The day I almost lost a kid at a birthday party

September 3, 2013 By

I’m talking children’s birthday parties in the Denver Post this week!

As a kid, my birthday parties consisted of friends, games and a cake. I’m not sure what happened between my childhood and motherhood, but when my friend hired a party planner to throw an over-the-top fete for her 3-year-old, I was exposed to a whole new world.

I personally don’t think you need a lot of fuss when it comes to birthday parties — that it is possible to have fun and keep things affordable.

We have traditionally hosted at-home birthdays to keep the cost down but when my daughter was five, she begged to hold her party at

Click to keep reading Price Isn’t the Scariest Thing About Kid Parties (and the day I almost lost one of the kids)

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So, you want to plan a special event for your child’s next birthday but don’t want to break the bank. Kara Allen from the popular party idea site KarasPartyIdeas.com and author of the book “Kara’s Party Ideas” has these seven tips for throwing a spectacular bash.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor Tagged With: ,

St. Mary’s Glacier: A Disastrously Fun Day

September 2, 2013 By

Every year, our family has climbed St. Mary’s Glacier, one of the top tourist destinations in Clear Creek County. Well, with the exception of last year when I got really sick on the day we were supposed to climb it. And then there was the time Jamie drove over Hadley’s foot at the trailhead so that didn’t exactly work out, either.

So, it’s a family tradition barring whatever disaster comes our way.

This year, we were delighted when our friends, the Carrolls, decided to join us. With six kids, they are a mobile party wherever they go so we knew we’d have a blast! The drive from Idaho Springs to the trailhead is full of hairpin turns and, after a steep, rocky 3/4-mile hike to the base of the glacier, we were at about 10,500 feet.

Jamie and I hiked ahead with the quicker kids and reached the lake at the base of the glacier in record time.

We threw rocks and scaled logs while we waited for the rest of the group but they didn’t come. After a half-hour, I started to hike back down but they were nowhere to be seen so I called them. Their daughter Maeve was struggling with car and altitude sickness so they were turning around and would wait for us in the car. The rest of us hiked to the base of the glacier where we played and played and played.

The quickies

We were delighted to see Maeve toward us a half-hour later, fully recovered after leaving a piece of her misery on the trail (I’ll leave that one to your imagination). In fact, it was a near-perfect afternoon and we practically skipped down to the car.

One of our other traditions is to stop for some epic mountain pies at nearby Beau Jo’s pizza in Idaho Springs. As we were waiting for our lunch, we received a text from Eva:

“Hey, our car won’t start. Are you still at Beau Jo’s?”

Just as we were getting ready to go back up the mountain to retrieve them, I got another text assuring me their car had started and they were on their way.

It was one of my family’s smoothest trips to St. Mary’s Glacier but our friends weren’t so lucky.  Turns out, disaster is contagious.

Just a forewarning for anyone who wants to come play with us anytime soon.

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Getting There: Take I-70 West from Denver, past Idaho Springs’ three exits. Take the next exit marked “Fall River Road.” Just past the bottom of the ramp, take a right (north) on Fall River Road. Follow this road up approximately 9 miles to one of two parking areas for the clearly marked trailhead to St. Mary’s Glacier. Parking is $5.

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, hiking, outdoors

Back-to-school: oh, how “special” it is

August 29, 2013 By

I talked a little bit about our frenzied first day and why I went back to bed but (horrors) I didn’t show my requisite first-day pictures. Hadley started on a Monday and Bode on Wednesday, which meant each of them could have the breakfast of their choice on our “You Are Special Today” plate.

Trust me, that plate doesn’t work at all when you have to share it on the same day. Kinda defeats the purpose.

Then, of course, their new outfits.

Is is just me or does Hadley look waaaaaaay too grown-up?

I’m feeling only OK about this school year. Hadley is in fourth grade and has looped with her same teacher (a Waldorf tradition). There’s good and bad in that. Good that we got a lot of kinks worked out last year and the teacher knows her strengths and weaknesses. Bad that I wish she had someone who knew how up to play to her weaknesses better. But best is this teacher loves experiential, multi-day field trips and that is what Hadley lives for.

As for Bode, welp, let’s just say he is rumored to have the worst teacher at his public school. I’m trying to keep an open mind about it because he’s a great student, a pleaser and highly adaptable in the classroom. Second grade is a mess with only one great teacher (whom Hadley had), the one Bode got and the third teacher isn’t great but she now has a grades 1 and 2 split class, which I’m glad we didn’t get.

His teacher’s first letter home didn’t exactly endear me to her, either. No, “welcome back!” or “I’m excited to get to know your kids!” It was:

“Attached is the S.T.A.R.S. rules matrix which outlines expected behavior in the classroom. We have gone over these together in class. PLEASE REVIEW THESE RULES WITH YOUR CHILD to ensure that you both know the expected behavior in the classroom at school.”

Doesn’t she sound like a lot of fun? Strict, I can deal with. It’s her rumored meanness, lack of competence and dislike of teaching that worry me. I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Anyone can change, right?

We had our most fun summer yet–these kids of mine are such adventurous souls and the older they get, the more I enjoy them. It helps that they got along marvelously and fought very minimally. When I kicked ‘em to the curb dropped them off at school, I felt a wave of sadness wash over me because I loved spending so much time together.

But then I had six glorious hours to myself where I worked, biked Bear Creek State Park, made peach pies and had a lunch meeting….

Hidden pond at Bear Creek State Park

….and I got over it.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor Tagged With:

My Evil (Murphy’s Law) Twin

August 27, 2013 By

We’re trying to navigate the road of being a one-car family since the accident. I thought it would be easy with both of us working from home but between driving kids around, meetings and errands, I’m finding how much I’d just get up and go whenever I wanted.

And confirmed I’m really really not a homebody because I’ve been stuck at home more than I’d like.

Fortunately, my neighbor Monica saved me from the house and suggested I show her the Ralston Creek Trail on our bikes today. I woke up bright and early this morning to pump my tires, which, as I’ve mentioned before, is one of my Top Five Least Favorite Things To Do right after moving, dieting and dying.

We loaded up our bikes into her SUV and drove to the trailhead. And then,

“Uh oh.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Look,” she said, pointing to her two flat tires.

She encouraged me to go without her but I stubbornly said I’d wait while she drove back home to pump her tires (it was too much of a pain to load both bikes in the back of her vehicle again).

And so I waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Eventually, she showed up…with her husband’s bike.

“What happened?”
“I couldn’t get the air compressor to work. It needs a different valve.”
“You have a road bike like mine and need a presta adapter to pump the tires.”
“I called Jamie to come help but he was busy. So I called my husband (who is out of town) and he said to just take his bike.”

In the end, we had a great ride but leading up to that point? It was hanging out with myself.

And not in a good way. :-)

Filed Under: biking, Colorado, Humor, outdoors Tagged With: , ,

A final glimpse at summer 2013 (in pictures)

August 26, 2013 By

I purposefully planned our summer to be busy in the beginning and middle and then to just take it easy the final few weeks before school. It turned out marvelously.

June was crazy with trips to The Broadmoor, Chautauqua in Boulder, Breckenridge and Frisco in the mountains, not to mention Hadley’s overnight camp, Bode’s first solo flight to visit Grandma in Utah, our hailed-out camping trip, a Sunday drive to 14,265-foot Mt. Evans, summer hiking group and two weeks of swim lessons.

The Broadmoor, soaring at Chautauqua, first solo flight & atop 14,265 ft Mt. Evans

Camp Chief Ouray, YMCA of the Rockies & at Camp Dick. Not pictured: Avid4Adventure Survival Camp

Breckenridge

Frisco BBQ Challenge

Summer hiking group

In a word, whew!!

And then, of course glorious July was dedicated unto Independence Day and then a three-week-long road trip to the Motherland where great times were had with my family in Calgary and then on Okanogan Lake in British Columbia. On our way back we stayed with my former mission companion in Boise and Jamie’s wonderful family in Utah.

Independence Day

Mom’s birthday dinner in Calgary

British Columbia

Idaho and Utah

Then, we were home for some R&R! Or not.

Think: Annual hike to St. Mary’s Glacier, Water World, Elitch Gardens, pool parties, tennis, the 9News back-to-school fashion show and many glorious bike rides.

Hiking St. Mary’s glacier

Water World

Elitch Gardens

Multiple pool parties

Tennis

9News fashion show

Farewell to summer sunset

Summer 2014: you’ve got a tough act to follow.

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family, Family travel, Hadley, Jamie, travel

Reflections from Job’s Wife After the Crash

August 25, 2013 By

“It so rarely rains in Colorado. Why can’t we just have normal rainstorms instead of these crazy hail storms?”

Jamie and I were watching the news last week and I commented upon the flood of hail that swept through the Denver metro area.

When it rains, it pours and we’ve had a deluge lately. On Friday morning, we awoke to a police officer’s card in our door informing us Jamie’s car had been involved in a hit and run. Despite neighbor’s attempts to pound on our door to wake us up at 11 p.m., we slept through the crash and aftermath thanks to our noise-blocking attic fan.

We’re waiting to hear back if it’s totaled. The perpetrator pummeled into the back of it, pushing it several feet, and eventually slammed Jamie’s car into a now-defunct street sign. Glass and metal littered the street and the noise of the crash caused several neighbors to race outside to see what happened. A lady walking her dog wrote down what she believed to be the license plate number and our neighbor across the street likely caught it all on their security camera.

Luckily the next morning, the guilty party’s brother and then dad stopped by to exchange insurance information. The 17-year-old doesn’t remember what happened and spent the night in the hospital after slamming his head through the windshield, biting his tongue in half and suffering a concussion.

We were one month from paying off Jamie’s car with plans to upgrade my 10-year-old vehicle next summer. That won’t be happening anytime soon and now we’re a one-car family as we battle it out with both insurance companies (an interim rental car doesn’t look likely).

But this was only the tip of the iceberg after a trying few weeks. Our extended family has been dealing with some major health crises and heartbreaks. Jamie losing his pumpkin this week was a bummer but, in the big picture, not a huge deal. But then he went to the doctor on Thursday for yet another health situation and they scheduled him for surgery in two weeks. It could be only minor but, depending upon what they find, it could be major.

I’ve started calling him Job from the Bible and so what does that make me? Job’s wife. To humor myself, I opened up the Old Testament to see just what it had to say about the woman. I mean, it’s written from a man’s perspective…that all these horrid trials and heartbreaks happened only to him.

But she’s seen her life collapse, too. She’s lost 10 children and seen the family fortune disappear and she stood by him through it all but when he contracts a rather nasty disease and halitosis to boot, “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die” (Job 2:9).

“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10).

I think Job is a rock star. Not because he called her a foolish woman (because sometimes we are!) but because he’d figured out that if we believe that God is smart enough to know when we need a blessing, then we must believe that he is smart enough to know when we need a trial. And that the people who grow most bitter are the ones who ask why does God permit us to suffer when they should be answering how should I respond?

Jamie is a lot like Job. He pretty much lives in chronic pain and has been through more at his age than most but his response has been to remain faithful, wise, loving, unwavering and accepting without complaint.

My friend Lisa posted a powerful video that really hit home for me this week. I think a lot of us mistakenly don’t reach out for answers until something really devastating happens. Some find them but too many don’t. From the video Mountains to Climb:

“If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble.” -President Henry B. Eyring

I can’t say it will get better because it doesn’t always. But with faith, there is always  hope in something bigger.

Filed Under: Health, issues, Jamie, LDS

How not to announce the demise of your giant pumpkin

August 23, 2013 By

The “evil split”

As I posted yesterday, Jamie lost his giant pumpkin that was on track to take the state record. He didn’t initially tell us about it; it was Bode’s first day of school so he waited until after we dropped him off because he “didn’t want to ruin his day.”

Though we’re all very sad for him, the only person whose day (and entire growing season) was ruined was poor Jamie. He sent out an email to our family with the subject line:

“Stanley is no more.”

The problem with this? My dad’s name is Stanley.

Better: “Stanley the Pumpkin is in Pumpkin Heaven” or “Crack Can Kill (the Pumpkin).”

Here’s for hoping for a better season next year.

 

Filed Under: Jamie, pumpkins

How to mend a man’s broken heart: fresh peach pie with shortbread crust

August 22, 2013 By

We had a heartbreak at the Johnson household yesterday. Jamie’s pride and joy (no, not his children but his giant pumpkin) blew up. We knew at the rate it was growing, it would be very possible for it to crack and that it did. He intends to caulk the split and hope it makes it to the weigh-off at the end of September but it is now disqualified, which is a disappointment because it was on-track to becoming a state record.

Jamie with 1,000+ pound Stanley the Pumpkin during happier times

He still has another pumpkin that is growing less rapidly as back-up but for now, the dream is dead.

So, how do you mend a man’s broken heart? Through his stomach, of course. As I was driving home from mountain biking, I passed Heinie’s Market, a family-owned and operated fresh produce market and spotted the  most glorious Colorado Palisade Peaches. One of Jamie’s favorite desserts ever is his mom’s fresh peach pie so I figured it would give him at least a little bit of a lift. A couple of my friends asked for the recipe so I’ll post it here.

What I like about this pie: I’m a crust snob and shudder at any recipe that says to use those crap pre-made or frozen ones. But I’m also not the best crust maker so this one calls for what could be classified as shortbread and is so so so easy to put together.

And there is nothing better than fresh peaches when they’re in season so why on earth do we bake them and suck all the glorious goodness out of them? The crust is baked but the peaches are not so the sweeter and better the peaches, the more delicious the pie. Trust me, try this recipe and you’ll never look back.

Oh, why peach pie to help salve the wound?

Because pumpkin pie would’ve added insult to injury, of course.

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Grandma’s Fresh Peach Pie with Shortbread Crust

Crust

1 cup of butter
2 cups of flour
1/4 cup of sugar (though I add a touch more)
dash of salt

Mix and press onto a pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and let cool.

Filling

2 cups of boiling water
2 1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup of cold water
3/4 cup corn starch
1 3-oz package of peach Jello
1/4 cup of lemon juice
4-6 fresh peaches

Instructions: Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Mix sugar, salt and cornstarch with the cold water. Pour the mixture into the boiling water and let it cook until it is thick and clear (about 5 minutes). Add the Jello powder and cook for another minute. Take the saucepan off the head and add the lemon juice. Let it cool. Peel and cut the peaches and stir them in. Pour into the pie shells and refrigerate until you’re ready to eat.

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To read about Stanley the pumpkin’s demise, be sure to go to denverpumpkins.com.

Filed Under: Foodie, Jamie, pumpkins Tagged With: ,

The Other Woman

August 21, 2013 By

I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had time for one of my favorite past times: mocking Jamie and the Great Pumpkin.

Truth be told, it’s been a tough season to mock because he’s been skipping around like a giddy school girl. The reason? His pumpkin, Stanley, is his biggest ever and is one of the largest in Colorado.

He’s never had a pumpkin weigh over 1,000 pounds and Stanley has likely surpassed that mark with 30 days still left to grow. But this is when it gets scary. It’s not uncommon for pumpkins of this size to split and there are a myriad of things that could go wrong that would disqualify him from the competition.

His work schedule is a lot more reasonable these days vs. the 15-hour days of yesteryear so I honestly haven’t had an issue with how much time he spends out there because there is plenty left for us. However, I’ve been very forthcoming that my version of “quality time” does not include gardening so I rarely go back to the patch, simply monitoring its growth from the bedroom window.

On Friday night, he announced:

“You need to come to the patch to me.”

“OK, just give me a few minutes.”

“Make it quick. The light is perfect.”

Mood lighting? What was the guy up to? A make-out session under the pumpkin vines? Naught fella, that Jamie.

As soon as we walked out to the patch, I saw his ulterior motive.

“Can you take a picture of me with the pumpkin?”

“So this is why you wanted me out here?”

He didn’t argue so I snapped away.

Cuz it’s pretty tough to compete with a 1,000 beauty like her.

Filed Under: Humor, Jamie, pumpkins

Our not-so memorable first day of school

August 19, 2013 By

Today marks the first day of fourth grade for my daughter. To make it special, we always buy a cute outfit and I make a delicious breakfast of their choosing. Well, kind of. As executive chef, I have the power to kibosh anything that doesn’t meet my criteria.

“I want doughnuts,” she declared.

“I’m not going to the store at dawn to buy you fresh doughnuts,” I countered. “Pick anything I can make at home.”

I listed off sweet breads, cinnamon rolls, waffles, egg souffle and pancakes before she ultimately decided upon crepes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Note to my daughter’s anti-junk-food school: We made her a protein shake chock full of fresh fruit and vitamins, which should delay her sugar crash by at least a couple of hours. #You’reWelcome

And then I had a near-sleepless night. I’d like to say it was back-to-school jitters but it was mostly an overheated house and a night-before-Christmas mentality that I’ll finally have a few hours to myself every day. OK, that might very well be better than Christmas.

After tossing and turning for hours, I gave in to my insomnia and started working at 4:45 a.m. A couple of hours later, I trudged down to the kitchen to start her breakfast. Soon, I noticed a putrid smell, took a big whiff and realized it was coming from the milk. Are. You. Kidding. Me? If you’ve never made crepes, this is a key ingredient.

My daughter started coming down the stairs at that exact moment I was leaving.

“What are you doing?” she queried.

“The milk is bad. I’m going to the store!” Where I proceeded to buy more milk and also some….

.…doughnuts.

With a start like that, this is going to be a long year.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor
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