30!

I was lucky enough to celebrate my 30th birthday in Seattle with a small grouping of my wonderful friends and family.  We were so excited to see Bob and Lynsey in their new city.  Seattle definitely looks good on those two. The world's most frequent traveler Becky made the trip up (thanks Becko!), and of course our favorite Seattle family the Whitfields were also a part of the celebration.

We had drinks downtown, a wonderful dinner at Purple Cafe, an amazing brunch at the Whitfields and then we shopped until I seriously dropped.  It was the perfect birthday weekend and I feel so lucky that each of these wonderful people helped to make it so special!  I love you guys and cannot thank you enough for making the big 3-0 such a good one for me.

 

 

 Bella even got to meet her cute new buddy Kenai. 

I was not really sure how I felt about turning 30.  30 just sounds so much older than 29.  Chris and I were on our way to Seattle on my actual birthday morning so we woke up in a hotel.   He nicely greeted me when I woke up by saying "honey, don't worry... 30 is the new 40!".  I kindly told him that I think he meant that 30 was the new 20.  But as I pondered Chris' miscomment, I realized that I was ready to move on from my 20s.  My 20s were absolutely fantastic.  I lived in a house with 8 of my best friends, married my best friend, completed two degrees, got my first job, became an auntie several times over, got the keys to my first house, planted my first garden, traveled to Fiji, Alaska, Scotland, England, Hawaii, saw the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, learned to flyfish and golf.  Yes, now that I have picked up two "lifetime" sports, I am ready.  I am ready for 30 so bring it on.  I hope that this decade brings as much joy as the last one.

Christmas Cheer

Christmas took over our house a week ago and I have to say that I love how cozy the house feels with a fire, our tree and our cute little stockings begging to be filled with goodies.  This year we got our tree from a little farm just down the road after I pleaded with Chris to not give in to Home Depot's picked over selection.  The lady who was helping us at Home Depot asked if was our first Christmas together.  I laughed and then realized it was probably because I was so bent on getting a good tree.  Anyway,  I won and I am glad I did because we paid less and our tree is perfect. 



We are so lucky that both our parents each got us a new ornament each year and passed them off to us when we got married.  I love that our tree is full of history and memories from both of our childhoods.  Two ornaments that I took special notice of this year were Bella's ornament from the first year that we got her and Santa with a chicken. I love Bella's ornament because three years later,  I still think it is such a great portrayal of our mischievous puppy.   I have never noticed our Santa with a chicken, but it is quite fitting since our neighbors both have chickens that roam their land and squawk like there is no tomorrow.

I love coming home to lights on from the inside out.  Christmas is just magical and every year I enjoy it more and more.  I also love that our Christmas card hanger is filling up, although I noticed today that I am the last Johnson to get mine out, not that that is new. . . darn punctual Johnsons/Whitfields.  With any luck from my label elf husband, ours will hit the mail this week. 

Turkey Times Two

We had two pretty perfect Thanksgivings, each with its own little snafu that we will look back and laugh about for years to come.

The first Thanksgiving was spent in McCall last weekend.  We stayed in Boise for Friday night so that we could continue our annual Warren Miller tradition and then we fittingly headed to the snow on Saturday morning.  The snafu of this Thanksgiving was that we decided to clip Bella's toenails on our own for the first time (she usually gets them done at the pet store).  Lets just say that I wouldn't suggest you bring your pup over for our grooming services.  We had not one, but two toes that bled.  Who knew that a stupid dog toenail would bleed for so long?  After an hour of waiting for it to stop, we put our creative skills to work and wrapped her little feet in washcloths and socks with medical tape around them.  I wish that I'd gotten a picture because looking back it was a pretty funny fiasco and I was also pretty proud of our medical abilities. Finally, we were on our way.

It snowed almost the whole way up to McCall as we rocked out to our Christmas tunes.  It was the first time that it really felt like the holidays.  We made it safely and started in on the cooking right away.  Between 6 adults and 4 kids, I think we had the most side dishes that I've ever seen at a Thanksgiving celebration.  They included stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, green salad, brie and spinach stuffing, and rolls.  It was a feast indeed. 

The boys.

The girls. 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids (looking less and less like kids).

We topped off our visit with a visit from the fox and a nice little walk in the snow.  Watching Bella tromp through the snow just never gets old. It was wonderful to spend the day in such a full house with such great family.

We then celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with my mom.   We started the day off going to the Park with Bella and enjoying the sun.  I have learned to appreicate these sunny days in the fall/winter here in Boise.

 

 Here is a picture of the first turkey that we made here, it was the subject of this celebration's snafu.

What could have gone wrong, you might ask?  Well, this Thanksgiving novice chef cooked it upside down. Yup, how that is possible I still don't really know.  I felt pretty dumb.  But my mom kindly told me that the gourmet chefs tell you to cook it upside down for the juiciest result.  I just thought she was lying to make me feel better so I disappointingly flipped my turkey and put the bird back in the oven so that the the right side could brown up.  Indeed, our turkey ended up being pretty good and extra juicy.   So I was not dumb at all, I was just gourmet!  It was special to be able to celebrate the holiday in our own home and be able to host my mom for the first time for Thanksgiving.  Thanks for coming over Mom to help us celebrate the holiday.

We feel pretty thankful this year.  We know that we are blessed to have so many joyous things fill our life.  We hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving (or two) as well!

Time

Today I am thankful for time.  I had an unexpected day off today and along with it was blessed with the ability to get back on top of my life.  Those of you who spend time with me know that my work life balance is nothing to brag about and that if you ask me what time I am coming home at night when I leave for work in the morning, I generally have no clue and can give a ballpark figure at best.  But what this also means is that some days the work falls from under me due to delays in deals or clients actually taking off for the holidays (like a Thanksgiving miracle).  Today was one of those days and it was awesome. In fact each day this week I left the office by two and ran errands. It is amazing how good it feels to just get stuff done.  My packages that have been sitting there forever are now mailed, my turkey is thawing in its new roaster pan, my table is set because I could not resist laying it out to see how it would look, my kitchen is ready for the cooking to begin tomorrow and I am just so happy. Although I felt bad that I had a sickie husband home today, I loved that I could make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and to sit and watch a movie with him. I know that almost everyone wishes that there were more hours in each day, but today I will go to bed thinking that I had just enough hours to do everything I wanted.  And for that, I am very very thankful

I am also thankful for these awesome new candle holders that I got on one of my errands, thank you Cost Plus.  I think that I am slightly obsessed considering that I have lit them twice already and have had them less than 24 hours. Hey, whatever makes you happy, right?

 

Tomorrow I will celebrate my second Thanksgiving of 2011 and host my first ever!  It will be a tiny gathering of me, Chris and my mom, but that sounds just about perfect for cooking my first turkey.  Hope everyone else is enjoying this time as much as I am.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Becko Does BSU Football

We were lucky enough to be blessed with a second trip from Becko this year.  Becky, an avid sports fan, came up for BSU's highly anticipated BSU v. TCU game.  It was quite fitting that she came up for an "orange out" because she runs orange through and through since she works for the SF Giants.  Because of Becky, we have so many good memories going to AT&T ball park and enjoying Giants games, so we were both pretty excited to be able to show her our town's teams.  Although the game ended in a pretty devastating loss, our weekend with Becko made up for it.  

I had to work on Friday so Chis and Becky spent the afternoon golfing a cold 8 holes.  Ruby, the golf cart, does actually have a heater and doors.  However, as they were pulling out of the driveway Chris thought it was warm enough to warrant removing the doors.  Becky, being the sweet girl that she is, probably didn't have the heart to tell Chris that a heater in a golf car is probably not much good without doors.  Brrrrrr.  They made the best of it it and probably froze a little in the process.  I was released from work and we got to meet up for dinner and Boise's best frozen yogurt, which is what I am sure our frozen Becko really needed. 

Chris and Becko attended the game the next day while I watched from warmer quarters.  It was a great game, but due to BSU's unfortunate kicking talent (sorry, but it is pretty bad), they ended up losing the game and their shot at a national championship title.  I think that they still had fun at the game despite the loss and Chris and I were both thrilled to show off Boise's pride and joy. 

Chris and I argue often over whose friend Becky really is.  Truth is, she is of course a very good friend to both of us.  But I lived with her and I still claim her as my own, which means I was pretty jealous of the golf time and game time that those two got together.  So on Sunday I took Becky where I knew Chris would not follow so that we could  have some girl time - we went shoe shopping. As sad as it is to say, shoe shopping is what made me miss having Becky around the most.  I miss the time doing silly girl things together. It was so so nice to get a weekend with a girl who we both love so much.  

And what is a Becko visit without some trampoline time. 

Thanks for coming to visit us! And thanks for the pics too.

100 Things

When I thought about what I wanted to write about being thankful for this week, I thought of about 100 things. So I thought why not write about all of them.  I cannot call it being thankful for the small things because I recognize that some of these are quite significant.  So here they are, in no particular order, 100 things/experiences that I am thankful for this year.

1. Morning sister talks.
2. Living in a city that I love.
3. A warm fire place.
4. Mint chocolate chip ice cream.
5. The candor of inspiring bloggers who open their hearts to strangers (this one changed me and I bet it will you too).
6. A wonderfully supportive family. 
7. A job that makes me use my brain every day.
8. Attending four beautiful weddings.
9. Seeing the fall colors back East.
10. Books probably written for tweens that I love (the Hunger Games was my series this year).
11. Morning walks with the Bels.
12. Discovering Brandi Carlile's music. 
13. Heated seats. 
14. Being able to say that I am in my 20s, I still have a month left people.
15. Getting to see the ocean.
16. My camera, best buy ever!
17. The Squeezebox, one of the few technologies I use every single day.
18. Fall walks. 
19. My big bath tub.
20. Being able to run Hood to Coast with such an awesome group of friends.  
21. Eating dinner on the patio. 
22. Seeing my friends become moms.
23. Soaking up the sun's summer rays.
24. Uggs.
25. Good professional mentors.
26. Christmas cards. 
27. That Bella still jumps high for her "dinner."
28. Fresh paint. 
29. Sushi. 
30. Weekends at Priest Lake.
31. Kim's lasagna.
32. The Dan Patrick Show.
33. Having Chris wash Bella for three months. 
34. Learning to golf.
35. My health. 
36. Post-it flags, I use them every day. 
37. Being able to travel to Phoenix, Sun Valley, Priest Lake, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, North Carolina, McCall and Denver in one year. 
38. The Oprah show, I am not afraid to say that I miss it dearly.
39. The magic of the first snowfall at our house.  
40. Black and white photography. 
41. Sweet potato fries. 
42. Our new porch swing.
43. Naps.
44. Our house.
45. The smell of freshly cut grass. 
46. Passing the Idaho state bar exam.
47. The courage of Chris to take a new job. 
48. Warren Miller ski films.
49. Hearing Sophie, Tyler, and Owen stories.
50. Chocolate. 
51. A great group of friends. 
52. Getting my hands dirty in my garden. 
53. GPS directions. 
54. Fishing dates with the huz.
55. Getting post cards, it seems like an art that is almost dead, but thanks to Kiki I still get a couple a year.
56. Redbox.
57. The webcasts of John Ortberg and the peace that they bring me.
58. That I have the privilege of living in the United States.
59. The service of those who protect this country.
    
60. NBC Nightly News.
61. Forgiveness.
62. Friends who made the trip to Boise to see us (including Becky's second visit, blog post to come).
63. Learning something new every single day. 
64. Ruby.
65. Amazon.com and the time that it gives me. 
66. Bananas and peanut butter. 
67. Our dreamboard.
68. Check ups at the dentist with no cavities. 
69. Washers, our favorite yard game.
70. The spring in my step when I wear new shoes for the first time. 
71. My bird feeders. 
72. Good neighbors.
73. Learning from my own mistakes. 
74. Learning from the mistakes of others. 
75. Costco's wool socks. 
76. My crockpot.
77. Shooting stars.
78. A warm cup of coffee, the newspaper and CBS Sunday Morning.
79. Chris' hard work to keep our yard looking great.
80. BBQ. 
81. College Game Day and maybe Kurk Herbstreit too.
82. Caprese salad with fresh basil and tomatoes from my garden. 
83. Making our yard our own.
84. Skiing.
85. BSU football, even with a devastating loss. 
86. The smell of the woods. 
87. Homemade chicken tortilla soup on a fall day. 
88. My glasses.
89. The shoe rack that Chris made.
90. Reminiscing with old friends.
91. Summer bike rides.
92. The sound of crickets and frogs at night.
93. Bonfires.
94. Modern Family. 
95. Spring bulbs and my new awesome bulb planting tool.
96. Sitting on the porch with a Popsicle after a run.
97. Homemade zucchini bread. 
98. 5 full years of marriage. 
99. Seeing the sun rise over Tablerock from my office.
100. Being able to document my life on this blog.

I am a lucky and grateful girl.

Thankful for the Huz

I have seen a trend picking up the past years of people posting on Facebook about things that they are thankful for each day in November.  I will not post daily, but I think it is a good thing to step back and take the time to reflect on the blessings that I have in my life during this month of November.  Today I will write about my other half, my better half. 

Chris (AKA the "Huz" and "Johnson") is quite simply a wonderful man and a wonderful husband.  He has my back if I ever need support, but he is also not afraid to tell me when I am being foolish.  He is not a man of many words himself, but he listens to my stories like he has all the time in the world.  He spends days like today when I had to go in to work making (yes, making) a picture frame and a new shoe rack that I requested.  He tackles the task of trimming my mom's tree like it is his job. 

 

My favorite moments in life are when the two of us start laughing over something stupid and sink to the floor in tears unable to speak.  Nobody else would find what we laugh about even funny, but that is why I love the guy so much.  He gets me and makes my heart smile.  We have a phrase in the Johnson household that you use when you get that overwhelming feeling of love.  It is not the same as the "I love you" that you give every day; it by nature should not be used every day.  It need not be reciprocated the moment is it uttered and almost takes away from the meaning if it is reciprocated. The phrase is heart overload.  And today I have heart overload for this man.  Thank you for all that you are, Chris.

Pumpkin Party

Getting ready for Halloween came a little late for us this year, like October 30th late.  Chris has put up with another month of a crazy work schedule for me, but we did make a little time to celebrate Halloween.  I love carving pumpkins and even though it took me until October 30th to buy the perfect pumpkin, which was semi-ruined when it rolled over on the way home and the stem popped off, we did it.  I may have burned the pumpkin seeds, but our little guys turned out pretty cute if you ask me, although not fancy which seems to be the trend.

We also had a Halloween dinner with my Dad and Robin.   I think a new tradition was born that night and next year I look forward to contributing to the goolish food and bringing my real camera to capture it all.  

My niece Kia is getting so big. Love this cute girl.  And click here for the cutest robots (including one fallen one) and the cutest "Sophie" you will ever see.  They all crack me up.  Wonder what our new baby niece or nephew will be next year. . .  

Fall Fly Fishing

Fall is my favorite time of year in Boise and with the cooler temperatures comes awesome fishing.  It's taken me a while to get in the groove and find all the good local spots since we moved here, but recently I've been lucky enough to find a couple of weekends back to back where I've been able to get out on the water and the fishing has been spectacular.  

My first weekend was up on the South Fork of the Boise River, about an hour east of town.  The weather was absolutely miserable with wind and rain, but the bugs were hatching and fish were biting (kind of counter-intuitive, but usually true).  I ended up catching a half dozen good sized fish in a short period.  It was probably the best day of fly fishing I've had.

This bad boy was just the start...

And then they kept on coming

The next weekend was closer to home in town on the Boise River.  It doesn't hurt to be out in short sleeves on October 23rd.  I also had a great day with many fish caught.

White fish just aren't as pretty as Rainbows.

Long story short, these weekends just reaffirm my love for this area.  It's too bad Ali wasn't able to join me, as I'm sure working on two back to back Sundays just isn't as much fun as fly fishing.

Douthitt Wedding

We went to Boston last week for the wedding of the last member of Chis' four best high school friends.  Lee married his sweet (and gorgeous I might add) bride Natasha in the New Hampshire hills. More on that later, but first a little about one of my new favorite cities. Neither of us had ever been to Boston and I think that we both decided we are going to have to go back.  We toured America's oldest Ballpark and I absolutely loved every minute of it.  The history that goes along with a ballpark that is 99 years old is pretty cool. 

 

My curiosity also took us out to Cambridge to see that campus of Harvard, which was also pretty amazing.  Living on the West Coast, you just don't get that kind of history.  We met up with Joel and Rachel there and then made our way to the North District to Regina's, a pizzeria that was dubbed Boston's best.  Joel actually said it was the single best pizza that he has ever had.  It was good, but I am not sure if it won that award in my book. 

Then we took off for the wedding in Franconia, New Hampshire.  I have always heard about the fall colors back East and thought, ahhh it cannot be that much better.  I was wrong.  I was awestruck by the colors.  Whole hillsides were were red with maples.  And to top it off, they had recordbreaking temperatures so we got to enjoy the gorgeous colors in shorts and t-shirts. 

 

 

The wedding itself was as beautiful as the surrounding hills.  No detail went unnoticed from the words expressed during the ceremony, the beautiful fall-colored flowers, the display of our name tags delicately hung on the fence at the reception, I could go on and on.  It was just impeccable and so much fun.  Lee and Natasha were beaming with joy along with both of their wonderful families. Thanks so much for making us a part of your special day, guys.  Congratulations! 

 

 

I think that this was big enough for the six of us.