An Excess of Dupers

One morning back in July, shortly after Bridgette was released from the hospital, Jeff surprised me as I drove him to work. (After almost 7 years, we still only have one car!) He said, "I'm taking you on a date on October 9th, so put it on the calendar."

He wouldn't tell me where we were going.

To boot, this ended up being only our second date since Bridgette was released from the hospital three months ago.

Kelly & Mark were super kind to tend Bridgette. Here is cousin Tyler, once again showing how well they get on.

As stated, Jeff kept our date a suprise until I walked in the doors of the concert hall up in Salt Lake City.

My super duper thoughtful husband took me to a live recording of one of my favorite NPR shows! It's called From the Top, and it's always amazing!

These incredibly talented kids play these wildly duper duper duper hard pieces of music. Then the host, Christopher O'Riley - himself a concert pianist, interviews them, and you realize that they are just kids. Sometimes they are polished and presentable, but usually not.

A couple weeks ago, after listening to From the Top in the car, I told Jeff that someday, if we were ever lucky enough to be in the same city it was being recorded, I would love to go to a live show. Of course, he already had tickets, but I had no idea it was coming to SLC. They had never been here before.

If you want to listen, the show will be broadcast on (or around) November 23rd. You can check the Broadcast Schedule.

Our show had two teenage solo performers and a small orchestra, all Utah locals, as well as a 10 year-old trumpet player from Seattle and a 15 year-old marimba player from Chicago. It was awesome. Super duper duper awesome.

Three of the gifted orchestra members were 8 year-old little girls. They were so... little and... and... cute! When they bobbed across the stage, you just wanted to pet them. Until, of course, they played Vivaldi's "Summer" from The Four Seasons and you realized they could probably slice you into tiny pieces with their violin bows. They were like small musical ninjas.

Here we are, complete smiles after the show. I was fluttery with excitement all night. It was such a dream.

Jeff took this one of me in my little black dress. It's one of two new dresses (besides maternity clothes) that I've bought in the last... oh... five years or so. I was excited to finally get out and wear it somewhere. I wasn't going to post it, but Jeff chose the pictures this week.
As if one date wasn't enough (and it would have been -- it was dupery incredible), how about a weekend full of fun?

We signed up for a 5k that was organized to raise funds for the family of a young girl who is being treated for leukemia. The route went through Mark & Kelly's neighborhood, and they signed up too.

So, instead of picking Bridgette up at 11p, heading home, then coming right back the next morning, we had a grown-up sleepover! It was the real deal, complete with a yummy pancake breakfast made by our super duper sis-in-law.

The weather was beautiful -- a chipper Utah autumn morning, perfect for running cool without freezing the digits.

Here are both motley Johnson families. Jeff and his brother Mark are in the middle. They are flanked by their loving Kelly's. Kelly-the-Other's kids are in front (Tyler, Dustin, and Matthew) as is our little babs, pinked out in her jogging stroller.

We had a lot of this. She was in a fairly friendly mood all day.

But mostly she sucked her blankie.
She was super duper duper duper tired.

And who are we kidding? There was definitely some of this...

This is Dustin. What a cute kid!

Lest you think we are inestimably cooler than we are, let the world know that Tyler actually pushed Bridgette's jogger the whole way, up-hill and down. And he never walked (unlike we adults). His time was just over 1/2 hour. What a duper trooper!

This shot came after the race; Jeff's sharing his banana.

And just to confirm what an excess of dupers we experienced this weekend, I include this last photo. Bridgette was plum tuckered.

How many dupers was she tuckered, you ask? Enough to put her to bed at 4 p.m. and have her stay knocked out until 8 a.m. the following day. She was one duperly wiped out kid.