Thursday, January 10, 2013

So Much Blogging, So Little Time!

Wow!  It has been a while since I've sat down to do this.  There has been a lot going on since August.  I guess a lot has happened here and around the world.. I'll assume you watch the new, so I won't bore you with headlines. I'll just bore you with the goings on around the Burks' household. :-)

August
Camping and hiking near Antonito, CO again this year.  No "Death Hike" though.  It was great fun, We camped at the opening of a very small cave.  Probably really can't even be called a cave, but it did provide adequate shelter from the rain.  We took the dog with us too.  He even had his own pack.  Mainly because I was not going to pack in enough food to feed a 100 pound dog for 4 days.
Drew and his pack (backpack)
Part of the Rio Grande-Antonito River


4th grade officially began and so did Tab's Junior year at AC.  She's pretty excited about it with all that is going on.  She applied for a job in the publishing department and got it and she was also made RA of her dorm.  Along with all that is going on in Jerusalem, it is making for an exciting year.

September
Other than our usual busy time with Holy Days and heading off to the Feast, not much went on.  That may be due to everyone we know it seems, including us, being in quarantine for whooping cough.  We did hit Oktoberfest in Choctaw and that was about it.  Oh, and Elijah began taking Hebrew lessons.

October
Elijah turned 10 on the 14th.  He is no longer a single.  Well, a single digit at least.

This was also when we actually went to the Feast.  Where did we go?  Tobago of course.  Our 5th time for those of you who are counting. For a little bit of a change this year we spent one night in Trinidad and were introduced to Doubles.  Mmm, Mmm, good!

Englishman's Bay, Tobago-from the beach

Englishman's Bay, Tobago-from the water


When we got home we began converting Tabitha's room and the office/classroom into an apartment.  It has turned out really cute.  Full kitchen and bath and a single living/sleeping space.  Just perfect for one person.

November
Tabitha turned 21 on the 5th, on the 6th she got her braces mostly off.  On the 30th the rest came off.

We went to Elk City to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  We also had family pictures made.  We have not had professional portraits of our family (the 4 of us) since before, way before, Elijah was born.  My parents and my sibling have not had them done since about 2 weeks before I got married.  that was 1989.  My 15 year-old niece was 2 the last time they had a family picture and that was with us and my brother.  I think it was time.  We will have grand kids before it happens again.  And I am not rushing that!!

Mi familia


December
Not too much going on during the first part of the month.  We did take a spur of the moment snowboarding trip.  It was just for a couple of days, but lots of fun anyway.  We wanted to make sure we got one final trip in just in case the world ended.  That was a little anticlimactic! Towards the end of the month we had several friends from around the country and world (well western hemisphere at least) here for a fun dinner one evening.  Perhaps the biggest two events this month, in order of occurrence, were Elijah falling out of the tree house and Tabitha being baptized.  Really excited about one of them at least.  still waiting to see if the other will need surgery.

Hopefully the first and only time this will happen to him