General Conference

I LOVE General Conference!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

My kids are starting to love it too, which makes me really happy!

We made our "General Conference Wall" again this year.

Saturday night, Andrew pulled down and crumpled all of our notes.
I spent Saturday night ironing the kids' pictures and putting them back on the wall.
The whole time I ironed, I stared at President Uchtdorf's picture and note, "SIMPLIFY."

I got them all back up, and Andrew pulled and crumpled them again.
I did not iron them the 2nd time.

I felt like the whole Saturday morning session was for me.
All my prayers were answered, I felt renewed, and ready to start again!

Sunday morning, Andrew got noisy towards the end of the session.
Darin put tape over his mouth and colored on a mustache.

Despite his face, Andrew, and everyone else, thought it was really funny.

I will need to go back and re-listen to President Eyring's talk.

Between sessions on Sunday, we went to my parents for our Conference breakfast.

The grandkids found my parents death masks.

Every time we go, Andrew has to go to the basement bathroom to see the fish.

Matt and the girls played "dogs."

(And I wonder why he gets holes in the knees of his pants).

Family time wouldn't be complete without candy from Grandpa.

The kids have to say "The Gospel's True and I love you" before they can have a piece.

I tried to record Andrew saying it, because it is the cutest thing, but I didn't get it this time.

We went for a little drive and saw these wild turkeys!  So fun!

I can hardly wait for April Conference!

Bountiful Handcart Days

We had a fantastic 23rd of July!

One of my favorites of the year!  

We did the parade then fireworks at Heather's

Mom got an ice-cream cone for her birthday.

I'm pretty sure Lindsay ate the majority of it.

This guy waved RIGHT to us!  Matt thought that was pretty neat!

I am still a Brave at heart, but we have been listening to the Woods Cross Band play everyday and so we couldn't help cheer for them!  

Lindsay LOVED getting to see her cute babysitter in the parade!

This was my favorite float!

Book of Mormon heroes on one side, and future missionaries on the other side.

We got so much "stuff" at the parade.  Matt was pretty proud of his Ute stuff.

Especially showing it to his cougar mother.

My favorite part of the parade was right after this picture was taken of Lindsay.

There was something she didn't get that they were throwing out, and she got really sad.

I showed her the kids way in the back, and told her they probably didn't get anything at all.

After that, she took all of her candy, necklaces, fans, and any other "stuff" and walked to the kids sitting way in the back, and handed out all of her things to kids that didn't get anything.  She was so much happier to share and give her things away.  I was really proud of her.

After the parade we headed up to Heather's.

She always hosts the most amazing pre-firework show.

Really, it is so much fun!

Greg loads up his potato gun with glowsticks, candy, and toys, then shoots it off and the kids run and get everything!  It is a hoot!  Here is a video I took from last year, HERE.

Lindsay loved getting candy (especially after she gave all of hers away at the parade).

BJ is always the hit of the party!

Kids getting ready for more candy!

The 23rd is also my favorite mama's birthday!

We sang happy birthday and had some cake!

And, as always, the fireworks did not disappoint.

I think it was the best year of fireworks yet!

SURPRISE!!!!

This weekend was the BEST!!

Saturday afternoon, Darin went to run a few errands and came back with my car cleaned and this beautiful bouquet of flowers!  

What a surprise!  

But, it didn't end there!

That night Darin said we were going on one of our "Alphabet Dates" -- the letter "N."  

He said we were going "NO WHERE and doing NOTHING."

He told me to dress "nice" and he went to pick up our "nieces" to babysit.

As we were leaving, my mom called to see if we could stop by really quick to help her with her table for a dinner party she was having (I've known about her "dinner party" for a week now).

When we got to her house, Darin knocked on the door--which we NEVER do, and I thought it was so weird, but didn't think much about it.

Then, mom took me in to the dining room, but the table wasn't set.  I asked if they were eating at the kitchen table and she said yes.  (I also thought it was weird that she took me through the dining room to get to the kitchen, but didn't get suspicious of anything)  When we went into the kitchen I heard.... 

"SURPRISE!"

A bunch of my friends from my ward popped out from behind the couch!  Biggest surprise EVER!!  I didn't suspect a thing!  Looking back, there were a lot of things I should have caught on to, but it never added up in my head!  

Mom planned the CUTEST party EVER!!!  I love doing parties and this was better than ANYTHING I could have ever planned!!  The decorations were AMAZING, the game was so FUN, the food was DELICIOUS, and the company was FABULOUS!!  

They did a "Hollywood" theme, but instead it was "HAYLEEWOOD."  So clever!  

Mom made a game "How well do you know our star."

She had really funny questions and it was a lot of fun!

My sister made this awesome cake!  It is like the "walk of fame" stars you see in Hollywood!

So cute!!  Thanks Heather!!

Look at all these decorations!  I know that Kristy helped a ton with all of the decorations!

Thank you Kristy!!

These two!  LOVE them more than ANYTHING!!  Great planners!!

Ok, look at that food!  If you think it LOOKS good-- it TASTED even better!!

Mom even had a photobooth!!

How do I look as a blonde?

The kids even got in on the action (after the party was over---yes they stayed up WAY past bedtime).

Thanks again mama-c-ta!!  You are the BEST!!!

Thanks to all my fabulous friends for coming!  Such a fun night!!

Thanks one more time to EVERYONE who helped out!

(Especially mom, dad, Darin, Heather, Kristy, and Laurie!)

Turning 30 isn't too bad when you've got such great friends and family!!

Gunnerson Christmas Party

Rick and Olivia planned THE BEST Christmas party EVER!

We went up to Woodland and Olivia made us a delicious breakfast!

Then, we went sledding, and we had a lot of fun!

I still can't get over how beautiful it was up there!

Tom and his cute girlfriend, Judi!

Lovely Olivia!

The hill we went down was HUGE!!  Matt did NOT love that part!

Olivia and Liv.

Judi was a really good sport, this was her 1st (and probably last) time!

I went down then dove off half way down the hill, it REALLY was HUGE!

Even Grandpa went down!

I love this beautiful meadow at the bottom.  

And if you look close, you can see dad Gunnerson crashed at the bottom.

My dream boat!

Grandma and Breanna went down too!  They took quite a tumble!

Olivia brought some yummy hot chocolate for everyone!  What a treat!

Matt had fun wrestling with Eli.

Isn't this so pretty!

Andrew thinks he is big enough to go snowmobiling!

Look at this beautiful little Scarlet Quinn!  So cute!

The whole family!

Our little family.  Don't mind me, I'm just looking for Andrew's boot!

Towards the end, Andrew got a little cold and grumpy.

He was much happier in the warm car watching a show.

After sledding, we went back to Rick and Olivia's for a yummy lunch, visiting, and games.

Thanks Rick and Olivia for planning such a WONDERFUL party!!