Thanksgiving

I (no 'we' about it - just plain boring 'me') went to Overton for Thanksgiving to be with my Mom and Dad. Luckily I didn't have to drive by myself all the way down and all the way back. My sis-in-law Karen and kids Josh and Marissa rode with me. The brother Jim and son Brandon were in their pickup with their dirt bikes. Sorry for the poor pictures, just my phone...

TURKEYS for Thanksgiving. Haha - these turkeys - like more than 35 of them - showed up for Thanksgiving morning in Mom and Dad's yard. Bet you've never seen that.
This is my brother, Jim's family. Andrew lives in Vegas and has a brand new baby boy. Aubrey lives in Vegas too. It is always fun to see them and even better to see Andrew with this cute little guy!

Yikes - did that one scare ya?

Climbing the mountain - it really was bigger than it looks :)

Cute Cora

This little girl is so full of personality. She pretty much hates a binky, but she sure likes her fingers in her mouth. She doesn't really suck on them, just plays with them. This picture is what I found when I uncovered her in her carseat. She had finagled her jacket so she could get that little tab in her mouth. She was having a great time playing with it with her tongue.
She makes her grandma happy :)

Bridge - this one's for you...

From Bridget: Please tell me that you have not gone crazy and tattooed all of our names on your back and left me and Brandon off! :) :) That last dosage of clomid has done odd things to my hormones! I am having the weirdest dreams ever! :)

My crazy daughter! This is the email I got from her yesterday. I guess I should be used to all these hormonal things with 4 daughters, but this made me laugh my guts off.

Because I'm so prone to getting tattoos.

And because I would want to ever leave Bridget and Brandon out.

Oh my!

There's a big fat turkey

on grandma's farm...

(not to be confused with

big fat grandma on the turkey farm)

We made cute little turkeys with oreos, whoppers and candy corn.

Hadlee made a duck - can you find him?

2008 Soccer Banquet

2008 Defensive MVP

Riley Bergeson

2008 Team Award Winners

Kelli Farr

Allie Aldrige

Coach - Lindsey Karren

Coach - Delos Wiberg

McKenzie Johnson

Coach - Pedro Legua

Michelle Bennett

Hannah Bennett

Riley Bergeson

Seniors and Juniors

The Junior players presented the Senior players

with a most awesome picture book

from this season of soccer.

An awesome mom (also known as Heidi Yates)

put these books together plus decorated

each one individually.

They will be a treasure forever.

Thank you Juniors!

Halloween

Larsen Family Fundraiser

Some of you know Daryl and Ashley Larsen.

For those of you who don't, they are a young couple here in Perry,

who just lost their baby to a rare lung disorder.

Their loss is truly a tragedy.

They are now experiencing the beginnings

of what will be a land slide of medical bills.

In an effort to aide them, there will be a

one day fundraiser at the Maddox Steak House.

On November 5, you can call Maddox at 435.723.2916

and order the Turkey Steak dinner.

You can choose the 2 or 4 family meal at the regular price.

All proceeds will then be donated to the Larsen family.

You do need to remember to mention the Larsen family name when ordering.

You can then pick up your meal at the take out window in the back of Maddox.

It will be for lunch and dinner.

Please spread the word.

I want you all to know...

You should all be aware that tonight, for the first time in 6 months, 9 days and 3 hours, I wore long pants to the gym. Enough said. Hardee har har!!

My favorite vase...

I only lost one vase at the all-night party. Wait... All night party?

I... know... nothing....

Sadie Hawkins 2008

These two are dorks. Haha!

You Belong in 1994

With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Homecoming Dance

Riley and Steven Ball at Homecoming. She had sooo much fun! Thanks Steve!

Cora's Blessing

For more pics, check out Cara's blog! I lub that baby!

I never thought it would happen to me...

If you know me, you know that I have never been a reader. If I had spare time, I had a ton of other projects that I loved doing, so I just never read. Ok - I read my scriptures every day and went through times I read the whole ensign every month, but other than that, leisure reading was not for me. Along with everything else in my life, this too has changed. I can't stand being without a book. I read when I go to bed, if I can't sleep, when I get up for a minute, while I do my hair (maybe I should pay more attention to the hair - it might help), at the stop light. Wow!

The latest is this book - A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. I bought it for Riley's English class, but she didn't need it yet. When I first started I was appalled that her teacher would pick something so graphic. But oh man, its really good. Not fiction, vampire stuff, but true incredible experiences of a kid my girls' age and what he went through with the wars in West Africa. Something we should all be aware of as Americans. Pretty good reading. Well, if you're into that 'reading' stuff. :)

Soccer

Have you checked out our soccer blog. Perhaps the reason I haven't posted anything here lately. Its pretty cute if ya wanna check it out. Thanks to Cara and Matt for doing the background.

http://behssoccer.blogspot.com/

What have I become?

Oh my - I'm worried about myself. I found myself:
1. At the laundromat (see ** story below)
2. Eating a peanut butter sandwich (that I had wrapped in tin foil)
3. Reading that dang Breaking Dawn book again.

Can you say white trash? Yikes!

**So I put a small load of laundry in the other night. Just happened to be passing thru the laundry room about 20 minutes later and heard the water still filling the washing machine. I flicked on the light and sure enough, it was full. And running over. And still going. Oh gads! What if I had just gone to bed like usual. Needless to say, the bugger is probably too old to be worth fixing. Oh well, sounds like we'll just have to buy new clothes since we can't wash. Haha!

PS - Life is grand!

GIRLS ROAD TRIP!!

Woohoo! 7 of us to be exact. 7 girls. In the same car. You got it! You see myself, Riley (this pic is actually on the way home, thus the sleeping girl), Bridget, Caramie, and Britney is next to them but I didn't get her in the pic cus I took it traveling 80 somethingish down the freeway, and then see the two car seats in the back. Hadders swinging at the reunion. She wants to 'fly'!

Some of the cousins (yikes - we're ancient!)

Okay - now for a story. There always is one if you hang out with us. So of course the girls had to hit the mall. Grandma got to sit in the car in the shade with the girls, Hads asleep and Cora asleep too, laying on Grandma's chest while I read that dang Breaking Dawn book. Now that's a good day shopping right there! So anyway, of course we were pushing our time limit, but were gonna be ok. Then Hadlee decides she needs a 'BIG snack', which soon turned into 'I need a HUGE snack'. Heehee - it was funny. At first. Her mom said it wasn't funny after the 5 jillionth time. So anyway, we stop to get her some food and head on out, knowing we were gonna be late, but still probably ok. Then about 1/2 hour from Driggs, Cora decides she's hungry too. There's no way we can let her cry that long so we decide we can pull over and feed her, and the rest of us can freshen up. So, yup, that's us-along side the road, changing our clothes, doing our hair.... My! Then little girl decides she needs to 'poop'. Well when a potty training gal has to poop then thats just the way it is. So Bridget grabs her and hauls off to find a pooping palace. Not sure all what went on there, but no poop. Haha! But meanwhile back at the ranch, Cora takes care of that and blows clear up her back. By the time we get her cleaned up, Cara and I are both pooped upon and Cora isn't sure what has happened. Well, needless to say, we pull ourselves together and dash up the road. We got to the races like 45 minutes late. Cara stayed in the car to finish the feeding. We find the family, try our hand at pooping in the portapotty (of course no luck there either) and with a few more issues, settle in for the greatest show on earth...

The figure 8 races - the reason we went on up to Driggs. It is a demolition derby type of race, but they complete laps in a figure 8. Well, that is if they can stay inside the track. It was so much fun to watch. Number 66 (of course - Phillips 66 - get it?) is my brother Jim. I didn't get a good picture of Brandon's race, but he WON his heat by purely outsmarting everyone else. Jim ended up taking 2nd place overall. It was so much fun to watch. Next year you'll have to come with us!

Hadlee found a friend, Champ. She said, "HE IS BIGGG!!!"

Ah, this pic is so cute of Grandpa playing with Hads. I'm not smart enough to rotate it - I'll fix it when I get home. Aint it sweet!

We left early Sunday morning so I could get back to church to teach primary. Our Primary evidently 'doesn't have a need' for team teachers or called substitutes. I could probably give them a need or two or ten! Anyway, we arrived home at 12:10ish. I showered, prepared a lesson, finished a treasure hunt and made it to primary, calm and cool. Phew! Glad we made it home - it was a great sacrament meeting - thanks to Elder Pyle. We scavenged up a dinner after church, made some treats cus everyone was still hungry, then finished off the Sabbath doing our (Ri and I's) second job. Got done just in time for midnight to ring and finish up a great weekend .

Soccer time...

OK. If you know me you know my two favorite things to do are:

1. Grandkids (and I guess that includes my kids too)
2. Watching Soccer (which I guess includes my kids too).

So its finally soccer season. Just thought you might like to check out the blog I'm doing for the team.

http://behssoccer.blogspot.com/

What do you think?

So do you think these two lil guys look alike? I don't know if you can tell from here without seeing them 'in action', but I think they look so much alike. It is Trey (Alyssa's) and Mikey (my cousin Blaine's). I keep telling Lyss that Trey has a ton of Ball in him, but she doesn't believe me. Do you think so?
(Sorry bad pic - I couldn't get him to hold still for a second. Haha!)

Summer!

I love summer, and this has been a good one. I love the 90 degree days. All of them, day after day after day! I love getting in the car when its so hot you can hardly breathe and the leather burns your legs. I love when my sunglasses are so hot I can hardly put them on. I love sitting out in the dead heat of the afternoon, reading or watering or just watching the bugs. I love feeling the sweat drip down my back cus its so blasted hot. I love watching soccer games facing right into the sun. I love laying at the side of the pool baking in the heat. I love sleeping with just the sheets on for cover. I love the long days of sunlight and the warm nights. I love wearing flip flops instead of shoes. For all of you who love Fall, I just had to get in a word or two. I LOVE SUMMER!!

Cora Jane Toyn

Our baby Cora is finally here and she couldn't be more perfect. The pictures don't do her justice. She is such a doll. So very very tiny and petite at 5'12" and 18".
Hadlee is so sweet with her. She very gently holds her and pats her for long periods of time. It is very special. If you're lucky, she'll ask you "You wanna ho-o-o-o-ld her?"
Gamma couldn't be happier! It's hard to imagine life without her now. She doesn't cry - just a squeel that is soft or loud, depending on what she wants. She's worth staying up for a couple days straight with very little sleep. Could you sleep if you had that girl to hold?

Beautiful Cora and her Beautiful Mommie. Caramie did so fantastic. I think her and Matt were in shock that it was over so easily. So far this little girl seems to have more of her mom's features. Those eyes are killer, eh? They're pretty dark - maybe Toyn brown.

Here's a friendship that will never end!

Two wonderful babies plus a fantastic Mom and Dad. Sure do love them more than anything! I love all my girls, their hubbies and their wonderful children. I am the luckiest person on this earth!

Now THAT's a goose egg!

Trey lost this fight with the tramp. Can you believe that goose-egg? It looks like he must have hit the bar from a flying leap, but I think he was just getting ready to get off and slipped and hit the ladder as it bends to hook onto the tramp. OUCH!! This picture is after they iced it for a couple of hours. He was pretty tough about it all, at least at my house for the evening. He doesn't ever have much to say, but he just played and acted like it was no big deal. He's a tough lil rascal!

Sleepover!

Teegun and Trey stayed overnight at Grandma's so their mom could go on a girl's outing to Park City. Boy did we have fun! Thanks to Riley for all her help!

I was trying to show them how have a dinosaur nose, but wait! Riley made me a rhinocerus. The boys wouldn't even consider it. They think Grandma is silly.

After we went to Kung Fu Panda, Grandma made rainbow sherbet frappe's for treats. We each picked ours up and marched to the front door to sit outside and eat them. As soon as we stepped outside, Teeg lost hold of his and it spilled, SPLASH!, right on the front step. So Grandma gave him hers and went and fixed her a new one. She came back out and sat down by them on the step and BAM! Trey's drink fell right to the ground. So Grandma gave him hers and went and made her a new one (again). Finally we all sat down on the steps to eat our frappe'. Just before Grandma finished hers, what do you think happened? SWOOSH! Grandma drops her frappe' and it spills all over her and the ground. Hahaha!

Breakfast on the deck. Teegun DOES like pancakes. Trey only likes sausage. Even Riley got up early to join in on the fun!~ These boys love her!

We spent most of the day at the pool in Brigham. Of course we would have no pictures of that :) They didn't want to leave, even after 4 hours. We did pretty good keeping them sunscreened except guess what - the top of Gunner's feet. Oh ouch! Sorry buddy! Trey, the funny kid - I put his muscle floaties on and turned around to get ready to take him in. But too late! He just went and jumped in. Problem being that we were down by the basketball hoops, way over his head. I don't know what he was thinking, but luckily Riley was right there. It took him about an hour to recover and quit shivering, but after that they just couldn't get enough. Tegunn is a wild man and Trey loves running and jumping. We all had tons-o-fun in the sun!

FUNNY THINGS THEY SAID:

Gunner: Gramma, leave it whole. I am almost six years old and I am big enough to use a knife!

Trey: I played that at my house.

Trey (later): I ate that at my house.

Trey (next day): I watched that show at my house. (evidently, he does EVERYTHING at his house)

The boys were so good. Tegunn was a good big brother and made some 'good choices' to make his brother happy. We all survived and are looking forward to the next time we get to spend the night together!

Riley's new nickname...

Riley's friends have given her a new nickname. Its 'the nutcracker'. Riley plays sweeper in soccer, so often makes powerful kicks to get the ball to the other end of the field. At her co-ed game last week she kicked one of her famous kicks and too bad, the boy she had stole it from was about 3 feet from her and took the force of it - you guessed it - right in his 'manhood'. It was the worst I've ever seen, the poor kid. When he finally tried to get up to walk to the side, he was puking. He made it to the couch (don't ask why there was a couch at a soccer game) but did not look good one bit. He finally got up and played towards the end of the game, but he was not standing normal. He was really suffering. I shouldn't laugh at his pain, but it was dang funny. The rest of the game, the boys pretty much steered clear of her. Just before the whistle blew she stole the ball from a kid and as she went to kick it, he covered himself, turned around, and yelled 'not my nuts'! HeeHeeHee! I don't think she'll live that down for a long time.

$5 footlong...

Ok, so most of you know the issues little Hadlee has with her CSID. Finally they have figured out the problem and are getting things working, but its harder than it sounds. Cara and Matt are so good to keep her sugar and starch free, but in so doing, she sometimes ends up constipated and those little muscles haven't had much of a workout in her lifetime, so its been a challenge. They will get it figured out, but here's a funny story because of it.

This weekend they all went to St. Geo. Hadlee f-i-n-a-l-l-y got a poop out. I guess it was a big old bugger. Cara laughed about it being a footlong, so Riley started singing the latest Subway jingle, 'five dollar, five dollar footlong'. Well sure enough, Hadlee laying in the tub, with her head in the water and only her face sticking out, starts singing, 'five dolla.. five dolla footlong...' Haha!, she is so funny!

Trip to Driggs!!

Woohoo! I spent the weekend in Driggs (land of my birth - haha). Didn't do much (I'm kinda in that mode lately). We went up to watch Marissa (Jim's daughter) and Hannah's (Wayne's daughter) dance recital. They were so cute, it was worth the trip to see those two talented little gals. Then on Sunday was Nathan's (Wayne's son) seminary graduation. He seems to be pretty happy to be a graduate - imagine that!

I saw a few 'old' friends. Old meaning friends from along time ago, not old as in age - haha! Cari Egbert (yikes - I don't know her married name), Terri and Brad Nelson, Bruce Bagley, Cub and Kristen Coburn, Kerry Buxton, David Breckenridge. I saw a few others that I didn't get to talk to, such as Rex Jardine (I run into him now and them at football games), Leland and Anita Christensen, his sister Janelle, Ronnie and Michelle Berry (bishop :), and of course Zane Calderwood was conducting the graduation. Plus lots of parents of friends, etc. That is always the fun thing about going 'home' is seeing people who influenced who you became.

The weather was gorgeous. I actually almost sunburned myself sitting outside finishing my book. Don't anyone fall off their chairs, but I've actually read two books of late. Yikes! - that's quite a change for me. Of course Mom and Dad cooked us a fantastic dutch oven chicken meal. Next trip to Driggs will be for my high school reunion. I would tell you what year, but I'm having a hard time dealing with it myself. Lol!

Purple and White Dance

Riley went to the Purple and White dance with Josh Cunningham

CANCUN rocks!!!

Wow! Were Riley and I ever ready for this vacation. It's been a tuff couple of months with tax season, school, the big D, losing clothing in treadmills... The anticipation had been great, and finally this ATSP (after tax season party - thanks to my fantastic bosses at Davis and Bott) came to fruition. We started the day very early (left our house at 4:00 a.m.) and away we went on our adventure May 2008...

Hotel Catalonia Riviera Maya

When they talk about the white sandy beaches and beautiful aqua waters of Cancun, they aren't kidding. This is where we spent the next five days. I know it looks tuff, but sometimes you just have to dig in and do what's set before you. Put your imagination in gear and see if you can't feel the breeze softly swaying the grass roofs of the huts as you look at this beautiful sight.


By the time we got to our resort and checked in, it was pretty much time for dinner with the whole group. There were 28 of us. 14 bosses and employees of Davis and Bott, their spouses and my Riley. We could hardly get over the beauty of it all.



Riley had to take a picture of her dessert. That ain't no frosty from Wendy's. Haha! Actually it didn't taste oh so well, but it none-the-less is worth a picture.


It was dark by the time dinner was over. But that didn't stop us from checking out the water. Making sure its for real. Uhhh... huhhhh!!!


Then we found the beach party!! Lots of good entertainment there. Soon Dave and Annette heard the music and stopped by too. You should all get to see Dave in action. You think of him as the reserved, all-knowledgeable CPA. Now you can see... THE DISCO DAVE!!!



THE BEACH!!!

This is what we came for, and where we spent most of our time. It was so nice finding a spot and just chillin! You could lay in the sun or in the shade under a hut. You could read a book or take a nap, all while enjoying the cool breeze from the ocean against the baking hot sun. Any kind of drink you could conjure was available within a few steps. If you got too warm, you could go walk along the beach enjoying the waves, jump right in and float around for awhile, or try out one of the many pools . Paradise!

CENOTE'

The cenote' was my favorite thing we did. It’s like if you laid out the land, and took a cookie cutter and cut a deep hole. Then it fills with fresh water. I don’t know if you can get a feel for how deep down it is. Notice how clear the water is, you can actually see the people’s legs thru the water. The second picture is me – yes, I said me – going down the ladder and getting in. Can you believe it? Riley is standing at the top of the ladder next to Natalie. Fun huh!

Mexican Dinner

Check out Antonio's grille! Heehee!

ACTIVITIES

There's plenty to do just around the resort. Snorkeling, kayaking, riding the catamaran, bicycle riding, volleyball, water volleyball, on and on and on.










Lots of good drinks whenever you want. Most of the time they even come non-alcholic. (Yep - there's a story behind that one)
This is a picture looking into the water. We were trying to show the little yellow and black striped fish. They looked like bumble bees. But if you look real hard you can see the clear/silver ones. Just kidding - you can't see them cus they're clear.

This is a fun game. Scoot-ing in the sand. Ouch!

Flint & Katherine playing balloon volleyball. Sorry about speedo-man. :)

Even though we had already eaten tons, we usually seemed to converge at the Creperie. Banana splits, choc shakes, apple carmel crepes....

JAPENESE DINNER

Chopsticks!My heart beats for you!

CHICHEN ITZA

Ancient temple - most likely Book of Mormon times. There are a bunch of ruins around this area. Our guide, Helaman told us all kinds of things pertaining to their beliefs. Maybe some day we will understand more about what happened then. Helaman kept reminding us that we need to live good lives. I think because of the stuff that happened here because the people became wicked. Don't laugh your head off at those dang sexy shoes! (yikes)

First off, the guy on the right is Helaman our guide. He is of Mayan descent. He has been a tour guide since he was young, but not until he started teaching early morning seminary did he realize the similarities in the B.O.M and this area. He seems very humble as he tells what he knows about these ruins.


Secondly, this is a courtyard, a rather large one. The game they played was to put a 4 lb. ball through that little hoop you see at the top of the wall. I can hardly imagine that. Then if you won, guess what, they whacked off the head of one of your teammates for a sacrifice. It was a great honor. Your image was then etched into a wall as a remembrance. Now, that's motivation to play hard!


An observatory


Archeologists are restoring the 'inner wall of the temple'

THE END
Our friend the crab...
...riding off into the sunset

(the ending of all really great stories)