Johnson Family

Johnson Family

March 31, 2018

Spring Break–Chuggs visit Colorado Springs

While we waiting for the Chuggs to drive from the Denver Airport to Colorado Springs in a blizzard,  we went over housing options for Katie and played Castles of Burgundy with Emily.    They arrived at about 11:00pm on Monday night.  So fun to have them here and show them around the house.

TUESDAY

Tuesday Dad went to work, Geneva and I did a kettle bell workout and then we talked and hung out until lunchtime.  Jared, Geneva, Katie, Hanna and I headed down to our Edelweiss German restaurant and Dad met us there.  Such yummy noodles and sauce.  It was fun to reminisce about our German adventures together. 

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After lunch we headed home to pick up the boys and headed to Manitou Springs to the Penny Arcade… which we had never been to.  (Katie and Hanna stayed home so Katie could work on picking BYU housing.)  The rest of us enjoyed it.  We played old arcade games like Pac-man, shot rifles, played lots and lots of skee ball, and even tried out the Lord of the Rings pinball machine.  It was fun.  On the way back to the van we picked up some chocolate fudge from the candy shop.

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The Manitou Springs Penny Arcade is a historical treasure with some games dating back to 1900.  One of the penny arcades that Geneva found was an advice machine.  For 1cent we received advice like… “Don’t get fat” and “Try necking!”  Too funny.  The old lattice ceiling and creaky wood floor made us seem we were back in time. 

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We spent lots of time and quarters playing Skee ball.

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Emily playing Lord of the Rings pinball.

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Tuesday night I made curry soup for dinner and then we got comfy on the couches downstairs to watch the new movie JUMANJI -- which is pretty funny.  Then we taught Jared and Genenva how to play Istanbul -- which we played countless times the rest of the week.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday we ventured out to the Garden of the Gods.  We bundled up in several layers but it ended up being a nice day.

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We had a picnic lunch and then hiked up to the Siamese Twins.

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The grey clouds moved in just as we were leaving.  We stopped at the new park to play soccer for a bit, but it started snowing so we headed home to play games. We had tacos for dinner.  Scott joined us since he was in town overnight for work.  We taught him how to play Istanbul as well and he won the first game, and Geneva won the second.

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Hanna has been sleeping up in Katie's room and every night they are up late laughing and talking, watching Musicals and playing the guitar and ukulele.  I think they had a great week.

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THURSDAY

Thursday Dad had the day off.  We started the day with a 9:30am movie at the theater.  Ready Player One -- it's a movie based on a book Chris has read recently about a virtual world in the future.  I didn’t know what to expect but I actually enjoyed it.  Then we headed over to the Paint Mines and enjoyed hiking around even though it started snowing as we walked in and our shoes were filthy from the mud.  Still, I just love a good outing. 

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Thursday night we hosted the Seaquists and Jacksons for dinner so they could see the Chuggs since we all knew each other in Medical School.  It was a fun night.

FRIDAY

Friday we headed up to Denver for the day.  We spent the morning at the Nature and Science Museum exploring the Dinosaur exhibit, Creatures of Light, Animals of Africa and The Body.  It was fun. 

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Then we headed to Torchy's for lunch -- a newly discovered taco place that we love.  Fried avocado tacos and spicy queso please.

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Then into lower downtown Denver to walk along 16th street and stop at Union Station for shuffleboard and ice cream before heading home.  Fun day!

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We’ve been to Union Station multiple times but never been able to play Shuffleboard – this time it worked and we got to use both boards.  It was really fun!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream from the Milkbox Creamery at Union Station.  So good.

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We had the Chuggs with us for Saturday as well.  We watched the first session of  General Conference, played soccer at the park, watched General Conference again.  Geneva and I went shopping to Home Goods while the guys watched the Priesthood Session.  Then we ate Belgium Waffles and played a couple more games of Istanbul.  The Chuggs left early Sunday Morning.  SO fun to have them here for our Spring Break Staycation.  : )

March 3, 2018

Paint Mines

Saturday:

  • Katie found out she’s accepted to BYU!!
  • Dad went over to the Family History Center to scan more pictures
  • Megan got together with Natalie to work on a school project
  • I took pictures of Katie and we both texted all of our closest friends and family to share the news.
  • We decided to head to Paint Mines -- a fun place to hike around about 40 minutes from here.  The weather was gorgeous and it was so good to get out into the fresh air and spend some time together.  I love exploring a new place.  
  • Dad watched a BYU basketball game
  • I finished up my lesson for combined YW's on ‘How the Savior can help us through our Trials’.
  • Katie went on a date with Brandon and friends
  • Emily, Megan, Dad and I played a game of ISTANBUL – It was a great day!!

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Such cool rock formations.  It was a great place to wander around.

Katie’s Acceptance to BYU

Friday afternoon I met Dad up in Denver and we went to the temple to do a session.  Then we headed home to spend the evening with Katie.  Friday was the 'BYU Acceptance Letter Day' and Katie's friend heard from a friend that they would start sending out emails at 5:00pm.   Katie checked a few times that day but didn't worry about it too much.  5:00 came and went and she hadn't heard anything.  Dad, Katie and I went out to dinner to Modern Market  and decided to leave all of our cell phones in the car so we wouldn't be distracted by every sound or vibration.  We had a great dinner. 

We got back to the car and checked.... nothing.  We decided to watch a chick flick -- the Notebook, to distract us.  Emily and Megan watched with us.   Then we checked again... nothing.  At 10:30 Dad and I were on Katie's bed Katie refreshing her BYU account and Dad checking Cougar Board to see what funny things other BYU Dad's were posting about NOT getting application letters yet.  Everyone was a bit frustrated and it was a little stressful. 

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Finally at 11:00 Katie and I decided to head to bed.  Dad stayed up until 1:00 randomly checking with no success.   I woke up at 4:45 and couldn't get back to sleep. I tried for a bit and finally decided to wake Dad up to see if he knew.  He checked again.  The system was still down.  It took us a while to finally fall asleep.  At 6:30 Katie got a text from a Daylee saying that the emails had been sent out.  Katie checked immediately and then printed out her acceptance letter, got all the kids dressed in their BYU shirts and came in to wake us up.  It was SO EXCITING!!!    What a sight to wake up to!


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So Katie will go to BYU summer semester -- which starts June 26th and goes until August 16th.   So exciting!! : )

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Dad was so excited he decided to go put the BYU flag up!

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So proud of you Kates!! #byubound