Merry Christmas from the Burton's!

Notice Shane isn't sitting on the reindeer...he has to climb as high as he can. We had a great time and really enjoyed the warmer weather.

We bought a tree on the 23rd (our first real tree in 9 years!) and made chains out of ribbon. We bought one strand of lights that wasn't enough and so we only put the lights on the front of the tree. It is a Christmas the kids will always remember. The kids didn't get as many presents since we went on the trip instead. Shane and Jalyn were adament that Santa just forgot to stop by the apartment and left all the rest of the presents at our house here in Salt Lake. He was pretty bummed last night when we got here and there were still no presents. Poor kid. He told me a couple of times that it was "the worst Christmas ever". Maybe it was for him but the rest of us had a great time, and best or worst, it will be one we will never forget.

Fun pics of miniland...

These are just fun pictures of mini land. It is fascinating to me. The time and effort and the millions of Legos that were used is mind boggling. Shane isn't in the pictures because he is pouting. I think we told him to quit running around, quit jumping on everything, and to generally be careful. I think we bummed him out and so he pouted.

Get down, Shane!

We could not keep this kid down. I don't think he ever slowed down the entire trip. He just climbs, jumps, runs, and bounces everywhere!

Fun Pictures of the Kids

This is just a few of the many pictures we took while we were down there. It was overcast, drizzly, and chilly, but, NO SNOW! Apparently, we missed 2 big snow storms while we were gone. I am so grateful. Our neighbor plowed our driveway too which was very nice, since nothing says "vacant house" like two feet of snow in the driveway.

Christmas in California!

So we decided to escape the cold and snow of Utah and spend Christmas in California. Matt works in Carlsbad and the company he is working for has him set up in an apartment. It was the perfect chance to enjoy free housing and see the sights of the town during Christmas. On our way down, we decided to drive through the strip in Las Vegas. We had gone to Carlsbad in October and went to Legoland. They have this mini town, which is my personal favorite of the whole park. One of the towns they created in miniature was Las Vegas. We drove the strip so the kids could see the buildings full size. I passed the camera to the back of the van and they each fought over it to get the shots they wanted. This is only a very small example of Las Vegas, viewed from the back seat of a van, in traffic, through the eyes of the kids and what was important to get a picture of.

Christmas Lights on Temple Square

We braved the crowds and went to Temple Square on Friday night to see the newly lit lights. It wasn't too cold and we had a great time. We had to park a few blocks away but the walk did us good considering all the pie and treats we have been eating the last day or two. We walked around the square, checked out the Tabernacle, listened to the Nativity reading, and then headed over to the museum to walk through. There were some cool Polish nativities on display there and they had already added President Hinckley's memorabilia in the hall of prophets.

Mariah and Jalyn in front of the Salt Lake Temple.

Thanksgiving 2008

A Thanksgiving with no cooking or cleaning. It was great. My mom came out to Utah for Thanksgiving and we decided since it was just us girls that there was no reason to cook. So after going to see High School Musical 3, we had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner/lunch at Mimi's cafe. It was perfect, the food was good and the desserts were amazing. And best of all, I didn't have a single dish to clean up. Later in the evening we had more pie with my mom's brother and 2 of my cousins. We played cards and chatted and had a great time. It was not your typical Thanksgiving but now we have new memories of a fun experience.


My mom and the girls!

Standing outside of Mimi's Cafe. We are absolutely stuffed!

Twilight- Rock Star Style!

I wish I had had my camera! My friend Laura called tonight to see if I wanted to join a few girls to go see Twilight. Mom is in town and after talking to her, we agreed to go. Laura insisted on picking us up and what a shock when a driver (her husband) comes to the door to pick us up. The girls are all out waiting in the LIMO!!! We had sparkly cider and chocolate pretzels and were treated so nice. It was great. The movie was OK but going with these girls and my mom was a blast. I only thought it was a group of gals going to see a movie, who knew it would be such a memorable evening. Man, I wish I had my camera!

a blister on my knee?

So I woke up Sunday morning with a blister on my knee cap. Who gets burns on their knee caps? Apparently I do. I will tell you why. I live in Utah and it is starting to get cold. I HATE being cold. I think I also have poor circulation in my feet because they are always freezing. Even if I put socks on, my feet won't warm up when I crawl into bed. So now I sleep with a heating pad. I turn it on and put it in my bed while I am going through the nightly ritual of brushing my teeth, getting jammies on, etc. Well, Saturday night I fell asleep pretty quickly and I think the heating pad was under my knees and the protective covering that keeps me from getting burned slipped off, exposing the super hot plastic stuff underneath. So there you have it, I have found a way to burn and blister on my knee cap. What a weirdo!

Our last first tooth...

Shane did it! He lost his first tooth. It was very exciting and he had been waiting a very long time. He kept wiggling and wiggling and finally a friend of ours wrapped dental floss to yank it out. It didn't work and Shane just kept wiggling and wiggling. Last Friday, at his friend's birthday party, the dad got a napkin and pulled it out. I think Shane was surprised that it worked. So Shane put his tooth under his pillow and guess what he found in the morning? HIS TOOTH! What? The tooth fairy forgot? Does that only happen in our house? So we had to check again. Maybe the tooth fairy got nervous when she saw the cats and didn't have time to pick up the tooth. Or maybe she left the money but couldn't grab the tooth. Sure enough, way under the covers, Shane found his money. That silly tooth fairy.

I realized though that this is the last time that one of our kids will lose his/her first tooth. That chapter is closed. There is still plenty of teeth to be lost and braces to be had and cavities to fill but no more first teeth. It was a bitter sweet experience.

Halloween 2008

This is Shane as a shark and Jackson as a skeleton.

Jalyn is our purple and black witch.

This is Mariah and our neighbor Morgan. Mariah was a tree in the rainforest. She had a sign on her back that said, "Save the Rainforest!"

MC Hammer!

This is my cousin Kenyon dressed up as MC Hammer this year for Halloween. I was cracking up. He always comes up with some funny and creative costumes. A few years back, he shaved his head, painted it white, and went as Uncle Fester. I had to include the bike shot to show the contrast in color. I am sure he got some double takes as he was driving around town. Hilarious!

Lake Tahoe in June 2008

We were in Lake Tahoe for my youngest brother Dennis' wedding. We stayed some extra days and enjoyed the scenery. The kids had a great time. Dennis got married on a boat out on the lake at sunset. It was beautiful but cold! I forgot my camera on the boat but Dennis looked good and Karen looked hot. Her hair was awesome! Congrats to you two!

I think someone threw a rock and we thought it hit a boat down in the water. We didn't hear any screams so I guess we were safe.

It's all about Jalyn!

This is her little alien she made in the Legoland play center.

Her cool car. She tried to beat Shane in a race on the ramp.

Look, she can spell her name!

This is Jalyn on the driving ride. She ran a stop sign, ran a red light, drove on the wrong side of the street and basically showed me that she is so not getting her driver's license any time soon.

Cool sunset!

Jalyn is standing next to me as I go through the pictures and she is telling me which pictures I should post. So this is her addition. She wants to say..."I like the water reflections on the sand. I like the clouds in the sky. I had the best time at the beach."

I forgot Jalyn...

Oops...sorry Jalyn. I posted a different picture I thought was Jalyn but was actually a duplicate of Shane. Jalyn also wanted me to post this cute picture of her and the princess.

Happy Halloween!

These were cute pictures from Legoland. They had a trick or treat street so they all got candy which kept them entertained the rest of the day. We paid careful attention to whose bag was whose so that there were no disagreements or accusations of someone eating all the candy. We made it through pretty painlessly. Good times, good times.