Mae's First Christmas

As promised, I'm writing a post with no politics, and a bunch of pictures of Mae. We went to my parent's house in Price for Christmas. Becca was going to go down on Monday, but the snow was too bad, so we ended up going down together on Tuesday. We didn't do much, just watched Mae play with her cousins, uncles, aunt and grandparents. Mae had a busy Christmas morning. I'm pretty sure she had more gifts than anyone else, just as it should be. She opened about half of her presents on the 25th and was getting a little overwhelmed. Since her cousins were coming the next day and opening presents on the 26th, we saved the rest of her presents for the next day. The first picture here is of her playing a toddler piano that her aunt and uncle gave to her.



Mae sort of got the idea of opening presents. As you may have noticed from previous posts, Mae likes ripping and eating paper. She helped unwrap a few of her presents, but was more interested in wrapping paper, but was a little disappointed that she couldn't eat it. I'll have to try and find some edible wrapping paper for her birthday.













Mae's uncle Mark gave her some really great presents. This picture is of her playing with one of them. Despite the deer in the headlights look from the camera flash, she really enjoyed the present.









I've noticed that Mae often enjoys watching other kids play with toys almost as much as playing with them herself. She had a ball watching everyone unwrap presents on Christmas morning. There was just so much to look at and play with.











Mae was so excited about the 72-hour kit that we received from Becca's parents. She thought it made a great drum!








It all proved to be too much excitement for Mae. Luckily grandma Burghardt didn't mind snuggling her to sleep. Mae had so much fun being with her relatives for a few days. She was so happy while we were there. She was just laughing about anything and everything. When she woke up this morning she was really, really grumpy. I think that she was sad to leave grandma and granpa's house. Luckily she now has a bunch of new toys to keep her entertained. Well, I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and will have a happy new-year.

Snow storms and politics

Hey everybody, so its been a while since we have posted, but hopefully we'll be posting some more pictures of Mae (and Becca and I if anyone cares) this weekend. I've been busy trying to survive finals, which I think I did. Now I get to enjoy my break by finishing some research and trying to crank out most of a journal article before school starts again... merry Christmass eh? Fortunately I like what I'm doing, so don't feel too bad for me. Becca and I were had tickets to the Messiah tonight, but unfortunately they canceled it due to the snow. Bummer. Since we already had a baby-sitter lined up (first time!!!) we just rode Trax down to Village Inn for some pie and hot chocolate.

Before I finish this up, I wanted to leave another little political rant. Ever since I was on the debate team in high school I have been interested in politics, philosophy and economics. Over the last several years I've been making an effort to understand the American history that I was never taught in school. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I had fine history teachers, but I've since become convinced that history is more about ideas and less about events, which is all that I remember being taught. I think that it is impossible to fully appreciate the American revolution without understanding the philosophies of Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau (yes a Frenchman) ... etc. I also think that you cannot understand the Great Depression and New Deal without understanding Keynsian economic theory. I recently came across a great article ( here) about the New Deal and its effect on the Great Depression. Definitely not what I was taught in high school history class. It kind of upsets me that I was always taught that the the New Deal is what saved us from the Great Depression. It was always taught as an authoritative fact, when in fact it is one of several competing views, and certainly not the one with the most evidence to back it up. As I think back to history class now, the thing that strikes me the most is that EVERYTHING was taught as an authoritative fact. Everything had a single certain explanation. There were no competing views presented. Now as I read history for sources other than a high school text book, I see that there are very, very few absolute facts in history. As my institute teacher Brother Petersen likes to say, "history is mush," by which he means that it is really murky, with few real clear facts and explanations.

Why does this all matter? Generations of American such as myself were taught authoritatively that FDR saved us from the Great Depression with the New Deal. Largely because of this there is now widespread support for a new "New Deal." Before we all go rushing to the government to fix all of our economic woes we would do well to revisit and study what happened last time the government tried to do such a thing. Please do read the article I linked above. I'm not saying you have to agree with it, but I think you should at least be informed about it. Anyways, sorry for hijacking my family blog to rant about politics. You just came here to see cute pictures of Mae, and instead you are getting economics lectures. I guess that is the price you must pay to see pictures of such a sweet little girl.

"Life is Good!!!"

I haven't posted in a long time, but felt a great need to share my thoughts and feelings today as I mourn the loss of a great friend and mentor, Mike Loveless. You might wonder why I have titled this post "Life is Good!!!" considering its contents. If you knew Mike at all, you would not wonder. It is the phrase I most often heard him say, and one that I think defined him. Mike was my friend, scout leader, church leader ... and above all, a great example to me of how a true disciple of Christ lives his life. I've heard the saying "Preach the gospel all the days of your life, and if necessary, use words." I think that explains how Mike lived. I feel like I learned so much from him, and am a better man because of him, but I can think of few scriptures that he shared, or sermons that he gave. I can recall countless days that I spent with Mike in the mountains, and in his home. Fishing, playing capture the flag, hiking, sitting around a camp fire, working on merit badges, building ewok villages, playing hearts, ... and I think that's where the real lessons were learned. Anyone who knew Mike knew several things about him. 1. His family was the most important thing to him. When I think about how I want my relationship with my wife to be, I think of Mike and his wife. 2. Mike would do anything to help you. I think that the last time I saw Mike was about a year ago. My jeep was broken down and I had to make a quick trip to Price to pick up a motor from my parent's house. My dad was at work, and I needed help lifting it into a car I had borrowed. It was late and I was trying to think about who I could get to help me. The first person that came to mind was Mike. Sure enough, he drove right over and helped me with the motor. That's just how he was.

I had the opportunity of attending a Varsity scout All-Stars camp with Mike two years in a row. The All-Stars camp is a week long leadership training camp. The camp was a mixture of games and training. The second year I attended I was a youth staff member, and Mike was the camp director. Several nights during the week we had firesides around the campfire. Near the camp there was a large open field which we called Bristlecone flat because at the upper end of the field there was a very large Bristlecone pine tree. Bristlecone pine trees are very interesting and beautiful trees. They are the oldest known living organism (thousands of years old in some cases). The interesting thing about these trees is that they typically grow in very rocky regions near windswept ridges, at the timberline. In this very harsh environment they grow very slowly, but are very resistant to bugs and other things that kill trees. I'm not sure how old the tee at bristlecone flat is, but half of it is dead and has been burned. It looks like its been through hell, but it is really a majestic tree. I've always remembered a poem that Mike shared at one such fireside:



The Law of Life

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
That stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king,
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
Who never had to win his share
Of sun sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man,
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow in ease.
The stronger wind, the tougher trees,
The farther sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength,
By sun and cold, by rain and snows,
In tree or man, good timber grows.

-Author Unknown


I'm really going to miss Mike. I'll always remember the time we just couldn't quit fishing and ended up hiking back to the car through a swamp in the dark, or watching him do a back-flip on a water-ski (before they had wakeboards). But most importantly I think I'll remember that it's people that are important, not things, not events. That actions speak louder than words, and that you can profoundly impact the lives of others for the better if you take the time to care for them. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mike's family. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful person with the rest of us. He has truly blessed the lives of countless many.

quick summary of the last month

So, since the last time I posted all kinds of things have happened. Jeff started school here at the UofU and has been working his bum off there and working in Heber 2x's a week still. Busy busy. I appreciate all he does so I can stay home and take these picts of our little one.

The most exciting thing that happened last month though is that my best friend Diana had her twin baby girls which they were lovingly calling baby"A" and baby "B" until they decided to name them Anna and Becca. I was very honored to say the least!

My Dad was here in Salt Lake last week to get the hole (ASD) in his heart closed up by Dr. Sorensen who also closed mine and Katie's . For those of you who didn't know. We found out while I was pregnant with Mae that the numbness I was experiencing randomly over the last 6 years along with the blurry vision and hard time getting words out occasionally, wasn't due to the diagnosed "migraines" I was having, but instead a hole in my heart. To make a long story short its fixed now and so is my sister's and my Dad's. These holes in the heart are more common than people might think (10-20% of the population have them) and can cause strokes. Anybody reading this who has any similar symptoms to mine should seriously check out the Sorensen website.
A few weeks ago Mae and I took a trip to the zoo with the Haacke family. We had lots of fun and Mae made friends with a tiny little monkey. They had a bit of a staring contest. Soo fun! I carried her around in my sling the whole time and she fell asleep, but the trip wore her out and she slept pretty well that night ( relative to how she normally does). We had a lot of fun.

3 weeks ago my sister Katie and I canned peaches for the first time ever. Well, Katie did most of it and I was taking care of my little one. Thanks Kate. Katie's dog Maya was trying to love on Mae while we were there.. cute. A week after that Katie and I continued on our domestic pursuit and went raspberry picking and made jam!! Yummy. Jeff is excited about it too. Becca Haacke and her kids joined us too. Ethan, her 4 year old probably had the most tasty experience out of us all. He found some good berries and it was obvious by the stains on his face. :) Mae had a good time with Aunt Katie and got a good nap in too.

Living the College Life

So, we have been living in Salt Lake now for almost 2 months and have been enjoying the benefits (and challenges) of on campus student housing. There have been b-b-q's,free outdoor movies, and lots of people in our same situation with kids. Starting next week I plan on starting a Yogalates class just outside our apartment as well as a Total Body Fitness class. I am getting excited to drop the last 10 baby pounds I have on me and get back in shape!
Not to complain, cuz I really know how blessed we are to be living in this country and to have the opportunity to go to school and live in such favorable circumstances, but.. I have to explain one of the simple things other mothers most likely can relate to and appreciate. See one of the frustrating things about living in our humble cynderblock apartment is the fact that to dry our clothes I have wait till my sweet little girl decides to take a nap, then I usually have 45 minutes to rush around and do stuff. So I put a load of laundry in the washing machine we have in our apartment. 30 minutes later I am dragging the basket full of wet clothes down our 3 flights of stairs to the laundry room in the next stairwell over. Once I get there I better have remembered my dollar worth of quarters, the 2 dryer sheets and the key to get in to the laundry room. If not, I have to run back up to my apartment and back down. If the dryers are in use, I cross my fingers and hope I can get a chance to put my wet clothes in the dryer when Jeff gets home from work or be lucky enough to get another cat nap out of Mae and do it then. If not, I may end up having to wash the clothes again because they stink. IF I am fortunate enough to get my clothes in, then after Mae wakes up and we get a chance to make it back down the stairs (like this last week), Mae gets a ride on the dry clothes in the laundry basket! I have posted a few pictures of the adorable babe eating our mail I got out of the mail box before getting our clean clothes.

Waxing Political

Hello everybody! Sorry its been so long since we have posted, it is summer and we have been busy working and playing hard while the weather is warm. As Becca mentioned we have recently traveled to Sacramento and McCall, Idaho for family reunions. This weekend we are off to Boise for Becca's 10 year class reunion. Then, I think we'll stay home for a while and relax before school starts up again. We'll try and take some more pictures of Mae and post them, since that is the only reason that anyone read this thing anyways.
So, while you are checking back for more pictures of Mae, I would like to take advantage of this little soap box and wax political for a moment. I just wanted to share a few links that I think are well worth your time to check out. I'll also be adding them to the side bar over there <------, for future reference. Lately I have been reading a lot about the founding fathers and our unique system of government. At the same time I've been watching the current political campaigns with disgust, a feeling I'm sure many of you can relate to. I think that we are really headed for a big change in our country, good or bad remains to be seen. As the quote I've added to the blog says, " all that it takes for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." I think that this is exactly what has been happening to this great country. I believe that if anything good change is to come to our country, it will be through a return to the fundamental principles that our republic was founded on. I don't see such an agenda in either party at the moment. Although I don't agree with everything the man says, I see the most common sense and truth in Ron Paul's campaign for liberty. Check out their website, and decide for yourself. Ron Paul gave an excellent speech in congress last month that I think every American should read, it can be found here. Anyways, thanks for letting me rant a little.

So... its been a while

So.. it has been over 2 months since we have posted. Sorry to all of you who have been looking for updates. We aren't the most diligent bloggers. Life has been good and full the last few months though. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but we up and moved to Salt Lake City at the end of June. We now live at the University of Utah's student housing. We miss Heber, but there is lots of good stuff here, and great people to meet. Plus we live at the mouth of Immigration canyon were anyone who road bikes in SLC rides. Jeff and I have both been riding up there.
Right after we moved Jeff was gone to LV for a week, then we were took another trip to Cali to celebrate my Grandma Helen's 80th birthday in Sacramento. A week ago we were in McCall, Idaho for my family reunion where we did some rafting and jet skiing. This next weekend we will be in Boise for my 10 year class reunion! Needless to say, we are still trying to get our apartment organized as well as help Mae get on a regular sleeping pattern.
Speaking of our sweet little Mae girl, she is just awesome! We are soo grateful for her and she will be hitting her 6 month mark of being here on earth this month! Wow.. She is so much fun and she is flipping over on to her tummy and back and just barely started getting her knees under her to scoot across her blankie. We will have to put a new picture of her on here tonight.
Anyways, that is us in a nutshell lately.
Mae would like to add something before I end:
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a little shout out to the men in my life

This weekend has been nice and relaxing. We came to Price to spend Father's Day with Jeff''s Dad, Marvin. Jeff recently found him a road bike and the 2 of them traveled around town together on thier bikes all weekend. We are glad Marvin likes his bike so much! We are very grateful to be close enough to Marvin and Sheila to see them occassionaly and have Mae spend time with her grandparents. What loving Grandparents they are!
We are grateful for Jeff's Grandparents and they excitement they have to have Mae visit them as well.
We know my step-dad, John as well as my dad have played great roles in my life and are grateful to have them in our lives now.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Denny for all you have always done for me and for the love you have for Mae although you have not yet met her!
Thank you Jeff for being such a loving father to our baby and for working so hard for our family-
I am soo blessed!

Thoughts of the little ones

No one really needs to read this lengthy little piece if they don't feel like it. I won't promise that it will be well written, but there have been a lot of things on my heart I would like to at least attempt to put down somewhere...
This last month or so I have been thinking a lot about the lives of 3 little children who have directly and indirectly affected my life. 2 of them have been on Jeff's side of the family and I only know them through their funerals I attended. The other is a boy named Jackie who I had the privilege to teach in my preschool class 2006-2007 at JMS school for the Deaf. My heart goes out to the grieving families and friends of these sweet children.
I wonder if I could handle the pain of losing my own precious daughter for this time in mortality as well as the family members I have seen of these children. What strength those I have heard speak of their little ones passing have exemplified. What examples and testimonies of the Living Savior have touched my heart. I know God lives. I know He has a plan for each and every child that is sent to this earth. I know we are placed in our individual families for a reason and that we are to learn from each other, strengthen each other and love each other.
Just as importantly we are placed in other peoples' lives for a reason. Be it, at school, work, the grocery store, Sunday school, or other places in our day to day living, there are people who will impact us and those we will impact for good or bad. I am so grateful for those people who through their interactions and examples to me, have helped to mold me to be the person I am today.
I think back on my interactions with sweet little Jackie and ask myself, "Did I treat him the best I could every day?" , "Did I show him enough attention?" , "Will I be able to report before the Lord that I loved him the best I knew how?". I pray that I was kind when I woke him from his afternoon naps everyday. He was the biggest sleepy head I had ever seen. I pray I was patient as he got frustrated with the other children who would cut in front of him in line. Man, he hated that! I pray that I am more patient and kind to all I come in contact every day ahead of me because of that little boy. I hope to see him one day again and thank him for what he taught me and for his desire to learn, to communicate and to let me see his eyes light up when our communications clicked.
I know the Lord has great plans ahead for all 3 of these little ones who have recently been lost to us on this earth. He has plans for us too. I just hope I can comply and have an open, humble heart to learn what He wants me to learn and do what He wants me to do.
I thank my Heavenly Father for the blessings of family in my life and for the knowledge I have of the Atonement and Eternity.

Mae's ( and our ) Firsts

So, this last month had a lot of firsts for sweet Mae. Aside
from finding her voice and finally taking a binki from her dad, Mae got to meet her Grandma and Grandpa Thomson! They drove up last weekend from Arizona and brought with them the work of Mae's Great Grandfather and master carpenter, Denny. What an amazing family heirloom we now have to pass down. We are thrilled to have it. ( will put more picts up when we take some of the crib put together with the bedding and all )
The night before her Grandparents arrived Mae returned home from Long Beach California. Our family was able to travel together with Jeff's company on a plane and stay in the Queen Mary. Mae did wonderful on the plane and the stewardesses had a hard time giving their schpeels as Mae sat on Jeff's lap giving them her big gummy grins. :) Jeff and our friend Nate presented papers at an engineering conference and did great. Nate's wife Lyndie and I had a fun time being Moms with our little ones and kept each other company while they guys did work stuff. The last day there, I wanted to take Mae to the beach, but the weather (and time) didn't allow it. We did make it to the aquarium though and Mae was startled by a sea lion that swam by in front of her! Jeff carried Mae around in our sling for the first time where she fell soundly asleep and I got to touch a shark and a sting ray for the first time ever!
This Mother's Day was her mom's first, but that was also the weekend Mae met Grandpa King for the first time! Grandma and Grandpa King were able to get routed through Salt Lake and visit for the weekend. It was wonderful!

finaly more detailed gown picts!

1-The beautiful dress Grandma Bonne made from my wedding dress. Mae had a little ( ok..big) diaper explosion under the dress- thank goodness for dry cleaning!!

2&3-Mae wide eyed

4-Mae and I with Aunt Katie ( Mae's middle name is the same as her aunt's first)

Mae's Blessing

Although Mae was blessed 2 weeks ago, we still wanted to share picts from her beautiful day! My sister Katie has more pictures that we will post when we get them (come on Katie!!). We had lots of friends and family who came, it was very special for us!

• Grandma and Grandpa Burghardt with sleepy head Mae.

• Uncle Mark who swears we put something in Mae's milk before he

holds her because she never wakes up for him.

• Mae with some of her Wasson cousins after the blessing.

• Mae passed out after her big day!

Salt Lake Century Bike Ride

We haven't posted for a while, but we are still alive. We will post some more pictures of Mae later today. We have been staying busy and enjoying the warm weather. On Monday Becca's step-data John and I went fly-fishing. It was snowing in the morning, so we went out a little later. It was still very windy and the fishing was slow, but it was still a good time. Hopefully we'll be able to go fishing again at the family reunion in Idaho this summer.
I've been trying to get ready for the MS 150 bike tour that I'm doing in June. Thanks for the generosity of those who have given donations on my behalf. My training has been pretty sporadic. I've started working part-time at the University of Utah, which keeps me really busy. Despite my lack of training, I decided to ride in the Salt Lake Century yesterday. They had three loops to choose from: 100 miles, 72 miles or 36 miles. We opted to do the 72 mile loop and it went better than I thought. I was still very sore and tired when I finished, but I had a lot of fun. I did get a really good sunburn. You can tell exactly where my riding gloves and helmet were . I'm feeling a little better about riding the MS 150 now. I took the picture as we we riding through Kaysville at around mile 30. Thanks to Denise, Scott, LJ and Jill for the good ride.

mini reunion

So, yesterday Mae and I were able to meet up with 3 of my former mission companions in Salt Lake City for lunch! Sister(Julie) Nonu, Sister(Alayne) Berstler and Sister (Cammie)Rush (they all have new last names now). It was a lot of fun to see them all and get caught up on thier lives and hear what they know about life in Texas.

Mae's Blessing

I almost forgot, we also wanted to let everyone know that we will be blessing Mae in church next Sunday, May 4th. It is at 9:00 at the Heber East Stake Center. There is a google map here with directions from Salt Lake. All are welcome to attend.

More Pictures of Mae

Here are some more pictures of Mae. The first one is of her in a new sling that Becca got to carry her in. It has taken a little practice for both of them, but it looks like they have got it figured out. She is growing so fast. Its amazing.

I'm getting ready for my final exam (only one this semester) on Monday. It is always a relief to end a semester. I don't think I'll be taking classes this summer, but I will start doing research for a professor at the university. I'm really excited about that. The research project will be studying "computational plasticity." Sounds fun huh? I think so. Basically computational plasticity involves writing computer programs to model how a material will react (stretch, break...) when loaded under any conditions. We will be testing some of the assumptions traditionally used in such models, and if they are not valid (which they don't appear to be so far), we will try to correct them. This project will hopefully be part of my dissertation research.

On a somewhat less geeky note, yesterday my brothers in law Kirk and Jason, along with two of Jason's friends went fly fishing on the middle Provo here in Heber. Kirk caught three or four, Jason's friend John caught one or two, and the rest of us caught many rocks and trees. Sorry no pictures of them, as I let all of the trees and rocks go. Catch and release, that's what I always say.

I just wanted to add one more picture of Mae. This was taken yesterday. I think that worried look on her face when she is sleeping is cute. Anyways, thanks for reading.

Becca's observations

So, I thought I would finally add my own post to our blog.. It has been soo fun having Mae in our family! She is just awesome! As you see, we finally made a birth announcement. Falycia took the pictures, and Jeff put it together. A little FYI for the family- it has been so funny to see who Mae resembles each day. Last week, she reminded me of her cousin Weston, this week she looked like her cousin Josh to me. And in the picture of her sleeping below she looks like her cousin Nathan! ( don't ask me why they are all boys, she is much prettier than them all..) Amy told me she looks like her cousins Ellie and Abby. I do see a lot of her daddy in her though.: ) Mae is very observant lately and loves to look the toys that hang on her bouncy chair. She has a pretty good attention span for such a little girl! Oh yah- the picture of Mae smiling below, she is lying on the blanket Aunt Shanna sent her a few weeks ago. Thanks Shanna!! And one other great milestone to announce, Mae slept 6 hours the last 2 nights in a row! Yee haw! Keep it up Mae girl!

New Pictures of Mae

As promised, here are some cute new pictures of Mae. The pictures were taken a few weeks ago, but they are the most recent that we have available at the moment. Mae is doing really well, and smiling a lot as you can see in the picture. We took her in for her first round of shots this week, which wasn't very fun. She was unhappy for a few days, but she is doing well again. As of Wednesday she weighed 9 lb. 6 oz, and is 22.5" long. She is growing fast. Other than that not much is new with us. I'm getting excited to have this semester finished up soon. We have been enjoying the warm weather, when it's not snowing that is. I've started training for the MS 150 Bike Tour. After not riding a whole lot this winter, it's a little slow going, but we're making progress. I've also been tying flies and fishing on the Middle Provo a little bit, but don't have any good pictures at the moment. Maybe soon.