Our Trip to Utah

We got to spend two weeks in Utah and it was so much fun, as always it went by way too fast.

We spent the first week with my family. I went shopping with my mom and sisters almost everyday while Conrad and my dad golfed. I'm pretty sure we went to every boutique in Utah County. We ate delicious food, played games went bike riding through the provo canyon and watched the olympics. My dad bought us tickets to the Journey, Pat Benetar and Loverboy concert, it was AWESOME, so much fun. Thanks Dad!

I also got to see some of my long time friends from Junior High and High School. We ate out and went back to my friends house for a little bachelorette party for my friend, Ashlee who recently got married! I love that we still keep in touch, it is always so fun to see all of them when I visit Utah.

We spent our second week at a cabin in Park City with the Mickelsen family. We finally got to meet our newest little niece Ruby who is just the sweetest little thing. We had a fun couple of days, eating yummy food, shopping at the outlets with the girls, watching the Olympics and watching the first season of Downton Abbey with the girls while the men golfed.

It was such a fun two weeks and now I am counting down the days til we go back for Christmas.

Saying Goodbye

My friends Charbel and Collette moved out of the ward recently. It was sad saying goodbye but we made sure we had some fun before they moved.

 On Sunday, Conrad and I had their families over for dessert.

Tuesday night, the relief society president had a little girls night at her house.

Then on Friday some of us girls in the ward thought it would be fun to get a hotel room and have a little girls retreat.

Friday night we ate out at PF Changs, went swimming at the hotel, stayed up late laughing, talking and eating too much junk food. We slept in the next morning,went to brunch and then went shopping! It was so much fun and a great way to say goodbye to our friends.

Good luck Barker and Webster Family, we will miss you guys!

Nursery

Being in the Nursery is kind of a love/hate thing for me.

I love seeing these little cuties every Sunday, they seriously are so cute and so fun.

The two little boys have recently moved out of the ward so we have a nursery of all girls now. We will miss you Carson and Benji!

I don't love the smelly poopy diapers so much, just the smell alone makes me dry heave. You know a kid has pooped when you see me wildly swinging the door back and forth to air out the room.

Kids are like dominoes, when one kid cries they all cry, when one kid screams they all scream, when one kid wants a certain toy, they all want that certain toy and then the pushing, hitting and pinching start which causes more crying, more screaming and a slightly exasperated Sister Mickelsen.

There are some Sundays when I come out of church in a daze and completely exhausted.

Then there is SNACK TIME!

Who doesn't love snack time? It makes up for all the other not so lovely stuff :)

These kids LOVE Bugles. Conrad taught them to play with them like actual bugles by making the doo doo doo! sound. That is now their official name- Doo doo doo's.

More doo doo doo's pwease!!!

I really have loved getting to know these sweet little kiddos, I have always loved this age. There is never a dull moment with them.

Croc-A-Dach

Chloe has one tooth that always pokes out of her mouth it looks so funny. It usually happens when she is sleeping. When we first noticed it Conrad gave her the nick name croc-a-dach (Crocodile teeth and a dachshund face) shortened to crocky.

You Won't Know Until You Try It

I am some what of a picky eater, I have gotten less picky as I've gotten older. I am not usually thrilled about trying new food, especially if it looks weird or gross. Conrad on the other hand loves trying new food, and the more different the food the more he likes it. Lets just say since I have married Conrad, I have tried a lot of different foods that I normally wouldn't consider trying.

Some of Conrads co workers are Persian and they took him to one of their favorite persian restaraunts. Conrad really liked it and decided to take me. He kept telling me how good it was and that it was a lot different the any other food he has eaten. So of course I was excited to try it.

He didn't tell me that it looked disgusting until after we ordered the food.

It looks better mixed in with the rice.

The brown goopy looking stuff is pomegranate and it was actually really good, although I couldn't quite get over the look of the food. It looked too much like poop to me, yep im sure you all were thinking it ;) I just had to tell myself it looked like black beans and black beans don't gross me out.

Conrad definitely liked it

Then conrad told me I needed to try persian ice cream or saffron ice cream. Once again he got me excited to try it... then I put it in my mouth, it tasted like potpourri. Is saffron in potpourri? I didn't like it one bit. Conrad loved it though.

Would I eat there again? Yes I liked the pomegranate chicken but I have no desire to eat the safron ice cream again. I will stick with regular ice cream.

4th of July Memories

I recently talked to my sister on the phone and she said, " You need to hurry and update your blog, mom is having a panic attack, she's having withdrawls." Ha ha well mom here you go, this post is for you :).

This year the 4th of July was kind of a bummer for us, which was even more of a bummer for me beacsue the 4th of July is one of my most favorite holidays besides Christmas of course :).Most our friends were out of town and it is just way way too HOT here in Phoenix to even enjoy being outside for more than 5 seconds. Although, we actually did catch a break, it was cloudy the whole day and it ended up raining! Normally I would be angry about that on the 4th but here in Phoenix I welcomed it with open arms.

We started the day bright and early and went to a ward breakfast which was fun. Then we just chilled for a few hours and later went to Smash Burger to eat, YUM. After we ate we went and saw the new Spider Man movie. It was kind of a let down, it wasn't bad it was just too much like the previous one, I don't understand why they made a new one so soon? Anyway that was our 4th, and the biggest bummer of all... I did not see one firework not one! It was dead here. I didn't even see any firework stands on the roads. My friends in the ward warned me about how boring it is here on the 4th and they were right. Conrad and I both did have the day off, it was fun being able to spend the whole day with him so it wasn't all bad :)

Here are some of the poeple and places we were missing this 4th of July...

Going to the Stadium of Fire has been a Johnson family tradition since I was little. LOVE the Stadium of Fire so many good memories.

Me and Syd Squid- Stadium of Fire 2011

Me and Am Jam- Stadium of Fire 2011

I love when the flames shoot up and you can feel the heat on your face.

And of course the Mickelsen family parties are always so fun! We sure missed being there this year.

Cute Kids! Cousins July 4, 2011

mmmm we definitely missed the yummy food. July 4, 2011

Conrad running away from the firework bomb he made- July 4, 2011

Playing Charades. I believe they were trying to act out baby powder. July 4, 2011

Still acting out baby powder.

Me and Violet waching the fireworks. July 4, 2011

I can't WAIT for our trip to Utah at the end of this month!


Hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Change

The other day I went to a little goodbye get together for a friend in the ward that is moving to South Carolina. It was so much fun talking with all the girls but sad at the same time because it was the last time we were going to see this friend. 

Saying goodbye made me think of when Conrad and I first moved from Utah to Arizona, it was so hard saying goodbye to friends and family. I liked my life the way it was, I loved living in Logan, I absolutely loved going to school at Utah State and of course, I loved being near my family. The day we moved to Arizona I cried off and on for the whole 10 hour drive. Once we got all our stuff moved into our new apartment, I sat on the floor and cried some more (obviously I don't handle change very well) poor Conrad. The first Sunday we attended church at our ward we felt instantly welcomed. So many people invited us to dinner,and family gatherings. The girls in the ward were always calling me and inviting me to various activities. Soon after moving in I found a great job, I was called to Young Women's, Conrad was called to be a Sunday school teacher and we quickly made many good friends. That's one of the many great blessings of  being a member of the church, you have instant friends where ever you go.

We have been here for almost two years now. Looking back I've realized how much Conrad and I have grown, and all the fun experiences we've had here. We would've never had those experiences if we hadn't made that big change and moved. Of course it is still hard being away from family but having great friends makes it a little easier. Even though change is hard, it almost always turns out to be for the better.  Without change life would be boring.

I stole this picture off my friends blog she is always good about taking pictures.

I love these girls, they are so great. We wish the best of luck to Becca and her family and their new life in South Carolina!