Marching into March!

Yes, I know its a cheesy title.  *Shrug*

The week of March 2nd was a pretty mellow week:

On Sunday we went to Craig and Robin's new son, Daniel's, baby blessing (say that one five times fast).  We then went to our ward to teach our CTR 6 class, and then headed down to Neal's parents' house for a late lunch.  While we were there, Robin's sister, Sandy, gave us a BUNCH of newborn boy clothes that are SUPER cute!  We were so excited.  We had a lot of clothes for Joey once he made it to the 3 month size, but before that size, we didn't have much.  Now, little Joey will have clothes to wear!  Yay! :)

On Tuesday Neal and I decided we had not been on a date in a while.  My grandma gave us a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card for Christmas that we STILL hadn't used (I know, WHAT???) so we decided to be financially smart and use that for our date :) The Candlelight had David Wilcox in for a show that night as well, so Neal was working that.  He said David Wilcox was a pretty cool guy, and it was a very good show.

On Wednesday we went down to my parents' house, and had dinner down there.  We spent the evening with them.

On Saturday Neal went snowboarding (lucky duck) with his friend Mike.  I can't wait to get to go again!!  That night we went up to Craig and Robin's to watch 4 of their kiddos while they went to Stake Conference.  We love those kids.  They crack me up.  They were super helpful and did anything we asked them to!

Other random things:
- Neal's boss was out of town all this week, so Neal had the "on-call" phone for the Civic Center.  He felt pretty cool ;)

- I got the hospital bags packed for Joey and me.  They're currently sitting in his cradle (the best place I could think to put them that would keep them out of the way).

- I read "Guess How Much I Love You" to Joey for the first time.  Oh my goodness, my heart melted.

Estes Park trip, Laser Tag, and family

There are 60 days until our little dude is due.  What. The. Heck.

Anyway.....

-On a random day that Neal and I both had off, we decided to drive up to Estes Park.  We hadn't been up to Estes since the floods happened.  Driving up the Big Thompson Canyon was CRAZY.  It has changed so much.  As we were driving up we talked about how weird it is that our kiddos will never know that drive like we did.  Viestenz-Smith Park is GONE.  I am SO glad that we took my Trash the Dress photos there so that we have a memory of what it looked like.

-Later that week I did some visiting teaching, and then some of the girls in our ward had a girl's night at Cafe Rio.  It was enjoyable to just sit and talk about a bunch of different goings ons.

-That Saturday Neal went snowboarding.  Once again, I'm thankful he was wearing his helmet.  The last run of the day he came off a jump wrong and landed square on his back and smacked his head.  Oh my husband.  Needless to say, he was sore for the next couple of days.

-The next week was the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse holiday party (a little late I know, but way fun).  We went to Loveland Laser Tag.  I didn't play laser tag, but I enjoyed watching Neal's score on the score board and listening to him get so excited about the games.  They also had an arcade, so we played a bunch of arcade games.  We played Ski Ball a LOT.  It was pretty entertaining.

-We had a baby appointment - little dude is measuring right where he should be, and his heart rate is 155 bpm.

-The next day Neal's cousin Jenn was in town, and offered to take us out to dinner.  We ate at Enzio's downtown.  She got us some of the CUTEST clothes for little one!!  There is a Tommy Hilfiger sweater/jeans outfit that I cannot wait for him to wear!  It was so much fun to see her and enjoy her company :)

That's about it for the last two weeks.  Again, I failed at taking pictures (but I'm already doing better at that this week!)

100th post!!!

Crazy!!!  I was typing up another post, and realized that it said "Posts: 100" on my sidebar!  

A little crazy that it took me 3 1/2 years to get there (my first two years I didn't post a whole ton), but SO much has happened since I started!  I decided that I'd do a special post for my 100th post about everything that's happened, and then put the other post up tomorrow :)

Here's what has happened since I started this blog:

- Neal and I got engaged

- We got married: 

First reflections 

Part 1: Family

Part 2: Individual Photos

Part 3: Neal and Amanda

Part 4: Ring Ceremony and Reception 

- Neal taught me how to snowboard

- I graduated from Front Range with my AA

 - Neal graduated with his AA from Front Range

- We went to Utah several times, and went to General Conference once

- We moved to Fort Collins because of my new job

- We got two little parakeets named Sierra and Miyah

- We took several trips: Breckenridge, Las Vegas (1 and 2), and Glenwood Springs, Idaho

- Angela passed away

- Neal got to mix a bunch of awesome shows!

- My sister, Tiffany, got married

- We saw a bunch of awesome shows

- We finally got pregnant with Baby J :)

- We found out Baby J is a boy

- Neal got a rockin' new job

It's been a cuh-rayzy and amazing 3 1/2 years!

Our dating story

In April 2010 I started hearing a lot of rumors in the Single's Ward I attended about a guy named "Neal Johnson" who would be returning from his mission in Manchester, England soon.  I even had a few people I was talking to at church ask me, "Do you know who Neal Johnson is?"  When I replied that I didn't, they chuckled and said, "Oh don't worry.  You will."  I became very curious and so I found this mysterious guy on Facebook.  As I searched through the pictures he had posted on Facebook before his mission, I thought to myself, "Wow...this guy is kind of a dork.  Why is there so much hype about him??"  Nevertheless, for some reason, I was extremely interested in him, and thinking about meeting him when he came home made me nervous, and even gave me butterflies a few times.  I found it very odd.  I knew he came home on Friday, April 23rd, so that following Sunday I put on an outfit that I thought made me look good (because for some reason I was trying to impress a man I'd never met, and who didn't even know I existed) and went to church. (Note: I found out later that Neal really REALLY did not like this outfit, and that he thought it made me look 7 years older than I actually was).

This was his profile picture when I stalked him

The following Tuesday our Relief Socitey was having an activity.  We were going to our bishop's house to watch movies.  I found out that the Elder's Quorum decided to play Ultimate Frisbee during the Relief Socitey's activity.  Now, I wasn't a huge fan of the movie the girls decided to watch, and I LOVE Ultimate Frisbee. So, I decided to ditch Relief Society and go play Ultimate Frisbee instead.  I found out when I got there that Neal has the same love for the game that I do.  We were on opposing teams, and no one was guarding Neal, so I started to guard him.  Apparently this impressed him, and so we started talking.  After the game, Neal announced to everyone that he wanted to go to Sonic.  I, of course, was ecstatic.  My friend, Erika, and I rushed back to the bishop's house to get her car, and then rushed to Sonic.  When we got there, it was literally 1 minute after 10:00 pm, and Sonic had closed.  No one from the frisbee game was there, and I later discovered they had all left already.  I was bummed. (Note: Neal swears I never showed up, and that I, in fact, ditched him.  Erika - help a sista out, will ya?  Tell him I did!!) That night I requested to be Neal's friend on Facebook, and we talked for a while on Facebook about a whole bunch of things.  He then told me he was getting a phone the next day, and I gave him my number so he could call me.

The next day Neal texted me and asked if I would like to go get ice cream at Baskin Robbins with him and his family.  I, of course, said yes, and rushed up there.  He also invited his friend, Troy, and Erika.  After we ate our ice cream, Neal asked if we wanted to come back to his house to watch the Nugget's game.  We headed to his house and ended up getting in a MASSIVE pillow fight instead of watching the Nugget's game. It was honestly one of the most enjoyable dates I've been on!  As I was leaving, Neal gave me a high-five goodbye.  Now, before you go making fun of him, this is one of my absolute favorite parts of the first week we knew each other.  This was unbelievably endearing to me, and showed me how fresh off his mission he was. I LOVED it! (Another note: I later found out that Neal doesn't like basketball, and that his intent was merely to get us to come over to his house.)

We hung out for the next couple of days, and on Sunday, Neal came down to my parent's house for my birthday party.  That night as I was saying goodbye to him, I looked at him and said "Neal, I'm kinda sorta attracted to you." (That's right....say awwwww!)  After that he looked at me and said, "Do you kinda sorta wanna be my girlfriend?"  I (obviously) said yes :)

Our first picture together at my birthday party....awwww!

We dated for 7 months before we got engaged.  We did all kinds of things together: Elitches, celebrated Neal's birthday, went to a few concerts, hiking, wakeboarding, went to dances and other things.  We also found one of our favorite places to visit: Estes.  We found one of our favorite shows, Bones.  Neal taught me how to snowboard after many tears.  Here are some pictures of the fun stuff we did while we were dating!

A picture of Neal and I at his birthday party

Neal and I at Elitches

At Millie's wedding reception

Boys Like Girls concert

Celtic Women concert

Going dancing!

Hiking in RMNP

Snowboarding!



Snowboarding in Colorado

When Neal and I started dating, he told me I was going to have to learn to snowboard because it was one of his favorite things to do, and he wanted to share the joy he felt in it with me.

The story that he didn't know at the time: my junior year of high school I had gone on a ski trip with my choir.  We went to Winter Park for a choir competition, and on the other days we were up there, we got to ski or snowboard.  During this trip, I attended one of the classes provided by the ski resort, and after a day of learning, went off to tackle the mountain with my friends and mom (who had come up with me as a chaperon on the trip).  During my attempt at snowboarding, I ended up going end over end down the slope, and injuring my knee.  I got to take the lucky ride down the mountain in a tobagan pulled by ski patrol.  Needless to say, I hadn't gone snowboarding since then.

After many tears (by me) and promises of patience and loyalty (by Neal), he finally convinced me to allow him to teach me to snowboard.  I must admit I was pretty convinced he wouldn't be able to teach me.  He patiently spent multiple days going slowly down the same run over and over again teaching me how to safely snowboard, and have fun in the process.  I must admit now, that I'm very glad he did!

Neal and I on lift 2 at Loveland

This year is when I really started getting the hang of it, and enjoying myself when we've gone up.  We bought a bunch of four-packs to Loveland Ski Area this year, and we've had friends go up with us.  We also gave my brother a ticket for Christmas, and brought him up one day to teach him how to snowboard.   Almost every time we've gone up, it's been absolutely beautiful, and we've had so much fun!  

Kelsey, Cole, me, and Neal after an amazing day.

It's also been a very positive experience for our relationship.  Neal had to have great patience and perseverance (especially on the days when I cried a run into the day).  I had to learn to set aside my fears, and trust that Neal would help me, and wouldn't ditch me when he got frustrated.

Here are some pictures of the trips we have taken over the last year!  Enjoy!

A sweet panoramic Neal took from the tippy top

A sweet shot of Neal's snowboard

The only BAD weather we had all year!  It was snowing so badly we literally couldn't see!

Courtesy of Kelsey Hansen - look at the sweet flex in that board!

An epic fall Neal took.  It took him a bit to get his board out of the snow.

Neal, me, and Richard on a lift

Neal up on top of lift 9