John is 35!!

the day John got to meet his mentor, Alan Kay

John's birthday sometimes gets lost in the hubbub around Charlie's birthday because they are only 4 days apart. John, being the selfless guy and wonderful dad that he is, is perfectly fine with that. But I still want to honor him for his birthday (even if it's a little late).

Johnny, you are amazing. You have such a brilliant mind, but more importantly, a childlike enthusiasm for things. It has served you well professionally (the "JohnnyT factor") and also as a parent and spouse. You are our biggest champions and your excitement fuels our confidence.

Your valiant struggle with depression humbles me. You are fighting so hard through the fog to be present for your family, and yourself. You are doing it. Even when it feels like you aren't.  I love you for it.

You are a peacemaker and friend to everyone. You are kind and gentle. You like to be at home with us. You can build anything and I'm looking forward to our summer of outdoor projects. 

You commute 1.5 hours every day to work and you get up before dawn many days to get there so you can spend the evenings with us. Thank you for that. 

You support me in my efforts and grand projects, you build fun things for the boys, you weep with me over our shared concerns.

We are so blessed to have you. 2013 is the year. Happy birthday. 

John to the power of 2

We spent the weekend celebrating John and his 32nd birthday! He was most excited that he was turning a power of two (2 to the fifth power to be exact). Love that geeky boy!

(John sporting his sexy moustache leftover from his winter beard)

I love this man. He is good, kind-hearted, hardworking and loves me and Charlie a lot. What else could a girl want?

So THAT'S what you do all day...

In front of an engineering firm in London

My husband, John aka JohnnyT, is a "software engineer" which is a type of computer programmer. He works for a company called Alliance Health which is a social networking company in the health care industry. Telling people what he does for a living often confuses them- it isn't a one word answer like doctor, lawyer, plumber, or teacher.

Well, here's some clarity into part of what he and his company do! The Deseret News wrote an article highlighting Diabetic Connect, one of Alliance Health's free online support communities. John loves his job and he's really excited to a part of a company that helps so many people!

Tomorrow is World Diabetes Day- check out Diabetic Connect in honor of those afflicted by this disease.

Three years!

John and I are just now beginning to tip the scales- from now on, we will have been married for longer than we dated! It's so funny to think back on all of our adventures together- it is pretty rare when we think of a story from our past that happened before we met. We have been together for over six years and things just keep getting better! I'm glad we waited as long as we did to have a baby because we learned so much from each other. I am really looking forward to the next chapter of our lives and to watching John become a dad. Happy Anniversary, babe!

Dr. Feel Good

I've decided to take my almost 8 years of college schooling and my self-bestowed honorary doctorate and extend my 'expertise' to the field of medicine. Johnny started having abdominal pain early Monday morning and I encouraged him to go to the emergency room just 18 hours after his symptoms began. Oh, wait, maybe that wasn't a good thing.

Anyway, the emergency room visit turned out to be quite productive. After several hours of tests extending into the wee, dark, cold hours of the morning, the diagnosis was in: APPENDICITIS!!

Long story short, John went into surgery at 8:00 this morning and emerged 90 minutes later minus one swollen and infected appendix.

The nurses, CNAs, and doctors were incredibly nice and helpful and we couldn't have been happier about how the whole experience went except for one problem. The University hospital has two patients per room and John's roommate was a crazy, LOUD, conversational kook! He really was insane! He was totally looped out on medications and wanted to rip off his bandages to show us his 6 inch incision. EW! I felt so bad for his poor nurses- he called them every 10 minutes with irate demands to talk to the doctors, concerns that he wasn't hospitalized (to which his poor nurse replied, "You are already IN THE HOSPITAL), and freaking out on the poor nutritionist who came for his dinner order who happened to have an East Indian accent.

Nutritionist: What would you like for dinner?

Crazy guy: Stay right there, I want to talk to you about something. [Dials nutrition department] I have one of your guys here, hey, what's your name?

Nutritionist: Sunny

Crazy guy: I've got Funny up here and he's totally screwed up my meal.

Nutritionist named Sunny: My name is Sunny.

Crazy guy: Funny? Finny?

Nutritionist: SUNNY!

Then the phone conversation awkwardly ended and Crazy Guy pretended like he hadn't harangued Sunny for the last 15 minutes and asked him to read him the dinner menu again.


After all the drama with Crazy Roomie, we were very happy when the doctor decided to release John early instead of keeping him overnight.

13 jobs is a lot, huh?

John and I were counting the other day and we have had a lot of job turnover in the last little while. Since we have been married (January 2006) we have had a total of 13 jobs between the two of us. Part of this can be attributed to the transitory nature of being in school (me) and beginning and defining a career (John). The rest can be attributed to having a lot of opportunities present themselves and having personalities that want to explore them! Let's recap (keep in mind, this is just the past two years...)

I have worked at :
-an after school program as a tutor (Murray Junior High)
(this is the day I invited Chris Grant, a friend from high school, and a player on the University of Utah basketball team, to come meet the kids)



-as a nanny for three different families



-on two different campaigns
(Thomas Wright, 2006 House of Representatives candidate)



(Dave Buhler, 2007 mayoral candidate)



-as Media Coordinator for the Utah House of Representatives
(with Governor Huntsman)



That's 7 for me.

John has worked at:

-a finance company as Director of Web Services (MIT Financial)



-a corporate benefits company as a Software Developer (Access Development)
(John on his last day)



-began a startup company called Comma Development



-worked freelance for an advertising agency creating websites (Kassing Andrews Advertising)



-worked for Code>Greene as a software developer which I wrote about a few weeks ago.



That's 5 for John.

The reason for this post is that John again has a new job, which brings our grand total to 13. Far from being an unlucky number for us, this 13th job is one we are really happy about. Alliance Health is a health care lead generation company and we feel like we can be there for a long time. It's a really great fit for him- he'll be working with the best of the best in his field of programming! There are great people working there, it's a great atmosphere, it's a good salary, has good benefits, and is close to home. I will be able to focus on finishing school (finally) and John will be my sugar daddy. I'm hopeful that there won't be another job update for at least a few years! ;)

John is 30!

First- Thanks so much for all of your comments on yesterday's post. We are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Now- Happy Birthday, John! I schemed about taking John away on a romantic trip just the two of us... but he couldn't miss work. I contemplated throwing him a surprise party with all of his friends from all his past lives... but realized I'm much more of a party person than he is. I finally broke down and asked him what he wanted to do for his big birthday and he said simply, "I just want to be with you." At first I resisted his simple request, worrying that if I didn't do something big for his 30th that we would look back and regret missing the opportunity. But then I came to my senses and realized how sweet of a request that is! All he wanted for his birthday was to hang out with his wife. Could he be any more darling? Impossible! So we spent the whole day together and it was perfect.

Growing Pains

Tomorrow is John's 30th birthday. We have so much to celebrate- sure, it's a landmark year, but more than that, I want to recognize John's incredible growth as a person and all that we've overcome since his 29th birthday.

This year John and I have struggled through some pretty huge challenges. The life of an entrepreneur is difficult and stressful. Business partners leave, clients don't pay, and every little task falls to you. That stress, plus the natural ebbs and flows of clinical depression, have led to the worst depression that John has ever experienced. So many people suffer from depression, many of my dear friends and family members, and I am lucky to not have that particular trial in my life. However, being the spouse of someone with depression is a uniquely painful challenge. To see your most cherished friend and partner in so much pain and not be able to fix it is incredibly hard. It's also difficult to find the right balance with everything- How much do I sympathize and empathize and make allowances? How much do I encourage and push? The line between what is helpful and what is hurtful is very, very thin.

I do feel blessed that the social stigma about mental illness is lessening every day. It is REAL and it is serious. But it's still hard for me to admit our struggles publicly sometimes. Why should I be reluctant to talk about it? If my husband had cancer, would I be so reticent to reach out to friends and family for support? It's an ongoing battle in my head- the desire to "save face" and the desire to share openly are dueling. (Sharing openly is winning recently...)

I am so happy to say that he is doing much better now (after lifestyle, business, and medication changes). I feel like Spring is arriving in Utah and in our life simultaneously. We are so blessed and we feel supported by our family and friends and can say we have truly seen the Lord's hand in our lives. After a lot of prayer and contemplation, we decided to move on from Comma Development as a full-time business and for Johnny to seek a new job. Luckily, he's found a company that is just like what he wanted his own company to become- a fun environment of talented individuals working on interesting projects. It's called Code>Greene. We feel so lucky to be associated with them. John and Richard (our incredibly patient and wonderful business partner and brother-in-law) will continue to keep Comma Development as side business.

I'm looking forward to a new year, a new decade of life for us and especially for John.

For John...who is always mindful of "bat country"

Husband tag

What’s his name? John Howard Thornton (although for the first three weeks of his life he was Peter James Thornton).

How long have you been married? 2 years and almost one month

How long did you date? 3 years. We got engaged on the anniversary of when we first met.

How old is he? 29 and 11 months

Who said I love you first? John did. He wrote it in Hebrew during church, then whispered the translation in my ear. It was hard for me to pay attention after that!


Who kissed who first? He kissed me first.

Who asked out who first? He asked me to "hang out" first, but I asked him on our first official date (to my sorority's Halloween date night.)

Who proposed? John did. He totally surprised me! He took me to Snowbird, where we first met, for our third anniversary. We exchanged gifts and mine was a new digital camera! I was so surprised by such a nice gift that any thoughts of proposals flew out of my head. I opened the camera box to start examining the camera and underneath the camera was a diamond ring!! Then he got on his knee and proposed!

Who eats more? Johnny.

Who is taller? Johnny is 5'10" and I am 5'6.5".

Who is smarter? I think John is one of the most intelligent people in the world! He really is brilliant! But he always says he thinks I'm super smart, too. John excels at science, math, logic, music, and computer programming (of course). I really only have him beat in writing and other English related fields.

Who does laundry? We both do. We purchased an awesome set of LG washer and dryer and John LOVES to use them!

Who does the dishes? I load the dishwasher and John unloads (in fact, I can hear him doing it right now!)

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I sleep on the left but in our first apartment, I slept on the right.

Who pays the bills? Mostly they're on auto-pay, but I'd say I monitor and pay the miscellaneous bills more often that John does.

Who mows the lawn? John LOVES to mow the lawn!

Who cooks dinner? We both like to cook. John for sure loves experimenting!!

Who drives when you are together? It depends. Often John will drive but I will drive if I'm picking him up or dropping him off.

Who is more stubborn? We are both super stubborn. :)

Who is cleaner? We're both a little messy but John is cleaner than I am!

Who has more siblings? John has five (three brothers and two sisters) and I have two (one brother and one sister).

Who wears the pants in the family? Depends on the situation.

Whose parents do you see more often? Well, we live in my parents' mother-in-law apartment so we see my parents fairly often (probably every other day). But John's parents live three blocks away, so we see them about once a week.

Who has more friends? Again, it depends. I am more social than John is, but everyone who meets John instantly loves him! I had more friends on our wedding invitation list but he's friends with all my friends so it's hard to say.


What a fun tag! I love talking about my Johnny! Thanks for the tag, Mads! I now tag Catherine, Kerry, and Jamie.

My funny valentine

John spent most of last week in L.A. and is currently in New York. My jet-setting valentine is recharging his batteries, attending conferences, working and visiting old friends. I am so happy for him but of course, I wish I could go, too! He gets back on Valentine's Day- what a nice present for me!

TWO YEARS!!!

I can hardly believe that John and I have been married for two years! Time has just flown by! John's kindness, intelligence, sense of humor, and love are all I could ever hope for in a spouse. He always tells me, "At the end of the day, every day, I love my wife." It's his affirmation that no matter what kind of day he's had or I've had or if we're going through a hard time, that there's no where else he'd rather be. I feel the same way! Whatever obstacles life has presented to us, we have tackled them together and come out the other side stronger for it. I know we will continue to grow and learn and struggle and succeed together and I'm looking forward to it!



I love you, Johnny, and I'm so happy that I'm married to you!

Making Christmas Cookies

Hope you all are feeling cozy and warm!! I love stretching out Christmas as long as possible- so we made some Christmas cookies just to have and enjoy here!

Bragging about my babe

John's new start up company, Comma Development, is really starting to pick up speed! I'm so proud of him for having the guts to venture out on his own! He has a partner and they do all the functionality (the back-end stuff) and they contract with different graphic designers to do the "look and feel" (front end stuff). I feel like I've learned a lot of web jargon since knowing Johnny so I'm showing it off to you.
Check out his two latest sites for some examples of his handiwork.

Kassing Andrews is an advertising firm that John works closely with.
Tyson Daniel is one of the stars of Bravo's new show Shear Genius.
The bi-annualScrapbook USA Expo is a huge scrapbooking event at the South Towne Expo Center.

COMING SOON: The official Comma Development website!

Johnukkah

We've been busy celebrating Johnukkah. It's a word that is the mixture of John's name and Hanukkah (first created as Jenukkah by my cousin John, for his wife Jen) and it's a weeklong celebration of John's birthday. It's a lot more fun to spread out the celebrations with little events instead of getting the fun over with quickly. John's coworkers gave him a movie pack and surprised him with a birthday cake at the office on his birthday. Then we went to MacCool's for a dinner date and presents. The fun continued with a board game night at the cabin. Finally, a family Sunday dinner with all the birthday traditions (including the really long birthday song and the match trick). John got some great gifts, but the favorite was probably his remote controlled helicopter from Steve and Kerry (and Sam and Lily).

Long time, no blog

Not that anyone has missed me tragically (hellooo, no posts, my blog is the unpopular kid from high school.)

Speaking of high school, just attended my husband's 10 year high school reunion. Not a totally horrible night- probably aided by the open bar for those who needed/ wanted it. (I admit to glancing wistfully at it a couple of times- mostly during those awkward, no-one-will-talk-to-us moments.)

I leaned over to Hubby at one point during dinner and asked him if we had ended up at a table full of people who were much more popular than he was in high school. (Not that it matters to me at all, but just for information's sake and to understand the potential awkwardness of the dinner that was stretching before us.) He didn't miss a beat when he replied, "Oh, yeah."

It was a strange night. Some people wandered around with their Christmas card photos attached to their plastic necklace nametags, so they could easily showcase their kids/ spouse/ dog. It was like watching an old western: the battle of the soccer mom quickdraw. ( I mock and tease, but deep down I know I may easily end up like that in a few years.)

After the "party" started to wind down, I looked to my handsome husband for his take on the whole evening. He was in a daze, and replied when I asked him what he thought of it all, his only reply was, "Weird." (And he literally did not stop saying it until we got home.)

I wonder if the strange and awkward night was made so only because of my cute Hubby's fairly antisocial high school self (he was in a band) and it was manifesting itself ten years later? Or are all 10 year reunions destined to be a strange, almost naked-in-public-dream like evening? I'll have to either sneak into another one and do some research or wait another five years until my own 10 year to see if I will end up muttering incredulously, "weird," all the way home.

John and Lily

Cutest husband ever, my John, met cutest little Lily today making for the cutest man-meets-baby meeting in history! Almost turned into a diabetic because of the sweetness overload. (Luckily, was already in a hospital.) Also suffered some baby hunger pangs. However, decided to investigate a child time-share before committing to buying the condo. (An arrangement also known as babysitting.)