Ryan and Ashley

Youth Conference and Utah

2010-04-17T15:25:00.001-07:00

We survived youth conference! We had 9 kids and they were all pretty awesome. Throughout the three days we watched and acted out different stories from the Book of Mormon it was really cool listening to the kids testimonies and realizing that they were actually listening to us. Ryan did great as Samuel the Lamanite he made his own costume (see below) and no we dont have a sewing machine. I was very impressed.

Simon, Max, and Aiden.
Baby Brynn-4 months and baby Olivia- 1 month. Arent they sooo cute. Brynn is so chubby and smiles so much. Olivia is just so tiny and adorable. They are going to be so cute when they get older.

Ryan had a training for work at Novell in Provo for 4 days and I decided to tag along with him. We were able to get conference tickets for saturday afternoon, which was of course wonderful. It was so crowded and cold. I forgot to bring a coat (it was 80 degrees here in Texas) luckily I borrowed one from Lauren. When the boys went to priesthood session the girls and kids got together and dyed eggs and I watched a dance session from the little girls (im so sad I forgot my camera) The next week I got to go shopping with my mom and see my new little cousins Brynn and Olivia and Ryan and I tried to eat at all of our favorite places before we left. Oh how we miss Cafe Rio, Rumbi, Taco Time, Noodles & Co., and Ryan's IN-N-OUT.

San Antonio

2010-03-12T15:03:00.000-08:00

We went to San Antonio for about 4 days last week and we had a blast. It was fun walking and eating on the river-walk and pretty much just being lazy. We walked around the river-walk and took the little boat tour our guide was pretty funny. One of my favorite things was the Alamo, it was actually pretty interesting because I didn't really know the whole story of the battle. Ryan loved looking at the old knives and guns. Across the street from the Alamo was Ripleys Believe it or not and Guinness World Records and we decided to spend a couple of hours there. I think it was more for little kids but we still had fun. One night we got tickets (thanks mom and dad) to go to this club/singing bar thing called Howl at the Moon and there are two pianos facing each other and they have a battle by playing songs and having the audience sing along with them. It was actually really fun.

On our way home we stopped at some shopping outlets just outside of Austin and while we were there we were robbed!!! Well kind of, Ryan left his card in the ATM machine (this is like the 3rd time he has done this so I say he is not allowed to use the ATM anymore haha, what do you think?) and some wonderful person took it and decided to go on a $300 shopping spree, how fun for them! Also it was at Nike of all places I would of have least gone to a better store than that! Well luckily we figured out after about an hour and called and canceled the card. We have already been refunded the amount and Ryan got his new card in the mail today so I am happy about that but I just cant believe that someone would do that, I guess I am to trusting of people.

Well about a couple a weeks ago we were asked by the stake presidency if we wanted a volunteer opportunity. Hmm, that sounds suspicious to me... it turns out that the stake youth conference is coming up here next week and they were in need of some parent couples to be in charge of about 15 teenagers. Well I was thinking ok this could be fun, until I found out that it was camping for 3 days with no running water and out houses. Like REAL camping! I have to admit Im not excited for the whole camping part but after talking to Ryan I think it will be fun and a great opportunity. Ryan was also asked to star as Samuel the Lamanite in one of the skits. They are doing a Book of Mormon theme and going through all the major stories with skits. I think Ryan is actually excited about this because if you didn't know he used to be in plays in musicals in high school. I cant wait to take pictures of that!

I'm Back

2010-02-28T16:17:00.001-08:00

Im pretty sure nobody checks this anymore but I am really going to try to be better this year. I need to document our lives more I think it is cool those books you can make from your posts and I want to eventually do one for each year. But I actually need to make posts at least weekly right? I mean if I would have waited a couple more months it would have been a year since my last post Wow haha, not good. So anyways what we have been up to:

We had a great Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas luckily we were able to spend some of those holidays with family.

We both have new callings in our ward Ryan is with the cub scouts and is loving it, and the boys really like him as well. The picture is from the Blue and Gold banquet he was helping with one of the games. I am with the activity/achievement/faith in God-girls what ever you want to call it. It has been very fun, at first there were 24 girls, it was a little overwhelming! then they split them into a younger and older group which is way more manageable and I have about 12 of the younger girls. They say the funniest things like last week one of the girls called me Ashley instead of Sis. Johnson and some of the other girls were like "your name is Ashley? weird I thought it was just Sis Johnson" they just couldn't believe that I had a normal name and now they all want to call me Ashley not Sis. Johnson.

We have been in our townhouse almost a year now (Im going to get some pictures up of that in my next post) and we just signed another 13 month lease so I guess we are here to stay for at least another year.

Ryan has been busy with work and is now doing a monthly Novell newsletter which is great I can tell he really enjoys it. We have thought about moving back to Utah but he just wouldn't have as good of a job as he does now. So even though it is hard being away from family we feel blessed to have such good work opportunities that we will stay here until something better comes along. I actually quit my job about a month ago and am looking for a full time position near Keller. I was not happy at my last office and was so scared to quit because I didn't have another job lined up but I got the guts to finally do it. I am so glad Im not working there anymore but at the same time it is a little sad because I miss some of the girls and my patients. I have been staying busy temping and doing interviews but haven't found anything yet. Hopefully I will soon, but I am being a little picky.

We are going to San Antonio this week for a little vacation we are really excited because neither of us have been there. I will definitely be posting about that.

What's Happening??

2009-06-16T19:06:00.002-07:00

I think I am the worst blogger ever, well we have been busy thats my excuse :)

1. Ryan's birthday!!! He turned the big 30 I cant believe that he is that old... just kidding. I love him soooo much he is the best husband and friend ever. He is getting a gun for his birthday but he just hasnt decided which one yet, he needs to do more research. Im sure I will post a picture of him holding it proudly when he finally decides.

2. Our 3 year anniversary! I cant believe we have been married that long it seems like yesterday we got married. Ryan was super romantic and he planned this great date. He rented a limo and we went to this restaurant in down town Fort Worth and ate on the roof. He talked to the chef before hand and we had a dinner and special dessert just for us!! It was so wonderful. And we did take pictures but...

3. We cannot find our camera! AHHH It has so many pictures on it we will be very sad if we cant find it. We just had it last weekend but now it is no where to be found. Thus the reason this post only has one picture :(

4. Stephanie's (ryan's sister) wedding. We flew to Utah for her wedding June 6th. We had so much fun seeing everyone and the wedding was beautiful and Stephanie was of course gorgeous. We got to meet 2 new babies in the family little Scotty (Jimmy and Angela's) baby and little Aubree (Aaron and Camille's) baby girl they are sooo adorable. It was a quick trip but we were so glad that we could go.

5. Soooo while we were in the temple waiting for everything to start in walks PRES MONSON!!!! He was there to do the sealing!! It was very cool, Ryan and I got to shake his hand (and I haven't washed it since j/k) He is the nicest person ever he was a lot taller and bigger than i had imagined and he was just cracking jokes left and right. I guess he had dated Stephanie's husband's grandma and they had kept in touch all this time. Anyway it was a day i will never forget. He gave us some good advice "the secret ingredient for a long loving marriage is to pray together every night before you go to bed"

6. I have a whole week off over 4th of July so we are going back to Utah and Idaho to see family and friends we are so excited to spend more time with everyone and just hang out and pretty much do nothing.

*hopefully we find our camera and can post pictures later.

Dog park and Fall out boy concert

2009-04-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, do you remember us? The Johnson's, Ryan and Ashley???

Fall Out Boy, one of my favorite bands, came to Dallas this weekend and I had been wanting to see them but I had forgot about it. So luckily we were able to get tickets like an hour before the concert started. yay! They were great like they always are, one of their openers was 50Cent??? What! strange I know. Ryan was dancing to one of his songs and got quite an audience and compliments on his dancing. One of these days I will secretely film him and you can all witness his crazy dance mooves.

We have found some dog parks around our area to take Stuart to and he LOVES them! He is still a little shy especially with bigger dogs, he runs to me or Ryan and wants us to pick him up. He is such a little baby, haha. This little girl chihuahua loved Stuart and followed him around the whole time, I dont know how he felt about her.
So the dog park was a success except for the fact about 2.5 seconds after we had been there I stepped in dog poop!!!

We have been soooooo busy lately. We moved into a town home in the Fort Worth area, and we love it. We now have 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths and a garage!!! It seems so huge compared to our last apartment. We are still organizing and stuff so pictures will come soon. But we are getting our bedroom set delivered this friday and we are so extremely excited so we will put some pics up of that.
Our new ward is really nice, even though it took about 4 different wards to figure out where we belonged (our town house address is so new it isnt on the maps and, the wards kept sending us to other wards, this lasted like 3 or 4 different sundays, haha)
I am still working at the same dentist office even though it is a drive sometimes, Ryan is now working from home and has his own office, he loves it. Stuart loves it too. We looking forward to the warmer weather so we can try out our new pool. We love visitors!!!

My Valentine

2009-02-15T19:19:00.001-08:00

We had a great valentines day! I love getting flowers from Ryan he is so thoughtful. We stuffed ourselves at PF Changs, If you havent tried their banana dessert you should, its our favorite! Then we went to Coraline in 3D it was awesome, a little strange, but good. I hope everyone had a great Valentines day also.

No More!

2009-02-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

I am getting laser eye surgery tomorrow! I am so excited but very nervous. I hope everything goes ok!

Dallas World Aquarium

2009-02-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

After the fish we went to a vegitarian restaraunt called Cosmic Cafe, we had hummus and spinach enchiladas I thought it was pretty good, but interesting. There was a meditation room upstairs to use before you ate, we didnt try it though maybe next time.
Over the weekend we went to the Dallas Aquarium it was a lot bigger than I thought and had more than just fish. I was actually impressed, they said that they have weddings and receptions there also, yikes, I think that would be kinda weird.

These owls were very spooky, notice the eyes.

These were soooo cool.

This little sloth was so cute but he wouldnt look at the camra, he was so curious.

We are still alive

2009-01-18T19:25:00.001-08:00

We are still here, I promise! Its sad I think I figured out that the older you get the faster time goes by, I cant believe its already 2009!!! I have a lot of new years resolutions but that is for another post. We are still living in Texas we are actually considering moving into a bigger apartment. The houses are so cheap here everybody thinks we are crazy for not buying a house but if Ryan ever gets a job offer back in Utah we dont want to deal with trying to sell a house. Ryan is enjoying working from home (I'm a little jealous) another reason for a bigger apartment so he can actually have an office instead of in the middle of the family room haha! I am getting used to working full time and I love it, my patients are so fun and different.

We went to the Melting Pot for the first time, it was an awesome experience.

My work christmas party, we went to Nobu (a sushi restaraunt) and a club, it was fun.

Ryan, me, and Audrey, (hygienist that I work with)

We were able to fly home for a couple of days to visit family, it was so fun. It was so good seeing everybody and celebrating christmas. We went to an ugly sweater party, we acted out the nativity story and had lots of food and of course shopping. Unfortunately I didnt take much pictures :-( (Why do I always do that!) We did take a couple of Ken and Gina's new yorkie puppy, she was so adorable. I want another puppy I think Stuart needs a friend, but Ryan says no.

This is Emma with her new puppy.

Can I have another one please.......

Thanksgiving and B-day

2008-11-30T19:13:00.001-08:00

Homemade carmel apple pie, it was soooo good.

For Thanksgiving break we decided to drive down to Tomball, TX (1 hr north of Houston) where our friends Jaclyn, Damon and Madden live. We were so proud of our very first Thanksgiving meal we had to take a picture. Everything is homemade! Even the stuffing, it was delicious!!!

Here we are gettting the turkey ready. As you can tell I was the supervisor, I cant handle touching raw meat. EWWW

Whoo hoo! The big 24, I am getting so old.

Dont worry it is just a butter knife and we took it away as soon as we noticed, haha.

Jaclyn bought me a tiara to wear to dinner and a little girl asked me if I was a princess, she thought I was Snow White, hahahahaha. We had so much fun, thank you Jaclyn and Damon for a great thanksgiving and b-day and also to my little Ryan- I LOVE YOU!

MOM and DAD!

2008-11-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

My mom and dad came to visit us for a couple of days, it was really good seeing them. We showed them around the area and went to lunch, ice cream and shopping (of course) We cant wait to see them and everyone else for christmas.

I decided to take a sewing 101 class that my ward was offering (keep in mind that I have never even touched a sewing machine) and I made this!!!! Can you believe it, dont ask me how long it took me or look at it up close, but it looks pretty good...right? Ya the pattern is kinda funny but they dont have much of a selection at walmart. I am thinking of purchasing a sewing machine, but we will see.

My mom modeling her new apron. She looks just like Betty Crocker.

Waaaaaay behind.

2008-11-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

Puttin out the vibes

Ryan was the only one who dressed up at work

How adorable is that?

Even thought he looks depressed, Stuart really loves Halloween... really he does.

Well, this is pretty much embarrassing that I am just putting up halloween pictures. But Ryan was so proud of his costume he spent many hours at goodwill finding the perfect ensemble so I had to post them.

*dont ask what i am...i dont know?

** we are not really sure what Ryan is either.

Boys Weekend.......plus 1 girl.

2008-11-01T13:45:00.001-07:00

This post is a little late, but I guess a little late then never right. A couple weeks ago Ryan's brother and 3 nephews came to visit us from Utah. It was a packed little apartment but we had lots of fun and cant wait for them to come visit us again!

BBQ time!!!

We went to the Dallas fair and they had a bunch of animals, this giraffe was sooooo cute!

Whoo hooo go Jessica Simpson!! Actually she was pretty bad people were walking away so sad. We didnt see Tony Romo though.

Trying to act tough

For some reason Ryan stands out.

It was a busy couple of days, when they first got here we took them to our favorite place to eat Rosa's Cafe yummm. Then they went to the BYU devotional I didnt go but they said it was awesome. The next day was the big game, they didnt play very good but it was still fun (I had fun painting Ryan's face) Friday night we went to the fair, lots of good food, and animals. Saturday we went to Six Flags which was a blast Brigham was braver than me on the rides. We went to church on Sunday and then the left on Monday. It was a busy weekend!

Stuart and the Gang

2008-10-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

When I returned home, after taking Ken and the Boys to the airport, Stuart came bouncing down the stairs right past me and started looking around, wondering where Ken, Blake, Brandon, and especially Brigham went. He was very concerned. We went outside and he dragged me over to the car so he could search for the missing boys. After checking in the front, back, and under both seats, he decided that they must be in the apartment. He diligently inspected every inch of the apartment, including behind the couch twice. Even though he is very tired and worn out from the last few days, he gets excited and runs to the stairs (so he can see the door) every time he hears kids run by outside.

During Ken and 'the boys' short stay here, Brigham taught Stuart a few commands including:

- "Calm down", which means: "Quit playing tug-of-war and let me have the toy."

- "Sit", "Lay Down", and "Roll Over". Sometimes Stuart would do all of them at once before Brigham could finish the commands, in anticipation of getting the treat.

- "Do you want a belly rub?": at this command Stuart would immediately submit and roll on to his back with his paws in the air.

Initially with strangers on his normal bed (the couch), Stuart wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. But by Sunday night, a worn out Brigham fell asleep with his hand on a sleeping Stuart's belly. It sure is a hard life for little friends. I am sure Stuart will be looking forward to the next time he gets to visit his friends back in Utah and Idaho.

Cabella's

2008-09-28T09:51:00.001-07:00

So on Saturday we decided to take a trip to cabella's, we are thinking of investing in some really nice sleeping bags, so we wanted to check them out. I guess this one is the biggest Cabella's in the nation, it was HUGE (230,000 square feet compared to the tiny 150,000 sq ft one in Lehi)! We had a lot of fun checking out the animals and fish. We went to a shooting range and I totally beat Ryan with points, I am a really good aim.

Work is going good for both of us. I am still getting used to having a full time job but I really love it. I get to meet some really nice (also some strange) people every single day and it is pretty fun. It makes the day go by so fast, also the weeks, I cant believe that it is almost October!!! Ryan is going to give an update on his job, I'm sure you are all wondering what is going on with AIG.

Everything is just business as usual for me at AIG. Since I am not an employee of AIG, I haven't had to worry as much as some of the people I work with. The majority of business units, including the one I work with, shouldn't be directly affected too much (hopefully). As a matter of fact, here in Fort Worth they have just hired a number of new employees, and AIG has re-confirmed their request for 2 more (for a total of 5) dedicated engineers from Novell.

Austin

2008-09-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

Shopping buddies!

Bath time
What a cute baby

Girls night out!!!!

I had a couple days off of work so I decided to go visit my friend Jaclyn. We always have so much fun together its just like we are back in Rexburg, the good old days. I got to see her cute little baby Madden I cant believe how big and chubby he is getting, he is so adorable. I cant wait to go back.

6 Flags

2008-09-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday we kind of decided spur of the moment to go to six flags, and it was so much fun! They had some awesome and scary rides and I decided that maybe I am getting older because some of the rides gave me a major headache or made me pretty sick. I used to be more of a daredevil whats happening?? But Ryan is older than me and he was fine so that doesnt make any sense...We would go on a wild ride and then a calmer one so that I wouldnt puke. On one of the "rides" we went on we were the only couple without kids haha. It was one of those 3D movie kind where the seats move, and I thought it was actually kind of fun. We will definitely go back because we didnt get time to go on all of the rides especially the brand new Tony Hawk one-the line was like an hour and a half long. And if you live by us you should come too! Ya, Ryan thinks that he is as tough as Superman.

*And yes i know we pretty much have the same shirt on and no we didnt plan it, but neither of us wanted to change.

I'm a working woman!!!!! (finally)

2008-09-04T12:25:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited that I finally have a job. It is a really nice office with a cool dentist I am glad that I was patient and didnt take the first job offered to me. I start on monday and I work really long days monday and tuesday, not as long days on wednesday and thursday and only a half day on friday. I am pretty nervous but I think I will love it. Im kind of sick of temping and having to go to a different office everyday.

I want to be a COWBOY baby!

2008-08-29T11:54:00.001-07:00

So Ryan thinks that because we live in Texas now he has to be a cowboy.This includes wearing my pool hat and having a mustache and handlebars, while buttoning up his shirt all the way.

New Do!

2008-08-27T12:51:00.001-07:00

So, i finally did it last friday. I am still getting used to it, i dont love it yet. My hair was sooo long it was almost to my belly button! After the girl cut it she went around the salon showing it to everyone, it was funny. It is nice not to use as much shampoo and conditioner and also it doesnt take an hour to blow dry, yay! It is really good for the humidity in Texas.
I am planning on donating it to either locks of love, or the pantene one, i dont know which one yet. I keep taking it out of the bag and looking at it (Ryan thinks I am strange) I just still cant believe that I had that much hair! I better mail it off soon or I might keep it... now that would be strange.

Look at all that hair. haha I am a good actor.

Should I do it???

2008-08-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

Cut my hair that is...

Maybe not exactly like this probably a little longer.

I have been wanting to do it for like a year now, but i am such a chicken. My hair is sooo thick i just dont know if it will turn out good.

So, what do you think?

Olympics

2008-08-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

Mandy and Andrew invited us to their house to watch the opening ceremonies and they were amazing! It was crazy how a lot of things were done by actual people and not computers it must have taken a lot of practice. It was great. We also had chinese food to celebrate, thanks for inviting us!

When the chinese team was parading around Yao Ming was holding hands with the little nine year old boy in the picture named Lin Hao. He had survived the May 12 earthquake and managed to pull himself out of the rubble and went back to save two other classmates from his school. When they asked why he did that he said "I had to, I was the hall monitor" they also said that Lin encouraged the kids to sing songs to keep up their spirits while rescuers worked to free them. Awww isnt that the cutest thing, he is such a brave little boy.

Team Edward!!!

2008-08-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

This creepy couple was walking around, I think they were just trying to advertise their business. They make really vampire teeth that they glue to your canines and it is permanent. Yikes. It looked so real, maybe that would be fun for halloween but not every day of the year.

AHHH she is going to bite me.

Last friday night Jayne and I decided to go to the Breaking Dawn release party and see what it was all about. I am not a die hard fan of the series but they are a fun read. Holy Cow! There were so many people there girls and boys. It was at a two story barnes and noble and it was packed! There were a ton of teenagers dressed in prom dresses and wedding dresses but there were also tons of older women with t-shirts that said "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob", "Edward can bite me" haha. It was really funny. We also got our picture taken but we didnt dress up so they gave us some props.

I beg to differ...

2008-07-29T21:19:00.001-07:00

So when I (Ryan) try the baby prediction tool, I get a different picture... I think I must be better at this.

I think he looks like a an engineer...

Our BABY!!!

2008-07-29T11:12:00.001-07:00

HAHAHA! This website makemebabies.com is so funny. The first picture of us gave us the second baby Where did that red hair come from??? I think he is pretty cute though. I tried it again with some different pictures and that is where the top one came from. That baby is supposed to be a girl, i think she looks kinda freaky. I hope we have cuter kids than this. haha

So, as you can see I have some spare time on my hands...I havent got a job yet, but maybe that is because I am being a little picky. I have had 2 offers and i turned down one because it didnt seem right for me they were a little more concerned about numbers and reaching goals than about helping the patient. The other one I am still contemplating. I had an interview yesterday that went great and I would really like to work there. But it will be a waiting game of at least 2 more weeks. Wish me luck!

NRH2O!!!

2008-07-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we decided to go the the water park North Richland Hills it was just 10 min away and we had a blast. I was surprised that I was brave enough to go on some of the rides Ryan's favorite part was the lazy river. Ryan was a little scared of the water so he sometimes would wear a lifejacket. After there was a little firework show it was great. We need to make plans to go to Schlitterbaun everyone here talks about how wonderful it is hopefully we can go this summer.

I have to explain that 3rd picture from the top. After the fireworks we were looking to see how the pictures turned out and we came across this one. Doesnt it look like a chubby naked lady laying on her side (like those old victorian photos)?? We couldnt figure out where that came from... pretty creepy! Must be some mixture of the lights i guess.

Waiting for daddy

2008-07-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

When it gets closer to the time Ryan gets home from work this is what Stuart does. Sometimes he will go halfway down the stairs and sit, or sometimes all the way to the bottom if he's feeling extra excited. Its so funny he wont even play with me, sometimes he will sit there for hours. Its so cute (but kinda sad)

Long time no blog...

2008-07-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

I'm just eating my hat

When ryans hair was long...its so cute!

Little Hayden at the pool (this is before I flew out to Tx)
Hayden and Simon with their noodles
Coming up with their next master plan...
Happy B-Day MOM
I think he likes it!

So I cant believe it is the middle of July, this summer is going by so fast! Ryan has been keeping busy at work while I have been looking for a job. It has actually been harder than I thought to find a job, there is like a dentist office on every corner and nobody is hiring. I have had some interviews and am waiting to here back from them though. Hopefully I will get one soon, im getting kinda bored.

For the 4th of July we went to our friend Jaclyn and Damons house in Austin and hung out with them for a few days. Their baby Madden is getting so big! I can bearly hold him! He is adorable and sooo chubby.

We have found out that we have A LOT of STUFF! So we are trying to figure out if we want to move into a 2 bedroom here at our apt complex, I really hope they let us. It would be awesome to have an extra bedroom.

I made it!!!

2008-06-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to texas!! I cant believe that i am all done with school it doesnt feel real to me yet. I am an RDH whoo hooo! Ryan took a few days off of work to hang out with me so we have been sleeping in late and relaxing and doing some sight seeing.

I had my first job interview today and overall i think it went pretty good. I am going to do a working interview next week and then we will see what happens. I am also taking my resume around to some local offices here in Keller. i just have to wait until I get my license hopefully it will come soon.

All of our stuff (including my car) wont be here for like another week or two :-( When our stuff gets here I dont know where we are going to put it all. We are thinking of getting a new apartment but we will see. Or should we buy a house... we cant decide which would be a better choice, what do you think?

Stuart is having fun going on walks around the riverwalk and likes to say hi to his friends (especially Lola)

Goodbye Nursery

2008-06-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Trennen loves to pull Amber around in the stroller.
Jordan just hanging out.
Moving to the music

It was harder than I thought to get everybody together for a picture.
Say CHEESE! (Amber, Jordan, Trenen, Kelsey, Parker and Abril)

This was my last sunday in nursery and it was bittersweet. These kids are so adorable and so smart. The usually do pretty good during the lesson time and love pointing to Jesus' picture and saying his name. Today we learned about our ears, we learned that they are very important and they help us to hear things like animal sounds, it was a fun lesson. I am going to miss them (Im not going to miss trying to figure out who is poopy, nobody admits to it) I had a bunch of fun. Goodbye!

oatmeal

2008-05-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

I remember that part Mom told me about it 'sticking to your ribs'... But I have recently learned (probably 're-learned') that it sticks equally as well to my khakis, if not better.

That's okay though, I'm sure this bleach or 'sneaker cleaner' will take care of it.

Being a role model

2008-05-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

While I was brushing my teeth I could hear Stuart 'fake crying', which usually means he has hid a toy in a corner, (yeah, what kind of hiding place is that?), or in the closet or inside one of my shoes (it makes putting my shoes on, like a game-show... "Lets see what's in Shoe #2?! Yeah!! A raw-hide bone!"). It is really a fun game, because he will hide his toy (usually really badly hid) and then want me to come find it. Then he runs off with it and hides it again after I quit chasing him.
After I rinsed my mouth out, I walked over to the box he was standing attentively next to, and as soon as he knew that I was coming over to him, he grabbed and shook my pair of socks that were sitting next to him.

To train him not to chew on shoes and clothes, I don't play with Stuart if he is using something that isn't a toy. So I said “no, Stuart” and turned and went back in the bathroom to floss, because I didn't want to get in trouble with my hygienist.

Sure enough, within a minute or two he was softly whimpering away, like a professional. But, I was pretty determined to not to give in and play with him, because he had been doing really well at stuff like that for awhile, and I didn't want to confuse him.

So when I finished flossing, I walked sternly over to tell him "NO!", but before I could, he grabbed my pair of socks again and flung them to the other side of his body, revealing that he had been hiding one of his mini Milk Bone treats underneath (partially).

He just stood there with a little smile, and I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry because he just wanted some attention, so he responded by covering the treat back up, and then crouching, growling and wagging his mini tail like it was a wind up toy.

In summary, I hope we can be more patient and less quick to judge than I was. I don't think that Stuart is usually much of a role model, but he sure is quick to forgive and forget.

Also always remember to brush AND floss your teeth before going to bed. Ashley’s orders.

Happy b-day

2008-05-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Brock Ralph Shackett!!! Happy 22nd Birthday!!! Man, you are getting pretty old! Hope you do something fun. Good luck to you and Cole in CA, you will both do good, I know it!!!

Happy Mothers Day!!!

2008-05-11T14:25:00.001-07:00

Happy mothers day mom! You are such a great mother and I am so glad we are such good friends. Hope you have a wonderful day! Happy mothers day Lynette, I am so glad that Ryan has such a wonderful mother. You raised him to be such a great person and husband.
Happy mothers day to everyone else who is a mother or is going to be a mother!!!!

**remember mom "you are a good mommy because you make us cupcakes."
*** also I just found out yesterday that I passed my clinical boards, YAY! No more tests!

2008-05-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I passed the written national boards and also the written and clinical anethesia. My whole class passed above the national average!! I am so glad that part is over, now I am just checking the mail everyday for the results to my clinical boards, I think I will find out within a week or two. Only six more weeks of school to go and I'm done forever (well unless I want to get my master's...dont get your hopes up dad) haha

I think I am going to start sending my resume out to some offices around the Keller area. SCARY! I havent had a job in like 2 1/2 years!

***I just looked at some of my recent posts and they are all about school. How boring. That is all that is going on in my life right now, sorry.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!

2008-04-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Baking cookies at x-mas time at my house in IF
We had to go to the hospital together after our car accident
Valentines day 2006 (our first valentines day)
Our very first date!
My birthday 2006

Halloween 2006
4 wheeling in mexico

Snowboarding at Targhee

Today, April 30th is Ryan's 29 birthday!!! I really wish I could be with him to celebrate, but I was lucky enough to visit him for about a week during my spring break (thanks dad) I am back in Utah now. We had tons of fun together and I hope these next six weeks goes by way fast.

Happy Birthday Hunny, I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Graduation Pics

2008-04-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Johnson, Stephanie, Ryan, Me, Lynette, Randy and Angela
Stephanie, Angela, and I
Jenny and I
My parents (mom you blinked)
Grandparents
Little sis Jayde
Mr and Mrs Johnson

Thanks to everyone who came, it was great having everyone there!

Graduation night

2008-04-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

So I had a lot of family here for graduation and all of the little ones didnt go but when we got home and walked in the house we found this...

Grace, Hayden, Matthew, Simon, Max (Logan was upstairs playing the piano)

These are the words to the song:
Ashley's Graduation, no more school or education
4 years of school isn't very cool, my head is aching from all this graduation.
Ashley's graduation, no more school or education.
My head is aching for some more caking, lets have a ball just don't eat it all.
Ashley's graduation no more school or eduation.
WE LOVE YOU ASHLEY!!!!

Isnt that the cutest thing! They worked on it while we were all at my graduation. I think they are pretty good songwriters Dont you?

I will put some pictures from graduation up later because blogger is not letting me upload them for some reason :-(

GRADUATION!

2008-04-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

April 18th at 6:00 at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo, UT !!YAY! I am so excited that I am finally graduating. I feel like I have been going to school forever, nonstop. Even though I am graduating I am not officially done until about the middle of June. My school has two tracks one is an associate and one is a bachelor program so throughout the two years we have taken most of the classes the same but the bachelor students had to take some extra and we have an extra month and a half at the end. We wanted to all graduate together so that is why I am graduating before I am really done. I am a little jealous of the associate students though because the are really free after April 18th.

I still dont know my results to the national boards test that I took last month, hopefully we will find out soon. I am nervous I really hope I passed.

On May 2nd I am taking my anesthesia boards, and I am actually not very nervous for that one because I have given so many shots lately I cant wait to have that license. Also I take my clinical boards (where I actually clean someone's teeth) on May 3rd and I am very nervous for that. Luckily I have found a board patient that meet all of the qualifications (basically has never been to the dentist in their whole life and a mouth full of calculus and plaque) and he is really nice his name is Gustavo and he only speaks spanish so I am hoping that he is reliable and will show up on May 3rd...I told him it was MUY MUY IMPORTANTE! But also I am paying him money so I am pretty sure he will be there. Well wish me luck, I will keep you updated.

Idaho-Weekend with the family.

2008-04-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

Brock and Logan love the camera.

The boys after priesthood session.

Ready to shop!
Hayden loves the oreo pizza.
We went to my favorite pizza place, Craigo's!
Do you like my new sunglasses??

After clinic on thursday I drove home to Idaho Falls to see my family. We had fun; we went shopping, made cookies, watched conference together and went and saw Drillbit Taylor (there were some funny parts but it wasn't a super awesome movie) I hope to spend as much time with my family before I move out to Texas, I've never lived very far from home before, so its going to be hard.

Good Luck to Brock and Cole!!! They are both going to San Jose for the summer to sell alarm systems for Pinnacle. I know they will do good because they are both good salesmen. Good luck and I will miss you (especially at my graduation)

I support girl scouts!

2008-03-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

Yay, my girl scout cookies are finally here. I have been waiting for almost two months. I dont really like any cookies that arent homemade but these are the only exception. My favorite are the samoas and the thin mints...so I got three boxes of each! At the time of ordering I didnt realize that Ryan wouldnt be here to help eat them, oh well. So between me, Brooke and grandma we have about 20 boxes of girl scout cookies. I wonder how long they will last??

Goodbye My Love...

2008-03-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

So Ryan made it safely to Texas early this morning. It was a 22 hour drive and he made it in about a day and a half. I already miss him so much (and Stuart). I hope these next three months go by super fast. I am grateful that I am so busy, hopefullay that will help me not miss him so much. I have less than TWO WEEKS!! until I take my national boards and I am scared to death. Wish me luck!

I found this really cute picture of Stuart and Ryan. When he was a puppy he loved to sit on Ryan's shoulder and just relax...how cute!

TEXAS!

2008-02-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I had to go to the Utah Dental Association meeting in SLC and me and my partner Jenny gave a presentation on eating disorders and how they affect the mouth, we gave it like 100 times. We didnt win but a group from our school did. After the convention I flew out to Texas to meet up with Ryan. We had so much fun! We went to visit Austin were our friends Jaclyn and Damon live (it is only 2 hours away!) and their new baby Madden. We also were able to pick out an apartment and put a down payment on it. The area is really nice and I think we will like it, especially the weather. Ryan is still in Texas for another week then he is flying back here. He will stay here in Utah for another week or so to get all packed and then he is driving out to Texas for good :-(

Welcome baby Madden!

2008-02-06T17:26:00.001-08:00

My best friends Jaclyn and Damon Thayn just welcomed their new little boy into the world. His name is Madden Mathias Thayn and he was born at 4 this morning he weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and is 21 inches. He looks so cute and I cant wait to meet him!! Congrats Jaclyn and Damon!

What a great example of a real man...

2008-02-02T22:25:00.000-08:00

Today was Pres. Gordan B. Hinckley's funeral. I remember my senior year in high school, my seminary teacher's name was Brother Pyper. I think the spoiled girls in my family took 'driver's ed' from him. I always thought he was a good teacher. I thought that because I think that he remembered some of the things that he had learned since he was in high school. While I was in high school, I remember that it was really important to be cool. The thing about being cool is... that you have to "be cool," to know what "cool" is... And, even if you were "cool," you had to be really careful, because you could be "cool" one day, and a week later, you could be a total dork. I remember dedicating a lot of time and energy to trying to figure out how to "be cool." That mainly involves acting like how I thoughtd the "cool kids" wanted me to act. Popular culture's idea of being a 'Real Man' is always changing.

I think it was during our winter trimester (only because I remember it being cold outside.. which in Idaho only narrows it down to 9 out of the 12 months), that we were studying the New Testament in seminary. We were talking about how Jesus Christ came to earth to show us how to live, that he was an example of how to make it back to our Heavenly home. I don't remember how it actually came about, but I remember clearly Brother Pyper having us think of what the latest movie, or the most popular band, was defining what a "real man" is. Then Brother Pyper went on and showed how through hard work, discipline, humility, service, and love, the Creator of this Earth showed us how to be a "real man."

I know that we were talking specifically about Jesus Christ, but I can't count how many times since then that I have been reminded of that while listening to President Hinckley. I don't know how much he could bench-press, or what brand of clothes he wore, but all I know of President Hinckley is "manliness." I know that he loved his his wife, and family, and respected all women. I know that he was confident in what he knew was right, whether or not it was popular. Faith... that is how he showed that he was a "real man." I am so thankful that he was the Lord's "man" while I was at such an impressionable stage of my life.

Congrats Ryan!!!

2008-02-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

Ryan has been working really hard with his new job. The last couple of weeks he was even working 15 hour days trying to fix a problem. The network at AIG went down and he was in charge of fixing it...yikes. After all of it was fixed many people wrote him and thanked him for how much time he spent working on it. He also recieved a Breakaway Award at Novell he was nominanted by one of his coworkers. I'm trying not to brag but he is soooo smart and I'm so proud of him. CONGRATS RYAN!

Phew.... move... Sundance...

2008-01-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

You can only look at something like those teeth for certain amount of time... And that time has come. You kno wwhen you get a little bit of throw-up in your mouth, but it doesn't come all the way out... just enough to taste it.... Yeah, thats how it makes me feel.

Anyway, I am still here in Provo, even though I have started my new position working with AIG. As of right now I am planning on moving out to Ft Worth around the beginning of March. I am getting a nice initiation to my new responsibilites, because I have been working late a lot of nights and for a few hours each weekend. It is going good, and I am glad that I am still in Provo with my PWA (Pretty Wife Ashley) while work is so busy, because I would probably have less patience with the people I have to help, if I didn't get see her every day.

I know everyone is thinking: "Why are you and Ashley, who are such a hip and cool couple, not at Sundance Film Festival in Sundance?" So, before I get all of these comments or emails on the topic, I will go ahead and let you all in on the details... Of, course we got a dozen or so invitations to different cool, Independant Film shows, but I heard the Freanch are rude, and Stuart couldn't find a date to go with.... So, maybe next year.

Dont Smoke!

2008-01-24T18:52:00.000-08:00

I really dont know why anyone smokes. It is the most disgusting habit ever! So my patient the other day was a really nice lady and she was also my first patient that smokes. YIKES! I dont really like the smell of smoke but it never really bothered me that bad. Well out of all the patients that I have seen since the beginning of school this was the grossest by far. I had a mask on and everything but the smell was indescribable. Also she had dark brown stains on all of her teeth that took forever to get off. It was not pretty. Dont every smoke!

We have a blog!

2008-01-15T12:58:00.000-08:00

We finally got a blog yay! I have been wanting to do this for some time but I have just been so busy lately. Well this might seem like old news but Ryan got a new job working for the insurance company AIG (he is also still employed by Novell, confusing I know) he is their DSE (dedicated support engineer) basically if the company is having any computer problems he needs to take care of them. It is a lot bigger responsiblity than his old job but I can tell that he likes it, he is very good at learning new things. With this new job he is going to have to move to Fort Worth Texas, originally they wanted him out there in December but he has been able to convince them to letting him stay until maybe the end of Feb. I am still going to dental hygine school in Orem and I love it! It is very stressfull at times (ok all the time) but I am excited that I only have about 6 months left until I graduate! I have a pretty hectic schedule plus I am studying for the national boards which are in March so I am pretty busy, wish me luck. Well thats what has been going on with us, we will keep you posted.