Ailey Is Six

This weekend was Ailey's 6th birthday. Wow. Six years have flown by. Ailey lucked out this year and got to have two celebrations. The first one was last weekend at the carousel downtown and then another celebration this weekend.

Having a party at the carousel is so great!! I didn't have to do any work...the employees there do it all...and it turned out great. Ailey loved it.

Elle and Kelley

Stacey and Mom

Elle, Kelley, Tyler and Bryn

Ailey and River

Cousins

(Front Row: Dane, Ailey and River Back Row: Reilly, Elle, Bryn and Kameron)

We missed Kaiden and Jaylah. :(

After eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream cake and opening presents all of us walked around the park, rode rides, saw the sites, and played on the big wagon. The weather was perfect. It finally felt like summer had arrived.

Bryn loved checking out all the people and activities. She and Elle were so cute in the double stroller. You can't see Elle because she was sound asleep in the back.

After a few hours of fun at the park we all headed over to Red Robin for dinner. We were a big and crazy bunch...but it was a lot of fun.

It was a long but fun day!!

Then...this weekend for Ailey's actual birthday we had another celebration.

Ailey picked homemade macaroni and cheese, strawberries, and grape crush for her birthday feast.

Her cake was a dirt and worms cheese cake....yum.

So now you know...we've just been partying up a storm around here and now we are gearing up for the 4th of July this weekend. Hello lake!! We are crossing our fingers for some nice weather.

Also...this week Ailey learned to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels. Yay. She does a good job but screams non-stop while doing it. Much to Tyler's irritation. What the heck?

And...Bryn finally got off her hands and knees and started walking. My back is rejoicing. She's a bit of a chub!! It is the cutest thing to see her toddling around. Kameron holds the record of being our latest walker. He finally got off his chubby butt after being lured with cookies at 15 months. Reilly was our earliest walker at 11 months and Ailey walked at 13 months. Ailey took her first steps out at the lake. I think she too was lured by an E.L. Fudge cookie and Granny.

The kids are growing up so fast!!

Happy Birthday Pickle!!

We love you very much.

Nothing Says Summer Vacation Like 47 Degrees and Continuous Rain

Is it summer vacation? I really have my doubts. It's been freezing here with a day or two that's sunny and warm about once a week. If you don't get out and enjoy it you're screwed.

We had a Primary Activity at the Temple/ Temple grounds last week and, I kid you not, it was 47 degrees. The kids were doing an activity under the pavilion (making temples out of sugar cubes and glue) and their teeth were chattering. Check out Kameron in his SKI COAT for heaven's sake.

Luckily it was warm inside the Temple entry way...where they got to hear from the temple President and his wife and sing songs etc. My kids had a great time peaking through the glass doors and seeing the temple workers dressed in white.

Kameron and Ailey inside the Temple Entry Way

Father's Day was ...cold with continuous rain yet again. Shocker. It put the damper (no pun intended) on some of our plans but we persevered.

Father's Day Dinner...we are a good looking group after Church. Everyone just pretty much changed into comfy clothes...if not jammies...and we stayed in them the rest of the day. Tyler requested Chicken Picatta for dinner and we also had Lemon Pasta for the vegetarians and roasted asparagus. It was good.

Then we decided to brave the rain and headed out to our deck. Luckily our big pine trees give us some shelter from the rain and we huddled around this to stay warm.


We had fun making peanut butter cup s'mores and telling funny stories about Tyler. What could be better on Father's Day right?

And if you can do it in jammies...even better. Right Ailey? I'm loving Tyler's socks and crazy look...especially because his shirt says "This is what a cool dad looks like". Ha!!

And just to be fair...and because honestly there just aren't enough heinous pictures of me on this blog...I add this beauty. You're welcome Tyler.

Bryn loved her first s'more

Happy Father's Day Tyler!! We love you!!

We are still waiting for three continuous days of sun so we can stain and seal our deck. We've had this baby sanded since before Memorial Day. Still waiting. All our nice patio furniture is still in hibernation in the garage. Who knows when it will emerge?

(FYI- Today is also a continual down pour and we, at around noon, are at a balmy 46 degrees. Jealous? Reilly started swim team today...at an outdoor pool...good thing it is heated. Brr. Kameron and Ailey have swim lessons tonight but at an indoor pool...thank goodness.)

Let's hear it for June or is it March? Woohoo!! Good times.

Summer of the Mochi

School is finally out for the summer and the weather is warm and sunny. What could be better? How about some Mochi? This is our family's newest addiction. Mochi is a Japanese ice cream bon bon that is covered in the most fabulous rice paste coating. Sounds weird but is so fantastic.

As a lover of all things...especially foods...Japanese I don't know how I have missed these? They are sold at our Costco in a big three pack of: Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla. I think vanilla is the best and Tyler votes for chocolate. The kids like ALL of them. They are heavenly. Plus, you can hold them in your hands and they are big. Even better...one big bon-bon is only 2.5 Weight Watchers points. Woohoo. Try these!!

Happy Summer!!

(Go eat some Mochi)

The Experiment


Fifteen years ago when Tyler and I were newlyweds and living in a little apartment in Provo, I discovered that I loved to cook. I liked trying out new and interesting recipes. Tyler was very willing to taste everything I made and pronounced it all delicious with one exception. Spinach Feta Pie. When I served this up he did not look enthused and pronounced it horrible. I was crushed. This caused quite a fight and we ended up dragging our families and backgrounds into the argument. I told him that he was an uncultured Utah Valley hick who wouldn't know GOURMET food if it bit him in the butt!! I said that next time I would make sure it was slathered in Miracle Whip so that he could gag it down. He called me a snob and said that not all food that could be called gourmet tasted good and that the meal I had just made tasted like crap. I told him he could take my spinach pie and shove it up his !@# and then I threw some things. (True Story)

There is something to be said about the way Tyler and I were raised and the cuisine we grew up eating. This took us several years to work through. Tyler grew up eating a very traditional meat and potatoes diet with a Mormon cultural twist. I did not. I was wolfing down escargot, seafood, and sushi whenever I could get it. In fact, the only nights I could be sure of getting mashed potatoes with my meal was when it was meatloaf night (which I loved) and when it was...heaven forbid...liver and onions night. Ew.

The problems began early in our marriage. Do we buy Best Foods Mayo or Miracle Whip? Do we buy butter or margarine? Do we buy ranch from a bottle or make it? Do we buy skim milk or 2%? Do we buy jam or jelly? Is there ever a reason to buy Thousand Island dressing? You get the idea. We ran into a few road blocks. Tyler hated pepper and refused to eat mustard. I hate milk and I hate mayo (unless it's mixed in something) and I refuse to eat bologna (which was apparently a mainstay of his bachelor diet.)

Gradually we learned to compromise on most things and introduced each other to different aspects of our childhood cuisines. I introduced Tyler to escargot, seafood and sushi. He loved it. He introduced me to fluffy cool-whip jello "salads". (I use to term salad loosely.) Now I'm first in line at church potlucks for that green, pistachio pudding, marshmallow heaven. Yum. Tyler got me to try sauerkraut (love it) and I got him to eat pepper and mustard (now we even buy spicy grainy mustard and he loves cayenne). He got me to drink eggnog...something I swore I never would... Eggy milk? How could that be good? Yet I love it!! The list goes on and on.

As the years have passed our tastes have changed and we've adapted more to one another. And as the years have passed that stupid spinach feta pie would keep coming up. If the kids would say "Dad...you're so lucky mom is a good cook. Has she ever made anything that you thought was gross?" He brought up the spinach feta pie. When people would say how wonderful it was that Tyler would eat anything and wasn't a picky eater I would bring up the spinach feta pie. About a year ago I said to him that I bet if I made that pie now he would LOVE IT. He said he doubted it.

We have evolved as far as food goes but we still have our quirks. Such as Tyler PREFERS margarine to butter? How is that possible? He LIKES diet drinks. He eats vile concoctions that come straight from Utah Valley like mushed up bread in a bowl covered with milk that he eats with a spoon like cereal. OH MY GOSH. Thank goodness he does that for his midnight snack and I don't have to witness it. At least he doesn't put ketchup on his tacos like many other Utahns do. Gag. He still loves bologna and nasty Vienna sausages (I buy him this crap once a year for his birthday.) He still often thinks things I make are "too peppery" and he is always surprised that jalapenos from a can are hot. The worst offender...He guzzles milk...I forbid him to kiss me with a milk mouth. He gets great pleasure chasing me around after drinking milk.

I have my quirks too that drive him nuts. I REFUSE to eat sandwich if mayo has touched it. I always order sandwiches and hamburgers without mayo. You don't even want to know how many things Tyler has had to return. This makes him CRAZY!! I also don't like drinking a beverage from a can/bottle/restaurant glass without a straw. 15 years later and he still acts surprised when I make him go back for a straw. (Blame my family for that one.) I can't abide a raisin in anything. I will not eat ranch dressing from a bottle. SO GROSS. And...although he swears they are delicious...I have yet to try a beet. And the mother of all quirks...I hate toast. Truly. The smell of it makes me gag. We don't own a toaster for this very reason.

So last night I decided to try my little experiment. Tyler, over the years, has become quite the gourmand. He is even...much to my utter delight...losing his love of processed foods. He now claims he can taste the chemicals in the food like I have been saying for years. So I cheffed up the spinach feta pie. Guess what? HE LOVED IT! Of course he tried to claim that it wasn't the same recipe...which it was. He tried to claim that I didn't top it with Parmesan cheese the first time I made it...which I did. He tried to claim that I "spiced" it up. That may be partly true. I upped the garlic and lemon. But it was still essentially the same. He ate two helpings. HA!!

Vindication is mine!!

(Even 15 years later the victory is...oh...so...sweet!!)

38 Is Great

This weekend I celebrated my 38th birthday. I had a great time. Wow. 38 years old. It's been interesting to reflect on what I thought/hoped my life would be like when I was a teenager. I used spend quite a lot of time thinking about what my life would be like when I was an "adult." I'm happy to say that things have turned out even better than I hoped. I love my life, my family and even I turned out better than I thought I would. So what more can you ask for than that right? I still don't have a gray hair and I like to think that I've aged well but there's no denying that it's time for some serious eye cream. Anyone have a trusted favorite?

My birthday was well celebrated and I really appreciated all the phone calls, cards, gifts and messages. To celebrate we played at Riverfront Park again this weekend. We are getting our money's worth from those passes already. The weather was great...nice and sunny. We weren't drenched this time. Woohoo. It is finally starting to feel somewhat like summer.

Bryn just chilled' while everyone rode rides and played.

We went out to eat at my favorite Mexican food restaurant. I crave their shrimp tacos!! Tyler and the kids had a great time humiliating me by telling the waiter that it was my birthday. I got the full "sombrero" treatment. They were laughing so hard they forgot to get out the camera. The table right next to use was full of parents from my kids school who got quite a kick out of the sombrero treatment too.

We came home for some birthday pie...then we got our jammies on and ...

And then it was Karaoke time!! It was a great birthday and I loved every minute of it!!

Concussion

Oh there is never a dull moment around here...take yesterday for example. After dropping Ailey off at Kindergarten I got a phone call from the middle school saying that Reilly had been injured and that I needed to pick her up. She had fallen and hit her head. What?!

I rushed over to the school to find out that during lunch Reilly had been running around outside with friends...in the rain...in flip-flops...and had fallen and whacked her head on a cement curb. HARD. I asked the office lady if Reilly had been seen by the nurse. I was informed that her school doesn't have a nurse. What?!

Reilly looked horrible. Shocky and faint. She was also nauseous, tired and extremely dizzy. I looked at the back of her head and tried to feel the size of her bump. There was no bump. There was just a puffy, spongy mass. In a panic we rushed over to the urgent care facility near the kids' school. They got us right in. FYI-- if your kid has any kind of head injury...don't go to an urgent care place. They don't have any kind of equipment to check out heads. I guess if I would've been thinking clearly I would've realized that but they happily took my co-pay, gave her a quick look over, and then sent us straight to the ER. They did tell me that where she had hit her head was in her visual area which was why she was experiencing vertigo. When she was trying to follow the doctor's light with her eyes they moved in a jerky way. Crazy.

I stopped quick at the kids' school to get them out early and to run them home. Tyler was on his way. We met my sister, Kelley, in the ER (she works at the hospital and had already called down to tell them we were coming in and got us all lined up.) Reilly ended up needing a CT scan. While she was in getting scanned we just happened to see a radiologist from our ward who dropped everything and went right in to read her scan as well. He came out and gave us the thumbs up. So we felt good while we waited for the official report. Thank goodness everything was ok. She just had a pretty nasty concussion and headache.

Of course that night we had Kameron's big PowerPoint presentation at school on the history of Spokane. Thank goodness for Kelley who watched all three girls so we could attend. Reilly had a pretty good night...except for me coming in multiple times to make sure that she was ok. I kept her home from school today so that she was FORCED to take it easy. She is such a wild thing and full of energy there's no way she would've been calm on her own.

We are so grateful that she is ok and that her injury was not worse. But I do have to say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We, Johnson women, should be very wary of running on grass which may look benign but is in fact quite menacing and dangerous. You never know...we could break a foot or crack a skull!! ;)

Memorial Day Weekend 2010: Sick and Soggy Edition

The whole week before Memorial Day weekend I was sicker than a dog...I still am. I have some type of bronchial junk. It's horrible and apparently it lasts a long time. Part of last week I had laryngitis which was delightful. I am so ready to be over this stuff!! Then it has been pouring rain for DAYS!! Not just sprinkling...dumping. Not fun. So all outdoor projects that we really needed to get done this last weekend were put on hold. Despite all that...sick and soggy...we still managed to squeeze in some family fun.

Friday night Reilly and I had a fun Girls Night Out. We attended this:



We had an absolute blast!! We were squealing and giggling. We are such ice skating nuts. We had fantastic seats and could almost touch the skaters. It was so much fun to see them up close and personal.

We ate tons of junk food and laughed and cheered the night away. We were also coincidentally sitting right next to Kameron's teacher...who is a complete riot...and maybe even a bigger fan than us.

A rare sight...a smiling and pleasant 13-year-old. I take these moments when I can get them.

Saturday we braved the wet and cold weather for a trip out to the lake. We had a family birthday party. We celebrated my grandma's 87th birthday and my birthday (which isn't actually until next Saturday.) It was a lot of fun despite the nasty weather. We had great food and lots of laughs.

The Birthday Girls

Reilly, Granny and Stacey

Uncle Steve...looking good in a tiara

Bryn, Mom, Elle and Ken

We played the best game...EVER!!

Anyone ever played this? It was our FAVORITE game as kids. When we were teenagers my mom threw it away to our absolute horror. While Kelley and Elle stayed with us this fall we talked multiple times about what a great game it was and how we would love to find it again. For Kelley's birthday I managed to locate a vintage game online (don't you love that you can find anything on the Internet now?) and it was even the expanded edition!! I have been dying to play it. Kelley brought it and we had quite a wild game. Don't let the kids on the front fool you. This game is CHALLENGING!!

I'm happy to say I kicked Stacey and Kelley's butts...just like old times!! ;)

The rest of the weekend we kicked back and relaxed. We watched marathons of both of these shows:

OK...Bear Grylls is clearly insane and yet oddly appealing in a weird bug eating, blood drinking, nut job way.

In between down pours we ventured out to the park. Check out the clouds.

Guess what happened? We got soaked!!

But we also managed to go here...

And watched this...

And did some of this...

Look at this big girl...riding the carousel by herself.

Poor little wet girl

Happy Soggy Memorial Day!!