Booted!

Today Dillon and I woke up to a lovely surprise awaiting for us....we woke up early, got ready for work, put our shoes on, grabbed all our things that we need for the day, gave each other a kiss goodbye, wished each other the best of luck today and "have a good day at work" as we hugged each other before heading out, we then opened the front door to head out to our cars and there we see it... BOTH OF OUR CARS BOOTED! (oh ps. same with 3 other people in our complex, and that's just the cars in which we saw, we dunno about all the others who leave at like 6am to go to work) I bet you are all thinking, "Whaaaaa? fo real???" yeah.... exactly what we were thinking. After much looking at the boots on our cars and back at each other plenty times in disbelief we go inside and call into work and inform them of the unfortunate event in which they were very understanding (at least my work was, the person Dillon talked to said, "uh...well you're the only lobby teller until noon..." BLAST! ugh..) Dillon notices that our parking passes had expired 5 days ago and we were never informed about the fact that we need to renew our passes annually for $10 per vehicle. NOT FAIR RIGHT? ya especially seeing as how we are new tenants here and we weren't informed, not anywhere! Anyways, Dillon gets on the phone with the "University Parking" the ones responsible for this outrage and tells them we need the boots off immediately seeing as how we both have 15 min to get to work.  The person on the phone then says, "Uh....yeah we won't be able to make it out to you for like...another half an hour or so, we are really busy today" YEAH! BUSY TAKING ALL THE BOOTS OFF THE CARS IN THE CITY OF PROVO!! ugh...at least we will now have time to eat breakfast.  We go back inside and eat and watch some TV and such then a little after a half an hour later we see the "de-booters" pull up and some neighbors come out to hurry and pay the dang guys so they can take the literally 2 seconds to pop the boot off their car so they can  hurry and head out to where ever their busy lives take them. So Dillon goes out and pays the bloody $50 for each boot totaling a wasted $100 and we hop into our cars and hurry off to work so we aren't later than we already were. I go straight to work and 10 min after I have been at work Dillon texts me and informs me that he has gone to the office of our apartment on the way to work and picked up new passes IN WHICH our landlord said she wasn't going to charge us for the new passes and she is going to refund us the $100 we had to pay this morning, BLESSED I TELL YA! So eventually it was resolved, I came home to see a letter on everyone's door only now informing us about the renewing the parking passes and come to find out we had until the 16th of January -_- late for work for nothin! so we carried out our day as normal and I also find out that my 3 hr class this evening has been cancelled.  wheew! the lord definitely is watching over us and helping us out every bit he can :)

Farewell 2011! and Hau'oli makahiki hou!

Wow, what a busy year this has been.  As I look back at everything that has happened this year I can't believe how fast the year has gone by. Here are a couple highlights from 2011..

Highlights:

• We got engaged!!! March 31st of this year
• We transferred from Utah State University to Utah Valley University
• Dad won 1st place in state in the Golds Gym weight loss challenge and 2nd place nationally.
• Cody got back from his Mission from South Carolina and is now going to school in SLC
• Brandee Graduated from High School and started up at UVU
• Ashley graduated from UVU in exercise science, moved to Seattle for a couple months and is now living in Hawaii where she is going to Nursing school for the next 5 years.
• Dustin & Dani were married June 24 in the Draper Temple
• Dillons niece Alessandra turned 1
• Dillon & I were married October 15 in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple
• We got settled into our first apartment in Provo, Utah
• I officially and legally changed my name from Chelsey Akana to Chelsey Swanson
  
• Dillon got a job at Wells Fargo
• I got a job at Xlear inc.
  
• We finished up this school year pretty well both getting a good GPA this semester
  
• We went to Mesa, Colorado for our honeymoon where we went snowmobiling, cross country skiing and snowboarding, SUPER FUN!
• We had our first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas together as a married couple

As far as both of us can remember, that is about all the main highlights from this year.  Our year consisted mostly of planning our wedding and getting our post wedding life put together as well as Dillon constantly working and attending school summer semester. We cannot wait to start this new year, this year is going to be so much fun! so far we have been married 2 and a half months and it has been total bliss.  We have set some goals for ourselves for 2012 and are ready to ring in the new year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I made nutella and apple pie filled Ebelskivers!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Immediately when we arrived home on Christmas Eve Dillon and I unpacked the car, threw everything in the house, repacked our bags and headed over to my parents house for Christmas.  We had only literally 1 day to do any Christmas shopping so we also did some last minute shopping on Christmas Eve.  Once we got to my parents house we went and got together with a bunch of our family and friends where we had a HUGE yummy Christmas Eve feast with tons and tons of delicious desserts and talked and hung out with everyone we also had sports going on like basketball but mostly volleyball. Afterwards we went home and I helped my mom make the casseroles for Christmas breakfast then we opened up our one Christmas Eve gift (which is always our pajamas) got ready for bed and hit the sack, Dillon and I were exhausted.  The next morning we woke up to Brandee and Dustin caroling at our bedroom door lol.  After we woke up we left to church for the Christmas program which was nice then went home to enjoy our delicious breakfast and open gifts.  We got lots of great stuff for Christmas, we are so grateful for my parents and everything they have done and given to us this Holiday season. Let me tell ya we ate a looooot that day we were constantly snacking and ate a delicious Christmas din din with a yummy mint ice cream cake on oreo crust dessert that my mom made.  We had fun skyping family all day and talking to Ashley and watching her open her gifts there in Hawaii.  We also played lots of games, one of which was Dillons new battleship game he got for Christmas that he absolutely loves.  The day after Christmas unfortunately Dillon, Dani and the two dogs Kahu and Ember were really sick.  We have no clue what got them sick but just the fact that they all were throwing up and Dillon became congested and was very fatigued he also had the shivers and was always freezing cold (which is unheard of since he is a human heater) so he slept most the day. Poor ember was completely fatigued we thought she was dead and she had diarrhea and she even had blood in her stool (TMI TMI).  However everyone is back to themselves and it was luckily just a 24 hr sickness. It was so fun having Dillon with me this Christmas, it was our first Christmas together as a married couple and we can't wait for many more special times to come.

Honeymoon

What a great way to end the year! we were so busy with finals and finally it came to an end. Immediately after Dillon and I packed our bags and headed out to Mesa, Colorado for our Wintery Honeymoon. I had made a "Road trip survival kit" for our 4 hour drive to Mesa the drive went by so quick! Our drive consisted of a license plate game, a questionnaire, a city countdown and lots of singing, the roads were great the whole way there. We stayed at the Goldenwood Condominiums at the Powder horn Resort it was quite nice however it was in the middle of no where so it wasn't as crowded which was nice. Because we were at such high elevation we suffered a bit of elevation sickness so on Sunday (our first full day there) we just laid back and relaxed, watched movies and explored the outside. Then on Monday we went Snowmobiling and booooy was that fun!! at first we were just trying to get used to how to control the sled but after that it was all so much fun.  We had a great tour guide Andy who was a total blast he took us to big beautiful scenic fields, over bumps, turns, hills, and jumps for a good 3 hours.  Dillon was loving it he gained lots of air off the jumps that Andy took him on and loved to just gun it! however he did manage to tip the sled over within the first 3 minutes of us getting on the bike.  Andy and I were cruising along but when we looked back we didn't see Dillon but in the distance uh...tipped over in the snow...he thought he could veer off a bit and do his own thing but the snow quickly put him in his place lol. The next day we went cross country skiing for several hours which was absolutely amazing totally relaxing and beautiful.  It definitely took some work though, especially with it being Dillons first time on skis ever! He did very well regardless. The resort had quite a bit of snow but that Wednesday and Thursday we were there it snowed sun up to sun down so luckily for us we planned our two snowboarding days just right so we had TONS of amazing powder for snowboarding. I just absolutely think Dillon is the coolest person on the planet.  He is completely fearless and looks totally bad A on a snowmobile, skis and definitely his snowboard.  I could watch him snowboard for hours.  He is a great snowboard teacher as well, I had only been snowboarding just a couple times and so I am still a newbie at it and he was so great and stayed with me on the easy rider hills until I picked up a bit then he went and hit the big boy slopes and terrain.  Meanwhile during the week we had played a bunch of games and caught up on a bunch of movies.  What a fun week it was! go to our picture page to see more pics!

 

Gingerbread House Competition

            Every Sunday we go to my parents house for dinner and this Sunday, with it being all Christmas and all, we had a Gingerbread house competition! we have started this new tradition and for the past couple years my family has been expressing our Christmas Spirit by doing this fun activity.  This year we had three teams: team 1 - Mom & Dad, Team 2 - Dustin, Casey and Tatiana, and team 3 - Me, Dillon and Brandee. Ashley is living in Hawaii now and so since she wasn't here to participate she participated in a way by becoming our judge.  She and Grandma Hamamoto skyped with us and they were to choose the winner.  Well let me tell ya...there was all this creative craziness goin on up in thur!! That kitchen became a mess once our minds were running wild! we were grabbing anything we could think of and using it to create our masterpieces. Our house had a theme to it, it was a Hawaiian Christmas house.  We surrounded our house with sand and water that had little fishes swimming in it, Dillon made a palm tree out of chocolate covered raisins and lettuce as well as tiki torches, a roasting pig, and a little Hawaiian snow woman.  Then Brandee made the surf board and the stain glass windows and helped me to put all the detailing on the house, helped Dillon do the landscaping to give it a bit of curb appeal as well as make the ocean. The finishing touch on our house was the chimney, in the chimney we put dry ice for the "fireplace is burning" effect. 
           After several hours of creating we finally finished and got Ashley and Grandma on skype to do the judging.  Things got intense as we all sat in the front room waiting as my mom was showing the judges the houses in the kitchen and as we were waiting for the judges as they were deliberating.  Finally they announced the winner..... the judged it in three categories: most creative, most intricate and most wintery/christmasy.  Team 1 won the most intricate, team 2 won the most wintery/christmasy and team 3 (my team) won most creative. I can't imagine the tough time the judges probably had trying to decide who the winner was, all the houses were crazy good! It was so much fun.  I love doing things like this and seeing it all come together. I'll post a few pictures here but if you go to our picture page you can see more pictures of this years competition as well as last years! enjoy!

Our little neighborhood

Mom & Dads

Dustin, Casey and Tatiana

Mine, Dillon and Brandee's hale

Finals week,job, and almost death experience! -_-

Well folks, it has finally come.....Finals the last few weeks has been SUUUPER crazy since this week is Finals week. I had to give a presentation in my ethics class and Dillon had to give a presentation in his as well AND in his English class plus we have all of our big papers due along with everything else as school is coming to a close.....for now. Dillon has been and will be picking up extra hours at work since Saturday we leave on our honeymoon for a week (SO PSYCHED! ). I have also been helping a neighbor in my homeward with her parents 50th Anniversary so I had designed invitations, a sign in book, favor tags, put together a music playlist while everyone is socializing and also for her parents vow renewal and last but not least put together a slideshow.  But aside from all the havoc we still find time to take a breather and just enjoy each others company.
                However! this past Monday I got a call from the place Ashley used to work asking if I was still looking for work because they have two positions available if I am interested and if I could come in for an interview on Thursday.  Of course I got all giddy inside because I couldn't believe I just got a call about a job after months of searching and praying then one day it was just handed to me. Then the next day they call me back and are like "um actually you're hired...you don't need to come in for your interview on Thursday." BOOYA! I was so excited and still am, I absolutely CANNOT WAIT to start working! I just am continuing to thank the Lord for this great blessing, we definitely see his hands in all things.  We have been able to recognize and appreciate all the blessings of the Temple and the power of prayer.  He does live and he is our Savior.



  I bet you are wondering why in the title of this post it says, "...and almost death experience" well let me tell ya.  After school the other day Dillon and I went to Applebees to celebrate the ending of the school year and for me getting a job and well...I was eating my steak and was chewing on that one piece where you feel like no matter how long you chew it it will never break down and well it ended up getting stuck in my throat.  I tried to play it cool and take care of the situation myself without causing a scene so i was trying to cough it back out but of course it lodged itself further into my throat and then of course the oxygen was cut off and I started panicking, I couldn't focus, I felt the circulation get cut off from my brain and I thought I was going to die...and while all this was happening picture Dillon with his mouth full of fajita with a tortilla in one hand and his other hand stuffing the tortilla with more filling not even noticing his dieing wife on the other side of the table until I panicked while I was reaching for my cup because I felt like I was gonna black out and I made a noise and jumped and that's when he finally looked up but when I jumped I was able to swallow my food.  I was so scared afterward that if I wasn't in public I probably would have cried lol.


And that's what has happened thus far in our lives :)

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas....

So it hasn't snowed much yet here in Utah County but it's beginning to accumulate quite a bit up in the mountains.  However, it is absolutely freezing all the time still which in a way is good because then it calls for a hot cup of hot coco and cuddling up in warm blankets and watching movies.  I absolutely love the holiday season, it really is the best time of the year Dillon and I are starting to collect Christmas decorations and slowly decorating our little apartment.  We have our tree up which is an Asian tree in which my grandma has started for me a long time ago, she would send each of the grandchildren ornaments each year and mine has been an Asian tree because I am my grandmas little Tomiko-chan which means like little girl or beautiful girl in Japanese.  So far we also hung a few wreaths one of which Dillon's Uncle Tom had surprised us and sent in the mail, we were so excited! it is so cute, fresh smelling and full.  I know this winter will be so much fun Dillon and I leave on part 1 our "wintery honeymoon" in a week and a half to Colorado. I am sooo excited because we will be going dog sledding, snowmobiling, snowboarding etc. and Dillon surprised me with an early Christmas present and bought me a new snowboard which is so rad so we can do lots of snowboarding this season.  This past weekend we did some Christmas activities with my family, my family also invited Cody so we went to the Festival of trees where Mike also joined us on his way to work.  On our way there Cody called us to let us know he had just arrived and that there were TONS of people there and it was crazy hard to find parking but he is such an amazing brother that he found two parking stalls next to each other and parked taking up both stalls to save one for us for when we got there.  He told us that people would come behind him and lay on the horn, someone even walked up to his car and knocked on the window getting mad at him in which he just ignored the guy and say there until we got there.  Oh the things a brother who loves his family will do, he was so sweet and so strong to be able to take the wrath of all those frustrated people.  We saw hundreds and hundreds of amazing trees and wreaths as well as crafts and gingerbread houses.  They had lots of activities going on and entertainment. Then later that evening we went up to Midway to the Creche Festival which is an exhibit of a bunch of Nativities from all over the world and there we got some fudge, caramel apples and got to dress up as the nativity and get our picture taken.  After we were supposed to go to a live Nativity in Pleasant Grove which my family has always been going to for years but for some reason they aren't doing it this year which was a huge bummer so we went back to my parents house for some pizza.  I love Holiday traditions and all the Christmas spirit and great music around this time of year.

Our Asian Tree

Codys parking job saving us a spot!