We headed off to Gillette, WY for our Johnson family reunion. My parents live in Gillette, plus 3 of my sisters so it only made sense to host the reunion in Wyoming. My boys were hesitant at first because they don't know their cousins or Aunts and Uncles that well but by the end of the reunion they said it, "Wasn't as bad as they expected." 😏 It's difficult to get this family of 10 together which is why we don't do it very often but my parents are getting older and we all felt it was important to make an effort to get all the siblings together at least one more time. I had a blast. I love seeing all my siblings and my parents. My dad is not doing super well, he can't remember anything from his life after about age 20 so when we were talking about our memories growing up he just had to take our word for it because he couldn't remember anything. It made me feel really sad but I'm also super grateful he is still around and I could give him a big hug and hopefully he knows we all love him!
In the car ready to make the long drive to Wyoming. We stopped one night in Montana to break up the 17 hour drive!
Pit stop for lunch at a park. I love that my boys still have fun swinging:)
Had to stop for some Cafe Rio for dinner...I'll always make a point to eat at Cafe Rio if it's on the way:)
We made a stop at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. We had been listening to an audio book, "The Last Stand" written by Nathaniel Philbrick, about this battle and the different sides from the US military as well as Native American perspectives. It made visiting this site so much more meaningful to recognize some of the names and places we saw while walking around. This monument was erected to honor the fallen US military at this site.
Another monument honored the fallen Native Americans from this battle. What a tragic outcome for both sides really. The Natives won this particular battle but by doing that they incurred the wrath of the US government that made it their mission to wipe out all the "hostiles". Just a few years after this battle all of the Natives were forced onto reservations and their traditional way of life was destroyed 😞
Our first family reunion activity was a hike around Devils Tower.
The whole group at Devils Tower! It was a super HOT day so all the littles were pretty worn out after less than a mile so they turned around but the older cousins made it all the way around:)
With a few of my gorgeous nephews!
Cousins hiking around the rock
The Durtschi boys hanging out with some of their cousins. It's a shame we don't get to see these cousins very often because there are so many that are the same age as my boys and I feel like they could be really good friends if they had the chance.
Alistair DeShetler with Bert the cat...so cute!
While the big cousins went cliff jumping at a nearby lake I took all the littles to my hotel for a swim in the pool and hot tub!
Townsend climbing up the rock face to jump from the cliff!
Big cousins cliff jumping
My sibling and I rehearsed a song we wanted to sing for our Mom. It's a pretty cute song called "She Put the Music in Me" written by Calee Reed. It was nice that we could all do this together for our mom:)
My brother Del took me for a short ride on his motorcycle. Yeah, I have a pretty cool brother:)
Love these two boys...Cecil and Graham DeShetler playing on my phone:)
At our family sing-a-long. The children all sang our special song for our mom and then we sang for about an hour all the songs we grew up singing for Family Home Evening or long car rides. It was cool because my dad doesn't remember much from our childhood but the songs came back to him and he was singing along with the rest of us 💕
I love this picture of my Dad and Mom laughing and having a great time with their family
A traditional Johnson Family breakfast...biscuits and sausage gravy. We had this on special occasions like Christmas morning or if you requested it for your birthday:) My mom always made the biscuits but my dad always made the gravy...super yummy!
Last day of the reunion we drove into South Dakota to see a few sites. This is the Crazy Horse monument. You can see what the finished sculpture will look like and what the progress is in the background.
Picnic lunch in the woods...we even found some shade on this very hot afternoon!
Mt. Rushmore. I had been before and Hyrum had come here as a teenager but my kids had never been here. It one of those sites where you get out of your car, have a look and think, oh...so now I've seen Mt. Rushmore. I think it's tragic they ever carved this into the mountains because the Black Hills were sacred to the Natives who lived in this area! I guess no one cared about those sorts of things in the 1920's.
Enjoying a wonderful swim at Sylvan Lake. It was so nice to cool off on such a hot day!
Leah and DeNae Israelsen, Me and Paige DeShetler
Mom and sisters chatting at the lake
After the lake we drove into the little town of Custer and had a pizza picnic at a park!
Pizza, pie and ice cream...what else could you want??
Hyrum playing with Cecil and Graham
Having a playground was so great to let all the littles get their wiggles out before the long drive home
Just us girls chatting, laughing and having a great time!
After dinner the Durtschi family had to say goodbye because we needed to head out for the Durtschi family reunion. It's so hard to say goodbye to all my wonderful family. I wish we could get together every year but lives are crazy busy! Until next time Johnson Family!!!
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