Riviera Maya & Cozumel Island

WARNING: If you hate seeing a bazillion pictures on blogs, please stop reading right now!

Ok, for the rest of you, here are the pics from our vacation. Lane and I had a blast to say the least! All-Inclusive is the way to vacation! We stayed at the Aventura Spa Palace and I don't think a better hotel exists! We decided to keep it really low key and not over plan our activities. We did some golfing and snorkeling on Cozumel Island(thanks to Lane's wonderful Spanish skills- he talked them into taking us out on our own private boat to do it! gracias! :) Most importantly we chilled out on the beach!

Snorkeling on Cozumel Island was awesome!! I'm sure for Lane it wasn't all that great though since he's been scuba diving so many times- places like the Red Sea to name a few!

Viva Mexico! (like the flag in back :)
On the ferry ride over to the island! Beautiful clear blue waters!Lots of this going on during the vacation!

Golfing- well me trying to golf at least...
Courtyard in our hotel.
More hotel shots... many resturants and bars, and cool tiki huts for spa/massage stuff...
One of the MANY pools with swim up snack bars and drinks! Many (virgin) pina coladas!!!!

So many staff members!!! And it was not crowded at all being November and all!Beautiful grounds!


Best room service ever! I loved eating breakfast out on our patio with the ocean view!
Me in paradise!!
Yeah, that would be a double jacuzzi in our room, overlooking the beach! Staying out late! Man it's been awhile since we've done that! Thanks grandparents for babysitting!

She's Walking!

Goodbye October!

So here's the "Baby's First Halloween" pictures! There's quite a few- our home computer has crashed- nice blue screen message :) so this post will have a bunch of our farewell to October pictures! First off, Danelle's first trick or treat house! She had a very strong start!

Have you seen anything more adorable than a little giraffe butt? Can you say "Go big or go home"? Thank you Texas! These neighbors of ours the Hatmakers really know how to throw a party! Notice the giant inflatable bounce house there in the back + 2 BBQ grills, and food like you wouldn't believe! Not to mention we had 3 haunted houses in our neighborhood and one of those synchronized pumpkin light/music show (like the ones during Christmas where the lights flash to the music). Yeah, quite the neighborhood!

A typical day at the "home" office for Lane. Danelle likes to check up on him!

Outside our house- I was very proud of all my luminaries!

She's showing you the Mummy hot dogs we had for Halloween dinner (with pumpkin soup)! mmmm!

Our pumpkin carving: Lane did the Obama face, no wait, I think that was just a skeleton... and mine was inspired by Danelle's sickness the past few days... hence the puking pumpkin ;)

There was a downtown Halloween party- but Danelle wasn't feeling it... still a little sick :(

Ya, just a little sick huh.... no ward trunk or treat for us this night....

Here I thought her flush cheeks were just cute... come to find out it was becuase she had a fever! woops...

Last but not least- University of Texas vs. BYU volleyball... wow I miss playing college volleyball!!! Megan will be happy to hear that BYU, and her old coach got their butts kicked!! Hook em horns!!!!!!!!!

NOW WE ARE ALL CAUGHT UP............. for now.......

Harvest?

Check out what we grew this year in our garden... Does anyone know any good recipes?

Our lil' pumpkin!

Look guys, it's just my size!! What's a trip to the pumpkin patch without a cheesy photo? Hope we didn't let you down ;)

This is Danelle saying "Give me the candy people, and fill it to the top." Ya, she poses like this all the time when she's chill'n and eating bitter biscuits.

Bwwuuaahaaahaaaaaa!

Just so you know, that's Danelle's favorite thing to hear these days... (bwwuuaahaaahaaaaaa) She cracks up every time!
I got tagged from my friend Sarah so here's my craft post:

These little ghosties are soooooo easy to make- for sure a fun kid project... Ava ;)

(I gave these as treats for our friends/neighbors) Here's Martha Stewart's Link to make them... here


Keeping with the GHOST theme, here's another awesome kid (or craft-challenged-adult-such as-myself) project that is way easy and fun to do.

Here's a video link on how to make it here.
BEFORE:

AFTER:Put those little battery-operated tea lights in them and you're good to go!!!
Enjoy ya'll!!! Happy Halloween!

An apple a day

What better way to celebrate peak apple season than with caramel apples and warm apple cider! Danelle will stay busy gnawing on those things with her two little "tooths" for quite some time. (ones with out caramel and nuts of course)
What a face huh- we were out playing in the rain- hence the crazy hair!
And this is her favorite hang out spot. She's just tall enough to look out the window to our front patio where Cole hangs out. She'll just stand there and watch Cole, it's pretty cute!

Check out her little spin move in this clip... she's hilarious these days with the little moves she comes up with!

Not much to report on...

She is getting pretty close to walking though.... stay tuned...

Dang Martha! & Summers still here...

I DVR Martha Stewart everyday. It's true. I really just end up fast forwarding the entire show (she drives me nuts-but the ideas are still great), but every now and then she has something cool on- such as these babies...
Well- let me just say there is a reason the woman has her own show on the Fine Living Network... and that is because it is impossible to recreate what she does! Exhibit A:
After hours of working on these little things, this was my best attempt! I thought it would be cool to have these at Danelle's 1st bday, but I think I'm going to scratch that one... and they taste like a ball of dough. That may be a good thing for some people though.

It's so weird to see everyone post pictures of fall and all the changing leaves. Being in Texas is starting to remind me of growing up in California where the summer seem endless... Danelle is still loving the pool:

She's also enjoying the race track + sideburns (to replace her mullet) + dye died shirts. Niiiice! Long live summer!

Glamour Shots by Deb

Ok, well they're not exactly "glamorous" and Amy did them, not Deb. This was from a couple of months ago-back when Danelle was 5 months old. But of course I'm just now getting around to getting some of the pictures ordered, so here's a sample of some of my favorites. It's a little grainy- the pictures I got printed have texture, and I scanned them in...so they really are better quality than they look. *Note to self: don't try to take pictures in the middle of summer, in the middle of the day, in D.C. where the humidity is pushing 90%

The "tooths"

Any mother that has ever tried to capture a shot of the first tooth will appreciate these pictures. They are still making their way up, but none the less they are here! She's just growing up way to fast ... sniff sniff :( Come to think of it, I sure hope that's not just ONE big tooth...

Everything's Bigger in Texas- Dallas Trip

We took a little trip to Dallas which is 3 hours north east of us. I had no idea just how BIG this city is! The architecture is beautiful downtown, I wish I could have gotten pictures of all the amazing buildings. We ate and shopped at a really neat area called West Village- awesome food, cute stores! We didn't realize that all the hotels would still be so crowded with hurricane refugees up from the coast but everyone we ran into seemed to be in good spirits!
Oh- and as for the "Every thing's bigger in Texas" quote that I had always heard... well it's true! The new Cowboys stadium was ginormous! Not to mention it is the most expensive sports venue ever built! We also happened past the Mary Kay warehouse (they're based out of Dallas) also very big.



And last but not least-

The FATHER OF THE YEAR award goes to....

drum roll please...


We seemed to have a hard time keeping her out of things such as the fireplace, and away from the DVR and TV, so alas... Lane, when asked to "watch" our little girl while I was at the practice for our church primary program came up with this "good" idea. I'll give him credit- it did keep her pretty contained.

But she really NEEDS it !

Ok, I'll admit it. I have the dreaded "First Time Parent-my child NEEDS all that stupid crap stuff" disease. Do you think they have some sort of support group for us? I walk into Babies R Us and the thought comes to my mind- how did I ever survive without this!? The latest gadget- the Teething Feeder! Essentially it's a mesh bag that the kid gets to gum/suck food through that normally would be a choking hazard. She's had stuff like bananas, peaches, grapes, strawberries, carrots... etc. and I don't have to worry about whether or not she'll choke on it. She's at the perfect stage for it since she just popped up 2 tooths!!! (when they're as cute as her's are they are officially "tooths" and not "teeth" :) So I'm sure it feels good on her little gums also.

I guess my only "justification" is that I figure the next couple of kids that come along can use it. But I'm sure by the time that happens, I will have wised up and realized just how ridiculous all this stuff really is and there's just no where to put it all!

Swing Low Sweet Chariot!

Let your eyes feast on this little beauty! Ok well her too, but more specifically the new jogger I got from Lane- the Chariot Cougar! Thanks for the great recommendation Sarah. Of course we could have just gone with your standard baby stroller, but come on- can those other guys convert to: attach to a bike, jog, hike, or cross country ski (which we'll be doing TONS of here in Texas... :) But truth be told, it really came down to the fact that I'm married to an "outdoor fanatic" who doesn't settle for anything but the best when it comes to outdoor equipment. Ehh, so what if we give her the cheap baby food- the kid is rolling in style my friends- and that's what's important in life am I right?!
And yes, that would be a whisk she has there- we like to start em' young... Also, this week we have welcomed Danelle to the dinner table! She's perfecting her "grab and stuff the face" technique quite well. Wonder where she learned that one...Danelle's first pair of cowgirl boots. We didn't want her to feel out of place here in Texas- and what better place to wear them than good ol' church.Goodbye baby weight-(hopefully in time for our Cancun trip...) hello Turkey trot!

8 months going on 2 yrs. old...

Danelle has officially entered the "i'm going to get into EVERYTHING" stage. I tried to delay the inevitable as long as I could by not encouraging the crawling (bringing her all her toys etc.) but after our Utah trip she was off and crawling!! Oh how our world has changed! She loves to come to where we are- usually in the kitchen eating I mean cleaning. She also loves finding things she shouldn't have, getting stuck- under the kitchen table, or pulling herself up on something and not being able to get down. She's doing so many cute tricks - i'll have to put some video of it. What a fun stage- but man, everything is happening so fast now!