a lucky ride.

Some of my favorite weekend nights always seem to be when Joshua and I have no plans and get invited to something last minute and we end up going. 

Those nights, to me, for some reason are always eventful. 

Like Friday night Whitney text me and let me know that Out N Back is having Santa, a raffle for some goods, hot cocoa and marshmallows.

After Joshua's 4.5 hour final we decided this would be good for the kids to get out and off we went.

The kids scored some sweet water bottles and tasty hot cocoa with large marshmallows and I found a green jacket that I'm pretty sure I need.  After meeting the cousins the kids were ready to really run around and play and made it obvious the store was not the place to do that and headed to the Riverwoods. 

We walked around Provo Beach, checked out Santa and soaked up the Christmas atmosphere. 

We decided that we wanted to ride the horse drawn carriage and waited in line for a good hour (which we thought would go by much faster)in the bitter cold. Here is where the lucky part comes in. 

The kids for the past hour while running around in line were so excited to ride on the horse carriage, could hardly contain themselves.

As we setteled on the carriage the driver leaned back and told us that we were getting a "special" ride. Of course we are thinking you say this to all your guests and he then proceeded to tell us that we were THE LAST ride of the night and that he was not going to be dropping us off where he picked us up but at his horse trailer. 

That meant he was not going back to the line of 30 plus people.  

 He didn't want to face the mob of angry holiday shoppers that had been waiting for the hour or more as well to ride.

Turns out getting dropped off at the trailer was even better than riding the carraige for the kids because they got to pet Jerry, the horse and talk to the driver. 

We are so lucky. 

I love the holidays and love spending it with family. 

Um this is going to be our holiday card. 

We have yet to send one in our 6 years of marriage.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Love,

The Burgesses'

Wipeout.

Birthday Boy

I love living close to my brothers and sisters, especially when its their Birthday!

We went to Tanners FAVORITE place to eat and had a lovely time with Zak , Sage, and the kids.
Chamberlain spent the afternoon perfecting a Birthday Card in which Tanner is holding. He had several trial runs which I brought to show Tanner how hard he worked on writing Tanner Happy Birthday.

Here are a few things that I love about Tanner.

He is always happy. 

He lights up a room and can make anyone feel welcome.

He was my best little buddy growing up. When I was in my first years of college I would call home and we would talk for hours every Sunday. 

He is an AWESOME uncle.

Chamberlain and Siri, especially Siri, love him so much.

He is up for anything, even if it means watching my kids last minute on a Sunday when both Josh and I have to teach. 

He has a kind heart.

He is genuine.

He makes me feel like I am an amazing Chef. 

He is just a great guy all around and we sure do love living so close and having him over all the time. 

Happy Birthday to the coolest Tanner around. 

We love you!

i looked out the window

Chamberlain asked if he could play outside the other morning and I said sure.  I didn't think he would last long it was cold. So when I checked on him a few minutes later this is what I found. 

I think someone is already dreaming of warmer weather which is sad because we havent even gotten to the frozen months.

This might be a long winter... 

I've been spotted!

there she goes

I think there is a moment or moments where as a parent you are so consumed with serving your children and enjoying every moment with them that you almost miss out on how much they have grown or are growing. 

I also think there is that exact moment that each parent can recall as to when they realized their baby is no longer a baby. I know that those moments are evolving as your child evolves.  I believe for me I captured that moment this past Thanksgiving weekend.

Miss Siri in my eyes is no longer my little baby. 

She is a big girl well at least she thinks she is.

Thanksgiving

 We went to Kanab this year for a very relaxing Thanksgiving.

It was so relaxing that I really didnt take any pictures, I completely forgot. 

We had actual Thanksgiving at the Mayor's house. 

Nina is SO great! 

She pretty much made EVERYTHING. 

All we did was bring over mashed potatoes, red potatoes, Costco rolls, and a variety of favorite freshly baked store bought pies...Yum.

It was such a great morning we watched all of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (family tradition) followed with a few hours of baseball in the backyard for Josh and Chamberlain. We just hung out all morning long and really enjoyed the perfect weather in Kanab. 

It really was a morning to be grateful for.

Thanks again Nina for letting us enjoy some quality family time. 

We love you! 

However, I am Thankful for many things. I think the thing I am thankful for most (besides my savior he wins hands down) is my family. I am thankful for each and everyone. I am Thankful for our extended family and those that may not be blood related but we still call and claim as family, each one I realize, plays a unique part in shaping my immediate families lives. I am also Thankful that we had the opportunity to spend some quality time with David (my Brother-in-law) and his fiance Sarah who I grew up with.  It was refreshing  to see the love that he has for her and how lovey dovey-I guess would be the word, he is around her.  I forget how newly engaged couples are around each other in public...its like no one else exists but them.  It is great to see this side of him and we are so very happy for the both of them.   I am super thankful to be getting another Sister-in-law and a bonus she is from Kanab.

Siri is Thankful for Blueberry Sour Cream Pie...at least I'm pretty sure she is.  

the perfect day for Chamberlain

I believe Chamberlain had the most perfect day of his little life last week while my parents were in town. 

They had promised him, while skyping, several weeks ago that they would take him to go bowling and to the movie Puss n' Boots.  I figured that they would do one.  

However, they delivered and more!

Chamberlain gets over anxious when my parents come and I am learning to not tell him when they are actually on their way.  He will ask every 10 minutes what town they are in, whats that towns mascot, and how much longer they have.  My parents left last minute one evening and I thought; great I wont tell him and it will be the perfect surprise. 

It so was, I wish I could have seen his face when they peered in the back door window. 

It was Christmas for him I'm sure.

Well the next morning he woke them up early with a plan. First it was bowling, then the movie and then they could hike the Y.  Grandma quickly mentioned that she and Grandpa forgot their hiking shoes so without skipping a beat he said well, we could go to the mall because I know Grandma, you really like going there. Funny guy. 

So they quickly got ready to run some errands and go bowling at noon.  They took him to Fat Cats which we drive by often and never go and he begs and pleads and of course he got to go by himself with the Grandparents. They played several games and at the end both Josh and I went to check in, he was all smiles. When we asked him what his favorite part was he said getting all the points! Then it was off to lunch while grandma got her hair done. He spent the remainder of the afternoon playing with Grandpa wrestling and rough housing. Once Grandma called they were off to the movies and I didnt see him until late at night. 

They had dinner at PF Changs after the movie with Tanner and Sage followed by dessert at The Chocolate. And from what I hear he could barely eat his Lemon Cupcake that he chose. He would take a bite and lay back on his cushy chair and fall asleep mid-chew.

To top it all off once he got home he got to sit with grandma on her lap until he drifted off to dreamland which I sure were sweet dreams of bowling movies and fun.

And this is why I say Chamberlain had the perfect day. 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for putting the biggest smile on this little boy and making memories together that he will always remember. Well, he may not remember exactly what you did  but he will always remember how he felt... and that I think is LOVED.

fall leaves

Chamberlain has been begging me to let him rake up the leaves. 

I know I should let him when he first asks but we didn't have enough leaves for him to rake and its been cold.

Finally today during Siri's nap I let him rake until he got bored which was a few hours, actually

until he found some acorns and wanted to collect them in a glass jar instead. 

Thanks to his help we now have 4 big piles of leaves all ready for Josh to bag up and take them away!

Such a hard worker this little boy is turning out to be. 

 That's a pretty big pile of leaves especially with that small plastic rake.

The look of contentment. 

For the record I raked the pile in the background.  See its nice and small, he raked the pile that he jumped in! 

I told you he was a hard worker.

11.11.11

This is what we were doing at 11:11 am on 11.11.11

Exciting I know. 

 

Tricks and Treats

Here are way too many pictures of my kids and cousins and their Happy Haunting's of the evening. 

PS. Whit you have a FABULOUS door, so fall-sih. It's the perfect backdrop for costume pictures.

 

The annual Trick o' Treating at Josh's work.

Visiting Tanner at Tucanos. He is a Lumber Jack if you couldn't tell. Those are some nasty jeans if you ask me.

 Chamberlain and Gunnar were always a door ahead of us it seemed. 

Thanks so much Larsen's for letting us join you in your treating.

We had a blast and it was nice to visit.

We love you guys, we also love living so close!

 Note to self I need a bug and some skeletons to do this to our yard next year. Oh and a tree that I can chop up and look like a crime scene.

 That would be a tear (or more) running down Chamberlains face.

He was scared, in fact he wouldn't move and the owner of the house had to come rescue him, because she felt bad I was trying to take a picture of him crying. 

The reward for all that hard work!

And you bet I let him eat it till his hearts content the next day.

Two highlights of the night;

1.Chamberlain kept calling the Trick 0' Treater's, customers.  He would yell Mom we have some more customers and he kept a running tally.  I would giggle inside every time. And then when the night ended he thought he could open up a shop at our house and sell his candy. Maybe I should be enrolling him in the duel immersion program, mandarin speaking, after all.

2. Siri got the hang of the the Candy Ritual but what she didn't get was when they dropped the candy in the bucket she would then drop her bucket and stick the freshly dropped candy in her mouth wrapper and all and begin to walk to the next house.

pumpkins

We finally picked pumpkins on Friday. 

You can hardly say "picked" we stopped last minute at a roadside stand. 

I'm so on top of it this Halloween season. 

We have yet to carve them. 

At least we have Halloween day we could give it a try.

Shelbie, I only have one picture of Chamberlain because he did not slow down the entire time we were there. He had the hardest time deciding on a pumpkin. He finally asked if he could pick out two instead of one.

costume day

2nd day of school + wear your Halloween Costume = Awesome. 

We have it on good word that Ironhide's best friend is a soldier so that's what Chamberlain went with.

Face paint and all. 

I think what I like most of his get-up is the utility belt slung across his body. It was my Grandpa Garths from when he was in the war. My mom found it in the Garage during THE yard sale. 

We found some old glass pill bottles, with random vials, a worn out pencil and a small folded up piece of paper which I was hoping contained a love note to my grandma Laura but no such luck, in some of the pockets.

The utitlity belt is very warn and has a musty smell to it but Chamberlain LOVES it.

As soon as we put the face paint on this morning his entire demeanor changed to a very serious Chamberlain.

He wore his soldier costume the rest of the day Costco and all.

He loved it so much that during Siri's nap he wanted to play hide-n-seek camouflage style and I brought along the camera.

I'm excited for the Trick-0-Treating weekend!

I spy with my little eye a soldier.