love

...what an excellent explanation about how we feel in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints about being gay. I love being a part of this church, this Gospel of Jesus Christ...and that love is deepened by the measures the church leaders go to to make sure everyone knows that they are a part of this Gospel and that they are loved...no matter what...a perfect Gospel...for us imperfect people...

Happy Holidays...

...it's been a good year- not always easy- but always full-

 and always with "a perfect brightness of hope"

...Our "own wondrous story has already begun,"

Our "once upon a time" is now." (Elder Uchtdorf)

We so appreciate you, our family, our friends...

Happy Holidays! The Burnah Family

twas the season...

little monster...

 fairy...with a bit of hippie...

 Dorothy should have been a red-head...

 ...little beauty...

 Mavis, my "Zing"...and a little extra "zing"...

Hotel Transylvania...

...our favorite...

...the colors of autumn...

...beautiful windfall dolls, for reasons even more beautiful.

2012!

off to school they go!

 loves to pose for the camera!

 If I just let her go to preschool with anything and everything she wanted,

her pack would be full of 'treasures' and she would be wearing

lots of 'dress-ups'....

...and the growing baby boy....

it takes one person wanting to help...

this is Gavin.

and he's an orphan in Eastern Europe.

he's 6 years old, the size of a 3yr old, 

and mentally about a 2.5 year old,

and he knows no other life than the one he has,

life in a crib,

in a room full of orphans, 

with little attention.

And his life, would be cut very short...

...you see, Gavin is in stage 4 Kidney failure...

(stage 5 is the end)

he will never know differently

but we know differently.

we know about modern health

we know what it is to have a full, blessed life with opportunities.

someone else saw Gavin's picture on a website called
Reese's Rainbow

this person wanted to help a little boy have a full life.

no one had to do anything.

but someone chose to do something.

my good friend Lindsay and her family
decided Gavin could become a part of their family.
because of one family wanting to help one little boy

that got other people doing something

until a whole LOT of people have decided to do something!
maybe I can't be the one to bring a child into my home
but I can do all I can to help one child into the home of another!
(all of these links are ways YOU can do something too!)

And they are working SO hard to get him here

to get him a new kidney

to give him love and attention.

and I love to imagine, that one day,

he will know differently too.

he will know what it is to be loved,

and when he does,

i love to imagine the love and gratitude he will feel.

and i love to imagine what ripple effect that difference

made in the life of just one boy

will have.

for a purpose...

it's trendy

it's hard

it's a growing experience

it's a check off the bucket list

it's SO fun

so what more could you ask for?

Confession: these are the only reasons I wanted to run it.
that's it. and they are fine reasons.

Learning experience:

...I was given an opportunity to run it

for a purpose...

Cancer Research

...and that made it so much more cool...

with a real team leader who could have been doing an ultra run

and chose instead to inspire a team

to raise almost double the goal...

other great sponsors...

ghost runners who were with our team the whole way...
the BEST babysitters for my kiddos...
my favorite friend who convinced me...

thank you, everyone.

My favorite part:

Running with my favorite friend

Running with great people

Running for a cause

Running :)

ten years ago...

...the magic started here...

happy anniversary!

It's that time of year again, to be inspired...

facelift...

this is hippo

(also affectionatly called "appo" by those who love him)...

...he has been loved for almost three years, that little fur rubbed and rubbed-off...

it started with one hole on his head that just didn't have anymore strength to be sewn shut...

so it became a patch...then came the minky tummy and heart...

 ...now hippo is patchwork hippo...

he is sooooo cool, and still very loved.

awesome idea, auntie!

a little irreverent humor...

so, during church services one of the most reverent moments is while we partake of the Sacrament, the bread and water representing the body and blood of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
My eldest daughter one Sunday turned to me and whispered: "Mom, I'm hungry. I wish the body of Jesus could have been made out of Mac 'n Cheese."

Today, my eldest again, was drawing a picture during one of the speakers. She whispered: "this is the abominable snowman. Did you write "Yeti", Mom? Okay, and this is the Yeti teaching Jesus."

my baby boy...

family love...

...happy valentines day...

 ...we enjoyed it together...

 ...our royal valentine banquet...

...notice how she eats her veggies...

...notice how he eats his valentine candy...

(spots=penicillin reaction)

having fun...

...with a Pier 1 curtain...revamped a little...

Happy New Year

The best thing about a sister is having a best friend for life

 Young boys should never be sent to bed...they always wake another day older!