Favorite Things

Benson's favorite things:
Zoobooks - we HIGHLY recommend ordering these magazines, Benson is so excited when we receive one in the mail and we read them to him so much that he basically memorizes them! His latest Zoobook is about bats. This afternoon he told me that bats are not eternal. It took me a minute to realize that he meant nocturnal!
A Goofy Movie - I don't even want to think about how many times we've watched this movie lately (at least once a day). He loves to sing the songs, quote lines from it, and is constantly trying to get us to pretend to go on vacation to "get away from it all". Even I can't get the songs out of my head. I added them to our playlist if you would like them stuck in yours. :)
BYU t-shirt - I bought him a new BYU t-shirt when I was in Utah and he has asked to wear it almost every day this week.
You Tube - Mike introduced Benson to You Tube while I was gone. Ben thinks that everything Mike shows him on You Tube is hilarious. It must be a boy thing. But I love watching him as he watches because he LAUGHS so hard! Some favorites are Dramatic Hamster , Dramatic Lemur, and Skeleton Dance.

Grace's favorite things:

Dancing - She loves to have dance parties. Aunt Jenny taught her to shake her booty and she loves to do that and somersaults.
Halloween - Grace is SO excited to be a Lion for Halloween. She is definitely the most excited of all of the kids about dressing up and trick or treating. If I would let her I'm sure she would wear her costume every day this week.

Puppy purse - Grace got her little purse with a puppy in it for her birthday and she has taken it EVERYWHERE until we lost it this week. She insisted on bringing it to the pumpkin patch and out to dinner on Monday and we haven't seen it sent. We even called the restaurant but they didn't find it. Guess we know what she's getting for Christmas.

Riding her bicycle - Grace still can't reach the pedals on her big wheel, but that doesn't stop her. Every time I see her ride her bike I think of Fred Flintstone, her legs move so fast! She never seems to get tired of being outside.

Sabrina's favorite things:

Nuggles - That's how she says snuggle. Sabrina asks me for "nuggles" all the time. Usually she insists that I sit in the rocking chair and also wants her blanket and a "nuggle drink" (sippy cup) when she's ready to snuggle.
Singing - Seriously I have never met a kid who loves to sing as much as Sabrina. Benson has taught her many of the songs he has learned at school so now they sing them together. She loves to learn new songs but I think Old McDonald will always be her favorite.
Doing what Grace and Benson do - It was so interesting to watch Sabrina while we were out in Utah without Benson and Grace. She is much more lively and outgoing when her brother and sister are around, it's almost like watching a different child. She is such a mimicker!
Fruit snacks - The child would live off nothing but fruit snacks if that was an option. She calls them candy and asks for them about 20 times a day.

Mike's 28th Birthday!

Mike turned 28 on Monday. He took most of the day off of work (but not quite the whole day) because I wasn't quite back from my trip to Utah in the morning and so that we could go do something as a family after Ben got out of school. We went to a pumpkin patch and out to dinner and then came home and decorated and ate birthday cake!

2 years in Mexico as a missionary

+

4 months after his mission before we were engaged

+

6 years of marriage

+

4 years of fatherhood

+

3 years at Sac State and an undergraduate degree in business

+

5 years living in Sacramento

+

1 year at Perry Communications

+

2 years with Wells Fargo

+

1 year back in Oklahoma

=

28!

It doesn't seem so old when you add up everything that Mike has accomplished! I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband and father for my children.

Fall Break - Trip to Utah!

In previous posts I have mentioned my new twin neices and nephew who were born within the last two months but live in Utah, too far away for me to hold. When I found out that my parents and sisters were planning to go to Utah for Fall Break, the wheels in my head started turning and I developed a perfect plan (in my opinion). I would just drive out with them. The problem was that Mike couldn't really afford to take as much time off work as he needed to. So we called Mike's mom (Grandma Kathy) and convinced her to come up for a visit to help care for the kiddos so I could go hold my neices and nephew. I ended up taking Sabrina with me, because she is a pretty easy kid, and the thought of leaving her home for so long made me want to cry. Yes she is the baby and she is spoiled.

So last Tuesday, Grandma Kathy flew into town to watch Ben and Grace and a few hours later, Sabrina and I headed to Utah with Grandpa Jeff, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Sarah. My mom was already in Utah helping with new baby Spencer who was born the week before.

It was a great trip! Sabrina was pretty darn near perfect the entire time, even the 17+ hour drive both ways! I got lots of baby holding in and enjoyed spending time with my siblings, parents, extended family, and even some of my friends from Sacramento. Even though there were 3 new babies, Sabrina was still quite spoiled and I think enjoyed all of the attention. I was especially grateful to be there for my twin neices' baby blessings on Sunday. I really appreciate my parents and sisters for letting us crash their trip and putting up with Sabrina and I while we were out there. I definitely would not have made it out there without their help!

And Grandma Kathy survived the experience and claims she even enjoyed it! In all seriousness, I have been told that Benson and Grace were actually really good and I know that they had TONS of fun. They went to McDonald's, story time at the library, and even the zoo (and probably other places that I don't know about). We really appreciate her willingness to come and help us out and I especially appreciate that she took such good care of everything while I was away. And I must also acknowledge my husband who also sacrificed lots so that I could do this, including taking Ben and Grace to Stake Conference by himself and doing Grace's hair on a Sunday! I came home on Mike's birthday to a clean house with everything taken care of! Enough with the appreciation...here is the photographic evidence...and there is a LOT!

I call this collage Aunt Jess! I love being an Aunt! 1 - Baby Spencer who is the son of my sister Kathleen and her husband Bryce, 2 - Baby Aislee who is the daughter of my brother Paul and his wife Molly, 3 - Baby Olivia who is Aislee's identical twin sister and therefore also the daughter of Paul and Molly, 4 - Spencer, 5 - Aislee, 6 - Olivia

1 - The beginning of the journey, 2 - Aunt Sarah holding Spencer, 3 - Aunt Jenny holding Olivia and Aunt Sarah holding Aislee, 4 - The babies sleeping while we ate lunch at Fazoli's, 5 - Grandma Stevens holding Aislee, 6 - Sabrina, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Jenny, Aunt Kathleen, and Spencer at BYU (Funny story about this trip to BYU, I drove my rental car and we picked up Kathleen and Spencer. When we tried to remove his carseat that I had so expertly buckled in, we couldn't get the seat belt out! We seriously tried for forever to get it out and if it hadn't been for Aunt Sarah's skills my next move was to find some tools and remove the entire seat belt. It's a good thing that Kathleen is a calmer mother than I am!), 7 - Sabrina playing at the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point (I should have taken more pictures because we met one of my good friends from Sacramento there with her 2 kids, but I didn't) 8 - Sarah riding my sister Chelsea's scooter, 9 - Grandma Stacey riding my Aunt Robyn's motorcycle, you don't see your mom ride a motorcycle every day, or at least I don't

Friday night I was able to go out for dessert with some of my good friends from California - Lisa and Elisabeth (in the back) live in Utah, but Rachel lives in Las Vegas. What a great coincidence that we were both in Utah the same weekend! It was so fun to get together and talk to these girls who I love, admire, and respect. Hope we can do it again ladies, possibly in a more exotic location next time!

On Saturday we went miniature golfing with my family and my sister-in-law Molly's family who were also in town for the blessing of the twins

1 - Sabrina and Mommy, 2 - Aunt Molly helping Sabrina golf, 3 - Uncle Paul and Aunt Molly, I think she was yelling "Let me be my own person!" at this point, 4 - Grandpa Jeff and Sabrina, 5 - Sabrina feeding Uncle Matt leaves (he was a good sport), 6 - Aunt Jenny golfing, 7 - Grandma Stacey and Sabrina, 8 - My cousins Danielle and Stephanie holding the twins (don't ask me who is holding whom because I don't know...I know I deserve the Aunt of the Year Award!), 9 - Aunt Chelsea and Sabrina

After mini golfing we headed to Rock Canyon Park to eat pizza and some people went ice blocking.

1 - Aunt Sarah holding Spencer, 2 - Aunt Chelsea kissing Aislee, 3 - Aunt Jenny holding Aislee, 4 - Aunt Sarah holding Aislee (I don't know who had Olivia at this point, but I only got pictures of everyone with Aislee), 5 - Uncle Matt wrestling with Sabrina, 6 - Grandma Stacey holding Sabrina after Uncle Paul took her ice blocking (and no I didn't get a good picture despite making her go down 3 different times! I tried.) 7 - Kathleen, Paul, and Jenny, 8 - Everyone in my family who was there except for me and Aunt Molly, 9 - Sisters!

Olivia and Aislee's Blessing Day!

1 - The Burkinshaw side who were able to be at the blessing, 2 - The Wright's (Bryce, Kathleen, and baby Spencer), 3 - The Burkinshaw's (Paul holding Olivia, Molly holding Aislee, 4 - Olivia and Aislee, 5 - Aislee, Sabrina, and Olivia, 6 - Sabrina, 7 - Grandpa Jeff and Spencer, 8 - Aunt Chelsea and Sabina, 9 - Sabrina and Mommy

1 - Aunt Jenny and the twins, 2 - Me and the twins, 3 - Sarah and the twins, 4 - Paul holding Olivia, Grandma Stacey holding Aislee, 5 - Paul with Olivia, Grandma Stacey with Aislee, and Kathleen with Spencer, 6 - Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Stacey with the twins, 7 - Grandma and Grandpa with their 3 new grandchildren - their grandchildren have doubled this year!, 8 - Grandma Stacey with Spencer, 9 - Aunt Jenny with Sabrina

Fall Festival

On Friday night, we got to attend the Fall Festival that was put on by Benson's elementary school. The kids had fun in the hay bale maze, the bounce houses, playing various games like bowling and basketball, and their favorite, the pony ride! Grace had talked non-stop about the pony ride all day and when we went to put her on, you guessed it, she started bawling. But her daddy helped her get over it and she had fun. I personally was not impressed, especially because the lines were ridiculously long, but I remember thinking school carnivals were so fun as a kid. Benson saw at least 3 kids from his class while we were there, which was fun. Actually I should say that 3 kids from his class said hi to him.
Funny story of the night: As we were walking across the parking lot to the car at the end of the night, there was a little girl who was also leaving who said "Hi Benson." He briefly looked over at her and said "Hi Mikyla" (not sure if that is spelled right or not) and continued on his way. Then the little girl's dad was like "It's Jasmine. But they do look a lot alike." We thought it was pretty funny and very indicative of Benson's social awareness. Mike and I were talking about what happened again tonight and I told Mike that I'm pretty sure that Jasmine is in Benson's group for centers (meaning they spend more time together doing activities than with the rest of the children). Mike said something about how he couldn't believe that Benson didn't even recognize the girl from his center group and all I had to say to him was "Are you in band?" When Mike and I were sophomores in high school, my best friend Kim was a freshman and at the time she had a big crush on Mike. Mike and Kim were both in band and both played the clarinet. At a church dance that year, Mike asked Kim to dance (which was a big deal because she liked him) and then proceeded to ask her "Are you in band?" Not only was she in band, but she played the SAME instrument, they went to marching band practice EVERY morning before school, and she said that she would purposely try to stand by him as much as possible during practice. Needless to say she was crushed. And it was a huge joke between Kim and I and our other friends during high school. I let Mike in on the joke when we were dating after his mission and we still laugh about it when it comes up. Like father, like son!
Anyways, they had fun and it was nice to spend some family time together. We feel like we do a lot of tag team parenting lately. Here are some pictures. The quality is very poor, the camera and I obviously weren't in sync.

1- Benson sliding out of the bounce house, 2- Sabrina shooting hoops, 3- Mike and the kiddos, 4-6 Pony rides

Nephew!

Yesterday my beautiful and talented little sister Kathleen gave birth to her first baby, a handsome little boy that they have named Spencer! He came very quickly and I am more than a little jealous of her abbreviated labor. My life is complete, now I have 2 nieces and a nephew. Benson is very excited about his boy cousin, but a little disappointed that he doesn't get to see him until Christmas. Hopefully Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Bryce will provide us with lots of pictures until then!

Spencer weighed 7 lbs, 70z. We are all in love with the little cleft in his chin!

Could anything be cuter? A Spencer sandwich with Aislee (left) and Olivia (right) bread! I can't WAIT to hold these babies!

10 Minutes in the Life of a Girl

The girls were having a tea party on the patio last night and I went out and took a bunch of pictures within about 10 minutes. I laughed when I looked at them because of the myriad of emotions displayed in this short time period. If you are wondering what my days are like lately, it's like riding two very different roller coasters at the same time in opposite directions that FREQUENTLY CRASH! What an exciting ride!

1 - Joyful, 2 - Contemplative, 3 - Mad as heck, 4 - Distraught, 5 - Confident (she's #1), 6 - Booger lickin' (SICK!)

1 - Mischevious, 2 - Shocked, 3 - Angry, 4 - How you doin?, 5 - Happy, 6 - Helpful

Being a fairy is hard work

During the morning session of General Conference, Sabrina was eating lunch and fell asleep. She was all dressed up in Grace's Tinkerbell costume from last Halloween.

Visitor from the East

This past weekend, we were lucky enough to have Uncle Eric (Mike's older brother) come and visit us. He has been in Iraq since January and is here in the states on leave for a few weeks. Our kids have entered what I like to call their talkative phase. Whenever they see a member of our extended family, they get VERY excited and talk A LOT all at the SAME TIME. I'm sure it is very overwhelming for our family (it is for me too). All I can say is that if Uncle Eric didn't feel very loved after visiting with our kids, then I don't think he ever will. The kids talked his ear off and climbed on him and loved on him enough to hopefully last him until we see him again (hopefully in January). On Saturday, Mike and Eric took the kids to see the movie Space Chimps and also to the Tulsa State Fair. We are grateful that Uncle Eric was willing to spend part of his leave visiting us and can't wait to see him again when his deployment is over.

Uncle Eric, Benson, Grace, and Sabrina at the State Fair petting zoo

Uncle Eric and Benson posing...Benson came up with his poses all on his own, no prompting

Uncle Eric and Grace

Uncle Eric and Sabrina...Sabrina is sometimes shy around family, but she was great with Uncle Eric until Monday morning when he was leaving. I noticed she was running a fever shortly after we dropped Eric off at the airport, so I think the sadness here is reflective of her illness and not her true feelings for Uncle Eric.

18!!

Last Thursday was my sister Jenny's 18th birthday. We headed to B'ville to have dinner and spend the night at Grandma's house after Benson got out of school. Grandma waited to frost the cupcakes until we got there and gave each of the kids a different color of sprinkles to decorate a few cupcakes with. They made a big mess, but they had fun...which is what matters, right? Aunt Jenny was also nice enough to let everyone help her blow out the candles. We love Aunt Jenny!

And because I have not yet produced enough collages, here's another one that we framed and gave to Aunt Jenny as a birthday present. And amazingly enough, Benson did not spill the beans about what the present was before it was opened. He has been struggling with keeping presents a secret lately.

We were all chuckling about the middle picture of Grace...she definitely had a chubby phase.