Birthday Fun

Emma and I love having our birthdays together but this year was especially fun because our annual Rasmussen Reunion fell on our birthdays and the reunion was held at Cherry Hill.  One of the Gunnell kids favorite places!

We've had season passes to Cherry Hill this summer, which has been really fun.  And I took the opportunity of birthdays to actually take my camera along and document some of our fun.  All I wanted for my birthday was an entire day with my entire family at Cherry Hill.  Even though the kids and I go 2-3 times a week, JayDee rarely comes for the obvious reason that he works during the day. So Friday the 23rd, I got my wish and we spent the day - from opening at 10:30am to closing 8:30pm - at the pool.  Grandma and Grandpa Taggart and Aunt BriAnne came for part of the day too.

Emma just loves baby Eden.  And how could you not in that fantastic suit!?

 Check out those beach babes!

Grandpa with all his granddaughters.

Saturday the 24th (my birthday) was reunion day.  We started bright and early with breakfast and then moved right on into all the traditional reunion fun.  This year our family (my brothers and sisters) were in charge of the reunion craft.  Since the theme of the reunion was "Splish Splash" we had all the kids decorate their own rubber duckie to be used in a game later on in the day.

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We seriously overestimated the number of kids in attendance so everyone, 

even adults if they wanted to,  got to decorate 2 or more ducks.

After the decorating, the kids got to help finish a rubber duckie pinata that we made to help raise money for next year's reunion.  We had previously done the paper mache(?) and cut all the crepe paper so the kids just helped us glue it all on. Here is our duck's progression from start to finish.

 Closer. . .

 and closer. . .

 Almost done and. . .

 FINISHED!!

 That's one good lookin' duck!  

And one very sleepy Grandpa!

Now you may be wondering how this pinata helped raise reunion funds.  Well, we sold swings.  That's right, if you wanted a chance at the bat you had to pay for it.  And pay for it they did.  Everyone lined up and took their swings.

  Emma took her swings. . .

 Hannah took her swings. . .

Isaac took his swings. . .

along with all the other kids and here is our precious pinata during and after his beating.

 First to go, the tale feathers.

 Next came the head.

 And finally he came down.

 And of course, the frenzy that followed the duck's demise.

After lots of fun and games and lots of food, came the family program.  This is the time during the reunion for sharing of talents, jokes and just plain silliness.  Every family must be represented, so to represent our family my sister Shanna took the stage.  She combined her talents with a bit of silliness and sang a duet from the show "Wicked."  A duet you say?  Yep, she sang both parts.  Half the time she sang the part of Glinda and the other half she sang the part of Elphaba.  Still can't picture it?  Well, here's a visual.

 This was at the end when both parts were singing together.
She was the hit of the show!
I had a great birthday.  I love my family!
Sunday the 25th was Emma's birthday.  She had a much more traditional birthday than I did.  She woke up to her favorite breakfast. . .cinnamon rolls.

  And then she got to open her presents before church.

 The Mickey Mouse ears were her idea. . . she said they matched the tableware 
because they had a princess tiara on them.
After church we went to Grandma and Grandpa Taggart's house for a Mom and Emma birthday dinner.  Emma got to pick the menu and it was delicious.  Grandpa's famous BBQ chicken, potato salad, watermelon and corn on the cob.  For cake, well. . .Emma wanted it to be hands on so it was just a regular old cake that she decorated.  Can you tell?

  We added a couple pies for the masses.

 We played games and had an all around great time.  Birthdays are always fun and I really like sharing mine with Emma every year.  She is a sweetie when she wants to be and every once in a while she'll give us preview of what we get to look forward to in the teenage years.  Yikes!  But she does have a caring heart and the most beautiful eyes.  
I love my girl!
Happy Birthday to Us! 

Jammin'

From This. . .

Yes, that is caution tape.  It is not holding up the plants, it's a visual

reminder to all the neighborhood kids (including our own) to keep out!

To This. . .

To This. . .

 

There is just something so gratifying about preserving the fruits of your labor.  I have loved just going out to our own raspberry bushes and picking raspberries and then smashing them up and making jam.  The best part is that  making a batch of jam only takes about half an hour from start to finish!  EASY!  I can so do easy.

Colorado

So was anybody wondering about our 4th of July celebrations?  I thought not, but now you'll know. We had a great 4th of July weekend by making it a little longer "weekend" (Thurs. - Mon.) and taking a long overdue trip to Colorado to visit my brother Matt and his family.  We haven't been to see them as an entire family (JayDee, me, kids) for 8 years!  It's a good thing that Matt and Nancy are so good about coming to see us. :)  This trip my whole entire family came (mom,dad,brothers,sisters).  I'm posting a lot of pictures because who would rather read a bunch of mumbo-jumbo when they can see it for themselves.

First of all it wouldn't be a Gunnell road trip without visiting a botanical garden of some sort along the way.  We drove the south-easterly route to Denver (through Vail) for our garden tour.  Our first stop was in Grand Junction but that was a complete flop.  That garden was a joke.  I guess you can't trust the internet - - the garden we wanted to see there wasn't even finished yet but they still wanted an admission fee.  Needless to say, we saw the inside of their bathrooms and that's about it.  Next stop, the Betty Ford Alpine Garden in Vail.  Now this was a worthy spot.  Not only did it have a very nice garden for JayDee to enjoy but it had an awesome playground adjacent to it for the kids.  I heard the least amount of complaining here than any other garden we've been too.  

Here's the kids on the playground - the bridge the kids are on was 20 feet up in the air. Cool!

Isaac is the master water finder.  No matter where we are he'll find the water.

Ethan and Emma waded a pretty big pond to get to the rock they're sitting on.  I don't know if that was quite legal but nobody stopped them (and a couple of teenagers followed suit) so I guess it was all good.

Next stop was Joshua and James' house (a.k.a. Matt and Nancy's)!!

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Let the sleepover begin!

On Friday we had a pool day.  Everyone suited up and headed for the neighborhood pool.  There are no pictures of this event because I really did not want any documentation of myself in a bathing suit and also who wants to worry about their camera at the pool when you've got 4 kids to worry about?  Exactly.  So just take my word for it, it was fun.

Saturday was the real reason for our little family excursion to Colorado.  Matt's oldest son Joshua was getting baptized.  Now you may be saying, "Wow, what an awesome family to travel all the way to Colorado for a baptism!"  Well we are awesome but the real reason was that my brother Matt, who has struggled with some pretty nasty demons over many years and hasn't been in full fellowship of the Church for the past 8 years, was able to baptize and confirm his son.  It was the most amazing day!  We were really there to celebrate second chances and the power of the atonement and to show Matt how much we love and support him.  The confirmation was about the most beautiful thing I have witnessed in a long time.  Picture a circle of priesthood holders, shoulder to shoulder, and in that circle are all the men in my life that I love: my brother Matt, my husband, my dad and my little brother Chase who at 23 had just weeks earlier received the Melchizedek Priesthood. It really was a beautiful site!

Matt and Joshua   - -   Ethan and Joshua

 I can't help but love this picture of Ethan and Joshua.  They are the best of friends and great young men. Watch out world - here comes two great missionaries!

Here's everybody (except Joey he kind of got cut, sorry Joey I wasn't taking this picture) :)

Later that day Grandma took all of her grandkids to see Toy Story 3 and it turned out that none of the adults wanted to miss that so we all went.  I was amazing, as all Pixar/Disney films are.  I actually cried at the end.  I couldn't decide if it was the movie alone or the emotional morning I had but either way I was tearing up as Andy gave away his toys.  

 These kids just couldn't get enough of each other.  They had fun no matter what they did.

Emma was like a little mother hen to Aubrie all weekend always making sure she was being taken care of.

Then as night fell Saturday, all the men with the excitement of childhood glowing on their faces, went a bought fireworks.

Fireworks and ice cream. Is there anything better! 

 Ooooo. . . Ahhhhhhh. . . Ohhhhh!!

Sunday, the true 4th of July, was overcast and chilly.  Of course.  Our entire trip had beautiful weather, hot, but not too hot, and sunny. But the day we had planned to go to Littleton, CO to see a great fireworks show it's raining.  We decided to give it a go anyway and take our chances.  When we got to the golf course where the fireworks show was, it was really nice weather wise.  Everyone was taking off their sweatshirts and playing frisbee and football and having a great time. 

 Look! Sunny and nice.  Matt and Nancy are passing out the glow sticks.

Katie, BriAnne and Eden enjoyed watching everyone play.

 It's starting to get dark so we settle in for the show. . . 

And BAM!  The wind picks up and starts blowing everything around.  Then here comes the rain.  By this time we weren't about to let a little (or a lot) of rain ruin our fun.

We hunkered down, pulled the tarps up and were determined to wait out the storm.  Which proved to be successful.  After a downpour of about 15-20 minutes the rain let up and the fireworks began.  It was a great show and quite an adventure.  My kids kept saying, "I've never watched fireworks from under a tarp before!"  Neither have I kids, neither have I.

Monday was travel day again, but this time we went the north-westerly route through Wyoming.   This is the more time efficient way to go but the absolute worst scenic way.  I'm sorry people but who could live in Wyoming?  There is absolutely nothing to see statewide.  Maybe once you get away from the freeway it gets a little better but come on!  It was possibly the longest 9 hours of my life.  Hallelujah for DVDs!  I know I posted a picture of Isaac on our last road trip in the car but this one is even better.

T

Those darn headphones never stay on without help. :)

Good Times!  

Well That Was An Adventure

Okay, I've just got to say. . . I am NOT happy with blogger's new design options.  Today I thought I would just go in and change the background on my blog, I was getting a little tired of the old one, and found myself completely changing the whole template, layout and everything just because of one little mis-click.  So frustrating!  I was trying to figure it all out and mistakenly hit the wrong button and had just about the ugliest template design.  I tried to go back to my old template but nooooo... that's impossible, you have to use a new one once you've changed from your old one. All this new jazz is so not user friendly, especially when you are not very tech savvy.  It took me an hour of trial and error to get it remotely presentable again.  Phooey on new technology! 

Update

Just realized I neglected to update my fans here that I will not, I repeat will not, be running the  Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay 2010.  I'm terribly sad about it.  I hate getting my hopes up and then having them dashed.  I guess I'll just have to take more initiative next year and find or create a team myself.  Bummer!

Catchin' Up

School's out!  Scream and shout!

And although school is out I need to catch up on some things that I wanted to post. 

The last week of school was a busy one. Lots of stuff going on and one of those things was a performance day/night.  Apparently, the 1-3 grade classes at our school had been putting together dramatic mimes in their drama classes and they had a day to perform their acts for parents.  I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to these performances because I happen to be subbing one day for a 3rd grade class (not Ethan's) when they were practicing their mime and I have to say it was painful to watch.  I guess I should clarify that a dramatic mime is not a traditional mime.  There are storytellers (narrators), actors with a few lines, kids that are props and kids that are sound effects.  Anyway, we watched Emma's performance during the day.  Her class did the story "Tops and Bottoms."  It was absolutely adorable.  I couldn't believe how well done it was.  Everyone knew exactly what to do and say.  The prop kids did fantastic and I was especially impressed with the sound effects kids because they had all these great gadgets to make sound effects and they were completely responsible with them and did their effects flawlessly.   Emma was one of three storytellers.

She did so well.  She didn't miss one line.

Ethan's performance was later that night because they combined their mime with a musical performance.  His mime was called "Pig, Pigger and Piggest."  Ethan played the part of Pig.  It was a take on the classic "The Three Little Pigs."  I was actually completely surprised by how well Ethan did.  He usually shies away from the spotlight and gets really embarrassed when he's asked to do anything in front of others.  But not this night!  He rocked his part!  It was so fun to watch.  The best part of their mime was at the end, Pig, Pigger and Piggest have gone to find the three witches in their mime (Witch, Witcher and Witchest) and when they find them they ask them to marry them because these witches make the best mud they have ever seen.  When they propose, Hannah, who is sitting on the floor right at the front, gasps, covers her mouth and then starts giggling in delight and says "They're getting married!"  The entire audience was laughing hysterically at Hannah and not the show.  It was so funny. 

Here is Ethan as Pig.  

Sorry the lighting is so bad - my camera's flash really stinks - but if you look close you can see the pig nose.

Ethan's on the end of the front row rockin' the musical performance portion of the show.

As a mother it's nice to have short kids, they are always on the front row.  :)

All the kids wanted to have a moment on stage. . .so here they are!

And this is how I watched most of the show.  

Good thing I got there early to get a front row seat or I might not have seen any of it.

The last week of school brought even more fun right to our front door in the form of a backhoe.

JayDee decided that he would use some heavy machinery to take out our next door neighbor's quaky stumps instead of the old shovel and back muscle approach he's been using for years 

and it cause quite a ruckus with the kids.

Just check out the excitement.

Just look at those faces!

Just can't get enough.