Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Durtschi Family Reunion

 It was awesome we got to get together with both sides of our family in one summer.  After the Johnson reunion we drove out to Driggs Idaho for the Durtschi family reunion.  All of the siblings were able to make it to the reunion but my boys and Sam Doxey were the only grandchildren that could come.  We had a wonderful time with Hyrum's family.  Lots of hiking and yummy food and we watched old videos from when they were all little kiddo's...so fun!

We drove through Yellowstone National Park on our way to Driggs, Idaho.  This was our first bison sighting!

Hot springs are cool to look at but they are sure STINKY!!

A bison hanging out by the hot springs

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River in the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone.  This place was so pretty! 

It's hard to capture the beauty of this canyon, waterfall and river.

This little geyser was putting on quite the show for us!

The mud pots were cool to watch because the mud bubbles would grow bigger and bigger until they popped and they made a real gross sound when they popped 😆

The colors in some of the thermal baths were quite beautiful!

Family photo in front of Old Faithful

The old lodge at Yellowstone National Park, built in 1904!

Inside the lodge

After leaving Yellowstone National Park we stayed at a cute little cabin for the night.  The next day we drove in Grand Teton National Park to meet the Durtschi family at Jenny lake for a hike around the lake.

Hiking around Jenny Lake.  Everyone was certain we would see bears but all we saw were some ducks and some bugs...

...and a cute little moose cooling off in a pool of water!

The whole group hiking around Jenny Lake

Swimming in Jenny lake after the hike to cool off!!

A cool old barn with the beautiful Teton mountains in the distance

We made a stop in Jackson, Wyoming for a little ice cream treat and the touristy photo in front of the elk horns on the main square!

Went for a hike the next day on Teton Creek trail with Andrea, Oma, Katrina and Steve Doxey

The view of the Teton mountains from the top of our hike...so pretty!!

While we were hiking this very cute and easy(ish) trail, Hyrum was hiking up Table Mountain with some of his brothers.

The wildflowers were still out even though it was late July!

The view from Table Mountain!  Those Tetons seem close enough to reach out and touch:)

We took the boys swimming at Green Canyon Hot Springs.  Hyrum remembered going here as a kid when he was in Driggs for family reunions...he said it hasn't changed much in 30 years!!

The pool was filled with freezing cold water.  The boys challenged themselves to stay in the water for 2 minutes!!

It was a great place to swim, hopefully we can come back in 30 years and see if it's changed at all!

We toured around some old barns in Driggs that Hyrum's grandfather, Fredrick Durtschi, helped to design and build.  It was neat to be able to connect with a piece of family history that is still around.

Townsend and I peeking out a barn window

I loved this old house with the Durtschi name above the door:)

The Durtschi family reunion group in front of one of Fredrick Durtschi's barns

At the Pratt Cemetery in Alta, Wyoming where Hyrum's Dad is buried.  This is Oma with all 6 of her kids:)

Another group photo in Pratt Cemetery with the Teton Mountains in the background

On our last day all together we took a ski lift up Grand Targhee for some amazing views!  This is another shot of Oma with all her kids.  She was so happy everyone made time to come together for this short reunion.

The boys getting ready to hop off the chairlift at the top of the mountain

What a beautiful day to be on top of the world!

The Durtschi boys!!

Oma and Emmett heading back down the mountain on the chair lift...I love Oma's face in this photo:)

Playing games with the family

We introduced everyone to the game of Kubb:)

A beautiful sunset on our last night in Driggs, Idaho

Townsend watching the sunrise on our way out of town the next morning. I'm so happy the boys all came on this family reunion.  It's so important to feel connected to your history and your past and to be able to spend time in a place your ancestors lived in...what a treat!

Johnson Family Reunion

 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

Cousins getting dirty!

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!!!