november…..

i am way behind on my monthly posting….. 

life has been a bit over the top crazy as of late…..

david and i are still trying to find a happy medium….. 

if that is even possible….. 

family life….. 

work….. church….. mom….. 

the list just goes on, and on and on…..

there were 2 wonderful events in november….. 

one was our family photo shoot….. 

carter…..

aleen…..

david, aleen, jeremy & carter…..

tyler, bryan, ashley & leland…..

jeremy…..

david….

the other was thanksgiving….. 

both were truly beautiful….. 

veterans…..

wally burgess; United States Navy…..

today i am thankful for my dad and the example he set for my siblings and i….. 

he served our country in World War 11…. 

he taught us as children by word and action to love, honor and respect our country….. 

we did not miss a veterans day parade or independence day parade….. 

he taught us to salute the flag to remove our hats and to show respect….. 

i remember from the time i was young he would say "if my country needed me today i would willing put my uniform on and go where i was needed"….. 

he served in the United States Navy on an air craft tender in the pacific front….. 

thank you daddy and all the countless men and women who have served and are serving to keep America free….. 

God bless you all….. 

wally burgess; United States Navy…..

                I am Proud to be an American…..

october…..

where to begin….. 
this has been a month of total ups and downs…..
from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows….. 
early october brought with it the semi annual general conference of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints….. 
then my youngest son bryan married his sweetheart; tarra….. 

tarra & bryan…..

it was a beautiful day filled with family, love and laughter…..

followed by the passing of david's dad….. 

mine & david's anniversary….. 

32 years to be exact and still going strong, i love that man of mine…..

david & i…..

dad's funeral, it was a very moving day….. 

family…..

family halloween gathering, always a good time….. 
carving pumpkins, frosting pumpkin shaped sugar cookies & lots of homemade chili and cornbread….. 

last of all halloween….. 

the family 1995…..

• bring on november…..

dad.....

last night the world lost an honorable man..... charlie owen daniel..... 

i feel so blessed to belong to his family..... 

he always made me feel like a daughter, not just a daughter in law..... 

he taught by example not just by word..... 

the world seems a little bleak at the moment..... 

we; his family will get through this..... 

we know that family is eternal..... 

this bring great comfort..... 

dad, you are gone but not forgotten..... 

you are loved by your family.....

david and his father; charlie daniel.....

peace.....

mesa, az temple.....

yesterday i spent some time at the temple..... 

i love going..... 

i can always find peace while there.....
it carries me through the day to day happenings in life..... 
(we seem to be having a few as of late)..... 

when life gets to hard to stand, kneel...... 

(i love those words)..... 

"when upon lifes billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the lord has done"..... 

i find that to be true.....

september.....

september was one crazy busy month..... 

david & i at the u of a game.....

david and i went to the first UofA game of the season (it really was the last weekend of august) it was so fun, we were rained on most of the night, that is ok, we won.....

ali, nick & ashley.....

carter & lauren.....

we had our last big family swim of the summer season on labor day.....

birthday cake, red velvet and it was so yummy.....

tyler, angie & mom burgess.....

we celebrated the birth of three members of the family; tyler, angie & lauren with a big family dinner and a divine cake made by our personal pastry chef; ashley..... 

david was missed at the birthday celebration..... 

 he was at the hospital with his folks..... 

(when not at work he can be found at the hospital with his folks)

dad daniel has been in the hospital/rehab center for a little over three weeks now..... 

he was pretty bad off when he went in..... 

he is now in a rehabilitation center where they are trying to get his strength back.....  

mom daniel is not enjoying this at all..... 

none of the rest of us are either.....

leland at the starting gate.....

the team after the race.....

leland ran his first half marathon and david, bryan, tarra, lauren, carter and i went along as his support team..... 

we had a blast in prescott for the weekend..... 

bryan is getting married in less than two weeks and i still have sooooo much to do..... 

like finish 3 vests and a quilt.....

love to look at them.....

i canned peaches, my first canning of the season.....

davids new car.....

we bought a new to us car, so david can taxi his mom around, she cannot climb into his truck and she cannot climb out of my vette.....

terri helped me work in my garden yesterday, i just might get it planted before the week is out..... a month in a nut shell..... 

wow.....

summer.....

try as i might i just can't seem to figure out where summer has gone..... 

i do not mean the heat and weather of summer..... 

i mean the actual days of summer..... 

for the celebration of july 4th we headed up to the coolness of payson, it really was not much cooler than home for sure..... 

4th of july in payson.....

tyler &  his youngest little one.....

ashley, nick and their little sweetheart.....

i had yet another birthday in july..... 

my family took very good care of me...... 

they love me much, of this i am sure..... 

the end of july brought about our annual family trip to "grandpas' cabin"..... 

it was a bit challenging this year..... 

and yes, i will do things differently next year.....

my three "grandsons" chillin' at the cabin.....

ashley and her little one.....

the boys at the painted desert.....

before the mud cave..... they came out so very muddy.....

 drum roll if you please..... 

while up at my folks place my youngest became engaged to be married..... 

we love tarra and are thrilled to be adding her to our family..... 

tarra & bryan.....

life keeps on keeping on and i do my best to keep up..... 

along with the joy comes a little sorrow and this week my oldest son and his sweetie lost a baby..... this makes 4 now that they have lost..... 

we are so very thankful to our father in heaven for the 2 beautiful boys they have, as we are sorrowing over yet another loss..... 

my honey & i.....

switzerland.....

the summit, or at least as close as we are allowed to go at the "matterhorn".....

three weeks ago this evening david & I returned home from an  8 day trip to switzerland..... 

david has been going there off and on for work for the past 12 years and has always wanted me to go along..... 

it seemed that we either had a son on a mission, a child expecting, someone was getting married or someone graduating every time he needed to go.....

leaving on a jet plane..... 

well on the 24th of may he called me at work and said "your ticket is bought so you had better make sure with your boss that you can get the time off"..... 

david knows that i can not, will not, waste money and that by his purchasing my ticket he knew that i would make sure that nothing got in the way of this trip..... 

i have been to europe once before with our daughter, and had a wonderful time, i might add...... 

but being there with david was fabulous, just fabulous..... 

we are in evin, france here.....

one of the men who works for david was traveling with us so he brought his girlfriend..... 

it was fun having someone to spend my days with while david was at work..... 

the evenings and the weekend were the very best.....

heading to zermatt and the matterhorn.....

we spent our time in lausanne, switzerland which sits on lake geneva, across the lake is evin, france. sunday we took a ride across the lake and visited france, so now david can say he has been in france as well.....

the matterhorn.....

inside the glacier at the matterhorn....

fathers.....

this past week we have celebrated fathers..... 

i have many fathers to celebrate..... 

my heavenly father, david; the father of my children..... 

my sons and son in law for the fine fathers they are to my grandchildren..... 

my father and my father in law..... 

the list could continue but i will stop here..... 

david, lawanna and tyler.....

i am now and always thankful to my father in heaven for blessing my with a wonderful father..... one who has done his best to father me in a way that i needed..... 

he taught me the importance of family, faith and country..... 

i will always be grateful for this..... 

tyler and little david.....

i am eternally grateful for david and the honorable father he is to our children..... 

they are as blessed as i am to have him be such an important part of our lives..... 

leland and carter.....

i am thankful for david's dad he has set such a wonderful example for his sons and grandsons..... 

ali's blessing day.....

i am aware of just how very blessed i am..... 

i daily say a prayer of thanks to my father in heaven for the good men i am blessed to have in my life.....

ease.....

one of my nieces is following a blogger and she posted a blogging challenge, one of the challenges was to post about what makes you uncomfortable.....

 i decided to post about what makes me feel at ease..... 

it is far to easy to be negative so i am trying to focus on the positive..... 

so here is my attempt, and this is in no particular order.....

maybe it is.....

my sweetheart..... ( so handsome)
l. my sweetheart..... 
just hearing his voice or feeling his touch puts a smile on my face still.....
2. my children.....
3. my grandchildren.....

4. fluffy white clouds in the sky.....

fluffy clouds.....

5. the mountains.....

6. fridays.....

7. family.....

8. rain.....

9. road trips.....

10. friends..... 

do you ever take a moment and think about what makes you feel at ease?

mother's.....

i can not write about mothers today without speaking of my own mother..... i am so very blessed to have a mother who has taught me some of the most important lessons in my life..... she taught me the importance of being frugal of using my time wisely she taught me a love for sewing, baking cooking, taking care of my home and of loving my children..... she did all this by her actions not just her words..... i am forever grateful to my mother for the lessons i learned as i watched her while growing up.....

leland, tyler, ashley & bryan.....

i am blessed beyond my wildest dreams to be a mother..... as a young girl growing up i always wanted to be a cosmetologist, a wife and a mother..... how wonderful that i have been able to accomplish all three..... i love being a mother..... i love parenting with my sweetheart..... my children and my sweetheart the most important people in my life.....

what a sweet blessing it is to watch my children become parents..... now i have the privilege of watching my "girls" (my daughter & 2 daughters in law) be mommies..... life sure is beautiful.....

leland, tyler, bryan & ashley.....

 i am thankful to my father-in-heaven daily for the blessing of being a mother and for all the wonderful examples of mothering i have around me.....

granddaughter.....

my newest grandchild was born on the 16th of this month..... 

i now have a granddaughter.....

 she is perfect if you ask me..... 

i am so humbled and blessed to have been present for the birth of all 4 of my grandchildren..... 

what precious daughters i have to allow me this wonderful opportunity..... 

i can think of no word or words to express my feelings at being present at the births of my grandchildren and witnessing my children becoming parents..... 

i am forever grateful to my Father in Heaven for the blessing of families and for my family..... 

i want to introduce my newest grandchild.....

Aleen..... 

ashley & aleen.....
you have a mommy and daddy who love you very much who will look out for you and do their very best to teach and protect you.....

there are so many who love you.....

aleen.....

 welcome to our family..... 

grandma loves you so very much..... 

29 and holding.....

yesterday was not only bryan's birthday it was also davids..... 

i can not let his birthday pass without a post about it..... 

i was not there when he was born.....

 but i am certainly glad that he was...... 

i am wishing for you david wayne daniel the happiest of birthdays possible..... 

thanks for sharing your day with our youngest..... 

i love you to the moon and back.... 

xoxoxo.....

21.....

today is my "caboose' 21st birthday.....

how is it possible that my baby is 21.....

 it seems like only yesterday i was at the hospital giving birth.....

bryan robert daniel....

bryan's story is fun..... 

i did not know if i was having a girl or a boy, i had a sonogram at 14 weeks and it was too early to tell..... 

my little man 2 years old.....

his due date was april 22nd but i had my babies by c-section so my dr said lets plan for the 15th, i asked more than once if we could plan for the 14th or 16th, seeing as how the 15th is my honeys' birthday..... 

dr mantel said no, his day for being on call at the hospital was the 15th and if i wanted him to deliver my little one that was when he could do it, so that was to be the day..... 

i had to go along with it, really what else could i do..... 

he shot a bulls eye his first time with a bow and arrow.....

i made plans to have my 3 little ones spend the night at aunt robyn and uncle scotts' home, they lived across the street at the time.... 

i tucked them all in and headed home to make sure i had everything ready (david was playing church basketball)..... 

i remember packing an outfit or two to bring my little one home in and as i put in a blue and a pink i said to myself "i know this little one is a boy, so why pack pink"... (ashley wanted a sister so very much)..... 

david came in from basketball and was showering while i lay on the bed when my water broke..... 

bryan with ashley on his first day of kindergarten.....

i had never had that experience it was crazy..... 

i called my dr and was told to head on over to the hospital so i could at be watched just to make sure that the baby was doing ok until my appointment time..... 

when dr mantel came in he said to me "i knew he was coming on the 15th"..... 

bryan robert daniel made his grand appearance at 7:56 am weighing in at 8lb 11oz and 21" long..... perfect in everyday.....

our family has been forever changed with the addition of our little caboose..... 

at the beach.....

he has been protected by his older siblings as well as their friends, he has brought so much joy into our home..... 

i am wishing for bryan this day all the happiness in the world.....

graduation.....

thanks for choosing me to be your mom.....

i love you so very much son.....