Elder Johnson Revisits The Lonestar State

Ryan served his mission in the McAllen, Texas mission. He has always talked about going back some day and after his stories of gangsters and dogs and front porch bbqs and tortillas, I really wanted to see it too.

Every year Ryan's work has a big meeting for all of it's employees and they bring along spouses and families just for the fun of it. This year the meeting was in San Antonio, Texas. Being so close, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to stay a little longer and revisit some of Ryan's old mission areas.

We started the week at the JW Marriott for Ryan's work meetings. This hotel features six acres of heated pools, fountains, waterfalls and rivers so you can imagine what Sadie and I were doing while Ryan was meeting-ing it up.

Ryan & I at the Formal Dinner

When the work shindig was over we visited the Alamo and the Riverwalk and then headed South to the border. Our first stop was Laredo, TX. 



At The Alamo



All of Ryan's mission journals and contacts are packed away in a storage unit in Utah so he didn't really have anyway of finding the people he would have liked to have visited. But because of the transitory nature of border towns and immigrants, it was highly unlikely he would have been able to find these people even if he did have any contact info. So, we didn't get to visit with anybody Ryan taught. But we did get to drive by his mission apartments and drive by the houses of some people he taught. As we were driving by he would tell us stories.

In Laredo we got to see the house of a woman he taught and baptized. She worked as a live-in housekeeper for a family and was trying to save money to bring the rest of her family from Mexico.

Next we went to Brownsville, stopping in Harlingen and San Benito on the way. In Harlingen we saw the apartment where Ryan co-habitated with a porcupine. This porcupine just happened to be a thief and stole his Christmas presents. 

Trying a Mexican Sucker. This one is flavored with Chili Powder.

In Brownsville Ryan served in Cameron Park, which at the time was the poorest neighborhood in the entire United States. Ryan's best mission stories hail from Cameron Park. There are too many good ones to relay here, but if you want to know just ask Ryan about the dogs, the gangsters and the mayo-covered corn.

We took a few days leave of absence from the mission trail and visited South Padre Island. We spent most of the time on the beach.

Our Little Beach Baby

While we were in South Padre Island we went on a dolphin watching tour which was AMAZING! We found a pod of dolphins within just a few minutes of being out on the water. The dolphins were swimming so close to our boat we probably could have touched them if we tried. Our tour guide was also really knowledgeable. He was able to point out the baby dolphins, who, he said, still had their birth wrinkles, making them no more than a few days old.

Dolphins. Coincidentally, they are hard to photograph.

We headed back up to San Antonio and spent our last day down on the Riverwalk. We had lunch on the Riverwalk with some overly friendly birds. There was a duck that kept biting my leg because he wanted food. Sadie still talks about the mean birds in Texas. We also took a little boat ride down the river and saw the sites. San Antonio is a very beautiful city architecturally. I loved it!

This was a fabulous family vacation. I couldn't have wished for a better time!



Did I Mention...

that we are moving?

It is consuming my every waking hour. And those hours are many because the stress of trying to get out and get the house ready to sell in minus 2 weeks and counting is causing sleep depriving anxiety attacks. AAHHH!

Ryan's work is going to get us a place in Denver for the 6 months or so that we will be there, but they haven't told us where yet. The stress of not knowing where I am going to be living in 2 weeks is probably going to kill me. Although, I do know that we have been approved for a house instead of an apartment so that is a HUGE sigh of relief. I was not looking forward to spending the winter trapped in an apartment with a dog and a toddler. One of us would not have survived. I am sure of it.

Anyway, in anxiety and anticipation for finding out where we are going to be living I did a little research of my own and found the most perfect house for us. It has 4 bedrooms so there would be plenty of space for people to come and visit. It has a dog run on the side of the house for Malley. And a big fenced backyard that Sadie can play in and I can be worry free. It even is fully furnished so we wouldn't have to worry about moving all of our stuff (which is currently planned to go into storage). There is a gym 6 minutes away so I can get a little me time. And it is only a 15 minute commute to Ryan's work. It is perfect!

Now we are just waiting to see if Ryan's company will approve it, or if we are going to have to stay in a house of their choosing. If you love me at all, please pray we are approved for this house!!!

Endure to the End

It sounds easy, but don't let that step fool you. It is harder than it sounds.

A few weeks ago I heard a story about a man, who in his 80th year of life decided to have an affair with an old (and when I say old, I mean old!) girl friend and eventually decided to leave his wife of 50+ years. Shortly after leaving, his (ex)wife was diagnosed with cancer. She died a mere 3 weeks later. It begs the questions, "Couldn't he have waited a few more weeks?"

That's the question I asked myself this afternoon as I turned on my kitchen faucet and watched water flood into my cabinets while not a drop came out of the faucet. 3 weeks. My house only needs to stay intact for 3 more weeks.

We have been expecting to get a transfer notice from Ryan's job any day for the past 2 years. But it didn't come and it didn't come. But our house held out great! ...until about 6 months ago.

In the past 6 months we have:

replaced the motor on the garage door, replaced the springs and rebalanced the door: $700
installed a new furnace: $5,000
replaced the coolant in the air conditioner: $400
cleaned the air vents: $200
built a square foot garden: $200

Well, the transfer notice came. So, as we put our house up for sale and prepare to move to Denver in 3 weeks, you can add $188 (plus whatever it will cost to get it installed) to the list of repairs we have made on our house that we will not be around to enjoy.

Can you endure to the end? If you are my house, then the answer is NO!

(On the plus side, if you are in the market for a house. Come and check out ours! You can be confident nothing will break for a long, long time. We have replaced it all!)

Marco Island, FL

Every year Ryan's work hosts an Annual General Meeting, in which they fly all of their employees (& families, yea!) to a resort and have lots of meetings (parties & fun). This year we went to Marco Island, FL from May 8th to May 11th.

Sadie, being the big, grown up girl that she is, was left at home for the very first time! I thought that it would be really hard and that I would worry lots, but, surprisingly, I really didn't worry at all. And although I love her dearly and I did miss seeing her, I have to admit that it took me a day or two... or all of the days we were gone... to want to come back. It was a much needed couples only vacation. Although, not so romantical seeing as we were surrounded by all of Ryan's co-workers. Thank you to my friend, Heidi, & my mom and dad for watching Sadie. I didn't have to worry while we were gone because I knew she was getting the best care possible. If I worried at all it was because I wasn't 100% sure that she was being on her best behavior...

We spent our days lounging pool side or strolling the white sand beaches. I even got in a beach run (I love beach runs!!!) And we spent our evenings partying it up with all the Fasties (this is what the employees of Ryan's work have named themselves...they work for Fast Enterprises...)


The first night is always just a meet and greet where you can catch up with old friends that work on other projects. This is the first year that we actually knew people that had been transferred. It was so fun to see all of the ex-Utahans. (It is scary to think that in not the too far future we will be the ex-Utahans!!!)


Day 2 we spent pool side, and it just happened to be mothers day. I can't ask for a better mothers day gift than being able to spend the whole day by the pool reading a good book! That night was the big formal dinner. My date was so hot!


The last day is the big family event. This year it was a big carnival down on the beach. They even had jet skiing and sailing available. The party wasn't much fun because Ryan and I spent the whole time standing in line waiting to ride the jet skis, but it was so worth it! We got to see dolphins pretty close up, ride some wild waves and see the beauty of the 10,000 islands.

All in all a fabulous first trip away from the Sades. A wonderful time with Ryan. Lots of sun, way too much food and a good time seeing all of our friends! Can't wait until next year.


We only took our camera to the formal event, so that is what all the pics are of. Kinda sad, because it was a beautiful beach and resort. I wish I wasn't so terrible at remembering!

All of the Utah project in their awesome green attire!

My hot date!

And we aren't the drunk ones.... Every one should try sitting our table and then they will know how much fun you can have even when you aren't drinking!

See F.A.S.T. Run

So...Ryan's work is having a competition this summer to see which project site can run the most races. They have named it "See FAST Run." In order to be a part of the competition you have to commit to run at least 3 races this summer.

My first inclination was that somebody up at headquarters is trying to cut down on health care costs. I can just see them twiddling their thumbs, "How do I get computer geeks to exercise...hhmmm....dilema!" Now, I am not sure what the winning prize is going to be, but I am assuming it is either free booze and food or expensive electronics because the Utah Fasties are taking this competition pretty seriously.

Ryan asked me if I wanted to join in on the fun and I thought, what the heck. We ran our first 5k race last Saturday (my second this summer). And it turned out to be really fun. The race was called "Fill the Ark" put on by Heifer International which is an organization that helps endangered animals. We started running at Wasatch Jr. high then past Skyline High School through the surrounding neighborhoods and back to our starting location.

I didn't end up doing as well as last time, but not as bad as I expected considering we had just gotten back from Puerto Rico (a.k.a. we had done nothing but lie on the beach for 2 weeks) and there were some pretty significant hills on the trail. I finished in 31:05.

Ryan did amazingly well considering he did not one single training session before the race AND he ran with Sadie and the jogging stroller which adds about 25 extra pounds. He finished in 38:17.

Headed to the starting line...feeling good...Ryan running at such an incredible speeds his race number is blowing in the wind

2 1/2 mile marker...Pretty sure I am going to die!!!

Want to see something super nerdy? This is me taking my own picture whilst running. Ha ha

Run, Forest, Run!...Ryan racing to the finish line

Ryan crossing the finish line. He said he let that girl beat him cause there were people cheering for her. Whatever, Ry.

Team FAST

Our next race is tomorrow. We have decided to take it down a notch and only do a one mile run. Hey, we still get a t-shirt and that is what counts.