Friday, September 26, 2008

Giants Game

Yesterday, I rode the BART in to San Francisco to see where Ben works and meet some of the people there. It's in the upstairs of the Federal Reserve Building. Which is pretty sweet. He's budding up with the men that protect 20 billion dollars in CASH right downstairs! Wow! It was fun to see inside and to now be able to visualize him hard at work there in his office. Then we and a bunch of the employees went to the Giants game at the AT&T Park. What a beautiful baseball park! Seriously, it was so cool. It's right on the water so behind the field is ocean and the Bay Bridge. Way cool. And Ben's coworkers are really impressive, nice, and fun!
So the game was fun...as much fun as a bad baseball game can be:) The Giants aren't so good so it was mostly just fun to be with Ben for the night!

This was just my worst nightmare come true on our walk back to Monitor:

Thursday, September 25, 2008

I got a job!

Starting Monday--no more boredom! I got a job today that will be perfect for me! I'm still going to be a substitute as soon as I take the test next Saturday, and that'll be a 7am-2:30ish Mon-Fri job. And today I got one as a math tutor at a really great Academy in Danville! It's Mon-Thurs 2:30-9:30pm which is perfect because Ben doesn't get home till then anyway. And I could sub and do this if I wanted. Which will just pass more time and make more money! It pays really well and I can choose my schedule. And both jobs will help me eventually get a real teaching position.
I'm really excited!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I finished it!

So, as I previously mentioned, with my current state of boredom and mucho time on my hands (I have an interview on Thurs), I have been drawing again! I can only do it for about an hour or 2 at a time, but I've been working on it all week. It's been REALLY fun and really nice to help pass the time. I really missed it!

I'm excited to be finished with my first piece!


P.S. Ben is really enjoying work. He worked 70 hours last week! AH! And he's still at the office and it's 10pm which means....midnight tonight!! :(

Monday, September 22, 2008

50 Things About Me

1. I was born in Ogden, lived in Kaysville for 3 years, lived in Ogden for 6 years, moved to the Ogden Valley and have been there ever since!
2. I am the oldest of 5 kids. 3 little sisters, one brother.
3. Some childhood memories & facts: My first word was "shoe," when my parents tried to get me to say "I love Mommy" I would say slowly, "I......love.....PIZZA!" I loved playing Barbies and would play for hours with Raquel, I pretended to be a Power Ranger while jumping on the trampoline, I had lots of pet rabbits, I got 2 black eyes, and I vividly remember hearing Santa Clause and the bells on his sleigh and ran to bed crying in fear that I wouldn't get any presents.
4. I've never had braces, still have my wisdom teeth, tonsils, and appendix. I don't have glasses or contacts. And I've never broken a bone.
5. I love watching FRIENDS. Seriously.
6. My favorite color is hot pink.
7. I have a really really good memory. I remember everything.
8. I love change.
9. I was a class officer in Jr. High and on the yearbook staff.
10. I want a baby grand piano someday. And I want one that's wood. Not black.
11. I love concerts. I've been to Rascal Flatts 4x, Keith Urban 2x, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and Josh Groban.
12. I love cereal, cheesecake, string cheese, eggnog, Pizza, Reeses, and fondue.
13. I have a weird fetish with Elvis Presley. I have books about him, a huge poster of him, a life-size cut out, and all his music. And lots of fun things my friends have given me as gifts:)
14. I always remember my dreams.
15. I'm left-brained: I love math and statistics and majored in it. And I'm right-brained: I love drawing, painting, and taking pictures.
16. I've ridden a camel twice, an elephant twice, had snakes wrapped around me, and swam with dolphins and stingrays.
17. My mom was my piano teacher and taught me starting at age 7.
18. I have a really good sense of smell and direction. If it weren't for me--Ben would be lost roaming somewhere.
19. I took 5 AP classes. American History, Calculus, English, Art History, and Art.
20. I was on the swim team, and the water polo team.
21. I want to go skydiving so bad.
22. I think I have the coolest wedding ring in the world.
23. I had my first kiss in 7th grade.
24. Ben and I kissed on our first date. And that was when I knew I wanted to marry him:)
25. I used to go skinny dipping all the time with my friend Mo, and we would never pee in the outhouse at girls camp.
26. I don't like little dogs or big cats.
27. I've been to 15 different countries: Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Singapore, and India.
28. I love Disney movies. Always have. Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan, Emperor's New Groove, Cars and Finding Nemo are my favorite.
29. It takes me a really long time to get ready for bed. Usually I just sit in there and talk to Ben while he gets ready and then force myself to brush my teeth and stuff to go to bed. Don't know why.
30. I want 4-6 kids. And I have all my names picked out. I actually have too many and have no idea how I'm going to narrow it down. We might just have to have 9 kids:)
31. I'm a True Aggie, and a True BLUE Aggie.
32. I didn't see Dumb and Dumber, Tommy Boy, The Patriot, Braveheart, or Gladiator till I got married.
33. My favorite ice cream is Cookies & Cream. I rarely get anything else. And when I have it at home, I have to put Hershey's chocolate syrup on it and some milk...cause it's more like a shake and I love the little crystals the milk and ice cream make!
34. I love the *NSYNC Christmas CD! I have a countdown till I can start blasting it. It's one of my favorite things about the season.
35. One of mine and Ben's new favorite card games is Rook. My grandparents taught us in Newport and we played it every single day until he started work this week.
36. I love the way Ben smells. He doesn't have BO and his sweat actually smells good to me.
37. Texting is a way of life for my family. My mom and I text everyday. My dad and my Grandma do too!
38. I should call Ben 'Gaston.' (from Beauty & the Beast) .... "And every last inch of him's covered in HAIR!" And I love it.
39. Ben and I had our first date on January 6th, called the temple on May 10th, got officially engaged on May 27th, got married on July 26th.
40. I love playing all sports, but my favorite sport is volleyball. I love water skiing, snow skiing, and ultimate frisbee.
41. I do Jane Fonda. I know right. I have her New Ultimate Workout VHS and it is so good. Ben always made fun of me when I'd say the abs and legs are so hard. So I made him do it with me and he was sore for 3 days.
42. My favorite part of opening a new carton of ice cream is scraping off the lid!
43. I always spill on myself. ALWAYS. No matter what. No matter WHAT!
44. When it comes to eating, I can be pretty particular. I love to save the best for last so I eat the worst part first! For example, I eat crust first on pizza and sandwiches:)
45. I love my family so so so much. And all my new Garrison family!
46. Ben and I still have all 8 of our grandparents.
47. I don't like "unnecessary repetitive noises..." (e.g. chewing with the mouth open, picking things, clicking things, tapping fingernails, etc).
48. I used to win at everything. (Probably used to being the oldest)......UNTIL I met Ben. Now I lose at everything and it drives me crazy.
49. I don't drink pop. I only like Coke when I'm in foreign countries.
50. Ben and I are probably going to live somewhere foreign within the next year, like South Africa or Brazil. For real.

So I bet you know me a little better! :) I tag anyone who took the time to read this long thing!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Belated Labor Day

My mom finally found the camera cord so she could send me the cute pictures from our trip to Newport! My wonderful Grandparent's have the time-shares with Marriott so they invited us and my family down to Newport Beach to stay for a week! It was so fun!

We started off the week at Wild Rivers water park. It was so fun! There was this one slide that was called the Blasted Bowl or something, but we called it the toilet bowl. You'd start off going STRAIGHT down a long slide so fast and it would shoot you into this big bowl and you'd go around and around until you fell through the hole in the middle into a pool. I would always hit my head really hard when it shot me into the bowl, but Ben and James went probably 40 times! They loved it!We went to magical Disneyland on Tuesday and Thursday. It was a blast. It's such a happy place!
The Tower of Terror!! I love this. We all said, "Ok everyone pretend to be sleeping when they take the picture." But I don't think my mom got the memo...
I love them!
We played Rook ALL week and haven't stopped since! We love that game! Thanks Grandma!
Funny story. We went to the Tiki Tiki room, and anyone who's been knows that you just sit in the air conditioning and the lights go dark and you listen to the birds sing! Ben was apartently really tired and fell FAST asleep. Even when everyone was getting up and leaving and the lights came back on, he was just gone. So we told everyone to leave and the workers coming in that we were going to leave him and hide for when he woke up. So everyone was gone, and he was still in the corner like this:
The worker lady went up to him and woke him up and he said, "Oh...how long have I been here?" Then he walked past us to leave and we all jumped and screamed and scared him. It was SO funny!!!

It was such a fun week. We hung out on the beach, laid by the pool, swam, read, played Rook and other games, and just had so much fun together! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Johansen! We love you!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Meet the new Mr. Monitor!

Doesn't he look good? Mmm! ;)

Ben left early to the BART this morning after a big breakfast together to start his first day in the big bad business world. He was so nervous and excited, I can't wait to hear how it goes.

It will be an adjustment for me though that's for sure. Besides the semester when we both had school, we haven't spent a day without each other. And I woke up so early I don't know what to do with myself:) I have a long list of things to do today to keep myself busy. Some friend told me that I should start substituting before I look for an actual teaching job because they won't hire someone unless they know a little about them and that subbing is the best way to do that. But California is difficult and to even substitute I have to take another stupid basic skills test. It won't be hard, I just have to wait until October to take the thing! So basically, I'm kind of looking for a job if it stands out and catches my eye over substituting, or one that will hold me over, or if I don't find anything...I'm just going to promote my photography business like crazy and start drawing and painting again! The only thing I've drawn since high school was this:
Ben and my baby pictures, my wedding gift to Ben. Here's 2 drawings I did in high school, the first one won first place in a Utah District art contest:I have found some really cool things I want to draw and I'm really excited!

Anyway--that's our update. Oh and I'm reading the best book ever--These is My Words. It's SO good I can't put it down.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Muir Beach & Sausalito

Saturday we went to Muir Woods and Sausalito for another little day trip. We spent a couple hours chilling on Muir Beach watching people, the ocean, reading and napping. It was so nice!Then we drove to Sausalito. A quaint little town known for it's thriving artist community. Which I loved! We strolled along the water, watched the sea lions, rested at the plaza and listened to the splashing fountain, soaked up the ambiance in a cute open air cafe, and browsed through all the unique shops.
Here's the view of San Francisco from Sausalito:
We had a lot of fun on our last little adventure for a while. And Ben starts work tomorrow!! And I'm stuck in the horrible task of finding a job...

Happy Birthday mother dear! I love you oh so much.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Alcatraz & Golden Gate

Today was so much fun! But wow are we tired. We've been trying to do some of the site-seeing spots now before Ben starts on Monday and our every-minute time together gets terminated. So today was Alcatraz and biking The Golden Gate Bridge.

We took off from our home at 10am and got to Pier 33 and parked at around 11:30. We quickly were reminded how thankful we are that we don't live in the city with how crazy driving is with the traffic and non-existent parking spots.We took a ferry out to the island and then did the tour of the prison. So cool! To be honest, I really didn't know anything about the prison before this trip. It served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, then a military prison followed by a federal prison until 1963. Some famous prisoners were held there like Al Capone. There were many escape attempts, but only one was successful. Three men escaped by digging holes in the back of their cells with spoons! The escapees also stole several raincoats to use as a raft for the trip to the mainland. Leaving dummy heads made out of cement and soap in their cells with paint brush bristles as hair, they escaped. And they were never seen again! Anyway--cool stories. Read more on Wikipedia or something. Pretty fascinating.After the tour, we headed back to the car and got the bikes out. We biked through Fisherman's Wharf and all along the coast up to the GG Bridge. It was quite a ride! Lots of uphill parts (I'll be pretty sore tomorrow) and it was SO windy!!
When we finally got there it was even windier. I thought we'd just blow over a couple of times. It was SO cool. That bridge is pretty amazing. We rode all the way across, then headed back.
I look marvelous darling, just marvelous.
We happened to be headed back right at 5:30 OUT of SF.....don't ever let this happen. We were at standstills in traffic on a span of about 4 blocks for like 45 minutes. It was insane. But we're home now and had a great day in San Francisco!
Labor Day weekend post coming as soon as my mom sends me all the pictures! :)

And Happy Birthday PA! And Kelly! And Brian!

And GOD BLESS AMERICA~! 9/11