A New Year and the Same Goals

I am a believer in continual work. Maybe because I am one who needs it to succeed. I have the same things I am working on as last year and so alas, I do not come up with New Year's resolutions's, but just continue what I have been trying to improve on. I will lay it all out on the line and fill you in on the stuff that is important to me. More of a reminder to me to keep trying than anything but if anyone cares to read I am sharing! Am I always perfect at it, absolutely not, but trying everyday (or most everyday) is better than not, right?

1. Pray

2. Read my scriptures

3. Be a kind, patient mom and wife (don't freak out over the small stuff and even some of the big stuff!!)

4. Keep my body healthy by working out/eating right

5. Be kind to those around me

6. Prioritize so I can get the most important things done

7. Post on my blog once a month

Those are only seven and I know there are much more but it is early and my brain isn't quite all the way on yet! Happy New Year!

Peace on Earth Good Will Toward Men

These Shepherds
by Sharon Price Anderson

Sheep of the Judean hills give meat,
skins and wool for raiment, tents—
cover from storm, shelter from heat.
In fields of Bethlehem where David slew
lion, bear, and fed his father’s sheep,
temple flocks now safely graze.
Those who watch have been well taught
that in the shadow of a distant Eden
firstlings offered hope. They know how
God spared birthright son of Abraham,
provided sacrificial ram for
grass-kindled flame, stone-tabled meal.
Remembering that death
passed over Israel’s house
because of unblemished blood,
these know the altar-end
of tender ones they nurture, name,
and carry in their bosoms.
For solemn feasts they gently lead
the young into Jerusalem
so sin-stained robes may be washed
white as the glory of the Lord,
so peace may be complete.
Tonight with faith they haste to find
a Savior and a certain sign—
Christ the future sacrifice—
swaddled, as the angel said,
in wool-soft bands
and lying in a manger.
These are they prepared
to spread the word abroad:
This day is born the Lamb of God.

Thoughts on the Future from a 3 Year Old

My wonderful sister got to go on a much needed vacation to the virgin islands with her great hubby and the Christensen clan. I wanted to stow away in her suit case but I let her use my snorkel gear instead (not quite the same eh)? So I am dreaming of white sandy beaches and palm trees through the eyes of my snorkel gear. Anywho! My parents get to take care of the Christensen munchkins and I got to spend some time with them today. The next is a fabulous conversation I had with sir Eli.
Eli to Joanne: "When I grow up I am going to be a dentist and a rodeo clown." Joanne to Eli: "O really, at the same time?" Eli to Joanne: "Yep."

So later in the day Joanne says to Eli: "Are you going to dress like a clown when you work on peoples teeth?" Eli to Joanne: "Yeah, with rainbow clown hair, a big red nose and blue pants!"

Ok, so this guy doesn't have rainbow clown hair and blue pants but seriously this is some new kind of psychedelic profession he is creating. This clown talk comes on the very same day that one of my sister-in-law's, (not naming names), sent me a different not so lovely picture of a clown from outer darkness! By this time in the conversation with Eli, grandma and I are laughing out loud.
Joanne to Eli: "So Eli, are you going to have people that help you when you are working on peoples teeth?" Eli to Joanne: "Yes." Joanne to Eli: "What are they going to wear?" Eli to Joanne: "Just clothes like grandpa wears to work in."
So essentially he will open a dental practice looking like some freak of nature clown man with dental assistants dressed like men, even if they are not men:D
This little boy makes me laugh every time I see him. He is a hoot! He even let me call him cute which is a victory in itself! So to my sister and brother who are basking in the sun on the sand, we hope you are enjoying yourselves, because we sure are with your kids!

Colorado Trip

This vacation started out on an early Monday morning and it also ended on an early Monday morning. We went to Granby CO to visit cousins. Many fun things were to be done. We went boating to Shadow Mountain Reservoir and some of the boys jumped into the frigid temps to wake-board and water-ski. They had a blast. The kids got to play with their cousins and we enjoyed the peace and quiet of mountain living. One day we got to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. We had an awesome tour guide who kept the kids entertained with all of the info she had on early pioneers of the wilderness before it was a national park. Then the kids also earned their Jr. Ranger badges and found out that the powdery stuff on the outside of aspen trees is a great sunscreen. Who knew! We boated some more and ate some great burgers and ice-cream on the shore of Grand Lake. Thanks Burns Bunch for the great time! Our adventures continued on to Castle Rock,CO where we stayed with wonderful friends and got to catch up on life. We went to a water-park where there were water slide races, toilet bowls, half-pipe water slides, water-fights and lots of laughs. The Colorado Rockies got our attention in a 13 inning game where the boys and dad in our family got to sit 2nd row behind home plate next to the dugout with their friends while the rest of us poured water bottles over our heads while sitting in the "rock pile" (cheap seats). It was a scorcher but we had a ball at the ball park! And the Rockies won! All the girls headed with our American Girls dolls to the American Girl store and then dinner after at the Cheesecake Factory. Ainsley couldn't get enough of the store and all of the fun things they have to look at and buy (Her mom liked it just as much:) The pictures from this trip are spread between a few cell phones, an ipod and other peoples cameras as we forgot ours at home:( Hopefully we can gather them all to post a few. Thanks Mickelsen's. It was fun as always!

In With the Old

Since my dad turned 80 this year we had a fantastic surprise party for him. He was very surprised and had a good time. All of us (siblings and kids) were there and we got to reminisce and view all of our pictures from our growing up years so now I have them scrolling on my computer as my screen saver. It is fun to look back at the hair do's (if you want to call them that) and the memories. The first pic is of my parents in Paris, ID with my two oldest brothers. The next is of me and my awesome out of control hair on Easter (check out the wallpaper)and the third is pretty obvious we had just returned from a fabulous fishing trip and the spoils of it, me with my three older brothers(and yes that is a piano in our kitchen, we were remodeling for a long time). Moving on is me in the middle with my two cousins, Susan and Rachel having just had our hair french braided by our wonderful Grandma Stucki on a camping trip. Then comes one of my little sis, Charlynn. I had to post this pic because my little Ains reminds me of her:)The last is one of the many family pictures we posed for on vacation while my dad ran to hop in the picture before the camera timer went off! So there you have it, a few of the old Burns pics. Enjoy.

Giant Vacation with Ears

We surprised our kids with a Disney Cruise for Christmas. Needless to say they "FREAKED OUT"! We had a great time in the sun of the Mexican Riviera for 8 days. Now they just keep asking when we are going to go again! Pool in the shape of Mickey's head, 24 hr. soft serve ice cream, more fun than you can fit in a week!

Hayden, Christian & Kaige on our pirate ship adventure

Cabo on the beach

Movie premier

Cabo beach

Christian and cousin Logan in Puerto Vallarta

Sun, sand and Cabo!

More Pirate ship

Lips as red as the rose:)

Pool fun, they can't get enough!

We were always entertained at meals. It was a stick-up by Hayden. He had to beat our servers at their own napkin art game!

Christian, Hayden and Ainsley in Mickey's ear.

Mickey Icecream was our friend!

All the girls: Kaysen, Ashlynn, Ciera, Ainsley & Brynlee

Freezer Night Anyone?

There are a few things that I vowed not to do when I was "older". Some of those things I voiced out loud to my ever patient mother and others I just kept to myself. A few of those things are as follows:

Canning anything (that includes freezer jam or anything else that requires picking up nasty fruit off the ground in cold fall temperatures.)

Having leftover night from the fridge. (really, who would ever submit their family members to this kind of torture)

Having a meal made solely from ingredients from the dark corners of your freezer that seem to always taste like the freezer.

These are just three of them but alas I have inserted my foot in my mouth and realized that I have done all three and truly appreciate all three of these things. They make my hectic life easier on nights when I have no what to fix for dinner.
Tonight is Freezer Night. Fish sticks, frozen peas and carrots with left over cheese sauce, apples that I didn't get from the freezer and sugar cookies made from pilsbury sugar cookie dough that was from the freezer. Yee Ha! I love looking into my freezer and seeing it neat and orderly. (It won't last long).

We have been busy doing things besides eating from the freezer and hopefully I can find a moment to blog with pictures of our last couple of months.

Lets Give Thanks Tag

In my thoughts of the season beginning with Thanksgiving I am starting a "Tag". My little sis really started it but I am going to continue with my own list of thanks because I truly am. Feel free to do your own. I never really understood why people get all riled up about Christmas being celebrated earlier (like starting at Thanksgiving). I can on the other hand understand the craziness of stores throwing up tinsel and brightly colored balls for trees on Labor Day weekend. I think that Thanksgiving is a great kick off to giving thanks for all we are really blessed with and to celebrate this fabulous time of year of our Savior's birth. So, here is my give thanks list:

1. My Hubby (willing to sacrifice much for me and the four elves that live with us.)

2. My Parents (raised me the best they could and I hope I am making the good choices they taught and when I am not they forgive me for them.)

3. My Children (love me in-spite of my impatience and faults.)

4. Our Savior (no explanation needed)

5. My Siblings, their spouses and kids (all trying to do our best to give support and love each other who are all in the same "raising kids boat")

6. Wonderful friends and neighbors near and far.

7.Employment

8. My Home

9. My Furnace

10. My Hot water heater

11. Freedom

So many more I could list but I will end there. Pick your own number of thankful things:) I will continue to love this season even with the commercialism of it, try to remember the spirit that started it all.

IS IT OVER YET?

I used to be truly a lover of the holiday Halloween. We bought pumpkins and carved them a mere four days before the big event so as to not have them spoil. They looked fabulous until one of my darlings sat two non carved pumpkin on top of a carved one on the porch. We had pumpkin soup dripping off the porch in two days so that one hit the dumpster.
Since having more than one child to dress in an assortment of costumes which usually consists of one for every event that we have to attend I am not liking it so much. This year it turned out not so bad. For the first year all four of my children have picked one costume and stayed put in that costume. I was not so sad when I found out we were going to miss the church halloween party. I totally boycott "trunk or treats" if we are subjected to that kind of an invitation because they are just stupid. None of my children attended any kind of "friend" Halloween parties and we only had to go to one family party which was sort of like an open house anyway so you could come and go as you please (thank you families that we belong to). All in all my kids dressed up on an average of 2 times each and I only had to put a costume on for one event (pre-school teachers look silly if you are the only one not in costume). Halloween day came and all of my children put on their own costumes by themselves and the boys headed out with friends and Troy and I walked Ainsley to a total of 11 houses (by her choice). It was pouring rain and she is a smart girl and decided it sounded more pleasant to stay out of said rain and enjoy the indoor atmosphere. We enjoyed soup that grandma brought so that saved me on cooking and we gave out all of our candy to the little (and big) people that visited our home this year. Not so bad compared to other years of insanity and costumes! Maybe things will get better from now on. Bring on the rest of the year's holidays. I am ready. Here are the fab four!

We have been going non stop like I am sure everyone else has. Two trips down and maybe one more to go we hope!! We spent some time in June at Fish Lake with the Burns Bunch and had a fabulous time. We went on a couple of geo-cashes, and went on a hike and found a tree fort that someone has built. The kids loved fishing. They all caught one and Christian and Hayden's were definitely the biggest. Hayden enjoyed touching the eyeballs and really making his hands smell great! Kim was a great guitarist and we all tried to sing along the best we could. We roasted all kinds of marshmallows and just enjoyed being in the great outdoors with our family.

We were at Bear Lake with the Timothy clan in July. We got our fill of sun, sand and surf (aka water ski). The kids loved skiing behind the wave-runner and would have pitched a tent on the beach and spent the whole six days there. We all got eaten alive by mosquitoes this year but enjoyed the late night card playing after the kids hit the sack. Summer always goes by too fast but we sure have fun making the memories!