(That's what I call Karson.)
February 2024 was a leap year and we leaped from dreary slow January into a somewhat cheerier February!! The month started out with Karson's 1st birthday! On Karson's birthday Tyler and I brought Cafe Rio for lunch to Reilly's office. We got to play with our little boss baby and get some birthday snuggles and kisses in on Tyler's lunch hour.
Reilly and Hunter took Karson to Riverfront Park and he got to ride the carousel for the first time. So cute!
Trying his birthday cupcake with its sticky frosting!
A few days later, on the weekend, Karson had his big extended family birthday pizza party.
Karson kisses!
Karson had cute little cowboy cupcakes and cow print balloons. He was wearing a little pearl snap shirt that we found him in Montana and a cute little pair of jeans. What a cutie! Everyone had a great time celebrating our favorite little guy!
Two days after Karson's birthday it was Tyler's birthday! Another cute Johnson boy to celebrate! Tyler turned 53. On the morning of his birthday Bryn took him out for breakfast at Carl's Jr. They love it!
That night Tyler and I went out to dinner to celebrate. He wanted a steak dinner and a visit to the hardware store. LOL. Easily done.
There was a cool art exhibit in Coeur d' Alene that I also took him to.
It was pouring rain but it was still fun!
One of the exhibits was a big cube with a whole bunch of doors. Every door that you opened was a kind of virtual reality scene and every time you opened the door there was something different behind it. The cube had about 12 doors I think. It was pretty cool!
There was also a giant neon tunnel that you could walk through. It was fun!
Tyler wanted to get dessert at the Coeur d' Alene Resort.
It was delicious!
The next day was Sunday and Tyler requested a day off of church. Also granted! We had his birthday party on Super Bowl Sunday as is his tradition. He was extra stoked because not only was his favorite team IN the Super Bowl but they also WON! Double celebration!
So excited about the Chiefs win AND his birthday!! Ha ha!
Our two February Birthday Boys! Tyler requested cherry pie as his birthday *cake*.
So fun!
The next week was Valentine's Day! It was one celebration after another. The sun was even shining on Valentine's Day! Woohoo! Bryn still wanted Red Lunch on Valentine's Day and I was happy to oblige. I packed her a big one so that she could share with her friends. She texted me this picture from lunch. :)
After school Bryn and I did a Starbucks run to try a new variety of pink drink. It was delicious!
New favorite drink: Pink Drink with 2 pumps of vanilla and vanilla sweet cream cold foam on top. It was the perfect festive Valentine's Day treat!
Then that night we did our traditional homemade pizzas and Valentine surprises. We had to forgo our traditional love notes. It is just too hard to collect them from everyone now especially with kids living in a different state. I was sad to see that tradition go. It had a good run. It was special and meaningful to all of us.
But the homemade pizza night tradition has continued! Reilly and Hunter did it and Kameron and his girlfriend Erin did it.
Kam and Erin's pizza. :)
We were happy to still have one little Valentine at home to celebrate with! We talked to all of the kids. Both college kids had a wonderful Valentine's Day with Luke and Erin.
Reilly, Hunter, and Karson had a good Valentine's Day too. I'm so glad that everyone felt loved!
Bryn's basketball season came to an end. It was intense and required a lot of time and dedication. I am really proud of Bryn for working so hard and doing such a great job this year AND playing on the JV team as a freshman! She had fun but she was also really glad when the season was over! LOL.
Celebrating Bryn's last basketball game!!
After Valentine's Day, I pulled out all my Valentine décor and put in all the Easter décor at Midtown Market. Easter is coming fast this year. Sadly, my sweet next door vendor neighbor Pam passed away from cancer. So heartbreaking. I've enjoyed years of weekly chats, family updates, and laughs with Pam and her husband Carl. I am going to miss her so much. Vendor nights aren't the same. Her funeral was lovely and inspiring. Tyler and I attended and sat with a big group from Midtown Market. What an incredible woman. I am grateful for her example and her kindness.
Our weather has been crazy this month. We've had snow. One week I didn't go into vendor night because the roads were horrible. But what we've really had has been so much rain/freezing rain and it's been so gray. Any time the sun pops out even for a little while we try to get outside. One sunny afternoon Reilly got off work early and called to see if I wanted to go on a walk with she and Karson at the park. Of course I did!
Before Reilly called I had just texted Tyler to see if he wanted to leave work early to enjoy the sunshine. That's how gray things have been! He said that he had too much work to do. Boo. Later I texted him that I was heading to the park to meet Reilly and Karson. Well, we had barely pulled Karson out of his car seat before ol' Pops came screeching into the parking lot! LOL. He won't leave work early for me but he will drop everything for this cutie.
I don't blame him!
Karson had a ball being outside. He loved watching the ducks. Then we took him out of his stroller and let him run around. He was hilarious! He didn't want to hold anyone's hand. He wanted to walk by himself, usually at full speed, and going down hill!
Karson reppin' the BYU-Idaho gear that Uncle Kameron and Aunt Ailey got him!
At the end of the month Reilly, Hunter, and Karson moved. They are now about 20-25 minutes away from us. They are out of an apartment and in a more rural area. Karson now has a yard to play in.
Bryn started track at the end of February. She had a 2 week break between basketball and track. She also had several days off school this month which she loved. She's been busy hanging out with friends. Their favorite thing to do is go thrifting for clothes. They are super into it! She also learned how to embroider in YW and really enjoyed it. My mom would have been all over that. All of my mom's beautiful sewing skills skipped a generation. Bryn has also been learning to cook some new things. She's been trying out some Pinterest recipes. She made a cucumber salad that was really good and I hate cucumbers! So that's how good it was! Bryn also had her end of season Basketball Banquet and had a fun time at that!
Kameron applied for graduation at BYU-Idaho. He will be graduating with his AA. He and Erin took a little road trip to Utah this month. Kam stayed at his friend Nick's house (a good friend that he grew up with) and Erin stayed with one of her old mission companions. They had the time of their lives. They did all kinds of fun things...saw so many friends and old companions...they ate good food...shopped...and had a ball! We are big fans of Erin! We've facetimed with her a couple times now and can't wait to meet her in person! Kameron met Erin's mom and two of her brothers and their wives too. Fun stuff! (We also really like Ailey’s boyfriend Luke!)
Ailey had quite a month. She racked up an EXORBITANT amount of money in parking tickets that she didn't pay and that by February had doubled. The gigantic bill from Rexburg PD arrived at our house and in Tyler's name!! He nearly lost his mind. I could hear him yelling on the phone from outside the house!
Shortly after that she and a bunch of her friends went tubing and sledding at the sand dunes and she got hurt. She hit a jump, flipped, and came down on her head and neck. After two trips to the Urgent care... it was determined that she did not have a concussion but she did have a sprained neck. She is so incredibly lucky. Why are college kids so dumb?! One of her FHE brothers who went sledding that day broke his back on the same stupid jump. She's feeling better now but she was in a lot of pain for several days. I can worry myself sick thinking about what *could* have happened.
The month ended with Tyler having some health issues. First, he was having some issues with his hands. Tingling, numbness...things like that. Nothing that a diabetic wants. He already has Dupuytren's contracture which is horrible enough. We were worried when he went into his doctor. It turned out to be carpal tunnel but add that to all of his other things and it's frustrating. His doctor had some good news though. She recommended a noninvasive treatment for his Dupuytren's syndrome that has had good results.
Then at the end of the month, on Leap Day, as a matter of fact, he started having issues with his eyes again. He woke up with more than floaters. He had big black patches in his vision in one eye. He went into his eye doctor and was told that he had significant retinal bleeding. He's back to the eyeball shots again. Not fun.
All the stress about Tyler's health has made me a regular at the gym. I have to release the stress some how. I guess this is the healthiest method. All the worry had me spiraling by the end of the month. There is always something significantly scary to worry about and then Ailey's sledding accident and about a hundred other things including an issue with Reilly that has been frustrating and upsetting. Adult children are precious.
On a happier note... I got my hair done. Yay! Much needed. I've had some good times with friends. We've socialized quite a bit this month. Also much needed. We had our dessert night with friends too and then another friend's daughter got home from her mission and we were able to see so many old friends at her open house. So fun! Also Naomi and I, along with our friends Kyle and Tom, are planning a dell reunion this summer. I can't wait to see everyone!
