In Memory Of

Willie Ray Blocker

Feb 21 1920- Dec 9 2010

My Grandparents were two of the most influential people in my life.

I'm so grateful for the blessing of Eternal Families.  

I know he has been reunited with his eternal sweetheart 

(Grandma died Dec 2007)

and someday we will see both of them again

Christmas Devotional

Last night we were able to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  This was the first time I've ever been to the devotional (BIG HUGE THANKS to Connie for sharing some of her tickets!)  I loved listening to the MoTab choir and orchestra and as always loved listening to our Prophet and First Presidency.  For those who watched/attended, didn't you love President Uchtdorf's talk and reference to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas?"   

I realized that Nick and I have never seen the lights on Temple Square together and this is our THIRD Christmas together! I don't know how you get through Mormon dating/courtship without visiting Temple Square- isn't it some sort of requirement?!  So afterwards we walked around Temple Square, of course this was probably the worst night to do that because everyone else had the same idea so it was PACKED!  Surprisingly the weather was warm which caused this odd fog in the SL valley but made for really cool pictures of the temple.

Yay for the Demke girls!

*Que music As Sister's in Zion

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS around the Whiting house.  Yesterday we put up our Christmas decorations

I know everyone has this Nativity set but 

it's by far my favorite

We got this when we went to Disneyland earlier this year

Not the best picture but it's our little Christmas tree

Someone got his Christmas present a little early:

The new Windows 7 phone

and this is what he's been doing ALL weekend 

Ok, so this is what we've both been doing all weekend since I got one 

too I wasn't about to let him have all the fun by himself! We've been holding off on joining the smart phone club, we thought it was too expensive and Nick being the computer guy he is was anti-apple (so no iphone for us!)  But then they came out with the windows phone and that caught Nick's attention.  After a little research we found out it would only add $15 to our monthly bill and we got a great deal on the price of the phones from Costco. I have to say that this phone is totally a luxury and a want not a need but I also have to say that IT'S TOTALLY AWESOME! 

You say Goodbye and I say Hello!

Please pardon my lack of posting but the last few weeks have been 

busy because we moved into a new place. As far as moving goes, it 

really wasn't too bad-  we had lots of help from family and the weather

stayed dry (whew!)  We literally moved less than a block and stayed 

in the same ward  It's so close Uncle Rico could through a football 

from our old place to our new place-haha

Why the move?

1. It's cheaper (between rent and utilities we should save $100/month)

2. It's bigger

3. STORAGE UNIT

4. COVERED PARKING!!!!!  

Items #3 & 4 sealed the deal for me- 

I'm DONE scraping snow off my car at 5:30 AM

Here are a few pics: 

(new ones will come as soon as I get my CHRISTMAS decorations up!)

 I actually have counter space AND empty cupboards 

 Plenty of space for our cereal food storage!

YES, Nick really does eat all of that cereal 

 All of our furniture fits in our bedroom 

 Meet my new babies!

We got an AWESOME deal on these 

BRAND SPANKING NEW!

yay for pre-holiday sales!

Fighting the Flu

ME: "Hey Hon, lets run to Macey's real quick, 

we can get an ice cream cone"

NICK (unsuspecting husband): "Ok"

FLU SHOT!

Afterwards I got him an ice cream cone

 and let him pick a pumpkin

Just so you know, I got my flu shot about a month ago at work

and I didn't get any ice cream after, just a sore arm.

Cornbelly's

This weekend Nick and I took my sisters to Cornbelly's at

 Thanksgiving point. What better fall-tastic way to kick off the

 season then to get lost in a corn maze 

Jamie survived the creature 

Someone got a little hungry while wandering through the corn

General Conference

I was blessed to have this weekend off from work, so I could enjoy:

GENERAL CONFERENCE

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to listen to our Prophet's and other priesthood leader's messages of peace, encouragement and love. I am so grateful for our living Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson.  I enjoyed all of the talks given, I cried throughout Elder Jeffrey Holland's talk. 

Saturday night the Demke girls had our traditional G.N.O and went to Olive Garden for dinner, after the priesthood session we had scones with the boys.  Sunday morning my mom made a delicious breakfast with homemade waffles, homemade buttermilk syrup fresh peaches strawberries and homegrown blackberries--it was heaven!  Sunday dinner was with Nick's family, I made rosemary chicken and potatoes and it turned out super yummy!

After this great weekend of being spiritually (and physically) feed, I found out this morning that my credit card info had been stolen and someone made a $400 purchase on my Visa

AWESOME

Roman Holiday

2 years ago my girlfriend Julie and I were able to cross off a wish on our bucket list, we went to Europe- Italy, Greece and Turkey.  The trip was a mere 21 days we went all over Italy jumped on a cruise ship traveled over to Greece and Turkey and then back to Italy. Today I was looking at my pictures and I still can't believe I was there (PINCH ME!).  Nick and I were dating at the time and the trip was about 20 days too long for him, we only had minimal communication (a brief occasional email).  When I got home we both decided that we never wanted to be without the other and we became "unofficially engaged"  of course he didn't "officially" pop the question until over a month later (he was "waiting for the right moment") but that's another story for another time.  I've been blog stalking my friend Abbie, she and her husband just went to Europe over the summer, and her pics have been making me jealous (one day I'll go back, one day....)

 Venice:

 Florence:

Pisa:

 Turkey:

 Greece:

 For you Twilight fans- we were this close:

 Rome:

 Love Her:

Friday Night Lights

Last Friday night we went to a  local high school football game- it's a fun, cheap date.  It was TIMPVIEW T-BIRDS (Amber class of 2000)  vs MOUNTAIN VIEW BRUINS  (Nick class of 1996) Ahhh the days of insecurity, acne, peer pressure, the cool kids, and the not-so cool kids, first crush, first kiss and first heart break--Oh how I don't miss those 4 years.  Nick played sports (Varsity Basketball, cross country) and I was in the band (total NERD)-hehe :)

GO MARCHING BAND! 

My sister came too 

(and payed for us since we didn't have any cash- THANKS Chrissy!)

Oh What do you do in the Summer time?

Our wonderful summer is sadly coming to a close. 

 Here are a few pics of what we did to finish it off:

Move over Tiger Woods!

We tried not once but TWICE to go camping this year. Our first attempt we drove around for 3 1/2 hours looking for a camping spot EVERYTHING was full. Our second attempt was our ward camp out--it was POURING rain thunder and lightening-NO BUENO!

This week was the start of COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON, Nick has been so excited- the equivalent of me going to Disneyland :) haha  We went to BYU's opening game against Washington

It was RIDICULOUSLY hot we were MELTING in the sun 

 Did I mention it was SUPER hot?

Not sure what this guy was trying to accomplish with the hair

It was a nail-biter but the Cougars managed to pull off a WIN!