We're back!

We had a great trip out to Utah and saw lots of family on both sides.
Here are some of the photos.

Painting with sticks and water at the painting tree--so creative!

Pixie Hollow--built by Aunt Holly and neices (and Garrett)

Looking for salamanders...

Grant stopping to smell the flowers

A cousin group hug

Get ready, Columbia--here they come!

Future missionaries--predicting the future

Sending Tyler's parents off at the MTC

Ruth Lake

Fishing--fun for everyone!

Ty and Braden

How Grant hikes

Shayla and Kyra--tough girls

The treehouse fort built by Uncle Brad, Tyler and nephews

Our fun visit with good friends Mark, Elisa and family

At my Mom's with my Grandparents
...to be continued

Ty's (belated) 8th birthday post

Ty's birthday coincided with the 1st day of spring break this year. About halfway through the day Tyler called and asked if we wanted to go the Wisconsin Dells for a night. Say no more, we packed up and were off by 4 to play at the indoor waterparks. We swam and rode the waterslides that night and then got up the next morning and played all day.

Grant crashed halfway through the second day--poor guy!

It was a fun, surprise birthday/spring break celebration, and I'm so glad Tyler thought of it. Here's to being spontaneous!

With the crazy month we've had, we had Ty's friend birthday celebration a month late. He wanted a sportsy party, so we took him to the YMCA to play basketball and swim. And had pizza and pinata at our house. I tried to make a football (this is the first time I've deviated from the balloon shaped pinata) and it turned out looking more like a rocket/Christmas ornament. Tyler insisted we put marshmellows on the tips so no one got their eye poked out. We can happily report that no one lost an eye, and everyone got lots of candy. Phew!

Rowdy boys singing happy birthday

Happy (super late) birthday, Ty!!!!

Missionaries

A few weeks ago I traveled out to Utah with Grant for my brother Jacob's mission farewell. He will be attending the MTC in England (Preston, I believe) and then serve in the England Manchester Mission.

I got to see all of my siblings, Mom, Grandparents Johnson and lots of extended family, and send Jacob off in style. He gave a great talk about faith and goal setting, and I was so proud of him. I remember when we were kids how he would recap every detail of what we read about after family scripture study. He really knows the scriptures and that knowledge will serve him well on his mission. He knows that all things are possible with faith in Jesus Christ, and he will work hard and give it his all. He will be a great missionary.

We had fun reminiscing, playing Scum and other games, storming the Nickelcade, and even tried to pull an all-nighter. (I suffered a week of brain-deadness for that one). The highlight was going to the temple together and doing work for our ancestors on the Wagner side. It was a surreal experience, and made me so grateful for the gospel, eternal families and what will come after this life. It was a wonderful trip and I'm so grateful to Tyler for making it possible.

Nickelcade--arcade that takes nickels.
We traded in all of our tickets for fruity tooties--Sweet!

Grant walking to church with Uncle Ricky.

The adorable Magleby family walking to church

Grant and I had a lot of together time--a fun treat

Grant adores his Uncle Jacob--this was them doing "air running", invented by Felicity

Jacob,
we love you, we'll miss you, we couldn't be prouder!

Now for the second set of missionaries in the family: J. Grant and Annette Hacking will begin their mission to the Columbia Bogota North Mission in July 2009 as the new Mission President and Hermana Patrona. They are excited and soaking up enough sun in the Dominican Republic and family time to last them for three years. They have prepared all of their lives for this mission and are so well-suited to serve the people in Columbia. Their love for the Latin people and culture runs deep and they have many eternal friends in Santiago, Chile, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (and Argentina, I'm sure).


We plan to be faithful letter writers and make good use of our webcam. We love you, we will miss you, and we couldn't be prouder of you. The example you set for us and for your grandkids is immeasureable.