Morro Bay Camping Trip

As I mentioned earlier, last week was our annual camping trip at Morro Bay. This year our group was much larger than last year. This year we had over 60 people with us (including adults & kids). It was a great group. I was in charge of the kitchen. This was right up my alley after two summers with TMI. Micah enjoyed hanging out with the other children & the youth group was great at keeping an eye on him.


Micah sneaks a snack.



I find Micah again trying to sneak a snack...he was just so cute, it was hard to tell him NO!


View from the beach, our campground is about a 100 yards from the beach.


Cleaning up after a long week playing on the beach.

Big Sur, CA

Well we just got back from another great weekend representing TMI at Spirit West Coast in Monterey, CA. Micah and I were there for the full three day festival & Ryan joined us for the last two days. I was fortunate enough this year to bring two girls from our church to help watch Micah while I was at the booth. It was an amazing blessing to have them there with me. We enjoyed meeting FTM's & telling new people about the opportunities that TMI has for them.

After we were done at Spirit West Coast Ryan returned home to work & the girls & I (and Micah too ;-) Headed south along HWY 1 towards Morro Bay for our annual youth group camping trip. Along the way we stopped off at many beautiful spots to enjoy God's beautiful creation. One of the stops was at a remote beach in Big Sur, CA. Micah loved walking on the beach & playing in the sand. He still is not too sure about the water.

The Happiest Place on Earth.....Lake Retreat!!

This year I received a special birthday present complements of my mom & dad...a trip to Lake Retreat for Family Camp. As many of you know my family has been going to Family Camp at Lake Retreat for over 20 years now. But in the last 8 yrs I have only been able to go one time because we live so far away. This year Micah & I were able to trave up there to enjoy it with my parents, Isaiah, Ben, Andree, Ella, Jonathan & Christina (the only person we were missing was Ryan :-( Micah had a great time exploring Lake Retreat. He even left with quite a big skinned knee from falling running down the hill to the dinning hall. He and Ella were the best of friends & it still amazes me at how well they get along. Here are just a few shots from our trip.

Micah enjoys his first smore.

The cousins.

Micah shows Grandma his shot...

...Grandma shows him her shot.


Micah did really well around the waterfront. He only went in the water when he had his lifejacket on, thankfully!


Uncle Ben took the whole family, and Micah, out on a boat...Micah enjoyed sticking his hand overboard to touch the water.



Overall, I really enjoyed my time up at camp. My life has been really busy & hectic lately & there I had a chance to sit back and relax a little. The speakers were great. I enjoyed my time with my sister-in-laws & I look forward to returning again next year (hopefully!!).

Summer Camping Trip

As many of you know it is often difficult for us to get away as a family during the summertime. So we decided a couple weekends ago to run away for one night of camping. Although to maximize our time we decided to camp close to home in Yosemite. We were wise enough to avoid the chaos of the valley this time of year, instead we choose a little known campground three miles off the road to tioga pass. This campground was about 45 min. from Ryan's work, so Micah and I went up, set up camp & then drove back down to pick up Ryan after work. Micah LOVED camping...especially the dirt!

The dirt didn't seem to bother him, though. He willingly ate his snack...dirty hands and all.

This was a meadow nearby our campground.

We were blessed to find a campground that was surrounded on three sides by large boulders. This allowed me to try to keep a reasonable eye on Micah.



My boys sure love their popcorn!!

The following morning I was able to talk Ryan into going up to Tuolumme Meadows for a short hike through the valley. Micah enjoyed getting up in the backpack & smiles as we walked through the meadow. We walked along the river & went to Soda Springs where the carbonated water naturally bubbles up out of the ground. It was AMAZING!! Ryan & I even snuck a little taste of it.


All that hiking wore Micah out!!

The Wedding!!

Well after a couple months of stress they pulled it off....

Jonathan Mark Johnson
wed
Christian Rae Cheek

on July 14, 2007
at
Temple Baptist Church

The wedding was absolutly georgous!! The photographer still hasn't posted her photos yet, but I can show you a couple of my own. I hope you get the chance to see the nice ones. They are the most photogenic couple I know.

Getting ready before hand:





Ella was the flower girl




...and Micah was the ring bearer





Congrats Jonathan & Christina!!

Teen Missions

Again, this summer we decided to go down to FL in the blazing heat & volunteer at Teen Missions. Micah and I were down there for three weeks (the entire duration of Super Bootcamp) and then Ryan joined us for the last week of our time. Micah and I worked in the Munchkin Missions program. This is the childcare program for staff children. The first week I worked with Micah's age group (1-3 yrs) and then I was transfered over to the middle group (4-7 yrs) for the remainder of my time. I always enjoy working with these kids and we try to take every opportunity to do field trips & swim, as a way to keep the kids sane in the intense heat & humidity. Once Ryan showed up he had the opportunity to teach a block laying class. He really enjoyed this because be loves to interact with the kids.





Some of the kids in the "baby" Missions class (ages 1-3 yrs).


I had the opportunity to see off some of the kids that we knew who were goin on a team. This is the Jamacia team & the girl in the middle front row is from my church up in Portland. She was doing amazing!! She had a really positive attitude and always seemed to find time to do her hair and makeup, which is usually nearly impossible.


Micah & I during one of the evening rallies...you have to have a really big screen to see it, but we are both drenched with sweat (don't you wish you could smell it too? ;-)


Jessica was going on the Phillipians team this summer. She went last year and was crazy enough to return.





These are some pictures from the "middle" Munchkin class (ages 4-7yrs)



This is Zach (Jessica's brother) who is headed off to Sibera for the summer. He is showing off his arm to us, 'cause he was pretty proud of the war wounds that the mosquitos left on his arm. It was healing by this point but it still looked like he had had a pretty bad bout with chicken pox.



Our church in Colorado sent 4 kids on teams this summer, which we were really excited about. Jeff, our head pastor, came to see of his son (far right). Jeff is an FTM himself from the early 80's & TMI changed his life. He is here speaking infront of the evening commissioning service about the kids from his church & how TMI changed him.


Finally, Ryan's cousin Brooke. She is leading a preteen (ages 10-13) to Belize this summer. We enjoyed getting to know her team and encouraging her as she lead her first team with TMI.

The rest are just for fun....I couldn't figure where to put them: