The results are in....

Well, we did it! We performed our four ballroom dances at our showcase on February 17, 2012. It really was a showcase, not a competition, so there were no awards or ranking. Our comments were pretty positive...but I think it would have been nice to have some constructive criticism too!

We performed the Cha-Cha, the Swing, the Salsa, and the Rumba. I have included some of the video here to this blog. The quality is not good and we vanish from the video on multiple occasions. But, it was the best we could do given the circumstances. My camera ran out of battery power (I don't know how that happened--I charged the whole day!) so I was not able to record our rumba dance.

While at the showcase, there was a photographer who was snapping pictures. We are now "officially" part of Dance Plus Ballroom. We have two photos on their site. I've included the photos here.

Here is our Swing Performance. I can't figure out why there is no sound....but at least there is a video! We show up in the video at around 44 seconds if you want to fast forward.

Here is our Cha-Cha dance. Again, no sound!

This next clip is of our salsa dance. We come in around 1:40 if you want to fast-forward.

So there you have it....look for us on "So You Think You Can Dance?" :)

It's Been Awhile...

So, the idea of blogging is a great one. However, I've found that keeping up with a blog is more difficult than I originally thought it would be! It's been months since I've found the time to update our loved ones about our lives and "goings-on." But here I am now, ready to fill you in on what the Johnsons have been up to.

We had another extremely busy (but fun!) holiday season. We travelled to Akron for both Thanksgiving and Christmas to visit with the Youngs and Klines. As always, we had many laughs, a lot of food, and just an overall great time spending time with them. We did not make it to Canada this year as Rick and Sue were soaking up the sun in Florida and the Caribbean during the holiday season. Chris and I are both slightly jealous of the warmth and relaxation they found during a usually hectic time. We know they definitely deserve that rest and relaxation!!

The dogs are doing great. Nestle is jumping and running as if there was never anything wrong with her. Hershey's ears are looking great! She is not shaking her head or digging at her ears like she was before--what a relief!

Work has been busy for both of us since the start of the new year. Every single day reveals something new for me. Working with teenagers presents many challenges but also many rewards. On the mornings when I am bitter about having to leave my warm bed, I think about how many students need someone to talk to and someone to care about them. This doesn't always make me jump out of bed in happiness, but it does make getting up a little easier. Chris has been promoted to "Senior Vice President" at his job which definitely brings more stress and responsibility. I am so proud of him to have such an impressive title at such a young age! He speaks so casually about his role in his company but it is obvious that he is very important and essential in the day-to-day operations. Congratulations, Chris!

I am starting to get back on track with my running. My family gave me a lot of great running gear for Christmas so I'm trying to get good use out of them. It's difficult for me to run in the cold rain (we haven't had much snow here in Columbus) so I've been relegated to the treadmill on several occasions. I've decided running on the treadmill is not my cup of tea. I'd prefer to be outside where I have something to look at and distract me. One of my goals this year is to consistently run a 10K (maybe once or twice a week). I still have some work to do to get there, but I'm sure I'll make it. (I have learned just how hard it is to get back into the swing of running once you stop. My endurance sure took a hit!)

Chris is still playing hockey once a week. He likes the competition and the exercise is good.  He usually plays late in the evening, meaning that he's up for half of the night after he gets off the ice. Luckily, he gets to sleep in a little bit in the mornings so staying up late isn't too much of a problem for him.

We are still taking ballroom dance lessons and really enjoying learning new moves. We have a "graduation ball" on February 17, 2012 where we will dance four different routines in front of other students, instructors, and two professional ballroom dancers. The professional ballroom dancers will rate us on our skills and presentation. I'm not sure Chris loves the idea of this, but he's being a good sport and has agreed to do it. We have learned routines for Salsa, Cha Cha, Triple-Time Swing, and Rumba. I'll try to remember to record at least one of our routines and post it here.

I'll do my best to update this blog more often....but this is what I had planned previously and it's been two months! :) Until next time!

We've turned a corner!

We finally have some good news to report about Nestle and Hershey! It's taken a bit of time, but I think we may have finally turned a corner on their recoveries.

Hershey has been cone-free for about three days now. She has been stitch-free for about ten days. She's still on the super-potent medicine but the shaking and scratching at her ears has dramatically improved! She's more interested in scratching at her side where she had the tumor out than her ears. We decided to get rid of the coffee table so that she cannot smack her ear against anything hard, especially during these finals days of recovery. She's happy and much more comfortable now. We have about another 20 days of medication and we're hoping that this takes care of the nasty bug that was in her ear.

Nestle went to OSU for some follow-up Xrays on her knee. She was lightly sedated (and is rather out of it right now) for the Xrays but we got great news! The vet said that she is healing beautifully and that everything looks great. The Xrays revealed that the cut that was in her bone has healed like it should have and was difficult to find in the film (a good thing!). In one month, they said to expect that she will be at full activity level, just as she was prior to surgery. I'm not sure that she'll ever feel as great as she did before this all started happening, but we are very happy with the reports from the vet. She's a little limpy right now but I suspect that is from all of the manipulating they did to her leg while she was under. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better for her. We're just going day by day around here....hoping that tomorrow is easier and less painful than today.

Thank you to everyone who has asked about our lovely ladies. They are lucky to have so many people love them!

Recovery Updates

Hershey's first ear surgery was about seven and a half weeks ago. Six weeks into recovery, she got another hematoma in her ear. Her ear ballooned up so much that it split the incision site and blood was just coming out of it. Every time she shook her head (which was a lot), she sprayed blood all over the place. We took her to the vet and he said that she would have to have another surgery. He has only seen this happen one other time...of course she would be in the 1% percent of recurring hematoma cases!

She is has been in recovery for just over one week since her second surgery. She is doing pretty well, given the amount of trauma her poor little ear has faced recently. During this last surgery, they removed the fatty tumor from her side and also got her teeth cleaned. We are giving her lots of antibiotics and love, hoping that this surgery does the trick. I'll post more pictures once we can get her to stand still long enough to get a shot of her surgery site.

Nestle is now in her sixth week of recovery. According to her post-surgery instructions, we can walk her for short periods of time as long as this is the only exercise she gets. We've been doing our best to get her walking, even if it is just in the backyard. She's taken three very short walks around the neighborhood and while she is thrilled to be out of the house, she ends up limping quite a bit afterwards. We've been trying to alternate days of rest and walks so that she doesn't limp so much.

It's getting more and more difficult to keep her calm and in her cage. She's getting restless in the cage and wants to be playing and running. She's jumped up on the couch several times (which we're sure is a no-no for recovery!) and escaped into other rooms of the house on multiple occasions. However, we are happy to see that she is still putting weight on her leg, even if it with some limping. She goes for X-rays and an exam at OSU during week 8, so we have our fingers crossed that she is healing correctly and will not need any additional surgeries on this knee.

More to come....keep them both in your thoughts as they heal!

Call Us "Doggie Hawser"

Well, it's been one and a half weeks since Hershey's ear surgery and six days since Nestle's TPLO knee surgery. Our house has transformed itself into a doggie clinic and Chris and I have had to learn some nursing skills. It's been trying at times (that first night with Nestle home was crazy!) but things are starting to get a little more relaxed.

Hershey is doing really well. Her ear is scabbing over but, luckily, she hasn't been able to scratch it because she's still "coned." On the suggestion of our friends Jenna, Jami, and Chrissy, we found some inflatable neck rings that can replace the plastic cone. Hershey is much happier with this (and we are too!). Her vet said she's doing very well and that she should be able to get the stitches out this upcoming week. Yay!

Here are some shots of her in the recovery process:

Post-surgery

The cone

Still happy despite the pain and annoyance of recovery

Nestle's recovery has been slow since she's been home. This is what should be expected, though. Despite how slow we think things are going, the surgeon at OSU was amazed at how quickly she was "toe-touching." When we picked her up the day after surgery, she had already started this while most dogs take about 5 days! Once we got her home, we really noticed the swelling in her hock and knee. That swelling has started to go down and I think it's making her more comfortable. She's still doing some toe-touching but alternates between this and just holding her leg up completely. She's such a trooper; she's been outside for a minute or two at a time to go to the bathroom but the rest of her time has been spent in her kennel. She hasn't lost her spirit, though! We transform our living room into a bedroom every night so that we can stay near her. This makes for some rough nights for us but I think she feels safer and happier with us nearby. If that speeds up her recovery, then we are willing to lose a little rest.

Here are some pictures and a video of her progress:

She wears the pillow when we're home but the cone goes on when we leave the house. Her legs are so long, she can still lick her stitches with the pillow on.

Sorry. I know a pee-picture is not really what you want to see, but it show what her leg looks like.

Cuddling with Nestle

The Quest Realized

Well, it is official: I can officially run a 10K!! It takes me a little over an hour to run it, but I can now say that I am able to run 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles. My next goal will be to decrease my time for this distance. I'm not really sure that I'll be able to get significantly under an hour, but for now, I'd like to run a 10K in one hour.
Because of the heat outside, I will probably wait to run an official 10K race until fall weather arrives. I'll post once I have officially registered for a race!

Summer Travels

Let me first say that this summer has flown by so quickly! I don't remember a summer moving so quickly since I started working as a school counselor. There really hasn't been one day that I've been bored...which is good, but it makes these vacation days much too short!

Summers for us usually mean lots of travelling, sunshine, and beaching. This summer has been a bit different; instead of a beach, we made a trip out to Salt Lake City, Utah. Interesting choice, no? The actual reason for this "destination vacation" was that it actually wasn't a vacation at all! Chris's work had just opened an office in Salt Lake and he had to go out to meet the staff and do other "ops management stuff." Since his flight and hotel had been paid for, I decided I would fly out and we could do some sightseeing on his time off. We ended up staying three days after his work requirements were completed and saw A LOT of northern Utah.

Salt Lake City is the home of the Mormon religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a huge role in the economy and tourism of Salt Lake. Here are some shots of the Mormon sites at "Temple Square."

The Temple, a sacred building used only by Mormons for sacred ceremonies such as weddings. No tours of this building are offered.

Assembly Hall: Church services and concerts are housed here

The state Capitol building was just up the road from "Temple Square" so we stopped by for some awesome views of not just the Capitol but also the mountains.

Outside of the Capitol Building

Chris, sneaking into the Senate room and grabbing the gavel!

Beautiful Wasatch mountains in background

We also were able to see the site of the Opening Ceremonies from the Winter Olympics in 2002. We also spent an afternoon in Park City, Utah to see where events like downhill skiing, ski jump, etc. were held. This city was so quaint and beautiful. If you like to ski, this would definitely be a place to visit in the winter months. (As Jen can testify, I am NOT a skier!)

This is on the campus of the University of Utah, at Rice-Eccles stadium where the Utes play.

Ski jump area at Olympic Park, Park City, UT

Riding the ski lift to the top of the mountains



 Of course, while in Salt Lake City, we had to see the Great Salt Lake, right? We thought it was a "Must Do" and despite some warnings from locals about the smell, we made the trip out to see it. We decided to visit "Antelope Island," the largest of the islands on the lake that promised outstanding wildlife. Truthfully, I was more excited to see the antelope, deer, bison, and other animals than I was about the lake. As we drove in, windows down, neither of us smelled anything. "What's the big deal about the smell?" we both asked. Unfortunately, that did not last. The closer we got to the "swimming beach" the worse the smell became. In fact, the smell was so bad at the beach that I was trying to breathe only through my mouth. The problem with that was the infestation of gnats on the beach--breathing through my mouth invoked fears of inhaling a swarm of these gross bugs. Okay...so we were warned about the smell. But what was with the gnats? We still don't know what's going on there. Worst of all? We saw only one animal...and it was a deer. Thanks a lot, Antelope Island!

The Great Salt Lake in the background

Yeah, it was that bad!

The "beach." See where the sand is darker? It appears to be mud, right? Nope! Those are gnats...for real...all of that dark stuff is gnats! Gross.

The single most amazing part of the trip was Moab, UT where we visited Arches National Park. Moab is this very cool, laid-back, hippie-town. It was hot--in the upper 90s--but what else would you expect from the desert in July? What was so cool was that it didn't feel like the upper 90s in Ohio; it was all dry heat which made it extremely comfortable. Sure, we were sweating while we hiked to see the arches, but with no humidity, it's actually not such a miserable experience to be exercising in the heat!

I can honestly say that seeing these stone arches and the unbelievable scenery was an experience. I never really understood why people feel so "at peace" in nature. Now, I get it. There is something so calming about being around such beauty. Some of these arches took some serious effort to see, particularly "Delicate Arch." Hiking that trail was tough but once we got to the top and came around the corner where the arch sat, it was an unbelievably gratifying moment. Had someone told me that I would leave this park feeling this way about nature and hiking (gasp!), I would not have believed them. I would recommend this park to anyone looking for something special. Oh man...am I becoming "one of those" granola people? Maybe...maybe just a little!

Stopping by the Welcome Center for a bathroom break and picture 

"Landscape Arch"

"Broken Arch"

"North and South Windows"

Moon over "Windows"

"Delicate Arch" (our favorite)

Right after making the hike to see "Delicate Arch"

"Double Arch"

All in all, Chris and I both really enjoyed the trip to Utah. I didn't really expect too much going out there but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure that I'll be out to Utah again any time soon but if I am ever there again, a trip to Arches National Park would definitely be in the agenda. Thanks to mom and dad Young for watching Nestle and Hershey. We are able to enjoy ourselves on our trips when we know that our girls are getting love and attention back home.