february 2014

We packed a lot into the short month of February. I was able to volunteer as an usher at the Gilbert Temple Open House one day.  I had the best post--right at the entrance of the Celestial Room. The big chandelier in the room is spectacular and it was fun to see the reaction as visitors saw the room--everything from loud gasps to tears.  My shift was three and a half hours long and my face hurt so bad from smiling the whole time :), not to mention my back from standing still in the same spot. 

 

We were able to attend the open house as a family as well.  Rob invited two women he works with to go with us (one brought her husband and the other brought her boyfriend).  One of the couples is Christian, and the other is from India and not very religious (they joked that they are probably the only Indians we will meet that are not vegetarians).  I had a great time talking to the couple from India and explaining some basic Christian beliefs as well as other specific LDS doctrines.  

 

Our kids were a bit tired waiting in line to enter (past Liv's usual bedtime), but they were great inside the temple and it was a wonderful evening.   

 

Tosh and Hewitt being more entertaining than reverent here...

Shriram, Shruthi, (us), and Angela

 

The Gilbert Temple is beautiful!  We feel so grateful to have it here!

 

Liv loves it when I wrap her hair up in a towel like I do with my hair after a shower:

 

 

My family has a monthly chat on "google hangouts" and I snuck some photos of my dad on our call just after he and Helen returned home from their mission.  I think it's a great photo of him laughing at something someone said:

 

This is a great one of Todd and Tracey too-- and you can also see everyone else at the bottom of the screen:

 

Liv and I were anxious to see Grandpa and Grandma Helen, and flew to Utah to visit over President's weekend.  We woke up very early on Valentine's Day to catch our flight:

Helen introduced Liv to "Build a Bear" and she thought that was the coolest thing ever!  She picked out a cute little dog to make and named her "Bella."

 

We also went next door to the Disney store.  I thought Liv's eyes might pop out of her head! 

Helen also let Liv pick out her first nightgown!  What a treat!  Liv put it on right after we got home and wore it all day (and night). 

On Sunday, we had a big family dinner at Melanie and Kevin's home.  Everything was delicious!  Melanie let Liv frost the 'stain glass' Valentine cookies:

My dear Aunt Pat and cousin Jackie and me:

It was great to spend time with three of my beautiful adult nieces!  I love them all so much and was thrilled to learn that I am going to be a GREAT AUNT (first week of Sept).  Congrats to Mel and Kevin!

On Monday (President's Day) we were able to see some more cousins!  Aunt Sue was kind enough to help the kids make cookies at her house:

Cute cousins playing with the snow!  Liv's preschool teacher asked her to bring back some snow and she put some in a Ziplock to bring back (we sent her this photo my SIL took instead):

I had a nice time going through some of my Dad's things.  I found some great photos (many of which I had never seen before).   Here are some nice photographs of my grandparents, Jack and Helen Dunning:

 

Some adorable ones of my dad from his childhood:

I had never seen this next one before--I think it's my favorite:

 

 

Liv and I had a very nice time in Utah.  Flying in and out of the Provo airport seemed pretty slick.  Getting through security was a breeze. We boarded and Liv worked in a workbook as we taxied out to the runway...

...only to return to the gate, deplane, and be told to wait in the tiny airport (no food, one bathroom stall) for the next 3 1/2 hours for a mechanic to drive to Provo from SLC to check the plane.  Safety first, of course!  I was thankful to be with a four-year-old and not an infant.  My heart went out to the new mom with tears streaming down her face when we first got off the plane.  Liv stayed busy with a memory game (was so thankful we had that!) and she met a little boy (Omar) that let her share his alphabet floor puzzle.  A kind woman sitting next to us in the airport got a Sprite for Liv, which means we spent most of the time waiting in the bathroom line!  :)

We were very happy to get home and back to our boys! 

This is a random shot, but Rob took the kids to our next door neighbor's garage sale and they came back with all sorts of 'treasures' including these plastic cactus margarita glasses.  Ha! 

january, twenty-fourteen

We reviewed our goals from last year and set new ones for Family Home Evening the first week in January.  I was impressed with how thoughtful the kids were!  They kept listing things that they want to work toward and improve on.   Burke and Tosh's lists both went well into the twenties.  One of my goals for this year is to blog twice a month...looks like I'm already falling behind! 

Liv has discovered the 'selfie' and I've found several on my phone.  Here is one of my favorites:

We went out for dinner with some friends one night in January.  I'll call these guys The Three Amigos:

The other side of the table:

Tosh dressed up for '80's day at school (spirit week):

Hewitt dressed up for the 100th day of school:

Liv sure is a good mommy to her dolls.  Don't you love the scarf she insisted on wearing?  It belonged to Grandma Watkins.

Tosh is enjoying running club, but for some reason isn't interested in the races themselves, just going to practice.  We usually have about 20-30 minutes to hang out and play between running club and the older boys' bus arriving.   This is right after running club on "pajama day"

 

 Liv invited us all into her bedroom for a concert one evening.  She had set up five chairs and had set out snacks on each chair.  Here is a shot of the boys at one point during the concert:

Liv accompanied herself on piano (and a maraca) as she sang an original song called, "I Love Princesses."  It was quite a show, wish you all could have been there.   She seems to have excellent rhythm as well as pitch :)

 

 

Liv and I were playing in her room before bedtime one night and she started playing with these fairy plates and pretended that they were going visiting teaching to each other.  It was so cute and funny.  

 

 

Rob sent me flowers after a particularly rough weekend, which was such a nice surprise.  The last time he sent me flowers was about seven years ago (no joke), so when I say it was a surprise, I mean it :).  Tulips are still my very favorite.  



 

I worked at the cannery in Mesa one afternoon.  I was really happy to be able to work with my friend and visiting teacher, Renee.  She is so easy to talk to and we have great conversation (which made the time in the cannery fly by).   We were loving our hair nets, aprons, and gloves:

 

We were rockin' the conveyor belt, and one of the full-time workers called us "Lucy and Ethel" :).  They gave us each a bottle of raspberry jam as a thank you.

 

Hewitt got his braces off!  Liv has started calling Hewitt, "Handsome Hewitt" lately.  It is so funny to hear her call out, "Goodbye Handsome Hewitt!"  or "I love you, Handsome Hewitt." 

Liv has been bringing her doll stroller out on errands lately.  She was quite the problem solver the other day when she had to figure out how to eat her cookie from the bakery and get her stroller around the store.  I loved the solution she came up with on her own-- to carry the stroller over her shoulders!  She got a few comments from other shoppers. 

 

Burke has really gotten into shooting hoops and is out there every day after school and most mornings before leaving for school, even if it is only for a few free minutes.  This has been a dream come true for Rob and me, seriously.  For so many years he has only wanted to do certain things if either Rob or I would do them with him.  It is great to see him become more independent and practice shooting on his own. 

Burke also just became a First Class in boy scouts and should be a Star before going to scout camp in June.  One of his goals is to be a Life by the end of the year.  He should be able to do it and certainly has the desire! 

We received a letter this week letting us know that Burke's science fair project has been chosen to compete at the Hamilton Invitational Science and Engineering Fair.  It was pretty funny/sad to get this letter and then ask Burke, "So what was your project?"  In our district all projects are done 100% at school, which I love!  Burke isn't very interested in talking about it, but his project has something to do with pollution.  I'll report back after we see his project on display at the high school. 

 

I have been busy working as a dance director for the Cultural Celebration for the Gilbert Temple opening.  I taught the kids in our ward for three weeks in a row, and then this past week we combined with the entire stake.  It is quite an undertaking (and has been overwhelming at times)!  We have a couple of weeks to work as a stake and then we will start having regional rehearsals, including two ALL DAY Saturday rehearsals before the performance on March 1st.  Here are some of the kids lining up on the field:  

 

 

This has been the mildest winter we've had since moving here, I believe.  Liv went for a bike ride with her friend, Addie this past week.  She borrowed Bella's bike and it made me realize that Liv is ready for a bigger bike!   She looks like such a big girl on it:  

 

Liv thought it was warm enough for a swim the other day.  I laughed when she came downstairs in this outfit.  What a goofy girl. 

 

She is doing a great job at writing her whole name. 

I was lucky to get this photo of Tosh reading library books to his sister.  Warms my heart:

 

Tosh learned how to ride a bike without training wheels over a year ago, but had a bad fall and has been afraid to do it since.  I went out with him on Saturday and he was riding well within a couple of minutes.  He cruised all over the neighborhood and wants to ride ALL the time now.  We have to make good use of our outdoor time before it gets too hot! 

 

We have a lot going on this month and it is easy to feel overwhelmed by it all.  Instead of talking about the specific 'busyness' and ramble off a list of what is going on every night of the week, I just want to mention that I've been blessed to find more joy in motherhood lately.   Rob has been gone a lot of evenings and though that would usually be really stressful for me, I feel like I've been able to just enjoy the time with the kids.  I'm trying to be better at saying yes to a game of ping pong, or playing dolls.  It's the little things that make the biggest difference, right? 

dunning clan in az

We were excited to have my family here the week of New Year's.  My brothers and their families arrived on Monday evening, the 30th, and my sister flew in late Tuesday night (actually very early on Wednesday, the 1st).   Rob and I planned all sorts of outdoor activities (hoping to wear the kids out).  On Tuesday morning (the 31st), we went hiking up San Tan Mountain.  It was very sunny and not ideal for photos, but I got a few with my phone.  Don't we look cute in our festive 'Arizona' shirts? 

 

Katherine, Mark, Tams, Rob, Todd, Tracey

Most of our group (Mark was taking the photo) at the top of the mountain:

 The cute cousins:

Tyra, Rylan, Taylor, Adler, Burke, Eliza
Cami, Brock, Hewitt, Liv, and Tosh

 

A rare moment when these two weren't 'giving me the business'

Post hike:

Tuesday afternoon we began our ping pong tournament (we had two official brackets, and it was double elimination):

Taylor vs Tracey

 

Tuesday afternoon, the gang played a game of "mission" at our neighborhood park (the adults were sore the next couple of days), and there were lots of scraped up legs from hiding in bushes...

 

Our cousin Bob joined us that night for pulled pork sandwiches and frog eye salad.  It was fun to visit with him and hear some interesting stories.  We then played various games into the New Year, and Todd and Mark drove to the airport to get Mindy.

 

On Wednesday, we went to a nearby school where some played tennis, others walked the track, and others played at the playground.  That afternoon we went to a different park (the "dump" park) and played Frisbee golf.  Bob returned for dinner that evening (to get a chance to visit with Mindy) and we had Dutch oven bread and cowboy (chicken) stew.  We stayed up late again playing games and visiting that night.

 

We took it pretty easy on Thursday morning.  We completed our ping pong tournament, and Mindy was kind enough to give my boys haircuts.  We played a big group game of "Big Booty" and then headed to the Gilbert Temple site.  We took a couple of photos before heading to a nearby movie theatre:



 

We split up to see two different movies; the two Dunning couples went to see "Saving Mr. Banks" while Mindy, me, Rob, and all the kids went to see "Frozen."    We all met up at Organ Stop Pizza for dinner.  Besides being very disappointed that I didn't hear my request of "Copacabana," it was a great night. 


We played more games that evening (I never knew teenage boys could laugh so much), and then everyone headed home on Friday morning.  It was a really nice week, and it was great to be together.  I really missed Mindy's family and McKaylynn (Mark's oldest)... not to mention our folks.

Thanks for coming down, everyone!  Until next time.   XOXO