Johnson Family

Here are some pretty funny pictures from our blizzard that has completely shut down Colorado. Every highway has been closed in and out of the state, mail service has been shut down for a few days, school was closed yesterday in anticipation of the storm and was closed today and maybe tomorrow (yay!), most businesses are closed, and it's still snowing. We've got a couple feet at our house with bigger drifts in most spots. Enjoy the pictures. It's a whopper of a storm:

Chris leaving for work at 7:30 on his snow bike:

11:00 when Chris got sent home from work:

Chris leaving on a bike ride (yep, a bike ride) around 12:30. He made it to the end of the subdivision in about an hour and a half, pushed 4 cars out from being stuck, and came home.

2:30:


Turbo loves the snow!

Our front door and car last night around 9:


Me and Turbo on the deck -- I'm 5'6" and that's a 70 pound Golden in snow past his head:

The door from our bedroom to the deck:

This morning:

Mom and Dad's pictures:



That's it for now, still snowing! Chris and I are driving to St. Louis (hopefully) tomorrow for Christmas, so we hope the plows do their job! Merry Christmas everyone! Love,
Marni and Chris

My tree went up on Veteran's Day weekend when it was almost 60 degrees. We did a lot of travelling for Navy football games, and my mommy wanted to enjoy the decorations before our big trip in the car to see all of our family in Michigan and Iowa. I am excited to meet every one, even if I am a little shy at first.

The tree is decorated with all kinds of neat ornaments. We even have my favorite character, Buzz Lightyear! I think the angel on top is very pretty. There's even some ornaments with my picture on it! Mommy doesn't have a tree skirt though, she makes do with our blanket.

I tried to help but I couldn't reach very far and then I got bored. I decided to play hockey instead. Mommy and daddy finished the tree and I think it's very pretty.

Santa came early for me. Mommy said it was a special trip since I had been so good this year. I got lots of toys from the movie Cars and some new hockey stuff. Hopefully Santa will bring me snow for Christmas!

See you soon!
Logan

Hi everyone---well, I am 30 weeks preggo and have begun the countdown stage as Todd and I are both so excited to have little Brady here!

I figured I would post a pic when you can tell I am pregnant (taken yesterday morning---don't mind the tired tired eyes) and before I blow up and get really large, and everyone keeps telling me "Oh now this is the stage where you get REALLY huge!" Kristen and Heidi---it was the weight-nazi at Bronson's office who told me that yesterday!!!

Anyways, I am sure I will see most of you this coming Sunday night---have a great week and cya all at Christmas Eve!

Okay, so here is this year's Kuipers Family Christmas Tree...I am not sure that it will be a winner for various reasons but oh well, we can try harder next year.
So this year I had visions of taking the family out to pick a tree - I thought Sydney would have a good time and I knew Raleigh would. But...James went though about 2 weeks of a terrible cold and had no desire to go looking for a tree. So, since I wanted the tree up by Sydney's birthday, I woke Raleigh up early from a nap on a Saturday, hooked up the rack on the minivan hitch, stuck Raleigh in her seat and we headed on our way to Fruitbasket Flowerland (kind of like a Michael's) to get our tree. Well, I told Raleigh where we were going and she seriously tried to convince me to go to a tree lot that she has seen days earlier to get our tree. Because we were almost to Flowerland, I had to convince her that we would go to the real tree lot next year. She tried convincing me that, no, this year we would go to the tree lot and next year we can go to flowerland...anyway, we made it to the place and I figured that a small tree would be best because I was getting it myself. So, we had our choice between about 10 trees. I could not get Raleigh to agree with me on a tree, she picked the one that had the crooked "double trunk". So, as any mom would do, I told her we would get that one while secretly motioning the tree man to wrap up the other one I had chosen. So, both of us were happy. Raleigh and I hauled the tree in ourselves and I put the lights on and Raleigh helped decorate the tree (notice the abundance of ornaments on the bottom of the tree). You probably wouldn't notice either that some of the ornaments are missing because Sydney takes them off the tree and walks around the house with them. It is either that or plastic plates from the cupboard.
So, I have tried 5 times to get a picture of them in front of the tree but both girls are so sick of pictures that they don't cooperate anymore - so this is what you get. We couldn't pry the sippy cup out of Syd's hands and Raleigh insisted on bringing some "friends" in the picture with her. I told her that her imaginary friends Eja, Tobexen and Tika would be better for the picture but "no, Mom, they are on their way to Church". So, this is what you get for our tree entry this year. Hopefully, next year won't have such an involved story...and the crooked double trunk just might be a better option.
And finally in a side note - thank you to Dan and Gretchen for stopping by our house to give us our ornaments because we won't be at Grandma's this year. And Dan, Raleigh seriously stopped screaming as soon as you left...for those who don't know, EVERY TIME Raleigh has seen Dan she screems - since she was a baby - we have no idea why - it is so funny.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
James, Carrie, Raleigh, and Sydney

For the 1st Christmas after we were married, Jackie and I selected a nice little scotch pine shortly after an ice storm, hauled it up to our third floor apartment at a building near Borgess Hospital, put it in a stand on top of a plastic sheet, then let it thaw for two days. When it was time to take it down we carried the tree down a long hallway and 3 flights of stairs to the dumpster, leaving a thick trail of pine needles the entire path. We felt kinda guilty, but not too guilty, because we were young.

Every Christmas Jackie would give each of our kids an ornament for that year. The numbers build up after a while, but as they got older we were lucky enough to have room for a big tree with a zillion decorations. After we moved I would tell Jackie, when out looking a Christmas trees; "Yes, that is a nice tree, and if we chop the top 4 feet off the top it will fit in the room". The kids eventually move out and take their ornaments with them, and as long as they don't touch my Captain Kirk and John-Luc Picard ornaments, all will be well.

Now we have a Douglas Fir, bought early on a sunny 50 degree day, surrounded with brightly wrapped presents for our grandkids, and I love the colors! I walked by the room yesterday and yelled out to Jackie, who was in the other room; "This is a beautiful tree!", and she yelled back, "Thirty three degrees!???" In 34 years we have had a lot of great trees, and more wonderful memories, but this definitely A BEAUTIFUL TREE!

Move over Charlie Brown...Ben and Holli officially submit their entry for Uncle Bob's Christmas Tree contest! As you can see, our REAL tree is adorned with white sparkly lights and color-coordinated ornaments and poinsettias. Our two little neighbor girls helped with some of the lights and one remarked, "Your tree is small." Despite its size, our tree should win because it is literally sandwiched between Aunt Jackie's gorgeous tree top angel and Aunt Jennifer's brand new tree skirt. You can admire their hard work in these close-up photos. In addition, we have various ornaments from the annual "Now-that-I'm-married-I-exchange-ornaments" exchange. Uncle Bob, please cast your vote for our tree!

In an unexpected move (unless you've already heard from Grandma) a little holiday cheer will arrive from New Jersey for the Christmas Eve festivities in Kalamazoo. The four Johnsons, that's right I said four, will arrive in Kalamazoo sometime during the weekend. And baby will arrive in August.
Sources close to the family say that this baby makes 44 great grandkids. Nancy Johnson has suggested that Laura have twins so that Jill no longer has the most grandkids. The Jersey Johnsons have no comment!

Here is the first entry for the Johnson Family Christmas Tree Contest 2006. Gerry and I went on a kayaking trip to find mistletoe on Dec 1st. I picked a plethora of bunches and the ONE he picked, has "character". I am entering this decorated mistletoe as the Charlie Brown mistletoe tree, and expect to be a winner! I know this may be very hard to compete with, so don't even try to beat the best tree around! :o)