Where in the world have the Burke's been?

Yes. I am finally posting on our blog. We are finally home. The five of us arrived in North Carolina late Monday night. We had a long day of traveling with a stop in Denver for a few hours. This being the kids' first time on a plane we were interested to see how they would behave, but they did remarkably well. Both plane rides were extremely turbulant, so they think that flying is always like that. I guess they will be surprised next time we fly if it is smooth sailing.

What have we been up to???

Tuesday: Dusty headed back to work.. The kids and I stayed at home and unpacked all day.

Wednesday: The kids and I went grocery shopping. Lex loved hearing all of the "locals" talk with their accents and kept trying to imitate them.

Thursday: Took the kids to lunch and both Dust and I went to the DMV to get our North Carolina driver's licenses. They make you take the NC written driving test. It was hard and had a lot of questions specific to NC. Needless to say, we both failed a test that we waited 2 hours to take. I read the entire driver's manual that night.

Friday (today): I went back to the DMV alone with all 3 kids in tow. Passed with flying colors. Now I have to wait for them to mail me my driver's license. I hope my picture turned out good! We took the kids to see "G Force" tonight. This was their reward for helping me move the millions of moving boxes from the backyard to the garage so that they could be hauled off by the moving company on Monday.

Plans for Saturday: Nothing! We are so excited to be together in our new home that we are going to do nothing. Isn't that exciting!!

Plans for Sunday: We are going to introduce ourselves to our new ward and show them all what a good time they have been missing until we showed up.

On a side note, the reason the kids got rewarded for helping me haul boxes was because we had to battle some HUGE spiders and some lizards. That's right, lizards. I screamed and yelled for Jacob to come and help me. Then Emma wanted to see and left the back door open. Don't worry, the lizard didn't come inside. I called Dusty freaking out and he just laughed. He asked at work and they said that the lizards are common and they are not poisonous (phew). I guess they eat the bugs. The big spiders on the other hand have me freaked out. They had really long legs which made them look huge. And they ran really fast. I smashed them with my shoe but they were gross. It had rained on the boxes and I think that had just found a dark, wet spot to rest. I am going to call a pest control company to get the house sprayed though. I just can't handle things like that.

Dusty is leaving on Sunday for a business trip. He will be gone until Friday and most likely back on Saturday. This is something I am going to have to get used to. I knew this was part of the job but it is still an adjustment. That is why I am so excited to go to church and meet people. Most of you know I am social, so I guess I will try to convince some "sucker" in my new ward to be my friend.

I have to go now. Dusty and I are going to watch a movie together. I will post pics just as soon as Dusty gives me my camera back (he was using it for work until his came in).

Bye everyone,

I miss you.

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.