It's a crazy life, but it's our life.

Today I randomly decided to write a blog post. I assume it is time to write one, seeing as it has been a year since my last post. So here is what is going on in the Swenson household. 

Steven.

Steven graduated in last spring. He received his Bachelors of Criminal Justice with an emphasis in Corrections. He works so hard and I am incredibly impressed with his hard work. He is now currently working for the Utah Department of Corrections and deciding what exactly he wants to do in the future. The problem with being an adult is there are so many decisions, possibilities, and opportunities available to you.

Chantel.

I am currently still in school, maybe someday I will finish. I am still working on my Social Science Composite Teaching with an emphasis in History. There are some days I love history and others where I wonder what I got myself into! Other than school I am now currently working for UTA as a Train Host, but I am considering getting my operator’s license and then be able to drive the trains! WHAAAT. So we will see what happens.

The Mr. & Mrs.

Together we are currently planning our next vacation! This last summer I wrote my senior thesis and Steve told me that if I got at least a B on it he would take me on vacation. Well I got an A- and therefore I am going on vacation! We also bought a house back in January/February and we, I mean I, am working incredibly hard to make it perfect! There is no doubt that this house is the very definition of a fixer upper, but I am determined to make it beautiful and ours! We are both busy and rarely see each other, but we make sure to maximize the time we do spend with one another. 

Long Time and No Post

It's official, I am the worst blogger known to man. Starting now I am going to try to do better and blog more.

What has been going on in our lives? Well a lot and a lot more to come. In February, Steve was hired on with the Utah Department of Corrections, which is a great stepping stone to his end goal, which is AP&P. He graduated from POST, the police academy, in May. He has been working hard ever since. He is working out at the state prison, yes, the state prison out at the Point of the Mountain. He is hoping to advance to either a halfway house or ideally the AP&P office. He is still working hard in school and is potentially going to graduate in the spring! It will be so nice once we have at least one of us done with school.

So what have I been up to? Not nearly as much as Steve, and nowhere near as exciting. I'm still working on getting through school, I unfortunately still have a couple years, one of the draw backs of changing your major half way through your first one... It's hard, I just really want to graduate and start teaching history! Luckily for me, I am able to work as a substitute teacher. I love every minute of it and it definitely helps me stay motivated to graduate.

That's the more or less to what we've been up to individually. As a couple we are doing great. We are currently in the process of trying to buy a house. It is a lengthy process, but it is LOADS easier with my dad's help and him knowing all the ins and outs to home buying! Hopefully we will find something! It's so exciting! We are also coming up on our two year anniversary in August. It is insane looking back and seeing how fast time flies and all the fun and exciting adventures that have filled the last two years! I am looking forward to many more years and adventures with my handsome husband!

Well I think that wraps up everything we have been up to. I have many more things I want to post about! Probably a good thing to help me stay in line.

Until next time.

Chantel

10 Months Later...

I cannot believe that Steve and I have been married for 10 months! It's almost been a year! Holy cow how time flies! So here's a little update on how our lives have been since we tied the knot.

Steve and I moved to Provo as soon as we got married. I'm not going to lie I didn't like the thought of moving to Provo, but we didn't have a choice. Steve was accepted into the Fire Academy at UVU. He made it through just over half of the semester when he got the confirmation he had been waiting for from the Spirit to withdraw and go down a different path. With that, Steve is now going to school and working on getting his bachelors in Criminal Justice and loving it! As for me, I am no longer going into Nursing. After getting my associates from SUU, I decided that I wasn't all that in love with being a nurse anymore and decided I would take a break and decide what I really want to do with my life. After a lot of thinking and praying, I decided since I love history I might want to do something with history, and that led to me deciding that I want to be a... high school history teacher! I am way excited.

So once Steve and I decided on our new future careers, we still remained in Provo.. Then one night we went out to dinner with our dear friends Cam and Jessica and they just hounded us about moving back to Bountiful. As we were driving home and the days that followed we thought more and more about why we were torturing ourselves being so far away from our friends and our family. Finally, the decision was made and we FINALLY moved back to Bountiful.

We have now been back in Bountiful, well North Salt Lake, for a month now and it has been the greatest decision we've made, well besides marrying each other. But since we have moved back we have been so blessed. We see our family and friends and we don't have to leave the party early or drive that awful hour back "home" to Provo. Being back in Bountiful is so amazing. We are finally back were we belong.

Our Happily Ever After

After all the planning and argument of planning the big day at long last it finally came! During the planning stages I would often think “I sure hope all this is worth it because it’s ridiculous! But I can now say with an honest heart that it was all worth it! I wouldn’t change a thing about the experience. I can’t really think of much else to say about Steve and I’s happily ever after. It was just the greatest day and experience Steven and I have ever had together.

Our Engagement Story

It turns out choosing to go to Café Rio instead, turned out to be a great idea, as we continued to date each other throughout the following months. In February 2011, Steve proposed, I would like to say it was something I didn’t see coming, but I would be lying; I had been pushing Steve to propose for quite some time. I was down at school for Valentine’s Day, so we decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day and my birthday in the same weekend. Our day first began with an early lunch to Café Rio. After lunch He said the plan was to go play rugby and I complained the ENTIRE way to the park, it was raining, there was like a foot on snow on the field and I promised him we could play when it was warm, but none of it worked. When we got to the park I noticed that Steve had left the rugby ball in car. Steve then told

me that we weren’t really going to be playing rugby, but instead He was going to give me my birthday present and of course my spirits lightened. He then told me to close my eyes and when I opened them, there Steve was on one knee and He asked me to marry him. We then spent the rest of the day going miniature golfing, eating, and reenacting every date we had ever been on. It was definitely a day to remember.

How We Met

Steve and I first met back in 2007. Our stake was going on the Pioneer Trek reenactment and we were in the same family. I pretty much liked Steve from the moment I first met him, minus maybe a couple days on the actual Trek across Wyoming, but Steve only saw me as a punk teenager. After Trek, Steve got me a job at 5 Buck Pizza, where we worked with each other for a year before he left on his mission South Africa. While He was in South Africa, we wrote back and forth and our friendship continued to grow. When He got home, He wasn’t even home for 24 hours before we went out on our first date. Right before He left, He somehow lost a bet with me and He had to take me to Firehouse, that was the plan for our date, but I had an idea that if I decided we should go to Café Rio instead I would be able to go out with Him again.