Lindsey Sterling

In July Lindsey Sterling came to Birmingham.  If you don't know who I'm talking about, you've got to look her up on YouTube.  Basically she's an amazingly talented LDS girl who got famous off of her YouTube videos.  She plays the violin while dancing and it's beyond phenomenal.  I wasn't sure how her concert would be since there's no singing, but it blew me away and I didn't want it to end. Go see her in concert if you get the chance!

Katy Perry

We scored some cheap tickets to the Katy Perry concert last minute so I made Kyle come to ATL with me!  I was obsessed with Roar and still run to it.  So obsessed I bought the cd, which is really good by the way.  Yes, Katy Perry is a little funky and I don't agree with everything she supports, but she has an amazing voice, fun songs, and is a creative performer.  Overall, the concert actually wasn't as weird as I thought it would be!  And she really is a good girl at heart.  You can tell the preacher's daughter is still in there.

I was very disappointed when she opened with Roar and it was very... lame.  She didn't even sing the whole song.  By that I meant she had some kind of recording behind her.  I was so mad, but she made up for it the rest of the concert.  And Dark Horse was AMazing!

Overall it was a super fun night out with my good-sport-of-a-husband who I didn't even have to ask twice to come with me.

5 Years

Last week we celebrated our 5th anniversary!  Kyle surprised me with a little getaway to Nashville and it was so fun!  We left town Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and went and got some dinner.  For dessert we heard that Jeni's was the place to go for ice cream.  Like, people ranted and raved. So we gave it a shot and LOVED it!  The sea salt caramel and buckeye state did not disappoint.  And how cute are the fresh flowers in the mason jars on the table? Adorable. Don't worry, there was a little hipster feel to the place too though.

Saturday morning we slept in and headed to another famous breakfast spot- Loveless Cafe. They are known for their biscuits, and they were to die for.  Especially the chicken biscuits.  Wow.  I can never eat a chick-fil-a one again.  Not really, but these were seriously the best ones we've had.  The cheese grits were pretty yummy too. 

That afternoon we relaxed by the pool (with about 4-5 other bachelor/bachelorette parties, haha).  The pool area was super nice and was up on the 4th floor rooftop.

Later that afternoon we made a stop to Trader Joes before heading back to Birmingham.  I still wish we had one of those closer than 3 hours away! hopefully one day...

memorial day, a race and the barons

I cannot believe how fast summer is going.  It's crazy.  Memorial day was a relaxing 3-day lake weekend with lots of sun, food, and family time.  The best.

The next weekend I did a triathlon with Stephanie in Montgomery.  The swim was in the Alabama River, and I was slightly terrified of alligators (even though they have only been spotted 50 miles south...) I think it helped my swim time.  Besides the gross river swim (yes, I was spoiled with the lakes in UT), I really liked the course.  The run was pretty hilly, but it was only a sprint tri (5k), so totally doable. 

3rd place overall

We also enjoyed a fun night at the Baron's game w/ our good friends from church, the Kinney's.  I love them, and I might love their boys more.  I get to teach the 4 year olds at church so we are buddies.

The beach and Lady A

After boards we escaped to the beach for 3 days.  Boy did this trip come at the perfect time! It was so nice to get away and just be together.

 

The next weekend we went to the Scotty McCreery and Lady Antebellum concert at Oak Mountain.  It was SO GREAT! I love love love Lady A and they did incredible.  Perfect cool summer evening. Definitely worth the $19 tickets!  

And then we went to GA to celebrate mother's day with my mom and brandon.  Saturday we got some lunch with dad, helped Brandon pick out a cute workout outfit for mom and then made a yummy breakfast and dinner for her on Sunday.  It's so nice being just a short drive from home.

 

One more week of work until Memorial Day and the Bachelorette starts tomorrow! ;)

1st place and Easter

April was busy as Kyle crammed, studied, crammed, studied, and on and on until he took his board exam.  Meanwhile I stayed busy with friends....

Stephanie and I did the Oak Mountain duathlon (run, bike, run) and it was so fun.  Talk about a GORGEOUS day too.  Seriously, we couldn't have had prettier weather.  Springtime is so amazing here.  Nice cool mornings, warm afternoons that aren't 100% humidity, and cool evenings.  Love.

Pre-race, tired faces

1st place in my age division!  I mean, there weren't a ton of people in my age group, and technically the girl that won 1st won 1st overall (so they don't let you win both), but I'll take it.  I will mention I got passed by a 50 year old iron woman and about 3, 14 year old girls.

The next weekend was Easter!  Bc Kyle had to take an 8 hr practice exam at school on Saturday, we decided to just stay in town and do Easter together.  The plan was to get a ham from Costco, but when we got there we noticed they had gigantic king crab legs on sale.  So we figured it's a special occasion, why not?  Crab legs on Easter?  I think we've started a new tradition.

With a side of Paula Deen homemade mac n' cheese (divine!), rolls, and salad.  & please excuse the crappy iphone pics. I was too excited to start eating to get my other camera...

 
These are quite possibly some of the best crab legs I've ever had.  They were HUGE and had tons of meat.  We were a little sick afterwards.  Is that even possible? 

Every Life Has a Story

Planning video production for a client at work today, I watched this video.  And I have to share it because it is just that good.

Happy Monday.

March

I've been thinking I should update events from March, but to be honest, March kinda stunk. Kyle was busy finishing his last module, I was so sick for basically 2 weeks, and Kyle started studying for boards.

Quote that sums up the month of march for me:

Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.

Kyle finished class on March 21st (yay for being done with school!) and has been board studying non-stop.  Less than 3 more weeks of the mad studying and this guy will be done with school forever.

He starts hospital rotations May 5th!  Let's just say.... we're both pretty excited for May 5th.  Is it May yet?!

Not to be too negative nancy....

I did break out black beauty (aka my awesome road bike) and take her on a couple of long bike rides, did enjoy some warm weather days and long runs in the sun, started working out/having an appetite again, signed up for a duathlon on Saturday (gotta keep busy while Kyle is MIA), and finished the lame month/began April with some much needed General Conference (thank you Elder Uchtdorf).

Oh and also, we had a pretty fun girls night at Divergent.  I read the book and I thought the movie was really good.  I love these girls from church and our bachelor/monday night girls nights! So grateful for their friendships.

Love day and a race

February happenings...

Mom and Brandon came over on Valentine's Day and we all went to dinner at The Fish Market. Saturday night Kyle and I celebrated together at the Melting Pot.  We also watched the Olympics almost every night.  So inspiring!  Oh and did y'all know I have a distant cousin who was competing on the USA Luge team? You might recognize her. Or at least beyonce does. 

Feb also means Mercedes Marathon weekend here in Birmingham.  It's tradition now.  And an awesome one if you ask me.  I love my bham running friends and races.

We also got more snow!  It was SO pretty.  It started snowing around 6pm, dumped for a solid hr-two, and then was just beautiful for about 16 hours before it all melted and was 60 degrees again.

 

We also got to see Greg, Brenda and Mitchell to and from their trip to Utah, and met yaya and grandpa for dinner at the Summit last weekend.

Here's to March! Which I'm betting will even be a better month than Feb! It's 65 and sunny today, so we're already off to a good start.

Lilo's birth-versary

In Jan we decided to celebrate Lilo's birthday/2-year anniversary of joining our little family.  We took her to bruster's for a doggie sundae.  she looooooves some ice cream.

This little dog was no doubt a huge blessing that came to us right before some of the toughest times. She brought us light during Kyle's treatments (even if it was only a short visit) and still brings us so much happiness.  I've loved dogs, but this one is special because she's ours.

I'm so grateful for her and the happiness and joy she brings, and the endless love she has.

I love this dog and have been extra grateful for her lately.  So Lilo, this post is for you and so we will always remember you.

swan lake & a baby blessing

I wasn't sure I would make it to Utah when my flight was cancelled Thursday night, but I opted to fly out fri night and just make the best out of the 48 hr trip.  And it was worth every second of it.... 

Saturday morning was our cousin Chelsea's bridal shower.  

these girls!!!!

 

cousins

I can't get enough of her

 Then we headed to BYU to watch Kaley perform in Swan Lake.  She was the black swan and stole the show. Beautiful, strong, and flawless, this girl did amazing!

Sunday was baby Cameron's blessing day.  This baby is such a sweet sweet boy.  I could just stare at him alllll day long.  Move to GA already please!

Yes I steal him every chance I get.  Love these sisters of mine SO MUCH!

snowpocalype

While Orlando was fun, getting home was a nightmare.  On Monday night we saw the forecast for Tuesday- 30% chance of snow flurries, less than 1" accumulation.  And we all know what happens most of the time the south predicts snow..... nothing. 

Well if you've watched the news and seen what hit atlanta 2 weeks ago, that's what hit Birmingham too.  Snowpocalypse 2014.  It hit, froze quickly, and suddenly turned everything into an ice rink.  People were abondoning cars, kids stuck at schools overnight, and the city completely shut down.

So you can guess what happened to our flight.  Cancelled on Tues.  And on Wed? Cancelled.  We finally got back to town Thursday.

It was a travel adventure nightmare.  All bc of 1-2 inches of accumulation that was totally miscalculated by the weather people.

Our infamous meteorologist in town, James Spann, sure took a beating on social media.  Here's his response to the chaos:

"In terms of human impact, yesterday's forecast 'bust' was the most significant for me since January 1982, when we had a timing error of about six hours on the arrival of freezing rain and snow. Instead of starting at 5:00 p.m... it started around 11:00 a.m. People were caught off guard, schools and businesses closed, and the result was traffic gridlock, abandoned cars, separated families, and human suffering. Very much like yesterday, so I have been down this road before. The main difference is that I was a young man of 26 years old in 1982. With the experience and maturity that should come with a long tenure in my position, you would think that kind of error would not happen again, but, it did."

We had a great time in Orlando.... until Tuesday.  Then the Marriott Courtyard by the airport got a little old.  (Side note: when our 1st flight was cancelled, we found a room at a gross, smelly old Holiday Inn and made the executive decision to pay $40 more to move to the courtyard.  Good thing, bc that's where we spent the next 48 hours.)

car-less, hangry and tired walking to our 3rd hotel for the week

Memories, oh the memories.

And if you can believe it, we're under another winter watch today and tomorrow and expecting ice/sleet.  You can bet everyone is going nuts and we all left work at 2pm.

Spring, it's time for you to show up.  This alabama winter has been brutal.

Orlando trip

Kyle was accepted to attend a conference for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in Orlando.  He was 1 of 20 medical students across the country, so it was quite an honor.  I figured I would tag along bc hello, it's Orlando, FL and I do love to travel.  Actually, I should change that to "loved," but that's another story for another post.

The conference ran Sat-Tuesday.  We enjoyed the sunshine and pool, and while Kyle attended the presentations/events I relaxed, worked out, shopped, etc.  The coolest part was definitely Monday night when they rented out Harry Potter World at Universal's Islands of Adventures theme park.  I've been dying to see it, and it was amazing!  Even more amazing that we had the entire place to ourselves.  We rode the rides a million times, drank free butter beer, and toured all of the shops.

Taking a break to let their stomachs settle

I liked the butter beer!

Amazing

Oh just picking out my wand

Two exciting things to note about this trip:
1- Elder Nelson was there to be honored as part of the 50th anniversary and one of the founding members. Pretty sweet huh?  Kyle tried so hard to get up and talk to him, but he was out of there before the meeting ended.  It's not like he's a busy guy or anything...
2- Kyle rode his first roller coaster.  boom baby!  Besides getting a little nauseated after the 2nd time around, he admitted it was fun.  I'm coming to terms that I'm going to be the only parent riding the big roller coasters with our kids one day.  I've got the tough stomach of the pair.

Goodbye 2013, hello 2014!

Thanksgiving and Christmas came and left.  It was a busy end of the year, but we enjoyed the holidays with family.  Dothan for Thanksgiving and Christmas in Utah to see the newest addition to the Johnson side- baby Cameron! I'm an aunt! 

We flew out to Utah the 20th, got stuck with major weather delays, but made it in time to enjoy Saturday down in Provo with kaley, dad, becca, jason and cameron.  We took becca out to lunch and made her walk around the mall for a little bit to get some fresh air too.  Sunday was the Johnson family Christmas dinner and it was so fun to see my cousins that I haven't seen since we moved! I miss the big family get togethers, so I was so excited we were there this year.

Monday we went snowboarding and it was a blast! The snow was amazing for December thanks to the storm that came in thurs-sun. The rest of the week was spent at the cabin in Heber together as a family. The boys got to do a little snowmobiling too, which despite getting lost for a couple hours, was a fun time.

I'm pretty lucky to welcome in another new year with this guy! He's my rock, motivator, hard-working, loving, fun, adventurous and uplifting best friend.  Can't wait for 2014!