The Johnsons

Snow to the shoe...

2012-01-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

Blue Avocado

2012-01-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

I get spoiled every Christmas... it's really quite awesome. This year, our big gift from my in-laws was snow shoes. We love them. And I can honestly say I am looking forward to snow (so I can use them again!!!). But there was another gift I got that was pretty awesome. My mother-in-law gave me a super cute reusable grocery bag. Not only is it cute, and sturdy and cute :) It has a reusable mesh bag for produce.
And it gets better - the company that makes them, uses 1% of it's sales to give loans to women entrepreneurs around the world (through kiva.org, if you've heard of it). I love when awesome ideas that are good for the world, pair up with awesome ideas that are good for people of the world.
Two thumbs up for Blue Avocado.

twenty twelve

2012-01-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

I love New Years. I am a goal fanatic. I love setting new goals and love the feeling you get when you complete one. I am usually very specific because I like the feeling of crossing things off my list, but not this year.

1. Be More Fit.

2. Make It Happen. Just Do It. Stop setting a billion goals and focus on getting them accomplished now (even the Big Ones).

3. Don't let things bother you. Brush it off.

4. Play Outside. Not just when its nice, not just when you have the day off. Play outside all the time.

5. Eat Healthy. Smaller portions. Less sweets. Less meat.

6. Travel more. My favorite goal!!! What's in store for this year? Mt Rushmore? Hawaii?

7. Sit back and enjoy it. Relax more. Read more.

8. Be the best wife I can be.

The Power of Love

2011-12-22T11:22:00.000-08:00

*I just read this story and it made my heart happy.*

By any standard of measure David was a powerful man.
Tall, handsome, and dignified, he cut an imposing figure, even in his declining years. He was widely known and greatly respected by his peers and others in the community. As the head of a large organization, he was surrounded by people who were prepared to respond to his every whim. Because of the prominence of his position and the value of his time, he didn't have to do anything that he didn't want to do or that wasn't a high priority for him.
Which is why it seemed a little unusual to those who worked in the small downtown market to see this great white-haired man, slowed and bent by the years, shuffling in to shop.
"Doesn't he have people to shop for him?" a clerk asked the store manager.
"Of course he does," the manager whispered. "He has people who have people who have people to do this sort of thing for him."
They watched as David moved slowly, deliberatley, toward the produce section.
"Then what's he doing here?" the clerk asked.
"I don't know," the manager said, a little nervously. "But whatever it is, it must be VERY important."
David paused at the produce section, looking at the expansive display of fresh fruits and vegetables. At last his eyes settled on a bin of large, shiny red apples. He picked up the apples one by one, examining each closely, twisting and turning it in the sunlight to expose any defect or flaw. Over the course of several minutes he must have inspected two dozen apples or so until at last he settle on one that looked absolutely perfect- perfectly sized, perfectly shaped, perfectly colored, perfectly ripe.
"Perfect!" he said to himself, smiling broadly.
He tucked the apple securely in his hand and made his way back up the aisle to the cash register, where the manager stepped in front of the clerk.
"There will be no charge for that, sir," the manager said when David presented the apple for purchase. "You may have it with our compliments."
David shook his head.
"Thank you, sir," he said kindley. "But I insist. Please allow me to pay for this beautiful apple."
Reluctantly, the manager rang up the charge for the apple and placed it carefully in a brown paper bag. He took David's money, and handed the bag to him.
"Thank you," David said, holding the bag as one might hold a package of diamonds. "Emma will love this!"
Emma?
Of course- Emma. The love of David's life. His sweetheart of more than fifty years. It was said that in all their time together they had never once had an argument. And now, a clerk and a manger at a small downtown market understood why. It was a matter of priority. It was a matter of sensitivity. It was a matter of purpose. And clearly, it was a matter of power.
The power of love.

Dang english

2011-12-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

Just had to add these two laughable mistakes on the part of the Johnsons recently.

A few days ago JJ was texting his sister and spelled perfect, "purfect". It probably wasn't that funny, but I laughed right out loud. I am his spell check for everything (reminds me of my mom and dad). I don't know how many times a day he calls out "How do you spell...." and I call back from the other room with the spelling.

I may be the good speller, but I have issues pronouncing some words. For the longest time I pronounced vinyl with a soft i. To this day I still have to think it through and sometimes still get it wrong (now a bigger problem when I work at a craft store where we sell the stuff). JJ helps me out when I do though (usually with a good chuckle on his part). I also have the hardest time saying political. I put an emphasis on every vowel (pol-it-ical). But my most recent blunder was last night, on our way to JJ's work party I was talking about how I hoped the food was good (since we were having to drive two hours to the party!). I said hors'doerves (but my pronounciation was "hors (emphasis on the h) devors (emphasis on the e)" (yes I realize for some reason even phonetically I was incorrect as the v is after the r). It took him a minute to figure out what I was saying and then pronouncing it correctly I had a lightbulb go off. I have heard that word said before but never associated it with the word written down or the spelling of it.

We make a good team!

Holiday Party

2011-12-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

We just got home from JJ's work party and I have to do a little boasting of my awesome husband. He was awarded for being Elite's #1 technician for the year. 705 installs in one year is pretty incredible and I am so proud of him!!! His work party was at the The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City and the hotel was gorgeous with all the Christmas lights and decorations.
But it's not all fun and games. He was given an IPAD for his achievement, but... he already has one. So now he has to figure out which one he wants to keep and what he is going to do with the other one. Poor guy - such a tough life!

And for those that wanted to see the before and after of my most recent hair cut...

Then, 13 inches shorter...

Pictures curteousy of my fabulous hairstylist, Kariana Garner; taken at her booth at K Salon in Logan, Utah!!!

2011-11-19T22:35:00.000-08:00

"Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking."
~Antonio Machado

2011-11-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight:

always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?

― J.M. Barrie

Sometimes I'm crafty

2011-11-16T15:12:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Pinterest...

One treat for me, one treat for you

2011-10-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

I just got home from work and noticed that JJ bought himself a tool box (like those tall 4 foot ones). I was a little perterbbed (is that a word?) because we had just talked about not spending as much as we usually do, since my part time job is the only form of income right now in our household. "But," he said "I got you a treat too." Apparently the bag of dried mangos that he bought me (which was incredibly sweet because they are my favorite!!!) is equal to his giant tool box... I think if it wasn't so darn funny, I would realize that I really should be a little mad.

This is why Kariana makes me giggle: part II

2011-10-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

After making chocolate chip cookies tonight, Kariana and I sat and laughed at all the funny things on Pinterest. I mentioned that I love that now I know that I am not the only one out there that thinks of things like this...

I told her that I always think a monster is going to bite my foot off if it hangs off the bed or even if the blanket gets pulled off of it. (Should I really be admitting to this stuff?) But after telling her this, she gave me a look that basically said "monsters Shantel? are you five years old? I mean come on!" And then said that she had never thought that ever in her life.

After a brief pause, being totally serious, she added, "It's more like sharks that will eat off your hands if they hang off the bed."

And this is why Kariana makes me giggle

2011-10-12T20:49:00.001-07:00

(this is hanging in my guest bathroom)

The Long Road Home

2011-10-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

Its been a long road since we left our office in Mississippi. But even though there were some unexpected and perhaps unwelcome detours, it ended out to be full of good times, good people, and good memories.

Once upon a time...

Ok, the story isn't that long, but it is quite a mouthful. So to start at the beginning.

We spent our summer in Mississippi and though it had some wonderful culture and we had some interesting experiences, as the summer came to an end, we were ready to move on. So when an opportunity presented itself to spend the last few weeks of the summer in southern Colorado/ northern New Mexico, we jumped at it. We left on a Friday and planned to spend Saturday with family in Dallas before completing our journey on Sunday. But Saturday morning JJ got a call that "New Mexico isn't going to work out." Ok - now what? We have already left Mississippi and aren't too fond of the idea of driving back that direction, so we told the guy to keep his eye out for any other offices that could use us for a while. No news for the rest of the day on Saturday, then, no news Monday. So finally I told JJ that we were not going to stay in Dallas forever and we needed to go somewhere or be done. So he called his boss and said we were just going to head home since the summer was basically over and there was no where for us to go. Wednesday we headed home. We were able to drive through Oklahoma and have a fabulous dinner with some friends we haven't seen in almost two years. (Wish Hope and Leon lived closer so we could see them more often!!!) Then continued to Kansas and spent the night in a hotel. Thursday morning, we were driving west into Denver when JJ got another call. Basically, "actually... we do need you in New Mexico." After stopping in Denver to have dinner (buffalo burgers - they were SO good and apparently they are more lean than beef!) with his other brother and new wife (and seeing their beautiful new apartment), we headed back south to New Mexico. I pouted, JJ drove some more and we ended up getting to the ski lodges (that were in the middle of nowhere) that the office was staying in, at about midnight. We spent about a week and a half working there (traveling an hour and a half south to New Mexico everyday to install) and then headed home. It took me a good 3 or 4 days before I could really believe that we were done, but boy does it feel good. After two weeks of being in our new place, I can't believe how much I missed dinner at a normal time (not 11 or 12 at night), cooking dinner (and no more eatting out!!), being able to actually unpack (instead of living out of a suitcase) and so much more of the so called "normal life" (is life really ever normal though?).

On to the pictures!

While in Dallas we spent the day at the zoo. I am not sure who had more fun, Avri (our 2 year old niece) or all of us watching how exciting everything was for Avri.

Lions and Tigers and Bears. OH MY!

Is it just me or does going to the zoo make everyone else want to go to Africa? Like really bad. Aren't the colors on this giraffe just incredible?

This is a horrible picture, but such a great memory. Whenever we were eatting, Avri would basically lounge against JJ with her arm resting across his shoulder and just wait for him to share whatever was on the plate at that moment.

While in southern Colorado we were staying in some ski resorts north of Durango. The whole area was absolutely gorgeous. In my opinion one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. A new addition to my list of favorites.

And even though I had just been to Mesa Verde National Park a few months back, I knew JJ would love it, so we hit that up while we were there.

I love visiting National Parks and people watching. These places are obviously special when you see how far people travel to visit them. The tour that we took that day had a few people from Spain, a few from Russia, and others from all over the world (Wish I could remember specifics). There was only one other couple, besides us, that were even from the United States.

But one look around and its really no surprise. The ruins are not the only incredible views. I absolutely love the color variations in just a simple picture of the canyon rim and sky.

I would say I am pretty lucky when, after traveling all over the world, the majority of my favorite places are within a days drive of where I live.

Its pretty awesome

2011-09-30T23:32:00.000-07:00

So far I am loving Cache Valley. We live in a beautiful apartment, family and friends are close by, and my favorite season (autumn) is gorgeous in this place.
Tonight we went to some friends' house for dinner. They just built an addition to their back patio with a fire pit, so we roasted some brats and marshmallows and starbursts. And the best part was the view from their home. They live a few miles west of Logan and have an incredible view of the Valley and the mountains. Such a fabulous evening.
And then they sent us home with 3 different varieties of squash and a big bag of tomatoes. Yeah, I know... its pretty awesome.

I still got it

2011-08-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

2011-08-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

My dad is a pretty cool guy. If you don't already know this, I pity you as you must have never met him. If you already know this, you don't need any reasons to prove it, but here are a few anyways.

***He is an identical twin. In high school, while on a double date with his twin brother, they both left half way through the movie to get some popcorn and then switched the dates and spent the remaining part of the night with opposite girls. (Unknowing to the girls they were with).

***He says "warsh" instead of wash. "Have you warshed the dishes?" "We need to warsh off the deck". That is actually how he says the word.

***While in primary, and learning the Articles of Faith; my dad helped me memorize the 13th Article by telling me it was "We believe in being honest, true, chased by an elephant." (For those who don't have it memorized, it is supposed to be "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent...")

***He took me on my first date when I turned 16 (fun family tradition). We went to the movie "Maid in Manhattan" and then went to Sams Club for treats. One of my most memorable dates ever.

***He used to have monthly meetings with each child individually (quite the task when you have 8 very busy children). He called them ppi's. Just wanted to know how each child was doing. I want to start this with jj and our children once we have children.

***He makes the best belgian waffles I have ever had in my life. Like legit! And I have been to Belgium.

***I have a very specific childhood memory of watching my dad driving the car during a long family road trip. Everyone was sleeping except him (and myself as I had just woken up). There was no music playing, he wasn't talking on the phone or anything, but he had a slight smile. After a few minutes of wondering what he was smiling at, I realized he wasn't smiling at anything specific, he just always smiles.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Its a good good life

2011-08-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

I am almost overwhelmed with picking just a few pictures to put on the blog. How can I pick my favorites when each and every picture that I took during our Doyle Garner Family Reunion is so precious? Each one is linked to a memory that makes me smile and with so many stinkin cute kids... picking just a few pictures, well... its hard I tell ya!
Thayne and MaryAnne were in charge of the reunion this year and they did awesome. A perfect mixture of fun things to do and time to just enjoy being together. Probably my favorite part was watching all my nieces and nephews run around together and becoming best friends. And a close second would be the adults running around together and remembering that we already are best friends.

I am loving all the colorful family pictures we took. Kudos to MaryAnne for picking out these cute shirts in all the different colors. And bringing out popsicles and ice-cream sandwiches after the pictures? Genius!! As you can see by all the grins:)

Ok... here goes... from left to right (top row) Kevin, Dacia with Hailey, Brett with Zoe, Erin with Aeriana, Brody, Shantel, Kariana, Riley, MaryAnne, Thayne with Cutter and Cache, Cara with Evie, Chad with Cash, (bottom row) Bryson, Alyssa, Kaitlyn, Dad and Mom!!!

Uncle Brody is an all around favorite of all the nieces and nephews. I could hear them say Uncle Brody all day long (Uncle Bwody).

A day on the water!! Thanks Chad for taking us out on your boat!

The fireworks were another one of my favorite memories. Thayne basically bought a truck load of fireworks and the kids LOVED it! Everyone played nonstop with the sparklers and the ones that you throw on the ground and they snap (what's their name?). Riley showed us how to snap them so they would pop between our fingers - I only tried it once I saw that Bryson and Kaitlyn were doing it. And then even the little kids were getting creative and Evie would place one on the ground and then jump on it so it would snap under her shoe. For the bigger fireworks, Thayne would have each kid come up individually and put their hand on the lighter with Thayne so "they could light it" and then as soon as the fuse lit, Thayne would tease them and yell "run!!! run!!!" and the kids would bolt back to the grass. It was hilarious!

We spent our last day at Bear Lake. It was a little chilly, but so fun all the same. All the kids spent forever trying to fill this little hole with water. They tediously walked out to the water to fill these little squirt guns with water and then would walk back to the hole and shoot the water in. Back to the water, back to the hole. They seriously did this for like a half an hour. I love how things like this are so fun for kids! I would have just grabbed a bucket and filled the hole in two trips, but I also would have missed out an a half an hour of giggles and kids running out to the freezing cold water and looking so cute during all of it!

Back to the water...

I feel like I turned around and then all the sudden Riley was like a foot taller than me? He definitely has changed alot lately. And if I do say so myself, has turned in to quite the young man.

Cache showing his muscles. I love the lip!!

Its a feeling you just can't fight... Its a good good life!

Doe's Eat Place

2011-08-13T20:33:00.001-07:00

JJ and I are meat and potato kinda people. Steak is both of our favorite food. And after eatting Johnson grown and cooked beef, just any old steak won't do. I like my steak cooked medium, JJ likes his medium rare. JJ's choice of cut is ribeye and the majority of the time orders/grills accordingly, while I usually eat sirloin (though sirloin is not my favorite cut, but it usually comes in fewer ounces than other cuts and is usually cheaper). We don't like steak rubs, but just some simple seasonings of garlic powder, salt and cracked peppercorn. Home grilled steaks are the best, but sometimes they aren't an option.
Often, the best steaks come from the most unexpected places.

Walking into "Doe's Eat Place" is a little jarring. First off, you drive straight into the ghetto and then park next to a limo. There is a crowd of people outside, half with beers in their hands, half with glasses of wine in their hand. Then the building looks as if it may fall apart if a slight breeze came along. As you walk in, to your left is the grills that the steaks are cooked on, along with the chef/owner throwing 2 pound steaks around like candy. After squeezing your way through the kitchen (yes, this is after walking in the front door), you try not to look too much like your not from around here but finally, have to just ask whats going on as there is no hostess, no menus, and everyone is chatting like old friends. We picked a pretty packed night to try Doe's and ended up having to wait for a while as we had not made reservations. But after about 20 minutes, the owner asked if we wanted to just pull up a chair in the kitchen and so we could get our food quicker. We ordered a 2 1/2 pound porterhouse and enjoyed a baseball game on ESPN while making small talk with the chef.

That small cart table on the right was our spot.
The steak... was fabulous! Melt in your mouth good. Suck the bone good.
The fries, toast and $4 oil soaked side salads leave something to be desired, but after one bite of steak, all is forgiven.

Life's so sweet in the passenger seat

2011-08-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

No internet for over a month = Shantel's blog posts are super delayed :)

After a fabulous weekend at the end of June with JJ's family for Abby and Andy's wedding, JJ had to head back to Mississippi for work, while I kept right on a playing! Brody, Kariana, Cara and I drove down to southern Utah and Colorado for a road trip. First stop was Four Corners.

Next stop was Mesa Verde National Park. We camped out that night after roasting marshmallows and starbursts. Then spent the day exploring these incredible Ancient Pueblan ruins.

Lucky for us, we had a super awesome tour guide for our first set of ruins. Super interesting and very cool looking stuff.

I love National Parks!!!

Do you believe in Purple Cows?

2011-07-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have some fabulous memories of my childhood that are linked to food. We were definitely one of those families, thats lives' revoloved around the kitchen.
My mom says that when I was younger the family used to can our own grape juice. I don't remember that part (though I wish I did - I mean how awesome is it that we used to can our own grape juice!!!) But I do remember eatting Purple Cow Milkshakes. And I remember my dad used to tell us that there are purple cows... how else could you make a purple shake? Yeah - he's funny like that.

Purple Cow Milkshakes

1 can (6 oz.) frozen grape juice concentrate

1 cup milk

2 cups vanilla ice cream

Pour the juice concentrate and milk into blender container.

Scoop in ice cream.

Cover and blend on high speed 30 seconds.

Serve right away.

Makes 3 or 4 shakes

All Because Two People Fell In Love

2011-07-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

I love weddings. What an absolute fabulous reason to take off work. And be with friends and family. And get dressed up. And eat yummy food.

Must I go on?

Now don't be confused... JJ is attending a wedding in this picture. You see, I would be confused because he is wearing jeans. But I have to remind myself that weddings in the country are a little different. A group picture of the festivities would show a bunch of guys in tight wranglers, cowboy hats and cowboy boots.
The only problem is going to be getting JJ to wear dress pants to weddings in the future.

Not only did we get to add Abby and Treyson to our family that weekend, but we got to meet Aubree's boy toy, Tyrel. After hearing so much about him, it was so nice to finally meet him. And I am not just saying that because he made chocolate covered strawberries to my heart's content.

We had to grab a shot of the new family! Andy has already proven he is a great husband and father.

And of course, any weekend spent with JJ's family basically revolves around Avrielle. But really - is that a surprise?

I mean - look at that smile!!

Weather in Star Valley in June is basically perfect. We spent every minute we could outside.

One of my favorite memories of that weekend (second only to the incredible wedding and recetion) was our family outting on four wheelers. Beautiful wide open fields, amazing views, birds chirping and all my favorite people.

tops (aka "my heart is smiling" continued)

2011-07-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

* a little romance - After dinner, JJ and I walked down the beach; barefoot, pant legs rolled up, hand in hand. We are not a couple that does alot of "romantic" things, but I think because of that, those moments are even more special.

* Dave Matthews Band - Good ol' Dave has been missing from my life recently. Getting rid of your laptop and ipod will do that to a person. But I have been listening to him a bunch and dreaming of going to his Caravan concert thing in Washington. And though it is only a dream - it makes me happy.

* a life of travel - How lucky did I get that I married a man, who's job moves him every 4-6 months? Though this will probably change fairly soon, I have been able to travel to and visit so many parts of this country all in the name of "business". Even in between moves, we get to travel within the state we are currently living. We are now staying on the coast of Mississippi and enjoying the fresh seafood and beautiful views.

* Post Selects Cranberry Almond Crunch - I am a cereal fanatic! During the summer, cold cereal is an everyday breakfast (in the winter I often go for hot cereal). My favorite for sure is Post Selects Cranberry Almond Crunch. So yummy!!!

2011-07-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Don't you love it when something hits you when you least expect it?

Not literally - that scenerio actually sucks pretty bad! I mean something hits your heart. A comment, a picture, a song, a story. A sister in church today shared a story about how her and a friend were being creative and molding clay. But, they were having a terrible time working with this particular clay. It was wierd, because in the past, they were able to easily create amazing sculptures; but this time, they couldn't make anything. She related how our Father in Heaven can shape us into amazing people, able to accomplish things that we could never imagine completing by our own accord; we just have to be willing to let Him shape our lives. He has the ability, but if we are stubborn, hard headed and unwilling to change (o crap - I think I just described myself perfectly), He can't do much with us...

You be my Lousiana; I'll be your Mississippi

2011-06-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

Kariana called me up a few weeks back and asked if I wanted to read The Help as she was reading it and we could do some sort of long distance book club kinda thing. Of course I was in. For one, I had started the book during the holidays and loved it, but had to return it to the library before finishing it and hadn’t got around to borrowing it again. Also, the book takes place in Jackson, MS – which is where I am currently living. And to top it all off, the author, Kathryn Stockett, who is from Jackson, was coming to Jackson for a book signing.

Luck have it, the day and time she was at the local bookstore, I had a free half hour and was able to stop by and meet her. I have never been to a book signing before, and felt a little silly, like I was a groupie for a band, but I didn’t even know what she looked like. I can’t imagine how boring it must be to sit for hours signing one book after another, having 30 seconds to talk all these excited people that you have never met before and will never see again. But she was really nice to talk to and laughed when I told her I was from Wyoming, basically, the extreme opposite of Jackson, Mississippi.

I absolutely loved the book and have so much respect for writers. Writing a book sounds about as impossible as things get, but writing a book that is actually good, with interesting characters and cohesive story lines and humor and sadness and everything that makes good books good; well that is just beyond what I can comprehend.
An added plus to the timing of all this is that I really get to see what she was writing about, because I am currently in Jackson. The home of Medgar Evans, the NAACP secretary that was shot outside his home, is just down the street from where I live. And so is the library and statue they erected in his honor. And I can’t help but notice the similarities in the homes she was talking about and the homes that I work in. I especially have noticed, the homes that she describes the maids living in. They are small and usually only have a bedroom or two along with the Living Room and Kitchen. I am sure a lot of the homes that I work in were the exact homes that house maids lived in during the 1960s.

My heart is smiling

2011-05-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

I have been in such a good mood lately!!!
Good weather with sunny days and a nice breeze will do that to a person.
This time of year is perfect for some good ol' make you smile from the inside out kinda things...

*Painting my toenails pink

*A big bouquet of yellow daisies in my butterfly vase

*The new Bath and Body Works hand soap scent, "Sea Island Cotton" - it makes my hands smell oh so good!!!

*Taking naps on the couch

*Buying a new summer dress with bright pink flowers on it

*Driving with your windows down

2011-05-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

After leaving a customer’s house one morning this week, JJ and I discovered a few baby ducks running down the street squawking. After some watching and a bit of realization that these little baby ducks did not have a mother anywhere around, were obviously lost, and would not make it very long on their own, especially with the stray cats that were also watching; we grabbed a box and ran after one of them. After 15 minutes of running after this baby duck (smart little thing kept running under cars and hiding there, knowing we couldn’t reach him) we finally were able to get him in a box. The other baby ducks had run off in other directions and were nowhere in sight, so we called a local animal hospital to see if they could help him. Luckily, the lady that answered said that she would take care of it as her mother is some sort of duck rehabilitator. This little detour to our day seriously made my week. Though I am sad that the little baby duck isn’t with its family anymore and that something obviously happened to its mother and siblings, it’s the memory of JJ and me running around a busy street, sweating to death, all to catch a baby duck, which makes me smile. Sometimes, I think that the memories we make are even better than the moments that make those memories.
I love when things get thrown in your days that are out of the ordinary. It’s what keeps life exciting. It’s the dull day to day hum drum that gets my spirits down. Luckily, there’s always something going on… you just need to seize the moment.

NOLA

2011-05-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend we spent a little time in N'Orleans. On the drive down, I educated JJ on the proper way of speaking here in the Bayou. For example, New Orleans is not a three syllable phrase, but a two syllable word "N'orlans". Also, when asked if you want your sandwich "dressed" it means with lettuce and tomato. Though I don't think it matters much how we talk - our Wyoming license plate kinda gives away the fact that we aren't locals.

JJ was a little concerned when I told him our next stop was the Lafayette #1 Cemetary. Cemetaries are definitely not a common stop on our trips, but the ones in New Orleans are a little different and very interesting. Apparently, the water table used to be so high that when there were heavy rains, which happened fairly often, the caskets that were buried in the ground would float up and out of the ground. So they started making these above ground vaults. They are very old and many are falling apart, but I think they are beautiful.

I absolutely had to try the boiled crawfish and ended up walking all up and down Canal Street and Bourbon street before we finally found a place that not only served them, but weren't out for the day. Both JJ and I liked them alot. Similar to shrimp, but in my opinion a little better. But my weak palate couldn't handle all the spice (even though I do like spice - just not that much!!) and didn't have anything to cool my mouth with since the potatoes and corn are boiled in the same water, so they all come out super spicey. But still very yummy! Plus I think they are so cute! (A little sadistic maybe, since I was pulling off their heads and eatting their tales...)

The lower 9th ward is still in pretty bad shape. I figured with it being 6 years after Hurricane Katrina and all, that there wouldn't be all that much damage left. But unfortunately, the proof of the hurricane is drastic here and throughout other parts of New Orleans. We passed a ton of houses that had been spray painted with things like "Gas Off". But we also saw a ton of lots that didn't have anything left at all.

But the rebuilding is also apparent. We saw quite a few "Make It Right" homes that a. are alot nicer that any homes in this area, b. are energy efficient and "green" and c. more structurally stable for future weather disasters.

Missiwhat? Missiwho? Mississippi!!

2011-04-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

We are in Mississippi (actually have been for about two weeks). It could be short term (another two weeks) or longish term (6 months) who really knows. But with the possibility of it being only another two weeks, I have been trying to cram in as much Mississippi stuff as possible. Last night we went to the Mayflower Cafe, which was on The Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate" Though its comeback dressing, which is what it is famous for, was yummy and the redfish that I got was actually rather tasty, overall it was a little too greasy for us. And the oysters that came with the redfish were downright not good tasting. But thats ok - still fun to try new places! Another new thing for us was the tornado that hit right next to where we live, here in Jackson. It was raining CRAZY hard and the wind was blowing pretty bad, but we actually didn't really know there was a tornado, until JJ's boss called to make sure we were ok. As far as sight seeing goes, we went to the Mynelle Gardens. This is the perfect time of year to do this. Any later in the spring/summer and it would be just too hot. I love going to places like this with JJ - he definitely has the hunter's eye. He is always pointing out turtles and fish and other animals that I wouldn't be able to spot in a million years.

check this out

2011-04-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.trevordayleyblog.com/2011/03/29/beautiful-day/

The REAL Easter Island Statues

2011-04-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

A little corny? Agreed. But I had to post my picture of my submission to the "Garner Challenge - Peep Dioramas." Another Challenge you ask? Isn't this the third Garner Challenge in just a few months (Gingerbread houses in December and cookie decorating in February). Why yes it is... but, we are Garners! For those of you who don't know about the Easter Island statues, here's a picture for you!

Finger Lickin Good Times

2011-04-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

Fire of the Covenant

2011-03-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished an incredible book, Fire of the Covenant. I closed the book about 5 minutes ago and I am still drying my eyes. Gerald N. Lund mixed a little fiction with alot of fact and stories based on fact to allow the reader to follow a number of characters (again both ficticious and real characters) from Europe, across the ocean, by train, by handcart, through early winter storms, all the way to The Valley. The story is heart wrenching as he writes of husbands, children, mothers and friends struggling and often passing on; and then as my eyes would start to sting, I would be reminded that these are not just strangers to me, but my ancestors. Their strength and testament of faith is so powerful and inspiring to me.

Full Circle

2011-03-23T21:58:00.001-07:00

For my birthday this year (yes this post is a tad late), JJ took me to Texas de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse where they bring out different types and cuts of meat and slice you off as much as you like. To start off, the salad bar was amazing. Lots of fun things to try!! Then came the meat. First, they brought out bacon wrapped chicken, I passed on that one. Then they brought some more chicken, again I passed (I wanted me some red meat!!!). Then the words I was waiting to hear - "Flank steak"... ummm yes please. Two slices. Then some filet mignon... now we are talking!!! then came the rib eye, then some lamb. And by this point I couldn't put another bite of food in my mouth. Yeah meat!!!

As I was sitting there enjoying the food and nothing else (no football playing in the background, no place to be, just me and meat. Oh yeah and JJ was there too), I realized how similar this bounty of meat was to one of the first dates we ever went on - almost exactly three years ago.

This was us, back when we first started dating in Miami, Florida. We ate dinner at a little sidewalk restaurant in Little Havana. So much meat we had leftovers for days. Kinda crazy to look at these pictures and remember still being at that stage where I would get all giddy just having him hold my hand.

Fort Worth

2011-03-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went to dinner at Cooper's BBQ in downtown Fort Worth. While driving to Cooper's I noticed how cool downtown FW looks. Very "western" look right next to a bunch of skyscrapers.

Well, when I woke up this morning and saw how gorgeous it was outside I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out and do something!

Not until we got there, did we remember that this week is Spring Break. This led to driving around downtown for 15 minutes trying to find a parking spot (to put it mildly, NOT my favorite thing to do).

The cattle drive was pretty awesome. I have only seen Longhorn Cattle from a distance while driving past ranches. So to see them walk past only a few feet in front of me was pretty intense. Their horns really are just huge and menacing looking.

It only lasted a few minutes and JJ had to scoff that they called it a "cattle drive" when there was only 10 or 12 cattle. But not all of us grew up working on cattle ranches. No matter the irony behind visiting livestock in the middle of a major metropolis, it was super fun!

stay a while

2011-02-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome
sit and stay a while

These past two weeks have been crazy, stressful, running around like a chicken with it's head cut off kind of weeks. But my favorite parts have been the installs where we are ahead of schedule. We get to chat with the customer and not just run around installing their system. Taking the time to live life between making a living. That in my opinion is how life should be. I want to be the person that spent their life watching the sunrise and did crossword puzzles everyday and has a friend/sister/grandchild/mother/grandmother over for lunch on a daily basis; not the person that constantly worried about making "x" amount of dollars every year or having every hour of everyday scheduled with "productivity". I love being in small towns. You don't find lifestyles like this in the city.

My Name is Cupid Valentino

2011-02-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

This year, Valentine's Day was a little different than usual. No flowers, no gifts, no candlelight dinner... instead, JJ and I worked a 13 hour day followed by dinner at a gas station (literally the only place in town, open after 10). It was actually a pretty sweet Valentines Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day, every day the 14th.

Name that tune!!!

Inspiration for the Day

2011-02-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

"It's not how many seeds are in the apple; it's how many apples are in the seed."
-Elder Ballard

I want a Pony

2011-02-04T22:55:00.001-08:00

I feel like I am a little late jumping on this band-wagon.

But I am starting to have a bit of a fetish with horses.

Quite honestly, I was never one of those pony-lovin' little girls.

But I want a horse. I want a barn and a big field for it to roam around on. And maybe another horse so that it has a friend.

And this unattainable dream (at least at this point in my life) gets rubbed in my face everytime I look at The Pioneer Woman blog. She has some incredible pictures of her beautiful horses and it makes me pretty dang jealous of her.

2011-01-14T22:21:00.001-08:00

We are basically the best babysitters out there...

twenty ten

2011-01-02T23:33:00.000-08:00

How are the holidays over? How did that happen so dang quick? I blink my eyes for a second and months disappear. And I didn't even cross my arms and wriggle my nose.

But even as fast as they went, we sure did pack alot of fun times and memories in. For Christmas, we spent some time at my sister, Dacia's home in Indiana.

Lucky for me, she has 3 little girls with lots of fun toys. Barbies are so much cooler than they were when I was that age. Pink and purple hair? My dream of being just like Barbie is growing by the day.

Obviously there was lots of quality time spent with the family.

What you can't see, is the two other guys (Riley and Dad) on the other couch playing on their cell phones or i-touchs or whatever. Oh the blessings of technology.

In family tradition, much of our time was spent in competition. And that doesn't end with sweet, innocent, gingerbread house building. Rules had to be set before beginning to stop the rediculous, over the top creations that were sure to come.

Creative genius in deep thought.

The hair dryer was key to our multi-level creations. Oh no - we don't just build gingerbread houses, we build bridges...

...or The China Central Television Headquarters... yeah that incredible idea was born from JJ's genius.

Next to all the other creations, ours looks a tad boring. If I was a tiny little gingerbread person, I would walk right past our building and instead would spend some time at the magical bridge with jolly rancher cars and candy cane tunnels or in a marshmellow forest.

I would totally be a chubby little gingerbread person.

thisweekfordinner

2011-01-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Sunday - pot roast with baked potatoes
Monday - White chicken chili
Tuesday - pho soup
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - some sort of pasta with a light sauce and salmon - maybe throw in some asparagus...
Friday - chicken pot pies
Saturday - out; we need to try a new place this week!

Treats -
*pumpkin dip for gingersnaps
*chex lemon buddies

Shout out to yesterdays food!!! We decided to start our own tradition (most of our current traditions come from either his side or my side of the family). New Years day dinner from now on includes Alaska King Crab legs and steak. It was so yummy and not that much work!!

Side Note...

2010-12-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

So I forgot to mention in my previous post that someone very awesome painted that winter scene that is on my mantle...
Thanks Kariana!!!

Sweet, Sweet Holidays

2010-12-31T10:33:00.000-08:00

A major part of the holidays for me is all the yummy sweets. I love spending time in the kitchen making cookies and candy. Oh yeah - and I love eatting them too!! This year's treats included chocolate covered pretzels, sticky popcorn (JJ's favorite and quickly becoming a favorite of mine as well), rice krispy treats, peppermint balls, chocolate covered Oreos, shortbread cookies, and a few others thrown in as well.

The basket below went to my brother-in-law and his wife, who are basically the reason we are in Texas; they helped JJ land his job and helped us land the deal on our apartment. So I thought they would enjoy a "Texas snowman" (ie a melted snowman). Its a chocolate covered Oreo with lots of extra chocolate!!

I decided to make the gifts that were going to two of my nieces. I thought they turned out pretty nice. I even made one for myself (the one on the right)!

I love that this apartment has a fireplace and mantle. It's been fun to decorate through the holidays and makes our apartment look a little bit more like someone lives here. (Since we are only in places for a few months I usually never get to decorate or put things up on the walls).

I can't figure out the sizing on a few of these pics. My computer is being wierd...

We spent some time with Avri, the night before we left. She was out of town with her mommy for a week and got back the day before we left, so JJ was missing his "Avri doll".

We let her open her present.

I think she liked it!! We got her two "My little ponies" and a backpack to carry them in. She carried the purple one around for an hour, combing its hair and cuddling with it.

Next, JJ decided that I could open one of my Christmas presents early so we didn't have to haul it to Indiana and back. When he put this on my lap... I asked him what the little piece of red tissue paper was. Apparently, this counts as wrapping it in his book.

I love my ceramic dutch oven (I have been wanting one SOOO BAD!!!) and I love, love, love the color.

Oh... its so pretty!!!

I'm a little bit of a nerd

2010-12-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful date night, I tried to get a picture of us; but JJ would have none of it. I tried...

and I tried...

and I tried...

But he loves to act like a five year old. So what do ya do?

Speaking of JJ acting like a five year old, he had a good laugh at me when I got my new glasses. I was super excited to get these new glasses, especially since it has been literally like five years since I got new glasses. But when I put them on, they looked different than when I tried them on at the store. I couldn't figure out what it was, because they looked like the frames, they just looked different and not as cute as I remembered. Then, we figured out why they looked so different. It's cause I have a rediculously strong perscription so my "coke bottle" lenses distort the light a bit and make my face look smaller, and in turn make the frames look bigger on my face. I can't really deny it, I'm a bit of a nerd.

My long lost love

2010-12-14T16:03:00.000-08:00

I have a crush. I have had a crush on this guy for as long as I can remember. Like, literally, I was like 7 when this crush began. You may know him... he is kinda a big deal...

Johnson Family 2010

2010-12-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

thisweekfordinner

2010-12-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday - Cafe Rio Burritos
Monday - No Peekee stew
Tuesday - out
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - coke chicken
Friday - spaghetti
Saturday - stuffed pumpkins

The Cafe Rio burritos were an absolute success - thank you mom Johnson for the recommendation. We had the Elders over and Tanner and Anna and everybody went up for seconds and some went up for thirds, until the meat was gone (next time I need to get more than 2 lbs.) If you want to try it out go to favfamilyrecipes.com and click on Mexican on the left sidebar. I do have some suggestions though. The green sauce was a little spicier than I remember or than I like (though someone must have liked it, since it is almost gone) and in the future, I will use the mild enchilada sauce instead of the medium . Also, I love to have the cilantro ranch dressing drizzled on top of the burrito (the dressing technically goes with the Cafe Rio sweet pork salad - but tastes oh so good with the burrito). Just be ready to have a bunch of dishes to do when your done. I had three pots on the stove going and a ton of bowls with all the fixings then my blender, crock pot and spoons to go in all of them. But believe you me, the dishes are worth the burritos :)

2010-12-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

This is my Dad and his siblings and parents... thank you to my awesome cousin, Jessica, for sharing the digital copy of this. I am sure it will bring many more laughs down the road.

Party in the snow!!

2010-11-29T22:31:00.000-08:00

Last week, JJ and I spent Thanksgiving with his family in Auburn, Wyoming. It snowed and then it snowed some more. And then it snowed some more. One night while we were there we decided to go play in the snow. JJ, Aubree, Meredith and I bundled up and ran around making snow angels and enjoying the beauty.

It was 6.3 degrees - thats right 6.3!!! And that wasn't even close to the coldest that it got while we were there (I think -16 degrees ended up being the coldest it got; and its only November!) Ironically enough, when we pulled into Dallas last night, the tempeture was 63 degrees.

thisweekfordinner

2010-11-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

Monday - Marlboro Man Sandwich (Pioneer Woman)
Tuesday - Butternut Squash Soup
Wednesday - Raspberry vinagerette salad with brie and apple quesadillas
Thursday - Jerk chicken and fried plantains
Friday - leftovers
Saturday - No peek-ee stew

Desserts for the week:
*sweet potato pie
*carmel popcorn
*a second run at Magic Middle Cookies

Gratitude ABCs

2010-11-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

A - Autumn; my favorite time of year - warm clothes without freezing weather, all my favorite colors and holidays every month!!

B - Book of Mormon

C - Chocolate; can I get an amen?!?

D - Digital Cameras; Now I can take as many pictures as I want and not have to waste money on developing everything.

E - Earth; I love the rivers, the mountains, the ocean, the sand, the trees, the valleys and everything else that is a part of this incredible place.

F - Family; every single crazy member of it :)

G - Grey's Anatomy; the only show I watch every week. I can't help it, I have a crush on McSteamy.

H - Hot Chocolate; no this does not belong in the "C - Chocolate" category

I - Ireland; I haven't actually been there yet, but its my dream vacation right now.

J - Jared A Johnson!!!

K - KitchenAid mixer; especially after making cookies this afternoon without it (it is currently in storage)... my arm is still sore from all that stirring

L - Love; its really all you need.

M - Music; Can anything give you that feeling like a really good song can? I submit that it cannot.

N - National Parks

O - OSSO; orphanage support service organization - the program I went to Ecuador with.

P - Parents; my parents to be more specific. If you don't know them - you are sorely missing out.

Q - Quiet; i love the early morning after I just wake up, before JJ is up, before the TV is turned on or the phone starts ringing. I get so much done during that time.

R - Rain boots; if I could wear them everyday without looking like a lunatic, life would be good!

S - Sushi; sometimes the cravings are out of control!!!

T - Traveling

U - USA; I love my country.

V - Vases; I love vases. I buy them everywhere I go - Mexico, Europe, the planiterium...

W - Water; no soda, juice, or sports drink can compare to the way water quenches my thirst. I always have a cold bottle of it in the fridge to grab at a moments notice.

X - X-box; our all-time favorite game is Guitar Hero on X-box. We have spent many a night, up all night, rocking out.

Y - Yellow; such a happy color :)

Z - Zucchini

I'm grateful for the things I'm not so grateful for

2010-11-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

There are a few things in life that you will never see me add to my gratitude tree. For example, I just don't like the cold - no ifs, ands or buts. I try to like it, I try to be open minded, but I just can't do it. I can't do it, I say!!! But maybe these things that I am not so grateful for, lead to things that I am grateful for.

I am grateful for cold weather, because it means I get to drink hot chocolate like a maniac.

I am grateful that I got the truck stuck in the snow, on my way out to run errands this morning, because it meant I got to spend the day with JJ.

I am grateful for my rediculously horrible vision, because that means I got to buy some really cute glasses today!!

I am grateful for horrible weather, because there is almost nothing in the world that is as beautiful as freshly fallen snow.

Our Family Gratitude Tree

2010-11-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, I went to Enrichment Night and spent a fabulous evening learning about and sharing stories on gratitude. We ended the night making some paper "gratitude trees" to put in our home. The goal was to have these trees overflowing with leaves by Thanksgiving.

My sister-in-law, Anna, and I decided that we wanted to make a gratitude tree that was a little more permanent and that could be used year after year. She is an artist (yeah - like a real artist who sells her artwork) and often uses wire as her medium; so we decided to go this route for our trees. Luckily, she was there to talk me through it as I made my tree or else it would have never been finished; its harder than it looks and I wanted to give up about 6 different times. It still needs a little work, but when it got to this point, I decided it was good enough for this year.

It does look very bare though and hopefully I will have a picture next week of a very colorful tree.

Anna decided to add the heart with "Johnson" in it and I think it finished it off perfectly. I still can't believe she could do that. After fighting with that wire to make a single branch, I can't imagine making little letters with it.

Hopefully this "gratitude tree" becomes a new tradition for our little family.

Do you have a dirty mirror?

2010-11-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

In a recent e-mail between a few of my family members, the question came up as to whether anyone had a secret for a good glass cleaner.

Of course the first thing that came up was a vinegar and water mixture applied to the window or mirror and wiped off with newspaper. This was how we cleaned all the windows every spring growing up. Made your hands smell like vinegar for at least a few hours. Oh the memories!

But the best advice was to simply keep the lights off... then you won't notice that the mirror needs to be cleaned.

We Garners are genius I tell you. Genius!!!!

thisweekfordinner

2010-11-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

Sunday: over to some friends - I brought Magic Peanut Butter Middle Cookies
Monday: Marlboro Man Sandwiches (Pioneer Woman) and Sweet Rice and Mangoes for dessert
Tuesday: Roasted Salmon with Cider Apple Cream Sauce
Wednesday: out
Thursday: leftovers and pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert
Friday: stuffed zucchini
Saturday: Kitchen Sink Quesadillas

Jolly Diwali

2010-11-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Diwali. Or Deepavali. The Festival of Lights. Its a holiday that celebrates the triumph of good over evil and therefore, in my opinion, sounds like a fabulous holiday to celebrate.

I decided to try a recipe that's been on my "to cook" list for a while now. Murgh Makahani. It turned out really good. And surprise, surprise, JJ gobbled up two servings of it. He said it was the best curry he has had since his mission!!! And a shout out is in line for Sprouts, a local grocery store here in Texas. I needed 3 different spices that I don't already have... cardamom, coriander and garam masala. But instead of spending $15 on spices that I don't ever use, I went to the bulk section at Sprouts and got 2 teaspoons of each for 5 cents each!!

And in celebration of this day I feel the necesity to share with you the absolute joy that Tunac Tunac Tan has brought to me for the past few years. Trust me - learn the words and dance moves :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAN7Ts0xBo

party time

2010-11-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

I made some homemade granola.

I mixed it with vanilla yogurt.

There was a party in my mouth.

I am grateful for little lambs

2010-11-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

As I was laying in bed last night, I could not stop listing things that I am so grateful for. Quite honestly I have a very blessed life and the list was quite long. But there was one thing on that list that has been on my mind for a while now.

JJ's job moves us farely often and usually to an area far from anyone we know. Thankfully this job move, moved us next door to his brother and his family. I am loving Dallas and I know alot of that has to do with having family so close. We see them almost on a daily basis, often twice a day. Family really is the most important thing in life. And it brings me so much happiness!!!

I have decided that I am going to convince everyone in my family to settle down within an hour of each other... how wonderful would that be!!!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

thisweekfordinner

2010-10-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday - pizza, donuts and cider - Happy Halloween!!!
Monday - over to a friends for dinner
Tuesday - hash and fried eggs
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - Murgh Makhani (ie Indian Butter Chicken)
Friday - out
Saturday - deer steaks with potatoes and gravy

So, not to turn this into a journal entry, but this week's menu was fun to put together for a number of reasons.

1. Pizza and donuts on halloween has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. I love traditions!!

2. Tuesday we are going to have fried eggs which I honestly don't have enough. I became a pro egg fryer while living with my Grandma Garner. Even in her later years, she always had a good appetite and we would make large breakfasts everyday. Hashbrowns, sausage, pancakes, and always a fried egg for each of us.

And the hash will hopefully turn out good - I have never made hash - I have never even had hash - but I have seen it on menus and decided to make my own. No recipe - just throwing some things together...

3. On Thursday nights is our new favorite TV show, "Outsourced". To celebrate our awesome new show, we are having Indian Food - which can only taste better as we listen to comedy spoken with an Indian accent :)

4. My husband hunts... I went with him once and was bored out of my mind!!! So I don't go with him, but I do enjoy his bounties. He always brings home jerky and deer steaks. I love cooking his deer steaks, something about the man literally bringing home the meat for dinner.

thisweekfordinner

2010-10-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday - Bistro Chicken and garlic mashed potatoes
Monday - stuffed pasta shells
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Thursday - out for some yummy Mexican at Rosa's Tortilla Factory
Friday - Cob Salad
Saturday - Pizza, donuts and apple cider... its tradition!!!

I'm pretty much hard core

2010-10-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

Soon I will be back to posting pictures on my blog, but at the moment we are still waiting for our internet to get hooked up so these posts are coming from other computers that don't have my pictures.

Anyway, back to why I am hard core! Last week, JJ and I took a class called Urban Escape and Evasion. We know the guy that teaches the class and when JJ heard he was coming to Dallas to teach one of his classes, he jumped at the opportunity to attend. From what I had heard, it was for people in the military or in the government (which is the majority of the students) and teaches them things like how to disguise themselves when they are in other countries or how to escape if they are ever kidnapped or are a POW. I figured JJ would love it, but that it wouldn't really be for me, so JJ went alone on day 1.
When he got home that night, he showed me some of the things he had learned like... how to pick a lock!! Yeah thats right - pick a dead bolt, pick a pad lock, whatever. And now (after a little practice) I can pick most locks in under a minute.

On Day 2, I wouldn't let JJ go without me. And what an awesome experience!!! I was handcuffed, ducktaped, thrown into trunks all so that I could learn how to escape from these situations. Being the only girl in the class, I was a little embarrased to try some of these escapes as I was sure that I wouldn't be able to do it. But, luck have it, because I'm a girl made some of the escapes easier. I guess being skinny and small and having no big arm or shoulder muscles to get in the way is a big advantage!!

Though, the class is definitely geared towards Marines and CIA agents and the such, I couldn't believe some of the invaluable things I learned at the class. And I would definitely recommend it to anyone. If you watch the Discovery Channel you may have seen the guy that teaches the class, Kevin Reeve, as they have used him as a survival expert in the past. Check the website out here

thisweekfordinner

2010-10-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

this past week I made spaghetti noodles topped with roasted butternut squash and garlic. It turned out yummy, but it seriously took me like a half an hour to peel the butternut squash. My vegetable peeler is pretty weak and couldnt handle the task at hand so I ended up just peeling it with a knife. With the skin being so tough, it was very time consuming. Anyone have any tricks up there sleeve about peeling those darn things?

Now to the menu...
Sunday - dutch oven pot roast
Monday - out for some sushi
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - stuffed pasta shells
Thursday - chicken noodle soup
Friday - lemon pepper salmon and rice
Saturday - leftovers

One Sweet Year

2010-10-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it. JJ and I have been married for a year! Sunday was our anniversary and I just kept thinking how lucky I am to have JJ as my husband. Not only is he such a good person and a hard worker and shows his love for me over and over again, but... I mean look at him - he is rediculously good looking!!! I thought I would list a few memorable experiences from our time together; if for no other reason than to come back in the future and have a good laugh :)

* JJ and I met in Phoenix four years ago, but I was dating someone else, so we were only co-workers/friends for the time being. But his work ethic stuck with me (probably since I would have gone crazy without him in that office - he was my go to guy when everyone else couldn't get the job done.) Well, and to be honest his good looks weren't easily forgotten either.

* At the end of that year, I met up with him at a company party. At this point I was no longer dating anyone and realized that this guy was a catch and I better not let him get away. We spoke of going out sometime, but he was living in Wyoming and I was living in Idaho... so it was wishful thinking really. Later, he told me his sister-in-law had come up to him later and asked who that girl was... cause "she obviously wants you."

* A month later, work brought him to Rexburg, where I was going to school, so we went on our first date. It was love at first sight!!! I'm speaking of his Chevy Silverado that he picked me up in. :) We went out to AppleBees and was stopped by more than one of my friends to inquire who this guy was that they had never seen before.

* A month or so later we ended up in the same office for work again. This time in Miami. JJ is adamant that I cohersed my way into going to that office once I found out he was going there, but I mean honestly - it was Miami - I don't know which one intrigued me more. Anyway, it was all down hill from there. We started dating and continued for another two years as we were both moved around from coast to coast. However, we never ended up in the same office again and became professional long distance daters.

* Which brings us to a year ago. JJ popped the question under a tree (well, technically inside a tree) at the Redwood National Forest and we were married on October 10th, 2009. The night of our wedding we headed to a hotel. Both of our tummies were grumbling, so we went thru the Wendy's drive-thru. Him in his suit and me in my wedding dress. At our hotel I scarfed down my salad, trying not to get anything on my dress. Finally, we stopped and took a deep breath. This was the beginning of our life together.

* Our first year of marriage was definitely not perfect and we did fight. One night in anger (I may regret releasing this secret later), I threw my hair straightener in JJ's direction. Luckily, it didn't even touch him, but it did hit the floor and break in half. I couldn't bring myself to buy another one for 6 months, because of my guilt. It became our joke if either one of us were getting angry for something rediculous.

* But the most memorable times were the good times. The days when JJ is unwaiveringly patient with my crazy antics. The nights when we are cuddling, watching a movie and I realize how perfectly we fit together. The days when he brought lunch to me at work, when I would call him and simply say, "I need you. I need food. Now." How often we can finish each other's sentences. The days and evenings spent with family.

I am so grateful for my husband and look forward to many more years of spending my life with him.

I LOVE YOU JJ!!!

2010-09-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Girls Weekend - Day Two

2010-09-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Day two was spent in Logan. We drove through a bit of Logan Canyon. I love driving through that canyon during anytime of year, but this time of year was perfect. So many colors!!

Plus, we found this nice little "lake" were some people were fishing. It was so quiet and beautiful.

We also spent some time at the USU campus. Ice cream followed by the anthropology museum.

Kariana's favorite temple is the Logan Temple, so of course we had to stop by and walk around the grounds. The flowers smelled so incredible that at first I thought it must of been one of the other present people's perfume.

We ended the day with dinner at Gia's Italian Restaurant. We were both very surprised at how beautiful the inside was; you would have never guessed looking at the outside. We shared an appetizer of bruschetta and an entree of cheese and spinach ravioli. My favorite part was dessert (big surprise there) of Turtle Chocolate Molten Cake. I was under the impression that you couldn't improve on Molten Cake - but I was definitely mistaken, the carmel was so good with it!!

Girls Weekend - Day One

2010-09-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

Kariana and I had another awesome weekend. This time, we hung out in Salt Lake City and Logan. The night I got there, we tried the "Blue Plate Diner" which was featured on "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives" on the Food Network. Kariana got the BLT with avocado, which had literally an inch of bacon on it. And I ordered the chile verde burrito. Both were delicious and both of us walked away with bellies too full for dessert (and that doesn't happen very often.)

We stayed at the duck club and Kariana was in love with the duck hat (and the duck phone and the duck wallpaper and the duck toothbrush holder... :)

The next morning we headed to Rich's Bagels for breakfast. I love cinnamon sugar bagels!!!

Next stop was Big Cottonwood Canyon. The drive was incredible and the two hikes we did had one amazing view after another.

Then, we were off to Memorial Park. This place is my new favorite place in Salt Lake City. It is so beautiful and so fun and smack dab in the middle of the city. I didn't even know it was here until a few weeks ago.

For dinner, we tried "Market Street Grill" which was somewhere I have wanted to try for a while. Kariana ordered the Crab stuffed Ravioli. Ummm.... YUMMY!!

I went with the "Dine O-Round" special. A three course meal for $30? Sounds like a plan to me. The main course was stuffed Halibut. I didn't take a picture, because it didn't look all that awesome, but after one bite I was sold! I scarfed that down and then got the creme brulee for dessert!!

And how cool is the building it is in? You know its gonna rock when the exterior is bright green.

Kariana is officially a goof. This is a bike rack... but whats even funnier than this picture of her "riding" the bike rack, was watching her try to get on and off this thing.

We ended the day at the State Fair. This poor little guy, Im sure, was absolutely sick of all these state fair goers petting him; but he was so dang cute, I couldn't help myself.

We decided to get a Caricature of the two of us. I have never done that before and it was very odd sitting there smiling. The end result turned out great - we looked almost exactly the same :)

I finally got to try a deep fried candybar (not that great... dang it) and of course Kariana got some cotton candy.

Colorado

2010-09-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

Last week, JJ and I went to Colorado to help his Grandma move from Steamboat Springs, CO to Star Valley, WY. We spent a fabulous weekend in Utah with my parents, who were in town for my new nephew Cash's baby blessing. Then on Tuesday, we headed east to Colorado.

We stopped by Dinosaur National Monument, outside of Vernal, UT. Unfortunately, the canyon with dinosaur bones is closed for construction, but we got to see some petroglyphs.

And the rest of the park was incredibly beautiful.

The next day we decided to explore Steamboat Springs a little.

We started off with a hike up Mad Creek.

Then, we headed over to Fish Creek Falls.

How romantic!!

Off-Roading in Star Valley

2010-09-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

Candymaking with Grandma - Almond Crunch

2010-09-14T15:53:00.002-07:00

I didn't waste any time when it came to learning some candy making tricks from JJ's Mother's Mother... I have to be specific because both of his Grandma's names are Helen Johnson. We just barely moved her and all her stuff from Colorado to JJ's parents' house a few days ago and she isn't even unpacked yet; but in my opinion - candymaking trumps anything else on a to-do list. I took lots of pictures and made lots of notes, so I decided to pull a "Pioneer Woman" and show you the step by step process.
Today we made some almond crunch. She said it was one of her easier recipes, so we could ease into the more difficult ones. She started off by using some wax paper to butter both the pan we would later pour the crunch onto, as well as the pot we were mixing and melting the ingredients into.

Then she added a 1/2 cup of butter and turned the stove to medium.

Once the butter is melted, add 1/4 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar and mix well.

Cover with lid until at a boil. Remove lid and stir fairly slowly - remembering to stir edges so they don't burn. Add 1/4 cup of almonds and continue stirring.

The mixture will begin to brown, but continue to stir and watch to make sure it doesn't burn. Once the sugar begins to carmelize (the mixture will turn a brown and you can smell the carmelization), test to see if it is done by dipping a spoon into the mixture and then into a glass of ice water; the water has to be very cold for this to work. If the mixture immediatley hardens, then it is good to go.

Pour the mixture into the previously, lightly buttered cookie sheet and let cool in the fridge. Once it is set (it will be very hard to the touch), wipe the top with a paper towel to remove any butter. This will help the chocolate stick to the toffee.

Grandma Johnson uses really good chocolate and buys it by 5 and 10 pound blocks. Cut up some fairly large pieces and place them in a glass bowl. Turn the oven on to 200 degrees for a few minutes and then turn it off. Set the bowl in the oven, to allow the chocolate to melt from the residual heat. Pull it out and the chocolate will still be in it's original chunks, but you can see that it is softer. Give it a stir and pour over the toffee. Spread it out fairly thin.

Finely chop some walnuts and sprinkle over the top of the chocolate. Then, with some wax paper or just your hand, press down so the walnuts stick to the chocolate and don't just fall off when you are eatting it.

Stick it back into the fridge and after a half hour or so, pull it out and break it into pieces. It breaks pretty easily, if you can get your hand underneath the Almond Cruch and lift. The batch we made today turned out super good. I stole a few bites during the process and was worried that it would be sticky and chewy and stick to your teeth (which I hate), but once it was all finished, it was perfect. It crumbled and didn't stick, but did have a sense of melting in your mouth. Super yummy and relatively easy. Pretty quick too!!!

Me vs. 100,000 pounds of beef

2010-09-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

JJ's grandpa owns a cattle ranch that we sometimes help with. Ok - so maybe JJ helps and I just stand around staring like a tourist. But honestly thats how I like it. Though everyone tells me these cattle are more scared of me than I am of them; I feel like that doesn't mean much when I weigh one tenth the weight of ONE of them. And there are ONE HUNDRED of them. Im sure if they sneezed they could knock me over.
Today, JJ had to go help round up one of the smaller ones that was sick so they could doctor it back to health at the barn. Grandpa asked if I would stay at the gate so that none of the cattle would wonder out while they were rounding up the sick one. This seemed easy enough - they said all I had to do was stand there. But, as soon as they drove off in their four-wheelers, the herd started walking towards me. Wait, rewind - I don't remember them mentioning that I had to fight off the cattle from coming out of the gate, and it was too late to close it, since the one half is broken and there is no way I would be able to close it myself.
As they got closer to me, they slowed down until there was a giant semi-circle of cows just staring at me. Of course, this is the one day I don't bring my camera with me to the ranch; so I cannot share with you how incredibly scary that was. I was just ready for one of them to say "We can take her - lets go!!!" (of course this would be in moo language, so I wouldn't understand it and would have no time to get a running start).
The crew finally returned with the sick cow in tow, who of course had been at the furthest corner of the ranch. And being my helpful little self, ran out to block the sick cow from running past the gate. With the four-wheelers coming in the opposite direction of the side of the gate I was on, the rest of the herd started stampeeding towards me. Luckily, that was the end of the excitement. They ran right past me and I jumped on the back of JJ's four-wheeler and we were off to the barn.
Its the crazy experiences like this that make me wonder why I love this place more and more with each passing day.

Maybe its because of the yummy hamburgers we had for dinner...

a wonderful weekend with Kariana (aka Kare Bear) (aka Kare Bum)

2010-09-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

We started off the weekend with 2 receptions. First one for Levi; our sister-in-laws brother. The second was for Brenan; an old friend from North Carolina. Both were fun, but the best part was dressing up for the first time (besides church) in as long as I can remember.

Saturday night we hopped over to Bridal Veil Falls. It is so pretty and it is so easy to get there.
I think Kariana looks like a model in the picture.

I absolutely love Provo Canyon. Luckily it is on the route from Star Valley to Provo.

We also hiked "Y mountain", though I will not go into how many times I forced Kariana to stop so I could catch my breath. My excuses were always "because of the altitude" or "I want to enjoy the view" or any other number of reasons... never because I am out of shape...

If only I had a nickel for every rediculous picture I have of Kariana...

It was definitely worth the hike. Such a pretty view from up there.

Do you remember?

2010-09-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

I do.

It was freshman year and my family was living in Long Valley, New Jersey; about an hour outside New York City. It was the beginning of the school year and I was in a computer room getting some student info things filled out, but when the bell rang to go to our next class, the teacher asked us to stay in our seats. We had no idea what was going on for almost an hour and then finally someone came in and told us that a plane had crashed into each of the World Trade Center buildings. We were realeased to go to our next classes and I just remember lines of students at the pay phones trying to call their parents and a few crying.

Luckily, I didn't know anyone that worked in the buildings and no one I knew that worked in NY was hurt; though the lack of communication and closing down of bridges and tunnels gave us a scare for a few of them.

I am grateful for the safety of those that were unharmed. But I cannot even begin to understand the sorrow that so many others felt and continue to feel.

When I think about September 11th, I try to suppress the feelings of anger towards those that attacked this city and this country that I love so much.

Rather I remember those that ran into the chaos while others were running out.

Those that showed everyone else what this country is made of.

Those that made the ultimate sacrifice to save another.

Those people that are patriots.

And in my mind that is what this day is all about.

a few summer pics

2010-09-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Why is it that I have zero pictures of JJ's brother, his sister-in-law or me for that matter? Just pictures of our niece... with a few thrown in of my rediculously good looking husband.

My Sister's Keeper

2010-08-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

I just finished a fabulous book by Jodi Picoult entitled "My Sister's Keeper". I love when I'm reading a book that makes me want to pick it up any free time I have. Even if I only have a few minutes, I have to run and get the book and read the next few pages. Great writing, great character development and a story line that surprises you again and again. Now I am going to go rent the movie; even if I know in advance I am probably going to cry through the whole thing.

on the road again...

2010-08-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was our last day in San Antonio, TX. We packed our car to the brim and settled in for a nice 25 hour long road trip (luckily we did stop a few times to see family on the way).

I don't know what we would do without our Garmin... Yes, that is a little truck driving on the screen. It was definitly not JJs first choice to bring the car down, but with my car getting twice the gas mileage of his truck, he didn't really have a choice. The first thing he did when we got back to Wyoming was run out and check out his truck.

On our way out of town we made a quick stop in Austin to try what many consider the best bbq in Texas. Its called The Salt Lick and in our books actually was the best bbq we had in TX.

JJ ordered the ribs and brisket plate.

I got the brisket sandwich.

And both of us were so busy devouring our meals that we didn't even notice until the end that both of our faces were covered in the sauce.

***Stop judging me on the non existant makeup or messy hair or overall lack of cuteness. I spent the day cleaning and packing!! OK!!! Geesh!!!***

grossness

2010-08-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

We were looking at our mileage tonight and realized we have driven 10,000 miles in the past two months. That averages at about 200 miles every working day. Gross!!!! And now we are off to drive from San Antonio to Wyoming.
My poor car :(

"makes the heart too big for the body"

2010-08-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

I love music.

I love to listen to music.

I love the way music makes me feel.

And when a song is really good I love to lay down and just listen... On my bed, on the couch, slide the seat back and lay in the car, even lay right down on the ground

I love country music.

I love rock (especially when my husband is rocking out with his professional air guitar skills).

I love rap.

I love gospel.

I know - its ALOT of LOVE

Today I found one of those songs -

You know one of those incredible, mind blowing songs.

I am now listening to it for the fourth time... in a row.

And it is just making me so happy!!!

I have this crazy reaction when I am really happy.

It happens when I am planning a really incredible trip

when I am listening to a really incredible song

My breath stops.

I literally catch my breath and this feeling inside me is so overwhelming, this emotion in my heart is so huge that as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, it "makes the heart too big for the body."

In the past Incubus, U2, Coldplay and many others have had this effect on me.

Today, its John Butler Trio.

Check out their song "Ocean" and though you may have the inclination, like me, to lay on the ground while you listen - watch the video!!! John Butler is beyond talented.

wait... what?

2010-08-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

I have been using Photobucket for weeks and just realized it edits photos...

Saweet Cupcakes

2010-08-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

In all honesty, I am not a follower of the cupcake craze that has hit the nation recently, but when I heard about this "mobile cupcakery" I decided I had to try it out. The two owners of "Saweet Cupcakes" take their van to different places, in San Antonio, everyday to sell cupcakes. Luckily, recently the spot they chose was across the street. I stopped by and got two cupcakes, the one below is vanilla and the other (well, that one didn't last long enough for a picture - actually, didn't even make it to the car) was coconut. Loved the coconut!! The vanilla was just good.

this week for dinner

2010-08-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

The menus are getting more and more boring as I am now basing them solely on what we have in the pantry, so we can use everything up before we move in two weeks...

Sunday - stir fry with rice noodles
Monday - stroganoff
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - tacos
Thursday - chimichangas
Friday - leftovers
Saturday - out

Dear Europe,

2010-07-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

I freaking miss you.
With love,
Shantel

And how could I not? As I have been putting together my photo album of my backpacking trip through Europe I can't believe some of the memories that have been pouring out of these pictures.

The cities are literally magical

The buildings are incredible

And maybe some of them a little odd

Nature is breathtaking (this is a view of the famous volcano Vesuvius)

You meet fun people everywhere you go (these three were our table mates at Hofbrahaus in Munich, Germany)

You can literally carry everything you need on your back

Art is embraced (this is hands down my favorite work of art I saw at the Louvre in Paris - it's entitled "Psyche and Cupid")

History is around every corner (If you can't tell, this is the Colleseum in Rome)

Lemon crepes - 'nuff said

You see things you thought you would never see (Yes - this is an ogre actually eatting children; its a statue in Bern, Switzerland)

People do what they love; not necessarily what brings in the most cash (in my opinion - this is the key to a succesful life)

You can explore real life castles (this one is the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany - the Disney Land castle was based off this design)

Ok -this one deserves a story. Being funny, Brody and I joked with my mother about how if you rubbed the big toe of Peter Pan (in Hyde Park in London) you would never grow up. But I guess people around us thought this was a great idea, because as we were walking away we noticed people taking pictures of themselves rubbing Peter's big toe and telling each other to "rub the big toe, so you'll never grow up!!"

Thankfully, they have the Trevi Fountain in Rome, where you can throw in a coin and it guarantees your safe return to Rome again.

this week for dinner

2010-07-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday - spaghetti
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - egg mcmuffins
Wednesday - skillet fajitas
Thursday - chimichangas
Friday - leftovers
Saturday - out

Last week I threw together a couple things we had in the fridge to make egg mcmuffins. I wasn't thrilled with the result and JJ even mentioned that he doesn't like egg mcmuffins, but it was late and I needed something quick. Funny enough, JJ has been asking for them since that day, because he liked them so much. I have to admit that there is not much that can make me happier than when my husband requests something I have made in the past!!!

Mission Trail National Park

2010-07-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

After seeing the almighty Alamo a few months ago, I decided we needed to see some of the other lowly San Antonio missions - after all there is a National Park dedicated to them. Much to my surprise, the San Jose Mission that we visited was amazing. In my opinion, more of a must see than the Alamo (though Texas pride may defend the necessity of visiting the Alamo). It was huge! It was beautiful! And it was very interesting to walk around and really see what a mission would look like. The wall/building that surrounded the mission was actually lots of little rooms where the Indians would live. Then of course was the huge Church and convent at the one end of the mission and quite a large empty field area in the middle.

I'm seeing double...

2010-07-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

They're twins!! I just had to quickly shout out about the new awesome format for the New Era issue following General Conference. I just recently finished up reading the Ensign for November 2009 and low and behold the New Era for November 2009 had the same picture on the cover. The first half of the issue is totally dedicated to General Conference. It is a shortened version of a few of the talks and then some great quotes from the other talks and how they can be answers for today's youth. It is genius in my opinion. Great for a nice review for people that have already read the Ensign or great for those who will never get around to reading the General Conference Ensign issues.

I loved these two quotes that stood out to me both while reading the Ensign and the New Era.

"An incredulous female friend asked a young adult woman, committed to living the law of chastity, how it was possible that she had never "slept with anybody". "Don't you want to?" the friend asked. The young woman though: "The questions intrigued me, because it was so utterly beside the point... Mere wanting is hardly a proper guide for moral conducts."
~Elder D. Todd Christofferson

"For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history - perhaps like no other book in any religious history., And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died - from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, "No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so."
~Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

this week for dinner

2010-07-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday – steak
Monday – bagel sandwiches
Tuesday – breakfast for dinner
Wednesday – leftovers
Thursday – spaghetti
Friday – sausage sandwiches
Saturday – skillet fajitas (didn't get to this one last week)

I am trying to decide what kind of bagel sandwiches though... either the kind I grew up eatting with turkey, sprouts, cranberries, etc. or maybe a version of my favorite bagel sandwich at Uptown Rexburg Bagel (of Rexburg, ID) with chive cream cheese, chicken, the fixings and honey mustard sauce... hmmmm decisions, decisions.

El Mercado

2010-07-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we hit up Market Sqaure in San Antonio. If I remember correctly, it is the largest Mexican market north of the border. As soon as we walked into the square, it felt like we were in Mexico. Lots of Mexican crafts and restaurants and little tables set up with jewelry and such. They even had performers, in traditional Mexican clothing, singing and dancing. It was very lively and fun and JJ and I enjoyed roaming for a bit. We found some mounted Texas longhorn horns that we wanted really bad... but how to get them in the car??? These are the times we really really miss JJ's truck.
I also had to hit up Mi Tierra, a 24 hour bakery/restaurant that is pretty much synonymous with Market Square. I got a cream cheese pastry and a empanada de guaya - oh how I love guava!!

Don't these shutters look so awesome! I wanted to buy two and refinish them, but we will have zero room in the car once we get all out stuff packed in there at the end of the summer. :(

thisweekfordinner.com

2010-07-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

For the past while, I have been a follower of thisweekfordinner.com. It is a blog where women come together and share menus for the week and the creator of the blog adds posts about her favorite kitchen tools, blogging life, etc. I often add my week's menu and thought I would share it here today :)

Sunday - New York Style Chili with Chorizo
Monday - Pasta Salad and corn on the cob
Tuesday - Creole rice and sausage and corn on the cob
Wednesday - Chimichanga
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - skillet fajitas
Saturday - out

Awesome deals on sausage this week at HEB -which is why we are having it twice. And AWESOME deal on corn on the cob this week at WalMart (3 cents/cob) which is why we have already had it three times this week and have it planned at least twice for next week.

Focus... focus... focus

2010-07-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

I was happily blogging around this morning and happened upon a great little blog that had a post listing her goals for the week in specific categories (mother, health, athlete, etc.) and I can't stop thinking about what goals I would pick. I am overwhelmed with all the possibilities and can't narrow it down to just a few, but I need to focus on specific areas where I have room for improvement, so I can be a "well rounded individual". In the past I have had goal lists for everything in life - I had a list for the spring, summer, fall and winter of each year, a list for each year as a whole, a list for while I was single, a list for while I was engaged, a list for volunteer opportunities, a travel list for each state and country I lived in, and the list goes on and on (HAHA - I just made a list of lists). But recently my laptop died and I don't feel the need to buy another, when I can just use my husbands, so my organization for these lists has gone kaputz. I feel the need for a rebirth of goal setting - no more 100 item lists of things to do - I am going to focus. Focus on the important, focus on the things that I can honestly accomplish, focus on my mental, physical and spiritual growth. So here goes...

Health: Eat out only once this week. After going over last months budget and spending twice what we usually spend on food and considering the health issues with eatting out that much, I am back to cooking dinner (which in all honesty I have really missed doing). I just need to remind myself every night of the benefits of eatting at home, even when its 11:00pm and we just got home from work and I have zero desire to cook...

Wife: Some personal time. We spend alot of time together - all of our time together. I think if I can get some personal time for me - that means personal time for him. And thats something we both need.

Traveler: Finish Europe Backpacking Photo Album. The best part of travel is the memories you take with you. I need some reminders of my backpacking trip.

Home: Clean the light fixtures. I keep putting this off because we are in an apartment that we are moving out of in the next two months and I keep telling myself its not worth it. But it will be worth it! It bugs me almost on a daily basis, so why not do it?

Mental: Work on children's story book. Randomly about 6 months ago, I started jotting down ideas and then parts of a story for a children's book, but then it got forgotten. Once I am done - its off to Kariana to do some illustrations!

Spiritual: Prayer and Scripture Study. Seems simple, kinda the golden rules of spiritual growth. I've got room for growth.

Personal: Be proud of others' accomplishments. Lately, my competativeness has exploded. For work, there is a website that compares the top technicians throughout the company by installs. And I have spent way too much time looking at that thing lately. As soon as I see that another tech did more installs than us in a day, I start complaining. "We deserve the installs - we are the most experienced." "Why can't they give us all the installs - we could handle it!" (Its true, I say these things. Its embarassing.) But this morning I realized that we have been blessed this summer. We have done more installs this summer than anyone else in the office - shouldn't that be enough!!! Why can't the other guys have a great day? They deserve it. Just as much as we do.

Tips

2010-07-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

This was our tip from one of our installs yesterday. It was pretty funny walking out of this customer's house with tools, installing equipment and two bags of grocerys!

4th of July

2010-07-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend up in Dallas celebrating our Fourth of July. The holidays are long working days for us in the summer, so it has been years since either one of us celebrated this great day. Thankfully, the 4th landed on a Sunday, so we were able to spend time with family and watch fireworks (something we both have missed the past couple years).

Avri loved the water and had Uncle JJ help her down the slide over and over again. Even though she never went under the water, she would tightly close her eyes when she was getting close to the bottom of the slide.

And lots of smiles all day long, showing off her fairly new teeth.

The guys played "Corn Hole" quite a few times and loved the game. We are excited to make our own sometime soon.

Avri and I cheered on our boys - luckily they were on the same team :)

For the first time since I was little, we had a ton of fireworks. Sparklers, fire crackers, smoke bombs, everything. The area we were at was super festive. Everyone in the neighborhood had fireworks and there were at least four professional shows going on close enough that we could see them too!!!

Test

2010-06-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get my pictures bigger on blogger without making them blurry... I think I have it figured out, except I am having troubles resizing my pictures before I upload them to the web.... any help?

Tejas

2010-06-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend with JJ's brother, Tanner and his wife, Anna, and baby, Avri. They live in Dallas and drove down to spend a few days with us in San Antonio. They arrived Friday night at about 10pm and even though it was late and she had already fallen asleep, Avri was a champ and woke up and played with us for a few hours.
Saturday, JJ and I had to work but were able to get off early and so we headed to the Tejas Rodeo. It has been so long since I have been to a rodeo!! So many cute cowboys! Then, Sunday we headed to the Riverwalk.

Too much?

2010-06-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

Have you ever spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, week after week with the same person and for the majority of the time JUST with this one person? Sometimes I just want to... scream!

However... I could not ask for more. I spend everyday, all day with my husband. We eat every meal together, work all day, everyday together, and spend every free moment in the same room. Sometimes, I just get busy and take it for granted, but then moments happen when I just have to stop, take a step back, and marvel as I watch my husband live his life. He is incredible, he figures anything and everything out, long after I have already given up. He works so hard, but doesn't live to work. I just love him so much that my heart feels too big for my body (thank you Emerson for that one) I am so grateful for this time in our lives when this is possible, because I know it won't always be like this. For now, I am just soaking it up.

Nomad at Heart

2010-06-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

The name of this book caught my attention a while back, because my mother has recently begun to call me a nomad, and the bond between this book and I, or rather Rita and I (yes we are on a first name basis - well, at least I pretend we are) has grown ever since. Rita tells about her travels to... you name it, she went there, and the people she encountered. I loved that her stories were not only about what she saw and how she changed because of her experiences, but about the people. She loved the people of the places she visited and it is obvious in her writing.

But what really sealed the deal that Rita and I were destined to be friends, was when I hopped on her website after reading the book and read about her organization called Let's Get Global. She is trying to introduce the idea of a Gap Year in the US. The plan is that students, usually after their senior year and before their first year of college, take a year off and "cross borders". I was so excited when I was reading about this, as I am already 100% sold on the idea. My sophomore year of college, I wrote a paper on how I thought it should be mandatory for college students to spend at least one semester abroad, specifically to volunteer. The experience would open their eyes to possibility and prepare them for the future. There are so many benefits to this idea, I cannot even begin to list them. I hope to be a part of helping this movement to grow into a common practice.

San Antonio

2010-05-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

So we have been in San Antonio for about a month now. Here is my review of this city.

*This is a beatiful city. There is so much more green here than I thought there was going to be. I especially love going just outside the city and seeing all the Longhorn cattle ranches and fields of wild flowers.

*We love Texas steaks. It is hard to beat steaks served at JJ's parents' house (home grown and butchered beef is the best) but we have tried a few local steak houses and they get the thumbs up. Especially Texas Land and Cattle (we tried this steak house when we visited the Riverwalk). Both of our steaks had to be some of the best steaks we have ever had in a restaurant.

*We may get thrown out of Texas for saying this, but we are not huge fans of Texas BBQ. Though the brisket gets some big points, we would take Carolina pulled pork with Danny's restaurant's bbq sauce anyday over any Texas turkey, pork, chicken, or sausage.

*I have become a huge fan of Sonic's Route 44 Cherry Limeades; especially in the middle of a hot afternoon. For some reason Sonic is in every town in Texas. Even if you can't find a McDonalds or Subway, there is always a Sonic.
Two weeks ago, we spent the afternoon in downtown San Antonio. We even felt some of that Texas pride as we read about and visited the Alamo. And the Riverwalk is a very fun spot to walk around. We strolled around in the shade of the trees and tried not to fall in the water (no railings + skinny sidewalks + lots of people = Shantel being very nervous...).

And though this story may not be as funny to everyone else, I have to share it. Before we came out here this summer, JJ mentioned on multiple occasions that I would have to be the one to crawl around in attics if we had to run wire for any of the jobs we do this summer. Well last week, we were in a customer's house who already had a security system, so we were just switching the equipment. We asked the customer where the transformer was that was powering the system. She said she wasn't sure, but she new that whoever originally installed it had gone up in the attic. Immediately, JJ's eyes lit up as he looked at me and smiled, well more like smirked at me. We only had a small step ladder with us, so JJ and I performed a cheer stunt as he threw me into the attic. My job was to find the transformer, which we were assuming was plugged in somewhere in the attic, and swap it out with our new one. It was dark and hot, like REALLY hot, and I couldn't see the wires anyway because all of the insulation - oh yeah and it was only about 2 feet high, so I am walking around this attic stooped over having no idea what I am doing. After about 10 minutes of walking back and forth, trying to fish wire out of the insulation and try to track where it was going, JJ yells up that the transformer is actually plugged in the kitchen, the wire had just been run up into the attic and then back down to the kitchen. Now for my favorite part (super thick sarcasm with that statement). I look down and realize I have no idea how I am going to get down. JJ says I should just jump, but there is no way I am doing that. So I slowly start lowering myself down, thinking - I'll figure it out as we go. BAD IDEA!!! So I am now hanging down from this customer's ceiling, too far down to pull myself back up, but still too far up to be able to fall gracefully. Angrily, whisper yelling at JJ to help me before I kick a hole in this person's wall as my arms are starting to shake and sweat is dripping down my nose, JJ (laughing through this whole thing, mind you) walks over and grabs my shins and says that he's got me. MY SHINS!!! What is he going to do with that? All thats going to do is make me fall face first. I'm trying to be mature and tell him that he needs to support the bottom of my foot, but he is laughing so hard at this point, that even if he did hear me, he wouldn't be sturdy enough to support me. Finally I use him as a sort of ladder and get my arms to a point where I can jump without breaking any bones. No more attics for me!!!

I have the bug...

2010-05-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

The travel bug that is.
I have it and it won't go away.
It may not be curable...
And it's getting worse.

It's taking over my life
And that antsy feeling has been getting worse.
JJ tried consoling me that we had just visited downtown San Antonio last week.
No. I'm thinking bigger, much bigger.
I just want to go!!!!!
But where? and when?
I have trips planned for Africa in 2013 and Antartica in 2017, to finish off visiting all the continents; but I feel like I need a big, bad USA trip and I need it now.
I just need to know where. Where would you go?
Anywhere in the continental US...

This picture rocks my world

2010-05-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Antelope Canyon

2010-05-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Antelope Canyon was so much fun and absolutely gorgeous!!!! We had a fun Native guy lead us through the canyon. Below is the beginning of what is called a slot canyon. You climb down and end up in a canyon about 2 feet wide with rays of sunlight peaking through. ***Notice my shirt, I finally got around to restyling it. It used to be too big and would fall off the shoulders, so I added a button to the back so the front and back now have a triangle cut neckline. I am so happy with how it turned out!!!***
The slot canyon was very meandering and about half the time you can't see the person in front of or behind you. It was very peaceful and beautiful.

This was the most perfect way to end our amazing weekend road trip.

Wonders of the World

2010-04-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Kariana had a few days off of work so we decided we needed a ROAD TRIP! Plans changed daily for a month and even during the trip we made major changes - but all for the best, because the trip was awesome.

We finally decided to hit up the Grand Canyon, which was amazing. How I have gone this long in my life without visiting it, when I was only a few hours away, is beyond me.

And below is a dinosaur footprint - pretty dang cool. While driving back north to Page, AZ (only later to backtrack down south again after we changed our mind on what to do next) we saw these homemade signs pointing to "Dinosaur Footprints". We got there and this sweet Native lady walked around and showed us the different footprints and even some bone fossils. While driving north on highway 89, JJ had a sudden realization that the "Meteor Crater" was in Arizona. We all immediately agreed that we must go, so we turned the car around and headed to Flagstaff for the night. The next day we hit up our second Natural Wonder of the World of the weekend. At the bottom of the crater, you could fit 20 full size football fields. You have to see it to truly believe it.

Next stop was Antelope Canyon, but as that was not only the best part of the trip, but one of my favorite things I have ever done, it will take a post for itself. More to come...