Rice Cereal and More

Here are some of the most recent pictures of our family!

About a month ago, I started giving Autumn rice cereal. For a while she hated it, but now she can't get enough of it. She just loves it!
Brandon and I just got Band Hero for the Wii for Christmas and here is a picture of Autumn playing the drums. We always knew she would be a drummer! :)

Over the Thanksgiving break, we put up our Christmas tree. We are really proud of it!!

This is Autumn sitting up for the first time all by herself. She did it for about 3 seconds! GO AUTUMN!!

This is Autumn in her "Baby's First Thanksgiving" outfit!! She's so cute!

Autumn in her marshmallow coat. She looks adorable!!! Brandon looks pretty cute too :)

Autumn in her marshmallow coat and her car seat. What a happy lookin baby!

New Blogger

Hey All!!
Well normally Brandon posts things on our blog, but I thought I would post an update on us. Autumn is growing so fast! Just within the past week she has roller over both ways from her tummy, laughed out loud, and started eating rice cereal. She just turned 5 months on Thursday. Where has the time gone?!
Brandon is still super busy with school and applying for grad schools. His top two choices are Ohio State and Penn State. We will learn the outcome probably sometime around April. He is still into photography and gets clients every now and then. In the mean time, he enjoys taking pictures of Autumn (and great pictures at that).
As for me, I'm mainly super busy with Autumn. I so enjoy being at home with her and I wouldn't have it any other way! I have, however, taken up a hobby...scrapbooking! I got involved last month and love it! I never thought I would enjoy scrapbooking, but I have always wanted to try. I'm currently working on getting pages made of Autumn and then I'm going to start working my way backwards. I get to scrapbook when Autumn is napping or down for the night or when I have friends over and Brandon watches her. I'm slowly building up my stock. I'm so glad I have found something that I enjoy doing that I have time to do.
Well that's about it!

Oh yeah...Brandon's taking me to see New Moon tonight!!! YAY!!!


-Here are some new pics of Autumn!

Autumn is growing!

Hello all,

Just thought I'd write a short note. Can you believe that Autumn is almost 4 months old now?! I can't. She has begun sleeping a lot more at night which is wonderful!!! and she is so cute when we wrap her up to put her down for the night. :) She loves lying on her blankie with Patches, waking Mom up from naps, keeping Mom and Dad awake at night, getting the mail with Mom each day, dressing up for church, and most of all chewing on her hands and wiping drool all over her face! haha. Well, email us sometime. We'd love to hear from you.

First Ever McDaniel Family Photography Game!!!

Prizes:
*Free Photo Shoot in (or near) Provo, Utah – includes:
-1 hour shoot
-CD of images
-5 of your favorite images edited
-Or-
*$100 credit toward a Wedding Photo Shoot (preferably in Utah County)
-Or-
*Free Custom Designed Invitation (electronic format that you can then go and print)

***Note: If you do not live in Utah, you can still play the game and decide to give your prize to a friend who could use it out here!

How to Win

This game is like a point system…You do certain things which earn you points. Then, the points get totaled and people win!!

Please email me at mcdanielpictures@gmail.com about each thing that you do for points with a link to that thing, so that I don’t miss any of your points.

*Note: I can change things up at any time. (in case I made mistakes or so it’s not so easily “Gameable”)

-One winner will be selected by who gets the most points.
-One winner will be selected at random by all entries no matter the points
-One winner will be selected at random by all entries & points matter (More points, more chance)

*Note: You can only win once.

The Points
FYI : In most cases when I see the word “-McDanielPhotoGame-” I will allot points
One time only point methods

(3pts) Officially begin game

I need to know who to add to my spreadsheet.
By commenting here on the wall I’ll know to add you to my spreadsheet.
Just don’t forget to follow it by “-McDanielPhotoGame-”
Otherwise, your points will not be counted.

(5Pts) Follow on Facebook Fan Page

(5Pts) Follow on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/mcdanielphoto

(6pts) Review on Facebook Fan Page
-under Reviews tab on fan page

*Note: if you already did these things, email me about it.

(15Pts) Link to my web page or fan page – from a website

Link to http://www.mcdanielpictures.smugmug.com
Link to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Provo-UT/McDaniel-Family-Photography/101982269027?ref=ts

This is for permanent links from one website to another – not just a quick mention on a post or a Facebook link. Quick mentions (temporary links) are awarded at 2pts each
Each link counts
I will judge links by those that end up reaching my blog or website.
Therefore if you add a link on your blog and I can follow it, then it counts.
If you have several websites each website counts.

(6pts) Facebook note

Write a Facebook note recommending us to your friends and tag 20 friends in it.


Multiple times point methods

(3pts) Comment on Facebook Fan Page status or note
Limit one per post
End comment with “-McDanielPhotoGame-” so I know to count it

(5pts) Comment or wall post on FB Fan Page (including on photos too)
Limit 2 a day
Prefer comments over wall posts.
End comment with “-McDanielPhotoGame-” so I know to count it

(5pts) Your Facebook status: – (Containing the following)
“Play the Photo Game and Win a Free Photo Shoot! Go here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=120885337134&ref=mf”
Do not make it annoying to other people. Max 1 a day

(5pts) Facebook status or comment inclusion – or link
Recommend us to your friends in your status or in comments on others’ walls, etc. (include a link to our fan page or website).

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stay tuned… I could decide to add in other methods to earn points
*Questions? Email me at mcdanielpictures@gmail.com

Baby Autumn Has Arrived!!!

Autumn Nykel arrived on Thursday June 18th at 10:39pm. She's 8 lbs 7 oz and 20 inches.



If you would like to see more pictures, just follow this link:

See Pictures of Autumn

Chicken Heart - Bill Cosby

This is just great!! :)

Family Update

Hello all,

Sorry it has taken us so long to write again. We just don't know where all of the time goes!

Well, the Winter semester just ended here at BYU, and we both did pretty well in all of our classes.

Brandon recently submitted one of his research papers to a writing contest on campus and got 2nd place and $200! Cool, huh? During this semester, Brandon has done a lot of research and work on the "transition to parenthood" for different classes (and he is starting up work on his honors thesis). He was also in a Family Life Education class, where he got to work with a group of students and design a 2-hour workshop where they instructed couples on different aspects of the transition to parenthood. Looking to the future, Brandon is starting research with another professor, Dr. Holmes, looking at similarities in parenting styles and effects on father/child relations. Of course, he is also trying to graduate as fast as he can, so he has to take a bunch of classes over the Spring and Summer terms.

Jalisa had her last practicum for Elementary Education this semester (where she is in an actual classroom every day for a month). She taught 5th grade, hated it at first, and then grew to love the little bratts (hehe). Teaching 5th grade only confirmed that Jalisa would want to teach the younger grades. Jalisa is done with all of her education classes; she only has to take a stupid statistics class in the spring term. She is excited to graduate August 14th. (obviously, she is excited that Autumn is coming around June 28th too!!!).

Right now, we're kinda sad, because we just had our last dinner with our best friends (Craig and Mindy Boulton), and they are now on their way to Austin, Texas, where Craig got a job with Dell as an accountant.

Also, if you didn't already know, Brandon is involved in a lot of family-related coursework, and recently we both were trained in a program called Couple Communication as coaches/instructors. We now can organize and present the course to couples whenever we please. The program is for basically anyone (excluding couples who need therapy), and has been proven over the last 30 years to help couples to slow down and learn some better ways to communicate and resolve important issues. It was also great learning the communication and listening skills for our own marriage.

Recently, we decided to start a small business on the side that Jalisa can start to become more involved in as she becomes a full-time mom. It is called Perfect Touch Graphics, and we specialize in creating photo invitations like for weddings, births, showers, etc. (but we can also create custom powerpoint slides, etc. for businesses). We even have our own website that Brandon is slowly creating at PerfectTouchGraphics.com. (It is still under construction and in the initial stages though). So, if you know of anyone who needs invitations created, please refer them to us!!! :) Get the word out!

Autumn is doing well, kneeing mom in the belly button all the time. Jalisa is getting more and more uncomfortable, as her belly expands at an alarming rate, just joking. :) Still no stretch marks! That's good right? She can get a little overly emotional sometimes as well. All it takes is thinking about something sad, etc... :) We just had a doctor's apointment, and everything is great. Jalisa tested ok for gestational diabetes, so she's good to go. Autumn is already head down too.

We're starting to look for baby stuff for Autumn, and we still have a LOT to get. Jalisa had a baby shower out here, but only like 5 people came (sad), so she only got a few small outfits. Right now, we're looking around a lot for strollers/travel systems that will fit well in our car (which is actually pretty difficult when you have a small car).

We miss everyone, and we are really looking forward to seeing some of you this summer after Autumn is born or at Jalisa's graduation!!!

Well, we think that's it for now.

Love you all,

Brandon & Jalisa McDaniel (& Autumn & Patches)

Jalisa is definitely pregnant and cute! Patches is cute too. :)

A couple pictures of our home...

Jalisa's Baby Shower

Graphic Design and Wedding Invitations

Hey everyone! We just wanted to let you know that we are going into the business of designing wedding invitations. So, if you know anyone that needs invitations designed, please refer them to us! Thanks!

Here is an example of an invitation that I recently designed for a friend (I had to make the picture a lot lower quality to post it on this blog, just so you know):


We can also design graduation announcements, baby announcements, custom powerpoint slides, excel documents, fliers, etc.

Picture Update

Hey, I just thought we'd get some pictures up on here for all of you to see.

Jalisa in February:









Us in Florida over Christmas Break...



Sorry our posts are not more exciting, but we're super busy right now...

The Gender Ultrasound

Just wanted to announce that we are having a girl!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Our First Ultrasound

So, we went in for our first check-up and ultrasound on Thursday morning. Jalisa is ten weeks along, and I didn't expect to see a "real baby" in the ultrasound. I was expecting more of a "peanut" type thing...but no! It looked just like a miniature baby, with arms and legs, and it was rolling around and kicking. Crazy, huh?! And we got to hear it's heart beating...All I have to say is AMAZING!!! :) I will try to post pictures of the ultrasound soon.

Thanksgiving!!!!! & Our Christmas Tree

Hello again,

So this was our first Thanksgiving together as a couple, and we decided to begin our own family traditions and make it a special day for us (even though we weren't able to be with family). We got up at 7am and started the 15 pound turkey (huge! I know!), which then cooked for 7 1/2 hours. The rest of the time was spent playing games, etc. We also fixed everything else for our Thanksgiving meal, including corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and rolls. It was pretty awesome and definitely could have filled about 10 people!!! :) We had so much leftovers!





We decided that we couldn't set up any of our Christmas stuff at least until after Thanksgiving dinner, so as soon as that was over and after we had cleaned it all up and washed the dishes, we got out the Christmas tree (which I had surprised Jalisa with a couple weeks ago or so).

It turned out very pretty, and we're loving our tree, stockings, and garland that we put around our family room!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!!! :)

LIL' BUNDLE OF JOY

Just in case you didn't already know...Jalisa and I are going to have a baby!!!!! We believe Jalisa is due around June 30th, although we're not sure yet.

Hey, be sure to vote on what sex you think our new baby is going to be!!!! :)

Halloween

Well, Halloween has come and gone already, so the stores already have their Christmas trees up. Jalisa and I got all ready, bought candy, and carved a pumpkin, and then waited for the trick-or-treat-ers to show up...and waited...and waited...Sadly, no one ever came. Our neighbors stopped by to show us their costumes, but they don't really count...and one little girl and her 2 sisters stopped by...our only trick-or-treat-ers the whole evening. Sad, huh? Oh well, it was a good thing that we had Thomas and Tasha over, and we watched Ghost Busters. Wow, don't you just love old special effects? :)

Proposition 8

Hello all,

I believe it is very important that we protect the sacred institution of marriage in the United States. You can go to the following site to understand more about Proposition 8 and also why we, in the LDS community, consider the institution of marriage to be sacred.

LDS.org Newsroom

Web Design Class at BYU

Hey Everyone!
I am in a beginning web design class right now at BYU (Chum 250), and I would like to invite you to view the pages that I have created and coded manually. It's sure pretty cool seeing what I can do just by learning to code! :) I will slowly be learning more and more, so more and more "assignments" links will get added to my main page that you can go view. So, if you keep up with them, you'll be able to see a little bit of how it develops too.

Photoshop & Fun

Recently, I took advantage of some short classes put on by BYU about photoshop. So here are a few examples of stuff that I have done just for fun...

The Finished Backyard!!!!

Hey Everyone!

The yard has been finished now for about a month or so, so sorry it has taken me so long to get the pictures up on here. It looks so much better now, and we absolutely love our garden! We've got cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, and we are hoping for watermelon. It's great to see what a lot of hard work can amount to!

Thoughts from Brandon

So, in speaking with a colleague today, I realized a great deal about the world that I had not yet formulated clearly in my mind.

First of all, the world, because of its roots and foundations in materialism (which I cannot go into a detailed explanation of this right now—for that could take months to do), has grounded itself in a literally amoral environment.

Let me try to explain just from a real world example…Let’s focus on the USA, since this is where I live. The US is considered one of the freest nations in the world, where its individuals can enjoy rights unheard of in many places in the world, such as free speech, the right to worship as one pleases, and more. However, in striving for such a democratic state, we are actually degenerating. Again let me explain such a negative statement. I do not mean that democracy in and of itself is necessarily bad. Actually, I believe it to be one of the best forms of government that has ever been created by man. However, let us look at another example of the so-called free choice debate: Gay marriage.

People may think that this is not so bad of a thing that is happening in our country. One may even think, “Well, they are only fighting for their own free choices just like I would want,” and politicians may see it as some cause to pick up in the fight for real freedom thinking, “In our country we fight for freedom to believe as you want and freedom to choose.”

Again however, does anyone take this logic to the end of its chain? Sadly, I believe many do not. If all we ever do is fight for “free choice,” in the sense that everyone is free to choose whatever they believe to be correct that does not infringe upon the choices of others (I would argue that all choice infringes upon the choices of someone else. We might need to add too greatly on the end of our definition for how it is thought of here in the US). The definition sounds fair, but Mosiah from the Book of Mormon has warned us against such things: “If the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land” (Mosiah 29:27).

Indeed, politics is run by the majority of the people in this country, and if you stop to think about it if the majority begins to desire a different set of morals than we know to be correct then a new set of morals would be instilled in our country. Thus, in a sense, our country and its democracy is on a course to become ‘amoral,’ meaning everything would be subjective—to the eye of the beholder it has been said—creating almost a scene of anarchy.

So, how do we deal with this as Latter-day Saints or as Christians in general? We must realize that our foundation is in Christ, not in the world (Helaman 5:12). If we base all of our thoughts, actions, and morals off of Christ and his unchanging teachings, then we will not be “tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.” Additionally, if we wish for our country to continue standing for freedom, where we will truly be protected from anarchy, then we must stand up for what is right. We must fight for morals which we know to be true. Testimonies are valid arguments in politics and science, even though the world would tell you that they are not, for all society has come from the ideas of men. Why should anyone’s ideas be less valid just because they are based in a living, breathing, caring God? We must stand up for the right; otherwise our own rights will be slowly removed from our country!

The Backyard

Hello again everyone. So, the backyard of where we live now looks as though it has been treated like a trash heap for years. Jalisa and I can't stand it, and for some odd reason we love working and making things look better around here, so we've decided that we are going to clean it out, plant new grass, landscape a garden area, and plant a garden. :) The pictures show what it looks like now. When we finish it, we'll put the pictures up of what it looks like.

Patches

Jalisa and I have always wanted a dog, and on Memorial Day (in May) we finally decided we could go get one. We found a really nice shelter called Safe Haven in Orem, Utah, where they take in small breed dogs whose owners couldn't keep them anymore for some reason. We were amazed at the price for adopting and that the dogs came with all of their shots and everything you need. It really worked out for us and our college student budget. :)

We ended up adopting Patches, a Pomeranian/American Eskimo mix. He absolutely ADORES people! and loves to go on long walks to the duck pond at BYU. He's very lovable and loves waking Brandon up in the mornings. He doesn't bark, which is perfect for us in an apartment setting, but he is very playful (since he is only about a year old).

We love him!

Hello Everyone!

Inspired by the many of our friends who already have blogs, Jalisa and I have decided to also start one in order to keep all of our friends and family up to date on our lives out here in Provo. Most likely we'll post pictures and recent events from our lives about every few weeks, so come back sometimes to check up on us!