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It has been in the 80's the last few days. Yesterday afternoon we met the Edward's family at the South Ogden Splash Pad to cool off and run off some energy and then came home and had burgers and the fixin's and made smores on the campfire.
Last night Emma and I had a mother/daughter rockin' night at the Taylor Swift concert! 
Emma stood on her chair the whole time and danced, sang, screamed and would occasionally lean over and give me a huge hug. We had a super time - it was like I was looking at myself 25 years ago! I am so thankful that God entrusted me with a lovely little girl that shares all of my interests, especially music! We also had a great time getting "boofed" together (dressing up and doing our hair.) The only downside is that my pregnant back is aching and my feet are hurting this morning.
Here is a stock photo of a baby at 24 weeks.
I am 24 weeks pregnant today! I had an appointment on Thursday the 21st and baby Ava was 1 lb 5 oz. and breach at that time, but she's still so small her position changes often. Her movement is getting stronger and this kid seems to like OREOs.....I can't seem to get enough of them. I also crave BBQ chips and cottage cheese.....ummmmm such a yummy combo lately. I am still really tired and my lower back aches. Overall though I feel good, just reallllly big and I can't figure out how I can get any bigger even though I have another 16 weeks to go!
Ava's 24 week sonogram
Happy Birthday to our "Aiden Boy"! We spent a fun Saturday afternoon in Aiden's backyard wonderland party to celebrate his FIRST birthday. Elmo even made an appearance and we ate yummy BBQ and cake together. You have grown so much Aiden......We love you!
On Thursday May 21, 2008, Emma Grace Gunderson officially graduated from preschool and after a fun and busy summer she will head to Kindergarten this Fall!Emma wore a corsage I made her and a darling graduation cap Mrs. Hering handmade for all the kids complete with a tassel and cross. I have included the program of the ceremony and her diploma after the slide show. After the ceremony, we enjoyed food and cake with all the graduates and their families and then came home and celebrated with a campfire in the backyard and we all camped out in the living room for the night.
What a terrific year she had at Trinity Lutheran Preschool.
We love you, Mrs. Hering!
Emma's Preschool Conference with Mrs. Hering confirmed our little girl is growing, learning and the attentive little student we had hoped she was! Mrs. Hering encourages the children to be present for their conference and this way she is able to have them perform skills for us and she is able to tell us all the wonderful things about the children so the children can hear too! Emma performed her Kindergarten readiness evaluation with us in the room and I was so moved by her knowledge and the assurance she had within herself while she worked and answered questions. The skills she performed included, writing, visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, rhyming, letter recognition and letter sequence, phonics, story sequencing, math skills, number recognition,counting objects, number sequencing, numbers in Spanish and pattern recognition, shapes, colors in English and Spanish, and gross motor coordination. Whewww, not bad huh?!
I thought I'd include the additional remarks Mrs. Hering wrote on Emma's evaluation sheet......
Emma is such a bright, sweet, sensitive girl. Even though so much of our work comes very easy to her, she is still eager to learn more and strives to do her best. I love her genuine concern for others. She will do very well in Kindergarten. I will miss her, but look forward to having her brother in my class. ~Donna Hering
Here is a picture of Emma and Mrs. Hering on her first day of preschool in August 2008.
I cannot say enough wonderful things about Mrs. Hering and the preschool she provides. Emma has had a wonderful year at Trinity Lutheran Preschool! Emma loves going to school and she has flourished academically and socially this past year. There have been 5 children in Emma's class throughout the school year and this provides each child ample attention. Due to the small class sizes, Donna is able to work with each child's current level and personality and really help them individually with their needs. We love the warm, nurturing, christian environment Donna provides!We were so pleasantly surprised when we found Trinity Lutheran Preschool! Donna has exceeded all of our expectations! Emma is growing and learning in a wonderful environment and Donna has provided a great mix of fun, structured play, education and socialization.
Lucas and Emma came home from Lowes last week with all of their lumber, soil and seeds to plant their square foot garden. We've been talking about planting a garden for the past 2 years....hopefully this low maintenance garden will be a good start for their father/daughter project.
Lucas built a 4 x 4 frame and placed it on a tarp on the deck. Then they filled it with 6-8 inches of a mixture of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. Made a grid and then planted and watered their seeds. For more information of square foot gardening check out www.squarefootgardening.com Here is a look at the process:
I celebrated at my mom's in MT and the only thing missing was my husband. I had a terrific day. My gramma and grampa came over early and we all went to church together and took up a whole 2 rows - our family is definently growing. Then we had a yummy lunch and spent a great afternoon visiting, then nap and then we planted the trees we gave Grammie Dana for Mother's Day. On my mom's first Grammie's day back in 2004, we gave her a tree from Emma and we needed to get caught up - so this year she received 3 more trees from Nathan 06, Declan 06 and Dana Leigh 08.
Darcy and I and the kids, my mom and dad, Gramma Nola and Grampa Jerry and my brother, Dylan. We missed Lucas, Dave (Darcy's husband) and my brother Uncle Buddie.
Gramma Nola and Grampa Jerry
Darcy, Declan and Dana Leigh
Me and the kids 
Dylan with his girlfriend Danae
Digging holes for the trees
Playing in the dirt and holes
Grammie and Nathan after his tree was just planted!
Grammie and Emma with Emma's Tree - wow how it has grown in 5 years! When it blooms in the Spring it has beautiful white flowers with pink centers.
Last Friday my sister and I headed to our mom and dad's in MT with all our kiddos. Thanks to our new Suburban who my friend ,Michele, has labeled "lady hog", we were quite comfortable even with all the car seats and ALL our luggage, toys and bikes.
A big highlight of our trip was the break we got evey half hour when my dad would load up the kids in the "red bus" and take them for a drive. We all thought my dad was crazy when we heard he bought this funny little gadget, but it turned out to be priceless. Hope you enjoy the pictures. And, if you ever find yourself in Choteau, MT stop by for a tour in the "red bus"! Thanks for a terrific weekend Grammie and Grampie!
Our Silly Grampie - He's sooooo entertaining!
Grammie and the boys 
Grampie's Red Bus full of his Zoo Animals (grandkids)
Emma???? Do you have a license to be driving that bus?
My sister, Darcy, and her kids Declan (2 1/2 years) and Dana (5 months) came to visit! We had a 4 great days in Layton before we headed to MT to visit Grammie and Grampie. We went to the park and fed the ducks, played in the backyard, Lucas took the kids on wagon rides, went to the dinosaur park and even managed to do a little shopping WITH the kids. Here are some of the hightlights......
On May 3rd we had celebrated Emma and Nathan's Birthday Party together at My Gym Children's Fitness Center since their birthdays are so close together and they share the same friends. Nathan had a cars theme and Emma had an ice skating princess theme. We enjoyed fun play, pizza and cupcakes. They had a blast and so did we! Thank you to all of our friends for making this such a super special day for Emma and Nathan.
We had our big 20 week sonogram on April 30th and enjoyed seeing our itty bitty little girl!
Baby Ava is 12 ounces and she's doing great! Her anatomy was perfect. Her stomach was full so she is "drinking" now and her bladder is working. Her heart had all it's chambers and is pumping terrificly! She was moving during the entire sonogram and we were able to see her many expressions.
I think her profile looks like her brother! Please keep Ava and her continued health in your prayers.
We enjoyed a fun Sunday afternoon on April 26th at Mikayla's 2nd Birthday!
Happy Birthday MJ - We love You!
(Mikayla is sitting in the middle on the top row.)
The tulips have been in bloom and Emma and Nathan enjoy neighborhood walks and smelling all the flowers. Lucas has also been busy trimming trees and bushes and messing around while he is doing it!
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