A fresh breath of perspective

September 15, 2015 by

I think most people have a time of year when they’re in a funk. For some, it’s February doldrums. For me, it’s late summer when it’s still blazing hot (90 degrees, thank you) and my allergies have kicked in. I’m going on two months now with crappy sleep. The only way to cool our house down at night is by running our attic fan but in so doing, we blast all the outdoor allergens into our house.  So, my two options are either heat or allergies and when given the option, I always, always, always choose WINTER. Oh wait. That isn’t yet an option.

I’ve been desperately trying to get caught up from my summer break but pesky life keeps getting in the way. In August, a friend accidentally dropped my iPhone, completely obliterating the screen. She felt horribly and generously paid to have it repaired but I haven’t had a lick of time to do it until Saturday. We ended up being stuck in the mall and Apple store for several hours, normally congenial Jamie went off on the staffer over the horrible customer services and the list goes on. The only happy one was Bode because he was cozied up to not one but TWO Macs with Minecraft videos.

Then, our Bosch dishwasher broke. Again. Oh, and we spent several hours trying to rebuild our retaining wall that houses our huge sandpit and trampoline but after several failed attempts, we decided we’ll just have to pay someone to do it. Then there’s the kids’ dental bills, Jamie’s persisting health issues and the cherry on top (and I don’t even like maraschino cherries) is Jamie upgraded my laptop to Windows 10 two weeks ago and I’ve had non-stop problems. Oh, and I also have a virus so my directory is full and I can’t save any files. And my back-up (old computer freezes every five minutes).

It was in this fragile (a nice word for meltdown 🙂 state that I attended an event yesterday. Medela Breastpumps reached out to me about a new program they’re launching, Medela Recycles, where moms can donate their unneeded Medela Breastpumps and they will go to a mom in need at the Ronald McDonald House because 40% of people who stay there have babies in the NICU. 

We toured the facility and I was humbled to see the miracles and trials of these families.  You want a dose of perspective? Talk to a mom who has dropped everything for months to see if her 4-year-old will receive a heart transplant.

http://www.milehighmamas.com/blog/2015/09/15/medela-recycles/

Here’s a glimpse at my tour and experience and be sure to share with any moms you may know.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

A lesson in puberty

September 14, 2015 by

As we were driving home after an 8-mile hike to Blue Lake, the car permeated with a special glow.

“Hadley, we need to take showers when we get home.”

“Why?”

“We stink.”

“I don’t.”

“I smell like sweat, you smell like B.O.”

“What’s B.O.?”

“Take a whiff of your armpit.”

[She proceeds to do it.] “Ohhhhhhhh.”

 

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

“Mawage is wot bwings us togeder”

September 12, 2015 by

From the Impressive Clergyman’s own mouth in The Princess Bride: “Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam….”

Case Study No. 1.

Stopping at the bank on the way to our city’s Harvest Festival.

Jamie: “I don’t know why they need my ID to get cash back. They’ve never asked for it before.”

Me: “Maybe it’s because of your ‘shady’ glasses.”

I didn’t even get a chuckle out of that one.

Case Study No. 2

It’s September, the time of cool temperatures, falling leaves and sweaters. Except Denver has forgotten that with persisting 90-degree temperatures (and allergies to add to my misery).

Me: “Last night, I dreamed it snowed one foot and we woke up in a winter wonderland. Don’t you think that’s a sign?”

Jamie: “It’s a sign that you need to suck it up a little bit longer.”

Filed Under: Humor, Jamie

It’s a Labor Day Extravaganza!

September 9, 2015 by

We’ve been out of town the last several years for Labor Day and I have since learned that everything happens over the long weekend. Seriously. We had a whirlwind of events, parties and activities, starting with Denver’s popular A Taste of Colorado with 50+ restaurants and more. I say “more” because we didn’t care about the carnival rides, booths or concerts…we were all about the food and sampled everything from fried alligator (tasted like tortured chicken) to Navajo tacos to frozen cheesecake on a stick.

I somehow found myself throwing not one but two parties. The first, of course, was for the BYU football game on Saturday (read about that here) and the other was for our neighborhood get together. The bad: two parties is a lot of work. The good: we only had to clean once.

On Saturday morning, our family cleaned up the yard, garage, and house, all the while Hadley and Bode sang our praises for teaching them that life isn’t always about play–slave labor is important, too. They’ll be doubly thrilled when next Saturday is spent cleaning the church and rebuilding our retaining wall that Jamie accidentally collapsed last spring while juggling YW volleyball (I’m coaching) and Bode’s first soccer game.

After church on Sunday, we invited our neighborhood over for a soiree. When our kids were younger, they did everything together but now that they’re in different schools and activities, gone are the days of everyone hanging out endlessly (very sad, really). It was the perfect farewell-to-summer bash.

I love these ladies and they all lead admirable lives but none more enviable than Meredith “Sunday Funday” who brought her own soda and ice from her new $3,000 commercial ice machine. Forgot her beautifully-appointed home. Perfectly-cubed ice is when you know you’ve arrived.

 

Do you see that sandpit to the left of the trampoline? If we’d waited a week, our retaining wall would have been rebuilt so we could house the trampoline back on the sand, not in the middle of our yard. Fat Kitty is the only one who has benefited from this and thinks the sand is his big, fat kitty litter box. Don’t worry, we cleaned it before everyone arrived.

For Labor Day, we got invited over to our good friends the Lara’s house. They recently moved into a new home that needed a complete overhaul (and when I say complete, I mean it because the previous owner was an alcoholic hoarder). So many friends and ward members chipped in (I helped paint one day and then move another) and it’s really coming along.

A rainstorm started just as we were leaving so I called my friend Lisa to see if the party was still on. “As long as there’s no lightning, we’re playing,” she promised. Just as we showed up, the rain subsided and we had a fun afternoon with loads of friends playing in their pool and volleyball (here’s a short video of Bode’s big launch).

With Labor Day behind us, I’m officially ready for fall. Colorado weather: please act accordingly.

Filed Under: holidays

A return to school

September 7, 2015 by

We’re now a few weeks into school and life is going about as well as expected. Bode has seamlessly transitioned into fourth grade with several of his besties and a solid teacher.  He begged me to come to lunch last week so I obliged and happily won several rounds at Four Square (though it wasn’t my world domination of last spring; I’m out of practice). He’s juggling soccer, Cub Scouts and piano.

Their elementary school has a X-Country team that I convinced Hadley to join because she’s a great runner (though she’s better at sprints and middle distance). I was surprised when Bode said he wanted to become a part of it and that he’d recruited several of his buddies.

“You know that X-Country is running, right?” I queried.

He responded affirmatively and he has somehow forgotten he hates running because they’re now up to 1.5 miles.

I’ve been worried about Hadley adapting back to her public school and being really far behind after her three-year stint with Waldorf. The jury is still out on that but we’ve been blessed with the best teacher in the school and that is making a huge difference. Her bestie Alex is in her class and has been loads of help.

Hadley is a kid who needs time to just be. To create. To dream. Though she loves being with friends, she treasures her alone-time and will spend hours on the trampoline and in her room by herself; if we lived on a big property with trees,trails and streams, I’m sure I’d never see her.

I’ve never once heard her say she’d bored (one of the blessings of an imaginative visual-spatial kid) and she hates being rushed from activity-to-activity so piano and X-country are her only activities. I’ve been thrilled she’s also been helping with the VBC, the school’s broadcast journalism program that teaches how to write scripts, film and interview.

Last week was back-to-school night, during which time I had a nice chat with her teacher who is attempting to fill in the learning gaps between the two schools.  I was surprised when she told me the area in which she is most behind is technology. And yes, it’s pretty ironic that two computer-savvy parents have a computer-illiterate kid but that has been by design.

Waldorf schools are anti-technology and I’m anti-social media for kids/tweens so between those two, she has had little-to-no exposure. So, though I’m still vehemently opposed to social media/cell phones/texting, I’ve started helping her with typing programs and Microsoft Word today.

She was doing fine until we turned to geography. Rote memorization is tough (and flash cards are her worst nightmare) so I tried to find some fun websites to help her learn the 50 states but that fueled her frustration because she hates the computer. This made me frustrated about her bad attitude and unwillingness to learn. After she stormed off, I sat thinking about her struggles. It’s not that she doesn’t want to learn, it’s that she doesn’t know how to learn.

Imagine being stuck in a world that values round holes when you’re a square peg. I know there are thousands of kids like her but you’d think there would be more options to help. If I had a million dollars, I wouldn’t blow it on a fancy house or cars but on yanking her from school and hiring a private tutor who can teach to how she learns because I certainly don’t know how to do it– otherwise I’d homeschool her. It’s not her failing, it’s my own.

All the sixth graders had a self-portrait and description hanging around the classroom:

I found her quick biography fascinating. “Fast, creative. Curious.” She is curious but how to foster that curiosity in an educational system that quells the creative, out-of-box kid who can’t sit in a classroom all day?

We’ve both got a lot to figure out regarding how to go beyond just surviving but thriving the next six years.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley

BYU’s Rise and Shout Moment!

September 5, 2015 by

Jamie and I both graduated from Brigham Young University the same year from the same department, played volleyball together at the same complex and had many common friends but never met until several years later. We’re both proud BYU alumni but he especially bleeds blue when it comes to BYU sports. This season, he’s been glued to BYU Sports Nation on BYUTV and can’t get enough of all the preseason coverage. As for me? I love BYU (albeit I am not a fan of watching sports on TV) and went to many, many, many games with my friend Garritt when I was a student.

My good hubby invited a handful of friends over to watch the first game of the season vs. the Nebraska Cornhuskers this afternoon. I had a good chuckle when our friend Ariel–a true blue BYU fan from Bolivia–was among the first to RSVP while his wife responded she had family in town so he’d better not RSVP, which made me think football would not be the most exciting part of that game.

Turns out I was wrong. (And Ariel wisely didn’t defy his wife on this one. In-laws won over BYU today).

There were several things that were remarkable about the game. The Huskers haven’t lost a season opener since 1985– the nation’s longest winning streak. Jamie was confident BYU could take them with the return of our superstar quarterback Taysom Hill who had broken his leg last season.  He was having a fantastic game until he fractured his foot on a 21-yard touchdown run in the first half. Despite this, he still came back and played until he got hit hard on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter. Amazing.

BYU turned to their backup quarterback Tanner Mangum and I thought “we’re done for.” Not only is he a freshman but he hadn’t played in an organized football game since 2012 because he just returned in June from his two-year Chile Antofagasta.

BYU was down by one point when Mangum heaved a 42-yard touchdown pass to Mitch Mathews with only one second on the clock for a 33-28 victory Saturday. Shock.  Had that just happened?  Then sheer jubilation. What an amazing victory!

Of course, BYU fans everywhere are celebrating the Hail May win against Nebraska but what really hit home for me when I saw a something Mangum had posted to Twitter two years before his mission:

Tonight, he proved putting God first can never be wrong.

Filed Under: LDS

Blast from my blogging past

September 4, 2015 by

Last week, I put a call out for bloggers at Mile High Mamas. I’ve had some awesome longtime bloggers who’ve been with me almost from the beginning (so grateful) but they’re busy, post sporadically and I need some additional blood to hold everything together. I heard back from 9News’ TaRhonda Thomas who came out to our house on Monday to interview me about blogging and I appeared in-studio this morning to talk about it (read their article here).

I wrote a post on Mile High Mamas about how to get started blogging and was reflecting upon the journey it has taken me. I started posting on MSN Spaces (now extinct) when Hadley was just 18 months old and it was an awesome, cohesive community that I miss. Since then, it’s been crazy to see how blogging has grown and I’m proud to be among the earlier mom bloggers, which is just a nice way of saying I’m really old.

I wanted to see just what my blog looked like through the years so I went to Waybackmachine.com to see my evolution from Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck to The Mile High Mama.

 

My blog in 2007. Love Hadley’s pigtails and my skinny arms

It’s been a great 10+ years! Well, mostly. And for the not-so- great, I’ve blogged that, too.

Filed Under: Favorite Posts

The Colorado Bucket List

September 3, 2015 by

I complained to Jamie last year how we rarely get visitors. We live in Colorado, for heaven’s sake, not Kansas. People should be lining up to discover our state’s glory!

As it turns out, we’ve finally had a steady stream of friends and family staying with us and I couldn’t be more delighted. Our most recent were my brother Pat and his wife Jane, who have not been to Denver since my wedding 12 years ago. Jane surprised Pat with an item on his bucket list: to attend a Broncos game and spend a couple of days with us. Clarification: The Broncos game was the bucket list; hanging Chez Johnson was a huge bonus.

I was initially at a loss how to entertain them. Though they live near the Canadian Rockies, every spare moment is spent on the water but Jane soothed my concerns and told me they wanted to experience “My Colorado,” which is another way of saying they value near-death experiences.

Day 1

So, on Day 1, I took them to Chautauqua Park in Boulder. They’re not hikers so we did a moderate one-hour loop but when Pat smack-talked me “Is that all you’ve got?” it made me vow to kill them off next time around with a more strenuous trek. At least him; Jane is much more accommodating.


We spent the afternoon strolling and lunching along Pearl Street Mall.

The real highlight (for Jane at least) was to treat the whole family to Casa Bonita that evening! When she was doing her research on Colorado haunts, this Mexican restaurant was listed as one of the nation’s Top 10 Roadside Attractions, evidence that list had a very low standard. Don’t get me wrong. Casa Bonita’s pageantry–divers plunging into a pool below a 30-ft. waterfall,  fire jugglers, strolling mariachi bands, a pirate cave, magicians, puppet shows, skee-ball machine, puppet show and arcade games–are fun but the food is terrible, with the exception of their sopapillas.  But if you drown enough of them in honey, you start enjoying yourself in that cheesy Mexican funhouse!

This picture is blurry due to my sheer terror in Black Bart’s Cave.

Day 2

Boulder’s Flatirons are the foothills of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. For Pat and Jane’s second day in Colorado, I wanted to expose them to Colorado’s extremes.

We started at Red Rocks, which is known nationally for its famous music venue. For athletes, it is a haven for pushing the limits. From active.com: “Red Rocks is known nationally for its famous music venue. For athletes, it is a haven for pushing the limits in the altitude. Sitting at 6,000 feet high, Red Rocks has two staircases on either side of the amphitheater that rise from the lower parking lot to the upper concession level, each with about 380 steps. There are two interior stairways on either side of the bleachers each with 138 steps from the stage to the top. Red Rocks features 69 rows of seats in the venue, which equates to running approximately three miles on an ascent or descent of the bleachers. Add in 21 planter boxes for plyo jumps, side stairways that climb from the stage to the upper parking lot with 83 steps, which then connect by way of an ascending quarter-mile ramp to 62 steps straight up to the upper concession area; you have a challenging workout amidst some of the best scenery in the Rocky Mountains.”

Sounds fun, right? I didn’t want to kill us off so we hiked the amphitheater loop and then did a few rounds up Red Rocks’ stairs. Believe me, that was plenty!

We felt a bit less guilty about indulging at my beloved Country Road Cafe. Jamie always orders the Breakfast Burrito but I like to test out new menu items and fell in love with the Berry Bush, potato pancakes topped with cream cheese, sausage patties, two eggs, hollandaise and blackberry-sage drizzle. It was delicious but the real show-stopper was Jane’s “Holy Cow,” a heap of mashed potatoes topped with a scramble of eggs, ham, bacon, cheese, country fried steak, sausage gravy and crispy onions surrounded by french toast. 

Aptly-named “Holy Cow!”

I kid you not: her plate was triple the size of our already-huge portions and her leftovers fed my entire family for dinner. And a small nation.

From there, we were 14er-bound to drive to the top of Mount Evans, the highest paved road in North America. We popped some Tylenol to battle altitude-induced headaches during the circuitous drive but it wasn’t until we got out of the car to hike a few hundred feet to the summit that the elevation started to wreak havoc, particularly with Jane. 

Pat had another issue: he’s deathly afraid of heights and there was something about looming 14,000 feet above the valley floor that was unsettling for him. Go figure. Regardless, the views stunned but poor Jane passed out driving down and upon arriving home, this is how I found them.

If this isn’t a raving endorsement for “Come to Colorado and I’ll show you a good time,” I don’t know what is.

In my defense, this is what I look like after spending a day on the boat with them.

Filed Under: Colorado, Family, Family travel, hiking, Humor

Subaru-ing around Colorado!

September 2, 2015 by

I’ve always liked Subaru–in fact, before purchasing our Honda Pilot we test drove an Outback before we woke up and realized there was no way we’d be able to fit all of our family’s junk treasures into a crossover SUV. We needed a full-sized SUV so the dream was dead.

However, the dream has been reignited for when it comes time to replacing Jamie’s Camry. Last week, I test drove the 2015 Subaru Legacy for a few days and had a really grand time doing it. Not only was the sedan sleek and smooth, but it has boasts the largest passenger cabin in its category. This is a nice way of saying that kids in the back seat have plenty of legroom and won’t be kicking you the entire time.

It has some awesome bells and whistles like the Rear Vehicle Detection System, which includes Blind Spot Detection, Lane Change Assist, as well as Rear Cross Traffic Alert, which all helps you safely back-out of your driveway. Over at Mile High Mamas, I’ve detailed some of my favorite features. Here’s how we put our test drive to the, welp, test.

Lunching at Kneaders

To celebrate the kids (finally) back in school, I invited Jamie to lunch at Kneaders. The car had recently been dropped off at our house and I proudly took my smokin’ date for a drive in a drive in my hot car. All was going smoothly, except for the lane departure that kept broadcasting alerts.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Every time you swerve out of your lane, it alerts you.”

“Isn’t that annoying?”

“No, it’s safe. It’s gonna be like a video game alert going off every few seconds because you’re always weaving.”

Turns out, he was right. It was a tutorial of how much I swerve to the side of the road. The good news: when I put on my signal light, the notification didn’t go off. Me thinks this feature is a must for when my kids start driving.

Playing with Friends

On Day 2 of our test drive, my friends Eva and Lisa got together to celebrate my friend Jenn’s birthday. I drove my trusty Subaru to the Colorado Chautauqua National Historic Landmark in Boulder for an excellent morning of hiking, followed by lunch at Khow Thai Cafe (get the Masaman Curry with Coconut Milk, Potatoes, Onions and Peanuts), followed by Eva’s first visit to Trader Joe’s.

I felt like a kid again that night when I was discussing all the fun we’d had in the Subaru as the kids talked about school.

“I’m having more fun than you,” I boasted to my daughter.

She paused, thought about her day and shockingly said, “I think you’re right.”

There’s a first for everything.

The Road-trip

After completing our 3,000-mile road-trip to Canada this summer, the last thing I wanted to do was volunteer to drive to Aspen for Mudderella. Until I arranged my schedule to drive the Legacy and then I couldn’t wait!

There’s nothing quite like a new car on a long road-trip with no kids and girlfriends.The car was great on gas,  the new soft-touch materials and thicker cushioning on the armrests were uber comfortable and we loved the three-mode heated front seats and dual-mode heated rear seats on chilly mornings, followed by the rear seat air conditioning ducts in the afternoons for when the weather warmed up.

One of our funniest moments in the Legacy was shortly after we’d turned off I-70 onto Highway 82, the road to Aspen. We’d just passed through Glenwood Springs but were still about 45 minutes from our destination. Lunch. Could. Not. Wait. I looked for a nice place to stop by the Roaring Fork River but it didn’t happen. I finally turned off on a road teaming with grasshoppers and farmer’s fields. We ate our uninspired lunch in our Legacy.

We didn’t think anything of it until we got back on the highway and the very next exit was a gorgeous scenic picnic area and overlook of Mount Sopris, a twin-summit mountain in the northwestern Elk Mountains range.

At least our views within the Legacy weren’t half bad.

Filed Under: Colorado

A farewell to summer!

September 1, 2015 by

Sure, the kids went back to school a couple of weeks ago but my summer officially ended on Sunday. Between all our travels, kids at home, my girl’s trip to Aspen and then entertaining my brother and his wife last week, I’m hoping I’ll finally get caught up on life soon.

If we had a theme to our summer, it was Get Outdoors. I can’t remember ever spending so much time hiking, boating and playing with friends and family–it truly was our best summer ever! But now it’s time to batten down the hatches. I’m one who sucks the marrow out of life and love to work and play harder but as Jamie reminded me during our walk this week, I’ve been playing waaaaaay more than working. Though I have kept Mile High Mamas going strong, this here blog has suffered from lack of attention.

The last few weeks, I’ve actually been looking for additional work and was interviewed for a digital manager/content position for an inspiring non-profit and I was excited…until I learned it was 40 hours/week with no flexibility to work from home. Add that to a 45-minute commute (one way) and I politely (though sadly) turned it down because our home would fall apart if I was gone 50 hours a week on a non-profit salary.

So, if anyone hears of a great part-time position in social media/writing/blogging/events management/kick-butt marketing, let me know! We have some big expenses coming up like needing a new car and braces for Hadley. And she needs a new bike. Her tutor isn’t cheap, nor is Bode’s dental bill. Now that I mention it, our 11-year-old carpet desperately needs to be replaced and don’t ask me the last time I went to the dentist. Our list–like so many others–is long.

Then I received a query last weekend from someone wanting to do a homeswap with us for a few weeks next summer in Southern England and I was ready to ignore all our expenses and go. Hadley was all-in but then there were Bode and Jamie: our voices of reason. “Mom, we need a new car. Be realistic,”40-year-old Bode reminded me. So, we’re two against two with Fat Kitty as the deciding factor. You know: the feline that freaks out every time we leave him for more than five hours.

We’re doomed. At least we’ll (hopefully) have a new car as consolation.

 

Filed Under: Bode, Humor
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