Ryan's High School Graduation

Last month we celebrated one of the most meaningful of occasions, the graduation of our first child!  It was a lovely ceremony, followed by a fun party with a tasty menu.  Enjoy the pictures!

Evan carried the Christian flag.

Allison earned several awards

Evan also earned several awards

Kaitlynn graduated 8th grade!

                                              

Diploma time!

Blessed to have two Christian grandfathers.  

Burley Family - missing a few who were far away!

He taught me how to be a momma. 

Rev. John Zeigler, our good friend and conference youth director,
gave a great message for the graduates, as well as the rest of us.

Thankful both of my siblings and their families could work it

out to be with us.

Uncle Eric and Aunt Megan

Uncle Adam and Aunt Valerie

Love them!

Burley grandparents

Nichols grandparents

Just because you don't see the homemade mac - n - cheese,
bbq pulled pork, slaw, and seasoned green beans doesn't
mean they weren't there.  Ha!

Ryan's great grandma, Mrs. Yount, who lives beside us

Uncle Gene and Aunt Tina with grandpa and grandma

Tired but happy!

We put bodies everywhere we had a space!  Looks like they had fun!

March 2017

We move into the 4th quarter of the school year (where has the year gone?!).
Kaitlynn turns 13.
Allison lives on the piano bench. :-)
Greg's dad has open heart surgery, so we leave the kids for a few days and make a quick road trip to south Florida.
Thankful for protection, for caring family and friends, and for a God who care for us more than we deserve.

We're Back!

Blogging our family life was such fun for so many years, and we love going back through the photos and events that are documented in this space.
Recently I talked with a very special former student of mine (who no longer lives in the area), and the first thing he asked was, "When are you going to update the blog?"
So, here you go, William. This is for you and anyone else who wants to follow along with the life and times of the Burleys.
We pulled off a huge Christmas Eve surprise for the kids, and added a baby English Cream Golden to our family. We currently have an almost 10-year-old version, and we wanted all the kids to have opportunity to experience puppy life.

Back to School!

Other than the fact it went too fast, summer was wonderful! It's hard to believe the 15-16 school year is already underway.  Here are a few photos from our first day, which was August 19th.
 

Ryan (10th), Evan (9th), Kaitlynn (6th), Allison (2nd)

 

Someone has overtaken my driver's seat. 

The next time I go "back to school,"
I'll be 40.  Eek.

Smoky Mountain Vacation '14 Part 2

The Lumber Jack show was pretty cool. We especially liked being able to choose just the show, as opposed to the dinner show. We wish all the theaters would do this!

Chimney Tops is about our favorite swimming hole in the park.  This time we saw a very large bear.  It was just outside the bathroom and freaked us out a little because Evan was in the bathroom when the bear came!  The ranger said it was the largest bear she had seen so far. 

 

This is about my favorite place.  So relaxing.

Apparently one needs goggles...

Another bear.  This time in Cade's Cove.  The kids and I were in the
woods when this one came near.  It was a little unnerving, although
they typically do not bother unless bothered.  :-)