Happy Father's Day 2014

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

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 # 29 ~ Toys

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.

They are Here!

Well the twin girls are finally here.

Ruth Lois was born at 4:17 pm Jan 20th. She weighed 5 lbs 13 ozs and 17 1/2 inches long.

Irene Marlyn was born at 4:20 pm Jan 20th and she weighed 6 lbs 4 ozx and 17 1/2 inches long. Both girls are doing great and so am I.

It was cute to watch Dillon and Jennilyn get introduced to the girls today. Dillon actually wanted to hold them more then once.

Before driving back down from the wedding, we stayed overnight and then went to church on Sunday with Jennifer. We did leave church a little early. We were one tired lot. Granted, I think Dillon was just going down for his usual nap here. Talk about a case of "rug face." This dad had to have a picture or two because he just looked so cute. My wife snapped the picture, and a few others. I like this one the best.

I know Dillon's had used to sleep on the floor quite a bit. His Grandpa Burke still takes sound naps on the floor. We've seen that too.

My wife tells me that he normally isn't left to sleep on the floor. But, I don't think Dillon was going to wait for a bed or drive in the car to sleep that Sunday. 

While our faith doesn't do christenings, we do give priesthood blessings to our precious little children. As the father, I had the privilege and opportunity to do this for little Dillon the second weekend of December. So, a couple weeks later, I finally post some pics taken while his grandparents had all gathered around to adore their new grandchild.

Dillon is the third grandson, and fourth grandchild on both sides. This picture is his Grandma and Grandpa Burke. My dad was letting everyone else hold the baby most of the time.

Because Dillon was born with very little hair on the top of his but plenty of hair around the sides, we got to hear a little bit about my own early hair. It seems that I was born the same way. My dad was in the air force at the time, and my hair on the sides was the source of some teasing about his hippy son. So, my dad gave me my first haircut at three weeks old.

It is barely over a month, and Dillon hasn't had his hair cut yet. I couldn't help think though, that Dillon is starting life with a bald look similar to what his dad may be slowly developing. The difference is that he's filling in his bald spot with fresh hair growth.