Trip to Cardston

David and I had a great road trip out to Cardston to visit with his parents.  The weather was great and we looked forward to visiting with them for a few days.  Our first surprise was that Mike showed up!!  Next surprise was the story he told of his "incident" while coming up.  And our next surprise was that Bryce and Sandy were also coming.  We had a great time together visiting,  showing each other things on the computer, eating, and playing games.

 On our way to the Carriage Museum, our car somehow got lost and ended up here at the car show.  Funny how that happens. 

The Carriage Museum was really fun to visit again. The guy from the restoration area gave us a great tour of some of the background stuff. 

Notice the technology advancements. 

Mike is Skyping his class on Monday morning from Grandpa's family room.

 Bocci is always fun to play with Grandpa...rules and all.

 Mike is ready to set off for Rexburg now assured that his car won't fall apart thanks to Dad's ropes and knot skills.

Happy Birthday, Chris Johnson!!

Here are just a few pictures to represent the many years of fun, support, and love Chris has brought to the family.  From the very beginning Chris Johnson has been a big part of our family.  Brian probably doesn't even remember our family without him.    He fit in with us so easily and it was always a joy to have him with us.

 We were very pleased when it became permanent.  Chris and Lisa started their life together right.

 Chris has a great sense of humor, he's funny, and is always ready to have a great time.  It's his birthday here, and Brian is giving him a special present of a HUGE beetle caught in Grandma's yard.

Chris was always ready and willing to share his professional expertise.

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Chris was always a great support at all the important family events..... Missionary farewells and homecomings, and weddings, birthdays, Christmas, reunions and trips, and all those sorts of things.    He definately was a big brother to the younger ones, who loved his attention.

Remember this special day at the airport in SLC ?

These were the all the guys in our family at that time.

 Chris is a great dad, full of adventure for his kids.

 He's a hard worker...and Lisa thinks he is macho!

I can't remember what got Lisa going, but it's fun when she does, and it is contagious.

 He loves sports of all kinds....even badminton, hockey, and curling! And games are a favorite of his....even if he isn't winning. 

If anything looks like fun, you know Chris will want to be apart of it. 

 He's a happy guy with a baby in one arm, food in the other, and his BYU hat on!

 He also goes the extra 5 miles to make things special.....

 What a wonderful son-in-law, dad and husband....a great family man with a very special family.  We are so grateful for you and we love you.  Happy Birthday.

Bike Ride with Jim

The first stop on our annual bike trip was at White Rock.

 It was a perfect day for riding.

 It was also a perfect day for a helicopter ride.  I didn't tell Jim that my friend Brian Leavitt had invited us for a ride in his helicopter. It was only minutes from the time Jim learned that we were going until we were in the air.

 From the Langley airport to the top of Mt. Robbie is about 15 min.  There was a little cloud right on top of the mountain so we couldn't land there.

We flew accross Pitt Lake and then up the Pitt River.   The Pitt River area has some logging roads but you can only get to the area by barge up the Pitt Lake so there is not a lot of traffic.  When Brian told the pilot to land the helicopter on the bridge I was a little dubious.   I asked the pilot, "Who has the right of way on the bridge? . . . a helecopter or a logging truck?"  He said, "Their probably won't be a logging truck."  I said, "yea . .  and the truck driver is thinking there probably won't be a helicopter."

 We took a short walk from the bridge to a hot springs by the side of the river.  The hot springs is so hot that you can't get in it unless you bring a bucket to add water from the river.  The river is flowing very fast (and it is very cold) so there is a rope that they grab onto when they get out of the hot springs and jump in the river.  The current carries them around the rock and back to a place that they can get out.  Without the rope the helicopter would have to pick them up at Pitt Lake.

It was very nice to see the Lords view of His temple.

 We had a great time and it was a fantastic helicopter ride .

Few More Utah Trip Pictures

I wanted to add these few more pictures before I moved on to more recent events.  Her are the guys ready to go golfing.  I think the rain barely held off for them to do that. 

 Grandpa loved giving rides to whatever grandkids wanted one....and they did.

Mike did a great job on his first half marathon.  It was so much fun to be there to see him come in to the finish line.  After Mike came in we waited for Elisha to finish the Marathon.....she did great again.  Unfortunately,  David had Scott's camera so now we don't have pictures of her coming in. 

But we do have pictures of the fan club and cheerleaders.

 After breakfast and shopping we headed over to Thompsons to visit and eat dinner.  It is always so fun to visit with them.  Also fun to see their newly remodeled kitchen. 

 The kids loved exploring Jennifer's new children's playhouse in her backyard.  It is so darling.