The Year in Review!!

Seeing how it’s nearing the end of 2009, now is a pretty good time for look back over the year. This is especially true since our blogging efforts have been spotty at best and don’t really portray the “action” of 2009.

-- Cindy --

Cindy’s great, and Cindy keeps busy. 2009 started off with a baby in the belly. With Cylie on the way, Cindy retired from the workforce (recession helped that decision along quite nicely), and became a full-time Mommy. That is, until June, when she decided to head back to school to pursue Dental Hygiene, as well. And, in full Cindy-awesomeness, she whipped out a 4.0 her first term.

September brought fall classes and little Cylie. Turns out that a new baby, classes, calling in the Primary Presidency, and a super-active 2 year old is a bit much. So, classes were put on hold till January. Thanks to Chris’ flexible work schedule, they both can do classes and take turns with Carter and Cylie, so daycare isn’t an issue at the moment.

-- Chris --

Chris looooooooooves having his picture taken, as illustrated above. 2009 was a busy one, for sure. Full-time work, full-time school is crazy enough, but Chris was called to serve in his ward’s bishopric in June which brought just a little more “busy” to his life. He loves his calling and the chance to serve others, even if it does mean being gone 8-10 hours each Sunday.

Bachelor’s degree is all but finished up for Chris in Information Systems Management, and given the terrific state of the economy right now, he’ll just keep on with school and start his M.B.A. shortly. Along with school, Chris is working on a handful of IT certifications; CCNA, MCSE, and maybe even his CISSP (If you understand those acronyms, terrific). It’s slow-going, but he should get his CCNA next month.

-- Carter --

Here is Carter eating M&Ms and perusing the Toys’R’Us Christmas ad. This is a rare moment where he his sitting calmly enough to catch a picture of him. Still managed to get his tongue out though.

2009 saw huge things for Carter. For starters, he turned two. Swimming lessons, trips to the park, and running around the house at every opportunity did little quench his insatiable appetite for being active.

He rode on a plane twice; once to visit Grandma and Grandpa Cannon and again to visit Grandma and Grandpa Burkman. This year, Carter gave up pacifiers, moved in to his big-boy bed and became a big brother, which he is terrific at.

Turns out he has a built-in big-brother gene that has him looking out for his little sister at every opportunity. He shares his toys with her (for now), holds her, lets us know when she’s crying (even if we’re holding her), and pretty much wants to kiss and love on her whenever possible and sometimes when it’s not possible.

All in all, he’s a happy boy and loves to make others laugh.

-- Cylie --

Cylie’s 3 months old today. It’s amazing to see the differences between her and Carter already. She doesn’t cry much as she’s found it much more effective to just yell when she wants something. She’s talking a bit already, and while Mom and Dad understand everything she’s saying, others may claim it’s just babbling. 

Aside from a brief bout of baby acne, Cylie is healthy, strong, and nice and chunky; just the way a baby should be. She sleeps well, eats constantly and is a joy to be around.

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve! Finals are done, and preparations for Christmas day are nearly complete. Next up- holiday blog update time! Complete with Cylie talking, Carter singing, and year-in-review goodness. Just not right this minute.

It’s December

Having two kids is hard.

Christmas catch-up blog and pictures coming soon; once finals are done.

Here’s a picture to tide you over- if you’re still checking this.

More Cylie!!

We’re home now, and getting ready for our first official night with two kids. Carter’s already in bed and sound asleep. Cylie, however, is livin’ it up by sitting in Grandma’s lap dead to the world, (she just enjoyed her 300th meal of the day).

Being new parents again is awesome and we’re both still a bit smitten with it.

And how couldn’t we be happy parents with these two kids?

 

It’s a girl!!

Cylie Ann Burkman was born today at 2:12am. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 1 oz. and is 20 inches long.

Cindy’s doing great. Cylie’s doing great. I’m doing great, too, but I’m tired. So, here’s a few pictures. G’night!

Zoo!!!!

Carter had his first visit to the zoo a month or so ago. Did he like it? I think this sums it up:

Yup, he loved it. We did, too. Hogle Zoo may not be our favorite zoo of all time, but it was well worth the afternoon visit.

4th of July!

The 4th of July came and went… so did most of the summer. I went on a blogging strike hoping to “motivate” my wonderful wife to post a little more on here. I’m going to have to chalk that up in the loss column cause this site has been dead empty for quite a while.

To Cindy’s credit though, she’s almost 8 months pregnant with a two year-old running crazy through the house all day and recently started classes again (biology and chemistry. yikes!) so she doesn’t really have an abundance of free time these days.

I however, have no excuse. No classes this summer and only work has me less-than excited to start school again at the end of the month, but it’s made for a lovely summer so far. Lovely, but apparently not the blog-worthy type of loveliness.

Stepping back to last month:

The 4th of July brought family gatherings, parades, picnics and fireworks. Carter’s participated in these before, but this is the first year he actually seemed to understand and love what was going on.

The parade was a magical wonderland for carter. Streams of people banging drums, trucks and cars with loud sirens and lights, plus colorful floats/balloons on wheels. What else could an almost two-year-old ask for?

Fireworks were that evening and Carter was awe-struck and talked about them for days (in the way that Carter talks about things… usually a handful of one word descriptions. Gets the point across though.)