About me-Part 2

Continued from a couple days ago here

After High School Graduation I moved to Cedar City, UT and attended Southern Utah University for a year and a half. I was working my way through and was only able to attend until I ran out of money. I moved back to Mesquite for a year where I worked in housekeeping at Oasis Resort (which is no longer there.)

In February 2004 I moved back to Utah County where I grew up. My mom had since divorced again and was living in American Fork, so I moved in with her and started working at TwinLab as a receptionist. A job that turned into a Human Resources Assistant, then Human Resources Recruiter, and finally Employee Relations Coordinator before I stopped working in 2007. Human Resources was the perfect place for my skills and personality, and I loved working there. I also went back to school part time that fall at Utah Valley State College (now UVU) where I finally earned an Associates degree in April 2006.

Within a month of moving back to Utah in 2004 I met my eventual husband Jerry Alan Johnson. We met at the singles ward in American Fork. As we got to know each other, we found out that he had gone to High School with my brother-in-law, Jeremy Boyle, and that he knew my sister too. He wanted to ask me out, but was too shy to ask for my phone number. So he looked up my brother-in-law’s parents in the phone book and called them and asked them for his number. He then called my brother-in-law and asked him for my number. It was very flattering that he went to all that trouble (but all he had to do was ask!) Our first date was April 8, 2004. We dated all summer and became engaged on August 21, 2004. He would be called away for National Guard Active duty for 4 months to Augusta, GA from September through the end of the year. He proposed quite unexpectedly to me 3 days before he left. We went on a hike to Silver Lake, one of our favorite places. I didn’t think that we would think about getting engaged until he returned home from Georgia. I just thought we were going on a last hike before he left. Well, he sure surprised me by proposing to me at the lake, but I gladly accepted.

He returned home by Christmas that year, and we were married February 3, 2005 in the Mount Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, UT. I was 21 and he was 26. We had a beautiful reception that evening at the Northampton House in American Fork. It was a perfect day.

We honeymooned at Disneyland, another one of our favorite places. We made our first home in Pleasant Grove, UT in the home that Jerry had grown up in, and we eventually bought it from his parents.

In May of 2007 Jerry needed to participate in a study abroad to finish his degree at BYU in Middle Eastern Studies. So I quit my job at TwinLab and went with him to live in Jordan for 4 months. It was the experience of a lifetime! Before we arrived in Jordan, we spent a week in Egypt, traveling to Cairo, then Luxor. We saw the pyramids, the Valley of the Kings, and lots of Mosques and Churches.

While in Jordan for the bulk of the summer, we shared an apartment with 2 other couples that were with the group from BYU. We traveled all over Jordan too. We saw Petra, Wadi Rum, Wadi Mujib, Mt. Nebo, Um Qais (and looked over the Sea of Galilee) and lots of just really cool stuff.

The last week of the summer the BYU group went to Isreal and stayed at the BYU Jerusalem center, visiting Old Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the Springs of Dan, and the Golan Heights.

The study abroad was completed at this point, but we decided that since we were already across the big blue ocean, we would take the opportunity to visit Italy for a week, which is where Jerry had served his mission. We met Jerry’s mom, Karen, and sister, Mykin in Vienna. We traveled by train toVenice, then rented a car and made our way south throughout the week, ending in Rome.

It was a wonderful, amazing trip…except for one thing; I was sick as a dog! While in Jordan, I became pregnant with my first child, and pregnancy did not agree with me, especially while in a foreign country. I was sick the entire second half of the time in Jordan; I was sick all across Israel and Italy! It was unfortunate to be feeling so awful while seeing some of the most amazing things on earth, but I still had an incredible time.

To be completed...Here