San Diego

2012-09-08T15:35:00+00:00

The rest of the week in San Diego was pretty laid back. Jon and I ended up rented a car and going to over to Point Loma. They have a military cemetery there, a light house and some good views. Here's some more pictures curtousy of Jon.

Jon and I are really bad about taking pictures of each other so the only pictures of us that exist from this trip are the last two. Because we stayed a little long in San Diego we were able to make a trip to the San Diego temple. It's such a beautiful temple and it was really nice to be able to spend some time there.

KROQ Weinie Roast & Irvine

2012-09-08T15:03:00+00:00

On day two in San Diego, Saturday, we had made plans to go to a concert in Irvine. Jon's been a real trooper and taken me to several shows of bands that he's not that into. I'm really big into music so when a band I like comes along I have to jump at the chance to go. Last summer Jon went with Cody and I to see A Perfect Circle and the year before that we saw Blue October for my birthday. A couple weeks before we were headed off to California I looked to see if any of the bands Jon likes were playing any shows this summer... Oddly enough there was a big festival in Irvine the same weekend that we were going to go to San Diego. I wasn't too sure if Cody would want to go but Jon figured that we should ask anyways. Cody said he'd be more than happy to go which was good because let's just say the planets aligned that day... Haha...

Anyways so Saturday... We headed out early Saturday morning to meet up with our Brother, Devin, and his wife, Kim, before the concert started. Devin lives a couple hours away in San Luis Obispo so we were meeting with them at a half way point in the LA area. It just so happened that we ended up in the same neighborhood as the LDS - Los Angeles temple. We did a quick drive by of the temple and then ate at a decent little Chinese place. Right as we were finishing up we realized that we had accidentally left the tickets for the show at Cody's, two hours away. Luckily, Cody's room mate was home and we were able to get the tickets scanned and print them at a Kinko's close to the concert... It was actually the second Kinko's we went to. The first was in a hotel lobby and it was closed on Saturdays but open on Sundays... What's up with that?

After getting that all sorted out we headed to the show. When we got there Cody had arranged to meet up with a friend from out of state so we hung out with them until the good bands started. There were two stages set up. One for the opening not so famous bands and then the main stage which was closed off until they were ready to start. To be perfectly honest it was kind of stupid and ended up delaying the start time of the main stage a good half an hour. Once it all got started it was a pretty good time though! The coolest part of the shows was that they had a rotating stage with a wall in the middle of it. This allowed them to set up the next band while one was still playing eliminating that really annoying loll while you wait for the bands to set up. However, all good things must come to an end at some point... Because of this your ears had almost no time to rest and it did start to get a little uncomfortable. I'm sure we were some of the few who even cared because everyone else seemed pretty drunk.

It was a great show and included music from (a bunch of bands I'm not familiar with...) Garbage, Pennywise, Silversun Pickups, Offspring, Incubus, Coldplay, and surprise guest Soundgarden.

Silver Sun Pickups</figcaption> </figure>

Coldplay</figcaption> </figure>

Garbage did a great job and it was fun to be able to see part of their comeback tour. For some reason their sound equipment didn't sound that amazing causing them to sound unbalanced/ distorted so that was a little disappointing. Jon enjoyed the Offspring more than he expected and was surprised at the number of songs he knew by them. Soundgard was a surprise guest that night so we were pretty shocked to see them. They also played their new single that they did for Avengers so that was a lot of fun to see live... especially since we had just seen the Avengers the night before. Incubus is one of my all time favorite bands so it was such a great experience to finally be able to see them live. It was amusing to see like 1/3 of the audience leave after their set before Coldplay came on. Coldplay was a lot of fun to see and luckily Cody was able to endure their happy music and didn't have to punch himself in the face.

San Diego Zoo

2012-09-07T17:15:00+00:00

Some time in January or February of this year Jon got offered a second internship at Google. Since we found out that we'd be headed to California for the summer we had a lot more time to plan and prep for the move. We both finished the semester in April and I even graduated! It was a little surreal... a couple things changed in the last year and I found out I could be done earlier than planned. After being in school so long and the grueling work load of the illustration program I just decided I needed to be done... for now. Since we were completely moving out of our apartment this time we decided to have a later start date for Jon's internship. We had a little over 2 weeks in between the time school ended and his internship began.

During that two week time frame southwest was having a sale, we snatched up some tickets and headed down to San Diego to visit my brother Cody. Originally we had planned to go from San Diego to Tuscon. My sister in law was expecting and the baby was supposed to arrive that week. Little baby Bennett just wasn't ready to come so we ended up changing out plans and staying in for a week. We arrived fairly late on Thursday night and Cody took work off on Friday. So we spent the day at the San Diego Zoo! Jon's becoming a bit of a photographer and snatched some really great shots!

Our admission included a ride on the "Skyfare" which gave you a birds eye view of the park and lets you see Balboa park a little better. While up there we saw some beautiful architecture, some gorillas and a peacock hanging out on the top of a building.

View of Balboa Park while on the Skyfare</figcaption> </figure>

We were extremely grateful that Cody let us crash at his place. He's great company to have around and both Jon and I are always happy to spend time with him. After we finished up at the Zoo we met with one of Cody's good friends and had dinner at a hip little joint. We got Polenta which none of us had ever had and it was delicious! The food was good and it was a great way to end a sun filled day of walking around in the sun... Now mind you this was only day one and there's even more awesomeness to come!

Christmas 2011 in Vegas

2012-07-24T15:16:00+00:00

For Christmas my whole family met up in Vegas. We had a lot fun and did some pretty exciting stuff. At least one of us was sick the whole time we were there... My mom, Cody and Jon were all sick when we got there and then I got it pretty bad once they were better.

Ahead of time the lady folk decided to work on a craft project together. My mom and I are a little obsessed with the wood letters that you can get at (www.thewoodco.blogspot.com</a>) the wood connection out in Utah. So we all worked on a project together while the men bonded over some Starcraft. The whole video game was actually something I looked for in my future husband. So I was pretty relieved when I found out that Jon played, I knew he'd fit right in.

While we were there we went to a couple shows. One night we went to KA, it's a cirque du soleil show. I really enjoy the cirque du soleil shows and I wasn't disappointed with this one at all. The have a rotating stage which allowed them to do some really awesome stuff. If you ever have the opportunity to see it I'd highly suggest it.

One of the nights my Dad took the whole family (except Mom and Baby Jill) to see Tournament of the Kings. We were assigned to "Mother Russia" as we called it. It's a fun show especially if you have kids. What am I saying it's pretty good for adults too... I mean the food is pretty tasty and you get to eat with your hands. I accidently threw my broccoli on the floor when I was trying to pull it apart... I got made fun of for that one.

After that show ended Cody, Kim, Jon and I had to book it to our next show. Earlier in the week we started talking about Trans Siberian Orchestra and how much we'd like to go. Randomly enough we looked and found out they were doing shows in Vegas that week. So we decided to go. It was a really good show! I didn't really know many of the songs in the first half of the show but the second half was amazing. I mean nothing really compares to their version of Carol of the Bells.

All in all it was a great trip. I was a little crabby at points but my family survived. I'm really grateful that my family especially my parents such an effort into getting us all together.

Good Bye California!

2012-07-24T14:57:00+00:00

As we left the bay area we decided to take the long way home. We spent the night friday night in Oakland and went to the temple Saturday morning. It was our first time at the Oakland temple. After we finished up at the temple we drove into San Francisco and visited the Golden Gate Bridge. Neither of us had been there before so it was just a neat experience to go check it out. It was pretty overcast that day so Jon was a little bummed that he wasn't going to be able to take as many pictures.

That next week we headed up to visit Jon's parents before school started. We were scheduled to spend Thanksgiving with Jon's parents that year and it's a little hard to make it up their when the holiday break is short so we just decided to visit them in August.

We were lucky enough to have our really good friend Topher pick us up at the airport and show was around town. I've never been to Seattle before and I wanted to see what it's all about. We wondered around Pike's place for a little bit and then grabbed some lunch and chocolate for dessert. It was a little too fancy for my taste. I'm an American girl that loves her snickers! We weren't able to spend too much time in the city because we had to drive and catch the ferry. Topher was kind enough to drive us up there and came with us all the way to Friday Harbor. The next day we just showed Topher around the island and did a little sight seeing. The island is fairly small it only takes about an hour to drive around but there's still lots to see. I even got to see some new places which was a lot of fun.

After Topher left we were able to just enjoy some relaxing time. Jon and I did some more sight seeing and went on a hike to watch sunset. It was a good little trip. I know Jon really misses home so it's always good when we can get back there and he can get his island fix.

4th of July 2011

2012-07-24T14:44:00+00:00

Last summer my family planned a big trip up to South Lake Tahoe for the fourth of July. My dad was actually down in the bay area for a couple days and I was lucky enough to hitch a ride with him back up to my parents house a couple days early. My brother and his family decided to come out early and make the most of their trip. So I got a little extra time in with the niece and nephew. I watched a lot of word world with my nephew that week...

Since Jon still had to finish up his week at work he stayed behind and picked my brother and Aunt up at the airport on his way up to Tahoe. Jon's a real sport and kinda gets the short end of the stick sometimes but he said he really enjoyed the car ride once Cody got their. Rumor has it that they just talked techy stuff the whole time... I'm sure my aunt just loved it. Personally I would have slept.

My cousin and his family were able to make it up for a couple of days. So the house was definitely packed. While they were there we went and did the hike down to emerald bay. It was pretty crowded but it was still worth it. Tahoe is just so pretty! Random side note. While we were there we saw this chick husk a piece of corn and then just eat it raw. So random...

One of the highlights of the trip for me was hitting up the Adidas outlet. We got three pairs of shoes for $75! That's the price for one pair normally. No, but really probably the most exciting part of the trip was the fireworks. Tahoe is known for their fireworks show and it's for good reason. They launch the fireworks right over the water and you can take your boat out on the lake and watch the fireworks. Since my parents had brought their boat up we decided to be brave and go out. It was crazy!!! We were right underneath the fireworks so one firework would fill up your entire field of view. It was a great show and totally worth it. Although, the drive back is another story. My parents boat is on the smaller side and doesn't have great lights. Lets just say the drive back to the house got a little scary. Since there were so many boats out on the lake it was really choppy and the waves were huge. Jon and I sat in the front so we got pretty wet and I feared for my life a couple times but we made it back alive. It was a really great trip and something we'll talk about for years to come.

After the trip up to Tahoe my brother Dave and his wife Jenni left their kids with Grandma and Grandpa and they came down to visit Jon and I in Mountain View. Dave is also a computer guy so him and Jon get a long pretty well and have a lot to talk about. While they were here we took them around Google, went to the mall, and had dinner (and they went to Great America). I really appreciated them taking the time out to come visit us. Since we live in two different states we don't get to see each other a lot. I really look up to my brother Dave so it always means a lot when I get to spend a little extra time with him.

More Google Fun!

2012-07-24T14:10:00+00:00

Last Summer we also were lucky enough to have a visit from our two good friends Joe Shurtleff and Ryan Novak. They stopped by on their way to southern California for a concert. It was a lot of fun and we were really happy to spend a little time with them. While they were here we made a trip to Google so they could see what Google's all about. During our visit to Google Ryan coined the phrase "Google is like Willy Wonka for engineers." After spending the last two summers here I've learn that there is so much truth to that statement. Google really does try and go out of their way to make sure their employees are happy.

Stan the Google Dinosaur... Just trying to mix things up!</figcaption> </figure>

Google offers a lot of really great benefits for their employees so it was pretty fun to show them off to Ryan and Joe. Something that I thought was absolutely silly was they have bikes painted with the Google colors for the employees to ride when they need to go to a different building. Just kinda a silly thing to see and sounds a little ridiculous I'm sure but Google in Mountain View is a huge facility and covers a lot of land so they definitely some in handy.

Jon crushed Ryan's hopes and dreams once he told him he wasn't allowed to Ride the Google bikes...</figcaption> </figure>

What...?</figcaption> </figure>

Android and I were being attacked by the bee!</figcaption> </figure>

After we were done at Google we went back to the hotel while Jon finished up his work day. When Jon got home we went out to dinner and continued the catching up. Joe is probably Jon and I's best friend and he's always been someone that we spend a lot of time with when we're back in Utah. So you can imagine we had a lot to catch up after not seeing him for 2 months. We stayed up until the wee hours of the night just having a good time and sharing stories.

Nauvoo

2012-06-20T13:37:00+00:00

A couple weeks after Jon started his internship Jon's older brother Devan got married in the Nauvoo Temple. I felt extremely grateful when Devan's wife Nicole offered to let me go through the temple with her the week before the wedding. I was thrilled but as I began to think of the logistics of it all I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it. As usual, I called my mom to just try and talk it out since I'd have to go alone. After I explained my situation my mom who was in the middle of teaching church history in seminary offered to go out with me and make a mini church history tour of it. I'll be honest I was pretty excited.

So I'll just give a quick run down of the events of the week. The closest airport is the St. Louis airport so we flew into St. Louis on Friday night and then drive to Nauvoo Saturday morning. The drive was absolutely beautiful. It was just so lush and green at that time like my mom said after seeing it you understand why they settled there and named it Nauvoo (Hebrew for "to be beautiful"). We were scheduled for the last session in the temple that night so after the drive we only had a couple minutes to sight see before we had to get to the temple. The Nauvoo temple is BEAUTIFUL!!! I was so taken back by the pure beauty of it all. If there's one temple I'd suggest traveling to that would definitely be one of them. It was a really great experience to be able to be with Nicole as we took her endowments out. Several people commented to me that she has a very special spirit and I can atest to that. She is a great girl and we're happy to have her as part of the family.

Since everything closes fairly early in Nauvoo we had to get started on the sight seeing the next day (Sunday). The church has done a really great job of maintaining and restoring Nauvoo. You're able to walk around the town and go into various buildings and get a little tour of the home or store from the missionaries that are there. I really enjoyed when the missionaries would go "off script" and just talk to us. I was really impressed by the testimony of one sister missionary in Brigham Young's house. It really just helped to build up the spirit that exists in Nauvoo and testifies of the truthfulness of the gospel.

While in Nauvoo we made the short trek up to Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith was killed. For me it was one of those experiences that you don't fully get where you are or whats going on until it's almost over. At the end of the tour you're taken into the room that Joseph was held in. While in the room they pay an audio recording which includes a man signing Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief (which Joseph asked to be sung to him just prior to his death). At that point you can't really help but be overcome by the spirit. For me probably one of the best parts of this little church history tour was to just hear my mother's knowledge of and testimony of the gospel. I'd never really talked about the gospel with her much. It was just so awesome to see her as the spiritual powerhouse she's become through teaching seminary.

On Monday after finishing up at Nauvoo we drove to Independence, Missouri. Along the way we made a stop for the night in a town next to an Amish Community. There were some cute stores and they had an auction that was fun to see. It was really fun to see the really little kids riding around in wagons and dressed in the typical Amish get up. Tuesday we continued toward independence but also made a pit stop in Adam-ondi-ahman. At some point we made a stop in at a book store that had a replica of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith's death mask. It was really interesting to see.

In Independence we were able to go to Liberty Jail and go to the Community of Christ Temple. Liberty Jail was interesting to see and since I know nothing about church history it really helped me out. The Community of Christ Temple was really interesting. It's really amusing to see how much their beliefs and teachings have deviated from that of the LDS church. It's quite the building that's for sure... We also made a drive by of the Missouri temple on our way out of town. It wasn't open yet but the exterior was almost entirely finished so it was still worth seeing.

On Wednesday after we finished up in Missouri we made our way back to St. Louis to spend the night before my mom left. On Thursday morning we had a couple hours to kill so we went and saw the St. Louis arch. My mom and I are both pretty afraid of heights but somehow my mom was courage and talked me into going up into the arch. Lets just say I have a little bit of an anxiety problem and I chickened out at the last minute... It was embarrassing I know but hey I was freaking out. My mom said it was cool though and worth it so if you have the opportunity you should do it... Just not me. Haha.

For some unknown reason we decided to get to the airport early for my mom... It was a total blessing that we did because without her knowledge she had been bumped to an earlier flight and made it just in time. After waiting at the airport for a couple hours Jon and his family made it into St Louis. After getting the rental car we drove up to Nauvoo. Since the wedding was on Saturday we had all day Friday to just relax and sight see. We were able to make it up to Carthage together but that was about it. The weather wasn't really in our favor that day. We were able to attend a play performed by the missionaries working in Nauvoo that night which helped to round off the day. The wedding was Saturday morning. It was really great. After the wedding they had a luncheon with immediate family and friends at a local Chinese restaurant. It was a lot of fun and I feel sorry for the guy that had to clean the cake out of the carpet... All in all it was a great trip and definitely worth going to. We're happy we could make. My and my mom are pretty bad a taking pictures so this is what Jon took while we were in Nauvoo...

The Google Experience!

2012-06-20T12:33:00+00:00

Probably one of the most exciting and interesting things that has happened to us over the last two years was Jon's opportunity to participate in an internship at Google. It all started when Jon made a joke to our good friend Andrew who has completed two Google internships himself. Jon jokingly said "Hey you need to graduate and get a job at Google so when I graduate you can help me get a job there." Andrew's response was "...why don't you just do an internship?" I'm not sure if Jon had really considered an internship at this point with the whole newly married thing going on but I could definitely see the wheels turning once it was mentioned. So Andrew was kind enough to refer Jon to an employee at Google and after a very stressful technical interview process Jon was selected.

His acceptance into the internship program was completed in March I think so we knew it was coming. We made plans that I would finish my finals early and we'd leave a couple days before the internship began. Our car was packed!!! And I mean packed we were lucky to have enough room in the passenger seat... The sad thing is we thought we packed light too. We headed out to California and since we didn't have a place to stay we planned to spend the first couple of days at my Parents house (which is a couple hours from Google Headquarters).

Jon's internship started May 2nd and we still didn't have a place to live so we just opted to spend the first week of so in a hotel while we looked for a place. So I'd say a lot of the myths about the bay area being really expensive are true. We were lucky to find an apartment with a month to month lease that was less than $1700 a month and if you're used to paying $600 that's a pretty big deal. Jon and I are both extremely frugal so after crunching the numbers and a lot of talking we decided to spend the summer in a hotel and trek up to my parents for the weekends. Google provides breakfast, lunch and dinner so it wasn't that big of a deal for Jon... I probably didn't eat as well as I should have but hey it helped keep my weight in check right? Plus, it was worth it to me to be able to see my parents every weekend and spend some extra time with them...

All in all it was a great opportunity and we were willing to do whatever we had to to make it possible. We lived through it all and we'll always be able to use the "When your Dad and I were broke and living in a hotel..." line. I'm extremely grateful and proud of Jon's hard work while working at Google. It was well worth all the extra stress and hassle of having to move.

So after months of telling myself that we haven't done anything worth mentioning...

2012-05-22T20:53:00+00:00

So after months of telling myself that we haven't done anything worth mentioning I realized that a lot of stuff has happened in the last 2 years. Jon and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary a couple of weeks ago which is an accomplishment in and of itself. I'm going to have to spend the next couple of posts back tracking and getting this thing caught up.

Well a while back Jon's parents gave us a cd with pictures from our wedding open house. The pictures and stories are two years old but they're definitely worth recording for when we're old and forgetful. The weekend after we got married we had an open house at Jon's parents. Jon's parents and grandma really put a lot of work into making sure we had a great time. We really appreciated all the work they did and are happy that we were able to get together with some of Jon's family friends. Jon's mom even went the extra mile to spoil Jon and made home made egg nog. If you know Jon then you know that this is his absolutely favorite drink (well lately it's orange soda floats but that's because I'm lazy and don't like egg nog so I won't make it...) I also loved the little cupcakes and cake that they made!!! They were super cute and helped to maintain my whole red and black color theme.

My parents were kind enough to make the long trek up to Friday Harbor with us and got to see where Jon grew it. It was really nice to have them around and it definitely helped to ease my nerves. Plus, my mom got to do my hair. I now know she's an expert and will have to do my daughters hair for prom. ;)

We had a good turn out and really appreciated the long trek many people had to make. We understand that riding the ferry can be a bit of a pain but we really appreciate that people were willing to make it work around their schedule. But I just have to mention one set of guest that made an especially long trip just for Jon. While Jon was growing up his branch president made a promise to the young men that he and his wife would presonally make it to each of their weddings when the time came. Jon had a close relationship with President Marsh but I'm sure he wasn't expecting the Marsh's to make it since they had moved to Grantsville, Utah. I'm sure you can imagine the surprise on Jon's face when they walked into the house. It was so nice that they were willing to take the time and effort out to come to our open house. It really meant a lot to Jon.

It's been awhile

2011-02-23T22:53:00+00:00

Well it's been a LONG time since I've had time to do this. A lot has happened since I posted last. Well take it a month at a time and I'll be quick... because I'm sure you aren't THAT interested in my life...

In November my parents came out to visit for Thanksgiving! It was a lot of fun to have them around and spoil us. I helped cook Thanksgiving Dinner which was a mind blowing experience. My mom even said it was the best turkey she ever had... I'm that amazing. We made some amazing pumpkin roll and I think I made some friends in the ward because of it. It sucked I had to work as much as I did but we both really appreciated the fact that my parents made the trek out here. Plus it gave Jon time to bond with my Dad over this horrible show "The Tripods". It's basically a book on video meaning it takes as long as reading an entire novel as it does for anything to develop in the plot. Ever once and awhile Jon will mention "it was really fun having your Dad around". I think he likes having someone to share his nerdom with. The only thing that could have made the holiday better was to make the rest of the Johansen clan there. It's really hard to find the time to get the entire family together.

December was a little crazy. Finals and A LOT of traveling. We survived the semester and did well enough in our classes. My brother got married that next week. It was a lot of fun to be able to be there and participate the in wedding. The wedding was beautiful! It was a late night but it was full of good memories and stories even the key being lost and calling a poor old lady and asking for her dead husband... The following two days were really fun but bittersweet for me. It was my first holiday without the family so it was hard to enjoy the good times knowing I was going to leave soon. I made lots of goodies with my mom and am a candy making expert! Thanks again Mom!

The week prior to Christmas was spent with Jon's family. It was a lot of fun and the weather was really nice. We've always lucked out and had good weather on our trips. Jon was able to snap some great pictures of the island and a super cute one of his niece and grandma. Who would of known I married a photographer. It was a packed house with 12 adults and 8 children! I had fun helping Jon's mom wrap presents. I guess my mom was inspired and knew my future mother in law would need my expert present wrapping skills. We got to meet Devan's now fiance Nicole. Jon and I both really like her and are very excited to go on a lot of trips and adventures with and to see them. Jon's mother is wonder woman. She did a great job of keeping up with the dishes and not getting overwhelmed... If it were me I would of kicked everyone out from day one, I hate dishes. All in all it was a lot of fun even hanging all 20 home made stockings.

I jokingly tell Jon that every time we see Charlie and Jill we get really excited and are a little anxious to see kids but having that many kids in one house helped us to realize we have a long ways to go until we're ready to start our little family. Plus I like my sleep a little too much.

The rest of break we just worked and enjoyed the down time. Since then school has started and we're both swimming in school work. It's really fun to see how much better we're getting at our work. All the homework really stinks but it's worth it to see the improvements.

I started a new job in February. I have the opportunity to work with troubled teen girls. In the few weeks that I've worked there I can see that I've learned a lot not only about teens but how to interact with people in general. I'm really excited to see what will come of it all and the positive growth that will come from it. I've had some good days and ok days. I'm just scared of what the bad days will be like. I seem to be doing alright though and hopefully I'll be able to keep it up throughout my duration there.

Well hopefully I'll be able to get things a little more under control and take a few pictures and keep this thing updates... I hope. Oh and I've found some really good recipes over the last little bit... Got one for tikka masala and beef with broccoli if you want it!

October Fun

2010-10-25T21:19:00+00:00

Well Jon and I have been pretty busy lately with school and work but since we've become teachers in the marriage and family relations class we've really been working on having quality time together. We're both a little bit of perfectionist and I think we both have a little problem with letting other things get in the way. Ok, I'll be honest it's mostly my problem... Date nights are something that was stressed to us from the get go and I'm really starting to understand why. It's really easy to loose that focus on your spouse and you just forget how important they are or why you liked them so much in the first place!

So now to the fun stuff!

About two weeks ago Jon and I spent our date night going to the pumpkin patch. Probably not the wisest expenditure we've made thus far but it was a lot of fun to reminisce and enjoy each others company. We went to the pumpkin patch over a year ago when we were dating so it was fun to re-experience that. The corn maze is always really frustrating to me because they really don't make sense especially when people make their own short cuts. We somehow went from check point 1 to check point 8 without seeing any of the others... Over all it was a good time and just nice to have that quality time to enjoy each others company... even though Jon wouldn't jump on the giant balloon pillow thing with me. But I kicked his but at the duck race so it's OK.

So this last weekend we got to carve pumpkins. I've started dabbling in the world of couponing so I'm kinda obsessed with sales.. We waited it out and got our pumpkins at a whopping $.09/lb!

Just under $5 for 3 good sized pumpkins. This was Jon's first time carving an intricate pumpkin. It was a complete success. He was really proud of the outcome and I finally got to do flounder! So I think we're both excited for next years pumpkin carving festivities.

I can really see the improvements in our patience and willingness to have a strong marriage since we've received our calling. You really do find a strong love and understanding for your spouse as you keep the Christ at the center of it all. I'm really happy I've had this time with my husband! Well it's sad that October my favorite month has come and gone. And what's even worse is the snow is quickly finding it's way here... Pray for us. I hate the cold!

Let the Good Times Roll

2010-10-14T21:54:00+00:00

Well time really has a way of flying by before I really have time to stop and take a moment to realize how much I've missed. A lot has gone on for us. Jon and I are both extremely busy with school and work. We're lucky if we really have time for eachother. I've kinda felt bad lately because I just haven't had the time to keep in contact with old friends and family members as much as I'd like to.

But to help remedy that little issue... we were able to go out to Los Angeles the last weekend on September and spend some time with my family. The trip was short but worth it. Being Johansens the first thing we did when we arrived to LA was EAT! We stopped off at the hard rock cafe and had lunch. Really I'm praying that the camera really does add ten pounds... I guess the way to a man's heart is also the way to the newlywed ten.

After lunch we took a trip over to the walk of fame and got to look at all the stars and stuff. It was really hot that day and a lot more humid than Jon and I are used to. It was fun to see all the different celebrities hand prints and foot prints and to realize how small a lot of them are..

Yes I crossed over to the dark side just for a couple mins while I stepped into Darth Vader's foot prints... they have cookies. How could I resist.</figcaption> </figure>

Just had to put that one in there... Of course a couple Chuck Norris jokes were made when we passed this one.</figcaption> </figure>

On Sunday we were able to go to our niece Jillian Daisy Johansen's blessing. It was a really good blessing and her little brother was surely enjoying the attention. He kept trying to kick the pew in front of us and when I told him he had to be quiet he just slowed down his kick. He's a little charmer. The blessing really made the trip worth it. Jon was able to stand in the circle and be a part of the blessing which we were both grateful for his opportunity to do that. After the blessing we just sat around, ate, swam, and played some games...

On monday we got to go to the beach for a little bit. Unfortunately it was record breaking highs and got all the way up to 113... But like my brother Dave said, "if it wasn't that hot I don't think anyone would have wanted to get into the water."

Charlie really loves spending time with his grandpa!</figcaption> </figure>

Grandma and Grandpa do a great job of letting the little guy know how much they love him. It makes me really excited for the day when Jon and I will have little ones of our own and they will be able to have that same relationship with their grandparents!

I just thought it was cute... don't judge... and I mean Charlie not Dave.</figcaption> </figure>

That's the little cutie! She's a chunker but that's what makes them cute.</figcaption> </figure>

For one of my classes I'm going to be illustrating a small boy dressed like a pirate. So I needed reference for the image and I figured my nephew was a great canidate. I gave my mom a call and asked her if her and Jenni could take some pictures of Charlie. This isn't quite what I had in mind...

All in all it was a great little trip and it was nice to have a break. It's weird to think that we're quickly approaching 6 months. It's been such a roller coaster ride but it's so worth every minute. Hopefully one day Jon and I will be able to be amazing parents like ours have been for us. So things are still going well. We have our hiccups but as The Car's put it "let the good times roll." We're going to the pumpkin patch tomorrow for our date. You better believe I'm excited. And there will be pictures to follow.

Time Flies

2010-09-19T22:41:00+00:00

Well we just past the 4 month mark and we're quickly on our way to 5 months. It really seems like it's been a lot longer than that! It's funny to think that just over a year ago Jon took me on our first date. Which if you haven't heard that story... ask me. It's quite entertaining. A lot has happened in those 4 months and it's crazy to think of everything else that will happen in the future. I guess that's really why we should write in our journals... I mean I have a hard enough time remembering all the great memories I've had with Jon just over the last year or so... I can't imagine how it'll be in 20 or 30 years. Jon and I have been having a lot of fun together and I really appreciate the fact that he's willing to put up with my need to "beautify the house". My mom sent out a bunch of cute decorations with Kim when she came to visit last and I had to put them up immediately.

Probably the biggest news as of late is that we got a calling. We're the marriage and family preparedness sunday school teachers. Kinda crazy to think that we're here teaching people how to have a good lasting marriage when we've been married 4 months. I was talking to a girl at church about it today and I said "well I guess we must have some things we need to work on..." and she said that it's probably just the Lord's way of helping us start off on the right foot. She even went on to talk about how it would be nice to have this calling because it would be easier to work on improving your marriage. After hearing that I totally agree. I'm so happy that we're able to grow, learn and teach together. I've already seen improvements in our daily marriage together just in the 2 weeks that we've had the calling...

Well of course school has started again and we're both fairly swamped but I'm happy that we have the preparation of the lesson to look forward to. Over the summer we got to do yard work. I thought I'd hate it but I ended up loving the fact that Jon and I had a goal and a project to work on TOGETHER. But it's now midnight and I have to be up early... school is definitely back in. So I'm off to bed. Just wanted to let whoever is out there that we're doing alright.

Devin's Warm Welcome to Utah

2010-08-05T13:45:00+00:00

So I got in an accident. All I need say is it wasn't my fault and I was the lunch meat in an idiot sandwhich.

I call dibs

2010-07-27T22:04:00+00:00

Well this last weekend my mom came to visit. It was a lot of fun and both Jon and I enjoyed having her here to visit. Plus I got to hear lots of cute stories about my niece and nephew. We did the usually utah visit routine of brick oven and comedy sportz. Those are always a must.

Of course we were very busy the entire time but it was worth it. But probably the funnest part of her visit (atleast for me) was refinishing our kitchen table and dresser. I'm really happy with the turn out of both and they look great in our home. The table was a grayish-black with the previous color beginning to show through. After several stripper jokes, a can of stripper and a couple hours of sanding it turns out that the table is a beautiful oak table. The red stain looks great and Jon and I are both afraid to use it now because we like it so much. The dresser looks great and matches our bed spread perfectly. The only problem is I now want to make curtains and buy lots of cute decorations for the room! Ahh the woes of being a woman.

We also we're very predictive on Sunday and set a couple chunk of time hanging up pictures in the house. I couldn't be more grateful for my mother's help with that. In reality I guess it really wasn't Jon that hadn't hung them up I hadn't really told him where to and I didn't really know where to start. So it really helped out having my mom's creative eye. All in all it was a nice visit. A little short and I was really sad to see her leave but I'll see her again in 2 months so I'll live. I really appreciated the visit and all the help she did around the house. I look forward to being able to do it more and all I can say is that I got dibs on taking care of her and dad when they're in diapers!

Buckle up we have an emergency...

2010-07-01T21:31:00+00:00

So all in all life has been pretty good these days. I got a job at the Provo Airport and I'm really enjoying it. It's kinda starting to strike an interest in aviation in me. Jon and I have talked about one day... (when we have money) maybe we'll get our licenses. But today was an especially exciting day. An airline's plane has a malfunction and had to make an emergency landing at our airport</a>. We accommodated the passengers. Being my 2nd week I was a little overwhelmed being the one desk girl.. I made it through the day and had the boss man get mad at me once.

It's been really interesting though. Last week there was a fire caused by an unknown reasoning. The fire actually damaged several cars and required the fire department to put it out. It really feels like the Lord is just throwing me in there so I either get it or I don't. I figure it's good there's no better way to learn how to do your job than to have to deal with extreme situations like this.

But in other news. Jenni my sister-in-law had her baby, Jillian. She's adorable and chubby. I'm sad I wont be able to see her until September. I keep saying to Jon that she's looks like a Johansen but I think she's a little young to be able to really tell. It's been an exciting year on the Johansen side of the family.

It's the 4th this weekend and Jon and I made a deal that I could by $20 worth of fireworks. So you better believe I'm going to make the best of that $20 I can.

Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.

2010-06-15T19:32:00+00:00

Jon and I were sealed to each other for time and eternity on Saturday May 1st, 2010. While it was one of the most important days of our lives I also think it's probably the day we remember the fewest details from. Today we got our photos back from our wedding photographer, Heather Bliss. I can honestly say I am thrilled with them and think all turned out great. All 200+ are great and I have way too many pictures to know what to do with now. Jon suggested I choose a couple of my favorite... that was a pretty impossible task. So I decided to make little collages of the different parts of the day.

Here are a couple pictures of me getting my hair done at the house. I'm really happy we did a trial run and I ended up going with a completely different hair style than I originally planned on using.

Here are some of the best of the pictures of just Jon and I outside of the temple.

Here's a bunch of just all the people that were there with us at the temple. We were really blessed and it was so great to have everyone there. Several people drove all the way out from Provo, Ut to be with us in Sacramento, Ca. Such an amazing gift they gave to us! It really meant a lot that each of the people were there and able to share our day with us.

We took a couple pictures before the reception started. I didn't even know Heather took these individual shots of everyone but I'm really happy she did! So just some nice pictures of the family and friends.

Then of course there's the actual festivities. Such a great reception. I really appreciate all the work my parents, family, and friends put into this reception. My mom really did it again and impressed everyone! Jon and I both loved it and wouldn't change a single thing from the day.

The pictures really couldn't have come at a better time for me. I've been a little on edge and been kind of snappy with Jon. These pictures reminded me to step back for a minute and remember why I married him... The tense has really eased since I stopped and took a breath. Something I need to do more offend I guess.

Our New Place

2010-06-08T21:44:00+00:00

So Jon and I are trying to get settled in and get used to having our own place. It's a big adjustment and a lot of work. I'm really happy we were able to get so many great gifts to help us out and get our home started in addition to all the great stuff my brother gave us.

So here are some pictures... Here's the living room/ entry way. As you can see we have a fabulous entertainment center that is definitely the high light piece of the room. haha but really I don't mind it and it gives a good place for Jon to work.

Our bathroom is pretty small... like everything else so it's basically impossible to take a picture of. It's really nice though. We lucked out and the Land lord's replaced all the flooring and repainted the entire apartment before we moved in so it's in great condition. Which actually freaks me out because if we ruin anything it's our fault. There are washer and dryer hook ups in the bathroom so thankfully we don't have to go to a laundry mat.

The bed room is small but it's big enough. We don't really need anything other than a bed and dresser in there. We're working on the wall decoration thing so don't judge.

The kitchen doesn't have much counter space but I make due. It's small so I don't get overwhelmed which is easy for me when it comes to cooking. The stove has been a huge adjustment and doesn't really cook like any oven I've ever experienced before. And yes that is a knife holder next to the microwave.

We're still trying to unpack the spare room which is full of random junk... You don't need to see that, you know what it looks like. You know you have one too.

Part of the deal here is we get discounted rent in we do the yard work. At first I wasn't really looking forward to it but as we've been doing it I'm really happy we get to. It's nice to have time with Jon to work on something and see our progress together. Even though I "over fertilized" and burnt the lawn... (lies... the spots the land lord is talking about weren't fertilized) But other than that I really enjoy it and look forward to having our own house with our own lawn that we can over fertilize!

There been some interesting times. Jon eating almost an entire quart of home made ice cream himself, 2 people with food poisoning and 1 bathroom, and Danielle's first time weed wacking. So all in all we enjoy our little home together and I just can't wait to see what memories the years will bring us.