Every July 24th, we gather in Colorado for a family reunion with my dad and his siblings and their descendants at the ranch where my dad grew up. It's a humble place, but when I'm there, I am surrounded by people who love me. It always reminds me of who I am and where I come from. It keeps me grounded. I love that my kids can run wild and make best friends of cousins. My kids love to go and I love sharing this with them. My sister almost always comes too. My brothers hardly ever come and I'm sad about that for lots of reasons.
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| Julie's family with Mikki |
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| My sister Tiffani with her twins, Clara and Lauryn. (Don't my sister and I look like twins?) |
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| Clara and her slime |
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| Eating - we do a lot of this |
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| Alisha and Cody - cousins |
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| The men of the family - swapping lies |
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| The women of the family - correcting the lies |
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| Amie and Spencer - proof that if you can survive a reunion, you can marry into the family. |
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| Clara, Lauryn and Baylie |
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| I love that Baylie's best friends are her cousins. |
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| Two sets of twins: Clara, Ali, Camrie, Ivy, Lauryn |
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| My mom snoozing |
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| Lyman, Jean and Dennis. Two years ago, Dennis was given two months to live. Every day with him is a blessing. |
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| Dad and Aunt Julie |
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| Jalen playing football. I wish he could live in this environment year round. |
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| Mikki, Kelby, Camrie and twins |
One of the highlights is crawdad fishing at dusk. We catch them on Friday and eat them on Saturday. I didn't fish this year - I observed. Baylie got a bloody nose and had to quit early.
How many Johnsons does it take to put up a shelter?
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| Mom and Aunt Kay |
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| Lauryn and Sherman |
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| There are always a LOT of dogs. |
The kids played "Sheepie, sheepie, come home." This is a game my Grammy taught us when we were little. I love that it is being passed down.
Sumo wrestling was a big hit again this year.
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| Jett - this year's major heart throb for the girl cousins. |
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| Timber took the wrestling very seriously (until he learned it didn't hurt to dive - then it was all about falling). |
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| Lauryn and Baylie |
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| Jalen won this one! |
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| Baylie and Jalen |
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| Clara and Lauryn |
Water balloon volleyball was new this year and was super fun.
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| Densley - I fell in love with this child. He even called me Grandma :)! |
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| Grammy, Jalen and Aunt Kay |
The kids had been really excited to ride horses, but Uncle Erik got the date wrong (even though it's the same weekend every year...) so we went into town - Cortez - for ice cream.
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| Sad faces |
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| Happy faces |
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| Tiff and girls |
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| Jalen photo bomb |
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| My dad was sharing his childhood memories of different places. |
My sister booked a hotel because horrible rainy weather was forcasted. It didn't rain at all! We shared her hotel room and spent some time swimming on Saturday afternoon.
Eating crawdads! (I didn't eat any.)
Sunday morning we always have a family testimony meeting. My family is made up of amazing people. Some are firm believers, some have wandered, some struggle, we represent many demographics, but we all love each other and we all love God.
I'm proud of where I come from and I love these people.
