Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas Newsletter 2013

It is that time of year again...I sit here reflecting on this last year...Wow what a year it has been.

One year ago this week we moved into our 1st home.  What a difference it is to live in a house and not in an apartment.  We are so glad we were able to do this last year.

Now onto what is going on with the family:

Irene will be 5 in Jan.  She loves going to preschool and is looking forward to Kindergarten next year.  She is the taller of the twins and loves horses, princesses, and playing with legos and playing games on Lego.com

Ruth and Irene are best friends.  The joys of being a Twin!  Ruth too loves Preschool and is looking forward to Kindergarten as well.  She is the smaller of the two and two loves horses, princess and playing with legos and on Lego.com

Jennilyn is our smart 1st grader and is 6 yrs old.  She is an excellent reader and is learning math and enjoying it.  She loves to play ballerina and she has a lot of the same interest as the twins with horses, legos, princess and such.  Of course they all share a room so that is not hard.

Dillon is our fun energy boy.  He is in 2nd grade and just turned 8.  Dillon was baptized on Dec 7th.  He is enjoying cub scouts and he loves legos.

This year has been a roller coaster for Annette and Dan.  Both of us have had some health scares this year. But we have had fun too.

The end of  January we found out we were going to have another baby and were very excited about it, but a few weeks later we ended up in the ER with Annette in so much pain.  They were trying to find out what was wrong and we heard the baby's heart beat, but then were told that it was another Tubal Pregnancy.  They took her into emergency surgery.  While they were there they found out that Annette had appendicitis and took care of that too.  Annette is doing well and is moving forward as a mother of 4 kids.

In  April Dan had a scare that took us to the ER with him.  He has had problems with High Blood Pressure for a few years, and they were having trouble getting it under control.  He started seeing a specialist this year and with a lot of hard work we now have his BP under control, but he is also now seeing a cardiologist and it has been determined that he has a mild heart condition called  left ventricular non-compaction.  This is a hereditary family condition.  As of right now we just keep moving forward as there is not a lot of things to be done for it.  He will continue to be monitored for it.  But he is doing well and has lost 30 lbs this year.

 In June Dan and Annette traveled to Minnesota to attend Dan's sister Annette's wedding.  While we were there we got to visit with many friends and family.  Dan's Grandmother also celebrated her 90th birthday while we were there and it was very neat to get to spend time with her.

The kids and Annette spent a week at Camp Tifi with Papa Jack and Nana this summer and we had a lot of fun.

In October Dan and Annette celebrated 9 yrs since they got married.

We had the chance of having both sets of grandparents come and visit us a few times this year.  Also Great-Grandparents have come too.

In September we had a chance to have all of Annette's sisters come to Utah and spend time with all of them, and have some of them come stay at our home.

We are loving having a house and having family come visit.

Dan is still working at Sportman's warehouse.  And has had a busy year with them.  Annette is still enjoying being home with the kids, she has started doing some babysitting.

This year we have really been blessed and watched over.

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From Our Family to Yours!

Love,
Daniel, Annette, Dillon, Jennilyn, Ruth and Irene

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Dillon's Baptism

On Saturday December 7, 2013 Dillon Archibald Burke was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by his father Daniel P. Burke

This was a special day.  We want to thank all that were able to come and let those who were not able to come know that they were missed.

Weather, work and illness prevented some of the family coming, but we had a great day with those that came.

We love you Dillon and are so proud of your choice to be baptized!

Dillon and Dan before the services

Annette, Dan and Dillon

Our family

Cousins together

Nana Dillon and Dillon, Papa was sick and not able to come

Aunt Jaclyn, cousins CPC, SRC and MJC with Dillon

Grandpa and Grandma Burke with Dillon

Dan with his parents and the kids

Congratulations Dillon!

Dillon with the cake!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Happy 8th Birthday Dillon!

8 yrs ago today I became a Mom!  Dillon you are my sweet boy and I love you so very much.

Dillon you have been improving so much in school and are starting to have interest in things you like to do or want to do.

It is fun to come say good night to you and find you reading a book in your own way before you go to sleep, just like Mom and Dad do.

You are starting Cub Scouts this week and I am excited to see you learn about new things.

We love you Dillon!  Happy 8th Birthday!





Sorry no older pictures they are all on the portable Hard Drive and I didn't have access to it. :)

Friday, November 01, 2013

Halloween 2013


Two weeks ago a friend called and asked if she could take the kids to the pumpkin patch and carve pumpkins with them.  I said sure.  The kids had a lot of fun, of course they love spending time with Crystal and her nieces and nephews.

On Oct 29th (Our Anniversary) we had the ward trunk or treat, sorry pictures did not turn out.  The kids had fun dressing up and going and playing games, riding horses, and getting candy.  It was cold and I had not had the kids dress warmer as I wasn't thinking.

Halloween night I had them dress warmer.  It was not as cold as it had been two days before and we did two whole streets in our neighborhood and everyone told us we had to go to the Bishop's house so we loaded the kids up and drove over to the Bishops and hit a few homes around his that don't get many visitors.  We were back in just over an hour which is alright as it was a school night.  They each got to eat two pieces of candy and they were all asleep by 8:30.  I had turned out the lights at 8:15 when we had not had trick or treaters for about 10 min and I only had a few pieces of candy left to hand out.

It was a good night over all.  My girls loved being princesses and Dillon loved being a pirate.
I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween!

(not the greatest picture)

Sunday, October 06, 2013

All in a Days work

This weekend Dan dug a hole.


All the kids helped at some point (sorry no pictures of Dillon helping)




This is what he put up. A hand rail.  It still needs some paint.  I like the post covers.  They are solar power little lights.

Technically we don't need a hand rail for the number of stairs that we have, but we have noticed some people were having issues going up without some help. so we decided to match some of our neighbors and put in a hand rail.  I am loving it!

Family

My sisters and I live in many different places, Toole, UT; Orem, UT;  Bremerton, WA; Sandy, UT and Booneville, MS.  My parents spend most of the year in Mount Pleasant, UT which is 3 hrs from my house.  But for this winter they will be in Draper, UT which is a little closer to me then Mount Pleasant.

So when we can all get together it is a big deal.  Even those of us that live in Utah don't get a chance to see each other as much as we would like to. 

My two sisters and their families (minus one husband who had to work and couldn't come) that live outside of Utah came to Utah we all got together for a day.  We had everyone but two of my brother in laws.  One of course couldn't make it with his family the other was tied up with study groups as he has gone back to school.  Maybe next year we can get everyone together. :)

Here is a collage of all the pictures I had.  I was sad that one came in pretty blurry, but at least we got it.



I got to say I am grateful for my family and that we can all spend time together.  Each of my sisters from out of Sate and their families each had a night at my house and that was fun!

Until Next time!



Tuesday, August 27, 2013

1st Day of school 2013

This year we have a 2nd grader, 1st grader and the twins are in preschool!

Dillon and Jennilyn have been enjoying going back to school and enjoy getting to walk home from school together this year.  The twins are loving preschool.  Because the preschool is at the elementary school it is a free program so the girls are in the same class.  The kids are enjoying being back in school!



Friday, August 16, 2013

Happy Birthday Jennilyn!

Happy Birthday Jennilyn!

Jen has been so excited for her birthday, she has been telling everyone for 2 weeks now, my birthday is in xx day's!  The dentist office even gave her a gift card to go get a frozen yogurt and balloons.




You have grown and are our funny little girl!  You love to play dress up and to make us smile!  You love to read and to go to school!  I can't believe you will start 1st grade this year!


 







 Happy 6th Birthday Jennilyn!


We love you and so glad you are ours!


A Family Activity

Yesterday, we took the kids and did some back to school shopping.  We also went to church museum after Dan got off work and saw the new children's exhibit and the 100 yrs in scouting and the church.

It was pretty cool to see all the pictures by Norman Rockwell and see the different things they had.  We had a great time and went to Denny's for dinner.

We had a great time.  Here are some pictures.























dancing




Painting their own Norman Rockwell pictures