"It's [her] day, [her] day of birth!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATALIE!

I know you've been disappointed that I haven't posted on my blog lately, but I am here to rectify the situation! And what better reason could there be than this, the 5th day of August, your birthday! Wahoo!

Well there is much I could say to you on this special day. But since this is a public blog and oh I don't know a whole five or so people may at some point read this as well, can I sing your praises? YOU'RE SO COOL!

I truly am grateful to have Natalie in my life. She is a wonderful sister and friend to me. I'm saddened by the thought of future summers without her (they only give those optometry students at Pacific their first summer off and then it's no nonsense the rest of the way!). Seriously though, these summers together are like the highlight of my year! We have so much fun without having to do anything in particular. Talking, laughing, watching movies or TV. I love it. Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, she gets me GREAT deals on glasses!! Yesterday, she brought home my new semi-rimless glasses AND my new prescription sunglasses!! (Two firsts for me; pictures to follow...not yet, I haven't taken them, but this is a blog-worthy occasion in my mind, so in time, they will come). But I've digressed!

Back to the wonderful woman of the hour (who is not as yet awake on this her day of birth). I wish you the happiest of birthdays, Natalie. You say you check this everyday. I guess this will be the true test of that claim. :) But I hope you haven't given up on me (or the blog). I was just waiting for a note-worthy occasion like Natalie Jane's 22nd birthday!! Again, I hope it's a happy one. We love you!!

P.S. You're so studious. :)

Though at this particular moment, you were merely taking score for our game of Hearts on a paper plate. But look at that focus! Heehee...

Oh and did I mention? Natalie, happy birthday!

[Root] beer bellies and happy palates!

I love root beer. It's one of my favorite things to drink. A few years ago, the birthday fairies (obviously informed by someone who knew me well) left me a beautiful arrangement of various brands of root beer. It was pretty exciting to walk up the stairs that morning and see all that root beer on the table waiting for me. I specifically asked for it this year (knowing we'd all be together, I thought it would be a fun time for another root beer tasting). Well, I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but I was right. Thanks to all those who contributed to the wonderfully varied selection! (And for your shared enthusiasm). :)

Cheers!

Weren't the Dixie cups a good idea? My mom is brilliant. And Jennie is very organized. :) Here is a picture of her line-up:

And the winners are...

Mmm. My favorite was Henry Weinhard's, Paula's was the Sioux City (which came in a very close second for me) and I think these were the majority favorites overall; though Teddy's deserves a special shout-out as it was Jennie's personal favorite. She felt it was the closest to Brick Oven root beer. Oh so good...I want to go there now!

And now for the root beer bellies. Well, Paula had little "Julio" as he is affectionately called by Natalie (i.e., unborn baby boy Whitmer) helping her out but you'd be surprised how much root beer can fill you up! I felt pretty full, it's true. But now that I'm posting about it, I wish I had another bottle right now!

I feel like I should break out into a rousing, personalized version of "these are a few of my favorite things!" I don't know where it would fit syllable-wise, but root beer would have to be in there somewhere! Yay for birthday root beer tastings.

Graduations, birthdays, and a new camera!

How do you follow-up a post about St. Patrick's day? I think that's been one of the reasons for my 2-month hiatus from this blog. I didn't know how! But having just returned from a week-long, mid-term, vacation in Colorado with my wonderful family, I think I've found just the right stuff. Plus, I received a sweet new camera for my birthday from my parents! It's SO cool. I promptly put it to good use and have over 500 pictures from our week together to show for it (for those choice souls who want to sift through that mountain, click here; for others not so ambitiously inclined, check out the abridged version on my Facebook album).

As for the rest of you, stick around, you're sure to come across an image or two in this here post (more like 10 or 20, if I'm entirely forthcoming).

The week started out with Michael's graduation! I can't believe my little brother (the same little brother who was just 11 years old when I left for college) has graduated from high school and will be going to college himself in a few short months. Though I wasn't in Jennie's position (10 years Michael's senior, she had the opportunity of attending her high school reunion during her stay in Colorado), it certainly gave me reason to reflect and feel, dare I say, a little old. Perhaps turning 25 had something to do with that too...but I digress (and truthfully, I still feel quite young, no worries).

The week progressed with my 25th birthday on Sunday and my mom's 50th two days later. I really can't remember the last time I was home with my entire family for my birthday (though I have a sneaking suspicion it was my senior year in high school, which was seven years ago), but it was really quite special. We had waffles for breakfast (seriously, my dad makes the BEST waffles I've ever tasted) and a late Sunday night dinner (after Michael's seminary graduation), but wow, my dad's burgers are totally worth the wait. It was delicious. He even made me one of my favorites for my birthday cake: his very own interpretation of Boston cream pie, er cake.

But on to more visually appealing elements of our week (as I mentioned, I got this awesome camera for my birthday so the pictures I have are from the next day forward). My Mom has been saying for several months now that all she wanted for her fiftieth birthday was for us to be together. Well she got that.

...and fifty presents to go with it, just like we had done to celebrate my dad's 50th last year. Each gift was delivered with a hug which she received throughout the day. (Those cute tags are the handy work of Jennie, while Natalie, Paula and I kept busy with the wrapping).

Mom got fun toys to play with the grandkids:

And of course some things especially for her:

Yes, my mom got a new iPhone for her birthday from our dad. I think it's safe to say that she LOVES it!

It was a great week. I love my family more than anything. I love being an aunt. True, I'm biased, but I think I have the cutest, sweetest nieces and nephew and any time I get to spend with them warms my heart.

I think I'll have to save the rest for a later date. It's getting quite late and as much as I'd rather it not be so, tomorrow marks my return to school. Turns out I've still got classes...hmm, what a bummer when for the last 10 blissful days it's been feeling like summer vacation. Not quite yet, I guess. Ah sigh.

Goodnight, world (and moon).

St. Patrick's Day with Jamie

Here it is: the long-anticipated St. Patrick's Day 2011 post, with pictures! For those of you who didn't get to see me on this special green day, I hope these pictures will serve as an acceptable alternative. And to make it a little more interesting, I'd like to intersperse some narrative to take you through a St. Patrick's day in the life of yours truly.

As I have already shown, I start to get really excited for St. Patrick's day about week before the big day (for a refresher, see this earlier post). Why fight it? So I gave in this year and decided to extend my observance of St. Patrick's day by wearing green every day of the week. I was not as consistent in taking pictures, unfortunately, but I started off right! Here was Monday:

I started off small, and let the green grow in prominence a little bit each day.

If you didn't believe me when I said I'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas, perhaps these next images of my St. Paddy's EVE will convince you:


Yes, my celebration of St. Patrick's day includes a separate outfit for the night preceding March 17th. Sure some of it is trying out different ways to wear my accessories, but I definitely have St. Patrick's day-themed pajamas! You have to prepare for these things, because March 17th starts at midnight! Mustn't be caught unawares and without green! I for one was wearing quite a bit of green in one form or another for the full 24 hours.

Finally, the day arrived! I was up at 5am and fully dressed and ready to walk out the door by 6am (not that I did, I busied myself with some other things until a more appropriate hour and ended up leaving at about 7am). But here was my morning!

The leprechauns made some not-so-subtle suggestions for what I should do. Whether it was books, or music, or movies, or pens, they had made their point and offered whatever was up to their green standard.







Even my backpack was festive! It turned out to be quite a fun and enjoyable day at school. I didn't have class, but the leprechauns left a message on the white board in the grad lab AND brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Yum! I also had the opportunity to attend a thesis proposal meeting and even saw a couple clients. Was I wearing my green? Yes, yes I was. It's funny, it had been this big dilemma for me because we're supposed to dress in business professional clothes and I worried that my get-up would detract from the counseling. So, in truth, I had planned on bringing my nice pants at least to change into when I was seeing clients...alas, I forgot. Genuinely! It really wasn't on purpose! But I have to admit it was pretty fun. They didn't mind; in fact I think they probably appreciated seeing such a different side of me.

After my campus commitments were satisfied, I went and visited a dear, dear friend who has seen and been with me on this day in the past and appreciates "Jamie on St. Patrick's day." It was fun to see you, Traci! I'm excited the leprechauns visited your home too!

And to top off a wonderful day, I got to go up to South Jordan to my sister's because my dad came into town on Thursday afternoon!! How exciting is that?!



It was a bit of a late night getting back to Provo (not even that late, actually, I was just worn out!) so I went straight to bed (I even put off cleaning up after the leprechauns, which is the arrangement I've agreed to).

I slept in another St. Patrick's day-appropriate outfit and it was blissful. In the morning, I got up and the reality of a full year to go before another St. Patrick's day set in.

But I waved my traditional goodbye to the green greatness of March 17, 2011...

Thanks for visiting, old friend. Please, come again. How about same time next year? Sweet.

The end.

Green origins!

When exactly did it start? How? Why? Good questions! But I'm afraid I don't know the answers. At least, not all of them. I love St. Patrick's Day. I love to wear the green. But as you'll see, it's taken some years to develop.

The oldest picture I have in my possession is from 2005. Freshman year, in the dorms. :)

Then came St. Paddy's day, 2006...

2007 - I love this hat. :)

2008 - A somewhat bigger Jamie :) had to lose the pants under the skirt and the hat, but I did wear green even on the mission.

2009

And finally 2010.

Coming up next, 2011! 3 days and counting!

"You are my brother!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!!

Well I don't know that Michael is much of a blog-follower/reader, but after I looked through some old pictures this morning, I couldn't help but post!

Not to worry, this isn't the last picture taken of us or anything. I just liked it. I can't believe how much and how fast you've grown, Michael! You're 18 today? That's crazy! And very cool. :)

I'm fairly certain this is the first video I've posted. And in my humble opinion, it's pretty awesome. I just love it. So I've named it Michael's Disneyland Dance (not to underplay your part in it though, Natalie) but for today's purposes, it might as well be his birthday dance! :) I hope he doesn't mind my sharing it!

And now for the more recent stuff. He is after all, 18 years old today (if you didn't catch that before).

And finally, one of my favorite pictures of all time (props to Michael Ciaglo for doing M-hans' Senior pictures, they turned out great):

Actually, it's a hard pick; I loved a lot of Michael's senior pictures...oh indulge me, just a couple more:

What can I say? I love this kid! Michael, happy birthday. Know that we are all so very proud of you and SO grateful to have you in our family and home. You're awesome, talented, fun-loving and the best little brother we four sisters could ask for. Happy 18th! :)