Reid's Vancouver Reception

The weekend following Ried and Heather's wedding they had a reception in Vancouver, Washington. My kids were delighted to have a chance to be part of the wedding festivities. The older girls spent a lot of the evening standing with Aunt Heather and Grandma in the line and helping Heather hold her bouquet. The boys and Baby R, of course, made sure that their dad was exhausted at the end of the evening and that they had sampled every item on the refreshment table...numerous times.

Reid's Wedding

My brother Reid got married this month. I was able to fly out to Utah for the occasion. It was a beautiful ceremony. I was so happy for Reid. He married a girl who is beautiful on the inside and out. The whole wedding was so classy. Heather looked like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.





I had a ton of fun with my siblings and extended family there. I also got a day with my husband's family (who's pictures, sadly, did not turn out due to my camera being on the wrong setting.) It was a great weekend.

Sistas!

What a very pretty hat.

Doug dressed to kill (kill his chances of dating that is.)

Gunnell Girls (Me, Sister Susie, Aunt Julie, Cousin Melissa and Mom Karen)

February Birthdays

Dad and Lady K celebrated their birthdays this month. They were back to back celebrations so I am pretty sick of cake right now. Dad's cake was one that only a math teacher could love. Our eldest put every candle in the house on it including the number 6, 7 and 3 candles. It made no sense.

Dad got some fun gift cards with money to spend on books or movies or whatever else and the kids and I surprised him with some Yo Yo Ma (cellist) music on his itunes account. His favorite was Gabriel's Oboe from the movie The Mission.

Lady K had a great birthday too.

She is NINE!! Can you believe it? She got an itunes gift card, some neat cards,

earrings, paint and a promise to have her room painted next week, and a lot of money which she already spent on a messenger bag and lunch bag for school. She is pretty hyped. Thanks to everyone who helped make her birthday so special.

A Big Blue Ball of Tape

Yesterday I painted the living room, dining room, hall and stairway. It was a taping nightmare. The reason I look so awesome in this picture is because I spent 10 hours straight prepping and painting the house and never got a shower.

Dad was a gem. He ran all the kids to their various activities and kept them entertained the entire afternoon. I even took the curtains down and washed them so now our upstairs is like new.

We are so excited about the results that the kids and I have already been scheming about which rooms to do next. As long as the bug lasts I might as well paint every room in the house and get my spring cleaning done at the same time. I wonder how many more rolls of tape I will need.

Alexander Tutunov in Concert

The three oldest got to go to a concert with their dad a couple of weeks ago. The concert featured Alexander Tutunov, a world famous Russian pianist, and two sisters who are pianists from here in town. One of the sisters was Camille's piano teacher. It was great for the kids to see these outstanding pianists perform.

The kids took notes in their programs and wrote things like, "His fingers were flying across the keys" or "This piece was boring." I posted a picture of our oldest daughter's program. She was just as enthusiastic about the looks of the performers as she was about their level of talent.

Our Baby is 3!!!

Our baby turned three last month. Her siblings and I gave her a great party. Part one was a movie night before her birthday complete with a Tinkerbell show, popcorn and candy. On Sunday she celebrated her birthday with the Michael family. The kids went all out on her cake and decorations. Happy birthday Baby R.

Dead Doe

Two weeks ago while driving home from a meeting I hit a deer. It was on the road by my house. It came out of nowhere. I had no time to even think let alone react. I have the image of its flailing limbs imbedded in my memory forever. It broke my car and now I have to pay a bundle of money to the body shop. Dumb dead doe.