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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