Because I Love Him!!!!

I happen to adore my Colby!!

He is the coolest, most awesome and funny guy in the universe.

Today we celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary, Colby!

Here's to us!!!

Charlotte's New Pictures

These are the new pictures of Charlotte! I cannot believe my little baby girl is going to be FIVE!! Where has the time gone? She had such a fun time getting her picture taken, she really does love being in front of the camera. She is such a doll, and we love her so much! Enjoy!

This is one of my favorites! I love how excited she was at having a bunch of flowers in the picture!

And then, tossing them up in the air!

Funny face!

Flower girl!

Another silly funny face! How come she is still so pretty and cute when she makes funny faces?!!

So pretty!

I love this picture. First of all, I am a sucker for a sepia-tone photo, and second, this just captures Charlotte's personality so well. Mellow, laid-back, and relaxed!

Look how tall she has gotten!!

I love this picture! She looks so sweet and angelic. Love it!

This pose was one of Charlotte's ideas. She wanted to hug her knees and show the photographer her cute lime-green socks! She is so funny!

Charlotte LOVES this picture. She was quite pleased to have the biggest pink flower right by her face.

I must admit, this one is my very favorite! There is just something about her funny little personality that really shines through in this picture! I love it!

So, there you have it- the latest and greatest pictures of my
Darling, Sweet, Adorable, Lovely, Funny, Gorgeous Blue-Eyed Beauty!

Girls Night!

I just wanted to post really quick, and say "Thank You" to my dear friends for the fun Girl's Night Out tonight. It was so fun to get together and have a night out, talking and laughing so much that the employees at Rumbi were surely laughing at us!!!!
However, we missed you Linda- you have to make it next time!

And, in almost-typical Dani fashion, I have no pictures of our fun night- but not because I forgot the camera, as I usually do. Nope, this time I remembered my camera, I even got it out of my purse and everything, I just flat-out forgot to take any pictures!
That's what happens when I am having so much fun talking and laughing with my friends!

Football Brings Out The ____ In People...

Today, as we were watching the football game, it occurred to me that football can bring out the best and worst in people.
Let me explain.


Colby has always been a New Orleans Saints fan. For baseball, it's the Red Sox, for football, it's the Saints. Today, the Saints are playing against the Minnesota Vikings. Obviously, we want the Saints to win, not only because they are the household favorite team, but also because we DETEST Brett Favre. Since it is Sunday, and I should probably be truthful and honest, we would be not-very-sad if Brett Favre sustained some form of injury in this game. We'd like the Saints to win, and not only that, but we'd like to make the Vikings suffer a terrible and humiliating and ego-crushing loss.


It didn't turn out quite that way. At the time of this post, the Saints were tied, but awaiting the outcome of a challenged play, that, if goes in our favor, would put the Saints on top.

But, just a few minutes ago, something happened, and it appeared that Brett Favre was hurt. Now, Barrett and Colby have been yelling and shouting "Come on Saints!" and "GO GO GO GO GO!!" at the top of their lungs the whole game. So, when we saw that Favre was probably hurt, we were all not-so-secretly rejoicing!!

Except for Savannah.

The dreaded killjoy that she is, in all her amazing sweetness and niceness and goodness, said something like "Oh, how sad, he's hurt bad!" To which we replied something like, "Who cares? It's not only a Viking, but it's Brett Favre. Yay, injuries!"
Then Savannah said, in all seriousness and sincerity, "It doesn't matter which teams they're on, we should be worried and care about everyone the same."

Obviously, Savannah does not understand football at all!!

But, she does understand genuine kindness.
How on earth did she ever come from me?

Mom's Book Report

So I love to read. I don't really get to read as much as I used to, or would like to. But I have been reading a lot more often the

past few months.

Just a small piece of advice, though....DO NOT try reading when you are trying to stay awake on a graveyard shift!! Not very effective. It is quite effective at making you feel very, very sleepy very, very quickly, however.

Anyway, I have been reading more these past months, and I'm not sure if it's because of Savannah's age, or the fact that she likes to read, or what, but I have been reminded of all the wonderful books I read when I was her age. So, I thought I would give you a small book report on my reading lately! Aren't you excited? Well, you should be!

These are the "Spiderwick Chronicles" books. They were only published in the last few years, but I read them because Savannah received them as a Christmas gift in 2008, and since she did not read them, I thought I would. They were fun. Savannah has since read the first two books, and even did a book report on the first book for school this year. Nice!

These are the "Anne of Green Gables" book series. This is actually the exact same set I had as a kid! I have to admit, though, I only read the first three books in the series, and they were not my favorites. I have only seen a few episodes of the TV series that was produced when I was a kid, and I wasn't a huge fan of them either. Apparently, I am just about the only girl who has read these books, and not really fallen in love with them. Oh, well.

These are the "Little House on the Prairie" books. These are the same exact books I had as a kid, and that I still have!!!! I LOVED these books. I bet I have read these about 15 times each, and I love them just as much every time I read them. I have tried to get Savannah to read them, and she just doesn't seem very interested in them at all. You know what? It almost hurt my feelings!! Isn't that weird? I totally adore these books, and I almost take it personally that she doesn't like them, not yet anyway. So, since she won't read them, I am currently reading them again. I am on the fourth book right now. It has been at least 15 years since I read them last, so this has been so fun!!! And yes, I realize it's just a wee bit lame-o that I am so wounded over my daughter not liking the same books I do, but....

I'm working on it!!
:o)

These are the "Chronicles of Narnia" books. I loved them and read them all as a kid. I actually re-read the whole series about a year ago, and I was surprised at how much I still loved them. I think I had an entirely different perspective reading them as an adult, compared to reading them at the age of eight. Savannah won't read these either. She just likes to watch the films. Grrrrr!!

These are the "Wrinkle in Time" books. I know I read all of them in third grade, and so I bought them for Savannah for her birthday last year thinking she would love them too. Any guesses on how sharp and accurate I was?!?!?! Yep, you were probably right- she has zero interest in them! So, I read them all again. Kind of funny, I remembered the first book pretty well, but the second and third books did not seem familiar to me at all. I liked them all though.

"Island of the Blue Dolphins." I know I read this one a few times and loved it. Savannah just barely got this for Christmas, so we'll see how long until I realize that she has no interest in it either, and then I will read it again!!


I have had a lot of fun reading these "children's" books, and maybe I will start reading "big people" books again someday,
but I don't think it will be any time soon. First I need to finish the "Little House" books,
and then I think I am going to re-read "Sherlock Holmes" again!


And then, I am going to try and pound it into my head that Savannah does not have the same taste in books as I do!

Ha! Good luck with that one..........I know........

Happy New Year!!

For New Year's Eve this year, we decided to let the kids stay up as late as they wanted to, and if they pooped out before 2010, so be it. And honestly, for our kids, staying up until 9:30 is staying up REALLY LATE, so it was an ambitious goal for them!!

We decided to eat dinner, and then watch a movie and let the rest of the night unfold. The movie we watched:

"George of the Jungle" with Brendan Fraser.

It was so funny! Yes, we realize the movie was produced in 1997, and therefore not new at all, but we had never seen it, so it was new to us!

The kids LOVED it! They were giggling like hysterical maniacs throughout the whole film! And afterward, they were jumping off the chairs and couches- hands outstretched as though holding a vine- and yelling like Tarzan.....or George, in this case!

It was so funny, and Colby and I were laughing like maniacs watching them!

So, Happy New Year!!

We hope that your 2010 is a good one, worthy of jungle-swinging, Tarzan-yelling laughter!

Random and Pointless Photos!

So we all know that we just like to be silly and have fun at our house, right? Well, here are some pictures to prove it.Savannah thinking it is so fun to wear Mom's glasses. Honestly, only people with perfect 20/20 vision want to wear glasses just for fun.

Charlotte and Mom. You don't know how difficult it was for me to have these pictures taken, let alone post them- because everyone knows how much I HATE having my picture taken, right? But, it was hard to edit myself out of the pictures and still get the cute photo of the kids, so.......

We were trying to get a nice picture of me cuddling Char, but she just wanted to make silly faces!
Savannah and Mom. Savannah actually likes to sit nicely and pose....sometimes. This is one of my new favorite pictures!

Barrett and Mom. Bear is just fun and silly personified. It was a struggle to get him to sit still long enough for a nice picture with Mommy.

I can't remember where or why these feathers came to our house, but here they are, and Charlotte thinks they are awesome tickle-toys!!


I LOVE this picture of Charlotte. She looks so sweet, so funny, and so coy all at the same time.

This is a very short clip of Charlotte dancing at the Festival of Trees. She LOVES to perform, and like her Daddy, shows absolutely no signs of being nervous or afraid.

So, there you have it. Random and pointless photos to show how much we love being silly and fun!!! I love random photos, don't you?!?!

In Remembrance

Boston DeVon Willden

December 18, 2008 ~ January 23, 2009Happy First Birthday, little man!

We love you, we miss you, and we are praying for your sweet Mommy today, as she faces your first birthday without you here to cuddle, and to sing to, and to hold in her arms.

We miss you, Boston!

Why I Should Not Be Allowed To Clean Up Dinner...

Apart from the fact that it's just not fun, but I almost always forget to put something away. Plus, I am notorious for not rinsing the dishes very well before I put them in the dishwasher, so quite often, there are funky little food particles floating about in the bottom of the silverware-cleaning-rack-thingie.

But, this is what I did last night....I cleaned up after dinner, put the dishes in the dishwasher (after not rinsing them well enough, I am sure), and then wiped off the table and counters, and called it good.

Apparently, however, I failed to check the inside of my oven.

Which brings me to this point in time.

Yep, I left the meatloaf in the oven.

Grrrrrr!!!

I happen to LOVE my meatloaf. Colby LOVES my meatloaf.

If I may be so bold, I make a very tasty and delicious meatloaf! And what did I do? I left it in the oven all night long, only to discover it mere moments ago.

Now, no meatloaf leftovers.

But, I do still have the scrumptious smell of meatloaf to torture and torment me.

Grrrrrr.

Letters

So for family home evening tonight, the kids wrote their letters to Santa Claus. They had so much fun telling him what they wanted, and decorating the letters too!This is the first page of Charlotte's letter. She still writes pretty big, so it took two pages! Her letter says: "Dear Santa, I've been really good. Will you bring..."

"....me a castle and a princess. Charlotte"
She was pretty proud of her stamped-marker decorations, and she was quite proud that she wrote all the words by herself, just like Savannah!

This is Barrett's letter. With a little help from Daddy, he wrote:
"Dear Santa, I love you. I have been really good. Will you please bring me a skateboard and a Handy Manny tool bench."
He was very excited to use markers to color his letter, since Barrett's mommy is a meanie, and very, very rarely allows the kids to use markers! (She prefers crayons- much less messy.)

Savannah wrote: "Dear Santa, I love you! I have been really good this year. Will you bring me a skateboard with Pooh on it and a DS. Love Savannah"
She almost asked for an Eeyore something, but then changed her mind and tried to erase it. And just in case Santa Claus is behind on the latest electronic gaming, Savannah colored him a picture of a Nintendo DS. She tries to help him out!

It was so fun to see them write these, and to see how excited they are for Santa to come.
Only 15 more days to go until the magic holiday that all kids live for!!!

Concert Time

The concert announcement I have been waiting for has finally been made! After months of anxiously checking the band's website every day for any information on the U.S. tour, I am so very excited and overjoyed to announce that MUSE will be in Salt Lake on Monday, April 5th!! YES!!!! And, as if that wasn't enough to make me feel Christmas has come early, the opening act will be Silversun Pickups. How cool is that!!!

Now, the wait begins.....

only 118 more days until the big show!!!

Things Kids say

Don't you think that kids say the darndest things?!

Just now, I gave Barrett a great big hug and a kiss, and while hugging him, said,
"Oh, you are so cute I could just eat you all up!"

To which Bear replied,
"No, I said you can eat Daddy all up when he gets home. Eat Daddy, not Bear Bear."

Funny litte boy!!

Pickle-Chiffon Pie

So, everyone knows how much I love books, right? I love, Love, LOVE to read. Allow me to share this wonderful story about this wonderful book with you.

This book, "Pickle-Chiffon Pie" by Jolly Roger Bradfield, was Colby's very most favorite book from his childhood. Unknown to me, Colby has been secretly searching for this book for the last thirteen years. Yep, the past 13 YEARS!! He loved this book as a child, and was so hoping to find it, and share it with his children. He had forgotten the title of the book, the author, and anything else that could help him locate it. Then, apparently after almost 13 years, he was beginning to despair of ever finding it, and so he asked for help.
(Honestly, isn't that so like a man!!! "I can do it; I don't need help; I can find it; I don't need instructions; etc!!!)
Well, long story short-ish, the book had been out of print for several years, which was why he had such a hard time finding it. It has just been reprinted in the last year or two, and we happened to stumble upon it! Well, after wading and poring and searching through several websites, search engines, and some good old-fashioned sleuthing, that is!

We found it, and ordered two copies: one for the kids, and one for Colby and I to keep.
I had never heard of it, and consequently, had never read it before. It is wonderful! The illustrations are so fun, and the story is just amazing.

If you get a chance, find a copy and read it to your children. If not to them, get a copy and read it for yourself. It is a most wonderful book, and you will not regret it.

***Post Update 12/4/09***
So, Charlotte took this book to school for show-and-tell today. When I picked her up, her teacher Miss Lani told me that she and the other teacher, Miss Linda had such a fun time listening to Charlotte. She held up the book, explained that it was her Daddy's favorite book, and then turned to the page that had the illustration of a lion wearing roller skates while juggling a dozen apples and a bottle of ketchup. Apparently, Charlotte was giggling and laughing so hard, that it was almost impossible to understand what she was saying. It was quite infectious; it caused all the kids in her class to start giggling uncontrollably, and things just spiralled from there!! See, a truly fine book! You just can't get a better review than a classroom full of 16 preschoolers and 2 teachers giggling hysterically over a book!
I'm so glad I let Charlotte take the book for show-and-tell today!

A Day Of Thanks

Thanksgiving is here! Happy Thanksgiving!! These are some little handmade turkeys that the kids made for Colby for Thanksgiving! Aren't they adorable!! For whatever lame-o reason, I cannot get these to post with the correct rotation. I have tried at least 5 times, and I give up. You'll just have to deal with them sideways, I guess. They're still cute though!This is the turkey Barrett made. On each of the colored feathers, the kids wrote some things they were thankful for and that they loved about Daddy. Just in case you can't read them, Bear loves Daddy's tickles; playing Guitar Hero; that Daddy's funny; and that Daddy's cuckoo. Isn't he funny!!

This is Charlotte's turkey. Hers is the only one that is right-side-up! Charlotte is thankful for and loves Daddy's hugs; that he's funny; Daddy's kisses; that he makes her laugh; and when he plays with her. She is a doll!

This is Savannah's turkey. She is thankful for and loves that Daddy is funny; that he thinks she is cute; that he is nice; that he's crazy; and that he is a lovey. She is so sweet.

As for myself, I am thankful, ever so grateful, and feel so lucky for all the blessings in my life. I have three (mostly) wonderful and adorable children. I have a wonderful and amazing husband. I am so thankful for Colby. He is wonderful, thoughtful, funny, patient, tender and kind. I love him. I adore him and cherish him. I am eternally grateful for him, and I hope that he knows how much we all love him. We are so thankful for how hard he works to make us happy, and how much he cares.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Flashback to Halloween...

So, it is nearly Thanksgiving, which can mean only one thing: it is time for me to post our Halloween pictures!! Hey, I am actually less than a month late on this one, that's improvement!

Barrett, Savannah and Charlotte at the pumpkin patch! Each of the kids got to pick out their very own pumpkins. They were so proud!!

Carving time! This year, we made everyone try and help, instead of just making it the "Amazing Colby Jack-o-Lantern Party" like usual. The kids actually had quite a good time, getting right into it all, and scooping out the seeds. Obviously, we still let Colby handle the knives, and do the actual carving. I mean, I am a bit of a blase and relaxed parent, and probably let my kids do too much that could possibly be considered dangerous, but I didn't let them handle the gigantic carving knife. Now, a small kitchen knife, or paring knife, that's a different story....!

Savannah pretty proud of her pumpkin guts!

Savannah the Snow Princess, or The White Witch from Narnia, or a Snow Fairy from Barbie in the Nutcracker. Her costume depended on her mood. The official tag on the costume said "Snow Princess," but apparently, that wasn't quite enough for Savannah!

Princess Cinderella Charlotte. She was excessively pleased to have an official Cinderella gown of her very own. I was actually surprised that it took her this long to ask for a Princess costume. Charlotte is such a fluffy, princessy twirly-girl, I thought she would have asked for it long before now. But, she loved it, and said that she is going to be Cinderella next year too. We'll see!!

Cowboy Barrett. So, everyone knows that Bear is totally enthralled with "Toy Story" right now, and that he thinks Woody and Buzz Lightyear are the coolest! So, he decided he wanted to be Woody this year. So cute!!

All three of the cutie-patooties with their costumes and carved pumpkins.

Happy Halloween, now that it's November! Ha ha ha!