The Gurney Family

2011-05-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

This photo was actually taken December 21, 2010

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Dad and Eli making hot chocolate.

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Getting ready to go caroling. I love this picture! Check out the expressions!

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Javan is becoming a man. He'll be twelve in February and feels ready and eager to receive the Priesthood. He keeps us laughing and oohing and ahhhhing over his great cartooning and comics. He created his own fun comic series this year called "Mike and Sully". He is an avid reader, wrestles with Eli (he really doesn't have much of a choice), draws, draws, draws, and has an infectious laugh.

2008-12-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

Our Clarabelle. She turned ten right before Christmas. She is becoming a beautiful young woman, and getting very tall! Clara is our nature lover. She loves horses and lambs and virtually all of God's creatures, and just being outside. She is extremely creative and imaginative. She is a second mommy to her baby sister, Lucy. She is very good, and like a ray of sunshine, her smile lights up the room.

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Pollydolly is 5 1/2. She really, really, really wanted to sit on Santa's lap this year. She got to do it twice, with two different Santas! This was fun because none of our other kids have ever expressed any desire to do this. Polly is a very thoughtful child who is eager to help. She loves to sleep in, clean (when she's in the right mood), listen to stories, dress up and do all of the very girly things, draw pictures, and do puzzles (especially with Dad).

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Here is the big Eli Demetri. He will turn eight in March. Eli is has a knack for oral persuasion. Can we say "attorney"? Eli is very loving, he loves to conduct pretend orchestras and choirs, be dramatic, cuddle, do "scientist-ing", wrestle, hide treats, take pictures and videos of people.... and he makes us laugh! For example, the day we brought Lucy home from the hospital, he wrote "Gurneys had a baby girl" in big letters on a piece of paper and put the paper on the front cover of a binder. Then he rode his bike up and down our street, steering with one hand, and holding the sign high up with the other hand for all to see.

2008-12-31T08:35:00.000-08:00

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR ABOUT CLOTH DIAPERS.

I made an amazing discovery in 2008. I love cloth diapers! These are not your mother's cloth diapers, Honey! Forget the pin-em-soak-em-fold-em diapers from our baby days. These are the Cadillacs of cloth diapers. They velcro, they are cute, and I only wash diapers every three to four days. No folding. You use very little water and detergent if you have a front-loading machine, and you never need to go to the store to buy more diapers - you just get them nice and warm out of the dryer! Oh, and I've never had a blow out diaper (except one time and it was because Lucy was wearing a size too small for her). I can't say the same when I had my other babies. I wish I would have discovered these with my first child. (I tried to get Javan to try one on, but for some reason he refused). We would have saved a lot of money over the years.

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And now for our Little Lulu.

This is Lucy (and Mommy) when she's happy......

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This is Lucy when she's sad.

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This is Lucy when she's busy.....

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This is Lucy when she's glad!

Anyway, that's all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Feel free to look at the rest of our blog at your looking leisure.

2008-11-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

All the kids on Lucy's blessing day!

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Lucy and Grandma Funk. Lucy, along with our other girls, wore the blessing dress that Grandma Funk made for her daughters, including Nana. All of Grandma's granddaughters and great-granddaughters have worn it as well. Lucy was the 21st baby girl to wear the dress.

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Great Papou gave each of our kids a silver dollar. They were thrilled!

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Isn't she beautiful?

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Clara and Nana helping Lucy get ready on her blessing day on October 5, 2008. We had such a wonderful day. This was the first time we blessed one of our babies at home. Yiayia and Papou, Nana and Grandpa, Uncle Brandon, Great Papou, Grandma Funk, Aunt Jennie Jo, Uncle Larry, Rob and Grant Emery, Bishop Joe Olschewski, and Bishop Gerberding were there. Eli took about a hundred pictures of all kinds of interesting things. (I won't publish them all on the blog!)

2008-11-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Just chillin' with the Cottles.

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Polly is very proud of her wedgits concoction.

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Polly and her baby sister. We love the breast pump!

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Lucy with Papou on her 3rd (3 week) birthday.

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This picture was taken on August 3rd, when Lucy was 3 weeks old. It was only two days after her due date, though!

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The second photo down is of our family backyard campout!

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Auntie Anna and Uncle Billy came to visit on the 24th of July.

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Here is Lucy at 6 days old.

2008-07-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

I am just sitting on the couch with Lucy. We have the house to ourselves again for a while, because Aunt Mindy is here and she has taken the other kids on errands with her.

I am just contemplating my life and how rich and sweet it is. I am so blessed to have five beautiful children, including this new precious baby that fills my heart with joy every time I look at her.

I am so blessed to have a devoted, loving, and righteous husband who loves me unconditionally.

I am so blessed to have a testimony of Jesus, my Savior. My heart is full of gratitude for what he has done for me.

"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." -2 Nephi 2:25

2008-07-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

WELCOME, LUCY!!!

We welcomed Lucy Caroline into our family last Sunday night, July 13, 2008, at 10:54 p.m., after a VERY fast labor and birthing. She is so precious. She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz, and was 20 inches long. She has very long limbs, feet, and fingers. Proud Daddy delivered her because the midwife did not make it in time, and the nurse was.... was.... (hey wait a minute, where WAS the nurse?). Anyway, it was meant to be! It was so beautiful and turned out perfect. Lucy is now five days old. We are all smitten.

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2008-06-27T01:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of R&R's second honeymoon to Snowbird in June 2008. We stayed at the Cliff Lodge, which was where we stayed the first night of our honeymoon. Here we were trying to get a picture of all the gofers all over the lawn, but you can't really see them in the picture (except the great big black one - haha!).

It was so wonderful to get away, just the two of us....

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We were like kids again, on the playground!

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Eight months along.... but who's counting?

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Eating at the Steak Pit.

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For Father's Day, each of the kids made cards for Dad, and we bought him a brand-new pillow. It was exciting!

2008-06-27T01:34:00.000-07:00

Polly is very proud of climbing our apple tree.

2008-06-02T14:22:00.001-07:00

Nana and Grandpa, this is SO CUTE!!!!!

Here's a note from Polly:

I love you very much. Thank you for the costume. I miss you. I hope it doesn't get lost. I hope we can see you soon.

Love, Pollydolly

2008-05-28T11:01:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POLLY DOLLY! She is 5 years old now! Here she is, posing in her birthday outfit she picked out with Mom.

May 27, 2008

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Javan, Eli, and Clara pooled their money and got her an Ariel bath doll.

2008-05-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

We had the second half of Pollyanna's cake on her birthday! Our friends, the Sullivans came over to celebrate with us.

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This is Harley. She is a wonderful part of our family and we love her!

2008-05-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

Pollyanna had a birthday party two days before her birthday. It was great, although we missed all of you who couldn't be there!

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Clara and Yiayia

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Her birthday party was complete with a Disney Princess cake, which she picked out herself (surprise!).

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Pollyanna and Great-Yiayia

2008-05-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Clara is taking horseback riding lessons! This is her birthday present from last December. She has anxiously awaited this day. She gets to take 5 lessons for a month. This is the highlight of her week now. Her horse's name is Blaze. He is very gentle and calm. She gets to learn how to take care of him as well, such as saddle and unsaddle him and brush him down.

May 2008

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Clara is learning different skills on the horse. She swings her arms back and forth as she rides, and she turns from side to side, which is called the "windmill". She stands up and down, up, down, up down, while the horse is walking. During her second lesson she trotted the horse, and also was able to steer it by herself without the instructor holding on with the rope.

2008-05-28T10:25:00.001-07:00

Look Mom, no hands!

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Clara brushing Blaze

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Eli after his new haircut that Daddy gave him

May 2008

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Clara had her end-of-semester Liberty Girls Party - a Cinco de Mayo celebration. This semester they studied "Josefina", a young girl growing up in New Mexico in the 1800's. (Clara is on the far right.) This was Clara's last semester in Liberty Girls, since she is turning 10 in December. The club is for girls ages 6-9. It has been such a great experience for her.

In this picture they are singing "La Cucaracha", which is "The Cockroach" in Spanish.

May 2008

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Performing their Mexican Hat Dance

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Beautiful Clara in her skirt that she made at Liberty Girls

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ELI 'TH NEW THMILE

April 2008

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELI!

7 YEARS OLD

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Javan on his birthday

11 years old!

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Javan gets his Arrow of Light!!!

Feb 2008

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Pollyanna's new hair do!

February 2008

2007-11-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The Cottle Family came over

We had two Spidermen in our family

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Spider Eli!

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Tinkerbell
Dorothy

2007-11-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

After several failed attempts, I finally got Eli to kiss Polly and Polly to let him!

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2007-11-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

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This day we went up to Snowbird and hiked a trail to this "hidden" park in the woods. It was Early October and it was warm with snow on the ground. Beautiful.

2006-09-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

July 29, 2006

We had a great night at Peter Breinholt's concert at the Sandy Ampitheater. We were with Brandon, Nelee and Jeremy, and the Cutlers all the way from India, and it was Mindy's birthday.

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July 2006
New Arrivals! We bought 5 chicks and 1 duckling. How cute!

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June 29, 2006
Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy 35th Birthday, Daddy!

2006-07-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Father's Day

Fresh strawberry pie for Daddy

2006-07-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Our backyard campout in June

2006-07-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

A new hat all the way from NZ from Nana and Papa!

2006-06-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

MEET VIOLET...the newest family member.
She was Pollyanna's birthday present -

and here's Pollyanna, when she "opened" her gift.

Her full name is Violet Daisy Gurney. Daisy was her mother's name, and we decided to name her a flower as well.
Pollyanna was so excited and nervous at the same time. She'd want to hold her, then she'd get scared and start to cry...
...as you can see.
However, we shall add that now, after almost 4 weeks of Violet, it has reversed. Now Violet is the one who is scared of Pollyanna. Somehow this bunny has survived and hopefully will continue to survive the endless hours of holding and kissing and mauling and grabbing this way and that.

And I'm sure she just loves being a part of our family.

2006-06-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

May 27, 2006

Happy birthday, Lolly!

She is three years old........ WOW!!!