come what may and love it

My brother had to write something for a class that inspired people to act or think in a certain way. This is his story.

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In November of 2000, five months after I turned six years old, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer involving the immune system. I still remember, but I’ve enlisted my mom to help share my story.

coming to a close

I can't believe we're one game away from the end of football season. It seems like just yesterday was fall camp. And yet, when you really think about it, it seems like an eternity ago. Why is it always like that? It's so weird! I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with the team this past year.

Here's a look back...

fall camp

thanksgiving

Better late than never for a Thanksgiving post, right? The weather starts to cool down in Provo and that's Mike's sign it's time to pack our bags. Nov. 2 marked our first adventure as we jetted off to... LONDON! It honestly was a dream come true for me. I'll hopefully get around to posting pictures this week. After a short two weeks back in Provo we headed to Palm Springs for Thanksgiving with my family. Two and a half weeks later (this Thursday) we'll be off to Maui before wrapping up Christmas at my house in California. I love all our travels! But January rolls around and it's nice to be in one place :)

For Thanksgiving, we got together with my dad's family for my Papa's (AND his twin sister's) 90th birthday! It was great to see my dad's side because we rarely are able to anymore. It was neat that every member of both families was there to celebrate at the big birthday bash. Happy Birthday Papa!

trips

Lots of trips lately for this family! Mike and I went to San Francisco two weeks ago for a couple days and then spent some time with my family. Mike had never been to San Francisco and I couldn't believe it! Although I'm a country girl at heart, I love visiting the big city. I was happy to share this great place with him. Thanks to my iPhone for all of these pictures. As much as I love my nice camera, sometimes it's just more trouble then it's worth (especially when with someone who never wants to take any pictures!)

i love to see the temple

I'm so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm so grateful for missionaries... and that my brother is preparing to serve the Lord and spread the gospel to all the ends of the world. His excitement reminds me of what a great and marvelous work we are part of.

I love that the talks are online now from General Conference. I love reading the inspired words of a living prophet and modern day apostles. I had quite a few favorite talks (don't we all enjoy most of them?) but one that stood our in particular was Elder Holland's. He is a powerful speaker and always reaches right to my soul. You can read the entire talk here.

"To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like... What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.

My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”¹³ And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments,”¹⁴ Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-Apostles without “a single synagogue or sword”¹⁵ to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live.

To all within the sound of my voice, the voice of Christ comes ringing down through the halls of time, asking each one of us while there is time, “Do you love me?” And for every one of us, I answer with my honor and my soul, “Yea, Lord, we do love thee.” And having set our “hand to the plough,”¹⁷ we will never look back until this work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

candance + jesse

Congratulations to my beautiful cousin Candace and her new husband Jesse! The two sealed the deal for eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple before a fun-filled (and tear-filled) luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was so sweet to hear everyone talk about Candace and attest to the incredible person she is. I have so many amazing memories with this girl, she's a blast! Candace is always a party to be with and the nicest girl you'll ever meet. It's safe to say she's everyone's favorite. She looked absolutely beautiful and I could not be happier for her. Jesse and her are a perfect match and I'm so excited for them to start their life together!

I love weddings. I loved getting together with family for such a happy occasion... and remembering the day Mike and I said "I do." It was the first time I saw my cousin Cami since she got pregnant. I'm so excited for her and Cody. I adore them both so much! My cousin Chanel is a hoot to be around. I have so much fun with them!

They had a donut bar and I'm pretty sure everyone was in heaven! But mostly my sister Shelby :)

lost and found

You know when you desperately look everywhere for something you really need to find... and literally can't find it anywhere? That's me right now. And I'm in a total panic. Luckily for me, Mike somehow finds a way to save the day even all the way from California (for business). Instead of what I was looking for (even though I do still need to find it!!), I found something to make me forget how worried I was and leave me with the biggest smile.

I'm a little obsessed enamored (you get the idea) in love with fairy tales, especially the Disney princess stories. When my sister and I were younger, my mom always called her angel and me princess. Ever since I was a little girl, I've dreamed about having my own fairy tale. I also love to read and LOVE children's books. After Mike and I got engaged, I had the brilliant idea of us needing to collect books for our kids (I don't know how I got Mike to go along with this as long as he did). Every time we went somewhere that had books he'd let me pick one (or five) out. This was especially dangerous because it was Christmas... the best books! I love all things magical. 

On Valentines Day I woke up to find a collection of Disney princess books on the counter for me. But that sweetest husband of mine had added another one to the classics, a book he titled, "My Princess Whitney". He made a little book of our love story and even drew pictures. My heart melted. And it melted all over again when I found that book tonight.

I can't get enough of this guy and I can't wait for him to come home. 

fall colors

disclaimer: pictures do not do ANY justice

Two weeks ago Mike treated me to a day of whatever I wanted to do (he is the sweetest!) I had really wanted to go hike around Sundance because of how pretty the colors were when we took family pictures. Because Mike is not a fan of hiking, I made a couple attempts to go up while he was gone on business. But my plans seemed to keep falling through, mostly because it kept raining on me! When Mike got back he knew I still hadn't gone so he threw on some running shoes and took me up. While we were driving we started talking about the Alpine Loop, I had never been past Aspen Grove. So we compromised - we could drive the Alpine Loop if we didn't stop and hike haha hence the reason I was left to snap a couple pictures from inside the car, while driving. I can't believe how beautiful Provo Canyon is. We live in such an incredible place! My family's home is in the mountains in California and it's breathtaking, but nothing beats the fall colors here. I love being in nature and away from the city (I grew up in the country and nothing could have been better). It gives you such a different perspective on life and reminds you of the things that are most important. It's a great opportunity to get away from the rush of the world and remember all that you have to be grateful for. We've been blessed with an immaculate world to live in and I couldn't be more thankful to my Heavenly Father for it.

weekes family pictures

 
We took family pictures with the Weekes family the other weekend. Thanks for the great pictures Heather Telford! I had to drag Mike there, he wasn't too happy of a camper. He sure does love taking pictures! (not) But he was pleasantly surprised with how painless they were. We took them up at Aspen Grove and it is absolutely breathtaking up there! Mike has lived in Provo all his life and said he has never seen it that pretty. The colors are amazing. I'm so grateful for such wonderful in-laws. I couldn't have married into a better family!

[p.s how cute is my niece gwen?! p.s.s. yes mike and i are rocking the prom pose]

my little friend gwen

Mike and I love our little niece Gwen! She is too cute for words and is our favorite little friend! She's a ball of fun and growing up so fast. A couple weeks ago we took her to Red Mango and then to Costco. She wanted a toy and picked out these little puppet dogs. I'm not sure if she had more fun playing with them or Mike :)

labor day in vegas

Vegas has seemed to be the central meeting spot for my family of late, as it's halfway between my family's two locations. We missed Mike over the weekend, but had an amazing time, as always. I'm so blessed to have such a FUN family. There is never a dull moment, especially with Steele running around and making us all laugh.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay, we love their pool! It was perfect for the hot weather. We had fun riding our the waves in the wave pool.

Yes. This is what my brother looks like... when he's NOT flexing. Man I wish I had his 'problem'.

It was Trygve's birthday the week before so we celebrated at Capital Grille. It was so good! Steele loved his lobster!

My brothers are the best! They may be five years apart but they are so close. Steele looks up to Chad so much. It's the sweetest thing.

On the way home Shelby picked up some shock tarts, or shockers, or whatever they're called (I forgot how good those things are!) and was making the FUNNIEST faces! She couldn't help it... and I
couldn't help laughing.

Here's to another amazing weekend with my family! Thanks mom!

And can you believe how nice Steele is.. he gave me his iPad! Last time I was at home he noticed that I was playing on it a lot and so he wanted to give it to me. How lucky am I to have him as my brother!

forever family

I'm so grateful that I'll be with my family forever.

 

So happy Chad is here, but not sure how I feel about these sprint workouts!

Saturday morning football game

Snow cones are our favorite

DARK KNIGHT - so good

He loved riding my bike everywhere :)

Second time last week the sisters wore the same outfit on accident haha

Dinner at Happy Sumo

Watching Mike's flag football game

Fun day at Seven Peaks

Never want to let this guy go!

Because my family lives in California, it was such a treat to be with them for the past month. We spent a weekend in Vegas before a week at Powell, followed by two and a half weeks in Provo. I'm so grateful that I didn't have to say bye to Chad (he's starting BYU in a month), but already miss my sweet mom and Steele. They are the most fun people to be with in the world! I'm jealous of all the parties those two are going to have :) Thanks mom for making the month of July one of my best! I wish they lived in Provo with the rest of us, but am beyond blessed to have my brother and sister right next door. There's nothing like family.