Anela's 4th Year Review

Date: January 5, 2011 -  My sweet pea is 4 years old.  Angela and I have so loved watching Anela's personality blossom this year.  She is typically the source of fun and laughter in the Ottley home.  I envy her ability to make any situation light and playful -- an ability which will pay great dividends throughout her life. 

Anela is beautiful, she is mischievous, she is meticulous, she is dramatic, she is silly, she is a girly-girl but knows how to push back, she is a singer, she is a dancer, she literally never wants to grow up, she considers her older brother her best friend, she loves to play with others but can play by herself for hours, she loves to cuddle, she loves anything pink, she can get her daddy to do about anything.  Anela is simply an angel.

Anela's 4th year highlights:

Song: Time by Hans Zimmer (From the Movie Inception)

Martha's Vineyard

Date: May 5, 2011 -  In an effort to show my parents a good time when they were in town for my graduation I took them and the kids to Martha's Vineyard, an island just off the coast of the arm (aka Cape Code) of Massachusetts. It's a beautiful quant island full of whaler history. Unfortunately for us it was a cold overcast day and it even rained a little. We missed the beginning of the tourist season by three weeks so the majority of the boutique shops, tours, and fun tourist activities weren't running.  Despite the weather and the lack of activities we all enjoyed the beauty of the island and spending some quality time together. Take a look at my attempt to capture the beauty of the day.

(song: Please Don't Go by Barcelona)

Here are some pictures of our short trip.  

When we got to these well known cliffs it was down pouring rain, but after the sun came out for about 10 minutes so we could enjoy the view.

If anyone finds a glow in the dark CTR ring on this beach it is Bryson's.  We think it slipped off when he was throwing rocks in the water.  It's the second one he has lost...

The title of Master

Date: May 7, 2011 -  I graduated.  I am officially a Master.  For now on I will go by the name of Master Bryan, Master Ottley, or even Master Otown.  School for me is officially over.  I have no plans to ever step back into a classroom.  Graduation was equally about Angela and the kids as it was myself.  I'm grateful for their sacrifice and endless support.  I didn't walk and do the whole graduation celebration thing as an undergraduate so I wanted to do it right this time.  We did, and I'm so glad -- It was the perfect ending to this stage of our lives. 

The walk that made me a Master.

Did you hear Angela get in trouble at the end?

MBA awards ceremony the night before graduation.

So happy that my parents could come out and be part of my graduation.

My classmates voted me 'most likely to be CEO of a Fortune 500 Company'.  It was a very nice surprise.

After the walk that made me a 'Master'.  Angela was very disappointed that they didn't read my name.  Due to the size of the class only the Doctors got their names read.

Chaos

Date: October 8, 2009 -- It was a chilly October night, my birthday had come and gone, and my family was no where near.   A family tragedy sent Angela and the kids rushing back to Utah leaving me alone in Connecticut. Angela and the kids were where they needed to be, but I missed them... I missed them terribly.  Self loathing in my loneliness I began going through some family videos from the summer of 2009.  There were several of Angela and Anela that stuck out to me that made me miss them even more so I compiled them and put them to the somber, yet beautiful song The Crisis by Ennio Morricone.  I call this family video My Girls.

(Turn up the sound so you can hear the dialogue)  

(Background notes to the clips:  1. Angela loves smores, but she eats them like a toddler.  She doesn't know how to hold them and bite into them without chocolate and marshmallow getting everywhere.  In the first clip you see chocolate on the side of her face.  I can't help but smile when I see this, because I have endless memories of Angela with chocolate in the strangest places after consuming her favorite campfire treat.  2.  Angela loves flamingos -- I can't explain it and I don't think she can explain it but her eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning when she sees a flamingo... just a minor detail I love about her.  3. You'll see in one clip Angela asking Anela, 'who's girl are you?', in which Anela proudly pronounces 'Mommy's girl'.  Angela's dad always poses this same question to each of his grandkids -- He asks 'who's girl/boy are you?'  If the child says anything other than 'grandpa's girl/boy' they get tickled silly until they scream bloody murder 'grandpa's girl/boy!'  Bryson loved this little game when he was a toddler and would always finish with screaming 'grandpa's boy!'  Angela didn't like this much so she would often retaliate with her own tickle attack to coax Bryson into screaming 'mommy's boy', but to no avail -- Grandpa always got the final scream.  Anela was different and I believe the only grandkid that has not given into Grandpa's tickle wars.  She has always been very clear to everyone that she is 'Mommy's girl', to the much pleasure of Angela.)

You'd think without the chaos of family around I'd be productive by getting ahead on my school work and/or getting caught up on other personal interests rather than sulking in my loneliness.  That simply wasn't the case.  I couldn't focus, I couldn't motivate myself, I couldn't function.  I learned something about myself during the two weeks my wife and two kids were gone, which is I need my family.   I need the chaos of family to keep me focused and motivated on the things I do outside the home.  I need the chaos of family to give me purpose.  It's such an oxymoron -- chaos to focus.  When I tell my classmates and work colleges that I have two kids (and now a third on the way) I often get the response 'How do you do it all?  I couldn't do it'.  Well, for me I don't know how I'd do it without my chaos waiting for me at home.  I simply couldn't do it.

6th year in Review

Date: April 18, 2011 - My boy is growing -- growing too fast if you ask me.  Nearly all my life I've imagined having a son in which I was best friends with.  I pictured us doing everything together and he thought I was the greatest thing since chewing gum.  Well, unfortunately for me bubble gum is Bryson's favorite thing in the world, but we are best friends... I'll take it.

Bryson is now 6 years old.   For the first time in Bryson's life the sentiment of passing time consumed my thoughts when I realized that birthday morning his age had officially turned from 5 to 6.  I've always considered ages 3-5 the prime years of a small child.  I think I get that bias from my experience with my little brother, Brandon.  During his 3-5 years I connected with my brother more than any time since.  At the age of three, wrestling, human rocket launches, and shoulder rides became almost a daily occurrence.  It was so fun watching and being part of Brandon's world discovery and personality changes. I was the cool brother that he always wanted to play with.  We were like 'peas and carrots'.  When he turned 6 the shoulder rides and human launches became more and more infrequent and I quickly became less and less his world.  I'm sure a lot of the separation was primarily a function of my own life's circumstance, but I see a lot of comparisons with my role with Brandon and my role with Bryson during 3-5.  I know I shouldn't associate my experiences with Brandon to what may or may not happen with Bryson, but I can't help but fear that I'm only going to become less and less relevant in my son's life going forward.  Perhaps I will become less relevant as a friend/playmate, but become more relevant as a father... I don't know.  I do know that the last three years of Bryson's life have definitely been not only my favorite years of his life but my favorite years of my life.  I do look forward to what the future holds for my son and my involvement in it.  Man, I love my boy.

Looking back over the past year I'm amazed at the many 'firsts' Bryson has had.  To name just some:

• graduated preschool
• lost his first tooth (actually pulled due to cavity but the tooth fairy still came)
• visited D.C., Philly, Hershey, Niagara, Palmyra, Basketball Hall of Fame, and Disney World
• learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, blow gum bubbles (he's been trying since the age of two), front flips, dives, water skiing, snow skiing, ice skating, swimming
• started Kindergarten
• Bryson can now consistently make baskets on a 10 foot hoop (he's pretty excited about that one... ok, maybe his dad is more excited about that one).  

Check out Bryson's 6th year highlight reel.

Every year Angela puts on the most amazing birthday parties for the kids.  She seems to out do herself every year, and this year was definitely no exception.  I'm still working on putting video of Bryson's party together (watch for a future post) but I did manage to put together this short teaser trailer.  I was going for the epic movie feel with the music (score from Battle for LA).  I didn't achieve epic level, but its still fun to watch... heck, after finishing I felt deprived I never attended a party like this when I was a kid.

Our Disney Commercial

Everyone that loves Disney loves the new Disney commercial campaign where they use actual home videos. Angela has been known to tear up watching them. We got a huge surprise about a month ago when a Disney marketing executive called us after seeing a YouTube video I posted of Anela dancing at DW.  This is what they saw.

Disney loved it and wanted to use it in an upcoming commercial. I offered up some other clips and they surprisingly ended up using them too!  In fact, they made a whole commercial of just us. Here's a sneak peak of our very own Disney commercial scheduled to air at the end of the month.

Ok, it's pretty obvious that Disney didn't make this and unfortunately no Disney exec has seen our video.  They should use some of our clips though because Anela and Bryson, clothed in Angela's awesome Disney creations, would sell mass tickets.  This video was so frustrating to make.  The sound was extremely tricky to get synced (especially using iMovie which has limited sound editing functions... I guess its time to upgrade to a real movie making program).  I stole sound bites from two real Disney commercials and then integrated them with just the instrumental, which by the way is not the exact music used in the commercials I stole sound bites from.  I got so frustrated with the sound that I spent little time on the actual clips so I just threw a bunch together in random order.  The end result is very amateurish but Angela cried when she first saw it ;)

Special Mom

Between finals and the parents in town for graduation I found little time to prepare a proper mother's day pampering that I wanted to.  But with some goodies, flowers, balloons, hand made gifts from the kids, and a much needed afternoon nap I think our special mom still enjoyed her day.  The kids were so adorable to their mom today.  Both had an opportunity to pray today and both veered, uncoached, from their routine to thank Heavenly Father for their Mom.  I can't think of anything more rewarding than when you see your children realize the important things in life, and today the most important thing is their beautiful mother.  As Bryson and I were picking up flowers and treats he got upset with me for not buying four treats rather than two because quote, "Dad, I want mom to feel like the most specialistest mom, so we need to buy her four treats".  I tried to explain to him that what mom wants the most is lots of hugs and kisses, which he replied, "but I do that everyday...she wants treats!"  Our mom does love her treats.  The day ended with one of the biggest tickle fights we've had to date - instigated by none else than Mom.  Our kids love that their mom plays with them... I love it too.

I'm not the best with words, especially when I try to express my feelings.  Angela, I love you with all my heart.  You are beautiful, funny, kind, and simply -- wonderful.  Thank you for all you do for me and our rambunctious children.  I can't wait for you to become a mother for the third time... what lucky kids we have.  I love you infinity!

I compiled some of my favorite pictures and videos of Our Mom from the last year.  This is my favorite family movie I've made thus far, probably because its all about the woman I love and it captures some of my favorite bits of her personality and shows just how good of a mom she is.  The song is also very fitting for our family.

Happy Mother's Day Ang!

I also must say how grateful I am for my own mom.  Having her in town the last couple of days watching her play with my kids and interact with my wife reminded me how much she has impacted my life.  She raised me to be man of faith, integrity, and confidence.  I may sometimes disappoint but she never ceases to extend her love.  I love you Mom!  And thank you and Dad for being at my graduation -- it meant the world to me.