Grandpa Johnson

Lorenzo Gail Johnson

June 3, 1929-June 14, 2009

My Grandpa Johnson just passed away tonight. He was diagnosed with liver cancer a couple of months ago and there was no good way to fight it, it was terminal. My family knew what to expect, and I've been waiting for the phone call for awhile now, but it's still hard to hear. I wish that we were back home in Utah. I wish that I could be there now with my parents and Grandma Johnson to help them and to cry with them. My Grandpa Johnson was a great man, let me share some of the reasons why I love him so much:

~He loved my Grandma so much. He adored her and showered her with love. If I could ever describe how our Heavenly Father wants us to treat our spouse, my grandparents would be the perfect example.
~He was the reason I chose Elementary Education as my major. He was an elementary school teacher and eventually a professor up at Utah State. I wanted to make him proud.
~He was the best Lake Powell houseboat captain ever. Whenever he wanted to get the family's attention he would call, "Hup ho!" and everyone knew the boss had spoken. A lot of the time spent on the Angeline was spent playing games. Sometimes my grandpa was such a cheat, but we loved him for it.
~My family also spent a lot of evenings at Lake Powell singing. My Grandpa's favorite went like this:
"Oh it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me. I must be one heck of a man. Oh it's hard to be humble, but I'm doing the best that I can!"
~He made the best waffles and eggs ever. I don't know what he did, but they always had Grandpa's magic touch. I loved breakfast at my grandparent's house.
~He made sure I never went hungry while in college. Whenever I came by to visit during the summer months, he sent me home with bags of cucumbers and tomatoes from their garden, and a huge jar of honey. Just ask Jeremy, I will only eat honey from Cache Valley.
~Whenever I went over to visit, he made a special point of always telling me I was his favorite Annette in the whole world.
~When he wanted a hug, all he would have to do is smile at you and point at his chest until you came over at hugged him.
~He always seemed so full of life. I loved seeing him leave to meet his friends at the USU fieldhouse to go "pump iron."
~He had the best grandpa pants. You know, the ones that go up and over the belly. They always made me smile when I saw them.
~He would write me the nicest encouragement letters just because.
~He loved Logan. He always made a point of telling me that it is one of the greatest places ever, and Jeremy and I should move there after we're done with school. I wish, I wish he was still here so we could make that happen. Basically I just can't imagine Logan without my Grandpa.
~I love him so much and am so sad to see him go. I wish I could have given him one more hug before he left. Love you Grandpa.

"Carriage"

Yesterday Cambrie and I took a field trip to Plymouth Meeting Mall to ride their carousel. Cambrie absolutely loved it and kept telling me she wanted to ride on the "carriage." We rode it twice, which was enough for my nauseated head, but Cambrie didn't want to stop. As a compromise we took a little break to get ourselves an Icee.

As I was getting out my money to pay for our drink, the lady helping us started walking away to clean up something in the store. She told me it was $2.07 and just to leave it on the counter. I put down my 7 cents, but told her I only had a $20, so I needed change. She told me not to worry about it and just take the drink. At first I thought she misunderstood me and thought I had left $2.07 on the counter. I told her again, I only have a $20. Smiling, she barely turned around and said not to worry about it, just take the drink. A little confused I took the drink and started walking away, expecting her to yell at any moment for me to come back and pay more than the 7 cents I had left. But she never did. I guess she was feeling generous, which was really nice of her and rather odd for Philadelphia. The ironic thing is I needed change for my $20 bill, and the $2 Icee was a bonus.

After our free and ridiculously yummy drink, we popped on the carousel for two more rides. Cambrie insisted on riding the spinner for one of the rides, and I really don't know how I made it off without losing my stomach. The only way I convinced Cambrie to get off the carousel was by telling her we could go sit by the fountain. She was very concerned every time the water stopped to reset. She kept asking me where the water went and was overjoyed to see it spraying again. I taught her how to throw pennies in the fountain and we came up with names for all of the spouts. It was a great way to spend a rainy day in Philly.

One More

It looks like I'll be pulling these out of storage in about nine months or so...That's right. Expect baby #2 to show up at the Rogers' house around January 17th! We can't wait!

Oh the places you'll go...

Cambrie: "Where's Daddy?"
Me: "At school."
Cambrie: "Where's Daddy?"
Me: "At school."
Cambrie: "Where's Daddy?"
Me: "At school."
Cambrie: "Where's Daddy?"
Me: "On the moon."
Cambrie: "He's on the moon?"
(end of questioning)

Cambrie: "Where's D?"
Me: "In Utah."
Cambrie: "Where's D?"
Me: "In Utah."
Cambrie: "Where's D?"
Me: "In Utah."
Cambrie: "Where's D?"
Me: "He was eaten by a giant crocodile."
Cambrie: "A crocodile. Okay."
(end of questioning)

Cambrie: "Where's Ashlyn?"
Me: "At home with her mommy."
Cambrie: "Where's Ashlyn?"
Me: "At home with her mommy."
Cambrie: "Where's Ashlyn?"
Me: "At home with her mommy."
Cambrie: "Where's Ashlyn?"
Me: "She's hiding with the bugs."
Cambrie: "Big bugs?"
(end of questioning)

I don't know if Cambrie just wants an answer that's more exciting or what. But she never stops until we tell her something outlandish. You may be surprised where you end up in our stories...

Happy 24

Saturday was my birthday. Jeremy did a good job of making it a fun one. He made a delicious lunch of foccacia bread turkey sandwiches, a mango and nectarine salad, and chilled juice. He is the sandwich king! That afternoon we had a water balloon fight. Cambrie wasn't sure what to think when she popped a balloon all down her shirt, but had fun popping one over daddy's head. Our party was pretty low-key with cake and presents. I had requested a Jell-O cheesecake and couldn't help but munch on it before we blew out the candles, (hence the missing corners...) We were also two candles short so we had to use toothpicks to make up for it. My birthday/mother's day present was a new road bike. I fell in love with road bikes back in college when I rode my dad's 40-year-old bike around campus and I've wanted one ever since. I'm excited to use it for my triathlon in three weeks! I've decided 24 doesn't feel much different than 23, but it was fun to celebrate anyway. Thanks Jeremy for making it a good day.

Scissors

Cambrie longingly looks at the scissors every time I pull them out. She's been really good about not using them, running with them, or destroying anything. But today she kept asking for Cambrie's scissors. I'm not sure if she has used them at the YMCA or where she got the idea, but I decided it was a good one. We used some rebate money today and got Cambrie her own pair. She was so excited and caught on how to use them really quickly. Let's just hope she's still good about not using them without mommy, running with them, or destroying anything.

Cancun

Being in Cancun for a week and a half automatically creates a lot of stories to share. I don't think you really want a play-by-play of what we did every day, but here are some highlights.

For the first couple of days, Cambrie was up with the sun at 6:00. Why sleep in when there's a beach to play on all day right? This first morning she was content to go exploring and play "dentist" on the lounge chairs. We got to go para sailing! That was super fun. I was expecting more of a rush, but it's actually quite calming. I couldn't get a very good picture of our faces, so the parachute will have to smile for us.

Cambrie's favorite part of the whole trip was playing in the sand. She loved putting the sand in her bucket then dumping it on people's feet to hide their toes. She also had a blast smashing towers. We literally couldn't build them fast enough. When we decided to build a replica of Chichen Itza, we could barely keep her off of it long enough to finish.

Nana and Papa chilling in the shade.

This particular drink was a virgin Cabana. It was probably the most requested drink of the week. We just couldn't get enough of the Pina Coladas, Banana Milkshakes, Strawberry Daiquiris...yum.

Our resort had a really pretty pond on its property with stairs leading down to it. Cambrie loved sitting on the bottom steps and dangling her feet in the water. Jeremy loved it because one night he and his siblings went exploring and found glow-in-the-dark fish and a large lime-green octopus just hanging out. I can't believe he didn't come wake me up to show me! It seemed pretty neat.

We managed to find a small branch to attend on Sunday. We thought it started at 10:00. When we arrived they were singing a song, Jeremy and I just assumed it was the opening hymn. When the song was over, we bowed our heads, closed our eyes and waited for the prayer. The prayer seemed to last forever! Cambrie was losing patience and started squawking. Jeremy and I kept telling her to be quiet. I couldn't believe how long this prayer went on. And since it was in Spanish I had no idea what was being said. Fifteen minutes later I open my eyes and realize that no one else has their eyes closed. It was a talk. We just looked like fools with our eyes closed and trying to keep our wiggling toddler from moving or speaking. Oh boy. Church really started at 9:00 and we had come in during the rest hymn. I'm just glad I'll never see those members again. I was quite embarrassed. We also had a couple of site-seeing days. For Chichen Itza and Tulum our tour guide was Helaman. He is the branch president from Cancun and was awesome. It was really neat to see Book of Mormon history. He pointed out a lot of the symbolism that other tour guides missed and really helped us gain an appreciation and testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. If anyone is going down to Cancun, I have his business card. He (or his nine siblings) will give you an excellent tour. We visited Chichen Itza (it was completely empty, super awesome for pictures).

Coba (it isn't as excavated and you can still climb to the top).

And Tulum (beautifully situated on the coast).

I guess my "highlight reel" was a little long. Sorry, but there's just so much to share!