First Thanksgiving and Christmas 2012

Thanksgiving in Monroe with my dad was a blast. So fun so see all the family! Here is Max and his 2nd cousin Eathan driving Aunt Dee's John Deer. Who knew farming could be so fun! They did get stuck going in a circle though. Steering at that age is a hard concept to understand, but GO isn't.

The family minus Sammy and her new fiance Kyle.

Hanging on for dear life!

Just the girls...and Max.

Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa Burggraaf's house. "Mom, there's candy in this sock!"

This is Max's new favorite book. He loves to point at all the words as I say them and make the animal noises when we get to the animal pages.

Christmas at home with my mom. Of all the stocking goodies the toothbrush is his fav. Hope that is a long-term favorite!

Grandma gave him all noise making toys. Of course! This horse makes the galloping noise for you.

...and fun was had by all!

Max has been very mobile these days. Last Saturday he took two steps. Must have been the day for twos. He also cut his first two teeth which kept me up with a screaming child for four hours in the middle of the night. Hmmm - don't like that part. His new found mobility has also come with a price. Here is his first significant war wound. He pulled himself up on the wood burning stove (it was not hot) and slipped. This is the day after. The swelling and purpleness was gone by the time I took the picture. Poor kid!

I think we are trying to set a record on how many national parks Max can get to before he is one year. So far he has been to The Grand Canyon, Zion's National Park, Bryce Canyon, Jacob Lake, and Arches National Park. I will spare you the zillions of picture we took, however cute they are, and give you the highlights. These are from Zion's. We forgot to bring his hat so we went grunge and used a bandanna.

Max loved playing in the water. He kept wanting me to put him in deeper.

Can you say Milk Comma? He was worn out from all the hiking and didn't even make it through a full 8 oz. before he was out.

Max's First Halloween. I couldn't help but to post several pictures of my "little tiger". He is just so cute! He kept trying to take the hood off his head. Lucky for me he couldn't get it off so I could get some pictures.

Summer Fun

I have decided to start making books for Max. He loves looking at them and I thought it would be fun if he was the star. Our first one will be entitled, "What's on Max's Head Now?" Kent thinks I am a dork, but I think it will be cute. This is my favorite so far.

We went to Max's 6 month check up and he is getting So big. He is 17 1/2 lbs, 27 1/4 inches long, and his head was 17 inches around. The doctor mentioned trying crackers. I was so excited we tried it that night. Max decided they are not too bad.

For the 4th of July we drove up to Salt Lake and went to the Real Salt Lake Game againt Seatle. IT ENDED IN A TIE! What? At least the firework show afterward was great. Max loved it. He was oooing and awing with his eyes. Thank heavens for child earplugs though.

After three weeks of 1 hour time slots here and there, I finally finished Max's room. Painting stripes are a beast. I can't really capture it in one photo, so here are a few.Still have to add pics to the frames and paint the large picture frame orange.

I also finished the "purple bathroom" as we call it. When we moved in the entire thing was dark purple. Now there is just a little bit.

And by the way, I figured out what was wrong with my blog. The new blogger doesn't work hardly at all with explorer 7. So frustrating, but an easy fix. I couldn't even upload a picture! Crazy.

Cow Tipping and Waiting

The holidays this year were great. We went to my dad's house for Christmas Eve and spent the day with him, my sister and her kids, my Aunts, Uncles and cousins in Monroe. It was a great day. We did have to drive home that evening so I could be home on Christmas day for our Sacrament program. It went well and I was grateful to have participated in it and for all those who helped.

We played this fun game "Reverse Charades". It was so fun. Only one person guesses and everyone else on your team acts out the word or phrase. I got cow tipping once and everyone had a good laugh as I made my sister get on all fours, gave a loud "MOOOOOOO" and pushed her over. How many sister laugh when you call them a cow! She was such a good sport.

We are still waiting for our little bundle of joy to make his appearance. We hope he comes soon. It is getting pretty uncomfortable. I have gained 35 lbs (5 just last week!) and my mid section is measuring at 40+ inches. I was hoping he would have come already, but I came down with a bad cold on Monday and am hoping that I can kick it before labor and delivery since I won't be getting much sleep after that. Oh the congestion! I hate not being able to breath!

My cousin Stephanie, who has just started her photography business took my maternity pics which also doubled as our Christmas photo. She is amazing! It was sure fun. So here are some of our fun pics with my belly at 8 months.

Flush, Swish, Splash, OOPS!

Well, this semester is half over and I can hardly believe it. It has gone by very fast. I can't believe how much work it has been, but I think I have got the hang of it. I am working on a project for my health class where I have to volunteer at a non-profit for a few hours. I spent my volunteer time at the SL Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I was scrubbing stoves and ovens for resale. Another volunteer and I put the oven knobs in a bucket of water to soak. As the water got dirty, the other volunteer offered to go dump the water. I assumed she remembered the knobs in the bucket, but I guess not. She dumped the knobs for two stoves - that's eight knobs into the toilet which automatically flushed once it got too full. She frantically tried to reach into the toilet and catch them, but only caught one and down the rest went. The best part is that flushing seven knobs down the toilet is not the worst of it. When she told our supervisors they looked at us and said, "AGAIN?" I couldn't believe it! This has happened before? They then said, "at least you didn't flush the sponge too". HA! That did it for me. I was laughing for the next three hours. Incredible. At least it was an entertaining experience.

I have also been helping a friend out with some work at a local community theatre. We went to their Gala last Saturday and Kent actually performed in the program! He sang Surrey with the Fringe on Top from Oklahoma. He did the whole scene. He was really good and got a few directors requesting that he audition for the show next spring. It might end up being a conflict of interest though since it is looking like I will be directing the music. I guess we will see. Here are some fun pictures.





The stage was too dark to get a picture of Kent "in the act". too bad. Well. I've got to get some sleep before my 8 am class tomorrow. Night all.

7 Years and Funny Family Moments

We have now made it past the seven year itch. Our anniversary was March 15th. Kent took me to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner then to the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake and we got to stay in the Anniversary Inn Suite. It was a wonderful time. We watched foot loose - my first time seeing it if you can believe it. I gave him a bunch of "little things" meaning a bunch of little items (toys and candy) that were attached to typed notes that listed all the little things I loved about Kent. For example, the other morning, Kent got up really early to go hiking. He left while I was still in bed and while he thought I was still asleep, he touched my face, gave me a kiss and said, "You're beautiful". These are the little things I love. All right, I'll stop being mushy now.

Kent went on a 10 hour hike/bob cat tracking expedition last week including a fall off a 15 foot cliff. Him and his friend Kenny left at about 7:30 am from Fiddlers Canyon and while fully intending to end where they started, Kenny's wife and I ended up picking them up at about 5:30 or 6 pm in Cedar Canyon at the other end of town. They had crossed a few mountain ranges, many cliffs, much snow, and who knows what else. They weren't sure exactly where they would come out in the canyon, so they had us driving up and down for a while searching for them. I guess no matter the age, boys will be boys. Kent had quite the sun burn and some really muddy clothes, but he had a great time. I used to be that adventurous, what happened?

Funny Moment #1:
So I went to my dads house for the weekend and got to spend some time with my brother, sisters, niece and nephew. Some of the funniest things (well funny to me) happened. I was sitting at the table eating lunch with my niece and she looked at me and said, "Your hair is brown", after I confirmed her comment she then said, "my hair is stylish". Hmmm! I wonder what she meant by that?

Funny Moment #2
Later I was doing my hair and she came into the bathroom and asked me to ask her how I looked. I asked her, then she promptly replied, "You look Distinguished, Very Distinguished". She is only three years old! Where does she get this stuff?

Funny Moment #3
But the one that tops them all... We were over at my aunt and uncles house for an early Easter celebration and my nephew (2 years) and my cousins daughter (3 years) disappeared. When we found them, they had been in the bathroom each with a bottle of baby powder squirting it at each other. I didn't have my camera, but my sister did, so I will get some photos. The whole bathroom was dusted, the kids looked like ghosts, the carpet "poofed" as you walked across it and the heater vents carried the white dust throughout every room in the house. What can you do at that point but take a picture? It was so hilarious!

Other things we did:
We went shooting. It's been a really long time since I've done that and I realized that I can't shoot right eyed. So I switched to left handed shooting and hit all my targets after that. Maybe that is why I also shoot pool left handed. I can't wait to get my own 22 and join the gun owner world. We of course need to get jobs first so we can afford it. I colored in coloring books a lot, played some cards, went on a Pez scavenger hunt which was the adult version of an Easter eggs hunt. We were on teams and had to read the clues in the Pez and guess the word before the other teams. The Pez were so hard to find we didn't even find them all.

Here are some of the clues - see if you can guess the word....
- Oder less
- Colorless
- Inflate
- Firmament
- Public Utterance
- Particulate Matter

What do you think? Any luck? We guessed helium, hot air balloon, and balloon but to no avail. The answer was, drum roll please, air. Quite anti-climactic. It was too obvious for us to figure out. Finally another team guessed right and won the treasure chest full of treats. Fun stuff.

Well, I think that about does it for my update. I can't really think of anything else interesting to write so I'll sign off now.

Valentine "Treet"

I made this Valentine candy tree for Kent. I can't wait to give it to him on Sunday with a nice candle lit dinner. Luckily he rarely reads our blog and I am pretty sure if I don't want him to see it this is a safe place. We'll see. I never was very good at keeping presents a surprise.
I finally got all my dishes done after taking my niece and nephew back to their mommy. I miss them already. They called me today to say hello. It was SO cute.

I suppose I should give an update on our lives as of late. I just finished my work at Pepperdine and and getting ready to look for part-time work. I am also working hard on finishing everything up for the Miss Southern Utah Pageant. It is in less than two weeks and I have a tone to do.Wish me luck. I am going to need it.

Kent is studying for the Utah bar exam that he will take at the end of this month and he just finished taking the written and physical tests for the Marine JAG Corp. He did pretty good. Got 99% on the written exam. The Marines is not the only option we are looking at, but it is looking like a good one. We will find out if he gets in at the end of March. There are only about six open spots on the West Coast, so we will see. He is still working out for about 1 - 2 hours a day.

Just found out one of my good friends, Jennifer is pregnant, and so is my cousin Stephanie, and my neighbor two doors down, and two other women in my ward. It must be the season. I am so excited for them all! I love babies. Hopefully I will soon be joining them in the morning sickness fest. Well not if I'm lucky eh?

Well Kent is home. Got to go.

I love Christmas!

Well, after being married for almost seven years we finally bought a Christmas tree! I was so excited that I stayed up until midnight decorating it. i also made a stocking hanger at the Relief Society Super Saturday. Then I made a Christmas lap quilt for the couch. I am not quite done quilting it, but had to take a break because my fingers were killing me!



. Recent updates.... I chopped off all my hair. Here are the before and after pictures. I loved it long, but it is so much easier short. I Got to take some cute pictures of my niece and nephew, Talon and KD. My sister Sammy and her friend Shelby decided to try out the Dr. Seuss' who hair dos - I just had to play along. We had a great thanksgiving. We double dipped and gorged our selves with dinner at my moms house and at Kent's brothers with ALL the family. It was so fun to see everyone and the short drive was great! I am now the judges chair for the Miss Southern Utah pageant upcoming next February. I little different for my personality, but it is fun to do something new. Sorry it took me so long to post - some of you were patiently waiting. I will try to post more frequently for you avid readers.

Late night Halloween treat party with myself...

Come What May and Love It

This Christmas season had some interesting issues. Someone got a hold of Kent's debit card number and drained our checking account just before we left for vacation, then someone backed into our car. Luckily we got all our money back after a police report, some investigating and an affidavit. I spent a couple extra days in Salt Lake, but our car is now fixed as well. Luckily, these things gave me some extra time to visit some friends when I was able to borrow a car. The snow in Salt Lake before and during Christmas was CRAZY! It has not been like this for a few years - there was also snow all along the drive staring at the Cali/Nevada border.

Family has been so fun - I will add some pictures once I get home. I left my camera battery charger at home so I unfortunately don't have very many.

What we did over the break...

• We went rollerskating
• We played in a giant bounce park
• We napped a lot
• We had many Halo tournaments
• Tried our luck at Dance, Dance Revolution
• Played would you rather (Kent got to pose me for two minutes - Hmm - You can see the picture)
• We dressed up as Mary and Joseph (Betty was a sheep)
• Kent flew home in a blizzard on Christmas
• Kent took a six day intense Bar prep course
• Betty got a hair cut
• Amy had a Tecken rematch after 7 years with Ben (Break dace guy rules!)
• Kent went to Vegas for the New Year
• Amy beat her best Scramble score on Facebook
• Amy learned how to grind, manual, nose grab, wall push, and kick flip on Tony Hawks (skateboarding video game)
• Started a Book of Mormon Family Marathon
• Amy tried not to work :(

In Memory of 9-11

I feel like I should express my gratitude for all the blessings I have received and especially for havening the privilege of living in America. Although some might debate this with the current stock market, the high gas prices that just aren't dropping fast enough, the attack on families (which we are really feeling here in CA), and the very competitive election, living in America is a wonderful thing. I am blessed to work at a Christian university where service, Christianity, purpose, and high achievements are on the forefront. I was greatly moved this last September when I pulled on campus and saw thousands of flags lined up for each and every person who lost their life in the 9-11 attacks. There was no division of race, religion, or any other type for the hundreds people who pulled over to the side of the street to silently view this memorial. All felt a sense of patriotism. I met a lady I think was from France who said, "This is amazing, truly amazing."We have had so many brave, humble, and noble people fight for our liberty. I have two cousins who have recently served in Irac, one of which is going back after Christmas. I know my grandfather, who fought in WII would be proud. When I find myself feeling picked on I remind myself that I can flush my toilet paper down the toilet, I have a 40 gallon hot water heater, I have a solid roof, a nice vehicle, a stable income, and I can call my family anytime I wish. We truly are blessed - and yet I still complain when our internet goes out for an hour. I guess I just needed that reality check. No matter what happens in this country, Americans still have it better than most. I can say I am proud to be an American.