The waiting is over...

We found out Phil has passed all 4 sections of the CPA exam. I am so proud of my smart husband. What a great present for this relaxing holiday season.

FREE AT LAST!

I finished my last final today. Man does it feel good! I can't believe I am really done with school, amazing. Perfect timing for Phil to come to Utah tomorrow. I can't wait! Oh by the way Phil has now found out he has passed 3 of the 4 sections of the CPA, yay! One score left to go!

Christmas Time!

This is at the Ewell Christmas party. We were so lucky to have Santa come (the little kids were excited as well). I love the Christmas season. Here are a few of my favorite things about Christmas...

• My Nativity Set: I love the sweet reminder in gives us about Christmas' meaning.
• Family: I love being around our loved ones on holidays, I just wish we could be with all of them (too bad Utah, Texas, and California aren't closer).
• Christmas Mints: My mom has made mints since I can remember and I have made my own for gifts the past 5 years. Today between me, my mom, my sister Brittany, and my mom's friend Kim we made 14 batches which is 70 boxes and we are only half way done! Also, I get to teach my friend Bobbi on Wednesday which will be lots of fun!
• Christmas Lights: When else do you get an good excuse to put shiny, sparkly things around your house.
• Giving: giving gifts is one of my favorite things to do but it can also be considered a weakness because sometimes I spend a bit too much.

Oh Happy Day!

It's official! We closed on our house today after my sweet husband filled out papers for almost two hours. It’ll be so nice to drive to Texas after Christmas and move right into our home together. We’ll post pictures of it once we move in.

Thanksgiving Vacation

Phil and I went out to his Dad's in California last week for Thanksgiving. We had such a great Thanksgiving and it was so nice to see his Dad's family and his sister Heidi and her family. We don't get to see them often so we tried to soak up every moment. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. Family, great food, and fun- what more could you ask for? Here are a few pictures of the week. Thanks Harrison's for inviting us out! It was a blast.

At the tide pools
Harrison Family
Phil & Spencer Whetten Family
Andrew was the best buddy
Katy & Lauren

Lauren & Caleb

Cute Blake

Lauren loved the beach, can you tell?

I love all of these kids! They were so sweet and fun to be around. We miss you all already!

veni, vidi, vici

Well, my trip to Texas was very fun, productive and successful. We saw about 10 homes on Saturday and narrowed it down to 3. That same day we picked our favorite home and put an offer on it right away. The next day the owners accepted our offer and we are that much closer to becoming home owners! WOW, we bought a house in 2 days... all we have left is to do the inspection and hope it goes well. Our close date is supposed to be on or before December 12th. We were in shock yesterday while we took this in. While it is VERY exciting, we also feel a bit anxious about this big purchase. For those of you who know Texas, Natalie and Heidi :), the house is in Tomball (Northpointe East sub) and in the Parkway Ward. We love the neighborhood and the ward (church congregation) is full of younger families. I can't wait until we get to move in and live together again!
This is the house! It is one story with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a little over 2000 Sq ft. I will post pictures of the inside once we have moved in. Wish us luck :)

Texas here I come!

Well, we didn't get the house I had blogged about a while ago but that's ok. I guess that's what happens. However, since we did not get the house I get to fly out tonight for the weekend! I am so excited to see Phil! We are doing lots of house shopping tomorrow and hopefully we will pick one to put an offer on. Wish us luck!

UVU

I was sitting in class today and realized that I have a little over a month left of my career as a UVU student. This thought brought upon several emotions; joy, bliss, excitement, a bit scared for the unknown, sad, and some more. Since this next month is going to be crazy busy I thought I'd take a moment to document what I love, learned and could do without about my past 4 years at UVU.

What I love about UVU:

• The sweet new Library.. too bad I've only had it the past 2 semesters

• The smaller classes
• My program- Psychology rocks!
• Helpful teachers who care about my future
• The campus is connected by hallways. I never have to walk in the rain or snow to class!
• Love sacs
• Wolverines

What I've learned (besides academia stuff, that would bore you if I wrote all that):

• Students are always tired and will find anywhere to sleep.. in the hallway, on chairs/couches, the ground, in class, etc..
• Ratemyprofessor.com is pretty accurate
• Grades are strongly correlated to the amount of hours spent studying
• Use the first stall in the restrooms.. it's the one least used (random study from class)
• I am a BLUE personality
• I don't have a personality disorder.. fhew, haha!

Things I could have done without or kinda hated:

• Night classes and early morning classes
• Busy work
• Research
• Teachers who don't realize we have other classes than just theirs
• Cell phones going off in class
• Parking
• The basement of the LA building.. I live there and it gets old

For the most part I have enjoyed my time at UVU. I am glad I am able to finish my schooling and hope to get my Master sometime in the near future. I think my first priority it moving out with my sweet husband to Texas and finding a home and a job... then look into graduate school :)

Tagged!

Thanks Morgan, this was fun!

1. Where did you meet your husband? He was my Home Teacher my first semester at Branbury apts. however I was dating someone else and didn't pay much attention to him until spring semester when I was single and he started coming around more often.
2. How long did you date before you got married? hard to say.. we went on our first official date March of 2006 and broke up several times until September 2006. So if you count the entire time 1 year and 3 months.
3. How long have you been married? 1 year and almost 5 months
4. What does he do that surprises you? He always surprises me.. with what he says or does.. but I love it when he surprises me with flowers
5. What is your favorite feature about him? His face
6. What is your favorite quality? there are so many.. look at his birthday post to see them all.
7. Does he have a nick name for you?yes, smashlee, ash-face, beauty and the list goes on
8. What is his favorite food? fruit snacks
9. What is his favorite sport? to watch or play-Basketball but he also likes playing golf, tennis, and softball
10. When and where did you first kiss? At his apartment on our FIRST date (naughty Phil!)
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Just about anything.. hang out, go to the movies, play tennis, walk around the mall, play Wii, etc. we mainly just enjoy being together.
12. Do you have children? not yet
13. Does he have any hidden talents? He can win any disagreement (if you let him) with his logic. He also can remember quotes from just about any movie
14. How old is he? 26
15. Who said I love you first? I did and he didn't say it back! He told me like a month later
16. What is his favorite music? anything on his smile mix. (meaning anything that is happy)
17. What do you admire most about him? His strength and motivation.. especially now while he has so much on his plate
18. 18 was missing?
19. Will he read this? Yes
20. Who do you tag? Heather and Tricia!

The Courtney-Tricia Spectacular

My friends Courtney and Tricia threw a Halloween Party at Tricia's house this past weekend. I was so much fun. We had lots of food, pumpkin carving contest, fear factor, and dancing. Well really only Tricia, Courtney, me, and Caroline danced.. but it was fun. It reminded me of our dance parties we'd have our first 2 years of college.

Court as the lunch lady

Caroline the lumberjack

Me trying to be a modest pussycat doll

Normally modest and pussycal doll are not in the same sentence

Tim and Tricia as?? Dancer and thug hunter?

Cameron (Court's bro) and his wife

No one else dressed up so I guess I forgot to take their pictures too.


Pumpkin Carving Contest. Court, me, and Caroline did the skull and bones

Fear Factor, I made it to round two and Caroline made it to round three but cheated by having her brother do round two. Not fair :)!



We had so much fun! I've missed these girls! What a fun way to celebrate Halloween.

Halloween Treats!

My friends had a Halloween party the other night and I made these deliciously scary treats :) Go to this website if you want to know how to make them or find other great Halloween treats!

Monster Toes:


Salty (skeleton) Bones:


pictures from the party will be up soon!

HSM 3!!!

My Dad's work, Sara Lee, sponsors High School Musical so we all got tickets and cool t-shirts to go. Even though most of the family hadn't seen the first two we were all SO excited to go. Take notice that the only guy with us is my Dad. My sister's husbands so "no thanks" (ha ha) and Phil I'm sure would have done the same if he was in Utah. We loved the movie and either we are all just emotional girls or it's a emotional movie. We all confessed (expect for my Dad) to crying at least three times during the movie. It was fun hanging out with no husbands, it kind of felt like we were little girls again being taken care of by our parents. We love you Dad and Mom, thanks for taking us!


P.S. Phil is taking the second portion of the CPA exam today!! Good Luck Hunny!

Cross your fingers for us

We heard back this morning about the house and there is a few other people that put an offer on it. We were asked to place our highest bid today and I guess we will wait to see if we won. We told each other not to get attached to this house or get our hopes up... but we DID. So hopefully we'll get it because we have already decided what to do with each room (mainly Phil with his dream office and me with an awesome craft/art room). If we don't get it then we'll go back to the drawing board I guess. We are still holding onto hope so please join us :)

On the brink...

Phil and I did a lot of house shopping this past weekend in Houston. It was so fun and exhausting. We narrowed it down to three homes all in the same neighborhood. We decided to check out the ward yesterday and loved it. There were lots of young families and babies everywhere. While we sat there in Sacrament we realized (in Phil's words) "we are on the brink". It's like we are on the on-ramp looking toward the road ahead. We saw all the young parents and realized... that will be us soon. kinda scary?

We are making an offer on one of the houses today, who knows if we'll get it. I am trying hard not to get my hopes up but it is still pretty exciting!

this is the house... what do you think?

Happy Birthday Phil!

Phil showing off his dance moves :)

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband! I am so excited to be able to spend it with him in Texas! Let's just hope he doesn't get off too late. :)

Things I love about Phil

He is:

Patient
Thoughtful
Hardworking
Dedicated
Understanding
Loving
Focused
Logical
Responsible
Spiritual
Confident
Determined
Fun

Honest

Appreciative

and much more...

Sure love you Phil. Hope today is wonderful. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband.

Baby Kami's Blessing

My mom and Kami

Today I went to my cousin Dotty's baby's blessing. It was so special to be there. Baby Kami was blessed in her home. I loved seeing all my cousins (on my dad's side). We don't get together often but I enjoy every minute of it when we do. I am so mad I didn't take any pictures of my cousins but I did get a few of their cute kids. I was in baby heaven. I just love kids. Lately, seeing little ones kills me. I want one! :) I can't wait until I am in Texas on Tuesday with 3 of my 6 cute nieces and nephews. Oh and my sweet husband too, of course:)


Me and Heather with 2 of our cousin Grant and Shandria's Kids

URGENT: HOBBY NEEDED!

School is going well this semester. With the exception of the many breaks I have between classes. I have several 2 hour breaks between classes and on Mondays a 6 hour break. This has helped me to stay on top of my homework however, there is only SO much homework/ studying I can do. Currently during my 2 hour break I go to the gym or the campus library. However, that 6 hour break is a beast and I find myself too often at the mall. I need something else to do, since I don't have a house in Provo and it would be too much gas to go back to my parents in South Jordan. The mall is currently the enemy and I need to stay away or I will buy something. That can't be healthy, ha-ha :) So if you have any suggestions please share!

What a smarty pants!

He did it! Phil just found out that he passed the first of four sections of the CPA exam! I am so proud of him. I knew he would pass it, he is so smart. However, the suspense was killing me and I am sure killing Phil more. He did the hardest section first (SMART!) and has three more to go. Way to go Phil!

More pictures of the Wedding!

Chris and Brittany Kenner!

My younger sister Brittany married Christoper Kenner yesterday in the Salt Lake Temple. Phil's Grampa Kjar was able to seal them and it was so nice to see him. He is a wonderful man. After the Temple we went over to the luncheon at Chris's Parent's church building. They had Mexican food catered. It hit the spot! After that Phil and I checked into our hotel (which was amazing by the way, I totally recommend Residence Inn to everybody) we were exhausted and took about an hour nap before heading over to the reception. The reception was at Arbor Manor, it was perfect. I wish I took pictures of it because it is too hard to explain. I think about 400 people came. The line was out the door most of the night, it was insane. Brittany and Chris left in limo and we took off to our hotel with our to-go applebees. It was a long day but we were so happy to celebrate with them! They are such a cute couple and really bring the best out of each other.

I took Phil and our friend Jeanell to the airport this afternoon and it was so sad. Jeanell was my beehive leader in Nebraska and has stayed close to my family ever since. She has been able to come out from Idaho for mine and both of my sisters weddings. This time she brought her sweet baby Mylee, I wanted to keep her!

It was sad to take Phil to the airport but knowing that he is coming back to Utah on Wednesday to do some recruiting helped me to keep myself together (for the most part).

Girl Trip!

My friend's Brittany, Courtney, and I went out to Maryland for our friend Katelyn's wedding. It was so fun to see to see old friends and the east coast. We went to the Baltimore Aquarium, the Inner Harbor, and of course the wedding. It was a quick trip but so fun to be with my Maryland girls again! It kinda felt like we were in High School again because we got so silly being together for 4 straight days. It's probably a good thing our husbands didn't come, they would have thought we were pretty weird.

The pretty bride


Maryland girls


The Inner Harbor