Trick-or-treat! Ninjago style

For Halloween this year the boys wanted to be Ninjago's.  The boys are lucky to have a good friend, Adam, who turns the duo into a perfect trio.  They have great chemistry together and are best buddies (I am so grateful Benson isn't the younger brother that tags along--all three are equal). So Cassi and I decided to make their halloween outfits (actually, she came up with the idea and I tagged along).  Adam is the green ninjago, Reece is Jay, and Benson is Kai.  Their heads were massive and terribly uncomfortable so they ditched them for trick or treating.  Atleast I got one picture with them on!

For the actual trick or treating we went with our neighbors Sarah and Ethan. Spencer was working (he's in his ICU rotation which is super busy).  The street behind us was packed with kids on both sides.  People had portable fires, games, huge halloween decorations--it was the place to be.  Benson thought he was hilarious and would run up to the door singing Spencer's favorite halloween song, "Have you seen the ghost of Tom" and then would start laughing so hard! It was darling.  It was a successful night.  The boys had a blast, the weather was good to us and was warm (40's with no wind), and we were in good company.

Tanner thoroughly enjoyed our Dum-dum bucket.  He's a sweetheart!

This is Reece's scary face.  He tells me that he practices it in the mirror and sometimes it's so scary that it scares himself.

Fun Family pictures

 My friend and I decided we didn't have enough money for professional family pictures, so we did a picture swap.  She took ours, and I will soon take hers.  I spent an hour before our pictures telling the boys how important family pictures are to me hoping that they would be decent during pictures.  To my surprise, they were pretty good.  Our only problem is getting all FOUR boys to look at the camera and smile at the same time--now that is a serious challenge.  Here are our best shots.

 Tender!

Family Pictures with red tree

Awesome family pictures.  I love this red tree in our backyard--and thought it was fitting to have family pictures in it! :) Or maybe that was my excuse to take another family picture.  I put the camera on the tripod and used the self timer.  Kids thought it was--and so did I!

Grandpa Dunkley and President Benson

My friend sent this picture to me 2 years ago and I'm just now putting it on the blog! This picture shows the first 6 stake presidents of the Boise Idaho Stake.  They are (from bottom left to right, then top left to right):

Ezra Taft Benson
Z. Reed Millar
Charles O. Dunn
B. Clair Johnson
William K. Dunkley (My Grandpa!)
Weston H. Laney
  

I believe (but am not positive) that the photo was taken when the then president of the quorum of the 12, Pres. Benson, came to Boise to set-apart Wes Laney as the stake president.  I don't know the year.  I'm guessing late 70s.  My Grandma Dunkley and President Benson are cousins.  

Apple orchard

I have been terrible at taking pictures lately.  The boys are on a tractor ride at the Apple Orchard near Rochester.  We've been here a couple times because they have HONEY CRISP apples! They are so yummy.  Their favorite part is they get to pick an apple and eat it right away.  The little boy next to Reece is his best friend "Adam".  They are two peas in a pod and make being a little boy very enticing. They are so darling together.

This weekend is going to be fun.  We are watching our friends two little boys ages 4 & 2 while they go to Utah for a wedding.  I will try and take pictures!  And then I will tell you what it's like having 5 boys ages 6, 4, 4, 2, 10 months! :)

1st day of school

A couple weeks before school started I took each boy on a special date with Mom to get ready everything we needed for school to start.  They each got to pick out a new shirt for their first day, a treat, new socks, a backpack, and lunch box.  Reece picked out an ICEE from Target, shark shirt, plaid backpack, with a superhero's lunch box.  Benson wanted a M&M concrete mixer, shirt with a patch, & Spiderman backpack and lunch box.  We talked about all sorts of stuff and truly had a great time together.  I'm pretty sure I've said this a million times these past two weeks--but I really miss having my boys home.  It's been a hard adjustment having Reece gone all day.  It breaks my heart to see Benson so sad--he constantly asks me when we can go pick Reece up from school.  We've started having more playmates over but they don't compare to the excitement and fun he has with Reece.  I sure love those kids.  I am definitely that annoying Mom that cries when their kids go to school.  Just wait until he goes to college and on a mission--that's going to fun!

 Reece-1st Grade

Benson-Preschool

They are so awesome.  It doesn't get better than this.

Spencer's 30th Birthday!! I begged him to let me throw a party but he refused.  So I made him his favorite dinner (Red Rice Sauce) and then made him 2 banana cream pies (his favorite) and surprised him with a date!  We are getting an elliptical for his birthday because we are getting old and need to get into shape.  Still looking for that perfect elliptical in our price range--we hope to find it soon!

Benson and Tanner

They are becoming buddies now that Reece is gone for most of the day.  Tanner LOVES to get into Benson's legos and cars.  Tanner is now crawling and pulling himself up onto things.  Oh they truly are so adorable.  Boys are great!

Crazy catch up

So here's the quick recap for August.....

My 28th birthday!! We came home from our Boise trip a day before my birthday.  I was exhausted and so all I wanted was a long nap--which I got!! I went to Cold Stone and bought myself a birthday cake (Spencer's a resident--no time for baking cakes).  But he did bring home some beautiful flowers! He's pretty dang awesome--how did I get so lucky?

 Spencer is totally mocking me in this picture.

I had Spencer take a picture of me with my flowers before I headed out to Applebee's with a bunch of awesome ladies! Love this ward--amazing friends all over the place.

 On most Friday nights you would find the Miller family at Oxbow zoo/park.  It's not only beautiful and nice to be in the outdoors, but the kids make it so fun because of their excitement for s'mores.  Life is sweet with them around.

My family totally ROCKS and surprised me with a quick road trip.  My Grandma Lloyd really wanted to see our new home and so they literally jumped in the car at a whims notice and drove 24 hours to see us!  They used the excuse that Spencer and I were talking in Sacrament meeting to see us!  We had a blast with them.  We went to Mall of America, an Amish town, the SPAM factory (that stuff is disgusting), and to Flapdoodles (amazing ice cream parlor).  We laughed and had a great time together. Thanks for coming--you guys are the best!

 The boys and I have spent the summer outside.  We have awesome neighbors who are outside 24/7 which makes it fun to go play.  It's so relaxing and refreshing to stay home and enjoy a more simple life.  Reece and Benson truly are best buddies.  They can play for hours without a singe fight or without needing anyones attention besides each other.  This has given me plenty of time to enjoy little Tanner.  He's a pretty dang cute kid as well.  Not going to lie--he was the biggest mama's boy until he started crawling which made life a little more difficult.  He would literally start screaming anytime I set him down--he just loves to be on his mama's hip.  Now he is crawling and enjoys chasing the boys around!

 Neighbors

 That pretty much sums up our summer.  We started the summer with medical school graduation in Seattle, Washington.  Went home for a week and packed our house--then took a 3 day trip to Minnesota where we moved into our new home.  After a week of unpacking we settled into our new home and have been loving it ever since.  We have been so blessed here in Rochester.  Spencer is so happy working at Mayo.  He loves his job and finds it to be very fulfilling.  We both feel so blessed to have wonderful neighbors and friends.  We had a neighborhood BBQ at our home a month ago which was a huge success.  Rochester is so family friendly.  You can always find a neighbor outside ready to lend a hand or have a good conversation with.  Our ward is full of wonderful friends and plenty of fun activities to keep us busy almost every day.  We prayed for so long we would go to a residency that would be a perfect fit for Spencer's training and for our family--and we have found it.  Our prayers were answered and we Thank the Lord for all our many blessings.

Reece

Reece started 1st grade.  I cried all the way to school, at the school, and on my way home.  I then watched the clock until it was time for him to come home.  It was a long and very sad day.  I had almost convinced myself he needed to be home schooled so he wouldn't have to be gone for so long.  Poor little Benson has been super sad lately.  He doesn't know what to do without his partner in crime.  They truly are so good together.  They can play for hours without fighting or needing any entertaining. Benson has asked many times why we can't just go pick Reece up from school.  This last week I realized he needed some play dates and so now I'm going to make this a weekly tradition so he doesn't get so bored.

Reece loves 1st grade--he's in his element.  He has an awesome friend named Adam who he plays with at recess.  This is how our conversation went the other day:

Mom: Reece how was school?  What did you do at Recess?
Reece:  chased girls in the big field
Mom: oh.
Reece: Adam got in trouble because he pushed a girl down.  But I didn't.
Mom: Did you push any girls too?
Reece:  No, I just shot them like this (then he made some shooting noises)
Mom:  Did the girls like that?
Reece: No, so I stopped and found some different girls.

Next day...

Mom: How was Recess?
Reece:  It was good.  I went to the big field but there weren't any girls so I had to go play on the playground.

Seriously kid?  Where did you come from?  He is so funny.  He also tells me that his lunch table is super funny.  He sits at the "nut free" table and apparently they laugh "really hard" every day.

Sure glad you love 1st grade--unfortunately Benson and Mom really miss you.  Our home isn't very fun without you.

Tanner

My Tanner is 9 months old.  He has decided to grow up on us.  He is no longer my little baby.  Tonight while the boys and I were cleaning up their toy room--he decided be brave and take his first crawl! 

Okay, so I wrote that a month ago.  Now Tanner is 10 months old.  A couple days ago he learned how to go down the stairs all by himself----clunkety-clunk---thump, thump, thump and down he went.  When I turned the corner and saw Tanner at the bottom of the stairs crying. Benson said, "Mom I watched the whole thing".  And then seconds later Reece said, "mom, I think we need to come up with a family rule so that doesn't happen again".  Thank you boys! I'm glad you are concerned about your brother falling down the stairs.  Let's hope that doesn't happen again!

Yesterday was a big milestone for Tanner.  He FINALLY ate a whole jar of baby food in one setting.  Not only did he eat it, but it only took 15 minutes.  Usually I spend 20 minutes at every meal trying to get him to eat.  Sometimes he takes one bite.  Other times he'll eat half a jar.  The poor kid is allergic/or super sensitive to Milk and Soy formula, bananas, and applesauce.  So yes, I am still nursing.  His eczema is just like Reece's.  His head and legs are covered in scabs from scratching and his arms have really weird red patches on them.  Let's hope this next week is a better week for him.  Although--he doesn't really scream all day like he used to.  Now that he can crawl he is one happy and darling little boy.  He makes us laugh because his favorite toys are the boys legos.  He just wants to join in the fun--he's a smart kid!  Sometimes he's so cute I want to eat him up!!!

Dunkley Carnival Reunion-My Mom rocks

My family rocks! Every two years my mother puts together a killer family reunion for the Dunkley side.   It's always a blast because we have so many fun and awesome cousins who now have a dozen kids each so it's total craziness!! Here are some pictures from our fun day.  Oh, and the night before this part we had a family recital at Dunkley Music which was super fun.  My family is so talented.

Before I get on with the pictures I had to add that this weekend was a perfect description of the gospel working in it's finest.  My Grandparents are in the 90's and have lived the gospels standards and principles taught their whole lives.  They have 5 beautiful children, 22 grandchildren, and who knows how many greats (over 50).  Each family is highly functional with very talented, creative, good people in it.  They all are hard workers who give back to society, great members of the church, and just fine individuals.  You can see all the good that has come from all the hard work my grandparents have put into their family.  They have loved and served us for many years and now we are reaping the benefits.  I am so grateful to come from a family who is so loving, kind, and obedient.  I see all the many blessings that come from it.  Dunkleys rock!!