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!!!!

Mysterious Ways

An example of my husband's stupid brilliance/pure luck (and that God still works miracles):

Chris woke up yesterday remembering he was to have finished a book (that looked to be about 350 pages) before yesterday because he was to be tested on his knowledge that day. A book he hadn't even started. He has classes in the morning, so he definitely did not have time to read an entire book. Boy, was he ever in a panic!

His solution: he looked up online the theme and summary of the book (cliff notes, basically) and while WALKING to his class, he opened the book randomly to one page so that he would have a specific example he could draw from the book.

When the test was passed out, here is what that man was tested on: the first four questions were about the theme and summary of the book. The fifth question was a specific example taken out of the book. The very example he opened his book randomly to that very morning. What's worse? Those who had actually read the book were completely confused because they had read the entire contents of the book and could not remember this specific example.

Are you serious?! Granted, I said a little prayer for him because he was so worried, but I NEVER expected him to Ace the test. The Lord helps those who help themselves, and this man hardly did anything in the way of preparation... Oh, well. Counting my blessings. :-)



Also, on a completely different note, here is Christopher petting my sister's cat, Luke. We called this guy Louie because we could not remember his name. This is why we are never getting a cat...

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...

Oh, It Is Love

I say this every time... but life has gotten away from me.  Basically, I'm mostly just a slacker.  I feel like there's not enough time in the day.  I'm cleaning, or working, or just distracted by our newest addition.

I left you in suspense right before I brought home our little princess, so let me fill you in from there.

That road trip was EPIC.  Charley and I had a great time catching up about life.  Can I just tell you she has the best impersonation (im-animal-ation?) I've ever heard in my life!  If my eyes had been closed when she first did it, I would have thought there was a goat in the car!  (And I also probably would have crashed the car into a ditch.)  

Just to give you the gist, here are a few pictures from the trip:

This was the gorgeous view we had almost for the entirety of the trip.

We stopped at some VERY hot tourist locations along the way

We were chased by buffalo...

And almost killed by a Semi!  (He was driving in reverse.  Craziest thing.  ;-)

When we got to the hotel we previously saw had great ratings, we noticed a few things were off.  Like the building smelled like propane, there were nasty-looking mysteries in the pool, and this...

Something tells me this lock was broken...

But don't you even worry!  Charley set it up with a secure booby trap that was SURE to wake us from our sleep should any creepy-creepers try to come in and kill us.

 (I DARE you to try getting through this trap!)

Needless to say, this was not a safe location for us to stay a second night, so I called my brother, Jon, who lives in Kansas, and asked him if we could stay with him the following night.  That was not on our original route plan, but the detour would hardly add any time to our trip, and it seemed worth it to both of us to stay alive...

After explaining our situation to him, and ending the phone call, I sent him the picture of the broken lock, and this is the message he sent back.  Bahaha!

We finally reached our destination, and I met my sweet little puppy.

Emmi.

Thanks, double chin, for showing up in this picture... but this was Emmi's first picture with me!  :-)  She was so tiny and scared!

This is literally my favorite thing:  When Emmi tilts her head to the side.  :-)  True Love.

This is what she did for the majority of the trip, thank goodness!

She would occasionally pop her head out of her nest and come play with us.
"I'll take it from here, mom!"

When we finally reached Jon and Mallory's home  (at 3am) after some crazy  side trips, he brought this in for us .
"The door doesn't lock, but you can use this..."
My family.  :-)

Our last stop along the way was to stop and visit with a good friend from High School.  Dylan!  He is going to school in Salina, Kansas, so I ambushed him, and we all went to lunch at a tiny burger joint.  Best burgers and shake I have ever had.  Yummm!  And it was so great to see how great he was doing and catch up on life!


Now, we've had Emmi for just over two months.

(We can get her groomed until she's had all of her shots,
so she's just going to have to look shaggy for now.)

She's about doubled in size, she was potty trained (on puppy pads) within only a few weeks, and she's so playful!  When I first picked her up, the breeder was worried about her lack of appetite because she was bullied by her siblings (she was the little one), but the vet says she's right on track, and healthy as can be!

We recently enrolled her in a puppy training class every Wednesday, and she LOVES it!  (The treats and the other dogs are sure a change from regular, every day life.)  She sits whenever she greets anyone, rather than jumping on them, she knows her name, she can go for walks without rudely tugging on the leash, and she continues to amaze me every day!

She stock piles everything she can get her
little teeth on in the middle of the floor.
Super funny.
(Our carpet just looks that nasty because of
the lighting...)

Emmi is so perfect for us because she's high enough energy that we can go running around the park freely, but she's too slow to really be able to get away from me;  We play chase, so anytime I think she's getting away from me, I mix up the roles, and run away from HER, so that she starts to chase ME.  (Much easier to catch.)  She doesn't shed, she isn't a "yappy" dog, and she just loves people and other dogs!  Her jaw isn't strong enough to tear anything up, so she can chew all she wants, but nothing is going to come of it.  :-)

She's been to two movies with me (she just sits quietly on my lap and watches the movie or chews on a toy), and I literally take her everywhere I can with me.  I never thought I would turn into the girl who puts her dog in her purse, but I totally get it now... she's my kid.  I feel terrible just making her wait at home for me all day while I'm out and about.  :-/

I think Chris is starting to like her as well...

This is when we first brought her home.

Chris would probably never admit to being as in love with her as he is, but they snuggle all the time!

They love to take naps together!

This is them today, taking a nap between  General Conference sessions.

We love Emmi.  She's so funny, and sneaky.  I know that those of you who have children, think I'm crazy for treating my dog like one, but she's all I have for now, and I'd say she's going to pretty good job acting just like a toddler.  :-)