Michael & Melissa

A Late 2010 Review

2011-05-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

So I have been a bad blogger and missed a lot of wonderful experiences from 2010! I found a couple highlights after I finally downloaded all the pictures on my camera so you get a late brief review of 2010.

June 2010 I was given an official commissioning ceremony ( I was technically commissioned in October 2009) at a Dodgers baseball game. I'm stuck in the back (curse my height). 2LT baby.

In October 2010 Michael and I got to experience out wedding gift from my sweet Grandma Jacque. She took up to Sharon Vermont, the birthplace of Joseph Smith, for conference weekend. The state is so picturesque. It was beautiful driving all around the two lane highways and seeing the rolling hills and trees.

With only about half a million people in the state the only thing there other than beautiful scenery and Mormon historical sites is the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory! So fun to visit. Such a funny history-just two guys lookin' for something to do and it took off like wildfire. You can see how much we loved it ha ha.

When we weren't watching conference we were driving and enjoying the leaves. Grandma fondly referred to our little group as "leaf peepers." ha ha. I loved this cute little post office in Sharon.

Our first months of marriage in 2010 Michael and I had a little laugh at life experiences. We ended up decorating our dryer with a blue pen. Life Lesson: I have learned to always double check my scrubs for pens and Michael learned to re-check my scrubs before doing laundry.

We loved taking turns getting in there with comet cleaning it off (can't you tell?). No pens marks on our dryer since.

We finished off the year with a trip to Maui, Hawaii (wedding gift from Aunt Jylle and Michael's parents) we are pretty spoiled.

View from out hotel room.

Downtown Lahani

Michael playing with Ainsley and Bo Barker!

Testing my photography skills ha ha.

Instead of a rental car we got these sweet rides. Gas milage was great ha ha.

On our scooter ride around the island.

Suba/snorkeling with the Barkers.

Fun burger resturant downtown.

This is how we tipped our waiter (don't worry the rest was included on the card) We are pretty creative.

Scooter ride around the island. We bought a pineapple on the side of the road!

Maui is beautiful!

Playing some bocce ball. Michael won a pizza.

A beautiful Banyan tree in downtown Lahani. All those light are being held up by ONE tree. It was beautiful.

Late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Alright now onto 2011...

New Blog...

2010-11-06T20:06:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

I am setting up a new blog with me and Michael together. Here is the link!

http://mikeandmelissajohnson.blogspot.com/2010/11/best-things-in-life-are-free.html

Something Funny...

2010-10-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

During this super busy week of two exams and a ortho project due I found soemthing that made me laugh when I grabbed a copy of the Daily Trojan (USC's school newspaper).

It was listed that the female driver hit the accelerator instead of the break....um yeah she it is hard enough to make it over the concrete barrier (you can see near the back tire). I guess the fence didn't help much either. ha ha ha. So sad by so funny.

Update: We are married.

2010-10-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Michael and I were married August 20th 2010 in the Salt Lake Temple. After a quick honeymoon in Seattle we made it back to Los Angeles just in time for me to start up dental school again.

Now we have spent the last month and 16 days setting up house (thanks to all the giftcards and wedding gifts) and keeping pace with dental school and medical school applications.

Michael's most recent endeavor has been to teach me how to drive his stick shift mini cooper. We live right next to a free school shuttle, and two cars are expensive. So, we are getting rid of my car and keeping his....this means I finally have to really learn how to drive a stick shift. Our most recent rules: Melissa will not drive during rush hour or at night. So far that has limited me to driving to institute, church, school (sometimes) and a store (if we go early enough in the day). I have stopped crying when I become overwhelmed and have less freak outs. I think I might one day get the hang of this. Well, some fun posts coming soon-just thought I would catch everyone up :)

Ta ta for now.

Time Lines

2010-07-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

In 2/12 hours I will be taking my Head and Neck Anatomy midterm

In 4 days I will be taking an Amalgam midterm.

In 6 days Michael and I will start are lease on our future apartment.

In 11 days Michael will move out to Los Angeles.

In 21 days I will start finals week.

In 25 days I will officially have finished my freshman year of dental school.

In 32 days Michael and I will be married in the Salt Lake Temple.

I can't wait for the start of a new adventure with my sweetheart.

Ta ta for now.

Midterms & Michael

2010-07-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

So I just noticed that I had posted a title of my last post and no commentary! Wow-midterms must have racked my brain ha ha ha. Here was my set up for my occlusion midterm. Yes that is an artificial mouth (typodont) on my text book. During midterms week I was so lost in preparing and taking my exams that one night I was nearing my door and started pushing the 'unlock' button on my car keys...it took me a while to realize that my car keys infact would not unlock my front door no matter how many times I pushed that button. Luckily no one else was in the hallway.

For my birthday my grandma came down and took Michael and me to Disneyland. If anyone knows my Grandma you'll know that her favorite part of any trip is pictures! Love her. Here are some of our favorites.

I was so excited to see Minnie! I think Minnie was more interested in Michael. To the right is what happens when Michael tries PDA in the line to the Peter Pan ride ha ha ha. I mostly just think Michael is adorable.

Some of our final moments with grandma where last minute pictures. You can't miss the institute Melissa was blessed in. Good thing it was right down the street from my dental school. We bought these glasses on a trip out at Venice Beach. Michael loves his and wears them all the time like they are a perscription. I've decided I only whip mine out on special occasions ha ha ha. I'll stick with the contacts. I hope to post more soon.

Ta ta for now.

Engagement Photos

2010-05-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

So I have a lot to catch up on. I finally bought a car back in February with the bonus I got with the military. I than got in a car crash 30 days later and totaled my 2009 mazda 3 :(

I went home for break just a week after my wreck, found out that my car was totaled and was reimbursed my the insurance company. Amazingly, I got $300 more than what I paid for the car even after the deductible ha ha. So Michael's dad was kind enough to lend my an extra car he had, so I could have a little more time to reevaluate my car situation. So I am now the proud driver of a hunter green boneville. Oh yes my friends I can sit six seat-belted people in my sedan. Ha ha ha. Hey I'm grateful I'm not down here without a car.

So as you all figured out I am back in Los Angeles going to school starting in on my sophomore perio block and restorations classes! I'm so excited to get started into some real dental work. At least on back mouths with rubber cheeks and extracted teeth for now ;)

But, the most exciting part was that I got my engagement photos! Here are a few of them, most of my favorites are when we aren't looking at the camera. I really like my photographer, Jessica Kettle (Jenni thanks for the suggestion). Her style is great!

If you are interested in seeing all our shots send me an e-mail and I'll forward you the link!

Ta ta for now!

I'm ENGAGED!

2010-04-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Dearest Married Friends!

I am engaged! Michael proposed on Easter Sunday with the cutest Easter basket!

[Pictures can't upload right now I will try again later!]

In it were objects representing our past year dating! We had Kung Fu Panda-the first night we hung out together. A yoga DVD representing our friendship blossoming in our yoga class at BYU. The eight ball-our first date going to play pool. T-shirts representing a date where we made matching shirts and then went to our college graduation party together. Three CDs (Margo and the Nuclear So and So's, Iron and Wine, and Manchester Orchestra) concerts we went to. Two symphony bars representing the symphony I took him to, floaty-our multiple trips down to California, sizzors ( He is know giving me full control of his hair!) and down at the bottom of the basket was a little box with my ring! It was so cute. He is such a sweetheart and I love him to pieces :)

Pretty Little Things

2010-03-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

So I have been puttering around etsy and other blogs and I have found so many pretty little things that I thought I would share. Being a dancer in my younger years I have still maintained my love of the tutu. I still want to wear one.

I have had a recent obsession with clutches since I bought mine last semester for $12 at Nordstom (steal of a deal I should have bought 2) Isn't this so romantic! I love.

I also greatly appreciate the beauty in Jcrew's recent homepage. Love the wild flowers surrounding this model.
Love the pinks and reds with these blue plates.
SO Love the printed table swatch below these blue vases and pink flowers.
/My all time favorite blouse. So flowy and romantic. I found this randomly while looking for a hair cut. Love Keira, love her blouse more.
Well those are just a few pretty things I have found.

Ta ta for now.

A Lovely Weekend and My Hill billy cast

2010-03-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

Midterms were last week and after three horrendous days I finished them up on Wednesday in time to go get Michael from the airport. We borrowed his brothers car and drove down to Riverside to purchase me a car! Ah! Finally, I have a car. It is wonderful. I got a great deal on a Mazda 3 (2009) with 20,000 miles on it. Hertz is selling some of their cars. I got my little red mazda for $2,000 below Kelly blue book. Couldn't be more excited about that!

Michael and I had a weekend with a car. It was great. We went to Venice Beach and flew a kite, went through the Museum of Art in downtown LA, caught Alice in Wonderland at LA Live, and enjoyed kabobs in Little Tokyo, toured the UCLA Medical Campus, and saw Elder Anderson speak! It was so great to have him down here.

Well, I sent him back on Sunday-I got to get back to work ha ha. Today in lab we had to turn in our cast (a ceramic model of a mouth) with the wax ups of # 7, 14 and 30. Well right before class started I dropped my cast and knocked its central, lateral and canine out! (Atleast they weren't any of the teeth I had waxed up). When my professor came to check off my work I had only managed to repair the damage to the central and lateral teeth. I handed over my "hill billy" cast with an apology. He laughed that I called it a hill billy and checked off my work. Phew-good thing that wasn't a patient right?

Ta ta for now

Valentines Day

2010-02-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

I have always loved and celebrated Valentines whether I had a boyfriend or not. It might have had to do with the fact that for many years my favorite color was pink, I have a deep love for flowers and chocolate, and I love making valentines (or buying them Papyrus anyone) with lots of sparkles! But this year was I think the best Valentines day I have ever had! I got to celebrate with my love! I can't imagine loving someone more than I love Michael.

I flew into Utah to celebrate the long weekend with him and my family. On Saturday night we had our own little Valentines celebration. Both of us our lovers of sushi so that had to be the main course of the evening but their was a delightful twist! Michael had painted a sushi plate like a checker board in a ceramic class forever ago-so we played sushi checkers! Michael's spider rolls and spicy tuna rolls against my california rolls and citrus rolls.

It was so much fun-admittedly we only played one game-we ate all the ones we jumped but it was a super fun way to enjoy sushi. Then Michael surprised me with a delightful box of chocolate and the beautiful flower ring up top! Its a flower and sparkly all at the same time! I love it. I found it at Zales back in November and mentioned that I really liked it. He remembered and got it for me for Valentines day! Isn't he the sweetest! I felt really dumb when he opened his gift to find his favorite movie (Big Fish) and a couple other fun little things. He was so tickled that I remembered his favorite movie (and that he had lost his copy). We just had to sit right down and watch it right then. Ha ha ha. I love my boyfriend he is so sweet!

Ta ta for now,

Melissa

Three Day Weekends and 35 million dollars

2010-01-21T12:06:00.000-08:00

This last weekend we got Martin Luther King Jr. day off of school. To celebrate, a couple dental students and I went up to St. George (one of the dental students parents live there). We spent the weekend repelling and took a hike in Zions National Park. We just did a small hike called Emerald Pools. It was snowy, and raining, and we loved every minute

We arrived back early Tuesday morning in time to hit up class. Whew-not much sleep that weekend but totally worth it, espcially when Michael came and joined us on Monday for hiking!

Yesterday (wednesday). Dean Sadan (dean of the dental school), closed down all classes and had us attend a special event. All students had been guessing over the past 2 weeks what would be so important as to cancel classes. Some of the speculations were announcing the renovation of our clinic (which will be done when I hit the clinic floor! Yiphee!), announcing a new curriculum (which is going to be implemented next fall) or a large donation. Well-it was the last. A wealthy man named Herman Ostrow graduated from USC School of Dentistry in 1945. After practicing for 17 years he stepped into real estate and construction-making big money. He donated 35 million dollars to my school yesterday and so now we are known as the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC.

Christmas Time

2010-01-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

So I successfully finished my first semester in dental school on December 11th and was out on the 12th to Utah! I got to spend a wonderful time with my friends, family and....fia-ha ha ha jk boyfriend Michael. Some of the highlights included attending New Moon with my mother, younger sister, Michael and Matthew (18 year old brother). Matthew wanted to go only so he could squeal as loud as he could when he saw a half naked Jacob. Ha ha ha he and Michael didn't disappoint when Jacob came on screen. I think they were the most excited little girls. But my favorite part of New Moon was when Jacob (werewolf) runs up the side of Bella's house, jumps on a tree and then through her window. As he lands on her floor Ulia without realizing is says out loud, "Parkour BABY!" AH ha ha ha ha. Everyone around us started laughing. Love watching movies with that girl.

I also enjoyed spending Christmas morning with Michael's family. They have this insane tradition that the first kid to get up insanely early (no alarm clocks allowed) wakes the rest, and then they all jump on mom and dad's bed wake them and go open presents. I thought early meant like 8 and I was nervous because we had to be back in Farmington at 9am to talk to my brother in Brazil. Michael assured me we would be fine. At 5:17am I woke up to Michael coming into the guest room says, "It's Christmas morning sweetie!"

"What time is it?"

"......5:18am"

"WHAT! You woke up this early on your own?"

"C'mon baby lets go get everyone else up."

It took some serious coaxing to get me out of that bed at 5:18am, I think he ended up coming up to the side of the bed and picking me up out of it. Next, he ran upstairs and jumped on his sisters bed, stole his other sisters comforter, and made a enough racket to wake up his brother. Love is child like heart ha ha ha. Best part. They were all conspiring how they were going to wake up mom and dad, while Angelea (his sister) yelled MOM incessantly. Sis. Johnson finally came out of her room in her pjs, squinting at the light. Her husband followed, fully dressed in slacks and a button up shirts! Ha ha ha ha. It was so funny to see. Anyway-I'm back in the land of the temperate climates. Starting school again tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well. I enjoy reading about all your lives girls.

Ta ta for Now

Halloween and Haircuts

2009-11-01T13:03:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone,

So this Halloween was a new experience for me. At the request of the group mates at the dental school I went to the Delta Sigma Frat party. It was way fun to see my fellow dental students out of their scrubs! The girl next to me is Swati and the one in the devil horns is Dana. They are two girls in my group that are so cute and sweet. I love them! I even got a wrist band to designate that I was old enough to drink. A friend of mine thought it was funny I got a wrist band and am not a drinker. I jokingly told him it must have been in case someone asked me to hold their beer for them. He laughed proceeded to hand me his beer and didn't take it back. I was so redf faced. I returned it as quickly as he would take it back.

So new hair cut. I decided that I was in desperate need of a haircut when I got a handful of broken ends when I ran my fingers through my hair (terrible I know). So, I went to Alice, a close friend at dental school to ask who her stylist was. She proceeded to tell me that she had a stylist that cut asian hair, which was different from caucasian hair. Ha ha ha. Okay guess I was on my own. I ended up at a salon downtown. It was beautiful and my stylist did a great job on everything except my bangs. Apparently pictures aren't enough for people sometimes. I wanted long bangs. I warned her my hair was naturally curly. She cut them barely long enough and then blew dry my hair.....it curled. Upon looking at myself in the mirror I reminded myself of my second cousin Beth after she cut her own bangs! Yes, it was bad. I walked home SO embarrassed. After restyling them myself they don't look terrible. I still feel like I'm at best ten, but that's what you get when you want something different right? My roommates have assured they are cute, and Michael loves them. I guess I'll have to give them a second chance in a couple of days.

Ta ta for now.

MIDTERMS

2009-10-17T20:21:00.001-07:00

So I am an absolutely terrible blogger. But this next week is midterms! AH! It consists of three days of testing. Luckily I am in a C cell which means I get to be tested on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and get Thursday and Friday off! Wahoo!

So midterms is broken down into 3 parts, MCQ (multiple choice questions) COMBOT (computer based testing) and T3 (Triple Jump) MCQ are going to be no problem (besides they fact that they are going to cover more material than I have ever had to cover on one exam before in my life!) COMBOT is what is scaring me a little bit. They flash pictures on a screen in front of you and give you a minute to identify the picture and label the arrows. If could be the anatomy of the heart, histology of the esophagus wall, or the anatomy of the head and neck. It could even be the brain and the cranial nerves. This is all very nerve racking (no pun intended). So you ask why am I on my blog NOW when I should be studying for all of this. GOod question. I thought I would just let you all know I was insanely busy :)

"2 months is far to long to go with out a post" -Gina

2009-08-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

So lets catch everybody up. I am now here in Los Angeles. Its a beautiful place, weather is just perfect! Downside, there are way too many freeways. I come from a place where we have the I-15. If you are off to the Airport it's the I-215 west and if you are off to Park City it's the I-215 east. That's it. Here we have the 110 (Harbor Freeway), I-10, 405, 605, 5, I-15 and more I'm sure. There are three freeway entrances within 5 blocks of my home in three different directions all going to different freeways! I can't handle it, good thing I don't have a car yet and my roomie has a GPS.

Tomorrow I am starting in on my first day at USC School of Dentistry tomorrow. I am on the eve of what feels both like the day of execution or the night before the happiest day of my life. I'm not quite sure which on is going to win out. This Sunday was my first experience with the singles ward here. Much different from the Y. There are very few people here still in school, most have careers. I think my favorite was seeing a guy from BYU who is also going to USC Dentistry with his arm in a sling at church today! What a way to start of Dental school right? Good thing we aren't jumping right in to tooth carving and fillings.

Also shown above is my most favorite purchase of the summer, my new purse! The ragged one (the satchel bag I used as a purse) you all saw me carry around for ages is.....well still here I refuse to throw it away BUT is slowly being replaced by this classy bag. I have wanted this particular bag for a very long time and waited for the right moment to purchase it- on sale! Ha ha ha. Love it.

My Hair

2009-06-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

Recently I got bored and died my hair. It came out unexpectedly dark. I now resemble Snow White. My mother kindly asked today if I want to add something....ANYTHING....to lighten it up. Then there is my boyfriend who absolutely loves it. Oh why did I even bother to die it. Curse my dishwater blond hair.

The Joys of Being Home

2009-05-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Being home brings with it all the fun quirks and randomness that you forgot about shortly after leaving home. Why? Maybe because those things where not quirky and random-since they are all you knew growing up and you supposed them to me normal. Now that you have moved away and then returned you realized that waking up with your entire family kneeling around your twin size bed with your father saying. "Fold your arms Melissa, we need to say family prayer!" isn't exactly normal. Among other abnormalities that belong in family life was my mothers recent purchase at her school's silent auction. She bid on three gift certificates to get family western photos as Lagoon. Much to our surprise her bid won! So, last Saturday the family and Mike jumped into the Suburban and took family Westerns.

One of my mothers proudest moments was when she saw her boys in a bath tub with bullets across their chests, her BYU graduate wrapped up in an American flag, and her baby holding a bottle of Jack Daniels. What a moment to record in our family history! Honestly she was SO embarrassed she turned around and got involved with the other family taking pictures in cowboy outfits.

Far more complicated than facebook.....

2009-05-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

It is my last day of work and after reading the tender notes in the goodbye card I came upon Gina's gentle prompt, "Like I've said before now would be a REALLY good time to start a blog!" So I caved and had her help me start a blog. 20 minutes and 10 backgrounds later I have settle on this background, not fully satisfied that is expresses the inner workings of Melissa but way too tired to keep looking at webpage after webpage of free blog backgrounds. If I kept it up any longer I might have chosen the one with ducks on it....I only have to change my picture on facebook......

The beginning of my blogging life...

2009-05-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Leaving BYU I have been coerced into creating a blog spot so all my non-facebook using friends can keep up on my life.

So far I graduated, as evident in this pictures (Lisa, I'm sorry it does not say proof ;) ) and am headed home for the Summer to Farmington Ut.

In August I am off to the University of Southern California School of Dentistry. YiphEe!