Christmas Eve on the Mountain

Since I had to work during the holidays again this year, Jeff and I decided we would celebrate Christmas Eve by going skiing. I had only been one other time in my life. We spent a few hours in beautiful sunny weather at Sundance. Unfortunately, the conditions weren't ideal for beginners. The whole mountain was iced over from all the rain that fell the couple days prior, so it was super slick and super fast. I fell A LOT. And I got A LOT of bruises, including one on my left hip that is about 3 inches in diameter and is a deep purple. It scares me every time I look in the mirror, like there's a huge spider or some foreign thing on me. Overall, we had a really fun time and hope to be able to go again this season.

Winter Wonderland

A major downside of being a nurse is working during the holidays. Last year I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas and decided to be a bit of a scrooge because I was mad about it. This year, you guessed it, I get to work Christmas Eve and Christmas again! Aren't I lucky?

This year, I decided that we should embrace every bit of Christmas we can get. Right after the awful drive home from Idaho (as noted in the post below), we put up our tree and new collection of decorations. The pictures below don't quite do it justice. 

 The Tree

 Snowmen

 Santa Clauses

 

My favorite: The Village

Stockings and random decorations

We also have Christmas lights draped all around the doorways and the ledge across the ceiling. It's so much fun. We love it!

Alive and Well

We are well aware that we have been major blogging slackers lately. We deeply apologize to all of our followers, although I'm sure that by not blogging for the past three months, we may not have anyone left to read our blog. For any patient and dedicated readers out there, we will give you a brief rundown of recent events and a commitment to be better bloggers!

I am still working in the NICU and loving it, and Jeff is still working as a medical assistant and waiting to be accepted to PA school. Prayers for him, please!!!

We got some time off for Thanksgiving and, of course, traveled to Idaho Falls to spend time with some of his family. Like always, we had a great time playing with Sadee and Ava, shopping, and eating delicious food. I tried to be better at taking pictures, but what's below is all I got. 

 

 Sadee and Ava after putting on mascara, blush, and lip gloss. Pretty little girls.

 Swimming in the neighbor's fabulous indoor pool. I succeeded in getting Ava to go down the slide all by herself. You'd think I would have gotten a picture of that, right? Well, I suck at taking pictures.

This super flattering picture is documentation of the horrendous drive home. It took twice as long as normal and we were miserable. Stupid snow...

Jeff and I also did some Black Friday shopping. We stayed up all night and parked outside of Sports Authority at 1:30am. The store was to open at 5:00am and we REALLY wanted to be one of the first 85 people in line so that we could get one of the gift cards they were giving away to the 85 customers. Well between the two of us we got a whopping $20 in gifts cards while another couple got $750 together. The jerks! Life is not fair. We got out of our car and in line at 4:00am (that's when the first people got in line) and stood for an hour in -14 degree weather. Wowzers. That was freaking cold. It was an adventure to remember to say the very least.

Off to bed now. Look for more posts in the coming week!

Summer 2010

Yes it has been an eternity since we last updated our lives. So many things have happened since our last post, most importantly COLLEGE FOOTBALL has began. My wife might kill me for that one. So here is our update.Jeff- As many of you know I applied to PA school last year. I had 5 interviews and was on an alternate list. It didn't work out this year so I am just finishing up some applications to apply again. I am currently taking some independent study courses to improve my GPA and I also have been working as a Medical Assistant at Cherry Tree Family Practice. It has been such a blessing to get the job through networking. It pays decent for a health care experience job and is great for work experience for my application. I work with a team of 3 PA's, a Physician, and an NP. I draw blood, give injections, and do all the responsibilities of an MA. I love it. I often find myself looking at people's arm veins. Yes it's kind of weird. Okay, really weird. Other than those things my life is about movies, football, and the wifey.
Brianne - In July, my older brother got married. So I have a new sister-in-law. Yay! She's from Alaska. Here's us at their Oregon reception. It was 100 degrees that day and my hair was a sweaty mess. I was impressed at how good Natasha looked all day even in her 3/4 length sleeve dress.


Here is the cake my step-mom made. She's a chef, but I had no clue she could do wedding cakes. I thought she did a really good job.
And this picture is just to embarrass Jeff :)

In the beginning of August I ran the Provo River Trail Half Marathon again. I was really excited for it because the first 5 or 6 miles is a slight downgrade which obviously makes it easier to run faster. I had a goal to beat my record by at least 5 minutes. Well that did NOT happen. I was dying after mile 7 and only beat my time by a whopping three seconds. It was a bit depressing. But I'm planning on running another on almost the exact course on October 30th. We'll see how that one goes...


We also recently bought a new car! It's 2010 Nissan Altima in Pearl White. We bought it used with only 2,000 miles on it and got a REALLY good deal. We love it!


And finally, the news that has been a long-time coming: I GOT A NEW JOB! I will be working in the Newborn ICU at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center! I still can't believe it. I start on the 20th and cannot wait!

STEVE YOUNG IN THE FLESH

Growing up I was a huge Steve Young fan. I lived and breathed for the 49ers and seeing them win their 5th Superbowl in 1994 was probably a top 5 sports moment in my life. However I watched Steve Young hundreds of times on the television I didn't get to see him play football in person. Sunday I was able to go to a Provo Freedom Festival Patriotic Service. Steve was the keynote speaker which was SWEET!!! The meeting was really good. We clapped along with all the former military veterans in the audience as all their songs were played by orchestra. Jenny Frogley (a great LDS singer) was also there and the whole meeting made you proud to be an American. Steve spoke about service being the key in making this nation great. He spoke of when he first step into the shoes of Joe Montana and how he so bad wanted to live up to the his and all the fans expectations. He worked his butt off and use to compare stats after each game to see if he was in line with Joe. After the first year he could see he wasn't in line and all the hard work wasn't paying off. Frustration began to enter and he went to the late Truman G. Madsen for advice. Truman said, "Steve do you know how many receptions Jerry Rice has? Do you know how many Touchdowns?", Steve had no idea. Steve Young went on to say how Truman said work just as hard but work that hard in serving others, serve your coaches, teammates and anyone else that comes in your life. Steve later said, "the moment I stopped obsessing about myself, I became the quarterback I always wanted to be, the moment I stopped obsessing about the MVP, I won the MVP." What a great lesson as we celebrate our freedoms this week. Let us remember those that served us and gave their lives for our freedoms and begin serving others.

Brianne Johnson, RN, BS

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, I would just like to say that

I'm an RN!

Life is good. I took the NCLEX Tuesday morning and got the minimum number of questions which is 75. The maximum number you can get is 265. Soooo glad it stopped when it did. The test was a bit nerve-wracking, I'll admit. I was literally shaking on questions 74 and 75 because I wanted the computer to shut of sooo bad. I have a ton of other nursing friends who passed this week too (and who will pass in the coming weeks as well). Yes, we all graduated in April, but now the hard work and studying is

officially OVER!!!!!!!!!

WAHOOO!!!

I had a lot of fun at work yesterday writing "RN" after my signature. No more "LPN"!!!! And of course, I got another big fat raise.

Can you tell that I'm happy??

Parasailing

Somehow I completely forgot our parasailing adventure in the post below. It was a really fun-but-not-at-all-scary ride. On the boat ride out, we saw dolphins and mating sea turtles. We didn't see any sea animals when we were up in the air but we had a beautiful view of Cocoa Beach and could even see the Kennedy Space Center.

To be totally truthful, I was glad that we were able to go parasailing, but you really only need to do it once in your life. I thought it would be a bit more of a thrill, but when we were in the air, it felt like we were just sitting really, really high. We couldn't even tell we were moving. However, I really would still recommend doing it once.

Florida Fun

We've been back from Florida for a couple weeks now so it's probably time to post some pictures from our amazing trip.

Jeff in Heaven.

Jeff Johnson, PGA Pro.

"I know, I'm good."

Even on the beach, Jeff is still absorbed in golf.

I love the beach!

And I was so excited we were finally there.

NBA City. Of course. When Jeff gets to pick the restaurant, it usually involves massive televisions and sports-related food.

Rip Ride Rocket. Soo fun!!! This is the one where you get to pick the music you listen to throughout the ride. I admit, I was scared going straight up like that.

This dessert was AMAZING! The strawberries were fried in a cinnamon-sugar batter and put with vanilla ice cream in a cinnamon-sugar tortilla all over a strawberry and vanilla cream sauce. To die for.

The Jurassic Park ride was pretty fun. We got completely soaked though.

Hogwarts! I was bummed that the new Harry Potter World wasn't open yet. We got a good sneak peek though.

Blue Man Group is a must see. It was 2 hours of pure hysterical laughter. I was bawling I was laughing so hard.

We had so much fun and I can't wait to go back!

ROLLER COASTERS BABY!!!

As many of you know my wife and I headed to Florida to take in the sun in celebration of our graduation. We were able to ride a couple of sweet roller coasters at Universal Studios and in celebration of our coaster riding I wanted to list my Top 10 Coasters I have been on. Here they are:

10. Superman: Ultimate Flight (Six Flags Great Adventure) This a flying roller coaster. You imagine you're flying and fly along the ground at high speeds.
9. El Touro (Six Flags Great Adventure) By far the best and fastest wooden coaster I have step foot in. The speeds are crazy. At the end of the ride I was pretty much in shock. Very smooth also which is usually a downside to wooden coasters.
8. Hulk (Universal Studios Island of Adventure) This coaster blasts you out of a tunnel into loop and corkscrewing track at high speeds. I looked down at my skin after and thought a saw a greenish tint.
7. California Screamin' (Disneyland California Adventures) Similar to the Hulk but the speeds if I remember right were faster and better.
6. Dueling Dragons (Universal Studios Islands of Adventure) Two coasters with dangling legs. Throughout the ride you see the other coaster and jet right at one of another before going into vertical loops.
5. Rip Ride Rock It (Universal Studios Orlando) A fast coaster where you pick the song to jam to throughout the ride. With Evanescence and Limp Bizkit rockin, my blood was pumping throughout.
4. Nitro (Six Flags Great Adventure) Massive first drop and the speeds never stop. Outside of King Da Ka (which was closed), the best ride in the park.
3. Deja Vu (Six Flags Magic Mountain) A feet dangling coaster the pulls you up backwards then drops you straight down before doing it all again backwards.
2. Goliath (Six Flags Magic Mountain) The biggest drop I have ever been on and it drops into a black smoking tunnel. One of the best in the world.
1. X2 (Six Flags Magic Mountain) This ride has it all. Speed, thrill, and might just make you wet your pants a little, ask my friend Nate Waddoups. The seats rotate circles while you fly at the fastest speeds I have ever experienced. An Amazing RIDE!!!!

Other note, two awesome rides that aren't coasters. Soarin' Over California at Disneyland and Test Track (Epcot). What is your favorite?

Graduation & Golfing with Gators

As most of you know, Jeff and I graduated from BYU on Friday. Freedom!!!!! We both got our Bachelor's degrees; mine's in Nursing and Jeff's is in Physiology & Developmental Biology. Kim & Patsy and Alisa & Ryan came down as well as my dad, my older brother Brandon and his girlfriend. Thanks for supporting us everyone! And to celebrate, we are living it up in Florida. After a long Sunday of flying (we had three connections), sitting in the airport forever waiting for Jeff's golf clubs to show up, long rental car lines, driving to our destination in a thunderstorm, and accidentally sleeping in until 11:00am (whoops!), we finally got to do something fun today. We walked along the beach for a while and went golfing at the Cocoa Beach Country Club. The staff there got me in a little bit of a panic with all the warnings, "Be very careful when you go near the water," "Now you know why shouldn't go near the water right?" and "You'll be fine if you don't go near the water." And this is why:Scary right??? Well, not really. This is the closest we got to a gator:After a couple of snap shots, the gator must have gotten annoyed with me because it jumped out of the water a little and snapped its jaws. Needless to say, we got on the golf cart and sped away.

Although the course was beautifully set right on the Banana River, the wind was out of control. There were gusts up to 30 mph! It made for tough golfing, but we still had fun. I quit after I double-parred the first nine. That's right, double par. Meaning, I suck! Jeff did great though as always. Now off to Universal Studios in the morning!

5 Favorite Things

I got this idea from my cousin Jami. Enjoy!!

Five Favorite T.V. Shows (Current)
1. LOST
2. The Office
3. Modern Family
4. The Amazing Race
5. Parenthood

Five Favorite Foods
1. Funeral Potatoes
2. Hamburgers
3. Pizza
4. Chicken Roll-Ups (Bri's Recipe)
5. Cafe Rio (anything)

Five Favorite Famous People
1. Steve Carrell
2. Steve Young
3. Glenn Beck
4. Mitt Romney
5. Bronco Mendenhall

Five Favorite Things To Do With My Wife
1. Well leave that to her and I
2. Play Golf with Her
3. Get a back scratch
4. Watch Friends and other TV Shows
5. Travel (Florida is 2 weeks away)

Five Favorite Things About Brianne
1. Putting Up with Me.
2. Her Testimony
3. Her Body
4. Her Love
5. Her Smell

Five Favorite Smells
1. Brianne
2. Freshly Mowed Grass
3. Fresh Baked Bread
4. Coconut Shampoo
5. Barbecue

Five Favorite Movies
1. Braveheart
2. Avatar
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Transformers
5. Anchorman

Five Favorite Vacation Spots
1. Anyplace with Top Golf Courses
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. New York
5. California

Five Favorite Bands/Musicians
1. Sum 41
2. Yellowcard
3. AFI
4. Eminem (clean)
5. Good Charlotte

Five Favorite Books (I only read church books)
1. Believing Christ
2. Following Christ
3. The Peacegiver
4. Book of Mormon
5. The Atonement

Exciting Things Are Coming

Before next Thursday, I have my last three 12 hour shifts at OCH, one shift at Trinity, 3 papers to write (one 20-pager), and a million random little assignments to complete. Then before the next week is over I have only one final (thankfully) and I have to do 900 N-CLEX prep questions. If I make it through the next week it will be a miracle! The only thing that is getting me through this CRAZY semester is the exciting things that are coming!

20 days until Graduation!!!!!!

21 days until my birthday!!!!!!

22 days until we leave for a week for some much needed R&R in Cocoa Beach, Florida!!!!!!

GOLF AND BASKETBALL IN VEGAS

A few weeks ago my wonderful father and I drove down to Las Vegas for golf and basketball. Outside of football those are #2 and #3 favorite sports. I probably conned my dad into going but I am a very good convincer. Working on his love for BYU basketball and his love for me he couldn’t say no. I basically manipulated the man until he accepted. We went to Vegas for the Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament and Golf 36 holes in between. He arrived at my crib Wednesday late and after a short 4 hour cat nap we left around 5AM in order to stop and golf in Saint George. The course was awesome and was top notch. For the first time out of the year (I live in Utah, snow comes down there) it was a beautiful 55 degrees. Golfing was a blast for me and another unique experience for my father. Using my old clubs (I bought new ones) he slowly tried to keep up with the younger and harder hitting son. The course at Sunbrook was absolutely beautiful with snow capped mountain ranges in the distance. The greens were like glass, the best we have ever played on. For the first time out I scored really well and it was a very fun time riding in the cart. Throughout the day we had problems eathing because of time constraints. Our body nutrition consisted of a bowl of cereal at 4:30AM; McDonalds stop at 4:00, and some Mountain Dew and popcorn at 9:00pm. I felt like I was fasting without a prayer and my dad said he knew he had lost 10 lbs. From my view he was looking sexier. Although BYU ended up losing the next day to stupid UNLV (I still don’t know how the conferences accepts them playing on their own home court every year and calls it fair) we did get to see Jimmer drop 37 on TCU. Friday we were going to go to “Area 51” a blocked off site in the desert but it was 2 hours away. We went to the new hotel on the strip called “City Center”. It was huge, let me repeat that, it was huge. My dad liked it more than I did. I don’t enjoy site seeing like my father. I want to play not look in my young age. Before heading off to the game we found a place to eat through my GPS. It was an Afghanistan restaurant. My dad spoke the next 30 min to the owner about Iraq and the middle east. I guess I should really care about all of that but I really didn’t so I zoned out. The food was good but apparently Afganians eat small portions because for the cost that plate needed a few more pieces of meat on the stick. Saturday we woke up early and drove out to find a golf course in northwest Las Vegas. We golfed with a couple of men in the mid 30’s. Within the first 5 minutes, swearing had already left their mouths, and drinks and cigarettes were a common entity in their golf cart. They actually were really funny and a good couple of guys to play golf with. They both worked at “the Wynn”. Driving home we hit a huge snow storm but eventually arrived in Orem at about 10PM. All in all in was an awesome trip of golf and basketball with the my all too wise father.

New MOVIE Ratings and Reviews

I know I have slacked on my movie reviews lately. I have still been watching a lot of movies and I'm anxious to report my review to all my devoted readers. However, my wife is just not into the whole movie review thing. From here on I will be the one and only movie reviewer for our family blog. I hope my expertise in the art of movie going will assist you in the decisions to pay full price, dollar movie, or rental in your movie choices.

YOUNG AMBASSADORS

Bri's and my favorite yearly show has to be the Young Ambassadors. Taking a break from all of my passionate sporting events, I try to have some diversity by attending theatrical performances. Growing up, I had a family that forced my attendance to many Broadway plays. Although I always played the role of the hesitant teenager, I always came away really loving the performances. I loved Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, and still today I would pay a lot to see Riverdance again (already seen twice). The Young Ambassador show put on by BYU is a highlight of many present and past Broadway shows. These students are extremely talented and they make me feel like I have done absolutely nothing with my life. They all take the stage and showcase their amazing talent they have of singing and dancing. Singing songs from all of the famous shows, the show leaves you hearing your favorite numbers for about a quarter of the cost. This year marked the 40th anniversary and with it, the 40 years of alumni came to participate. Although some of the elderly alumni didn't perform the dances perfectly, we were able to have amazing performances by some who had gone on and toured with many famous Broadway acts. All the performances were great but my top 5 are below:

5. Footloose - Abe Hegewald and Company
4. My New Philosphy
3. Do You Hear the People Sing - Les Miserables
2. Bring Him Home - Les Miserables
1. Defying Gravity - Wicked

Now We Get To Play the Waiting Game

For the most part all of the PA schools that I applied too this past year have let me know whether I am accepted or not. I have interviewed at 5 schools and I thought I would give you all a little bit about each one and the town we would live in. Basically I wanted to give you an update on the whole process. I will list them in order of my choice of attending.
1. Marietta College - This was my last interview and it turned out to be the best. They have a great program and I loved the town. It reminds me of a little old restored town. They have a river that runs through the town and a awesome authentic downtown. Living is extremely cheap and when I went there it just felt right. Krista it is three hours away from Cedar Point which also is a plus. I find out TODAY if I get accepted. I really can't wait and the anticipation is out of this world.
2. Western Michigan University- Western is located in Kalamazoo Michigan. Just saying you lived in a town with that cool of a name is worth attending. It is one of the 12 original PA programs in the country and has alumni all over the country which is a great positive. I liked the atmosphere and organization of the program. Find out in February.
3. Central Michigan University - I already found out from them. I was placed on the alternate list (somebody that got accepted has to give up their seat). Great small town and I loved the interview a lot. Would be very fun and great to attend there.
4. Barry University Florida - My wife would really like the weather here that is positive. When I went for my interview it was 70 degrees and multiple students from Florida were saying how cold it is lately. I had to laugh at that. The program is decent and would provide me with a great education. Also Golf is year round and has some of the best in the world. Also great parks everywhere from Disney World, Universal, Knotts. You name it Florida has it. Find out in February.
5. Western University of Health Sciences - Don't get me wrong. If Western was the only school I got in I wouldn't hesitate at all from attending. It is in California and they do have a good program. Just wasn't as impressed as the four others. Hopefully I don't have to go here but I don't want to be too picky. Find out in March.
All in all this process has been extremely tiring and exciting. I think when we get accepted somewhere it will be the happiest days of both our lives. I will be sure to let you know the updated news when I do get accepted somewhere, hopefully.

AIRPORT MADNESS

Well I will later give my thoughts on the interviews I have this weekend, but right now you must know what I had to go through to have my butt arrive in Tampa, Florida. It all started when the announcer at gate A4 in SLC said that there were severe winds in Phoenix and there was a possibility of flight cancellations. Cancellation of a flight for an important PA school interview = NOT GOOD. There was nothing I could do at this time but get on the winged jet and head south to Arizona hoping and praying for the best. I had a 45 min layer over from the arriving Phoenix flight until the departure to Tampa so if all went well, I would be fine. First, most of the plane ride was rather bumpy. With about 20 minutes to go, air traffic control held us in the air because of winds of 50 MPH. Another not good sign for those still reading, cause who wants to land a massive jet in 50 MPH winds? To me that doesn't seem so safe so I was fine with holding out, assuming that all flights leaving Phoenix would also be delayed. After the pilot joked with us across the intercom, it was finally decided to land in Phoenix. The winds were down to 35 now and it was possible, but not ideal. The descent was like a roller coaster, which for a coaster lover like me with the true gospel of Christ and Plan of Salvation knowledge, I was rather calm. Needless to say I can’t say that for everyone aboard the aircraft. Palms were sweaty and the guy across the row from me was “hating life”. In all seriousness, it was little crazy looking out the window and seeing the wings move up and down as the plane tried to touch down on the runway. After we landed, the stewardess let out a “WHOOHHH”. Then the pilot came on saying that was better than a ride at Disneyland. I knew I probably had to hurry but that was the small of it. I walked out and after checking the screens, my flight was on time it said. We arrived in Phoenix at 4:20 and my flight was leaving at 4:10. I am freaking out cause remember, really important interview in Tampa tomorrow at 9AM. I started walking missionary pace to the door to see if by some chance it was still there. My gate was A30 and we exited A14 so I felt I was close. When you are thinking you just missed a flight your mind doesn’t work the way God intended it to. I saw the first sign directed to A30 so I followed but the ports lowered: A10, A7, A4. Thinking this was wrong I turned around and headed back to where I came from. Then the public announcement came across saying, “Flight 536 to Tampa is in final boarding, report ASAP to Gate A30 to Tampa”. This put me in panic mode. I had no idea where this stupid gate was. I switched directions probably 4 times before I realized gates A15-A30 are at a different part of the airport. A30 wasn’t close at all. I had an entirely full backpack and a carry-on suitcase. I didn’t and couldn't care so I started sprinting in the gate's direction weaving in and out of people (the airport was packed). I felt like a member of the Callister family during Christmas (HOME ALONE). The walking escalators helped as I was moving like a cheetah. In the midst of this craziness, it felt like my backpack was open. I turned around to find my backpack is wide open. I was probably 2 seconds from all the stuff dumping out including a new laptop computer. I would say tender mercy from God that I felt it. I sat my backpack down to zip it up just as the walking escalator ended. Of course, the waist straps on backpack got entirely stuck. I tried to get the thing out but had to use my Hercules strength to pull my backpack loose and break the straps free. They were really more of an accessory to the backpack than a necessity. By this time, my sprinting body was needing more oxygen than I could get to it. I can thank the fat cells for that. Sprinting down the last corridor I finally saw A30. The door was still open! Breathing like a 90 year old with asthma, I arrived at the gate and walked through a full plane to my seat. It was the craziest experience that I have had in quite some time and wish it upon no one. Anyway, the reason this entry is a book is 'cause wrote it on a flight going three quarters of the way across the country on a plane with no TV or movies. What else is a guy supposed to do? Ok, now off to the interviews...