Summer Adventures part 2

After our crazy huge road trip we were happy to be home.  For a time.  Then we decided, Mike is still furloughed, our church responsibilities are sort of on hold because of COVID, let’s get out of here!  Mike’s family had a proper reunion scheduled back in Idaho in August so we cancelled our plane tickets and took to the road again.  This time we decided to hit some National Parks along the way.  Thanks to Evelyn technically still being in 4th grade we got free entry to the parks.  To be clear, we did not camp.  I’m not THAT crazy.

First we explored Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. 

Then we drove to Moab to see Arches.  It was soooo pretty!  I couldn’t stop taking pictures!  Here are just a few.  You can see Delicate Arch waaayyyy in the background on the left.  We took the shorter overlook hike instead of the long hike up to it.

The Double Arch was everyone’s favorite!

The rock was so red!  I loved it!

So pretty!!  I want to come back and spend days here!

Then we got to Idaho for the Johnson reunion.  We had a blast even if I took near zero pictures.  This place had pool, a bounce house for the little ones, and a rock climbing wall (with harnesses and everything).  Evelyn did great!

Mike discovered he’s not as young as he used to be to compete with his young adult nephews at capture the flag (he still has a scrape scar on his arm over a month later).  Here are some pictures I took after we were all cleaned up for professional family pictures.  I love Alice’s grimace.  Eventually kids learn how to smile.

Three beautiful Johnson girls.
I’m telling you, the teenagers we have are amazing.  I’m so glad they had this incredible time with their cousins. (RM cousin Jacob crashed the picture, but he’s pretty cool too.)

After the reunion we headed to Orem, Utah for a couple days with my family.  Beautiful women in fabulous Italian scarves from Amanda!  We look like 4 million bucks!

Creeking.  The water was so frigid it hurt my feet!  But the kids were unfazed and they had a blast.

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Lydia was somewhere and Victor was being held, but other than that...

After a wonderful visit with the Tammens we headed home with a few stops on the way.  Bryce’s Canyon was our first stop.  It was gorgeous!

I love that this picture looks like it has a fake backdrop.



We drove through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Park and saw some crazy rock features on that 30 mile dirt road. 

A quick stop at Glen’s Canyon.  It was like 100 degrees and we were tired.  But it was gorgeous.

We did some great hikes at Natural Bridges.  It was beautiful and quiet.  We saw maybe two other people there.  

And there you have it.  Family and God’s beautiful creations.  We had the most incredible summer!