The Gunnell Family Blog

Golden Moments

2012-01-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

Davis holding a REAL GOLD NUGGET! On Sunday Danny met a woman who owned a gold mine, and after church she let Davis come by and see her collection of golden treasures!

I have to write a quick post, just because I have been blessed by such GREAT kids!

Along with the "gold" obsession that Davis has been engaging in lately, he's also enjoyed a healthy interest in mazes. He made his way through every maze in our Superman coloring book, and I've been printing and hand drawing little mazes for him every day this week. Well.... yesterday Davis was working on his 20th maze of the day, one with a spider that I'd found and printed off the Internet. From the kitchen he called to me in my office and said, "Hey Mom, can you come in here and help me with this maze? I am trying and trying and I can't figure it out! Will you come and help me do it?" Well, I happened to be busy paying the bills at that moment (YUCK!), but I knew that Davis was good at figuring out mazes on his own, so I told him to be patient and keep on trying. "You're good at mazes," I said, "I'm sure that if you keep on trying you will figure it out." He complied and silently continued working on the maze for a few minutes. Then, from the office I heard him get down from the bar stool and kneel down on the kitchen floor. I was so pleased when I heard his little voice:

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day. Thanks that I could have a fun time. Please help me to figure out this maze. I am trying and trying and I can't figure it out. So please help me to know how to do it. Thanks.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Do I have awesome kids, or what?! Davis had a problem that he couldn't solve, and he knew where to go for help! What honest, pure faith! I have been so blessed with wonderful children who exercise their faith and know where to turn for help and answers to their problems!

Well, I had Davis bring that silly maze into the office, and wouldn't you know it -- it WAS IMPOSSIBLE to solve. It was a joke maze... someone must've put it up on the Internet as a mean little trick. So Davis and I had a good laugh when we figured out that the only reason he couldn't figure it out was because it was a trick maze. And I drew him another maze that WAS solvable.

Life is good!

January Schmanuary

2012-01-29T00:42:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that January is almost over! Time has truly flown by this month, as I rush about in my hyper-nesting mode (just one month until baby Gus-Gus comes!) and manage all of the family fun going on. Here's some January highlights:

FUTSOL:

16 games in 1 month!

Reid and Davis were both playing (on different teams), and really started to get the hang of futsol in their first indoor soccer season. They were both the youngest/smallest on their teams, but they sure hustled and made it happen! Today we cheered them on at their last games, where Reid scored three goals and Davis scored the starting goal of his game! Goooooaaaaaal!

Cute Danny J cheers his big bros on!

Tired Mom and Macie spent lots of time on the bleachers cheering on our boys

This was a kick for a goal, of course! Go Reid!

He was hustling and broke out of the pack!

This soccer cutie was pretty intense!

Go, Davis, Go!

Down the middle, Davis!

INDIAN REPORT

Macie has had a HUGE Native American Report project for her 3rd grade class, and has spent hours working on her written report and indian craft/project every weekend. Last weekend she learned how to make Flathead Frybread, which is pretty similar to scones or Navajo Tacos. Of course, Davis and I helped out, and it tasted delicious! Now we just have to make it again in two weeks for her whole class... :)

Have you ever seen a cuter cook?

The best sous-chefs a mom could ask for!

Roll it, girl!

Yum! We DEVOURED the frybread!

GRANDMA GUNNELL'S BDAY

A few weeks ago we celebrated Grandma's 80th Birthday with a super surprise party, and last weekend we finally took her out to celebrate her big day. We are so glad that she was born, and we're thankful for the wonderful Grandma and Great-grandma she is!

We took every crayon at Macaroni Grill, and ate till we were ready to burst!

Enjoying the awesome surprise party!

Macie and cousin Liz had fun together at Grandma's big bash

BYU BASKETBALL

Winter brings BYU Basketball, and this year we've been enjoying our season tickets next to Grandma and Grandpa Korth and Grandma Gunnell. We sorely miss Jimmer, but have hope for our young team to be awesome next year. Gooooo Cougars!

A TRUE BLUE FAMILY!

I love to listen to Danny J cheering, "Defense" or " Go Cougs!"

GOLD RUSH

Davis is very creative... and he always seems to have a different kick that he's on. A month ago his big thing was his rock collection. Before that, it was Power Rangers. Before that, it was fishing and finding worms. Before the fish and worms, it was pointy objects (pencils and nails) to kill the deer. Before killing the deer, it was cowboy guns and real lassos. Before that it was bows and arrows. Before the bows and arrows, it was slingshots, and fighting knights, and on and on... We try to support him in all of his unique endeavors, but sometimes even we get stumped. The past two weeks he has been set on finding GOLD. I've printed at least one hundred "gold maps" and supervised/assisted hand drawing many many more gold maps. We even made a special "gold map box" to store all of the maps. But now he really really wants to actually "follow" his maps and find the gold!?!

Luckily, I have an enterprising husband who has researched and found a solution. Apparently, you CAN find gold in UTAH, even with a four year old. Danny is planning a gold panning trip with Davis as soon as American Fork Canyon thaws out in the spring. Davis is going to save his money to buy special gold panning equipment. I love this little treasure seeker!

A few of the MANY gold maps!

The sweetest treasure seeker around

LITTLE ARTIST

Danny J has been on a little kick lately as well -- drawing pictures for Grams and Grampy! Last week I think he drew over 100 pictures meant for Grams and Grampy -- which I then have to fold and place in an envelope for him to mail! It is cute to see him get so excited.

His other creative outlet was cutting pieces of paper into a million tiny pieces, but I put the kabosch on that a few days ago (I've now hidden all of the scizzors in the house!). Scizzors + two year old = big trouble and HUGE messes! I'm glad this little guy is a budding artist!

Some of his beautiful pictures!

So many drawings he can't hold them all!

And that's the happy January update. Our January lows have been:

*SICKNESS:

Everyone (except for Daddy, thank goodness) has had something yucky this month. I had three weeks of a horrible hacking cough, Danny J and Davis both had the stomach flu, Reid lost his hearing in his left ear and has a terrible cough/cold, Macie got the cough/cold bug, we've had fevers, headaches, tummy aches, body aches, pregnancy aches, etc. Hopefully -- after missing school and multiple MD visits and antibiotics -- we've gotten all the illnesses out of our system and can have a healthy home and family for this new baby to come home to!

*FLOOD:

We were so excited for it to finally snow... but all of that water so fast and so furious ended up flooding the basement gym along the North wall! Danny took care of it all (pulling up carpet, moving heavy exercise equipment, setting up fans and heaters, etc) and even jimmy-rigged a drainage tube outside to fix the problem. He is my hero!

As January comes to a close, we are all hoping that February will have as much fun and happiness in store! I will be especially pleased if this baby comes by his due date and we won't have to wait until March to see him!

The Countdown

2012-01-10T23:55:00.000-08:00

New Year's has come and gone, but our countdowns are not all done. Here's a record of the Gunnell family calendars...

ADVENT CALENDARS

Davis brought this awesome calendar home from preschool. Each day we added a cotton ball to Santa's beard, until he had a full beard and Christmas was here!

Reid made a chain link calendar -- and boy was he pumped when he hit the special gold link! Christmas Eve!


Danny J loved Davis's calendar, because it was his way of counting down to "Grampy's hot tub!" He didn't really understand the importance of Christmas day, but he was VERY ANXIOUS to visit Grams and Grampy's house!

MY FAVORITE CALENDAR

COUNTDOWN TO THE BABY

This is my favorite chain link countdown. Macie made this 50 days ago, when I had 100 days left until my due date. Now we are halfway through with this colorful "baby chain!" Hopefully we won't have to add any extra days to this special countdown...

NEW YEARS DAY, 2012

We began New Year's Eve in Las Vegas, where we celebrated early with grandparents and cousins on Norwegian time. Then we hopped in the car, drove back to Provo, and stayed up until midnight -- when we toasted sparkling cider in fancy goblets and watched the fireworks sparkle across the valley (we love our view!). And we chronicled New Year's Day by interviewing our kids and photographing them for posterity!

Macie - 8 years old - First day of 2012

Reid - 6 years old - First day of 2012

Davis - 4 years old - First day of 2012

Danny J - 2 years old - First day of 2012

Vegas Vacation

2012-01-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

Smiles at the Bellagio fountain show

The week after Christmas we took a fabulous trip to Las Vegas, to visit my family. I'd been dying to visit, and we had an awesome time! With my brother John and Jaime home for Christmas and my sister Katie and her cute family already living in Vegas -- we had a full house and lots of fun. My parents really spoiled us, too! We went skiing at Brianhead, saw an awesome magic show on the strip (Mac King- family appropriate!), shot off model rockets at the dry lake bed, cheered on our knight at the Excalibur Tournament of Kings, and toasted the New Year a little early (Norwegian time). Oh, and of course we went hot-tubbing every day (Danny J's favorite thing in the world!).

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for a fabulous family vacation! We love you and miss you already!

MODEL ROCKETS

With all of the fun activities we enjoyed, I wondered what the kids favorite activity was. ALL of the kids picked shooting model rockets with Grampy! It was tons of fun -- and brought back lots of memories from my childhood, when I used to shoot off rockets with my dad. Thanks for treating us to four new model rockets and lots of fun launches!

Macie's rocket was the tallest, by far. She and Grampy put it together, and it looked pretty cool!

Reid had Dad help him create his rocket, and it was a fabulous one! This baby shot so high into the sky we would lose track of it until the parachute deployed!

Davis's special rocket had a compartment so that you could "send things into space." He put some worms and bugs and berries inside to send up -- they sacrificed their lives for science...

Grams tiny rocket was called "Scrappy" -- and it was! This little baby flew high!

Danny wasn't posing for the camera -- but he was PUMPED to shoot a real rocket into the sky!

The boys get all the rockets ready for take-off. Grampy had quite the professional set-up!

John and Danny race for the catch

Danny J fires his rocket away! Blast-off!

The race was on -- everyone ran to try and recover the rockets as they parachuted down!

Mud happens. Poor Danny was chasing after a rocket and parachute when he discovered the only mud puddle in the whole dry lake bed. Being up to his ankles in the sticky stuff did not make him a happy camper... :)

TOURNAMENT OF KINGS

No utensils, no manners, fighting knights and an awesome bad-guy who had a flame-thrower. This was the perfect show for the little boys of the Gunnell family!

Spain! Spain! Spain! The kids are still chanting this at home. Our knight was the best!

The knights were actually quite talented, and we had lots of fun cheering loudly and getting rowdy! The boys were especially enthralled with the show!

Holiday Highlights

2012-01-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am blogging this a little late. Christmas 2011 in 2012. Oh well. Life happens. It was a fabulous holiday season for the Gunnell family, and we had tons of fun! Here is the proof of our happy holidays -- with lots of photos!

STAR PERFORMERS

Davis was an adorable elf for his preschool Christmas program!

Macie wow-ed us with her flexibility in ballet class

VISITING WITH SANTA

We headed to the Riverwoods to meet Santa - and he looked like the real deal! It was cold, but fun to take the whole family to meet St. Nick. What did the kids ask for?

Danny told Santa "Power Rangers!" -- luckily, Santa delivered!

Davis asked for a "rock collection." We love this little rock-n-roller!

Reid was dying for a big basketball hoop. Santa brought golf clubs to our little sport instead... because Grammie and Pops had already taken care of the awesome new hoop!

At first, Macie wanted "a surprise." But when she sat on Santa's lap, she decided that she wanted some new snow skis. She's already tried them out now -- and she makes a super cute snow bunny!

How can you not smile when Santa is around?!

I love my Danny-boys!

FESTIVE FUN

We all enjoyed a free skate day at Seven Peaks Ice Arena. Reid is an AWESOME skater!

Ginderbread houses were fun, as always. We had to use lots of green candies and frosting (Danny J's favorite color) to decorate Danny's baby house!

Davis made his all by himself -- and it turned out awesome!

Reid got fancy with the icing -- and with his funny face!

CHRISTMAS MORNING

We woke up early (we had to be at church at 9 AM), watched the kids rush downstairs, and enjoyed opening our stockings and playing with Santa's gifts. It was a fun (and quick) Christmas morning as we rushed to get ready for church!

Merry Christmas! It was a happy morning!

Santa delivered -- Power Ranger fighting swords and masks!

Macie smiles as she opens her stocking

Reid with the new clubs! He's had some lessons from Dad now, and he's pretty good for a 6 year old...

Watch out! Danny J is out to kill the "nighloks" (the bad guys in Power Rangers).

After church, Davis was ready to dig in and open up all the presents we'd left at home!

We had a Very Merry Christmas, and felt so blessed this holiday season!

A God of Miracles

2012-01-10T09:42:00.000-08:00

January 9th marks the best day of 2012 (so far), and is a day that will long be remembered by all in the Gunnell family! We got the summary judgement!!!
As many of you know, our family has been heavily burdened for the past 27 months by a frivolous lawsuit (98 million dollars) -- litigation which has drained us mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially. Even though the charges were false and completely without merit (we would have won the trial, if it had been heard by a jury), we were facing financial ruin if we had to endure continuing court and legal fees. This weekend, Danny and I asked our close friends and family to join us in a special fast that Judge Taylor would be inspired to grant us a summary judgement (a long shot, because the burden of proof must be so high), and throw the case out of court. We felt the power of your prayers as you joined with us in fasting -- supplicating God to remove this burden that we felt we were unable to bear any longer. Our faith was rewarded last night, as we joyously received the news that Judge Taylor had indeed granted the summary judgement in our favor! God truly is a God of miracles. We have witnessed His hand in our lives! Thank you so much for you faith and help in our behalf!
Danny sent this email out as an update to all those who joined with us in our special fast:

I copied the email inviting friends and family to fast and pray to our attorneys as well. One of them is Jewish and the other is Christian, but not LDS. A couple hours ago we had an "urgent" conference call - the Jewish attorney started the call with a statement similar to the following: "I don't know how anyone who knows you guys or Tim Tebow could ever deny the power of prayer" - then he told us that we had got the summary judgement and that the claims against us were thrown out! I cannot deny the power of prayer and fasting.
"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?" (Isaiah 58:6)

I have not been able to stop smiling! Our heavy burden has been lifted. What a wonderful gift!

I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, and that His hand was in this. I am grateful for such wonderful friends, family, and attorneys who exercised their faith in our behalf and fasted and prayed for us. Thank you so much for your faith and support. We love you.

Love,

Danny

"And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Ne 18:20)

The most fun part of the night was when Danny came upstairs to announce the good news to the whole family. I was putting the boys to bed, and we had just finished saying our prayers. Each of our kids, even the littlest ones (ie - Davis and Danny J), have been asking for "Judge Taylor to give us the summary judgement" in their prayers since Thanksgiving. Even though they don't really understand all that it means, they have been praying for it and faithfully asking and hoping for it. When Danny announced that Judge Taylor HAD granted us the summary judgement, and that we were free from the lawsuit, Davis started jumping up and down and shouting "We got the summary judgement! We got the summary judgement! We got the summary judgement! Hoo-way!" It was adorable. I don't think I will ever forget the joy on his face. He knew that God had answered his prayers, and the prayers of our family. What a blessing! Thanks be to God!

The 10th Annual Ceremony of the Lights

2011-12-20T00:19:00.000-08:00

My boys, greeting the large crowd gathered for the special occasion!

Ten years ago, on my second date with Danny, we visited his Grandma and Grandpa Korth and decorated their patio and deck with Christmas lights. You see, their neighbors went all-out on the Christmas light displays (the Ogren's house used to rival the Thanksgiving Point light show!) -- and Danny and I felt like Grandma and Grandpa needed some lights too. When we'd completed the lights, we held a special lighting ceremony, where we welcomed the thousands of imaginary guests who'd come to see Grandma and Grandpa's spectacular lights. Grandma sang a solo (O Holy Night), I performed an impromptu Christmas dance (it must've won Danny's heart...), Grandpa gave a Christmas speech, and Danny stood on a chair and was a booming loud master of ceremonies.

Well, a marriage, 4.5 kids, and ten years later -- we've kept the lighting ceremony tradition alive. I'm pretty sure that we've never missed a year of decorating Grandma and Grandpa's deck. And we still have huge crowds who come to see our special lighting program! :) This year was an especially cold one, but we still managed to make it happen. Look how festive their deck is now!

Macie and Reid sang a lovely Chinese song as part of the program.

Every year Grandma Korth delights us with her operatic solo of "O Holy Night"

This year Davis was the lucky one who got the flip the light switch on and illuminate the night!

We finished off the evening with Grandma's dream bars and rootbeer floats, which were served at that very first lighting ceremony in 2001! We love this Christmas tradition, and hope to keep it alive for a LONG time!

Here's a clip of Grandpa's speech (very short, but sweet) this year! Merry Christmas!

I once was blind, but now I see..

2011-12-19T23:51:00.000-08:00

Danny with his snazzy eye guards, right after the surgery. He gets to tape these babies on every night for a week or two!

Congrats to Danny on his contact implant surgery last week! At first, we were a little scared (he woke up in the middle of the night after the operation and was unable to see out of his left eye!)... in the morning his right eye was perfect but his left eye was extremely dialated and vision was blurry. Danny described it as if he was looking through a balloon, or thick/dark sunglasses. Luckily, when he went it to get it examined early Wednesday morning, the doctor (our wonderful Bishop Scott Lohner) said that his eye pressure was doing great and that the problems should resolve themselves. Well, after a few more days of perfect right eye and bad left eye, Danny is now seeing pretty clearly with both eyes! His left eye still feels "scratchy" -- like he has a dirty contact lens in it -- but we are hoping that it will continue to improve with time as well. Hooray! My handsome hubby LOOKS SO GOOD without his glasses!

Can you see why we were a little worried? These eyes do not match!

Good lookin', even with his crazy eye!

Gunnell Family Christmas Nativity 2011

2011-12-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

Per tradition (for the past 7 years) -- we enjoyed a Gunnell cousins get together Saturday night, and a kids Christmas nativity! This year we decided to be satisfied with a single take... so it was by far the shortest filming time we've ever had. You can kind-of tell by our finished product... not super professional ... but at least we had fun! It was great to get together with the Bairds and Allreds, even though my kids were over-tired and still recovering from a week-long of being sick (Unintentionally, I spread my fever/cough/headache thing to Macie and Davis and Danny...). But everyone is back to school and work today, and hopefully we will continue to feel better so that we can enjoy this wonderful holiday season!
Hope you enjoy our Christmas nativity video! "Baby Jesus" (sweet little Trevor!) is my favorite part of the show. You've never seen a happier little guy in swaddling clothes!

I Love To See the Temple

2011-12-04T23:27:00.001-08:00

Look at these cute kids! Someday we'll all be able to go inside together!

Saturday we enjoyed a BYU Basketball game at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake (Go Cougs! We actually beat Oregon, despite a rough start for BYU!) and then, since we were in the neighborhood, we made our annual visit to see the Temple Square lights. It was freezing cold, but beautiful -- and it seemed like the crowds were not a thick as they have been in previous years. Maybe that's just because we ditched our stroller this year, so we didn't have the difficultly of pushing it around! :)

We watched the nativity, visited the Christus, oohed-and-ahhed at the lights and the multicultural Christmas displays, listened to some interesting Christmas songs in the visitor's center (one of the songs was about a jilted lover who destroyed her 12 days of Christmas gifts, yikes!), and had a fun time running around in the cold. And, of course, we took lots and lots of fun pictures of the kids in front of the temple -- what a blessing it is to live so close to so many marvelous temples! Even thought I wasn't feeling too hot (it's been a kind-of sad, sick weekend for me) -- we all managed to have a good time!

Okay, so this is a less reverent pose... but at least the kids were having fun!

We took this picture without thinking, right in front of a walkway. Oops! We were definite traffic blockers.

Love the nativity in the reflection pool!

Our happy family!

This was our favorite tree. There were tons of little trees lit up this year, but not so many big ones, like this one. I imagine that it took a full week to get the lights on this baby! So much fun to stand underneath and look upward...

Danny spotted these fun berries on the ground, underneath one of the lighted Christmas tree displays. And he got his picture of them just in time, because it snowed later that night!

Visiting the Christus

I love these Turkeys!

2011-11-27T23:12:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-27T23:03:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-18T23:01:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-18T22:30:00.001-08:00

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?

2011-11-11T18:40:00.001-08:00

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!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

The Rebel "Gunnell" Alliance hopes your Halloween
was "out of this world!"


Ewok Davis, Yoda Reid, Leia Macie, and Jedi Danny

Our clan of Star Wars characters enjoyed a fabulous Halloween -- perfect WARM weather, matching costumes, and WAY-TOO-MANY treats! What a fabulous October night!


These kids were soooo much fun, and so adorable! And I am soooo glad that I am done sewing their costumes!

Check out their snazzy pumpkin carvings on the sides!

Preggo Padme and Pretty Princess Leia

Padme and Anakin -- it was fun to dress up with the kiddos for the night!

Festive Family Fun

2011-10-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

Look at these "corny" kids!

This weekend we enjoyed a fun fall break from school, and an even more fun visit from Grams and Grampy! They treated us to Krispy "Screams" donuts, McDonalds happy meals, Cornbellys Corn Maze and Fall Festival, Tucanos, 17 Miracles, an Ultimate Frisbee victory, and a huge BYU win! We had such a great time visiting with them and only wish that their trip could've been longer. We love you, Grams and Grampy!

Smiling pretty on the royal horse at the Pumpkin Princess Playland

Grams and Grampy helping the kiddos with the duck races. The kids were pretty into it. :)

Buried alive in corn!

Can you tell that Danny was excited when he reached the top of the hay bale mountain?

Our group of crazy Gunnells had a fabulous time at Cornbellys!

After several hours of playing and exploring, we decided to get one last picture of the kids, smiling in the middle of a pumpkin patch. I thought it would be fun to send a picture to my brother Brian. This (above) is the edited photo I ended up with. Doesn't it look cute? Now look below. That is what Davis really looked like in this photo. It was time to go home. :)

Classic. Is everybody having fun? :)

Cornbelly's was better than the Utah State Fair, in my opinion. Activities every 20 feet, and lots of varied, active stuff to keep the kids excited. My favorite line from the day came when we were waiting in line for the "cow train" -- the little cars that are pulled around the farm by a four-wheeler. Reid obviously didn't understand exactly what we were waiting in line for, because he asked "Mom, how do we train the cows?" Hmmm. I definitely was not the expert on that one. :) Luckily, it was a different kind of" cow train"!
We had such a fun weekend! Thanks, Grams and Grampy!

Mini Jimmer

2011-10-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

I just have to brag, I mean blog, about Reid's basketball game today. :) He's been pretty awesome all season, but today was definitely his best game ever! He scored 20 points and dominated the other team. At halftime I overheard the other team's coach focus her entire pep-talk/coaching scheme on guarding Reid. It was pretty funny! The game finished with a score of 28-8 -- so Reid scored more than the rest of his teammates and the other team combined! He was pretty pumped up! He played the whole game and really hustled! I'm so proud of my little Jimmer! Check out a short video of him playing below...

One Year Older and "Y"zer Too!

2011-10-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

At the trailhead -- it was such a beautiful day!

Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday I celebrated the big day with breakfast in bed (thanks, Danny and kids!), a morning at the temple (thanks to my VT for babysitting my boys!), a delicious lunch out with Danny before he left for Oregon (I miss you!), a hike up the Y with the kids (my annual birthday tradition), and a surprise Chinese take-out dinner (thanks to our friends, Erika and Clayton!). It was a fantastic day and I felt so special and loved! Thanks to everyone for your kind messages and sweet gifts!


Can you believe I took these crazy kids up the Y trail alone? What was I thinking?!

FINALLY - at the top! I think Davis asked me 200 times if we were "almost there yet?"

Ready for the hike back down -- all smiles because we ate candy at the top!

Train them while they are young. The Y is the way!

Macie's Y in true cheer style!

Rah-rah-rah-rah-rah! You made it, Davis!

Goooooo, Reid!

The Buzz...

2011-10-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the cutest little guy around!

He shoots the bad guys, tackles his big brothers, wins imaginary running races, and gives me the best bear hugs ever. And he's VERY OPINIONATED! I had this Buzz costume out so I could take it to Draper for our nephew, Robbie, to borrow -- and Danny insisted on wearing it at least once a day!

BYU Baby

2011-10-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

The joke around the house is that we should call our new baby boy "BYU Baby" -- but the real person who should've been named that is my BYU lovin' hubby, Danny. This year, in typical BYU Homecoming tradition, he reunited with his BYU Cheer Squad buddies and had a blast in the gym and at the game. Here we are with the current cheer squad, wearing our old-school cheer uniforms. Reid has no idea what a lucky young man he is to be surrounded by these beauties!

Danny smiles with his old cheer partner, Jos.

Fun to have the family down on the field!

Who-hoo! Running the flag onto the field! Still lookin' good!

Can a Felon Become a Mission President?

2011-10-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

So, last Thursday morning I'm awakened by Danny rushing into our bedroom and announcing, "Oh no! I think I just killed a deer!"
Yep. He'd woken up early and was reading his scriptures when he saw one of those stupid deer in our yard, coming to eat more of our plants. So out came the pellet gun to scare the dumb deer away. Only, the pellet must have gone strong and straight to the heart, because as soon as Danny shot it, the deer toppled over and fell down the hill and landed in front of our door.
What was Danny to do? He wasn't trying to kill the thing -- he was just trying to protect our yard and scare it away. And he didn't want to eat it, but he didn't want to waste the meat either. Pops always taught him "If you kill it, you eat it." So, Danny decided to do the "right" thing and call animal control and let them know what happened.
Next thing we know, there are THREE COP CARS at our house. Since Danny is the dangerous criminal type and a serious crime had been committed, you know. Haha! The cops were telling him that it was a felony offense and Danny was guilty of poaching and that it is against the law to even shoot a BB gun anywhere in Provo City limits, even on your own property! And, since it was a "serious offense" involving the death of a deer, each deer of which is "highly valued ($400) by the state of Utah," the cops had to call in REINFORCMENTS -- the Department of Wildlife and Forestry. Three cop cars weren't enough. We needed four to handle a serious criminal like Danny.
All of this (possibly charging Danny with a FELONY!), because Danny tried to do the "right" thing and tell the cops that he accidently killed the deer. A tiny deer he could've easily put in a bag in a park dumpster and nobody would've ever known. DANNY called the cops. He wasn't a dangerous or sneaky criminal caught in the act, or turned in by neighbors. He was a good guy who was trying to do the "right" thing. And getting treated pretty harshly because of it. Was calling the cops really the "right" thing to do? I'm not so sure anymore.
So, several hours later (I'm not exaggerating -- the cops wasted our morning on this), the police and wildlife guys finally left us with a ticket/citation and a fine.
Later that night I was talking with my bookclub ladies about the whole ordeal, and mentioned that if we packed our bags and moved to Argentina in a few months, they'd know why (we'd be escaping the law!). My friend Linda laughed and said she thought Danny would be called as a mission president in Argentina instead. Oh really? For some reason I don't think that they call convicted felons to be mission presidents... :) If he can escape this felony for shooting a deer in his yard with a BB gun, maybe there's still a chance. I do think Danny would make an awesome MP someday! :)

Here's Davis "finishing" the deer off with his bow and arrow.

And the mighty hunter is finishing it off some more. He had to get it from every angle.

Beehives Boating

2011-10-03T12:57:00.001-07:00

The Beehives were begging to go boating, so we took the boat out to Utah Lake (for the first time this year!) and brought the whole family along too! The kids loved tubing and wakeboarding. Reid had the longest wakeboard run of the year! Macie was a wild and crazy tuber, and even Davis braved the giant waves that submarined him! I love this family!

I know pregnant women aren't supposed to go wakeboarding, but who could resist a short little tame run, right? Then I wiped out (see below!). After that, I figured I'd better play it safe and be a good mom and ride in the boat. :) Sorry baby. Maybe someday you'll be an awesome wakeboarder because of the extra practice you got from the womb?

Here's Reidy on his LONG LONG run! Hooray!

Danny had some rough water, but was still looking good!

When we got home, Dad caught a fly in the kitchen by the wings with his bare hands. Amazingly, 20 seconds later, Danny J walked up to me and showed me that he'd caught a fly too (look carefully in his hand above and below). I guess we had a lot of flies in our kitchen! Thank goodness for my two fly-catching Dannys!

And the Baby Is...

2011-10-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

A BOY! HOORAY!

We had our ultrasound 2 weeks ago, and according to tradition -- we instructed the technician to not reveal the baby's sex to us while we were there. She sealed the ultrasound image of the gender in an envelope, and after Reid's soccer game that evening we headed out to a special dinner where we all made our boy/girl predictions. We were leaning heavily toward a little girl (everyone voted that it was a girl, except for Reid) -- but SURPRISE -- when we opened the envelope we found a little boy looking back up at us. How exciting! One more boy, and Danny will have his dream basketball team! :)

Here is the cute little man's profile! What will we name him? We had lots of BAD suggestions at dinner (BYU baby, Cosmo, Bronco, Jimmer, Leafy Palm Tree, etc.) -- but my favorite names right now are Luke and Andrew. We'll let you know who this fella really is in 4 1/2 months!

Take me to the Fair!

2011-10-03T12:51:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we headed to the Utah State Fair for the first time ever! We found lots of fun things -- animals, farm country, legos, carnival rides, and lots of produce and handicrafts. Next year we plan on going to the rodeo, for sure! My favorite things were these giant pumpkins that dwarfed our kiddos.

Danny J especially loved petting the animals. He'd cry whenever he couldn't reach the ones that were in the back of their stalls! I, on the other hand, could hardly stand being around the livestock. Hot, sweaty stalls with smelly animals and flies were definitely not a favorite for this sick pregnant lady!

The baby pigs were cute, but oh, that POOR POOR Momma pig!

Nothing like carnival rides to make it a fun day!

Danny J made this Lego lion all by himself at the Lego station. Just kidding -- I built it and then took this picture. Just kidding. Who has the time and all the right color Legos to build this kind of thing?

Camping with the Goblins

2011-10-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend was a huge hit with the Gunnell fam -- we teamed up with our friends, the Dixons, and headed down to check out Crystal Geyser, hike in Moab, and camp in Goblin Valley. It was an action packed two days and our kids can't stop talking about how much fun they had! And -- even though I am not a huge fan of camping -- I enjoyed our yummy food (thanks, Dixons!) and our new HUGE tent (thanks, Danny!) and I loved the hiking and the fun and beautiful sights. The kids loved exploring and climbing and listening to Danny's not-so-spooky stories about "Gobby the Goblin" -- the midnight toenail eater! We made some great memories and we will definitely be back to Goblin Valley again! Hopefully the Dixons will be our camping buddies again, too!

Davis helped Dad catch these crawdads, and Reid thought they were super cool too!

Macie was Dad's special crawdad catching helper!

Macie, Reid and Davis smile in front of the new tent -- it was so huge that it didn't even fit in the campsite area!

Crazy climbers!

Yodel-lay-hee-hoo, Davis!

Macie and Dad hike oh-so-high!

Our friends, Preston Dixon and his backpacking babe, Tyler.

Danny J always wanted to stand on rocks and pose for the camera -- what a cutie pie!

Sitting pretty!

Can you see me and my boys? Check us out below!

Look closely at the cliffs. Reid and Macie are quite the climbers!

Hi-ya! Dad and Davis show off some karate kid skills.

It wouldn't be fall without Football!

2011-10-03T12:06:00.001-07:00

You might think that I would post all about BYU Football this fall, but with our tragic losses this season (boo, stinkin' Utes), I have to admit I haven't been all that thrilled with the Cougars. However, I DO get excited to watch Reid play on his first grade flag football team, and I might add that I'm mighty proud of Danny for being an excellent (and undefeated!) coach. These Gunnell boys make a great team!

Enjoy this video of Quarterback Reid throwing a pass for a touchdown!

Soccer Season

2011-10-02T21:35:00.001-07:00

Soccer season was fast and furious this year, with three kiddos playing on three different teams on three different days of the week! Yup, every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (and sometimes Saturday!) we enjoyed cheering for Macie, Reid, and Davis on the field. It's been a fun 2 months of games! Danny was able to coach Davis's preschool team, which was lots of fun for both of them, and Macie and Reid really hustled it up this year! Congrats to our kids for a strong soccer season!

Go, Macie, Go!
Reid kicks it out of the goal box when it was his turn as goalie.
Go for it, Davis! I think Davis's record was 4 goals in one game! Hurrah!

13.1 Miles at 13 Weeks Pregnant!

2011-10-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here are the pics from the Hobble Creek Half Marathon. I ran the thirteen miles when I was thirteen weeks pregnant -- a pretty fun thing to do. And I didn't even throw-up (which was amazing, considering that I ran by some really smelly port-a-potties and cows in a field!). Thanks to Danny and the kiddos for supporting me in all my races. You are the best fans ever!

At the finish line I ran into my friend Rebecca, and her husband, who ran it together. Maybe next year I'll convince someone in my family to run it with me too! :)

Musical Memories

2011-09-29T05:23:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Grams and Grampy took our family down to Tuacon for the weekend to see "The Little Mermaid," which was fabulous! Ever since we've been home, Danny J has been obsessed with Ariel. I have to read him Little Mermaid books at least once a day! The whole family had a great time!
Saturday afternoon we headed down to Cedar City and saw another musical at the Shakespeare Festival there -- "The Music Man." Reid and Macie were both old enough to join the adults, so they got to sit on pillows and enjoy some culturally enriching entertainment. They, too, brought the music home with them. I've heard "Sha-poopie!" and " Seventy-six Trombones in the Big Parade" lots and lots in the past few weeks! Thanks, Grams and Grampy, for helping us make some fun musical memories!

Chinese Camp and the Start of School

2011-09-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

We had a whirlwind of a summer and were just starting to enjoy some hot weather when the Provo School District decided it was time to go back to school! Someone needs to fix this problem... let the kids go to school during the wet and cold spring, and let them stay home and play in the nice hot summer sun. That's my opinion, at least. But I had to send my kids back to school regardless. I miss them everyday!

Macie is now a big 3rd grader, still in Chinese immersion, and her teachers are Mr. Gao and Mrs. Nelson. So far she loves them! Reid has started full days of school now that he is in 1st grade, and his Chinese immersion teachers are Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Nye. They are great, and he is picking up Chinese very rapidly! His favorite thing to do is play basketball at recess!

Davis started his "big boy" preschool just two days a week, with Mrs. Garrett, and I do a little neighborhood preschool for him on the opposite weekdays. He is a little smartie pants! Check out his fancy-schmancy backpack (it had to have rollers!). We also carpool with Davis's neighbor buddy, Creed. Hooray! I've never had a preschool carpool before, and I love it!

These PJ pals sneak outside to wish Macie and Reid a happy first day of school. Davis didn't start until one week later.
At home, Danny J is teaching ME some things while his brothers and sister are gone. So, I guess you could say that we are ALL back to school.

Here are some video clips of Macie and Reid speaking and singing Chinese!

Reid is performing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," and Macie is demonstrating how to bargain for Chinese goods in a class role play.

A Beautiful Baptism!

2011-09-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that our oldest daughter is eight years old! Macie had a BEAUTIFUL baptism on August 6th, and we were blessed to have an abundance of family present for the special occasion! Special thanks to all of her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who made the effort to be there for the event! It was a day that will never be forgotten!

Macie and Danny smile in their spotless white clothes!

The whole group posed outside for a photo after the baptism. Unfortunately, first we were standing in the sun, so we asked everyone to move to the opposite side of the church. As soon as everyone got settled and the camera was almost ready, the sprinklers turned on and hosed all of us in our Sunday clothes! Finally, we got settled again (for the third time!) and were able to take a picture without glaring sun OR spraying sprinklers! What a blessing it was to have the support of so many of our loved ones!

Macie shared her baptism with Danny's cousin, Megan Rogers, who was baptised just a few hours after Macie was! The two eight years olds pose here together.

Danny and Macie practiced at the font and at home. It went perfectly! Thanks to my fabulous photographer friend, Raquel, who took the confirmation picture and photos for Macie's invitations. Her shots were amazing!

WE LOVE YOU MACIE! CONGRATULATIONS ON A WONDERFUL CHOICE!

Lake Powell: Round Two

2011-08-01T00:00:00.001-07:00

Lake Powell with the Davis family was a blast! The first night we enjoyed a fabulous skit night, where our family performed our own version of Katy Perry's "California Gurls" with the words "Provo Utah Cougs." If you're ever in town, you should ask us for a repeat performance -- 'cause it was hot! :) We also enjoyed fireworks, surfing, wakeboarding, sky-skiing, boat rides, Rainbow Bridge, and visiting with parents, siblings, and cousins! Danny, Tyler, and John all braved climbing to the top of Rainbow Arch when the rangers left the park area -- the girls stayed behind on the boat with the kids and were all pretty nervious, but thankfully they made it safely back! Here is a slideshow of our awesome trip -- complete with our detour into the entrance of Bryce Canyon on the way home!

Kizoa slideshow: Lake Powell - Slideshow

A Simple Summer Summary

2011-07-31T23:59:00.001-07:00

You wait too long and get too behind in blogging, and this is what you end up with. A photo journal of the summer events with very BRIEF narratives. We had a FABULOUS summer -- kept busy with mommy field trips and Lake Powell vacations and YW/YM callings and family visits and holiday parties and birthdays. Now that Autumn is here... I'm longing for some of these good 'ol summer days again!

Here's the Summer from July on backwards...

YO HO, YO HO, A PIRATE BIRTHDAY GIRL Macie awoke to balloons and breakfast in bed for her very special #8 birthday! It was a Sunday morning, so we had to rush and get ready for church with a QUICK and EARLY breakfast. She patiently waited to open her presents after church. :)

We celebrated her birthday the day before with a pirate themed party... ahoy, me mateys! I made this chocolate pirate ship cake when I was feeling very nauseated (I was pregnant and VERY MORNING SICK, but keeping it a secret at the time). I don't know if I will ever be able to make or eat double chocolate cake again. At least the pirates all loved it!

All the pirate ladies crowded into the pirate ship I made for girl's camp this year. We named it the "Treasure Seeker." Lots of cardboard and lots of fun!

Dad designed a special treasure map and treasure hunt for the cute girls. They rocked it!

FISHING WITH DAD AND POPS

The boys had been begging, and I mean BEGGING, all summer to go fishing. Why? I don't know. They had never been fishing before, and they thought it would be AWESOME. So, when Pops and Grammie were in town we had Pops lead us to the secret fishing spot. The boys LOVED it and caught lots of little fish in the stream. And the best part was, we didn't even have to eat the fish. Pops took it home to Oregon. Thanks, Dad and Pops! You are the king fishermen!

CARS 2 FOR OUR NEW 2 YEAR OLD!

Yep, that's a Lightning McQueen Cake. Made the day I got home from Girl's Camp. When I was feeling very morning sick. But Danny LOVES Lightning McQueen. Why? I have no idea. Because the CARS movie is stupid and CARS 2 was even dumber. In fact, Danny wouldn't even watch CARS 2 in the movie theatre. We got a full refund on our movie ticket. But he loves books about Lightning McQueen, and toy Lightning McQueen Cars, and anything else CARS related. Go figure. Happy 2nd birthday to our very spunky "baby" Danny!

KORTH FAMILY REUNION

I did the girl's camp thing this year, so Danny got to go to the Korth reunion solo. He said that he and the kids had a great time visiting with all of the cousins. Here are some of the photos of the family trip (sans mom) to Idaho!

THE SAD STORY OF OUR YARD

We love our yard. We love plants and flowers. We used to love deer. But these rascally bucks (and their girlfriends. And their Moms. And their babies. And their cousins. And friends. And neighbors.) have eaten our yard all summer long. Despite the nasty smelling spray that repels humans. It is a tragedy. Someday we hope to get a fence!

WHILE MOM'S AWAY, THE KIDS WILL PLAY
AND OF COURSE, DAVIS NEEDED STITCHES!Grams was amazing and offered to watch all four of our Gunnell kidlets whilst I was away (high up in the mountains) at girls camp. Of course, accident prone little Davis just had to have another accident while I was away. After swimming lessons, he slipped while changing out of his suit and hit his chin on the tile floor. Several stitches later, and he was good as new (with a tiny, under-the-chin scar to show for a battle wound). Mom, I can't thank you enough for watching the kids for me! You were a trooper, and handled it all with grace and calm. You are the best!

LISA-LOU VISITS

Aunt Lisa came to stay for a few days after Aunt Amy had her little baby, and we got to visit with her and entertain her for a while. Trafalga ended up being our premier destination. Go carts, airplane rides, and bumper boats made for a FUN day. We love you, Lisa!

FRIENDS FOR THE FOURTH

Danny's best buds from college came for a Fourth of July visit -- it was so much fun for us all to get together. Above is Danny with Soren and Kurt, and below is me with Kim and Leah. They made our fourth truly Spectacular!

All of our kids gather together on the steps for a group shot. That's a lot of kids for three young couples ... :)

BALCONY BOOTY DANCERS

The Gunnell kids have been known to get a little bit wild this summer. Late summer evenings on the balcony were times for silly jokes, dancing, and lots of laughter!

BIRD LOVER'S PARADISEI took Sally Monson with me as my mother's helper (she is a HUGE BIRD LOVER), and the kids and I hit the Tracy Aviary. It was one of our many field trips we took for "Momma School" this summer, and it was a huge success. I think we'll have to repeat it next year! Look at these fine, feathered friends!

YOUTH CONERENCE

Neither Danny nor I had ever been to Delicate Arch, but we got the chance this June as we both traveled with the YM and YW for youth conference in Moab. The youth had a fabulous time, and we enjoyed the hiking and river rafting as well. Thanks to Sister Cobbley and John and Jaime for watching our kids for the weekend! It was awesome to be out there together in our callings!

Lake Powell: Round One

2011-07-31T23:58:00.002-07:00

Lake Powell was awesome this June! We went out on the Classic Dreamer with our friends the Cravaths and the Brobergs, and had a great time on the water. We had to re-anchor a million times because the water level was rising so rapidly, but we had fabulous weather and the best beach ever! The drive there and back was one for the record books-- on the way there the Cravath's car broke down, and then our truck broke down on the drive back! At least the wonderful week made the disasterous driving trips worth it! Here's a fun slide show of some of our happy Powell memories: disappearing islands, frogs and lizards, wakeboarding and surfing, Rainbow Bridge, cliff jumping, haircuts, and lots of fun with the kiddos!

The Start of Summer!

2011-07-31T23:58:00.001-07:00

It's August and I am just now blogging May and June and July. Just a leetle beet behind. Oops. Here's a semi short and sweet start to the summer update!

WASATCH ART SHOW

Macie and Reid are superb artists! Here are some of their favorite pieces from the end-of-the-year Wasatch Art Show:

Macie- oil pastel sunflower

Macie- acryllic, mixed media snowman on canvas board

Macie- acryllic flowers on masonite

Reid - grasshopper in the style of Eric Carle, tempera

Reid- self portrait in colored pencil

Reid - motion study in construction paper

END OF THE YEAR DANCE PROGRAM

Reid and his cute partner, Hannah, dance the infamous Kindergarten JELLO dance. He was fabulous!We loved Reid's teacher, Mrs. Whittaker. She told me at the parent/teacher conference that Reid was "an absolute joy to have in class," and that she wished all of her students were "just like him!" Way to go, Reid! What a great year kindergarten was!

Macie dances "In the Jungle" with her second grade class. She was, by far, the best dancer in her grade!
Here Macie poses with her cute teachers, Mrs. Wong and Mr. Evenson. They made learning such fun this year! It was always a blast for me to go and help out in their classrooms, and then share lunch with Macie in the cafeteria afterward. I will really miss these awesome teachers!

SWIM LESSONS

Davis was brave enough to try again this year -- so we started out tame with some basic life saving techniques at Pam Young's swim school. Both Danny J and Davis have really learned some serious swim skills this summer!

Float, Danny! Hold your breath! :)

Swim, Davis! Nice floating!

MOMMA SCHOOL

Each summer I homeschool my kids. This year we had weekly themes -- week one was dinosaurs. The kids LOVED the BYU Palentology Museum and the Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life. I loved teaching and learning with these smarties! A highlight of the week was "hatching" some dinosaur eggs Daddy brought home for us to incubate. They were SUPER COOL! Thanks, Dad!

T-BALL ALL STAR

Reid finished off the T-ball season with a bang. Here he is with his bat and his team! We think you are awesome, Reid!

"Tee" Time

2011-05-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

It seems like everything going on these days starts with T -- T-ball, teenagers, and trophies. Here's the Gunnell family ode to "T":

T-Ball

It's t-ball time again -- and Reid is enjoying his second year playing in the Provo City league. He's a great hitter and we love cheering him on. His first game was rained out after one inning, but he still managed to hit a home run! We're looking forward to a fun season from our little baller.

Two Weeks of Teenagers

Here's Paul and Sam, "our teenagers" at home for the past couple of weeks. Their parents and siblings moved to Thailand in April, but they wanted to stay out the rest of the school year, so they moved into our basement for a few weeks until school was over. It was quite an experience for our little family. They left yesterday morning to join their parents, and all day Danny J has been asking me for them. "Paul? Sam? Paul? Sam?" -- he's a broken record. Paul and Sam, Danny really misses you. :)
Here we all are, enjoying "T"reats with one of our neighbors, Sister Brown. Treats + teenagers = one crazy family night!

More "Teenagers"
(Not chicks anymore, but not quite chickens)

Do you think Davis's chick, Rock, likes it when Davis holds him? :)
Last week we moved the teenage chickens out of the garage and into the yard. Smelly! They are in a makeshift coop until we get our yard leveled off and get them caged in properly. The kids still love them. I love them more now that they are out of my garage. :) I was totally out of my element last week when I had to go to IFA and buy them new supplies (new feeder, water tank, chicken feed, etc) -- it was an adventure. Here they are in all of their teenage chicken glory:

Trophies

Macie is a dancer extraordinaire. As evidenced by this giant trophy she won with her dance company in their last competition. It is almost as big as she is! We love cheering her on and watching her groove and move on the stage. Last weekend we enjoyed her performances in the big spring recital. Here are some of my fave pics of the Saturday show:

Happy Birthday, Buck-a-roo!

2011-05-13T12:32:00.001-07:00

Monday was Davis's big birthday number FOUR, and he had a rootin-tootin good ol' time! Here's some super shots of the big day that had been oh-so-anxiously awaited:

A PILE OF BALLOONS

Davis woke up in my bed to find himself surrounded by balloons (a birthday tradition!). Can you see him under there? He was pretty zonked out. But we knew he'd be pumped when he woke up and realized he was getting the birthday morning treatment!

Nothing like french toast and bacon for breakfast in bed. He was soooo tired, but he sat right up and started taking big bites before his birthday song was even finished. He's been dreaming of having breakfast in bed, just like his big brother and sister get on their birthdays.
I love the picture below, because you can see the sleep lines still on his face -- his nose is smushed, even. Such a cutie!

"THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN DREAMING ABOUT"

We headed downstairs to open presents, which was adorable. Each new little gift brought greater joy to Davis's face. First the binoculars. Then Spy Kids. Then a triple waterslide. Then a Power Ranger sword and samurizers. Then a cowboy hat and cowboy guns. Then a lasso and a slingshot. (Can you tell that Davis likes fighting and weapons? That's why we call him our little warrior...) When he opened the slingshot, he couldn't contain the joy any longer, and he exclaimed, "Mom! This is what I've been DREAMING about! I love these presents!"

Watch out! Danny has a gun!

THE BIG COWBOY PARTY

Later in the afternoon we invited Davis's preschool and Sunbeam buddies over for a cowboy hoedown. We made cowboy vests, practiced jumping over rattlesnakes, lassoed some phillys, and had a wild west shootout with cowboys, indians, and waterguns. Then we celebrated with a yummy cowboy cake and ice cream. The whole posse had a happy time!

Here's the cutest cowgirl around!
Shoot-em, Tex!
Deputy Sherrif Davis was smiles from ear to ear!

THE GUNNELL OUTLAWS
I had this "Wanted" cut-out that I used for pictures of all of Davis's friends, so we decided to take some pictures of our family too. We make a scary group of outlaws!

CHUCK-E-DISEASE

After the wild west party, we all headed to Chuck-E-Cheese for some free pizza (thank you, birthday club coupons) and free games (thank you, library reading program coupons). I think the last time we were at Chuck-E-Cheese was one year ago, for Davis's birthday! Anyhow, it'd been a long time. But it didn't disappoint. The games were as fun as ever, and even Danny J got into the action this time. I had to pry him away from the mini basketball hoops with a crowbar. And then I needed the crowbar to pry his Daddy away from the "Flaming Finger". Davis's birthday was a hit with all!

I think our family is too big for the photo booth at Chuck-E-Cheese. We all tried to squeeze in, but it didn't work too well...
Happy birthday, Davis! We love you tons and tons and tons!

The Most Beautiful Women in the World

2011-05-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

On my second date with Danny, we stayed up late talking about our families. I remember asking him to tell me about his mother. His answer was the sweetest thing I've ever heard. He simply said, "Well, let me tell you about my mom. She is the most beautiful woman in the world."
I loved it, because I thought (and still think) the same thing about my mom. What a BEAUTIFUL woman! I feel so blessed by all of the beautiful women in my life. Thanks, Moms, for being amazing. Moms, you really are the most beautiful women in the world. We need you. We love you. We honor you!
Me and my mom. Ain't she a babe? We love you!

Danny and his mom. She's hot stuff! We love you!

Check out the beautiful blue eyes on this pair! We love you Grandma Korth!

I think Danny's true-blue heart is genetic. We love you Grandma Gunnell!

Me and my namesakes -- Margaret (aka- "Grammie") and Mary (aka- "Grandma Brown"). I look up to and admire these women so much -- and I want to be just like them when I grow up! We love you Grammie and Grandma Brown!

My Mother's Day -- The Treatment

Mother's Day here was fabulous! Danny gave a WONDERFUL talk in sacrament meeting, Macie and I sang a duet for the special musical number, and then I came home to "the treatment". That's right, "the treatment". "The treatment" consists of foot rubs, leg massages, back rubs, hair being played with, head massage, a face massage (this was a little strange, I've got to say), lots and lots and lots of kisses, snuggles, and a long afternoon nap. It was a wonderful Mother's Day. Thanks, family! I love you too!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-05-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

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!

Nine LONG Years

2011-04-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Anniversary!

Reid presented this gift to Danny and me this morning -- a picture he'd drawn of the temple as an anniversary present. How did I ever get so lucky? I have such great kids and a wonderful husband! Here's to nine happy years (Danny likes to say "LONG" years) and an eternity to look forward to.

Happy Everything!

2011-04-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

It's only taken 6 months, but our blog is finally up-to-date! Here's the first four months of 2011 in reverse, starting with "Happy Easter" (yesterday). Enjoy our Happy Everything blog!

Happy Easter

Hard to believe that I'm actually blogging an event the day after it occurred, but it's true! Here's our happy family in the backyard, wearing the new Easter suits and pretty pink dress from Grams and Grampy. Thanks for helping us go to church in style! :)
Danny loves this little plasma car. Last week I let him roam free, and he rode it all the way to the end of the cul-du-sac!
This mischevious grinner stands by the tulips that are just starting to bloom. Thank goodness that the stinky spray keeps the deer away!
Cutie pie Macie scrunches up her nose by the fountain.
Look at this future missionary!
The hunt is on... these are the worst Easter morning pictures we've ever had. I guess a fancy camera doesn't ensure that you have great photos, does it?

Grandma and Grandpa Korth

We stopped by for a quick visit on Sunday night, and were pleased to see Grandpa looking so good! It was lots of fun talking to Grandma and Grandpa about the best books we've read lately, and reminiscing about those good ol' BYU cougars and Jimmer. We brought our new dog (Danny J) along, and he spent 20 minutes crawling around, panting and licking our feet. Ping pong, tang shakes, and jellybeans made the night complete! Thanks for a great evening! Check out Davis, Reid, and Danny's faces in the picture below... we took the photo right after we told them we were leaving. I'd say that they weren't too happy to go!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream!

I made the mistake of giving the boys chocolate ice cream cones in the car. This is what I found when I got home. Chocolate covered faces, hands, shirts, and car seats. Not the brightest idea I ever had, to be sure. But it sure made for some fun faces!

Baby, it's cold outside!

More winter storms, this time in April! These snowy trees are what we saw outside on conference weekend. Beautiful, but can we say "Brrrrrrrrr!"? And as I write this, it is snowing outside again. Yesterday we had wind, rain, sun, snow, clouds, hail, more sun, and then thunderstorms. Mother nature is reminding us that, yes, she is a woman. :)

Birthday BoyBreakfast in bed for this happy six year old! He woke up to a room filled with balloons and some warm french toast. His little brothers were a little jealous. Thank goodness he shared!

The newest member of the Gunnell family....

We have a new member of the Gunnell family. Nope, I did not give birth to a 5th child (yet, that is...). May we proudly introduce...... Rocco Gunnell, Reid's Eastern Russion Tortise. Look at Reid's excitement when we gave him his special birthday gift -- he was literally jumping for joy.
Davis was running around the room shouting, "Look at me, Mom! Look at me! I'm faster than the tortise. It's the tortise and the hare! And I'm faster than him! I'm faster than him!"

Reid's Birthday x 2

Here are the two Reid Gunnells, both on their birthdays (March 19), both wearing BYU shirts, both with blue eyes with a brown stripe in one eye, both celebrating at a family party at our home. Twice the fun, for sure! We enjoyed a winning BYU Basketball game, yummy food, and great company!
Reid, Pops, and Katelyn celebrate their birthday together! Rah-rah, rah-rah-rah! Goooooooo birthdays!

The Football Party

Reid celebrated his birthday in style with 12 of his "closest" friends, BYU football style. We ran drills, beat the candy out of a football pinata, and munched on pizza and chocolate football cake. The favorite drill was the tackling drill, where the kids ran and tackled giant beanbags to the ground. Happy 6th!

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

Here's what happens when I dress the kids in green and make green eggs and ham for St. Patrick's Day. I get this goofy photo shoot. Despite the silly faces, the kids enjoyed this green meal, as always. Davis is still asking me if I can get some more green milk at the store...
I told Danny J to smile. This is what he did. I can tell we'll have some great family pictures coming in the future if this is what a smile is...

A Day in the Life

This is what I deal with every day. Crazy kids. Lots and lots and lots of coloring. And lots of BYU apparel.
Danny J is a sensitive soul. This is how he reacts if I don't hold him. It doesn't matter if I'm kneading bread dough or chopping veggies for a salad or whipping up some cupcakes or washing dishes or folding laundry. His feelings are hurt that he isn't the thing in my arms. I am such a mean lady to ever make him wait.
"Look at my mean mom (that black stripe is her dress). She is cooking a scrumptious dinner for our family. I am heartbroken. And Dad thinks it is so funny that he is taking my picture."
"OK. Everything is better. Mom is holding me and she gave me a bottle with root beer in it. I love it when my mom and dad give me soda pop in a bottle so my teeth can rot away and my bones can turn to mush. Now I know she loves me. "

Davis can sometimes be found running errands with me while he is dressed in his Yoda costume. He then makes Yoda-like comments in the grocery store, such as "Like it, I do" while pointing to a box of Cheese-its. Who could resist buying cheese-its when Yoda says he likes them? I couldn't. The force compelled me to get a box.

See Danny's blurry, yet mischievious grin? This kid keeps me on my toes all day long.

Jimmermania

Here we are when we beat San Diego State. Being a cougar fan was soooooo fun this season!
In March we were lucky enough to make it to Las Vegas for the MWC Tournament. We enjoyed lots of hot-tubbing and family fun with my parents, the baby blessing of our newest nephew, David Steven Foote, and Jimmer playing in his prime. It was amazing to be there and watch Jimmer score 52 points! I believe that Jimmer has strengthened our marriage. :)

Love Is In the Air

Four cute kids dressed in Valentine's duds!

Danny J is not too shy to give lots and lots of kisses!

I Like to Move-It Move-It

Macie, our dancing queen, started off her competition season in January. Grams and Grampy happened to be in town for her first performance, and came to support her at the Thanksgiving Point Show Barn. She was hitting it hard, this little mover and shaker! Her "cool" brothers were there to support her too!

Tangled
Since Macie's birthday falls on Pioneer Day, we haven't really had a birthday party for her for 2 years. So, this year she got a half-birthday party. We had a "Tangled" theme, and we celebrated by taking 7 of her little friends to the beauty school to get their hair and nails done. Party games included pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider and find the hidden crown in the satchel. We had a blast! And I couldn't think of a more fitting theme for our own long haired princess!

"Young" at Heart
I love my calling as 2nd counselor in the Young Women (over the Beehives). Here I am with my cute girls for an activity in January. They are so much fun!
Danny works with the Young Men, as the First Counselor. So we were together with the youth for the Book of Mormon Marathon in the first part of 2011. Here we are, reading our scriptures side-by-side. We read the entire Book of Mormon in less than two days!

Oh Deer
Here is Davis, with the deer that Dad shot in our yard. Without a license. Yep. By accident, well - kinda. This deer was eating our flowers, so Danny went out with his pellet gun to scare it off. He pumped up that gun and shot him at close range, marveling at what a stupid deer it was to not run off. Only after he shot the deer did he realize that it was severely injured -- and probably had been hit by a car before struggling down to our yard. He called animal services and let them know we had an injured deer on our property. When we went back outside, the poor thing was dead. That pellet gun must've punctured his lungs. Davis and Reid were pretty impressed that their Dad could kill a deer...

Xin Nian Quai Le
Chinese New Year was truly a party with our Chinese classmates and tutor, Justin Lin. He taught us how to make delicious pot-stickers (authentic, too!), and we enjoyed a fun cultural celebration! Here's to a year full of prosperity and good fortune!

Go Vols!
Our friends, Clayton and Erika Cravath, are from Tennessee and I love to tease them about always wearing orange. So... when they got back to Utah after celebrating the New Year in Nashville, we laughed that they brought back orange hoodies for the boys and an orange tu-tu for Macie. Thanks for being fun friends!

Pops's Place - Portland

2011-04-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Spring break in Portland with Grammie, Pops, and Lisa again this year -- and we had a great time! Since coming come, Danny J has been a broken record, saying "Pop's house? Pop's house? Pop's house?" I think he misses you guys... :(
Here is a travel log of our action packed week, accompanied with a frenzy of fun photos (I thought we took a lot of pictures at Disneyland, but we took WAY more in Portland!).

Guess I'll go eat worms...

It rained on us most days in Oregon. And lots of rain means lots of worms. Daddy offered to pay Macie and Reid 1 dollar if they would eat a worm. But they are smart, and realized that 1 dollar would be selling themselves pretty short. For 10 dollars, well, maybe...

Here Reid is in "Pop's Garage", helping his Grandpa Reid to fix the van. We drove that van here and there and everywhere during our week long stay. Thanks to the boys for keeping it in tip top condition!

The Garden of Eden

We didn't really go to the Garden of Eden, in case you were wondering. That would've been pretty sweet. Instead we went to the Rhododendron Garden, which was pretty cool too. In fact, we had a blast there -- and the kids ranked it their second favorite destination of our trip. We were a little early for a lot of the blooms, but it is never too early in the season to chase the geese and the ducks...
Davis was being impossible for our photographer (Pops), and the only way I could get him to smile was to give him a little pinch on his bottom! Say cheese!

Here ducky ducky ducky. Come close so that we can chase you...

I love my pair of Dannys!

Daddy demonstrated how to hit the ducks and geese with pinecones. After Danny J saw the power of the pinecone, he was an instant convert. The rest of the afternoon he was either throwing a pinecone at the birds or searching for a new pinecone to throw to them.
Look what you taught me, Dad! It is fun to get the birds!
Danny J wasn't the only one converted to pinecone throwing. Davis, of course, had to join in. And he has pretty good aim, too. If birds say prayers, I betcha that the birds at the Rhododendrom garden were begging God to send the Gunnells back to Utah. Unfortunately for them, we stayed and used up every pinecone we could get our hands on.

If you can't hit them, chase them!

Look at these two lovely ladies! These are some of my favorite photos from the day.

When we first arrived, the GPS somehow gave us the wrong directions, and we ended up at Reed College, across the street. Even though they spell their college name wrong, we thought it would be fun to take a picture of the two Reids near their very own college.

Tulip Paradise

Once again, we headed to the gardens -- this time, to the tulip gardens. It had been pouring rain and the cold wind was blowing fiercely, but Danny was convinced that the storm would pass quickly. So we headed to the festival, and he was right! After waiting 5 minutes in the parking lot, sure enough we enjoyed blue skies and sun.
The ducky races are always a treat. Reid (not pictured) is an especially big fan of the duck races because his ducks always seem to win!

Danny loved hitting the tulips, because the raindrops would bounce back and spray him!

Davis is the tulip festival ninja! Our day at the flowers wouldn't have been complete without this mini warrior striking ninja poses and protecting us from whatever dangers may have been lurking in the tulips!

Look at these goofy kids. So much for a great photo shoot. All I can say is, it looks like they are taking after their father's side of the family... :) hehe.

Hoops

The basketball hoop in the driveway was a dream come true for Reid, Davis and Danny. Every time the rain stopped, even if only for a few minutes, Reid was ready to throw on his shoes to "go shoot some hoops!" And Danny J loved Pops' help in dunking a few baskets himself. His frequent requests for "Coug" (meaning, "Please sing the BYU Cougar Fight Song for me now") meant that the whole neighborhood now has heard "Rise and shout, the cougars are out" many many many times.

Jimmer Fredette, nothin but net. That's what we like to say when Reid is shooting...

Put Me in the Zoo

Tuesday we headed to the Portland zoo for a day with the wild animals. Our family was just about as wild as any of the animals we saw there! Here's the family making friends with the sea lions.

This leopard was one of the prettiest cats I've ever seen. When our day was through we took a vote and decided that these were the coolest animals in the whole zoo.

Lorakeet love... what a neat experience it was to hang out in the lorakeet enclosure and lure the birds in with little nectar cups. Davis spent the most time with birds on his arm, but Macie, Daddy, Danny J, and Pops all took their turns as well. Poor dad and Pops got an unpleasant bonus- bird bites! One lorakeet actually drew blood on Pops!

No "lion"... we had a great day at the zoo!

Ode to the Trees

Saturday morning was spent selling spiral trees around the neighborhood, and here are the proud tree peddlers. Thursday was spent at Jim's place (the tree extortonist), labeling some of these beauties for shipment to Utah. What we hoped would be a quick trip to the tree farm ended up being 5 hours in the car for our kids. Total bummer. But the kids were troopers and even let us go out on a date later that night.
Here's Davis, asleep on the drive back to Wilsonville. It was that bad. :)

The Kiddie Museum

My kids normally like brushing their teeth, but they especially loved brushing this big fella.
Macie and Reid spent some time practicing in construction. I'm hoping that they get good enough I can put them to work building us a new garage someday...

Danny helped the kids build this rameumptom out of giant lincoln logs.

Be very very scared... Macie had the face paints and Daddy ended up with eyeshadow. Which was promptly washed off. Thank goodness!

We loved our trip to visit Grammie, Pops, and Lisa and we look forward to visiting them again! Thanks for showing us a fabulous time!

Is it lame to post 2010 events in 2011?

2011-04-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

I think that I already know the answer to the question that is the title of this blog entry. YES. It is very lame to post 2010 events on your blog in 2011. ESPECIALLY if it is already FOUR WHOLE MONTHS into 2011. But I am going to do it anyway. Why? Because I am a lame person. I like lame things. I'm embracing the phrase "better late than never." And I was too busy in 2010 and the first four months of 2011 to post anything on this little blog. So, prepare yourselves for the lameness that is coming. Here is the last part of 2010 (in a nutshell):

HALLOWEEN

We were a "Super" Family this year, for a "Super"-fabulous Halloween! Iron Man, Super Girl, Spiderman, Batman, Mr. Incredible and I had a fun night. We didn't even freeze this year!
Decorating pumpkins is always a favorite October FHE activity. And our kids pumpkins were so fitting! Davis made a ninja (he is our little warrior), Macie's is a pretty girl (just like our lovely lady), and Reid's was a BYU Football player (perfect for our little jock).

This cute kiddo was obcessed with Spidey for a while last year. At bedtime, I had to tell him spiderman stories. His bedtime song had to be "Spiderman" -- which I don't know the right words to, so, it was different every night. Every picture he colored was of spiderman. And if the song or the story or the picture wasn't "just right" -- well, Davis would let us know. Luckily for us, the spiderman phase has passed. We are now onto the "ninja" phase... (I'm not sure which was better?)

WRESTLING

Reid is such a lightweight that I don't know if he could even qualify for a super-duper-ultra-featherweight division, but despite his skinny legs and bony ribs he had a winning season for his first year of wrestling! Danny joined him at bi-weekly practices with the Provo High School wrestling club, and then we all cheered him on at his meets. With such a studly wrestling coach for his Dad, I've no doubt Reid could go far in this sport...

TULIPS

We've heard that they are deer candy, but we figured we'd live dangerously and plant hundreds of them in our newly finished yard anyway. Wish us luck! (So far we have discovered an incredibly potent and STINKY spray that is successful in keeping our herd of 20 deer friends away. The bottle simply states that its scent repels deer and small animals such as rabbits and squirrels. After the first use, we wish the bottle had warned that it would also repel any creature that has a sense of smell. It is a potent human repellant as well as an animal repelant! Peeee-Eewwww! If you are dying for a dangerous whiff, come visit and we'll let you inhale some of this sickening spray.)

OLD FRIENDS

Thanksgiving week was spent in Las Vegas for my brother John's wedding to Jaime Bingham. It was a cold but very happy occasion! After the holidays were celebrated, I had the chance to visit with a couple of good friends from high school - Janene and Janae. It was lots of fun to see them and I hope next time we don't wait so many years to get together!

BEAUTY

I had to include the pictures of a Provo sunset from our new deck. Isn't it just beautiful? How did we ever get this lucky? This is the view from my kitchen window as I prepare dinner each night. To DIE for!

BIRTHDAYS AND BASKETBALL

This blog would be seriously remiss if I did not mention Jimmer Fredette. As we drove home from the Vegas wedding, I think I heard "Jimmer Fredette, nothing but net" probably 2000 times. No lie. We love watching him play. The 4 million views on his youtube videos... are all from Danny and my boys watching him shoot 3's over and over again. But he is even more fun to watch live in the Marriott Center. So, we did watch him live. Just about every game. And we loved it! All of the kids even have autographed #32 shirts after we spotted Jimmer at dinner after we went to a game with Grandma and Grandpa Korth. So, it was very appropriate that Danny celebrated his 35th birthday at a BYU Basketball game. One of our friends got us the hook-up during the time-out... Danny was the guy that ran out on the court to shoot a lay-up and three pointer to win a prize! He made the easy ones, but missed the 3 pointer, darn-it! Happy 35th to a wonderful husband and father!

DISNEYLAND

When all of the family finally memorized "The Living Christ" we knew we had to celebrate. So we planned a fabulous family vacation to the happiest place on earth- Disneyland. We had a magical time and met up with my sister Katie and bro-in-law Tyler and cousin Sarah to share in the fun. We had so much fun using our new camera, too -- I think we took a million pictures (no

exaggeration) . Here's a quick slideshow of some of the good times.

TEMPLE SQUARE

Christmastime in Utah would not be the same without a visit to the Temple Square lights. We put this event on the advent calendar, and wouldn't miss it!

CHRISTMASTIME

Danny J is terrified of Santa Claus. Hates him. Luckily our other kids think he is pretty cool. He treated our family well this year...

This kiddie roller coaster was the big hit this Christmas. As I type this blog, Macie leans over my should and says "Mom, you should say that the roller coaster is "da bomb"." OK. The roller coaster is "da bomb." Everyone loved it. Except for baby Danny, of course, and that's who it was for. Thank goodness he warmed up after a few tries, and now he loves it just as much as his bigger siblings do!

Santa brought Davis (who has a real thing for weapons) his new bow and arrow set, complete with a matching target. Now we can send him outside to shoot the deer away!

Reid, our gamester, is holding "Trouble". Santa brought him his very own snowboard this year. Awesome!

Macie got this fancy-pants vanity with a plush cushion seat. She smiles pretty as a princess when she preens in the mirror.

WINTER WONDERLAND

I'm not a big fan of winter weather and snow, but even I couldn't deny the beauty of the winter wonderland we've been living in much of this season! Our super duper new camera is fun to use when we are surrounded by such beauty. And look at my handsome snow shovelers below. No need to fear the snow when I've got such good looking workers to keep my sidewalks clear!

The Grass Is Always Greener...

2010-10-20T23:18:00.001-07:00

....when it's planted in our yard. Yep. That's right. Although we'd grown AWFULLY fond of our weeds and rocks, we finally made the transition to grass and flower beds. Hooray! It was a spectacular birthday present last Thursday, and we can't wait for another week to pass so that we can walk on it!
We've had so much family fun to update on from the past few months, but this post is just to celebrate our yard. That's it. Whoo-hoo -- we really are celebrating! This yard deserves the coveted pig trophy. After living in a construction zone since May (Hah! Never believe it when your contractor tells you it'll be done in 2 weeks! Try 6 months...), we feel so blessed to be able to dine on our gorgeous wrap-around deck and admire our plants and green grass. Every time I look out the back window I have to do a double-take... green seems so strange! But we love it!

LUCKY 7

2010-07-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

July 24th is a holiday in the Gunnell household -- not for Pioneer Day, but because it is Miss Macie's birthday! We've told her for years that the whole state throws a party just for her -- parades, fireworks, carnivals, rodeos -- we'll pull out the stops for our little girl's big day.

This year we celebrated with a special birthday breakfast (cinnamon rolls), a day at Seven Peaks (with Uncle John/Alex/Elizabeth/Katelyn too!), sno-cones for everyone, a princess movie, a fruit snack "tea party," Macie's favorite crock-pot gravy dinner, a Barbie Mermaid Tale birthday cake, and a cousins sleep-over. It was a blast!!

Look at that beautiful toothless grin!

Macie models a gift from Aunt Amy and Uncle David. I really like this shirt!

The kids really enjoyed their "tea party" out on the deck. Davis was serving fruit snacks on a tray while Macie was pouring water into the goblets and tea cups. Reid sipped his drink with his baby finger in the air. It was quite an elegant affair.

We feel so blessed to have such a beautiful daughter -- on the inside and the outside. Macie is such a sweet big sister, a super smart reader, mommy's special helper, a lovely dancer, a talented artist/musician/swimmer, and she has such a sweet and strong little testimony. We love her tons and tons and couldn't ask for a better daughter!

Danny's Number One!

2010-07-18T21:59:00.001-07:00

Here is our sweet little one year old guy. Before he got to his football cake ....

...and here is the messy man post-cake. Watch-out Dad! Danny's going to slime you! (although our camera man got away just in the nick of time, Danny managed to get chocolate cake just about everywhere else -- all over his new shirt, high-chair, bib, floor, Mommy, in his hair, eyes, ears, etc. -- Way to go, dude!)

We celebrated this little stud-muffin's big B-day with Aunt Amy and Uncle David, who joined us for an impromptu sleepover Friday night after the Bees Game. Danny was excited to get some handsome new threads, new baby books, a toy cell phone, a snazzy kid drum, and a deluxe Radio Flyer Wagon. This boy is easy to please! We had a lazy morning breakfast of scrambled eggs (his favorite), and then pigged out on McDonald's fries for lunch. Lots of books, a wagon ride, swimming at the neighbors, and plenty of playtime made for many happy kids. Later, of course, came the chocolate football cake. It was a great day.

"A present for me?? Yipee!"
"Rollin' in my new ride -- thanks, Grams and Grampy! This is one cool wagon!"
"Didn't you know I have mad hops? The Jazz have tried to recruit me, but mom says I have to stop breast-feeding before I'm eligible for the draft. I thought I'd show off my dunking skills to Amy and David while we were at McDonalds."

Danny is such a joy to have in our family. Although he rarely gets the attention he deserves, he is such a happy and sweet little guy. He loves to snuggle, especially with Mommy. He really does give the BEST baby hugs and kisses. Reading books is another one of his favorite pastimes -- and although he is a man of few words ("Mama" and "Gaga"), I swear he says "again" ("A-Gee") after I read his favorite books. Danny loves to give high-fives, mess up the DVD cupboard, brush his teeth, bite toes/fingers/rocks/mommy -- HARD, pinch my arms, pull Macie's hair, climb in the dishwasher, go up and down the stairs, throw balls, play basketball (no joke), dance to the music, play tickle-monster and peek-a-boo, laugh and roughhouse with his big brothers and sister, take baths, and crawl in the dirt so he can eat mud. He is such a joy (especially when he's not teething!), and I can't imagine our family without him. We are blessed to have you, baby Danny!

Wild Weekend

2010-07-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a wild one -- Mom(me) hosted a fabulous book-club retreat at our home Friday and Saturday (hereafter referred to as "Books Gone Wild"), whilst Danny and the kids went camping and exploring at Goblin Valley. I've been forbidden to post pictures of the retreat, but we had a great time shopping, watching movies, playing games, boating at the Lake (wakeboarding and tubing), and eating YUMMY food! I have awesome friends!
Danny and the kiddos had an awesome time too (as you can see in all of the pics). They made the trek down to Goblin Valley where they camped out, told scary stories about "Gobby" the toenail-eating Goblin, ate smores and hot dogs, climbed and played in the valley of the Goblins, and visited the geyser. My family is soooo great! The kids came home happy/dirty and were proud to present me with several "very cool" rocks.
Two bad things happened this weekend: (1) Danny got a speeding ticket coming home - which also happened to be his second ticket in 3 days! ... and (2) Poor baby Danny spent a good portion of Saturday without Mommy (maybe I should say "poor babysitter"?!) I love that little guy and will have to give him some extra Mommy-time this week!
Our past few weekends have been equally wild and fabulous:
-Lake Powell with the Davis family was incredible, as always. I could live permanently on that houseboat. Thanks to my parents for a great time!
-Reid learned to wakeboard like a pro, and Danny practiced some high jumps.
-We enjoyed a sleepover with the Halladays and a day out on the lake. We are grateful for such awesome friends!
-Our yard has been progressing. It is going to be SUPER COOL. We just really wish it was already done!
-We celebrated the Fourth with an impromptu party at our home. Our view is so great that people couldn't resist hanging out at our house.
-We met my parents in Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival and finally found a Shakespeare play that Danny enjoyed ("Much Ado About Nothing").

Life is good for the Gunnells.

***For all of you wondering about Davis and his health since the near-drowning, I'm happy to report that he seems to be almost back to normal. Not the fearless, brave and daring Davis that we used to love, but healthy and strong and just as lovable. This morning he and Reid spent twenty minutes in the playroom shooting with their bows and arrows -- while completely naked. :)
Tomorrow we are attempting a second swimming lesson for Davis. Danny will remain with him during the lesson -- as I, unfortunately, can hardly bear to think of it. Pray for the sweet boy, and for his mommy too!

All is Well

2010-06-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Davis is obviously back to his little 3 year old self, as you can see above. Yep -- he's got his mud boots on (the shoe of choice these days), pajamas, a warm-up jacket, Reid's T-ball helmet, and a blue bat -- and he wants me to pitch to him in our MESS of a yard. We've lost 3 balls and a plastic bat to the track-hoe and dump truck this week. All is well. :) The only real set-back we've noticed is that Davis is now only "semi potty-trained". The doctor said it is quite normal, considering all of the trauma that he's just experienced. Oh well. So much for having only one child in diapers -- back to two we go. I'll take it.

Here are some pictures of the "little project" we began several weeks ago -- our back deck, covered patio, pergola, and west-side yard as it SLOWLY progresses. As most construction projects go (so I've heard) -- it is taking much longer than expected, and of course costing more money than we wanted to spend. Good thing I've got a master negotiator for a husband who is good at getting prices down and workers to move! Sadly, it won't be done by the Fourth of July so that we can have a rockin' party. At least we will have a rockin' yard when it's all said and done. :)

Davis's swimming/drowning lesson

2010-06-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that our sweet little Davis had a serious accident yesterday afternoon. We just brought him home from the hospital and hope that he will continue to show signs of full recovery.
Yesterday afternoon Davis was in a private one-on-one swimming lesson at our neighbor's pool. It was his first swimming lesson, which I'd scheduled with the same girl who has taught Macie and Reid for the past 2 1/2 years. The first few lessons are usually difficult for the child, as Robin teaches them to swim with their face underwater, and it is more successful/less traumatic if the parent is not there. So I dropped him off (he was soooo excited) and walked back home to put baby Danny to sleep and to fold some laundry. When I walked back half-an-hour later to pick Davis up, I was greeted at the edge of the driveway by Macie, who was running and shouted that Davis was not breathing and his lips were blue. I looked toward the pool to see Robin setting his limp body on the deck. His belly was distended, his skin was completely white and his lips were blue. His eyes were rolled back in his head, he was motionless. I quickly assessed him and noted that he was not breathing and he did not have a pulse. He was gone.
I immediately began CPR, as Robin spoke to the 911 operator. After 1 1/2 to 2 minutes of emergency CPR and about one million silent prayers as I tried to save my baby's life, Davis regained consciousness. He could not speak or move, but I could tell he was alive. He gradually started screaming/moaning. I picked him up and tried to get him to respond to me, to come back to me. He could not answer my questions, could not move to show me if he hurt -- he was floppy and unresponsive. It felt like eternity watching the ambulance drive up the street to the Heaton's home. The paramedics immediately put him on oxygen and gave him an IV. I sprinted home to grab baby Danny (who I'd left sleeping in his crib, assuming I'd be back in 2 minutes). God was hearing my prayers -- as I sprinted home my visiting teacher Janene Green drove by, and stopped to help. And as I grabbed baby Danny and ran out the door, Patty Monson called and offered to watch all of my children while I went to the hospital. I am so grateful for their help and support, and thankful that they were in the right place at the right time. It made the rest of the day more bearable, knowing that my other children were in good hands.
In the ambulance Davis was still unresponsive as the paramedics tried to get his vitals. We were unable to get a SpO2, he was tachycardic and resps were high. He was half-awake, half-asleep. I called Danny and told him to meet me at the ER. By the time we arrived at the hospital, Davis was not really all there, but was able to verbalize his name when asked. He recognized me and could hold my hand. When the doctor asked him if he was scared, he said "no." He was coming back to us.
At the hospital we ran lots of blood tests, did a chest xray, ran a CT scan. We were trying to figure out what had happened. My kids verified the swimming teacher's story, but Davis's test results seem to indicate that he was not breathing or perfusing for much longer than add up with our story. We are "very lucky that he is alive" and "that [I] knew what to do and performed CPR", according to the doctors. We weren't "lucky" in my opinion -- we were blessed. I am so thankful that God let us keep our sweet little Davis; so thankful that he is alive and strong still. I never imagined that I would have to perform CPR on my own child. I pray that I never will have to again.
We are not sure if he had a seizure (he had high sugar and high lactate, but that also might have been from the swimming lesson and stress response) or if he had a severe bronchospasm or if he was under for longer than Robin said or what exactly caused it all. All we know is that he was gone, and we are very blessed to have him back with us.
Davis was in a deep sleep until about 7:45, when he briefly woke up and vomitted A TON of what appeared to be water. He was awake for a few minutes, and able to talk with us. He was not his normal self -- very lethargic and it was difficult to get him to talk -- but he was coherent. He recognized us and had an awareness of where he was. His chest x-ray was clear. His CT scan showed water in his sinuses, but no visible brain damage. The blood results showed extremely high levels of lactate in his brain, meaning that he had been without oxygen to the brain for a long time. He vomited some more and fell back into a deep sleep.
He awoke late in the night after soaking his bed and seemed to be our good ol' Davis again. He asked for chocolate milk. He wanted to watch Robin Hood. He was sweet and happy. The doctors discharged him this afternoon and he is home with us now. He appears to be healthy and normal -- as if nothing had happened. We are so grateful for his miraculous recovery, and we pray that he will suffer no lasting effects from this incident.
For those who have been "in-the-loop" the past two days, thank you so much for your prayers and help. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and neighbors and family to support us. We love you all. Thank you for your prayers and faith.