Out West - Idaho

We started our vacation out west by waking up at 4am to get to the airport in time for our morning flight. We got to the airport in plenty of time, got seated on the plane (as well as every other passenger on the full flight), and then the pilot gets on the intercom to tell us that the flight is cancelled due to some problems with the aircraft. We ended up having to split up on different flights - Aubree and I together, and Aaron with Carly and Ellie - and hang out at the airport for several more hours before heading out. Kind of a pain, but luckily we weren't in any big hurry and we were all safe.

Aubree and I landed in SLC first and rode the trax to Temple Square to meet Kathy. I just love that place!

 Seeing Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Leon - love!

 Aaron was invited to be a guest teacher for one of his old landscaping teachers at BYU-I, so I wandered around campus, amazed at all the changes. Here is the sky walk from the library to the MC and this little terraced area - all new to me. And the Manwaring Center is totally changed around! The  Nordic Landing is no longer there. It's where Aaron and I would meet for lunch every day when we were first dating (before I started cooking lunch for him everyday). Part of me feels a little homesick for the places where so many memories were made, but mostly they are awesome improvements.

 Some things haven't changed, like this cute little boy enjoying his books right outside the library. I LOVE this statue - (just need it with a little girl).


 Holly planned and decorated for a super cute Mad Hatter tea party. Such yummy food and so fun!

 Holly made these little candy mushrooms from scratch. They looked totally real!

 Meeting baby Ryder for the first time. Aubree especially couldn't get enough of him.

 We got to be IN the Menan, ID parade with the South family. The Souths are so awesome and always willing to have others join them - the more the merrier.

Also on the 4th we made a trip to Kelly Canyon and "the Tree" with the Wakefield's (who have their initials carved on the tree as well).

The Wakefield Family - so glad to have these guys as friends. 

 The Parson Family

 After we hiked to the clearing and sat down on some logs we had the kids tell their versions of the coffin date. That was pretty fun. It is so wonderful to go to this beautiful spot where our story began. And especially to be there with such great life-long friends (Curt and Aaron were high school buddies and Shawna and I have been friends since elementary years.)

 Leon and Kathy's grandkids - all together for the first time in like 5 years!

With the Souths in Jackson Hole

We ended our time in Idaho with a trip to the South Reunion Center in Island Park. It is a huge dome cabin with 10 bedrooms and a circular loft with single beds all around. The kids have a blast just running around and around the loft upstairs and being with lots of little cousins. Justin and Nissa-Lynn planned the reunion this year and it was a party every day - Nissa is such a great planner!

And again, we enjoyed canoeing down the beautiful Snake River. 

The sights and sounds and smells of this place could never get old!

Sometimes when we're here, we're just so inspired by the beauty and the love that we have for this great state that we break into the Idaho state song - the tune is beautiful (and we're awesome singers, so it sounds way good). ;)

And here we have Idaho,
Winning her way to fame.
Silver and Gold in the sunlight blaze,
And romance lies in her name.
Singing, we're singing of you;
Ah! proudly too, all our lives through,
We'll go singing, singing of you,
Singing of Idaho!

The Coffin Date (straight from my journal)

Oct. 21, 2001

 Last night I went on a date with Aaron Parsen, it was so much fun! (First of all, Aaron is this guy who I have a crush on. He is an awesome guy. He is so funny and nice, and everything - he's the type of guy I'd like to bring home someday.)
   The date he had taken me on was a date that he and his buddies had been wanting to do since their sophomore year in high school. They picked us up at 3pm and took us up to "their spot" at Kelly's Canyon. This is a spot that they had always gone camping at together. So when we got there we went hiking, played football, and some other games. Then we started to make a hole in the ground where we could build a campfire. While we were digging the hole we hit a piece of wood - about 6 feet long -in the ground. I had the flashlight and I was scared to death that there was a dead body or something crazy like that in it. Even the guys were scared. The thing that made it scarier was that a few weeks ago a girl from IF was kidnapped and killed and they think she was buried somewhere. So as we were looking at this piece of wood I was thinking that we had found this girl. We lift off the piece of wood and underneath it there are bones!! I was freaking out. But then one of the guys sees some paper plates and utensils in the coffin. The guys all start laughing and we realized that they had planned it.  (The bones were from the deer that Aaron had killed the other day!) It was a great trick. After that, we built a campfire and ate a delicious dutch oven dinner.
   Then Aaron and his friend Jordan played the guitar and sang for us. (Aaron has an awesome voice!) Aaron started singing and made up a song about his buddies. He told about how they came here all the time to go camping and that one day they decided to carve their initials on a tree and they each put a + next to their names. They decided that they would each bring their future wives here some day and propose to them. It was so cute! It made me wish at that moment that Aaron was my boyfriend because it was so romantic! After the date, as Aaron was walking me back to my apartment he asked me if he could come visit me here some time! :) I hope he does. 

I've discovered that my journals are not literary works of art. I think Carly, at nine years old, has better writing style than I did in college (or even now). Oh well, I'm glad I have it recorded. :)

Before we left Kelly's our dates took us to look at "the tree" with their initials and we had this picture taken:

Aaron is third from the left (doesn't he look exactly the same?) and I am above him. 

I remember thinking that night, "I want to carve my initials in that tree"!
Well, two years later, my wish came true.
Here's that same tree twelve years after "the coffin date":

And here we are 12 years after that first date:

Journal Entry: August 14, 2001

Sorry, not the coffin date. I'm going out of order here. But, I thought this would be good to add to our dating story even though this was written before I even knew there was a person named Aaron Parson out there.

(note: the words in blue are the words straight out of my journal. the words in black are commentary from me right now.) 

I need to be the kind of person that is qualified - or like - the person I want to marry. So, I'm going to list the qualities:

• Someone who reads their scriptures regularly
- yep

• A return missionary
- and I'm pretty sure he was AWESOME!

• Gets along with their family and is respectful to their parents
-yep

• A hard worker (not lazy), focused, ambitious
- very much so!

• Mature, not worried about trivial social things and not starved for attention
- he's pretty much happy to just hang out with our family at home every day.

• Takes care of their body and keeps their body in good shape
- Wakes up at 4:30 every weekday to go to the gym

• Good sense of humor - laughs and makes me laugh
- In a house full of emotional girls this quality is immeasurable! has come in handy on more than one occasion. He has the wonderful ability to not take me too seriously, and even laugh (in a very caring and sweet way) when I'm in an irrational state of mind. Not to mention that he is just a funny guy. He makes jokes and laughs at my jokes and can laugh at himself.

• Thrifty, good with money, doesn't have to be rich to be happy
- Aaron definitely takes his responsibility to provide for our family seriously, and works hard at being successful in his career. That being said, Aaron's biggest financial dream is to own big dogs. Seriously. Now, when I talk about financial dreams I talk about trips to Europe, shopping sprees, nicer home, nicer car, the list goes on and on. Aaron just wants an Irish Wolfhound. 

• Someone who is humble, can admit when they're wrong, can say sorry and thank you easily and doesn't always have to be right
- I could write essays about Aaron's ability to apologize (even when he's not always to blame), and his overall humility. This is one of the number one things I admire in him (partly because humility is not my strong point) and has made our marriage much more peaceful. If I would have married someone with my amount of humility .... there would be a lot of fighting! 

• Smart, studies hard
- Always one of the number one students in his class. 

• Spiritual, but doesn't flaunt it, loves the church, has a strong testimony
- yep

• Honest
- yep

• Happy, enjoys life, has fun and is optimistic
- yep. Although, life is not always peaches and cream and Aaron (and I) definitely have our unhappy, unfun, and pessimistic moments. We're real. :)

• kind to everyone, makes people feel comfortable around them
- I've never met anyone who didn't like Aaron right away (unless we're talking about his previous boss, but that's a whole other story, and he doesn't count).

• someone who is willing to go out of their comfort zone
- yep. Just one example: moving to Connecticut for a job that is way bigger and better than anything he had ever done before is definitely going out of his comfort zone. (And, by the way, he's learning so much at his job here and LOVING it!)

It's been a good reminder for me to read over these qualities - for a few reasons. First off, I realize how lucky I did get in finding Aaron and getting him to marry me. I was shooting pretty high ... and I got lucky! Secondly, this is a pretty good list of qualities that I still need to be working on. Thirdly, the law of attraction (like attracts like) really is a pretty powerful thing. I wrote this journal entry one month before I met Aaron. So even though a lot of these habits and characteristics are ones that I don't naturally posses, I'm sure they were ones that I was working on in that month. So, think positive thoughts and positive things will come your way! :)

September 2001

I met Aaron for the first time at my friend Shawna's apartment. My friends and I were watching a movie when Aaron and his friends came to visit. We paused the movie to meet these guys and my first impression of Aaron was "I can definitely tell he is Brett's brother" (nothing more, nothing less), and I think that was the first thing I said to him. (His older brother, Brett, had married a girl who grew up in my neighborhood.) Well, I went back to watching my movie, and Aaron, along with a few other people, went into the kitchen to socialize. Several minutes later I heard laughing coming from the kitchen and saw that they were having a great time in there. My FOMO (fear of missing out) kicked in, so of course I got in on the conversation, which consisted of us joking around about how awesome it is to be a sophomore, and generally just have a very silly and funny conversation (you would have had to have been there to appreciate it) :) That night I talked to Shawna on the phone and told her she had to set me up on a date with that Aaron guy!

Well, a few weeks later I got a call from Aaron! (Major excitement and butterflies on my part!) He said, "I have a question to ask you.... what kind of weed killer do you use?" (it's a line from the seminary movie "The Telephone Call") We laughed (mostly a nervous, giddy laugh from me). Then he told me that he and his friends had a special date planned on Saturday the 20th (of October) and he wanted take me. I was scheduled to work that day, but said that I would try to switch with someone. He told me to just let him know as soon as I could so he could ask someone else if I couldn't go (I still remember being a little bugged that he said that - ha ha!).

Journal entry September 2001: 

"After I hung up with him I started screaming and I announced to my whole apartment that I was going out with Aaron Parsen [yes, I spelled it incorrectly] - I was soooo excited! I talked to Shawna about it later and she told me that he had a list of 3 girls that he wanted to go with and I was one of them. He choose me mainly because he had already gone out with the other 2 girls before."

Ha ha! It's so funny (and embarrassing) to read back through my journals!

Next installment: The Coffin Date

Anniversary month

Nine years ago this month Aaron and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. November 29th to be exact.

Ten years ago Aaron and I broke up - really we just decided to take a break for a month. It just so happened that I took on a challenge from a roommate to go a whole month without sweets this same month. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm kind of addicted to sugar. Seriously, I don't think a day goes by that I don't have a sweet treat of some kind or another. I start to go through withdrawals if evening comes around and I still haven't had some sugar. If I'm desperate I'll even just eat a spoonful of peanut butter with chocolate chips on top.

Well during that month of no sweets and no Aaron, I was so consumed with thoughts of Aaron and missing him so much that I didn't really miss the sweets. Pretty amazing, huh?!

(Dating pictures. circa fall of 2002)

Aaron, I love you even more than I love sugar (and that's a lot)!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Christmas Break

We spent Christmas in Rexburg this year (2011) with Aaron's family. I don't have a single picture - unfortunately camera's give me anxiety. But here are some highlights:


-Going to Sacrament Meeting on Christmas day. It just felt like the best place to be on the day that we celebrate the birth of our Savior. To worship Him and hear inspiring songs and messages about Him. Such a wonderful spirit there.
-Santa brought gumball machines for Carly and Ellise. They have been wanting these for a few years now.
-Aaron got an awesome ice cream maker
-Grandma Kathy made all the grandkids capes - they look so cool - and Carly says they're magical.
-A Parson extended family get-together. It was so fun to see the cousins - some of which I haven't seen in years.
-An English style Christmas Dinner planned by Holly





Johnson Family Pre-Christmas Activities

Here we are downtown SLC. We went to the Grand America Gingerbread House display and Temple Square. The night before this we had an ugly sweater/ white elephant gift party and celebrated Blake's birthday.

Nanny Nette and Grandpa got all the grandkids pajamas. Here's the triplets, Ellise, Sophie and Carly with Nanny Nette, Aubree and Aunt Steph.

DATE NIGHT!!

(below) Here we are with our good friends, Dustin and Carolyn Wiberg at an ASLA Christmas dinner. The Wibergs were in our ward in North Salt Lake. They are one of the few families here who are not from Davis County or even the Salt Lake area, so that gave us something in common right from the start. Also, our kids are about same age. And, Dustin and Aaron are both Landscape Architects, both been through unemployment, and now both work for PEC (he was Aaron's contact for getting a job there). They are such wonderful friends!
MAGIC SHOW

Carly, Ellise and a friend planned a magic show (very spur of the moment) last week and invited a few neighborhood friends. Most of the magic show was ad-libbed, with some of the guests even sharing tricks at random. We had hot cocoa after the show and all the kids had a great time. After everyone left Carly said to me, "Mom, I didn't really have anything planned for the talent show.... could you tell?" (It was really cute)

The sign at our front entryway: "Magic show. Free. The Magic Lady is 7 years old. She will choose two persons to come up." At first the addmission was going to be $6.00. :)

Aubree, wearing her first braids. She looks so big!

Surprise Date

A few weeks ago, Aaron called me from work to tell me that he and Dustin had planned a surprise date for Carolyn and me. He kept it a secret the whole time and I honestly had NO IDEA what we were going to be doing.

Well, we got to Abravanel Hall, downtown SLC, and the symphony played an absolutely heavenly Christmas medley. The symphony was AMAZING, but it got even better after that, because we were there for the

Cirque de la Syphonie!!!
It was amazing! I've never seen anything like it before. The music was awesome and the performers were unbelievable! The pictures don't do it justice because you can't see them in motion and see how real it is, and also you can't hear the beautiful symphony with it. But here are some pictures anyway.

(When these two men came out from behind the stage, Carolyn did reach over to cover my eyes. Their nude speedos are well matched to their skin. :)

Visiting the Wakefields

It was so fun to visit the Wakefields at their home in St. George - they are such awesome friends. We go back a long way - Shawna and I since we were 5, and Aaron and Curt since Jr. High. With them, we can always pick up where we left off - it's great! We arrived Thursday night and pretty much just went to bed. Then...


Friday, Aaron was nice enough to watch all 7 of the kids in the afternoon while Shawna and I went shopping. We made sure to stop by Sweet tooth Fairy for a treat too. I discovered the yummiest way to eat a tortilla while there - grill the cheese on both sides of one tortilla, then fill it up with fresh tomatoes, lettuce and ranch dressing - YUM!!! Shawna insisted Aaron bring his guitar (reminiscent of the good ol' college days.) Curt had to drive Aaron to the store to buy a new string so we could hear him play. His hands were sore because he hadn't played in awhile and then he played a lot while he was there.
For dinner we had some yummy BBQ beef...
Here we are having a little picnic in the backyard.

(these pics are out of chronological order) The last night there we watched the replay of the BYU game - they lost.

We went on a double date to the Tuacan theater where we watched Grease. It is an awesome outdoor theater. Curt is a seminary teacher at the high school at Tuacan, so we got free tickets. It was so fun to be there.


We went on a hike on Saturday by Tuacan High School/Theater. St. George is so beautiful!! I love the red hills, and also the background of "regular" mountains - so so pretty!

Adults and kids alike had a great time at the playground we went to on Friday night. Although, Shawna and I both left with injuries - I seriously thought I broke my knee cap.

The kids all got along really well too. Heidi and Carly left with promises to be pen pals.

As a side note, Heidi said something very profound and true after we left their house. Carly and Heidi did something they weren't supposed to do (I don't remember what). After we left, Shawna talked to Heidi about it and told her that she should have let Carly know that they weren't supposed to do whatever it was. Heidi replied: "Carly's not really the type of girl you tell what to do."

The Day Spa and The Dog House

For Christmas Aaron got me a gift certificate to the Sanctuary Day Spa for a pregnancy massage. I went today and, basically, it was WONDERFUL!!! I would love to make it a monthly tradition - but I don't think our budget can handle that. It will definitely have to become a 3rd Trimester Pregnancy tradition (although I'm not sure how many more of those I'm going to have). Anyhow, I'll somehow make an excuse to make it a tradition. :)

So, speaking of Christmas gifts...this is a commercial that my parents showed us on YouTube. (click the link)

JC Penny's Dog House Commercial

Obviously this doesn't apply to Aaron right now. And actually, I'm not too hard to please when it comes to gifts - if I needed a vacuum and Aaron got me a nice one - double bags...ha ha - I would probably be very happy. (Although I don't know how happy I would be if Aaron gave me a thigh master as a surprise - ha ha!) Anyway, I just thought this was pretty hilarious!

Five Years!

(...a little early, but I don't know if I'll get a chance to post this next week)

2008

In the past five years...

We have had 2 sweet girls with another one on the way.
Lots of diaper changing -- we figure it's somewhere around 7,500...at LEAST!!!
(Out of our five years of marriage, almost two of those have been spent pregnant!)

14 church callings - (currently Aaron is our ward's "Piano Man" - ward organist, primary pianist, choir pianist - obviously they have a hard time finding people to do this in our ward. And I just got the calling to be the R.S. Enrichment Leader.)

lived in 4 different apartments (in Idaho and Utah)

3 bachelors and a masters degree (Aaron has two bachelors degrees)

I've only had 1 job (for the first nine months - until Carly came) Aaron has had about 9 different jobs.

(warning: this next one could be it's own separate post) In five years we have purchased only 1 item of furniture - our bed - and this we didn't purchase until we moved to Moscow. The first couple weeks we had a blow-up mattress and after that Aaron's parents let us borrow two twin beds that we pushed together (one was even a little shorter than the other - ha ha!) All of the other furniture we own has been given to us - some new, but mostly rejects/hand-me-downs. Our kitchen table, couches, rocker/glider, bookshelf, TV and TV stand, crib, pack-n-play, girls' twin beds, all four of our dressers, and most of our home decor... Yeah, you're probably thinking we're way cheap - but we like to call it frugal :)! We are planning on buying our second item of furniture soon - another dresser so we can fit all of the girls clothes when the new little one comes. But wait a second... I just remembered that my parents have a couple dressers that they haven't been using for a few years now... :)

In the past five years we have owned only 1 car (which we did buy). Luckily, this car hasn't given up on us, and luckily, Aaron's work pays for him to use public transportation. We obviously love the saying:
Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
Or do without
A great saying to live by,

In the past five years we have driven back and forth between Rexburg (Aaron's parents) and Idaho Falls (my parents) way too many times!

In the past five years I have felt so lucky to have met Aaron and married him - and as my Dad has said: "There aren't any better than this, Camile." I agree.

As a tribute to Valentine's Day