Reunion!

As most of you know, Danny worked at the MTC for about 5 years after he got home from his mission, and made some lifelong friends there. Well, last week we were lucky enough to get together with a group of them for a kind-of MTC supervisor reunion, celebrating the return of Shane Littlefield and his family from their mission presidency in Mexico. It was lots of fun to see old friends and faces, and the highlight of the evening was an awesome and inspiring mission report from Shane. I wrote down his mission theme, "todo se puede," in my journal, and recounted it to my brother John who is currently serving a mission in Portugal. I think that everyone was uplifted and encouraged to be better after this reunion. Welcome home, Littlefield family!

Danny, and his hero, Shane

The "Motherlode" -- David Howell, Shawn Nevers, Andrew Hoyt, Danny, Dave Sedgewick, and Chris Jackson. This band of brothers won the coveted BYU Intermural Softball T-shirt every single year!

Two Little Cooks

Macie and Reid have been such big helpers around the house lately, it's been wonderful! What more could a mommy ask for? :)

We have a sticker "helper" chart that gets added to whenever the kids are helpful and happy, and it is almost filled up! So, in another week or so when it is fully completed, the kids and Danny and I will make a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate what great helpers they are.

Below is a picture of them "helping" mommy bake some Zucchinni bread. YUM!

Homecoming Cheerleaders

So...I just downloaded a bunch of pictures off of our new camera, and found this cute one of Danny and Macie at the BYU Homecoming Parade. I guess Danny still knows how to do those cheer lifts...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

So... I just have a few minutes to update here, but I had to publish the cute things that my kids said last weekend. They always make me smile! Anyway, my sis-in-law Mel has a little section of her blog with cute things her kids have said, and I wanted to include some of the cute/silly things Macie and Reid say on our blog too...

SATURDAY, OCT 6
We (the Davis and Gunnell girls) were all watching the afternoon session of conference while most of the men were up in Salt Lake at the Conference Center. As Elder Ballard finished his talk, Macie suddenly perked up and said "Grams, I can't wait for Grampy to talk! When is Grampy going to be on TV?" It was super cute. She was watching all of the old grandpa-like apostles speaking in conference, and naturally she thought that her grandpa should be speaking at conference with them too. I do think that her Grampy would make an awesome General Authority, actually...

SUNDAY, OCT 7
Once again, we were all watching conference together (this time the men were with us), and President Hinckley stood up to conduct. Danny was trying to get Reid's attention, so he asked him, "Reid, do you know who that is?" -- pointing at President Hinckley. Reid looked up at the TV and said confidently, "Yep. Jesus!" Then he gave us this huge grin. Maybe we need to have a few more family home evenings to talk about the Prophet and the apostles?... I thought we were teaching them pretty well, but apparantly we've missed a few things here and there... Maybe we'll have them straightened out by next April?

TODAY, OCT 10
We (the kids and I) were driving home from Macie's dance class. Suddenly:
Macie: Uh-oh, Mom! Look!
Me: What, honey?
Macie: You're driving next to a girl-boy!
Me: A what?
Macie: A girl-boy. It's right next to us!! Look, Mom!
Me: (turning around slightly to see the "girl-boy." A young man with long pretty hair and a short scruffy beard was driving a truck in the next lane. I smiled.) What do you mean? Is it a girl or a boy?
Macie: It's not a girl and it's not a boy. It's a boy that is a girl too. A girl-boy! You better get away fast!
Me: OK. Don't worry. We'll get away. (I smile and take the freeway entrance I was going to turn on anyway, thus saving us from the evil "girl-boy". Hillarious.)

Anyway, that's all I have time for tonight! Hopefully my kids made you smile, just like they made me happy!

SUMMERTIME

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and all three (that's right -- ALL three!) of our kids are asleep. Life couldn't be sweeter! :) So, I decided to take a nap (as a smart mommy would do)... However, Danny had different plans. :) He came in when I was almost asleep and asked me how to sign into our blog, because he wanted to update it. Now, you know I must be REALLY REALLY behind on updating the blog when Danny has to try and learn how to do it! So, I showed him the ropes and tried to return to sleep. But every other minute he had another question.... So, now I've given up on that nap idea and we are trying to double-team the blog together. How we will ever be able to fit all that has gone on in the past few months is beyond me, but we'll give it our best shot!

JULY
We'll start with July (since that's when I last updated this little baby -- wow, time flies!)... First, on July 8th, little Davis was blessed by his Daddy. Danny gave Davis Ammon a beautiful blessing, and we truly enjoyed visiting with our friends and family who celebrated the day with us.

Davis is such a little sweetheart! Next, we took off for two awesome family reunions -- one with the Davis family (my mom, dad, brothers and sisters) at Lake Powell, and one with the Korth family (Danny's mom's family -- extended) at Bear Lake.Both trips were tons of fun, and we enjoyed lots of family, lots of boating and lots of sun. Macie and Reid are both becoming pros at inner-tubing and surfing (they surf with Danny behind the boat!), and Danny has been able to successfully land a wakeboarding backflip after all of our lake time. (if only he could do it without letting go of the rope...)
We returned from our reunions to celebrate Macie's 4th birthday, at which Cinderella made a surprise visit from Disneyland. I think it was one of the highlights of Macie's life, up to this point. She was thrilled, and the other little kidlets at her party seemed to enjoy themselves as well. She is a very loved and lucky girl, and we still can't believe that our little "princess" is four!

AUGUST
August brought lots of heat to Provo, and lots of trips for our family. Danny began with a week at Lake Powell with the young men -- lots of merit badges and fun. The boys love him (he's kind-of like a big 16 year old himself, you know...). :) He came back for a few days, and then headed off to Houston, TX, for an oil conference. I was really really missing him by that time, so when he got home we took the whole family to Lake Mead for the Davis family (my Dad's extended family) reunion. Once again, we enjoyed family, food, warm sun and some beautiful water. I don't think I've ever seen Lake Mead that smooth for that long! The highlight of the trip (for me, hehe) was our very last surfing ride ... Danny sported some sassy eurotrunks (sp?) -- basically some tight,white, boxer briefs with the Portugal flag on the front (Thanks to my brother, John, for sending them to us last Christmas) -- and posed for a few minutes as we took picture after picture of him surfing. Danny won't let me post any of those pictures online, but let me tell you -- they were great! :)

SEPTEMBER
As Danny and I lay awake in bed our last night at Lake Mead, Danny turned to me and said "Honey, I can't sleep. I'm just so excited for football season!" So, of course, BYU football (and football in general, for Danny), has been the focus of our family this month. I forgot to mention (how could I?!) the BYU Women's clinic that I attended in August. About 300 women got together with Bronco, his coaches and the players and got psyched up for Cougar football. We toured the stadium and locker rooms, learned theory and had questions answered by coaches and players, and then ran some drills on the field. It was lots of fun. Coach Kafusi (sp?) gave me a really hard time for smiling during the drills -- I guess that "real" football players don't look so happy when they are trying to tackle the other team. :) My friend Lisa and I met up together and even had our pictures taken by some newspaper and TV crews. Whoo-hoo -- I'm famous! Did you see me? Anyway... back to the current football season. We had a blast at the first home game -- we invited Mitch and Dalys Christensen to come with us and try out our new seats. :) Ahhhh, football season really is sweet this year ... we're on the 50 yard line with seat backs on our chairs and everything.
BYU played so well against Arizona that we decided to take a little road trip down to Cali to watch the Cougs face the Bruins in the Rose Bowl. It was our first official Daniel and Mary Gunnell family vacation, and it was a blast! We stoped and visited my family in Vegas on the way there, and then we stayed with my grandparents in Claremont and Downey for the week (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Brown & Grammie and Grandpa Sandy!). Thursday night we hit the Angels game (Angels vs. Indians, we won, 10-3) and the kids had a blast. Reid, our little All-Star, loves anything with balls. :) Friday was our beach day (Seal Beach -- we figured we'd try one out that we hadn't been to before), and even though it was pretty cold, we had a fabulous time as well. I buried Danny and the kids in the sand, we found lots of shells and seaweed, and we watched the sunset from the pier. Saturday was the big event -- the football game! We tailgated on the golf course with the Halladays (who knew UCLA enjoyed such a sweet tailgating lot?!), and enjoyed the game with the Hodges, Cahoons, and Tingeys. Monday brought more friends and fun -- Danny golfed the morning away with Jake Hallday, and then we enjoyed family night with the Soren Halladay and Sterling Garns families. Our last day, Tuesday, we met up with Lee and Ginger Akin and took Disneyland for a ride. Although it was warm, Splash Mountain and fun friends made it a truly fabulous day! Sadly, we headed home on Wednesday, back to normal life in Provo.
Now Macie is back in school (she started Learning Dynamics preschool this fall) and Danny is back to work. I am back to full-time mommy of three. We are a happy family.
Macie had two soccer games this week, and on Saturday she actually kicked the ball 8 or 9 times (her first game was mostly spent twirling, waving, and smiling on the field)! Reid's favorite thing to do is "be the Dad" -- he pretends to play softball, wakeboard, make breakfast, go to scouts, or go to work (since that is apparantly all that Daddies do!). It's super cute. Davis is getting bigger each day, and I've decided that his new nickname should be "Smiley" since he is such a happy baby. Danny's suggestion is "Pukey," since he is such a spitty baby. :) Yesterday he was laughing for 10 minutes straight while I tickled him on the bed. So, all in all, life is very good.

We love you all and hope that your summers have been as fun and fulfilling as ours was. Please call us or visit us if you are ever in Provo!

Davis Smiles!

Macie was so proud of herself for making Davis smile. He is a cutie pie! Enjoy!

We've got video!

I finally figured out how all of those smart bloggers get video on their blogs! Whoo-hoo! Our first video clip to post is Macie's dance recital from last weekend -- she was GREAT! Yep, I was definitely a proud parent! Even though she is the youngest in the class (all of the other girls are already 4 or 5 years old), of course I thought she was the best! Aunt Katie and Uncle Tyler came to support her and cheer her on (THANKS!) -- and she was elated. I was surprised by how many people there were at the show -- we had to wait in line for 45 minutes to BUY tickets to the recital (isn't that suppossed to be a FREE perk of paying for dance lessons, a COMPLIMENTARY dance recital??!! Apparantly not anymore...), but I guess it was so crazy because it is a "prestigious" studio. As if the little kids really know the difference. Anyway, Macie was fabulous, and I hope you enjoy her little show!

Dancing Queen - Macie's First Dance Recital

"SONG OF THE HEART"
May 19, 2007

Our Sweet Baby

Momma & Poppa

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Danny! Who knew that 5 years of marriage could pass by so fast?! We celebrated the day with some proxy sealings at the temple and an overnight stay at Sundance. The next AM we hiked Stewart Falls -- it was tons of fun! Thanks to Katie and Tyler for watching our kids!

Down at the Ranch

*The view from one of our 4-wheeling excursions*

I had to post some fun pictures from our recent (Easter weekend) trip down to the Foote Family ranch near Kanab, UT. We had such a blast, and are super grateful to Katie and Tyler and the Foote family for inviting us to come!
Highlights of the weekend trip included 4-wheeling around the Virgin river, in-and-out of the gorge and up and down mountains (Danny and I had a "special" 4-wheeler -- the Rhino -- which was basically like a super fancy golf cart with great shocks and 4WD...perfect for a pregnant lady with two little kiddies in tow!), fun hikes down and up steep hills and in slot canyons, a homemade Easter egg hunt, marshmellow shooting and ring toss games, beautiful star-gazing, and WONDERFUL company and food. Macie ate so many pancakes while we were there that I thought she was going to explode (and she kept on saying, "Mommy, I really like the ranch. They have DELICIOUS food here!"). It was an awesome weekend, and Danny can't stop asking, "When are we going to the ranch again?"

*Kenneth Linge borrowed Tyler's camera for a moment to shoot the curves of my belly against the curves of the canyon. They assured me that although I cringe at the curves of my belly now, I will like this picture later. We'll see...

*Macie's cheesy smile in her "My Daddy Loves Me" shirt -- it's her favorite item of clothing lately!

*Reidy boy insisted on trying on every helmet (all 6 of them!) while playing outside! He looked like a little live bobble-head doll.

*Our "Easter Bunny" get's ready to hide tons of eggs in the field for the kids to find. Aunt Katie brought chocolate eggs too, so the kids were really excited for the hunt!

*Reid and Macie donned their bunny ears to hunt for the Easter eggs. What a pair of cuties!

*Macie and Uncle Tyler cheese it up for the camera, while Aunt Katie smiles by the "Rhino".

*The awesome night sky is captured by Tyler on camera.

Splish Splash!

I just couldn't resist posting this picture of Reid from yesterday -- we came home from swimming at the rec. center (our FHE activity!), and the kids got into the bath like normal. But before we knew it, Reid had climbed out and grabbed his flippers from the swimming bag! He wanted to go swimming in the bathtub! Who could resist that big cheesy smile?!

Happy Birthday Reidy-Boy!

Well... our little boy is now in his "terrible twos" -- that's right! -- Reid turned 2 years old on Monday, and we celebrated with a small family party of hot dogs, chips, ice cream, and cake. What more could the little guy want?
Of course, we all spoiled him, and he was thrilled with his many gifts of balls, bubbles, swords, books, Buzz Lightyear, and a trampoline (which he has to share with Macie, of course). He's 100% boy, alright! Thanks to all who sent gifts or came to the party -- as you can see from the photos above, Reid really had a wonderful day. Of course, he was tired out by the time it got dark (after a full day of jumping on the trampoline, who wouldn't be?), but he still had enough energy to blow out his candles 5 or 6 times! Danny kept re-lighting the cake, Reid would excitedly blow the candles out each time, and then command "Dad, AGAIN!" It was lots of fun!

I still can't believe that my baby is two years old! What's even more unbelievable is that we will have a new little baby in May! The doctor says that things seem to be going well, and that she doesn't anticipate any problems. So, hopefully baby Davis will come without incident. I just hope he decides to come on time ... I am not looking forward to being pregnant any longer than I have to!

We've got a new look!

I was finally able to figure out how to get a new header on our blog, courtesy of Adobe Photoshop, of course, and a little help from my friend Amy (she's got such a cute blog, I just had to ask her how she got it that way). So, now every time you visit our page, you'll see our cute new header! Enjoy!

Beat Those Utes!

Go Cougars! The ballgame on Saturday was a blast, especially because we creamed those Utah Utes. Now our family is headed off to Vegas to cheer on the Y as we face other ball teams in the MWC tournament!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! We celebrated the holiday with our little family for FHE last week, and the kids really had a blast. I checked out some books from the library so we could learn about Chinese customs and traditions. Then we ate some Chinese food for dinner, fortune cookies for dessert, and marched in our Gunnell Family Chinese New Year parade. Danny led the procession around the living room, kitchen, and hallway -- holding up the kids homemade dragon masks in the front, while we followed wearing the dragon's body and tail. If only I could figure out how to get video on here, I'm sure it would be a hit. The whole while we chanted "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" I think this will be a new family tradition -- it was a blast!