Annual Cheesy Birthday Poem

At the top of a mountain or down in a cave,

there is no one so bold or absolutely brave.

He conquers trout, steelhead and frisky bass,

finding time to help others, cuz he's first class.

It's hard to list his talents and skills,

working day and night to pay our bills.

Sure he's risking his life stepping over that crevasse,

And he's almost never a pain in the... butt.

An outdoorsman of the utmost elite,

Doing pull-ups at crossfit, he's bringing the heat.

Does he ever let up, give up or let me down?

Heck no! He's reliable all around.

Snow, water, ice, H2O is his thing,

100% effort, he always does bring.

And bring it he does when he gets dressed,

looking snazzier and classier than the rest.

Perfect hair, tall physique and biceps to boot,

That's certainly why our kids are so cute.

Speaking of children, there's nothing they love more,

 than their spiffy dad, walking through the door.

Getting up every day at the crack of dawn,

Perky, happy and rested, no trace of a yawn.

A zest for life, a charitable heart,

I loved this boy right from the start.

Adventurous and willing to try it all,

his lip-syncing skills are off the wall.

A lover of exercise, weather and nature,

his ice cream eating skills are more than major.

Once a gangly dork, looking for action,

Dauntless would certainly be his faction. 

He even shoots baskets like his man, LeBron.

Shooting the lights out all day long.

Perhaps what makes him most extraordinaire,

is the fact that he never sits in a chair.

A standing desk he prefers at his job,

at home on a medicine ball he does bob.

He loves hiking and mountains and me, of course.

And he easily looks like a God of the Norse.

His desire to travel is what gets me though,

now all we need is a whole lotta dough. 

He can talk politics and sports by the gallon,

never missing an episode of Jimmy Fallon.

I make him watch New Girl, Mindy & Castle,

snuggling with me never seems like a hassle.

Piano instrumental music is his jam,

he loves reading books to his fam.

He loves quality movies, like Fast and the Furious,

how Vin Diesel got famous, he's never curious.

He'll gladly give you the shirt off his back,

but give him bad service and you're listed as black.

He lives life to the fullest, my moral man,

Living the gospel the best that he can.

I couldn't ask for a better soul mate,

on Friday nights, he's the premier of dates.

Happy birthday to you, my studly suitor,

you could not be smarter, more perfect or cuter. 

The First New Elle

The rest of Christmas break was spent snuggling babies, skiing, eating, playing games, completing puzzles, watching LOTR and basically having way too much fun.

The Sheas.

Everyone got to enjoy a snuggly Anna.

I'm funny.

Blue cheese cream sauce for the steak. You are probably thinking ... what's the big deal? Its just sauce. Let's just say I pass on the steak and just eat the sauce.

Please pour it over my dead body.

Evil game players.

Thank you Dollar Store.

Snuggling, matching and watching a movie on Grandma/Grandpa's bed. 

She literally wore these every day for an entire month.

Also, my house is super clean.

Pretty sure Anna is eating garbage in the background.

Anna enjoys eating at Evie's Bistro too.

She is such a stinker.

A stinker who loves to eat toilet paper.

Dream big, Anna.

Okay, by far the best part of Christmas?

Meeting Elle.

There is nothing like having a new baby around the holidays. Ellen Jan, we have been waiting for you a long time! Welcome to our crazy family.

Also, ignore my nasty face in this picture.

Seriously! This baby. She is PERFECT. Look at that little chin! Burnett chin genes cannot be taken down, and for that ... I am grateful. 

Chelsea Jan and Ellen Jan.

Snug Life.

Don't you wish this picture was a scratch and sniff?!

We made Darel shower before she met Elle.

On New Years Day, we went to Salty's. A buffet that is actually okay in my book. If you know me, I'm not a huge fan of eating food that has been sitting in a warming tray for five hours, BUT Salty's was delicious. And the company was fantastic. Everybody in the same place for the first time in several years.

I mostly chatted with Ally about her friends, Strawberry Shortcake and soccer.

Anna out ate EVERYONE.

Our family.

We barely fit in one photo. What that says about us ... I'm not sure.

Scrunchy face!

Nick and I took the girls skiing one day. And by that I mean we stuck them in daycare and let Ev have a ski lesson. See ya kids! (totally worth it!)

I had never skied at Meadows before and I loved it. 

Plus, babies in snow gear?! Yes, please.

Most expensive date of our lives, but like I said, totally worth it.

A lot of this happened once Darel was home from the mission. 18 months of bottled up aggression, passion and krumpin'. 

My favorite picture in a long time. Such sweet, perfect children in our family. Obviously, its hard to look at this and not miss Keith, but we feel incredibly blessed. Kids make Christmas so special, especially these guys.

Ally (5), Elle (2 weeks), Cole (7), Anna (1), Ev (3).

Can you say Ally, Elle, Evie, Anna five times fast?

Neither can we.

Also, if I'm still blogging about Christmas on St. Patrick's Day... pinch me.

Grand Opening: Evie's Bistro

For Christmas Evie asked for a Jack-in-the-Box. Yes, you heard that right. A Jack-in-the-box. Not the fast food place, but the creepy toy that gives you nightmares as a child. I asked her twenty times what she wanted for Christmas and she wouldn't say anything else but that. (Last year she only asked for jelly beans, so she's pretty tough to please) Once I realized she wasn't going to ask for anything else and came to terms with that, it was actually sort of nice. I got to choose everything else she got since she basically asked for a whopping $10 gift.  

Since this was our first Christmas at home, Nick and I had to discuss some things that haven't yet come up in our marriage. Like ... how do you do Christmas morning? How do you display presents? Are Santa presents wrapped or unwrapped?, etc. I won't go into details, but we did it my way since I'm the criminal mastermind in our house. I'm 100% open to suggestions, but I'm probably going to do it my way anyway. So I wrapped the Jack-in-the-box and stuck it under the tree.

If you read this blog, or you know my child, you know that nothing in the world is more fun to her than play food. She loves to play chef in and out of the real kitchen, so I figured our little cook needed her own restaurant.

Evie's Bistro.

I have NEVER been so excited for anything in my entire life. I knew she would just love it.

And she did! First, she came out and didn't see her Jack-in-the-box and kept asking where it was. We handed it to her, she opened it, excitedly showed it to us and moved on to the restaurant. 

She didn't even want her other presents. All she wanted to do was play restaurant. We couldn't get her to unwrap any of her gifts. Finally, several days after Christmas she took a break from the restaurant to finish opening her presents. 

It made me so happy to see her happy and playing with her restaurant EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY. Plus I spent much time working on it and making sure it was perfect. I even included pictures on the menu (since she can't read) of food that looks exactly like her play food. Hunting down all that clipart was not easy! 

Evie will say, "Hey mom, do you want to come eat at my restaurant?" at least five times a day. She's lucky I'm always hungry...

On Christmas Eve, we went around the room and the people who had served missions shared their favorite mission Christmas story. Since I did not serve a mission, my dad asked me what was my favorite Christmas memory. I replied that it would most likely be this one. I had so much fun preparing gifts for the girls, but mostly for Evie since Anna doesn't give a rip. 

The spirit of gift giving is so special and you don't have to spend a ton of money to give your kids the Christmas of a lifetime. I seriously don't think I can ever top this. Evie still loves her restaurant and forces everyone who walks through our door to order up! So, if you're bored, hungry or both, feel free to head on over and taste the magic at Evie's Bistro.