Summer Montage- 2015 (part two)

In the LDS church, summer always means youth activities galore! This year was extra fun in this regard for MK because she got to participate in her first Pioneer Trek. She had a fantastic experience. When she arrived home, caked in 3 days of sweat, grease and dirt, I asked her how it went. This was her response: “I loved every minute, of every hour, of every day!”

How’s that for a positive report? I have suspicions that the quality of the experience may have had something to do with these two handsome young men pictured below…

The boy on the left (Mark) was her “brother” in her Trek family and the boy on the right (Garrett), may or may not be a special “friend” of hers from school. These boys took good care of MK during Trek. The were true gentlemen in every sense of the word.

She also had a wonderful Ma and Pa and brothers and sisters. I’m sure that was part of the happy report as well. Don’t worry, she also reported that her experience was spiritually, not just socially positive.  I’m grateful our church goes to all the effort and expense to provide these positive, growing experiences for the youth. It’s such a nice perk!

Another summer perk is the visits from out-of-town family members. The Jones family came from Boston for the whole month of July. As a result there was lots of excuses for family gatherings  One such gathering was our annual Hyrum Dam Jet Ski day.

Jeffrey and Jonathan were reunited with cousins they miss all year.

Doesn’t this picture just scream “summer?”

Jeffrey and Bryn took about a dozen adventurous trips across the Dam in Grandpa’s kayak over to their secret “no adult’s allowed” island. It was very Swiss Family Robinson. Jonathan and Calvin found a secret place as well. Cousin relationships extra unique and fun.

I won the award for aunt of the year when I took Amelia and Ivy on a wild and crazy jet ski ride…

…and Mike won the best uncle/brother/son/dad/husband award for manning the jet skis so everyone could have fun. He spends so many hours of his summer doing that for lots of people. He’s a good one!

Summers are all about family reunions and this year was the Johnson family reunion. We have a big one every other year and this year was full of good times, as usual. These reunions are always a lot of work to plan and execute, but they are worth it when we finally all get together. Since we have gotten older and busier, we don’t get to see each other much at all and it’s nice to have an excuse to get together and reconnect. Those who aren’t able to come for some reason or another are always greatly missed.

I was on the planning committee this year and was in charge of T-shirts. Eric, Andrew and I collaborated and I think they turned out fabulously! Yeah?

There are 214 members of the Johnson family now. Of course not all of them were at the reunion (I never did get a final count of how many came this year), but we did get a pretty good group considering. It’s such a comfort and a blessing to be part of extended families. In a world full of billions of people, it’s nice to know that all 214 of the Johnson would have my back. I love these people more than anything and I’m so grateful for the common heritage we share.

Here we are in from of Great Great Grandpa Rais and Grandma Charlotte’s house in Beaver Dam, Utah.

Highlights of the reunion: Muggles Quiditch (as always), delicious food, relay games and Aggie ice cream on the quad, visiting significant sites around Cache Valley that are important in Grandma and Grandpa Johnson’s history, visiting and catching up, and of course the ice skating. That was a first and my little family loved it!