2nd Annual December in Orlando

Here are some highlights from our fun in the sun.

Day 1: Fly to Orlando and hang with cousins.
Day 2: Slept in, relaxed by the pool, played the Wii

Day 3: Madagascar 2, dinner
Day 4: Church (where I ran into a sister from my mission - way cool), and super fun photo shoot with the girls - coolest kids ever!



Day 5: Sleep, shopping, chillin
Day 6: Magic Kingdom, I discovered funnel cake (YUM!), but also discovered liquid Tylenol (not so yum)

Day 7: Sicker than sick, several trips to CVS, Hollywood Studios, dream handbag shopping at Coach, Fendi, Dooney & Bourne, etc

Bryan's Surprise Cruise to the Bahamas

Day 8: Off on the cruise, play on the ship, never ending hot chocolate

Day 9: Bahamas, walking downtown, shopping,

playing on the beach,

driving through Bryan's old hood, sunset

Day 10: Day at sea

Day 11: Dock at Cape Canaveral, family Christmas card photo shoot, lunch, flight delays, home (to the evil snow) at 1:30am

3 Down, Forever to Go

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US! It's crazy we've been married for three years now; it doesn't seem like a shade under 20 years. :) It's been a blast! Marrying each other was the best thing we ever did. I'm a cheeser, but it's true. I guess technically it was yesterday (the 10th), but we're up packing for some fun in the sun. I think we lost some fans in my lack of posting period, but I'll definitely share trip pics, so stay tuned.

Thanksgiving Weekend

A little late and out of order, I thought I'd share some highlights from our Thanksgiving weekend road trip fun...

We headed to California for my cousin's wedding. It was super fun, and I got to do back-up photography.

It was at a gorgeous setting at Monterey Bay.

Us overlooking the ocean.

We snuck in a day trip to San Francisco. Major photo ops!

Lot's of driving, but some great scenery, (well, except for Nevada.)

Gingerbread Houses

Every year since forever, my family has made gingerbread houses for Christmas. It has gone from being a chance to load up with candy (that we weren't allowed to eat til Christmas day) to a carefully crafted Christmas art. :) Here are some pics from our creation this year.

The Front

The Back

The Door

Us Ice Skating In Our Pond In Our Front Yard

KEEP 'EM REAL

Well our team did it the walk and it was great! Here we are at the finish line.

Next year will be bigger and better!

Fall Photo Fun

Over the weekend Bryan and I went for a canyon drive to admire some fall beauty and capture it too. It was so much fun! So, maybe I took 450 pictures, but don't worry, I won't share them all.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

So, last minute i found out about this walk for breast cancer happening next Saturday, October 11th. I've never participated in anything like it and thought it sounded fun. Anyway, I signed up and am using the amazing world of blogging to see if anyone wants to join me and to suggest it as a great way to get a tax break next year. ;) Click HERE to learn more, join my team, or donate. My team is called KEEP 'EM REAL. I would love it if you would join me in person or in funding. Details: it's for men, women, and children, it's free to register, it starts at Liberty Park on Saturday morning (check in at 8am, walk begins at 9am), it goes for 3-5 miles, and it will just be fun to get a little fresh air, some exercise, and spend some quality time with friends and family while supporting efforts to prevent and combat cancer. Let me know if your interested, have questions, or want me to pick you up!

Family Pics

About six months ago the whole fam was together at Sunday dinner, which is pretty rare, so we decided to take some photos. However, Bryan and I didn't get the memo. We just showed up and got the surprise when we saw the camera gear set up. By some luck, I wasn't wearing my pajamas, my usual family dinner garb, and we even wore almost the designated colors. I just got the pics, so I thought I'd share a couple of my favs.

Star Struck

Last night we went with my family to the OC Tanner Gift of Music concert with the Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony at the Conference Center. It was so good! First, I learned that the O in OC Tanner stands for OBERT, which I find completely entertaining. The music was excellent. And I'm just gonna cut right to it...the real reason we went was that BRYAN STOKES MITCHELL was one of the guest soloists. I referred to him in a previous post because he's AMAZING! This is the first time I've seen him live, and he totally lived up and even exceeded my expectations. WOW! Aside from hearing his delicious voice, the highlight of the evening was definitely meeting him after the show and getting his autograph. And, I got to tell him in person that when he sang "Sarah, come down to me." in the musical Ragtime, it was the greatest moment in music history. :) If you haven't heard it, DO!

The black and white photo is an attempt to hide the rosy cheeks from running to the JSMB to get in line.

HE WROTE MY NAME!!! (fanning face rapidly with hand)

Is It Just Me?

So, please say I'm not the only one who does this...Last night I chose fashion over reason. I fell in love! I fell for these beauties...

And I had to have them! It didn't matter that they're 1/2-1 size smaller than my actual feet. And I'm not even sure I have much to wear with them, not to mention that technically I'm not supposed to wear open-toed shoes to work, where I spend a huge majority of my time. All that mattered was they're HOT and I also scored them on a clearance sale. Now ladies, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only woman who has done this, but help me out...what have you done for the love of a piece of clothing?

Swiss Days

It has been a Burgon tradition since the dawn of time (or at least as long as I can remember) to go up to Midway every year for Swiss Days. We usually go up on Saturday, but I heard there's better stuff and fewer people on Friday. So, Bryan and I took the day off work and went to Swiss Days and Park City for a fun day of shopping and much needed worklessness.

On Saturday we went up again with the rest of the Burgon bunch. Since we had done the hard core shopping the day before, we got to enjoy more of the entertainment, like the Swiss Miss Royalty (pictured below), the children's choir (if you ever go, don't worry about that part unless you just want an excuse to cool off in the back by the fan), and of course, the very entertaining yodeler! It's an event I always look forward to!

I also got some cute art and crafty project ideas, so if any of you are interested in craft night with Haylie, let me know.

It's Been A While

I have not been a faithful blogger lately, so here is a little bit of what I've been up to the last few weeks...
PICNIC IN THE CANYON

BIRHTDAY CELEBRATION

3 YR ENGAGE-AVERSARY

GIRL FUN

AND A NEW POSITION AT WORK THAT KIND OF TAKES OVER MY WORLD

When was the last time you did something spontaneous & maybe a little crazy???

For me...LAST NIGHT! After a long drought of excitement in my life, I snagged a willing friend totally last minute and went to the Jordin Sparks concert. Since I'm pretty much responsible for Jordin winning American Idol, I thought it might be cool to go hear her, but didn't really give it much thought. I thought the concert was tonight (Tuesday), so at the end of the day at work I decided to look on KSL for some last minute tickets. Well, turns out it was totally Monday not Tuesday. I got my friend Liz (who was also a faithful voter that season), to agree to come with me, got a bunch of names and numbers of ticket sellers, and had her and Bryan start pursuing the best deal. ) Of course, they were all sold already. I gave up a little bit and was a little bummed that my little Monday night adventure wouldn't happen. As I was discussing the lost hope with Liz, Bryan called the Abravanel Hall ticket office. And don't worry...not sold out! In fact, we got 7th row, mid stage tickets. Sweet! Anyway, it was 5:45 and the concert started at 7, so I booked it to change out of my work attire, took Bryan to our dinner plans that I ditched out on (thanks for being understanding), and sped back to get Liz and get our tickets. We had such a blast! I can't remember the last time I went to a concert. Probably when I was the age of all the little girls who were there all dressed up as if they actually believed Jesse would notice them and sweep them off on the romance of their dreams. Here are a few pics...

Prima J (opening act with entertaining dancing)

Jesse McCartney (attracter of piercingly high-pitched screams...and notice the one finger up on the nose thing...I can't decide if that's a trade mark or he doesn't know he's doing it or how stupid it looks)

Jordin Sparks (you're welcome)

(cuz i was just that close!)

The Rainbow Connection

I just wanted to share a pretty that we saw this evening amongst our Saturday night adventures.

A Little R & R

We went up to our family's cabin for a few days this weekend. It was so nice to get away from the heat and work stress and just have some peaceful time in the mountains together.

Family Field Trip

When we were kids, we used to go on field trips to different locations of interest around Utah. One that the youngest 2 kids missed out on was the Kennecott Copper Mine. So, after the C-A-double R-I-G-A-N reunion in the exciting land of Copperton, we decided to make a stop at the mines for some family fun. Quite an operation they have going on up there! It was fun to see the mine close up, and see what ate up the city where my mom is from. And another highlight of the day was that I won the High School Musical board game at the raffle at the reunion! Life is good! :)

College Football '08 Champion!!

So this is my (Bryan's) first addition to the Belnapalooza blog and I'm not so sure how this all goes, so hopefully it works. My posting relates to a tournament that my co-workers and I are having on our breaks. We have an Xbox in the break room and have been playing an NCAA '09 (the video game) tournament. Anyway, after many a grueling game, I emerged victorious!! I am the current champion! All is well with the world! Anyway, just thought I'd put this on here 'cause it's about the only entertaining thing we do at work. Above, you will see a makeshift trophy that was constructed for this tournament by Lucas Mumford Stevens. I am very proud to have carved my name into it with a screwdriver and highlighted it with a Sharpie. Updates will be posted soon regarding the new tournament which has just begun.

The Good Ol' Days

Memory Lane...I got this from a friend's blog. I thought it would be fun! I hope you will play along. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

Our HGTV Moment

So, we had been searching for new window treatments for many a day, but much to our dismay no one carried anything with the right color, style, or texture. However, one day while at Ikea some blankets cought our eye that seemed perfect for the look we were going for. So Saturday we dusted off the old sewing machine and whipped out our long-unused sewing skills, and tah dah! Curtains!