We stayed home for Christmas.  My mom and dad came to spend Christmas with us.  They arrived in a snowstorm.  I was constantly watching for updates on the road and praying they would make it safely.  The boys awaited Santa’s arrival with Baden asking every day if it was Christmas.  During the week, we shopped for all those last minute items.  We ate and ate. We made snowflakes that outdid the ones outside and we just enjoyed each others company.  We spent Christmas Eve wrapping presents and watched “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” and then it was off to track Santa on NORAD.  Of course, we had chicken enchiladas which is a Dunow family tradition on Christmas Eve.  Trying to get Billy off to bed was a breeze. Baden, on the other hand, was up and down all night. Finally he climbed up in Billy’s bed and fell asleep.  Christmas morning came early. We woke up at 5:00.  The boys were so excited, but they weren’t sure what to do.  Do they run or just casually stroll into the living room.  We all had a fun time opening all of our gifts.  Then it was off to Church.  A wonderful reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.  Then back home and ready to take a nap. But wait, we had an important call to take over Skype with our favorite missionary in Brazil.  It was the best Christmas present. She looks great and she speaks Portuguese so well she had a hard time speaking English.  We miss her so much, but being able to see her and talk to her made it that much easier even if it was for a small amount of time.  So another Christmas come and gone, but one that will bring happy memories for years to come.

This year for Thanksgiving we headed east to Oklahoma.  We spent Turkey Day at my Great Aunt’s in Northwestern Oklahoma.  Her son and daughter-in-law put on a great feast.  It was great to see my great aunt and cousins.  After dinner, we had some time to play in the pasture.  The boys loved it exploring the windmill and all of the old tractors.  I remember this pasture as a kid, but there were cows roaming around so we didn’t venture too far.  Post holiday activities included seeing the new Muppets movie.  Two thumbs up!  It was fun to be able to share with the boys one of my favorite things, the Muppets.  I remember watching the Muppet Show every week.  We also attempted to make a gingerbread house.  My mom and the boys made the gingerbread.  Billy wanted me to help, but I was busy taking pictures and he Billy said well you don’t bake anyway. That is semi true.  I probably would have just gone with the kit, but making the gingerbread was way more fun.  As the gingerbread was done, the house started to take shape.  It wasn’t a force of nature or the big bad wolf that blew the house in just soft gingerbread.  We all had a good laugh and it will definitely go into the memory bank.   We are thankful for our family and friends and so thankful for our sweet missionary, Jessica, serving in Brazil.

Billy has been waiting since about 1st grade to have a loose tooth.  All of his friends were loosing teeth left and right. Every day he would check his teeth and ask me if any of them were loose.  Finally, one of his bottom front teeth became loose.  He wiggled it. He had me wiggle it every day just in case.  It seemed like he had a loose tooth for months.  Then I went to pick him up at school and he came running out with a huge grin.  There in his mouth was a spot with no tooth.  He had finally lost the tooth at school.  The school secretary helped him (the nurse wasn’t in that day) and he gave Billy a small treasure box to keep his tooth from getting lost.  He was so excited for the tooth fairy to arrive.  So now that he has one down, he can’t wait for the next loose tooth.

Our favorite missionary turned 22 yesterday! Here in her own words is how she spent her birthday in Brazil.

Now I will tell you about a birthday I will NEVER forget!  The day started like any other day… except for the fact that we lost an hour of sleep due to daylight savings here.  My companion surprised me with a cake and a banner that said Happy Birthday (in English).  We hurried to get ready and went to church.  Of course I wore my favorite outfit- because you have to look good on your birthday!  During Relief Society (which is first in this ward)  I was holding someones purse on my lap.  After a while something dripped onto my foot… To my surprise it was coming from the purse on my lap- grape juice- All over my skirt.  Luckily it was my flowery skirt, and you couldn´t really tell.  However, I was pretty wet so I went into the bathroom to clean up a little.  On the way out of the bathroom one of my favorite members stopped me to wish me a Happy Birthday (he is in is 70´s and he and his wife always have us over for lunch, they have the cutest little house and garden).  I was talking to him when I heard a commotion, and someone go, ´´blaaaaaa´´.  I then felt something warm all over my arm and back.  My first thought was, ´´why is someone throwing water at me?  Is this a birthday tradition in Brazil?´´ Noooooooope.  The source of this warm liquid was a very sick 4 year old (in the arms of her horrified mother).  Now, you my be imagining a little bit of throw up on my arm and shirt… Noooooope.  I´m talking about projectile vomit ALL OVER ME (and my favorite outfit… on my birthday).  At this point I kind of stood there shocked not knowing what to do, as everyone backed away from me.  My companion was in another room (Sunday school had started) and I motioned for her to come out.  As soon as she came out she plugged her nose, because I apparently smelled really bad at this point.  We ran home so I could shower, luckily we live close!  Also, luckily it was not in my hair!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAAAAAAA.

The rest of the day was great though!  Everyone wished me a happy birthday, and some tried to sing in English which was pretty funny.  We had lunch with a family- the dad is from Italy, and his food was amazing! That night we had an activity at the church with a lot of cake and food.  The activity was all about Joseph Smith, and it turned out pretty great.  In the end everyone sang to me, which was a great end to the day!  So, it was defiantly a day to remember start to finish!

It’s Balloon Fiesta time!

Bill and Baden have birthdays a week apart.  In fact, Baden was due on Bill’s birthday but he was a C-Section baby so he was delivered a week early.  We didn’t do anything exciting – no parties.  Just some cake and some presents.  Baden loves playing in the sand box at Grandma Dunow’s house so it only seemed natural to get him his very own so that was his big birthday present.  He was really surprised.  He also picked out what kind of cake he wanted.  Nothing fancy just a confetti cake with confetti icing.  He had a fun day.  The next week we celebrated Bill’s birthday.  He didn’t want cake so I went to the local bakery and got some cupcakes.  His big present was panniers for his motorcycle.  The boys got him Portal 2 to play on the computer.  So our two August birthday boys ate cake, opened presents and are sure to have their birthday wishes come true.

With the start of school looming over us, we decided to take a quick trip to Durango, Colorado.  We rode on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.   I have never been a big fan of heights and have heard about the trip from Durango to Silverton, but I was determined not to let anything bother me.  We rode in the open air gondola.  It was really neat.  We had to wear our sunglasses the whole time so we wouldn’t get cinders in our eyes.  We did get a little dirty since we were in the open air car.  We were a little sooty, but nothing that deterred us from having fun.  We got to Silverton, which is one of my favorite towns, and had lunch.  Then we just walked around until it was time to get back on the train.  The ride back seemed so much longer than 3 hours.  The next time we take the train, I think we will take the train up and take the bus down.  It rained us and yes, we were still in the open air car.  We did have an umbrella so that was good.  We made back to Durango and visited the train museum and then headed off to the Lightener Creek Bed and Breakfast.  It was nice and comfy and we were so tired.  Bill’s mom and Alice joined us for the ride.  It was nice to spend time with them.

So after Cub Scout Day Camp, my nieces Hannah and Emily came to spend a couple of weeks with us.  We really enjoyed having them here.  The boys love their cousins.  They were great helpers, too.  They took the boys to the pool for me and helped around the house, too.  I really didn’t want to send them back home, but they had to go back to school.  We really didn’t do much while they were here.  We just hung out and enjoyed each others company.  We did go to the Aquarium and the Botanical Gardens.  That was fun. We also made daily runs to Sonic for Happy Hour!  Love those Cherry Limeades. It was just fun to have them visit and get to know them better. They also got me hooked on the Glee Project and I don’t even watch Glee.

So after our trip to California, it was time to move in.  The boys stayed at Camp Grandma in Utah and had a good time.  This gave us much needed time to get the rest of the things packed and the house cleaned up for the final inspection from the property management company.  So thankful to the women from the Relief Society that came and helped me. They were lifesavers.  So after we got moved if, for the most part, Billy, Baden and I headed to Cub Scout Day Camp.  It was fun, but it was hot.  It was also four very long days.  It was worth it and Billy has earned several belt loops and signed off some achievements in his book for Wolf.  He will get those awards when he joins our ward’s pack in January when he turns 8.  I didn’t get a chance to take a lot of pictures while we were there, but here are a few of Billy at his favorite stations, archery and BB gun.  Baden had a blast at the tot lot.  The camp director was very excited to have Baden Powell visiting camp every day!