Jared Graduated!

I just wanted to let everyone know I graduated (finally).

Also, I start a new job in Salt Lake tomorrow at Schiff Nutrition (www.schiffnutrition.com). I will be working as a Lean Specialist. (Lean is a methodology for reducing or eliminating waste from value added processes in work) We are also looking at houses in the West Jordan and North Salt Lake areas. Just in case you didn't see on Facebook, but I'm pretty sure you did.

Starting my MBA!

Hey Cousins!  I'm just about to start my MBA program through Duke.  I've started a blog to keep people updated on the experiences I'm having.  The link is http://www.billsmba.blogspot.com/.  Feel free to request access if you'd like to follow my adventures to 6 countries over the next 16 months!

-Billy

The Weekend in Utah

We had the opportunity to make a quick trip to UT to be apart of Andrew and Starrie's endowment and sealing, as well as Michael's endowment. It. was. wonderful.

I was able to do a family name for both endowment sessions, but for Andrew and Starrie's I did a name I have kept with me since I did her initiatory work because I had such a powerful experience with her. And once again, toward the end of the endowment an overwhelming feeling of the spirit, as well as appreciation came over me, and I couldn't hold back the tears. I know this woman has been waiting and waiting, and it was an honor to do her work for her. So, not only was that nice, but seeing Andrew and Starrie together, of course, was great.

Later on that evening we went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple for Michael's session. It was a bit stressful with all the traffic, which ended up making a few of us REALLY late. It all worked out though, and the entire family was able to get into a later session. Once again, the spirit was there, and I was able to feel Michael's presence in the celestial room. It was a very personal experience, but I know Michael is in a good place, and what a comfort it is to know that!

One of the biggest things that stuck out to me was the proof of just how loved we are that the Lord has made it so it's never too late to repent and make such special and vital covenants for our eternal lives. Not even too late for Michael. I have a whole new outlook and deep appreciation for the Lord's mercy.

And definitely one of my new favorite things to witness in the temple is a little one being sealed to their parents. There is nothing more sweet and pure and just pain happy to see than that! Jocelynn was as cute as ever, and their family, their now eternal family, is beautiful.

The whole weekend was wonderful and I was just so happy we were able to get some time off to be apart of it. I love the family I'm in and it's always so nice to see everyone!

Joe and Nicia's Update

Nicia and Joe here! There are a few things we can report on. Joe has been working on finishing the bathroom in the basement. That's the last thing he needs to do to have our basement totally finished. He's pretty amazing for finishing the whole basement (minus the drywall, cause he was getting burned out) all by himself! So he should be finished with that sometime in October. So if anyone is dying to visit Cheyenne, WY we should have a nice basement for you to stay in if you do decide to come. :)

Alyssa has started preschool and she LOVES it! She is also taking ballet, but I'm not too pleased with her teachers. They are young girls who seem like they may be juniors in high school, and they just don't seem to keep a handle on the kids. So we might be changing ballet studios here in the next month.Logan is now starting to eat rice cereal and baby food. We also got him one of those mesh teething things that can fit fruits and such in there. He really seems to like that! He is sitting up and sleeping wonderfully now!
Joe and I are both students right now. I am taking a psychology class and Joe is taking a few classes as he's working on his masters. So we've been pretty busy! We are also the Sunday School teachers teaching the 16-18 year olds, but Joe is always going on alerts on Sunday, so it's usually just me. (Nicia.)
Anyway, that's a pretty good overview of us right now! We have a blog, but it's private, so if you'd like to have an invite to view it, just send me an email! You should all have my email from the email I sent you all letting you know about this blog. :) My blog name is theesplinfamily.blogspot.com. I try posting lots of pictures on there, but I'm not always super great at updating it!

Becky and Jared's Blog

Becky and Jared Whittle here. We are planning to add to this blog every few months with a summary of what we've done. You know, for family history stuff and junk. But we also have our own blog which we update regularly. It is a really easy website to remember. It's www.beckyandjared.com. Or www.jaredandbecky.com. They both work. Becky and Jared dot com. It's easy to remember. If you're not good at remembering, create a bookmark. If you don't have time to check our blog regularly and/or think you'll forget that we have a blog, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Google Reader.

Google Reader allows you to "subscribe" to various people's blogs (family, friends, people you're interested in). Then you just go to Google Reader's website and Reader will show you all the blog posts that have been updated. Just go to www.google.com/reader with your Google account. Then, whenever a website has an RSS feed, just copy and paste the link to it into your Google Reader account. Or if you click on subscribe, you can then type the web address for the blog (like www.beckyandjared.com) and it will go and find the RSS link for you! Easy! We will update www.beckyandjared.com far more frequently than this one, and in way more detail with way more pictures. But if you just want a summary every few months, then you can continue just looking here for us.

You can also follow us using some other social media services: There's always Facebook, Twitter (@jaredwhittle), and YouTube (edwhittle). But the websites the best place to go. Laters!