Busy, Busy, Busy

Life has been pretty busy lately. We have had some great family time and fun experiences, along with the normal business of life and work. This last weekend brought beautiful weather so on Sunday we headed to the neighborhood park. We invited my sister and her family over. It was lots of fun and the girls loved playing together.

Lexi hung out in her stroller for part of the time. We also set her down on the grass. It was her first time experiencing the feel of grass and she didn't seem to mind it.

Paige enjoyed climbing on the playground equipment. Because of a nervous mother, her dad helped her with some of it.

The girls love to play and spend time together - especially at a park!

Monday night, I had a friend in town from North Carolina and so six of us girls all went out for a girl's night. We just went to a steakhouse and visited. My friend was so nice and bought my dinner. It was great to get out and just hang out with other women for awhile.

I forgot my camera so I won't have any pictures until I get them emailed to me. It was weird because the guy at the table next to us starting taking pictures of us also when we posed for the hostess to take our picture with my friend's camera. We have no idea why this guy was taking our picture but he was clicking away. It was somewhat creepy, yet funny at the same time.

Yesterday I was really busy with work as I have one listing on the market and am in the process of listing another one. My brokerage is also merging with another brokerage and so there is some chaos and business with getting to know the new broker.

I had gone into work for an office meeting, leaving the kids with Joseph. When I got home, Lexi was peacefully sleeping in the bean bag chair. I thought that it was so cute!

Last night, we had a Stake Enrichment night. It was really good. The theme of the night was on Sister Julie Beck's conference talk last October entitled "Mothers Who Know". We had several mini classes that we could choose to go to. I went to "Doing More With Less" and "Faith In Every Season". After that, we did some service projects and ate refreshments. I also got to spend some time visiting with our Bishop's wife. I have known her for a couple years and absolutely love her. She is a pillar of strength to me and I always walk away after talking to her feeling so enlightened!

Today it is back to the grind. I have another girl's night coming up on Friday night and then a date with Joseph on Saturday. We got FREE season tickets to the Boise Burns (an indoor arena football team) and Saturday night is their first home game. We also have a friend who plays on the team so it should be fun.

Family Feud Tag

As some of you may know, I LOVE the show Family Feud. I found this tag as a bulletin on Myspace so I decided to start a tag on here!

Copy and paste to your own post. Rules of the game are that you have to answer the question but you can't repeat anyone else's answer. Make sure you copy and paste the previous answers. At the end of the questions, tag 3 people.

Name something you use in the shower.
1. Washcloth

Name something people hate to find on their windshield.
1. Bird poop

Name something a man might buy before a date.
1. Flowers

Name another word for blemish.
1. Pimple

Name something you'd cook in the microwave.
1. Bottle

Name a piece of furniture people need help moving.
1. Piano

Name something a dog does that embarrasses its owner.
1. Poops in someone else's yard

Name a kind of test you cannot study for.
1. Parenthood (only those of you without kids question whether this is a test!)

Name something a boy scout gets a badge for.
1. Archery?

Name a phrase with the word "home" in it.
1. Love at home

Name a sport where players lose teeth.
1. Boxing

Name something a teacher can do to ruin a student's day.
1. Give them a pop quiz

Name a bird you wouldn't want to eat.
1. Seagull

Name something that gets folded.
1. Clothes

Name something a person wears even if it has a hole in it.
1. Socks

Name something that gets smaller the more you use it.
1. Eraser

I tag: Melinda B., Mandie A., Trinity A.

Stubborn With A Temper Part II

I had a hard time getting this picture to upload in my last post. This is the first picture ever taken of Lexi. I guess I should have considered it a warning to her stubbornness and temper! The lower lip makes me laugh every time!!

Stubborn With A Temper

I never thought that an 11 month old could get so angry if she didn't get her way....

Then I had Lexi.

Don't get me wrong, I love my little girl to pieces and I wouldn't change her for anything, but she has a TEMPER! Unfortunately, I am sure that she gets it from me. Thankfully, for the most part, she is a happy baby and very laid back. However, if she doesn't get her way when she really wants it, WATCH OUT!!!

Lexi has been battling one cold after another for about the last month. Just when I think that we are on the downhill side of a cold, the runny nose starts all over again.

This week, Lexi hasn't wanted to sleep through the night. Yesterday, she woke up at 4:45 in the morning and decided that she was all done sleeping. I finally got up with her, gave her some Tylenol and a bottle and then put her back to bed. Then, in the afternoon, she tried to only take a 45 minute nap. I am not even sure she fell asleep. So, being the stubborn person that I am, I decided that she would have to go back to sleep.

She SCREAMED her pretty little head off for an hour! After that, she stopped screaming but would just talk and play. Occasionally, she would let out a yelp as if to let me know that I wasn't going to get my way. The most frustrating part of all this was that I was trying to nap too.

So, this morning, she thinks it is time to get up at 5:15. However, I don't want her to get into the habit of having a bottle again during the night. So, I didn't get up with her. Joseph went in and put her pacifier back in her mouth. As he started to walk out, she proceeded to SCREAM and throw a fit.

I got up and sternly told her that it wasn't time to get up and that she could scream all she wanted but screaming didn't make it time to get up.

I then turned all the fans on in the bathrooms to block her screams and went back to bed. Joseph just got up since it was about 20 minutes before his alarm was set to go off. I proceeded to go back to sleep. When Joseph left, I asked him if she was still screaming and he said that she had stopped within 1 or 2 minutes of us leaving her room. Hopefully, she is getting the idea.

The Diagnosis Is..........

NO SURGERY!

Joseph went and saw the ortho doc yesterday. The diagnosis is that he has a partial AC shoulder separation. What this means is that he has tearing in the ligaments that hold the collar bone to you shoulder. Had it been a full tear, Joseph would have been heading for the operating room.

The doctor says that he needs to be careful because until it heals, it is very fragile. Another fall could tear it completely. Good news is it should be better in 2-4 weeks.

The BEST news is that Joseph doesn't have to have surgery. He had 6 surgeries between August of 2005 and August of 2006. His body doesn't need any more and either do my nerves!

My New Favorite Thing

Yesterday, I was paying bills while talking to a friend. She asked me why I didn't use automatic bill pay through my bank to pay my bills. I had never really thought about it. I knew that such a thing existed but had never really investigated how it worked.

She explained to me how it worked but the thing that convinced me to try it was that in the time that it took me to FIND stamps, she had paid 4 bills. Are you kidding me? What have I been missing out on all this time?

Let me back up and explain to you my feelings on paying bills. I HATE PAYING BILLS! Not necessarily because it means money is leaving my bank account but more because it is such a pain to find the checkbook, write checks, write my return address on the bills, find my stamps, and then get it to the post office. Due to this pain, I have been known to pay the bills that have no late payment consequences a few days late. This drives Joseph crazy.

So, I got on and set up all my payees. I was bummed that I still have to pay a couple bills because it is close enough to the due date that I need to pay them online this month. However, I did schedule like 5 bills to pay. I love how some aren't due until the end of the month, but I scheduled them and now I don't have to think about them again until next month. Half of the pain of bills is making sure you get them paid and in the mail on time. Next month, I will be 100% converted to the automatic bill pay with my bank.

Thanks, Rachel!!! And to those of you who may be skeptical about bill pay or just have never really thought about it, TRY IT!

My New 'Do

Last week, a girlfriend of mine came to town and wanted to go get our hair done together. I decided that I would go and perm it. I have such thin hair that it always looks so limp and lifeless. Whenever I get really fed up with it, I just perm my hair to solve the problem. Joseph LOVES it permed so it is a win-win situation.

We decided to go to a beauty school since it is so much cheaper. Once there, they told me that they didn't feel comfortable perming it because I have color in it that has grown out and they were afraid that the hair with no color would perm differently than the hair with color and that it wouldn't look good.

Well, since I was there, I decided that I wanted to do SOMETHING with it so I decided to cut it. I found this cute hair style that was chin length. I thought that would be perfect. Joseph doesn't really care for me to have short hair so this would work. Then I would grow it out and perm it.

Well by the time they got finished getting each side even to the other side, my hair was to my EARS!

I have never cried over a haircut and I have never hated a haircut. However, I HATED this haircut when I came out of the beauty school. Absolutely HATED it!

When I got home, Joseph was less than thrilled and Paige said that she didn't like it and wondered where my hair had gone. So much for family support.

However, now it has grown on Joseph and I. I actually am starting to like it. I finally was brave enough to let Joseph take my picture the other night after his speech competition and even BRAVER to decide to post it.

Second Place Goes To........

Joseph Danes!!!!!!

I was so proud of Joseph - he won second place and a $200 scholarship! Way to go! I didn't get a picture of the girl who took first (the guy standing next to Joseph in the top photo took third) but she did an amazing speech on not drinking and driving.

The day has been a little crazy with Joseph's speech, but it has been fun. Joseph's parents and sisters came out to see Joseph speak (and win!). It meant so much to both Joseph and I that his parents took the time from their busy schedule to come out and see him compete.

Family Outing

After the afternoon session of Conference, we decided to take the girls downtown to Municipal Park where we could go walk on the Greenbelt and also go walk through the Morrison Knudsen Nature Center.

Lexi wasn't too thrilled with being in her stroller, so we were only able to go through the Nature Center (with me having to carry her most of the time). After that, we had a picnic dinner. I remembered my camera so I took a TON of pictures.

We got to see many things at the Nature Center. While there, we.....

Read about wildlife.

Looked at the GIANT Rainbow Trout.

Saw AMAZING waterfalls (one of my favorite things in nature).

Looked at streams.

Watched birds eating.

Saw geese.

And watched as the fish swam underneath us.

Paige had a great time. I was so thankful that we were able to get out as a family and that we were able to enjoy the beautiful things in nature that God has blessed us with.

Plah-Doh Fun

This morning after only being up for about an hour, Lexi and I were so tired that we went back to bed. Paige and Joseph cleaned the house. Paige helped Daddy with everything since one arm was in a sling. After cleaning, they decided to play with Plah-Doh. Paige had great fun.

I took advantage of all their fun to take a TON of pictures. For those of you wondering, yes, Joseph took off his sling for Play-Doh......he doesn't let much get in his way of having fun with his daughter.

This was Joseph's flower that he made......

Here is Paige.
She wanted to make sure that the worm that she was making was in the picture.

Here are Paige's creations.........
with a little help from Mom and Dad.

Common Denominators

What do the following pictures have in common?

MY HUSBAND!!!

No snowboard season is complete without a visit to the emergency room.

Two years ago, Joseph had to take our good friend Jason to the emergency room after he slammed head first into a rock wall that he was trying to clear and jump up on. He had a massive concussion (he didn't even remember that he had a wife and kids or that him and Joseph were snowboarding) and also a shoulder injury which required surgery.

Last year's emergency room fun was due to Joseph separating the cartilage from his ribs and popping a rib out. That occurred when Joseph wiped out while trying to land a 360.

This year, he hasn't attempted to do 360's because of his ribs. However, on Saturday he decided that he couldn't hide from them any longer and started attempting the daunting task. He landed one and decided to go try for one more. The run actually had two jumps. The first jump he would do a 180 off of (not a big deal for him) and then the second, bigger jump he would attempt his 360.

Well, he landed wrong on the 180 and wiped out. He smacked his head and his left shoulder pretty hard. Thank goodness he was wearing a helmet or else the ambulance and ski patrol would have taken him off the mountain.

The result?

A sling, follow-up with an ortho surgeon, and a prescription of happy pills (more commonly known as Norco).

The emergency room doc said that he had separated his shoulder. There are four degrees of shoulder separation. The first being just a little swollen and bruised with the fourth being breaking of the bone. She said his was in between the second and third degree.

She doesn't believe that it will require surgery but wants him to follow up with the ortho doc. It will take 6-8 weeks to heal and he might have to do physical therapy.

And the man is begging me to let him go snowboarding next weekend for "closing weekend".

What did I say?

OVER MY DEAD BODY!

Danes Travel Dreams

Joseph and I both LOVE to travel. I wish that I had a money tree growing in our backyard because if I did, we would spend a lot of money on seeing the world. I think that we have such a beautiful Earth and that Heavenly Father has blessed us so much with our surroundings. I want to experience as much of his creations as I can in this life.

I have wanted to start a travel binder that has a section for each state. Then I would research different vacations and things to do in each state and plan a vacation itinerary. All states would have at least two vacations in it. One that is family oriented and another one that is just a couple 's weekend getaway. Then I would have a jar that has slips of paper with the name of the state and vacation theme on it. Whenever we decide to start planning and saving for a vacation, we can pull a slip out of the jar and that is where we would go on our next vacation.

Instead of having a binder, I have decided to have a blog. I will have labels for each state and also labels for family or couple. If anybody has any ideas along the way, let me know. If you go somewhere and want to give a review, I would love to hear that too.

Let the adventure and dreaming begin! You can check out our travel blog at http://danestraveldreams.blogspot.com.

Picture Update

I am horrible about taking pictures. There are two main reasons for this. The first being that we don't do anything that exciting or picture worthy. In fact, we hardly ever leave the house. The second reason is that when we do go and do something that would be worthy of pictures, I either forget to take the camera or I remember the camera but never think about taking pictures. I did get a couple pictures of things over the last couple weeks so I thought that I would share.

This is my very tired husband after a week in the field with the Marine Corps. He was also very dirty. He had just gotten home and all he wanted to do was go to bed!

Speaking of tired, Lexi always just goes to sleep in the living room if I don't put her in bed when she's tired. I think pictures of her sleeping are so cute! I love the clasped hands.

While Joseph was gone, we did a play date with two of my friends and their kids (their husbands were gone also). Six kids all ages 4 and under.......it was crazy to say the least, even with 3 adults! Kali got the kids playing ring around the rosy, so I got some pictures.

Lexi Is Crawling!

Or should I say creeping! Lexi has started the Army crawl (although, in our house we like to call it the Marine crawl). She loves her newfound freedom of crawling. In fact, sometimes I have to trap her in the living room so that I can get things done. She is like a human vacuum. Anything she finds on the floor, she puts directly in her mouth. She sure is trying to make me a better housekeeper!

I know most of you are probably thinking.....isn't Lexi almost a year old? Yes, she will be 1 in less than a month (where has all the time gone?), however, Paige didn't even roll over at a year old. She ended up being diagnosed with a gross motor development delay and was in physical therapy. Paige crawled at 13 1/2 months and walked at 18 months. I had the same delay and the doctor thinks that it is hereditary. She said not to worry too much. All it means is that my kids will be late walkers, but early talkers.

So I am thrilled that at 10 1/2 months Lexi started to crawl (or creep). Hopefully, we won't have to do physical therapy!

Way To Go, Joseph!

Joseph is currently in a Communications class. Two weeks ago, he had to give a speech. He had the option of videotaping his speech and then entering it into the Speech Showcase that Boise State has. They were going to select six Comm 101 students to be in the Showcase and the winner of the Showcase gets $300.00. So, he figured that he had nothing to lose by submitting his speech.

He got a 97 out of 100 on his speech. I was so proud of him. He works really hard in school and he doesn't always feel like he is very smart. However, after he got back from Spring Break, his teacher told him that he was one of the six students that had made it into the Showcase. I am once again, so proud of him.

He competes in the Showcase on Monday. I will definitely take some pictures and will let everybody know how he does!