Dusting myself off

"It is not the crtitic who counts,nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena ; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood ; who strives valiantly who errs and comes short again and again ; who knows the great enthusiasms,the great devotions ,and spends himself in a worthy cause,who at best,knows in the triumph of high achievement ; and who at the worse, at least falls while daring greatly ; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat"

Enough about me

So I have noticed that my blog has turned into a novel about me without any photos~!

Here are some latest pics of Miss Alyson, our family & friends - ENJOY!

Miss Aly lovin "The Brooks" stairs 

Best Friends - Happy 30th to me~!

yep, thats right - 30 (sigh)

TWISTER @ Aunt Claire's

A "silly" Question to GOD

I have many questions to ask once I get to the pearly gates, but this one is not a serious as my others.

Friday, before we left for Houston, Daniel and I set a plan into motion.  Daniel goes to the gym until 10:45, I then go right afterwards, get home and then we set out  IH-10 - Houston Bound.

When Daniel left it was around 9:30ish I think.  The house was somewhat a wreck and I have this cute little one year old buzzing around me.  How am I going to get the house in order and keep her amused?  Thank goodness for Toy Story 2 and the exer-saucer.  In the short 1 hour that Daniel was gone, and actually it was more like an hour and half b/c he did not get home until 11:10am.  I managed to gather all of the clothes that had accumulated on our bedroom floor, start a load of laundry, begin to pack for Aly and I and our 1 day trip to Houston, clean the kitchen, unload the dishwasher and then load it back up again, fold a load of clean clothes, feed Alyson lunch, get her down for a nap (which those 2 things were supposed to be Daniel's responsibility) but since he was running late, I went ahead and did them..........

So my silly question is, after accomplishing quite a lot in that one hour and taking care of our one year old, I still had to treck out to the stupid gym and get in 20-30m of cardio/weight lifting in.  I think that if you are a mom and you are doing house chores/taking care of your children, or crazy enough to think - BOTH~! I think you should burn up to triple the amount of calories while doing them.  Do you really think after working a very demanding more than 40-hour work week, taking care of our beautiful daughter, trying to manage our household and spending time with my husband that I want to squeeze in time for the gym.

I will let you all fill in the blank.  Because my answer is a big FAT -
NO~!!!!!!!!!!

The End, I am off my soap box.

On the eve of my 30th

Well, I am one day away from being 30.  I feel like I should go do something - like bunji jumping or sky diving.  Ha - I would never do either.  So I am going to answer some questions from some survey I found online to mark this date in time as 29.  I did cut 5 inches off of my hair today at lunch - that's pretty gutsy!

Name: Jennifer Ruth Burkholder

Age: 29 - !

Race: Whitey

Gender: Girlie

Normal Questions:

Define normal using approximately ten words. 

There is no such thing as normal – so there.

Would you frame someone else if your friend committed murder? Absolutely not

When is killing justified?  When your life is in danger

What do you like most about yourself? 

I think I am funny and I try to be kind to everyone.

What was or is your favorite subject in school? Art

What do you want to do for a career?  Good question…..

Do you support the war in Iraq? 

I support the troops fighting for our freedom and assisting others for theirs

Are you religious? Absolutley

Do you read, watch or listen to the news often? All of the above

Is older always wiser? No, but more experienced in repercussions of actions

Is George W. Bush a good president? Was?  Yes, I believe he was.

If not, does he deserve to be assassinated? Ha – horrible question

Who cares about the rainforest, right? 

Well it’s been awhile, but whenever I waste alot of paper I think about the rain forest.

Are you going to marry your favorite celebrity? Doubt it.

Do you wish you were a celebrity? Absolutely not.

Is body structure a good indicator of personality? Hmm – it does show discipline, but it can also show obsession.  So no, not necessarily.

Is choice of clothing a good indicator of personality? It definitely shows personality, ya I think so.

Is choice of friends a good indicator of personality? Yes, most definitely

Are more and more technological advances good for mankind? 

Some and some are not.  Balance is key

Between male and female, which is the weaker gender? 

Neither, both are strong together.

Do you believe in karma or predestiny? Neither

Are you vegetarian? No~!  I love my number 1 with cheese!

Do you get along with your family? Yes, very much so.

When you discover that you are angry, what do you do to calm yourself? 

I don’t often get angry.  I internalize

When you are sad, what do you do to make yourself feel better? Try and fix the problem

Do you need a significant other in your life? 

I love my significant other and cannot imagine my life without him.

Have you ever truly loved? Yes – right now.

Is it okay for you to show weakness? Yes, I am human

Is revenge always the answer when you are wronged?  No, not at all

Is revenge ever the answer? Sometimes it feels good, but it never ends well.

Is everyone like an open book to you?  Ha no, everyone is very mysterious

Do you keep your mouth shut in public for fear of sounding stupid? 

I usually open my mouth 3 or 4 times before I decide to shut it. - Ha

Does your IQ mean much? I don’t think so

I grant you three wishes.  That there is a heaven and all of my loved ones are there waiting for me.   I can eat whatever I want and always stay at my ideal weight.  That my children will live a happy and God-filled life.

This or That

Passiveness or aggression?  I tend to be passive

Clinginess or detachment?  I can be clingy

Flattery or honesty? Flattery - whoops

Passion or reason? Reason

Liberal or conservative? Conservative

To listen or to talk? Both – you have to do both to have a good convo

To discriminate or to be hurt? I tend to be overly sensitive

Friends or lovers? Friends – it’s hard to be lovers when you are 90

Money or fame? This one is hard……..money?

Power or freedom? Freedom

Pain or numbness? Yikes – um, pain, b/c eventually the numbness wares off

Night or day? I’m a night owl

Marilyn Manson or Justin Timberlake? Ha - JT

Pink or Evanescence? Evanescense, ever since Pink did the whole trapeze thing I have become skeptical.

Nine Inch Nails or Blink 182? Whats my name again?

Bowling for Soup or Tool? Uh - Tool

Kittie or Britney Spears? Brit Brit

Ani or Madonna? Vogue – strike a pose

Malice Mizer or F4? who

Escargot or no? Escargot please!

Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom? Captain Jack Sparrow

United States or Canada? USA

Felines or canines? meow

Charlie’s Angels or Kill Bill? Uma

Chicago or The Hours? The Hours

The Lords of the Rings or The Matrices? Lord of the Rings

Summer or winter? Winter

Finding Nemo or Scary Movie 3?  Dorie!!!

Newsweek or Playboy? Newsweek

Renee Zellweger or Angelina Jolie? Both are weird

Buy CD or burn CD? Burn

Linda Bryant

**she would come to my dad's for Thanksgiving, she was always in charge of the sweet potatoes, and she would always burn the tops of the marshmallows.  After awhile, I think she did it on purpose b/c it was one of the things she was known for.**

I lost my aunt yesterday morning.  I got the phone call from my dad last night as I was getting home from book club.  I knew what the call was about (dad just doesn't call), she had been battling lung cancer and had actually lived longer than was expected.
When I was little, I felt very close to her.  When I would go and visit my dad on the weekends or during the summer, we would see her a lot.  One reason I loved her so much and felt so close to her was b/c she looked a lot like my mom.  I would miss my mom like crazy when I was with my dad, so having someone resemble her would help me to not miss her so much.  She was a wonderful women, she helped me during a hard time with my dad, she was always a burst of sunshine whenever I saw her, she seemed to love life and love to laugh.  She had a great laugh, one that made her whole body shake.  I never saw her "dressed down", she was always dressed to the nines.  HIGH heels, beautiful clothes, makeup with her signature cat eyes, beautiful auburn hair and tons of jewlery - she was strikingly beautiful.  You could hear her coming with all of her bangle bracelets.  The last time I saw her was at a shower that my dad gave for Alyson, but the time before that, I had not seen her in over 10 years.  When I left Houston at 13, I stayed away pretty much until Daniel and I were engaged.  On one of the visits to Houston, my dad had surprised me and had asked Aunt Linda to stop by.  She walked in through the back door, like she always had (remembering from when I was little) and I was just so happy to see her.  She was beautiful.  White linen pants, all her jewelry, high-heels and thin.  I have always thought I resemble my mom, and I still do, but when I saw Aunt Linda that day, I also saw myself in her.  She had quit smoking for about 10 years, which is just so sad to think that that is still what ended her life too soon.  My grandmommy (her mom) started smoking when she was 18 and died of natural causes in her 80s.  Just strange how things play out.
I am so grateful that I saw her that day when she came by my dad's, I have such a wonderful memory of her and I will always have it for the rest of my life.  I think she would be happy with that.
I will need to look for some pictures I have of her and post them.  One of my favorite photos is of the two of us sitting next to each other and next to me is one of my barbies and we are all imitating the barbies position with  our hands straight up in the air.
With death comes acceptance, and I am glad that she is no longer suffering.  I am glad that she is now with grandmommy and grandaddy up in heaven watching over us.  Please pray for her immediate family especially Uncle Jim (her husband), it would be hard to let go of someone like her, she was a "ray of light".  I spoke to her a couple of months ago, after I had found out her fate and my mom and I wrote her a letter around late June.  I am glad that I did both of those things, I am glad that I could tell her that I loved her and how wonderful I thought she was.  I will miss her alot, but my memories will be what I can think back on.

RiverView 2011

I love it when this picture finally comes out - it is so fun to look at and to explain to everyone who everyone is;  and it is even more amazing to think that we still are missing about 20 more people!

Ok - so here goes the order and explanation - this will be confusing......

TOP MIDDLE, my beautiful grandmother Elaine Koch (her and my grandpa are the ones that started this River tradition)
TOP LEFT - Aunt Betty (daughter of Elaine) and Uncle Jim, Pixie and Ken Koch (son of Elaine), Aunt Carol (daughter of Elaine) and Uncle Larry and Uncle Phil and Aunt Mary (daughter of Elaine).

MIDDLE LEFT - Suzanne, Staci (daughters of Aunt Yvonne), Daniel, Emily, Carrie (daughters of Aunt Betty) Kelly (daughter of Ken)

BOTTOM LEFT - Ben (son of Mary), Jennifer (daughter of Ken), Logan (son of Suzanne), Alyson (daughter of Jennifer), Jacob (son of Suzanne), Mack( son of Kristin), Colton (son of Suzanne), Kristin (daughter of Mary) and Amelia (daughter of Kristin).

MISSING: Joey (son of Mary), Lowell, Aunt Yvonne (daughter of Elaine) and Uncle Bill, Shannon (daughter of Yvonne) & Tim , Alexis, Eric, Cassidy(children on Shannon), Sandra (daughter of Yvonne) &, Rick, Hannah, Claire, Liam (children of Sandra), Doug (son of Yvonne), Sarah, Clint (son of Ken) & Ilona, Nicol, Madeline and Jacqueline( daughters of Clint).

River View 2011

So....to my Grandma, there are her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren in the photo.  To "us" there are brothers, sisters, spouses, cousins, aunts and uncles, nieces, nephews and children.

SO SO SPECIAL~!

Mai Tai's and Yatzee

Have not written in a while.....I don't have much to say - ha ha!

We are having a nice relaxing weekend at home with really no plans - I like those kind of weekends.  My dad is coming over to hopefully finish the wood floors projects and I think I will try and tackle putting the study back together.  Tonight, I think we will venture our for a good cheap mexican dinner, then tomorrow house work and probably dinner at home and then Sunday, church and we are having some friends over to bbq in the afternoon.  Sounds pretty perfect to me.

Alyson is doing great, she is getting bigger everyday and just so so cute.  I dropped her off at daycare this morning, which typically Daniel does.  The teachers immediately scooped her up and started painting her hands yellow~!!  She then made handprints all over a piece of paper and was laughing the the whole time! So much fun, I am really glad we moved her back to her original daycare.

It is a beautiful HOT July Friday, stay cool and be safe :)

-On a side note-
I got home yesterday after picking up Aly from school, got her dinner ready.  She ate around 6:30, then I stripped her down and plopped her in the tub.  She was fed and bathed by 7pm.  I felt quite accomplished and had to pat myself on that back for a minute.  Don't worry, I probably wont be able to do that again for another month.......but when you have nights like those, you have to do some congratulating!!