Halloween Time

I'm finally putting up pictures of our Halloween festivities, while Ginny is twirling around singing Christmas songs. She is very excited for Christmas!

First, here are two pictures that my cousin's husband Kyle took at our "Witches Brew" where witch attire is a must!

Ginny was a tooth fairy this year. Her idea, of course. At the beginning of October she wanted to be a black cat. Then by the middle of October she had settled on a tooth fairy. It was a pretty easy costume put together with things we already had and borrowed items from friends. Here are some pictures of my cute little tooth fairy.

On the day of the Halloween parade at school, she wanted teeth painted on her cheeks. We soon realized how messy that is. Luckily she decided she didn't want that again for Halloween.
She really started getting into the whole trick or treating = candy this year. Luckily it was so cold and rainy we didn't go out much. Between her bag of candy from her school party, trick or treating at Macey's , and the ward party, I don't think she's too deprived of candy. I tried the rule that she could eat as much candy as she wanted the day of trick or treating, then after that I would put the candy away. She thought that was so fun to be allowed to eat as much candy as she wanted. It made me cringe to watch her stuffing it all away, but in the end she didn't finish it all. I put her candy away for special treats and she hasn't mentioned it since. Still trying to figure out how to handle all the candy and treats and junk food.
Bring on the holidays!!

Family Pictures

I had such a fun time at the Cabin with my family yesterday. The canyon was beautiful with so many colorful leaves. When talking to my Aunt Lisa, she said she only had one picture of her Dad. I have my Mom's wedding album that has lots of pictures of the Derr family. I felt inspired to go home and scan the pictures. I decided to post them here so the most people in my family could see them. I will try to label the pictures the best I know. Please leave comments. I would love to hear what you know about the pictures. Happy reminiscing! -Danielle

More Family Pictures

Here are some nice candid shots of my Aunts Tana, Lisa and Uncle Barry as well as my Grandma. Why do I get the impression that my Uncle Barry was not thrilled to be there or at least not thrilled to have his picture taken? : >




































Is this my Aunt Tana jumping the highest to catch the bouquet? I love how little Lisa was still trying to reach up and catch it. It's cute!

Grandpa Derr

Here are some great pictures with my Grandma and Grandpa Derr. He died right before I was born so I never got to know him. I love his smile. I think my cousin Shay looks a lot like him. That's my Uncle Barry looking thrilled to be the best man.

The Wedding Party

June 1966- California


1- The Bridesmaids- My Aunt Tana and Aunt Lisa (cut off) are on the right.

2- There's Tana on the left now, my Dad, Uncle Barry, Clayne and Lisa (cut off again!. Don't worry, I have better pictures of her)

3- The whole party in black and white- Lisa included!

ENSIGN moments

I have always scoffed at what I call "Ensign moments". Especially the stories that involve paying tithing. You know, the stories where a family has to decide to pay tithing or buy a loaf of bread or milk for their family. They decide to pay tithing, and later that night someone just knocks on their door, with a bag of groceries in their hand. They say they were just sitting down to dinner, when they felt a strong prompting to gather up some food and take it to this family. So they did. And it was a miracle.
I used to scoff and say those kind of things never happened. But I did recognize blessings in my life from paying tithing, but they were more subtle.
Well, I can now say we have had an "Ensign moment" and even thinking about it makes my eyes fill up with tears in gratitude and awe of our blessings.
My husband has recently decided to change careers. After 13 years of teaching, he has decided now is the time to see if he can make it as a writer. It is something he has always wanted to do, and opportunities came up that made it seem like the right time. I am excited about him writing. He has spent so many years teaching and helping other people to write. He is such a great writer himself. I'm excited to see what he writes.
Unfortunately, writing does not come with a steady paycheck every two weeks like teaching did. We have been stressed lately about how to fill in the gaps until the income starts coming in. This week I looked at our bank account and realized that that was it. We didn't have more money coming in for a few more months. I've panicked a lot in the past month, but have always felt calm when I prayed.
On Wednesday, we got an anonymous cashier's check in the mail with just the note "The Lord loves you". Thank you so much to whoever sent that to us. We have been in a position in the past to do that for other people. It's hard and humbling to be on the other end of it. But I feel the love of others and the love of the Lord for our family.
I know we are going to be OK. I am trying to have faith and trust in that peaceful feeling. I am so thankful for the Savior and His amazing atonement. I am learning to rely on Him even more during this hard time.
Thanks to all of you for your prayers and love. Keep them coming!

Papers!!!

We have been spending our days sorting through boxes and files of paper in order to clear out room in our basement. I am so proud of Matt. He finally got rid of most of his law school notes and law books that he hasn't touched since he graduated in 2002. Yahoo!
I need your help, though. I am cursed for being a historian's daughter. I really need to get rid of more papers, but I'm struggling. I have saved letters and cards that I received since I was a little girl. I just have such a hard time throwing them away. I imagine that someday I will be famous and the world will be thrilled to have all of my correspondence. : > What will my mother's day card that I made in 3rd grade be worth someday? Please help! If you ever wrote to me, I probably have your letter. Would you like it back to keep for your posterity? Or would you be terribly insulted if I just threw the letter away? And what do I do with my Kindergarten report card? Wouldn't my daughter just treasure it some day?
And let's talk books. To keep or not to keep? I already went through a great purging of books this winter. I got rid of a lot of books that we haven't read and don't plan on reading. However, now I am left with books that I haven't read in years, but might want to read again someday. They are my friends. How can I get rid of them? But how can we store all of them? We're not talking children's books here. That is not even an option to get rid of.
These two school teachers need help! How do we part with books we might use again someday in our classrooms, books that Ginny might read some day, and papers that we might use again? But then how to get everything out of our basement? HELP!!!!

My mom is the best!

We went to a birthday dinner for Ginny at my parent's house. I should have known something was up when I read the green sign on the door that said "Doorbell Broken. Please Knock". We knocked and were escorted into the "Emerald City". After a yummy dinner of lasagna (on a green tablecloth with green napkins) we played some fun games. "Pin the Heart on the Tinman" was my favorite. We also had a relay race (boys against girls) of putting green jelly beans in a jar. My almost 2-year old nephew had a great time eating them out of the boy's jar.

Then came presents, which meant a new spring wardrobe. Matching, with butterflies on them, of course. I love Gymboree! Ginny had to go try them all on and dance in them.
The best part was the cake! My Mom made a beautiful and delicious "Emerald City" cake complete with the yellow brick road and poppies! We ended it all with my favorite birthday tradition. We took turns passing around "The Birthday Book" by Dr. Seuss, each reading one page. It was such a fun evening. Thanks to everyone for making it so special!

Wizard of Oz

My Mom is the best! We went to my parent's house for Ginny's birthday dinner. She went all out and did a Wizard of Oz themed party for Ginny. It was so fun. And best of all, I didn't have to do anything except show up with the birthday girl!
We played fun games like "Pin the heart on the tinman"! and a jelly bean race (green of course for the Emerald City). Then there were lots of presents which means new clothes that you immediately have to go try on. Again I'm thankful to my parents for always providing Ginny with a new spring wardrobe every year.

The best part was the cake! My mom made an amazing "Emerald City"cake complete with a yellow brick road and poppies!

It was beautiful and delicious We ended it all with a reading of "Happy Birthday to You" by Dr. Seuss. I love the tradition we have of passing the book around the table at birthdays with everyone reading a page.

Happy Birthday Ginny! You sure are loved by so many people. We are so thankful you are in our lives!!!!

Ginny's Birthday

Ginny is 5! Can you believe it? It is such a fun age. She is so excited about everything. Her favorite present was a wooden magnetic ballerina dress up doll. A ballerina, just like her.


Instead of a party, she wanted to go to the "space museum" with Mom and Dad. So we went to the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake. We saw a movie "Attack of the Space Pirates" in their dome theater. Ginny kept leaning back and ducking down when the space ships passed over head. She loved it! We walked around and saw the different exhibits. Her favorite planet is Saturn, so she was excited to go see that. It was a fun outing with our family.

I do feed my child

Just had to make a quick disclaimer in case any of you talk to Ginny in the near future.
This morning she was pretending that she was Dorothy after we had read stories from the Wizard of Oz. (Great condensed version from the library, beautifully illustrated by Charles Santore). I was Glenda, the good witch. She said she wanted to stay with me because I would feed her. She said her parents don't want her to grow so they don't feed her. She was so grateful to me (Glenda) for being willing to feed her. She also said her parents are so mean. They never play with her and never read her stories. I pointed out that they probable don't snuggle with her or even go to her dance concerts. She agreed and said her parents just dropped her off at her dance concert, they didn't even come in! What cruel parents! But, luckily, Glenda was there to support her. Good thing there are other people out there to help take care of this poor, deprived child. : >

Dance Concert

Ginny had her final "showcase" for her little dance class yesterday. I was very curious to see what would happen. On Monday she sat out the last ten minutes of class, refusing to dance. But the performance bug hit her and she danced the best that I have ever seen her dance!

It's really all about the outfit. She got this tutu for Christmas. She spent most of the time before the concert (and during) admiring the spin factor of her skirt.

Matt captured it all on video. But I got a few candid shots. They somehow managed to all come together for the final bow. At the end, Ginny said "Is it over?". I had to go and get her off the floor. She looked like she wanted to do it again.
Her teacher, Mike, said some final words at the end of all the performances. After he finished saying something about how dance can change the community by building confidence in young people, Ginny interrupted him with "Um, Mike?". He stopped and said "yes?". She said "Look at me" and stood up on her tippytoes and twirled. It was the perfect end to what he was saying. Everyone laughed and he knew to end it right there.
I love my beautiful "Prima Ballerina" as she calls herself.

How to eat a Valentine cookie- By Ginny

1-Take one beautiful valentine cookie from your Aunt Keli. Admire the pink sprinkles, then claim that you helped Aunt Keli make it.
2- Take a few dainty bites of beautiful Valentine cookie.
3- Remove the "curly parts" of the frosting.
4- With your index finger and pointer finger, scrape off as much frosting from the cookie as you can. Feel free to also pick up cookie and lick frosting.
5- Shove frosting in mouth
6- Take a few more bites of naked cookie
7- Give the rest to your Mom because you love her and want to share


Happy Valentine's Day!

Twinkle Toes

Ginny just started a dance class called "Twinkle Toes". It's just a fun class where she can dress up as a ballerina and learn some basic ballet. The most important part to her is the outfit. One day I forgot her ballet shoes. That was a tragedy! She was so mad at me!
This is good for her to be in a structured class. She needs to learn how to follow other people's directions and receive instruction. I'm glad she's learning some basic ballet steps. I'm not sure what to do when she collapses in the middle of class and whines " I can't do it. It's too hard!". When she does this at home, I try to ignore her. It's hard to know how to help when she's in a class setting. Any one have tips on dealing with dramatic daughters? While I'm glad she's learning, my favorite part is watching her when music is put on. She has such joy in dancing her own way. I love the smiles on her face.

Sculptures

I am a strange Mom, but I like when Ginny gets creative. Last week she spent quite a while building "tape sculptures". I had no idea scotch tape was so strong. Here are a few pictures of her masterpieces:






Today she made a "tether ball" pole with a mop and lacing cards. I thought it was pretty clever how she figured out how to attach all the strings to the mop.


I can't believe she'll be 5 next month! She is just starting to get the hang of reading, when she wants to. I'm trying not to push her and just let it happen when she's ready. But it's so fun to hear her sounding out words and reading.
I signed her up for the lottery of a charter school near here, Walden. It is a Montessori style school. I visited the Kindergarten last week. I love how everything is so hands on. I think she would love it there. We'll see if she gets in. I can't believe I have to start figuring out the whole school thing already! Has anyone heard good or bad things about this school. What are your thoughts about Montessori learning? I'd love to hear your ideas.

Best of 2009

I am way behind on our blog. I just wanted to post some pictures of our favorite things this year. I am also including our Christmas letter for this year with updates about our year.

Happy 2010!

It’s been an eventful year for our family. Here are some highlights:

• In February, Danielle was named the 2009 Utah Young Mother of the Year. She got to meet with the Utah Legislature, Governor Huntsman and represent mothers of young children from Utah. She also represented Utah in the National Conference of American Mothers in Portland in April.
• In April, our family also went to Disneyland! We went with Matt’s school’s choir who performed there. We’re not sure which Ginny loved best- Disneyland, the beach, or having so many teenage girls to play with.
• We enjoyed a fun summer full of swimming, mom and me art classes, canning produce from our bounteous garden and fun visits from cousins.
• Matt started his second year of teaching at Karl G Maeser Preparatory Academy- a charter school in Lindon. He and Danielle went to Cedar City in October to help the students perform and compete in the High School Shakespeare Competition. Maeser students won first place in sweepstakes in their division!
• Ginny started preschool and loves it! It’s hard to believe she’ll be 5 in February and start Kindergarten in the fall. She is a happy, active, curious and smart little girl. (Ginny says I forgot singing and dancing.) We love her so much!
• Danielle is the volunteer director of a local preschool near our home. She also does storytelling once a month at the Orem library. She still works very part-time supervising student teachers at BYU who are going into special education.
• Matt had surgery three times in December for kidney stones. He is fine and doing well. We appreciate all the skilled nurses and doctors who helped him. We just hope not to have to see them again any time soon.
• We had a fun trip with Danielle's family to the Homestead at Midway after Christmas. We enjoyed snowshoeing, sledding, swimming in the natural warm pools and being treated to a massage at the spa. Thanks to Danielle's parents for a great trip.
  

We have been blessed to see what good and loving friends we have this year. We are constantly blessed with love and prayers by so many wonderful people. Thank you for your friendship.