Becca's Blessing

We were able to bless our little Rebecca Claire a few weeks ago. It was so heartwarming that all of Kerry's brothers and all of mine (that have to priesthood so far) and both of our dad's were able to stand in the circle. And we even had our dear friends from Las Vegas come down. So, yeah, the circle was pretty big. But I was so touched that all these righteous men were there holding my child, and I got to think about how each of them will be there for her if she ever needs them. She is one lucky little girl- who is very loved. here are some pics

O what did we do in the summertime?

So I will try to fit an entire summer into one post, mostly because I don't want to make individual ones. We had a nice relaxing summer this year. and here is the review in pictures:
Jared turned 4

and got his long awaited spiderman bike

We went to Oatman (twice)and fed the donkeys


Jared found another "donkey" to feed

got root beer floats (and other goodies) at Sonic- a lot!

Zach got to ride an airplane all by himself for the first time all the way to Florida to catch up with his Grandparents. I was a wreck!!! But he was a pro and had such a good time.

Hannah and Jared got to go to Phoenix and spend time with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. Hannah turned 6 (I know it says 5 but she's 6 I promise).

Jared and Zach went fishing with Dad and Granddad (which could be a post all by itself but since I am condensing let me just say they didn't actually get on the river until after dark and then the other fishermen really did not appreciate the noise level that accompanied them).

Kerry turned 30

he's still waiting for his party because the best thing that happened this summer happened 2 days before his b-day: Rebecca Claire Burgess joined our family

back to school

School started at the beginning of the month, but as usual I am behind in blogging. Zach is in 2nd grade this year and was excited to find that he got the teacher he wanted. Hannah is in 1st grade and we already knew that she got the world's most fabulous teacher- Mrs. Morrison and drumroll please....Jared started preschool! I can't decide who was more excited him or Mom. He still asks me if he can stay longer everytime I pick him up. Here are some pics of the first day.





So hopefully now that life is slowly getting back to normal I can get back to blogging regularly...maybe.

Boys will be boys!

Or at least that's what they tell me. SO the Burgess clan got together for Father's Day! After some convincing, all the Burgess brothers got in the pool with their kids. My nephews are getting older and apparently they felt they had something to prove, because what started as this:


Ended in this


Luckily the younger boys had enough sense to steer clear of the madness,

and I'm not tsure the girls had any idea what was going on, they were having too much fun with the best cousin ever, Ashley.



So while I don't understand WHY the "whose tougher" contest happened, it seemed to be some great bonding experience for them all, which just goes to show that I will never fully understand boys. The best part was that my nephews just kept right on coming, no matter how hopeless it seemed and there were a couple of times when it looked like they might be gaining the upper hand (of course that could be because they were up against a bunch of out of shape old guys). It was oddly heartwarming to see my hubby with all his brothers showing the younglings what's up.

Still I'm glad I'm a girl.

Going Private

So after watching a show the other night where a dad took a picture of his little kid in the tub and then put it on his webpage, and the picture ended up on a child porno site, well let's just say that I have been thinking about making my blog private for awhile and that just put me over the edge. There are some serious sickos out there and I don't want any of them looking at my kids. I want to be able to put pics of my kids on my blog without worrying about who is looking at them, so as of now this is a private blog.

Which you already know if you are reading this. I will try to email those that I know read my blog and invite them.

My little money makers

So a couple of Sunday's ago Hannah wanted to play with hair and decided to make a hair booth. Zach decided to help her, and I decided to take a nap and left them planning. Not too much longer, I woke up expecting to visit their salon downstairs, but as I walked down the stairs I heard voices from outside the front door! I quickly ran outside (after "discussing" with their father what happens when mom takes a nap) and found them with their booth set up talking to our friends from down the street. I'm still hoping that the Morrison's were already out walking their dog and my kids did not go soliciting but I'll never know, because I will never ask...but I digress. So they had set up this booth


and created these amazing hairdos



And the best part (for the kids) is that our sweet neighbors actually paid them for their work, and so did Granny.

Dad got his do for free- Dad discount I think they called it.


I am hoping that this booth phase wears off soon. But their dad really encourages it, he thinks that it shows ingenuity and business sense, so we'll see...but if you need a cool hair-do, or an autographed Ben 10 alien, or an omnitrix, come on over- and I am sure by the end of the summer there will be a couple of new booths to choose from.

O what do you do in the summertime?

So, we have been looking forward to summer vacation and it is finally here. The kids get 6 whole weeks off of school and we want to have tons of fun. We kicked off the summer by having the kids wear these cute shirts on the last day of school.



I found the idea from tipjunkie here and then changed it a little. The front says: Good-bye KINDERGARTEN (or 1st grade in Zach's place) and the back says: Look out 1st grade (or 2nd in Zach's case) Here I come!

This week I am trying to plan the rest of the summer while the kids are in soccer camp. We'll see how ambitious I get...