10K Women Trail Project

I am so honored to be 1 of the 100 TrailBlazers for the #10KWomenTrailProject! Hike It Baby is launching the 10,000 Women Trail Project, an initiative to get women and girls on trails all across North America. Funded by @REI #ForceOfNature grant, our goal over the next year is to encourage women to bring female friends and family on a trail at least once a month.

About...REI found while many women know getting outside is good for them, they have a hard time finding inspiration. In a 2017 study of women in the outdoors, they found 65% of the women surveyed could not think of an outdoors woman who inspires them! And, 6 out of 10 women say men's interest in the outdoors is taken more seriously than women's.We want to prove them wrong! The goal is to see if, together, we can inspire 10,000 women in 2018 to hike, log their adventures, and who they brought along.

This is a FREE program and anyone can register for the project, whether they are part of @hikeitbaby or not. You simply register at www.10kwomentrailproject.org, log your hikes, and enjoy mother nature! Plus you'll be entered every month to win cool prizes just for getting outside and hiking!

Together let's inspire each other, motivate and cross those barriers that limit women and girls participation in outdoor activities! 

#10kwomentrailproject #trailblazer #forceofnature #togetherwehike #hiking #getoutside #hikeitbaby #dragonsandlephants @dragonsandelephants #10kTrailblazer #BranchAmbassador #hikeitbabyutahcounty 

2017 International Kindness Project Day - Jackpacks!

"To help one person is to help the world." -- Joanne Cacciatore

Today, July 27th is International Kindness Project Day started by the MISS Foundation. What is that...You ask? 

It's a Kindness Revolution! Everyone is invited to participate with us, doing simple acts of kindness in the memory of a loved one or if you're lucky enough not to have one, feel free to do it in Jack's name! This is something we as bereaved parents do often in memory of our kids who have died. 

JOIN the KINDNESS Revolution!
My very first Random Act of Kindness was very simple. I went through the Wendy's drive-thru expecting to buy a $5 gift card or certificate but they didn't have them anymore. I had several cars in front of me so I was near the ordering menu for about 15 minutes. I was feeling kind of silly, since this wasn't going as planned. While I sat there with my window down, there was delivery guy hauling food in and out of the back door. He had his son with him, he looked about 4 or 5 years old who was playing around the bushes. When the delivery guy was finished he grabbed his crates and said, "Come on Jack, time to go." I started crying, it was confirmation that Jack was with me and I would do this Act of Kindness no matter how silly or embarrassed I was. When I finally got to the window, I handed the girl a $5 bill and asked her to put my $5 towards the guy's order behind me. She looked at me funny and asked, "What?" I told her that I was doing a Random Act of Kindness in memory of my son Jack and I wanted to donate $5 to the order for the guy behind me in line. She still looked a little confused but took the $5 and the Kindness Card that said, "This Random Act of Kindness...Done in Loving Memory of Jack Kendrick Johnson. As I drove away I saw her hand the card to the man and "explain" what I had done. Driving through the parking lot my tears were blinding me and I had to pull over but I didn't want the guy to follow me so I wiped them away with my shirt and headed home. My heart was so heavy with love for Jack, my tears were full of pain and sorrow, but I felt so good because I knew Jack was with me at that moment. 

Four years ago I started donating "Jackpacks", backpacks filled with school supplies to children in need. The first year I donated 5 backpacks to 5 kindergartners who were living at one of A New Leaf's domestic abuse homeless shelters in Phoenix, AZ. Jack was turning 5 that August and would've started kindergarten.

2011 International Kindness Project Day

2012 International Kindness Project Day

For Jack's 6th birthday, my goal was 6 but I was able to donate 8 backpacks filled with supplies to 6 homeless first graders at A New Leaf in Mesa.

2013 International Kindness Project Day

I donated 7 Jackpacks to Sunset View Elementary school in Provo, UT 

(Jory's old elementary school) http://www.sunset.provo.edu/Site_Home/home.htm

2014 International Kindness Project Day

We donated 8 backpacks to CAPSA(a shelter) in Logan, Utah And we had left over funds from donations, to provide school supplies and 2 backpacks for a family in need with 6 kids also in Logan!

2015 International Kindness Project Day

We donated 25 Jackpacks to Syndi Knowlton at Utah Kids Foundation! http://utahkidsfoundation.blogspot.com/?m=1 Special thanks to our friend Crissa Robertson who was able to gather 16 of those Jackpacks with the help of her friends and family!

2016 International Kindness Project Day

We donated 17 Jackpacks to The Family Place in Logan, Utah! http://thefamilyplaceutah.org/ https://www.facebook.com/familyplaceutah/

  

  

I was only able to do this because of the kindness of our friends and family who made donations. We are still in the same predicament this year, I'm a Stay At Home Mom to Jack's little brother Jiraiya Dragon our New Zealand Miracle and a very part time nanny. I am determined to make this an annual donation for Jack's Birthday and Kindness Day regardless of our situation, we WILL make this work!

So here we go again peeps...

It's Jackpack Time!

So as I said, we can't afford 11 backpacks filled with supplies, but we can afford at least two. One will be picked out just as if it were for Jack and we will fill it with all the supplies and probably some extras. The second will be picked out by Jiraiya.

The other 9 backpacks is where I NEED YOU! So my dearest Friends and Family....would you be willing to help me with this Kindness project for Kindness Day as well as Jack's 11th Birthday coming August 31? As I did last year I will photograph everything I purchase so you can see what your donations are going towards.

(This was our special Jackpack, picked out and bought as we would have if Jack were here for Kindergarten)

Supply List

1 Backpack (Found them for $12-$20 at Walmart, any cheaper and they don't last a year.)

12 #2 Pencils

1 Box of 24 Crayons

1 Box of colored pencils

2 Glue Sticks

2 Pink Erasers

1 Pair of Fiskar Scissors

1 Pencil Case

1 3 prong binder

5 Pocket Folders

2 pkg Lined paper

1 pkg Plain paper

8 lined notebooks

2 blue pens

1 Red pen

1 Ruler

1 Bottle of White/Elmers Glue

1 Personal size Bottle of Hand Sanitizer

This year we're donating Jackpacks to the Family Place in Logan, Utah http://thefamilyplaceutah.org/ They will be able to give these out children in need throughout the year. 

If you would like to DONATE my PayPal DONATE button is on the top right of my blog, another one directly above and below this blog post...just scroll UP or DOWN and click the DONATE button or use my email joeycjohnson@gmail.com. I'm also on VENMO as Joeythegirl. Or now that we're back in UTAH, I can drive around collecting donations whether that's cash or supplies! 

THANK YOU ALL in advance for whatever you are able to do to help me honor Jack for his 11th Birthday!

Thank you so much Kelly Wood for starting us out with your generous donation!
Thank you Sara Joglar, Papa Moose, Annalyn, Emily, Blake Pearson, Lora, Courtney, Vera, Ashley Regal and Amy Wilson for helping us make this happen!

Three and a half and full of Sass!

Guess who's half Birthday it is today. Yep, Dragon is 3.5 years old officially! The time is flying and it makes me so sad yet so proud. He's grown so much this last year, not just in length but he swims in his floaties by himself, no longer clinging to me in the pool. He's balancing on his bike, he's spelling words including his name, hiking 2.5 miles on his own two feet, biking 3 miles before getting tired. He's curious about everything and everyone, the questions never stop. He has so many friends and loves playing with them all the time, which thankfully has given me lots of great new friends too! We've never been busier or happier than the last 6 months. This age is so fun and yet so challenging, I'm loving it! And I love him more than life, he is my everything! My beautiful heart that runs around wild and free, on the outside of my body. 💚🐉💙🐘