Christmas Trees and Extended Family

Last Saturday we ran up the mountain with my family and cut down our Christmas tree. It's been an Achter tradition that has become a Collado tradition as well! The tree has added a warmth and glow to our little townhome living room.

I wanted to mention a little bit about Thanksgiving a couple days before this, too. We ate at my parents' home with Danilo's parents and sisters and both sets of my grandparents. I felt so very blessed to sit at the dinner table with so many people that are important to me! Other events that made the holiday weekend special were pie night, a temple trip, shopping, and a family home evening all spent with extended family who live both in and out of town. Needless to say, going back to school was rough. I spent all day Sunday talking myself into it so that Monday morning wouldn't be such a dreadful shock. (As I read back over that, "dreadful shock" seems a little harsh. I do enjoy being a teacher. :)

Bring On Those Wonderful Holidays

A Saturday ago my family had tickets to Savior of the World at the Conference Center. The program was really beautifully done and even though it wasn't even quite Thanksgiving yet, I feel like it opened up the Christmas season. It brought the story of Jesus's birth and life on earth to life in a way I had never seen before and I am thankful because I have thought back on it many times since. Here we are with my family just before going to see the show. Our smiles are a little larger than usual because Danilo and I had just made a special announcement a few minutes earlier that I'm sure will be a post all of its own once Brittney has been to a doctor's appointment.

I Did Not Brainwash My Husband

We've had some pretty interesting discussions in our home the last several weeks. I'd decided with the presidential election coming up, I wanted to be an informed voter. I feel a responsibility as a teacher and a future mom and an American citizen to be educated on what's going on in my country and I feel very grateful for the rights and privileges and blessings that come from being an American. So as a result I have been reading the paper and articles on the internet and watched the debates and...brace yourself... converted to talk radio. Never thought I'd say those words. The way I see it now, my favorite country station only adds a new song here and there, otherwise, it's always the same stuff. So I still tune in once or twice a week, but talk radio is fresh everyday. A lot of the time it's intriguing and gives me something to toss around inside my head the rest of the day. And then the next time I see my parents I get excited to see if they were listening when I was and if they heard what that talk-host said, or the comment that that caller made. In the process, I have become seriously passionate about my choice. So when Danilo watched a debate or two with me and commented that he would vote for the other choice based on CHARISMA, I almost went through the ceiling. True, if charisma was the deciding factor, he had picked the correct candidate, bless my husband's heart. He's a recently sworn in American citizen (a handsome one, too), and I hope to teach him all about the country he belongs to! Though something has always just felt right about the reasoning my parents give for voting the way they do, I wanted to be able to stand on my own two feet about it. I have found it worth the price I've paid to become educated this year with more than just the candidate's face and mannersims. It has been a slow and steady process, but a couple of times a week I will come home with something I have heard or read that day that I want Danilo to chew on. I have done my best not to entirely brainwash him. It's been fun to talk politics and get him fired up about the issues. I think I have swayed him my direction! We're still working on the economy issue, but I think after a conversation with friends last night he's coming around. :) We'll see how it all goes tomorrow.

Wohoo David!!

This afternoon while we were at Sunday dinner with my family, my sister Hailey reminded Chelsea and Andrew and me of our fifteen seconds of fame last May. We had followed that season of American Idol pretty seriously and the night of the final results, we drove down to the Energy Solutions Arena to watch it live from Los Angeles with a bunch of other David Archuleta fans. I'd never done anything like that before, and it was so fun. The excitement and energy in the air was so thick. We got to be the crowd of screaming fans when American Idol showed David's home state. David's grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins were a few rows up from us. A few celebrities and all kinds of media were there. We got to see the "crushing" results live an hour before the rest of Utah (I say "crushing" because I enjoy both of the Davids, which wasn't a popular opinion that night). We couldn't keep our mouths shut on the way home between our excitement and disappointment. After I dropped off my Hays and Chels and Andrew I rushed home to Danilo to catch the 9:00 news because Fox 13 had interviewed Andrew and me before the show had started and I wanted to see if we had gotten on. I walked in the door just in time to see not only Andrew and me interviewed, but several shots showing Hailey, Chelsea, Andrew, me, or different combinations of two or three of us. Of course we weren't the only ones on that spot for the news that night, we just couldn't believe how many times we showed up on the screen! More fun followed as the neighbors started knocking on the door and text messages and phone calls poured in on both mine and Danilo's phone. The fun continued the next day as every time I rounded a corner at school, a second grader or fourth grader or sixth grader or secretary would tell me, "I saw you on TV last night!" Everybody in the family had similar stories to tell when they got home. Jamie Gilland in Hailey's ward came across this video and told her today. Thanks to Hailey for holding up the TWO David Archuleta posters, I think that's why we made it into this VH1 clip (click the picture to follow the link)!

Bendita La Luz

I just added this song to our playlist because I have always loved it. Latin music strikes a chord somewhere inside me that is so satisfying. It reminds me of wonderful things, like dancing with my Danilo. Since our first three dates involved latin dancing and I was pretty well head over heels by that point, you could say latin music had a hand in our falling in love. When I was first learning Spanish, my friend Marlene gave me some CDs to listen to. As I began to understand the words, I grew to have an appreciation for the beautiful way you can say things in Spanish. This song is no exception. The words touch me deeply because they echo feelings I have for my sweet husband. So as you log on to our blog and the raspy latino voice starts singing with an acoustic guitar, know that this is what he is saying, and see if it gives you goosebumps, too!

Blessed be the place, and the reason for being there
Blessed be the coincidence
Blessed be the clock that put us there at the same time
Blessed be your presence

Blessed be God for having our ways cross
And for removing me from the loneliness that had been my destiny.

Blessed be the light
Blessed be the light of your glance that reaches my soul.

(Bendito el lugar, y el motivo de estar ahí,
Bendita la coincidencia,

Bendito el reloj, que nos puso puntual ahí,
Bendita sea tu, presencia.

Bendito Dios por encontrarnos, en el camino,
Y de quitarme esta soledad, de mi destino.

Bendita la luz, bendita la luz de tu mirada,
Bendita la luz, bendita la luz de tu mirada,
Desde el alma.)

The main idea is, he is grateful for all the events that came together so that their paths would cross. A lot of the emotion gets lost in the translation. Just trust me that these are beautiful words!

Burdens Eased

This picture may end up in a brochure for the tutoring center where I work (photo by Joanna Taylor). This morning I was reading an article in October's Ensign called The Lord Can Ease Our Burdens by Elder Maury W. Schooff. He talked about being a husband and father while going through an intensive graduate program when he received a call to serve in the bishopric. He accepted the call with the promise from his stake president that he would be able to fulfill all of his responsibilities. The article goes on to talk about Alma and his people when the Lord promised them that he would ease the burdens on their shoulders even so much that they would not feel them while they were in bondage to the Lamanites. I am grateful that I'm not in bondage to any Lamanites, but I can say that the Lord is easing our burdens as a family this very year, day, and minute. We knew there would come a time when only I would be working to put Danilo through school. Sometimes when I pull in to the house it's amazing and a little overwhelming to think the work that little me does each day is what keeps us in a house with the electricity and gas and water on and food in the cupboards and cars running. Last year after teaching a full day of school, I would come home and collapse on the couch and nap with the news on. This year after teaching a full day of school, I go to the tutoring center or teach piano lessons for a couple of hours. I usually get home around 7 and sometimes 8. I don't feel stretched too thin, and it gives me peace of mind to know I can be bringing in a little extra. One of the blessings I recognize aside being able to get up each day and do it all again with out being extremely exhausted is that in order to get to my other appointments after school, I can't stay very long grading, preparing, etc. It has actually worked out for the good because the time I do have to plan after school gets used very well since I know I have less of it. Heavenly Father has truly blessed our family as we strive to make time for each other and live healthy and balanced lives.

My Future Radiographer

The last few weeks have been particularly stressful for Danilo as he's begun his first semester of the radiology program. His assignments and exams have been extremely demanding. I have come to love him a little more as I watch him cope. Sometimes he'll tell me, "When I'm starting to wish all this schoolwork wasn't part of my life, I have to stop myself and remember how hard we worked and how grateful we were I got in." Anyone who knows us knows the application process was not easy! I've been watching him be smart in how he paces himself. Tonight he called to tell me he was feeling burnout coming on, so he was going to get out of the house for a few minutes to go to a pawn shop (among my husband's top five favorite things to do in his spare time). He's also very conscious of not allowing the demands of his schoolwork to come between us. If I'm home, he'll stop every couple of hours to either play a game or watch an episode of whatever's on the Discovery channel at that moment. He constantly reminds me that he wishes he could spend more time with me and makes sure I know he's doing this for the good of our family. I am one blessed girl. My sweet Danilo is precious to me!