So when I originally started this post I was writting my letter to Santa to make sure that when he checks his "good list" that he found the burrows bunch there. I had my list of all of the things that I wanted but I only got it half written and before I knew it Christmas had come and gone. But guess what? We were on his good list. We had a great Christmas. Matter of fact we had a wonderful December...

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we all went for the traditional Christmas tree hunt. This year Richard got the biggest tree yet. I swear it takes him 2 whole days to get just the lights on the tree. But it did turn out great.

Then we had our Burrows around the world Christmas tree express. Where we go to each others house and see our trees all decorated. Everyones tree was so awesome! We had a great time too with chips, dips and yummies at Dixie and Arts house. Then off to Roybn and Cody's for salad. Then the main course was at our house and decorating sugar cookies and Brinkley and Richy's. It was so fun and since my computer is so slow at down loading pictures you will want to go to Brinkley's blog page or Robyns. They both have some darling pictures.

Then we went on vacation. It was a little more stressful to try to get ready for Christmas by Dec. 10. so we could go and not be stressed but we did pretty good. We just had a little more running around to do when we got home but we had four days to do it so it all worked out.

We went with Brinkley and Richy and Richy's family to California and then on a cruise. It was so fun. We drove down to San Diego, taking two days to get there. We stayed in St George the first night and drove the rest of the way the next day. Then stayed in California until Monday morning when we boarded Carnivals Elations boat. We went to Catalina Island where we drove the golf carts around and the kids para sailed this time. That was new and they had a good time. Then we went to Ensenada, Mexico for a day and rented a 12 passenger van and had a great time as Richard drove us all through Mexico. The blow hole was fun and the kids had fun bartering with the vendors along the way. It was a great trip. It sure didn't feel like Christmas with the weather being so warm there.

We made it home just in time to drive up to Fez's house for the Curly & Helen clan party. There was a lot of us there this year. I think fez said that there were 47 of us. Wow we are getting big. It was fun. Then we had Christmas and Santa was very good to us. We had originally said that the trip would take place of presents this Christmas but I told Richard that we had to have a few to open. Well a few turned to a few more and then to a lot more and pretty soon it was our usual Christmas that everyone gets way to much. But I do love Christmas.

It has been a great month. Full of family and fun times. This year is starting to look like it will be the same. We started out the first day of the year by all going to a movie together and then most of us (with the exception of Brinkley and Richy and addi and oakley of course) headed to the mountain for a day full of skiing.

After I could no longer walk anymore, which really didn't take me that long to get that way, we headed to Dixies for a wonderful dinner that she had made for all of her kids and their spouse. We ate and then played games. This little get together was because Rob and Natalie were in town. It was fun to see them. Rob even came skiing with us. Thanks Rob for putting up with me and how slow and whinnie I was. I will be better next time I promise.

I will try to figure out how to get my pictures to upload. I am having problems and edit this later.

Oakley's blessing day. Another post that I didn't post when the event actually happened. So I went to start typing on this one and somehow I deleted three of the pictures that were here. Where are they I don't even know. They were of the whole family standing on our front porch and a darling one of Oakley, Cody, me and my sweet mom. A four generation one and now I don't know where they went. This is why I get so frustrated doing this blogging stuff because I know just enough to mess stuff up and not enough to fix it. So we have changed computers since I started this post and now I hope that I can find those adorable pictures. But at least I have this darling one of Oakley. Cody gave her a beautiful blessing and then we came to our house for lunch. What a special day and what a special baby. And to think that this adorable baby is now almost a year and a half old. I am the worst blogger ever.

What Matters Most!

I think that this has such a great message. Take a minute to watch it. Click herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhDhiojBPA

WiTcHeS PaRtY

Ok so Paige is trying to help me figure out all the in's and out's to this blogging world and I guess I started a blog about our wonderful witches party of 2009 and never posted it. Man I didn't even remember that I had started it. But I will now post the pictures I guess. Becky and her girls always put on the best witches party. This year we all went to Becky's house and made these adorable hats. Then we went out to eat to show them off. It was so much fun with lots of good food and great laughs. Dixie looks wonderful.
Here is the whole bunch of us waiting to be seated. What a great bunch of "witches"
Here is me with McKenzie and Brinkley. Paige had a hot date and wasn't able to be there for this part of the party. Robyn just had Oakley and she wasn't sure how she would sleep in a new place. Brinkley's hat makes me laugh every time I look at it!!! This is where her Grandma Helen comes out in her. Some times they are so much alike.
Paige did show up for the sleepover and brought her date with her. Isn't he a keeper. Becky always decorates so adorable and makes the party so much fun that we can't wait for the next year to get here. I just need to find my pictures from this last year and add them to this post. She out did herself again and we had another wonderful time. Thanks Becky for putting on such a great party.

General conference

When the kids started getting married we started a new tradition. We always have everyone over for breakfast and watch the first session of conference together. We try to be done by the time the first sessions starts but we don't always make it so some times we have to watch a few speakers while we finish eating.

Boys will be Boys!

The boys practicing their handstands before they left for hunting!

Cody, Parker, and Richard all went hunting a few weeks ago. They didn't get anything but had a good time being all together. Robyn and I made two trips up to camp because Cody forgot his bag with all of his clothes in it. We also took Kenzie, Addi and Oakley up on Saturday. It's good to see the boys getting back into hunting and to get to remember and talk about all of the good times that I had hunting when I was growing up.

All my Boys Parker, Cody, and Richard

Doesn't Parker look so cute I mean manly in his Orange

Most of the family that went up to camp

The boys on the opening day!

McKenzie, Addi, Oakley and Robyn staying close to the fire.

Addi, Cody, and Kenz taking a ride on Henry

Addi loved playing in the tent

Addi helping the boys take down the tent.

Robyn sitting in the car with Oakley and her chips where it was a little bit warmer.

Crafts!

I love anything that has to do with spending time with my family. I have gotten to spend a lot of time with Brinkley since she and I both had Tuesday's and Thursday's off. While Robyn is off we decided that the three of us would make some crafts and spend time together. We decided to make some fall pumpkins out of wood. They turned out so good and it was fun to get to visit with the girls.

After Brinkley put a couple of coats of Paint on her pumpkins she decided that she should take a nap with Oakley.

Lotoja Bike Ride

One of Richards true loves is biking. This year we trained together for the Lotoja bike ride. It is a ride the starts in Logan and ends in Jackson Hole. We actually rode as a relay this year. I wasn't very excited about the ride but it turned out so good and I am glad that I did it. I rode the first leg of the race. The night before I realized that I didn't now how to change my tire if I got a flat so Richie gave me a crash course on it at 11p the night before the race. I was just praying that I didn't get a flat tire. Of course I did but everything turned out alright. As I was getting ready to start the race my phone started ringing and it Brinkley and Richy. They had come to watch us race. They are always so good to support things that our family does. It was a really great experience and one that I think I might be willing to do again with Richard. Richard sister Becky was so nice to let us and our friends Bryce and Anne stay at her house the night before.

Me getting ready to start the race.

Our friend Anne getting ready for her leg of the race

Al and Jan

OuR nEw GrAnd BaBy!

The proud dad!
We have been really bad about updating our blog lately. Life has been so busy around our house. We are so excited that our new grand baby is here. Cody had Robyn now have two beautiful daughters. Their newest arrival made her grand appearance on September 17, 2009 at 9:36a. She weighed 7lbs. 7oz and was 21 inches long. Richard, Brinkley, and I were all able to be at the hospital when she arrived. She has dark hair and looks a lot like her dad. I was so suprised at how quickly she came. We all got a nice wake up call from Cody at 5a telling us that Robyn's water had broke and that they were headed to the hospital. After Oakley got here Robyn didn't even look like she had just had a baby. They named her Oakley Ann Burrows! Richard had told Robyn that she wasn't allowed to have Oakley until after the Lotoja bike ride. She was very good and waited until a week after the ride.

Me and my newest grand baby!

Richard with Oakley and Addi...

Robyn with the two girls.

Robyn with Oakley Ann Burrows.

Our Growing Family!

It seems like so much has changed around our house in the last year and a half. Just a short time ago we were just the original seven. I have loved having my kids around our house. Although they weren't always home on time and we had our disagreements we are a family with lots of love. I know that there is a time when they must grow up and move on. They will always be a part of our family but the time has come that they are off on their own starting their own beautiful families.

Here is a picture of our Children:
Cody, Brinkley, Paige, Parker, and McKenzie.

In the last year and a half we have added a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law. I am not happy about my kids leaving home, but if they most go I am glad that they could find wonderful eternal companions to share their lives with.


We have also been blessed with two wonderful grandchildren. And can't wait to have more come into our family in the years to come.

Here is a picture of just the girls!

Just the boys.

Addi and Grandpa Richie

Grandpa, Grandma, Addisyn, and our newest addition Oakley

Brinkley and Richy

Cody, Robyn, Addisyn, and Oakley

Our Wonderful Family!

All of these pictures where taken by our good friend Gaylen.
Thanks for the pictures they turned out wonderful!

Homecoming!

Here are some pictures of Parker and his adorable date Haley. These pictures are thanks to her sister Talecia. He had such a great time.

As promised here are pictures of some of
our adventures with Lucia!

So I am so behind on blogging. We have been doing so many wonderful fun things the last month or so and I haven't had a chance to sit and write about it. Part of the problem is this sloooooow computer. It takes forever to download a picture but I think that I need to start to play caught up anyway.

So we were so sad that Lucia, our spain daughter for 3 weeks had to go home. She was absolutely a joy to have stay with us and hope that we will keep in contact with her and her family forever. I will try to down load some of the pictures of the fun activities that we did while she was here and her sad going away. Lucia if you are reading this we hope you are having a ball on your next vacation and know that we still miss you.

Anyway the Burrows girls headed up to Ed week again this year and had another wonderful year. It is always so fun to go to Ed week. We get so spiritually feed and have such a great time with the Burrows girls. This year we did the traditional toe nail painting and Stacy, Steph, and Kaitlyn did a awesome job. They also made darling braclets and watch bead bands too. They turned out so cute. I really loved the speakers again this year. As I did last year I loved Bro. Baron. What a mind he has. He can remember so many things and it was interesting to learn that a few years ago he also went through a bout of cancer. I always feel a kinda of bond with anyone who has experienced cancer. It is like Jill Grant said. You are all part of a club. A club no one ever wants to be part of but once you are you feel a kindred with those that have experienced some of the same things you have gone through.

We have been busy getting the kids ready to go back to school. (BOO WHO) I hate when my kids go back to school. I always have. I have never been the kind of mom that looks forward to having some time to myself while they are at school. I am always happiest when I have my children home and close to me. Even now that they are married. I do like to have them home. So though I am so thankful that we live in a country that educates our children I still hate it when they have to go back to school.

We had the opportunity to just drop everything on Wednesday and just take a quick trip to Bear Lake. (I must say that Bear Lake even tho it is where years ago I almost died. Seriously. I still love the place.) I love the great big body of water but believe me I also respect it very much. I love the sun there too but have gotten a new thinking on how very hot it can be and how very much I am thankful for Sunscreen. Anyway we went and stayed up at the 3 bears cabin at the Nebekers. Mike talked to them to see if his family could go and no one was using it on Wednesday so we loaded up and went. Paige had to work...sorry Paige we did miss you but Parker and McKenzie went. We had a great time. We meet up with the Petersons (Brinkley and Richy too.) and went and ate pizza. They really showed us up by eating the biggest pizza I have ever seen called the "OLD EPHRIAM" pizza. Way to go Petersons. Then we went to the cabin Kenzie and Park played in the water. Light was running out so no time for swim suits. They just ran in and jumped on the trampoline and played for awhile then a little bad mitton. Wow did I laugh hard at how good we all were at that game. I have such funny children. We then watched a little I love Lucy. Great show.

The next morning we got up and went on a bike ride. Parker and Kenzie rode the first 10 miles while I followed in the car and then I rode for 17. We rode over to pack the bikes up at the KOA where Petersons were staying. We said our good byes and off we went. Less than 24 hours had past and we were on our way home. We packed a lot into that one day but we had a great time and would we do it again????? Yes we would. Matter of fact Kenzie is up there with the young women right now. I bet you are having a blast Kenzie. I am jeolous.