Darrell and Amanda

What we are looking forward to in 2011...

2010-12-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

Since 2010 is coming to a close I thought I would update with a few things Darrell and I are looking forward to this year. To start off at the end of January Darrell and I will be spending a week here:

The Inn at Mazatlan, my parents have had a time share here for years and this year Darrell and I will be going with them to spend a week in the sun! I am SO excited!! I have been here several different times on vacation and my family has many memories that were made hanging out at the beach here and wandering the town. I am really looking forward to taking Darrell and showing him one of my favorite vacation spots. Plus it will be a nice break from the snowy, icy, cold weather we have been having here in Utah.

I would say the next big thing after that is this:

Yep, I'm pregnant!!! This is our first ultrasound picture that was taken on he first of December. It's a little fuzzy and hard to see but there is definitely a baby in there. As of today I am 13 weeks along and our little bundle of joy is officially due on July 7, 2011. We will find out at the end of February whether it' a boy or a girl. Darrell and I are very excited and a little nervous at the same time. We will be very busy in 2011 and we can't wait! Hope everyone is doing well!

Alaskan Cruise!!!

2010-09-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

We went on vacation with my family a few weeks ago on an alaskan cruise. There was 14 of us all in our group. We went to celebrate my dad turning 50 this year. We were gone for 12 days. We did a cruise and then a land tour where we traveled by bus and train. Alaska is BEAUTIFUL!! We also had really good weather. There were only maybe two days where it was actually cold and even those few days it was only in the morning. We did some really fun stuff like zip lining, white water rafting, I went halibut fishing, we rented bikes, we went swimming, and most of all did a whole lot of relaxing. We saw Mt. McKinley the tallest mountain in north america. We were really lucky to see it. Our tour guides kept telling us that only 30% of people who visit Alaska get to see it because it's usually covered in clouds. It was a great vacation. Here are some pics:

The day we rented bikes in Talkeetna.
Here is Mt. McKinley. It looks like a cloud in this picture.
Our cruise boat stopped in front of a glacier (so cool!)
In our zip lining gear.
My dad, me, my aunt Carol on the day we went halibut fishing.
I was the only one who caught a halibut that day! I was very proud of myself. I got it sent home to me and it was so good!

We had so much fun! Darrell was taking pictures like crazy. These are just a select few.

Camping!

2010-09-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Over the July 24th weekend we went camping with our good friends the Schramers. We went down to the desert kind of by Price. Back in the 1930's there was a homestead act in that area and if you fulfilled the requirements you could keep the land. My great grandfather and his brothers did it and so the land is still in my dad's family. It's private land and so there is almost never other people camping out there. It was a lot of fun but I think we all agreed that camping in the desert in July was probably a mistake because it was HOT. Poor Yoko had hard time. We did have fun though. We did some target shooting with Darrell's arsenal, we had sparklers for the 24th, did a little hiking, had campfires, and a lot of fun conversation! My dad has a farm down there in a town called Cleveland and we took off in the afternoon and went to visit him. That was the highlight of the trip for me because we were got sprayed by his huge sprinklers in one of the hay fields! It was a very fun camping trip. It never really seems like summer unless you go camping for some reason. Thanks Matt and Brittnee for putting up with us for a few days, we had a lot of fun!

Darrell, me, Brittnee, and Matt. We were so relieved when the sun started to go down!

Happy Anniversary to us!

2010-09-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our three year anniversary in June. To celebrate we went to dinner at a really nice steakhouse in Salt Lake named Spencer's. I am so glad I am married to Darrell!

So it's been a while...

2010-09-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

I guess it's about time I updated our blog seeing as it's been six months or so. Darrell and I had a really great summer this year. We did a lot of fun things that I will also post about. For now I will just give an update on the Johnston family!

Darrell started school again a few weeks ago! He is taking a few night classes through UVU. After this semester he will have his associates degree. Next semester he will need to take physiology and the we will be applying to some bachelors programs for prosthetics and orthotics. It has been hard for Darrell to get back in the habit of going to school and doing homework again but it's going well for him. It will be good for our family for him to finish up his schooling.

I am working graveyard shifts as an RN at a nursing home close to where we live. I really love it! It is sometimes hard to work the graveyard shifts especially now that Darrell is in school again. We don't see each other as much as we would like to. But I really do enjoy being a nurse so far. I feel like I am always learning new things. I am glad that I work in a filed where I can always learn something new every day.

Other than that nothing else is really new with us. We are just living life and loving it! I will post more about some of our summer activities later!

Amanda Johnston R.N.

2010-02-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

I am so excited!!! I just found out that I passed my state boards and I am officially a registered nurse! I took my test on Tuesday and it was so scary... They take the security pretty seriously there. They scan your hand for prints, they make you show your drivers license, they record you the whole time (so they can see and hear you at all times), they make you turn out your pockets ( they even checked the hood of my hoodie), and you cannot enter or leave the testing room without being escorted by the test administrator. I was prepared to get at least 120 questions but my computer shut off after 75 questions (which is the minimum). The questions were really hard. I felt like I did not know the answers to any of them. I came home and looked up the answers to a few questions that had stuck in my mind and realized I got them wrong so I was kind of freaking out a little but it turned out alright. I am so relieved! It feels so good to finally achieve something that I have been working really hard for for a year and a half. Yay for me!!!!

Nursing school is OVER!!!!

2010-01-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

I have finally finished nursing school!! I am so excited and relieved to finally be able to say this. The past year and a half have been quite stressful for me. I have worked so hard and now it's over, thank goodness!! This past week has been so hard for me. At my school we are required to pass an exit exam in order to graduate and we had two chances to take it. The first attempt was last Friday and I failed it. I was devastated. To add to that my parents and two of my siblings went to Mexico on vacation this week without me (Darrell and I were supposed to go to but ended up not being able to because of my school schedule), with my mom being out of town I am babysitting her two dogs (I also have one of my own), my grandma had a major surgery and is in a rehabilitation center (I have been going there every day to check on her), I have had a nasty ear infection and a sore throat, and I have been panicking about my second exit exam attempt. So needless to say it has been a really rough week for me. Today when I passed I had a hard time not crying because I was so relieved! I am so grateful for Darrell for helping me out this week. I have been sick and pretty emotional. He has done everything he could to take care of me and try to cheer me up. I am also grateful for my little brother Clint. He came to my house last night and he and Darrell gave me a blessing. I am so glad, I felt totally calm afterwards and I was able to sleep pretty well. That calm feeling stayed with me today until the last 5-10 questions of my test (I then started getting nervous because I would be getting my score soon). I am also so grateful to both mine and Darrell's families. I truly could not have done it without them!!!

Now I am finished with nursing school I just have to take my state boards to get my RN. Wish me luck! I should be able to pick my test date next week!

Flashback Friday...

2009-11-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

This is Darrell and I shortly after we started dating at my brothers wedding. Darrell had such long hair!!!

Halloween!!!

2009-11-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Not sure why this picture ended up sideways but it's still funny!

My mom's Halloween costume she wore to work!

Darrell and I actually dressed up and went to a Halloween party this year! Darrell wore my mom's gorilla suit and went as King Kong and I went as Ann Darrow. It was a lot of fun!

Darrell, me, Matt, Brittnee, and Devin at Matt and Brittnee's Halloween party!
I have always wondered what I would look like as a blonde and now I know I am meant to have dark hair!! While Darrell was wearing this mask and breathing at the same time it would fog up his glasses!

The last few months...

2009-11-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

The last few months have mainly been spent doing school stuff. I am now in my last semester of nursing school. As long as I continue to pass I will be done with school in January and able to take my state boards after that. Here are a few pics of other things that have been going on...

My older brother Travis and his wife had their first baby in August!
She is pretty darn cute!!
I turned 25 in August. I was not very excited to turn 25 but my family was and they took me to Buca Di Beppo in SLC for dinner (I have always wanted to sit at the popes head table). Darrell, my mom, and my sister came to my school the day of my birthday and brought me flowers and treats for my whole class and then made my whole class sing happy birthday to me.
This is a picture of a rainbow we saw over fathers day weekend camping at my dad's ranch.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

2009-11-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

(My Dad wearing his ranch hat)

Every year when I wish my Dad a happy birthday he always tells me he stopped having birthdays a long time ago. In spite of this we celebrate anyway. In honor of my dad (and because I have not blogged in a LONG time) I thought I would list ten things I love about my Dad....

1. He is the smartest person I know

2. I don't now of anyone else that has more integrity than he does

3. His bark is definitely worse than his bite

4. He always gives people the benefit of the doubt

5. He is the hardest working person I know

6. He always thinking of how he can make his family's lives better

7. I love when he starts singing "When I was a lad in a fishing town an old man said to me..." (The Mermaid Song by Bobby Bare, check it out and picture my dad singing it!)

8. I love when he says "If it weren't for this glass eye of mine I'd shed a happy tear!"

9. I love how in my nanny days when I would get really homesick I would call my Dad and he would cheer me up.

10. I love his sense of humor

My dad is my hero, Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

-Amanda-

I feel like an idiot!!!

2009-05-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been so stressful! My finals for this semester have started and I have been really stressed out. Darrell and I were out of town all weekend in Reno. Darrell had a conference for work to go to and I went with. I had a lot of studying to do though so I decided to take some of my text books. As we were leaving the hotel on Sunday morning to head for the airport I had Darrell put my psychiatric nursing text book in our suitcase because my backpack was heavy. So on Tuesday morning while I was getting ready for class I was searching for my psychiatric text book and couldn't find it ANYWHERE. I started to freak out thinking that maybe it had gotten lost when they searched our bag at the airport or something. Textbooks are SO expensive and I have a final for this class next week, and I hate showing up to class not having my text books. Anyway, I called Darrell on the phone while I was freaking out (he was at work) to ask him if he had seen it. He of course said no and I yelled at him because I was really worried and frustrated. I still couldn't find the book so I left for school and when I got there a few minutes early I started to pull some stuff out of my backpack to study and there was my psychiatric nursing text book in the back of my backpack. I could not believe it. I guess I stuck it in there before school on Monday morning and forgot about it! I just sat there and laughed at myself. I was really embarrassed but I apologized to Darrell later that night and he laughed at me. I guess I deserved that.

School is going o.k. right now. I have two take home finals to finish and then two big finals next week I need to study for. I passed my skills lab final on the first attempt yesterday! I was so happy! The lab finals are the worst. I had to demonstrate some of the skills I have learned this semester with an instructor watching and if you make any mistakes at all they fail you. They give you another chance to try again a second time but if you fail again you have to take the lab class over again the next semester and you would also have to repeat the medical-surgical class and the clinical to because they are all connected.

I have been a really lazy blogger lately I will try to do better!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everybody!! I haven't posted in a while because I have been really busy with school and other than that we really haven't been up to much. Darrell and I were in Orem this morning and he wanted to stop at a gun store for a few minutes to look around. We ended up walking out with a new gun in tow. It is a .22 pistol. Darrell decided that the ammo would be a lot cheaper than the 9 mm we already have. Plus the new gun won't kick back as much which I really like! The sales guy was kind of funny because Darrell asked me if it was o.k. to go ahead and buy it and when I said yes the sales guy thought it was funny because when most guys buy a new gun they are hoping their wives don't find out about it! I hope everybody is doing well!

My moms new baby...

2009-03-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my mom brought home the most ADORABLE thing I have ever seen, a yorkie puppy!! The one in this picture is not it but it looks the same. She is so tiny and playful. I love just going over to my parents house to play with her and hold her. Unfortunately my dog Yoko can smell the scent of this new puppy whenever I have just come home from my parents and acts like I have betrayed her!

I hate being sick.

2009-03-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

On Sunday afternoon I started getting a sore throat while making dinner at my parents house. I took some airborne and felt a little better but the sore throat was still there. Monday morning I woke up with my throat so sore and swollen I could hardly swallow. I also felt like my whole body hurt and I was still really tired. I had to go to school until 2 in the afternoon so I took some ibuprofen stuck some cough drops in my back pack and left. Tuesday morning I felt even worse because along with the sore throat and body aches I had a cough and I couldn't breathe out of my nose. I also had school that day that usually lasts from 10:00 am to 6:30 pm. It was the most awful school day ever. I just did not feel well and I wanted to lay down and sleep SO bad. Lucky for me there was a gas leak in the building and I ended up getting to leave school 2.5 hours early!!! I went to the doctor yesterday because I was fairly sure I had a sinus infection. He sent me home with some antibiotics. My clinical day is on Thursday every week but this week was cancelled which is good because it saved me from having to wake up at 5 am. I actually started to feel a little better today so hopefully in a day or two I will be back to normal. Darrell has been so great taking care of me this week while I haven't been feeling well. He took me to buy medicine and drove me to several different pharmacies to find these little tablets you throw in the shower that let out menthol vapors to help your nose. He made me dinner when it wasn't even his night to do so, and the other night I woke up in the middle of the night not being able to breathe very well, coughing, etc. and he got up and got me medicine and water. I don't know what I would do without my wonderful husband sometimes!

Under the Sea 3D

2009-02-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

I had a bit of a rough few days and was feeling pretty down and so Darrell decided he needed to cheer me up. I had mentioned a few days ago that I had heard an advertisement for this imax movie called Under the Sea 3D and that I wanted to see it sometime. So Darrell took me to breakfast and then drove to the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake so we could see this movie. I enjoyed it a lot. We got to see sea lions, dragon fish, lion fish, cuttle fish, sharks, stingrays, sea snakes (GROSS), eels (GROSS), and so many more sea creatures. I really enjoyed it a lot! I really have the best husband in the world! Thanks for a great day babe, I love you!!!

25 random things about me!!!

2009-02-15T15:47:00.000-08:00

I did this on facebook and thought it was kind of fun to hear random little things about people you wouldn't have ever known before. Here is mine:

1. I sing in the shower

2. I sing in the car

3. My dream vacation is to go to Greece

4. I have been skydiving twice

5. I lived in New Jersey for almost three years and worked for two (very difficult) families

6. I have been inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty

7. I have seen several shows on Broadway and loved them all! (the Lion King, Mamma Mia, the Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray, Wicked, Les Miserable)

8. I love my dog a lot

9. I watch the Bachelor and am annoyed if I miss an episode

10. I love the Beatles!

11. I had a pony when I was little and it was so cool! His name was Rocket and my older brother and I loved him a lot!

12. I do NOT appreciate being woken up at indecent hours. I hear I get pretty mean when it happens.

13. I am pretty close to my grandparents

14. I HATE being cold. I would much rather be hot

15. My husband is my best friend in the whole world.

16. My dad is my hero

17. I like Led Zeppelin

18. Niagara Falls is one of the most AMAZING things I have ever seen

19. I like to cook and I think I do pretty good but I suck at baking

20. I think snakes are disgusting. The way they move is not natural.

21. I am scared of chickens. When I was little some chickens of my Grandpas chased me while pecking and scratching me and I am still traumatized.

22. I have been to a town called Intercourse. It's an amish town in Pennsylvania!

23. I have been to Washington D.C.

24. In high school I fractured a bone in my arm while toilet papering a guys house with some friends.

25. I got pepper spray in my stocking this past Christmas

I think everyone should do this for fun!

Finally a new post!

2009-02-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

Wow it has been a long time since I last posted! Life has been pretty crazy. School has been really hard but it is going well. I just finished my second semester. I have school two days a week pretty much all day and then one day of clinical rotations. Up until this past week I was working every weekend taking care of an elderly lady in Alpine but she passed away last week so now I need to look for a new job. I am not really looking forward to that.

We had a really nice Valentines day this year. Friday night I took Darrell to the shooting range for his present. He has been wanting me to go shooting with him for a long time. I didn't shoot the gun though. We were at an inside range and the guns are just really loud and when people shoot it vibrates the walls. It's kind of scary. I promised Darrell that next time if we went outside I would shoot the gun. Friday night Darrell surprised me with flowers and a comic strip he made on his laptop giving me different clues as to where to find the stuff he bought me for Valentines. It was very cute! Saturday we actually went to the funeral of the lady I took care of then we came home watched some movies and Darrell made me a really yummy dinner!

I wish I had some pictures to post but my memory card is full and I really haven't had the time to get the pictures on a cd to make room for more so I haven't taken any new ones lately. My parents just bought the rock band video game and we have all played it a bunch of times and I wish I had some pictures of that!

Hope that everyone is doing well!

Picture Tag!

2008-11-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by my friend Keri to post the fourth picture in my fourth picture file. This is my moms dog Hershey. Hershey got added to the family a few years back while I was living in New Jersey. The story of how my mom got Hershey is actually very weird, gross, a little funny, and sad. So my mom is a nurse and she was working in a nursing home and one of her elderly patients (who had dementia) had a twin sister she had always been close to who lived by herself somewhere in Salt Lake. One day while my mom was at work her elderly patient started to get very upset yelling that her arm hurt and she was worried about her sister. Then she started yelling that her sister was dead she just knew it! Anyway, I guess this went on for a while. so finally my mom decided to call this woman's son. The son came to see his mother and promised to go check on her sister his aunt. When he went to check on her sure enough he found the woman was indeed dead. She had I guess died a day or two before that while she was sitting at her kitchen table eating her morning cereal and her poor little dog hershey had been there with her the whole time. The family didn't know what to do with the dog and were just going to give it to the pound but my mom fell in love with her and offered to take her. Hershey is such a funny dog. She will follow my mom around the house all day and when my dad gets home from work she gets all sad if he does not greet her first. She makes a great addition to the family!

Sorry about the long story with the tag. I just think it's a funny story! My mom tells it a lot better though. Anyway, I tag: Bridget, Kristin, Amanda A., and Marissa

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

2008-10-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

Halloween is a fun holiday in my family because it also happens to be my Dad's birthday! I love my Dad so much. My Dad is the most honest, smartest, hardworking person I have ever met. I am so grateful for the example he is and all of the things he has done for me over the years. Thanks for everything Dad, Darrell and I love you so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Pumpkin Carving!

2008-10-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

I love to celebrate holidays and Halloween is no exception!! I bought three pumpkins this year and have been waiting for a couple of weeks now to carve them. Last night Darrell and I took Yoko and our three pumpkins to my parents house to FINALLY carve our pumpkins. We had so much fun! All of our pumpkins turned out pretty well too. My mom, Tracy (my sister), and I decided to something different with ours. We used this tool (I have no idea what it's called) that made it so you didn't carve all the way through the pumpkin you just took off the orange part and some of the flesh. It looks pretty cool when you light them up, the picture or design you carve just kind of glows. We also decided not to cut off the tops of the pumpkins and to just cut out the bottom and get all the insides out that way. It was harder but I like it better that way. Here are some pictures!

Mine and Darrell's pumpkins sitting in front of our apartment. The one on the left is spray painted with chalkboard paint (by Darrell) so you can write on it with chalk. The one in the middle is the one I did without carving all the way through. The last one is Darrell's. We thought it looked just like him. Really white with square glasses!
Here are all of our pumpkins carved and lit all together. Darrell's, Tracy's pumpkin (it's batman), mine, and my Mom's.
My mom and I taking the guts out of our pumpkins!

Thanks Mom for inviting us over, the pizza, and the dessert! W will have to start doing this every year!

I've been tagged...

2008-10-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

8 Favorite t.v. shows:

1: Friends (In know this makes me dumb but I own all ten seasons)

2:Dancing With the Stars

3. Rachel Ray

4: The Today Show

5. That 70's Show

6. Top Gear

8. America's Next Top Model

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Mi Ranchito (in American Fork)

2. Noodle Company

3. Rumbi Island Grill

4. Olive Garden

5. Smokehouse Barbecue

6. Pei Wei

7. Supreme Burger

8. the Greek place on State Street in Orem. I don't know the name. We always call it the Greek place.

(Darrell is way sad that Chipotle didn't make my top 8)

8 Things that happened yesterday:

1. Drove to school

2. Took a quiz in my Fundamentals of Nursing class

3. Got confused AGAIN in my Nursing Fundamentals lab class.

4. Talked to my mom in the hall at school.

5. Went to my Pharmacology lab.

6. Took a nursing math quiz in my pharmacology lab class.

7. Took a quiz in the lecture portion of my Pharmacology class.

8. FINALLY drove home!

8 Things to look forward too:

1. Finishing nursing school (I have a ways to go yet).

2. Halloween (my dad's birthday).

3. Dinner with my Grandpa and Darrell Friday night.

4. Thanksgiving

5. Christmas

6. Darrell getting home from work in a few minutes!

7. My little sisters birthday (Tracy).

8. Did I mention finishing nursing school?

8 things I love about fall:

1. The colors.

2. Pumpkins

3. Halloween

4. The crispy leaves falling to the ground.

5. Sweaters

6. The smell

7. Knowing the holiday season is getting closer!

8. Making soup (Darrell will only eat it when it starts to get cold).

8 Things you may not know about me:

1. I love reality t.v.! I don't know why... I know it's not really reality and that it's really silly... But I love it!

2. I can't live without Burts Bee's chapstick (I love Burts Bee's).

3. I have been skydiving twice.

4. Going to Greece is my dream vacation!

5. I would much rather be to hot than to cold.

6. Chips and salsa is my all time favorite snack.

7. I LOVE the Beatles.

8. I can't wait to have kids (in a few years, I really need to finish school and get my RN license first).

8 People I tag:

1. Keri

2. Kelsey

3. Marissa

4. Lynsey

5. Princess

6. Amy

7. Bridget

8. Anyone that wants too!

Hiking up to the Timpanogas Cave...

2008-10-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Last week while I was on break from school Darrell took two days off of work to stay home and spend time with me. He works during the week and I work on the weekends when Darrell is home. We see each other every night but we don't get to spend a full day together very often so it was very nice to have us both home for two full days! One of those days it was very nice outside so we decided to drive up American Fork Canyon and Hike up to Timpanogas Caves and take a tour. It was a beautiful day with beautiful scenery! The hike took us about an hour and a half and then you tour through a bunch of caves and tunnels with a forest ranger. I have lived in good old American Fork for almost my entire life and have only done this once before when I was probably 7 or 8. I didn't remember how steep the trail was or how many caves and tunnels you go through! It was so cool! Anyways, here are some pictures. They are a little out of order. I am still not very good at figuring out this whole blogging thing!

   Some cave formations.

Me overlooking the canyon. You can actually see all the way to the mouth of the canyon into the valley in this one. It doesn't show it very well in this picture though.

   Beautiful fall leaves!
   Darrell in front of the sign at the head of the trail.
Part of the trail where they had to drill through rock to keep the trail going.
   The sign by the entrance to the cave.
Darrell and I at the top of the trail waiting for our tour to start.
   Inside one of the caves.

My first attempt at a pretty complicated cake...

2008-10-16T13:40:00.003-07:00

So a while back I saw this coconut cake on the cover of a magazine and I really wanted to make it. The recipe was a little complicated and it took me all day to make (everything was made from scratch. The cake, filling, and the frosting). When I had it all finished I was pretty pleased that it turned out fairly well. There are a few things I would know to do differently for next time but for the first time it turned out pretty good!

The Weezer concert!!!

2008-10-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

Last week Darrell and I went to the Weezer concert. We had a a lot of fun! After several attempts and hours of trying I finally got this video of My Name is Jonas to load. I had another video we got of another good song they played but I won't try to post it after how long this one took. My older brother Travis won a radio concert and got to be one of 20-30 people that got to play onstage with Weezer at the concert. We didn't get good pictures of that though. We went with my mom, Clint (little brother), and Melissa (Travis' wife).

My break from school!

2008-10-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

My first semester of school ended last Tuesday! I had all this week off to relax. It has been so nice not to have homework or anything to worry about. I have been very lazy! It was the first semester of school and after not having been in school for a while it was really hard to get used to studying and doing homework again. This coming Monday the second semester starts. My days at school will be longer and I will have more classes than last semester. I'll be starting my nursing classes and clinicals this semester though. I have to take chemistry this semester though... I am not excited for that at all! The teacher for chemistry is the same teacher I had for anatomy and physiology this past semester and that class was HARD. I hear that the chemistry class is worse. Wish me luck!

Labor Day weekend!

2008-09-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

We love long weekends! For Labor Day we went camping. We left that Friday night and spent the night at my dad's ranch in Cleveland (by Price). Saturday morning my dad and my sister came, we all loaded some hay onto the hay trailer, and then we loaded up and headed to the desert to camp out for the night. It was really hot when we got there and started setting up camp but a few hours later it started to sprinkle and it cooled down to a perfect temperature. We ended up leaving on Sunday morning because it looked like it would probably rain a lot more. We had a lot of fun! Thanks Dad for hauling up the tent trailer for us! We were really glad you and Tracy came!

Darrell and I on Friday night waiting for our delicious tinfoil dinners to cook.

Darrell and I on a huge rock by where we camped in the desert.

The sun setting on the desert.

Tracy (my sister) after she woke up from her nap.

Not so tough tuff balls...

2008-09-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

Last week Darrell and I decided it was time to buy Yoko some more of her favorite toys

(tuff balls), they're like little tennis balls that fit perfectly in her little mouth. She usually just loves to play catch with them but for some reason she wanted to chew this one and it looked this this in about three days. It is completely destroyed!

Our lazy Saturday!!!

2008-08-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had a very lazy Saturday. I ended up not working so we just hung out at home all day. Darrell and Yoko look so sweet cuddled up sleeping on the couch!

So, Darrell and I don't have any kids to post pictures or videos of, but we do have a pretty sweet dog so you will all just have bear with me! When Yoko was sleeping next to me on the couch Saturday afternoon She was dreaming and it was so funny I had to run for my camera to record it so I could share it with everyone!

Saturday night we hung out with Kelsey and Blake. After a lot of debating between chipotle and Pei Wei's for food we chose Pei Wei's (Darrell was a little sad). Blake drove and while we were driving down the freeway on our way home there was this truck with the back completely full of furniture. Suddenly a couch fell out the side of the back of this truck and blake had to swerve so it didn't hit his car and kill us all. It was a little scary! We had decided we wanted to watch the Olympics basketball game between the U.S.A. and Spain but it didn't start until 12:30 am so we stayed up and waited for the game to start and then when it did start it didn't end until 2:30 in the morning! But the good old U.S.A. won the game so it was all worth it!

So back to our dog... She LOVES Blake. Whenever Blake comes over she won't leave him alone. She's always trying to play and cuddle with him. This is her trying to eat his foot while he was busy watching the game. Saturday was a great day!

My Birthday!!

2008-08-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I turned 24! I had a great birthday this year. My Mom and Dad made me a great dinner for my birthday two weekends ago. They gave me this really cool book with all of Jane Austen's novels combined. Last Thursday night we went out with some of our good friends Kelsey, Blakey, Fat Tim, and Challa. We went to Mi Ranchito (it has been my favorite place to eat for as long as I can remember) and then we went to a movie. It was so much fun! I usually work only on the weekends but I took Saturday and Sunday off to relax for my birthday. It was a great weekend. My parents took our family to Lagoon for the day for mine and my older brothers birthdays (his was in June). We haven't been for a long time! We had so much fun riding rides and just being together. The best thing we did that day was driving the go carts! My Dad accidently hit some random girl and made her spin out on the track! As we were leaving we played the game where you have to slam the hammer down on the little post to supposedly test your strength (hopefully that makes sense) and my Dad and my sister won me a stuffed killer whale. Darrell was so sweet for my birthday too! He made me breakfast in bed, took me to a movie (one that all of his friends would make fun of him for really bad), made me a yummy steak dinner (with roasted potatoes and roasted green beans) and he bought me a new phone! All in all it was a great birthday. Thanks for all the birthday wishes from everyone!

Our week...

2008-07-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

This week is crazy for us! This past weekend Darrell went with my dad down to Cleveland, UT to help out on my dad's ranch. They hauled hay, fixed the tractor, and then Darrell picked up rocks while my dad mowed a field. Their ride home got interesting when their hay on the trailer caught on fire!! After they took care of that they finally got home and we had a yummy barbecued chicken dinner. I had school all day Monday and Tuesday. On Friday Darrell's mom and sister are coming from New Mexico! We are excited because we don't get to see them that often. On Saturday we will be going with them to Darrell's moms family reunion in Idaho. Darrell is glad he gets to take me to one of his family functions since he goes to mine frequently! I don't have any pictures of Darrell at the ranch): It wont be the last time he goes though so don't worry!

Yoko

2008-07-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

I am really glad we have such a sweet dog. She really hates taking baths though!

It's been a while...

2008-07-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

Darrell and I have been so busy the last few months!! I haven't posted anything in a long time so I guess I better get on it.

May is a busy month in my family because of all the birthdays

My moms birthday is on the 8th of May and Darrell's is on the 9th so we did a cake for them together. It had quite a few candles on it.

To celebrate Darrell's birthday we had a bunch of friends over and we had a barbecue. It was a lot of fun! We smoked pork and ribs and played rock band all day!

This is my little brother Clint and my little cousin Rayne. They also celebrated their birthdays in May. Clint turned 19 and Rayne turned 6.

To celebrate my moms birthday a bunch of us went to the zoo . She had been wanting to go for a long time and we hadn't been in forever so it it was fun!

My little brother Clint graduated from highschool!! It was kind of weird to watch walk across the stage to get his diploma. I can still remember when he was born...

Darrell and I had our one year anniversary on June 22nd!! I could not believe we had been married for one whole year! It really went by way fast.

Last week we took my little brother Clint to the MTC. He is going to the Canada Halifax mission and we already miss him a lot.

This past weekend we celebrated my Grandpa Heiniger's 70th birthday! It was so much fun!! We had a huge barbecue at this park in American Fork. My Aunt Carol and her husband Kevin brought a HUGE rotisserie and we barbecued a 45 pound turkey! There was a hill at this park so we also had a giant water slide going down the hill. Happy birthday Grandpa we love you!!

Here is a video of Darrell and I going down our water slide at my Grandpas party!

Well it is a really long post but it will give everyone a good idea what we have been up to lately!

We are moving!

2008-05-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago Darrell and I found out that we have to move out of the basement apartment where we have been living since we got married last June. For some reason it really stressed me out BAD!! I'm not sure why I freak out about such things. Anyway, After a lot of panicking and searching we found an apartment!!! I know it probably doesn't seem like a big deal but I have a hard time with big changes and we have a dog (that we are very attached to) so it was hard to find somewhere. But we did it and we are very excited! It is only 3 or 4 blocks from where we live now here in good old American fork! We will have tons of space and a dishwasher!!!! I think the dishwasher is Darrell's favorite part about the place. I am mostly just glad I can stop worrying about where we are going to be next month!

Camping with the Mills family!!!

2008-04-30T20:05:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Darrell and I went camping with my family for the Mills family reunion out in the desert. Neither of us had been camping in a few years so we had a lot of fun! Darrell did some shooting with my Dad, Grandpa, Clint, and Tracy. We roasted hot dogs over the fire, we went four wheeling, and climbed over and under some really big rocks. My dad also made a few delicious dutch oven meals. We had so much fun spending some quality time with the family outdoors!

   Grandpa & Linda Mills
   Our poor dog got really dirty!!
   My Dad in his ranch hat

Clint, Darrell, and Yoko

Hello!!!

2008-04-30T19:17:00.001-07:00

I decided to join the blogging world. I have been thinking about it for a long time and have finally done it! I hope that this way Darrell and I can keep in better touch with friends and family. I for one have never been good at that. I hope you all enjoy the future posts!