Florida

Again, I'm a few months late posting this....what can you do? Anyways, here's a little about our trip to Florida:
We were planning on Kauai being just about our only trip of the summer, but Jordan got a call from his boss saying he wanted him to go down to Florida so he could finally meet him in person (since he works from home). I was a little bummed Jord would get to go by himself since I'd always wanted to go, but after thinking about it for oh, 5 minutes, we decided that since his hotel, flight, and food were getting paid for that I'd come along too! That way, we'd only have to pay for my flight. We took the red eye on Friday and got there Saturday morning. He had meetings Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so we decided we'd spend Saturday and Sunday doing whatever we wanted. It was really fun to go on a trip (even if it was really quick) with just the two of us!
Saturday we went to Hollywood Beach (which was my favorite). The water was really deep, and really warm! I don't have many pictures because we spent most of the time in the water.

Sunday we went to Miami Beach. The water was really warm there, but it was a lot more crowded and kind of dirty. We still had a blast! 

Monday night we decided to go to the Marlin's game. Jordan had never been to an MLB game before so we decided it was the perfect time to go (the fact that they sucked, and the tickets were only $12 made it that much better). We might have ended up leaving early because baseball is pretty boring....but at least the stadium was cool!

We had a really fun trip (probably me more than Jordan because he had to work while I laid by the pool)! Yay for Florida!

kauai 2013

I am SO late posting this...I know, but when you go on an amazing trip and take 100+ pictures it's a little daunting to post pictures and write about it; which is why it's taken me 3 months. Here it goes...
Every year we go on a trip with my family, and this year we went to Kauai. This trip was a little different because it was the last trip we'd be able to go on with all my siblings since my brother and sister were leaving on missions the week after we got home.
We really did a ton of fun things, but I know reading is a bore, so I'll just post a lot of pictures and call it good!

We stayed at the Marriott in Lihue-it was SO beautiful!

Resort beach

Our awesome pool

While we were there, we wanted to hike the Na Pali coast. My brother, brother-in-law, and sister were crazy and hiked the whole thing (which took them over 16 hours), but that didn't sound like much fun to me. Instead, we planned on hiking to a waterfall. As you can see from the pictures, this hike wasn't the easiest. My mom (who has a bad knee) had a hard time, so we ended up not making it to the waterfall. We had fun anyway! It was so beautiful! The pictures don't do it justice! 

The whole crew...minus my mom

 Another day, we drove to Wiamea Canyon. Again, the place was incredible. Everything in Kauai is so beautiful. It's amazing everything is so lush and green, and then they have this huge canyon right in the middle.

Poipu Beach

 We also went to Poipu beach. We originally went to snorkel, but it was pretty windy that day so we didn't last long. We did see some Hawaiian Monk Seals there, which was pretty cool!...well except for the fact that they just laid there like they were dead...

 We had heard that while you're staying in Kauai you have to eat a Puka Dog, so after we left Poipu beach we headed over here. We had to wait in line awhile, but it was well worth it! Their hot dogs are SO good! They put this special sauce on it (I chose mango relish) and it was delicious! It sounds really sick, but I promise they were way good!

 I think Queen's Bath was my favorite stop. We went there on our last day and I'm so glad we went. We had to hike down to the shore line down to the tide pool (Queen's Bath). There's cliffs you could jump off and water would pour in with the tide. I guess it's only safe to do this a couple months out of the year, because when the tide gets too high, it's sucked people out and they've drown. There were warning signs all over and even a death toll. It was a little freaky...

Warning Sign

 Of course you can't go to Hawaii without stopping for shaved ice every chance you get. 

Dinners

Some beautiful scenery

We had such a fun time while we were here, and I'm so glad we got to have one last trip with everyone there. I'm so grateful my mom lets us go on these trips every year. She's really amazing! I don't know any other mom that would be able to plan something like this all on their own. 

Until next time....

2 years

On May 6th we celebrated our second anniversary. I can't believe it's already been two years! Time has FLOWN by! A few weeks before our anniversary Jordan and I were talking about what we were going to do to celebrate. I can't remember exactly...but I think I mentioned it would be fun if he just surprised me. A week or so later I asked him what we were going to do and he said he had something planned but it was a surprise. He told me I needed to get off work early on Monday and let them know I'd be late on Tuesday. I was pretty surprised he actually had something planned.
Monday came around and I got off work early and came home and asked him what he wanted me to do. He said I needed to pack my swimsuit, pajamas, and an extra outfit. Once we were packed and out the door I asked him where we were going. He told me he had booked a room at the Mountainside Marriott in Park City for the night. Needless to say, I was very impressed! He had planned it all on his own!
Once we got up to Park City we shopped at the outlets for a bit, checked into our hotel, and freshened up for dinner. We had reservations at Ruth's Chris and we were both pretty excited because we had never been before. The food was delicious and the company was even better! Plus we had two $50 gift cards from my boss and so our dinner was basically free. Can't beat that!

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to just hang out for awhile. Let me tell you, our room was amazing! There was a full kitchen, a family room, a king size bed, a bath tub, AND a shower! We relaxed for a bit and watched some basketball. Late, we headed down to the hot tubs. If you've ever been to that hotel, you know the hot tubs are amazing! They all have waterfalls pouring into them and are way pretty!

We also exchanged gifts. If you know us at all, you know we're kind of into watches, which is why we were both thrilled when we opened our gifts. 

Jordan worked for a bit the next morning before we headed back home. I was so impressed he took the time to plan everything out! I don't think I could have done a better job myself! I'm one lucky girl! I'm so glad that he's mine for eternity- I honestly couldn't have picked a better guy! He's so supportive and hardworking. He's hilarious and always keeps me laughing. And most importantly, he puts up with me-which can be a pretty hard thing to do sometimes! I sure love him! 

Graduation

It might have taken me 5 years but I did it! I finally graduated! Along the way there were a few bumps in the road (my dad passing away and my tumor) but I'm finished FOREVER! I graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies with a Minor in Consumer and Community Studies. Don't ask me about the campus, because I only went there for one class. The rest of mine were all online, which I loved!
I got pretty spoiled by my husband, mom, and in-laws. I'm so grateful for them and all the love and support they've given me! We basically celebrated all week long. I got taken out to dinner plenty of times and got showered with gifts. I had so much fun I'm considering going back and getting my masters.....ha NOT! (But really it was fun feeling so accomplished for a week)

Some picture perfect dessert from Market Street

Jordan told me that our trip to Kauai was my graduation present and I was more than happy! But, the day before I graduated he surprised me with even more gifts! He gave me this beautiful blue topaz necklace (which matches the ring he gave to me for our 1st anniversary), Light Blue Dolce & Gabbana perfume I've been wanting for over a year, and a beautiful rose gold bracelet I couldn't get a good picture of.

My mom gave me this cute gold charm necklace. It has a J & S and my birthstone on it. She picked it out all by herself-I love it!

Now I'll post some pictures from graduation. I didn't really want to walk, but my mom insisted. (If you know her at all, you'll know she only wanted me to walk for the pictures) She asked me where my red sash was and I informed her that you had to buy those and I didn't want to waste my money. She told me I was cheap...oh well! My mom, my grandparents, Jordan, and his dad and Nita all came out and supported me. I was so grateful that they took the time to come!

Hitting these big milestones are always exciting, but at the same time, I can't help but feel a little sad that my dad isn't here to celebrate with me. I'm very grateful for the people in my life who support me and are there to cheer me on in whatever I do. I really couldn't ask for a more supportive family.  School...see ya never! Bring on the real world!

A few changes...

I haven't blogged since December...in the meantime...

• Jordan got a promotion
• We bought our first house
• Our family grew +1

Jordan has been working as a BDR for Vision Solutions since we got married. In January, he got promoted! He is now a sales rep for Brazil, the Caribbean, and Florida. Words cannot express how proud I am. He is SUCH a hard worker! Not only is he a full time student, but he now works 40 hours a week. The good thing is that he's able to work from home. Since he's a sales rep for Brazil, he's able to use Portuguese, which he learned on his mission. It has been such a blessing!

Next, we moved to Centerville! We were SO excited to have a place of our own! We only looked at one place, prayed about it, and knew that is was where we're supposed to be. The whole process might have caused me to have over 500 anxiety attacks, but in the end, everything worked out better than we could have hoped for. Our offer got accepted, we were able to get our refrigerator AND washer and dryer included, it's brand spankin' new, and we were able to get it for a steal of a deal! We moved in at the beginning of March. I don't think a day goes by where one of us fails to make a comment about how much we love our place and how lucky we are.

And finally...before we moved in, Jordan had made several comments about how our place wouldn't be a "home" until we had a dog. I told him we weren't getting one until our anniversary in May because our grass still wasn't in and our fence wasn't up. That didn't last long. One weekend I told him we could go look at Bird World (the pet store in Bountiful), but we could ONLY get a dog if there was one we loved so much, we could't live without it. It just so happened that there were 0 puppies at Bird World. We were a little relieved disappointed. In the meantime, we decided if we got a dog we'd want a Cockapoo (half cocker spaniel,  half poodle). We looked on KSL and there weren't any. A few days later, while I was at work I checked again and found the CUTEST Cockapoo's. I just knew we had to get one. That evening, we drove up to Morgan and picked up our little Milo, the runt of the litter. He's cute as can be and we are totally in love. He's a lot of work, but we couldn't be happier. We're just counting down the days until our grass gets put in.

Here are a few pics of our sweet little pup and our cute new house!

We're so excited for this new chapter in our lives! We've been so blessed!

My Birthday + Christmas

I'm a little behind....so I'm just going to post a ton of pictures from the past month to try and catch up!
The past two years I've gotten to go to Jordan's work party. He works for Vision Solutions and the party is always a blast! They have a yankee swap with awesome prizes (we got a TV), pizza, and a movie. This year we went to see the Hobbit. I'm grateful Jordan has such an awesome boss and coworkers. It always makes work parties enjoyable :)

As I've said before, birthdays at the Hansen's are always fun. Here are some of the highlights:
*Opening presents at midnight
*Going out to dinner with my family to the Spaghetti Factory
*Getting mani's and pedi's with my mom
*Eating dinner at the Cheesecake Factory even thought we had to wait over an hour (thanks Jord)
*Getting Jeremy Evan's signed shoe
*Having the day off on my birthday and being able to just read and relax
I'm so grateful for my amazing family who made my birthday so great!

Lately, I've been quite obsessed with crafts. I guess it just gives me something to do! Here are some of the things I made for Christmas/January. The Wood Connection has become one of my favorite stores!

For Christmas Eve, we went to Jordan's dad's for dinner. Afterwards we went to my Grandma's to open presents, dance around the Christmas tree, and eat dessert. Jordan thinks its hilarious that we sing and dance around the Christmas tree, but I've grown up loving to do it. It's something I look forward to every year.

When we got home from my grandma's I wasn't feeling too good. I figured I just ate something bad, but woke up in the middle of the night with the flu. Christmas is probably the worst day of the year to get sick. No Christmas brunch, no gift exchange, no visiting family. Haha really though, so sad! I'm hoping next year will be 100x better!

Some of our favorites: Jordan's watch, and my ring!

We also got this bad boy! At the end of last semester my laptop decided to not work anymore. So for my birthday, Jordan's Christmas, and my Christmas we got a macbook pro from my mom, and his parents. I'm so happy I have a computer that works now, and the fact that it's a macbook just makes it that much more awesome :)

Birthday Boy

This week, Jordan turned 24. If you ask me, that sounds pretty old...but I guess that's just part of growing up. His actual birthday was on Wednesday, but in the Hansen household, we celebrate birthdays all week long. On Sunday we had dinner over at my moms. She made London Broil, twice baked potatoes, broccoli & cauliflower with cheese sauce, and breadsticks; all at the request of the birthday boy. After dinner we made homemade Oreo cookies (one of Jordan's favorites), tried to find a candle, and finally had to settle with this one....

9...24....it's all the same right?

When we got home after dinner, I let him open one of his presents from me. I had a hard time waiting until his REAL birthday...I just got too excited I guess!
Monday night, my family took Jordan out to dinner to Nielsen's (his choice). There, he opened his gift from my family. He got a jacket he's been wanting since last Christmas! Lucky boy!

Tuesday night we both stayed up late so Jord could open his presents right at midnight. Clearly I don't have any pictures...we just weren't dressed appropriately. But let's just say he was spoiled! After he opened all his presents and thanked me, I told him how spoiled he was. He said, "well I deserve it, right?" Haha right you are!
For his birthday dinner we went to Rodizio Grill, just the two of us. The food was delicious as always, but we always end up eating a little too much, and leave feeling a little sick. Oh well, you've gotta live right?!

Dinner with the handsome birthday boy

Thursday night we went out to dinner with Jordan's dad to Zupa's and then went to a choir concert up at the U. Like I said before, we celebrate birthdays all week long. The festivities aren't over yet....we still have one more day!
I'm so grateful I married Jordan. He's truly amazing. Sometimes I ask myself how I got so lucky! Here's some things I really love about him:
-He can always make me laugh
-He cares so much about others
-He's a great friend
-He's an amazing listener (I think he listens more than me...whoops!)
-He's very helpful, he helps me clean AND do the laundry without me even having to ask!
-He's always happy
-He's a very hard worker
-He's a good sharer
-He loves to shop (haha)
-He's a worthy Priesthood holder
-He's always thinking of nice things to do for me
-He's determined
-He has a strong testimony
-He's adorable with kids (even though he claims he doesn't like them)
-He's so always so sweet to his family and mine
The list could go on an on. There are many times when I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep and I can't help but think of how lucky I am that I get to spend eternity with someone so amazing. He's always there when I need him, he's always so sweet and caring, and I couldn't picture my life with anyone else!
Happy Birthday Jordan! I'm so glad you're mine!