Merry Christmas!

Thanks for reading about us... Here are some things exciting things we've been up to:

We started out the year by celebrating our marriage (two years). 

Brad attended (as a graduate) BYU's Commencement Ceremonies.  We are both proud to be Bachelor grads.

Since Brad wasn't knocking doors all summer, we definitely made the most of it: taking trips to California, hanging out with family and friends, and making our annual visit to the State Fair - my favorite event of the year.

We both, of course, grew older. I was excited to have a birthday party with friends (since usually we're too far away) and Brad enjoyed birthday BYU games and food and family. 

Our Halloween costumes were not as intense as last year, but fun nonetheless.

The holidays have entered with Thanksgiving in Utah.

Now our home is decorated for the Christmas season, and we're awaiting the end of my Christmas Eve workday to scurry to Vegas for a quick celebration!

Enjoy the most wonderful time of the year!

merry christmas!

                                                                                                                             love.brad+whitney                 ...

To visit the fam...

 Because of pre-blogging, I am most likely working right now! I'll be on my way to Vegas for Christmas Eve in no time at all!! Here are some pics of when Risa, Eric, and bunny came to visit earlier this month!

Me and my little twin star!

 She know she's leaving me so naturally, she's worried.

they'll be parties for hosting...

Ok so I didn't really host a party...  

Jenn and Misha came into town for Christmas so we all gathered together for some festivities.  Our original plan was to go ice skating, but it was RAINING (yes, raining, weird huh!) so we opted for some indoor activities.

We congregated at Treesh's house for pizza.

Then headed over to Fat Cats for some bowling.

We killed the wait time for two lanes by playing arcade games (Alisia and her tickets).

We played a round robin, girls vs. boys air hockey.  This is after Treesh and I scored a goal - hence my blocking Rat's head.

The boys basically killed us because Brad's a cheater and pancake smashes the puck which is totally illegal.

Oh yes, it was cosmic bowling night.  And they were playing club music.

 Basically, I BEAT BRAD AT BOWLING!! I had something like 120 and he had something like 108... I have the scores printed out but I'm too lazy to find them. Of course, I had bumpers, but STILL. I had two strikes that didn't touch the bumpers and for me to hit pins at all with or without bumpers is a feat. We considered going clubbing that night, but Alisia forgot her id so there was no point in forcing Treesh and Jenn into going.

 

Our outdoor group shot after a fun night (and before an hour and half drive home due to freeway closures because of pedestrians getting hit on the I-15).

And since Jason's seems to be high in this one, I'll post the second one for Alisia (although Jenn and Misha are falling in that one - photoshop them together in your brain).

 

Nevermind, maybe that's just his face. ;)

Welcome to the Record

 David and his roommate Landon had a final project for History of Creativity (a class they were in).  They had to do something creative that was a modern day epic.  David and Landon wrote some lyrics and sent them to Brad. Brad wrote the music and recorded the song for them (recording, editing, instruments, etc. - basically I'm bragging about Brad).
I came home to this lovely scene:

 

Because I know you want to hear it, here it is.

(In order to add it, I made it a movie. The movie is just pictures of me and Brad to last the full length of the song. It is not critical that you watch it, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you do.)

My favorite part is the end... when I get to yell with the group. ;)

a time for sharing and caring

After we went snowboarding, we ran over to Macy's for an Angel Tree gift (since Christmas is all about giving, right?).
We picked a name from the ones left (they were all 20+ years old).  Ours was an older lady who liked the color purple and wanted pjs and clothes - my department.

Our pictures are kind of lame (we were in a hurry - we hadn't eaten yet since snowboarding), but they are pictures, so be grateful. ;)

a shared interest.

Brad and I share a strong interest (it's one of very few commonalities between us): food.
Recently, we ventured out to Spark for dinner. Let me tell you: it. was. so. good.

 Brad's Kobe Beef Burger. Awesome. Also those fries?! Secured the spot for best fries in Provo.

 My mac and cheese.  What?! Mac and cheese?! No, seriously, it was AWESOME.

Dessert was this weird cheesecake tower. Also awesome. Those thin wafer cookies + their cream cheese filling = love.

I dream about going back.

Bonus: As my Christmas present to you, I have posts scheduled all week long so you can enjoy the best thing about Christmas: having friends like us.

let the snowboarding season begin!

Brad has been counting down the days until we went snowboarding again (he now considers himself a legit snowboarder).  Luckily our buddy Jon hooked us up with free passes so we could enjoy a day on the mountain.

This is a back way pass that looked really pretty.

oh ps is was COLD. I couldn't feel my fingers after snapping these shots.

Brad on said weirdy back pass.

We ran into my uncle and cousins up there (they hooked us up last year) so I had fun boarding with them for awhile as well!

And there you have it.  We're cool.
{PS I added the missing Thanksgiving pictures if you're interested in seeing an awesome shot of me and an awesome shot of the Jello}

SHOP NOW!

Every year, December means one thing: the American Crafts Warehouse Sale.

This is no ordinary sale. I only buy anything scrapbook related here (pens, brads, stickers, paper, ribbon, sticky, envelopes, albums, gift boxes - ANYTHING); I guess it's really anything paper related.

Serious - check out my swag:

 And... it all cost LESS THAN $30!  Shocking right?  

More details on the stuff I got:

Approx. pricing in rainbow order (I honestly can't remember exact prices, but these are PRETTY accurate):

red - gift boxes, 6 packs of 3. 6 for $5

orange - pens, 10 total. $.75 each (but the cashier hooked me up and made them $.50 because he was cool)

yellow - pack of 60 sheets of heavy weight cardstock, $6 (maybe that's wrong)

green - 6 packs of cute stickers, 6 for $4 (or $1 each, but once you get to three you might as well get three more)

blue - 6 adhesive runners (3 dots, 3 solids), 6 for $4

purple - packs of envelopes, 4 packs of 12 5x7 envelopes, 2 packs of 25 4.5x5.75 envelopes, 6 for $4

Awesome deals right?

It's open 9-6, Monday thru Saturday.

LAST DAY IS SATURDAY!!

This is my third year going - Please go so they'll keep doing it!

AMERICAN CRAFTS
476 N. 1500 W.
OREM, UT 84057

I'm thankful that Brad's family had Thanksgiving in Utah so we didn't have to make Thanksgiving SUPER lame since I worked the night before and the morning after.

I am also thankful that I got wise and decided to bring a change of clothes for the athletic activities that follow our gorging.

The Pre-Dinner game:

 This picture is one of my favorites; it looks like an ad campaign for happiness, family, and fun.

I was not here... Instead, I was putting up the Christmas tree.

After dinner activities:

Dodgeball

Basketball

Trust Fall

When I'm not sick and lazy, I'll post the picture of the Jello we brought - Brad and David made it and they did pret-ty, pret-ty good. (Curb your Enthusiasm)

The Jello (finished product in the background, I just liked the look of the edge of the pan)