"This I Promise You"

My new pledge: As excruciating as it is for me to write about my life, I am going to TRY and post on a more consistent basis. (Such a strong pledge, huh?) This is also somewhat due to consistent nagging from a few big whiner babies. Jk!

Here are some things we've been up to lately in no significant order.

Last weekend we went to Price, UT to visit our friends Chelsea and Nate. Chelsea and I grew up together and its been really fun to see them more often now that they live in Price which is only about an hour away from us! They have a super cute little boy named Broden who is adorbs. We thought Price was going to be suuuper po-dunk but it really wasn't THAT bad, they have a Wal-Mart! ;) Chelsea made some scrumptious treats that we ate all weekend and then Saturday night we went to dinner at a place called Groggs. I think? It was actually just as bad as it sounds. We were all sorely disapointed and I think it's safe to say that none of us will be going back any time soon. All in all it was a good little trip and it was nice to relax and get out of Provo for a couple days.

This past weekend we tagged along with Miken&Eddy and Kelly&David to the CrAzY CoRn MaZe!!! It was insaaane! Sike. For some reason I had it in my head that I loved corn mazes. I think it's because I haven't actually been to one since I was about 14 and I went with the youth in my ward. Even then the only thing I actually remember about it was running ankle deep in mud, throwing and dodging corn. Ick. I have surely been kidding myself all these years because after 15 minutes in the maze all I could think was, what is the POINT of this?! The only redeeming part of the CrAzY CoRn MaZe was the "scary section" or "haunted maze" if you will. Even though 98% of it was only mildy scary at best, there was one room that we had to walk through that really had me freakin. It was all clown themed and there were strobe lights, smoke machines and door flaps everywhere. Basically they had you completely disoriented so they could send evil clowns to scare the poo outta you. Oh and one last thing to add, Glee style remakes of "I am a Child of God" are not comforting in anyway. I would know this because the group of adolescents behind us apparently had to belt out their horrible remixes in order to make it through the haunted maze alive. Or so they obviously thought.

This last section is an honorable mention to our nephew Aaron who is 3 today! We wanted to go down to St. George for his birthday but Chaz and I both have colds and weren't up for the drive. Here are a few reasons that Aaron is one of my favorites.

1. He calls me Marie in a french accent on accident. He pronounces it something like "Mare-ree".

2. His diet consists of about 50% chocolate milk 50% fruit snacks.

3. He is starting to not like naps but if his mom threatens to lock the door so he will take one he says, "don't locka door!!" and then she tells him she won't if he stays in bed, and he does! It's hilarious.

4. He is always up for playing cars and he loves to pretend.

Aaron is basically the perfect 3 year old boy and we love him to pieces. Happy Birthday Aaron!

Update On the Upgrade

When I started this blog I never committed to updating on a consistent basis. Thank goodness. So here is what has happened in the past couple months:

-Chaz and I made it through our upper level English class
-I didn't fail Stats
-We moved into a different apartment
-I became obsessed with finding good deals on craigslist
-We bought a couch, a bed frame, a wii, a dresser, a futon, and a book shelf
-I had to get a job. (@Ancestry.com)

So that basically sums it up! Here are the pictures of our new pad. We love it and hope that everyone with come stay with us now that we actually have breathing room. Oh and thanks to Kyle and Matt for helping us move- you guys were life savers.

Enjoy!


Entry way


Looking in over the counter


From the entry way into the kitchen



From the kitchen looking into the dining/living room


Dining table and that door is the downstair bathroom... it's small so not much of a picture

From the bottom of the stairs-ish


Couch

Couch



Stairs

Upstairs Bathroom


Master bedroom

25 dollar bed frame





From our room into the vanity/closet

Closet/door to bathroom


WASHER AND DRYER!!!!


Spare bedroom

Whatever you like, I do for you.

Okay first of all, if you have not seen this youtube video- it is hilarious. And if you have seen it, I know you've already started watching it again.


So about a week and a half ago I was in Seattle for Richelle's wedding. My Aunt Debbie and cousin Shauna decided to go get manicures after a long day of wedding preparation. I ordered a french manicure and after watching my manicurist I just knew that I wanted to learn how to do an awesome french tip. I have tried before millions of times but they never look right. I figured out that the secret is painting the tips and then using a nail brush with acetone to shape the "smile line" ( I did some research).














































So anyways, after figuring out that I could manage a pretty decent french tip, I decided that I needed a challenge. That is when I drove over to Sally's and spent way too much on powders, tips, bonders, brushes, files, buffers and polishes. Everything I would need to do acrylic nails.
I was so excited that I called some of my girl friends and asked them to come over asap. My friend Aubrey was my first victim and believe me I was more nervous than she was. I know what you're thinking "you're asian, doing nails is in your blood" or "for you, doing nails should come as naturally as breathing". Well I can assure you that is not the case.

I definitely watched my fair share of youtube videos on doing acrylics but I was still pretty surprised how well Aubrey's nails turned out!














































From start to finish it took me almost two hours. By the end my wrist hurt and I was getting a little light headed. They aren't perfect but hey, it WAS my first time.

It was some kind of magical road trip.

Even though I am sure no one will read this until we at least start posting pregnant belly pictures (no, don't get excited), I've decided to start a blog. I am not sure what I could possibly have to write about but people keep saying that blogging is like keeping a journal and that it will be super special and neat for posterity. Obviously I got caught up in the sappiness and well, here we are!

Re-cap: Chaz (Charles Alexander Dixon) and I (Marie Lorraine Hawkins Dixon) met June of '08 in the same BYU student ward. A couple weeks after we met I randomly asked Chaz if he wanted to drive me to Seattle for my friend Leanna's baptism. He said yes. We started crushing on the car ride down and he even met my whole family. A couple weeks later we were official and had our first kiss on the 4th of July (romantic, huh?). We dated for a while got engaged on Easter and were married June 6, 2009 in the Salt Lake Temple. Yes, that means we have been married over 8 MONTHS! Freaky, right? Needless to say I am madly in love with him.

Right now we are both still in school and can finally see the light at the end of this dark, dreary, never-ending tunnel otherwise known as BYU (jk!). This is my last semester (*angels sing hallelujah*) and Chaz only has one more. I don't know where we will go or what we will do after that, but we will worry about that later. I really have loved my time here in Provo and although school seems to last an eternity I am glad I could spend it here at BYU.

Here is a time line in pictures so you can catch a glimpse...














The road trip to Seattle where the magic began.















Our first real date.















Homecoming Spectacular.















Christmas Tree Festival in Sandy.















The Proposal.















On top of the Spencer W. Kimball building.




















Taking engagement pictures.














Courtesy of my talented friend Angela Santos.




















Our debut as Mr. and Mrs. Dixon!



















The classic temple picture. Oh eternity, isn't it great?!