It's the most wonderful time of the year...

08-09 WAC Regular Season Champions.
08-09 WAC Tournament Champions.
Ranked 17th in the nation last year.

Bring it on.

When will this maddness end?

Never. I know that is the correct answer to that question, but on nights like these I feel like the answer is - when we graduate. It seems like Alex and I have been in school forever. This is all we've ever known of one another - college students, so it really feels like this is how life is always going to be. We've loved every minute of being at USU, and we know we'll be sad once our time here is over, but getting there seems to be taking quite a while. Between my Grad school, Al's senior year, work for me, work for him, church for me, church for him, teaching for me, Sig Ep for him...Someone please just re-assure me that this part of the madness will end? I know that we'll always be busy because that's just who we are, but please tell me there is a light at the end of this school tunnel? The light at the end of our tunnel is June of 2011, we know that much, but oh my goodness...today that seems so far away. :) All is well I swear, we're doing great I promise, but this homework thing sure is getting old...

Go Aggies.

Learning the words to Rise and Shout: $ 0
BYU license plate tee from bookstore: $25
Stylish sunglasses: $49
Dinner with date at the Brick Oven before the game: $50
Below the knee length cargo shorts: $55
Gold CTR ring in the language of my mission: $150
Sony camcorder to tape the big game: $399

Enjoying a good smoke at halftime: Priceless

Dear Sam,

Dear Sam,

Hi, our names our Alex and Whitney Putnam and we just wanted to let you know how much we love being members of your club. Ever since we bought our membership at Sam's we have had such enjoyable experiences at your store here in Logan, Utah. We love the samples (we fall for them and buy the products almost every time - hook, line, and sinker!), the exclusively Sam's products are such a treat, the store is always clean, the employees are friendly, and the bulk granola bars have become our new best friends. Sam whatever you're doing, keep doing it, cause you're doing it right!

There is one thing however that we did want to address and that is your relationship with Wal-Mart. Who is Wally? A brother? Uncle? Distant Cousin? Well Sam however you and Wally are related we suggest that you sever those ties as soon as possible and continue business and life without him. We have a system in our house that we refer to as the 3 Strikes. We've got 3 Strikes until we lose Whitney and the day is ruined, and they are:

1. Hungry

2. Hot

3. Shopping at Wal-Mart

Especially when we're experiencing a combination of the three then there is no hope - you're OUT! We never have a pleasant experience at that blasted store - no matter the location - and they even just put another Wal-Mart in at the other end of main street! Really Sam, we don't need it! And you don't either, so we actually have a solution for you. Rid your life and business dealings of Wal-Mart in all ways possible and replace that spot in your life with Target - we think you'd make a great match. Really, Sam's and Target make much more sense than Sam's and Wal-Mart and we think that you would be much happier too.

Sam please consider our suggestion and make the transition as soon as possible. Thank you again for the samples and lovely shopping atmosphere,

A & W Putnam

Toilet or urinal?

So Alex, Jenn (Al's Sis), and I joined the rest of the Putnams at Pineview a couple weeks ago for Brad and Paige's beautiful wedding. Their ceremony really was out of a movie or something - it was just breathtaking.

After the wedding was over the three of us were driving down to Ogden to meet siblings and friends for dinner and to be quite frank my bladder was about to burst. Explode. Or implode. Either way. Anyway, we stopped at a gas station right off of Pineview and I leap out of the car to sprint inside to the restroom. Little did I know that the sprinting didn't help at all because the relief was further away than I thought...Let's just say that when your bladder takes over it's possible that you'll say or do things that you've never said or done before in your entire life.

So I run back to the restrooms in the station and there is this ghetto sign taped to the door that says, "Our restrooms are reserved for paying customers only. Please see the attendant for your purchase and the bathroom key." Are you kidding me? Of course in my desperation to reach the restrooms I didn't bring in my wallet. I ran back to the car, ran back inside, grabbed a pack of gum, handed it to the, "attendant," and said, "I need the bathroom key." As slow as possible she rang up my purchase and told me that someone else had just beaten me to it, but I could wait for her to come out of the bathroom and just get the key from her. Awesome.

Picture this. Whitney, pacing back and forth in the back of the Sinclair next to the fridge with all of the drinks of course, with a look on her face that could have turned you to stone (Al knows the look, just ask him.) In the meantime, while pacing, some guy comes back to the men's restroom with the men's key and closes that door. All hope is officially lost.

I'm just staring at the women's door, while pacing, and this girl isn't making a move in there. I can't hear flushing, hand washing, paper towel pulling, nothin. Just as I thought that all was lost - including my bladder control - the men's restroom door opens and I whip around as something else just took over me - it's called my bladder. The look on my face probably would have scared small children - and adults for that matter - as I quickly said to the man, "Toilet or Urinal?" "Both, why?" At his response I put out my hand and in a deep voice that I didn't know existed inside of me, all that I could utter was, "Keys."

Yes that's right. I used the men's restroom at the gas station and then handed the keys over to a man waiting in line when I exited - with a smile on my face for that matter. It was traumatic for a second, and then has been hilarious ever since. Add that one to the list of most embarrassing, hysterical, and traumatic experiences ever...

Happy little songs...

I love happy little songs that you can dance like this with (shoulders bouncing, head tipping back and forth...) Here's one of our new favorites...

Blog, Shmog...

You think I'm a bad blogger huh? Well you're right. I'm terrible at it. I love to look at other people's, I love for people to be able to stay updated on our lives, but I'm awful at posting things for others to see. Here below is my desperate attempt to give anyone who wants it a small glimpse of our fun summer which is now drawing to a close...

Took a trip to Alex's Ol' Kentucky Home...
We've spent time with neices and nephews...
Mia

Haven

Ty

and Max - eroni

Went to Kortney and Jason's wedding...

Went to the Kaysville 4th of July Parade of course...

Planted our very own flowers in front of our not very own house...

Rode Katie's scoot-scoot...

Went boating with friends...

Katie Jo gave me some flowers and the stems grew funny...

And we got family pictures taken...

I think that about covers it! We've had a super busy summer and are just gearing up for another crazy semester. Someday I'll update my blog regularly...But until that day please look for our next post approximately four months from now. :)

Best friends.

Why is it that throughout your entire life, it seems like it's always your best friends that end up moving away? This blog has been a long time coming, and is written in tribute to our dear best friends, Steve and Lauren Rule.

May 2nd, a roller coaster of a day really which included many different kinds of tears - happy tears, relieved tears, grateful tears, and heartbroken tears. The day started with graduation and a family party and ended with waving goodbye as the Rules pulled out of the parking lot to move to Chicago. After crying for about twenty minutes (Whitney, not Alex) we decided two things. 1 - our social lives are over. 2 - we can't bear looking at #31 empty or with anyone else in it so we're just going to have to move. So we did! Across the street...But still, it has helped to heal the hole left in our now empty hearts and social lives.

Before the Rules left we told them that we hope that they hate Chicago and are totally miserable, that way they would come back to Logan to play with us again! All joking aside though, we love Steve and Lauren and wish them the best in the Windy City. Plans for our friendship in the future include us moving to Chicago to be close to them, them moving back here, and the four of us going on a cruise next spring break - whatever happens first. :)

Steve and Lauren, althought we hope you're happy, just take Calamity Jane's words as ours and remember that the Windy City ain't got what we got, no siree!

The Graduate

Well it all comes down to this folks, Graduation. Saturday May 2nd Whitney graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelors degree in Speech Communications and Mandarin Chinese. It was a really fun day, we were happy to have our families in town and are so grateful for their support. From here, the plans are to work in the USU Admissions Office as a Recruitment Graduate Assistant while Whitney works to complete her Masters in Second Language Teaching. GO AGGIES!

WARNING: If you put a camera in Alex's hands...this is what you'll get...

One happy girl...

For four years I (Whitney here) have been sneaking into the nearest church to get my piano fix and am happy to say that as of this last week those days are over. This graduation present has already helped my sanity while making it through finals and has had a pleasant impact on our home. That there is one happy girl...

Smile for me daddy...

Well folks, it's that time of year again, the annual USU Ambassador Variety Show. It took some convincing because Alex has never been willing to do this in front of people before, but in the end we had a total blast. It took lots of practice, downloaded lyrics, listening to it constantly - and I mean constantly - and following Alex's advice of, "livin' it." Let's be honest, we simply threw down sick moves and smooth lines to surprise just about everyone in the room - no one saw us coming.

North Rim CLOSED until May 15th

Just wanted to make sure that you all received the memo which the Putnams and the Rules did not. (I love how I say, "you all," as if people really read this...) But all the same...Spring Break started out for us with an exciting drive down to Mesquite with our good friends the Rule's. The plan was to spend a day by the pool in Mesquite, followed by a day trip to the Grand Canyon, and then one more day by the pool before returning back to the 20 inches of snow which Logan received while we were gone! Strike one: the first day by the pool wasn't by the pool at all due to the fact that there were record winds in the valley. Strike two: (see next picture)

I entered the nearest camping lodge and after being asked, "Hi, what can I do for you?" I responded, "Yeah what can you tell me about this, 'Closed for the Winter,' business?" Apparently the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is closed until May 15th due to the fact that it is under roughly 15 feet of snow throughout the winter months - true story! But don't worry, the Putnams and the Rules - undeterred by this closed crap pressed forward and drove the additional 3 hours to reach the South Rim of the canyon.

After enjoying our time and the more than Grand Canyon (south rim) it was then time to drive the six hours through the Arizona backwoods to return to Mesquite. Strike three: the trip took 7 1/2 hours rather than six and completed our day of 13 1/2 hours in the car.

But you know what - we had a great time! We love our dear friends the Rules and had such a blast throughout all of the change of plans. When it was all said and done it made for great memories and we enjoyed our break more than we ever could have imagined!

Utah State Hey Aggies All the Way...

Well the week before spring break we enjoyed a fun basketball game against Hawaii - the last at home and the WAC regular season title clencher...followed by a great tournament in Reno which we swept as well as a first round NCAA game against Marquette in which the boys played their hearts out. So so proud of those Aggies and want to thank them for a great season. In fact, when we see them on campus, pretty sure we will...

Stick it to the man

So I don't even know what to consider "blog-worthy," but I would say that the 12 hours Alex spent at the, "Determination Station," is definitely worth mentioning. ASUSU had this big glass prism that they put in iPod Touch inside. The contest was this - you had to keep one hand on the prism at all times, and the last person to take their hand off of the prism wins the ipod. No potty breaks, no resting, straight standing. Well Alex, the wonderfully competitive person that he is, heard about it and wanted to join. I knew it was going to start at 10:30 but wasn't sure if he was going to go through with it or not - seeing how he had 4 classes that day that he would have to miss. The text I received at 10:30 said, "it's on."

Started with about 14 people, but 12 hours after this whole thing started it was Alex and 2 others. We were pretty sure that he had it in the bag. What was Whitney doing while Alex was holding on you ask? (See next picture...Happy as a clam...)

But you know what, due to the fact that they weren't exactly planning on people holding on for that long (11 hours), people started getting creative - i.e. rules started getting made up. "Hold your arms in the air," they said, "the first one to drop is out and gets the gag prize." Gag prize? They've stayed for this long and you even have a gag prize???

Well as you can imagine that arm thing got old fast, the other two were allies against Al anyway, and they all called him out. Getting out of there involved a heated discussion with the kid in charge while Whitney's pulling on Alex's arm and saying things like, "nothing to see here folks, nothing to see..." Once they said all that Al won for 12 hours of standing was a case of shaving cream, his response was, "damn shaving cream?" "Yeah, damn shaving cream, I'll even give you two cases," said the boy in charge. Those of you that go to USU are familiar with the shaving cream we're speaking of - it the stuff they hand out by the butt-load for free at the beginning of the year.

Just so you know, we didn't pick up the shaving cream. We're sending 'em a message. Love and support ASUSU...not so happy about the shaving cream incident.

The Big Day

Here's just a quick overview of the big day and events surrounding. Synopsis: Logan Temple, rained all morning, snagged Wendy's afterwards, receptions at Eaglewood Golf Course in Bountiful and Falcon Ridge in Mesquite, Honeymoon in sunny CA, love and appreciate our families, more than we could have ever asked for...

Blogging Debut...

Well as if it hasn't taken us long enough...here we are, Alex and Whitney Putnam, making our big blogging debut! Happy to be married on June 6th, 2008, the first 10 months have been full of surprises, adventures, homework, and fun.