We lost our best friend today.

We lost out best friend tonight. His name was Boyd. He was struck by a vehicle on the busy street where we live. I thank God that he had blessed us with Boyd for even a short time. I have never lost anyone or anything personally close to me, so I have never known the pain. It is like nothing I have felt before. I look around and get a rush of memories from most things I see. It hurts. It hurts so deeply.

Boyd was very special to us. We celebrated his first birthday on February 2nd, this month. He got two homemade treats from Three Dogs bakery and a new marrow bone. One of the few toys that would last longer than a week with Boyd. He was an amazing dog. He learned to fetch at the age of three months old. He was so smart. I look at the furry red rug in the corner, where he moved it to and loved to lay on it. I'm so happy that I let him sleep with me in our bed last night. He usually slept in his kennel, but since it was Valentine's Day I wanted him with me. I even let him lay on the new couch with me last night for the first time. The hardest thing will be to tell my family. They loved him almost as much as JJ and I did. We took him everywhere we went. He was actually a well traveled dog. He had visited Colorado twice, Iowa, Nebraska and Montana. He met our whole family, he was always invited to holidays. He loved playing fetch with a frisbee or tennis ball. He loved pushing around his plastic red ball the size of a basketball. He enjoyed running with JJ, on gravel roads. JJ would always let him run without a leash, it was his favorite way to run with a person. I'll even miss giving him a bath, even though he hated water. He magically turned into the hulk when he would be placed in a tub full of water. One day JJ and I took him running on a nine mile prairie run. We soon found out it was a tick breeding ground. We took him home and put him in the tub to treat him with tick shampoo. We had to give him two baths and in between the bathing we would sit and pick each tick off one by one on the floor of the bathroom. We did not want him to get sick from a tick borne illness. He loved the dog park. He was pretty submissive with the bigger dogs, but he loved to run and play with them nonetheless. We know we will never have a dog we loved as much as our Boyd. This is the last photo taken of him. I took it last night. I had to share the photo with JJ since I was spending my Valentine's Day cuddling with Boyd instead of him. We will cherish all the happy memories we had with him. I look forward to the day we meet again.

The night before we lost him.  February 14th.  Our last cuddle!

Telling MY Family

Sage

My older sister Sage was the first to find out.  She lives in Sioux City, IA, which is two and a half hours from us.I decided to call her.  She was so excited she could barely get words out.  She had already started planning a baby shower with me during the phone call.  She has a daughter herself, so I think she was ready for Melanie to have a cousin!

Jamie

Jamie was the second to find out.  Jamie lives in Brookings, SD.  Which is ever farther from us than Sage.  Josh and I were driving somewhere and decided to Facetime with her.  At the beginning of the phone call I said to her, "JJ and I have something to share with you."  She immediately replied, "you're pregnant aren't you?":)  She doesn't miss a thing.  We spoke of possible names, she started by saying, these are the names you can't use:blah blah blah. The funny thing is about half of the names she likes are already on my list!:)  Too bad for her, we get to pick first!

Mom

My mom was a toughy.  She lives near Great Falls, MT.  I really wanted to tell her in a special way.  I had thought to send her two balloons, a blue and pink one filled with notes and confetti telling her to blow them up and pop them to read the contents and the note would say things like "Would you rather have a another granddaughter or a grandson?"  But I got too excited to put that together and wait for it to ship.  So I used a picture that Sarah had took of us the weekend we told JJ's family.  I sent her the image in a picture message while I was teaching.  Two hours later she still hadn't responded so I called my sister Sage to call her and ask her to look at her text messages (my mom is terrible at keeping up with her phone).  She texted me back saying how excited she was.  I was able to call her during my planning period and she was on her way to the store to buy something baby she said.:)

Dad

Dad was easy.  I really wanted to tell him in person, because I knew he would cry, but I wasn't going to see him for another month.  So Josh and I had a Skype call with him.  He did in fact cry.  He had to pause to grab a box of tissues.  He couldn't emphasize enough that he wants me to "eat, eat, eat!":)

My Two Best Friends

Lauren and Kendra!  Plus, of course their husbands.  We decided to go to Kendra's house to watch the super bowl with our friends.  I knew it would be a while until I would see them next, so I begged Josh to plan for that.  He agreed.  I went to Allen's Bakery and asked them to put the picture I had previously sent my mom on an edible fondant page.  They did and it turned out great!  I then bought an Eileen's cookie cake, only the best cookie in the area!:) They put the edible picture on the cookie cake for me.  Josh and I arrived at Kendra's and waited for both girls to be there to expose the cookie cake.  Lauren opened the box and her response was a puzzled "WHAT!?!?"followed with a scream.  Kendra's first response was, "I knew it!"  The excitement was followed by baby conversations and questions.  And of course Trent questioning my diet choices (I was drinking a caffine-free pop).

 Grandma Johnson, Kathy & Sam

Oh boy, these lovely family members found out way out in Arizona.  My Aunt Kathy and cousin Sam were visiting my grandma, the snowbird, in AZ.  JJ sent Sam a picture message of our ultrasound.  He shared it with the two of them.  My phone exploded with texts, calls and emoticons from Kathy.  I knew she would be so excited!  My grandma said she was smiling from ear to ear after hearing the news.  This was short and sweet, but so fun and exciting!

Telling JJ's Family

Oh boy, the few days after we found out we were pregnant were a blur.  We had brainstormed the best way to tell his family.  We felt like Ellie's (Sarah and Brian's oldest daughter) birthday party that weekend would be fun since most of the family would be there.  Ellie was turning five to we planned to sneak it into her gift.  I picked up a black sparkly hello kitty skirt, a plain hot pink long sleeve shirt, some leggings and hair bows.  I had a company custom screen print a design on the skirt.  The front said Crazy Cousin Clan and on the back I put a roster (the names of the four existing kids: Ellie, Emmie, Ticen and Maren).  Then below those names I wrote Baby Johnson (coming soon).  I had tucked the shirt down to the bottom of her gift box, so it would be the last thing she opened.
We arrived at the party, nervous as all get out, but maintained our composure.  She threw a beautiful rainbow themed party.  Once all the kiddos left we opened family gifts.  Once she opened our gift and Sarah read the shirt aloud the family went nuts, the house buzzed for the rest of the night!  What a fun way to tell our family.

Ellie's new shirt!

Baby Johnson!

She must like it if she's wearing it again.:)

We're PREGNANT!

WOW! SO here's how we found out:

I was teaching one day and felt sick all day long, then the next day the same thing happened. I was worried I had caught the flu virus, but I did not have any other symptoms.  I rarely get sick, so I knew something was wrong.  I considered when my last cycle was, but for the life of me I could not remember.  I discussed this with my husband and he could not remember either.  We had both decided it would be a good idea to take a test the next time I see him.  My husband is at school during the school year and I am teaching, we are and hour and twenty minutes apart, so we had to wait until the weekend.  I ran to Wally World with my friend Molly to get this stuff purchased.  It was so hard not to just go home right then and take the test, just to find out.  Molly was begging me to, but I insisted I wanted to do it with Josh.  That Friday I pack up and head to Lincoln.  When I got to my husband's house, I took the test.  We both looked at the results the same time. PREGNANT.  We could not believe it, so we decided to take another test. PREGNANT!  The first thing my husband said was pretty inappropriate to share, but I think I will anyway.  He said, "Well, if it is a girl we can always give it away."HAHAHA That man cracks me up!  He did not know how to respond.  I could tell all the stressful thoughts going through his head.  He wasn't ready for this and I wasn't ready for this, but we are adults and are flexible to any situation.

My Little Sister's Wedding 12.28.12

Jamie's getting married!  I can't believe it!  Seriously though, she grew up as the tomboy in our family and it took her awhile to grow into more feminine ways.  I think the only dresses she wore before college were for Prom!  None the less, she was a beautiful bride!  The wedding took place in a Catholic church in Sioux Falls, SD and the reception took place at the Museum of Visual Arts.

BRIDESMAID

Christmas 2012

Ice Skating in Estes Park

Rock climbing in Estes Park

Oh finally, a nice break from teaching.  This year, like every year, we traveled with JJ's family.  We headed to their cabin in Estes Park, CO.  It was so relaxing!  We enjoyed the company of family friends from Seattle (Mike and Kathy) and Pennsylvania (Ciatta).  We went ice skating and rock climbing at local Estes Park places.  Even the dad's (Mike and Chris) decided to climb.  I'd have to say Brian (Sarah's husband) and I were the top climbers.:)  When we weren't doing various activities we were cooking meals and playing cards.  It is so much fun to spend the holidays in a new and relaxing environment with a large portion of your family.  Sadly, my side of the family got the shaft on both Thanksgiving AND Christmas, but I think that gives me rights to decide where we go next year.:)

Family Dinner!

Thanksgiving 2012

Well, my husband and I JUST closed on our house, so our main focus during Thanksgiving break is to move our stuff in.  We did however take Thanksgiving day off by enjoying time with family in Omaha, NE at JJ's sister named Sarah house. We ate too much and had lot of fun with JJ's family.  The Thanksgiving meals for both of our families were at the same time this year so we had to pick which one to go to.  Sarah hosted a beautiful dinner for all the adults and children.  We returned home that night to sleep in our house for the first time.:)

Meet Bailey Jo and Family & First Home

Hello!:) Welcome, meet my family and I!  This is my handsome husband, JJ, and our border collie, Boyd.  First of all let me tell you why I chose to call this site BLISSFUL.  Of course, as you know another work for blissful is happiness.  Happiness is an important concept for me, whether it being instant happiness, long term happiness or the happiness in others.  It drives a lot of my decisions, especially when specific decisions do not involve money. I put things on a scale of happiness.  I feel like I am just finally discovering specific things that make me happy like: my style, hobbies, jobs, career, friends, family and at the top of my list is travel.  I mean, I never knew how much I really liked lace or chevron.  Sadly, I did not develop this sense of happiness until after I got married.  Oh, if I could do my wedding all over again the design and style would be COMPLETELY different.  Anyway the first thing I'd like to share is the fact that my husband and I purchased our own home.