girls trip

kylie had a cheer competition in california and i just happened to have the weekend off work…
so obviously my only option was to head to cali with my bestie (aka my momma) for a girls trip!

it was the best idea ever.

kylie was busy with her cheer team so it was me and my mom hanging out for 4 days.
we got to do anything we wanted at whatever time we wanted, without the boys complaining or bossing us around.  heavenly.

so we…

...bought magazines and starbucks at the airport without criticism from the boys
...went shopping at whatever stores we wanted to for as long as we wanted to
...ate baja fresh and wahoos fish tacos and ate our hearts out
...laid out at the pool reading our frivolous magazines daily
...found the best vietnamese nail salon to relax with manis and pedis
...went to newport and laguna and walked along the boardwalk and the beach for hours
…read books every night as long as we waned until we fell asleep
…cheered kylie on at her cheer competition (where she did amazing and had the best spirit fingers)
…conquered disneyland and their fast passes and went on all our favorite rides
…decided it was necessary to get corn dogs and funnel cake and eat every last crumb
…and last but not least, survived a 5.3 earthquake that hit while we were there
(and hit right as i was getting out of the shower to the yelps of my mom "earthquake, get your clothes on!")
i prepared our room for potential future earthquakes and we now consider ourselves earthquake experts.

the trip was over all too soon.
thank you mother for an AMAZING vacay.
now the only question is, when can we do it again?!

utah @ usc

we were stoked to be able to go to LA for the game, mostly because ash & sam were going to be there!  

we hung out at the hotel for the night & then convinced ourselves we needed to go out and do something "LA-ish".  

and since our hotel was giving free rides to LA live, that's where we went.  

looking back it probably wasn't the best of ideas,
seeing as sam is 17 & ashley is recovering from a blood clot in her lung.  

but it sure was (kind of) fun for the 45 minutes that it lasted.

away game trips are definitely short & sweet. well. short and sweet if we win, short & miserable if we lose.

we left for LA at 3pm, the next day the game was at 1pm, and we were home by 9pm that night.  

most of us power napped on the way there,. and by most of us i mean dawson
(who falls asleep the second we take off)

and kylie & sam (who inherited the same whittingham gene that i have that makes us sleep with our mouths open).

the game itself was an absolute nightmare (turnover city AGAIN).
i kept thinking we were going to start doing better but then we wouldn't.
where did the team go that beat stanford? i don't know.

but before the misery started it was fun to hang out with the fam and tailgate.
whittinghams sure love food, even if it is average, mass-produced tailgating food.

while i still think the coliseum is one of the most obnoxious places to play ever
(their band is set up with speakers that blare right at the visitor section -
which i might add is the absolute worst seats of any visiting section in america),
it wasn't quite as bad as two years ago when the male cheerleader had a microphone
and kept saying in his extremely nasally voice "beat the yewts".

very fun trip, terrible game.
but we still think the utes can pull off a 6+ win season and go bowling!
(power of positive thinking, people, just go with it)

utah vs stanford

score 27-21

WE BEAT STANFORD!!!

i'm not lying when i say that i have had a good feeling about this game since before the season started.

i have faith in the utes and my pops and i even thought we could be 6-0 at this point

(which if a few plays had gone differently, we most certainly could be).

dawson and i were twins, which seeing as we got ready together you might think was planned,

but it actually was completely by coincidence.

all the cousins were cheering jason, coach whitt, and the utes on.

jason was a beast as always.

he dislocated his kneecap during the game and after getting it taped up, went right back out on the field.

he was definitely the MVP in our mind!

after the game and field celebration were over, we didn't want the party to end.

so we headed to in-n-out for another victory meal!

all i'm going to say is if we keep having huge wins like this,

you might be seeing our waistlines expand... but it'll be worth it!!!

cuzzin ashley

 

ashley has been in town for the past 3 weeks and it has been FABulous.

i wanted to hang out with her 24/7 but she did this silly internship thing and was productive with her life.

lame.

luckily she had to eat to survive so i got to go out to eat with her and anyone else who could join us,

as well as see some dollar movies (we can't break the bank here)

and simply just hanging out and talking/laughing til our stomachs hurt.

 

jason and i also talked her into going out to breakfast with us a lot for "cousins club".

together we hit up almost every breakfast joint in salt lake and gained about 10 lbs each.

well except for jason, who is a beast and can eat whatever he wants and still be 100% solid muscle.

"it's so hard for me to gain weight, i have to eat ALL the time" - jason.

wah wah wah.

why do boys have all the luck?

ash is now back in cali for her last semester at cal poly and to say i am going to miss her is an understatement.

but i will live vicariously through her with all her college stories that make me both miss college and also be so glad i am done with that part of life at the same time.

(friends, parties, sorority = fun. dating, class, drama = misery)

i'm keeping my fingers crossed that an amazing job is available in utah come january so we can keep this girl here permanently.

 

iAugust

[it's very hard for dawson to keep his eyes open with a flash. don't judge him.]

[name that drive-thru and you win a million dollars!]

[poor dash will wait patiently outside the door for hours without budging, waiting to be let inside.]

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.