EFY, 4th of July and Aspen Grove...OH MY!!!

4TH OF JULY

EFY: REXBURG IDAHO...WAHOO!!

ASPEN GROVE PICTURES..(OK...A FEW OF THEM)

That picture of Colton is classic. Everyone else in the class wrote on the sidewalk..my little guy writes on the poll...he doesn't normally know how to write letters but of course when writing on a poll he figures out how to write "F"...nice.... He was so proud of his little "f"....good thing it was totally innocent..I think!!

It seemed like it rained a lot the beginning of summer...and then we left...and now we are back..and now I am dying of heat and my summer is almost over! Just a second....had to dab my eyes a bit. So crazy enough..I am writing a post....ShOcKiNg....I know! It may take me a few days..considering the amount of "entertainment" I have to fit in here.

Anyone who knows me....knows I am a little paranoid...I hate leaving the kiddos. Doesn't matter who I am leaving them with I lay in bed every night....6 months before the actual event...going over every possible tragedy that could strike while I am away from my children. Greg calls it an anxiety "condition"...I call it being a good mother. (Keep your opinion to yourself...I am dealing with it.) We roped Greg's sister into coming and staying with our children...because she is the greatest person on the planet earth and she really is so good with my kids. Deep down I knew they'd be okay but I wouldn't be me/myself/and I if I didn't STRRRRRESS.

Greg did an EFY up in Rexburg the Idaho this year at BYU the Idaho. It really was fantastic. It really helps when you love the coordinators you are working with and the Building Counselors. They were great and Greg and I laughed and laughed the whole time. Also,...a good hotel makes a difference to and although there isn't anything real "high class" in Rex it sure beat some hotels we have stayed in before. Soooo, highlights of the trip.

-Greg doing pushups in the hot tub and scaring all the other people trying to actually relax in the hot tub.

-Greg losing our keys....three times

-Greg losing his credit card

-Greg losing his binder

-Us forgetting to pay for our icecream....(we were used to the cafeteria where you grab your food and go...yes we did pay..eventually)

-Walking every morning and pondering if we could move and be Rexburgians.

-DrAmAtIc participant(s)....always ALWAYS full of some drama at EFY..(this one was the worst though)

-thankful prayers that we don't have any daughters after dealing with the drama...

-cupcakes, cupcakes...and more cupcakes!

-random conversations with randoms counselors

-crazy lightening storm while in the temple. (pretty cool)

-free breakfast..because where there is free breakfast there are happy Johnson's

-the brightest shirts EFY has ever produced (pink and green)

-the worst hail storm to ever hit the world...I am not kidding..I wanted to cry.

-shopping at the local Walmart in our matching shirts.

-nap time...without the children (hEaVeN)

As you can tell there was so much going on..I had to sum it up or we might be here all day. All of these will ring a bell for Greg and I when we read them and then we can reminisce about all of those stories....ahhh just makes me laugh thinking about them. Soooo, the week after EFY is when most of the Peterson's get together. July 4th is "our" holiday! We love it...it is also the time I miss my Grandma the most. We always spent the 4th at my Grandmas and although we still get together with that side of the family every 4th....its not the same without her. Okay...now I am depressed......... ahhhh....hmmm...Okay, so I have deprived my children of the parade for another year. I feel like I should be getting the award for the most darn awful mom when I do this. I lived for the parade every year. This year though I had to work the night/morning leading up to the 4th and with all that we Peterson's cram into the day..I didn't think I could make it if we went to the parade. I, Becky, vow to attend the parade next year...I can't live with this guilt any longer. Anywho, the day was wonderful and we ended the night with a little Joebro's and fireworks. While they were somewhat entertaining.....I really am there for the jet flyby's and the fireworks.....oh and precious familial time...:)

Next adventure....ASPEN GROVE. Have I bragged about my hubby before maybe....probably...get over it...so what... I am so proud of him and because he is such an 'inspirational' and 'uplifting' (no joking) speaker we have so many opportunities to do fun things as a family. Greg, I and the kiddos were invited for a fun filled week up at Aspen Grove. The kids were put into their groups each and every day...all day long and Greg would speak a couple times a day to the groups that were there and I would go listen and then we would just enjoy our surroundings. Ahhhh, it was heaven. Okay, I am not a camper and even though the cabin we stayed in had running toilets and a shower...I was a little weary of its condition. My inlaws came up one day to listen to Greg speak and I warned them about the cabin....I am sure they about peed their pants when they saw the cabin...because honestly..in hindsight...it wasn't too bad. The boys had a ball and I think this was one of the greatest vacations we have gone on as a family! We met some of the greatest people and made memories that will last a lifetime...oh and none of us were eaten by a bear or a cougar even though I was almost 100% positive one of us would...we didn't even see one..AMAZING!!! The boys would spend the day in their groups and then at night we'd come back to our cabin and watch a movie on our little porta t.v. we brought up. One night we decided to run home for the night so that we could do some washing in our own washer and dryer...we had gone to Park City for the day..(this was on the weekend when no other campers were up at Aspen Grove)..anyways we drove all the way back to the cabin and gathered our clothes to wash and drove all the way home and when we got out of the car we realized that neither one of us had grabbed the bag of clothes on the way out...CRAP..oh well..I still got to sleep in my own bed that night. I had one to many encounters with life size crickets that may or may not have been crawling on my skirt as I was getting ready for the sabbath..I know....traumatic and then who knew bees like sacrament meeting because I spent the whole hour ducking, squealing, and almost crying because there were so many bees. I never intend to attend a sacrament meeting out doors again and I think others at the meeting will agree I should never be allowed. I turned around to see all the counselors peeing their pants at me.....geez..shouldn't they be listening to the meeting? What do they think this is...free entertainment!!!?!! The boys had the time of their lives and I am so grateful for the opportunity that we were allowed to have. Thanks Gregor for sharing your talent...we all benefited!!

Well so, far, so good on the summer vaca....more to come I am sure!!!