wednesdays words

for my own happiness i'm going to post landons letters here on my blog.

i'll call it wednesdays words because he writes every wednesday.

here it is! 

     Hello! How are things going in the real world? When I get home everyone will have a hole in one! Thanks for you letter last week. Letters are the best thing ever here. The computers keep freezing in the lab which is getting really annoying. Days are pretty busy here but it is a good thing. I found out yesterday that my friend Chad is leaving tomorrow morning. I am happy that he is finally getting to go to mexico but I am sad that he wont be here anymore. He is going to Mexico City NOrth and visas have been amazingly bad so missionarys are not getting out on time. He has been here for like 14 weeks. I hope that i get to leave in nine but things arent looking to great because everyone has been delayed. But since chad has been here for more than nine weeks he has been able to do pretty much whatever he wants so he has hung out with me all day for a week.

     My companion is pretty cool. I actually am very happy about the other 3 elders that i share a room with. my companion McArther is pretty cool and easy going. Smith is really cool. And elder coulter is good to have as a roomate because he isnt annoying like a lot of kids in my district but he is a farmer from Toole. He was made our first District leader. This was fitting for him because he is very tight wound and a goon. I always joke around with everyone but him a little extra. He was trying to be a nazi about some stuff in class and i had to lay down the law with him so now i always joke that im gunna give him a little beating if he steps out of line. its all joking though and he is a good sport especially for being the goof that he is. Tregan sent me some glow sticks in a package and instantly i knew that i was going to have to cut one open one night and throw it all over his bed for a pleasent bright glowing gift.

We have started learning Spanish and its exciting. We have a gym hour every day that is way fun. its just like recess in elementary school. Everyday, usually after gym i have been working out and so far i havwe not had any soda, just milk juice powerade and water.

     The district leader gets the mail for the whole district and he always gets confused about mine because they have said "elder LJ" or they havent had a name on them. He figured out that it was me but just to be safe make sure that you write my name on anything that you send me. Thank you.

     I definetely wont actually need it for a couple months but downstairs on the far corner to the right of my tv there is a letter with my pin number for my debit card. If you could let me know that number sometime in the next couple months that would be great. Tregan found a way to send letters to the MTC for free and packages for like 2 dollars so ask her what she is doing. Next time you are tregan send a package would you throw in like two pairs of the joeboxer ankle socks from my room. i have gym everyday and im a freak about clean socks:)

     I got cookies from the neighbors across the street. It was very nice of them. tell them thank you if you see them.

I have two different teachers and they are pretty cool. It might be kind of early to say but i have a good feeling that I am at least the favorite of one of them...

     I am going to send my memory card home sometime soon so you can see the people i am talking about. I took pictures with my roomies and there is also one with me and chad and his two companions. His companions are way cool and i have been hanging out with them a lot because they are always with chad.

     I get to go to the temple today at like 4 for a session. I also got to go to the temple on sunday and just sit outside relaxing for a couple hours. it was sweet.

     Im excited to see the toe nail pictures. one of you will have to let me know where you got them done. You will have to have tregan show you her skills sometime. she is a pro at the glitter gel toe things.

     I am out of time but i will let you know if i need anything.

     I love you  and miss everyone a ton!!

love elder johnson

ToeTats

lori {landons mom} and i went and got our toes done today by the amazing jill from ToeTats.

i have posted about getting my toes done by her before here.

this time we got these amazing designs.

sorry the picture isnt so great but you get the gist of it.

be sure to go to her blog to check out more of her amazing art work and to find her info!

flashback & letters

one of my favorite childhood memories was when my brothers, sisters and i would lay a big square pad at the bottom of the stairs, grab our sleeping bags, head to the top of the stairs and slide down. 

what doesnt sound fun about that, right?

on sunday i introduced this fun little game to my oldest niece. 

we got it all set up and showed her how to do it.

she hopped in the sleeping bag, laid down and..nothing.

she didnt slide.

too light.

so, we ended up grabbing the bottom of the sleeping bag and pulling her down the stairs. 

close enough! 

on another note, i have great news!

today i got 2 letters from landon!

i know you guys dont really care, but this blog is mostly for me. :)

ahhh i cannot describe the happiness i felt when i saw the letters.

i wanted to scream of happiness.

landon is doing great.

the first letter he wrote was on the first day he was in the MTC.

he pretty much just told me what he was looking forward to hearing in my letters and stuff.

the second letter was snippets of his days. 

everyday he wrote little things on this one letter that he had on his mind.

such a smart kid :)

wednesdays are his P-days (personal days) which means when i get my next letter, it will have lots more details. 

i cant wait to hear more!

24th

the 24th is the day my family puts on a celebration.

swimming

BBQ 

games

fireworks

and 

homemade ice cream.

what a day.

ugly/pretty.

everybody likes making ugly things pretty.

right?

and everyone likes making simple things look not so simple.

yep.

my sister and i re-did these two ugly pots. 

{click on pictures to enlarge}

and created these two cute pots.

 seriously sooo easy.

do you know how to create a ruffle?

tutorial here.

for the yellow ruffle pot i didnt get any during pictures but all you do is create the ruffle and hot glue the line along the pot. 

easy peasy lemon squeezy.

and it turned out adorable!

now for an easy tutorial for the salmon-ish pink colored pot:

start with hot gluing the end of one ruffle line 

follow the same pattern in a swirl

keep laying the fabric down on top of the glue to keep it fastened in to place

continue the swirling process until you are satisfied with the size of the swirl.

the end!

i recommend doing the swirls a bit large so that it takes up more room on the pot.

that will help to keep the pot from looking like a ruffly mess.

they look good next to each other.

and after you see what we are planning to do with the pots, you may just fall in love ;)

until next time!

personally mine.

today i received my personal hand made necklace made by juliethefish designs.

i dont think there is anything that can top a hand made piece thats made to your own special needs.

it feels so..

personal.

i ordered the hand stamped marathon necklace.

but instead of having numbers and because i'm definitely not a marathon runner.. ;) i just loved the size of the bronze pendant. 

i asked her to do a t+l

here it is!

note: i took the picure through a mirror so it looks like a j+t..but in reality its t+l :):)

isnt it just just fantastic?

she has so many amazing things on her etsy shop. 

if i were married i would order the fork and spoon set with my last name. 

and once i get a dog, i'm definitely ordering a hand stamped pendant for the wee one.

last but not least

my mr bff landon is now and elder .

he is going to change people's lives.

and although saying goodbye was probably the hardest thing i'll ever go through, i know that he is doing the right thing.

and that through his amazing decision, not only he but i will be blessed in so many ways.

he is so incredible.

i always look up to him

he is an amazing role model.

i love him.

we had to get one last date in before he left.

we celebrated by first going out to tepanyaki.

YUM.

i honestly ate everything that was put on to my plate.

i was the only person at our table that finished everything.

kind of embarrassing.

 we also went and saw toy story lll

holy cow, such a good movie!

i loved every second of it.

i would go see it 5 more times in theaters.

if you havent seen it, you should really consider it.

after the movie landon took me to an amazing look-out spot in orem.

wow, it was breath taking.

the view was incredible.

 and after, we watched the best of chris farley.

it was pretty funny although i had already heard every quote in some way or another.

we went golfing together.

i actually hit the ball twice!

it felt good.

and watching landon play his favorite sport is always a treat.

we went to the shred shack in provo.

 said goodbye to loved ones.

& cried too many tears.

and like my 4 year old niece said "i'll sure miss him a lot."

{such a tear jerker}

dont fret though, i will be posting his daily letters here on my blog.

i cant wait for letters!!!

LP

i've noticed that i have a problem.

my problem is that if i have a lot of pictures, i can never narrow them down.

i have to keep them all.

i cant leave any out.

so, with this post i have a billion pictures in a wrap-up.

maybe someday i will learn :)

now on to powell.

the trip was amazing.

seriously, so so so fun.

except for one thing, too many spiders.

we didnt let that get in our way though.

oh and our boat broke down on the second to last day..boo.

other than that, it was excellent.

tons of boating

eating

games

reading

i dont think life could get better.

i finished catching fire

{so good}

i ate about triple the times food i normally do.

but life on a boat is perfect.

i got to spend the trip with everyone i love

we created amazing memories and had lots of laughs.

i love my family!

i guess there is one perk about having so many pictures..

it kind of makes you feel like you were there too, right?

and in the end, when i make a book out of my blog, i will have lots of pictures.

powell

land, my family and i spent this last week in lake powell.

july:

perfect time of year for powell.

water is the perfect temperature.

outside air in the 100's..which is good for the house boat livin'

mm mm mm.

it was nice.

 and i cant leave out the fact that it was a good hurrah before landon leaves.

of course, many pictures were taken. 

but most by my wonderful sister in law.

until i get them, i will leave you with this 

farewell

last weekend on july 11 landon had his mission farewell.

he did such an incredible job.

ahh i really love him so much!

after his talk we had a get together in his parents back yard.

yummy sandwiches.

&

tons of fruit.

not to mention people.

there are so many pictures i just cant leave any out.

here are the picture wrap-ups.

 such a success

:)

pictures by court

i had a good friend and neighbor of mine take pictures of land and i for my own sake, and to help her get her portfolio growing.

she seriously did such a good job.

i loved all of them.

it was hard for me to decide which ones to post on here so bare with the many photos please.

  

eek i love them!!!

want to see more of courtney's work?

check out her blog here.

another giveaway???!

i think so!

hosted by biscuit-girl.

this isnt just a normal giveaway.

this is a huge giveaway.

huge as in 20 winners!

yes you heard right, 20 winners.

so cool!

head on over to her blog to see the amazing prizes and how to enter.

pioneer park

in salt lake city, utah holds a twilight concert.

they hold free concerts every thursday for about a month.

this last thursday was the first and happened to be modest mouse.

modest mouse.

landons all time favorite band.

for free?

we were definitely there.

although i dont listen to modest mouse, it was still pretty fun.

i mostly just loved seeing how happy landon was to be there.

he sang to every song they played.

someone had a birthday.

on july 7 and it was my sweet mother!!

the part i love most about my moms birthday is that she whole heartedly loves her birthday.

i dont know about you but i havent met too many 30+ year old people who love their birthday.

that just totally shows who my mother is.

she is so down to earth.

always happy.

and very understanding.

we celebrated by going to a new restaurant in town called la jolla grove.

the restaurant it decorated with cute lemon trees all over.

and it was so delicious!

 if you're ever in the provo area, i would highly recommend it.

 

after dinner we headed home to sing my mom a very happy birthday.

now, in the pictures you cant really tell but my dad got the coolest candle ever.

that thing in the middle of the cake looked like a flower that hadnt quite bloomed yet.

my dad lit it and like 30 seconds later it popped open and started playing the 'happy birthday' song and spun in circles.

so cool and so fun!

overall it was a successful birthday for my momma.

oh how i love her.

i dont know if any of you are like this but..

doesnt it just make you sick when you come across someone's blog or a website of some kind that has really (i mean reallllllly) cute things that they have made/created that you know you could have done yourself.

have you ever told yourself that..

"i could've made that myself, man! why didnt i think of that a long time ago?"

i really tell myself that a lot.

and it really does make my stomach turn in to knots.

i know, i'm ridiculous.

i think its my body trying to tell me to snap out of it.

get up and make a move for it.

stop procrastinating and follow through.

i think i should do just that.

help!

giveaways, giveaways.

i love giveaways!

head on over to this wonderful blog to enter to win a $30 gift card to gussy.

seriously, all of her stuff is so adorable.

and you can place custom orders..yes please!

i think i would order something along the lines of this

 but maybe i'd ask her if she could make it big enough to fit my laptop.

i get chills just thinking about it!

arent giveaways just the best?

what dreams are made of

sugar, spice and everything nice.

right?

landon got to fulfill one of his all time dreams today.

i only have one word for you all..

skydiving.

would i ever go skydiving?

heck no.

it was fun to watch though.

we headed out to toelle, utah. 

the 2 boys {landon and his friend sam} watched a tutorial video then off they went to get geared up.

15 minutes later, they were boarding the plane.

this is about the time where the nerves kick in.

13,000 feet later they jump.

unfortunately i wasnt able to get very good pictures or video.

but this is what i gathered

{click on picture to make larger}

& video of landon falling.

he loved every second of it.

it was everything he was hoping for.

next time, i'll ask to go on the plane.

then maybe in 50 more years i'll get the guts to actually do it :)

let freedom ring.

happy 4th of july!

this year it is a weekend full of celebration.

having the 4th on a sunday, and living in utah, the celebrations are scattered all over the place.

yesterday we celebrated by going boating.

unfortunately, the weather hasnt been anything above what feels like 70 degrees.

so what did we do? 

we took the boat and anchored in the marina.

ate some lunch.

talked while the wind blew our hair.

it was relaxing.

but since the weather wasnt anything great down by the lake we decided to go swimming.

and yes, it was much much warmer.

 that night we went to my uncles house to watch the infamous fireworks from the stadium of fire.

such a perfect view from their beautiful yard.

and not to mention very romantical.

today all of us cousins got together for my uncles baby blessing.

another cousin was welcomed to our clan.

i think that makes around 59.

it was a fun get together with yummy breakfast foods.

tomorrow morning they are holding the 4th of july parade.

i dont know why they didnt do it on saturday.

who can go to the parade on monday anyways? 

people usually have to work.

oh well, i wont get to attend that event.

my mr. bf landon is going skydiving.

{more on that tomorrow evening}

in honor of the 4th i did make a dress.

i was all confused because i couldnt figure out when i should wear it.

sooo i chose yesterday to be the day.

 sorry for the bad quality.

i might have to 'reenact' the moment so we can get a better picture.

i will definitely take a more detailed picture of my dress so that i can tell you guys how easy it was to make.

for now, i hope you guys have a wonderful 4th of july.

take the time to think about how thankful we really should be for the freedom we are blessed to have.