September 2011

I don't think I can express my intense love of autumn.  It's our favorite season, and Iowa City has not failed to please us, especially after that summer!  The leaves have started changing and the air is cooler and it is just so wonderfully glorious.  I just can't get enough.  We've heard that once all the leaves change that they fall off really fast, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

On September 10th, I ran my second half marathon ever with my running buddy Tawnya, and her brother. Unfortunately, I was sick for this one too.  What luck, huh?  I still managed to run the thing and had a pretty darn good pace for most of it, until the last three miles where I practically died.  I was sick to my stomach the rest of the day, but I finished without walking!  I was bummed with being sick, but I'm still running; it hasn't ruined me for life.  Jas was a great support and took good care of me.  Unfortunately, I got him sick too and we were both pretty miserable for about a week.  But we're much better now!

Also, to celebrate Jason passing his test, we bought him a guitar!  Let's just say that he is in love, second to me, of course.  I have to remind myself of that sometimes, but it so fun to watch him play and sing.  He's learned some fun songs that we'll be singing together soon.

Last, but not least, my spice rack finally has a home on the wall!  I've had this thing, and been using it for a year or two now, but never had it hung.  With Jason's help, it is hung in our kitchen and I love it.

August 2011

August was awesome.  We were able to see both of our families and a bunch of other people.  I was able to attend the Coming Family Reunion in Casper, WY just like old times and Jason and I joined up at his parent's home to spend some time with them.  We were able to visit lots of friends while in Utah and also attend some of the Bell family reunion as well.  All in all we had a great trip, and it was also great to get back home to our own beds!

Other exciting news of the month...Jason passed his Qualifier's!  'Twas a truly joyous day of celebration to say the least.  There's been a boost in Jason's confidence that I really, really like to see.  Oh, happy day.

July 2011

This month was the most humid month I have ever experienced in my life.  Marseilles was pretty humid when I was there a few summers ago, but it was not like Iowa.  I'm sure the heat wave had something to do with it, but my goodness, I'm an Arizona girl that's for sure.  Bring on the dry heat!

Aside from that, Jason and I had a good month.  We survived youth conference, my job, Jason's studying and the weather.  We also finally made it to the Bike Library in downtown Iowa City and both of us were able to rent bikes!  We got there at about 7:45 am one Saturday morning (the only day they rent and it is first come first serve) and we were the 2nd and 3rd people in line.  We met and talked to Linda (a student from China) while we waited for 10:00 to roll around.  Luckily, there was an awning in front of the store as well to shield us from the rain.  It was a great experience, and now we can bike ride all we want!  We paid down payments on each bike and if we return the bikes in 6 months, we get the money back.  If not, the bikes are ours to keep and the money is their's to keep.  Road bikes are great fun.  Now I know why all those people were passing me in that triathlon when I was on a mountain bike!

June 2011

Well, I'm a little late getting this up, and I don't even have all the pictures, but I figured I'd move ahead anyhow.  Let's see...first off, we went to Chicago again and got some pictures this time.  We met our friends Dave and Abby Tensmeyer there and had a great time.

Outside the Field Museum.  We learned about whales, horses, and totem poles.

We liked this view a lot.

Navy Pier (not that cool, at least when it's swarming with people...)

In Millenium Park...

And here's the whole gang.

Our other big event of June was going to Arizona for Gavin's farewell.  What a time we had, complete with jet skiing, dropping Gav off at the airport, seeing my dad's current work project, and just hanging out with the fam.  10 days of home sweet home.  I'm grateful for my flexible husband and family. Also, pictures forthcoming....

And here's the pictures.  The whole family after his farewell, at the airport and him waving goodbye.

He loved the group hug...

Also, here's Jason and I in our pharmaceutical attire in the facility my dad designed.  I'm glad I don't have to wear this everyday. Not attractive!  But still fun.

Working the softgel machine.

Awesome shoe cover/booties.

May 2011

April showers bring May flowers.  Well, this is the first springtime of my whole life where I really felt that to be true.  Utah has flowers, but Iowa was bursting!  I loved it.  We had a good time with spring baseball at the university.  Someone in our ward plays on the team so I could get in for free and Jas used his student id card.  Not a bad deal.

We also got to visit my cousin Tiffany and her family in Waverly and had a blast.  Such fun kids!  Also, one Sunday evening, the day of the tornado warning, Jason comes to me in the kitchen and says, "Hey Whit, you wanna do something hilarious? And fun?"  "Of course!" I responded.  He proceeded to come up with something on the spot, because he hadn't actually thought of anything and this is what it was:  "Let's eat ice cream...with knives!"  Oh boy!  Here's us doing it.  So fun and so hilarious.

At the end of the month, I got to go to Utah for Allison's wedding. A nice reason to go see the fam too!  Too bad Jas couldn't come :(  Allison looked beautiful.  I'm so happy for her.

Here is my adorable niece, Ember.  I just had to share.  I could just eat her up!

April 2011

Wow, another one gone.  Time flies when you are having fun, and basically any time I'm with Jason, I'm having fun.  You know what that equals? Me having a blast!  Anyhow, April was a good month kicked off by General Conference. We LOVED General Conference.  The next weekend included lots of babysitting combined with a birthday celebration of sorts...for me. Meet the Gleason children.  Also, note that each has their own flavor of ice cream.  These children are...special!

I made a chocolate chip cookie pie, which was super easy and quite delicious.  As great as the Gleason children are, I'll be honest, it wasn't my ideal way to spend my birthday.  Fortunately, Adam and Kristin invited us to meet up with them in Chicago the following weekend.  We had a fantastic time and were happy to be able to be around some family.  It was quite rainy and cold the whole day we were together, but we got to experience the Magnificent Mile, Gino's East deep dish pizza, and the Sky Deck.  You wanna know what else?  We don't have a single good picture!  We accidentally left our camera in the car which was in 24 hour parking and we weren't nearby.  Needless to say, this is what I got on our way back home leaving Chicago.

Ha! Oh well...Guess that just means we'll have to go back.  Last, but not least, we celebrated Easter.  I cooked Easter dinner for just the two of us.  Ham, roasted fingerling potatoes and asparagus, and lemon meringue pie.  I'll admit, it was pretty good.  Here's us with the pie, using our awesome leaf pie server for the first time.  You like how we match?

Hmmm, I'm just now realizing that two main events of April revolved around pie.  Ah well, who doesn't like pie?!

PS - This is what we are gonna tell our children the Easter Bunny looks like so they won't want to believe in him...

March 2011

Holy cow March flew by!  Here's a couple of things we did this month....

First of all, we had an 80's themed date night, complete with side ponytail and off the shoulder (covered shoulder of course) sweatshirt.  We "dressed up" in bright clothing and went on a search for some arcade games and pizza.  We couldn't find any arcade games but as you can see here, we found some pizza.  We ate this while watching Back to the Future.  What's more 80's than that?  Okay, so maybe Star Wars is more 80's, but we watched that very recently.  It was a great date.

Next, we got to go to the Nauvoo temple.  It took us a little less than 2 hours to get there and due to some confusion on babysitting facilities, our ward temple day turned out to consist of Jason and I.  But, we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.  What a beautiful temple. And we had a sunny day to top it off.  Next time it will be warm enough to eat our lunches outside instead of in the car.

We're excited to go again and see the temple during different seasons, well I am at least :)