Thankful 13

Cambrie told me that she wanted to run a 5k.  5ks are easy to find on Thanksgiving so that was our goal.  One little text later all of the Rogers were signed up to the 5k too!  Thursday morning we were up bright and early to line up for the start of our race down at Thanksgiving Point.  The forecast predicted snow and we were crossing our fingers that it held off long enough for us to finish our race.  

Cambrie and I lined up near the front.  She wanted to run the whole way and maybe even place in her age group if things went well.  

She did so well on the run.  She never stopped, even when it started hurting a lot.  Her pace stayed nice and steady even up the hills.  I was so proud of her for doing something so hard.  She finished with a time of 30:30.  It was a great time, we just didn't count on some other rock stars crossing that finish line ridiculously fast.  

We were the first of our family to finish so we walked down the course to cheer for the rest of the Roger Gobblers.  

The best part of the post race celebration, in Cambrie's book, was the pumpkin pie waiting for her.  After she stuffed her face we all drove back to the house to pick up the other racers.  The kids wanted a go at the medals and pie too.  

They lined up for the kids race (is was a bit more that .5 mile), and we cheered them on.  

It started raining during their run so we didn't linger long outside.  But look at those smiles from those kids!  Kelton almost lost it during the run because suddenly the wind blew some stink his way and he did not like that one bit.  Regardless, he ran the whole time. 

Their hard earned hardware.

They also really appreciated the pie and cocoa waiting for them at the end.

The parking garage may not make the most picturesque background for a group victory shot, but at least we were dry!

 The Roger Gobblers in all our glory.

Johnson family pics

We had a rather impromptu photo shoot up in Logan.  After our photo spot scouting, we found Benson Marina which ended up being a fabulous location.  Daxton was just waking up from a nap-rats-but woke up enough to at least look in the right direction for the photographer!

Alan's fam.

Camille's fam. 

Grandkids

Our growing Johnson clan

Wind Caves

We all love the stories where the hikes that begin as just .75 miles one way turn into a 4 mile loop right?  When we first decided to take the kids up to the wind caves that's exactly what happened.  We thought the kids could totally handle a 1.5 mile hike and we wouldn't be carrying anyone too long.  Imagine our surprise and relief when they totally handled a 4 mile hike and had a great time.  I never heard a single word of complaint!  That's amazing. 

 

We told McKenzie and Kelton that if they wanted to goof off, they just had to stay ahead of us.  I had no idea that I wouldn't see them the entire hike because they were moving so fast.  My mom went up there with them and reported that they had a completely different experience than we did.  They found a flat rock that became their tablet.  They used their tablet to take pictures, record videos, and play games on their hike.  That rock kept them entertained for more than three hours!  Definitely a magic rock. 

We borrowed a backpack from a neighbor to carry Daxton if he needed it.  He didn't.  He wanted to walk the entire way.  Well, when he's moving, happy, and having a good time we couldn't deny him that.  He would stop in the middle of the trail to pick up rocks then throw them down the hill.  He liked using sticks to hit just about anything he could see.  He was so happy.  

Up at the top the kids were not disappointed with the view.  They loved the caves.  

They loved the views.  

And we didn't lose a single one off the edge of the cliff.  Hooray.   Ok, maybe we were close... 

The walk back down was quick, painless, and we still had smiling kids.  It was great.

Picture hunting

One perk of the kids have an entire week off of school for Thanksgiving is that we can spend a lot of time with family while we are in Utah, not just dinner.  While up in Logan we decided to do some exploring under the guise of finding a location for family pictures.  Our first stop was first dam.  We decided pretty quickly that the lighting wouldn't be quite right, but that didn't stop us from hanging out a bit.  

Jeremy talked McKenzie into going golf ball hunting in the water.  Can you tell from this picture of her dashing out that it was cold?  The water was only about 44 degrees.  

I can't tell if it's because she's accepted her fate of being cold, or if she just wanted to look like a boss with Jeremy's glasses on but she looks pretty cool in this shot.  

We walked over to the bridge as Jeremy told the kids stories from his USU days.  He and his friends would always go jump in first dam on New Years.  Since the kids didn't want to jump in, they asked him to swing them above the freezing water instead.  I'm afraid that if these pictures are taken out of context I'll be in trouble!  But it was their idea and they were having a blast!  

Cambrie was so inspired by Jeremy's stories that she actually came back the next day to jump in.  I was a little afraid that the water would be too cold and that she would panic.  She definitely came up gasping for air but she made it to the side with no problem.  She was very thankful for seat heaters in the car!  

Next we stopped by Rendezvous Park down in the southern part of the valley, and while we didn't find a whole family picture location, my mom and Daxton look pretty good.  

Our last stop was out by Benson marina.  Jeremy admired all of the great bike riding roads out there and will definitely be planning a ride when it gets a bit warmer.  I don't really remember spending any time out there but the views sure were pretty.  Hopefully, you'll be seeing some Johnson family pictures with that same background coming out in a week or so.

Fall Festival

We are still loving Kelton's preschool.  To celebrate Thanksgiving, the kids did a fall festival program.  Each class sang a couple songs about turkeys, dinner, and being thankful.  

The kids were super cute.  And I may be biased, but my son is the cutest!

Chilly cheeks

Only toddlers look just as cute from the front...

as from the back...

Dantley & Cydney's wedding

Ever since Dantley found this amazing girl, Cydney, we've been anxiously anticipating the wedding.  We didn't want her to get away!  Finally the big day arrived.  They were married in the Draper Temple, and even though it was slightly windy it wasn't raining or snowing so that was great.  

During the sealing the kids all hung out at Alysha and Brody's house.  Liam and Landon watched them and we were shocked when we came to pick them up and found that they were almost completely dressed and ready to go!  What a great surprise!  

We took everyone back to the temple, new little Pippa included, for some family pictures.  It was a bit bright and still a little chilly, but the kids were troopers.  

All of the Rogers grandkids looking dapper.  

Hanging out waiting for our turn to be in the photos.  

A little candy bribery going on here.  

I can't wait to see what pictures the photographer took.  Dantley and Cydney are simple gorgeous and so photogenic that they're going to look amazing!  

After some built-in relaxing time back at the house, we drove down to Wadley Farms for the reception.  Cydney and her mom did a great job decorating and it was so pretty.  The kids even had an entire room to themselves where they could watch movies, eat animal crackers, and color the coloring books that Cydney designed.  They ran around completely carefree helping themselves to the desserts.  

Here's a picture of some of the men of the bridal party.  Senator Hatch is Cydney's grandpa and loves his granddaughter enough to wear the crazy unicorn socks.  

The climax of the evening was when they got to light sparklers for the newlyweds departure.  Daxton had never seen fire on a stick before and couldn't tell if he should love it or be terrified of it!  

Congratulations Cyd & D!