Just Us

It has to be the first time I have ever experienced the craziness of shopping at midnight in Branson the day after Thanksgiving. Allison, Leah and I braved the winding roads into Branson in hopes of finding some Christmas gift DEALS! Little did we know the adventure it would be! Here is a picture of the girls pre-shopping.....note the smiling faces....Leah-Starbucks in hand....we were ready to shop....tired but excited! :) We arrived at the outlet mall to discover a parking lot packed with tired, crabby shoppers looking for a parking place. After a long wait and some flashing lights, we finally found a spot to park and the shopping could begin. We had lots of laughs even in the midst of long lines and our own exhaustion. The last picture would be a result of a late night....I mean morning of shopping together. So much fun.....would do it all over again....as long as we were together! :)

Family........little niece......little nephew.......laughter......joy........time together......most importantly, the gift we have in Jesus. The forgiveness and love we receive each day that continues to shape us into who we were made to be.....people that love and forgive without condition and without restraint. That is our prayer and will continue to be our prayer into this new year. Thanksgiving was yet another reminder of how wonderful it is to spend time with family. Al and Debbie rented a cozy cabin outside of Branson and we all met there.Uncle Dick and Aunt Pam made the trip as well! :) It was a weekend FULL of lots of laughter and LOTS of wonderful food by Debbie and Aunt Pam! In Allison's words, "YUM-O." Faith LOVED all the leaves outside and was always willing to give us her best "cheezzzzzz." I don't know who had more fun....Faith playing or all of us being entertained by her! We can't believe how much she has grown up already! It seems...

Have you ever felt like you were moving so fast and dong so much.....that when things finally slow down...you aren't sure how to relax?!?! This has definitely been my day today. Dan and I have had such a busy couple of weeks and are SO glad to be relaxing a little this weekend together. Last weekend, I headed to Des Moines with the cheerleaders for their first state competition. They did wonderful and placed 11th in our division. A 10 point deduction for a hairband kept them from an 8th placing. So placing in the top half for their first time...is pretty amazing! :) We were very proud of them. Parent-teacher conferences were this past week as well. And I survived. It makes for a really long week, but it is good to connect with parents. Month without TV update: Dan has one more day to go!!!! Tomorrow he has class and then we plan to go out to a movie...or to a couple! Hahaha. It is pretty amazing how much more time we have for other things when we aren't watching tv. ...

On Thursday night, Mel came over for our annual FALL FUN NIGHT! :) We were really brave this year and did some tricky carving. These are our finished products after hours of carving and sipping cider. We took these pumpkins over to Grandma Daisy's for the trick-or-treaters on Saturday. Grandma was pretty excited. I handed out candy, while Dan sat in a ground blind out on the farm....waiting for the BIG one. The BIG one did not make an appearance this weekend.....but I have sure been learning a lot about all that goes into the GREAT hunt. Did you know that this man wears deer pee on his shoes just to attract deer?!?!? Wow....I think I will stick to jewelry..... :) Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Here we are.......happily enjoying our new ride! :)

This weekend we made a really exciting decision and bought a Dodge Dakota. Yes, "Buying a truck" happen to be one of the things on Dan's Without the Tube list. :) Here is one picture for you, family! More to come soon! :) Love you all!

Wow....was our last post seriously in July?!?! Thanks to little Miss Leah Maria...my goal is to do a better job of actually posting. :) So much has happened since July! School has started and fall is finally here. Dan and I have been enjoying the early darkness....doesn't make us feel like nerds when we are snuggled up on the couch in our pjs by 7! :) We have had lots of visitors that make our weekends extra special and are so EXCITED about Quincy's arrival in December. The first pictures are of Deid's shower. Grandma Terri is pretty excited. Let's just say....Quincy is going to have enough quilts to keep him warm until he's 50. :) All the excited aunts and Grandma T. The wonderful SOON-TO-Be Great Grandma Dunn. I think I get my smile from her.... :) The next pictures are of a trip we made to Columbia to visit Leah, Nate and Faithers. Isn't she such a cutie-pie? We are pretty much in love with her! These are a few of her "Aunt DD? Seriously?" ...

Nate, Leah and Faithers came for a short visit and the brothers went for a little fishing trip. The began their fishing expedition at the Dunn pond in Villisca. However, the HUGE catfish they were hoping to catch seemed to be hiding! Soooo....sometime after midnight the boys called us to inform us that they were going fishing in some river. A couple hours later, they arrived in Glenwood to clean the fish Dan caught! :) Dan had so much fun having Nate there. Fishing is just so much more fun with your brother!

Last summer, we celebrated Momma Dunn's birthday with a girls' trip to Branson, MO. This summer we decided to continue the tradition with a summer trip to Las Vegas. I had never been to Las Vegas before and let me tell you.....it was a unique experience! SOOOO many interesting people and so many beautiful hotels to see! We spent most of our days laying out at the pool, walking around looking at all the hotels, shopping, eating at fun places and LAUGHING! Unlike most Vegas goers, we actually didn't spend much time gambling.....I work way to hard to throw my money away!! :) We had to take extra care of our pregnant sister---lots of water and sleep! We did see a couple shows while we were there. And a surprise highlight was getting to see Eric Clapton in concert at the MGM! I think we were the youngest people there that actually knew his songs. Thanks Daddy Dirk! Again I was reminded how very blessed I am. As sisters, we are all so different and yet so much the same. ...

I am finally getting around to posting the rest of my little trip to Missouri. I was so blessed to get to spend so much time with my little niece Faith, Leah and Nate. She is so sweet and SO entertaining. We had lots of fun playing peek-a-boo and just rompin' around the house. I am so amazed how quickly she has grown. She has such a sweet and spunky personality and it shows more and more each time I see her. This picture shows Faith using the bath crayons we got her....she did enjoy putting them in her mouth, just as much as using them to draw on the wall. Dan said, "Great job Aunt DD! Teach her it's okay to write on the walls with crayons! Way to Go!" Haha...oops! No Dan, she is just so smart....she needs to start practicing her letters! :) Haha... Leah and I also got some girl time. We went to the HUGE library during the Columbia hurricane :) and then went for coffee in this cute little shop downtown. It was so good to catch up and do what we do best.....

This past weekend, I met Deid in Kansas City for the Sugarland concert. We had such a blast together....mostly laughing and singing! Here are some pics from our weekend together.... We ate at Granite City....yummmmm-o! There is a story about our little trip to Granite City. Deid and I were just talking, waiting for our food....when from out of nowhere a little boy comes at me swinging a balloon. After a few hits, Deid and I sat in shock/confusion just staring at this little boy. I smiled thinking maybe he thought I was someone else and was just playing. However, the look on his face told me he was seriously angry at me about something! Then the boy's mom says from across the restaurant, "What are you doing? You don't even know those people!" Maybe expecting the mother to address "those people" with an apology, Deid and I continued to sit in silence. The mother just turned back around and this is when we broke into uncontrollable laughter!!! Why th...

Sorry it has been forever since we have updated our blog. I just finished up my second year teaching kindergarten and am very excited that summer is here! However, it didn't quite feel like summer until the weekend, when I could spend time with Dan. On Friday night, we went out in Omaha. First stop, Best Buy (Old Married Club--yep--we are exciting!). I was pretty excited because my camera of 5 years decided to stop working.....and we got a shiny new Canon! It is a beauty and takes great pictures! Then we ate at Applebees and saw Angels and Demons . Great movie....must see! On Saturday, summer officially began with a little fishing trip. As you can see, Dan finally talked me into getting my very own fishing license. So the following pictures show our first summer fishing trip. Derrica's little itty bitty fishy #1........ Dan with his super cute farmers tan... :) We hope that you all are enjoying the weather as well! Love you all... :)

HAPPY EASTER! :) So I have finally decided to jump on board with all you bloggers! Dan and I religiously check other blogs to keep up with everyone.....so NOW it can be a two-way street. We just had a wonderful Easter in Villisca and were able to spend some time with the Dunn family! Here are some pictures from the weekend. The boys played LOTS of snooker! Jon and Jill joined the family for Easter! We pray that your Easter was a blessing...and send lots of love your way!