More Luck!

My boss, Dr. Dent, likes to keep a big can of Planters Peanuts at work when he needs a snack, and he shares. (By the way, his son is deathly allergic to peanuts so he can't keep them at home.) About a year ago he stopped buying them because two of the girls at the office went on a diet, so the peanuts would go stale before they would be eaten. (The girls have probably lost over 100 pounds combined. They've done awesome!) Apparently, after we had gotten "Christmas nuts of all kind" sent to the office during the holidays, Dr. Dent decided he missed having a peanut snack every once and again! So this month, when I went to work that first Wednesday, there were not only peanuts but also cashews - which I happen to think is the most perfect nut. After expressing my excitement and gratitude about the cashews to Dr. Dent, I suggested that perhaps the only thing better than a cashew would be a chocolate covered cashew. Guess what?!? When we went to visit my parents right after they got home from their mission - guess what my dad gave me...




Cashews with caramel and chocolate known as Cashew Turtles! Talk about lucky! So I stand corrected! The only thing better than a cashew - is a chocolate and caramel covered cashew. Thanks DAD!!!! :)

And the only thing sadder than not having anymore cashews is when you open the box of Cashew Turtles and it looks like this...



Love you, DAD! :)

Happy Spring - and a Psycho Rooster?!?

Happy Spring everyone! How fun it is to see the green coming back (and I don't mean the pollen),trees budding, and flowers blooming. The birds are singing and everything seems to be coming more alive (even the pollen, ugh!). However, our rooster seems to be maybe too much alive. Now don't get me wrong this rooster is a beautiful one if you were to call a rooster beautiful, but he is not really ours. He just wandered on to our property one day and decided to stay. I think he loves hanging out with our goat, which is really ours.


He's been with us a couple of months now, and I thought I was getting use to his "way too early in the morning" crowing. Then Layne got sick a couple weeks back and was up every other hour coughing. Well guess what, while Layne was coughing at 2:30am the rooster was crowing at 2:30am and 3:00am and 3:30am and etc. until 5:30am when it just didn't matter anymore because I had to get out of bed anyway! By the way, when I finally got out of bed one morning after a long night of coughing and crowing, Layne said to me, "You should have seen the Rooster last night. He was all perched up on the deck crowing (note that our deck is right underneath our bedroom windows). It looked like a picture perfect farm scene." I don't know about you, but to me there is nothing "picture perfect about a rooster crowing at 2:30 in the morning! So then came Daylight Savings Time (and thankfully Layne's coughing has slowed down) and he kind of got into the groove of a 5:00am cock-a-doodle-doo. But if any member of our family is up at night, the rooster feels that he has the right to crow! And he doesn't crow just once, he just keeps going and going and going! And sometimes, he feels like he can't be heard so he has to get up in a tree to project his cock-a-doodle-doo! Hence the name, Psycho Rooster.
-To our neighbors and guests who stay the night and to our neighbor's guests who stay the night, I truly am sorry for our over anxious rooster!-

Anyway,I thought I would leave you with a nice little video...



and he's still crowing! Happy Days! :)

P.S.

It seems that clovers are quite abundant in Ireland. (St.Patrick used the clover to represent God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.) So, the number 3 is considered the favorite or lucky number in Ireland. And Kyler just happened to score 3 goals in his soccer game on Tuesday night of St. Patrick's Day. I think Uncle Mike would be proud! :)

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Happy day to everyone! As many of you may know this is a special day in our family! Not only is it a lucky day, but it is the day my brother was born 36 years ago! Although he is no longer here with us to celebrate a birthday, and although not a day goes by without remembering him and loving him, it is fun on this day to relish in our memories of Mike! So, as his sister I thought I would share a bit or two (or three or four) about my silly crazy brother!
For starters, he had collected more four leaf clovers than anyone I have ever met. I could search for hours in a clover patch and he would walk up and within minutes have found the perfect four leaf clover. (Honestly, my mom would wrap them up and press them so we could save them - there is actual proof!)
He was annoyingly smart, do I dare say brilliant with his studies, however sometimes he was a little lacking with common sense:)! He graduated as Salutatorian from High School, and after serving a mission in the Canary Islands, he earned his masters in Architectural Engineering (and Spanish) from Kansas State University.

He loved pranks (I don't know how many times he got my mom with the spray nozzle at the kitchen sink) and goofy games (did I mention he was a total cheater - who cheats at Uno, I mean really?!).

He completely loved playing soccer. And I loved watching him play soccer! He was a goalie and could totally amaze you!


Just missed it
photo by Darren Whitley


Mike Burgy, senior in architectural engineering,
knocks a soccer ball wide of the goal Monday evening
during the K-State soccer club's practice
in Memorial Stadium. The soccer club will travel
to Norman, Okla., for a soccer tournament
at the University of Oklahoma this weekend.

He loved playing in the water!


(Lorrie, Mike and McKenzie on Lake Oconee)

He loved playing on family trips!


(Heather, Dad, Ellie and Mike at Disney World. Notice he's in the Grumpy car - hmmm - sometimes fitting) :)

He loved celebrating birthdays and holidays! He was always such a big kid!


(Mike, Kyler, and McKenzie getting Mike's birthday cake ready!)

He loved spending time in Ohio with family and working on his "electric blue" 71' Nova and his dune buggy with Uncle John. (Sorry, no picture right now.)

And... he loved eating Monkey Bread!
(As did we for Family Home Evening last night!)





(My dad got after us for picking at it and look what he's doing! Busted!)


But most of all He loved his family and we love him! And I am thankful for the 30 years that he got to spend here! I feel lucky to be his sister! And I am even more thankful for Heavenly Father's plan and our Savior Jesus Christ, and for the opportunity we have to be together again.



(Mike, Ellie and McKenzie playing at our house.)



(Mike, Heather and Ellie on Karlee's Blessing Day.)


(Mike's grave site)



("I had prayed for a Godly man to come into my life; a man I could pattern my life after. I had envisioned a wise old man; instead it was a wise young man."
J.M. Wilkerson)

-this quote was spoken by Mike's boss, Mr. Wilkerson, at his funeral.


What an Adventure!

SCORE!

So tonight, Kyler had his third game of the soccer season and his first goal of the season. And did I have my camera - no! What is up with that?!? But I've got to tell you about it. We were missing two of our players tonight (one being a goalie). Kyler played defense the first half. They were down 1 - 0 (unlucky). Then in the second half, Kyler moved to offense and assisted the first goal of the night for his team. Nice! Then the right wing crossed the ball over to Kyler and in it went, with his left foot, right into the corner of the net. It was beautiful! One might say it was lucky (March is a lucky month!), but I've got to say, in that instance, they played it just right! And even though they lost 4 - 3, it was pretty fun! And Kyler was excited! :)

It's March!

It's March, and I have decided that March is perhaps... a lucky month!
My parents are home and we had a wonderful visit last weekend with them. It was so fun to just play with the kids at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was nice to sit face to face with my mom and just chat. And it was great weather last Saturday (my dad was loving the warmer weather) so we all played outside - croquet, soccer, baseball, tag, and basketball (p-i-g and h-o-r-s-e). And although it was mostly me getting "pigged and horsed" I can play a mean game of croquet!:) My niece, Ellie, was also there for the whole weekend and that was so fun to see her - she is getting so tall!! Aunt Heather and Uncle Terry came on Saturday and Ellie let us know right away that Heather was expecting a new baby in October. That was pretty exciting!
It's so nice to go home!!:)

This weekend was another special weekend! McKenzie's friend Emily was baptized last night (February 28,2009 at 6:00pm), and it was such a nice program. The talks were so neat and the spirit was really sweet! A huge thank you to all of you that support and love Emily! Today she was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost during Sacrament Meeting. The testimonies were wonderful, and Emily's mom stayed for all of the meetings. After church, she talked about what a nice time she had. A Great Day!:)

Emily and McKenzie



Emily and her mom (Brenda)



Elder Takupa, Layne, Emily and Elder Wilson



Emily and Sister Walden (she taught Emily in primary and Emily really loves her, as do we!)





Guess What?!!? School just got cancelled for tomorrow! Yeah! Although I'm not crazy about the cold and hope it will be just snow and not ice - (Mom, Dad, did this weather follow you home?) I like it when there is no school to worry about. It's like a free day! (And tomorrow is laundry day - laundry day with helpers at home is like a dream come true!)

March is a lucky month! :)

P.S. While we were at my parents last weekend, Karlee had her first official lost tooth! (Her actual first tooth had to be pulled by the dentist due to trauma. This time, Aunt Heather pulled it out and Karlee was excited!)


A tooth fell out, and left a space
So big my tongue could touch my face.
And every time I smile, I show
a space where something used to grow.
I miss my tooth as you can guess
But then, I have to brush one less!

Author unknown