The Newest Citizen of the United States

On August 16, 2011 David, Jane and I went to the Emigrations Office in Salt Lake City for me to take the citizenship test in order for me to become a US citizen. I became a US resident on March 3, 2008 and earlier this year we decided that becoming a citizen is the next logical step. Here is what happened at the interview. I must say that I was pretty nervous that I might have the interview with some mean officer but I'm pretty sure that I got the nicest officer they got. He smiled and helped me feel at ease and he even made fun of me when he jokingly scolded me for not changing my address before I came to the interview (we recently moved from Springville to Midway).
Reading question: How many US Senators are there?
Writing question: There are 100 (one hundred) Senators.
Civics questions - you have to answer 6 questions out of 10. Since I answered the first 6 correctly I didn't have to answer all 10 :)
What is the rule of law?
How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the United States?
What ocean is on the West coast of the United States?
Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
What is the name of the national anthem?
All the questions and their answers are provided to you in a booklet but I mostly studied them off an app we installed on my iPad.
After passing this portion of the interview, we went through most of the questions in form N - 400 that I previously filled out and submitted and the officer went sure that everything looked good there. We then went over the name that I'd like to have when I become a citizen and I signed some papers saying that the reason why I want to change my name is not because I want to escape some felony or other legal issue. My official name is going to be Dahlee Anna Johansen. I love to be called Dahlee which sounds like "Dali". My family's always called me that, even when I was in trouble :) and ever since I came to the US I told everyone that my name is Dahlee.
After we went over the section asking if I'm a terrorist or if I've ever been in jail, which I passed :) the officer signed and approved my application and then congratulated me for doing such a good job and passing the interview. In a month or two I will be sworn in during an Oath ceremony in Salt Lake and then I will officially be a citizen of the United States of America. I'm proud and excited to become a US citizen and I hope I will always represent my new country with pride and honor.

2009 Family Letter that got lost among other documents

I misplaced this letter earlier but I still wanted to post it here since I love using this blog as a kind of journal. So, don't feel like you have to read it. :) It's all old stuff. :))

2009 - Life unveiled

Working for Western Nut Co.

At the Manheim Steamroller Concert

Limerick, Ireland

David's Graduation

Dahlee's Graduation

It's December, a time when many find themselves looking back at what the year had in store for them. With Christmas just around the corner and a new year waiting at the door, we realize that another year of our life has passed. With many events woven throughout the year, David and I don't need much time to remember the good and the unexpected that our little family experienced over the past 12 months.

After a fairly uneventful winter semester and two easy spring and summer terms spent mostly working and finishing up our degrees, both David and I graduated from Brigham Young University in August. David received a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science and I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics.

The years spent at BYU finally came to an end and with them the chance for a new life. The beginning of this new life, we decided, was going to be spent in Ireland, as David learned with much excitement and anticipation that he was accepted into the Master of Ethnochoreology offered at the University of Limerick. Ethnochoreology is the study of folk dance as it developed in each country throughout the world. David's desire to choreograph and teach has developed during the last few years at BYU, while David took many folk dance classes, taught some of them himself and choreographed for SPAC, the team we toured with the year before. We left for Ireland during the last week of August. We stayed in Limerick for two months, spent making phone calls to the US, using up most of our savings and being frustrated with a system that didn't work. After experiencing many things that went wrong, we felt strongly that the best thing to do was to return to Utah and start over. It was during this hard time that we strengthened each other. We were content to return to our friends in the States but we also knew that a part of us was going to break off and be scattered somewhere between Europe and America.

Back in Utah, we started looking for work and eventually found some seasonal jobs. I work for Western Nut Co. at University Mall and David works at the Borders bookstore helping with pretty much everything that goes on in the store. They are fun jobs that we enjoy and are happy to have but we continue looking for full-time work to be able to take care of ourselves when these jobs will be over.

At this time we're looking forward to celebrating Christmas and even if there won't be many gifts under our tree, we are happy to have each other, with our love and our hopes together, ready to accomplish many great things. We are hopeful for the New Year, to make more plans, be better and learn more, and most of all to spend many more great times together as a family. We hope to hear from all of you about what your 2009 brought to you and hope that it turned out to be an excellent year for you and your families.

Love, Dahlee and David Thomas

2009 Highlights

- February: Celine Dion awesome concert in Salt Lake

- May: trip to California for aunt Sherry's funeral

- August: graduation and Ireland

- October: returned to Utah

- December: work with Western Nut Co. and Borders, visit to the Hogle Zoo, beautiful Manheim Steamroller concert in Salt Lake City

School is out and tour is at the door!

My dear friends, celebrate with me. I finished one more year at BYU, having only one more semester to go! On Wednesday, the 23 of April, I had my last final exam of the semester and now I'm FREE! :) Well, not quite actually but it feels good not having to worry about readings and homework. My SPAC tour will start on Monday, the 28th of April and I'm really excited and nervous at the same time. I had a lot of shopping to do and now I'm waiting with anticipation to start the tour. David is on the team as well but being a second year SPAC-er he doesn't feel as nervous as I am. That helps me relax a little bit. Because of being nervous and wanting to have the time pass faster, why I've been meeting with friends to keep me busy and help me forget. Yesterday, Gabi Creata and I went shopping and had a good time. I drove all over Provo in intense traffic and it felt great. Today the two of us and Eve will make cozonac and at midnight we'll go to Salt Lake to the Orthodox Church to celebrate the Orthodox Easter. I'm excited to be outside of the church tonight, carrying lit candles and singing "Hristos a inviat". Tomorrow we'll have a potluck dinner with our SPAC friends and we may even spend some time with Gabi again. Hopefully all this won't wear us out and we'll be ready at 7:30 AM on Monday for our first tour day! We've worked hard this semester and learned many dances that we're all excited to share with the kids around Utah and with the visitors that will be in Navoo in June this year. I'll keep you posted on how the tour is going and I'll share pictures as I'll have some. So, stay tuned!