Our big announcement: We’re Utah-bound!

March 31, 2016 By

As much as I love to travel, I adore our home base and never thought we’d live anywhere other than Colorado so it is tremendously bittersweet to announce we’re moving to Midway, Utah.  I adore Colorado and we have zero reasons to leave…our businesses are burgeoning, we have an amazing ward, friends and neighborhood. But this glorious place is where we’ve moving so I keep reminding myself not to be too depressed.

Midway, Utah

How It Happened

In December, I had just returned from a trip to the temple where many of us accompanied a new member in our ward for the first time. I was bursting with feelings of love and appreciation for my many friends who surrounded her. Later that afternoon, I was at my computer when I had the distinct impression: “Search for real estate in Soldier Hollow.”

I’m not one to house shop (apart from occasionally looking up dream properties in Hawaii) so this thought surprised me. To be honest, I didn’t even know exactly where Soldier Hollow was–just that is was in the Heber Valley and site of the cross-country events for the 2002 Olympic Games. My search for Soldier Hollow revealed that it is in Midway, a charming alpine resort town just 15 miles from Park City. I fell in love with a gorgeous home within our price range and that’s when the wheels started turning.

Jamie wants a bit more land, I want to live in the mountains. Denver’s housing market has exploded with a huge influx of people moving in (we’re the second fastest-growing state in the U.S.) and a shortage of housing. This is good news if you’re trying to sell a home but is not so great if you’re buying here. We’ll never be able to afford the prices in Colorado’s mountains so could this be our opportunity to stop dreaming and start living the dream?

Jamie didn’t take me seriously at first and I didn’t blame him. Almost on a daily basis, I’m concocting a new scheme, a new adventure so it’s tough to decipher what’s inspiration and what’s just me? We resolved to at least investigate so when we were in Utah for Christmas visiting Jamie’s family, we spent an afternoon with a realtor in Midway. There wasn’t much for sale  so we looked at two new areas. Now, I should say that my one prerequisite was that I did not want to build a new home. We went through that laborious process with our current house and while we love it now and are so happy the yard is finally growing in, it was a ton of work and expense to put in your own yard and basement.

For the first place we visited, the properties were less than 1/3 acre. Many of the lots in the second development were too small…until we walked up to a 0.5-acre plot that backed to farmlands with a view of Mount Timpanogos and Deer Creek Reservoir. Cue the singing angels. Something clicked when we walked on that property. Jamie didn’t look at me like I was crazy (for once) and we started to wonder if maybe we could do this.

Our backyard

There was a premium $55,000 price tag on that corner lot because of the size and views. It was one of the final and most coveted lots to be sold because the builder had been hanging onto it for his own son who was on a mission. But then he got “Dear Johned” (dumped) by his girlfriend and we arrived at the exact window of opportunity.

We did a tour of the ranch-style model home (we’re thinking like old people and only want one level + a basement) and asked if we could build the smallest house on the biggest lot (we could!) We had originally intended to visit the neighboring town Heber to look at some properties but we nixed that plan; we knew it was charming Midway or Bust!

When we arrived home, we crunched some numbers. The rest is history but was the source of soooooo much stress in January because we had to come up with earnest money and we had a cash call for another investment at the exact same time. After prayer and a lot of sleepless nights, we cashed in some mutual funds, refinanced our house and moved forward. We still don’t know how it will work out financially because we won’t put our house on the market for a few weeks but we have faith this is supposed to happen.

Why I can’t believe I’m really leaving.

The people. Jamie’s brother and sister are here. Our ward is truly the most cohesive and loving I’ve ever experienced. And our friends. Don’t get me started about our friends and neighborhood because we have the very best there are. We do everything together–spend holidays, travel, and play, play, play. Our kids have  known each other since birth and they were supposed to grow up together, date and get married. I love these people.

The landscape. Since moving here to marry Jamie 13 years ago, I’ve crammed adventure in every spare moment. From climbing 14ers to hiking in my backyard to Country Road Cafe, all of it has left an imprint on my soul. Colorado is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Our jobs. Jamie and I both work from home so we can live anywhere but so much of what I do is based here. And we’ve been truly blessed with opportunities to preview everything under the sun–from museums to exhibits to attractions to travel. This is a huge sacrifice. So, what are my plans for Mile High Mamas? Last year was our most successful yet and I plan to keep building it. I have a whole team of Colorado bloggers who will be more than happy for me to pass on the many review opportunities. Eventually as I secure stable work opportunities in Utah, I’ll sell Mile High Mamas. But that time is not now and it makes me sad to think of turning over something I’ve built from the ground up. And we’ll miss all those glorious freebies.

The Light Rail. We have lived in a construction zone for three years as Denver’s Light Rail line is near completion. It literally is a 2-minute walk from our house and would have been so ideal for accessing downtown, the Denver Airport and beyond.

Our home. I truly love our house. We had been married for only six months and were newly pregnant when we signed the contract. Bursting with joy about the life ahead of us, we went to IHOP and a woman at a nearby table overheard our excitement and asked why.  When we went to pay the bill, we learned this generous woman had paid it for us, wishing us much happiness in our new life.  And it has been.  On the first day when we walked into this house, I thought, “I will never be unhappy here.” And despite layoffs, health crisis and everything else life throws at you, we never have been. This is where we became a family.

What I Won’t Miss

As I mentioned, Colorado is growing exponentially.  Whenever we return from a mountain getaway and descend into Denver, my soul deflates as we battle traffic, crowds and pollution. And it will only get worse. The legalization of marijuana doesn’t help my spirits as we raise our kids in a world with dispensaries at every turn, a whole tourism industry based on getting stoned and the prevalence of marijuana edibles.

My heart aches to think about our many mountain adventures that I’ll desperately miss but getting there is not half the fun.  I-70 is a $billion$ nightmare. Every time we planned a trip, we had to do it around the traffic because we knew that we’d get stuck for hours coming and going.

The Transition

How will it be to move to Midway, population 4,000, when we’re coming from a city of 2 million? A shock, I’m sure. But one thing I love is that our gorgeous Swiss-themed mountain hamlet is just 15 miles from Park City and 30 minutes from Salt Lake City.  Jamie’s parents and sister are nearby, we are surrounded by mountains, are just 15 minutes to the ski areas and it truly is heaven on earth.

I just wish we could bring all our Colorado loves along with us on our new adventure.

Stay tuned tomorrow as I talk about our new home.

Filed Under: Utah

Christmas in Utah

December 31, 2015 By

Greetings! We’re back from a fabulous Christmas in Utah with Jamie’s family. This is the first time all his siblings have been together in years and it was a cause for rejoicing (so was our dump of snow on Christmas Day, the ultimate present). Shockingly, I didn’t take many pictures and for the big mom fail, didn’t take even one as we opened our presents. The good news is we’ll all be together again for an official family reunion at YMCA of the Rockies Estes Park in February.

A few highlights:

*Lots of downtime, including Apples to Apples marathons and PBS Masterpiece’s Sherlock (we’re hooked after season 1).

*Food. Too much of it. Jamie’s mom Linda stuffed us to the brim, plus she is her ward’s Relief Society President, which means everyone and their dog brought holiday treats to her. And us.

*Food Con’t. Jamie’s parents treated us to a fabulous Christmas Eve Brunch at Grand America, followed by family pictures and touring the swanky hotel’s holiday window displays and life-sized gingerbread house.

Gingerbread House

*Edible cousins. Shamefully, I didn’t take enough pictures of the twins because my camera was directed at 11-month-old Darby the entire time. And who could blame me? Check him out delighting in the bouncy castle/ball pit Uncle Chris bought them.

*Temple Square. Really, is there any place on earth more magical and spiritual at Christmastime than thousands of lights on 35 acres? Our hot chocolate at Joseph Smith Memorial Building was pretty magical, too.

Hot chocolate warm-up

*BYU. We called it a recruiting trip because we’re trying to expose the kids to our Alma Mater. We went to the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art, bought them BYU shirts, ate at the Creamery and had a lot of fun checking out the campus.

*Presents. This was the first year I found Christmas shopping depressing because the kids are mostly out of the toy phase and want technology (though I remain adamant about no phones before high school). Plus, our recent trip to Disneyland was our main present so our budget was tight and Santa was limited to giving them Brandon Mull books and games. Bode got a cool video drone from my parents and had a blast with a remote control helicopter from Jamie’s parents. Hadley got clothes, lots of drawing tools, arts, crafts and movies. I bought Jamie a new ice cream maker (it’s his obsession) while he purchased Big Agnes sleeping bags and pads for both of us.

But the ultimate present of all presents I gave to the man who hates to share his food? The Freeloader Fork, which expands up to two feet to give me easier access to his food across the table.

He obviously loved it.

What a blessed Christmas 2015 we had surrounded by family as we celebrated the birth of the Savior. We’re going to a New Year’s Eve party at the Carrolls tonight to ring in the New Year. I’m not sure what the future holds but I feel the winds of change blowing through for 2016. May it be a soft breeze and not a tornado.

Filed Under: holidays, Humor, Utah

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2014 By

If you read my blog, our annual holiday newsletter is old news to you. But I assure you, Fat Kitty has never looked better.

Merry Christmas!

If 2014 could be summed up quickly, it would be non-stop travels for the first six months and the other six were spent recovering with little/no travels. We’re so grateful for both and most importantly that we have had minimal health crises this year and no hospital visits (wood is currently being knocked).

Our year was unprecedented for travel and will likely never be repeated but what a blast we had! I attended a media event in Denver for the Maui Convention & Visitor’s Bureau and was thrilled when I won a trip for two! The coincidence? The only other time I’ve been to Hawaii was when my dad won a trip for two to Hawaii through work. Fortunately for my siblings and our kids, we let them tag along and truly fell in love with that island paradise as it was our favorite trip ever (see all the fun here)and I’m now moderately obsessed with buying a cabin there someday.

Just as we were recovering from Maui, I was asked to attend the Disney Social Media Moms, an invite-only, highly-sought-after conference at Disneyland so we decided to splurge. And Disneyland isn’t the same without family so we surprised the kids by waking them up the morning of our departure. For once, they did not complain about being woken up early.

One of our favorite ways to play is skiing and this past year we’ve been to Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs, Crested Butte, Copper Mountain and Park City Mountain Resort...and have many more ski trips planned for 2015. One of our favorite experiences was dog sledding for the first time in Breck!

And, of course, the kids and I spent our month-long vacation in Canada and the Western United States. Jamie joined us for a week at the lake with my family in Vernon, B.C. and we had a fantastic time boating. Usually our Canadian adventures are a reprieve from Denver’s searing heat so we won’t comment how it was actually cooler in Denver during our lake retreat.

Now, onto family matters.

Hadley (age 10, fifth grade)

Hadley grew leaps and bounds this year…literally. Her huge growth spurt over the summer launched her to the top of the class in height and continues to send us scrambling to replace all her clothes, which is challenging because she hates 99% of what she sees in the store. She has a wicked sense of humor and a large group of friends at church and school. She hates math and piano and enjoys handwork, travel, art, violin, pumpkin growing (hers weighed 401 pounds), Minecraft and crafts. Her favorite class trip ever was a three-day class camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park where she was the second-fastest kid to summit the highest dune in North America (a bit perplexing because she’s always the first-slowest when it comes to leaving the house). For volleyball, we bumped her up to play with the 6-8 graders and she has had no problems keeping up the big girls. She’s a mountain goat hiker and is ready to be challenged on the big peaks (we just need to get our act together to take her), is moderately obsessed with bouldering and is constantly heckling the rest of us to keep up with her during her crazy traverses. She’s a great skier, is learning to tackle the moguls and we had a fabulous mother-daughter trip to the slopes in February during her school break. She loves the water and, despite her protests to try wakeboarding, popped up on her first try and now does it like a champ. Though she and Bode would never admit it, they’re besties and play wonderfully together 93 percent of the time; no comment on the other 7 percent nor who is the instigator for the fall-outs.

Bode (age 8, 3rd grade)

Bode’s big news is he got baptized in August surrounded by both sets of grandparents. He’s a happy, kind and thoughtful kid who has two emotions: joyful (most of the time) and sensitive (usually during the aforementioned fall-outs). He’s a whiz at math and a regular receiver of “Star Awards” at school yet has barely legible handwriting. He is recovering from an addiction to Calvin and Hobbes and Clash of Clans and he thrives on being responsible–he even sets his alarm early for school so he can be “extra-prepared.” For his eighth birthday, we threw him a surprise party where we hired Rolling Video Games Denver to come to the house and we invited all his friends for a two-hour video game marathon that was deemed “the best party ever.” He’s intrinsically more cautious than his sister but battled his fears and did an awesome job wakeboarding, cross-country skiing and a high-ropes course for the first time. Named after Bode Miller, he continues to rock the ski slopes and went on one of his first mogul run last week. When I asked him it was terrifying, he confessed, “A little bit,” and I can’t blame him because I sometimes feel the same way. He plays the piano non-stop, enjoyed growing his 325-pound pumpkin, loves Cub Scouts and is gearing up for his first Pinewood Derby where it will be revealed just how competitive his father really is. Bode went on his first six-day overnight camp to Camp Chief Ouray with Hadley last summer and had the time of his life. As smart as he is, he still puts his shirt on backwards but loves to snuggle up so I’m relieved he’s not growing up too fast, even if he sometimes acts like a responsible 40-year-old man in an 8-year-old body.

Jamie

The Pumpkin Man had his his worst pumpkin-growing year ever and lost both of his plants to yellow vine disease in August. Despite that setback, he was able to preserve one of them long enough to make it to the scale and it topped 500 pounds. We were sad we wouldn’t have a real giant pumpkin to display so rescued his buddy Joe’s from being axed and it just happened to be the biggest grown in Colorado this year. Jamie had a blast taking the pumpkins around to the area schools and had a ton of media interviews–he was even featured front page on The Denver Post’s YourHub. But his most memorable pumpkin moment was when he decided it would be fun to dress up as The Pumpkin Man, hide inside the pumpkin, and terrorize trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Fortunately no law suits were filed and we only had one casualty when he made Spiderman cry (watch the hilarious video here). His web development business continues to add more people to the team and we’re grateful business is growing (unfortunately so do his stress levels). At church, he’s the Stake Technology Clerk and the Priest’s Quorum Adviser but most importantly, a wonderful husband, father and mortal enemy to superheroes.

Amber

As for me, I continue to juggle trips, kid’s activities and working from home. I’ve taken over the business/advertising side of Mile High Mamas, which has confirmed I’d much rather be writing. And traveling. And hiking or skiing. But unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to make much money from those exploits so in the interim I’ll just dream of more playtime. I’ve become more of a regular contributor on 9News and have done segments on everything from travel tips to Halloween treats to their ugly sweater Christmas party on Friday. I was released as the Primary pianist at church and am on my way out the door for Public Affairs as I’ve been called as an Akela of the Cub Scout Bear Den. I am also an aspiring dodgeball player and if this writing gig doesn’t work out, I hope to go pro in the future.

Fat Kitty

Fat Kitty is the only serious one in the family. In addition to napping for 23 hours a day, he enjoys decapitating the occasional mouse, eating grass until he pukes and annoying Jamie. He also decided to get in shape this year and his favorite exercise is a cross between a lunch and a crunch.

Some people call it lunch.

Christmas Wishes

This time of year, we’re especially grateful for our many friends, family and for our our Savior. Have the happiest of Christmases is our Christmas wish and gift to you!

 

Love,

The Johnsons

Filed Under: Bode, Canada, Colorado, Family, Family travel, Favorite Posts, Hadley, Humor, Jamie, LDS, Marriage, outdoors, pumpkins, travel, Utah

Temple Square: The Most Beautiful Place on Earth at Christmas!

January 7, 2014 By

I don’t care what denomination you are (or aren’t). If you want to get into the Christmas spirit, Temple Square in Salt Lake City will send you into overdrive. The headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has literally thousands of festive lights, nativities, lanterns and garlands that set the city ablaze. In addition to the visual feast, the Church organizes a lineup of holiday concerts and other events that offer visitors acoustic experiences full of holiday cheer.

We made an evening of it with Jamie’s sister, the Twinnies and his mom by starting out at the newish City Creek Center’s Deseret Book. Our family tradition is when the kids turn 8 and get baptized, they each get their own beautiful set of leather-bound scriptures from the Deseret Book flagship store (Bode will have to wait until this summer to be given his).

Though we’ve been to Temple Square several times, the kids have never done an official tour so that is what we did. Two  hundred “sister” missionaries are called from all over the world to serve here and speak more than 40 languages. I walked into the South Visitor’s Center and I queried the sister at the front desk.

“We are wondering when you are offering your next tour?”
“They’re actually on-demand.”
“OK, I’m demanding it.”

I assure you it came off funnier in person.

It has been years since I’ve toured the various buildings on Temple Square and I loved how technologically advanced the exhibits are and the beautiful spirit as we learned about the Assembly Hall, Tabernacle, North and South Visitor’s Center, Welfare Square, Family History Library and of course, the cornerstone of it all: the fairy-tale-esque Salt Lake Temple, which took 40 years for the Saints to complete.

The famous Christus in the North Visitor’s Center

We visited all my favorite haunts including the Lion House Pantry, cafeteria-style dining in the Historic Home of Brigham Young. We didn’t stay for dinner but grabbed the most delectable item on earth: Lion House rolls.

I’m not kidding when I say I could have eaten every single one of them.

The top floor of the adjacent Joseph Smith Memorial Building offers the best views looking down on Temple Square.

Photographer Bode’s photos of Temple Square

On the top floor, the JSMB has the elegant The Roof Restaurant or the more casual Garden Restaurant but we were thrilled to discover the new Nauvoo Café on the main level was offering quick-serve hot chocolate in addition to their fast-casual menu.

Lion House rolls and hot chocolate for dinner?

This was a picture-perfect evening surrounded by beloved family and sites that warmed my heart.

Filed Under: Family travel, Foodie, holidays, LDS, travel, Utah

Utah Adventures: Hiking, BYU and Skiing!

January 6, 2014 By

Every time I go to Utah, I walk away moderately obsessed with moving back. Said Obsession usually wears off within a few weeks of returning to Colorado. But with the pervasiveness of the coverage marijuana’s legalization is receiving, it may take me longer to recommit myself to my beautiful state that is literally going to pot. Can you tell I’m on a major soapbox about the moral decline of my community and the “pot tourism” that is threatening to take over? But onto happier things: UTAH!

Hiking

One cold, clear morning (20 degrees), I hiked to the Living Room for some of the most glorious views Salt Lake City has to offer.

Really, the only drawback of our trip to Utah was the nasty inversion and thick layer of pollution. Another morning, I went for a foggy run up City Creek Canyon and stopped to meander Memory Grove where Jamie and I had our engagement photos taken.

I only nearly died once when the Freedom Trail hugging the cliff turned into a sheet of ice.

Skiing

A trip to Utah in the winter would not be complete without a ski day at Park City Mountain Resort. The kids had an absolute blast tackling the Adventure Alleys.

Hadley’s first solo run on the alpine coaster

And the resort’s burger at Legends Bar & Grill is, welp, LEGENDARY.

We stopped by my fellow Snowmama Kristen’s new dream home and I am now committed to moving to Jeremy Ranch, a suburb tucked in the hills of Park City. I mean, just look at this kitchen and view!

I am smiling but really, secretly plotting her demise so I can inherit it all.

Brigham Young University

What would a visit to Utah be like without swinging down to our Alma Mater in Provo?  Fact: Jamie and I studied in the same department, walked in the same graduating ceremony, played on the same volleyball court one summer and had many common friends but didn’t meet until six years later. So, it was kind of like a stroll down memory lane without any memories of each other.

But it was awesome and we’d love nothing more than for our kids to go to BYU. They played air hockey at the bowling alley. Gorged at the bookstore’s famed candy counter. Ate lunch at the Wilkinson Center. Bought Cougar gear. Were inspired by the touching paintings of the Savior at Sacred Gifts, a world-class exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art.Candy, the arts, food, air hockey, mountain adventures. What more could you want out of a college?

Oh yeah, the education. That pitch will come later.

Filed Under: Family travel, hiking, outdoors, skiing, travel, Utah

The Grand Brunch and Fun at the Grand America

January 1, 2014 By

Our family has already established we have a love affair with the opulent Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. If Utah has an equivalent, it is the Grand America Hotel. Built in the lavish manor of Europe’s grand hotels, it has the distinction of being the only AAA Five Diamond hotel in Salt Lake City and has more than 450,000 square feet of hand-tooled marble and granite.

On the day before Christmas, my generous mother-in-law treated the whole family to a delicious brunch.

I thought the extensive buffet would be the highlight and it was one of them. But what followed next was truly magical for the kids.

Every year, the Grand America unveils 13 whimsical hand-crafted window displays in their retail windows that are open to the public. This year was a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Santa’s workshop with 36 elves building everything from toy ray guns to motorized stockings to elf flying machines to my favorite: a yeti made of faux fur with marbles for eyes and press-on nails for teeth.

To make it even more fun and interactive, there is a scavenger hunt where the kids answered easy questions at each display and upon completion, they received a chocolate prize. They played at JouJou, a fantastical toy boutique, and gawked at the life-sized gingerbread house made of 1,200-lbs of flour, 400 lbs of sugar, 1,200 eggs and 25 lbs of chocolate.

Believe me, we’ve almost consumed its equivalent this holiday season. Thanks to my in-laws for the wonderful memories!

 

Filed Under: Family, Family travel, holidays, travel, Utah

Johnson Family Newsletter 2013

December 4, 2013 By

In typical bipolar fashion, I decided to do a holiday newsletter, then opted out and then upon receiving newsy holiday  newsletters from friends,  decided it should be back on. After all, the world must know what the Johnsons did in 2013!

Overall, we had a great time full of family and friends, travel and minimal hospital visits (our gauge for a good year). We took plenty of fantastic ski vacations all over Colorado and a week at our favorite, Park City Mountain Resort in Utah. Last summer, the kids and I spent almost a month in Canada on a 3,000-mile trip that covered two countries and six states (Colorado, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah). Jamie was only able to join us for a week of our trip, citing  “someone has to work to support your playtime.” Wise man; I couldn’t agree more.

Here’s a quick glimpse at our happenings. Click on the links for more details!

Atop 14,265-foot Mount Evans

Hadley

Hadley (9 going on 19) is in fourth grade at her Waldorf charter school and continues to love their arts-based academic education. Our free-spirited, fun-loving girl has been on several camping trips with her class and keeps busy with piano and volleyball. She’s also a stellar skier and for my birthday, we had a girl’s weekend of mogul-busting, snowshoeing, lake-skating and sledding. Hadley is a huge fan of horses and was delighted to spend a week at overnight Camp Chief Ouray last summer. She loves Fat Kitty, swimming, hiking, crafting, gardening, cooking and she was the top-performing girl in her grade at her school’s Fun Run. I should know. I ran beside her the entire way until our fifth mile when she blazed past me and I walked with a limp for a week. Her love for Scooby Doo has been replaced by mind-numbing shows on the Disney Channel like “Jessie” and “Dog with a Blog.” It looks like we have a tween, folks.

Hadley’s first scary leap into the Rooster Tail at the lake house in Vernon, B.C.

Skating at Copper Mountain

Summer hiking group at Mount Falcon

Bode

Our resident geek, Bode (age 7) loves all things space, educational and ensuring everyone is following the rules all the time. He is moderately obsessed with being the best-behaved kid in his second grade class (yet somehow is also among the most well-liked), thrives in academics, is a great little soccer player, skier, hiker, cook, master pumpkin grower and lives for his bi-weekly WiiU and technology sessions. For the second year in a row, he and Hadley were my child models at the 9News Back-to-School fashion show and he put Zoolander to shame. He and his sister went to Avid4Advenventure’s Survival Camp last summer and I now feel confident they can survive exactly two hours solo in the great outdoors. He never shuts up on the piano loves to play the piano, enjoys to read Calvin and Hobbes, bike down to our neighborhood skate park and play with LEGOS. His current obsession is constructing dream mansions for us out of giant wooden blocks and creating intricate maps of his designs. We strongly encourage this as a future profession.

First solo flight to see Grandma in Utah!

A snowy hike in Evergreen=joy

First fish fly fishing at The Ranch at Emerald Valley

Jamie

The Pumpkin Man had a great year. He grew his biggest pumpkin ever, 1,220-pound Stanley, and we landed a picture of him in The Denver Post. A professional carver drove down every day from Fort Collins for a week to chisel a marvelously creepy face into the giant gourd. And then Stanley and Jamie went on tour visiting both of the kids’ schools and harvest festivals, thereby cementing his status as a local celebrity. In other news (though really, is there any other news?), Jamie’s web development business Pixo Web Design and Strategy continues to grow, he has a few employees and is always busy. We marked our 10-year wedding anniversary last February and he surprised me by recreating the magical night we got engaged that included a limo ride to the swanky Briarwood Inn. He was recently released from the Bishopric at church and not even five days later, he was called as a stake clerk over technology, a real stretch.

Atop McConkey’s lift for the first time as a family at Park City Mountain Resort

Stanley the Pumpkin

Stanley’s scary carving

Amber

I’ve had a busy year working for the newspaper and various freelance opps in the travel industry. Our favorite gig is writing for AAA Five Diamond The Broadmoor’s magazine because they pay their writers in trade, which amounts to an opulent, indulgent vacation like no other in Colorado Springs.  I love hiking every week, skiing, boot camp, volunteering at school and in the community. I received an award in recognition of journalistic excellence as a community blogger from Digital First Media, The Denver Post’s parent company. But my real prize was when I was at a media luncheon hosted by the Maui Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and my name was drawn as the winner of a trip to Maui (we’re going in February). At church, I was sad to be released from the Young Women (favorite calling ever) and now serve in the stake’s Public Affairs where I work with community leaders and media.  I’m also the volleyball coach and our ward’s Primary pianist and have mastered The Look from across the room, which quickly corrects the behavior of any misbehaving kids. We all have our talents.

Solo hike to Maxwell Falls in Evergreen, Colo.

9News fashion show

Girl’s only birthday ski trip

Fat Kitty

He’s still fat, snuggly, sleepy, sweet and lives for his backyard adventures of stalking mice and eating grass ’til he pukes. We often walk in on him licking himself in Cirque du Soleil-esque positions but it was this shot I took of him on my bed that convinced us all that he’ll be America’s Next Top Model. Look for him on a Kitty Litter advertisement coming your way soon.

America’s Top (Cat) Model

We feel infinitely blessed this holiday season for wonderful family, good friends and the gospel in our lives.

Merry Christmas!

XO

The Johnsons

Filed Under: Bode, Family, Family travel, Hadley, holidays, Humor, Jamie, LDS, Marriage, outdoors, pumpkins, skiing, travel, Utah

June Travels: Our Crazy Life According to Instagram

June 30, 2013 By

My work-life balance has been nil with waaaaay too much playtime with the kids. I’m hoping to write about all our hiking adventures (and believe me, there are MANY) but until that time, my iPhone tells the story of our first month of summer break.

Chautauqua in Boulder

Our month-long party started with a glorious getaway to Chautauqua in Boulder complete with a charming cottage, emerald hikes bursting with jeweled wildflowers, a gourmet meal at the Dining Hall and Snow White reenacted by Theatre-Hikes Colorado.

Chautauqua in Boulder

Chautauqua meadow outside of our cottage

Snow White Theatre Hike!

With a kickoff to summer like that, it’s hard to go wrong. And we haven’t.

Giving Back

One day, we did a tour of the Food Bank of the Rockies where we learned about their kid’s program Kung Food Fighters to teach kids how to help fight child hunger.

Food Bank of the Rockies

But obviously not how to do Kung Foo moves.

Kicking It

Then there was the Colorado Rapids, our first-ever professional soccer game.

Colorado Rapids

We expect greater things from our soccer-playing son now.

Cave of the Winds

OK, technically our trip to Colorado Springs and The Broadmoor was late-May but I need to fit in our awe-inspiring cave tour of the 500-million-year-old Cave of the Winds, which was discovered in 1881.

Cave of the Winds

An exciting new addition to the already-cool caves is the Wind Walker Challenge Course. This three-story obstacle course is located on the rim of a 600-foot drop into Williams Canyon and has a challenging maze of steel beams, swinging ropes and ladders. Bode barely met the height requirement and I was proud of him for trying.

Wind Walker Challenge Course

Though it may take him a few years to recover from it. #Scary

Utah Fun

While Hadley was at Camp Chief Ouray for a week, Bode took his first solo flight to Utah. But then I crashed his party on the last day by scheduling a business trip in Park City where I also crammed in a quick hike to the Living Room, roller-bladed the Jordan River Parkway for the first time in 10 years (we’ve both changed!), had a cousin sleepover with the edible twinnies and storytime with Grandma.

Utah!

Talk about a memorable trip!

Carnivores Unite

Then, Bode and I headed straight up to YMCA of the Rockies near Winter Park where we got a tour of Hadley’s camp and had some fun adventures of our own. Sane people would have turned around after picking her up but not us. We headed further west into the mountains for our Father’s Day tradition: the Frisco BBQ Challenge where we met up with carnivore-loving Jamie.

Golden Breckenridge

But the fun didn’t stop there during that masochistic week (I crammed in four trips, but who’s counting?) Breckenridge is just a 15-minute drive away from Frisco and if we were to have a cabin anywhere, it would be there. It was like coming home as we spent the morning at Peak 8 Fun Park, which boasts the most awesome line-up of summer activities of any of Colorado’s ski resorts with an alpine coaster AND slide, gold panning, a maze, bungee trampoline, miniature golf and a bounce house.

Breckenridge Peak 8 Fun Park

We were thrilled to be in Breckenridge during Kingdom Days, which celebrates the town’s colorful history.

Or rather, lack of color as you can see from this old-fashioned photo. Note to self: Next time stay and watch Kingdom Days’ uproarious Outhouse Races.

Breckenridge was founded back in the 1860s thanks to the many gold discoveries. I have always wanted to go on a mine tour and was thrilled when Country Boy Mine Tour was a part of our itinerary.

Country Boy Mine Tours

There is still gold in them thar hills but it costs more money to extract it than it is worth. Following the tour, we panned for gold and Hadley unearthed a real sliver of gold, which I then proceeded to lose.

So much for our chance at millions.

Breckenridge is part of an extensive paved trail system that connects to mountain towns Frisco, Dillon, Keystone, Copper Mountain and Vail. That evening, Hadley was exhausted after her week at camp so Jamie stayed behind while Bode and I took to the trail. I had an epiphany: almost exactly two years ago, Hadley took her first solo flight to Utah (like Bode) and she first tested out her new mountain bike on Breckenridge’s trail system, just as Bode and I did that evening on his newly-minted mountain bike.

New bikes on the Breckenridge bike path: Hadley (2011) and Bode (2013)

His ride went smashingly on the dirt trails…until he ended up slowly smashing into the bridge. Luckily he made a quick recovery.

Party Boy

For the past few years, we have been in Canada for Bode’s July birthday, which has resulted in a number of “pretend birthdays” leading up to the real deal. He wanted to celebrate with his buddies at Big Time Fun Trampoline Center and it was the cheapest, easiest party I’ve ever thrown: Invite friends, buy cake, show up.

Big Time Partiers

Why have I been killing myself all these years with parties, food and entertainment at my house?

Finally a Fish

For the third year in a row, I organized summer swim lessons for some of my good friends from our ward. It is a two-week pool party for the kiddos and a lot of fun to hang out with the Real Housewives of Jefferson County.

And most noteworthy? Bode has finally figured out how to swim and graduated from Squids, which is the first time he has ever passed a swim class. There may be hope yet.

Camping Disasters

I was looking forward to our camping trip yesterday to Camp Dick in the Roosevelt National Forest. Like so many of our adventures, it started well with blue skies, beautiful hikes, creek-playing and boulder-scaling.

Camp Dick

But then ended so very, very badly. Details tomorrow.

Lyons Soda Fountain

But I suggest you drown your sorrows with ice cream sodas, floats, freezes, phosphates and classy sundaes at Lyons Soda Fountain, one of the state’s best preserved and oldest soda fountains in Lyons, Colo. Because ice cream makes everyone feel better.

A Little Bit of Magic

Lest you think we haven’t had any downtime in June, think again. Every chance we got, whether we were at the park, in the car driving 14,265 feet to Mount Evans’ summit or in the basement, I was reading the kids their newest obsession: Time well spent in what turned out to be a magical month.

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Jamie, outdoors, travel, Utah Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Utah: How I Love Thee (Mostly) and our Park City Family Vacation

April 4, 2013 By

My complicated relationship with Utah was reconfirmed during our latest visit for spring break. I wouldn’t go are far as to say it’s a love-hate dynamic but I always struggle between “I want to move back here” and “I’m so glad I got out of here,” the former attributed to the mountains and family and the later, to cultural idiosyncrasies.

But what could be better than hanging out reading books with Grandma in her beautiful, new finished basement?
Not to mention dying eggs and a fun Easter egg hunt with our darling cousins?And sneaking off to do this memorable hike on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail behind Red Butte Gardens wasn’t too bad, either.
Our spring break was about two things: Skiing at Park City Mountain Resort and family. Fortunately, we were able to combine them both by staying at Silver Star, a gorgeous three-bedroom town home at the base. The gift basket is courtesy of Resorts West. The Cheese Balls, thanks to us.
We like to keep it classy.

For four days, we hot tubbed, watched The Hobbit, grilled burgers, ate and hung out.

Ski School

That was just the indoor fun. The kids did ski school for a few days and Bode rocked his “Superstar” class.

Attempting Mary Katherine Gallagher’s “Superstar” pose

And Hadley graduated to an intermediate-advanced class. Her instructor told us she used to train the U.S. Ski Team, gave us her card and said that she “could work with her.”
Some parents would sell their soul if their kid had an iota of Olympic potential. We’re underachievers who said “that’s nice” and went back to eating our Cheese Balls.

Jamie had a stellar time on the mountain, with the exception of the day I got really ill from an allergy-induced sinus infection.

I, of course, have to get sick on every vacation.

Tubing for a Bruising

Then, there was Gorgoza Park. On our final night in Park City, Jamie’s sister and her family joined us for some fun at this adventure park outside of Park City. Our kiddos tore up the mini snowmobiles.Our 3-year-old twinnies are darling and sweet but oh-so fearful. They’re under 42-inches tall so had to tube the Lower Lanes, which is a good thing because they were sufficiently traumatized. For the first run, Ada went down with her dad without a problem while Berkley was HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. Jamie’s sister Tammy soothed her fears and even Ada’s pep talk about “being brave” didn’t help. After several motivational speeches, they eventually went down with Berkley screaming the whole way.

Then came the final attempt. The staffer at the top complimented Tammy saying “Most parents just throw their kids in the tube but you handled that just right by talking it out with her.” But this time, it was Ada who decided to freak out and refuse to go down the hill. After trying to calm her down, they all loaded up and had the staffer push them down the hill with Ada screaming the whole way.

“You mean, the parents do it like this?” Tammy joked to him.

I always knew I liked her.

For Fear Factor, Edition 2 we dragged Jamie’s mom up and down The Big Hill.

She initially wasn’t very happy but unlike Ada and Berkley, Adventure Grandma didn’t cry even once.

Family Ski Day

There are few things that bring me more joy than skiing with my little family and though we hope to keep them in ski school as long as possible, I love when we can ski together. A tradition at many resorts is to throw bead necklaces in the trees as you’re passing them on the chair lift. We purchased eight necklaces from the Dollar Store prior to our trip and were so excited to try it.

The problem: Bode lost two of them before we even left the condo. We also hadn’t calculated the exact moment we would need to toss them, taking into account the velocity of the chair lift, the angle of the trees and our sheer incompetence.

Translation: We failed at physics and I think only two actually made it into the trees.

There were many, many other adventures including skiing down the Adventure Alleys designed for kids, doing the jumps at the terrain park, the alpine coaster and Flying Eagle zipline.And then my very favorite moment of the entire trip: summiting the top of the McConkey Lift. Perched at the top of the ski resort, only intermediate and advanced skiers can access it and this was our first as a family.

Bode squealed, “I’m the king of the world” as he gazed out upon the endless sea of mountains. Then as he peered over the edge as he skied and he confessed, “I’m kinda freaking out” but went on to ski it like a champ.

His wasn’t the only breakdown. The day before, Jamie had taken me down double-black expert terrain at Jupiter Bowl when I was still recovering from the plague. There are no pictures of his indiscretion, which is probably a good thing because the less evidence, the better.

Hopefully, Ada, Berkley, Bode , Grandma and I will have forgotten those freakout moments by the time we return to have the time of our lives at Park City Mountain Resort next year.

Filed Under: Bode, Family travel, Hadley, Humor, Jamie, skiing, travel, Utah

Busted: My Denver Staycation Secret

March 19, 2013 By

My life has three phases: Busy, Really Busy and Crazy Busy. I’m somewhere between the last two as I try to get caught up from a week in Canada and prepare for the kids to be out of school for Spring Break.

When 9News contacted me about doing a daily series this week about Denver staycation ideas, I said 1) Thanks 2) No thanks and 3) Gave them another option. I fed them some suggestions of area activities and that I’d be happy to present them at the beginning of the week and they could dispatch the reporters the following days. Win-win. They get the content, I keep my sanity.

So, I raced into 9News yesterday, 5 minutes later than the allotted time due to traffic but with a few minutes to spare before I went on-air. Prior to going live, a producer or reporter usually comes to prep me regarding what we’re talking about but there was none of that. Seemed everyone else was Crazy Busy, too.

A staffer came out to where I was sitting. “They’re ready for you,” and led me into the studio. The anchors were live and I was to slip in silently while they read their stories, hook up my microphone and then, BAM, the camera turned to me without any prep work whatsoever. If it had been my first time, I likely would have passed out but since I seem to thrive in the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants lifestyle these days, I was able to pull it off. It also helps that Kyle and Gary are pros who made it really easy. (I have a list of my Denver staycation ideas here).

Following my segment, I posted a picture on Facebook of me at 9News with the caption, “Wrapped up a 9News segment on Spring Break staycation ideas in Denver with anchors Kyle & Gary. P.S. Don’t tell them I’m going to Park City.”

My friend Kristy left a comment regarding a funny experience involving a trip we had taken that I had forgotten about. My first job out of college was as the illustrious ski reporter for SkiUtah on all the radio stations.

I was surprised by just how much I loved radio. As a broadcast journalism major at BYU, our training focused on a bit of radio and mostly TV, but all our reporting was serious, hard-news stories. But as the Craaaazy Canuck ski reporter, I could be zany and  fun and developed some fabulous relationships with the on-air DJs who included Tom Barberi, the longest running radio personality in Utah history, and KSL legends, Grant & Amanda.

My job was obviously to tout Utah skiing, something I loved doing as I skied 13 of their 14 resorts that 1997-1998 season. I had also started freelancing as the travel editor for Sports Guide Magazine so when I was invited to cover Jackson Hole, I kept it on the down-low. I invited two of my former mission companions–Kristy and Susan–and we had a F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S spring break in Wyoming.

Well, my ski reporter replacement slipped that I was in Utah skiing and land almighty, the media got a kick that “Miss SkiUtah was skiing in Wyoming. I even got called out in Rolly & Wells, the Salt Lake Tribune’s gossip column.

A write-up in your city’s famous gossip column for your first job out of college?

My life has been on the decline ever since.

 

 

Filed Under: 9News, Colorado, Humor, Utah
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