I am a child of God.

Lately at work  i have had to work every other Sunday.  I HATE working Sundays.  Sundays for me are for church and resting and spending time with family and good friends. Not for working.  The first Sunday this month was stake conference, i was working so i of course missed it.  But since it was stake conference we moved fast Sunday to the second Sunday, yesterday.  I love testimony meeting! Have you ever sat in the congregation listening to others bearing their testimony and feel like each and every one of them are bearing their testimony for you?  Yesterday, that is exactly how i felt.  Every word that was spoken yesterday, i feel like it was just what i needed to hear.  It is little blessings like that, that prove to me that my Heavenly Father is mindful of me and the things that i need in life.  I know that He is there for me and no matter how small i feel in this big world, its comforting to know that i am never alone.  I am grateful for those who followed the prompting to get up and share their testimony yesterday.  I don't doubt that my Heavenly Father used their sweet testimonies to testify to me the things that i needed to hear.  I love the gospel and my Father in Heaven.  I love going to church and being uplifted.  Such a great start to my week.  So while i can't start my week off how i want to every week, i will try to enjoy the ones that i can go to church and feel the spirit testify to me the love my Savior has for me.  

Love what you do...

It is a real good thing that i love my job, because i feel like i have lived there for the past month! With my manager on maternity leave, that only leaves four of us.  Since our salon is in the mall, we are required to be open when the mall is open.  Well with only four girls to cover all the shifts, it makes it hard when some of them need time off, so i have been working a lot of extra shifts, covering for the girls when they have needed it.  I don't mind helping them out and i don't mind working extra, but i think that the main reason that i don't mind being there is that it doesn't feel like work.  I seriously believe that i have the best job in the world.  I get to go to work and not only play with peoples hair all day, but make them feel better about themselves!  It is amazing to me how having your hair done in either new cut or color, or even just having someone else style your hair can make the biggest difference in how you are feeling about yourself, or even just that day! While i get to play with their hair, i love that i am able to get to know each of my clients on a personal level.  I have met and got to know so many people in a way that i never would have doing something in say retail or in an office.  There is something about the relationship of a stylist and her client that i just love.  I don't know what it is about that chair, but i think that it brings out the best part of my job.  I am so grateful to have such amazing clients who i can talk to like they are my good friend!  I definitely have had some crazy people sit in my chair, and some people i wouldn't mind if i never saw them again, that's for sure.  But i always enjoy when my day is full of requests and we are able to catch up on the happenings of each others lives. 
 Another reason why i love my job, is the girls that i work with.  I am so lucky that we all get along so well.  Because as you can imagine, a bunch of girls working together in a small environment can be a disaster waiting to happen.  But thankfully we all get along really well and we have had no drama... yet!  I don't think that we will, but i am sure one of us is bound to break soon! ha But until that happens we like to have fun during the slow moments and take some pictures! 

"When you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life" 

"Mi Vida"

She is already a month old, but i would like to welcome to the world miss Vida Marie Johnson!! 

 My roommate had this sweet little girl on October 8, 2011.  We had joked during her whole pregnancy that Kassie was going to have her baby while my sister was saying "I do" and as it turns out, we were only a half an hour off!! Pretty funny if you ask me! Vida was originally due on the 20th but she was 8lbs and 7oz when she was born, so can you imagine if she was full term? The little chunk would have been 12 pounds! It is amazing to me how you can just watch a sweet little baby for hours and hours and they aren't doing anything but sitting there being perfect.  And this little girl is pretty close to being perfect!  She is so sweet tempered and rarely have i heard her cry! It makes me want to have a baby REAL bad!! But for now i will just have to get my fix through this precious baby girl!  

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Ps.. Vida means life in spanish! So cute! 

Bridal Shower

My baby sister (she is only 14 months younger than me) is getting married in just under a WEEK!! That statement is slightly weird! As her maid of honor, naturally i was in charge of throwing her a bridal shower.  I love to plan things, however i am not a planner.  Basically meaning, that i like to pretend that i am organized and make lists and plan things such as a bridal shower; but in the end i  usually end up procrastinating until the last minute.  And this shower was no different.  I got everything planned and it went off without a hitch.  But i'm not going to lie, it was mostly thanks to the help of my mom and gramma!  They went shopping the day before to get all the supplies, and by shopping.. i mean they went to twelve different stores!  Now that is dedication.  They got everything we needed and my gramma did all the baking we needed for the shower.  We decided to have fruit pizza instead of a cake (Ashley doesn't like cake), and we had my favorite square cookies that my gramma makes, and little things to munch on, like chips and salsa.  

So with all that taken care of i just needed to finish up the games and the take home boxes (which turned out cute if i do say so myself!) 

I am not a huge fan of all the cheesy shower games that get played at all the different showers that you go to.  My best friend got married earlier this year, and i used all my favorite ideas on her, so i didn't know what games to play so i settled with these two.

First, everyone closed their eyes and then had to follow my directions as i made it quite difficult to draw a perfect bride and groom.  This one was the winner! (Ashley got to vote) Not too bad eh?

 Then naturally i decided that we needed to find out exactly how well Ashley knows the man she is about to marry! (Which I also did at the other shower, however i knew the groom better so i could ask better questions!)  They have been together for about five years, so you would think she should know him pretty well right?  Well, not so much! :)  I will give her some credit though, i asked hard questions AND she did half of them right! Oh and did i mention that she had to chew a piece of double bubble gum (thanks to gramma) for every question that she got wrong?

 A Group shot (most of everyone)

 Ashley and her future Mother-in-Law

All in all i think that it turned out to be a successful event.  Thanks to everyone that came!

Staying Busy and Loving it!

During the year, the majority of my friends live somewhere other than good old Meridian.  I get to see them occasionally when there is some event going on that brings them home, or on the rare occasion that they decide to just come visit.  But even then, i usually only get to see them for short periods of time, because naturally, they have to make all the rounds and visit other people.  So while i cherish the time i actually get to spend with them, i always wish there was more.  This summer however has been different! I have had plenty of time to spend with my friends.  I love it! 

We have spent many nights doing the things that we do best.  Such as movie nights in

playing games (rook rummy x1000)

and tramp nights! 

Along with all of our favorite go-to activities, we have had a fairly adventurous summer!  I love being outside and doing things outdoors.  I think that i am loving it more and more the older i get.  I tend to be a bit of a chicken (which i am working on) and that usually is what has stopped me from completely taking advantage of this love for the outside world. So for the past few months i have been trying to ignore the little voice in my head that says, "that sounds scary!" or "there is no way you can/want do that" and i have learned that things aren't always as scary as they seem and i can do a lot more that i thought.  Just a few of the things we have been up to include: 

Caving- which if you haven't done it before i will explain just a little.  It is a small crack in the earth that you go down, and then you have to climb several feet down and then work your way all the way back up.  When we go, we go to a place called Smith's Crack (i don't know if that is just what my friends and i call it or if that is really the name).  But at Smith's Crack, it isn't an open cave where you go down and then its open and you walk around.  This cave is dark, small and full of places you need to squeeze through.

The first time i went caving, i didn't have an amazing experience and decided that it just wasn't for me.  I had managed to dodge going again for about six years.  Well this summer, i still didn't really want to go, but i went for two reasons.  One, i thought  that i would give it a second chance and see if it was  any  better the second time around.  And Second, well i just don't know how to say no.  And what i learned from the second time, i still don't love caving.  I like the idea of caving, i just always panic when i'm down there and don't trust myself.  I think that have given caving a fair shot, and i think next time i will opt out and just stay home. (i hope)  

White Water Rafting with a twist- My friends and i have been rafting for years (mostly thanks to the Hoovers).  This year however, we decided to change it up.  Years before the boys have gone down some of the rapids outside of the raft, just in their life jackets.  Something i have always decided was too nuts for me to attempt.  Then another year some of the boys once again decided to go down the river without a raft, but this time they took pool toys.  Yes, the same toys that you would use in a pool in the backyard to lounge.  This year, the boys decided that was how they wanted to do it again. And naturally, i wasn't sure how i felt about joining them.  But because i don't really know how to say no, i went.  I was super nervous about going down on a blow up sting ray, but i decided to be brave and just go with it.  And to my surprise, it was a lot of fun!  Well at least the part that we did.  We went on labor day.  Which meant it was late in the season, so the water was low, and we didn't get in the water until 7 at night so the water was freezing! We went down for a while, and complained about how cold it was almost the whole time. (Poor Brant was pretty much completely in the water.) By the time we got to the first real rapid, it didn't look too safe, so we got out and decided that the hot springs sounded better! So i say that it was fun now, but i guess we will see, once i get to really go down all of it that way.  And yes, there is going to be a next time! :) 

While those two are probably the most adventurous that i can think of we have been busy doing all kinds of things.  Several trips to the hot springs, playing sand volleyball on some Monday nights, ultimate frisbee in the dark, couple of trips to see a midnight movie, bowling at the sub and lots and lots of other things have been keeping us busy!  I am pretty sure this whole summer there have been very few nights that i have gone to bed before 4am.  And i love it.  "No one will look back on their life and remember the nights they got plenty of sleep"  


I wish that i had been taking pictures of all these awesome activities, but i haven't. And any pictures that were taken, were taken by Ross on his camera so i don't have them.  But here is a picture of me and the two boys that are mostly responsible for all of the craziness we have been up to! 

                                                                               Ross

                                                              Brant
It may be a crazy life, but its my life! And i wouldn't have it any other way! 

Moving On

I lived in the same house until i was sixteen or seventeen, and i was so upset when we moved.  I hated everything about it.  I even acted like a child and wrote things such as "i hate moving" on most of the boxes that i managed to pack. (which wasn't many)  Since then i have moved another two times and i am working on a third.  I still hate moving, but i am no longer writing how much moving sucks on each of the boxes.  Progress? I think so! I have spent much of my free time the past few weeks packing up my little apartment.  There is a lot more in that little apartment of mine than i realized, and what i want to know, is where did it come from?  Packing is not my thing.  I spend more time looking through, reading, and playing with all of my things than actually putting them in boxes.  It maybe took longer than it needed to, but the majority of it is packed away, awaiting to be taken to its new home, which, by the way is in Homedale! 

I'm moving out to the country!! I have always lived in a subdivision or this last year an apartment building.  But this new home is the only house on at least five acres, and if you look out of the window you can see cows!! Not to mention if you walk up to the fence you could probably touch one!  I am going to live there with my friend and manager, Kassie.  We are different in so many ways, but i think that is part of why we get along so well.  Kassie grew up out there and is a total country girl at heart, so she is going to show me the ropes.  I am so ready to experience things that i haven't before and to try new things.  Its going to be a big change, and even though i typically hate change, i am really excited about this one!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding

I met my very best friend when i was just a little seventh grader.  I never would have thought then, that about nine years later, we would still be best friends!  Meagan is the most incredible friend a girl could ask for.  We have been through pretty much everything together, and i wouldn't have it any other way.  I can't believe that we are all grown up now.  I sometimes still feel like the same teenage girls that use to make up dances to random songs or write notes back and forth in notebooks together.  But we aren't those girls anymore.  We are grown ups! Meagan did just about the most grown up thing i can think of just a little over a week ago!  She got married!!!! 
I think that i am still letting it sink it, but i have never been happier for two people than i am for her and Nic.  Meagan and Nic are meant for each other in every way.  As Meagan's best friend, i naturally had a huge list of things i thought a potential husband should be for my Meggie Moo.  Things like funny, kind, thoughtful, easy going, and just overall treats her like a princess!  Nic met all of my expectations and more.  Meagan deserves nothing but the best and i know that he will give that to her!  And of course, i know that Meagan will make one incredible wife for Nic.  They were sealed together in the Boise Idaho Temple on May 21, 2011! I have never seen Meagan look so beautiful or happy as she did on that day!  I know that my place as her best friend has changed, but i am perfectly okay with that.  I am just so excited to see what new adventures lie ahead for her and her new little family and i am excited to be apart of it.  I love my BFFAF (Best Friends Forever and Fornever)! 
Congratulations Nic and Meagan!!!! 

Here are just a few photos from their special day!