The Johnson Clan

Today was Cora’s and Ruby’s 5th birthday. I can’t believe my little twinners are 5 years old. The day they were born feels like it was both yesterday and an entire lifetime ago. All three of us have done a lot of growing up since then. We started the day with their new favorite breakfast (cinnamon raisin oatmeal) and then went to preschool.  After school Darcy and I picked them up and we went to our friend Besan’s house for a play date. We came home and the girls wanted to play iPad games while they waited impatiently for Clayton to get off of work. As soon as he did we opened presents. The girls were completely spoiled this year between their birthday party and gifts from family.  We went to dinner at Costco (their current favorite place to eat haha). Really they do make a good pizza, so I’m not complaining. And then we ended the evening at Coin Crazy. Cora and Ruby played arcade games, slowly racked up points, and then I accidentally hit a jackpot in a game that requires zero skill

Always waiting for them to come back.

Cora and Ruby are turning 5 next week. I can’t believe it. Kids really do grow so fast. We had a party for them with their closest 20 friends today, and it was a blast.  The girls really wanted to have a bounce house, but it’s still freezing and snowing here in Utah. So we booked the churches gym and had a bounce house inside. We also did cupcake decorating, singing, opening presents, face painting, and of course had tons of snacks and drinks.  We had tons of friends from the neighborhood and lots of family members show up. I’m grateful that so many people came and celebrated Cora and Ruby with us. I love those girls! 

St Patrick’s Day this year was an eventful one for us. First, Ethan invited us to go to Kneaders for breakfast with him. I had the Greek omelet btw, 10/10 recommend. Then he can to ballet class with us. Then we went back to my house and hung out all afternoon. He needed to do laundry, and we pressured him into playing sneaky snacks squirrel and watching a movie about horses that don’t talk the entire time. Lol After the dryer was finished we went to Dani’s house for haircuts. Ethan got the usual, Ruby got a bang trim, and Cora cut off most of her hair. Now she’s sporting a very cute bob.  Clayton left on a trip to Las Vegas with his friend to run a tough mudder race, and I hired a sitter so I could go out on the town with Dani. We’ve been planning to go to this Irish pub in SLC called Piper Down Pub for a long time, and decided that St Patty's was the perfect day to check it out. We were right, it was very VERY festive. There was a band called Murph and the Giants that alternated I

Today we went to the Hive. It’s a trampoline park in Spanish Fork. The girls love it, and it’s a great way to get us out of the house for an afternoon.  Other than that, we’ve just been hanging out. Preschools been canceled for the next couple of days, and our library is closing for a month. They built a brand new one across the street from the current library, and they’re taking the next month to move everything over. At least we still have ballet. The twins are getting excited for their recital in May. Unfortunately I won’t be there! I’m really bummed that it’s been scheduled the weekend Clayton and I will be out of town. ☹️  Also, one of our chicks died from unknown causes. Now there’s only 3. 

The weather has been warm (40’s) and it’s not snowing currently (just raining) so we’ve been going to the parks. It has been such a relief to run around outside again. I think my least favorite thing about winter is how much extra time we stayed cooped up inside. I’m sure we’ll get the occasional freezing snow storm over the next couple of months, but spring is in sight, and I’m very grateful. 

Since we became members of the aquarium, we decided a family outing there was necessary this weekend. It was much more packed than during the week (of course), but we still had a good time. Really there’s no other day Clayton can go anyway.  Darcy loves watching the fish and penguins swim behind the glass.  After we got home our neighbor Lyla came over to babysit the girls while Clayton and I went on a double date with our neighbors Levi and Abby. We both moved into our houses the same summer but haven’t really connected, not for a lack of trying. We’ve invited them over several times, but this is the first time they’ve agreed to meet up. They have a baby girl the same age as Darcy. I hope they’ll be best neighbor friends one day. Anyway, dinner was fun and we all agreed we’d do it again sometime soon. We’ll see.  

The girls said that they had itchy arms last night before bed. They often get strange ailments right before bed that end in tears and creative solutions. Tonights solution was to wrap their arms in blankets, which you can kind of see in the picture of Cora. An added bonus is that they can’t wiggle around when their arms are wrapped up, so they fell asleep quickly. 

 2 road island reds, 2 silkies. They are so darn cute. 

Cora is a cozy girl. Her favorite thing is to take a warm bath, get dressed in comfy pjs, heat up her warmie, and snuggle while watching a movie. Specifically with everything in that order. So when she asked me so sweetly if we could do all those things because she was feeling tired after a long weekend of events, I couldn’t say no. We watched Toy Story and popped popcorn. She was very happy.  In other news, in 67 days we’re going to Europe! I’m so so excited and wish I didn’t have to wait even 67 days. 

I love when Mondays are full of fun things to do, it makes the whole week seem easier. We went to the Draper aquarium this morning and stayed most of the day. Darcy loved the penguins, Ruby and Cora loved the sharks and sting rays, and I loved hanging out with my mom. She makes everything fun :).  Darcy was happy to watch sea life all day, and even though she skipped both of her usual nap times she was pretty pleasant. On the way home everyone fell asleep.  After a quick dinner at home we took the girls and girl cousins to the ballet to see Peter Pan by the UMB. It was a hit, everyone had a great time. Ruby and Cora were completely engaged throughout the whole thing, peppering us with questions non stop, and at the end we got Crumble cookies because Crumble sponsors the UMB.  It was a super fun day, and we’re all wiped out now. We kept the girls out late, so hopefully they’re not too tired for school tomorrow. 

Apparently this is the only picture I took this weekend (palm to face). It was an eventful one! Friday we had Hannah’s baby shower. Poppy was gifted a lot of cute clothes, and we had fun playing embarrassing baby shower games. Then we stayed up late playing games and planning trips together. Saturday we went to Marshall’s baptism at noon. Cora and Ruby have a talk about baptism. They did great! We made an analogy about life being like cotton candy, sweet and fun, but sometimes it can be messy and sticky. Good thing we have the sacrament to act like baby wipes and help us clean up week after week. After the baptism we went to a church and had pizza/hung out. Then we went to Danis house and bought R&R barbecue. Again we hung out all evening. Then today we went to church. Mom and I subbed for the CTR 4 class, which happens to be Ruby and Cora’s class, and then we went to Danis house. We had lunch and  played games, then made dinner and spent more time together. It’s been a family pac

Today was a good day. The girls went to preschool and came back happy with fists full of teddy grams. I cleaned the house most of the day in preparation for my mom coming to town.  Clayton found a car he wanted to test drive, so the girls and I drove all the way to Lehi to check it out. We didn’t end up wanting the car, but it was nice having somewhere to go/ something to do.  Mimi flew in and brought us Cafe Rio for dinner. Then she read books and we played scary bingo. She had a class to attend virtually, and the kids went to bed. I love having my mom in town!