Roses are green!

Today was just one of those Fridays when getting out of bed in the morning sounds like the WORST decision ever. Unfortunately, very few of us get to make the right decision and stay in bed. My choice to get up seemed even worse after I left my first class and it was snowing. A cute outfit with Toms does not go well with snow. Luckily, on days like these those you love most usually pull through to help you out.

First, I got to talk to my best friend Kate for over an hour! I haven't talked to her in a long time and it was so great to hear from her. Living in different states has been difficult, but I feel like we never grow apart. She actually made my miserable wet walk home enjoyable!

Then due to the snow all of Orem's sports teams practiced inside and had short practices so we got to go home at 4!! When I pulled into our apartment complex I decided I'd go and check the mail (like I have been every day since I wrote my best friend Claire who is in the MTC). I've been let down recently by loads of newspaper coupons but today just one lone little envelope sat awaiting me!! It was so good to recognize Clairebee's handwriting and get to read her letter specifically written to me.

Needless to say, I was in a great mood! I was home early, in my sweatpants and sweatshirt, got to hear from two of my best friends in one day, and was getting ready to watch basketball and 24 all night with Wes. I was set for a wonderful night, but never expecting what came next.

Wes walked in the door with ROSES!! And they weren't just any roses, they were GREEN!!! For no reason Wes got me roses in my favorite color. No anniversary. No birthday. No holiday. No reason except that he knows how much I love flowers. He knows that every morning, afternoon, and evening that I walk by those roses my day will be instantly brightened, and even more because they are green! Who even knew they had green roses? I didn't. Here is a picture. Hopefully they brighten your day too!

Okay, they really are greener than they look in these pictures. Either way, I love them and I love my husband for getting them for me. I am immensely blessed with amazing family and friends. If you are reading this it means you are either family or a friend and I want to thank you for being in my life. Thank you for being little rays of sunshine in my life, even when it is snowing. 

Mr. Smarty Pants

I decided after yesterday that since I blog bragged about how smart my 5 year old niece is, today I'll brag about how smart my husband is! He might kill me when he reads this post, but...isn't a wife supposed to brag about her husband?

Wes got an internship this semester with a small ad firm in Provo called Stephen Hales Creative. They loved him so much they didn't hire another intern and instantly had him doing actual work for their firm! The big project he has been working on the last month or so is a burger march madness bracket. He has gone around to almost every burger place in the Provo area asking if they'd like to participate in this burger bracketology. These burger places have to do nothing except put some advertisements up saying they are participating in Stephan Hales Creative burger bracketology. The purpose of this project is to get advertising out for the firm and to treat the companies big clients. The big clients are the "judges" and create the bracket that everyone filling out a bracket is trying to guess correctly. It works just like march madness does. Wes explains it SO much better on the website. So, I'll brag by posting the website and having everyone go to it and see what amazing work Wes has produced. The website really brags for him without me saying anything. Feel free to fill out a bracket and "like" them on Facebook. Here it is:

Burger Bracketology - Create Your Own Bracket

www.burgerbracketology.com

I'm super impressed.

Miss Smarty Pants

We've had so much going on in our life right now that we haven't had time to blog recently but I have to post this because it was the cutest thing ever. I usually have gmail open while eating lunch at home because  my sister will often chat with me or I'll talk to Wes while he is at work. Tonight I had the cutest little surprise when my sisters little chat box popped up. Here is the conversation:

 alisha:  hi         im           jenelle

 me:  your jenelle?

hi!

 Sent at 12:40 PM on Tuesday

 alisha:  i     love         you

 me:  i love you too!!

how are you?

 alisha:  good

 me:  what are you doing?

 Sent at 12:44 PM on Tuesday

 alisha:  olmost       time       for      scool

i    mene      school

 me:  oh that is exciting. I'm so proud of your typing jelly.

you are so smart!

what did you do this morning?

 alisha:  i   wocht       dora

 Sent at 12:49 PM on Tuesday

 alisha:  i     nide           too       et        lunch

 me:  ok have a great day! enjoy school.

love you!

 alisha:  buy

 me:  bye!

 alisha:  

Isn't that just the most precious cutest thing ever?? Jenelle is my 5 year old niece for any who doesn't know that. She is a huge drama queen and just he cutest thing ever. Alisha (my sister and mother of Jenelle) said she was so stressed about spelling everything correctly to me and almost started crying when she realized that she spelled bye wrong. I then got to babysit Meri and Isaac while Alisha and Jelly ran to the bus stop. They are just the cutest things ever. 

I have a lot more to blog about but no time right now. I just had to put this up before I left for the day. Hope this brightened your day like it did mine. 

Santa Barbara

Every year my team goes to the Santa Barbara Tournament in California. Every year it is supposed to be this great escape from awful Utah winter. We are always so excited for the sunny beaches and warm sun. Lets just recap the weather for the last 3 years of attendance:

Freshman year: I was so sick and tired of the cold I refused to bring anything except shorts and tanks tops despite the forecast of colder weather. I believed that if I didn't bring anything for cold weather it just wouldn't be cold (just like as a child you think no one can see you if you cant see them. Same concept). I ended up having to borrow warmer clothes from my teammates. I was slightly disappointed to say the least.

Sophomore year: I decided that it would be a good idea to at least bring a sweatshirt and sweat pants. Luckily, I barely used them because it was beautiful and sunny. We even went to the beach and wore our swimsuits all day long. I was very happy to say the least.

Junior/senior year (this last weekend): There was a 90% chance of rain. Rain? That is no big deal. I'm from Oregon. There is no way California even knows what rain is. Remember how I ate my words freshman year? Lets just say I ate/was stuffed/suffocated/jammed down my throat with my words this year. Rain was a drastic understatement for the weather we experienced in California this year. Torrential rains, monsoon, tornado, Hell rained over all might have been a better way to describe the weather. I'll leave it at rains that made you feel like you were showering and winds that tried to blow us off the field. I have never shivered so uncontrollably in my life. Was I prepared clothing wise? No. Nobody could have been prepared for this awful storm (and it didn't help that I couldn't wear any of my long spandex because the league requires teams to all be in the same color and apparently no one at BYU has blue spandex! ha). I have a new hatred for the Santa Barbara tournament to say the least.

As for the rest of the tournament?

Due to lack of funds this year instead of flying we rented out a bus and drove to Santa Barbara. So, Thursday at 1pm (yes that means we got into Santa Barbara at 1am) we started out on our little adventure. It included a bus driver who originally retired in 1989, lots of movies, valentines candies, cramped attempts at sleeping, and eventually giving in and sleeping in the aisle. After our quick nights rest we got up on Friday and headed to the fields.

BYU-8 Pittsburgh-5: Lets just say we looked awesome, partially because of our new awesome jerseys donated by the National Guard and the rest just pure us. I was very happily surprised with our young new team. Our offense looked well put together and for the first time didn't look like we practice in a indoor field big enough for 3 year olds. Our defense looked collected and actually worked together well. I was more energized and excited for our second game because I knew Florida was a more developed team and they were also out for blood since we knocked them off at Nationals.

Florida-10 BYU-9: This game was not about skill but really about having the will power to beat the winds and rains. Brooke Smith, amazing player, scored with probably .1 seconds left to send us into overtime. Long story short, we ended up losing as you can see by the score. They scored with -.1 seconds (and yes I mean negative. Timers shouldn't be volunteers who have never seen lacrosse played let alone know the rules). It was still a good game.

Then came Saturday and the news that we would be driving to Cal Poly to play our last two games. We were hoping to go far enough north to get out of the storm, we weren't so lucky.

BYU-10 Texas-7: Again, we started out the day looking like champions. Really the score doesn't even reflect how awesome we were during this game. I was very happy, and it was sunny.

Cal Poly- 10 BYU-5: I don't really know what to say except for the rains came down during this game, and I don't just mean literally. Cal Poly is a great team. They are truly a dynasty. Did this game discourage me? No. We got beaten by the rains, mental mistakes, and a very talented team.

After another bone chilling game, we stripped off all our wet clothes, threw everything under the bus, and started our 16 hour bus ride home. We arrived back in Provo at 7am Sunday morning. Thank you Santa Barbara for making my last tournament with you such an adventure.

My coach has this theory, and I agree with her, that every year it is the Santa Barbara tournament vs. BYU. Santa Barbara ALWAYS wins. We always come back bruised, broken and beaten. We were hoping to come back with a winning record this year and in a sense we did. We will take what we can get and be happy with a tied record. So despite the two losses, I have been rejuvenated and had a spark of hope and excitement blown into me for this season. I will apologize for my doubts and say, GO COUGS!

(This was also our first time apart since being married. Although I think Wes really enjoys having the king sized bed all to himself, I think he missed me. I know I missed him.)

National Championship, School, Internships, and Birthdays

We have been doing so many fun things recently, but of course, we never do a very good job of blogging, but we usually catch up pretty well. So here is another catch up post.

If you know us at all or have even read a couple posts on this blog you would realize that we LOVE our Oregon Ducks. Although we do go to BYU, we claim Oregon as our school. Wes' friend once described it as, "Our college is Oregon, we just go to BYU." Needless to say, when we realized that Oregon was going to the National Championship (which just happened to land on Wes' birthday!) in Glendale, Arizona, only a 10 hour drive from Provo, we knew we HAD to go down. To add to the excitement my parents decided to also go down (they actually had tickets though). So, after going to 3 days of classes we packed up again and headed down to sunny warm Arizona to root on our beloved Ducks. We went to pep rally's, tailgating parties, and watched the game on a huge screen outside the stadium surrounded by thousands of other fans who didn't get tickets. It was one of the coolest/funnest things we've done regardless of the heartbreaking ending (don't worry, it will probably forever haunt us that he was down. We've reviewed it). Here are some pictures of our adventure in Glendale.

THE PEP RALLY

Oregon killed Auburns pep rally.

With both numbers and just pure awesomeness.

GAME DAY

This is the closest we got to the stadium...we headed back to the square to watch the game while mom and dad headed into the stadium.
Pom Pom gloves courtesy of the Colletts!

Sadly, we did have to come back to reality and actually go to school. It was difficult for us to get into school after an amazing winter break and then Arizona.

The best news this semester has been Wes getting an internship in Provo! Because of many ridiculous reasons Wes' internship in New York last summer was not counted towards his major so he still needed one to graduate. We were assuming he'd just do another one during the summer and we'd both graduate in August, but he found one in Provo and now he'll graduate in April! The internship is with a smaller advertising company called Stephens Hale Creative. I don't know fully understand everything he'll be doing but I can brag about a couple things for him. The company usually hires 2 interns for the semester but after talking with Wes they were so impressed with him and his background that they decided to not even hire another intern! And due to its smaller size Wes will end up having his very own clients he'll work with. Needless to say, I'm very proud of him and we are both glad to get the ever looming internship off our shoulders. Now it is on to job searching!!

This semester my clinical (I work with a sports team every semester for my major) is at Orem High School. It is a very new and slightly eye opening experience after working with BYU football and gymnastics but I am enjoying the new experience. It is fun to create a knee brace with an elbow brace donated from BYU football and think of creative rehab exercises using a basketball and bleachers. I have totally forgotten what High School was like though! Looking back I had a lot of fun with my friends but I am glad to be done with that stage of life. So far we have had a broken arm in wrestling, a torn ACL in basketball (we didn't actually see that one. It was at an away game), fractured ribs also in wrestling, a torn hamstring again in wrestling (are you seeing a trend here), lots of shin splints and rolled ankles, and just goofy aches and pains.

Our last exciting news is we had another house guest! We had the wonderful privilege of being visited by Wes' mom Stacy for a fun filled weekend. Wes' grandpa turned 80 years old yesterday and Stacy and her sister both flew in to surprise him. On Saturday we picked her up from the airport and brought her back to Provo to finally show her our little apartment. She spent Saturday and Sunday morning with us and then we brought her up to Layton for the big surprise. Wes' grandma might have been the happiest to see us when we finally arrived because she no longer had to hide the roast in the downstairs closet! We had a fun dinner and evening on Sunday and got to return again Monday night for his big birthday bash. Although we showed up as the party was ending we had a lot of fun being with family and wishing Papa a wonderful 80th birthday!

Well, if you were able to follow my sporadic train of thoughts I applaud you and say, that is a wrap up of our life for now.

Christmas Break

Huge disclaimer: This post might be extremely long, ok it IS extremely long. Luckily, it is long due to a lot of pictures and not too much writing. Enjoy!

We just got back from the best break from school ever! We have the best situation that we were both raised 5 minutes apart and therefore we get to spend holidays with BOTH families!!

So as soon as Wes finished his last final we headed to the airport to start our close to 3 week break in Oregon!!

We started our break by going to watch our favorite NBA team, yes that would be the BLAZERS!

It is now widely accepted to wear Oregon gear at Blazer games.

Possibly one of the coolest things was the dodge ball game that was played by adults at half time. They held up nets and all. It was hilarious.

We were the first to make it back home but soon we were joined by my brother and his wife, my sister and her ever growing family (which includes my new nephew Isaac that we got to meet for the first time!!! He is so incredibly cute and we already love him so much! Just one more Whitman to miss), and Wes' brother also arrived soon after us. Needless to say, we were never at a loss for party buddies. We spent countless hours playing Wii and various board games throughout the 3 weeks with both families. Here are some more of our highlights.

One night we took a "girls night" (as the girls would not let Wes forget) to the Race Track lights. They weren't as cool as I remember but we still had a lot of fun.

This was the best I could do to get us all in it. I was very impressed Alisha was able to make it in the picture.

Ok this has nothing to do with the race track lights but I just thought it was possibly the cutest picture ever. I don't remember what I was doing but I came into our room to this adorable picture.

Christmas Eve we spent at my house at our annual crazy big party. We started the night like we usually do making Gingerbread houses and stuffing our faces with candy. We spent our time going between Jenelle and Meri's gingerbread houses trying to salvage their rickety structures.

Wes pointed out to Jenelle that she had the tallest gingerbread house out of everyone. It was way cute because she looked around at all of them and then quickly turned to Marley (my cousins little girl) and said, "Marley! Look mine is the tallest!!" She was super proud.

After dinner we had our usual nativity puppet show.

Meri was in prime form later into the night and continued to make faces at us. She is just hilarious.

Jenelle started kindergarten this year and has just taken off in her reading and wanted to show off a little.

Aren't they just so cute?

After our everyone left we opened our traditional Christmas Eve presents and they weren't pajamas!

We got really comfortable bathrobes that are so incredibly warm!

All of the boys got Oregon gear! Even little Isaac.

And of course the little girls win in their adorable pink pajamas.

Our first Christmas Eve :)

The next day we woke up and had a wonderful Christmas morning at my house and then ran over to the Collett's to celebrate with them as well. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying both families. We ended the day with the Collett's annual hot dogs by the fire and some more Wii! Sadly I didn't use my camera at ALL that day. Luckily my sister-in-law did and I'm stealing these two pictures from her.

Our traditional family picture at the top of the stairs. Our family is quickly growing! (We all missed you Adam).

Our first Christmas morning!!

After Christmas we ran over to Bend with my family for a couple of days. My dad just couldn't stand leaving all the new powder on Mt. Bachelor untouched. We got to celebrate my birthday over there with a fun packed day. We went sledding both near the house and on the mountain, then we went ice skating (which I love!!!), Wes and I went to dinner with my parents, and then we ended the night at a movie! It was such a blast. Here are some pictures:

I knew my dad would appreciate this. Yes he has 4 strikes in a row.

Bowling. Even little Isaac came!

Sledding on my birthday. And a special thanks to Aunt Kelly for our awesome snow flings! We had a lot of fun with them.

It was a little difficult to fit on our sled...

We started to race much to the girls excitement. Wes always won despite who was on his sled, which Jenelle figured out very quickly and jumped onto his sled. Here is a video of our race. I'm going to say the screaming is one of the little girls...ha (and a special thanks to mom for the photography).

Then we went sledding up on the mountain. The conditions weren't really as nice so I just have a picture of Wes and I. Little Meri was a trooper though. Even though on our first run Meri and I crashed which engulfed us in freezing snow and yet she kept going.

Then we went ice skating!!! Well, more like Coop and I took Jenelle and Meri ice skating.

I was so impressed with the girls ability to skate, even if I got an arm work out from catching Meri.

I had a wonderful birthday and we enjoyed the rest of the time in Bend and even the drive home, but who couldn't enjoy this winter wonderland?

We headed back to Lake Oswego to celebrate New Years and the rest of our break with the Collett's. Again, I for some reason stopped using my camera so I don't have any pictures to show the fun we had with them. We played more Wii, more board games, watched a lot of football, and just had a relaxing end of our break. We celebrated Mason's birthday on Monday night and then sadly had to fly back to Utah on Tuesday night and back to reality of school.

We really couldn't have asked for a better Christmas. Thank you to everyone who helped make our first Christmas together one we'll never forget. We miss everyone already. Have a happy new year!

Finals Week

Sorry we've been really bad about blogging. Our original excuse was finals week snuck up on us but we had originally planned on catching up over break. But then we got home and were just having way too much FUN to stop and blog. So I'll recap some of our fun events that occurred in December before we went home (we'll do Christmas next. We don't want to over blog you all).

We started finals week with an Oregon party at our cute little apartment. It was the Civil War game and the deciding game for Oregon's National Championship hopes. So, of course we got the most loyal Oregon fans together to cheer our Ducks on. I forgot to take a picture of all of us in our Oregon gear but we did take a picture of our Oregon cupcakes! Green and Yellow of course! And with our help the Ducks won and will play on Monday in the BCS National Championship game!! GO DUCKS!

After the exciting Oregon game we still couldn't accept that finals were starting so we decided to do the gingerbread house kit my parents had sent us! It was a ton of fun and got us even more in the mood for Christmas break. We decided that we both got our own side of the house to decorate. The sides didn't have to match...so they ended up not matching at all! Here are some pictures of our first gingerbread house making!!

This was Wes' side of the house.

The back of our house (we did the front and back together).

This was my side.

And our front door! We were very proud (do notice the icicles, Wes' impressive work).

To start finals week off I decided to straighten my hair (well Claire and Kawehi really did it for me)! I worked with BYU's gymnastics team last semester and the girls really wanted to see my hair straight so I decided for my last day I would straighten it. Here is a picture for everyone in case if you've never seen it straight.

Unlike what it might seem, we did spend most of Monday through Wednesday studying for finals. Luckily we survived them! We ended our first semester as a married couple with good grades and sooo ready for a break. When we were deep cleaning the apartment and packing for Oregon we got together all of the paper we had used during the semester to recycle and I just had to take a picture of our collective notecards.

I just thought it was crazy. Luckily, I have found one recycling bin in all of Provo that we were able to bring all this paper to!

We both finished our finals by Thursday and flew home that same day. It was so nice to be back in our green beautiful Oregon.