Birthday in South Padre

For my 27th Birthday we headed down to South Padre Island (southern tip of Texas).

Danelle loved the beach!!! She surprisingly wasn't afraid of the waves and had a blast playing in the sand.

This is her not happy that Lane is playing in the waves without her.


We took a drive- LITERALLY- along the water. I guess your allowed to drive vehicles out onto the sand and there was no one really there being middle of the week after labor day. *(all wheel drive helps too)Eating at Landry's our favorite seafood place ever.

Feeding the birds.
Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Sew Cute!

Look at me go! I'm really trying to work on my sewing skills and here are 2 of my latest projects.

An apron for Danelle we made when my mom was here: (reversible + a ruffle... fancy stuff here folks)
And a "quiet bag" for church and the car- to put some books and toys in. This we did at our last sewing group. I'll let you know if the "quite" part works out or not :)
*If any of you ever come across good websites or blogs that have sewing crafts/ideas/tutorials let me know- I'm always on the look out!

Trains, Rains and Haircuts

I didn't have much to update, but this is what I could scrounge up from the past 2 weeks:

Danelle loves buckles (in the car seat, the highchair, stroller, etc.)

This is how I found her the other day... trying to do the buckle on the high chair. (we had just gotten back from the pool- she'll thank me someday.)
Playing in the rain. She loves being outside.


I changed my hair color- I know, unless you see me every day you probably can't even tell, but it's darker and so much better! Thanks Ashlee!
Danelle is all about buses and trains now a days. (and buckles) She can spot a bus down the road and start yelling "BUUUSSSS"! She can also hear a train several miles a way and will freeze and open her mouth like she's in shock- then do the train sign.

We decided to take her on a mini train ride called the Zilker Zephyr. She was nervous at first- but then loved it! It was a 25 min. ride around this huge park in Austin. She even got a front row seat, with who else but her daddy.

Melt's her Daddy's heart!

How can you say no to those sweet blue eyes? She's already learning how to "work her sweetness"...


Go out to eat with Dad? Sure!

You want some pudding? Sure!
You want your own phone? Sure.Just imagine what she'll be asking for when she's a teenager- and I have a PRETTY good idea who she'll be asking...!

2012 Olympics

Our little gymnast.. she'll use whatever she can find...

* looks like she's sitting- but she's not touching the floor!
Like how she "grunts"? She's had abs of steel from the get-go. Such as here.

Africian Safari

While my mom was out here visiting for the past two weeks (and watching D while we were in Canada- THANK YOU MOM!!!) we got to do a couple fun things with Danelle.

One that Danelle really loved was the Wildlife Ranch where it's a zoo/safari. It was so fun to sit in the (air conditioned) car and see all the animals. They even give you food to feed them!

*note the ostrich tend to be a little aggressive. They were the only ones to actually put their heads ALL THE WAY in the car to get their food!


YA- we had to roll our windows up with these guys! Danelle thought it was hilarious though!

GO TEXAS! Hey Ryan- do they have longhorns in (South) Africa? :)

The bigger animals weren't allowed to roam on the road- so there's no need to worry about rhinos sitting on the hood of your car! :)

Danelle's 1st Birthday Party (being invited to)

She was so excited to attend her first ever birthday party for a friend.


I think her expression in the pool says it all- she loved it!

Oh Canada... and Scotland...

Lane and I got to visit Canada (my first time going there) and I'm pretty sure this is the best time of year to visit! Perfect weather & wildflowers were in bloom.


The hotel we stayed at was styled after a Scottish Baronial castle::

We did several different activities such as fly fishing: (Lane was in heaven)
Helicopter tour and hiking. They took us up into a secluded meadow (only accessible by helicopter) and we hiked, with a guide since there was no trail, down to a picnic spot where our lunches were waiting! On another day we got a private guide (there was another tourist from Scotland also with us) and hiked several miles back up into British Columbia. I could not believe the wildflowers we walked through! We found some pretty amazing spots, and it was fun to not have to follow a trail!

Lane's client, that hosted the trip, had these amazing extravagant dinner's each night. One night, since the town of Banff has a lot of Scottish heritage, they did an entire night themed around this.
Outfits (which I got to keep!) , a bagpipe band, authentic food and entertainment- the works! And yes, Lane is in a real kilt! This night was so neat since we both have a lot of Scottish ancestors!
Just another example of the dinners. This night they brought in the Cirque du soleil and had performances in between each of our 4 courses. I was also pulled on stage...no joke... but only to do an improv sort of act... you'll have to ask Lane about it ;)Yeah! to another fun stamp in the passport!!!

Bachelorette for a weekend...

First off- can I just say how much I LOVE getting compliments about how Danelle looks like me! One of my favorite things about having a daughter is seeing her act and (start to) look like me...
Now with that said- I have a wonderful husband who offered to take Danelle with him on his work trip to Missouri (2 hrs from where his parents live). They spent 4 days out there and that meant lots of time for me to.......

shop like crazy... (outlets, IKEA, the container store, make-up, plus getting my hair done by a friend for free!)House projects such as painting Danelle's room...Painting the play room...AND my biggest project which involved playing with Lane's tools...

After:
Before:I LOVE moldings the way most girls love shoes and handbags.
I'd much rather spend $40 on some molding than a pair of shoes- call me crazy I know!

(and don't worry- there was a lot of sitting around, reading, and no dishes or cleaning going on too! ;)

Still Laughing...

I put this up on my facebook last week, but had to put it up here too...

Check out her sweet dance move: