Randi's photo shoot

I love the photos Randi took of us!!!  Thank you, Randi at flutterpix.com!!!

October 2008

Holiday Photos

This is Dad's hug after choosing the Christmas tree.

Jack loved decorating the tree...posing for a picture not so much.

Going backwards in time pics out of order....

Picking out a tree, Jack was so excited he was full of hugs!

Standing next to the tree Jack picked.

Thanksgiving Day at Uncle Ron's house

Grizzly Hockey game 11-26-08  Jack ate a churro and ice cream

Super Why ABC's

I finally have video of Jack singing the alphabet along with the Alphapig on Super Why. It may be too early to predict at age three, but Jack does not have a gift for rhythm. He is bouncing his head quite sporadically. It is similar to the way he sporadically and very quickly bobs and jump-turns and does little kicks when he dances, without any regard to the beat of the music. Brad is glad Jack is not gifted at dancing. :-)

I finally got Jack to sing the alphabet, acapella, on video while he still has funny speech impediments. It may be too early to predict at age three, but Jack does not have a gift for singing. He has not been able to carry a tune, yet. That is ok because he is good at multi-tasking, as evidenced by his expertly turning on his computer and adjusting the screen while he is singing. :-)

Thank you

Thank you everyone for your kind words about Mara's loss. We are so glad we went to the funeral. As soon as we faced her and mourned with her, it wasn't as hard for us to accept that she gave us our greatest gift in the world and then lost hers. She carries Jack's picture with her everywhere and tells everyone she meets about him. She loves him dearly, as we do and we love her dearly.
Thank you again for your love! It helped us to cope to share the story with you.

Halloween costumes

Everytime when asked, Jack said he wanted to be a dinosaur for Halloween. (It was his costume last year.) He wore it here to Lagoon's Frightmare's.

We took him to a costume shop and he found this SuperWhy costume. He was so excited, he had to try it on in the store. Here he is jumpimg and saying, "Yea!!!!"

He strutted out of the store with all the confidence of a super hero.

He loved wearing the costume from one of his favorite shows!

Trick or treating was so fun this year with his excitement level at an all-time high!

Dimitrius 10-28-08 to 11-2-08

Mara had her baby last week. Yesterday, Thursday November 6th, Brad and I went to his funeral. (I started this post on the 3rd and published it on the 7th. It kept the 3rd date on it.) They don't know what happened, he just stopped breathing. They were able to revive him, but he never fully recovered and went too long without oxygen. It was such a shock, we were unprepared.

It was nice to go to the funeral and face a difficult situation head on. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. When Mara and I first faced each other in the reception line, we couldn't speak. We hugged and sobbed for what seemed to be three minutes. We were holding up the line, so I moved on to hug her mom and Mara hugged Brad. Later in the dining reception, we sat and were able to speak and talked about how they are doing.

Mara's mother's first baby died at birth and her fourth baby was born without kidneys. She is a huge source of strength for Mara and us. It was amazing that in the midst of their pain, they would try to make us feel better. Mara's husband, Travis told me not to feel bad. He told me to enjoy every minute with Jack. He assured me that they will try again in two years when her c-section heals. We can't believe how wonderful they are!

In one week the temperature dropped from the 80's to the 30's! With only one month left of Lagoon being open on the weekends, we went even though it was raining and 40 degrees! We warmed up in the gift shop.




On this Saturday at Lagoon we learned that they have removed the minigolf! Brad was sad about it since he golfed there every year growing up. Luckily we took Jack there and have pics.

The next day it snowed two inches! That doesn't stop Jack from riding his scooter!

We made snowballs and Jack had to eat one! Within a couple days, the snow had all melted and within a week, the temperature was back in the 70's.

Mara's Baby Shower

Mara is eight and a half months pregnant with a baby boy!!!! We are so thrilled for her!! It is an answer to my prayer that she has a married a great guy, Travis, and now she will have the joys of motherhood!!!! When she told me on the phone I screamed and cried for joy!!!



We are so glad that we went to her baby shower! It was really nice! We love Mara more than words can express! If I try to express our love or even think about it, I am overwhelmed with emotion and choke up with enormous gratitude for her!!! To be able to stand next to her, I have to not think about it or I would bawl like a baby and convulse with sobs! We are grateful for eternity!

She lives in Las Vegas. Although we HATE HATE HATE Las Vegas, Brad and I had a really fun weekend together. There is a new outlet mall near the strip which has high end stores like Burberry, Kate Spade and Michael Kors. It was so nice to get away, we enjoyed every minute of it!

Skeeball

We went to the Circus in the morning, had a long nap and went to Lagoon for an hour at night! What a fun day! Lagoon is so easy for us to pop in and out of, it is ten minutes from our house!

Jack LOVES skeeball. The last time we were here, weeks ago, this very skeeball slot kept giving Jack 3 extra balls. So he played long enough to develop a love of the game.

Jack also loves air hockey and impressed his Dad with his skills. I already knew how good Jack is at air hockey because the McDonald's in Heber has a table. Once on a pit stop there, we ended up playing for an hour and I had to threaten him with losing scooter priviledges if he didn't leave with me to go to my family reunion we were late for!

Am I tall enough? Jack's new favorite ride! We love it, too, because it hasn't changed in 30 years!!!

Yea! The Circus!

On Sept 27th, we went to the Circus. Jack ate half a snowcone, almost all the dipping dots, 5 nachos and a whole hotdog! The food was the best part!!!

Brad took a self portrait of us. (Luckily I was wearing make-up!!!)

I could not get Jack to smile and cooperate for any pictures! He would hide and protest all pictures!!! Even tickling didn't work!

What Brad did at bedtime

Brad surprised Jack at bedtime by spraying him with glow-in-the-dark silly string!





We haven't cleaned the silly string, yet because it reminds us of silly Dad!!

Lagoon with Dad

Lagoon
Lagoon is closed during the week for what's left of the season. Dad has been taking us on Saturdays. This time was Jack's first miniature golf game. He loved it!! He would choose who would help him putt, Mom or Dad, alternating. Jack loves any kind of game! Especially at "Adune!"


Family Miniature Golf 9-13-08
Yea!!! Jack!!!



Riding the Lagoon train 9-13-08
It's fun to smoosh your bear into Dad's face!





Eating a brownie in Pioneer Village at Lagoon 8-23-08 Dad, please make Mom stop taking pictures!

Terror Ride at Lagoon 9-1-2008 We lost count after riding the Terror Ride 20 times last year. This year we didn't bother to count. At least this year he doesn't need to ride 4+ times in a row!

Terror Ride 9-1-08 You ready?

Terror Ride 9-1-08 That was fun! Again! Again!

This year Dad took us on Dracula's Castle for the first time. Jack refused to ride it until we told him it was a Halloween ride, like the Terror ride. "Ween?" He loved it!

Last year Jack rode the kid's roller coaster once and wouldn't ever ride it again. Last year and once this year we rode the Sky Ride, but now it is "a high!" (too high). Jack is more selective about the rides he will try.

I cry when the Lagoon gates close at the end of the season! We love Lagoon! I have to drive up to the gates to show Jack they are closed. I pretend to cry and I AM REALLY sad; he tries to cheer me up. Luckily he quits asking to go.

And now we have Gateway Discovery Museum passes!

My Favorite Aunt

My Favorite Aunt Valois and her grandaughter Grace
Burnett Family reunion in Heber, August 2008

The previous post's picture of me fishing with Brad and Jack is hideous of me. I had to post a recent picture to show I don't always look that bad!!! So I am posting a picture of me and my favorite Aunt Valois.

She was so kind and loving to me for as long as I can remember. She called my sister and I, "Toots" and I loved it. Although we only saw each other every other year, I knew she loved me and I loved her!

First Time Fishing

August 5, 2008
This is the side of Willard Bay where I caught a huge Walleye many years ago when we were dating. Brad took me fishing here with his parents. I was determined to catch a Walleye and I did! It was so big people in boats came from across the Bay to see how I caught it. It was probably 24 inches long and 5 lbs with many sharp teeth which would have cut Brad's finger had he not noticed them! Brad had to help me land the shark-like monster! I was embarrased that Brad and his Dad had not caught anything and I wanted to be a nice feminine girl and not show them up, so we threw it back in the water. Then we had a lovely dinner at Maddox. Catching that Walleye was so thrilling, I said I would be happy if I never caught another fish in my life. (Luckily I did catch Brad and he married me! He's a keeper!) :-)


We took Jack fishing for the first time! He loved it! It didn't matter that we didn't catch anything. When we got there we found out the Bureau of Land Management had drained half of Willard Bay. We had to stand in mud. The deeper water where the fish are was yards and yards away from the shore.

We would cast Jack's little Spiderman pole for him and he would reel it in by himself. He laughed everytime he caught seaweed. He loved having his own "dish po"

First Scientific Question

This morning we were outside pulling weeds and came across dog poo. I said, "Eww, poo!" I always warn Jack of every dog poo I see so he won't step in it. I showed him where it was and he asked the most brilliant scientific question; I was so proud of him!

Jack: "Mom, uh poo is?"
Mom: "What is Poo?" :-)
Jack: "Uh-Huh."
Mom: (so happy to answer a medical question,) "Poo is food your body doesn't want. You eat food with your mouth, and if your body doesn't want it, it comes out your bottom as poo."
Jack: "O-oh." (like he now understands completely) :-)

Whether he will work in the field or not, Jack will have a great medical knowledge by the time I am through teaching him!! I love to teach about health!


Little Scientist
Lagoon August 2008

Happy Anniversary!!!



On August 28th, we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. We hiked Timpanogos Mountain. We did not summit, but we made it to 9,300 feet. We hiked up 4 miles and we were about three miles from the summit. We could have made it, (in another hour or two!) but then we would have to hike back down for seven miles in the hot afternoon. No, thank you.

We hiked for about four hours and had a great time! Afterward, we stopped at Cabella's for lunch and shopped. Believe it or not, we were not sore the next day! We will never forget what we did for our 9th anniversary!

The following Sunday we spoke in church, ironically, about 'enriching your marriage.' It was nice on our hike to explore the subject of marriage and relive our memories together, as we plodded up and down the mountain.

Part of the beautiful scenery on our great day

Bouncy house

Pause for a kiss from Dad



Are you watching me jump?

"Bop"

Jack can spell 'stop', well backwards anyway. Even though he spells "p- o- t- s" everytime we see a stop sign, he still says, "Bop!!!" for stop. This is a look and hand gesture we see when he means business! This was no more pictures! "Mom! Bop!!!"

Davis County Fair

Riding a "lidlo" horse
We went to the Weber County Fair in Ogden last Friday and the Davis County Fair in Farmington today. Jack came home from Grandma's wearing these new ladybug boots and wanted to wear them to both fairs. He thinks they are so cool! Well it is convenient when he wants to jump in puddles.



Like father like son

The rides and the ride operators at this fair are the same ones we saw last week. One of them shouted to Jack, "I remember you! I remember those boots!" It was sunny and over 90 degrees and Jack is wearing rain boots! He likes the attention, hee hee!

Sporting sunglasses

Nothing gets better attention than wearing sunglasses! Jack struts around everytime he puts them on. He feels so mature!

We spent five dollars at a game booth to buy a 50 cent goldfish in a ziplock bag. We already have a Betta fish named Bobo, which Brad took Jack to buy on a father-son date last year. And we already have an African dwarf frog, named "Do" (two) which we bought at a Farmington Pioneer Days Parade booth. I asked Jack what we should name his new goldfish. "Dee!" (three) I said, "Why don't we name it Goldy or Orange?" "No. Bobo, yun. A hop, do. Dis yun a Dee!" (Bobo is one, the frog is two, this one is three!)