Ellie's First Fireworks

It might be an understatement to say that Ellie enjoyed watching the fireworks.  She was so funny (in part because it was past her bedtime), that I had to get out the camera.  Sorry the video isn't quality....it was a little dark out :)  But I didn't want to capture the sites anyway, but instead Ellie's hilarious ramblings.  And oh, was she talking or singing non-stop for an hour or so.  I loved it when she kept saying "Amazing!" and had to laugh when she declared, "Nope I'm not done yet." when I asked if she was ready for bed.  You made the night memorable Ellie Belle!





Here are a few pictures from our Independence Day 2013:

Casey and I did the Freedom Run!  I was so fun to run with her.  

(And thank you to Chris for getting the girls to the parade all by himself)

Chandra and her friends camped out and saved us some good spots for the parade.

Ellie and Dad having a 4th of July breakfast...donuts and Naked juices. Mmmm

It was so nice that Chris could be with this year instead of being out in the street taking pictures.

Kylie thought she was wearing "July" colors by wearing white somewhere.

Ellie danced to every band that marched past.

Kylie anxiously waited for BYU....and Cosmo to pass by.

Neighborhood fireworks

What a fun holiday!

Christmas Eve 2012

Bunker's big dinner is on Christmas Eve.  I always look forward to the potato soup in bread bowls eaten by candle light.  Then we usually have some sort of sharing of talents.  And a group reading/singing of the Nativity.  This year's Christmas Eve was one to remember!

The girls always get matching pajama bottoms!

 Our little family sang Silent Night.  Kylie even learned how to sign it....which she wanted to do on "stage" ->

Chris also sang "I Was Not His Father, He Was Mine" from the Forgotten Carols.

Casey and Ben did a fun rendition of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" and Brooke sang us her arrangement of "Joy to the World".

Kylie rockin' it

Our finished puppet show theater we made for the girls for Christmas!  Didn't it turn out amazing?  Chris always does great work!  I made the curtains and helped paint, but Chris put the real hours into this.

We did the nativity story using our puppet show theater.  Originally, Chris and I were going to do the show, but both Kylie and Ellie really wanted to take part.  They refused to be part of the audience!  We let them help and they stole the show.... and for the audience, it was quite funny to watch.  I guess we got a glimpse into the future....the girls will definitely use their gift.

Ellie was excited to be baby Jesus.

Ellie learned how to climb out of her crib while we were at Grandma's.  Christmas Eve, the girls were already in bed and us adults were hanging out in the living room.  We then hear someone in the kitchen.  It was Ellie.  She had escaped her crib and pushed a chair to the counter.  Apparently, she wanted some more yummy soup before going to sleep.  Funny, funny girl.

Thanksgiving and a Birthday

I know that I am way behind on the blogging, so I thought I would do a couple make-up posts, starting with Thanksgiving....

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Vegas, where it was nice and warm...even getting up into the 70's.  The girls were in heaven and played outside LOTS.  Chandra came down with Nicole and Josh (we actually drove down the Saturday before Turkey day for an extra long week) and she spent most of the week with us.  Chris was super busy working on a couple of school projects, but he did find some time to play with us.  The whole Bunker clan visited the Springs Preserve, a natural museum of sorts one day and later Dad B. took us big kids to Fremont Street....the original Vegas strip.

Thanksgiving day was fun.  We played some basketball in the morning, baked pies, ate yummy food and went to see a movie.  Chris photographed a wedding the day after Thanksgiving and since there were plenty of babysitters, I got to tag-a-long and help.  My favorite day during the break was when we all went outside to play a little croquet and bocce ball.  Chris won croquet, but Josh and I creamed everyone in bocce ball!

And finally, on Sunday, Chris turned 30!  Unfortunately, we had to make the long drive back to Provo on his birthday, but I think the day still turned out well, especially since it included some presents and pumpkin sheet cake.

 As I said before, the girls loved, loved, loved being outside.  Running, jumping on the tramp, going for walks, collecting pinecones, whatever.  Oh, and playing with Cazador of course.  Ellie even enjoyed the occasional snuggle with him.  

                                 Chelsa                                                 Casey       

Chris

Josh just relaxing.  Can you guess who he cheers for?

                         Ellie wants to play!                                      Benson

Dad measuring......not that we were competitive at all :)

Kylie was super excited that she got to pick out a balloon for Daddy!

For Chris's main gift I put together a basket full (more like overflowing) with 30 of Chris's favorites!

He got some clothes as well!

A close-up of his "basket of favorite things"  Hopefully those snacks will last him a while!

Happy 30th Chris/Daddy.  We sure do love you!

A Tangled Halloween

Kylie was counting down to Halloween this year (well starting with "5 more sleeps").  I haven't seen her this excited in a while.  One day we even played "trick-or-treating" because she wanted to go so badly.....the girls would knock on their play room door and I would answer and give them some play food once they said the magic Halloween words.  It was fun (at least for the first half an hour).  Even though Ellie didn't really understand all the fuss about the upcoming holiday, she was excited too.  She loved it when she would spot pumpkins on someone's porches while were out on a walk or would see the Halloween decor in the grocery store.  She would raise one fist up in the air and yell, "Weeeeeeen!"  Grandma Bunker took both the girls to the pumpkin patch earlier in October and they loved that they got to pick out pumpkins.  We haven't had time to carve them (yet....Kylie still wants to do it), but Kylie had fun decorating one of hers with crayon drawings and stickers.

Kylie chose to be Rapunzel this year.  Though her hair wasn't long and magical, it did have flowers in it.  Ellie was Pascal and could do a pretty good chameleon tongue to accompany her costume (which I made!  I was actually quite proud of how decent it turned out.  I just used one of her sweatshirts and pants as a pattern.  It was my first time ever sewing sleeves, which was a little difficult.).  The first time Ellie realized she had a tail, she gave it a big hug.  Chris was Flynn Ryder.  I wanted him to be the King (since I was the Queen), but Kylie insisted that he had to be Flynn, I mean Eugene.  So Chandra was the King and Casey was Mother Gothel (it's the hair!).  

 

 

 

 

Always....two fingers in the mouth and the other hand playing with her bellybutton.  Had to make sure she had a two piece costume!

Trick-or-treating was of course fun, especially since we didn't stay out too long.  The girls were plenty pleased with the candy they got.  We just picked a few houses in our neighborhood, mostly those belonging to our ward friends.  In retrospect, maybe we should have gone to more houses so that I would still have some candy to snitch!  

Bunker Reunion

We had the Bunker family reunion July 21-25th in Heber, UT.  It was a beautiful area and it was fun to hang with family we haven't seen since the last reunion three years ago.  The four days were packed with fun, games, swimming and just running around.  Here are a few pictures to capture our reunion...

The whole gang

 

 

Cousins (missing a few though)

  

Cousins and spouses

 

2nd Cousins

We had the first ever Bunker Family Olympics, which included a couple basketball events, a sack race, a three-legged race (which Becky and I dominated!) and a relay race.  The team I was on won!  Go Red Lions!

 

 

 

Ellie's favorite event was trampoline!

 

On Pioneer Day, older generation at the reunion taught us games and activities that they did when they were kids, like making homemade ice cream, shooting BB guns and bow and arrows, and doing the hula hoop.  Later, the youngest generation taught the older ones their kind of games...lightening basketball, texting "shorthand", Angry Birds, and Rock Band on the Wii.  So fun!

 

Homemade ice cream in a mason jar and then put in a paint can to roll around.

 

 

 

 

And the reunion wouldn't be complete without some swimming, where Kylie learned how to jump off the diving board...