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!!!!