Danelle's Diary

Please read this

2009-11-11T15:58:00.004-06:00

I have so much respect for my father in law. He was a man of honor. Cancer took his life Dec. 26th, 1998. He was exposed to raditation in 1962 while serving in the US Navy. We have always believed that this exposure was the cause of his cancer. It was a quest of my mother in law's to hold those accountable for this. She went through great trouble to do this. Not only do I think my father in law, Gary Young was a hero but I also think his wife, Nancy Young is. She followed through on this mission and stuck with it until the end. Gary would be so proud of her just as we are.

Please take the time to read her Quest for Justice and take the time to remember all atomic veterans that had to suffer for the duty to their country.

Thank you to all the veterans that have served our country. Thank you to all those that are serving now. These people risk their lives more than we may ever know.

Concert

2009-11-11T15:36:00.005-06:00

Watch this!

The kids and I are excited to go see Jingle Ball 2009 concert. Several singers will be there that we like but here is one that I love and can't wait to hear.

I have this on my iPod and love to workout to it.

Proud

2009-10-20T21:10:00.002-05:00

I'm just saying that I'm so proud of Shelbie's grades for the first quarter of 7th grade. Her GPA is 3.875. Apparently she is 48 out of 117 in her class. She said her goal is to bring this up.

This is so awesome. Way to go Shelbie! Keep up the hard work.

Ok...now on a funny note. Here was a funny that Landon said this weekend.

We were talking about how women find comfort in chocolate when they are dumped by a guy.

I said "just get her ice cream and she'll feel better".

Landon said "just get her a casserole".

Just the way he said it was hilarious. We are still talking about it and laughing.

Tennis

2009-10-08T15:47:00.002-05:00

Tennis season is over now. This was Shelbie's first year to take tennis. I was proud of her for wanting to try something new. I have to admit that at first I didn't think it would involve much exercise but I was wrong. They ran at each practice and after trying it myself I realize that it's harder than it looks and you do in fact get tired.
She improved throughout the season and I could tell a big improvement from the first match to the last. It was fun to watch her. I enjoyed watching singles matches the best but she did have doubles matches each time too.

She said she's going to take it again next year. I'm hoping that this summer she will get to the tennis court and practice. I plan on going with her. It's a good workout and she can teach me a thing or two. Good job Shelbie on your tennis season!

Nature's Beauty

2009-10-08T11:25:00.002-05:00

One evening in September there was a gorgeous full rainbow. Then a beautiful sunset followed it. Right after the sun set the lightening started. What a perfect picture opportunity. But, I was not fast enough to get the camera for the rainbow. We rushed in the car and drove out 12th street to get shots of the sunset. Gosh it was stunning. I was excited to then get some lightening shots but then the battery when dead on the camera. So much for that. Anyway, I just had to share these shots that I was able to capture.

Grandma/Shelbie day

2009-10-08T11:07:00.003-05:00

What fun! Gram took Shelbie on a girls day for her 13th birthday.

Check out those nails! This is so "Shelbie". She loves these wild colors. Everything that reminds me of the 80's.

Her day included the manicure (which was her favorite), her hair appointment, and shopping. It's hard to tell by the pictures here but her highlights in her hair turned out so good. They are bold and beautiful. She had wanted colored streaks in her hair but settled on the bright blonde. She loved it. I did too. It's so "Shelbie".

She didn't do a whole lot of shopping which doesn't surprise me a whole lot. She's not into spending much money, especially if it's someone else's. She has a guilt about it. Gosh...that's so me. I guess she's her mother's daughter.

She had an awesome day. What a special treat to receive from Gram for her birthday. You only turn 13 once!

Teenager

2009-09-28T22:16:00.006-05:00

I am behind but I have had so much happening. Most importantly, Shelbie turned 13. Oh my goodness...a teenager. I have some great pictures of her "beauty day" with grandma and of her party. I will soon post these but for now I want to talk about Shelbie Lou.

Things about Shelbie at age 13

She is a sweet girl.

She loves the color lime green.

She is an awesome softball player.

She is a non-conformist.

Her bedroom is messy.

She always has her radio on in her room.

She loves to listen to music.

She paints her nails practically daily and in funky colors.

She loves funky colors that remind me of the 80's.

She has a lot of friends.

She takes really long showers.

She plays tennis.

She is a master text messager.

She is 5'4" and that seems so tall.

She loves yogurt.

She is really wierd, in a fun way.

She can dance really well.

She would go crazy without her cell phone.

She is money smart.

She talks fast.

She has a lot of math homework.

Math is her favorite subject (this year, so far).

She is an excellent student.

She likes to get to school early to socialize.

She loves to play soccer.

We call her nicknames like "Louie, Lou, Lou-Lou, Loumeister, Loulimaid".

She wants to start babysitting.

She has a funky style.

She loves facebook and is glad to be 13 to join.

She likes to watch YouTube.
She is sensitive.

She is really nutty fun.

She wants to be a cake decorator.

She likes boys now.

She sleeps backwards with her feet at the headboard.

Her goofiness makes me smile regularly.

She is a sweetheart full of love.

She is my favorite girl in the whole wide world.

I love you Shelbie. I love you at age 13!

WOW!

2009-09-10T22:54:00.001-05:00

Look who's turning 13 tomorrow. WOW. Where did the time go? She will be a teenager. Double WOW.

I have a lot of posting I need to do here.

It's happened again...

2009-08-30T23:26:00.002-05:00

My laptop.

Well, it was Tim's old laptop that turned into my laptop when he got a new one. Then, the kids took control of it and I never really felt like it was mine and mine only. So, it turned into "our" laptop. "Our" laptop pooped out. Remember when my laptop died and it stressed me out? All my pictures are on there! Ugh. Well, now I feel that same stress because this laptop died too.

It didn't actually die. But, the charger died. Why do we go through chargers like they are candy? It just won't stay charging.

All my pictures are one there. My favorite blogs that I read are on there. Links to my favorite websites. I'm lost without it.

Did I mention my pictures are on there? Oh ya, I think I did. I had some good ones to add to my blog too. Some really cool action shots, a rainbow and sunset picture, football pictures, friend pictures....**sigh***. I guess for now all I post is whining and complaining.

I miss my laptop. Oops..I mean "our" laptop.

P.S. I think the kids are the ones that ruined it too. I'm blaming them anyway. Someday they can get their own computers and I can have my own!

Weeehawww!!!!!!

2009-08-23T23:49:00.008-05:00

I had a ton of pictures of the kids jumping out of the swings this summer evening. It was so fun to go through them all. You can see in one of the pictures that Shelbie forgot to let go and she landed splat in the sand. The expression on her face is priceless. I really love Josh's hair in that last picture too. The kids got some good height on a lot of their jumps. It was cool to capture these moments.

Thank goodness no one got hurt. I kept imagining a broken wrist the whole time. Tim told the kids that they could not participate. I didn't really understand why (maybe he was thinking the same thing). But, I said ok, just a few jumps. In my mind I was thinking that they need to be kids and jump. What fun is it to just watch? Participate!

The Clan

2009-08-23T23:40:00.002-05:00

They are the best of friends and may as well be siblings. Even though school activities and social lives send them in different directions they can still meet up and it's like they were never apart.

Friends for Life

Spit!

2009-08-19T23:47:00.002-05:00

The other night we went to the Watermelon Feed with church friends. It was a perfect night outside and great to talk to friends.

There was a seed spitting contest. Say that 3 times fast and I bet you say speed sitting contest like I do.

Anyway, this is a fun picture of Barry and Roy spitting. I'm not sure who won but they sure put effort into it. I saw spit fly not to mention the seeds!

Wrestling Party

2009-08-19T23:32:00.002-05:00

For his birthday he wanted to have friends over for the WWE pay per view. I'm clueless about this stuff but we made it happen. Just so happened all the boys showed up in the wrestling t-shirts. They were giving some wrestling signs here in this picture. I will not mention any names because I didn't ask their parents if I would put them on my blog. So, I am not disclosing any info. Do not ask me to. Ok, I'm kidding. I know you don't really care anyway.

Who knew that sitting on a trash can would be a good place to open gifts?

**P.S. I (a.k.a. Mom) don't like this wrestling stuff. It's like a mens soap opera from what I've seen and it's violent and dumb. In my opinion. Please don't judge me as a parent for letting him watch this yuck. His dad started it. Not me. For the record.

P.S.S. I do feel normal though for having a kid that likes this stuff. I think a lot of boys this age like it. Well, the ones that are allowed to watch it.

11 years old!

2009-08-19T22:53:00.003-05:00

11 candles to blow out. 11. My baby is 11 now. 11. That's all I can say. I'm speechless.

This is a "Young" man thing. Don't ask questions. Do look at it and laugh. Landon is still learning proper technique. He needs to improve on his tongue sticking out ability, apparently it needs to get out there further.

Things about Landon at age 11:

He is a sweet boy.
He loves to watch You Tube videos about people's collections of wrestling toys.
He is a good athlete. He gets frustrated when he doesn't win.
He loves to cook and is good at it!
He has a box turtle named ElDorado.
He wants a dog.
He has a fear of strange dogs.
He likes to go on bike rides.
He likes to do chores for money, of course.
His money burns a hole in his pocket and he always knows what he wants to buy.
He loves to go to Walmart.
He begs to always have a friend over to play.
He loves to jump on the trampoline.
He can do a front and back flip on the trampoline.
He is a messy eater, still needing to be reminded to use his fork!
He has a messy bedroom.
He wants to grow his hair long in preparation for Halloween.
He still believes in Santa Clause (and he should because he is real).
He loves to eat lemons and limes.
He also loves to eat chicken wings, spicy or honey bbq.
He sleeps with the blankets over his head.
He plays football and enjoys a good tackle.
He fights with his sister but loves her oh so much.
He likes to antagonize his sister.
He likes his jeans baggy.
He loves to look in the creek for snakes/turtles/minnows.
He can "roll" his tummy and I ask him to do it a lot because it looks cool.
He has a tender heart.
He has a girlfriend (I can't tell anymore than that or he will shoot me).
He likes to listen to his radio to fall asleep.
He has neat cursive writing.
He likes to "debate" and "negotiate".
He has the cutest dimple.
He whines and complains frequently.
He has more positive qualities than negative.
He is my favorite boy in the whole wide world.

I love you, Landon. I love you at age 11.

First Day of School 2009

2009-08-19T22:42:00.005-05:00

Last Thursday was the first day of school for Landon. Shelbie's first day was then on Friday. He was not very excited to go back to school but she was. They both were looking forward to seeing friends again though. Of course, you know, school is all about being social. Uh...ya.

So, it's Landon's last year in elementary school. That made me teary. And, Shelbie is no longer the "low man on the todem pole" in middle school. 5th grade and 7th grade. Wow, where did the time fly?

Yummy

2009-08-16T21:11:00.003-05:00

Who says siblings don't love each other? Shelbie made this turtle out of cupcakes. The cool part is that she made it for Landon's birthday. She got the idea off the internet. She says when she grows up she wants to have a cake business. She wants to get a scholarship to WSU to play fast pitch softball. She wants to get a business degree. Then, she wants to open her own cake decorating business. These are her goals. So, she watches cake decorating on the internet for inspiration. That is where she got this idea.

Catch Up!

2009-08-16T21:04:00.003-05:00

I know softball has been over for a while but I was going through all the pictures from summer than I had not done anything with yet and I came upon this one. I love this picture. When a father coaches his daughter it creates such a special bond. I'm so happy for this.

Summer Shots

2009-07-28T00:26:00.003-05:00

You can see Shelbie and Lindsey up high getting ready for the slide. It's a funny face but the picture turned out sharp.

The All Star Team met up at the swimming pool for a day of free swimming. The best thing about the summer sport is all the friendships that are either gained or built stronger.

It was fun that Landon and Josh both played Babe Ruth. They didn't get on the same team but they did play against each other. That was fun to cheer for both kids on opposing teams. It was especially fun to sit with Alicia to do so.

Here was one of several hits to the leg that Shelbie got. This particular one though left the ball thread marks on her. Ouch!

Looking back...

2009-07-27T23:30:00.006-05:00

These are just a few of my favorite pictures from the softball/baseball season. I'm relieved the season is over and things can slow down for a while. But, I'm also sad it's over. It's so fun to go and watch the games. There is such a high in watching your child play a sport they love so much. I'm proud of the way the kids played. There were so many practices, hot sweaty practices and games, ball bruises and broken egos from lost games...but despite all this they both kept their chin up and loved it. I'm so proud of them.

Busy and Behind

2009-07-13T23:17:00.003-05:00

We've all been so busy lately. Just in the middle of summer busy busy time I guess. Baseball and softball are now done. There are some changes at work, nothing major but just more work for me. There are other things going on that I'm not going to blog about. But, bottomline, it's been crazy.

This weekend was the state softball tournament. Shelbie did awesome. I have pictures to post and I will do that later when I find some more free time. She got the S.H.E. award after one of the games. That stands for Sportsmanship, Hustle, and Enthusiasm. I was super proud!

I've been really proud of her dedication to the game. All the hours of practice out in the terrible heat and sun, without complaining one bit.

My update here is pretty short but I do plan on posting more later. With pictures too!

The Aunts

2009-06-28T17:52:00.002-05:00

Aunt Sherry and Aunt Marie

These are two special ladies. I hope they know how much we love them!

Goodbye

2009-06-25T23:32:00.003-05:00

Goodbye Michael Jackson. Farewell.

When I heard today that he died I was shocked. Although he turned out to be well, lets just say "odd" I still was sad. He was a part of my childhood. I LOVED him. Yes, I had a big crush on him. I could not stop listening to his music and watching Thriller. I also remember watching him in the "We are the World" video. I had this pink crop shirt that said "Pretty Young Thing" on it. When he died today it was like a part of my childhood died. Hey, no joke. Stop laughing.

One other thing that sticks out in my mind that I was forever looking at the album cover with him in all white. I noticed his one wrist. It had a wierd bone looking thing on it and I was fixated on trying to figure out what was wrong with that one wrist. Anyone else ever notice that?

Anyway, I guess I still have my memories of the original Michael Jackson. Pre-surgery and Pre-NeverNeverLand. Or whatever it was called.

Goodbye Mike (ya, we were on a first name basis back then). I'll miss ya Mike.

***Oh ya, in another note.....I guess Farrah Fawcett died today too. Her and I weren't as close.

Her future's so bright...

2009-06-22T19:22:00.002-05:00

She's gotta wear shades! Check it. These are her prescription sunglasses. She loves being shaded by the sun.

Fathers Day

2009-06-22T18:54:00.004-05:00

Dad. That's what the kids call him. It used to be Daddy. And, long ago it was Dada. Tim is a really good dad. There are so many things that make him a good dad.

*Coaching every sport imaginable

*Going to concerts

*Getting WWE tickets

*Royals Games

*Chiefs Games

*Dressing up for Halloween

*Playing catch in the front yard

*Making music cd's

*Late night ice cream

*Fishing

These are the things that I know the kids see but there other things that make him a good dad that they don't see.

*Going to work every day

*Being a responsible person

*Paying the bills

*Making sure they get to school

*Looking out for their best interest

*Doing what's best for them

These are just a few of the things. There are more that just aren't listed. Anyway, thanks Tim for being a good father to the kids. They are so lucky to have you as DAD!

My catcher

2009-06-11T22:24:00.003-05:00

Baseball is going good. Landon is now catching which is a new experience. Last year he was catcher once and got hit in the shoulder with the ball. That scared him away from catching until now. Now, he thinks the catchers gear is cool and he wants to do it. And actually, now that he's done it a couple games we can see that he's pretty good at it. He's the the speed and he's limber and that helps. I will be taking many more pictures!