Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum...

For anyone who didn't know already...Jacob loves dinosaurs and as soon as he knew that Grandma and Grandpa were going to take him, his Mother has had some awesome leverage to help encourage his good behavior. It was pretty fun, they both enjoyed digging for dinos and playing in the wet sand to look for plastic dinos. I think the T-Rex was his favorite by far! So now we have been to 2 dino parks and I think I like Ogden's the best still. I think it is better for younger kids but it is outdoors and in Utah well, sometimes the weather just doesn't permit it.

Easter...

I have always loved Easter, it can be fun like Christmas minus all the stress! Here we are dying eggs, setting out carrots for the Easter Bunny, and finding our baskets. We celebrated on Saturday so my parents could be here which was really nice, then we were able to focus on the real meaning on Sunday and also pay more attention to the LDS general conference.

The Zoo...

My parents (and a special treat, my brother Zach) always come to town for my mom's spring break and they always do such fun things wit our kids, but one of their favorites is the zoo. The kids had a blast of course! Sad Note: the day we went was the same day that the baby giraffe died...we couldn't figure out where he was or why the giraffe house was closed. Later, on the news we found out why, it was failure to thrive or something like that. Jacob was really upset about it, for some reason he thought he was going to die to (maybe because it was the baby). He asked his dad "If Heavenly Father wants to come and get me, can I just pretend to die." How cute and sad that is all at the same time. Poor Thing.

St. Paddy's Day!..

My brother is so thoughtful of my kids during holidays and he (with the help of my parents credit card) picked out some goodies for my kids for St. Patrick's Day. Anna loved the green M&M's (no surprise there) and Jacob loved the hat and socks and glasses, in fact he is wearing the glasses and hat as we speak ( I think the socks were for Anna but she didn't seem to care...she is all about the chocolate, definitely not my child!) Anyways, thanks Uncle Zach and G&G. Happy St. Paddy's Day!

You'll have to excuse Anna's undies, we are attempting to potty train for 3rd time (life just got in the way) and so we don't wear pants very often, its easier to take off and less laundry when accidents occur.

New Jammies...

I love Costco they always have the cutest PJ's for kids and for fairly good prices plus my kids love new jammies, they wear them for 3 days straight when they get a new pair. Here's the newest additions...

Snow Day...

We got the majority of our snow this year at the beginning of winter and all of us were too sick to play in it this year so when it snowed a little over a week ago we had to go play!

New blog address

We will be changing our blog address in about a month or so. If you would still like to see our blog please let me know. We will most likely be changing it to www.burnettgazette.blogspot.com if it is still not taken by then. Sorry this is such a hassle.

Many Thanks...

I was just looking at some of my past comments on the blog and realized that even though I felt a great amount of gratitude for those who have prayed for us these last few months, I never really thanked anyone out loud...so thank you all so much we are doing really well now; looking forward to the future and just loving the extra time we have with our kids we do have here with us. Thank you for the phone calls, cards, hugs, and just so much love. Thank you, thank you, thank you, with all our hearts.

Catching up: October...

Because of illness, Holidays, and sadly the loss of the baby, I have gotten very behind on the blog so the next few posts will be a catch up of the last few months. We will start with October...

Anna loves taking pictures in her Sunday dresses...she also loves wearing Jacob's and Daddy's ties.

Wade turned 29 this year, I can't believe next year we will both be 30!

Another Sunday dress.

For Wade's birthday we went to a UofU football game, but it ended up being really cold and wet so we went home early and as we walked to the car we stopped to play in the leaves.

Can you tell yet that Anna likes getting her picture taken...I thought this one was funny.

Uncle Rod sent a Halloween package and here are the ginormous lollipops he sent them. My brother Zach and my mom also sent a package, but I forgot to take pictures.

Opening the halloween goodies...they were sooooo spoiled, but greatful thanks Uncle Rod, Zach and Mom!

Halloween party at preschool with his teacher, Ms. Linda.

Carving pumkins...


Jacob in his motorcross costume.

Anna as tinkerbell.

Getting ready to trick-or-treat!

Catching up: November...

Our family really likes to go to the zoo on Thanksgiving, because they do lots of fun things with the animals. I wasn't able to go this year, so thankfully Uncle Dev and Aunt Brit went with Wade to help out with the kids.

Anna's favorite part was the elephants who smashed the pumpkin. I think she repeated "da baby edephant smashed da punkin" about a thousand times when she got home!

Jacob, also enjoyed the elephants along with the tigers who got meat inside a pumpkin.

Also, a big thanks to Brit and Dev who made our thanksgiving meal so that I could rest and try to be healthy again.

Catching Up: December...

Again, Anna in her Sunday best and Jacob's tie...I thought her smile was really cute.

We went to Washington were G and G Shrader live this year for Christmas. It's a good thing too...I was feeling so awful this holiday that my kids wouldn't have had any traditions if it wasn't for them. Here they are get ready to cut out Christmas cookies.




For my birthday, I slept most of the day and we went out to dinner at my favorite place, Red Robin, which made me sick, but I got some great presents from all of my family...thanks everyone!

Making gingerbread houses.

Setting out choc. milk and cookies for Santa...

and setting out the stockings...

and watching "The Grinch" with G-pa to help excited kiddos settle down.

There was a definite dino theme to Jacob's presents this year and he loved them all!

Anna asked for anything pink, purple, princess, or Dora, and she was not disappointed.

sporting the Dora and Dino Jammies.

Jacob's Dino birthday cake, compliments of Uncle Zach. Jacob loved this cake, every 15 mins. for 5 or 6 hrs. he asked if it was time to eat the cake.

More dinos.

Anna doesn't grasp the concept of birthdays, and got really upset that she was not getting a Dora b-day cake, so I stole a cupcake that Zach had left over from the mountain and printed off Dora and Boots, cut it out and stuck it in with a toothpick...she loved it!

About to blow out the candles.

Uncle Rod also came for a visit and spoiled my kids rotten with a dinner out at Chucky Cheese and a shopping trip to Toys R Us. Unfortunately they were not in the mood when we tried to take a picture before he left.

Even though some of the season was very sad for us, the kids had a wonderful Christmas and it was so great to be with family for the holiday.

A Most Precious Gift...

To be completely honest, I wish I didn't have to blog about this. It seems that typing at a computer trying to convey the last few days without sounding distant or commonplace about our experience is inevitable, but since there is really no other way that I keep in touch with most of you, this will have to do...
As we happily announced a little more than a month ago, we were expecting our 3rd baby and couldn't have been happier...
My heart continues to break as I tell you that on Christmas Day, we knew that our little fighter would not make it. Almost halfway through the pregnancy, I was checked in to Labor and Delivery and had our baby boy at about 10:35 the next morning. There was never a heartbeat, but he was beautiful and tiny and perfect. We were able to name him and hold him for a few precious moments. We knew immediately that he was and continues to be a part of our family. We know we will see him again someday and that he is where he is happy and protected by a loving Heavenly Father.

We truly feel blessed to be a part of his life even for just a little while and we know our family was being watched over. We feel it was no coincidence that we were able to be at my parent's home for the holidays where our kids could be looked after with minimal disturbance and to be somewhere where we could be away from life for a while to grieve and be with those we love until we had to return home to reality and face others with the news of our loss. These last few days have been the hardest we have ever had to go through, but we know we will be okay and that it will get better.

Here is what Wade wrote about him a few moments after we were able to hold him...
"Today was a special day. Cole James Burnett was born and sadly passed away in the womb. Mandy and I held him, gave him little kisses and hugs, and just loved him. We are proud of him, love him, and know that he is happy."