Our recent family happenings

We made a trip to Utah a few weeks ago, for Jake's sister's {Jessica} wedding. It was a long drive there and a long drive back, but very well worth the trip! Our boys were surprisingly well-behaved during the reception, which was held at Rio Tinto Stadium, where the MLS soccer team, Real Salt Lake plays.

{More pics of the wedding can be found here.}

Holden just had his 2nd birthday, it's hard to believe our little man is already TWO! We did a super-quick photo shoot at Gardner Village, while we were there in Utah. He did great! :) He's getting so big and he's hiliarious! He loves to copy everything Beckham says.

Beckham has started preschool at Head Start, about 6 miles from our home. He loves it! It's been such a positive change for him. His attitude is better and he is not as picky of an eater! He has started tasting and eating things he's NEVER tasted before! He is such a great big brother and helps out around the house. He is sassy at times, and sure can be boisterous, but he at the same time has such a cute, cuddly side.

We are still getting used to the idea that we are soon expecting a baby GIRL into our family. There are some days I wake up and forget we know what we're having... lol Beckham was very upset at first that he wasn't going to get another little brother, but he has come to like the idea. He says his sister is going to be "beautiful, just like a princess". He has a whole list of things for her to wear when she gets here too, among them a "princess dress, princess hat, and princess shoes". I am almost 21 weeks along, so half-way there! We are crossing our fingers that Jake will be home, in port, when the baby gets here, but we don't know yet... so we are just playing it by ear for now. Hoping. Praying. Crossing our fingers that the Stennis isn't on an underway, out to sea, thousands of miles from home when I go into labor. We know that if that's the case, we will get through it, we are after all in the military, which happens... people miss events. Births. Deaths. Illnesses... it just happens. So we are bracing ourselves for the possibility that he may not be home, but of course hoping that he will be here.

I am still working on my photography business, still trying to build it up. It's tough to find clients, but I have had several, and my experience is growing along with my portfolio. :) Thank goodness my Nikon survived it's nearly-complete immersion in the lake/water when went camping.

 Jake is working graveyards, for at least a few more weeks. The ship leaves to do some test runs sometime in the first week or so of December, so I guess until that comes, he is pretty much scraping tile and doing other maintenance-get-the-ship-remodeled stuff.

rAnDoM hApPeNiNgS iN tHe BuRnSiDe HoUsEhOlD (June 2010)

There is so much I could say, and I am sure this post will be super long, but if I don't try to keep it short and simple, it will never get published... so here goes. Deep breath!

First and foremost, Jake and I are going through the temple! For the very first time! We're going to have all of our sessions done on the same day, Saturday, July 3rd starting at 11:30 for the endowment and 1:30 for our sealing. We're very excited for this special day. Less than a week from today! We're going through the Seattle Washington Temple. It's a 45-minute ferry ride plus a little ways, from Bremerton to the temple. Jake and I are so very blessed to have family that are able to come go through with us, on the very special day that we're able to be sealed for time and all eternity. I can't wait! We're so very excited to see everybody that's traveling from Utah.

Jake's mom and dad: Grandma Linda & Grandpa Carey Burnside

Jake's sister Jamie, her husband Jaren, & their adorable kiddos

Jake's older brother Mat & his wife, Becky


Our dearest friends, James & Jelli Black


We're so grateful that they're able to come and share this special day with our family. :)

We have added a new addition to our family too: another furbaby. :)

Introducing, Maddie Mae:

Maddie is an English Mastiff & Labrador cross, she's a Mastador. :) She's a cuddly, 76 pound wanna-be-lap-dog. We love her to death and she has seriously helped Buddy the psychotic Beagle calm down immensely. She's a great addition to our family. :)

The boys are getting as big as ever! Beckham is 4 1/2 and Holden will be 21 months old on the 14th of July! Where did the year go?! Holden has a gigantic vocabulary now too, including:

more
drink
scary
mom
daddy
Buddy
Maddy
"B" for Binky
birdie

He can mimic some animals too. Tiger - scary animal - dog - snake - kitty


Beckham is a brilliant little man, and he's busy as ever. He loves playing outside. Collecting rocks and seashells are two of his favorite things to do. He loves to play the Wii! He's such a great big brother and takes  great care of Holden. He knows the alphabet and can almost spell his name! :)

Washington is beautiful at any time of the year, but it's wonderful to have a lack of rain and warm enough weather for us to be able to play outside! The sun is wonderful, since it's been in hiatus since October. :) There is so much to do in our area, and although a lot of stuff to do costs a bit, most of the stuff is worth it and very new and exciting to our family.
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Getting ready for Daddy to come home!

That's what we've been doing the past few weeks, well, pretty much since the day he left out to sea. haha :) We miss Jake alot when he's not home, but we definitely don't like his snoring when he's here! He left the 1st of December and finally will get to come home on Friday! :) They're keeping him busy on the ship, that's for sure! Because of his exemplary attitude with certain things and the attention to detail that he has, he's been assigned to a certain group of sailor's laundry duties, cleaning/assembling/preparing the ice cream machine in the galley, and another thing that I can't remember at the top of my head, dangit. I'll have to add it tomorrow if I can remember what it was... So yes, he's staying very busy! We can't wait to have him back home!

Beckham is having a rough time with all the random boxes that are stashed all over the house, he doesn't understand that he can't see what's in them. (Just a little side note: Beckham is always the first one at the door when the door bell rings, and when we get a package, he goes straight to the kitchen to grab a knife to help me open it.) So the fact that he can't open the few that we've gotten (from my grandparents and a huge one from Jake's mom and dad) is confusing the heck outta him! :p

In case you haven't noticed, we are running a bit late on Christmas cards this year, but don't worry, they're headed into the mail soon. Those of you that have sent us cards already, thanks so much, it's so nice being able to see how much families have grown and all the cute little faces.

We're still loving it here in the cute, quaint little housing community. It's very cold and there hasn't been much snow yet, but it's nice and rainy! I went to go to my car a few nights ago and was greeted by 3 huge racoons, sitting right on my front porch! They jumped a little, I screamed and almost peed my pants, and then we spent the next 10 minutes or so scrambling to find my camera and keep the dog from barking at them and scaring them away. I was SO tempted to open the door to get a better picture of their beady little eyes that were staring at me, but the images of my face marred by their razor-sharp claws and their garbage-saturated faces coming at me and eating my nose off quickly made that thought leave my head. Why did I not know that they can open my trash cans and get into them, leaving the door shut behind them?! When I went to take some garbage out the next day, the bag that was already in there had been ripped open and pilfered through!

Hope that everybody is doing well in Utah and the other places that we have family. We miss you all terribly! The holidays are creeping up on us, only a few more days. Although, if you were relying on Beckham's chocolate advent calendar to tell you how many days are left until Christmas, tonight would be Christmas Eve, because he only has ONE left. Out of 24 pieces of chocolate, he ate 23 of them. Yesterday. No wonder his stomach hurts.