A Birthday Bash

So it couldn't be called the perfect day, but it was pretty darn close. Coop woke up with a temperature the day of his birthday bash and therefore was a little on the whiney side throughout the whole thing. Nevertheless, I think he'd say the family, the food, and the presents really made the party great!
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Homemade, lemon-filled cupcakes...mmmmm!
(It took many hours to make them, but I loved every minute!)

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Look closely in the first 3 pics. Turns out Coop is a big fan of fire and when I finally blew out his candle, he was not a happy camper! He was however, much happier when he found out he could eat it! And boy did he eat it! He downed that puppy in seconds!

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Presents, presents, and more presents! Question, which did he love more, ripping the paper or the actual present?

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Grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles; it wouldn't have been a party without family!
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Happy Birthday Coop! 1 whole year old! WOW!

The Emma Saga

Who would have thought that such a precious, sweet, adorable girl could cause so much trouble. The story goes something like this. Last night, after the kids were in bed, Josh and I decided to have a little date doing yardwork. We put the kids to bed a little early because we'd had a pretty full day, but we kept the front door open so we could hear them...or so we thought. At around 8:45, Ashlyn comes running out the door in a panic saying that Emma has gotten into Mommy's make-up. (Mommy's make-up is located in the top right shelf of the medicine cabinet in Mommy's bathroom.) I tell Josh that he could handle this one, and I would finish up the yardwork. One minute later, Josh yells from out our window that I need to come up. This is the precious face that I came up to. Thankfully, the make-up was limited to Emma's face and hands, and not my bathroom or bedroom. A hearty scrub in the tub was able to rememdy this situation. Just another chapter in the never-ending Emma Saga.:)

Thank you, Grandma!!!!

"These are soooooo cute!" (direct quote from Emma) Thanks so much, Grandma! After many hours of loving service, we just want to thank you for the adorable quilts! You are so talented, and we are so lucky to have such a wonderful Grandma!!! We love you!

Baby Talk

I'm trying out this new link function. I posted a video on our blog, and instead of trying to upload it to three different blogs, I thought I'd just try to link it. We'll see how it goes.

http://dahmerfam.blogspot.com/2008/04/baby-talk.html

Watch Out! Ethan's Crawling!

You'd think after three kids, I wouldn't be so enthralled with my baby crawling...but I am! I think these first exaggerated crawls are just adorable. I told Mom I'd blog a video, so you all get to enjoy it now.:)

Weak stomachs, look away

So in my last post of The Ball, I cheated a little on this picture of my toes. A couple months ago I received extensive injuries to my big toenail which made it fall completely off. I tried my best to paint what had grown back but it still looked pretty nasty. Thanks to photoshop, I was able to turn my ugly toe into the toe it once was. I wouldn't have posted the nasty picture, but to really illustrate the amazingness of photoshop, I had to. Sorry! Thanks again for photoshop Dad!

Salt Lake City 1/2 Marathon

Bret ran 13 miles in the SLC 1/2 marathon this morning. He got second in his group--his group of 4 from work. He ran faster than he was hoping to. Kathleen and the kids were all at the finish to cheer him on. Isn't he great!?! He is now on a plane to London.

We had a ball!

It was a night to remember! Even after his ski accident, Caleb still took me out on the town, (up to Thanksgiving point for dinner). Then up to the new Hinkley building for the Alumni Ball. It was fun to see the beautiful building and dance to the live band. My favorite part was trying to copy all the moves of the 70 year old couple dancing next to us. They were so cute! Here are a few pics of the night. Most are from before we left since we forgot the camera while there.

And they lived happily ever after!

If you think this is bad...

you should have seen the other guy!

Cake Masterpiece

Believe it or not we did not take weeks of cake decorating classes or buy a bunch of fancy supplies to make this volcano cake. The Bret Gundersen family was born with talent. This masterpiece was made with two round cakes and drizzled with frosting (bet you thought it was real lava). To complete the art we strategically placed oreos on top. Try to top this one!

Cousin Haircuts

The boys got their haircut on Tuesday and they look so handsome! They both did pretty well during the process which made it alot easier on Katie (the hairdresser).

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Ethan liked Coop's haircut.

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"Stop touching me!"

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2 very handsome, happy boys

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Spike #1

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Spike #2

The trip of a Lifetime!

Disneyland was absolutely magical, the trip of a lifetime!
Aubrey was chosen as Triton's carousel princess. The ride could not begin until she gave her royal OK. She was given the royal crown and waved a princess wave to all her royal subjects. A kind gentleman on the next ride recognized Aubrey and yelled out "look kids it's Princess Aubrey!" Aubrey looked up in amazement and with pure joy in her eyes said "I'm a real Princess!"

These are our bug eyes for the Bug's Life, It's Tough to Be A Bug 3-d Show. It was complete with sounds, smells, stinging wasps and creepy crawly things. Mom even had to hide her eyes a couple of times.
This picture says it all! We went to Princess land and the kids participated in becoming coronated Princesses and Knights. After the show the kids were invited out onto the ballroom floor to dance. Princess Aubrey giving Sir Dalyn some pointers.

Much to Garrett's joy and pretend dismay he and Dalyn were picked to be Cinderella's Prince Charmings in her story. At the end they each got a kiss from Cinderella herself. Garrett tried really hard to hide his huge smile =)

Character Breakfast, so much fun! We had a huge breakfast and were visited by several Dinsey characters. They talked and played with the kids. A must do at least for one trip to Disneyland.

Ok, this picture brings tears to my eyes every time I look at it! This is why we take family vacations! This is a precious moment captured forever in time. What a wonderful opportunity for us to bond as a family and create such great memories. Disney is pure magic for kids this age. This was the perfect time to go!

So now I am a true Disney Tourist. No longer can call myself a CA girl!

This was Garrett's favorite activity BY FAR! He was chosen to be a Jedi in training and then fight Darth Mal! After this he bought a light saber with his own money and practiced the training sequence over and over. He even taught Dalyn the moves so they could practice on each other. He kept saying over and over, I can't believe I fought Darth Mal! It was the highlight of his trip and a memory he won't soon forget!
This was the kids treat from Disneyland. They were so excited about their huge suckers! We had a contest to see how long they could make them last (pretty good idea on Mom and Dad's part, huh!)
Of course we rode Dumbo! Although the kids favorite ride- all three- was Materhorn. We didn't think Dalyn was old enough but as soon as he saw his brother and sister get off the ride he was bound and determined to get on. He made the height cut off by his a hair (thanks to mom's spiky hairstyling) and then had a the time of his life. Dalyn was by far our most courageous on the rides. If he had been a bit taller I'm sure he would have ridden all the wild roller coasters.
Dalyn was Chosen again to be a prince with Belle this time! I think Belle was smitten. She was taken with his big brown eyes and princely manners.

Over all it was magnificent. The crowds were light, so the kids were chosen for so many special shows and adventures. The longest line we waited in was 25 min. The kids enjoyed our day at the beach as much if not more than Disneyland. We visited with the Irvings and enjoyed catching up with them. We had a wonderful time!

Our busy March

Acutally our busy March fell on one weekend. We celebrated Aubrey's Birthday on Sat morning with a Unicorn Party at our house with about 10 friends, decorated Easter eggs that afternoon, Dad took mom out for her Birthday Dinner on Sat night followed by a very humbling game of raquetball (it's been a long time!). Then Sun morning (easter) we had our Easter breakfast, got dressed in our matching Easter outfits (mom and dad looked cute too in all our yellow and black, but it was a bit crazy that morning for picts) our new Entertainment Center was delivered (yes on Easter morning! Crazy, but if we were not there it was shipped back to North Carolina at our cost). Got home from church had our Easter dinner, had a brief Easter devotional, had our Easter Egg hunt and ate Easter candy and oohed and ahhed over the great swim suits Grandma and Grandpa sent until it was bedtime! Whew!!! A weekend in true Gundersen style.