My new favorite song...

Here is my new favorite song...written and performed by my big bro Antonio on his new ukulele...check it out.


grow from anthony burrell on Vimeo.

Christmas in Paradise

We had so much fun in Marysvale for Christmas! We spent six days there and the time still flew by.

Grandma and Cass making a gingerbread house...sort of.
Brandon and Dave doing dishes. Um...yeah.

Brandon and Dave hiked all the way up to the mine to sled down and couldn't get the sled to go since the snow was so deep....dang it!

So they hiked down...

Yes, I can be sexy even when I'm shoveling.

Cassidy made the cutest game for us to play around the table after lunch...the Game of Niceness. We had to say something nice about the person's name that we drew.

Brandon and Dave entertained themselves for hours with their homemade kneeboard/sled thing and the fourwheeler.

Dad helped us out by plowing down a hill so we could sled down it...

Cassafrass and Aunt Dani

Go Tammi!

Here I am being very serious with my guitar, Tamara doing some foot stompin' with her banjo and Brandon being sexy with his mandolin. Word.

Ahhh..nothing better than the hot tub...under the stars...while it's snowing.

Tamara gave me the coolest looking globe...I love it!

Bwandon, we know!

Chica, Cass and Tamara

Christmas Dinner

Sitting down for some prime rib...mmmmmm. Eventhough we're all not showing it, we're really as excited as Brandon is. Really.
Look at this delicious salad that Tam and Dave made! Thanks Brittany for the deliciousness recipe.

Hot Chocolate.

Mom with her prime rib masterpiece dinner.

Um...I can explain. Hmmm? I have slobber on my chin? Yes. I do. Because we went flying down this hill on a sled (Mom, Tamara and I) and I was in the front and had snow spraying in my face the whole way down. My face was numb. And I was laughing hysterically. My eyes felt frozen shut. And I was slobbering. Can we not talk about it anymore? Thanks.

Mom Tamara and I sledding

Dave getting pulled off a jump

B-Man getting pulled off a jump

Sugarplum Fairy

We went to Cassidy's Christmas dance recital the other night and she did a great job! She was so excited and it was so fun to see her. Afterwards we went out for ice cream at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory...way to go Cassafrass!

At the ice cream place, Cassidy started showing Brandon some moves. Check it out.

Winter Wonderland

Chica was begging and begging to go for a walk today although it's a blizzard outside...so I decided to take her - but not without the camera to capture her jumping through the snow that pretty much went over her head!

We have to speak in code around Chica because she's too smart and discovers the meanings of words really quickly. We have to spell out w-a-l-k or p-r-o-p (mom and dad's house) or else she gets so excited and if we're not going that minute, it's too sad to see her let down. So, we feed her peanut butter sometimes as a special treat but we call it PB because she knows the words. Last night Brandon said "I think she wants some PB" and she got super excited. She figured it out!!! Smart dog. Hmmm...what can we say for peanut butter now??

Uno mas...

Okay, now for one more great experience that I have had. For my Visual Communications class, I had to visit a place and sit quietly, being present in the moment, sketch, write and photograph. I chose Muir Woods near San Francisco and it was one moment that I have never felt so close to nature. It was truly humbling. Here is a bit of what I wrote....

After walking the trail that led me to this place, I sit down on the soil and lean back against the trunk of an enormous redwood tree. The earth feels heavy beneath me. The air surrounding me is filled with moisture and is silent. I cannot comprehend how deep the roots must go and how many twists and turns the must have made to hold up this forest. Everything around me is grounded. It makes me feel grounded. I continually tilt my head back and lift my chin to look up the trunks of the trees and into the beautiful canopy of leaves above me. Each time I physically lift my head, I feel something internally bowing down to the ancient lives that surround me. I feel as though I have stumbled upon a great meeting of my ancient ancestors, standing together and discussing silently the wisdom of the ages. I try to listen.

Moments that define who we are....

I've been thinking about how each individual is uniquely shaped by their experiences in life. I began to wonder what experiences have made me the person I am. I've touched on this a little before in a past post and I thought of another moment that I think of often. It's so important that we recognize the experiences in our lives that are life-changing. If we are truly present in the moment, I believe these moments can happen daily. Something as simple as a sunrise or child's smile can inspire anyone...we just have to be open to realizing the beauty of it.

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here's a picture from Alcatraz when Dave, Tam, Brandon and I went canyoneering. This image is taken right at that moment when you have to lay on your stomach on the edge of a 160' cliff, swing your legs around behind you and trust your gear to hold you as you slip over the edge and let gravity pull you the rest of the way over. It was probably one of the scariest moments of my life but I have never been so proud. It's so exhilarating. The view was breathtaking. This was my first rapel ever!! Anytime that I feel a little nervous about something that I have to tackle, I think of this moment, and I can have confidence that when I make a decision to do something, as long as I give my full effort, then the universe will conspire to make it happen. ;)

Perigee

No, this is not a word that I made up. Perigee is what happened last night. The moon was it's fullest and brightest that it ever is from our view on Earth. You know how weird things happen when there's a full moon? Like women having babies and crazy people robbing stores and stuff like that? Well, last night, it caused a group of us to gather together at Meag and Sean's house while wearing horrible Christmas sweaters. It's amazing what the full moon brings out in us.

Please notice the wing sleeves on my sweater and the beautiful pattern on Brittany's. Also the nicely detailed teddy bear on Mike's.Oh...what...this? This is what I call a turtleneck.

A nice touch is buying a sweater two sizes too small.

Here we are trying to be sexy....and not succeeding.

Here's Dave trying to be sexy...and succeeding exceedingly well. Rar.

The handmade sweaters were really a nice touch...

As hard as they try, they just don't look as manly wearing penguins and pearls...heehee

Tam and Meag

You can never go wrong with a nice sweater vest.

And if the sweater is just horrible enough...why wear anything else?

The scrunchie is a really nice touch.

I think Mike takes the award for the ugliest shirt. Check out the neckline...it's breathtaking.

And what is a Horrible Christmas Sweater Party without a little dancing?

It was a fun night and I think Meag and Sean have really started a great tradition with this one :)

Doesn't he just make you wanna?

Doesn't he? Okay, I totally stole that line from my BFF Emily. Just in case you were wondering, I totally meant to link only part of her name. I'm cool like that. Anyway, I couldn't think of anything better and she just has the literary talent to come up with phrases like that one. This is mi esposo and sometimes I find random pictures of him on our camera. So, I'll repeat myself, doesn't he just make you wanna??


I sometimes wonder. What's going through that beautiful brain of his when he does these little photo shoots? I guess we'll never know. We'll never know.