February

February was a busy month for our family with some fun times and easily the most difficult moment in our family as well. The month started out with Jordan finishing his second season of basketball. He had a great time and improved a lot over the course of the season.




Also in the beginning of the month was Papa Gunnell's 64Th Birthday!! All of the adults enjoyed a nice evening out at Black Angus and the next night we had an open house for his birthday with family and friends coming to celebrate with us. It was a special time that we all enjoyed, made even more special by Glen and a few of his kids being here to celebrate with us!! The following week was Valentine's Day and then came the weekend that we all knew was inevitable.
Bruce took another turn for the worse on Friday morning, he slept for most of the day and Sally had Hospice bring in the hospital bed. Saturday (same day as Jared's bday party) he slept a lot of the day, but was awake for visitors that night and was even able to crack a joke or two. He had had a turn similar to this back in October and he had bounced back after a few days, so we all thought that maybe it would be the same this time around. We didn't go over to visit because we would be there the next day for Sunday dinner. However, on Sunday within minutes of arriving home from church we received a phone call from Michael's sister, Natalie. She was at her parent's house and the nurse was there and the news wasn't good. Dad didn't have much time left and we needed to get there to say our goodbyes as soon as possible. We rushed right over and as the family all arrived we all gathered around Papa's bed, Becky suggested that we sing some songs so we started singing our 2 "Family Songs", "Let us all Press On" and "Sing Me a Song". Just as we started to sing the last of the family arrived and while we were singing Bruce peacefully passed away, surrounded by his sweet wife, children and grandchildren. I know that he could feel the love that we each have for him and that he was welcomed with open arms by family who was waiting for him on the other side. I know that he is no longer in pain and that we will all see him again someday. I am so grateful for my knowledge of Eternal Families and for the opportunity that I had to spend a few hours every Tuesday morning with Bruce during his illness.
At the funeral all of Bruce's children talked about their dad and the memories that they have and the lessons that they learned and we all got up and sang our family songs. It was a wonderful tribute to a very loving man. We love and miss you Dad(Papa).

January 2010

I'm back, trying to get this blog up to date. In January we had a few birthdays, but other than that it was rather uneventful (not a bad thing). Austin thinks he's one of the big kids and is a BIG help around the house, especially when it concerns the refrigerator. He also appears to be a natural at playing the piano, he watches Ashleigh and then takes his turn!!





Jared turned 5 and had his very first birthday party!! His birthday celebration lasted for about a week, from our family to extended, where he shares the celebration with his cousin Josh, to his party. We invited cousins and friends from school to Peter Piper Pizza for pizza (of course) and games. Now that he's 5, he is really excited to start Kindergarten in the fall!!

Memorial Day Weekend (Part 1)

I will post about our great weekend in the mountains another time as well as continue to update about our last 5 months, but I wanted to record my sweet little Austin's accident prone weekend before I forget all of the accidents that he actually had. My mother-in-law nicknamed him "Dennis the Menace" and it was the perfect name for him, if there was trouble to find Austin was the one to find it this weekend. Let me just start with Day 1, Austin was managing on the cabin steps pretty well until he had an Otter Pop in his hand and that took his attention from the stairs and down he went, not only was he scared and hurt, but Jordan scared us all even more by yelling across the yard "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH" over and over, just panicking and not being able to do anything else. Luckily there were no broken bones; a cut lip, goose egg on the forehead, scraps on arms, legs and face. Austin is a tough kid, after a hug and kiss from mom he was back to playing with his cousin. Later that day Jordan came in crying because he got a big cut on his leg from a stick and Jared was jumping and playing with Zach and he fell and got a bloody nose. All of this was in just a few short hours on our first day. Day 2, Austin was trying to open the door to Natalie's cabin when someone opened it and he fell head first into the door frame, goose egg #2 on his forehead. Dad was to the rescue that time. Day 3, Austin climbed onto the counter in Granny's kitchen and turned on the stove burner and touched it, OUCH!! Hot!! Day 4 Austin fell off of the picnic bench while having lunch, scrapped his chin. He finished his lunch in the house, but pushed against the counter and caused his chair to topple over backwards, goose egg #3 and pinched 2 fingers between the chair and the floor. Thank goodness we made it through days 5 and 6 without any accidents and Granny hasn't changed her mind about taking the kids for a week in July, yet anyway!!


All of the accidents aside we had a great time with family and I will post all about it with pictures another day!!

It's been a while!

I can't believe how bad I have been about posting, but we have had a lot going on in our lives over the past 6 months. To start with I was called to be the Primary President in our ward and that is very time consuming as well as rewarding. The last time I posted was the day before Jordan's 9th birthday. For his birthday this year he invited some friends to go to the movies with him. At first I thought I was crazy to tackle that, but the boys were very polite and well behaved and all had a great time.



Jordan's birthday is always the start to a very busy few months with the holidays and family birthdays that follow. This year was no different, except for the fact that we were all cherishing the little moments that we had with Bruce (Dad Gunnell, Papa) because we didn't know how much time we would have with him. Granny and Papa wanted to take all of the grandkids to visit Santa at the Bass Pro Shop so we all went along to help out with the kids. The wait for Santa was kind of long so we just took some pictures and the older kids went to play and have quality time with their grandparents.



Our ward had a very nice Christmas party with a "Back to Bethlehem" theme, complete with dressing for the time, food from the time and a wonderful program to re-enact the Birth of Jesus Christ. It was fun and spiritual and everyone had a great time. We all dressed the part, even Austin.


Christmas was great, we had lots of fun gathering with extended family and doing activities to celebrate the Birth of our Savior. We had our Annual Family Progressive Dinner were we had Appetizers at our house, Dinner at Natalie and JJ's and dessert at Becky and Scott's. It was fun to have all of the family at our home for food and fun and to see how we decorate for the holidays. We also had a Family Home Evening with the extended Gunnell family, we were told the story of the 4th Wise man and we sang our Traditional Christmas songs. It was great to see all of the Aunts, Uncles and cousins!! My favorite part of the Christmas season is on Christmas Eve when we gathered at Bruce and Sally's for the kids to act out the First Nativity. The kids love doing it and this year we had 4 little boys ages 1-2 years old, talk about entertaining!! Ashleigh and Austin were Angels, Jordan was a shepherd and Jared was a Wise man. The kids each got to open 1 present from Granny and Papa, then one from us when we came home.





Christmas morning with 4 kids is always INSANE, especially with a 1yr old who doesn't quite get what's going on. It's really hard to get them to slow down long enough for me to get some pictures, but I was able to catch some great shots this year. Ashleigh is at the age that it's all about the clothes, Jordan is a HUGE Star Wars fan, Jared is our Rock Star and Austin is in early training to be a doctor. Also, Santa brought our family a basketball hoop so that we can spend time as a family having fun and exercising as well.













My parents found a pop up tent with a tunnel for the boys and that was a huge success, especially the tunnel portion!!





We were then off to the Gunnell's for Christmas breakfast and tree with Granny and Papa. Bruce was feeling pretty good during the holidays and enjoyed having his kids and grandkids around, although we were missing Glen and his family. Becky had a great idea for a gift for mom and dad, we all contributed pictures of each of our children and a family picture of each family and she made it into a quilt. It came out beautifully and Bruce and Sally loved it. The big boys all got R/C Cars and had a great time racing them in the street. It was a fun filled day for all.







Well that brings us to the end of 2009 and the beginning of another year. It was a busy and emotional year for the Gunnell family with lots and lots of memories. Hopefully it won't take me another 6 months to get started on blogging about 2010!! For a preview of things to come we have basketball season, a funeral, St. Patrick's Day, Grammie and Papa visit, more birthdays, T-ball, band concert and much more!! Stay tuned...

What a busy Autumn!!

I can't believe it has been 2 months since I have posted anything at all. It has been a busy time for us, but not a lot to post about. We have just been busy with work, school and extra curricular activities, church and also putting in our time helping out with Michael's dad.
October was General Conference time again. It was so nice to sit and listen to the leaders of our church counsel and teach us the things that they feel are important for us at this time. Michael's brother was here visiting and helping out with his dad for a few days as well. It was great to see him and have him here. We all thought that Bruce was at the end of his earthly journey, but miraculously he turned the corner and has been doing really well since the beginning of October. He is up and out of bed every day, eating 3 meals a day, sleeping good at night and we are all looking forward to having him around to enjoy the holidays with his family. What a blessing it has been to have him around longer and for each of us to spend time with him and Sally in service and love.
During October Break from school Michael was able to take some time off and we spent a day taking the kids and their cousins to a fun train park in Scottsdale. It was a beautiful day and fun was had by all!!

We got a new kitten and are enjoying the energy of an 8 week old kitten in the house. Spooky is very cuddly and very spastic. Austin loves that there is a creature little enough for him to pick up and carry around, although we don't let that happen very often.

Halloween came and went very quickly this year. Our ward normally does a Trunk or Treat in the church parking lot, but this year we were asked to be good neighbors and stay at home to pass out candy and Trick or Treat in our neighborhoods. My kids had a really hard time deciding what they wanted to dress as this year. The boys couldn't decide so I suggested zombies and they both loved that idea. Ashleigh wanted to be a cheerleader, but was pretty specific on what she wanted to look like. I couldn't find what she wanted so she went as Alex Russo (Selena Gomez, Wizard's of Waverly Place) from the Disney Channel. The day before Halloween Jordan decided that he didn't want his face painted so he wasn't going to be a zombie. He wanted to be a spy, but didn't really want to dress in a costume. We went around and around with many different ideas for him, but he wasn't changing his mind. We finally told him that if he didn't dress up as something then he could stay home and miss out on all of the candy. Can you believe that at 8 1/2 years old he actually refused to dress up and stayed home with Michael handing out candy. What a party pooper!! Austin was cute little lion and the kids had a great time around the neighborhood.

Also in October a friend from church took some pictures of the kids while on the temple grounds. We got some really good ones of the three older kids, Austin was really tired and didn't cooperate very well for group pictures. She did get some really cute candids of him though!!




November brought Cub Scout Scout-o-rama, the kids school Fall Festival, Thanksgiving and Jordan's 9th Birthday(that will be another post). Ashleigh started playing the clarinet in band this year and her first performance was at the fall festival. She did a great job and she loves playing an instrument other than the piano. The festival was a lot of fun. It was the first time in 5 years that we haven't suffered from a heat wave on the same weekend as the festival. It was in the 70's and even had a few sprinkles of rain every once in a while. Much better than the 90's and going home with a sun burn like years past.

Thanksgiving was very nice. We had it with the extended Gunnell family this year, there were about 35 people. It was a beautiful day so we were both in and outside. The kids had a great time playing with cousins. We have much to be thankful for this year, topping the list are our amazing families, friends, jobs and good health!!

Ward Family Campout

This past weekend was our Ward (Church Congregation) Family Campout. We have lived in the ward for 5 years now and haven't made it to a single campout. Ashleigh wanted to go last year, but there was no way I was going camping with a newborn baby. So we decided that this would be the year we would go. Michael and I would be in Chicago the weekend before the trip so we figured it would all work out, until Michael found out that he had to be on call that week. The kids were really disappointed so I thought it over and decided that if my dear friend Lori was going with her kids (her husband had to work as well) that I would go with my kids. I got the kids out of school early on Friday and we were at the campsite by late afternoon. We had a great time, it's always nice to escape the heat for a little while. I owe a great big Thank You to Lori, Kendall and Isaac for helping put the tent up and Ashleigh was a HUGE help keeping an extra eye on Austin. Jordan got to work on some of his Cub Scout requirements by helping cook dinner and learned how to start a campfire. We roasted hot dogs over the fire and had s'mores later in the evening. It got pretty cold during the night, but we were all fine in the tent and Austin even slept through the night!!



The next morning we had breakfast and the kids went off to play games and explore the area. The kids had fun playing kickball, football and shooting air soft BB guns. The adults visited and we eventually started playing a really fun game of Bowling ball Croquette. I also owe a big Thank You to Taleen Vezina and Rondal Jones for trying to keep Austin preoccupied while I played.





While we were playing the clouds started to roll in and we could hear it thundering off in the distance. My thought was that I would go pack up the sleeping bags and blankets when our game was over, NOT!! Half way through our game the heavens opened up and we all went running for our cars and tents. The boys and I hunkered down in the tent and Ashleigh went into her friend's car to play games. I got as many blankets and sleeping bags rolled up and folded as I could with 3 boys in the tent with me. After about 20 minutes the hail stopped and the rain let up enough that I took the boys to the car and put a movie on for them so that I could finish cleaning everything up. Before long the rains had returned and I was scrambling...yet again I owe a huge Thank You to Lori and Kendall for helping me get all of the wet everything into my car and for helping me get the tent down in record time!! Even though our camping trip was cut short we had a great time, so much fun in fact that we are going to try to go camping as a family a few times a year, only next time we will make sure Michael can come with us!!

This was my first time camping as an adult and I did learn a few things...1. Don't forget flashlights!! 2. Hobo dinners Rule!! 3. Bring all parts of the tent!! I forgot the tarp that goes over the top of the tent, Thank You Brother Harmon for having an extra one for us to use. 4. Can never have too many blankets!! 5. If you see rain clouds and hear thunder, don't wait till later to clean up!!

What we've been up to lately!

WOW!! It's been a long time since I have posted anything! Summer was very busy and fun and we are all glad that school has started back up again. I have a hard time with summer, I love my kids, but I have a hard time finding things to keep them busy and Arizona is just too darn hot so the last place they want to be is outside. We love the month of July when we can spend most of it at the cabin in the mountains. Needless to say the kids were excited to get back to school and see there friends and I was excited for them to go back so they weren't complaining about how bored they were. Now that school has started we are busy as ever!!

Ashleigh is now in the 5th grade and she is playing the piano still and is also playing the clarinet in the school band. Now that she knows how to blow into it she is really enjoying her new instrument.
Jordan is in the 3rd grade and is looking forward to basketball starting up this winter. He also loves Cub Scouts and is always looking for something to do that will get him closer to earning his Wolf Badge.
Jared was the most excited of everyone for school to start. He is going to preschool this year and he LOVES it!! He is up and dressed before everyone else on the days that he has school. He is learning the sounds that the letters make and lots of words that start with each letter. He loves learning and playing with all of his friends.

Austin isn't quite ready for school yet, but he is growing so fast. He is walking everywhere and he LOVES to be outside. He enjoys "helping" mommy in the kitchen as well, although his "help" usually requires added clean up time.

Michael is very busy at work and when he came home one night in July saying he had to go to Chicago for work in September I was very excited. I wanted to go, you see, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew live in Chicago and Brayden is only a week older than Austin. What a perfect opportunity to visit them!! We were so lucky to have many things fall into place so that Austin and I could go with Michael. My wonderful and amazing mom was able to get time off from work to come stay with the older kids, my awesome grandmother gave my mom a free airline ticket, I was able to get the time off from work and Michael's company was paying for his airline ticket and the hotel room and Austin is under 2 so we only had to purchase my ticket!! Brian took a day off from work so we could hang out with the little boys and we were able to have dinner all together the night we arrived. The weather was amazing the entire time we were there and Austin was so good. He spent a lot of time in his stroller and never fussed about it at all. I think he was just so excited to be outside and not roasting in the AZ heat. The most fun we had was just watching the boys interact with each other. Thanks to Brian and Peggy for your hospitality!! We had a great time!
Cousins meeting for the very first time!!


Downtown Chicago from Navy Pier

Playing in the park

Austin and Mommy in Millennium Park

Boys chasing each other

Austin, Aunt Peggy and Brayden


While we were in Chicago, my mom was here taking care of the older kids and they had so much fun with Grammie. She took them Goofy Golfing and they went to the mountains to spend some time with my uncle and aunt. They had so much fun. They got quad rides, picked veggies from the garden, built and painted a bird house and went swimming at Fossil Creek. They couldn't stop talking about how much fun they had with John and Elizabeth...thank you guys for giving my kids some great memories!! Pictures from grammie to be posted at a later date.