Alpine Fiesta

This year's Alpine theme was "Fiesta," and as always it was indeed a party!

Mom was recovering from another ankle surgery, so we drove her between as much of the lodge and the cabins as we could to keep her steps down. Elliot was always glad to help. 

These two are such great buds.

At the bonfire! There were somehow maracas for all the kids

Elliot had a turn "conducting" a song with the (very impressive) Alpine Band. The band had an accordion, banjo, and some guitars and ukuleles. 

He very clearly had no clue what was going on

Sadly, Max was the only one of my siblings who could come this year. He scored extra uncle love. 

Bloods with our sweet Alpine shirts!

The crew! We are on the right side.

Elliot with his awesome "mexican mosaic," and Amber chilling in the background. I adopted her as much as possible as the closest possible stand in for Breezy. 

Max brought his hammock and took some nice naps in it.

Little Annie 😂

Annie making faces with Mimi during the program. They got lots of bonding time!

This is honestly Elliot's favorite part of Alpine- smashing wood chips into dust with a rock. Shout out to Uncle Max for teaching him this nifty skill.

Not pictured here are the hours of Alpine volleyball and the women's retreat, which was a Quinceañera for the two cousins who happened to turn 15 this year. It was beautifully decorated and very tender and moving. Everyone shared some advice, which was a mixture of humorous and wise in a typically Johnson manner. 

I loved catching up with my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Aunt Siri told a story about how one time she was driving home late at night. Uncle Randy looked up at the "x miles to Reno" sign, then fell asleep. 4 hours later, he woke up and they were driving by the same sign! Somehow she had driven in a huge circle without having made any turns. We got all riled up with confusion about how such a thing could be. Uncle Vaughn had some good cow stories too. 

The farewell pinata

CANDY FOR ALL