Happy New Year!

Greetings from O'Hanna! :)

As newlyweds, we celebrate our first Thanksgiving with Levi's family in Montana. We were able to enjoy our 4 days off with them. Mom Hanna was generous giving us early Christmas gifts.

For our first Christmas, I first-handed experienced hosting the O'Hara Christmas gathering. It was a good day for all of us. We ate good food and played Settlers of Catan. We were able to have time with Rory and Katrina on the 29th as they were on their way down from Logan to Provo.


Ellen is still working at Jean Massieu School of the Deaf/ USDB as a 3-year teacher. She is renewing her license and hopefully to get her Level 2 teaching. She enjoys her 4th graders and learning how to improve her teaching skills everyday. She enjoys her free time by visiting friends and watching movies with her sweetheart.





Levi is still working at CarMax as a Level 3 mechanic. He is involved with his band, Huldra. They do shows at least twice a month. They just had their first CD release and hoping to do more. Levi is excited when he learns that European people likes his band music. Maybe one day, we will do a tour there? He is also enjoying his new toy, Wii. He plays Super Mario Galaxy often.



Together we are looking forward to be credit card debt free by May! We just paid off our Discover card and we are really proud of it. We are grateful for each other everyday. So far so good.

May you all be in good health and be prosperous in 2012.  Happy New Year to you all!

Love, Ellen and Levi Hanna

Changes never stop. :)

We are still young in love and celebrating our almost 5 months! :) Every day, we become amazed how much we are willing to do for each other, serving and supporting each other.

Ellen learned that she likes to document/write down the things Levi did for her. Levi learned that Ellen really want him to be happy. Levi learned that he doesn't like when Ellen makes finger noises when she reads. Ellen learned that she doesn't like Levi's empty bottles left on a table. Both of us try everyday to bring positive comments and are quick to apologize.

Ellen's Nitro is SOLD! :) Now she has a "new" old car - Subaru Forester

Levi's band, Huldra is launching its CD release show on Nov 11. To hear some of their songs, here is the link. http://huldratheband.bandcamp.com/album/signals-from-the-void-ep

Ellen just helped coordinate volunteers at JMS' annual fall festival yesterday. She was pleased to see how many ASL students came to volunteer! :) It is a good relationship between the school and the community. :)

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas to spend time with families and celebrate birthdays. We learned that Ashley Hanna, Emily Bergeson and Nils Bergeson share the same birthday, Nov 24th! :)

That is for now. :)

A Sad Day for Ellen

My principal, Jill Radford has resigned from her position due to Noyce's inability to treat JMS equally.

It will take a while for me to see the sunshine again. However, I'm very grateful for Levi's support in this. Any positive thoughts coming our way will be very appreciated. :)

2 months anniversary...

Here is Levi saying, "It is important to drink liquids everyday." Ellen said, "Oh yes, indeed!" (Ofc, it is also important to love each other in many ways we can show!)

We have our laughs and tears through our 2 months of marriage ---
  -- our honeymoon (trying every restaurant in the town but two, river tubing)
  -- establishing our home (Ellen works hard eliminating alot of HER stuff)
  -- doing our church callings (Ellen as 2nd RS teacher, Levi as Valiant B boys teacher)
  -- survived through a 3 days separation while Ellen went to a ward pioneer trek.
  -- having dinner together every night (most of the nights)
  -- completed one semester of school - Levi (after computer break down 3 days before the finals)
  -- toughing through the car troubles (Nitro is acting up.)
  -- made progress in promoting Levi's band, Huldra (had two shows set up in Sept!)

We anticipate for the next month is --
  -- Ellen starting to teach on the 22nd.
  -- Levi's shows on Sept 1st and 8th.
  -- Ellen's parents moving in Utah (She never had parents that close since 2003)
  -- Levi's recording days on Sept 10th and 17th

How exciting!!

 

Registry Online!

My sister convinced me to sign up for online registry store which has so many options for gifts.

http://www.myregistry.com/   Just look for "Find a Registry" on the home page then you can type in either Ellen OHara (without ' ) or Levi Hanna. Then you can take a look of the list we put together for you all... that way we won't get 10 toasters or 5 crockpots :)

We will keep adding items to the list so keep an eye to new items. And also we set up a "honeymoon" fund in our registry through PayPal. Feel free to donate if you like.

Thank you all! :)

My version of our Dating story (Levi's Perspective)

Ellen wants me to write some mushy version of our story, but I don't work that way . So, I will present our story and most commonly asked questions in Q&A format.

Q1) How did you meet?

A1) On an online dating service called "Zoosk"

Q2) Why were you using an online dating service?

A2) Because talking to people in person involves talking to people in person and at the time, I preferred the no stress, no obligation, no commitment, and limited need verbal communication structure that online dating offered.

Q3) How did you communicate with Ellen when you first meet in person?

A3) I didn't know a single sign when we first met, so I was very worried about communicating well with her. I made sure to have eye contact with her when I spoke and spoke clearly. We went for a walk in the park and I immediately asked her to teach me the numbers (1-10) and then the ABCs. I think she was surprised at my desire to learn ASL. I then took an ASL class at SLCC and kept learning from her and her friends.

Q4) How long have you been dating?

A4) We started dating April 18th 2010, although it started slow. It took several weeks to kiss and several months to become an official Face Book couple (We all know it's not really official unless Face Book says so).

Q5) Why are you so hairy?

A5) I may or may not be the product of a love affair with Sasquatch.

Q6) Does she get along with your family?

A6) Yes. My family all adore her and think she is an amazing woman (so do I). I know she gets along with my mom really well and has talked to her without me knowing or being there too. She was probably trying to dig up some dirt on me... I am happy that they get along.

Q7) Does her being deaf bother you?

A7) If it did, I wouldn't be with her. It was a big change to learn a new culture and way of communicating, but the only thing that is really different in our relationship as opposed to my past ones, is she can turn off her hearing aid if she doesn't like my music. A blessing in disguise.

Q8) What was your favorite moment with Ellen?

A8) Probably the time we were cuddled under a blanket and I let loose a nasty fart (Ellen prefers "Honk"). All she said was, "Phew! That was a good one!" I knew at that time that she was the woman for me!

Q9) Why do you think you are the guy for her?

A9) I could list off a bunch of reasons like: I am willing to learn ASL, I make her laugh, I am willing to meet her half way, I am willing to talk things out with her, I am willing to be wrong sometimes, and we have similar goals, but I won't. I will just sum it up and say, it feels right.

Q10) When did you know it was right to marry her?

A10) Probably during the Blanket/Honk moment. I really can't pinpoint an exact moment. It was a gradual process that had many ups and downs, but after we came back from Thanksgiving with my family, I knew we could make it together.

Gardening Expo

Today, Levi and I went to the Park Stake Gardening Expo. It has different booths about gardening in different ways. It is so fascinating to see how different ideas for one thing. :)

I have taken up with the idea of doing sprouting in my apartment. Luckily there are two other families who would like to split the Sprouting Kit which costs about 90 dollars. So! We will split the cost and the sprouting kit. Hopefully we can get started with that project.

I found a new push of motivation for starting my little apartment garden for herbs. I really want to have herb garden... I guess I can start now. :)

Levi had a taste of interpreting for my deaf friends. It is neat to watch him endeavor to sign and try to make sure he gives the main concepts of what the woman was trying to explain about Hypodermic gardening.  Gratefully, the deaf friends were patient and attentive. They feed him signs what he spelled.

Hypodermic gardening (I hope I spelled it right) is a garden without soil. It uses fabric (for smaller garden) or carpet (for bigger garden) as for the floor. Then use the package popcorns, soda cans, mulch, newspaper, or any fillers to hold the plants up in the sun. Also it requires several containers of water with nutrients and have the containers to leak the water/nutrients into the fabric or carpet to feed the plants and keep the "ground" moist.

That is an interesting project to do for our future home. :)