The Adventures of the Johnson Clan: ~St. Patty's Day/Spring Break/Chicago/Easter-Conference Weekend~

Man am I behind...
Here are the bigger highlights from the past month *in a nut shell.

sT. pAtTy'S DaY-
We rode bikes out front... and Aaron officially gave up the training wheels and is now riding a two-wheeler. That night we also invited our sweet Glenn and Susan, from next door to join us for a BBQ dinner at our church house; it was a fun day.

SpRiNg BrEaK-
Addie was mostly sick the whole week so we kept to ourselves, and honestly, I was okay with that. For the first time in my life I've become somewhat of a home body. I think our lives have become so busy that I really enjoy the days that we just stay home and DON'T have to go anywhere.

On top of this, it snowed.... well, it snowed the first day of the break. Then it all melted and we rode bikes by the final day... and then we got his with another storm (17.5 inches) just last weekend. And now it says it's going to snow 4 of our days this coming week. Man, I'm itching for Spring!

Chicago-
This was a wonderful experience for me and Adeline. I like that she got to go somewhere new that the boys haven't been too. Our trip started by flying on a propeller plane to Chicago where we met up with my mom. We rented a car and spent the night in our hotel: tired, enjoying each other's company, having my mom meet Adeline for the first time, talking, and watching Beauty and the Beast (live version).
Bright and early the next morning (4:20am) we had to begin our adventure to my brother's Naval Academy graduation! He just completed an 8 Week bootcamp and it is seriously something I admire him for. While he was there he experienced many hardships, didn't know if he could do it, but rose it above it all. And you know what? He said what he was most proud of is that he didn't swear once. He attended church services, invited people to come with, handed up a few *books of Mormon, and said one of the guys is even getting baptized this summer; Way to go Colton! You can do hard things.
We were able to spend some time with him Friday and what he really wanted to do was get some Chicago famous Pizza and Ice cream, so that's what we did.
We then took him back, returned our rental, shuttled to the airport, walked back and forth across the airport too many times, spent our final hour together, and then reluctantly parted ways :( I'm so glad for the time I got to spend with both my mom and my brother. Adeline was a champ at both the military graduation and on the flight home (that being said, she did have crying fits before anyone of her naps she'd take in my arms... which got a little stressful). The pilot told me he was so impressed with her and that he never heard a peep; he even said they tried to land as smoothly as they could as not to wake her :) I love the Midwest hospitality out here. Seriously. From the MOMENT Travis left me at the airport to the moment Susan was dropping me off at my door, I was never without several people at a time doing their best to help me along my way. Endless people helped me through security checks, up and down stairs, to find my way where I needed to go, kept me company, etc. etc. God truly knows how much I need a village sometimes, and he never fails to bless with me kind people. And even BETTER than it all was walking into the airport and seeing both my boys come running over to me with arms wide open and genuinely joyous smiles! They squeezed me and repeatedly told me how happy they were I was home! They insisted I sit in the back of the van in-between them both. The whole ride home they had their arms wrapped around me, laying across me, and just kept smiling at me; it made it completely worth leaving just to have them so happy to have me home!!!

CoNfeReNcE dAy 1/TrIp To RoChEsTeR
After a short amount of sleep (and almost none for Travis, who was just returning from a night shift) we loaded in the car and drove up to Rochester for our Costco run. Two hours up, some shopping/samples/cafe lunch, and then two hours home. Unfortunately, we couldn't spend anytime up there because Travis had to be home in time to head back to work for his LAST night shift for months to come!!!! AH!!!!!! HE'S FINALLY OFF NIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --- This hardly expresses how happy we are that his nights are over with---
We listened to conference on the way up, and then finished it back home. Aaron slept through the whole 2nd session; someone was clearly wiped out from getting to bed at 11:30pm the previous night!

CoNfErEnCe DaY 2/EaStEr SuNdAy
Oh. My. Heavens. I loved today.
Before the boys could hunt for eggs, I wanted them to sit and watch a 7min video the church had posted on LDS.org about Christ and the first Easter. Aaron was less than happy about this, but Maddix very levelly said, "Aaron, the whole reason we celebrate Easter is because of Jesus's Resurrection, what is it really to take a few minutes to watch a video about Jesus?" I was impressed.
We found our baskets, and eggs before waking Travis up to have bunny pancakes with us. We enjoyed conference, baked more food (including our new tradition: sugar cookie fruit pizza, shaped as an egg), watched more conference, ate, and then opened up our sports gear that the Easter Bunny got us/ we bought to usher in Spring! I love conference. I love that this year Easter and Conference fell on the same day; it was just extra special. AND I'm so glad Travis could be up an home with us for Conference this session :)