Kevin's grandma Lola passed away on Aug. 16. We lived with Lola for over two years and she was a very special person. We have so many memories of her and I'm so grateful we got to spend that time of our marriage with her because we got know Lola well. She will be missed! I am very grateful to know about the Gospel and to have hope that we'll see her again someday!

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?n=lola-luke-burns&pid=159253035#fbLoggedOut

Баба Лола, на Кевин едната баба поина на 16ти август. Много ми е тъжно, че милата баба почина. Живяхме с нея за 2 години и повече и много се сближихме. Тя беше специялна жена! Благодарна съм, че знам за евангелието на Исус Христос и че имаме надежда да я видим пак след този живот.

Lola's favorite creatures: she always said she loved them more than she loved her own kids :). Their names were Odie and Puggy

Raccoon Adventure

So we were looking out the back porch and saw these two baby raccoon walk past our back door. They were so fluffy! I'd never seen an immature raccoon so I went out to see where they were heading. Well they were going to try to climb up the fence and go to the field behind it but they chose their climbing spot poorly. There are 3 horses and a donkey to the right of our house and when the horses saw the raccoon climbing they darted to come sniff them. It was very amusing to see a horse harassing baby raccoon. The poor things were just stuck, they didn't know whether to go down or up because the horse was breathing at their faces. Then another horse decided to join and bug them and eventually the babies got enough courage to climb back down where they started and to move away from the horses and try again.   

Както си седяхме на двора с Кевин и Елена видяхме две малки миещи мечки как минават пред нас в тревата. Толкова бяха пухкави, че исках да ги гушна! ( не посмях обаче, че ме беше страх да не ме охапят) Все пак ги проследихме да видим на къде са тръгнали. Стигнаха до оградата и тръгнаха да се качват по нея да стигнат до полето от другата страна. Двете бебчета си избраха много интересно място да се покатерят: има мини ранчо малко по-надолу от нас с 3 коня и 1 магаре. Единя кон като видя мечето веднага дойде и започна да ги подушва, а миличките мечета просто се стъписаха и не знаеха на къде да отидат. После втори кон дойде и накрая едното мече се осмели и избяга, а второто бързо го последва.

Why does a horse want to sniff a raccoon??
Не можах да разбера защо му беше на коня да души мечетата??

The raccoon get a break but not for long
Междинна почивка за миещите мечета

Horse #2 shows up to bug them
Кон №2 се появи да подуши и той

One of the babies braved it and climbed down
Едното мече се осмели и започна да слиза обратно надолу по оградата

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE BOO!!!

This birthday was definitely long in the waiting. We started celebrating it the Sunday before it came (she was born on Aug. 16). Our family had gathered for pictures that day so we used the opportunity to throw Elena a party while we were all together. It turned out that this was an inspired idea because when Elena’s actual birthday came she got sick and we didn’t actually celebrate since she was throwing up and feeling awful. We had planned to just have a small celebration with just the three of us. Part of the celebration was to give Elena a bunch of spaghetti since she LOVES them and then we were going to make her a small cake just for her. Well, we got through the spaghetti and then went to the store to pick up stuff for the cake. As we were standing in line to pay Elena started throwing up. She was such a sad baby. The rest of the evening just got worse for her stomach problems and she’s still working on overcoming whatever she’s fighting. It was a sad first birthday! I hope they only get better from now on and we were reminded once more not to count that plans will always work out.

От колко време го чакахме да дойде този рожден ден!!  Празнувахме го в неделята преди 16ти защото се бяхме събрали за семейни снимки. Прекарахме си чудесно и в крайна сметка добре бяхме решили тогава да празнуваме защото Еленка се разболя точно на рождения ѝ ден. Бяхме планирали да и направим спагети, че много ги обича и тортичка само за нея този път. Като бяхме в магазина да купин продуктите за тортата Елена започна да повръща. От тогава още ѝ е зле, но бавно по бавно се оправя.  Тъжен рожден ден! Дано от сега нататък само по-добре да стават...

This year's birthday was themed Ladybug.
Темата която избрах за рождения ден беше на калинки

My friend Plamena made Elena's birthday banner. In case you can't read from my quality picture it says Happy 1st Birthday Elena. There were originally 3 balloons but one (the fancy cellophane one that had a ladybug on it) got blown away as I was putting them into my car getting out of the store where I bought them. The other one flew away as we got to the house where we were celebrating... thus, one lonely balloon was present.
Моята приятелка Пламена направи тази украса за рождения ден. На нея пише Честит 1ви Рожден Ден Елена. Този балон е единственият който остана след 3те които купих. Първия беше целуванен и имаше калинка на него но като бях на паркинга на магазина от където го взех и  си влизах в колата ми изхвърча от ръцете и полетя високо, високо, високо в небето :) Вторият ми го взе вятъра като пренасях нещата от колата до къщата където се събирахме за снимките и партито. И така, остана само този самотен балон... 

The cake is supposed to have a ladybug on it but it's hard to tell  that's what it is  :). Elena loves strawberries and blueberries so that gave me the idea to try for a ladybug.
На тортата която направихме с Кевин се опитахме да нарисуваме калинка от ягоди и боровинки. Елена много ги обича и това ни даде идеята да се опитаме да я подмамим да пробва тортата...

3 generations right there!
3 поколения!

Debbi (Ellie's Grandma) has been amazing support during Elena's first year
Деби, бабата на Ели, много ни помагаше през първата година от живота на  Елена

She mostly just touched the cake and almost are the strawberries, which were the only familiar thing on  it, but  since  there was frosting on the strawberries, she refrained from actually tasting them.
В крайна сметка Еленка само си поигра с тортата и дори не си облиза пръстите да я пробва.

Opening her present from grandma
Тук си отваря подаръка от баба ѝ Деби

The next day I found Elena had gotten into the cat's closet... carrying her balloon around with her

На другия ден Елена се беше докопала до на котето килера ... с балона ѝ от рождения ден

Posing for the picture
Позира за снимката

Cruising balloon style
Така се разхождаше бая време с връзката на балона в устата

Had some left-over cake and we decided to have a second go at her trying some birthday cake.
She's just not sure what to think about this cake...
Имахме малко торта останла та пробвахме втори път да видим дали ще я хапне.
Още не се е решила дали ще се осмели...

Maybe being on her familiar high chair helped her make the decision to try some. Not bad, she says with that face :)
Този път си беше на познато място и на столчето си та се осмели и похапна малко. Не беше токова страшно :) 

The birthday on Thursday. She was fine in the morning and got to play with  her  new toys. This birthday outfit got thrown up on at the store and because we put it in a grocery bag to hide the smell I accidentally threw it away in the store's garbage. Sad day. Оh yeah, and that's the cat in the background sniffing Elena.
Рождения и ден беше в четвъртък. Нищо ѝ нямаше цяла сутрин. Отвори си играчките от нас и си играеше и ядеше нормално. Тази хубава рокличка за рождения ѝ ден без да иска се озова в буклука. Като бяхме в магазина и тя повърна я сложих в торбичка да не мирише и като излизахме от магазина без да се усетя съм я хвърлила с още един плик с буклуци който ми беше в ръката... Тъжна работа. А това зад Елена е котката, която се опитва да я подуши

On a good note, for her birthday she at least had her spaghetti.
Поне на рождения ѝ ден Елена си похапна спагети

Photoshoot

My friend Polie Hullinger volunteered to photograph Elena for her portfolio. I think she did a great job. If you are interested in checking the pictures out and seeing her other work go on her web page: www.polie.yolasite.com or check out her Facebook page: Hullinger Photography

Question

Does anyone know how to make videos fit the blog size requirements? I tried uploading a short video and got an error that the file was too large...

Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone last week. It was sort of a family reunion as we had most of Kevin's immediate family was there. We had 13 grand kids with us which meant that no matter what time we went to bed at 6 a.m. the next day there were kids waking us up. It was great to have Elena exposed to lots of people at the same time and she did alright. By the end we were able to leave her alone with her grandparents for a few hours.

Got to play with dirt. The first thing she did was grab a rock and put it in her mouth.  Then she tasted some dirt and grass. What a delicious adventure!

She got to play with her uncle and 16 month old cousin Sarah

Her other cousin Mary loves Elena. Mary has  been her friend since she was a newborn. 

Elena finally learned how to pull herself up to standing on this trip.

Had smores around the fire as a family. What could be more unifying???

A natural spring that feeds the Snake River

We fed the ducks and had a musk rat join the party.

Floated the river. It was a long ride and Elena did fine until towards the end.

Kevin had been wanting to swing off this rope for years and finally did it. It was freezing 

On another occasion we rafted a much more fun part of the river. There was some white water: enough to get us soaking wet at the beginning of our ride and for the rest of it we had to sit in a puddle inside our boats.

Went on some refreshing walks as a family

Of course, Zoe had to join

Kevin's parents rented a couple of fun things to ride while we were together. 

Even I got a turn on it. It was awesome!

Yellowstone National Park. Waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.
Right to left: Debbi (Kevin's mom), Brian (Kevin's brother from Texas), Logan, and Jackson 

It was a hot day up there!

Seeing this never gets old. Fascinating!

Proof that Elena has seen Old Faithful :)

One of the hot springs in Yellowstone

Can you see something in that tree? Well, I couldn't. Apparently there's a chipmunk  on it.

Kevin's brother Brian pushed Elena around Yellowstone. This stroller we borrowed  was definitely not meant for  6'4'' men! Yet, Brian was sweet enough to keep at it :)

It was a very long ride for this baby (6 hrs)