Happy Father's Day

This Father's Day is a little different for us. We are in Nebraska and our Dad is in North Carolina. The kids didn't want to sing the Father's Day song during sacrament meeting today because their Dad wasn't there to hear it. I understood and let them just sit and watch the others kids sing.

We miss Dad terribly and can't wait until we are all in North Carolina together. But we still wanted to tell him how much we love him on this Father's Day. We love how our dad makes us laugh so hard that we cry. We love how he can calm us down when we are upset. We love that he takes the time to fun things with us. We appreciate and are grateful that he works so hard to provide for us. We love his goofy sense of humor. And we love his smile and happy face.

We miss you a lot and wish you a Happy Father's Day.

Love,

Mom, Alexis, Jacob, and Emma

Dusty's New Job

Dusty started his new job today. He has already switched hotels since the one he was at Saturday and Sunday night was horrible and in a really bad area. He has since switched to a hotel that is 1 mile from the company's new offices and where he does not need to be afraid to walk out of the room at night. Oh, and the new hotel actually has a phone in his room that works (imagine that!).

I need to make everyone aware of a few things. The company that Dusty now works for has a strict policy on using company email or company cell phones for personal reasons. If you have Dusty's work email please do not email him there. You can send emails to his personal account (dburke559362@yahoo.com) or to my email account (slburke7780@hotmail.com). As soon as we have our new phone number in North Carolina I will email it out to you. Thanks for understanding the policy.

When I talked to Dusty tonight he said he was very happy and that he was eating Boston Market for dinner (totally not fair). The time change thing is weird because I want to call him after I get the kids to bed, but it is already 10:30 PM there. Oh well, this is only for a short time and soon we will all be together in the same time zone.

'Imagine That'

I took the kids to see the movie 'Imagine That', starring Eddie Murphy, tonight. I really liked it and I think the kids liked it too. The show is about a dad figuring out that his daughter is more important than his job. He learns to listen to her and to play with her and to take time away from work and his stresses to be with her in her 'world'. It made me remember that I need to do the same. I know I can get caught up with cleaning the house and my routine. And I have been known to say "We'll do it later". The movie reminded me that I need to get down to my kids' levels and spend time with them; to let them know that they are important. I need to not put off playing with them or reading to them. Time is passing quickly and they will soon be adults. So however sappy this sounds, I want my children to know that I love them and I will try harder to remember the important things in life; THEM.

Tornado Warning

This afternoon proved to be eventful. The tornado siren went off. I didn't even hear it. I think I am so used to hearing them test it that I didn't realize that today is Tuesday and not Wednesday (they only test them on Wednesday @ 10 AM). I only realized it when one of my daycare moms came rushing over frantically to check on her baby (what can I say...1st time mom).


I headed downstairs with 4 kids, 2 babies, and the other mommy and hunkered down awaiting the unknown. Dusty, on the other hand, decided to be adventurous and jumped in his truck to head up to the golf course to get a better look at the 2 funnel clouds that were spotted west of town. Crazy!!


The National Weather Association, stated that a tornado had been spotted 10 miles west of town. The storm was headed our direction and was set to reach us, with the possibility of a tornado, at 3:05. Dusty is still out storm-chasing at this time. He came home right before the storm hit. The hail was pea sized (according to Dusty). No tornado hit and after that, we just had lots of rain.


So there's the excitement for the day. I have never been in a tornado warning atmosphere, and I can tell you that I DO NOT like it. Course there is danger in everything, but when a big siren is sounding off across the entire town telling you to get in your basement you know they mean business.


Oh, and please no comments about hurricanes in North Carolina. I am kinda sick of hearing people say that. Just so you know we will be far enough in-land that if there is a hurricane we will only get the wind portion, which if you don't know, is what we live with in Nebraska on a DAILY basis. Enough said.

Good Night.

Happy Birthday Alexis

Our oldest, Alexis, is 9 today. This year feels very strange to me and I don't really know why. Maybe it is because I am beginning to see the pre-teen behavior in her. Maybe it is because time has passed so quickly. Or maybe it is because she is half-way to becoming 18. Whatever the reason I am left contemplating my LouLou. She hates it when I use her nicknames in front of others, but for these purposes and me feeling extremely sentimental I am going to call her what I love to call her.




Lexi Lou was born June 5, 2000. She was a fussy baby and Dusty and I would take turns pacing the floors with her in our arms as we gave each other a chance to try and sleep at night. She soon grew out of that. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to give her a bottle and she and I would lay on the couch together and fall asleep. We would wake up in the morning cuddling in the exact same spot on the couch. To this day she will still cuddle with me on the bed and watch a movie.


Lex is a great student and has always excelled in school. She is developing her talents and is becoming a beautiful dancer. She has so many things that she wants to be when she grows up. It makes me smile to hear her list them off; mom, teacher, dentist, doctor, ballerina, marine biologist...I hope that she keeps her passion for life and learning and can explore all of those areas as she gets older. It is my hope that she will have every opportunity to pursue her dreams and goals.



I love how spiritual she is and how sensitive she is to the Holy Ghost. I am grateful to be able to point out those experiences she is having that are helping her grow in spirituality. I thank God every day for the opportunity to be Alexis' mother. I love her more than anything and want her to know how wonderful she is.



Alexis is a great big sister and is always willing to help them or play with them. She is a wonderful friend and offers a kind, listening ear when I need to talk. I love our mother/daughter dates and am glad that she reminds me that we need to do them. She has a beautiful voice and I love to hear her sing. Alexis is so many things that I could type forever. She is funny, kind, sensitive, smart, helpful, humorous, playful, thoughtful and an all-around-sweetie.



We scheduled a birthday party this year for her with a Hawaiian theme but only 2 of her friends can come - the rest are out of town. She was very upset, but Dusty and I explained to her that since it is summer they are on vacation. We have decided to stray from our original plan and take her and two friends to the movie, UP, instead.

We love you Alexis.

Happy Birthday Alexis, Lex, Lexi, Lexi Lou or LouLou!!!!

We are moving to........................

North Carolina





Most of you already know this, but for those of you who don't know- we are moving to North Carolina. Dusty has accepted a new job with The Pantry, Inc. He will be a Senior Store Planner there, which is like moving up 2 positions with Cabela's. We are extremely excited to start this adventure. Dusty will be leaving Nebraska on June 14th. I will be here through the end of the month and will then be going to Utah for the entire month of July to visit family. We plan to officially move in to our new place (we don't know where that will be yet) on August 1st.



So there are many plans being made, me stressing (because that is what I do), and lots of decisions/conversations to be had.



But I do have a question for all of you. We are going to rent at first because I want to get a feel for the area and figure out where we want to buy. I don't want to jump in to buying something and end up in a crappy neighborhood. So here is my question. Rent a house or rent a apartment. Dusty likes the apartment idea. I like the house idea. So thoughts are welcomed because I can't figure out which would be best. I personally want it to feel as normal and as comfortable as possible for the kids; which is why I said house. But Dusty thought the apartment would be better so that we wouldn't have to stress about a yard and such (oh, and it would have a pool). I guess maybe this is a personal decision for he and I, but I would still like some comments so that I can decide. Thoughts anyone??



I guess I will have to change my blog address now.

Lemonade Stand

What would summer be without a lemonade stand?? Well my kids thought it was a great idea to have a lemonade stand today. So, I made cherry Kool-Aid, my neighbor Anne made strawberry lemonade and my other neighbor made blue Gatorade. We hauled a table out to the sidewalk, set up the kids' homemade signs and voila we had a lemonade stand. We live on a well-trafficked road so they had no problem attracting customers. In the end they made $10.20. We divided it by 6 kids and each kid went home with $1.70.

Below are the happy entrepreneurs.

I thought the kids were so cute. One kid went down the block a ways and started trying to herd cars over to the stand. In the beginning they were all standing up but by the end they had hauled camping chairs, a radio and a garbage can over to their stand. Kids sure are funny. Now that I think about it, I never did a lemonade stand growing up. I am glad that my kids had fun with it.

Notice the cute sign they made below that reads "coolade" rather than "Kool-Aid". Too cute!!

Below is Emma stirring up the Gatorade. See how she is wearing a witch Halloween costume in the middle of summer to serve lemonade.

Happy summer everyone. Go make some lemonade.