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.