I love these Turkeys!

This weekend has been awesome! The kids got out of school early on Tuesday, and then I had the rest of the week with them at home! Whoo-hoo! Then Danny took the Thanksgiving weekend off too, so life was doubly good. I sure am thankful for my wonderful family!

Tuesday afternoon was full of friends, so Wednesday I planned a day of family fun. We started out at Sweet's candy factory in Salt Lake City, where I had scheduled a family tour of the candy making plant. Have you ever been there? If not, it is a definite must visit with your kids. We put on our hair nets, watched a short video about Sweet's, and then toured the factory for the next 40 minutes. It was a blast! At every stop we saw a different stage of the candy making process, and tried a different candy sample. The kids and I loved it! At the end, we each voted on our top candy sample. Mine was definitely the chocolate covered orange sticks, which are my mom's favorite. Macie, Davis, and Reid liked the taffy, and Danny liked the jelly beans the best. Did I mention that my kids were perfect angels during the entire 45 minute tour? It was a dream. Maybe it had something to do with the free candy every couple of minutes....? :) Anyway, we will be going back to visit Sweet's again for sure!

Next, we decided to hit the Tracy Aviary for the free winter Wednesdays. We visited with Sally Monson earlier in the summer and really enjoyed ourselves, so it was fun to go back and see the birds again -- this time for FREE! All of the kids posed in front of the wall of birds -- aren't my little turkeys and owls and penguins cute? It was a fun time and fabulous November weather.

We finished off our day of fun with a movie night at home -- watching Secretariat in the theatre with Andrea and Faiver Gonzales. It was a hit all around, and my favorite part was Davis cheering out loud, "Come on! Come on! I know you can do it!"

   On Thursday we enjoyed a fun family Thanksgiving get together at Grandma and Grandpa Korth's, and then we were blessed to have Amy and David as houseguests for a few days. It was a wonderful weekend, and I can't believe how very blessed we've been! Truly, we are grateful to God for his many marvelous gifts!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

This is Noah. We love him. :)

Noah is one of Danny's young men.

Noah had a hair problem, as you can see. Until last Saturday. He called Danny up and asked how much Danny would pay him to cut his hair. Danny offered Noah a Whopper (we are big spenders around here! hehe ). Danny and I (and half of our ward) have been bugging Noah to cut his hair for ages, but to no avail. But Saturday happened to be Noah's mom's 40th birthday, so the Whopper was just enough to seal the deal. Happy day!

Danny grabbed the clippers and raced to Noah's house before he could change his mind. What do you think of the finished haircut? Doesn't he look cute now?!

Way to go on the haircut, Noah!

The Gunnell Pianists

Tonight we enjoyed listening to Macie and Reid at their winter piano recital. Macie performed Minuet in G, by J.S. Bach, and Reid performed French Children's Song, from the Suzuki collection. Reid has only been taking piano for 6 months now, but he has been doing awesome and already finished off his first set of books! Macie also received a special award tonight for making it into the "60 Second Club" -- memorizing all of her note flashcards and passing them off in under 60 seconds! It was really fun to see Macie and Reid bravely perform in front of a crowd -- I'm so proud of my little musicians. Thanks for practicing with me!
We celebrated after the recital with In-N-Out and a BYU Basketball game! It was a great night.

BIRTHDAY BOYS

We've been celebrating birthdays here this week -- first, on Monday we hosted a small birthday party for Danny's partner, Harvey. It was a lot of fun getting together with Harvey and the Hodges family: we ate yummy food, played creative games, and even presented the birthday boy with the coveted pig trophy! Happy Birthday, Harvey!

 Then, yesterday we celebrated another big birthday event -- Danny's birthday! It started off with breakfast in bed (French toast, complete with candles and song!), a morning treasure hunt for presents, lunch with his partners at Molly's (yum!), a LONG day at work (so sad...), a Gunnell traditional favorites birthday dinner (tatertot casserole, pop, and cheesecake, as requested), family fun games, and finally "the treatment" (head, back, arm, leg, and foot massages) from the kids. I think that Danny had a good day, and we sure had fun planning and sharing it with him. I know he enjoyed all of the fun messages, cards, and gifts from our family and friends. I am especially excited for his biggest birthday present -- eye surgery (NO MORE GLASSES!!) -- which is scheduled to take place in a couple of weeks! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! Hope you live to be 100 and many more!

Surprise! I made the french toast without any salt this time.

Danny was persuaded to stay in bed until 7 AM (he was working at 6 AM, of course!), so that I had time to get the kids ready and the french toast, bacon, and juice prepared!

Rah-rah, rah-rah-rah! Gooooooooo Daddy!

If you look closely, you'll notice that everyone in this picture is blowing the candles out -- except for the birthday boy! I hope he gets his wish anyway!

Who are these kids?

MYSTERY MEN

Grammie and Pops gave us some silly stick-on mustaches for Halloween, and this is what happened when I let the kids open them up! My collection of mystery men paraded downstairs and posed for the camera. And, as is typical these days, Davis is not happy for the photo. Should I call him "Groucho?"

I think He and Danny had been fighting over mustaches. Or maybe he was angry at me for putting his mustache on upside down? Oops. Sorry, Davis! Reid must also have my talents when it comes to applying mustaches, because he obviously got it upside down too!

Clever disguise, Danny J!

WAY too pretty to be wearing a mustache....

Intriguing, Reid!

Finally, a sweet smile from my grouchy Groucho!

"ROBOT, ROBOT, ROBOT..."

My "robot" buddy

 I was folding laundry in the laundry room, listening (and only mildly watching) Danny play with his Legos in the playroom. Those boring morning hours when Davis is at preschool, and Danny is stuck at home with just me for company. Suddenly, I heard his little voice chanting "Robot, Robot, Robot...." I peeked my head around the corner to get a better look, and spied this munchkin with the empty Lego box on his head, walking stiffly around the room. I wasn't even aware that he knew what robots were -- but there he was, creatively using his toys to imagine that he was one! It was so funny that I abandoned the laundry and let him chase me around, robot style, for quite a while -- and then I ran to get the camera before he lost interest. Danny loves to be the center of attention, so mom snapping photos with the camera made his morning! Here's a little video clip of the crazy little robot that invaded my house this week!