Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!

Jacob is 8 years old today. He was born on the night of the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT. Because of the Olympics there was super tight security at the hospital and everyone had to show i.d. to get in. We got a special Olympic blanket that has the Olympic logo on it. I have saved it for him to have as a keepsake when he is older. I gave birth to him naturally with no medicine. It was hard, but it was something that I wanted to do. We named him Jacob Paul. 'Paul' is after my grandfather, whose middle name was also Paul. The name 'Jacob' is from the Book of Mormon. We had the hardest time picking out a boy name. Finally, I pulled out the Book of Mormon and started listing every boy name. We finally decided on 'Jacob' as his first name. I remember when we found out we were having a boy. Dusty and I had made a bet. I said girl and Dust said boy and we bet that the person who was wrong had to make brownies for the other one. So, I made brownies that night to celebrate our little boy soon to be born.

Jacob is a lot like his dad. He is usually quiet, but when he does speak he is funny, funny. He defenitely has his Dad's sense of humor (thank goodness). He wants to do good and be good and tries really hard to be a good brother. He was my cuddler when he was little and has since grown out of it. I guess I could try but he would probably look at me like an alien for doing it now. I cherish those times when I held him and cuddled him. I want so much for him and want to make his life good. I pray that Dusty and I can raise him to be a righteous man.

Enough sappy stuff.

He had a party on Saturday and we went to the planetarium and saw a neat show. Today I took donughts to his class and tonight we are going to Chuck-E-Cheeses...yay!! This year we bought him a new bike for his birthday. We were sick of his cheap Wal-Mart bike breaking all the time so we got him a really nice one in his favorite color, orange.

Next week he will be baptised. Both sets of grandparents are flying out for it and Dusty's sister is driving down from D.C. We feel very grateful that our families are coming all this way to support Jacob.

So here are a couple pics of Jacob. He is my boy. I love you Jacob.

Love,

Mom

Snow Days

We have been having fun playing in the snow here in North Carolina. We didn't think it got this cold here. Anyhow, my post is below all the pictures. Blogger is giving me problems and it won't let me move any of the pictures to where I want. So you get to see all the pictures first and then you can read about it.

Enjoy.

The weather here is quite chilly! It started snowing Friday night and when we woke up Saturday morning the entire neighborhood was covered in...WHITE. Our kids had spent the night at the Gardner's house, so Dusty and I got ready and headed up to their house. The Gardner's and their neighbors all live on a circle with hills for driveways. So you can imagine the fun that we had sledding down the drives. We were able to go all the way down the circle to the intersecting road. And of course, no one was driving so it was perfect. After we were frozen solid and could no longer feel our toes or fingers we went inside and had soup and played board games. We had a great time hanging out with our friends.

Today, church was cancelled. So we stayed at home by the fireplace and stayed warm.

Tomorrow, school is cancelled. Now I think they are going overboard here, but that is just me being cooped up in the house for 3 days with everyone. So what do I know? I know that if this were Nebraska we would have bucked up and gone to church and to school. But alas, it is not Nebraska. I guess they don't get much snow here so I will let them make a big deal of it. And hey, I got to stay in my p.j.'s all day today. Love that.

Dusty left this afternoon to go on a business trip all week. He's driving to South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and one other state (I forgot which one). I hope I survive.

Life

~Entire family (except Jacob) had stomach flu at the same time. Lasted 5 days. Was nasty and horrible.

~Outrageous amounts of laundry to do because of previous entry.

~Yesterday was the first time in 5 days that I wore a bra, did my makeup, or left the house.

~Computer had virus for first 2 weeks of year. Now fixed thanks to a kind person in our ward.

~Behind on Relief Society stuff due to previous entry.

~Blew out rear passenger side tire when I took a turn to sharp and hit a drain grate in the curb.

~Had to pay $130 for a new tire.

~Got told I needed 2 new tires.

~Thank goodness for an emergency fund!!

~Am now paranoid about getting sick again.

~Thankful for good health and good friends who took care of us.

~Quit school.

~Went off Pepsi (woohoo for me)!!!

~Planning Jacob's baptism in March.

~My kids are growing up way too fast.

~Walking at least a mile every day with my hubby.

~Tired but happy.

December Happenings

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone,

I realize that I have not posted much about what we have done during the holiday season this year and thought I would share a little.

The end of November and beginning of December were full of practices for both Dusty and I. Our ward puts on a creche for the public to view. They include hundreds of nativities from all over the world and have different performers. There are rooms with beautiful artwork and a live nativity. The primary room hosts a children's nativity with dress-up clothes and a manger scene that the kids can go in and act out. This lasts three days and at the end there is a Messiah performance by choir and orchestra and a sing-in for the public. Dusty and I had the opportunity to participate; Dusty sang baas in the choir and I played violin in the orchestra. It was a beautiful and fulfilling event to participate in.

Dusty and I attended his work Christmas party near the middle of the month. It was held at a hotel this year. There was a raffle, dancing, and food. I was able to squeeze one slow dance out of Dusty and that was it. I hit the dance floor more with the ladies he works with and we had a blast dancing! It was great for me to finally meet Dusty's boss and other co-workers.

Emma had a special program at school this year. She sang Christmas songs for us and was way too cute. She also performed a nativity scene with dolls and a manger. Her part/doll was one of the stars. To top off the fun we had cookies and milk with our preschoolers.

Jacob and Alexis have been enjoying no school. They have been out for one week and have thoroughly enjoyed playing with friends, staying in pajamas until past lunch time, and eating way too many goodies (thanks to the goodies our neighbors continue to bring by).

Over the past month Dusty and I have also been participating in the ward choir. This last Sunday was our Christmas program for church. The music was beautiful! Dusty sang a solo of Silent Night. He brought tears to my eyes; actually I sobbed...couldn't even sing. The spirit that Dusty brought to the room when he opened his mouth was unbelievable. I love Christmas music and love the message and the way it can touch souls.

We got an early Christmas present this year. Athena has joined our family. She is a 10-month old torty cat. She has beautiful coloring and is on the smaller side. I went and picked her out at the shelter and came home and surprised the kids. She has adjusted well and has already found her favorite spot on the couch to lay in the sun and take her morning naps. Her favorite toys are strings and pretend mice. The kids love playing with her and have made toys out of empty wrapping paper rolls and Christmas string. We missed our cat, Angel, terribly and knew that we wanted to have another kitty in our family. We are so excited to have Athena join the Burke family!

This week we had the Gardner family over to watch the BYU game. Their kids are the same ages as our kids and they all get along really well. We really never even hear from them when we hang out because they are off playing. We ate beef and chicken kabobs and had salsa and bread and cupcakes. yum, yum. You will probably hear me talk more about this family because they have become very good friends to us. We are blessed to have met a family such as them and are truly grateful for their friendship.

Last night a group of us in our neighborhood got together and went caroling. We all made treats and met at my friend Kalyn's house. We put them on plates for people and headed out with our Santa hats on and our singing voices primed. We had sooooo much fun. Dusty and I were surprised how much the kids enjoyed it. They sang so loud and couldn't wait to go to the next house. And still this morning Emma was singing and asked me to write down the words to Christmas songs on a piece of paper so that she could go and pretend to carol in her bedroom. It was such a blessing to make people smile. Last night I felt the true meaning of the Christmas spirit beyond measure. I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to spend time this Christmas season brightening others lives with music and friendship.

Lastly, tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve as a family. This is our first Christmas in North Carolina. The weather was so beautiful today that at times I did not even wear a jacket as I was out delivering gifts. After we all returned home, we set out a big spread of food. We had ham, rolls, chips, salsa, crackers, dip, chocolate, fudge, cookies, carrots, hot chocolate and more. Weeks ago Dusty promised the kids that they could eat junk on Christmas eve and he made sure we fulfilled that promise. Jacob ate chips and fudge for dinner (gross to me, but he was happy). Any time people asked us what we were doing for x-mas eve the kids would tell them "we're eating JUNK!". Before we ate we sat down and read the Bible story of Jesus birth in Luke chapter 2. Afterwards we ate our junk and watched A Christmas Carol. This is one of Dusty's favorite Christmas movies. Emma fell asleep watching it (1 down, 2 to go). Dusty is watching Star Wars with the kids right now and I am having "Sherrie time". We are excited to be making memories with our children and beginning traditions. We have been blessed in so many ways and are humbled and grateful to be able to celebrate the birth of Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. We are grateful for His gift to us and pray that we can live worthily to return and live with him some day.

We miss our families and hope that they, like us, are having a Merry Christmas! We love all of you very much.

Love,

Dust, Sher, Lex, Jake, & Em

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful......

The past few months we have been enjoying beautiful weather. Most days have been mild temperatures, not much moisture, and very 'sunshiny'. To be honest, it really hasn't felt like "winter" or "Christmas" without snow. But today, Jack Frost has redeemed himself...well, kind of.


For days people here have been talking about the possibility of snow and fretting over it. This morning the temperature was very, very chilly. About noon, the "snow" began. Actually, it was more like little tiny ice crystals. Then the larger flakes began falling. That lasted about 15 minutes and then it was done. There was no accumulation on the ground at all. Well, they closed school early and acted like the world was ending.

I was going to go to the store tonight but people are acting crazy. They can't drive in this weather. They freak out. There are tons of accidents on the roads. When weather like this happens here people rush to the grocery store and start piling up on milk and bread. So, two reason why I am staying home tonight and not venturing out.

1. I don't want to drive amongst people who don't slow down and drive cautious on slippery roads. I am not unaccustomed to driving on such roads but I have no desire to deal with other drivers.

2. The stores are either empty because people think North Carolina is going to freeze over. Or, the stores are packed with people stocking up on "essentials" for the "storm". I don't know which one of these it is but I am not going to test my luck.

I hope you don't find my post negative as I am not trying to be at all. Rather, I find the behavior of people here in North Carolina very funny. I couldn't believe that they were letting school out early. Everyone at Dusty's work went home early except him and two other men who had all previously lived in cold-weather states. Funny people here. Funny. Funny.

Thanksgiving Vacation

We are having a great Thanksgiving this year. We drove to Dusty's brother's home in Ohio. Dusty's sister, Kristin, drove from NY and Dusty's parents flew in from Salt Lake. We have had a great time hanging out. The kids are loving hanging out with their cousins and grandma & grandpa.

Grandma & Grandpa planned a great 'family home morning' today and we learned about Heavenly Father and Jesus and that they have bodies. Then grandma gave us advent calendars and little journals for each child to log what the calendar says to do. Then at the end we have an envelope to open that we have to complete and send back to Grandma and Grandpa for their X-Mas gift. I wonder what is in the envelope??

Tonight is the UTAH game and we are watching it with some BYU fans. That should be fun!!

We drive home tomorrow. We'll probably leave early so that we can get home early.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Dusty

Tuesday was Dusty's birthday. He has finally moved on to the 30's and I am left behind as a twenty-something. We joke about this because we feel so old sometimes. Like when we go to Cold Stone for ice cream and the kid serving us looks like a baby. Then we realize that that is what we looked like when we met. Crazy.

Anyhow, it wasn't a super exciting birthday. I had to go to school that night. So, the kids and I waited in the dark for Dusty to come home and we surprised him with his birthday cake and cards. Then, it was off to school for me. The kids didn't have school the next day, so he let them stay up and they played Rock Band until way after I got home from school.

Happy birthday Dusty. I love you.