Fun stuff!

Well again, it's been much too long since I updated this thing. I really am going to try to get better at it!

So Spencer is working at the LDS Motion Picture Studio now! He is actually working today, which is great. Sad for me, because I'm home by my lonesome, but it's great because we really need the money. He is enjoying it so far and is doing well with it. He works very hard there and does a great job. Hopefully he will move up the ladder and this job will really lead to other jobs elsewhere. We have pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we are going to have to move to L.A. or something after we graduate so that Spencer can get the experience he needs in a big place. We won't stay in a large area for a long time, but long enough to get Spencer up the ranks so he can get a job elsewhere. We would LOVE to end up in Washington! That is our goal. We really want to live there. I just fell absolutely in love with it last summer. And Spencer already loved it there, so that's our goal. But that will be a little longer. We aren't graduating until (tentatively) December of 2014. :( Wish it would be sooner than that, but it's just not possible.

We are doing well, though. I am taking summer classes, Spencer is not. I wanted a break but if I want to graduate next year I can't really take a break yet. But I'm only taking one class, so it's not so horrible, it's just not a class that I love. At least I have a couple friends in the class which really helps! Spring term was really fun, though. Very long and hard, but it was very fun. Spencer and I took the second directing class together (we're taking all of the directing classes together, yay!) and we absolutely loved the class. We got to have our first experience directing a scene and it was wonderful. I think we both did a good job. Our second scenes we directed for the class were so much fun! Spencer directed a scene from a Dr. Who episode (we're obsessed with Dr. Who!!!!). He did a great job. I directed a scene from an original play that I wrote during winter semester. I was very pleased with how mine turned out. My actors did such a great job and it made me really excited to direct the full play this fall.

So this fall Spencer and I are doing the directing practicum class together. We will each be directing a 35 minute play of our choice (they are called Mask Clubs). Spencer is doing an original Dr. Who episode. I started writing something for him and came up with the general idea of the one-act, we just need to sit down and get out a full first draft so we can go from there. I am directing my original one-act that I wrote during Winter Semester. It is about a newlywed couple (like, within 24 hours newlywed) that comes home to their apartment on their wedding night and it's just a fun romantic comedy. I will be re-writing and editing it for the rest of the summer so it is ready for this fall. I might put the script on here for people to give me feedback on. (If anyone reads this, of course!) haha.

During spring term Spencer and I worked on the BYU production of A Wrinkle in Time. It was very long and very hard work, but it was so rewarding. We had a great time doing it. I was an Assistant Stage Manager for it and just loved it. Again, it was hard and frustrating at times, but really what show isn't? haha. I have been astounded at my quick love for stage management. I really enjoy it. I just finished Assistant Stage Managing at The Echo Theatre in Provo. They did Steel Magnolias-such a wonderful play! That again was rough and frustrating at times, but very rewarding. I absolutely loved the cast and director and Stage Manager. They were all wonderful and it was a fun show. But I am very glad that it is over as well. I had a VERY busy few months with everything that I took on.

Fall semester I am also stage managing one of the other mask clubs that is going up. I started doing work for it this spring and will be hitting it hard this fall. So this fall is going to be very busy! But it will be super fun. I am just so grateful that Spencer and I will be in a few classes together. It's really fun being in the same major because we do a lot of the same things. And if you know Spencer and me very well, you know that we do EVERYTHING together. We are super close--he's my best friend and husband! So we enjoy doing all of these projects and classes together. I couldn't be happier :)

We had our third anniversary on July 2nd. I can't believe we have been married for three years! What a wonderful three years it has been! I am excite for many more :) We are super happy and loving life. So there ya go!

Little Updates

I have been horrible at writing on my blog lately, I really need to get better at that! Anywho. So I am back in school now and actually really enjoying it. Most of my classes are theatre classes so it is great. I get to be creative and have lots of fun, so I typically don't really dread going to class which is awesome!

Spencer is working hard in school and doing well too. We are just waiting to see if/when he will start work at the LDS Motion Picture Studio. He really wants the job and would be extremely good at it. He would be hired as a student video editor which he is SUPER talented with. Hopefully he gets hired soon. It would be an amazing opportunity for him. It really would be his foot in the door into the film industry. So hope and pray that he gets to start that soon!

If you know me well you know that I tend to have more health problems than the average person. Well trying not to go into too much detail, I have always had menstrual problems. I have always been super irregular and it is very annoying and frustrating... and unhealthy. But I am finally on health insurance again so we decided I really needed to get in and figure out what is wrong with my body. I went in last Monday and they drew five vials of blood. Yippee! I absolutely HATE needles so you can imagine how much I just loved that. Anyway. I went back in yesterday to find out the results. Everything looked good except for my prolactin levels. Apparently I have higher than normal prolactin levels which can cause menstrual problems. The doctor prescribed some medicine that is supposed to lower prolactin levels, so I am taking that now. In a month if it regulates my period then she will call in and renew my subscription and I will go back in for testing again in about 6 months or so. If it has not regulated my period then she will up my dose and see how it goes from there. I am still researching and figuring out exactly what having a high prolactin level means, but it doesn't seem like it's that big of deal, at least at the moment. Prolactin is created by the pituitary gland and is supposed to be high for new nursing mothers. It is the hormone that causes a woman to produce milk after she has a baby. So when you are not a nursing mother it is a problem if you have high prolactin levels. Anyway, the medicine they put me on is bromocriptine. There are some adverse side effects that are supposed to go away after awhile (if you suffer from any of them). I have only taken one pill, so I don't think I will really know if I will have any of the side effects or not. But on of them is headaches and I have had a killer headache today. However, I have headaches a LOT, so I don't know if it's a side effect or just the usual for me.

We are loving life and still loving married life :) Spencer is so good to me and we have so much fun together. I marvel every day that he stuck by me and won me over. I couldn't have imagined being married to a better guy. He can always make me laugh and is so loving. I am so grateful I have such a wonderful marriage with such a wonderful man. I love him so much and count my blessings for him every day!

We are very excited to be going to Reno this weekend. We both need a break from Utah and decided Reno would be great for us. So we are going with our friends Brian and Julia and we are going to stay with our friends Steve and Preston in Reno. But Spencer and I wanted a night away together, so we got a hotel at the Circus Circus hotel in Reno for a night and I am very excited. I am so excited to get away for a weekend, especially this weekend! Valentine's Day isn't as crazy this year because I am working somewhere new and they are awesome with the big holidays. Yay! But it is still busier than usual so I am looking forward to a break. And I get to spend four days straight with my favorite person in the world, who wouldn't be excited that?!

Well there ya go! A couple updates (if you care) from the young Johnson couple. We are happy and hope you are too!

Wonderful Vacation

Well we have been having a wonderful vacation! We have been making the most of it and we have desperately needed this. We have been having a blast! I will try to do a little rundown. Let's see...
We left June 22 and got here that night. I was starting to finally feel better the day we left. I still couldn't talk, but I was starting to get my voice back on the 23rd, so that was excellent. When you walked out the front door, it smelled like pine. I was in total heaven--I still am! 
On the 24th Maryl drove Spencer and me to Portland and we spent most of the week with his aunt and uncle that live there. My Advanced Floral Design class was from the 25th-29th. I LOVED the class. There were only three of us in the class, so we really got to know each other and the instructors. And we got lots of attention, so it was great. I learned so much in my class. I feel so much more optimistic about my designing abilities. The greatest thing I learned is that there are no limits to what you can do. The only limits are your own creativity. If you can think it up then you can do it! Oh I absolutely LOVED it!
Spencer came and spent Wednesday in downtown Portland with me. He walked around Portland while I was in class and came and spent my breaks with me. We had such a fun day and it really made us want to have more time in Portland together. So Wednesday we decided that we wanted to get a hotel for Thursday night. I decided to take an extra class Wednesday night since we were in the area. So I took a Hydrangea Class at the school I was going to. It was really fun. It was just a two hour class all about hydrangea and how to make them last a little better and how to use them. It was so good for me to take that class. When we got back to Spencer's aunt and uncle's house that night we got online and started looking for a hotel for Thursday night. We found a good one that wasn't too expensive and we ended up loving it!
So Thursday Spencer went to my class with me and he walked around again while I was in class. That afternoon he checked into our hotel and then met me to help me walk there after my class was over for the day. We got to the hotel and dropped off our stuff and just relaxed for a little while. THEN we went on a huge walk around Portland because Spencer wanted to show me Washington Park. It was about a 2.5 mile walk from our hotel up to the park, and it was SO worth it. I was exclaiming every few seconds how beautiful it was. I was in absolute heaven. We kept walking up through the park and came to the entrance of the Rose Garden. Oh. My. Goodness! It was so beautiful! So many colors of roses. So vibrant and just breathtaking. We ended up spending hours up in the park/garden. Afterward we ate at a great Pizza place and then made the walk back to our hotel. It was such a fun evening. Spencer and I had such a wonderful night together. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary (a few days early, but that's okay!).
On our anniversary we spent most of the day at his grandparent's house. He made pizza for dinner so we were able to get away for a little bit to spend some time together so we could run to town and get a few ingredients. The next AMAZING day was the 4th of July. We woke up early and drove to Portland to meet my brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Gail, and their kids. We haven't seen them since we got married, so it had been two years and two days exactly! I was SO excited! We met them at the Rose Garden in Portland and I was ecstatic. We went to the Japanese Garden which was awesome. Since Spencer spent almost eight years in Japan we REALLY wanted to see the Japanese Garden. It was really neat. We took so many pictures. It was gorgeous. After that we walked around the Rose Garden and Washington Park and walked down to eat lunch together. We had such a wonderful time with my family. It was so good to spend time with them. I wanted to cry when we had to say goodbye. I missed them as soon as we left. We had such a fun day with them, I was just so sad to leave them! We drove back to Silverton from Portland and enjoyed the time alone for the drive.
We have just had so much fun up here. We do NOT want to come back to Utah. We are just absolutely loving it here. The next fun day was Thursday when we went to Silver Falls. But I am tired and this is already a super long post, so that will have to wait. So still to come, Thursday, Silver Falls, Saturday, Washington (visiting where Spencer served part of his mission), and Monday (July 9th), New Port, Tillamook, and Astoria. Oh so much fun!!!