Woops

Where, oh where, has the time gone? My last blog post was in January... much has happened since then! This will be a fairly short post since I don't have a way to upload pictures right now but there will certainly be more to come later with more details specifically having to do with the past couple weeks and the week to come.

My two excuses for not writing more are these: stress and lack of subject matter. This was Bryan's last semester of being an undergrad! We have been relieved and overjoyed to already have a job lined up post-graduation. That was the good part of the semester... I'm not going to lie, it was a rough semester. Bryan had some really hard classes and ended up taking more programming classes than he really ought to. I was working as well, so we were just pretty much up to our knees in stress over getting everything done on time. As such, we didn't have a lot of adventures to write about but we sure have been having some recently!

I am so grateful that this semester is over. I am also extremely grateful for all the prayers that were said on our behalf to help us push through until the end. I have definitely seen God's hand in everything that has happened and know without a doubt that He is aware of our every need and wants so much to bless us. Bless us, He certainly did.

Well, we have officially moved out of our little apartment in Provo. We were out on the 18th (our check out was scheduled during Bryan's last final so I had to finish things up on my own. More stress!) and almost immediately flew to Maryland to spend some time with my family. We stayed with my parents, who also have the Handleys (Lindsay, Morgan, Ava) and the Brownings (Natalie, Ryan, Elijah, Ivy) living with them right now. Whew! What a packed house! I loved being able to see my adorable nieces and nephew and hang out with two of my sisters (both of whom are quite pregnant), their husbands and my parents. We were also able to see Bryan's dad and brother, who are living in Virginia. Bryan beat them both at Risk for the first time in his life so I think we'd say it was a success.

After this, we flew to Colorado, where we now are. My sister, Hailey, and her husband went on a trip to Israel and asked us to babysit their two girls for about a week. We have suddenly gained two elementary school aged girls, a house and a dog! It's nice to get a little practice in. We've been enjoying it a lot!

We also found and signed for a townhouse that we'll be renting in Boise! We're really turning into adults, huh? I guess after 25 years it needed to happen. We will be flying back to Utah on the 4th of May and then my parents will fly out and help us move with a U-Haul to Boise on the 7th! Bryan's first day is the 8th! A lot of exciting things happening now and to happen, so we'll surely post pictures soon.

I guess this post turned out to be a little longer after all! Tomorrow, Bryan and I will celebrate our first anniversary! Wow, has it already/only been a year? It feels like it has flown by but at the same time I feel like we've been married forever. It has been a crazy but great year!

Craft Day

Bryan's mom, Shelley and I have gotten into a fun tradition of having a craft day before most holidays. We switch off each time who hosts the craft day. It's fun to make crafts but the best part is just being able to spend time together. We started this tradition just before Halloween, then again for Christmas and our latest was for Valentine's day. We each made a Valentine Treat Topiary and then frosted sugar cookies and made cute little "cupid's arrows" to give out to friends, visiting teachees, etc.

It was my turn to host this time so everyone made the trek down to Provo. I made Baked Potato Soup for lunch, which was perfect because it was raining and snowing on and off. Nothing like a nice, hot soup to comfort you on a cold day. Bryan's mom and Mike had to drive through a blizzard to both get here and go home! Ella came with Shelley and at one point during the day she took her mom's umbrella out the door and stood on our doormat singing, "Under my Cinderella. Hey! Hey! Hey!" loudly to all the occupants of our complex. It was hilarious and so cute-- I tried to get a video on my camera but by the time I found it she'd pretty much stopped. Isn't that always how it goes? Anyway, we had a very fun day hanging out and doing crafts!

Rings

This week, Bryan and I took our rings in to Wilson Diamond's to get touched up. Bryan's ring has grooves on either edge that had this place thing in it. Well, the black thing popped out a while ago so we decided we needed to get it fixed before our first year of having it was up and before we moved to Boise. Because my ring is white gold, it kind of wears and the back gets a little yellowish. So I went in to get it rhodium plated and cleaned. We took them in on Monday and got them back of Friday. The time we didn't have them was so weird! Bryan was ringless and I had some cheapo fake ring from Walmart that's band was completely coppery by the end of the time. I missed my ring so much and am very glad to have it back! When you're used to something it feels so bizarre to be without it. 

Our First Christmas

Merry Christmas! Happy New Years! Etc, etc. I've noticed a trend in my recent blogging. I only update around important events like holidays. My friend Emily said to me the other day, "I've tried to look at your blog lately but all it ever says is, 'Thanksgiving.'" Oh, woops. Actually, I've heard that from a few other people too... So, I'll try to be a better, more frequent blogger. For now, you get Christmas! I have a ton of pictures here, though, so hopefully it will be satisfying.

Before the Christmas season even started Bryan and I started getting really excited about decorating our own home and starting our own traditions. Little by little, decorations were put up. Here is, for the most part, the end result.

When Bryan was growing up his family did an advent calendar every year, where you open up a little box for each day of December leading up to Christmas day. His mom gave us this nice one, where the things you open are ornaments that you can hang on this tree. It was fun having something special to do each day and taking turns hanging the ornaments.

I had to work up through the 23rd, so Bryan had a week after finals were done of just playing and relaxing during the day. We went up to his mom's that night. We always love going up there and having a break from Provo to spend time with family.

Here we are on Christmas morning, ready to go to church. We hadn't opened presents yet because we were waiting to be able to open them with Shelley, Dustin, Ella and Grandma Marilyn. Shelley and co. arrived soon after church was over (it only lasted 45 minutes!) and so we made the Whitney's traditional Christmas morning breakfast of poached eggs on toasted English muffins with ham, topped with hollandaise sauce.

Once Grandma Marilyn arrived the present opening commenced! Sadly, I realized I didn't get a picture of her.

I had three presents for Bryan and I labeled them 1, 2, and 3 in order of how excited he would be about it. First, I gave him a bag of snickers. He asked for them on his Christmas wish list so who was I to deny him? Next, I gave him a bunch of sauces, as he loves sauces. Finally, I gave him...

The expansion to Pandemic, the board game he got for his birthday and loves. He kept saying something to me about his mom getting it for him and the whole time I'm thinking in my head, "I got you that!"

We snuck Shelley's bread maker out of her house and installed a missing piece. Then we wrapped the whole thing up and gave it to her! We thought it'd be pretty funny for her to unwrap something she already owned.

Here is Ella modeling one of her many princess dresses that she got from Grandma Sandi for Christmas.

As soon as the present wrapping was over, the boys were already on the Wii playing new games they'd received.

Later we played one of our family favorites, Loaded Questions. With seven players it lasted quite a while!

While the adults played games, Ella watched Barbie Nutcracker. When Barbie danced she mimicked her movements like a little ballerina!

I felt like I was taking all the pictures-- I wanted to be in one!

After Christmas Day we just spent time together, playing games and watching fun things like Fear Factor (I would never eat live scorpions, I don't care how much you'd pay me). A while back I taught Bryan's family a fun card game called 'Idiot' that is very addictive. We played that a lot and named a certain family member Idiot of the Year (thought he will contest this). I also made a couple of pies, pictured below.

A few presents I got for Christmas were an apple corer, french rolling pin and pie plate... all were perfect for this apple pie, made entirely from scratch. The recipe is from Our Best Bites, an amazing cooking blog I have previously mentioned.

On Tuesday we flew out to Maryland to spend time with my family and had a bit of a second Christmas. Here are Lindsay and Ava opening our gift to them. This is all I got of the present opening time.

Here is my mom's classic Christmas tree. The tree is so tall that the bow on top is kind of smashed. :)

In our stocking we got a Snickers loaf. Yes, those are apparently real and yes, they are amazing. We enjoyed it immensely.

Here Ivy is using my flat iron. Don't worry, it wasn't plugged in. No children were harmed in the making of this photograph.

My mom made Christmas dinner anew for us! Here is our lovely spread!

Ava is so happy and adorable. She is a joy to be around!

Bryan and I had the opportunity to go to the temple with my parents one night. It was very nice to go back to the place that started it all! We walked around and saw the lights a bit before going in.

Bryan proudly displaying a Thai Book of Mormon in the DC Visitor's Center.

The most important light of all! Almost exactly eight months later, we returned!

Some of us decided to go to DC for the day to see a couple different museums. It was Elijah and Ivy's first trip on the Metro! I think they thought it was pretty neat.

We went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum first for a short while. I was just trying to take a picture of this T-Rex and Bryan happened to walk into it. He called himself a "photo bomber" when I showed him later.

Elijah refuses to turn his head to take a picture with this triceratops.

Ah! Attack of the underwater dinosaurs!

Sweet Ava in the lobby of the building museum.

Playing with the dollhouse in the building zone for kids. There was a cool Lego exhibit we wanted to see but it was kind of expensive. Hopefully an adventure for another day!

Elijah and Ivy playing in the miniature house that was inside of the building zone.

Bryan had just as much, if not more, fun as the kids in the building zone! Here is his robot masterpiece!

Here is the group that went. I had a cute picture of Bryan and Elijah building something together but I couldn't get it off the camera.

Each night we took turns making dinner and cleaning up. One night Ava wanted to help sweep! What a good little helper for mom and dad!

We had a great time this Christmas break visiting family here in Utah and on the east coast. It was kind of sad for it to end. I almost forgot I even had a job! However, it was nice to get home and get back into our normal life. We didn't realize how much we missed our soft bed until we sat on it!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Look for more blog posts to come on here and on The Whitney Whisk!

Thanksgiving

Ah, Thanksgiving. What a great holiday! You get to eat ridiculous amounts of food, have fun with family and it rings in the rest of the holiday season. Bryan and I spent our second Thanksgiving together at his mom's house in Morgan. Of course, it was our first as a married couple. We went up with David on Wednesday night and spent all of Thanksgiving Day there.

Here is some of our spread (I think some of it was on the counter). Who knows how we fit it all? I made those sweet potatoes on the corner. They are my mom's recipe and they are one of my favorite things she makes for holidays.

How good does this look? This is my plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing and "pink stuff" (as they call the jello salad in Bryan's family).

Bryan wanted me to take a picture of his plate as well. Oh. Bryan made deliciously moist rolls, pictured here.

I also made two pumpkin pies (the pie tins were small so the filling made for two). It was my first time! Pumpkin pie is so easy to make-- I never knew! Getting the crust right is the hardest part if you're doing it from scratch... especially when you have to go to four different stores to find a pastry cutter. Our friend Weston is over right now and we are all actually enjoying some leftover pumpkin pie/

I also made an apple pie! Both pies turned out well-- I probably liked the apple best. Thank you Our Best Bites!

Here we are sporting our fall colors. I had to specifically ask Bryan to wear this shirt.

Unfortunately, I had to work Friday and Saturday so our holiday got cut a little short. We stayed until about 9:30PM and then headed to the Park City Outlets for a little Black Friday shopping. I've never been one for crowds but this is a little tradition that Bryan and his friends have and it is pretty fun once you get to the actual shopping part.

Bryan's Birthday

Last Friday, the 18th, was Bryan's 25th Birthday! Now we are both a quarter of a century old. I don't have many pictures to share. It seems like when we get together in a group I never remember to take pictures or maybe it just feels unnatural to do so.

Every Friday at work at have an 8AM meeting and then I come home and go back for my shift around 11:45AM. Because I had worked extra time during the course of the week and came in early to help on another day when staff was low, I didn't have to be back until 1:45PM! So, I came home and Bryan opened his presents and I made us BLECs (Bacon, Lettuce, Egg, Cheese) sandwiches on sourdough bread for his birthday breakfast. Then I cleaned and started his birthday cake and, even with all the extra time, I just made it to work after getting things done! Bryan's favorite meal is chicken enchiladas that his mom made for him while he was growing up so I made those and we threw a bit of a dinner party with our friends. Here is the 3 layer chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate ganache that I made for his birthday:

Here we are singing to Bryan just before he blows out his candles. Look at that fire hazard!

On Saturday we drove up to his mom's house to spend the weekend there. We visited his grandma for her birthday later in the month and then came home to eat delicious Tortilla Soup and Texas "Sheep" Cake for dessert! We spent the rest of the weekend playing games and having fun together. We'll head up there again for Thanksgiving later this week!

For his birthday, Bryan got a book called "The Backyard Blacksmith" from me (blacksmithing is a hobby he'd like to pursue someday). He also got Pandemic (a board game that he loves), Tron on 3D blu-ray and DVD, an awesome larger fish tank for Gordon that has a filter, a hair clipper set and Zelda: Skyward Sword.

I am grateful to have Bryan in my life. Every day I realize more and more how well suited we are to each other. He is someone I can be entirely myself with and who I feel safe with. I'm so glad I get to be married to this great guy!

Happy Halloween!

 Here are our simple decorations. For FHE on the first Monday of October we cut out bats and decorated the apartment. Bryan cut out so many bats he decided to turn on Wipeout. 

 On the Monday before Halloween we carved pumpkins (we didn't want to do them too early, else they would rot before the holiday!).

 (This was also my first day actually at work tellering for America First. See the little compass pin?)

 Like last year, I made a cat. It was just too classic to only do once! 

 Bryan's first top was too small... his next too big. I think it looks pretty cool, though. Like a puzzle! Speaking of puzzles...

Here is a puzzle we've been working on! It is a LOST Mystery Puzzle. We don't even know what it is supposed to look like but we've been having fun slowly putting it together. Back to pumpkins...

 Bryan made the Zelda Tri-Force.

 As mentioned, I made a cat.

 

Over the weekend we went to a couple parties with our friends. We dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite and Deb! All our clothes (my pants, shirt, fanny pack and his shirt) were a whopping $10 at DI! The wig was a little more... and it was weirdly shaped, too! I had to give his wig a bit of a hair cut to make it look right but it worked out in the end. Anyway, on Saturday we had Alicia come over and we watched the old (1959) House on Haunted Hill. It was a Rifftrax version so people were adding goofy commentary the whole way through. In the end I still didn't know if the house was actually haunted or if it was all human created. It had a lot of unresolved plot lines. I was baffled when the credits suddenly began to roll. Oh, well!

 

 We didn't do much for the actual holiday but I made stuffed peppers and carved little jack-o-lanterns out of them. I also tried to make mashed potato ghosts. The shaping didn't come out quite right (thanks for all the direction, Martha Stewart) but they sure did taste good! After that we went and saw Cowboys & Aliens with David, Weston and friend. I probably wouldn't buy the movie but I did enjoy it for a dollar.

We definitely enjoyed our low-key first Halloween together.