Cousins!

After our trip to Yellowstone we decided to have two of our cousins stay for a week.  It was a good thing because their mom ended up having a emergency appendectomy.  We went to Cottonwood lake with friends, we spent a night at the cabin on the lake, Jake and Spencer spent hours flooding the sandbox and playing in it.  We had one small issue that came up when they all decided to play the game of Risk.  Risk is not the easiest game to figure out.  There was a little argument that started Connor started throwing punches, Statyn jumped up on the bed to get away, Connor followed him and Statyn put him in a head lock.  At this point Jake and Spencer ran upstairs to get help.  The fight broke up when they heard me coming down the stairs.  I think it was hard for Connor not to be the oldest and to have someone questioning him.  For the most part everyone had a great time and we made some great memories!

The Johnson Family Yellowstone Trip

Twenty-four people all sleeping under our roof!  I wasn't sure it could be done, but we all had a great time.  Mark was not happy that I bought 650 water balloons.  He gets tired of hearing me say, "it is all about the memories."  We made some great ones!

Speaking of memories... Yippee I Yo.  That is all I need to say.  This is my kids favorite place to go in Jackson.  Yes, it drives me a little crazy, it is pricey and I always end up with taffy and sucker sticks stuck in the carpet of the van. Oh well, they wont be talking about my clean car at my funeral, but they just might mention the candy store. :)

OK, I finally have proof that I am not the only disturbed person in this family!

 Linnea with her Tetons!

Cael, always keeping life interesting! (Notice the look on Sammy's face..."what is wrong with this kid?")

First stop, Jenny's Lake, Cael jumps right in before I can stop him.  The water is ice cold!! All the tourist were there to see the beautiful scenery!  They picked the wrong day for a scerene, quiet moment.

 We were thrilled to see this Grizzly up close and personal.  When it started walking up toward us it got my heart ponding and I pushed all the kids back in the car.

What a bunch of cheese balls!  My kids had so much fun riding with and seeing the park with their cousins.

Yellowstone Falls

I have to admit that this guy got my heart racing a little bit.  There was a fence between him and I, but I could have touched him if I wanted to.  He got cornered a bit and I saw the look in his eye that said, "you are going down." I quickly took my picture and got out of there.  Not without being reprimanded by a guy in green pants and a dorky hat!  Yes, I know I could have been one of those idiots on the "Today Show" saying," I just wanted to get a good picture."

We saw this black bear, also.  I have never seen a bear in the wild/park. We sat and watched him take a bath in the creek.

I ran the boys to the fish scramble downtown and Spencer caught a fish.  Caleb brought up some fish intestine and I told him I would give him $20 to eat it.  His dad told him he would give him $20 and grandpa threw in $5.  Oh man, pressure was on.  He had been saving his money for a game.  It took him several tries but he finally got it down.  It brought a good laugh!

Fishing after the Tournament

Connor on All-Star Team

Connor absoulutely loves baseball.  He made it on the All-star team this year.  We watched him play in a tournament in Montpelier.  It was fun to stay the night at grandma and grandpa's.  There team did really well in this large tournament.  They took 8th place out of twenty teams and they felt good about it.  He had a awesome double hit to right field, a great catch in right field and an great play at 2nd base.  Connor is so sad that baseball is over.  

Anything that has wheels and makes loud noise is for Gehrig!

One of Gehrigs' favorite things to do his to help Mark mow the lawn.

South Fork Overnight Fishing Trip

Mark started planning this trip back in January. In the past the dry fly/Salmon fly hatch has always hit on the 4th of July. This has been such a cold year that the flies were slow to hatch. Mark has been calling the Bureau of Reclamation everyday for weeks to check the flow rate of the river. They finally slowed down the amount of water coming out of the dam 4 days before we left and the weather warmed up and we hit the beginning of the fly hatch perfectly. Good thing because I think it would have ruined Mark's year.

Taking a break for lunch. Mark and my dad were on the oars the whole time while my mom and I fished off the boat. It was nice to find places to stop so they could fish the riffles.

It was relaxing and the scenery was amazing.

My life was in this man's hands!

A guy in the fly shop told us about an amazing camp sight. We pulled up and this moose was sitting in the middle of our camp sight.

This side channel incircled our camp and it was quite deep and loaded with fish. Mark and my dad had an amazing time fishing.

We ate incredibly well for roughing it

Look at the size of these Ribeye steaks cooked over Aspen! Mmmm!

This is Mark's favorite place on the river, right under hole in the rock. My dad pulled out a few lunkers from this hole. I caught several fish, my hand was blistered from casting.

At about 1:30 in the afternoon, the yellow sallies, green drakes, PMD's and a few salmon flies started flying. we anchored up on a gravel bar and started casting to rising trout. It took a few fly patterns before we found what they were taking. Mark almost lost his sanity as he watched a 20" cutthroat refuse everything he threw at it. After about 30 minutes he caught it on a PMD emerger, it made his day.

Anchored up on the gravel bar, taking a break and letting the guys fish for a bit.

Boating on Bear Lake with our friends

I don't have a lot of pictures of this day because my camera ran out of batteries.  We went to the lake with the Heuseveldt's and the Hoopes Wednesday after the 4th of July. Rob brought his boat and we water skied and played at the beach all day long.  We couldn't believe how fast the day went.  

It was windy the first half of the day but the water smoothed out.  I haven't skied on smooth water like that for years I forgot how much fun it is.  We tried to get our boys up on ski's but it was just a bit to scary.  Everyone else got up for the first time.  We'll try again another day.

 

4th of July in Bear Lake

Before the big firework show off the "M" hill we went to visit my great grandma at the nursing home. The kids had bought fire works with their Dyers Wode money. They chose to light them off for great grandma. All the patients at the nursing home ended up coming out to watch them or watching them from their windows. They were so thankful that we brought a 4th of July celebration to them. I think a new tradition was born. Then we headed to the park for the big fire work show. The hill caught on fire, but nothing big they are on top of that now. The grand display is the highlight! What an awesome day.

Went to the cabin for uncle Kevin's Dutch-Oven chicken and potatoes. Gehrig loves riding on the Ol' Tractor.

Paris Parade what a moment. We were all cheering loud and the kids were getting a ton of candy. Gehrig has his Miss USA pagent wave down and he kept yelling whooooo! So cute.

It is not the 4th with out a good old Lions Club Chuch Wagon Breakfast! Pancakes, eggs, sausage and OJ! Mmmmm. Plus the whole town of Montpelier is there. Oh and we can't forget that I woke everyone up at 6:30 am singing "It's a Grand O Flag"! Connor went with grandpa to drive through town waking everyone up with the Lions Club loud speaker.