Family in town

Seth and Mom

We celebrated Aunt Leslie's b-day, too!

The cousins having Pizza together.

Payton and Ella w/ Aunt Tammy! She's really a fun aunt!

Tammy w/ cutie Clarie

We've had a crazy busy week. It's been really good, just busy. Last Friday Tammy (our sister in law on the Gunnerson side) came into town from New York. We were sad Tom and the kids couldn't make it, but it was great to spend time with her. When ever someone comes into town it's fun because everyone hangs out and you get to see those who live close by too, but don't see very often because of busy schedules. Anyway, we mostly just talked and laughed. Some fun highlights were: the sisters went to lunch together at The Cheesecake Factory (thank you Grandma Dorothy for babysitting), a few of us went to The Big Bun Drive Inn for lunch a few days later for the infamous R&R (a great hamburger w/ mushrooms and sprouts), we went shopping and I found Ella the cutest pair of pink boots at the Children's Place for only $4.99, for FHE Monday night we all went to see The Bee Movie, and we had an early Thanksgiving dinner together while Tammy was here w/ turkey and all the fixings. Good times! I'm looking forward to more times with family as the the holidays are approaching.

Sleeping Buddies

A couple of items to note about this picture: 1)When will Ella ever stop sucking her thumb while sleeping? She doesn't do it much during the day anymore because of school, at least that's good. 2) Seth has always slept with his arms up like this. In my 20 week ultrasound with him, the technician commented on how he was sleeping with his tiny arms up by his face and that was also her most comfortable way to sleep. I think it's great that he slept that way in the womb and still does it. 3) Don't sleeping babies/kids always look so sweet and peaceful. It can be a bit deceiving! Just kidding, of course.

On Sunday, John and Cooper were gone for a little while so after church Mark and I just had Seth and Ella. They were little buddies all afternoon. We all took a Sunday nap. Mark and I dozed while Ella and Seth watched a movie at the foot of our bed and when the movie was over, we woke up and they both fell asleep. We had to get a picture, they looked so precious.

Two Tin Men, Glenda the Good Witch, a cheerleader, a dalmatian and Tigger too!

I really love this picture!
The older kids show Seth how it's done!

The face paint itched Cooper's face too much, so opted to wash it off for Trick or Treating.
Have you ever seen a cuter Tigger?
Have you ever seen a cuter dalmatian?
Our two tin men and our good witch, before leaving for school.

Halloween's over, yay! Now we can move on to the holidays that are my favorites, Thanksgiving and Christmas. For some reason I am more excited than normal about the holidays this year. I am really looking forward to good times with family.

Anyway, we had a good Halloween day yesterday. At school, the kids have been learning about The Wizard of Oz all month. They read the book (older classes read to the younger ones) and most classes watched the movie, too. So for Halloween, they had to come dressed as characters from the book. John and Cooper were each the tin man. Neither of them wanted to be this, but it was the easiest and the cheapest. Ella was Glenda the good Witch, because Glenda basically looks like a fairy or princess, and we already had costumes for that. They all looked pretty good. Seth and I took treats to all three of their classes and got to see them and their classmates. It was fun. In Ella's class I helped with the center where the kids had to read a sight word and then they got to try and stick the wart (a small piece of clay) to the witches nose while closing their eyes. I love to be in the classroom.

Our ward didn't have a trunk or treat, so this was the first year in so long that we actually went trick or treating. We just walked around our neighborhood and the kids really scored with handfuls of candy, versus a piece or two, at most of the doors. It was fun to visit with neighbors and be out and about. The boys were the tin men in the evening still and Ella was a cheerleader. Earlier in the year we had bought her a cheerleader costume on clearance.

We had Mom and Dad Bishop over for dinner and for the evening. We really enjoyed being with them. It was a last minute invitation, and I'm glad they were free and able to make it. I made White Chili for dinner and Mark made some great cornbread muffins. It was all very good. Dad Bishop stayed and handed out candy here while the rest of us went Trick or Treating. Afterwards, we came home and warmed up with some hot chocolate, John's favorite!

Seth loved Halloween this year and it was so much fun to watch him. The first part of the day he was a dalmatian, but by the time we went to the school he had taken that off and wanted to be Tigger. So we just changed costumes and added some whiskers and he looked adorable. He was Tigger the rest of the day. He walked on his own the whole time we were out trick or treating and held his little pumpkin full of candy the whole time too. What a big boy he's becoming! He really got the hang of it and would even say thank you some of the time. He looked so cute running up to the doors. If there were scary decorations in the yard or by the front door, he went straight to Grandma Bishop for comfort. Forget Mom and Dad when Grandma and Grandpa are around. I love it that he loves them. Anyway, it was a good day and here are a few of the pictures.

Champs!

Cooper's football team has been undefeated all season and Saturday was their championship game. It was big time for them, they played at Nampa High School in Bulldog Stadium. They had a real running time clock and score board and an announcer. They even announced the players at the start of the game and everything! They won 20-6, making them the champions for Pee Wee football in the Nampa Pal league! Way to go Gladiators! Cooper had a great time playing his first year of tackle football. He'll probably do it again next season. I'm sure glad it's over for now though, practice four nights a week and Saturday games are a big commitment. Cooper played the position of corner back all year. Since he played defense he never got the ball too much, but ran it a little a time or two. Most of his accomplishments have been by way of some good tackles for his team and one fumble recovery. He's also pretty speedy! He made us proud and we're so glad that he had so much fun. For the championship game on Saturday, Cooper had 24 family members there to support him. It was quite a cheering section. Thank you to everyone who came and showed their love for Cooper. Mark got some GREAT action shots of Cooper and some pictures of all of the family too. Thanks so much, dear!

Babies here, Babies there, BABIES EVERYWHERE

Brooklyn Clarise.

This shot was too cute not to put in. Seth LOVED the baby! He wasn't jealous at all wanting me to hold HIM, he just wanted to hold HER.

Mark's wonderful artsy shot of Baby Brooklyn's feet in my palm.

We've had a lot of baby news in our family lately, and we can't get enough! We are the proud new aunt, uncle and cousins to a new baby boy and a new baby girl. We had sister in laws expecting on all three sides of our family and two have made their arrivals safe and sound. On the Parker side, Sara and Adam had their 3rd. A little boy who they named Spencer Allen on October 17th. They live in California so we've only seen pictures, but he's so cute and looks a lot like his siblings, Noah and Gracie. He was quite big, weighing in at a little over 9 lbs. They live about 10 miles from those California fires, hopefully the air quality is okay for him. On the Gunnerson side, Becky and Jamie had their 3rd also, and they named her Brooklyn Clarise. She was 7lbs. 1oz. and is such a doll. She was born October 25th, yesterday. They actually live in Nampa, so we all got to go to the hospital and meet her last night. We each took a turn cuddling her. She has such delicate little features. Her big siblings, Payton and McKade were sure proud. We have included some pictures of her. I couldn't figure out how to post the ones sent to us of Spencer, darn. You'll have to take our word for it that he's a cutie too. Finally, on the Bishop side Brian and Kamber are expecting their second in March and announced yesterday that they're having a boy! We're very excited for them! They put the cutest little ultrasound picture of his profile on their blog and it looked so sweet. We're anxiously awaiting March to be able to see him. We won't get to meet him until summer though, they live in England. There sure is a special spirit that comes w/ newborns. We are excited to have these new little ones in our family. We wish them lots of health and happiness in their lives.

A game of tag!

So, the game of 'tag' exists in the blogging world too, apparently, because I have been tagged and am now 'it'. I knew I never liked playing the game tag! But here I go, because I do like to read the interesting facts about themselves that others have put on their blogs. However, I will not be able to tag ANYBODY, because all of the other bloggers I know (which aren't a lot) have all been tagged already. Sorry, I can't keep it going. That is one of the reasons I never entered a PIF, if I were to have won and had to do a PIF myself, I don't have many that read my blog or would comment. Anyhow....

• I am an only child and growing up I wanted a sibling in the worst way. I did get a puppy for my 9th b-day and named her Savanna. I would dress her in my Cabbage Patch clothes and would even have b-day parties for her and invite my neighbor friends over. My mom even humored me and made her a cake one year. Savanna ate some of it and then threw it up. When she got sick of me, she'd hide under my mom's bed and growl at me when I'd try to climb under and pull her out. Poor dog. She didn't die until after I was married. She was a good friend for me, but I still wish I'd had a brother or sister. Now I have lots of brother and sister in laws, and the Parker family are like siblings to me, so that's great and I'm blessed to have them in my life!
  
• I have no musical talent and would give anything to be able to sing well or to play the piano or violin! I have Katherine McPhee's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", that she sang on American Idol, and I lip sinc to it and pretend that it's my voice and that I am performing for people and they are blown away at my beautiful voice. Ha!
  
• My nickname is "LuLu". My family gave me this nickname as a toddler. I think it stemmed from one of my favorite dolls who came from the store with a name and it was "LuLu". My mom and uncles still occasionally call me this. I don't really mind it. They also call me just "Lu".
• Even after we moved from California to Idaho when I was eight years old, I'd go back to California every summer and spend a couple of months with my uncles. They would take me to the Speedway and I loved it! I had the hugest crush on one of the racers, Bobby Schwartz, and was so excited when I got his autograph. Currently, I have zero interest in racing or the speedway (or Bobby Schwartz).
• I have a thing for organization. Some refer to it as OCD. My house isn't always the cleanest as far as when I've last mopped etc., but it's always pretty tidy. I don't like it and can't relax unless things are put away and in order. Everything has a place! I can't stand it when I don't know where something is and can't find it. When my 3 older kids put away their own laundry and make their beds, I have to secretly go back and straighten the beds up and look in the drawers to make sure the clothes are put away the way I like them. I know, it's wacky!
• I'm fascinated by the ocean. Not really swimming in it, but watching the waves. I could sit and do this for hours. I also love pictures w / the ocean and crashing waves in them. I like lighthouses, too. Mark and I went to the Oregon Coast for our honeymoon and stayed right on the beach in Seaside and Depot Bay and I loved to watch the water. I love the sound of the waves. The ocean is amazing!
  

Jack 'o' Lanterns

Cooper has football practice Monday evenings which makes FHE hard, so occasionally we've tried to have it on Sunday evenings. However with the season changing it has started to get dark earlier, so his practices end at a better time for us to still have a family night. So last night we decided to carve our pumpkins for FHE. I had hoped to go as a family to the Berry Ranch nearby and go on a hayride and pick out our pumpkins, but it just wasn't happening. One of Mark's deacons grew pumpkins this year and was selling them to make money for his Eagle Scout project, so we decided to buy our pumpkins from him. The kids had fun picking one out and have been looking forward to carving them. We had a fun time together. Cooper only cut himself once and it was tiny and hardly bled (we let the boys try and carve their own). I helped Ella and Mark helped Seth. Seth thought this was the greatest thing we'd ever done and loves HIS little pumpkin. After we were done we took them outside and lit them all. The kids loved it! Dad's/Seth's pumpkin got voted as the scariest. John's pumpkin has two sides, so he can be scary or happy. With the marker we were using to draw the faces Ella wrote all over the back of hers. She's learning how to write her middle and last name and will take any opportunity she can get to write Ella Kayt Gunnerson on something. When we came back inside from lighting our pumpkins out front, Seth was walking around w/ the black permanent marker in one hand and the box of matches in the other! That's our boy, destructo, as we sometimes call him! Well, we did manage to have some fun, get everything cleaned up and the kids in bed all at a decent hour. Success!