Castles and Gingerbread

Dax had a big Semester Project for his World History class where he had to build a castle.  There were specific things that had to be labeled as a part of the castle: moat, dungeon,castle doors, knights, archers, landscaping etc.
The instructions were; he could pretty much make it out of anything, just no pre-made kits.  I thought about this and I really didn't know how to construct anything that I knew would have solid construction.  I know several times as a kid I tried to make things out of cardboard and it wouldn't stand up etc.  I don't trust hot glue guns.  I don't know if it is the climate here, but everything I've made with a hot glue gun comes apart. Wood was absolutely out of the question with our skills. I knew Dax had good Lego skills and could build anything  but that could be a beast finding all the right pieces and expen$ive.  I came to the conclusion that Gingerbread was our solution.  Dax liked the idea.

We spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving mixing, baking and constructing .  It was quite a project. 

Draw Bridge View

Dax- Building his masterpiece

I like the alligators in the mote.   I found those guys in the cupboard, perfect scale.

 The entire castle was edible except for the people, and the trees.  The mote was blue icing, the dirt was ground up graham crackers and rock candy.

Trey was loving this castle. As we were building, he wanted to build one too.  It was way to much work to re-create this.  I just bought him a gingerbread kit, he did a great job, and this is our "Village"  Trey loved it.  This replaced our Gingerbread activity we usually do at Christmas time.

Village, with Castle and gingerbread house.

We delivered it to school in one piece.  Truly a miracle, not even a spec of dirt moved on the drive in.  Dax got a 94/100.  It was fun to see the creativity of the kids.  PVC pipe, Sugar Cubes, cardboard.  Some castles looked amazing.  Some not so much.  Dax was somewhere in the middle in appearance.  We learned a few things along the way to improve the appearance if we ever did it again.  The Gingerbread was definitely original.  His teacher said he had to hold himself back not to eat it.  It smelled amazing.  Once we got it home, the kids couldn't wait to eat it. 

I was looking at a picture of Jerusalem and the way the walls were built up around the city it looked very similar to the   design of  the Gingerbread Castle.  I said something to Dax about it.  By this time  the kids  had already dug in and started eating the Castle.  The  walls and structure was coming down.  When I told Dax his castle looked like Jerusalem he said  "More like Jericho by now"  Sometimes he can be so witty.  That was a good one.  It was in shambles by then.

The Castle  was yummy.  I am proud of Dax. This was a big project.

Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgivng has come and gone.  We keep it pretty low key.  It is just our immediate family.  I only cook (more like re heat) a Turkey breast and then we have the usual fixins.  This year and I don't exactly how it came about but it turned into a Super Buffet each person got to pick a side, main and dessert to have for Thanksgiving  along with the Mashed Potoatoes, Turkey Breast, stuffing, and Pumpkin Pie we had hamburger sliders, Enchiladas, and ice cream.  It was quite the meal.
I feel like my kids are finally old enough to use the "Fine China"  which they were.  They enjoyed eating on the good stuff and they were impressed with the Gold "silverware"  that has been passed down for a few generations.  I may start putting a little more effort into this in the future.  It was no fun to do all the hard work, have no body appreciate it and then I have a big mess to clean up.  The kids also helped me do a little of the preparation.

My favorite story of this Thanksgiving was when Trey came home from school with a little book he made about the first Thanksgiving.  It told the story of how the Pilgrims and Indians had a big feast they ate Turkey, Nuts, Berries, and Popcorn.  Derek interrupted and said "there is no way the Pilgrims had Popcorn, they couldn't have because they didn't have microwaves"  I started laughing so hard.  We need to introduce that boy to Jiffy Pop.  Popcorn has been around long before the microwave.

We had a great meal and Derek nearly inhaled an entire Pumpkin Pie himself.  Maybe he shared a slice or two.

Trey's #6

Trey turned 6 on November 12th.  The kids were off on the 11th for Vetrans Day so we had his party on their day off at Peter Piper Pizza.  Grandpa Brent was in town so he stopped in for the festivities and Grandpa left Trey with a nice card with some cash $20. We had a great time and Spoiled Trey Rotten.

Top L-R: Dax, Derek, Westin, Soren, Bella, Ace Brianna, Taylor, Freya

, Carson, Trey, Jarrett

Trey got some really cool Birthday Cards from Amelie, and Bella, that light up and play music.  Jarrett gave him Walkie Talkies, Ace gave him the Classic Operation Game (with Minions)  I think it is ironic that Ace's mom is a Dr..  Carson gave him a  Shark Hot wheels set with Hot Wheels cars.  Westin gave him a nerf gun (can't have enough).  Brianna, Taylor and Freya gave him Lego's from the Lego Movie and the game Spot it.  Soren gave him ninjago Lego's, and Bella gave him a shooting Spiderman.  It was a really fun day with a Star Wars Cake.

Carson, Soren, Trey & Bella

Trey, Jarrett, Ace

Our Birthday Boy, Trey

Trey excited about his water bottle for his bike

From the Family he got some more Lego's and a water bottle for his bike.  Which he was excited about.

Halloween Week

Halloween Part I

I thought the kids (Derek and Trey) had figured out their costumes, but Dax wanted to be a "Headless Butler"  so we went to the "Spirit of Halloween" store because it is fun.  (Or scary.  I didn't know that Curtis took the kids in a few weeks back after they got hair cuts.  Trey was too scared to go in.)

Anyway Trey was ready to go in this time.  As we're in there they get all kinds of ideas of what they want to be instead of what they had already planned on being.  The only "headless" costume they had was a bloody, gross,gory thing. I'm glad Dax didn't want to go that route. But he finds a "Stalker" costume a.k.a "Slenderman"   I guess when they don't have the copy rights to something they come up with the costume anyway and call it something else.  Once Trey saw Dax's costume he wanted to be Slenderman, but they didn't have it in his size so he opted for an "Orange Skin Suit".

Trey as Anakin Skywalker

Now that I have dropped a ton of money on these costumes, I remembered that at the church "Trunk or Treat" they say no masks.  These costumes for Dax and Trey are worse than masks.  So I had to convince Dax to go without his "head skin" and Trey to wear something else.  Before we set foot in the Halloween store he already pulled out the Anakin Skywalker costume and was excited to be Anakin.  I had to get Trey excited about being Anakin again.

Curtis had to go to San Diego so he missed the Trunk or Treat.  We went and had a great time.  As usual the kids get way too much candy, way too fast and easy.  Trey kept saying "I can't believe my bucket is entirely full"  It was!! We could not have fit another nibble of candy in it.  He does need to use a bigger bucket.

Dax in his "Stalker" costume, but we thought he actually looked like Jack Skellington.  He has a hat, but is not wearing it

Derek as something creepy that he came up with on his own.

It was actually a very busy weekend.  The kids also had the Primary Program in church on Sunday.  Saturday was crazy busy with the Practice, a Football game, then Trunk or Treat. Trey was also supposed to go to a Birthday party, but he ended up opting out.
Derek and Trey did fantastic saying their parts in the Program.  Our friends,the Thomas', had passed on this suit to Trey a while ago.  He discovered it, and it almost fits so he wanted to wear it for the Primary Program, tie and all.  Everyone said how nice he looked.  Which he did.





It was another busy week.  Derek and Trey started LEGO club at school.  Dax got Braces.  Dax has been dreading this, and fighting us for months.  He was now the perfect age, and on Sunday he finally accepted it was time.  I immediately called and made an appointment on Monday,  braces were put on Thursday.  He has been very tender and sore, and not too happy about the braces.  I keep telling him one day he will thank us.

Before Braces

Halloween Part II

For Halloween night I let the kids wear the costumes they were most excited about.

Dax as the "Headless butler"  Trey in his Orange Skin.  

All three wore masks, all three realized how hot, and inhibiting they are.  We are going back to my Mom's rule "NO MASKS".

Dax helped me pass out candy, which has always been his favorite part.  Derek went out trick or treating with his friend Sean,  Trey and Curtis hit the neighborhood to load up on Candy.

Halloween is a crazy holiday...You put on a costume, knock on people's doors and they give you candy.  Who thought of that?

Good Times

Last weekend, Curtis childhood friend, Duane Greely was in town for a baseball event with his son.  We met up with Duane and his family, along with Curtis' other old friend, Andy, who lives in Gilbert.

Andy Ibach, Curtis Johnson, Duane Greely

 It was good to see everyone and reconnect.  Nice to see lasting friendships.



This week Curtis was invited by the Phoenix Suns for their "Taste of the Suns"  I was lucky enough to be his date.  We're on their list as someone who may be interested in Season Ticket's.  We're actually not interested, and even though Curtis tells them he's not going to buy season tickets anytime soon, they still keep inviting him to cool things like this. They have food prepared by the restaurant/catering company of the Arena.  I think it's called Levy's.  The food is always really good, always on the gourmet side.  We tasted their yummy food, and stuffed our bellies, said hi to the sales rep that has our number, saw a few retired Sun's players like Alvin Gentry, Said Hi to the Gorilla, then escaped before we were accosted by the hungry Sales' Reps to buy tickets again.  We still enjoy going.

Fall Break officially ended on Wednesday and the kids went back to school.  They all came home with relatively good Report Cards,  I was proud of them.

My Brother Steve and his family came down to see the new Phoenix Temple open house then stayed the night at our house on Friday and the cousins had a great time together.  I know they were told to go to bed several times.  At 11:30 I thought I shut them down for good.  We heard stirrings about 1:00 a.m..  Not sure what they were doing, but glad the cousins were all enjoying each other.

Trey started Flag Football, he went to his first practice on Wednesday then the first game was on Saturday.  Trey was excited to play when I signed him up a few months ago, I'm not so sure he was excited to hear football was actually starting until I told him his good buddy Soren was on his team.  He also knows another kid Joshua that used to be in our ward but moved out a few months ago.  Soren's Dad took the kids to practice the other night.  When he brought them home he told us that the coach was explaining that this is Flag football and not tackle.  Then he kind of hunched over putting his hands on his knees and said "Do any of you think you can tackle me?"  Before anyone expected anything Trey charged over there and tackled the coach, knocked him on the ground.   Scott (Soren's Dad) said it was pretty funny and unexpected.

The game was interesting watching 5yr olds play.  All new to the sport and not really sure what was going on.  The coach was extremely patient.   Every time after a play the teams went to "huddle" with their coach, every time Trey randomly ended up with the other team.  Or it wasn't Trey's turn to be on the field and he would someone end up there.  It was entertaining.  At one point after a play, the coach just picked Trey up and carried him to the correct huddle knowing he hadn't noticed the teams were wearing different colors and he always ended up with the other team. Trey did get the ball and he ran it in for the only touchdown for his team.  That was pretty exciting.  There was another time when Trey had the ball and he had to run across the entire field to the other side,  He got tackled pretty early and he was pretty frustrated and scolded his team "you were supposed to be protecting me"  It was pretty funny.

Later that night I went with Dax to see the play "The Odd Couple"  I loved that TV show when I was young, he took a class this summer and the instructor was cast as "Felix Unger"  and invited all his past students to come watch it.  It was all the way out in Apache Junction, I wasn't excited about that and I think because of it they were having a hard time with Ticket Sales.  Anyway Dax and I wanted to have a fun night together so we made the 30 minute drive out.  For a brand new, small local theater it was well done.  I thought his teacher nailed the part of Felix Unger.  He really had the mannerisms down. Unfortunately Dax's allergies started acting up about the time the play started.  He was miserable, and I think the people around us were annoyed.  We left right before the last act.  I was glad we went and had a fun time.

Then at 11:00 p.m. I had to take Curtis to the airport for a red eye flight to Dallas for a Real Estate Meeting.  It was a busy fun week.

2014 Fall Break

For Fall Break this year we decided to do something different.  We usually go to Disneyland, but for a while we have talked about going up to Utah for General Conference and checking out the sights in that part of the country. We finally made it happen this year.

We had planned to leave Tuesday afternoon.  Tuesday Morning the boys were playing around/rough housing.  Trey went running through the kitchen and smacked into the back of the recliner.  Immediately there was howling, tears and a shreek "I"m bleeding".  I could tell my the howl that this was more than the average bump.  Trey's mouth was bloody, it took a few minutes to clean up the blood from his face to see what the actual problem was.  His tooth was knocked out of place and not in a healthy way.

Trey with his tooth trauma

 I called the Pediatric Dentist, explained the situation and they said it would be best for me to bring him in ASAP.  I had to move stuff around,but first I had a Drs. appointment for me for a physical.  Trey came along and he was fantastic.  By the time we arrived atthe Dentist Trey had calmed down and wasn't in pain.  I think he was initially just traumatized by the situation.  Once he knew the dentist could help him, he calmed down.
The Dentist was great, they took a few e-rays and examined him.  Dr. Sherrill said the tooth would need to come out, the was a little damaged and hopefully it would all come out together (tooth & root).  Trey was such a good patient.  They said he was the best patient they had seen that day.

Trey getting the funny gas

Toothless Grin

The Dentist said that Trey's two front teeth are loose and so it didn't take much to knock the other tooth loose.  The missing tooth with grow in, in about a year.  When his two front teeth finally come out, he will have a HUGE whole in his mouth.  He is already having a difficult time eating most foods.  Trey was great during the entire process and so was the dentist and her staff.  After we left, later in the day we started talking about Trey's birthday coming up in about a month.  He started talking about his birthday party and saying who he would like to invite.  He said he wanted to invite everyone at the Dentist's office.  Cute Kid.

After all the tooth excitement, we left late Tuesday afternoon and drove to Flagstaff and stayed the night with my Dad.  Then we got up early the next day and drove to Kanab, UT.  We had planned to stop and see some things around Lake Powell, but the road to Page was closed.  It was washed out several months ago, and it still wasn't fixed, so we had to take the Jacob Lake route.  We stopped for a quick view at Marble Canyon

We got to Kanab and visited my Uncle Roger and Aunt Kathy Smith.  He is my mom's brother and he now lives in my Grandma's old house.  I was glad to take my kids there and see my Grandma's house.  Some things are still the same like the "Red Room"  with the black and white couches.  I remember when my grandparents added the addition onto the house back in the late seventies.  The original Red Carpet, and "zebra couches" are still there.  Despite my Aunt and uncles lack of love and maintenance on the house and the extreme clutter collection the carpet and couches still are in good condition nearly 40 years later.  They have changed some things but I was glad for my kids to see where my mom grew up and the family history there in Kanab.  Perry Lodge where my mom worked, and the Gas Station my Grandpa used to own.

This is a picture taken a few years ago with my cousin Amy on the "Zebra Couhces in the Red room"

We then headed on to Zion's National Park.  About 30 minutes from Kanab, I hadn't been there since I was very young, but I remembered it, and something I wanted my kids to experience.  We had a good time with our short window of time to explore Zions. Very Beautiful Scenery.

After Zion's we drove a bit further and stayed the night in Cedar City, UT.  We woke up the next morning (Thursday) and headed north again with our destination being Provo, UT.  Along the way we the way we stopped in Cove Fort.  I had always heard of this place but didn't know what it was.  Soon after the Pioneers settled in Utah, some were then asked to head South and Settle in St. George and Arizona.  Cove Fort was set up as sort of a hotel or rest stop as they made the long journey.  When they traveled in their covered wagons for a few days they needed a place to rest and replenish supplies.  I'm sure it was a very welcomed site for weary travelers.  It is run by the church and senior missionaries.

As we were approaching Provo, we needed to stock up on supplies so we stopped at Wal-Mart and Curtis was able to buy nearly an entire wardrobe of BYU Gear.  He was happy.

Something that Curtis had wanted to do for a long time was hike up to the "Y" on the mountain in Provo.  He had attempted it a few times several years ago, but was never able to finish it due to snow storms, and lack of a map.  We decided it would be a good family activity.   We had heard varied opinions on the difficulty of the hike some people said it was easy and some said it was extremely difficult.  Basically it came down to your own fitness level.  I figured we were a pretty active family it wouldn't be too bad.

We had lunch at "JDawgs" a cool hotdog place in Provo, conveniently located close to the "Y hike trail"  The hike itself wasn't far only about 1.25 miles, but it was steep.  Even with the trails of switch backs it was tougher than we had anticipated.  Dax did great he wanted to run ahead of everyone, but we made him stick with us.  Trey did good, he was tough.  Derek really didn't want to finish, but we made him. Once we got up there it really was beautiful.  We could not have picked a better day to hike.  Temperatures were perfect, skies were vibrant blue.

Beautiful View of Provo and Utah Lake on the journey to the "Y"

Funny sign encounter on the hike- someone wrote "Floating Ghost Dog Head" on the tattered sign

Dax the first one to arrive on the Y

I thought we would want to sit on the actual "Y" one we got there.  No thanks. It is steep.  I was afraid to go out there.

Mission Accomplished.  Finally Hiked the "Y"

Going up the mountain was tough,  there were a few people in excellent physical condition running up the hill.  That was impressive, although going down was much easier those same people that ran up it also ran down, which I thought was still extremely difficult to run down because of the steepness and still rough terrain.  Some people are amazing. 

A rock we found on the way up.  It reminded us of an old BYU Logo of the Cougar (less the ears).  We will add it to our Rock Garden as a memento of this hike

 

On our way down we met a nice man who was on his way up.  He told us he was Elder (Mel) Hammond.  It turns out he used to be a General Authority, the General YM President, as well as the President over the Washington D.C temple. He was very kind and nice to chat to.  He hiked the mountain regularly. Yes we definitely were in UTAH now.  Funny thing, for how much complaining we got during the hike, when the trip was winding down we asked the kids what their favorite part was, Derek's response= "Hiking the Y"  He wants to do it again because it was "amazing".  Once he got up there the view was stunning, and I think he felt good about what he accomplished.  That is kind of how life is.

After the hike we then drove up to Ogden to stay the night with Curtis Dad.  He invited Curtis Sister, Tiffany and her family and we had a nice BBQ with the fam.  The kids had a good time with their cousins and spending some time with Grandpa.  It is nice to visit the Grandparents  Sometime we don't do often except for my Dad.

Trey enjoying Root beer Floats at Grandpa Brents, with Emery (aka Elsa).

We woke up early Friday and started heading South.  We stopped in Salt Lake and showed the kids Temple Square.  My cousin Amy, and her daughter Kelly met us there and we had lunch.  It was fun to be back in SLC and show the kids where we got married.  We took pictures in the same spots as we did on our Wedding day almost exactly 19 years ago. 

Johnson Family with Salt Lake Temple

 Because it was conference weekend, and preparations were being made we couldn't take the kids into the Conference Center or the Church office building.  I think they liked seeing these places that they had seen so many pictures of.

We drove through Salt Lake and past our first apartment when we first got married.  It still had the same name "Wasatch Club"  It was good memories going back there.  Showing the kids where we started out.

After a Salt Lake express tour it was time to head back down to Provo, it was game day.  Curtis wanted to take us all to the BYU vs Utah State Game.  Back in 1984 Curtis' Dad, Brent, took Curtis to his first BYU game.  It was also a BYU vs Utah State (Brent is USU Alum)  it was then that Curtis fell in love with BYU Football although I think he was supposed to be rooting for USU with his Dad.

It was a special game because BYU was also retiring Jim McMahon's # that night.  It had been a long process for BYU and Jim McMahon to get to that point, but he truly was a gifted Quarter Back and it was well earned.  When we got into Provo we went to the BYU Athletic Facility (Curtis had just spent some time there a few weeks ago) and wanted to show us the BYU Hall of fame.  I had no idea BYU had so many talented athletes in all sports.  It was very well done and nice to see.  As we were leaving Jim McMahon walked in.  Curtis walked over and said congratulations.  I wish we took a picture, but we (including Jim) were all in a hurry. It was cool to see the Rebellious Legend in real life. Yes he was wearing Sun Glasses.

After BYU we headed over to check into our Hotel.  This was the same hotel that the Rival team was staying at.  As Curtis checked in, they handed him an envelope with his name on it.  He opened it up and it was a Sidline pass from ESPN with Curtis Johnson on it. Essentially a press pass.  WOW!  It was like Christmas for Curtis.  At first I thought it maybe had something to do with Curtis going up there a few weeks back and making a donation to the Football program.  But it didn't make sense.  BYU didn't know what hotel he was in.

Curtis loving his time on the sidelines

 We finally determined that there was another "Curtis Johnson" from ESPN that didn't get his press pass for the game.  Of course Curtis wasn't going to pass up that opportunity.  He got us settled in the stands, then enjoyed his sideline pass for about half the game.  He loved it.  What a blessing to have a common name for once. It was a "tender mercy"

Before the game we went a bit early to join in the festivities.
There were bounce houses and Cougar Tails ( an extremely large long john doughnut thing) and lots of excitement and fun.

This should have been a really good game.  BYU was undefeated, and hadn't lost to USU at home since 1978  Their Quarterback, Taysom Hill, was doing well and even Heisman Trophy chatter.

 

Three Lucky Boys

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The game was ugly, awful and painful.  BYU got beat bad, Taysom broke his leg and is out for the season.  It was a dreadful painful loss for the BYU Fans. The only thing good about the game for Curtis was the sideline pass.

BYU in their "Royals"  throwback uniforms to honor Jim McMahon

Student section, dressed in #9, head bands and sunglasses for Jim McMahon.  Funny thing these kids weren't even born when he played.  I doubt most even  know why they are wearing what they are wearing.

Saturday we hung out at my Cousin Amy's house.  The kids/ cousins had a fun time together.  On Sunday we headed back to temple square.  Curtis, Dax and I met up with our Nephew Ben who just got home from his mission to Portugal and gotten us tickets to the afternoon session.

The Real Deal, looks just like on TV

Conference was nice and I think Dax had a good experience being there live.  Something he will always remember. Something historic is many of the talks were given by speakers in their native language.  They had always spoken in English before.  I thought it was nice to show that we are a world wide church.  At our session, one of the speakers spoke in Portuguese.  Ben was thrilled since he just got back from his mission there.

After Conference we rushed back to Amy's to meet up with my other cousin, Brandy, who I have not seen in years.  She also lives in the Salt Lake area and Amy had been wanting to meet up with her for some time.  This was a great opportunity. Brandy is married and has three kids and we hadn't really met any of her family yet.  Amy and I weren't sure what it would be like to see Brandy, it had been so long, and didn't know if we would have anything in common anymore.  It really was good to see her and reconnect again.

Cousins- Marilyn Lund Johnson, Amy Frost Wareham, Brandy Smith Leon

We really needed to get on our way and start to head home.  Curtis had a meeting Tuesday Morning, so we wanted to start knocking out some miles Sunday night.  I only could visit with Brandy for about an hour and half before we had to head out.  It was a great visit.  Then we had to head to Lehi to pick up our dog, Oreo.  We left her at Curtis' sisters house for a few days.  They were her original owners and the kids were happy to see her again.  Oreo was passed onto us because the Judd kids had started leaving home and the adults worked and she wasn't getting much love.  It was a happy reunion for Oreo as well as the family.  They were all excited to see each other.  It was kind of funny to see the little dog get so excited, and recognize her old family.  Once we picked up Oreo we drove to Beaver, UT and stayed the night.

We woke up Monday morning and started our journey home.  We took a detour and stopped at Bryce Canyon

Bryce was beautiful and spectacular. It makes me wonder why the Grand Canyon gets so much attention, when there are other places equally beautiful. I'm glad we took the time to check it out.





We arrived home about 7:00 p.m.  We had a great trip, but it is always nice to return home.

Derek complained the entire way up our hike to the "Y" and didn't want to finish.When we finished our trip and asked him his favorite part- his response "Hiking the "Y".