The Cookie Cutter

A Week in the :Life

2011-10-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

Some weeks are busy and then there was this one...I actually thought that compared to last week this one was going to be a little quieter...not really. Oh well, we love a good and busy week. It started out with Dennis and I out at Noah's taking down this beautiful backdrop and the chandeliers and the ceiling (ok, not the whole ceiling just the fabric.) Tuesday morning found us at the Chandler Y for "A Morning of Prayer". Dennis had been asked to speak there and it included food so off we went. Boy were we surprised, and most pleasantly, when we realized that our morning of prayer breakfast had for the keynote speaker...wait for it...scroll down...

Herb Sendek...Arizona States Head Basketball Coach. He is a great motivational speaker and it was fun to hear from him. Dennis told a story about a great football coach who predicted his team would go undefeated and that they wouldn't let allow a combined total of 50 points the entire season to be scored against them. He then turned to Coach Sendek and said, "Any predictions Coach?" He did have a prediction, "Undefeated and NO POINTS SCORED" We'll see!Then Thursday afternoon Bekah and Ruby dropped in right around 4ish and when Tyler out they were here he high tailed it for a quick visit before heading off to school. (Normally Tuesday and Thursday he goes straight to school cause home is a little too far out of the way.) That was fun...he is obviously in heaven. How about that bow! Love it!Friday we had a fun visit with Nathan while his mom and dad and two brothers went to a special play or something (OK I know I'm lame, I can't remember what they went to although i have asked them several times) the important thing is we got to have him hang out with us for a few hours. Dennis was holding him and he said, "he is such a gorgeous child!" he really is, those dimples are AMAZING! We had a great time with him playing with trains, and watering the garden and doing puzzles. He is a good little boy. Love YOU Nater's.

This last post is of some of the things I have done to my house lately...we got new furniture in our living room recently and I went on a quest to find a nice coffee table. When Laurie was visiting with me she joined the quest and we went far and wide and either I didn't really like the table OR it was to darn expensive. I finally found the one I wanted at DI...yup, i brought it home had it repainted and I LOVE IT. Since then I have had my painter "Galdino" (maybe that is how you spell it?) paint lots of stuff for me. The following is a montage of my newly painted old stuff!

Kitchen Table and Chairs...love it!

Dresser that I keep in my entry way...love it!

Sofa Table...and I painted my lamps and got new shades! Fun stuff.

Little garage sale find that I painted with my own can of spray paint! YUP, I did.

Here is the little DI table...found out that Nikki has one just like this which is probably why I knew I liked it when I saw it AND she told me it was a Pottery Barn Table. Sure enough when I went through their catalogue there it was...well a similar updated version. Mine is painted different however...I like mine better!

Yard sale coffee table...super cute! Like the other tables just painted and changed the hardware.

And here is my living room! I really love it and it seats a whole lot of people which is good since from time to time we have a whole lot of people here!

The End.

On to Next Week

We are SO blessed.

2011-09-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Oh the things I could write about the events of the last month. That would be totally redundant, however, because Bekah has chronicled it beautifully on her blog. See list to the right. But I am going to write down a couple of my reflections about Ruby and Cassie and Tyler and Bekah and post a picture or two that haven't yet been posted. (Nothing like the one week ones Mary Jordan took.)

The past month seems like something of a blur. It started with such excitement and anticipation which led to the usual waiting and wondering when that baby would finally arrive. Now nearly three weeks later it seems like there was never life without Ruby and all the waiting, worrying, wondering, nervousness, excitement,waiting, worrying, elation, pain, waiting, sleeplessness, waiting, happiness, yes the entire mix of emotions we all went through are somehow kind of fading away and have been replaced by pure joy. We are all new to adoption and it is going to take some adjustment and possibly some blundering to make sure we always express what we mean the correct way. Are we sensitive about such things as people asking "How is her mother doing?" Yes we are because unless you are referring to Bekah I think you meant to say her "birth mother". None of us had ever really considered what was proper adoption etiquette before but we sure are now. We will learn.

I know this picture is terrible quality but it was the very first time I ever laid eyes on her I was so excited. Debbie and I were waiting outside for Tyler and Bekah and Ruby to show up...it took a long time. The anticipation was a killer but the end result was AWESOME.

Cassie asked Bekah if she could buy Ruby something to wear home from the hospital. Of course, she wore it home and quickly pooped all over it. It cleaned up perfectly and Bekah is going to keep it to show Ruby what Cassie chose for her some day. Cassie is such a sweet and thoughtful girl.

So excited. Tyler couldn't quit touching her and looking at her skinny little legs!

Love those cheeks.

Chase and Lauren were so excited that they were up in Utah when Ruby arrived! They had gone for a friends wedding but Lauren said she was mostly there for Ruby. They loved to hold her. (Look, my baby holding Tyler and Bekah's baby!)

We have felt the love and prayers of so many and have added our prayers for Cassie and Jeremy (b-dad). The gift they gave is unbelievable and yet it was part of the plan and always meant to be. Every time I see Ruby she has changed a little and looks more and more like her mom and dad. Oh how grateful we are for the opportunity we have ahead of us to watch that little girl grow up. We love her so much. I asked Dennis how long it took for him to feel like she was totally ours. Immediately. Never any doubt. She was always meant for our family. I feel the same way. We all love her right to pieces and will FOREVER be grateful to Cassie and Jeremy for their selflessness and for their love for little Ruby. I know they could not have done it if they hadn't loved Ruby totally and purely.

What seems like the end of a chapter is actually just the beginning. Now we get to begin watching her grow and develop into the beautiful little gem that we all know she will be. We are so blessed.

Family Pictures

2011-05-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

We recently got our Family Pictures taken by Stefanie Cross. She did an amazing job and put together this video of some of the fun times and great pictures she captured!

Tyler and Bekah's Adpotion Blog BUTTON

2011-02-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

I am so not good at the blogging thing. It's a lot like a journal (which I am also a failure at) so I guess it's no shock I struggle. Today, however, I have a little time (cause I'm not watching the Superbowl or is it Super Bowl?) so I thought I would do some blogging. Bekah had mentioned that one of our sweet friends, Stefanie Cross, made a "button" for Tyler and Bekah's blog that links you into their adoption blog and if you are interested in putting one of these cute buttons on your blog and helping with the whole adoption process you can do so by going to Tyler and Bekahs adoption blog (just click on my snazzy new button) and then highlight and copy the url onto a new widget in your blog. Thanks to everyone for the support!

xoxoxox

June Elizabeth Danielson

2010-11-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Definitely some days in this life are sweeter than others. This past Sunday will go down as one of the sweeter days in my life. I can not even express how wonderful and sweet the feelings were when I think about what our little June-bug has been through and then see her so strong and healthy looking like a beautiful normal little girl. We are so very grateful and blessed to have these little ones in our family and have them be healthy. Can you even believe how funny some things are...well I don't exactly know what but apparently something is funny and Lyvi always covers her mouth when she laughs. It's so cute. She recently got some new pets, two little chicks which she named Eight and Blondie. Yup, Justin and Sarah have chickens. They are hoping that they will eat the bugs that live in their back yard! Lyvi just loves to hold them.
I have often wondered what it would be like to know someone who looked a lot like you. Well these two little girls sure do look a lot alike. I remember Lyvi with a very similar look at June's age. What cute, sweet and fun little girls they are.

Adorable little family. This is the fence on the side of their new house. Too bad I don't have a picture of their house for you. Well maybe next time.

Almost evened UP!

2010-09-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my first girl with my last (hopefully not final) girl. OK, I realize you can't see June-Bug very well but can you even believe how gorgeous Nikki looks? Yes we have some amazingly beautiful girls in our family and they are as good as they are beautiful which undoubtedly adds to their beauty. (If you don't believe me you may also want to refer to Lauren sitting on the couch.) We also have some pretty doggone cute little boys...so glad he uses the safety glasses with that scary chain saw!

Miss A, kind of silly in this picture with the end of an ice cream cone sticking out of her mouth. She is going through a funny stage where she looks away when I try to take her picture. We had to just be happy with this one. Yes that girl loves her ice cream and her snacks, and her cookies, and well she loves food.

Here is Luke getting ready to play with some fun toys.

It was the boys turn to do dishes and let me tell you Jacob took that very seriously. He helped until every single dish was done. He's just good that way. Not too sure what Lyvi was doing?

At the beginning of this year our family had Eight Boys and Five Girls BUT thanks to this beautuiful sweet girl

...and this sweet little thing we are up to 7 girls. I feel the winds shifting! The female vote is getting stronger and stronger around here. We are so very glad to have both of these girls in our family.

Cupcakes!

2010-09-23T09:26:00.001-07:00

Every September since Dennis has been the Stake President of our Stake instead of meeting with the Bishops for Personal Priesthood Interviews he meets with their wife's. He has always invited me and the wife's of his counselors. The first year he met with them individually and that was awesome but he felt like they might actually need to meet with each other even more than they need to meet with him. It is always a very sweet and spiritual meeting. I love those women. They are all amazing in their own ways. They all have hard things but handle them with so much grace. They are grand examples to me. I love to make them a little something to let them know how much I (we) love and appreciate them. This year they got cupcake oven mitts. Darlene sent me the pattern and I had a fun time making a whole bunch of different ones.I also made cupcakes for a treat. I know that sounds like a really easy thing to make and it should have been but four batches of cupcakes later here is what we ended up with, and yes they were good, red velvet cream filled cream cheese frosting cupcakes, but the others were really bad. It made Dennis so sad to think of throwing all of those cupcakes away. He kept saying things like, "this just isn't like you to not have things turn out." I KNOW!!! (It may be more like me than he knows...he should stick around more.) You are probably wondering what is in the cute little boxes which I also made...
One for the road...or for the Bishop...their choice.

Here is how it looked in the High Council Room before we got started. Now on to next year...got any good ideas? Let me know.

A Very Good Labor Day

2010-09-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning thinking I was going to go on a nice little walk around the neighborhood and ended up HERE! This is Camelback Mountain in AZ...not much of a mountain if you are from Utah but no matter where you are from it is a steep and challenging hike. I only made it about one third of the way! Don't know why Tyler closed his eyes! These two guys kept on going and Dennis made it most of the way, Tyler went all the way. Dennis is sure we could have done it if we would have had more time to spend there but we were on somewhat of a schedule. Yup, I'm pretty sure he is right. We totally could have done it with more time. There was a 74 year old man on the trail that walks it THREE times every day. It takes a good hiker at least an hour and a half or two to do that hike. That old guy is amazing!
Below is the view as we were walking up to get on the trail head. And since I got back WAY before Dennis and Tyler I walked up and down this road to make myself feel better about coming back and pooping out. (it has a good incline) Tyler asked me if it was embarrassing walking in front of all those cars (who by the way are waiting for a parking spot so they can go hike, yup they just sit there and wait until someone leaves so they can park and then go up that torturous mountain and have all their limbs burn and feel like you can't breath and they think it's worth waiting for, I digress) anyway, yes it was somewhat humiliating to keep walking up and down the road where those cars could see me. I'm sure I helped amuse them as they were waiting for a spot to park in.

That was fun but the way our day ended was more my style. We got to go to the hospital and hold our little June Bug. Oh it feels so nice to hold a little baby that we have only been able to look at for the past eight days. She is absolutely adorable. As you can see I got to feed her. Justin gave me some great tips on how to feed her and how to burp her. They worked very nicely. Look how great I am suppporting her neck!

Gramps got to hold her for a bit as well. She is all swaddled up and doing so great. You would not even believe all the trauma she has been through in the past week when you look at her now. What a difference a week makes. Look at her perfect little head and her dark hair and her olive'ish skin and her super cute nose and her little mouth is so sweet and her long fingers and toes and her beautiful eyes! She is perfect. Oh we do love our little June Bug. Night Night baby girl, COME HOME SOON!

Name Tags and Swedish Pancakes

2010-08-04T16:01:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Morning we got up VERY early (like 4:30) and started to make Swedish pancakes. You might ask yourself, who in the world would you want to get up that early to make breakfast for? Well, not just anybody, of course, a few folks come to mind, but the answer yesterday was these eight missionaries who are currently serving in our Stake. They were awesome, polite and totally engaging. Not to mention that they really like Swedes, (as all true Danielson's call them) and hashbrowns and fruit but only sort of like sausage. Maybe they were watching their fat content, I don't know but either way it was fun. Even after that huge breakfast they still all fit onto our sofa so I took their picture. We try to have the missionaries in out stake over for breakfast once a quarter. It only took 18 eggs to 6 x my Swedish pancake recipe!

Can't wait for next quarter!

Not Awesome, HARD!

2010-06-24T09:32:00.001-07:00

They say a picture paints a thousand words and if that is true this video takes care of at least that many times one hundred. Luke is so cute and wants to do whatever Jacob does. Jacob said the flippers were awesome! Well, Luke tried them on and obviously was not impressed. If you listen carefully you will hear him say, "Not awesome, HARD!"

Also in this little video is Jacob the fish swimming like crazy. What a relief it is to have some of the kids, ok only Jacob but at least he can swim really great and he knows his limitations! Love having the kids over and watching them swim!

I Know You...

2010-05-30T08:10:00.001-07:00

If you are not familiar with Sleeping Beauty you may want to refresh your memory with the following video. Lyvi LOVES Sleeping Beauty. She loves to sing and dance the songs reinacting scenes from the video. Justin loves to torture her by singing them wrong. In this video, (another Justin classic) you will hear her telling Justin, "No Da Da" because he is singing the WRONG version of the song. Their Dance is AWESOME! :)

A Busy and Crazy Week

2010-05-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

First of All...lookwho graduated from Pre-school! Thats right, Jacob Todd Danielson! He will be attending Kindergarten next year and he will also be about 6 inches taller than anyone else attending. The boy is so BIG! And Smart and adorable. The High Schools could so take a page from the Pre-schools graduation ceremony. Pre-school inside 10 minutes cookies after. High School Graduation 2 hours outside, 98 degrees, no refreshments! Friday Nikki and the boys came over so we could do a little CRAFTING. Poor Nikki got sick shortly after she got here. The boys played and after work their dad came over and they swam, they loved it and swam until their lips turned purple as you can see here with Luke!

Jacob may be a little more purple as he stayed in a little longer and is a little "whiter" to begin with. I know he does't look reallly happy but he is...he just forgot to tell his face. He was laughing and jumping and running around until I said, let me take you picture! Then this:

Here is a cute video of the boys in the pool and Jacob jumping off the waterfall!

Poor Nikki was so sick and so was Nathan...he's just chillin' with his Mama!

Get better you guys so we can have fun next week!

Growing

2010-05-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

I love watching things grow...here is my basil, did you know that the B in a BLT sandwich also stands for Basil? Try it. It's delicious This is our pathetic pepper. It came out at the beginning of the season and it was growing like a..a..well a pepper plant, and then the tomatoes and the zucchini started to get big and they edged it out and now, it's weak. We have gotten one pepper off of this plant. Next time, it needs a little pot of its own.
These are our amazing tomaotoes. They have gone CRAZY this year. We have eaten the big ones every day for a week at least and the grapes longer than that. They are delicious and very conveniently located right outside our back door.

Close up of tomorrows lunch!

The number of Temples in Arizona is also growing! Monday Dennis and I drove to the great city of Thatcher and toured the Gila Valley Temple. To say that it is beautiful does not do it justice. It was amazing and wonderful. We were so impressed with the number of volunteers that helped all of us. They were so organized and effecient. Dennis' grandma, Emma Carpenter Naillon grew up in Thatcher Arizona and she knew Spencer W. Kimball who also lived there. Dennis said he feels a kinship to that area because his grandma used to live there. He also says his grandma Naillon was the sweetest woman he ever knew. We had a wonderful day. (The Burrito in Safford was also great...It certainly helped me to grow!)

Here are a few pictures of our growing family. Luke and his brother Jacob were playing kick ball. Boy oh boy can those boys kick a ball.

Little Nathan wanted to golf, whatever he wants to do is fine with me. You may notice the broom on the ground there. There were a few little games of "curling" (remember from the olympics?) taking place as well. Just without the ice and without the disc, mostly with a golf ball on the grass. It was a fun day. I love watching these beautiful little children grow.

Saturday Swimming

2010-05-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

Justin and Lyvi jumping, Sarah's picture turned out better than mine but if you look at the water you can tell he is jumping and Lyvi LOVED it!

Yesterday Justin, Sarah and Lyvi stopped by for a swim. I was hoping the little boys would make it as well but they had a pretty busy day. One of the things I love about our pool is how much the little kids love it...that is also one of the things that makes me the most nervous about our pool. Here are a few pictures of Lyvi swimming with her daddy yesterday.

Jumping off the waterfall! Yes, it was 98 degrees here yesterday!

Playing on the pad we had poured for the kiddie pool section. I had to talk for about five years to convince Dennis to do that, now he says he wishes it was bigger! Oh boy!

One of the most endearing things about Justin is how protective he is of Lyvi. Oh my goodness, we could write a whole book about that but here is a video that captures it perfect. It's hilarious to me (mainly because Justin told me to support Lyvi's neck until she was about 18 months old)but I love Sarah's little comments of support for Justin. She is such a sweet wife and mother. They are both lucky to have her. So here is Lyvi on the slide going into the pool. Make sure you watch Justin dive OUT of the pool to catch her so she doesn't fall. (was she going to falll?)

Some things come-some things GO!

2010-05-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Once again we were lucky to have Nathan come for a Stay-cation with us while the rest of his family went to Disneyland for another whirl-wind fun-filled trip! They came to dinner and we celebrated Mothers Day, Dennis and Todd's birthdays! It was very fun. Then the Todd Danielson family left and Nathan got to stay and play with Alyvia. They had a blast outside playing in the sand and sweeping and golfing then when they came in they both wanted a bath so, of course, they got one! Do they look related here or what?After bathtime the jammie's came on and there was some quiet playing inside. Nathan was being a little dangerous climbing on the chair but he couldn't help himself. Everytime he went by it he climbed up on it.
Lyvi was having a great time coloring with markers. I thought I had purchased some of the markers that only write on certain paper and not on anything else. I WAS WRONG.

Justin was also enjoying the fun new markers!

Nathan had a lot of fun playing with Gram's toys. He loves the little baseball game. It talks to you and tells you how far you have hit it. It is pretty cute and the funny thing is that it used to belong to his family but no one ever played with it at their house. I guess when you come to Gram's you get desperate? He sure does enjoy it here. He is such a great baseball player.

The kids love our playhouse and Nathan is no exception. He cracks me up because he really enjoys being inside and he wants the door locked! Then he pokes his cute little face out the window...lots of times to make sure we are still watching him. He is so good and fun.

For reasons unknown to me Nathan and Lyvi are both impressed with the kitchen sink in the playhouse. Now Nathan likes to take it out and carry it all over the place. Lyvi likes to fill it full of sand. (I feel sorry for Justin and Sarah when she is tall enough to put sand in one of their sinks...at least mine is easy to empty! I just think it's funny that they are intrigued with the sink.

Here is Nathan with his mama after they got back home from Disneyland. Ido believe he looks a lot like her. No wonder he is so CUTE! (Same dimples and blue eyes! LUCKY) Her hair is a lot more manageable, although, I wouldn't change Nathan's for anything, I LOVE his fly hair!

Bye Bye Nathan, thanks for the fun vacation!

Wedding Day - April 23, 2010

2010-05-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Oh what a beautiful day this turned out to be. The weather was pHeNoMiNaL...we were worried as Arizona had a cold front blow through like we had never seen in April, well that we can remember, which actually isn't saying all that much. The day of the wedding was beautiful. The sky was gorgeous and so was the bride (and the groom for that matter)! We had a fun day, here are a few pictures taken right before the reception. Here are Chase and Lauren with all of the nephews and the niece as well as Lauren's little brother Jeremy and sister Morgan. Aren't those kids adorable?

Two beautiful girls. Are you ready for a long night of dancing?

OK, I know this next picture is a terrible exposure but you can still see the family a little bit. Here we are EVERY SINGLE ONE of us! YIPPEE! It is wonderful to have another daughter-in-law in the family. I honestly don't think of "my girls" as in-laws, they are just my girls and they are all so amazing. I can't say enough about how I feel about them. They have taken some pretty good young men and turned them into fabulous ones. They have definitely influenced them for the better in every single case. Their influence is powerful and every one of them are as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. AND THAT IS PRETTY DARN BEAUTIFUL! I am so grateful to have each of them. I knew it was going to be great when Todd married Nikki and right away there was someone who had an opinion similar to mine. Now the playing field has become surprisingly even and equal. It's great having daughters! I LOVE IT! Can you even believe how big Jacob and Luke are getting! They are some handsome little boys!
I know, right? So much cuteness. I think Luke was doing his own little "achy breaky heart" dance right there! Those hips have swagger! Lyvi will only hold hands with Jacob! Thank heavens for him, he was keeping the little kids together long enough for a "shot". (Wait, isn't he one of the little kids? Not any more.)

When Justin and Sarah got there Lyvi had been asleep and she wasn't too excited about the whole picture thing but she did love her dress and she was ok with the flowers. We all totally cracked up though when she popped her hip and put her hand on it. That girl has a lot of attitude...no clue where she got it?

OK...get ready for some amazing beautiful-ness! This face melts my heart EVERY single time. Oh how I love that baby! Stop growing Nathan!

Yup, this is what it's all about! Are those some cute kids or what??? we are so lucky!

After all this fun we went inside and to be honest I didn't get many pictures after that! But I did get this cute short video!

That was one good fun day! Now on with LIFE!!!

Catching UP!!!

2010-05-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

We went to April Conference a month ago and had a wonderful time, if you don't focus on the fact that the weather was very cold and snowy. Thank heavens there were several chances to see family and have some warm experiences with them. Here are Glenys and Lani with their pup's and some adorable little girls. Keelie is in the pink on the right and Ada is sitting in the center!

This is little Ada, one of my nine Great-Great nieces! Told you I'm old! Here is a picture of my niece Laurie and Ada's sister Hailey

If you think these two bear a resemblance to one another you are RIGHT! This is Dennis and his older brother Doug. We love to stay with them when we are in Utah. They live in a great area close to everything and they are so fun to be around and soooooo GREAT to us. This picture was taken in their basement by the pool table! Another fun reason to stay there...

See you guys in AUGUST!

Elmo came to dinner last week

2010-03-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

This week has been so busy I never did get a chance to blog about Elmo coming to dinner last week. He showed up in honor of Lyvi's birthday. She LOVES ELMO. Who doesn't?
After dinner the kids played outside...Nathan got sand in his hair,
thank heavens his dad is full of a lot of hot air!This is possibly how the sand got in that little guys hair. He thinks he is one of the big kids and he was right there playing with them the whole time!

Poor Jacob is getting so very tall he has to bend over inside the playhouse. We need a taller play house. He actually did bump his head on the door frame once.

Miss Alyvia Jade and her bowl of sand...man that girl LOVES sand. We had a great time and the whether has been beautiful! VERY, VERY beautiful.
Arizona is amazing this time of year!

2010-03-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

Lyvi hangs out at Gram's House

Lyvi's Mom and Dad were celebrating their 3rd anniversary and so Lyvi came over to play with me for a little while! She is hilarious and fun and adorable. I love that girl. First of all we noticed that we both had pink flip flops...what cute feet, right? (Eat your heart out Nikki, I know you are jealous of my toes that are not necessarily lined up in decending order!) Then it was on to the Playhouse and lots of hard work for Lyvi. I just took pictures and smiled A LOT!

Lyvi has a fascination with the little sand boxes on the back of the playhouse. Actually she would like them to be empty and for the sand to be ....
...here on the ground, where she throws it!

Gotta answer a quick call. She doesn't look like she is enjoying the interruption. In fact, after the call she threw the phone out the window onto the ground. Sorry no picture, laughing too hard.

This is what she spent most of her time doing. Filling her shovel with sand and putting it...

...here, in the sink! Thank heavens for NO drain pipes or we could have been in big trouble. I tried to teach her to stop doing that but she is almost 2-And really good at it- And she pretty much just ignored me. Then Gramps said, "let her do it, I have lots more sand in the shed." Nice!

She loves to ring the doorbell. I love this picture of her trying to find it through the window in the door. (sorry picture is so over exposed. Need a new really nice camera like Bekah's...hint, hint!) Lyvi never did ring it from that position so she had to...

...do this! Walk all the way around the door.

(Notice the little pile of sand on the gound on the right side of the picture.)

Then she checked the mail box!

Caught her!

See her throwing sand out the puppet show window?

She is trying to get a little sand out each window I guess. Maybe she thinks the landscaping (what landscaping?) would look better with a little sand! Now you might think that all the sand ended up outside.

NOPE, quite a bit was on the floor of the Playhouse so she went into cleaning mode.

Just sweeping it between the cracks! What a good girl!

(Not as fun as throwing it, in fact, not really fun at all!)

"I'm getting kind of tired in here! "

(I know what you are thinking BUT shutting the door was HER idea!)

Whew, what a pretty day, now we'll enjoy the picnic table for a while!
She had so much fun, I thought she would get dizzy with the whole sand to sink back and forth thing but if she did it didn't slow her down one bit. She loved everything but going back inside, I kind of felt the same way!

Happy Anniversary Justin and Sarah!

Nathan's StayCation

2010-03-03T16:31:00.001-08:00

Nathan's StayCation

We were so lucky the past couple of days to have Nathan James Danielson stay at our house while his parents took Jacob and Luke to Disneyland. Now you might think they would be sad to leave him but as you can see from this picture...not so much. OK I'm just teasing. They were kind of sad but I was proud of them that they left him without too much fanfare or tears. Here is a log of his stay in his own words. I got off to a good start my first night. First of all my Mom and Dad left me, then within a couple of seconds Grams and Gramps left me as well. Thank heavens for Tyler and Bekah because they stayed with me that night and we had a lot of fun playing and snuggling. I love to snuggle! I was sound asleep when G & G got home and I would have slept even longer if it wasn't for the fact that I was really thirsty at about 4:30 a.m. when I woke up and wanted a drink of milk but then I went right back to bed until about 6:30 a.m. . That's good for me but I was on my best behavior.

I really liked hanging out with Grandpa while Grams was taking her morning walk. Grandma thought he was so nice to let her go and him stay home but he told me a big secret...he really doesn't like walking that much and he was so happy to have a really good reason to stay home. Don't tell anyone I told you that though.

I ate pretty much whatever I wanted but my most favorite thing was the Lucky Charms (marshmallow maties). They are delicious. The only problem is sometimes when you rub them on your head they get stuck in your hair.

It was ok though, Grams just gave me a bath and I played and played until I had washed the cereal right out of my hair.

Then she wrapped me in a big warm towel and took me upstairs to get me dressed.

After we put my clothes on I was a little tired. Grams just held me for a little bit until I caught my breath again. It's sometimes hard on a guy when you have asthma. Good thing I'm a snuggler at heart. As you can see I'm wearing my favorite blue plaid shirt. I'm feeling very G.Q. Grams spiked my little hairs and I look amazing.

What are you kidding? Gramps is also wearing a blue plaid shirt today. This is so embarrassing. Grams is taking our picture again. Man I wish I could have worn my jersy today. Oh well, Grandpa looks so happy that we match.

I guess I'll just take one for the team today.

I sure did love getting to hang out with my Uncle Chase. We had breakfast together a few times. He likes Marshmallow Maties as well but he never did get them stuck in his hair. At least I didn't notice if he did.

After breakfast Grams and I went for a walk.

She sure does like to walk and I loved being out in the sunshine.

That evening we went to Target just to kill some time and so that Gram and Gramps could buy me a new toy! It was a BLAST! We had a lot of fun. Here I am getting in my car seat. You can see how excited I am to go on an adventure by the smile on my face. I actually thought they might be taking me home but no, oh well, I was still happy to go shopping.

At Target we found lots of interesting things. I found out that I looked adorable in bunny ears. Grandpa found out that he looks kind of goofy in a big green hat with a mug of beer on it. Kind of out of character for grandpa but he didn't figure out what it was until after he posed for the picture. Good thing he doesn't ever read Grandma's blog! :)

I had a hard time deciding on a toy. We looked at the balls, the pails and shovels (I got that it was just a dollar). I finally decided on a baby lap top. Turns out maybe I should be more proud of my blue plaid shirt, do you think they have pocket protectors in my size?

Tuesday morning when Grams went walking me and Grandpa had a hard time getting out of their great big bed! We watched cartoons right there for a while. It was WAY fun.

We practiced walking which kind of wears me out.

I ate and ate...I know my face has a little cookie dust on it but Grandma can NOT resist a smile like this. Could you. That's why I turn on the big dimples.

Tuesday night Grams and Gramps both had church stuff so Chase and Lauren said they would tend me. I love Chase but honestly, if you could choose between this beautiful girl and your uncle who would you choose. That's right and so did I. Lauren pretty much held me all night. She played with me and gave me my nightly meds and breathing treatment. She knew just what to do because she has a brother with asthma as well. I had a lot of fun. She is so sweet, I am so glad she is going to be my Auntie. Here we are showing off our dimples!

Well after a long wait my family finally came home. If you thought they were smiling big when they left it was NOTHING like the way they were smiling when they came back. Everyone was happy to see me and I was so excited to see them I didn't want my mom to put me down for a minute. I will probably torture her and make her regret she ever left me for the next few days. That's just the way I am!

Epilogue by Grandma
Nathan was so fun to have here on a vacation. He could not have been a better baby. I feel bad that I didn't get a picture of he and Lyvi when she came over yesterday. They were so funny. He is almost the same size as her...difinitely weighs at least the same and I bet more. He can be a little bit intimidating. When Lyvi saw him she said, "Hi baby, hi baby" then he started to crawl towards her and she started yelling, "No Baby, NO BABY!" he just kind of runs right over the top of her. He's used to playing with the big boys! What fun grandchildren we have. The little boys who are actually the big boys that went to Disneyland had a blast with their parents. They stayed for hours and hours at Disneyland and California Adventure. Jacob went on a roller coaster that goes up side down! WHAT? I have got to go and see this some day soon. It's nice they could have a fun time without having to worry about a little baby. We were so lucky to have a couple of days with Nathan, he was the perfect little guy.

We'll miss you Nathan, after all who wouldn't miss this smile...even through his binky!

Nathan's StayCation

Cake Pops at our Meeting

2010-03-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures of the Cake Pops at their debut at the Church!

Bakerella inspired me!

2010-02-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

Bakerella Inspired Me!

I have had more fun today making Cake Pops for our Stake Leadership Relief Society Meeting. I am sure it is far more work than should be gone to but it was so much fun and they turned out so cute I couldn't stop myself. I used red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting and I HOPE that they are going to be delicious. Yes, I should lose 25 pounds today because I cooked yummy stuff all day and didn't eat one cake pop! Wish it worked that way. Here they are chillin' in the freezer Now they are on the counter waiting for a chocolate bath!

There is the cup I used on my candle warmer keeping the chocolate the perfect temp for dipping!

I started letting them dry on my cooking racks which I had to stack three deep so they would hold them steady.

I finally went dumpster diving in my garage and found some styro-foam in a box that stood them up much better.

Wow, spring is really blooming! Look at those cute flowers! Can't wait to put them together with the rest of the things we have planned! What a fun and messy day, did I mention I made bread too! Whew, sometimes it's hard fitting in all the things you love to do!
Now off to church they go!

One of my most favorite people in the Stake is a young adult who is also a RS President. She reads my blog occassionally and just as I was about to post it on Friday I remembered her so this is going out a couple of days after the day of fun and I can no longer say I haven't eaten any. They were SPECTACULAR! Be still my heart...and stomach.

Bakerella

2010-02-25T05:48:00.000-08:00

bakerella.com
If you haven't discovered this blog you need to...or maybe you shouldn't. It is so fun and totally addicting! The ideas are pretty simple for the most part but spectacularly creative and FUN!
See what you think http://www.bakerella.com/ let me know how you like it or if you make anything from it I'm dying to try some of her cake balls but I'm afraid I would eat every one of them!

Will U B Mine 4-ever?

2010-01-23T14:05:00.001-08:00

I know it's totally CRAZY to think that my baby could actually be on the cusp of doing something so grown up and so adult-ish and responsible as getting married but crazy or not and ready or not Chase asked Lauren to marry him this last Thursday (during a record breaking Arizona rain storm) and he was lucky enough to have her say, well at least nod "yes!"

I know I have said this at least three times before (with Todd, Tyler and Justin) but she is perfect for him. She is so good and sweet and thoughtful. We absolutely love Lauren and we look forward to having her in our family. They are a perfect match and such a fun couple to be around. They are two lucky, happy people!

They are planning an April 23, 2010 wedding date in the Mesa, Arizona Temple!

Service with a Flair for Apron Fashion

2010-01-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was called to serve in the Stake Relief Society for our Church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) I have noticed we do a LOT of cooking for "events". It's fun to do that kind of thing when you work with people you love, which I DO, and when you look good doing it. I decided we needed to have matching aprons for the events we will be serving at and I wanted them to be really special. I wanted them to show who we are...hence the heart on the front. We love to serve and we love the people we serve. I also wanted them to be versatile so there is an "at home" side and a "church side". Both sides are flanked with ruffles and flowers and bows and ric rac and lots of fun stuff. They were so fun to make (at least looking back, you see I could have enjoyed it more if I would have had that idea in July instead of December 10th and with a December 18th deadline, but I love the adrenaline rush of getting an idea at the last minute!) At any rate you can see for yourself how totally together we look and that picture was taken at the END of the event we served at. I really wish I would have gone for a hair-do other than the famous pony tail! Oh well.

Back Strap detail

This little flower goes on back strap and is hooked there with velcro!

The at home side! This side has a row of pockets and a special little cell phone pocket!

The Relief Society side...hearts knit together in Unity and LOVE! (and ruffles)

The Relief Society Presidency. After seeing this picture I sure am glad Sarah gave me a little more color in my hair this time! Thanks Miss Sarah, sure is great having a hair color expert for a daughter!

Sew What?

2010-01-22T16:12:00.000-08:00

I LOVE TO SEW! "Sew What?" you might say and I would probably say "anything and everything." If it's made of fabric I love to try to sew it. I have always wanted a daughter I could share this love with. Laurie and I used to love sewing together when we were at BYU and then later when we had little munchkins but then we moved and that spoiled everything. Same thing with my sister Darlene, although we still sew together long distance, on the phone. That is all good but none of that was the same as having a daughter that you could teach to sew and enjoy sharing that with. A few weeks ago Bekah came to me and asked me what I thought of a cute shower curtain she really liked that was in a really great store here. I like, like... LOVED it but it was quite pricey and I wasn't crazy about the fabric and I thought it could be a much cuter if we did this and added that. Long story short, we were on our way to the beautiful fabric store and got some darling fabric with which to make a shower curtain.

Bekah came over last Saturday and spent a few hours sewing. She was amazing and did a fabulous job of surging and doing the rolled hem on the surger and she also cut out all of her stuff and then the most fun thing RUFFLES! She was amazing and more amazing than that was that I actually did let her do it all herself. I was just milling around organizing my sewing room while she hummed away on the sewing maching just a few feet away. She still has a few hours ahead of her but I promise pictures when it's done.

I was so excited by that experience that I asked the other girls if they wanted to learn to sew. Sarah said she wanted to make Lyvi an apron. Perfect! I knew she had made Lyvi pajama pants before Christmas so an apron would be a great progression. I asked her if she had any thoughts on what it should look like and she didn't. GOOD! So I made it have as many little "learning" things on it as I could think of. Similar to the shower curtain, she got to surge, and do the rolled hem and ruffle like CRAZY. When she was done it was so cute.

Lyvi was a big help. We planned on her napping but for once (Nikki you are gonna love this) she would not go to sleep. She cried! Yes Miss Lyvi cried when we put her down. She wanted to sew with the big girls. Well I prefer them a little older but we made do with what we had. When it was all done Lyvi did NOT want to try on that apron. Sarah is so smart though, she told her, "if you put the apron on Grandma might have a treat for you." On it went. I found some M&M's and we were all happy. Below is the amazing little apron Sarah made for Miss L.

Don't even try to take that candy away from her. What's next Sarah?

Let it Go, Let it Go, Let it Goooo!

2010-01-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, I love the shopping, the lights, the tinsel and even the rush and commercialism. I love the true meaning of Christmas and having family around a lot more, I just love Christmas BUT once it's over I'm done, I want it outta here on the first train. I want the tree down and the decorations put away. I want the house clean and the Christmas ham in the trash. I'm just done. This year was awesome because although I have my wierd Christmas-be- gone attitude it was awesome to have Jerry here with her yarn and knitting needles. We had lots of fun knitting. My sister Darlene made a pattern for these darling headwarmers and off we went!

The above pictures has Lyvi in her Headwarmer Grandma Jerry made her AND holding the little doll with the dress that Grandma Jerry crocheted her. Lyvi was most impressed that the baby had a bow!

A few things about Christmas! The kids had a blast. Christmas with little ones around is THE BEST way to celebrate Christmas. We have some traditions that bit the dust this year like bowling on Christmas Eve, we have done that for so many years I can't remember. It's a fun memory but this year we just decided we had too many little ones to make them wait while we had fun on Christmas Eve. So we stayed home and ate and the boys played bowling on the WII while the babies slept and the girls made jewelry. We are trying to come up with something that will be as memorable as bowling but it may take a few years?

Christmas Day was very fun, we went to Todd and Nikki's and watched the boys open gifts. They were so cute. Nathan would climb right on top of a gift and attack it like he knew what he was doing. I have never seen a 10 month old baby enjoy unwrapping like he did. Lyvi got new high heels and man was she proud of those. The Todd Danielson's got a trampoline and Lyvi got a new kitchen so everyone was in their happy Christmas place. Here are a few pictures of the festivities.

The Todd Danielson'sMiss Lauren -Chases Girl

Lyvi and high heels!

Chase

Hope you are all having a Great 2010!

Happy Birthday Justin

2009-12-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Justin. Exactly twenty seven years ago today was one of happiest days of my life and without a doubt the best Christmas season ever. Having a baby boy that was born one week before Christmas made everything sweeter that year. I will NEVER forget the sweet feelings I had for this little baby. I so related with Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the love I felt for this dear little infant. He was the sweetest and best baby I had. He was seldom sick, always smiling and a very content child. The fact that he lived through Tyler's love is a miracle in and of itself. There were many moments where Tyler tried to sit in his little infant seat, with him still in it, or tried to crawl into the swing with Justin in it (yes he knocked them both over) and on and on. When you are the third boy and your oldest brother is 3 1/2 you get a lot of left over's and hand me downs but Justin NEVER complained about any of that. He was a very sweet little boy. I still feel bad about the year we bought everyone matching coats without thinking that Justin would be wearing the very same style and color of coat for the next four years! Again no complaints.

Justin is such a cute dad. He is the perfect dad for a little girl. PROTECTIVE doesn't seem like a strong enough word to describe Justins feelings for Alyvia. I feel sorry for the first guy who comes to pick Lyvi up for a date. I can NOT even imagine the kind of interrogation he will have to go through and heaven help him if he doesn't get her home on time! He is a little bit protective of her but who could blame him, she is his finest work! I just want to say something about Justin's other girl, Sarah. She is perfect for him. She is sweet and soft spoken and I have seen a lot of changes in Justin since he and Sarah married that have made him an even better man than he was before. Sarah you are awesome. Such a good wife and mama. Justin, you will always and forever be one of my most favorite people. Sarah said once to me, "everything's more fun when Justin is around" and that is so true! I love you with all my heart. You are a great son and a wonderful example to your brothers and your little nephews of a man who loves his family and his God and who is willing to work hard for both. I am very proud of you. Hope you have a Super Duper Happy Birthday!
Love Always and Forever, Cookie

Scripture Man

2009-12-03T21:05:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I look at my kids and I think, "who are you and where did you come from?" For instance, how on earth could I ever have a son who is an engineer? Or a boy who loves camping? Or a son who loved singing solo's at choir concerts or a little boy who was shy but now enjoys performing in front of groups? I have no idea where he came up with the brain power for that kind of a career, or where he learned to love to camp or how he has the nerve to sing by himself in front of an auditorium filled with people or how you could prefer to slink into the background for half of your life and now you enjoy the foreground. Actually all of our boys are far better at everything than I ever was. I admire their perseverance. I love how they set their mind on something and then they do it. I am impressed with the way they interact with people. Sometimes I think about the things I wanted so desperately to teach them when they were little and I thought I had failed but then there it is right in front of me, that child who is amazing and who is a strong powerful adult. Well I recently had a moment with Tyler that definitely deserves a mention on my blog. Tyler is in the Bishopric in our ward. He is a baby and yet there he is up on the stand in the Bishopric. Anyway, he is over the Primary which is something that makes him very happy. (He is also over the scouts which makes him even happier!) The Primary president informed him that they would like him to be Scripture Man in Primary once a month. What does he do? He dresses up like this
only with a suit on underneath and then when the children start to sing, "Scripture Power" he comes in and anyone who has their scriptures gets a piece of candy! He did it for the first time this past week and he had a blast, he said he was a little nervous for a minute but I'm sure it will get easier. One of the little boys said, "that's the guy who sits by the Bishop!"
It warms my heart to think that Scripture Man is the same person who used to study the scriptures at our kitchen table very early in the mornings before school.
Good Job Scripture Man!

A Very Danielson Christmas

2009-12-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

This week has been a week of getting ready for Christmas. There has been a lot of fuss about the tree and other decorations. Tyler and Chase spent hours on Saturday putting up the lights...then taking them down and buying new lights and putting them up. It's hard to see how awesome the lights look but trust me, it's pretty great! Dennis has spent a lot of hours finishing the bushes and little trees that line our walks. It seems like a lot but believe me, compared to a lot of the folks in our neighborhood this is really holding back! One of our favorite things about our neighborhood is Christmas. We have a whole street that really goes all out. They spend weeks putting up their decorations and lights and people come in on tour buses and in limo's cars line our streets and folks walk in from the neighborhood to see it. It is so fun to take the little kids down there and walk around. I look forward to that every year.My favorite thing is my little collection of Nativities. I have had a few over the years that things have "happened" too. The one in the center is an on-going Christmas gift from two of my sisters! I love, Love, LOVE it. It's a great reminder of what the season is really about.There are little Christmas things on several nooks and cranney's!
Not sure why I put that Christmas card at that angle in the card holder, perhaps so the snowman could hide behind it?
A portion of my Santa and Snowman collection.

We got a new tree this year. It is the same height but much thinner. It fits perfectly in the spot by the stairs. The stairs also made it a little easier to get the decorations on the top!

Alyvia and Sarah came over today and Lyvi kept taking the balls off my little tree and handing them to me and saying "ball". She was very gentle. I think I will borrow her when it's time for this stuff to come down...she is good at taking things off the tree! I love Christmas. For years when I was little (like 16 years) I would get so excited on Christmas or about Christmas that I spent Christmas throwing up! Serious, I was always sick on Christmas! I've calmed down a little since then, I enjoy the season more. It's hectic but I love the parties and seeing all the people. What a blessing to have so many people we love in our lives.

Luke-E-Luke's Third Birthday!

2009-11-28T07:09:00.000-08:00

This year we thought it would be fun to take Luke all by himself out to lunch and shopping for his birthday! We were right, it was really REALLY fun. Luke is such a good boy. We asked him where he wanted to go and he said he would like to go to Costco! He loves their Pizza and smoothies. Off we went! After we ate we thought we would look around. We have been looking for a new 'Christmas tree that is not quite a huge as the one we have now. We asked and they said if we would go to a different Costco they still had a few left. We jumped in the car and went straight there. There were lots of folks shopping at Costco on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We were lucky to find a parking spot. Once inside it was a little crazy but mostly by the pumpkin pies not by the trees so much. We got our tree and decided to look at the toys! Luke found a couple of things he wanted for his birthday! Here he is back in the car with his Star Wars pens, a soda and a smoothie! Yup being a Grammy is the best. Kids can have two drinks if they want them, no problem! :)

Then we stopped off at Target to find a treat to take back to the brothers!

Luke-ee had to sit on the ball in front of the store!

And he loved the big shopping carts with big boy seats! He was a fun shopping and lunch partner and an amazing 3 year old! We love you Luke thanks for the fun afternoon with Gram and Gramps!

A week of Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T06:46:00.001-08:00

Getting ready for a big thanksgiving dinner! Here are the kids!

Not a good picture of their faces but I couldn't resist posting that cute hug with Jacob and lyvi. He is so cute to her.

Thanksgiving for our family was celebrated the Monday evening before Thanksgiving. Everyone came over and brought lots of delicious food. We sat around and enjoyed our family a ton. We talked about Christmas traditions and things we are going to do different this year. It was a great evening. On his way out the door Jacob invited Dennis and I to come to his FEAST which he has at preschool. We were very excited to do that. We went on Tuesday to Jacob's feast here are a few pictures from the feast.

Todd and NathanHere is Jacaob dressed up in his indian costume which he made himself. Very impressive. He drew some very intricate details on his vest. Yes this is November in Arizona.

Nathan loved the feast. He ate lots of crackers and other goodies like Turkey and rolls.
Luke was at his play group and so he didn't come to the feast.

AT the FEAST we were treated to lots of entertainment, a song about a Turkey, and the months of the year. This song about the days of the week was amazing. If you listen closely you can hear Jacob singing. What a fun day, thanks for inviting us Jacob!

Lyvi's Last Day!

2009-11-28T06:37:00.001-08:00

On Lyvi's last day we had a lot of fun, she played with toys all morning and watched the movie UP which is a new favorite. She took a very long nap and helped make dinner, then we went outside to wait for her mom and dad to get here! This is the smile on her face when they got here! You can see how happy she was to have them home. As I said we were outside waiting, Lyvi was walking her doll in the stroller and somehow they drove past us without us noticing and they didn't see us either. But I noticed them in the driveway and so I whistled down to them (thank heavens I learned to whistle loud in the 5th grade) and they came running and when Lyvi saw them she went running and it was kind of like watching a movie. They were all so excited to be back together. What a cute little family. Here she is showing off the purse they brought her with a cute little "peaches" dog in it. She was so glad to have her mom and dad home. We have noticed how quiet our house has been without her. When Lyvi was here there was always a smiley face and someone who was happy to see you. She is a fun, FUN girl and we miss her. Bye Lyvi, we love you!

Lyvi's Vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's Day 4

2009-11-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

OK, today is Thursday and my Gramps had to work today. Yesterday for breakfast he made me eggs again and I loved them AGAIN. Today Chase was my babysitter while my Grams walked, he gave me dry cereal. Not to complain but dry cereal is nothing like eggs or pancakes. When Grams came home she poured some milk on my dry cereal, I guess she thought that would make it a lot better. I did like the cereal and especially because my Grams has these bowls with straws on the side and I could pretend that my cereal was full of soda when I drink it through the straw. I did eat really good.

I have been waiting all week for today because today is PRESCHOOL at my Granna Burrs house. My Granna and Papa have a house with a beautiful huge yard and horses and chickens! Yes, I said horses and chickens. I love both of those things.

So every Thursday my Granna Burr has a preschool for me and my cousins, I could hardly wait to go. I got my hair fixed really fancy today. I decided I would like to wear my boots too. I was pretty excited to show my Granna and she noticed how cute I looked right away.

Here I am standing in between my cousins Brook and Kenzi. We made these adorabale Turkeys today out of an apple. We used lots of marshmallows, and gumdrops. They looked delicious and I kept trying to eat my candy. I guess you aren't supposed to do that? We also colored some pictures and did tumbling. I was a little worried that the tumbling would ruin my hair but I practiced doing my summer saults like a barrell roll and that seemed to solve the whole hair issue. Sometimes it's a little painful looking this cute.

After pre-school I was pretty exhausted and came home to Grams and went straight to bed. This vacation stuff is pretty fun although I sure do miss my mom and dad. They called yesterday when we were almost to Cafe Rio and when I heard their voices I started saying "Mama, Mama" over and over again. I guess I was a little homesick for them. One more day!

Wednesday at Grandma and Grandpa's

2009-11-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

OK, we have been so excited for Wednesday. I guess that Grams and Gramps go to Cafe Rio every time Gramps has a Wednesday off because they like the Wednesday special there which is a Chicken Tostada. It did look delicious but I had a cheese quesadilla which I loved and ate every bit of. I also had some of the Chicken Tostada and I have to say that it is good. My favorite part of the whole meal though was the soda. I love sprite and I believe that I could have put away a 44 oz. if the Grandparents would have sprung for it. They got me a little kiddie drink but then did refill it once. I love my soda! After they were kind of worried about me taking a nap because I was kind of on a sugar high so we went to the park again and it was really fun. I was the only one there and I swang and slid and rode the animals. Afterwards my Grams and I walked around a circle in the neighborhood that always has great Christmas decorations. They are getting ready to turn their lights on after Thanksgiving and it was fun to see what they have out already. Gramps finally realized we weren't at the park any more and came and picked us up in his Tahoe. It was a pretty fun day. I took a Great nap again.

This is me getting strapped in for our trip to Cafe Rio. I guess we forgot to take any more pictures today because we were really busy. Grams was making dinner to take to someone and then she had a meeting at her house. Chase tended me before Grams finally came up and put me to bed. What a Crazy busy day! Good thing I'm an easy going girl!

Lyvi's Vacation at Grandma and Grandpa D's Day 2

2009-11-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

Today (Tuesday) started out pretty much like yesterday except for one very important thing I forgot to mention yesterday for breakfast my Gramps made me eggs. Yes that is right, I said my Gramps not my Gram made me eggs. Grams was off walking with one of her friends when I woke up so Gramps got up and made me eggs. They were delicious and I ate a lot of them. I love Love LOVE eggs. Especially the way Gramps makes them. They were awesome! Today Gramps made me pancakes for breakfast. He is amazing. I had no idea he could cook so much! I really like the pancakes but I think the eggs were my favorite. Thanks Gramps.

Here I am in the tub. I told you it was a big tub. I had so much fun. I played with lots of my Grams old measuring cups and spoons, sometimes it is REALLY tempting to try and drink the tub water but I usually stopped when my Gram would tell me not to. I love all of her soaps and fun things she keeps by the tub, I would love to have had all of them in the tub with me but Grams said "NO Lyvi!" She sure can be bossy sometimes!

This is a really bad shot of me all dressed and ready to go. Grams was trying to take a picture of my hair but I was pretty wiggly. I was hoping you could see my new shirt that Aunt Bekah made for me. It is so very cute with a sparkly cupcake on the front. I love it.

Thank you Aunt Bekah.

OK, here is my ponytail hairdo for Tuesday. The ponytail lasted until my nap then we had to take it out but my hair was still cute all tied back although I had to get used to looking at me without a bow! That was really wierd.

The most fun part of this day was going to the park! We got bundled up (because it was in the mid 60's) and Gramps put me in my stroller and away we went. I love my stroller. We saw a dog on the way and I got so excited. I love dogs. I like to blow them kisses and say "woof, woof!" whenever I see one.

I did lots of fun stuff at the park but my favorite was the swing! Gramps likes to swing me high and Grams loves to grab my feet. Sometimes she will stand right in front of me and my feet kick her in the rear end...that is hilarious!

Lyvi's Vacation at Grandma and Grandpa D's Day 1

2009-11-19T13:01:00.001-08:00

Lyvi's vacation started Sunday evening when her parents dropped her off so that she could spend a few days with Grams and Gramps while they went on a Cruise to Mexico! It seemed like kind of a jip for her but she has tried to make the best of it. First thing Monday morning she got up and ate breakfast, then she had a luxuriously long bath in Grandma's big tub, then she dried off with a huge spa towel. She was thinking she could get used to this!

She got dressed in one of the many adorable outfits her mom and dad left her to wear and she brushed her teeth. Now she just needs a hair-do!
Lunch was some delicious mac and cheese and grapes (most of which ended up on the floor). One great thing about Lyvi is that she sure does love to feed herself. We can hardly wait until she can get the food on her spoon without having to use two hands! AlsoLife can be a mystery. She got some new warm pj's with bunnies on the feet! That was sure fun.

She also got a new pig! She really likes him. He has had many tea parties with her at the little table.
She has been practicing her chicken dance to show everyone!

Not to be proud but she is really good at it! Just watch below.

After all that dancing it was time for bed. What a fun day we all had! Lyvi is so good and sweet she is a great little sleeper and seems to have adjusted to Grandma's new crib without a hitch. You have to be easy going if you are going to be a world traveler.
(or even if you are just staying with your Grandparents)

Lyvi and Luke at the Childrens Museum

2009-11-15T20:50:00.001-08:00

Luke-E-Luke and Lyvi and Sarah and I went to the Phoenix Childrens Museum last week. It is such a fun place. There are lots of interesting things to do there.

Luke is going to make a Pizza here!Luke loved putting dried peas in the scale!

Mostly he loved making ice cream cones!He had a great time shopping at the store! They both loved making ice cream cones...here is Lyvi with hers!

They got lost in the Noodel forrest!

My favorite thing was the bike car wash! It is amazing. Luke had some one tag along with him in this picture! The first time through he took Lyvi and I didn't get a picture of that one but here he is with a stranger in his back seat! Oh well! We had a fun time. Thanks Sarah and Lyvi for meeting us there!

Tuesday Car Wash Day

2009-11-15T20:42:00.001-08:00

Last Tuesday Jacob, Luke and Nathan came over to visit Grams and Gramps while their mom and dad did something really special.Gramps put them right to work! Little boys really like hoses and soap suds and WATER!

Babies wish they were bigger so they could play in the water!

It was a lot of work but it sure made the car look nice! When they were all done Gramps said, "lets hurry and wash Chase's car to surprise him!" Luke was more excited about that than Jacob but they both helped. Chase was really happy his car was so clean.

After all that work we went down to the Park and played on the play ground. When Todd and Nikki got home from the Temple they couldn't believe how hard their boys had worked while they were gone! It was a fun day!

Halloween a little bit late.

2009-11-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Our ward had a really fun Halloween Carnival this year! The kids loved it. Tyler and Bekah dressed up as Nacho Libre and the Nun. Jacob was the scary and Luke was Dark-a-Vader (Darth Vader!) They had a blast playing games and winning lots of prizes...candy! There was a DJ there and Jacob and Lyvi had a great time dancing!
Nathan didn't get to come to the party BUT this is our little Humpty Dumpty the next night on Halloween! He was adorable.

Bekah and Jacob!

Gramps and Lyvi.

Jacob and Luke Bobbing for apples. Gramps coaching from the sideline.

I couldn't resist putting Tyler in his Nacho Libre Costume on my blog. Yes he is in the Bishopric and he created quite a stir. He won a prize at our ward party. They all loved him! A fun day.

Miss Lyvi can do the Chicken Dance!

2009-10-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

Usually when Lyvi comes over she has to play with "boy" toys because that is mainly what we have. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't seem to mind and she is so sweet and easy going about whatever we have her do. Here is proof, she is washing my dirty window in the back! I've always wanted another girl around here to help with the work load! :)

A couple of weeks ago I got out my American Girl doll, Bitty Baby! Lyvi loves her. She is quite fascinated with her eyes because they open and close.

We broke down and got a little set at Costco for Lyvi. It has a doll, a stroller, a high chair and a little bed. She is in heaven and Luke really enjoys feeding the baby as well.

BUT possibly her most favorite thing is my Turkey that plays the Chicken Dance song. She loves to dance to it. I should have taken a video because she has got the chicken dance down pat!

It sure is fun to have those cute little children come for a visit!

Not Snowing Here!

2009-10-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Every year Grandpa invites the big boys over to help him put in the winter grass! While everyone else is shoveling snow we are planting and mowing. This process involves mowing over the lawn about five times until it is super low (almost dirt). Grampa needs lots of help to do this.

Nathan was exhausted by all of the work that was going on! Jacob took this picture of us!

Afterwards, the boys were so sweaty they thought a splash in the pool was in order. Let me tell you that was a very quick and COLD splash, but it was a beautiful day and we had fun being outside.

Here the boys are playing in the play house. One funny thing that happened was I gave the little boys a Crabby Patty. For those of you that don't know what that is it is a little candy that looks like a hamburger. It is made up of all gummy pieces. The first time I gave them one Luke ran out to the Playhouse, took his apart and put the tiny little piece that looked like a hamburber on the grill. This time he took the green part off of it and said, "Jacob, do you want my pickle?" They taste nothing like pickles! We get the biggest kick out of those cute little kids.

One cute thing that Jacob said this week was on Sunday, I called their house to invite them to dinner. I was talking to Jacob and I said, "Jacob, guess what we are going to eat outside!" He replied very excitedly, "You mean alfresco?" YES!! The Fancy Nancy books have definitely improved his vocabulary! Such cute and good boys!

Our Weekend with Elder Hales

2009-09-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were blessed with a once in a life time experience. We had an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ stay with us in our home, Elder Robert D. Hales. Sunday evening after a little walk around the block we decided that this weekend may have been one of the best of our married lives! It was so sweet and filled with our family and our values and beliefs and an APOSTLE. We will probably never be able to say that again. We feel so very blessed to have been in the presence of Elder Hales for the past two days. Dennis was his constant companion and really enjoyed that experience. To know that man is to love him. He has a very sweet and positive approach to life. Not one of us was untouched by his goodness. He complimented everything and made each of us feel like we were the most important person in the room. Chase really enjoyed him. They watched the last quarter of the Utah football game together and had a ball! Elder Hales is a HUGE football fan so he was definitely in the right house. His Stake Conference addresses were inspiring and uplifting. Saturday evening he taught about what we can do as parents to help our youth. He stressed communication and told us to NOT be afraid we will offend our children by asking them what they are doing with their lives. Today he spoke in depth about the Temple. He shared some great stories and then taught us from the scriptures. In five minutes he was funny then serious then deeply spiritual. We had never seen the humorous side of Elder Hales before and we enjoyed that but his spiritual side was what we will forever remember. At the conclusion of conference many people felt that they wanted to shake his hand. His health is quite poor but he was committed to stand and shake as many hands as possible. Afterwards he went into Dennis’ office and had to sit in a chair and rest a while. It really took a lot out of him but he wanted to do it and meet the members of our stake.

He was so very sweet to me. A more gracious person would be hard to find. Last night after the adult session of conference I got home after he and Dennis did. As I walked in the door Elder Hales shouted out “We’re glad you’re home!” He was just so sweet. He loved Chase and really engaged him in every conversation. I complimented him on his talk and he said, “I was just trying to follow up on what the others had spoken about.” I also complimented Dennis on his talk and Elder Hales said, “Isn't he a great speaker?” Always quick to compliment and build. He was easy to please and totally un-demanding. I worried about him but he was so grateful that he had been able to do all that he did. He hasn’t traveled much lately because of health concerns and this trip was something of a test and he was so thrilled that he was passing it! He said he is hoping they will send him on more trips after this. Most of us would think that if our health was failing we should just give up and stay home, but not him. When he is speaking he delivers a strong message. He is a great example of wearing yourself out serving the Lord.
What a glorious time we have had and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Alyvia Jade Danielson with Gramps and Elder Robert D. Hales

I'm pretty sure this is what Elder Hales is looking at in the above picture:

Jacob Todd , Luke Andrew and Nathan James Danielson with Gramps and Elder Robert D. Hales

We will never forget this amazing weekend.!

My Guys

2009-09-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

There have been few moments when I have been more proud of my family than this weekend. Not in the sense of "they are better than anyone else" but instead more like, "we made it through Elder Hales visit without anyone burping, spilling, or throwing a tantrum" there was no fighting or arguing, no teasing things just went smooth, perhaps that is why we were so happy we were almost silly, and believe me once he was gone the teasing resumed as normal. Dennis and Chase serenaded Bekah and I with this little song last Sunday evening after

Elder Hales left! These two really enjoy each other.

Aprons

2009-09-03T21:13:00.001-07:00

There is one thing about being the wife of a Stake President that I totally LOVE...well more than one but this one thing I totally love and that is the opportunity to rub shoulders with the wife's of the Bishops in our Stake. I don't get to do it as

much as I would like to but when I do

I LOVE it.

Once a year Dennis has a meeting with all of the Bishop's wife's (one wife per Bishop, that sounded a little fishy hahaha)! We also have Sister Haws and Sister Benson the wife's of Dennis' counselors come. Dennis usually talks to us for a few minutes and expresses his love and gratitude and we have a testimony meeting. It's awesome, and very spiritual. I love to make something for them because I know that it is not easy to be the wife of a Bishop and I want them to know how much I appreciate all that they do. Being the wife of a Bishop involves a lot of sacrifice. These women are awesome. This year I decided to make them aprons. Here they are!

Sabbatical

2009-09-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

After a busy week at BYU for Education Week, which we thoroughly enjoyed we went to Salt Lake City to stay with Doug and Debbie and prepare for the next 80th birthday party! This is what the refreshments looked like...The Sister-in-law's AKA kitchen help!

Rhonda, Debbie, Denette and Bonnie

Denette, Don, Dennis, and Doug...the Fab 4!

Faunda and Ivan with their really tall friends...two of many who showed up that evening!

Dennis with Aunt Ina, we love to get to see her when we come to town, she is such a sweetheart.

After a week and a half in Utah we drove through Wyoming and toured Martin's Cove. It is very interesting. The Church has done an amazing job of preserving this church historical site. We heard lots of heart wrenching stories about the Martin Handcart company and what they did to survive. What an amazing place. The missionaries there were so kind and helpful, we really enjoyed the few hours we got to spend there.
This is the visitiors Center...everything was very green and lush around the visitors center.
After we got through hiking and sweating at Martin's Cove we got back in our little black Caddy and headed towards Denver and Jerry! It was so fun to visit her. One of the bonus' was that we got to see Bill and Tracee and their adorable kids. We went to a movie, went shopping, went out to dinner(s) went to one of Cody's little league games, went to church and had a fun family dinner on Sunday. We packed a lot into a short amount of time and it was awesome.

Here is Jerry and Nicole.

Saying Good-Bye is always the hard part!

Then we were off to New Mexico. We stayed with our dear friends the Bergstens and went out to dinner with all of our friends who still live there. It was great to renew old acquaintances and get to see our dear friends again. We all still look exactly like we did in 1988 when we first moved to N.M..
Vicki, Cindy, Kristy, Bonnie and MaryAnn

After all that fun it was time to come home! We drove home only to find out that we had missed a call from Church Headquarters while we were on the road. Dennis called first thing on Wednesday morning and was shocked and surprised to find out that we have

Elder Robert D. Hales
coming to our Stake Conference in 10 days. Normally we have gotten about a six week notice AND we just had Bishop Edgeley for our last conference. WE are so excited! What a great opportunity this is going to be!

That was the first leg of our Sabbatical!

On your mark, Get set, Let's GO!

2009-08-16T07:57:00.001-07:00

As I was getting everything packed I thought I would take a few pictures of the bags I have made the past couple of years...the Bonnie Bag Collection! There are getting to be quite a few as I enjoy making them and I bought a LOT of fabric in the beginning. These two bags are my water bottle tote (on the left), and my camera case (on the right). They are getting ready to hit the road first thing Monday morning, August 17!

Closer look at the water bottle tote!

Cosmetic bag! I love this bag, the pockets are see through and so I can easily see where things are...except the bottom pocket which is the heavey duty pocket for transporting heavy duty stuff? The handle at the top easily goes on a hook in the bathroom for easy access.

This is the newest "bag" in the collection, it is my flat iron bag. It is lined with a heat proof fabric so you can even put it away while it is still warm but I wouldn't recommend it! ;)

It's hard to tell but this little bag holds my ipod and my cell phone! Love it! They can get shoved in my purse but not get scratched up!

The traveling jewelry bag below is awesome. Little pockets all around the edge for earrings and small necklaces with a large area in the center for bracelets and watches. When it's all packed up pull the strings and it closes really tight so things stay right where they are supposed to! Great bag.

This is my carry on bag that started this whole mess...j/k! I love it. It has tons of pockets inside and it holds all of my medium sized stuff, like my hair dryer, flat iron, books, thank you cards pens, there is even a small pocket for my cell phone, oh yes and snacks...it definitely holds lots of snacks!
This is the big duffle. I love it because it holds a TON of clothes but it is light weight. It holds an unbelieveable amount of clothes, which I put to the test every time I pack it up. Pockets on the inside and out add organization and storage! Fun bag!
Guess I need to come up with a little cuter way to tote my shoes around. It's going to need to be something small that will carry about 10 pair of shoes...Dennis always freaks when he see's how many shoes I am taking, mainly because he takes two pair, Sunday and athletic shoes. Whatev!
OK, this cracked me up. This is Dennis' manly bag, I didn't make it, BUT that handy multi media carrier is my first attempt at a cosmetic bag! We now use it for all of our cords and chargers when we travel. I loved that Dennis had it on his stuff ready to go.

Today is Nikki's birthday. All the kids are coming to dinner. I am so excited. I love it when they come. I have been working hard on a surprise for the grandbabies. I can't wait to give it to them. Hopefully I will take pictures and blog it! Happy Birthday Nik!

Cute Boys

2009-08-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

Friday I went out to Queen Creek to visit this cute little family with three boys (and one extra)! I brought them some "jolly pops" and they loved them. I told Jacob we could make them the next time he came to my house and he wanted to do it right then. When his mom told him they didn't have any sucker sticks, he just wanted to reuse the ones they were eating! Boy is he green! :)

Those suckers were a hit, the little boy in the middle is Dallin, he is Jacob and Luke's cousin that lives just down the street! He likes to spend time with those boys and they love having him.

We could not get this little guy to smile which is crazy because he is the smiliest kid I know but then how would you feel if everyone got a "jolly pop" but you?

Girls Camp

2009-08-08T10:45:00.001-07:00

Chandler Alma Stake Girls Camp was SPECTACULAR this year. This is a view of the beautiful sky and some of the sage brush we saw on the way up there. I also took lots of pictures of canyons and valleys but this is the one you get to look at! Here are some of the adorable girls that are in our ward. These girls are actually the older girls and I have had every one of them in Mia Maids before they went on to Laurels! Morgan in the middle is still a Mia Maid!We are doing a craft here. We made some cute little necklaces that have different charms on them represensting some of the different areas we can Dream about setting goals and such in.Sunday at Camp LoMIA is the best day. We have church in the Sacred Grove (see picture) then all of the Bishops and a lot of their Counselors come up and they meet with their individual wards for Bishops time. This is generally a time where they can talk to them and teach them and also have some fun. They all bring yummy treats to share with the girls in their wards.

Dennis and I like to walk around and see what each ward is doing during their Bishops Time. I'm sure Dennis is going to love this picture of the back of his head. (Since he never looks at this blog though he will probably never know!) It's always fun for me to see how every ward does something totally different but they are all GREAT.

This is us making more buttons to put on our bags! We had a blast making them. As you can tell you have to really concentrate hard and not look in the least bit cute while you are doing it. I didn't know my friend was taking my picture or I would be smiling like crazy. By the way, that is my red bunk bed in the background.

One little interesting factoid, we were innundated with SKUNKS up there. They were everywhere. We warned the girls not to scream but just hold still and miracle of miracles no one was sprayed all week. Last year a cabin got sprayed inside when girls went back to their cabin to get something, skunk inside, they screamed and....you get the picture but you can not even come close to duplicating the smell. Ewww!
Three adorable girls! Brandy, Alexa (Mia Maid in less than a month) and Kaylee! Brandy and Kaylee are Mia Maids already! Love those girls.

On Monday we all went on a hike. You could choose to go on an easy hike, a medium hike or a hard hike. Dennis and I chose the hard hike. I will not make that mistake again. I have the bruises to prove it wasn't the best idea for me. BUT, at least now I can say I did it. I'm still waiting for pictures a friend took of us on that hike! It was pretty amazing.

This picture is of our funny skit night although this is not our funny skit but another wards. It was hilarious and the costumes were amazingly clever. So FUN!

Tuesday was a day with lots of ward time. We did a service project where we made little headbands with bows for little girls with Cancer who have no hair. They turned out adorable and the girls had a fun time making them. Later that evening the 6th year girls put on what they call a commitment hike where they do a little play. It's very touching and is a good pre-testimony meeting thing (which is the last thing we do). It's a very great program and I am glad I got to be a part of it again this year.

This is the road in and out of Girls Camp LoMia. It is beautiful there and it was another fun year with lots of great memories.

More Girls Camp Stuff

2009-07-30T17:04:00.001-07:00

These are little clothes pins I decorated to hand out at our Sunday night Fireside... with a spiritual thought (on the back of the dotted paper)! The second image is all of them on a big round platter ready to hand out! YIPPEE! :)

Lyvi gets a phone call

2009-07-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

Ok...maybe this is too much blogging for one day but seriously it's hard to not blog when you are so crazy about your grandkids. Here's Lyvi on the phone...

2009-07-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

Lyvi came over tonight and was having fun playng with the toys then she found this microphone and proved, once again, she is her fathers daughter!

Sunday afternoon...

2009-07-28T16:28:00.001-07:00

Grandpa holding baby Nathan! Gramps loves those babies!

Chase with the big boys! What cute kids! Luke loves, I mean loves his Steve Nash jersey. As we were sitting at dinner Nikki looked at him and said, "Luke, where did you find that jersey it was in the dirty clothes!" Luke just looked down and kept on eating. So funny. Guess we know where he found that jersey!

Pool Time

2009-07-28T16:08:00.001-07:00

Todd, Nikki and boys came over on Monday and we had a fun time. We bbq'd burgers for lunch and swam with the big boys while Nathan took a nap!
Luke loves this alligator which was not holding air the best, he spent a lot of time trying to blow it up! He rode it all around the pool with Gramps pulling it! Good Job Lukeee!

Jacob has turned into a fish this summer. He can jump off the waterfall...

Catch his breath
And swim to the side without ANY help! He is so brave this year, every time he gets in the pool he takes a running jump into the deep instead of stepping into the kiddie pool! YIKES!

Jacob is in love with our new candy/water cannon which he and Todd built for us and is a blast! True to form for me I didn't get any pictures of that so I will hopefully do that next time!

Look Who Can Sit Up!

2009-07-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Nathan (and his family) came over Sunday and look at how good he can sit up! He is really getting big for a little five and a half month old baby! OK he is probably big for a seven and a half month old baby! What a cutie

Getting Ready For Girls Camp

2009-07-23T08:42:00.001-07:00

The Girls are getting pillowcases with polka dots because our camp motto is "Dream Of the Temple! So we are using the acronym D.O.T.!
These are some little pillow's that the girls made. These have NOT been filled yet but we will do it soon. They are to put on their beds at camp to help remind them to dream of the Temple. We have also bought DOT's candy for them! Such a fun theme. The girls have been buying all kinds of polka dot stuff. They have skirts and tops and we have been painting dot's on our toenails. The funniest one I have heard so far is that one mother told me her daughters had to have a polka dot collar for their dog! LOVE IT!!! Nine days to girls camp!

Chase's Straight Hair

2009-07-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

Chase is going to see his friend Justin Jensen perform in a concert tonight and for some reason felt compelled to straighten his hair...well to find a girl to straighten his hair! Makes me really glad his hair is curly! .

Grandbabies are the Best!

2009-07-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Alyvia has become so mobile these days that she is hard to get a picture of that isn't blurry! We got to tend her for a little bit last week and it sure was fun! She enjoyed checking out the cupboards!

No we aren't being robbed...Jacob saw a cousin with a cape and wanted me to make him one which I did, but he also wanted a "mask". I didn't make him one on the cape day but they came by on Saturday and I was cutting out fabric for another project and I had some scraps left over so we made these impromptu masks...Todd didn't want his picture taken because he was afraid it would end up on my Picasa Album...so I didn't put it there! Notice Luke has his socks on his hands because they also want some "super gloves" silly kids! So fun though.