We are switching to blogspot.  I have transferred all of my posts already and will be updating our new blog www.famigliadieaquinto.blogspot.com from now on.  We’d love to have you keep in touch with us!

My nephew’s first birthday is today!  He is just the sweetest, cutest little guy.  We miss him (and his parents) a lot and I cried when we couldn’t go out for his birthday.  We absolutely had to post these pics of Brody with our Bria.

Bria holding Brody when he came home from the hospital:

Fast forward 11 months:

Just as a side note: Bria still thinks she can “hold” her baby Brody.  We are aren’t ever sure who is holding who.

Some of our favorite things about Brody:

- his dancing (especially the hips)

- baby wookie noises

- waving his little bear paw

- his laugh when he plays with his Uncle Dan

- he has the biggest, brightest smile

- he loves his cousin, Bria, almost as much as she loves him. 

Happy birthday, Broda!

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed, you do nothing at all?  That’s me and blogging lately.  Once again it took some words of wisdom from my sister and my favorite hair stylist, and I quote, “A few pictures with captions; that’s all we want.”  So I say, give the people what they want.  Here we go:

Bria eating a Cinderella waffle made especially for her by her Aunt Christine.  She still asks for a Princess waffle…

My girls in their matching sweaters from Gramma Karla!

Cousin Talia and Bria at the BYU bowling alley!  We had a lane for us the Joes and another one for the Boones and Guterrorists.  And all the little cousins had their own lane with bumpers.  Let’s be honest, I should have been bowling with the little kids!

After a night of Bria throwing up on Dan 3 times, we still looked forward to Christmas Eve.  And all the pagentry that goes with it.  Bria made the cutest little sheperd:

Kylee was Mary, Derik was Joseph, Sonia and Talia were angels, Gabe, Trinton, and Cole were wise men, Bria and Mia were sheperds, and if you look closely you’ll see that Sofia and Shane are the sheep.  Not pictured are Babbo the narrator and Joe as King Herod.

Seriously, how cute are Gabey and Coley-Boley? 

The sheep who stole the show:

We had the best time opening presents with all the cousins on Christmas Eve and enjoyed being together as a family.  We can’t thank Babbo and Nonna enough for all of their generosity.  The cousins were watching a website track Santa across the world and were excited to go to sleep so that he wouldn’t skip their house.   Bria was still fighting off the stomach flu, so finally at 9:30 on Christmas Morning, we had to wake her up to open presents before the big family breakfast at Sam and Jen’s.

Sofia’s first Christmas:

Later that day we got to hang out with cousins.  Bria and Kylee got BYU cheerleader outfits and were trying them out.  They had some help from Cole.

Sofia made herself comfy lounging in the recliner.

What can I say?  We had a wonderful time.  What a great way to remember the Savior’s birth- Merry Christmas.

We went to Orem, UT for Christmas and there was a ridiculous amount of snow.  Here’s Bria getting ready to play in it:

Spencer starting a snowman:

With the bull dog puppies out with everyone, Bria found refuge on her Uncle Spencer’s shoulders.

Dan ready for a snowball fight.

Mia and Bria

Nonna holding Sofia, watching all the action.

 And then about 15 minutes later, Bria was freezing and wanted nothing more to do with it.  Too bad it snowed the rest of the week.  Here’s a parked car on Dan’s brother’s street:

This year has been so fun with Bria getting into the fun seasonal activities.  We made a ginger bread house (okay, Costco made the house, we decorated it) and Bria squeezed the icing and did all the decorating on the little trees by herself!

I set up the timer on the camera and got this great shot of us cracking up at Bria saying, “Let go of my hair, Sof!”

She is learning that Santa is very fun thing and when he asked her what she wants for Christmas, she said, “presents.”  When he asked what kind of presents she wanted, she thought for a second and then said, “Pink ones.”  She is my girlie-girl 100%.  Sofia wasn’t so sure about his beard.

She shouts “Christmas lights!” whenever she sees them, but her favorite so far is making cookies.
Rolling out the dough:

Cutting cookies in fun shapes:

Frosting them with green icing:

Dumping out the sprinkles:

Showing off her masterpiece:

Enjoying said masterpiece:

I wish I had pictures of her helping wrap presents.  Let’s just say, tape dispensers need a shorter limit and kid’s scissors can’t cut butter.  This is too much fun!!

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I was completely overwhelmed with 10 days worth of pictures while in California.  Then I saw how my sister, Stacie, posted Thanksgiving.  So, basically I’m stealing her ideas.  Thanks, Stac!  

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We flew into San Jose late Friday night.  Then Saturday my mom picked up Stacie, Brandon, and Brody and we all went up to Lakeport to see our Grandparents.  Sunday we got to see Dan’s Grandma Lois and Aunt Theresa who met Sofia for the first time.  When we got back, we got to eat crab cioppino!!  My cousin Brad when crab fishing the day before and caught 10 fresh crab.  Thanks Brad!!  My Grandma Joan makes the best cioppino- the recipe originates from Papa (my great-grandpa) and it’s an all day process.  Thank you Grandma- it was amazing!

Monday, Dan and Brandon decided to shoot squirrels with bb-guns and then we went to a beautiful winery that my Grandpa Bob was so excited to show us.  We also got to see Nanny and Papa’s grave (great-grandparents).  And that’s when my camera battery lost it’s power.  Yep, I forgot my charger.  Thank goodness Stacie and my mom took awesome pictures for me the rest of the week.

Tuesday we drove back to Livermore and Ty drove up from L.A. that morning and later that night Aaron and Ada arrived!  We were introduced to the Wii Fit and, of course, competed to get the best scores from Yoga to Ski jumping.

Wednesday we went to the city to see  the new California Academy of Science and we got a flat tire on our rental van and we should have known how the rest of the day was going to go…  Stacie said it best while singing “If I could turn back time (Cher) I’d stay at home in my pjs (Stacie).”

 
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Thursday was Thanksgiving and it was so yummy!  Thanks Mom!

Friday we went to Half Moon Bay and hiked up to a beautiful look out point and then ate fish and chips at Barbara’s Fish Trap!  The only place where Dan will eat fish!

Saturday we had to say goodbye to Stacie, Brandon, and Brody.  To get our minds off of their departure, we went to San Francisco.  We got several samples of Ghirardelli’s peppermint bark chocolate squares, ate Boudin’s clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls, saw the sea lions, watched the Bush Man scare some unsuspecting pedestrians, and hang out sipping Ghirardelli’s hot chocolate late into the evening.  Ty left later that evening and we miss him already.

Sunday morning Aaron and Ada left.  Then my parents, Dan, the girls, and I went back to the city to eat in Little Italy and had the most amazing lunch at “Calzones.”  My mom had this incredible crab pasta and I had delicious gnocchi pesto.  The men had pizza that was good, but nothing like our pasta.   We walked around a little until we found a little dessert shop where we got some yummy gelato and Dan got to listen to some guys talking about soccer in Italian.  Once again, we had to get some peppermint bark chocolate…mmm…

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Monday we hung out and had to fly out that night.  Besides our flight being delayed 2 hours (which we didn’t mind spending more time with my mom) we had a smooth ride home.  The girls were wonderful and we can’t wait to go back.  I left my heart (and Sofia’s sock) in San Francisco.

Okay, here it goes:

10 years ago I was:
1. 19 years old
2. a Sophomore at BYU
3. figuring out that teaching was my true calling
4. cut (not just a trim) and highlighted my hair for the first time
5. driving a Honda CRX- (only 2 seats and a hatchback)

5 things on today’s to do list:
1. attend Primary presidency meeting
2. play group
3. go to Costco
4. unpack from our awesome California trip
5. get creative with leftovers

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. Buy a house with cash
2. Pay our cars off
3. Pay off all of our student loans
4. Buy a villa on the Italian coast
5. Travel (London, Paris, Spain, Greece…) in style

5 places I have lived:
1. Westlake Village and Morgan Hill, CA 
2. Austin, Texas
3. Provo, UT
4. Orem, UT
5. Highlands Ranch, CO

5 places I have worked:
1. Cat Hollow Pool (lifeguard)
2. American Eagle
3. Applebee’s
4. Spanish Oaks Elementary
5. Utah Valley State College

I now tag Meredith, Angela, and Rachelle

So, I’ve been 4 months for a little over a week.  A lot has already happened!  First, I found my toes and they are so fun to reach for and hold on to!

Since finding my toes, I learned how to roll over from back to my tummy.  Although, I don’t really like it once I’m there. 

I love hanging with my sister Bria, and if you look real close, you can see my new earrings!

Then my mom gave me rice cereal for the first time… yuck.

But, the best part of being 4 months old is getting to meet my mom’s cousin, Melissa, who is a combat medic for the Army and is on leave and will be returning to Iraq in a couple weeks.  She is way cool and I liked her from the moment I met her!

Bria’s hair has needed a haircut for awhile, but Dan was worried about it being cut too short.  He said, “Let’s call it a trim.”  So here is Bria prepping for her “trim.”  She’s thrilled, can’t you tell?

Kirsten cut her hair at Amber’s house with the hopes of coaxing an unwilling Zach to participate in the haircutting party.  Although it turned out to just be a Bria haircutting party, it was fun to hang out at Amber’s and we are glad she volunteered her kitchen.  Thanks!!  Bria loved watching the whole thing in the mirror across the room.

I didn’t know she was freaked out or what because Bria did not say a word the entire time.  I think she liked it because, she stayed so still and even tilted her head the way she was supposed to and everything.  She did great!!

I wanted her to have a cute little bob or maybe a stacked A-line cut.  But, knowing that I have to live with my husband until it grew out… I thought better of it.  Here’s the finished “trim.”  Dan was pleased that I didn’t cut it like a boy and spike it up.  Actually he really loves it.

Here’s the back:

Now that we are fine with a couple of inches, maybe we can work on that bob…