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!

Why High School Musical? you may ask

NOTE: Title of this post refers to the song that was playing on our blog at the time it was posted

The truth is, I have never seen Danilo so little in my life (well, since we've been married) during these last few semesters of his schooling. We will go four, five, six days solid seeing each other for prayer in the morning (during which I am somewhat comatose) and a half hour at night. It has given me an appreciation for how sweet it is just to BE TOGETHER when we are. So while Troy and Gabriella are in a cheesy high school relationship worrying about life after graduation, it's amazing how fitting the words to Just Wanna Be with You are!! I am thankful for my little girl who keeps me company. I would be super lonely without her!

Yellow! Red! Orange!

Yesterday my family swung by to pick up Grace and me on their way to a leaf drive. We drove all the way up to Bear Lake and came down through Sardine Canyon where we saw some simply GORGEOUS LEAVES! I know I must officially be a mom now, or at least grown up. I remember sitting in the back seat of the car hearing my Mom rave about the leaves and now I get almost as excited as she does. "Look at that RED! Look at that YELLOW!" We did manage to grab some raspberry shakes while we were up at Bear Lake. Delicious.

Grace and I missed having her Dad along, and we're so thankful for all he does for us. These are the first and second year students in his radiology program at the hospital.
After working for Goldenwest Credit Union for the past two and a half months, Danilo was able to get on as an RPT (radiology practical technician) at the hospital which means in addition to doing clinicals at the hospital, he will work there as well with a limited license. Goldenwest has been a really enjoyable job for Danilo that landed in our lives at an important time (around the time Gracie was born and my last paycheck from the school district arrived). We feel so blessed!

Back to School

Mrs. Collado's Class Picture 2009-2010

PICTURED (left to right): Mrs. Collado, Grace Collado

Curriculum: smiling, cooing, rolling over, sitting up, teething, crawling, laughing, solid foods, "da-da", "ma-ma"

Thanks to Gracie's Dad and all he's doing (school, work, and clinicals) so that I can be home with our baby girl.

Thanks to Jackie Norris for photographing Grace and Mom at three weeks old. Jackie and I were neighbors growing up and she has become quite the photographer. You can see more of her fabulous work here.

I also want to thank my friend Amy Woody, another up and coming photographer who is responsible for the family picture at the top of our blog. Good grief, she made us sound like the good guys for allowing her the privilege of photographing Grace at three days old. We were so thankful!!