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 :)