Birthday Bowling Bonanza


This weekend to celebrate the kids birthdays we went bowling as a family. We have a great place near us called Hugo's which the kids describe as a "fancy bowling alley". It is. They love having a waitress that brings them all kinds of appetizers and drinks while they bowl to great music, all under neon and black lights. We love it!! We all had a great time. It also helped to boost my mood as snow was falling outside. Boo.

The Birthday Girl and The Birthday Boy

Bryn bowled too. She was NOT going to be left out!!

Ahhh...Tyler and I love showing off our sweet BYU bowling skills. Dare to dream children...Dare to dream.

Hugo's has great food. This was our THIRD enormous plate of food.

They even brought out birthday sundaes for the kids.

Oh yeah. That's the face of fun.

Then we had the *pleasure* of stepping out into a wintry *wonderland* and making our way home on icy roads. Oh winter I DO NOT enjoy you.

This also helped a lot with my winter gloom...


My wonderful friend, Judy, just opened the most fabulous and chic bake shop in downtown Spokane called Sweet Frostings. Her creations are beyond delicious. Our family has been enjoying her treats for awhile. We are big fans!! Now everyone can have them. She had her business partner, Sally, had their grand opening on Saturday. All you locals need to go there ASAP!! We had a great time eating pretty much everything. Wow. We might just survive another gloomy winter with this cozy bakery nearby. You can read more about my visit to Sweet Frostings (on 1st Ave and Washington) here. It was decorated by two of my other talented friends, Gladys and Cel (Junebug Furniture and Design) and I just want to move in and live there. It is so darling and delicious.

The Golden Birthday Boy

Kameron turned 11 on 11/11...and he made a birthday wish at 11:11pm. How cool is that?
So what is Kameron like at eleven? Here is a glimpse into his personality. He and his friends have just discovered Weird Al Yankovic. They can be entertained for HOURS watching his videos on YouTube. He was blown away that we had Weird Al in the "olden days". Kameron's particular favorite right now is this...

There you have it!! Kameron at eleven.

Happy Birthday You Studly Stud!!
We love you very much!!

15 Years Old

How is it that the baby that caused blood vessels to burst on my forehead while giving birth to her is now a 15 year old causing blood vessels to burst on my forehead with her teenager-iness? (New word) 15 years in the blink of an eye.

Life with a 15 year old. One picture says it all. :)

Next year...driving...dating. Yeah 15 looks pretty darn good.

Happy Birthday Reilly!!

WE LOVE YOU!!

October Sucked...BIG!!

Well I can no longer take looking at the picture of my mom, me and Stacey in our Mad Hatter costumes. 5 weeks is long enough. So why the long absence you might ask? Don't ask. You will hear more than you ever wanted to along with copious amounts of swearing. If you are perusing the photos on this post you might surmise that we had somewhat of a good time this month not counting Reilly's hospitalization. You would be...oh so wrong. The entire month sucked...with one brief respite from the suckage...which is when the majority of these photos were taken. The fact that I did not keel over from the stress...have a stroke or a heart attack... is a frigging miracle. But I did lose 10 lbs and not even that was worth the sucking suckage that was October!!

October began so innocently with our Mad Hatter Sale. On the day of set-up for this sale all kinds of horrors were in the making. First, our house has been up for sale since the end of August. What? I had no idea you might be saying. Yes, there was a reason. No need to mention it until there was something to mention. Well...on the day of our set up for Mad Hatter our house sold...and Reilly came home from school crying and limping with a red, swollen, hot to the touch ankle.

Reilly's ankle issues ended up in one urgent care visit, one ER visit, two doctor office visits and a weeks stay in the hospital with exploratory surgery do to complications to her stomach caused by the medication given to her for the frigging ankle. Good times.

The lovely sale of our home gave us the funds to purchase a much larger and highly desirable home as well. Or so we thought. We packed up our house, signed our closing papers, bid our ward adios, changed our address and all utilities, scheduled our family to help us move...only to have the buyer of our home back out at the last minute. As in he didn't show up to close. As in...last minute change of mind. As in...no one buying our house equals us not buying our new house. As in...we aren't going anywhere. As in...hysterical kids. As in...I get to fully unpack all our crap. As in...so ticked off we need a few months to recover. As in...our house is back off the market until we can gear up for this process all over again. Which by the way may be never. It was horrible...open houses, showings every day, dealing with realtors, mortgage people, title people, banks, complications, delays, repairs, inspections, blah blah blah) So yeah...we may live here forever!!

Add to that our suburban was in the repair shop 4 times for an expensive problem that couldn't seem to be repaired. Our kids had so many activities that we truly couldn't attend or give our full attention to. Tyler had tons of work that he couldn't miss. Reilly has been working all month to try to catch up on her school work because you just can't miss a week of high school and recover easily. Not to mention about 500 other crappy things that came up...such as everyone getting sick. So if you saw us this past month and we looked either totally scared, totally stressed, or totally pissed now you know why.

There was no need for Halloween costumes for me and Ty this year. We wore them all month "Crone and Curmudgeon". We are still wearing them.

Also...Reilly sang beautifully in a choir concert and Kameron earned his Arrow of Light and finished his season of Cross Country (he ran with his school's program and with a city team). Ailey started piano. Don't ask to see any documentation...just take our word for it.

So...now for the respite from the suckage. My little sister Jordin and her family came to town.

Jordin, RJ, Granny, Jaylah and Ramon

Guess what we did? We shut the damn door on our house full...and I mean full of boxes...why do I have to be so organized?...locked it up and headed out of town to spend time at my mom's and the lake and hang out with family. It was so needed.

We laughed. We cried. We ate. We partied Halloween Style. We put on Prom dresses. We mocked and pummeled one another. I am sporting a large and I do mean large bruise on my knee from when I was about to reveal where Jordin liked to eat pot pie (not your usual pot pie eating location) and she flew and I mean flew across the room...tackled me to the floor...and tried to pin me. Silly girl. She was no match for my needle like elbows though. Yes, people these lovely ladies in the photo above are nasty, scrappy, down and dirty fighters. Don't piss us off.

Especially her. :)

Or her. And by her...I mean Reilly. Doesn't she looked thrilled. Teenagers.

I pretty much tried to do this as much as possible. Look how much RJ loves his Aunt Kristin!! When I could get him away from...

her...and...

her...and most especially...

her!!

And when you can't hold that sweet baby and you are recovering from a hideous month you put on these...

and party like it's 1989 or 90 or whatever the case may be.

And you force them to pose like this...

and this...

and then you tag them on facebook because they have been doing this...

Then you get the kids all dressed up and hopped up on sugar and try your hardest to get a decent picture.

And then your heart will melt when you see them all like this.

So Halloween week and Jordin and Ramon's visit came and went. But it truly saved our sanity.

Here are the costumes for this year. We have:

Cleopatra

A Skeleton Ninja

A peacock

and Cinderella.

So long October...You Sucked ROYALLY.

Why are we dressed like this? You can read about it here.

In the Thick of Things

First Day of School Ice Cream Celebration

School is back in session along with all the extracurricular activities. Needless to say things are still a bit crazy as we attempt to get back onto some sort of schedule.

This year we have...early morning seminary, piano, ballet, jazz, hip hop (Tyler finally caved and is allowing Reilly to take this class), cross country through the elementary school and cross country-SYSA, swim team, trumpet...not to mention scouts and YW. Every day is packed but our kids really like it this way and thrive being busy. Not to mention, they are learning some great time management skills and I am enjoying zero TV and Wii time at our house.

On a high note...on the first day of high school Reilly came home very excited and eager to chat...about ACADEMICS!! Can you fathom my joy? No cute boys were even mentioned. Sweet.

We had a busy weekend...or should I say Saturday. Here are some pictures to prove it.

Two bored sisters waiting for Kameron's Cross Country Meet to begin. Reilly lucked out and headed to the lake early with Aunt Kelley and Elle. Ailey had stinking ballet. (Ballet on Saturday for little girls is ridiculous..in my jaded opinion.)

Still waiting....for Kam to run

And waiting...in 90 heat...with the lake calling to us.

Finally the boy runs!! He is in the blue shirt.

FINALLY around 3:30pm we made it to the lake!! Woohoo. Time for some boating fun. Ailey and Dane mere moments before they capsized and caused three adults to leap into the water and race to their aid only to find them...LAUGHING!!

After that Aunt Kelley went with them!!

Even Bryn went. SHE LOVED IT!! She was waving and saying "Whee!!" the entire time. The girl is fearless just like her big sister Reilly. They are two of a kind. Frightening.

After that the adults got some wake boarding time. Sweet!! The water was fabulous. I wish summer could stay all year long!! We had a great dinner with everyone. Stacey's in laws were in town as well. The kids got to fish and play with their cousins. Reilly, Kam and A all caught fish to their great delight. Thank goodness for Uncle John Sykes who is a champ for assisting them all with their fishing activities.

Bryn in all her lakey glory

It was a perfectly delightful day. We've got to squeeze all the summer fun in that we can because I can feel winter breathing down my neck and I don't like it!!

Fall Funky Junk Show 2011


Over Labor Day Weekend we (Sisters Creed) had the pleasure of being vendors in the Funky Junk Antiques and Craft Show in Sandpoint, Idaho. We had an absolute blast and an extremely successful sale!! You can read about it here.

Where Did the Summer Go?

Yes, it is here already. The First Day of School. Our summer has been utter chaos and so in that respect I am happy that school is here again to bring some order to our lives. But on the other hand, I really do enjoy having my kids home (Yes, Reilly I did just actually write that) and find them amusing most of the time...exasperating but amusing. How do people survive who have humorless kids? These Johnson kids might drive me a little (or a lot) crazy but they do have me laughing non-stop. Today seems quiet.

Behold the Freshman...

It was a little like dropping her off at Kindergarten all over again. Me wanting to linger and make sure that she is okay and her looking at me like...Are you still here? Tyler came with me to take all the kids to school which was a first and so nice that he was able to do it. This high school business is hitting us hard. We had a moment yesterday afternoon where we just looked at each other and teared up. We have a high schooler...sigh.

Reilly was very nervous and yet very excited this morning. As we drove her to school I was trying to rattle off all my many instructions and warnings...such as "Hang out with good friends this year, don't get behind, get to know your teachers, be on time to class, don't let boys hug you (side hugs only please), no cleavage, no short shorts, no smoking, don't skip school, don't do drugs, don't let any boys "hit that", no pregnancies, no eating disorders etc. Reilly was like "Mom!! You are KILLING ME!! Do you see any other parents lecturing right now?" And I said, "This is what I do. I am a mother. It is my job!!" But I did look around at all the other parents dropping off their kids...who were zoned out on their phones, or with head phones on and their parents not speaking to them or on the phone themselves. It was sad. But then...I saw her...another mother...kindred spirit...rambling off last minute instructions and warnings. Her child annoyed and begging her to stop talking. How I loved her...another mother doing her job...and what do you know...she is in our stake!! :) Go Mormon Mamas!!

Then onto the elementary school...much less anxiety producing.

The Fifth Grader

Rad Shoes!! (We finally got a Vans store in this town and I am beside myself with joy. We did some serious damage in there for the whole family.)

Kameron's teacher sent home a note for the kids to write down a word that describes themselves that they can share with the class today. Kam picked charismatic. Very appropriate!!

The 2nd Grader

Ailey kills me with her fashionista ways. She has had this outfit picked out for weeks. Cute dress, paired Converse, topped with a girly headband and "wavy" hair. She just knew that this outfit would be fabulous. She was right!!

Don't even think of leaving Bryn out of the action!! Here she is showing us that she is 2 years old. Then it was off to school. I was given strict instructions from Kameron "absolutely no pictures in the classroom!!" Darn it.

Ailey wasn't super thrilled either but she obliged.

Ailey and her good friend Sophia. Stacey, remember you asking me how do you get your kids to smile normally in pictures? I clearly am not the one to ask. Misty Alger has her work cut out for her with Ailey on Saturday when they get their "Better Than School Pictures" taken. Wow.

Then Tyler and I took Bryn out for breakfast. She was okay with being left behind today because she had Daddy home and all to herself. Tomorrow will be a different story.

Summer has been interesting and eventful. Maybe some day I will finally catch up or at least attempt to...Until then I hope my sister Stacey is satisfied since she told me this weekend that she is "sick and tired of seeing that summer reading list post!!" :)

And so it begins.