My Girls

WHAT A WEEK!

Aaron has been working a lot. I was tired by Thursday because he had been out of town so I was "single mom'ing it". He got home around 3 that day and we ate dinner. He asked if I wanted to take the girls to the park and I kindly said "NO WAY!" I wanted a few minutes of quiet and suggested he take them. He said yes, and they were gone.

Twenty minutes later I get a call that I better head to urgent care because Saige fell and cut her chin. Poor thing ended up with four stitches. She had to be restrained to get them. The doctor who did them was amazing though, so gentle, so patient. We were so thankful.Saige was SO brave. She wasn't even crying when we got to urgent care. Now, when they tried to clean her cut she went kung foo style on the dr and ended up being tied down. In a panic moment of seeing her restrained I may of suggested we go buy anything she wanted at target after. She picked a new barbie set and a new shirt. Retail Therapy was a success.

Friday we were pretty tired. We went to bed late, didn't sleep well (Saige was in my bed). I was happy to go to bed early Friday and sleep well. All that changed when I heard our door bell ringing over and over and over in the middle of the night. I sat up and yelled at aaron that someone was ringing the door bell. I had no idea what time it was but I knew it was late and this was bad. Then we heard our neighbor scream "Aaron your car is on fire". I have never in my life felt this afraid. I ran to the phone to call 911 and got my girls awake as fast as possible. We were out of the house so fast. When we walked outside we saw this...

We sat at our neighbors house and watched our cars burn, glass pop, and tired explode. It was so scary. I couldn't tell if the house was catching and the fire department felt like it took a long time. They came though and put the fire out and by the grace of God our house was untouched.

This was what was left of the cars...

No words.

There are so many ways we could say we are "lucky". But we weren't lucky. We were protected. This is nothing short of Gods protection and love. I almost always pull my car into the garage. If I don't there's a reason like bikes weren't put away, something was in that spot. But Friday after school I just didn't pull in. No reason. There wasn't anything in the way. I also didn't pull into the driveway straight. I am over the middle line just a bit. But enough that Aaron couldn't pull up any closer. If I had pulled in the garage or parked straight Aaron would have parked closer to the house. Our house would have caught fire. No other way around it. If our neighbor wasn't awake at 12:45 the house would have burned. God put everything in place to protect us from this fire. Our garage door isn't touched. Not one burn mark, scuff, nothing.

Now this wasn't without some headaches. We are currently buying new cars. TWO! And will likely have to get a new driveway because it's pretty yucky still. But if that is ALL we have to replace then I call this blessed.

So stitches Thursday, Fire Friday.

March

Febuary

SKi Trip day 1

Day 1 of our trip started EARLY! 4am or something crazy. We headed to the airport all VERY excited, myself included :) When we arrived in Denver the air was cold even in the airport. We had arrived to winter. But the excitement slowed a little. We got into our rental car and Aaron had a "moment". He couldn't drive. I was very afraid of driving on icy, snowy roads but I had no choice. Bummer. With white knuckles I made it. Then our sweet friends little girl wasn't feeling well so we stopped at a walgreens ready clinic. It took a very long time but it was a blessing in disguise. I had that super yucky mountain sickness myself. We sat for a few hours, I napped and ate. It couldn't only be explained as a hang over. Yuck! Finally we were back on the road and I felt a Little better. Then we hit the beautiful mountains! YAY!!!! We got food, skis, and went out (in the dark) to play in the snow for a second. Kids were so excited. I couldn't even get a picture of Reese because she wouldn't stop moving. She was in awe of the snow.

This is the kids on the underground train to get our luggage in Denver. It went fast :)

This was out view from the condo! Beautiful!

Making snowballs!

Snow Angel

Sweet girl!

Ski Trip day 2

The second day was off to a slightly better start. Our little friend who was sick got meds for her strep throat and we went off to ski school. Seriously I should have taken a lesson. But we got the kids all dressed and ready for school. They had a super sweet instructor who spent the entire day with them. Sadly, our friends other daughter got the mountain sickness and didn't start the day with them. She stayed in the hotel until lunch. But the girls were with Brian and went up and down this carpet all day long. I could have watched all day! But Aaron made me ski with him :) I did great until I went down a steep area and crashed slamming my face into the snow. Then I got a little scared and it wasn't as fun for me. I think the kids were doing better by this point. (Booo!)

The girls even went down the BIG mountain with Brian two times! Saige was the most cautious. Reese was surprisingly brave :) I was so proud of BOTH girls for going all the way up and down. I was pretty scared myself ha!

These shots of the girls at ski school.

Ski Trip day 3

The third was MUCH better! Our friends daughter was better from the mountain sickness, we all went tubing (one of my personal favorites) and got to ski with the kids after lunch.

Tubing was a blast! We went up these "hills" that were carved out. The bumps hit your bottom and sort of hurt. Saige was so funny, she cried every time we went down but asked to do it again. Who does that?! She was scared and loved it at the same time. It was awesome!

We strapped the skis on the kids. In the back of my head I kept thinking this won't work. We (well not ME) had it in our heads that we could take the girls UP the mountain and down. I STILL NEED HELP so I kept thinking I can't help them!!!! As soon as the girls we in their skis we realized REAL fast this wasn't happening. Not yet anyway. Reese and saige kept crossing their skis and falling. We hadn't even attempted getting on the lift yet. ha!! We found out there was a smaller carpet to practice and next to that and "medium" sized carpet with a mini lift poll thing (I managed to fall off that too!)

Girls did great with that. Well, Reese did. Saige didn't care for it. She and I sat a while when they went on the one with a poll. It was such fun watching Reese and Aaron do it though. After several practices Aaron took Reese up the lift and down a run. She was TIRED when she got back but Aaron said she didn't complain ONE time! She is a trooper!!!!

Claire in her skis

Get ready!

Lilah skiing

Reese

Saige went a few times!

The whole Johnson clan!

Reese and Aaron

A little fit never hurt anyone!

That evening we went to dinner and shopped and checked out the hot tub/heated pool

Ski Trip day 4

And day four! Such a fun time. Last day :(

We went DOG SLEDDING! AMAZING!!! We got up really early and walked to the bus station to pick us up. It was "blizzard like conditions". Snow everywhere. I loved it. Reese loved it. She was hypnotized by the snow. She kept wandering off and walking in it.

We got to the dog sledding place, which was in the middle of no where. Trees everywhere covered perfectly in snow. I can honestly say it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. The dogs were very ...wild? They let us pet them but something about it didn't feel as safe. I wanted to girls to stay back. I'm sure it was fine but they weren't like Hannah and Allie. It felt like they would snap at the wrong move. They didn't though so I might just be a little dramatic. Wouldn't be a first :)

But we went. It was fun. I had no interest in driving the sled. I was a happy passenger. Of course Saige is exactly like me and didn't want to drive it either. Cut from the same cloth I tell ya! But Reese drove it! She loved it and we loved watching! And the other couple that was with us proposed to his girlfriend while we were out. So sweet!!!

It got extremely cold while we were out and the girls cried. :( I knew it was coming because I was getting very cold and I knew they must have been feeling it. Soon tears came. We warmed up with hot cocoa when we got inside. It was super fun though!

Waking up to all the snow! Taking a few pictures before heading out.

Walking in ALL the snow!

Waiting for our bus.

Saige ate a lot of snow

Dog sledding!

After dog sledding we skied some more. We did a few carpet runs before the real deal. Saige happily skied this day. Not sure what changed but happy she tried :) The kids didn't care to go down the bigger mountain again and I didn't either. I've decided I don't care for skiing but love snow . SO we got a Starbucks and played outside for a good hour in the snow. It was perfect for me and them. The others went skiing. All were happy!!