Our Disney World Trip!!!

This is Dan, for once! I decided to take the lead on our vacation report.

Well, we had a great start for summer with going to florida to play at Disney World for 4 days!!! Thanks to Bill and Jan who made it possible for this to happen, we had an amazing time.

For all those who dont know about Disney World, its huge! It consists of 4 parks, and only a 3rd of Disney Worlds Land is used. It has its own water systems, highways, transportation and an underground city that helps maintain the parks.

We left on a sunday and arrived in orlando in the afternoon. We didnt have to pick up our luggage at the airport as we had special Disney tags that would take them from pheonix straight to our resort at Disney! (very nice feature) That night we went to downtown disney and goofed around, ate at Earl of Sandwich, and then passed out at the resort.

Highlights of the trip were spending time with the family having fun was number one (Emmy had a blast with her cousin Paul). We also loved the Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory Stand up show (Monster Inc. computer characters interact with the audience to help with jokes). Expedition Everest, a roller coaster at Animal kingdom that goes forward, reverse, forward through a crazy track, very fun. Looking at the animals with Emmy as she loved them all! Dans favorite parts were seeing how excited Emmy got to see Handy Manny, playhouse Disney, the tea cup ride and many other rides. German food at Epcot was a plus for Dan and also a tradition with his family.

Overall we had an amazing time and loved every minute. It was a blessing to be able to go and we thank the Dannenberg family for putting it together and making it happen. Here are some pictures of our trip below


Heres Emmy Waiting for the train to come at the Magic Kingdom.


Emmy is having fun with Paul at Micky Mouse playground!


Having fun with mommy and Aunt susan and Paul on the tea cup ride!


Daddy takes emmy on the Dumbo ride that she had a blast on.


Emmy with cousin Paul at the elephant statues at Animal Kingdom.


Quick family picture.


This is Emmy passed out from a long day of playing.


Emmy hanging out with Grandpa!


Emmys highlight of the trip, meeting her favorite Disney Character Handy Manny!!!


Daddy and Emmys run in with Jack Sparrow!


Emmy passed out on our last day.

Disney World

Those of you that know Emmy well know she is a strange girl.

She does not like too many TV shows, but her all time hero is a character on Disney's Playhouse called

HaNdY MaNnY -- her hero.

She was so excited to be able to meet him, here is a picture of the first encounter with her favorite character of all time!






We are still out of town, but I thought I would post this one photo.

Reading can be fun!

Take the Quiz here!

I had taken this quiz before, but saw this on Brooke's blog, and thought I would post it (thanks for the idea Brooke :). I actually just finished reading Persuasion, so this is extra fun kinda! I love reading, and can't wait to curl up with a book once Emmy and my work are put to rest for the night. Dan will often be mad at me for staying up till one or two in the morning reading. Persuasion was a great read, I recomend it!

Anyone for a SWIM???

Lately we have been swimming in PaPaw and MaMaws pool, and Emmy loves it! She has so much fun singing fishy songs and splashing and kicking in the water. It will definitely be something we keep doing often for the summer.

Last week she finally started wearing clothes the next size up. She is a bit of a little girl, in that she is 17 months old and just over 20 pounds! But she finally can wear some of the clothes she got for her birthday. Here are her cutest pajamas (thank you Nanny and Great Grams). She is modeling them so well, you'd think she was on a runway!

Mommy finally painted Emmy's toes again too! Emmy went to Ulta with me one day and picked out a bottle of nail polish, and so we had to paint her toes!

Here is Emmy all ready for church, and she is sporting Mommy's heels! The black and white polka dots almost match - nice try cutie!

And we can't leave out the picture of Emmy in Mommy's Shox, with her 'pretty' necklace on. She is all dressed up with no party to go to!

This is the last week of finals, yeah! Dan is almost done with all his tests and his studio presentation, and then its just a waiting game to see if he gets into the graphic design program. Me, I am just hanging in there between the late nights of work and the days playing with Emmy. Sometimes I am feeling out of balance a little, but I know its only for a short time. Soon enough the summer will be long gone and we will be back to life as normal. Someday when school is done for Dan and we have a real job with actual income, it will be a weird feeling I think! I can't imagine life without student loans etc. but I also can't wait to get there! I plan to enjoy every stage we are in, poor students is just the stage for now, and we aren't perfect, but we are making the most of every day!

Finals are here!

Dan is almost finished with classes for the semester and will be starting finals week tomorrow! As stressed as he is about his finals, and mostly his projects for studio, I know he is glad there is a light at the end of a much shorter tunnel. His largest final being his studio final. As a graphic design major, they have to complete their usual projects which are ridiculously time consuming, and then he has a 14 project aptitude test that will be part of his final, and the main part of his application to the graphic design program. Applying to the program is a big deal, and only happens once a year. He has shown me what he's working on, and I have decided that graphic design is definitely not for me -- there is no way I would even know what they are talking about!

Emmy is such a funny little girl, and is growing up so fast. She is talking so much now, and even putting words together in almost sentences. She is still such a bookworm, she reads books all day long. She is finally at the stage where she will read the book out loud to herself, it is hilarious to watch!


Me, well I'm just trying to hang on until Dan is finished with school. I know once finals are over we will have a little more time, and my schedule will have a bit more flexibility. Right now I am still trying to squeeze everything onto my already full plate. It is for a short time though, this too shall pass.


This past week we had family pictures taken. Those of you that know me well know how much I hate having my picture taken, so when my sister said she wanted to take them, I was reluctant. Celeste is so good with pictures though, and I love how they turned out. Of course I hate that I'm in them, but she did such a good job catching Emmy's cute faces and smiles. She picked the perfect location as well. It was fun to take the pictures. Here are a few of the good ones. I love the ones of Emmy and Dan especially. She is starting a photography business soon, and I know she will be very successful, she has a great eye for pictures.

Sorry its been a while since I last posted. I have been extraordinarily busy these past few weeks. I don't know how it all necessarily started, but it was crazy! Emmy was sick for a few days, running a high fever with no apparent cause and just not feeling well. She was tired and didn't want to eat, but there was no tell tale puking, nose running, cough, or anything else. At first I thought it was just teething, but a teething fever shouldn't be at 104 degrees for two whole days! Anyway, as soon as she got to feeling better, I was running a fever! I think the lack of sleep and worrying about her constantly made me more suceptible to whatever bug she had. I missed a night of interviewing at work, and just felt like crap for a few days. This has been a busy time for me at work as well, I've been at the office every day to sort through a neverending pile of paperwork for the summer camp I'm in charge of coordinating. Sometimes I really think an entire rainforest is chopped down just to get the kids registered for my summer camp!

Dan has also been busy with school -- finals are approaching, and he has to apply to his program at the end of the sememster. He is busy with tests and projects and keeping up with work and his calling at church. Life has been extra stressful lately as our busy times are overlapping. Sometimes I swear I only see him long enough to give him a high five and instructions on what Emmy needs for the evening as I walk out the door to work, and by the time I get home he is asleep, sometimes I get home at 1:00 a.m. from the office. (seriously, that much paperwork)

We are both excited for school to be over and to be able to go on a trip in May with Dan's family. We are headed to Disneyworld! Dan's family members are big fans of the d-world, and we are so excited to be going and taking Emmy. Dan insists that she must grow to love the place as much as he has!

Emmy has been growing by leaps and bounds! She is such a chatterbox some days! I swear - sometimes she never stops talking. She also loves her books, even books like a road map of the US and a book of Sudoku puzzles Dan has. She points and talks and blabs about each page. Our little one is so active too! She runs everywhere, and loves to try to climb anything. We go to the park at least once a week, and she loves to climb to the highest playground and run back and forth on the bridges.

I don't have any cute pictures of Emmy to post, I really need to get a new camera -- when are the economic stimulus check coming? Here is a shot of Dan and I on our last Disney World vacation - three years ago. Until next post!

Happy Birthday to Dan!!!

This is a post to my wonderful husband Dan. Today is his birthday, and I hope its a good one for him. He is such a wonderful husband and father, he deserves the best birthday. He is so busy, and accomplishes so much in school, church callings, as a friend, father and husband. I appreciate him so much, and just want him to know it. I am not the best at telling him how much I appreciate him, or at thanking him for all he does. This is a hard time in our lives, we are both gone so much just trying to make the ends of our student loans meet :) I know this is a temporary stage, and I know it will end, but really I feel we are enjoying it despite its challenges.

Thanks for being wonderful Dan -- We love you -- Bekah and Emmy