21 weeks

Sorry, these don't make the most exciting posts, but I have some friends and family who are away and keep insisting that they be able to see baby bump pictures. This week you can for sure see growth!! Those are the ultrasound pictures in the background. So fun!!!

I love BOYS

We had our ultrasound, which was soooo fun! I've always loved boys and I'm so excited to have TWO of my very own (Darin and baby boy, that is...no, we're not having twins=).

soon to be the Johnston trio

So, remember how I’m a little behind with blogging?  Well, today I’m officially 18 weeks pregnant, but we took this picture last week.  Just thought it was time we share the great news via blog for those who don’t know yet.  The due date is April 18 and no we don’t know gender yet, but we will find out in two weeks.  Darin “knows” it’s a boy.  He even had an awesome dream about our baby the other night and got to hear his laugh!  He’s such a visionary man. =D  Who knows…we’ll take a boy or a girl. 

Pregnancy’s been pretty great for me…I haven’t hardly been sick at all and I’ve been able to keep up with work and school.  It’s been fun to feel the baby moving around more.  I heard several kicks while the doctor was listening for the heartbeat this week and I actually felt one last night.  Incredible!  At first being pregnant all seemed so surreal to me, but now that I have a little “pooch” and know there’s movement in there, it’s so exciting!!

For those who are wondering, this is the real reason why Darin didn’t apply for dental school this year.  We realized be could start our family sooner if he could stay home while I completed my fellowship year (working full-time) to get certified as a speech/language pathologist and then he will start dental school and I’ll be home!  Our plan actually worked! He’s really excited to be Mr. Mom for a while before he’s engrossed in school again.

Half marathon…at 6 weeks!

Still catching up from summer…

Last April I got back into running with my friend, Maria (from my school program). We ran together every MWThSat for several months and built up our distance. Before we knew it we were running 13 miles! Maria couldn’t join me, but I ran in the Hobble-Creek half marathon. I was so excited for this race and was determined to meet my goal of 13.1 miles in under 2 hours. It was very doable, but I got thrown a few curve balls before and during the race. Here’s what I wrote about the experience:

August 22, 2009

Today I ran the Hobblecreek half marathon. I’ve run 13.1 miles before in training, but this was my first official race. I was on the front seat of the very first bus going up the canyon to the start line. We boarded the bus at 5:15 am and arrived at the starting line at 6am…just to wait until the race began at 7:30am. But all of the runners became increasingly anxious when the race didn’t start on time (and we’d been waiting in our little running clothes up in the cold mountains). Seven-thirty is already a late starting time for a race of this length…but come on, 8:00am?!?!?!? That’s when we began the race; we all dreaded those last 3 miles when we would be in direct sunlight and definitely be feeling the heat of the day. It was supposed to get up to 100 degrees that day, so we knew it would be a warm morning.

I was 6 weeks pregnant, but had heard from medical professionals and friends that if I was up to that fitness level before I got pregnant, I’d be fine to maintain it and keep doing what I’m doing. I know a woman who ran a half marathon at 12 weeks cause she was a runner and had been in great shape when she conceived. Anyway, the only element that was difficult was the increased frequency of urination. I’d noticed at work the last couple of weeks that I’d had to go to the bathroom every sing 1-2 hours, when usually I can wait all day if I need to. So, this made the race interesting. I tried to take precautions by going to the bathroom before I left the house (4:30am) then before I got on the bus (5am) then after I got off the bus (6) but by the time the last mile came around just shy of 10am, I was peeing my pants and determined to keep going. Had I seen a porter-potty along the way, I may have stopped, but I was trying to reach my goal of under 2 hours and I knew it was getting close. I decided to just try to keep in what I could. (sorry, probably too much information!)

I was surprised at how steep the grade was, but for the first 9 miles, I was making great time and my injured knee was not bothering me at all. Then in the last 3 miles, things changed. I felt myself getting a little dehydrated as the heat pounded down. There were a few decent uphills and the downhill momentum had been let off. Now it was a residential area (not the canyon anymore) and I started feeling it. I realized that I didn’t know exactly where the finish line was. One of the other runners warned me that when I see the park, don’t think that’s the end because you have to run all the way around the park before you reach the finish line. Well, when I saw the park, I was so spent, I instantly got discouraged. Not knowing exactly how far I had to go was a real mental challenge for me and I started to slow down. Other runners were encouraging me to keep going that I was “almost there” but I wanted to slow down not only because it sounded nice, but because I was trying to be careful with the baby and make sure I was not pushing myself too much. I knew that the heat element wasn’t good and I didn’t want to take risks. I walked and jogged the last ½ mile and I knew that this meant I would no longer reach my goal time (under 2 hours). I ended up finishing at 2 minutes and 3 seconds. So close, but I still felt great about how I’d done. Given the circumstances, I think I did the right thing and took care of myself and the babe.

Darin was out of town that weekend, but I was SO glad that my dad was there to greet me at the finish line. Not only did I need his moral support, but his physical support. I leaned on him for a few minutes while I cooled down and regained strength.

I can’t wait to train again next summer!

Visiting Colorado

Darin and I decided to take a quick trip out to Colorado for our second year anniversary. I lived there 6 years ago, but haven't been back since. We had SOOO much fun!

We drove 5 hours to Grand Junction where we stayed a night (to break up the drive), but had a surprise in the morning when our car was COVERED in bird poop! We'd parked in the hotel parking lot under a tree that apparently houses many many birds at night. We laughed so hard just driving to the nearest gas station as we tried to see through the dripping mess on the

windows. We used the sponges on the squeegees at the gas station to scrub it a

ll off. I feel bad for the people who came to use those after us and got their windows dirtier from that nasty, poopy water.

The front window looks pretty clean in this picture, but that's because we'd already cleaned it off with the wipers and tons of washer fluid. The side windows were all streaked!Here's a close-up....

(The yellow squares are just the lights at the gas station reflecting...it makes our paint look really bad in this picture)

The drive was absolutely gorgeous! What a beautiful time to make that drive through the mountains! I couldn't seem to get any pictures that really represented the beauty accurately.

When we got into Denver, we stopped by for a tour of the dental school in Aurora. Super nice school!

When it was time for lunch I was really craving some Chipotle. I told Darin that this burrito place was sooo popular in Colorado and he really believed me when

we looked on the GPS for one that was close to us and there was a Chipotle every .2 miles for the next few miles! Needless to say, very time we ate out of this trip...we had Chipotle!

We had fun visiting our friends in Denver! Thanks Alexandria & Rob for putting us up for a night!

Another highlight of the trip was dinner at RockBottom and going to see a show...

That's right! We were on the FIFTH row at WICKED!!! It was awesome!

The next morning we went on a run together and found a huge beautiful park in the middle of the neighborhood where our friends live (only 10 min. away from downtown Denver). That's one thing I love about Colorado...they make sure to leave plenty of green space!

We stopped by the Denver temple on our way to Colorado Springs. It was a really cold morning, but the temple was beautiful and we had a wonderful experience remembering the day we were sealed together forever in the Salt Lake temple.

I'll have to edit this post and finish it later...

Two down

For our second anniversary, Darin gave me the most beautiful bouquet I've ever seen! They lasted for almost two weeks. A few times, I came home from school or work and actually teared up when I saw and smelled these flowers.

I loved these lilies, but especially what they represent. What a wonderful two years it's been! I don't know how I got so blessed to have such an incredible eternal friend!

catching up from summertime

So, this funny thing happens with blogging and journaling. If I get too far behind, I just stop altogether because I don't know where to start and I feel I'll never catch up. Today, I'm trying to put that behind me. I will just have to chip away at it piece by piece. So, in pieces over the next little while, you'll find out what we were up to this summer.

our hot hike

Darin and I decided to go hiking on Saturday morning. We headed up toward Stuart Falls, but I found out that we had to pay $6 to park up there by timpanogos trail and I was so bugged. I refused to pay (so dumb, looking back, but in the moment I was mad that people could make us pay them money for enjoying nature). So, Darin being the wonderfully forgiving and patient husband he is drove back down the canyon with my grumpy self and we stopped at one of the parks in the canyon. He decided we would just park there and start hiking up the mountain. I agreed since we needed to start hiking now that we were approaching 11 or 12 in the morning and the sun was definitely beaming. I just followed him up the mountain right into all the dead grass. And there we walked and walked and walked, hoping that it would get prettier at any moment (well, I hoped, but I think Darin was just enjoying the whole thing). There were grasshoppers EVERYWHERE and it was SICK cause I could feel dozens of them hitting my legs with each step. It turned out to be a fun and definitely memorable experience, but I learned my lesson. PAY THE SIX BUCKS, YOU CHEAPSKATE! We could have enjoyed a shaded and beautiful hike up to Stuart falls. Live and learn, I guess.

4th of July in Idaho

We got to go visit Darin's sister, Michelle and her family in July. We'd been wanting to go up and stay at their house for a while and we finally went. We went to a local parade with them after a neighborhood breakfast that was sooo yummy! It was so fun to just hang out with them. Their girls are so cute. While we waited a few hours for the fireworks show to start, they thought it was so fun to just run around in the same circle like 50 times! It's so funny that they just got a kick out of that. Sometimes kids are so simple, it's hilarious.
Brady, Michelle's husband, had just finished chemo therapy and we were so glad to see that he was doing so well. I've been so amazed at their strength, faith and optimism through that whole experience. They're such great examples to me and Darin!

The school side of our lives

We don't blog about school very much (even though it constitutes about 90% of our lives right now) because it's just not that exciting to blog about.  However, at this point, we are reaching some exciting milestones. 

CLASSES:

I've been in graduate school at BYU studying speech-language pathology for the last year.  In just a week and a half, spring term ends and I'll be done with classes...ALL done.  I don't graduate yet though because I still have two internships and a thesis to write, which will all take another academic year. Now you're thinking "at least she can earn some money now with the internships."  Wrong. I don't know why our field is different than most, but our internships are unpaid, but everything else about them is like a job (e.g. we can't miss work, we are expected to contribute a full day's work 5 days a week). 

INTERNSHIPS: 

The 3rd week of June (right after spring term ends) is when I begin my medical internship at a rehabilitation center in Sandy.  I'll ride UTA at 6:30am, then trax, and then bike the last 2 miles...and wahlah...I begin working at 8:30 am.   I'll be working with mostly older patients who've had stokes and traumatic brain injuries and are learning how to talk again.  I'll also work with patients who are having difficulties swallowing (betcha didn't know that SPEECH THERAPISTS do that!).   This will be a brand new context for me and I'm excited for the experience.  

In September, I begin a new internship at a private preschool for children on the Autism Spectrum.  The school is called Giant Steps and I've heard such wonderful things about the program.  I'm really excited for this one. 

MY FIRST SLP JOB:

I also have a job lined up to begin in September also working at another preschool for children with Autism.  My boss is awesome and i do get paid for this (and the pay is great).  It will give me excellent experience also!

THESIS: 

While doing all of the above, I'll be setting aside time to continue working on my thesis.  I'm looking at withdrawal behavior (the kind where they play by themselves more than with other children) in children with language impairment and how it correlates with their language test scores.  Are the withdrawn because they don't have good language skills? or do they not have good language skills because they're withdrawn?  Aren't we all DYING to know?!?!

ok...so see what I mean? BAD idea to blog about school stuff.  It can get boring to ya'll.  Let's move on to Darin before I dig a deeper hole...

DARIN:

He is not currently taking classes, but he's been working at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and studying hard for the Dental Admissions Test (DAT).  He's been so diligent with his study--I don't know how he keeps himself motivated!  I admire him so much for that.  Anyway, it's getting tough, but he's hanging in there.  He'll take the exam in a couple of weeks.  He will apply for dental school next summer since our plan is to work full-time for a year before he starts dental school.  He's a smarty-pants!

Porter's Cabin

 This weekend we went with some friends up to stay a night at their parents cabin.  We had such a good time!  Anyone ever played the game Blurt?!  I LOVE that game and want to add it to our somewhat nonexistant collection of games. =D  There were hours of intellectual talk about everything from signs of the times, to aliens, to politics, to dropping seals on a country to cause havvok...hahhaha.  Jayce said something about using seals to invade a country and I thought he was talking about the animal--I thought it was a strange strategy, but it might work.  Then they told me he meant Navy Seals.  Oops!

We were so irresponsible and stayed up until 4:30 am watching the Truman show and Independence Day.  Then, a few hours later we had a delicious breakfast of fruit and waffles.  Yum!  Short, but fun!  I'm so grateful for good friends.  I've known Lindsey and Jayce since high school in Colorado and am so glad we're all still hangin out...now with spouses! =D

Real mountain bikers

       

Look at how hard core these guys are?!  I knew I was in trouble when they started pulling out the knee and elbow pads and attaching them to the bikes for the ride down.  They are not afraid of speed!  This is Faozi and Laina, our Tahitian friends who live below us at Wymount.  They took us on a single track trail that was so narrow, the trees brush each arm as you ride!  Then occasionally, it opens up to show you the drop off on one side.  That's the part that was a mental challenge for me...as soon as I pictured myself falling toward that slope, that's exactly what I did.  I didn't fall far though and just had a few bruises.  I'll need a little more practice this season before I hit this one again.  Fun trail though!  I want to be able to do it this summer.

Two helpful tips from Faozi:  

1. Look further up the trail.  When you look down close to where you're riding, it's harder to keep your balance. 

2. When there's an obstacle coming up, be aggressive and hit it hard.  When you hesitate, you lose power.

Climbing Rock Canyon

I'm finally getting around to posting about the afternoon I spent with my friends Kristi and Maria from school.  We just went climbing on a wall up Rock Canyon right here in Provo.  It was a much needed break from studying!!  Maria was belaying me...and she's so tiny, I had to have a lot of faith in the little pulley system.  But she knew what she was doing and did a great job!  I was glad that I went first because Maria and Kristi were so fast!  I was so impressed.  Maria assured me that it's hardest to go up first because you don't have the advantage of seeing the route that someone else took.  I think she was just trying to make me feel better.  Anyway, I'm hooked and can't wait to go again!  Let's do it girls...next Friday? [Maria, send me the pic of all three of us and I'll add it to this post!]

Vacation in St. George

Darin and I hustled to finish our finals early and have some time to join Darin's sister's family (the Richards) at a condo in St. George.  Each year the Johnstons have their timeshare at a condo in St. George.  This year we weren't all able to be down there at the same time, but the Richards stayed the whole week and we got to join them an the end of the week.  We had such a fun time having their family all to ourselves!  Jamilynn and Cory are so much fun and their kids are angels!  I am in love with Tommy (don't worry, Darin knows).  He's SOOO cute!!  I wish I'd taken video of him because his personality is so fun and he says funny things all the time.  At any given moment you can say, "Who are you?" and he'll answer with "Spiderman!" or "Bumble bee" (transformers).  He says it with his nose wrinkled like it is in the picture here and with a raspy voice.  So cute!

The weather was perfect the whole week.  We went on a hike first thing.  Look at that sky!

Then we ate lunch at a little park in town where there are nice grass islands to sit and a little manmade stream for the kids to play in.  I love this picture because you can see Tommy's little crack.  His mom asked him to pull his swim suit up and he obediently pulled the legs up to expose his thighs.  Haha!  Jami just laughed and shook her head.  

Then we went to Fiesta Fun (a tradition in the Johnston family) where we did bumper boats, bumper cars, go carts, and mini golf.  The bumper boats have a fun feature--sprayers!  We all had a great time getting each other wet, but Ryan wa

s the king.  He absolutely SOAKED everyone!!

  We were drentched by the time we were done.  Good thing it was still so warm even at 7pm. Ahh...I love warm weather.

We also got to go on a few bike rides.  Darin and I found a nice little trail for riding.  So glad I married someone who loves to be outside and be active!  We have some good times!

 We also got to spend lots of time at the pool, play

 tennis in the morning and afternoon and watch movies at night.  It was a much needed break!  Now it's back to the books.  Spring term started 2 weeks ago for me and Darin's studying for the DAT.  Our trip seems like it was just a dream...

Now it's back to the books.  Spring term started 2 weeks ago for me and Darin's studying for the DAT.  Our trip seems like it was just a dream...

                        By the way, does anyone know why my text is doing this wierd spacing thing?  The big gap in the first paragraph on this post really bugs me but I can't figure out how to change it.  Advice??

Yoga anyone?

So... I'm not so good at blogging.  I don't do it often enough to remember what I've learned.  It took me a while this morning just to figure out how to change the background again!  ugh!  So, I've decided to try to start small.  I just want to blog a little here and a little there. 

Here's my little post for today.  If anyone is reading this, and if you also like yoga, you may be interested in a website that a friend told me about.  Yogatoday.com provides a new 60 minute yoga workout DAILY for FREE.  It's awesome.  You can pick the workout you want to do (different levels available) and do it wherever and whenever you want to!  I've loved it.