My Nephew Payden's Farewell

The first grandchild and my first nephew got his mission call to Chihuahua, Mexico. It is crazy to think that my nephews are getting old enough to do this. My nephew Payden was born when I was only seven years old. I am closer to him in age then my five oldest siblings. We have been very close and he has been more like a brother to me then a nephew. His farewell was August 19 so we headed down to St. George on Friday to spend some extra time with him and the family. Most of my family got there on Friday so we just hung out at my sisters house. One thing I love about our family is we can just sit, talk and enjoy being together. We don't have to be doing anything to have fun, we make our own fun! On Saturday we went back to my sisters house and hung out for a while and then decided to go walk around the outlets for a little bit. It was so hot! I melted every time I went outside, but it was fun to walk around. We went back to my sisters house and made lots of yummy cookies, breads, and brownies for Sunday.  We had a bbq that night with our family and Doug's family that came down that day. 

On Sunday we went straight to the church and our family and Doug's family took up 4 rows in the chapel. My sister lived in Las Vegas for a very long time so they had quite a few families come to support Payden also. It was great to see how many people love him and support him. He was overwhelmed when he started his talk because of all the support. He was very grateful and I was very grateful we could be part of such a special event in his life. I cried the moment he stood up and then did really well and then when he started bearing his testimony I cried. When the closing song came around, I was just blubbering. We sang "God be with you 'til we meet again." It was a horrible song choice! I couldn't even sing the words because I was crying so hard and I knew I would see him again before he left!  

There was an absurd amount of people at my sister's house afterwards. No one wanted to be outside because it was so hot so we all smooshed inside the best we could.  After all the friends had gone we stayed around a little longer and then finally decided to say our goodbyes. I know Payden will be a fantastic missionary. Even though he is going to one of the scariest places, I know he will be just fine. The Lord will take good care of him. I love you Payd and I am so proud of you!

Texas Johnson Family Visit and Wheeler Farm!

My brother Dustin and his family came to visit this Summer! We were so excited because we only get to see them at our family reunions that we do every other year. We had so much fun and it was a very busy, fun filled week. They got here on a Sunday and we went to my Mom's for a little bit to say hi and welcome them! Yeah! Tuesday, Jackson and I met Dustin and his family, Kelly, and my brother Scott and his family at the Days of '47 Parade in downtown Salt Lake. It was really nice because the parade started at 8 and we parked and got there right when it started so we didn't have to wait around at all. We had a nice shady spot on 200 East and Jackson had room to run around. I had never been to the Parade before and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went to City Creek and had lunch and then headed to my Mom's. We had a delicious dutch oven dinner that night and just hung out! 

My cousin Adam who played the "bad" boyfriend in the movie Charlie.

On Wednesday we had dinner at my sister Holly's house and then we all went and saw the new Batman movie. It was so fun to take Dustin to it. He hadn't seen the first two, but he really liked the movie.
On Friday, my Mom watched Jackson while I hiked Timpanogos with Dustin and his fam and my sister-in-law Kristy and my cute nephew Kyle! My family had done this at the last reunion, but I had to work that day and missed it. So I was excited to go this time. I didn't know what to expect and I was very tired when we reached the top, but I did it! It was the perfect day to go. It rained for a little bit and stayed nice and cool the whole time.  Below is my cute niece and nephews!

The climb up! That was far!

After Timpanogos we went to my Mom's to get ready for the Temple. Kyle took out his endowments that night at the Timpanogos Temple and it was so special to be part of it. Everyone was there, except my sister Jodi. It was so fun to be able to do that with almost everyone. There is something very special about having (almost) your whole family in the temple. How grateful I am that my family can do that. 

On the way to the temple, CJ and I sat in the very back of Holly's Taurus. The seats face the back window and it was hilarious watching people's faces when they saw us. We were very pleasant and were sure to wave as they stared. Most were very friendly and waved back. 

On the way back from the temple CJ sat in the very back by himself. We stopped to get food so he ate his hamburger and fries while he waved at the people behind us. So nice...

The pictures got out of order, but I don't want to fix them. So on Thursday Jackson and I went to my Mom's and hung out for the day. That night, all the adults went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my brother Scott's birthday. It was so fun to do this! We are going to start a tradition where every few months, just the adults go to dinner. You just get to talk a lot more when the kiddos aren't around. It was just nice! And we all got yummy cheesecake of course! It was so fun trying what everyone got. I think we were all pretty sick though by the time we left, but it was so good.  Then we went to my Mom's and played Fudge. It is one of my family's favorite games. I kicked major booty! 

On Saturday we just hung out again at my Mom's to spend time with Dustin and family. We had a bbq that night with the family and said our goodbyes to Dustin, Jen and kids. They headed back to Texas on Sunday. It was so fun to see them and get to play as much as we did. It was a busy week, but so worth it to spend time with them when we don't get to see them very often. I love you guys! Thanks for the fun!

My good friends Natalie and Bretton Wall came into town this Summer from Michigan. We only get to see them about once a year so when they do come, we get our group of friends together from high school and have dinner. It was so fun to see everyone again. I love that we can all get together and it is like no time has past.
On another day, Sarah Karl, Natalie and I met up again and went to Wheeler Farm. I have been there for family pictures, but I haven't been there to look at animals and just walk around. It was a lot of fun and Jackson liked the animals. He was pretty scared of the horses and was sure to keep his distance. We saw cows, horses, goats, turkeys, pigs, chickens and lots of birds. Jackson loved watching the birds and he had a great time walking around with the other kids.

Natalie brought a bag of cheerios to feed to the ducks. All the kids thought this was so cool and loved watching the ducks chase each other for the food. Whenever Jackson got a cheerio, he just ate it. I guess he didn't understand that he was supposed to throw it. Oh well, he thought it was a great snack!

My awesome friends! We don't see each other enough, but it is so fun when we do get together. Crazy how long it has been since high school and seeing my friends be Mom's and Dad's. I love them all and are grateful to have such great people in my life!

Bountiful Parade

We don't usually go to the Bountiful Parade. CJ doesn't like parades and I have to admit, they aren't as fun as I used to remember. People camp out to get good seats for this one and I am definitely not doing that! I heard that they were going to have 2000 young men march in it to represent the 2000 Stripling Warriors and I thought that would be really cool to see. My Mom and Dad drove up for it and we took Holly's three girls. There were some cool floats, lots of cars, Santa even came cruising by in his recliner chair. We had good seats and were able to sit and watch the parade. Jackson liked watching the floats and waving at the people on them. He was so good the whole time. It was overcast so it was the perfect day to go! Now I saw it once, don't really need to see it again! 

Helaman and the stripling warriors stopped right in front of us and started banging their sticks on the ground. They put nails in the bottom of their sticks so they made a clinking noise when they hit the ground. They started out slow and got faster and faster and then yelled "We did not doubt." Then they started marching past us. It was really cool to see that many boys so you can get an idea of what the stripling warriors looked like. It is pretty remarkable that they all had so much faith that the Lord would protect them and they all survived. They were taught by their Mother's. That means I have a lot of work to do with my Little Jackson and hopefully I can help build a good enough foundation that he can have that much faith throughout his life.