Gunnerson Christmas at the Cabin

Our Postcard Cabin Christmas.

Noah loves the snow.

Luke takes a rest from all that playing.

Rick and the boys going down the sledding hill.
(Noah is in front, then Luke)

Noah and Luke "loved" the ride.

Wow, what a way to start our Christmas vacation. We drove all Friday morning and afternoon to get up the canyon before dark. We hiked in that afternoon and stayed that night and most of the next day. We had a great time eating good food (thanks Joan), playing in the snow, using the out-house (not really), opening presents, and just being together. On Saturday we spent the afternoon playing in the snow. The boys really loved it until Rick took them down the sledding hill. I took them down first, and I sat in the front so I would be the one getting the fresh powder in the face. When Rick took the down, poor Noah was in the front followed by Luke. With such deep powder, the boys were literally buried in the snow by the end of the run. I heard Luke screaming "Get us out of here", and Noah was just plain screaming. That was the end of the snow play for us. I took them both in and warmed them with hot cider and a warm fire. We had a great weekend and really enjoyed being with family. Thanks Lee and Joan for putting it all together for us. We appreciated all the hard work!

And baby makes five!

I am sure that 9 out of 10 people reading this blog are already aware of it, but yes, we are having another baby! My offical due date is June 15th. Oh, that seems so far away! I am just 15 weeks along, and can't believe that each time you are pregnant you look pregnant even sooner. I am not happy about that. I am hoping for a girl this time, but I think I am the only one. We told the boys a few weeks ago that we were having a baby in the summer, and Luke had a really funny response. At first he looked at my stomach and said, "I don't even see any fat." I told him that was so nice and thank-you very much. Just a couple of minutes later he patted my stomach and said, "Actually, I do see a little fat." From the mouths of babes. Noah is so happy about the baby and kisses my tummy about 100 times a day. He has finally started calling my tummy "baby", instead of "baby Jesus". I guess because we had just put up our Christmas decorations and nativity, he had "baby Jesus" on the brain because for over a week if you asked him what was in mommy's tummy he would say, "baby Jesus". I don't know how I am going to do three, I feel overwhelmed with two, but many people have don't it in the past and I guess I will just do the best I can!

Piano Recital

This last weekend Luke had his first piano recital. He did an awesome job, and we were so proud of him. He opened and closed the recital, being the first and last to play. His first few numbers were his "classical" numbers and then ended with his Christmas number. He played great and did not even balk at the idea of playing for a group of people. (that McNeil performing gene is coming through). Although afterward he did say he was a little nervous, but as soon as he started playing he was confident and able to finish. We took video of the event and were going to post it, but were unable to locate the cable to transfer the video to the computer, so you may see it later. This is Luke waiting to play.
Playing his first "classical" piece.
Playing his memorized Christmas song.
After each of the kids were done playing they were instructed to either bow or curtsy, unfortunately, Luke was unaware of which direction he should bow. So at the conclusion of his playing he took a bow backwards.
This is what Noah and I did during most of the recital. surprise, surprise.

Christmas Time

This is what the boys do when they visit Dad's office, just play on the paralegal's computer. I thought is was a good picture so I included it.
We decided to spend our evening last night putting up the Christmas decorations. We had a great time decorating the tree and getting the house ready for all the decorations. Luke helped put all the decorations on the tree, and even replaced all the decorations Noah pulled off.

Noah loved the beads and kept him occupied most of the evening, except for when he was dancing to the Chipmunks version of jingle bells.
Both boys helped set up the manger set and were very good.
"Noah Happy?"
Finished decorating and time for a break. Good we have Christmas candy.
Luke is always good to share his candy with Noah.
The finished tree.

Since I really enjoy pictures on the blogs I thought I would post more pictures of the boys on Halloween and the pictures from our visit to Woodland for the blessing and baptism. Olivia didn't want to post some of them because they're blurry, but I thought they were good enough anyway. Further evidnece for when I have to justify spending a lot of money on a nice camera. (hopefully soon)

I know, I know; I am way behind on my blog. I guess it is better late than never. Here are the details of our fabulous Halloween! I spent the day in the class with Luke for his Halloween party which consisted of making halloween decorations, eating lunch, and passing out candy. Yea, the candy started early in the day. After Rick got home we went to the ward trunk-or-treat. The boys enjoyed all the games, even though Noah didn't stay in the cake walk games long enough to actually win, and Luke came out of the haunted house crying because he was accidentally kicked in the nose while crawling around. Rick took theboys to all the cars while handed out about 300 pieces of candy.

Luke and Noah with one of Luke's friends from primay and school.
We really tried to get some good pictures, but Noah wouldn't stand up, and Luke kept casting spells in front of his face.
"Wingardium Leviosa", Luke was trying to make everything float all night.
Noah sure did make a darling little pimpkin when he would leave his hat on and satnd up.
Noah couldn't wait to get started on the candy. I told Rick that I was going to take most of it to the dentist and trade it in for money. They pay by the pound. He vetoed the idea. I think if you could see the size of our still full halloween candy bucket you would agree with me!

Noah's Slide show

Olivia's has been nagging me to get this up all week, but I've been a little busy at work till now. So enjoy the pictures of Noah.

Happy birthday, Noah!

Here are some pictures of Noah's birthday weekend. On Saturday our community had a birthday party for Noah complete with face painting, a BBQ, music, and balloon animals. Okay, it was really just a community party, but Noah doesn't have to know that. He also opened his presents he helped pick-out the day before. Today we had "Uncle Al" and Aunt Patrice over for birthday dinner and cupcakes. Noah loves all the backhoe stuff, and hasn't stopped cleaning yet! Oh, it is fun to see your kids get older, but hard to see them grow up.

If any of you are wondering why Olivia isn't posting and hasn't updated the blog lately, its because she's grounded from the computer. Last week we had a little incident with the Tahoe, see below, and if she can't be more careful she can't have the privilege of blogging. So, upon ungrounding she will resume her posting.

Jack's birth/Conference weekend

I thought we better join the picture posting of Jack's birth. We were very glad to be there for the birth and loved being with family. Although Jack wasn't ready to be born, we decided for conference weekend to drive up to LA Verkin and visit with Max and Chelsea. We were going on faith and thought that if Jack is accommodating, and a people pleaser like his mother, he would not make us drive to LA Verkin twice in one week. Thanks Jack you came through.

We spent the weekend watching conference waiting and hoping. Then came the castor oil. We couldn't convince Chelsea to drink it, as she wasn't sure it would work and was worried it would only produce bowel problems. We (Max, Olivia and myself) continued to encourage her to take it. Max and I even tasted it to see if it was bad. Honestly, not too bad by itself; however, the concoction created by Chelsea to drink it with orange juice was disgusting.

This was Chelsea's bravery and drinking of the concoction on Saturday night. Sorry for the poor video, it was with my phone, and note to self, must have phone upright for videos.

I'm not sure if the castor oil worked, but Jack showed up the next day. Good job Chels.

Noah was pretty excited to see Mia, and gave his usual hugs and kisses.

While waiting for the birth, we decided to head over to the Temple, which was next door to the hospital, and walk around the temple grounds with the boys. Olivia wanted to take a couple of pictures with the boys in the flowers surrounding the temple, and Noah thought it his responsibility to pick one of the flowers and bring it back to Chelsea.

And finally Jack arrived late Sunday night. Luke was sleeping and could not wake up to see Jack much, but Noah was still going strong. We were so happy to see Jack before we had to leave, but shortly after holding Jack we had to get on the road and drive back to Las Vegas so that we could get to work and school on Monday.