Our Next Adventure!


SURPRISE!
We're moving!
To Tampa, Florida!
(Yes, we know it's humid there... :)

Samuel was accepted into the MBA program at University of Tampa, so we will be moving there in the middle of August. Everything has just fallen so sweetly into place that it really feels like that is where we are meant to go next.

Here's how it all went down:

Back in the fall, Samuel decided to look into graduate school a little more seriously and pursue something closer to his degree. So he started looking at materials for the GMAT online (already had taken the GRE) and the website asked him to register, and they would then send him more info on schools and programs, etc. So he did.

A few months later, he started getting contacted by various universities saying he would be a good candidate (his GPA/GRE scores are pretty dang sweet) and he should look into their programs. He skimmed over most of them, but applied to a couple here and there because many were offering to waive the application fee... so he's thinking, why not if it's free?

He ends up fully applying to University of Portland and University of Tampa. I think just those two. 
He gets a call from Tampa asking about his GRE scores and they tell him based on his GRE and his GPA, he is an excellent candidate and they will recommend him for admission. A short time later, they call him to say he has been admitted. A short time after that, they invite him to apply for a 'graduate assistantship'. Essentially this means you will work for a professor for 20 hours a week and it will pretty much waive tuition. (Like, whaaaaaaaat?!) You can only apply if you are invited.... so I guess he's pretty awesome. WELL. About a week after he applied, he gets a call saying he got the assistantship.

So basically - he is getting his Master's FO' FREE. I mean, he still has to work hard and do good and keep up his GPA... but little to no grad school debt is a very exciting thought. 

He did also get into University of Portland, which was originally The One, but after much prayer and deliberation, we decided Tampa is the next step for us. 

We are very excited! I am very nervous! But hey, when am I *not* nervous?

We have absolutely LOVED living in Utah, and we will miss it, but we will be back on the West Coast soon enough. :) 

Love, 
The Wise's xoxo





Twenty-six.



On October 30th, Samuel turned 26! Woohoo!

Naturally, we celebrated his last night of being 25 with a classic $1.50 polish dog combo at Costco. One of his favourite things on the planet.



The next day, his birthday, we woke up early to eat breakfast together and open presents before a full day at work. He requested costco muffins for his birthday breakfast and got some new shirts, a much-needed new belt, and a ping pong paddle (so he can play with all the cool kidz at lunch.)



After work, we drove to Red Lobster to find the wait time was a billion years. So we drove around for a little while and finally decided to try California Pizza Kitchen. They make a pretty delicious pizza, and they threw in a free Key Lime Pie (one of Samuel's all-time faves) for his birthday!



We walked off our food babies by walking around the mall and getting lost in Barnes and Noble. Samuel used his birthday money to buy a couple of books and games he has been longing for, thanks to Mum & Dad GB for the fundage! ;)



We floated home and Samuel opened his last present. It's something he's been talking about getting for years and something I've been budgeting for (and it may or may not have been on sale...)

Drum roll please...


He's now the proud owner of his very own KitchenAid! Dreams do come true.

And the fun doesn't end there!

The next day was Halloween, which we spent celebrating sweet little Lottie Persinger's 2nd birthday! It's always fun to hang out with our Persinger family and it has been so awesome to watch Lottie grow up! We ended our Halloween night by watching Casper (of course) and eating lots of Halloween treats (of course.)

The next day was Saturday. I surprised Samuel with a fun morning of indoor rock-climbing with his brother, Elias, followed by an indoor picnic lunch with family and birthday brownies (he requested brownies instead of a cake this year), and tickets to Comedy Sportz, an improv comedy club in Provo. Visit comedysportzutah.com - it makes for an awesome (and cheap!) date night! It was a fun fun fun fun FUN weekend. So many treats. Having a birthday and Halloween next to each other is rough, let me tell ya. ;)

Happy Birthday, Samuel! I hope this year is even better than this last year. We have many new and exciting adventures to come :) Love you!

Love,

The Wise's. xoxo

There's no place like HOME for the holidays!



It's official!! We are going to England for Christmas!

'Excited' doesn't do my emotions justice. Last time we went home was 2 years ago, so I'm more than ready to breathe in that glorious British air once again. 
Sausage rolls, Quavers, dry humor, Mum's home cooked meals...bring it on!

This is one of my favourite pictures of Christmas in England 2012. We were trying to get a decent sibling picture... but of course, this happened. Having a little brother has prepared me for so many things in life. Love you, Benny.


As enthused as I am about all of this, it doesn't quite feel real yet. Doesn't feel like it's really going to happen. Maybe once Thanksgiving is over? Maybe once my Christmas tree and decorations are up?

Maybe I'll just listen to this until then. :)




Love,

The Wise's. xoxo

We grew up. (Okay, not really. We just moved.)

The day has come and passed. We graduated college. We left our student-sized jobs and moved on. We picked up our college home in that tiny, frozen, college town and moved to the beautiful state of Utah.

P.s. I drove all the way to Utah by myself!! Another fear conquered. 


I was certain I would be pining for Rexburg. It's the only US town I've lived in since I moved here almost 5 years ago, and so many beautiful memories were born in that town. Roommate adventures, dating my husband, frozen nose hairs, and studying in the library 'til you get so tired you laugh at everything. But now I have bigger fish to fry.

Graduating college is like someone pushing you off a cliff... and you're still not sure you have wings. I'm learning that that is kind of the fun part - finding your wings. I'm so excited to find my next step. I don't think I've found it yet but despite that, I feel at peace in knowing that the world is my oyster. I can follow whatever path I want and I feel so lucky to be able to say that! So here's to the unknown! 

Here are some pictures to show you what we have been up to... Enjoy :)


It's so incredible to be surrounded by these glorious mountains. Such a magnificent reminder of how beautiful the Earth and all God's creations are. The snow on top of them these days is a nice touch ;)


We love being able to visit this temple regularly! Beautiful inside and out. To learn more about LDS temples, visit mormon.org. :)


Samuel is in heaven having a local football (soccer) team to support. He has been able to watch a live game and can't wait to be a regular attendee next season. Viva RSL! 

 

We are lucky to have good friends living close by! Samuel and Dallas set a goal to climb Mount Timpanogos this summer  so to begin training, we climbed the Y. By the way, not my cup of tea. The Y is tough. There is no give. So if you want a short, hard hike, the Y takes the cake.  


Then... we actually did climb Mount Timpanogos! I didn't think I'd be able to do it. When I started I was certain I wouldn't make it to the top. But I did! I can do anything! It was a beautiful experience. Samuel loved it, of course. :) His brother, Elias, came along for the ride. There were moments where Elias was pulling me and Samuel was pushing me up the mountain! They were awesome mountain-climbing buddies :)


James and his three adorable children came to town right at the end of their summer break. We packed in a lot of fun activities and enjoyed every minute! We love watching these children grow and discover - everything is an adventure!  Oh, the many lessons we can learn from them. :) Being Aunt and Uncle is our favorite!  


Stay tuned :)

Love,

The Wise's. xoxo

Graduation and Mum & Dad GB

I graduated!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's DONEEEEE!!!
WOOHOOOOOO!!!

I officially have a Bachelor's degree in Health Science, emphasis in Public Health. It has been a whirlwind. Studying at Brigham Young Unviersity Idaho has been a true blessing and has brought so many wonderful opportunities. I got to work at the Student Health Center and gain awesome work experience (and meet AWESOME people), I got to teach Health to middle-schoolers, I had an incredible internship, gained so many wonderful friends, and OF COURSE met my amazing hubby. BYU-Idaho, you have been good to me. Oh how I love thee and shall keep thee in my heart forever.

The best part of it all - my parents flew in! We had so many adventures. We spent the first few days being tourists in downtown Salt Lake City and enjoyed General Conference weekend (mormon.org). My parents were able to actually watch it live, which is a dream come true for them!  Then, we road tripped back up to Idaho for my graduation. This was the very first time my parents had seen Rexburg, Idaho - the place I left home for back in 2009! I think they enjoyed seeing where I had been this whole time. :)


One of my favorite days was taking them to Jackson, WY. My dad LOVES all the old Western movies. John Wayne's biggest fan. So naturally, he loved Jackson. He loved trying on the cowboy hats, talking in a fake southern drawl, and topped it all off with a big juicy steak. My mum loved all the (taxidermied... is that a word?) bears and had the time of her life spotted wild buffalo on our drive. It was all very American. ;)



I wish those two weeks never had to end! But, alas, all good things must come to an end.

Thank you, Mum & Dad, for celebrating with me. More importantly, thank you for preparing me for accomplishments like this. Thank you for always encouraging and supporting me through it all. Thank you for helping me set goals like this and helping me see them through. Love you always.



Love,

The Wise's. xoxo

We Wish You a (late) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!




Friends, we are so blessed. We have had a jam-packed year over here in the Wise home, but we know 2014 will bring so many more wonderful changes and exciting things! Hey, maybe I will even blog more often ;)

We apologize we didn't get any Christmas cards out, so this blog post will have to do.

Here is a brief year-in-review:


January: Came home from a very lovely and much-needed vacation to England (take me back!) Started another semester at BYU-Idaho and Alice began her internship as the Public Health Coordinator at the BYU Idaho Student Health Center. Celebrated 3 years of dating on January 29th.

February: Samuel and four of his older brothers spent a week exploring in Mexico - DURING VALENTINE'S WEEK. Luckily, he was home in time to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary on February 19th :) We also got a dog (Toby, the cutest spaniel ever) during February, but only kept him for a few days. Some day we will get a pet and KEEP it! Alice was called to serve as the Relief Society Secretary in our ward.

March: School, work and more school took over our lives. Easter was at the end of March, which we spent in Rexburg with friends, eating lots of candy and going on Easter egg hunts. :)



April: We rang in April with an awesome General Conference session the first weekend in April. Of course, there were many great messages, but Ally's favorite talk was "Hope in God's Light" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Samuel loved "Four Titles" from Uchtdorf during the Priesthood session. Winter semester ended, and Alice only had 3 days off before having to go back to work and school for Spring semester. Samuel was called as Ward Mission Leader in our ward.

May: Alice finally got the chance to be a bridesmaid and went down to Modesto, CA for one of her best friends' weddings! Such a beautiful few days, and Emily made such a beautiful bride! Alice surprised Samuel with tickets to go and see the Piano Guys on May 9th! It was an incredible concert! Alice turned 22 on May 20th and celebrated with pinatas and a meatfest barbecue! We went on an adventure with the Martin's to Gilmore, Idaho for some Memorial Day fun.





June: Samuel began a new job as a Psychosocial Rehabilitation Practitioner - someone who meets with kids around the community who have social/behavioral issues and helps them to manage them. We had our first ward camp-out and it was awesome!

July: Celebrated July 4th with our awesome pals, the Persinger's and the Simmon's! Friends, fun and food! So good! Finished up the semester and headed up to Washington for the Wise Family Reunion 2013. We spent some weekends tubing with friends and getting our tan on.



August: WISE FAMILY REUNION! So fun. We spent a couple weeks playing sports, celebrating summer and birthdays, canoeing, and having all sorts of fun with the Wise's. Alice began her second internship teaching Health at the local middle school and continued to work at her other Health Center job during the summer break. More tubing.




September: Alice began her penultimate semester at BYU-Idaho. Melissa and Ammon came down to visit and we celebrated Melissa's birthday. Visited Yellowstone with Elias, Becky, Helam, Lily, Ammon, Melissa, Zeke, and the Martin's.


October: General Conference was an amazing start to our month. (Favourites include "Like a Broken Vessel" by Jeffrey R. Holland, and "Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Richard G. Scott ) Samuel took the GRE and began applying to graduate school! We finished the month strong by celebrating Samuel's 25th birthday with a fun costume party, Sizzler and the Ward Halloween Party. We dressed up as Superman and Lois Lane for Halloween!





November: The biggest highlight, of course, was Thanksgiving. The week before the blessed day we had Ammon and Melissa come down for a pre-thanksgiving meal, and then we celebrated the real thing with our buddies, the Simmon's. We hit up Black Friday and got some good Christmas presents... best of all, we finally got a new laptop!

December: Alice finished up her second-to-last semester of college, as well as her semester as the Health teacher at Madison Middle School - such a wonderful experience... crazy, but wonderful. She was also called as the Relief Society President in our ward. We spent Christmas in Sunnyside, WA with the Wise's and had a wonderful time! :)


This year has been so much fun for us. We have made so many wonderful friends here in Rexburg - it's going to be hard to leave! We have received so many great opportunities in terms of internships and jobs, and have been able to create awesome memories with our friends and family.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and we wish you health and happiness for 2014!

We love you all!

Love,

The Wise's xo

Why I Said YES Three Years Ago.

Today is a special day here in the Wise home.

Today marks 3 years since Samuel asked me to marry him.
(Yes, I'm one of those people who remembers all the little dates of anything ever.)
Best. Decision. Ever.


^^^ One of our engagements. Photography by an old friend, Caitlin Sheffer - she's amazing! 
Check her fabulous photography out at www.caitlinsheffer.com (now based in Virginia)

I think one of the questions I get asked most as a young wife is "How do you know?" 
as in, "How did you know he was the one?" 
So here are just few reasons how I knew, and why I said yes 3 years ago. 

1. Samuel makes me want to be better every day.
I don't know what how he does it, but he manages to do this magical thing where he loves me for who I am and he wouldn't change me for the world, yet he inspires and encourages me to become even better. He has this faith in me that I can be more than I am now, yet he shows so much love for the person I currently am and treats me like I'm the best thing in the world. I don't get it, but I like it.

2.  He has his priorities in the right place
He knows what is important and he always puts my happiness first. He doesn't spend hours in front of the TV or playing video games... unless he is with me and we're playing Mario Kart or something. He genuinely wants to spend time with me. This was something that I struggled with a little at the beginning of our relationship, since previous boyfriends, being the little boys they were, would often pick spending time with their mates instead of me. (That whole season of my life is just a big fat 'WHY?!'Sorry, getting off on a very unnecessary and annoying tangent.) He just likes my company. Even if we are sat doing nothing but cuddling, he enjoys it. 

3. He knows how to work hard.
I remember when we started dating, he would be so dedicated to his school work - it was very inspiring, actually. He was always getting 4.0's (a dream I have yet to accomplish...) while holding down a job and dating me. I could see he knew that you have to work hard for what you want in life, and he does. I knew he would work hard to make our marriage and our life work. 

4. He makes me laugh every day. 
That was a HUGE requirement for me in any boyfriend. I grew up in a house where we were constantly joking around or laughing about something. He is the right kind of weird for me. We have a very similar sense of humour, so it was so easy to be myself. 

5. He thinks with his brain.
Instead of something else. If you know what I mean. And he doesn't feel the need to measure his against someone else's. If you know what I mean. (Can't be doing with men like that.) But what I also meant by that is that he loves having good conversations. He loves learning new things. He reads for fun. He actually has a library card. That was the kind of man I wanted to marry and the kind of father I wanted for my children. 

6. He loves his mama. (and papi)
He treats his parents with respect, and always acknowledges what they have done to help him to get to where he is today. He is big on family, and he loves spending time with them. When you marry someone, you marry a family too, and I feel lucky to have married into such a wonderful family. 

7. The gospel is the most important thing to him. 
He still has his little missionary habits, and I love it. He is always making goals, still has such a thirst for learning and sharing the gospel, and he feels like he is wasting so much time when he watches TV for too long. He doesn't make excuses for not doing things or justify not doing them. He definitely didn't fall back into his pre-missionary habits. I say it alot to him, but I am so grateful he went on a mission! I just feel so proud of him for accomplishing that, maybe because I'm not sure I could have.

8. He's a goal setter. 
He is always making goals and working hard to achieve them. I love his ambition! He has a contagious confidence in himself and in me. This kid could do anything he set his mind to. 

Obviously, there are plenty more reasons. PLENTY. 

Arggh. I feel like I'm leaving this post prematurely.

But alas, I fear too many blog posts about my amazingly awesome wonderful husband may bore you lot to tears. Even though I could blog about him all the live long day.

Really, the answer to "How do you know that he's the one?" is this: 

you just know

As frustrating as that is, you really do "just know." The feeling will come and all of a sudden you'll realize why it didn't work out with anyone else. The thought of life without this person takes the breath right out of you because you really just can't see yourself happy any other way. 

Then you get engaged and you get married and you just think you couldn't possibly be any happier and life just couldn't get any better than this! 

But it does. :)

Happy Tuesday! 

Love,

Alice
xo