Bronze Quill Award & Upcoming Signings in Missouri

This past weekend, I found out that (dis)Abilities and the Gospel received the 

Bronze Quill Publication Award 

in the Religious Book category.

There was a crazy impromptu party & lots of  Happy Happy Dances going on. YEAH! A huge thank you goes out to all the award judges and LUW.


Upcoming Signings

This Saturday, I have two signings with four other awesome authors. If you live in the outer Kansas City, Missouri areas, I hope you'll stop by. There will be coloring contests for the kids, Q&A with the authors, and a used book donation drive for the Caldwell County Library.

Saturday, Sept, 24th
10-12 noon
Far West Country Store
2650 NW State Route D
Cameron, MO

Saturday Sept 24th
2-4 pm
Eden Bookshop
118A North Main St.
Liberty, MO

The Eden Bookshop signing is during the Liberty Fall Festival. Think carnival rides and cotton candy on a gorgeous Saturday with your family. You can't resist that, now can you? 

Some Saturday Fun!

My girlfriend, Nichole, nominated me for the Over the Top award. She's such a sweetheart. I love her vibrant personality and the wicked sparkle in her eyes. She makes me smile and laugh - and I'm always so excited to see her every year at the LDStorymakers conference. I'm grateful she's part of my life and a great friend.

So, part of the award is to answer the following questions. This is a little Danyelle Q&A for ya.

1. Where is your cell phone? Sitting on my desk beside my elbow as I type.

2. Your hair? Dark Golden Brown - or at least that's what my L'Oreal box says.


3. My mother? Absolutely adored her. She's one of my role models of how to live life and be an incredible mom. She passed away when I was 19.


4. Your father? Works for the railroad. Nope, I'm not kidding, and no, he doesn't ride in the caboose. He's the head of an engine for his company.


5. Favorite food? Chocolate, mexican, thai, chinese, italian, and sonic drinks.


6. Your dream last night? My daughter fell out of bed last night & woke me up from an awesome dream . . . unfortunately, I can't remember it.

7. Favorite drink? Sonic Cherry Vanilla Coke or a Lemon-Berry Slush.


8. Your dream/goal? To be loved and remembered.


9. What room are you in? My office/kitchen.


10. Your hobby? Besides writing? Reading, singing in the kitchen, dancing with my kids, monthly craft club with the girls . . . there's more, but I'll stop there.


11. Your fear? Something happening to my hubby or kids.


12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Debt-free and enjoying life with my family. Having a few more books out would be nice too.


13. Where were you last night? Home with my awesome family.


14. Something you aren't. A good housekeeper. My poor hubby is a neat freak and I'm a sloppy person. We've both had to make adjustments to meet in the middle. Now we're both just slightly messy.


15. Muffins? Yum! I love chocolate chocolate chip!


16. Wish list item? A week long vacation with my main squeeze - and I'm not talking orange juice.


17. Where did you grow up? Pennsylvania.


18. Last thing you did? Read an email from my publisher.


19. What are you wearing? Jeans, a Bambi shirt, and socks.

20. Your TV? It's downstairs and the kids are watching PBS.


21. Your pet? None, currently. My hubby is allergic. When he proposed, I had to choose between him and my dog. Guess who won? (The dog went to live with my sister)


22. Your friends? I have lots of awesome friends spread throughout the world. What an incredible blessing they are.


23. Your life? Is like a roller-coaster - but who's isn't? It makes everything interesting, and definitely much better.


24. Your mood? Rushed and anxious - getting ready to go out of town.

25. Missing someone? Always.


26. Vehicle? 2000-something Town & Country.

27. Something you're not wearing? Shoes


28. Your favorite store? There are definitely WAY too many to choose from. Depends on where the best sales are. I love NY&Company, Old Navy, Gap, and Christopher & Banks.

29. Your favorite color? Pink, brown, green, blue . . .


30. When was the last time you laughed? This morning.

31. Last time you cried? Last night.


32. Your best friend? My husband. No contest.


33. One place that I go over and over? School, the grocery store, and Costco.


34. One person who e-mails me regularly? I have to echo Nichole here - my writers groups (Super Edits, Authors Incognito, & Olathe Writers Group).

35. Favorite place to eat? Anywhere, as long as the food is delish & I'm sharing dessert with my hubby. :)


Now I get to nominate five people for this award. Nichole actually told why she nominated each person, but I'm already on the weepy side so I'm just going to tell you each of the people I nominate are very special to me. They have each been there during very important times in my life, supporting me, laughing with me, and yes, sometimes letting me soak their shirts while I cried. I thank Heavenly Father that they are my friend each and every day.

1. Heather Justesen

2. Laura Marion

3. Amy Marble

4. Robin Thomas

5. Tristi Pinkston

A Clean Sweep - Catching up!

Last Friday, my hubby took the day off work to celebrate our anniversary. Want to know what we did? We cleaned out our basement. Seriously. And I was the one who suggested it!

We had so many boxes just waiting to be unpacked from our move 2 1/2 years ago. I really wanted to be able to do the laundry and not feel claustrophobic. I was also concerned that if there ever actually WAS a tornado and everyone was in the basement, that we'd have tons of stuff flying everywhere!

I was amazed at how much stuff we went through! Some of it was set aside for a garage sale in a few weeks, some of it was put away in the house, and a whole huge pile of it went into the trash. I found a few things I had been hunting for - like my family genealogy cards and my kids birth certificates. All good things to locate!

As a result of our efforts, we came across the toddler bed my hubby's grandfather made for our kids - which led to a conversation about if Anna was ready to leave her crib. The real question was if Mom & Dad were ready to chase Anna for nap and bed time! As you can see, we decided to try out the big girl bed . . . and Anna was thrilled!

The pillows are for accidental tumbles!

Anna . . . late that night. It's a good thing we put the pillows there!

Saturday morning, John & Isaac went to the Sprint Campus run. Here they are with the "running rabbit"! John ran along-side Isaac in the kids 1K race.

On your marks . . . Get set . . . Go!Isaac took 2nd place in the Kids 1K run! Yeah Isaac!

Now for some more fun . . .

I've been nominated for some really fun blogging awards!

Thank you to Shauna for giving me The Uplifting Blogger Award. This is an award I truly appreciate. While I enjoy doing fun stuff like contests, etc on my blog, I truly hope it's inspiring to all the other writing moms and moms raising kids with special needs . . . Thank you so much!

Two bloggers have awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you Heather & Nichole!

Now, there's more to the Kreativ Blogger award. Here we go . . .

Seven things about me (is there anything you don't already know???)

1. I absolutely LOVE my freckles!

2. I was once asked to describe myself without saying anything about my physical features. My response was - I'm the girl from your favorite chick flick. Not the gorgeous main character, but the quirky best friend.

3. My response to #2 gave me a whole new book idea! Coming soon!

4. I was a major flirt in college. Anyone surprised?

5. I love girly stuff - pink stuff, shoes, purses, etc.

6. I am a shopaholic. Totally true. (Thank goodness my hubby is a penny-pincher. I need some balance in life!)

7. We've been paying off our debt for the last year and have made a ton of progress. But when I paid off my Old Navy card . . . and canceled it, I actually cried. I couldn't even cut up the card. I had to give it to my hubby to do the honors. It still makes me teary.


Seven people I nominate for this award:

1. Shauna @ Trying to Stay Calm- it amazes me all the awesome stuff she gets for her contests!

2. Amy @ What a Kick in the Pants - Amy's knack for everything homemaking related has left me in awe since our college days.

3. Joni @ Modern Myrtle - Joni makes custom bags and scripture totes for me. Personally, I can only sew square blocks together. Joni's talent is truly incredible!

4. Heather @ Just a Little Minute - Now Heather just cracks me up! I love her humor and perspective on enjoying motherhood.

5. Kris @ Meet My Camera - You want creativity? Go check out Kris' photography. She always has the most gorgeous pictures! I don't know any of the people in her pics, but I just fall in love with them anyway. I would love to have her do our family pics the next time she's out in KC.

6. Stephanie @ She Does Hair - Stephanie has stopped posting new hair-do's, but has left her blog up as a reference. I love searching her archives. She has such fun kid hair-styles!

7. Cheryl @ KC Temple Chaser - I love that Cheryl used her creative talent to journal all the happenings for the upcoming Kansas City Temple. She also posts inspirational thoughts and events at other temples around the world.


So there you go, my friends. I hope you feel a bit caught up - and that you've discovered some awesome new blogs! Have a wonderful day!!!

The Marie Antoinette Award

My good friend Ali over on Girl in a Whirl received the Marie Antoinette "Real Blogs Real People" Award, then she graciously passed it on to me. She said some really nice things about me . . . and I didn't even have to bribe her!

"I would like to pass this award along to Danyelle at Queen of the Clan. Danyelle has a smile that lights up a room, but even if you hadn't ever met her in person you could tell she smiles like that just from the way she writes. She has a beauty that shines through every post and I find very word to be true to who she is and what is in her heart. Danyelle's blog is a happy place to be."

Thank you, Ali! On a side note, this award is very appropriate right now as Marie lost her head (quite literally by execution) . . . and lately I feel like I'm losing mine as well between all this hospital/illness stuff. Just a little funny similarity between me & Marie. :)

Now I get to pass the award on to someone, too. I'm going to send it to my friend Amy over at What a Kick in the Pants. I love her blog. She writes about what she's really thinking and shares her sewing and knitting experiments, too. She's one funny, down-to-earth chick!