Falling back into a routine...

Well, our family vacations are over and done with, until November at least. Danny, however, is still traveling quite often. With two weeks in Texas last month and now another week in Colorado, we are really missing Daddy around home lately. We anxiously look forward to BYU Football season, when we know he will surely be home here for the games! He told me last week that he wants to "volunteer" to be the president of the BYU Cougar Club, so that he has an excuse to follow the team to all of the away games, too. I knew he was a Cougar fan when I married him (after all, he was a BYU cheerleader), but I had no idea that he was THE NUMBER ONE Cougar fan. The things they don't tell you until later. :)
We are beginning to settle back into our "routine" of life again, and Macie has been especially busy, since she has begun taking dance and gymnastics classes this fall. She has always been an exceptional dancer and cheerleader (with Daddy's teaching, of course!), so we thought we'd give her some formal instruction. I love going to her dance class and watching her go at it -- she is super cute, shaking her booty and swishing around the floor. After dance today, Macie ran out of the room and shouted, "Mom, she said that I am such a good dancer! I did so good at ballet!" It was so fun to see her that excited. I can't wait until her first official performance.
Reid has been talking more and more every day, and it is fun to hear what things he chooses to say. For example, at the dentist office on Monday, when Macie got a purple "Belle" toothbrush, Reid grabbed it and said "Princess!" Of course, I didn't think Danny would be too thrilled with his first-born son talking about princesses, but I was quite proud (after all, "princess" is a tough word!). Most of what he says begins with "I want...". He had also shown a new facination with cars and trains, and "Vroom-vroom" and "Choo-Choo" are other favorite words. It sure is fun to be able to communicate better with the big fella.
Now that we are done with Lake Powell trips for the summer (This last trip, with the Davis Family, was TONS of FUN!), we've tried to get our fill of Utah Lake before the weather is too cold. A week ago we took our favorite neighbors wakeboarding with us, and by the time we got done it was dark and we were munched on by swarms of mosquitos (Reid has 13 bites!). Well, as luck would have it, they must've been Egyptian mosquitos, because 2 days later our kids came down with what we think (I'm 90% positive) was West Nile Virus. Actually, I would classify it as West Nile Fever, as it was the least severe form of the virus. They both had temperatures of over 103* Farenheit, headaches, muscle aches, nausea, etc.. I debated taking them in for the blood tests and official reporting, but, luckily, the fevers finally broke Saturday, and they are fine now. Let's just say that last week wasn't the most pleasant of times for the Gunnell children. Our advice would be to avoid mosquitos at all costs!
Just before the mosquito incident, our family had another unfortunate occurance. I'd decided to go on a bike ride (pulling Macie and Reid behind me) down to the river trail, because I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather we’ve been having. Well, as soon as I got to the trail I was attacked by all of these bees, and they were landing on my face! Being big and brave like I am, I started screaming and took both my hands off the handlebars to hit the bees off my face. BAD IDEA. I totally crashed my bike off the trail, but luckily I didn’t crash all the way into the river. I really scraped up my hand and knees, but amazingly, Macie and Reid were untouched. The worst part about it was that this guy who was fishing about 150 yards away saw me do it, and came over to make sure I was alright. My injured pride was what hurt most. Of course, I explained about the bees, but I don’t know if he really believed me. I’m sure that it was worthy of the America’s Funniest Home Videos grand prize if anyone had caught it on tape. Oh, I am so graceful.
Sadly, my biking stunts broke the front wheel off of the bike trailer, and now it can no longer double as my jogging stroller. So this week, my marathon training is solo -- babysitters watch the kids while I run like crazy to prepare for Sept 23rd. Saturday morning I ran 19 miles, my longest run yet, and felt like I could still run further when I was all done. At this point in my training, I am anxious for it to be over and done with. Macie and Reid and Danny are preparing to cheer me on by banging pots and pans with metal spoons. I'm excited for their support!
We love all of you and hope you are keeping busy and happy as well! We'll continue to give updates and we hope that you'll update us as well. If you are ever hungry and it's a BYU football game day, come over early for one our traditional pre-game barbeques! We love you all!