How Did I Get So Lucky?

I know I am a day late, but better late than never, right?

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I am so lucky to have two wonderful mothers that are the best example to me of what a mother should be. If I am half the mother they are, then my kids will be pretty well off.

I think I have the best mom any girl could ever ask for. She is patient, and she always sees the best in everyone. She has always been our number one fan, no matter what activity we were involved with at the time. She was always on the sidelines at soccer games, on the front row at school plays, dance, piano, and voice recitals. At times she almost seems like the energizer bunny. She never slows down and that smile is always on her face. I have so many fun memories with my mom, whether I was sitting in the back of an aerobics studio listening to my mom count off a routine for the class (by the way mom, I loved the headbands and leg warmers), or just dancing like lunatics in the kitchen to some of our favorite songs. Somehow, she even got my brothers to participate in this activity. We spend so much time laughing, and having a good time (even though I am sorry that a lot of the laughing is at my mom's expense) she has always been a good sport and put up with us. I love her dearly, and don't know what I will do when she doesn't live just 10 minutes up the street.

I am so lucky to have a sister that has been such a great example to me for the past 27 years. She, too, is an excellent mom (as you can see by the happy boy in the picture). She loves to have a good time, and seems to always have the energy for it (wonder where she got that from). I have vivid memories of Erin doing a full on dance routine, while carrying on a conversation with whoever was in the room at the time, and not missing a beat. She has so much energy, and just like my mom, I rarely see her without a smile. She definitely notices the positive things in life and the smallest things make her happy, and she is able to put smiles on the faces of those around her. I am a better person because of these women, and I can't ask for anything more. I love you guys. Thanks mom and Erin for being you! And HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Georgia on My Mind

I have to start off by saying when we were in Atlanta, Mike was hit hard with a cold so we decided to just stay in and watch a movie, and this is the movie we watched.  It was so good.  I think I am obsessed.  I can't think of what else to say about it but that it made me feel good.  I am so glad that I saw it and highly recommend it.

So anyway, a couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Georgia to spend some time with Mike.  It was definitely way too short, but we had a good time none the less.  We stayed downtown and were within walking distance of the world's largest aquarium, and the World of Coke.  You heard me, I said the WORLD OF COKE!  Coke and sea creatures.  I was in heaven! 
This is Mike having a coke with Mr. Pemberton, the founder of Coke.  Originally Coke was an alcoholic beverage, but in 1885 he came up with a nonalcoholic alternative.  And aren't we glad that he did!
This is a sea dragon.  I thought it was so cool.  It actually looks like a miniature version of Pete's friend, Elliott. 
This is a whale shark.  Some interesting facts about whale sharks.  They are the largest living fish species, can grow to be up to 40 feet long and weigh about 15 tons, and can live for about 70 years.  And they are able to house the monstrous creatures in the aquarium.  I thought that was pretty cool. 
We went to lunch at a burger place just across the street called Johnny Rockets.  I was a fun restaurant, and they even have in-house entertainment.  The waiters and waitresses did a full on choreographed dance for everyone.  It was fun.

The outside of the aquarium.

Some crabs, but these aren't just any crabs.  These are giant crabs whose legs can grow to be 14 feet long.  They were huge, the picture just doesn't do them justice.
And of course we have the giant Coke bottle.  One can't help but throw out their goal to not drink coke/diet coke when surrounded by giant coke bottles.  Yes, we did partake but it was delicious!
This is the tasting room at the World of Coke.  Coke has 64 different flavors all over the world, and they have every single one on tap in this very room.  It was pretty cool.

Everywhere Mike goes, he has to represent!  Go Utes!  It was such a fun trip, I was sad when it ended, but he gets to come home soon for a little visit and I can't wait.  

However Far Away. . .

As Valentine's day came and went this year, for the most part it was very uneventful. Now I say for the most part because my awesome parents stayed in on V-day to have dinner and watch a movie with me. I woke up early on Saturday morning and made a list of things that I needed to do that day. I made a trip to Lowe's and then to the grocery store and until the cashier wished me a Happy Valentine's day, I had totally forgotten what day it was. When your husband is gone, and you are spending the day alone, ignorance is bliss, especially when it comes to the love-fest we like to call Valentine's Day. So, I tried to get totally wrapped up in what I was doing so that I wouldn't think about it. All of these feelings of total and utter disgust for the holiday itself would be thrown right out the window if I were talking about the weekend before Valentine's Day. So let me take myself back.

Mike and I knew that we weren't going to be able to spend Valentines day together (again), and had talked about doing something special before hand. Well, I kept asking him what he wanted to do and he didn't care, so I took it into my own hands and planned what I would consider a perfect date night. I thought it would be so great to get a couple's massage and then spend the night at a cute little B&B, and then have the following day off to do absolutely nothing but hang out. After doing a little research and tweaking my plans just a little, the perfect weekend was planned and paid for, and I did it all on my own. We ended up going to Heber and we got massages at a spa up there and then we went to dinner at a cute little restaurant, called Breadstix. Then I had booked us a room at the Homestead ( like I said, I tweaked the plans a little bit, but have you ever tried to book a B&B in the vacinity of Park City in February? Yeah, it's impossible, unless you want to spend $400/night.) But it turned out to be so charming and the perfect night was made even better being holed up in our cabin-style room with my cute husband watching The Office and 30 Rock. I took then next day off and we worked on the house and got Mike packed and just hung out. I love nothing more than just having a day off with Mike, because it is so rare. Anyway, just wanted to say that Mike is the greatest and I miss him everyday! Can't wait to see you soon (hopefully)!

(This picture has nothing to do with our weekend, it is just my favorite picture of us!)

I just thought I would include a few pics that have nothing to do with football.  We did a lot of walking while we were in New Orleans.  It was a great opportunity to see a little bit of history in the city.  I must admit that I was apprehensive about the trip, having heard lots of scary stories about the city.  I know, it must be totally different when the city isn't overcrowded by tons of football fans walking the streets, but I must say that by day I loved New Orleans, not so much at night.  Anyway, this is a street in the French Quarter.  I loved the house with the flower boxes and the more I looked at the pic, the more I noticed that the other buildings weren't too bad themselves.

There was a crew of street dancers that were amazing break dancers.  They put on numerous shows during the day and I must say it was worth stopping for a half hour to watch.  The things they do to their bodies is just amazing.  
We stopped at a cemetery on our way out of town, and it was really cool.  Now I know you are probably thinking "cemeteries aren't cool", but seriously, these ones were.  They can't dig because they are so close to the ocean so all of their graves are above ground.  They were really neat.
This was just a cool door to a family tomb in the cemetery.  There was a huge statue on top, too!
Hope you enjoyed your tiny trip to New Orleans!

A Utah (wo)Man am I! GO UTES!

Well, we did it!  We made the trek to New Orleans (Nahlins as it said down there).  After 24 hours in the car, we drove into the city and were at a dead stop along with everyone else in the world that decided to celebrate the new year in New Orleans.  New Year's eve in New Orleans was a bonus, but of course we were down there to cheer on the Utes in the Sugar Bowl.  Now I know I don't need to go into detail about what happened that night, because if you watch TV or listen to the radio, you know that they beat the Alabama Crimson Tide.  GO UTES!  I must say though, that although extremely arrogant, the Alabama fans were quite gracious with their loss, and at one point some lady came up gave Mike a hug and congratulated him on the win.  It was so worth the drive (OK, honestly, I would have still preferred to fly) but I am so glad that I was there.

This is the bus that took the team to practice, and the game.  It was pretty cool to see it parked on the street in front of their hotel all week.
This is me and Mike at the pep rally.  It was insane how many people were there to support our football team.

This is us in front of the Superdome.  It looks more like a Super Spaceship to me, but oh well.  It was huge!
And this is the view from the nosebleed section of the super dome.  Even though we were extremely high up, we could still see everything that was going on.

This was after all of the Alabama fans had left the stadium and the trophy was presented.  There was quite a feeling of camaraderie amongst the Utah fans.  It was so fun walking the mile back to hotel with people cheering the entire time.  After, we along with 10,000 (at least it felt like that many) Utah fans, and thousands of astonished Alabama fans, poured down Bourbon street to celebrate.  Our celebration was a little milder than say most of the people that were there, but none the less, it was a great time!
Final Score
And last, but not least, the perfect season.  This trip was something that I will most likely never forget and can't wait for the next time the Utes make it this far.  We already promised the couple we went with that no matter where we are, we will meet up for the next one and anyone else that would like to join us is more that welcome!

Crazy Christmas Traditions (and a few new ones)

Christmas at our house it actually usually just the opposite. We never have "Christmas" at our house. As many of you can probably relate, our Christmas season is usually spent running from house to house to make sure that we get all of our visiting done. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against all of the parties and things, but by the time Christmas is over, we are exhausted-and we don't even have kids to entertain during all of this.

Every year on the 23rd, the Burgin side of the family gets together for their annual Christmas Bash. There is food, and a good old fashioned white elephant gift exchange, then I can't forget the famous activity of banging metal pipes with tent stakes in the attempt to make music. Ok, honestly, it sounds pretty cool, and Mike's aunt takes this responsibility very serious. Everyone gets a turn, even the grown up kids. I am pretty sure Mike loves this, as you can see by his expression, although I think it was a little too much fun for his brother, Tyler.

Next we move on to the Morgan family Christmas party. We had it at my aunts house out in Draper, which is taking some getting used to. We have always had the party at my grandparents house, but as the family grows, we can no longer fit in my grandparent's house, so it was necessary to move it. And I must say that the party was a hit. We still had a pinata, which is a tradition for as long as I can remember, but then some new activities were thrown into the mix, such as making a santa suit out of red tissue paper and black construction paper. We took one of the cousins and dressed them up, then grandpa judged the santas. I still feel like my group's santa should have won (far left). I mean take a look at the detail on his boots! And the fact that he has full boots. . .yeah, I did that.
We also threw a talent show into the mix. Unfortunately we are a family of very few musical talents (with the exception of my cousin Theresa's family), so we were forced to be creative. This is my sister, Erin and her husband, Bryan. Their unusual talent was beat-boxing while brushing their teeth. It was hilarious-I mean awesome! Keep up the good work guys and let me know when you cut your first album!
Just had to throw this one in. Brooks finally caught on to the whole Christmas/Santa thing this year (well for the most part).
So, nobody got the memo that the party was supposed to be an ugly sweater party. I guess I should mention that my cousin Patrick got the memo, the only person, but his sweater was enough for everyone. Lookin' good!
This is my cute Grandpa. I just thought this pic was great so I wanted to put it on here.
Things that I didn't have my camera out for were Christmas morning at Mike's mom's house. We made Scottish pancakes for breakfast and then opened gifts before we headed over to my parent's house. On Christmas Eve, we got to talk to my brother Trent who is "far far away in the Philippines" as Brooks would say. He will be home next Christmas and honestly I don't think that any of us can wait. He is such a unique person, and he brings so much to our family and we love him for that. Can't wait for him to come home!

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season and that you got everything you asked for.

2nd Lieutenant Micheal D. Burgin

It's official. He finally commissioned as an officer in the Army National Guard. After three long years of hard work, it finally paid off and now he has signed his life away for six more years! As much as I complain about the fact that the military takes my husband away from me at least once a month and we have yet to spend an entire calendar year together since we have been married, we have been blessed by Mike's decision to join. We have both learned quite a bit about ourselves.

This is my cute husband in his Class A Uniform. He pulls it off well I must say.

This is Mike with Sgt. Portwood. He is a Sargent in Mike's unit and has been a good friend to Mike. When a cadet commissions as an officer, they give their first salute to a non-commissioned officer, and that was this guy.

Mike being sworn in.

Now a little side note. To ring in the holiday season, my mom, aunts, cousins and me and my sister took a wreath making class up at Red Butte Gardens. It was really fun, and although my poor little wreath looks a little smashed, I am proud of the work that I did. I hope I get to do it again next year. It was a nice learning experience, and I know now what to do and what not to do to make a wreath that will last all season long (as a matter of fact, as of today January 9, my wreath is still hanging on my front door, and it doesn't look too bad, just maybe a little dry.)