Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving, and have so much to be Thankful for! We had dinner up at Gunnerson's, and the food was DELICIOUS!! I feel to thankful to have such wonderful in-laws! I really could not have asked for better ones! It was fun to have everyone there, minus Geoff, Jadi, Kaden, and Kaylee (we missed you). Darin's mom is an excellent cook and everything tasted wonderful! Baby Matthew liked it too! Here is a picture of Darin's dinner plate:

After dinner, Darin led the grandkids in a game of Thanksgiving BINGO! The kids had a great time! Then the kids made ornaments for the Christmas tree, which turned out really cute! I just wish I would have taken more pictures! After decorating cookies we went out and played football. The teams were Darin and the grandkids vs. Thom and Chris. Here is a picture of "the huddle"

Rise and Shout!

Darg! Too bad cougars! Oh well, good job to the Utes! We had a fun Ute/Coug night with Darin's parents, Rick, and Noah. I had mixed feelings the whole game. Normally I would really want BYU to win all the way, but this year I was happy for the U because of the great season they have had so far! We had lots of yummy food including nacho caserol, vegie tray, crackers, cheese, dip, and cookies! I had a fun night with Noah too! He even helped me do the dishes! What a great night!

Luck be a lady!

I have been on a luck streak lately! On Monday I won a radio contest, and got 4 tickets to go see the early showing of Twilight! On Tuesday I won a drawing from a teacher's night at Costco and won some balsamic vinegar and bread! Tuesday night I took my mom and my sister to go see the movie, but unfortunately they gave out more tickets than they had seats so we didn't get to see it! Bummer. But, they did take pictures of us (hence the picture above) and gave us Twilight bracelets and stickers.

Baby...and bedroom update

I couldn't wait any longer to post this picture! Over UEA weekend my mom and I did pretty much the whole baby room! Can I just say that I have the most wonderful mother in the universe? I really wanted the "Chase bedding" from Pottery Barn, but I wasn't willing to spend $300 on the bedding alone. So, my mom and I looked around for similar fabric, and this is what we came up with! I like it even better than PB's! My mom did all the sewing including the changing pad, the fitted sheet, the bumper pad, the dustruffle, the valance, matching bow ties for two stuffed bears, and even did matching liners for the baskets that are going on the changing table! It will be so cute! She has also painted wood letters to hang his name on the wall! I would put all the pictures on, but I don't get everything until Christmas! I am so excited! So far it looks REALLY cute! Thanks mom for everything!! You are the best! (And thank you to Darin for letting me take over the "office/weight room" 3 months early).

Well, I haven't updated a lot on the baby lately, but he is doing great! He is such an active little guy and we are getting really excited to see him! He is always kicking my belly and "it looks like there is an alien inside trying to get out" because my belly moves so much--as quoted by my doctor at my last appointment. I have been feeling great and I can't believe that we are already into the last trimester! Last week I had my glucose test, and I don't know why but I am nervous about it. I will probably find out the result next week, so I will have to let you know!

Oh, and this little guy will probably be named Matthew--hopefully he comes out looking like a Matthew since mom already did those letters for the wall!

Gunnerson Get Together

We had a wonderful time with the Gunnerson clan on Nov. 1st. Mom and Dad Gunnerson made a delicious breakfast and we a had a really fun time spending time with the family! It was fun to see the brothers together playing basketball, but we all missed Geoff, Jadi, and their family a bunch! Here are a few pictures from the day:

Happy Halloween! (a little late)

We had a great Halloween! My wonderful mother came to my school and helped my students make these cute cookies:

Also my wonderful husband, Darin came to school and took lots of cute pictures! The kids had a great time, we made toilet paper mummies, halloween bingo, cookies, and decorated halloween bags. Here is one of our "TP mummies":

Here is a picture of me and my friend Jana:

Here is a picture of our third grade team:

Tag, I'm it!

Tag, I'm it!
Go to your 4th folder and pick the 4th picture and then give a brief description.

Thanks for the tag Shauna! Sorry no posts for a while, we are without the internet at home, so I am doing this from my mom's computer. On our computer our 4th file, 4th folder is of Darin's cousin Traci and Skylar, but on mom's computer it is this:



This is a picture from when we were getting our engagement pictures taken. Something funny must have happened, but I don't remember what it was!

I tag, ANYONE who reads this post!! That means YOU!!!!

Luckiest girl in the world!!!

Well, I know that some people refer to blogs as "brags." But, I just couldn't resist! When Darin came home yesterday I was scrubbing the toilet and he took me into the kitchen to find this:

What a man! Not my birthday, not an anniversary, just to say he loves me! He even arranged the flowers himself! Thanks Darin!!! I LOVE them!!

"Spook-tacular"

I am REALLY getting excited for halloween!! I love the fall, and I love halloween! I found this idea for the lamp a long time ago so I don't remember who to give credit to, but I thought it was a really cute idea! I just cut bat shapes out of paper and taped them to the inside of the lamp. You can only see them when the lamp is turned on. And, of course, the candy always makes for great halloween decor! (as long as we don't eat it all).

All because two people fell in love...

My parents have now been married for 34 years. I am so thankful for their example in how to treat eachother and how to make a marriage successful! I hope that Darin and I can continue to follow that wonderful example! We look forward to when we get to that 34th year!! Happy Anniversary mom and dad!! We love you!!

Busy Weekend

What a weekend! It was busy but wonderful. Friday was Grandma's funeral, which went very well. All of Darin's brother's came in town, so it was a nice reunion. It was fun to see everyone, and get to spend some time together.

After the funeral, I went up to Logan for my friend since 1st grade's bridal shower. It was fun to see all of my friends, and to catch up.


Saturday we spent some more time with Darin's family, watched the U and BYU games, and I went to another shower. That night we went to the "Welling" family party up in the canyon! It was beautiful up there!

Darin and Ellie


The salad I took (recipe at hayleesfood.blogspot.com)


Me and Darin

Grandma Great

On Tuesday, Darin's Grandma passed away. She was a wonderful woman, and we will miss her very much. I am so thankful for her example in the past year that I have known her. She was always so willing to share her testimony and she lived it. I am so thankful to her for raising such a wonderful daughter, my mother-in-law. And that wonderful posterity has continued as she raised a wonderful son, Darin. I feel very blessed to have married into such an amazing family! Thursday was the viewing, and Friday was the funeral. I thought that the funeral went very well and everyone did an excellent job. It was sweet to hear all of Darin's wonderful memories of Grandma. It makes me more excited to start our family, and hopefully continue some of the wonderful traditions she did with her family. We will miss her very much! Here are a few more pictures from the funeral:

Blast from the Past

Yes, I was wasting a lot of time, but I thought this was pretty funny. I did this on yearbookyourself.com enjoy!!

These are pics of Darin from 1950, 1956, 1980, 1994





Here are pics of me from 1952, 1966, and 1990

Baby...and belly update!

We are half way there!! Wahhoo!! We are so excited to see this little guy!! I went in for another ultra sound this week and I got to see some REALLY good pictures of him!! It was so cute, one time he was covering his face, and the ultrasound technician said,"move your hands baby, we want to see your face." Then, our baby moved his arms away from his face, and waved!!! ha ha!! It was so funny!! The lady said, "Wow! That is one cooperative baby!" His lip looks great, his bladder is full-which means he knows how to suck, and his kidneys are working, he was kicking like crazy--but I STILL can't feel it!! I want to feel him so bad!! I saw his brain, and all of the body parts again. He looks great! I have some pictures to post of our little guy, but I accidently left them at Darin's parents, so you will have to wait. In the mean time, here is a picture of my growing belly at 20 weeks.

20 Weeks

A wonderful weekend at the Cabin!!!

We love the cabin! We went up on Friday right after work, and Darin made a beautiful fire that we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over! Mmmm...nothing beats a campfire roasted hot dog!! Here are the pictures of the fire, hotdogs, and Darin enjoying a marshmallow! Oh, and we had some yummy grapes and apples too!



Saturday morning Darin woke up early (I slept in and loved it!!) and went fishing! Boy, he is a true outdoorsman! Even though he didn't have any bait he looked in the forest, used what he found, and still caught 4 fish!! What a guy!! Here are a few pictures from the fishing trip! I think they are beautiful!


That afternoon we went down to Fransis Frontier Days and met up with Rick, Olivia, and their boys. Then we went to McNeil's and watched the Utes game (which they won!) Then we went back up to the cabin, watched a movie, ate dinner, and went on a walk. It was a great weekend, and a little sad to be back already. Here is one of the pics from our "hike." Sorry my big head blocked the view of the mountains.

Tea for Two...or Twelve!

Today we had a fun little tea party at my mom's house with the grandkids and grandparents! It was really fun, and the food was really good! The girls played some games (pass the ring on the string, carry a marshmallow on a spoon and put it in a teacup, pin the lid on the teapot, and the girls got to decorate little purses to take home). My mom had such a fun time planning this and it turned out really cute! But, can you imagine bringing a baby boy into this family!!? Mom did promise to start some cowboy parties or something like that once baby Gunnerson gets here! Well, here are some of the pics! Enjoy!!

Here are some cute pictures from the day:






Here is a cute picture of the table:

Here are some of the pictures of the food! It was really yummy!! If you want more details and the recipe--go to my new food blog at hayleesfood.blogspot.com enjoy!!







And here is the cute invitation: