Oregon Trip/Jesse and Michael's Visit to Provo

Well we finally made it back to Oregon! I hadn't seen my family since our wedding (which was 14 months ago) so it was great to see them! We drove there and back for a total of 26 hours of driving and whole lot of miles on our trusty Toyota Camry. My younger brother Nick drove out there with us and then Michael and Jesse drove back (along with Nick) to visit for a few days so it was quite the cramped ride on the way back. But we survived and had a ton of fun. My studly little bro, Michael, taking a break at his football jamboree. 10 year olds are so cute in their gear!Visiting my two best friends Danielle and Emma. I miss them a lot!

I was really looking forward to going to the Little North Fork of the Santiam River and spending the day in the water and the sun but it was only 75 degrees so when we got in the snow melt water, it was freeeeezing!!! I was sad I didn't get to show Jeff how fun it is up there. Maybe next time...


We also had a fun time at a barbecue with my extended family and at Rock-N-Rogers where we had the most delicious breakfast food ever.

Highlights from Provo:Visiting the Legacy Hall of Fame. In 10-15 years Michael Rasaka might be in there as he has made it clear he wants to be a BYU football player. Go Michael! Love Jesse's closed eyes...
We decided to go to the BYU track for our workout on Tuesday and this is how we felt when we finished.At the top of the Y on Y Mountain. The hike was a whole lot harder than we remembered. Especially after a sprint workout. The Statue of Christ in the visitor's center at Temple SquareJesse and Michael were troopers. Neither had flown before but they toughened up and flew back to Oregon all by themselves.

Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of our time at Seven Peaks but we all had a blast. The weather was great and the park was way empty. Also, Michael and Jeff were extreme dare devils. They both went down the yellow and blue slides but Jeff even went down the orange one and then he went down the Boomerang backwards! Scary!

In Memory of Robin Rasaka

Two years ago today I answered a phone call in the middle of grocery store only to hear the worst news of my life: my mom had passed away in her sleep early that morning. It seems like it has been TEN years since I've seen my mom, but it's amazing how the Lord blesses and comforts you during life's trials. I know I wouldn't be doing so well if I didn't have a testimony of eternal families and it makes me so much more grateful for the Lord's Holy Temples and the sealing power that is found within.


Here are the top 5 things I have missed since she's been gone:
1. Lying in her bed at night and watching chick flicks and eating chocolate.
2. Going to McGrath's for dinner after a day of shopping together.
3. Her cooking, her decorating, her craftiness, her organization, etc. Basically everything that made our house the Rasaka home.
4. Singing to loud country music (mostly Keith Urban) while driving in the car with her.
5. Calling her whenever anything went wrong in my life and having her tell me it'll be okay. Also calling her whenever anything went right and having her congratulate me.

I wish there was a phone line to Heaven so I could call and chat with her now and then but that would just make life too easy. My mom was the best and I love her dearly. I've been blessed to have her in my life for 19 years!

Another spirit enters the world!!!!

I have been an uncle for many years now. My sister has probably the cutest two little girls on the face of the planet in Sadee and Ava (don't believe me? click on her blog Atkinsons). You just can't argue with curly hair on little girls. Now after 3 years of nothing a new baby has arrived in the family. He finally got here after being 4 days late. My older sister, Alisa, had her first baby boy and first child for that matter this past Thursday. His name is Collin Ryan O'Berry. He is definitely a cute one. I always find it a miracle to think how much of an adventure he is embarking. Times of sorrow and happiness await that little spirit. He'll have many trials and blessings as he learns the plan of his Heavenly Father. It kind of compares to the mission. You have no idea what lies ahead, the lessons you will learn, the trials you will face, the happiness you will embrace. You embark for two years having no idea what's in store for you. Collin is about to embark on who knows how long of a journey. What a special day for his parents to accept that responsibility. Right now I can only imagine that feeling, but it will come soon enough (3 or 4 years) when you have a bunch of little Bri's and mini Jeff's running around the Johnson household creating havoc.

Our First Half Marathon

This last Saturday, Jeff and I ran in the Provo River Trail half marathon. We trained for about 9 weeks and both did better than we had expected. Unfortunately, we had to start the race about 4 minutes late due to a very disorganized morning that caused us to get on the LAST bus up to the starting line. Luckily, I had my watch so I was able to get our actual times.

In my opinion, the first 8 miles were great! I was totally loving it and running between a 6:40 and 7:00 min pace. But once I hit mile 10, I totally hit a brick wall. The last 3 miles were harder than heck for me!

For Jeff, he was cruising along with until about mile 6 when he got a pretty bad side ache. I was waiting for him to catch up to me again (but of course he never did, haha) but apparently the side ache lasted quite awhile.

So that's right, I beat my husband! I only had two goals. One was to beat him and the other was to run it under 1 hour and 50 min. and I did both! According to my watch (since that's what's accurate for us), I ran it in 1:44:43 and Jeff came in at about 1:51:00. It was a great experience and we will definitely start racing more!

Oh, and I thought I would add that the picture was taken after the race hence the tired and somewhat unattractive look :)

BYU FOOTBALL PREVIEW: DEFENSE

I have to first apologize for the longing readers that have checked hourly for the past week for my BYU Football Preview. I had finals this past week and it took up my life, sorry. This week the defense steps up on the stand to be judged. Over the last two years the D at BYU has restored what it once had. Bronco has one important stat he uses and thats points scored. The yards given up are important but you keep the points off the board you win. Seems simple, and BYU has dominated the last few years in this category. Take off the Tulsa debacle and BYU had an incredible defense last year. Losing all of our secondary and 3 of our linebackers to graduation will hurt but I don't see the defense missing that much of a beat. Bronco proved last year BYU should be a reloading program and it won't be any different this year. Our defensive line is the deepest its been in years with all starters returning and with the return of Tialavea we should be even deeper. The rest the Defense (linebackers, secondary) I expect to reload. If injuries come like a plague then we could be in trouble but who wouldn't be. I expect a Top 20 D this upcoming year. They should get plenty of help from the offense and the kicking game so don't expect many opponents to get above 20 points a game. My grade B+ Here is a list of some players to keep an eye on.Jan Jorgensen #84

Vic So'oto #37

Brandon Bradly #5

BYU Football Preview SPECIAL TEAMS

This week I preview one of the most important units on the team. Hence comes the name special, they are special and a botched special teams play can change the entire outcome of the game. This past year, the special teams unit was only average. Austin Collie emerged as a dangerous return man with the speed to take it the distance and he has only gotten faster (hopefully his stress fracture doesn't affect him). The biggest addition is Justin Sorensen, the kicker that can kick it a mile. In the first practice he kicked 9 out of 10 out of the end zone with one being 8 yards deep. I don't see many kicks getting returned this year. Hopefully Mitch Payne has stepped up his game or he won't see a down this year. Punt returns won't be anything special but as long as Bryce catches the ball I won't complain. I truly feel last year the special teams cost us a lot of yardage and with new comers I can only see the special teams going forward which it must if we are going BCS. GRADE B+

NEW MANSION IN IDAHO FALLS

As I begin this blog with the mom sitting next to me telling me, "It is not a mansion, I'm embarrassed." Well you guessed it. This weekend we went up to Idaho Falls to help my parents move into their new house. It might not be a MANSION, but it is a big step up from their last house. Other than moving, nothing that exciting happened besides playing with the nieces and seeing Wall-E (which sucked). I won't bore you with moving stories but here are some cool pics of the nice house. They really don't do it justice yet because of the lack of furniture.

Kitchen
Kitchen and Great Room

Family Room Downstairs where projector will be.

Dinning Room Area, kitchen is to the left
Pic of the stairs and entry way.


Here is the front.

Can You Tell What's Missing?

Last Sunday when I was sitting in church, I looked down at my ring and my diamond was missing! Ahhh! Jeff and I teach the 9 and 10 year olds in primary and our class became quite disruptive during singing time as we searched the floor around us for the diamond. After a few minutes of panic, I emptied our church bag and lo and behold, my diamond was in there! It was quite the scare. I'm on my way to the jeweler today and hopefully everything will go okay with the warranty...