The Berger Bunch

Monday, January 3, 2011

White Christmas!

Let me begin by saying that I don't think I have ever anticipated a Christmas as much as I did in 2010. My mom was able to have her whole family together on Christmas. That is no easy feat as any of you with large families know. Travis came up with the idea to surprise my mom. We emailed all the other kids in my family. In the end we decided to tell my dad so he could help lay the ground work. After months of planning and saving. Travis, the kids and I set off. We drove, I know, we are crazy!. The kids did a lot better than I had anticipated, with no more fighting than usual. It helped immensely that we have a DVD player in the van. We made a short visit with our amazing friends the Paschals in Utah and were able to attend the annual Christmas concert featuring David Archuleta. We really enjoyed it. Sadly, we had to bid our farewells to Todd, Adrian, and the boys and headed up to Rexburg. My brother set it up so my mom was downstairs and we could sneak in. Then he got her to come up. It was priceless and soooo my mom. She came up to look for something and didn't even notice six people sitting on her couches! My dad began to laugh and Cole finally had to direct her attention our way. She was speechless; that doesn't happen often. Needless to say, she was surprised and happy. Little did she know, it would happen again twice more as my brother's family came later in the week.

This is us setting off. Gotta love Westin's face. He is such a poser.

This was our first real rest stop in north Florida. It takes forever to drive out of Florida if you want to go West!

New Mexico was pretty...at first.

Then it got cold, and snowy and colder and snowier!. As we neared AlbaTurkey, (as Amelia would say) there is a mountain pass. It began snowing on our way up and didn't let up until we hit the bottom and it turned into rain. It took 2 hours to what should have been about 40 minutes! It was scary, there were cars spun out on the sides. We found out later they had to close the pass and cancel school all over that area! To top it off, the desk clerk in our crappy Days Inn was non too helpful. Luckily, the bad weather only lasted the morning as we drove into Colorado.

This is the SW corner of Colorado, near Cortez.

This of course it the Salt Lake City Temple for our Church. I love Temple Square at Christmas time! The boys didn't get to see it, they had an outing with their uncle Jordan to the movies while we went to the concert.

The lights on Temple Square are magical! You can see the top of Travis and Todd's heads. It was cold but we had so much fun. We ran into a friend that used to live in FL, too.

I like that this picture makes the lit trees look like sparklers.

Sorry these pictures are so big, I borrowed them from the MoTab's FB page and I don't know how to shrink them. The one above is the stage in the Conference Center in SLC. They designed it so beautifully for these performances. The lighting was awesome, too, changing with every song to set the mood.

And, of course, David Archuleta. I must admit, I had never really heard him sing until that night. He impressed me. His speaking voice was so small compared to when he sings. He had a Josh Groban quality to his voice.

Alex, Westin, and Ethan

Once we made it to Idaho and surprised my mom, the kids dashed out to the snow. We had so many great family members contribute to our snow clothes needs. We ended up with everything but boots. My mom took care of those. They were in and out of the snow every couple of hours. They loved the snow!

Amelia

We did so much I will definately have to break up our amazing Christmas adventure in to many posts.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Ethan's Baptism Day!

The day finally came. My oldest was baptized on April 3rd, 2010. It was also Easter and Conference weekend. We had my parents here from Rexburg, and so many others came to support Ethan on his special day. He shared his special day with his new cousin Addison. She was also blessed that day so we could take advantage of having so much of our families in town at once. We continued the day by welcoming our cousin Gene back from Poland where he served his mission, but that will be another post. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day, or weekend for that matter.

Ethan got a new suit when he turned 8 and has worn it every Sunday since. He looks so handsome and like a little missionary in it.

Ethan and Addison together on their special day.

I love this shot. He looks a little anxious. Ethan is a bit of a worrier.

Travis and Ethan (little Travis).

Our little fam...

Our big fam! and some great friends!

My parents wouldn't have miss this day for anything.

Ethan, I am so proud of the decision you made to be baptized! You are and awesome kid and an even better son. You are a good example to your brothers and sister, and Mom and Dad, too. Keep up the good work. We love you!

My Helper

Do you think I can get her to always be this eager to help? I love my curly haired, freckle face little girl! After all my boys, she is like frilly, emotional fresh air.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Hurricane Season is Just Around the Corner...

And with that said, I thought I would share some pictures from a few years ago. I believe this was 2005. It was an active season. These pictures were mostly taken at Travis's parent house. The brown brick house is across the street. The whole street was pretty much flooded, as was most of Palm Bay. Our apartment complex never lost power and we had a big truck with 4 wheel drive so were could drive around and survey the damage. Most cars would stall because of the water. We saw the palm tree on that car on the way over to my in-laws house. Pretty crazy right? We were very blessed through all the hurricanes. And yes, I am that red neck. My boys played in the ditch out front with their equally red-necked father. Alex would have been only one so he stayed inside with the smart ones while it continued to rain. Having said all this, I am praying for a mild season. Heaven knows nobody can afford any more troubles right now.

On a side note, the next few posts will probably be out of order, old and new; due to that fact that I am a relatively new blogger and, I am behind. Enjoy my randomocity!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Spring Plantin'

While my parents were here, we also planted a garden. It has become a big thing with many people in our ward. Plus, I won't have to buy so many vegetables, hopefully. Travis had already put up the wooden frame for our garden box and brought in a load of dark, rich soil. Now we just had to plant. We waited until my dad came, because he is an awesome gardener. He taught us a lot and the boys had fun placing seeds in the rows. We ended up with corn, peas, cucumbers, beans, carrots, a variety of peppers, tomatoes, strawberries and we put raspberries and blueberries along the fence. I am so excited to see how well we do. Thank you Mom and Dad for all your help with getting us self sufficient!

Did I mention that closer half of this garden (corn, peas, beans, carrots, and cucumbers) were seeds and sprouted in 4 days!! I love gardening in Florida! Good soil helps... Wish us luck that we don't kill much.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Spring Breakin'

This past week was spring break for the kids. My parents also came in to town. We didn't do anything super-duper crazy but we managed to have fun. We went shopping, mostly for groceries, cardboard sledding(we don't get snow so we have to make stuff up. This is like ice blocking, sort of), a little more shopping, planted our first garden, and leads us into Easter weekend but that is a different post altogether. Although we mostly hung around the house, I was so grateful to have my parents here, with Erika, to help put my house back in order. I have gotten significantly behind lately. To get dressed, we all have to dig through the clean, wrinkled clothes mountain in the family room. Not anymore! And that odd odor coming from the kitchen sink...Gone! They cleaned or entertained while I cleaned. Plus I took some extra days off work. If only I didn't have to go back! Anyway, here are some pics to illustrate our spring break this year...

Alex had the most fun hiking up the hill and speeding back down.

We usually go with our FL cousins and this time was no exception. Andrea brought a few friends. This was Katelyn and Andrea trying not to crash!

Wyatt and Alex on the verge of a spill!

Westin never sleds. He loves fishing with Uncle Philip at the nearby levee. He usually catches a fish, and did a great job this time!

Alex tried his hand at fishing but didn't catch a fish. Bummer dude!

We saw a ton of manatees though. At least 12 were swimming around. I forget sometimes all the cool stuff we live around. Like Manatees, Alligators, and the Beach. Our Spring break was picture perfect with sun and warm temperatures.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Pickin Wildflowers...

Near the cabin there was this huge patch of wildflowers and the little girls discovered them. Amelia and Olivia loved picking, and sharing the flowers. Travis went in to get them and stuck around for a few minutes ( the smudge on his nose is from the goggle he wore while 4 wheeling). I couldn't pass up the chance to capture such a precious site.