Happy Birthday...6 months ago!

6 months ago, I turned 21. 

Wahoo!!!! 

May we excuse my lateness in posting, but pretty great I made it by my 1/2 birthday, right? :)

Standing ovation for Ally!

I had a lovely birthday. My 1st as a married lady! And not to mention the big 21! {Not that much happens at 21. The coolest part is I had to get a new license anyway for my name change, so I got one that's sideways instead of straight up! Chad thought this was insanely fantastic. ;)}. I'm heading into my 20's full force. Watch out, peeps. Watch out. 

I can't quite remember the entire schedule of that day now,  6 months later, but I know the general gist. :) I got up bright and early for school and felt COMPLETELY different. Like, "wow, I'm 21!".......haha, sense my sarcasm? I felt super cool though because, um, it's my birthday?! And, mind you, the first one since Chad had been home from his mission! So it was a big deal. He missed 3 all together in the time is was gone, so he owed me BIG TIME. 

Here's the birthday girl in her outfit after school. :) All clothing picked out by my hubbie on our honeymoon. Good taste, right?!

 

My mommy and seester came to school and picked me up to take me to my birthday lunch at Panda! Mmmmmm...I love Panda. Seriously. Ever want to treat me, just for fun? Take me there! It's never Chad's first choice if we get to eat out, so I consider myself lucky any time I get to go. It was soooo nice to sit and chat with my girls since I didn't seem them as often during that time. They're the best!

That afternoon I came home to all this!

Please notice the flowers in an pitcher since we don't have a vase, haha.

 Ah...what a sweetheart. Chad's gifts to me are always so thoughtful. With a wee little budget like ours, it can sometimes be difficult to figure out gifts for each other, but we have so much fun creating things and thinking of things we can get. One day I'll get you an IPad or something crazy like that for you, hunny! 

I was pleased to see a gift card to PANDA! (where I had just eaten lunch!), and some lovely flowers, complete with a circle of glow sticks, ha ha. :) I loved every bit of everything he got and did for me. He's such a sweetie, really, and I am so lucky to have him. 

That evening we went to the temple. That's what I told Chad I wanted to do out of anything so that's what we did! Ah. There's nothing like doing sealings with your hubbie on your birthday. :) Afterwards, thanks to the generous family and friends from our wedding, we took an Olive Garden giftcard we received and went to dinner together! Thank you SO MUCH for the gift! We felt super special getting to go somewhere as nice as that on my special day. 

Kissy kissy!

I don't think I've EVER gotten dessert at Olive Garden. The Italian Donuts were taaaasty!

It was a lovely birthday! Crazy to think that next birthday I'll have a little wee 1 month old in my arms. :) Ah!

Chad had this special little cake for me. :)

Happy Happy Birth-day. :)

Happy Life {Long post, warning ;)}

It's been a couple weeks!

Things are going really well. :)

      There's always the ups and downs of every day and week, but I must say, Chad and I can't complain much. I'm feeling sooooo much better in my pregnancy, baby is moving, Chad is almost done with this semester of school, we found out the gender of our sweet, wee one at the end of this month, I'm getting ready to leave to China, my bro and sis-in-law are adopting a baby this month, CONFERENCE weekend!, and lots of family love. I mean, really? Life is so good. 

      Regarding pregnancy, like I said-I am doing LOTS better. No more throwing up! Just some dry heaving type thing in the morning that probably doesn't need to be explained in detail to the public, ha ha. I still get exhausted and worn down quickly, but overall, HAPPY PREGO LADY. And the biggest new news of all is I've felt baby move! Nothing serious like kicking or any of that jazz, just some little flutters and churning. It's so sweet. The movement that I feel usually happens in the morning when I first get up and am chillin' in bed, but one of the times I was lounging on the couch at my Mama's house, chattin' it up with my Mom and sister and out of no where! Wow! It was way cool. :)

      I am SOOOO excited for the school year to be over for my darling! Since we have been married in August, we have had absolutely NO getaway time for us. It's been move move move since the day we got back from our honeymoon. Date/Temple nights have been our saving grace, and we're just excited to get a lot more free time this summer before baby comes to hang out and take some fun trips together. Seriously? Couples are totally happier when they spend more time together. FACT. I will be gone the first 2 1/2 weeks of his freedom in China....but once I get back we will start to party!

       I don't think I've mentioned it on my blog yet, but ya! I'm going to China at the end of this month! Never did I think, in a million years, that I would get to go to China in my lifetime. But, the opportunity has presented itself to me and I am taking it. I'm in the Chamber Choir at UVU and that's where we are going on tour this year! We will be traveling around, singing at universities and such and enjoying the beautiful setting of China. I am so thrilled. I asked my doctor about what he thought about me going and he gave me the BIG thumbs up! He said it would be the best possible thing for me to do during that time of my pregnancy. Sweet, doc! I'll take your advice. :)

    I am slightly nervous about being gone that long while pregnant, but I have some great friends in the choir and I know I'll be looked after and taken care of my the amazing people involved. AND I WILL MISS CHAD LIKE CRAZY! But at least I get to look forward to a trip just for us a few weeks following my return. :) Good luck to my sweetheart for taking care of himself for those weeks without me! (He'll be JUST fine, I promise). 

     How exciting will it be to say "her/him" when referring to baby at this end of this month?! It's only so thrilling to say "it". How impersonal when we love our baby so much! Ha ha, it'll be nice to finally start making things and buying items fit for the gender of our baby and to finally know if a cute little boy or sweet little girl is growing inside me. :) Hooray for finally being far enough along to know!

     My brother and sister-in-law have been hoping to adopt for quite some time now. There has been a lot of heartache, tears, and happy hopes during this process for everyone, and we are so looking forward to a start of a new adventure for my brother and his wife. I will post more as we get closer and new baby arrives, but I just needed to put out there my deep love for Christopher and Julianne for their diligence and faith during this journey. :)

       Conference was ABSOLUTELY wonderful, as always and of course, as always, exactly what I needed and I received guidance and comfort in everything I desired. I'll have another post dedicated to conference for sure, but just had to put my 2 cents in on how fantastic this past weekend was!

         Family love. Ah. We had such a splendid weekend. We started off the weekend right with an evening filled with time with my hubby. I haven't laughed that much in a day in a long time. I was reminded of how much I love my husband and how he really is my best friend. I seriously would not survive this world without him. We ran some errands and then made our way to Sandy for his mission reunion! These are always so fun for us. This is our second one since he's been home and must I say-I enjoy being with all those humans so very much. That evening we stayed at my parents house and enjoyed some time with my family till we went to sleep. Then conference!, girls night out, sleep over at Chad's parents, conference!, dinner and celebrating Tiff's birthday, then time with hubby. 

I'll probably expand the last paragraph in another post, he he. Lots to write about!

It's so great to be here on this earth. The Johnson party of 2 1/2 ;) are blessed beyond measure and can't get enough of this amazing life. Keep ya posted!

Loves, 

ABJ