First Day of Third Grade

The trio had their first day of school on August 9. Eliza, Sarah, and Caleb were so excited to return to school after their summer vacation. They are in third grade this year which makes them "Big man on campus" and it means this is their last year at Taylor Elementary. Next year they will move on to Taylor intermediate. Eliza's teacher is Mrs. Christiansen. Sarah's teacher is Mrs. Hamling. And Caleb's teacher is Mr. Rogers. I know they are going to have a great year! Good luck guys!

100 Years of Love And Legacy

On Friday, August 4th we traveled to Pine, Arizona for a family reunion at camp Lo Mia. The reunion commemorated the hundred-year birthday of my grandma Erva and her twin sister Eva who were born on August 8, 1912. When my dad was just 13 years old, his mother (Erva) passed away. His dad made the decision to move with his 9 children to Mesa, AZ and married Erva's twin sister Eva who's husband passed away several years previous. Between the two of them, they had 12 children and in the years that have followed their posterity has grown to over 170 descendants! I've always loved having so many cousins, and was excited for my own children to get to know them and their children. The reunion was amazing! I wish I would have remembered to bring my camera! We played games, rode a zip line, shared memories and ate tons of yummy food. My kids formed friendships and made memories that will last forever! I learned so much about Erva and Eva and I am proud to call both of them "Grandma". I am grateful for their examples, for their lives and their legacy. I am grateful for families and for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ which makes it possible to be with our families thruout eternity.

My very talented cousin, Jerry Ferguson posted several reunion pictures on-line. These are some of my Favorites:

My dad and all his living siblings along with some of his cousins.

The Cub scouts did a great job with the flag raising.

Waiting in line for dinner while trying to stay out of the rain.

Eliza and Elliot, New BFF's

These are the pictures Adam took with his phone, just before the Talent show:

 I am thankful to everyone who worked so hard to make the reunion a success and can't wait for the next reunion!

More Family Fun

We spent the first part of the week of July 23 spending time with my parents and my sister Lydia and her family up at Green's peak. We played lots of games and went on hikes and had an all-around fun time with everyone.

Emmalee, Eliza, Conner, Sarah, Megan, Caroline 

Sarah figured she needed a GIANT stick for her GIANT Marshmallow!

Sarah and Caleb in the tree house they built with their cousins.

On Wednesday we drove over to Greer and took all the kids on a hike to Badger pond. When I was a kid, we spent a week or two every summer camping in Greer. And every day while we camped, we would go for a hike to Badger pond with my cousins.
This hike with my own kids brought back so many memories of those summers so long ago. Badger Pond was just as beautiful as I remembered it and the raspberries were just as yummy as they always were.

Eric with Grandma and Grandpa.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the trail.

Emmalee, Eric, Daniel, Eliza, Carolyn, Sarah, Conner, Caleb, Meagan

 We all had a wonderful time, and hope to go back soon.

The last part of that week was spent here in Taylor, celebrating pioneer days with Adam's parents and some of Adam's siblings and their families. We enjoyed the parade,went on some fun buggy rides, and played a hilarious game of Balderdash! (P.U.F.F) Hahaha!

'Till we meet again...

On July 20 we drove down to Florence Arizona to say farewell to Adam's sister Mallory.
 She was called to serve in the Tacoma Washington mission and will serve there for 18 months.
While we were there we stayed with Adam's brother Tyler and his wife, Lucy.  We had a fun time with them and with all of the Gurr Family.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins.
It was sad to say goodbye to Malorie, but we know that she will be a wonderful missionary and we know that we can write letters and keep in touch with her while she is serving.
We are grateful for her great example and her desire to serve the Lord.

 
We wish her the best and look forward to seeing her in year and a half. Good luck Malorie. We love you.

Independence Day

We celebrated our Independence Day this year at grandpa's cabin in the beautiful mountains of Silverton Colorado. We were there with Adam's brother Richard his wife Cali and their son Richard. We took our niece Jewellana with us, and some of Adams cousins were there as well. We had a blast riding buggies, playing games, spending time with family and enjoying the view of those beautiful mountains. The kids enjoyed the parade. Unfortunately, it was too dry for fireworks, but we still got to eat funnel cakes so we weren't too disappointed. On our way home we stopped and enjoyed a meal and entertainment by the Bar-D Wranglers. They always put on such a great show and the food is the best. We stayed a night at Adam's cousin Jason's home and headed home Saturday morning.

Sarah lets her patriotism shine, while waiting for the parade to start.

Eliza, Mollie and Sarah

Caden and Mollie

Lil' Richard, Caleb, Sarah, Eliza and Jewellana

Eliza borrowed uncle Richards had to show off her wild side.

Breathtaking scenery

What an amazing view from the top of the mountain we hiked.

Love it!

This photo was taken near the spot where Adam proposed to me. Seems like it was just yesterday when we go engaged and now here we are 11 years later. sigh... (oh and yes my 'Liza is wearing carpi's and cowgirl boots. Don't judge me!)


We all had such a wonderful time. Hopefully we can do it all again next summer!

Women's conference 2012

I spent the last weekend in June with some of my favorite women at our annual Burk family women's conference. This year, the conference was held at my aunt Julies home. The theme for our conference this year was "Daughters in my kingdom".
 The conference started out with a wonderful devotional given by my cousin Valerie. Amanda taught us how to bake yummy who whole wheat bread. And my cousin Shelly had a class on music and how I blesses our lives.
For our service project this year, we made baby quilts and put together
Kits for a charity called Newborns in Need.
The blankets and kits are given to women who have babies in the NICU.
We spent lots of time talking and laughing and sharing life experiences with one another. I am so grateful to have these women in my life to learn from their examples and draw strength from their testimonies.

I forgot my camera. Luckily My awesome sis. Amanda took some great photos and I was able to copy them.

Happy Campers

On June 18th we went camping with Grandma and Grandpa Quist, Uncle Paul and Aunt Beth and their kids. We had a fun time and our friends the Burnetts came up to enjoy the cool mountain air with us. The kids had an awesome time learning to play kick the can with their cousins. We went on some fun buggy rides and when it got dark we went spotlighting and saw tons of elk. Adam made a zip line, the kids had fun for hours on that thing. We couldn't have campfires because it was just to dry so that was a bummer, but we did play with glow-in-the-dark bubbles and had fun playing with glow sticks. We also played frisbee golf, went on some fun hikes, and played lots of games. It was a fun filled week of camping.