Almost Done Spring Breaking...

These were pictures from our hike to Double O Arch. It was a long and hard hike as well. It had an awesome view though. Pretty much every view in Arches is awesome. :) There was one really scary part of the hike where we had to walk across the fin of an eroding rock and it dropped pretty far on both sides. There were no protective guard rails or anything, and there was one part where you had to jump over a crack between the rocks--so I almost didn't make it. I'm not as coordinated as one might think. (ha ha, my family can stop laughing at my clumsiness now...) All in all, we survived our trip in one piece and had a great time doing it.

And Still Spring Breaking...

Here are pictures of us at Dead Horse Point. It's pretty much where the world ends and then drops thousands of feet down. I am sooooo afraid of heights, so this little stop made me a little nervous. There is also a picture of us with our friends, Kevin and Natalie, sampling the water of the Colorado River. (It was freezing cold!) Our rugged vehicle, as mentioned before, was good to us. And last of all, a picture of Ben in front of Landscape Arch. This was a pretty wicked hike too.

Still Spring Breaking...

We had a great time hiking to Delicate Arch. It was kind of a long hike, but it was so worth it! Our favorite part was "scrambling" up the slickrock. It actually said "scrambling" in the trail guide! Cool, huh? It didn't sound very safe, though.
The weather was absolutely perfect for hiking. I think the hottest temperature was 80 degrees. But there was a pleasant breeze blowing to keep us just cool enough.

Spring Break in Arches

Spring break is a wonderful institution. I think that even when we graduate and get real jobs that we should get spring break. Since that probably won't happen, we decided to live it up this year and take a quick trip to Arches. I have never been there before, and Ben was way excited and got the whole thing planned. We have some great friends in our ward, Kevin and Natalie Humpherys, that we do lots of stuff with, and we invited them to come along. My lovely dad (pappola) let us borrow his SUV for our trip and it was great! Ben and I decided that we want to trade in both of our vehicles for a Honda Pilot. It was such a sweet ride. Ben loved driving it because it made him feel so rugged.

Frosty, Our Snowy Friend

Ben and I had so much fun building a snowman when we were off of school for a day. It was way more work than I remember as a little kid. That snow gets heavy! Let me just say that the weather in Logan is crazy. Not long after we built our snowman, it felt just like summertime! I just wish the summertime weather would stick around long enough for us to fully enjoy it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day Ben and I got to go to a really fancy restaurant. It was called Beniamino's. The food was AMAZING, and the service was most impressive. Ben spent all day preparing for our special Valentine's Day dinner. I had class that night from 4:30-7:20, and he had everything timed to be done at exactly 7:20, when he thought I would return home. Lucky for him I got out of class an hour early. (oops!) Since I suspected he might be planning something special, I tried calling him 3 times on my way home. He didn't hear the phone though since he was listening to his new iPod. (Stupid iPod, grrr) So I got home and averted my eyes while calling through the open door that I was home. I had to sit isolated in the bedroom until 7:20 when my date came to pick me up. :) (Yes, he rang the doorbell, and I had to avert my eyes so I couldn't see dinner on the table as I went to answer the door.) It was well worth the wait. We started off dinner with a shrimp cocktail appetizer. A scrumptious spinach salad followed thereafter. Our main course was steak, baked potatoes, and asparagus. We topped it all off with Key Lime pie for dessert. Then we exchanged gifts. Ben gave me a huge card and some chocolates, and I gave him a card, season two of "The Office", heart-shaped Junior Mints, and his favorite book, "Where the Wild Things Are." It was a great night.

It's only the 5th week of the semester!

It feels like we've been in school forever already. It's only the 5th week! Ah! Other than that school is going well. Maybe it's just dragging because I'll never have to go to school in the spring again. Yay!

What A Smashing Overcoat!

I can't even count how many times I've said "What a smashing overcoat!" to Ben, Scott, and Dad. All the boys got new overcoats for the wedding, and don't they look just smashing? You should've seen them all strutting around the temple grounds and the reception. They love their overcoats so much that they compliment each other every time they see one another. Sometimes it's multiple times a day. Silly boys. Matchy matchy. Ben loves his so much that he called Sheila as he was walking across the Utah State campus just to tell her how suave and debonaire he looked.

Ashley Johnson...Who Is That?

In addition to all of the Christmas fun, there was Scott and Ashley's wedding! Aren't they so cute? I bet Ashley was as freaked out to become Ashley Johnson as I was to become Melinda Christensen...weird. Ben was scared to have an Ashley Johnson in our family because that's the name of his ex-girlfriend. But anyway...this is the cool Ashley Johnson. We're so excited to have Ashley in our family and think she's great. She and Scott are perfect for each other.

Christmas Highlights

I'm so embarrassed that it took so long to post our few Christmas pictures...but hey, we're busy college students. Ben and I started a fun tradition this year of reading in our 24 Days of Christmas book. Every night before we went to bed we'd read the scripture, sing the song, and read the story that went along with that day. We had our own little Christmas party just for the two of us on the 19th before we went to Salt Lake to spend Christmas with our families. (That's what all the treats were for!)
We went with Melinda's family on Christmas Eve (actually, the night before Christmas Eve) out to dinner and a movie and then exchanged sibling gifts. It was fun because we had a new family member included this year! (yay, Ashley!) Then on the real Christmas Eve we exchanged sibling gifts with the Christensens. We spent Christmas Eve wrapping gifts with the Christensens and then got up with them on Christmas morning. We also got to attend part of the McMullin party before heading to the Johnsons to celebrate the rest of the day with them. We had a great time with them playing Christmas Trivial Pursuit and eating dinner with the grandmas. Even though it was sad not to have the traditional Johnson/Healy/Mumford Christmas party, we started some fun new traditions. Hopefully next year we'll get to have our salmon with the holiday glaze. ;)

Isn't He Cute?

Ben will probably kill me for posting these, but he's just so cute when he is all ready for bed! In the top one he's really sad because it's so cold in our room. In the second picture he's just asleep, and in the third one he's just happy to finally be going to bed after a long day! Thanks for the good ideas for pictures, Tim. I know you're not a stalker, and neither am I! But those Christensen kids are just so cute when they're asleep, aren't they?

Finals are over!

To celebrate the end of finals, Melinda surprised Ben with a romantic candlelit dinner. She pulled out the fine china, set the mood with candles, (hence the candelit part), and turned on Christmas music. What a perfect way to celebrate! While waiting for dinner to come out of the oven, Ben enjoyed his cherry cordial Hershey's kisses. (Melinda surprised him with those, too!) Melinda instead enjoyed Reese's Peanut Butter cups because cherry cordials make her gag. Oh, and by the way, that is not wine in the goblet--it's Black Cherry Shasta.

Benny still loves Winda after all...

On Saturday night Ben got to go on a hot date...with his wife! He was a little nervous but it turned out okay. He arrived at the apartment promptly at 7:30 to pick up his date. She was late, as usual, but well worth the wait. They spent the evening out on the town and had a great time together celebrating Christmas in Logan.
First, they went to the Night of Lights and enjoyed the window displays and scalding hot chocolate. (Both of their tongues blistered from the intensely hot liquid). Then, they took a step back in time at the historic Utah theatre in downtown Logan, where they saw the original black-and-white Miracle on 34th Street. After the movie, Ben was in need of some closure, so the couple stopped off to buy donuts and chocolate Quik. Yum! Their marital flame still burns bright.

It's finally finished!

Ben finally finished the 3-D puzzle. He stayed up until 2:00 one morning because he was so obsessed. Meanwhile, Melinda was fast asleep, cozy in bed. So Ben gets to take credit for the whole thing.

A Puzzling, Nightmarish Affair

These are pictures of us working on our devilish 3-D puzzle. Thanks to Jenny, Michael, Emily, and Elise, we got a good head start! We're in dire need of more help now since some of us have already collapsed...

We love Utah State!

Here we are at the first Utah State basketball game of the season. We went with our neighbors and had a blast! We realized it will probably be the last full season of Aggie basketball we will see because we'll be graduating next year. We decided we have to live it up and have lots of fun before we leave good ole' Logan for medical school...wherever that may be.

Oh, for cute!

Here is an adorable picture of us as mere college freshmen when we were young and in love and about to be engaged...luckily we're still in love!

Our New Blog

Welcome to our new blog! We don't feel like we have much to say, but we'll try to make it as interesting as possible. We hope you enjoy!