Today after work we continued working on the nursery. Katie masked off the ceiling, and we cut in the rest of the blue on the walls. We decided to paint the closet as well, and decided to do that in white. So we slowly began that, and quickly realized how much it sucks. We didn't get very far on it. We also started painting around the closet door and window in white as well.

More to come!

The time is coming quickly, so it was time to start setting up the nursery. There was a lot that Katie wanted to do, so we planned to start early. Here's some before pictures (click to embiggen!). Wall and ceiling the same color. The trim and door were the same before we moved in.

First step was to pull down the speakers and the light fixture. We were finally going to get rid of the beige ceiling paint. Katie picked up 2 gallons of ceiling paint, which is pretty flat, and kind of thicker. It actually went up pretty quick. We waited about 20 minutes after finishing and did a second coat. After the bulk of that dried I reinstalled the lights and speakers into the ceiling while Katie did the edges.

We did some cleanup to prepare to paint the walls next. We had painted a spot of the color we wanted, and were happy with the color. So we started off the walls. (This picture shows the color well.)

The nice thing was we weren't doing the whole wall, as we had other plans for the bottom. Two coats and we were done for the day. Here's a few shots of the room at the end of the day. These two are cell phone pictures, so the color is off.

So Katie wrote this and was going to post it on her section of the blog, but since that is only viewable on our family site (http://www.mnkjohnson.com), I'm going to post it so it's on both sites.

Wow. We suck as bloggers. No wedding pictures. Limited number of house pictures. No baby pictures, granted he’s not born yet, but we have ultrasounds. A ton has happened since March 5th of last year and we’ve blogged very little of it.

March 5th 2011---Wedding Day!

Today I got to marry my best friend and soul mate. We met at the Wight House in Bountiful around one to take the pictures so it wouldn't be forever between the actual ceremony and the reception/dinner. Mike hadn’t seen my dress and I wanted a picture of his face when he did. It was priceless. We had fun with the pictures and the photographers. Our good friends Jason and Jenn were helping us out. I found out that Mike hadn’t eaten anything, so I asked the lady at the reception center to feed him. She forced him to eat some food they had in the kitchen. The ceremony was beautiful and simple. My dad walked me down the aisle, one of my favorite moments. He was happy to give me away; he didn’t even tell me it wasn’t too late to change my mind! The ceremony was emotional. Mike was crying, my sisters were crying, apparently several other people were crying. I just couldn’t stop smiling. I was just so incredibly happy, I knew things were just going to get better and better as time went on. I just kept thinking, I’m marrying this incredible man, who adores me. I can’t believe how lucky I am. It was a nice, calm reception with good friends and family members. We left the reception around eight p.m. in our jeans and went to the hotel. We drank sparkling apple cider, ate munchies from awesome gift baskets (thanks Kristi, Jason, and my brothers and sisters), washed the 400 pounds of hairspray out of my hair, and did some other stuff that is inappropriate for polite conversation.

The next day

We washed the car and vacuumed out the dove and heart shaped confetti, which we still find pieces of occasionally (thanks Jason), and drove to St. George. We got there at about six, checked-in to the time-share condo we were staying at (courtesy of Mike’s mom), and went to find a place to get dinner. Nothing was open. So we went to the grocery store, bought some salmon and potatoes, and took them back to the condo. Mike undercooked the salmon and I undercooked the potatoes. We still ate it. Then we watched some TV and went to sleep. We didn’t manage to sleep well the entire first week of our marriage. We are both night owls with a tendency to sleep in so we’d go to sleep around 12 or 1 am but my darling husband would still wake up around 7:30 or 8. Despite the lack of sleep, our Honeymoon was wonderful. It was beautiful, and warm, and beyond relaxing. We did some shopping, some hiking, some swimming, and some more stuff that is inappropriate for polite conversation. We also watched some History Channel TV.

We came home on Thursday that week to give ourselves time to a) move me in to the ‘bachelor pad’ and b) get settled before having to go back to work. We got wonderful gifts from all our friends, neighbors, and family. I attempted to write Thank You cards, couldn’t force my hands to do that much writing, and resorted to creating a generic Thank You card on the computer. I even printed them out and put them in envelopes. I never did get around to addressing them or sending them out, because I suck, and eventually I was just too embarrassed to send them because of how long it had been (six months). But you should all know, Mike and I are both incredibly grateful for every last gift and well wish.

Several months later:

We started looking for a house. We used a realtor recommended to us by Tony and Chelsey, Dave Maltby (if you want his number just ask). We ended up loving him so much that we recommended him to my brother and sister-in-law. He will do anything to help you find the house you want. Dave spent months with us going to roughly 10 houses a week (usually on a Wednesday night). Through losing the first house we loved, finding out that the second house we loved was a block away from a slow moving landslide that was causing houses above it to be condemned. Finding a third house we loved just to find out the next day it had been under contract for a while (the stupid realtor that Dave set up the visit with had said nothing about there being an offer on that house). And finally after three or four months of an exhaustive search, finding the house we bought. Dave explained everything to us and held our hands through the whole process. We consider him a friend now. (He helped my brother and sister-in-law find their house, I believe the first day they went looking.)

Our family room/dining room/kitchen.

Our back yard.

August 15th, 2011

I started my new job at 3M HIS today. I feel like I’m totally out of my depth here. It’s a completely new style of writing with completely new tools (software). I do feel a little better that the writing team here has only been using this software for two years and they are still learning how to use it. It’s always scary to start a new job, especially when it’s in a new field. I miss my co-workers and friends but I am happy to not be traveling anymore. It was starting to get really hard to leave my husband in my nice warm bed at four am to make a flight.

September 24th, 2011

We moved in to our new house. I’ll let you read Mike’s post about that if you’d like more details.

October 6, 2011

I was a couple days late so I took a test, completely expecting the results to be negative. I’d been late a couple of other times and wasn’t really worried about it. Guess what? It was positive. You could have knocked me over with a wet noodle. We’d only gone off birth control the month before. I was expecting it to take at least three months to get pregnant. I was freaking out privately in the bedroom. I had downloaded a pregnancy app to calculate my due date, and was just looking at the screen that said “Congratulations, you’re 3 weeks pregnant!” when Mike came in. He said, “What should we use as the password for the wireless internet?” I held out my phone and said, “how about this?”

His eye’s got really big and he said, “Really?” I just nodded. I thought he was going to pass out, or freak out, or something. He said, “Really?” I think he thought I was pulling his leg. I had to show him the test. Then I had to take another one (for both of us). He wasn’t unhappy, just like I wasn’t unhappy. It was just…a lot. To find out so quickly after the move and so quickly after stopping birth control. I think we were both shocked.

Our baby at 19 weeks old.

December 27th, 2011

By this time Mike and I had gotten used to the idea of having a baby and were no longer freaking out. (Well maybe a little, it’s a big change!) Mike really wanted a girl. I really wanted a girl (they are more fun to shop for). Today we went to the doctor and found out that it’s a boy! He was not cooperative and didn’t want to move his little hand so we could see that he was a boy, but I poked him until he moved enough for the doctor to see it. Mike was still holding out hope that the official ultra-sound in two weeks would show a girl. It didn’t, he’s still a boy.

February 14th, 2012

Our second Valentine’s Day together. Mike spoiled me :D He sent me beautiful tulips, a teddy bear, and chocolates at work. After work he took me to P.F. Changs for dinner. Thank goodness he made reservations weeks earlier, we were seated in less than five minutes, even though the waiting area was full (standing room only). Best Chinese food I’ve ever eaten! The lettuce wraps were wonderfully flavorful. I had the shrimp with candied walnuts for dinner; I’m salivating just thinking about how delicious it was. Then we went home, I gave him Lego Pirates of the Caribbean for the Wii, he gave me Sims3 Pets for my PC. (We are a geeky couple aren’t we?) It was a great day and a great night.

Beautiful tulips from Mike.

February 16th, 2012

I’ve had a really easy pregnancy, and I know that. Both of my sisters got deathly ill and threw up a ton when they were pregnant. I was nauseous for a couple of months. I’ve been exhausted. I’ve had ‘growing pains.' But I’ve had a really easy pregnancy. Today, I couldn’t feel the baby moving, he is usually active in the morning, and I was having strange sharp pains in my lower abdomen on the right side. After five hours of random pains and no fetal movement, I called the doctor. He was delivering a baby, so his nurse told me to go to the hospital to check things out. I was pretty calm, Mike was not. We got to the hospital and about 30 to 40 seconds after they got the heart monitor on me, the baby got the hiccups. He was swimming around so much! You could hear it every time he swam past one of the monitors, it would make a funky sound. They tested me for everything. Blood was taken, I got to experience my very first catheter (shudder), and they did an ultra-sound to check the fluid levels in there. Things ended up being just fine, but it was a little scary.

Today

We are less than a week away from celebrating our one year anniversary. Things have calmed down a bit. I feel more confident at my job. I’m excited to meet my crazy active baby. Mike is now used to the fact that it’s a boy, and is getting excited. We are planning to move some furniture and start painting the nursery in the next couple of weeks. We bought a rocker/recliner to make feeding easier. We’ve created a great plan for the basement. We’ll be working on that a little at a time, as funds become available. We love our neighborhood. Overall, things are great. I feel like it’s the calm before the storm, but I’m ready for it. I’m excited to see what the next 365 days bring into our little family’s life.

My good friend Abby posted this on her blog over a year ago. I forgot about it until today when I was going through old emails. It makes me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with all of you!

Hell Explained

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

I took some generic pictures, which you can see here: http://www.waterman981.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=54887

Well, since I first started this post the wind has finally died down. I've gone up and fixed the chimney. 2 new screws, and some waterproofing. Put the fence all back together. Wow vinyl fences are easy to repair. During the wind I roped off a bush that would have come down had I not done so. The only thing broken is our Christmas lights. A wire got pulled out, and a bulb broke. Due to the wire I'll probably have to buy a new strand. Oh well, it only cost $19.

I do feel really fortunate that was our only damage. So many of our neighbors lost their shingles. I saw tons of homes where the wooden fence that was there is now missing completely. We really were blessed for this event.

Huge thanks to everyone who was able to come out on Saturday to help us move!

Last Friday night we were supposed to pick up the Budget rental truck at 5 PM. During the day they called us to say they wouldn't have it, and present us with other options. We could drive down to Provo (the closed at 5, with game traffic there was no way), or 8 AM in SLC, or 10 AM at the original Murray location. We decided on 8 AM. So rather than getting the truck we just went home. Kristi & Dana came up to spend the night, and help us pack. They were a huge help in the kitchen getting everything boxed up.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed downtown to pick up the truck. We were a bit early so we went to get donuts first. We arrived at Budget of Salt Lake and were told that our truck wasn't there. We were getting seriously pissed with this company. The guy running it was checking out another customer when our 24' truck arrived. Whew! We were able to get the truck, and for all the crap they pulled we got their best discount (20%), and unlimited miles (which was good as we had further to drive now). The guy was really good to us once the truck arrived, but still overall it was a bad experience, and we'll never deal with them again.

We got home and got the move going. My realtor Dave was waiting for us, and just after backing in Steve arrived. They got started with the first boxes as more people arrived. Jason first, then a truck with my in-laws... Father-in-law Wes, Uncle-in-law Kent, brother-in-law Andrew, and nephew Harrison. The loaded up the garage stuff (saws, 4-wheeler) in the trailer they brought. Everyone continued moving items out.

I was running around coordinating everyone, while trying to finish up the last few things. Take all the stuff off the dresser, take apart my desk... Lots of last minute stuff. About 2 hours after we started the truck was all loaded up and it was time to head out. I drove up to the new house with Dave & Jason following behind me. Wes, Kent, Andrew, & Harrison had taken their truck and my car up already, and when we arrived they were finishing up the trailer. All that was left was the big truck.

We got started unloading that. Things went quickly. Steve got up to the new house with his whole family to check it out. Eric arrived after getting off work and continued helping. My neighbor came over and helped unload. We were done unloading everything shortly after 1 pm. The pizzas arrived a few minutes later.

After eating lunch, many had to return home, so we decided it was time to take the truck back. My mom followed me up to drop it off, then take me back to her house. I had inadvertently kept the keys to the van which had some glass panels and our TV's in it. So I drove it back up to our house to unload those last things. When I got there my brother-in-law Spencer and Harrison took the TV's in. I found out that Katie's mom and sister had unpacked and folded clothes, putting them in drawers for us. Before that Kristi helped unpack lots of the kitchen.

Once everyone was gone we both kinda crashed. We were tired, and just laid down on the bed and watched a movie. After the movie we had a few things we needed... 4 wire dryer cable, new washing machine drain hose... so it was time for another Home Depot run. Got what we needed then went and got dinner at Wingers. We went home, and crashed again on the bed.

So many people helped, that really made this move go well for us. We couldn't have done it without all of you. So again, huge thanks to Kristi & Dana, Steve, Jason, Eric, & my realtor Dave. My in-laws Wes, Laura, Andrew, Kent, Spencer, Maren, & Harrison. Sorry if I forgot anyone. And I know some of you wanted to make it, but couldn't due to work. Thanks for checking on the move when you were available!

Mike and I are super excited to move into our new house. It's a crazy feeling, we have a house. Now we really are adults, before we were just pretending. I do have to say though, after spending the weekend painting the trim and the doors, we've decided to hold off on painting the ceilings...it was a LOT of work, and we even had help! So we'll probably do the ceilings down the road, one room at a time instead of the entire first floor.

It's 100% official. We are homeowners. Katie & I closed on a beautiful house we found up in Kaysville yesterday, and today the sellers finished their paperwork, so we are all recorded and it's official!

Yesterday after closing I suddenly felt very poor. We had been saving and saving for our down payment, and suddenly it was all gone. I complained about this feeling to my coworkers and they told me not that you get over it, but that you get used to it. Ughh..!

Unfortunately we haven't gotten the keys yet, as the selling agent is booked tonight, but should get them tomorrow. The plan is to move in on the 24th, and I expect to see everyone there. (especially you neighborino Matt!) During this week before we move we want to do some painting. All the walls/ceilings/trim is the same color. We're going to keep it simple though and paint the ceilings & trim white. Just that little bit should make it even brighter and feel larger.

We're super stoked, and hope to have you all over soon for some fun!