we'll raise our colors high in the blue, we're the cougars of BYU...!!

So much has happened in the past little while, it's hard to know where to start! It all got set in motion a couple months ago (was it really only a couple months ago??) when Jared wrapped up his Masters in Engineering (Woohoo! Go Jared!)

I was able to attend seminar the day he presented and watch him do his thing! It was such an extensive project - he worked around the clock on it for nearly 2 years and spent a lot of time out on site He did a great job. Doesn't he look so official?

That night we went and celebrated his huge accomplishment at PF Changs with my sisters

About a month later it REALLY became official, when Jared walked and received his Degree.

It was neat because Kirsten and Rusty both graduated as well! So it was a big day in the Whittaker household!

I am so proud of all you guys for your hard work! I know how hard Jared worked for this moment, and am glad we were able to celebrate it with all our family.

 BYU has been such an important marker in our life - during our time here we've had our first child (well ALMOST two!), learned many life lessons, strengthened invaluable relationships with family, and created lifelong friendships with those in our neighborhood. I think Ziggy Ansah summed it up best when he said "I didn't just go through BYU - BYU went through me." We will miss you BYU and will forever carry you in our hearts <3 p="">

run of remembrance

Kirsten swindled us all into signing up for a Memorial Day 5K run just 2 days before the race. Luckily we had some pretty patriotic garb at the ready!

I look a little spent and Emmett has some bedhead going on - but hey, since when have we let that stop us?

Our finish was so "impressive", it made the cover of the race e-mail! Not sure if thats something to be proud of or embarrassed of... I'm going to go with both

And because Ems was such a trooper, I ran through the finish line a second time with him in tow :)

Next stop half marathon??..... Someday!!

april showers bring may flowers

Since I've totally dropped the ball on the blog, I'm going to have to do a few catch up posts on everything we've been up to this summer. It's been a busy one - and we're loving it! With Emmett being older, he's so easy to pack-up-and-go. It has enabled us to do lots of fun things.

Here's some pictures from the month of May -

Going on a bike ride with his bud Will

Wrapped up as a present for Mother's Day :)

This is a trip we took to Thanksgiving Point.

And I couldn't get over the fact that this horse had a moustachio!! Haha!

 Emmett was introduced to the joy of horseback riding

My Grandparents drove all the way out from Sacramento in May, and it was so much fun getting to see them! I miss them a lot since we've moved. It had been almost a couple years since I'd seen them last! Emmett warmed right up like he'd known them all along.

Emmett & Lolo (Great Grandpa Whitttaker)

And here they're joined by Lola

Here I am with both my Grandmas

Then it was finally time for Kaity's Graduation! She looked great and I'm so proud of her for all her hard work!

And I can't forget about our trip to the Bean Museum at BYU!

This is an actual "Liger!" Apparently they weren't just made up on Napoleon Dynamite! She was from the Hogle Zoo.

 We told Emmett this was "Lion King"

Pumbaa!!

This bear was terrifying to even stand next to. I love this picture because Emmett is up on Jared's shoulders and the bear still towers over them significantly! I wonder if he was actually a result of hunting?!

One month covered, two to go! :)

Trois Ans...and still in love

Jared and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary a couple weeks ago. It was a Monday night and Jared worked that day so we didn't do anything extravagant, but we still had a great time.
We went by my favorite dessert place and picked up a slice of triple layer Madagascar Vanilla cake to share. I Loooove Madagascar Vanilla, and this cake was uh.maze.ing. The problem was that Emmett felt the same way... I figured he was very much a part of our special day and gave him a taste too, in celebration. But by the time I'd eat a bite, and be getting a bite ready for Jared  (we got it to go and ate it in the car) Emmett would be in the backseat kicking his legs and yelling "ah! ah! ah! ah!" frantically to alert me he wanted another bite. I think he mayyy have ended up eating more than Jared. haha.
Finally when all the cake was gone, Emmett was still squawking in his carseat for more. I showed Emmett the empty carton and did the sign for "all done" and said "We're all done, there's no more!". Emmett replied with a sad whimper and the "want" sign. LOL. Now that's a babe that knows how to communicate! And we know exactly where he gets his sweet tooth from :-)
Since we didn't really do anything that night, we decided on buying tickets to see "Thriller" a halloween dance show that goes to 5 different locations around Utah. I've been wanting to see it for the past couple years, so we figured we'd take advantage! I'll post next month and update how it goes! What I really want to find out is how I can be IN the show. We all know I'd love that!

I had to put at least one wedding picture - as is standard for the "anniversary post" but I thought it would be be more fun to post a few pictures from back when we were dating! So enjoy!

(raiding his parents closet. Yes these were their legitimate clothes!)

(how and where we met! Snowboarding class in college <3)

Could we look any younger?!?! Well it's amazing how far we've come in these past three years, and I am so happy and excited for many, many more. Here's to us!

Proud to be an American

We celebrated the 4th of July with a barbeque at my parents house. We ate lots of yummy food, played on the trampoline, and lit off some fireworks. Here's a picture of the Mud Pie I made for dessert. I made up the recipe myself, and I was so proud with the way it turned out! Oreo crust with delicious layers of fudge, mud pie ice cream, cool whip, peanut butter, vanilla ice cream, and then topped again with cool whip and drizzled with fudge.

Like my patriotic outfit?

I made sure Emmett was dressed for the occassion too, of course.

I've been working on getting my running back since having Emmett, and I thought it would be fun to run a 5K. So in honor of the 4th, Kendall and I did the "Freedom Run" on Monday.We set our alarms for 5am and headed down to pick up our packets.

 It was a ton of fun. There was almost 5000 people there, and the huge group of us stood and said our pledge of allegiance to the flag as it was raised at the starting line. Tons of hot air balloons were in the sky above us, and a guy sang the star spangled banner. The Governor was even there running with us!  Part of our run was along the parade route which was going to take place later that morning. People had already set up their tents and chairs and were camping out early waiting for the parade to start, so we had tons of people standing on the sides of the road cheering us on. We finished strong and were awarded with these lovely finisher medals. Don't we look so official?

PS- I did a few posts at once the other day so make sure you scroll down to see them all :-)