DnA Family

Dillon's Field Trip

2012-02-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

On Feb1st all of the Kindergarten classes at Dillon's school went on a Field Trip to the Children's Museum. My mom came and stayed with the girls so I could go with them. We had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to taking the whole family there soon!

Happy Birthday Ruth & Irene

2012-01-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Ruth and Irene! You both bring so much joy to our lives! We love you both so very much!

I love to see the Temple!

2012-01-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

This morning I got up and went to the Draper Temple with Keli Wright. Keli was my MTC Roommate with her companion when I went on my mission. We saw each other a few times after the mission and then lost contact. 2 years ago, just as she moved back home to Virginia we reconnected on Facebook. When she announced she was coming to Utah, and wanted to go to a couple of the temples, I told her I would love to go with her.

So we made arrangements, and I was able to get a babysitter to come over at 7:30am so that Dan could go to work. I left our house at 5:45am and went and picked Keli up at a friends house not far from my place. We made it to the 7am session. I am glad that it worked out to see Keli as it has been about 8 years since we last had seen each other.

I had a great time! And I hope we can do it again sometime!
Thanks Keli for going with me.

Draper Utah LDS Temple at 6:40 AM

New Years Eve 2011

2011-12-31T21:47:00.001-07:00

It is New Years Eve 2011.

The kids are in bed and I am relaxing watching a movie and writing this blog.

This year has been good for the most part. We did have some deaths of family members that we miss dearly, but we know they are with our Heavenly Father and we will see them again one day.

We are excited for the New Year and we feel like it will be a good one!

Here are some pictures of our New Years Eve Celebration with Sweat and Sour Meatballs and Rice and cake with Candlelights. The kids were singing Happy Birthday All through dinner and were excited to blow out the candles at the end of our celebrations. And we played the wii and build with legos today.

Tomorrow we will get a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Burke. We are excited to get to see them since we don't see them often.

Happy New Years Everyone and We hope 2012 treats you all well!

Christmas 2011 Pictures~ Slice of Life # 80

2011-12-26T19:47:00.002-07:00

Here are our pictures for Christmas this year!

"Burke Christmas 2011"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Temple Square 2011

2011-12-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

Here are our pictures from our outing with Janet Farnsworth to Temple Square. We had a great night and ended with dinner out.

"Temple Square 2011"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Our Christmas Newsletter 2011

2011-12-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

This year has gone by so quickly and we are doing well. Just a little update that of our family.

I guess we will go youngest to oldest....

Irene has grown and is talking so well. She is also just about done with Potty training, and has done very well with it. We love to hear her say each morning "Is it morning yet?" Irene loves Princess and Dora

Ruth is growing and also doing well with her talking. She loves her Belle doll and anything to do with Belle or Dora!

Both girls want to go to primary, but they don't turn 3 until January so they will have to wait another year to go.

Jennilyn is becoming a math wiz and she is only 4 years old. Every time we go out she does the math of how many stops we have to make and how many we have left. She loves her Barbies and her my little ponies.

Dillon started Kindergarten this year, and has really improved with his speech. He loves Star Wars and playing the Lego games on the Wii.

Annette has been busy being a stay at home mom which she loves. She has been enjoying learning to do crafts with her new toy that she got as an early Christmas/Late Birthday Present.

Dan has been busy with work. He got to travel to Alaska, Mississippi and Washington State this year with work. And to Pennsylvania for a computer certification class. When he is not at work, he is usually studying to take more computer certifications. Right now he is getting ready to take one in Jan and then one probably in Feb.

In July we traveled as a family to Spokane Washington, for Dan's brother David's wedding. It was a wonderful event and we had a good time. Dan had to travel back home to go back to work, while Annette and the kids stayed in Washington and went to the beach and had fun with Aunt Emily and Uncle Squire and kids. They also got to spend a few days with Annette's grandparents and cousins in Kennewick. Grandma Nova helped Annette drive back to Utah in time for Dan's cousin's wedding in Utah.

In August Dan's Grandma Burke passed away from cancer. She will always be a part of our life, and we miss her very much. Dan was unable to go to Minnesota for the funeral, so Annette went instead. Papa Jack and Nana took care of the kids for the few days that she was gone.

As we come to a close of the year we think about the reason we celebrate the Christmas Season. Christ came to earth to show us how to live and to make it possible for us to return to live with him again. We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior and as we go through out this Christmas Season, we hope that each of us will remember the gift that was given to each of us from our loving Heavenly Father.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!
Love,
The Burke's

Are we done yet?

2011-11-29T07:44:00.002-07:00

Six years ago we brought home our first child, and our world started revolving around diapers. Just before Jennilyn was born we even started doing cloth diapers. This last year as those cloth diapers have started to wear out after use with 4 kids we have gone back to disposable diapers.

During the last month we have been putting the twins in underwear during the day and diapers at nap time and bedtime. This last week we decided to start putting them to bed in underwear as I was getting really low on diapers and was thinking I didn't want to buy more.

The first few days we had accidents during the night, and the girls don't like waking up to being wet, as Jennilyn still is having some accidents and will get up and change herself, the twins won't do that. But this morning the twins woke up dry! They were both so excited they woke up dry.

Now the goal will be to have all three girls wake up dry for a month and then they can all earn a new toy of their choice!

Way to go girls!

Black Friday 2011

2011-11-25T16:17:00.001-07:00

I am recording this experience that happened to me for my kids to know what a adventure I had on Black Friday this year, And just so you readers know, I did not get hurt and am ok.

I had told my sister W~ that I would go to Black Friday with her this year to help get the stuff. Now just so you know I have done Black Friday a few times but it was not something that we grew up with, as our parents did not do it and I had not done it for 3 years when I was 32 weeks pregnant with the twins and went to Joann's with my mother in law (who I missed having with me this year!). After talking with my other sisters we decided to divide and conquer at certain stores. W~ and I got to Wal Mart just before 9pm.

Our closets Wal Mart is a smaller one, not a full super center. Wal Mart did not close down so we were able to walk in and stand by our items. At 10 pm they told we could touch the items we wanted. I was right at the front of the display and reached down to get the two Wii Games that I wanted and I got pushed down to the floor. I couldn't get up because of how many people were crowded in on me. I didn't get hurt other then when you bump your knee. It was more scary then anything and it made me think of the stories in past years of people getting trampled to death. But I got the games that I was trying to get and all was well other then being shook up a little!

We got a couple of other items that we wanted and as we were standing in line back in the garden section to check out we noticed someone had put some cute Disney Princess Barbies in the cd bin, so we grabbed them for the girls for Christmas. We were out of the store by 11pm and on our way home.

I got home and visited with my mom who had stayed the night so I could go out again in the morning and Dan could go to work.

I went to bed and got up at 5am and got to Joann's Fabric store and stood in line. I was able to get the fleece that I wanted for the kids and then waited 1hr 20 min to get it cut. I really was missing my mother in law while I waited and was thinking of our shopping trip 3 years ago. I even sent her text to let her know I was thinking of her!

Once I was cut (3 fabrics was all I had compared to peoples 25 or so) I walked right up to the cash register and paid and then I drove by Target which I knew there was a few items that W~ and I wanted there, but after Wal Mart we had decided to take our chances that there would be some later. There was hardly any cars at Target so I went in. I saw more employees then I did customers. Target had opened at 12am.

I found what W~ and I had wanted and then a few other things to finish my Christmas shopping. It was a lot less stressful waiting to go in 8 hrs after they had opened even though they might not have had the items that we wanted, but they did.

I was home by 9am and then the kids helped me put the lights on the tree and decorate the tree.

Now all my gifts are bought and I just need to finish making a few gifts and then mail the two gifts that need to be mailed out of state.

I am excited for the gifts that I was able to do for Family and Friends! I really did try to think about each of them and what they might like!

I hope you all had a Great Thanksgiving and a great holiday season!

Annette

Happy Birthday 6th Dillon!

2011-11-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

6 years ago today we welcomed our first child into the world! Dillon you have grown so much this last year! You are getting so helpful with your sisters and helping mommy when asked! We love you and we hope you have another great year!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T08:22:00.000-06:00

OK, I found our camera, but I am noticing that some of the pictures are not the greatest. I think it is time to start looking at a new camera.

Some of these pictures are from during the month while they were deciding what they wanted to go as. But when they saw mommy as a princess they wanted to be princesses too. Some are from our church chili cook-off on Saturday were they were given candy as well.

Enjoy!

They are Growing Up!

2011-10-14T10:57:00.000-06:00

It has been almost 3 years since these two sweet little girls came into our lives.

They are growing up so fast! They are talking in full sentences, telling me when they are hungry or thirsty using words.

They are even Potty Training! We really started our potty training 2 weeks ago tomorrow, and now they are running and going on their own without the timer. I use pull ups for naps and bedtime as I don't trust them yet, and they are not staying dry during the night yet.

Also I will probably use pull ups for when we are going to be out and about until I fell that they really have the handle of it as we are still having at least one accident from one of them a day. Sometimes the accidents are not their fault as they close the door to their room and then can't get out as they have a hard time opening doors in this house.

I am going to take them out on a family outing this evening. I think I will see if we can do it without the

pull-ups and see how well they do.

I think I am going to have to break down and get them their reward that I promised them if they keep it up. They want Dora Dolls!

Slice of Life # 71 Festive Fall

2011-10-11T14:36:00.000-06:00

I love fall, I enjoy Halloween. We don't decorate or do much for it, I do enjoy going to my sister's house. Her husband decorates all out. Maybe when we own a home we will do this too.

Dan and I were married Oct 29th so I tend to really enjoy fall and decorating in the fall colors, even though you wouldn't know it right now, but one day when I have a home of my own and can start decorating I am hoping that it will reflect this taste of mine! :)

For Thanksgiving growing up I remember all of my Dad's side of the family would gather together at a scout camp, we could snow show, cross country ski or just play in the snow and come in and play games and such. Now that we are all married and have in-laws to spend time with too, we just have scaled back to just one party for everyone that we call a Winter party. For my family who ever of my sisters and I can come and spend it with my parents do.

One thing we do each year is each of us brings a dessert. This carry's over from the big family get-together's from years ago. I am not much of a pie person, but I do make a pie once in awhile. Last year I took an Oreo pudding pie.

This year I am going to make a dessert from my kids Favorite book right now. We got this at a thrift store from Grandma Nova for an early birthday gift.

My kids have really enjoyed this book. I am going to check with my library for others in the Albert series.

In this book is a recipe for Pumpkin Pizza Pie. My kids have asked me to make it so I have decided to make it for Thanksgiving.

Have fun and Enjoy your Fall Everyone!

Here is the Pumpkin Pizza Pie recipe if you want to try it out:

Albert's Pumpkin Pizza Pie

(Makes 3 12-inch Pizzas)

Ingredients:

3 Pounds sweet Pie Dough (recipe below)

3 cups Mashed Pumpkin or 1 29-ounce Can Pumpkin

3 Eggs

1 Cup Sugar or Honey

1 Tsp Pupkin Pie Spice

1/3 Cup Wipping Cream

Pinch of Salt

1 Cup of Whipping Cream Whipped with 1-2 TBSP Sugar and 1 SP. Vanilla (or use 1 can of Whipped Cream)

1/4 Cup of Each for Each Pie:

Chocolate Chips or Butterscotch Chips or Mint chips or White Chocolate Chips

Candied Nuts

Raisins

Mini Marshmallows

Method:

Divide Dough Into Three Pieces and on Was Paper roll each into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Put on a baking sheet or Pizza Pan. Next, In a bowl Mix Pumpkin, eggs Sugar, Spice, Cream and Salt until well blended. spread 1 cup on each pizza dough, leaving about 1/2 inch from the edge. Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes. When it comes out of the oven and cools slightly decorate with whipped cream, chocolate chips, candied nuts, raisins and marshmallows.

Albert's Pumpkin Pizza Pie Dough

(Makes 3 Pizzas)

Ingredients:

3 Cups all-Purpose Flour

1 Pound Butter or Margarine

2/3 Cup Sugar

3 Whole Eggs or 6 Yolks

Method:

Cream the butter or margarine with the sugar in a mixing bowl, blending well. Then add the eggs and slowly mix the flour and salt a little at a time. Mix until a smooth dough is formed. Chill for a couple or hours or overnight. This dough can be made in a food processor. (It also freezes well, but divide in three pieces before freezing.)

*Pumpkin Pizza Pie was created especially for Albert's Thanksgiving by California Chef Wendy Brodie.

Update

2011-10-04T17:13:00.000-06:00

Well it has been a while since I just updated on what our family has been up too!

Dillon~
The end of Aug Dillon started kindergarten. He is in afternoon and gets to ride the bus! He is such a big helper and is really getting good at writing his name!

Jennilyn~
Jennilyn is missing her brother while he is at school, but her and Mommy have been doing pre-school together at home. She is really smart at math! Jennilyn also turned 4 in Aug, and again is being a great helper with things here at home!

Ruth & Irene~
The Twins are being potty trained. The 1st day was a disaster, but since then we have been having some success. (Who knows, maybe we will have them diaper free before their Birthday!) They are using more words and are getting so big. I keep thinking that my babies are all growing up!

Dan~
Dan is keeping busy with work and studying to take the Security + exam that he was suppose to take this week but it got canceled and he has signed up to take it in Jan. He has also started to study to take some Microsoft certifications that he is hoping to start taking exams for those at the begging of next year. We finally got Dan a smartphone so now we both have cell phones which is really nice!

The sad news is that I lost my camera a few weeks ago and I am feeling lost. I keep wanting to take a picture and can't. My phone and I-pod just don't cut it!

I am hopping maybe we can find a really good deal with Black Friday or Cyber Monday on the camera that I want or at least one that will get me buy until I can save up enough for the one I want!

I hope all is well with all of you!

Netty

Slice of Life # 70 ~ Ugly Duckling

2011-10-03T07:39:00.001-06:00

When I read this title I thought of this story!

If you have not read it check it out of the library! My kids and I have loved this book. It even came with a cd to hear the story being told.

I have always felt like the uglified ducky because of my hearing disability. Even now I sometimes feel like I am the uglified ducky.

But I know who I am and slowly I am learning how to be the Moose that I am and not the Ducky!

Forget-Me-Not

2011-09-25T08:11:00.000-06:00

"If we spend our days waiting for the fabulous roses, we

could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots

that are all around us. Never stop striving for the best that

is within you, but don't close your eyes and hearts to the

simple and elegant beauties of each day's ordinary moments

that make up a rich well-lived life. The happiest people I

know are not golden ticket holders, but those who while in

pursuit of worthy goals discover and treasure the beauty and

sweetness of everyday moments."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf, RS General Conference Sep 24, 2011

Slice of Life # 69 ~ Following Directions

2011-09-17T21:33:00.000-06:00

At some point we all have to follow directions if we want to get to were we are going. In school we follow directions in obeying the teacher and doing our homework. In life we have to do the same thing at work and such.

Also we give directions to people to help them find places they want to go, and hopefully we don't get them lost.

I am one of those people that likes to plan and then get there with time to spear. Yesterday Texasblu called and needed directions to my house as they were needing to come and drop off a few things for me to work on for them, before they got here I printed them directions to their next destination from my home, the Zoo. I thought since they were not as familiar with my area that they might appreciate it. Today, I left to go shopping with my sister at a mall I had never been to 40 min from my home. I decided to leave early so that if I screwed up the directions (which I have done before) I would still have time to get there. I had no problem finding it and was there 30 min early! I had fun with my sister and her family and left them to stand in line to meet Jimmer Ferdette (a basketball player).

I love reading the scriptures. Both Bible and Book of Mormon. I feel that it gives me direction in my life as I strive to become more Christ Like.

I hope that we can all learn to follow directions so that we can all make it to were we want to go, wither it be in our work, family, vacation, or in our spiritual lives. It is important to follow directions even if we don't want to.

Until next time!
Netty

Slice of Life #68: Beautiful YOU

2011-09-10T15:02:00.001-06:00

This seems to be a tough one for my wife. Then again, it could be a tough "Slice of Life" for me as well on most days. A lot easier it seems to do what you do great and think of what you do wrong. So you see your faults and what makes you great is just lost in the clutter of life.

"How are generations later going to know about your terrific-ness if you never tell them?"

I must answer this first question with a simple answer. So the first thing that makes my wife beautiful is that she is a mother. A mother of four beautiful children. When I look at our children, I see evidence that they have a beautiful mother, even when she does not see it. From how they treat each other with please and thank you (when they aren't fighting like children do), to their beautiful eyes, healthy hair, and active bodies. And for each of those pregnancies, she has been quite healthy. For example, during the twins pregnancy, I suspect the doctors may have been willing to let my wife go to term without any panic, except Ruth was breach as the first baby. Some law or regulation or whatever dictated that they deliver a breach baby c-section.... So other than a breach baby, my wife had a very healthy pregnancy with twins no less while others we knew were being monitored closely with risk of bed rest. I think that healthy pregnancy speaks volumes, but that is just her loving husband writing here.

"What are your best features? Your eyes? Your legs? Your hair?"

If you ask me, I would say all of the above are great features of my wife. Sometimes I like to smell her hair. I realize that is the perfumes in her shampoo or conditioner, but that still speaks of the care she gives her hair. Not just a dandruff shampoo and done like I do. As for the other two features, please just take my word on it....

"What makes you stand out in a crowd? Is your laugh contagious, your smile warm, or your hugs sincere? Your ability to quiet a child in a grocery cart?"

Does four children in a grocery cart count? That does tend to stand out when so many others have only one or two.

"What tastes do you have? Is it your taste in music, your love of art, or picking good books to read?"

Romance. Definitely romance. Though, you must add in Harry Potter. We read those together. My wife had read the books that were out before we dated and married. She was collecting them. We then read them together as a couple, and it was a great experience to read the books as husband and wife. She also listens to books on CD. One such that isn't quite the romance is centered on some characters that are supposed to be Navy Seals. And, yes, there are some of her romance books on CD that I have enjoyed listening to. But I don't think I have ever listened to the entire one of her books from beginning to finish. So I mostly recognize the stories by fitting the characters and current plot line into the puzzle pieces I have previously listened to.

Almost forgot the LDS themed series, such as Faith of our Fathers and The Work and the Glory.

"What talents have you acquired (or would like to)? Cooking? Running a business? Home decor?"

My wife has her bachelor's degree in accounting. She is creative with preparing our meats with spices and marination, it doesn't always work out tasty but her successes far outnumber her failures. Soon as it becomes available, we are planning to purchase her a special cutting printer for crafts--I cannot think of a better way to describe it. It has a blade. It cuts out shapes. And it looks a lot like your desktop printer. And thinking of things she wishes to learn, my wife would like to go back and get a Master's Degree in accounting. Being the big, bad, mean husband that I am, I have a couple stipulations on that, the first being that we actually pay off her current student loans. For some reason I got this get out of debt bug, and I am grateful that she has been very patient with this different way of thinking. In fact, if I were to include another skill in here because her accounting, she has been very good at learning and applying a different method of money management. Under her improved skills in sacrifice, patience, and financial management, we paid off her car early and have not had a car payment since (even though we sold her car and bought a mini-van). We are paying off her grandfather. So we almost to the point that the loan we have left to tackle IS her student loan. Even when we hit a bump in our finances and I asked my wife to stay with it, that I believed she could fix the error, I was so pleased to be proven right. Not just because it brought us back current with our financial plan, but because I was pleased to be proven right about my wife. I believed she could and she DID. That was a great feeling. Now I realize that managing personal finances can be different for many of us as opposed to managing business finances. We can be great at one and terrible at the other. So I am hoping to learn to build a business. Why does my goal matter here? Because my wife told me once that it was her dream to teach future generations to be the business builders of the future (I forget what the organization was called that excited her so as a youth). See, that is the other part of why I am such a big, bad, mean husband. Not only do I insist that we pay off her student loans, but I remember her dream and I will hold her accountable for it when we have the means to make it reality. And since I envision her accomplishing her dream, I want her to be the best person possible to share and teach the entrepreneurs of the future. So I want her to achieve that Master's Degree and I want her to have experience. If I can build a business, then she wouldn't even have to wait for the kids to all be in school to start on that personal experience. Of course, being such a meany, I have no compunction against sharing one of my wife's dreams online for all to read. That way I can build a team of people to remind her that she has a beautiful dream, and to encourage her so that she holds on to her dreams.

A New Chapter in Our Lives

2011-08-29T07:09:00.001-06:00

I am starting a new chapter in my life today! It is called "Sending Kids to School"!

We have been in the small child chapter with 4 little ones so close together in age, and now we are starting to send them off to school!

Three Months ago Dillon graduated from Preschool. Today my sweet little boy will start Kindergarten. The years seem to have flown from the time he was born.

Last night Dan gave Dillon a Father's Blessing in preparation for the coming school year.
What a wonderful spirit we had in the home after this was given.

Dillon I hope you make lots of new friends and have a great school year!

Go Class of 2024!

Slice of Life # 66 ~ Under the Sea

2011-08-24T11:00:00.001-06:00

Biking Under the Sea!

When Dan got home from his mission, everyone in his family that was old enough became scuba dive certified. Here is a picture of one of his sister's riding a bike under the sea.

I want to become certified to scuba dive and Dan wants to get re-certified. One of these days we will become certified and we will take a really cool trip!

This is written for Slice of Life. Feel free to read more or join us for Here!

Slice of Life #65 ~ Eye on the Prize

2011-08-17T16:12:00.000-06:00

Have you set a goal or dream and then worked hard to achieve it?

I have set several goals and have several dreams that I have worked hard to achieve. I dreamed of going to collage and graduating, going on a mission for my church, getting married, having kids. I have achieved all of those dreams! Now it is time to set some new goals and dreams.

Some new goals to do:

Organizing and de-cluttering my apartment by Christmas!
Do one craft project a month start to finish
Read one new book a month
Go to the temple once a month

This is written for Slice of Life. Join us Here!

Happy 4th Birthday Jennilyn!

2011-08-16T00:10:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my Princess!

4 years ago today, I gave birth to my first daughter, Jennilyn Annette Burke. She was my biggest baby at 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inch long.

Jennilyn you sure have grown and love to talk! You are now showing interest in writing your letters. This year we will be doing pre-school. You have started to swim on your own and having a great time!

We love you and hope you have a great day!

Grandma Irene Burke

2011-08-09T17:53:00.001-06:00

This is Grandma Irene Marie Burke. Born on Dec 17, 1926 and died Aug 9, 2011.

She is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever meet. We even named one of our daughter's after her. She will be missed, but now she is in Heaven with her husband and our Savior Jesus Christ.

We love you Grandma and will miss you! Thank You for being a part of our lives!

Slice of Life # 61 ~ Grand Theft __

2011-08-01T12:01:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had Identity Theft? It is amazing how easy that can happen to us.

Back in 1997 I was working in the Student Services offices of DeVry University-Phoenix campus. One day as I was helping new students get checked in and such I meet a girl with the name Ann Dillon. My name then (before marriage) was Annette Dillon. It turned out that we lived in the same apartment complex, banked at the same bank and went to the same school.

I first had problems with getting her email, as the schools assigned email addresses were done such that we would both have the same one, so instead of her doing anything about it, I had to request a new email address. You would have thought since I had been going there longer it wouldn't have mattered and she would have been assigned something different.

I then would every now and then get her mail in my mail box and would then take it over to her apartment. Then I moved to another apartment complex the following spring and things seemed to clear up. Until July 1999 I was getting ready to go on my mission and was getting a debt card for my credit union account. They told me they couldn't give me a debt card because I had an outstanding balance from a Wells Fargo credit card on my credit report. Now I did bank at Wells Fargo, but I never had a credit card with them, so I go down to the credit bureau office in Provo, UT and get a copy of the report and file a complaint. They also told me to check with the bank, so I went around the corner and talked with someone who was so rude and had me in tears and told me it was my fault and that there was nothing he could do for me. The Credit Bureau said it should take 2 weeks to clear up which was pushing it for me leaving on my mission. I try calling in two weeks to find out if it was all taken care of and they said they didn't know what I wanted to do, I was so mad! I told them what had all the paper work I had filled out two weeks earlier was for.

My mother and I then went to Wells Fargo with a copy of the offending information. This time we talked with the Assistant manager of that branch and she was so helpful, I told her what happened two weeks earlier and she then told me that the man that helped me then was no longer with them. She looked at the info and found out that the credit card that was on my history belonged to the "Ann Dillon" that I had gone to school with and such. For some reason when the bank filed the info with the credit bureau someone was lazy and said oh this must be the same person, lets just stick it on her info and not the right person. This manager at the bank stayed an hour past closing getting it all worked out and correcting the mistake and giving me info to take back to my credit union so I could get a debt card. We sent the lady that helped us at Wells Fargo some flowers the next day as a huge Thank You!

I have not had a problem with "Ann Dillon's" info since!

More recently I have to give a big Thank You to Chase Bank for catching something before it hurt me very badly!

A few months ago I went and spent the day with my kids and a friend in Orem, UT. I did my normal Friday/Payday shopping while I was there. The next day at 8am on a Saturday morning Dan and I were talking about what to do that day, what I still needed to get done and such when I got a call from Chase Bank. After verifying that it was really Chase and that I was who I was, they proceeded to ask me if I had my debt card on me. I said yes. They asked if I was in LA, CA the previous day, I said no. They then verified the charges that I had made the previous day to make sure they were charges that I had made and I said yes they were. They told me that someone in LA had tried to make a $300 purchases with my debt card info the day before but since it was at the same time I was making purchases in UT they declined their transaction. They then canceled my debt card and issued me a new one.

The following Monday when I looked at my account online (I check it almost daily) I noticed an ATM fee for checking the balance. I called up the bank right away and in talking with them it looked like who ever had gotten my card info had tried to check the balance to see what was there on Saturday, but when I told them I had not used the card since Friday since we had canceled my card on Saturday morning they credited back the ATM Fee. Thank Goodness for technology that they were able to verify were the ATM fee was at.

I hope never to have to go through this kind of stuff again!

Slice of Life # 63~ Games Kids Play

2011-07-31T18:11:00.000-06:00

Well it has been awhile since I have written for Slice of Life. I took a family vacation for a month and fell of the weekly writing experience. So I am back!

Growing up I remember playing red-rover, London Bridges, sorry, Life, Risk, Monopoly,Candy Land, extra....
I remember getting a computer in our home when they first came out for home ownership. I remember playing Organ Trail, and a few other games. Then when I was 11 my family moved and my dad needed to take our home computer to his office and use there, so since it was Christmas time, we got the original Nintendo with Donky Kong, Mario Brother, Duck Hunt and later we got Tetris. I remember spending hours playing Tetris.

We never upgraded our system, and I don't know what happened to it. I just remember I got busy as a High school student and stopped playing.

Many years later, I meet my husband who had a PS2 and loved to play video games, but didn't have much that I enjoyed. Then we got Lego Star Wars and I started playing. Then the new systems's came out and they quit making games for the PS2 so a few month's ago (just before they dropped in price) we bought a Wii. Even though we would have loved a PS3 we felt that with the ages of our kids the Wii had more games for them to enjoy too. We have collected all of the Lego Games wither it is PS2 or Wii (we have kept our PS2 as it still works). Our recent additions have been Harry Potter Years 1-4 and Parites of the Carribine. I have even put down a hold for Harry Potter Years 5-7 which will be out in time for Christmas and will be our family Christmas gift this year. Dillon is mastering all of these games, and I am slowly putting in time playing them as they are fun for me too. We did just finally buy a 2nd controller so now we can have more fun! :)

See you next week on Slice of Life!

It has been awhile!

2011-07-29T19:58:00.000-06:00

Well it has been a while since I posted, so now I am back on the bandwagon! We had a great trip to Washington State during the month of July. Thanks for all who made the trip wonderful! Here is just a couple of pictures!

Kids playing with the kitchen!

Dillon and Jennilyn riding!

Our Family picture at Dan's brother's wedding!

Ruth and Irene Riding

Emily and I in Ocean Park, WA

We had fun on the beach!

We had a great time flying kites on the beach!

Dan's Mom's maiden name!

Dillon swimming with the help of a noodle!

Jennilyn swimming with the help of a noodle, they became little fishes!

Irene having fun with chalk!

Van all ready to head home!

Our picnic with cousins in Dillon, MT

Dillon in front of a Dillon sign

We are on our way home!

Slice of Life # 58~ Chocolate

2011-06-27T06:19:00.000-06:00

Chocolate Candy I made for Valentines 2011

This weeks Slice of Life is on Chocolate....Well I love a good dark Chocolate candy or even making my own candy, I also enjoy brownies and chocolate ice cream at times.

But I HATE Chocolate Cake!

And of course at my wedding the large cake they made chocolate and the cake we feed each other was chocolate! I wasn't the happiest about that! But I will eat chocolate cake if it is the only thing served.

Our wedding cake

Pretending to cut the cake!

Feeding each other chocolate sheet cake since the wedding reception had not started when we did the pictures.

For me if I had my way my stress reliever food would be Swedish fishes or Cinnamon Bears!

I am glad I like chocolate and will give anything with it a try, but I don't make chocolate cake unless it is my husband's birthday and then I make him Devil's Food Cake ~ which is one of his favorite cakes!

Until next time....

Our New Toy

2011-06-23T15:28:00.000-06:00

Dillon, Jennilyn, Ruth & Irene

One of our neighbor's was selling this wagon which is in great shape! The kids have loved it! Right now it is full with all the horses and ponies and barbies!

Camping with Papa Jack and Nana!

2011-06-20T18:00:00.000-06:00

We went camping this Father's Day weekend. We didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a few that I took. We had a good time even if Dan and I are sun burnt and we forgot to put sunscreen on when we went swimming!

Kids playing in the dirt!

Our Tent with our double stroller and my sister's double stroller. With all the walking we had to do they were a life saver!

More time in the dirt! Irene was being stubborn and didn't want to wear her jacket!

Papa and Nana's cabin

Uncle Nick's cabin

Beautiful up here!

Dan and the girls playing in the rocks!

Jennilyn playing with her cousin's toys

Irene giving Ruth a ride

Ruth giving Irene a ride!

Dillon has taken to the water this year!

Waiting to go in!

Irene

Ruth

Dan getting ready to go in the pool!

Netty and three of the kids!

Netty and all of the kids, this is were she wishes she had the sunscreen on!

This picture was taken on our way home. It is a bad picture but off in the distance is a plane that crashed while we were there. My mom saw the life flight fly away as she was headed back up to camp on Saturday.

We had a lot of fun with Nana and Papa Jack! Thanks for having us up! We hope to do it again sometime soon!

Slice of Life # 57~ Moving

2011-06-20T13:27:00.000-06:00

Growing up we moved a total of 10 times from the time I was born until I left for college. Some of those moves were just brief stays with Grandma and Grandpa Dillon. When I was 17 we moved to our house in Pleasant Grove which my parents stayed for 12 years until they sold it in 2006.

Dan and I were talking a few weeks ago about all the places we have lived and how many times we have moved. When we were about to get married we started looking for a place in the Salt Lake Valley for us to live when we got married. Dan already worked in Sandy and I was currently unemployed, but had been offered a job at Discover Card in collections that would start the Monday after we got married. We found a place in South Salt Lake City right on the border of Salt Lake City, West Valley City and Taylorsville. We later found out that one of my cousin's and his wife had lived in the same complex when they were first married. Our apartment number was 911 and we had people ask us all the time if that was correct. Dan moved in the last week of Oct just days before we were married. I moved most of my stuff in but I didn't stay there until after we were married.

We stayed there for the 11 months and then Dan got a job in Minnesota. I was 32 weeks pregnant and the Dr told me if I was going to go before the baby was born I had to go then or wait until the baby was born and go. So I quit my job and went with Dan and he came back a few weeks later and got our stuff just as our lease on our apartment was up. We stayed with his brother while we found a place. My sister in law was great to go with me and tell me her opinion. Dan didn't see the place in New Richmond, WI until after we signed the lease. We lived in New Richmond, WI for 21 months and then we moved to North Hudson, WI. I was 8 months pregnant with our 2nd child. Partway into our lease there Dan was laid off from his job. As our lease was ending and unemployment was ending we decided we should take his parents up on their offer and move in with them. Just before we were to leave for Spokane, WA we found out we were pregnant and it looked like twins. So we moved to Spokane and finally got a Dr and found out for sure that it was twins. We stayed with my in-laws for 11 months. By then Dan had a job and we were back on our feet and found a place not far from my in-laws.

We only lived in our apartment in Spokane for 4 months when Dan got a more steady job in Midvale, UT. So once again we moved. We have been here for 20 months.

So in the almost 7 years we have been married we have moved 7 times. Crazy! We are hoping to finally put down some roots this next year and stay in one place for awhile!

Time to Ride

2011-06-14T13:04:00.000-06:00

Ruth

Dillon

Jennilyn

Irene

After our Hair Cuts!

With Mommy after our Haircuts!

Today I took the kids to Cookie Cutter's Kids Hair Salon! All Jennilyn could talk about for the last few days was how she was going to go ride in her "Fancy Car" and get her hair cut! We had a good day and the kids were really good! No crying other then Irene not liking the hair dryer!

Slice of Life # 56 ~ Time Crunch

2011-06-13T18:16:00.000-06:00

I am one of those people who hate to be late. I am usually 5-10 min early unless something or someone has held me up.

We are one of those families that shows up to church 5-10 min early (most Sunday's). People tell me all the time how amazing I am to have the family there on-time every week when their Sunday School teacher's are all usually 5-10 min late, which means I am late to attend my classes (We have RS/Pristhood first, then Sunday School and Sacrament Last). I don't ever think it is amazing, I just like to be places on time when ever I can. I get up early to get myself ready and I have things put together the night before for church so we are not scrabbling in the morning looking for shoes, dresses, ext.

I also love to plan, and I will start planning months in advance. Right now I am starting to really get into planning mode for a trip to my brother-in-law's wedding.

The other thing I tend to plan and start doing in advance is moving. When people show up to help me move, I always like to have my house ready for them. I have been told a few times "Thank You" for being ready for the help to arrive to move the stuff so they were able to load, drive to the new place and unload in 1 1/2 hours. I still had to go back and do the cleaning, but that always goes much quicker when you have the boxes and stuff moved out.

I like to plan so I can succeed, if I don't plan nothing ever turns out right!

Slice of Life #55~Naughty, Naughty, Naughty

2011-06-05T21:50:00.000-06:00

I know I have been naughty at times in my life, but there is only one big naughty that I remember that I really got in trouble for with my mother.

I was 13 years old and went to a Beehive II(church youth group) group sleepover party at one of our leaders house. While we were having a good time, we heard something outside. We had discovered that our leaders house had been "Dotted" (paper dots taped to the house). We figured out one of the girls who did it was from the Beehive I class (age 12). So everyone else wanted to get back at her and they decided to toilet paper her house in exchange for the toilet paper we had to babysit for two hours free for our leader, so I went along...we went and toilet papered this girls house and the Bishop's house. Her father was still up and saw us do it and laughed since he knew what his daughter had done.

The next morning we went and helped both families clean up the mess and invited them to breakfast with us.

My mom was so mad when she found out what we had done that my leader never did have me come and babysit to repay back the toilet paper. And as a result none of the other youth groups were allowed to have a group sleepover.

Not my proudest moment, but it taught me a lot at the time, and I have never done anything like that again.

So there is my Slice of Life Naughty Story. Hope you enjoy it!

This is written for Slice of Life entry.

Kids playing with my camera!

2011-06-03T13:24:00.000-06:00

I didn't know they had taken pictures of themselves writing on their arms. It is finally fading away a week later!

Dillon Graduation!

2011-06-03T13:02:00.000-06:00

Today was Dillon's graduation from Jordan Valley Preschool. He has been going there for 2 years for speech therapy. He has sure grown a lot and has improved so much!

Dan is out of town so he missed this event. I took the girls with me and they were all so good for the 1hr that we were there. I took them to the drive threw for McDonald's and we had to sit and wait for the chicken nuggets. So since they had us pull forward and then brought our meals I just checked that I had 4 happy meals and then my meal. We get home and go to eat and the kids are getting out their toys and Dillon's didn't have it's toy in it. He didn't even cry over it, which surprised me. He just said he was fine and then went on eating and went off to play. What a big boy he has grown into! He is becoming very helpful with his sisters as well and does pretty good at obeying.

We love you Dillon! And we have a lot to look forward to!

Until fall...School is out and then we will have Dillon in Kindergarten! Lots of changes headed our way from here on out!

Slice of Life # 54~Why I Live Where I Live

2011-05-30T15:55:00.000-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Why I live where I live....mmmm....Well when we first got married we just needed something that wasn't too small for both of us as we were combining things together since we had both lived on our own for so long, we both had a lot of stuff, and even then we had to get rid of some of it. We got an apartment in South Salt Lake that still allowed us to commute to work ok and was still within a price range we could afford.

Then we moved to WI with a job change, this time we needed a 2 bedroom as we were excpeting our first child. We found an apartment in New Richmond, WI that was only 24 miles to my sister-in-law and best friend Sarah's house. Again we needed something that was in our price range. It was nice without being too small or too big. I picked the place without Dan ever seeing it until we had the keys and were ready to move in.

We then moved to a 3 bedroom duplex in North Hudson, WI. This put us only 14 miles to Sarah's house and closer to work and church. We chose the 3 bedroom as Dan's sister Annette was living with us and we were expecting baby number 2. This had an unfinished basement that worked great for storage and as Dan's office.

We then lost our job and moved in with Dan's parents in Spokane, WA and stayed with them for 11 months. During this time we had the twins. Once we had a job and were back on our feet a little bit we moved into a 3 bedroom apartment not far from his parents house. It was close to all the shopping, Dr's and such.

But we weren't happy with having a "Temp" job so Dan kept looking, and 4 months after we moved into our place in Spokane, Dan got a job back in UT. He headed down ahead of the kids and I and stayed with my aunt and uncle while he found us a place. I looked online and would tell him to check out these places. We knew we needed at least three bedrooms, but we didn't want it to be too small or to pricey. Several he looked at where in the right price range, but the space was so small and no storage. Some were to far out we didn't want to spend a lot in gas for the same price as some of the one's closer to work. Then I found the apartment that we live in online and set up an appointment for Dan to see it on his lunch break. It was only 1 mile from work. He decided this was the place and put the deposit down on it right away and moved into it two days later with the kids and I coming to join him 2 days after that. I didn't get to see it until after I arrived. Right now this place is great because now that we are only down to one car he walks to and from work everyday. It makes the convenience of living here all the better.

So we both have picked places that the other hasn't seen until we went to move in.

We would love to rent or buy a house, but right now that isn't an option as the size we need is $400 more a month then we can afford. But we will see what the future holds.

Slice of Life # 53~ Helping Hands

2011-05-29T11:18:00.001-06:00

It has taken me all week to think about what I wanted to write. And my mind is still really blank as to what to say.

When I think of Helping Hands, I think of giving service, and this can be in any form. There are ways of service that Dan and I have talked about but we have yet to do them... maybe this year. But I have helped take meals to those in my neighborhood who were ill, just had a baby or such. I have helped with cleaning projects, I have babysat for people so they could get things done, and have told them don't pay me, it is my way to help. I have also gave a dear friend a place to stay for a month when she had to move out of her apartment and had no were else to go. And I have bought bus tokens for friends in need.

Sometimes we don't think of ourselves giving service when we are just reaching out and being a friend.

Let us remember to reach outside of ourselves and give to others as Christ would give to us.

Shred Fest!

2011-05-23T13:25:00.000-06:00

Back at the beginning of May Salt Lake City had a "Shred Fest".

You were to bring everything from computer hard drives, papers, cell phones that you wanted shredded and it would be shredded, without all the time involved. So I had just cleaned out some papers from 1994-2002 and was going to spend time with my little shredder that is getting so old it isn't doing it's job anymore, to shred these papers, when I heard about the Shred Fest.

They were trying to break the Guinness World Record Book for the most amount of stuff shredded determined by weight in 24 hrs.

So I loaded the kids up and we went. There were lines of people and we were there just after they opened. We stood in line for about 1/2 hr and then we were done.

Sorry I didn't get pictures of the machines. But here is pictures of the kids!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-05-19T06:36:00.001-06:00

I don't have a garden. We don't own any land. We live in an apartment. I would love to own some land, though I don't know if I will ever have a garden like my mother's.

Growing up, for those prime years of my childhood, we lived on an eighty acre hobby farm. My dad commuted into the cities to work. In the evenings and on the weekends, we would occasionally have to help dad with the fields. Wheat, oats, and hay are the crops I can really recall. Now about a good third of that land was in forest and swamp, so that wasn't too bad. It provided some supplemental income I gather, or at least reduced the cost of living there. Because of it, I grew up on a wheat diet. Wheat bread, wheat in our cookies, and wheat pancakes.

Now my wife is correct that my mom did have a garden that you used the word "acre" to describe the size of it. It wasn't in back though. One of the fields off the driveway had part of it converted into mom's garden. I remember being told that before we could go to the lake that we had to weed a row of corn. We moaned about it like many kids do when told to work on mom's garden. And although we enjoyed the fruits of her garden all year (corn would be prepared and frozen so we ate mom's garden corn for many months), we would give mom the complaint "but it so long!" or "You cannot even see the end of the row!" Her garden was on a hill, so you literally could not see the end of a row of corn standing at the driveway. Corn, potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, and even tomatoes were a few of things mom grew in her garden. The spot dedicated to watermelons and pumpkins was probably as big as many people's backyard gardens alone. And, yes, mom had a backyard garden as well. Probably still bigger than most suburban gardens, but we did live in farmland. There was a large section for strawberries. And I cannot forget the raspberries. Thinking of raspberries, I seem to recall that the raspberries were divided into several groups and not all restrained to just those two gardens. Not all the raspberries flourished while we lived there either.

I wonder how many gardens are prepared by tractor and plow instead of 'tiller.

Mom's garden may have been rather large, but now when I hear others complain about weeding gardens I generally get a good chuckle out of it. I have since learned that when we complain as children that the nature of the task is what drives our complaint and not the scale of it.

I heard that some of the neighbors wondered who was going to maintain my mom's garden when we left. Remember, that large garden measured in relation to an acre was along the driveway, a portion of a field in front of the house. So everyone around had been seeing that garden for years. My parents have moved several times since then, and my mom has often kept a garden. Though none of them on quite the same scale.

As big as my mom's garden was, I seem to have heard some stories of another amazing gardener who worked in a much smaller garden. Someone who was in wheelchair? If I got that right, that is a story my wife witnessed.

Slice of Life # 52 ~ The Book that Changed Me

2011-05-18T13:19:00.001-06:00

I love to read, so to say a book truly changed me is hard. I love reading the Book of Mormon and Bible. Recently I did read a book that I did really enjoy and some of the things talked about I could definitely apply to me. I have decided that I need to buy this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book about Larry H. Miller. My husband worked for him for 8 years. And reading how his life and some of the things he did. I think he had some good things to talk about in this book.

Annette turns 33

2011-05-17T13:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my 33rd Birthday! I started my day off by getting up at 5:45am and driving to Orem to pick up my nephew's Leo and Cole, so that my sister Alysha could go to work at 7am. I brought them back to my house and was back in time for Dan to go to work. I then did cereal with all 6 kids for breakfast. I received a call from a sister in my ward wishing me Happy Birthday, and my grandmother called me. I got lots of Facebook well wishes. When Alysha came she offered to watch the kids while Dan and I walked to Red Robin and have dinner. While I waited for Dan to come home I scanned some pictures that Alysha needed. When I came home Wendy was there with a beautiful and tasty chocolate cake with strawberries. I then scanned more pictures for Alysha and talked with my dad and my mother in law before I went to bed. I talked with my mom this morning as she had forgotten her phone yesterday and didn't get home until midnight. I got cloths from my sisters and my parents and I got some add on's for the Wii Fit, that I have tried out already and love!

It was a good birthday and I am grateful for my family for making it a special day.

Slice of Life # 51 ~ How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-05-14T06:51:00.000-06:00

I have asked Dan to write this one, but he hasn't so far, but I do plan on having him write down what it was like to grow up on a 80 acer Hobby Farm and his mom had 1 acer garden in back, and a smaller garden in front like I grew up with in front.

I grew up with a garden. I remember helping to till the ground, plant, weed and then harvest. I seem to remember having broccoli soup when ever company came in the late summer. I still like broccoli soup. I think I should get the recipe from my mother! I loved corn on the cob, tomatoes, peas, green beans, carrots, zucchini and pumpkin. As I got older and Grandpa Dillon lived with us he would also have radishes too.

And now as I am raising a family of my own, I want to have a garden to plant and grow food. Hopefully in the next few years we can do that.

Happy Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-07T20:39:00.000-06:00

This week Dillon brought home a Mother's Day Card for me! What I love is his attempt to sign his name!

And here is a collage of the rest of the card!

It is so nice to be entering into that time in my life when my kids will be bring home all the artwork or special projects for me! I love all of my kids and can't wait to see what the future holds for us together!

Slice of Life # 50 ~ Happy Birthday

2011-05-04T12:25:00.002-06:00

This Weeks Slice of Life is about Birthdays! I have had some fun ones over the years. In 9th grade, my group of friends left a gift for me in each class, and a big balloon boquate in my last class.
My 21st birthday I went to Hard Rock Cafe with my family. My parents may not have appreciated that, but I sure had a fun time, and I got the sweatshirt I am wearing in these pictures there.

These pictures are from my mission. Since I love Cheesecake or angle food cake as my birthday cake, my parents sent me a no bake cheesecake mix and little shortcakes. I also got a new outfit. My companion and I went on a hike since it was our perperation day, and then at our dinner appointment that night, they had made a cake and put candles on it when they found out it was my birthday. My birthday is this next week, and we may not be doing much, but I feel loved by my family!

Slice of Life # 49 ~ I Am A Mormon

2011-04-25T16:39:00.000-06:00

This You Tube clip shares my beliefs of our Savior at this Easter Time. He is Risen! I am so grateful for what Christ did for me. And I Believe in Christ, I know that he lives! He is my Savior and my friend!

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Slice of Life # 48~ Coming Home

2011-04-19T12:31:00.000-06:00

This picture is from the night before I flew home from my mission.
Sister Astle was my MTC Companion and so we also went home from the mission field together. Only, her mom flew in and they went and toured the mission, so I was by myself with the Office sister for that night.

A couple of days before we were to fly home I got a call from the mission office asking for a phone number to reach my dad at work as they had changed my flight. I was going to fly from Onterio, CA to LA to San Fransico and then home to SLC.

They decided just two days before I was to fly home that I was just going to fly from Onterio to LA and then to SLC. Which put me getting in at like 1030am rather then 230pm. I had a phone interview with my mission president as he was so busy with meetings that night that he couldn't do my temple recommond interview in person, so he did it over the phone. The Elders picked me up from the Office sisters apartment on Jan 31, 2001 at about 430am and took us to the airport. I then climbed onto the smallest plane I had ever been on to fly to LA. Of course my camara acted up and the last few picters I had taken with it didn't turn out.

When I got off the plane, there were my parents, sisters and several of my aunts and uncles as my cousin Matt was leaving for the mission field in Ivory Coast, Africa. So I got to see Matt and wish him luck and say hello to everyone else. Then my parents took me to eat and we then visited the brand new Conferance center and took a tour of it.

We made our way home to Pleasant Grove, UT and when I walked in the door there was the Christmas tree, that they had cut down freash and then left it up for me. My Dad then invited me to go with him on a business trip the next day so that I wouldn't be stuck at home all by myself while everyone else had school and work.

And then my 2nd day home I spent the day taking down the tree while everyone else was at work and school. It seems hard to think that it has been 10 years since I came home from the mission field. But I am glad that I had the chance to serve a mission. It was hard, but well worth it!

A Story ~ Take My Son

2011-04-12T12:47:00.000-06:00

This was sent to me in an email that you forward on. I don't forward things on, but I like the message, I thought I would share it with you!

Netty~

This is great. Take a moment to read it; it will make your day!
The ending will surprise you.

Take my Son.....
    A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art.. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art..
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.   About a month later, just before Christmas,

There was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.. He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly... He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'
   The father  Opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture.. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'   The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.    The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.   On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?'   There was silence...     Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.'
But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'
Another voice angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh'S, the Rembrandts. Get on with the Real bids!'   But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'   Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting...' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
'We have $10, who will bid $20?'   'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'   The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel.. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'     A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!'     The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over.'
'What about the paintings?'

'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will... I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!'   God gave His son over 2,000 years ago to die on the Cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The Son, the Son, who'll take the Son?'
Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything!      FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...THAT'S LOVE!

Slice of Life # 47 ~ Another Random Picture

2011-04-11T09:56:00.001-06:00

This Weeks Slice of Life is Another Random Picture. When I saw this title, I thought of my daughter Jennilyn. She can find some unusual places to sleep, including under the bed!
Some times I just have to laugh at the way she can sleep! Enjoy!

Slice of Life # 46 ~ I Love ... And Here is Why

2011-04-05T11:40:00.000-06:00

This one seems to be a hard one for me to write on...But If I ever print these blogs up into a book like I want to, then writing these Slice of Life is important to me so that my kids will know things about me, that maybe I don't outwardly tell them or show them. I know there are things about my parents and grandparents that I don't know.

Things I love, are reading, spending time with my family, watching a good movie, visiting with friends, traveling.

I love to escape in a good book. Even though I may not be much of a writer, I still like to read and just let my world slip away from me while I enjoy the world of imagination. Not always a good thing as I tend to ignore the things that I should be doing and can't put the book down!

I love to go places with my family. I try to get my husband to just get out of the house on Saturdays so we can spend time together with the kids, and sometimes it is a struggle. As I have been home all week, and he just wants to stay home as he has been gone to work all week.

I do enjoy going to the movies, but don't go very often anymore. We do Netflix and Red Box. We have cut back to just instant play on Netflix as we figured the new release we want to see we can go to Red Box and get them.

I love to visit friends, but it isn't always easy with everyone's schedules, but I sure am uplifted when I do get to go and spend some time with them.

I do love to travel, but don't get to do it very often. I love to visit places with history, or just to visit friends. I do love history, so going to places that have a special history makes it even more fun for me. I am sure that my trip out East with my family 10 years ago this summer will always be one of my favorites as it gave me time to spend with my family, and we visited some amazing places with lots of history in them.

Slice of Life # 45 ~ From Scratch

2011-03-31T15:37:00.001-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life is From Scratch....mmmm when I think of from scratch, I think of homemade pumpkin pie, homemade ice cream, dress sewn for Easter, stockings made for Christmas, art drawn, quilts made, homemade pizza....many things come to mind. Here is a collage of things made by me or members of my family that I had pictures of.

Oh, when I make waffles and pancakes, and some of my cakes I make from scratch not a pre-mix box.
Each of the outfits and blankets my children are wearing and laying on for their blessings was lovingly made for us by either Nana Dillon or Grandma Burke. The quilt was done for my Grandpa and Grandma Dillon's 60th wedding anniversary, each child and grandchild got a square, and on the back is hand-prints/footprints of the great-grandchildren. The stockings and Pooh animals were made my my sweet mother-in-law. The tiny baby is me in an outfit that my mother made for me since I was so small, she used a doll dress pattern to make it. The chocolate suckers I did for Valentine's day this year. Dan did the drawing years ago, I just scanned it into the computer. And a Car Seat cover I made.

I am sure we all have memories of things that have been made from scratch for us to eat, wear, or just enjoy. I am glad I have these pictures at least so if something ever happens to the cloths, blankets and such at least I have these to remember them by!

Before Birds could Fly

2011-03-21T10:36:00.004-06:00

"Before Birds could fly there were two birds playing football...one bird kicked the ball over a nearby cliff and the second bird, while trying to stop the ball fell over...while he was falling to his death he held both wings out and found to his surprise that he could float on the air... he flapped his wings and discovered he could fly. He picked up the ball and flew up to the top where he told his friend what had happened...the second bird would not try to fly so the first threw him over the cliff...where he held out his wings and flew.

The next day it was Fast and Testimony meeting...and the first bird stood up and told all the birds in the congregation what had happened...the second stood up and confirmed it also...soon the chapel was full of birds flying all over the building.

At the end of the meeting all the birds picked up their scriptures and walked home."

I like this short story as it reminds us that we can received a testimony of something and then not apply it in our lives. Let us all live our lives to the fullest and apply the lessons we learn to better ourselves.

Slice of Life # 44 ~ Famous Places

2011-03-21T00:08:00.000-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Famous Places that we have visited. How Ironic that this was the prompt for this week, as I have been thinking about this trip, and had just sent a request to some of my family asking for pictures, as I seem to have lost mine.

It is July 2001, I had just come home from my mission a few months before and the "Jack Dillon Clan" set out on a adventure of our life. This is one of my most memorable family vacations. You see most of our family vacations were camping or going to Washington to visit family, we did go to Disneyland when I was 14, but that is the only time I have ever been there.

Back to July 2001. My parents and my 4 sisters and myself headed to Buffalo, New York on an airplane and then we rented two mid-size cars, to fit all of us and we started our driving tour of the East Coast. We then ventured to Niagara Falls, going over into Canada and raiding the Maid of the Mist right up to the falls, oh that was so worth the trip! We then traveled to Rochester, NY and the next day spent the day in Palmyra, NY and saw the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We then traveled to New York City, our hotel was on the New Jersey side, and we were running late to get to our Broadway play of Les Misérables, wonderful play, we took the subway from New Jersey into the World Trade Center, and since we were running late we decided not to ride to the top of the World Trade Center. This was July 11, 2001, just two months before they fell.

The next day we went to the Statute of Liberty.
The line was so long to get into it and then it was so long to wait for the elevator to go up. But here is the kicker, you can ride the elevator up, but you had to walk the 23 flights of stairs down, unless you had some kind of disability that would let you ride it down. Well my family decided we had had enough of waiting in line as we had already waited for about 2 hours just to get inside by the gift shop, we decided to climb the 23 flights of stairs up and then the 23 flights of stairs down! We still made it to the top before some of the other people we had been waiting in line with did.

We also went to Elise Island and then we made our way to Gettysburg, Washington DC were we saw the sights, some of my sisters spent a lot of time in the Holocaust museum. Then Jaclyn and I left everyone else at the National Scouting Jamboree, and we went and saw Williamsburg, Bush Gardens, and the Washington DC Temple before we went home. And Mom, Dad, Emily, Wendy, and Alysha visited those sights before they came home three weeks later. Emily ended up meeting her husband to be at the Jamboree, so I think it was more memorable for all of us because of that!

I still want to go back to New York and see some of the other sites that we just didn't have the time for and get in another play, maybe one day Dan and I can do this type of trip with our kids. It will be one that I will never forget. Of course I can't find any of my pictures from this trip as this is before I got a digital camera.

I want to say Thank You to my Mom and Dad for taking us on this grand adventure to so many famous places! The best part I think is that since we were all ranging in age from 23-16 that we will all remember this trip!
Thanks Again Mom and Dad for all the wonderful memories from not only this trip, but other family vacations.

Those Silly Americans!

2011-03-20T21:04:00.001-06:00

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that those ballpoint pens would not work in 0 gravity. To combat this problem, NASA Scientists spent a decade and $12 Billion developing a pen that writes in 0 gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including Glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 degrees Celsius.

The Russians used a pencil.

Slice of Life # 43~ Illness

2011-03-19T18:32:00.004-06:00

I can say that illnesses have been in my life a few times.

When I was 4 I tested positive for TB, but never really had all the symptoms of it. I did spend some time in the hospital just to make sure. I remember receiving a pretty pink doll to keep me company. I then had to take medicine for 6 months when I went to go on my mission, just to make sure.

When I was 12 I missed two weeks of school because I had a bad case of bronchitics. I remember my dad taking me to the doctor and they couldn't get a blood pressure reading.

When I was 14 I started getting really sick and tired all the time. I would sleep all day be up for two hours and then sleep all night. We found out that I had mono, and no I didn't get it from kissing a boy. They told us I could of picked it up from a drinking fountain at school. It got so bad that by Oct, I was pulled out of school and did home school until we went back to school from Christmas break. I remember my doctor at the time wanted to give me shots to help my energy. I had to have a really big needle in my bottom every two weeks. It seemed to help. I was told I will always have mono, just it may not be active. As a result most of my sisters also ended up with mono, just not as bad.

There have been more, but I think the one I will remember the most was 5 years ago. In March 2006 we found out we were pregnant with baby #2. Dillon was just 4 months old. I went to Spokane, WA in April 2006 to spend two weeks with my in-laws, and then go to Utah and spend two weeks with my parents and attend my baby sister's wedding in the Salt Lake City Temple. While I was in Spokane, I stared cramping and bleeding. I went into the ER and they said I was miscarrying, but couldn't find the baby during the ultrasound. After a day the bleeding stopped and everything seemed fine until one week later, I had gone onto Utah and the day before my sister's wedding I started to hurt and have a bad case of diarrhea, I thought I had eaten some bad Chinese food when we had gone out to dinner. During the night, I was staying with my friend Jamie, and I was cramping so bad, I got up to go talk to Jamie and I passed out onto the floor. Dillon was sleeping on some blankets made into a bed on the floor, I am lucky I didn't pass out and fall on top of him. When I came too I went into Jamie's room and had her call my dad. Dad and Grandpa Alcorn came and gave me a blessing. I then was able to sleep, but by morning I was in so much pain. My dad came back and took me to urgent care. They took my blood work and said my white blood cell count was sky rocket, I had internal bleeding, which is why I had passed out. They sent me straight to the hosptial. I was told I had a ruptured tubal pregnancy. I had lost one of my tubes. We called Dan, but he was in New York working, and it took us a while to get a hold of him. By the time it was done there was nothing he could do, so he stayed and continued to work, so we didn't miss out on the income he was providing. My dad stayed with me until he had to go to the wedding, and then came back until he was needed at the wedding reception. They moved me to surgery just after my dad left. Jamie stayed with me and some family friends had Dillon with them. As they moved me to the operating table I passed out from the pain again. When I came too after the surgery, I looked at the clock, and told Jamie, well we missed the wedding. I ended up staying with my parents for two extra weeks before I went home as the doctor wouldn't clear me for travel until then. I made it back home to Dan after having been gone for 6 weeks just a couple days after my birthday. We have gone on to have 2 more pregnancies since this happened. We now have Dillon, Jennilyn, and the twins Ruth and Irene. It is a miracle that I had twins since I only have one tube, but I am grateful for them. When I recently had a miscarriage a month ago, my new doctor was being very cautious because he didn't want me to have to go through this ordeal again. I am glad I found someone I could trust and who is looking out for me.

Well this is one long post for Slice of Life, but I am glad that I have recorded it, and if I have have my post printed into a book, at least it is recorded for my children to know about my life.

Happy 38th Birthday Dan!

2011-03-15T21:17:00.001-06:00

Today is Dan's 38th Birthday! Here is his cake with all the candles we had in the house totaled exactly 38 candles! For his birthday we have decided to get a Wii for our family to enjoy. To start that out, we got a game of the 25th anniversary Super Mario All Stars game. This has all 4 original Mario games. I remember playing the original Mario as a kid, and now my kids will get to play it.

Here is a video of Dan's forest fire of a cake!

Happy Birthday Dan! I hope you had a great day!

Cookie Cutter

2011-03-09T14:03:00.002-07:00

I forgot to take my camera with me, but today we went to Cookie Cutter Kids Hair Salon.
They have these fun cars for the kids to sit in while they get their hair cut. They also get to watch a movie of their chose while their hair is being cut. When they are done they get a balloon tied to a cookie cutter and a sucker. The girls did great! No crying or fighting about getting it cut. I am taking Dillon on Friday, so maybe I will remember the camera and get more picture.

Ruth

Jennilyn

Irene

Irene side view

Balloon and cookie cutter with Dillon's teddy bear

I loved how Jennilyn's and Irene's hair turned out. The judge is still out on Ruth's. I can always take her back another day since I bought a booklet deal, which they allowed me to use three of them today and still have some for future hair cuts. It did cut down on how much I would pay for all of the kids' hair cuts in one shot since I do have so many kids, but a word to the wise, make an appointment to go. They do accept walk-in's but I found they didn't have the time for walk in's!

Slice of Life # 42 ~ First Aid

2011-03-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of my first experience taking one of my children into urgent care for stitches. Ruth is still the only one of my children that has had to have stitches. At least now if we can't tell the twins apart, we just look for the scar.

I know more times will probably happen, but so far we haven't had a lot of first aid problems yet!

This is written for Slice of Life feel free to join us!

Slice of Life # 41 ~ We're going to the Zoo

2011-03-01T17:08:00.001-07:00

"We're going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo, how bout you, you, you? You can come to, to, to. We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

We use to sing this song every time we went to the zoo growing up. We use to take the kids to Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota. I think when it warms up Dan and I will have to take the kids to the Hogle Zoo here in Utah.

My sister in law Sarah sitting waiting for the next seal show!

Dillon and cousin Nathan getting ready for lunch while we were at the zoo.

I think I have lost some of my pictures, as I can't seem to find the ones with them and the animals. Maybe this spring will be better, as now I have 4 kids that I think will enjoy the zoo!

Now I have that song running through my head and am singing it too my kids!

Had Fun Shopping!

2011-02-27T08:15:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, Dan and I went shopping while we left the kids with a friend! Then we went to the Adult session of Stake Conference. It was so good to spend some time with Dan.

We have been talking for quite awhile about buying this:

Now we can put away the booster chairs as there is someplace for everyone to sit. It matches our table really well.

Then we went to DI (a thrift store). They have brand new mattresses and furniture you can buy for a fraction of the cost (as well as used things). So we decided to buy a full size bed for Ruth and Irene to share.

Jennilyn is helping Irene up onto her new bed after already helping Ruth up.

Here are the girls on the new bed. It was fun to watch Dillon help Dan set up the bed, and then to put the bench together. He is growing up! We bought the new bedding at Walmart and I like it. I looked for a bed in a bag for the kids, but they were selling them in individualizes things (ie sheets one price, comforter another price, not all together in one bundle), and I couldn't justify spending $70 on bedding. I spent only $40 instead. The girls went to bed with a lot of giggling, but then once the door was shut, they settled down and went to sleep. The girls slept really well last night, and didn't get up until 6:40am! You have to understand they have been waking up and running to each other's room at 5am, so for them to sleep a little longer was great!

We had to strap the box spring onto the top of the van (thank goodness we keep straps in the van for this very reason) and the mattress slid into the back of the van. (we had left all the car seats at home so we could lay down the seats in the van to slide the mattress in on top of the seats.

So we had a great day, and I am glad for the time spent with Dan, and to see the smile on my kids faces when we brought everything home. Now we get to see how the girls sleep from here on out.

Slice of Life # 40 ~ Candlelight Dinner

2011-02-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

Irene, Dan, Ruth, Jennilyn, Dillon, and Annette (clockwise around the table)

For a Wedding Present we got the candle stick holders and some candles. So every now and then we set up the table and have a candle light dinner. Before the kids started coming we had it more frequently to make a night special, now we just do put them out once in a while. This picture was taken New Years Eve 2009. I was just about to take a picture when my sister stopped by to drop something off and so I had her take this family picture of all of us. The kids love when we turn off all the lights and light the candles. We haven't had a candlelight dinner since this picture was taken so I think it is about time to do it again.

St. Valentine's Story

2011-02-14T11:23:00.009-07:00

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't t...he only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.

Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.

I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.

One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."

I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!

They are growing!

2011-02-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

My kids are growing!

Dillon is getting so heavy, that I am not able to carry him much.

Jennilyn is getting so active, and is loving to sing.

Ruth is talking more and is wanting to sleep in her sister's bed.

Irene is also talking more and is wanting to sleep in her brother's bed. Today Irene told me to let go of the milk jug so she could carry it to the table for me.

The twins are becoming so independent in everything they do. Dillon is talking more and becoming very opinionated in what he wants. Jennilyn is a ball of energy. She loves to learn and sing.

I love my kids. They are growing and are fun to watch as they learn new things.

Slice of life # 38 ~ Sports

2011-02-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

Sports, what sports, other than following BYU football, I don't watch or cheer a team on. Maybe that will change if Dillon ever gets involved. Of course Dan isn't into sports much either. We do enjoy going to a game once in awhile, but we don't follow any on TV or radio, other than looking up the scores online.

I just told Dan the Packers won the Super Bowl, and he told me he didn't care. :)

The last time we went to a game was the summer of 2005 when my work gave us tickets for a Buzz baseball game. I was pregnant with Dillon at the time. We sat with some of my friends from work and when the game was going on Dillon was kicking and being so active it was quite funny. We moved away the next month, and we haven't made it to a game since. Maybe this next summer.

Slice of Life # 37 ~ Emotions

2011-02-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

Emotions~ This week was full of them! We had happiness, sadness, angry, stubbornness, loneliness, you name it we had it!

This week Dan was out of town. It was a long hard week, and I was so glad to get to go pick him up on Friday night! When we first started having kids he was gone a lot with his job, as it required him to travel, but when he took this job he currently has, that all changed, and it is wonderful to have him home more than gone! Next month he has to go out of town for a week again, but other then that he is home at nights. Glad for the change in pace as the kids have gotten older, but it sure gets lonely without him when he has to go out of town.

Love you sweetheart!

Slice of Life # 36 ~ Commercialized

2011-01-25T07:21:00.001-07:00

We don't have cable, satellite, and we get barely in reception with the antennae, so we don't watch TV much. We live on Netflix, Hulu, TV.com, etc. But when I saw this commercial one time, It was so me. This is my dream mini van. I want the 8 passenger one. But I could see myself totally like this woman in it.

Enjoy!

This was written for Slice of Life. Feel free to join us Here.

Christmas 2010 Pictures

2011-01-24T11:35:00.003-07:00

Here is our Christmas pictures from 2010. Sorry it took me so long to get them posted.

Slice of Life # 35 ~ The Family Business

2011-01-23T16:11:00.002-07:00

1960's a little boy wants a horse. His parents told him he needed to save his money for one. So everyday Monday- Saturday he would get up with his Dad at the crack of dawn and go work for Mr. Skinner in his orchards picking fruit. His Dad would help him for awhile until it was time for him to go to work, and then he would spend the day picking by himself, until Dad came back after his job. It took a couple of years, but he finally got his horse.

This is what my Dad did when he was young. He kept that horse until I was just a baby then he sold it. This has taught me a lot about hard work. We can do anything we set our mind to. Sometimes it is hard to keep the faith and keep working hard so we can have what we want, but if we keep at it, we can achieve our dreams!

Thanks Dad for setting the example to us, that we can do anything we set our minds too. Love you!

This was written for Slice of Life, please join us here to share your stories or read others stories.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ruth and Irene!

2011-01-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today we welcomed two very beautiful girls! Ruth and Irene! Happy Birthday Girls! This next year is going to be fun as we watch you talk more, potty train, and grow! Love you!

Slice of Life # 34 ~ Pets

2011-01-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Over the years my family has had pets, but I can honsetly say that I am not a pet person! But there were a few pets that I did like more then others. I loved, Sandy, Bonnie, Buck,Gidget, and Moon Doggie.

We got Sandy as a puppy when I was 12 and we lived in Richfield, UT. She was a golden Lab. I enjoyed playing with her from time to time. She was killed when she was hit by a car when I was 19 and living away at collage.

Bonnie, was my Aunt Patty Persian Cat that was given to us. We would shave her hair all off during the summer. When we just as we were moving we realized that she wasn't around. We think she might have been stolen, or ran away.

We Got Buck and Gidget about the same time. Buck was a Alaskan Husky with beautiful blue eyes. Grandpa Dillon would take him walking and it would be hard to tell who was walking who. Gidget was a tea-cup poodle. Black. I loved that little lap dog! Both of these great dogs have passed on due to old age.

Moon Doggie is a tea-cup/toy poodle mix was brought home to my parents home the weekend I got married, He was to be Gidgets companion and hopefully we would have puppies, but Moon Doggie was too young and Gidget too old. Moonie now lives in Washington with my grandparents. He was used to bred a lab for Labradoodles. He is enjoying a quite life.

As for me I told Dan that if we have an indoor dog it need to be a Labradoodle from my Aunt Hiedi or it was an outdoor dog. I don't like the hair the dogs and cats leave around, but I can handle the fur from the Labradoodle.

This is written Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us or read more.

Slice of Life # 33 ~ New Beginnings

2011-01-03T15:54:00.001-07:00

We all have new beginnings in our lives. Starting High School, going off to college, mission, new jobs, marriage, having kids, new home, etc. Many things are new beginnings in our lives.

For me this year I am going to start a new beginning. I have a decided to start getting in shape. I want to lose 50 lbs in the next 6 months. This will put me back to pre/post mission weight. It isn't my final weight goal, but I think this is a good start for the next 6 months. This is a new beginning! Wish me luck on my new beginning!

This is written for Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us here.

Slice of Life # 32 ~ Winter Fun

2010-12-29T11:00:00.002-07:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Winter fun.

~~I had a really cool picture that I wanted to share, but I can't find it on the computer.~~ I found the picture of us when we lived in Minnesota/Wisconsin we would go to the Winter Carnival. We had a great picture of Dan and I sitting in chairs in front of an ice airplane. We enjoyed going and seeing the different things that were made.

The first time we went I was so excited as I saw landmarks from the movie "Might Ducks" and it's sequal. I loved that movie as a teenager (still love it). It was great living in the land of the "frozen"! I didn't mind the winters there, but the summer's humidity is too much for me!

Other than that, I am not much of a winter person. I would rather curl up with a book or movie and drink some hot chocolate. I enjoyed living in Arizona and Southern California because it was a lot warmer in the winter. But my husband says he will not give up his winters to go live in someplace warmer.

This was written for Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us Here.

A Year in Review with the Burke's & Our Christmas Card

2010-12-20T14:46:00.004-07:00

Wow, the year has flown by! I can't believe it is already December and we are counting down the days until we go to Nana and Papa's house! (Annette's parents).

Here is the Year in Review for us!

January~ We celebrated the twins 1st Birthday with a party and lots of cake!

February ~ The Ruth took off walking and Irene was walking around on her knees!

March~ We celebrated Dan's 37th Birthday. Dillon and Jennilyn started to Potty Train! Yea for Mommy now this next year hopefully we will see the twins also Potty Train! And Annette and the kids went to Ashton, ID to visit Dan's sister Marsha and her family over Spring Break, ended up driving in a Blizzard coming back home, thanks to her cousin Beau and his wife Joanne for housing us for a couple of hours while we waited out the storm.

April~ Dan took his first business trip to Kentucky, and there is at least two more scheduled for this next year! Irene took off walking, now with all 4 kids walking you would think I could walk to the van without carrying a child, but 9 times out of 10 the twins still want to be carried to the van!

May~Annette turned 32 in May and we had fun getting out for walks with the kids!

June~ Found us going to back to Ashton, Idaho for a quick trip to see Dan's parents and younger brother and play with the cousins. We also got to go to the Aquarium with Papa Jack and all of our cousins on mommy's side.

July~ Found us going on our first Airplane ride as a family! Dillon hadn't been on an airplane since he was 11 months old. And none of the girls had ever been on one. We flew to Minnesota for a special Family Reunion and for Dan's cousin Beckie's wedding. What fun we had spending time with the Great-Grandma's and letting Dan's grandma's and sisters who had never meet the twins meet them for the first time! Dan had to fly back early so Grandma Burke flew back with us!

August ~ Jennilyn turned 3. Dillon started his 2nd year of pre-school. We also went to the Church History Museum to see the "I am a child of God" exhibit, before it was taken down for good. We road TRAX for the first time. The kids seem to enjoy it.

September~ Just found us busy with Dillon in school and going to the park.

October~ Found us with our 1st annual membership to Thanksgiving Point. We went to the Dinosaur museum, the Children's Garden and to the Farm Country. We also enjoyed going Trick or Treating with our cousins. Dan and Annette celebrated 6 years of marriage.

November~ Dillon turned 5 and then the kids went and spent a week with Nana and Papa Jack. Dan and Annette got to go see their 1st movie in the IMAX, they saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 of course. Then Annette went down to spend the week with the kids and Dan came down the night before Thanksgiving. We had a great Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa Jack's house with Uncle Nick, Aunt Alysha, Uncle Josh, Aunt Wendy and cousins Leo, Cole, and Jack. We even went out with Nana and Papa Jack and Uncle Nick and Aunt Alysha hikeing in the woods looking for a Christmas Tree. We are thinking next year we want to do this for ourselves. It was so much fun!

December~ Has found us down to one car. We decided after Dan's car didn't pass the state Safety Test to sell his car. We sold it in 2 hours. It was sad for Dan to see it gone after having it for 17 years, but now he is getting his exercise in walking a mile to work and a mile back each day.

We have had a great year and are Thankful for all of our blessings. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Slice of Life # 31 ~ Traditions

2010-12-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Growing up we always went caroling to the families in our neighborhood and to some of my parents close friends, who sometimes this was the only time of year they saw them. One of my favorites was the "Coca~Cola" House. This was a friend of my parents who had worked for Coca Cola and had quite the collection of memorabilia.

Growing up I remember between Christmas Eve and New Years Day we would have a Japanese Dinner. As I got older it became a Christmas Eve Tradition. I love this tradition. My Dad served his mission in Japan and this is the one time a year that he makes a Japanese dinner of some of his favorite meals when he was there.

When I went away to college I was a 12 hour drive to home and a 2 hour flight home. I made the chose to only come home for Christmas while I lived away. I did come home 2 of my three summers for a week or two, but never for Thanksgiving, or anything like that. When I went on my mission I left in Aug and came home in Jan, so that meant I missed two Christmas's away from home. That first Christmas was hard as I had never been away from home for Christmas. When my company Sister Wadley and I arrived at the Bishop's home for dinner on Christmas Eve, I was pleasantly surprised that we were having a Japanese dinner, just like I would have if I had been home. The Bishop was of Japanese descent and this was one of their family traditions too. They didn't know that it was a tradition in my home to have this meal, so it really made my being gone for my 1st Christmas that much more easier for me.

It has been 11 years since that Christmas, as in Jan I will have been home from my mission for 10 years. Boy the time sure flies. I have missed a few of these dinners in the last 6 years as I have not lived close enough to come home for Christmas, but I am looking forward to it again this year!

I hope you all have a great Christmas and enjoy doing your own traditions!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This was done for Slice of Life entry. Please feel free to join us here.

Attitude

2010-12-16T15:31:00.001-07:00

My mother sent me this poem, and I really liked it. I know there are times when my attitude needs an adjustment. Thanks Mom!

Attitude

by Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company—a church—a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. ..I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. ..we are in charge of our attitudes.

Slice of Life # 30 ~ Kitchen Disasters

2010-12-13T17:11:00.002-07:00

You think doing something like this would be easy right? Well, I haven't made pies or anything like that in a few years so going to spend Thanksgiving with my parents I brought this along to make as my "desseret". We were each to bring our favorite pie or dessert with us. I made it the day before Thanksgiving as Thanksgiving Day is so busy, and I screwed it up! I put the crust into the pan and then instead of putting the milk in a bowel to make the filling, I poured the milk in on top the crest. It was still good to eat, but not as good as it would have been if I had done it right. At least my Rainbow Jello came out pretty good!

This was written for Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us here and read more or share your own Slice of Life.

Slice of Life # 29 ~ Toys

2010-12-05T15:38:00.001-07:00

This apple is going to be 40 years old in just a couple of years. My husband has had this apple since he was a baby (he will be 38 in March). I didn't take a picture of the back of this apple but it is warped a little there. But the thing still works great! There is a story behind this. When Dan was 2 his dad was away with the Air Force and his mom was staying with Grandma Rene (her mom) and she was about ready to give birth to his little brother Brian. His parents had a really bright light for their camera, and Dan found it and plugged it in. He started the bedroom on fire. This was the only toy of his that survived. Everything else in the room was gone. They went and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Burke until after Brian was born. When Brain and Sarah had their first child Nathan, Mom Burke gave this to them and told them when Dan finally gets married and starts having kids, it belongs to him. Brian and Sarah passed it on to Marsha when she had John and gave her the same instructions. When we went out to Minnesota for Grandpa Burke's funereal, I was only 7 weeks pregnant with Dillon, but Marsha brought it with her and gave it to us. The kids have had a ball with it. Mom Burke even found another one for at her house too! Thanks Mom for saving it for Dan to pass on to his kids!

This was written for the Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us Here.

2010 Christmas Card

2010-12-01T14:59:00.001-07:00

Tree Cutting

2010-11-30T10:18:00.001-07:00

Here is some pictures from going Christmas tree cutting with Nana and Papa Jack on Thanksgiving Day. We also got to join Uncle Nick and Aunt Alysha and cousin Leo as they were cutting down their tree too. Maybe next year we will get a real tree with them.

Slice of Life # 28 ~ Ice, Ice, Baby

2010-11-29T18:08:00.002-07:00

This group of pictures is from Dec2008/Jan 2009. Spokane got hit with a lot of snow! And it was icy! I was very preganat and was about ready to deliver my twins when this storm came. The roads were shut down for days. I even went out to get something from my car and slipped on the ice, luckly it didn't send me into labor. My mom chewed me out for going out instead of waiting for someone else to go out to get it for me. :) This snow stuck around until March which is unusuall for Spokane.

So far this year is looking like we will have the cold snow and ice stick around early. Not looking forward to walking on ice every day when I step outside my front door as the sun doesn't shine on it for very long so it stays ice all day.

This is written for Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us and share with us your stories.

Slice of Life # 27 ~ Give Thanks

2010-11-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Give Thanks.

This year I am so Thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. For the Atonement and that it gives me the chance to repent and to be Forgiven of my sins.

I am also Thankful for my family and friends and the joy they bring into my life.

I hope you all had a Great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Dillon's 5th Birthday Party

2010-11-21T08:51:00.001-07:00

Thursday was Dillon's 5th Birthday. We had a family Birthday Party for him on Friday. He was excited when he saw the cake and when I put the glass top on it he sat there practicing blowing out the candles. He seemed to really get into his birthday this year.
He got Money for his savings from Nana & Papa Jack, Boots and Socks from Aunt Jaclyn and family, A Woody Doll Pillow from Aunt Alysha and family, Buzz PJ's from Aunt Wendy and Family, shoes from Mom and Dad and Buzz Light Year from Grandma and Grandpa Burke. He loved both Woody and Buzz. He was willing to share Woody with his sisters and cousins which most of his little cousins and his little sister's loved, but he wasn't willing to share Buzz. His cousin Jack (who is 2) kept following him around all night trying to take Buzz. We tried giving Jack Woody, but he didn't want Woody. It was so cute watching him. Dillon and his sister's have been enjoying both of them.

My Mom took the other picture of Dillon and Jennilyn at her house later that night. Dillon is in his new PJ's and holding Buzz. Jennilyn is holding Woody. My mom had been trying to take a picture of Dillon in his new PJ's and Jennilyn came over to stand by him and Dillon put his arm around Jennilyn.

The Love Each Other

I want to thank all of our family for helping to give Dillon a Great Birthday! It was a blast! I had fun and I hope all of you did too! He got everything he needed, Thanks!

I hope you had a great Day Dillon! You seemed to really enjoy the party and everyone coming!

I hope you have a blast this next year!

P.S. To see the pictures better click on it.

Happy Birthday 5th Dillon

2010-11-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

5 Years ago today, we had our first child Dillon Archibald Burke! As you can see he has been busy the last 5 years. I hope the next year is a blast for you Dillon! We love you and are so glad you are a part of our lives!

Slice of Life # 26 Happy Heart Attack

2010-11-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

This weeks Slice of Life seems to be a hard one for me.

Sometimes I think we get a lot of unsung Thanks, or we do things for others that makes a different in others lives, and sometimes we or they never really know how to say Thank You for what was done.

I have had a few experiences in my life, but they are too personal to want to share them in the blog. But when I read this blog it made me think of this article by Jeffery R. Holland. It really touched me when I heard it in the General Conference in Oct 2010 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

To all my family and friends Thank You for being there for us and for all you do for us!

This was done for Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us or read others.

Slice of Life #25 ~ Be the Bridge

2010-11-07T18:26:00.006-07:00

This weeks Slice of life is entitled "Be the Bridge".

As I read about being the Bridge, it made me think of last weeks post on Communications. Of course now I am thinking of other things that I could have shared with Communications, in regards to my Grandpa and Grandma Dillon and my Great-Grandparents on my mom's side of the family that I knew. These wonderful people have all passed on in the last 12 years or so. I do have letters from each of these people that was sent to me on my mission, I am sorry to say that I didn't keep all of them, because they took up too much space, but I did keep some from each of them. I also took the time to write my grandparents each week on my mission as well as my parents. Some times it was just a post card, but it was something that I made sure I do. I fell out of habit of this when I got home from my mission, but I was told later by my mother that one her aunts who had been taking care of my Grandma Winter (my mothers grandmother) while I was on my mission actually enjoyed getting my letters each week. She said that of all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren I was the only one who would take the time to write.

As I sit here, I am thinking of all my grandparents. My dad is the youngest child in his family, so I am one of the youngest grandchildren. But I had the opportunity to live close by or with my Grandpa and Grandma Dillon most of my life. They even lived with my parents for the last 6 years of their life. When I went away to college, it was always great to come home and see Grandma and Grandpa sitting in their chairs and being there to talk to and to get hugs and kisses from. When I decided to come home from college and go on a mission, the plan was that they would come down the end of Feb when school got out. But then I got the call saying that Grandpa Carl Winter (my mother's grandfather) had passed away, of course the funeral was going to be the weekend we were going to move me home, so I made arrangements to take all my finals early and Dad and Grandpa Dillon and my sister Jaclyn came down to Phoenix, AZ were I was going to college to move me home. Grandpa decided to come at last minute so that there would be two people in each car one to drive and one to help keep the driver awake. So Dad and Grandpa drove the truck and trailer with all my stuff and Jaclyn and I drove my car back to Utah, and then we turned around and headed to Montana for Grandpa Winter's funeral.

My Funnest memories of Grandpa Winter was when they came to visit from Washington. I was 10 or 11 years old as we were living in the house on 600 South in Orem. I got up to get ready for school and pratice my paino lessons and there Grandpa Winter was sitting at my desk writing in his journal. He told me that he wrote a page a day. I have always remembered this. I wounder what ever happen to his journals.

Grandma Winter died in July 2005. I was pregnant with my oldest child. But I had the opportunity to have her at my wedding the fall before. She even signed the picture frame that we did instead of a guest signing book, so every morning when I get up I see this big picture on my wall and I get to see her signature, and remember all the good times we had at her home or when she would come to visit.

Grandma Cronce died in May 2002. I don't remember a lot of things with Grandma Cronce, but I do remember going to her home in Montana on our way to Washington to spend one of the few Christmas's with my Grandma and Grandpa Alcorn. But the one thing I do remember that I will always appreciate is when I was 5 my Grandma Cronce sent each of her grandchildren (my mom) some money. My mom and Dad took that and bought a used piano, that gave me the chance to learn to play the piano. I am glad my parents decided to use that money for something that we as their children could learn a new talent.

Grandpa Dillon and Grandma Dillon died while I was on my mission. They died 7 weeks apart. I have lots of memories as I mentioned before. Grandpa had a shop in his basement, I remember going and playing in his shop. That shop was later tuned into a master bathroom for him and Grandma when I was about 14. A month before I turned 16 Grandpa had some medical problems and gave up his driver's licence. Since I was turning 16 Grandpa let me drive his car and I would take him shopping each week. Most of my sister's and I got to do that with him before he died. Those were fun times, going shopping and getting ice cream for the freezer, and what ever Grandma had put on her list.

When I was 5 years old I was diagnosed with a hearing loss and have wore hearing aids ever since. Grandma Dillon sat with me and taught me to read lips. She was always busy cooking, crocheting, or even quilting. Since I am one of the youngest grandchildren I remember Grandma quilting quilts for my cousins for their weddings. She also did a baby blessing dress for each of us. She actually started this when my cousin that is younger then me. I also have a Barbie that she did a dress on for me and a poncho that that she gave me for my 8th birthday.

I am glad to have these wonderful people in my life. I miss them all now that they are gone, but
What fun it has been for me to walk down memory lane.

We have some family reasons for naming our kids to help us remember some of the great people in our lives.

We gave our son Dillon his name since it was my maiden name. His middle name is Archibald. He is named Dillon Archibald after Dan's Grandpa Bolstad who is the inventor of scotch tape.Our daughter Jennilyn's name is Jennilyn Annette after the tradition of my mom's family of giving the oldest daughter the mother's name as the middle name. Ruth is named after my Grandma Dillon. Her name is Emily Ruth, but since I have a sister named Emily we decided to use her middle name as our daughters name, she is Ruth Lois (Lois is my Grandma Alcorn's name). Irene's name is Irene Marlyn, Irene is both of Dan's grandmother's names. One is Irene Marie and one is Irene Marget, and both of their last names started with the letter "B". Marlyn is my mother's name.

The pictures are some that I had scanned in. For some reason's I don't have many of Grandma Dillon. And I don't have any of Grandma Cronce. The baby in the pictures are me. The one's from my wedding are with my Grandma Winter, Grandpa and Grandma Alcorn, and my mom in the one. In the other is with my grandparents and Dan's Grandma Burke.
Click on them to see them better.

This entry is for Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us and read others.

My Favorite Family Picture

2010-11-02T15:57:00.000-06:00

More Family Pictures

2010-11-01T15:47:00.000-06:00

Family Pictures

2010-11-01T15:38:00.001-06:00

We had family pictures taken at the first part of Oct, by a friend of mine that I have known since Jr. High. I am learning to play around in Picasa with their collage and then posting them in Blogger. I am coming up with some great ideas for Christmas cards and such.

Enjoy as I post some of these over the next few days!

Slice of Life #24 ~ Communications

2010-10-31T22:14:00.000-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Communications. Join us here to read others or share your own Slice of Life.

Mmm, Communications I always hated talking on the phone while because of my hearing disability. And never thought I would work telecommunications, but after my mission I got a job doing telecommunications and have done that almost ever since. I also like talking on the cell phone better then the land line as for some reason I can hear better on it.

Tonight I realized that the cell phone was missing. We only have one cell phone and it is our only phone for our home at this time. We looked all over and went out to the car looking for it. Dan had put the phone on vibrate as he walked into church today, so after looking all over we thought maybe it fell off at church. about 9:30 pm tonight the door bell all of a sudden rang which surprised me as we had no trick or treaters tonight, I opened the door, as I was the only one up (since the kids and Dan are all in bed asleep) and there was a guy that I had never meet but knew that he was in the Bishopric for the Singles Ward and he handed me the cell phone. He said that it was on the pulpit in the chapel. Since we both spoke in church today, it could have fallen off his belt while he was sitting down behind the pulpit, or when he picked up the girls after we spoke in church maybe it fell off, we don't know, but I am so glad we got the phone back!

Thanks stranger for putting my mind at ease!

Until next week!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-30T21:09:00.000-06:00

We went trick or treating with my sisters Jaclyn, Wendy and Alysha and their kids (well most of them). Jennilyn was a fairy, but most people thought she was little red ridding hood becuase of her red coat. Dillon was Musue from Mulain and the twins were faires. Our trick or Treating got cut short because of the down pour of rain we got, and I mean down pour. My shirt and pants were soaked through! But we had fun and we look forward to it again next year!

Slice of Life #23 ~ Costumes

2010-10-26T08:51:00.000-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Costumes. I remember dressing up a lot as a princess for Halloween while growing up. Wearing some of my mom's old dresses from different times in her life and her tiara that she wore with her veil at her wedding, and that each of my sisters and I but one have worn as well. I have been giving that tiara so I can pass it on to my daughters.

In 2008 Dillon was a Pirate with his aunt Stephanie and Jennilyn was a bumble bee. Dan was just a dad, and I was a very pregnant mother of twins. The twins were born almost 3 months later. I am sitting in the picture with my daughter on my lap so you can't tell that I was 6 months pregnant.

The other pictures are from our night last night at the dinosaur museum Halloween party. My husband had the camera and didn't take very many pictures. I will take more on Halloween.

This year to save on money, I had bought some fairy wings at the dollar store and Irene has a dress with an easter theme, so she is going to be the Easter Fairy. Ruth has one with a Halloween theme so she is the Halloween fairy. Jennilyn will be wearing her Rosetta Fairy costume that she got for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Burke. And Dillon is Captain Hook. I think we will have fun this year.

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween this year!

Slice of LIfe # 22 ~ Treats

2010-10-26T08:28:00.000-06:00

I am behind on my Slice of Life entries as I have gone more then a week without access to the internet. But we finally got it hooked up last night.

This weeks Slice of life is Treats. There are a lot of times in my life were I got special treats. In 9th grade for my birthday, my group of friends had a surprise for me in each of my 7 classes. It was so neat that they remembered me like that. Finding treats from my Mom and Dad on Valentines Day. Walking out on Valentin's Day when I lived in Arizona, just before I moved home to go on my mission and having my front door and sidewalk heart-attacked by our hometeachers. Having my room decorated with cards in the picture by the other sister's that we shared our apartment with on my mission, or not telling anyone in my mission it was my birthday and being surprised with a birthday cake also in the picture.

Everyday seems like a treat with my wonderful husband and kids!

If you would like to join us and share your Slice of Life, go here.

Thanksgiving Point ~ Farm Country

2010-10-13T14:42:00.001-06:00

Today, the kids and I went to Thanksgiving Point again and this time we went to the Farm Country. The kids enjoyed seeing the animals and riding a pony/horse. They all rode without any help! We had a lot of fun, and the kids did great! I am glad it is getting easier to go out on adventures with them by myself!

Thanksgiving Point ~ Dinosaur Museum

2010-10-13T14:25:00.018-06:00

We recently acquired a Annul membership to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, UT. They have a movie theater, dinosaur museum, farm country, gardens and soon a science exhibit. When we take family and friends with us they can get in for 50% off. Dan's sister Marsha came to town with her kids this last weekend and we took her and her kids with us to visit the Dinosaur museum. These are some of the pictures. We had a lot of fun and are looking forward to going back again for the Halloween party as even the dinosaurs will be dressed up in costumes! We are also looking forward to exploring some of the other areas each time we go! It was fun to get out of the house for a while with the kids. I am excited to take the kids and do some of these things while Dan is at work.

Until next time!

Slice of Life # 21~ Trick

2010-10-10T19:05:00.000-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life entry is on Tricks.

Of course I do have some pictures but they are on the other computer that I don't have access to this week.

I think the funnest trick I have ever helped with would be on Sept 14, 2002. My sister Emily was married on the 13th in Logan and did her reception on the 14th in Pleasant Grove. Our good family friend Trevor and I went to the hotel that my sister and her new husband was staying at, we had gone to the store and bought banana's, root beer, and Oreo cookies. We then went to Midvale to their hotel and we had brought with us professional Saran wrap like what you buy at the moving stores to wrap your big items up with. We wrote just married on the windows and started to wrap the car, then we put in the package of cookies and two cans of root beer. Then every so often we put in a banana and a can of root beer and then at the end finished off with more root beer and banana's. We put the bananas and root beer so they could enjoy eating and drinking something while they undid the car and the cookies at the end to eat as a treat.

The next morning they came out and had to unwrap their car. My brother in law wasn't very happy with us! And then to find out he doesn't like root beer, we should have gotten sprite or coke!

But that was so fun! Of course I didn't think to take a camera with me, it was the first time I had ever done anything like that! And I haven't done anything quite like that since. Thanks Trevor for taking me!

Slice of Life # 20~ The Harvest

2010-10-04T15:28:00.001-06:00

The Harvest time always seems to be a bitter sweet time for me. I grew up watching my parents and grandparents doing it, and have canned and made fruit leather myself before I was married. I even made some Jam a few years ago, and more recently when I went to visit my grandmother last year she helped me use all my dry beans and can them so that they were ready to use. And I am proud to say that I have used all the bottles of beans that we canned last year. I have found that I like to have the beans canned as it saves a step later when I want to use them. I love getting fresh fruits and vegetables.

One of the reasons I don't can much right now is I live in a small apartment with 4 little kids ranging from almost age 5 down to twins that are 20 months old. And I don't own my own equipment to do it. Last year when I did some with grandma, she had all the stuff and there was plenty of people around to watch my kids while I was working on it ( a year ago the twins were only 9 months old).

The other reason that I don't do it right now with the ages of my kids and small space is because of a fear that happened with a canning accident when I was in the 3rd grade, now this is from my memory, and even though I was at school when it happened, it did effect me and my family. I guess right now I just want to record this so that I don't ever forget it.

It was the day after labor day and I had gone to school like any other day. My lunch recess usually allowed me to see my little sister Emily as she came for afternoon kindergarten. This day I had saved my cucumbers from my school lunch to give to her since she loved cucumbers, but she didn't show up. When I got home from school, Sister Dunn (a neighbor) was there doing laundry and told me that my sister had an accident and was at the hospital. I was to later learn, that she had gotten up on to the table and asked to help my mom with canning. Mom told her no and to go back outside and play in the back yard with the other kids. She had gotten up to the table right by were my Mom had a electric crock pot keeping her lids hot for canning. So Emily got down but got down on the other side of the chair then where she had gotten up. She tripped over the cord and it brought the crock pot down on top of her. The scolding hot water missed her head and her hands. She had 2nd to 3rd degree burns all over her body. She spent 3 weeks in the burn unit at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. They shaved off her hair to take skin from her scalp for skin graft. I seem to remember her hair grew back a lot prettier then it was before. She had a lot of treatments for a couple of years, but has grown up and has a family of her own now. I am grateful for the quick thinking of my mother and her friend who was their helping her that day. Mom hasn't let this stop her from canning and teaching us to can.

So as you can see from that story, I have a fear of canning with little kids around. But I am sure as I move into a home and can plant a garden of my own, that I will over come that fear.

Until next week.

This was written for Slice of Life, please feel free to join us!

Slice of Life #19 - "Get Into My Car"

2010-09-27T08:51:00.001-06:00

The year is 1993 and I was 15 when I started to learn to drive my dad would take me to large empty parking lots and have me practice on a Sunday afternoons. We would use his car which was a Pontiac but I don't remember what model. And then as it got closer to getting my license we used the Nissan mini-van that we owned. Of course a month before I got my licences they sold the mini-van and got a large blue suburban. Which I drove a lot.

But the month before I was to turn 16 in 1994, My grandfather had some health issues and gave up his drivers license. That summer, my sister and I moved in my my grandparents, since my parents were moving into a small 3 bedroom apartment and with 6 girls it just wasn't going to work. So I got to drive grandpa's car. He had a 1984 Century.

In Oct 1994 I was in a car accident that wasn't my fault and totalled the car. He then bought this 1986 Ford Taurse with all the bells and wistels. I drove that until I left on my mission and while I was gone it died.

When I got home from my mission I bought my first car. A 1999 Toyota Corolla. I loved that car! Of course I had driven Corollas on my mission. We sold this car in Jan 2009, just before the twins were born because we couldn't fit 4 kids in it. We bought a 1998 Dodge Caravan. And it is alright to drive, not my favorite.

What I would really like to drive is a 8 passenger Toyota Sienna. I love the space in that thing. One day That is my dream car right now. And someday that may change.

We own a 1994 Honda Civic and I have never driven it. Dan got it when he got home from his mission in 1994. It is still running good and he plans to drive it until it dies. The reason I have never driven it, is I have never learned to drive a stick. My dad bought his first stick in about 15 years when I bought my Corolla. So I never learned, as I had my car and never needed to borrow Dad's car. And with 4 kids under the age of 5 it is hard to get out and have Dan teach me. Maybe someday we can still do it.

If you like to read other fun stories or join us and share your own please feel free to join us at Slice of Life.

Slice of life #18 ~ Random Picture day

2010-09-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Random Picture day. Because I seem to have lost a scrapbook with a lot of my old pictures from me as a child (think it is in one of the boxes that I haven't ever unpacked). I chose a picture that I had scanned into my computer. This is when I was about 10 day old. I was born at 28 weeks and my twin sister Lynnette didn't make it. I weighted in at 1 lbs 14 ozs and 12 inches long. I was in the hospital for 12 weeks after I was born before my parents could take me home. This is how my Mom and Dad got to hold me at first.

There is a story about my birth. My parents were living in Rexburg, ID when they found out they were having twins. They found out about 2 weeks before we were born. My Mom was going into labor just after Mother's Day and the Dr's knew they didn't have the set up to handle preemie babies(remember this was 1978) so they sent her by ambulance to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. The only ambulance that was available was a brand new one that had no radio. The ambulance goes speeding down I-15 to Salt Lake City, and the Highway Patrol is trying to get a hold of them to find out what the emergency was, and can't because there was no radio. So the Highway Patrol thought it was a stolen ambulance. And they then got enough cops there to surround the ambulance south of Pocatello or so. When they found out what was going on, they called a helicopter from Salt Lake City to come and get my parents. They got my parents to the hospital and I was born at 10:10am. My parents had lost a baby just nine months before I was born, so when they told my mom that there was a good chance I wasn't going to survive, she just knew that I was going to. I have 4 younger sister that were born in the 7 years after I was born, and my mother was on bed rest for most of her pregnancies to help them from coming early. When I was born my lungs were not fully developed, and I have a hearing loss and wear hearing aids in both ears that is said to be a side effect of being born so early.

It has been 32 years since this day, and I am grateful, that the medicine and technology was around to help keep me here on this earth, even though it has come a long ways in the last 32 years as well.

Ruth & Irene 7 days old

In Jan 2009 when I gave birth to my twins, my husband didn't want to be in the room with me. He didn't like the thought of them cutting me open for a c-section, I was privileged to have my Mom in the operating room with me, and I think she enjoyed getting to see the birth of the next generation of twins, born from one of her twin daughters. I love you Mom and Dad, Thanks for being there for me!

Now it is your turn to share or read others Slice of Life. Please feel free to join us!

Slice of Life # 17~ Chores

2010-09-16T08:24:00.001-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life prompt is chores.

When I was about 14 my Dad decided that all of us were old enough to start cooking some of the meals and doing our own laundry. My Mom had gone back to school, and to help ease the burden he wanted us all to do two things besides our normal chores. We were to each have a night to cook dinner and we each had a day that we did our laundry. My Dad told us that he wanted us to learn to cook things other then Mac and Cheese, Hot Dogs and Raman! Since there was 6 girls we each had a night and Mom and Dad cooked on Sunday. If we couldn't do our assigned day then we had to get one of the other girls to trade with us. Our laundry day was on a different day from our dinner cooking night, so that we could get homework done and stuff. If we didn't do our laundry on our day then we had to ask the person who's day it was if we could do a load with their stuff. I think it worked out pretty well. I am glad my dad came up with this plan so that we could all learn. My youngest sister was 8 at the time and I am the oldest of my sisters and I was 14, and my foster sister was 15. Sweet times. Now I wish my kids were old enough to do this with, but I know in time they will be and I am going to do this with them.

P.S. The pictures were taken off line! My dishes never looked that good!

If you wish to join us in sharing your Slice of Life or reading others slice of life go here.

How old are you?

2010-09-13T07:45:00.001-06:00

This is Irene, she is 20 months old. Saturday night was a rough night for sick kids in our house. First Irene came and climbed in bed with me at 1:30am and then her big brother Dillon joined us shortly after. Then my 3 year old daughter came in at 2am crying because she had wet her bed. I get up and help her and try to get Dillon and Jennilyn back in bed with a lot of fighting and when I got up I though Irene had gone back to sleep on my bed. While I was trying to get Jennilyn and Dillon back to bed and going to sleep, I notice the TV coming on in my room. Irene had gotten a hold of the remote and turned on the TV and Blue Ray player and was watching the credits of Star Trek (the newest one) and she was just laying on my pillows watching with the remote in hand. I took her to her bed and she went right back to sleep.

I just had to laugh that a 20 month old little girl could figure out the remote and just lay down and watch the movie that was in. Funny little girl!

Slice of life # 16~ Jobs

2010-09-10T16:24:00.000-06:00

This weeks Slice of Life is Jobs.

I started working when I was 14. Cleaning house for a neighbor. And I have had many jobs sense then.

But I think the crazies time is when I worked 3 part time jobs the Summer of 1996. The day after graduation I had to be to my first day on the job at 12 noon after being up all night with the High school graduation party. I worked as a bagger at Smith's food and drug store. Then I was hired at Madsen dry cleaner in Provo across the street from BYU, I was a shirt presser. Then I worked doing secretarial work and house cleaning for my neighbor that I had started working for when I was 14. I did this from May 30~ Oct 15 when I left for college in Phoenix, AZ. That was one busy summer. It seems like I was never home, because I was always at work. But as a bagger, I got to help Marie Osmond out to the car with her groceries, and then in 1999 when I worked at Harmon's grocery story I got to check out Steve Young the football player. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had to work and help pay my way through school and my mission. Now that I am a stay at home mom, I miss the friendship and change of pace that work gave me. Now it seems all I do is take care of the house and kids and I never get to go out and meet new people. But maybe in the future that will be an option again.

Until next time.
Come join us at Slice of Life and share your stories or histories.