My bro Darryl and his family

While I was in Texas 2 weeks ago to attend Craig Decker's baptism (Yeah, Craig!), Tammy Cook and I drove the long, long drive down to San Angelo to see my brother Darryl and his family. It was totally worth the drive. I haven't seen them since Darren's funeral in June and it was really fun to hang out. Tammy taught us a new card game and we stayed up late chatting. We also had some authentic Texas BBQ from the local dive pit and I got to see Rosa too who I haven't seen in a really long time. I didn't get a picture of her though. She is a beautiful girl and it was great to see her. It was a short visit but it was great to see y'all and I am really glad I drove the 4 1/2 hours.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!

Love, Love, Love the hair!!

Darren doing his yo-yo tricks!

I think Darren was nervous before the wedding. He hid his stress by entertaining the crowd! I am so glad we have this video of him doing what he loved. We miss you Darren and think of you all the time. We all wear our "Darren-shoes". We don't call them Cons, they are "Darren-shoes".

More Legoland and beach...

These are more fun pictures of the kids at Legoland and at the beach. We were at the beach most of the day and I never put sunscreen on the kids. I know, add it to my "Mother Of The Year" award wall. Sorry kids. They were hurting today. We also saw dolphins! That was probably my favorite part. They were out playing in the ocean while we watched from the beach. Growing up in Northern California, I saw lots of sea lions but no dolphins. That was cool.

Legoland!

We went to Legoland for UEA weekend and had a blast. Matt is working in the Carlsbad area so we loaded up the car and headed to California to see him. We stayed at his apartment, so I am sure we annoyed the neighbors. They are used to these quiet computer geeks and instead they got a weekend of kids!

This is the mom and dad at the entrance. They were completely made in Legos.

I thought this was a beautiful sunset shot of Jackson and Mariah playing in the waves.

Les Miserable

My cousins, Rachael and Raquel, Jacqui, and I went to St. George for a girls weekend and to enjoy a spectacular performance of Les Mis at the outdoor theater in Tuacahn. It was also the weekend of the St. George marathon. In the history of the marathon, it has rained twice...the second one being this last Saturday. We were so nervous that our performance would get canceled since it was rainy off and on all day. Well, the show went on. It was slightly drizzling off and on at the beginning but nothing too major. With about 30 minutes left in the show, the rain picked up and it started sprinkling harder. The last 15-20 minutes was performed in a downpour. We were SOAKED! The poor performers on the stage had to be miserable too. Regardless of the weather, we had a great time and the performance was truly brilliant!

Old fashioned rug beating

Anyone up for an ol' fashioned rug beating? It was that time of year to get our rug all aired out. The kids had a great time using the rackets to get all the dust out. Sometimes chores can be fun!

How sad is this? Poor little Shane has asthma and it has been really acting up lately. He has been needing to do his nebulizer treatments frequently and always just before bed. This is how exhausted my poor child is. He can't stay awake to finish his treatments. This night was funny because he was propped up and I had to pry his mouth open to get the nebulizer out. He is on new medication now and seeing the chiropractor to get this asthma under control. Poor kid!

I got an A!

Yeah, I got through my first exam. I was very nervous and wasn't sure my brain would remember all the stuff I had studied. But, it all worked out great and I am very pleased with myself. I am taking Humanities, Church History, and Intro to Geography. Geography is my major and I am just getting started. The intro class is a pass/fail class that we pass if we show up. It's my favorite class. It can't get any easier than showing up. Go BYU!

7 degrees of separation in blogging

On Friday night I decided to try a little experiment. The kids were all in bed and I was blogging. It has been fun to see other peoples blogs and what their interests are. I usually don't read the whole thing, just the profile and the side stuff. Some people post their friends and family's links on the side bar so I thought I would try to see how many clicks it would take to find someone I know through random peoples blogs. I don't remember who I started with, someone I already know. I would randomly click on a link and then go from there. Sometimes I would keep going back to one person's list and hit different people. I lost count but eventually it happened! I found someone I know in Texas. I found the Hopewell's from our old ward. Josh was our home teacher. How fun is that. It was a waste of time, I know, but fun to do. So all of you who post other peoples links on their blogs, Thanks! it was a fun game for me!

Bad Computer

So I have Matt's Mac since my computer keeps crashing and I don't know how to work it. I don't have access to my pics so I can't post them. I don't know how to download pics from the iphone to the computer. I am pretty much stuck. Just picture in your minds...it's a beautiful fall day in Utah, the Burton children are as crazy as ever, Shane finally got a birthday party with his classmates(hopefully, we will have pictures someday), Matt and the kids went to Bentley's third birthday party and had a good time, and the kids are making some really cute faces. You should see it. Oh wait, I don't know how to post with this computer. I know Macs are supposed to be super easy and better, but for someone like me...not so good. I can't even right click. How do you do that? It would be nice if my computer literate husband worked in the same state that his family lives so he could help out with this. Oh well... just get those imaginations working.

Go BYU!

Did you see that score? 59 to ZERO!!! What a blowout! Rise and Shout, the cougars are out!

One week down!

I did it! I finished my first week of college. It started last Tuesday...I needed to get there a little early because I needed to pick up one more book for a class. As I was paying for it, the cashier asked if I was faculty (Faculty gets a discount). I had to tell her no, I am undergrad trying to get a degree. So I head off to my first class. I sit down and recognize this kid that is sitting next to me. I ponder the whole hour while I try to figure out who he is. At the end of class, I talked to him and found out that he is the kid from our ward in Texas but he does not remember me. Not a surprise since he was probably a deacon and I was friends with his MOM! So I sit in class, not faculty and attending with my friend's kid! Did I mention that I am exactly TWICE as old as the new freshmen? I started college exactly half a lifetime ago for me. Just a perspective that makes me laugh. I am hoping to finally get a degree by the time I turn 40. Hopefully sooner. Go BYU!

Yaaah...I mean...aaah!

It was the first day of school on Monday. All four of the kids are in school ALL DAY!! I am really going to miss them...wait...I can't stop giggling with excitement. It will still be a very busy school year but I am grateful for this day. Shane did a great job and was only a little nervous going to 1st grade. Jalyn has a fantastic teacher and I have really high hopes for her this year. Mariah has every friend she could want in her class and "the best teacher in the whole world". Jackson has a new teacher. I don't know her but she comes with amazing credentials so I feel comfortable with his class this year. What will I do with the time! Oh yeah, I will be in school myself. I paid tuition today and bought books. Go BYU!!

Happy 6th Birthday Shane!

My computer keeps dumping on me so I haven't been able to get online. I missed wishing Shane a happy Birthday yesterday. He turned 6! I can't believe my baby is so old and going into first grade. He is very excited for school, although a little nervous about the cafeteria! He will do great. Countdown to first day of school...3,2,1! Yeah!

Bingham Copper Mine

This is an amazing place to see. It used to be a mountain and has become a huge pit that is 2miles wide and waaay deep. I can't remember the specs. My friend Cindy was so brave and set out with her kids and mine to have an adventure. Apparently, they were all pretty good because they all came home with Slurpee's. They even brought me one!

Shane

This a picture Mariah took and I just loved Shane's eyes.
Just wanted to share it!

Brian Regan

Juli Downs came down from Burley to be my date at the Brian Regan concert. So funny! My cheeks and side hurt by the end of the show. Thank you to Kim Casper for getting there so early to save seats. She didn't even know that we would be joining them. It was nice of them to let us share their blankets. The second picture isn't so good, but it is of Brian...and look, we are only about 6 rows back. It was a blast! Funny! Funny! Funny!

Jalyn's black eye

Poor Jalyn Rose! She fell off of the back of the truck (not moving) and hit her head on the curb. It started out as a HUGE goose egg and now she is left with a purple eye. This happened Saturday, Aug 9th. On Sunday night she was complaining of an earache on the same side of her head. I was a bit concerned they might be connected so I took her to the doctor on Monday morning. Of course we got the concerned questions... How did this happen? Did you really fall off the truck or did your mom pop you in the eye? The standard questions. Thankfully we passed and we won't be having a "state" visit to make sure the rest of the kids don't have black eyes either. But Jalyn did come home with a prescription for antibiotics since she had a ear infection. She is concerned that she will still have her black eye when school starts on the 25th. I keep trying to reassure her that it will be gone. So add this to the other Harris stories of kids falling out of cars. Not nearly as exciting as Don or Darryl's stories but another story to pass down.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Chris is my half brother serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Spain right now. He turns 20 today. Good luck out there, Chris.