A Quiet Moment

Well, This is my first post since coming to Iowa. This is probably the first time that I have had time to write. I have been working hard trying to get all settled in. Any free time I have I am trying to spend with Jess and the boys. Jess is at relief society tonight so I am alone. I haven't taken time the write on the blog because I feel my time at home is so valuable I want to just play with Ethan and Noah all I can. The are growing so fast. They are becoming little people. They sit up on their own for extended amounts of time and both are learning to crawl backwards (slowly). I am two weeks into my four professional school stretch and I have to say it is going well. I can tell now that it is going to get really hard in about a month or so but right now its not too bad. Our schedule is outrageous. The school has prepared an entire schedule for the whole year and it is crazy. We start and end classes at random times; every week the schedule is different. I guess it is kind of exciting to know that my life will not be routine for a long while. Jessica has been so great. She is taking care of me in way I have never deserved. I love her so much and I'm so grateful we are together in this endeavor. She seems happy here. I knew she was so scared to move but she is handling it the way we all knew she would and enjoying here new friends and her sons. In all reality, life out here is great. I know that there will be time when my stress level reaches great heights but I'm ready. We are just starting to learn dental terminology and anatomy and it is really fun to finally be learning things in school that will really help me in my future career.

On a different note, our apartment is coming along. We still have many pictures to hang on the wall but that is about it. One of the first things I did when we got here was build a large shelf in the garage so that we could store more things. I think we finally have the nursery arranged in a way so that everything fits and looks nice. Today we finally got couches. We left our little couch with Josh and Brittney so we needed to get a new one here. We spent a good amount of time searching and finally found the ones we wanted. Now our house is looking like a home. I will put some pictures and/or videos of our place soon so you all can see it.
The ward here is great. We have many LDS dental students in the ward. My class has only six LDS students but some of the upper classes have more. It is nice to have people that share my beliefs and lifestyle. Today was the first day I have been asked if I was a Mormon. There is a girl who is in my lab group that asked me some good questions and said she has been searching for a true religion for a long time. She has become a member of 3 different churches in the last while and says she is looking forward to further conversations about the church. It was fun to share my testimony in a way that I think she understood and provoked curiosity.

I miss you all. I was so very grateful for everything that my parents and in-laws have done for us. When mom and dad came to visit, mom helped stock the fridge and never before had we needed it more. I mean it when I say that we ate up almost all of our savings to get to this point. There is no way we could have afforded the food we needed. Dad also gave me a fathers blessing to start the school year. You would think that I wouldn't have need for a school year blessing at the age of 24 but I definitely needed it. Last year was the first year that I didn't receive a blessing for school and It sure was hard to manage. Thanks dad for being here for me. Thanks for living in a way that you have been able to bless my life every time. We love you all and can't wait to see you in a few months.

Joseph

p.s. Jessica saw a little froggy hopping across the road tonight and then a bunny running along side the road. She got really excited to see those things for the first time and wanted me to share.

When did this happen?

For the past few weeks i've been noticing some differences in my personality that i wasn't expecting. Nobody freak out-I'm not pregnant. Anyway, so back to the personality changes. I've cooked dinner for Joe and I pretty much every night since we've been here. Actual dinners, not mac & cheese, or something like that. In the two years we have been married I have yet to achieve such a successful cooking streak. The only time I suggested we go out (other than when our parents were here) was our anniversary. Where this came from i have no idea. The other strange occurrence is even more strange. In church the last two weeks everyone has been super nice and welcoming. They asked me all these questions, who i am, where i'm from, yadda yadda yadda. The weird part is that i was really excited to meet these new people. normally when I start a new ward I try to hide in the back and do my darndest to disappear. But in this ward I was happy to share. I let people hold the boys and i answered all their questions without thinking that it wasn't any of their business. I actually remembered a lot of their names! This never happens. Speaking of never happens, I willingly and happily attended the enrichment activity last night. I had a great time getting to know people and I am almost stunned. For some reason i released Social Jessica into the ward. Normally i give them Quiet Self-conscious Jessica, and i save Social Jessica for people who've already met and expect her. How did this come about? Maybe its the move and i know i need to make friends. Maybe this is the first new ward i've attended where people actually want new members. Maybe people are praying that the adjustment will be easy and smooth for me. None or all of these could be true. Any insights?

where's ethan?

sorry this pic is so small. it was taken for our ward website. I wanted to post it because I think the boys look so much alike. you be the judge... if you can tell

Simpsonized

This is what Jess and I would look like if we were ever lucky enough to be on The Simpsons. Special thanks to the Cassity's blog for the idea.

So Far So Good

So, I'm still really enjoying it here in Iowa. Joe started school yesterday and I was alone with the boys for the first time since we arrived here. The alone time was actually really nice. I got to read and play with the bears. ("The bears" is one of our nicknames for Ethan and Noah). The time actually went by really fast. When Joe got home from school we celebrated our two year anniversary. He had already gotten my gift and after going out to dinner I let him pick out his gift-some dress pants for school. I've decided that dress clothes are going to be his gift for every event in the next four years. He has to wear nice clothes to school everyday so i need to build up his wardrobe.
On a more unhappy note, I finally got my "we're-definately-not-in-Utah-anymore" experience. A woman cursed at me from her car to mine because she could tell that i could hear her yelling into her cell phone. For some reason that was my fault. It didn't affect me really, I thought it was sort of silly actually that a person would get so worked up over that. Also, i took comfort in the fact that she was not only unpleasant, but on the hefty side. Not fat, but sort of built like a man. Thats probably what made her so aggressive, too much testosterone in her blood. Thats sort of rude to say, but I can't help what makes me feel better.
Well the real reason i have to do a post is to give you all my mailing address.
Whiteheads
2884 Coral Court #101
Coralville, IA 52241

The Big Move

This is a rest stop in Nebraska. The boys are so happy to be out of the car!


















Joe carrying the last of the hefty load inside our new place. Ha ha.




















This is the first night in our place. We slept on the airmattress, safe inside our fortress of boxes.

"Is this Heaven?"..."No,It's IOWA"

well we finally made it all the way to Iowa. The boys did reasonably well for the long trip; they didn't scream any more than i wanted to. After three days of driving i am surprised i had the stamina to endure it. I'm certainly not looking forward to eating any more burgers for a long time.
It really is lovely here. Some may think that the landscape is dull or boring compared to our majestic mountains back home, but Iowa has its place too. The trees are huge and everything is green. There are so many cornfields here, everywhere you turn and they roll on for miles. There is barely any evidence left of the floods in our area, unless you know where to look.
We haven't met any of our neighbors yet, and we can't remember where the Ross family has moved to, so we haven't been very social, but my parents are here. Its been so nice to have them for the trip! If I had to drive the whole way myself I'd have taken at least a week. And to have them here while we are settling in has helped my emotions quite a bit. i'm glad i haven't started bawling again. On Thursday they head back for SLC and Mom and Dad in-law are flying in to continue the emotional support that holds me together. Although I do like our apartment, and the city is beautiful, without our family here it is hard to consider it home. This way i can pretend that the parents are just around the corner, and they can stop by anytime. We will post some pictures of our place really soon.

Here are just a couple of pics of the boy that were taken this weekend. I was checking on the boys while they were taking a nap and they were holding hands. It was so cute.

3 Days? Really that soon?

Well, its getting closer. I think we might actually be ready to move in three days. I can't believe it is so soon. I am so excited. Jess seems to be excited too. I know that she is a little (lot) nervous but she doesn't let it show. It has been fun these last few weeks to be able to visit our family and friends and say our goodbyes. We went up to Logan and visited with Keenan, Brittney, Zac, Lindsay, Tanner, Lauren, Alex, Laura, and Justin Miller. It was so fun to see them all again. Then just this weekend we went to Price where we go to be with my family for three days. Scott and Moke Sonntag stopped by too so that was neat. The family reunion in Price was so fun. They boys were well behaved and Jess and I were able to just relax. Sarah and Nick did such a good job planning everything and keeping everything in line. I am going to miss my family so much. I don't show emotion very much but I will miss them. I just hope they don't forget about us after 4 years. Anyway, I need to get back to packing, Im being a slacker. Here are some pictures of our recent events.