Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! We have been blessed to spend time with family and friends and I hope all of you have had the same fortune. As I have gotten older, I have realized the true importance family is and I am so thankful that Brad and I have such wonderful families. I am so grateful to the Savior Jesus Christ for his life and for this time of year in which we can more fully feel of His love and Spirit. Merry Christmas!

The Lights at Temple Square

What Christmas is complete without a trip to Temple Square to see the amazing lights and feel of the ambiance there. Not ours!! Well, we made sure to go before we are off to Portland for Christmas. Even though it was really cold and crowded, it was worth the cold, the drive and search for a parking spot to see the excitement in Brylie's cute face when she saw the lights. We ended up going to JB's restaurant after for some grub and hot cocoa. I am always amazed at the simple things that entertain Brylie. In the restaurant, there was a mirror on the ceiling in the waiting area that Brylie just stared and grinned at. She just loves to see herself!! I would to if I was as cute as she is!!!! I don't know how many times we walk by the fridge at home and she makes me stop to admire the pictures of her. I hope she has that feeling for herself when she's a teenager at the stage when they worry about what people think more than is healthy. Anyway, enjoy the photo!


Her Best Friend


This happened when we came home from running errands and I put Brylie down at the foot of the couch so that she stood where Dozer was sleeping. This is what she did to him! I love it!!!




I Love This Laugh


I couldn't resist this darling video of the girl laughing...she doesn't really laugh very often unless it's a fake laugh and when she does, it's usually at the dog so when I heard this, I had to get a video because she is so cute and entertained!! As were we!

Darn spots...

So Monday afternoon after Brylie woke up from her 2nd nap, I noticed these little spots on her face and body. It has continued to get worse so I took her to the doctor and he said it's not the chicken pox...please bless she holds out for her chicken pox vaccination...but it's probably a viral rash that will go away on it's own or it's from taking the penicillin for her ear infection she got last Monday. She has been on it for 7 days now and now gets this rash. She doesn't act like it bothers her...it just looks like it should. See for yourself...WARNING***this is a bathtub scene***WARNING! I find it adorable. She'll hate me when she's older.

Bragging rights feel so good!!!!

It's times like these when I love being a BYU fan and games like Saturday that keep me a fan despite rough times. We had the coolest experience (thanks to Danny and Mary!!) of going to the BYU/Utah game in "luxury" seats. We had a great meal before the game and snacks ready for us under our seats in a small cooler. At halftime, we got hot dogs and the whole game long, the best view I have ever had at a game. All I can say is it pays to be able to afford awesome seats like those!! Maybe one day when we're rich we will have seats like that too.

Wave to everyone!!

Brylie has recently learned how to wave and I just love how she waves to anyone and anything but most especially to Brad and I. It makes a parent so proud when they learn things like waving because everyone can enjoy! Sorry it's so shaky as I was trying to wave and video at the same time.

Lots to report...

We had the amazing opportunity to go with Brad's job to Cancun for the week with the employees and their spouses and we got to take Brylie. We had a ton of fun and had many adventures all along the way. The week went so fast! It's good to be back as trips can do a lot to mess up schedules. I am so grateful for how well Brylie did and how patient Brad was with me as I got frustrated with her more often than usual and I think she was quite frustrated with me at times too. We had a great vacation and are grateful to Liberty Pioneer for the week long excursion and fun times!!! Enjoy the photos! Chichen Itza ruins, Xcaret (Brad with the birds) and the beach. What an adventure!






Law School news

On another great note, we got word from Baylor and Tulsa Law Schools that Brad has been accepted and also awarded full ride scholarships!! There are several other schools he applied to which we haven't heard from yet. Both Baylor and Tulsa have great oil and gas law programs so they are perfect for what Brad is looking for. I am so proud of him and his efforts! He is so humble and such a great person! We are truly blessed to have him as ours!!! Way to go, Brad!!!

My favorites...

There is one thing that is just my favorite thing and that is my baby girl. I'm sure this will change once I have my baby boy too...then I'll have to figure out how to say it. But I am so grateful for her and what a blessing and addition she is in my life. I add this picture as I absolutely adore it! Don't you just love this baby...and want to kiss her all over!!! I do!

Two babies!?! Reality check...

So Brad has kept in touch with his MTC companion and we were lucky to spend some time these last few days with him and his family which consists of a 1 month old baby boy. I had the opportunity to babysit him for a few hours yesterday and today and get a feel of what is in store. I was very grateful for this chance as I have been very nervous as to how I would be able to handle two babies. Brylie was quite jealous, so much so that we went out and bought a boy baby doll for her to get used to. All in all, it will be a challenge but with divine help and sticking to a strict schedule, I know it can be done and won't be as bad as I initally thought. But I do want to tell my sweet mom and dad how much I appreciate all that they did and went through having 6 kids. I never realized how hard and trying children can be. I also have tremendous respect for them, my inlaws and all my friends and family who have kids because they know the stress it can be and hid it so well that I am on my 2nd so soon after the 1st. At least I know I have many to ask advice of, all of whom I love and respect. Thanks to you all!! And here's a cute picture of Brylie. I tried to take in-home portraits like that one time and she is way too mobile now. This is the best we got but I will take it! I love her to pieces! She is my best girlfriend!!

The Family Photos, at last...

I don't know if they are worth the excitement because they just didn't turn out very good and there weren't very many to choose from in the end. Better luck next time!!

This is the one we ended up choosing! We all look the least crappy!

Then they got some of just Brylie and me and Brylie and Brad. They turned out good but it's not the family!!!!!!!

And the Gender is...

So of those that voted, 27 of you think we are having a boy and only 15 of you think we are having a girl. I think that by this photo, you can all tell what we're having (and if you can't, bless your heart and your eyes)!!! We are happy to announce we are having a boy!

Family Portraits...

Well, I don't have a copy of our portraits because they don't come until the 7th of November which is quite a down fall!! And I don't know how excited we are about the actual photos. We went to Sears because I had a coupon and first of all, the photographer was the age of my youngest brother. No offense Mac, but I was quite nervous about him taking our family photos. So we get in there and start to get ready. Now Brylie had had and 2 hour nap just prior to the photos so that she would be happy. She was quite happy until the kid freaked her out with the toys. And after one wouldn't work, he would go to another and try the same lame noise, "Hey" and then shake the toy in her face. Now we won't blame the kid entirely as Brylie suddenly became the worse girl I have ever seen. She is finally getting her bottom R tooth so she is more onery than normal. Anyway, the kid told us he had to take 6 different positions to keep his job and then proceeded only to take one or so in each position. Then he would say, "That was a good one so we'll move onto the next position." All in all, we felt bad for the kid as Sears doesn't require any skills to be a photographer, just a quick training session with another photographer during someone else's session and then your done. There was one thing we thought might have helped this experience be better. I think if we go during the day (our appt was at 6:00pm) the more experienced photographers will be working and would better know how to work with kids. Hopefully our pics will turn out worthy of our wall!! I will post them as soon as we get them!!

Only a cold...

Well, this last weekend, we have been laying low in the house as Brylie is sick and not feeling well at all. It started on Friday when I noticed she had a little cough. Nothing big I thought but I remembered this is how her RSV started when she was first born. So she started to get a runny nose but she was acting ok so we decided to go to the Ward Halloween party which was quite fun! After some good food, we decided that Brylie was starting to act a little onery and we left. That night, she went to sleep as usual but woke up only a few hours later with a croupy cough. I decided to sleep in her room as advised by our pediatrician's website for croup so the night began. Brylie would sleep for 20 minutes or so and then cough herself awake and wiggle and cry and so I held her in sitting upright positions to allow for her to breath and be more comfortable. All in all I probably got 4 hours of sleep or so and she probably got 5. The next day, I was beat, and so was Brylie. She didn't play much, all she did was snuggle and rest on me the whole day. I didn't do much but hold her and watch TV. Thank goodness for Tivo! Anyway, Brad took than night and said she seemed to sleep a little better and so today, she slept in her own bed all night long and didn't wake up once and she is acting like she is feeling better except for the yucky crust that has appeared on her nose and refuses to leave. This is one time when it's hard for me because I hate seeing her sick and hurting and miserable. Luckily, she won't remember this and hopefully Brad and I will forget. We love our little girl!!!

A Smile for the Holiday

Yesterday we decided to get some pumpkins that we could decorate so this is our trip to the pumpkin patch and the pictures we took. Brylie was a little afraid when she wasn't being held so we couldn't do more "smiley" alone pics. Next is the decorating part which we are excited to do for FHE.

Boy or Girl?

On October 26th we get to find out what we are having, boy or girl. So I thought it would be fun to set up a vote. Cast your vote below and share your excitement with us! I will surely let you all know after we find out!

Too good to be true?

You never know how smart your baby really is...you hope that they are smarter than all the rest and then when you see another doing something more advanced you worry about your own. Well, here is my little genius speaking quite clearly if you ask me at only 8 months. She has been saying this for a while and I have also heard her say, "MOM" when she finished all the applesauce and wanted more. I have also heard her say "Hi Cass" which I don't encourage and then both Brad and I have heard "Hi Dad" on a number of occasions. It is so fun to see the changes in our baby girl. She is growing up so much! She can now crawl backwards and go from sitting to crawling position and back to sitting. We really can't leave her on the couch or bed anymore and we have to block the stairs so she doesn't fall down. We just love her and can't wait for there to be two! Anyway, enjoy the video!!

We think you'd all like to know...

We've been debating when to shout to the world the news we have known for a couple months now that we are expecting another baby again only because we are still quite shocked ourselves! As this obviously wasn't planned, I can't help but think that Brylie had something to do with it. She gets so excited when she sees someone her age or size nearby--even the dog--and she gets a smile on her face. I can see her up in heaven telling this next baby "I'll get you down here as fast as I can, buddy!" We could say that we are attempting to catch up to Brad's siblings who all have three kids by now....we should at least have two, shouldn't we? Well, ready or not, come March 23rd we will!! We hope you are as excited (and shocked?) as we are!!!

We're all sleeping through the night....FINALLY!!!

So this has been going on for some time now but I didn't want to jinx it by blogging too soon!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!! I can't tell you how excited we are especially me as my sleep was interrupted every time the girl woke up. It all started one night when the girl had woken up every hour and finally at 4:00 am, after I was out of milk to nurse her and had made a bottle, I realized, "she's not hungry!!". So I knew it was the night we let her cry. So I did just that and I went down to the computer and google searched 'helping your baby to sleep through the night' and I found this awesome article http://www.mindspring.com/~drwarren/sleep.htm that answered all my questions and told me simply what to do. Needless to say, she cried the first night for an hour straight...she did take after her stubborn mother, I dare say. But every night thereafter, she cried for less and less time and woke up less and less until now where she is put in her crib with her binky in her mouth and turns her head and falls asleep without even one squak!! Everytime I lay her down, I come out of the nursery amazed and comment how we have such an angel as a daughter! I am so blessed!! Thank the heavens!

GO COUGS!!!

It's here again! BYU football season and you can bet that we are gonna be at every game possible except when it's 100 degrees in the stadium and the girl won't take it! Then we'll make an appearance, go home and enjoy the game there. BYU was always the team we routed for when I was growing up but I never imagined I would marry into the DIE-HARD fan club better known as the Gunnells! They lovingly overlook that I went to the U but I would never cheer for them even then. I am glad to cheer for a school with such great values and standards and proud that this is the team my family chooses to whole-heartedly follows in every sense of the word possible! GO COUGS!! 2007 BYU Football Schedule

09/01/2007 Arizona 3:30pm Versus

09/08/2007 @ UCLA 4:30pm Versus
09/15/2007 @ Tulsa 7:00pm CSTV
09/22/2007 Air Force 1:00pm MTN
09/29/2007 @ New Mexico 6:30pm CSTV
10/13/2007 @ UNLV 7:30pm MTN
10/20/2007 Eastern Washington 3:30pm MTN
10/27/2007 @ San Diego St. 7:30pm MTN
11/03/2007 Colorado St. 12:00pm MTN
11/08/2007 TCU 7:00pm Versus
11/17/2007 @Wyoming 12:00pm MTN
11/24/2007 Utah 12:00pm Versus/CSTV/MTN

Schedule thanks to Jessica Croshaw.

Another one bites the dust...

And by biting the dust, I mean gets married! Yes that's right! Paige and Matt are officially husband and wife!!! They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 22, 2007, bless their little hearts and IT'S ABOUT TIME, dang it!! They've only been dating for 6 years! We couldn't be happier to have Matt as part of the family for real now as we have always thought of him that way from the beginning! The ceremony was awesome and the whole day was one of those where you are so happy all day long and so glad for the day to be over with! And I'm just the sister.

All the grandkids...

So last weekend we went to Logan for the blessing of Cade Ryan Gunnell son of Brian and Melanie. That same day, we were able to get this darling shot of all the grandkids on the Gunnell side. Ten all under the age of 4.

Just pressing on ahead...

Not much new going on but I wanted to change things up for those who come to the site hoping for something new and don't find it. Today although it may be boring, it's a change. Brylie continues to grow and grow and grow...I think I may be feeding her too much because she is so big for a 6 month old. She could get away with being a slow nine month old if we wanted. But we won't make her grow up faster than she should as children need their childhood.

We or atleast I can hardly wait til next week when our families come to visit. The Gunnells for Brad's graduation and the Allens for Paige's wedding. Lots of big events that surely will call for pictures to add to this site. All is well in the Gunnell home and we look forward to what is to come! Can't wait to see the families!

Wanna a carrot?

So we got the ok at Brylie's last check up that she could start on stage 1 baby foods so we decided to try her out on the less sweet foods so that we won't spoil her taste for veggies. Although if she takes after her dad, it will be a trial getting her to eat fruits. Anyhow, here is her first video eating carrots. Enjoy!!

She laughs...

So this was a few weeks ago but I just figured out how to edit our home videos and so instead of this clip being 9 minutes long, it is the short yet blissful 36 seconds of pure fun as we experience the girl laugh.

Cass' 10 year high school reunion already?

So this last Saturday was my 10 year high school reunion which still blows me away! I can't be this old already! Now I know what my mom means when she says she doesn't feel as old as she is...I don't either. We went to Thanksgiving Point and had a very good dinner (the tickets were $40 per person) and fun company. I think it could have been done a little cheaper (we were only there for the company right?) and in a place where bringing kids would have been invited. Anyway, I got to see some of my long time friends who hold some dear unforgettable memories and some of the punks who haven't seemed to change much at all. All in all, I am very glad I went as I was able to reconnect to some very good friends!

New photos of the girl...

So last Thursday I decided to set up a photography studio in my living room and take some pictures of the girl and see how they turn out...I knew that if I took 100 pictures, I was bound to get a good 5 or so and we did. Here are some of my favorites!

Just to mention...

So today I have been reflecting upon my blessings and I just wanted to mention how grateful I am for such a loving husband. It's interesting how there are so many words out there and yet it is so difficult to find just the right ones to describe my emotion. I have a hard enough time expressing myself as it is but it is especially difficult when it comes to the love I have for my family and more specifically, Brad and Brylie. I remember when I was engaged how overwhelmed I was at how much I realized I loved Brad and then being afraid of how much more I would be overwhelmed when we had kids...and here I am. I find it quite interesting how the only way to feel absolute joy and love is to put yourself out there...complete vulnerability. And the more vulnerable we get the greater the capacity to feel love and joy. In discovering this, I thought how hard it must be for our Heavenly Father who is in the most vulnerable position and because of that, He is able to feel a fullness joy and love. Opposition in all things is what allows us to be happy...and I have only begun to understand this principle.

Just playing...

Here we are on a typical Saturday where Cass is trying to get things done on the computer so Brylie is by her in "the cadillac" of toys. She doesn't quite know how much fun it really is but Mom hopes that she figures it out so her work can get done too.

My first swim...

Last Friday, Brylie and I spent the day with the Angela, Elizabeth, Katelyn and Cassidy. We had a great time!!!! We decided to go swimming which made it Brylie's first swimming attempt. I was a little worried about how she would react as she is only beginning to enjoy bathtime but she did ok as long as she was VERY close to me. All in all, we had a great time and I got to bond with Ang a little more. I am so glad for great family and feel very blessed to get along so well with Brad's family. The more I spend time with them, the more they remind me of my own family. Anyway, I love the swim suit that Brylie got from Brad's cousin, Allie Kofoed. We must make swimming a regular part of life as she looks so dang cute in her suit! Thanks Ang, Liz, Kate, and Cassidy for a fun day!!!!

We have AIR CONDITIONING!!!

Well, after 4 years of marriage and 4 apartments prior to our house without decent A/C, we finally have air conditioning that works really well!!! This has been very humbling and testimony building of tithing too. We had a bid done 3-4 weeks ago and scheduled for installation but then had our 30 year old range blow up on us...not as scary as it sounds but there were sparks!! So we had to get a new range which was not in the budget so we cancelled the A/C installation and tried to go without. Brylie has had trouble sleeping lalety and we guessed it was because of the heat because when we stayed at Shay and Chelsea's for a night, she slept like a log and we did great also! So finally, after a hot weekend, we decided to get A/C and make it work in our budget. I called and scheduled for installation to be done yesterday hoping that we would be able to make everything work and come out in the black. In fact, in my worry, I almost told the guy when he got here that we changed our minds and not to go through with it. Through nothing short of a miracle, the man hooked everything up and when we asked him about the bill he told us that everything had been taken care of. That someone anonymously called and paid for our A/C to be installed without us even knowing.
The whole reason I write this is for a few reasons. First, I don't know who paid for everything aside from our guesses therefore, we can't personally say THANK YOU!! This is quite hard since I know how much it cost. Second, my confidence in the concept of the Lord taking care of us when we obey His commandments, tithing in particular, has increased 10 fold. And third, I am humbled to be on the receiving end of service which is difficult until I remember that someone has to receive in order for someone to give. And I am happy to receive so that the anonymous giver can be blessed. To think of who may have done this causes much reflection on the wonderful people we have surrounding us and how blessed we are! So thank you to whomever, you will never know how grateful we are at this tremendous blessing!

Happy Father's Day and our Logan trip...

Happy Fathers Day!!! We just wanted to recognize our dads for the great fathers they have been to us! Thank you and we love YOU!!!












So this last Saturday, we packed up and went on our first long drive with Brylie to Logan to visit Brad's brother and his family, Brian, Melanie, Jackson, and Walker who just moved back from Wisconsin (YEAH!!). Brylie did great on the drive both to and from Logan. What a blessing!! Along with the Bairds, we had great food at the house, went to the park and earlier they went swimming. All in all, it was so great to get to spend time with all of them and catch up. We just love spending time with our family!!!

Brylie talking...

This is the girl's attempt to get Mom's attention...note how hard she is trying by her volume!

Back to belly rolling over...

What proud parent doesn't want to announce a monumental step!!! This morning while we were playing with "the girl" as we lovingly call Brylie, she rolled over from her back to her belly in an attempt to get to Dad. Before we know it, she will be going to high school.

My first blog...

So since we take so many pictures of Brylie and have so many people to share those pictures with, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon of blogging and start one of my own. Before the baby was born, we honestly didn't take any pictures of ourselves due to laziness but now I can't resist capturing the many new things Brylie does on camera. I love being a mom!! And I love seeing the changes in Brad and me since becoming parents.

This is the first formal picture of Brylie...she was about 3 1/2 months old here. This was taken at Portriat Innovations (quite the experience) in Portland when I was visiting the parents (Thanks Mom!!). I didn't realize how difficult it was to get kids to hold still and smile and stay happy! I surely have learned a lot about how much I appreciate mothers and my parents especially! Brylie is so fun and learning things everyday! She likes to talk now and has learned that the louder she becomes the easier it is to get Mom's attention. I literally laugh out loud in the store because she is so vocal. I hope that that never changes! It is hilarious!