Change of Address

I was making breakfast one Saturday morning in our little townhome when I noticed a foreign object on the kitchen counter. It was a realtor's business card. Someone must have been through our home, probably the night before while we were in Salt Lake, and SHOOT! What did it look like when they did? Pretty decent, I discovered as I went in and out of rooms. Just not with that fresh, clean look you like to achieve before a prospective buyer walks through. Checking my email a couple of hours later, we found out that whoever had come through wanted our house and had made a darn good offer, which we accepted.

Thankful to have the move over (and thanks to family for their help!! That's the hardest thing I've done since giving birth!), we are now in my parents' basement waiting for our home to be built, which means some of my favorite people in the world are right upstairs. It is ridiculous the amount of fun I am having with my sisters.

Not having grown up in the United States, Danilo has never really picked up on the custom of not wanting to spend time with his in-laws, or even joking about it, actually :). I think that's something unique to our marriage that I am really thankful for. He's genuinely thankful for a place to live and is always looking for a way to do his share around here.

Grace, as you can imagine, is being very well taken care of.

The Whole Reason We Went to Florida

was so that we could come back to this....
That's not the whole truth. Oh how anxious I was to get back to my baby when it was time, but we also went so that Danilo and I could have fun together. And we did! Just a few pictures to sum up the trip...

I could insert some witty remark about us being
Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, but I'll resist :)


My genuine reaction to the Rockin Rollercoaster

I'm sticking this here because my husband looks so darn cute


We had never been surfing before. Still haven't.


Epcot


With the Lunas (left) and the Lopez. Lidia Luna arranged most of our trip, took us to the parks, and she and her husband invited us for dinner twice. What gracious and generous hosts we had!

I am very thankful to our families for making it easy to know that Grace was being well taken care of. Don't plan on us going anywhere without her for a very long time now, though. Not even Disney World tops Gracie!

mail

Sometimes I don't post for awhile because I am grasping at something interesting enough to blog about. That hasn't been the case. There has been so much going on the last month or two that I've been grasping at a way to blog about all of it. And then the mail came yesterday, and it almost sums up the whole story.

I am a state delegate. Quick explanation on what that means: I've been searching for ways to become more politically educated because I love my country and don't want to be ignorant of what's going on. I've tried talk radio, I've tried different news channels, the newspaper, and the internet and still felt like I wasn't on board. So we attended our caucus meeting in March where a total of seven people showed up (I know I've heard of much heavier attendance at caucus meetings this year than in years past, and our chairwoman said ours was no different, in fact, the numbers had doubled. I've heard other caucuses filled high school auditoriums. We partially filled a living room :). The purpose of a caucus is to elect county and state delegates that will represent your precinct, or part of your neighborhood, at the county and state conventions where officials are elected from the party. This is where and how it really is about we the people. Sitting there at the caucus I thought, maybe this is my chance to get involved. When nominations went up for a county delegate, I raised my hand, a motion was made and seconded. When nominations went up for state delegates, I raised my hand, a motion was made and seconded.

Governor Herbert at the county convention

Since then my phone, email, mailbox, and doorstep have been flooded with efforts from candidates at the county and state level to secure my vote. We've met quite a few of the candidates at the county and state level (or at least stood a few feet away to hear them speak) and whenever I bring Grace with me, she usually catches their eye :). The county convention was held last month and was SO COOL! And now I've got a few more days to ponder which candidates will get my vote for senator and governor at the state convention. I have since learned that it is generally more difficult to be selected as a delegate, especially if there are more than ten people in the room :), and that it's even more rare to be selected for county and state, so I have been very thankful for this opportunity. An education in politics was what I was looking for and boy have I ever received one!!!!

We are building a home!! We've hopped in and out of the housing market a few times the last few months with the plan of probably buying an existing home, until we stopped into an Ivory Homes model home. Their incentives are as great as their homes are beautiful. The papers have been signed.

for sale

We start building towards the end of the summer and our townhome is up for sale. Let us know if you're interested!!

We are leaving the state (just for a few days)! I haven't made it farther than Park City since Grace was born, and I don't think Danilo's been anywhere but Salt Lake. We're taking advantage of our hard earned sky miles to spend a few days in Florida. Grace is staying with each set of grandparents, and after all the research I've done on babycenter.com and phone calls I've made to discuss leaving my baby for a few days I have come to the conclusion that this is going to hurt me more than it hurts her and it will be good for Grace for her mom and dad to go have some fun together!

The only thing going on that the mail failed to mention is that Danilo graduated as a radiology technologist (the same day my sister Hailey graduated in elementary education). He will begin specializing in MRI in the fall. We can see the end from here!!
Grace is looking forward to being able to spend more time at home with her dad (so am I)!

60 years

These two beautiful people are my grandparents and this picture was taken on Saturday night when we celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. The first time Grandma remembers seeing Grandpa, the son of German immigrants, is when he spoke in church as a youth. He had just moved to Salt Lake from New York and had a heavy Brooklyn accent. He talked about things like "'boids' in the trees" and Grandma "didn't understand a word he said."

I so admire the love between my grandparents. I can remember distinct times each of them has sat and personally told me of the strong love they have for the other. When Danilo and I were first married, Grandpa pulled us aside and told us how fun and wonderful it is to be in love with the person you married. He said, "Sometimes we're even late to places, and it's because we're kissing." :) Grandma is so proud of Grandpa and Grandpa especially makes it known how proud he is of Grandma. I've had to agree with him a number of times when he'll pull me aside and ask me, "Isn't she beautiful?"

I realized last night that all of this has trickled down to the way my dad treats my mom. When I was home and Dad would call from work, I always counted on hearing him ask for her by saying something like, "Is your GORGEOUS mom there?" I realized last night that one of the greatest things parents can do for their children is show them that they love each other and I am thankful for the people who have demonstrated this so beautifully in my life!

Peanuts are a No

Danilo chuckled to himself in the kitchen."Gracie likes peanut butter," he said, walking into the room with a part-eaten peanut butter sandwich. "She's so cute." One of my eyebrows arched. "I don't think babies are supposed to have peanut butter." Since we bought Gracie a high chair and she's grown accustomed to solid foods, we've shared a little bit of this and that with her at the dinner table, a crumb from a roll, a dab of mashed potato. Watching her experiment with the new tastes and textures in her cute little mouth has been so fun. But somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I knew I had heard babies weren't supposed to have peanut butter. I don't know if it was something I had acquired from being a big sister or from child development in high school... So I ran up to the computer and did a quick Google search: babies peanut butter. I found an article that said the consistency of peanut butter can be dangerous for babies because it can get stuck in their throats. I reported my findings to Danilo. Gracie stared at us wondering what the big deal was as we watched her intently for several seconds making sure there was no peanut butter stuck in her throat. "Probably no more peanut butter, though," I said as I sat down to feed her some mashed bananas. Danilo acquiesced to his mildly paranoid wife and finished his sandwich at the kitchen table. "Are those marks on her face from rolling around on the carpet?" he asked a minute later. "I think so," I replied. A few bites of bananas later, the number of red spots had grown and now they included tiny white bumps. My only allergic reaction in my life to penicillin had me convinced immediately that our little girl was breaking out into hives. Thus began a pretty miserable Sunday afternoon. As her face began to clear up, the hives continued down her neck and stomach and legs itching like crazy. Grace only knew she was uncomfortable and except for a dose or two of Benadryl every couple of hours, we felt pretty helpless. A priesthood blessing by her Dad, Grandpa, and Great Grandpa late in the afternoon (who were at our home for a family home evening that went surprisingly well anyway) calmed Dad's and Mom's and Gracie's nerves. Monday morning she woke up completely cleared up and talking and smiling and giggling again. I've spent the week receiving an education on peanut allergies. We'll know with time and probably some allergy testing how severe it is. For now we just have to STAY AWAY from them. Peanuts are much more prevalent than I realized! I am coming to terms with the fact that my daughter may never get to experience the joy of a Leatherby's hot fudge peanut butter sundae, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and that I might not be able to just whip up a peanut butter sandwich for lunch on a weekday afternoon. There are worse things. Aside from having an allergic reaction to peanut butter this week, Gracie officially crawled across the living room floor last night and her first tooth which we discovered yesterday at lunchtime is gradually making an appearance!

3 and a Half Reasons I'm Thankful

#1
We've gotten word by phone and by internet that our Chilean relatives are safe and well.



#2
Saturday's car accident was so very minor with Danilo and me up front and Grace and her aunt Chelsea in the backseat (yes, that IS the car I was driving as a junior in high school... she's so good to us!)


#3
March 1st was Spring-like enough to take a walk on the trail at the park. Gracie... this is called outside and you're going to love it!

#3 and a half
Springtime in the air means it's time to put up my favorite wreath... or putting up my favorite wreath means Spring is in the air. Good news either way!

Thank You Letter

Dear Cher of Love, Actually blog,
Not knowing how and when we were going to celebrate Valentines Day this year with my husband's insane work and school schedule, I did a Google search to try and find a way to do something special. I wasn't sure what I wanted, but hoped I'd find it. The Valentine's Countdown you posted was everything I was looking for!! I used probably a little more than half of your ideas and then made up some that were unique to us as husband and wife. My very favorite night was dancing to our wedding song. I teared up at the thought of how much we have experienced together and how my love for him has deepened since the last time we danced to that song. Some other favorites were

writing love letters to each other and mailing them for real



the heart attack on our bedroom wall



And the five-minute massage was a total hit.


I can say that our relationship sweetened over the last two weeks because we said and wrote and did things for each other that took time and effort motivated by love and were receiving it from each other every day in return. It was exciting and fun and love-inspiring.


Thank you so much!

Brittney Collado




And because Gracie grows faster than we do, I better get some recent pictures of her on this post, too!