The Johnstons

We spent our Thanksgiving this year in Gilbert. We had so much fun spending time with family, welcoming our newest nephew, Dylan, eating turkey, and most of all attending sporting events.

Dylan just a day old.....cutest baby I have ever seen. Good job Jayme and John!

Same gang at the ASU vs. USC football game. Poor ASU.

One of the best parts of the game were the celebrity athlete sightings. The guy in the blue shirt is Doug Flutie. He is arguably the most famous Boston Athlete, played for Boston college and in the NFL and is most known for his "Hail Mary" against Maimi, according to Ryan and Wikipedia.

Charles Barkley also attended the game and we sat directly 20 rows up from where he was standing. Can't miss that shiny head from anywhere. Marcus Allen, who played for USC and KC Chiefs, and mystery guest were also in attendance with him.

Little Richard entertained us during halftime. It looked like he was being forced to perform at gunpoint. It was quite entertaining. All Ryan has to say is "Tootie Fruitie!"

Ryan's parents also scored 5th row tickets for the Suns game on Friday night vs. the LA Clippers. Ryan went with his brother Kyle and wife, and his father. He loved that he was able to see all his favorite players up close. Unfortunately he couldn't use flash photography so most of the pictures came out blurry.

Scott and Mitzi were in town last weekend, and we got the low down on the official Police Officer's belt. Ryan just couldn't resist trying it on. We had a great time catching up and learning about Scott's training so far. The best part of the evening was the video they brought along with them of Scott's "training" on being tasered and pepper sprayed. Hilarious. Thanks for the visit guys!

Today I had one of the most disgusting/funniest experiences at work. So for those that don't know, I work in a chemistry lab, and today my Boss, who is also a Chemist, was sitting at his bench at just the right angle that I got a full on shot of his Male Thong!.......Gross. I just don't think I can ever look him in the eye again. It took everything I had to not start busting up laughing.

This weekend, Ryan and I enjoyed carving a pumpkin and making "Holiday" cookies. The cookies didn't turn out the best, but we finally had an excuse to use our cookie cutters. The cookies were definitely more fun to make than to eat! Our pumpkin turned out great though, thanks to Ryan! In case you couldn't tell.....it's a witch.

I would like to make a shout out. Mitzi, this one's for you baby!

1. I didn't like watching TV during High School. I thought it was a waste of time. P.S. My new favorite show is HEROES. But I must say it's tied with Grey's....I just can't stop liking that show!

2. Ryan and I hated our First Kiss.

3. I LOVE the Beach, but hate going in the Ocean. I am afraid of sharks and I have had one too many near death experiences from getting tossed around by the waves.

4. Things I find to be instant joys: swings, ice cream cones, full moon, Route 44 Diet Coke, pigs, and my mom's scooter.

5. When I was younger, I would sing "The Spirit of God" at the top of my lungs when I couldn't fall asleep.

6. I hate being the Center of Attention. Except when I am around my family and with Ryan.

Ryan and I had so much fun cheering on our new favorite team last night. I usually hate watching baseball on TV, but last night was an exception. The 8th inning was awesome! I even picked out my new favorite player. Coco Crisp! He's the one with the fro. Not only did he make an amazing catch while slamming into the wall to win the game, he is so cute, and with a name like that how can he not be every one's favorite. We also really like Dice K! (The one in the swimmer's goggles) Well, Ryan attributes the Red Sox win to the fact that he was drinking diet coke out of his Red Sox souvenir cup he got at a game this summer. Whatever it was, we are happy and excited to cheer them on during the World Series. Go Sox!

So for all of you who don't know, Ryan accepted a position with KPMG in Boston starting Sept 2008. So in less than a year we will be full time east coasters! We are so excited about the big move. It is just too bad it isn't for another year, but we can't wait to join Kate and Jed out on the east.....Thanksgiving 2008!

Ryan and I got to go to the Muse concert this week at UVSC. They are the best live band in the world! And our favorite band right now. We got to see them together 3 years ago when we were dating and had such a fun time we could not pass up the opportunity to see them again when they came to town.

We had an enjoyable time down in LA this past weekend. We made a special trip to hang out with the family and go cheer on the BYU Cougars. We had so much fun and especially enjoyed our time at the game. Although we lost, it was such an exciting game! We were on our feet almost the whole game and were "fully invested". Here are some pictures of Ryan and I, with my parents and my sister Katie. The other great thing about our weekend was that we also got to have lunch with Ryan's mom, sister Jayme, and Nephew Jacob are last day in Rancho. They stopped on their way home from Santa Barbara.




Besides our fun weekend in Cali, we are getting back into the swing of things with school starting for Ryan and a new job for me. Yes, that's right....I got a job. I am working at Neways as an analytical Chemist. I have only worked for a couple of days, but I enjoy it already. It's going to be a great year!

College Football started up again this last Saturday.......so we spent the day watching football. It was fun though, especially the BYU vs. UofA game. Mostly because we won! Yay, go Cougs! We got our football tickets with Travis and his roommates, so we have a fun group to cheer BYU with. The win was a great way to start the season off. Next weekend BYU plays UCLA so we're heading to LA to go to the game with the fam. This is going to be a great year for BYU....I can feel it!

Well we finally made it home safely to Provo. However, before we headed to Provo, we got to have a little vacation in G-town. We were able to take this little vacation because Ryan did so awesome on his internship, KPMG flew him out to AZ to help on an audit for a company out there. I flew out and met him, we hung out with his family, and the best part.....stayed in The Buttes hotel. That's what this picture is. The Buttes is such a cool hotel that is built into the mountain......Thank you Uncle Peat! That's what they say when KPMG takes care of the bill. We had such a great time. Unfortunately the fun is coming to an end....Now it's back to school and job searching. One more year....

Our summer in Boston is coming to an end quickly so I figured I should post a few more pictures of some of the fun things we have been able to do since we have been out here. Ryan's parents and his brother and wife came out to visit a couple weeks ago. We had such a fun time with them and enjoyed going to Martha's Vineyard and to Newport, RI. I don't have any pictures from Martha's Vineyard right now, but hopefully I will soon because it is such a cool place. We took a ferry over in the morning and rented mopeds. We road around the entire island. It was great; however, the natives of Martha's Vineyard did not seem to enjoy the tourists on mopeds. They were kind of rude. Newport is another great town that I recommend going to if ever on the east coast. Back in the day it used to be quite the place for the wealthy to have a summer home. They have these mansions there that you can take tours through. We went through
the mansion called "The Breakers".
Here are some pictures of Ryan and I in front of it.

Ryan is working in Phoenix this week and I won't be joining him till Friday, so for our last weekend in Boston together we enjoyed going to the Museum of Fine Arts and having lunch downtown.







Here are some pictures from our trip to Palmyra. We went with my parents to the Palmyra Pageant.







These are pictures of the Sacred Grove and of the Palmyra Temple.








We also got to go into the Smith Family Home. We are standing in front of the fireplace where they believe Joseph Smith hid the plates.








This is Ryan's building! It is easy to point out because as Ryan says, "It's the only one that looks like a honeycomb"! We will miss living in Boston, but are excited to return to Utah to finish up school.