Happy Anniversary Decade

We celebrated our anniversary in Greer, Arizona at the Red Setter Inn. We've always wanted to stay in the inn there. It's a beautiful bed and breakfast in a log cabin. They feed you a great breakfast, cookies and goodies out all day long to eat all you want, along with soda and juice. They provide a sack lunch so you can take it with you on a bike ride or fishing. (They provide all the gear.) We even had our own bathrobes in the room. It was a beautiful place with a stream running right along the back of it. We played a mean game of Checkers on the river. (Yes, this was our tenth anniversary, not first so we figured it was okay.) Lynn killed me by the way. We took a hike along the river one day. The pics above are of that hike. All-in-all it was a magical time with the love of my life.

Snowflake Reunion

We went to Snowflake last week while Lynn had the week off between semesters. Jeanette threw a party for everyone to get together for dinner and fun. We even had friends and family that drove up from the Valley to see us that week! It was a lot of fun and made us a bit homesick seeing all our awesome friends and family. I didn't get pictures of almost anyone, but most of you were there. Thank you. It was so good to see you. Our kids were in heaven with their cousins and didn't want to come home. A special thanks to Darce who watched our kids for two days while Lynn and I went on a romantic getaway to celebrate our 10th anniversary! Later that week my mom, sister and her husband drove up to see us too. It was a lot of fun.

A book a day...

I love reading books to the kids and so far they love it as much as I do. Yes, there can be a limit now and then to Jonah's obsessiveness (after the 15th book, I tend to be done.) But all-in-all, it's one of my favorite things. The kids love to plop into bed with me and read. One of the great little things in life. Do you think they'll still like it when they're teenagers?

A good Colorado Saturday

Earlier this month we had a great Saturday at A Taste of Colorado. The kids panned for gold, made bead bracelets and met Spiderman. Yes, there were great rides and food and trinkets but we opt for the free stuff every time. Then we were able to walk down 16th Street Mall, which is a great street in historic downtown, with shops lining the streets. We stopped for lunch and then rode the "free" bus back. We all had a great time. I thought it was about time to post a successful Saturday outing in Colorado.

Fun (rain) at the old ball park

So my brother Chris really wanted to see a baseball game in Yankee Stadium. Neither of us are Yankees fans but we are both baseball fans and Yankees stadium is home to some of baseball's richest history. They are tearing down the old stadium and moving into a new one next year so Chris proposed a trip at the beginning of the season. With my school schedule and moving and all I didn't think it would happen but where there's a will there's a way. With only ten games left in the old Yankee Stadium I found a window this weekend between finals and used some frequent flyer miles I had to fly out for one day to see the game with Chris.

Unfortunately even my will could not stop the rain. We sat in the rain for about 45 minutes before they called the game. I did manage to see a few ball players playing catch and eat a very awesome hot dog but didn't get to see a game. The worse part was it stopped raining the minute they called the game. I don't try to dwell on the negative so I just enjoyed being in a place that has seen so much history. It was way cool. On a side note, while it's sad to see it go Yankee Stadium is a lady well past her prime. It's probably time to let her go gracefully. In other words it's a run down dump. Still way cool though.

We spent the night walking in Grand Central Station and Time Square. Thanks to Cameo (bargain travel hunter extraordinaire) we had a very plush hotel right on Time Square for the same price as a Holiday Inn. We could see the Chrysler and Empire State buildings from our room on the 46th floor.

The next day we went to the sight of the World Trade Center. I was there a few years ago and it's amazing how much has been fixed since then. You can't keep America down. A lot more could be said about that. We also went to Trinity church. Way cool. Been there since Colonial times. Then we had lunch at Katz Deli. It's a famous Deli that's been around since 1888. It's also where they filmed that famous (inappropriate) scene from When Harry Met Sally. Chris had to leave after that so I spent the rest of my day studying in front of the Museum of Natural History and in Central Park.

New York is such a cool place to visit. I hope you all get a chance to go someday.

Playing catch up...

I realize a new post is overdue. What can I say? I have been incredibly busy with late night rendezvous with other dashing couples, having medical emergencies for my little ones and celebrating the bling of a ten year anniversary. Also Lynn has had finals this week. He did awesome! Way to go our nursing student! His last final is Monday but Cora is starting to think he might be smart after all. (She always hears Lynn ask me how to spell things and she has started to answer for me. He he...) He might not be able to spell but so far he has straight A's!

Some people in the ward invited us over to dinner last Sunday. Come to find out that they read my blog, must've felt incredibly sorry for my Coloradan sadness, and all of a sudden we've been invited to dinner at another person's home again this Sunday. Hmmm.... Better be careful what you put on your blog. Oh well, who can pass up a yummy free dinner? It actually was very good and like I've said before, the people here are really awesome and great company. So if any of you want to know our secret to being invited over to people's homes for dinner, just write a blog about how much you dislike your new home and life and wahlah! instant invitations!

Okay, so that explains the late night rendezvous (8:30 is late when you have youngin's) the medical emergency was that Granger lost his first tooth yesterday! Kinda early I thought, but he's super cute without it. That dang toothfairy is horribly forgetful around our house though. It usually takes two or three nights to convince her to show up. Hopefully tonight... Also I had an ultrasound on Wednesday. Everything looks okay so far. No placenta abruption detected yet so hopefully things will continue smoothly. (For those that don't know I have a higher risk of that happening again.) Prayers are always appreciated.

So Lynn and I have officially been married ten years now, on 9/11. Yes, I know it's not the most romantic day to celebrate a holiday but we were married three years before the famous 9/11 and sadly didn't have a magic ball to tell us what a dreadful day it would be to try to go celebrate for the rest of our life. It's awful to walk into a restraunt on the evening of 9/11 and watch the hostess and waiter's mouths drop as we walk in and ask for a table in the completely empty establishment. They're thinking, "Are you not American? What is wrong with you? What in the world could you be celebrating?" I'm pretty sure they spit into our food every time. Actually, we'll do the official celebration next week while we're in Greer when we have babysitters for a couple of nights. We're excited to see a lot of our friends and family there. Love you guys!

Oh, I forgot. Lynn is in New York City right now with Chris. They went to go to a Yankee's game in the official historic Yankee Stadium last night! How exciting! Uh... it got rained out. At least the hot dog was good he said...

Tag Tag

I'm not sure how I feel about tagging. Cameo is strictly opposed to it. I can't say I'm in favor of it but I have enjoyed a few of the tag posts I've read. So now that Cameo and I have been tagged multipule times with no response from us to date I thought I would finally respond, but I'm not going to tag anyone else. I don't want anyone else to deal with the guilt of not responding to a tag. If however you feel like sharing your answers to the tag of three please do. I think this information is better shared when it is a choice not done out of compulsary obligation. So you are all invited to respond if you wish. I will try and get Cameo to respond as well, but she won't.


3 Joys

Cameo and the kids. Hands down the best thing ever to happen to me. "Even the losers get lucky sometimes." -Tom Petty

Friends and family. I've always been social but I can't believe how much I really enjoy the company of those I care for. This knowledge is one of the blessings of this Colorado experiment.

Random list in no particular order: Travel (nothing cooler than being in a new place with new scenery, food, people etc.) Food (sad if you can't enjoy food.) Sex (I am a man) Sports (feeds my primal needs.)


3 Fears

My kids leaving the church. Can't think of anything much more painful.

My kids being kidnapped or them or Cameo dying before me. Too scary to think about.

Nothing else. I'm pretty much a bad ass. (If you take away the family)


3 Goals

Finish nursing school

Travel the world with Cameo. (Including a mission)

Be a really good person. (It's harder than it sounds)


3 Current Obsessions/Collections

I really don't get obsessed. I am more of a variety person. It's hard for me to really obsess over anything for any real length of time. Sports are probably my closest obsession but that's only because they end and have long breaks between seasons.

I collected baseball cards when I was a kid

I have a collection of coins from all the different countries I've been to.


3 Random/Suprising facts

Part of my butt is in my ankle

I touched a priceless painting of Vincent van Gogh with my right pointer finger. (Luckily I didn't pull off the little glob of paint.)

I once stayed awake for 68 hours straight.

Let me brag a bit...

I just read a friend's blog that mentioned someone had told her that blogs are just for bragging about how great a person's life is. The following are my biggest bragging points...

1. I am still continually trying to lose the "baby fat" even though my youngest is 3 years old now.
2. Today, I looked at the inside of a nasty toilet, once for cleaning and again for puking. In that order...
3. Speaking of the above, in the last month I have only cleaned this toilet one other time and my entire house is a wreck. Seriously, CPS had better not knock on my door.
4. Tonight my husband threw in an old frozen dinner I had previously made while I sat in the other room and drank apple juice. I couldn't even be in the same room as the smell. Now that only isn't a holly homemaker, it's also a lazy mom.
5. I have been in sweats the entire day and they're cutoffs so my unshaven legs are especially unattractive.
6. I didn't help my daughter with her homework, Lynn did and when I told her I'd help wash her hair tonight, by the time I made it to the bathroom she had done it all by herself.
7. I did read my son umpteen books today but it was mostly during commercials.
8. I have three loads of unfolded laundry on my couch.
9. I only left the house today to get the mail and our mailbox is in the front yard.
10. I am going to ly in bed tonight and feel guilty about all of it.
11. My husband and I argued about... Well I can't think of anything. I guess you've got me on that one. We rarely argue, although a healthy debate has known to arise. Yes, I will brag that I have a husband who loves me and I love him. I have three beautiful, healthy kids that bring lots of joy. My life is far from perfect but I hope that the "real" Johnson Family is reflected in this blog. I want my children to look back on this blogging journal and know that I was real and human and imperfect and essentially happy. I am.

Cameo is a Downer

So Cameo is a little too negative so I thought I would share how great our life really is. Yesterday we came into our bedroom and on the bed was this note from Cora.

Dear mom and dad,
I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!xoxoxoxoxo
Thank you for taking care of us such as clening biying are clothse. feeding us and all that stuf
Love Cora.
P.S. I love you more!
Love, Cora.

With a kid like that who cares where you live.

It's hard to love a place that just hates you back.

Lynn had a wonderful idea this morning. He decided that we needed to get out and explore the wonderful world of Colorado in hopes that it would help bring a little balance to the "Colorado vs. Arizona" scale. Don't get me wrong. This is a nice place, especially nice people but I'm used to having adventures and exploring often and with Lynn's school schedule it's virtually impossible, hence the "unlove" of CO. So we packed a lunch and Lynn's homework, strapped the kiddos in the car and were off to an old mining town called Central City we read about on the internet. Oh, I pictured similar towns I have known like Tombstone, Bisbee and Jerome in Arizona. All of these towns have brought exciting adventures and I pictured a day like one we'd had many times before in all of these towns.

Central City is located in the beautiful Rocky Mountains and when we got there I was in love with the 1800's architecture, masterfully built into the crevices of the hills. We parked the car, got out and started walking. But all we saw inside the awesome buildings were casinos... not exactly condusive to a Mormon family of children under 8. I decided we must be on the casino street and we needed to try another. I expected to see the ice cream shops, travel and trinket shops, antique stores, art galleries and mom and pop restaurants. Again, casinos. Then it started to rain. We walked up and down the streets hoping to find a great little tucked away mom and pop restaurant in an old refurbished building (we were going to save our lunch for dinner) and get out of the rain but alas we went back to the car. All the restaurants were in Casinos for people over the age of 21. Cora started crying, "We drove all the way here for nothing! For Casinos!"

We got in the car, the rain stopped, and decided to drive to the Rocky Mountains, find a picnic spot, eat our lunch and salvage the afternoon. We drove past a really great old cemetary (the highlight) and then found a spot we hoped we could picnic at. When we got there it said we had to pay $14 to enter (we just wanted a dang tree on the side of the road to make a lunch!) so we drove down another dirt road and found a spot to pull off. The kids happily got out of the car and ran into the forest to explore. We pulled out all the sandwich fixings and just then an explosive crack of thunder shook the car, followed by another bolt of lightning, clearly no more than a football field away and another earth-shattering crack. The children ran back to the car. I shuffled everyone in (having been told in childhood that a car is a safe place during a lightning storm because of the rubber tires and whether or not it's true, they were going to get into that car!) We decided to eat lunch in the car. They kids thought it was lame so we told them it was really, really cool, not that they bought it. Then just as we began to eat our sandwiches (it was two hours past eating at this point and everyone was VERY grumpy) golf-ball sized hail began pelting the car. It's August for goodness sake! Lynn said I had better move the car (I was driving because I get sick nowadays when he does) before the hail damaged the car. So we left in a hurry and had nowhere to go except back home.

I don't think this is exactly the day Lynn had in mind to help me truly LOVE Colorado. So far scale is not tipping...

(Cameo is a definitely going glass half empty on me-Lynn)

Quick Update

Cora has been in school now for two weeks. Granger started school Tuesday. They both go to the same school, only Kindergarten started a week later. Granger has afternoon kindergarten and with the late schedule 1:20pm to 4:05pm for him and for Cora 9:35am to 4:05pm, we are loving it. I think every school should start after 9:30 in the morning. It's especially nice for us night owls. The bus stop is right in front of our house so super convenient. Although I plan to eventually get some exercise and ride bikes or jog to school (jogging stroller) I have been feeling so sick lately the bus stop has tempted me beyond my ability to resist. They both love school and it's good for them to have some social interaction. I think they're the best kids around. As you can see from the photo, Jonah is always ecstatic to have them home!

We went to a Diamondbacks/Rockies game Wednesday night. We knew we were looking for trouble going into enemy territory all dressed in red and rooting for the opposing team but people were actually very friendly. Who can resist adorable children screaming for the D-backs? Although Granger "forgot" one time and started rooting for the Rockies! He was really embarrased once he realized what he was doing. A lot of people stopped and talked to us (actually they mostly stopped our kids) and one usher even let us down to the "good" seats as long as I kept it "between us", she said. So we got awesome seats and only had to pay for the crappy $4 seats. We have found that having such adorable kids helps us real a few financial benefits. Way to go. Pulling their own weight... Anyway, we had a blast.

I've decided that rather than wishing we were back home in Snowflake all the time to really appreciate the things about living in a city that I would never get to do otherwise. We went to a great ball game and earlier that day I took the boys to the Museum of Nature & Science. It was a free day so it was full of kids but it was a really awesome place. We only got to see about 1/3 of it before we had to go to get Granger to Kindergarten but it was really awesome. Lots of hands on stuff and exhibits like space odyssey, dinosaurs, wildlife, etc. So I appreciate that. Lynn didn't come though, so I didn't bring the camera. Lynn is the one who always remembers stuff like "preserving memories" and crap like that. Good thing we've got him to provide proof that we do have fun.

Lynn's doing well in school. Midterms are over and three more weeks until finals. Then we'll be traveling to Snowflake for a break for a few days and to drop off our kids at some very awesome cousins house (Thanks!) and have Lynn and I celebrate our 10th anniversary in Greer.

Cutest kids

Typical conversation with Granger:
Granger comes in, head hung, sulking and sits down on the couch.
"What's wrong, Grae?"
"I can't find O-B-1-Kanobe."
"Why not?"
"Jonah had it last and now he's asleep so I can't ask him where it is."
"Well, you'll have to wait until he wakes up then."
"When he wakes up he cries and when he cries I can't understand him." (Jonah does wake up very grumpy.)
"Well, how about if I give you a bigger problem and then you'll forget about O-B-1-Kanobe!"
"Like, tickle me?"
"No, like I'll chop off your fingers."
Granger laughs, "No, because then I won't be able to clean up very good and I know you want me to clean up."
"Okay", I say, "I'll just chop off your nose then. You don't need that to clean up."
"Well, if I don't have a nose, I won't be able to smell your yummy food and tell you how good it is."
"That's definitely a problem." I say, "How about a kiss?"
"Bingo!" says Grae. And gives me a great big kiss. What a cute kid!

Last night Lynn is telling the kids a story about when he was young and he mentions a lady that has all kinds of animals in his story. Jonah says, "Does she have a giraffe?" Lynn says, "No, I mean like cats and dogs and stuff. Jonah says, "You said ALL kinds of animals. That means a giraffe." How do you argue with that logic?

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

So those of you who saw the short lived dread post will realize this is somewhat of a rerun, but for about two weeks I had dreads (dreadlocks). Cameo thought it would be cool to try before I had to cut my hair for school thanks to Concorde's dress code. I thought they looked okay but I decided to cut them for a few reasons. Number one, I can't stand wasting time on my hair. Dreads are high maintanence. At least at first. You have to keep them very clean. (Yes clean.) You also have to twist and smash them all the time. I don't want to waste my life twisting hair. The second reason I cut it was because a girl in my class was worried about the drug test we took and thought I would be the best one to ask about drug matters. My first thought was "time to cut the hair."

Scooby Doo Here You Are.

So a few weeks ago we decided to take our kids to Lakeside Amusement Park. It's the same park that Cameo took Cora to for Mommy-Cora day. The boys have been wanting to go ever since. We decided we'd go for a family night sometime. When we looked online to see what day we should go we hit the jack-pot... at least for our kids. We found out that Scooby Doo and Shaggy were going to visit the park. Cora is the biggest Scooby Doo freak out there and the boys are not far behind. I have to admit they get it from me. I always loved Scooby Doo. I once spent a whole Saturday watching a Scooby Doo Marathon. Not to strange until you realize I was 18 at the time.

When we told Cora we were going to meet Scooby she fainted and the boys danced around in circles.

We had a great time at the park and Shaggy and Scooby did not disapoint. We had to wait in line to see them and Cora was bouncing up and down the whole time. We finally got our turn. Cora brought a big book she had with about twenty Scooby Doo stories in it that she had Shaggy and Scooby sign. We all had our pictures taken with Shag and Scoob. I admit I wanted my picture with them too. It was definitely one of our more memorable family nights.

Kids say the darndest things

So we have been in Colorado a little over a month now and tomorrow I start my fourth week of school. It is taking some getting used to but we are getting there. The first few days of school the kids said some funny things that I wanted to get down but because of the previously mentioned blog band imposed on me by Cameo I haven't been able to get to them until now.

The second day of school Jonah, who is our farmer, was up at the crack of dawn with me. When I told him I had to go he asked "Where?" I told him school. He looked at me with a confused expression and said. "You went to school yesterday." Apparantly he wasn't paying full attention to the whole "Dad's gonna be gone a lot" speech.

A few days later I was studying in our room. Jonah came in and was making a bunch of noise and Cameo came and got him. She told him he had to get out of the room because dad is studying. Jonah went out sulking and in a very pouty voice said, "Dads always studying." It looks like I am cramping his style.

I went in to Cora's room the other night to give here a kiss goodnight and when I started to leave she asked me where I was going. I told her I was going to do more homework to which she replied. "Gosh I didn't know they were gonna give you ten pounds of homework every night."
I told her it was more like fifteen pounds. Her eyes got really big as I walked out of the room.

After I'd been in school for about a week, Granger came to Cameo with a question. He looked at her with a very serious look on his face and asked, "Mom, do they have nurses in Snowflake?" Cameo said "Yes, they do." Granger, threw his arms out, palms up and shook his head with a bewildered, almost disgusted expression and said, "What the heck did we move all the way here for then?"

Everyone is becoming adjusted now. It is definitely different. We'll get the hang of it pretty soon.

Eiffel Tower, Trench Foot, and Hookers: Ah the Good Ol' Days

So Cameo had kicked me off the blog for the last week or so while she played her little game. She even asked me to take down the blog of my dreads because it was too distracting. Anyway I had to write this narrative for English and since the blog has kinda taken a turn towards travel with all these travel pics I thought I'd share this travel story from before my married days.

As I lay on the thin well-worn mattress with my feet still throbbing and every muscle below my waste begging never to be used again all I wanted to do was sleep. My mind however would not cooperate. I kept thinking about the events that had led me to where I was now.
“Come on!” they said, “The metro is right out the front door and the tower is only 100 yards from the exit on the other side.” For the last two weeks my friends Travis, Dave, and I had been backpacking around Europe on less than a shoestring budget. The fact that none of us had any money didn’t seem like a good reason not to go to Europe and have a great time. After all at this point in my life all I really cared about was entertaining myself. Our severely limited resources did however mean that for the last two weeks we had spent our nights sleeping in parks and on train station benches. We had finally broken down and decided to spend six Francs a piece for a space with 12 other guys in the shared room of a hostel. Now my friends were asking me to give up my room to go see the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t want to give up the room but my main concern was my feet. They were rotting, and hurt like hell. I had packed all my socks on the bottom of my backpack and for the last two weeks had only bothered to pull out a new pair once. Now I was paying for my laziness with a severe case of trench foot. I knew I should stay and rest my feet but the allure of a night out was too much.
The tower was majestic at night. Standing at the top of a world icon in the city of lights was fantastic and I even almost forgot the pain in my feet. It was one in the morning when we came down from the tower and by one twenty there was no one around but us. We took a few more pictures and then made our way to the metro. We came down the stairs just in time to see a train pulling away. “No big deal” I thought and found a seat on a nearby bench to wait for the next train. After about twenty minutes of waiting I began to be a little concerned and when a nice French man happened by and explained in broken English that there were no more trains coming tonight I was not happy. We pulled out our maps and realized that our hostel and all of our stuff was about ten miles away. It didn’t matter that there was no taxi in sight when we got back up to street level. Even if there had been twenty taxis waiting to take us wherever we wanted to go we had no money for the fair. Our only choice was to walk.
The distance wasn’t the problem. We were all strong hikers and could cover ten miles easily. The problem, at least for me, was three fold. One, I was very tired. It was well after two in the morning by now. Two, I was in a very poor mental state. I kept thinking thoughts like “Why did we get a hostel tonight? If we had our stuff we could just go to sleep right here.” and “I wasted six Francs on a bed I’m gonna get to use for two hours.” and “Two minutes sooner and we would have made that last train.” Third, and most important was every step I took sent sharp stinging pains from the bottom of my feet through my whole body and out the base of my scull. The thought ran through my mind over and over “If I were in the army they wouldn’t make me march on these feet right now. The three of us trudged along for hours spread out over a distance of about 50 yards, not saying a word. Each of us focused on the task of getting to a bed. Slowly I began to notice neon lights in the storefront windows. Just a few at first, then everywhere you looked. Most of them were in the shape of an X. I also had begun to notice the presence of other people. Mostly women dressed in very tight, very short skirts, and tops that left nothing to the imagination. There were men too, some shifty and sleazy, some hard and tough. Before I knew it both of my friends were by my side. Together we side stepped the women with their hopeful looks and avoided the eyes of the men, both tough and sleazy. Mile after mile the street stretched on with the business of Paris’ red-light district buzzing all around. Eventually the neon began to fade, the traffic on the street cleared out and we could see we were almost to our hostel. It was about five in the morning now and when I noticed a little bakery I decided to stop in to get a baguette for breakfast. As I entered the little shop I was surprised to see almost no baked goods on the wall. In the corner of the store were a man and two girls. Turning to the man I asked if he had any baguettes. In clear English he responded. “Would you like a blond or brunette? The girls on his side smiled in turn. It was obvious I was in the wrong sort of bakery. I explained I only wanted a baguette whereupon the man began to explain to me the various, talents and attributes of both the blond on his left and the brunette on his right. I thought to myself, “If he had any idea how tired I am and how much pain I am in he would save his breath.” I told him I was sure both of the girls were lovely but all I wanted was a baguette. As I left I heard him saying he could find me a man if I preferred. I let the door close behind me and walked the last agonizing half-mile to my bed.