Tis the Season...Peanut Butter Balls

This was all Chris and Pops' doing... Mmmmmm!

More Santa Barbara...

Chris & I at a cute italian restaurant the night before the race...

Had to carb load :) Brett and I carb loaded too...for our running around to different race points snapping pics of these two in action! So, lil did we know how BIG these servings of pasta would be! Not sure if you can tell, but one bowl of this pasta could have easily fed a family of 6! We sure felt like rookies in there ordering SO much food. For some reason, we couldn't stop laughing about it.

Chris & Court coming in for the finish...

And the post race picture. So proud of these two. They ran hard!

And finally...Philippe's ...

BEST FRENCH DIPPED SANDWICHES! And this place has been around forever. Its located in China Town in downtown L.A. I'm sure you have all seen it on the Sandwich Video??...oh wait, that's just Pops?! And we went without him...sooo mean of us! But we couldn't resist, seeing how it was practically on our way home! Ok, maybe we had to make a slight 45min detour, but it was well worth it.

I think everyone working there has been around as long as it has...it was cash only, and you had to put your cash on this little tray. If you make the rookie mistake, like we did, and just put the money on the counter, you get a glare and a pointing gesture to the tray...no words, just a point and a glare. And if you mess up on your order, you get another annoyed glare and no fork with your Lemon Meringue pie ;)

This picture doesn't do this sandwich justice! The key is to get it double dipped. So scrumptious. There were no words coming from our mouths while partaking of this...



Run Run Run

Chris and his sister Courtney ran the Santa Barbara Half Marathon this morning...and Brett and I were their cheerleaders. It was fun driving/running to different points to cheer them on and it couldn't have been a more beautiful morning! They both did awesome! It's been a fun weekend...I feel like all I've done is eat though! Why is that?! Oh well, it was worth it.
*We went to Phillipe's in China Town for lunch today...more on that later!

Just like this picture...

This is the State Fair through an iPhone point of view...sorry for the graininess...
(Chris' sis, Annie and their Mom)

Liked this one too...

Another iPhone point of view...looks like Chris told a funny!

Happy Birthday Love!!

State Fair 2010. We missed the usual big group but it was still a lot of fun with Annie and the Parents!
Happy Birthday Chris....Love You!!

A bad idea...

This wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do to myself...considering my major lack of discipline!! Oh well...I guess Halloween only comes around once a year! But hmmm...I wonder what goodies I can put in there for thanksgiving and Christmas?!

Sooo many emotions....

Chris and I are at the FSA conference in Tempe this weekend. Such an awesome time for us!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Look how cute my mom is! I just love her Sooo much and I'm really missing her! But I'm grateful for her and my Dad for their example of SERVICE and missionary work!
I love you Mom and hope you had a wonderful birthday...which was on the 4th, I'm a little late :)

Voice of the Spirit

My Dad emailed this video to me and all my siblings earlier this week pleading for us to each take just 3 minutes to watch it ... I didn't take those 3 minutes until today. And what a perfect day it was to take them. I've been having an internal struggle the past couple of days. FEAR. I really dislike that feeling. It leads nowhere good. But the feeling of FEAR came to me when I started to think about everything Chris and I would have to do to receive the sweetest blessing of all...to welcome our baby into our home. Yesterday I started to wonder how it all was going to happen...
I'm grateful for the Lord's hand in everything. For the Spirit that guides me and comforts me and helps me overcome FEAR.

Cooper & Aunt Christy

Cooper was being cuddly last night. He's just sooo sweet :) Natalie better be careful...babies fly free you know...I may take him ;)

The reason we came...

Cooper's baby blessing was today and it was so sweet :)

Wisconsin State Capital Building

Today we went to Madison, about an hour from Dodgeville. I LOVED Madison. Something about old towns where all the trees are mature, all the buildings ancient, and all different types of people EVERYWHERE. There's just something about it that I love.

Farmers Market

I loved this place too. It was the reason we came to Madison. So many interesting people there. it was set up on the outskirts of a park and the Capital building was sort of nestled in the middle of it all. Also, this city is a college town. So you can imagine what I mean about all the different people. Very fascinating for someone who doesn't get out much! aka ME.

Cheese and Pretzels

Pops and I sampling Wisconsin cheese...mmmm I think my favorite was the fire house jack!

Loose Meat Sandwich

So after returning back to Dodgeville, Chris, Pops and I made the 40min drive to Dubuque, Iowa to experience a Maid-Rite Loose Meat. To our surprise, we had to cross over the Mississippi River to enter Iowa. Then we noticed you could cross the Mississippi river again on a different bridge to enter Illinois! So we did :) And yes, we did drive that whole way for the sole purpose of the Maid-Rite loose meat. But the experience of seeing new country was worth it! Pops would say being able to eat that loose meat sandwich was worth it alone!

Full Bellies & Oh Sooo Content :)

Enjoying a phosphate in Dodgeville

Chris and I surprised Natalie and Austin and came with his parents to Dodgeville, WI for Cooper's baby blessing. Natalie was anxious to pick her parents up from the airport but all of us and baby wouldn't fit in her small car. So we decided to rent a car and follow Natalie and her parents and at some point, drive up along side her, waving with huge smiles. The only problem was Natty's crazy driving and deciding to take the scenic route. So the map we had pulled up on GPS wasn't the same route. Hence the reason Pops had to stage an intestinal problem at Mcdonalds just to kill time so we could locate them. Soon enough, we were following right behind her, driving like gangsters with our seats back, with the worry she'd spot us! Luckily it was raining cats and dogs, which made it impossible to see us. So after following her and losing her for about 30 mins, we were finally right behind her again and decided it was time to make our appearance...so we drove up next to her but Chris wasn't quite ready and just kept driving! I, of course, had my nervous/excited laughter going on. So after some debate, we let her pass us and kept at her pace until she decided to look over...I wish we got her expression on video! It was the whole jaw dropping, both hands over the mouth, straight out of the movie expression. Hilarious!! We thought she was going to crash. Luckily, she did not :) I'm not sure I was able to make it sound as fun as it was...but it was so fun! Oh and afterwards, we found out that when we past her the first time, she saw my profile and thought 'hey, that girl kinda smiles like Christy' but felt dumb to say it out loud.
Now, we're just enjoying each others company and seeing what Dodgeville is all about. In this picture, we're at the Pharmacy corner store on Main St, enjoying phosphates, milkshakes and malts :)

6 Years!

Happy Anniversary Love! I consider myself very very lucky to have you as my best friend for eternity! Thank you for your patience with me :)

(picture taken 4 years ago. Sundance, UT)

Elder Owens

I'm pretty sure my Dad is having a great time on his mission?! What do you think??

Introducing Cooper Clark Johansen!

Natalie and Austin welcomed this precious lil boy into the world one week ago today! Isn't he just perfect? I'm just so sad that we don't get to meet him for awhile. Natty and Austin live in Dodgeville, WI. Yes, too far away! Love you guys!

Having too much fun...

Great Company

We're hanging out with these 3 munchkins for this whole week....them+others=mighty fine company!! We are sooo happy to be here and feel so grateful for the opportunity.

Drive up to UT

Despicable Me at the drive-ins

Besides the blasted heat, this was a lot of fun in the back of the avalanche

Utah Valley Marathon

This was our first full marathon! An amazing accomplishment that came with a roller coaster of emotions...first, the nerves prior to the start are enough to kill you. Followed by the high you feel at the beginning(the thought seriously ran through my head that the only feeling better then this would be chris and I welcoming our first baby) ha! That high went away pretty quickly for me. At mile 14, my IT band failed on me and the rest of the race consisted of an awkward run/stopping&stretching/walking :) but I finished and that's all that matters! Chris did awesome! Overall, a great experience to never be forgotten! Hope to do another some day :)

RagnarDelSol 2010

I have to say, this Ragnar was a lot of fun. Ragnars are guaranteed fun and this one lived up to its expectations. Courtney and Brett did a great job putting together and organizing an all girls team and all guys team

And I lucked out with an AWESOME van...

All 5 of the girls in Van 2 were just such a delight to be with! I only knew 2 of them before the race and grew to love all of them by the end.

There was plenty of this going on...
And there was maybe some occasional laughing...
And of course plenty of this...whatever this is... :)
This was meeting up with Van 1 at a major exchange...

Paige from van 2..
was handing off to Aryn from van 1
There were a few of us who's husbands were on the guys teams and it was so much fun to meet up with them! One husband had the great idea to run with his wife on her last leg and the others agreed to it...SUCH A GREAT IDEA! Sweet husbands. It ended up being a life saver for me...
The fearless leaders..

nicest couple..

Chris & I handing off to Richard & Becky...

Post-hardest run of my life...thank you Chris for dealing with my emotional break down and rewarding me with a diet coke...:)

And a video for your viewing pleasure done by the lovely Reachel Bagley.

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE....