The Presidents Day Weekend Misadventure

For the weekend of Presidents Day, we decided to get out of the house and, well, hole up in another house. While that wasn't our initial plan, that's what it eventually ended up being: an expensive stay-cation, in a different location.

I got an AirBnB up in Logan with the idea that we would spend the long weekend skiing at Cherry Peak ski resort. We had done it last year and the kids had a blast. So why not do a repeat!

The first omen of things to come was arriving at the house. I had reserved a basement apartment of a "colonial mansion." The host's instructions said there was a gravel driveway to the entrance at the back of the house. We could park there, or park in the main driveway. After some searching, we found the gravel driveway entrance. There were two or three inches of snow on the ground, but the drive was relatively level and straight, so I thought, why not try heading down that way with my rugged minivan. Well, I discovered that my minivan is not quite so rugged. About ten feet in it got stuck, its front wheels dug deep into a rut. The next twenty minutes were spent stuffing rocks, dirt, twigs, and whatever else we could find to give the wheels more traction, then together heaving the car up and out while Tonya tried to back it out.

We finally got the car out and took the second option of just parking in the main driveway.

The next morning we made our way up to the ski resort. It was snowing lightly. There was a dusting of snow on the road that got progressively thicker the further up the mountain we went. Tonya became visibly nervous, occasionally commenting "Uhh, you sure we want to do this?" Then just as we were about 50 yards short of the parking lot, the road hit a short steep patch. Several cars were backed up in front of us, not able to make it up. We stopped and waited. One by one, the cars each trudged up the slope, aided by people getting out and pushing. When it got to our turn, though we had several helpers, the van just would not make it up. So, we thought, no worries. We can turn around, head to the bottom and wait for a snow plow to clear off the road. So we turned around and started back down.

We were going about as slowly and carefully down the road as we could when we looked ahead and saw a car, heading the other way up the mountain, that had slipped out of its lane into ours. The road was pretty narrow, with steep mountain slopes on either side. As soon as I saw it I hit the brakes. I immediately felt the anti-lock mechanism kick in as we continued to slowly slip down the road. I swear we were at least 100 yards away, going less than 5 miles per hour. Yet we could not stop the car. It was like this slow motion yet inevitable crash about to happen. 

At 100 yards I'm thinking, we've still got like 30 seconds before we get to that point, so I'm sure they'll figure it out by that time. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. OK we're at 90 yards, and the car's still in our lane, but I think we're still OK. Five Mississippi, six Mississippi, seven Mississippi, eight Mississippi. OK we're at 70 yards and they're actually getting out of the car to start pushing. Is that good? Well, if they're pushing then maybe they'll better be able to get out of the way. But if they don't get it out of the way, and we run into them, is my car going to be running over a bunch of people, not just hitting another car? Twelve Mississippi, thirteen Mississippi, fourteen Mississippi, fifteen Mississippi. Crap, we're at 50 yards and they've still not made any progress. Wait, do they even know that we're inching down this road but can't stop? Oh, yeah, use your horn Anthony! HONK! HONK! HONK!  Twenty Mississippi, twenty one Mississippi, twenty two Mississippi, twenty three Mississippi. AHHHHH! WE'RE GOING TO CRASH INTO THEM AT 3 MILES PER HOUR AND I CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT!!!

It wasn't until we were probably within ten yards that they were finally able to push the car out of our lane and into their own. As I peeled my white knuckles off of the steering wheel, there was this huge sigh of relief from both Tonya and me. Summer was nearly crying in the back seat.

By that point, we had all lost any desire for skiing. We decided to just head back to our basement and hang out for the day. Yet the misadventure didn't end there. A little further down the road, a car heading up the mountain flagged me down to ask about the road conditions. This time the road was even enough for me to stop the car, roll down the window and tell him, "If you don't have 4 wheel drive, you're not going to make it." Scarcely had I finished the sentence when I heard a honking from behind. Another car was experiencing the exact same terror I had just gone through, but now because I had stopped my car in front of them. I immediately hit the gas and narrowly avoided yet another collision.

So, the rest of that Saturday and the following Sunday we spent just hanging out in our rented basement. The kids played some twister. The place had a nice big theater room, so we watched two of the original Spiderman movies, National Treasure, Princess Diaries, and a few others that I can't remember. 

We considered staying until Monday and skiing then, but the forecast again called for more snow, so we weren't in a mood to risk it. We headed back home Sunday night.

So that was this year's Presidents Day weekend misadventure. A really expensive movie marathon, in someone else's house.

A Little About My Life

As soon as Ruthie found out that we were resurrecting the blog, she was so excited that she wanted to contribute. So, introducing Ruth in her blogging debut:

First of all, if I were to describe myself in one word, that word would be Ruth Colleen Johnson. Now I realize that is three words but I have to count it as one because it wouldn't be complete without all three. Have you ever met someone like that? So unique that a single word cannot describe them, a person that can only be described as who they are? I know you have because honestly I think every person is like that. Even if their name might not be quite fitting it is still the only thing that could possibly describe them. Yup, that's me.

Currently I am twelve years old, I love to learn, and I can't wait to pick up my next good book. In my free time I like to read, write, and play with my friends and family. I can usually finish a book in 2-3 days if I am really enjoying it, and one day if I just can't put it down. Right now my favorite book series is the Lunar Chronicles. I love to write stories. In fact right now I am working on a book. It doesn't have a name yet but I am about 20 pages in so far. As of now I cannot play with friends outside of school due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so I have to be content with playing with my siblings and doing FaceTime calls.

I also love to act, sing, and dance. I go to an after school program called COPA. We have practice twice a week. We just had our first stage performance in January and it was great. I absolutely love school. Although right now we do have to wear masks all day it is still great to see my friends. You know all kids at some point in their life wish they were home schooled but after the brief experience I had with online learning I am very grateful to not be homeschooled.

When I grow up I hope to be either a Marine Biologist or an Actress. My friend Sienna also shares both of these interests so whatever we decide to do, we plan to do it together. We have already planned ahead, and if we decide the path of Marine Biology we want to study at California State University, Monterey Bay.

Some of my favorite things are, the color lavender, dogs, dolphins, donuts, Caesars salad, the smell of rain (which I found is called petrichor), my friends, my family, and books. Now to list all of my closest friends this year. Emma, Sienna, Claire, Hazel, Ellie, and Trevor.

Life is good.

Cupid's Crazy Cafe

Tonya has introduced a fun new Valentine's Day tradition into the family. It's called Cupid's Crazy Cafe.

She prepares a multi-course meal. Each "course" includes several items that the kids can order. However, they can only order them by number, and they don't know which number corresponds to which item.

In addition to normal food, ordered items may be things like a plate, a cup, or eating utensils. The kids' lack of knowledge as to which item they are ordering, in which order, leads to fun and silly eating situations. If you order the salad before ordering the plate and utensils, then you must eat the salad with your hands, straight off the table.

If you order the drink before the cup, then you get your drink poured onto the table, or straight into your mouth.

We all love this new tradition. Thanks Tonya!

Blog Resurrection

So I don't know if anyone out there has still subscribed to get notifications on this blog, but if you do, Hi! It's been a long time!

Since Heidi's last post in 2014, lots has happened in our family, as you likely already know. We are still living in Lehi, albeit in a different house. After Heidi's passing, Tonya joined our family in 2019. Austin is 14 and in the 8th grade, playing trumpet in the band. Ruth is 12, in 6th grade, and is part of a performing arts group. Summer, 9, is in the 4th grade and reading like crazy. Our family has somehow been able to recover from tragedy, and, I would say, is thriving again.

One thing Tonya and I have noticed is that the kids love going through memories. Some Sunday afternoons they'll go downstairs, turn on Plex, and go through all of our old videos, spending hours flipping through clip after clip, enjoying seeing themselves as toddlers. Also, after Heidi passed, I decided to take this blog as well as Heidi's cancer blog, and put them into books (at least, the parts of the blog that had not already been put into books). Now our living room has a basket full of coffee table books about our family. The kids will often cuddle up with one of these books and read about their youth through Heidi's voice.

While Tonya has been especially good about documenting our new adventures with pictures, I realize that there's great value in recording our impressions and thoughts beside those photos. So, with that in mind, here we are, posting here again. I'm going to attempt to resurrect this blog. While my primary intent for doing this is internal–so our kids will continue to have books they can cuddle up with and reminisce–you out there reading this are welcome to continue following this blog. I'll admit up front that I'm not as good as Heidi was at expressing myself, or at being consistent. Maybe this new initiative will fall flat. Nevertheless, we're going to give it a go.

Let the resurrection begin!

Awesome kids

This is a blurb I wrote for Austin's half-birthday week at school:

When Austin was 5, he loved helping his mom make up bed-time stories. All the stories were about Austin, his 2 sisters, and his 3 cousins who formed a club called The Awesome Kids. In the stories, the kids had a secret tree house and lots of high-tech gadgets invented by Austin, which they used to defeat villains. Austin created the idea for the club, all of the villains and the ways to defeat them, while his mom added words to make it sound like a story. For class today, Austin’s mom has written a short Awesome Kids story. In this story you’ll hear about some of Austin’s favorite things and things that Austin is good at. Here is the story...

Austin stood in front of a blocky figure of the Millenium Falcon, lost in thought. Tyce popped his round head over Austin’s shoulder. “Are you trying to figure out how they made that out of Legos?” Tyce asked. Austin and his cousin Tyce were in the center of Legoland on vacation with their families. While their families walked around Mini-Town looking at all the lego creations, Austin and Tyce were focused on the Star Wars displays.

“Actually,” Austin replied. “I was imagining what it would be like to use The Force. Then we could easily defeat villains!” Tyce smiled imagining it.

Just then, Austin’s sister Ruthie and his two other cousins ran up. “We’ve got trouble,” Makayla shouted.

“That’s right,” Kalyana said. “Ruthie just saw a villain on the villain-scope!”

“Who is it?” Austin asked.

“The Rain Man,” Ruthie cried. “He’s flying over in his weather cloud. He’s going to make it rain and ruin our vacation!”

Austin put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, guys. We may be on vacation, but we’re still the Awesome Kids. This guy is going down!” He looked at Kalyana, the club’s operations planner, and waited for one of her brilliant plans, but her face was blank.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t have any ideas. We’re away from home. We don’t have our tools, our inventions, or even our shirts that turn us into super-heros. We don’t have anything to work with here!” Five faces frowned in discouragement.

Tyce gazed at the Millenium Falcon statue and mumbled, “If only we had The Force, huh?”

Austin looked down at the statue. Suddenly his face broke into a smile. “That’s it!” he exclaimed. Everyone  looked at him confused. “We may not have The Force,” he explained, “But we’ve got the second best thing: Legos! We’re in the middle of Legoland. We’ve got all the Legos in the world! And if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to build with Legos.”

His cousins were excited now. “What’s your plan?” Kalyana asked.

“Kalyana, you and Ruthie collect umbrellas from everyone who brought an umbrella today. We’re going to hang the umbrellas under the Rain Man’s cloud machine.”

“But how will we get the umbrellas up in the sky?” Tyce asked. “I know you’re good at soccer, but even you can’t drop-kick an umbrella that high!”

“That’s where the legos come in,” Austin said. “You and Makayla run to the Lego construction site and bring me as many green legos as you can. Now hurry!”

With their assignments in mind, the Awesome Kids raced away. In almost no time, Tyce and Makayla were pouring green lego bricks at Austin’s feet. Fast as lightning, Austin began building. Click! Click! Click! The lego bricks stacked into place. Meanwhile, Kalyana and Ruthie raced in carrying two large armloads of umbrellas. Ten minutes later, Austin stood back. A giant green catapult stood before him.

“Wow,” Tyce whistled. “You’re good!”

“Open the umbrellas and load the catapult,” Austin ordered. Just as they finished loading the catapult they heard a familiar sound. Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta. It was the whirring blades of the Rain Man’s weather machine.

“He’s here!” Ruthie shouted, pointing out a peculiar gray cloud moving in fast.

“Oh no!” Austin said. “I forgot something! I need rubber bands to make this catapult launch. I’m sorry guys. We were so close.”

A few rain drops fell from the sky. The weather cloud was almost above them. Any moment now the Rain Man would turn his cloud on full blast and Legoland would close all the rides because of the rain. A few more drops fell.

Austin’s silly 2-year-old sister Summer ran over. Her short blond hair was sticking out in about 20 different directions. That morning she had stubbornly insisted on having several pigtails put in her hair. She tugged on Austin’s shirt. “Me hate rain,” she said.

“Summer,” Austin cried, “You saved the day! Actually, your hair saved the day. Can I borrow your hair bands?”

Summer handed over the bands and Austin quickly strung them into the Lego catapult. Together all 6 kids pulled the catapult lever back and let it fly. 50 umbrellas launched into the sky and snagged in the strange gray raincloud just as the thunderstorm began. The Awesome Kids watched as a pool of water collected in the umbrellas and dragged the cloud down to the ground. Once on the ground, Legoland park police quickly apprehended the Rain Man.

“We did it!” The kids cheered.

“Austin, you’re a genius!” Ruthie said.

“But I have a question,” Tyce said. “Why did the lego bricks have to be green?”

Austin shrugged. “Green is my favorite color and I just figured, if you’re going to build, build it with style!”

Ruthie said...

As I squeezed a lemon into a glass of water...
"I like ice cold lemonade. I don't like ice hot lemonade."

At her cousins birthday party...
"Where's the cake? I'm a big fan of sugar."

At the pulpit of church, giving her testimony (all by herself)...
"I'd like to bear my testimony. I know the church... is supposed to be quiet."

7!

Happy 7th Mr. Boy! We celebrated in Brighton where we also commemorated my dear mother's birthday today.

It is all about Star Wars this year. Can you feel his excitement in these pictures? He is at this moment (10pm) still awake practicing cool tricks with his light saber and saying things like "I am a Jedi like my father before me."

Austin Graduates

Kindergarten is officially over (a month ago). This is Mrs. Taylor's graduating class. Austin did great in kindergarten. He is exceptionally bright and has a knack for reading, math and science, though lacks stamina for assignments. It has been a fun year to continue to watch him develop.

This little video is a dance the kindergarteners performed the day before.

Summer's First Joke

Summer told her first joke! She made it up herself and everything. Pretty impressive for a kid who employs less than 15 words, huh?

So Ruthie and Austin have a tradition of telling "knock, knock" jokes when we're driving. I don't know how it started and they don't do it every time, but apparently it happens often enough that Summer has picked up on it. The other day Summer surprised and delighted us all with her very own joke (and her first use of the word 'knock'). Here it is...




Now in writing for someday when I create a hard copy of this blog...

Summer (knocking the air with her fist): Na-Na!
Me: Who's there?
Summer: Baby.
Me: Baby who?
Summer: Baby!

Summer (knocking the air): Na-Na!
Me: Who's there?
Summer: Na-Na!
Me: Who's there?
Summer: Na-Na!
Me: Who's there?
Summer (continually knocking): Na-na-na-na-na-na!

Summer (knocking the air): Na-Na!
Me: Who's there?
Summer: Baby who.
Me: Baby who?
Summer: Baby who.

Austin's Portfolio Blog

Have I mentioned how incredibly creative my boy is? I have? I'm not surprised. 'Cause he is dang creative! He creates through drawings, building toys (like legos), scrap materials (like cardboard and tape) and even things like food, songs or stories. For a while now I have wanted to capture his amazingness (without actually saving boxes and boxes of all those creations) and have finally struck on a great idea for doing it! Austin now has his own blog where I can save his work in pictures and videos. We call it Austin's Portfolio. Check it out!

A small sample (explanations are on the blog):

Robo-Port-Dobo (vacuum bot)

The Crabby Foods

Termite Mobile

5 Words And Counting

Summer is saying 5 distinct words now! I'm so happy that I get to watch her learn to talk. I'm so happy that one of her words is "mama" and I get to be the one she's talking about when she says that. Her five words (in order of development) are: mama, dada, uh-oh, buh-bye, no. She can also sign: more, please, thank you and her version of "I love you" which is to blow kisses. She has learned several animal sounds this month including: cat, dog, fish, monkey, giraffe, bird and lion-tiger-bear (same sound).

Some cute things she does: She loves to play jailbirds with daddy and the other kids. She runs around the couch and screams with them and its so cute seeing her be engaged in the big kid games. She knows how to clean up. Whenever she spills her cup of water she says "uh-oh" and then goes to get a towel to clean it up. She is the best "hang up your jacket" rule follower in the family. When we come in the house Austin and Ruthie will strip off their shoes and jackets on the way to the living room and drop them wherever. But Summer will stop in the mud room and hold up her foot until I come to take her shoes and jacket off. She tries to enforce this rule with anyone who comes over. As soon as they come through the door she starts trying to help them get their coat off. It's cute; it's as if she's saying, "Hi friend. Take off your jacket and stay a while!"

Ruthie Turned 4

This happens every year to my cute little Ruthie. Having a birthday in November means that her birthday post ends up getting neglected until after the hub-bub of the holidays has settled down. This year has been especially crazy with my mom's passing and my cancer. So here it is March and I'm just getting to it. Kids change so fast at these early ages that she's already a different little person than she was 4 months ago!

Let's start with the birthday celebration. I didn't have a whole lot of energy for a big creative bash like I did for Austin just a few months prior, but even with a simple party we still had a great time. Ruthie's chosen theme was a princess party.

She invited the 4 girls from her playgroup.

Ivy, Claire, Ruthie, Emma, Ava

Activities included:

Pin the crown on Ariel.

Princess Dressup.

Princess cupcakes.

I think we threw in a little princess dancing and some present opening too. And that was about it! Then it was just regular playgroup time. But still great stuff.

Ruthie also had a fun party with her cousins.

Aunt Heather made this fun princess cake!

 Some birthday gifts included:

A princess scooter and helmet from Mom and Dad.

A makeup set she selected with her birthday money from Oma and Opa.

And now for my favorite part of any birthday post. I little snapshot of my cute little gal's personality!

Ruthie's favorites:
Color: purple and pink
TV show: Curious George and Wild Kratts
Movie: Ariel
Friend: Emma and Tyce (and the other playgroup girls)
Food: candy!, cereal, ketchup, fish sticks, cucumber, raspberries, strawberry oatmeal
Candy: popsicles and m&ms
Toy: dressups and makeup
Book: Magic Tree House (this is a new discovery this month)
Ride at Disneyland: Ariel
Song: "ABCDEFG, Gummy bears are chasing me. One is red, One is blue, One is peeing on my shoe. Now I'm running for my life because the red one has a knife"
Place to go: the store
Computer game: whatever Austin is playing on the PBS Kids or Disney sites

This little lady is definitely more of a little lady than I remember being at her age. While she's not "girly" she does enjoy wearing skirts, donning dressups and covering herself in chapstick and nail polish (although she resists me combing her hair!). She is still my little sidekick and loves being my shopping buddy and cooking buddy. She loves to dance, make silly faces and win me over with her big brown eyes.

She is a great sister and plays equally well with Austin and Summer. She and Summer recently developed a new game Ruthie calls "Monster Tag." Ruthie runs and hides, Summer chases and finds her then they both scream and Ruthie runs away again. Ruthie's favorite game to play with Daddy is Jail Birds, where Daddy chases the kids around the couch and tries to catch them.

Ruthie and Austin have much more imaginative games playing out all the roles they see around them. They'll pretend to be Buzz Lightyear, the Wild Kratts, Jack and Annie from Magic Tree House, pet and owner, etc. While they may fight everyday, their fights are much more tame than they used to be a year ago. At this very moment, these two are watching a Buzz Lightyear movie and arguing over who gets to eat the last of the Marshmallow Mateys.

A couple of the big things I hope we improve this next year are 1) reducing Ruthie's sugar supply and getting her to eat a good dinner and 2) breaking the thumb sucking habit and 3) learning to read in preschool this fall.

In all honesty, I rejoice everyday that I get to be associated with this beautiful young lady. Her friendship and her humor absolutely delight me. She is a pretty easy kid to raise and a whole lot of fun to be around. She is a leader in her little playgroup and I can envision having a socialite on my hands as she grows up - which makes me want to cherish the time that I get to play with her all the more!

My Cancer Blog

Looking for a little twisted gratitude just in time for Thanksgiving...
check out my new blog: http://heidiscancerfight.blogspot.com/