The Wild Wild Wests

Lots of New News!

2010-09-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, so a lot has changed since I last updated this thing! So for a quick re-cap... in October 2009, we moved from CA to UT and stayed with my grandparents in Springville. Micah was fortunate enough to get a new job at Overstock.com as an Affiliate Manager in January. In March, we made the huge and exciting decision to buy our first home - a condo in Eagle Mountain, UT (which is just west of Lehi, UT). In April, our prayers were finally answered in that we found out we were expecting our first baby! On May 1st we moved into our new home, which was so fun! In July, we found out that we are having a baby girl, which I am so thrilled about b/c that is what I was SO hoping for! So now, I believe this basically catches us up - whew!! :) We are now enjoying life and preparing for our little one - 3 months and counting! I have been so lucky b/c I haven't been sick at all during the pregnancy! It has truly been so enjoyable and I have loved every minute of it!

So here are a few pics from the last few months...

Moving Day! May 1st, 2010. Our first home! - sigh...

Painting our bedroom wall (chocolate brown). My macho man! :)

Showing off the key to our new home, although you can hardly see it.

I took FOUR pregnancy tests to make absolutely sure that we were pregnant! I STILL can't believe it! We are so excited!

Showing off my new little baby bump.

July 27th - the day we found out that we're having a GIRL!! Woohoo!!! :)

Latest baby bump pic (taken Sept. 5th) - 26 weeks! 14-ish more weeks to go!! Due date = December 11th!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2009-12-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

I am so embarrassed as to how long it has been since I have updated this blog but I have my reasons! However, I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday season! I hope you are all well and enjoying the craziness of getting ready for Christmas - which is right around the corner, I might add! Holy Moly! I promise that I will try to post some new pictures and info as a lot has changed for us since I last updated... we now live in UTAH!! I still can't believe it! Don't give up on me... Jill!!:) Merry Christmas!

Birthdays and Anniversaries!!

2009-07-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

This summer is just flying by! I can't believe it's already the end of July! Well, as a quick update... I started back to school full-time at a local community college in June. I have decided to get a degree in Graphic Design in addition to my BA in Liberal Arts. I am still working but only one day a week - Saturdays (Argh!). Unfortunately, times have been a little tougher for us recently due to Micah getting laid off in April. He has been diligently seeking new employment but with no luck. Apparently, everyone else in the state of CA is looking for jobs too! Go figure.

On a happier note... we were able to visit the happiest place on Earth for my birthday in June! You get in free on your birthday this year so, being the Disney fanatic that I am, I couldn't turn that down! My brother Jace and his wife Jill, my brother Jantz, my cousin Kiley, and our good friends Trish and Clark met us there for two fun-filled days! Take a look...

The Clan - yes, we like to wear matching shirts. Kiley and Jantz made them for us, they were awesome! However, I don't know why Trish and Clark aren't in this picture; maybe it's b/c they were the only ones too cool to wear our matching shirts! Hmmm...

Micah either broke or severely sprained his wrist three days before we left for Disneyland! You can see his brace that we got for him. He was quite the trooper the whole trip. (He never did get his wrist looked at! Crazy - I know!)

We ate at my favorite restaurant in all of Disneyland - The Blue Bayou. They gave me a special dessert for my birthday - YUM! Like my fuzzy, pink, Mickey Mouse ears? "The Clan" had them specially made for me for my birthday! I loved them!

Jace and Jill chillin in the main square.

Jantz and Kiley at the shooting range in Frontier land.

Trish and Clark at our hotel ready to go have a blast!

Me posing in front of the Matterhorn in my favorite place in the whole world! Look how few people are out there behind me! The first day we were there was so great b/c there was hardly anyone there! I think we went on every ride in the whole park that day!

Another piece of exciting news is that we recently celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on June 23rd!! I cannot believe that it has already been 5 yrs and we couldn't be happier! I seriously lucked out when I found Micah West! He is so sweet b/c he surprised me with tickets to see "Wicked", at the Orpheum theatre in San Francisco, to celebrate our anniversary!! I have been wanting to see it for sooo long, especially after having seen Phantom at Christmas. We went to our favorite restaurant and then to the musical and had an amazing time!! It was so perfect and I love him more and more every day! I couldn't have asked for a better husband!

Well, the school semester is winding down so we have a couple final trips planned for the summer. We're going to Utah this weekend to visit my family and then heading to Oregon in a couple weeks to see Micah's family. We are really looking forward to spending time with family and friends. I'll try to update this blog as soon as I have some new pictures to share. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are! Until next time!... T.T.F.N.!!

Swinging into SPRING!

2009-05-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

It will never cease to amaze me how quickly time goes by! I can't believe I haven't touched this since March! And I have no excuse! We are enjoying the beautiful spring weather here in the Bay Area and have recently been able to do a few fun things but first, I previously said that I would post a picture of the new car that we ended up getting after my wonderful car accident... so here it is and we have been very happy with it! It's a black, '99 Honda Accord with gray leather interior and a sun roof - my favorite feature. Micah's favorite feature is the remote start that came with it, he uses it ALL the time! We call it our "Black Beauty."

At the end of April we finally made our first trip to Yosemite National Park! And it was SO AMAZING!! It was unlike any place we have ever been, including the Grand Tetons! We camped in one of their little canvas tent/cabins and went biking and hiking all over the Yosemite Valley for a couple of days. Other than freezing our buns off at night and having to be really careful about keeping all food locked in a BEAR locker, we loved every second of it and can't wait to go back! We seriously encourage anyone who has the chance to go to Yosemite to take advantage of it b/c it is definitely worth it!

Something else fun that we did this past weekend was go to "The Mystery Spot" in Santa Cruz. I don't know if you have ever heard of this place but it's a crazy place in the Santa Cruz mountains where the gravity is all weird and messed up and no one knows why... hence the name. It was a lot of fun to take a tour through an old cabin that was built in the 1920's that is permanently slanted at a crazy angle which makes you look and feel like you're going to fall over but you don't! It's so WEIRD and difficult to explain. Check out the pictures and you'll see what I mean...

Don't mind the "closed" sign behind Micah, we took this pic on our way out.

Here we are in the cabin and I promise I'm not holding on to the rail! I'm seriously leaning over that far and yet not falling over! It was the craziest thing!

OK, his feet seriously are not touching the ground! The pic sort of makes it look that way but he was completely hanging! No Joke!

So I am standing on a table in this "mysterious" cabin... now shouldn't I have fallen on my face?! Well, I didn't! We couldn't figure it out and it's seriously not an optical illusion either! Gravity is completely weird there but it was a fun experience! Once again, you should go if you're ever in the area!

Well, we're enjoying the spring but also looking forward to a busy summer of school and family vacations so I'll really try to keep this blog updated! Happy Spring Everyone!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

So, for a quick recap of the past couple months, wow, I can't believe it's been that long already...n e way... January was pretty mellow so nothing new there... February, however, was quite eventful with Valentine's Day and... I GOT IN A CAR ACCIDENT AND TOTALED OUR CAR!! OOPS!!... BIG OOPS!! Yep, you heard me, on February 5th I got in my very first car accident ever! and it was so scary - the airbags went off and everything. Unfortunately, it was my fault b/c I pulled out in front of a guy, who in my opinion was speeding, that I totally did NOT see coming - he literally came out of nowhere. He was going so fast that he didn't have time to stop or slow down really! Luckily, I wasn't hurt! I think I got a little bit of whiplash and a couple bruises but other than that I was fine! The most embarrassing part was that it was early in the morning and I was dropping Micah off at the train station (he takes a commuter train to work sometimes) and I was still in my pajamas, no bra!, no makeup, hair in a messy ponytail, you name it! Yeah, embarrassing! Police had to come and then they had to tow my car home b/c it was so damaged! The surprising thing was that I totally held it together... until I got home... and then I completely lost it... and then... I had to call Micah to tell him the great news that I had just completely destroyed our ONLY car!... Of course, he was so sweet and understanding and didn't care about the car - he was just glad that I was OK. I love him so much, I married that most amazing guy in the world!! All in all, I was very lucky and we ended up donating the car to a charity and purchasing a new one, well, new to us. We just bought a used black, Honda Accord that we now love! I'll post some pictures of it soon.

On a lighter note, our Valentine's Day was wonderful! My amazing hubby surprised me by getting the day off of work for me, which is the sweetest thing ever, since I normally have to work every Saturday, bummer - I know! So he gave me a dozen pink roses and told me that we would get to spend the day together! So I made him/us a big V-Day breakfast with heart-shaped pancakes and eggs and gave him a giant heart-shaped cookie and home-made card that I had made the previous day. He then surprised me with us going to get professional massages! which were so wonderful, especially after being in that dumb car accident!! Afterward, we went to lunch and did some shopping and then that night he took me to my favorite restaurant in the whole world that has the most killer bread pudding for dessert! We ate ourselves sick!! It was so great! After that, he was planning on taking me dancing but we were both so full that we literally couldn't move, let alone dance! So we rented some movies and went home and cuddled on the couch. It was seriously, the best Valentine's Day I've ever had! I felt very loved and special, what more could a girl ask for?!! Sorry girls, I married the most amazing man ever!! I feel so lucky!!

Well, I hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day tomorrow! I'll try my best to update this thing more often. I just don't feel like I have a very exciting life or cute kids to blog about like most of you do, but I'll still do my best! Until next time!... TTFN!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

2009-01-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe that it is already 2009!! Crazy! Time really flies when you're having fun, I guess! Well, we wanted to wish you all a very happy new year and hope that your holidays were special. Can't believe they've already come and gone too! We spent Christmas and New Year's with my family in Springville, UT at my grandparent's house and it was wonderful! So, for a quick re-cap... my amazing hubby surprised me with my Christmas present by taking me to see "THE Phantom of the Opera" in San Francisco and it was incredible! There aren't even words to describe it!! I have ALWAYS wanted to see it, so needless to say, I was in awe the whole time! In turn, I gave Micah golfing lessons for his Christmas gift since he has always wanted to really learn how to play, so he was excited about that, I hope.

We finally got the chance to meet my new little nephew, Ethan Tyler Johnson, my brother Jace's new baby boy. He is so dang cute! We absolutely ate him up!! Particularly my mom! Poor Jace and Jill, they hardly saw him the whole time we were there since we all took turns holding him and taking care of him. It was so much fun! Talk about being baby hungry! They are a darling little family! Thanks Jill for being so generous with your little angel, you were so great!!

So, this silly picture of my husband and three brothers in matching pajamas is to give you a small idea of how quarky my family is at Christmas! I love it! In our family we have a Christmas Eve tradition of opening one gift and it is always new pajamas and this year my mom gave all the boys identical "Grinch" pajamas! It was hilarious! I'm sure they weren't too thrilled with the idea, especially my husband, but they're good sports and went along with it anyway. Don't they look so intimidating?!! We had a lot of fun, what can I say!?! We also played tons of games (we love pictionary), watched lots of movies, ate way too much, went snowboarding, ate some more, and lovingly passed around the flu! With 16 people staying in one house, it was bound to happen!

After New Year's Micah and I accompanied my family in taking Jantz up to his first semester of college at BYU-Idaho. It was so fun to go back and visit good old Rexburg! We couldn't believe all the changes! Best of all I was able to get together with my old girlfriends from high school - Skye, Kim, and Rainey! It was so much fun and so nice to catch up! It helped me to realize how precious friendships really are. Thanks for such a great time girls!

Well, we're now looking ahead to 2009 with high hopes and great determination to make it better than 2008! Lets resolve to continue to keep in touch! Happy 2009!

2008-12-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

2008-12-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

We just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! We hope you're enjoying the holiday season as much as we are!! We can't wait to start receiving your Christmas cards! We just love getting them! Love to you all and Happy Holidays!!

Our Thanksgiving Trip!!

2008-12-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is only two weeks away!! Craziness!! So, we went to Micah's family's house for Thanksgiving this year in Bend, Oregon. It was such a wonderful trip! It went by in a flash and we loved every minute of it! This is a picture of us lounging after the big Thanksgiving feast, feeling extremely full and sleepy. Who doesn't love that feeling?! We were able to reflect upon our many blessings and were so thankful for the time that we were able to spend with Micah's family. We even all went shopping on "Black Friday" at 4:00am!! The whole fam went too!! I was so impressed!! It was a blast and we got some great deals!! We truly cherish every minute we get to spend with family and can only wish that we all lived closer together!

2008-12-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

We went to the Portland temple with Micah's parents and performed some sealings, it was a really neat experience. It was so nice to do that with them and it was the first time I'd ever been to the Portland temple, it is so beautiful!!

2008-12-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

We were able to visit Micah's grandma in Portland while we were there. It was so good to see her since this was only the second time that I have ever seen her! How sad is that?!

2008-12-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

Micah and his brothers, Sterling and Gabe, all decided to grow hideous mustaches over the week for fun. They're such dorks!! It was pretty funny!

Official "Twerds"!!

2008-12-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's official... my co-worker (Naomi) and I are Twilight nerds, or "twerds" is what they're calling it. We wore these Twilight t-shirts when we went to the movie on opening night (of course), how funny is that?! In my defense, it wasn't my idea but I went along with it and it was actually a lot of fun! I, for one, really enjoyed the movie. I know there are some out there who were disappointed in it but I loved the books and thought the movie wasn't the best movie I've ever seen but it was very entertaining and that was all I was hoping for! Well, if nothing else... at least I can admit that I'm a Twilight nerd!:)

Happy Birthday Micah!!

2008-11-16T18:32:00.000-08:00

Yay! Micah turned the big 3-0 this past week on the 13th!! He has kind of been freaking out about it and has completely convinced himself that he's getting more and more gray hair each day since he turned 30, which, of course, isn't true!! So, we tried to make this milestone as pleasant for him as possible. He was very excited to receive his very own guitar!, which is something he's been wanting for awhile, a new Northface jacket, and the movie "Ironman." I took him to his favorite seafood restaurant, "McCormick & Schmick's", visited a really cool Tech Museum in San Jose that he had been wanting to go to for awhile, and then threw him a big birthday party at our house. I made two different kinds of cakes with ice cream and we had a whole bunch of our friends over for a little open house. It was a total success and it was really neat to see how many people showed up to support Micah, it really made us feel loved. We've also never had so many people in our little house at one time! but it was so much fun and hopefully it helped Micah enjoy his 30th b-day rather than despise it!

Aubree Gets a Piano!!

2008-11-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

Holy Moly!! I still can't believe it!! So my amazing, wonderful, adorable hubby surprised me with an early Christmas present this past month and I about died!! He found this incredible piano on Craigslist for FREE!! For those of you who don't know what Craigslist is, it's a great website where people can buy, sell, trade items and post job listings, etc., it really is a great website! So, I guess there was a little old couple that just wanted to get rid of their piano and Micah happened to be on the website at the right time and snagged it before anyone else could!! Lucky for me!! So, he and our good friend Clark went and picked it up that day with Clark's pick-up and brought it home all by themselves! I still don't know how they did it! Other-than-the-fact that they're both incredibly strong, masculine, good-looking, did I mention strong, men!! N e way, needless-to-say, I was very surprised and overjoyed!! I absolutely love it and play it everyday!!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween! As you can see, we carved pumpkins, with our good friends Trish and Clark, a couple days before Halloween and then toasted the pumpkin seeds, YUM! We then had a fun Halloween party with a bunch of our friends on Halloween night. Everyone dressed up in costumes, we had Dinner-in-a-Pumpkin, played some games, and then watched I Am Legend! Good movie! and thankfully not as scary the second time around! As you can see, my "interesting" husband dressed up as a sumo wrestler and I was his geisha! All in all, it was a fun night!

WE WENT SKYDIVING!!

2008-10-20T01:16:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe we did this!! But yes, we did it!! It was the most incredible experience ever and I would do it again in a second! We went on Labor Day of last year in Monterey Bay, CA. This was actually my Christmas present from Micah from the previous Christmas - Skydiving has always been a dream of mine. We jumped from 15,000 ft. where we free-fell for 10,000 of it in the first minute and then floated to the ground the final 5,000, which only took about 10 minutes. I loved every second of it, and it actually wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be! We had the whole thing video-taped, so if you would like to watch our little five minute video of our skydiving adventure then please do! Just click on the link below and it will take you to YouTube where you'll need to click on the video which says: "Our skydiving video from Labor Day 2007." Thanks for checking it out and if anyone ever wants to go then give us a call and we're so there!!

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

2008-10-19T18:06:00.001-07:00

We got to spend 3 days at "the happiest place on earth" this summer. Aubree's whole side of the family basically had their family reunion there and it was a total blast! We got to stay at the Disneyland Hotel and everything! It couldn't have been more perfect! Disneyland is such an escape from reality. I love how it really makes you feel like a kid again!

2008-10-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

The Whole FAM...Our family is growing! Micah and I got married in June 2004 and Jace and Jill got married in June 2007. Jantz just graduated from high school this past May and Jarek is now a sophmore. It's so crazy how time flies!! This pic is from Christmas 2007.

New Blog

2008-10-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we have now officially revamped our family blog and are hopefully going to join the blogging world on a regular basis. We enjoy looking at all of our friends' blogs so we're hoping that you will enjoy ours too.

For a quick update... we recently celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on June 23rd and are enjoying our 3rd year here in beautiful San Carlos, CA, which is on the San Francisco peninsula. Micah is currently working at Ebay as a private contractor while he studies his brains out in preparation for the GMAT entrance exam for business school. He is teaching early-morning seminary for the 2nd year in a row and loving every minute of it. Aubree is still working as an optician at Burlingame Optical but is currently looking for new employment with less stress and lower maintenance clients. We like living in CA but the people are certainly quite different here. She is still thoroughly enjoying serving in Young Women's as the Beehive leader. And in case anyone is wondering, no, we do not have any children, yet. Hopefully, that will be in our near future. It's in the Lord's hands, of course.

We are excitedly looking forward to the upcoming holidays and hope to visit with many of you during them. We are going to try to make a better effort to keep this blog updated monthly and hope to keep in better touch with all our loved ones. Until next time... TTFN!

Family Update

2007-06-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Our little family is now almost three years old. It has been a relaxed & comfortable three years in San Carlos, CA. The Bay Area is gorgeous as you can see in the picture. It was taken down in Montery Bay.

Micah is still working in the commercial & investment real estate industry for Mango Financial and is an assistant ward mission leader at church. His job has been flourishing and we are excited to see what happens by the end of the year.

Aubree is working for Burlingame Optical as an optician and with the young women as a Beehives teacher at church, which she loves. She just joined the quarter-century club on June 2nd!;)

We were disappointed to be released from nursery a few months ago. That has to be the best calling in the church. It is so fun to gain the trust of the little two year olds and then watch them run up to you in church to say hi. Since we've left, the bishop's daughter is having a difficult time staying in nursery because she isn't getting the attention Micah used to give her. So cute.

This June, Aubree's brother Jace is getting married in San Diego and she hasn't slept for months. Mostly, because we are headed to Disneyland for three days after the wedding. She is so ecstatic she is making shirts for the entire family (22 in all).

We would love to hear from all of you. Hope everyone is doing well.

Micah & Aubree