Dominican Republic (really long post)

This is going to be a really long post. We had so many great pictures that I wanted to share. We left on October 5th, missed our connecting flight in Dallas, but that ended up being great because Jackie's brother Dustin came and picked us up and we were able to spend time with them.
We made it to the Dominican Republic just fine. We ended up being an hour behind our friends Tyler and Jen that we were meeting up with there. The airport was an open air building with the thatch roof.

Going through immigration was really quick and easy.

We arrived at our amazing hotel called the Majestic Colonial in Punta Cana. The pictures don't even do it justice and we had great customer service as well. Below is Jackie and Jen.

Here is our room. It was huge and so nice!!!!

The view from the other side.

We headed straight for the beach and the water was so warm and perfect.

Here is the entry way at the hotel.

More pics of the hotel.

Here is how we spent the first three days, we were either relaxing by the pool or at the beach. Nothing but relaxing. It was so nice and neither of us got sun burned.

Here is us out in a Kayak.

Us on the beach under our sweet hut.

What an amazing pool, it went through out the whole hotel.

Our room was on the bottom left. We could walk right out into the pool. It was so awesome.

There was numerous weddings.

Us lying on the bottom of the pool.

Jackie loved these trees or whatever they are.

The wedding tent.

The pool bar.

Another wedding gazebo.

My other view the first 3 days.

Beautiful sunset.

The pool at night.

Our little patio with our own hot tub.

We went on a snorkel excursion. We swam with the sharks and sting rays. Swam around the corral reef which was so cool. We even got a massage out on the little island. Our friend Jen passed out and it was kind of scary but she was ok after a few minutes.

First time snorkling for the both of us. It was so much fun.

Us holding the sting ray

Here is us on our way to the capitol Santo Domingo. We did get a little lost because there were no street signs or markers. Good thing we speak spanish.

The four of us at the temple. Jackie had to wear head phones during the session.

I went to the missionary training center next to the temple and it was fun to see that as well. We recognized a few people at the temple that we had either served with as missionaries or knew in our wards down there. The pic below is of a sunrise up in Puerto Plata.

This is a fort that was built just after Christopher Columbus discovered the island. The door below is short because any attacking soldier would have to duck to go in the door way and there would be someone waiting to chop off his head.

They dug holes in this coral and then put spikes in it and then filled it with water so that any intruder that tried to get in would be killed if they tried to enter the water.

Catholic church in downtown Puerto Plata where I served.

A famous building in town square.

Inside of the Catholic Church.

A lady carrying a desk on the motorcycle.

The church I served in. When I was there it was one building and a branch. Now it is two buildings and a ward. People still recognized me and knew my name. I was surprised because it had been 8 years. Jackie could not believe how hot it was and she complained of having sweat drip off of her. I kept saying and this is winter months, it isn't even hot season. Just imagine walking around in dark pants and a tie. It was way hot.

My teaching area in the background.

Poor little Jackie all worn out. We spent time in a little beach town called Caberete. It is known for it's wind surfing and kite boarding.

Me and Ty

Typical Dominican house.

Our second hotel. Not as nice as our first but still great. This one was bright and colorful.

The beach.

The apartment Ty and I lived in. We were on the third floor. The missionaries do not live there anymore.

My old office at the mission office.

The mission office was in the same place. Tyler and I spent 6 months as companions there and I was there my last 8 months of my mission.

At the Santiago Monument. They had statues of Dominican heroes.

It was good to see that the Jonas Brothers are big in the DR and were actually coming in concert. We actually found this pretty funny.

The mission home, we spent a little while there and the housekeeper even cut us some pineapple and melons. It was yummy.

Here is what is called a Colmado. This is where we would buy our food a lot of the times. They are on every corner.

Here is a little worship house that is in front of most houses and they believe it will protect them and their home.

We went to this place called Teleferico where you rode up on a Gondola to the top of the mountain where we had an amazing view.

View of a baseball field in the DR. They love baseball in the DR.

At the top of the mountain is this statue. You can even see it from the bottom of the mountain because it is so big.

The view.

We had this Dominican boy that showed us how to take pictures with Jesus. We have quite a few different poses. Here is Jackie holding his hand.

There was some beautiful gardens up there.

The Domincan Flag.

Here is what they do at the top of their fences for protection. They cement beer bottles in the top and then break them.

We found these guys at a little gift shop.

Here is us back home with Cayman, Cooper and July picking us up.

We had such a wonderful time. We loved the resorts and just being there brought back so many good memories. I was so glad to show Jackie the place where I lived and she could be a part of it. We had so much fun with Tyler and Jen and could not have asked for better traveling partners.

Beckett Timothy Johnson

Tim and Ashli had their cute baby boy on September 23, 09. He was 7 lbs 2 0z. and 19 1/2 inches long. They went in at seven in the morning and they were going to most likely send them back home, but Ashli was determined not to. So she roamed the halls of the hospital for at least an hour to help start the process. It worked because she had him at 1:30 pm. When we saw them at the hospital yesterday they had not decided on a name yet. They had been debating between two names and just couldn't pick. I went and saw them today after work and they were still debating. They had their bags in the car, everyone was ready to go, they just needed a name first. A week later, they finally picked Beckett Timothy Johnson. Which happened to be neither of the names they were debating on. Congratulations to Timmy for finally making a decision!

Timmy and Beckett's favorite Auntie

Proud Grandpa Terry holding his 23 grandchild

Utah-Oregon

Friday night Jackie dropped me off at the airport and I headed to Portland to go to the game and see Brian and Abby. After they picked me up we headed to Burgerville and had a good hamburger. Saturday morning we got up and started the preparations for the game. We went and picked up some of Brian and Abby's friends to tailgate with us.
Angela made us tacos with Carne Asada. Her salsa's were amazing and Abby's brownie bites were yummy. We had a good time tailgating in the rain and then headed to the game.I always enjoy seeing a new stadium and this is what we saw as we walked in. We sat on the front row in one of the end zones. Most of the touchdowns happened right in front of us. This picture below of Brian and Abby kind of show how close we were. After the game we re watched a little of it and you could see us or at least our red in any camera shot of the end zone. We weren't sitting in the Utah section so there was 3 Utes surrounded by a sea of yellow so we were easy to pick out.

Everyone around us was pretty nice. We did get a dumb comment here and there, but that was to be expected. It rained for probably 3/4 of the game, but I guess in Oregon can you expect anything different. It actually wasn't that bad.

The game of course didn't turn out how we wanted it to, but the Utes battled back and made a game of it. The stadium was so loud and it had to be tough to call plays on the field. The Utes had their chances to win but didn't make the plays and that is one reason it stinks they didn't win. They had plenty of chances to take the lead.

It was a great experience to visit that stadium and hang out with Brian and Abby. We spent Sunday just hanging out at their house and talking. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them.

Here is a view of the Ute section. I think we represented really well.

Once again our seats were amazing and it was fun being that close to the action.

Another view of the stadium.

If you are all wondering where Jackie was, well she went down to St George with Sara, Sarah, and Natalie on Saturday morning. They spent Saturday shopping and then went to Tuachan and saw Aida. I guess the rain stopped by them as well and they had to stop the play twice because of the rain. They got soaked, but they were able to see the whole play. I had the camera so no pictures of their trip. She had a really good time and enjoyed their girls weekend without football.

Wow it's been a month

It's been a long time since I posted. Tough to post without the internet. Here are a few pictures from the last month.

Today Cory and I ran/walked in the Trudi Thomas 5 K Memorial http://www.westbountifulartscouncil.org/trudi
The 5 K is in memory of my really good friend Scott's sister. She had her life cut short and it is awesome that they do this to remember her and to raise money for a college scholarship in her name.

We made it the first mile just fine. Walked and jogged the next mile and the last mile walked and jogged the last little bit. It was a beautiful day and great to get out and jog.

Here is us after the race: Cory, Me, Jackie and Scott.

Cory and I got season tickets to the Utes. We took Cayman to the first game. She did really well for the first 3 quarters and then was done. We did make it to the end and the Utes won their 15th game in a row. The picture below is what it looks like from our seats. I am really happy with our seats and luckily Ryan was able to come with us to the first game and there was room for him to sit with us. Can't wait to go to more games.

We have spent time with Cayman hanging out this month as she adjusts to being a sister. She had so much fun jumping on the love sac. It was pretty funny.

I wish the picture showed better how much static was in her hair. It was really funny.

We have also had friends over this month. It has been fun having people over. We didn't take a whole lot of pictures though. We had all of Jackie's friends over one night and played a little Guitar Hero. The next weekend we had Abby, Ryan, Amber, and the twins over and just hung out.

We went exploring one Sunday after church and went to this place in downtown Salt Lake by Trolley Square. It is called Gilgal and and has some interesting sculptures. I remember going for a church activity once. It is now a really nice park.

Last of all, I finally had to get rid of my California license plates. It was a sad day. It was our last link to Cali. I did however get me some sweet U of U plates :)

New Baby Nephew

Cory and July had baby Cooper on Saturday morning. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces. Both July and Cooper are doing well. It was a fun experience for me since we were in California for all the other nieces and nephews births.
Here is their first family picture. We were able to take Cayman to the hospital and she sang a song the whole way about Mommy having a baby, and baby coming out of tummy. It was really funny.
Later that afternoon we had a work bbq at Liberty Park. We had relay races, tug of war, water balloon toss, bumble gum blowing contest and pie eating contest. Neither of our facilities took the trophy home though. Here is a picture of us losing the tug of war contest. My team did win the water balloon contest though.

After the bbq we went up to Amber's parents house and went swimming. Here is on of their twins. They are really big for being 5 months. We had a nice evening and we even able to see Brian and Abby for a little bit since they were in town for the weekend.