Wisconsin Trip

We got to take a much needed break and go to WI for the week to get some family lovin'. It was a great trip and was a reminder for why we're going through this stressful transition: it's important to be near the fam!

The weather couldn't have been more perfect!! NO clouds and NO humidity the whole week! It's was in the mid-70's/low 80's. (But I'm not fooled... I know what WI summers are REALLY like... so nice try Mother Nature... :)

We got to do lots of fun stuff! For the first part of the week we were at Grandma and Grandpa Hornickel's house (where Evie LOVED playing with the toy kitchen). We played at a park in Waukesha with Ryan, Niki, Eli and Owen and it seems as though Eli and Evie are best buds now! It was so cute! It's fun to watch them play together, now that they're older. We also went to the Madison zoo with Grandma and Grandpa.

Then we were at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's for the second half of the week. We went to Mulu's baseball game, to a quarry with the whole Johnson clan, saw Brian and family's new house in Verona, and went to Little America (amusement park) with Grandma, Grandpa and Charlie. We also got to meet Caroline for the first time!

All in all a great trip!!


Buds: Cousin Eli & Evie


The Hornickel brothers & kiddos at a park in Waukesha.

Carousel at Madison zoo with Grandma.

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for all the fun at the zoo! (Hopefully someday Evie will be a bit more excited when we go to a zoo...)

Carousel at Little America: Cousin Charlie, Grandpa & Evie

(I was already feeling nautious at this point from riding on the first ride with Evie... darn rides that go in little circles...)

The "Johnson" girls on a fun train ride through the farmland: we saw TONS of animals, even a couple zebra!

Evie & Charlie on the big truck. They had a great time on the rides!

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for a fun afternoon!

Kyle & Evie with the homemade (and very fun) water slide at Grandma & Grandpa's.

On the last day Aaliyah and Evie were playing. At one point Aaliyah says, "I put makeup on Evie!". Little did I know that she wasn't pretending!! Evie rounds the corner with her beautiful makeup on. (Double click on the picture to see it closer-up.) It was pretty darn funny! Definitely a reminder of what is to come with having a girl. :)

The Johnson cousins: the newest edition, Caroline!

June

The month of June was a bit rough for our family. We closed on our house at the end of May and moved into a rental house about a mile away from our old one. It definitely needs some work, but it'll due for the time being. It's better than having to move into an apartment complex and at least we get to stay in the same neighborhood.

After coming down with bronchiolitis, Evie ended up getting arthritis in her knees. We were hopeful that it was just the virus, but after seeing a specialist and giving it some time, she's been diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA). The kind she has is called Oligo, meaning only a few joints. It's definitely the worst in her knees. We go day by day to see how sore she'll be, usually she's the stiffest in the morning and after her nap. She took steriods for a couple of weeks which definitely helped, but now she's only on Naproxin. We're told this should eventually go away and there won't be any long term damage. She'll be going to physical and occupational therapy in a couple of weeks to make sure she stays on track with her motor development. She's still in good spirits for the most part and on good days she's running around like a normal toddler. We're hopeful it goes away soon!

And nothing much on the job hunt for either of us. Kyle had some luck getting a couple of interviews, but I haven't heard anything. Just trying to keep the faith!

Thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends for your thoughts and prayers. We're so blessed to have you in our corner!!