A Story ~ Take My Son

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

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

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

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

"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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

"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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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Christmas 2010 Pictures

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

Slice of Life # 35 ~ The Family Business

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!

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Happy 2nd Birthday Ruth and Irene!

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

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.

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Slice of Life # 33 ~ New Beginnings

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!


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Slice of Life # 32 ~ Winter Fun

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.

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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 # 31 ~ Traditions

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!

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Attitude

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

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!

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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!


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2010 Christmas Card

Tree Cutting

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

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.

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Slice of Life # 27 ~ Give Thanks

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

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

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

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!


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Slice of Life #25 ~ Be the Bridge

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.


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My Favorite Family Picture

More Family Pictures

Family Pictures

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!