Family Photos 2009

OH YES- it's Lane's favorite time of the year... no not fall hunting. Fall family pictures. The one day the whole year where you get to wake up extra early on a Saturday, get all dressed up, and try and pose in uncomfortable positions with a squirmy 1 year old.

Now you have to just wait and see which one we pick for our Christmas card this year!

Living with a Toddler

"Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he/she can tell when they're in trouble.”

She can be so destructive sometimes... this week for example...

Exhibit A: pulled the video ipod off the counter, landed on the tile floor, screen doesn't work now.
Exhibit B: Used something (still not sure what) to scratch & chip the new bed in our room.
And yet.... she's always finding new ways to make us laugh and smile!

She also says "please" and "thank you" more than any other child i've met.

Fall in small town Texas

Monday night we visited the local pumpkin patch and let Danelle pick out her pumpkin.
After that we headed over to the Soda Fountain shop in town. Very cute, very quaint, and good malts!
On another day the local fire dept. came to visit our neighborhood. Danelle is in love with trucks (add it to her list with trains and buses)...More fun fall festivities to come...

Utah State vs. Texas A&M football game

It was so fun to see our Alma Mater play here in Texas! Lane and I were basically the only Utah State fans in a crowd of about 80,000 maroon A&M fans. *Thankfully everyone was really cool to us!

We had 2nd row seats, and the game was a really good one. Lane camped and tailgated with a bunch of guys (all A&M fans), and I met him up there the day of the game.

TailgatingUtah State scores another touchdown! (if you look real close you can see the Utah State visitor section on right)The lone blue in a crowd of maroon! We got on the jumbo tron a couple times also! (it helped to be sitting close to the camera, and I think the guy felt bad for us :)Post game- this was the Utah State section... not big, but still was cool to support our school.

CHEESSSSSE

After 21 months of training i've finally been able to get Danelle to pose for pictures!

Now she squats *(since I always get down low to take her picture), and says "Cheesssse".

Here are some cheese pictures of her at the Wildflower Center.

She is getting so big!!!!

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! :)