Busy, Busy, Busy

I once read this self-help type of book that recommended taking the word "busy" out of your vocabulary. "Busy" is a negative word and will destroy not only your own self-thought, but also negatively influence the way other people see you -- or so this book argued.
Well, the Gunnell family has been busy. But we are happy busy. That stupid book (oops, I AM beginning to be negative now) completely left out all of the happy business. I see it as my personal responsibility to correct that serious oversight. We are a HAPPILY busy family!
Here's some pictures of our busy life:

CLOWNING AROUND

Reid has been studying the circus in kindergarten for the past few weeks (Really? You need to spend a FEW WEEKS learning about the circus? In my humble opinion, this is a strong argument in favor of homeschooling your children...). So, he had to come up with a circus act to perform. He decided to be a clown -- very apropos for Reid. When he came home from school he was bouncing up and down with excitement. "Hey Mom!" he said, "Guess what? I was the best clown in the whole class. No one laughed at the other clowns, but everyone was laughing at me!" Fabulous. Now at least we know he's got a fall-back career in the circus if the rest of his "education" doesn't pan out. :)

SHAKE YOUR TAIL FEATHER

Macie has been busy competing with her dance company, and last weekend she enjoyed a competition in Ogden where they won several first place and overall awards. Here the cutie is in the dressing room, before performing her first dance. Her team won a huge trophy, and each girl was presented with a smaller "jewel award" as well. Macie loves her 4 inch wide purple jewel. She brings it to breakfast and sets it next to her oatmeal. She places it on the bathroom counter while she brushes her teeth. It sits on her bedstand while she sleeps so she can reach over and stroke it in the middle of the night. You get the picture -- she LOVES her special dance award. It's super cute. Scroll down to the bottom to watch her perform her favorite routine -- a hip hop number choreographed to "4 Minutes".

CHICKS

I don't know if you know this, but I am really an animal person. I love animals so much that I don't even mind taking care of them, smelling them, cleaning up after them ------- NOT. Remember how much I "loved" having our goat? Or how great I think our cows are? This is why we don't have a dog yet. I already have kids to take care of, smell, and clean up after. But now we've added chickens to the mix. And I am on board, 100% (for now, at least). I view these chickens as a form of food storage -- and I'm anxiously awaiting the day when they start producing yummy little eggs for me to cook up! Start laying, babies!
We picked up the chicks the day before Easter, and they have already grown quite a bit. We each picked one chick out (so we have 6 total), and we had a fun time naming them. Here are the chicks in our roost:
Danny J's chick - "No!"
Davis's chick - "Rock"
Reid's chick - "Geo"
Macie's chick - "Brownie"
Daddy's chick - "Jimmer"
Mommy's chick - "Patience"
The kids love these little chicks. Wish the newest chicken farmers in Provo good luck!


Watch out, little chickie! Danny J is kind-of dangerous when it comes to handling the little guys...

THE DEER REPELLENT WORKS

I love flowers, and tulips in spring are super fun. It makes me so happy to go outside and see all of our tulips blooming in bright colors! If only we could have them without spraying that toxically smelly repellent... :)

RUN, FORREST, RUN!

Yesterday I enjoyed the Provo City Half Marathon -- the first race of several I hope to run this year. Danny and the kids were amazing -- cheering me on near the start of the race, running to the park to hoe and dig for a city-wide youth service project in-between, and then crossing the finish line together with me 1 hour and 56 minutes later. Thanks for all of the high-fives and cheers! I couldn't have done it without you -- truly. You rock!

CRAZY KID

This evening we called our mothers to wish them a happy Mother's Day. When we got off the phone, we suddenly realized that Danny J was no longer in the room. We sent Reid to look for him, then sent Macie to look for him, but he was no where to be found. Uh-oh. So we all set out for a full-scale search. After looking high and low inside the house, we finally found him OUTSIDE our house, riding his little trike in the pouring rain. He laughed when I found him, and had to be lured inside the house with the promise of a chocolate chip cookie. What a stinker!

SOMEONE'S TURNING FOUR

Tomorrow is Davis's fourth birthday, and he's been talking about it since February. We are having a small cowboy party at our home with his preschool buddies, and he is PUMPED UP! He got a birthday preview Saturday night when we celebrated at a "Siete de Mayo" fiesta with the Espinosas-- he loved the pinata, birthday song, and chocolate cake. Hopefully his real birthday will compare! Check out the video below to see what an animal Davis is with the pinata! We love him!