July Vacation

I enjoyed a nice break from work in July. I had a two-part trip: 2 days in Denver to visit Jason and Mike's family and then a week in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene for a Burningham Family Reunion.

I flew in to Denver after work on the 3rd and Jason came and picked me up from the airport. It was nice to visit Mike and Desi again. They are such great hosts and take good care of us!

On the 4th of July we ate a yummy pancake breakfast at the park sponsored by their ward. It was fun to meet some of the ward members, especially since Jason's been attending that ward for the last couple of months. Desi loves fireworks, as do I, and we got to enjoy their fireworks show in their driveway. Some of the kids were too scared of the loud noises and didn't make it through all of the show.

4th of July in front of Mike and Desi's house

Friday Jason and I spent several hours looking at housing in the Denver. Since it's a possibility we could live there we decided to do some research to see what the market had to offer. The biggest thing we noticed is that it's quite a bit more expensive to find housing there. We did find one condo that we liked and went to go see it. It's still too early to know if we'll decide to live there, but it's nice to have some options.

That night after dinner Desi and Kim took me to get my very first pedicure. It was super relaxing and nice to have someone else bending over and painting my toes since it's getting really hard to do it myself anymore. :)

First pedicure

Saturday morning Jason and I flew from Denver to Spokane, Washington for the family reunion. Jason's parents flew in a couple hours before us and rented a car so we were able to tag-along with them for the week. I'm grateful they were willing to drive!

Saturday after lunch we met up with Tim and Lisa's family from Texas and went to hike the Bowl and Pitcher. Jason spent most of his childhood in Spokane so it was fun to visit some of old stomping grounds and see what he did growing up.

Hiking the area around the Bowl and Pitcher

Crossing the bridge over the river by the Bowl and Pitcher

My one request for the trip was to visit Riverfront Park in Spokane. The rest of the family planned to go over I had to fly out, so we made a quick trip on the way to the cabin. Jason and I came here on our honeymoon almost exactly 5 years ago. We good pictures on this big wagon and on the blocks so I wanted to get pictures in the same place so we could compare them. We pretty much look exactly the same minus my big tummy, don't you think? :) The other funny thing about it is that there were a bunch of people sitting on the blocks when we got there and they all hurried and moved when we explained that we needed a picture right there for history sake.

Riverfront Park, 2008

Riverfront Park, 2008

Riverfront Park, 2013

Riverfront Park, 2013

That night we arrived at the Wagstaff's lake cabin on Coeur d'Alene Lake. The cabin was a perfect size for our large family (14 adults and 15 grandchildren under age 12) and the access to the lake was amazing. The weather was perfect and the lake temperature was around 75F. Sunday we attended their old ward and played games in the evening. We spent the rest of the week boating, skiing, surfing, tubing, playing games, eating, talking, and watching movies. All the cousins got along great and we escaped with only a little illness towards the end of the week. Sally planned and bought food for the meals ahead of time. We were assigned different meals as couples to prepare and clean up. It worked really well and Sally did awesome at planning the right amounts of food for the meals.

Wagstaff's Lake Cabin

Playing the card game "Bang." It was the favorite game of both old and young.

This gathering was for a spiritual thought and to go over the lake safety rules since we had so many young kids.

We roasted marshmallows on Sunday night.

Jeff drove his new boat from Utah to Washington so the family could use it. It was great for surfing and skiing!

Surfing on the Lake

I obviously didn't do any skiing or surfing, but I had fun going out on the boat to watch Jason.

FHE treat at Coeur d'Alene Resort. And no, we didn't eat these by ourselves. :)

We spent a day at Splashdown Waterpark in Spokane. I didn't go down any slides but I helped with kids and dipped my feet in the pool.

Star Wars were the favorite movies of the week. Some of them were watched multiple times.

Friday afternoon most of the adults did a session at the Spokane Temple and the kids hung out with Mike and Chelsey and some young women from the Spokane ward helped babysit the kids.

The whole Burningham clan in front of the house where they lived for over 16 years.

Friday we cleaned the cabin, washed all the sheets and made it just in time to the temple session. That night we had a barbeque at the Dayley's house and then played some games at Ponderosa Elementary School just across the street from the house where they used to live. We checked into a hotel that night and I was the first to fly out Saturday morning. Jason followed suit a few hours later to Denver and we both arrived home around 5:00pm. We had a great time together and we're very grateful for all the work that went into the whole reunion! Now we're all looking forward to the reunion in 2015.

Baby Showers

I am very fortunate to have loving friends and family that organized and attended baby showers for Ethan. My work also had a shower scheduled but Ethan came so early that it had to be cancelled. :)

Yummy food at my friend Julie's house

Julie let me borrow this bassinet so we wouldn't have to worry about setting up the crib yet.

Megan, Steffani, Julie, Julie at neighborhood shower

Yay, now Ethan has some cute clothes to wear!

Some of my friends: Courtney, Marilee, Julie, Sara

All the pregnant cousins in my family right now in order of due dates. I still ended up being the first to deliver in this group!

Family: Mom, Katrina, Kim, Melody, Julie, Kristilyn. Katrina came from Idaho and Melody came from Nevada to attend the shower.

June Highlights

I wish I had more time to dedicate to keeping this blog updated. I'll try to be better in the future but no promises.

Highlights from June:

New iMac computer

• Father's Day. I had dinner at my parent's house on Father's Day. It's nice that they live so close. I'm grateful for my dad. He is such a good example of what a righteous father should be and I've very grateful that he is my dad. I have been so blessed to be born of "goodly parents" and I hope that I can follow in their footsteps. 
• I had dinner on June 22 with Mom and Dad Burningham, Grandpa Richard and Colleen, Jeff and Sally, and Chelsey and Mike. Mom and Dad Burningham were here for the weekend so we all went out to dinner at the Lion House in Salt Lake and then played the Mormon Bridge card game at Grandpa Richard's house. It was nice to spend time with family...hopefully next time Jason will be there to join us.
• I went to The Chocolate with friends to celebrate Sara Moulton's birthday. It was fun to see her again. I only wish we saw each other more often. We're both busy so I think it makes it difficult.
• I went to the horse parade in Lehi with Marilee Bass Garner. It's always fun to talk with her as well and get caught up on the news. The horse parade was kind of interesting since we sat towards the end of the parade route and were some of the only spectators in that area. The important thing is that we sat in the shade and that's what we really cared about. :)
• I also went to the Orem Summerfest parade with Julie Olsen and her family. We got a great spot near the beginning. I'm glad they invited me to go with them because I like to watch them occasionally but they aren't Jason's favorite thing to do. :)
• I know this really isn't that important in the big scheme of things, but we decided to get a new computer. It only took us several months to decide when and what to get. Jason's laptop died a couple months ago and mine is 5 years old now and not working as well. We decided it was time to get another one so I can keep working on my journaling and scrapbooking projects. My work had also given me an iPad 3 about a year ago and since Jason and I already had one I was able to return it and get store credit. That credit helped pay for about 1/2 the cost of the computer which really helped out. We got a refurbished iMac desktop computer and it works so much faster than my laptop and has a nice big screen. It's so nice to use for my projects!

One Month Down!

Jason left on Saturday the 4th for his internship for Towers Watson in Denver, Colorado. He said the drive felt long. He listened to most of a book on CD and we talked on the phone for over an hour of it. He arrived at Mike and Desi's house that evening around 7:00pm. To say the least, it was not fun to say good-bye.

Fortunately I had lunch plans with Erica that afternoon to give me something else to think about. That day she was 38 weeks pregnant with their first baby, who is also a boy. It had been several months since I've talked to her, and we spent a couple hours at Kneaders talking about pregnancy, getting ready for motherhood, and our jobs. It was fun to talk to someone who is at the same stage in life as me. I don't have many close friends that are just having their first child right now and it is really nice to have someone to talk to about it. Erica ended up delivering a healthy Cruize Cooper at the hospital a couple weeks later.

After a month of his internship Jason's feeling a little more comfortable, although he's on a steep learning curve of trying to figure out what he's doing. Even after a month he can see only a little progress, and he still has a long way to go. Right now he is enjoying participating in a bocce tournament at work which lets him interact a little more with his co-workers. He generally likes his co-workers and feels like it's a good environment, although he wishes he could talk to people a little more throughout the day about stuff not directly related to work.

I've mostly adjusted to living here without Jason, although I miss doing stuff with him on the weekends. Fortunately we have cell phones and Facetime through our iPads so we talk to each other for at least 60-90 minutes every day. People in my ward have been super nice to invite me over for dinner or to check up on me. The Olsen family, in particular, has been great. They invite me over every Monday night for dinner and FHE with their family of three kids age 5 and under. It has been fun to get to know them better and enjoy being with their funny and cute kids who always refer to me as Sister Burningham...and for a newly turned 3-year-old, that can be a mouthful!

My doctor's appointments continue to go well. I keep gaining weight and my tummy keeps getting bigger and bigger. I feel really good most of the time and can still sleep through the night. I'm officially in my third trimester with 10 weeks left to go!

Young Women's has been keeping me busy. The girls are starting to get ready for camp and I'm sad I won't be able to go with them. I have really good memories of girls' camp and it just seems like it will be so much fun...although I'm guessing it's a different experience as a leader...but I still like being in the outdoors. One recent class activity we had was a modesty night. I was worried about what to do for it, but after a short lesson about it we let the girls create their own modest dresses out of colored tissue paper and ribbon. The dresses turned out great and the girls all had a great time.

Kaylan, Kiley, Arie, Anika, and Julia

Jason flew in for Memorial Day weekend. It was sooooo nice to have him here. He made me breakfast two of the mornings and I made him dinner twice. He is so good to help out and we just enjoyed being together. Saturday we did take a walk along the river and had fun playing frisbee golf at Rock Canyon Park. There were so many rocks, trees, and bushes and the holes were so far apart that on some holes we ended up playing hide and seek rather than golf with the frisbees. I think on hole 5 we spent close to 20 minutes just looking for Jason's frisbees because we didn't see exactly where they landed. By the end, our biggest victory was leaving with all three of our discs!

We spent Memorial Day with family. We ate a BBQ lunch with Keith, Kim, Talisa, and Kira. Then we visited graves with Grandpa Richards, Colleen, Bruce and Nancy, Kent and Susan, and Robbie. We visited Grandpa Richards and Helen's immediate family at the Salt Lake and Farmington Cemeteries. It was an extra treat to hear stories about these ancestors from the people who still remember them. What a great family heritage we have!

Jason, Julie, Bruce, Nancy, Susan, Kent, Grandpa Richards, Colleen, and Robbie

Farmington Cemetery visiting the Richards family burial plots

Where did April go?

I know I've said in the past that we've been busy, but the month of April was super packed. We had so many activities that we unfortunately had to turn some down just because we simply ran out of days to do them. So here is the highlights of our month in review:

April 5 - We decided at the last minute to trade going to Jason's mission reunion for a cool and creative date planned by Andy and Kimra that they had given us as a gift for Christmas. Now, lest Andy and Kimra think we didn't care about their date and thus put it off, we were actually really saving it for a special occasion because we knew anything planned by them would be fun. Unfortunately, what we didn't know was that it was kind of meant to be done in winter time and they didn't know I was pregnant and therefore couldn't participate in certain activities. It was still really cool though. They had about 7 envelopes that we opened throughout the date to tell us what to do next. We ended up swapping out ice skating--which I love--for mini-croquet at the Provo Beach Resort and we had so much fun together. As part of their date package they also included a bag of questions that we could ask each other during dinner--or in our case, dessert--since they know how much we enjoy good conversations. The envelopes came complete with directions to different locations, phone numbers in case we got lost, and money/gift cards to pay for it all. And to top it off, they planned all the details for us to do it here in Provo even though they live is Illinois and have never even lived in Provo! It was such a thoughtful and creative gift!! Thanks, Andy and Kimra, even if it is 4 months late. :)

Mini-croquet at the Provo Beach Resort

April 6-7 - We totally enjoyed two full days of General Conference. It is so inspiring and uplifting to listen to these great men and women share their insights and personal experiences with the Gospel. Sunday we enjoyed lunch with our friends, the Simmons, in Sandy, and then spent the afternoon and evening at my parents' house. It has been a conference tradition for us the last 5 years to watch the afternoon session of conference with my parents and stay for dinner afterwards. I'm so grateful for parents that have taught me the true value of general conference.

April 10-13 - I went with a co-worker to Atlanta, Georgia for a conference on iPads in education. It was kind of fun to go to Georgia since I had never been there before, but unfortunately the jet lag was worse than I expected, and I'm guessing that being pregnant had something to do with that. I felt so nauseous and tired/sick on Thursday morning that I had to go back to the hotel shortly after I arrived to the conference. Fortunately I was able to sleep a lot of it off and returned for the sessions after lunch feeling much better. The conference itself was very interesting and informative. Part of the time it made me wish I was back in the classroom just so I could try all this cool new technology out with the kids! I'm grateful I had the opportunity to go and learn. All the sessions were well-done, and they had really good food available the two days we were there.

View of Atlanta, Georgia from the 17th story of my hotel

April 13 - I flew back from Georgia early Saturday morning and arrived in Salt Lake just in time to meet the Young Women and Young Men at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to see the Joseph Smith Movie. The movie is so touching as you are reminded of all that the early Saints experienced. After the movie we split up into smaller groups and went through the visitor's centers and church history museum. Since I had my own car, Jason came home with me and we stopped to visit his Grandma June at her Assisted Living Apartment in Midvale. That night, after all the activities of the day, and the 2 hr. time change, I was begging Jason to go to bed before 10:00!

April 14 - We visited the Eliasons in Salt Lake for the baby blessing of their 5th child, John Alfred. He is so adorable and seemingly a really easy going baby. I hope I can have one like that, too. :)

April 15 - I had an OB/GYN appointment with a new doctor. Neither Jason nor I really liked the last one. We had to wait forever to see her and then she'd spend 5 min. with us and not tell us much. The new one we met today was really good. She looks really young, but she was so much more caring and informative. I'm glad that we switched. The baby is doing well. Jason and I discussed names for awhile since I've been feeling stressed that we didn't know what we were going to name him. We both like the name Ethan, so that is what we're planning to name him.

April 18 -Our newest nephew Joshua was born in Texas. He's had a lot of heart problems the last couple of months and we're glad he's doing okay. He spent 3 weeks in the NICU and the whole family has been praying for him constantly. We're glad he was finally able to come home and hope it's permanent!

April 19 - We enjoyed a yummy Korean meal at Sam Hawk with Jeff and Sally. Sam Hawk is our favorite Korean restaurant and I never get tired of their pork bulgogi. It's so yummy! We also stopped by the Awful Waffle for dessert crepes afterwards which are also absolutely delicious! It was fun to talk to Jeff and Sally. Sally told me a lot about going through labor with her 4 kids....sounds like I have a lot to look forward to! :)

April 20 - Keith and Kim came down to visit us in Provo. We had dinner together and then went to a BYU Men's volleyball game. It was a really close game so that made it even more fun to watch. We were grateful for time to catch up with Keith and Kim.

April 22 - Jason took what is hopefully his last final on BYU campus. He still has some more work to do, but we hope he can do it online for the most part.

April 24-29 - Jason and I took a quick trip to Zion National Park and Las Vegas to visit Melody and Brandon and Jason's parents before Jason leaves for his internship. We drove down Wednesday night after I got home from work and stayed in Hurricane that night. Thursday we went on several shorter hikes: Weeping Rock, Kayenta Trail to the Upper Emerald Pools, and the Canyon Overlook Trail. We packed in lunch and snacks and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather and gorgeous scenery. We're both kind of sad that I wasn't able to go on the Angels Landing hike again, but hopefully we'll come back to do it sometime.

Zion National Park

Weeping Rock, Jason's watching the water droplets fall down and drip on him

View from the Canyon Overlook Trail

We drove 3 hrs. to stay at Melody and Brandon's apartment that evening. They were awesome hosts. They fed us really yummy food everyday and let us enjoy our vacation with them. We played frisbee golf on a nearby course, visited the Ethel M. chocolate factory and cactus garden, and braved the strip to see the fountain show at the Bellagio. We also did some hiking nearby at a place called Red Rock. We hiked up and over some huge boulders until be got a view of the city. Melody and I did a little shopping at the outlets, and we played plenty of games. It was so relaxing!

Fountains at Bellagio

Red Rock, taking a break from the sun and enjoying the view

Melody and Julie, caught in the act of laughing at Brandon :)

Sunday, Jason and I stayed with Jason's parents at their temporary townhouse while they are waiting for their new house to be finished. We got to see the latest updates and walk through the house as they explained the floor plan and how awesome it's going to be. It was fun to catch up with them since they moved to Boulder City a month ago. Monday morning the four of us walked across an overpass bridge overlooking Hoover Dam. It's an amazing piece of architecture. It felt soooo hot to me. I can't imagine what it's going to be like there in July! We dropped Jason's dad off at the airport and enjoyed lunch with his mom before we drove the rest of the way home.

This will be the view from their finished deck. That's Lake Mead behind them.

Hoover Dam

Walking across the really hot bridge -- and look, you can't even tell I'm pregnant here. :)

Back side view of the dam and bridge

Happy Easter!

What a happy Easter this is! I love the Spring! I love warm weather and spring flowers and blue skies and walks along the river by my work. It has been such a seemingly long winter and I totally welcome the newness of life that comes with Spring. And speaking of new life, I'm grateful for the little life growing inside me. What a miraculous thing it is to be pregnant. We had our 20 week ultrasound a few days ago and found out that we are having a baby BOY! So fun! We kind of felt like we would have a girl first, so we were surprised. Jason said he'll be happy as long as he likes to play with balls. The ultrasound technician check for signs of birth defects and said that from what she could see he is healthy. Now we just have to find a name... boy names have always been harder for us to agree on.

This month has been very busy again! Time has really been going fast, which is good, but I'm not looking forward to Jason leaving.

It's hard to keep up in writing about everything that's going on, so I'm going to be a little boring and quickly bullet some of our happenings in the month of March.

• I attended my cousin Becca's wedding in Sandy. It was so fun to see all the family and her parents (Edie and Roger) flew in for a week from their mission to the the Philippines.
• We went to see Les Miserables performed by Lone Peak High School with Jason's parents, Jeff and Sally, and Mike and Chelsey before Jason's parents moved to Nevada the next day. It's still hard to believe that his parents have really moved. They've lived in Utah for over 10 years and will be missed!
• I went to Color Me Mine with Marilee, a high school friend of mine. I totally love to do arts and crafts types of things and I almost never take the time to do it. It was fun to talk to her and listen to a co-worker of mine, Rob, perform on his guitar for the live entertainment of the night. I painted an Easter egg candy holder and it turned out pretty well.
• We had dinner and games one night with the Gurrells again. It's always fun to play games with them. I was really having an off night and lost every game, but it was still fun.
• We celebrated my Mom's and brother's birthdays on the 24th. I was in charge of the meal plan. I made homemade Lasagna with Melody's help, and we ate yummy salads, rolls, and strawberry cheesecake. I'm grateful to live close to family and spend time with them.
• Melody spent a night here before heading back to Nevada. I love hanging out with her! We went to cheer for Jason at a region basketball tournament game. They played a really tough team, and a pretty rough one at that as well. Near the end, one guy slammed into Jason while they were both in the air and he fell down and hit his head really hard on the wood floor. I about jumped off the stage when I saw it. Jason was pretty shaken up and stayed out the rest of the game. I was so anxious about it that I was sick to my stomach for the next 2 hours worrying about it. Ibuprofen and ice helped him feel better and he felt fine the next day. I am so grateful it wasn't worse. Melody was a good sport about it and we just spent the evening talking until we were all too tired to stay up any longer. We got up the next morning and ate strawberry crepes and walked a few laps around the park before she left on her long drive home.
• Yesterday I went to the YW General Broadcast in Salt Lake with two beehives and their mothers in our ward. It was such a beautiful day! We ate an early dinner at the Blue Lemon and had frozen yogurt afterwards. The meeting itself was so great. I love to hear the YW choirs sing and Pres. Utchdorf's talk was my favorite of the evening. 
• While I was gone, Jason went shooting with Mike out south of Utah Lake. Jason doesn't really know anything about guns, but they had a good time and Jason enjoyed talking with Mike. Let's just say that Jason is better at talking than shooting, so if he ever gets into a dangerous situation, hopefully he can talk his way out. :)
• Jason and I enjoyed a quiet Easter by ourselves. We decided to savor a little alone time before Jason leaves. It's nice to have a quiet Sunday free of extra meetings!

  

  Painted egg from Color Me Mine

  
  
  
  
  

  

  Some of the beehives in our class