So This Is Christmas

Steve and I were so lucky to have a great Christmas...or at least I was so lucky! Sadly, this being Steve's first year at his job he was lucky enough to work the whole week of Christmas, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was hard for me to be without him and it was hard for him to be away from his family.

Last Sunday night we drove to Huntsville in Ogden Valley to Steve's sister's house on the lake. By Monday the majority of the family had come. Yes, that meant 10 adults and 8 kids all under one roof! Luckily the house is big enough for every family to have their own room. It is awesome! Sadly Steve's parents couldn't make it into town until the day after Christmas due to work as well as some health delays.

We (I) spent the week relaxing: reading, catching up on blogs, sleeping, watching movies, etc. I was also able to hang out with my sister in laws from Canada and Washington that I don't get to see very often.

On Christmas Eve night, despite a snow storm, we all packed up and headed to Snowbasin Resort for their Christmas celebration. Although there were too many people for us to eat there (the place was packed) we were able to see Santa come down the ski hill pulled by a snowmobile, meet the big guy, watch the ski light parade (so cool!), and watch a fireworks show in the snow. It was a pretty fun time!

These are some pictures of a few of the kids waiting patiently in the freezing cold to meet Santa.

Here's the big guy!
The calm before the storm on Christmas morning.

Steve was able to get off early on Christmas day and come home to spend some time with the family. I think we both had an awakening that this is our last Christmas as a "single couple" with no kids. We are enjoying our time sleeping through the night and leaving the others to watch the kids this year!

From the Mouths of Babes

I was thinking of some of my favorite comments from my students this year and I figured I should write them down or else I'd forget them. Hope you find some enjoyment from them too!

Often I have my students write their spelling words in sentences. Usually I have a parent at the center to help them out, but one day I figured they could do it on their own. One of the spelling words for my class was the word brief. Try explaining that one to 6 year olds...I said it was a short amount of time. Most of the kids assumed it just meant "short," thus putting sentences like: "I am brief." My favorite of all of them, though, was: "I brief on myself." I laughed for about 15 minutes after reading that one!

My students are required to line up at the end of the day and give me a hug, handshake, or high five. One day we lined up a little bit before the bell rang so I was talking with the kids. One kid looked up at me and said, "Do you know what 'G Money' means?" Stifling a laugh I said, "No, I don't think I do." He smiled and said, "It means you're very cool."

As I started to show in my pregnancy I was very excited because it took so long! One day I knew that people could tell because one of my students said, "Mrs. Burden, your baby must be getting big because you're getting fat!" I loved it!

There is a little girl in my class this year who has a very difficult time pronouncing her r's and her l's. One day at the beginning of the year she called me over to show me that she could erase things easily from her colorful sticker chart and it didn't even rip. "Mrs. Bouden, this ewasew is pewfect fow gween, wight?!" I nodded and then quickly turned my head and burst out in laughter.

Finally (this actually happened last year when I taught 2nd grade)...I had a student who was constantly in trouble. He was sneaky and kind of mean, not to mention the fact that he punched kids without even thinking twice about it. One day, after one such violent incident, I was interrogating him about what had happened. He (I forgot to mention he had a selective memory) said, "Well, we were standing in line when 'Jake' pushed me." I was surprised because "Jake" is a very passive, sweet kid so I questioned the accused about whether "Jake" had meant to push him. The boy, averting my eyes, stuttered and then said, "Well, I'm not sure if 'Jake' pushed me on purfose or on not on purfose..." It was so hard for me to continue my interrogation without giggling!

I hope these brought you a smile!

7 Down 2 to Go

This lovely picture is of me today with exactly two months to go until D-Day. (Mom I did have a better picture of me not slouching but it was not in focus at all!) I am really looking forward to getting this baby girl here as she is currently training to be a cheerleader inside the womb. Things are going great so far, she's progressing great and I'm getting bigger by the day. I can't wait to lose the wicked heartburn along with all of the aches and pains, but I know that this little baby will be all worth it!

Gettin' Crafty

Here is Steve setting up my new Christmas gift (we figured since it was here already we might as well put it to good use!). I think he looks more excited than I even was to get it!!! I can't wait to start making my first project...runners for my bedroom furniture.

Boise Trip

This past weekend Steve and I were able to go to Boise to hang out with my family. It was so nice and relaxing to just be with them. On Saturday all of the boys went golfing while us girls did some Christmas shopping and got fabric. Saturday night my mom and I made some baby blankets and burp cloths. Steve got to have tons of fun with Kelsi putting together a shelf for my mom. Thank you so much Dad and Mom for all you do for us!!! We couldn't ask for better parents than those we have been blessed with!

Here is my beautiful mom working on one of our blankets.

Believe it or not, I can sew too.


One of our CUTE finished products. (The other one was had farm animals and pink tractors!)


Steve working ever so hard!


Aren't we lovely on our trip back home?

Thanksgiving Weekend

Sadly this year Steve had to work on Thanksgiving Day and all that weekend. I decided to not let that stop my fun though! On Thanksgiving Day I was able to go to my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Russ' house and had a great lunch! That evening when Steve got off he came and ate and then we went and saw Twilight which was so fun.

Saturday morning I made the annual trek to Bancroft, ID with my cousin Lessley and her family. We always go meet up with my mom's side of the family to have a big post-Thanksgiving dinner. That night we typically go sit in the hot pots at Lava Hot Springs, but since I was trying to not boil my unborn child, I decided to stay at our classy motel with Hallie and Eli. Fortunately the traditions don't end there. We then head up the road to a pizza place (as if we hadn't eaten enough already) to fill up the tiny restaurant. For the past 5 years we have been asking for milkshakes and for the past 5 years they have always had an excuse to not make them (they were out of ice cream, their machine wasn't working, etc). This year we fought back! When they told us they were out of ice cream, we volunteered to go buy our own if they would mix them for us. They willingly obliged and we continued to stuff ourselves silly. Here are some of the pictures from our Bancroft adventure...
Our post-Thanksgiving Feast

The fam at the podunk pizza shop. (PS: This year their reasoning for being out of ice cream was that they wanted to expand their beer line...which means they didn't have room for ice cream.)

Scholastic Reminder

For those who were interested in buying Scholastic books from me, this is a reminder that my book order closes tonight at midnight UT time. Go to scholastic.com>Parents>Book Clubs and put in the login name: mrsburdensclass, and the password: pathfinder. These books will come to me at the school so don't forget to put in your first and last name. Thanks!!!

Whatever It Takes...Right?

...and I thought multi-colored Goldfish crackers were strange...