The Grand Canyon

I've never been to the Grand Canyon (at least not since I was a baby). So when Patrick's parents asked us if we wanted to go, we were pretty excited. The drive was long but so peaceful. We stopped at the cutest little cafe called "The Three Bears."

When the scenery started changing into brilliant oranges, I was in awe. I couldn't stop staring at the magnificence that surrounded me on all sides. The scenery was so altogether different than what I am accustomed to...and soooo beautiful.

Looking over into the depths of the Grand Canyon literally took my breath away. I have never seen anything in nature so utterly fascinating.

And hiking it? Now that was an experience. We woke up at 3:30 in the morning, started the hike at 6:30, hiked over 7 miles down the South Kaibab trail, ate lunch (at 9:30) at Phantom Ranch (walked a couple miles down there) and then hiked back up the Bright Angel trail (nearly 10 miles more). Patrick and I completed the hike at 2:30 pm. There were so many lessons I learned. It was simply amazing. I will be finishing up a post for my other blog (writinginthestillness.com) that you can read about the lesson I learned while hiking this trail. It was amazing. And I can't believe I did it.

Also, as a side note, we visited the historic Route 66 twice during the trip to eat at little restaurants. So I guess I can finally say, I got my kicks--on Route 66!!

All in all, it was a trip to remember. I just loved spending time with Patrick. He will forever be my very best friend and I relish any time we get to spend together alone. Thank you Mom and Dad for such an amazing trip!!!

8 Years and Counting...

I'm having a hard time believing that 8 years ago I married the love of my life, my sweetheart, my knight in shining armor. It really was the perfect day. Sunshine and blue skies. We couldn't have asked for better weather. I'll never forget, for as long as I live, looking across the altar, into his deep blue eyes and feeling the reality of the whole thing. I had finally found my best friend. And I was his, for forever. It was indescribable. There are just no words. It was the best day of my entire life.

And looking back at these past 8 years, how swiftly they've passed, and yet I can hardly remember how I lived my life without him. He is my very best friend. The best listener. The best confidante. The best encourager and inspirer. The best of everything.

We have passed through so much together. The trials, the miracles, the joys, the sorrows, the failures, the triumphs, they have all bound us together and to the Lord.

There is nothing quite like the anticipation of looking forward to a date night every night--even and especially when we do the simplest traditions...talking, eating ice cream, watching an Andy Griffith or Dick Van Dyke episode, reading a book together. These simple moments at the end of the day, when it's just the two of us, make my heart dance. They provide me the motivation to do yet another load of laundry and sweep the floor again. These magical, simple evenings make all the struggles of young motherhood worth it.

I am happier than I have ever been. Each day my love grows stronger and my joy more beautiful.

Maylie stayed with my parents and the boys stayed with Patrick's parents so we could celebrate our anniversary this year. And thanks to my parent's generosity, they picked up Maylie so we could take the boys down to Riverton together and spend one extra evening together.  After dropping the boys off, we stopped at U-Swirl Yogurt and each made a blended, delicious, yogurt waffle cone. Whenever we begin our anniversary trips, it's always so unreal that it's just the two of us. We keep waiting for fighting, whining and "I'm Tungry!"'s from the backseat. But it's so refreshing to be instantly transported to our dating days and reminisce on all of the memories. The funny thing is, though, when they're away from us, we find ourselves constantly quoting and reminiscing about our children. They've become such a part of our hearts that we can never completely be perfectly happy without them. But still, these past few days were perfect!

After ice cream, we made it home and kick-offed our first night of our glamorous staycation by reading an extra chapter in "The Beyonders" (our current story we're reading together.) The next morning we got to sleep in! How wonderful it was to wake up when my eyes opened, instead of the usual weekend wake ups of the boys whispering loudly to each other, or Maylie calling me from her room. We took our time in the morning and pretty much did a "Jamie's idea of a relaxing vacation" all day long. I couldn't believe how still the house was and how relaxing it was to have quiet and peace and a day to take our time and flow through the day at a relaxing pace. We started with yoga and meditation (both of which I usually do by myself), and then made omelets for breakfast and I told Patrick all about learning to make true omelets from the chef at the Savoy.

After breakfast we had our personal scripture studies and then shared our inspirations with each other. After that, we went into town to do some window shopping. You see, we have this quaint little main street downtown that is so old and historic with little shops all around. I've always wanted to walk the streets and go through all the shops, and I finally got my wish. We strolled through the shops and found the cutest little old museum. We stayed there for nearly an hour. I was truly amazed at all the history and treasures I found in one tiny little museum. I was even asked by the sweet little old lady who showed us around if I would be a model for next year's fashion show when they model all of the old vintage dresses. I was delighted!

After making a few purchases here and there we sat on the shaded benches around the town square and heard the old clock chime while we ate our Perry peaches.

Then we went home, made Creme Brûlée, bought dinner at the hospital, and ate it on our patio listening to all of our favorite songs from "our day."

Later we watched a shark documentary, did some more reading and yoga before crawling into bed to sleep in again. The next morning we did another meditation, made oatmeal and then drove to the Logan temple to do a session. That was the highlight of the weekend. It always is. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Elements, ran a few errands, and then spent the next several hours on the road picking up our sweeties and getting home just in time to give them a bowl of cereal and tuck them into bed. 

I think I rather liked this simple staycation this year. We didn't go anywhere grand or spend much money, we just slowed down and enjoyed the simplicity of being together. It was perfect in every way.

I love you Patrick Alan Johnson!!!!!!!

At the Cabin.

This year we left our Easton and Maylie with Grandma and Grandpa, and our Tate with Gram and Pop. Our intention was to go White Water Rafting in Jackson, but the weather decided to turn on us and we had rain and 60 degrees our whole stay. Instead, we ate dinner at the Bar J Wrangler (-J ;) show and just spent time together.  Over the short two days we played lots of games, visited the river, ate more food than I care to articulate, and gathered together for family devotionals. This was my very favorite part. I loved how each couple was in charge of either a morning or evening devotional.  I learned so much from my sweet sisters and their husbands, and of course, my perfect parents.

As part of my parent's devotional they played for us a slideshow of our memories in Portugal and all the things we've done since then. That weekend happened to mark exactly 11 years since we left for England to go to the MTC. Those pictures were heart-wrenching and glorious. There are no words to describe what our family has passed through these past 11 years and what we have learned....It has been a teemingly marvelous ride. I just can't wait to see how the next 11 years play out in all their resplendence.

{On our Way}

{At the Bar J}

{Yoga on the river}

{We took so many pictures on this banister over the years...it brought back so many memories to do it again.}

It was so nice to be together. It's been so long since we've had an over-night trip all together. In fact, the last time we stayed all together at the cabin was the summer before Nicole and Jason got married and Maylie was born. I remember my Dad telling us that the next time we were all together our family would be completely changed. And it is. Now we have Jason and Jon and Maylie and Baby Abi, and we're so much the better for it. It's interesting how that works. Families change and grow and so do our hearts. I can't imagine it any better, but I know it will be. As more grandchildren come and our hearts grow more and more abundant in love and closeness.

The End to a beautiful weekend.

A Birthday Tribute for 30 Years

May 16th was my sweetheart's 30th birthday. I wanted to make it so special for him on this landmark day. So with input and ideas from both of our moms, I planned a surprise yard work birthday party for him--inviting his favorite 30 people. I planned and worked for several weeks to create a beautiful dessert table display and food, and then I texted everyone, inviting them to come to his party with rakes and shovels and gloves in hand. It was such an amazing surprise when he found out the night before the big day that everyone was coming to help him in our yard. And with everyone's help, we accomplished so very much. We were able to haul in and spread 10 scoops of compost, build a complete sandbox, rototill the high spots of fill dirt in our yard, level the dirt, finish the wiring on the sprinkler system, and complete 2 dozen sprinkler heads. After the evening was over, we stood back in complete awe at all that been done. By ourselves, it would have taken us several months to accomplish what we did in just one day. It was such a blessing. I really can't even express how grateful we are to all of our sweet family members who gave us the best gift ever. We are so very blessed.

I failed to get any pictures of people working--it was kind of a blur for me that night. I did manage to get pictures of the dessert table though, but I sincerely regret taking pictures of everyone else!!!

Here is the other surprise I gave Patrick--30 reasons why I love him in 30 white balloons...

January Journeys.

I'm kind of sad that January has come to an end.  I always look forward to the time of deep reflection and introspection that January always naturally provides for me.  I think I was more productive this January than I have ever been and though I wasn't able to check off all my goals for the month, I definitely was blessed with extra strength to accomplish so much!

For starters, I did an in-depth study of my 2013 and handcrafted a vision for 2014, a path to follow, and specific goals to get me exactly where I want to be next year.  This process took me many, many hours, spaced out throughout the whole month so I could still be a mother as I reflected on my last year.  I've never looked so deeply into the lessons learned from a past year, and I feel a special tradition has begun--and I look forward with great anticipation to subsequent Januaries when I can engage in the process again.

Another memorable tradition we started was a monthly creative date night.  Back when we lived in Pocatello, I was really good at planning fun date nights for me and Patrick.  We had no money, but we sure enjoyed a lot of stay-at-home date nights when the boys were in bed.  I look back and wonder where I had all the time to plan a creative date every single week--and then I remember that the planning of these dates was what kept me sane during a very stressful, poor time of our lives.  It was a way to lose myself in love and service so I didn't focus on the budget, apartment, and schedule of graduate students.

But anyway, I wanted to bring back this tradition for good.  So I gave Patrick a Christmas present of creative date night envelopes--one for each month this year.  And January's was dinner and a movie. We ate at the Rumbi Grill and then went to see "Saving Mr. Banks."  It was such a wonderful afternoon.  It brought me back to our dating days.  I would say I miss those days, but I don't think I do too much.  Sure, it would be fun to go back for a day or two.  But my life now is so much richer with our family, and our relationship is so much stronger after passing through so many trials and happy times together.  No, I don't think I'd trade my life now for what I had then.  It's just so much fuller now. :)

This year (as you will see when I report about all of my goals for 2014) I have decided to fully organize and decorate my home, as well as finish our yard.  I was able to complete most of the Great Room and upstairs playroom and Theater right before Christmas, so this year, my goal is for the rest. For January I decided to conquer the Master Bedroom--and conquer I did!  I repainted a nightstand, desk, and hutch, and rearranged our bedroom furniture. And you should have seen me last Monday when I literally pulled every last thing out of our walk-in closet and every single thing out of our drawers and dumped everything on the bedroom floor in piles and heaps. I thought about taking a picture, but decided it looked too much like the aftermath of some catastrophic natural disaster! It took me three days to finish the organizing project--and I think I spent a total of 7 hours on it. Then yesterday we hung up more pictures in the Great Room and hung a wall of frames in the Master Bedroom as well. I bought the most beautiful floor lamp for our room, and am still waiting for our two nightstand lamps which should arrive by Wednesday. All I can say is that when this bedroom is finished, it will be GORGEOUS!

The last thing I've been focusing on during January is my health. Last Fall, I was able to speak with a holistic health practitioner who helped me learn how I could heal my stomach of my long-winded gastroparesis. I am so grateful the Lord saw fit in His infinite mercy to cure me of this "incurable" disease and bless me to learn how to keep my body and emotions healthy, strong and happy. I feel like my "old" self of health and happiness has returned but with a new spin because of the many challenges the Lord has helped me overcome. I have learned so much over the last decade, but my growth the last few months has truly been exponential. It is nothing short of a miracle. I know I will have many more such lessons to learn as I progress through this life, but I will be eternally grateful that the Lord has been so kind to me in blessing me with some of the greatest desires of my heart (namely: how to LOVE being a mother, how to wake up excited and happy for the coming day, how to lay aside worry and needless guilt, and how to feel energy all day long.) My life is SO GOOD and I attribute it all to my wise, kind, and loving Heavenly Father, and my Savior--my dearest friend, Jesus Christ. Truly, the sidewalks are sparkling again. :)

And with that being said, here are the last few pictures from January:

{This was our YM/YW activity last week---practicing dancing for the Gold and Green Ball this week. I can't even tell you how cute it was to watch them waltzing, swing dancing, and boot-scootin boogie-ing.  I took lots of videos and vowed that me and Patrick are going to learn to dance if it's the last thing we do.}

And so we did. Friday I planned a "Learn to Swing Dance" date night, and we turned on Youtube to start the lessons. I had a blast and I think Patrick did too. Dancing is such a lost art of a former generation, but it's one I want to preserve for myself if nothing else! I can't wait for the Gold and Green Ball now!!!

{Little Miss May and "Washwight")

Welcome February!!!! I can't wait for the surprises you will bring me. Together we will finish up the Master Bedroom and hopefully tackle the basement. I will keep "powering-up my health," making my family's foods healthier, continue working on Personal Progress with my Young Women (Divine Nature, here we come!), and spending a lovely simple Valentine's Day with my family. We'll also throw in a Festive Indoor Picnic, an indoor camping trip, and another Hotel Swim Trip! February, I love you already!!!! Let's create EVERY.DAY.

Today is Friday.

And I've been listening to Christmas music for a straight week-- Josh Groban, Cherie Call, David Tolk, David Archuleta, Dunn & Wilt, Jon Schmidt, Hilary Weeks, Kurt Bestor, Manheim Steamroller, Mark Harris, The Carpenters, Matt Wertz, James Taylor, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Brandon Heath, Owl City, and Rosie Thomas are among my favorites.  We have 481 Christmas songs to be exact!

I love this time of year.  I was considering today how Christmas is the only holiday with a million dedicated songs and two whole months to enjoy them.  I think it's pretty special.

Somehow, baking to the rhythm of the old familiar and new Christmas carols makes the entire experience almost magical.  I think I'm going to relish the holiday baking this year.

Weekend plans include pajama and popcorn party (which the littles and I just concluded) and a special stay-at-home date night I'm surprising my Patrick with.  I can't wait for the evening to begin!

Merry November!!