Saturday, October 18, 2008
Hiking in the fall
We spent a perfect fall day as a family hiking around Tibble Fork Reservoir. The leaves were colorful and the weather was gorgeous. We brought Subway sandwiches and had a picnic lunch by the river. We then hiked up the river and practised walking across logs and rocks. By the end of the day everyone had wet feet and pants but it was a blast. I can't imagine anything I enjoy more than spending a beautiful day with my family in the mountains.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Cousins and Cornbelly's
We love it when our cousins come to visit! We always do lots of fun things when they are here. This time we all went to Cornbelly's together. 
The Pumpkin Princess was very sweet to Anna. She remembered meeting us at the Diabetes Walk so we now know that princesses can have diabetes too.
We wandered in the children's corn maze and had fun looking for Halloween eggs. Owen was the only one to find one though. He was quite pleased by that fact!
Anna dressed up in Princess Land and drove the Pumpkin Princess' carriage.
The boys had a lot of fun climbing all over the castle and the giant hay bale slides.
Owen and William loved the water pump rubber ducky tracks.
The kids all laughed at the pig races and Rod was even chosen to participate. The host said "SIR! How did I miss you?!" Rod made a face, slid his hat crooked and ran up. It was pretty funny.
William had no fear and wanted to climb the hay bales with all the big kids. 
Overall we had a great time. I had been mourning the loss of summer and it was good to get out and celebrate fall with our family!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The 2008 Walk to Cure Diabetes
Thanks to a wonderful, childhood friend of mine, Nikki Pinegar, we got involved this year in the fundraising efforts of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) (Nikki's cute son Kaden has diabetes too). First, Anna and I helped Nikki with a huge yard sale she had put together with all the proceeds donated to the JDRF walk. Anna manned the food table like a champ for about five hours. She was very serious about her job selling donuts and drinks. The yard sale ended up making just over a $1,000. I can't tell you how good it felt to be putting energy towards helping find a cure for diabetes. Sometimes the frustrations of managing the disease can be overwhelming. This was a very positive outlet. 
The following weekend was the Utah County "Walk to Cure Diabetes". Anna and I walked the 3 mile course together. The walk ended up raising a total of about $185,000 in Utah County. I think that is wonderful and amazing!
After the walk, Anna got me to climb the rock wall with her. I didn't think it would be a big deal until I was about halfway up. That thing is pretty hard and scary but we both made it to the top.
Anna enjoyed playing all the carnival games and had her face and hair painted. She is such a sweet girl! It is so hard to see her endure the day to day trials that come with diabetes. However, we decided that once in a while, like on the day of the walk, diabetes can be kind of fun! 
The following weekend was the Utah County "Walk to Cure Diabetes". Anna and I walked the 3 mile course together. The walk ended up raising a total of about $185,000 in Utah County. I think that is wonderful and amazing!After the walk, Anna got me to climb the rock wall with her. I didn't think it would be a big deal until I was about halfway up. That thing is pretty hard and scary but we both made it to the top.Anna enjoyed playing all the carnival games and had her face and hair painted. She is such a sweet girl! It is so hard to see her endure the day to day trials that come with diabetes. However, we decided that once in a while, like on the day of the walk, diabetes can be kind of fun!
Tanielu's Big Five
Tanielu had his fifth birthday on September 9. In our house you have to wait until you are five to chew gum so Tani enjoyed his pack of fruit stripe gum first thing in the morning.
We had the Grandparents over for Tani's favorite dinner:"spaghettielu". Grandma Nonna gave Tani a cool cougar blanket.
I am not sure who was more excited about the Webkinz bat from Grandma and Grandpa Bergeson: Tani or Anna.
Make a wish!
We sure do love our five-year-old birthday boy. Tanielu, you are a wonderful, spirited, dynamic, loving child! It has been so fun to watch you learn and grow this year. You have started playing on your first T-ball and Soccer teams. You are taking karate with Owen. You are reading your first books. You can ride a two-wheeler although you prefer your big wheel and can take quite the jumps off the boulder hill on it. You love to play with friends and have gotten very creative in your games. You are doing great at preschool. Your teacher asked me if I knew how "bright" you are. You gave your first talk in Primary and did a fantastic job. Tani, we are so proud of all that you are learning and doing. Happy Birthday!!!!
We had the Grandparents over for Tani's favorite dinner:"spaghettielu". Grandma Nonna gave Tani a cool cougar blanket.
I am not sure who was more excited about the Webkinz bat from Grandma and Grandpa Bergeson: Tani or Anna.
Make a wish!
We sure do love our five-year-old birthday boy. Tanielu, you are a wonderful, spirited, dynamic, loving child! It has been so fun to watch you learn and grow this year. You have started playing on your first T-ball and Soccer teams. You are taking karate with Owen. You are reading your first books. You can ride a two-wheeler although you prefer your big wheel and can take quite the jumps off the boulder hill on it. You love to play with friends and have gotten very creative in your games. You are doing great at preschool. Your teacher asked me if I knew how "bright" you are. You gave your first talk in Primary and did a fantastic job. Tani, we are so proud of all that you are learning and doing. Happy Birthday!!!!
The simple joys of being 3
It really doesn't take much to make a three-year-old happy. When I forget about finding joy in my everyday life I just take one look at Owen's green grin and life is happy again!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Day at the Lake
We had a wonderful day on August 5th at Deer Creek with Grandpa Bergeson. What a fun thing to load up and spend the day boating on the lake.
Grandpa patiently took turns letting each child drive the boat and taught them all the finer points of navigating the lake.
Everybody but William and Grandpa took a swim in the lake. William got tubes in his ears the end of July and couldn't get lake water in them. All the other kids were nervous at first but got used to it after a while and had a blast floating around and splashing and laughing.
Aunt Amy and her kids Megan, Sarah and Thomas came too. We love spending the day with our cousins and wish they didn't live so far away.
Spending the day boating was a perfect way to enjoy summertime in Utah!
Grandpa patiently took turns letting each child drive the boat and taught them all the finer points of navigating the lake.
Everybody but William and Grandpa took a swim in the lake. William got tubes in his ears the end of July and couldn't get lake water in them. All the other kids were nervous at first but got used to it after a while and had a blast floating around and splashing and laughing.
Aunt Amy and her kids Megan, Sarah and Thomas came too. We love spending the day with our cousins and wish they didn't live so far away.
Spending the day boating was a perfect way to enjoy summertime in Utah!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Back to school...already!
We started back to school again last week. It seems way too early to go back. I don't think school should start until after Labor Day. It is still summer to me. I'm not sure what is up with these Utah County school districts. However, I don't make the rules so off they went. 
Tanielu and Owen headed off to Kids Village on Monday for preschool. It was Owen's very first day of preschool. He did great! He met his teacher, tried out the small urinal and was ready for class. When I went to kiss him goodbye he wiped it off and growled at me. Typical Owen. It definitely was harder on me than on him. He will go three mornings a week. Tanielu is going to preschool five mornings a week this year. He misses the kindergarten cutoff and he needs the structure and fun of school. He will go to Kids Village on MWF and Learning Dynamics on TTH. I love both schools for different reasons. 
On Tani's first morning in class he had two different girls from last year who needed to stay with him or they would cry. He is a ladies' man already. He had a good week but I saw the emotions come out a bit in the acting out at home. On Monday we got home and he ripped up his story from school. He said "I'm not going to eat lunch. I'm not going to eat any treats. I'm not going to watch any tv. I'm not going to do anything!" I just said ok. Then he picked up a pillow and threw it at my pictures. After some timeout we talked about what was happening. He said he was sad. We talked about feeling excited, scared, happy and sad all at the same time. I held him and he cried and cried. He finally said his heart was happy again. What a wonderful, challenging, emotional boy Tanielu is! School starting was just too much and he didn't know how to show it.
Anna looked darling in her school uniforms. She started 2nd grade at her new school Renaissance Academy. She woke up Monday morning with a bad stomachache. Classic first day nerves. I had to spoon feed her yogurt before she left. She had a great week though. She never even called me once to ask a diabetes question. Anna really is a confident girl. It will be fun to see how she shines at her new school. Anna's friend Isabel helped her meet lots of new friends and find her way around the big school. She came home the first day excited because she had learned to play hopscotch at recess. I hope I can always remember Anna at this age...such a cute little girl excited about hopscotch!
Tanielu and Owen headed off to Kids Village on Monday for preschool. It was Owen's very first day of preschool. He did great! He met his teacher, tried out the small urinal and was ready for class. When I went to kiss him goodbye he wiped it off and growled at me. Typical Owen. It definitely was harder on me than on him. He will go three mornings a week. Tanielu is going to preschool five mornings a week this year. He misses the kindergarten cutoff and he needs the structure and fun of school. He will go to Kids Village on MWF and Learning Dynamics on TTH. I love both schools for different reasons. On Tani's first morning in class he had two different girls from last year who needed to stay with him or they would cry. He is a ladies' man already. He had a good week but I saw the emotions come out a bit in the acting out at home. On Monday we got home and he ripped up his story from school. He said "I'm not going to eat lunch. I'm not going to eat any treats. I'm not going to watch any tv. I'm not going to do anything!" I just said ok. Then he picked up a pillow and threw it at my pictures. After some timeout we talked about what was happening. He said he was sad. We talked about feeling excited, scared, happy and sad all at the same time. I held him and he cried and cried. He finally said his heart was happy again. What a wonderful, challenging, emotional boy Tanielu is! School starting was just too much and he didn't know how to show it.
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