I thought the show's theme and entrance this year were so fun! Our friends Jennifer and Nathan are the show promoters and we love them!! Our kids have all grown up at this show and it holds a very special place in our hearts.
It was so good to see my dear friend Jennifer "Ms. Funky Junk" herself! She is one of the most creative people that I know. I love her dearly!
I also saw another long time and dearly loved friend...another Jennifer...and a long time vintage show buddy. It was so fun to introduce Karson to our friends.
You can't see it but Karson is smiling away in this picture. It was fun to take him to his first vintage show and to a place full of friends and memories of his Great-Grandma Vic.
After Funky Junk we headed to Starbucks for some snacks. We were planning to take Kam to see my Mom's clinic but it was closed on Saturdays. Shoot. We drove by it so that he could at least see it from the outside. Then we drove back to Coeur d' Alene to go to Midtown Market's Spring Open House. We talked to friends there and Bryn did some birthday shopping. Reilly did some shopping too. There were so many fun things!
Here are a couple of pictures that Reilly took in my booth:
After Midtown Market Bryn wanted to go out for sushi so we went to our favorite sushi place, Sushi I, in Coeur d' Alene. It was fantastic as always!
Karson had a great time! LOL! That sweet face.
His expressions are like a 40 year old man in a baby's body. He is hilarious.
After sushi Bryn wanted to go walk on the boardwalk at the resort. Karson had a giant diaper blowout and had to head back to Spokane immediately. Ahh...the joys of grandparenthood and not parenthood. Ha ha!
The light was really pretty so we made the beautiful birthday girl pose.
Ailey literally jumped in the picture!
It was so pretty and a little misty. We watched a seaplane land on the lake. It was a gorgeous night! Then it was back to Spokane for presents and pie. Bryn loves all things plants so for her family party décor she wanted it to be plant themed with purple accents. We delivered and she was thrilled!
Bryn requested homemade cherry pie instead of her usual Texas Sheet cake as her birthday *treat*. She broke with tradition! Ha ha!
She was also super stoked to get tickets to her first concert!! She and Tyler (and Kam) are huge Foo Fighter fans! She's going with her dad! Foo Fighters was Kam's first concert too. We had such a great day celebrating this baby of the family who isn't much of a baby anymore. She is so grown up and doing so many great things! She is a joy!
After Bryn's birthday Ailey was back at the Instacare. This time for a UTI that had progressed to a kidney infection. She was put on more antibiotics. The doctor asked her if she had ever been checked for diabetes. That was kind of weird but the doctor said that UTI's can be a sign of diabetes and with her family history maybe she should get checked. She told him that she actually had an appointment in the next two weeks for some hypoglycemic symptoms. All of this is so crazy to be happening out of the blue.
Ailey and Kam were applying to all kinds of places this month and both got hired at several places. They were trying to figure out which work situations would be the best for them. Kam got hired at Nike but it was only part-time so he was trying to figure out which of his other prospects would work best with that job. He really wanted to work there. Ailey got hired at our gym which has been really fun!
Reilly and Karson came over and hung out with us one day. Their apartment complex was doing apartment inspections so they came over here. She also wanted to learn how to make my chicken salad and she needed to do some laundry. Baby laundry is never ending. Ailey and Kam were home for most of the day so it was fun to hang out together.
Karson rockin' the outfit Uncle Kam bought him including the baby Vans!!
Beverly is happy to have a full house. She likes to be where the action is and she likes to be very close. Exhibit A. Ailey was trying to do an ab workout and Beverly had to be right next to her!
Tyler and I have had some fun date days/nights. Tyler only works half days on Fridays so when the weather started improving mid-month we headed out for some hikes. We like hiking but we aren't serious hikers. We like a nice trail, pretty scenery, and it must be near water!
This was along the Spokane River but in North Idaho not Washington. It was really pretty!!
Another day we went hiking in Coeur d' Alene on Tubbs Hill. It was almost 90 degrees! We went from winter to summer in one week. The whole time we were hiking I just wanted to jump in the lake. People were already out on the water.
We tried out a great Korean food truck that day too. It felt like summer and I am a girl who loves summer! So long Winter and Spring! We immediately set up an appointment to get the boat summerized. That water was calling to us!!!
In all of our outdoor adventures we even spotted this guy!
We've also been regulars at the gym which has felt great! Bryn comes with us a lot too. Tyler and I are both lifting weights regularly and I am loving it!! Bryn and Tyler have had fun playing volleyball and shooting hoops in addition to regular workouts.
With all of the nice weather I was finally able to clean out my flower beds. Our hellacious winter has taken a severe toll on my plants. The snow came before the leaves on the trees turned colors and dropped and then the snow stayed for 5 months straight. There was no prepping the yard or my roses. At this point it looks like I have lost several of my 15 rose bushes. I cut them back and fed them and I'm hoping to see some signs of life. More on my garden and yard in another post. But the status of my plants has been a bummer to say the least and just when our yard was looking so good!! :(
Reilly and Karson came over another day and wanted to walk to the greenhouse down the street. It was a little field trip for Karson. Reilly put him in the front pack and Ailey and I walked with them to our favorite greenhouse.
This was one of my mom's favorite places and I love that my kids like coming here too. I should have driven though because I could NOT look at all that beauty and not buy anything. It is still too early to plant most things here. We have to wait until around Mother's Day to plant but I did end up buying two new peony bushes that Ailey and I had to lug home. LOL.
Tyler has been thrilled to have Kameron home. They are back at their many projects. The first was servicing all of our cars and taking off the snow tires and putting the regular tires back on. Kameron is good to help out. All the kids are pitching in and helping out and even cooking meals which has been so nice and much appreciated!! Now if only they could keep their rooms clean!! ;)
Bryn's been busy this month with track practice. She participated in the Volleyball Smack Down at the middle school. It was the boys against the girls and then the students against the faculty. The girls won and then the students won. Bryn had a ball!
Hmmm... who is gloating over their win?! Ha ha!
Here they are celebrating their victory with froyo!
Tyler has been busy with work, high council stuff, and his AutoCAD tutoring. He loves all of those things so it's all good except for the one night when he didn't get home from a high council meeting until10:30pm. That is too long! He also had to have an retinal dye eye test. The results were to be expected for a Type 1 diabetic of 45 years. Actually they are better than expected. No more eye shots for the foreseeable future.
Bryn had her first track meet. This one was the *practice* meet where times and scores don't count. It was fun to watch her back at it. Although she wasn't happy with her performance. That first meet is always the worst and she is trying to figure out what are her best events. She ran the 400 and did javelin and shot put. She is really good at both the javelin and the shot put. She did fine in the 400 too but she is hard on herself. I think the 800 and 1600 are her better events. She's not a sprinter but she is a darn good distance runner!!
I've been busy with my calling too. Thank goodness we had our last two ward conferences!! Finally. We have been doing those suckers since January. Ailey was a sweetheart and got Bryn to church and even attended our sacrament meeting with her on two different Sundays and then went to her own YSA ward later. Bryn was so happy to have her there!! Tyler and I attended the baptism of the daughter of our friends and Tyler helped to confirm her. It was really nice.
There was a crazy event that occurred right near our elementary school this month. Some guy barricaded himself in a house and was exchanging shots with the police. Everyone and everything nearby was on lockdown. It was pretty shocking. It is not an area where you would expect something like this to occur.
All of the surrounding houses were told to shelter in place. The nearby roads were closed all night and into the next day. They ended up sending in some chemicals, tazed the guy, and arrested him. Tyler's co-worker lives a street above the house that this took place at and was texting Tyler all of the updates. At one point there were 37 emergency vehicles including a helicopter surrounding the house. Craziness.
This month several of my friends had birthdays so it was fun to celebrate them. Our book club took a short hiatus for two months but it is back now and with a couple of new people. I love book club and I'm glad to be back! My sweet friend Nancy lost her husband. He was the one who had been on hospice. They are an elderly couple and it was expected but it is still so hard on her. Nancy is the biggest sweetheart.
Kam hung out a bit with some of his high school friends who stayed local for college. Ailey's friends are starting to trickle back into town. Kam headed to Florida at the end of the month for a week. He is checking out flight schools and staying with his roommates (two brothers) from BYU-I who are from there. He stayed for a week and had a spectacular time. One of his friends is getting married and had his bachelor's party while Kam was in town. Kameron got to check out the school and go up and do a flight with an instructor. He loved it!! He also loved Florida. He would really like to become a commercial airline pilot. He is planning to head back to Rexburg for another year and get his AA degree and then hopefully head to Florida to flight school. The only potential problem is his darn heart condition. He would need clearance from his cardiologist and that may not happen. He needs to have another appointment and another EKG. If he cannot get the health clearance...he will head back to BYU-I and think about plan B.
Before Kameron caught his flight for Florida we all went out for Mexican food with Reilly and Karson. Hunter is working some long hours on the farm right now so we haven't seen as much of him.
We thought Karson looked just like Charlie Brown from the back.
Am I right?!
Bryn has been signed up for all kinds of things this month and has had multiple "kick-offs". She is going to have a busy summer. She is signed up for the pioneer trek and had the kick-off for that. She is signed up for Girls Camp and had the kick-off for that. She is signed up for FSY and she is excited about going to that. Now to fit in the sports camps that she wants to do and potentially a summer class doing veterinary training that she also wants to do. LOL.
Here are a few of Kam's pictures from Florida:
Kam had a great time and stayed with Jared and Tyler at their parents house on the water. He had a great day on Cocoa Beach and one night they got hotel rooms in Daytona Beach for Jared's bachelor party. He got to spend quite a bit of time on their family's boat (basically a yacht) and loved every minute. He even saw Space X launch which he said was very cool.
He also took a private flying lesson from the school and has basically decided that Florida is the place for him. Ha ha!
While Kam was in Florida, Ailey had another hypoglycemic situation. Tyler put a CGM on her to monitor her blood sugar. She bottomed out that night and we were alarmed on our phones and had to wake her up and give her orange juice. Worrisome. She wore the CGM the rest of the month and beyond. Her blood sugar is running higher than normal so she really is having more of what looks like diabetic issues rather than hypoglycemic issues. Her blood sugar will get high and then sometimes her pancreas will produce an overload of insulin that then bottoms out her blood sugar. She's had numbers in the 200s down to around 35. It's wacky but at least she can monitor it now (and so can Tyler and I).
We did our first bike ride of the season. We went biking on one of our favorite trails along Lake CDA. We rode almost 16 miles. Not bad! The weather was in the 90s and heat and exercise really affect blood sugar levels so it was interesting to see what was happening with Ailey... I already know what happens with Tyler. Now I was on the alert for TWO of them!!
Everyone did okay with a few stops for a handful of skittles.
We had such a fun day! It was great to be back with my biking buddies!! As our family evolves and kids grow up and move out each smaller group gets their own culture, inside jokes, and favorite activities. Johnsons Party of Four like bike rides, Skip-Bo, and dessert from Huckleberry’s just to name a few! I was glad to have Ailey home and to be back on our bikes! We have always enjoyed biking with our kids and I remember the days of Tyler dragging Kam and Ailey behind his bike in the trailer and then Brynnie in the trailer. Reilly took off on her bike at a super young age and never looked back. So we have always enjoyed biking as a family but it is this particular configuration of kids that are super passionate about it. We did so much biking during COVID with Ailey and Bryn and it is still something that the four of us love to do together.
I dreaded the kids growing up and moving out and the configurations that would be left behind minus some siblings; but it has surprised me by turning out to be something unexpectedly special. Don't get me wrong. I love it when all of us are all together aka The Originals. But I also enjoy the culture, inside jokes, activities, and memories of Johnsons Party of 5. Johnsons Party of 4. The Cool Kids Club (Tyler, Me, Bryn) and the now more often the 1 & 4 Club (Tyler, Me, Reilly, and Bryn) and the 2 & 4 Club (Tyler, Me, Kam, and Bryn), the 2 & 3 Club (us with Kam and Ailey like when we make a quick trip to Rexburg), and the 1 & 2 Club (Us with Reilly and Kam) and now I guess we are officially Johnsons Party of 8. I know it's cheesy but somehow the little names for each group and the things we do make the growing up process easier and a little more special.
Speaking of special... prepare for doting grandparent pictures of Karson which is what this blog may totally evolve into!!
Could you resist this face?
Karson looking all tatted up in his outfit from Great-Aunt Lori! Ha ha!
Karson looking like Ralphie in his bunny suit! This picture cracks me up!
As fun as it has been to watch Reilly and Hunter settle into parenthood it has been just as fun watching Kameron, Ailey, and Bryn become a doting uncle and aunts who love and adore their nephew. Karson is pretty fond of them too.
