His Real Smile Captured...Finally

It's beautiful.

I think I could just look at these pictures all day.

There's a song that my mom used to sing to me and my brothers that comes to mind when looking at these pictures. Now I know what she must have felt when singing it to us.

Look at that face -
Just look at it,
Look at that fabulous face of yours.
I knew first look I took at it,
This was the face that the world adores.

Look at those eyes -
As wise and as deep as the sea.
Look at that nose -
It shows what a nose should be.

As for your smile, it's lyrical -
Friendly and warm as a summer's day -
That face is just a miracle.
Where could I ever find words to say

The way that it makes me happy
Whatever the time or place?
I'll find in no book
What I find when I look
At that face.

Fun Times in Sunny Arizona

*Warning: Lots of pictures

We did it. We made our yearly trip to Arizona, and as usual it was a blast!! I wish we could stay there at least a month every year, or.............. forever. I love it so much. Although we had a little set back on the way up there, we had the BEST time ever.

Here we are fixing our flat. It's funny we didn't really feel it, we just heard a weird noise and to our astonishment the tire was SHREDDED. Total blessing.

Cecilio using his manly skills.

Smile.

And we're ready to go!


Morning Exercise

Danny and his cousin Ayla doing an Elmo workout.
To my surprise Danny was such a bully to her. He'd push her, lean on her, and take her stuff away. Towards the end of the trip though he was hugging her and kissing her and holding her hand. Total boy, I guess you could say. Thank you Ayla for being so patient with Danny. He misses you so much.

Uh oh, wrestling time. Danny exerted himself so much with his cousins that he would take like 4 hour naps there! It was kind of nice.

Freestone Park
This park was amazing. Danny got to feed the ducks and got a real kick out of it. The playground was fun too.

This picture is awesome! I love how it looks like they're posing. They totally weren't though, promise.

Danny enjoying the scenery.

Devon and Dorian contemplating life.

This was one of his nice days.

Hey Dorian.

Here Danny is with his cousin Enlai. He was a little nicer to him, just a little. He had trouble sharing with him. But in the end, they were best buds.

Build a Bear
Tia Arnnette got Danny his very first build a bear. It was such a cute experience. He really enjoyed it.

Here he is getting the heart that is going to go inside his doggie and bring it life.

Kissing the heart and warming it up.

Putting it in.

Cleaning his doggie.

And here is the official birth certificate of the newest member of the family, Oh-Mama. That's right, that's his name.

Uh, why is everyone looking at us?

He loves his Oh Mama so much.

Being silly.

Buca di Beppo
Cecilo's absolute favorite place to eat. He loves the pizza. We also got to go to Chipotle,and In-n-Out. The only place we missed was Cafe Rio. Maybe next time.

Cecilio's mom and sisters, Lily and KK.

Ready for the best pizza in the world?

Danny enjoying some bread. He was hungry!

Walk Around the Mall
I think this might of been Danny's first escalator experience. He went up and down I don't know how many times.

*Word of Caution*
His shoe ended up getting caught in the escalator. How, I'm not sure, but it chewed up the back of it. I remember hearing something about this happening, before Danny was even born so I did a little research and apparently is a big problem with Crocs. The material the shoe is made of has a grip that causes it to get caught on the teeth of the escalator. So beware of the escalator if your kids wear them. He was fine though, Cecilio managed to take his foot out before any damage was done. The strap on the back of his shoe was demolished though. I'm just glad it was the back of the shoe and not the front or else his little toes could have been really hurt!

Lunch at Ikea
I cannot go to Arizona without making a stop at Ikea. It is my absolute favorite store for home furnishings. Me and my sister went and ended up spending 4 hours there! It was pure bliss.

Dorian, Danny, Ayla, and Devon camping out in the living room.

Oscar's Basketball Game
We got to go to one of my nephew's games. It was really neat seeing him play. Basketball is one of his passions! He was really good. The guys were huge! Were they that big when we were in high school? He's number 50.

Swimming
We got to do a lot of swimming at Lily's place. The water was cold, and delicious.

Danny

Ayla

Daddy kisses.

Enlai

Dorian

Ayla jumping in!

Hannah, my beautiful niece.

Dorian, doing a belly flop, ON PURPOSE!

Wow Devon!


Drive-In
This was great! We got to watch part of Night at the Museum and Wolverine. I was surprised at how many people were there! It took us almost an hour to get in! The line was looooooooong, but we toughed it out. The night was nice and cool, perfect weather for a night at the drive in. I wish we had one here in El Paso.

The Temple
Of course we had to make our stop at the temple. We had family home evening there with Cecilio's family. It was really nice.

Danny with Tia KK.

Funny story about these shoes. Klaudia, Cecilio's sister loves to shop at Buffalo Exchange, an awesome second hand store with the coolest clothes. (If I was thinner, I'd definitely shop there.) Anyway, she bought these shoes there. She kept saying that one felt tighter than the other, and then she put them together and said she thought one did look bigger than the other. I told her maybe one foot was maybe a little bigger than the other and told her to check the sizes. Well it turns out that one shoe was one whole size bigger than the other. I could not stop laughing. Maybe I was delirious from tiredness at that point but I thought it was so funny! Moral of the story, Always check both shoe sizes before buying. Ha, ha!!

Bye Arizona
On our way home.

Danny sleeping with Oh Mama the night we got home.


Thank you Arnnette and Lily for letting us stay with you and for feeding us such delicious food. We had such a nice time, and can't wait till we go back. We are so grateful and blessed to have sisters like you that love us and take care of us. Thank you cousins for showing so much love to Danny, he really loves you guys so much! We love you guys!