Nauvoo

A couple weeks after Jon started his internship Jon's older brother Devan got married in the Nauvoo Temple. I felt extremely grateful when Devan's wife Nicole offered to let me go through the temple with her the week before the wedding. I was thrilled but as I began to think of the logistics of it all I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it. As usual, I called my mom to just try and talk it out since I'd have to go alone. After I explained my situation my mom who was in the middle of teaching church history in seminary offered to go out with me and make a mini church history tour of it. I'll be honest I was pretty excited.

So I'll just give a quick run down of the events of the week. The closest airport is the St. Louis airport so we flew into St. Louis on Friday night and then drive to Nauvoo Saturday morning. The drive was absolutely beautiful. It was just so lush and green at that time like my mom said after seeing it you understand why they settled there and named it Nauvoo (Hebrew for "to be beautiful"). We were scheduled for the last session in the temple that night so after the drive we only had a couple minutes to sight see before we had to get to the temple. The Nauvoo temple is BEAUTIFUL!!! I was so taken back by the pure beauty of it all. If there's one temple I'd suggest traveling to that would definitely be one of them. It was a really great experience to be able to be with Nicole as we took her endowments out. Several people commented to me that she has a very special spirit and I can atest to that. She is a great girl and we're happy to have her as part of the family.

Since everything closes fairly early in Nauvoo we had to get started on the sight seeing the next day (Sunday). The church has done a really great job of maintaining and restoring Nauvoo. You're able to walk around the town and go into various buildings and get a little tour of the home or store from the missionaries that are there. I really enjoyed when the missionaries would go "off script" and just talk to us. I was really impressed by the testimony of one sister missionary in Brigham Young's house. It really just helped to build up the spirit that exists in Nauvoo and testifies of the truthfulness of the gospel.

While in Nauvoo we made the short trek up to Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith was killed. For me it was one of those experiences that you don't fully get where you are or whats going on until it's almost over. At the end of the tour you're taken into the room that Joseph was held in. While in the room they pay an audio recording which includes a man signing Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief (which Joseph asked to be sung to him just prior to his death). At that point you can't really help but be overcome by the spirit. For me probably one of the best parts of this little church history tour was to just hear my mother's knowledge of and testimony of the gospel. I'd never really talked about the gospel with her much. It was just so awesome to see her as the spiritual powerhouse she's become through teaching seminary.

On Monday after finishing up at Nauvoo we drove to Independence, Missouri. Along the way we made a stop for the night in a town next to an Amish Community. There were some cute stores and they had an auction that was fun to see. It was really fun to see the really little kids riding around in wagons and dressed in the typical Amish get up. Tuesday we continued toward independence but also made a pit stop in Adam-ondi-ahman. At some point we made a stop in at a book store that had a replica of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith's death mask. It was really interesting to see.

In Independence we were able to go to Liberty Jail and go to the Community of Christ Temple. Liberty Jail was interesting to see and since I know nothing about church history it really helped me out. The Community of Christ Temple was really interesting. It's really amusing to see how much their beliefs and teachings have deviated from that of the LDS church. It's quite the building that's for sure... We also made a drive by of the Missouri temple on our way out of town. It wasn't open yet but the exterior was almost entirely finished so it was still worth seeing.

On Wednesday after we finished up in Missouri we made our way back to St. Louis to spend the night before my mom left. On Thursday morning we had a couple hours to kill so we went and saw the St. Louis arch. My mom and I are both pretty afraid of heights but somehow my mom was courage and talked me into going up into the arch. Lets just say I have a little bit of an anxiety problem and I chickened out at the last minute... It was embarrassing I know but hey I was freaking out. My mom said it was cool though and worth it so if you have the opportunity you should do it... Just not me. Haha.

For some unknown reason we decided to get to the airport early for my mom... It was a total blessing that we did because without her knowledge she had been bumped to an earlier flight and made it just in time. After waiting at the airport for a couple hours Jon and his family made it into St Louis. After getting the rental car we drove up to Nauvoo. Since the wedding was on Saturday we had all day Friday to just relax and sight see. We were able to make it up to Carthage together but that was about it. The weather wasn't really in our favor that day. We were able to attend a play performed by the missionaries working in Nauvoo that night which helped to round off the day. The wedding was Saturday morning. It was really great. After the wedding they had a luncheon with immediate family and friends at a local Chinese restaurant. It was a lot of fun and I feel sorry for the guy that had to clean the cake out of the carpet... All in all it was a great trip and definitely worth going to. We're happy we could make. My and my mom are pretty bad a taking pictures so this is what Jon took while we were in Nauvoo...

The Google Experience!

Probably one of the most exciting and interesting things that has happened to us over the last two years was Jon's opportunity to participate in an internship at Google. It all started when Jon made a joke to our good friend Andrew who has completed two Google internships himself. Jon jokingly said "Hey you need to graduate and get a job at Google so when I graduate you can help me get a job there." Andrew's response was "...why don't you just do an internship?" I'm not sure if Jon had really considered an internship at this point with the whole newly married thing going on but I could definitely see the wheels turning once it was mentioned. So Andrew was kind enough to refer Jon to an employee at Google and after a very stressful technical interview process Jon was selected.

His acceptance into the internship program was completed in March I think so we knew it was coming. We made plans that I would finish my finals early and we'd leave a couple days before the internship began. Our car was packed!!! And I mean packed we were lucky to have enough room in the passenger seat... The sad thing is we thought we packed light too. We headed out to California and since we didn't have a place to stay we planned to spend the first couple of days at my Parents house (which is a couple hours from Google Headquarters).

Jon's internship started May 2nd and we still didn't have a place to live so we just opted to spend the first week of so in a hotel while we looked for a place. So I'd say a lot of the myths about the bay area being really expensive are true. We were lucky to find an apartment with a month to month lease that was less than $1700 a month and if you're used to payed $600 that's a pretty big deal. Jon and I are both extremely frugal so after crunching the numbers and a lot of talking we decided to spend the summer in a hotel and trek up to my parents for the weekends. Google provides breakfast, lunch and dinner so it wasn't that big of a deal for Jon... I probably didn't eat as well as I should have but hey it helped keep my weight in check right? Plus, it was worth it to me to be able to see my parents every weekend and spend some extra time with them...

All in all it was a great opportunity and we were willing to do whatever we had to to make it possible. We lived through it all and we'll always be able to use the "When your Dad and I were broke and living in a hotel..." line. I'm extremely grateful and proud of Jon's hard work while working at Google. It was well worth all the extra stress and hassle of having to move.

So after months of telling myself that we haven't done anything worth mentioning I realized that a lot of stuff has happened in the last 2 years. Jon and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary a couple of weeks ago which is an accomplishment in and of itself. I'm going to have to spend the next couple of posts back tracking and getting this thing caught up.

Well a while back Jon's parents gave us a cd with pictures from our wedding open house. The pictures and stories are two years old but they're definitely worth recording for when we're old and forgetful. The weekend after we got married we had an open house at Jon's parents. Jon's parents and grandma really put a lot of work into making sure we had a great time. We really appreciated all the work they did and are happy that we were able to get together with some of Jon's family friends. Jon's mom even went the extra mile to spoil Jon and made home made egg nog. If you know Jon then you know that this is his absolutely favorite drink (well lately it's orange soda floats but that's because I'm lazy and don't like egg nog so I won't make it...) I also loved the little cupcakes and cake that they made!!! They were super cute and helped to maintain my whole red and black color theme.

My parents were kind enough to make the long trek up to Friday Harbor with us and got to see where Jon grew it. It was really nice to have them around and it definitely helped to ease my nerves. Plus, my mom got to do my hair. I now know she's an expert and will have to do my daughters hair for prom. ;)

We had a good turn out and really appreciated the long trek many people had to make. We understand that riding the ferry can be a bit of a pain but we really appreciate that people were willing to make it work around their schedule. But I just have to mention one set of guest that made an especially long trip just for Jon. While Jon was growing up his branch president made a promise to the young men that he and his wife would presonally make it to each of their weddings when the time came. Jon had a close relationship with President Marsh but I'm sure he wasn't expecting the Marsh's to make it since they had moved to Grantsville, Utah. I'm sure you can imagine the surprise on Jon's face when they walked into the house. It was so nice that they were willing to take the time and effort out to come to our open house. It really meant a lot to Jon.

It's been awhile

Well it's been a LONG time since I've had time to do this. A lot has happened since I posted last. Well take it a month at a time and I'll be quick... because I'm sure you aren't THAT interested in my life...

In November my parents came out to visit for Thanksgiving! It was a lot of fun to have them around and spoil us. I helped cook Thanksgiving Dinner which was a mind blowing experience. My mom even said it was the best turkey she ever had... I'm that amazing. We made some amazing pumpkin roll and I think I made some friends in the ward because of it. It sucked I had to work as much as I did but we both really appreciated the fact that my parents made the trek out here. Plus it gave Jon time to bond with my Dad over this horrible show "The Tripods". It's basically a book on video meaning it takes as long as reading an entire novel as it does for anything to develop in the plot. Ever once and awhile Jon will mention "it was really fun having your Dad around". I think he likes having someone to share his nerdom with. The only thing that could have made the holiday better was to make the rest of the Johansen clan there. It's really hard to find the time to get the entire family together.

December was a little crazy. Finals and A LOT of traveling. We survived the semester and did well enough in our classes. My brother got married that next week. It was a lot of fun to be able to be there and participate the in wedding. The wedding was beautiful! It was a late night but it was full of good memories and stories even the key being lost and calling a poor old lady and asking for her dead husband... The following two days were really fun but bittersweet for me. It was my first holiday without the family so it was hard to enjoy the good times knowing I was going to leave soon. I made lots of goodies with my mom and am a candy making expert! Thanks again Mom!The week prior to Christmas was spent with Jon's family. It was a lot of fun and the weather was really nice. We've always lucked out and had good weather on our trips. Jon was able to snap some great pictures of the island and a super cute one of his niece and grandma. Who would of known I married a photographer. It was a packed house with 12 adults and 8 children! I had fun helping Jon's mom wrap presents. I guess my mom was inspired and knew my future mother in law would need my expert present wrapping skills. We got to meet Devan's now fiance Nicole. Jon and I both really like her and are very excited to go on a lot of trips and adventures with and to see them. Jon's mother is wonder woman. She did a great job of keeping up with the dishes and not getting overwhelmed... If it were me I would of kicked everyone out from day one, I hate dishes. All in all it was a lot of fun even hanging all 20 home made stockings.


I jokingly tell Jon that every time we see Charlie and Jill we get really excited and are a little anxious to see kids but having that many kids in one house helped us to realize we have a long ways to go until we're ready to start our little family. Plus I like my sleep a little too much.

The rest of break we just worked and enjoyed the down time. Since then school has started and we're both swimming in school work. It's really fun to see how much better we're getting at our work. All the homework really stinks but it's worth it to see the improvements.

I started a new job in February. I have the opportunity to work with troubled teen girls. In the few weeks that I've worked there I can see that I've learned a lot not only about teens but how to interact with people in general. I'm really excited to see what will come of it all and the positive growth that will come from it. I've had some good days and ok days. I'm just scared of what the bad days will be like. I seem to be doing alright though and hopefully I'll be able to keep it up throughout my duration there.

Well hopefully I'll be able to get things a little more under control and take a few pictures and keep this thing updates... I hope. Oh and I've found some really good recipes over the last little bit... Got one for tikka masala and beef with broccoli if you want it!

October Fun

Well Jon and I have been pretty busy lately with school and work but since we've become teachers in the marriage and family relations class we've really been working on having quality time together. We're both a little bit of perfectionist and I think we both have a little problem with letting other things get in the way. Ok, I'll be honest it's mostly my problem... Date nights are something that was stressed to us from the get go and I'm really starting to understand why. It's really easy to loose that focus on your spouse and you just forget how important they are or why you liked them so much in the first place!

So now to the fun stuff!

About two weeks ago Jon and I spent our date night going to the pumpkin patch. Probably not the wisest expenditure we've made thus far but it was a lot of fun to reminisce and enjoy each others company. We went to the pumpkin patch over a year ago when we were dating so it was fun to re-experience that. The corn maze is always really frustrating to me because they really don't make sense especially when people make their own short cuts. We somehow went from check point 1 to check point 8 without seeing any of the others... Over all it was a good time and just nice to have that quality time to enjoy each others company... even though Jon wouldn't jump on the giant balloon pillow thing with me. But I kicked his but at the duck race so it's OK.

So this last weekend we got to carve pumpkins. I've started dabbling in the world of couponing so I'm kinda obsessed with sales.. We waited it out and got our pumpkins at a whopping $.09/lb!
Just under $5 for 3 good sized pumpkins. This was Jon's first time carving an intricate pumpkin. It was a complete success. He was really proud of the outcome and I finally got to do flounder! So I think we're both excited for next years pumpkin carving festivities.

I can really see the improvements in our patience and willingness to have a strong marriage since we've received our calling. You really do find a strong love and understanding for your spouse as you keep the Christ at the center of it all. I'm really happy I've had this time with my husband! Well it's sad that October my favorite month has come and gone. And what's even worse is the snow is quickly finding it's way here... Pray for us. I hate the cold!

Let the Good Times Roll

Well time really has a way of flying by before I really have time to stop and take a moment to realize how much I've missed. A lot has gone on for us. Jon and I are both extremely busy with school and work. We're lucky if we really have time for eachother. I've kinda felt bad lately because I just haven't had the time to keep in contact with old friends and family members as much as I'd like to.

But to help remedy that little issue... we were able to go out to Los Angeles the last weekend on September and spend some time with my family. The trip was short but worth it. Being Johansens the first thing we did when we arrived to LA was EAT! We stopped off at the hard rock cafe and had lunch. Really I'm praying that the camera really does add ten pounds... I guess the way to a man's heart is also the way to the newlywed ten.
After lunch we took a trip over to the walk of fame and got to look at all the stars and stuff. It was really hot that day and a lot more humid than Jon and I are used to. It was fun to see all the different celebrities hand prints and foot prints and to realize how small a lot of them are.. Yes I crossed over to the dark side just for a couple mins while I stepped into Darth Vader's foot prints... they have cookies. How could I resist.
Just had to put that one in there... Ofcourse a couple Chuck Norris jokes were made when we passed this one.

On Sunday we were able to go to our niece Jillian Daisy Johansen's blessing. It was a really good blessing and her little brother was surely enjoying the attention. He kept trying to kick the pew in front of us and when I told him he had to be quiet he just slowed down his kick. He's a little charmer. The blessing really made the trip worth it. Jon was able to stand in the circle and be a part of the blessing which we were both grateful for his opportunity to do that. After the blessing we just sat around, ate, swam, and played some games...

On monday we got to go to the beach for a little bit. Unfortunately it was record breaking highs and got all the way up to 113... But like my brother Dave said, "if it wasn't that hot I don't think anyone would have wanted to get into the water."
Charlie really loves spending time with his grandpa! Grandma and Grandpa do a great job of letting the little guy know how much they love him. It makes me really excited for the day when Jon and I will have little ones of our own and they will be able to have that same relationship with their grandparents!I just thought it was cute... don't judge... and I mean Charlie not Dave.
That's the little cutie! She's a chunker but that's what makes them cute.
For one of my classes I'm going to be illustrating a small boy dressed like a pirate. So I needed reference for the image and I figured my nephew was a great canidate. I gave my mom a call and asked her if her and Jenni could take some pictures of Charlie. This isn't quite what I had in mind...

All in all it was a great little trip and it was nice to have a break. It's weird to think that we're quickly approaching 6 months. It's been such a roller coaster ride but it's so worth every minute. Hopefully one day Jon and I will be able to be amazing parents like ours have been for us. So things are still going well. We have our hiccups but as The Car's put it "let the good times roll." We're going to the pumpkin patch tomorrow for our date. You better believe I'm excited. And there will be pictures to follow.

Time Flies

Well we just past the 4 month mark and we're quickly on our way to 5 months. It really seems like it's been a lot longer than that! It's funny to think that just over a year ago Jon took me on our first date. Which if you haven't heard that story... ask me. It's quite entertaining. A lot has happened in those 4 months and it's crazy to think of everything else that will happen in the future. I guess that's really why we should write in our journals... I mean I have a hard enough time remembering all the great memories I've had with Jon just over the last year or so... I can't imagine how it'll be in 20 or 30 years. Jon and I have been having a lot of fun together and I really appreciate the fact that he's willing to put up with my need to "beautify the house". My mom sent out a bunch of cute decorations with Kim when she came to visit last and I had to put them up immediately.

Probably the biggest news as of late is that we got a calling. We're the marriage and family preparedness sunday school teachers. Kinda crazy to think that we're here teaching people how to have a good lasting marriage when we've been married 4 months. I was talking to a girl at church about it today and I said "well I guess we must have some things we need to work on..." and she said that it's probably just the Lord's way of helping us start off on the right foot. She even went on to talk about how it would be nice to have this calling because it would be easier to work on improving your marriage. After hearing that I totally agree. I'm so happy that we're able to grow, learn and teach together. I've already seen improvements in our daily marriage together just in the 2 weeks that we've had the calling...

Well ofcourse school has started again and we're both fairly swamped but I'm happy that we have the preparation of the lesson to look forward to. Over the summer we got to do yard work. I thought I'd hate it but I ended up loving the fact that Jon and I had a goal and a project to work on TOGETHER. But it's now midnight and I have to be up early... school is definitely back in. So I'm off to bed. Just wanted to let whoever is out there that we're doing alright.