Jake's Big Three Zero

A few weeks ago Jake turned 30! Now he can't tease that he is married to a 30 year old (since my b-day is a few months before his)! I painted some cornhole boards for him in the classic BYU and UofU rivalry. Cornhole is a game we came up since living in the mid west. It's a very popular game and it's lots of fun. Who knew a bean bag toss game with rules would provide so much entertainment! We also celebrated with a BBQ and of course Jake's favorite cheesecake. It's a recipe from his grandma and it is really good! There is nothing like a good piece of cheesecake for breakfast the day after a party:)
Happy Birthday Sweetie! You are a wonderful husband, dad, and you will always be young at heart. And don't worry, I still think that spot on your head, with less hair, is a cowlick;)

The World of Madison

Magic mirrors, fairy wands, crowns, and special wishes is the fun world Madison likes to live in. Everyday is an adventure, a song, a new story, and she loves to share that world with us and her friends. Madison is such a fun girl and I never know what will happen next. She will be silly with me and then she has her moments of deep thought as you can see in these pictures. She is always asking lots of questions and she has a memory that amazes me. Madison is full of mischeif and ready for adventure. Everyday she wakes up and asks, "Where are we going, what are we doing today?" When Madison gets excited, she gets very excited. She loves to play games. Especially, "Tag carrot!" (tag your it).
When we were in South Carolina she made up an imaginary friend (it's only a phone relationship). His name is Alironi Daddy! She likes to call him on the phone and ask him what he is doing. Alironi Daddy now has a friend named Alice. It's so funny to listen to her conversations.
Madison absolutely loves friends! It is such a good thing Emerie came when she did so Madison wouldn't be alone. Whenever we go some where she asks if her friends are going to be there. When we go to a park or any place that typically has a lot of kids she always yells, "My friends are here!" Even if all the kids are complete strangers she calls them her friends. The other day we were going to our neighborhood park and she said she didn't want to go there because there weren't any friends there. She was right, not a sould was at the park that day. I told her that Emmie and I were her friends but I guess that doesn't always cut it:)

Sister Love

I love these pictures of Madison and Emerie! Despite all of the head bops, pushing, and time outs for not sharing, these two girls really do love each other. Emerie usually calls Madison ,Mani, or Madi. She has said Madison a few times but not very often. Both girls love to run into each others room depending on who wakes up first. Madison makes sure Emerie doesn't get left out and she always knows she needs even before Emerie does:) What cuties!

Cute Little Emmie!

Emerie has been doing and saying so many new things everyday! She loves to dress up, dance, tease her sister and she can be so goofy! She will try out most words and phrases. She likes to say, "Daddy, where are you!" and then Madison keeps telling her, "Daddy is at work Emmie!" Both Emerie and Madison yell, "Daddy, daddy, daddy and run as fast as they can to Jake when he gets home. She loves to say "nack" for snack and eating is also one of her favorite things:)

Emerie has called Madison her full name once or twice but usually she says Mani or Maddie. She likes to splash Madison in the bath and likes to sit on the potty just like her older sister. She even went once but we are still far from potty trained:) She loves to look at books, she loves stickers and can actually stick them on the paper. Lately Emerie has been wanting to wear all of our shoes. She often will have us put on her shoes and then she says, outside, outside. She loves to play outside and is such a little climber. She is very daring and has no fear.

Emerie loves her baby dolls and stuffed animals. Madison has a row of stuffed animals on a shelf in her room. Everyday Emerie will run in Madison's room, point, jump up and down (without lifting off the floor), smile, giggle, and makes funny noises until we get down all of the animals. She grabs each one, hugs them, and says ohhhh. It is so adorable. Emerie also likes to snuggle and will give very cute hugs and baby kisses. We love to give her hugs and big kisses on her cute cheeks!

Best Friends Reunited!

Awhile back we traveled to Toledo (where we lived for med school) to support some friends the Philbricks in the Great Strides Cystic Fibrosis walk.

We of course took advantage to visit many old friends. When Madison was a little baby my friend Julie would watch her about every other week so I could work as a college advisor at a nearby high school. Madison and her little boy Cohen grew to be the cutest little friends and they were able to pick right up where they left off. It was so much fun to watch them play! Thanks to the Sacks for being such wonderful hosts and letting us stay at there house! It was great to stay up late, eat ice cream and laugh until tears came out at those funny comedy videos. Good times!

We were also able to visit our old home and wonderful neighbors Jenni and Steve! So many fun memories in that house. I loved the ten minute walk to the Zoo, Walbridge park, the river, Wixey Bakery, Lickety Split, the train shop.... and so many more things within a minutes walk. Sigh, good times in Toledo.

Letter from Madison

For the several months Madison has had the best nursery leaders imagineable. Well, rumor has it that they are being released so Madison wanted to write a note to them to say thank you. Below is Madison's letter as transcribed word for word.

Brothers and Sister Burnett,

Thank you for being my lovely teachers. Thank you for the nice long activities. Thank you for teaching about Heavenly Father, Jesus and heaven. Thank you loving friends coloring activity. Thank you loving kind, as pretty as rainbows, birthday parties, all around outside! Thank you for loving everyone at church. Thank you for being my wonderful teacher at church. Thank you for teaching us about Jesus, the animals and the pink hammer. Thank you for giving me the purple treat. Thank you for singing some songs. Thank you for giving me some crackers and snacks. Thank you for having a nice snack. Thank you for being my teacher. I love you!

More South Carolina!

South Carolina!

Here are a few of the pictures from our vacation in May! More storries and pictures to come!

Funny Videos

These are some fun videos of the girls yesterday. In the first video Madison is pretending to sing hymns. She made up all the words and must be singing them how they sound to her when we sing in church.

In the second video Emerie is showing off her dance moves. One of her favorite things to do is to swing her left arm back and forth. Towards the end of the video Madison is also demanding attention and the girls have a little dance off. Also in the second video Madison "puts her hands together and runs like this..." Often when we are walking to the park she tells us to put our hands together "like this and run". She mostly will ask Jake to do it and it's really funny to watch because it looks so silly. Madison however is very serious about it. Where did she get this idea? The only thing I can think is this her interpretation of watching people run around the track at the park.

The last video is Madison reading her nursery rhyme book. She doesn't know how to read but just does a great job at memorizing the words. Emerie was trying to climb on my lap and be apart of the story time so the video is a little bit bumpy:) Funny girls!

Emerie all grown up!

I can't believe Emerie is walking and talking and so grown up! Here are a few pictures of her growing up and showing us her personality! She is such a joy in our family and we all love her so much!

Emerie Turns One!

On April 15th Emerie turned one year old! She had lots of fun opening presents, playing with friends and eating yummy cake! Emerie is such a sweet little girl and is learning new things every day! She is so happy in the morning when she wakes up and looks at you with her pretty blue eyes and big smile. When Madison comes into Emerie's room in the morning she imitates me and says to Emmie, "Well hello sweetheart, how are you! Did you have a good sleep!" It's so cute to hear Madison talk in her high pitch "mommy" voice. Emerie just loves it.

Emerie has been walking for over a month now and loves to go to the playground. She likes the slide but isn't so sure about the swings yet. Some of her favorite things to say are, mom, mom, mom, mom... and a few other fun phrases. She loves to say, up, hi, hi daddy, thank you, share (she will scream share at Madison). Madison has taught her the word mine and no! She can say kitty, and make a few other animal names and sounds. She will experiment with most words. It's such a fun age! She is learning so many things so fast. Emerie loves to snuggle and will give very cute hugs. She says ohhh and lays her head on your shoulder when she snuggles. Emerie also loves to eat and sometimes seems like a bottomless pit. She lets us know by her sound effects when she loves what she is eating. Emerie also known as Ems, Emmie, or Madison's favorite, Emsie, can be quite the tease. She has learned to defend herself against Madison and she also knows what will make her mad. It's fun to see them play together and be cute sisters. Madison can pick on her but she also makes sure that she is taken care of. Emerie loves to imitate everything that her sister does, the good and the bad:) She also loves to climb and I recently hid our little rocking chair because she likes to stand on it and rock. What a little daredevil!

She had a fun birthday party with lots of friends over to play and watch her dig into her cake. It took her a minute to get used to the texture but soon she was loving it! We love our Emmie!