We Can Do Anything With God & Kisses

I’m yellow and Mikayla is blue. There’s a personality test that puts people into 4 groups represented by color: Red, Yellow, Blue, and White. Mikayla and I have taken this test several times and our colors have changed a little over time but for the most part Mikayla is a blue, and I am a yellow. Blue personality types are known for being very organized and always having a plan, while yellows are very much shoot from the hip kind of people. Mikayla likes to have a plan a month in advance, and I’m OK with deciding on something in the moment. Mikayla has helped me become more organized and prepared, while I have helped her realize that when plans fall through we can still have a good time with the brand new plan that we just came up with.             There are good and bad qualities of all the four color types (and therefore, all personalities) and it is up to each spouse to identify the positives instead of the negati...

Something you should know about Kevin: he is thrifty in SO many ways, and he's also extremely driven when it comes to teaching himself new skills. One of his latest ventures in this regard has been cutting hair, namely his and Charlie's. And, might I say, he does a pretty good job. The only catch? I'm required to assist in trimming the back of Kevin's head, the spots where he can't see. This last Wednesday was haircut day, and when it came to my portion of trimming Kevin's mane,  I was so afraid of messing it up that I was all-engrossed and unaware of anything else. And Kevin was captive to my watchful eye and the buzzers. At the same time, less than 15 feet away, our Charlie discovered a small bottle of baby powder. And then that toddler boy discovered how beautifully that powder looked upon his navy bedclothes. His inner artist went wild. Our attention was averted from him for a grand total of three minutes, and in that time, nearly the entire bottle was...

On Friday, September 13th, at 6:51pm, the newest member of the Johnson Family was born: McKay Stephen Johnson. Mikayla and I couldn't be happier. I'll let Mikayla tell the story of the details of the birth in a future post, but today I want to talk about a comment Mikayla has repeatedly made to me today: "Thank you for taking paternity leave." My thought was, "Yes! Of course I did. Who wouldn't? It just makes sense. I'm the dad! It's as much my responsibility to help out as much as it is Mikayla's responsibility." But really, that's how everything should be. Everything should be fifty-fifty. Or rather, one-hundred-one-hundred. We should each be giving our all in everything we do to make our relationship and family the best it can be. I don't believe we should have separate roles where it's just my job to do the dishes and Mikayla's job to always make the dinner. If Mikayla's not feeling up for making dinner, I step in,...

September 9th, 2014. Dark brown hair, freckles, a mischievous grin. I'll never forget seeing him there that day, through the glass door of the University Advisement Center & Academic Support Office, as I stepped on up for a job interview. A clear thought flooded my mind, "he's going to fall in love with me someday."  I was hired on the spot. I'm pretty sure the UAC/ASO was just desperate for a warm body capable of answering phone calls and scheduling appointments during their breakneck schedule those first few weeks of the school year, but nonetheless, I'll be forever grateful they gave me a chance. The most we said to each other was "nice to meet you" and we shook hands. As I walked away, mostly I felt grateful for a job--but I also felt tremendously awkward for that thought, "he's going to fall in love with me someday..." How egocentric of me! I'd never thought that about anyone before.  That night, Kevin wrote in ...

I’m going to start things off by saying that I’m not much of a writer. Mikayla has a way with words that I will probably never amount to, but I’m going to give this blogging thing a go.  When Mikayla and I were engaged we decided to never get in an argument, and to this day we haven't. We have never yelled at one another, so that’s a win. But we have had our fair share of miscommunications. The first of these happened a few weeks into officially being husband and wife. In college, I wasn’t much of a cook. When I wasn’t feeling up for hotdogs, cereal, mac and cheese, or ramen noodles (75% of my college student diet) I’d try something from the family cook book my mother made for me. Ofttimes it would taste funny, so I’d just throw some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce on it...and that would solve the problem.  It just became a habit. When I’d set the table, BBQ sauce was always there, too.             Because Mikay...