The rest of the weekend

Well, we just went all over the place with these guys! It was so much fun. On Friday night we went to the High School and played a little volleyball. Sharise rolled her ankle and needed to be off of it the rest of the trip. Such a BUMMER!!! The kids were set on going to Goblin Valley the next day, so the good ol' daddies took them all and they had a blast. I stayed home with Sharise and helped her out with their little one and got some things done that I needed too. It was nice, we watched a movie - Just Like Heaven - I folded laundry, did a little sewing. Heaven! :)

Blake brought his camera and set his timer so they could get some group shots. So cute!
They had a blast. I'm so glad they still went.

OK, this is backwards - on Friday morning we took them to the geyser. Here's the boys - Kyle, Braedon and Kaleb in our van being crazy.
This is how much the geyser went off when we were there. It did this twice. We're getting closer to seeing it, I just know it! Maybe next time?
Braedon was playing around and got his shoe stuck in the mud. Yuck! He had to step in it again with his sock to get it out. Poor guy - wet, cold and muddy.
A lot of the rock was icy. We've never seen it like this. It looked really cool.

Burke brought his new sling shots. Luckily there was a nice bucket down below just waiting to be shot at.
My mom sent me this adorable scarf for my birthday. I had to put a picture in here of me so she could see it. THANKS MOM!!! I just love it and you! :)
Braedon and Larissa had to get some sling shot action too.
After we rested and ate lunch we headed on over to see some hieroglyphs. Burke wanted to take everyone, but the little ones into a cave. It was a steep hike, so I stayed with Katelin, Kyle and Kayla. Here's the group ready to head up. They had a good time. Kaiya said she liked it until Burke wanted them all to turn their flashlights off to see how dark it was in there. She said NO WAY!!!
Us four had our own fun. We found our own tiny caves and wandered around a bit.
Kayla was being a cute model for me. Such a sweetie!
Kyle and Katelin are fun little buddies. I love this picture. They are too cute.
I had fun taking pictures of the kids and cool fences like this one:
Such a fun time!

Thanksgiving

This year was our first Thanksgiving at home! Burke's brother Blake and his family came from Colorado Springs to spend it with us. We are so glad they did, we had such a great time with them.

They got here on Wednesday around dinner time. Right when they walked in all of the kids disappeared and began to play. They were SO happy to have them.

On Thursday morning we woke up and we were getting ready to put the turkey in and the power went out!!! My friend Danielle called to see if it was just them or if everyone's power was out. She said "If you listen carefully, you can hear mom's swearing!" Hahaha, I got a laugh out of that. It was out until 10am, so then we finally threw it in. It only put us back a couple of hours. So I just set out snacks to munch on until it was all ready.

Burke passed some of the time by doing some magic tricks for our guests. I think this picture is so funny - they are laughing because Burke keeps forgetting how the magic tricks go. He tried them a few times, I don't even remember if they ever worked (I think they finally did) it was too funny seeing him mess it up!
The boys enjoyed playing some different Wii games together. It's always fun to play with someone else.
We got pretty glasses for us adults. Blake and Sharise brought the yummy sparkling drinks for us to have with our dinner.
Let's EAT!
I forgot to get extra chairs for the kids, so we just put the table on the ground without pulling out the legs and they ate that way. It was a party.
Cute little Kayla waiting her turn for food.
We went and took some silhouette pictures of Blake and Sharise's family at this cool hill I found last week. I need to photo shop out that power line!
My kids were cold and upset when we were going to take ours later (we let them play first - big mistake!) So Blake took some of just Burke and I.

Sharise saw this cool mountain side that looked like the profile of a face. So I had to snap a shot of it and the sunset was so pretty with it. Good find Sharise!
When we got back from our little adventures we ate pie. Burke made them all. Yes, he is the pie person. He made apple, pumpkin, sweet potato and a marble cheesecake. Wow, he's amazing. The cheesecake was my favorite. We put cherries on top, mmmmmmm!
And to end the day the kids put on a little play for us. Kaiya had a paper from school with a bunch of different parts they could play. It was too cute. They each took turns reading their parts about the first Thanksgiving. They did a great job!

I'm 34 and it's NO bore!

Yes, it is true. Another year has come and gone and a new one has begun again. Isn't it strange? My birthday was on Tuesday, the 23d. I feel the same, but the number just keeps growing. Funny. The morning of my birthday I spilled two cups of water within like 15 minutes of each other! I told Burke that 34 is going to be a clumsy year. He told me that just because that happened on my birthday that doesn't mean that's how the whole year is going to be. Whew! Hahaha!

Here's my special decorated table with gifts, my favorite cereal, chips and my birthday cake. I love traditions.

These cards are my favorite. They each put their own personality in them. I just love to hear what's on their mind. They are sure sweet. I just love them all so much.


Burke found this set of four movies for me. I'm excited to watch each one with him. What a cute idea from my cute guy huh?!
I requested a Black Forest cake, so that's what I got. It was delicious. For dinner I wanted the Pork Barbacoa stuff. So, that's what we did. It was also YUMMY! The kids weren't as excited as we were about it. Kids!
No, he didn't torture me with 34 candles, although that might be cool. I'll have to do that to him on his day - coming up in a couple weeks here. Hehehe, shhhhhhhh. Oh, and the little spot where it looks like someone picked at the cake - well that wasn't Katelin, it was me. I couldn't wait to taste it. Mmmmmm!!!
Singing to their momma.
After I blew out the candles Kaiya asked me what I wished for. I forgot to wish!!! I am getting old, I forgot the rule for blowing out candles on a birthday cake!

My friend Annie filled up these bags with everything that goes into a yummy cereal bar recipe. I'm so excited to make them. She's so creative!
Danielle gave me this cute towel - she sewed on the cupcake. I love it!
Thanks for all of the calls - those that did! Hehehe, I just have to rub it in a little. So I can remember and laugh later I have got to put this in - a few family members hadn't called me on my birthday which is unusual and by 11:00 at night I remembered they hadn't. I knew Tiffany would probably still be awake, so I decided to tease her. I texted her - "What is today?" Then right after that I texted her again - "You have one hour left!" Hahaha, I was just crackin' myself up! She texted and then called right away. She meant to the day before and that day, but life happened and it just slipped her mind. That has happened to me so often also. And of course it was fine, I just had to give her a hard time and it was worth it. We had a good laugh together. Thanks for all of the cards and gifts and love everyone! I sure am a lucky girl, really.

Tis the Season for:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Mix together:
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c veg. oil
2 eggs

Then add:
3/4 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 c. water

In separate bowl combine:
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Add to pumpkin mixture.

Stir in 1/2 c. chocolate chips.

Spray muffin tins. Fill 2/3 full. Bake at 375 for about 18-20 minutes for regular sized muffins or 8 - 10 minutes for mini muffin bites.

Enjoy!!!

Vegas part 2

We woke up on Saturday morning and the kids just sat at the window and looked out for the longest time. There was no TV watching or anything. So cute!

In one of the places we visited they had these Dyson hand dryers in the bathroom. Have you tried these??? They are so cool. The girls enjoyed them too.

We headed over to the M&M factory again to go with Candice and Josh. It was even better this time.
Kaiya thinks the green M&M is so pretty with those big lashes.
Burke headed into the Coca cola store with Kaleb while the rest of us went shopping at Ross. He came in like 10 minutes later to find me and had a BIG smile on his face. He found out that you could try 16 different Coca cola drinks from around the world for only $7.00!!! He was so excited. So he and Kaleb were off to do that. When we were done we headed over and helped them out. There was a ton to drink.

This was his favorite one, I forgot where it was from.

That was pretty fun. Some were good and some were just sick.
The lions at the MGM were cool to watch through the glass. The one on the right kept teasing the others the whole time. He just wanted to play.
All the buildings were so cool.
We got free tickets for all of us to go see this new show that just opened. It's a group from America's Got Talent. I think they're called Sideswipe. It was a great show. The kids really loved it. They were funny and so talented! It was great.
We got to meet a lot of famous people at the wax museum. Hehehe.
Burke really got into this whole thing. He was cracking me up. He sure is a fun guy!





Can you see Candice and Kaiya clapping with the crowd???

This one makes me laugh every time I see it! So funny!!!


The kids were pretty excited to see Michael Jackson. They love his music.
Katelin even gave Nicholas a good ol' poke in the eye! Ha!



Josh had to try on these Elvis glasses complete with side-burns. We voted he has to be Elvis for Halloween next year!
What a FUN time. We are so glad we went. We didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning, but the kids were AMAZING the whole trip. They were great in the van, slept pretty much the whole way home and were just good while they were awake. I was so impressed. It was really fun. Thanks Candice and Josh!!!