It's His Birthday!! (He doesn't feel like crying.)

Today is the birthday of my sweetest man-faced husband ever!! I know it's also Christmas Eve, but I won't be celebrating that until 5pm tonight. Christmas Eve isn't a real holiday. Nothing happened today. Well, my husband was born some even years ago (*cough* 26 *cough*). I'd say that was something. To get you through this day without Chris, I've included some pictures of my husband pie-pants from this year. Tell him HaPpY bIrThDaY!!!!

Life as We Know It

5 1/2 Months.  Five and a half.  I'm aware that despite previous promises to step it up on my blogging, I have fallen short.  

Those who missed us, I'm sorry.  Those who doubted me, take a minute to gloat...

Okay, we're past it.  Allow me to let you know what has gone on in life, and a little of what is yet to come...

Johnson Family:

We moved out of our super cute apartment and into the basement of my brother and his wife, Moriah, who were gracious enough to let us take over the place with our... stuff.  This is only temporary.  Our game plan WAS to buy a home, so we didn't want to renew our lease in case we found the home we wanted.  Now, who really knows?  

I miss my old ward, and my tv, and I miss my organization, but sometimes we have to make sacrifices in order to get what we want.  (That was 100% Chris speaking.  I would never have said that on my own.  I'm immature and childish and impatient.  He's a better person than I am.)

We're figuring our game plan in the long run as far as living situation, education, etc.  We've had a lot of bumps along the road in our original game plan, but we're figuring it out.  And we're going to be just as surprised as you will be once we get it all together.

My beautiful, big sister, Meghan got married August 11, 2012, and Chris and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary on August 12, 2012.  Isn't that wonderful?!  (It's not like we planned that or anything...)

We (Chris and I) really like her husband, and could not have picked a better guy for her.

Megh got married with just over a 1 month engagement, so one brother wasn't able to make it out, but this is all the  rest of the ginger siblings on the day my sister married her best friend for eternity.
(Pictures from Megh's wedding are from Two C's Photography.)

Chris:

School.  And work.

I wish I could tell you there's been more, but he's just too busy with the two to squeeze anything else in.

I wish he would cut his hair, but I won't
 fight it until school is out.

He's working on his FINAL YEAR of school for his degree.  (I love his desire to learn and to share everything he learns with every person he speaks to.  I'm also secretly hoping he'll take a break for a while before furthering his education.  Of course, I see the benefit of earning a Master's Degree and on, but I want my husband.  Sue me.  (Don't really.))  He is ridiculously smart.  This allows him to be a bit lazier when it comes to his studies.  There are weeks when he'll have 5 hours of homework to get done.  There are also weeks when he has no assigned homework, but 5 major tests (ie, finals week).  

This is how Chris prepares for tests during weeks when homework is not assigned:

Wake up at 7:45 am.  Ride bike to 8 am class.  Take test with no studying.  Ace test.  Ride bike home.  Go back to sleep.

Anything wrong with this picture?  Does it bother anyone else that the hardest work he does in that scenario is riding a bike?  Gaaaahhh!  I love him.

This is what he looks like today.

Alli:

I work for OtterBox.  Best.  Job.  Ever.  Be jealous.

I work from home, with only a few exceptions where I have to go into the office.  If this were the office YOU had to go work in, would you be miserable having to actually get dressed?  (Yes, that is a slide.)--->

I.  Don't.  Think so.

I also work with the coolest people ever.  I love, love, LOVE my coworkers.  I love the company.  I love the customers (most of them).  I am just pretty happy about it all.  I feel incredibly blessed to have landed with such a great company and even better people.

This is just a glimpse of what I get to do at work when I DO go into the office.  (I'm in the back making the weird face.  Thanks for the heads up, guys...)

I was in a softball league with some OtterBox coworkers, and now I'm playing volleyball with a few of the same people and a few different.

I also had the pleasure of making it to another birthday.  Chris surprised me with a whole weekend of Elitches, dinner plans with friends, a new bike, and a SURPRISE PARTY!  He is the greatest.  He knew how great that combination of activities would make my big 22.

This is a picture my friend, James, sent me while I was enjoying my delicious ice cream cake at Cooper Smith's!  I have the best friends, and an even better husband.  I would also like to add that I am not wearing sunglasses.  That's simply the way the picture looks.

Overall, I'm busy.  And neglectful of this poor blog.  Someday I'll be really good at this.  Until then, let's be honest, you should not get too attached.  Ha ha ha.

Emmi:

She loves being in our temporary home with her cousin puppy, Choco.  They play and play and play and bark and play.  I haven't asked him how he feels about it, but she LOVES him; she follows him everywhere.

Her hair, however, does not love him.  I would bathe her and brush her regularly, but she would get very matted areas of hair.  I would cut huge chunks out every week after he bath, but there was no way to stay on top of it, so I had to just take her to the groomer and have her shaved very short to get rid of the huge matted areas, and will have to keep it just barely longer than this until she's an only puppy again.

$10 says Emmi did not win that round of tug-o-war.
(That's an unfair bet because I was there to
witness the loss.)

This is what she looks like today.  I had to add two pictures because she was literally falling asleep as I was taking the pictures.  She couldn't keep her eyes open.

Emmi was getting ready for her Aunt Meghie's wedding.

As of right now, we plan on saving up just a little bit more, and moving back into an apartment temporarily because poor Paul and Moriah have hardly had their home to themselves since they moved in.  After that, once we have a better idea of where Chris will be working, we'll start looking around for homes, starting a family, etc.  Basically, life as we know it is a mystery.

Bah!  Game plans.  What a waste of time...

Changes are a Timing...

One year's over and another begins.  Last year ended with a bang.

I quit my job for so many reasons I can't even list them all (I found out there's a limit to how much you can blog.).  I got my hair done.  Finally.  Yeah, that alone could have made my entire year fantastic.  I set up an interview for a new job, but for the past few weeks, I've just had a lot of time to clean and exercise and just play!  (Then why the stink haven't I updated this bad boy?  Pure laziness.  Believe it or not, running around Fort Collins in the freezing cold is a lot easier than trying to share my life with everyone.  Turns out my incredible life is really only interesting to myself.)

Chris is, well, Chris.  I feel like that should be a synonym for so many great adjectives.  I think I might start calling everything wonderful in life Chris.  Starting after this blog, because chances are that habits going to take a little while to develop.  That man actually did a lot more this year than be amazing.

He got married for eternity.  ETERNITY.  (No pressure.)  I feel like that was a pretty great decision.  He went through an entire semester of schooling with a ridiculous schedule. He was never home, and when he was,he was usually sleeping, and who can blame him?  Well all that hard work paid off- we can pay our bills, and he finished his school year with phenomenal grades.  I'm almost positive that he studied only the day of each final.  And it worked really well for him.

Not only did he end the year with great grades, but he also had ANOTHER birthday this year.  He has one EVERY SINGLE YEAR.  What a lucky guy he is!  He turned 25 on December 24, 2011.  Chris got a Kindle Fire, which I know he wanted, but I've only seen him use it twice. This is how I know he's been very, very busy, even though he's supposed to be on Winter Break from school.  Bummer.  (He worked approximately 168 hours a week for the past couple weeks.) 

Also, Christmas happened, so that was obviously a pretty major part of ending the year.  By far, my favorite part of the year.  For so many reasons.

This Christmas was different because I didn't spend it with my family.  We spent this year with Chris's family.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone and catch up, but it was soo FULL.  I'm used to lounging around in pj's and playing games and watching movies all day.  Best ever.  But I had real clothes on this year.  Real clothes.  And makeup.  The sacrifices I've made for love.  (I don't have a lot of room to talk.  It would seem that sacrifice is all that Chris does for me.)

Ringing in the New Year brings changes.  I didn't officially set any resolutions, but I certainly have a few goals I'd like to accomplish.  "How can you accomplish a goal that isn't really set?", you ask.  I'm Mormon.  I  just.  Can.

This year, I will be reading (and completing) at least one book every month.  Chris and I save $11 a week on insurance if we work out three times a week and record it on a specific website through his work, so not only will we be taking care of our bodies, we'll be held accountable by this website, and we'll be saving money (not a TON, but that's $44 a month!  Totally adds up.). 

Chris has three more semesters of school left, and has worked it out so that he'll be able to continue to work full time at night AND still have time to sleep somewhere in there.  He's so smart, and such a hard worker!  That's his resolution.  Keep a roof over our head.  :-)  He is also doing a great job accumulating backpacking gear, so.... looks like we're going to be good friends with nature this summer.  Yay.

We will also be adding to our family this year.  Very soon.

That's right.  I said it.  It's out.

Yeah... Chris and I have a pretty great year ahead of us.