Hot Dog!! And...Sicker than a Dog


Oh the highs and lows around here never end. As for the highs...Kameron (and Tyler) have redeemed themselves at the Pinewood Derby this year. For the past two years Kameron has had a hot looking car but not necessarily a "fast" car. This year however...Kameron had both a hot car and a fast car. Tyler and Kameron had been slaving over this car for weeks...night after night they sawed and sanded and painted and designed and then redesigned this car. All their hard work paid off though. Kameron and his "Green Hornet" placed third overall. This is HUGE!! HUGE!! Watching Kameron's face as he would actually win different races was PRICELESS.

Kam anxiously watching the races and hoping that his car would do well. (BTW: Could there be a cuter cub scout in all the world? I seriously doubt it.)

Once that Green Hornet started winning the Johnsons went crazy and maybe just a tad obnoxious but when you've been on a losing streak for two years and you suddenly start winning it is HIGH excitement!!

Kameron had the added bonus...and good luck charm...of having his good friend Ryan and his mom Crystal officiating the race. Kameron is at their house all the time and Ryan's dad has coached Kameron in baseball over the years. Crystal is the cub scout leader for the pack from Kameron's school that all his buddies are in. Kameron is a pretty good sport about it but I know that he would much rather be with his friends than with his church pack. I hear a lot about all the fun things that his buddies get to do. Well, we have new cub scout leader who is awesome and she had the genius idea of having Crystal come and run the Pinewood Derby. Kameron was thrilled. Ryan came along to cheer for Kameron too.

Ryan even brought along his pinewood derby car to race Kameron's after the official races were over. The Green Hornet won again!!

It was a great night of winning and cheering and food, fun and friends. (Plus, with cotton candy and popcorn added how can you go wrong?) Maybe the Pinewood Derby isn't to be dreaded after all. :)



Multiple views of the prize winning car and trophy:



There is something to be said for delayed gratification and learning to be a good sport because when you do win it is even sweeter.

Now for the sick dog:

Nothing says "Fun Spring Break" like having walking pneumonia. Poor Ailey. This is the second kid with pneumonia this year...albeit a month and a half apart.

Elle's 2nd Birthday

(Casey, Elle and Kelley)

It's birthday time around here. Elle turned two on Sunday and Bryn will turn two...in two weeks. Boy, have these two little girls grown up!! Here are a few pictures from Elle's party. It was an adult party...so that's why all the cousins are suspiciously absent but they sure enjoyed the generous goody bags, balloons, and cake that was sent home to them.

Elle was the Birthday Princess and she was such a little cutie. She enjoyed being the center of attention and being surrounded by adoring family members. She is one loved little girl.

Elle with Papa Ken and Grandma Vic

Grandma Dayna and Papa Dave

Uncle Tyler and Aunt Kristin

Aunt Stacey...Uncle John was home with River and Dane.

Nathan and Elle. Casey's girlfriend was also there. She was very sweet.

Elle enjoyed having both her mommy and daddy's attention.

It was fun getting to know Elle's dad's side of the family. They were super nice and obviously so in love with Elle. :) Who wouldn't be?

Could you resist this face?

Happy Birthday Elle!!

We love you very much.

Kameron's Fourth Grade Marketplace

Tom, Eric, Kameron, Seby, Gibby

Today was Kameron's 4th Grade Marketplace. All the kids in his class got to form businesses, make products, and sell their products to their fellow classmates, kids in other grades, and to their parents. They were spending their classroom currency "Doodle Dollars." They also had to do all their advertising, marketing research, and even make a commercial.

Kameron and his friends had a business called Junior-Mifflin...a take-off of Dunder-Mifflin from The Office because they were in the paper business. (I thought their ties were a nice touch!!)

They sold a variety of paper products that they worked hard to make:

Ninja Stars: 4 sided, 8 sided and 16 sided

Transforming Ninja Stars

Paper Airplanes: assorted sizes and kinds

Boomerangs

Darts

A giant spear made out of paper

Popcorn

They did great and by the end of the day they were all sold out!!

I was somewhat dreading this Market Place all year. I have read several blogs...most coming out of Utah...where this is a big huge overblown thing with parents renting snow cone machines and cotton candy machines. I was thrilled that our elementary school keeps things very low-key...and yet the kids were thrilled with the assortment of things to purchase.

I remember doing this myself at Sage Creek Elementary. I sold homemade suckers which were quite the hot commodity in elementary school in the early '80's. Tyler and I were reminiscing about all the kids that would make cinnamon sticks and mint sticks (flavored tooth picks) and would sell those too. I loved a mint toothpick back in the day.

It was a fun day for all involved and it gave Kameron an appreciation for my business as well because he got to set up a booth and be a vendor himself. Kameron can come work for me anytime!!

And...if you are ever in need of a fantastic Transforming Ninja Star...Kameron's your man!!

We've Got Spirit! Yes, We Do!

Reilly and her Drill Team had their first Half-Time Show yesterday at a basketball game. They did a great job!! Reilly is a drill team captain so she got to pick the music and she choreographed most of their routine.

She is front and center...5th in from the left. (Note to Grandma: Click in the lower right hand corner to make it full-screen)

St. Patrick's Week


It's almost St. Patrick's Day and the wearin' o' the green...which I did yesterday at church and will again on Thursday. We are getting a bit of a head start on the celebrating this year. First off, the weather this weekend was amazing and gave me a bad case of

Spring Fever!!

The weather was up near the '50s, the sun was shining, and all the people in my town crept out like moles to turn their faces up to the sun. Trips to the park were made, organizing of the garage, bought a new commuter car, and some yard tidying was done. I got a lot of painting/inventory/projects done for my upcoming Sisters Creed Sale. It was an all around super productive weekend. Wow. I love those. They are rare.

I did take some time out from my über -industriousness to go out for breakfast with Tyler. We went to Chaps.

I have now gone to Chap's for breakfast two weekends in a row. It was delicious again. This time I got the oatmeal. How good could boring old oatmeal be? I was asking that question last weekend as I saw bowlful after bowlful go past me to different tables. This weekend I decided to find out what all the hoopla was about.

I am awfully glad I did. It WAS amazing oatmeal. The pitcher of cream you pour over it wasn't too bad either. I tried to convince myself it was "health food" blueberries...oatmeal...super foods. Be warned that it is incredibly rich. I could only eat half and Tyler was more than happy to happily polish the rest of it off.

Then it was back home to get to work. Funky Junk is about three weeks away and I am finally starting to feel like I've got a handle on it. Then shortly after the Funky Junk Sale we will be vendors at:

Sunday night we had our St. Patrick's Day dinner and had Kelley and Elle come over. We switched around our monthly Family Sunday Dinner date since the week we usually do it will be Elle's birthday. This month I was entree and Kelley was dessert and drinks.

Tyler in yellow...a rare sight...don't encourage him. Although I am in lounge wear...I shouldn't be encouraged either. But in our defense, we just got home from church and wanted to be comfy...and yellow.

Our St. Patrick's Menu:

Corned Beef
Boiled Veggies: Red Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, and Cabbage
Horseradish Cream, Dijon Mustard Cream, and Malt Vinegar to accompany the meat and veggies
Beer Bread
Virgin Mojitos to drink

and these beauties for dessert:

One bite of these took me back to my BYU days and the Cougareat!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet sister-in-law Lori...We love you!!

The Shiz


So far 2011 has been very odd health-wise for me...several random strange things have popped up and wrecked havoc with me. Actually the weird started in October when instead of catching the cold that my family all had and having it manifest itself as a regular cold I got Pityrisasis Rosea which is a nasty hive like skin condition which is how the "cold" decided to manifest itself in me. It lasts about three months. It was horrible. Most people use Benadryl and anti-histamines to deal with the rash/hives and wait it out. There isn't a cure for it. I also happen to be one of those extra lucky people who also has a weird allergy. I am allergic to Benadryl and anti-histamines which is super rare. So when I get something weird I have to go on Prednisone. After finally convincing my doctor that I needed a large dose of Prednisone because the one week course she gave me did nothing, I was put on a large dose for a month. It worked great! But it also gave me the crappy side effects of the moon pie face and weight gain (10 lbs to be exact.) ***See Thanksgiving Pictures and Family Picture***

Then in January I made an appointment with my dermatologist to get a few odd spots on my face checked out. (You know start the year off healthy!!) After my last horrible visit to my dermatologist Tyler convinced to go see his dermatologist. I made an appointment and went. The spots that I wanted checked out turned out to be nothing, just freckles...and something I thought was nothing turned out to be be "something." At my last visit I showed my old doctor a spot on my cheek next to my jaw that looked like a shiny skin colored mole. She checked it out and said that it was nothing. On a fluke I had the new doctor check it out. He was concerned and wanted it biopsied because he thought it might be basal cell carcinoma. After weeks of waiting for the results it turned out not to be skin cancer but Trichoepithelioma which is a benign skin growth.


I, of course, have the rarest type. The kind I have grows beneath the skin and tends to be fibrous and branches out. It needed to be removed because it CAN turn into cancer further down the line if it is left alone. So last week I had it surgically removed. The doctor removed a fairly large chunk of skin and I had to have stitches and was not able to do anything strenuous for a week. I also had a complete sob fest after looking at my stitched up cheek. It was much larger than I thought. Today I got my stitches out; have a swell scar; and got my final test results.Thank goodness it looks like my doctor got the whole growth and the results were noncancerous again.

My final odd thing is I found out that I am extremely anemic and have been put on a mega dose of iron. Last summer when I went in for my yearly exam I told my doctor that I was feeling a bit off and run down. I also felt like my hair was getting thin. I have fine hair to begin with and any loss is noticeable. She checked my thyroid and everything was normal. She thought it was just from having a baby and being a tired mom of four. She thought the hair loss was just the typical after pregnancy hair loss and that it should be just fine. She said if I was concerned to go to see my dermatologist. When I went this summer to my dermatologist she said that I was fine. People lose hair for all kinds of reasons: stress, virus etc. and that I should be just fine.

Well my hair was still shedding like crazy so I had the new doctor check me out. He had my iron checked and it was dangerously low. This is undoubtedly the cause of my shedding hair, my dizzy spells and fatigue. He doesn't feel that my iron deficiency is diet related. I eat a lot of high iron foods. The doctor feels it is probably traced back to my C-section and that my iron level plummeted and I never was able to get it back up to where it needed to be. He said there is no way diet alone would get my levels up. (FYI--having vegetarian kids I always have the pediatrician test their iron levels at their yearly check-ups. They are always fine.) The iron seems to be helping. I am much less dizzy than I have previously been but I think I am always going to be tired with this crazy family of mine!! :)

Due to my hair feeling/looking stringy and thin I decided to chop it all off. I had Kelley come with me be my advocate. I didn't want to get talked into doing anything too "edgy" or too "trendy"and I wanted her to keep her eagle eyes on what the stylist was doing in the back with her scissors...no Kate Gosselin look for me!! (Aren't sisters great?) I also need to get an "all over" color which I have never done before and not do the more damaging blonde highlights. (I've got to get my hair nice and healthy.) So I went back to my natural color...hello old friend. She did do a few caramel highlights. I like it. But can I style it? Not so much. Looks like it's going to take some practice.

Picture of the cut but before the coloring was done.

After the coloring was done...my own attempts at styling.

So far my I am failing miserably in my goals for 2011:

-Be Healthy
-Lose Weight
-Be Less Stressed (that is a post for another day)

Let's hope things start looking up in the Spring!!

Stacey and Kelley's Birthday Fun

Yesterday we celebrated Stacey and Kelley's 36th and 34rd Birthdays with a Girls Day. It was a lot of fun. With all of our busy schedules it is hard to arrange for a time for all of us to spend a whole day together. When it happens it is always fun and memorable.

We met for Brunch at Chap's which was absolutely delicious. If you haven't been there yet you simply must go. It is so cute inside too. Perfect for a birthday brunch.

We all ordered something different and everything was divine. I got the Blueberry Muffin French Toast. I highly recommend it.

The one downside...whilst happily stuffing my face...who should I run into but two trainers from my gym. Both of whom recognized me and stopped to chat (one is a mom of Ailey's friend Audrey) that put a slight damper on my gluttonous feasting.

After brunch we were off for a day of shopping and pampering. We stopped for mani-pedis which were delightful...and desperately needed. Bring on Spring and flip-flop weather!!

Birthday Girl #1: Stacey

Birthday Girl #2 : Kelley

The Matriarch

The Bride of Frankenstein...my face might be full of stitches but I have really cute toes!!

(I had surgery on Friday and have a face full of stitches...more on that later. Which caused me to have a sob-fest that morning and didn't want to leave the house. But between my Mom, Tyler and my sisters...who convinced me that I didn't look that bad...I put on an enormous band-aid that covers half my face...and believe me looks better than all the stitches I am sporting and headed out for the day anyway.)

We had a full day of fun and laughter...which included stopping for cocktails at Twiggs.

Don't worry I nursed a delicious Shirley Temple. Twigs makes a fantastic one.

More shopping ensued and my mom and I were the last hold outs who got home after 9pm. I had a great day and love spending time with my mom and sisters. We missed you Jordi.

Happy Birthday Sissies!!

I love you guys!

*****I fixed Kelley's age...to think I thought she was a year younger than she actually is!!****

February in Review

Now it's March and February has come and gone. Here's what happened this weekend and then a little slice of what else has been going on since I haven't really been blogging. (Besides Tyler turning 40 and Valentine's Day which were awesome.)

High Point: Last weekend Tyler and I finally got away for a romantic stay at the Davenport Hotel. We haven't gone away together since before Bryn was born...even longer. We loved every minute. It was hard to come home. (A BIG thank you to Aunt Kelley who kept all four kids!!)

We stayed here:

We stayed in the Penthouse King Suite...It was FABULOUS!!

THE.MOST.COMFORTABLE.BED.EVER

Tyler hanging out

No, this was not my "romantic-get-away-lingerie"...those would be my fat pants that had to be worn after eating many a gourmet meal.

TMI?

Then Sunday night was our Family Sunday Dinner. Kelley and Elle came over and what could be better than Kelley cheffing up our dinner?



We rotate cooking the main course...but I did feel bad since she had just had our kids and THEN came over to cook us dinner. (I told you it was a good weekend.) Dinner was delicious. Fish Piccata with Lemon Pasta. Yum. We watched the Academy Awards while we ate and laughed at these two.

Elle and Bryn...Can you believe that they are almost two?

They were crazy rockers in the rocking chair!!

We have also been busy with:

Kameron playing basketball...and being sick
Reilly as Drill Team Captain, Piano, and Jazz...sick with pneumonia
Ailey with Ballet...and being sick
Brynnie perfecting her high-heeled strut...and being sick

This girl is in my heels every time I turn around. She goes everywhere in them. I found her a pair of little girl high-heeled flip-flops a la Suri Cruise at a thrift store and she RUNS in them. She clacks around all day long.

We also like to gather round the old pie-anny for some good family fun when time permits.


Reilly is trying to surpass me in piano playing. She found my last piano book and has been taking it to her piano lessons. It is her life's goal to leave me in the dust (which won't be too hard) She has enjoyed reading all the notations from my old piano teacher...the beloved Mrs. Winkler...and then mocks me with them. Such as one that reads "Breathe, Kristin, Breathe!" (Was I tense even as a youth? I'm guessing yes.) Consequently, she loves to quote this to me. Frequently. But, as I love to relish in, she has yet to get past me in the old piano book. HA!

Rockin' it Johnson Style--A little Heart and Soul Quartet

Reilly's not the only piano player in the family...and she sings too!!


Bryn channeling her inner Nana or Grandma Judie or both.

That is February in a nutshell...Bring on SPRING!!