Updated

http://mikeandhays.wordpress.com/

Reminder...

Just a reminder about our new blog. I've kept it pretty updated and want all to know what's been going on with us. Check it out!

http://mikeandhays.wordpress.com/

We Moved!

Mike finally convinced me to move our blog on to Wordpress hosting.... so in order to keep up with our excitingly boring life, please go to mikeandhays.wordpress.com.

Life Changer...

WOW. Last night was AMAZING!! We were lucky enough to attend an incredible concert by probably my biggest musical hero... Josh Groban!!! This was Mike's first one ever and my 3rd time. I will hopefully continue the tradition of going to every one of his concert's here in Utah. It was seriously outstanding!

A few months ago, I was at my parent's house watching my nephew Kayden and the TV happened to be on. It was LIVE with Regis and Kelly and their special musical guest was Josh Groban. I was of course, awe struck! I watched the whole episode and at the end of it, it promoted his upcoming tour 'Straight to You'. I instantly got on the computer to look up his concert dates. Low and behold, he was coming to Utah and the tickets were going on sale in 15 minutes!! I went ballistic! I sat there and refreshed the ticket office screen until it let me buy my tickets. I got 4 of them and they were AMAZING seats! Best ones yet!! Luckily, when I called to tell Mike while he was at work, he wasn't too upset that I bought them! It was quite a splurge but I used the rest of my Christmas money on them so I didn't feel too guilty! I have the best hubby ever!

My parents went with us and we had a great time. We went to Olive Garden for dinner before the concert and enjoyed just talking and being with each other. The minute he walked in the Delta Center, I about fell over! It was SO COOL!! He had a second stage that was right in front of us! I could see the sweat on his brow, AWESOME! His voice just melts my heart. It is so rich and so full. I had goosebumps the entire time! He is just so talented. The set was outstanding and they did a lot of light effects that just put the cherry on top of such a wonderful concert. He sang for 2 straight hours and I could have stayed for many more. I'm so glad Mike went with me and

so happy that he enjoyed it too.

Lagoon!

Last Saturday (August 6th), we went to Lagoon! My sister, her family and some friends went the week before but didn't end up using 2 of their 'bounceback passes' so they gave them to us! We got in for $10 each! It was a total blast! It was super hot outside but we had fun. I made a tasty chicken salad sandwich picnic lunch with some treats to go with it. We both haven't been to Lagoon since Jr. High! There were tons of fun, new rides that we loved. Our favorite by far was Wicked! Awesome ride! Thanks Jami for helping us go for so cheap!

Yum

Mike woke me up yesterday with breakfast in bed! It was super yummy and extremely thoughtful. He made french toast with banana slices and grapes. He's the Best! Love you.

Temples

Yesterday, Mike and I went down to the Salt Lake Temple and attended an endowment session. It was so amazing! This was my first time for a live session and Mike's second time. I loved walking through it and looking at the amazing structures and architecture inside. I felt like I was in an old museum. The spirit there was so strong and I can't wait to go again! We are SO blessed to have so many temples around us.

A few weeks ago, my mom and I drove up to Brigham for my grandpa's birthday. We made the traditional stop at Maddox before we went to the cemetery. On the way there, we drove past the Brigham City Temple. A few days before, they are put up the angel Moroni and it looked incredible! I know my mom is sad that her father couldn't see it being built but we know he is happy with my grandma and is watching down on us daily. I can't wait for that temple to be completed and to go with my family. That will truly be an amazing experience!

Friends

We've had a great week catching up with our good old friends! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends that we get to spend time with.

First- My best friend from high school (Amy) came to visit this past week. She is currently working back in Boston and was able to come home for a few days. Mike and I had the fun opprotunity to go to the Ogden Rodeo with her. It was a great show and we had a blast catching up! She is so awesome!!

Next- Mike's friend from high school (Rawson) invited us to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Pioneer Day concert with his wife down at the conference center. We had a hamburger cookout at a park on our way down which was super fun. The concert... AMAZING!! One of the guest soloists was Linda Eder. She was one of my childhood idols... her voice is incredible! The whole concert was centered around the armed forces so they sang some awesome patriotic music. I sure wish my Grandpa Olsen could have been there to hear it. We had a great time spending time with Rawson and his cute wife Melanie.

Last but not least- We had the fun job of babysitting my two of my nieces and two of my nephews while my sister and her husband spent the weekend at the cabin. They are such good kids and we had a total blast together. We watched a fun movie, had a sleepover in our apartment, made yummy breakfast, went mini golfing, and finished the night with fireworks. I'm so lucky to have my family so close by. We sure have lots of fun together!

My favorite part of the past few days has been spending so much extra time with my incredible husband. I'm so blessed to be married to him. He takes such good care of me and I just love him.

Lots of thoughts...

So today, I got off work a little early. Instead of just going home, I went to the cemetery. Why you ask.... lots of reasons. One of my very good friends from jr high and high school was killed in a car accident just over 4 years ago. We were such good friends. The kind of friends that don't need to talk to each other every day but don't skip a beat when we are together. We had crushes on each other back in jr high and just became best friends throughout the years. The last few months that I saw him, I helped tutor him in Math 1010 at weber state. He struggled with the decision to serve a mission so instead of pushing him to do so, I just bought him a Preach My Gospel manual and would study with him. It was so fun to be with him! The last time I saw him was at church, he was attending my ward for a missionary farewell, he gave me a hug, told me he wanted to go on a mission and told me he loved me (as a best friend of course :). 9 days later, he fell asleep while driving home and crashed into a tree. He passed away at the scene. The next morning, I was asked to sing at his funeral. That week was probably the hardest few days I've ever had to endure. Yesterday was his birthday and he would have been 23. I went up to the cemetery by myself and just sat under the tree by his graveside. It was so wonderful and peaceful. I've been missing him a lot lately and I could feel his spirit there with me. I'm SO thankful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation that I have. Life would be so much harder without it. I know I will see my sweet AJ again someday.

Baby Andie = Love

Congrats to my sister Michelle and husband Brady on their new addition to their family... Andie Michelle. She was born Friday, July 8th @7:10pm. She was an 8lb 9oz bundle of joy. It was so fun to chat with Michelle the night before she had Andie. She gave me some awesome advice on becoming a mommy one day. I've got the greatest sisters in the world! My mom and I stayed busy with Andie's 2 big sisters, Kellie and Katelyn. We sure had a great weekend together!

Fun Adventures!

Happy 4th of July!! We had a super fun and busy holiday. We went to the Riverdale parade with the Richards and hung out with them at the park/carnival. After we came home for a rest and then had a bbq that night at their house. We drove up to Brigham for the fireworks and spent a few hours with Mike's family. It was a great holiday!

This past Saturday (July 2nd) we went on a super fun date together. We went down to the Riverside golf course in Riverdale and hit a couple bucket of balls on the driving range. Afterwards, we went up Ogden Canyon at had dinner by the river at The Oaks. It was so fun!

Our good friend from high school got married in the Bountiful Temple the day after we got home from Mexico. It was a beautiful ceremony. Probably the best I've been too yet (besides my own). The sealer said such wonderful advice that was great for us to hear as well. I love the temple!

We completed our first ever 10k race in Bear Lake. It was a total blast! Mike did an excellent job and ran the whole thing. Me on the other hand... I enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the lake and mainly walked. We really had a great time and want to make it a tradition! Hopefully next year we'll train a little more for it!

I'm missing this sweet little boy a lot! It was fun to hang out with him and Darin for a few hours while he was packing there apartment. Good think we have great technology and can skype. We did that on Sunday for about 40 minutes and it was great fun!

Hair Cut!

For the past several months, I've wanted to cut Mike's hair. He usually goes to Great Clips but the past few cuts haven't been too great. So I went and bought some clippers and 2 weekends ago, I cut his hair. He made me watch a few YouTube videos first because he was a little nervous! He was a great sport and has admitted to me that it's the BEST cut he's ever had. We had a total blast together doing it. Lot's of hard laughing happened! He's so cute!

Before...

After...

Finally...

I actually got my big butt to the gym tonight.... it's been almost 2 months. Wow... that's pretty terrible. However, it felt great and can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Take me back to Cabo

As most of you know... we went to Los Cabos, Mexico a few weeks ago. It was a TOTAL blast!! We figured it was a good time to go (no babies) and we saved up the money so we just went! We stayed in an all-inclusive resort (Riu Palace) and loved every minute of it! We spent lots of time in the huge swimming pools, taking late night walks along the beach, snorkeling at Lover's Beach/Land's End, horse back riding along the beach, and drinking lots of pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris! It was so nice to get away from work and the 'every day life stuff' for a couple of days. We definitely want to do a trip like this again!

May- Zoo, Camping, Graduation, Memorial Day

As for the month of May.... it was awesome but went by too fast!

Our Beautiful flowers finally bloomed. I'm still LOVING the wedding present Mike made me. I enjoy walking by it each time I come home from work... it just makes me happy.

Mike and I had the fun project of making drapes for our bedroom. It was so fun to pin and sew together. They really do help keep the light out too!

My sister Michelle and her cute family came down from Idaho to spend some time with us... well really, her and Brady were going to the U2 concert together! Darin, Kayden, Michelle, Brady, Kellie, Katelyn, and I went and spent the day at Hogle Zoo. It was super fun to look at all of the animals and spend some good quality time together!

The weekend before Memorial Day we went camping with Mike's dad up in Mantua. It was Beautiful! David went up early and got our awesome camp site right next to the huge river. It was perfect! He made us yummy dutch oven dinner and breakfast but best of all, we stayed up late just talking together. It rocked!

We woke up to very unwanted snow on Memorial Day. It made it a little more difficult to visit the cemetery but we were successful. We had a lovely time visiting Derek's grave in the morning. It was really hard on Mike but I know he needed the time.

We had our annual Memorial Day luncheon with the Olsen side of our fam. We went up to the Brigham City cemetery for the military program and to visit my grandparents grave. This is the first time we were together without Grandpa. It was pretty hard... many tears were shed... but we felt his present. We know that he is happy and enjoying his reunion with Grandma!
Rachel graduated from Sky View High School! It was fun to go watch the ceremony and spend time with Grandma Jasper. It was a super fun day!

*April down under*

Wow... I can't believe it's been over 2 months since my last post. The time is cruising on by but we are enjoying every minute of it. I will try to make this update brief but with lots of good details!

April 22-29... Johnston Family Annual trip to St. George

As like every year in the past, we had a total blast together. This year, Mike and I were able to stay the entire week and we had more fun then we could imagine. Mom found us an awesome

condo for all of us to stay in and it was incredibly nice. We have always stayed in the same place

at good old ORE but we are just too big to fit. We did lots of shopping, yummy cooking/eating, tons of swimming, and awesome family pics! I love spending time with my family and I LOVE

that we get along so well.

After our lovely trip down south, we all came home with terrible colds and of course, somewhere I caught pink eye. All in all, the teary eyes and achy bellies from laughing so hard made it all worth it!