Daxton Otto Danklefsen

I would like to announce that my handsome little nephew has finally come. This is Korey's and Stefanie's little boy. He looked a lot like Korey besides the fact that he doesn't look like a hairy ape as Korey did when he was born. There was a lot of family waiting there during the c-section. When we first saw him no one knew if he was the right baby. Brook even asked if it had a penis? Really? It was pretty funny at the time. Anyways, has soon as we was told that it was little Dax we all rushed to the window and started to take lots of pictures.

moments into the c-section

 We had to wait a little wait for Stefanie to get comfortable after the c-section and do Dax's first feeding before we was able to come and see the whole new family.

Korey introducing the new family member to all the family there.

 Unfortunately I was having a hard time about this point due to the miscarriage and wanted my own little miracle. And to top it off there was just so many people there that I just waited until it start clearing out (actually Korey came and got me and told me to come in). When Logan and I walked in there Korey told Shami to hand over the baby to me and Logan. I do have to say that little man sure did wake up my mother instincts. Moments after getting him, he just stare in the direction of my face (I know that babies can't really see at this point) and I felt like we bonded right there. After Logan took my picture and I handed him off to Logan. I wanted to see him hold another infant in his arms. (I have always loved seeing Logan hold a new born infant. He's just so gentle and in a way it lets me know somewhat what he will look like when we have our own.)

Logan's first time holding little Dax

 Logan did hold him for too long because Stefanie's sisters came in at that point so we handed him off too them. I do have to say that this little man sure was a blessing to all of us that day. I can't wait to see what he turns out like.

One day off little Dax

Graduation For Aeris

Well, our little puppy graduated from her puppy class! She now is able to go into intermediate class.

She met so many dogs and got a best friend too. His name is Zombie! Yes that's right, Zombie. He is a full-blooded German Shepherd and is half her age. Nathan and Amanda a really nice people too.  Those two always have to find each other and play before class or most of the class they won't listen to either of us.

She now can do sit, shake, lay down, roll over, high five, some-what better walking with me, and speaks (she learned that trick in 2 hours!). She still listens mostly to me and has a hard time listening to Logan unless he has a treat for her. She is just a joy to have around. She is always amazing me with how smart she is. Her Intermediate Class Starts the day before Thankgiving.

Logan's 28th Birthday

Well, Logan's birthday started off just like any other day would by going to work. He did take off a half day for his birthday. I had to end up taking him to work too due to the fact that I had to get somethings from Walmart, Fred's and Rush's.

While he was at work, I started making dinner due to the fact that it takes all day to cook. He wanted a thick chili with sweet potato fries and broccoli for dinner that night. I also prep the potatoes and broccoli so that it could be cooked really fast. I will tell you that I wanted to throw a party for Logan's birthday but not a lot of people would have showed up for it so I decided that maybe next year will be better. Then I got thinking Sunday night to surprise him with a birthday cake. I would even make it a Halloween theme cake to make him really happy. It was only be a single layered yellow cake with orange buttercream and black chocolate buttercream. Here is a picture:

When he got home, I had to kick him out of the house so I could finish decorating his cake. It turned out pretty good and way too sweet for either of us. It actually surprised Logan that he needed to  have something to either drink with the cake or need ice cream. He ended up decorating the house a little for him (but a lot for me) for the Halloween. I couldn't do what I really wanted to do because we needed some other things for the house but I decided that I could just do it next year when I have a little more time to get this place ready for Halloween. Anyways I got Logan a game from the Mario series (he really loves the older games like Mario and Luigi) and a Halloween cd.

I started to finish dinner around five o'clock to make sure that we was able to get out of the house in time to make it to Aeris class that night. Dinner was really yummy but kind of pricy due to the fact we used organic grounded chicken.  After we ate, we grabbed the camera and headed to Aeris graduation class at Pet Smart.

2 Becomes 3

Our family has grown to 3  members! I would like all of you to meet the newest member:

Aeris

I've been wanting to get a puppy for a long time and I can finally get one without worrying about paying a huge deposit for apartment. It's going to be a lot of work but we are loving her just like she was our child.

Anyways, Aeris was born on April 23, so she is just over 8 weeks. She is an Alaskan Shepard...half malamute and half german shepard. We got her in Blackfoot a little over a week ago on the 8th.at the time she was 6 weeks and so tiny! Now she sleeps so much that she has grown so big. When she's not asleep she is so much fun to play with. She loves to run, hop around (yes...just like a rabbit)and prances Charlie (my sister's male chihuahua) all the time. We've only heard her bark much...maybe 3 times at the most. When she panics she howls a lot...I am guessing she got that from her mother (mother was the malamute) along with her talking habits. She's had a hard time with potty training but is getting so much better now that she is understanding words now. Besides that, she is well behave...She doesn't really act like she is a puppy. She is very mature for her age and she won't go far from me when we are outside or some place else. Most of the time she just sits or lays right next to my legs.

Here is a video of Aeris playing with Charlie.

You will also see in this video that she has learned a tricked...walked the dog....literally. ^-^

Day 7 - Lucca, Italy

We got up earlier today in order to make sure that we was able to be out by 9 or around than. Lucca is only a half day tour but it was better than not doing anything and staying in the room.

Anyways, it rained the whole day. My feet were soaked by the time we got to the train station which isn’t long at all. It also didn’t help that we didn’t really have an umbrella either. Logan’s feet weren’t really soaked until half way through us touring around. Also due to the rain, we weren’t able to take many pictures. It was kind of depressing because there were a lot of places that I would have loved to take a picture of.

Anyways, when we got to Lucca we were on the outside of the old city walls so we had to walk for a little bit to get to the old city where there was a lot of things to see. We didn’t get to see many of the cool things but we got to some pretty cool ones. The wall themselves are pretty cool as well. As we walked into the gate (which is called Saint Maria’s Gate) we saw this fountain that was pretty.  After that we walked down a street and arrived in one of the plazas. It was called “Plazza Napoleone”. There was this statue of a woman (which was clothed gratefully). The details on this statue were kind of funny. There were turtles in the pillars around the statue. Here is a picture below:

We then saw one of the cathedrals called “St. Michael Church” and the Square around it. There was a few museums in this area but they all cost money and we was really trying on not spending a whole lot of money. We did take a few pictures of the outside of this church. It was kind of pretty.

Another thing that we went and saw was called the Tower of Guinigi or Plazzo Guinigi. This tower is kind of like the Tower of Pisa but instead of having bells at the top, there were oak trees. I am not sure why they did trees instead of bells but it sure was pretty. We climbed the 130 stairs to the top (which by the way, I was holding onto the handrail with my dear life) and took some pictures of the view of Lucca. It was breathe-taking! I am hoping to make a panoramic picture with most of the pictures that I took up there. I also caught a picture of Logan looking out across the town. Logan and I both agree this was our favorite thing in Lucca to visit.

We visited more places than decided to eat lunch before it got too late. Logan really wanted pizza so we went to a pizza place. We both ordered a calzone (which means folded pizza) and this is what we got:

We both looked at each other and couldn’t believe how big they were. Logan was able to finish his off (of course) and I was only able to eat about a quarter of what there was. Logan later finished mine off but I still can’t believe that they are that big. And another weird detail is that they put the sauce on the top of the calzone too. We than headed out and visited more place and grabbed more gelato (I don’t think I will get enough of the ice cream here!). By this time I was just miserable and wanted to head back to the hotel because my feet started going raw. So we than decided to go back to the hotel for the night.

Day 6 - Conference Again and Tour of Pisa

Logan had part of today for the conference while the other part was for touring Pisa.

We walked about 20 minutes from the hotel to see the leaning tower of Pisa! It was so busy. There is a market place right before you go through the gate to get to the tower, cathedral, Baptistry and cemetery (along with many museums around them). Here are some pictures:

A map of the Plaza Duomo

From Left: Cemetery, cathedral and leaning tower

This is how busy it is most of the time in the plaza

Leaning Tower

from left: cathedral, baptistry, and cemetery

This is a picture of the inside of the cemetery

Outside of the cemetery

The cathedral

There was so much in this plaza to do. There was also a lot of gift shops with so many neat things. I just felt bad that we couldn't take more back with us than what we got for family. I will say this tho...I don't think I'll every go into another cathedral in Italy. This one had a glass coffin in it with a dead person in it (take note: the person was important to them) and than on the other side of the cathedral there was a skull in a small glass box. It creeps me out so  much! Don't get me wrong...dead body don't really scary me...its just the fact that it was on show-case for the whole world to see.

We decided not to go up the leaning tower because you had to get to the top and back down within 30 minutes. I did find it pretty cool how it was leaning. We went to all the museums too. It was so much fun. On the way, back Logan got a spicy chicken Doner Kebab and I got some gelato ice cream.

Great Grandma's Death

My life couldn't get any harder than it has now. Infertility, family drama (much more than I like), 3rd round of clomid, and now my great grandma has died. Trial after trial...but right now I am  so tired. Anyways, on with the story.

It start around on my birthday. I think I said it on the last post but I'll say it again. I was told that I needed to go to a infertility specialist...a few hours later I was called by my grandma and she told me that great grandma was dying...her heart was giving out. I don't think I was fulling prepare for something like that. I had a lot going on with me at the moment and just hearing that made my whole out look on things when from ok to very bad in seconds. Anyways, I spent most of the week prepare for her funeral. Great Grandma died on the 30th at 5 am in the morning. I had gotten the called from Uncle Ralph around 7:30 am letting me know that she had passed. I was lucky because the night before I had finish rewriting her life sketch for the funeral. Later that morning I went to Uncle Ralph and Aunt Dorothy to give them the life sketch and any help that I can do. After I got there I notice that my Uncle Albert was there too. It was so nice to see him again. Anyways, I passed sketch around to see if it was to everyone's liking. The only person who made fun of me was Albert...he loves doing that. After figuring out somethings my family when to breakfast at Perkin's. I went with them and just got a banana nut muffin because I had already ate breakfast early that morning. Most of the time I was catching up with Albert. I've not seen him since I was 18 years old. Afterwards I had to go home to take some medicine for all the cramping I was starting to get. I headed back to Aunt Dorothy because she had asked me to go with them to the funeral home to get everything arrange for the funeral. After the funeral homes we when to Staker's Flowers for the flowers. I went home after that...I never been so tired in such a long time.

For the next few days I communicated with the funeral home for the program and newspaper. That Friday, we bury great grandma right by Great grandpa's grave. At the end of the viewing, Stefanie and I got to put the veil on great grandma before closing the coffin. That what really made me cry alot...along with Korey getting the graveside ready for great grandma. Dad came to the graveside service because he was fashionable late...like always. ^-^

I am very happy that Great Grandma is now with Vera and Great Grandpa even tho I am still missing her a lot just like Great Grandpa.

Christmas 2012

Christmas was a little different this year. My family decided to get together here at our place considering that my Dad is living with us for a while so he can find a new place. Also all of the siblings had gotten together and did pictures...in freezing weather.

So our Christmas really started on Sunday. I had thought of getting Dad a family photo of all his kids with their families would be nice. He had always loved the thought of doing family photos and we hadn't done one in years! We had also did photos for my Mom, Trina and Nana & Papa (some family friends that kind of adopted us into their family). We had trouble getting everyone there for the photos too, considering one of my brothers was in the Marines that wasn't going to be back until that  afternoon. We kind of winged the color scheme too. I wished we had more time to plan it a little more but all we could do was what we did. They turned out great but there was some bad ones due to the fact that my niece wasn't cooperating with us. We got the photos done in 2 hours and than we went back to my place and picked what photos we wanted give them. Here are the three photos:

For Trina and Lints (Nana and Papa)

For Dad

As for my Mom's photo...it was a pain. When we got back the actual photo from it being printed it looked so bad!! I had no clue if it was because it was from my end or Walmart's end because my computer ended up losing the edited photo. So I edited the same photo and sent it in and it came back with everyone having yellow teeth! But here is the third time...hope it works like a charm.

For Mom

After the photos were picked we went to Logan's Mom's house to plays some games with her and Nathan, Katlin and the girls. They were here for the holidays so we figured that we should get some time together with them before they have to go back to Cali for a while. We kept playing Acquire because Katlin really wanted to win, which she did on the last game.

On Monday, Logan had to work for part of the day and Dad had to go to the doctor's office for therapy for his back. As for me, I had to make dinner for that night when everyone came over (I'll post the recipe on my health blog here soon). Along with that I had to edit the photos so I could get them into the store to be printed off but I couldn't do that until I went and took some pictures for Amanda's family and this time Taylor ended up doing what we wanted her to do. Here are some of my favorites from her session.

Taylor and Oaklen

Steve and Amanda

I love how this one turn out to be.

After that I spent most of the day editing pictures so that we could get some printed off before Walmart closed for Christmas. Somehow I made it. By the time I got them in it was time for everyone to start arriving so I left Logan to host. When I got there I waited for a few minutes and when to get them...well, here is the thing. Out of the 4 orders, I only got one of them. The other three was lost in the process so I had to go back home and re-order the other three. While we waited for that, we had dinner with everyone and opened presents. About an hour before the store closed, Logan ran and got the pictures. Dad really enjoyed his family picture. He almost cried. I don't usually see him cry. But everyone was jumping Dad to see the picture because no one saw the end results.

We were supposed to go up to Oma's and Opa's for the Christmas get together but the roads were pretty bad until you got up on the hill. Amanda went home instead because of it, so Logan and I got a ride from Dad because his truck has 4-wheel drive in it. We was up there for about 2 hours. Logan and I ended up buying one of the last two clocks that Opa makes. After the party, we went home and opened presents here because Shami and Brea was being picked up at 9 in the morning. Dad also pointed out that we was opening presents at the same time as people in Germany do. It was pretty cool. In the morning the girls opened their stockings while Logan and I slept a little. (I only slept like 10 hours those 3 days.) Before the girls left, we got up to see if they enjoyed their stockings and helped them get their things together. Around 1, we headed to my Mom's for Christmas. We ate a little and opened presents. After that we went to Logan's Mom's house to open some more presents and spend more time with them. Carolyn and Joseph wasn't here this year but they said that they will be here next year.

I also have to say that I am pretty proud of myself. I only gained a pound during the holidays. ^-^

Puerto Rico Day 1 & 2

So day one was consisted of flying, running, flying and eating. We first started in Salt Lake City at  six o'clock in the morning...yes that is right! 6 AM! We got in by 6:30 am and then we looked around for some breakfast because we left before breakfast was even out. The flight wasn't bad...I just couldn't get any sleep and the flying part was better than last time too. Our first stop was in Dallas, TX. We had an hour before the next flight we we still needed to get lunch. So we asked someone where the next gate was suppose to be because it wasn't on the boarding ticket and we really needed to go to the bathroom. The Dallas airport was so huge that we had to take a train-like thing that to the other side of the airport and in the end we made it right when they were at the end of loading people. This flight was different just because it's the longest flight that I have been on. Which by the way was 5 hours! I was ok with the first and second hour of the flight but than I got restless and so I ended up take a nap (how....I do not know.) which took up an hour and a half which left the half an hour. Than we arrive here in Puerto Rico! ^-^  It's so green here!! After we landed, we landed and found our taxi to our hotel. We arrive and checked in and found out that Logan didn't read the fine print and so we

ended up with a room with two full beds with the view above. We talked to the front desk and they change our room the next day to a room with a king bed and we are located right above the front door. I also have to admit that the taxi drive was nuts!! I was holding onto the seat beat for my dear life!

On the second day, we slept in for a while. I woke up at nine and Logan woke up at ten ( the hour difference is by two hours...so it would of be 11 for me and noon for Logan). We didn't do much today because we was still learning what going on around here and all the places and what not. I did end up passing out in the lobby while reading. We also when seashell hunting tonight and found about a pound of them. We also found a sand dollar. We are planning on going early in the morning so we can get some huge shells.Oh...here's some pictures of the back of the hotel.

Here's our favorite picture of the day. I hope you guys like it too.

Day 8 of San Diego Vacation - Cale's Graduation and Sea World

We went back to the Marine Corp Boot Camp the following day. We was only there long enough to watch Cale graduate and to help get his things ready to go. Anyways, he graduated very proud. Actually we all was very proud of him. Here's a picture of him:

 

Again, we are all very proud of him. Here are a few more pictures from the graduation nothing to much because it was kind of like the day before so there's not much to show you.

All the battalions

Battalion 1030

After the graduation, we ended to up helping get Cale's stuff so he can take off with his Dad. We had to be back to the spot where we was dropped off so we can go back to the motel. After we got back we decided to go back to Sea World so I can see the Shamu and Dolphin show again. I really didn't get to see them because I was always taking the pictures. We also went back because we missed some the last time we went. Oh...and we got some presents too. It was so much fun. I love being able to watch everything. I loved it. 

Day 6 of San Diego Vacation - Touring the Harbor

When we tour, we didn't do the whole Harbor. There is way too much visit for one day. We did get a tour around the harbor in a boat. I took way too many pictures even for me...and I don't know if I could even post most of them. There were many navy ships and other military things. I was surprise to know there was so many things from the military. The picture to the right is a old Navy ship that is retired. It is called "Midway". We went on the ship because Logan was looking to it so much. It was hard for me because of the smell, it made me very sick. So I stay where I can have fresh air while Logan went and looked around and explore.

We than went on a cruise ship It went around the North of the harbor and the South. It was really nice. There was so many thing that was amazing. Here are some pictures from the cruise. Again there where way too many pictures so I can't post all of them.

Anyways...while we was on the boat, the view was amazing! To see all those buildings and so high too! I could never really be on the top floor of one those...but they are pretty amazing. And there was the bridge too. It was pretty big. We didn't get to go on the bridge or go across. It's pretty amazing. As you can see from the picture, it's huge! I couldn't believe that there was a bridge this. I wished that we could of gone but we never got the time to go over it and what not.


In the end, it was a lot of fun and beautiful. I glad we went to the harbor.