We are still alive and kicking! I will post pics soon of our doings. First day of school, father in law funeral, all that good stuff.  I have to figure out how to download them to the computer from my phone.  I'm not very smart!

Old Tucson

We had planned a trip to Utah for Spring Break  to go visit my slightly hormonal and pyschotic sister (love you Crystal) but as usual our plans changed last minute and we stayed home.  We decided to go to Old Tucson Studios to have a little fun.

The girls in front of an old stage coach.  Tessa being a nice big sister and giving Macie and Brylee bunny ears.

 Randy has always said to just put him in a pine box when he dies so here you go babe!  He was apparently shot for being a horse thief.

 Panning for "gold" was very fun.

 Someone was crazy enough to let Tessa behind the wheel of an old car to go for a spin.  Scary I know!  Don't worry it was on a track so she couldn't go too far off course. She kinda thought she was big stuff.

 Brielle on her first merry go round.  She looks thrilled doesn't she.  She is sooo big.  Makes me sad!

I finally found somewhere I could lock the girls up!  I think Tessa thought we were going to leave them there. 

 This picture was not at Old Tucson but was on the camera with the pics from there and I just had to post it because my dad is totally awesome and I love him! (Please excuse me feeding my face in the background)

Another panning for "gold" pic.  I'm pretty sure Brylee just liked playing in the mud.

We had a great time in between all the fighting and whining that occurs on all family trips (at least ours anyway).

I'm a total slacker . . .

It has been just a few months since I have updated anything and man have we been busy!  Not really we do the same thing every week pretty much.  Live life and try to have fun amongst all the craziness like everyone else.

I have just thrown in a few random pics just to make things intersting.  Here's to all 2 of you who read my blog . . .enjoy!

 This was one of the ftamily pics Tiff did for us after Brielle was born.  I am horribly fat in them so I havn't put them up but I might as well just let the world know. . .I am overweight.  I guess I can say I have an excuse becuase I had recently had a baby but then there are those people who come out of the hospital after having a baby and look like a model.  Well I am not one of those people but I am happy to say that I have lost 20 lbs since this picture so I guess that is good.  Still plenty more to go though!

 I have several pictures of Brylee and Brielle sleeping together because Brylee is so in love with her and she loves to be a big helper.  Brielle sadly is getting so big and has turned into a baby that does not like to cuddle.  I am very sad about it because all my other kids have been big cuddlers.

 This was a crazy becuase you would think it was winter but alas this was taken during our spring break in March.  Crazy, crazy winter.  It actually snowed off and on for a whole day which is amazing for us desert rats.

 Random picture of the girls in their Christmas jammies.  Like I said, all of them are getting way to big!  Of course they were spoiled like crazy for Christmas, mostly by their dad who makes last minute purchases.

This was my car after the accident I got in last October.  I know that was a long time ago but I just found some pics so I guess you get to look at it.  I was sitting on the highway coming home and I stopped behind a bus letting a kid off.  Well long story short a kid driving a truck looked down momentarily and didn't realize we were stopped.  He looked up at the last minute and tried to swerve but caught the back drivers side, his tire flew off as he spun around missing the truck in front of me and slammed into the back of the school bus.  Everyone thankfully was ok, whick is good because I had the 2 littlest with me.  My car is all fixed now but still waiting on insurance to get money for medical bills which could take forever!  So I guess that was a very short story after all.

Piano Recital

Tessa and Macie started piano recently and had their first piano recital Monday. They practiced a lot and both did really well.

Macie did one song as a duet with her teacher then played Joy to the World on her own.

Tessa played Keep the Commandments and Jingle Bells. They were both a little nervous but did awesome!

The girls with their teacher Holly. She has done a really awesome job with them.

Treats afterward were a hit. Can't go wrong with donuts and hot cocoa.

Don't you love Brylee's nice pose.

Christmas tree fun . . .

I was sick the day after Thanksgiving along with Tessa so Randy and Macie were in charge of finding and cutting our tree this year. There wasn't much to pick from because of the big fire in Alpine but I think they got a pretty good one.

I think I erased the pic of it decorated but just imagine the most beautiful lights and ornaments and then picture our looking . . . . nothing like that!! Jk the girls did a really good job decorating it.

Tessa decided she was big enough to help do the tree set up this year.

Halloween

The girls love Halloween. They talk all year about what they are going to be.

Our newest addition. She was such a cute little cow but not a happy one. The costume lasted long enough to take the picture.

Our Halloween jack-o-lantern. Daddy did such a good job.

Tessa loves pulling all the nasty squishy stuff out of the pumpkin but Macie thought it was way too gross to touch.

Tessa was an 80's dance chick, Macie was a Hawaiin girl, Brylee was Tinkerbell and Brielle was the cow.

Back to school

Yesterday was the first day of school. I thought I would be more excited but I actually missed having the girls here to help out with the baby. I don't miss the fighting we have had all summer all day!!
Tessa is in 3rd grade and Macie is in 1st. They said they weren't excited to go back but they were up and ready by about 6 am.

Brielle

I am behind again in my blogging so I am finally getting it going. This is just for you Tiff! :) I was set to go in to be induced on Friday the 15th but the hospital called me that morning
and said they didn't have room for me to come in so I had to wait I called several times that day and they finally said to call back Saturday. I was so ready to be done I was almost in tears. They didn't end up calling me to come in till Sat around 3. I finally got there and got all checked in and had to start my antibiotics.

My dr didn't want to start the pitosin till 8:30 that night so I had to just walk around and chill till then. Finally they started the pitosin and I got my epidural because the guy was already there doing another one so I didn't even feel any pain the whole time. It was very nice. I actually fell sleep and they came and checked me now and then. 3 out of the 4 girls in labor were supposed to be delivered by my dr. so of course me and one other girl were complete at the same time. They had to deliver the other girl first because she didn't have an epidural and couldn't control her pushing so I had to wait. It was pretty close and the nurse was getting worried the dr wasn't going to make it in before I had her. The dr barely made it in threw her clothes on and pushes later Brielle was here at 2am. It was probably the easiest delivery other than all the waiting at the beginning.

So here are all the pics. I need to have some cute profesisonal ones done but here she is. Hopefully Aunt Tiff will have time to take a few pics when we go up for the reunion!!?? :)

Big sister Brylee is a little too helpful most of the time but tries so hard to keep her happy.

First bath! She didn't like it at all.

This was her getting ready to come home. Randy bought her a really cute outfit to come home in but she was so small it drowned her more than this one so we had to settle for a not as cute outfit. She was 6 lbs 1 oz and 18 in long. Smallest baby so far!

Proud papa is in love with her already!

Grandma and Grandpa Tenney were nice enough to drive all the way down to Safford and visit her in the hospital and take our girls back up to Heber to awesome Aunt Tiff for the week.

Grandpa Burrell with grandbaby #21

Grandma Burrell and Brielle

Such good big sisters!

She is finally here!

Waiting, waiting and more waiting!!

Till We Meet Again

After 2 heart episodes and several stays in the hospital my grandpa Burrell passed away a few weeks ago. It is always sad to see a loved one go but we all prayed that he would just go see the other side so he didn't have to be in pain any longer. The funeral was amazing and it was so good to hear all the stories and accomplishments he made while on the earth. He was an amazing husband to my grandma. I don't ever remember going to visit them where they weren't holding hands. They are truely the best example of love for one another.

I did the pics backwards once again. Maybe someday I will get it figured out. The funeral was in Mesa and he was buried here in Safford where he was born and grew up. It is always so touching to see the military farewell. My grandpa was a gunner in WWII and 3 of my cousins are in the military so they were able to do the ceremony. Not sure if it has a name but it was amazing.

My cousin Brian (just returned from Iraq) giving the flag to grandma and saluting.

Last farewell to one of the best examples in all of our lives.

My brothers and cousins were the pall bearers. I'm so glad I have the gospel in my life so I know that we are able to see our loved ones again. I don't know how people are able to cope with death without the knowledge of the plan of salvation.

Love you Grandpa Burrell!! UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

Grand Canyon Railway

Memorial Day weekend we decided to take a last minute trip to the Grand Canyon since the girls havn't been there and we aren't going to be able to take a big trip this summer due to my huge belly. We took our RV and stayed in a RV park in Williams and took the train to the Grand Canyon. It was a lot of fun. On the way home we had train robbers top the train and rob everyone. The girls were asleep so we woke them all up except for Macie. She was so tired from the day that she wouldn't budge.

The guy was still nice enough to take a picture with the sleeping Macie.

Can you tell by Brylee's unsure smile that she just woke up. She wasn't quite sure what was going on.

Tessa wasn't sure if she was supposed to be scared or laugh. The entertainment was very good and the girls had a lot of fun on the train.

The girls were not as excited about the "big hole" as we thought. They were crying before we even got up the stairs to see the canyon. Their legs were so tired from going up the 2 flights of stairs that it was a disaster from the start. There were bees everywhere that were freaking Macie out so she was running around screaming and Brylee didn't want to walk so she was entertaining people with her rolling around on the floor wanting to be carried. It was great. Overall, even though the girls were tired it was amazing to see the beautiful grandeur of the Grand Canyon to remind us of what Heavenly Father created for us to enjoy.

Before we got on the train they had a little gun fight show that we watched. The girls had to have a pic with one of the bank robbers/train robbers. After the Grand Canyon we went to Prescott Valley and visited Randy's sister and her family for a few days. Didn't get any pics cuz I am not a good photographer but we had lots of fun with them. We havn't seen them in a while so it was good to be able to go see them.

Macie graduated!

Macie graduated from kindergarten. Yippee! She had a little program but once again I took horrible pics so I'm not going to post those. Not sure why they have a kindergarten promotion but it's cute I guess.
Macie and her teacher Mrs. Aguilar. She loved Macie of course and wanted to keep her. They both started crying when I took the pic.

They did a cute little slide show with all the classes and the kids with their friends. It was really cute. On to 1st grade!!