A while back Neal’s family decided to have a celebration for
what would have been his Grandpa Johnson’s 100th birthday. It was decided that it would be over the 4th
of July because that was the weekend that would work best for most people. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get the 4th
of July off (they had sent out an email a while before that saying they
couldn’t allow anyone else to take that day off), but Neal was still going to
be able to go
Wednesday morning, Neal and Shauna left for the 9 hour drive
to Idaho. I wanted SO badly to go, but
knew I needed to be at work. Wednesday
night I was talking to Neal about all of the fun he was having, and all the
different things they were doing. Pretty
much his entire dad’s side of the family was there, including a lot of people I
hadn’t met. I wanted SO badly to be up
there. I LOVE Idaho. I would classify 2J Ranch as one of my two
paradises (the other is our hunting spot).
After I got off the phone with Neal, I prayed and explained to Heavenly
Father how much I wanted to be up there.
I told Him I understood if for some reason I wasn’t supposed to go, or
it just wasn’t going to work out, and truly I did, but that didn’t stop me from
really wanting to be up there.
Well,
I won’t go into details (I don’t like posting much about work), but Heavenly
Father opened the way, and by the end of my shift Wednesday night I had Friday
and Saturday off
I got up early Thursday morning (the 4th) to go
participate in the parade to celebrate Fort Collins Police Department’s 100
years of service to the community. It
was really fun! Neal participated in the
parade in Rupert, on a float that celebrated his grandpa and grandma’s legacy. They also had a couple buggies that his
grandpa built.
I worked Thursday night, and then Friday morning got up and
headed for Idaho. Me coming up was a
surprise; only a few people knew (including a certain husband that pretty much
blew the surprise for his wife….thanks Scott..haha just kidding). I pulled in about 8 pm after a 9 hour drive, and was greeted by Jennie and Misty running to my car, followed by Jennie's three girls. After I got out of my car, I walked towards the area where dinner was sitting, and Neal's Uncle Alton came walking up with a plate of food and said, "An offering for the sweet one." Every one busted up laughing in disbelief! That is not exactly in Alton's character, but I loved it :)
While I was eating, I got to see the big brother/little sister relationship that Neal and Jayde have developed. It was pretty cool to see. They played a lot of pranks on each other. That night, Jayde had a mouth full of whipped cream, and Neal was holding the bottle like he was going to attack her with it. To defend herself, she spit an ENTIRE mouth full of whipped cream on him! He chased her down and sprayed whipped cream all over her face.
That night we had the "Johnson Family Talent Show." It was so fun to see the different talents that we have in that side of the family! Jennie and her girls sang "The Cup Song." The kids sang "Firework" by Katy Perry (stinking cutest thing). The "Colorado Johnsons" sang "Beautiful Savior." The Harrisons sang "Gethsemane." Misty did a really cute remake of Tim McGraw's "Down on the Farm." Jennie and Misty sang a very beautiful duet. The kids did some other fun things - more songs, gymnastics, jokes, danced, and other things. It was so fun!
Saturday we did a lot of things. We rode two of Alton's horses, Denny and Angel for a lot of the day. We went and swam in the canal, where we threw a football and a frisbee and jumped into the canal trying to catch it. We shot guns and archery. And we said goodbye to cousins that we really wanted to spend more time with.
Sunday we went to church at Alton and Terri's ward. We helped pick things up in the area we stayed in, and Neal helped Alton move the water for the fields. We then headed to Utah to stay the night with Neal's Aunt Peg. We had a really good conversation with Peg and Henry that night and the morning after.
On Monday morning we made the 7 hour drive from Salt Lake to home. We stopped at Little America and got ice cream, and had an enjoyable time driving home together.
We loved being up there. It was so nice to get to know our family better, and to strengthen those relationships. I love knowing that these family relationships are eternal. I love getting to know and love Neal's family better, and am so grateful for their love for us! We look forward to the next time we get to see each of them!!
Here are a couple other fun pictures from the trip:
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| This photo of Alton is thanks to Jenn Johnson :) |
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