Merry Christmas Charlie....er Elvis!

We decided to take a quick impromptu trip down to St George for a few days to relax and unwind before the Holidays get the best of us. It was great! Shawn and I got a massage, and we went down to Vegas for a day to show McKenzie where NOT to go when she grows up! We took her to the M&M store, showed her the lions at MGM Grand, and walked around and saw all the Christmas Decorations at the Belligo before eating at our favorite place- The Cheesecake Factory. It was a great little getaway.. Now that Celine's back, I need to convince Shawn to take me back there for our anniversay coming up in January. It's the 5 year mark, and since I'm fat and pregnant, i'd say I need to get spoiled! :)

Oh, and there's a fun little Christmas picture of us in front of our tree so you can see just how large I'm getting with 3 months still to go!

Apple Orchard

I got the chance to take my Mom and Dad to Shawn's Family Apple Orchard last week. It was so much fun to see McKenzie sit with Papa and eat treats while Mom and I worked. It has been so nice to spend time with Dad, and have McKenzie get to know him and become his Buddy. She loves spending time with him. Dad has Parkinson's and suffers from Dementia here and there, so I really wanted to take the opportunity to get him and Mom out in this beautiful fall weather and spend some quality time. McKenzie did a great job picking apples, and eating them too.

Joy School

McKenzie has been enjoying Joy School with some neighbor friends this year. She is doing really well, and loves to be around all the fun friends. For one Lesson, we took the kids to the pumpkin patch where the kids got to pick out a pumpkin and take pictures on all the big tractors. McKenzie was of course in the "don't you dare take a picture of me or I will scream" moods, so we got a few cute pics, but her smile is nowhere to be found.. Still it was a great time, and we picked out lots of pumpkins! Mom narrowed it down to 3.

We're having a....

Child! Just kidding. We went to the doctor today and found out that we are having a cute little BOY! It seems he has all fingers and toes, and a good size head. I am actually due a little early too. February 28th is our new due date, but Mom is hoping/praying for at least a March 1st due date.... For supplemental insurance reasons. I guess I jumped the gun... Maybe I'll get lucky and for my 30th Birthday I'll get to be in Labor! So fun!! (Can't you just see the smile on my face right now??)

Here's a couple of pics of the little cutie. I like to think I'll get this one and He'll look like me... We shall see!

Our Favorite Time of Year

Ahhh we are now approaching my FAVORITE time of year. Seriously, just putting up my halloween decorations make me so happy, I think it would be very theraputic and condusive to my marrige to just keep my house in the fall season all year long. Something about the falling leaves, the colors, the smells, the crisp in the air that makes me so happy. I can't get enough of it. So while preparing the house to become haunted yesterday, McKenzie decided to get into the mood of things as well. Enjoy.

Knocked up!

Yep, that's right. I dun got knocked up. And I meant to do it! :) I wanted to make this post so beautiful and sentimental. But seeing as I'm sicker than a dog, this is as lovely as it gets. Would you really expect anything more from me? But I will say one thing. I am so lucky that my body responds faster than a Russian torpedo when making the effort to procreate. I meant to have a baby due in April, but looks like we'll have another Pisces in the family, due March 10th. Just hope it doesn't decide to come on the 3rd. McKenzie would feel really left out if she was the only one with a different birthday. Oh, and one more thing- Shawn decided to go "work" for 6 weeks while I stay home sick with our 2 year old and keep the house running. Needless to say my home is in shambles and I'm too sick to do much. But our kid is fed so that's saying a lot. I'm pretty sure Shawn just wanted to miss all the first trimester hormonal sickness. Hey, I'd leave too if it would do me any good. Anyway, here's our new bug below. We love it already!

Happy Father's Day!

We had a fun 'ol time with Pop's this year. McKenzie was nice enough to buy Daddy a nose hair trimmer.. Something he, as well as the rest of the neighborhood and all who interact with Shawn have been asking for..

Shawn enjoyed a normal day.. except that I tried too hard to make dinner great, and bombed it. Dessert wasn't any good either.. So much for trying to make anything from scratch. But we got some good pics and had fun appreciating him anyway.

I unfortunatly missed the big surprise that my brothers and sisters and I had purchased for my Dad. Since he has Parkinson's, it's tough for this 'ol pilot to get around. So we bought him one last fight so he could fly a sesna with a friend, just like he used to. My older bro is going to go with them to film the flight, so I can't wait to see it! Congrats Dad! We love ya!

Thanks to all the wonderful Father's out there. Life woulnd't be the same without you!

Why are you so cute!?

Enough said.. I love this chick.

LeGrand

This Blog might me a tad boring to you, it has no pictures, but I had to put down some thoughts none the less.

I was invited to a "celebration of life" for a sweet sister in our old ward, the LeGrand ward. She is dying of terminal cancer and I wanted to make the effort to give her my love and come visit. I was very lucky to see half of my old ward there, and catch up and say my hello's, and of course, give Freddy my love. She looked beautiful as ever So much that I had to tell her she was lying, and that she wasn't sick she just wanted a party.

It was so good to see everyone. So many people that touched mine and Shawn's lives when we first got back to Salt Lake. We had so many that loved and cared for us. We had amazing callings. I felt so needed and appreciated, and it was because of the sweet members in that ward. I love all of you so much, I think of you often, I miss you each time I think of that little block in Sugarhouse, and I thank you for loving me and my small, yet crazy family. I pray you have peace in your hearts during your tough times.

Freddy Dunkly, your Father in Heaven loves you very much and is so proud of all you've done. You know this is true from the countless folks that came to celebrate your life with you this evening. The room was packed wall to wall with people. I can only hope I touch as many people's lives and pray that my room is full.

Love Denielle

St George

A few weeks ago, we went to St George for the week. Shawn- to work and make money. Me- to relax by the pool, end up one night in the ER, with a cyst that burst, and do a little shopping. All in all, we were able to accomplish all those things, and Shawn was able to relax a bit and go 4-wheeling with the gang as well. Except McKenzie, she wouldn't dare get on the 4-wheeler. She was perfectly content hanging out in the trailer eating her chicken. Girl is just like her Mama, and does not like things that seem remotely dangerous. Give her 20 years or so, she'll come around. Thanks Brent and Cami for being EXCELLENT hosts! We had some good times!

Family Reunion

We went to Ephraim for Shawn's Family reunion this Memorial weekend. We had lots of fun, learning about our family history, getting to know our Scandinavian roots, and getting closer to the wonderful saints who sacrificed and did so much so that we could enjoy the Gospel in our family. We also got to enjoy a fun parade down main street, where McKenzie was so excited to pick up the candy they were throwing to us. She had no idea what was happening half the time, but her hoarding skills came in handy as she ran to snag the candy before anyone else. We walked around town, saw some fun sites, and saw something which I thought was odd, in this old house, was an art exhibit of nothing but a pile of outlined rocks. I was told some very interesting artist from New York came, and made the art.. I think he took this poor small town for a ride and charged way too much. You want art like that? I'll charge You a million dollars to make piles of rock and you can just pay me! We got to enjoy some great Scandinavian food, and hang out with the family on a not so boring bus tour. Good times!

Thanksgiving Point

We took McKenzie last week to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was absolutely beautiful and I love looking at flowers and hanging out in gardens all day long. These pictures tell a very different story than what really happened. I won't tell you that we had about 20 minutes of fun before McKenzie was all "funned" out and we had to leave 30 minutes later. I won't tell you that she was still sick from a flu she got and shared with Mom, and made Dad so frustrated we left shortly after getting there.. Nope, I won't tell you about that.

I will tell you we did enjoy the tulips and warm sun that day, and hope the sun chooses to come back and share it's warmth with us a few more months.

Baby Blessing

We went this past Sunday to Heather and Brent Buttars' baby blessing of their cute baby Addison. It was great to be around family, and enjoy some of the sun that we are lacking so badly in this state. Congrats Heather and Brent. We love Ya!

Happy Easters!

Just think of Nacho Libre when you read that title. I love it.

So Easter was soo much fun this year, because McKenzie could actually understand the true meaning of Easter. She can say actually Jesus, Atonement, sacrifice, resurrection, and Good Friday with no slur! Just kidding. But she can scribble on her nursery picture of Jesus, put Easter eggs in her Easter basket, and look darn cute in her Easter Dress. The night before Easter, we had some fun dying eggs. Note to self, if you are not so smart like me, it's really hard to dye brown chicken eggs, and you need vinegar.Duh! Sunday after church, we went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. It was lots of fun eating lots of candy, and rolls. We had a great Easter egg hunt in the back yard, my sister Nicole made some way cute desserts, and we had such a great time together bonding, and talking about the true meaning of Easter. I am truly grateful for my amazing family, and the sacrifice that my savior did for ALL of us, so that we can be a forever family. I hope you had as wonderful of a day as I did.

The End!

I found the sun!

She's hiding in Phoenix! We decided to take a small family vacation to find the sun. Melanie my Sister has been hoarding her in Phoenix. We loved laying by her pool for 3days, eating good food, and I enjoyed a couple of good work out sessions too. I tell ya, I'm going to have legs that don't touch by swim suit season for many reasons... And I'm halfway there! I won't tell you how much I weigh, but I've lost 5 pounds, so I'm doing good! Too bad when we got home, it started snowing again..Seriously need to get more sun before I turn into a vampire.
Thanks Melanie for such a fun week!!