Burke Family: More Than Grateful

I don't think I'll ever forget this November!

What an incredible month it was for our family!

First off......a VERY BIG BIRTHDAY!!

Ty turned 16 on the 4th!!

He has been waiting to be able to drive himself around alone,

and date like you can't believe!

This 16th Birthday ended up being extra fun....

it was also the day of the Sadies Dance at the High School,

so he was able to go to his first High School Dance, right on his 16th Birthday!

It was really fun because Garrett got asked by Siena Morris,

and Ty got asked by Jada Pieper, and they are awesome friends,

which meant Garrett and Ty were in the same group!

How cool is that?

Ty's first date spent with his Brother!

They had a blast!

It was cute how Jada asked Ty....

She knew it would be on his Birthday so she went with that theme!

We caught Jada and Siena outside shortly after,

so we made her come get a picture with Ty!

He was so excited!

We tried our darndest to answer back really cool......

but it turned in to a pinterest fail! Ha ha!

We baked a cake with the word YES inside.

But, by the time we drove to her house, it had settled,

and when she cut in to it, it was all messed up!

She got the jist of it though and all was well!

Siena asked Garrett with a ton of skittles!

Sis and Aust had fun helping him solve this one!

Each letter of her name was written on a different skittle.

They had to find them all and figure out her name!

Garrett and Siena have been friends since 2nd grade!

We dug deep into our family videos and came up with

what quite possibly may be the best way we ever answered anyone back to a dance!

In 2nd grade they did a 50s program.

Garrett and Siena had to dance together.

So.....we put a little video clip together of them in 2nd grade,

and then with permission of their Seminary Teacher,

Garrett showed it on the screen in the Seminary class and everyone was DYING!!!

It was so fun!!

So, with all of the asking and answering out of the way.....

it was time to celebrate Ty turning 16 and get this dance date started!

Gma Davies also celebrates her Birthday with Ty,

so she drove up early that morning in hopes of seeing him.

We drove up to Kaysville and had breakfast at Granny Annies

and Grandpa Randle came down and joined us as well.

Ty and Garrett hurried home to get ready,

and so did we so we could take some pics before they left for the day date.

Just waiting on the boys to get ready! :)

They spent the morning at Fat Cats bowling and hanging out.

They ate some lunch and came home for a bit to get ready for the dance.

I knew we'd only have a couple of hours to celebrate Ty's Birthday with him,

so I made him his favorite.....

banana cream pie,

and I text a bunch of his friends and asked them to drop in when Ty got home

to surprise him for a few minutes and eat pie with us while we opened his gift!

He was so surprised to see them all and had fun hanging out for a bit!

He also had a friend by the name of Ashlyn Suarez come

decorate his room while he was gone.

Julia was all over that idea of helping her! They were up there for a while having fun!

We gave him his Letterman's jacket for his Birthday!

Those were some fun surprises for Ty in between the dance activities!

The dance was an 80's theme this year,

so the group dressed up in different shirts of 80's bands.

Ty and Jada were Metallic and Garrett and Siena were Rolling Stones

We followed them up to Main Street in Layton to a white brick wall for group pictures!

They turned out cute!

We ran in to our basketball buddy Colby Browning while we were there.

He played with us during our Nationals Trip and we just love him!

He goes to North Ridge and they had their dance that night as well!

Fun to see him.....such a nice kid!

Jada Pieper, Ty, Siena Morris, Garrett, Gabby Segura, Vandin Burriel,

I can't explain this one either! Other than we were doing funny 80's poses! Ha ha!

They took off for dinner at Wingers.

After the dance they went back to Jori Taylor's house to hang out with a big group of kids!

They had the best time, and it was such a fun first date for Ty!

Every time I saw them they were constantly laughing.....

I think that was partly due to Garrett and his quick wit! Ha ha!

But they had an awesome date!

Thank you ladies for taking them!!

Happy Birthday Ty!

We love you so much!

We got a kick out of the fact that two days later,

Ty was asked to Preference......

That is in February!

He was asked by Brooke Honegman.....

she is such a sweet girl and Ty was flattered!

Birthday Number 2 for the month is Julia!!

I cannot believe she is turning 11.

Next year she'll be in Young Women's! Crazy to me!

We had a very special surprise up our sleeve for her Birthday!

But first.....I was able to go on a field trip with her that morning!

We went to the movie theater to watch a documentary on the ocean floor!

It was so fun to be with her and she couldn't have had a more fun day at school!

Liv came over to hang out for a bit and they made slime!

Kids and their slime!!

We opened her gifts, sang, ate her cake and then took off for the best part!

Trav and I had made a scavenger hunt for the kids!

So, we all loaded into the car and started out to follow our first clue!

The first clue said:

The kids figured out that meant the Bird Refuge off Gentile.

So we drove over there to find our next clue taped to the gate!

Jensen Pond was just the place!

Our 3rd clue was found there on a door at the club house there.

On our church window was our 4th clue!

We drove to the football field at the High School and found our 5th clue

hooked to the gates of the stadium!

There at the fire pit was a big box with a bow!

The kids opened it to find........Mikey Balloons pop up!!

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!

They were all so excited and we spent the next hour inside,

watching Disneyland rides on YouTube!

It was hard to go to bed that night!

We had a few days to wait.....since we didn't fly out until Saturday, 11th.

But it was fun to be excited and to get ready!!

We celebrated Trav's Birthday on the 10th!

He's now 42!!

We didn't do much since we were leaving the next morning....

but hopefully he knows we loved him anyway!

One of Sister's Birthday gifts was a gift card to go to Noelle

and get her nails done for the trip!

We searched online for disney nails we wanted and had fun getting them done!

The next morning, we woke up early, finished packing our things

and left for the AIRPORT!!!

Gpa Randle drove us down and dropped us off!

Austy had never flown on a plane before, so it was fun for him to experience!

I packed him some fun things to do, and of course he had the Ipad!!

Julia was kindof a bucket of nerves during take off!

We landed and went to get the rental van.

Everyone was hungry, and a little tired!

We found a dollar store to buy some sand toys for the beach,

at some lunch and headed to our hotel in Newport Beach.

It wasn't the nicest place we've stayed,

but it was one block away from an awesome beach,

and it had one room in a loft area to fit our entire family together!

They let us use their beach chairs and wake boards which was so nice.

After we all took a nice nap, we walked over to the beach.

The water was a little rough, so we didn't get to wake board,

but we sat on the beach, played in the water a little, dug in the sand,

threw a football and enjoyed the sunset!

It was a gorgeous night, and so nice just to sit and chill.

After the sun set, we went back, got cleaned up and decided to go to Balboa Island.

We ate dinner on the Pier at Ruby's Diner!

It was kindof like stepping back in time!

We were starving and it was fun to sit and eat and enjoy the atmosphere!

The next morning, we got up and got ready for church!

We found a ward right there in Newport Beach and really enjoyed their Sacrament Meeting.

From there, we drove to the Newport Temple and were able to get some pictures there.

The grounds are beautiful, but the gates were locked so we couldn't walk around it much.

We went back to our room, ate some lunch and then let the kids

play at the little part behind our hotel for a minute.

We checked out and had the rest of the afternoon to explore a little,

before we had to get to Anaheim to check in the rental car for a few days.

We decided to go check out Hollywood.

By the time we got to the Griffiths Observatory it was packed!

We had to park down the hill and walk up.

We had fun going through the observatory museum for a while,

then had to leave to get to Anaheim before their rush hour traffic hit.

We arrived at Castle Inn and Suites and were so excited to see how

close it was to the entrance to Disney!!!

And.....our rental car drop off was one block from our hotel.

Trav and I dropped the car off, we all unpacked and rested for a bit,

then we walked over to Disney just to see the gates and to walk around

Downtown Disney for a little bit!

We got a bite to eat and then went back to our room!

We couldn't wait to go to bed to get up early and get to DISNEYLAND!!

The Hamblin family was so generous in giving all of us

Disney shirts for my birthday!

That was so nice of them!

We had the best first day!

We got the new Maxpass Disney offers and it made the busy crowds seem small!

We got on and off most everything we wanted to ride pretty quick!

Didn't have to wait long at all!

We laughed, we ate churros, we enjoyed the rides and had so much fun!

It was so fun having the whole park decorated for Christmas!

This Storm Trooper had a hay day with our family!

It was funny to see him give Garrett and Ty such a hard time!

Trav and Austy tired out the last hour or two of the day,

so they went back to the hotel and ordered dinner for all of us!

Garrett, Ty, Julia and myself stayed until the fireworks went off over the castle

and it was time for Disney to close!

Why does the first day always go so fast??

We were exhausted by the time we got back!

It didn't take long for everyone to be sound asleep!!!

The next day was spent at California Adventure!

We were so excited to FINALLY be able to ride the Cars ride!

It was being built the last time we were there, so we were glad to get a chance to ride it!

We walked through the gates and headed back in that direction as fast as we could

to try and get fast passes to ride it!

We were so dang sad to find they had closed it for refurbishment and it wouldn't

open until after we were back home in Utah.

We had checked the calendar before we went there and it should it would be open.

They had closed it spur of the moment.

We were so bummed!

If I'm being honest.....that was a huge let down for all of us that day!

But.....we carried on and had fun!

And....we got our Christmas Card Picture out of that whole thing too....
so it wasn't all bad!

Santa and his Elves were in Bear Country, so we waited in the line....
to let him know what we wanted!
The Elves were super friendly to Garrett and Ty!
Ha Ha!

Sister's Chinese Teacher asked her to find people to speak Chinese to
while we were there.....we made sure Sis did!
It was so awesome to watch her just strike up a conversation with people.
The couple was very sweet to her as we were walking in to Disneyland.
The other group of Ladies were so shocked when Sis struck up a conversation
with them in the gift shop, they laughed and hugged her!
They did not expect her to speak Chinese, let alone carry on a whole conversation
with all of them!

I loved watching her interact with them!
It was such a cool experience!

Aust spent all of his $ on these Flashing Star Wars Mikey ears!
He wore them at nights and LOVED them!
They actually were pretty cool!
It was another successful day at the parks!
Trav and Austy gave up the ghost again just before California Adventure closed.
So....the rest of us hurried over to Disney for the last hour it was opened and
made it on a few rides before they closed!
Again, we were thoroughly exhausted and slept well!

The next day, we started off in California Adventure....

we went over just to see if by any small chance Cars was open.

It wasn't. Bummer.

But, we rode a few more rides there for the last time,

and then spent the remainder of the day at Disney.

The kids shopped for friend gifts and souvenirs and ate one last churro!

I also was able to get a picture with all of our kids in front of Snow White's Fountain

just like the one of Nate and I with my mom there.

That was a sweet moment for me.

We love going to Disneyland.

When Trav asked me what I wanted to do for my 40th and our 20th Wedding Anniversary,

I knew I wanted to spend it with our kids.

And.....I knew they would love to go to Disneyland.

Austy had never been, so it was fun to see his excitement and feel the magic!

It was hard to leave, as they were spraying snow with Christmas music playing

and the tree all lit on Main Street.

But, we were truly exhausted. 3 days in a row was a lot.....even I admit that!

We had to get up super early the next morning,

to beat the traffic to the airport!

We made it safe and sound and on time!

This was a quick trip.....we had to try and not miss too many days of school,

and not miss practice for High School Basketball.

But it was so fun being together and making memories to last!

We got home around 11 and got the kids back to school!

Turning 40 wasn't so bad after all with a little Disneyland and my family involved!

On the 18th of November, Trav asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him!

Of course I said, "Yes!"

On our way to dinner, he told me he needed to stop at Scott and Cindy Mitchell's home

to measure their basketball hoop for some striping!

I really didn't think anything of this, because we actually do have to stop

and measure things for work every now and then.

I was just going to stay in the car, but he told me he didn't know how long

it would take so I should just come in with him and say Hi!

When we walked in, we talked to them in their entry way for a minute,

and then walked around the corner to their kitchen to everyone yelling

"SURPRISE!!!"

Oh my gosh! I was so embarrassed and surprised!

The Mitchell's, Hamblin's, Metcalfe's and Rusch's,

were all there to celebrate me turning 40!

What sweet and awesome friends!

Cindy and Scott provided an amazing dinner for us, as always,

and we just had fun talking and enjoying each other's company!

I can't thank them all enough for doing that for me!

Turning 40 isn't so bad with friends like that!

Thank you so much Scott, Cindy and Sherry for the incredible hospitality!
The next day, Nov. 19th, Ty was Ordained a Priest.
I love these days.
We are so proud of you Ty!