MOAB FAMILY REUNION - PART 1

This year for our annual Johnson Family reunion we went to Moab, Utah. We camped (actually slept in cabins...), went off-roading, played with cousins, went hiking, ate yummy food, and learned about our ancestors. I always love being with family and the girls love playing with their cousins.

The place we stayed was perfect! It had a swimming pool, playground, and a little deck outside the cabin. Each morning after breakfast, the girls would play with their cousins on the playground until it was time to leave for the days events.


The first event was a jeep ride/rock crawling on Hell's Revenge. The girls loved it!!

Taylor would clap her hands after every exciting bump or incline. She loved going up the rocks...






Jenny is a pro at jeeping. I thought it was so funny to watch Sue and Jenny try and lead the way (it was very hard for them to sit back and let their husband do the driving). They KNOW how to rock climb. I was the only girl that wasn't too anxious to drive the jeep.


We almost were high centered...but Warren can always figure it out.


Here is a question for Nicole...What is your favorite drink? ROOT BEER!! She loves it!!



Taylor loves to give LOVES!!! She gives a tight squeeze and says," I wuv u."

There are always some interesting obstacles along the way and this is one. Kaylee was brave enough to climb down and get back up. The pictures don't do this justice. I was a little sickly looking over this hole.

Right behind Kaylee is a HUGE drop. IT MADE ME VERY NERVOUS!! I only let Kaylee out because I could visualize Nicole and Taylor falling down to their death. Now that I think about it, why did I even let Kaylee do it?


When the girls would need a break, we would get out and let the girls wonder and explore. Warren is determined to find a fossil so he would tear apart all the rocks searching for lost treasures. While he was searching, he ran into a scorpion. It ran away very quickly, so the girls couldn't see it.

I love my girls imaginations. When the days activities were done, the girls would make dinner out of grass, leaves, sticks, mud, and flowers.

Johnson Family Reunion - MOAB!!! Part 2

Arches National Park

We loved this place. The girls enjoyed hiking, searching for rocks and lizards, and looking for holes in rocks.


Taylor constantly picked flowers and we got numerous looks from people saying," If you take them, we don't have any to look at." Really....she is 3 years old.

Uncle Steve caught a huge lizard and the cousins loved it. The lizard was HUGE and kept hissing at everyone.

All the cousins (except for Rob). Adorable!!



Kaylee took some rocks to bring to her school for a Nature study. Once again, we got the lovely comments and stares, but Kaylee was so excited to learn and study the rocks...I couldn't say no.

This was one of our favorite hikes. It was very short and led to a sand hill and lots of rocks to climb.




Kaylee and I raced up and down the sandhill, and Kaylee won. I actually ran really hard, but Kaylee's little legs were a lot faster in the sand.


Nicole and Taylor loved running up and down the hill. We were all filthy dirty by the end of the day, but that is a sign of good fun.

Can we say, sand in our underwear causes some serious ouches. Poor Taylor.

Family photos - Nicholson Family

Schwab Family

After Arches, we went 4 wheeling. It is always fun when we get them out for the first time of the season. Nicole is almost ready to drive it all by herself.

Kaylee gathered alot of rocks for her Nature Study. She took good care of the rocks.

At the end of the day, we had a short program where we learned about our family history. We learned about Grandpa and his parents.


Kaylee dressed up as an Icelander and taught everyone about Iceland. Each of the grandkids got the opportunity to say something like this, "I am Kaylee who is the daughter of Warren, who is the son of Robert, who was the son of William, who was the son of John B. Johnson who came from Iceland."



All the cousins also got the opportunity to dress up as a Viking and hit the dragon pinata. The girls loved it!!



The next day, our little family decided to go on a couple more hikes around Arches National Park.

Each time the girls would see a climbing rock they would say,"I am king of the rock and there is nothing you girls can do about it." (This is from the movie "Mulan". One of our favorites.)