The Bunk House

Snow

2011-01-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

We just left the snow in Colorado and come home a few days later to find it in Las Vegas! Crazy!!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

Yo Gabba Gabba!

2010-12-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

Not feeling well, like all of my pregnancies, I wasn't able to take the kids to the Yo Gabba Gabba Live concert. Jordan had a scheduled work event, and couldn't attend either. So, my mom stepped in and took the kids. They had an absolute blast, and even wore their hats from their halloween costumes (Plex and Foofa).

Santa's Elves

2010-12-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

The Elves snuck into our house again to leave the kids some new Holiday pajamas and slippers. Trey and Tally were very surpirsed, and loved finding the snow that those sneaking elves tracked in.

2010-11-30T19:29:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again... a time to shop and have some fun! Here is the invitation to "A Handmade Affair". Please feel free to email it to anyone, post it on your blog, and/or facebook. We will have a raffle for free merchandise, and some coupons that will be advertised on our "A Handmade Affair" Facebook page. Remember, cash, checks, and credit cards will be accepted. We have MANY new vendors this year and some of your favorites from last time as well. Check out our blog too! Happy Holidays, and we hope to see you on the 3rd (this Friday)!

Dancing Tally

2010-11-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

The beginning of November, Tally started a little 5 week tap/ballet class with a couple other little girls in our ward. It's at a community center and Tally has the best time. It's really funny to watch all these 2 year olds just run around with no clue what they're doing. But, Tally LOVES going and LOVES when she gets to wear her tap shoes.

Halloween

2010-11-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

I think Trey attended SEVEN Halloween events/parties. That's a little out of control! Halloween has turned into Christmas... something that we celebrate all month long! But he sure did have a great time and never got tired of wearing his Yo Gabba Gabba "Plex" costume. And Tally, well, each and every day she would moan "Foofa" until I got her costume out for her to play with.

Yet another...

2010-10-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Jordan completed his 7th Ragnar Relay race this month here, in Las Vegas. He always has fun heading up the team and always has fun running on the team, but is always happy when it's over. Onto the next race, probably in California!

Baby #3 on it's way!

2010-10-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

After finding out I was pregnant, I knew I had a window of about 1-2 weeks before the sickness hit me hard. So, I quickly wipped up these cute announcements (idea stolen from my friend Melinda) and sent them out to our family. It was fun to have a new way to announce that we are expecting our third baby!

General Conference

2010-10-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Just to have for a record, I took a picture of the kids next to the TV so we can remember who the Prophet was when the kids were little.

Trey's first soccer game!

2010-09-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

Trey had a blast playing in his first game. He had two games, and was pretty tired towards the end, but he ran his little heart out the whole time. He even got to play goalie several times, which he was great at. Good Job, Trey!!

(For some reason he runs with his tongue hanging out. This is the first time we've noticed!)

He liked to wave at us to make sure we were watching!

Coach giving Trey a high-5!

September

2010-09-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Trey turned 4!

We had a monster party.

Labor Day weekend in Park City with our friends the Grahams and the Walkers.

Trey started preschool with his friend Annie! His teacher is Ms. Heather.

We went to Sky Fest in Cedar City.

A really fun Young Women activity I helped plan. A babysitting clinic!

Trey started playing soccer! He's on a 4/5 year old team. They are the Strickers!

updates

2010-09-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Well, here it goes! I'm acutally doing it... I'm updating my blog! If anyone really cares, this is for YOU!

-janel

August

2010-08-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

August was a busy month, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera around enough. Trey went on a California Pizza Kitchen tour with Drew and Alison, which he LOVED! Jordan and I had our 6th anniversary, which we celebrated at FIREFLY. Jordan went to Utah and rode the 100 mile "Desperado Dual". And, Trey was in his first Primary Program. His part was, "I can follow Jesus by sharing the gospel." He did amazing and was just about the only Sunbeam that didn't put his mouth on the microphone.

July

2010-07-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

Our big family trip to Maui with Jordan's family.

Tally turned 2!!

A popsicle and swimming party.

At the end of July a bunch of us girls traveled down to L.A. to go to the Renegade Craft Fair.

June

2010-06-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

Painting in the backyard.

Jordan's birthday!

Lots and lots of swimming!

May

2010-05-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

May 13th, I hurt my foot playing church volleyball. I had three stress fractures and plenty of damaged ligaments. It was REALLY painful, and a REAL pain in the butt.

A quick trip to the beach house.

April

2010-04-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

April brought some nice weather and some fun in the backyard with a new swing for Tally.

We also traveled to California for the Ragnar So Cal. The Chasquis did an amazing job, like usual!

March

2010-03-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

Youth activiy at a mall: "Where's Waldo".

Jordan as a "trucker" (or something).

Trey went to the dentist for the first time and was not scared or nervous one bit!

Easter!

We put out carrots for the Easter Bunny and he brought the kids eggs and a few fun presents.

The Easter Bunny also came to Grandma and Grandpas's house for all the grandkids.

February

2010-02-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to Park City with Jordan's mom to go skiing. Trey was in ski school and loved it! There was great snow and it was a really fun trip.

Raga-muffins playing with Mom's phone.

Valentine's Day dinner with the Carters.

Our Valentine's Day cards. We made chocolate dipped Rice Krispie treats on a stick, printed the picture out, and inserted it where Trey's hand is in the photo.

California trip with Grandma.

January

2010-01-31T16:28:00.000-08:00

Lots of Rebel basketball games!

Nursery & Primary

2010-01-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

On the same Sunday, Trey started Primary and Tally started Nursery! Trey was very excited to go where the big kids go, and be able to sing songs and listen to stories. However, when he walked in that primary room, saw his new teachers, who he didn't know, he freaked out, had a bit of a melt down, and clung onto Jordan's leg and wouldn't let go. Jordan finally peeled Trey off and gave him to his teacher. I checked in on him later, peeking through the primary room door, and he was doing just fine, but still sitting on his teacher's lap.

Tally went into Nursery just fine. However, when Jordan picked her up, she took one look at him, her bottom lip curled, quivered, and she started bawling. I think she finally realized that we had left her there, by herself, for the last two hours. All her emotions and stress came out right then. Then she saw me in the hall and started crying again. Wow... what an emotional day! Hopefully next week will be a little more fun and a lot less crying for both kids.

Here they are after church on their special day.

Vail

2010-01-04T23:02:00.000-08:00

Usually, on Christmas Day afternoon we start our drive to Vail, CO. But, this year, Jordan and I decided to leave on the 26th and make the big trip in one day. By the end of the 10 hour drive we were all going a little stir-crazy, but it really wasn't too bad. We were able to relax and enjoy Christmas Day a little longer, and we didn't have to spend one extra night away from home.

Vail was amazingly fun, as usual. There was not much snow on the mountain when we got there, but a couple of storms came through which provided some awesome skiing and snowboarding. Last year, after having Tally just 5 months previous, and still nursing, I only made it out to the slopes one half day. But this year, I went out 2 half days and one full day. It was so much fun and after having lost some weight since last December, I felt much better on my board.

Trey started ski school this year too. Yes, it's amazing that 3 year olds can start to learn to ski! He went four full days. He was always a little sad in the mornings to leave us, but he pretty much had a blast. He can now hold a good wedge and stop on his skis! He's pretty proud of himself. Hopefully we'll be able to put him in ski school a couple more times this season to keep the progress going. (Yes, we would like him to snowboard eventually, but snowboard school doesn't start until they are 5 years old.) Thanks Richard and Carole for such an amazing trip!

Christmas

2009-12-25T23:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Tally really enjoyed it being almost 18 months, and of course, Trey enjoyed it even more. I didn't take too many pictures, and most of what I did take came out fuzzy for some reason.

Christmas Eve we went to Morgan and Allyson's to eat dinner for Morgan's birthday. It was amazingly delicious as usual. Then, we came back over our our house where all my family met us for games and a white elephant gift exchange. It was really fun. The little kids decorated cookies to leave for Santa and pretty much just were running around crazy with excitement.

Christmas Day we woke up, riffled through our stockings, then went over to my parents' house for a yummy breakfast and presents. Trey and Tally got a kitchen stocked full of play food from Santa. Trey got a CARS GeoTrax and Tally got a pink Plasma car and a baby stroller. Then, we went to Jordan's parents' house for a 2nd breakfast and to open more gifts. It was a really great Christmas and we were glad that we could celebrate with so much of our families!

Trey, Tally, and Papa at The Magical Forest.

Santa's Elves

2009-12-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Santa's Elves visited our house this year! They decided to come early in the month of December, with snow stuck to their little elf shoes, and bring the kids some Christmas pajamas. While Trey and Tally were in the bath tub, they opened Trey's bedroom window, snuck in, left the gifts and a note in the middle of the room, and scurried right back out, leaving the window open! As Trey was walking to his room, noticing that it was very cold, he was shocked to see snow on his bedroom floor! Well, yes, the kids were excited to get some new jammies and slippers, but they were even more excited that there was snow (very crushed ice) on the floor. Ok, they could really care less about the new jammies. They played with the snow for about 20 minutes until it started melting and getting everything wet. Trey slept with the note that night and loved to tell everyone that he came in contact with (for the next week) about the Elves' journey down from the North Pole. It was pretty cute.

The Santa Run

2009-12-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

We did the Santa Run again this year! It was at Town Square instead of down town. It was a lot of fun because I ran it this time! Last year my friend Nicole and I walked it, pushing the strollers, while the hubbies ran. But, since I've been tring to lose some weight, I've started running to help me with that goal. Alison, Jessica, Christi, Rachel and I all ran the race. As it turns out, it wasn't even a real 5K!! It was only like 2.5 miles instead of 3.1. Oh well. I think I'll try and keep up the running to do the Stake Track Meet 5K in the spring. Jordan also ran while pushing our new double jogging stroller. It was a bit more of a workout for him, but the stroller really works great and the kids LOVED it.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving, everyone on Jordan's side of the family was somewhere else, and same on my side, except my parents. So, we all decided to go down to the beach house and spend a few days. We ordered Thanksgiving dinner through Claim Jumper. It wasn't quite as good as our own home-cooked food, but it was still really good. We took our bikes to Newport the next day and a saw this beautiful sunset.

A Handmade Affair

2009-11-15T22:07:00.000-08:00

The Handmade Affair was amazing! It was seriously so much fun. We had awesome vendors selling really great stuff. A lot of people came too! We were pleasantly surprised at the success of the night and can't wait to do another show in the spring. Here's some pictures of the unique handmade items that were for sell. If you missed out this time, make sure and look for an invitation for our April/May show.

2009-11-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

Come and do some early holiday shopping, or just find some cool stuff for yourself! There's going to be a lot of great stuff... don't miss out!!

Trick-or-Treating

2009-11-01T22:51:00.000-08:00

Halloween was so much fun this year! After carving pumpkins, then getting the kids costumes together (they were super-heroes), we had some friends and family come over for pizza and Trick-or-Treating. We went over to Spanish Trail, dropped our cars off at Jordan's parents' house, then took off for amazing house decorations and candy. Just about every house we went to gave out full size candy bars. The kids had a blast, but were definitely tired and exhausted by the end of the night. Full of candy and chocolate in the bellies, we went home, examined "the loot" and went to bed.

Pumpkin carving

2009-10-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

For some reason, in our five years of marriage, and Trey's 3 years of life, this is the first time we have carved pumpkins for Halloween. We grew up doing it on our day off of school (Nevada Day) and were always fond of it, but have never made a point of doing it until now. Trey thought is was kind of gross, which it is, but he enjoyed it anyways. He really liked getting to help me trace and cut-out a face for his tiny little "Trey size" jack-o-lantern. Here's a few pictures of our first time, family pumpkin carving.

Trunk-r-Treat

2009-10-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

Road Show

2009-10-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

Our stake put on road shows this year and our Pinnacle ward had an 80's themed skit about "fallen rock stars". Our y.w. and y.m. did really well and had a lot of fun performing too. However, one of the best parts of our road show was not the kids at all. It was the adults who made up "the band". Jordan participated and played the drums. He was so very excited to do so and was even more excited when he was able to dress the part of an 80's rocker. Here is Jordan and Brian (who played the bass guitar) in all their glory. (The funny thing is, after the youth seeing Jordan and Brian in their costumes and being very impressed, one girl asked me, "What, did Bro. Bunker find old stuff in his closet?" FYI: We are not THAT old, okay!!??)

Ragnar Las Vegas

2009-10-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

This is the first Ragnar they have done in Las Vegas! It was so much fun and so nice and convenient to be able to cheer for Team Chasqui and be able to go home at night. We really enjoyed sleeping in our own beds and driving around a town we were already familiar with. Here's a few pictures to recap the race.

Jordan and only a few others got a special black medal that said "Saints and Sinners" because they raced the Ragnar Wasatch Back and the Ragnar Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, we can't mention this race without remembering a runner who passed away while participating. He was hit by a drunk driver in Henderson while providing water to a teammate. We are so sorry that something this terrible had to happen. We are very grateful to our Heavenly Father that our runners come home safely to us after each race.

Cali again

2009-10-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

The first of October we went to California again. It was an awesome trip. First, our friends the Faucettes came and met us at the beach house. They recently moved from Las Vegas to California and we hadn't seen them in a long time. It was so much fun to hang out and visit. We took them to some of our favorite spots in SoCal and just had a great time enjoying each others company. (We miss you, Faucettes!)

Later in the week we went to Disneyland where we met up with some of my BYU-H friends from Oregon. It was so awesome to see Jason and Eryn and their three cute girls. It's been like 5-6 years (or maybe longer) since we've seen each other. We had a great time catching up.

Sky Fest

2009-10-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

Mid September, we went up to Cedar City, Utah to go to Sky Fest. It's a festival where they inflate about 17-20 hot air balloons all at the same time. It was so cool! The kids really enjoyed it, and so did we. I don't think any of us had ever been that close to a hot air balloon before. It's amazing how big they really are and how they can float up into the air to quickly after being blown up. The only bad part of the day was having to get up REALLY early to be there... and they started much later than they said they were going to. But, I think we'll try and go again next year!

Preschool

2009-09-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

Trey started preschool early in September! He is in a class with 5 other kids from our ward. Each mother takes a month and teaches on Tuesday and Thursday morning in their home. I started off with September, and so far, it's been a lot of fun. I enjoy just the actual "teaching" and not having to worry about grading papers, doing report cards, or parent-teacher-conferences. It's great to just be with the kids and help them learn and explore new things. Trey has loved it too, but is a little unsure and having to go to another moms' house for class. I'm sure he'll do fine.

Jordan's Birthday

2009-09-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Jordan's birthday was just a couple days after we got home from the Ragnar race, so we didn't get to plan ahead much like I wanted to. But, we did get a yummy ice cream cake from Cold Stone and enjoyed it together as a family. Happy Birthday Jordan! We love you so much!!

Trey's Birthday

2009-09-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

Trey turned 3 on September 1st! About 2 weeks before he was going to turn 3, he started practicing holding up three fingers so he could show everyone how old he was. He was so excited to have a "race car" party too. It was probably the high-light of his life so far! I saw an awesome "race car" party that a friend of mine had done, so I pretty much just copied everything she did, (Thank you Tricia!!!) It turned out SO DANG CUTE! It was so much fun making everything for the party, and we even decorated a couple of days early just so Trey could enjoy it a little longer than just one day. There were checkered banner flags everywhere, balloons, and race cars on everything, even a t-shirt for Trey. We had chocolate cupcakes and ice cream and played games like "Stop & Go" and Plasma car races in the cul-de-sac (which the adults tried out too). I really think that Trey was just in heaven the whole time. Trey got some really cool gifts, like a new Plasma car with his name on it, and a Home Depot work bench. Happy Birthday, Trey.... WE LOVE YOU!!!

Yummy! Trey's leftover cupcakes from his birthday!

2009-09-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

Oh, what a mess.

A mess at a whole new level! (Seriously Tally?!)

4th of July

2009-09-02T21:00:00.005-07:00

For the 4th of July, we took several days to visit the beach house this year. We went to the park over looking Dana Point Harbor where they did a really great fireworks show. We packed our dinner and blankets, and went and camped out for the evening. BUT, it was sooo cold! It was windy too and sitting on the damp grass didn't help any. It was really fun that Warren and Heather were down in Dana Point too, so we all met up for the evening.

The rest of the time we just did the usuals, like riding the beach cruisers in Newport and eating at Ruby's on the pier. It was a great mini vacation!

Ranch/Cabin

2009-08-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

In one weekend, we visited the ranch and the cabin! Jordan's dad is always excited for us to come visit him in Antimone, and so is Trey (as you can tell by the last picture). We rode the 4-wheelers (with a special tour from one of Richards friends) and visited the horses too. Ben and Emily happen to be visiting the ranch too, so it was fun to catch up with them and see their baby too. We also went to the cabin (which I never took any pictures of) where we did some more 4-wheeling, some kayaking, and all the other fun things that we like to do there. We are so grateful and blessed that we have these wonderful places to visit as often as we want. It's always a nice break to get out the of Vegas heat and enjoy mother nature for a while.

Wiggles Concert

2009-07-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

Very cheesy, but a lot of fun! Trey and Tally just loved it, and Jordan and I loved singing along as well! It was exciting to see them in person and they really interacted with the audience a lot. We are glad we went!

DaisyLoo Designs

2009-07-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

My talented sister-in-law, Heather, just started up an Etsy shop. She has some REALLY cute stuff: ponytail holders, mouse pads, clip boards, bookmarks, and key fobs. Check it out here!

Getting back on track

2009-07-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

So I've been taking a major blogging break because I was diligently working on my Blurb blog book. I'm done now, so now I can update with whats been going on in the present. I can't wait to get my book in the mail! The reason I do this blog is to record the family events in the Bunker household, which, I turn into a "scrapbook" of all the year's events. So back to the present in the year 2009! I seriously have a list of 12 things to blog about... a little daunting. Maybe I'll get to all of them. Maybe not. Oh, and some of the events im pre-dating... so they might be below this post somewhere.

Tally's Birthday

2009-07-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tally is finally one year old!! We are so excited for her to turn one and to start so many new fun adventures, not being a baby anymore. For her birthday we had a butterfly party, inspired by the "Charlie & Lola" cartoon show. It was so fun to put together and it came out just as I envisioned. Butterflies were everywhere, and Trey even helped put butterflies all over the house. Instead of a cake, we did milk and cookies, just like Lola likes. We had regular, soy, chocolate, and pink milk, and about 6 or 7 different types of cookies. But for Tally's own personal birthday cake with a candle, she got her first taste of "Sprinkles" with a classic black and white cupcake. We were all jealous! Tally really seemed to have a lot of fun and she got some great gifts from all the family. Happy Birthday, Tally, WE LOVE YOU so much!

Swim Lessons

2009-06-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Trey was so excited that he was able to take swimming lessons this summer. The class was only a week long, but he really learned a lot. He practiced putting his head under water, blowing bubbles, floating on his back, kicking his legs, and doing strokes with his arms. At first, he was very hesitant to do anything that the teacher (Melinda) asked him to do. But, towards the end of the week, he could do all that she asked. By the next week, when we would go swimming as a family, he would wear a life jacket, but could do all the things he learned really well. I can't wait to put Trey in swimming lessons next year to really help him to be able to swim totally on his own. I think this summer, the lessons really helped him to build his confidence and give him exposure to what he is capable of doing in the water.

This month...

2009-06-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

Tally is starting to climb on things (but still not walking) and Trey fell off the swing in our backyard and smeared his face on the grass. It's really not a bad injury, it just looks pretty awful.

Ragnar Wasatch Back 09

2009-06-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Father's Day

2009-06-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day my sister and I got together to make these photo collages for Jordan and for our Dad. We didn't really get to celebrate Father's Day like we would have liked to because we were driving home from Utah for the Raganar race. But, we still hope that Jordan felt how loved he is and how important he is to the kids and me. We Love You!!

11 months

2009-06-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Tally is pulling up on everything, Trey is her favorite, and she is doing really well at eating regular food. She likes to brush her own hair with a baby hair brush and loves swimming in the pool too. She even went to her first movie, "Kung Fu Panda" at Town Square for the free summer movies. Tally is doing wonderful and still such a happy baby!

Pump it Up

2009-06-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Alison and I took the kids to Pump it up. Trey has been there once before, but was still a little small to enjoy it. This time, he was big enough, but a little timid. I think he had just as much, or more, fun riding in the little car. Alison and I took turns taking Trey down the slides, which he liked. But, one time, Alison just pushed him down by himself to see if he would like it, and he DIDN'T! It was so funny to see how mad he got. When he got to the bottom, he stood up and pointed his finger down at the slide and screamed at Alison, "I said I didn't want to go by myself!!" It was hilarious... yes, we felt bad, but it was hilarious. Tally had fun just crawling around, and the twins were pretty good too. We'll have to go back again soon, but now that school it out, I don't think we will have it all to ourselves like we did this time. Oh well.

Swing Set

2009-06-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

We got a new swing set for out backyard! A family in our ward was moving, so we bought it from them and took it off their hands. Trey has LOVED IT!! We're so glad that the kids have a place to play now in our own backyard. Hopefully it will bring a lot of happiness to our family for years to come.

Father & Sons

2009-05-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

Jordan took Trey to their first Father & Sons outing! They were so excited to go. It was out at Lake Mead, so they had canoes and other fun things to do. Trey loved sleeping in a tent and Jordan said that Trey slept better than he sleeps at home. Wow! Tally and I had a nice evening out with Mindi and Samantha while the boys were away. Can't wait until next year!

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

It was a great Mother's Day this year. The kids made breakfast and Jordan took on a lot of the kids duties. And, he made this amazing video just for me... about me! Check it out here. In the evening, we went to my parents house where the boys grilled some steaks. It was a great dinner and a lot of fun. Thanks Jordan, Trey, and Tally! I love you!

Brian Regan

2009-05-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday night Jordan and I went to St. George with some of my family to see Brian Regan live at Tuacahn. It was SO FUN!! Jordan and I have enjoyed his comedy probably for about 5 years or so... since we have been married. We love that he has clean humor and is so relatable. "Beefaroni" anyone? It was great too when he took requests during his encore. It's amazing how he told the jokes exactly like he does on his videos. He did several of our favorites. It was so enjoyable; I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We can't wait to see him again someday.

10 months

2009-05-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

On the 7th, Tally was 10 months old! She is crawling like crazy, pulling herself up on everything, and is still just as happy as can be (except when it's time to go to sleep). When we come in to get her out of her crib, she is usually standing up, which is a new thing. She also loves the swimming pool and water in general. She's babbling a lot and especially LOVES whenever Trey is around and paying attention to her. We love our Tally; she is just so dang cute! (Still bald, but cute!)

stake track meet

2009-05-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in May we attended a Stake Track Meet. It was the first year the stake put this on, so we were a little hesitant as to what was going to happen, but it turned out to be so fun, and we can't wait until next year! We all had matching t-shirts and really enjoyed cheering on everyone in our ward. Jordan ran the 5K (his best time yet) and my mom and I walked the 5K while pushing the double stroller. Jordan also ran a 12 x 200 relay that he came very close to winning for our ward. BUT.... our ward did win for most points overall for the entire track meet. Way to go Pinnacle Ward!!

Jordan, in the background, trying to catch some dude.

Ragnar LA

2009-04-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well, Jordan did it again! He ran and managed his third Ragnar Relay. This one, from Santa Barbara to Dana Point. However, this was the first time the kids and I went along! It was so much fun and though it was a lot of work, we are so glad that we went to support Jordan and the team. Mindi and her baby rode along with the kids and I as we supported the Chasquis with food, drink, and love! It was beautiful scenery the whole time and we can't wait to go back next year! Check out the Team Chasqui blog for race reviews, Twitter updates, and just finished, an awesome video that Mike took along the way.

easter

2009-04-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Easter was wonderful this year. It's so much more fun when your kids actually "get it" and understand what an egg-hunt is. It's also nice when they finally understand a little about Jesus and can start to comprehend why we actually celebrate Easter.

Saturday morning we had a ward pancake breakfast and an Easter egg hunt at a park. Sunday, the Easter Bunny came to our backyard and left some treats and gifts for Trey and Tally. Sunday evening, we had a wonderful dinner with my family and the Easter Bunny came again, to Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. He was busy all weekend!! Of course he thought ahead and sectioned off the grass into four quadrants so that each boy could find his own set of eggs. Very smart, Easter Bunny!

9 months

2009-04-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here's my beautiful girl! She is still such a good baby and is just growing up way too fast.

9 month stats:

height 28.5 in. (75%) weight 17.8 lbs. (25%) head 44.5 cm. (50-75%)

baby dane

2009-04-07T11:58:00.001-07:00

Mason and Jessica had their baby... his name is Dane Allan Duff. He is so cute and such a good baby. Congratulations to Mason, Jessica, and Cooper and welcome home, Dane! Trey and Tally are so excited to have a new cousin!

note to jordan...

2009-04-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Do not toss, throw, or "chuck" the full Diaper Genie bag down the stairs, EVER AGAIN! Our noses just can't handle the explosion of stink again.

the cloves

2009-04-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Liesel and her kids came to visit. It was so much fun to have them here. Trey thought he was in heaven because he had constant buddies to play with. We did a few fun and free activities in town, like Ethel M. Chocolate Factory, and viewing the fish tank at Bass Pro. I love that even though Liesel and I don't get to see each other often, we get along so well and act as though we just hung out the other day. Thanks for being such a good friend (and cousin) Liesel! Come back again soon... Trey misses "the kids"!

jordan

2009-03-23T15:07:00.001-07:00

Just have to give a quick shout-out to my Jordan. He ran a 5K at the Springs Preserve Saturday morning and said it was his best time for a 5K ever! Way to go!! You're getting so good at this running thing!

(Thanks to Jessica/Heather for this picture I stole!)

finally.

2009-03-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

Raise your hand if you have stopped checking our blog because we just don't post anything anymore!! Me too! Sorry, I've been busy (okay, just the average amount) and a little bit lazy. Events and such to blog about have just piled up, so it's a little overwhelming now to think where to start. I'll just recap a few bits here and there from the past two months.

January

We went bowling with my family on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Most of the little boys had never done that, so it was really fun. We all had a great time on our day off!

Alison's friend, Jodi, my mom, and I threw a baby shower for Alison. Everything was pink and blue because of the twins she was expecting. It turned out really cute and it was fun to put together. "Baby Cakes" was the theme. We had a cheesecake bar for dessert.

And at the end of the month, Jordan and I went to a Phoenix Suns game in Arizona. (See previous post by Jordan)

February

Jessica and I took our kids to Bass Pro to see the fish being fed. The boys LOVED it, and it was a great FREE activity. We're so glad the Duffs live here in Vegas now so we can do fun cousin stuff!

Talya turned 7 months old!!

For Valentine's Day Trey and I made candy necklaces for cousins and grandparents. In the center we put a heart shaped homemade Oreo with pink frosting. Yum!

For President's Day weekend, we went with Warren and Heather to the beach house. An interesting trip!! Really, we all had a lot of fun, but.... on our way down there, it was snowing like crazy in Barstow (Yes, Barstow!!) We stopped for gas and there were like 2 inches of snow all over everything. We got video footage, but no pictures. We made some of our usual stops at Sprinkles and Ruby's on the Balboa Pier. We rode our bikes along the boardwalk where Tally and Trey both fell asleep in the bike trailer. On Monday, we went to Disneyland, where it rained most of the day. NOT fun, but the park was pretty empty. We never had to wait long for anything. The kids were pretty much locked inside a bubble the whole day, but Trey did get to go on the Matterhorn for the first time, and he LOVED it!!

The rest of the week after Disneyland, Trey and Tally were sick with awful colds while Jordan had Bronchitis. (Maybe it was being outside in the cold and windy rain????) However, I didn't contract a thing... someone needed to take care of all of them!

The last weekend of the month, Jordan ran in another Ragnar race. This one was in Arizona and was a lot of fun. Check out the Chasqui blog for all the details and pictures. (Oh, and he's doing ANOTHER one in April!)

March

I got a new calling at church. I was teaching R.S. (only taught a total of 3 times) but now I am the Beehive advisor in the Young Womens. Different, but fun. It's VERY involved, but a good experience and like I said, fun.

Talya turned 8 months old!

Alison had her babies!!! They were a day early; her water broke. I took some pictures of the twiners in the hospital. I couldn't believe how small they were/are! Alison' s blog has more details, well, a few more, but not many. She's recovering from the c-section, so don't expect to see much blogging on her part anytime soon, and she's "going private" soon too.

So that pretty much catches us up!! Not that we're that exciting, but that's what we've been up to. Let's all cross our fingers that I stay with it a little better!

The Suns

2009-02-09T15:32:00.000-08:00

So I have a theory - That on giftbearing holidays (ie Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day) Janel always manages to get me something that she can use equally as much as, if not more than, I would use it.

Please consider the following exhibits that support my theory:

The black Pottery Barn desk and desk accessories that she got me for one of first Christmases together. I enjoyed using it in our old house, but now that we have moved, it has made its way to her upstairs office, where she uses it to full capacity. Somewhere along the line, another desk to match it appeared up there as well, so as to give her more workspace.

A clothing steamer. Not gonna lie - one of the best gifts ever. Makes my shirts ready to wear and wrinkle-free in a mater of a few short minutes. She also benefits from having this handy-dandy appliance in our bedroom.

My dress clothes. Shirts and ties mainly. You may be asking yourself, "But Jordan, Janel doesn't wear your clothes! You're just being a silly goose." It is true that my wife does not wear my clothes. However not only does she get to see me wearing said clothes, but she gets to be seen with me whilst I wear said clothes. And if you've ever seen me, you know that that alone is worth its weight in gold.

So needless to say, this past Christmas I was expecting perhaps a rolling pin or some pearl earrings, which I would have been extremely grateful for, because I love my wife more than anything, and anything she could ever get me would be absolutely awesome.

But boy oh boy did she out-do herself this time. As I opened up this gift, she was obviously anticipating a priceless reaction from me, since she made sure to video tape the whole thing. And she was dead on. Her gift rendered me speechless! Upon opening the beautifully decorated small, red box I found two tickets to see a Phoenix Suns basketball game!

I was amped. The Suns have been my favorite basketball team since the early to mid 90's when they had Charles Barkley, Dan Majerle and Kevin Johnson. They are now home to even more of my favorite players: Steve Nash, Shaquille O'Neil, Amaré Stoudamire, Leandro Barbosa and Lou Amundsun.

So, the weekend finally arrived when we were supposed to go to the game. We were going to just drive to Phoenix on a Saturday, watch the game that night and then come home on Sunday. Janel's wonderful parents volunteered to watch Trey overnight, so it was just me and my babes in Phoenix. The drive down was lame, as is pretty much any drive, but it was all new scenery for me, so I made the most out of it.

We got there around 3:30 pm, checked into our hotel and just vegged for a few minutes. About two or so hours before the game was to begin, we decided we should probably go and get some grub before the game, since we had no idea how crazy downtown Phoenix would be before the game. So we made a few laps around the U.S. Airways Center, trying to find a parking garage that would rip us off the least. We finally found one that would only charge only $12 to park. our. freaking. car. We parked and then went across the street to eat at Stoudamire's, a cool sports grill owned by the Suns' very own Amaré Stoudamire. I had a decent quesadilla and some awesome fish.

Then it was back across the street to the game and we had ab absolute blast! It was so fun seeing the Phoenix Suns intros and the fun they have on the court. Shaq is just hilarious. The entertainment during the time outs was jsut as good as the time outs themselves! It was just a blast being there with my two babes.

The next morning, we took a drive to the Sprinkles in Scottsdale and drive by the Mesa Temple. I guess we shouldn't have purchased our Sprinkles on a Sunday, because our punishment was our GPS leading us back home through Flagstaff!! That tacked on an extra few hours. Yuck.

Anyway, a great trip.

Thanks, Janel!!

6 months

2009-01-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

Wow! Time is going by way too fast.

height: 26 in... weight: 15.10 lbs... head circumference: 49.5 cm.

Tally loves to smile at anyone and loves to get moving. She is a pro at jumping in her doorway jumper and at investigating all the toys on her exersaucer. She eats and sleeps really well and is such a happy baby. And more than anything, she LOVES Trey and giggles with him all the time. Just about anything he does is funny.

And so it ends (and begins)...

2009-01-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

I guess it is about time that I finish up blogging for the month of December and the year of 2008. I'm sure I've kept you all in suspense, wondering what we've been up to.

Talya had a lot of "firsts" for the month. She took a bath in the bathtub for the first time. She also tried cereal and bananas, both which she loves. She also loves to be in the door-way jumper and the exercaucer. She rolled over several times in a row, and is starting to even sit up for a short time. It funny to see all the new things she can do now that she is becoming more "vertical".

We did a lot of fun, holiday type activities in December, mostly due to the lack-there-of last year. We took lots of time decorating the house and the Christmas tree (I didn't even put up one decoration last year... not even a tree.) Trey and Talya really enjoyed just sitting under the tree and staring at the lights.

My family joined us at the Springs Preserve for dinner and to enjoy the Christmas lights and a train ride one night.

We REALLY enjoyed the inches of snow we received on the 15th. Trey was just in heaven! For some reason, when it's really cold outside, it doesn't seem to matter to a 2 year old. He could care less if he we dressed in just a t-shirt and shorts. He was determined to be outside playing in the snow.

We listened to tons of Christmas music and drank lots of hot chocolate all month long and even enjoyed our favorite treat of Carmel Apple Ciders from Starbucks a few times. (Not to mention A TON of other treats and goodies from friends and family.)

We had a great Christmas Eve/Birthday dinner with Jordan's side of the family, celebrating Morgan's birthday. It's always a treat to eat Allyson's good food.

Christmas morning was especially fun as Trey was so excited to see if Santa ate his cookies, to dive into his stocking, and to open gifts. At one time, he was half done opening a present and noticed his cousin had just opened a "Mater" from the CARS movie. Trey instantly threw down his half opened gift, not caring what it was, and ran over to see Mater. It was so funny. We quickly found Trey's Mater from under the tree and let him open it to see that Santa had brought him one too.

Christmas Day afternoon we started our annual drive to Vail, Colorado, only to find the I-15 had been closed off in Beaver, Utah due to so many accidents on the road from the heavy snow. We had to stay there over night, instead of in Richfield like planned. We had such a great time in Vail this year. Jordan got in 4 full days and 2 half days of snowboarding. I was able to board 2 half days, which was great, considering I've taken off the last two years. Trey, again, was obsessed with the snow. We bought him a little sled to be pulled around on and saying he loved his sled is an understatement. We celebrated New Year's up there too, which included enjoying a fireworks show at the bottom of one of the ski lifts and then playing board games with all the nieces and nephews. I regret not taking more pictures while we were there, but it always took so long to get the kids and myself all bundled up to go outside that I usually forgot the camera by the time we left the condo. Oh well, there's always next year!

We always love how shows like "The Soup" recap the year and show funny and ridiculous things that have gone on this past year. Looking back, we sure had a great year. Talya came into our lives, we got a new backyard, Jordan finished a Ragnar race, and many, many other wonderful events and accomplishments that we'll always remember. Here's to the start of an amazing 2009 and the beginning of working on my Blurb family scrapbook to record all these posts since the start of "The Bunk House". (THAT is going to take me forever!!) I don't like to set New Year's resolutions because I never keep them (why set myself up for disappointment?!) but I think I will have a mission statement of sorts. It's the year to "Be Skinny!" That includes my ever-on-going quest to lose "the baby weight" (from Talya & Trey) and to other things, like decluttering and organizing our house/lives of the things that don't really matter (like cutting back on bills for things that we can afford to live without), to being more "healthy" in the gospel, like working on FHE and our food storage. So, here's to better health, better minds, better testimonies, and a better year!

The End!!

With love,
The Bunkers

the santa run

2008-12-09T20:58:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we participated in the Santa Run again this year put on by Opportunity Village. Well, it was the second time for Jordan, but my first (I was at home, very sick and pregnant last year). It was so much fun. My friend Nicole and I did the 1 mile walk, while Jordan, Warren & Heather, Dennis, and Evan did the 5K. It was really incredible to see that many people dressed up in Santa costumes. Trey had a blast too. He is just catching on to this Santa/Christmas thing, so it was really funny to hear him keep say, "I see Santa Cwaz!" They tried to break the record for the most people dressed up as Santa at one time. There were thousands, though we don't know the official results. I think we're going to make this a tradition every year because it was so fun. Jordan says it was a personal best time for running a 5K. Way to go, Jordan!

5 months

2008-12-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

Talya was 5 months old, yesterday, on the 7th. She is getting so big! She giggles now and is really trying to move a lot more. I still haven't fed her cereal, which I should of by now, but we'll try within the next couple of days. Her personality is coming out more and she is just so dang cute! We love our Tally!

ward christmas party

2008-12-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

Our ward party was on the 5th this month. It seemed a little early, but it got us all in the Christmas spirit. The food was good, the program was good, and it was nice to be able to go this year (again, stuck at home, sick, during last year's party.) Trey had a lot of fun seeing Santa, which I didn't get any pictures of.

thanksgiving

2008-12-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

Jordan's nephew, Taylor, came home from his mission in Japan the week before Thanksgiving. We wanted to attend his homecoming in Sacrament Meeting, so we invited ourselves to his family's house for Thanksgiving. They were glad to let us come, but they live in Amarillo, Texas, so we had to fly. We were slightly nervous about flying with the kids, it being their first time on a plane, but they were amazing! (Trey was in heaven seeing all the "air panes") Trey slept through two of the flights, and Talya only fussed (not cried) at the end of one as we were descending (only because she was a little tired). It was great! We really had such a fun time. Taylor gave a wonderful report of his mission and we really enjoyed hearing all of his stories. We were able to celebrate Katy's birthday with her too. We loved being with Jordan's sister's family, who we don't get to see very often. Thank you Jeff, Katy, Taylor, and Cameron for having us!!

cousins

2008-11-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

Trey got to play with a cousin from out of town, Cooper, and his cousins in town, Parker and Drew, all last weekend. All the kids had a blast playing together as well as us parents enjoying the visit too. We're so glad we got to see you guys, Mason, Jessica, and Cooper, and hope the next time we see eachother again is soon!

and so it begins

2008-11-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

"The Season" has officially begun. The holiday season you ask?? NO! But of course, it's the Rebel's basketball season! Jordan is in full swing on the rebel blog. If you haven't checked it out by now, and you love the Rebels, then you're crazy! Jordan does an awesome job recapping all the games and giving us all the inside scoop. Here's to an awesome season...

GO REBS!

bike ride

2008-11-18T16:07:00.000-08:00

A week ago, Jordan was going to take Trey on a bike ride. I asked him if he would go to the store for me too. He combined the two and had a blast with Trey. We live pretty close to a Smith's, so it was a great chance to save on some gas money. Thanks Jordan, for doing the shopping, and for getting Trey out of the house for awhile!

4 months

2008-11-13T08:30:00.001-08:00

Height: 25 in.

Weight: 13.12 lbs.

Head Circumference: 40 cm.

A happy and healthy baby!

halloweens

2008-11-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Halloween is crazy these days. Growing up, we had Nevada Day off of school which also happens to be Halloween. On that day, we carved pumpkins, got our costumes ready, and went trick-or-treating. We did it all in one day, and that was it! I don't even remember wearing my costume to school. Now, Halloween festivities seem to go on for weeks. Last Wednesday I had our ward play group over for a Halloween party. Thursday night was our ward Halloween party with Trick-or-Treating from door to door in the building. (It was a fun alternative to a Trunk-or-Treat). Then, Trey, Talya and I went to my friend Donna's house for another kids' Halloween party on Friday morning. And finally, we went Trick-or-Treating in Spanish Trail, where Jordan's parents live. (Just about every house you go to hands out full size candy bars. Fun to get, but not so fun to weigh yourself a few days later!!) So, fun was had many times and Trey was able to wear his costume many times and celebrate the holiday many times. Kids are sure spoiled these days!!

Trey was a rocker, Talya was a fish.

Trey, kissing his candy.

Trey was much more interesting in dipping his M&M's in the frosting
and eating them instead of decorating his haunted house.

Dumping his "loot" to see what he got.

50 miles!?!

2008-10-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, Jordan, his friend, Mike, and my sister-in-law, Heather, participated in a 50 mile bike ride on Saturday. The route started down town at the RTC building, went west to Red Rock, around to the small town of Blue Diamond, and back the way they came. My brother, Warren, and I went to support our spouses. They had a great time on the ride and we had a great time watching. After seeing Jordan ride away on his bike, Trey was very sad and couldn't wait to see daddy on his bike again at the next stop. Good job Jordan!! (For a more detailed account of the experience, visit here)

just for your enjoyment

2008-10-28T15:24:00.001-07:00

the cheetah girls

the jonas brothers

recent happenings...

2008-10-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

A few things that have been going on, and some fun pictures.

Trey is more than obsessed with chocolate.
Little does he know, the best holiday is coming

at the end of this week! He will probably explode

with excitement once he goes trick-or-treating.

We went with Jordan's parents to the

Shark Reef for a family outing. Trey had a lot of

fun and started to whine, "sharrrksss" when we left.

Boys love their trains!

The park, on a windy day.

I don't know what we were thinking.

It was not that fun.

We ate at the new Fudruckers, where Trey got a balloon monkey.

He was sooo excited and played with it so much at home that all

the pieces came apart and we finally had to just throw it away.

He was devastated.

It's that time again! Jordan took Trey

to the "First Look" event at the Thomas & Mack.
Here's the popcorn, the coach, the players, and...

the fans.

3 months

2008-10-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

Talya is a whopping 3 months old today! Its great... she's out of the "I'm-a-newborn-and-cry-all-the-time-for-no-reason" stage, she nurses really well, and is pretty much on a great schedule. She smiles all the time and especially loves to smile at her big brother, Trey. She holds her head up really well and has even sat in the Bumbo chair a few times, although not for very long. Compared to Trey, she's an angel-baby and we just LOVE having her around!

the backyard

2008-09-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

Our backyard is finally finished. Yea!!! You may have seen a glimpse of it in other pictures, and some of you may have seen it in person already, but here are a few pictures of our new sanctuary. During the day I like to just go sit out there and stare at everything. Look forward to lots of swim parties next summer!

a blessing.

2008-09-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Talya was blessed in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday. Jordan gave a beautiful blessing even though Talya cried and fussed most of the time. Afterwards we had a luncheon at our house with all of our family. It was a lot of fun to have everyone there. We are so grateful to have Talya as part of our family and are so blessed to have her in our lives.

T & T

2008-09-06T11:01:00.001-07:00

I just had to share how much Trey loves his little sister. So cute! He saw me taking pictures of her and went and grabbed an old broken camera. He tried to take pictures telling her to say, "Cheese!" but was frustrated when the camera "No work".

Trey is 2!

2008-09-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

Monday was Trey's birthday! He turned 2 years old. Days before we tried to teach him to respond with "2" when someone asked him how old he was. We were driving in the car when we were doing this and as he was saying two, he saw some tractors which he yelled out to get our attention. Jordan says, "Two tractors??". Trey said, "Yeah". So all this last week, when we asked him, "Trey, how old are you?" he would answer "Two tractors". It's pretty funny.

His birthday this year landed on Labor Day, so it was nice that everyone had work off and could spend the day with us. We started the day off with breakfast at the "Beach Cafe", a small restaurant near our house. Then, in the afternoon, we had a pool party since our backyard is finally finished... yea! Instead of going all out with a theme and stuff for his party, I just went to the party store and let Trey pick out a set of plates, napkin, etc. He enthusiastically picked out Curious George. For a cake, we did a cupcake bar. I made chocolate cupcakes and everyone could choose their own frosting and decorations for the top. Trey just went straight to the sprinkles and mini M&M's. Of course!

We had a very fun day and Trey got some great presents. Tractors, trucks, bikes... all his favorites. Happy Birthday, Trey! We love you so much and can't imagine our family without you! We're so glad you're "two tractors" now!

Lake Las Vegas Triathlon

2008-08-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST BY JORDAN. FEEL FREE TO NOT READ IT AND JUST SCROLL TO THE PICTURES.
-JORDAN

A note from Jordan: There are some people in this world that are athletic. They are naturally in shape and with little to no training can become adept at pretty much anything that involves stamina, skill, fitness and/or endurance. I am not and do not pretend to be one of these people. With this in mind, you are now prepared to read the following entry about my experience at the Lake Las Vegas Triathlon.

A month or so ago, I signed up for the Lake Las Vegas Triathlon, which was held this morning. Now, given the fact that there is a brand new baby in the household and I only decided to do this race about a month before it was to take place, I had neither the time nor energy (nor athleticism) to put in the amount of training that would have been required to complete a 500 m swim, followed by a 10-mile bike ride, followed by a 3.1 mile run. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely people that can pull this off - I am simply not one of them.

I am, however, a mother freaking genius, and were my wit somehow translated to sheer athleticism, I would be reincarnated as Bryan Clay. So, you are obviously asking yourself, "How, oh how, Jordan, did your brilliance play out in this situation?"

Since you asked, I will tell you:

Instead of doing the triathlon on my own, I formed a relay team - one person would swim, I would ride the bike, and someone else would run (yes, this was allowed by the race). But, the swimmer and the runner that would be chosen at my own pleasure and discretion wouldn't be just any Tom, Dick or Harry off the street. No sir! No sir-ee Bob Dixie!

You see, my strategy throughout life (and another prime example of the mastermind that I am), has been to surround myself with superstars who, despite any mediocrity in my own performance, will ensure that whatever the finished product is, is a winner. It was no different at Ragnar, and it was no different this morning at the tri. Now, I realize that this strategy completely precludes me from earning any bragging rights that may come as a result of finishing an event such as this, which is fine. I do these things for me and not to tell people about how I did...unless they ask, in which case I fully disclose all details, good or bad.

The Team
So, I reached out to two of my very good friends at work - Katie and Matt.

Katie was a swimmer in high school; however, due to the physical enhancements which she may or may not have acquired between then and now, the hydrodynamics of her new shape were somewhat in question. These doubts were laid to rest when she did the Water District proud at the Corporate Challenge swim meet, winning various medals. Katie's interests include cheeseburgers with fried eggs on them, donuts, burritos, iced tea and swedish fish. She is also a very accomplished beer pong player. And just like that, I had a swimmer.

Matt is like 6'4", and at the risk of being judged, I will freely admit that he is likely the best looking dude I know. He was signed up to run Ragnar with Team Chasqui, but two days before the race, had to drop out due to what seemed like a sudden case of Tuberculosis...or lung cancer. Now fully recovered, he was ready to go. Matt's interests include conspiracy theories, being hot and wearing see-thru dress shirts. Like Katie, he is also a decorated beerponger.

I am 5'11.75" and my weight fluctuates from "out of shape" to "that's just gross." Obviously, when I'm in my "out of shape" stage, I perform by absolute best. I do these races so that there is constantly something on the horizon to keep working for, to keep me active, so that I can maintain that coveted "out of shape" status.

Race Day
I picked up Katie and Matt at the Las Vegas Athletic Club in Henderson at 6 am. Before even pulling out of the parking lot, Matt asked if we had two minutes to spare to pick up a coffee at Starbucks. I aplogized profusely for not having thought of that first. I mean, who wouldn't want a nice, scalding cup of joe before running a 5k?

So Matt got his coffee and the remainder of the trip to Lake Las Vegas was occupied by Katie relating the various nightmares she had had about the race, the majority of which involved her drowning, which seemed relatively probably. She literally thought she was going to die.

We got to Lake Las Vegas, parked, gathered our things from the car and began our walk to the check-in line. We had not taken five steps from the car, however, before the following exchange took place between Katie and some girl she knew from high school that was also doing the tri:

Girl from high school (from about 10 feet away): Katie? Katie!
Katie: Hey! How's it going?
Girl from high school: Good! Are you ready for this?
Katie: No, not really.
Girl from high school: Well, don't worry...I look terrible too!

...as Matt and I picked ourselves up off the ground from laughing, Katie held a short funeral for her self-esteem. It was likely the highlight of the day and a quote that will not be soon forgotten.

So we got checked in, free t-shirts and markered up. We made our way down to the Lake Las Vegas Shoreline, which was now affectionately known as "Katie's watery grave". Upon arrival at the starting line, Katie paced in anxiety, as Matt and I tried to calm her down, Matt still nursing his coffee. We received our pre-race briefing, the two men's waves took off, and then it was Katie's turn. She entered the water along with maybe 50 or so other females under the age of 34, including my sister-in-law, Heather and her sister, Bree, both of whom did the entire sprint triathlon on their own and did awesome. The bullhorn sounded and they were off. Katie had a great start and then got lost in the whitewater and flailing arms and legs of the other contestants. Matt and I took off and headed back up to the transition area for me to get ready for the cycling portion of the event.

For some reason COMPLETELY beyond my comprehension, Matt had the sudden urge to urinate, so he bailed and left me alone to prepare for my 10 mile ride. No sooner had I strapped on my cycling shoes and buckled my helmet that Katie came flying across the time pad, entering the trannie area. I wasn't really counting, but no more than 15 female swimmers could have come through before her. She did awesome.

I took the race chip from her, wrapped it around my ankle and cautiously pranced my bike up a steep, steep driveway. Upon reaching the top, I clicked in and was off. The bike course was a loop that each cyclist in the sprint category had to ride three times. It began with a long, steep, uphill climb. Even with fresh legs, this hill burned on the very first try. Knowing that I still had two more times to go up this sucker, I took it slow and steady. This climb was followed by a long, straight, long, steep, long downhill. The only pedaling I did on this decent was about five turns of a big gear to get me going. After that, it was tucked-in coasting. During one of my decents, I looked at my Cat-Eye and it said I was going 41 mph. This is the fastest I have ever gone on a bike, and it was awesome. This downhill was followed by another tough climb, a downhill and then a flat. Then it started all over again. By my third lap, I was COOKED. It turns out that the "training rides" I had been doing the month prior to the race were mere "rides" and not "training rides". I finished the cycling portion with a pretty slow (but descent) time and handed the chip to a shirtless Matt, our anchor, our star.

He took off running and it seemed like he sprinted the entire way. Katie and I walked back to the car and drove it to the finish line. Matt was finishing just as we got there. Apparently, he got confused as to where the finish line was, always thinking he was approaching it much sooner that he actually would. Wanting to finish the race strong, he was constantly sprinting toward the finish line. He just kept passing and passing and passing more and more people. It was epic.

The Results
In the end, we finished second out of seven sprint relay teams - about 2 minutes behind the first place team and almost four minutes ahead of the third place team. We should have stuck around for the medal ceremony, because we probably would have each received one. NUTS!

Oh well, nobody died and we all had a blast doing it and hopefully can do it again.

Transition Area

Matt - post-coffee; pre-run

Jordan - the dismount

The team after the race

Baby Talya

2008-08-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

This was Talya's birth annoucement. Credits go to tiny*prints for the layout and my sister, Alison Carter, for the photo. We LOVE how it all turned out. She's such a cutie!!

Dana Point

2008-08-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

We left town for a quick weekend getaway for a change of scenery again. We went down to the beach house in Dana Point and just relaxed and took it easy. We didn't even visit some of our favorite spots, like Sprinkles, Ruby's, or Disneyland (my pass expired on the 23rd; so sad). We just enjoyed the cool weather and each other's company. We spent one morning at the beach, where Trey went into hysterics when we had to leave because he loves it so much and spent an afternoon at a park flying a kite, which he loved too. Jordan was able to take a nice, but hard, bike ride around Dana Point and wonders why we don't live down there. It was a great trip and we can't wait to go back soon!

Tractors

2008-08-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

What little boy doesn't love tractors? Well, Trey is no exception. He actually calls them "dogers". And with all the constant construction around town, he enjoys every ride we take in the car. He loves to repeat "I see dogers!!" over and over until we acknowledge him and say, "Yes, we see them too!" It's kind of annoying, but cute. Here's a few pictures of Trey in a bobcat that some workers left overnight in our backyard while they are still working on our landscaping. You can imagine that he was in heaven!!

Cabin

2008-08-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun at the cabin this weekend. It was so nice to get away from the house and to feel some cooler weather for a change. Trey and his cousin, Cooper, rarely get to see each other so they quickly decided to be best buds and follow each other everywhere. We rode mountain bikes and 4-wheelers, went kayaking, ate good food, and relaxed. Talya was great too. I think she enjoyed the change of scenery. Here's a video of Trey swinging on a glider on the back porch of the cabin. He figured out how to do this all on his own!

more talya

2008-07-29T13:11:00.001-07:00

Team Chasqui video!

2008-07-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry to steal Talya's thunder for a minute, but here is a sick video of our 181-mile footrace through Utah. Big ups to Weintzy for the great camerawork and editing.

talya

2008-07-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

She's Here!

2008-07-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

Talya Ann Bunker

8 lbs. 5 oz.

21 inches

Monday, July 7th

8:43 pm

*Pictures & guest post by Alison

My Latest Project

2008-07-07T12:13:00.001-07:00

Jordan here...If you know a a little about me, you know that I have a great passion for music. Between 1997 and about 2003 (excluding the two years I spent on my mission), I was in and out of various bands, either singing or playing the drums. They were a blast, but never quite took off...until now.

Exclusively for the readers of The Bunk House, behold: the unveiling of the name and members of my newest project which will soon be taking the world by storm and coming to an XBox near you.

Alas...The I'm Just Saying!

The I'm Just Saying Consists of but is not limited to:

Drums: Cam'ron "The Iron-Footed Playboy" Lipterstein

Bass: Eazee-E "The Spectacled Stoneface" McScratch

Guitar: J-Bunk "The Sleeze" VonLardo

Vocals: D-Ray "Tickle Me" Jones

Try to rock harder than us...we dare you.

Fun on the Fourth

2008-07-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

This Fourth of July we took it easy and just relaxed most of the day. In the evening we grilled some burgers and hot dogs with the Carters and the Duffs and then watched fireworks at Spanish Trail. It was a lot of fun. Drew and Trey really enjoyed the big fireworks. Trey did not enjoy the little fireworks we did in the cul-de-sac. They were too noisy.

Run, run, as fast as you can; you can't catch me, I'm a CHASQUI man!

2008-06-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well, they did it! The Chasqui team completed their 12 man, 180 mile relay run through the Wasatch mountains in Utah.... and they are all still alive! We, the spouses, are so proud of what they did. It was hard, tiring, hot (and cold at times), and a whole lot of work, but they did it. And, they are even saying they want to do it again next year!! Here's a few of the brave runners who "Ran. Drove. Slept? Repeated." Trey and I wish we could have been there to give our support, but it wasn't possible. We can't wait for next year though!!

Jordan

Morgan, Jordan's brother

Warren, my brother

Dad, faithful van driver and photographer

Dennis, my brother-in-law

Mason, my youngest brother

Jordan's B-day

2008-06-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

Today Jordan is 27 years old!

We had some family over to celebrate

with some Nothing Bundt Cake and ice cream.

(This is what Trey thinks of one of Daddy's birthday presents.

It's a Mini Cooper remote control car.)

We love you

and hope you had

a wonderful day!

Father's Day '08

2008-06-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

Father's Day was great this year. Trey and I made Jordan a "Top Pop" gift with different gifts that have the word "pop" in them, like ice pops, soda pop, pop tarts, and popcorn. We had a lot of fun making it and I think Jordan really liked it. We had a nice day at church and then a wonderful steak dinner at my parents' house. I made Applebee's walnut blondies with maple-butter sauce for dessert. They were delish!!

Trey and I just want to say that we love you Jordan and could never count all reasons why we appreciate you so much. There are just too many!! Thank you for being an awesome daddy, and husband.

Jordan and I also love and appreciate our own dads. They set such a good example for us and always give us such love and support. Happy Father's Day!!!