So Long, Farewell

This past weekend, Josh and I went down to California with Tahnee and Tyler for Michael's mission farewell. It was a VERY quick trip. We left about 1:00 pm on Friday and came home around 4:00 pm on Sunday. While we were there we took family pictures, which is always a blast with four little ones. Afterward, I took Gracee and drove up to Anaheim to try a new skin care product. My face has been breaking out a little more than desired and I have a friend who, basically, swears on LUSH products.

I only had a couple hours and that is the closest store. There is no store in Utah, either :( I am becoming a huge fan of LUSH and also think if you have tried everything out there for your skin and nothing works, give this a try. Later Saturday evening, my cousin Aubree got married to Kasey Cowan. It was so fun to be with the whole family. Aubree looked great, the wedding ceremony was very nice, and the reception was awesome. I loved the food, apples, cupcakes...YUM! Congrats to the Cowan's! Sunday was Michael's farewell. He did a great job and it is so crazy that it is actually time for him to go. He will be great.

Although, his Visa has not come, so he will be flying into SLC on Tuesday and we are going to take him to the Provo Missionary Training Center. It will be a really neat thing to take him. It was so much fun to see everyone last weekend and Josh and I are already looking forward to Thanksgiving!!! I know...jumping the gun a little bit.

Yesterday, I went to the Cardiologist and everything is pretty much ok. He said he cannot hear the leak in my tricuspid valve...woohoo!! We talked about a few other things...like having a baby. He said waiting a couple years would not be a bad idea. Phew! I really want a baby (don't get me wrong), but I really want to be done with school before I start that chapter of my life.

Everything is going really well with Josh and I. Life is good...we have no complaints :)

He Joined the Club

The 25 year old club that is!!! Josh had his birthday yesterday and what a fun day it was! Unfortunately, the older you get, you cannot really enjoy the WHOLE day, but around 3:30 Josh finally got home from class and we were able to finally celebrate.

He came home to this...
When he walked in the door I exclaimed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I gave my husband a big kiss and bigger hug (like I do everyday when he walks through the door), but this time it was different because there were PRESENTS to open and a great MEAL to eat. Of course when I asked Josh what he wanted to do, eat or open gifts first, he quickly said open presents! Side note: Josh's family LOVES presents. When I went to his house last Christmas, I arrived at about midnight to his house. His mom stayed up to meet me and asked if I wanted to open presents then or in the morning. Then in the morning, I met his sister Rachel, and she asked pretty quickly, are you going to open presents? I got the impression that they all love this. So I totally know where Josh gets it! I sat Josh down on the couch and he started reading his cards and opening gifts.

LOST Seasons 1-6

NFL Madden
(Yes, I caved and bought him a video game)

GAP Jeans

Then we ate a delicious meal (didn't get any pictures...sad day) that I made (not to brag or anything) with the help of Eve, Josh's mom, and her time in sending me the recipe for one of Josh's favorite meals...Hawaiian Haystacks. I think Josh was pretty surprised and right when I told him he asked me, "did you get the recipe for my mom?" Haha he probably wanted me to make it just right. It tasted delicious!! THEN I told him one more little surprise...

An ice cream cake

Haha lighting his own candles

I sang "Happy Birthday"

Of course it's mint...his favorite.

Later that night we went to an eventful Accounting social. It was pretty fun...lots of desserts! They sent all the spouses into a room for question and answer time. That was nice to kind of have a more casual setting and ask whatever we wanted too. Overall, it was a good day. I love birthdays and can't wait for next year!!!!

Latest Happenings

I have been horrible at keeping this thing updated lately. So let me just fill you in on what has been going on lately...

Josh and I went to CA to baby-sit the twins while the rest of my family spent the week in San Diego. We had a blast! Josh was rather busy tending to other important matters.




He met with all of the "Big Four" accounting firms in the Orange County offices. He went out to fancy-shmancy breakfasts and lunches, met with professionals that worked with the various companies and toured each office. It was great exposure and he was really glad he did it. He even met with people who know the Neilson's!! He enjoyed the OC offices a lot and would not be disappointed if that's where he ended up working.

Jess and Trent came to stay with us and enjoy a few days in southern California. We went to the Irvine Spectrum, Newport Beach, they were able to have Golden Spoon, enjoy the tidepools in Corona del Mar, and more. Hopefully they weren't bored too much, as Josh and I were in by 5:00 pm with the babies.

The last day we were there, my brother, Michael, went to the temple for the first time. It was a great experience. Later that night, we went with him, his friend, Eli, to Downtown Disney and then to a new outdoor shopping/dining place in Anaheim. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory (you can never go wrong).



The next morning, we flew back to Utah in order to start school the next day. In addition to starting school, I started my internship at the United Way with the "Welcome Baby" program. So far I love it. I am doing mostly administrative work in the office, but occasionally get to be out on site for different events. I will be doing this internship for two semesters.


After the first week of school, we had some friends over for a movie night. Well, let's just say we never watched the movie. We just had too much to say to each other. It was fun catching up and enjoying each others company. It might not happen again (at least for a while) due to everyone's hectic school schedules. And I finally got to use my adorable dessert plates I bought at Tai Pan before Josh and I were even married! I know my pictures look like a bridal/baby shower, but I just love doing things like that.







Some other fun things that have happened...

Meg's missionary friend came home from Brazil and we have been able to get to know him a little bit. We love Ty and think they are really cute together. Oh, I can't forget to mention I beat Meg in NERTS! ;) Sorry Meg...but it will probably never happen again!!



The girls and I went to a Women's Expo at the UVU Events Center. It was a lot of fun. And I got my hair done... (the only picture too)


Michael came into town for a week. We were able to go out for (an early dinner) Josh's birthday to Tucano's. I have footage of Josh shaking his hips...a little bit. (I'll have to post that later)

Then we had my cousins, Amanda and Rachel, over for dinner on Sunday.



Life has been going pretty well with my only complaint being to the Accounting program of giving my hubby too much homework. Yesterday I got news that my job was no longer in need of me. I was hired on a trial run, basically, and while I am sitting in class I get a text saying we no longer need you, don't worry about coming in today. It wasn't really a shock to me. I kind of sensed it was coming. I really have been wanting to quit, it just makes me mad they got to me before I could say anything to them. Honestly, I don't know why they did hire me, they have plenty of enough people to do my job and a lot of time to do it. I am not upset, but more relieved. But I am kind of looking for another part-time job. Luckily, my internship is paid so I still feel like I am contributing financially, in some small way, and I am not as stressed as I probably would be if I had no income coming in at all. I went to get my last paycheck today and turn in my key. I asked my office manager if I could still use them as a reference because I have learned new stuff working there that may be applicable to a future job. She explained that they "let me go" not fired me and that it is all on good terms. Phew!

That is all that has been going on in our small Whitmore family. Stay tuned...tomorrow is Josh's birthday!!!!

The Many Colors of Josh

I would just like to take a moment and talk about my husband. Some of you might not know Josh very well, or at all, but no matter how much you do not know him, everybody knows that I have married the most simplest person on the face of the earth.

Exhibit A: Today, while putting some laundry away, I opened up Josh's drawer full of t-shirts. They were all over the place, nothing folded...just chaos. Josh doesn't mind wearing wrinkled clothes and I don't push the matter. But today I had had enough with the t-shirt drawer being over-stuffed and decided to be a great little wifey, and pull out all the t-shirts and fold them. Little did I know, there was a whole other drawer with MORE t-shirts. Please examine the below pictures carefully:

There are two piles here...solid color t-shirts and solid color polo's. How many solid color t-shirts you ask does Josh own? There are 18 displayed here, this does not include the red one he wore to work for causal Friday and the hunter green one that is in the laundry hamper = 20. Now, I have made this observation before, but it just cracks me up that whenever he is out shopping, he ends up buying the same thing just in a different color. Aww, what a simple, low-maintaince man I have fallen in love with. Now there is one striped polo thrown into that pile (watch out). He rarely wears it, even though it looks great on him. I can't even buy anything for him when I go shopping because he has every color already :) Some of the shirts also have stories I am sure you are just dying to know...

Teal- Wore on the day we became officially a couple!

Pink- Wore the day before Black Friday last year when my dad invited him to go ride the 4-wheelers and he told him he was going shopping all day with me. My dad was a little nervous...shopping and the pink shirt.

White- It's a V-neck and only wears it with his swim trunks. I think it looks so good and I beg him to wear it somewhere other than to the pool. He has yet too.

I just thought I would share this funny thing about my hubby with you all.

West Coast bound

*I just want to apologize for stealing Jess's pictures ahead of time. I haven't figured out how to get them from my phone yet.

I know I am super late on posting our last weekend in Arizona, but I finally have time. We drove the long 10 hour drive to Mesa on Thursday, 8/12. It was the most beautiful drive, we thought we had taken a scenic route instead of the normal way to go. Josh was such a great husband and drove the whole way! We drove for five hours without seeing any fast food. It was torture! We finally got food in Fladstaff, AZ. We arrived in Mesa at around 1:30 am Utah time. It was dang hot when we got out of the car at that hour. But I must say, it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Josh and I were both expecting not being able to breath...but it wasn't that bad. We were never outside for very long and maybe that's why.

Friday
Our day started early as Josh had to be in Downtown Phoenix for an office visit with PriceWaterhouseCooper (one of the "Big 4" firms). He had to be there at 10:00 am and we got there a half hour early. I let him out and told him I would just drive around and find a mall or some kind of shopping center. Boy was I wrong!!! You'd think being downtown in a big city that there would be something to go walk around. Oh no! I drove around for an hour and fifteen minutes looking and found absolutely nothing. It was fine though. I got to see what Downtown Phoenix was like...business after business, building after building. It was so confusing. I finally picked Josh up and he was able to get some really helpful information about working for the Big 4 firms. A recent BYU alum showed him around, talked to him about salary, the daily routine, and other things that really helped Josh to understand the business. Afterword, we went to visit Adrian, Emily and Morgan Vanzulli. It was so fun to see them and just chit-chat. Pretty sure we were there for two hours. Hope we didn't over-stay our welcome!! We got to see their really nice house and eat yummy pizza. Right after we left, they left for California. We are so glad we caught them in time. On the way back to Mesa, I am pretty sure we went the wrong way. But we finally got back and had a really fun evening. We went out to In-N-Out for dinner with Jess and Trent and then met up with the rest of the Christensen ladies for gelato and walking around a really neat outdoor mall. Then we ended the night back at Jess and Trent's adorable apartment and talked ALL night. Love when all the cousins get together. We talk about EVERYTHING!!!

Saturday
We began by making a trip over to the Mesa temple. We did not do a session, but went in the Visitor's center and walked around the temple grounds. It was gorgeous. And I saw a friend who is serving her mission at the Visitor's center, Sister Sarah Dyer. What a treat that was! We participated in a little presentation of how families can be together forever. I just don't understand how people can learn of that message and deny the Holy Ghost. The feeling I felt was overwhelming and I already know the message. Wow! It was a great experience.
We then went up to Scottsdale, which was a very nice part of Arizona. We went to the Scottsdale mall, which I could have spent a TON of money in. Luckily, I only spent $5 on cute gold rings. We ate lunch in the gigantic food court and enjoyed ourselves just by walking around. When we were done there, we went across the street and got Sprinkles cupcakes! It was Jess and Trent's first time there. Josh and I got the red velvet (of course) and then tried a new flavor, cinnamon sugar. I loved it!
That night, Jess's parents had us over for dinner. It was a great pot roast and great side dishes. AND peach cobbler for dessert! After dinner we went for a walk around the neighborhood, which Josh and I really need to make a habit of. The night ended with more talking and some intense games of Nerts.

We had a lot of fun in Arizona. It has helped us to really see what we want and what we don't want and helped us understand how starting out in the Accounting world just a little bit more.

Our next stop is Orange County. We fly out next Tuesday night and come back Sunday morning. Josh is going to different firms for more office visits. He has one Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I am so excited for him and how he is really being proactive about everything. Jess and Trent are also coming to stay and play with us. Our main priority is babysitting the twins, but we are still going to have lots of fun with them! Can't wait til next week!!!

Amy, sorry it took so long to update my blog ;)

Next Place of Residence

As many of you know, Josh and I have been trying to decide where we want to live when our Provo adventure comes to a close. We were thinking a lot about Arizona and had planned to go last weekend. But then we changed our plans last minute. But Arizona keeps coming up so we figure that we might as well just go and check it out. It doesn't mean we are moving there just because we visit, but it's so weird how it keeps coming up in our daily conversations and how much we keep thinking about it. We know it's super hot like four months out of the year...but honestly, I much rather have a HOT summer than a SNOWY AND COLD winter. We have decided to go check it out this weekend. We will leave Thursday after work and drive through the night. Lucky us!! Here are just a couple of our reasons for considering AZ our next home:

We can rent for such a great price and save money, then possibly move somewhere we would really love to live and buy a house! (This is probably our biggest reason for wanting to move there.)

Arizona is only a six hour drive to my parents house in California. BIG DEAL! We could go there whenever we wanted.

There are a lot of members of the church out in Arizona. Not that it really matters, but it is always nice to have a neighbor to run to on a Sunday afternoon to ask for a cup of milk ;)

Josh's cousin, Jess and her husband, Trent, live in Mesa. We LOVE them and it would be so fun to live around them.

I feel bad taking Josh away from the East Coast, so I am trying not to be a brat about only living in Orange County and looking at other options. Josh is very up for living in the west and thinks Arizona would be great. I told Josh, though, if he has his heart set on D.C. or anything else, I will be the supportive wife I told him I would be before we got married. I think the more he lives in the west and visits California, the more he really wouldn't mind living out here. At least, that's what he says :) Right now our biggest thing we think of is the rent and cost of living. Arizona is very attractive for this reason alone.

What are some of your thoughts?

On the Road to Recovery...

This morning, Josh and I drove up to Salt Lake for my wound check-up. They took the bandage off and the stitches out. I am a huge whimp and was scared that taking the stitches out were going to hurt. But there was no pain whatsoever. It feels so nice to have the huge bandage off, that's for sure.

I am feeling less sore, moving around more and driving. I can finally take a shower (don't worry, I have been taking baths everyday) and I will be returning to work on Monday. It is nice not working or doing anything, but at the same time, I am getting pretty bored. Josh has been a trooper through his first surgery, and handling everything really well. Thanks hun!