Monday

I think Meme Monday is out.  I can't seem to find any meme questions worth answering. :P

I do want to say, though, that my little sister moved to Wisconsin of all places!  (You know.  The place where they say bayg instead of bag.)  It is much too far away!  I'm excited for her to have this adventure, but man!  So far!

And today I started semi-officially homeschooling Jill.  Timmy joined in because he thought it looked fun.  We'll hopefully keep that up.  I'm hoping to ramp up the boys' schooling sometime soon as well.  I am having a problem, though, because we're running out of money and I need to buy a book that's supposed to tell me what to do for the next step in Thomas Jefferson Education.  Argh!  Well, we'll figure it out.

As far as jobs go, Jeremy applied for a job at the mine as per his old supervisor's suggestion, and we should hear something about it tomorrow.  And yesterday we found out about 3 different positions available at SUU, and I believe Jeremy's going to apply for them this week.  We have a friend up there who knows somebody on the hiring board, and that person said they haven't been happy about the pool of applicants they have for one particular job.  So hopefully that will pan out!  I suppose we'll see.  I know that something's supposed to happen, so we're just waiting to see.  If we end up staying here we'll probably go to Cedar City someday.  The mine pays well, and we'd be able to build up a reserve and pay down debts some more, so that would be nice.  It's just kind of scary not having anything lined up for this month.  And one stinky thing about that is that we will have to start filling out a renewal form for DES soon, and everything is so up in the air.  You know how DES goes when things are up in the air?  It goes like crap.  They want proof of everything until you're about to die and then it suddenly goes through.  But I'm hoping that the crap will somehow magically be minimized this time.

And speaking of no money, about a week ago I was in the kitchen talking with Hyrum, and I told him that we needed to be praying to find a way for Joshua and him to pay for scout camp. I told him that Heavenly Father can make it happen.  So we did both prayed.  I think we got our answer yesterday.  At church they pulled Jeremy out of Sunday School and asked him to be in charge of scout camp this year for our ward.  Our scoutmaster just moved, so I guess they needed someone.  And, wonder of wonders, somebody has come forward who will pay for Jeremy, Hyrum, and Joshua to go!  I believe they're going to Camp Raymond again.  It's such a miracle to me!  I'm so thankful!  It sounds like there will only be two other boys going besides our two.  Scout Camp is next week, so we will be scrambling to fill out paperwork and get the physicals done, but thank heavens it's going to happen!  And thank heavens Jeremy will have something to do that week!  It drives him crazy to be home with nothing to do.

The only bummer is that, once again, First Ward decided to do their own thing for Scout Camp, so Aaron and Joe won't be there.  And Joe isn't going to First Ward's camp either.  Ugh.  Oh, well.  I'm just so happy that Hyrum and Joshua can go and that Jeremy can go with them!  Hooray!

And one more thing to be happy about: we just had our family campouts.  The Badger one was last Wednesday through Saturday, and the Burk one was the Wednesday through Saturday before.  They went pretty good!  One thing that I loved that happened at the Badger one: Timmy saw me go in the girl's bathroom, and he tried to open the door and go in too, but he couldn't get it open.  So he went to the other bathroom and took off his pants and sat on the potty! Hooray!  He kept saying he was in the girl's bathroom.  I think he doesn't know about the difference between girls and boys yet.  He just kind of lumps words together.  (Like we have a book about a little elephant that is called Tubby and the Poo-bah.  So when he sees Winnie-the-Pooh he's not Pooh.  He's Poo-bah.  He's very literal like that, just like Joshua used to be.)

Sunday

Today I stayed home from church with Michael and Brom.  Michael woke up throwing up yesterday morning, and has thrown up off and on since.  He gets headaches a lot in the last few months.  We've come to realize that he is probably dehydrated.  We've been twisting his arm to get him to drink some Gatorade.  What kind of kid doesn't want Gatorade?  I turned on Primary songs for us, and I listened to an address from President Eyring and read some more things on lds.org.  I'm thankful that I did those things, but I still missed church.  I am really hoping that everyone will be fine next week so we can all be at church!  I'm thankful for the difference the church makes in my life.

And speaking of the church, I'm sure you all saw that Kate Kelly, the organizer of the Ordain Women movement, was excommunicated for apostasy.  I've been staying mum this time around, at least online. Jeremy's probably heard way more than he cares to hear about it, though. I think it's interesting how she took it all right to the press both when she received the letter about her upcoming disciplinary council and when she was actually excommunicated.  I'm trying to be nonjudgmental, but I don't agree with her at all.  I have looked over her website and scratched my head over all those people who are being led into apostasy right along with her.  It makes me sad and, frankly, kind of mad.  I don't want to hold the Priesthood and I don't feel like a second-class citizen in the kingdom.  And I think it is foolish of that organization to keep protesting even after the church has issued statements asking them to please stop.  I also like how the church issued a statement saying that questioning is ok and should be followed by looking for answers, but apostasy is when you make your own doctrine and then try to persuade others to follow.  I know a lot of people, and particularly those not of our faith, see this as Mrs. Kelly being punished for questioning, but that's not what is happening here.  We see this kind of apostasy all through the scriptures.  And no matter how persuasive they are, the truth remains that they were warned and forewarned to cease and desist, and that they were preaching against the way the church was set up by God himself.  They wilfully taught things that are contrary to eternal principles.  I can't understand people who picket for God to change his mind.  (He who is unchanging!)  So there's my stand.  I don't agree with Kate Kelly and I don't understand, but I am trying to remember that these people are all just people like I'm just a person, and that they are every bit as much children of God as I am.  I shouldn't be mad, so I'm working on it.  (Really, what have they done to me anyway.  But at least I finally admitted that it makes me kind of mad.  Now I'll just get over it. :) And I do hope that she can someday be received back into the church.  And I hope that some of her followers will see what happened and think again about keeping on.

And one more thing because that's all I have time for.

On the Badger campout it was pointed out to me a few times that our life is quite different from a lot of people's lives. My cousins in particular seem to think I'm supermom or something.  I think I forget that my life is different.  My cousin Michelle said to me, "My favorite was when I looked in the kitchen and you were holding your baby and trying to take a drink and walk while your other little boy was holding your leg."  I guess moments like that are pretty much an every-day occurrence.  I can't imagine my life differently.  When those moments happen it doesn't phase me, but having Michelle point it out like that made me take a step back and think, "Wow.  I guess my life IS kind of different."  And it also made me feel so very blessed.  It is a crazy life, and sometimes it's full of built-in obstacles to absolutely EVERYTHING, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Fathwer's Day!

Happy Fathwer's Day! (Yes, I misspelled it on purpose.  There was this one time a long time ago that we printed a sign for Jeremy's dad for Father's Day, and only after we gave it to him did we discover that it had a w in it.  So that's how Jeremy and I say Father's Day.)

Jeremy said that what he wanted for Father's Day was a clean shop.  He's been so busy he never has time to clean it, and it's been getting really bad in there!  So I took a good chunk of the day Thursday and cleaned it.  Hats off to Hyrum for watching Brom for me while I cleaned!  He's awesome!  I don't know how I would ever get anything done without him!  Anyway, the shop now looks pretty dang awesome, and it makes me actually want to be out there!  That is really saying something.  Just think, though.  The whole middle of the floor is clear.  You can go in and walk straight to the back wall without stepping over things.  Yes, it was really, really bad.  And I only found 1 horrible spider, 2 dead monster cockroaches, and a couple of crickets as I cleaned.  (I was afraid it would be a lot worse, but now that we don't have that little freezer out there we don't have as many scorpions out there as we used to.) But hooray!  And happy Fathwer's Day to Jeremy!  I'm afraid I was lame and didn't buy chocolate to give him today, but I did give him chocolate a few days ago.  He likes to keep a stash of Dove dark chocolate in his drawer, so I restocked his supply then.  Gotta make sure he has chocolate to share with me. ;) There's some Belgian chocolate that they used to have at our Walmart that Jeremy LOVES, but they don't have it anymore.  He says it isn't as good as the Belgian chocolate that he had in Belgium, but it's his favorite.  But he did get a whole lot of peanuts for Father's Day from our kiddos.  That was their gift that they got from Primary.  They made some cute bags that looked like a shirt and tie to put the peanuts in, and they also gave him some pages where they wrote things about their dads.  Jill says that her Papa is old enough to drive and is 4 feet tall, and that his favorite TV Show is The Twelve Dancing Princesses. ;)

I keep waiting for Brom to actually start crawling so I can make the big announcement that he's crawling, but he's just not.  What he does is kind of like Jill's little bum scoot (her substitute for crawling).  He goes down on his hands and knees and walks his hands out and then drags his legs behind.  He's also right on the verge of walking.  Last week or the week before he grabbed onto me and pulled himself up.  He pulls up with very little help, but he doesn't seem to like to do it by himself.  So I don't find him just suddenly standing by the couch or anything.  But he's really excited about walking.  He loves to walk around holding our fingers.  A few times he's just let go of our hands and stood there and looked like he just wanted to take off running!  And just the other day he discovered that Papa and I can hold his hand and walk him back and forth between us.  Today Jeremy and I were sitting about 8 feet away from each other, and he saw Papa there and wanted to walk to him.  So I held his hand and away he went!  And then Papa turned him around and he walked back all excited!  He did it all holding one or both of our hands, of course, but he is so close to walking!  9 months old!

Talk

So here I am. I fired up the ol' Lappy. It's funny being on here again. In the last few years I've only used it a few times a year. It makes me feel kind of bad for getting it. Jeremy knew I wanted one, so he bought me one. That pleases me, so I don't feel all that guilty. Besides, it has sure come in handy once in a while! Compared to today's computers it is a dinosaur. We bought it back when Benji or maybe Michael was the baby. I think my two favorite things I did on here was a family slideshow and helping type an ancestor's journal. Oh, and I prepared most of my talks on here when I was in the Stake Primary Presidency. I think the reason why I hardly use this poor thing anymore is that it's so heavy.

And speaking of talks, today I gave a talk in church. Bishop texted me on Friday and asked me to do it. I kind of surprised myself because I didn't want to do it. You probably think I'm crazy, but I usually like giving talks. Maybe one of the reasons why I didn't want to is that I'm out of practice and therefore really needed to. Anyway, I, of course, put it off until Saturday, and Jeremy was sick. So as I worked on my talk for about 7 hours, my poor sick hunny was trying to run herd on kiddos while not altogether coherent. Poor guy. (I'm not joking. He was feeling horrible, and I was having a really hard time getting that talk together for some reason.) Well, it seems to have paid off. And thank heavens it's done!

Bishop told me I could pick my own topic. For a while that made me kind of mad. I was responsible to come up with a topic and then write the silly talk! It turned out ok, though. I started thinking first about the gospel topics I like to study. And one stuck with me. I knew that's what I should talk about. But it sounds super cheesy when I say what my topic was. So... you may remember that we have a scripture hanging in our home. It is from 2 Nephi, and it says, "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." I made a banner of it and actually left it hanging in our home in Cedar City when we left, hoping somebody would see it and know what kind of life we lived there. Kind of like an epitaph. It's so lovely and poetic. I have it hanging in our house now, but I need a new one. This scripture means a lot to me. I hope that it can be a good definition for our family in the long run. And if you think about it, living after the manner of happiness means living in such a way that happiness finds you, doing all the things that bring lasting happiness.

So that was the basis for my talk. I also found that Joseph Smith quote on happiness and used it, because you'd have to be an idiot to not use that in a quote about happiness! It says something along these lines: "Happiness is the object and design of our existence and will be the end thereof if we pursue that path that leads to it; and that path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God." Something like that. I may have missed a word or so. Anyway, I took that quote and broke it apart and defined some of the words. The coolest thing to me was when I looked up the words "object" and "design." Always before when I read that quote I kind of lumped those two things together to mean the same thing - our goal. But I now think that's not quite what it is saying. Object can be defined as a purpose or goal, and design can be defined as a method prepared in advanced for achieving a goal. So that says to me that happiness is not only our goal, but the method we use to get to that goal. I also found a really cool quote that I put on Facebook yesterday. (Awww.... the poor Lappy. It can't even pull up Facebook. I'll just Google it instead.) It says, "Rectitude is a perpetual victory, celebrated not by cries of joy but by serenity, which is joy fixed or habitual." Ralph Waldo Emerson said that. Isn't it awesome? I put that with the part about uprightness.

Anyway, it came out good. There toward the end of compiling I had piles of papers all around and couldn't see how to make them fit, but I prayed, and God helped me put it all together in a manner that pleased Him. That always seems to work out pretty good. :) When I write a talk I usually just do bullets instead of writing out the whole thing. That way I can get the gist and add things if I feel I should. Next time I should think more about my testimony at the end. I think all good talks should end with a testimony, but I don't want it to sound rehearsed because then it doesn't seem sincere. But I always seem to kind of stumble when I get to that part of my talk because I haven't thought it through. So next time! Anyway, I'm thankful it's all done. I'm thankful for Jeremy for taking care of everyone and Hyrum for making dinner. (He made porcupines and nailed it. Yum!) And it was also cool how Sister Badgett behind me practically jumped up to volunteer to hold Brom during my talk because Timmy got super sad right before I had to get up, and Jeremy ended up taking him out. And Brom was, of course, a perfect angel for her. The other kids on the bench were too. And Jeremy was somehow or other able to hear most of my talk too. Near the end Timmy glanced in the chapel and saw me speaking, so he hid behind the open door and watched me through the crack. And after I finished, I grabbed Brom and sat down, and then Jeremy brought Timmy to me, and he snuggled on my lap and calmed right down. Then he stayed cuddled up to me for pretty much the rest of the meeting. I liked hearing the other lady speak too. At least I wasn't nervous alone! And another lady played a beautiful piano solo. The other speaker is somebody I really like but hardly ever see. She has a daughter who is about 19 I think, and she's severely crippled. They used to get her dolled up and bring her to church most Sundays, but they don't anymore. I'm not sure why. I liked seeing their daughter and how her mother cared for her so lovingly. It was touching. Anyway, it was fun to hear her talk about how technology helps her have the gospel in her life.

And that best part about giving a talk is hearing everyone's compliments, even though they really embarrass me sometimes. I'm getting better at graciously receiving a compliment. But I'm not perfect by any means! Anyway, one lady who happens to remind me a lot of my Grandma Peterson (and also just so happens to be an amazing person like my Grandma) came and gave me a big hug afterwards. She told me I did a wonderful job and that I need to open my mouth more, that I'm too quiet. Ha ha! Her name is Sister Wheeler, and she's taught a few of my boys in Primary. They love her. And Sister Rubalcava (a sweet lady that I also just love whose husband just passed away a few months ago) said thank you so much and that she really needed to hear that today. Sister Carter said it was just an amazing talk. And another girl I don't even know said she loved it. And then I got a text from Bishop this evening. It says, "Sister Burk - You prepared and delivered an excellent talk this morning. I appreciate you sharing your faith and testimony with all of us. It touched my heart." How's that for a compliment? I could just bawl. So in the end, I'm thankful that I prepared and that I gave that talk. I'd better go because everyone's going nutso and it's bedtime.

Perspective

Maybe I'm feeling a little snarky because my phone tells me it's low on space. I have been working on it all evening. I took all the pictures off. (Don't worry. I put them on my computer.) Over the last few months I've deleted a bunch of apps, but it doesn't seem to make a dent. And today we finally bought a micro SD card so I can have more room, but it didn't make any difference. I don't understand it. I found the place where I can move things to different storage spots, but most things cannot be moved. I already moved what can be moved. I just don't know what else to do, especially since deleting so many apps did nothing. It's probably time for a new phone. Our 1-year warranties ran out about 9 months ago. They make phones like this because they expect you'll want a new one every year. I think it's dumb. I don't like tossing money to the wind. Well, it's also probably time to stop using my phone like a tablet by putting all those apps on in the first place. Ha ha!

I've been reading a lot about education lately, and what I've read has turned my world upside down. It has also helped me justify my frustration with English teachers. Don't get me wrong. Some of the best teachers I've ever had were English teachers. But I guess I'm really still frustrated with how often in my education as I tried to find meaning in what I was reading I was told that I was totally wrong. My meanings were just nothing but incorrect. It's no wonder that I'm nervous about this homeschooling venture we're headed into.

Also, Jeremy went to Globe High School's graduation, and it gets me thinking about the quality of education kids are getting these days. Everything is so dumbed down, and they just let everyone slide through, even if they never really learned to read or think. It's frightening! I don't want that for my children! I don't want them to have that kind of education. I want them to be thinkers. I want them to have the tools they need to succeed at anything. These public schools are made to cram information in kids' heads in a systematic manner, and only the information that is approved by who knows who. They say they're preparing people for college and the workforce, but what then? Public schools reach people what to think, not how to think. It seems like all these graduations are pointless because they don't prove anything. Lots of kids learn too read teachers or play the system. Lots of others never learn anything and get scooted along through anyway. And how do you take what's in somebody's head and turn it into a number? And what about people who just do not do well on tests? It's all just lame.

Please understand, though, that I look back on my own educational experience, and I don't think I'd change a thing. I was pretty darn fortunate to have so many teachers who truly cared and helped me. I'm thankful that I didn't turn out as a brainless fool but was helped along in my thirst for knowledge. It just sickens me how many people have nothing to show other than that piece of paper for all those years. I'm thankful for my years in school. They were not wasted. I hope the same can be said for my children. They are good, smart people, and I am going to try to give them the best I can.

One more thing. Here's a text I sent Jeremy back a few weeks ago: "Timmy just came up to me and said, 'Gerlella (gorilla) say oo oo oo oo.' :) It's cute how he just remembers things like that at odd moments. :) I love that he kind of giggled while he said it too. :)"

Since then Timmy has been able to tell me all sorts of animal sounds. I need to record him doing it. It just tickles me.

Stuff

Ok. Soooo... last week we were thinking of looking for a job in Salt Lake, and we've been wanting to go see Katie for a while. We realized that if we wanted to go we could just do it, but we'd better hurry up before June madness started. We hemmed and hawed and weighed our options and got things done before finally getting packed and on our way on Tuesday. It was afternoon but the time we pulled into Wal-Mart in Payson. See, we wanted to get a new DVD player for our car, but there wasn't one at our Wal-Mart. So I ran into Wal-Mart in Payson and got that DVD player and snacks. But while I was gone Jeremy got a phone call from the school district in St. Johns. They asked for an interview the next morning. What??! So we made a detour and went to St. Johns.

We stayed the night, and the next day the kiddos played in the water outside on the trampoline while Jeremy went to his interview. It turned out that I was a lame-o and really needed to sunscreen my children! Joshua came in early, so he didn't get burned. Timmy didn't get burned either. I think he was too busy with puzzles to even know what was going on outside. Jill got some sunscreen and was fine. Michael's shoulders got burned, and Hyrum's feet and arms were pretty red. He at least remembered to wear a shirt. But Benji took the cake this time. He got burned really bad on his shoulders, back, and tummy. His shoulders had blisters by Saturday. Some of them popped and the skin kind of rubbed off, and now he has a big scab on one shoulder and is peeling all over. He fussed about sunburns for the rest of our trip. Poor guy! Well, they had a lot of fun playing!

After Jeremy's interview we went and looked at a house that is going up for rent, and then we loaded up and got down the road. Jeremy decided to drive through Cedar City. I was surprised because it's not the fastest way to SLC from St. Johns, but I was glad to be there. In a lot of ways, coming back to Cedar City felt like a coming back around to the correct order of things, like the proper manner. It felt like coming home. I was quite sorry to leave again.

We got into Cedar City about 1:00 AM and found a hotel at the north end of town. The guy was really nice and let us just squish into one room. We dragged out the sleeping bags and got everyone to bed. We almost missed the free breakfast the next morning! And before we left Jeremy got a call saying he didn't get the job in St. Johns. Boooo! I was pretty bummed. It would have been so good for our family to be there near my parents. I'm sad that it didn't work out.

We hopped on the road again and made it to Katie's house (I assume it's in West Jordan and not South Jordan, but I don't know for sure) in the afternoon. She has a nice house. It's a good size and has just about the nicest backyard ever. There's a sandbox over by the shed, and there's a little garden and a big playground. There are lots of fruit trees and lovely green grass. It's a great place! Katie got pizza for dinner. Yum! We spent time just visiting and enjoying the lovely weather.

The next day Katie kept her kiddos home from school and we played at her house all day. We thought about going swimming, but it was too expensive. We were going to go to a farm, bit the kids didn't want to. What the...? I got a little laundry done. It was just a nice day. Then we watched the Lego movie. It's great. :) (Speaking of movies, if you haven't seen the new Secret Life of Walter Mitty, see it! It was so, so good!)

The next morning we loaded up and headed back down south. I was sad to pass Lynnette without saying hi. Lame! One part of the trip I really liked: I read Laddie to Jeremy. I got it for free on my Kindle a while ago, and I needed to get through it. I'm working on figuring out a homeschool system, and it requires me to read classics first. I have to get ready to help my kiddos through classics: reading, discussing, writing papers, etc. But I have to get myself started first, and Laddie was my assignment. Anyway, I couldn't keep it to myself. That would be lame! So I read to Jeremy. It was a really great book. (And it's free for your Kindle or Kindle app, so go read it!)

We had lunch in Fillmore at the little park by the gas station. It was fun. :) We stopped in Cedar City on the way home too. We got there in the afternoon. We stopped at Lin's (a grocery store) and got ice cream. Then we took it across the street to the park next to the library. The park has a new huge playground! It's really tall. It has three levels in one spot. It has a little playground for the little kids, and new swings and a merry-go-round. It's great! After letting the kiddos play we went to Wal-Mart for diapers and dinner, and then we cooked dinner (frozen burros) and had baths in the hotel.

The next morning we went to our old ward for church. It was so great! We didn't have church clothes, and that felt funny, but it was so fun to see our friends again! I'm not sure where Bishop Reynolds was. Maybe he went on vacation, but anyway he's not the bishop anymore. He was replaced in January by the Elders Quorum president, Tyler Romeril. He's such a good guy! I loved seeing my good friend Tia Fawson and her family, even if it was quick. And we saw the Mitchells and the kids' old teachers. We also saw our old neighbors, the Kellys. It looks like Hollie Kelly (the wife) has been having chemo again. I think of her now and then. I'm sure she probably has no idea how much I care. I always wish I knew how she was doing, but I never want to ask. I think I should have been a better friend and just asked those hard questions. I was just worried about being a bother. Anyway, the Kellys are such a cute family. It was nice to see them again. Michael was particularly pleased to see their kids, Jori and Aaron.

Since Sacrament Meeting was at 11:00, we just left right after that. We drove almost straight home. We did have a little stop in Flagstaff, but that's about it. It was about 10:00 when we got home. Timmy was covered in Gatorade, so he got a bath. He was so glad to get out of the car! He was such a good boy the whole time. He did do some decompressing that evening. He screamed for a long time about who knows what, but he did finally go to sleep. Phew!

Brom is so fun! He can lean way forward on his hands and knees to grab things and then sit back down. He sometimes goes all the way to bis tummy, and then he just rolls around to get wherever he wants. But he isn't crawling just yet. He's getting good at poking things. Today he discovered that if he poked my nose I would say, "Beeeeep!" He thought that was funny and did it over and over. Its cute to see him make the connection between his actions and the consequences. Amazing! He decided on that trip that he doesn't like mooshed baby food after all. (The kind that WIC buys in jars for him.) Bummer! Maybe he'll decide later that he likes it after all. That's what Timmy did. Bit he loves bananas. :) And he also loves Cheerios and other things he can feed himself. Oh, and before we got home from that trip his top right tooth broke through, and now he's working on the other one. When he sits he can scoot himself backwards a little bit, and at church on Sunday he let go of Papa's hands and just stood there for a few seconds! He's pretty amazing.