Just when it looked like our blogging days were over...

Here's a surprise! The Gunnell family has finally updated our little blog. But don't get your hopes up for super frequent blogs or anything like that. :) I'm not making any promises. Just one BIG update.

LOTS of STUFF has happened since January. Here is a VERY CONDENSED summary (in no particular order):
*We moved.
*We are having a baby boy.
*Danny drilled another Utah oil well.
*Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter
*We vacationed in Puerto Rico and San Diego.
*Macie won the Utah Arbor Day Poster contest.
*Reid turned 4 years old!
*Macie's dance company has taken first and second in their dance competitions.
*We got some more baby cows, and we briefly had some baby chicks.

When I boil it down to that, it doesn't seem like too much has happened. But, believe me, it has. :) We really have been busy and very happy. Here are a few pictures (and brief descriptions) of the past few months.

First, our new house. We are still in Provo, just on the East side now, with a great view of BYU and the valley. It's pretty much a dream house... we feel so blessed to have gotten into it at the deal we did. We are close to Macie's school (whoo-hoo!), super close to the Y, the temple is one mile away, and the kids love that we can see Seven Peaks from our house. Yep, we've got a GREAT view. We love having a garage that our cars fit in, a large pantry, a master bed/bath/closet, a fancy guest room, a drinking fountain, heated toilet seats, the upstairs laundry, the ginormous playroom, and lots of other things. We dearly miss our old friends and many in our old ward, but have also found that we are surrounded by some AWESOME people here. This move has been a great blessing to our family. :)

That is the house. Just kidding. It is not the Taj Mahal. But everyone keeps asking me to post pictures and I regret to inform you that we have not taken any yet. And, until the painter is done in another couple of weeks, we will not be taking any. So, you will just have to let your imaginations run wild. I will say that this house is big enough to take WAY TOO LONG TO CLEAN. But, it is not as big as the Taj Mahal. It's not as big as several houses in Provo, in fact. :) But I don't think our family will every outgrow it. :)


Here is the baby boy, who will probably be named after his dear old daddy. He is a real wiggler and jiggler. I was so grateful to stop bleeding in February, and have my activity restrictions rescinded. I can finally exercise again (Not that I am. Sigh. But it is nice to know that I could, if I had the energy to!). Now I am just a normal pregnant lady who is ready for this baby to pop out...in July. :) Three more months! I don't know if I can handle it... Baby number 4 is giving me a run for my money.


This is the latest oil/gas well. I would tell you how it is doing and where it is, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to spill that insider information. I do know that it has been a fun project for Danny. Here, Danny's dad (Reid, or Pops), Grandma Gunnell, and our little Reid (4 generations of Gunnells!) all enjoy a day out at the rig.



Holidays! I love 'em. And I love sending cute little photos and packages to our loved ones. Here are the kids Valentine's and Easter photos. The third photo is our family's traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner celebration -- a meal of ALL GREEN food, in our green attire. Yum!


Good thing our friends Julio and Eblis took a lot of pictures in Puerto Rico, because we didn't get our camera out until the last day! We stayed at a fun resort called El Conquistador, and enjoyed lots of relaxing beach time reading books on a private island. Life was sweet. :) Thanks to Grammie and Lisa for keeping our kids entertained while we were gone.


San Diego was fun for Easter weekend, where we surprised my grandmother for her 80th birthday. Grams and Grampy flew us out and treated us to a fun weekend at Knott's Berry Farm, Sea World, and the beach. Even though it wasn't exactly "sunny" California weather, it sure beat the snow storms that were going on back home in Utah. And it was fabulous to be with family that we don't see often. Thanks for a fun trip, and happy birthday Grammie!


Tomorrow Macie will officially receive her award for the Utah Arbor Day Poster Contest. Out of over 39,000 entries, her poster took first place! So, along with the 7 other winning students, she will get formally recognized, have her picture in the paper, plant a tree in Memory Grove, and win lots of trees for her elementary school. I am so proud of her. She worked really hard on that painting (with lots of encouragement and suggestions from mom), and I have to conclude that her artistic ability is genetic. :) I heard that Danny won an art contest when he was a kid, too...


Reidy boy is now a big 4-year-old. We celebrated with a small group of his friends -- at a bowling alley. As we helped 12 little 3 & 4-year-old kids to bowl, I thought to myself, "Now why did we ever think this was a good idea?" Although the day was a little hectic, Reid had a blast. He is such a goof-ball -- a real tease like his daddy-o. While we were in San Diego we discovered another special talent he has -- Reid is a whiz at making babies laugh! We love our entertaining little man.


Macie's dance team has kept her plenty busy, when she's not reading books for school or drawing pictures. In fact, she has another competition all-day Saturday. Here she is, posing backstage at the Dance America Competition at Thanksgiving Point. Her company took first-place for this dance, and second-place for their April Showers ballet.


Here is Davis, feeding two of our newest cows. They live in Alpine, with Danny's partner Cory. The kids loved visiting and giving the calves their bottles. Davis was especially excited to shout at the cows and try to boss them around. Sweet Davis. What a stubborn little guy he is. Very independant, very strong, and very loving. I've missed him this week, as he is visiting in Oregon with Daddy (we are now in the Oregon tree business, it seems). Come home soon, little buddy. Mommy is missing her kisses and hugs!


Macie and Reid are scared of Daddy's driving. I am too, but we only had two helmets in the car. :) They were troopers last Saturday, as we drove around Alpine, looking at fun landscape designs. We love our latest yard design, and wish we could do it all this year... For now, though, it looks like we will continue to have 4 acres of rocks.


I almost forgot. Danny built a huge fire. He's built several huge fires since we've been here. Joy. :) As you can see, some of the flames were kind-of out-of-control. Reid loved it! And that's a real picture of our house in the background.

And that's about it for us. We hope and pray that you are all doing well. Please give us a call or stop by if you are ever out our way!