MightyJohnsons

House cleaner extraordinaire

I am afraid as I grow older I will forget all the great and fun things that happened in my kid’s youth. Something that has always amazed me is how Ellie has quickly followed in my footsteps. Whatever I am doing, she wants to be doing. One thing that she likes as much as I like, is cleaning. I have even been told that when she goes over to her friend’s houses she is often found cleaning or offering to clean their house. I am not particularly proud of that fact that my OCD cleaning habits have worn off on her, but I do think it is kind of cute.

She cleans as good as my fifteen year-old cleans. She will scrub floors, vacuum, dust, put away dishes, wipe baseboards. You name it, she likes to do it. One of the funniest things she will ask me when her and I are home together is, “Hey Mom, can we go clean out the garage together?” Who asks that?! She often does the same thing with the car. “Mom, lets go clean out the car together.” I could probably convince her to do that over going to many other activities that most kids would quickly choose over cleaning.

I don’t know why I like it so much, probably because she always wants to do it “together”. We like to do things together, no matter what that may be. I can promise you one thing, she is gonna be an amazing wife to a lucky young man someday!

Megan has become a book worm

I have always wanted one of my kids to love reading, like really love reading. Of course they all read when they have to, but very few will read for fun. There is just something great about watching kids read because they want to and not because it is required. Well my dream came through around the end of last school year. Megan started reading books she was interested in. I believe it started with Hunger Games and then she fell in love with the Divergent Series. I am pretty sure she read each one at least 3 or 4 times. From there it spiraled out of control.

The local librarian is on a first name basis with Megan. She rides her bike over at least once a week, sometimes more. She started out with a specific genre that she loved but now I find her reading all different sorts of books. She has become the bookworm I always wanted. Sometimes I’ll peek in her room as I am heading to bed only to find her still reading until the late hours of the night. Part of me wants to get angry and tell her to shut off her light and go to bed. Another part of me is envious of her reading time and generally I just quietly shut the door without her noticing, smile and wonder what adventure she is enjoying today.

This is usually what I find on Megan’s night stand every evening…a big stack of books. I love it.

Hidden Peak from the Snowbird Tram

My new job allows me to reserve ski passes which are good at most of the local resorts. We had them today and decided to head up to Snowbird resort and explore the lovely Wasatch mountains.

We took a ride on the Aerial Tram up to Hidden Peak. Hidden Peak sits at about 11,000 ft above sea level, so it’s a great way to cool off during the hot Utah summer months (although July has been very nice and mild so far).

We were missing Jake and Claire, but cousin Wyatt came along to hike around, take some pictures and eat snacks.

We didn’t stick around for too long, but it sure was a fun, easy, and quick way to explore some of Utah’s famous back country.

Ellie’s First Lost Tooth, My Last

Ellie hasn’t even started kindergarten and she has lost her two bottom teeth, just two days apart from each other. I may be forgetting when my others lost their teeth, but I don’t believe any of them lost their teeth before kindergarten started. She was pretty excited to finally be able to get some money from the Tooth Fairy.

And for me, well, it was my last child to lose their first teeth. I know it seems simple and of little consequence but as exciting as it was when my first child lost his first tooth, it is just as monumental to me because I will never have a child lose their first tooth again. I am trying to celebrate all of my “lasts” like I did with all of our “firsts”.

Moyle Park

We went to Moyle Park last year near Pioneer Day and loved it so much that we decided to go back this year as well. All my kids, including my very oldest, love experiencing, in a very mild version, of some of the things the pioneers did many, many years ago. Plus, I think my kiddos make really cute pioneer children!

There are several stations that we rotated through. Some of them include making candles, washing and hanging clothes by hand, eating homemade candy, making dolls, mixing butter, playing pioneer games and learning many of the stories stories from the John Moyle Family. See below for a brief overview of the John Moyle Story.

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John Rowe Moyle House and Historic Moyle Park, 770 N. 600 East, Alpine, Utah

John R. Moyle is a famous Mormon pioneer who walked 22 miles every Monday morning and then walked the 22 miles back every Friday night to help build the Salt Lake Temple. Even after losing a leg, Moyle remained resolute and continued the walk on a handmade, carved wooden leg. Moyle, who worked as a stonemason, would eventually inscribe the words “Holiness to the Lord” on the east side of the temple. This park is located at the site of the Moyles’ home. It contains several old cabins, a milk house and even a protective fort. Visitors can learn about Moyle and his family and the first settlers in Alpine. Tours are available by calling 801-830-3502.

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Value Chalk Run

Our stake hosted a “Value 5K Chalk Run” for all the young women in our stake. Each pit stop had water and a different color of chalk representing a different value (There are a total of eight values). I thought it was a really neat idea so I signed us up. They allowed all girls ages 8 and up to attend so I had Claire and Katelyn join us as well.

My girls didn’t shy away from the chalk. We ended up with mouthfuls of chalk and shirts that were every color of the rainbow. More impressively was that all of the girls ran nearly all of the 5K. Even Claire who hadn’t run in months went out there and ran nearly all of it. I was so proud of each of them for giving it a try and doing their best. The Johnson family may have a little competitive streak running through their bones so just running for fun isn’t something we do very often. Even Megan with her fractured arm broke away the last mile and finished strong while I stayed back with Katelyn and Claire.

The event concluded with breakfast and a message from President Anderson. It was a great experience. I am a big fan of anything that encourages exercise, values and time together.

Fourth of July 2015

Another 4th of July has come and gone. Another Riverton parade, another bike ride to breakfast, another outing to the local pool. We love our traditions.

On the 3rd of July we went to the Riverton parade with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. We also celebrated that night with a barbecue and fireworks.

The morning of the Fourth, we woke up and rode our bikes to breakfast at Daylight Donuts (for the kids) and Roxberry (for Seth and I). We always look forward to this little tradition.

We then loaded up and went to the AF pool for the afternoon. After the pool we celebrated with a barbecue at the Rowberry’s house with food, fun and fireworks. It was a great day with great people!

Megan turns 13

Megan fractured her arm at the end of June, just before her birthday. I told her “happy birthday” since it cost me a small fortune in medical bills. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold firm to that statement and instead we celebrated by going to “Inside Out” at the movie theater. She wanted to go to Costco for dinner (Yeah, really she did. How great is that?!). After dinner we came back for cake, ice-cream, and presents.

She got new soccer cleats and and a new soccer uniform. Yeah, lame mom, but that uniform also cost a small fortune so I told her it was part of her birthday presents. It is super cute though. She also got a book and some shin guards. Can you tell she loves soccer?

Megan is such a good girl. Of course she is all about fashion, looking cute and having lots of followers on Instagram (which drives me nuts by the way). Besides all that though, she is a sweetheart. She works so hard in school. I never have to ask her to complete an assignment. She just does it. She is a friend to everyone and always offers to help anyone that needs it. She tries to befriend those that need a friend and doesn’t like people to feel left out. She has the Johnson competitive streak and likes to win and do good in all that she does. Sometimes she gets a little sassy with me but generally realizes it and apologizes before I have time to say anything. We are so lucky to have this thirteen year-old in our family.

Kid Kamp

My kids have been wanting to host a day camp for kids in the area for years now. It just seems we keep getting beat out by other teens wanting to do the same thing who get their flyers out sooner. This year, Meg and Katelyn started early to create a flyer. They decided they wanted to do two camps. Megan and Katelyn would do a “Kraft Kamp” and Jake and Megan would host a sport’s camp.

They planned out, prepared, and got ready to host their camps. Lets make this clear though…it isn’t easy. It is a great way to make money, but it took a lot of time and preparation to keep it running smoothly. Both camps had two different age groups (3-5 and 6-10). Initially they were going to do the younger kids in the morning and the older kids in the afternoon, but since the numbers weren’t too many they did them at the same time and just split the groups up.

For the sport’s camp they played basketball, soccer, water kickball, baseball, and Friday was relays and water fun. I was really impressed at how well the sport’s camp turned out. The kids seemed to have a great time. There was very little overhead with this camp. The only cost was the treat they gave out at the end of each day and the “All Star” t-shirts they made. They also made certificates for each kid with sayings like “best defense” or “fastest runner” etc. You could tell the kids loved getting them and being recognized personally.

The Kraft Kamp was a little more costly. Supplies had to be purchased, greater preparations made, and they had to have extra activities planned in the case the craft went too quickly. I was able to snag a lot of stuff at yard sales to help them reduce their overhead. I got a great deal on a Tie-dye kit and found some cute purses they could decorate as well. I stepped back and let them do most of it on their own. They were super exhausted by the end of the week but really thrilled about completing the camp. We definitely had a few problems along the way. There were a couple kids that were naughty and made the class a little more difficult to manage but other than that, I was really happy with how it all turned out. I am not sure if they will be up for doing it again next year, but I am guessing they will give it another go.

Katelyn’s Week at Clear Creek

Our school district runs a summer camp for to-be sixth-graders. None of our older kids have ever been involved, but Katelyn had some friends going so we thought we’d check it out this year.

When investigating whether Katelyn should join her friends we found out several key points about Clear Creek. Several parents we talked to said that Clear Creek was one of the high points of their childhood and they had a bunch of great memories. The downsides are that it is expensive and that it fills up quickly — when registration opens you have to jump online and reserve a spot.

Manina got Katelyn registered in the same session with several of her friends, so Katelyn went to Clear Creek and had a great time there.

They kept the kids busy the entire week and there was very little downtime. Katelyn came home with a live animal trap (she’d caught and released several critters) and a lot of stories about the things she had learned.

When Katelyn came home she was incredibly tired. She spent the next couple days singing camp songs and teaching them to Claire, Drew, and Ellie. She had a great time and made some wonderful memories.