Halloween Is Here!

I love this time of year! I love the change in the air. There's just a different feeling. I LOVE the decorations too! Speaking of decorations... here are the newest additions to our Halloween decor family. I got the idea for this wreath off of another persons blog. It's adorable and super easy to make! It was a lot of fun and probably my new favorite out of our selection. I also finished my wooden block pumpkin patch that I started last year and never finished. I really wanted a pumpkin patch and saw this idea at a Super Saturday. They put Jack-O-Lantern faces on theirs, but I like mine better without. This way they can double as fall decor through Thanksgiving. Again, super easy to make. They look a lot cuter in person. My camera doesn't really capture the magic. I saw a really cute pumpkin patch made out of scrap fabric. It's a little late this year to start them though. I think I'll try it for next year. With all of the Halloween crafts and decorations I was already pretty excited about the holiday, but then tonight we got a visit from the Halloween Phantom and that just kicked my excitement into high gear! I was just sitting here, watching Dancing with the stars while Steven studied when there came a knock on the door. I open the door to find... no one??? I look down and their he is! The cutest little Phantom I have ever seen AND he came bearing treats. Check it out. So cute right? And the goodies were delicious. I had to work really hard to keep Steven from eating two. Which says a lot considering he is on a serious health kick (which is killing me, by the way). So, whoever blessed our home with this happy little Halloween treat, Thank-you!

Adventures in moving

Moving always starts off sounding exciting and fun... then, you actually begin the process and realize real quick just how not fun and exciting it truly is. When we moved into our last apartment we did a lot to it. We painted and installed ceiling fans in our VAULTED ceilings. So, when we were preparing to move out we had to repaint and uninstall the ceiling fans. At least this time we had a ladder. When we were installing them we didn't. So, Steven stacked up the kitchen table, two boxes and a kitchen chair to be tall enough to install the fans.... It was a wobbling tower of terror! Even with a ladder though it was still a little crazy. I'm so glad Steven is brave enough for these things because we would be in big trouble if it were up to me. Look at how high he is! I got scared just climbing up two rungs to hand him screws. I thought it was pretty funny how Lilly kept camping out on and in the boxes and suit cases. It's like she was trying to make sure we didn't leave her behind. Then there's Tiger.... We had a balcony in our last apartment and the cats both loved to go out there. Well, one day right before we were getting ready to leave Colorado and possibly never return, I couldn't find Tiger anywhere in the house. He wasn't in any of his favorite hiding places. So, I looked outside to see if maybe we locked him out there. He wasn't there either. Half of me was thinking WE HAVE TO FIND HIM! But, there was a part that was thinking it might be more convenient to only have one cat to transport. I KNOW!!! That's awful! I knew it as soon as I thought it and then I went outside to search for him. I thought he was gone forever. I had no idea how long he had been out there or if he would try to find his way home or if one of the millions of animal lovers would steal him because he's so stinking adorable. I was looking in the bushes right below our balcony when a lady saw me (probably thought I was a peeping tom or burglar) and asked what I was doing. I told her and she said she had heard something hit her window a couple HOURS earlier but didn't think anything of it. I looked by her window and sure enough my poor little guy was there shivering on the window seal. I didn't see him before because it was dark and he blended into the wall perfectly. I was so happy to find him and felt awful that he had been there for HOURS. He made it out with only a little scratch. To be continued...

Steven's Graduation

Okay, so I am seriously behind on my blogging. At first I was putting it off because things were super busy, but now I am so far behind that it's just overwhelming. However, there are things that I can't just not blog about. So, these catch up blogs may be kind of lame. Mostly pictures and not much story. If you have questions about something or want more details, just ask! On that note, let's get crackin! First order of business, Steven's graduation! It was a really fun day. It started with a breakfast, then there were TWO graduation ceremonies (a school wide ceremony and then an individual class ceremony...i.e. medical, dental, pharmacy), then we went to a barbecue at our friends house and then we went out to Dave and Busters with Steven's parents and little brothers. Again, super fun day. Enjoy the pics! This one is first thing in the morning right before the opening ceremony. It was probably one of the warmest days we had had in Denver that season of course and poor Steven was in a BLACK gown and it was not thin either. So this picture is from the Pharmacy class ceremony. The amazing building in the background is called the 500 building. It was the Army hospital back in the day. It super awesome! These are pictures of Steven being hooded. When you graduate from a doctorate program you still get a diploma, but you get hooded on stage rather than receive your diploma. They said that in the beginning of such ceremonies the people receiving doctorate degrees were rewarded with the heavier gowns and the hoods for extra warmth because the ceremonies would take place when it was very cold. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for this graduating class. With every layer they just felt closer to heat exhaustion.... Anyway, the pictures didn't turn out great. I couldn't get close enough for my stinky camera. My brother-in-law did an amazing job getting it all on video though! Here Steven is taking his first picture as a DOCTOR! with his hooder, Dr. Cheryl Vondracek. She was one of his preceptors and meant a lot to him. Here Steven is with his dean. The dean is wearing a different looking get up because he went to a different school. There were some really cool looking gowns and hats! From the left... Steven, Zach (Steven's very first friend in Colorado/Pharmacy school) and Jesse. Here is a closer picture of Steven with his hooder, Dr. Cheryl Vondracek Here's a picture of his hood. I thought it was super cool, so I wanted a picture. From the left, Dain, Zach and Steven. These guys were the three amigos for a quite a while. From the left, Jesse, Chung (I'm so sorry if I spelled that wrong!) and Steven. This is Steven with Jamela. She was the valedictorian. She's super sweet! And here we are with our friends, Debbie and Jesse. They are probably our closest couple friends. They are tons of fun and I miss them both sooo much! I miss playing Settlers of Gattan and eating Debbie's culinary masterpieces and just hanging out. The barbecue we went to was at their house. Sorry, no pictures! And on to the night! It was a lot of fun going to Dave and Busters with the family. Here Steven and Tyler got their trivia on. I can't play this game. By the time I read the question and look over the possible answers everyone else already has their guess in and your time matters... I never know the answers either. It's just not my game. Steven has fun with it though. I love the racing game! I'm pretty much the best ever at this game. Yep, you are seeing right. That's me in first place. The proof is on the screen. ha ha You can't go to Dave and Busters and not play Deal or No Deal.... At least Steven can't. We played this game where you put in a coin and try to knock a bunch of coins over the edge to get tickets... Steven rocked at it. See........ It was so much fun! Steven almost died from heat stroke and hunger, I suffered from hunger, massive blisters and this... But it was so worth it! Congratulations Dr. Steven Johnson! I love you so much and I'm so proud of you!

1st Sunday in our new ward

I know I have been neglecting our blog. For that I am sorry. There has been sooo much going on though. The move, Steven's graduation, Kassie's bridal shower, the open house, the reunion. I will blog about all of these things real soon, but today I have to tell you all about our first day in our new ward. Pretty eventful! SO, there is a student ward that I guess most young people choose to attend over the family wards, but we want to check out both to see where we feel most comfortable. Today, we decided to try out the family ward first. It's just a short walk from our apartment, which happens to rule in favor in my opinion. I love walking! It was SUPER small, but everyone was so nice! In this ward Relief Society and Priesthood are first. There was another new girl, Nicole, and her husband who happened to walk in just as we were asking where to go. So, Nicole and I buddied up and Steven and her hubby did the same. And so they became the first of many new friends we made today. Everyone in RS was really nice and welcoming and practically pleading with us to choose this ward over the student ward.... Nicole and her husband are wanting to go check out the other ward too. At the end of RS I met Ana, who lives in our apartment complex and she invited Nicole and I, along with our darlings, to their 4th of July get together. I will blog with pictures of the event if I remember to take pictures! I also met Marissa. Next we had Sunday School...not much happened there. BUT THEN! We went to Sacrament where I learned Jon Neder (Napoleon Dynamite) is in our ward! Crazy right? It was funny because I just noticed two guys that looked like twins and thought that was fun. Then, Steven pointed out that they kinda looked like Napoleon Dynamite. I laughed because they did, then we chatted about how Jon Neder was Latter Day Saint and wondered if he was still active since he's become famous and that was the end of it. Marissa and her husband Enoch sat by us during sacrament. Marissa leans over and tells me, "look, we have Napoleon Dynamite in our ward." I thought she was saying a look a like, so I laughed and told her Steven and I were just joking about that. Then, she tells me, "no, it's the real guy." I look closer and OMG! It really is! So crazy. I went home and looked him up and he has an identical twin! IT REALLY WAS HIM! I've never had trouble realizing that famous people are just people, but it was really strange for me to see him in church with his wife and little girl. Not in some rich, only famous people go here kinda wards. I'm embarrassed to say, I was star struck and in church no less. Anyway, Nicole and her husband walked home with Steven and I and we realized our apartments are straight across the sidewalk from each other! How fun is that? I hope you all have an AMAZING 4th of July! God Bless America, this land that I love!

Poolside Giveaway

Peeps! I hope those of you that like to swim and need a new swim suit read my blog before tonight before 12AM MST. If you go to this link... http://boydandniki.blogspot.com/2010/04/poolside-giveaway.html there will be instructions for entering into a contest for a free swim suit! Nice right. The more things you do and the more you post a comment on the A Lovely Lifestyle blog the more times you are entered to win. This will be my 4th thingy! Wish me luck and good luck to all of you that participate!!!

Gimme that guy

There is a country song, "Gimme that girl." It makes me think of Steven every time I hear it. The guy singing it, Joe Nichols, is singing about a girl that he thinks is beautiful and perfect just the way she is (without hair and make-up all done). Anyway, there is a part where he is singing about the different little personality traits that he loves about her and says, "gimme that girl that the rest of the world ain't lucky enough to know." I feel that way about Steven. There are things he does when it's just him and I, and I feel so lucky to be the one to share those moments with him. There could not be another person that fits me so well. I'm not claiming he's perfect, I'm just saying there couldn't be another person in the world that is more perfect for me. I love you handsome!

Animal Tales

Steven and I were out running errands the other day. We were driving through a parking lot when a goose swoops down, right in front of my car and I nearly hit the thing. Thanks to Steven's good eyes, I was able to stop just before whacking into it. Remember in my previous blog about Flat Stanley how I said it was great that we could get so close to the geese because they are normally pretty mean? Yeah, the stupid goose I almost hit was dive bombing us! It was trying to attack me through my car. Then, another one came out and started walking up to us. I'm in a metal car freaking out because I fear somehow the geese are going to find their way in or I'm going to run them over. The one walking toward us starts biting at my tires! Then, another car coming the opposite direction gets stuck because the stupid walking goose is standing in the middle of the road blocking the way. Ugh! Steven said they probably have babies near by and are trying to protect them. Crazy birds! Then, that same day I had the lint brush out because our cats shed so stinking bad. I look over and Tiger is licking the sticky part of the lint brush! Apparently, it tastes fantastic. I imagine he would be the little boy that eats paste if he were human. It's a good thing he is so darn cute. His bad habits sure aren't the reason we keep him around!

Best example of Denver weather

So, I am always complaining about how Denver weather is sooo unpredictable. There have been times where Steven and I would go out in shorts and t-shirts one day to soak up the sunshine and then have to wear snow boots and heavy coats the very next day or the time I finally went to school in my beloved flops and left the sweater behind because it was a bright sun shiny morning and ended up regretting that decision when heavy snow greeted me when I got out of class or maybe the snow storm we had in the middle of May two years ago. WELL! Let me tell you what. Today topped ALL of those stories. We are reaching the end of April now and today I witnessed snow, rain, and sunshine all in the very same day. Unbelievable right! However, I have to admit, I am going to miss it here a little when we move to California this summer. It really is a beautiful place. Just thought I'd share the weather! Now I have to go duck for cover. It sounds like the wind might blow our apartment complex over any second. ha ha Sleep sweet everyone!

All Story, No Pictures...

So, Steven and I went to Los Angeles this weekend to look for a new home. We had a lot of potential places from looking online, but we wanted to go see them in person to get a better feel for the neighborhood they were in and what they really look like. You can never trust the pictures online. We get to California and the first two people we had the pleasure of dealing with were totally rude and the traffic was a bear. I was not feeling great about things thus far. After picking up the rental car and getting things settled for Steven's residency, we started our apartment search.... Oh goodness! The first day we saw a lot of, what I thought to be, scary apartments. Steven didn't seem bothered as much as I was. I decided it was female intuition. We had like 5 different apartments marked all in the same area so we headed over there to get a bunch knocked off the list....We knocked them off alright. The area alone was enough to scare us away for life. I told Steven if we got an apartment there we would have to take his mom the back way or she would have a fit. ha ha No joke, it was like the type of ghetto you see in movies where they are trying to make the area seem super GHETTO. It was bad. At the end of the first day I was feeling pretty anxious that we wouldn't find anything. Everything was either way too expensive or way too scary. The next day was a little better. We ran into some nice people, saw some AMAZING cars...and I'm not even into cars that much. We saw a couple of places that appeared clean and safe, but they still seemed to be above and beyond our comfort zone in price. At least there was hope though. That evening we went to Santa Monica pier. It was super cool and really relieved some of the stress. The pier itself is way cool. Someday when we have money, I'd like to spend some times there eating fry-bread and riding the rides. The ocean was so beautiful. There's a spot on the beach with all these different exercise thingies. It's where the buff guys go to show off. It was funny to watch. There was one girl doing some crazy acrobatic stuff on the rings. She wasn't fooling me. There was no exercising to this routine. It was all for show. It's going to take some time to get used to all of the hot headed, show offs. Steven climbed a super high rope. I was pretty impressed. He made it look so easy and we all know climbing the rope in gym class is no easy task. The next day was Sunday. We were on the hunt again. We passed one of our church buildings and I talked Steven into going in to talk to one of the bishops. He didn't want to because we were not dressed for church. To be honest, I felt weird too, but I was so over our unrewarded searching efforts that I got over it pretty easy. Everyone was sooo nice and the bishop kept trying to convince us that that was the ward for us. Steven thinks he has callings to fill. :0) Turns out, one of the bishops counselors lives in and manages an apartment complex not even a block away from the temple! What are the odds? Anyway, so Sunday was a great day. We found some potential places and met a lot of really nice members and felt some of the weight lift off our shoulders. It really does pay to be a member of such an amazing church. I'm so thankful. I am a firm believer that blessings come from being a member of this wonderful gospel and paying tithing. Even though it was a little stressful at times, it was a great trip. I had so much fun just spending time with my amazing husband. My companion, my navigator...my best friend. I love you so much Steven!

Road trip! Went to Utah for my "big sister's" wedding

My best friend Heather, has been my best friend since we were 11. Her house was like my home away from home growing up and her family was like an extension to my own. They are some of the greatest people a person could ever know. Anyway, Heather's big sister Jen was getting married and I hadn't seen them in FOREVER! So, Steven and I decided to drive to Utah for her wedding reception. We decided to take Lilly with us. She claimed her spot right off and stayed there the whole trip. I wanted her to come to me, because it would be safer and because I was super jealous of the attention she was giving Steven, but she wouldn't leave Steven's lap. I don't know if she just felt safer there or if she was convinced she was the driver.... We had a sweet little setup for her Eventually, she settled down enough to take a bath and snooze for a bit Until we hid a bump in the road. Lilly - "What's that?!?!" We finally got to the reception, but I left my camera in the car, so no pictures. Sorry! Her dress was amazing though! The Next day, we went over to spend some time with them before we headed back to Colorado. It was a lot of fun! Heather, Nate, Steven, and I were playing some Bad mitten until the guys got out of control. After Heather and I had both been attacked by the shuttlecock or bird or whatever it's called, we decide to beat the guys up and move on to a more friendly, less painful game of Croquet. Nate, Heather's hubby, shows off his Karate Kid approach This is Jen and Heather's little boy, Anthony. So, stinkin' cute! My second family! I miss you guys!!! There are a couple people missing in this picture though. Jen and her new hubby had to take off and Josh had to go to work. We totally have to get together again soon!

Halloween 2009

I know, it's already waaaay past Halloween, but like I said, I'm trying to catch up. We actually had a lot of fun with Halloween this year. We did some really fun decorating and had a small get together. Good times! Here are the decorations....I'm pretty pleased with myself, so I feel obligated to share. ha ha This is our VAAARY SCAAARY front door. I had a great pattern for a spooky wreath, but we had limited funds. Maybe I'll make it next year....I made the spider! Here's a close up of Mr. Spider I made this huge spider web that draped across the entire living room out of yarn. It took like 5 hours! It looked a lot cooler in person. Everyone was trying to convince me that it would make a great permanent addition to our home decor. ha ha This is Steven and my first Halloween decoration! I made it the Halloween before last. Like how I captured part of Casper the movie in the background to add to the creepiness? That wasn't on purpose! ha ha $4 sheets from Walmart made for some cool looking window dressings. Here's a close up of our pumpkins. Steven's is the scarecrow...he basically did all the work on mine too. I cut out one of the eyes and was done. ha ha Such a sweet, talented guy! Can't leave out the kitchen table! Tiger was really enjoying the decorations too...until he got stuck in them. Poor thing got all tangled up. I was to was to busy trying to get him out to realize what a great photo opportunity I was missing until after it was over. Lucky for me the nerd didn't learn his lesson and got back up there, so we got to recreate the moment. These are a couple of our friends, Jeff and Lisa. He was the cookie monster and she was a cookie. I thought it was so cute. We had another friend, Lia over who was pregnant at the time. She was wearing an orange shirt with a Jack-O-Lantern face on her baby bump. They had to leave before I thought to whip out the camera tho. This is our count down calendar. I saw it in a Crate and Barrel catalog for way more than I was going to pay for it, but I really liked it, so I recreated it. Steven helped. It was a lot of fun! I think it turned out pretty good. There was some cool stuff going on in the bathroom and kitchen, but I didn't get pictures of it for some reason. Maybe next year....