And thats a wrap!

My final photos of Elise. Next up? Aubrey Anne

Sassy

I've been wanting to cut my hair really short for a long time. I love all lengths of hair, but short has always looked best on me (as my hair gets longer it gets stringy) but I've been hesitant because Tom isn't a huge fan of the "pixie cut". But I went ahead and did it anyways, and I LOVE it. Its easy to do, and perfect for Arizona weather. Tom hasn't seen it yet, and I'm a little nervous. I hope he likes it.
Thanks Rach, for giving me a fun new do!

Remember this amazing lady?

I posted this a couple of months back. This is a slideshow of my wonderful, amazing mother who has dealt with breast cancer off and on in the last twelve years. I took these photographs during her third round.
She finished her treatments for her third round a couple of months ago and was on the up and up, but just two weeks ago, more growths and tumors have been discovered in her hip, leg, pelvic bone, spine, and skull. They started her on chemotherapy right away, and she's not feeling too good. :(
So please, keep her in your prayers, put her name on the temple prayer roll, etc.
If you would like to help out in any way, please contact me. You can also donate funds through paypal to "helpjennyfight@gmail.com"

Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers.

Bulletin Board Make-Over

I'm getting ready for our move to AZ, and the thought of having a place to decorate is getting my crafty blood a-flowin'. I bought a few bulletin boards from the D.I. a couple years back, and decided to make them into something more pleasant to the eye.

Bulletin Board #1-Mae's Room

:Plain ole bulletin board:

:Pretty Papers:

:Something pretty to hang photos on:Bulletin Board #2: Kitchen (for weekly menus and shopping list)

:Plain ole bulletin board:

:Pretty papers:

:Final product:

Bulletin Board #3: Family Room

:Plain old bulletin board:

:sassy tree paper:

:quick drying/cheap acrylic paint:

:watch out for little hands!:
:varnish:
:all done!:

Tagged...NOT

I wasn't tagged, but I'm doing it anyways. I'm tired of organizing stuff to store, stuff to take to Arizona, stuff to take to the D.I. etc. I'm DONE people.

Then and Now

20 years ago...
I was six years old. We were living in Bennion, UT in our little house. I have really good memories of that house. My Grandpa Lindgren built us an amazing playhouse in the backyard, and I spent my days swimming in our kiddie pool, hiding under blankets from a mosquito with Aubrey, playing "Smurfs" on Calico Vision, and loving my first cabbage patch doll, Holly.

10 years ago...
I was 16 and my days consisted of going to Raging Waters with friends, going to Sconecutter at 3 in the morning, shopping at the mall, crushing on 500 boys, and just being a 16 year old.

5 years ago...
I was 21 and had just barely gotten married to Tom. We were on our honeymoon in Florida, then off to Lake Powell with his family. We had the cutest apartment in Provo, where Tom went to school at BYU, and I worked at Souper Salad and coached gymnastics at my Aunt Heidi's gym.

3 years ago...We were living in Holladay, and I was working at my dads restaurant and coaching tumbling. I was feeling baby hungry. Tom was working for his dad.

1 year ago...
We were doing the same thing we are today. Living in Tom's parents basement. Mae was learning how to crawl. I was doing a lot of photography.

Yesterday...I went to church, read "Body for Life", took a bath, went to my families house and ate roast beef and hung out with the fam, and then went to bed.

Miss Elise

Happy Anniversary!

This is almost a week late, but Tom and I were in AZ on our Five Year Anniversary. So, without further ado:

Our Story

I think Tom and I have a really cool story!
Tom was a senior at Brighton High when I was sophomore. He was a star football player and an SBO. So, in short, he was cool and liked by everyone. The first time I noticed him, we were at an assembly where the SBO officers had all promised the school they would do something cuh-razy. I can't remember why. Tom's was to have his entire body shaved. (He's a hairy guy) and I just remember saying to my friend,"woa, he's cute" and just staring at him the entire time. So began my crush on Thomas Parker Johnson.

My best friend, Lindsey and I had an obsession with U2. One day I was walking along the halls and saw this kid that looked EXACTLY like Bono, but with blond hair. I ran and told Lindsey and showed him to her. The began the "Bono" obsession. This guys name was Rusty Bringhurst. He was friends with Tom, and an amazing actor.He starred in all the school plays. Our other friend Molly, could care less about these two guys. All three of us always hung out, and one day we decided to go to the school baseball game. Well, lo and behold, guess who sat in front of us? Tom and Rusty. Lindsey and I were ecstatic, and of course Molly was indifferent. Tom and Rusty turned around and flirted a bit, which made my heart pitter patter in my chest like a leetle dragonfly. I remember it was pajama day, and Tom looked oh so cute in his plaid flannel bottoms.

At the time, Molly was kind of dating Toms best friend, Josh Egan, who is a year older than me, and Mollys age (are you getting confused?) I told Josh I thought Tom was cute and he should hook me up. He always teased me about it, but it never happened. Tom said he remembered me from high school and thought I was cute, but never did anything about it. Josh wrote in my year book "You and Tom are going to have lots of kids!" I think we should have that framed.

Anyways, life went on, we graduated, Molly went off to school in Cedar City, Linds off to BYU, and I was up to my shenanigans elsewhere. One day I get an email from Molly saying, "you'll never believe who I'm dating. Rusty Bringhurst!" Apparently Josh had set them up, of all people. So, they got hitched, and I was the maid of honor. While at the wedding, I was up at the front as the bishop was marrying them, and I just kept stealing glances at Tom in the audience. He'd been home from his mission just short of a year, and BOY did he look good. I could NOT keep my eyes off of him. He told me that he was doing the same thing, and was thinking about what it would be like to date me. He was really flirty while we were standing in the wedding line. In fact, the first thing he did was come up to me, give me bejinos (kisses on each cheek) and say "you look SMASHING!" These were the first words we ever exchanged. I was enthralled.
That night at the reception, Rusty was talking to Tom and told me to come over. Tom asked if I wanted to go out on a double date with him, Rusty, and Molly when they got back from their honeymoon. I of course, said yes. About ten minutes later, he approached me and said, "What if I don't want to wait two weeks?" and got my number to call me later that night.
That night, I grabbed my yearbook and showed his picture to my mom. I was so excited. He picked me up and we went over to his friend Garrets house, where we watched "Shrek". Well, while Garret was taking his girlfriend home, Tom ended up making the move. It was very pleasant, kissing this handsome young man that I'd had a crush on for years, but you have to remember that during this time I was a camp counselor up at Brighton LDS camp, so the spiritual juices were flowing and I was like,"GOSH! What a jerk! Kissing me on the first date. Well, I NEVER!" Once again though, it was a very nice make out session.
I went back to camp and told everyone about him and wrote about three pages in my journal about it, ranting about how boys only ever wanted to make out with me and never wanted a relationship (which was the case in high school. I got "played" a lot)
and blah blah blah. I laugh at this journal entry now.

So Tom calls the next day, and asks if he can come up to camp to see me. I told him Thursday we had devotional, so he could come then. I was impressed and felt bad about making such a quick judgement.
He came up and looked awesome, of course. All the little campers were like "ELMO! WOO HOO! " and I must say, I was quite pleased with myself. A bunch of campers even asked him if he was a model for abercrombie and fitch, and asked for his number!
Anyways, we stood up on Sentry Rock that night and he told me I looked like a movie star, like Claudia Schiffer, and I liked him even more.
After camp was done, I had to get gall bladder surgery, and Tom bought me a Chicken Dance Elmo, which was way cool. We started spending as much time together as much as possible. (He was still at BYU, and I was in SLC) We got engaged eight months later, and were married July 19th, 2003, almost a year after we had started dating. And the rest is history!

I love you Tom!

Jerry Lewis

My friend Kindle just posted a blog about Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, a favorite comedy duo of mine! It reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from a Jerry Lewis movie called "Cinderfella". If you haven't seen it, rent it. Its hilarious. My favorite part of this scene is the random piano note he hits in the air with his finger. so funny.
This scene also reminds me of me and my good pal, Lindsey. Every time we get together we're nothing but obnoxious and loud, and one of our favorite things to do is if we hear an instrument in music or at a movie, we'll start doing this same exact thing. We didn't get it from this, just started making fun of music that stood out to us, like some random picalo among violins or something.

You cotton headed ninny muggin!

Alright, you kids. This is going to be a LOOOONG post (well, a lot of pictures, at least) so buckle up and hold on. {oh, and its kind of backwards}

Today was my last day at Gold Gym Daycare, where I have been working since October 07. Surprisingly, I've really liked this job. Only three hours, five days a week, and I get to bring Mae with me. The best thing? The girlies I worked with. I have made some great friends there, and hopefully those friendships will last.
{Left to Right: Heather, Shelbi, Celeste, Nicole aka Cinole, Julie, Violetta, and me}
There were some girls missing from this picture, as they didn't work today :(

Nicole yelling at a customer. Just kiddin'
This is Mae's "boyfriend" Easton. He and Mae are so cute together!

Cute little Easton

The "Breakroom". Actually, its a closet.

Don't I have the nicest friends?

Shelbster and I being silly gooses.

Ah, Nicole. How I'll miss dancing and cartwheeling about with you!

Shelbi is ecstatic to be in the baby room! "Crackers and cheese, Gromit!"

My goofy girl in the sink

Peyton (Shelbi's second born) tries to climb in. At first Mae was excited and kept saying "hi! hi! hi!"

But then her "hi!" gets angry, and pretty soon she's feeling a little invaded.

This was this morning, before I took Tom to work. I love seeing these two together.

Peyton and Mae share a hug

Okay, now going backwards. This is the last of our trip to AZ. We spent Monday night with friends at the Deseret Ridge mall/plaza. NICE place. Going to be a tough time not spending money at this place. We went to din din at a Mexican place, and had a splendiferous time. I'm so excited to live near these marvelous humanoids. They are the best.
I have to apologize to Jess, because I jumped all over her and screamed like the little girl that I am as we were walking to the restaurant because I saw a cockroach. (Jess claims it was a cricket, but I'm not buying it. Crickets don't come in Godzilla size)
Sorry I'm so lame.
Tommy Buns at the waterpark

My whiteness at the water park

Dippin' Dots Deliciousness

Home Sweet Home

I really wanted to post these pictures of our new apartment. I'm just so excited. oh boy oh boy oh boy!

This is the front of our apartment. We have the whole top half you see here.

Tom in front of our door.

The entrance to our complex. PALM TREES, people, palm trees! I love them so.

Arizona

Tom and I left on the 19th of July (also our five year anniversary!) to go apartment shopping in Arizona. Our friends Taylor and Megan have been kind enough to let us stay at their apartment while they are away on Taylors internship (Taylor is also a student at Thunderbird). So thanks, Megan and Taylor! You guys are the best :)
We settled in, took a nap, and then headed to Mesa to see our good friends Jess and Abe.
First, Tom joined Abe's indoor soccer team for a match. They were defeated. *sniff* but it was fun to watch, nevertheless.
Then the Reynas took us to a favorite eatery called "Oreganos" which was delicious Italian goodness. Jess and I brought our cameras to take pictures for our blogs, but we both forgot to take one in the restaruant. We were just having too much fun! So we took some pics in the car.

The lovely Reyna family

Sunday , our good friend and brother, Joshua Egan, took us to apartment hunt. He has his real estate license, so he was ready to negotiate and get us a good deal, and boy did he ever! We found the CUTEST place. Not only cute, but very nice. Nice area, gated, big heated pool open 24 hours a day, 24 hour fitness room (with a rotating climbing wall, no less) a movie theater that you can reserve, billiards, and more. Best of all, we got $300 dollars off our monthly rent for our entire lease term. Amazing. Josh...we love you. Our apartment is on the second floor which is also the top (no noise!) and I LOVE it. It has a big kitchen , two patios, two bedroom, two bath, a dining area, and best of all, we have our own little front yard. I'm really excited and grateful that we found such a nice place on such short notice.
That night, we went to dinner at Mimi's and then headed over to the theater to see "The Dark Knight" with Josh (the second time for all of us, and YES, it was just as good !)
Today, we're going over to our apartment to sign the lease and make the deal a done deal, then we're going to a waterpark. Its been a great trip so far!

BROTHERS!

Thanks to this dashing young fellow, Tom and I are married. He was a mutual friend in high school, and I was always asking him to set Tom and I up. (But alas, Tom was a senior and too cool for some random sophmore, so I just admired him from a far)
Josh even wrote in my year book "You and Tom are going to have lots of kids!" Woa man...woa. Who knew that Josh's words were a sign of the future?