A little History Lesson

My Grandma...We celebrated 95 years of life this weekend!

Here we are, back from a whirlwind adventure/vacation/birthday party/where-the-heck-did-the-weekend-go?/wow, that was fast/are the kids asleep yet?/trip to Lee's Ferry. Lee's Ferry? you ask. That is where Brigham Young had my great, great grandfather, Warren Marshall Johnson, and his son and my great grandfather, Jeremiah (Jerry) Johnson, run the ferry that got Mormon Pioneers traveling west across the water. My grandma, Annie, was born in Wyoming and then came down when just a wee babe in arms. She lived there, went to school there, played there, etc, etc.

Do you ever feel like when people share their personal family history in church that you want to just yawn really big and shake your head in a way that says, "Why do we care about your family, when mine is so much better and more exciting! I really don't care, actually, so I'm just gonna sit here and pretend I do."? Well, I am sharing my family history. It's a 15 minutes of fame thing, I guess. But I will move on now that I've said my peace. Did I mention that a few years ago President James E. Faust talked about these men in general Conference? Yep, I thought that might get your attention.

But I digress from the rest of the experience. We all went down to Lee's Ferry to celebrate my grandma's 95th birthday. We had fun along the way, so I'll share that fun with you!

We stopped on our drive there, in Cove Fort. It is a fort. We got the tour from a missionary lady who really didn't get children. She was a trooper, though, and my kids actually listened for a part or 2.

2 kiddos on the inside of the fort, but outside the housing. Aren't they cute?!

Where'd you get such big eyes, Sam?
They weren't allowed into the display area. Dang! So they hung on the barrier, which really made the lady a little annoyed. She hid it well, I thought.
Can you imagine hanging your wet undies out to dry in the kitchen??
That's soap in the thing there, made out of animal fat. Thank goodness for Bath & Body!
Dad and the kiddos on top of the fort. They weren't allowed up there unless we went with them...such strict rules!

We feel really blessed that we didn't have to travel by covered wagon!
Aaah, Lee's Ferry...My dad has the white hair (snicker, snicker) and is holding cute baby Jeremiah (hey that name sounds familiar) and my grandma is oohing and aahing at the baby.
Ok, let's take a 95 year old woman who can't see and hike that mountain back there...Ok, not really the "mountain", but it was a rough climb, not that I'm out of shape or anything, mind you. I was just thinking of grandma! That ranger is Deanne. She did a personalized tour of the Ferry!

Oh Cute! That's me with grandma and 2 kiddos saying hi! That's also her chair so she could sit and have breaks while we hiked over rocks and ravines and...oh, yeah, it was special!
This is the fort. I don't think she actually lived in it, but we have it on the tape (obviously I wasn't listening -too many endangered lizards because of too many kids) but I'm sure we have something about that. The kids did love going in it.
Lizard...endangered only because about a bazillion kiddos were constantly chasing him...um, her...um, well, there could have actually been thousands of these things milling about.
Inside the fort...thick walls so it's cool. It gets to 120 degrees in the summer. Yep, I've been there in the summer. Not fun. It was a pleasant something under 90 degrees today.
Rocks+kids=great fun!

Wait, they aren't supposed to climb on the buildings! Where are their mothers?

Desert Rose.
Part of the hike. Part of our group. The water the Ferry would cross.
Hi Isaac!
I don't recall what this was. I might add here that Daniel took the pictures!
Sam with cousins Ben and Nick inside a wall.

What's with the Popeye look?? She sure is cute, though.
Awwe...so cute! Their mother must be awesome and so cute herself!
This is what used to be an oven.
After the hike, we went to have a picnic lunch in some shade.

Like I said, Daniel took the pictures, and at this point my body refused to get out of the nice chair I sat it in. So I think this is where Jeremiah and my grandma lived after the fire mentioned below.
This is where the house was that they lived in. It burned and my grandma was in the house caring for a baby sister when she felt sure not to put the baby back in the bedroom. Soon after that, someone yelled, "Fire" and they ran in and the room that the baby would have been in was engulfed in flames. Her mom would have run in after the baby and they both would have died. My grandma cried when she told this story on Saturday.
Lunch.

Notice the hole in Isaac's sandwhich, perfect for the fruit snacks to go in.
Silly Sam!

Isaac. And that's my cousin Jaren.
Mother and Daughter.
On the road again.
We are glad to be home. No one is glad to go back to school and work tomorrow, though. It was a great trip. We are grateful grandma is still here so this could actually happen.

Have a great week!