Big Boy Elliot

Elliot has been a ton of fun lately. He's talking up a storm and keeps me quite entertained. I never cease to be amazed at the things he picks up and the things he is able to understand when I explain them to him. He loves learning about how stuff works- like hinges, air conditioning vents, phone chargers, and sinks. One day he was talking to Aaron about paper. Aaron asked him him where he thought paper came from. He thought about it for a little while and then responded, "Paper comes from books!" Aaron told him that paper actually comes from trees, and he refused to believe that logic. So, Aaron ended up showing him an animated YouTube video about how paper is made. Elliot was enthralled and asked to watch the paper video in lieu of a bedtime story for several days in a row until he had it pretty much memorized. 

Potty training treat. It has been a wild ride that sadly is not yet at an end. 

Few things make me happier than finding Elliot in weird places reading himself books

Few things make Elliot happier than helping with any project that involves screwdrivers

Elliot snitching frozen imitation crab meat. This kid loves all things cold. He will eat frozen mixed vegetables straight from the bag. We stick his plate of food in the freezer most nights to cool down his dinner.

Elliot went through a phase where we could bribe him to do pretty much anything for a skittle. We moved him to his "big boy room" with a bed instead of a crib, and told him he could get a skittle in the morning if he stayed in his bed. He fell asleep by the door, but we wouldn't hear a peep out of him until the morning. I'd open the door to get him and the first thing he would say is "time to get my skittle!"

Then we went on vacation and everything was ruined. The skittle totally lost its power. He would burst out of the room 10 seconds after being tucked in. We moved him back to the crib thinking it would be a punishment and that he would agree to stay in bed in order to regain his big boy status, but it turns out that he loves his crib way more. Eventually we started locking him in his room. After several nights of vigorous protest, he now doesn't even check the door most nights. 

Clothes dumped on the ground in a "how dare you lock my door" protest

We installed a child lock on the front door after Elliot unlocked the deadbolt to run outside.
He was half naked.
And a friend happened to be walking up to the door to drop something off and witnessed the whole thing.

Father-son robot building project

They have since moved onto building robots that are actually robots

 Aaron was working on his robot, Elliot was practicing his scissor skills, and I was drilling holes into our new worm bins. 

Elliot loves all things craft related. He's a big time fan of story time crafts from the library and clubhouse.

Elliot catch phrases:

"I have good idea! I pretend to be yo baby!"

"Wrap me up like little tiny baby!"

(He says these two to me all. the. time.)

"oooooooooooh, das good idea!"

"reeeeeallyyyyyyyy?!?!?" (in the highest pitch a human voice has ever produced)

"Ouch! That hurts people!" (This one is yelled whenever we do anything he doesn't like, regardless of whether or not he was actually hurt. He has also been known to say "stop hitting me mommy" when I am not hitting him. This is wonderfully awkward in public.)

He periodically gathers all the pillows in the house to build roads or forts.

But don't worry folks! He promised that he will grow up very slowly. 

Alpine & Other Reunions

The day after my siblings hit the road, we hopped on a plane up to Salt Lake and drove straight to Alpine. Alpine is close to sacred ground to me because of all the happy memories there- My mom was pregnant with me for the first Alpine reunion, and we were there every summer growing up. Being there feels like being home. It was so cool being able to bring my own kid there and have him love it every bit as much as I always have.

Airplane rides are super easy now that he wants to watch TV non-stop.

Grumpa was waiting with chocolate donuts when we arrived

Wandering around the bonfire sing-a-long

Mimi made sure he was well coated in mosquito-repelling stickers (which are apparently a thing. Technology these days!)

Elliot ran up to join Breezy and Clint when they led "Princess Pat"

But completely refused to participate

Lumberjack Blake at the bonfire

He had no shortage of attention from his grandparents and aunt and uncles. Not to mention a hoard of second cousins!

Our young capitalist quickly grasped the concept of the Alpine Store- although his money was earned more through indulgent grandparents than completing chores as was intended

His loot included a yoda head, coloring book, magnet letters, playdoh, watercolor paints, and more!

Art with Mimi

Alpine had all the classic activities- trash talking volleyball, swapping stories with my favorite relatives, songs around the campfire, dirty kids running wild, and the best milk on earth. We shared a cabin with my mom and dad. Elliot had no problems sleeping at night, but he did boycott naps. I slept well despite my late night bathroom trips. Dad gave a great presentation about Kirsten Pedersdatter, a recently discovered ancestor of ours that crossed the plains. Aunt Cecelia put together a PowerPoint with a bunch of pictures of her hometown in Denmark. My mom later called it a "multi-sensual experience" while trying to call it a "multi-sensory" experience much to everyone's amusement. Our family's assignment this year was running the program. We did a fun family feud game that went well.

 After we wrapped up, we drove to Idaho Falls for another great tradition- Uncle Jerry's fish fry! You couldn't ask for better food or company. Uncle Dave's house on the farm is one of my other favorite places on earth, and I'm glad we got to stay the night. There is a dead end road leading to the house. It was unpaved until fairly recently. My dad would let us sit on his lap and drive down the "rocky road" every summer. Elliot was THRILLED to carry on this particular tradition.

He still talks about it even now and will sporadically declare that it is his turn to drive the car again

I have beautiful siblings

And a very graceful son

We went to sacrament meeting in Idaho Falls, then drove back to Salt Lake to briefly meet up with Kristy and Laura before catching our late flight home. Both of them are predictably doing awesome at life.

Roommates Reunited! There are few things I love more than catching up with old friends

I didn't take any pictures at the cool restaurant Laura took us to, but here's one of Elliot being way more bold than I wanted him to be on a trail behind the restaurant. Why does he only hike when we aren't actually going hiking?

Our already late flight was delayed several hours. We ended up not getting home until about 2 am. Elliot did not fall asleep in the airport or on the plane despite our best efforts, but he was kept happy and calm through the power of movies on cell phones until we made it to our car.

One neat experience that came from our delayed flight is that I was able to help a lady having an anxiety attack. I was walking to the bathroom at about 10pm in the Salt Lake Airport when I noticed a woman sitting down by the wall with two airport workers huddled by her. One was shouting angrily into a walkie talkie- I think he was trying to get transferred to someone who could help her. I later found out he was a night janitor. He gets props for stepping up to do something, but I could tell that he was making the situation worse by shouting and getting all riled up right in her face, demanding answers to questions about her age and situation to pass on. I sat down next to her, started holding her hand, and told her about how my mom gets anxiety attacks around heights. She had lots of the same symptoms- shaking, sobbing, etc. I was able to get angry janitor guy to back off and her slightly calmed down by the time the paramedics got there. This was especially neat for me because I was helped in an intense situation by a stranger in an airport last Christmas with a screaming Elliot on the plane. I felt like this was my chance to pay it forward. We late night airport people need to stick together!

Johnson Family Pictures on the Farm

These are probably my favorite ever family pictures because

1. They turned out great thanks to my cousin Alicia's awesome skills

2. This is one of my favorite places on earth

3. There was so little prep involved.

We were at the fish fry and mom asked Alicia if she could take some pictures of us. A few of us were commanded to go change shirts/brush hair by coordinator mom. Clint was wearing a t-shirt that said "cesspool of sin" on it, so he turned it inside out. It was nice not needing to go through the normal outfit picking ordeal. 

My dad proposed to my mom just a few feet away from this spot

Look how casual and relaxed we were in this "everyone laugh at your neighbor" picture

On the swing

Elliot was a big fan of this pose

The gals (Including Annabelle!)

The sibling head stack pictures are delightfully awkward. I'm going to push to make this a traditional family photo pose. 

I love my family!

Johnson Boys

Blake spent a week at BYU-I at EFY, then met up with Max for a brother buddy roadtrip down to join us sisters. They left Provo on Saturday Morning and got to us Sunday afternoon after spending the night at some motel along the way. Clint flew in from VA on Monday. Max and I drove to the airport to pick him up. It took longer than it should have for me to realize that his flight was actually arriving at 11 pm instead of am. We only really had Tuesday with all the siblings together before the four of them got back in Max's car to drive up to Alpine. 

Everyone stands around while Aaron does productive stuff. Typical.
Also I was amused by the college kids who were amazed at all the produce we had around the house.

Lunch at El Guero Canelo. We also hit up Manuels with Clint the next day.

 On Tuesday we went to Biosphere 2. I failed to adequately prepare them for how far away it was and how hot it was likely to be. They still had fun... I think...

The Lost fan in me will forever love the Dharma Initiative feel of this place

Jungle Johnsons

Everything about bearded Clint belongs in this place of science

Elliot was 0% interested in what the tour guide had to say, and also quite tired. He alternated between trying to escape and crawling/lying down on the floor. 

The guy in the background had very... memorable... tattoos

The underground "technosphere" is really cool. They had to do a lot of engineering to get the windows to not burst when the Biosphere was completely sealed off and subjected to weather related pressure changes on the outside. 

The wind when emerging from the diaphragm was intense

I took Elliot to the bathroom and came back to find that Blake had taken over the lying on the floor duties

 We had a good time around the house jamming on our two guitars and viola (I'm very bad at improv but had a blast attempting), playing board games, and playing with Elliot. 

Blake put his scouting experience to good use by wrapping Elliot up "like a tent"

Uncles. Gotta love them.