Wow it's been 6 months!

I guess taking 6 months off from updating my blog and visiting my friends blogs explains the craziness in our lives! Although now it seems that we're still busy as ever.

2010 has already started out great for our family. We feel so blessed. Since Rich lost his job last summer we have learned how important it is for us to work together as a couple and a family. I think trials can either bring you closer together or drive you away. Thankfully with alot of patience, love, faith and sacrifice we made it! I should also mention that our food storage and savings came in handy too!

So we went from having no job to both of us working. I work part-time as a Wellness Coach for a company that provides health and wellness coaching and training for companies & their employees. It's wonderful because I love helping, teaching and motivating people to set realistic goals every month. If you know me well, you know I love to workout and I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years now. It's my passion, so I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to further my education and continue helping people.

Rich got a great job at Franklin Covey. He just fits the picture, don't you think? I remember him saying how he'd love to work for them years ago...so it's awesome that his time has come! I'm so amazed by his consistency in looking, applying and interviewing for so many jobs these past 8 months. We figured that he had plenty of practice for his interviews before he landed one. He applied for over 80 jobs and had 35 interviews all together! Wow it was a long ride and now it's so great to buckle down and relax a little bit. Now the trick is to work super hard to keep a job. It seems that alot of our friends are going through the trial of unemployment. My advice to them is to realize and understand that it's a roller-coaster ride. One day you're up because you get an interview and it went great, the next day you're down because they with someone else. Another day you're up because you connected with an old colleague who's company is hiring. the next day you're down because they decided to wait another 6 months before posting the position. It's seriously draining...emotionally, physically, mentally and obviously financially! But just keep 'keepin' on. Keep looking, talking, networking, applying, interviewing, sacrificing, serving and believing that it will happen...and it will! Good luck to you!

Our perfect summer...

Summer is officially over...sad but I can't complain about the wonderful summer we've had as a family. Rich was laid off in June (not necessarily the best time to be out of work) but really we feel so blessed for the fun times we've had. We were able to take the kids on a few trips. We went camping up in Yellowstone and Jackson Hole for a week, hiked in the Arches National Park in Moab, had the best week ever in Lake Powell...just to name a few! Along with our fun travels, it has been so nice to have Rich around! It'll be a sad and happy day when he goes back to work...for all of us! It's just been so nice to spend these past few months together as a family...it'll be a summer we'll always remember...for the best. We took lots of pictures, but here are a few of my favorites!

Lake Powell

Yellowstone

Jackson Hole

Moab

Canoeing at String Lake

Welcome Fall! - I'm almost giddy just saying it! I love the changing of leaves, the smell of pumpkin spice, the cooler temperatures and definitely college football. It's my favorite time of year! Avery started Kindergarten and she says her favorite part is either riding on the bus or recess! Typical 5 year old, don't ya think? She's such a funny girl! Hank cried on her first day saying, "Me miss Wavery!" So sad, but so cute too.

Mrs. Burk

1st Day

Busy, busy, busy June!

I thought I'd better blog about the summer fun we've had so far! June was a very busy month with both the Miss Lehi and Miss Utah pageants, Father's Day, the Lehi Parade and Rodeo with Hank in the Baby Contest and Lagoon day! Here are some fun pics from June!

I apologize now for how crazy this post looks! I tried to move pictures closer to eachother, but it kept messing things up...so please just bare through it! :)

Here we are at the Lehi Rodeo!

Lagoon!

He kept saying "Hi Fag!" and waving to people through the parade because there were American flags along the parade route and he LOVES flags. (By the way, no I didn't mispell flag, Hank just can't say his "L's" so it was even funnier! We had a great time!

















Happy Father's Day to the Best DAD in the world and the BEST Grandpa!





































I saw my friends, Helen and Annette at the Miss Utah Pageant. What a fun night!

Me, Emily Daniels Miss Lehi 2008, my sister Ashley and Natalie



My sister Amy, me, my nieces Savannah & Maddie







Me, Kayla Barclay Miss Utah 2008 and Martha

Happy Birthday Avery!

It's hard to believe that our little peanut turned 5 on May 17th. I remember someone telling me how fast time flies once you have kids and I'm now starting to believe this to be true! With Avery being our first child, I couldn't wait for her to roll over, say "mama" and take her first steps but now I just want life to slow down! I'm not looking forward to her stepping onto that big yellow bus and going to Kindergarten next fall...I'm going to miss her so much! She's just the best big sister to Hank and Luke and the best big helper to me.

Avery chose to have a 'carnival' birthday party this year. She wanted to invite all of her cousins, friends and neighbors to just come over and play! So that's what we did. We had 'homemade' popcorn (thanks to Kat!), facepainting, a blowup bouncy house and a 'balloon guy!' It was so fun! We had ice-cream cone cupcakes (so cute because most of the kids just licked the frosting off) and just had a great time playing in the backyard. It was funny because all Avery wanted to do was help with the facepainting! Oh well...it was her birthday! Here's a couple of pictures of the fun day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVES!

Springtime & Easter!

Well...I'm a day late with blogging. My goal is to blog once a month (the 17th) and I just missed it, since it's 12:30 am! We had a busy day and I just haven't had time until now!

We've had such a fun and busy Spring so far! My sister Wendy and her kids came up for a week and then they came up again for Easter! How lucky are we? We went to Ikea, the zoo, the movies to see "Hannah Montana" and the park too! I just love it when they come, because I pretty much put everything off (laundry especially and even pre-school!) for the whole time. I feel like I don't want to miss out on anything...so we basically hang out at my parents and plan fun things to do! It was so fun having them here! For Easter we went to the Revill Easter egg hunt & breakfast on Saturday morning. Here are some pics!

All the cousins right before the egg hunt

The whole Revill Family!
Steve, Khloe, Avery, Me, Rich, Luke, Hank, Brian, Amy
Wendy, Kade, Kortnee, Nicole, Foster, Shelby, Dawon, Maddie, Ally, Savannah, Tucker
Desiree, Noah, Annabelle, Ashley, Johnny, Bowen, Dad, Mom

After the Revill's, we drove up to Grandma Taffy's to decorate (and eat of course) her famous and delicious sugar cookies! The kids had a wonderful time! I think Hank ate more frosting than anyone else. He gets that from me!

Connor, Eliza, Grandma Taffy and Hank

Avery and Elizabeth

Luke is 5 1/2 months old...gosh time flies. What a cutie! He's rolling over now, eating rice cereal with applesauce and drinking from a bottle. Life is good! I've decided that I would love to have a 5 month old baby around all the time...it's like getting a puppy! You just don't want the puppy to grow up! :) I love watching him grow and do new things everyday, but I LOVE the baby stage!





Avery had her cousins Annabelle and Khloe over for their 1st sleepover together! They had such a great time! Thank heavens for her full size bed! They went to bed after giggling for about 1/2 hour and they actually slept through the night to my surprise! I thought for sure we'd have little girls in our bed by morning! They had a great time together!