Road Trip!!

Road Trip!!

Whew! We just got back from another whirlwind of a road trip. This one was a combination of business and pleasure. My mom and I were vendors at a big vintage show in SLC  (The Vintage Whites Market) and I brought my whole family along for an early "Spring Break". We had an absolutely fantastic time...minus a harrowing drive home and the fact that I had a horrible cold and laryngitis...awesome.

We headed to Utah early Thursday morning and got arrived in time to hang out with my brother Kirk, his girlfriend, Meki, her kids, Kaiya and Tarren, and my adorable nephew, Kaiden. It was nice to relax at their house, catch up, and eat pizza. The Pie!! Yum. We had a great time!!

I do not get to see enough of this cute kid!! The site of him watching out the window, jumping up and down, and screaming with joy when we got there just melted my heart. Ailey was in heaven to hang out with Kaiya. We were there about 1 second before those two girls took of to Kaiya's room and didn't even want to emerge to eat pizza. They had a blast together.

Kaiden and Bryn selfie!!

Kirk and Meki have three dogs and Bryn was beside herself with joy!! She begs us and begs us to get a dog. No thank you!! We have our hands full as it is...but she got to love on those dogs all night long. Ol' Milo was her particular favorite. She STILL hasn't stopped talking about him.

After a long day and a late night we headed back to our hotel to crash. We had a great suite at our favorite hotel with tons of amenities. 24 hour pool/hot tub being one of them. Plus, a gym and a full complementary breakfast in the morning. What more could our kids ask for? Nothing. They loved it.

The next morning after a quick breakfast at my all time favorite Utah eatery...Kneaders...we were on our way to unload both trailers and set up for the show.

Breakfast of Champions!! Kneader's Raspberry Bread Pudding with Vanilla Cream and a Strawberry Tsunami Smoothie. Delightful. I ate there every single morning. Fabulous.

Our booth set up took all day. After Tyler and the kids unloaded both trailers they headed off to have some fun. They picked up Kaiden and all headed to Provo. Reilly was checking out BYU and UVU. They bummed around campus...ate the world's best ice cream...hit up the book store and bought all kinds of BYU swag! Even some for Kaiden who REALLY REALLY wanted some thing of his own from BYU but laughingly said, "I'm going to have to hide this from my dad." (Kirk is a die-hard Utes fan...boo.) Kaiden also said to Tyler after his "best day ever!!" " Uncle Tyler...now there are TWO schools that I want to go too!!" Ha ha!! Love it!

Delicious BYU Creamery!!

Kaiden and Kam

After hanging in Utah County all day Tyler brought all the kids back to the hotel for a swim fest like no other!! Kirk brought Kaiya over and the fun began!! Those kids swam for HOURS!!

Kameron, Ailey, Bryn, Kaiya, and Kaiden

When my mom and I were done with set-up we brought nourishment to the masses. In-N-Out. My kids are crazy for their "grilled cheese animal style" sandwiches. These kids ate and then swam some more. Really...is there anything better than swimming and eating junk food with your cousins?

Our booth turned out pretty sweet too!! You can read more about the show and see more pictures HERE.

Once again after a late night of fun, we crashed and burned, and got up bright and early for the show. The turn out was amazing. There were twice as many people as last year...if not more...and last year there was a huge turn out. We had a great time!! I had a famous blogger sighting. Shellie from House of Smiths was there shopping which was pretty exciting. Also, Reilly saw a famous beauty blogger that she was excited about and that I had no idea who she was. We also saw old friends and family. I was super excited to see my cute sister-in-law Marissa, my brother-in-law Brett, and my cutie pie niece Liv walk in along with Marissa's sister Mallory and her wife. It was so nice to have all the family support!! Thanks guys!

My mom and one of her oldest and dearest friends, Margie. It was great to see her and her son David (who is a little older than me) and his son also stopped by to say hello. We managed to tag team visit with them. It was fun to catch up.

While my mom and I were toiling away at the sale. It was super busy!! Tyler and the kids jumped onto the light rail and headed downtown for another day of fun. They headed over to Temple Square and took a tour of the Conference Center. All four kids loved seeing the sights and were texting me fabulous pictures.

Pictures by Reilly

They also had a fantastic time playing downtown. They loved City Creek and raved about it. I'm jealous because I am the only one who hasn't seen it yet!! They explored and ate great food and kindly brought us a late lunch/early dinner since we were in no way able to leave the booth to eat. They played all day. The weather was magnificent. Sunny and in the 60s!! Tyler and Reilly came back at close to help us tear down. It was a LONG DAY!! We didn't get done with tear down etc until it was about 9pm and didn't even eat dinner until around 10pm. We were exhausted...but happy.

The Grand Building when we were leaving!!

Exhausted but happy kids

The next morning we met up with Kirk and Tarren for breakfast at The Blue Plate Diner. Meki was running  a race in St. George.

I hate having to say good-bye to my brother. I wish we lived closer. 

After that we had to run a few more errands and then we headed over to Tyler's brother's house for a fun family day. We had so much fun with Brett and Marissa and our cute niece Liv. Again, I hate that they live so far away. Tyler's Mom and Step-Dad drove up from Moroni and we all had a great day together.

These two girls played the day away. They were inseparable. They were so cute together.

Liv just got back from Disneyland and so she some fabulous new dress-ups!!

We had a lovely and delicious dinner.  Brett and Tyler had us in hysterics telling stories from their childhood. The weather was once again sunny and in the 60s. It felt like Spring had arrived!!

These two girlies drove all around Liv's cul-de-sac. Bryn has some sweet driving skills. Round and round they went!! They also rode bikes and scooters. They were in a world all their own.

We played multiple wild games of...oh yes...CORN HOLE!! It's the new family favorite. Grandpa Joel reigns supreme with Uncle Brett right behind him. The kids played against each other, and then against Brett and Tyler, and then against Brett and Grandpa. Then there was the EPIC game of the Johnson Husbands (Brett and Ty) versus the Johnson Wives (Me and Marissa). Now THAT was a fun game!! Looking forward to a rematch this summer. Have you played Cornhole yet? It is seriously fun.

Even the little girls can play and did a great job!!

Pictures with Grandma Judie and Grandpa Joel

The Johnson Cousins. They are some cute kiddos!

Brett and Ty...we missed Lori and wished that she was there too.

It was hard to say good-bye. We had such a great time and can't wait to be together again.

The next day we headed out early to do a few things before we had to leave town. We drove downtown once again to show the kids some of the sights.

Like the Capital Building

Not too far from the Capital Building is the Colonial House where we had our wedding reception. I'd love to just move right in. That is my kind of house!!

I think this was the highlight of their trip though... The Anniversary Inn. The place where their father became a man and their mother became a woman. Wink Wink. Oh yeah!! That began the "I think I am going to puke if you don't stop talking!!" comments. We just replied back with my Uncle Steve's infamous quote..."There is nothing more natural and beautiful than your parents doing it". Boom. Of course he said that  regarding my grandparents years ago and that, was in fact, puke worthy. But...infamous and oft quoted...it has become. Thanks Uncle Steve.

We drove back down to Provo so that Reilly could check out beauty schools. Hmm. This parenting thing gets difficult when children have their own ideas about how they would like their lives to go and they aren't quite in line with what we, as parents, would like them to do. Reilly did humor us by looking at several colleges and we returned the favor by letting her check out these schools.

She and Tyler checked out both the Aveda and Paul Mitchell schools, took tours, and met with the advisers there to discuss the various programs. I will say that Tyler came out feeling much better about this idea and much more supportive. Reilly came out glowing and with her eyes sparkling. Parenting is hard. For me though, I feel better...I feel like she would still be "going away" to school and having a somewhat of a college-like experience. The Paul Mitchell school is right off of BYU campus and she could still live in BYU student housing and attend a BYU ward etc. Those things are making the idea a bit more palatable to me. I just really had my hopes set on her following in my footsteps, going to BYU, and living the dream...my dream. Reality check Kristin!! Gosh...parenting is full of them. I am sure I will have many more coming my way. That said, the bottom line is... if this is what Reilly wants to do, she now has our full support. One perk is that I will look glamorous all my days. Right, Reilly? :)

We grabbed lunch at JCW's which was delicious!! For all you vegetarians out there who think you can't eat there...think again. They had AMAZING veggie burgers. Hands down the best I have ever had!! Then we made our way back up to SLC and out of town.

Another favorite stop of this trip was Scheels. Oh My!! There was something there for everyone. We could have stayed for days!! It was unbelievable...and they have a huge Ferris Wheel. Awesome.

 Then it was time to go home. We had okay roads until Montana and then our trip that takes around 12 hours turned into 16 hours of pure hell. White outs, semi- trucks crossing the median, slide offs and jack knifes, ice...it was awful. We were very thankful to get home alive!! For reals.

Saturday

Saturday Happenings

I am in total Voodoo Donuts craving mode right now...and I don't even really like donuts. Morning sickness with Ailey pretty much ended donut love...but it just might have been rekindled in Portland. Lucky for us a Voodoo Donut wanna-be has opened up here called Dawn of the Donut (it has a zombie theme). We decided to check it out before swimming Saturday morning. It will do!! I had the most fabulous peanut butter bar with bacon. I like it WAY MORE than the maple bar with bacon. Kam had the Captn Crunch one that I like from Voodoo. Tyler had a delicious one that was chocolate with crushed butterfinger. It was good stuff. Those three were my particular faves.

I am loving that Spokane is hipping itself up more and more every day!! 

Saw this cutie at swimming!! She was wearing lipstick. Start them young I say!! Ailey, Bryn, and Elle are kicking butt. It is so fun to see them swimming like crazy.

Ailey had the cutest stake Activity Day activity!! It was darling. It was all candy themed with tons of cute decorations, guest speakers, crafts, and the most adorable boxed lunches. The attention to detail was amazing. She was in little girl paradise. When we dropped her off even Tyler and Kam were impressed.

Ailey and her friends had a FABULOUS time!!

Reilly attended the highly anticipated/feared Priests-Laurel Dinner Dance and got picked up by her date. (This is a quasi-blind date. The kids are randomly assigned by leaders.) Reilly's date was not her dream date but she still went and enjoyed herself. But I was not allowed to take a couples picture. Boo.

Asian-Style Cobb Salad

I made this recipe for dinner and it was delicious. You can find the recipe HERE or pinned to my Pinterest Salads board. You can substitute tempeh for the chicken and tofu for egg...if you want it purely vegetarian. I made my own dressing of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, minced garlic, a 1/2 T of sugar, a little tiny bit of oil, and the juice of two tangerines that I had on hand. I will definitely make it again. It was a hit.

In other news...the snow continues to fall. You know it's bad when I got a text yesterday from my friend Rebecca who is a big skier saying: "Will winter never end?!" Seriously. I am so done with it...and so is the city of Spokane. Bring on Spring.

Also, I may go insane if I hear the music from Frozen one more time...which I will.  Have there ever been more catchy tunes? Day and night I hear those songs... and as I have three daughters who LOVE that movie beyond anything...this below is just a typical night around here. There are live performances every night!!  Luckily they are all so cute when they sing...especially together.



And this one...



I will NOT show you the video of Tyler, Reilly, Kameron and I doing the youtube tutorial of "How to make Chewbacca sounds". Just knowing that it exists should be enough for you, right? See what happens when you have cabin fever?!

I just shoveled about 5 fresh inches off of our driveway and side walks so I'm going to eat this and dream of somewhere warm and tropical.

Have you tried this brand of yogurt? You should. It will rock your world. My personal faves are the coconut, french vanilla, and mango. Tyler likes the lemon and the lime. The strawberry is good too. Come to think of it I haven't tried a bad flavor yet.

In workout news... I have added burpees and a few other cross fit moves to my workout. Whoever invented the burpee is a sadist from hell. But that's life when you are in your 40's...gotta kick the ol' workout up a notch. I was in such pain the first week I did the new moves that I kept thinking I had a fever due to my all over body aches. Ha ha. So sad.

That's all I've got.

Randos From My Phone

Randos From My Phone

 Enjoy!

Bryn, with her hair straightened, doing her version of the book, Too Many Hats.

Profile...dirty hats courtesy of Kameron

Reilly at her choir concert demonstrating why people have to wear Hunter boots about 6 months out of the year here. Stinkin' slush.

Horrible cheesy photo taken at Reilly's concert where no documentation of her actual singing occurred. Take my word for it...They were good! And...the new auditorium at her high school got dedicated. Nice.

Text sent to Tyler to show him what I was eating for lunch one day. It was a throw back to college where I lived on raspberry BYU creamery yogurt with corn flakes mixed in. Delish. A huge tub of that yogurt would last forever!! I miss it. This is actually vanilla yogurt with Honey Bunches of Oats mixed in which has kinda kicked this up a notch.

Bryn's hair styled by Ailey after watching those Disney hair and make-up tutorial shows on Netflix. This would be the Queen Elsa loose braid look with a few flowers thrown in for whimsy.

Seventeen is precious.

Sunny street in Portland that I texted to my family who was shivering in a 10 degree blizzard... poor suckers.

Kameron in a beloved hoodie that never gets washed. The irony is that it is goldish in color and reminds me of my brother Kirk's gold sweats that he never took off at around the same age. I think they deteriorated on his body.

Photo of my grandparent's post office box in Bonners Ferry, Idaho that they got their mail from every day for over 40 years. A gift for my mother. If you could only smell the delicious smell of that post office. I don't know what it is, but it smells heavenly. Every time I am in Bonners I jump out, run into the post office, take a few whiffs, and touch Box 503. Don't ask me why...it just must be done.

More *watching* of the Olympics. I don't know why it lulls me to sleep almost immediately, but it does. I guess it is very soothing. I've barely been able to keep my eyes open unless it was watching the horror show that was Bob Costa's eyes. Now THAT had my full attention!


THE END

Valentine's Day 2014

Valentine's Day

One of my favorite nuances of parenting teenagers is the taste of the real world that they occasionally get before they are out in it full force. I love the little glimpses they get that not everyone is raised or has a life just like they do. Those are great...sometimes sad...but always a learning experience for them. Most often they are also a parent payday. They are one of those rare times when your children will come to you and say "thank you" for the life that they are blessed to live.

One of those first glimpses of how other people live came in the form of babysitting. Reilly very quickly learned that not every one's idea of a clean home is the same as her idea of a clean home. You know, the cleaning standards that she has thrown a fit about for the last 12 years. After a few times of babysitting for others she came home one night and said, "Thank you for always making us clean the house and keep it nice. Not everyone does that. You'd be surprised at how other people live." Ha ha. After that picking up other people's homes became part of her babysitting services simply because she couldn't stand crumbs on the floor, sticky counters, dirty dishes in the sink, clean laundry dumped on the couch etc." Did it stop Reilly from  being a complainer about cleaning our house? No. She is also still a complete slob in her own room, which gives me palpitations upon entering, but I know that deep down she knows how to clean a house properly and that she appreciates it.

Another parent payday came when she served her mini-mission and she realized how blessed she is to come from a good home with parents who love and provide for her and keep her safe. That was a sad and yet powerful realization for her. She is still a typical teen, but I know that deep down she realizes how blessed she is and that she tries, in her own way, to bless the lives of those who are less fortunate.

Yet another payday arrived in the form of Valentine's Day. The night before Valentine's Day, Reilly came home from work and joined us for scripture study and family prayer. Just before prayer she said, "Hey, I want to thank you guys for something." "For what?", we asked. "Thank you for being you and for making the holidays so nice for us. I didn't know that most people don't have parents that do that...so thank you." We were in shock. Did our teenager just thank us? Yes! She did!! I believe that she was perhaps even a little teary-eyed when she did it. Wow.

Apparently Reilly had been chatting with her co-workers about how excited she was for Valentine's Day. They wondered why? Did she have a hot date planned? She said that, no, she was just excited to celebrate with her family. She said that her co-workers were baffled. They wanted to know what we do that is so exciting. (We don't really do anything that exciting which is the funny part.) Reilly then told them all about our little traditions: red lunch, our traditional Valentine's family dinner with homemade pizzas and special treats, the little gifts the kids get from us, and our "love notes" to each other. Reilly said, "They couldn't believe it! None of them do anything unless it is with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Their parents DO NOTHING!! Can you believe that?! How sad is that?" Then she thanked us again for always making the holidays special. Appreciation, when it does come, truly is worth the wait.

I guess that is why I have always loved Valentine's Day regardless of  whether or not I had a special someone to be my valentine each year. My mom always did special things for us. We always got a treat and a little gift. Growing up in Springdell, Valentine's Day was a big deal with all our neighbors and friends making Valentines and treats for other neighbors and friends and ding-dong-ditching them on our door step each year, as we were hiding and ding-dong-ditching Valentines on their door steps. Even in college my mom always sent a big fun care package for every holiday full of treats and little gifts. Even my grandma would send me a Valentines package each year. So, Valentine's Day has always been more of a day to celebrate "Love" rather than a special "Lover".

I am blessed that I married a person who, while he didn't grow up doing any of those kinds of traditions, really likes holiday traditions and being romantic. Thank goodness!! Tyler has always done all kinds of fun things for me...not always expensive...but ALWAYS thoughtful.

This year poor Kameron had outgrown making Valentine boxes and valentine parties being in middle school now. He was pretty bummed about that fact. Our kids' elementary school has always gone all out with fun parties on Valentine's Day and Halloween. Ailey and Bryn had a great time making their boxes and cards and Kam was a good helper. The little girls very carefully picked out festive Valentine outfits and accessories for the day too.

Ailey heading in to school

Brynnie and her loot!!

We usually go out for a fancy romantic dinner the week before Valentine's Day for Tyler's birthday so we like to hang out with the kids on actual Valentine's Day. A few years ago we started a fun little tradition of going out for lunch on Valentine's Day together. I love it!! This year was Mexican. We really need to improve our selfie skills. That's horrible.

 Our Valentine's dinner always consists of homemade pizzas. Sometimes heart-shaped if we are really festive. I hate pizza so we rarely eat it and homemade pizza even less. So it is my gift to the family each year. :) I might be changing my mind though because Tyler tried out his new KitchenAid for the first time and whipped up homemade pizza dough in no time...and it was actually good!! Who knew?

Ignore all my painting projects for my next show crammed here and there!!

We had our dinner by candlelight and enjoyed our Valentines and love notes from each other. I got beautiful tulips (my fav.), a sweet card, and perfume from Tyler. During our dinner Reilly got asked to the annual Priest/Laurel Dance which was fun for all of us. :)

In regards to traditions and the holidays, I think that whatever you do to celebrate...be it big or small... it teaches your kids to love life and to celebrate it to the fullest. I love that in our family celebrating doesn't hinge on having a "special someone"...it is all about celebrating love in all of it's many facets. I love that I was wished Happy Valentine's Day from all of my siblings and my mom via phone calls, texts, emails, Facebook etc. I love that Tyler is teaching our son how to be a romantic husband and that, hopefully, our daughters are learning to be loving and appreciative wives and mothers from me. I hope that all of our kids feel loved and valued and know what blessings they are in our lives. Love is a beautiful thing.

I hope that your Valentine's Day was sweet!!

43

43 & Sexy

Tyler turned 43 last week. We have now known each other half of our lives. That is a pretty cool milestone. I am lucky that I am married to the greatest guy in the entire world. Not only is he my husband, but he is also my very best friend. I am so grateful that we like to spend time together; we have similar interests; we support one another; and we bring out the best in one another. Most importantly... we get one another.

Case in point:

This summer I came home to a calling card from a detective from the police depart asking us to contact him because he had a few questions. I FREAKED. I googled the detective and found out that he was a detective that has investigated serious crimes and criminals in our area. I FREAKED again. I then googled Tyler...looking to see if he had any warrants for his arrest. (Hey! I grew up in the 80's on a regular TV diet of Lifetime TV Movies like "The Stranger in My Bed"!!) Of course, I found nothing. When Tyler got home we called the detective back and found out that he wanted to ask us some questions about our neighbor who was applying to the police academy. This particular detective used to be a serious detective but now was semi-retired and interviews people for things like this. Whew!! At my extreme relief Tyler was like, "What? Did you think he might want to ask questions about me?" and I was like, "Um...Not really...maybe...", and he was like, "What?! Did you look to see if I had any warrants out for my arrest?" and I said, very sheepishly, "Perhaps..." and then he threw his head back and ROARED with laughter. He laughed and laughed until he was crying. See!! He GETS me. A lesser man would've taken great umbrage. He would've been angry or irritated but Tyler found it HILARIOUS. He knows that my mind instantly goes to very dark places; he gets my neurotic side; and is usually amused. I appreciate that about him. Ha ha.

Usually Tyler has a Superbowl Birthday Party, but this year I was traveling on Superbowl Sunday, so we celebrated on his actual birthday, and then again on the weekend. Since we weren't doing a Superbowl party...we decided to watch a movie as a family. Ailey and Bryn instantly begged for all of us to see Frozen. My sister, Kelley, took them to see the movie around the holidays and they LOVED IT. Tyler relented and a new theme was born. We all loved Frozen...particularly our own little Nordic boy. Finally a kids movie set in his own ancestral land.

 He then picked "frozen" cream for his birthday treat. Hot Fudge Sundaes all around!! He had his in an enormous bowl with multiple flavors of ice cream and hot fudge and one lone candle. He loved it and two little girls really got a kick out of the fact that "Daddy had a Frozen Birthday Party!"

He got a bevvy of gifts...one of which was a KitchenAid Mixer all his own...his request...due to the fact that the poor man has a non-baking wife. (For years I have said that we don't need a KitchenAid due to my non-baking ways.) Last year my Mom and sisters all offered to kick in for one for my birthday and I was like "Why? I don't bake." But Tyler does...so we all kicked in for one for HIM and he is THRILLED with it!!

But I do believe that his very very favorite gift came from Reilly:

This is only a but sampling of the huge gift bag of these treats that she gave him. The man loves pudding. Like he REALLY loves pudding...and he loves Vienna Sausages. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Why anyone would want to eat gelatinous wienies from a can is BEYOND me. After we got married those have not darkened our doorstep...except on his birthday. Enjoy those revolting little sausages!! He also loves Storck Chocolate Reisens. He was in snack heaven. Once the weekend rolled around I took him out for his favorite sushi dinner and sour cream lemon pie.

The man is gold. He is the best. He is the best husband and the best father. As Reilly's FB birthday tribute said, "You are crazy and weird in the best way." I concur. He is the most beloved daddy by his daughters and a beloved compadre with his son. He goes out of his way to spend one on one time with each of his kids. He took that so far as to join the ward choir so that he could hang out with Reilly and have something that could be their "thing". I found that to be amusing and drastic but that's how the man rolls. Unfortunately, Ailey and Bryn just can't wait until they are old enough to "sing with Daddy in the choir!!" You might be sha-la-la-ing up there for sometime old man. Ha ha. I asked Kam if he wanted to join the choir too. His reply, "UH...NOOO! Someone's got to sit in the audience with you and laugh." and we do!! That's our "thing". Ha ha.


I close with the prophetic words of Tyler's mother from her journal, November 18, 1986, when Tyler was a teen. (She sent us a copy for his birthday and, boy, was it amusing...The dastardly teenage doings of the original Johnsons Three.)

(Why yes, he has!!)

Happy Birthday Ty!! I love you.