The Johnson Family

Wrapping up 2010

2011-02-07T14:10:00.003-07:00

I am finding less and less time and desire to blog these days but I feel the need to wrap up last year. I turned 30 the week before Christmas and for the first time I felt like I had a "hard birthday." Entering a new decade and leaving my so-called youth behind stung bad at first, but once I ripped the band-aid off I realized I'm still awesome (no, really) and the 30's are going to be the decade we raise and hopefully add to our little family and we have soooo much to look forward to. Lots of people have told me things like, "the 30's are better than the 20's" or "you really don't know what life is about until you are in your 30's" etc., etc. Anyway I am okay with it now...

We had a wonderful Christmas at home and got to see almost all of our loved ones and tried to pack as much quality time as we could into a few short days. My dad and Tammy were amazing sports to come and visit us and stay in our guest suite (toy room equipped with two twin beds). They live in Vermont and it's hard that we, and especially Lily, can't realistically see them more than one or two times a year. We love them so much and are so glad that they got to see Lily in the adorable phase she is in now.

Christmas was a blast this year, with most of the joy coming from giving Lily gifts and having her actually be excited. Our sweet girl was 21 months old on December 2nd. She continues to keep us on our toes. (Perhaps I shouldn't mention the incident where I was driving down the freeway and she completely finagled her way out of her carseat, after I unbuttoned the button to free her trapped foot, thinking the shoulder straps were enough to contain her--that was "fun!") She, aside from being a handful is so so sooo much fun. She is wilful and hilarious and sassy and energetic and sweet and brave and being her mom is pure joy!

We are much looking forward to whatever 2011 holds and we wish you all a vey very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

"How to Make your Mom's Day" by Lily Johnson

2010-12-06T12:11:00.004-07:00

Step 1: "Go # 2 in the tub", 9:00 a.m. (I'll spare you a picture)

Step 2: "Remove diaper during "nap" and go 'tinklepotty' all over your bed", 11:00 a.m.

Step 3: "Since diaper has duct tape now and won't budge, pour your bottle all over your only remaining clean sheet", 11:15 a.m.

Step 4: "Since Mom still thinks this nap is actually going to happen show her who's boss by taking a nice good bite out of your crib", 11:25 a.m.

All this and it's not even noon...

{I love love love this kid, but gosh she is crazy mischievious!}

"cheese!"

"yucky, Mom"

Oh no you don't!

2010-11-09T12:16:00.007-07:00

Oh yes she did! And have I ever told you about the time I left her eating in her high chair for like 10 seconds and when I walked back in she was standing on the kitchen table, at the edge, holding my heavy centerpiece bowl in her hands? (I don't want to think about the number of ways that scenario might have gone awry)... or the time we were driving down the street going 40 or so and she figured out how to unlock the door and open it? I know, I know, it's called childlock people!! I try to stay a step ahead but sometimes the stinker gets the best of me...aaahhhh!

Halloween!

2010-11-05T14:14:00.010-06:00

So, do you ever just feel like you dropped the ball? I feel like I have been dropping lots of balls lately...namely planning ahead for things like Halloween, and maybe more importantly taking the time and effort to actually get decent photos of my kid and of the family. I am ashamed to admit that below are the only halfway decent photos taken, and they're still pretty bad. I think I can count on one hand the number of decent photos we have of the the three of us. Um pathetic? Investing in a decent camera and then learning how to use it has been a goal of mine for a loooong time. I am just so tired of the sloooooow shutter speed and of the majority my pictures being of googly eyes and the backs of heads. Needless to say here was my attempt at Halloween this year. Lil was a cute bumble bee (bought the costume like the day before Halloween) and Chris and I just didn't get our act together this year, which I was majorly bummed about because I am a total Halloween person. Get ready for Halloween 2011 because next year we are going to rock it! Note to self: In the future please start thinking of these things sooner than October 29th or 30th)

Riding the "hosey" at Gamma and Poppy's

We are all looking at the camera!! Lily has a blank look on her face and we forgot to put her antennas on, does it still count?

I love this cute little body, even if she's not looking at the camera,and even if the light is bad...and it's blurry...

"Snow! Awesome!"

2010-10-28T10:37:00.010-06:00

That's all Lily could say yesterday when we received the first snowfall of the year, "Snow! Awesome! Snow! Awesome! Snow! Awesome..." She was purely delighted with everything about snow: touching it, eating it, throwing it, walking in it-- and it was purely delightful to watch her discover it! It brought back such vivid memories of being a kid. I love those moments where I forget about laundry and messes and what to make for dinner and just bask in her pure innocence and joy...those moments where I get a little teary-eyed because everything comes together and I stop and remember what life is all about--sorry to get cheesy on you here. (Note to self: have more of those moments) You may be able to tell from the pictures that she did a lot of eating the snow. Someone taught her that that's what you do...(Not thrilled about that one Chris)

Lily's latest love...

2010-10-28T10:12:00.010-06:00

...is shoes. It cracks me up to watch her line all of our shoes up and then try each pair on. And my favorite is watching her throw a tantrum when the shoes are too cumbersome to walk in and she falls over (I love the kid, but some things are just funny)

Summer Favorites

2010-08-24T14:34:00.007-06:00

Lily has been a blast this summer. I know I always seem to mention her delightful, not to mention dramatic personality but she is just a complete crack-up and I sometimes just don't know where she gets it. She walks around ( or I chase her) and she asks the same question over and over and over and over, while pointing her finger at different things, "shat?" I listen to our conversations and laugh to myself...

"Shat?"
"That's a stop sign."
"Shat?"
"That's grass."
"shat?"
"That's a booger."
"Shat?"
" That's chapstick."
"Shat?"
"I don't know probably a tree...what are you even pointing at?"
"Shat? Shat? Shat?"
It really never ends. I love her curiosity and her courage and how determined she is to discover every inch of her surroundings. This kid is funny!

Word!

2010-07-20T21:44:00.001-06:00

Some favorites that Lily has picked up recently:

mow (as in rhymes with cow) = cat. Supposedly lives under all beds and tables and any piece of furniture. Lily checks several times a day, calling out for the "mow."

coke = what Mom is always drinking, i.e. the drink that you aren't allowed to taste

shat or zat = "what is that?" She points at anything and everything and asks us "shat?" At first Chris thought I had taught her a naughty word.

beebee = blankey. She literally lights up and fills with pure joy at so much as the sight of her "beebee."

guy = her weird three eyed dog, alien looking stuffed animal, which she sleeps with. I once asked her "who is this weird guy?" and it stuck so now she calls him "Guy." It cracks us up at night when she starts asking for "Beebee and Guy."

She is literally picking up a word or two every day and it amazes me that half the time, they are words I didn't directly teach her. I love watching her grow and learn and develop her own personality traits and preferences. This kid cracks us up!

Vegas Baby!

2010-07-09T10:49:00.006-06:00

A few weeks ago I went on a weekend girls' trip with two of my best friends, Amy and Kailee to Vegas Baby! Our husbands held down their respective forts, kids and all (they are awesome!!), while we girls had as much fun as three married, mormon moms could possibly have! ( we are also awesome and very deserving) The pictures speak for themselves but I will just say it was an absolute blast! It felt great to have some time to relax, talk without interruption, shop without interruption, swim, sleep in, get a little pampered (well maybe a lot), and spend quality time with great friends!

Adventures Back East

2010-06-07T12:03:00.002-06:00

Hello All. I'm sure you have all enjoyed Chris' adventures in blogging while Lil and I have been away. Contrary to what I know you have all feared, I came home to find that the house was still standing and the power was still on and things were in decent shape. He even changed our sheets, which is very important to me, but not very important to him. When I came in the door I was surprised to find flowers, a sweet card, and best of all---he had refinished our old coffee table and replaced the knobs to surprise me.
Lily and I had a great time in Boston, then Maine, then Vermont...but it proved to be a little long to be away from Chris. The occasion for the trip was my little sister Lindsey's graduation from college in Maine. My sister Rachel, aunts, cousins, etc. went early to enjoy each other and a few days in Boston before driving up to Maine for the graduation, after which my two sisters and I drove with my Dad and step-mom Tammy to their home in Vermont for a week. I had a blast spending time with loved ones that I see so rarely these days. While in Vermont, Lily came down with a scary high fever of 104+ that wouldn't break with tylenol, motrin, and cold baths so we had a few rough days and a 2 a.m. trip to the emergency room. She had no symtoms aside from the fever and her blood work, etc. all came back normal, so all in all, after chest x-rays, urine and blood cultures, etc. it was just a really expensive way of finding out that she must have had some viral or bacterial infection. It all cleared up and she had no signs of fever shortly after coming home from the ER. While we were there we visited the Joseph Smith memorial and went to church right near his birthplace on Sunday. I was extremely grateful to be able to have the mission president there give Lily a blessing and I credit the blessing for her speedy recovery.
We missed Chris and he missed us and we are glad to be back home. I have told Chris that he now has a readership that he can't let down and so hopefully he will contintue to entertain you on the blog...actually I might make him start his own blog so you don't worry about sorting the fact from the fiction...

Conclusion

2010-06-07T10:55:00.005-06:00

I have been putting off writing what happened the last few days of Sarah and Lily's vacation. In part I haven't written because we have been so busy with insurance and other issues, but also because, well, it is just really embarrassing.

So on Friday I got home from work pretty early. There had been enough adventure in my life over the previous nine days to pretty much quench my thirst for that type of thing forever, which is why I decided I would cut my loses and not to anything that could get me into more trouble while Sarah was gone.

So after a a dinner of Cheerios with water on them (in case you forgot the power has been out in the house for a few days. I initially poured milk on my Cheerios, but the milk was bad. So after one bite, which led to a full body convulsion when my tongue realized what was going on, which then resulted in a mouth full of cheerios and spoiled milk being plastered across the walls, counter tops and floor of the kitchen, this led to several glasses of water, and extensive teeth brushing before I was brave enough to give another bowl of Cheerios, this time without milk a try) I went out to mow the lawn.

The lawn was mowed without incident. Well, there was one minor incident. I spilled some gas on my shirt as I was filling up the mower, but no big deal right? Now all I had to do was sit inside and wait until Saturday and 10 pm for Sarah to get home. It seemed like my nightmare was about to end. Now I don't know how many of you have sat around without power for extended periods of time, but it gets boring pretty quick. What to do, what to do? I walked around the house for a bit looking for anything that could occupy my time for a few hours until I could go to sleep. There was nothing to do. Finally I decided I couldn't get into too much trouble if I just read a book. It was getting a bit dark by now so I went out on my front porch to read. Before I knew it, it was too dark to read, but now I was interested in what was going on in the book. I had to find out what would happen to Bella and Edward, er I mean I had to find out how Paul Volker was able to pull the country out of Carter era economic stagflation.

Ok, so I can't lie, I was actually reading Twilight. But, to my defense it was horrible. I mean, Bella's only perceivable strength is her blood smells good! What is that?! I mean she isn't all that smart, or popular or interesting or even pretty. She can't even seem to walk a straight line without falling down! Why, why would anyone be interested in her?!

But I digress... So it is too dark to read anymore of this stupid book, but I am hooked now, I can't stop. Twilight is like crack, highly addictive and absolute napalm for your brain. This napalm effect is what I attribute the next sequence of decisions to.

With new purpose I walk inside the house, I must find some sort of luminary device so I can finish this stupid book. I can't find any flash lights and the batteries in my headlamp are dead.

Ah what luck! I am able to find one of those aromatic candles people use around Christmas time. Any port in a storm, I guess. So I light the candle and am immediately over powered by the smell of cranberries and holly.

I set the candle on my night stand and open the book hoping that the next chapter will explain that Edward is actually a bad vampire and ends up killing Belle and moves back to Transylvania the end. But there are still way too many pages for that, and really, I am just not that lucky.

With the candle on the night stand the light is coming up from below the book, and thus the pages are obscured in shadow and unreadable. Still under the "twilight, aka napalm effect" I slowly perceive that to read by candle light the light must be shining down from above. My mind racing, I realize that the perfect solution for this is to balance the candle in the top of the head board leaning into the wall. After just a bit of maneuvering the candle is perfectly positioned over my reading area and leaning back just enough to touch the wall but still cast light on me. I settle in.

About one hundred pages later I am seeing that this book is not going to end well at all. It is definitely heading towards some sort of happy ending. I am not happy. I am also not comfortable. And strangely enough I have a craving for candy canes and some Bing Crosby Christmas music. Sitting in the same position for an hour is killing my neck and back. I do a quick little bounce on the bed to shift my position. This was a huge mistake.

As I adjusted my position the whole bad shook just enough to knock the candle from its precarious perch. It falls on my dumping wax all over my head. It also is able to light my shirt on fire, and thanks to the gas I spilled on my shirt earlier ignites at a surprisingly rapid rate. Despite my temporary blindness caused by candle wax hardening in my eyes I am able to get the shirt off with only minor singeing to my person. The problem is I now can not see where the burning shirt is.

I search in vain for it for about thirty seconds until I can feel the heat and even see the red glow around me and I realize I have caught the house on fire.

It is shockingly hard to get someone to call 911 for you when you are running around with red wax all down your face and in your eyes (which in retrospect probably looked like blood in the dark) and no shirt on. Eventually one of the neighbors did call 911, but it was too late. I burned the house down.

I guess insurance will cover most of the damages, and everyone was ok, but man, what a total disaster. We are stuck living in a motel until we can figure out what we are going to do for a new house, all my cool stuff got burned up, and the worst part of it, Sarah will never trust me again. It's like for the rest of our lives anytime I say "Just trust me Sarah" she can always come back with "Remember when I trusted you and your burned the house down." There is no response to that. For the rest of my life Sarah will always have the argument ender. That is unless I can some how get her to burn down an even better house...

Day Six: Things Get Worse Before They Get Better (I Hope)

2010-06-02T09:15:00.003-06:00

I usually update the blog at the end of the day, but for you astute readers you will notice I am updating the blog at 9:15 am. You may be asking "Why the change Chris?" The answer is simple really, I don't have power at my house and therefore can not use any non-battery powered electrical devices. Now you might be thinking to yourself "Man, his life just can't get any worse." And my response would be "You got a lot of nerve buddy judging me like that." But in fact my life can get worse, and is, in fact, worse.

So yesterday morning I could not find my house keys. They turned out to me in the permanent possession of a former friend. This curious turn of events brought about the challenge of getting into the house. What made the most sense is to see if any of the basement windows had been left unlocked, and if one had simply slide it open and climb in. I checked all the windows and they were all locked. This was a bit of a set back in my plan of gaining entrance to my house. The situation was getting a bit grim at this point, because it dawned on my that my list of possibly options was rapidly dwindling. So, it was with great resignation that I scoured my yard for a rock big enough to perform the task at hand.

Let me just segway for one moment and give a friendly bit of advice: If you ever need to bash open a window in your house with a rock make sure you are small enough, or the window is large enough for you to fit through.

I found a rock with good heft and a point on one end that looked like it was designed for bashing. The window was surprisingly strong, and it took a couple of smacks(and several "lacerations" as they call them in the emergency room, to my hands)before both panes broke, but they finally did. Success! I would be in my house in no time! Except for the matter of not checking that I could fit through the window. I couldn't.

Back to square one. I knew I could fit through the kitchen window, so I bashed that one open after a few more tries and lacerations. I climbed through the window into the house. As I was triumphantly surveying my castle from the inside I noticed something that made my heart stop beating for a moment and almost all resolve leave my soul. The latch to lock the kitchen window was in the open position. I could have just slid the window open and climbed in without bashing any windows and without slicing my hands open even once, much less several times.

In a state can that only be described as pure dejection I walked over to the wall to flip the light on (since it was dark by the time I had finally gained entrance). Yep, the power company had come and turned the power off. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

As I sat in the dark, bleeding and quietly crying to myself the thought entered my head "Well, at least it can't get any worse than this."

Day Three-Five: A New Friend?

2010-06-01T10:17:00.005-06:00

As I sit down to write this my mind is filled with more questions than answers. What does it mean to be a friend? Is there really such a thing as a friend, or are we truly alone in this life, neither knowing or being known. And finally, where are my house keys? When I got home from my weekend adventure last night I had to sleep in the garage. Possibly, in writing this I will learn some of the answers to these questions.

The adventure began on Friday afternoon. I was able to duck out of the office a bit early (around 11 am) to kick off the weekend. I went home to find that Netflix had sent me "Hidden Fortress". I also found that the power company had plastered some "final notice" paper on the front door. I should really take care of that. Anyway, Hidden Fortress was a Samurai movie, and no joke, Star Wars was a pretty blatant rip off. Well, except for the Star Destroyers and Laser guns, and Death Star, and Robots, well, you get the idea. Anyway, so I am enjoying one of Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces (I am also enjoying the Brunch of Champions which consists of a large Cherry Slurpee, a Pizza Hut Meat Lovers Pizza, a Denny's Grand Slam and a box of Hostess Powdered Donettes) when the doorbell rings. So, I pause the movies set down my plate, and yes, I fit all that food onto one plate, (I guess technically the "plate" was the lid of a garbage can, but now we are just arguing semantics) and ran upstairs to see who had come to visit. Maybe people that are home in the day are use to this kind of thing but it was a new phenomenon to me, but apparently there are these guys from the "Inner City" that have an opportunity to get out of that life by selling magazine subscriptions door to door. Right before my very eyes was a young man, James, trying to better his life by selling magazine subscriptions.

I didn't ask how the whole "get out of the inner-city by selling magazine subscriptions" deal worked, and in hindsight I wish I had. I just assumed James had to sell X number of subscriptions and he got a nice house in the suburbs somewhere. Needless to say I wanted to help the kid out, so I bought two subscriptions from him. The problem was he didn't have any magazines I really wanted. I asked if he had US News and World Report or The Economist and he looked at me like I was crazy.

Not wanting to embarrass myself again while simultaneously wanting to look cool in front of James I just got subscriptions to Field and Steam and Better Homes and Gardens.

This got an even stranger look from him. I was not doing well at impressing James. Feeling the sting of failure creeping up my spine I asked him if he wanted a drink or anything to eat. He replied "Yeah, that would be cool man. Most of the people around here won't even let me get through my sales pitch, your a pretty decent guy."

Yes! I was in, James thought I was cool. "Don't blow it Chris by talking about anything too dorky" I thought. Thinking fast, but also feeling a little desperate I asked James if he ever shot dice. Just as the words left my mouth I thought "Chris you idiot, you are going to sound like the most white bread cracker out. Asking a guy like James if he shot dice was akin to asking someone from Alabama if he was married to his cousin". I braced myself for a stinging rebuke when James said "Yeah man, I like shooting dice, but I can't find any games around here."

I had found my in. After just a few minutes of convincing, James agreed to ditch selling magazine subscriptions to come play dice with me and the guys. And man, he made the right decision, James rolled nine 4's in a row! We made bank. The guys were sure James was cheating so when he finally rolled a 7 on his tenth roll they kicked us out of the game.

We both knew we had witnessed something amazing and that it would border on sacrilege not to do more with this gift James had. So we went to Wendover. The next 72 hours were a blur. James was a machine and at one point we were up $175 grand! I could not believe our luck, James was going to get that house in the suburbs and I was going to pay that stupid "final notice" bill from the power company.

It didn't really strike me as strange at the time, but now I see where it all started to unravel. James and I had just been "asked" to leave the Peppermill Casino by some large, unsavory looking Italian gentlemen. We were walking across the street to the Montego Bay when James said "Hey man, I need to call my Moms". It was 3:30 in the morning and seemed a little late to call home, but not wanting to look like a dork I said "No problem, I'll call home too." He said "Naw man, you just go on in and I will catch up in a minute. Oh, hey I need some money for the pay phone." I said "James I saw you talking on your cell phone like ten minutes ago." "That wasn't mine man, I borrowed it." "But it had 'James' written across the back in Rhine Stones." "Yeah, James is a common name." Just then his cell phone rang. "James I can hear you cell phone ringing." "Look man, just give me some money for the phone." "Ok, ok, how much do you need?" "How much you got on you?" "Well, I think I have around ninty-five grand." "Yeah, just give me that and I should be good." "Uhhh, but a phone call cost like twenty five cents. How about I give you a dollar?"

James was ticked, but he took the dollar and said he was "gonna get me later". I assumed at the time he meant catch up with me later, but hindsight is 20/20. So, I played craps for like an hour in which time I was able to loose all but $25 of my previous $94,999. At that point I realized James was the lucky one and I needed him to help me win it back. I went out into the street looking for him. It didn't take me long because he was looking for me. And so were his large, angry looking friends.

This is a family blog, so I am going to skip most of what happened next, but I will say they were not happy I had lost $94,974 dollars in an hour. They had plans for that money. Also, they had plans for my wallet, phone and car. Lucky for them I had not lost those items. Unlucky for me, I was about to.

Again, this is a family blog, so I will spare you some details, but hitchhiking home from Wendover is not much fun and sometimes you get kicked out of a car somewhere on the salt flats. It took me two days and 7 different rides to get home, but I finally made it. I also now remember where my house keys are; with my car keys in James' possession.

I am glad to be home, now I just need to figure out how to get into the house and pay the power bill...

Day Two: Lessons learned

2010-05-28T02:02:00.001-06:00

Ok, I am pretty sure that pizza from last night was from last October. I got pretty sick after eating it. From now on I will eat nothing but fresh fruits and veggies while Sarah is away. And by fresh fruits and veggies I mean the frozen burritos that I found this morning while digging through the freezer.
Word of my temporary bachelorhood is percolating through the social circles here in Salt Lake. This afternoon I got a call from a friend I haven't heard from since I saw him at my wedding reception and he said "You've changed man! You betrayed the trust, we were going to party forever and never let girls tie us down, you are dead to me!" He was having a party tonight to watch the Suns/Lakers game and now that I was cool again I could come over.

I got to the party kind of late because another single friend of mine, Trent, called and wanted to grab dinner. There was a bit of an altercation at dinner which resulted in an unexpected trip to the emergency room, but in hindsite going to dinner at a biker bar will probably end that very same way nine times out of ten. I told Trent I had dislocated my shoulder several times and I could pop his right back in for him, but he was acting like a baby and wanted a doctor to do it so that cost us about an extra hour. Oh, and just one bit of advice, if you are going to grab a bottle and smash it on the bar to brandish as a wepon like they do in the moves, you have got to really hit that that thing hard because they do not break easily. But I digress...

So I showed up at my buddies house just in time to catch the fourth quarter. The Suns put a great run together to tie it up with just a few seconds left, but the hated Lakers were still able to pull out the victory. The game was really disapointing, but it was still really fun to see some old friends that wouldn't talk to me after I got married. They told me how sweet life was and how much fun they were having, but I have to admit as I looked around there crappy house I was pretty glad I was married. Maybe you don't notice this stuff when you are single, but when you get married you get use to living a certain way. For example, Kyle was showing me this "sweet new couch" he "just scored off off the steet" and he couldn't believe that someone would throw away. Well the couch had stains all over it and stunk, and I am pretty sure there was racoon living somewhere in it. Kyle didn't seem to worried about that. It is also nice when you are married that every horizontal surface in the kitchen isn't covered with dirty dishes. Maybe Kyle is right and I am just getting soft, but I do like being a married guy. I thought you would like to see a picture of the bachelor pad and what I am missing:
It's not just the clean, nice house that makes married life a good fit for me, it also gives me direction. Like today I forgot to brush my teeth. No joke. I left the house this morning with a protein shake in hand. As I was heading out the door I thought "grab your tooth brush and brush when you get to the office. So I did, but the tooth brush just sat on my desk all day until I grabbed it to leave. Also, without Sarah the mail is piling up unopened. There are bank statements and bills from the water company and "final notices" from the power company. I am glad she will be home next Saturday to take care of all of this. Well, tomorrow is Friday so I am hoping to have some fun this weekend.

Day One: Adventures in Dining

2010-05-26T22:16:00.002-06:00

One of the major hurdles I will need to overcome while Sarah is away is the budget she has me on. Sarah runs the bank account for the family. At the first of each month she gives me money in my own little account to pay for gas and to maybe eat out once or twice for lunch while I am at work. The amount of money she gives me barley covers one trip to the gas station, much less the three I usually have to make in a month. Going out to get lunch isn't even an option most months. Because of this I have had to come up with creative ways to make money so I can get to work and eat. I play in a pretty competitive dice game about twice a week that is held in a back alley somewhere in Salt Lake (I can't give the exact address because the police will come and hassle us). Playing in this game usually gives me just enough money to make it through the month without selling my plasma to a blood bank. Here is a photo of a recent game, I am not in the photo because I took the picture:

So, how does this tie into my post about life without Sarah and Lily you may ask? And my response would be: "Why don't you quit interrupting me and let me finish?" Last week, I had a rough game, the guys took me to the cleaners and I am flat broke until Sarah, like a benevolent benefactor, places my monthly allotment into my account at the first of the month. This means it will be four days until I have any money to buy food. Luckily, the refrigerator is pretty full of food, so I think I will probably make it to the end of the month.

For dinner tonight I dug around in the frige for about 15 minutes before I found anything that looked appealing. Way at the back, under a bottle of marciano cherries (which, by the way I have no recollection of eating anything with marciano cherries as an ingredient as long as I have been married. I have to assume the cherries were the property of our homes previous owners) I found a pizza box!

Unable to believe my luck I flung the lid of the box open to find two pieces of pizza! I hadn't eaten since lunch and it was approaching 9 pm, so needless to say I was hungry enough road kill. As I was putting the pizza into the microwave the thought entered my mind that I hadn't had a pizza from Big Apple since some time last fall when I had ordered one to watch some college football. I was pretty sure this wasn't the same pizza, so I went ahead and enjoyed my dinner. There was a bit of a funny taste, and as I am sitting here to write this my stomach is rumbling a bit, but I am pretty sure I will be fine.

A Lone Man

2010-05-25T17:18:00.007-06:00

Chris here. Sarah and Lily are going out of town tomorrow for a trip to Boston, Portland Maine, and finally Woodstock Vermont. The trip will be ten days long and since I have a job that I don't want to get fired from I will be here working. This brings up the concern shared by many that I will not be able to take care of myself and that Sarah will most likely come home to something like this:

But I think I will be fine. I did live as a bachelor until I was 28. I think I can handle 10 days without too many incidents. So, what will my life consist of without Sarah here to remind me to shower, brush my teeth, mow the lawn, go to church etc? Well, I plan on watching all the movies Sarah won't let me watch when she is around. Currently, the next 10 movies I have in my netflix queue have "kung fu", "shaolin monks" or "ninja" in the title. All of the movies will have some scene that will basically be some play on this:

So I pretty much have my nights taken care of. But man can not live my violence alone, what will I eat? Knowing this day was coming for at least a month I have searched blogs, books and best of lists to find the perfect food for by foray back into bachelorhood.

Yes, that is a doughnut bacon burger. And I plan on eating at least 5 while Sarah is away. Some of you may be saying to yourself "But Chris, won't that make you fat?" Well duh.

I will keep you all updated while Sarah is away on how my goals of not setting the house on fire, watching Kung Fu movies and eating myself into an early grave go. Until then, all the best.

Taking After Dad

2010-04-20T11:31:00.001-06:00

Everyone says that Lily looks like her Dad and I can already see her personality starting to follow him as well. She, unlike her mother, is the opposite of cautious. I have a dare devil on my hands and I fear that there will be a fair share of bumps, bruises and stitches in her future. I also fear that Chris will teach her backflips on skis and any other number of dangerous stunts all the while saying "shhh don't tell Mom." These photos are of her finding her way onto the top of her play bench and of her and I playing "tunnel." I'm sorry to say that the shot of her standing on the toy bench was quickly followed by a faceplant, and then followed by a brief crying spell and then she wanted to do it all over again. Her favorite game is now "climb-up-on-the-couch-and-then-climb-back-off. We have hard wood floors and she has fallen a few times but will not quit. I'm afraid that although she can't walk yet that I am going to come in and find her standing on the kitchen table---she has a major knack for climbing! I feel sad that she's not a baby any more but a little pre-toddler and a really independent, stubborn, and strong willed one at that! Hmmm....who does that sound like?

Easter!

2010-04-05T12:30:00.003-06:00

Here is Lily making a mess in her Easter Dress! I could have refilled the basket with the paper grass and let her empty it ALL DAY! She couldn't get enough. She thought the grass was more fun than the stuffed animals inside it...

Little Lil is Growing Up

2010-03-25T14:26:00.003-06:00

Our Little Lilly Pill ( her most used nickname, and for a reason) turned 1 on March 2nd!
Her personality has Chris and I laughing our heads off and quite worried for her teenage years. She is super dramatic, but soooooo fun and delightful! I have learned to keep EVERYTHING that I don't want her to see and/or hold far from her sight because if I have to take something from her hands-she will throw herself on the floor in full tantrum and scream bloody murder until I return the item, then she'll smile and giggle with delight--yeah, so quite the drama queen! Although not walking yet she is very physical and loves climbing over things, under things, being tossed up in the air, being hung upside down, climbing up the stairs over and over and over, dancing, etc., etc. Her activity level is off-the-charts. I thought girls were supposed to be more mild mannered and boys were the ones with this kind of energy?
I was recently looking at pictures from a few months back and I was shocked at the transformation she has undergone that has brought her from being a "baby" to a little toddler (almost)! She's getting around the furniture and walls easily but insists on being on her tippy toes. I thought she would be walking by now, but she just will not put her heels down so...maybe a few more months? I will post a video of her soon so you can see her in action. We love watching her learn and try to communicate with us. We have "conversations" all day long.

Steep Learning Curve

2010-02-14T22:49:00.009-07:00

= FREEDOM

Disclaimer: This post is all about babies and nursing. After 10 months of fussing/bottle-REFUSING, cutting date nights short, phone calls from a stressed Daddy or Grandma, excessive night wakings, etc. etc.
Lily just spontaneously decided to take a bottle about a month ago...
...and it has changed our lives!
I am not trying to bash nursing, because I believe in it and I will try to nurse all future children... and I am definitely not trying to bash my child, but I will just say that some things have a very steep learning curve and for us keeping Lily happy and satisfied via nursing has been one of them. It all started making sense to me ( the way-too-frequent feedings, inability to nap, slowed growth) and I have come to the frightening conclusion that she has been borderline starving for the last 10 months. She's been eating solids since 4 1/2 months, but she eats like a bird and her weight percentile has been steadily decreasing since her 4 month appointment--definitely a worry since she was a peanut to begin with. I think she just never got enough milk. I literally tried the bottle weekly and sometimes daily...to no avail for 10 whole months!! THAT STUBBORN LITTLE BUGGER!!!
I'm not really even sure why I am posting this except that it has been this huge life-altering phenomenon as a fairly new mom to be able to leave for longer than an hour and a half and know that my child will be happy and full; to actually be able to go on a childless date with my husband- heaven forbid; to be able to go to my hair appointment and not have to leave the chair in a frenzy with wet hair when I get a frantic text!
My sister tried to drill the concept of getting a nursing baby on a bottle asap so you aren't stuck as her only source of nutrition/comfort... and I just didn't listen. I'm sorry Whit! (boy am I sorry...)

Anyway...I truly feel like Lily's whole temperament has changed this past month...not even kidding. EVERYTHING is now better, easier, less stressful and less dramatic than it used to be. I guess you have to learn some things the hard way...

A Stroke of Really Bad Luck

2010-02-02T12:07:00.005-07:00

We got a call from our neighbor on Saturday night saying "Uh...hey you guys better come outside..." and when we did we found the alarming scene shown below. A drunk driver had come swerving up our street and somehow managed to clip the back bumper on Chris' new truck and drive with two wheels along the entire length of his car, before tipping over. Highlights of this evening included:
* Practically the entire neighborhood congregating in front of our house along with an ambulance, a fire truck and two cop cars.
* The woman's incoherent apology and inability to walk the straight line
*The woman attempting to climb back into her tipped, smoking vehicle for her cigarettes
* Her begging every neighbor on our street to keep her startled and upset dog (an innocent passenger) overnight while she was taken to jail so it wouldn't end up at the pound. My sweet elderly neighbor Dennis obliged.

But the good thing was no one was hurt and we would much rather it be a smashed car than someone's child. We are super bummed though... In the meantime Chris is loving driving his rental Dodge Charger;)
We still aren't sure how she managed to shatter the window
Chris thought I was naieve for being in disbelief that a mid-thirties-ish driver of a Landcruiser is the type of person to get a DUI. I thought this type of behavior was reserved for celebrities and white trash folks...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T15:30:00.021-07:00

I vividly remember how I felt at this exact time last year. I was 6 months pregnant and bursting with anticipation for our daughter to arrive in a few short months. Chris was knee-deep in his MBA program. We were living in my inlaws' basement with no bedroom for our pending arrival. There were no job prospects in his horizon and with the economy in its funk we had no idea what blessings or misfortunes 2009 would bring us. You could say that the future was one enormous question mark. I remember playing out every possible scenario in my head, i.e. "what if we have the baby, and Chris doesn't have a job yet and I have to go back to work while he looks for a job?"... "Who would watch the baby?"... "What if he gets a job and we have to move somewhere awful and start our family in the middle of nowhere?"... "What do we do for insurance if neither of us is working?" and on and on and on...
Here it is 2010 and I am almost brought to tears thinking about the blessings and opportunities that were handed to us this past year. I honestly feel like this was a year of miracles for our little family. Our beautiful and spirited Lily came to us in March and just as my maternity leave was about to expire, Chris was given the opportunity of a lifetime when he received funding for his start-up company. I remember stringing my boss along telling him that I was definitely coming back after I had the baby and then praying earnestly that I wouldn't have to...and then literally the day I was due back at work Chris was hired as a consultant by his team of investors, and then a short while later they signed the deal to invest in his start-up. I remember fretting constantly (and driving us all crazy) about what I would do with Lily because she wouldn't take a bottle and fearing the logistical nightmare that commuting and working and caring for Lily and Chris' job hunting would cause. And I remember the utter elation, relief, and gratitude we felt when we realized that our hundreds of prayers had been answered and not only did Chris' deal come through, but I wouldn't have to go back to work and with the equity buyout by the investors we would have the opportunity to buy our first home in our beloved Salt Lake, which is home to us, and where we'd always dreamed of raising our family. This truly was a year of miracles for us and I must say that I was a little sad to see 2009 go...
We are counting our many blessings at this time and we consider you, our friends and family, to be huge blessings in our lives.
We love you all and wish you wonderful things in the new year!!
Happy 2010!!

and Merry Belated Christmas too!!

Yes. This is a dog bone. We decided this year that Santa got Lily's gifts mixed up with the dogs'. Lily was mesmerized with the dog bones and would throw a tantrum when we tried to take them from her... and the dogs were mesmerized with the tinker toys...

The wrapping paper and ribbons came in second to the dog bones

Ruby pouting and whining about having to share her bone

What did I just tell you?

2009-12-18T13:51:00.001-07:00

What did I just tell you?

Are you not listening?

I guess we need new couches anyway...

What can I do to make you more comfortable?

Thanksgiving at Dad's "Farm", Part II

2009-12-04T16:16:00.003-07:00

These pictures are of loved ones that make long plane rides worth it: Dad, Lindsey and Rachel (also Tammy, Kurt and Trent--not pictured). It pains me that we literally only see each other a few times a year. We all live in a different state, so we count it as a miracle when we can get organized enough to all get together.

Hiking with Dad and Lindsey

Lily and her Aunty Linds

Me and Rachie

Thanksgiving at Dad's "Farm"

2009-12-04T15:31:00.009-07:00

About a month ago my dad left big city Atlanta and moved to a tiny little town in Vermont, called Woodstock. He's always dreamed of having land and living a quiet little existence and now with his career winding down he jumped at the chance to live his dream. We thought he went crazy until we saw the place (we still think he's a little crazy). The population of the town is 1700. It is a picturesque, quaint little town and now with his land and his farmhouse and his tractor, etc. etc. my dad is a self-proclaimed "fake farmer." He has the land and the barn, just no cows to milk or sheep to graze...He lives in a cute farmhouse, built in 1790. Yes, you read that right. It is adorable and charming, but very funky. None of the walls or floors are straight, flat, square or perpendicular. If it weren't so dang far away I would go there every chance I could get. There aren't direct flights and the closest airport is a 1 1/2 hour drive from their house, so let's just say that flying/layovers/long car rides and Lily don't exactly paint a pretty picture. The first picture in this post is of how we survived our flight: tylenol before and sugar during (exemplary parents, we know). While we were there we had lots of fun with things that have wheels: atvs, motorcycles, tractors, etc. We each gained an embarrassing amount of weight for such a short trip because of my step-mom's fabulous and fattening cooking (Thanksgiving dinner was just the tip of the iceberg). The highlight of our trip aside from being with family we rarely get to see was driving to Sharon, Vermont to the birthplace of the prophet, Joseph Smith. We attended church and visited a monument erected in his honor and the small plot of land where his birth home rested. The peace and the spirit surrounding that place is hard to describe. Loved it! It was a great way to end the Thanksgiving holiday and made us so grateful for all that we are blessed with.

The longest flight of our lives

The barn, house, and swimming hole

Fun on wheels

Fun on wheels, Part II

The white bench is where the prophet's house rested.

Highlights of this Week

2009-11-04T22:53:00.009-07:00

Okay...so I used to do these posts and I am going to try and get back in the habit. Like many, I'm sure, (I hope) I find life as a mom to be totally crazy much of the time, and if I don't stop and remind myself how lucky I am, and that I spent many a year looking forward to "arriving" here- I find myself focusing on the stressful things and not on the wonderful things. So here goes...

* Today's beautiful weather and the scenic mountains. Living in Michigan taught me that not only do I love the mountains, I REQUIRE them to feel at home, at peace...and also as a frame of reference because I have zero sense of direction. And I do mean zero.

* A very friendly neighbor who invited me to playgroup with the other neighbor/ward moms and kids even though my kid is not yet of playing age. I think she sensed that I needed to get out of my house.

* A wonderfully working dishwasher. Never had one until now.

* A very hot, very long shower during Lily's nap.

* A tantrum-free jaunt through IKEA.

* Christmas stuff hitting the shelves and the way it makes me giggle with delight.

* And a very well-timed call and a great conversation with a wonderful friend.

Our Very Own Randy

2009-10-28T09:40:00.005-06:00

Yesterday's weather prompted the purchase of this cumbersome, way-too-big-but-we-think-she'll-grow-into-it ensemble, dubbed the "randy."

Tolerating it mildly.

I left the room for a second and heard sounds of struggle...

Followed by crying...well Lil was crying, and call me mean, but I was laughing my head off.

All very reminiscent of my favorite Christmas movie.
I LOVE winter, and I am already excited for Christmas!

Buddies

2009-10-13T20:34:00.004-06:00

I came downstairs to this cute scene last Saturday. It is so fun to see Chris interact with Lil. She really hams it up for her dad. She seems to understand that Mom meets most of her needs, but Dad is more fun, a.k.a. he is the guy that'll throw you up in the air or hang you upside down (not my favorite trick of theirs.) And he is the guy to watch the Utes win with!

Life these days...

2009-10-05T14:21:00.013-06:00

Hello Readers...assuming we still have any. I am finding it harder and harder to update this thing these days, for lots of reasons--3 in particular by the names of Lily, Ruby and Rex. But I am not ready to pull the plug on blogging and I still love reading all my friends' blogs so here goes...

This is my adorable girl doing her most recent trick- sitting up! I am loving every minute of being a mom. I can't believe that she is now 7 months old. It is a blast to watch her personality coming out. She is a sassy little drama queen, full of funny faces and pterodactyl-like noises. She is close to crawling and I am bracing myself for life to get even crazier when she becomes mobile!

This is our newest family member, Rex. He is a very sweet boy and we are glad Ruby has a playmate--although I must say that I feel very much like the mother of three children. These dogs are high-energy! They follow me around the house and can't bear to be apart from the rest of the family. Wherever I move throughout the house, I can be sure to have 8 little legs (soon enough it will be 10 little legs!) following close behind me.

Playing in the Pack n' Play

Lily in my favorite little yellow dress of hers.

This is our cute house. I'll post a picture of the front, but the inside still needs pictures to be hung, and lots of furniture to be purchased, etc. etc. We have moved into a wonderful neighborhood and ward, with no less than 21 babies having been born in the past year. We are finally settling into home-ownership. The idea quickly got knocked off it's pedestal in the 2nd week of living here. I will just say the modern-day-convenience gods had conspired against us...Things went something like this...closed on our home. Moved in. Washing machine broke-fixed it. S's car required very expensive repairs-fixed them. Broken sprinkler-fixed after three weeks of tinkering. Broken dryer-had to get that fixed too. C's car bites the dust- I mean completely. Sayonara '99 Subaru. Broken lawn mower- still in need of fixing. So all in all things are good now, but for a while we felt like the butt of a very mean joke.

Update

2009-08-19T15:08:00.011-06:00

Quick update--We have been extremely busy and I intend to upload pics and such in the near future when life calms down a little. But just so I can shake my guilt for neglecting our blog for so long-here is a brief update:

All of us:

We are under contract on a house in Salt Lake in the Canyon Rim area. We close in a few days and are thrilled to be basement dwellers no more!!

Chris:

What started out about a year ago as an idea, a dream (a pipe dream, or so I thought) has become a reality--He and his business partners got funded and they now have a full-blown, fully operating business. His company deals with the land remediation industry, primarily with oil spill cleanups. It has been an amazing blessing and we are so grateful for the opportunity that he has to get paid to do something he is passionate about (which is to start and grow businesses--not clean up oil spills.)

Sarah

Sarah spends her days corralling (sp?) animals and playing peek-a-bo and doing everything with one hand. Her other hand is usually busy toting around an adorable, but demanding little one. I may or may not have mentioned that I quit my job and have been loving being a housewife, although I feel like I am more of a full-time baby carrier rather than a person who actually gets anything done around the house. How do some nice Lynn Wilson burritos sound for dinner, Honey?

Lily

Lily is almost 6 months old and is full of personality. She is rolling all over the place and eating solids and "talking" up a storm. She loves to play in her doorway jumper and she loves walks in the baby bjorn. She still insists on "hanging out" with me around 1:00 am and 4:00 am each morning and I am much looking forward to a full night's sleep at some point.

Ruby

Ruby had an acl replacement surgery for her knee a few weeks ago and we spend much time going on walks and doing an elaborate physical therapy regimen with her. She is so light and agile that we have had a hard time getting her to actually use and strengthen her knee. She can get around on three legs like you wouldn't believe.

Rex

What? Who's Rex you ask? Well we thought that we didn't have enough going on with starting a company, and moving, and hauling babies around, and recuperating Ruby--so what better time than to adopt another dog?? Rex is a two-year old black lab mix that we rescued. He spent his first night at our house smack in the middle of our bed. He is a big sweetie and he gets along great with Ruby . We always said that when we got a house that we would need to get Ruby a friend, but we figured why not rescue a fully trained dog instead of dealing with those first few nightmarish weeks of having a puppy. We will post pics of him soon.

We Survived...

2009-06-24T16:15:00.003-06:00

For a while there we were not quite sure what had happened to our sleepy, easy baby...and to our lives for that matter, but I believe we have made it through the worst of Lily's colic. Our nights used to involve two or three car rides of what we called "Lily's Loop." Lily's Loop would calm her down just in time to pull in the driveway and get out of the car...which is when she would inevitably start wailing all over again. But, rest assured, she started smiling and talking and being a content baby just in time...Chris used to lovingly threaten her that if she couldn't behave we were going to give her to the gypsies. She is a pretty good baby now so we have decided to keep her.

Driggs and Jackson Hole

2009-06-24T15:59:00.001-06:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we drove up to Driggs and Jackson Hole to spend time with my dad and that side of the family. It was our first time road-tripping with a baby in tow and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The highlights of our trip included: Stopping for a quick "hello" with the Budges in Pocatello, me nursing Lily in the backseat while driving on the freeway...yikes!, the view of the Grand Teton from our condo, my dad playing the guitar, good talks and reminiscing with family, ice cream with the Becks in Victor, a big rainstorm, followed by a beautiful rainbow, shopping and lunch in Jackson.

Best Buddies

2009-06-24T15:40:00.002-06:00

We were worried when we first brought Lily home that Ruby would feel displaced and ignored. After all she was our FIRST child and those of you who know us know that we really did treat her like our baby. We needn't have worried because Ruby is the sweetest, gentlest girl with Lily. She loves to be near her and is as social and happy a doggy as she ever was. She's always giving Lily kisses. Here are the buddies hanging out.

Lily's Blessing

2009-06-24T15:29:00.001-06:00

Lily's Baby Blessing, May 3, 2009

Chris Johnson, MBA

2009-04-30T14:43:00.001-06:00

After two years of back-breaking labor, Chris is finally done!!!

BYU Business Plan Competition

2009-04-30T14:36:00.001-06:00

Chris and two other classmates set out last summer to enter this year's BYU Business Plan Competition. They spent literally hundreds of hours outside regular classtime to create a business plan for a new bio-remediation technique that cleans up all kinds of contaminants at an accelerated rate. Nearly 75 teams made up of BYU business undergrads and MBA students entered the competition and Chris' team won third place and $20,000 that they can use to get their business started. I am so proud of his dedication and hard work!!!

Our Easter Lily

2009-04-16T16:08:00.003-06:00

It has been a long time since I have posted or even taken pictures of our Lil' Lily. Life as a mom is totally crazy!!! I am in awe of people who have more than one child...seriously! Lily is plagued with acid reflux and the poor thing is on two medications for it. We hope they start working soon, although getting an infant to swallow yucky liquid medicine or rubbing a pill on the inside of her cheek until it dissolves seems like a futile endeavor...not to mention that it just seems down right cruel! The first few weeks have been crazy with lots of ups and downs. I'll just sum things up by saying that after six weeks I think we finally have the hang of nursing and Lily's weight is finally on the up and up. Our peanut weighs a whopping 8 pounds 1 ounce now! We have just decided that she will probably grow up to be a delicate little flower, as her name suggests. In any case, parenthood has totally rocked our world. I honestly can't even remember what life was like six weeks ago, but she has filled our home with so much joy and love and we are so so grateful for our sweet girl. Here are some Easter pics.

Lily's first two weeks...

2009-03-17T16:01:00.003-06:00

I make lots of cute faces!

Sleeping with Dad

I'm so tiny I sleep in my crib sideways.

Hello!

Lily Elizabeth Johnson

2009-03-04T12:52:00.003-07:00

Meet Lily Elizabeth Johnson!!
Born March 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 p.m.
6 pounds, 6 ounces, 20 inches long

She's here!!! Born nearly three weeks early, but just as happy and healthy as can be!!! I felt my first labor pain at 5:35 a.m. on Monday morning. By 7:30 my contractions were excrutiating and coming every 4 to 5 minutes. Our daughter was coming...and she was coming in a hurry! I feel so lucky to have had an incredibly fast and relatively easy labor and delivery. She and I are home already and doing well. Stay tuned for more info and pics when I can get around to it...

Just the Two of Us

2009-02-24T22:20:00.005-07:00

I know a time will come when I won't be able to remember what it was like before we became parents, so I wanted to pay a little tribute to the times when it was just the two (er three) of us.

First Baby Shower

2009-02-12T11:44:00.005-07:00

I had my first baby shower last Saturday, hosted by my dear friends Amy, Kailee and Heidi. It was so fun to get together with friends from so many different eras of my life. I felt very loved! I have amazing friends and one spoiled baby!!! Thanks again Amy for hosting it at your beautiful home!!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-05T12:35:00.008-07:00

2008 in a nutshell:
Chris studying day and night * Moab trips * 4- day cross-country drive to Michigan * Summer in Kalamazoo * Eating lots of Kellogg's cereal * Cheez-its * Ruby learns to swim * Hanging with Mark and Kat in Chicago and Nauvoo * Chris on the set of Good Morning America * Learning of our baby-on-the-way * Meeting new friends * Saying good bye * 2 1/2 day cross-country drive home from Michigan * Announcing our pregnancy * Summer Olympics * Lots of mountain biking for Chris * Lots of being lazy for Sarah * Lots more studying for Chris * Celebrating our 2 year anniversary * The arrival of our new niece, Ginger * The announcement of another Backman baby * Finding out our "it" is a "she" * Lots of skiing for Chris * No skiing at all for Sarah * Sarah getting enormous...and terrified of getting any bigger * Utes go undefeated!!! * Chris being 3/4 done with Grad school!!! * Good times with loved ones * Much anticipation for the future!! * Farewell 2008 * Happy 2009!!!

Christmas: Part II

2009-01-05T12:19:00.003-07:00

My dad's side of the family came into town on the 26th to celebrate Christmas and to have a family ski vacation. We usually go visit them in Atlanta for Christmas and I have been begging my dad for the past five years to come here and ski instead. It figures that my dream finally comes true and I can't ski!!
Me with my sisters Rachel and Lindsey

Dad and the girls

Chris and Tammy

The fam playing Texas Hold 'Em

Me: 29 weeks and as big as a house!

Christmas: Part I

2009-01-05T12:03:00.007-07:00

Our last childless Christmas

Me: 28 weeks; Whit: 18 weeks

Chris' mom put candy cigarettes in each of our stockings. Here is Jeff lighting up.
My adorable grandma Maggie in her Christmas day outfit

Tacky Christmas Yards

2008-12-19T11:02:00.005-07:00

I found this blog last year and thought it was pretty funny. The best part is reading the violations cited below each picture. Check it out!

Family Pics

2008-12-10T16:10:00.003-07:00

I've really fallen off the blogging bandwagon lately and with my growing girth I am becoming less and less inclined to post pictures of myself...but this family pic turned out okay so I posted it, if for no other reason than to get out of my blog rut and move forward- so our readers don't forget about us.
Stay tuned for posts regarding a successful home science experiment and a story of our adventures with the A-Team.

Going private

2008-11-13T09:53:00.004-07:00

I have decided to privatize the blog. It's sort of a scary thing to google your name and see your blog, with your family and basically your life's story pop up.
So please let me know if you would like access and leave me your email address, even if we don't know each other that well I won't think it's weird -I promise. (We all blog stalk right?) I will try to add most of my email contacts, but if you and I don't regularly email, please leave your address and I'd be glad to invite you.
Thanks!

Utah Sports

2008-11-10T15:40:00.012-07:00

We were lucky enough this week to score tickets to the Utah vs. TCU game and also to the Jazz vs. Thunder game--thanks to the Backmans and the "Other" Johnsons.
The Blackout was probably the most exciting football game I have ever been to. I am majorly bummed that I left my camera in the car and was unwilling to go back for it. Seeing an almost full stadium of crazy Utes wearing black was awesome--and the fact that we won was even better!!--Thanks Mike and Whit!

Kailee, me (and my big 'ol belly) and Amy at the Jazz game

Aaron, Chris, and Thayne
--Thanks Kai and Thayne!!

Maine

2008-11-05T10:28:00.006-07:00

I spent last weekend visiting my sister Lindsey, who goes to Bowdoin College in Maine, and also surprising my Dad who went to visit Lindsey but had no idea I would be there. Maine was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in the fall.

Me and Linds on the gorgeous Bowdoin campus

More of Bowdoin-I must mention that the place reminded me of Hogwarts for several reasons:
*The campus is full of really old castle-like buildings and cathedrals
*The studetents are all affiliated with social houses with names like Howell House and Quinby House
*The students eat every meal together in a large dining hall
*While walking through their student union building I saw a sign that read "Quidditch Tryouts"-no kidding. Apparently they hold a quidditch tournament every year. They run around on brooms while other kids try to knock them down while searching for a penny "the golden snitch" in the grass
*The kids there all have rosy cheeks and wear lots of scarves-one guy in particular was wearing a thick, long black and white striped scarf with a Bowdoin insignia

Breakfast at the Bruswick Diner

Walking in "The Quad"

Dinner with me, Tammy, Lindsey, her boyfriend Ben, and my Dad

Happy Halloween

2008-10-29T21:02:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween!

Chiquita Bananas

2008-10-29T10:19:00.006-06:00

I don't know these dogs, but I received this pic in an email forward and was cracking up so I had to post it. Few things bring me sheer joy like seeing pets wearing ridiculous costumes-weird, I know, but remember I don't have kids----yet. Stay tuned to see Halloween pics of Ruby!

Think Pink!!!

2008-10-24T10:42:00.006-06:00

Much to my surprise we are having a little girl!! We couldn't be happier!! We also got good news at our ultrasound that everything looks normal. It was an incredible experience to see the baby moving in there--we watched her do a complete summersault! I also felt the first fluttering of movement, probably because of all the poking and prodding. She is a very active little thing and was quite uncooperative when they tried to get pictures of her heart. Both the ultrasound tech and the doctor said we have a very mischievous baby. I wonder if that's any indication of her future personality?
We can't wait to meet our baby girl!!

What will it be?

2008-10-23T10:38:00.005-06:00

We find out what we are having tommorow!!
I am almost certain that it's a boy...I'm not sure why
It could be that every time I tell someone that I haven't been sick at all they go on and on and on about how they puked their guts out with all their girls and had smooth sailing with their boys...although I must say that my mom was never sick with me, and my grandma had four girls and wasn't sick once with any of them...
It could be that I have an easier time thinking of girl names and I can all around just picture a baby girl better...so I figure it must be a boy

Either way we will be thrilled!!!

Oh and can I just tell you that we could've known last Tuesday!?! I originally scheduled my ultrasound for Tuesday, but Chris "couldn't come" because he couldn't "miss class" so I changed it to Friday...then last Tuesday rolls around and Chris was driving me to Trax and he hadn't showered or anything and I was like "you're going to school like that?" and he was like "oh I don't have that class anymore...it ended last week." I about died!

Anyway if you are one of the 3 or 4 people that read our blog, and if you read this post before tomorrow I'd love to hear your predictions!

Recent Happenings

2008-10-14T09:55:00.007-06:00

I have been in a blog rut lately and haven't been keeping up too well. Sometimes laying on the couch all evening and then going to bed at 9pm sounds better than sorting through pictures and coming up with witty captions. So here's a pictureless post to inform you of a little bit of what we have been up to:

*We celebrated our 2 year anniversary in August!
*Chris celebrated his big 3-0 in August (Don't worry Hon, you've still got it!!)
*Chris' beloved mountain bike frame has graduated from being living room art, and now resides in the garage as a full-blown bike
*Some people may have wondered how I have been faring as a pregnant lady...and I feel a little sheepish to say that I haven't been sick once or had one wave of nausea...just major fatigue, the need to pee every 10 minutes, and occasional public drooling (it's a real symptom--I checked) I have been very lucky.
*After a bit of a debate we (well mostly I) have decided to find out the sex of the baby. We'll let you know in a week and a half!!

Lake Powell

2008-10-01T20:40:00.003-06:00

Last week I got to spend three days basking in sunny Lake Powell, courtesy of our friends, the Becks. Unfortunately Chris refused to miss school, but I didn't want to miss my one opportunity to actually wear a bathing suit and get some sun this summer. My doctor said "no waterskiing" but I found plenty of other things to do. It was a fabulous trip! Thanks Ashley and Clay!!

Reunited

2008-09-22T21:17:00.005-06:00

Last weekend I reunited with my big sister from Delta Gamma that I haven't seen in nearly 8 years. She was sweet enough to treat me to a delicious lunch at Cafe Trio. We felt like we were in a time warp circa 1999. It was a blast to catch up and so fun to now be back in touch! Thanks Brittany!

Happy Fall!

2008-09-15T12:19:00.006-06:00

I have been so sad about the end of summer that I forgot how much I love fall.

A few things I love:

*The crisp feeling in the air
*The smell
*The changing leaves
*Going on drives to see the leaves
*Wearing sweaters and jackets
*Drinking hot cider
*Halloween candy hitting the shelves
*Eating lots of soup
*Knowing that the holidays are on their way!

Baby Johnson on the Way!!

2008-08-28T11:05:00.007-06:00

We are very excited to be expecting a little one in March!! The baby is due March 21st and we are thrilled!!

We had our first ultrasound this week, and although the baby is only the size of a kumquat (that’s what they tell me in the books…what in the world is a kumquat?) it was amazing to see a little being moving around in there and to see the strong heartbeat.

I am also excited to have escaped the wrath of my sister, who has been harassing us since we got married to “produce a cousin...or else…”

Yeah for babies!

Home Sweet Home!

2008-08-19T10:34:00.003-06:00

Well, our short three months in Michigan have come to an end and we are thrilled to be back in SLC! The first thing Chris wanted to do (besides see family and friends) was mountain bike, so he has been on three rides already...

and the first thing I wanted to do was eat at my much missed Cafe Rio, which I took care of yesterday...and will probably take care of again later this week...

We missed our friends and family so much and we can't wait to catch up!!

A Puppy Sleepover

2008-08-07T12:12:00.004-06:00

This cute little guy is Grady, Ruby's puppy friend from across the hall. These guys like to play out on the grass together and Grady's owner mentioned that he feels so bad because he works all day and this poor little guy is home by himself, with no potty breaks for 8+ hours. Why have a puppy? Since I am home all day I offered to take Grady on our morning walks and to come get him when we go out to play ball. When I went over to get him I found him in this filthy, small room with no food or water. From now on Grady is spending his days at our place. And maybe some of his nights too. His owner went out of town last night and we ended up having Grady sleep over. Chris and I felt like we were hosting a sleepover for young children, with the breaking up of midnight wrestling,and such. I gave Grady some of Ruby's food and he chowed down twice as much as Ruby usually eats in about 30 seconds. I'm growing attached to this little puppy and wish we could adopt him and give him the kind of life he deserves.

Chicago

2008-08-01T09:12:00.004-06:00

We spent last weekend with my cousin Kat and her husband Mark in Chicago and Nauvoo. It was so much fun!

Downtown Chicago was awesome! We met up with Mark and Kat and they watched Ruby for us while we went into the Chicago Museum of Art, which is free on Thursdays and Fridays during the summer! How cool is that? Then we walked around and Chris pointed out all the buildings featured in Batman: The Dark Knight.

A favorite painting by Seurat. It was awesome to see it up close...and for free!

A crazy bicycle brigade came charging down the street, stopping all traffic. It was nuts!

We got to see Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio. Chris is fascinated by all things Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House

Nauvoo

2008-08-01T08:41:00.006-06:00

Us in front of the beautiful Nauvoo temple. It seemed sort of funny to take pictures in front of the temple with our dog--but all dogs go to heaven, right?

Walking around outside the pageant...I was a little nervous that someone was going to tell us we couldn't bring Ruby, but alas...all were welcome. Lots of people wanted to come pet her. Look at the smile on that dog's face!

Chris, me, Kat at the pageant. The Nauvoo Pageant was awesome! The stage is set so that you can see the temple in the background. As the pageant was ending, it had gotten completely dark and then while the cast was singing some beautiful hymn I can't remember the temple lights up on cue...aah it was cool.

Some flooded out little town in Iowa that we drove through to get to Nauvoo. It was very sad to see abandoned houses, wrecked beyond repair.

Our cute doggy, posing for the camera again.

I've always said "Golf is not a sport"...

2008-07-24T10:33:00.002-06:00

Since this has sort of been our summer of new and different things, Chris agreed to take up tennis (something he vowed he'd never do since the one time we played when we were dating--and I beat him) and I agreed to take golf classes with him (something I vowed I'd never do since forever). Now I have always made fun of golf as a sport, simply because it doesn't seem that one has to be athletic at all to be good at it...boy was I wrong. Golf is hard! I thought having a bit of hand-eye coordination from growing up playing tennis would help...it didn't. All of the other people in the lesson would be thrilled when their balls got near their target or when they hit a particularly awesome shot (these were all beginners, mind you). I simply was thrilled to make contact with the ball at all. And I gave the grass a severe hammering in the process. I was making more divots fly than golf balls. The pro giving us the lessons sort of gave up giving me one-on-one direction when he realized how hopeless it was.
All this being said, I'm sorry I ever made fun of golf.

A Weekend at the Lake

2008-07-24T10:00:00.003-06:00

A fellow intern of Chris' and his wife invited us to their lakefront house last weekend. We spent the weekend hanging out, eating out, playing cards, playing with our dogs and just relaxing. It rained most of the time we were there so we didn't end up swimming in the lake, but it was still a great getaway and we had a BLAST--The perfect cure for a rainy afternoon was a matinee of Batman, which we have seen twice now. It is THAT good!

Walking around this neat artsy town on Lake Michigan called Saugatuck. This picture doesn't do it justice.

The view of the lake from the Powell's back yard. It was so beautiful!

Me and Ruby on the porch of their beach cottage.

{Disclaimer: Michigan's humidity is not a friend to my hair. I am well aware of this...}

Chris and his New Love

2008-07-15T16:21:00.001-06:00

Chris and his new mountain bike frame...somehow I just don't understand...

Chris on the set of GMA

2008-07-15T15:39:00.008-06:00

Well Chris survived The Big Apple and here he is on the set of GMA with "The Big Cheese." A professional cheese carver carved a sculpture of the signing of The Declaration of Independence out of a 2000 pound block of cheddar cheese as part of the new Cheez-it campaign--those of you who may have missed it, unfortunately didn't miss much. It was a very busy news day on the 3rd with the Colombian hostage situation, and there wasn't time for the actual interview and unveiling--I guess that's part of show business. It was a bummer to say the least...but Chris, his team, and the cheese made another stop in Philadelphia where they had a few successful PR events and were able to get some local news coverage.

Here is a shot from behind the cameras---ya know, just to prove he was there.

Chris on Good Morning America

2008-07-02T07:03:00.007-06:00

Be Sure to tune into Good Morning America on ABC tomorrow morning (Thursday the 3rd)!!
Chris is working for Kellogg this summer doing marketing for Cheez-It crackers. One of his projects has been to lead the PR campaign for the brand. The PR campaign will be unveiled on Good Morning America tomorrow. He has promised it will be very big and very cheesy (I don't know if he means that figuratively or literally).
I am a little worried about Chris going to New York. When we were in Chicago he was walking around downtown mouth agape, staring up at the skyscrapers exclaiming "Shazam!" Luckily I was there to keep him from getting into too much trouble. Who will take care of him now? I am just going to pin his plane ticket to his shirt and hope for the best.

Passive Agressive Pup

2008-06-27T10:12:00.005-06:00

Here is Ruby posing sweetly by the blinds she tore down when we left her alone to go to church last Sunday.
We thought she had warmed up enough to being alone that we could sleep in until 8 and forego her morning walk before our 9am church. And we did deviate from our normal routine by accidently leaving the bedroom door open when we left...silly us. I guess it's possible that the cheap things came down by accident, but their bent and chewed up condition lead us to believe she did it for spite. We thought we had seen the worst of it when we came home a few days ago to an empty butter dish sitting on the counter...not so...oh and the curtain you see in the picture is actually our disassembled shower curtain.

The Old Ball n' Chain

2008-06-27T09:44:00.004-06:00

And by that I mean Ruby.
Let's just say this spoiled dog has barely left our sight since we have arrived here. The tennis ball symbalizes endless games of fetch or "Ruby tennis" as we call it (we use a raquette to hit the ball so she has to run farther and gets more tired) and the leash symbolizes the endless walks she requires ( 2 or 3 per day). It sort of breaks our hearts to leave her alone in the apartment so we plan most activities around things that are outside or dog friendly. She does make a great referee or ball girl when we play tennis.(picture and post to come)

South Haven Beach, Lake Michigan

2008-06-08T17:48:00.002-06:00

We took a short drive today to a town called South Haven and went to the beach for a little change of scenery. It was sunny and warm and it felt, looked and smelt just like the ocean! It was hard to believe that it was fresh water. The surrounding town was very charming and felt like Southern California. Because it was Sunday, the only one that swam was Ruby. We look forward to going to the beach again on a weekday when we can all swim. Also, it's fairly windy there and looks like the perfect place to fly a kite.

Live from Michigan!!

2008-05-29T13:25:00.004-06:00

Well 4 days and 2000 miles later we have arrived!! We had to drive through Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana to get here!! This shot was taken from the car, but it documents our very happy arrival into Kalamazoo, where we live!!

(These are out of order, but whatever)The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri

Another shot of it...

Me and my cousin, Kat

Kat and her husband Mark are interning and living in Chicago and they were kind enough to put us up for our last night. We had a blast hanging out with them in downtown Chicago.

We spent our last leg of the trip driving north of Chicago through Lake Forest, IL where my dad used to live. Between that and seeing the sights of Chris' mission it was a heavy dose of nostalgia for both of us.

Along the Way...

2008-05-29T12:53:00.009-06:00

We stayed in the world's crappiest motel room in Burlington, Colorado our first night because we thought we would have to with Ruby. The place was laughable. But it was part of the adventure...did I mention that as we drove through Wyoming and Colorado there were tornadoes touching down all around us? It was funny, as we were eating at a restaurant, the waiter came and told us that we had to move to a table away from the windows in case a tornado got close enough and blew the windows in. It sort of made us laugh...we thought "alright...safety first?"

Here is a nice shot of Chris studying an atlas. That was the only crap hole we stayed in. We learned that Quality Inn and Comfort Inn let you have pets if you stay in a smoking room---which turned out to be not that big of a deal

Me and Ruby at "The Plaza" in Kansas City. It was a large outdoor mall surrounded by early 20th century buildings that have all been renovated...a very hip place. This was near the area where Chris served his mission and we spent a day and a half here seeing the sights. One of my favorite things we did here was drive around and see this AMAZING neighborhood of multi-million dollar mansions. We had fun picking where we'd like to live if we ever end up with multiple millions (ha). I LOVED Kansas City!

An art museum in Kansas City...probably an important and well known one, but that's the best I can do. It had really cool statues of shuttlecocks (like what you play badminton (sp?) with)

Shortly after this shot was taken a voice from a speaker hidden in the bushes warned Chris to remove himself from the statue...or else...

"The Winstead's Challenge"

When Chris served his mission here they would take all the elders to Winstead's and challenge them to eating this all by themselves in 30 minutes!! Chris never could do it. It may be hard to tell from the photo just how big this shake is...just imagine a rather large flower vase...and I gotta tell you...the two of us nearly ate the whole thing. It was awesome!!

Hitting the Road

2008-05-29T12:27:00.004-06:00

All packed up and read to go! Our apartment is furnished, so we only had to bring our clothes and a few other things- whatever would fit nicely in the trunk

Ruby quickly got into a routine of sleeping in the backseat of the car---ALL DAY LONG

Or else she'd just hang out back there

Some pretty serious jamming out occured along the way..{Side note: each picture I took in the car had Chris progressively more annoyed..I was loving it!}

We did a whole lot of this...Let me tell you, it was a sad, sad day when it took 60 BIG ONES to fill 'er up!! {Note Chris' annoyance of me taking yet more dumb pictures...but hey I wanted to document everything}

Our Pad...continued

2008-05-29T12:00:00.004-06:00

The living room--we covered the furniture with sheets to keep the furballs under control--a little ugly, but that's cool

The bathroom---featuring my first ever linen closet, yep that's right

The bedroom---no I don't purposely have Ruby pose in all of these---the old ball-and-chain has been a little neurotic since the move and will not leave my sight.

The laundry room

Our swimming pup----side note: We do realize that as of late, we have become those weird, obnoxious dog people that treat their dogs like children. Yes,yes...well...

Our Pad

2008-05-29T11:24:00.007-06:00

Our apartment complex is great. It has a 24 hour gym, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, and is surrounded with some great running trails that Ruby and I hit every morning. It also has lots of pretty ponds. Swimming has become Ru's favorite pasttime. If we are within sight of any body of water and she is off leash,there is no keeping her out of it.

Our building, we are on the third floor.
At first we thought it would be terrible with taking Ruby out, but it's actually great. We already have a schedule of a run in the morning and a long walk at night just to keep that active thing from bounding off the furniture. She does her business then--So the only time it's a little rough is first thing in the morning-but hey it gets us up, right??

My "home office"

The Kitchen

Another view

Our Last Hurrah

2008-05-29T11:11:00.004-06:00

The weekend before we left we had one last hurrah in Moab. It turned out to be a blast. Chris, his bro Steve, and a friend rode one of their big scary rides and Mary (his sister) and I did our own ride.

At first I was stressed about the timing of the trip with our move on the horizon, and with my needing to square away a bunch of stuff at work, but it was short and sweet and a ton of fun. It was also great for Chris to get one last chance to do what he loves before his 3 month hiatus.

We actually bought a new bike rack with the plan of bringing our bikes to Michigan, but alas he didn't want to worry about his bike being stolen or about schlepping our bikes in and out of motel rooms across the 6 or so states we had to travel, just for some mediocre biking.

Spring Skiing

2008-05-02T15:36:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday we had a Snowbird spring ski day with our friends,the Budges.

TJ and Chris have been close friends since they served their missions together. He and Heidi live in Idaho and we have been trying to plan a group ski day (meaning the girls are invited) for at least 2 years. Well we finally did it and the snow was great!

We only wish that Chris' boots fit correctly so that we could have skied more than 4 runs. {One of his boots broke a few weeks ago and he's stuck wearing some old, ill-fitting ones until the manufacturer sends a replacement pair}
Me and Heidi. We had a blast together; not to mention a total workout trying to keep up with our husbands.

A Brief Update

2008-04-30T11:55:00.004-06:00

Life is busy …and I have been a bit of a blog slacker, but here is a bit of what we have been up to:

Chris is half done with his MBA program, so between now and when we leave for his internship he just doesn’t have a whole lot going on. He spends his days sleeping in, surfing the internet, mountain biking, taking afternoon naps, and forgetting my kind reminders about our piles of laundry that he could attend to during commercial breaks…

(just kidding-he actually did all the grocery shopping, and spent much of last week putting together a rather involved spreadsheet tabulating the regression analysis of mountain bikes' weights vs. inches of travel, why you ask? I, for one would love to know)

We have been very busy getting our ducks in a row for our move. We leave in less than a month and are quite excited for the adventure!! As it turns out my job is going to let me stay on and telecommute from Michigan-an enormous blessing that I just couldn’t be more grateful for!

I better get my fill of Lucky Charms and Captain Crunch in now…ha ha before I am counted as being disloyal (he is interning with Kellogg’s marketing department-and most cereals I like happen to be General Mills).

p.s. I have many other pics and updates I have been meaning to post-and I’ll get to them when I can…

Just Hanging Out

2008-04-30T11:02:00.005-06:00

Another pic of Kailee, Amy and me-here we are hanging out at Amy's new house for the first time.
We took probably 20 shots before we could get a pic of us with Harper and Izzy, with everyone looking at the camera, and no one crying. At the time it seemed a futile endeavor, but here it is! I just had NO idea how tough it is to take pictures of kids!

A Very Close Call for our Ru

2008-04-14T21:30:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday Ruby made an extremely narrow escape from getting hit by a car, which at the speed it was going, would most likely have killed her.

As she and Chris were crossing at a crosswalk, a distracted minivan driver came speeding across and slammed on the brakes just in time to run over Ruby's front paw!!

I am extremely grateful that Ruby (and Chris, of course) are okay...all you pedestrians and drivers alike, be careful out there!!

Marin, Kimmy, and me

2008-04-14T21:15:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago Kim and I reunited with Marin, who we haven't seen in several years. Mar hasn't lived in SLC since around 1999 and I have missed her very much. It was so fun and refreshing to hang out, catch up, and especially to realize that although very much has changed, there are certain friendships which no separation, be it distance or years will diminish.

Off to Orange Beach!!

2008-04-04T15:07:00.004-06:00

I am ecstatic to be getting out of town for a real beach vacation!!

...And also heartbroken to be leaving behind my bookworm of a husband. He can't miss so much as a single class, let alone a solid week of school, but when my dad invited us to Orange Beach, AL for a week's vacation I jumped at the chance!! I don't know the first thing about Alabama, or about the Gulf Coast for that matter...but I heard the words "white sandy beach" and immediately began arranging to get time off from work.

With that being said, I'm not exactly sure that Chris would know what to do with himself for a solid week of slow paced/lounging/sleeping in/shopping/eating too much/loose itinerary-type of vacationing.

...he prefers the type of vacation where you spend your days rising at 6 am to engage in some sort of death-defying, physically exerting activity, barely break for lunch, and then resume said activity until daylight expires-great fun, great fun, don't get me wrong...but I believe that sometimes, you can return from such a vacation, NEEDING another vacation.

I plan on taking this opportunity to be utterly unproductive and lazy.

Anyway...BON VOYAGE!

Easter Festivities

2008-03-24T19:14:00.006-06:00

Decorating eggs
Family photo op)
Syd and Hal in their Easter dresses

Recent Happenings

2008-03-24T18:58:00.006-06:00

Ruby is now an "obedient dog"...usually
Biking Bear Claw Poppy in St. George
Dinner at the Cheesecake FactoryMy mile high Chinese Chicken Salad...oops sideways

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T14:36:00.003-06:00

I hope you are all wearing green!

Happiness

2008-03-11T16:19:00.003-06:00

*A weekend getaway on the horizon…for real this time…St. George here I come
*Taking a day off!
*Easter candy…I want to live on Cadbury mini eggs
*Wearing flip flops (perhaps a bit prematurely, but still doable)
*Watching Ruby play with “cousins” Hannah and Hank
*The rejuvenating effects of sunlight and longer days

Vera Bradley Handbags

2008-03-07T11:02:00.004-07:00

I love Vera Bradley! This cute bag is right up my alley. Her fabrics are so fresh and funky, and make me think SPRING! Check her line out here!

The new look

2008-03-04T18:23:00.002-07:00

Here I am...brunette revisited.

Oops...I did it again

2008-03-01T19:43:00.007-07:00

No I didn't shave my head, forget to wear my unmentionables, attempt to drive with an infant in my lap or "go crazy"

I went brunette. Very dark brunette. There are several self-taken pictures of the new look sitting in my picasa folder that I am currently too shy to post.

Chris loves it but I still need to warm up to it a bit.

and hey, as my hairstylist says..."it's only semi-permanent color...you can always go lighter again, although it may take a few (gulp) months."

{sorry about the Britney reference. Chris and I are strangely fascinated by her downfall.}

Friends

2008-03-01T19:25:00.005-07:00

Amy, Kailee, and I have been friends probably since Gerbauds were in style (at least that long for Amy. Kailee may have not entered my life until sometime circa our plaid flannel shirt/Dr. Martin wearing days.) Both of these girls are mamas now, and this weekend us girls and our husbands got together for the first ever childless date night since Amy's Izzy was born in July '06. It was very refreshing for all.

fever!

2008-02-25T10:00:00.008-07:00

I have a major case of spring fever! I'm sure others can relate to these sentiments. I am nearly crawling out of my skin to see the sun and actually feel it's warmth.

These sunny (cold) days we have been experiencing are toying with my emotions, along with my wardrobe common sense. I long to wear flip flops, bright colors and flowy, light fabric.

I even caught myself trying on all my bathing suits the other day...what the heck?...as if I'll be wearing one anytime soon...

Bring on spring!!

Happiness

2008-02-21T09:38:00.005-07:00

* getting together with family
* Valentine's date night
* good talks with friends
* tapioca pudding
* going running with my little doggy companion
* a weekend getaway on the horizon

A Cousins' Get-together

2008-02-18T12:55:00.009-07:00

We had a fun get-together with a few cousins (the ones who were able to make it) to say good bye to Katherine and Mark who are moving to Chicago in a few weeks. I have always been pretty close to my cousins, but with all of us growing up and getting married and such, I tend to see them less and less. Katherine is my mom's sister Margot's daugher, and Bill is my mom's twin sister Kate's son. It was fun to hang out and catch up with those who were there.

Mark, Kat, me and Chris

Mark, Kat, Lucy and Bill

The girls: Kat, Lucy, Aunt Kate, and me

The other girls: Ruby and the Park's dog Sadie.
I may sound like a dork, but these dogs were so cute together I couldn't get enough of watching them play. It was hilarious because I took about 20 pictures trying to capture the two of them looking at me-each picture shows Ruby posing perfectly for the camera, while Sadie would not calm down. This was the best I got.

I insisted that we get a "family photo" of me Chris and Ruby, because we have never taken one and each shot we got features me cheesing it up and Chris refusing to smile...oh well.
He thinks pictures aren't worth taking unless you are doing something cool in them, while I tend to get a little camera happy.

Happy Valentine's Day...a day late

2008-02-15T11:39:00.010-07:00

I guess it's okay to post this late, since Chris and I aren't celebrating until today. I just wanted to say that I hope you all had a good one, whether you have a special valentine or not...

I'm in charge of planning V day this year and I hope I don't disappoint too much. I'm not the world's greatest event planner...

But I do want to say that I'm sincerely grateful for my valentine, whose optimism, dedication (to me, our families, and all he does),and downright hilarity light up my life each day.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

I LOVE you!

Crazy brain trick-Which way is the dancer spinning?

2008-02-11T09:35:00.001-07:00

Some of you may have seen this, but I found this crazy article and had to post about it. It absolutely weirds me out!!

Check it out: here
I stared at it for like 10 minutes and could only see her going clockwise, then I looked away and looked back again and she was going counterclockwise...

At first I thought it was timed to change directions periodically until I had Chris come over and he could only see counterclockwise, while I could only see clockwise!!

How is it possible that we are looking at the same thing-yet seeing something completely different??

Brains are crazy, fantastic things!

Which way does she spin for you?

Happiness

2008-02-03T20:23:00.004-07:00

I am actually not too proud to pay homage to Diet Coke with this picture, since it is my one vice that I am trying (kind of) to rid myself of...but I do love the stuff so here goes...
* Diet Coke from the fountain, with just the right amount of ice
* Reconnecting with some Delta Gamma pledge sisters...it was so fun to see you all!!
* Date night to the temple
* The way Ruby "talks" to me when she wants to go on a walk
* Dinner and a movie with friends
* Somehow not getting the nasty flu bug while nursing my poor husband back to health (cross my fingers)

I guess it could be worse...

2008-01-31T12:03:00.004-07:00

If you are like me and find yourself complaining about the cold (all you Utahns out there)-or about cleaning snow off the car in the morning (a very hated task), take a look at these...and realize that it could always be worse...

I received these pics in a forwarded email.They were taken in a little town called Versoix, Switzerland. How would you like to scrape this off your car...?? BRRRR...

Is January over yet?

2008-01-31T10:01:00.001-07:00

I couldn't be more ready for January to be over. Is this month as much of a letdown to others as it is to me? Maybe if I had a birthday or other special event to celebrate in January I'd feel differently...but I don't.

A few of my gripes with January include:

* an end to the excitement that builds with the celebration of each holiday-starting with Halloween
*taking down all Christmas decorations, particularly the tree
* My momentum and enthusiasm for my New Year's resolutions always seems to wane sometime in the 3rd or 4th week of January
* my car registration is always due ( I know it's no big deal, but it always stresses me out!)

This post may seem like the antithesis of my last post. I don't mean to seem like a downer...just wanted to say farewell to January...here's to February and hopefully to bigger and better things!!

Happiness

2008-01-23T14:08:00.002-07:00

I got this idea from Ashley's blog, and many others I've seen. This is my rendition... I like this idea for posts because it keeps you aware of the great things in life that happen each day...and that are so easily taken for granted.

Here is my list of highlights for this week...and hey the week's not over yet!

*Having Monday off!
* Waking up to 13+ inches of snow!!
* Not being intimidated by skiing in massive amounts of powder for the first time, thanks to these bad boys-too bad they were only rentals.
* Ruby showing signs that the obedience training class is paying off
* Getting Chris' MRI back and finding out he won't need knee surgery
* Having dinner ready when Chris got home from school, for once
* Having a job I quite enjoy...and then forgetting all about work once I get home
* The one kind driver who let me pull in front of her when I was running extremely late
* Getting an email from an old friend

So Very Random

2008-01-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

I drive by this mailbox, er eyesore en route to the TRAX station every day. Incidentally, I first started taking TRAX to work sometime in October, and my initial thought was "Oh some fun, self-sacrificing parents have allowed their child to deface the mailbox, (yard, house and entire street in my opinion) in the spirit of Halloween"...

...then November 1st rolled around and I expected to drive by seeing a much smaller, less conspicuous mailbox -and lo and behold I spotted the same wing-ed beast from two blocks away. Well November came and went, and so did December and the monster still stands.

Taking a picture of it has been on my to do list for several months running, but what do you know I googled "dragon mailbox" and it is among the first images to pop up. This tiny picture hardly does it justice. Just imagine that it is probably 4 feet tall with a wingspan of 5 feet or so. The actual mailbox itself looks like Lincoln's Log Cabin. I really think it was made of Lincoln Logs...so very random. Also, notice how it's situated right smack in the middle of the sidewalk

I fear the dirty looks these residents get from neighbors. I imagine them to be the cape-wearing, Dungeons-and-Dragons-playing type. I have yet to see anyone enter or leave the house, but my eyes are always peeled as I drive by.