About Daniel (updated 10/1/21)

Daniel was born in Utah in 2014 and has lived in Utah ever since! He doesn't have any siblings yet, but we're working on it - that's the purpose of this blog, right?!

Daniel is THE. BEST. KID. EVER.

He has brought joy and laughter to our house since the day we brought him home from the hospital. I am grateful every day for the miracle it is to be his mom.

I mean, look at those lips!! And those eyes!!!

He was the sweetest baby. He didn't cry much and when he did, we always knew how to soothe him. His first year was such a joy - and man, did it fly by!

In his second year, he started to have "things". Like, during that second year, he was totally into cords. Charging cables, vacuum cords, etc.

That was followed by construction trucks. And Blippi. And mega blocks. And sand. And garbage trucks. We would have trash day picnics and would sit out on the front lawn, waiting for the trash truck to come by. And it became very clear that his favorite foods were fruits and vegetables.

Soon his interests expanded to bugs and dinosaurs and sharks. I know more about them now than I ever did before Daniel!

Then he moved into a reptile phase. And he's still ! He specifically loves snakes, but he's interested in lizards, komodo dragons, crocodiles...you name it, if it's reptilian, he's fascinated.

But his current phase is law enforcement. And he has gone all-in here! He was a police officer for Halloween in 2019, which definitely started it all. We have a neighbor who works with the Utah County Sheriff's office and he helped to encourage this interest. By the time we got to Christmas in 2019, all Daniel wanted was a police car! So Santa obliged and he now has a cruiser to patrol the neighborhood in. His bike has also turned into his "police motorcycle". He is almost always wearing his official gear! For Christmas last year, he asked Santa for SWAT gear (he was a SWAT officer for Halloween in 2020, too) including a helmet and backpack and spy gear. Santa is pretty good to this kid, so he got it all and then some!

Through all his changing interests, Daniel has loved both of our dogs with all his heart. They have been his buddies and his playmates. I am grateful for our dogs. ♥

Daniel and Puga

Daniel and Mel

Daniel is in second grade this year and has such a great teacher! He loves her. He is constantly bringing her produce from our garden, including a watermelon! 

His reading is phenomenal and it's so much fun to do math with him. He has a creative mind, so when he's supposed to be writing the math fact for a word problem, I have a hard time convincing him not to draw the object that is being counted along with the number.  When he gets the chance to draw, he goes all out! In fact, his awesome teacher has encouraged the kids to come up with goals for the new year. Daniel's goal was to create museum art! He's had amazing artistic skills since he was tiny. And, as you'll see in the pictures below, he can work with many, many mediums. 

A mega-blocks creation - he made sooo many of these!

He made a "Daniel" out of his clothes and some paper he cut out and some crayons!

He took my lobster tail and remade the lobster with the rest of his food - our waiters loved him!

A play dough dinosaur, nest, and egg.

Dinosaurs. I love that he would put hearts in them!

A thank you letter Daniel illustrated for our neighbor after he had arranged to have a few police men come and show Daniel the cruisers and sirens and loudspeaker for his 6th birthday.

Daniel went through a phase where he was pretty scared at night. I would tell him to imagine a world made of candy, and he asked if we could make it. So, there's our frosting grass with marshmallow flowers, our lemonade river with Swedish fish, our cookie path with chocolate dirt and gummy worms, the Hershey kiss mountains with the sour patch rainbow, cotton candy clouds, and an orange slice for the sun. He was soooo happy.

He loves to draw with sidewalk chalk! This is a dinosaur. I love the coloring!

Sometimes we get him bath crayons and then the shower becomes his canvass.

This chalk snake is pretty amazing.

The kid loves the beach!! He drew sooo many things that day, and they were all very large. It's amazing to me that he has such a great handle on perspective.

Daniel is good and kind, smart and strong, brave and patient, and creative and truthful. And he really wants to be a big brother. He will be a great one, too. He has such a big heart. I can't wait to see  him in the role of protector, friend, teacher, and confidant that I know he will be to our next addition!! ♥

A few random, fun facts about Daniel:

• Daniel has lost six teeth so far! And only two of them have had permanent teeth grow in, so he totally looks like a jack o' lantern!
• Daniel loves music. He was in love with several Owl City songs a couple of years ago and that  year, Owl City had released a new album and was having a concert in Salt Lake! So we took little four year old Daniel to see Owl City - that was the best night!! He super loves it when we crank whatever his favorite song currently is and have a dance party in our front room - or even in the car!
• He gets cold easily and loves to "sun himself" on our deck out back with our dog, Mel or snuggle up in blankets with us.
• Daniel loves ice cream - vanilla and cookie mint in particular. His favorite meal is a German pancake with fruit salad and tater tots. He won't touch soda - at all! It's too "spicy" for him. But he loves lemonade!

About Rebekah (updated 10/1/21)

I was born in Provo, Utah and am the oldest of six children. My family moved around a lot while I was growing up, but I claim Pennsylvania as home since my parents still live there.

Growing up, I remember noisy dinners around the table, where we’d all be laughing and goofy. I have lots of memories around our holiday traditions – making sugar cookies, Christmas morning breakfast, corned beef and Darby O’Gill, Easter baskets, and homemade ice cream. I also remember taco and root beer Friday nights when I was old enough to babysit while my parents went out.

I studied at Brigham Young University and graduated with a degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. I had wanted to become a nurse midwife, but BYU's nursing program's prerequisites kicked my trash! And now I'm extra grateful for my degree. It definitely comes in handy as a stay at home mom!

I love being a mom!! It was a dream of mine that I wasn't certain would come true for a very long time. So now, even when there are tough moments, I can look back on my 12 years of waiting and feel very, very grateful to be a mom.

I also love reading, chocolate, Harry Potter, cruising, baking, couch nights with friends, taking walks and bike rides with Daniel and Brian, family movie night, Mexican food, my sisters (and my brothers, too!), date nights, BYU football, and Survivor.

 

It's super awkward to write about myself, so I asked Brian to write a little bit for me:

Rebekah is amazing, and people say that often because it is easy to see. She is a good friend and she has LOTS of them.  She loves to bake (and she is good at it). She loves to read stories - she needs to read the same way most people need to drink water. She is great with kids and kids LOVE HER.  She is an awesome big sister - her family is always turning to her for advice and support. She is FUN, and she likes dogs. She is faithful. She loves the gospel and she has deep roots in it. She is bold and has proven time and time again that she will stand by my side as we take big business risks - but she never worries about our future. Never. And that has been amazing.

A few random, fun facts about me:

• I used to play the violin! (I kind of still do, but only for Daniel)
• I was a bird trainer and worked with all kinds of exotic birds at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia.
• I have a Harry Potter collection with wands, candy, and other memorabilia
• My favorite book is "To Kill a Mocking Bird"
• I do the bookkeeping for all of Brian's companies; I even went back to college to take a few classes just so I could keep up!
• My favorite season is fall - cooling temperatures, college football, baking, and all the holidays that are coming make it the best season of the year. When we finished our basement, we even themed it around fall. It's super cozy down there!

About Brian (updated 10/1/21)

Brian was born in Oklahoma and is the youngest of 4 children. His parents and siblings all still live in the town he was born in! He had a great childhood - his parents encouraged his creativity and ingenuity, and that has led to all of the amazing things he's done in his life.

Brian is a magician!! He became interested in magic at a young age and would take tricks apart and create new ones often. He started doing birthday parties and ribbon cuttings when he was quite young.

After his mission to Brazil, while he was in college, he started to make a living off of magic and he has never looked back! He began creating new, original magic effects and selling them to other magicians around the world.

After he sold his company, he wrote a book teaching educators how to incorporate magic into their lessons. Currently, he and his business partner have developed a curriculum that teaches social skills to children in the form of magic lessons - and it's fantastic! He has created a close-knit, supportive, optimistic family of presenters and they are all determined to make the world a better place.

Brian loves roller coasters, mini-golf, J-Dawgs hot dogs, arcades, water parks, traveling, rice krispie treats, Enya, family snuggle time, cruising, BYU football, and Survivor. His main ambition in life is to leave the world a better place than he found it.

As a husband, he has always done his best to put my needs before his own. He wants me to be happy and he shows that through his words and actions. From building a bookcase out of cardboard and filling it with new books I would love, to making sure there are flowers whenever he goes out of town, he is full of ideas, surprises, and love. The nine years we were married before Daniel was born would have been a lot darker without Brian at my side.

Brian is a fantastic father! Especially for Daniel. Brian's own creativity and drive put him in a position to foster Daniel's amazing and intrinsic creativity. He is constantly working on projects with, and for, Daniel. He is affectionate and kind. He tells the best stories! He and Daniel are Burger King buddies (cheeseburgers for life!) and Daniel wants to be just like Brian when he grows up. ♥

A few random, fun facts about Brian:

• He produced a variety show in Las Vegas, NV - "The Worst Show in Vegas"
• He has run several successful Kickstarter projects (the Different Deck was my favorite!)
• He served a mission for our church in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, for two years and speaks Portuguese.
• He created SOMETHING with our good friend, John Reid.
• He got a scholarship to Brigham Young University and graduated with his degree in Marketing and Advertising
• He never has dreams that he can fly! How weird is that??

We are so blessed to have Brian as a husband and father!! I can't wait for one more kiddo to find out just how much fun it is to have Brian as a Daddy. ♥♥