Cambrie Chronicles: First edition

This is the first edition of the Cambrie Chronicles. I have decided to share fun, short stories of Cambrie here. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Dinner

We got home to Philadelphia just in time for Thanksgiving dinner at the Farnsworths. Luckily I had prepared everything before we left so I just had to warm some things up and we could go. Good job ladies on all of your dishes, dinner was delicious. I'm still full! Cambrie had a hot dog on the ferry-ride home so she wasn't terribly hungry for her Thanksgiving feast. She was also too distracted by all the other kids running around to eat much.Of course as the night went on, Cambrie's appetite returned. Her favorite food of the evening were olives, one on each finger :)Here are some more pictures of our evening. We partied with the Wehmanns, Dobsons, and Farnsworths. All of the kids play really well together (and are very willing to share their turkey and pie with each other.)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

This Thanksgiving we fulfilled one of my lifetime goals and dreams-we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! It was very spur-of-the-moment really. We booked a hotel on Priceline, packed all of our clothes and food into backpacks, then drove up to New York. We decided to take the Staten Island Ferry into New York City so we wouldn't have to worry about parking overnight in Manhattan, and it worked out wonderfully.

Here's Jeremy and Cambrie on the subway. She used to be scared of the noises they made, but now she loves the trains.

We stayed in the Paramount Hotel on 46th St. right off Times Square. The rooms were described as "petite" but we just needed a place to crash. They actually had to upgrade us to a larger room so we could fit a crib in there too. The room was cute. Very trendy with white everything and checkerboard carpet. Cambrie was just excited that the bed was near the floor so she could hop on and off as many times as she wanted by herself. The headboards are portraits. Some of the rooms have artwork in their frame, ours was blank, but still a nice touch.

We woke up bright and early at 5:30 so we could get a good spot on the parade route. We felt a little out of place as we left the hotel. We looked more like backpackers than Philadelphians with our food and clothes on our backs. But it was handy during the parade. We were awake early enough that there was still a lot of available space along the parade route. We headed up to 65th St. and Central Park West where we found a road that was just about to be barricaded off. We hung around just long enough for them to put the the barriers right in front of us. Alacazam! Front row seats to the hottest show in town! It was still only 6:45 and the parade didn't start until 9:00, but we were next to some really nice families who were fun to talk with. Then finally it was time for the longest running show on Broadway to start...The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

The balloons were even cooler in person than they are on TV. Cambrie thought they were pretty awesome too. The whole time she was calling out, "Balloon!" "Balloon!" Some of them she recognized and some of them she didn't. Regardless, I was having the time of my life seeing some of my childhood friends float by: Smurfs!
Cambrie recognized Big Bird and Elmo from Sesame Street on this float.
It was cold, but not as cold as we thought it was going to be. I love Cambrie's new bunny hat-Jeremy told me that he gets to choose the next one.

There were so many balloon character carriers. Everyone had a costume that coordinated with their balloon. Occasionally the balloons would drift with the wind. Whenever that happened the crowd would all say, "whoa!" I think the carriers did it on purpose to get a response from the crowd. It was fun and energetic. Something I had never thought of before was that the city has to either take down all the stoplights on the route or swivel them out of the way.Jeremy really liked this performing group. They were the executive briefcase drill team. They got very creative with their briefcases.

This was our attempt at getting a picture of Cambrie and one of her favorite balloons-Beethoven. She loves dogs. She was jumping up and down and was getting very close to flying out of my arms yelling, "Puppy! Puppy!"Other big names we saw were Miley Cyrus, Trace Adkins, David Archuletta, Snoopy, Kermit, Horton, Ronald McDonald, Miss USA, and other pop artists that apparently I'm too much of a hermit to recognize. We left about two floats from the end of the parade so we didn't get to see Santa. We had to get home in time for Thanksgiving dinner, and Cambrie's last encounter with Santa didn't go very smoothly so we decided it was okay. Unfortunately we missed the Care Bear float. Cambrie loves "bear bears" right now, so I did feel bad about that. Here's the view we had as we were walking through Central Park to get home: If anyone is thinking about going to the parade sometime in their life, I highly recommend it. It was so much more fun than I could have ever expected. Having front row position definitely helped :) There was such a feel of celebration in the air. We were standing next to a family with five kids, so the performers always came by and threw confetti on us. I got home and was emptying confetti out of my coat, hair and shirt. Here's a picture of Jeremy and Cambrie on the ferry ride home. We had an absolute blast! What a great way to spend Thanksgiving :)

Brownies!

I don't know what it is about Philadelphia or my oven, but for some reason I have never successfully made brownies out here. I can cook them for an hour and half and they will still be gooey in the middle. I got desperate and tried cooking them in a bundt pan once and it actually worked a little better. But tonight, FINALLY, my brownies cooked! This is definitely cause for celebration! I used my 8x8, did everything normally, and the brownie muses smiled down on me. So I am rejoicing in my peanut butter brownies...yum!

Crazy and Emotional Weekend

This post may seem like it is long and rambling, I guess I just feel like talking. Here's an update into my life this week:

Thursday night was crazy. We had our first YMCA Polar Bear Swim Team dinner. The parents brought the food, and all the coaches really had to do was set up. I'm a little frustrated by how it turned out. There are four coaches, you would think between the four of us we would be able to get the tables and chairs located quickly and set up without much problem. Wrong! The other three coaches arrived 20 minutes after the dinner had already started. Yea, that bugged me. Especially because the first thing they said was, "Why didn't you set up more tables?" I was very, very tempted just to leave. After we set up the additional tables and chairs, it was finally time to eat. Good-I was starving! Of course, they ran out of plates right before I got there. Hm...the other coaches got plates... I located some more plates about ten minutes later and started eating. By this time everyone else was done eating and the parents were getting ready to leave. The head coach still hadn't made any announcements concerning the meet the next day-aah! Again, I was tempted to leave because of all the time that was being wasted. Anyway, I made it through the dinner without quitting my job. I arrived home only an hour after my daughter was in bed, and I had a full twenty minutes to calm myself down before it was time to go see Twilight.

Thank heavens for Twilight. I needed something major to cheer me up. Me and six other girl friends went to see the midnight showing of Twilight on the IMAX screen at King of Prussia. It was insane! There were preteens, college girls, middle-age moms, and occasional husbands lined up in serpentine lines inside the theater entrance. It was a great estrogen rush. Luckily we had friend who got there at 8:30 to save us seats because we were just a little bit slow. We had the top row of the theater, which was perfect for the giant screen. I knew I had to go into the movie with an open mind and expect it to be different than the book-that's just the way movies are. So the differences didn't really bug me. There were just two or three things that I wish had been different: First, I wish they had more scenes of Edward and Bella hanging out at school and home. The interactions between those two are the cutest parts of the book. It went from "What if I'm the bad guy," to "I love you," way too quickly. Where was the eavesdropping in gym? The rescue from the pricked finger in Biology? The long, relaxed conversation on the way home from Port Angeles? So I felt a little cheated there. Second, I wish Edward's skin sparkled more in the sunlight. It looked like wet peach fuzz catching the sun rather than the diamond faceted skin. Other than that though, I really liked it. I loved Bella. I wasn't sure I would, but Kristen Stewart filled in all the holes I had in my character. She did a great job. Robert Pattinson portrayed Edward more as a troubled vampire than a perfect saint which made him more real. It was nice to see that side of him since my subconscious refused to cast him like that. I wish there were more scenes of Edward being relaxed and confident-I guess that's gripe number three. The other characters were also cast well and the baseball scene was awesome. Yea for Twilight.

Friday night was our swim meet. About an hour before the meet started I found out that our opposing team decided not to come. That was a real bummer. Our kids and parents were excited, and we had already endured the dinner. We held it anyway, a little inter-squad meet. I actually cried when I saw two of our relay teams battling it out to the end. I love the kids-they make it worth it.
Friday night was also Dantley's big game. The Wehmanns invited us over to their house to watch it on TV. That was great because we couldn't even find it online at our place. Thank you! The first three and a half quarters were all Bingham. I thought it was over by the the fourth quarter. At least, that was until the two personal fouls in the same play which cost them their twenty yard gain and thirty penalty yards. That was the turning point. Alta got the ball after the punt and scored. Bingham was still ahead, 17-14, but was unable to score again. Then, with 58 seconds left, the Alta receiver made a fantastic catch on the two yard line, which they turned into another touchdown on the next play. Bingham just couldn't come back from that with only 23 seconds left. Two sacks later, they had 2 seconds for a miracle which never came. That was heartbreaking. They totally had it. Even Cambrie was disappointed. She is Dantley's biggest fan. Whenever football is on the TV, she runs up to it and calls out, "D! D!" She now watches Saturday morning football with Jeremy.
Thanks for letting me ramble. That was our weekend, crazy and emotional. :)

Teddy Bear Friends

This is our new version of hide and seek. Where's Cambrie?

Go Big D!

I just have to say that I have an awesome brother-in-law. His name is Dantley (D) and he plays football for the Bingham Miners. Right now it's playoff season for Utah high school football and it was great to go to Dantley's games. Next Friday the Miners go up against Alta for the championship. Bingham won Dantley's sophomore year, then lost to Alta in the semi-finals last year. So this senior year is a big deal for the guys. I'm bummed I don't get to see it, but I'll be cheering for them from here. Here are some pictures from their semi-final game against Skyline. Dantley is really good and a lot of fun to watch.

D is on the far right. He is one of the team captains, plays on special teams, running back and linebacker.

Just check out #17. Isn't he awesome?

Moab climbing

Sometimes it's awesome to be the oldest, sometimes it isn't. Take this as one example: as soon as I move out of the house and get married, my family joins a climbing club. Every month they go somewhere different to climb for the weekend. Talk about crumby timing on my part. This past weekend the club went down near Moab to Fishers Towers to climb Ancient Art. Alan just got home from his mission on Tuesday, so we thought this would be a great welcome home party. I haven't climbed for almost three years, so I was a little rusty. Alan hasn't climbed in two years, but he was just like a lizard and scrambled up everything.

Our first climb was Ancient Art. It was a three pitch climb that takes you 500 feet above the Utah desert. The first pitch is climbed up a chimney. The second pitch is short but takes you across a catwalk that is only about three feet wide. The third and final pitch looks like something from Dr. Seuss. I had a hard time with the final pitch. I couldn't make the move and slipped a couple of times. Thank heavens for all of the ropes they have you strapped into. Of course, in order to prove you made it to the top, you have to stand on the three foot square area to get your picture taken. Wow. It was awesome and absolutely terrifying.

This is Alan. He was completely comfortable sitting on top of the world.This is the view from the hiking trail to get there. You start climbing from where the shadow crosses the ledge above our heads. It is a long straight shot down from the top. If you look very carefully, you can see me starting to repel off the top. We got down just before dark.Of course there were other towers to climb too. This one is named Cobra. Can you tell why?In an advertising blurb, one of the reasons climbers use to lure you to these towers is "because they may not be here tomorrow." The narrow necks on some of these things are insane. I don't know how they're being supported.

This is Alan after his Cobra ascent.

Another tower is named Sundial. This one was tricky to get on top of because of the overhang. While my mom was climbing this, one of her footholds failed her and a rock the size of a loaf of bread fell off. That was a rush. I got stuck in my ropes while trying to get down. Don't I look graceful?

My mom climbs too. I'm pretty impressed with her energy. Here is a picture of her working her way up Pinnacle. Our final climb was Lizard. It was a fun one to finish off our trip. It was easy to take pictures that make you look really high. This is my sister, Camille, as she nears the top. This climb felt really safe at the time, but looking at the picture now....the crack by my feet looks like it might take the top off at any second.

Here's the view we saw as we were driving away. What gorgeous country! I'm so excited when we can come back to the west.

Welcome home Elder Johnson

Welcome home Elder Johnson! My brother just got home yesterday from his mission to Anaheim, California. I can't believe two years have already flown by and everything that has happened within those two years. For example, I'm a mom with a 16-month-old daughter. Uncle Alan, meet your niece, Cambrie. Our welcoming party at the airport consisted of our family, my grandparents, and aunts, Teri and Sheri. Luckily there were enough of us to hold Alan's welcome home sign. It is so great to see him home. It feels like he never left. I love my brother :) Congratulations Alan for serving an honorable mission.

Here is his welcome home sign.

Our first glimpse of the long-lost missionary! (He's up top) Of course he and the other elders were the LAST ones of the plane. They were so slow getting off that the baggage carousal had already stopped and their bags were taken to the office.

Hugs all around.

The Johnson family together again :)

You know you're in Utah when...

You know you're in Utah when...it snows! Yup, that's right, snow! I decided to earn my keep at my parents' house and shovel the driveway. Cambrie didn't want to be left out of the fun and even wanted her own, "shuva." Unfortunately I didn't plan on the flurries and Cambrie's snowsuit is in Philadelphia. She stayed pretty dry by playing on the sidewalk and grabbing snow from the side. I'm so glad I'm here! Let it snow!

Murder Mystery

This weekend we went to a murder mystery dinner at the Farnsworths. I've been to parties like this before and they are always a ton of fun. I think the best part is seeing everyone act their parts. We have some really creative friends-just look at our group picture. Aren't they awesome?! This story was about a young, rich, and spoiled girl named Desire Love (me), who is murdered. We had to figure out who the murderer was based on ex-lovers, international diamond smuggling, under appreciated servants, love triangles, blood and organ transplant traffic, and undercover FBI agents. It was great. (By the way, it was the maid in the bathroom, with her strangling hands).Jeremy was Fred DeToy, Desire's current boyfriend. He's dressed as a wizard (it was set as a masquerade ball). Because I died pretty early on, I was two characters. My second character was the investigator who arrives on the scene to help solve the crime, Sugar and Spice. Thanks everyone for the very entertaining evening.

Happy Halloween

This year we celebrated in fairy tale style. Cambrie was Little Red Riding Hood, Jeremy was the Big Bad Wolf, and I was granny.As much as I wanted it to happen, Cambrie just wouldn't smile for the camera!

Cambrie got to go trick-or-treating twice. Once at the ward party and once Halloween night. She liked carrying around her basket, but didn't understand why people were putting candy in it.

Trick-or-Treat!

(you can see Hailey and Ashlyn through the window, excited to see Cambrie) Jeremy and I made a bat pinata in honor of the holiday. It was fun watching the girls (Hailey, Ashlyn, and Cambrie) hit it with the baseball bat. They had a really good time. Quick girls, grab it!Here's a picture of Cambrie with her friends, Thing One and Thing Two, and their mom, Dr. Seuss. It was good Halloween.