the moose

Tomorrow Brian Todd turns 28. I thought I would share with you some little known facts with you about Mr. BTW to honor him on this special day.
Brian was the biggest baby ever born in the San Jose Hospital. Weighing in at almost 11 lbs the nurses affectionately called him "The Moose."
Brian stayed up more than one night with me while planning our wedding to write on all 300 post cards I insisted on personalizing.
Brian also applied stamps to the majority of these 300 postcards. He went through 4 glue sticks!
Brian has a blog. He has only posted once: briantoddwilliams@blogspot.com

Brian can hold himself horizontal on a pole.
Brian loves babies and every time he sees one he makes this airplane noise.
Brian thinks that sneakers and jeans are coming back in style.
Brian actually believes that sneakers and jeans were once in style.
Brian lived in the dorms... as a return missionary.
Brian fixes flat tires.
Brian once sold his car (worth $800) to the owners of Betos in Logan for $5,000 in cash, a horchata, and a California burrito.
Brian is really a good artist. He draws and even paints.
Brian fixes rain gutters.
Brian drives his Subaru like he is in a James Bond movie. He often pulls the emergency break, does a donut, or flys past another car.
Brian wears a headlamp at least once a day. Sometimes to fix stuff, sometimes in the dark, and sometimes just because Brian loves outdoor gear.
Brian loves to bargain shop. Brian won't leave a store until he has gotten a deal. This is Bill, Brian wouldn't leave RC Willey until Bill agreed to give us free pillows with our new couches.
Brian is kind to everyone. Brian forgives anyone who hurts him, and never brings it up again. Brian loves you! Brian loves everyone. And that is why everyone loves Brian. I am honored to be Mrs. BTW. Happy Birthday Brian Todd.

snow shmow

Many in Utah County today have found a reason to celebrate today. They woke up and saw this and shouted for joy.



But I, Andrea Grace Todd Faulkner Williams refuse to celebrate. This year in my attempt to appreciate the snow I have decided to ski, dress warmly in outdoor gear, and even marry a mountain man. But I refuse to pretend like I enjoy this weather. That is just going too far. For all of you who enjoy this disaster of a day, I congratulate you. I wish you the best of luck this season! If you need to find me in the next few months I will be in my chair sipping herbal tea watching 13 going on 30, and waiting for April before I come out again.

just me here rollin around

dear readers,
brian is doing some serious reports for his corporate job and i am here in the back room trying to be a quiet supportive wife. i should be doing a report on the economic development in mexico but i have been utterly distracted all morning long. last night i baked cinnamon rolls from scratch and I CANT STOP EATING THEM. i ate 31/2 for dinner last night, 1 for breakfast this morning, and then i came home and ate a quesadilla for lunch. the whole idea was to eat the quesadilla so that i wouldn't be hungry for the cinnamon rolls. but in the last half an hour i ate 2 more! there are 10 left on the stove right now. TEN!

the sugar high, guilt, and pleasure is leaving me giddy at a time when i am trying to be oh so quiet, and act like a mature, supportive housewife. i figured i would share my excitement with you and even send you the link for the recipe.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/cinnamon-nut-buns

thank you for the escape. i feel much better. satisfied, relieved, and almost ready for another roll.
andrea todd

ooo la la

This is Andre. He is the grandpa who lives at the home Brian and I are house sitting this week. Andre immigrated with his wife to America from Switzerland and was an antique furniture designer by trade. He is now 91 and spends most hours of the day with his chair, blanket, and cat. Brian and I LOVE Andre and we want to share him with you! Big Willy Style of course! Let us review a typical week with our Swiss dream boat. This week Andre has:
- Put on a harmonica concert for Brian and I, we clapped along when he sang the different choruses to the Swiss school boy songs.
- Said words such as "fan-tasss-teeck (fantastic), uhh- low (hello), and dee lish us (delicious) with the thickest French accent possible. English just sounds so much better that way.
- Asked me for multiple back scratches and then said "ooooo la la" when I hit the "deee good spots." He was loving it so much it made Brian nervous.
- Snuggled with the cat every night in bed, and petted the dog for hours in his chair.
Andre has a far better attitude than anyone else I know, he is a joy to be with. We encourage you to stop by this week to meet Andre and to hear about his country, furniture, and adventures in America. The best part is he won't remember you if you've come by before and so you will get to share the stories time and time again.


Savor the leaves, winter is coming!
Los Williams

hitch hiker diaries

last friday brian and i spent the day with with a hitch hiker named james. brian picked him up outside of gunnison, utah and he spent the night in our unfurnished basement. he was relatively harmless, just looking for his own jack kerouac or che guevara expereince. you know, the "out to find the good the world has to offer" attitude. something we completely agree with right? of course! so what did we do to show james a good time? show him the best provo has to offer? well let me tell you:
- my cute husband bought him a new bike wheel and gave him a futon to sleep on downstairs
- i made him a plate of left over spaghetti for lunch
- we shared with him our costco bag of mini assorted chocolates
- we took him to nicolitalias for dinner
- like any good mormon couple would we explained to james topics such as: mitt romney, lamanites, temple marriage, and sober dance parties
- and last but not least i had james sit down with me and look at over an hour of wedding pictures! recently scanned in by leo patrone!

just like we love james, we love you! and brian and i also want to share each of these things with you! we will start with our wedding pictures. tell us what you think.
http://leopatrone.instaproofs.com/collection.php?event=60225

Wataaaabowlybawl

So years ago when my family took a trip to Puerto Vallarta our eyes were opened to the world of Mexican resorts. The pinas, cool braided hair, and hemp necklaces were expected. But what we didn't know we were in for was the interactive pool atmosphere we would encounter. Beanbag toss, hula hooping, and coreographed dances are just the beginning of what we were up against. Every hotel has a DJ and then 5-10 assistants who run around and try to get everyone to either dance, throw, or swivel. My families primary goal on our vacation became dodging anyone who looked like they might try and get us to do anything that required speaking with other hotel guests. We were successful and our favorite part of the vacation actually came from a reminder that happened on the loud speaker at the pool after each group game. It was always the same and seemed to stay with us. The DJ would get on and yell, "And at 1:30! Watabolybawl!!" He would then dance and high five others because this water volleyball at 1:30 was going to be something. Evan has screamed that in my ear 1.7 millions times since leaving Mexico, you'll pick it up next time he's in town. It's really catchy. Watabowlybawl!!!




Brian and I went on our honeymoon to Cancun last week and again encountered the wild poolside atmosphere of Mexico. The first day we decided to brave the Mexican heat we were cornered at the bar. Something about us screamed honeymooners and so naturally they invited us to participate in their poolside game they would be putting on in just a few minutes, "The Perfect Couple." Oh man... we were in. How could we be so foolish as to make eye contact with the hotel staff wearing khaki cargos and a cowboy hat?


We ended up playing. Above you can see our competition. Two couples in their 60's from central Illinois and a hairdresser and her husband from Yakima, WA not photographed. Her swimsuit was better left off of the blog.




Well I am happy to report that we not only played this poolside mixer, we won. Brian and I were deemed "The most perfect couple at the Westin Hotel in Cancun from 10/11-10/19." We now proudly display our prizes on our mantel and invite all to come see them. Here we are holding our shark tooth ashtray, and our ceramic lizard.

the 12 days of marriage

I don't know if any of you have been on the wedding website lately to see the wedding countdown... well if you have then you know that I will legally, officially, ETERNALLY be Mrs. Brian Todd Williams in less than two weeks. 11 days to be exact. My time as an engaged individual will come to an end and I will sooner than later wear two rings, talk about scrapbooks and coupons, and work in the primary. I will be the real deal... a married lady.

Can I just tell you something? Can I be really honest with you?? Even though I have been an awful blogger will you still listen? Like...really listen to me? Okay, thanks.

So this is what I am going to tell you: Being engaged has been a difficult time for the ol' agf/atw (that's me!) I won't go into all of the gritty details that have made this a wild time but I will say that difficulties associated with being engaged caught me off guard. For such a long time I felt discouraged by the way I reacted. I felt the same sense of discouragement I felt in high school after loosing a tennis match, or how I felt freshman year of college when I would always fail my physical science tests. I just want you, my very few readers to know that I am not discouraged anymore about our engagement, I feel really happy and exceptionally thankful for what Brian and I have experienced during this time.

While I was engaged I was able to learn so much about making choices. I learned that life is full of choices, all day long. We make so many everyday! And when we think we have to be a certain way... well usually that isn't true. We usually have a choice.

I learned a lot about love. I learned a lot about loving others, and even more about loving myself. I was reminded how many people I have who love me who have been around for years, just loving me all along. I learned these people really do hurt when I hurt and they are happy when I am happy. I also learned a lot about people who have recently entered my life who although they do not know everything about me, they want to love me just the same. Oh, I learned more about God's love, and that always feels good.

I learned a lot about Brian while we were engaged. He is really good at so many things. I learned that he is okay that I cry a lot (for example, I am in history class crying right now as I write this.. he is okay with that). I learned that he likes the generic brand of Lucky Charms just like I do. I learned that he will always listen to me. I learned that he knows how to pray, I learned that he prays for me. I learned that we will be happy no matter what happens during our life because we love one another, and we chose to be together because we will be happier and better together than apart from one another.

For all of you who helped me learn so much over these past 3 months I am writing you this really sentimental thank you note over my blogspot. So here you go, thanks. Thank you for helping me learn and being so patient with me. I love you.
I have to go wipe my nose now.

this is me posting twice in one day!

With all of the spare time I know have on my hands after finding these dresses I am able to now do things like: slalom ski, eat fruit by the foot, and create a wedding website. I would be touched if you will go and check it out!
www.brianandandrea.weddingwindow.com

your mom looks like she is going to a spanish funeral

After countless hours of searching for bridesmaid dresses they have been found. Last week in the Fashion Valley BCBG I was blessed with a 70% off rack that offered me 5 of the 7 bridesmaid dresses I had been praying for, agonizing over, and envisioning for 23 years! It is a misconception that ALL of the skinny sales attendants in designer stores are not helpful. Although the majority are, we found ourselves a girl committed to the cause of mustering up two more of these dresses. She was obviously aware of what it takes to dress a bridesmaid modestly, on a budget, and in style. Her dedication allowed the other 2 dresses to be ordered and they are on their way.

What does this mean? This means that I will have to go against all I set out to do: putting bridesmaids in black dresses. I had sworn against it! I wanted color! But as the shopping process continued I came to see how much of me is represented in this black, silky number.

For years now whenever shopping I will come to the counter with 3-5 pieces that all look similarly. Alison will look at them and then back to me and say something along the lines of, "We aren't going to be attending any Spanish funerals any time in the near future. Go and put those back. " Apparently my attraction to dark, shiny, and lacy pieces was preparing me for that fateful day in the BCBG. In times like these we have to stick to what we know. And I know Spanish funeral frocks.

With this obstacle tackled I feel more prepared to take on marriage, obtain multiple college degrees, employ all Latins in the U.S., and whatever else I desire. I feel that I must thank patient bridesmaids who searched and agonized with me.  I must also thank Espana for their lisp, Euro style, and for hosting me for four months. So thank you Pilar (my Spanish host mom), Franco (our favorite fascist), Julio Iglesias (Enrique's Dad who lives in Southern Spain!), Profe Otterstrom (no explanations needed), and all of you attractive Spanish women over 40 who look so good even when in mourning for being my inspiration. 

to blog or not to blog

Here I am. Blogging! Can you believe it?? For so many months I have shied away from commenting, blog hopping, or even blog stalking! And here I am... posting on my very own blog. It is just me,  a humble sister who one year ago was still wearing pantyhose and worrying about my pioneer garb. But I have decided to follow the family legacy and be here with YOU!

I'm sure many of you are familiar with one or more of the Faulkner's blog spots. We daily enjoy sheblogsheblogs and as a result of this masterpiece we spend the majority of our days either 1. Singing Ricky Martin or 2. Giggling about something that was mentioned in Ali's entry. But may I say that Alison learned from her mama! 

Three years ago in our family Christmas card Marilyn sent out her URL for her blog, she was WAY ahead of the trend. I believe that she paved the way for women over 40 to feel comfortable blogging, she has liberated thousands of housewives. Way to go Mom!

Let us not forget The Daily Kirk which has been a part of many peoples lives for years now. There has been fan mail from a variety of readers including  Toca Rivera (please tell me you recognize him as the bongo drummer for Jason Mraz...) who has even  been known to tune into the TDK.  With this said you can imagine why  it is so intimidating and even overwhelming to be debuting in this blogging world that is so foreign to me. But I will do my best not to let down Nauvoo, my family name, and  especially you.