June: Things I Am Loving

June: Things I am Loving

1.) Snap Chat Filters

I KNOW that they are obnoxious but my little girls love them and want to check them every day to see what is new. Obnoxious they may be but they are also super funny...at least to our family. Here are a few gems.

This is the one that comes up on my kids' phones when mama calls AND you'd BETTER answer!!

Reilly and Ailey

Does the face swap ever get old? Or less horrifying? Nope.

Tyler and Kam

This one is like seeing a Unicorn. Kameron DOES NOT ENJOY these filters or receiving the many snaps of this nature that the rest of our family (Tyler included) send him all day long.

Here's one for your nightmares!!

2.) The Flowers in My Yard

My roses and flowers are blooming like crazy!! It makes me so happy!!

3.) Ice Cream

Particularly ice cream from the new place that opened near us called Brain Freeze Creamery. You don't even want to know how much ice cream we have eaten in the month of June and all of it was premium ice cream. I am a huge ice cream snob. I DO NOT eat grocery store ice cream. It is a waste of calories and usually causes stomach problems for me. There is only one brand that I will occasionally eat from the grocery store...Tillamook... and even with that I only eat a few flavors. Anyway, this ice cream is so delicious that Tyler is calculating a route for us to ride our bikes from our house to the ice cream shop that will *almost* cancel out the calories. It is a circuitous and winding route to burn extra calories but it will be worth it!

4.) Norwegian Cream Cheese

I wish there was a bike ride to cancel out the fat and calories from this heavenly cheese but no such luck. As I have mentioned a time or million...Tyler is Norwegian. We will try any Norwegian cheese that we can get our hands on. I haven't tried a bad one yet. This is pure heaven spread on a cracker or a rye crisp. It is fantastic.

5.) Free Kindle Classics

I often suffer from insomnia. I have no trouble falling asleep but sometimes I wake up in the night and have a very difficult time getting back to sleep. I usually read. The problem is that sometimes my books are so good that I read through most of the night and that doesn't help my insomnia. I have needed to find books that were interesting enough to read and enjoy but yet weren't so engaging that I can't put them down. Behold the Kindle Classics. They are just the antidote. Earlier this year I wanted to reread some of the classics and also to read some of the more obscure ones. I downloaded a few in January. They are perfect. When I wake up and can't fall back asleep I read one of my classics. I always have my Kindle set with a black background and white text which is perfect for middle of the night reading. The classics are entertaining and enjoyable to read but the language and writing style of yesteryear causes my brain to say, "this is challenging...go back to sleep". It's been perfect. When I read I love it but I never seem to be able to read longer than a half an hour before I fall back asleep. It is has been the perfect solution to my insomnia and I have been flying through the classics!! Even better they are all free!!

June

June

What more can I add? June was crazy fun. Birthdays, a surprise visit from Reilly, Farm Chicks, fun times with friends, Father's Day, 6th grade promotion, the last day of school...it had all the things...and a few more.

Kameron had his final band concert of the year and lettered in band.

Ailey had middle school orientation. She was not a fan. She is worried about lockers and showers and getting to all her classes on time...all the things I freaked out about too. She is also in Advanced English and got homework for the summer. She was thrilled. :)

The kids all had dental appointments and some how none of them were on the same day. Ugh. On the day that Kameron had his appt. I pulled up to drop him off at school after his appointment and this is what we saw. A full hazmat response. Nothing warms a mother's heart like seeing THIS at her child's school. What is the world coming to?  Needless to say we kept right on going and went to lunch instead. Turns out there was an HVAC malfunction that caused some people to feel sick and need to be treated... but good grief! After keeping Kameron home for the rest of the day we went to pick up the girls and guess what was parked outside of their school?

You've got to be kidding me?! Someone got hurt at school and was being wheeled out to the ambulance that was also there. Kameron jumped out and ran back to tell me, "Don't worry Mom. It's a boy. The girls are fine." Hallelujah. Am I going to have to home school? My nerves can't take it anymore.

We had a family yard sale at my sister Kelley's house. I know. I said never again. Never say never. It's hard to tell but there was a lot of good stuff. :) My mom, Stacey, Kelley, and I all contributed. I would say that it was our most successful yard sale yet. That said, I still hated it and dread ever doing one again. We did have some super cute helpers though.

Bryn, Ailey, and River

Elle was helping too but she got picked up by her dad before this picture was taken. They had a great time!

All my profits pretty much went to purchase this from... guess who...my sister Kelley!! It is down in Kameron's room and we *share* it. It is nice that on the days that I literally can't drag my butt to the gym I have another option.

The kids had 40 million field trips. There is Ailey front center on her big 6th grade trip to Silverwood Amusement Park. Why do they wait and do all the field trips the last two weeks of school?

It was also the school picnic. That is the day when parents can come and have lunch with their kids out on the playground. This I turn over to Tyler. (I am happy to do it too!!) It only took one child going through elementary school before Tyler refused to eat any more of the nasty *picnic* food that the school provides and started bring fast food for himself and the kids. They love it! This year it was Taco Bell.

This year the girls' lunch times were super spread out so Tyler got to eat a special lunch with Ailey and then he had time to go back to Taco Bell for a second time and bring fresh (I use that term loosely) Taco Bell to Elle and Bryn and eat a second lunch with them. Ha ha!! They loved it so much!

They had face painting too!!

Reilly is loving her roommates and Provo and her new single status. She has a new job and is still plugging away at Paul Mitchell. Life is pretty grand for her right now.

Bryn and I had a fun day with friends at the park. I got to hang out with my friend (the mom) all afternoon and chat the day away while Bryn ran around and played with her friends (the kids) all afternoon. Win-Win.

Kam took off for youth conference and three days of white water rafting in Montana. He had an AWESOME TIME!!

A few gems from youth conference that came to me from all kinds of sources. Ha ha!!

We've been getting a lot of projects done around the house. It's delightful!! :)

Now that the weather is nice we have been going on a lot of family walks after dinner. Our favorite is up on the ridge. So gorgeous!!

We live in a gorgeous place!!

June was also filled with kids that we love graduating from high school, going to several Eagle Scout Courts of Honor for kids that we love, going to the wedding receptions of kids we love (How is that possible!?), seeing good friends and enjoying the joy that is the month of June.

I hope that June was a good month for you too!!

Father's Day 2016

Father's Day 2016

On Father' Day we celebrated this special guy!! He certainly deserves it. He is a wonderful father in every possible way. Our children are so lucky and blessed to have him in their lives and in their corner. He is loving and fun. He is strict and and has high expectations. He is understanding and kind. He is playful and silly. He is also the one that you call when things go south. He stays calm and level-headed and gets you out of whatever mess you find yourself in. Me included. We sure love this guy!!

Kissing pic fail...you get the idea though. Right?

Every year he requests a picnic at the park and a croquet tournament. Every year we are more than happy to oblige. Tyler picked his meal...he picks the same meal every year. We had what we call Johnson pasta salad, fruit, chips, pop, and pudding. The man LOVES pudding. Tapioca pudding to be exact. Done!! For Father's Day when Tyler was growing up they would always have a picnic at the park for his dad but with a big bucket of KFC. A few changes here and there but the Johnson tradition continues.

After church and the celebration Ty received there...the kids singing to all the dads and getting out of teaching his class and going to eat pie all third hour with his buddies... rough life...We came home, changed, and headed to our favorite park.

We were really missing our Reilly. We were able to face time with her (and her roommates) while having our picnic and it was almost like she was there. She refused to look at what we were eating though...Johnson Pasta Salad is one of her very favorite meals. :)

Delish!

Camped out for the day!!

Enjoying an icy cold one!! 

Beautiful views

A happy man eating his tappy!!

Who doesn't love tapioca pudding?! My family sure did growing up as did Tyler's. It just takes so dang long to make. All that stirring. I remember early on when we were dating Tyler made tapioca pudding for me and Stacey one night. I was smitten. We knew that he was a keeper. It takes FOREVER!!That is love right there. But it is so tasty.

Then it was time to get serious...

Oh hells yeah. It's going down. Croquet Tournament 2016. 

DO NOT MESS WITH THIS FAMILY!! 

The Grand Poobah won yet again...all rounds. I held second place. Bryn was the dark horse. She took no prisoners this year and moved up high in the rankings. We will have a rematch when Reilly is in town in August. The Grand Poobah introduced * Beserker Balls* this year...a favorite of he and his siblings...to make things even more *interesting*. That means that after Tyler wins he randomly whacks balls into the game at high speed. Beserker Balls will stay. They are just more motivation to win. As usual some people cried, some people swore, cries of cheating ensued, and a good time was had by all.

Recovery naps were necessary!!

All in all, it was a wonderful day celebrating the most wonderful man. Even if he kicks our butts and tries to break our ankles in croquet. We sure love him!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY EL PAPA!! WE LOVE YOU!!