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JFR Reunion Photos


December 27, 2008
JFR 2008

2008 Reunion Notes
Front row: Larry, Leslie, Sara, Derek, Christine
Middle row: Donna, Julia, Monica, Emma, Brittany
Back row: Brandon, April, Brian, Shelley, Grant, Trudy, Tony

The Johnson Family Reunion – 2008 edition

Here is another faux group shot - if you don't mind Donna being photoshoped into the photo.
2008 JFR Group on the mountain

December 27, 2008
The Grant Johnson family headed out from Grapevine TX, about 10:00 Saturday morning December 27, 2008. It was exceptionally cold for Texas and even rained a few big drops to help make packing the car more of an adventure. But, as we were about to embark on an adventure, it fit perfectly to have some rain. After picking up all the trash that was blowing around in the high winds on our trash day, getting the car packed, then getting the kids packed, we were on our way. Our first day was off to a good start, just a bit later than we planned to leave, but in the right direction.

We’d discussed with the kids our trip and what to expect so they did not think we were just going around the block but that it would be a much longer drive than we had ever before taken. Back in the old days when I was single, I would make the trip across Texas at night because the landscape was so boring. I especially planned to miss the Midland / Odessa part of the trip because there was only cotton fields and oil wells to see. Otherwise the landscape was very flat and boring –to me. While we were passing through this part of the country, I pointed out to Derek the cotton fields and oil wells and all the things that were out in the scenery to support the oil wells. Derek commented that there were lots of cool things to see out here and that made me shift how I saw that part of the country as well. It was interesting to me to see things through his eyes as much as I could. It brought a different perspective to my appreciation of that area of Texas. Something new had been put in since the many years that I’d been there was the addition of many windmills for power generation. Derek and I talked about them. At one “wind field” Derek counted over 40 windmills and gave up. The first sighting of windmills was along a ridge in the distance. In our drive this day, the wind was blowing about 40 MPH and in the distance there was a haze, probably dust, which made the windmills have a surreal look. I did like that part of the scenery but I didn’t take a photo as I was driving.

Windmills in west Texas

We continued our journey, at one stop, and I don’t remember where we were exactly when Emma started asking me some questions. She was concerned that she would not see her friends and stuff again. As I listened to her talk, I realized she thought we were moving. It was very tender moment for me and I took a few minutes to tell her that we were just leaving for a few days and that we’d be coming back after our visit. She seemed to appreciate that we would be coming back but I made additional effort to let her know we would be returning to our home in Texas.

If we were concerned about traveling, it was about Derek and Emma being cooped up in a car for two days. Our concerns were not warranted for with only a few exceptions, they were both very fun to have on our trip. Emma was just enjoying everything that was gong on and Derek was our navigator. He tracked our journey on the atlas and was able to keep up with where we were. Derek also kept track of our mileage and frequently asked how far we had gone. Brittany did well on the trip; our main concern for her was that she would not have an upset stomach. She did try to calm a queasy stomach at an Odessa stop but otherwise she seemed to be fine.

We stayed in El Paso our first night, Derek was amazed at the size of the city as we could see it from a long way away and see the sprawl of all the lights. Emma did have two small accidents with a stray poopy that ended up on her foot (an event that had a lot of open questions we did not get answered) and a wet bottom as we pulled into El Paso. I think she did not want to tell anyone she had to go but we showed love asked her to tell us when she needed to go. I think we learned for the rest of the trip that we could stop at some rest stops and prevent some of that kind of stuff.

El Paso was past the 600-mile mark on our journey of 1000 miles (but we were still in Texas) and a good place to stop. I think this is where I found that Emma thought we were moving but I can’t say for sure. Derek was very helpful in getting our stuff into our room and was very excited to push the elevator buttons! Derek has had the best attitude on this trip that he could possibly have.

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December 28, 2008

We got up Sunday morning and got ready to leave. With 5 of us in one room, and one bathroom, it was a bit of a logistical challenge to get everyone ready. Sort of reminded me of our bathroom accommodations in Rupert. Emma had to be cleaned up before she could go to bed so Trudy got her all ready while Derek and I got the bags in the room. Derek also had a shower at night. I showered first in the morning and then took care of the car and bags, with Derek and Emma’s help, while Trudy and Brittany got ready. We decided that we could have the hotel breakfast and went down to breakfast about 9:00. The place was small and packed. There was a long line at the waffle iron so we had what we could and got on our way. However, while eating breakfast, Trudy whispered, “I feel like a stranger in a foreign land.”  Derek asked, “What did you say?”  Trudy quietly told him that she would explain later and went back to eating.  After a long pause, in a voice that was NOT quiet, Derek proclaimed, “You feel like a stranger in a foreign land?”  Of course, he said it loud enough that a few of the people nearby were able to hear him! We all thought it was hilarious, if not quite embarrassing. Of course, Derek had to ask out loud at least twice what the meaning.

After breakfast we continued our trip and were soon in New Mexico. We did see Juarez, Mexico from the freeway but it was not impressive to the kids. We stopped at the first rest stop in New Mexico and took pictures by the “Welcome” sign. The trip to Arizona went well. We didn’t have the big headwind of the first day and the driving was much smoother without the wind. We were able to get all the way to Arizona before having to stop for lunch. We had a quick bite at Subway but it kept us going. We were north of Tucson when Shelley called to see if we were going to be there by dinner. We were about 45 minutes away, so we got dinner. When we got to helley’s house, already there was – Christine, Monica, Sara, and Brandon. Donna was napping and got up to welcome us.  Julia got there about an hour later. Brian and April showed up after dinner. April is three weeks away from delivering her first child, Kyle Patrick Merjil. Shelley made a scrumptious dinner of roast, potatoes, and homemade rolls, and we all ate until we felt like we would burst. It was great!

The excitement of the evening turned out to be returning to Julia’s house and trying to get our air mattresses blown up. Julia had one mattress she owned and it inflated very quickly. Shelley had loaned several mattresses to Julia and air hose attachments to blow them up – which I could not get to work. After looking over the situation and trying all possibilities I could figure we were left without air in our mattresses. I asked if Julia had a Kirby that I could reverse the vacuum on and she aid yes. It was not a Kirby but it did work and after a few trials we were able to very quickly inflate two more mattresses for the kids to sleep on and we were able to get to sleep.

One fun thing when we got to Julia’s house was when Emma went in the house and came excitedly back to the garage as I was carrying stuff into the house and loudly roclaimed, “You gotta see this!” You Gotta See This It was very funny and she was so excited to see the house. She started running around like a chicken with her head cut off! It was getting late and Emma was getting ired and acting more and more tired. Trudy had her take a shower and Emma went into melt down mode, yes, our sweet Emma melted down. Trudy got Emma settled down after a lot of trial and she went to sleep. Derek tried to get into hyper space mode, but he is old enough to have control over himself and not melt down to where Emma had gotten. So, it started as fun to see Emma so excited about the house, but ended up as a struggle to get the kids to bed. By now, Julia was up later than she could stand so she had to give up and go to bed and we were able to soon follow her example.

Julia's house after the Texas Johnson invasion.

December 29, 2008

The day before New Year’s Eve. Shelley had planned breakfast and we got to her house a little late, but we had to have a geological tour of Julia’s kitchen counters before we left her house, which was very interesting and with that and getting everyone ready, we got to Shelley’s house in time to eat all we could cram in our pie holes. Then we were off to play golf. We bundled up because the day started with frost on our car windows, but when we got to golf it had warmed up sufficiently to take off the warm winter clothing. Shelley had arranged to have Shar, a course pro, give us a lesson in the basics of driving and putting complete with practice. We had an 11:30 tee time and a few minutes to get a drink and get ready between practice and our first round. Derek was a bit enthusiastic on the practice green and after several efforts to get him to pay attention to what was happening around him, he got his feelings hurt. He was ready to give up but, by then, he was committed and we had a great time on the course. Derek stayed with it and after the first hole was having a fun time.

It turned out that the “Shelley, Derek, Grant” team won by a stroke which was overturned at lunch time and No joke golfing there was a two-way tie in a close race for first place. Leslie and Larry arrived at the golf course before we were done golfing, but a little too late to join our scramble. Shelley and I still think we won – whether we did or not! That also makes Derek think he was on the winning team and that feels good to an 8-year-old! The other teams were Brandon, Monica, Julia and Christine, Donna, Sara.


Lunch was at Tott’s Asian diner, Brandon teaches the chop sticks. a place where Courtney used to work. Shelley set us up with the owner and he took very good care of us. Tony got his brakes fixed in the morning in Flagstaff and made it to Phoenix in time for lunch; just in time to bat clean-up for all the wonderful dishes we had for lunch. After lunch we returned to Shelley’s house to recover from our golf and regroup for a game of Wii tennis and golf. The “adults” played hand and foot. Dinner was potato and onion soup and lentils as well as fresh bread, yummy. We also watched Sleeping Beauty and then came back to Julia’s house for the night. Leslie and Larry also came to Julia’s house and we had a few minutes to catch up before getting to sleep. We didn’t have as much excitement with the air mattresses, but we did have to add some air to them before going to sleep. Also, Emma was used to the house by now and was up late enough that she only had a small melt down before going to bed.

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December 30, 2008

Derek 2008 Today was a little less structured than the previous two days. Remembering how much effort went into planning and executing the last reunion we did in Texas, we were appreciative of the effort that Shelley and her lieutenants have put into this multi-day reunion. It has been a blast so far and keeps getting better. We enjoyed another great breakfast before starting a day of spelunking in the Arizona hills. Julia (Dr. J) shared with us her vast knowledge of the geology around the Phoenix valley. We started our tour near the ASU campus at Papagos Park and then went to South Mountain Park for some real hiking. We saw lots of cool rocks, formations, and  deposits and had  lots of questions, most of which could be summarized as “Huh?” It was a very informative day and Julia did impress us with her knowledge and insight and there was a consensus that we wished we had a better ability to retain what she was telling us.


We finished our rock tour and went home to Shelley’s where most of us had a nap in front of the second viewing of Sleeping Beauty (see photo below). Brandon made a Japanese dinner which we all found delicious, even Derek. We ate and were filled. After dinner a game of Kabookii broke out on the Wii and despite several attempts to dethrone Shelley’s team, we gave in to the force and let her audacity roll over us.

2008 Sleeping - really
Funny thing is, we are not even pretenting to be asleep! This is after Julia wore us all out on the Arizona landscape.

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December 31, 2008 – New Years Eve
2008 Ready for a burger This was supposed to be our “day off”. Most everyone went golfing again, but I (Grant) did not feel like going again, well, part of me did, but we took the non-golfers to the movies and had a good time there and I got to spend time with my kids. The girls saw Twilight and dad and the kids saw Marley and Me. Both movies got good reports. The golfers did not get back to the house until well after 3:00 so, after a few Wii games, the rest of us went to In-N-Out Burgers for lunch (you can see by the photo that we were ready to eat). This was my first time there, but the consensus was it was a good place. The kids finally ate something; Emma had been not eating for most of a few days. I’m surprised that she was not complaining about being hungry especially after living on sugar most of the last few days. The important thing was that Sara (Linderman) and Brittany (Becker) got to have their In-N-Out burgers and we got some food in the kids.

After In-N-Out Burgers, Brittany wanted to watch a chick flick. I thought this was a great time to take a nap and get some energy back for staying up way past 8:30 (my normal sleeping time)! It turned out to be a good time to get some energy back (by sleeping) and that is what I did. As I was asleep, I assume that most people watched the movie, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which Trudy said was, surprisingly, a good movie.

All the golfers finally got home from golf and the store and we enjoyed the food being prepared and wondered if we could cram in another morsel. We played some more Kabookii and then it turned out that where red beef, tortillas, beans, and all the fixins are concerned, we could cram in more food – and it was great. I just wish I could have eaten more, it was that good.

Shelley had wishes for the future and lottery cards to go with them. Then we had toasts for something we would wish for the New Year. I was personally glad that we remembered what Mom said, that it was midnight somewhere in the world and we were able to celebrate the New Year a bit before the Arizona New Year, closer to the Texas New Year which allowed us to come back to Julia’s and get our kids to bed.

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January 1, 2009 – New Years Day

Time to go home. We slept in because it does not make sense to travel when you are tired and have to drive. We got up and out of Julia’s house in time for her to retrieve her cat and we stopped at IHOP to get started. After a quick call to Shelley to tell her we were on our way – and thanks, she said we had left some 5-year-old girl stuff there so we went by her homey house one more time. I really enjoyed and appreciated all Shelley did for us and all the work it took to keep us all stuffed and busy. Anyway, we were on the road again and off to Texas. Our trip back was met with dinner at Chili’s in El Paso and lodging in Van Horn.

January 2, 2009

The last leg of our trip was nice and quick. We had Whataburger in Midland and then we were in our own home Friday night.

We took about half an hour to unpack the Suburban of all the stuff we took and picked up on the way. This trip was nothing like what the pioneers did—we had every imaginable comfort and our drive was nothing short of comfortable. We had enough gadgets that each person could practically be in their own world. Our kids were nothing short of angels and we even enjoyed the driving though we don’t want to do that every day!

We were glad to renew acquaintances with our family and have so much to eat and do while there. Three days flew by and the 4 days driving were pleasant and it was fun to be with the kids.

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A Peek Ahead

Passing the "baton" to next year's JFR leader, the food looks good too!
Passing the baton