iJuly

horse whisperer

i would like to share a story of when i was a little girl of about 8 years of age.  i had a slight obsession with horses and i would read books about them and play with my collection of model horses for hours and hours (i don't know why i was such a nerdy child).  i was thoroughly convinced i would someday be the first girl jockey to win the kentucky derby.

now to the point of this story.  we were out bowling as a family, and i got a strike.  my dad was very impressed, and when i got a second strike after that he was in shock (remember i was only 8 yrs old).  my dad was then bold enough (or doubted me enough) to throw this bet out:

"missy, if you can get THREE STRIKES in a row, i will buy you your very own horse"

i'm sure you can guess what happened next.  that's right, I GOT ANOTHER STRIKE!  what can i say, i was on fire.  nothing can stop a determined 8 year old from her dreams.  i was the happiest girl in the world knowing that i was soon on my way to the kentucky derby.  well, now it's almost 20 years later and i'm still wondering where my horse is???  i'm sure my dad is just waiting to find the perfect one...

anyway, he DID at least take us all horseback riding (on borrowed horses) in park city last week.  all the whittinghams channeled their inner cowboy/cowgirl and hit the trails.  we were naturals, and i'm certain that given the chance i could still make it to the kentucky derby.    

7.21.11

happy 2nd anniversary!

with everything that has been going on in our lives lately,

we decided to make this year a very laid back anniversary celebration.

no anniversary trip obviously meant that we could spend our day eating as much food as possible,

so our first stop was dawson's surprise choice of a breakfast spot. 

pig & a jelly jar did not disappoint. 

i pulled the classic restaurant girl trick:

find two things i want off the menu consisting of one semi-healthy thing that I can order, 

and then something ridiculous unhealthy for dawson to get that i can't justify ordering myself 

but can somehow eat as much as i want to off of dawson's plate and it's fine because HE ordered it.

i'm glad i did because while my egg sandwich was fantastic,

his biscuits and gravy were so freaking amazing that i was leaning over the table

eating off of his plate for most of breakfast.

after our breakfast put us in a minor food coma,

we did our favorite saturday activity:

going to open houses and pretending we are in the market to buy one.

since it was our anniversary we decided to go to classier open houses,

and fell in love with a darling house that was about $200,000 over our imaginary budget.

(which is sadly still bigger than our actual budget)

we decided that it will be a few more anniversaries til that can be a reality.

then we had to hang out with the dasher of course,

so we went on a quick hike to dog lake.

dash usually makes the whole hike with ease, 

but the 100 degree heat didn't agree with his black body so daw had to help him out a little.

that's why his tongue is hanging out like he is has rabies.

when we finally decided we could fit some more food in our bellies,

we headed to my surprise choice of dinner.

i had heard from so many people that pallet was amazing,

and we now officially agree with them.

granted we are very talented orderers and can usually pick out the best items on the menu,

but that night we were especially on top of our game.

gnocchi for an appetizer, ravioli for dawson and salmon for me

(yep, sticking with the same ordering style from breakfast).

we went from planning on taking half of our meals home for leftovers,

to fighting over the last bite and licking our plates clean.

my mouth is watering just remembering all this food deliciousness.

hanging out with dawson all day was the best anniversary celebration i could have asked for.

i'm even more grateful for him now at two years of marriage than i was on our last anniversary.  this second year of marriage has taught us so much about each other and the strength of our relationship.  dawson is my very best friend, and it amazes me that we can continue to grow closer and i can still fall more in love with him every day.  my life got better the minute dawson became a part of it, and i will forever be in amazement that i was lucky enough to become his wife.

i can't wait for what the future holds in store for us in our 3rd year together as

  mr. and mrs. kent.

whittinghams in wahweap

since my dad we decided to go to powell for a week instead of hawaii this year,

my dad made sure that we were riding down there in style.

he got a motorhome for us all to ride in so we could be together THAT much longer.

out of all of us, i'm pretty sure dash loved this idea the most.

dash also LOVED LAKE POWELL.

he is a hardcore waterdog and would fetch his bone no matter how deep we threw it.

and he tired himself out digging in the sand for hours.

dawson was so proud that even though dash is a yorkie poo, he isn't a "sissy dog".

as you can see from the millions of pictures we took with him,

i was pretty stoked to have dash there with us too.

(but my mom might have been even happier, dash is literally her wannabe grandchild)

the rest of the pictures are just all of us looking as white trash as possible.

of all the things you can do in lake powell, look glamorous is NOT one of them.

don't judge us, just go with it.

coach whit still has skills!

even though the motto for the week was:

 "if it CAN go wrong, it WILL go wrong"

(locked keys in motorhome, sunburns, flash storm, flat tires, etc.)

it was still a great whittingham family vacation.

and since lake powell seems to be the place to be this summer, 

we will be headed back there next week!

CAN'T WAIT!!!