September

Summer is over and we are back to school. Tyler started 7th grade and is loving being in Jr. High. This semester he is taking his P.E. class, and an art class,and a National Academics League class (NAL) along with the required classes; science, English, Pre-Algebra, Career Tech Class, and an advisory class. So far the homework hasn't been too overwhelming-(thats why there is a smile on his face)


Bryce's work had a company party at This Is The Place Heritage park. Bryce signed us up for (our 1st ever) the 5K walk/run. 5K is 3 1/2 miles and we needed to do this in under an hour. I thought-"I can walk 3 1/2 miles--this shouldn't be that hard...the hard part will be doing it in 1 hour...I'll have to hustle!"






Austin had the best time of all of us--30 something minutes. He ran mostly the whole way... Tyler came in at 47:05 minutes. They both made this look easy.

I'm here to tell you it was tough! I thought I was going to die!....(yea I'm really out of shape)Well little did I know-this walk/run was mostly uphill! Trying to hustle, mostly uphill and not having done this type of work out for a LONG TIME made me really thankful I crossed the finish line on my own two (worn out) legs, and not on a stretcher. I wouldn't have made it if Bryce hadn't been there to push and pull me up the hills. We didn't have time to stop and catch our breath...let alone take pictures along the way.




Bryce and I wanted a big finish. We forced ourselved and sprinted the last 100 or so yards to come in with the time of 48:26 for Bryce and 48:27 for Brenda. It wasn't as bad as we thought--before the morning was over we were breathing normal again,(my lungs & heart had forgiven me--or maybe they just forgotten) and we were only stiff for 4 days instead of the month we thought it would take to recover.







The rest of the day was spent doing the various activities that were provided for the boys. We let them make arrowheads,tour hogons, and make candles etc.



This is inside a hogon--it's a sacred place for the men in this Indian tribe. I dont know if it's because a "girl" was in there, or if it was because I took a picture and I wasn't supposed to... On the way out, I was ducking down for the low doorway, and with my visor on I didn't know how far down I needed to be, and I smacked my head REAL HARD on the door frame. I hit it so hard that I fell down to the ground. Now that HURT! Other than feeling like my head had split open, it took a while to feel good,and fortunately I was OK.

Other than now hurting completely from head to toe,(and Brenda feeling totally whipped) --we enjoyed our day.


Tyler also recently played in his Summer recital. He played a duet with another boy, and he played the Pirates of the Carribean song which he plays very well. He did a great job.

California

Our family recently returned California from a family vacation/20th wedding anniversary celebration. It was a LONG drive, however Tyler and I tried to make the ride more enjoyable by playing games like Yahtzee Connect 4 and others. After driving all day, we arrived at The Airharts around 9:30 Tuesday night. Wednesday morning the boys headed to none other than Six Flags Magic Mountain. (Bryce was happy! Brenda was happy she didn't have to go!) Tyler wasn't so sure. Andrew wasn't sure either.





Bryce and Cliff hit as many roller coasters as they could. They had a great time.

Thursday Bryce and I headed down to San Diego to celebrate our 20th Anniversary!







Tyler stayed with the Airharts. They went to the Dodger Game, and enjoyed Dodger Dogs. Unfortunately the Dodgers lost that night, but Tyler had fun.




Friday, Bryce and I toured the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. This aircraft carrier was in use from 1942 - 1996-and was used in Desert Storm.






These are the chains for the anchor. 150 pounds per link...and there's a LOT of links.

These are the beds --unless you are the admiral or the captain-then you have a nice suite, AND your own chef.


This picture is some of the statistics... this ship can hold over 60 airplanes, and4.3 million gallons of fuel. The bad news is it uses 260 gallons of fuel for every mile...talk about bad gas mileage! The fresh water usage was 240,000 gallons per day. The ship is HUGE!

Back at the Airharts, Tyler and the boys were swimming and playing in the backyard.




Friday night we headed to Huntington Beach.

We arrived late, and needed to check out early the next morning to meet Tyler and the Airharts at Universal Studios. We had a short but nice stay.

Saturday morning we headed to Universal Studios, (with 200,000 other people.) Miracles do happen--We pulled into the parking lot AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME - as the Airharts. We couldn't believe it!! That couldn't have happened better if we would have planned it.







Sunday morning came too quickly. It was time to head back home. We had a fabulous time! The Airharts were so good to us, and to Tyler while we were gone.They have a beautiful home, yard and pool. We have a wonderful friendship with them.

Rodeo Weekend

Shanna's friend, Shanna, Krista, KandaLee, Alyssa, Loralee and I headed to BYU Idaho for Education Week. We attended some awesome classes, and had a great time.

After my last class, Shanna Alyssa and I headed back to Preston for the Parade and that famous Preston Night Rodeo. The Johnson family always gets together during the rodeo. Lisa planned our reunion for this weekend.






Madison, Emili, Hayley


Kevin & Dallin


Jen & Kelli




The kids found a great way to wait for the parade...jumping rope.

The next day, our family enjoyed dinner together, and then opened our time capsule from our reunion in 2000.


Here's what some of us found.








Some of our family members weren't born yet or in our family 10 years ago, and they were really disapointed. I hope they are anticipating putting something in our time capsule that we'll open in 2020!

After our time capsule fun, we had our family pictures taken. That's quite a project.





Monday morning the party continues:

We met at the Rec Center in Bountiful.



and then spent the day swimming.








Dallin grabbed my finger and wanted me to take him down the slide. Even though I didn't want to go on the slide, I couldn't refuse such a cutie. While he loved it--I was stressing out because we seemed to be picking up speed around each corner dispite all my efforts to SLOW US DOWN!


We both went under and made a big splash. Dallin didn't ask me to go down the slide any more. While I would have done it for him---I was happy he didn't ask.


THANKS LISA! I THINK EVERYONE HAD FUN!