We spent the 4th of July out at the lake. We arrived around 9 am and met up with family. Exciting news... my sister, Jordin, and her family moved back out here from Kansas City. They had just arrived in town the day before. We are so excited to have them live close!! It was hard having all of them so far away. Now it is just my brother Kirk who lives far away. :(
When we got there we took a bunch of pictures of everyone in their 4th of July regalia before all of the festivities began. The kids don't stay dry for long!!
Cousins: RJ, Bryn, Jaylah, River, Dane, Ailey, Kameron, and Reilly. We were missing: Kaiden, Kaiya, Kirin, and Elle. (Kelley and Elle were with Kelley's boyfriend's family.)
Jordin and her kids. Her husband Ramon claimed he was not "4th of July ready" at this point! Ha ha.
River and Dane
My sister Jordin is the "selfie queen"...it is the Kardashians and then her. :) She was helping me wrangle children and pictures and made me take about 700 pictures with her. None of them met her standards!! Ha ha! Oh well.
From Reilly's Snapchat:
Then it was time to get ready for the boat parade:
All ready for the lake water fight that happens during the boat parade!!
Ready to Rumble!!
Kam in all his 4th of July onsie glory!! This kid cracks me up. Last year he wouldn't even wear an Uncle Sam hat because it "looked stupid". This year he was in a star spangled banner onsie purchased with his own money and one that he was absolutely delighted with himself for purchasing. I about died laughing though when I saw pictures on Instagram of one of my dear friends and roommates at BYU, Carrie, that all FOUR of her teenagers and young adult boys were wearing these!! Ha ha! Kindred spirits.
Heading out!
After that it was great food, swimming, boating, and lounging on the dock...
Ramon and RJ
Yep, he had a red, white, and blue swimsuit too!!
Then it was time for FiReWoRkS!!!
Waterlogged and ready for the show!
We had a wonderful fireworks show and a fun Fourth of July!!
I can't think of anything better or more evocative of my childhood than going to the library during summer break. I loved spending hours there perusing books, coming home with a thick stack, and knowing that I had nothing but days and days to read. It was the ultimate luxury!! I am so glad that the day after school got out the first thing my kids said that they wanted to do was "Go to the library!!" Winning.
2.) The Durrells
Are you watching this show? If you aren't you should be! I love it so much!! It is about a British family in the 1930s who leave London and go to live in Corfu. It is HILARIOUS!! I love this quirky family of a single mom and her crazy kids. It is the best! I even got Tyler to watch it and he loves it and so does my mom. There are some of the most hilarious lines in this show. My favorite characters are Larry the writer son and Leslie the gun toting son. I also have all the heart eyes for Spiro the taxi driver!! Watch it. You will love it!!
3.) Conspiracy Theories
We have fallen down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories this summer. I blame Kameron!! He had to write a persuasive essay in his AP English class arguing for a conspiracy theory as one of his last assignments of the year. He picked Flat Earth. That got this whole conspiracy ball rolling. It has been hilarious and has kept us HIGHLY entertained not only in the month of June but also July and August too. It even helped our friend Ray get through a long and boring hospital stay by watching hours of YouTube videos. Ha ha. We are now experts on the Mandela Effect, Flat Earth, the Moon Landing, Planet X and a whole bunch of other theories too. Tyler finally had to put the kibosh on watching these crazy things for fear of Bryn returning to school in August with all kinds of *weird* ideas. But boy have we had fun talking and debating them!!
4.) Poldark: Season 4
You know my love for Poldark. Season 4 has been great! This is what Tyler and I watch late on Sunday nights. I love our Poldark nights.
5.) Lights on my deck
One of my very favorite things about our house is our huge wrap around deck. It is enormous and it feels like you are up in a tree house. I adore it. During the warm weather months we spend a lot of time out there. I love our comfy chaise lounges and patio furniture and beautiful flowers everywhere. On one end of the deck the kids put up a tent and sleep outside and also use it during the day as a place to read, nap, play games, and play on their phones. We have a big outdoor light that shines onto our deck and I have always had candles out on our patio tables so that we could sit out there after dark but this year my kids gave me patio lights as one of my Mother's Day gifts and they have transformed our summer! They are the best!
July is almost over but here is what happened in June! We had a great time in June with two birthdays and Father's Day that I already posted about and a bunch of other stuff happened too. Most importantly, school finally ended and summer began!
First up was another huge June event...Farm Chicks. This is our biggest vintage show of the entire year! We work and plan all year long for it. We love it!! We had a very successful show and enjoyed every minute!! It's hard to believe that it is already over for another year!
Here are some pictures of our booth:
The best part of Farm Chicks is hanging out with so many of our friends like these ladies:
Tyler took this picture of me on set-up day...exhausted but happy.. and enjoying what I do!
Right around all of the Farm Chicks hoopla and my birthday...school was winding down with all of the end of the year activities. Ailey had her final middle school choir concert. Look out high school! Here she comes!!
The kid that is singing the solo is the son of my good friend, Mary. We were all sitting together and cheering our kids on.
Ailey also finished out the school year on the honor roll and Kameron did too. She got to go to Silverwood, our local amusement park, with her choir and then to Wonderland with the student council. She had a blast!
Bryn had her end of the year piano recital and played Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head:
She did such a great job!!
Bryn also had her school picnic and field day. Tyler always comes to have lunch with the kids on school picnic day. It's so weird that now it is only Bryn. She was super excited to have him come and he brought Taco Bell. :)
Finally the last day of school arrived! It took forever. I really hate that we keep going to school until the third week of June and then have to start back up BEFORE Labor Day. Ugh...Summer is too short.
Bryn and Mr. O.
Mr. O has been a great teacher and has had a wonderful influence on all of our kids. Mr. O is tough. He expects a lot. He used to teach 5th grade and he has high 5th grader like expectations for the 3rd graders. Bryn rose to the occasion and he unabashedly claimed her to be his favorite student. :) He was sad that she was the last of the Johnsons. He put together a slide show of the class throughout the year and the kids were crying their eyes out. Bryn had perked up by the time the last bell rang though. Ha ha.
Jayden, Bryn, and Alice.
These three girls have had a lot of fun together this year!!
Bryn really had a good year!! She loved school and her teacher. She didn't end up being in the same class as some of her best friends from years before and, of course, Elle wasn't there this year so she started 3rd grade a tiny bit worried. But she had no reason to be. She made really good friends and excelled in third grade. She ended the year with all 4's. The equivalent of all A's. Mr. O promised to put in a good word to get her the teacher that she REALLY wants for 4th grade. We will find out who she will have a week before school starts. Her fingers are crossed!
Ailey didn't shed a single tear to bid middle school goodbye! She had a great middle school experience...not too traumatizing...but she is definitely ready to move on to high school. Kam met up with his friends and they all went out for breakfast and didn't even *technically* go to school on the last day. School was only about an hour and a half. He was thrilled to be done. He took a very heavy load this year and ended the year with some great grades and passing his AP exams too. Nice!! On to senior year!!
Jumping for joy because school is FINALLY out!! Kam looks like he is levitating. Ha ha!
We all met up briefly...Tyler even met us too...for ice cream lunch and some jumping photos as per tradition and then everyone went their separate ways. We dropped Bryn off at Jayden's house for an end of the year playdate with her friends. Kameron took off with his friends again and we didn't see him until late that night. Ailey had a last day of school bbq with her big group of friends complete with hot tubbing and night games. We didn't see her until late as well. Tyler and I didn't know what to do with ourselves!! :)
We also attended a surprise graduation party of one of the young men in our ward who is a new convert. It was really sweet to surprise this deserving young man.
Reilly started a new job. She is an office manager for a distributing company. She is super good at it and loves all things financial. She is now deciding to get a business degree. Yes, please do!!
We are in the midst of a huge backyard upheaval. We took down our swing set and our sandbox. We have ripped out many large (and ugly) bushes. We are redoing the whole thing. It will take us all summer but it is so nice getting things done even if it is slowly.
Getting in one last swing! I am loving her footwear... Ha ha!
School might be out but dance team practice is going strong!!
Sandwiched in here was Ailey's birthday and Father's Day. I also had several primary kids get baptized and I spoke at their baptisms. Tyler and Ailey both spoke in Sacrament Meeting on the same Sunday during which Kameron also blessed the sacrament and Bryn sang. It was literally the Johnson show! Reilly invited her Catholic boyfriend, Hunter, to come to church with us that Sunday. He didn't seem *too* freaked out. :)
Our nephew Dane participated in Hoopfest which is a huge three-on-three basketball tournament here in Spokane. He is the blonde on the left. We went downtown and watched a couple of his games. It was fun to see him play.
We all had fun hanging out with friends this month. We had a lot going on: Parties, BBQs, birthdays, graduations etc. I went out to lunch with friends and had fun at my book club. This month we read this book:
I had read it before and liked it. Our book club all liked it too.
There was a bunch going on with church activities as well. I was asked to speak at a career fair for the young women in our stake. Wow... that was really validating. My real job is mothering and that doesn't get much recognition and sometimes neither does my side hustle of Sisters Creed...except by my husband and kids. So I felt really touched that people DO consider my business something of worth and value and that I had something to share with the girls of our stake. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do it because it was on the same night as one of the kids' performances but still it was REALLY NICE to be asked!!
And then just like that...it was the FOURTH OF JULY!!
I am a stay-at-home mom and small business owner. I have four FANTASTIC kids: Reilly (29), Kameron (25), Ailey (21), and Bryn (17). I have been married to my amazing husband Tyler for 31 years. We are also grandparents to four cute grandkids and another on the way!
