Collect Moments

There's always the biggest challenge when it comes to actually writing on this page.
I could write so many different things...so what do I choose?

Couldn't really tell ya how that happens. But somehow, it does.

I've realized some things lately. "Re"-realized. One important theme in my life keeps re-occurring, and that is this:

I used to collect porcelain dolls when I was little. I ADORED those dolls. They were on display in my bedroom on top of my dresser. My Grandpa Lynn would give me one every Christmas, and my neighbor would give me one every now and then as well. My mom got me some too. They were really special to me, and still are. I would dust off their perfect dresses and teach them "lady lessons" in "school". They all had beautiful curls adorning their faces. 

As much as I love 'em, they now are carefully put away till my daughters can enjoy them. They had their place in my life, but for now, they have left me. I had some good times with them. But overall? The times I loved those dolls weren't when I had so many, but with the memories that came with them. One of the moment I remember crying to my dolls because I felt like they were my only friends. Another moment I remember embracing certain dolls and gently touching their bouncy curls. The moments are what makes those dolls so special.

I look back on my life, and even at the now, and I realize that it's moments that make my life so precious and perfect. It's not the new this or that I got. It's the moments in the day. It was yesterday when I laid down in bed and Chad came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me and whispered that he loved me. It was when he read me his journal entry of 5 reasons why he loved me today. It's when we made jokes. It's when he stopped me and just held me and my face.


I remember the moment I said goodbye to the stage at AF High. I sat on the edge of the stage, all alone, and said farewell to that chapter of my life. I remember the moment I knew I was saying goodbye to some people for the last time. Yes, they were hard, but they were meaningful and full of life.

 

Moments like this. Not posed. Just a moment where we realized, "Freak. We're engaged. And I have a ring on my finger". And Chad: "Dude, I just PUT THAT on her finger!". :)

I'll never forget this second!

Brooklyn Ally love.

Senior girlies all together for last time.

Love of family

Look at Matthew's face. :)

No words for this one.

None of us are gonna forget these simply, probably 10 second moments of our lives. 

So, there's your proof. What moments have stuck with you? Make a collection. For those are what will stay with you, always. 

Ally Jo

The Long Post that just needed to be done

Ah. Finally.

A day on the blog.

It feels so good to be writing once again!

The breaks between my posts are sometimes quite long, but they all happen when they do for a reason! I feel very blessed for the little blessings that come with even writing a simple sentence. Being able to move my fingers...having an active mind...being able to have eyes that see...being able to read...having thoughts...having an brain that works...being able to sit up...all of it it wonderful! So there's my schpill on just being ABLE to write.

I have had SOOOOO many huge, amazing, beautiful, crazy things happen in my life in the last while! Some of them may not seem huge to others, but they are to me.  And some of them are things that are happening to all of you! All I can say? Chad and I are so blessed to have friends and family so close to us and that we love ever so much. I'm happy to be a new addition to the Johnson Family, and that Chad is officially apart of the Best Clan as well. We both have brilliant,  phenomenal friends and we count ourselves lucky to have grown up where we did. Chad and I both agree that we had THE greatest friends in high school-the type that will never go away. How blessed we are!

There is so much love in my heart right now. I could just burst! Love for my sweet, dear husband, love for my family, love for the gospel that gives me such hope, love of the scriptures, love of a nice, warm bed, love of music, love of passion, love of the future. I consider myself one lucky chick. :)

Sometimes I have out of body experiences....ha ha, Chad calls me crazy when I try and explain them. Mostly, he just lifts his eyebrow and says, "Yes, Hunny". :) But bless his heart, I do! I remember specific moments in time where the whole world seems to fall away, and the veil gets very thin...and I literally feel that I have been placed on this earth...to be tried and tested. My body seems to leave me and it's just my spirit, and I remember why I choose to come here. It keeps my spirit in check. :)

After having some discussions with my hubbie and family in my past, I realize that little and big things played such a role in my childhood that now drastically effect who I am now. For instance, some of you who know me really well, or maybe not even at all, may notice I have moments where I am very quite and step back. This is what I call my "shy" self. I'm not extremely outspoken generally. But there are definitely flashes where I WILL put in my 2 bits...'nough said. ;)

I know that I'm kinda quite sometimes. In certain surroundings, I definitely turn inward. And truthfully? I have some anxiety. There are some situations where my mind and self literally hurt from the pain of not being able to make my mouth move and talk. Let's be honest. Sometimes? I'm so super socially awkward. I have so much to say...but I guess I get afraid or something. I believe it's probably from times of people not listen to me or ignoring what I said. It happens. When I was young, I would sometimes be afraid to talk.

When I got discouraged from being this way when I was little, know what my haven was? Time with my dearest family where I was always myself, and time with Ben, Brad, Holly, Spenc, and William. They were my escape. I could break free from my insecurity as a kid and be myself, plus anything I wanted to be with them. All my dreams of running around the trees like a squirrel were fulfilled when we would play animals. I felt like a shining star when we would make up musicals on the street and would create music videos. I could go anywhere I created...and bring my friends with me. I read Harry Potter and felt like I was apart of the wizarding world and that I was accepted there and they liked me. Neville would have been my best friend. All of them would have been.

My other joys came from, like mentioned above, time with my family. Family vacations were wondrous for me. Traveling to the ocean and feeling the waves on my feet was magical. Seeing glaciers on majestic mountains in Montana thrilled me. Wearing a bright pink hoodie while camping with my siblings was lovely. Yes, us siblings definitely had ups and downs, but mostly...I just felt love. My mom and dad would come in at night and sing me songs to put me to sleep. And to this day they are some of my most favoritist voices in the world for this reason. They brought peace to my troubled heart.

I was pretty shy in seasons of my life. When I switched schools....when I had to make new friends....when I switched wards. But let me say this. All in all, the right people have come in and out of my life for a reason. They did something that made the ticks tock in my little mind. Eventually, certain people brought out the best in me. :) And suddenly... I saw more of who I was.

I definitely have my moments where I am SUPER crazy and outgoing, and certain people bring that out in me. These are my angels. Because they help me see what's really underneath and inside. I actually LOVE to laugh super super hard-especially with family and my dearest husband.

I know my thoughts are everywhere, but this post is more for myself. Sometimes, you just gotta write and write and write....

With all the craziness and static of fighting against my anxiety in my past and what creeps up today, I am still so super happy with me. Just me. I sat one day and really thought about something that changed my way of thinking. Heavenly Father's view of me. Guess what? Being a quite person isn't BAD. It doesn't mean you're a bad person. For some reason, I got that idea in my head that it was when I was little. Being quite is just a personality trait. Not a mistake. Not something that has to change about you.

Being crazy is great. Being happy and outgoing isn't bad. And being someone who is both quite and outgoing, depending on the moment/situation is not BAD. There isn't a book, or site, or manual ANYWHERE that says that being both is bad. It doesn't exist. Really.

So, I am happy to be a mixture of colors. A mixture of up and down, light and heavy, pale and dark, swirly and straight, left and right, rain and sun.

I love me.

Sometimes, I feel either at school or other places people don't see me for who I really am. They don't see the big picture like I know others in my life do. There's so much more to me then what I think some people see of me. I'm sure we've all felt that way in some part of our life. And really? That makes me kinda sad.

But honestly?

The ones who matter most and are my rocks DO know. They see everything. Even the ugly. ;) I have come to realize that the ones who you care about the most and care about you the most right back are the ones who have taken the time to see the picture. See my picture...and their picture...and why our pictures have decided to take a same stroke of paint.

Yes, I may be small. I may be quite. I may laugh funny. I may run weird. I may not like scrambled eggs very much. I may not live a perfect life.

But I am fierce. I am special. I am unique. I am smart. I am important. I am loved. I love.

Life is good. Oh, so good. So why would I waste my time trying to be somebody else? :)

I'll stick with being me.

And I might as well add some pictures that made me smile today. ;)

When we were wee ones!

The Love of my Life

Love always.
Ally Jo

The Bride Claire

A few days ago I catered a wedding at the Grand Hall at the Gateway. Must I say, it was absolutely gorgeous in every way. If you haven't been to the Grand Hall, it's just breath-taking. It almost reminds me of a mini old school strain station. Ya know, with the huge domed ceiling? Well everything is trimmed with gold, so it's like a palace in there.

The colors of the wedding were gold, red, and orange. Her lace was lace {of course} and the boys had black tuxes and the groom had a grey tux {of course}. The groom had classy, brown thick framed, old school glasses and he looked absolutely splendid. {Of course not more than my Chad. But you get the picture. } The center pieces were surrounded by pine tree branches with oranges and glass containers of cranberries and candles among them. Oh good golly. It was beautiful!

SIDE NOTE: Sorry. Sometimes I just have to spill on what I see when I'm catering. It's one of the reasons I absolutely love my job because I get to see everyone's creative ideas at their own weddings. :) You better believe I had my whole wedding planned before I was 17 for that reason alone. A compilation of lots of others ideas mixed in with my own creations = perfection.

Anyway. Back to the wedding.

The bride has a lady come in with vinage furniture. The lady actually does this for a living. She'll bring any furniture you want to your wedding {that she has of course}. The stuff she brought was gorgeous. Vintage {like what you would see in a palace} deep yellow/gold couches, red chairs, old doors, gold trim mirror, cream bed frame to set gifts in, cream birdcage with ribbons hanging from the top, brown old doors to go behind the bride and groom-perfect! And there was a massive self portrait of the bride, PAINTED. And it looked EXACTLY like her. To the T. Amazing artist right there.

So the point of my post, besides ranting on how amazing this wedding was.

What grabbed me the most was when the dancing started. Having seen a lot of receptions, I've seen a lot of different brides when it comes to dancing. The ones where they inch, back and forth, because their dress is restricting them {I feel ya, girls}, the ones who obviously just did dancing because someone in the family wanted it and they'll sway back and forth to get a smile on the face, the "I feel awkward" bride, the half-rock out bride {which is understandable with how dog-gone tired you are at the end of the day as a bride, or the THIS IS MY WEDDING AND I'M GONNA PARTY! bride.

This girl was the I'M GONNA PARTY chick.

I loved it! She was in her dress and everything and not once did I look over and see her NOT dancing. It was inspiring, actually. You could tell what kind of day it has been when she danced. Splendid. Her new husband definitely didn't commend dancing as his forte, but she was wonderful about including him and making him NOT feel out of place or uncomfortable. Talk about loving. By the end, he seemed totally relaxed and basking in the glow of his over-joyous and beautiful bride.

Having been a bride, I understand how exhausted you are by that point. I was. I was ready for some shut eye, but for Chad and I, dancing was important! We loved to go to dances together in high school. We loved to go to stake dances. We love to groove and enjoy some good dancin! So for us, dancing had to happen. I was so serious about it that I changed out of my dress into another, more casual Sunday dress so that I didn't have restrictions from my dress. And we had a blast dancing with everyone.

Anyway. Sorry for the tangent there.

I just loved watching her have the time of her life on her wedding day. It reminded me of my wedding reception and the dancing we had there. It was so so fun and we were greatly supported by so many friends and family. I was deeply touched. This bride was a reminder to me to remember the good times we've had, and the good times to follow.

So, thank you, Bride Claire for your inspiration to me to keep going and enjoy the journey, not just to trek it. You were beautiful and I hope you enjoy all the blessings that come from marriage.

Loves,
Ally J

December!

Okay, so I've refrained from posting because my dear dear computer is in the hospital right now and I can't do jack with my husband's Mac due to stupidity-but I just have so much to write about that I just can't wait! So I rumaged through my husband's collection of photos so ya'll had something to look at while I rant and rave. :)

So! December has been CRAAAAZY crazy crazy, as always, Chad and I were buried deep into studying for finals and performances the first two weeks of december. I honestly didn't see him very much at all in that time! I remember him calculating up the hours and there was one of those weeks were we had seen each other a combination of 3 HOURS the whole week! Now that is just gross and sad. But! We prayed together both morning and night and read scriptures together every night, without a doubt. That, my friends, holds ya together in the hard times.

On a good note, we only spend 25 dollars on groceries this month! All thanks to forgetting we had money on a gift card still and we returned our blender that was letting off a rather smokey smell. Also lots of nights spend with family and friends that provided dinner for us. :) Hooray! It's the small things.

One of my many performances at the end of the semester included singing at the Assembly Hall at Temple Square. I LOVE temple square, especially during Christmas time with the buzillion lights everywhere. It brings back such memories being there...my family has gone every single year since I was pretty much birthed. Yeah. Way to go Brent and Lisa Best for making that happen with all us kids!

The performance went rather well, I thought! I performed with UVU Masterworks Chorale and UVU Chamber Choir. The sound in there was awesome and WE were awesome so....:). Here's a pretty sweet picture of Chamber performing. I'm the little one on the end with the long locks.

I have the best support team ever back home, so I was so fortunate to have ALL my family there, plus my Aunt Missy and the girls! {Mads, Kenzie, and Kate}. Seriously. My fam comes to everything. And most of them have already heard everything we've sung multiple times so...they rock. What a good lookin' group!

{Carter in stroller ;)}

Here's me and the most attractive man in the world! How lucky! I love my husband. Might I mention he held Mr. Carter the majority of my performance and he was so good for Chad! He's gonna be the greatest daddy ever.

I had a performance at the Gateway later in the week with the UVU Jazz Octet. It was bitter cold, and my Chad,Daddy, William, Tom, Leafy and Carter came all that way to see me, and they were pretty much our audience! Score, Ally's fam!


December was still off to a steady pace of filled events, even when finals began to come to a close. My brother-in-law Ryan and his wife, KacyAnn  had their first baby! Sweet Averi Belle Johnson. If you don't already know, I love ALL things baby and Chad has to restrain me from jumping into piles of baby food and rattles at the store {ha, jokes, but really}, so to have baby Carter at 5 months, AND a baby girl niece all together was and still is blowing my mind! I can't handle it! Anyway, I was pretty darn excited to see my new niece. She's a doll.

Proud Uncle Chad and Aunt Ally. And no, this is not OUR child. {We were asked that. ;)}.

We LOVE being Uncle and Aunt to our nieces and nephews. Here's one of Baby Carter too!

Ah. Look at that handsome boy!

We are so very very blessed!

Next on our agenda was Christmas parties and getting presents. Chad and I were actually pretty good because we had a majority of our family presents done by the beginning of December! But of course, were still doing things last minute. Chad and I had a lot of fun having a small little budget for gifts and figure out what we could do to get everyone in our families something, and some things for each other. Being poor can be fun! Haha. And we accomplished our goal within our budget! Wahoo!

I'll write more about Christmas parties and Christmas and the like soon. Overall, we had a wonderful, beautiful Christmas and are fortunate enough to have both our families close by. Again, we are blessed!

Hope your holiday season has been both merry and bright. :)

Loves,
Ally J

December

I decided I needed a little breather from studying and life for a little bit. :)

I just adore December.

One of my favorite parts is standing outside when it's snowing, and listening to the silence. It's like this heavy mask of peace has just set over the whole world. Do you know what I'm saying? Honestly it's impossible to describe. But it's absolutely perfect.

This year has especially been needful of Christmas cheer. I must admit, I'm usually the biggest advocate for "no Christmas music till after Thanksgiving!", but this year...I just needed that music. I  needed to have my Christmas and December memories surrounding me.

These last few months have been just a tad difficult. Always blessed, always. But some days were just harder than others. School has been killer (almost done with the semester!), transitioning into married life has been an adventure that I love but definitely takes some getting used to, having a job that I have to work for as much as possible in order to pay the bills every month, and all other things have made things crazy.

So I needed a little Christmas spirit a little early this year. And no worries, friends. I am so so so happy. :) Really! I just needed a little pick-me-up, and December was the perfect trick.

I have so many cherished memories of this time of year. I literally could do 25 blog post about it and STILL not be even close to being done explaining all my memories. But let's do one for today, yes?

          When mom would get the tree out every year (we've had a fake one forever due to my Dad's burning of the tree story), we would pull out all the branches and pull apart the pieces to make it look all pretty and not like it had been sitting in a storage room for a year. I still remember the smell of the fake pin needles. After we would pull out the branches, Ben would bring out all his Ninja Turtle action figures and we would place them in the tree and play with them for hours. They would hid among the branches and do crazy-out-of-this-world tricks, jumping from the top branch to the bottom and surviving. It was the best thing ever. Then mom would say it was time to decorate the tree, so we had to put the Ninja Turtles away till next year.

I think about all these little traditions that didn't seem like anything, but were the world to me and hope my children make ones of their own. I hope Chad and I can create a home were our children feel they can play make-believe. I want them to feel magic, just like I did and always will because it was that precious to me.

I ADORE CHRISTMAS/DECEMBER.

Love always,
Ally Jo

Date Night in the Fort

Chad Edward and I try to have date night every week, which can sometimes be difficult with our demanding schedules and stuff stuff stuff. But we must date! Even after you get married, you're still dating! True story.

So. We decided to go ice-skating with our pass-of-all passes. Sweet! Free skating, right?

WRONG.

We go and the lady say, "ooo...ya you can't use those. They only work at the rink February through June" or somethin' like that. Oh ok. Not her fault by any means, but it did put a damper on our little date night. And a Plan B was in order.

So. We went to the donuts. Which means, we went to Fresh Market and got some donuts and hot chocolate. Yes, we had a little tuffle deciding which hot chocolate to get and I don't take it this time and say it was my fault.

Kids? Don't be angry over hot chocolate mix. ;)

Anyway. Turns out we got home to find a present at our door that my mom had dropped off for my neighbor, and guess what. That's right. That same EXACT hot chocolate we had tuffled about like 15 minutes before at Fresh Market was in the present, with a wonderful, plush, brown zebra stripped blanket. :):) I think Heavenly Father was trying to teach us a lesson, and DEFINITELY make us laugh. And we did that. We laughed and smiled at our silly childish ways. 

After that, we MADE A FORT! Well, more like I did and Chad held up the broom pole to keep it standing while I adjusted everything so it would stay up. Poor guy. He collapsed before the fort was even done!

We made some hot chocolate {The now officially named Tuffle Hot Chocolate} and ate our donuts in our wonderful fort.

We decided to play some Dominoes! Here's the thing, though. We got it out, got it all ready, then started telling memories of playing Dominoes with Grandmas and family....and before we knew it it was 1 hour later and Chad was talking about being super smart at math in 3rd grade and was cooler than all the other kids. I couldn't tell you HOW we got there, but we did and Dominoes remained UN-played. Then it was sleepy time.

So! Successful date? YES! Time with my hubbie, hot chocolate, donuts, fort, un-played Dominoes, childhood memories and kisses. Yes. Good.

Date night = Rockage.

Love always,
Ally Jo

My New Hair

My birthday was coming up, and I was trying to think of something I would enjoy for a present. 

I'd also been getting to the stage with my hair where I needed a change. My hair had been the same for 3 years and it was time for something new besides just my usual color I did every few months. It was a big deal though, because I had grown really attached to my hair and was scared to change things up. But, it was getting drab and boring. 

Chad knew I was looking to do something new with my hair, and he suggested I should do that for my birthday. What a brilliant man. ;) And it worked out great because the girls in Chad's family decided to go in together and get that for my birthday present from all of them. {Thanks, guys!}

Chad's sister, Tiffany does hair so I had the perfect girl for the job. I discussed different possibilities with her and mentioned I didn't want anything insanely crazy. Just a little spice. And sista? She did a great job! We decided to go with a caramel melt. I think it turned out super well! AND. Chad LOVES IT. So? Mission accomplished. :)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 It's sorta hard to see since my hair is pretty long and I could only capture the top half of my head with the camera, but I think you can kinda tell.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

 

Yep. Just a little pick-me-up.And the best part is I don't have to keep up with it like when you have highlights. That's why I never get them, because then I have to re-do my roots over and over. But this will just grow out.  I absolutely love it! Definitely just what I was looking for. Thanks, Tiff!

Love always,
Ally Jo