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!

St. George + Monday Night Football

Two weeks ago we headed down to St. George. We stayed there for the weekend and on Monday we headed down to Arizona for the....drum roll please....49ers game!! We had the time of our lives!

While we were in St. George, Jordan's dad took us on a hike to Elephant Arch. It was a blast and WAY pretty! St. George this time of year is perfect! We were able to go on our hike after lunch and it was the perfect temperature.

Of course Riley came along too!

Jordan & his dad

Elephant Arch- cool right?!

On top of the world...I mean...Elephant Arch 

Originally when we planned this trip Nita (Jordan's step-mom) was going to come to the game with us, but she had to watch her son's children dogs while he was out of town. Jordan's friend Nate was lucky enough to get her ticket and planned on flying down Monday and meeting us at the game. So Jordan, Val, and I drove to Arizona on Monday for the game. Let me tell you, I didn't think it was that far away...but it is! It was a long drive, but well worth it!

The Cardinal's stadium was amazing!! We watched the team warm up and even ran into some more friends at the game! I thought we would get things thrown at us since we were wearing 49ers gear, but there ended up being a LOT of 49ers fans there! If you watched the game at all, you know it how amazing it was! We won 24-3...needless to say, we had a BLAST!

We found the Markowski's at the game

Alex Smith...yum!

So lucky to have Val as my father-in-law!

The whole crew

Nothing but smiles after the game!

We had SO much fun! I'm hoping it's not the first and last NFL game we get to go to. As for the future...I'm thinkin Broncos? 

You may say I'm spoiled, but I think I'm just lucky....okay maybe both!

falling for fall

Fall is my favorite season! Why you ask? Well, in no particular order, here are some reasons why:
1. Utah Football- yeah, we might be pretty awful this year BUT we still like going to the games!

 

2. Pumpkin spice muffins- I find an excuse to make this at least once a week! Soooo good!

3. Little League Football- my little brother Ben just started playing, and we've loved going to his games!

 
4. The changing weather, duh!- I love when it starts getting cooler outside and the leaves start changing colors! This means I get to bust out the boots and sweatshirts.
We hiked to Elephant Rock one Saturday; I couldn't believe how beautiful this place is! So grateful I get to call it my home.

 
5. Jazz games- we love our Jazz and love going to the games even more!

 

(After the game, I dared Jord to run through the Gateway fountains. He actually did it, and managed to avoid getting hit until the last second! You can clearly see where he got nailed- I think I laughed about it the whole way home)

6. Baby Mason- okay, maybe I'm obsessed. He clearly has nothing to do with the fall but I just love him to pieces! How can you not?!

I have one good looking husband

7. Taylor Swift- her new album has made my year! I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it! But really, it just makes each day that much better! You rock Taylor!