Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas

I really do have good intentions sometimes, but these days my "to-do" list is far greater than my strength to do things. So, this will have to do for my Christmas card this year, along with a promise that next year you will see my Christmas card (and I don't mean on my blog again)

Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 22, 2008

This child of mine and Good News

So the other night I went into Morgan's room to check on her before I went to bed and this is what I found.














Morgan really is asleep with this sleep mask on. I asked her about it the next day and she said she slept the whole night with it. I officially declare her 17 years old!

Also I am taking a moment to brag on myself. I have finished grad school... forever. I took my last final last Thursday and I am still waiting for the "finished" feeling to sink in. I cannot believe that I am finally done, I really thought this day would never come. Two and a half years is such a long time but well worth all the worry, tests, papers, stress, etc. that comes with an MBA. Yeah me!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Morgan's birthday

Morgan's 5th birthday was on December 1st. We had a friend party the Saturday before. This was our first friend party and I was exhausted! Seven 5 and 6 year olds are a lot of work...

Morgan wanted a Littlest Pet Shop Party, so we started out the party with a bone scavenger hunt out in the backyard. I love the look of shock on Morgan's face when I was telling the kids what we were going to do... always the drama queen.














Next we headed inside the have cake and ice cream. I made this really cute doggie cake and in all my exhaustion I forgot to take a picture of it, but trust me when I say this, it looked nothing like the picture...














Next we opened presents and Morgan got four Barbies. I guess people really know little Morgan, she was thrilled.













Then all the girls wanted to do was play with the Barbies, so we brought up the Barbie house and let them play away.






We wrapped up the party by John reading them some animal stories. This was the winding down period, and it was needed. I was again surprised that the kids sat through 3 books.
All in all it was a great party and Morgan loved every second of it.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Another funny one

So Morgan and I were driving a couple of days ago and here is the conversation that took place:

Morgan: Mom, Luke (who is her 3 year old cousin) said the A-word.

Mom: Really, that is bad.

Morgan: I know.

Mom: Morgan, do you know what the A-word is?

Morgan: I have no idea!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

My mini teenager

This morning while Morgan was getting ready for preschool, I was asking her about her latest crush. A couple of weeks ago she came home from school and said there was a new boy and she thought he was sooo cute. Well, after more questions I figured out she was talking about a new high school boy who was a teacher at the school. (She goes to preschool at Jordan High) What? What four year old thinks a high school boy is cute!?!

Since then, she has come home from school and announced to us if he was there or not and what station he was in charge of that day. She said she got to go to his coloring station last week and the whole time she was there she just stared at him and went "Hmmmm". Where does she come up with this stuff?

So, back to this morning. I was asking her if she thought the new boy would be there today. And she said:

"I hope so. He is so cute. Not handsome like John, but cute."

I told this to John, and he immediately announced that he wanted me to put this on our blog, just to give him a self esteem boost.

So here you go John...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Fall wrap up

So what is new? I am about two weeks behind on my blog-updating again. Just wait until I graduate in December, you will all be surprised at how much more I blog after that! But don't quote me on that.

I wanted to post some pictures of our fun pumpkin day. We went to our usual patch to pick out some pumpkins.



















This was the best picture I could manage with 5 kids... although in every single one I took, Morgan was perfectly posed... surprise, suprise.














Someone check that lady for pumpkin smuggling


















After the patch we invited ourselves over to grandmas to carve. Why make a mess of your own house when you can make a mess of grandma's?




















I recruited my mom to help me make "home-made" donuts. I used her Fry Daddy to fry Rhodes rolls and then made a glaze to go over them. They were pretty awesome.






Just look at my first satisfied customer.


Thursday, November 6, 2008

Halloween 2008


Isn't this the cutest witch you have ever seen?

Friday, October 31, 2008

Rock band and fall leaves

A couple of weeks ago, our neighbors invited us over to have pizza and play rock band. I have never played before and it was so much fun. Now I can see what all the hype is about. Here are a couple of shots of the Hiltons, Westenskows and the Wettsteins. What great friends!



Then last Sunday I decided it was time to do our yearly drive to the mountains to enjoy the fall leaves before everything is covered in snow. We drove up to LaCaille and took some pictures of the scenery. Here is a typical Morgan picture.


Here is a picture of Morgan enjoying one of her favorite past times: running! The girl loves to run. She is training for her first marathon.




And here is a self-taken shot of us. We never have pictures of the two of us, so I thought I would share.








Tuesday, October 14, 2008

California 2008

Morgan has been begging John and I to take her on a trip to Disneyland; so we went last weekend and it was so much fun. We flew into Long Beach and stayed up there and just drove down to Disneyland one day.

I had heard that you could make reservations to have lunch with the princesses where they come around to your table and talk to you and you can take pictures with them. So I made us a reservation and we got to meet all the princesses, (well the ones that were there that day). There was Arial, who Morgan announces to everyone that she was a human, and not a mermaid like she speculated, and Belle, Aurora, Jasmine and Snow White. It was really cool. They were very much in character when they talk to you; so Morgan thought it was soooo awesome. Here are a couple of pictures of her with the princesses.


Belle is our favorite


John thought Jasmine was dressed too revealing but I had a feeling he was only saying that because Morgan and I were there...

John thought Snow White looked terrible. I thought she looked great.



Here is Morgan waiting for our name to be called for the lunch. Eveyone thought she was Cinderella...

The next day we went to the beach and Morgan had more fun there than she did in Disneyland. She freaked out when it was time to go. Here are some pics of the beach.









Here is one last "classic picture" of Morgan posing on the lifeguard shack.



Saturday, September 27, 2008

We are having a ... (this time it is for real)

A Boy! John and I are in shock at learning that we will finally have a boy. We had the ultrasound yesterday and this little baby would not stop moving, I hope this is not an indication of things to come.... We even have a picture of him looking like he is about to do a back-sommersalt. I would post some pictures but they just don't look that great when you try to take a picture of them. But the next appointment we go to they will do a full ultrasound and give us a DVD of it; so we will have to share some of that next time.

We are so excited to have a boy but a little nervous. Do we know how to deal with boys?

Will they try on 75 different outfits before finally choosing one for the day?
Will they cry when you say no to them; even if it was because they were asking for a 5th Oreo cookie?
Will they want to wear makeup and talk on your cell phone all day when they are 4?

These are the questions that we are asking ourselves right now!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Octoberfest and John's Italian twin

Saturday was the first day of Octoberfest up at Snowbird and John and I happened to run into our neighbor who was really wanting to find some people to head up with him. So we took him up there and had a great relaxing time. We walked around the booths and ate brauts (well the boys ate those...) then the boys went down the alpine slide while I enjoyed watching an assortment of drunk people ride the mechanical bull. I laughed pretty hard...to myself.

Well, to thank us for driving him up to Octoberfest, our neighbor paid a caricaturist to draw a picture of John and I. I think this picture looks a little like fantasy compared to reality; but whatever. I have found John staring at it more times than I would care to admit. The worst part is that he is admiring himself!

Then tonight I called John on my way home from school and he was dying for me to get home so he could show me a part of this Italian movie he rented. He said that there was a guy in it that looked exactly like him. I told him that nobody ever finds people that look like them; they only find people who look like other people; but he insisted. Then I come home to find him taking pictures of the TV to show the pictures to his sister; so she could agree with him too.
What do you think? John's illegitimate Italian twin brother?


If anyone wants a better view; head over and John will gladly show you the movie.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A couple good laughs

My current condition of feeling nauseous and yucky all day means that I spend a lot of time watching TV, which is not something I normally do. But after seeing Sarah say on her blog that the show Wipeout was hilarious I decided to check it out. I laughed so hard watching that show and not because the contestants but because the announcer John Henson, who was the host of Talk Soup, which was also hilarious. John Henson just makes fun of the people who are competing on these crazy obstacles and he is so funny. I got my laugh of the day last night watching it.

Also, this morning Morgan and I were on our daily walk around the block when she said, "Look, the moon and the sun are out. That is weird. I don't know what Jesus is thinking doing that!" I got another good chuckle from this.

Friday, August 15, 2008

We are having a ....

Bean! Sorry to get your hopes up; we actually won't know what we are having for another 6 weeks. But we did get to go to our first appointment and get a picture of our baby bean. (It is not a great pic, but you get the idea).


I came home and told Morgan we got a picture of the baby and I showed her this. She looked at me like, "That is not a baby!" I think she was worried that she was having a freak blob sibling. She has since realized that the baby just looks like a bean for now, but it will change into a real baby soon.

Now I remember when I went to my first appointment when I was pregnant with Morgan I remember listening to the heartbeat but I know I never got to take home a picture. Maybe that is a bad sign that technology has changed so much since the birth of my last child! Am I too old for this?

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Yours, mine and... ours

Well the Burton household is proud to announce that it will soon add one more to its crazy mix. Yes, we are expecting a baby! I am 7 weeks along so I am due in March, around the 12th.

We told the kids last weekend and they are so very excited to have a little brother or sister. Morgan said she doesn't care which one it is (a girl or a boy), as long as it is both.... She doesn't know that those kinds of thoughts cause nightmares!

I have been so sick the past week and a half that not telling people became 'not an option'. I was never ever sick with Morgan so I think I went into this pregnancy a little cocky. Boy have I been humbled. I am nauseous from the time I wake up until early afternoon. I have spent many days in my bed with my laptop next to me so I could work and moan at the same time. Let me say this again, thank goodness I work from home.

We have not even discussed names yet, but so far the count of people who think we are having a boy is about 1,200 and the number of people who think we are having a girl is 0. So we will see....

Monday, July 21, 2008

Fourth of July Party

John and I hosted a neighborhood 4th of July party (and yes, I realize that that was weeks ago, but I am feeling blog-lazy). I just wanted to post some pictures of our awesome friends and neighbors.

Here are the new mom's Mindy and Rochelle.



Here is Mindy's huband Danny all decked out in his cowboy attire along with handlebar mustache. I just had to jump in this picture at the last minute.



Here are the other Missie and Jeannie


Here are our next door neighbors Melanie and Carl, with Stephen lurking in the background. Carl and Melanie moved to Riverton the day before, and I am still kind of mad at them for leaving us and for taking all of Morgan's friends with them. These are Morgan's boyfriends parents; so I guess I will see them more often when they are Morgan's inlaws. And everytime a camera is put in Carl's face his eyes automatically go cross-eyed. I think he needs professional help!

Here are the neighborhood tough guys, Aaron, Rod, and Matt.... don't mess with them... Actually I think they are the crazy shirt gang!

And then here is another person who needs to seek professional help, whenever a camera is shown, Morgan strikes a pose...



We had such a great night. After everyone left John and I counted up how many people were there and we came up with 53! Holy cow there were so many people there, but it was a great time. When the sun went down we started the firework show. Aaron, the neighborhood pyro, brought over about $350.00 worth of fireworks, but said his wife only allowed him to bring out about $150.00 from the car. It was an awesome firework show. He had a few of these huge cones that each lasted about 20 minutes each. I would have never bought one of those before but after seeing one I seriously think that next year I will buy one of those and call it good....







Friday, June 27, 2008

Life afer Cambodia

Things have been quite busy since I got back from my trip. I actually came home and the very next day I went into work and gave my two weeks notice. I decided that I just couldn't keep up with my life anymore and I was tired of being tired and stressed and overwhelmed and... well you get the picture.

So I told Doug, my boss that I was quitting. He was not pleased but said he understood my decision if it meant more time with my family. The next day I when I went back to work he called me into his office and said that I couldn't quit and that he would do whatever it took to get me to stay there even if it meant I worked from home. Well I thought about it for the day and the next day I told him I would stay working there and work from home. So I have been doing that for about four weeks now and it is soooo awesome. It works out well. I don't have to worry about who is going to watch Morgan and she is so happy not to have to be dropped off somewhere every morning... And I get so much accomplished at home. I can do laundry while I work or whatever else needs to be done (just don't mention that part to Doug). So I am a lot less overwhelmed. I also don't need to work so many hours during the last two weeks of the month; it is our slow time so my schedule is not so hectic. So work life is really great.

I also just finished my summer semester this week, my second to last. I am actually done at Westminster College. The next time I see that campus will be at graduation, what a nice feeling! My last semester is at the University of Utah because of scheduling issues. Which is nice to save a little money on tuition and to be back at the old stomping grounds. I am looking forward to it; well mainly because it means I am soo close to being done.

Now a funny Morgan story. While we were driving last week:

Morgan: "Mom what would you do if I fell out of the car?" (This is such a typical 4 year old question, isn't it?)
Mom: "I would scream. What would you do if I fell out of the car?"
Morgan: "I would scream so loud that the people in China would hear. No wait, I mean the people in Shenzhen and Hong Kong would hear!"

Can you believe this little girl can remember that I went to Shenzhen and Hong Kong! I don't think John even remembers that I went to Shenzhen and Hong Kong!

She is one smart little girl; with a good memory that she will probably use against me for my whole life.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Day 11

Day 11 involved a lot of traveling. We left our hotel in Shenzhen China at about 8:00am to drive across the border to Hong Kong so we could catch our place to LA. We had to go through China customs again and this time our guide got in trouble because we were all in one big line and they wanted us to be in two lines. The custom agents pushed Stephen, our guide, up against a wall and grabbed him by the neck. That would never happen in the US. It was kind of scary.....

Anyway we flew out of Hong Kong at 1:00pm on Monday afternoon and landed in LA at 1:00pm on Monday. It is weird that you can fly for 14 hours and it is still the same time when you get off of the plane. Now you know why my sleep pattern was so messed up!

We then had a five hour layover in LA before we flew back to SLC. Two of us managed to catch an earlier flight home and I was sooooo happy! We got home at about 3:30 pm and I have never been so glad to drive on I-15. Things seemed so different, I couldn't beleive I had only been gone for 2 weeks... it seemed like 2 years.

That wraps up my 2 week trip and it only took my 5 weeks to blog about! Now I can finally talk about what has been going on since I got home.... but on another post.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Day 10




Day 10 was another Sunday but we were in China and didn't have a clue where we could find an LDS church anywhere so the LDS kids decided to do a sacrament meeting in one of the hotel rooms. One of the guys in our group had gotten permission beforehand to conduct one, good thinking on his part. So we gathered in their room and sang an opening song and had an opening prayer then took the sacrament and then decided to open the floor up to anyone who didn't get a chance to bear their testimony last week in Cambodia to do so here. So a couple of the guys got up to bear their testimony's. What a great meeting this was. I felt the spirit so strongly in that hotel room in China with only 10 of us. I will always remember my church experiences on my trip. I felt like I was right where I should be at that time. I needed to experience the things that I had seen and heard on this trip. The whole trip was such a testimony builder for me.


Well we finished up with a word of prayer and then were off to do our last two business visits. Yes, the people in China were all working on Sunday because they had a day off during the week for a Chinese holiday and were making up for it on Sunday. Our first trip was to see a container/shipping company. This was not cool for us; we got to see a company from on top of a hill looking down on them. Apparently civilians cannot enter container company grounds. Why we went to see one then, don't know!


Our next, and last business visit was to a garment manufacturer (not that kind of garments) where they made women's underwear. It was pretty interesting to go see, the working conditions were better than I imagined a manufacturer in China to be.




That night a group of 12 of us decided to head down to the pier and find a nice place to eat and celebrate it being our last night in China and the last night of our trip for that matter, well one not spent on a plane anyway. So we found this Thai restaurant that was sooo good. We sat at this giant table with this huge lazy susan in the middle. We all just chatted and ate and most everybody drank. It was a good time. Here are Blake and I with our curly kiddie straws that they give you when you order a Coke and not a beer. We were the only two non-drinkers at the dinner and we had to make fun of ourselves with these ridiculous straws.

Here is what everybody else looked like:

Here is the last picture I took on my trip. It is looking out to the ocean and to Hong Kong from Shenzhen China. Doesn't this look more like Hawaii than what you thought China would look like??

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Day 9

Day 9 was a very chill day for me. The group went to tour Shenzhen city and go on a couple of guided tours. The thought of getting back on the bus was enough to make me scream. I decided to sit this day out. The hotel had a sweet pool and I wanted to just relax. A couple of us hung back at the hotel and just napped and hung out by the pool. Here is my roommate Angie smoking Joel's cigar....sweet huh?


Then we went out and decided to walk down to the ocean. It was so close to our hotel. We found some cool shops and restuarants and just had a good time. This was a much needed day for me. Here we are down by the ocean, interesting statue, dontcha think?

I don't have any other pictures from this day... what a boring post!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Day 8

Day 8 was another long exhausting day. It may not sound like it from the condensed version of my trip on the blog but we were all so tired from jet lag and from running around everywhere that I just wanted to lay in bed and sleep for a week.

We got up early and had to check out of our hotel; we were driving to Shenzhen China that night but we had a day full of business visits. The first one was to Emerson (I can't even remember what that company did.) I was so tired that I can barely remember even sitting in their conference room...

Next was to the Hong Kong stock exchange; which I was very disappointed with. The traders were all just sitting at their desks trading online. It was so quiet in there, I thought it was going to be like the NYSE where people are running around yelling "Sell! Sell!" But no. As you can see from the picture they were all staring at us while we were staring at them...


Here are Denise and I pretending to be stock traders...



Here is a picture of us going down an escalator into the depths of hell, oh they actually call it the subway. I was having a major anxiety attack right about here going underground two levels into this hot crowded train.




This was the highlight of the day, seeing the torch come through Hong Kong. About 20 minutes after we left the Hong Kong stock exchange the torch was going to come right through downtown. We found ourselves this great spot to stand and see the handoff of the torch. Really cool to see. See the guys in the blue, I think they are pretending to be athletes but are really Kung Foo masters that can kill you with their pinkies. (Sorry, I saw Kung Foo Panda yesterday).



After our business visits it was back to the tour bus for the 45 minute drive to Shenzhen. This drive may actually take 45 minutes but when you have to go through two checkpoints to get there it takes about 3 hours. The first checkpoint is in Hong Kong. Everyone must get off the bus and fill out another immigration form (by this time we have filled out a dozen it seems like) and wait in line for a half hour then present your passport to the officers. Then everyone gets back on the bus. Then you drive 30 more seconds to the China immigration office where again everyone must get off the bus but this time with your luggage and have it x-rayed then show them your passport then get back on the bus. By this time it is about 7:00pm and we haven't eaten for hours, we are all getting car sick and we are still in our business attire and I have totally lost my sense of humor.... I already have a bad attitude about going to China, then I am feeling like we are getting farther away from home and I am getting more homesick! Anyway, we asked our guide "Stephen" (they all have these American names they tell us, when we know their real names are Xi Lui Chang Zguyan) why we have to go through two checkpoints to get to China and he says that one is the democratic side and one is the socialist side (or communist). Ok now I am really wanting to go home!