Jen and Carl

Just checking in

2010-01-10T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Well as you can see, I have not updated my blog for a little while :) Teaching is going great! I love my class and I am really enjoying the opportunity to teach 5th grade. I can't believe that we are half way through the year. It has gone by really fast!
Here are a few things that have happened since the last time I blogged:
I started teaching
I was called to be the primary president 3 weeks before school started
My little brother David, left for his mission to Brazil in September
My little sister, Misty is engaged to be married June 4th
I am taking two college classes this semester (working on getting my EESL endorsement)
Carl and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary
Carl started back to school to get his teaching degree in Math education
I finally got excited about a video game! I love Guitar Hero and Carl wont even play it with me! Oh well, at least I don't have to share with him :)

Those are the big important things. Teaching is keeping me pretty busy, but it is so worth it!
I will try to post more this year. I hope that you are all doing well! I miss you all.

Back to school

2009-07-10T17:50:00.001-07:00

I am going back to school, but this time... I will be the teacher! I got a teaching job at Enoch Elementary teaching 5th grade. Now, those who know me well, know that I am more used to teaching younger grades, like Kindergarten, but I am really excited to have this job. It will challenge me in more way than I probably realize, but I am up for the challenge and totally excited for it! I actually got the job at the end of May. (Hey you know that I am not good at staying up on my blog) :)
I have been able to be in my room since the 1st of June. I am working with 3 other fifth grade teachers and they are awesome! They have been so helpful! My classroom size is 20 students! I will probably get a few more , but I am so lucky to have a small class! I feel so lucky to have gotten this job, since they were not supposed to have any jobs open this year.

The one bad thing about getting this teaching job is that I had to leave StoryTellers Club. Last Thursday was my last day. : -( However, everyone there was so supportive of me getting this job. Thanks you guys! I miss not working with you! Thanks Kim, for encouraging me to apply for jobs and go for my dream.

My whole family has been so supportive of me. Especially Carl, I think he might have been more excited for me than I was. He has been such a good support. Thanks babe!

Well, I am working on getting lesson plans put together and everything else that a teacher has to do to get ready for school. I will post pictures of my classroom when I finally get it put together.

Drum roll please... and he is going to...

2009-05-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

My family had a very big weekend. My baby brother turned his mission papers in two weeks ago. A week ago Sunday, David called and told us the bishop told him that his mission call had left Church Head quarters that Friday. So we thought that he would get it on Monday. I waited till 11:30 and called my mom to see if the mail had come yet. Nope I called again at 12:30, 2:30, finally at 4 she called and said no letter today. Tuesday, same thing, no letter. Wednesday, no letter again. How can this be? They live 20 minutes from church head quarters. David could have driven up there and gotten it a lot faster. So we thought, ok maybe next Wednesday. Well on Thursday my mom called and said he got it! Carl and I were planning on going up to be there when he opened it. We were also planning on going up there again the same weekend to help get things finished for my other brother's wedding this coming weekend. So when we found out he got it on Thur day we were thinking that we were going to have to drive up Thursday night, come home Friday morning at 5am to make it back for work, and then go back up Friday night to help with wedding preparations. David, decided that would be way too much driving for us, so he said he would wait to open it on Friday night when we got there. Amazing!

Friday we got there and then we had to wait for everybody else to get there. So to make a long story short he opened it, and he is going to....... Brazil, Portuguese speaking. Sorry I can't remember the name of the mission, but I do know that it is on the coast of Brazil and that it gets 15" of rain in July.

We also got to go through the Draper Temple with David for his first time that Saturday. He wanted to be able to be at the Sealing of our other brother this coming weekend. So ya, big weekend for us. David had a lot to take in in less that 24 hours, and as always he took it in stride and did a great job!

I am so proud of you bud! You are going to make one amazing missionary!

Ok... I might be spoiled!

2009-05-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Some people have said this about me before, but I might have to agree with them after this month. I actually got to go to Disneyland twice in April. I know, please don't hate me! My Aunt and uncle asked My sister, Misty, if she would go with them to Disneyland to help with the kids. My aunt asked Misty if she thought I could go and Misty said she would asked. She asked me , and thanks to my wonderful boss, Kim, I was able to take a whole week off work and go back down to California! The one bad thing about this trip was that Carl stayed home and I went with out him. :( It was a whole 8 days away form each other. I don't think we will do that again. But he was supportive and let me go, thanks Hon!
This trip we stayed in Newport Beach at a resort right across the street from the Ocean. The view was amazing. We went to Disneyland for 4 days, the beach one day (it was a lot warmer this time), and LA another day, ate, swam, and relaxed. It was so much fun to be with my sister just being able to hang out. Thanks Mist for asking and thinks Mary and Andrew for letting me come with you guys! Also another good thing about this trip is that they have a 6 month baby and I held him every second i got the chance. I am not kidding I had major withdrawals when I got home! :) Here are a few pics of the trip. Misty has a lot more than i do, so hope you like what I have.

I would post some pictures of the cute kids, but I am not sure if my aunt and uncle would be ok with it, so you just get me and my sis.

Here are a few pictures of me at the beach, notice the difference between these pictures and the ones below from 3 weeks before?

That's right my skin actually got to see the sun this time! The weather was awesome! The water was still freezing, but I was brave and got in the water this time. After acclimating myself to the water it was fine. I even went boogie boarding!

Our hotel was only 5 minuets from the Newport Beach temple, so we went and saw it. It was beautiful!

This is a view from our balcony at the hotel. The beach was right there! It was so beautiful.

Thanks for letting me tell you about my vacations this month, I promise I usually go nowhere! :)

Disneyland for Easter

2009-05-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ok I am way behind, as usual on my blog. But I finaly have something fun to write about. : )

Carl and I went on vacation with his whole family. We went to visit his sister and her family for Easter break. Carl's mom took us all to Disneyland for 2 days. We had a blast! Thanks mom. We got to stay with Carl's sister Renee and her Husband Gary and their kids. Thanks guys for lettings us crash at your house! We also went to the beach (but it was freezing) and celebrated Easter. We had a great trip. I wish that I knew how to get the pictures flipped the right way. : )

As you can tell by my pictures the weather was not to warm when we went to the beach! I stayed wrapped up in my hoodie and the towels and blankets we brought. I didn't even get close to the water. However, my husband is a lot braver than me and he actually got in and went swimming! Crazy! Oh well it was still fun and as always the ocean was beautiful.

Pay It Forward

2009-03-09T06:58:00.001-07:00

I signed up for Katie's "Pay It Forward" game and I am so glad that I did because it is such a great idea!

The first 3 people who comment on this post will receive a small gift....but you HAVE to promise to continue to pay it forward.

THE RULES: The focus of this is to do an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and "pay it forward."I will send a small gift to the first 3 bloggers who post a comment on this entry. In turn, those three will post this information and the game will continue!! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found, anything you want!! Just a gift that will make the person's day!! If you are interested in participating, simply be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment!! You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link back to me, and then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog. Doesn't this sound like fun!!??

Katie thanks for the Welcome sign sign for my door. I have been looking for something spring-like for my door forever. It is perfect. You and Emma has great taste!

Here is the link to Katie's "Pay It Forward" post: http://aaronandkatiebell.blogspot.com/2009/02/pay-it-forward.html

A New Year...Well Close Enough

2009-01-28T20:14:00.000-08:00

Hi to all!

I have had a few people comment on my lack of posts. The end of December was a little crazy, as I am sure it was with all of you. We had a great holiday season and, hope all of you did as well. We rang in the New Year (maybe not with a bang), but it was still fun to spend time with my family in Salt Lake.

I wish that I had more to post, but unlike the rest of you I have no kids to write about, so my life is pretty boring. Don't get me wrong, it's good, just not a lot to blog about right now. I will try to keep better track of what I do and then post more. I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for your love and support!

saying good-bye

2008-12-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Today Misty moved home. My dad, mom, and David cam down and loaded all of her stuff in their truck. For those of you who don't know, my sister moved in with Carl and I at the end of July. She went to SUU this last semester. After a lot of thought and prayer she decided to move back home and work until the fall semester.

I really enjoyed having Misty live with us. It was so nice to have her so close, and to have a shopping buddy. We got to hang out and just spend time together.

I will really miss you being just a room away Mist, but I am proud of you for doing what you felt is right. I love you tonz! Thanks for being my sister and my roommate again for awhile. You are the best and you are welcome anytime!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2008-12-17T08:51:00.000-08:00

I can not believe that we are down to eight days until Christmas. Where has this month gone?

Christmas time is my most favorite time of the year!
There are so many things that make this the best time of the year, but here are just a few of my favorite things:

The snow (it doesn't feel like Christmas with out it.)
shopping for presents
Christmas parties,
wrapping presents
decorating for Christmas
sitting by my Christmas tree
watching all of the corny Christmas movies
listening to Christmas music
singing Christmas songs
receiving Christmas cards
eating the delicious holiday goodies
giving presents
getting presents :)
spending time with family
looking at all of the Christmas lights
reading Christmas stories
The feeling of Christmas, people try harder to be kind and caring.

I am still not quit ready for Christmas, I have a little more shopping to do, a lot of wrapping to finish, and a lot of baking to do. Every year I say that I am going to have everything ready before December, but I never do. Maybe next year :O) Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope that this Holiday season is Merry and Bright!

I am an idiot!!!

2008-12-05T12:24:00.000-08:00

I had pictures posted of us waiting to see Twilight, but I somehow deleted it. Sorry that you missed these, but thanks for the comments Cindy and Kristin :-)

The question we have all been asking...the book or the movie?

2008-11-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, no spoilers in my ramblings.

Well, after all of the long months of waiting, the Twilight movie is finally here!!!!! I went and saw it with Misty, Kim, and a bunch of girls from work. Did I like the movie? What a good question. Let's see if I can make my answer short and simple (probably not.) :O) The short answer is, yes, I think I did like it.

The longer answer is, it was interesting. Let me first start off by saying I have never been one of those "the book is so much better than the movie" types of people. I always thought it was so funny that people couldn't just separate the book from the movie. I mean really people can't you just enjoy the book for the book, and enjoy the movie for the movie? Well this was the attitude I wanted to have when I first found out that they were going to make the movie. But the more I watched the previews and read the little tidbits on Stephenie Meyer's website, the more worried I got about being able to separate the book and the movie. I mean this book is near and dear to my heart, lol! But seriously, it is. :O) I kept telling Kim that we would go to the movie and just think "hey this movie reminds me of my favorite book, Twilight" (Yeah, I couldn't do it this time, not with this movie)

Ok, so now that I rambled, let me try to explain the long answer. Yes I did like the movie... I think. They did a good job staying to the storyline. They never really strayed from it. Yeah!!! But how do you fit a 500 page story into two hours? You don't, at least not like the story deserves. That is all I am going to say on the matter because I don't want to spoil it for those of you who weren't crazy enough to see it at midnight. All I can say is this time, I was one of those cliche people saying "it is not as good as the book".

I would say, go in with low expectations and you might be pleasantly surprised.

The Las Vegas Air Show

2008-11-09T10:22:00.001-08:00

Misty, Carl, and I went to Vegas yesterday to see the Air show at the Air Force base in Vegas. It was really fun! Carl has always loved planes and wanted to be in the Air Force after his mission. None of us had ever been to an air show, and we really enjoyed it. Thanks Kamie for telling me about it!
Probably the cutest couple ever!!!

Carl's dream

Best Friends

They had a ton of different plans flying all day. I think that this was the F-15. It was so awesome to see it fly. It can do some pretty cool things!

This was the main event. The "Thunderbirds". They did some really awesome tricks. They were definitely worth the wait.

what's up with the Johnsons?

2008-11-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been awhile since I posted anything about what we have been up to. If you noticed one of my first posts was titled "Summer part 1". I meant to post "Summer part 2", but I haven't gotten around to it and now it is almost Thanksgiving. (Yup I am not very good at this blog thing) :0)

Just to update all of you on where we are, we got a a hound puppy, "Sammie", at the end of August. (For those of you who don't know, my sister, Misty, moved in with us while she is going to school) Carl and Misty gained up on me and I caved and said "yes" to the dog. She is so fun and now she is pretty big. She isn't supposed to be an "in-house" dog, but now that the nights are getting so cold we let her sleep in our laundry room. She is only allowed in our house if she is in the laundry room, and only at night.

Carl and I started going to a family ward after going to the college married ward for 5 yrs. The second week we were in the ward they called us to be primary teachers for the Valiant 9 kids. We have 4 kids and they are so fun. They are so strong in the gospel, and they probably teach us more than we ever teach them. Carl was called into the bishops office last week and was asked to be the 2nd counselor in the Young Men's Presidency. He is over the Deacons. So now he teaches primary 2nd hour with me and priesthood 3rd hour. We really like our ward. Everybody is really friendly, and kind.

Carl is teaching welding and automotive to high school kids and he really loves it. This is his third year teaching and he enjoys it so much. He is also working on peoples' cars on the side. He still loves to work on cars, but he enjoys teaching it a little bit more.

As for me I am still working at Storytellers Club. I love the people that I work with and it keeps me busy. I also go once a week and volunteer in in a kindergarten classroom of the mentor teacher that I had at the elementary school that I student taught at last spring. I really enjoy being in the classroom again, even if it is only once a week.

Well that's what we are up to. I will try to come up with something more exciting to write about the next time. Hopefully it wont take me 2 months to write again!!

Tag Your It!

2008-10-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

8 TV Shows that I love to watch

1. Samantha Who
2. The Office
3. Friends
4. Alias
5. Moonlight (it only lasted one season)
6. Heroes (if I ever actually start watching it)
7. Biggest Loser
8. Gilmore Girls (up to Season 5, the last two were horrible)

8 favorite Restaurants
1. Texas Road House
2. T.G.I Fridays
3. Wingers
4. California Pizza Kitchen
5. Cheese Cake Factory
6. The Garden House (their soups are out of this world!)
7. The Roof
8. The Ninja

8 Things that happened yesterday
1. I woke up late
2. Got to work on time
3. Went and helped out at a kindergarten classroom
4. Went back to work
5. Went home
6. Talked to Carl while I made dinner
7. Carl and I walked our dog Sammie
8. Watched the Office season 4 until 12am

8 Things I am looking forward t0
1. Going home and being with Carl
2. Going to Les Mis with Carl tomorrow
3. Twilight the movie to come out
4. Getting over a particularly hard trial
5. Having a baby (not an announcement)
6. Seeing Eagle Eye again
7. Going to Wicked in February
8. My brother to get his mission call

8 things on my wish list
1. happiness
2. a bigger house
3. to be all caught up on scrap booking
4. my house to always be clean
5. to own all of the good children's books in the world
6. To tour Europe
7. To go to Disney World
8. To have more time to myself

Eight people I tagged
1. Misty
2. Meagan
3. Jamie
4. Laura
5. Kristie
6. Katie
7. Britney
8. Sarah
8.anyone else who would like to do this

Summer part 1

2008-09-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, I promised I would post our happenings of this summer. Here is part 1, we hope you enjoy!

David Graduates

2008-09-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Dave's favorite sisters

The girls

The Whole Family

David with Grandma and Gramps

Us with the graduate

David, my youngest brother, and I were lucky. We got to graduate about a month apart. He graduated high school with honors in Auto Technology. Congratulations Bud! We are so proud of you!

We met our niece

2008-09-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Carl's sister Renee and her husband Gary had their second child Tarika, in March. They came up here to bless her instead of doing it in California. We got to meet her over Mother's day. She is beautiful and a wonderful addition to our family!

I graduated from SUU! In Elementary Education

2008-09-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

Carl, our families, and friends are the reason that I finally graduated. I could not have done this by myself. Every time I wanted to give up Carl was right there telling me I could do it. He is my hero and I owe him all that I am! Thanks honey for being my champion.

Finally

2008-09-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

That's right I have finally entered the blog world!!! I have several people to thank for this. First, all of my friends who had blogs long before I even knew what a blog was, who kept telling me I should start a blog, Second, my favorite and only sister, Misty, who actually got my blog started, and who will have to teach me how to add pictures to it : ). And last but definately not least Kim, who kept teasing me until I actually added more than just my name to my blog. Kim will probably be the one to keep me posting too : )

Ok so stay tuned because I am going to be posting all of my wonderful summer activities. Hopefully it wont take me another month to do that. lol