Mr. & Mrs. Vargas

nieces waiting for Cynthia & Jose

with my sisters-in-law

And then we danced. My family was also there and it was fun to have them experience a Latino wedding with us. Danilo let them know he wanted to see them on the dance floor, and they did NOT disappoint (although I was most amused by my dad who danced for the first time in my life, and must have been so taken aback that I didn't record it). And watch that last clip of Danilo dancing with my mom and tell me I'm not the luckiest girl in the world.

We were so happy to be a part of Cynthia and Jose's special day. It was wonderful from beginning to end.



Note: This post is also known as I Get My 2nd Brother-In-Law. Please watch for my 3rd brother-in-law coming this September.

Gracie's Favorite Movie

Scroll down and hit pause on our blog soundtrack to the right for a more pleasant listening experience.



This movie plays at our house at least once a day. I don't mind because I love it, too. She will sit still and watch until the singing begins, and then she gets up to dance. I am convinced it's her Latino blood. It's not just that she wants to dance, she must dance.

Aunt Chelsea bought Gracie a Rapunzel doll
she calls anything related to Tangled "Papize"

Gracie's full sentences now include, "I love you," "I'm coming," and "They just can't get my nose right." :)

Clouds

The other day a young woman who is very near and dear to me was showing me a text message she had just received from her fairly serious boyfriend. In the message I could just taste the sweetness of newly found love and hopes for a future that they dream of taking head-on together.

It took me back a few years to my dating and engagement period with Danilo. I felt like life had become sweeter than a fairy tale because I had found in him my definition of happiness. Like many engaged couples, we looked forward to those nights when we would go home together instead of him dropping me off at the end of the night. He would be part of the rest of my future, and no challenges that came our way would be too great because he and I would face them together.

the night after we got engaged on Salt Lake Temple grounds

dancing...

shower thrown by our friends in "adultos solteros"

Our wedding day: picking me up with rings in hand to go to the temple!!

Do I look happy?

I remember during those times a few people who good-naturedly told me to "just wait" until I came down from the clouds. Gary Thornley, who I adore, and who let me travel with him and his darling wife Marilyn to Mexico just a few days after Danilo and I had set a wedding date, got to hear how wonderful Danilo was on a daily basis. One day he elbowed me and said, "He may be all that, but he'll still leave his socks on the floor."

Gary and Marilyn Thornley (my Mexico pictures are in storage)

So the challenges have come. They have come in the form of car repairs and flooded carpeting and ten days on, two days off and learning that some situations cause our personalities to clash and that we were raised in different homes and that we don't agree on when Gracie should be potty-trained.

But as I sat there, text message in hand, and thought of what to say to this darling girl who sat next to me with happiness and love and excitement written all over her face, I thought to myself, have I come down from the clouds?

Maybe temporarily, from time to time, when in the thick of a challenging situation, but as I looked at her, I realized while I have amassed more experience, there isn't a whole lot of difference between the Brittney of today and the Brittney who fell madly in love with Danilo not so many years ago. We are still that same boy and girl who set out to make their dreams come true together, and we are doing it. None of the challenges have been too great when we have faced them together, and he is still the one I want to face them with. Because those ten days on, two days off are bringing Danilo closer to being able to provide well for our family, and that little girl who I want to start potty-training at 2 1/2 and Danilo would have trained were it up to him (wink, wink, many tell me they'd like to see him try) has brought more joy and fulfillment to our lives as husband and wife than we ever could have anticipated.
Oh, and did I mention that amidst the challenges there have been good times too? Such, such good times, so many that I started a blog to keep track of them all!

Happy Valentines Day Danilo!! I am so thankful to be living out this dream of ours with you!

What made this Christmas different...

A sight that never ceases to prick my heart is of our Christmas tree lying sideways waiting for the garbage truck to come. It always gets to me. Thank you for brightening our house and filling it with the wonder of Christmas...I will now leave you on the curb. Our curb happens to be a bus stop, however, and someone propped our tree and our neighbor's tree upright while they were waiting for the bus, which I thought was kind of silly and cute. Yes, I have a hard time letting go of Christmas every year. It's time to blog about three things that made this year's Christmas different.

1. GRACIE

Here was her impression of Christmas...



She had this amused look on her face all morning that I think said, "Mom, why don't we play with pretty paper every day?!" I'm sure parents of older kids can tell me it's going to get sweeter and sweeter with every year. I'm convinced!

Thanks so much to family for giving us a place to come celebrate, delicious food, and sweet gifts. We love you!!


2. The GRACIE song.

When Gracie was born I put a song on our blog called Gracie by Ben Folds. Apparently my brother Andrew got a hold of the sheet music and has been practicing it on the piano to get it ready for Christmas. And here's the kicker--he talked Danilo into singing it on Christmas Eve. Danilo doesn't sing for people. Danilo only sings in the bathroom. Danilo wouldn't let me post the video, but it was one of the sweetest gifts I have ever received. Thanks little brother!

3. Jason Luna

Danilo knew the wonderful Luna family on his mission in Orlando. That's where we ended up going on our honeymoon and Sister Luna (who works for Disney) and her family did so much to make our trip so incredible!! Their son Jason moved out to Utah the week before Christmas to start work and school here, and we kind of absorbed him into our family for the holidays. He was so nice to put up with us. We spent time with both the Achters and Byingtons. Coming to all our Christmas parties meant that he met both sides of my entire family. I don't know if any boyfriends have even ever had it that intense! Christmas night he was teaching my sisters how to latin dance. There was some serious Wii competition throughout the holiday. The day after Christmas we ate out at the restaurant where he works where we felt like we had the inside scoop on what to order and how. We just really like him!

Unexpected

A couple of weekends ago, I found myself standing in front of the Salsa club at Danilo's university. He'd been asked to come do a demonstration. I just remember thinking, wow, this is not something I would've expected to be doing say, ten years ago. Ten years ago I didn't know more than a lick of Spanish. Ten years ago my dance experience didn't extend past the Boot Scootin' Boogie. I guess I'm just thankful that I'm not the only author in my life, because I don't think I would've written Salsa dancing in on my own. The video below isn't super recent. It was taken on our honeymoon. Please take that into account when you notice the silly googly look on my face. I was pretty excited to be married to Danilo (nothing's changed, I've just toned down the googly look). The dancing's a little clumsy for that reason, too, but I think it gives you a pretty good taste of what we like to do. Please also know you don't have to watch all five minutes and twenty four seconds. I wasn't able to edit it down like I would've liked. I'll stop making disclaimers. Just enjoy!

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!

I have a husband named Danilo

In case you haven't met my husband, I'd like to a minute to introduce you! For some reason, I really fell in love with Spanish while I was in college. I jumped into a beginner's Spanish class and advanced each semester until I had a minor. I met my sweet friend Marlene from Chile during this time. We had a lot of fun together and she knew as much English as I knew Spanish. I know spending time with her helped me a lot. When all was said and done, I was fairly fluent in Spanish and didn't really know why I'd done it!! I began attending a Spanish branch in the area to keep up the language and after several invitations, I finally began attending their young single adult activities. It was at a fireside where Danilo approached me and asked me where I'd learned Spanish. Had I served a mission? he asked. I was flattered and after a few phone conversations and a Saturday night latin dancing date, I was pretty well whooped. Danilo was born in Italy. His parents were Chilean and returned to Chile when he was eight months old. He lived there until he was 13 and then his family moved to Miami. He spent his jr. high and high school years there and moved to Salt Lake at 19. He worked and played and decided something was missing, and that's how he ended up on a mission to Orlando at age 26. I came into the picture five months after he got home and I've been grateful we bumped into each other ever since. He speaks fluent English with a darn cute accent.