Christmas Card

Happy Holidays everyone!

As this year comes to an end it’s nice to stop and think back on all of the wonderful things that happened over the past year….

Daniel has been working hard on his Masters degree here at UCSB and will be finishing up next June. Along with many choir concerts and singing performances, in April 2010 he performed in the Mozart Opera “Cosi Fan Tutte” at UCSB playing the part of Guglielmo. Daniel works at the Music Library on campus and has been teaching one of the voice classes as a TA and loves it. Over the summer Daniel worked in the box office of the Music Academy of the West, and this holiday season is working as a caroler singing Christmas music in a quartet (he looks very dashing in a top hat walking around the mall singing Christmas carols!).

Brandy has been working hard and enjoying motherhood. She has been working on the Tenants Association Board (for the residents at the UCSB Family Student Housing). She worked the first half of the year as one of the Apartment Complex Reps, and in June she became the President and has been enjoying working hard helping the residents and the community. In August Brandy gave birth to Joshua and has had her hands full with two amazing little boys in the house. She loves doing digital scrapbooking and just ran in the Santa Barbara Thanksgiving 4 mile Turkey-Trot.

Johnny turned 2 this past October and loves to get into everything and anything he can find. His favorite movies are Cars, Ratatouille, and anything with Winnie the Pooh. He’s adjusted really well to his new little brother, Joshua.

We welcomed Joshua Allen Sioeli Tuutau on August 1^st and at 4 months old he’s already a sturdy 17lbs (the same weight as our Thanksgiving Turkey). The two of them keep Brandy on her toes and give Daniel another excuse to procrastinate.

2010 has been a great year for the Tuutau family and we hope it has for yours as well. If not, the bright side is that it’s almost over and you have another year to give it another try.

Happy Holidays from us to you!

Love,

The Tuutau Family

RIP

This is the historic Provo Tabernacle. It is a GORGEOUS building that was built in 1883. This building has always been a part of my life. Every year as long as I can remember we had Stake Conference in this building, I sang the Hallelujah Chorus there a few times, and I graduated in this building with my Associates in medical assisting.

Today I woke up and saw a bunch of people on facebook post a link to KSL..com. When I opened it up I saw this pictre...
There are no words...

Visit with Santa

Our visit with Santa at our ward Christmas party was pretty fun. I love that I put my 4 month old in a little Santa suit that John wore when he was over a year old. They both fit it well....hmm....chunky much?!

Santa and mini Santa!

This was the closest picture I got of John with Santa. He liked him from a far but the moment I picked him up and tried to set him on his lap he completely erupted!

Our ward had a nice dinner and evening program. I sat next to my friend Kaitlin and her family and Kaitlin told her husband to hold Joshua while I ate. My favorite comments from Danny while he was holding Joshua:
"This kid is as big as a tank"
"Wait, how old is he?"
"Look at the size of this kids head!!"
"What are you feeding him... lead?"

Kaitlin's son Zeke LOVED that Joshua was in a Santa outfit and wanted him to sit on his lap. He was so cute with him.

I hardly got any pictures of John because he was gone the moment we entered the doors playing with all the other kids. They decorated the tables with M&M's and while I was in line getting my plate of food I kept looking over to make sure John was within eye sight. The whole time I was in line and getting food he was sitting at our table stuffing his face with M&M's. Needless to say he didn't eat any of the food I brought back to the table and was on a MAJOR sugar high for the rest of the night.

I love ward parties. It's too bad Daniel had to work and didn't get to enjoy such a fun night.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to put up our Christmas decorations. It was the perfect time to do it because Daniel was home and eager to be distracted from his papers and schoolwork!

We bought our tree last year at Kmart's after season 90% off sale and only paid $10 for this cutie. It doesn't give off that Christmas "real tree" smell but hey that's what glade plug-in's are for right?!

We all helped put some mis-matched ornaments we bought on clearance racks form all over including red, silver, and gold bells and red bows we bought from the 99 cent store...

We sure loved it!

And here's how it all turned out...

(The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...hehehe)

(Yes, I do realize there is a Halloween picture and a creepy molded clay head of my first born on this shelf but this picture is really there to show off the cute little nativities I have!)

Decorating for Christmas.....Check!

Caroling

This year Daniel is working again as a caroler. He has done it for the past 2 years and loves every second of it. They do private gigs as well as singing at the La Cumbra and Paseo Nuevo malls. It is so much fun to watch them sing. Daniel especially likes to get paid to sing Christmas carols which he LOVES doing anyway. Win Win!







So if anyone is around either of those malls within the next few weeks make sure to look for these guys and listen to them sing. It's a great way to feel all Christmas-y :)

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was fantastic this year. Our wonderful friends (the Dorny's) invited us to spend the afternoon with them. Alexis made a DELICIOUS meal that everyone enjoyed.

John on his "date" with Emma. He wasn't a very good date I must admit because he kept leaving the table, stealing her food, and ended up pouring his water onto the table which soaked her food, outfit and the floor.

Joshua had a great time mostly sleeping on mommy.

...and getting eaten by daddy!

The next day we had desserts with our friends that live in the other family student housing complex. Jason and Sloan are in the Music program with Daniel. Jason's brother came as well. I made a delicious pumpkin cheesecake that was insanely good. Too bad all of the other desserts I made didn't turn out very tasty. Oh well, I still have Christmas to prove myself.

Thanksgiving Day 4 mile Run

On Thanksgiving morning I ran in a 4 mile race. This was HUGE for me because I have never done anything like this before in my life. I really don't like running. It's definitely not my favorite form of exercise. So why did I do it you ask? ....I don't really know. 1-Some other girls from my ward were doing it so I thought why not? and 2- because I knew it would get me out of my comfort zone and force me to work off this extra baby weight I packed on.
In September about a month after I had Joshua one of the girls from my ward told me about the race and asked if I wanted to do it with her. I agreed and started getting myself into shape. At first I went a little slow (come on I just had a baby!) then I started to do really well in my training, then I stopped for a few weeks when my family came to visit, then it was hard to motivate myself into wanting to get up early, so finally when it came down to the race I didn't feel ready. I was expecting to walk most of the way and the fastest I had been able to run a mile was 12 min running the whole time. I didn't know exactly what to expect but I decided to do it anyway. I had to push myself out of my comfort zone to it but I'm really glad I did. Sometimes it's good to force yourself to do something you wouldn't ordinarily do. The picture above is Lori, Jeannie, me, and Esther (and John making a guest appearance in the back) right before the .

The first mile was definitely the hardest part for me but then surprisingly it got a lot easier after that. I must have found my groove because before I knew it I was passing the half way mark then 3 miles then I was rounding the corner to the finish line. I ran, then walked, then ran, then walked pretty much the whole time. I started out running and finished running. My time was 50min 6sec. I was SO proud of myself. I definitely thought I was going to take over an hour and I exceeded my own expectations. This is Esther and I right after the race. I'm proud of myself for thinking outside my little box and doing something I wouldn't normally do. I'm glad I did it and the best part about the whole thing is I lost a total of 12 pounds from the time I started getting myself ready until I did it. I gained 42 pounds over the course of my pregnancy with Josh. I lost 20 pounds within the first 2 weeks and now I'm down 12 more. 10 pounds and one chubby flabby belly to go. I'll get there slowly but at least I'm starting.

Harry Potter

Never in all my life has a series of books wrapped me up so tightly before. I absolutely LOVE Harry Potter. I have read the books through once. However, I have listened to the books on tape (well, actually MP3) "performed by Jim Dale" at least 5 times through. Sometimes when I'm bored of listening to my same old same old playlist of songs I will randomly pick a book and start listening to it while I clean my house. I remember hearing about those books for the first time before the 4th book came out. It took me a while to get them but once I started I was hooked. When the 4th movie came out I left on my mission just a few days beforehand and was super bummed out about missing it. I don't like the movies as much as the books but I still like them well enough. When the 5th movie came out I had just got back from my mission and I went to the midnight showing with Daniel. That happened to be our 3rd date. We ended up holding hands for the first time during the movie and when he walked me to the car he put one arm around my waist and continued holding my hand....just remembering that night gives me butterflies!! When the 6th movie came out we didn't go to the midnight showing but we did go the day it came out to a matinee showing while our friend watched John for us. This time things are different. The midnight showing is happening in just a few hours from how (It's 10:30pm) and Daniel and I still have no idea when we will be able to watch it. He's really busy with concerts and performances coming up and we barely see each other every day let alone have enough time to catch a movie together.

So for now I will just have to be patient and wait for the glorious day in my future when I will be able to enjoy the first part of the 7th movie. I'm so glad they cut it into 2 movies so they will be able to include more of the story instead of barreling through the book (like in HP4).


For all of you reading this post that has already seen the movie.....LUCKYYYY!!

Joshua Rolls Over

Today (Wednesday November 16, 2010) at 1:25pm Joshua rolled over for the first time!! I had him on the floor with his diaper off and he started to push himself up on his side like he has been for the past week and a half or so. I rolled him over onto his stomach and walked out of the room for a second. When I came back he was almost all the way rolled over. I ran to get a camera and couldn't find it anywhere. I was talking on the phone with my sister and I was so excited telling her that he was about to roll over for his first time. Sure enough within a few minutes of teetering back and forth he rolled over. YAY! Today he is 3 months 2 weeks and 2 days old. (Interesting fact: John was 3 months 3 weeks and 1 day old when he first rolled)

Funny thing is when John rolled over from his front to his back for the first time I happened to be on the phone with my mom while I was changing his diaper. So both of them had little bare bottoms their first time rolling (my mom was pretty bummed out when she found out I was on the phone with Britt when it happened because she had just got off the phone with me before Brittanny called me today. It was almost the same situation 2 kids in a row!!)

However, I still have no proof. After I put a diaper back on him, found my camera, and sat there for the next 1/2 hour waiting or him to do it again he decided he was finished. "Been there done that" and he had no intentions of letting me capture "the roll" on film. But I will....one of these days....soon....I will.

Life is Focused Photography

Here is the guy's website (the one that took our family pictures on the beach). When you go to it click on "Galleries" then click on "Little One's" and you will get to see one more picture of Daniel hugging John. I think it is so precious....

http://lifeisfocused.com

Family Pics

A few months ago Daniel was browsing through the free list on Craigslist and someone had posted an ad saying he was a Brooks College student studying photography and needed subjects for his portfolio. We had pictures taken by Brooks students before and REALLY liked them so we decided why not?! Here is how they turned out....

We REALLY like them a lot.

Joshua is getting a lot better at holding his head up. He's not a huge fan of playing on the floor, but that might be because every time I lay him down his big brother jumps on top of him and squishes him to death!! I think he feels safer when someone is holding him. On the rare occasion that he does get time by himself on the floor (aka when John is strapped into his seat eating lunch, or taking a nap) I think he might actually like it. Today he was getting closer and closer to rolling over. More so on his back than his front but it was still fun for me to watch. We'll see how long before he's all over the place...John will be so excited once this kid becomes mobile!

...oh yeah, and he figured out a rattle today and ended up hitting himself in the face. After that he wasn't too keen to play with it anymore :)

Thrift Stores

I love a good thrift store. One man's junk is another man's treasure, right? Well, yesterday a lot of people's junk became my treasures after we took a trip down to some of my favorite thrift stores in Ventura. Daniel had the day off because of Veteran's Day so we took advantage of our time together and made the 40 min drive. We first stopped off at a few thrift stores then lunch at the Olive Garden, holiday shopping at one of my favorite stores in the world (the 99 cent store) and finished off our evening with a trip to the beloved Wal-Mart. Oh how all of these places seem like a treat to poor college students who have to drive 40 min one way each time we want to go to any of these places. It becomes a full day event! Needless to say we had a lot of fun, spent a lot of money, but came home with some really cool stuff. I love living here!!

Oh yeah baby, Life is good!

I think Joshua is going through a growth spurt. For the past few days he has either spent the whole day eating, or SLEEPING!

Tonight he fell asleep at 6:30 and is still asleep now. It's almost 11:30. He didn't even wake up when I took this picture of him. This is huge for me. I was able to clean my entire living room, kitchen and bedroom and STILL have time to post something on my blog before midnight. Wow!! Plus tomorrow is a holiday so Daniel will be home all day....and I have a clean house.

...I'm so happy right now :)

My secret love

As many of you know my husband is an Opera singer. I LOVE listening to him sing and I especially love it when he sings to me. I thought I would make that clear before telling you this: There is a secret compartment in my heart that is devoted to the voice of this man...

I fell in love with Josh Groban when I was in High School. His music actually helped me get through some very tough times in my life and to this day my heart still melts when I hear him sing. Tonight we had our Relief Society enrichment night where we had a wonderful dinner served by some of the older gentlemen of our ward, a service project (that I had to skip out on because I had to get my kiddos to bed), and a beautiful video presentation with pictures from some of the sisters in our ward to the song "Thankful" by Josh Groban. I have never heard that song before and I LOVED it. (Shocking I know seeing how I love his voice so much you would think I would be all caught up on his music and have everything memorized by now!) It was such a beautiful song to use as background music for the video.

One really funny thing that happened while I was there was at my table there was this little old lady who loved to talk. She recognized me but I couldn't really remember who she was (don't judge me I serve in Primary every week! I know everyone's children but sometimes I don't know who the adults are!!). Anyway, when the video got over this little old lady turned to me and asked who was singing the song. I told her that it was Josh Groban and she said, "Oh, I thought it was someone behind the curtain singing. There is a man in our ward who is a music major at UCSB who has a beautiful voice. I thought maybe he was the one behind the curtain singing. I love listening to him sing." I smiled and felt butterflies in my stomach and thought "He he he that's my husband!!". I never thought Daniel sounded like Josh Groban but wow that was a good compliment!

Hard Night

Yesterday I didn't post anything because I accidentally fell asleep while trying to get John to sleep! It's hard when Daniel has to work late or has to stay late to study because the bedtime routine doesn't ever go as smooth. I think John tries to hold out so he can see his Daddy before going to sleep. Daniel didn't get home until 1am so for about 2 1/2 hours John had a really hard time before I finally climbed into his bed with him and let him sob on my shoulder until he finally fell asleep. I ended up snoozing right along with him in the weirdest position on that tiny little bed. When I finally woke up at 12:50 my muscles were aching and I ended up leaving the dishes in a sink full of water and just going to bed. Some nights it's hard not having Daniel home, but I love him so much and I'm so proud of him for all of the things he does. I know it's not easy for him either being away from us and also being so busy. It's nights like these that make me appreciate the nights we do get to spend together.

Avatar-The Last Airbender

Daniel and I have our little shows that we watch together: Chuck, Glee, The Office, 30 Rock, Raising Hope (our newest addition to our list), and Avatar. Since school started Daniel has been really busy and it's been harder to find a lot of time to just hang out and cuddle while we catch up on our shows. Today was a very good day for just that and we finished the first season of Avatar-The Last Airbender and we started the second season. I absolutely love this show (...I love all the shows that we watch together!). I remember when it very first aired my brother use to watch it all the time and I always thought he was crazy. I just thought it was a stupid kids show and never wanted to see it. But now I have learned the error of my ways and I'm finding myself excited for those rare moments we get to spend time together so we can watch an episode or two. I miss Daniel when he is at school all day but it makes me value the time we have together even more.