Reunion Survivor

(Sorry for the lack of interesting pictures, I really didn't take that many.)

Every other summer Jon's mom's side of the family has a big family reunion. This year it was held at Grant's Pass, Oregon. I, being the nice (or crazy) girl that I am, said I would go by myself to the reunion becuase Jon was here in Alabama for training and couldn't leave. Not that I don't get along great with my in-laws, but 9 days is long time to be at a reunion without the actual member of that family.

I flew to Portland and met up with my sister in law Christi. We then met up with the rest of the family and drove to Umpqua Lighthouse State Park and camped for two night. It was close to the ocean, so we were able to enjoy that one afternoon. Jons family renting a bunch of dune buggies and 4-wheelers and went out on the sand dunes. I started out with Christi on the dune buggy thing taking the kids for rides. Then, I did take my turn on the 4 wheeler. Protective Daddy Jon was not so happy with me when I sent him a picture on my phone. Hey, a little pregnant 4-wheeling never hurt anybody, right?

I started out in the three man things above. Although this trio had a little accident, but at Kailey and Madeline have a good story to tell.

This picture is actually Heidi, (she has pictures of me). Just imagine that little black dot is me. I don't understand why Jon was upset. :)

Funny story... we were at the campsite one day and Heidi, Christi, Jared, and I were playing cards. It was pretty cloudy and a little cold so I said well at least its not raining again.... DUH... of course not 2 minutes later it was a downpour.

The actual reunion was at Cascade Lodge. It was a really nice place and a lot of fun. I ended up with my own room which was nice so I could take naps or have a little alone time. They always also do fun activities which I loved at my first reunion two years ago. Well, this year I had to miss out on the river rafting and zip lining festivities due the extra person Im cooking. So I volunteered along with my Mother in Law to watch all the little kids while everyone went river rafting. Lets just say it was real good birth control...Just a few months too late.

One of the activities was a Baby Shower for Little Parker. The kid got spoiled and we got some good loot. Lots of clothes, toys, and a Pack-n-Play.

We played the infamous, candy in the diaper game. Well, Maverick was sitting in the corner and apparently no one was paying any attention to him. I looked down and he had gotten a hold of one of the diapers and was going to town on the chocolate. It was funny. A little disgusting, but funny.

After the reunion Christi and I had an extra day to spend before I flew back to Utah so we went down the the Gorge and hiked around all the waterfalls. They were all beautiful. I don't know why it never dawned on me that we would be hiking but I wore flip-flops. It was still fun though. We saw about 6 different falls, but I cant remember what any of them, except Multnomah, are named now. So if you've been there you know what Im talking about and if you haven't been there then you really probably don't care. ;)

For the reunion they always have cool T-shirts made for everyone and this years said

"Johnson Family Reunion Survivor".

I am claiming the title of "Ultimate Reunion Survivor" becuase I survived my time with the crazy Johnson clan alone.

Chiggers and a Farmers Tan

So last Thursday I was out playing games with a bunch of other wives and I thought I got bitten by a bunch of mosquitos. Well come to find out they were actually Chigger bites. So I have these lovely little marks all over my legs. By Saturday morning they had all swelled up to quarter size. They look like little bruises and from what I hear they aren't going to go away for a while. They haven't scabed up like mosquito bites, but now their smooth and have a small pinsized bump in them, which is the Chigger. I feel like I have some kind of skin disease. Gotta love the South.

(Excuse the chubby legs, Im pregnant remember).

http://www.medicinenet.com/chiggers_bites/article.htm

Jon has also picked up something lovely while here too. This beautiful Farmers Tan. Its what you get after you have to be outside for a week straight and then having to be outside all day today in his PT clothes in 97 degrees.

Road Trip Day 5,6,7

The internet is finally sort of cooperating so here is the rest of the trip..

So after we left Carthage we drove to St. Louis, MI and went to the Gateway Arch. It was pretty cool and another fun stop. Its defianetly not something you would want to do if you were at all claustrophopic or afraid of heights. You ride to the top in this little tiny bubble thats not even big enough to stand up in.

Notice the sign says 630 feet.

We stayed the night at Scott AFB in St. Louis and the next morning we headed to Nashville, TN. First we stopped at the Grand Ole Opry House but weren't really able to see anything because of course the A/C was broken in the museum and there wasn't a concert that night. So we headed to downtown Nashville and went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Jon was really not interested in this was a good sport and tagged along with me. It was still fun, but if I knew more about 'old' country singers then I might have actually been a little more interested in most of the museum.

The camera battery died right after we got inside so about the only picture we got was of the wall of gold, platinum, and silver records. There were tons of them on every floor.

After the museam we walked down the street and looked at the "Honky Tonk Bars".

We finally arrived at Maxwell AFB on Thursday June 4th. Overall we had a good trip and were glad to have some time together before our weird schedule these next couple months. We managed to drive through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. And you better believe I made Jon pull over so I could take a picture of each sign. Ha!

Sweet Home Alabama

I still have pictures of St. Louis, Nashville, and Atlanta that I want to put on here but it might be a while... so here are pictures of where we are staying. So this probably wont interest anyone but my parents. :)

We on the 4th floor of this building. It does have A/C. Were lucky to actually be on base becuase of the A/C problems most of the couples are staying at a hotel about 10 minutes off base.

It has a full kitchen, but no oven. We bought a little skillet and have basically been cooking everything in that, which works great.

Theres a wall that splits the bedroom from the living room. There is a good sized bathroom and a big closet.
And here I am in my 26 weeks glory. He's running out of room in there.

Road Trip Day 3,4,5

We arrived in Nauvoo Sunday night and got checked in. We stayed at a place called the Hotel Nauvoo and it was about a block from the temple. Monday morning we walked around the temple grounds then went down the Visitors Center. We went on a wagon ride that take you all around the old town and talks about all the houses and building and tells you what they were used for. Then we went on a carriage ride that goes back into the country a little bit. After the tours we went back and looked at all the old buildings downtown. We got a Nauvoo brick and got to make a rope. Later that night we went back down to a play that is put on by all the senior missionary couples. It tells the history of Nauvoo and what happened in the town. It was really entertaining actually. Then there was supposed to be another show outside, but it was a down pour and there was a tornado warning so it was cancelled.

Tuesday morning we did a session in the Nauvoo Temple. It was very beautiful inside and we were lucky to have the officiator and the Temple President talk to Jon and I about all the different murals that are inside and more about the temple with just the two of us. It was neat experience. After the temple, we loaded up again and headed over to the Carthage Jail which was about 20 miles away. We took the tour of where Joseph Smith was killed which was also very neat.

Nauvoo, IL Temple

This is wagon ride tour we went on.

Jon's favorite was the Jonathan Browning gunsmith house. He is the creator of Browning guns.

At the living learing center we saw how they made candles, barrels, and helped make this rope that we were able to keep.

Carthage Jail.

These are the original shackles that were used.

Original gunshots through the door.

This top window is the one that Joseph fell through after he was shot.

More to come....

I have alot more to post but the internet is being ridiculously slow here and it is taking forever to upload the pictures, so there will be more to come later.

Road Trip Day 3

Sunday May 31st, our first stop was at Winter Quarters which is pretty close to Omaha. We got a tour of the visitors center then were able to walk around the Pioneer Cemetary which has over 600 pioneers buried there. There temple is built right next to the cemetary. Then we went to Council Bluffs, Iowa to the Kanesville Tabernacle which had lot of stuff about the Morman Battalion. We then drove along the Morman Pioneer Trail route to Nauvoo. You could stop and see many sites that the pioneers saw along their journey if you wanted. We stopped and saw the last original ruts that were formed by the pioneers. There pretty hard to see in the picture, but in person you can see the big ruts in the ground. Then we drove on to Nauvoo, IL.