The Brufs »

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  • Welcome to our blog & photography journal!

    We are newlyweds (after almost 3 years still count?) starting on a new adventure together in Orange County after living in the beautiful but freezing state of Utah.

    We live in a cozy little place with our 3 babies...Dudley the Labradoodle and two special cats...err...happy brothers who LOVE each other a little too much-Milo & Nic. (Short for Nicodemus from the Secret of Nimh. LOVE that movie!)

    You'll find that we LOVE a little too much as well...

    We LOVE each other, we LOVE life, we LOVE to travel, and we especially LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY!

    Please leave us a comment, as it always gives us the warm and fuzzies.

    And last but not least, we LOVE you all too.

    Come back and visit us soon!

    xoxo,

    Tyler and Summer

Baby Gabriel

Before heading to Shira’s to meet her newest addition, Casey and I met up at Real Food Daily in Santa Monica.  Thanks to Kelly for introducing me to this fantastic place, I am now craving their tofu chocolate cheesecake 24/7.  I didn’t realize healthy,vegan food could be so spectacular.  Oh boy.  So yummy.  We both had the tacos and the soup of the day and saved room for this treat below.

Casey is also due with her 2nd boy the beginning of June.  He could totally have my birthday!  I’m praying he comes on a weekend so I can be there….although my weekends are pretty packed these days with weddings.  Sooooo, scratch that…maybe not.  I’m so excited for them though!

This little guy is so perfect!


Uncle Rick & Aunt Luci

My family is beyond small.  My dad is an only child and my mom has two brothers both who live out of state, one in Wisconsin (Uncle Rob) and the other (Uncle Rick) lives in Colorado.  So we really don’t get to be around family much.  From those two families Tyler and I (my bro Tyler…I know that gets really confusing!) only have a total of 7 cousins.  It blew my mind that for how small our family is, I was finally meeting the youngest one for the first time since she was born–little Viv.

They were in town last month and we all went over to Karen and Fred’s for a BBQ in the valley.  I had completely forgotten that Fred was French and lucky for us he had some of his buddies over so Tyler was completely in his element.  I love listening to Tyler speak in French.  Ahhhh. Melt and swoon.  On a side note, I have been trying to do my Pimsleurs lessons on my long drives up to LA and TO but I am so frustrated.  I’m still stuck on the word ‘street’.  *Sigh* I still can’t get my mouth to work properly.  Maybe I need to stick to Japanese!

They had the most amazing Moroccan food served (shoot! No pictures!) in authentic tagines, which looked like this one below but really large.  Morocco is most definitely on my list and I need to get my hands on some of these if and when we go someday.

I thought owning chickens was a Utah thing but this was in Burbank.  They had 3 doggies, a bunny, birds and a chicken!  I loved her…she fell asleep in my arms and loves to be pet.  How neat to have fresh eggs every day and for them to take care of the bugs in your yard.  Awesome.

Obviously, you can see where I get the animal lover in me from.

Oops, caught Evan with food in his mouth…cute little chipmunk.

Until next time familia!

Tyler’s 35th

I had to force Ty to go out for his birthday this year.  All he wanted to do was stay home and bbq but we do that all the time and I wanted to do something a little special. So we decided on Sakae Sushi on the Newport Peninsula and it was so good…we got their special house roll and it did not disappoint.


Unsuccessful

I said something to the extent a few years back that if I wasn’t pregnant by the time I was 30 I was going to go crazy, and hoped that I wasn’t as old as my parents when they had me and my brother ( my mom was 31 with Tyler and 39 with me). Well, it turns out that I’m following in her footsteps with each day that passes, and I’m even on my 2nd husband and everything.  Oh boy, did I just say that?  Just chalk that up to my craziness since I’m turning 30 in a month.

Well, I’m doing pretty well with that now.  Not so much in January though.  After my laparoscopy, I went almost a full week thinking the surgery was successful.  The dr. didn’t speak to me or Tyler when I was in recovery and all the nurses said was that they cut out an awful amount of scar tissue so the pain I was in was to be expected. That’s it.  It wasn’t until mid the next week when Tyler called the doctor because my pain meds weren’t doing their job, did he spill the beans that both my tubes were still blocked and there was nothing he could do.

WTH?

Okay, maybe there was a miscommunication  or something.  Maybe I didn’t hear him right?  I waited until I went in for my post op to clear everything up and it was then he told me that what I thought was my good tube was completely blocked, and the left one was so damaged with scar tissue that even though he was able to get dye through it a little, most likely it will scar right back up and adhere itself to something.  So basically, he told me the only option we have is to do in-vitro.  And “By the way, that will cost you $15,000.  The nurses have a packet for you at the front desk”.

Are you kidding me?  What a seriously sick joke.

I was devastated.  After I had a good long cry to Tyler and my mom on the way home, I was feeling much better. I keep feeling more optimistic about our situation and life in general as the days pass.  Tyler told me the other day how proud of me he is, and that I keep blossoming as my talents keep getting nurtured.  It really is thanks to him and his unconditional love and support that gets me through this and makes me want to be a better person.  I finally have the confidence to pursue the things that interest me and Heavenly Father has given me my much needed time to grow and learn before becoming a parent.  I’ve always been trusting in Him that things will fall into place eventually, and heck…look how far I’ve come in just the last few years.  I really am a new person, and it’s an amazing feeling.  I’m excited about where life is taking us and am so grateful for the opportunity Tyler and I have had to spend one-on-one time together and to get our travels out of our system. I don’t think that itch will ever be completely scratched until we’ve traveled to every country, but we’re slowing checking things off our bucket list, and we are blessed we are to be able to make those dreams reality.

Last night I met a new friend who went through in-vitro to get their son, now 18 months old, and it made me feel so much better.  It worked on the first try and the dr./clinic is the same one that I have been researching and overall she had a wonderful experience.  Looks like their prices have gone up about a grand since  she went through the process, but overall significantly less than what I was quoted.  Thank goodness.

So, we’ll see how this next year goes and hopefully by the time we’re ready to move forward, we’ll be REALLY ready.  Lots of prayers and good thoughts our way please!

 

 

 

Natalie BrufordMay 1, 2012 - 8:32 pm

Got you in my prayers, love you two! Oh, and I love the dog and cats as well, got to include to the whole fam.

Amanda M.May 18, 2012 - 7:44 am

Sad, but happy for you at the same time. It’s nice to finally get legitimate answers. We will be praying for you and sincerely hoping for an adorable niece or nephew in the not-too-distant future. It’s bound to be adorable of course! Love you guys!