Spaghetti Factory July 2017

Since Wendy and Anthony were here for Brandon's homecoming, (and since Brandon had been gone for 2 years), we decided to all go to Spaghetti Factory...a family favorite!  

PLUS, it was Wendy's birthday!  It was awesome to spend her birthday together.  We all had a great time!

The Johnson clan...

Eric and Andraea (And Todd trying to photo bomb!)

Melissa and Todd (and photo bomber, Jacob!) :) 

Jacob, Dallin, Kyle (trying to avoid the camera, of course!) and Brandon

Jacob and Dallin

Kyle and Brandon...silly kids!

Brad and Michelle (Their kids weren't there--and AJ's on the right)

Wendy and Anthony!  Happy Birthday Wendy!  You totally rock!

We had a great time and it was awesome to be together!

Love this family!

Brandon's Homecoming Party (July 23, 2017)

The day of Brandon's homecoming, we had a big party for friends and family.  It was awesome!  

This is the cake I ordered from Costco! :) 

We set everything up outside and put all of the people in our front yard.  It worked out well.  Luckily it was in the summer...I seriously don't know what I would do if we had to host a big party like this in the winter.  UGH! 

Caleb is hilarious!

A bunch of Brandon's friends...and then Judy Jones and Aaron (on the right)

I love this picture of Joshie!  (He's on the right hand side in a red and white striped shirt)

 What a cutie!

Michelle, Moriah, AJ, and Anthony

And Jacob!  (I wonder if he took this himself...) :) 

More of Brandon's friends...and Brandon (and Hunter Durfee to the right of him.)

My Uncle Ron and Aunt Sharon, Grandma Johnson, and Uncle Brad

More people...(And Dallin is on the left)

AJ and Anthony (on the couch)

This is Riley's little girl, Aaleyah.  She is such a sweetheart!

Michelle, Josiah, and Grandma Johnson

Todd and Melissa

Judy, Matt, Haley, Eric, and Andraea

Open your eyes, Eric! :)

Uncle Ryan and Henry are in the middle this time.  So sweet!

Brandon (and a couple of his mission friends)

Brandon and more friends...(Zach Park is on the right)

Anthony and Wendy

Hey!  Look who I got (forced) to smile at the camera!!! 

Way to go Kyle!

This is Riley and her boyfriend Rocky

And this is a picture of our amazing friends, the Bigelows!  They just returned from being mission presidents in Recife, Brazil.  (Spencer's parents)   It's great to have them back and it was awesome that they came and spent some time with us on this special day!

Brandon did a great job on his talk and we are so proud of him for serving the Lord for 2 years! 

Way to go son!  You totally rock!  We love you!  

Now, what's next? :)

Yellowstone Vacation Part 2

We spent a good amount of time in the cabin, mostly in the evenings.  We'd cook and eat dinner, play games, and watch movies.  (That's my kind of vacation!)  But it was really fun.  Here are some pictures of us relaxing in the cabin. :) 

Eric and Brandon

Brandon, Andraea, and Eric

All the kids (except you can't see Kyle...what else is new?  He is sitting directly in front of Brandon, and I have no doubt that he was trying to hide from the camera!)

Still no Kyle!  Really?!  Now he is behind Dallin...

Jacob, Dallin, and Brandon

Andraea, Eric, and...(wait for it!)...KYLE!  Sweet!

This is a close up of Eric's "pony tail."  He hadn't cut his hair for a long time, that little rebel! HA!  But it was pretty funny, I must admit! And I love him either way, of course! :) 

On the last day of our vacation, we rented a raft and floated down the river.  It was really cool!  I've been on a river run only one other time, when Todd and I were first married, but it was a swift-moving river.  This one was just really calm and slow and we could take it at our own pace, which was nice.  However, we weren't sure how long it would take us to complete it.  The guy at the rental place said it could take anywhere between 3 and 4 hours.  (It depended on how fast we paddled!)  I was a little stressed about that...but we plunged ahead and I'm really glad that we did!

The scenery was beautiful!

Me and Jacob!  (with "windy" hair!) :)

Todd and Dallin

And we even saw a moose! 

 (It's far away in this picture, but I zoomed in on the next one.)

It was really cool and even though it doesn't look like a very big animal in the picture, trust me, it was!  :) 

Eric and Me and Jacob

Todd, Dallin, and Kyle (Yep, Kyle!  And is that a smile I see?) :) 

Andraea and Eric

And look at the cute little duck family!  So fun!

And then, just after a couple of short hours, we saw the END!  I was relieved!  :) 

 (I guess I don't like the thought of being in the middle of a river, not knowing how big it is, or when it will end...that's just me, I guess.) 

Land! (whew)  Ahoy! 

Yep, it was a welcomed sight! :) 

And after all my nervousness of going on the river run, I just have to say that it was one of my favorite activities on the whole trip.  It was very calm and peaceful (except for when the children were fighting...that wasn't calm or peaceful), but luckily that wasn't the whole time. :)

We really did enjoy our trip.  And just like with any other wonderful trip, it was nice to get back home too.  We had a super fun week of family time, but I was ready to have it end.  

So, until next time... :)