Katelyn Pics

My wonderfully talented friend took these pictures of Katelyn.

I thought they'd be fun to share:

It was a fun photo shoot, and as you can tell, she loved showing off her missing teeth!

Gurney Family Reunion

All year long we wait for it. Summer camp and lessons are meticulously planned not to conflict. Tiff's and Heather's family plan trips to Utah to be here. Finally it arrives . . . the week Kevin and Kim and their family come to visit! My kids (especially Morgan and Jamison) are soooo excited.

Yeah, I realize it is October, but I'm taking you back in time to the first week of August . . . . . .

This is the entire Gurney Clan! Kevin & Kim's fam in red, Paul & Jennifer in Yellow, my family in BYU blue, Heather & John in light blue, Brent & Ashlee in green, Sarah & Cody in white, Tiffany & Mike in Orange, and Rachelle & Craig in black. Whew!!

We went hiking up Battlecreek to the falls. Played and picnicked at the park with the McNamara side where we had a mean game of kickball going on. (Dan hurt his shoulder - again). Seven Peaks Waterpark was a highlight. All the kids had a blast and we found out that Ashlee's a little daredevil.

We had fun trying out our gymnastic skills at "Extreme Air Sports" where . . . uh . . . someone . . . landed head first in a pile of foam while trying to to a double front flip. Don't worry, Heather came to my rescue. With my head packed in blue foam cubes, I could hear Heather's voice like a distant echo. First she was laughing, then screaming, "Cynthia needs help!" I was actually fine, but I couldn't move -- all I could do was kick my legs that were sticking out. A couple days later, when the neck pain gradually got worse, Paul adjusted my neck and informed everyone that "Cynthia's head wasn't on straight!" Obviously -- hello? What was I thinking?

The dad's and sons went on a campout to Strawberry, caught ground squirrels and crawdads. Saw the movie "17 Miracles." Grandpa cooked-up some good dutch oven grub up South Fork. We had a wonderful time all together.

Grandpa and Kyle Kevin

Brianne, Jessica, Sage and Morgan

What a great family we have! We'll be counting down again, until next summer . . . . . . . .

Let Freedom Run!

Heather was here for the 4th of July -- so she found a 5K and recruited a few co-runners. Rachelle, Morgan, and I agreed to the torture . . . and the fun. This race was actually a lot of fun. There were about 4,000 participants. It went all along the parade route for the freedom festival parade in Provo. We had people cheering us on the whole way -- and they added a little extra pressure to keep running. The costumes of the runners were the best part. We ran with wonder woman, captain america, uncle sam, and many other interesting people. Morgan did great, despite the fact her shoes were three sizes too small (not to plagiarize Dr. Suess). Her feet are now bigger than mine!

Despite her blisters, and getting lost after the race (which way is the southeast corner??) we all had a great time. Wonderful way to celebrate the 4th!

a short break

After a short 4 months break . . . . I'm back in cub scouts! Coleman and Katelyn had their birthdays in May, and Coleman turned the ripe old age of 8. Here we are at the raingutter regatta. Coleman is racing his cousin, Tanner. Not surprisingly, the Finch boys, with the help and encouragement of their dads, designed their boats all BYU!!! Tanner's is a Jimmer catamaran, and Coleman's is decked out in "Y"'s. They had a fun night.

The end of school was quite hectic. We tried to fit in the last bits of homework and projects in between the baseball games. Jamison decided to run for student council. His posters had the following cover of Sports Illustrated (read closely - notice what it says on his jersey) that read "Don't get Jimmered, Vote for Jamison". Since the majority of our student body are cougar fans, he couldn't lose ..... and he didn't!

Lastly I'll show a video of Katelyn from the dance festival. She was hilarious! She was giving the dance 200% effort! This is a clip from the "Ugly Bug ball". Katelyn is the front right leader (green shirt).

Timp Shadow 5K

Heather is way too motivated. She is working up to running the "Speedy Spaniard 10K" this July. She wanted to try out a 5K while she was here this last weekend. The only one going on, that was close, was this Timp Shadow race. It's TRAIL Running!

I really didn't want to do it. I was hoping the bad weather would have changed her mind. It almost did, too, until . . . . . Ashlee came over the night before. "Let's do it!!! It will be fun!!!" Well, I caved under peer pressure.

Keep in mind that I don't exercise . . . . . . EVER! (Do I dare admit that!?) And here I went, cold turkey. My new best friend has been Ibuprofen. My kids were not too impressed to hear I came in third from last (out of about 35).

The view was beautiful, the snow fell lightly, the deer tracks criss-crossed the trail, and all I could hear was "squelch, squerch, squelch, squerch" through the mud. After it was all over, there was a good feeling of accomplishment --- and a free T-shirt! Will I do it again? ....Maybe :)

the information age

Katelyn lost her first tooth. This brought about many questions about the tooth fairy.

Katelyn : What does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth?

Me: I don't know. What do you think?

Katelyn: I think he makes a collection.

Coleman: I think he turns them into crystals and decorates his house with them.

Katelyn: How many tooth fairies are there?

Me: I don't know.

Katelyn: I know! Let's type in the computer "What does the tooth fairy do with the teeth?"

I think it's hilarious that my 5-year-old's solution is to google it!

Snow Caving

Dan and Jamison went snow caving with the scouts. Jamison loves this stuff and had such a fun time. Their cave was apparently the Taj Mahal of snow caves. Let's just say I'm trilled that Dan will do this kind of stuff. . . . 'cause you couldn't pay me enough!

Disneyland

The winter "blah's" were setting in . . . so it was time to head south. Paul and Jennifer and Heather and John and their families came too. We had a great time. After all, it is the happiest place on earth.

Kates and Zackary.

Katelyn and Sleeping Beauty. She also saw Cinderella and Snow White. She's a little dare devil - she loved all the roller coasters and scary rides. But once we were back home, I asked Katelyn what her favorite part of the trip was. Her answer . . . . "Swimming at the hotel." Great! We could have done that here.

Grizzly rapids was one of the kids favorite rides. They probably went on it 10 times. Here's a picture of most of the cousins. Look at Katelyn -- she's soaked! Check out these quick videos of the ride --

Dan doesn't usually like being photographed in his super suit, but we snuck a quick shot!

Happy Birthdays

This is a big birthday week--

15th - My wonderful Dan turned 39

I love to be with him -- he's my best friend. We are MFEO! He works hard and plays hard and makes life fun. As the kids say, "Dad's the fun parent."

16th - Heather turned 3 years younger than me :)

Well... I think she's forgiven me for the fighting days when we shared a room. She's a great friend and confidant.

17th - My perfect mom turns ?? today

I really lucked-out when it comes to parents. My mom is as perfect as they get. I wish I would have inherited more from her.

18th - My sister-in-law, Angie, turns... (honestly I don't remember)

She's more of a real sister, than an in-law. It's fun to have her live so close.

Happy Birthday to some very important people in my life!

Katelyn Scissorhands

Saturday, Katelyn cut her nice pillow sham that matches her bedspread. She cut a big half-circle out of the border. I was really sad about it. I also found her doll hair in clumps on the carpet. A few days earlier she cut her own hair. Luckily it wasn't too bad -- a couple of inches off a little bit of hair, on each side of her head. She also cut a tie off of one of her dress-ups, and cut a scoop out of the bottom of another dress-up dress. There were also times I found teeny tiny paper scraps all over her floor that she had cut. I didn't mind those, paper was fine with me.

Do I need to hide all the scissors in the house? Why the sudden fascination with scissors??

Then I remembered . . . . . the week before, I went to her class to trade the take home books. They were working on a penguin art project. She came and gave me a big hug around my leg. As I looked down I noticed she was crying. (This is very unusual - she loves school). I crouched down to asked her what was wrong. Tearfully, she said, "I'm not very good at cutting."

Practice makes perfect!!

p.s. Katelyn has finally, officially, stopped sucking her thumb! Way to go Kates!

Jamison's Big Week

This great kid turned 11 years old on Sunday.

He was born on a Sunday, too, which got me reminiscing. That particular Sunday (01/23/00) Dan and I had to speak in church. I went to bed the night before hoping I would wake up soon in labor. When I finally did wake up, I realized it was morning, nothing was happening, and I'd better prepare a talk! Luckily church didn't start until 1:00.

After sacrament meeting, a bishopric member approached me and gave me a calling: nursery leader! Then, during Relief Society, I started having contractions. . . . every 5 minutes. (The poor teacher probably thought I was bored to death the way I kept looking at my watch!) I found Dan and Morgan and we left for my Mom and Dad's. I hadn't eaten anything (yeah - preparing a talk instead) and I was starved!! Hallelujah! - my mom was serving dinner. I have never enjoyed mashed potatoes and turkey so much. Dan and I headed down to the hospital and an 8 lb 2 oz baby boy was born 90 minutes later!

He chose to go bowling for his friends party. Then they came back for pizza and cake and ice cream.

This was his family party the next night. It was supposed to be a camouflage birthday cake. Jamison wanted to set-up the army guys on it. It didn't look too appetizing, but it tasted pretty good.

Then Wednesday, Jamison received his ARROW of LIGHT award. Kinda sloppy scout uniform, huh? Oh, well -- pick your battles.

We left straight from pack meeting to the BYU basketball game. Biggest game to EVER be played at the Marriot Center. BYU (#9) vs. SDSU (#4) and we won by 13! Jimmer had an amazing game, the Marriot Center went wild, the fans rushed the court, we had a blast, Dan lost his voice . . .

Check out the highlights (only 90 sec.) The kid is amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUqYJnBvW6Q

Jamison is truly his father's son. He loves the outdoors. Dan was excited to pick out Jamison's birthday present this year - a backpacking backpack. Dan has a new backpack too, so . . . they gotta try them out! Tonight, they hiked up to Hidden Valley and are camping out. Dan tried to make it a family affair, but I don't do camping in the winter. I'm a good sport and all, but that just doesn't sound fun to me. That's a much better Father-and-Son activity. I hope they're stayin' warm and having some good bonding time.