cupcakes...

ok so you all know how im pretty much obsessed with cupcakes.

it happened innocently as a child...simmered away as a grew- and is now back in full attack.

there are days when i can only think of how glorious it would be to just have one cupcake with pink icing and sprinkles.

well quiet sometime ago i remember reading about johnny cupakes in magazine, and then i quickly forgot.

today joel's mom just reminded me of his website.

he has an amazing story kids- you have to check it out. this boy is our age and started making some shirts and buttons for his friend's bands and went out on the road with them pedaling his johnny cupcakes gear- and is now super successful and has some of the coolest marketing i have seen. and has stores all over the world.

check it out friends!

i know i will be buying some cupcake gear today!

goodbye grandpa gene...

Oth Eugene Warrick

Born:
February 12, 1930

Died:
June 24, 2007

(this is the last picture i took of joel's grandpa gene at grandma's polka birthday party...it's one of my favorites- because it really shows his loving spirit.)

one of my favorite memories of him:

every time i saw gene for the last few years he would always say, "now what's your name again?" i would always say danelle and giggle. then he would always say, "well you are even more beautiful than i remembered."

you will be missed grandpa gene.

we love you...

-danelle and joel

home again...then gone again...

seems to be the story of my life lately.

home a week ago yesterday from my tour around the world.

got my hair did, switched suitcases and headed off to baltimore a day later to shoot pictures at my cousin juila's wedding in pennsylvania... oh and do make-up.

my dad and uncle picked me up from bwi...and i had no voice- from being horribly sick! we drove into intercourse, pennsylvania...yes that it's name- those pennsylvania dutch are crazy with naming towns- there is a virginvile, bird in hand and paradise all next towns over. ps- we stopped at chic-fil-a. god bless america!

did i mention this is amish country?

anyways the wedding went good-julia's fiance' broke his foot the week of the wedding- and was on crutches, but other than that- everything else went well.

the pictures turned out great, juila was a beautiful bride and it was awesome to see the petersen's/cramers again!

while on my way home i got the sad news that joel's grandfather gene passed away sunday night in kansas...joel had been down there that weekend and his family all got to talk to him and say some last goodbyes- but it broke my heart that i wasnt there for my husband.

the first time we have been apart since the wedding...and the last time- for a while if i have my way. i missed him entirely too much.

so i finally get home monday night at 7pm and have to turn around and go to work in the morning and ask for more time off after being gone for a month. i was stressed out- but it all worked out, my boss was cool- and said to take today off and come back when im home on friday or monday. thank god. im so glad i get to go- it would have really broken my heart if she said no.

so here i am taking a few things out of my suitcase from monday and adding a few new things...

someday i will be home...

at least for longer than 2 days.

here are a few raw photos from the wedding...unedited--more to load yet.

day 30-God bless America! We are home!!!

(i updated all of the photos from the past week- please see past blogs)

what a day...well a few of them i guess.

we lived monday june 18th twice. the first day was spent on the beach in kwaj and the second was spent traveling for 24 straight hours!

the flight from kwaj to honolulu was ok- we had a stop in majuro and got into hawaii about 2am. it was quiet the experience. the pa boxes came out on the carousel wet and broken open boxes. we were not excited to see that at all. all of the islanders checked about 50 coolers full of fish- and it appeared that some broke open on the flight and wet down missys suitcase and our pa!

we had to load all our stuff up- get through customs and get all of our gear up to the departures area...on small elevators. that was fun. the whole airport was closed so we had to wait around until 5am to get our stuff through the usda xray machine. but you better believe we were first in line. we later found out that continental should have taken all of our bags downstairs after customs because they were checked all the way to omaha. i was not happy to hear this. what a headache that would have saved me. and did i mention i have a horrible cold? not good.

anyways we made it though check in, got some burger king breakfasts and headed back in time to la!

we got to la- took a shuttle to our terminal and said goodbye to missy and josh in la and headed to omaha!

this was by far our favorite flight- maybe because it was our last flight home- but mostly because it was on midwest express. i love love love this airline. anyone that gives you big comfy leather chairs, extra leg room and hot chocolate chip cookies is ok by me.

our flight from la ended up being a 30 minutes late- but we were all so excited to be home.

it was good to see our families again and get our feet on some nebraska ground.

...now for the unpacking and laundry.

now i have to repack for a early thursday flight to baltimore for my cousin julia's wedding in that im taking pictures at in pennsylvania this weekend. im not looking forward to getting on a plane again- but at least this flight will be short and sweet and there will be lots of loved ones to see on the other end of this country waiting for me!

day 28/29-kwajalein day 4- OUR LAST DAY...sort off...

today is a sad day.

our last day of the tour, our last day on the most beautiful place we have ever seen and our last day of fun in the sun...and did i mention we have about 24 hours worth of traveling ahead of us? we are going back in time and will arrive in omaha at 10:30pm on Monday, June 18- even though we leave kwajalein at 6pm on Monday, June 18. freaky...it's not going to be fun getting used to the 15 hour time difference this week!

this morning kyle, joel and i woke up early and got some breakfast and then called frunk, the nice oklahoman, and he met up with us to take us snorkeling. he was super cool and even let us borrow all of his gear...i think it helped that i was born in tulsa, ok- because he didn't care for husker fans...

we went to the north shore, where there is a ton of coral and fishes to see under water. it was beautiful and one of the coolest things i have ever seen in my life.

im still sick- and had some trouble getting used to breathing under water. it didn't help that i have never snorkeled before in my life, and cant even breathe on land because i was sick. the boys went out farther than i did, but i still had a blast...even got some pictures underwater! that was a first!

after that we went back to get packed up and cleaned up because we had to check in all of our bags at 12:45pm...our flight is at 6pm- but they let us leave and come back at 4pm- so that is why i got to sneak over here and use the good old dial up interweb.

checking our bags here was by far the easiest. they just line it all up and let the police dogs sniff it...no xray machines or anything.

so we are just waiting to go back to the one room airport and leave at 6pm. we have one stop on a tiny island of majuro then to honolulu...about a 6 hour flight. then a 5 hour layover in honolulu and an 5 hour flight to la, then an 2 hour layover there and back to omaha on an 3 hour flight- so that puts us home around 10:30pm- for all of you that want to greet us with signs and flowers!!! just kidding- kind off...but we really can't wait to get home and get hugs from our family and friends.

i will be following up to this blog to post all of the photos from guam to today and with some final thoughts on the tour.

thank you for all of your support and prayers...without all of you this tour wouldn't have gone as smoothly as it did! pray all of our bags and gear makes it home in one piece please, that would be the perfect ending!

see you soon!!

love you.

-danelle, the tour manager.












-photos from snorkeling to come after development!-