October

I have been patiently waiting to add a new post because I needed some pictures off my dear husband's camera to document our fun little excursion to Jackson Hole mid October (it's a work camera and the pictures can only be downloaded to his work computer).  I am slightly OCD about chronological order so I waited. . .and waited. . .but blogging is not on the top of JayDee's priority list plus he's very busy so I waited some more.  Then as time passed and October ended with lots of activities I just decided to bite the bullet, swallow the nagging uneasiness that posts will be out of order and do this! I hope in the near future I will be able to expound on our Jackson Hole trip because it was over JayDee's 35th birthday and that's kind of a big one so here's to later! 

October 27th
My Ethan turned 10!  It is unreal that I have been a mother for a decade.  It's been an amazing experience and I love my Ethan so much.  He really is the greatest kid.  He is very obedient ( I wish his sisters would learn from his example) and loving.  He loves the outdoors and sports.  Recently, when asked at school what his favorite sport is he said climbing trees.  I didn't know that was an official sport but it is definitely something he loves and is very good at.  He also loves riding his bike, his ripstick and recently his new skateboard.  He loves to play football at the church with all the neighborhood boys and basketball (but only in his friend Ryan's driveway, he never plays it here - go figure).  He is also completely adorable!  I just love his crooked teeth smile and his bright blue eyes.  Unless puberty is completely ruthless to him, I'm afraid I'll have to keep an extra watchful eye on my guy so all the girls won't swoon him to death.

 No he's not 4. This is his first day of school pic (4th grade) but isn't he doll?!

October 30th

Ethan's birthday was on a Wednesday this year so he was very patient and waited until Friday to have his friend birthday party.  My kids only get friend parties every other year and this year was lucky 10!  He wanted to have a skateboarding party, so we had his party at 10 in the morning on Friday trying to beat all the teenagers to the city skate park.  This skate park idea was the only thing causing me any worry.  All the boys invited to the party, except one, are younger than Ethan.  Plus, they are very beginner skateboarders, none of them had even been to a real skate park before, and I just knew if they tried to skateboard around much more advanced teenagers they would be hopelessly unhappy and possibly injured.  So I gambled that a Friday morning, before any normal teenager would be awake on a day off of school, would be the best time to have a party and I WON!  We were the only ones there! No one else showed up until we were leaving.  It was awesome!

Here are these cute boys having the time of their lives. . .that is after they got over the initial shock of how deep a real skate park is. 

 Ollie, Ethan and Ryan

 

Logan

  

Ethan

 Tregan

 Daxton

 Ryan

 Ollie

 Tanner

 

Isaac 

 

  

 The Gang

They had so much fun and there have been a lot of "Mom, can we go to the skate park?" being asked around the neighborhood ever since.  But this was only the beginning of the party.

We went back to our house for some "manly" games ( a.k.a. - dirty games ).

First up: Tomato Bombs

  

Next: Sour Patch Kids Buried Alive

 Ethan found 5

Next: 5 o'clock Shadow

 JayDee wanted in on this action

Can't forget the presents

or the spanking machine

Ethan and Dad shared a real cake the Sunday before at their dual family birthday party so Ethan wanted another of his favorite treats, brownie sundaes.  And just as I'm dishing everyone up I remembered that I left the birthday candles at Grandma's house on Sunday, so we made do with what we had. . .that's right a princess castle candle.  Remember when I told you how great Ethan is?  Well he totally rolled with this.  I explained the situation and he was happy to have  a "girl" candle.

 Happy Birthday Ethan!

Later that day we had a neighborhood halloween party.  Same boys but this time we added girls, babies and moms.  We played games:  a relay, Halloween bingo, bobbing for apples and of course there were treats. I got lazy with the camera so these are the only pictures.

 My kids have learned the art of bobbing for apples from their Grandpa Taggart 

so that means they win every time.  Thanks Grandpa!

    

And since you cannot have too many Halloween parties the adults had a Halloween Party that night.  It was an 80s themed party, so everyone came decked in their best memories. 

 Me and our rockin' 80s host, Melissa

I know. I so do not pull off super diva but I tried!

 You can't tell from this picture but Melissa krimped her bangs 

and Morgan hand acid washed his own jeans. Classic.

 JayDee and I went for the celebrity 80s look.

Madonna and John Cusack from "Say Anything"

 It's Miami Vice and his fan club!

 Ann and Dan went with the "I knocked up my girlfriend" look.

Totally married people!

There were more people at the party but these were the people who came on time and again, I got lazy with the camera.  

October 30th

And in case this wasn't enough Halloween for you there is more.  I can't neglect the actual Halloween trick-or-treating.  Before you can trick-or-treat you've got to carve pumpkins. I love that my kids aren't afraid of pumpkin guts and love to carve their own.  It makes for super fun and super interesting pumpkins.

 

The finished products.

It was raining when I took these so they're a little on the blurry side. 

Here are the kids ready to gather their haul and face any weather that got in their way.  It was pouring rain right before we left but when we finally got out of the house it dried up and didn't start raining again until we were making it back up our street.  What good timing.  And thanks to Grandma Taggart for coming over so that Mom and Dad could both go trick-or-treating with the kids.  

Here's what we had this year:

 The darn cutest football player around.

 A pretty witch and a gypsy.

Hannah's gypsy costume is the very same one I wore when I was little.

 

And last but certainly not least, the costume that was created out of skill and creativity, mostly by Grandma Taggart but assisted by Mom. . .Prince Dastan! (Prince of Persia)  Ethan takes his costumes very serioulsy. 

If you want to be really impressed get the cover of the movie and put it up next to Ethan's picture - the likeness is uncanny. 

We had some visitors after we got home. . .visitors from WAY out of town, possibly from another planet?

 E.T. and Gerty!  

Hey Katie and Bryan, thanks for sharing your awesome costumes with us and scaring Hannah to death when she opened the door.  What's Halloween without a good scare?

 And possibly my favorite moment of all.  Isaac had snuck Emma's glow wand she got trick-or-treating and got under his bed to watch it glow then fell dead asleep.This is what Halloween is really, nothing but kids so tired they drop off to sleep anywhere!  :)

Happy Halloween!! 

 

  

   

5 Year Anniversary

Sept. 24, 2010
Our weekend was fun-filled, sort of.  On Friday JayDee had a meeting up on campus so the rest of us just tagged along.  I got the kids out of school a little early and we headed up to Logan.  After dropping dad off at his meeting we went to bide our time at the famed Willow Park Zoo.  Now if you've been to this zoo you will know why it is famed.  If you haven't well. . .just check out these pictures and you will wish you had come.  

All of these pictures were taken by my children (except for the pictures of the children)

  

 

 Yep, pretty impressive wildlife.  And yes, these are the most exciting animals in the "zoo."

Feeding the ducks

Hey, these ducks bite!

  Definitely the most exciting creature there. . .the elusive and rare tree monkey.

After our trip to the zoo we picked Dad up and went to dinner and then dessert at Aggie Ice Cream!  We had a great day together.

 Sept 26, 2010

On Sunday we were back up in Logan to be with JayDee's family to commemorate the 5 year anniversary of losing JayDee's brother Justin in the USU van rollover crash.  Some of you may remember it.  It's a day we will obviously never forget.  I thought I would take the opportunity here to recall the events we can't forget.

Sept 26, 2005 - It was a Monday.  JayDee and I were, at the time, living with my dad to help him through a difficult time.  I had made beef enchiladas for dinner and we had just finished eating and were visiting with my sister around the kitchen table when JayDee got a call from his sister-in-law Jill.  She didn't have much to say to us, she was actually calling to see if we had any information about Justin.  Since she was the first person to call us we knew nothing.  We had no idea that anything was wrong.   She told JayDee that she didn't know anything for sure but she thought that Justin might have been in a car accident.  She said that her husband (JayDee's brother) Jeff had gone over to Justin's house to ask Justin's wife Connie if she knew anything.  Cache Valley is a pretty tight community, and for a family that has been around since the valley was settled by the pioneers, the Gunnells know a lot of people.  Someone had contacted Jeff and told him that Justin had been on a field trip with other students in his program at USU and they had heard from a police scanner that there had been an accident.  Did Jeff know anything?  Again, he knew nothing and instead of just waiting around he decided he's just go straight to the source, Connie.  It's a nerve wracking thing to just sit around and wait so in her agitation Jill called us, thus spreading the agitation our way.  JayDee got off the phone with Jill with an understanding that she would let us know when she heard anything.  I can remember vividly the look on JayDee's face as he talked to Jill and the feeling in the room that changed almost immediately. 

Well, JayDee couldn't just sit and wait either and he told me he needed to be in Logan.  I told him that we didn't know anything for sure and all he said was "It doesn't matter if things turn out really bad or not, but if Justin was in an accident I need to be there."  So I grabbed a few things for our then baby Hannah and literally ran out the door.  My sister Shanna said she would take care of our other kids and not to worry about them.  Even if we decided we needed to stay in Logan she would take the next day off work to watch our kids.  Shanna, if you're reading this, that one act meant the world to us that day.  We were almost on the freeway when JayDee and I thought of his sister Jana who works in Salt Lake.  We thought she probably hadn't heard anything and that she would be flaming mad if she was left out so we called her at work.  We were right, she knew nothing and begged us to come back to meet her at her apartment in Kaysville.  The waiting was excruciating.  During our wait no one called us so we still had no news.  Finally, Jana pulled in and was in tears.  She got in the car and we said maybe things would be fine, that's when we found out for sure, she said he was gone.  Jeff had called her while she was driving home.  It was awful.  The best feeling I could come up with to describe it would be empty.  We drove in almost complete silence the entire way, the only time we really talked was when people called us.  Jeff called us to tell us everyone was meeting at Jen's (JayDee's sister) house, Shanna called to get an update, and saying the words that Justin had died was unbelievable. I remember everything along our way to be just a blur and maybe I remember that because my sight was obscured by silent tears. 

As we came into the valley JayDee insisted we go to Connie and Justin's house to see how Connie was.  Connie and Justin had been married almost 2 years.  They had just bought a house in Wellsville.  She was only 21 years old.  Well I'm sure you can imagine how she was.  She was blank.  We walked in to find her sitting on her couch, eyes swollen, red and crying, her hands clasped tightly together and her face blank.  She was completely in shock.   Jeff had left by that time but he had been there when the state troopers had come to deliver the news to Connie.  Her parents were with her when we got there.  We just sat with her and grieved together.  That was hard.

What was more hard was getting to Jen's house to find JayDee's mother.  I was really glad that my two little ones were home with Shanna.  It is torture to watch a mother grieve the loss of a child.  We spent probably three hours talking, remembering and sharing our love for one another.  There were so many questions and no one really had any answers.  The only things we knew for sure was that Justin was dead along with 8 other people that were in the van with him.  9 out of 11 people died that day.  When we all disbanded we took JayDee's dad back to his house in Portage.  At this time it was almost midnight and we would passing Tremonton on our way home.  The little information we had included the fact that the accident happened 7 miles outside of Tremonton.  In his grieved state, JayDee started to look for the crash site.  We stopped at every set of significant skid marks on the road.  I finally talked JayDee out of continuing to look by telling him that with casualties that high we would know immediately if we came upon the site.  It turned out that they did crash 7 miles outside of Tremonton but it was on I-84 not on I-15, where we had been looking. 

The next day JayDee returned to Logan but said he needed me to stay home and take care of our kids.  Before he went to Logan however he was determined to see the crash site.  I decided later that was something he needed to aid in his grieving process.  He told me that I had been right.  There would have been no way we could have missed this crash site.  He walked around while investigators were taking evidence and marking things.  He talked to a few of them but mainly kept to himself and took that opportunity to think and pray. He told me that he stood there and looked at everything and thought, "I should have been here.  I could have protected him.  I'm his older brother."  Obviously, there is nothing JayDee could have done but his feelings are valid. Justin was his baby brother.  The week was a blur but on Thursday we came up for all the funeral things.  JayDee asked me if I'd like to see the crash site and I did.  That was a moment.  I can still see it crystal clear in my mind.  It was the 4th day after the accident and everything was still very fresh, from what was left you could see the accident play out almost completely.  The skid marks on the road, the glass from the windows of the van smashed on the ground in perfect window shape every few feet as the van rolled over and over,  metal van pieces, spray painted markings of men's bodies, pieces of clothing, pop cans, smashed fence, smashed vegetation and, I'm not going to mince words, blood.  We spent quite a bit of time taking it all in.  It's interesting to comment that we were the only ones to see the crash site from JayDee's family.  No one wanted to see it.  It took most of them months, I think it took his mom a year, but eventually they all had there time there. 

It was October 1, 2005 when we laid Justin to rest.  It was a remarkable day.  I watched these people (JayDee's family) who I had grieved with for days turn into comforters for others.  Their strength was amazing.  We spent hours upon hours greeting those who had come to pay their respects.  And remember when I said the Gunnells know a lot of people, well so do the Israelsens (that's Connie's family).  I have never seen so many people at a viewing/funeral in all my life.  

Following the service, we came out of the chapel to find this.  Justin's friends arranged for a John Deere tractor to "take" him to the cemetery.  It was the greatest tribute they could have made.  Justin was a cowboy through and through and he was a John Deere man.  No other tractor could ever measure up.  I rode next to the casket with JayDee and cried, as we drove down the streets of Wellsville (JayDee's hometown and Justin's home at the time of the accident) people were standing outside their homes with their hands over their hearts, some held little tractors and at other houses there were no people but tractors put out front along the road.  

I love this picture.  JayDee, John (Justin's best friend) and Jeff watching over Justin.  They barely moved from this spot during the graveside service. 

This picture is one of those hard ones to take.  No one knew whether to smile or not.  Connie's face pretty much shows how we all were feeling.  She's second from the right.

It's crazy to think that all this happened.  You never think it's going to be you.  This however turned out to be one of the most spiritual experiences for JayDee and I, and probably his whole family as well.  The power of the gospel, the power of the Holy Ghost to heal and comfort, the unifying power of eternal families, are incredible aftermaths of an event like this.  It's also amazing to know now that life goes on.  It's funny because you know it will at the time but at the same time you don't think it will, but it really does and it's okay.  It's been 5 years! 

On Sunday we met at the cemetery for the annual decorating of Justin's grave.  Grandma Gunnell never forgets this day, memorial day, or any holiday really.  She is there with a smile on her face and a prayer in her heart for the son she lost.  She brings things she knows Justin loved and this day we remembered him.

It's been 5 years and before we know it it will be 10 years then 20.  Time marches on and all we can do is make the most of it, live the best lives we can so that we can earn our place in Heaven with all our family.  We miss you Justin.  We love you and in a blink of your eye we'll see you again. 

Pinewood Derby

Sept. 22, 2010

Pinewood Derby.  The event every scout looks forward to.  Race cars and little boys, they just go together like peanut butter and jelly.   Mom, however, does not look upon said event with as much enthusiasm.  I know I should but the whole process is painstaking.  When I said little boys and race cars go together I meant all "little boys" which includes my husband who never grew up.  So when pinewood derby time comes around, I have to the referee to make sure that Ethan's car does not get taken over by his father.  Then the night of the event is even more painstaking.  The derbies I have been to in the past have taken all night.  They are very unorganized, they make you wait 5 minutes between every 3 second race and the night drags on  FOR-E-VER!  Not to mention keeping all your other children from getting in the way, grabbing cars off the track, stepping on the track, etc.  So this mom was not very excited.  

With that said, I must say this years pinewood derby was SPLENDID!  It was very organized.  There was time for test racing before the pack meeting got under way, they did all the weighing in before it was time to race,  the guy running the race had a schedule of races so every boy got to race 3 times, once on each track and against 2 different boys every time, and he kept those races moving!  So the night that I thought would be at least a 2 hour event lasted just barely over an hour.  Like I said, splendid.  


Before the racing started the cubmaster did awards and Ethan earned his Bear. Which means he had to face the "Da Bear Den."  He had to go up against the scary "bear" that lives in the den and fight him for his patch.  He was successful and only sustained minor injuries.  

 Here he is being drug in by the bear.

 Cubmaster giving Ethan a gold and silver arrow point 

that he earned with his Bear patch.

Let the racing begin. . .

 Ryan (who actually won first place) Ethan and Bridger 

showing off their masterpieces.

 Funny story about Ethan's car.  He wanted his car to look like Bumblebee on Transformers, so he came up with the design and he painted it weeks before the derby and I must say it looked awesome - shiny yellow with stylish racing stripes.  Well JayDee waited until the day of the derby to put the wheels on and when he did he chipped two pieces off.  No problem, we'll just superglue those right back on.  Well, that's not good enough for Dad so after we glued he went out to the garage and put another coat of yellow on to cover the little cracks you could see from the glue job.  Paint doesn't dry as fast as you'd like in circumstances like these and when we got to the church JayDee pulled out the old graphite powder wheel lubricant to speed up those wheels.  Well, like I said paint never dries as fast as you'd like so that powder just went "poof" all over the car and made it look like a big smudgey mess.  I really had to check myself and remember that this was not my moment but Ethan's and although I was so disappointed with the overall appearance of the car Ethan was not.  He was still proud as could be so that was good enough for me. 

 The Daring racing duo.

It's Fall Y'all

Okay so I love fall!!  The crisp air, colorful leaves, apples, peaches, cornstalks, pumpkins, Halloween.  I know the calendar tells me it's fall but days like today (highs in the low 90s) make me think it's still summer. A little canning helps bring the fall back!  Check this out!  2 canning projects in one day.  Peaches and salsa. . .just call me Super Canner!

 

A Little Catch Up

We're starting our catch up on Aug. 26th. . .my baby's 3rd birthday!  Here's the birthday boy!

 Oh just look at that face!  I could eat him up!!

This boy is so sweet.  Here are some of the things I love most about my Isaac:  

1. I love that even at 3 he loves to snuggle with his mom.
2. Everyday at nap time he lists off the things he needs to go to sleep. . . "I need my sippy, my blankie, my books and my mommy."
3. I love his mischievous laugh that means nothing but trouble.
4. I love every time he jumps out from behind something and says "AHA!" And then shoots someone or something with whatever play gun he can get his hands on.
5. I love that I find myself having real conversations with this little man.
6. But I especially love that when I whisper in his ear. . . "Guess what? I love you!"  He'll whisper back "I love you too!"  

He is the best caboose a family could ask for.  He makes me smile every day.  Here's some birthday cuteness.

On to more news.  A month after our trek experience we hosted a trek family reunion.  We had planned an awesome service project, BBQ, a bunch of outside games and then a fire to roast s'mores to top of the night.  That was the plan, the reality. . .rain.  Buckets of rain.  I shouldn't have been surprised because every time JayDee and I plan a BBQ it gets rained out.  It's like we have some negative supernatural power that changes the weather.  An hour before our reunion it was blue skies and sunshine and yet when our kids showed up it was pouring!  We still ate our BBQ fare (inside) but then had to improvise the rest of the night. 


The kids decided that since we couldn't pick vegetables at the Food Bank Garden (which was our service project) they wanted to pick SOMETHING so they picked our vegetables.
Which really was a service project because then I didn't have to pick them and it lessened the amount of canning I'd have to do later.  :)  We waited until the rain eased up and then darted out to get some picking done before it started up again.

    Jenna  

        

Brigitte

Dylan and Logan

Lauren and Laura

Katie and Stephen

We didn't get pictures of all our fantastic pickers but we did get these pictures of some of our impromptu activities.

Good old wet tramp jumping

Chubby bunny competition on steriods.

Just look at the size of them marshmallows.

Childhood relived - Legos

Getting ready for "The Skittles Game"

Playing "The Skittles Game"

I think at this point in the game I had approximately 50 skittles in my mouth and poor Camille is barely hanging on.

Yeah this guy looks innocent enough but just look what kind of damage Dylan can do . . .

No kidding.  He really did that.  We had to lay the trampoline to rest the next day. Dang lead-bottom teenagers!

Even with our trampoline dying and our cheeks sore from holding all those skittles, we had a GREAT time!  I just love my trek kids.  They are so much fun.  Thanks for keeping JayDee and I young.