Minnesota travelers:)

Hello there! 

It seems like it has been quite a while since I last posted... and that is probably because it HAS been a while!  A lot has happened since the last time I wrote.  We finished up work in Kentucky and decided to head up to Minnesota to hang out with some family and friends.  I was originally planning on flying out there for my cousins wedding on June 9th, but since we finished work and had no reason to drive back down to Texas, we figured we would go spend some time with the Johnson side of the family and stay there for the wedding. 

While we were in Minnesota we mostly just hung out with friends and family and tried to catch up with them during our stay there.  Below are some of the highlights from our time there there... 

The first day we got there we met Bri, Trisha, Cayden and Bri's friend Shelly for lunch in Minneapolis

Walking inside the IDS tower in Minneapolis (where Bri works)

SUPER fun, while we were there Grams was there from Missouri for the wedding, so she stayed with my parents for a little while and we got to hang out with her. We had such a great time with her! We played lots of games and enjoyed her company:) 

The boys went to a Twins game on Memorial day.. (Left to right: Stephen, (my sister Brianna's husband), Dad, Ben and my brother Brandon)

Unfortunately for Cayden, he got left behind to play with the girls...

So he EAGERLY waited and longed for the MEN to get back, waiting by the window:)

The girls played games and had a fun girls day while the guys were at the baseball game

 

For Mother's Day my grandma wanted to take her daughters out for lunch. (I was VERY lucky to get to tag along!) And we went out to St. Cloud to where my Aunt Suzy and her family lives. We had lunch at a delicious Greek restaurant and then got to see Suzy's new art studio that she is renting). From back left to right: My aunt Roxy, my aunt Suzy, my mom, my mom's cousin Nancy, me. From front left to right: Grams and my aunt Kiki

Cayden turned 2 on June 6th, so we got to celebrate and I made him a homemade chocolate cake with Strawberry filling and some chocolate cupcakes!

I asked my sister what I should make for him for his birthday dinner and she said he will always eat mac and cheese! So I made him some homemade macaroni and cheese and hot dogs:)

Little did I know that he would get a train set from his favorite Uncle Brandon...

And be COMPLETELY consumed with his train that he would not eat any Mac and cheese, hot dogs or cake. haha!

Ben and I got him a remote control hummer (because he is obsessed with buses , cars and trains..)

He liked it, but was more confused about the remote control and why the Hummer kept moving towards him on its own. 

And you would be happy to know that a few days later... he ate a couple bites of the chocolate cake:)

Playing games with Uncle Ben. (Cayden could not say Heather... and I was desperate for him to call me something, so Ben, being the Loving and wonderful husband that he is :),  picked the name "Moose" and began training Cayden to call me Moose.  He now knows me by the name Moose and if you say "where's Heather?" He will say.... "No, Moose"... Haha). 

Ben and I also celebrated our ONE year while we were in Minnesota. So we went out to a Greek restaurant called Santorini for lunch...

And then stopped by the place where we took our wedding photos and walked around for a little bit

One year! Yay:) Best year ever.

And to celebrate, after having dinner with the family, we had ice cream sundaes! (Since we didnt have cake at our wedding there was no one-year-old cake left to eat, so we did what we did for the wedding and created some delicious ice cream sundaes!)

The day after our anniversary we borrowed some kayaks from a friend of mine and went kayaking out to an Island on a lake where we had lunch and just lounged around for the afternoon

Charis, my cousin, got married on June 9... and here are some family pictures of the wedding! (Unfortunately, Ben was called out to work in Wichita, Kansas just a few days before the wedding, so VERY sadly, he didn't make it)

Trisha and I

Grams and Cayden

My all time favorite 2 year old! 

Trix and Mom

The four Johnson (and two no-longer-Johnson's) siblings FINALLY have a recent picture together! Plus The little Cayden

Girl cousins, minus a few:( 

Grams with her kids, except the mother-of-the-bride---Kiki. 

Guy cousins (minus a few)

Sisters:) 

The whole Johnson family:) (Minus the two newest important additions to the family Ben and Stephen!)

Mom and her girls:)

The Lynch's 

Trisha caught the bouquet! 

Took Cayden to the park:) Of course he loved the cars!

What a sweetie! He picked a flower for grandma:)

Driving Aunt Moose the airport

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Johnson before I left 

I flew out of Minnesota to meet Ben in Wichita, Kansas on June 12.  We got to stay in Minnesota for almost 2 weeks and it was a great trip! It worked out so well that we had the time off work to do that. 

I was only in Wichita a few days and we got the call to go to Dallas because of a very large hail storm. So on our last night in Wichita we went to a drive in movie that was only about 15 minutes away. They were playing Madagascar 3, Men in Black 3 and the 3 Stooges; it was a night of 3's.  We brought a bunch of snacks, a blanket and sat in the bed of the truck to watch the movies.  Ben says "this is why we bought a truck." :) We only saw about 1/3 of the movies, but it was a lot of fun! 

 

And... .Currently we are staying in Dallas, Texas at a Hawthorne Inn. It's been super fun because it is actually an old apartment complex, so we get to have a full kitchen and a whole lot more space then normal:) I get to cook and we actually have a counter top to sit at and eat dinner rather than eating dinner in bed- like usual. 

Our kitchen in our hotel room:) All set up and ready for dinner 

I'm going to advertise the George Foreman for a moment... this meal BELOW was cooked BEFORE we got to this hotel with the full sized kitchen.  We made BBQ chicken, grilled asparagus and potatoes on the George Foreman in our hotel room. It makes it super easy. That thing is WONDERFUL, I highly recommend it:) Especially to those of you who are traveling around and staying in hotels constantly like Ben and I... cricket, cricket.... Or for the majority out there who dont live life out of a hotel, it is super easy and convenient too:) 

And that about catches you up to date! I'm off to cook some dinner in my nice big kitchen:)