perseverence and congrats

Every once in a while life test us all in such a way that we are forced to discover who we really are, what we are capable of and, in the rare occasion, what will break us. Sometimes we find we are capable of far more than we had ever imagined. Over he past semester's classes Shelli has battled through work, school, migraines and whatever else could be thrown at her to endure a tough semester of classes. It has been an arduous road, but the classes are over, the semster is done and Physiology is over! Passed and complete! So congrats to my wonderful and resilient wife, I am very proud of you honey! Now its time for some study vacation and some fun holidays. Its good to see Shelli around a little less stressed, and far more relaxed.

escapes

Sometimes a small side of me does wish I was stranded on a desert island. The escape just seems so desirable at times. This past weekend Shelli and I enjoyed a beautiful weekend away from it all in Park City. My work Christmas Party was at the Canyons resort this year and they had extremely discounted room rates, so we stayed the night. We spent he day finishing up (or as close to it as we could get) our Christmas shopping (I hate being part of the commercialism this time of year brings, but alas, I am a contributor) then headed to Park City where we enjoyed a fun night of interesting dances, including the YMCA as performed by a good chunk of the board members, the worm, and a few other notable little numbers. We also enjoyed a little guitar hero and wii sports before the night was finished.

Afterwards we enjoyed a great room at the Sundial lodge. It was a cool little studio style apartment with a fireplace and all. We relaxed to wine and candlelight and awoke the next day to the disturbing thought of having to return to the craziness of Salt Lake. After a stop off at the outlet malls we did just that.

Upon our return however we did get a long nap and then it was off to the 1st Annual Capital Youth Ugly Sweater Party! We dished out the awards for the "Most Hideous", "Most Disgustingly Captivating" and "Grandma's Special". It was a great time! The Youth at Capital continues to flourish and it is exciting to see God work through all their lives. It is just amazing!

Now its on to Christmas, just a few more gifts to finish up. Shelli is off from classes for the holidays so its nice to get a little bit larger dosage of her around the house. Oh and on a side-note the 2000 piece puzzle did come to completion (started just before Thanksgiving), I am quite proud and relieved to state that. For now, have a wonderful Christmas, and enjoy all God has given us all!

no snow tahoe

I am not really sure why we thought it made sense to flee the blizzards of northern Utah in search of pristine boarding conditions in Lake Tahoe, but we did. So, a week ago me and the guys packed up and drove the however-many-some-odd miles too Lake Tahoe/Reno for our annual trip. What resulted after the drive was 10 inches of snow in Salt Lake and 0 inches of snow in Lake Tahoe. Doesn't add up, does it?






Despite the lack of natural snow we were able to locate limited amounts of the man-made powder at Heavenly Resort in South Lake Tahoe, one of about 4 resorts open at the time, and a grand 2 runs open. Wow. Actually despite conditions we had a blast, we boarded for a day and when all was said and done, I don't know if we would have survived another. We left the gondola bruised, semi-conscious, and very tired. We spent the night learning the nuances of guitar hero, taking in a comedy show, and resting our boo-boos.












Morning brought lunch at McP's (yes, yes I said lunch, darn-skippy!) and one of the top-ranked burgers I have had. Delicious. We toured the remainder of South Lake Tahoe and hit the road. Tahoe is surrounded in the beauty of God's creation. We drove around the lake and enjoyed breathtaking views from start to finish. God's workmanship is absolutely incredible. He certainly knew what he was doing, because there is now way I could have ever dreamt or imagined that kind of scenery.








Another night in Reno, which consisted of hours of blackjack, less hours of winning, and a ton of fun. Next day was home and here we are, back to work. Wow, this story got depressing quick, didn't it?

On the other hand Shelli had a great weekend with her parents, though the snow did put some damper on a few plans. It was a refreshing and rejuvenating weekend and she got to spend some much needed time with her mom and dad. And by the way, thank you to Pam and Gary for taking care of my wife in my absence, you both treat us too well. We love you, thank you so much!

Well, work is back to the routine and next week is finals for my beautiful wifey. Pray things all go well, she has been busting her butt all semester and she deserves some reward. This weekend we have some youth get-to-gethers and next weekend is officially the end of the semester and my work Christmas Party in Park City.

gus.

Thanksgiving was all it cracked up to be, although we may have left my family with a bit of a bad addiction. We toted the Nintendo Wii with us to Moab for the holiday and the whole fam had a hay-day on it. The kids absolutely loved it, and lets say the adults weren't exactly disappointed either. All in all several rounds of bowling and baseball later and everybody was trying to discover how to get a hold of one. I am starting to believe my true calling is as a door-to-door Wii salesman. I could make a killing!

All-in-all Thanksgiving was over 6 pumpkin pies, 1 deep-fired turkey, 1 honey-glazed ham, 3 poker tournaments, 1 completed hideous brown puzzle, endless wii hours logged, and one near miss of a flying deer until completion. Now thats good times.

Between the return from Thanksgiving and the departure for a weekend in Tahoe, we managed to fit in Gus. Gus, if you haven't already discovered or heard, is our first Christmas Tree together. We found him hiding and lonely in the back corner of the lot and fell in love. He has been a beautiful and pleasant smelling addition to our humble little abode. He's not teaming with ornaments by any means, but we're working on it.

I love the air around Christmas time. Its a fun-loving, giving and warm time of year, especially considering how cold it can be outside. The hot chocolate overflows and the smells delight. Mmmm.... mmmmmm.... I do enjoy it. Christmas music, along with pine tree and cinnamon aromas have begun to fill our apartment, and the seasonal traditions of the hilarious National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and Home Alone are starting to settle in, Christmas Story is soon to follow, I am sure. Its nice just to curl up at home with Shelli and enjoy a warm blanket and a movie at the end of a long winter workday.

turkeys, poker and pumpkins

Well its Turkey Day time of year again and that means alot of things. It means of course alot to be thankful for; great friends, incredible family, wonderful God, you name it. It means miles and miles of asphalt as we travel the distances to the people we love. It means turkey comas, pumpkin pie bellies, and weeks and weeks of turkey sandwiches, turkey casserole, turkey soup, turkey whatever. It means family Texas Hold' em round the Johnsons' humble abode, where we all get rowdy and competitive. It means Grandma's homemade pumpkin pie, and lots of it. Mmmmmmm... Pie... It means good times and great memories.

We leave tonight for good ol' Moab, Utah for Thanksgiving with the Johnson half. It'll be the first holiday adaptation for Shelli and I and I am sure it will come with its own share of... fun and learning. I am excited. It will be a very fun and new experience for the both of us.

Have a great Thanksgiving, I pray you have plenty to be thankful for and may you get the chance to enjoy it all.

soundtracks

Not much to update here. Its been all work and a little play in the Johnson household lately. Shelli has been studying like crazy for her tests and applying to colleges across the nation. Worker bees relax more than her. We do have a fun (not really) little project to look forward to: They are coming in to repipe our apartment over the next couple of weeks, so our tiny apartment just got even smaller, can't even begin to express just how excited I am about that. I am a bit of a organizational freak. I like things to look clean. Organized. Well, I get the slight hunch that I am going to have to let that OCD quality fly out the window over the next couple of weeks. If the next time you see me you notice some weird nervous twitch, thats probably why.

Sometimes I stumble across interesting little things to share. This time its the Life Soundtrack. Basically, you make a list of movie scenes for your life and you create a soundtrack to those scenes. Simply put, you are creating a somewhat of a story of your life, something that reveals a little bit about you and gives us a taste of what music is playing in your life. Keep them simple and general. Then go back and fill in each scene with a song that would correspond with that event/scene. So for example, what would be your fight scene song? Or your love song? What about your break-up song? (They aren't necessarily songs that correspond with specific events as they are songs that would fit into scenes of you life, that would tell a story about who you are, what you have done, and where you been.)

Well, needless to say I thought I would give it a shot, you should to, post a reply and let us know how your soundtrack would play out. Pay attention to the mood of the song, the lyrics, and the title. And remember, there is a 20 song max, you usually cant fit more than that on a CD anyways, so pick wisely.

Kelly's Life Soundtrack:

Opening titles (intro to my life…): ‘The Young and The Hopeless’ – Good Charlotte
Introduction/Waking Up (the song that introduces me…): ‘Boondocks’ – Little Big Town
This is Me Scene (this one is hard, this is most closely linked as my theme song…): ‘Nobody Loves Me’ – Derek Webb
Break-up Scene (for those break-up moments…): ‘Scars’ – Papa Roach
Lonely Nights (for those post break-up moments…): ‘Where Have You Been?’ – Reel Big Fish
Turning Point/Discovery (the song for those crazy-turning-point-life-realization moments…): ‘Surely, We Can Change’ – David Crowder Band, ‘Meant to Live’ - Switchfoot
Friends (the theme song for friends…): ‘Waldorf/Worldwide’ – Good Charlotte
Falling in Love (different from the love song…): ‘Before Its Too Late’ – The Goo Goo Dolls
Love Scene (now this is the love song…): ‘You and Me’ - Lifehouse
Happily Ever After (this is the song for the wedding…): ‘Beyond Measure’ – Jeremy Camp
There for Each Other Scene (this is the song for my wife…): ‘Bring it on Home’ – Little Big Town
Mental Breakdown (for those mental breakdown moments…): ‘What I’ve Done’ – Linkin Park
Fight Scene (the everyday life battle song…): ‘Ole!’ – Bouncing Souls
Final Battle (the song I would play in the ‘end-all’ battles of my life…): ‘Its My Life’ – Bon Jovi
Death Scene (the end song…): ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ – U2
End Credits (the song that could best sum it all up, or that just has personal meaning…): ‘Country Roads’ – John Denver, ‘Deliverance’ – Bubba Sparxxx

Well, there you go, 18 tracks to soundtrack my life. Some songs are all about the title, other its all about personal connection, still others pay close attention to the lyrics. All in all, I think I would bore you with explanation, but you can always ask. 'til next post...

sports and faith

As many of you know I am a small bit of a sports fan. My Red Sox won the series this year so I am particularly happy about that, and being a Celtics fan as well (don't worry Utah, I dig the Jazz, too) their resurgence is exciting. However, I am not a Detroit Lions fan. Nothing against 'em, just not my team. However, this article from ESPN.com I find particularly interesting. Not because its sports, it really has only a little bit to do with sports. Its actually about standing and being bold in your beliefs, not afraid to be ridiculed, and how living what you believe, and not judging others can change the world around you. My point is our faith should alter the world around us for Christ, the world should not alter us from Christ, no matter where we are in life. And maybe just as importantly, our faith should not have zero impact on the world around us either. In the case of this article, this place could likely be one of the most self-serving, egotistical environments in America, which to me makes the outcome even more impressive that such a thing would garner so much attention.

business and busyness

More often than not my life can be defined by the business that runs it, often translating to busyness. In short, a lot of business = busyness. If Shelli and I have had anything to tend with lately it has certainly been business and busyness. Shelli, in school (and not easy classes mind you: physiology and chemistry), working at Primary (not exactly and easy load emotionally, either), helping with Youth and balancing headaches and her goofy pain-in-the-rear husband. I, with work (overly demanding in and of itself) and Youth Ministry (I really have been involved in a part-time job), and just the day-to-day tasks of making dinner and managing the little stuff, such as finances, etc. Both of us have been doing a little bit of job searching, looking for better fits for our lives, and both of us have been helping to keep everything else caught up, such as the cleaning, cooking, etc. We even manage to get a little time together in the mix of all of that, though not a lot. Busy, busy, busy.

My discovery: It doesn't translate both ways. Busyness doesn't have to equal business. Don't get me wrong i think almost everybody I know is busy, they all have something going on. Most of you reading this are busier than myself. But many of you aren't just caught up in the business of life. Just the busyness of it, which isn't necessarily bad.

I caught up with a couple good friends this weekend and I discovered something, in each distinct conversation we talked about a lot of things, but what kept coming up were the details about all the things we had going on in our lives and how busy we were, and that quickly lead to 'whats it all worth'. Is our busyness worth while? Is it meaningful? Or is it taking away from the things that matter most? Often times the answer is a little of both. But sometimes, we drift to far and the answer is not good.

These next few months (through January) are the busiest of our year. Shelli and I have Thanksgiving in Moab, Chirstmas in SLC, seven birthdays between our friends and family, New Years', Youth Shoppin' and Shootin' All day Dec 8th, a New years' Youth Lock-in, my work Christmas Party (quite the production) and my annual guys' trip at the end of November. But I like the way our busyness is shifting. All this busyness will bring some business with it, but I like what its about. Lately we have been getting so caught up in the business that it has distracted from the most important in life. We need more busy with friends and family. More busy with each other. The next few months bring us more time with family. More time with friends. Time investing in the youth. That kind of busyness is worth it. I'll take that kind of busyness any day of the week.

All that business, should really be about being busy with what matters most, but often times we forget that, and its just about the business. It takes away from the important that you started doing it for. All that stuff you do, whats it for? All those things your taking care of, they're not keeping you from he things you care about most, are they? Or maybe, even hopefully, all that business your taking care is so you can be busy with those who you should be busy with. Of all the people I talk to, most have these things on their mind. Some wind up disappointed when they ask the question, others content, and still others wondering. If we don't set time for those that matter, like we set time for our business, then we have missed everything.

I miss a lot sometimes. Always want to change it. Sometimes do, many times don't. I take a long time getting to a point, I apologize. Just sharing my thoughts. I look forward to seeing you soon over the next little while, still busy, but maybe, just maybe, with what matters.

Pumpkin Party

I am now officially onboard! (This is Shelli.) After many months of not joining the blogging community, I am now a part. For those of you who have been wanting to hear from me, you have finally had your moment! Hold on to it, cherish it, because this may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Despite being our respective ages of 25 and 22, Kelly and I never cease to find the childish nature inside of ourselves. We had our own little festive pumpkin party tonight, filled with pumpkin carving and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. (Sorry AD & T-Rav, we couldn't "find" the recipe to your famous pumpkin, noodley, corn, cheese, mush stuff.....we were heartbroken.) But nevertheless, we did have a fun and festive time carving away at our own happy little faces. Kelly designed his face perfectly, crafting away at the tiny details, while I chiseled away....pumpkin chunks flying everywhere! As we set them aglow they made us laugh, and reminded us of how important it is to be a kid!

breath of fresh air

Ever have those days, where its just not right to be inside. I had this feeling last night. I got off work and wanted to be anywhere but home (Shelli isn't home until about 8:30 pm, so thats probably why). Some days its just too beautiful outside to be inside, others, you just need fresh air no matter what the weather is like.

Yesterday, I was off work, home and out the door again before that door shut behind me. No more claustrophobic apartment. Just the grandeur of God's creation, once I left the busy traffic behind anyways. I wound up a couple miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon, just for fun. I hiked around for a while and snapped off some photos. It will never cease to amaze me the things God will use, at random, to refresh my soul. I just needed something alive and fresh, something majestic to breathe life into me. This helped. A lot. I enjoy the outdoors, I grew up in Moab for Pete's sake, but I do not enjoy it nearly as much as many I know. Many thrive in it. But for me, it is the occasional breath of fresh air I need.

I will leave you with some photos and a question: Whats your breath of fresh air?