To Cub

In appreciation for my wonderful husband on this our second anniversary + one day. (sorry)

I come to share in public my undying affection for the one I love most, Jacob Edmund Dean.

I was once a little lady with no prince to call my own.
Always dreaming of a man so perfect as you.
You came along one summer; so tall, and red, and handsome.
We decided then a perfect team we'd make.
And so we've proved to be.
2007 and 8 brought lots of victories.
Including graduation, Luci, a home of our own, and Law School.
Through it all I have loved you so much more each day.
Some days were tough, but we learned from those.
Of course there will be more tough days, but sacred promises will help us to succeed.
Your loyalty and assiduousness are admirable to say the least.
Above all I love your worthiness, your smile,
your strong hands, and your dancing.
You're my hero, my husband, and the champion of my heart.

I love you cub. ~Daniella

Fish Attack!

So, as you might have noticed, this blog is mostly to show Luci off. We hope you don't mind all of the video's. Luci is growing so fast and we want all of you to see her! She is so funny and it wouldn't be fair to keep such quality entertainment to ourselves. (Scroll down to see the fish attack)

So, about our not so entertaining lives: Jacob is super busy with his studies. He stays at school extra hours and even studies at home these days. I am excited to see him for breakfast and dinner. He spends some quality time with Luci putting her to bed...as you saw in one of the previous videos. Luci and I do lots of fun things while he is at school though. We play with friends, make delicious food, play in the delicious food (I like to let Luci feel the ingredients...flour, sugar, dough etc...) She loves watching the kitchen appliances. Especially the blender. I have a Blend Tec, which I grind wheat in. Luci thinks it's pretty scary at first but then she likes to touch it and yell at it when it's not on. You tell that blender goose!

So, there's an update for you. Maybe I'll get some deeper stuff on here one of these days. Leave some comments and ask some questions if you're wondering something about us!

Will she be a professional rower someday?

This'll brighten your day...

Luci

Here's a few new pictures of Luci, including a couple of her with her Halloween chicken costume on.

Luci the chicken with her cousin Ella

Luci the chicken trying to eat her mom's face.

Luci playing with some of her toys.

Luci loves playing with/sucking on the front door.

Family History Trip

For Jacob's fall break we went on a family history trip to the rolling hills of W. Virginia. It was so beautiful! We couldn't believe how the trees lit up. We got to visit some family and some really neat cemeteries. I got to know Jacob's family better and Luci did a great job traveling...as usual :)

Fall Fall Fall!

We love the fall and it is so beautiful out here. There are endless amounts of trees lining each street and all the highways. Luci has loved playing outside in the leaves and almost always shoves them straight in her mouth. Here is a little collage of some of things we have been up to recently. Jacob finished an intense assignment this friday and we are so excited to relax over our week long fall break. We're going on trip with Jacob's family for part of the week, and working on our house the other half. We were in much need of a little relaxations... most especially cub (a nickname for the hubby). What perfect weather to re-coop in.



We have also been surprised and amazed that Luci is crawling! She started the army crawl about 2 weeks ago. She is all over the place! I wish I could figure out how to successfully post a video! She is really such a little person these days. She eats peas, and applesauce. She likes applesauce, and hates peas though. Here are some pics of the little princess and her peas...

The Lord's Hand

The past couple of weeks I have seen the Lord's hand in my family's life a lot. Jacob is a great example to me of noticing these things since he keeps a journal of how the Lord blesses him and his family each day. He never misses a day. It's amazing to read his entries (I'm his wife, so I'm allowed ;) and realize how often we can see His hand. Since Friday Sept. 12 there have been a lot of close calls. On Friday Luci and I were going to pick up Jacob from school and it was pouring I mean POURING rain. We were going down a huge, steep hill when I lost control of the car. We started spinning and ran into the median, luckily there was not very much traffic and the median was very small. With the help of a very nice officer, we got the tire fixed and Luci slept through the whole thing. Then last Sunday we were hit by Hurricane Ike... yes it's true, a hurricane in the midwest. The wind gusts were insane. The city of is still recovering from the fallen trees, burnt down buildings, and 90% of the city's power being out. A huge branch fell on the roof of our new house, but surprisingly did no damage. Then just this Saturday while I was making pancakes Luci was playing and she magically scooted (now she can scoot I guess) into a huge frame which is very heavy and knocked it down on top of herself. It scared the pants off both of us and Jacob had to talk me out of calling 911. (You could say I definitely over-reacted) So my friends, I am grateful to be alive with my baby and husband. I know the Lord watches over all of us. Even if things would have not turned out as they did, I know that we can trust Him. If we choose to we will see His hand in every aspect of our lives.

Home Sweet Home

It's starting to feel like home out here! I really love it, I don't think we could have found a better place to be right now. Our house is perfect, it's just tucked back into a really cute neighborhood. Our neighbors are super quiet, and there is a library about 5 minutes away that we can walk to. I got a pilates video to work on, I baked some banana peanut butter muffins (mmm...), I made some bracelets for Luci with my friend Wendy (who is awesome!), It's friday and my husband is going to be home soon! Too bad we don't have a babysitter this weekend. We are sad that we have to actually plan ahead and find a babysitter now that none of Luci's grandma's live close. We're going to the local fair tomorrow. I'm going to get some homemade cobbler and Jacob hopes there is cheese on a stick like he used to get when he was a kid.

Here are some pics of the latest events:


We started feeding Luci rice cereal...she loves it! We have an awesome video but I can't figure out the best way to put movies on here. Does anyone know??


We went to the OSU game and got sweet seats


We had a family picnic for labor day in our backyard

Are We Getting Involved?

The issue of same-sex marriage is ever present. While we should be tolerant and kind to those fighting for these rights, we should be strongly advocating our beliefs and our reasons for promoting the traditional family.

I find myself quite ignorant of such issues sometimes. As I go about my quiet little life I sometimes forget that there are issues that affect me and my family. I am thankful to those who do keep informed on these crucial issues. I read this important and informative press release given by the church on August 13, and decided to stay informed and get involved. Please read The Divine Institution of Marriage here.

Please sit back and enjoy the ride

Here's a whirlwind tour of the past couple of months...

Luci got her toes painted

We made it to Vegas with Mom and Pops... thanks Sally and James!

We hiked a little piece of Zion'sLuci and I discovered our love for pugs


Luci started grabbing things



Luci smiles...
And she frowns even better...
We went to see the Tetons
Luci stayed warm
We named this spot Luci's Dinnerfalls

A Grandoc worthy picShe loves Nana
River rafting down the snake
Old Faithful

Have you been wondering why Jacob's face looks dirty in all the pics? It's not dirt, it's his mustache... Ow Ow babe :)
Luci had two older siblings for a week
We went to the Hogle Zoo
My husband is handsome

Big Fat Bunch Family Reunion...4 out of the 5 babies born within about 4 months
I got a free makeover at Nordstrom just for kicks
We started what we call The Dean's Big Adventure. Jacob packed the Corrolla chalk full of stuff. Literally, the exhaust pice was almost dragging on the road. Don't worry Luci wasn't mixed in with the boxes for the long haul. We took a plane! Shane and Jacob stopped at a diner in Kansas, definitely a blast from the past.
A shot from the car
Luci's new outfit for her first plane ride. (Provided by Nana) She had a blow out in it while we were going through security. I changed her right before take off on the lap tray... umm Don't worry I got the stains out!
A new dress for the first day of church in our new ward. $5 at Old Navy, Sweet!
Well, hope you enjoyed it! We are really excited about this new town that we live in. It just keeps getting more perfect every day. We're excited to move into our house on friday. We have a house! Love you guys!

In The Process

Were in the process of moving to our new house :) We are in Limbo for a couple of weeks out here though. We're staying with in-laws and friends for two weeks and then we'll get to move in for reals. Jacob drove straight through. He left on thursday night and arrived on saturday morning. Luci and I had a great flight. We're excited! Sorry we're still boring...

Boring

Sorry friends. I have been wanting to post for some time now and our computer is not cooperating. The wireless card is busted or something. So I can't get my pics onto the blog. Hence, My blog is boring. Posts to come... Vegas/4th of July, Teton Natl. Park, Luci pics, Big Fat Bunch Family Reunion, Babysitting the Bakers...

Here's a sneak peek.

I am babysitting my cousins this week. They are the cutest. Jakey (2) keeps referring to Luci as his and Jacob's baby. After about 5 minutes of playing he always says, " I need to go find my baby now." Mckell is almost 6 and we read books together. We all went to the post office today... crazy to say the least. 2 kiddos and a baby. How do you mothers out there do it? Two things I've learned so far... pocksickles are always a good bribe, and the hugs and smiles are well worth all of the craziness.

Stuff...

I thought I'd update on what we're up to these days...Luci has definitely taken over the blog. We are getting so excited to move! We are so close to buying a house. We really really love it and the area looks awesome. Hopefully we'll close at the end of this month. Jacob is working really hard. He has an accounting job from 8-5 every day, he is taking a GMAT class, and he studies and works out everyday pretty much. I try to help out as much as I can. I get to play with Luci and my mom everyday, and I try to sell all of our stuff so we don't have to move it. We are going to be sad to leave Provo when the day comes. I think everyone will miss Luci more than Jacob and me though.

We are going on a vacation this weekend! My dad is paying for us to go to Las Vegas for Jacob's birthday present. Jacob has three requests only: 1. We eat at In-N-Out burger 2. We eat at a Buffet 3. We see the strip. He's never been to Vegas so...here we go!
We are going to stay with my cousin Sally and her husband James. My mom and mark are going to hitch a ride and come too. We are going to hike zions on friday morning, eat at In-N-Out Burger, watch the fireworks on the strip, eat at a buffet, go swimming, and go to the Vegas temple.

Luci rolled over last Saturday for the first time. She did it about 4 times and she's been doing it since! Of course she won't do it for the camera or I would show you. Hopefully that will come soon.

Life is wonderful and we are so happy. We hope everyone is having a great summer!

Luci is a model!

Check out my sister in law's website! She sells the cutest bows. it's sittingprettybows.blogspot.com