Johnson Reunion at Lake Cascade

This year we had our Johnson Reunion up towards our way. About 90 minutes north of Boise is a little place called Cascade. It has a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains covered in pine trees. It is so scenic and we have made many memories there already that it is quickly becoming one of my favorite places. It was a long drive for the rest of the family coming from Utah to Boise. We've done the drive many-a-time, so we know how boring the sagebrush becomes after not too long and how quickly the kids become SO BORED. So, if everyone was coming from such a far distance, we wanted to make it worth their while.

 We have some dear friends, The Harpers, (They too are Salt of the Earth, I have mentioned Uncle Tim in a previous post) who have a house in Cascade that is available to rent out. Tim also mentioned that it could be possible to rent his boat and himself as the driver. It doesn't take much for this guy to commit to spend his days out on the lake, so I proposed it to the family and they agreed. Hooray! 

We arrived at the house, unpacked and got organized and it wasn't long before Afton reminded us to keep all creams and lotions out of reach. 

We went out on the boat and basically boated for the next three days. We stopped to eat, give babies naps and play on the beach and then were out some more.

I would say this was my favorite family reunion ever... of all time. 

I think because:

 1- The obvious- I love boating and water skiing, occasionally wake boarding too. We are getting closer to getting our own boat because I can't think of a better activity to do as a family. Everyone is together, cheering each other on and doing something fun. You are learning that you can do things that may be hard or scary and can continue to improve. And, it's great exercise and you can get nice tan. hee hee...

2- The house we had was big enough- 10 queen beds- for everyone to sleep- have their own space, enough bathrooms and showers, we could all be together and put the kids in bed and still be able to be loud, visit and play games at night. 

3- Everyone had enough boating time and some relaxation...everyone who wanted to do something had the chance- or four chances- to do it. And, I think they all decided it was fun. 

4- We had some good food... including my new favorite homemade lemon ice cream. 

5- Last but definitely not least, Uncle Tim was fun to have around and make everyone laugh as well as teach everyone to do anything and then show us all up when he skied or wake boarded. And, let's be honest, having someone around who wasn't related kept all of us on good behavior. 

Now for a billion pictures to warm my heart and hopefully not bore everyone else: 

Jace, Carter and Afton out on the deck

Saturday night we had a Hoedown on the deck and Val taught everyone how to do the

 Boot Scootin' Boogie line dance.  It was crazy, it was blast!

Carter and Abby enjoying the tube

Grandpa Johnson and Sarah 

Fuzzy Wuzzy has a cousin. Which one is Fuzzy Wuzzy?

Sarah on the wake board

The two Fuzzy wuzzies in the bath

Behind the house and down the hill a little ways was the beach. As any parent knows:

sand+water+ kids= pure delight

Jace playing in the sand- excited about something!

Sophie and Tommy

Jackie and Tommy

Loading the boat for another round of fun on the lake

Nessa and Zac on the beach

Rachael enjoying the water and her break away from her PhD

 Tim is a wonderful, patient teacher. He knows just how to motivate and inspire as well as teach the kids-oh and adults too- just what they needed to know to get up on the board. I also love that once each kid did it, they gave their own advice to each other either on the boat before going on a turn or yelling it out to them while they were in the water.
And so much cheering! I love encouraging each other!

Tim keeps track of everyone who has gotten up wake boarding or skiing behind his boat for the first time. I wonder if everyone remembers their number? We were in the 570's somewhere...

Each coaching session went something like this:

Taylor getting into the board. Bridger, now a professional, helping and giving advice

Tim would help each person by pulling them with the rope few times before the boat did so they could get the feeling of standing up on the board.

Taylor is up and going!

Two happy people- Uncle Tim and Taylor

That smile says it all

More pictures:

I love both of these pictures of Tommy and Grandpa. I was so happy that my dad could come up. My mom had to work and wasn't there as well as a few others. We all missed them and wished that they could have been there. 

OK, okay we didn't boat ALL day, we had to have some downtime in between and watched old Looney Tunes

Little Anna Sophia is named after her mom, great grandma and great, great grandma. Her facial expressions just made us all laugh... and they remind me of Grandma Cole- her great grandma. 

I'm so proud of my little Bridger. He says he loves to wake board.

I like this sunset picture. Neither Ben or I were on the boat at this time- Tim told me Bridger went for over 10 minutes on this turn. 

Ammon, Carter and Bridger at the beach

We took turns on the paddle boat too. 

Taylor and Abby on the paddle boat

Rachael on the board. I think now that my sisters can all board, their hubbies "guys only" days at the lake are gone!
I think Rachael learned how to Slalom ski too...

Yes- there aren't any pictures of me doing anything... I think when you go as often as I do- it isn't a picture moment-which is totally fine. 

Hanging out at the house

Abby, Kortnie and Taylor on the tube. Tim told them the best tube riders scream and frantically wave their hands. They loved the challenge. 

Sam, Sarah and Auggie

My dad even got the guts to try. He is 75 years old and I loved that he proved you are never too old to try something new. Hooray for Grandpa!!

Auggie on the board. 

Clay and his jump

Mar and Nessa on the boat

Vern 

Sam is a determined kid. He kept going and going and going.  Because of Tim's suggestion and my Type A personality, we had a sign-up sheet and you could choose the boat shift you wanted to be on. Sam signed up for every one.

Two happy girls- Sophie and Eden

Carter and Ben mastered the two person wake boarding. Carter especially loved the jumps he did.

Little Sissy even got a few times with Ben. She is too short to actually stand on the board like Carter does, so Ben had to hold her with one hand... I think he gets Dad of the year award. 

Everyone loves babies and Eden Baby got plenty of attention on the trip

Every night we did "Roses and Thorns" where each person said their favorite and least favorite thing of the day. Saturday night Tim left and that was most peoples thorn. And the Roses mostly had to do with wake boarding or boating. 

And of course we can't get together without singing girls camp songs. 

 Uncle Tim reported to me that he received many thank you cards from the family- so I think everyone had a great time. He told me the card Sam sent was addressed "Tim- the Awesome!"  Tim showed me this note from Taylor- I think it is a great summary: