Welcome to Idaho. Feel Free to Breed.

Here is a report from the Salt Lake Johnson's pilgrimage to Idaho, a state where the zygote should be the state symbol. After attending church and wading through the sea of young 'uns, I came to realize that if all those little ankle-biters get together and there's an uprising, the adult population is toast. I've never seen so many children in my life. I've seen the movie Children of the Corn, and I think Children of the Potato is a realistic sequel. You know the state's population is young when 72 hour kits consist of a binkie and a #10 can of Similac. And those are just for Todd. I digress.

We had an AMAZING time with Todd, Valerie and the girls. You can see from the pictures that Bubba and The Weasel were quite drawn to their cousins. Bubba held Chucky (Charlotte's official nickname...for now) so long, it started to resemble a planned parenthood ad. She was pretty quick to relenquish the child when Chucky made unhappy baby noises. I thought we were going to have to come up with a King Solomon type solution to get Bub and the Weas to share the baby. I was fully prepared to get out the cleaver, but Valerie seemed opposed to the idea. Go figure. You'll notice in one of the photos that Bubba took the time to begin training Macie how to text message. A skill that will undoubtedly shape the course of her life....and make Todd COMPLETELY gray.

As expected, Riley and Macie are as adorable and energetic (P.C. term for CRAZY) as ever. It took about 30 minutes for them to warm up, but after that it was non-stop bonding. The Weasel is already planning her week-long trip to Idaho Falls this summer. As you can see, Riley was not shy around the camera. In fact, at one point I just gave her my business card and told her she'd have to contact me when I got back to SLC so I could quote her some prices if I was going to be her personal photographer any longer. Hollywood look out.

I think the highlight of the weekend was when I demonstrated my trampoline prowess. It only took a few botched attempts and a broken pinkie toe to perfect my back flip. Not to be outdone, you can see from the pictures that Todd went for a couple of flying splits and has a pulled groin to remind him of how much fun we had.

Hopefully we'll be able to return in June for the actual blessing. I'm fully prepared to abduct a couple of cute girls when we leave. I'd steal Chucky too, but I can't seem to muster any lactation. Apparently not enough calcium in my diet.

Hope everyone's well. Our trip reminded me also of the family reunion. Wish we didn't have to wait a year.

KJ