New Zealand glow worm cave dreams

We needed to make a few small changes to gingerbread houses this year because of covid gathering recommendations.  Instead of a whole Pearce crew night, it was just a Rogers crew night.  I asked Cambrie what we should build, and she suggested a New Zealand glow worm cave.  I thought that was pretty appropriate considering that we were supposed to be in New Zealand this week.  After Cambrie came up with the inspiration, it was up to me to find a plan to implement it.  We moved the construction day up to Friday instead of Saturday, which meant that we had to cram every bit of creation into one day: planning, baking, shopping, and building.  I think it took all of us nearly ten hours to finish all three houses.  We did a layered paper effect with the gingerbread to create depth in the cave.  We did flood frosting on each piece to decorate all of our flat pieces.  Unfortunately there was a serious problem with the icing and it did not behave as it was supposed to.  You'll see what I mean by the end.  

While Jeremy, Cambrie, and I worked on the cave itself, the other three kids worked on their shepherd huts and flock of sheep.  They had to do it all completely on their own and I was pretty proud of what they were able to accomplish.  

We tried something new this year with the water and poured it directly into our cave.  It gave it a really cool effect.  After that cooled we put on our grass and let the kids put on their huts and the flock of sheep.  The frosting would not set, and as a result the sheep kept falling over, the trees kept toppling, and by the morning the hillside of grass eroded all over the trees with Christmas stars at the base of the hill.  Oh well.  Overall we really liked our idea and everyone thought it was pretty fun.  

I thought it was telling that all of the builds this year were dreams we had:  we were supposed to be in New Zealand and so did a New Zealand theme.  Brody and Aly are dreaming of a lake house up in Idaho and created a magnificent recreation of the cabin and a speedboat.  Dantley and Cyd are building their new house and decided to create that.  2020 and our lost dreams huh?  At least we can live vicariously through sugar!

Thankful 13

One perk about being in South Jordan for Thanksgiving, is that we are really close to Thanksgiving Point and can run in their various turkey trot races!  (I love Thanksgiving Day running!)  Jeremy, Bruce and I signed up for the half marathon.  Leesa, Aly, and Brody signed up for the 10k.  And the kids all ran the kids run.  The weather looked a little cool that morning, but thankfully it turned out to be a great day for a race.  Jeremy and I ran almost ten miles together.  We started a little slow, not understanding how the start line would look with covid, and had to dodge through quite a few runners before things opened up.  It was a nice run along the Jordan River and through some of the neighborhoods in Lehi.  Around mile nine I decided to turn on my music and pick up the pace a little.  I didn't go into it with a major PR goal, just wanted to make sure I beat 1:40.  I ended up finishing in a time of 1:38:53.  I felt really good.  Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't try harder from the beginning for that 1:35.  Oh well, it was a low-key race, and I had a good time spending the morning with Jer.

We didn't wait long for Dantley to bring the kids who were ready to rock.  They were bundled up and so excited.  

We saw Bruce finishing as we ran past.  The timing was perfect.

Kenzie cruising past.  Kelton was so fast that I didn't get a picture of him.  But apparently he really wanted to beat Bruce and cruised past him right at the last second across that finish line.

I ran with Daxton, who having never run a race before just kept asking how long he had to run!  He was very excited to see the finish line.

The medals they handed out for the kids at the finish line were intense.  They were the 5k medals and totally solid.  It totally made my day watching them run!

Our Rogers Gobblers Crew

Family pics

The night before we drove out, my mom mentioned that she wanted to do family pictures while we were there.  It meant a quick raid of our closets to see what on earth we had that was ready to go.  We had pretty good success, and with a couple of extra pieces from my mom's wardrobe, we actually pulled off a cohesive look!  

Camille recommended pictures up at the dry farm (funny how much time we've spent up there the last few trips), and luckily the weather cooperated with us.  It wasn't too sunny, which meant that we didn't have any squinty eyes.  Our family arrived at the shoot first, so the photographer got to work.  I wasn't expecting anything, so I was thrilled with how everything turned out.  

My cute kids.

Daxton with a real smile

Kelton cheesing it up

McKenzie modeling

Cambrie looking beautiful

Me and my man

Once all of the other families arrived we did a whole Johnson family photoshoot.  We really are growing aren't we?

The grandkids

Thanks mom and dad for this incredible family!

Crystal hot springs

My mom had the great idea that we should all go swimming at the Crystal Hot Springs out by Brigham City.  I've heard of them through the years, but never actually swam here.  I take that back, my parents took me when I was about three years old, but I don't think that counts.  My kids were really nervous that the hot springs would smell as bad as the one we found in the Grand Tetons, and that there were going to be horse flies biting them the whole time.  It took awhile for them to accept that it really is basically a very warm swimming pool and no one is going to be bitten by horseflies.  We were more worried about the cold running to and from the water slides.  There were two water slides and they were a blast.  The walk up to the top looked like it belonged in Splash Mountain.  Disney pays big bucks for themes like that.  There were planks on the walls, uneven stone steps, and water shooting from pipes to keep us warm as we walked.  The slides were fast!  The first time Daxton and I went down I totally toppled over around a turn and had to scramble to grab him before we hit the splash pool.  I loved it.  When we were too cold, we just went and hopped back into the warm pool.  I like warm pools...a lot!  Maybe this will redeem the phrase "hot springs" in my kids' memories!

 

2nd Amendment fun

Jeremy brought both of his new guns out to Utah so that all of the guys could have a chance to shoot them.  When we asked Jake where he recommended to go shooting, he told us the dry farm would be perfect.  He was right.  He got there a couple minutes before we did and set up a bunch of targets for the kids on the hillside.  The kids finally had a chance to shoot Jeremy's new guns.  They also had a chance to shoot a couple of Jake's, as well as a rifle from my dad.  The girls are big enough that they were able to handle and shoot the guns with relative ease. 

 The boys on the other hand were simply too small.  Jake brought rests to help support the barrels for them, but even with those, Daxton's arms were barely long enough to reach the trigger! 

 

When we were shooting, we were huddled up in the back of the car.  It was chilly out there!

It was awesome being up there teaching our kids about these guns, safety, and all that goes with it.  I don't know who was more excited, Jeremy, Jake, or the kids!

Paper targets

Jeremy bought a couple of new guns last week.  He is really excited to take the kids shooting, but the timing has been weird.  Well Daxton wasn't about to let something as small as scheduling stop him from hanging out with his dad.  He made a ton of paper targets and wanted to put them to use.  Since we obviously can't shoot a rifle in our backyard, Jeremy pulled out a pellet gun and they went shooting the targets.  Daxton loved it and was a pretty good shot.  Now we just have to find somewhere to take the real guns.

Mishmash

Here are some of our favorite November moments:

Kelton called my mom on the kids messenger app, and there are some goofy effects.  This one was his favorite: my mom turning into a birthday cake.  I thought it was hysterical watching these two talk!

The squirrels finished off all of our little pumpkins, and started working on our larger ones.  They would simply sit down and feast, and feast, and feast.  Finally I was so tired of the seeds and debris all over our porch that we had to toss our pumpkins.

Jeremy and I snuck away for a gorgeous ride to Boulder. I don't ride outside very often when it's cool, but it really is fabulous when we do.

Kelton and Daxton wanted a money job.  I asked them to dust the baseboards.  They went above and beyond and dusted the tops of the door frames too!  I was impressed by their ingenuity.

"Cambrie is creative, she is!" She whipped up this Baby Yoda doll in no time, and now he's supervising her school work.

Daxton's new favorite game is this bubble game.  He runs around with a fitted sheet, pulls in just enough air that when he falls to the ground he is enclosed in this perfect little bubble.

The boys made a spaceship out of some cardboard boxes.  They flew to all of the planets and had picnics one each one of them.

Daxton loves crafting at school.  We ran out of room on his display rack and had to take picture of everything he's worked on this year.