Thirty's No More Than Three Perfect 10's

4:52 pm - I see Brandon's car drive behind our house and I know he'll be home in just a minute. I call the kids down so that the three of us can yell surprise.



5:00 pm - Last minute party preparation continues. I did really well managing time and I didn't feel very overwhelmed. I began to make dinner and clean up the kitchen one last time.

5:48 pm - We hear a big whack. Ella was jumping on the couch (one of my biggest pet peeves and I tell them ALL the time that couches are for sitting) and fell off. She hit her lip on the edge of our "treasure chest". She is bleeding lots, from the inside and the outside. I call the after hours doc to see what to do. If it is all the way through her lip we'd have to go to the ER. After a few minutes with some ice the bleeding slows down and Brandon and I are trying to decide if we should take her to the 24 hour ER down the street. I call ER to see if they could treat something like that and the operater was insulted that I would ask such a question, she said, "Ma'am, we are an Emergency Room" Okay fine. We ultimately decide that since the bleeding had stopped and there wasn't a gaping hole where we could see all the way through that we would not go in. She proceeded to eat 2 pieces of pizza for dinner.

Here is the patient. Ella is a trooper.

7:00 - Party Time! Guest arrive and the house gets LOUD! It was fun. We had a full house and we had a great time. The Olympics were on and everyone was talking and eating. Kids played with balloons and all the toys.

At the end of the night Ella didn't look too bad. She kept asking for ice to suck on, which helped I think.

10:00 - The last guests leave and we get the kids in bed...we are all exhausted. Brandon and I sit down and watch some of the finals from the Olympics. Im bummed about Apollo Ohno...call me a mean person or call me patriotic...I really don't like the Korean skaters.

11:30 pm - We go to bed with an extra prayer that our kids sleep in. They did, they made it all the way to 9:00 this morning. Wahoo!

As an extra bonus birthday celebration Brandon and I are headed to Rafain's Brazillian Steakhouse tonight and then going to the Dallas Temple. So excited for a night out without kids!

The Making of a Party

We've been sneaky around here, and I don't think I am good at it. I've been prompting the kids to keep secrets from their dad and we've been going places without telling him when he'd ask. We've been getting ready for Brandon's suprise 30th birthday party! I debated for awhile, we all know how much Brandon craves attention, but I was online one day and got an idea that I couldn't not go with. It was just a tag line that an older lady had said in response for someone turning 30, "Thirty is no more than 3 perfect 10's" So with that, and the fact that Brandon was born the day the U.S. won the gold medal in hockey in 1980 (after having beat USSR in the "Miracle on Ice" game) I planned everything with a patriotic red white and blue theme. It turned out so fun! The kids and I really enjoyed putting it all together for him.

Here is the poem I wrote for our evites:

It was the day that is known for the "Miracle on Ice"
But the Burton family got something a little more nice
A new baby boy that has grown into a man
So come and celebrate with us if you can!

Surprise or not, I really don't know,
But the party is happening - so why don't you go?
Bring the whole fam, there will be food and good fun
Stay for a bit, or until its all done.

The Olympics are back and we'll go for the gold
And Brandon is thirty, just verging on old
But its just a number, its not the end
Thirty is nothing more than 3 perfect 10's!


As a side note, when I planned the party I didn't know where Brandon would be working, so I wasn't sure how the "surprise" part was going to work...or if it would work!

The Party Planners - they used the leftovers to decorate the playroom for all the kids
(Dont judge my poster making abilies...its been awhile since my ASB days...and Brandon already pointed out I should have used "than" instead of "then" whatever...its over now.

Catch Up...Brody's Preschool Valentines Party

This is late...but nevertheless,

Brody had his Valentine Party for Preschool on February 17th. He was excited to go since he missed the Christmas Party.
They got to make Valentine mailboxes for their Valentine exchange

Ella tried to help as much as her brother would allow

The kids played a game where they tried their best to pick up candy hearts with chop sticks. Brody didn't pick up on the chop sticks so well, but he loved eating the hearts.

Exchanging Valentines

Such a heartbreaker!

And here is me and Ella, just mesing around.

The kids made heart shaped pizzas for lunch that were delicious -- with home made dough and tomato sauce that was SO YUMMY!

Happy Birthday Brandon!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO OUR FAVORITE HUSBAND AND DAD!

We love you SO much!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're sending our love out to our far away family...we love you guys!

We had a busy day - started with an attempt at heart shaped pancakes...then off to pre-church meetings...then church meetings...followed up by dinner and family night at home. We topped off the evening with fondue with the kidos and then put them STRAIGHT to bed!

Ella got to drink chocolate milk from a big girl Valentines cup

Treats from Mommy & Daddy (that will most likely be eaten by Mommy & Daddy)

My Valentine

The kids taking their first stab at doing fondue...Brody's a fan, suprisingly Ella just wanted her fruit plain. Such funny kids - we love 'em!

Snow Day...Again!

I woke up Thursday morning to hear Brody screaming through the house "Its Snowing!!" And snowing it was! After I was able to convince him that it was not Christmas again I flipped on the news to see the weather. I had gone to bed and they said between 1 and 3 inches would fall. But by the time I woke up, our yard was already blanketed with snow. It started at roughly 3:30 am and lasted a full 24 hours of non-stop snow. The result was that the DFW metroplex received anywhere between 10 and 12 inches of snowfall! The airport measured 12.5 inches, shattering the previous record of just 7 inches. I measured 8 inches in our yard, but did find one place with 10 inches, Im not sure how they "officially" measure snow. Needless to say our area is not adapted to heavy snow, so the schools shut down and most people stayed indoors. The heavy amounts of snow did pull down some trees and lots of people lost power, including the temple. The Dallas Temple has been without power since Thursday and its not expected to reopen again until Tuesday. It caused lots of trouble, but it sure is beautiful to look at and fun to play in (for a little while anyway!) I told Brandon on Friday night that if this snow is going to be a regular occurance for us we ought to get our kids snow pants and boots and water proof gloves ... there little knit gloves didn't do much to keep them warm when they were playing!

7 Years

We married 7 years ago today...look how much younger we look! I think we both officially feel "old" now. We haven't celebrated yet but soon...

Love you babe or should I say..."te amo bebé"...see you Friday