jquery un-hover

JQuery

$(".box a").hover(function(){
    $(this).parent().css('background-color', '#fff200');
 }, function() {
     $(this).parent().css('background-color', '#ffffff');
 });

See fiddle.

The function below works as onmouseover and onmouseout

$(function () {
    $(".box a").hover(function () {
        $(this).parent().css('background-color', '#fff200');
    }, function () {
        // change to any color that was previously used.
        $(this).parent().css('background-color', '#fff200');
    });
});