A Big Weekend

Here are the highlights of our last weekend. It was crazy - but we got a lot accomplished at home and got to see tons of family!

Friday started with Michael picking up a dump truck and skid loader to get rid of some trees and a concrete slab in our yard. Our friend Nate drove the skid loader and after 2 days and many, many trips to the dump or a friend's farm, the backyard was pretty clear (and muddy)!
Here's what it looked like before and what we got rid of...4 big trees, a big concrete slab, and lots of little trees and brush. The end goal is to have enough sun to grow real grass next year! :) They also brought several tons of dirt to even things out and 6 tons of rock to spread out where our new fence will go in a few weeks.
Before: lots of room for playing baseball, but we had to always deal with icky apples on the ground, deer droppings (because they loved to eat the apples too), and no real grass (it may look green...but it's all creeping charlie).


Here are the guys in progress. Does anyone think Michael looks way too excited to use that chainsaw? (click on the images to see any of them bigger)

Emma says "look Elliott, what is Daddy doing?" Elliott wanted to see the skid loader up close but said he couldn't drive it because "there's no steering wheel."

Sunday we headed out to LaCrosse, Wisconsin for a little family reunion of all the cousins on my Dad's side. It was great to have everyone there and catch up!
Our grandma used to have us stand in a 'stair step' configuration for pictures when we were younger. Back then, the heights pretty much also followed our age order...not anymore. When I see the picture of all of us cousins together I keep playing the Sesame Street song in my head...'which one of these things doesn't belong here?' I'm the only short and wide one of the bunch - what happened to those Johnson genes when it came to me?

We hung out with the whole family and the kids had a blast.






We didn't get to spend nearly enough time with everyone in LaCrosse...but 9 total hours in a car is a little much for me at the moment and we had to leave with plenty of time to make lots of stops along the way.
Emerald is walking all over the place by herself now. She wouldn't even let us carry her at the rest stops, she had to walk.

On the way back we stopped in Rochester to see Michael's sister and her family. The kids got to spend time with more cousins and got to see the new baby chicks. What a fun day!