Months behind... sorry

Grand Tetons!






Hi all. My blog is months behind, so I will try to catch it up real quick. We had some very fun events, and that's probably what's holding me up because I know to truly relay the wonderfulness of the events would take forever.

So first, I'll talk about our favorite event this year: trip to Grand Tetons! For Grandma McCartney's birthday we took a day trip to Grand Teton National Park. I've been to Yellowstone probably four times, but this trip left me wondering why I'd never been here. It was awesome! The mountains were truly awe-inspiring. We left early in the morning, packed a picnic lunch, and ended up in Jackson Hold town square for dinner at Billy Burger.

In the park, we saw moose and deer,
took a boat trip across Jenny Lake
(here's Grandma on the boat!)
and hiked up to the falls,
(here we are resting in the shade for a moment), went to Finger Lake and had lunch (where we met our old friends from our ward, the Seeleys, who had hiked in over the mountains!), and went to Jackson Lake to a museum and general store. While I went in for ice cream the deer walked right past our car, so I missed it.

The kids pose with Jenny Lake in the background.

Our favorite part was at Mormon Row, which is where the old wooden barn is that you see in all the calendars and post cards of the Grand Tetons. There is a huge buffalo herd that lives there! Probably 300 buffalo walked past our car, just grazing, rolling in the dirt, chasing each other, and the big bulls bellowed at the cars to tell them who's boss. It was awesome to see them so close up! We were not supposed to get out of the car and touch them, but they were literally just inches away from our windows. So cool. Here is a video and some pictures of the buffalo.

It was a fun trip and a great way to enjoy the beauty of the mountains. I highly recommend a visit if you're ever in the area.

Family Reunion at Bear Lake

We traveled to Bear Lake (right on the Idaho/Utah border) for our family reunion July 29-August 1. We were going to leave earlier, but James' uncle Joe passed away suddenly of a heart attack and he and his mom were out of town until Wednesday morning, so when they got back we left Wednesday afternoon. Well, I should say we tried to leave because about 10 minutes outside of Idaho Falls we had a HUGE tire blowout. The tire wrapped around the axle and broke the brake line. Thankfully a nice family from Twin Falls stopped (Thanks to the Harrisses, you're truly angels) and the dad and varsity scout changed the tire and put on the spare. Then we just had to drive carefully back to Idaho Falls. And thanks to Monte at Tunex, our van was fixed by about 4:00 and we got back on the road at 6:00. Every two minutes Abby and Augie asked, "When will we be at the beach? When will I see my cousins?"

We made it to Bear Lake by 9:00 p.m. So that day was about done, but we did get to gaze at the stars and see Jupiter just above the east horizon. The cabin we stayed at was a beautiful, two bedroom, three-level house in Bear Lake West, which has it's own golf course and private beach. It was half way up the mountain, (to get to the lake you had to drive and navigate huge potholes and lagoons) but the area was nice and had a great view of the turquoise lake.
Great view! Thanks to Ben and Mona for ar ranging for the cabin.
The next day we had family pictures. Of course my children would not all smile and look in the same direction at the same time and I was so very frustrated. I didn't see a single good shot of our family. Oh well, the group family shots were good. Everyone was in them except my husband James and Hyrum who's on his mission.

Then we played at the beach all day. We had a boat, thanks to Clay and Vern, and I attempted to kneeboard for the first time in probably 12 years. No luck, just bruises all up and down my arms. There was a fun little kayak for paddling around the lake, and we had fun in the sand and waves. Abby in the sand and wind, Jimmy in the boat, Augie and Abby in "his" boat.
Dad and Valerie on the beach; note Dad's classic swim attire.
This is the only picture I got of Sam; the rest of the time he was in the water.

That evening we had the Johnson family Got Talent show. And I think that while our family does have some talents, they weren't too apparent this night. It was more the "wacky/ tacky" kind of show. Our favorite was Mona and Ben's song "Down by the Bay" which the kids sang the rest of the week. We also had a gift exchange to celebrate everyone's birthday party, and yummy cake out of the dutch oven.
Abby shows her budding violin talent.
Zach and Janessa in their birthday gift hats.

Friday was supposed to be a big play day at the lake, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was windy and the lake was choppy. Clay had rented a tube to pull behind the boat, and Sammy had the ride of his life. The way he tells the story, he flew 40 feet in the air and did 10 back flips as he was launched over these huge waves and into the lake. It's really a hilarious tale. Jimmy also rode, but unlike adventurous Sam he gripped white-knuckle and gritted his teeth and closed his eyes and was soon done with that. When the wind got to be about 30 miles an hour and was blowing down our shelter and chairs we packed up and headed back to the cabin.
The three amigos: Bridger, Augie, Johnny
That night some of us went to a rodeo (Jimmy) and the rest went with Clay to visit his mom in their RV campground. The kids played at a little playground. The next morning was the big Raspberry Days celebration, so we went into town and walked around the craft fair with the other 10,000 tourists and then got delicious shakes at La Beaus (which technically should be Le Beaus or La Belles, if you were to use grammatically correct French). The shakes were tall and creamy and much better than the $3 snow cones the craft fair vendors were selling. Then we headed back, had hamburgers and hot dogs, packed up and headed home.
A picture of all the family who were left on the last day, on the balcony of the cabin. Ammon, Sammy, Augie, me, Jimmy, Val, Clay, Abby, Rach, Taylor, Dad, Mom, Ben, Bridger (Mona was taking the picture and Carter and Zachary and Johnny were sleeping).

On the way home the drive was hot and we stopped in Montpelier, Idaho at the Oregon/California trail museum. I thought we'd just have a quick tour, but it was actually kind of long. But it was very interesting. We had a simulated wagon ride across the prairie and had some pioneer ladies tell us about beating off the bears with their frying pans to save their bacon. (Literally, a slice of bacon. The bear died. They ate it for dinner, too.) There were lots of awesome paintings of life on the Oregon trail through Idaho. It was really neat. Jimmy asked a ton of questions and took lots of pictures, so some of those I'll try to add in here. There were too many to include them all.

In the simulated wagon ride... the lady who killed the bear... in the gunsmith shop... a camp site display.

We were back on the road at 6:30 and home by 9:00. Yay! home finally with my husband who, except for a couple of hours Wednesday, I hadn't seen in 8 days. Home to my comfortable bed and no more leaky air mattress. Home for showers and washers and dryers and church the next day. And then I got the flu and was sick with a fever for two days. Oh well. It was a great vacation and I was glad the kids got to go and see their cousins. And you're all invited to next year's reunion which will be in Idaho Falls, the most beautiful place on earth!

Abby and Emily's Birthday Party

This year, Abby celebrated her 6th birthday just days after her good friend, Emily, celebrated her 5th birthday, so we had a combined birthday party on June 29th. It was a lot of fun.

First, Abby said she wanted a pinata. I looked at the ones in the store and even went to several Mexican markets to see what a "real" pinata looked like. They were all very different, and very expensive. So I made my own. I took a soda pop 12-pack box, an oatmeal canister, a pop tart box, and a fruit snacks box, and with some duck tape... voila! a unicorn appeared. Then I covered it with two layers of paper mache and then decorated it with tissue paper. It turned out extremely well! Abby and Emily loved it. I filled it with three pounds of candy, but at the party I learned that 15 children go through 3 pounds of candy in about 7.5 seconds! It took a few swings to finally break the pinata, but once it broke the children filled their bags (which they had decorated when they arrived) with as much candy as possible.

The finished Unicorn, with a doll along for the ride.



Megan breaks the pinata...

And the candy is rapidly snatched up by hordes of children.


Emily's mom, Jessica (my best friend), made the cake. It was sooo adorable! It was made of mini cupcakes in a rainbow, each row a separate color. Each cupcake had a letter to spell out "Happy Birthday Abby and Emily." It was the perfect cake, too, because children rarely each as much cake as they think they will at a party, so a tiny cupcake went down quickly and their cake craving was satisfied. Then we had ice cream cups, which were also perfect because there's no scooping on to plates and then ice cream sliding, melting and dripping off of plates!




From the left, Savanna, Abby, Emily, Caitlyn, and Shelby (and the back of Augie's head).






The highlight of Abby's birthday was her gift: a trampoline. We had saved for a while and put the trampoline on layaway, then I got Daddy up at 6:30 on the morning of her birthday to go assemble it for her surprise. By 7:30 the tramp was up, but the enclosure took another two hours and a lot of trouble to assemble. But at last, it was up. Abby woke up in the middle of the assembly and was looking for us, then saw out the dining room window her surprise. Daddy motioned for her to come out and she was thrilled! She had never doubted that ever since last fall when she decided to ask for the trampoline that she would get it for her birthday. Her faith was rewarded! The trampoline provided good party entertainment and shade for kids eating ice cream and cake!


Under the trampoline eating cake and ice cream in the shade: Emily, Savanna, Abby, Caitlyn.

I think Abby had a wonderful time. We are so happy so many of her friends came to celebrate with her and that the Deans let Emily celebrate with us, too. Abby now thinks she is a "big girl" since she is six.



Later that evening we had our family party where Abby opened her presents. She was thrilled to get "horsie cards," collectable Bella Sara cards with horses you play with online. She got coloring books, art pens, a fairy tale scrap book, a doggy purse, a pillow for her tooth (her first permanent tooth had come in but the baby tooth hasn't come out; the tooth is too far to the back to push it out). Here is a video of us singing happy birthday and Abby opening the first present.

Father's Day and Anniversary

Dessert time after a wonderful dinner


Our fabulous personal chef!

What a day to celebrate! This year both Father's Day and our 13th Anniversary fell on the same day, the 21st of June. Lucky for us, my mother-in-law Jane has moved to Idaho this year and she was willing to help the children put together a wonderful celebration (since it was a Sunday we didn't go out to dinner). Nothing could compare to the wonderful meal we were served, anyway.

It started with Grandma/Jane (who was known this day as Chef Janaay) making a beautiful place setting in our front room. We sat leisurely while she and the children cooked. She even made menus! There were several courses, including a beverage and a 13-fruit, watermelon-bowl salad. She cooked steaks on the grill and twice-baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Wow! So yummy! And we got to eat in relative peace, with candlelight and music and all the children in the other room!

For Father's Day James got a candy bar bouquet, with lots of chocolate goodies. It was a lot of fun for the children and I to put together the bouquet and think of cheesy sayings to go with the candy bar names (like "you MINT so much to us" and "you make us SNICKER"). He also received some huckleberry syrup. His favorite drink is a Pepsi or other fountain drink with the huckleberry flavor added, and his mom was able to find him two of his own flavor bottles so he can enjoy his custom-mixed soda pop at home.

For James, I spent the few days leading up to our anniversary by counting down the top 13 reasons why I love him. I would leave little 3x5 cards around with a description of what I love, like his smile, his service in the church, how we think alike, etc. I really do love him more after 13 years than I could have ever thought to love him in the beginning. He is a great, wonderful husband!

Us, the happy couple, after 13 years.

Birthday and Valentines Day

Ok, this post is really late. I had wanted to do it back in February. I wish there was a way to put your entries in a different order. Anyway, we had the most fun ever as a family on Daddy's birthday/Valentines Day. Most of it was thanks to Mom/Grandma Jane who had just moved to Idaho and was staying with us for a month till she got her apartment. She had not spent a birthday with her son since he was real young, maybe 4th grade or so. This party was like 25 birthdays in one! Plus of course we celebrated Valentines with hearts, candy, etc. for everyone.

We decorated the living room with red balloons, each one held a dollar bill. Daddy had to pop each balloon and get the dollar. It was a lot of fun! Then we had our cake and presents. Later on we played games: throw the bean bag through the heart-shaped cutouts and pin the arrow on the heart. It was just very joyful with all the kids cheering, jumping up and down, counting up the points and playing along with everyone.

The cake was an attempt to be "Ace of Cakes" and make a real special design... but it ended up being a heart surrounded by hearts, with heart candies, and lots of frosting! It was fun to do, but I realized those people you see on the Food Network shows really do have to go through pastry school to learn to make these beautiful cakes. It's hard! I even froze my cakes for a while and still the frosting was filled with cake crumbs. It still tasted good. :)


The family picture with all of us in red shirts was also Grandma's idea. We each had party horns and party sunglasses, too, with which we jumped out and "surprised" Daddy when he came home from work. All in all it was a nice evening.

Our "lady"

The cutest bunny on the block belongs to us! Lady is our first pet ever as a family, and we think she's adorable. She's the perfect pet, too. Takes up very little space, just a little food and water and an occasional excursion through the back yard, and she's happy. Abby and Jimmy especially love Lady.

Daddy loves to tease and tell us her name is "Dinner" because some day she'll be in our stew. But we know he really does love her... he bought her a little chew log and some nice fluffy bedding.

She likes to nibble on marshmallow weeds and grass, rest under the wagon, and hop up and down the back stairs. She's a great addition to the family.

Graduation trip

I really enjoyed taking the children down to Provo to see Valerie and Ammon graduate. You will see that the children did not quite enjoy all five hours of graduation ceremonies... but nevertheless they were pretty well behaved. I came away with a profound respect for a college education. All the sacrifice, dedication, learning and growth that comes through working toward a degree is wonderful! Of course it's just the first step to a fulfilling life, as Ammon and Valerie will probably agree. I never attended my own graduation ceremonies, because I finished in December and by April I was pregnant, and working in Idaho, but now I'm glad I did finish my degree and wished I could have enjoyed my own graduation activities. Still, I was very happy to be there with Valerie and Ammon.

On the way back to Idaho we stopped at Temple Square and took a little tour and took some pictures. I realized that my children had never been there. It was a little cold that afternoon so our tour was short, a little under an hour (and $5 to park near temple square!). Someday we'll go to conference and really feel the spirit of this wonderful place.

I also visited Marian and Vern and their beautiful new baby, Janessa. She is so cute! We love having more cousins in our family! We had a great dinner at Rachael and Clay's house, had some family pictures with all but our Wisconsin cousins, and as a real bonus got to take a baby rabbit home as a pet! Yay!