The Burnetts

Trip to SLC

2010-12-15T10:17:00.000-08:00

We made our annual trip to Utah a few weeks ago. What a beautiful place Temple Square is at Christmas time. It was short time, but we were able to see everything we wanted to. We even had snow!

We went to This is The Place monument and were able to walk through the little town that they have built up there. Emma even got in some snowballs!

On Sunday we were able to go to the Spoken Word. Kendall, my dad and the boys were able to be in the conference center with the choir while the taping was happening for the actual broadcast, while Emma and I were in the conference center theatre.

After the broadcast we went over to Temple Square and took some pictures.

I can't think of a better place to be to start the Christmas season than with my family on Temple Square at Christmas time. What a wonderful spirit you feel on Temple Square.

Here is part of the talk written by Lloyd D Newell at the Spoken Word:

" At this festive time of year, we go to great lenths to assure that we have a happy holiday. Family traditions take on special meaning as we prepare favorit foods, light candles, hang ornaments on the Christmas tree, and sing the carols of the season. We do all this because we want to have a "good" Christmas. But how do we really judge theq uality of our celebration? We might consider the cost and number of gifts we give or recive. We could compare our elaborate decorations with those of our neighbors. Is our Nativity scene larger than the one down the street? Does our Chirstmas tree have more lights? Or maybe we could judge the quality of our Chirstmas by things that are harder to measure but more important. Do our friends and family feel remembered, included, and cared about? Are gifts lovingly given withou exceeding the spending limits on credit cards? Is the focus only on fun or on the real meaning of the season? Successful holidays are determined not by the size and expense of the production but by the little things that may even go unnoticed - the light in the eyes of a child as he wraps a homemade present, the smile and laughter of one who is often lonely, the joy of lovingly seving someone in need. When the material gifts are worn out and forgotten the memories of love and the feelings of joy will still be cherished."

First day of Kindergarten

2010-09-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

Last week Thursday E and I went to preschool orientation. She was able to explore the room and meet some of her classmates. She met her teacher, colored her name tag and listened to a story called "The Kissing Hand". The story is about a raccoon headed to school for the first time and his mom gives him a kiss in his hand, so if he ever feels lonely or sad remember that his mommy loves him. E gave me a kissing hand that night before bed.

On Friday, it was the first official day of kindergarten. She was soo excited. We made a cold lunch and got all ready to go to school. We got to school on time and went to her classroom. She emptied her backpack, found her seat, looked up at me and said "Bye Mom". She was totally ready to go to school. We got her picture taken with her new teacher and she is excited to go to school every day!

As summer was at a start, I was ready for her to go to school full time. As summer was coming to a close I was ready for her to start school. Then as the time came to drop her off, I wasn't quite sure that I was ready for her to start school. I now realize that both of us were ready for her to go to school, it's just hard letting your baby go. There will be many times in both of our lives when neither one of us will want to let go, but will realize that it is best in the long run. My hope is that this is the beginning of her enjoying many years of school.

Fishing and first day of school (Cody)

2010-09-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

Fishing

This summer I did the Fishing Merit Badge at scout camp. I had to catch two species, but the lake only had one species. So I talked to my uncle to see if he could take me fishing and he agreed. So about a week later we went fishing out of the Blaine Harbor. I was very surprised when I caught a few sharks and a half eaten fish by a shark. It was an amazing experience and was very, very fun.

First day of school

The first day of school was really cool but all we did was get to know the teachers. I like all my teachers but my favorite teachers are my band teacher, language arts teacher, and my social studies teacher.

Fragrance Lake (Cody)

2010-08-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

My mom, my brother, my sister and I went on a 4 mile to Fragrance Lake. We started our hike at 12:00. We headed up the hill and we hiked up to the viewpoint first. It was a really cool sight. We could see out to the San Juan Islands. We met this guy that had a dog and they were really fast going up the hill.

Then we went up the hill even farther and headed to Fragrance Lake. When we were hiking even farther uphill to go to Fragrance Lake it was really hard to climb the hill, but then it leveled out and got easier to hike. We ate lunch when we got to Frangrance Lake. The water was kinda more and there were fish jumping out of the water.

After had our lunch and walked around the lake, we headed bak to the car. It was fun, because we ran most of the way down the hill.

Scout Camp (This is Cody)

2010-08-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

We had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning I was really tired but I made it all the way to scout camp awake.

Some of the Merit Bagdes I worked on at camp are the Basketry, Fishing, Swimming and Woodworking. For the Basketry merit badge we had to weave a round basket, a square basket, and we also had to help make a camping stool which I actually had fun with.

For the Fishing merit badge I had to learn the safety rules and about knots to tie the hook onto the line. Then we got to fish for the rest of the week. I finally caught a fish on the third day at 9:30 at night. I cleaned the fish and then cooked it and ate it. I finally ate it at 10:30 that night.

For the Swimming merit badge I was scared and didn't pass the swimming test on the first day, then on the second day I was even more scared so I didn't even get in the water till after the class and I passed the swim test. On the third day I caught up on the stuff I missed on the second day. Then the fourth day I had to jump in the water fully clothed and I was scared about that too so I finished the merit badge later in the day, but at least I finally passed!

For my Woodcarving merit badge we did all the safety of knives the first day then on the second day we just did carvings of branches that fell off trees. Then the second through fourth day we worked on a little project, which was a carving of a canoe, that I finished on the third day.

One of the hikes I went on was to a place called rock garden and there were rocks bigger than the dining hall and the dining hall is really big. The other hike we went on was to a waterfall called Crystal Falls, the water was really cold and some of my fellow scouts jumped in.

I met a new friend at camp this year. His name is Mr. Andrews, but I call him Mr. Steve. He encouraged me and knew that I could pass the swim test and even get my swimming merit badge. He is a very nice man.

I had a BLAST!! I can't wait til next year!

New Years

2010-01-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

In the middle of Christmas and New Years we were sad to see our good friends move to Eastern Washington. We have been friends with them since they moved here. They have kids about the same age as our kids and they were/are good friends. We will just have to keep in touch long distance.

We took the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Squeakuel. We went to the theatre down in Burlington (much nicer than up here) and they all 3 enjoyed that. It was E's first time in a movie theatre and she did pretty good.

Our friends came up to visit with us over the New Years holiday this year. It was great to see them. The men took all 4 kids bowling and I think they all had a good time. C even won!

My girl friend and I were able to get away and go shopping one day and get facials another. Our husbands even found a babysitter and took us out for dinner the last night that they were here. It was a great visit and I am excited to either go see them or for them to come back here.

Christmas

2010-01-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

We had a good holiday this year. We were all sad about missing our grandpa/great grandpa but we made new traditions and enjoyed each others company. We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house this year. I cooked my very first prime rib dinner and it was delicious. Kendall's parents and my dad came over and he had a very lovely evening.

After dinner Kendall and I continued our tradition of watching White Christmas and I actually stayed awake for most of it this year!

In the morning we had our usual breakfast of ham and cheese crosaints and had our own little Christmas morning opening presents and having fun with all of our new gifts.

In the early afternoon, my dad, my sister and her boyfriend came out and we had a wonderful ham dinner. After we opening presents and ate the kids and their aunt played their new game of Mousetrap and Kendall and my sisters boyfriend played a 2 hour game of Checkers. I watched.

Overall we had a great time and started new traditions.

So far this Winter

2009-12-14T10:26:00.001-08:00

We are trying so hard to get into the holiday mood. We went out and found the perfect tree on Saturday. I usually have a problem going to a Christmas tree farm. I get frustrated because I can't find a nice tree. Well we found a tree farm and I have another problem. I can't decide which one I want! They are all perfectly groomed and smell like Christmas.

Here is Kendall getting it set up.

T and E with their hats on.

The kids decorating the tree.

All done

I usually get a picture of them in their p.j.'s (may still do that) but here they are with the finished tree.

And finally the most important part of the holiday season. We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season and remembers what Christmas is all about.

Fall Activities

2009-12-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

We have had a busy fall (when are we not busy really). We were able to have a nice day and an available Saturday and we went out to the pumpkin patch as a family.

The kids had a blast going in the corn maze at Stoney Ridge Farm.

For Family Home Evening we carved pumpkins. E had a blast and didn't get grossed out by the guts and C carved his own pumpkin!

In the beginning of November T was in a play at his school. As you can see he was Pinocchio and loved every minute of it. He was great! For the those of you who know what has happened in the past when he goes to stand up in front of people - well he has come a long way!

Also towards the beginning of November T had a cyst removed from off of his back. He was very brave.

The final thing that happened in the month of November is that my grandfather Carl passed away. He was able to be in him own home, in his own bed with the only 2 people that he wanted there. Me and my sister. We were able to spend the last 3 weeks of his life with him. We told stories, laughed and cried. He will be missed, but I know where he is, who he his with and that I will see him again!

Busy Summer!

2009-09-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

We had a very busy summer, but we all had a blast! We spend a lot of time together as a family and spent alot of time with our families. We had company 2 separate times and didn't want them to go either time. At the end of July we took the kids to Disneyland. We kept it a secret until the last day of school and they didn't even have a clue!

After we got home from Disneyland we decided to take down our old shed and put up a new one. Little did we know how long it would take or how much it would cost! If you ask E what is is the backyard, or making the mistake of calling it a shed, you are quickly corrected. It is her "princess house" and she wants it pink.

The last of our visitors came in August for my birthday. Geri and I had a blast. The two of us and my sister all went and got a manicure and pediure and then Geri and i spent the rest of the day shopping. What a better way to spend your birthday. Here is a picture of all of our toes with pretty flowers on them!

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

We had a really good 4th of July weekend. We went down to my cousins house on Samish Island on the 3rd and camped out for 2 nights. We really had a lot of fun, food and family!

Here are 3 generations of girls - E, My sister and I and our Great (the kids Great Great) Aunt.

My Aunt decided it was time for a little dip in the water. Who knew she would go up to her waist!

E relaxing in the swing! She was trying to push herself to make the swing go.

The water finally calmed down and all the boys decided to go for a row.

T was showing his great grandpa something out in the water. These two are like best buddies!

The family sitting around waiting for the parade to start so that when it was over we could finally eat. We were getting hungry!

Here are the kids, in their 4th of July outfits, waiting patiently for the parade to get to us. It took like 45 minutes.

E did sparklers by herself for the first time. She kept doing them and doing them. The older kids were on the beach letting off big fireworks. I told them to leave the sparklers for her.

What a way to end the wonderful holiday with excellent weather, good food and loving family (except for fireworks of course) than by a beautiful sunset. Hope you all a had as wonderful a day as our family did!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-06-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

I know that I am a little late in updating, but better late than never. We had a great weekend, lots of sun, lots of family and lots of fun!

We went to the Ski to Sea parade on Saturday and what better to do while waiting for the parade to start, but eat! Sorry for the long post :)

C being grumpy!

E sharing a Sierra Mist with Boppa Larlow.

T enjoying his hot dog!

My sister and I got away from the kids and took a little walk while waiting.

On Sunday we decided as a family to skip church (Kendall had to work on Monday) and head down to Samish Island to our families property.

All of the kids enjoying playing in the sand before the tide comes in.

The kids are sitting at the table and are thinking "Where's the food?"

E hangin' in the hammock

On Monday the kids and I went out to Lake Whatcom to my aunt and uncles property for one last picnic. My uncle passed away in March unexpectedly and my aunt has put the property up for sale. It wasn't the best day of the 3 day weekend weather wise, but it was still really nice, little brezzy, but as you can tell, the kids didn't mind at all.

The water was pretty cold - T didn't stay in that long, but the other two...

had a blast!

and I had to drag this one out!

Overall we had a great time spending time with family and enjoying the beautiful weather. We are going to have a GREAT summer!

Walk A Jog a Thon

2009-05-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

Today was the wajat at the boys school. Thank goodness we had a good day. The weather all week has been a bit miserable so we were excited that the sun was shining today. Of course I forgot the camera at home, so I had to take picture with my phone. Sorry not the greatest of pictures, but at least you get the idea. :)

E just had to get in on the action.

This was C's last one. He is moving on next year. Sorry it's blurry - he was moving to fast!

T was just having a blast!

Hope that everyone enjoys the nice weather!

I LOVE SPRING!

2009-05-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

I love this time of the year! The weather is nice, not to hot not to cold. We spend the evening tonight working in the yard. I weed wacked, mowed and then weeded the flower beds. My backyard looks so nice. It feels so good to look out my back window and not see weeds, weeds, and more weeds!

We've Been Busy

2009-03-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

We have been busy this year so far! It's already the middle of March! Where did the time go!

Kendall took the 2 smaller ones to Cornwall Park. They had a blast!

After that really nice day at the park we had to deal with this AGAIN:

A couple of weeks ago the boys had a Taekwondo ceremony. T received his senior brown belt and C received his 2nd level for his black belt. We are really proud of our boys!

Then it was Kendall's birthday. He has wanted one of these for the longest time. We finally found a good deal and got one.

It's a 37" Flat screen HD Vizio. I actually have to admit - It is really nice!

Christmas Day!

2009-01-07T17:31:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas morning. My sister stayed with us the night before and you should have seen us in the morning. I think that we were more excited than the kids - as we were the first ones up.

Before we will let the kids open up presents we always take a picture of them in front of the tree. Thinking that we will use this picture for our Christmas cards the following year, but they change so much!

T got exactly what he asked Santa for - a new bike. He wanted to go out and ride it that day, but just a little problem - 2 feet of snow in our street! His old bike was so small.

E got from her "TT" a Tinkerbell doll. Every since the first commercial for the Tinkerbell movies she has been chanting "twinkerbell, twinkerbell" over and over again. We thought this would be perfect.

C got his very own camping backpack. He was so excited. He can't wait to go on another campout with his scout troop. I don't think he even cares what the weather it like!

The last thing that Santa brought the family was a Wii. We have all had so much fun playing it together as a family.

The one bummer thing about Christmas this year was that my mom and step dad couldn't make it out because of the snow. But we were still able to celebrate Christmas with them, just the following weekend. We hope that everyone had as fabulous a Christmas as we had.

Playing in the Snow!

2009-01-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

The kids had a BLAST playing in the snow over their winter break. Here are a few pictures.

The boys both got their own snowboards from their "TT" (my sister - Tonya) for Christmas. They love to snowboard down our little hill on her snowboard so what better gift than to give then their own. They were so excited.

Here is the little one with her "TT" on Tonya's snowboard. She didn't quite have as much fun. At the bottom of the hill she fell off and bonked her head.

Here she is. She had fun just wandering around in the snow and being pulled in the sled by any one of us.

Here are the boys. They wanted to go out and play in the snow the day school got out early. I told them that it was cold. They said they wanted to go out. They weren't out there very long.

We had a Great Christmas Eve

2009-01-07T16:20:00.001-08:00

We had Christmas Eve at my Grandpa Carl's house like we always do. We had a delicious roast dinner, opened a few gifts and visited as a family

Here we all are around the Christmas tree. Very rarely do we get a family picture of all of us. I am usually the one taking all the pictures. I finally figured out how to use the self timer on my camera.

Here are the kids with their great grandpa. They love him so much and love spending time with him.

We try to get at least one picture of the three of them looking nice.

Our Annual Trip to SLC

2008-12-10T10:20:00.001-08:00

On Monday we got back from our annual trip to Salt Lake City with my dad. We had a great time and we even got some snow - the day we left!

On Friday C wanted to go up to see the capital building. We went inside and ended up going on a tour. The building has been closed for the last 4-5 years for a 250 million renovation. It is a gorgeous building! We went to the visitor centers on Temple Square and were the only ones in them - due to the funeral earlier in the day. The kids had a blast watching all of the commercials and then going into the North visitors center and seeing the Savior. What a wonderful spiritual feeling!

We were also able to go into the Church's History Museum where the kids played upstairs for over an hour, went up onto the roof of the conference center and also went into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. On Saturday we were able to meet up with one of the missionaries that served up here in our area almost 11 years ago. We had a nice visit.

On Sunday we all attended The Spoken Word in the confernce center. It was a wonderful show. That night we were able to take a horse drawn carriage ride around Temple Square and look at all the lights. All the kids loved the ride, especially E. Last year we were going to go on a ride
but she got sick.

Finally the day we left it started to snow so we took the kids up to This Is The Place monument and let them play in the snow for a few minutes. It wasn't a long time but they had fun.

We all look forward to going again next year