Ready for Spring!

This is the pretty rose Dustin surprised me with on Friday.

This weekend has been so much fun! Adam got LASIK on Thursday and came and rested after at our apartment so he could go to his post appointment. Well, we were having so much fun that he decided to stay and hang out longer! We went to the mall and found some good stuff like another game for the Wii. So we had to come home and try it out. It has the funniest game that you ride a cow and run into scarecrows and jump hurdles and stuff for points. I thought someone must have run out of ideas once they came up with that one... but it was fun! Mom said she would treat us to dinner and so we headed to Cracker Barrel and had a delicious dinner. yummmm.... We have decided that Cracker Barrel is one of our favorite restaurants. Thanks Mom!
This morning was so much fun too. We watched the BYU vs. San Diego State basketball game and too bad I couldn't post a video of us cheering because we were getting so into the game! It was so exciting especially since BYU won! Now we are excited to go to the game with a big group of our family and friends. It has been so nice to relax.





We are ready for spring to come that's for sure! We are trying to help spring along. First of all we decided to change our bedspread. Rhonda was so nice to spend a lot of time making us a beautiful quilt for Christmas. She let us pick out the fabric and so I picked... yellow! I have been so excited to put it on our bed so, after it snowed these past few days, I decided it was the perfect time to brighten up the apartment and hopefully bring Spring faster! Thanks Rhonda! We love the quilt. :)

Here we go again...

Well, another semester is underway... this is the week of death. 3 tests, abstract, 3 quizzes... oh ya and reading and studying to do all of the above. Oh dear... how could I forget about my group project that is due on Cancer that has a 20 page research paper, power point presentation to the class, and a brochure to hand out. :) For some reason it doesn't seem to bad.

But... enough of that sadness. We sure had an amazing weekend! We went to the Y-Ball at BYU. It is a married only dance and everything was FREE! First we dressed up and then had a catered dinner by Magelby's Restaurant. Then we went down to the dance, and since we aren't that big into dancing we only danced a few songs and had dessert before we got in line for the limo ride up around the Provo temple. It was definitely a teenager limo with neon lights inside. Once we got back they gave us heart shaped paper to write love notes and then I got 2 beautiful red roses and we went home! It was so much fun and here are some of our pictures:

This one was inside our fancy limo on our way around the Provo Temple.

Our friends Anthony and Bianca came with us to the ball and we had lots of fun on our free date. We think BYU should do more of those!

Tomorrow is sure to be exciting as well. We are picking my little brother up from his mission. It will have been almost 3 years since I have seen him since our missions overlapped. Crazy! He wants to go to Rodizio's Brazilian Grill. So that sounds tasty to me! Then Dustin and I can remember our missions too! We are excited for Valentine's Day. I wish I could make some of my Mom's delicious sugar cookies. Maybe this weekend... well, you're all probably thinking... if she has so much to do why is she writing a blog post?? Well, that is a good question. Better get back to work!
**Have a GREAT week!**

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

What a wonderful year this has been. Dustin and I went on our first date on January 2 and we have been together every day since. We had a wonderful time dating and were engaged on April 17. After another 3 ½ months the big day arrived and we were married for time and all eternity on July 31, 2010 in the Manti Temple. It was such a special day for us, especially having wonderful family and friends there with us to celebrate. Almost 5 months have passed and we have been keeping busy, so the time has flown.

Dustin is studying Accounting and loving it. He will be applying to the program at BYU this upcoming June. He is working part time at two different jobs. He works at an English-teaching School called Nomen Global and recruits new international students. It is a good job and he gets to work with his Portuguese. And just recently he has started working for an accounting company called Exceptional Accounting. It is a bookkeeping business started by a BYU graduate who happens to be one of our good friends. When Dustin isn’t working or studying he is helping me with my homework or making his delicious chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and how can I forget his big news… on December 30^th Dustin will be getting LASIK eye surgery! He is counting down the days until he can say goodbye to his glasses and contacts. J

I, Amy, started the Dietetics program this year and just finished my first semester. That means in 3 semesters I will be finally finished with my Bachelor’s Degree. I love the classes for my major, and this semester I participated in a restaurant lab on campus called the Pendulum Court. Thank you friends and family who came and supported me. I work in the BYU bakery in the mornings before class and have such a good time there decorating cakes and making desserts.

We love our little apartment and feel so blessed for our lives and the opportunity we have to be together. We are so grateful for wonderful friends and family who take such good care of us and love us. We appreciate your love and want you to know that we love you and wish you the Merriest Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Fall is Beautiful

School is flying by. Just 2 more weeks until Thanksgiving and then Christmas break will be right around the corner. That's exciting. Today we had a preview to Thanksgiving dinner... except no turkey. Just steak, mashed potatoes, corn, fruit salad, and banana creme pie. :) yummm... Yesterday we went to the BYU football and a volleyball game too and had a good time with my parents. As always there was good food involved, we stopped at the Pita Pit and Baskin Robins. And here is the rest of our update since I haven't posted anything for a while...

Halloween has passed but I thought it was better late than never to show off the pumpkin we carved. Well... when I say "we" I mean Dustin, but I sat right next to him for moral support and watched Food Network. " :) Dustin debated, but ended up deciding on the cyclops. Pretty cool!


Another day we went out to eat at a Korean restaurant. I went to Korea when I was 16 and I had been telling Dustin about Korean food since we started dating and 10 months later... we finally went. We got the beef Bulgolgi which are lettuce wraps with thinly sliced beef, rice, and other fillings. Dustin got to be a chopstick pro by the time we left. :) Yummm...

Now for the most exciting news... we got a couch! Grandma Billie is so cool that she got a new couch at RC Willey and didn't know what to do with her old one... and that means the newlyweds are now sitting pretty on a new couch. And it even has a couch bed! That means visitors won't have to sleep on the floor. haha...
**Happy November!!**

Work, Work, Work...

School is in full-swing. I am studying Dietetics and Dustin is studying Accounting. This weekend I have 3 tests to take and Dustin has one too. We are busy but super happy with our classes. It has been so much fun for us both to be studying the classes we are interested in. And we have still made time for some fun! I took part in a health-fair at Costco and was able to teach the employees the importance of eating "5 a day". It was a really good experience to talk to people about diet and exercise and just the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

We also went to Spud Day up in Shelley. I was absolutely impressed. I loved the parade, the free spud, and especially the Spud Tug. They pour instant potatoes in a pit from a cement mixer truck and the losing team falls into the pit. It was super fun to watch. haha...

Last weekend was conference weekend and we had another little trip down to Aurora. Dustin's parents came down to Aurora and we all went up to my parent's cabin and went on a SUPER dusty 4-wheeler ride. We all made it out alive and had a great time. We only stayed for the day, but the company, food, and entertainment were great!

We also got tickets to go to the BYU v. Nevada game. It was fun, but too bad that the Cougars decided not to play so well.
We decided to go to our favorite place, Cracker Barrel, to celebrate nine months since we started dating. I also have made bread pudding a couple of times, something that Dustin has decided he likes quite a bit, so I'm sure that'll be a Hanson family staple.

Married life has been all we have hoped for and we are loving being married to our best friends. Basically, we've been having too much fun! :) Until next post...

Our First Apartment

On July 20, 2010 we picked up the keys to our first apartment. We filled the place with boxes and left them until we got back from our honeymoon. Then the fun part of sorting through everything began. It took us over a week to get everything all clean and organized! My mom and grandma Billie came up to visit and helped me decorate and hang everything up. Now it feels like a home and we have sure loved the place so far. It is close to campus and Dustin's work so that is another big perk. And here is the grand tour...

The Bedroom

The Bathroom

The Kitchen

The Living Room

And that's the grand tour! We are so happy to be here after the long search we went through to find a place to live. It is just perfect for us. Life is going great! :)

The Happy Hanson's

Whew... I was going to make the first post about our first month but I went into so much detail about the honeymoon I decided to break it up into two posts or maybe three. Here we are already in September and we have been married for over a month now. School has started and we are ready and excited to do our best in our classes. We had a wonderful couple of weeks moving into our new apartment and relaxing. Here is a little of what we did in August. :)

Our first trip we went on the weekend after our receptions was to Cedar City. We stayed the night in my Dad and brother Aaron's condo in Cedar and the next morning went to go hiking at Zion's. We have issues with directions because we get talking and having such a fun time in the car that we miss exits and roads, etc... This trip was no different. When we finally got to Zion's at the entrance, the park worker asked us if we needed a map. Both of us said in unison, "No." and we drove on our way thinking... how could we possibly get lost we are just going to park and get on a hike. Well... we ended up missing the turn for the visitor's center and going on the scenic drive all the way through Zion. The road had terrible construction and so by the time we realized we had missed the visitor's center we were only about 5 miles from Mt. Caramel where my Aunt Cami lives. So we just went right on through and over to Mt. Caramel and Cooper my little 8 year old cousin took us both on a horse ride. We had a fun visit in Mt. Caramel and we even got to see the Disney movie site that was built on their farm for a western movie that Disney is making. It was pretty neat that Disney had found the site way out there and built such a neat set. On our way back to Zion we went and back through the construction... by the time we were 1/2 way through the park back to the visitor's center we had decided what hike we would take and then, Dustin's grandma called and said she had dinner ready! So, we just threw our hiking plans out the window and went down to St. George for dinner at Grandma Rasband's. It was sure fun to see her and visit. Before we headed back to Cedar for the night, I told Dustin we had to share an ice cream at Nielsen's Frozen Custard (my Mom's favorite). So we had a hot fudge sundae to share! yummm.... It wasn't quite the weekend we had planned, but we sure had a great time visiting family and talking and laughing all the way! :)




Next weekend was action packed as well... we headed down to Aurora and went to the cabin. Jason and Brooke Wilde came as well as our friend Luiz Maykot. We started out the day shooting at targets. We looked pretty awesome with bright colored earplugs in our ears. We all hit at least some of the targets. Then started one of about 10 rounds of frisbee golf for the men. I played one round and called it good. :) After lunch it was off to the zipline! We all went down to a zipline owned by a good family friend, Steve Camp. Steve and my dad helped to shuttle us up and down on four-wheelers. We had the idea to do a tandem-ride... so Dustin and I decided to try it. Yah.. not so great of an idea. I took off first which was fine until Dustin jumped too... the two of us together was too much for the line and it weighed us down enough for me to hit my shoulder on a stump on the way down. Then we made is through the trees with my arm stuck in Dustin's rope all the while picking up more and more speed. By then there was no slowing down and about 2 seconds later we took a crash landing on the hillside... Dustin on top of me. As you can probably imagine I got a massive bruise on the side of my hip along with some massive neck and back pain. I had a limp for a couple days but after a week of baths in Epsom Salts and covering my back and neck with Bengay, I am back in tip top shape. But anyways, back to the cabin trip... once we got back I layed down while the rest of the bunch went on a 4 wheeler ride. As soon as they returned... the frisbee golf continued until dinner and as soon as we finished the cobbler the boys went for a few more rounds until it was time to go back to Aurora. Throughout the day in frisbee golf there were many records set: Luiz has the out-of-country record, Dustin has the out-of-state record, and Jason has the out-of-family record. So, it was a successful trip for all involved! By then it was getting dark and we were all so tired from such an action-packed day, we went home and played some pool at my parents' house and went to bed.




The next morning we welcomed home Elder Shelby Harrison who served in the Cuiabá Mission with us. He's from Salina, which is part of my stake. It was great to see him and hear about how the mission was doing and the experiences that he had there. After the meeting and going to a luncheon held for him, our action packed weekend came to a close and we headed back to Provo and got a good night's rest for the first day of school!