Dave's Wedding

The Bachelor Party.

'I wish I could move like all the other grandkids.'

The Bachelor Party, plus Mom.

On our way to the temple. Shades courtesy of Uncle Matt.

The two most eligible bachelors at the wedding.

The two Daves at the wedding luncheon.

=

The beautiful cake Lindsey made!

Little Lindy

I think that our little Hallie is looking more like her Aunt Lindy all the time. She is definitely a Danley. This picture especially reminds me of pictures of Lindy when she was younger.

CHRISTMAS AWAY

We are very disappointed to have missed the Danley Family Christmas Party this last weekend @ Jeff & Kim's place in Heber.  From the word on the street, it was a great time had by all.  We are also feeling bad that our gifts have not arrived yet from abroad.  I posted a sneak peak of Jas & Dave's gift pictured above.  Your Welcome.

PUPPY LOVE

Steve & I are so excited about the recent news of Dave & Crystal's engagement that we just HAD to post these great pics on the family blog.  Well, let's be honest, we actually are in love with their new chocolate lab.  We can't believe they already have a new addition and the wedding isn't even until the Spring!!!  

CONGRATS YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!

St. George

This blog has suffered since Deon left for New Zealand, so in honor of the annual St. George Marathon trip, I'm getting some pictures up.
The whole Danley family spent a weekend in St. George a few weeks ago, in order to watch Dave run the St. George marathon. We are all glad we get to hang out and have a good time, and Dave is the one running 26 miles. Thanks Dave for another fun race and good job!!
Highlights of the weekend were swimming with the grandkids, watching General Conference, looking for the elusive desert tortoise on a short Sunday hike, Jeff's rollerblading, sushi eating, celebrating Mom's birthday, trying to fix the projector in the theatre, watching The Office, and going shoe shopping with the girls.
Thanks for the fun weekend everyone, and we definitely missed our Kiwis...Deon and Steve!
(BTW...I totally forgot the camera at the race, but Crystal was nice enough to take some pics of Dave receiving his loot at the awards ceremony!)



The awards ceremony. It was rainy and cold.

Some shots of the cute grandkids. Sage, Gavin and Will are also cute but they spent most their time hiding out in the theater room.

Mom's birthday cake...a peach cobbler.

Everyone enjoying their cobbler and some episodes of The Office.

Swimming in the dark.

Our Sunday hike led by none other then Gavin and Will.

SPA LOVE

Stephen's last day at the Hartford firm is tomorrow.  He has been so lucky to work with a bunch of amazing people, and he is certainly going to miss each and every one of them.  This moving thing is truly overrated!!

RELAXING REUNION

Thanks to my wonderful and amazing sister-in-laws, The James Family Reunion was a wonderful and relaxing beginning to our vacation in Utah.  The activities at the reunion were top-notch, and every last bite of food was heavenly.   We had a great time watching old slides and hearing all the 'remember whens' from days of old.

tasty worm slurping

Jazz hands

happy, but fierce competitors

victory

FAMILY FOTO

Sunday we all got ready for a big day at church in Payson.  I did a horrible job of trying to organize everyone for a photo, but luckily Dave's photo skills saved the day!  Look at all those good-looking grandkids!!!

LABOR DAY BLUES

Labor Day was full of activity . . . and thunderstorms and rain!!!  We arose very early to watch Dave smash the competition at a 5K in Payson.  Surprisingly, my cousin Kendall was at the same race that day as well . . . with his whole family!!  What an inspiration they are!!!!!!!

Later on in the day we dragged everyone around as we went shopping for NZ clothes.  We also got to see Prince Caspian at the movies with Jason, Lindsey, Sage & Halle.  Those two little girls are so adorable and fun to be around!!!  My favorite line of Sage's while viewing the movie was, "WHY do the squirrels have swords?!?!?"  

Dave laughs in the face of defeat.

Kendall looking studly in his official racing gear.

Hanging at the Onion Days Parade with the family;  we didn't see much before it got rained-out!

TUESDAY TEARS

Sadly we left Payson on Tuesday to go out to the Uintah Basin.  We tried to haul Tyler out there with us, but he was busy getting a great new job!

BIG SKY COUNTRY

Thanks to Dad, we were able to travel over to Altonah to see our land on Wednesday.  We also tried some of the best candy in the land from a little grocery store in Altamont-- good find!

ME & MY SHADOW

Ian was sure a cutie to watch . . . he is a fearless adventurer.

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN

We sure had fun playing with the four Danley grandsons out in the Basin!!!!!

DINO DISCOVERIES

Thursday we hung at the new National History/Dinosaur Museum in Vernal, UT.

Little explorers:  Will and Gavin.

Mom sharing her vast knowledge of bison.

Decisions, decisions . . .

Gavin's trying to measure-up to this Wooly Mammoth!

The Three Musketeers

YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK . . .

Dad, Gavin, and Ian sporting their sweet new dinosaur tats.

SLURPEE LOVE

Dad's new custom Slurpee Machine brought as much joy to the grandkids as it did to the Danley children after a long day of work at the office each summer.  ;)

SHREDDING ON HOLY WATER

This is what my talented brothers looked like chillin' at the Indian reservation lake last Saturday . . . 

ZERO ATHLETIC ABILITY REVEALED

this is how pathetic I looked . . .  so sad!

SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE

It was tough to leave Roosevelt on Saturday, but luckily I had Jeff & Kim's house to look forward to.  It was neat to see their sweet new digs in Heber.  

Thanks everyone for such a wonderful trip to Utah!!!  We really appreciate everyone who scheduled their life around us so we could have the best activities, food, transportation, and company during our 10-day visit.

I SEE THE LIGHT

Steve just called me from scout camp in Vermont and informed me that we both got our visas today!!!!  That is a huge relief considering we have already sold many of our belongings . . . and packed-up the rest.

BEACH BUMS

Steve's better half, Montana.

Steve & Deon skipped town on Saturday and headed to Charleston, RI for the Annual Mrachek Family Turkey Fry at their beach house.   We felt very privileged to be invited, and a great time was had by all.  We were having such a good time that I forgot to take any pictures until the fireworks show- whoops.  Luckily, Courtney shared a few of her pics with me.

Beans oh beans

Canning season has begun, and in honor of the occasion I decided to post my latest accomplishment. We've had a great bean crop this year and usually my attempts at bean canning are a disgrace, but I managed to get 16 pints this years. I think I'm most proud that I didn't cause any damage with the scary pressure cooker.

(I promise not to post pictures of all my canning this year!)

Viva La Vida

After waiting three long years for their return, my fav band Coldplay took to the stage at the XL Center in Hartford last night.  Steve & I scored some pretty sweet tickets on Ebay so I could see all the musical action up close & personal.  Unfortunately, other psycho fans had the same idea, so we had to deal with a few characters around us.  Steve enjoyed himself, minus the full glass of beer that got dumped down his pants and shoe. 

The concert was great, but the band totally snubbed us . . . no encore performance!  Maybe we will just have to go to Boston tomorrow night for another round of "Death and All His Friends".  Hey, 'just because I'm hurting, doesn't mean I'm hurt . . . '.

Nice laser shows, media/image balls, and other special effects-
Some personal touches-
Jammin'-
Even Will sang a little-
Mr. Martin was the all-around showman.

Hey, Hey, Hey . . . Good-bye

Last Monday, while the family was recovering from the big Cameron Reunion in Utah, we were mourning the loss of our good friend, Jaime.  She moved to Orlando, FL this last Tuesday with her three adorable boys.  Hopefully she becomes great friends with the Orlando branch of the Danley fam.

Cameron Family Reunion 2008

The Cameron Reunion was this last weekend. It was a great time with all our crazy relatives, although we really missed Deon and Steve and Jason and Lindsey and their girls. We could have used them in the hula hoop competition!

Here are a few pics from the Olympic portion of the reunion. Our team was from Japan, and we put together a pretty decent ensemble of costumes and flag. However, Jeff added his touches with two sumo suits. Jeff and Matt showed off their wrestling abilities, and Kurt showed off his ability of getting two sumo wearing guys into the back of a truck.

It was all pretty funny and great fun!

On Saturday morning, Altamont had their annual Longhorn 5k. Jeff, Dave, Kendrick, Kendall, Amy, Madison and Tyler all got up early to go run it. A few of us dragged ourselves out of bed to watch. 'That Danley Boy' got first place and Jeff came in 3rd.

Gavin and Will had a blast swimming and building their 'house' (under the wood stairs). I think they are having a little gladiator/sword fighting competition in these pictures.

The highlight of the Olympic competition was the syhcronized swimming. I was impressed with Jeff, Kim and Dad's ability to put together a routine. Dad gets the award for never coming out of character!

These are a few pics from the climbing wall. James couldn't quite reach the holds yet!

SUPER KELLI

This weekend we were extremely honored to have my genius college roomie visit us from D.C.  She is currently in her first year as a nurse, but we like to refer to her as "super nurse". 

Kelli can also be categorized as a "super traveler".  She has basically almost visited the entire world in her short life, but CT was one of her unconquered states.   She arrived on Thurs. evening after a long drive on 95.

Luckily, being a seasoned traveler, Kelli toured the majority of CT hot spots in one day.  We ended Friday at Yale and decided to treat our palates to the delicious Thai cuisine of Bangkok Gardens in New Haven-- thanks for the suggestion, Kim!

THE MOUNT Estate and Gardens of Edith Wharton

Can you see the humidity in this pic?

The stables.
Steve & Kelli discussing Ethan Frome.  :)

Yesterday Stephen, Kelli, and I drove up to the Berkshires in Western MA.  Considering it was the hottest, most humid day of the year thus far, we were anxious to spend some time at a slightly higher elevation.  

Our two points of interest were the Edith Wharton estate in Lenox, MA, and the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA.  Unfortunately, due to 'artistic overload' for the male in our party, we opted for lunch over the NRM.  Lindsey, I will try to make it there eventually!!!

PLAIN & SIMPLY EXTRAVAGANT

Although her massive estate took two years to build, the inside decor was extremely simplistic.  Wharton despised "sumptuary excesses" of  the Victorian clutter of her privileged upbringing in New York, so The Mount's interior was inspired by the Old World designs of Italian villas, French pavilions, and English country houses.

MY DREAM GARDEN

The estate gardens were magnificent!  Ms. Wharton once commented that she was a better gardener than a novelist, and it shows in the design and execution of her spacious Italian gardens.

LITERARY MUSHROOMS

Dave, what are these weird, alien-like mushrooms?  We located these on the Edith Wharton estate.  Any guesses??