Why I Love Dogs

Things we can learn from a dog:


~Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.
~When a loved one comes home, always run to greet them.
~Take naps, and stretch before rising.
~Be loyal.
~Never pretend you're something you're not.
~When somebody is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
~Avoid biting when a growl will do.
~When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
~Bond with your pack.
~Allow the experiences of fresh air and wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
~Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

2 Years

We celebrated our 2 year anniversary earlier this month on May 9th! I still can't believe that we have been married for two years! It truly has been an adventure and two of the happiest years of my life. I feel like we have grown up so much and learned so much about each other. We are loving where our life is right now. I am still teaching 5th grade and loving it! I feel like I have the absolute BEST job ever! Cole is working as an insurance agent and just recently graduated from the University of Utah. I am so proud of him! He has been working so hard and it has finally paid off! Way to go babe!

This past year we have accomplished quite a bit as a couple. We bought our first home together, that we love so much. We love working on our house together. I have been so impressed with Cole, he has turned into quite the handy man. He never ceases to amaze me. He has installed so many things in our home, painted almost all the walls, successfully turned our yellow lawn back to a BEAUTIFUL green, and is now in the works on putting in sod in our backyard. He is the MAN! I have of course been doing my best to help him along the way. Our home has truly turned into our hobby! Turning a house into a home is truly a lot of work! Whew! But it has been so much fun!

This past year we also expanded our little family of two into a family of three! We love having our cute dog Maddie in our lives. She is so much fun and brings both of us so much joy! My family continues to make fun of me for always posting how much we love our dog! But all I have to say is that it is a good thing! Having a dog has taught us so much responsibility. We love to take care of her and make sure that she is happy and healthy! So go on keep mocking us, we don't care!

For our anniversary this year we went out to dinner at Bakers De Normandie and enjoyed an incredible 3 course meal! It was delicious! For our present to each other we got tickets to Jerry Seinfeld. We are so excited to go see him on June 11th!

These past two years have been an absolute blast! We have traveled to many fun and exotic places and have continued to grow more in love! I can't wait for many more years to come with my sweetheart! I love you Cole!

Maddie Dog

We are in LOVE with our cute dog Maddie! Although she is sometimes a little naughty, all of the good out weigh the bad! And she is just so dang cute and fun to have around. She is full of energy and is such a loyal companion to me and Cole. She is always so excited to see us and always makes sure we feel loved! My favorite thing about her is that she loves to snuggle. I think she thinks she is a lap dag because she loves to jump on my lap and snuggle with me. It is so dang cute! Maddie is about 60 pounds and is now full grown and won't be getting any bigger! Which is a good thing since she loves to lay on my lap, I don't think I can handle her getting any bigger! Also she always makes sure to help Cole with all the work he does around the house. She is always right by his side doing her best to help out in whatever he is doing. She especially loves when Cole does yard work and follows him around everywhere. She is also very smart. She has already mastered how to loose leash walk, sit, lay, shake, high five and she has been house trained since about October! She is such a great dog and we love her so much! It has been so nice having her around, especially during Cole's senior year of school. Since he has so many night classes and I am home alone quite a bit, Maddie has made sure to be my companion and make me feel safe! Dogs are the BEST!!! We love our Maddie Dog!




Shaking my hand!




Playing in the snow

Elder Swan's Homecoming

After the LONG count down my cute little brother returned home from his mission on February 25th. It was so much fun and it is great to have him home! Being the only brother in the family, all of his sisters were thrilled to finally have him home. Of course we went all out at the airport for his return. We had made posters and had balloons to match! We were all so excited for his flight to finally arrive, when all of a sudden we saw his cute face with a HUGE smile walking out towards the baggage claim! It was such a thrill to see him and I even got a little teary eyed. After everyone got their hug and we claimed his luggage, we all headed to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch (he had been craving it for two years!). We had a great time and it has been so much fun having him home! We sure missed having him around. Welcome home Cole Swan!








P.S. Little side note. It has been a little confusing having two Cole's in the family. My hubby Cole and my younger brother Cole. So for some odd reason we all now call my brother Cole Swan, all the time, don't ask us why. It does just roll off the tongue though, and it had solved the confusion problem!

Valentine's Day!

This post is a little late, but since I am on my Spring Break from teaching I finally have time to update our blog.

We had a great Valentine's Day this year! We did something a little different than usual and we had a blast! Our friends decided to have a dinner get together at our new house. The guest list included Cole and I, Kit and Kim (who are newly engaged!!!), Doug and Leslie and Dallas and Trevor! Yes you read that last part correctly! We decided to go all out for this dinner. The menu included spaghetti, caesar salad, brushetta, veggies and of course sparkling cider. For dessert we decided it would be fun to make chocolate and caramel fondue (which was delicious!). Well the guests arrived and we all got to work and started cooking and setting the table. It turned out fabulous, if I say so myself! After dinner we played games the rest of the night. It was so much fun to be with our friends and celebrate Valentine's Day! I hope that this turns into a yearly V-Day tradition! We have the best group of friends. Thanks for the fun night guys!


The fun table set up!


Cole and Jocelyn


Kit and Kim


Doug and Leslie


Dallas and Trevor (What a cute couple!)


YUMMY Dessert


What a FUN night!

It's my BIRTHDAY!!!

I turned the big 24 this year! I had a great birthday and felt so loved by my family and friends. I started off the day by going to work! Yay!! It turned out to be so much fun! My cute students showed up early and decorated my classroom with all sorts of birthday stuff, for example posters, streamers and banners! It was a sight to see! They are the cutest kids! As I walked into my room they burst into song singing the loudest "Happy Birthday" I have ever heard! I could not stop laughing, it was so cute and they were so excited to surprise me. A few of them got me gifts and they were equally as cute. I received 3 pairs of earrings, a big case of M & M's, flowers(that still sit on my desk!), many cards and a lunch. By lunch I am talking about my student showing up with a wrapped gift, as I opened it I opened up a can of diet coke, a can of spegettios, and a plastic bag full of cookies. I think she shopped in her pantry before coming to school. She told me she wanted me to have a good birthday lunch! Ha ha, I still laugh every time I think about it, but it was so thoughtful. Later that day my cute husband showed up at my school with beautiful flowers and a cute card. He is such a great husband and made me feel like a million bucks showing up to my work with flowers. I think that is every girls dream.




Later that night Cole took me out to dinner at the La Caille! It was delicious and we had so much fun! For my birthday they made me a yummy dessert and they lit this big sparkler candle. It was a sight to see!






What a guy! :)

Also my parents gave me such a wonderful present. They gave me this beautiful picture of the Salt Lake Temple. I love it and it looks so great hanging in my house.


It truly has been a great birthday WEEK! Thank you to all my family and friends for their thoughtfulness!

Hawaii 2009

Every year we go to Hawaii with my family after Christmas. We are so lucky to have such great parents that take us and we love going every year! This year we had a great time as usual. We were able to get a lot of R & R, eat great food, and hang out with our cute new niece Scarlet. Here are some fun pictures from our trip!


The view from our hotel! BEAUTIFUL! Absolute paradise!


Aunt Jocie and cute baby Scarlet hanging out in our swim suits! She is the cutest!! I can't get enough of her!


Scarlet is so dang cute! I am so happy I am her aunt! Look at that cute two piece swim suit!!! I love those rolls!!!

We had the best time in Hawaii! I love my family so much and it is so much fun to spend one great week with them in paradise!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Christmas 2009

We had a great holiday season this year! We enjoyed spending time with our families and doing all of our fun traditions that we look so much forward to. We started off the family fun by going to see the Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theater with Cole's family. We go and see it every year and it always gets us into the Christmas spirit. We then were able to go on our traditional Christmas date downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. This is a tradition that Cole and I started when we very first started dating in high school. We go downtown and go to dinner and then see the lights afterward. We realized this year that it was our 7th year going to see the lights together. It is so much fun to walk around all bundled up, hand in hand and see the BEAUTIFUL lights. We always talk about the past years and the fun memories that we have of all our dates. We always go to the spot that Cole proposed to me 2 years ago while we were on our Christmas date. It is such a fun tradition and I hope that we can continue to enjoy doing it year after year and make many more fond memories.

This is we also enjoyed going to see the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert with Natalie Cole. Due to the fact that my Mom is in the choir we get all the perks of getting tickets to all the events at the conference center. We love watching my Mom sing and always enjoy hearing the beautiful choir.

On Christmas Eve we had a low key day and went to see the Christmas Carol in 3-D with my family. We then headed over to the Swan family party and enjoyed seeing my grandpa dress up as Santa like he does every year. After the Swan party we headed over to the Robinson's for fondue. It was delicious and after dinner we have the tradition to have rice pudding. In one of the cups of pudding Cole's dad hides an almond and whoever gets the almond gets a fun prize. It is hilarious to watch all of the family immediately start searching through their pudding looking for the almond instead of eating it. We decided that no one really likes rice pudding and it usually just goes to waste, but it is a very fun tradition that I hope to continue with my family. After the Robinson's party we headed back to my parents house to open our traditional Christmas PJ's. Then we headed home and quickly fell asleep so Santa could come visit our house.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun! We opened presents together that morning and it was fun to add our little doggie into the mix. We of course got her gifts and she was just as excited as we were. I got Cole golf clubs that he was very excited about. He can now go golfing with my Dad whenever he wants. My Dad is a huge golfer and Cole can't wait to go with him this spring. Cole got me a Wii, and a Wii fit! I have been wanting one for so long and it has been a blast to play together. Cole also got me a new U of U t-shirt, it is so cute and I love it! We got our little Maddie dog a frisbee, a new toy rope, some new puppy treats called Pup-a-roni, and her favorite gift of all a smokey ham bone. She loved it and chewed on it the rest of the day. It was a great babysitter while we were gone!!! Here are some pictures of our Christmas morning.








The rest of the day was a lot of fun! We headed over to my parents that morning to open presents and have a yummy Christmas breakfast! We also got to call my cute brother Cole who is on his mission in Brazil. It was a blast to talk to him and we can't wait until he comes home in a month! After we headed over to Cole's house to open presents with his extended family and we enjoyed a yummy lunch. We ended the long day at my Grandma's house with my extended family. Overall it was such a fun day and we are sad that the holidays are over!

AUSTRALIA

Cole and I were able to go to Australia for 10 days over Thanksgiving break! It was a work trip that Cole won and luckily his Dad also won the trip so we were able to go with Cole's parents Shannon and Brent. It was such an amazing trip and one that I will never forget. Australia is such a cool country. We were able to see two different cities. We first visited Sydney for 5 days where we were able to see the Opera House and go to a concert there, visit a Koala & Kangaroo Park, go to MANLY Beach, take a dinner cruise around the harbor and go under the famous Harbor Bridge, go to the famous Sydney Aquarium, and see everything else there was to see. It was so much fun!






Dory!

Nemo!














Taking a nice walk on the Harbor Bridge!


Inside the Opera House at the Symphony!

Sydney is such a BEAUTIFUL city! We loved spending time there! The next place we went to was the amazing Hayman Island at the Great Barrier Reef! Since we are both certified scuba divers we decided we couldn't go to Australia and not go diving and the Great Barrier Reef. We stayed at the beautiful Hayman Resort. I could not believe how blue and clear the water was, it was gorgeous!




The balcony from our room was connected straight to the pool. You could walk straight out the little gate and into the pool, it was so much fun!







Overall it was such a great trip! We feel so fortunate to have been able to go and will cherish the memories forever! We had such a wonderful time but we sure did miss our little pooch! Isn't she just to die for?