So Long Big Tree...

Isn't it funny how something you rarely think about can actually hold so many memories?  This big tree next to our driveway has been a part of our daily life for over 8 years.

We trimmed it back the first day we arrived so that our moving truck would fit in the driveway. 

I took the kids' photos against the trunk of the tree more times than I can count.

We used it as a guide for where to back out of the driveway every single day that we've lived in this house. 

And Janel accidentally backed into it once--since then, I've called it Janel's tree. :)

How is it that a tree that was such a big part of our daily life rarely showed up in my photos?  I went digging and was finally able to find these photos (above) from the day we looked at this house when we were thinking about buying it, back in 2007.  And Google Maps street view can show us what it looked like this past winter:

Unfortunately though, something must have happened to this big old tree this year, because the leaves never grew back this spring and it was totally dead. :(

We are in the middle of having a whole bunch of landscaping work done in our backyard (more on that soon!), so last Friday when the tree-guys that work with our landscaper offered to chop it down for us for a good price, we jumped at the chance--and it came down within hours!

And by another great stroke of luck, the limb truck that we've all been waiting on for WEEKS to pick up piles of sticks and tree limbs all over the neighborhood showed up just an hour after the tree was down and all the workers had disappeared.  Paxton was entertained as he watched the man work on grabbing all those sticks and dropping them into his truck.

It was actually kind of sad to say goodbye to this tree, and we really hope whatever happened to it doesn't happen to the other great big tree in our front yard.

For now, it's a whole lot sunnier in the front yard, and I've got to find a new way to know where the driveway ends and grass begins when I back the car out of the driveway!

So long big tree!  We will miss you...