Johnson Family

Check out Marni's blog to see a picture diary of our first 14er trip together! We climbed two peaks yesterday and had a great time. We'd like to lure you all out here...

http://mrspivvay.blogspot.com/

(it might take a little while to load but is well worth the wait!)

It's was GREAT to be able to visit cousin Pam on my latest vacation! Gerry and I were in Seattle WA and Portland OR.

I visited my friend whose husband is in the Army and is relocating from Seattle to Germany for three years. Gerry came and met me and we visited his brother and sister-in-law who live in Seattle as well! So we spent lots of time in Seattle and then ventured down to Portland to visit Gerry's sister and cousin Pam!

Pam and Greg were able to meet us for lunch so she could continue to feed that baby of hers!!!!!! She is so cute prego and I'm absolutely sure that it will be a beautiful baby girl! (I'm sure the name will come, hopefully before she's born! hehehe!) We had to get a photo so everyone in the family can see her expanded belly! Pam & Greg, thanks for meeting us, it was GREAT seeing you both again. Sorry but Greg is not prego or a woman and therefore did not get to participate being in the picture! :o)




When we toured Seattle we had plenty of people to show us around. We were able to see Mt. Ranier (this is on a lake in Mt. Ranier pictured Left below), Pikes Market with the fish throwing (see pict on the right below), the original Starbucks, the Space Needle, and a whale watching tour! This picture I included I took myself from a boat...boy Orca whales are beautiful to see roaming about in the ocean!!!!!

One of the coolest things about the trip (after seeing the whales) was seeing the Mariners play the Red Sox. Our seats were 24 rows directly behind home plate! Needless to say it's nice to have people who know people! We also got a great behind the scenes tour of the stadium! These pictures show the stadium at night time and also of me taking some numbers off the scoreboard! We were able to see the President's suite, the bull pen and everything else. I highly recommend it!

I think the whole family should go and visit Portland and Seattle to see Pam and Greg!!!!! ;o)

I recently got back from a mission’s trip to New Orleans, Louisiana to help clean up after the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Our church took a group of 30 people down to St. Bernard parish where we lived and worked for the week of July 8-16. We were split into two work groups: construction and demolition, as I have no marketable construction skills I was placed on the demo team. Due to the extensive flood damage that occurred during the hurricane, every house needs to be completely gutted and cleaned out. Our team managed to clean 2.5 houses while we were down there.

The picture to the left is a room in one of the houses my demo team worked on. This room was formerly a kitchen. Each house was coated from the ground up with 6-8 inches of thick, heavy mud. Layered on that was another 6-8 inches of fallen ceiling tiles and insulation, followed by furniture, clothing and equipment. As nothing was salvageable, all items had to be dragged out of the house onto the curb so that the mud could be shoveled out. We found all sorts of surprises in the mud, dead animals, snakes, live rat families…

After removing the mud, the next step was to strip the drywall off the framing. This was my favorite part because I got to swing a crowbar and a sledge hammer like a madwoman. It’s a long, tiring process stripping every piece of drywall off the walls, wheelbarrowing it outside, then removing each nail from the studs. The picture on the right shows a room that we cleaned of debris, stripped the drywall off and were in the process of shoveling the walls out to the curb.

This is a small indication of the wreckage that was taken from one house we gutted. Unfortunately, what you can’t see is that the pile continues around the corner of the house and is probably twice in length. We worked about 100 hours total that week in the relatively cool New Orleans climate. :) The temperature was at a consistent 100 degrees in the shade, not including humidity. Needless to say, I proudly sweat through at least 2 shirts a day and switched to men’s deodorant early on in the workweek. The picture on the right shows a what a completed room looks like. Recognize it? Bob is looking into the same kitchen that was pictured above with the floating refridgerator. The owners of this house now have the capability to rebuild their home.

This last picture is the group I hung out with for the duration of the trip. We are the youngest members of the church group and named ourselves the “A-team.” This photo was taken our last day in Louisiana, and I can guarantee that each of us is significantly thinner and more muscular than we were when the trip began. I can't think of a time where I've worked harder, but this was an unbelievable experience for me. If anyone else has the opportunity to help in a similar way, I recommend doing it because it's extremely beneficial for everyone involved.

There is an old saying describing cooperative ventures - "You scratch my back, I'll scratch your back". But you will notice, as the photo clearly shows, these ventures rarely end up equal.

Becky (company A) started scratching Missy's (company B) back at Missy's request, under the assumption that she would in turn receive a back scratch from Missy. Carrie (company C 1), seeing that she was getting left out of a good thing, positioned herself (with wimpering pleas) to take advantage of a half scratch, which was better than a no scratch. James (company C 2) analized the situation and positioned himself to get a full scratch, without having to reciprocate, thus diluting companies B reward, who, by the way, was now only getting a half scratch. Raleigh (company C 3), wanting to maintain good relations with companies C 1 and C 2, positioned herself accordingly, and got rewarded with a half scratch from company C 1. Notice, not a full scratch, as that would dilute the asset that C 1 gained from her reception of a half scratch. As it turned out, company A almost went out of business, not receiving said return on investment from companies B or C 1 after it was announced that dinner was ready . Fortunately for company A, her return on investment was recorded on another ledger, as it is more blessed to give than to receive.

In late June, Holli, Ben, David and I headed out for our 3rd annual summer adventure. This year's destination: COLORADO! We left little Levi in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa and headed in our brand new (rented) mini-van west! Boy, Iowa and Nebraska are LLLOOOONNNNGGGG states! :)

Anyhow, first stop: Rockie Mountain National Park (pictured at right). We camped, hiked some beautiful places, and shopped in Estes Park, a town outside the national park.

Next stop: Aunt Jennifer's and Uncle Jim's palace in Denver! We were greeted warmly by the Berry clan with open arms, rides in Jim's brand new Mustang, and fresh burritos! We enjoyed the evening with Jim, Jennifer, Jimmy, Jen, Marnie, Chris, and Holli's aunt Venetta and uncle Gary!

The next morning, we were to do a very early morning hike up a 14er (14,000 foot mountain...I didn't know either). However, poor Holli had suffered through the night with a horrible case of something nasty, so I happily stayed home with her (enjoying needed sleep and great conversation with Jennifer and Jim). As you can see from the pic, Ben, David, Jimmy and Jen made it atop Mt. Democrat, quite a thrill for our Michigan adventure-seekers!

Then, we headed south to Durango where we road the Silverton train through the mountains, white water rafted through the Animas River, camped, stayed 2 nights in a bed and breakfast owned by an Austrian chef (great French toast!!), and visited Messa Verde which are cliff dwellings built into the sides of mountains by Pueblo Indians many years ago (pic below).

We made it home 8 days later, safe and sound (with a small crack in the windshield...dumb rocks) and happily re-greeted our little guy who after a moment of a strange and confused look offered us the following grin:

It was a great trip, but it's good to come home!

http://www.texastownship.org/fire/Responses.aspx?ID=42

Ask Jim about buring brush this spring.

I almost forgot I had this. One of the volunteer firemen works with me and sent me this web site. Click on the link for the pictures.

When it was getting out of control, Jim actually tried to put the fire out by filling his wheel barrel with water and running to the campfire. But, by the time he ran and bounced his way there, only a few drops remained. Of course his version of the story is hularious.

In my small town of Beaufort, N.C., Pepsi America's Sail docked from June 30th-July5th, 2006. This is a sail race for tall-masted sail boats. Beaufort's own Meka II won the race 4 years ago and brought it to port here. The ships were boasted to be the tallest in the world...but the majority that made the trip were a little dissapointing in size (B-class); however, there was one beautiful ship "Cisne Branco" from the Brazilian Navy that was awesome to see! Gerry and I got to tour this ship with VIP treatment! Both pictures to the left and above are of the ship the "Cisne Branco." I took the picture of the ship docked and "borrowed" the other picture of the ship sailing because it's so pretty when in motion!


While touring the large ship, a crew member of the "Cisne Branco" told me "no camera" in his broken English. I quickly started to appologize (because I take pictures of EVERYTHING) and began to put away my camera. With seeing the heavily armed Coast Guard boat (see below) floating right next to the ship, I was not going to try and bend any laws (...see Mom, I can follow the rules!) The brazilian man came towards me very quickly and kept repeating "no camera, no camera" I thought I was really in trouble...these people mean business! He came to me and got my camera, motioned and said "picture?" I was relived to know that he wanted to take a picture of Gerry and I with the ship's masts in the background. Needless to say, he got more of my legs than he did the ships tall masts! Oh well! We continued on touring and taking more pictures!


The week was wonderful, we were able to see the race on the large Coast Guard vessel. We followed the ships out, signaled for the start. The Coast Guard vessel followed the race throughout and then signaled for the end! It was great! This picture shows how close two of the ships were at the finish, right next to us! The one on the right is Beaufort's Meka II who wons 4 years ago. Sadly they did not win this year, but it was a great show, because they shot off cannons back and forth from the Caost Guard Ship and the Meka II. (At the end I hoped one boat shot and sank the other to put an end to the horrible LOUD booms! hehehe)

After 3 days in Tahiti and 29 hours of travel time back, I am home from New Zealand!! I had the most incredible 4 1/2 months ever! But, it feels really good to be back. Hope to see you all out at the lake!!
Here are some pictures from Tahiti.