Ranlee Johnson

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Ranlee Johnson. I work with him up at This Is The Place. He is such a great man. He's in his 70's, I believe, and he is a hoot! We occasionally work on the train together because he usually works at the entrance gate to the park. When we're on the train together its such a fun time.

Here's some examples of how great he is:

1-Today he was driving while I was giving the tour & 3/4 thru the tour he asked for the microphone. I handed him the microphone & he's like "in honor of all the swedish people out there I will now speak 30 seconds on swedish" then he proceeded to speak what I thought was swedish. Afterwards I'm like "so Randlee what did you say?" He's like, "I spoke a whole lot of nothing, that's what. I'm just so bored out of my mind." hahahaha who does that?!

2-A few weeks ago Ranlee told me to drive the train (yes I'm learning how to drive the train) down to the parking lot & he'd come pick me up & take me back to the village so I could clock out. So I did. Then on the ride back up I was drinking out of my water bottle that has a bigger mouth piece & right as I was drinking Ranlee accidently popped his clutch. Talk about refreshing. the water went down the front of me. I proceeded to laugh & cough at the same time because the water went down the wrong tube. This experience is now our inside joke & that is...no drinking & driving.

3-Then the very best story I can use to illustrate how wonderful this old man is, is by the type of music he listens to. He is a huge classical fan. You name it, Bach, Beethoven, etc. WELL...he told me today that there's one song that he can't listen to while he's driving because it gives him road rage. haha. He played it for me today & I about lost it. I've attached a link to give you an idea to the kind of music that causes my dear friend, Ranlee Johnson, road rage. enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLlyS5ctB8M&feature=related

Anyways, there's just a fraction of stories I have had with this funny, sweet old man. Life is so great, especially when you meet people like Ranlee.

Jones Family Reunion

Whelp we had our yearly family reunion this past week. It was Wed-Sat and it was such a blast. The first night however it rained a ton and it was hard to stay warm but the days that followed were a lot better.

We were able to hike the 3 lakes (lake mary, martha and katherine). It wasn't too long and it was so beautiful. PLUS we saw 2 moose on the way back. It was such a fun adventure. I'm SO grateful for the family that I have. I feel so blessed.

Here are some photos from the reunion.

Ariel's Wedding

One of my best friends, Ariel Jackson, got married on July 17th. It was such a fun wedding and she looked gorgeous! They are such a perfect couple and I couldn't be more happy for them. Here are some of the pictures from her wedding.

I LOVE my job!

I just wanted to express how much I LOVE my job! Seriously though! I love it oh so much! This summer, since I'm not working at Oakcrest LDS Girls Camp again, I got hired on at This Is The Place Heritage Park. Here are some sites that I have worked at:

The Levi Roberts Cabin:

This was the first site I worked at. We held puppet shows there for little children and such. Definitely a fun, interactive cabin.

Train Conducting (aka Tour Guide Person):

I was SO nervous the day I got placed at this position because I honestly knew nothing about the park and as the conductor you have to give the tour of the park while the train driver drives around the park. But my wonderful management gave me a wonderful train outfit (stripped overalls and all) & a lovely script (which I read word for word for almost 3x haha) and I was set.

I currently still do train conducting & I figured out with my friend today that I give the tour about 32 times each day. Holy crazy, I know. Its so much fun though to see the children get all excited about learning about the pioneers and experiencing great activities along the way.

THEN on occasions I'll be placed at the "Panning for Gold" area. Despite the activity itself, which is such a blast, I LOVE the people at this site.

Here are descriptions of some wonderful people I've met thus far at the Park:

The first person is Matt. There's something about Matt that just intrigues me. He goes on crazy adventures, eats ridiculously healthy, I swear deep down he's a hippy (which I don't think he'll ever admit) & he's SO great with people. I've had some great talks with Matt. Recently I saw him eating a bagel with peanut butter & a slice of nectorine along with it. I asked what in the world he was eating & he replied "well its basically a pb& jelly without the high fructose corn syrup" hahaha what?! Who honestly says that?!

The next person is Kendra. I actually just met Kendra today & we've already had some crazy adventures. She's in her early 20's and she just told me that she's thinking about going back to school in the fall & getting her master's degree. What a great example she is. She's one of the main train drivers and today she asked if I'd like to learn how to drive the trains. say what?! I know its pretty sweet. I'm excited to have met her & I'm sure we'll have many other adventures in the near future.

Then there's Dave. Dave also works the mine with Matt. He is also in his 20's but yet when I talk to him I actually receive such great advice. Honestly. He's like an older brother to me. I'm always impressed at how well he's able to handle children and when the children run onto our replica ship he's right behind them to make sure they don't fall. He told me earlier today that at least 4 children fall off the ship's stairs a day...good thing Dave is there to save the day. And also when the tour comes across Dave's area he always is there to give a big wave & smile. Its sure nice to have a friend like Dave in my life.

Next is Adam. Funny story about Adam. He had added me on Facebook and I was scanning over our mutual friends. I noticed that he knew one of my friends from high school (matt millett). Then I noticed that Adam's last name was Millett. So I thought "cool they're cousins!" the next day i went to work and told Adam of my discovery. He then started laughing and expressed that Matt was his brother, can you say holy SMALL world!!! Adam is so different than Matt so I didn't even put two&two together, even Adam knows that they are SO different. He told me that same day that Matt likes the car Mustangs while he (adam) likes the real Mustangs. haha. What a great guy. I have enjoyed working with him SO much & every time I pass him on the train he always gives me a huge wave & smile. I'm so grateful for the friendship I have with Adam.

Last, but definitely not least, there's Emily. Emily is SO SO SO great! She worked at the Roberts cabin with me and we soon became kindred spirits. She was actually a camper up at Oakcrest when i was a counselor (weird to think about). Emily has become my bus buddy and we love talking all the way up & back. Even though there's a slight age difference between us, it doesn't seem to matter at all. We help keep each other in-line & she's such a great friend.

So there's just a few people that I have met. I'm sure I"ll have many stories in the near future which I hope to share but until then have a wonderful day :)

Seminary Council Reunion

This past Saturday I went to a Seminary Council Reunion. We all served together during 2006-2007 & I love these people SO much! We are all so different but getting together this Saturday was such a blast. Only 3 of the 12 of us couldn't come but hopefully we can all get together sometime in the near future.

We had a very delicious dinner & then we played the paper bag game.

This game is a tradition for our council & its pretty cheesy but SO hilarious!

What you do is that you have one person stand in the middle of the circle & put a paper bag over their head. then they state a specific sound (ie.-car crash, dog, cat, dentist tool, etc). Then the circle of people start walking around the person until the person in the middle points somewhere & then who ever is standing where the person is pointing has to make that specific noise. If the person in the middle guesses who that person is, then that person becomes "it" & goes to the middle. This game is SO hilarious!

Oh man, we were all laughing so hard during this game. What a great tradition. I sure love this group of people and even though we are all kind of in different phases of our life (ie.- married, single, pregnant, mission calls, etc) when we are together its like we've never been apart. what a great night!