Hau'oli makahiki hou!

Woo! can't believe it is 2013 where did the year go?? this year we both had to work I only had to work half day though then we rang in the new year at my parents house. We made ono Asian style food we had chicken katsu, Sushi, Yakisoba noodles, egg rolls, somen salad and tofu salad. The noodles symbolize longevity, chicken symbolizes good marriage and coming together as family, and Fish symbolizes prosperity, riches and abundance. We played games all night and watched the party happening in New York. I barely made it to midnight I was getting so tired.  The first thing I did starting the new year was shower and go to sleep. I can't wait to make our new year resolutions today I love setting goals and watching them be accomplished. 

Here are some highlights of 2012:

-OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

-We bought a new car

-Dillon went to Hawaii for the 1st time

-We swam with dolphins, went sky diving, para sailing, kayak/paddle boarded and snorkeling

-We were made apartment managers

-We got called as primary teachers

-We successfully finished another year of college and are that much closer to graduating

-I launched my photography biz and have been successful thus far

BRING ON THE NEW YEAR!

**Mele Kalikimaka a me hauoli makahiki hou**

I am terribly sad how fast this Holiday Season has come and gone, it seriously flew by and I feel as if I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked.  We only now started getting quite a bit of snow, it snowed pretty good Christmas Eve but Christmas day it was nice and sunny then today, the day after christmas, it is snowing like crazy! we woke up with a foot of snow and so far its been blizzarding all day non stop and is supposed to throughout the evening and tomorrow too.. Regardless, we still had a great Christmas.  On Christmas Eve Dillon and I both worked half day then that evening we had a big party at my parents Stake Center with our family and friends.  We had delicious food (including the best shaved ice thanks to Uncle Doug), played volleyball, played Holiday Minute to win it and best of all socialized with people we love. We slept over at my parents so when we got back to their place we opened up our 1 Christmas Eve gift which was of course our pajamas. That has always been a tradition I love.  Even though the ages of us all are between 19 yrs old - 25 years old we are still sooo excited to wake up to see gifts under the tree. We all still like to sleep in the same room, wake up early to walk down the stairs to see our gifts holding hands like we did when we were little then sit there looking through our stalkings until my parents are ready.  We all got some FANTASTIC presents! Dillon is such a great gift buyer I got some really really great things from him.  Mom mad a scrumptious breakfast as always and then we all headed off to the movies.  Brandee, Dillon and I went and saw Rise of the Guardians and the others went and saw Les Miserables. Once we all got back we got the dinner ready and had a yummy steak and salmon Christmas Dinner. We spent the rest of the evening playing games with everyone, calling all our family members to wish them a Merry Christmas and ending it with a peppermint ice cream oreo crust dessert. I am so so grateful for my family and loving husband who spoils me and most of all I am grateful for our Savior "He was the Great Jehova of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

1 Year Anniversary

Finally, a post on our 1 year anniversary adventure!

Wow....took me long enough, right?

I keep thinking to myself even to this day, "We've been married for 1 year! 1 YEAR!" I know 1 year isn't no 5...20...50 year anniversary but I love thinking of the progress we are making in life together and how we are going to continue dominating for many years to come.

Dillon wanted to plan our 1st anniversary and I must say he did a marvelous job. Because our actual anniversary fell on a Monday and we have school and work we went away to Salt lake for the weekend and stayed in the Sheraton Hotel.

We headed out after work and on our first night there we went to Texas Road house for dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening watching movies.

I have a love for hotels;

the big beds

fluffy pillows

nice bathrooms

elevators

hot chocolate 

the service

(The list goes on)

and it's just nice staying somewhere other than your own home once in a while.

Early the next morning Dillon woke me up and told me to get ready. 

He then drove us up to Park City which to my surprise he had a horse back ride scheduled for us. I was ECSTATIC! I have wanted to go horse back riding FOR-EV-ER

and that day my dream came true.  Everything was just right, we ended up having our very own personal horse back ride tour through the pretty mountains in Park City. The morning couldn't have been any better, it was overcast and a little chilly and the fog low on the mountain definitely added to the experience.  It was what they all called, "A cowboy morning for riding." After several hours of riding we went walking around Main Street and looked through some art galleries and went to lunch at Bandits Grill & Bar.

Later that evening we went shopping at City Creek Mall and then to Massage Envy for a 2 hour relaxing couples massage.

For dinner we went to PF Changes and for dessert we went to Sammy's and got our favorite pumpkin pie shake.
All of that was followed by another evening of pure relaxation.
The morning we headed home consisted of sleeping in, a mini photo shoot
of my handsome hubby and breakfast at Denny's. Oh how I didn't want to jump back into reality.

Even though we celebrated a few days early on the day of our anniversary we still did a little something special.
For dinner I had made my pork chops with a white wine sauce and we drank from our Bride and Groom fancy cups that we drank from the day Dillon proposed.
As part of tradition we broke out our wedding cake we had saved in the freezer from our wedding day. Surprisingly it held up quite nicely it was a tad bit dry and the berries were sour but other than that it tasted pretty good.

Dillon and I started a tradition that we picked up from my parents
every year for our anniversary we decided we would do a sealing session at the temple. For our first year we decided we would return to the temple we were married in, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.
I absolutely LOVE that temple it is magnificent!
I knew when I entered into that temple for the open house for the first time that it was the temple I was to be married in.
What a great way to celebrate our 1st anniversary, I still can't believe it has been a year already. I can't wait to see what else life brings us :)

*Winter*

Okay okay I have realized I have been lacking on the blogging which is a no no because that is my way of keeping a journal seeing as how I can never stick with writing it down on paper. I decided I needed to try and improve on being more consistent with writing, especially as the Holiday season is coming to a start. SO from here on out I will try writing at the very least once a week. So for a quick journal entry for today before I head out to class, we woke up to snow and ice on our wind shields and it was very wet driving to work.  Luckily the blast of snow we received didn't start until I got to work. UGH! I hate this part of the year! don't get me wrong I love this time of the year not only because of the holidays but I am in LOVE with fall/winter clothing but I LOATH driving in it! Come to find out there had been 33 cars in accidents just during the morning including 3 semis and 1 cop car all within like 2 miles! so traffic was a nightmare especially on my way home from work, it took me 1 hour to get home when usually it takes 15-20 min cray cray! We'll see how long it lasts though, Utah tends to be Bipolar when it comes to weather. Can't wait to come home from school and relax with my hubbas and watch Halloween movies sippin' on some coco 

Um...yes please??

1 year anniversary!

Holy moly! I can't believe it has already been a year since I married my eternal companion. Who ever said the first year of marriage is the hardest/worst was either lying or I have an AMAZING life a head of me. Dillon's grandma sent us a card for our anniversary and in the card there was a quote in it that said

 "When soulmates meet, they often feel as if they have always known one another and have been in love before, perhaps in other lifetimes. Soulmates open each other's hearts in a way others cannot. There is a definite feeling that destiny has brought them together and will forever keep them in each other's arms". 

Love it! Love him! Love us!

1 year baby!

Dustin + Dani

I loved photographing my brother and sister-in-law this weekend! Although it was pretty chilly the colorful leaves were amazing and made for awesome pictures.

 We had a great time laughing and goofing around.

Hope you enjoy these sneak peek photos and make your way over to my Facebook page to see the rest of their shoot :)

Kaui and baby bump

I had the funnest time taking pictures of my beautiful cousin she is the cutest prego mama ever! We threw her a surprise family baby shower this past Saturday which was so cute I definitely enjoy planning events! To her surprise the pictures that were supposed to be for my class were actually for her very own baby shower. Here is a sneak-peek of her Maternity shoot my photography blog is under construction but  you can check out the rest of this shoot on my "Chelsey Swanson Photography" Facebook page.  Enjoy! :)