Johnson Family Photos

My sisters, Heather and Koo hired a photographer to come up one night and take photos of our family. We searched for a good looking spot, debated over coordinating - yet not too matchy matchy clothes and lamented our collective weight gain. But, here are some of my candids of the process.

My parents with their six children.


My parents with all of the grandkids.


The oldest son , Jason and his wife, Amber. They live in Manti with their three children and a bunch of chickens.


Amber with their youngest, baby Margot. Calvin loves Margot and would tell me "I just love babies that cannot talk!"


Ross and Heather. Heather is the second daughter and they live in Salt Lake with their son, Soren.


The youngest of the six children, Matt. He is working at the Olive Garden in Logan and returns to classes there this fall.


I am the second child and this is my sweet family.


My brother Scott, the second son and third child, and his girlfriend, Carmen. They both live in Helena, MT. We are dropping blatantly obvious hints that would love for them to get married next year because one: we really like Carmen and two: we want to have a family reunion in Victoria, BC!


The Johnson cousins: Max, Sophie, Soren, Phoebe with Margot, Calvin (cheesy grin present in every single photo) and Jacob.


My mom and Margot.


All six of us: Heather (4), Scott (3), Matt (6), Koo (5), Jason (1) and me (2).


Somehow I did not get a shot of Koo, but she lives in Portland Oregon.

I was blessed to be born into a wonderful family. I am so very grateful for them and as I've gotten older, I have learned just how important family is. I am amazed at my parent's ability to parent six children who are all wonderful, kind adults. I loved growing up in a big, messy family! My children are so very lucky to have them in their lives.

Rafting Box Canyon

We have always floated down Box Canyon in my Grandfathers old military raft. Sadly, several years ago, the raft had to be retire since it was no longer sea worthy in any sense!

Now, we rent. The first trip down was with Heather, Soren, Max, Sophie and Calvin and yours truly. I got to sit on the front end of the raft and look out for snags and Heather got to sit in the back to steer and make sure no kids were leaning over too far. Happily no one fell in and we had a great time.



Hey! We know those guys! It's Jason and Scott!


The second time down the canyon, Amber and Jason took Phoebe, Jacob and Sophie and Koo and I floated down in inner tubes. I have to say, once your bum goes numb from the cold water, it's much more fun to be in a tube, especially through the rapids!


Notice Sophie holding on to my foot. The raft goes a lot faster than a tube. It requires some arm rowing to keep up.


Note to self: Somehow you missed the sunscreen on your legs. You are going to regret that.


Wait, we know this guy!


It's Scott - still out fishing!


Sophie can find bugs anywhere!

Yellowstone!

We had one short day in Yellowstone and half of America was there with us! The traffic was really awful as there were road closures in the park.


We started our visit with a long hike. Some of the kids loved it and some of them did not. Sophie was in her element as the hike was teaming with bugs and little treasures.


All of the kids begged to see Old Faithful, so we took another hike around the geyser basin and then settled in with ice cream to watch. They were all very impressed even though they has all been there many times before. The hot pots fascinate me and last time we came I picked up a book called Death in Yellowstone which records all of the stupid things people have done here - like dive into a hot pot after their dog!

Rowing the Snake

Koo and I took Max for a leisurely row down the snake river. We got struck on a sandbank only once and Koo was gracious enough to step out and push us into deeper water. You never know what wildlife you may see, but this year we got lucky (click on the photos to enlarge as I have a point and shoot).