Be Mine Valentine!!!

Chocolate Fondue

Our Little Valentine

Brooklyn's First Valentines

This year Ryan and I decided to celebrate Valentines Day in the comfort of our home! With Valentines being on a Saturday we didn't want to compete with the crowds. To start out our Celebration of love for each other Ryan and I went and had a couples massage...We scheduled massages for Ken & Jen as well...After our massages the four of us went to breakfast. We picked the kids up from Ken's parents house and then came home to relax. (Ryan had worked the night before so he didn't get off of work until 8:00am, our massages were at 9:00am, so needless to say he was beat!) We showered got dressed, and made dinner for Jen, Ken, Kelli and ourselves. We served Shrimp cocktail for appetizer followed by delicious steaks, and King Crab legs, with baked potatoes and salad with cheese biscuits..it was delicious. Dessert was a yummy chocolate Fondue served with fresh strawberries, bananas, pretzels and cupcakes. The kids opened up their Valentines Day presents and then we cuddled up on the couch and watched movies. It was a really nice Valentines, I really enjoyed celebrating it with the people I really love!!!

Celebrating Valentines with the ones we LOVE!

My one and only Valentine!!

For all the Married People...

For all you married people out there! Tag your married friends that you want to know about. (Don’t forget to tag the person who tagged you.)

1. When was your “engagement” anniversary? Oct 10 2002

2. When is your “marriage” anniversary? Oct 4 2003

3. How long have you known your spouse: almost 10 years

4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged: 4 years

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time: JC Penny Parking Lot

6. What is your spouses full name: Ryan Robert Burke

7. Do you have any children: 2

8. How many: 2 Beautiful children

9. Do you have any pets: 2 yellow labs Chase & Parker

10. Do you own a house or rent: we are Renting right now

11. Do you live in the country or town/city: City

12. What is one of your favorite activities together: here lately we have been going to the movies

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot: Anywhere we can vacation together!

14. How many siblings (including in-laws) do you have: 2 sisters, 2 brother, 3 brother-in-laws and 2 sister in laws

15. What church do you attend: Queen of Peace Catholic Church

16. Is this the church you were married in: Yes

17. What town is your current address at: Aurora, CO

18. Do you work or stay at home: Unfortunatley I work.

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon: Jamaica

20. Leave a piece of advice for the other couples: Always tell your spouse you love them! often we take those 3 little words for granted.

2nd Born

For the Mommies!!ShareHere you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your Second born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!Let's see how much you remember!

1. WAS YOUR 2nd PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes the 2nd one as much planned as the first, this one didn't take us as long though... only 3 months this time!

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? we were very excited, and a little surprised that it happened so fast, we were expecting it to take as long as it did the first time

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Absolutely not.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? I was 27 when I gave birth

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Noticed I was late in getting my monthly visit from aunt flo, so I took a Home Pregnancy test.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Ryan and then Blake

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes..I'm a big planner, so I had to know what I was having!

9. DUE DATE? May 24 2008

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? yes in the begining I did...I was very sensitive to smells

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Sweets...Loved anything with sugar in it!

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Not being able to sleep on my belly.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR 2nd CHILD'S SEX? Female

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? Nope, we really wanted a girl, but didn't think it would ever happen given the Burke background. We had the first Burke girl!!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 28 pounds

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? yes.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew about it.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Nope no complications what so ever

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Aurora Medical Center

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? hard to tell... when I checked into the hospital to be induced, I was already 7 cm dialated, but didn't feel like I had been in labor at all. The Dr. had me go through the night to see if I would progress but when I woke up I was still 7 cm dialted, so they gave me pitocin at 5:00am and by 12:36 my baby girl was born.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Ryan

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Ryan and my sisters Candee & Jenny

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Of course, I wasn't trying to be a hero!! Gotta love the epideral

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 9lbs 1oz she was a chuncker!!!

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? May 21, 2009

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Brooklyn Loran (Loran was after my mother)

28.. HOW OLD IS YOUR 2nd BORN TODAY? 8 1/2 months old

For the Mommies....Your first born

For the Mommies!!ShareHere you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!Let's see how much you remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes very much so, took me 9 months to get pregnant with him.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? I was so excited, we had been trying so hard and for so long and our dreams finally came true.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Absolutely not.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? I was 24 when I gave birth

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? The Dr. did a blood test. I was so newly pregnant the urine test couldn't detect.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Ryan

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes..I'm a big planner, so I had to know what I was having!

9. DUE DATE? June 22, 2005

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Nope, it was a relatively easy pregnancy

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Sweets...Loved anything that had strawberries in it!

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Not being able to sleep on my belly.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Male

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? Nope, Ryan and I always talked about having a boy and then a girl!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 28 pounds

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? yes 2 of them.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? one was a surprise the other I knew about.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? just towards the end I had high blood pressure and was put on bed rest 2 weeks before the baby was born

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Aurora Medical Center

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? From me noticing my first contraction until the time he was born was 7 hours.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Ryan

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Ryan and my sisters Candee & Jenny

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Of course, I wasn't trying to be a hero!! Gotta love the epideral

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8lbs 8oz

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? June 12 2005

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Blake Ryan

28.. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 3 1/2

This is the oldest picture I have on this computer that was digitally taken. Blake was 18 months old

Random Pictures of Brooklyn (7-8 months old)

"Miss Thang"

Brooklyn eating a biter biscuit

Brooklyn being onery

Bath time!

killing two birds with one stone!

Brooklyn standing up by herself with her lion

giddy up lion, giddy up!

isn't she sweet?!!



What is this face she makes?!

Playhouse Disney Live on Tour

Today Ryan and I took the kids (Mostly Blake) to see Playhouse Disney Live on Tour! He had so much fun he loved it!!!! It was actually a pretty good show, it featured Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Little Einsteins, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Handy Manny! Brooklyn was bopping her little body to music, and Blake was having fun singing along! It was a great family Sunday Fun Day!!!

One of the Best Birthday's Ever!!

On Saturday January 31st I celebrated my 28th Birthday with 10 of my bestest Friends!

The gang

The Boys

The Girls

Jen, Ken, Art, Suyzel, Kelli, Fielding, Dave, Mandy, Silver, Ryan & Myself all headed up Saturday afternoon to the mountains to a little place called Fraser just outside of Winter Park to celebrate my birthday! We started the day out with some lunch at Pizza Hut, shortly following that we checked into the Condo that we rented for the night got dressed in our snow gear and headed over to the snow tubing hill for an adrenaline rushing 2 hours of down hill snow tubing! It was a blast! It was the first time for a few people in the group which made it even more fun & exciting! After snow tubing we headed back to the condo to get out of our cold & wet snow suits and into our comfy beer drinking clothes! We grabbed a bite to eat and started a good ol game of "Flip Cup" It was boys vs girls! I'll give you one guess as to who won?....Of course us girls won!!!...11-4...sorry boys, you need to practice!! After a few rounds of flip cup and the boys being sore losers, we had Birthday Cake that Suyzel made for me...and it must be told...it was delicious!!! We ended our evening playing "Drunk Twister" not so sure that was a good idea...My head had been in places it has never seen!!! Oh and by the way.... Not recommended to play Drunk Twister on hard wood floors!!!

Drunken Twister...your guess is as good as mine as to who is who!!!


Flip Cup Winners

Flip Cup Losers

This was by far one of the best birthday celebrations I had ever had! Thanks to my friends and family for helping me celebrate! Love you guys!!!

"Little No, No"

On Jan 21st Brooklyn turned 8 months old, and with another month comes more exciting changes in the Life of Brooklyn! She has now earned her new nickname "Little No, No" she got this name because when ever Ryan or I are talking to her she just looks at us and shakes her head "NO" It's actually pretty funny & quite cute, at least for now!!!

We are also very excited to share with all of you, that Brooklyn finally got her first tooth! Her bottom right front tooth broke thru the gums on Tuesday 1/21/09. We are very excited for her...she handled the teething process pretty good thus far... we were impressed with her. I had seen the little white spec and had been watching and waiting for it to break thru the gum and was pleasantly surprised when I was feeding her and saw it...and then felt it when I brushed her gums/tooth before bed time. It'll be exciting to see how much longer before the next teeth come in...Boy Blake better watch out...once she gets her choppers, he's in trouble... guess it'll be pay back from all the times he bit other kids!!! (Karma)

Martin Luther King Day

While I don't really celebrate Martin Luther King Day, one of the added bonuses to my new job is The Bank does!!! So I get all the Bank Holidays off! It's been 5 years since I got to have banker holidays! I wanted to spend my day off doing something fun with the family so Ryan and I decided to take the kiddos to Amazing Jakes. Blake's most favorite place in the world!! (He hasn't been to Disney World yet!) The last time we were at Amazing Jakes was Blake's 3rd birthday and the time before that was when we had a Day all about Blake before we made him a big Brother. It's so crazy to see how much he as grown in the past 8 months. The first time we went to Jakes, Blake was terrified of the Frogger ride, we had to stop the ride short to get him off... Yesterday was the complete opposite, we couldn't get him off the Frogger ride! He rode that ride 4 times he liked it so much! While Brooklyn was too small for any of the rides she still had fun playing in the tots area. She got to go down the slide and crawl around on the mats. We had wanted to take her to the Cherry Creek Mall to climb around on the Breakfast climbers but we spent too much time at Amazing Jakes we just didn't make it to the Mall. I am looking foward to my next Holiday (Feb 16th..Presidents Day) Maybe we will make it to the Mall then!!!

My Truths

So I've been tagged by Suyzel to admit to 10 of my honest truths...I've decided to play! Here are the rules in case I tag you! A) first list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!B) pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

1) I miss my mom like crazy. There isn't a day that passes me by that I don't think about her. I wish she could be here to see my children, give me advice, and lend her shoulder to cry on.
2) I don't know what I would do with out my sister Jenny. She's my best friend, my partner in crime,my kids babysitter, and my step in mom! She's got a big heart, and I simply adore her.
3) I hate that I have to spend 10 plus hours a day away from my kids. They grow up so fast, I feel like I miss out on so much of their lives, but I am so thankful that when I'm not home with them, they are in the care of their dad.
4) I love my Jeep!
5) I would love to travel more.
6) One of my biggest pet peeves, is people who can't admit fault. Take responsibility for your actions, and learn from your mistakes.
7) I'm very big on Trust. I think if you don't have trust in a relationship wether it be a marriage, or a friendship, than you have no business being in that relationship.
8) I want to spend more time at the lake this year and go camping.
9) I am absolutely madly in LOVE with my Husband. I feel so Blessed to have him apart of my life.
10) The only thing I was ever certain about was the fact that I wanted Children. I am so glad God has blessed me with my two precious babies.

I don't know very many bloggers, and Suyzel already tagged anyone else I would have tagged so I'll just tag my Cousin:

Lindsay

The Army Crawl

Girls Night Out!

Mandy, me, Kelli & Leona

me, Mandy & Jen

Kelli, Leona, Jen & Mandy Drinking up at Lodo's

Tonight Ken decided to do a ride along with Ryan and so Jen thought it would be fun to do a girls night out.... while the boys played Cops and Robbers!!! (I guess they never get too old to play) We started out our evening at Caldonia's (Mandy's suggestion) cause we wanted to go somewhere fun but also close to home, when we got there it was pretty empty... so after eating there we left Caldonia's and headed over to LODO's (Mandy's 2nd Suggestion)for a little more action! LODO's was much more fun, and alot more busy!! We had a few drinks hit the dance floor, and just had fun hanging out! We met some goofball by the name of Justin, who made Mandy aka Jill smell his armpits...it was pretty foul and yet funny all at the same time!!! On our way home we had heard that Ryan's work was staffed pretty fat so Ken was riding 3 man meaning he was the 3rd guy in the car so he had to ride in the back of the cop car....we thought that was pretty funny but we had to see for ourselves, just how funny it really was, so we met up with Ryan and his Partner and Sgt and chit chatted with them for a minute while they were in between calls...and we got a couple of pictures of Ken in the back of the car...it was great! Glad we had a chance to do a girls night...it had been a while and it was lots of fun!

Ken in the back of a cop car

Your Under arrest Ken!!!

3,2,1....Happy New Year!!!

Should old acquaintance be forgot,And never brought to mind, Should old acquaintance be forgot, And days of long ago.......................


Budlight Lime Girls

Jim & Kayla rocking the guitars

Ryan playing Guitar Hero ............The Burkes & Morelands!


me & Leona

Jen & Kelli

Flip Cup


Look at Silver Cheating!!!

Go Kelli Go!!!!

...................Flip Cup Losers......................

New years come and new years go,Pieces of time all in a row. As we live our life, each second and minute,We know we’re privileged to have our friends in it.Our appreciation never ends For our greatest blessings: our family and friends. Happy New Year!

7 Months Old

Brooklyn is doing so much at 7 months old...it's truly amazing. She is such a rolly polly... that's her method of transporation these days! She isn't far off from crawling though, right now she does the army crawl and then gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth...it's so cute, she will be ready for take off any day now!

Brooklyn is also saying a lot of babble...she say's mama a lot... I just love it. Blake and Ryan always try to get her to say dada...but she know's better!



Here are some of Brooklyn's recent 7 month pictures....they turned out so cute!!!



Brooklyn Celebrating her first New Years!