Johnson Family Reunion 2011

Every other year my immediate family gets together for a couple days. This year we were at my parents house. My brother Dustin came up from Texas late Sunday night and we were able to go to dinner with his cute family on Monday. It was so fun to see them! We don't get to see them nearly enough. Here we are eating at The Pie.

Kelly, Tim and I were in charge of planning it this year and it all came together so well. Our reunion started Thursday night with dinner. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Eve sandwiches and Christmas Eve cookies. It was all so delicious. Having this only once a year is just not enough. Kelly and I spent all day in the kitchen on Thursday making the sandwiches and cookies, but it was all worth it. Everyone loved it!

Bailey and Jackson, they just love each other

After dinner, the kids made t-shirts and cup holders. We do t-shirts every time and the kids love it. They paint them, color on them and then they go around getting everyone to sign their shirt. It is so fun to have this tradition and the kids wear them all the time. The boys went to a late night of Thor and the rest of us played games until they got home.

After breakfast on Friday we went to Wheeler Farm to get family pictures done. This will be the last year for a long time that we will have everyone together. By the next reunion, we will have two boys on missions. I can't believe that I have nephews that old. We will miss them dearly, but are so proud of them that they have made that decision to go. I know they will be able to do so much good work for the church.

Looking at our family pictures and how much our family has grown has made me realize how lucky I am to have such wonderful parents and such a good family. My parents have so much to be grateful for. They raised us kids to be strong in the gospel, to rely on the Lord in all things, to stay close together as a family no matter what and so much more. I really am so lucky to have such a good family. We are always there for each other and we love each other no matter what. I look at how my parents started with 7 kids and now they have 13 kids and 24 1/2 grandkids all with such strong testimonies. We are truly blessed to have a unified family. I love my Mom and Dad so much and am grateful for all that they have done for me.

Grandpa and Grandma with all 24 grandkids

After pictures we headed home for lunch and started our service projects. The girls made burp cloths and two baby blankets for a women's shelter. The boys helped Grandpa with things that he needed done around the house.

The boys helped wash the trailer, fix the grass around the fruit trees, paint the swing set and a dresser, and put together a saw holder.

My brother Scott wanted a turn to feed Jackson his cereal. What a good brother to help out his baby sister. I love the face that Jackson is making.
"Why are YOU feeding me?"

My sister Holly and I were in charge of Minute to Win it games. I am missing all the pictures from this, but it was hilarious watching everyone. In the game below you had to put vaseline on your nose and stick cotton balls to your nose and carry them across the lawn and put them on a plate. Some of the cotton balls just didn't want to come off.

Friday evening we celebrated all of the July birthdays with cake and homemade ice cream. It was delicious.

After we had cake and ice cream, my Dad gave a little Family Home Evening Lesson around the camp fire. It is so great for all of us to hear my Dad bear testimony of the gospel and the importance of family. He did such a good job. I have the best Daddy!

Afterwards we roasted smores and starbursts. Everyone was so ill from all the junk that night, but it was so fun! The boys stayed up to watch Iron Man and everyone else went to bed. We needed to rest a little to get through the next day!

On Saturday we went to Classic Roller Skating. We rented out the rink so it was just us and it was awesome. We had so much fun. The little kids tried to skate, but it was too hard so they got scooters to ride around. I think that is the smartest ideas we have ever come up with. Everyone absolutely loved it and it was something that everyone could do. This was by far the highlight of the whole reunion.

We liked to make one person do all the work, it was so much easier for the rest of us to just hang on while we were being pulled.

We only had a few injuries... A lot of people fell down actually. One person would fall and someone would start laughing and then they would fall. It was human dominoes. Later they pulled out a ramp for people to go off of. Some were brave and tried it, but most of us liked to keep it safe and just skate around and watch.

We did the hokie pokie and the bird dance. The DJ lady who was doing it said that we were the most energetic group that she had ever hosted. That is my fam, always having a good time.

Sad to say that after skating, my brother Dustin and his family had to start heading back to Texas. We were all very sad to see them leave as it would be a whole two years before we see them again.

Cute cousins had so much fun together and sweet Ben and Andrew were so upset that they had to go.

We all lined up in the circle to say good bye as they drove away

This is a priceless picture of Bailey and Jackson. It is so sweet that they are holding hands! They will be best buds forever.

Saturday afternoon we did the Ding Dong Olympics. Kelly made signs for each family of where they are from. We had them set up around the backyard and each kid had to run with the torch from their sign to the next sign and pass the torch off.

We were separated into four teams and we had to come up with team names and a little cheer.

The Snowflakes

Flynn Riders

The Vectors

The Knee-kickers

We kicked off the Olympics with a three legged race...

This is the orange game that you have to hold an orange with your chin and pass it off

Pie Eating Contest

Transfer a life-saver using a spaghetti noodle to each player on your team

We had four people from each team and each person had to hammer in a nail into the piece of wood.
Bubble gum blowing contest

At the end of all the games there was a tie. So the Knee-Kickers and Flynn Riders had to do a tie breaker. C.J. and Payden were doing so well...

They didn't quite make it, but it was fun to watch!

The Vectors with their Silver Medals. Oh Ya! Everyone got medals and the color of ribbon showed what place you took. They were ding dongs tied to the end of the ribbons.

The Flynn Riders with their smolders...

Morgan and Camille taking such good care of Jackson

Saturday night we watched Tangled on a giant projector screen in the backyard. It was so much fun! I think the only way to watch a movie is outside on the lawn. I don't know why, it just makes it so much better.

To end the reunion we all went to church with my parents to our home ward on Sunday. I love going back to the home ward. It is so fun to see everyone and my parents were so excited to have almost everyone there. (We missed you Dustin and family) It isn't very often that we have that opportunity so we have to take advantage of it when we can. The whole weekend was an absolute success and I have the best family in the world.