26 May 2008

It's all About Joey!

I'm one of those people that never understood how EVERYONE had the cutest kid in the world. And I'm actually not a huge fan of looking at thousands of baby pictures of the same kid... ...Because it's just another kid to me. Well, I may have turned into one of those people that think they have the cutest kid EVER... He's not actually mine, but he does call me mommy and I would take him in a heartbeat. (He calls our mom, momma and it's just so cute.)

Sweet? ...Or not so sweet? (You've got to love the raised eyebrows!)

He's definitely sweet!

You are not going to believe that Joey actually loves onions more than anything else. As you can see from the picture we were trying to bribe him with a Reese's bar, but he wouldn't even take the bait.


I broke a jar the other day and apparently didn't get all the glass off the floor. So a couple days later Joey got a piece of it stuck in his foot. I gave him a couple suckers to "make-it-all-better". (I know, I know, I would make such a horrible mother...) But it did take his mind off his foot for a second, until I took the suckers away anyways. He has this thing with smelling everything.

Joey's first real bubble bath! He wasn't quite sure what to do.

Did I mention he loves lotion?

Joseph LOVES being outside! So anytime he's indoors he will bring me either his shoes or mine, and then grab my hand and try to pull me outside. The face he gives it's practically impossible to say no to... So we spend a lot of time running around outside.

19 May 2008

Hiking in Lost Valley!

Well, I've returned from Mexico as most of you already know and this leaves me back in Arkansas. My little, or I guess maybe not so little any more, brother Luke moved to Alaska 4 days ago to work with our cousin doing construction. He's living in North Pole and will be gone for six months (tears). When I'm home in Arkansas I always make him do everthing with me, so I guess besides the weekends I'll be a lone ranger... Sad story I know....

So, on a lighter note, a couple of my friends and I went hiking/caving yesterday and had a blast! (This was one of those weekend things I was talking about.)

(Keith and I)

This is a portion of the cave. And I don't know which either because I didn't actually have a flashlight with me. I know right. Who goes caving without a flash light? Well, actually all of us except Matt. It was quite interesting to say the least; all six of us bumping into everything and eachother.

(Michelle and Matthew crawling on their hands and knees.)

These are some of my dear friends: Keith, Juli, Matt, and of course myself, Michelle and then Danielle is taking the photo. (And I'm sitting in-between the couple.... Awkward!)

(This is a more relaxed photo. Matthew, Keith Dani, Juli and Michelle.)

10 May 2008

Rhythms of the Night

The last picture before we had sea hair. We’re on our way to a beach covered with flickering torches to dine beside the moon lit ocean. A rhythmic drumbeat beckoned us into the wild jungle where we enjoyed a performance of dance and music.
High heels on a boat? …Hope everyone brought their sea legs along.

A Wild Day in the Jungle!

Amanda and her wild jaguar! I may have ended up with surfing wounds, but A is leaving Mexico after being attacked by this ferocious killer cat. She nearly lost an arm, but she’s still smiling and would have taken the thing home with her if she could have gotten away with it. (Did I mention that this thing has not been declawed?)

Okay, so we were at a zoo… Not just a normal American zoo. This is anything but tame! You can buy a bag of food at the entrance gate and then you’re left to fend for yourself. Camels look all sweet and nice when you’re about 10 feet away, but watch out! You can ask Randy what happens when you’re feeding one and the other gets jealous. A kiss that nearly took his whole face and his shoulder. A and I were both laughing until we saw the blood on his chin.

My favorite part was watching A in the petting zoo, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she could come visit me in Arkansas and experience the same thing.

Probably the Best Week of My Life! (by DnA)

Danette: I don’t think I could have planned out a better week if I tried! This was just what I needed, a little R&R.

We had so much fun I can’t even start to tell you all what we did. And I was so excited about drinking a strawberry daiquiri on the beach, but it just wasn’t all I had hoped it to be… My absolute favorite now is a mocha frappuccino (no alcohol). There was this guy pushing around his little ice cream cart ringing his cute little bell and out of the little box he makes the best frappuccino in the whole world. That’s right, better than Starbucks or anywhere else. And it’s beautiful too. Chocolate on the edge of the cup and on the whipped cream, and the best pirouette cookie EVER! And the greatest part is, is there only 20 pesos (2 dollars).

Amanda and I didn’t want anyone to travel all the way to Mexico and miss out on the best coffee in the world, so in-between surfing breaks we walked the beaches selling Ice cream and coffee because our friend couldn’t speak English. The best part of it was that because of Amanda’s Spanish translation, we ended up buying a few locals frappuccinos instead of selling them. We had people laughing, dancing and running from us on the beach. This one couple that was from Colorado celebrating their 60th anniversary couldn’t figure out why we would be in Mexico, on vacation, selling ice cream. We’re making commission right? One girl said she would like coffee if we would buy it for her, and she was shocked when we actually did. You might say we’re not your average tequila drinking beach girls. As we were leaving the beach the couple celebrating their anniversary came up and asked to take our picture. And if it was possible to bottle our laughs to take home as a souvenir.

Amanda: Today was our last day surfing the waves. As I start to write about the awesome waves and wonderful time in Mexico, D is telling me she reserves the right to edit and change all that I write in this blog……..hopefully you will read it in its original version.


When we first started surfing I reassured D she did not need an instructor and that I could teach her all she needed to know. It didn’t take long, as in the amount of time it takes to walk from the rental shop to the water to see that wasn’t the case. I dropped my board in the water and as I was strapping on my ankle strap that has about a ten foot cord on it, the waves came crashing in and my surfboard became a ginormous torpedo that almost cut off both D and Randy’s feet before they even began. They did not follow my same techniques and I was concerned we had gotten off to a bad start. D decided she would be better off watching the locals and following their advice verses mine and soon she was teaching me. With each wave we would stand up on, we would raise our hands up and shout and laugh with happiness. One guy told us we better turn down our fun meter. I think we only turned things up from there.

The second day was a big improvement because we made it to the waves where the big kids or you could also call them the pros surf. The bottom of the ocean isn’t the nice grainy sand, but sharp rocks with barnacles and sea urchins. D surfed more than Randy and I put together and came out of the water with a huge smile and a bloody cut up foot. The sight of her wound scared me away from wanting to surf the big waves over the rocks, but I couldn’t admit that so instead I explained how important it was I work on my tan. Well today was the last day of working on my tan and surfing. I think I over did it a bit….not the surfing, but the tan. I am a nice shade of beautiful red. Today D didn’t even go over to the sandy spot she paddled straight out into the surf over the rocks and all and sat in the middle of the pack of mostly guy surfers. She became friends with everyone out surfing and was even nicknamed Arkansas. She was being cheered on and told several times how brave she was to be out there in the middle of everyone riding the big surf. Randy was out surfing some of the time as well, but neither of us had the same dedication and passion as D. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our surf trip though when at the end of the day we all caught the same wave and rode in together laughing.

05 May 2008

Surfing in Sayulita, Mexico

I awoke to the sounds this morning of crashing waves on the beach and Michael Buble singing a sweet melody somewhere just outside my window. I knew with a day starting out like that, our (Randy, Amanda and I’s) week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico was going to be wonderful.

Surfing today was everything I had hoped it to be! I actually have a sunburned face except for the smile lines. I think I must have smiled all day today! I don’t remember having so much fun in all my life!

I wanted to leave you all with a couple of photos of the surfing trip. We plan to go back in two days, just enough time to get rid of the board rash. I didn’t write much because I didn’t want to miss a moment on the beach. Love you all!

DnA in Mexico!!!!!!!

Look! I´m a surfer! Oh Yay!