The Dynamic Trio

Our Blog Has Moved!

2010-06-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

I've decided blogger and i don't get along. So instead of throwing in the towel i've created a new blog. The new address is www.sethandbrandi.com.

Why are you still reading this? GO! =)

Throwing Away Sister is Not the Answer

2010-06-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever in your life seen such a beautiful little girl? (Note: i did not pose her.) This is typical sweet little Gracie loving her Minnie.

(Both pictures were taken on my phone, so they're a bit fuzzy)

Ok moving on from the insane degree of cuteness...

I am a very neat and clean person. People who know me call me OCD on crack. So even though Nicci is 4 years old i still expect her to keep her room very neat and clean after the day is done. Today i was in there making sure she was cleaning up correctly (rather than hiding stuff in Gracie's bed) and i picked up a mound of blankets to find suckers. Sticky, half eaten suckers just WAITING to be devoured by ants and roaches. This was our conversation.

-----------------------------------------------------

Me- Nicci! What the heck is this?!
Nicci- (puts on fake shocked look) I have NO idea! Who in the world?!
Me- (oh please.) You were eating these the other day. Did you put these under here?

Nicci- Mommy. I'm a big girl. I don't do that. (flips her head and walks off)

Me- Nicole! This is not ok. First, i know you're lieing and that makes me sad, and second, you're being rude.
Nicci- Sorry. It's not my fault friends make me do things.
Me- (ohhhhh here we go) Oh, ok. So let me get this straight. Your friends MADE you put half eaten suckers under your blankets?
Nicci- Yes mommy! And they made me put the gum on the curtains too! ...Those are some bad friends Mommy.
Me- (Excuse me?!! Gum on the curtains?! And sidenote- her friends are very GOOD kids)
Nicole....I will give you to the count of 5 to tell me the truth. If you lie about the suckers OR the gum i will throw away your princess tent. (her tent is her life.)
Nicci- (staring blankly at me) ....
Me- 1 ... 2... 3...
Nicci- ok... so there's a small possibility....
Me- (loudly) 4 ....
Nicci- FINE! It was me! I sucked the suckers and put them under the blanket and stole gum from your purse and made a Christmas tree on the curtains! (tears were flowing) Don't throw away my tent Mommy. Throw Gracie away!!
Me- (trying very hard not to laugh hysterically.) Wait a second...why would i throw your sister away?
Nicci- Because she makes me crazy! I wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't here.
Me- Don't blame your baby sister! Besides, I think that'd make Gracie really sad if she heard you say that.
Nicci- Ya. Good point, (sniffling) i'll keep her, don't worry.
Me- This room needs to stay clean Nicci or you'll have bugs all over in here.
Nicci- Well if Gracie wasn't in here it wouldn't smell stinky. Tell her that k? Or i'll count to 5 and throw her away!
Me- (Deep breath. It's time for a talk. and a nap.)

Needless to say we had a very long talk about taking responsibility for our actions and how lieing hurts people. I really think she understood and genuinely felt bad for lieing. It's progress! I love Nicci. She has such a huge heart and loves to no end, but she can also be the biggest stinker!! And i love it. :)

Nicci really does adore her little sister. I promise. *-)

Mother, i love you.

2010-05-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

My friend posted this on her blog and it touched me so deeply i felt the need to share it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E&feature=player_embedded

Nicci sang "Mother, i Love You" with the primary in church today for her very first time - it literally made my Mother's Day. Also, Seth and Nicci (and Gracie!) made a very special gift for me that i will treasure forever. Seth has spoiled me all weekend and has not only made sure i felt pampered but more importantly he really helped me understand his real love for me. We had some very sacred moments that i will cherish in my heart for the rest of my life. ... I'm undeserving of the life i'm living, but so grateful for the unconditional love i'm shown as a mother. It is by far the single most important thing i will ever do, and it brings me more joy than i know how to express. I am so thankful for these two beautiful angels who make every day a perfect one.

I am the luckiest mom.

AND, i am the luckiest daughter.

Today i thought a lot about how much i love and deeply admire my mother. I am thankful for my mom who was home every day when i got home from school, who played the piano for hours with me by her side singing along, who taught me that being honest is far more important than anything else, who showed me through example that service is the road to true happiness, who would comfort me with the song "You are My Sunshine" (and still does), who i would find in a special spot behind the couch praying to our Father in Heaven in the late hours of the night, who read Christmas stories with me by candlelight every night in December, who loves God first then others, who was worried more about paying a full tithe than having money, ...who loved me when no one else in the world did. I am thankful for who my mom is. For who she stands for. And for the love she shows without having to say a single word.

Happy Mother's Day to me (and you)! And Happy Mother's Day to the most beautiful (inside and out) mother and special grandmother there ever was, MY MOM.

She said YES.

2010-05-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

Five years ago today this handsome man woke me up at 4am and had me hike to the very top of Sunrise mountain, directly above the temple (where we were married three months later) where he knelt on one knee with tears in his eyes and asked me to spend the rest of eternity by his side. I'll never forget how sure and confident he was...his hand didn't have the slightest shake and surprisingly enough my heart wasn't fluttering in nervousness. Instead, my heart was racing with excitement and his smile was bigger than i'd ever seen it. I was happier at that moment than i ever had been up until that very second. I couldn't believe that the man i loved more than life would share his entire life and beyond with little ol' me. BEST decision i ever made was saying yes.

We have not only been so blessed with each other, but we have also been blessed with these two beautiful girls who have brought us closer together and happier than we ever thought possible.

I married my best friend. And i'm so glad.

The greatest blessings in our lives are right here.

"She said YES, and I said WOW, she said when, and I said how about right now! Love can't wait, then i asked if she believed in fate, and she said YES!"

4 Going on 14

2010-04-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

My little Nicci is quite the character. She turns 4 next month and she thinks she's got the world all figured out. 95% of the time the things she will do and say are absolutely hilarious. But the other 5% can be a bit scary...

Nicci- Mommy, do i have to live here forever?

Me- Absolutely not! When you graduate high school you can go away to college if you want.

Nicci- But i want to go to high school now.

Me- Trust me Nicci. You do not want to go to high school.

Nicci- Why?

Me- Because...(thinking of a way to explain in 4 year old language) ... you just don't. Enjoy being little sweetheart, you'll grow up way too fast, and one day you will want to be 4 again.

Nicci- Mommy it's ok. (gives me a huge hug and a kiss on my arm)

Me- Thanks Nicci. It does make mommy a little sad you're growing up so fast.

Nicci- (Rolling her eyes and walking away)

Me- What?

Nicci- Mommy. I'm not sorry i'm growing into a big girl. I'm sorry you don't have friends. But i will be different. I love so many friends! They will all live here when i go to college!

Me- UM. First of all. Who said i don't have friends...I have friends... (a bit hesitated, lets be honest) and second, your friends will not be living here when you go to college sweetheart.

Nicci- Remember mommy. We don't lie. Telling the truth makes Grandma and Jesus happy. Remember that? I need to go to high school to learn how to be a mommy.

Me- They don't teach you that in high school. You learn that in church, and at home...and from Grandma and from me!

Nicci- Oh boy...

Me- (Walking downstairs and under my breath) Oh Nicci. You will be my little girl forever...

Nicci- Sorry Mom. (oh, so i'm mom now?) Hey. I got a dea! (that's how she says 'idea')

Me- What's that?

Nicci- I could go live with Grandma in high school! And my friends could stay here! Sounds like a plan Mommy! (gives me a huge smile)

Me- Haha. You should tell Grandma your "dea". (lol)

Nicci- Ok! She'll be so happy! (squealing in delight)

The funny thing is she went and got the house phone and i had no idea. I walked upstairs a little while later to find the phone on the floor. I picked it up and it said 21:18. She had hit redial and left a 21 minute message on my mom's answering machine. lol. I'm so sorry Mom. My daughter is 4 going on 14. :(

On the other hand. This beautiful creature is being held A LOT lately. Maybe if i hold her forever she won't grow up so fast.

I can dream right?

Girls. Girls. and more Girls.

2010-04-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

We love our girls in this house, it's no secret.

Mommy-Daughter DATE! Pedicure/Manicures & BJ's Pizookies

Oh, i absolutely love my girls. I can not imagine being any happier than i am right now.

my obsession.

2010-03-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

I've always had a passion for photography. Seth told me a while ago he wanted to get me a nice camera so i could really take pictures. It finally happened. And i'm in love.

{Here's some practice pictures i've taken lately.}

I think she's precious when she cries.

Typical sweet little Nicci. When she gets in trouble she gives this look and it melts.your.heart.

I only have one complaint about my beautiful camera. It can't seem to capture how cute these girls really are.

It just might be... impossible.

Hello.

2010-03-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'm not a very good blogger i've decided. My apologies.

Many people have been asking for updates on Gracie. Let me just say, she is the definition of perfection. She and Nicci have such an incredible bond that continues to melt my heart. Now we understand why we felt so strongly to have her when we did...these girls need each other. Gracie has been having seizures daily since she was born. The doctor found out that her thyroid is present and functioning, so her Congenital Hypothyroidism could quite possibly be stemming from her brain. (This also may be connected to her seizures.) To be honest, we don't have any comforting or concrete answers yet, but over the duration of the next couple weeks she will have extensive testing and hopefully we will get some answers. In the meantime, we are just loving and enjoying having each other and such a beautiful family. There are a million pictures i need to post, but as usual i don't have the energy or the time to do that right now (Although i promise that i will soon)... But here are just a couple sweet moments captured during our wonderful lives lately...

Gracie Lyn Rasmussen- blessed on March 21, 2010

The girls were getting ready for bed and sweet Aunt Kaity brought over some cute hair accessories, and Nicci insisted on taking a picture with her sister. So tender.

This is a picture of the greatest big sister there ever was.

And SHE has surpassed cute. She's just edible.

Three generations of beautiful.

"I'm going to have to chew on the side of my binky since no one will put it in my mouth the right way..."

I'm a little bias but i think we're the cutest couple around. :)

We are so blessed. There are no words.

On a Happier Note

2010-03-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

I get to stare at this beautiful piece of heaven every second of everyday.

Slow Motion

2010-02-23T22:56:00.000-08:00

Our world just stopped.

Gracie was diagnosed with Congenital Hypothyroidism. Her thyroid is underdeveloped and fails to produce or release the thyroid hormone. This can cause her brain and body not to develop normally, and is the leading cause of retardation. ... We were told she'll be on medication her whole life, and monitored closely every month through invasive tests for the next 5 years-minimum. We are praying so hard that the medication over time will prevent her from not developing correctly, mentally and physically, but we are afraid they didn't start treatment soon enough. Please keep our sweet Gracie Lyn in your prayers. (and her mommy and daddy.)

...We are in slow motion right now.

Perfection.

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven."

-Orson F. Whitney

Three Short Years Ago...

2010-02-13T21:58:00.000-08:00

we were at Primary Children's hospital with our sweet little Nicci while she recovered from reconstructive skull surgery. I have already posted about it including pictures (click HERE to see it) but we can't help but remember at this time of year how very blessed we were at that time. It's overwhelming. We thank our Father in Heaven every day for watching over us and our little daughter during that difficult time in our lives. Nicci has a Dr. appointment soon to schedule her next surgery, and we know she will be strong and wonderful just like she was the first time. Three years later...our little girl is more beautiful than ever.

Gracie Lyn

2010-02-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Gracie Lyn was born February 1 at 12:03pm. She weighed 6lbs 7oz, and measured 19.5 inches long. The birth was such an amazing experience; i had NO drugs, and NO epidural. It was so intense but simply beautiful. I will post more pictures and tell the incredible story when i have more energy. :) But for now, here is our absolutely perfect Gracie Lyn.

Nicci LOVES being a big sister and Gracie absolutely adores her.

Life is beautiful.

Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam

2010-01-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

Today is a big day in the life of our Nicole Debra. She became a Sunbeam. My heart is flooding with emotion as i watch my once so tiny baby girl grow up into such a beautiful and loving little girl. She spent all morning singing Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam and it melted my heart. I'm so grateful for my life. We have been so blessed with such a special little girl with a huge heart of gold.

Our little Sunbeam shining so brightly...

I had to get a "hair shot" and a "back of the dress shot." :)

I was too exhausted and large to get into a dress this morning and go to church, which is absolutely breaking my heart. I wanted to take my little girl to Sunbeams, but good thing she has a wonderful Daddy who would love more than anything to walk his little girl to her first day of Sunbeams. (I married such a wonderful man.) I snapped this picture as they were walking out the door and i think i will frame it and keep it forever. I love these two more than words can explain.

J.O.Y.

2009-12-26T19:55:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We had a magical day...nothing but perfection.

I know this picture is blury but i just love my mom, and this picture is adorable. :)

A tiny {absolutely beautiful} little tot with her eyes all a glow!

Prego Update.

2009-12-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

Im feeling very large and ready to meet my little girl. I'm 32 weeks. My kidney is feeling like a dull ache these days. Heartburn is out of control. My lungs are squished. Gracie loves to stretch out as much as possible and the majority of the time my stomach is shifting from one side to another. Seth and i love to watch my belly morphe into crazy positions. It's feeling more and more real that Nicci will soon have a sister and she is SO excited. I'm trying to cherish every moment, even the less enjoyable ones. Watching and feeling our family grow is incredible beyond words. There's nothing like it. I'm so grateful for my strong and hard working husband. I'm so glad we have our little family and live the most incredible life together. I used to think that traveling and taking random vacations with my husband would make me so happy, but the truth is, i'd take my heartburn, watching my belly shift, and little girl's laughter, sticky hands, and hugs ANY day over seeing the world. Why would i want to walk out my front door when i have the WHOLE WORLD within the walls of my own home. I'm one lucky girl.

Lately...

Mmm...

2009-12-03T20:02:00.000-08:00

We are completely in love with our beautiful daughter. Can you tell? :)

7 Months down...2 To Go!

2009-11-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for your input. I've decided i'll just post random here and there. So here's random. :) This is sadly the only real pregnancy pictures i've taken with this pregnancy. (Besides our Halloween pictures that are super cute...COMING SOON...) The first two pictures represent this pregnancy's fun kidney stones and the third is to show my huge belly. Bottom line... only TWO months to go!

I've Been Thinking...

2009-11-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

of getting rid of our blog. I feel like i don't have the time or desire to keep it updated and i spend all my time on our family albums (which are insanely cute by the way) and our home videos. Maybe i can put links up to the albums or something...i don't know. Is it really worth it? I have so many cute pictures and so many memories i want to share but it just takes so long to put them on the blog. I'd much rather spend the time with my kids and my sweetheart writing in our journals and recording it all in our albums than on my computer discussing my inner most feelings and latest fun times with the world. On the other hand it's fun to share ridiculously cute pictures of your kids and great times with the family. So im stuck. Ive tried turning my blog into a book but i found another program i like better to do our family albums, so that's not an option. What do you think? Do i throw in the towel, or is there an option i'm missing?

C'mon. I can't post without including a picture of this beautiful girl...

:)

2009-10-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

You are my Sunshine

my only Sunshine... You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear how much i love you... Please don't take my Sunshine away!

Baby Bump :)

2009-10-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

This was taken with my phone so the quality isn't great but, yay, i have a bump. :)

Proud Mama!

2009-09-15T18:03:00.001-07:00

Our baby learned to write her name today!! I know being proud isn't always good...but today i couldn't help it. :) Way to go Nicci!

Lost and Found

2009-09-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken about a year ago and i just found them on my friend's computer. It made me laugh! Nicci is such a sweet little character and i couldn't help but share these three pictures that absolutely made my day.

Our "Girls" Are Growing Up!

2009-09-01T20:55:00.001-07:00

You might have caught on through the title but we are happy to announce that we are having another GIRL!!! Not only that, but today was Nicci's first day of school! We have her enrolled in a Montessori preschool full time and she is loving it. It was such an emotional day realizing that my baby has officially started her school years. Nicci is growing up so fast and will make such a precious big sister and will be a huge help to Mommy!! We took a few pictures today and being the pregnant tired mommy i am right now, i stayed comfortable in my pajamas and cried all my makeup off before we left the house! Today was such a special day...i will cherish the memories forever.

Seth gave Nicci her very first father's blessing for school! By the end of the blessing my eyes were puffy and i had never been so in love with these two.

Nicci was excited to wear her new shirt to school! There's nothing like the smell of new clothes on the first day of school. Doesn't she just look so darn precious?!

Nicci with her amazing teacher Miss Lacie!

Nicci made two very good friends today. Kenzie and Ava. So cute.

We were so proud of our big girl today! We took her to iHop to celebrate her first day of school. She was such a big girl. She wanted to sit on her own side and she ordered all by herself and showed us how good she was coloring inside the lines. :) When did she get so independent?

I'm so proud of my Nicci-D. No matter what, she will always be my little girl.

Our Little Fishy

2009-07-31T14:24:00.001-07:00

Earlier this summer Nicci took swimming lessons and it was a really good experience. Since Nicci was born she has loved the water so we decided when she turned three that it was time to teach her how to survive in the water! She had a lot of fun and learned to listen to her teacher...(kinda)!

I'm very proud of the progress she has made! Last week she accidently fell in without her swimmies and she held her breath and never stopped kicking! We got her out of the water but she almost had her head above before we did!

Nicci had a bad habit of escaping her class...
The first thing Nicci would do when she woke up was put on her swimming suit, eat, and then patiently wait for swimming class. It was so cute.

I could squeeze her until she pops.

STORY TIME. The swim class was for two weeks and from the very beginning Nicci would refer to everyone as "her friends", even the older kids. Well the older kids, (particularly these two girls) were so mean to her. They would make fun of her right to her face and Nicci was so confused...and i was angry. I never said anything because that would make it worse obviously, but everyday i would go home in tears. Watching my little girl try to be friends with everyone and then rejected right to her face for no reason was pain i had never felt. Nicci is a sweet kid so everyday she just continued to be nice. Well, three days before the end of the class, all of a sudden these girls wanted to be friends with Nicci. They came early just to play with her before class and then stay late to play with her after. It was the most incredible example to me of unconditional kindness and love. I watched Nicci continue to get made fun of and laughed at...and all the while she was still smiling, being kind, and trying to be friends. And then low and behold, these girls had a change of heart. It was a cool experience. I absolutely adore my little girl. :)
After swim class Nicci's favorite thing to do was go to my parent's house and show off all her new skills to Grandma and Grandpa! It was such a fun two weeks.
No swimmies... Our sweet little fishy.

Smitten

2009-07-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen such a handsome guy in your life? I haven't. ;)

Lately i've been feeling very lucky to have such a hardworking lovable husband. He's so patient with my pregnancy mishaps...spilling milk all the time...knocking over the beautiful flowers he brings home for me...and lets not forget me sitting on the food i place on the couch to comfortably eat. He works close to 80 hour weeks and always makes time for his girls. NOT only time, but he makes us feel special every single day. I'm so glad i married my very best friend. I love you my insanely handsome hubby!

We Have An Announcement!!

2009-06-09T20:22:00.001-07:00

Baby #2 is on his/her way!

I'm Pregnant!!

We are SO excited to have our family expand and for Nicci to be a big sister! When we told Nicci she was going to be a big sister she said, "Mommy! You having baby?! Awwww!" And then she kissed my belly. :) ...Pure bliss.

Homemade Love

2009-05-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

In two days (on Saturday) our baby turns three. It's almost impossible to comprehend. It feels like just yesterday i was lying in the delivery room counting Nicci's fingers and toes, wondering how someone so tiny and new could surpass perfection like she was. It's so strange that it's been almost three years since that night. As it got closer to May this year we talked about all the different things we could give her for her birthday... a bike, a pool, a trampoline, an elaborate party... but then one night we knew. Homemade Love. The perfect gift. So with my two hands (and the help of my sweet husband) we made her a lap quilt and a scripture bag to match. We are giving Nicci her first little scriptures with Mommy & Daddy's testimonies on the inside cover. Nicci has such a bright little spirit. So many Dr.s told us there was a possibility that she would have mental complications, but instead she is growing into such a delightful little girl who absolutely loves, and i mean really LOVES church and her Savior Jesus Christ. So we felt that with a mix of homemade love and her first set of scriptures that on her birthday she would not only feel the love of her parents who simply adore her, but the love of her Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ who love her even more. We finished her gifts today and my heart is so full of both excitement and joy. Excitement to wrap Nic up in her quilt and show her her very own scriptures... and joy that Heavenly Father has so kindly blessed us with such a special little girl who teaches us more about love than we could ever teach her. ...In 30 hours my little princess turns 3!

The Joys of Easter

2009-05-13T17:20:00.001-07:00

Easter was amazing this year. We created a lot of special memories that we will cherish forever. We also took a million pictures. What tells a story better than pictures?! I put them into collages to reduce the scrolling. :) Enjoy!

Our Easter Story 2009...

On the Friday before Easter we colored eggs and we all had a blast! I made Peanut Butter Popcorn and my parents brought a million fun things to decorate eggs with!
Nicci actually understood the whole Easter Bunny concept this year! It was a lot of fun. When we went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall she ran right up to him all by herself. I almost cried she was such a big girl!! We colored eggs on Friday night and then left a note for the Easter Bunny asking him to come on Saturday morning because Sunday morning we would be at church thinking about Jesus. Sure enough, the Easter Bunny got our letter!! All night Nicci kept telling us she "heard" the Easter Bunny coming! It was so fun.
When Nicci came downstairs and saw that the Easter Bunny had dropped some candy on the floor she looked up at me and said, "Oh no Mommy, Easter Bunny made a mess!" haha. It was awesome.

*EASTER SUNDAY*
Be prepared to drop dead {drum role please} I cooked our entire Easter Dinner, all by myself. :) We had Easter Dinner with my parents, it was so much fun! ...Honey Baked Ham & Turkey (thank you Mom & Dad!), Scalloped Potatoes, seasoned Corn, Spinach Salad with Strawberries and roasted Almonds, Rolls, Orange Glazed Beets, Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Apples. And Ice Cream and Sorbet for dessert. Seth was so excited i was cooking he couldn't stop breaking out into song. :)
Nicci had A LOT of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa...and WAY too much candy! :)

We had such a special Easter with so many fun family memories. It was particularly special to watch Nicci have so much fun with the Easter Bunny but THEN to hear her tell us what Easter was all about right before our Easter dinner. In her words: "Easter bout Jesus, not Easter Bunny. Jesus was resrected for me. I love Easter. I Love Jesus, He's my friend." ( {tear} she does listen to us!! ) We are so thankful for our Savior and for all the sacrifices He made for us so that we could be with Him and our special family forever.

Happy Easter 2009

"I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home"

2009-04-07T18:21:00.000-07:00

When Seth got home from work he went into the backyard and Nicci ran after him. I stayed inside and continued reading the mail when all of a sudden i heard lots of squealing. I opened the door to find Nicci with all of her clothes off and this...

Nicci has been a little devil lately, so this cute little Daddy-Daughter moment really melted my heart. I love them.

BFF

2009-03-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

I came downstairs this morning to find this:

Nicci had poured her cereal and was reading Bella a story. (out of a cookbook) When i asked her, "Nicci, what are you doing?" She responded with, "Taking care of my best friend mommy." I almost cried.

They Say "Brunette's Have More Fun"...

2009-03-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

so i thought i'd give it a try!

"Mommy Wow! I'm a Big Kid Now!"

2009-03-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Around the Ras household these days, two major accomplishments have been made that i feel worthy of mentioning. The first one being: our adorable Nicci is finally potty trained!! She loves her "pee pee in the potty dance" and had only 3 accidents during her 'training period', you might call it. Seth woke up one day and said, "No more diapers! You're a big girl now." I wondered if she was ready but he insisted that she was, and he couldn't have been more right! We are SO proud of her and her determination to learn! Congrats Nicci!!

The second thing has to do with me. :) Many of you know i quit my job at Outback. It was one of the best decisions i have ever made. Lately i have really embraced being a wife and mother and know that that's the most important thing in my life now, and forever...and i want to be good at it! I want to raise Heavenly Father's children to be the best they can be and to support my husband in every way...including yes, even the bane of my existence, cooking. So today, March 8 2009, i made dinner, on my own, for my family for the first time in almost 4 years of marriage. It was the most incredible feeling...the food ended up cold and it didn't look too appetizing, but it was made with love and the two most beautiful people in my life were so grateful and supportive. Some people would probably be embarrassed to admit the first time they had ever cooked for their family was almost 4 years into their marriage, but i'm not. I've fought it for so long, and now as i've made the small decision to cook for my family i've been blessed with the strength to learn how to cook and enjoy it. I'm going to fail sometimes in the cooking area, i know that. But i know i wont fail in helping my family come closer together and making my husband smile with each and every meal. :) It will only make me stronger, my family happier, and in the end, someday, i'll know how to cook and be good at it! I've watched my mother cook meals for my dad almost all my life, and when i hear my dad talk about how special something as simple as dinner was to him, and see the joy it brought my mom just by serving my father and her children every day and night with simple meals, it makes me want to give my family the love and unity she provided me with while growing up. So i'm doing it. I'm cooking meals for my lovely family everyday, and i'm so excited to do so! Nothing is more gratifying than seeing the smiles on their faces...and knowing that i helped put them there. :)

Mac n Cheese, Broccoli, Carrots, and Grilled Cheese sandwiches with marinara sauce. (Nicci calls them 'Pizza Sandwhichs') It's a start!!
The two beautiful people who make my world go round.

Heart Day.

2009-02-28T22:51:00.001-08:00

Just a Sneak Peak. More cute Vday pictures to come...

All Grown Up

2009-02-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

Nicci had her teeth cleaned for the first time today! Our baby is growing up...

Shake-a-Shake-a-SHAKE-A

2009-02-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

Very early in the morning...

Nicci- (screaming), "Shake-a Shake-a Shake-AHH...!"

Seth- (irritated), "Nicci, you don't even know what those are...they're for babies."

Nicci- (confident), "No Daddy, they're Maracas! Shake-a Daddy Shake!"

We laughed for at least 5 min.

Pretty Little Princess

2009-02-15T15:21:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen such a beautiful little girl?

Nope. You haven't :)

Nicci-Longstockings

2009-02-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

I'm fully aware i have a little bit of catching up to do but this is SO cute and SO funny that i had to post this. Seth and i were hanging out with some friends and it was time for Nicci to go to bed so we told her to go upstairs and get her pajamas on. Almost a half hour later we realized she had never come back down, so we went upstairs... and found this. She was in our bed, with my socks on, her shirt on backwards, and a clean diaper underneath her. We win the parents of the year award.

We have one very amazing kid.

If i Was Stephanie Meyers...

2008-11-21T03:09:00.001-08:00

i'd be furious. Either my hopes were too high or Twilight, the movie, was really just that pathetic. I'm very upset. I spent hours bawling and delving into the character's souls while reading the book...and then i spent 2 hours of my life laughing hysterically while trying to find romance within the movie. What were those producers thinking?! I want my money back.

What Makes The World Go Round

2008-11-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

This is what gets me out of bed every day...what makes me smile...what keeps me breathing.

Lovin' BYU Football

2008-10-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

Our whole family are die hard BYU fans. Since both Seth & i were little, we've been obsessed with BYU football. The year we were born they were national champions! We're crossing our fingers for that repeat. :) Well, my parents have tickets to all the games but since my dad hurt his arm they aren't able to attend the games this year, so they let us 4 kids divide the tickets between us! (ridiculously awesome, right?! Thank you so much Mom & Dad!) We chose to go to the BYU-UCLA game and it was beyond the definition of incredible! Dad's arm had started doing very well and his physical therapy was progressing, so he decided to (very very carefully) go to the game with us which made it that much more fun! Last year we all went to the BYU-UCLA game together too and it was a blast!! Horray for BYU football memories!!

(If pictures are too small just click to make them larger)

Last year's fun times...

This amazing year!!

Fun times on the long drive through football traffic!

Thank you again Mom & Dad for making these incredible memories possible!

GO COUGARS!!!

Nicci's Wall of Fame!

2008-10-01T02:38:00.000-07:00

The worst thing about me is that i'm the world's worst procrastinator. I should win a medal, seriously. When Nicci was 3 months old we took her to get professional pictures done...and then never went back. :( When she turned 2 i promised myself i'd go get her pictures taken and then...never did. Big shocker. Well today Seth, me, & Kaity were walking through the mall and were stopped by a friendly lady from a picture store outside of Dillard's. They were running a special for one free 10x13 and Nicci looked so darn cute we thought what the heck?! At least she'll get a 2 year old picture finally! Well needless to say, we walked out with our free 10x13...$160 framed package of pictures...and a copy of the release they made us sign saying that they could frame and DISPLAY her photo shoot IN their lobby. That's right. Nicci made the "wall of fame" at a photo shop! Why does she have to be so stinkin' cute?! Here are some of our favorites...there's a copyright symbol across every picture but you can still see how insanely adorable she is! :)

This is what sheer beauty looks like...
Could she get ANY cuter?!
Ok. This little girl is known for sticking her finger right up her nose when you say, "SMILE!" This is just so classic Nicci. We love it.
She loves smelling flowers more than anything else. She always says, "Ooooo Mommy! Cuuuuute! mmmm..."
Simply Picture Perfect.

Labor Day Craze

2008-09-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

First of all...isn't our daughter the most beautiful little girl you've ever seen?! Mmm. I love her. ...Ok...moving on...Boo on viruses. On Labor day we had a BBQ at our house and right before our friends started arriving i got on my computer to check my email and a message popped up on my screen that said, "You have a virus! Goodbye" followed by a flipping smiley face, and then my computer shut off. I turned it back on and everything was gone. The entire hard drive was d.e.l.e.t.e.d. I went between screaming Seth's name in hysterics and bawling so hard i couldn't talk. All our pictures were on there...over 5000 pictures!! So what does a girl do when her whole world seems to stop? She calls her mom. When i told my mom what had happened she gave me the number of a brilliant guy in her ward who is a literal computer genius. She helped me calm down enough to call him and figure out a solution. Long story short i gained my composure, redid my makeup, and had a ridiculously fun BBQ with our friends. THEN afterwards i took my computer to the computer genius's (Aaron) house, and low & behold he ended up recovering all of my pictures with his fancy software. He is such an incredibly selfless person. Thank goodness for kind and generous people who use their talents to help out little ol' people like me! Here are some pictures of our BBQing fun and some really good friends! (SIDENOTE: i don't know if i ever blogged about it but i surprised Seth with a BBQ for Father's Day. He has wanted one for a while and always looking at them when we go to Lowe's, so i had a pretty good idea which one he'd like. So i had his best friend assemble it for him while he was out golfing and then when he got home i had him open up his first gift- "BBQing utensils"! I've never seen him run so fast to the back door! :) My dad (the master of BBQing) showed him the ropes and he's been learning and doing very well since then!)

Here's Nicci waiting for Daddy to get home to find his surprise!

Seth's 'firing up the grill' for the first time!!

Dad is showing Seth the ropes!
Flying solo on Labor Day!!

Our Labor Day Party
from left: Ryan & Lacie, (little Roxy), Jess & Anton, JB & Kaity, Dan (Amanda had to work :( we missed you!), Me, Seth, & Nicci

My beautiful best friend Kaity & her boyfriend JB. Nicci LOVES JB and always steals his hat when he comes over. So cute.

Sweet & adorable Lacie is pregnant and ready to pop! She is so cute with Nicci and will make such a fabulous mother. Then there's her hubby Ryan & (Amanda's hubby) Dan assembling 2 more of our chairs so we'd have enough sitting room. Thanks boys!

The happy parents-to-be!!

Jess & Anton are such great people! We met them when Jess called me about our ad for selling the Civic. Since then we've been good friends. Thank goodness for selling our car! We feel very blessed to have met them.

Funny story: Nicci walked up to me and told me she needed a napkin. I thought she looked pretty clean but gave her one anyway. Then as i watched her walk off i heard her say, "Dan needs napkin..." then she proceeded to walk up to Dan and wipe off his face! It was SO CUTE!!

We kicked off our night with some serious DDR competitions! Kaity & Seth rocked and JB & Ryan were so brave to try it for the FIRST time! We didn't get pictures of all of us doing it but these pictures should give a good visual. :)

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends in our lives! Thank you all for coming, and thank you Aaron for saving our computer!

After the partay was over Kaity, JB, Seth, & i decided we were going to have some fun with the camera...and actually some of the pictures turned out really cool! Prepare yourself for pure awesomeness...(or just sheer craziness...)

AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL Tryouts...

I'm Looking Forward...

2008-09-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

to finally returning to the blogging world! I've been absent for almost a month due to a LOT of reasons! I'll be catching up this week but in the meantime here are some highlights of what's to come...For starters, the main reason i've stopped blogging- my computer got a virus on Labor Day and completely erased my hard drive, we are utterly obsessed with German cars AND we got yet ANOTHER new car (i know right? Who averages 5 cars in 3 years? um. Us.), the explanation about what happened to Nicci's arms, the amazingness of BYU football, my new ridiculously cute nephew, we gave Roxy to a sweet family with a lot of dogs (which she loved!) and got us a precious little 4 month old Maltese puppy, my 24th birthday, and last but not least how i'm staring my severe complex of getting "asked to quit" serving food because i STUNK so bad right in the face... and the many things learned while doing so- (if you're confused don't worry, i'll explain). Not only will i be catching up on my posts but i'll be catching up on responding to comments and emails as well! :)

Quote of the day:
"It's more important to be trusted than it is to be liked."

"Have fun at friend house, k. Love you Coco...Bye..."

2008-09-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

were the words we heard yesterday right before we loaded Coco up in the Jeep to go meet her new owner. Coco is Nicci's amazingly well behaved bunny that we gave her for her 2nd birthday. Sidenote: I don't think i've even blogged about it yet but we got a new little dog. She is a little purebred Yorkie, her name is Roxy, and she absolutely adores Nicci... and Nicci more than adores her. But she's been having trouble peeing in the house so we started kennel training her. Then a friend told my mom that she may not be peeing because she has to, but more that she's just trying to mark her territory because she's sharing it with a bunny. So we decided that since we will be going out of town quite a bit the next couple months for BYU games (thank you mom and dad!) that we can't take a dog AND a bunny...AND if eliminating Coco helped with Roxy's potty problem then it would be wise to find Coco a new home. We were really worried about Nicci saying goodbye to Coco because she was REALLY attached to her but when we told her she was going to a friend's house she responded with, "Have fun at friend house, k. Love you Coco...Bye Bye." Then she gave Coco a big hug and kiss and i drove away with her. I think i cried for 5 minutes. Then i cried again when i gave her away! Nicci was such a good girl it really touched me...and we have so many fun sweet memories with Coco that it was really hard to say goodbye. It was the first pet i've ever had, and it was the first pet i've ever had to say goodbye to. It was harder than i thought it would be. But when i got home Nicci was helping give Roxy a bath and was laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face, and that made me SO happy! This morning she asked Seth, "Daddy, where Coco?" and Seth told her she was at a friend's house. She was so cute when she responded, "Oh yeah...!" and giggled. We are going to miss Coco, but Roxy is such a fun little dog and has done VERY well since Coco's absence! Here are some special pictures we've taken of our sweet little pets.

Our sweet Coco...

Here's Nicci sharing all her toys with Coco!

This video is one of our favorites with Nicci & Coco!

And this is our ROXY...
...and our FAVORITE!

Nothing But Smiles 08.06.08

2008-08-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Our Anniversary was so incredibly fun! My parents were so sweet and came over and watched Nicci most of the day for us. We went to the Phantom of the Opera (it was my first time ever seeing a play, it was SO amazing!!) We had the most perfect seats right under the chandelier and the play was phenomenal! I could seriously go on and on about how amazing it was... for the first 10 minutes i was bouncing up and down in my seat out of sheer awe and excitement i could not for the life of me contain. After the play we had reservations at Olive at the Bellagio on the patio so we could watch the water show while we ate, but the wind ruined that for us. We decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory at the Caesars instead, back to where we had our official first date. It was so fun! The whole night was just so magical, i feel like i can't express in words what a special night we had. While we were in the car we had our own little Karaoke night as well! Ohhhh, it was just SO fun. Maybe these pictures can tell the story a little better than me! :)

The excitement was indescribable.

While waiting literally 30 min. for valet to get our car we found some sweet cars! Seth's dream car is a Ferrari and i love Minis. :) This Mini was HOT pink but it looks red in the picture...if you look at the color by the front headlight you can see the actual color of the car.

When we got to Caesars we got Gelato right away :) In this first picture we missed the Gelato...and in the second we missed Seth's head. Pretty funny. :)

Dinner was absolutely delicious of course!

We spent quite a bit of time with the Fish after dinner. :) These pictures were for Nicci, she LOVES the fish tank at Caesars and she loves to give fishy kisses!

We even found fish that represented the colors we had for our wedding! Yellow & Blue. So creative we know. :)

Every year we go to the beach for 1 week during our anniversary. It's our very favorite place to go together. Well, this year has been so hectic with Nicci burning her arms and such that we weren't able to go. SO my parents gave us this Precious Moments for our Anniversary. It's a limited addition and only 3,000 have ever been made. My mom did some digging and found us one! It's titled "Washed Away in Your Love". They said that since we weren't able to go to the beach this year, that they'd bring it to us, and this way we'll still have a symbol of the beach for our 3rd Anniversary! (How ridiculously amazing are my parents?!) Thank you so so much Mom & Dad! It meant more to us than you'll ever know. :) What an incredibly perfect day.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart! I love you.

It All Started With the Dynamic Duo...

2008-08-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of it being our anniversary month i thought i would post just a couple of our favorite pictures from 3 years ago. SO...this is us three years ago...madly in love... (me 15 lbs bigger, grr) ...completely inseparable, and hand in hand ready to take on the world!

We took most of our engagement pictures at the temple. The grounds are so beautiful and it was so special for us since that's where we were going to be sealed for all eternity.

See that mountain behind us? That's where Seth proposed to me...at the very top, overlooking the temple. It was absolutely incredible. :)
This was taken at the Anthem waterfalls. Ironically enough that's where we live now, and where we just took our family picture!

Being on the temple grounds was so romantic & magical. We have some really special memories there.

The Engagement Photo :)

This was SUCH a fun day! We took bridals one week before the wedding and this was the first time Seth had seen my dress!

I LOVE when he does that. :)

We could do this all day...

This is one of our personal favorites.

Absolutely, completly,and utterly 100% Picture Perfect.

August 6, 2005 was a perfect day. Absolutely Perfect.

Digital Camera Nightmare

2008-08-10T20:42:00.001-07:00

My camera just deleted our entire beach trip with Nicci & our best friends. It was Nicci's FIRST time to the beach and it all got erased. Words cannot express the frustration/anger/sadness i am feeling....GRRRRR. There were only 4 pictures salvaged...these are them -

BOO on digital cameras, BOO. What ever happened to the good old 35mm film that couldn't delete itself?!

"Fathers Are So Special...

2008-08-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

...with a very special love, they watch us and protect us, they guide us and direct us, back to our home above." I know it's really late coming but i wanted to give a tribute to my wonderful father and my sweet husband for being such wonderful fathers. Being the only girl in my family i've never had to share the "Daddy's little girl" spotlight. I love it. I have such wonderful memories of me & my dad...i remember going to play tennis with him early Saturday mornings and having him teach me over and over how to hit the ball...poor guy never had a chance! lol. I have -0- athletic ability but he was always so patient with me. (Although, i CAN throw a football almost as far as my husband!) Afterwards we'd go get McDonald's breakfast and i remember never wanting those moments to end. I've never met anyone like my dad. He has this incredible unconditional love for everyone he meets. He sees people for who they are, not for the problems they have or mistakes they've made. He has a testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and when he bears his testimony i can't help but cry as he pours out his heart. I love my dad so much. I've been able to have him as the father of my home and also the father of my ward for a long time. As my bishop and my dear father he has given me such wise and inspired council that literally helped me find my eternal companion. He has sacrificed so much for me and my little family. During a really difficult time for Seth & i my dad was always there for us, never taking sides, just simply counseling us for hours and hours while bringing us back in unison with our Savior Jesus Christ. When i went to Girl's Camp when i was younger i was so lucky to always have my dad there because he was in the bishopric at the time. I remember one year he had to leave early and my tent was positioned so i could see the road leading out of camp...and as i watched him drive away i couldn't control my sobbing. I missed him terribly and Girls Camp simply wasn't the same without him. My dad is one of the hardest working and busiest men i know and yet i've never heard him tell anyone 'no' when they needed him. He understands so many levels of love and is such a passionate person. My dad is my hero, he's a leader, he's my buddy, he's one of the very few people that knows everything about me and still loves me with all his heart. I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with such a special father to care for me, teach me, love me, and guide me back to my Father in Heaven. I love you Dad...SO much.

I still remember like it was yesterday the day Seth & i found out i was pregnant. It was magical. (Since i was vomiting and refused to eat hot dogs it was a dead give away that something was up. :) After i took the pregnancy test we left it on the bathroom counter and stepped out into the family room to pace and pace and pace. We couldn't stop smiling...it was like our faces were stuck in cement, and nothing could erase our excitement. I quickly ran and peeked around the corner of the bathroom and swore i saw two lines and i squeaked...Seth ran after me yelling for me to wait for him and he grabbed it while we both stared at each other. Within seconds Seth was swinging me around in his arms calling me 'Mommy' over and over. Then we jumped on the couch, the bed, and around the kitchen while we went through every emotion possible. Something changed in Seth that day, visibly. He looked so...fatherly...so proud...so capable. He was even more gentle with me (if that's even possible) and our love for each other multiplied by hundreds. Since that day he has loved little Nicci with the most beautiful tenderness. Seeing him hold Nicci for the first time is a memory that i will cherish forever. He held her like he was holding the most precious and delicate of all diamonds. Nicci was jaundice after she was born and she had to sunbathe everyday, and he would always lay in the sun with her...like her little buddy. :) Seth has worked so hard and gone to school since we've been married and he always makes it his first priority to come in the door at the end of the day and hug his girls before anything else. He shows Nicci how to love her mommy and it's just so overwhelmingly beautiful. Seth plays the guitar very well and sometimes he plays primary songs and sing them to Nicci in Portuguese...my heart swells a million times it's normal size as i watch him with her...our angel. He's such an incredible father and i am beyond blessed to be able to raise a family with him as the head of our home, so blessed to have such a wonderful father for my little girl, and so very blessed to share eternity with this wonderful man i'm still trying to comprehend as MY companion...for eternity...

Happy Father's Day to the two most wonderful men in my life! I love you with all my heart.

Three Years Down...Eternity To Go!

2008-08-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today was one of the most magical days in the history of the world. We were sealed for time and all eternity. It was the definition of the perfect day. Everything, and i mean everything, was just how i dreamed it would be since i was a little girl. Although i have to admit i never thought i would ever marry someone so darn handsome! Seth is literally my definition of a perfect man. No one (besides my mom) gets me like he does. He makes me laugh harder, smile bigger, and impossibly happier than anyone i've ever met. So many times people laugh at us and say, "Wow, you two were made for each other!" And we simply just smile because we both know how very true that is. We are so very lucky to have found each other. Today is going to be a very special and fun filled day, so tomorrow i will write all about our amazing wedding day 3 years ago. I love you sweetheart! I'm so blessed to have you all to myself for time and all eternity!! :)

Breaking Dawn...

2008-08-03T13:01:00.001-07:00

Let's me explain TWO things before i begin. I am a Twilight FREAK. :) I am also team Edward all the way and can't seem to comprehend anything different. Those of you who are team Jacob out there i would really like for you to leave me a comment explaining WHY. :) I'm very intrigued!

After i finished reading all 7 Harry Potter books everyone was begging me to read the Twilight series. When i heard the word Vampires i was suddenly NON interested to say the least. Time went on. One day i was itching for a good book to read so i decided to give it a try...4 days later ALL 3 books were read and i had morphed into a Twilight FREAK. I've dreamed about Bella and i am completely and utterly fascinated by this love story. Yesterday (Aug 2) at 12:01am i was one of the crazed fans freaking out as the 5,4,3,2...1 countdown began for the final book...Breaking Dawn...to grace my presence!

Me and my good friend Emily :)
We saw our other friend Meleah and she had decorated her CAR all Twilight crazy...it was pretty awesome.

So we took pictures...OF COURSE. :)

THE COUNTDOWN!
(We were making fun of the girls that were seriously crying. lol.)

Thanks to Seth going and standing in line earlier that day to get us tickets we were first in line to buy the book! (Thank you honey!) So after we bought the book we couldn't help but start reading the first chapter right then and there. :)

And then we proceeded to literally drive an entire hour trying to find a darn Denny's (you wouldn't think it was that hard but every one we found was either not there anymore or oddly closed) We eventually found one and we got a Banana Split and a Carmel Apple Crisp and read the book to each other for a very long time. After we got tired of Denny's we went back to Emily's house and read some MORE until 7am! Let me just say this...Breaking Dawn is amazing...
When i returned home (around 7am) i went into Nicci's room to check on her and she wasn't there. So i figured she was sleeping with Seth. So i turned around to go to our bedroom and i saw this...

Nicci was sleeping in our doorway waiting for mommy to get home! It was the sweetest thing i've ever seen. When i scooped her up she looked at me and said, " Mommy! You back!" Life could not get any sweeter than this. :)

I Miss My Best Friend...

2008-07-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Seth has been gone for a week and a half now due to training for his wonderful job and i'm hardly surviving. I've been hanging out with my amazing brother Kyle, my darling sis in law Nicole, and their ridiculously adorable 4 children. Between playing with them, talking to my mom everyday, eating lots and lots of Ben & Jerrys, and talking to Seth on every break he gets i'm getting through these 2 long terrible week away from him. It's like i can't breathe when he's gone...nothing makes sense to me. I get up and think about getting dressed...but there's no point. I find myself crying during tire commercials and watching Home Improvement until 3am. Thank goodness i have such a wonderful family that loves me through my weird 'non functioning' periods when my best friend is gone.

I love you so much sweetheart. Thank you for working so hard for our little family. You mean the world to your girls. We're cheering for you and counting down the days until we are with you again! I love you to the moon :)

The Catch-Up Continues...

2008-07-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

So it's time to tell the "Fraud" story. It all started when we found this 'super duper too good to be true' deal on a new Honda Accord V6 with Navi. We already had a new Honda Accord fully loaded (with the exception of Navi & it was a 4 cylinder) This guy told us he'd sell us this great car for cheaper than we could sell ours for so we thought, "Oh what steal of a deal!" How dumb could two people be...i'm telling you, we're a match made in heaven! lol. Anyway, we ran off and sold our beautiful Honda Accord, for way less than it was worth i might add, and headed to the bank to wire the money for our new car. Before we finalized the transfer Seth wanted me to call Kyle (my computer genius brother) and see what he thought of the whole transaction. After looking into it Kyle got my other brother Brad involved (my law enforcement brother) and between the two of them they concluded it was pure fraud. GO FIGURE. So there we sat...one car short...a large check...and feeling very used. It affected me a little more than i thought...the very thought of a human being USING and STEALING that easily from another made me so sad. We sat on the check for a day or two then decided exactly what we were going to do. We paid off all our debt (with the exception of our house, of course) and then used the money left over to buy a second car cash! We got a cute little Honda Civic that rocks the gas mileage! It's hard to look at the situation now with any kind of regret because thanks to my brilliant computer genius brother and my awesome law enforcing brother we didn't actually send the money to the creep...instead we became debt free...and there's nothing in the world that makes us feel SO good!!

~~~~ Nicci Colors on the wall...for the First Time! ~~~~

I have to admit...I was a little excited to see Nicci color on the wall finally! Nicci can be so good, sometimes it's refreshing to see her do something as crazy as color on the wall! The cutest thing was that she TOLD me... "Mommy...i color wall!" I laughed so hard and hurried and took a picture. (Thank goodness for the Magic Eraser that makes it more than easy to wash off little things like crayon!) I absolutely love being a mom!!

Our Baby is TWO!

2008-07-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it. On May 23 our precious Nicole Debra turned two years old. It feels like just yesterday that we were looking at our new little baby girl through misty eyes while touching her perfect little fingers and toes. Nicci is by far the best thing that has ever happened to us. She has such an electrifying personality and yet she is so tender and loving. Her birthday was so much fun, words can't begin to describe it. I've heard many times that 'pictures tell a story best', so with that said, here are dozens of pictures of Nicci's special day!!

Happy Birthday our dear Princess!

Her day started out with mommy making her favorite breakfast, Blueberry muffins! While she ate it i held her on my lap and told her the story about the day she was born. It was a very special experience.

She had fun watching Dora with her balloon and crown! Soon after that it was time for a sweet little birthday nap. :)

Here's Nicci's big present! "Coconut" is the newest addition to our little family! We call her 'Coco' and Nicci loves to chase her around the house and scream her name as loud as she can. lol. It's precious.

~~~~ Nicci's Birthday Dinner & Ice Cream ~~~~
McDonald's & Baskin Robbins

-Making a wish-
Her birthday dinner- Cheeseburger, Fries, & a Chocolate Shake. Her favorite meal! :)

FUN times at Baskin Robbins

~~~ Special Moments ~~~

The beautiful Birthday girl!

We are officially giving Nicci HER bunny!
Nicci's beautiful birthday flowers!

~~~~ The Day After the Birthday ~~~~

Seth is putting together the adorable kitchen that Grandma and Grandpa gave her! (I think everyone is hoping Nicci will learn the basics of cooking on her new kitchen so that she can cook for Daddy! :)

Jeff came into town the day after Nicci's birthday so we all went to Tony Roma's! YUMmmY. Nicci got a Dora umbrella for her birthday and she got to use it when we left because it was pouring! (It was a moment we savored) She was SO excited!!

"True Beauty"

Fun Times, Fun times!

Nicci LOVES her "Mama & Papa"!

Nicci loves her "Uncle Beff"

~She is our everything~

I made Nicci a Chocolate cake with Vanilla Sprinkled frosting. I decorated it Dora/Pony since she absolutely loves them both! :)

Blowing out her candles!!

Nicci is cutting the first piece of cake!!

THIS was her response to the cake i made her!! :( I have to admitt... i was mildly sad for just a brief moment! ...And everyone wonders why i HATE any kind of cooking? Well, there ya go. :)

OHHHH...BUT you give her an Oreo Fatboy and she eats the WHOLE thing while giggling and laughing. Yeah. That made me feel real warm and fuzzy. Thanks sweetheart. :)

Dearest little Nicci, Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you so much and will forever and ever!

Shame on Lazy Brandi...

2008-07-01T14:43:00.001-07:00

I am so ashamed of my blogging lately ... i'm very disappointed in myself. As of Tuesday or Wednesday of next week i will be completely catching up! I'm looking forward to catching up on all the blogs i've missed out on reading lately as well!! These next two weeks are going to be very empty and loooong -most of you know why- so i have NO excuses to not blog my life away! SO, Coming Soon: Nicci's birthday, the fraud, Nicci coloring on the wall for the first time, Father's day tribute to my wonderful father and sweet husband, Nicci sleeping in her big girl bed, our 2 beach trips, and the 4th of july! Be prepared for some good times and the cutest pictures you've ever seen!

We took our first official family picture earlier this week. Cute eh'?!

If You're Happy and You Know It Stomp Your Feet!

2008-06-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today Nicci stomped her cute little feet over and over as she explored the fun that the Water Park entailed! This morning Amy & i decided we'd take the girls to the Water Park and let them play for a while. Seth even took half the day off to come play with his girls in the water all afternoon. It was Nicci's first time at a Water Park and she had an absolute blast!! It was such a fun day i couldn't wait to post all of the pictures! How DANG cute is our little Nicci-D?!

Here's Nicci dancing around in her new swimsuit that she loves so much!

Me and the new BFFs. SO DANG cute.

How CUTE are they??

Love them.

Nicci going in the water for the first time.

My little DIVA!!

The two most beautiful people in the entire world.

Me & my Princess.

Oh so warm in her favorite Dora towel!

------ Here's some fun clips of our amazing day! ------

Nicci & i received an unwelcome spray in the face! It was hilarious.

After we came home and put Nicci down for a nap...we laid down & read Twilight! EEk...so good!

"Under the plan of heaven, the husband and the wife walk side by side as companions, neither one ahead of the other, but a daughter of God and a son of God walking side by side. Let your families be families of love and peace and happiness. Gather your children around you and have your family home evenings, teach your children the ways of the Lord, read to them from the scriptures, and let them come to know the great truths of the eternal gospel as set forth in these words of the Almighty."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

Who Woulda Thought?

2008-06-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hello hello! Good grief i feel like i've been gone forever. I have so much to catch up on that it's becoming a tad overwhelming. We have been so busy going though many fun times and many crazy character building times. :) I will soon be blogging about the following: Nicci turned 2 and her birthday was out-of-control fun, we got a bunny for Nicci (she is ridiculously cute by the way), Nicci's new bff...and our new good friends (Amy & Randy), we were involved in some fraud which resulted in us losing the Accord BUT it turned around to be a huge blessing, we got another car -lol-, we have become officially debt free, Nicci colored on the wall for the first time (thank heaven for the 'magic eraser'), i can't get my nose out of Twilight, we have finally almost finished our cute backyard, and drum roll please... we got callings today!

Introducing the new Primary Teacher- 6 year olds here i come! :)

Introducing the new Assistant Cub Scout Master! He is going to do so great!

Seth is overly excited to be apart of the cub scouts; he is so wonderful with the youth! (Gosh i love him.) However, i went into getting my calling with the secret attitude of not wanting to be called to Primary, and now...who woulda thought...after letting it sink in all day and reading the manual a little bit, i'm looking forward to teaching these cute 6 year olds and being apart of their special little lives!!

"Happy Home Mommy!"

2008-05-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Lately we've realized that we have a little Parrot among us! Nicci is speaking almost full sentences now and is copying everything we say...it's actually really cute. She has really exploded in the personality department and has become quite the little comedian. Not only that, (not to be a ridiculously annoying proud mommy!) but she has outdone herself in the smarty pants department as well! :) The other day she took apart her Russian Doll and then put it back together all by herself. We took a video of her doing it and captured a little bit of her comical side as well. She's hilarious. Last night i said, "Nicci where do you live??" (and then i told her to say 'Happy Home') For the rest of the night she walked around saying, "Say Happy Home Ninny...Say Happy Home Ninny" almost in a mocking tone! (Ninny is what she calls herself) So this morning when i went in her room to get her she said, "Happy Home Mommy!!" I laughed until i thought i would die; i couldn't believe that she had remembered. It's such an incredible feeling when i say, "Where do you live" and i hear her respond, "Happy Home Mommy!" My mom taught me that when i was her age and i've always looked forward to teaching my child that someday. I really really love being a mom- more than i can express in words; it is seriously the very best job in the entire world! Somedays it's very hard, and other days kinda draining, BUT all-in-all it is certainly the funnest, most rewarding and exciting job anyone could ever have! I LOVE IT!!

We are in the process of landscaping our backyard and so while Seth & i were outside Nicci found one of my hair accessories, put it on, and then went on a search for 'The Rock That Would Change Her Life'...and here's a picture of the magic rock she found!! LOL. I'm telling you, this girl is hilarious. :)

Here's Ninny putting her Russian Doll back together all by herself.
(You might have to turn off the music to hear how hilarious this girl is)

"Don't be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than we are now doing...We are people with a present and with a future. Don't muff your opportunities. Be excellent."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

My Dearest Mother

2008-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

So i know everyone thinks they have the best mom in the entire world...but the truth is that I have the best, most wonderful mom in the ENTIRE world. :) Mother's Day was so amazing. I love having a specific day to dedicate to the most amazing woman i know. The day started out terrific....breakfast in bed! Seth made me french toast, eggs, bacon, and orange juice. It was so Y.U.M.M.Y. He was so incredible all day, he made sure i didn't lift a finger! He even made me breakfast all over again at 1:00am before i fell asleep. (Have i mentioned how much i dearly love my husband??) We then went to church with my parents and it was SO WONDERFUL!! The most amazing talks were given in Sacrament meeting (great job Ash!) and our Relief Society lesson was so special (wonderful job Stacie!) Being able to sit next to my mom during all the meetings was such a special treat...going to a new ward since we moved just isn't the same without her. Later that night we spent some real special time together and had some tender special moments. I love my mom so much. She really is the most incredible woman i know. My mom has a special love for everyone that most people can't understand. She is honest in literally everything she does. If a cashier gave her 2 extra cents in change she'd immediately go back to the store come rain, snow, or wind...she'd return it. She has an incredible passion for the gospel and puts our Savior first in everything she does. She is the most obedient individual i've ever met. She puts EVERYONE before herself. I can't remember the last time she bought anything just for her. My mom is pure in heart and never judges anyone. I talk to my mom everyday...we'll even watch movies together over the phone. :) She's my very best friend. She loves my husband so much and shows it in the way she treats him. Seth can talk to her for hours about UPS and she'll still be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the end. (I have to admit, i have fallen asleep on occasion when "UPS Stats" comes up...but NEVER has my mom!) My mom is a perfect Grandmother. She loves her grandkids with everything she has. Nicci's favorite person in the whole world is my mom. She calls her "Mama" and Seth & i joke that Nicci actually thinks my mom IS HER mom. lol. The joy that my mom can bring into a room just with her smile is absolutely incredible. She brings light and love everywhere she goes, & it's because she carries her Savior with her in her heart. I think she spends more time on her knees than she does on her feet. I could never ask for a more righteous amazing woman for my mother. I just hope and pray that i can be half the mother and woman she is. She's perfect, she's strong, she's my hero, she's obedient, she's loyal, she's fun, she's a healer, she's a comforter, she's my best friend, she's my angel...she's MY MOM!

I love you, i love you more, i love you more the mostest mom!

What a Wonderful Life

2008-05-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

Seth & i were just getting ready for bed and having our nightly 'talk time' and i was so overwhelmed with how very blessed i am. I love my family so much. I spent the day with my mom and little Nicci and realized that i really have never been happier than i am right now. My mom and i are very best friends; i am so grateful to have her close to me in every way and to have her loving guidance in every aspect of my life. Her selfless love blesses so many lives, including very much my own. I have seriously the most amazing husband. He works so hard for our little family and always comes home with a smile and ready to play hard with his girls before he retires to bed. There's no place i'd rather be than wrapped up in his hugs. I have an incredible father that works harder than anyone i've ever met. He will answer his phone in the middle of any meeting just to answer whatever ridiculous question i have for him. And i absolutely could not survive without my adorable little girl. She is my pride & joy...my entire life. I have been so sick this past week and she has been so good for me. Everytime i coughed or sneezed she'd say, "Bless you Mommy." It just brightened my day to hear those three words. As i watch her run around everyday (while i miss her Daddy like crazy) i see so much of her wonderful father in her...i see his gorgeous eyes when she looks at me, his sweet smile when she laughs, and his love as she hugs me or says a prayer on her food before she eats. She's perfect. She is a literal angel that our Father in Heaven has blessed us with. I could not ask for a more beautiful and loving little girl. I could not ask for a more pure hearted & perfect mother. I could not ask for a more understanding & hard working father. I could not ask for a more loving, hard working, and literally perfect husband, and i certainly could not ask for a sweeter, happier, and more angelic child than my precious Nicci. I could not ask for a happier life. I'm so very blessed and so incredibly thankful for my kind Heavenly Father.

Brandi Goes DRASTIC!

2008-04-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

It all started yesterday afternoon. I was at the mall with my best friend Amanda buying a shirt for my little brother when we passed a wig store. I've always wanted to know how i would look with short hair so i tried on a couple wigs and strangly enough...it didn't look so bad. I thought to call Seth and ask him if he minded if i cut all my hair off...but then...that just didn't seem crazy enough. :) Since i was 3 i have had beautiful long hair that i have never ever had short. I've been talking about cutting my hair for a while now, but it's always been talking, never doing...because Brandi Lyn Bullock-Rasmussen has LONG hair...and always has...

until now... (take a deep breath)

-10 inches later-

Unexpected Amazingness & Improvements!

2008-04-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

My cousin Aly called me a couple weeks ago and asked me if her and her husband and some friends could stay with us for a couple days on their way back from Disneyland. Now i went through all the emotions of stress, happiness, frustration, and jealousy- i LOVE Disneyland! :) because we had only been in our house for a little under 2 weeks and we hardly had any furniture or anything set up ready for company. A couple days prior to their arrival Seth & i picked out an incredible Love Sac ("The Big One") and it was suppose to arrive a couple days after our guests would come. The next day i was just browsing around RC Willey when i found an AMAZING bedroom set for half price (thank heaven for blowout sales), the perfect couch, and a coffee table with a matching end table. I called Seth & told him about everything i had found and he told me to get it!! He hadn't even SEEN any of it, but he apparently trusted my judgement...and lets FACE it, a $3500 bedroom set for $1400 - and a $1400 couch for $499 doesn't come around everyday. SO, i did it. I got it all! We were very excited, and it ended up coming the day after our company arrived. NOW you might be thinking the "unexpected amazingness" is the great deal we received on our furniture...BUT it's NOT. The unexpected amazingness was the company we received. My cousin Aly & her hubby Ryan were a blast, and the couple they brought with them will forever remain our dear friends! I mean, i had no idea that such special people would be gracing our home! Not only did we hit it off right away and NEVER ran out of anything to talk about, but they helped me out so so much. Seth was working a lot and was not home for our entire load of furniture to be delivered, but the two boys, Jake & Ryan, put smiles on their faces and moved furniture, helped me set up furniture, ran errands with me, and MUCH more. Even after Seth got home they helped us with "Operation Mattress" and "Beating the Sac"! (Pictures and explanations are below :) All in all, our company was a blast and such a great blessing to us. We spent time with four individuals this weekend that made us better people and who we will love and cherish for the rest of our lives.

We love you Aly, Ry, Cassie & Jake!!

Here we are at our incredible dinner at Red Robin! We were the last ones out, we had so much fun. (Ryan your face is priceless) ;)

Ryan & Nicci had a good ol' Lemon eating time at dinner!

The two proud soon-to-be Papa's!! They were so cute with Nicci, they're going to make great fathers!

My beautiful cousin looks so great pregnant! I love her.
This picture is for my wonderful parents. They were in Seattle for a week and i was missing them pretty bad, and when we walked out of Red Robin i smelled Star Jasmine and thought of them. In their backyard they have a ton of Star Jasmine so the smell took me back home. :) I love you Mom & Dad!

~The GIRLS!~
(These two pregnant girls radiate like no other!)and...

the BOYS!!
These three guys are all incredible husbands and fathers. I feel so blessed to know them.

---- OPERATION MATTRESS ----

We needed to get our gigantic King Mattress up the stairs...BUT...one small problem. It didn't fit. So what were we to do??

...

...Look towards the light??!

Nope! So when that didn't work we came up with a grand ol' plan!

Shimmy it up the balcony!! The boys tied rope around the mattress and handed it to Seth. He held it there until Jake & Ryan ran upstairs to help pull it over the railing. They were champs!!

Mission Accomplished!!!

We finally have our King sized mattress!! There's nothing that says love like sleeping 4 blissful feet away from your adorable husband! :) We are very excited.

---- BEATING THE SAC ----

And this is our FAVORITE piece of furniture! Our Love Sac...'The Big One'! The instructions we were given was to "beat our sac" until all the matter inside was broken up...SO WE DID!!
The first time we sat in our very own Love Sac. I love him. :)

---- GIRL/GUY TIME ----

The guys went golfing...
(this picture was taken right after they got back)

The girls got Pedicures!!

This was Nicci's first pedicure!!

Beautiful Beautiful Cassie!
Nicci got to put her feet on my hot towel and we got matching colors as well!

Me & my girl and our matching toes! She's the best thing that ever happened to us. I LOVE her.

---- IMPROVEMENTS ----

We worked on our front yard this weekend! Here's 'muscles' getting ready to pull out tree #1!
Planting new tree #1!!
(We named it our "Love Fern". We are fully aware that it's not a fern, however it's the first thing we've ever planted together, therefore, it's our 'love fern' :)

I didn't get pictures of the second tree getting ripped out but here is the final product!

Here are pictures of all the furniture i picked out all by myself!! Let's see how i did...

The beautiful king bedroom set...

The coffee table (the end table is hidden behind the couch) and the new clock.

We finally have a dining room table & family room furniture!

Here is Nicci's favorite part!!
I'm so very blessed to call these two incredible individuals my family.

"Great is your power for good. Marvelous are your talents and devotion. Tremendous is your faith and your love for the Lord, for His work, and for His sons and daughters. Continue to live the gospel. Magnify it before all of your associates. Your good works will carry more weight than any words you might speak."

"Stand A Little Taller," by President Gordon B. Hinckley

Sorry It's Taken Me So Long...

2008-04-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

I have received more than 15 emails/comments from friends and family wanting to see pictures of our home...so here ya go! There's a bunch, but now at least you can't say i didn't give you a small visual of where our cute little family lives. :) The adorable picture to the left are the two studly men that painted our entire house! (Dan, Amanda, & i helped too but i got voted off the island because i made lines...whatever...) They pulled many all-nighters together and while Seth was at work Jeff went out to the house and single handedly painted for many many hours. (We couldn't have done it without you Jeff! Thank you so much!!) Here are some pictures...we have kind of started decorating and the house is pretty darn empty, (we've only been here for 2 weeks!) but everyday it feels a little more like home. :)

~Our Home~

(we will be pulling out that ugly dead tree and replacing it with a floofy green one this week! yea! :)

~Living Room~

~Kitchen~

~Family Room~

And THIS is what happens when we say the word 'NAP'!

Nicci's PINK room! We haven't hung anything up yet, but she loves the pink walls! :)

Our strip view right outside our bedroom door.

Nicci loves to play on the balcony off of our bedroom!

Isn't she absolutely beautiful??

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around and shouting that he has been robbed. The fact of the matter is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

- Gordon B. Hinckley

What.A.Bad.Day. =)

2008-04-10T23:35:00.000-07:00

Wow. Before i get into my "what.a.bad.day." i'll give a brief synopsis of what's been happening in our ridiculously exciting lives. (If you think you are sensing sarcasm throughout this post, you're probably correct.) So, we moved. :) It was an emotional yet exciting experience all at once. I went through excitement, sorrow, longings, tears, laughter, and 'out of my mind' moments about every 30 min this past week. It's been a bit of an adjustment living in our new home & location. The first night we were here Nicci hit an all time high for her screaming record. She screamed for 4 hours straight...not cried...screeeamed. She was so freaked out by the new house she refused to sleep. This continued for days. NO naps. NO sleep...for basically any of us. But then the halo above her head returned and we are doing much better these days. ANYHOW...on to my 'no good very bad day'...

So this morning Nicci was a gem. We had our regular morning loveliness and this afternoon was Tom's funeral. Nicci & i got ready and left the house in a fabulous mood. We headed to Walmart, (the place that i will love watch burn in hell someday) and we found a nice sympathy card for Tom's family. As i was checking out i set my cell phone down next to the key pad you pay with. All of a sudden Nicci started freaking out and taking all the candy off the shelf. Now consciously i thought to myself, "it's not worth over-reacting...just handle her with love"...as i bent down to talk to her. That was my first BIG mistake. (sarcasm) Then the lady reached over and handed me my receipt & card, and i swooped Nicci up and walked away. LESS THAN 20 seconds later i realized i forgot my phone. SO i turned around to get it. It was gone. Yes. gone. I asked the lady, "Did you see my phone??" And she turned to me and said, "Do i look like your phone watcher?" WHAT the freaking...blank! I was torn between ripping her head off and sitting down on the floor sobbing my guts out. I asked if she had seen the person after me...or anything...what they looked like, girl or guy...and all i got was her snippy attitude that to this very minute still repulses me. I asked her if i could use her phone to call MY phone and she told me to use a payphone. Yes ladies and gentlemen, i met the female Satan today. I started to cry as i ran off with Nics to find a payphone while praying that i wouldn't be late for the funeral when a sweet gentleman yelled after me. He offered me his cell phone as he began to cuss everyone out for being so inconsiderate to my situation. It was unbelievable. I called my phone and, surprise surprise, it was off. I called Seth a million times but he didn't answer so i called my mom who got ahold of him and he canceled my number with T-mobile so that the 'jerk face pathetic dill weed thief' couldn't use my phone. Now you all might be wondering why i am SO upset about this...well, let me tell ya why. First, i've had my same SIM card for almost 7 years. I have phone numbers i'll NEVER get back. That makes me very sad...very. And Second...and MOST important...WHY? Tell me WHY ANYONE would steal a pink phone from a young mother WHILE she's trying to be very patient and understanding to her little girl who doesn't understand that candy is to be left on the shelf?! I mean seriously. AND PLEASE someone tell me what bee flew into the cashier's ear...why was she SO inconsiderate...why was she so determined NOT to help me?? BECAUSE. You want my opinon? SHE stole it. People can be SO mean. SO inconsiderate. SO just...downright, disappointing. It makes me very sad to think that there really are people out there that could give a rat's pa-toot about another person's well being. I mean, there are people who don't care about hurting anyone...there are people who open car doors HARD and smack the car next to them without giving it a second thought! (That happened to me today too!...I was IN the car and the person who hit me basically said they could care less...yeah...) I just wish people cared. I wish people had more integrity. I was raised by a mother who would walk back to a store in 6 feet of snow to GIVE BACK 2 cents that the cashier accidentally gave her extra in change...i was raised to stop what you're doing to help someone in need, even if it's a stranger. I know no different than to sincerely care for other people's well beings. And today, i got reminded over and over and over again that there are sad pathetic people in this world who just don't care. It's sad.

So. What have i learned from all of this today? I realized that i myself need to be better to other people around me throughout my day. Someone who just cut me off might be rushing to the hospital to say their last words to a family member they love dearly. The short tempered man in Walmart who cuts me in line might not even know i'm standing there because so much is on his mind. And the adorable 2 year old who's screaming because she wanted to go with 'Grandma instead of Mommy' simply misses her Grandma and knows no other way to express her feelings than to cry...and i need to be loving and sympathetic to her needs. During this entire move there's been times i've cried...because i want my mom. Everyone knows how that is. Everyone knows how it is to miss someone and cry uncontrollably...everyone knows how it is to speed and accidentally (or purposely) cut someone off and honestly feel bad about it...everyone knows how it is to have so much on your mind you don't see the person you totally just ignored and cut in line. We ALL know how it is to hurt, to be sad, to be short, or in a hurry...if only we could master the ability to be more tolerant and loving towards those harder to love at times. That's what i learned today. I need to be more tolerant of the not-so-nice ladies that check me out at Walmart...or more tolerant of the mother who smashed her car door into mine because she was trying to get her crying child out of her 2 door car. I need to be more forgiving, more loving, and more capable of saying, "The poor guy that stole my phone obviously needed it more than i do"...and move on. I've had an insane day. Seth had class late and so i crashed at my parent's house and everything slowly started to fall into perspective. I'm so blessed to have them in my life. I complain about living 30 minutes away from them...but i have them so much closer to me than most people have their parents. I complain about never seeing Seth, but here he is, right next to me... staring at me with a his sweet smile i could never live without. And there's times i complain about having Nicci...and then i realize how self involved i am. She is such a blessing. I was talking to the T-mobile lady and she said "...wow, everything you've been through today and then on top of it all you have a two year old!" And i thought to myself...'YES. On top of it ALL i have a beautiful miracle i can look at, hold, kiss, and laugh with when my world is falling down around me. Yes, on top of it all, there she is -my 2 year old- with open arms ready to hold Mommy when Mommy can't stand any longer. I love my little girl. I love my Husband. I love my wise and wonderful parents. I actually...love trials. Without days like this, how would we ever savor the true things in this world that really matter? We couldn't. SO, i guess, hooray for no good very bad days! :)

P.S. Seeing how all my phone numbers are gone, could you all please email me (lasvgsunshine@yahoo.com) your numbers so that i could update my phone as best as possible?? Thank you so much. :)

Overwhelmed With Sorrow & Joy

2008-03-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

I have been sitting here for a while trying to control my emotions and it just seems near impossible for me to stop crying for 5 minutes to write what i'm feeling. Please bear with me. Tonight i found out that our dear neighbor, Tom, passed away. My heart aches, my eyes sting, and yet i have such a flood of happiness overwhelming my heart. I'm not going to use any fancy words or phrases, but i'm going to speak straight from my heart about some things that are very dear to me.

When we moved into our condo we met Tom the very first day. He lived below us and he was sweeping the walks when we showed up. That day, a very special relationship blossomed. He was very elderly, and he lived all alone. His wife died 5 years ago. I miss him so much. Seth and i would take him to the store, and we even had dinner on occasion. He really took a liking to Nicci. When she had her surgery...he prayed for her. I'll explain later why that is so special to us now. We took him to the Outback one night, and he sat and told us all about how he met his dear wife, and how much he missed her. It was special. As time went by we invited him to church. He never came. BUT - Christmas of 2006 Seth was working during our ward Christmas Dinner, so Tom came with me as my date. Note the *picture at the top...Oh how i miss him. He was so much fun, he talked to everyone and i saw a brightness in him i had never seen before. It was soon after that we gave him a Book of Mormon. We wrote our testimony in it and also bore our testimony of our Savior to him in person as well. He asked us some questions later on about it, but due to his elderly age and poor health he was limited in his physical understanding of some things. We had grown extremely close to Tom. He heard Seth & i joking once about how i don't cook, and for like a month straight he made us some dinners...they were the sweetest, most humble, and delicious meals.

My heart aches as i write this... i remember his name showing up on my caller ID when he'd call; i remember seeing him on our walks. I remember talking to him about the gospel, running errands with him, and laughing and crying as he would tell us all about his sweet wife.

We became very close to Tom. Not too long ago, he found a bouncy ball for Nicci. He was so excited to give it to her. He was such a sweet man.
Last week an ambulance came and took Tom to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing.

I watched from my porch as they wheeled him away...i was thinking i would make him cookies for his return. It was the last time i ever saw my dear friend Tom.

I got a phone call this afternoon from Tom's daughter. She found my number on a card we gave Tom not too long ago. She wanted to know who i was. She told me her father passed away. I couldn't control my emotions as my heart was aching and the lump in my throat just kept getting bigger and bigger. I was deeply torn between being happy for Tom, or so very sad for myself. We had a very interesting conversation, one that i will cherish forever.
It was obvious in our conversation that Tom had had some hardships with his family. Lets put it this way...his daughter didn't sound all broken up. She asked me if i was Mormon. I said, YES, why? She hesitated for a moment...then she said that 'Tom had never in his life been a religious man and has never read the bible or anything. But she ran across this "Mormon Bible" on his bedstand and it looked as if Tom had read it...the entire thing. He had written notes on pieces of paper he stuck in the book...all the way through it.' I completely lost my composure. Tom had prayed for our little girl while she was in surgery...he had a relationship with God, and he believed. My heart exploded with emotion as i hit the realization that he actually read the most special book ever written, the Book of Mormon. She proceeded to thank me. She thanked me for caring, for being there for Tom, and for simply seeing a man she had never seen. No one in the family had talked to him,... in a very long time. I told her all about the Christmas dinner he was my date to...and about his love for Nicci. She hesitated once again...and then she brought up the Book of Mormon again. She said her 14 yr old daughter wanted the book, for some reason it was special to her. Wow.

I want to bear my testimony of this amazing gospel. Jesus Christ, our Savior, Lord, and King died for us, ... for YOU. He died so that the mistakes we make here on earth can be erased, forever. He forgets them. He guides us. He is so aware of our each individual needs! He loves us. When i say He loves us, i mean, with a love that is completely UN-comprehendable to each of us. I think about a "mother's love" and how His love is even stronger than that. I have such a love and testimony of the temple. It binds us together, forever. FOREVER. Despite the mistakes and even sins that we have committed here on this earth we still have an opportunity to repent and live with our families forever. It's such a profound and beautiful concept. Right now, Tom is with his wife. Right now, Tom is being taught the true gospel of Christ. He is being faced with the decision to accept it or to reject it. I know he'll accept it. I know in my heart that if it weren't for his physical limitations he would have been baptised. Even though he didn't discuss the Book of Mormon too much with us, he experienced something even more important. He felt the spirit bear witness to him of the truth as he read the words of our Lord and Savior. I know he did. He wouldn't have read the entire book otherwise.

I love my Savior. I love the real love that He has for each one of us. I saw the hand of God work in the life of this elderly man. It was beautiful. It was overwhelming. It was sacred. It's hard for me to use something as simple as words to express the experience i had with the the Savior and my wonderful friend Tom. I miss him so much it hurts. I loved him dearly. However, i am filled with an even greater peace and love that he is now in a better place. He is being taught the gospel, he's with his wife, and he's out of pain. I love my Savior. I love this gospel. I can't wait for the day i can give my friend Tom a hug and tell him how very special he was to me and my family.

Reach out to your neighbors. Every single one of them. If we don't, we are missing out on experiencing and loving the divine spirits who we call brother and sister.

I'm really going to miss Tom, he was a very special friend.

Ah, Easter Time...

2008-03-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

This Easter was so much fun. The week started out kinda shaky, Nicci was in the hospital for a little bit because she has been the ultimate definition of SICK. She had a temp of 105 and was vomiting & coughing pretty uncontrollably. Poor thing. So we spent the week dealing with an adorable sweet sick child, and trying NOT to get it so we could enjoy Easter! On Saturday morning she was doing lots better so we took her out shopping with us and she had a blast! Then we went to Mom & Dad's house (where we had all the Easter festivities all weekend long) and we colored eggs! This was the first time Seth & i have ever colored eggs together and it was the first Easter in 3 years that we've spent with Jeff! It rocked. The only thing was, half way through coloring eggs Nicci started to spike another fever (i think we wore her out too hard on her first day of recovery); but my wonderful Mom laid down with her and made her all comfy cozy while we finished our eggs. When we went home we put Nicci down and not long after we heard her throwing up in her bed...ALL OVER EVERYTHING. Once again, poor sweet thing. Needless to say she didn't go to church the next day. :( I stayed home with her and she slept forEVER. It was so good for her. By the time 4:00pm rolled around she had broke her fever and was doing lots better. (The Easter bunny even waited to come until she was feeling better) What a nice bunny. :) So we headed on over to Mom and Dad's for dinner and lots and lots of fun. Mom had decorated the house so beautifully with loads of Easter Lilies, lambs, and pictures of Christ. It was so special, our house is such a disaster being in the middle of moving, so it was so refreshing to enjoy Easter at Mom & Dad's. The Easter Bunny even found us at their house, once again...smart bunny! When Nicci walked in she saw what the Easter Bunny had brought her, and it was so fun to see her eyes light up and sparkle. We are so blessed with such a special little girl. We had such a special Easter, coloring eggs, discussing church over dinner, laughing, creating memories, reading scriptures about the atonement, and praying as a family...it was so wonderful. Easter is such a special time of year; we are so very grateful for our kind and loving Savior.

WARNING: There are A LOT of pictures. They were just SO cute we couldn't choose!

Nicci is playing with my Easter basket i had growing up!
----Coloring Eggs----

-----And this is -US- in a nutshell-----

-----The Easter Bunny Came-----

Do you think Nicci likes Dora??

I think the Easter Bunny was aware of Jeff's Penguin obsession. :)

We got a basket too! It was lovely.

Nicci LOVED her new Radio Flyer wagon! She used to take rides in the hospital after her surgery in these wagons. She LOVED it. She also loves her new Dora nightgown & pillow...can you tell? :)

-----Eggs Eggs, & Nicci's first Easter Egg Hunt-----

Nicci & Mom made an egg together...SO CUTE!

We had a contest for the "Best Colored/Most Creative Egg" and Dad was the judge. It's NO surprise that Seth won! He made a "Nicci & Jeff" egg. Most of you know that Nicci has an absolute crush on Jeff, and always gets so giddy around him. Seth has an amazing artistic ability and he captured them both SO well on eggs that there was NO hesitation...Seth was the winner!!

Nicci is starting her Egg Hunt!!

We had such a wonderful Easter. It was so special to spend the weekend with family. We love you Mom, Dad, & Jeff!
Happy Easter!

St. Patty's Day - UPS Style

2008-03-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since Seth & I got all dressed up and went out, and we've forgotten how much fun it is! Last night we took one of Seth's clients (a husband & wife that are both part owners of the company) out to eat at Hugo's Cellar and it was a fun, but interesting experience. I've never eaten at Hugo's Cellar and so when we got there, i was a bit surprised. You walk downstairs into the restaurant and it feels like you're eating dinner in a wine cellar. It was interesting. As you walk in they hand all the ladies fresh long stem red roses and you get to put them in a vase while you eat, and then after dinner you get to take it home. (I love roses so i was very excited about this!) Before dinner Seth explained to me that this would probably not be a dinner that i'm used to because it was business, and so at times it might not feel like a warm & fuzzy meal. I didn't think anything of it. Well, after 3 very LONG hours of listening to this woman and Seth go over and over what kind of service is expected from UPS and more, i had lost complete feeling in my legs, my neck was throbbing from holding it in a proper position, and my back was aching so bad i was convinced i would never walk again!! However, i just sat there gaining more and more respect for my husband as he handled this lady like a CHAMP! I was shocked at how well he did business with her and how he ultimately made her VERY happy in the end. Seth loves to care for his clients and gives them the best service he can, and last night i could see his love for doing so. I didn't talk all that much unless i was trying to make conversation outside of UPS once in a while, but i did add a little bit of entertainment to lighten the mood a bit! They made our salads right in front of us and asked us what we wanted on it. They asked me if i wanted Anchovies, and i realized i had never tasted one. So i voiced the fact and our waiter gave me a HUGE piece of it to try. I didn't think to cut it up...oh no, instead i put the ENTIRE thing in my mouth. That's right. I did it too fast for anyone to stop me...and then i realized what i had done. I seriously thought i was going to throw up right in front of Seth's big clients. I grabbed my glass of water as everyone was hysterically laughing and i swallowed it...i did it quite graceful actually. lol. It was terrible! But the couple thought it was very funny and very "BRAVE" of me to do. So it all worked out great in the end, i will just never, as long as i live, eat another Anchovy!

To sum up the evening- getting all dressed up together was a lot of fun, the couple we took out were pleasantly interesting and i feel like i learned a lot from them, dinner was way too expensive for the quality of food (i'd much rather of been eating my Dad's steak and my Mom's Orange Glazed Beets), i gained a whole new respect for my Seth and his job (he literally rocks at what he does and seems to love every minute of it), next time we go out for a business dinner i might request we get a booth rather than hard chairs, i loved getting a rose at dinner, and the best part of all- i fell even more in love with my sweet hard working husband as i took a little glimpse into the world he lives in while i'm at home with our adorable daughter everyday.

It was fun. It was different. And i loved it.

Happy St. Patty's Day

The NEW Addition To Our Little Family!

2008-03-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

Since we've been married we've been a one car family. It has always worked out great, but then with Seth's new job and his schooling...he always has it. There's been times Nicci and I are just at home doing nothing when we could be out getting SO much accomplished...but we have no car! My mom has gotten a car seat in her car for Nicci and has been such an angel with taking us to the store, the Dr.s, the bank, and just running us to her house or wherever when we need to get out. But now we live 30 min away from Mom... :( and the whole no car thing wasn't going to fly! Soooo, my adorable sweet husband brought up the fact that he wanted to get me a car so that i could run my errands and go see my mom whenever i wanted to!! So for the past couple weeks we've been looking at cars. Ok, so... anyone that knows me knows that i'm absolutely obsessed with Jeeps. I grew up with Jeeps and i think they are the most amazing SUVs. We laugh all the time about when 'Brandi will get her Jeep' ... and the other night Seth said to me out of the blue, "Why don't we get you your Jeep??" At first i thought he was kidding! And then when i realized he was serious i embraced the idea and didn't argue with the adorable man! So, obviously, we started looking at Jeeps, and last night...ladies and gentleman....we found one!!! We found a beautiful Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited! Can i just say how very much i love my husband. Looking at cars has never been so much fun. He made this experience so special for me AND he even special ordered my favorite Las Vegas licence plate personalized to say "4MYGL" !! I was so excited last night i could hardly sleep. He was so cute this morning; he was so excited about our new Jeep he took it to work today! We are SO excited to finally have a second car! I am no longer stranded at home making lists all day, i can actually go out and accomplish my lists!! When we bought our new home i kept asking my mom, "You're going to come visit me right??" And she'd respond, "Well yes Brandi, but not everyday honey!" So now i can go see HER as much as i'd LIKE!!! Mu-hahahaha! (Be prepared mom... :) Here are some pictures of our beautiful second car...the Jeep!

Seth had me sign as the "Buyer" and he signed as "Co-buyer"...it was so fun!!
Here she is!!

I'm talking to my mom on the phone telling her the exciting news!
I have the sweetest husband in the entire world! (but hey, i'm a little bias :)
The jeep even has Navigation and a DVD player so Nics can watch 'Dora' when we go for rides!!
The most important part...Nicci approves!!

The Day We Knew...

2008-03-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

We were so busy painting our house yesterday i didn't have five seconds to sit down at the computer and quickly write about the significance of the day 3 years ago (March 10, 2005). We are painting our house still...as we speak...but Seth gave me a 10 min blogging break! :) Yesterday (March 10) it had been 3 years since Seth and i had been together. It was really fun to sit and remember that amazing day and look at everything we have been through together since then. If someone would have told us that 3 years from then we would have the most amazing little girl and be painting our very own home, i think we would have passed out! Here is how that amazing day, 3 years ago, unfolded...
I was going to school at UNLV and had a couple hours break in between classes, so i went to the Institute to play some ping pong. While playing a very fun round of 'Around the World' i pulled a muscle in my back; i could hardly breathe, it hurt so bad! I went into one of the offices and laid down on the couch hoping to feel better for my next class. Well, I didn't feel any better when class time rolled around so i called my mom and talked to her for a while and told her about my back.... (ok a little bit of background is needed for me to continue with the story... 29 days previous Seth had returned home from his mission. We had seen each other occasionally at the Institute because his Dad worked there, but we hadn't really spoken since before his mission. (We have a complicated past...) We talked a little bit about his mission, but that's about it. There was this awkward tension and yet neither one of us could keep from smiling when we'd see each other! :) ... As i sat there talking to my mom, the office door was open and Seth walked in! All of a sudden all the words in my head went kind of fuzzy. Seth asked me if i was ok, and we talked for a minute. Then when he got up to leave he turned to me and asked, "Can i talk to you?" Right then i remembered i was suppose to babysit for one of my friends, and she was bringing the child to the Institute because of my back. I told him as soon as i was through babysitting we could talk. I mustered up all the strength i had and stood up to go find my friend. All the while i was watching this little girl (in a laying down position, lol) Seth never left the room. :) After a couple hours one of my guy friends came in the room and we kinda started flirting for a bit and he asked me to go to dinner with him that night. (i know, i was a complete brat!!) I told him 'yes' and as i continued flirting I saw Seth walk out the door. I literally hobbled after him. When i finally caught up to him he was a little upset, but tried to hide it. (it was so cute) I convinced him that there's no place i'd rather be than right there talking to him. SO we walked outside and i found a comfortable position on the ground and we talked. We talked for hours about literally everything. It was amazing. Before we realized it, we were holding hands and laughing as if we had been together forever. After about 10 long hugs goodbye he asked me if he could take me home (i was in no condition to drive! My back was killing me) so i said yes. When we got to my house he walked me up to the door and i went to say goodbye and he said, "I want to go in and see your mom, i haven't seen her in forever!" I just about passed out...(My mom always just adored Seth, and i was sure the excitement of seeing him would just about kill her...) SO i unlocked the door and went inside and my little brother was watching TV. He just about died when he saw Seth. He jumped up and they immediately started talking away! I went to find my mom and she was laying down. I went in her room and she asked me how i was feeling and everything, and then i told her..."Seth Rasmussen is here..." I have NEVER seen my mom jump up so fast! We immediately started laughing and giggling like little school girls as i tried to give her every detail of the day as fast as i could! We finally went back out into the family room and Seth and my mom got all caught up. Afterwards Seth said that he was going to hang out with a bunch of his friends and he wanted me to go with him. I had a date with someone else though. What was i going to do? Well duh! I called and canceled my date...(there's a lot more to the story but i won't bore you with details)...and my mom pumped me full of Ibuprofen for my back, and away we went. It was such a fun night, i don't think it could have gone any more amazing. The whole night we invented hundreds of ways to hold hands secretly but by the end of the night it was no secret...we were in love. :) March 10 will always be special to us...it was such a random day filled with so many emotions, and yet it was the day we both knew that together is where we wanted to be, forever. The month of March 2005 holds some of our favorite memories...maybe i'll share a few in the next couple of weeks! :) Now...back to painting!

The Secret is Finally Out!

2008-03-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

As of last night at 4:00pm we are officially home owners!! For the past many painful months we have been house hunting...looking at house after house after house. It was getting very tiring and very depressing. We received automatic emails everytime a new house went on the market in the areas we had specified and it felt like we had looked at hundreds. We had specific things we wanted, like at least 4 bedrooms for example, and everything we looked at just wasn't at all what we were looking for. Then one day we decided to go back to the first house we had originally looked at and we decided we really liked it. So we made an offer. During the very long "making an offer" process we both squirmed and felt a little uneasy. Later that night we prayed harder than ever before that if this house wasn't where we were suppose to be to please put something in our way. After we were through praying i got up to check my email one last time before shutting my computer down for the night. As i sat down and looked at the screen i watched as 1 new email popped up in my inbox. It was a house. I clicked on it to delete it because we had JUST made an offer on a house, why would i look at more...when something told me just to look at it. So i opened it up and it was located in Anthem. (For those of you familiar with Las Vegas you know how far south Anthem is) We ruled out Anthem when we first started looking at houses because it was too far away from my parents, but something about this house grabbed my attention. I told Seth to come over to the computer and both our jaws dropped open as we took a virtual tour of the place. It had a beautiful brick driveway and pretty rock on parts of the house, it was built only one year ago, it had 4 bedrooms, 2500 sq ft, the kitchen was JUST what we were looking for-dark granite with all stainless steel appliances, and right off the master bedroom was a huge balcony the entire length of the house... with a strip view! And those were just a couple of the perks! We were in LOVE. Seth immediately printed out directions to the house and we jumped in the car and started driving. It really wasn't that far! It was only a 25 minute drive and when we pulled into the driveway we both sat there for no longer than 30 seconds before we were scrambling for the phone to call our realtor. The very next morning we went to see the house. We started out walking through it and before we realized it we were running around and shouting out all the things we loved! We knew it. This was where we wanted to be. So we withdrew the offer on the previous house and immediately drew up an offer on this one. Now, it was a foreclosure (of COURSE) and so we were working with a bank, so we didn't think we would hear back on our offer for at least a couple weeks. AND since we made the offer on the first day it listed we were really nervous this was just going to be a big painful flop.

Seth was really swamped at work so he hardly had 2 min. to worry about the house...but me on the other hand, i had plenty of time to go through all of the emotions. The minute our offer was submitted i hit my knees. I prayed and talked to my Father in Heaven like never before. I told Him how i was nervous and scared, but how at the same time the house felt so right. Every spare moment i had that i wasn't with Nics i would pray...and it was kind of interesting...i wasn't praying FOR the house...i was praying for us to be guided and to be where we were supposed to be. It was such an amazing experience, i still had all the anxiety and fears but i was at peace. Well, Monday morning came and you'll NEVER guess what we found out. Our realtor called and told us the bank called him! It had only been barely 2 business days! Anyway, the bank told him they had 3 other offers besides ours...BUT they had taken them off the table and ours was the only one left! They needed another 24 hours to think about it but they just wanted to let us know where they were at. We were STUNNED! The house had ONLY been on the market for ONE day and there were FOUR offers submitted!! We then started realizing what a steal of a deal we'd be getting if they accepted our offer. Before us, this house was bought for $536,000! (WHOA!!) Now because of the foreclosures it was going for significantly lower!!

Well...two days later i was sitting at home with Nics and the phone rang. It was the realtor. I just stared at my ringing phone knowing that the decision had been made...my stomach was tight and my heart was racing. When i said 'hello' our realtor asked me how i was. I thought for sure he was trying to cushion me for a sad blow....but then he said, "Brandi, they accepted your offer!" I started bawling instantly and felt such a warm comfort feeling flood over me. I knew we were led to this house. It was a painfully emotional process but Heavenly Father was with us the whole way, He was so aware of US. It was such a beautiful moment. As soon as i hung up the phone the first thing i did was grab Nics and we had a prayer. We thanked our Father in Heaven for being there for us, and for helping us through this important time in our lives. It was so special. As soon as we were finished i immediately started calling Seth but he was in class! I left him a message to call me asap. When he finally called me back we couldn't contain our excitement, it was such an amazing moment.

We have been blessed so very much and we feel so inadequate and undeserving of all the love and guidance we have felt from our Savior. Blessings are being poured down from the heavens in every aspect of our lives right now...we are so full of gratitude and love for our dear Savior and Father...it's so overwhelming. The last couple months have been so hard in so many ways, but we have learned that as we include our Father in Heaven and literally MAKE Him a part of our lives that even when it's hard, He will carry us through it all and shower us with blessings as we endure to the end. This is such an exciting time in our lives! Last night we went out and celebrated, then we went up to OUR new home (hehe...i like saying that...hehe) and took a couple of fun pictures. We couldn't get a picture of the outside because it was dark, but more pictures will be coming soon! :)

We're signing for our FIRST home!! (we got to keep the pens! hehe.)

We are celebrating at the Cheesecake Factory! Seth made the cute little 'Cheesecake display' with our keys...he's adorable!

We're walking into "our home" for the first time!

Love-Love-Love the kitchen!!

Nicci LOVES the new place...especially the stairs!!

I LOVE our bathtub...yep LOVE it!

yes...i'm dancing in our new tub!

Seth parked our car in the garage for the FIRST time!! And now he is placing our FIRST item in our garage! ...

...Our little gas can!!

We have a garage!!

Now all the fun begins...painting, packing, cleaning, moving...AH!! Home Depot here we come!

Random Tidbits About Me - Tag

2008-03-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my dear friend Tave i was tagged to do this survey about myself :)

WHAT WAS I DOING 5 YEARS AGO?:
I was going to school at UNLV, dating a great guy, living at home while spending time with my family, and watching my sweet hubby leave for Brazil to serve a mission.

SNACKS I LOVE:
I absolutely love Chocolate Teddy Grahams, Sun Chips, dry Corn Chex, Melba Toast, and brownie mix :)

I LOVE:
I love my dear husband more than anyone or anything in this entire world. I love my sweet amazing little girl, she's my little buddy. I love my mom and my dad with all my heart and could not survive without them.

5 THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST:
First: Learn to love those that have hurt me desperately. Second: Forgiving and forgetting. Third: Lay down with my sweetheart and watch a movie until we fall asleep. Fourth: Wake up and shower. Fifth: Laundry and a bunch of errands.

5 THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:
We'd put Nicci in the best school around, pay for all our children's college (with the stipulation that they get ALL A's), give a large donation to Primary Children's hospital, buy a beautiful home with a full ocean view, and i would love to surprise Seth with the Ferrari of his dreams.

5 BAD HABBITS I HAVE:
I trust too easily, i pick my lip until there's nothing left, i stay up really late, i'm really hard on myself, and i love to drive too fast.

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
Well, i've only ever lived in Las Vegas (my entire life) and Provo (only for 1 year). So as far as places inside of those cities...i've lived at my home, the Elms apts, Toscana apts. (wow, that was an experience!), Malibu Pointe Condos, and soon to live in Anthem. :)

5 JOBS IVE HAD:
I've worked at Baja Fresh, i was a Pharmacy Tech for 2 years (At Savon & Rite Aid), i was a Preschool teacher at the private school 'Challenger', i work for the 4 and 5 star hotels as a nanny, and my favorite job in the entire world is being a 'MoM' :)

6 THINGS PEOPLE MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME:
I hate to capitalize the letter "i", i would love to write a book someday, i have webbed toes, i've been arrested (i'm telling you, i really put my poor parents through it when i was in high school), when i was 17 i completed BOTH Young Women programs and received my medallion while my mom was President (that's one of my most treasured memories), and last but not least ... i'm so baby hungry i could die. :)

Mothers Always Know Best

2008-02-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

I think being a Mom is by far the most beautiful calling in the entire world. There is absolutely nothing like being a mom. I just don't quite have it down so well yet though. I look at the way my mom handles Nicci and i shake my head in amazement at how natural and wonderful she is with her. It's SO NOT as easy at she makes it looks. When Nicci was 3 months old we taught her sign language (the basics...please, thank you, more, milk...and so on) and so lately when she wants more of something she signs more BUT accompanies it with a very annoying head splitting WHINE! It drives me absolutely INSANE. It got to the point a couple weeks ago that i had to just walk away before i just lost it. I know you're probably thinking, "Wow Brandi, kids whine, get over it." BUT you DON'T understand...this whine could send you into the next lifetime! Well, we were at my parents house a while back and Nicci did her usual marathon of whining and i witnessed the most incredible thing. My mom simply turned to Nicci and said in a soft sweet tone, "Nicci, we don't whine, we smile. If you want another cracker just smile and i'll give it to you." As i watched Nicci's face...she just thought about it and then walked off. My mom just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Brandi just be patient, she'll understand if you remind her to smile and not whine, you'll see, she'll stop whining, just give it time." I laughed at her and told her she was absolutely nuts and had no idea what she was talking about. Not long after that i heard Nicci in the kitchen with Seth and she was signing 'more' and whining!! So i turned to my mom and said, "SEE!! She'll NEVER stop!!!" And out of frustration i said, "Nicci! STOP whining!" Nicci looked at me, ran past me to my mom...grabbed my mom's hand...and, you'll never guess what she did next. She SMILED and said MORE...not only MORE, BUT she said PLEASE TOO!! I about swallowed my tongue. Seth and my mom just laughed while i sat there dumbfounded. At that point i was ready to give my sweet daughter to my mom to raise! I was so confused as to why she was so defiant against me, but all my mom had to do was ask her to smile instead of whine and by darn she did it! So later on that evening i asked my mom to teach me her tricks. My mom answered me with the most amazing and loving council. She told me this, "Brandi, if you get down on her level and ask her in a soft loving tone to please stop whining and to smile if she wants a cracker...or whatever it may be, she will eventually do it without being defiant. She is a little child, and little children are not always obedient, but treating them with patience, a soft tone, and love will highly decrease their defiance." I thought about it for a while and tried it with Nicci later on that night, and sure enough, it didn't work. :( She'd even obey Seth...but not me. I hit the hugest reality check at that moment. I needed to stop being so sharp with her and ask her in a loving way to obey mommy. My mom and Seth both told me it would take time, and to be both patient with her and myself. So through LOTS of prayer and an entire month of working on my mom's council, low and behold...my daughter finally understands me!! The other day we went through our normal routine of her wanting more and whining and it was surprisingly an INSTINCT for me to say softly, "Nicci honey, that's not how you ask mommy." Then a couple seconds later i felt a tug on the back of my shirt, and standing there was my sweet daughter, with a HUGE SMILE on her face, signing 'more', AND even saying, "Peeese?!" I melted into a puddle of tears and i hugged her for as long as she'd let me! I gave her cracker after cracker as she just continued smiling at me! For at least a week now she has NOT whined at all...instead she says, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." until she gets my attention and then she smiles the biggest smile she can, while signing for more crackers, water, chips...or whatever it may be! It was one of the most beautiful experiences i've had while being a mother. I took something i needed to change about myself and i saw the amazing effect it had on my little Nicci. Mother's have such an influence on their children and for the first time i actually saw the positive effect that i had on my daughter. It was such a special experience. Mothers truly know best, and i feel so very blessed to have such a wonderful mom that can help me so much in such a loving way with all of my faults and help me become a better mom. Gosh, i love my mom so much. I hope i'm half as amazing as she is when all my children are grown!

Thank you Mom for teaching me through so much love how to be a great mom!
I love you.