the ending of a chapter

Writing those words are so sad! Life in little Provo, Utah has been such a happy, wonderful chapter in our life, and to say moving on from it was hard is an understatement. The past few months have been such a blur - A whirlwind of phone calls, doctor appointments, moving boxes, family get togethers, excitement and tears.

Here's a look our "final pages" in Provo, if you will.

 

When Uncle Jake came down for a visit, we spent a morning up at Bridal Veil Falls. Couldn't leave without saying goodbye to the beautiful canyon! 

*Also, somewhere up that mountain lies the remains of Jakes skinny corduroys, which he naively decided were great attire for climbing up the falls.

Before we knew it, our little house was all packed up, and everything we had to our name was shoved in the back of a truck.

It's so weird knowing your entire life can be contained in this:

Since Jared and his parents headed down a couple days ahead of Emmett and I, we said our final goodbyes to our home.

After a quick kiss and a "See you in Arizona", I cried watching Jared turn the corner in our Grand Prix for the very last time.

 

(yes, I documented it)

I am so grateful for all the friends, family, and members of our church who helped make this move possible. Between the quickness of the move and my pregnancy, we wouldn't have been able to do it without you!!

 

Emmett and I got to spend a couple days at Gramby's house before our flight, and Kaity and Rusty even came and stayed too so it was a grand ol' party.

We decided to go to Hogle Zoo on Saturday.

There's no shortage of pictures - last day remember??

 

 

There was a LEGO exhibit going on while we are there, and the top two pictures are a couple of their displays. They were pretty cool! The trick was convincing Emmett he couldn't ride that Polar Bear... he was pretty upset about that. He was also into the "Scuba Steve" outfit more than any of the animals... Go figure.

While we are/ have been excited for our new chapter, closing one is never easy. Thanks for a wonderful few years Provo!

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="">

easter fun at awful waffle

Awful Waffle is one of my favorite places to eat in Provo, so I was super excited when I heard about the Easter Event they were throwing! My excitement TRIPLED when I got there and realized both Emmett AND I got FREE meals complete with drinks!! I wasn't expecting that!

After we ordered our food, we headed to a couple different craft tables. First we hit up the bunny ears station.

Emmett was pretty excited about them - once I put them on he got up and started bunny-hopping around the restaurant.

Next we headed over bunny puppet bag station, and our food was served!

Emmett was loving his waffle with fresh strawberries, bananas and whipped cream

...while I enjoyed this delicious pesto-spinach pizza

Shortly after was a quick egg hunt (which also happens to be the best we attended this year! No crazy mobs or competitive parents, and Emmett actually got a little bag full of eggs)

trying sooo hard to reach! haha

Before taking off, we made a stop by a couple of the photo spots

Big shout out to Awful Waffle, Dream Catcher Baby, and Kinder for putting together such a fun community event! We had a blast!

mele kalikimaka

It seems Christmas just keeps getting better and better each year. Part of it is that Emmett's getting older and makes everything more fun, and part if it that the list of things I have to be grateful for just keep growing and growing.

This post is going to be mostly pictures, so get ready for an overload!

We kicked off Christmas a week early with the Ericksons up in Idaho. The granchildren had so much fun baking sugar cookies with Grandma, and having their very own decorating stations. Unfortunately I think I consumed most of them (as usual). Emmett got his fun pegboard from Grandma and lots of Play-doh toys from his cousin Julia.

After returning to Utah, we did our annual tradition of going to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square (isn't it everybodys?)  I love seeing how majestic the grounds look, there's such a special spirit felt there. It was FREEZING, so it's a good thing we all had the scarves and headbands Grandma Whittaker knitted us!

Jared and I also took Emmett to see the Festival of Lights, which we told him was the "North Pole". He loved it!

Finally it was Christmas Sunday, so we dressed in our holiday best! (Jared did too, but someone had to take the photo)

We went and spent the night up at my parents on Christmas Eve with the rest of my family. As you can see I had lots of fun playing with the Christmas lights.

We played Christmas themed "minute to win it" games, which luckily weren't documented on my camera (they got pretty crazy!). We watched lots of Christmas shows, set out our cookies for Santa, and went to bed dreaming of sugar plums... 

Santa brought Emmett a bike and he was so excited!

(Almost as exited as when he saw his Captain American fan in his stocking)

And THEN he opened Gramby's present (a Mater power wheels!!) and all other presents were forgotten...haha. Rufio was a little bent up he only got one gift, so he sat and sulked most the morning.

As you can see I undergo an outfit change, thanks to my stylish new pajamas (which I'm in at this exact moment). I know, time to get dressed right?

Thanks to all our family for making our holiday so special and memorable! We love you all!!

novemberrrrr

November is usually pretty cold, but this one has been unique! We had a giant snowstorm Friday and Saturday, and Emmett loved every single second of it. He is still reveling in the aftermath actually.

I, on the other hand, have mixed feelings. I always love the beauty and peace of the first snowfall. The way the the world is quiet and everything is bathed in clean, powdery white.  I always feel like I've been transported into a Christmas movie.  BUT.. its not Christmas yet! The problem is after like one month,  I'm done with it and ready for spring. So the fact that it hit early this year makes me a little nervous. Am I going to be sick of it by the time Christmas rolls around?

Regardless, I am more excited about it than usual because Emmett's joy over the "no" (snow) is infectious. Plus he looks adorable bundled up in his winter coat and light-up Lightning McQueen snow boots. We've already built our first snowman, shoveled our walks (which he probably loved even more than the snowman), and I can't wait to take him sledding for the first time! Having our own yard full of snow is going to be a winter wonderland for him.

Don't mind the tag on his coat, he was too excited to even let me cut it off!

Speaking our our house, I decided it was meant for the snow. It was cute in summer, but I feel like a rooftop of snow and white topped bushes are the perfect look for this cozy little cottage.

Don't you agree?

summer lovin

Summer was as great as ever this year. Actually especially great with our own yard to play in. We spent a lot of hours at our favorite place, Seven Peaks.

In July, I got the camera lens I've been pining over for a year and was (still am!) so excited! These are the very first shots I snapped with it.

We spent the 4th up in Kaysville with friends. We ate delicious food, swam to our hearts content, then went to the fireworks show.

July 7th, Caysen and my sister's boyfriend, Rusty, were baptized together. It was such an amazing day. I hope we always remember the spirit we felt there.

Then came more playing in the sun, more hiking, more biking, and more barbequing

We just can't get enough sun around here!