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...
