Fun in Island Park

In the middle of July (2009), we took a short little family vacation and spent two days up in Island Park. Due to connections w/ a great friend, we had free lodging and enjoyed some of the local sights. After returning home, we asked the kids what their favorite part of the "trip" was and it was unanimous -- "The see-saw that Dad built!" Goes to show who needs money to have fun...only logs and flowers and such needed!

Here's a creative homemade hat rack...


A family of ducks enjoying an afternoon swim.




The kids at Big Springs





Dad is great...look at the seesaw he put together for us!




Of course, the trip back home wouldn't be complete without a stop at Big Jud's. The hamburger really is the size of an entire dinner plate... fed our whole family!

Whitney's Reward

So Marc promised the kids that once they memorized all 13 Articles of Faith, he would make them a HUGE lollipop, carrying on a tradition from his grandma. Well, Whitney accomplished her goal and was excited to receive her very own "made-by-dad" giant lollipop. Here she is with her prized possession.
And what little sibling wouldn't want a piece of that yummy treat? Carter thinks if he does his special smile, Whitney will instantly share!

Happy 4th of July!

Before the holiday we had gone to spend time w/ family in June. This is Carter receiving some love from a cousin that is 2 years older than him. :) Just a fun picture!




We stayed here in town for the Independence Day celebrations for the first time since we moved here 3 years ago! We enjoyed a fun breakfast with our ward family, then made a dash over to the parade, followed by a leisurely afternoon, and an attempted bbq with some families in the neighborhood. I say attempted as you'll see from the pictures that mother nature had other plans. However, by the time it was dark, the weather cleared and there was time for awesome fireworks.

Always nice to see folks from "home"!






The kids were always at the ready for any and all candy that might come their way.







Here is the storm that blew in that early evening. It lasted for about 2 hours from start to finish and included all the cool stuff...lightning, thunder, hail, wind, and water!































The kids enjoying the result of the storm and then a few hours later, Bryce and Carter ready to watch fireworks outside...

Back to Life...Back to Reality...I mean Technology

Okay, so it's no surprise that I have once again been a slacker in the record keeping department. Now that it has been brought to my attention (thanks Heather & Elizabeth) more than once, I suppose there are others out there who may, on occasion, enjoy reading about the random day(s) in the life of our humble family. Not to mention I need to document at least a few activities from time to time so that my kids will know that we tried to be fun, cool parents and so they can have proof for their children one day that they too were children... etc, etc.

A little patience, please, as this technology stuff, though not difficult, is still a learning process (I know, if I kept up the blog on a regular basis, it would not be such a slow process...see, I know what you're thinking). So here goes a few posts to update everyone on the past few months. ENJOY!

Runners - In - Training

Some more catch-up....the weekend following Marc's graduation, the kids participated in an Endurance Festival event, here in Poky. The cool thing about the event was that the local hospital covered the entry fees for all participants under the age of 18! All in an effort to encourage kids to be active, etc. Anyhow, the event consisted of runs and bike races (road races) ranging from a .66 mile run for kids, a 5K, 10K, half-marathon and a bike race (just under a mile) for kids as well. Also, there was varying lengths of a Duathlon competition (run & bike ride), again, ranging from 5k run/20k bike ride up to 1/2 marathon run/1/2 century bike ride, I think.

We enjoyed a fun morning at the park encouraging the kids in the run as well as cheering on Marc's brother as he participated in one of the duathlon competitions. The Endurance Festival sponsors another similar event in Poky in September where it will be running and biking on trails rather than the road.

Here are a few play by play pics to help you feel like you were there! The kids did well and had fun. They were particularly excited that they got water bottles & back packs w/coupons and free samples for registering for the race! Olivia did inform us that next time she wants to participate in the bike race as running makes her legs too tired! :)


Above, the participants gearing up! Our kids enjoyed having their cousins participate as well.







On to the finish...




Peyton challenged himself and did awesome in the 5K run!



Kind of like a "Where's Waldo?" picture below...Can you find Scott (Marc's brother)??

Hooray for Graduation!

So, although Marc technically finished the MBA program in December 2008, he participated in the graduation ceremony at ISU on May 9th! It was quite a different experience from the BYU graduations we've attended, but a neat experience. Plus, we enjoyed a visit from Grandma & Grandpa Johnson to help celebrate! We are so proud of Marc... I won't ramble on; he's an incredible man, awesome father and husband and I love him! Enjoy the pictures!

We Love Home Depot!

The first Saturday of each month, Home Depot (at least the one here in Poky) has an activity for kids....free!! Marc took the three older kids at the beginning of May and they made Mother's Day gifts! Here are a couple pics of the process and the finished product.

Free Floats!!

I got an email from Sonic and they will be serving free (10 oz) floats from 8pm - midnight tonight, June 3rd! It does say (in small print) at participating locations, but if you have a Sonic near you, it might be worth checking into! Just wanted to pass along the info!

Hope everyone is having a marvelous June! One of these days (real soon) I'll get some more updating and pictures posted!

Catching Up

So once again, time seems to have passed more rapidly than I realize. It's been two months since I've managed to post anything so there's bit to catch up. Mostly we've been living life each day, enjoying the rain, the sunshine, each other, etc. Let's see, back to the end of March, first of April....

We enjoyed a beautiful Easter and the kids had fun coloring eggs.







At the end of April, we enjoyed a short trip down to Utah for Kara's graduation from BYU. We had lots of fun being with family and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. It was fun to see Elizabeth & David (thanks for letting us stay at your place!) and their girls, and Andrea and her kids, Kara & Scott, and Granny and Gramps "T".








Don't worry, there is still much, much more to catch up on! Stay tuned for more pictures and updates to come, and you won't even have to wait for another two months...maybe just a day or two!

Nothing like a Little Blue to Make Some Memories

At the end of February we were able to go to Utah for a quick trip and see a few other Johnsons! Marc and two of his brothers were able to go the the BYU v. Utah Basketball game in Provo and took along some of the cousins to cheer on the cougars. Fortunately that night the Cougars pulled through and won, making the event even better. Too bad our cheers from home couldn't help them out last weekend in the tournament...