Tejas Goodness Continued

So in my attempt to catch up, here's some more of the happenings in our lives earlier this month. While we were in Texas, we had a chance to visit one of my favorite spots in Dallas--The Arboretum. It's acres of gardens and such. Kind of like Thanksgiving Point's Gardens on steroids. It was fun to be there with my parents and my brother Jeff's family. Especially since it was at the Arboretum 10 years ago that Jeff and Kari had their ring ceremony after their sealing. It was also fun to learn from Jeff some more photography tips. We're really starting to like our new camera.

Now this is my kind of house! A house made of flowers with flower animals in the yard.

Me and my cute mom inside the house of awesomeness.
Look they made me a cake for my 25th birthday!! Or maybe it was for their 25th anniversary of being open. You be the judge.

So here's what 10 years can do! This picture was taken at the very spot in the sunken gardens where Jeff and Kari exchanged rings. What a cute family!

We came across "Texas Town" while we were walking around. It had a lot of fun things for the kiddos to do. Chase found the outhouse as you will see.

Here's my brother Jeff in action. Thanks again Jeff for teaching me some of your mad skills.
Sometimes these kiddos are like monkeys!

Chase wanted his picture too. (For those who know Chase, you know he hates getting his picture taken. He was humoring me with this one.) Precious couple shot
Okay, so this was a proud moment for me. My brother taught me how to change the shutter speed and look what resulted...

Seriously, I want to frame this picture! Don't be surprised if you see this on the wall of our home soon.

One Year Down!

Disclaimer: I am so far behind on my blogging...it's been a hectic June. So many posts are to come, but I had to post this one first!

Yesterday Chase and I celebrated our first full year together as "The Gunnells". It seems like this year flew by. This year...

We played in Cancun*We visited the ruins of Chichen Itza*I kind of swam with dolphins :)*We decorated and moved into our very own condo*I flew to Toronto for the first time to speak at a Youth Conference*I learned how to drain a water heater*We replaced our water heater*Chase changed his very first flat tire*I adjusted to being called "Sis Gunnell" at work instead of "Sis Smith" (but I still answer to "Sis Smith)*We got addicted to the TV series Smallville*Chase took the LSAT*We visited a pumpkin patch*We played with friends in St. George*I made the Gunnell's yummy raspberry freezer jam for the first time*We sported 70's attire for our ever favorite game "How to Host a Murder"*We rode horses*We retreated to Heber for Thanksgiving*We bought our first Christmas tree and decorated it Charlie Brown style*We hosted a gingerbread house making party and won!*We celebrated Christmas together in Texas*Chase visited San Antonio for the first time*We welcomed our newest nephew Gabe to this world*We had a perfect Valentine's Day*We listened to the awesome vocals of the King's Singers*We witnessed a real life polygamist escape tunnel*We both tapped into our creativeness at Color Me Mine*We sported 80's attire at Classic Skate*We attended a Jr. Prom*Chase got accepted to law school*I fell multiple times outside during our wicked snowy winter*Chase graduated from BYU!!!*I finished my first triathlon*My court case closed finally*We attended the sealings of Cameron Smith, Rachel Price, and Kristin Hruska to their spouses*Chase learned how to bogey board and I learned how to surf in Galveston, TX*

What an amazing year!

Tejas Goodness

So at the moment Chase and I find ourselves in the warm, but ever pleasant, Tejas (i.e. Texas).  After celebrating my 25th, we jumped on a plane and came out to visit family and party with friends as we witness the marriage of Miss Kristin Hruska.  So far we have been in Dallas chilling with my parentals and seeing my brother Jeff and his family.  Highlights thus far:

***My brother Jeff owns a family practice in the thriving city of Sulphur Springs.  Right now he is testing out lazers because he wants to expand his practice by offering lazer treatments.  I happened to come by his office when a lazer was being tested so I got some things zapped!  I'll be honest, it hurt.  But beauty is pain I guess.  Plus, you can't beat free!!!

***Because Sulphur Springs is really a small community, everyone comes to watch the youth baseball games.  Chase and I got to watch both my niece Hannah and my nephew Jacob play for their city league teams.  Hannah scored the last run of the season, and Jacob's team won the city league championship; it seemed as though the whole town was there to witness it!

***I got to soak up some rays and watch Chase be such a good uncle to the kiddos at the pool. 

***As a family we traveled down to the Arboretum in Dallas (my favorite place growing up) and took in the beauty of nature.  It was cool because Jeff and Kari had their ring ceremony there almost 10 years ago (next month) so we got to relive that with them.  Pictures to come in a future post.

***We stopped by to see Emily and Peter Malinka and their little girl Elsie--such a cutie!  Good times catching up with old friends.

Stay tuned for more happenings in Texas!

My Tongue Came Through

For those of you who have laughed with me over the past few years as I would scheme about what I would do when my tongue came through for me, I am here to tell you that it finally did.  Yep, the case concerning my numb tongue has been settled!  Chase and I attended mediation on Thursday and the dentist (really his insurance adjuster) and I were able to settle things without having to go to court.  What a weight off my shoulders...No more depositions, no more paperwork, and especially no more examinations resulting in holes in my tongue. 

Mediation on a whole was boring.  It involves sitting in a room with your lawyer while a mediator jumps back and forth between your room and your opposing council reporting on the offers being given.  The exciting part of the day, other than settling, was grabbing breakfast in the morning.  We went to Albertson's and bought milk and Carnation instant breakfast with the intentions of pouring it in our milk and drinking from the carton.  We drove to the pond that I let my duck go at back in high school (Babatunda, may you rest in peace).  

Once we stopped, Chase realized that the milk carton somehow got a hole in it.  He jumped out of the car and tried still to pour the instant breakfast in the carton (Chase loves his Carnation breakfast drink), but he soon abandoned his efforts.  How would you react if you turned to see this behind you?

As you can see this picture was taken from inside our car.  That crazy turkey goose seriously about attacked Chase so he dropped the milk and jumped back in the car.  The goose remained outside of our car the whole time we ate our bagels just staring us down.  This further heightened my dislike for geese.  Especially geese that look like freakin' "Two-faces".  What the heck is that red stuff all about on their faces???

Birthday Surprises

June 1st has come and gone and so has being 24. As my father put it yesterday, I have a quarter century behind me now. Kind of weird, but I'm excited to see what being 25 will bring. Yesterday brought some surprises, one of which was receiving this from my brother and sister in law.You better believe we watched it last night! Chase just had to grin and bear it. My High School Musical collection is now complete! Thanks Dayna and Nate!!! And the other surprise that made my day is I can now look at blogs on my work computer. Yep, no longer does my Church issued computer block blogspot. I don't know why it all of a sudden changed, but I'm not about to ask. What a great birthday present! 25 rocks!