Pocatello fun

We are visiting grandma and grandpa in pocatello. We have 6 of the 10 kids here and it is super fun. Grandma and grandpa get some hotel rooms so they can get away and the grandkids can swim. The pool was a little cold and Elliott wasn't very happy about that. We also found out that Lucy and Lilly bought the same swimsuit; too cute. Thanks grandma and grandpa!!














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Still hunting

The kids are now trying to lure the leprachaun in and trap him. They have made him a very hospitable green room out of some under-counter space. Included are some candies to lure him in, a cool drink, elliott's green pull-ups, dad's green magazine, a welcome note, popped green balloon, green hair accessories, books, and other conveniences. What great kids I have.


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St Patty's Day

Today is St Patrick ’s Day and I was very under-excited. This has always been a very non-holiday for me. My kids are kinda picky eaters, so I didn’t even dye the milk green this year. But, I was feeling like a slacker this morning, so before Lucy left for school, I painted shamrocks on their cheeks for festivity’s sake. I thought it was all good and over. When Lucy came home for school, she rushed in and started crawling all over the ground to look for “goblin’s” treasure. Then it happened….she asked me if I believed in leprechauns. I was a breath away from saying “no” when I realized what I had turned into! I said that I did believe, and then lamented that I had done nothing to encourage this wonder and imagination in her. She told me that they like to leave their treasures around your house…treasures!! I have treasures!! I grabbed some quarters I had lying around and slyly snuck them into a little plastic cauldron left over from Halloween—the perfect pot for my gold! I hid it in the laundry room and asked Lucy where it was.She said it was on the counter, looked and then grinned; the kind of grin that only a 6 year old who believes in magic can muster.I went in to move the laundry through and she followed and saw the pot. She gasped and then looked inside. SQUEEL!!! GIGGLE!!! JUMP!!! LAUGH!!! SQUEEL SOME MORE!! I have never seen this reaction from her—santa and the toothfairy havae nothing on these leprechauns! It was again, joy that only a belief in the fantastic could achieve.I was hooked. I grabbed all the spare change and dollar bills I could find and started grabbing that cauldron when she wasn’t looking. I hid some in the candy jar—it looks suspiciously like a pot as well. I even hid some in Elliott’s shoes so he could find some “gold” when we go out to ride bikes. One last treasure was discovered in that same cauldron after being outside for a few minutes. Lucy is in heaven! She is sure that little guy is hiding money all over this house. Now, I have to find a way to convince her that they need to go to other house and leave treasures there. I’m so glad for this reminder that they still believe anything is possible. I am so glad I didn’t miss out on that giddy scream of wonder!! Even Elliott, in his own subdued way, is excited. Rather thank Lucy’s dramatic reactions and tentative nature, Elliott just believes. He is just thinking of the next logical spot that treasure could be, and loosing his money as quickly as he finds it. The hunt is the adventure for him. What fun. Who know that even St Patrick’s Day could be a great holiday when you have little children to make it magical.
Lucy is still looking for treasures.

Frosted daffodills

They call it a false spring, but I'll take it.

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Taedwondo Time!!

We had a sunday dinner to celebrate Lilly's birthday last week. What fun! All Boise Johnsons, their families, and Larry and Yoon, are ALWAYS invited to birthday dinners! If you want an invite to our super-fun, weekly sunday dinners, you'd better move on up here too!! Heather is rocking the birthday cake making lately! Look how cute this cake is! Emily and Jason got Lilly some super-cute rain gear, and she loves it as you can tell!










Last night, we signed Lucy up for taekwondo at a studio about a half mile from our house. It was so fun to watch her do this! They start with 3 min of meditation, which I think is about the cutest thing I have ever seen. She was so excited and nervous because they got to break a board on their second day of class. This is going to be so great for her confidence and self-respect; she has already done things she never thought she could do, and her smile couldn't have been bigger.





Gorgeous spring days are here! I have daffodils waiting to pop, chives waiting to be eaten, and bikes waiting to be ridden! SPRING IS AMAZING!! Again, if you want to experience this new and wonderful phenomenon of Spring, you have to move FROM AZ to beautiful Boise!!

Have a wonderful March!

February Fun

I have some pictures from Emily's birthday dinner the night before I left. Mikey suggested I post many of our pictures from our gatherings to show you how much fun we are having to better lure you all up here to Boise!! This is my first attempt at coercion. Heather and Emily hid a baby inside the cake, and it was an epic event waiting to see who had it...Lucy was literally stressed out over it! Here is a funny series of pictures depicting Grandma Karen's exuberance upon finding the doll in her piece. FUN TIMES!!!
































In other news...I just returned from my trip to Bagdad, AZ to visit Morgan, Christa, Cassidy, Lund, Sarah, and Will. Christa had chemo on monday, and I stayed until saturday. Other than sleeping in until noonish, her bad days, she acted just like me on a good day! She even played a round of dodgeball on thursday night. She is amazing, her family is amazing, the valley was amazing, and IT was amazing! I loved coming home to my family and getting back into the groove here, but it was soooo much fun. Notice the pictures of me with their turtle, Dot. I love that turtle!! She is the cutest, she was nice enough to come out of hibernation for a day so I could see her in action. Thanks Dot.































I have some sad new. I will need to give you some background info first. Elliott has an imaginary preschool...Spiderman preschool. for about the last year and a half, he has told us all sorts of things about this school. The bus has a spiderman on top, his teachers are only girls. They take him out to lunch at restaraunts, but he isn't allowed to tell us where. If you ask him where he learned something, it was always at Spiderman preschool. The other day, he walked up to me and told me that his spiderman preschool isn't real, he was just teasing us. HOW SAD!!! I know this must mark some kind of developmental stage...he has burned down his imaginary school! I hope his innocence and sense of humor remain...it is an end of an era!


















Finally, here are some shots from the kids' swimming lessons at the Y. Lucy is backstroking by herself, and Elliott is getting used to having water in his face. Only 18 years of training away from Olympic golds!

"This is the best day of my life!"

That's what the kids said today on our little adventure. Bonnie and I took a stroll and the kids rode their bikes on a neat little trail not too far from home.



The trail crossed the river in a couple places and there were these neat little bridges that made the perfect photo op!


Did you spot the geocache? We did a little of that on our trail, in fact we each found at least one!



This is one Lucy found



The kids loved riding their bikes on the trail





And we found a fuzzy little guy enjoying the trail too! This is Lucy holding a caterpillar we found.



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