Greg Dani & Tatum

2012-01-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Tate Reads: We're Going on a Bear Hunt from Dani Brandt on Vimeo.

First Ballet Class

2011-12-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

These videos are to cute for words. Watching her do ballet, in her little leotard and slightly too big shoes because they dont make a small enough size, was possibly the happiest morning of my life. Im so excited to take her every week in 2012!!

She only asks to go to ballet class about 12 times a day now :)

Snokards

2011-12-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

So it only took me a year to finish Greg's stocking

(well it was in my sewing box from jan-nov this year)

The goal last year was to do one for each of us, same pattern just different fabric for each person.

Today Tate and I went to Target and picked out some for ourselves.

She insisted on getting the tiny one :)

5 Years

2011-12-20T12:13:00.001-08:00

Greg and I celebrated our anniversary on the 9th of this month, it's so crazy that we have been married for five years! Half a decade! A year longer then highschool is. (For some reason I always measure things by the length of highschool)

In those five years we have accomplished alot. One beautiful daughter, two graduations, 3 moves, and alot of learning about love and family.

I'm so grateful that i found a man as hardworking, kind, and sexy ;) as Greg. And so grateful that we were able to be married in the temple, sealed together for all eternity. It gives me so much peace knowing we will be able to spend eternity together as a team. Whatever challenges we face, we are together. Whatever happiness we find, we can share it with each other.

I hope he knows how much I love him and how appreciative I am for everything he does for me. He is an amazing husband and a rockin' dad.

How we celebrated:

Had to get a pic of this sweet mullet

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

We decided to get a real tree this year, the first real tree I've ever had. We got permit to go out and cut one down ourselves, and I was so excited!

We recruited Greg's brother Tyler and my sister Sierra, and started the journey out to Vernon to find our tree.

Long story short, it took much longer then we anticipated to drive out there,

it was about 25 degrees outside, which was also not anticipated.

Greg carried Tatum kangaroo style for most of the hunt,

fell onto a cactus as a result of unsteady balance with Miss kangaroo going down a hill,

and had to take off his pants in the 25 degree weather to pull the thorns out.

The trees were far and few between,

and so were their branches.

a close up, ouch!

Finally we found one

It's small, not very green, and doesn't have much of a smell to it,

but its our very own.

And now we have a pretty funny (hindsight) memory to look back on!

All decorated, and Tate showing her new sock monkey ornament

2011-11-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, we are well on our way to having a "big kid" on our hands.

we've been bottle free for a few months now, and last week i decided the binkie had to go. one night, i think it was tuesday, i put her to bed without it. i got her a sippy cup to hold and told her she was a big girl and binkies were for babies. she has asked for it a few times with minimal whining, but as long as i say "you're a big girl remember" she is fine. she has been harder to put down for bed the last month, so i figured if i was already dealing with a little crying and mom... mom...... moooom.... MOM!-ing, i might as well get the bink out of there and over with.

next week, or maybe the week after i will be attempting

dun dun dunnnnnn...

potty training! ah!

i went and got a few books from the library since i have no idea what i am doing. one turned out to be a how to teach your infant to use the potty book- not helpful. the next is potty training in one day. i'm reading this one through and i think i'll do it. basically you have to dedicate a few hours of one on one complete uninterrupted attention, demonstration with a doll, and treats and praise for a good job. it sounds like a fine method, we'll see if it will really work in a day though.

i am excited to let her pick our some big girl panties!!

our Halloween was a success

even though i really wanted to choose Tate's costume myself, something cool, not a fairy that 5 million other little girls were sure to be, but she was persistent.

and she was the most adorable Tinkerbell out of all 5 million, so thats something.

we stopped by the library for their trick or treating so we could meet up with Greg on his "lunch break". what's up with not closing early on Halloween t-mobile?

Peter, Tiger Lily and Tinkerbell

Greg was also going to be the crocodile, but since he was working all night, and hadn't been able to go to any of the other dress up events we went to this year i didn't make his costume. i don't think he was to disappointed.

then we went around the neighborhood with our friends the Cuevas and got more candy then any two year old should ever have.

also the adorable Bartlett girls got to join us. their lucky parents are on a cruise this week. how fun for them!

above we have: Queen Riley, Iris the monkey, Tate as Tinkerbell, Superman Noah, a Tanya flower, and Ivan the ninja. we love our friends <3

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

We're So Glad for Aunties

2011-10-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Baby Wearing

2011-10-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks we have been babysitting my good friends little boy 3 days a week. He is just 2 months old, and such an easy baby! (At least in our 5 hour increments). Tate LOVES having him around too. She is really gentle with him, and has a great time finding things for him to look at, or helping him with his binkie. Our only struggle is keeping her from pushing him while he is in the swing. It's a nice thought Tate, but we don't want him to get whiplash :)

I've also been getting more use our of my baby slings since he's been around. I didn't use them as much as I wanted to with Tatum, I always forgot I had them. She was just carried around in her car seat. No fun! But having 2 kids around I've realized my next baby will probably spend every day in a wrap. It so convenient to have them close, and still be able to do everything that involves keeping up with a toddler.

And doesn't Tatum look cute wearing her baby doll? She is going to make a great big sister one day.

The Artist

2011-10-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

Day two of not leaving the house. Not by choice, just nothing to do and no money to spend. I dug up some art supplies from the back of Tatum's closet/ the place everything that doesn't have a place goes. Tatum absolutely loved painting with water color. She could have sat there all day painting, not a care in the world, chatting about puppies (i think), see above video.

Only mean old mom cut off the fun after about a half hour. I don't know why but sitting there watching/"helping" her paint was really hard for me. I never thought I was an fastidious person. But watching her paint over the same spot over, and over, and over until she had worn a whole through the paper was really frustrating. I kept asking her to paint on different areas but she just kept on painting over that same spot. Then she was trying to use the white paint, on white paper. Nothing was showing up. I told her the white one doesn't work on this white paper because it's the same color. She didn't care. She went on trying to get that white paint to work. Over and over. Also she would dip her brush in the water, then in the paint, then back in the water, then into the same color as before... Then back in the water.... Same color. How many times do you need to do this before you actually put the color on the paper? You're wasting the paint!

This was all said in my head. I'm trying to paint a picture here of how crazy my brain was this mere 30 minutes. I kept thinking to myself, it doesnt matter if she uses up all the color, we don't use it anyway. It's her watercolor, and we can always buy more. Probably from the dollar store! It's ok if she wants to try the white. What does it matter. This is art, it can have a whole in the middle if she wants. Calm down. This is fun for her.

But man it was seriously giving me anxiety! Weird.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

Better with Age

2011-09-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

I saw this photo over on NieNie's blog and I think it is the cutest picture ever. Doesn't he look dashing in his pilot gear?

President Uchtdorf is my favorite apostle. Maybe because he reminds me a lot of my Papa- they both have white hair and accents. Or because he has a really great sense of humor. I like to laugh during my conference sessions. Also he just seems to speak about things that directly apply to me.

And on the subject for cute white haired men, have you seen this video on YouTube? :)

And just for fun, here's a picture of my cute Papa. Helping my favorite lil cousin Joneaux get some snacks. We've got a lot of cute men in our family!

*Its not fair, men age so well. They seem to get more handsome and funnier with age. While women, I guess its hit or miss on the cuteness, but why do we get so grouchy?

Shows

2011-09-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

A new season has started, yay for one more mindless thing to do! Ok, I usually try not to watch to much TV because it is lazy and I could be using my time for much better things, but those previews just suck me in sometimes! And I have been really good about keeping my house clean (what? yes I have been washing the dishes after every meal, and cleaned the bathroom 3 weeks in a row!) so I feel less guilty about watching all the new shows in the evenings. My lineup for the season is this:

Monday- Parenthood- I've seen past episodes of the show randomly. So I don't always know what is going on, but I like the characters, and I feel like its real. Like things that happen would actually happen in real life.

Wed- Modern Family- The funniest show. Period. And it's a clean funny. Phil is my favorite, “Only we touch our women when they don’t want us to!” “I will only be checking ‘somewhat satisfied’ on my comment card!”
. But I want the old Lily back

Thursday- The Office - We all knew the day was coming, no Michael. I was wondering what the show would even be about without him, but i was pleasently suprised by this seasons premiere. First off yay for Pam being pregnant again. I'll pretty much watch anything that has to do with pregnancy/babies. And the planking was pretty funny. I don't know about Robert California, I didn't watch the last season, was he on that one? I do know that I like Andy as manager, especially when he stuck up for all the losers on California's list. Way to go Andy.

Also PanAm, which I think comes on on Sundays? I watched the pilot online yesterday and it looks pretty good. I liked the costumes and the glamor of flight in the 60's, and the actors aren't bad. Recognized the co-pilot (don't remember his name) from the dumb spinoff season of Scrubs (didn't like the show, but I did like the actor), and I've liked Christina Ricci ever since The Adams Family. I didn't expect the undercover secret service work from the commercials, so that was a fun and intriguing twist.

*Oh and New Girl. I love Zooey, and the previews looked pretty funny. Meant to watch it on the premiere night, but I forgot which night it was on. When I went online to watch it I found that FOX makes you wait 8 days after the air date to watch it online? Lame. So I missed episode 2 too (couldn't watch it without seeing the 1st one), and I am now stuck in a vicious cycle.
Anyway, I finally watched the pilot and I have to say I was disappointed. Most of the funny lines were already played in the commercials, and it didn't flow very well. I'm still trying to decide if some of the characters were funny or just annoying (rude guy that takes his shirt off all the time). I'll give it a few more weeks and see if it gets any better.

What we've been up to

2011-09-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

Trying out Instagram on our new iPad!

Lunch with the adorable Iris

Free icecream at Coldstone

Face paint at the puppet festival

And right now Tate is taking a 4 hour nap, gasp! She's had a pretty bad cold the last few days and I think it has really worn her out. Poor honey bear.

Bill Bill Bill Bill Bill!

2011-09-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

Science rules!

Today Greg Sierra Tyler and I went to see Bill Nye (the science guy, duh) speak at UVU. He gave a presentation on changing the world, and did a Q & A session, and he was totally awesome :)
There were soo many people there, and even though we were almost late Sierra and I were able to sneak up to the front (benefit of being small) and got the best seat! The boys got stuck in the back, where they couldn't hear him speaking at all.
Because of the close proximity He and I had a conversation (sort of), and we made direct eye contact!

Conversation between us - paraphrased:

BN (giving his presentation) : ... See this is back in the day before we could communicate with anyone we wanted whenever we wanted. There was no facebook or twitter. No instant communication.

ME: WHAT?! (loud enough for the whole auditorium to hear)

BN: Yes! Crazy huh? How did we ever live back then? What did we do... Look where we were walking?

Oh Bill.

State Fair 2011

2011-09-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

They had the cutest farm activity for kids. Tate had to put on an apron and get a basket, fill it up with corn to feed the cow. Milk the cow. Put milk carton in her basket, pick an apple and put in basket. Plant a seed, then pick the vegetable you planted. Get an egg from the chicken coop. Etc etc... At the end she "sold" everything she collected and got a farm buck to buy a treat. She picked the rice crispie.

We had a blast!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

What?

2011-09-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

This girl is so big.

For some strange reason I felt like it was time to take off that crib side and make her a big girl bed yesterday.

Before

After

After, After, After, After

It took a few extra lullabies, which only added an extra 5 minutes onto our bedtime routine, and she stayed in her bed all night!

Greg and I put a few pillows on the floor after she was asleep, just in case she fell during the night. As far as I know she didn't need them.

She woke up at 6 this morning, cried a litttle, then fell back asleep.

At 6:30 G heard some whimpering coming from her room so he went to check and found her, with her owl blankie, standing in her doorway. I think she wasn't quite sure if she was allowed to leave her room or not. She got into bed with us after that and we all slept till about 7:45. What a good morning!

Nap today was about the same. A little extra tucking in, and one more song, and she stayed put.

This morning I got the nice surprise of Grandma and Grandpa taking Tatum to the Sheepdog Championships and Festival, where she had a blast. In her words, "Dog jump in water! Got all wet. Milked cow!"

I was supposed to work, but we were slow and my shift got cut. So I moseyed around Barnes & Nobel, ate a delicious spinach and artichoke quiche, and got a cute wall hangy thing for my kitchen at Pier 1.

Just another day in my awesome life :-P

Is it Fall Yet?

2011-09-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

I'm a summer girl. At least I used to be... no I still am. I still love the swimming, sundresses, snow cones, sandals (apparently this is a list of things that start with "s"), and the smell of sunscreen. I love when the temperature rises out of the bleak lower half of the thermometer and I can bring out the shorts and get a tan. I love my summer vacations, getting to spend a few weeks with my family across the country. I love lounging at the beach and being able to get in the water without freezing to death. I love a lot of things about summer, but lately I've been craving Fall.

I'm craving leaves that change color. Boots and comfy jeans. The couple new sweaters I got for my birthday. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (I actually bought a tub of them this week). I'm ready for crisp air, and a hot apple pie.

September is such a teaser month. Its just starting to get a little cooler outside, but still too hot to bring out any of the aforementioned fall apparel. There is nothing to celebrate, my birthday is past and there is still a whole 60 days till Halloween. When you're in school its the beginning of the year, and that's fun and exciting. But I've got 3 more years until I can go back to school shopping.

The only thing fallish for me this week is that I have a cold. thumbs down.

I guess I need to get some strictly fall decorations. Putting out my witches, jack-o-lanterns, and pilgrims seems a bit premature, but I'm ready for some color in our living room, and on the front porch. What are September decorations? Apples?

Summer, I love you, but it's time to go.
Now please enjoy some pictures of a cute cute girl and some leaves.

Look how little she was just last fall!

What's New

2011-08-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

I started working at the gym in the daycare last week. It's not my ideal job, but it gets me a free gym pass (after 30 days) and allows me to bring Tate to work with me! This amazing perk is pretty much the only reason I decided to hang out with snotty kids all morning long. It would have been pointless for me to go to work somewhere else and pay probably half of my hourly wages for someone else to watch Tatum.

I've never been one to like babysitting, but I must be getting older and nicer or something, because I really haven't minded watching the little ones at the gym. Sometimes I even play with them! Maybe it's the fact that I at least know I'm making money, or that the kids can only be there for up to 90 minutes at a time. Having them rotating through is nice. And here, unlike nursery which is STILL my calling, I don't have to teach a lesson or keep them focused on anything. They can run free and crazy, and I just have to make sure no one gets hurt.

So far Tatum has been doing well playing with the other kids there. After about an hour and a half to two hours she usually starts asking to go home or to see Daddy. I usually take her into the break room for a snack and a few quite minutes then she is ready to play a bit more. If she is there for more then two and a half hours she starts to get naughty. My shifts are only up to 4 hours, but if Greg is home he'll keep her for a while before dropping her off so he can go to work. I think it will work out nicely.

Greg is back at school for the fall semester and really likes his new professor. He is the department head and is really enthusiastic about the program and it's possibilities. His last class was kind of boring, learning all the software and technical mumbo jumbo. This one will get them to think of real life uses for the software. His big project will be to take one of the United Nations 5 millennial goals and work at a plan for its reality, then send it in to them. Cool.

Tatum is so big. She can tell you she is two and hold up two fingers! That took a while to get down :) Every day she is talking more, even having conversations with me. I love that she says "thank you mommy" whenever I hand her something. She is so polite. We are still working on our 3 rules: no hitting, no biting, no scratching. But she is definitely getting better. In the last 2 months we have had many of her friends become big brothers and big sisters. Tatum loves to go and see the babies, and is very soft and sweet to them. She often tells me there is a baby in her belly.

Brenna and Tatum holding baby Claire

I was able to attend this sweet babies birth last Sunday, and act as a makeshift doula for Brenna. I read a ton of books on natural labor and management techniques preparing for the big day. She labored and progressed so quickly ( about 1.5 hours from her first contraction to Claire being born!) that I didn't really get to use any of my new skills, but I did get her out of bed, into the tub, and ran to get the nurse when I knew she was ready to push! I hope I was helpful to them. It was a crazy emotional night, and so so amazing.

Tatum's Bieber Birthday Party!

2011-08-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Talia making fruit loop necklaces

Bieber manning the treat table

Andrea and Reggie

Auntie Sierra, Auntie Jenna, and lil Reg!

Ready to make a wish

present time

keeping 11 kids sitting and not grabbing presents is as hard as it looks

Quincee, Tanya, Kailey, Riley, Ivan, Noah, Tatum, Iris, Charlie, Reggie, and Natalia

Everyone got a little Bieber love

Playground, Bieber and Elmo Soundtrack, Fruit Loop necklaces, presents and a dessert bar. What else could a two year old girl want?

Finally

2011-08-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

Family pictures taken by the aweome Sharstin Miller! I am so excited for this preview and can't wait to get some prints made up.

Love Picnik

2011-07-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Isn't Picnik awesome? I have so much fun playing with it.

Original:

Adjusted Exposure:

Cross Process:

HDR-ish

1960's

Space texture:

Which is your favorite?

Day 7

2011-07-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

7- A deceased person you admire.

Meridith Petty. She was a beautiful girl inside and out. A great friend. Smart, friendly, outgoing, good sense of humor. Mostly she knew what she believed in, and she lived it. She was an amazing example to me. Miss you Mer!

Congratulations to our friends Amanda and Landon, and big sister Quincee! Their baby boy Dru was born this Tuesday, and is such a sweet and cute little guy. I got to meet him on Wed, then we took Tatum to see him on Thursday. She wanted to hold him the whole time. She said, "He so tiny" and when he started to fuss "It's alright baby, it's alright." She will make a great big sister one day.

Day 6

2011-07-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

See, still going :)

6- Create your life soundtrack.

Well, I'm not really sure what this means, my day to day life? My entire life? Specific songs? I have way way way to many songs I love to even know where to begin. I love music. All types. How about a timeline some of the music I've been obsessed with.

Early elementary school- anything Disney or Celine Dion. I remember turning up the stereo and belting these out while washing the dishes with Andrea, or sitting on the floor in Grandma's bathroom (looking horrified at a box of tampons swearing we'd never ever ever use something like that, ha)

5th grade-ish. Whenever the Spice Girls came out, I was on the Girl Power train. I was obsessed. And luckily my group of friends was equally enamored. I was always Ginger. When Spice World came out (the movie, for those of you not in the know) I wanted to see it so bad. I wasn't allowed to. I guess my parents thought it was inappropriate or something. It finally came out on VHS and my friend got it. She spent the night. We watched it after every one else was asleep. It was amazing.
Stupidly, we left the tape in the VCR for my mom to find the next day. I got in big trouble and had to write an essay about why I watched it, and how sorry I was.

Middle school- I was still carrying my Spice Girls backpack, and binder to school when I moved to Texas half way through 6th grade. Apparently they hadn't made the transition over to Jr. High at good old Wayside Middle School. So I loved them alone for a good year. I also got the Britney Spears cd for my birthday from my Dad, even though I asked for Blink 182. I didn't know who she was, and was a little disappointed, but don't worry. She and I have had a very good relationship ever since I popped that bad boy into my walkman.

8th and 9th grade- I started listening to more "alternative" music. 102.1 The Edge was on constantly in my room. Wheatus, Garbage, No Doubt, Caviar- Mr. Tangerine Speedo rocked my world. Pop was still in there too. I guess I let go of my female only artist policy (girl power, remember?) and had some good times with N'Sync Celebrity.

The rest of highschool is really a shmorgispore (sp?). Beyonce, Yellowcard, Finch, Ludacris, Ashlee Simpson, Brand New, Senses Fail, Mariah Carey, All American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday, Pixies, Simple Plan, DASHBOARD.

First year of college I listened to ALOT of Counting Crows (they were the favorite band of this really hot guy i knew)

My theme song in hair school was definitely Rhianna's Umbrella! Still love it.

Now the music I hear 90% of the time is either the soundtrack to The Little Mermaid or Justin Bieber. Which are both fine by me. I am strangely, to some people, obsessed with Justin Bieber. He is a talented artist, and super adorable. I housed a life size cardboard cutout of him in my living room for about 3 months. I recently, unselfishly let him move in to Jenna's new dorm room. I think he's better appreciated there, surrounded by hundreds of freshmen girls :) When Kelly Heidi and I went to see Justin Bieber- Never Say Never 3D, I'm a tiny bit embarrassed to say, I cried. Don't judge until you've seen the movie. Its moving :)

I think the quote "I want to be the one last lonely girl" may follow me until i die in book group.

And as for my marriage there are two songs that remind me of "Us". Al Green's Let's Stay Together and Peter Gabriel's The Book of Love. The former I sang to Greg on karaoke night on our honeymoon cruise. It's just sexy, and it gives good advice, "Loving your whether times are good bad, if they're happy or sad." The later, not because I heard it on the Scrubs (greatest show ever) series finale future daydream montage where I cry seeing JD and Elliot getting married, but because it is ... I don't have the words to describe how much I love it. The melody, and lyrics, its just true. And amazing. And I love it. And Greg :)