Happy Birthday Justin

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.