Thanksgiving and of course Black Friday!!

Thanksgiving was great this year. We stayed in Utah and spent it with the Johnsons. We had fun decorating sugar cookies, watching Enchanted, mapping out our game plan for black Friday, and of course eating as much as we possibly could! Sadly this is the only picture I got of the day, but something is better than nothing, right?! We have so much to be thankful for and I am so grateful that every year there is a day to remind me to count my blessings.

This year I am thankful for...

Eternal marriage and Temples

My amazing family (Rodriguez and Johnson)

New friends

My LAST semester of college classes

My church calling

and my hair finally growing out (serious!)

J'net and Johanna were serious troopers this year and ventured out to do a little early morning shopping with me. I think I got them hooked! We had fun finding all the sales and eating in-n-out at 9:00 a.m. I know we are looking a little rough but we were planning on going home and going back to bed after the first stop at Wal-Mart, but we just decided to keep shopping! Now only if returning was as much fun as the shopping...

Turkey Bowl 2009

Johanna and Josie and I suffered thru the freezing temperatures to watch the boys play in the annual turkey bowl. The Johnson boys don't mess around when it comes to football and thanks to their cousin Nate they get to play on field-turf under the lights the night before Thanksgiving. They love it because they get to feel like big-timers!

Ryan, Issac, Garret, Neil, Zachary, and little Reidster sneaking away!

Josie was just a little doll in her snow suit and bunny hat! She is doing a bunny face if you can't tell.


Bundled up as much as possible- we looked like marshmallows!

Remember the 4 D's!

Over Thanksgiving break we got to play in a dodgeball tournament, which was fun and embarrassing all at the same time. I had two good catches, but then it was all downhill from there...You better believe I am going to start training now for next years tournament!

Some of the "Ace of Spades"

Z and Chance with their game faces on... I wish I would have got more pictures but of course my camera died right after I took this one.

It's always fun when Family comes!

I am completely lame and this is the only picture I have to prove that my family came to visit a few weeks ago. I am convinced a new camera would cure my problem of never taking pictures, but the Z-man is not so sure...I LOVE when my Family comes and am always SO sad to see them go. We had such a fun time and it made me want Christmas to come even faster! I can't wait to go home and play games, watch family home videos, and make fun of each other (mostly they all the just make fun of me...) and just party 24/7! Collin and Kendall have been working really hard in school. Zachary and I told them that if they got a 4.0 we would take them out to eat at any restaurant of their choosing or some other type of reward. Collin chose to eat at Tucanos while they were here which was delish as always! It was my Mom and Kendalls first experience and I think they loved it too. Kendall chose to get a manicure when I come home at Christmas- pictures of that to come. We spent our time relaxing, shopping, playing games, and of course eating. My family also got to come to my ward with me for the first time which I loved. Everyone loved meeting them and my Mom got to observe me in action with the Young Women- too funny!

CANNOT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Livin' it up in Las Vegas

Holy cow, I stink at updating this blog! It seems like time never slows down at the Johnson home, but we are partying like crazy and loving every minute of it! Last month Z-man's brother offered up their home down in St. George and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity for a little weekend getaway. We had a great time chatting in the car, watching movies, lounging by the pool and Visiting B and Tru in Las Vegas!

Of course we were there on Halloween when all the funnies come out. I was a little hesitant about going on Halloween, but it actually wasn't too bad. We definitely got some good laughs and good pics with all the crazies! Don't even worry that MJ was there, just chilling all night by himself. B didn't hesitate to get a shot with him!

We always take a picture by the fountains, it's tradition now.

LOVED cruising the streets of the Vegas with Britt and Tru- nothing better!

And our Las Vegas experience would not be complete without Z convincing us to eat a $6.00 steak and crab dinner at Jerry's Nugget and Casino- classy place. Of course I threw up later that night- I think it was the Ranch dressing that did me in.

We loved every minute of the warm weather and spending time together. We also ate at the Bear Paw Cafe in St. George for the first time, which was way good. I am stopping in there more often for sure!

update

It seems that I have been horrible at taking pictures lately! I am always forgetting my camera at home. Once in a while I'll snap a picture on the cell phone, but do you think I am smart enough to get them off my phone?! Things at the Johnson home have been busy as usual. We (as in Zachary) are loving football season and the constant stream of games to watch. I start my field experience next week teaching in the classroom for the month of November where I will be doing my student teaching in January. I am excited, and also very nervous. I always felt like the day of student teaching would never come and now it is just around the corner. I am most excited about doing read-alouds with the students, can't wait!

A few weekends ago we went to the Salem Hills High School football game with our awesome friends the Hunters. It was so cold, but so fun. Jody and I were tempted to stay for the post game dance party, but the husbands dragged us back home to roll some dice. I will forever be indebted to Bronco and Jody for teaching us the best dice games known to man. Hours and hours of fun!

Last weekend we got to watch Josie and Bella while their parents went on vacation to Seattle (I was totally jealous by the way!) We had such a fun fun time with our sweet little nieces though. We rode horses, had a BBQ, and went to the indoor water park, which by the way is totally awesome!

Isn't the cutest picture ever?!?!

Even though we had a total blast with the girls, I am not going to lie that it wasn't a total eye opener for us! Kids are way more work than I thought, and it's not like I haven't been around kids or people with kids a lot?! Sunday morning was the hardest, I felt like I was running around like a crazy woman all morning. Our church doesn't start until 11, and we still walked in a few minutes late. Even though I was dead tired by the time Sunday night rolled around I loved every minute of it, and would do it over again every weekend in a heartbeat!

Rise and Shout...

...the Cougars are out!

I have become quite the BYU fan being married to the Z man and living in Utah. Last week our friends Bronco and Jody (thanks guys!) gave us so some sweet tickets to the BYU game. Despite the cold weather we bundled up (I seriously looked like a marshmallow!) and had a great time cheering on the Cougars! Hopefully we can make it to another game this year. Don't even worry that a Di Luigi jersey is on my Christmas wish list this year ;)

We had such a great weekend just relaxing at home and watching conference. I was sewing up a storm all weekend long while I listened. My friend Portia and I had a sewing party while the boys were at Priesthood, and we had so much fun! We definitely need to do it again. School continues to be busy but I love it. I am so excited for my student teaching and it couldn't get here fast enough! We are SO excited for the upcoming holidays, I have been finding myself ready to bust out the Christmas music already! This week I am going to attempt to can some apples thanks to my wonderful Grandpa who brought some up from WA. It should be an adventure!