HALLOWEEN--SO MUCH FUN

This Halloween was a little different then all the others we have had! First of all it was our first Halloween together as a married couple. And second, all of my family, well almost all, decided to come to Provo for the festivities. We had a blast going to the "Trunk or Treat" in my sister's ward and just spending time with family that we don't see too often!
They all looked great in their costumes!
My nephew got tired of carrying his tail...so he asked Burke to :)
This is my oldest niece who is almost taller than me! She is Great!
All the boys in character
Grammy and Pa of course are loved!
Saturday was also so much fun! We got to go to the Salt Lake Temple for a family sealing! It was so much fun and the kids looked like Angels. It was our first time to the Salt Lake Temple and we are definitely going back to do a session! Saturday night my sister put together a Halloween dinner! It consisted of brains, blood, and bones (Spaghetti, jello salad, and bread sticks)! She is so creative. I am sure it will probably be posted on her blog soon so take a look! Thanks for coming family, it was fun to see you!

Fall Is Here For Good

I wish I had a picture of what the roads looked like when I drove to school today. It reminded me of 100 S. In St. George on a fall day on my way to Dixie State College. The color of the trees are so gorgeous and we have the brightest red bushes right out our parking garage. I love everything about Fall except the cold weather that comes with it!

This past weekend we went to St. George over Fall Break. It was definitely a break! I seem to enjoy being with the students I work with when I have had a little break from them :)...sound familiar to any of you Moms? Anyways we had an absolute blast! Burke had projects to work on so I made a table runner with my mother-on-law which turned out great (sorry for the lack of pictures. I seem to get lazy now that we lost our good camera...that's right, we still can't find it.) and went shopping with my mother to spend her gift card from her birthday! It was such a blast to do things that we normally can't do on other visits!

We did end up carving pumpkins and It was one year ago this time of year that we did the same thing (I have a picture but it was too hard to find). It was the next visit down after our engagement. Burke and I always buy one pumpkin and then want to do different faces so we decided to split the pumpkin right in half and we each carved half...I know we are weird but it was fun.
Our little niece, Sophie, was staying at the house while we were there. It was so much fun to be around her enough to get to know what she is like! She is such a fun and happy girl and communicates with you like she is five. She knows baby sign language and it is amazing! Our newest niece, Annie, was also blessed on the Sunday we were there! Now we have 8 nieces and 5 nephews all together!
It was such a fun weekend and we are so lucky that we live remotely close enough to visit all the time. Our favorite thing is to be where family is! Thanks for the great weekend!

Conference Weekend

This past weekend was so much relaxing and fun...for some reason it felt like such a long break from school and work. On Friday night we went up to Burke's mission reunion. Awhile ago we got together with some of the Elders and one of the mission couples so it was nice to have known a few (I visited with some of the couple missionaries while he reminisced about the mission times with the Elders :)). Plus, I think every wife can agree with me, it is nice to go to a mission reunion to meet all the people you have heard so much about...after all he did spend 2 years, 24/7 with these people!


Saturday Morning Taren and Michelle Hansen came to stay with us for the remainder of the weekend. Burke and Taren are best friends so it was fun to get to know both of them a little bit more! We really enjoyed having friends stay with us and catch up on things. We went up to the Conference Center Saturday Afternnoon in hopes that we could get some tickets. We got to Salt Lake about fifteen minutes before the session started so it was'nt likely. However, Michelle and I dropped the boys off and within five minutes they called with 17 tickets in hand! I don't really know how they got them but they kept four and gave the rest out. We were left with car in the pouring rain and the boys had to go in to get their seat but left out tickets at the door. To make a long story short, we FINALLY found a spot hoping it was not an illegal one and ran with shoes and umbrella in hand (I really wish we had a picture of us :)). By the time we got to the Conference Center, we got the wrong tickets, got confronted by a man telling us we were foolish for not being inside yet, and saved by a nice host who helped us get to our husbands all safe and sound!!

Following the afternoon session we grabbed a bite to eat and dropped the boys off again for the Priesthood session to hopefully get some tickets. The same thing again happend...before we got to the end of the street we received a call with tickets in hand! They are so LUCKY! They were off to a spiritual evening and we were off to do what girls do best....shopping!

It was a great day all together and we topped it off by meeting Scott and Hilary Curtis at a restaurant (I can't remember what it is called because it wasn't any of our favorites and the service was terrible). It was so fun to see them and to have all the Boys together!


The Hansen's left after the Sunday morning session and we were up to Salt Lake for our final time....thanks Charles for getting us tickets! This time no rain, assigned parking spot and we were on time. We even had time to see this original 1847 log home, which was eventually transported to Temple Square, we had never seen before. Conference in the Conference Center was definitely worth the drive (I seem to stay awake when I am all dressed up and not in the comfort of my home). At the end of the day we went to my sister's house for dinner. Burke gave the nephews a bug catcher thing...so of course he is now the favorite :).



Sorry for such a long post but as you can tell we had a GREAT time being with friends, family, and each other! It was fun to have a little get away weekend in our own town!

Family Home Evening and Nine Month Anniversary

September 29, 2008
As you probably can tell I really behind on my posts...sorry to all those who may have been wondering what has been going on in our lives. Our camera is still lost but we located my dinosaur camera and it is doing the job okay.

The Sunday before our nine month anniversary Burke was making his Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I like to Clean up as I cook and Burke likes to get everything out and then clean up so I was getting on his nerves a little bit because I hate getting my clothes dirty. To solve the problem Burke went the next day and bought some plain white aprons and paint pens to decorate them with for Family Home Evening and for our nine month anniversary. I thought it was such a great idea...the twist was that I got to decorate Burke's apron and he got to do mine. They turned out so great and now I don't have to worry about messes. Thanks Hun! Here are some pictures:

Reason to Live

We have had this plant on our doorstep for a very long time (if you have been to our house, you know which one I am talking about). For more than half the time we have had it, it has looked dead. There is a little green left at the top so Burke has insisted that we keep it. Every day I try to talk him into dupping it out. I was about to throw out the poor little guy today with out telling Burke. However, after running to the store early this morning, I noticed a little purple flower had bloomed! I guess the plant just wasn't ready to pass on...and that little flower brightened our morning. Burke had fun rubbing it in and now he insists that we keep it even longer. We can't find our camera at the moment or I would love to show you all a picture of how sad the plant looks and see what people thought about it. I am sure most of you would agree with me and it should be thrown out. We'll have to see how long it really lasts :). Anywho Burke did show faith in the sad looking plant and there ended up being a little life left in it!

Sick of being Sick

I love having days off from school and work but not today! I am home today but only because I am sick. I don't know what it is but when I get sick, I really get sick. My sicknesses always consist of a sore throat, ear infection, and then the 24 hour flu. Poor Burke has been sooo board. I always feel so bad because he is always so great to take care of me, even if I do keep him up all night. I have yet to take care of Burke when he is sick...he just does not get sick. Right now Burke is at work and I am extremely board. There is only so much a sick person can do! I am grateful for the down time because I am constantly going, but I am really ready to be well again!

Back to School--In More than One Way

I hope this picture makes you laugh because I was cracking up! This picture explains all our feelings for the past week. I started school on Tuesday so now we are both officially in school. I don't have as big of load as Burke does because I'll be graduating in December. I have to say that because I don't have as much to do, I am getting a small taste of what it will feel like when I don't have school at all. I will definitely have to pick up some new hobbies and be a patient little wife :).

As for the update on our new jobs. Things are going great at the Elementary School. It is funny to walk around together and have people looking at us because they think it's so cute that we get to work together! I have to admit that it has been fun to work together and to talk to each other and know exactly who and what we are talking about!

Working with kids is very challenging which makes us like the job. It is exciting to see the kids improve and also learn some new techniques for teaching children reading skills. However, by the end of the day we are exhausted. People have told me that working with your own kids is completely different....I know you still get exhausted but I hope they are right. Right now things at the school is a little unorganized because it is the beginning of the year. We have been so used to jobs with very strict schedules and organization that we are going a little crazy. I think that within the next week or so things will start leveling out.

The After School program is a little different than we thought. Burke is going to be known as Mr. Bess as he teaches the first and second graders in the Gifted and Talented Program (he gets his own classroom and everything)! It is so cute to hear all the little girls say "Hey Mr. Bess!" While he is doing that I get to help out in the kindergarten class. I will also be teaching every Tuesday. For the rest of the after school program Burke is helping out in the "Sports Club" and I am in with the "Learning for Life Club." I was a little disappointed to find out that there was actually no "Dance Club" this term so I guess I will have to make do with the "Learning for Life" :). Anyways it is not something I was expecting to be doing but I guess I can make do with what I have and make the best out of it. The lessons kind of seem like little primary lessons so hopefully it won't be that bad and I will probably end up loving it!

Anyways sorry to ramble off but there is a quick update so you know we are still alive and doing well! We still don't know our plans for the upcoming semester but hopefully we will finalize plans soon.