Fun weekend.

This weekend seemed shorter than normal, but it was still a blast. On Friday night, Mike and I met up with Curt and Naomi and went to the Josh Ritter concert at The Fillmore. I hadn't heard of him before, but he was seriously entertaining! He easily rivaled a good Guster show! He is always showing this huge goofy smile and obviously loves making music. It was a blast!

Saturday was fairly lazy. I had a very long day Friday and slept in. Then I had work at job #2 in the evening.

Sunday we spoke in church, enjoyed just being together all afternoon, and then had dessert and played games with our friends Jaymie and Blaine. We had a great time! I can hardly believe the weekend is already over. I swear they seem shorter every time they come around..

There's a frog in my throat.

Wow, as I was looking for the proper picture to post at the beginning of this very short story, I was reminded of my love for frogs. When I was a little girl, I always loved them! I still do, and I'm not sure why--could it be the slime, the serious hops, or the fact that my body tends to get laryngitis more than others? I think it may be their petite nature, mad swimming abilities, and colorful, patterned skin. Anyway. One day, my mom was at a Relief Society meeting at our neighbors' house, and the little boys that lived there had toads. The probably thought to themselves, "Well Missy is a girl, so she must love pink things, frilly things, ponies, and unicorns!" They were wrong. Here's how it went:

Boy: Hey Missy, look at this (lunges his hand forward to reveal two slimy, colorful firebelly toads--obviously hoping for a scream, hands in the air, and a girly girl running out of the house).
Me: Whoa! COOL! Can I hold it!
Boy: Uh, sure...

I still love frogs. I also love work, even though it is incredibly tiring at times. I have been on the verge of a serious bodily breakdown for the past couple of weeks. You know what I'm talking about, right? When you are teeter-tottering, almost getting sick, but not quite, and just feeling rotten because you can tell your immune system is working extra hard to fight something terrible off? My body gave out a tiny bit yesterday, and decided to add a raspy voice (like the old days) to the mix. I didn't sound good. Not good at all. I picked up a sweet boy from the special ed program to take him to the bus, and when I spoke he stopped and asked me a question. It went like this:

Boy: Uh, what happened to your voice?
Me: I have a frog in my throat.
Boy: (Silence. Mouth drops open, eyes get huge).

I tried to explain to him that it is a figure of speech, something silly we say in English. He pretended to understand, but I'm pretty sure he really thought there was a frog hanging out near my trachea because every time I spoke he looked at my mouth instead of my eyes. It was a classic, wonderful story. I won't forget it soon (and neither can you)!

This has nothing to do with the story, but it's just hilarious.

One of my favorite stories.

I am working on an exciting illustration project right now. I have been perusing children's books and researching different artists' styles, and in doing so I came across this book/illustrator. Have you read this story? Have I posted about it before? I'm not sure. But I love it so much. Because Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge goes on a mission to save Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper's memory. And because my dad read it to me when I was a little girl. If you have kids, you should get this for them. If you don't have kids, you should get this for yourself. You'll love it.

And then there were four.

Wow, time flies! I can hardly believe how many things have happened in the past few years of my life.    Two of my favorite things are the births of Patten and Kimball, of course, because who doesn't love nephews? I recently found out that Dave & Kristin are expecting babe number three. Can you believe it? Could it get any better?

Yes.

Because Ty & Becca just officially announced that they are expecting, too (in an adorable manner, I might add). The babes will be just a few weeks apart, and I am thrilled! My nephew count is doubling within the next year! I get to be Aunt Mees(h) to four! And perhaps I will get a curly niece or nephew from this round of love! Who knows?

I'm not ready for my own kids yet, but I'm sure glad that Patten & Kimball get cousins. I'm also glad that there will be four little monkeys running around when the Johnsons get together!

Hooray!


PS: Vote for Fictionist.

My rockstar friends.

I just wanted to give a little shout-out to my favorite local band, Fictionist.  I guess that they aren't technically local to me anymore (because I live in San Francisco, and they are based in, you know, Utah), but I am very happy for them nonetheless!  I consider them my neighborhood rockstars.  Maybe because I have gone to so many shows, maybe because I am soooooooo cool, maybe because I had a crush on several members at one time or another.  Not anymore, duh, I'm married.  Anyway.  In case you haven't heard, they are fighting to be on the cover of Rolling Stone soon.  So cool!  Regardless of the outcome of this competition (which looks promising so far), it is still a huge and exciting deal to be getting so much publicity, yaddi yadda, bladi bla.  Sorry.  I don't really know what I am trying to say.  I am just SO excited for them!  You should be, too. 

Vote for them.

Listen to them.

Love them!

Jules + Brittany = Love

Mike's "I'm too cool for pictures" face

 

Last weekend (February 5th), Mike and I hopped on a plane to SLC to go to Jules and Brittany's wedding!  They started dating a few months after we did, and we became very good friends very quickly.  Jules and Mike are family friends from high school, were roommates, Jules was one of Mike's groomsmen, yaddi yadda, and we were so happy to see them finally tie the knot!  The sealing was so beautiful and special.  I have been in love with J&B for years and I was so happy that we got to be there for the sealing and reception!  I snagged a few pictures with my point-and-shoot to remember the special day.  I was surprised I remembered my camera, because I forgot it over Christmas.  Whatever.

The gorgeous temple.  It was soooo ridiculously cold that day!

I just like the bricks.

NOT too cool to show how excited he was for J&B!

The happy couple!  Doesn't she look lovely!?  And I always love a good gray tux!

I LOVE this picture of them.  So typical!  Look at Jules' grin!

With both sets of parents.  Ferreiras on the left, Blands on the right.

Love them.

They had a very intimate reception at The Pointe at the University of Utah.  The spread was delicious: caprese sandwiches, hummus, veggies, fruit, artichoke dip, desserts, more.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of it!

Mike, Nich, Jules, Peter

Brittany waiting very patiently for Jules.  Probably thinking, "Let's get this over with so we can get to the Dominican Republic!"  I think they are still there a week later.  So jealous!

Everyone was happy all night long!

Hooray for Jules and Brittany!  

Congrats again!

Love you guys!

Not pictured in this post: late-night rendezvous with Caitlin, Robbie, and Albus.   Family brunch with all SLC Johnsons.  Night at Aunt Julie's.  Grandma Carol's new shellfish allergy (scary!)  Sunday afternoon spent in Oakland with Curt, Naomi, Ryland, and Rhys.

Taveuni

I have been missing the South Pacific like crazy lately. I literally think about Tonga and Fiji every single day. And I realized that I never posted about our second visit to Fiji. So here are some pictures of the beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful paradise that is Fiji. On our way back to Tonga we went to Suva and Taveuni. This post will just have pictures from Taveuni, and I'll do a later post about Suva. All of you get to look back on this wonderful trip with me...aren't you excited!?

Wild orchids.

The view right in front of where we stayed.

The dog that followed us everywhere. I never figured out why the pups in Fiji loved us so much!

Another view of the land around the house.

The sunsets were so incredible! Pictures do them no justice.

Little floral arrangements like this could be found in every room. They were just picked in the garden. No big deal.

We went on long walks on the beach. Our friend from South Africa told us about this particular place that was he and his wife's favorite spot before she passed.

Mike has the crazy eye from flash at night. He always put flowers in my hair. So cheesy, and I loved it every time!

Taveuni is the only place in Fiji that still has frogs! They came out at night. I loved them.

On the way to one of our hikes. The taxi driver was so funny and kept pulling over and saying, "Here, this is nice! Take a picture!"

We went on a beautiful hike along the coast, through the rainforest, and inland toward three gorgeous waterfalls.

Naturally we stopped and climbed everything we could.

I was so obsessed with this tree! Look at the knots and colors in the wood!

A cool little bird we saw on our adventure.

This bridge was rickety and made me anxious.

I was a little nervous to get on, but I handled it.

That's the river we were crossing.

To get to the first waterfall.

I looked nasty in Mike's rash guard. But I had to wear it post-fall. Mike kept saying we didn't have to go on the hike, but it was our last chance and he had been looking forward to it for about a month. I couldn't not go!

The story of the fall (very toned down because it was in an email to my parents, who I did not want to worry):

"...the next day we went on a hike that involved waterfalls, and there was a very heavy current because it had been raining. Mike and I were climbing up the rock near the waterfall to jump off, but it was slippery, and my hand hold gave way, and I ended up falling about twenty feet into the water. I am really lucky to be as okay as I am right now. Again there was no hospital (no international phone access), and I managed to keep my head up during the fall (I think Heavenly Father did it for me, actually). So, I am okay, just sore, cut and bruised..."

A super cool bug we found on our hike!

Waterfall.

No duh.

I was super frustrated that Mike was playing like a two year old on the rocks when I had JUST falled and been lucky not to have a worse injury than I did.

Coolest leaves and shrubbery!

Frog.

A very cleaned up version of one of the fall injuries.

Post-scuba lessons.

We love paradise.

We never got over the geckos. They never seemed threatening compared to the hand-sized spiders.

Paradise, Taveuni. This is where we took scuba diving lessons!

Our scuba instructor, Zeina. We LOVED her.

The pup followed us all the way to Paradise and had to be tied up.

We got picked up as we were headed home and the pup jumped out of the truck, then tried to catch up as we drove away. He didn't make it.

You think I have good eyelashes? Look at Mike's!

Our room up north.

Near the church on Taveuni.

We picked up some great habits in Tonga and practiced them in Fiji as well. Milo for Mike, and hot water with lemon leaves for me. So yummy, and such a good way to end the day!

I just realized this post is very disconnected, but oh well, right? I hope you enjoyed touring Taveuni with me, and that you want to go (back) as much as I do!