Gilbert Temple Dedication Experience

Living in Globe we are surrounded by a few temples, however each one is at least an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. So when they announced the building of the Gilbert Temple I was thrilled that they said we would be in this Temple district. Its still a drive away, but its always worth the drive, but that also meant we would be apart of the Temple Dedication. I didn't know much about anything other than Aaron and I were asked to help be apart of the "food committee." This meant a few of us in the Stake were in charge of feeding our Stake during the practices and the actual Celebration, that meant we were going to be able to go!!

The theme for the Temple dedication was  Live True to the Faith. Their were over 12,000 youth that participated in the cultural celebration. It was amazing. Each region had their own specific dance that they had to learn. Our region learned a hoedown, and our youth were seriously a tiny little speck of red in the back corner! They had started practice in January, learning the songs and the dances. Aaron and I didn't have to start helping until February. The beginning of February I had also received an email from someone inviting Aaron to be in the Cornerstone Dedication Ceremony. I was totally bummed that I wasn't asked, but I had to swallow my pride and tell Aaron all about it, and respond to the email. Luckily the next day I was asked to join Aaron! I was sooo excited. So we were pretty busy every week in February leading up to the Celebration and the Dedication. The actual Temple Dedication was March 2. So this was our weekend. 

Friday afternoon we left for the valley leaving our kids with Julie for the whole weekend....that was kinda fun! Friday night we had a dress rehearsal for the cornerstone ceremony. After practice we headed over to Discovery Park were the Cultural Celebration was happening. We had to set up some popups and bring tables and our food, coolers, ect. The fun part was they were doing some rehearsals so Aaron and I got to watch. They had a "fire"dance that we got to watch which was really fun for Aaron, because its a Polynesian dance, and the last time Aaron had seen a dance like that was in Tahiti. He kept pointing out "real" Polynesian dancers, he could tell by the way they would stomp their feet...haha I thought it was fun how excited he was! 

The next morning we were there by 8:30 setting everything up, and it had rained so hard that night. The day started out looking gloomy, and it was still sprinkling. The whole day it rained off and on, but nothing to bad. 

Just before dinner they did a whole run through, and it was seriously so amazing!! Each region came on to do their dance, and of course the music was just amazing! My favorite dance or routine was to the music of "True to the Truth." They had Captain Moroni riding his horse and all the youth around had white flags that said how they were going to stay true to the faith. It was awesome, I got chills, and I may have cried! 

These are the flags that all the youth made from each stake...The second flag is our Stake's, see it says GLOBE!! We are famous! haha...jk  So the weather had been okay the whole day, not what we had planned on you know...living in the desert and all! But of course as soon as President Eyring got up to address the youth, this is what the evening turned out to look like!!           

  

But sitting there listening to the words of the song "I Choose this Day" it was seriously perfect! This is what it says: "Its easy to talk about faith, its easy to do what is right, when there's no sacrifice. It's so easy to preach about heart, and say you'll be faithful and true, when you know there's nothing to lose. I choose this day, I choose the person I will be...." I just thought it was so perfect. Through the performance they talked a lot about Pioneers too, and it just made me appreciate the Pioneers more and all the struggles they had to endure. It was truly a test of faith for the Pioneers, and it was truly a test of faith for the youth. All day we had been hearing how it wouldn't rain because Heavenly Father wouldn't make it rain after all the hard work. But really I feel that it was a faith builder! 

This was a scripture that was on the video too. I felt the spirit so strong, and felt that this scripture was indeed being fulfilled. The kid's testimonies had been being built up each week. They had been working hard on their numbers, and learning the music and dances, and to come to perform and have the winds and rain beat down on them, their testimonies didn't fall, they only grew stronger! (May sound cheesy, but it was seriously a once in a lifetime experience!)

Of course the after part was a test of faith for me, when the park shut everything down and Aaron and I had to carry everything back to our vehicle by hand. It was muddy, I was in flip-flops, it was pouring still, we were totally soaked, and it was late...but we got it done with the help of some friendly helpers! 

The next morning was GORGEOUS! I couldn't get my other picture to load, but Aaron and I were both in the choir and were seriously so close to the prophet...we both may have cried while he talked to us too!! 

Then we got the opportunity to sit in one of the ordinance rooms in the Temple for the Temple Dedication. It was definitely a spiritual packed weekend. By the end I was so tired, and ready to come home and kiss my kids! I am so grateful for this church!!

This is my sweet grandpa. He was 77 years old when he passed away this last Friday. He was a loving grandpa, and also very "old school." He was very active in the church and was also not afraid to help his family realize things that needed to be more of a priority in our lives. He was an awesome example to all of us, and taught us through his example. He was very good at family history, painting, gardening, fishing, and writing his personal life stories.
Through visiting him this last week and spending time looking at books he had written of his life, pictures he had taken of things, I needed to be better at writing my life stories. I am not a good writer, but I feel that its a whole lot better than not! I also realized how much of a peacemaker he was. He never liked when family didn't get along and he always would try to resolve things. He was forgiving and just wanted what was best for us. It has helped me this past week to put situations that arose in perspective. What mattered more, to be right or to be forgiving. I am just so grateful for his example, his love, and patience. I am just so happy that I was able to see him one last time, and to learn and grow from the experience.

Friends

I am not really sure how to start this post, but let me just say I want to move! Globe is a small little copper mining town about 90 miles east of Phoenix. There is much here in little ol' Globe, other than a Walmart, some grocery stores, we do have some fast food places, like Taco Bell, Wendy's, and McDonald's. We have a Mormon church that consists of two wards, Globe 1st Ward, and Globe 2nd Ward. I am currently the Primary 2nd Councilor, and we oversee between 10-15 kids. (Today it was 10 kids, and the sunbeam teacher was gone, so I had to feel in because we don't have a lot of members that can substitute) The people I hang out with, the Burks... BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE MOVES OUT OF GLOBE!!! Okay I don't mean to be a downer. I actually love where we live, and I love my in-laws, but it makes me so sad when my friends... no close friends... okay one of my best friends moves out of Globe. Let me introduce you to Megan. Megan is definitely one of the most organized and goal oriented people I have met. Megan can pretty much handle anything that is thrown at her, and she makes it look easy. She is super talented... with everything.. like singing, sewing, just creating anything, home decorating, and reading a million books in a year. (and who the heck is going to take over book club? You are basically pro at keeping it going!) She is a great mom, and one that I love being around because she helps me feel more confident and be a better me. Even if you don't know this Megan, it is so sad for me that you are leaving. How far is she going... 90 miles. No its not to Spain, or Africa, but its still far enough away that I can't say, hey can you watch my kids while I go to the doctors, or hey my birthday or your birthday is coming up lets go to a movie, or hey its this holiday lets get together, even the move makes going to the park just a tad more difficult.
Megan has had her house up for sale for a little while, like 6 months? But I feel like even if it was hard on them, it was good for me. I wouldn't say Megan and I were always so close, mostly because when I first met Megan, she intimidated me.. I mean there was like superwomen! But overtime I feel like I was able to step out of my comfort zone and in turn Megan really helped me to feel more confident in my own abilities and talents. For instance singing. Her encouragement and compliments have helped me so much, especially coming from someone that knows what they are talking about!
I really can't blame people for moving, for the most part their are better opportunities in the Valley than in Globe.
Sorry this post is everywhere, but really the moral of the post is Thanks Megan for holding out a little longer, I was able to realize what a true friend you are, and I am going to miss you. Love ya!

Riding Lessons

Something you may or may not know about Brookie is that she really loves horses. She wasn't always so passionate about them until before Christmas. She wanted anything horse. So she got new horse pajamas, and a big stuffed horse she fell in love with at Toys R Us. Aaron found a horse app for his iPad for Brookie, its basically a virtual horse, one that she has to feed and take care of. Anyways I thought that perhaps to go along with homeschooling she could learn to ride a horse. I called up Katherine, one of the Young Women I used to work with that loves riding and roping (I also work with her mom in Primary), to see if she would teach Brookie how to ride, and she said she would love to. I was super excited, so the next day we met with Katherine and Brookie got her first "real" riding experience.

 

She started like this, with Katherine sitting behind her, she was really nervous. The horse was huge compared to her, and she was super worried that the horse was going to start running.

But then she got brave and rode by herself with Katherine holding onto the reins.

 

But before we left Brookie was pro at riding by herself (With Katherine leading the horse)

But she was doing awesome. She still was a little afraid that the horse was going to run, but she still did a great job. When we were done she kept asking when we were going to do it again.

 

Jocelynn kept telling me she wanted to ride her horse, this was the face she kept giving me.

So she got her way, but she still wouldn't give me a smile, but she was actually totally loving it and would have probably rode as much as Brookie.

Ryan was content in playing with the dirt, so Jocee joined him. I kept thinking about how yucky it was, so we made sure to wash our hands after, but they were happy and content. Paxton was asleep the whole time and just stayed in the car.

 

Katherine agreed to teach Brookie each week, so I am super excited for Brookie, even though I keep thinking about horses and how much they are.... oh well I have a while to think about that!

New Year, New Beginnings

It seems like their has been so many things happening in our lives right now, so I will try to give a brief summary of everything!
Without going into every detail, two years I found out I had a half-brother and his name is Adam. It was a little weird at first, and it took some time for it to sink in. Anyways we were supposed to meet up last July but things just didn't work out. Well a couple weeks ago my half-sister flew in to stay with Adam and his family and they decided to come on New Years Day to spend the day with us. It was the first time meeting Adam. I had met his wife Tyler (Fiance' at the time) and Bethany, one of his daughters, back in May. Bethany is a super sweet ten year old and she when we met them she was totally loving Aaron. Adam's oldest daughter is Jocelyn which I thought was great since we have our own Jocelynn! It was really fun to have everyone here, and it was great to see Renee, and her husband JJ, and Sage and Lindsay (my niece's).

 

Jocelyn: Age 11

 

 



 

Bethanie Age:10, and Brookie: Age 5

 



 

Adam, me, and Renee

 



 

Tyler, Paxton, and Lindsay

 

 



These are all the cousins, minus Preston

Sage 14, (holding Paxton: 4 months) Lindsay 12, Jocelyn 11, holding Jocelynn 2, Ryan 3, Bethany 10, holding Brookie 5. Missing Preston 1.

 

 



This is Sage modeling Paxton spit up, doesn't she look beautiful!

We also decided to start the New Year off right, by taking silly pictures!

Something else "New" is Ryan became a sun beam! Here he is with his new teacher Mrs. Boyce.

Ryan learned about the new theme this year "I am a Child of God" he got to make a crown to help him remember that he is a Prince.

 

Other "News": I am now Homeschooling Brookie. I haven't gotten all the materials yet, but as soon as I do I can post a picture! I am a little nervous but at the same time super excited! I have been wanting to do some kind of preschool with Ryan so I thought I would just have him sit right along side with Brookie. We get a computer and everything so Brookie is super excited and can't wait. We had fasted and prayed about it and just felt like this is what we needed to do. Brookie just hasn't been feeling as happy and as soon as we pulled her out we saw a whole different Brookie AND Ryan! It is great!

I have also started a "NEW" semester with school, and hopefully it is my last! I just need to pass these classes, and if everything transfers from BYU-I then I will be graduating this semester with my associates in Early Childhood Education! YAY!!

 

We also decided to take some "New" family pictures. Last year when we did we had 15 minutes for our pictures, this year was a little better but we still had these monkeys we had to work with!

I will definitely post our better ones, but we appreciated Julie (my mother in law) coming out and helping us take these pictures!

 

Aaron and I also sat down and wrote out a list of Goals we would like to accomplish this year. My friend Megan did a list of goals for how old you were turning that year. So Aaron is turning the big

3-0 this year so he did 30 goals, and I did 27, so sometime I will post those on here! But for now I hope you all are enjoying your Happy New Year!  

broke... literally!

Our Christmas break has been so nice! Its great having Brookie home from school and Aaron home from work, free from school!Christmas is great but the aftermath is sometimes hard to grasp when you realize you have spent all of your money, however its harder for me things come to an end and life has to start again.
       Last Wednesday Aaron had to start teaching his nursing class again, and then he had Scouts that night as well. I am seriously having a hard time letting him go Wednesday nights, we just never get to see him. So Wednesday night he went to scouts and I thought the kids and I could play a little game of Mario Party (we just introduced them to the game and they had been asking over and over to play it.), eat some ice cream, and just have a little fun. Jocee wasn't so much interested in playing but she would stand closer to the TV and watch, then leave the room, then come back to check if her little person (the computer) was winning. Well we were right in the middle of our game when all of the sudden the TV was falling from our entertainment center, and right onto Jocee. I had Paxton on the side of me and when I got up to help Jocee, Paxton rolled off of the couch onto our tile floor. By this time I was shaking like crazy trying to help Jocee by getting the TV off of her and she of course was screaming, along with Paxton who was screaming on the floor. When I turned around both Brookie and Ryan were crying, which then made me start to cry. (Can you see why I don't like when Aaron has to be gone!)
          We were just borrowing the Game Cube from Aaron's little brother, so it was just sitting on the floor and so the chords were easily accessible. Apparently Jocee pulled on the chords and she was standing perfectly as to act as a cushion for the TV. It hit her head on the way down but landed on her chest. The crazy thing is that she was perfectly fine, it just scared her, however the TV is not. It looks like shattered class when you turn it on but when its off it looks just fine. Paxton was also perfectly fine. After I picked him up he calmed right down. I was still in a panic and called Aaron to come home. Of course when he did everyone was settled down and it was like nothing had happened! Brookie and Ryan I came to find out were only crying because they couldn't finish the game! So because of that I decided to cancel Netflix, and also decided we were not going to buy another TV for a while not only because I don't want them to care so much about TV and games, but because we are also broke!
The end!
(I will try to post a picture of the TV a little later, its not working right now!)

The New Edition

     Lets go back a few months, 4 months.... On September 4th 2012, at 11:53p.m. our little Paxton was born. It has been a while, and believe me I have been wanting to write. SO today I finally get to put on record Paxton's birth.
            Living in Globe there isn't much to choose from when it comes to OB doctors. We quickly realized that the doctor here was not one that we would like to go to, their was just a clash of opinions, so we decided to go for a doctor in the Valley (the valley is about 90 minutes from Globe), however he drove up every other week to work with our family doctor in Globe. I really like our family doctor so I trusted he would only have the best of the best from the valley working for him. Well luckily for us it worked out great and we really liked Dr. Doswell. He was really great and it was nice that we didn't have to drive down to the valley for every appointment, excepts towards the end, but the downside was that we were going to have to deliver at Banner Gateway which was in the Valley, an hour and a half away. With Jocee's delivery only being 3 hours I was a little nervous. Aaron had just started his job at working out at the college and one day I had asked if he had his phone on him during class and he said he always left it in his office. I politely reminded him that he had a pregnant wife that would like to be accompanied during the labor process, after that he made sure to carry his phone! But really if I waited until I was in labor I'm not so sure I would have made it. It probably would have taken Aaron 20 min to get home then if I was prepared (which lets be honest I like to procrastinate!) I would have to load the kids things in the car and drop them off which would be like 15 min. then just the drive to the valley, I would be pushing it, probably literally! hahaha
            Anyways we decided to be induced. Since it was labor day weekend, naturally everyone decided to have babies so we got pushed back a day and went in on the 4th instead of the 3rd, which was a bummer since we had drove down their only to find out they were full and we had to come back home. We were told to call in the morning on the 4th, when we did we were told they were full and it probably wouldn't be until that evening or the next morning. We were totally bummed and weren't sure if Aaron should go to work or what we should do, but then they called like an hour after and said to come in. So we got there at about 1:30. After a half an hour later and 4 sticks in the arm, yes FOUR, she finally had the IV going and the Pitocin was started. I thought that because Jocee came so fast that once the Pitocin was going I would have dilated a lot faster but sadly that was not the case. I was at a three when we got there and when the doctor got there at 6 I was still at a three. He broke my water and they just kept upping the Petocin. At 9 they checked me and I was still at a three, but then she said a four just to say there was progression.

       During this time Aaron and I were totally getting lost into our show "Lost"... auh nice one right! We also had Laurie, Aaron's oldest brothers wife, come and visit us, she is a nurse so she was reading my contractions and being sweet at keeping me company. I really loved having her their, she is just fun and kept us laughing and breathing since the contractions were getting harder and harder. I wasn't getting anywhere though so I asked for an epidural at 9 and seriously 5 minutes later they were there ready, I was super impressed since in the past it has taken them close to 20! After I got the epidural I was super tired and was kind of freaking out that my whole left side of my body felt paralyzed and I could move my right. I was starting to panic, its weird, I almost felt claustrophobic, sounds weird but I promise it felt weird! So at 11:00 the nurse came in to check me and I was only at a 5. I think that was making me panic to because I didn't want to feel the epidural all night, I just wanted Paxton to come out so I could feel normal again, and eat cause I was starving too! Anyways at 11:20 I started feeling like I needed to push. The nurse came in and sure enough I was at a 10. She called the doctor and I had to wait for him to come in. I remember being at this point with Ryan and really freaking out cause I needed to push and it hurting. I remember like really panicking and crying, but I feel like I really handled myself well this time. I wish I could liven up the story and say I punched Aaron out or swore at the nurse, so sorry to disappoint, cause for the first time in child birth I felt like I was in control. yay me!
     Anyways about 15 minutes later the doctor got there, I still had to wait for him to get his gloves and scrub top thing on, but as soon as he was ready I pushed once and he was out. Okay maybe it was like one and a half, but it was fast! The doctor put him right on my stomach, which I got to say was kind of weird. Normally they kind of clean the baby off first then hand them to me, but he just put him right on me, I thought it was great don't get me wrong, he just felt weird and gooey! Anyways he was fine and healthy and the newest little addition to the Burk family.