Highlights September-November

Despite the fall of Lehman Brothers (Darren's employer) in September and the consistently rocky pregnancy (baby due end of January - hallelujah) we continue to count our many, many blessings. Happy Thanksgiving! And here's to more of life's wonderful adventures!!!!!!

1. Darren's adventure hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim - 24 miles and 5,000 foot elevation change 2x - temps changing from 31-97 degrees during the journey

2. The gorgeous view on leaves changing just up the road from us





3. Halloween with Grandma Matthews and cousins - Rosina as Snow White, Jared as Ninja Turtle, Rachel as a bride, Brady as transformer, Baby Britton and Grandma as themselves!




4. Jared's third visit to the emergency room for head lacerations in the mere three years he has lived on this earth. He is one tough cookie and resists more when he must leave the injurous activity than receiving the stitches/staples. Still smiling as we attempt to stop the bleeding and head to the ER. Since this shot, two massive smacks to the face have occurred - luckily just bruising, swelling, & tissue damage since kids noses are more cartilage than bone right now. It's tough to keep this go-getter kid alive! But we love his zest for life...
5. "Our" river in Cottonwood Canyon. We have a favorite camping spot full of adventure just 20 minutes from the house and in the middle of amazing Rocky Mountain beauty. Lots of critters and wild-life (even had racoons snatch our breakfast donuts this last trip - 2nd weekend in Sept).

6. The crew huddled around the morning fire - barely 39 degrees when we left that morning at 10:30.

7. Rachel and Jared's first day at school. Rachel in kindergarten and Jared in the pre-K program. They love doing everything in the world together and school is no exception.

8. Rachel's first year in soccer. She really loved it and was the only girl that would run around with a huge smile on her face the entire hour. She wasn't one to "get into the mix" much but LOVED defending and blocked at least 3-4 goals per game. (At this stage they don't have "positions" so for her to take on "goalie" on her own was fun to watch.) She also was a surprising leftie for her strong kick.

9. Oktoberfest at Snowbird ski resort and dancing to the oom-pa-pahs!

This has been the summer of "What the Hell..." for the Berry family.......you know what I mean: ) It's that perfectly descriptive phrase that comes out when we are too busy, too tired, over-run, sick from excessive pregnancy vomiting, dealing with stressful work issues, feeling the bear market blues, and still waking up to do it alllllllll over again. It's what you say when your children ask for their 5th popsicle of the day - "oh W-T-H, get another one!" It slips out when you just get out of the hospital from receiving IV treatments for dehydration and STILL go on the family adventure outing you've been planning - "oh W-T-H - let's go anyway!" It's on the tip of your tongue every night when your company's stock prices sink lower and lower into the toilet and yet carry undying faith for your 12 years allegiance with them, "oh W-T-H, let's see what happens tomorrow!" But amid all the little challenges that come with life, we always manage to put a smile on and enjoy the beautiful and wonderful things that we are soooooooooooooooooooooo greatly blessed with and love. They make all the other aspects disappear, if just for a moment. So enjoy a few of our cherished moments from the summer:













Extracting the one, lone, gigantic weed that grew in our window well.




















A hike to Temple Quarry trail in Cottonwood Canyon when Chad and Colter visited from Cedar City when they went to see Thomas the Train at Heber Valley railroad.





A gorgeous hike up to Timanogous Cave with Steve, Tyler, Nathan, and Josh. See the "guys" picture and the "girls" on that adventure. We also camped that weekend with that crew, Mike, and Grandma & Grandpa Voss. And if you EVER do anything with the Berry Boys, undoubtedly the word "high tech" is involved - thus the blow up screen in the middle of the wilderness. You've never experienced nature like that - a raging river 10 feet away while watching "The Count of Monte Christo" in your sleeping bag!




























Jared's Olympic Gym Graduation


Rachel's Dance recital at Kingsbury Hall



Grandma's Birthday Celebration - Rachel made a "throne" from various chairs and brought the presents and cards to her on a pillow. It was pretty cute!



A dance outfit from MY youth that grandma brought to pass along to the next generation: )


A gorgeous summer mountain storm whose rainbow landed right above our house. What better pot of gold than home and family!










Boys will be boys - need I say more...

Great friends - the Dougall family that visited from London - whom we knew during the NY years! (Rob's finger was in the way so sorry about the bad picture)

Our trip to Great Basin National Park - we had 3 days break to getaway with Darren given his school/work schedule. So we traveled 4 hours southwest of here to the middle of NOWHERE! The town of Baker, NV (just across the Utah border) had only a population of 25 and only 2 places to lodge. The place we stayed was soooooooooooooooooooooo horrible. Dirty, disgusting, and as Darren said - rivaled his life in 3rd world Dominican Republic. No A/C, ceiling and walls peeling off, window frames held by tape, gapes in the doors, and so many bugs and grimy dirt - not the nice dusty dirt. Darren went on raids to kill all flying things before bed both nights, but you still woke up with moths and pincher bugs next to you in the morning. And yes, this was all while I was worshiping the white, porcelain god. We almost just left after the first day, but it was pre-paid so....what do we say here????? "Oh, what the hell, let's tough it out!" So day 2 we spent up on the mountain at 10,000 feet to escape the heat and bugs. There were pine trees nearly 4,000 years old and gorgeous geologic caves with temps in the 50's - we could have stayed forever there!

Jared went nuts with his flashlight in the caves "exploring" just like those that found them in the 1800's. We also hiked a trail to this beautiful lake almost at the timberline level which was exquisite. Along the way we were swarmed by myriads of butterflies of all colors and sizes. There were so many that the kids re-named the place "butterfly mountain." We got quite close to many of them and you could tell this area was untouched by tourists.

So there you have it, the conclusion of the summer highlights. More adventures ahead for sure....

The Berry Family - Darren, Nicole, Rachel, Jared and Baby Berry

Change, change, change.  Lots of fun, kind of crazy!  

Gone is the truck and its tent top, gone is Darren's fun business car.........Hello FJ Cruiser!  Here is its maiden voyage to Antelope Island.  The kids are asleep in the car after hiking and checking out the bison and antelope.   Its an amazing and very unique Utah setting - who would have thought there was an island in the Rocky Mountains!

The next inevitable change was the celebration of another year in my life. Darren secretly planned an overnight getaway which was amazing! We stayed at the Blue Boar Inn in Midway (near Park City) and though it was still freezing cold and the 1st of May, we adored the European food and decor and just the time together - it was absolutely divine for us. Big thanks to Mom Voss for watching the kids!

Though the snow seems to still come and go, we've tried to welcome spring, urging it to stay.  Bike riding is a family favorite on Jordan River Parkway.

Darren began a new semester this week (he's taking night classes at the U for more capital letters to go with his name:).  So before he hit the grindstone again, we got away to Southern Utah for the weekend. Darren's brother Steve was gracious enough to let us borrow his camper.  So Plan A, as you see here, was to camp out near Goblin Valley in a gorgeous spot near the canyons. However, due to mechanical difficulties, strong sandy winds, and the smashing of Darren's foot...

.....we went with Plan B....the Whispering Sands Motel : )

Never-the-less, we still had a wonderful time (hey and got showers every day, so no complaints here).  Rachel and Jared love to explore and this was their version of paradise.  

The imaginative rock formations of Goblin Valley - imaginative because you can conjure up all sorts of stories and forms from these strange rocks.  We played for hours and luckily had our food bins and igloos still with us, so food and drink was plentiful.  

The other locations of adventure were the Little Wild Horse & Bell canyons nearby.  It is several miles of geologic awe and has several "slot canyons" that are just a few inches/feet wide.  This was really fun and amazing.  The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold. We also stopped into the Dinosaur Center since so many of the findings come from this area, and the kids really thought that was cool.  They've been into dinosaurs for a long time and this "sealed the deal" for them to be near where the bones, footprints, and eggs were found.  We arrived home Sunday night and as exhausted as we were, the kids had little gifts and drawings, hugs and lots of kisses to celebrate Mother's day.  Awwwww! 

Our darling Rachel and one of her masterpieces.  So all in all, the winds of change keep coming and we keep blowing with them.

In March the kids and I visited my hometown of Mesa, AZ. The trip was three-fold: 1- To escape the never-ending winter of Utah, 2-See my family and friends that still reside there, and 3- To let Darren study for his mid-terms in peace: ) All points a success.

We had a great time. The weather was in the 80's (as opposed to the snow storm we flew out in). We had wayyyy too many treat stops, met new cousin Nora, played at Grandma's house, saw the dress rehearsal of the Easter pageant, caught up with friends, and rode a camel for the first time! Not to mention carrying on the tradition of citrus picking.







Back in the Rocky Mountains, it was 38 degrees Easter morning. So the Easter bunny hid his treats inside and Rachel and Jared found them all, but liked the books best. The candy is still sitting on our counter uneaten - go figure.





Then it was the blessing day for Nora in Utah County. What a beautiful baby, not to mention that Tanilee looked like a million bucks! Did she actually just have a baby? She sure is a terrific mom.






It was such a wonderful day. The spirit of love was so strong that there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Blake was adorable and we loved seeing him in his daddy role.

The menfolk of the crew there that day - what a handsome bunch, especially the one second from the right....hubba!

The team rallied back at the Driftwood house to help move stuff back in after Marsh did an AMAZING job on renovations. It looks great, he definitely has a master's touch in his work. The kids "helped" as you could see here, Darren got burgers and peppered fries from the creamery to feed the bunch during our labors, and we had Carri's famous pizza dinner. It was all we had heard about and more.....

Mom was brave as we discarded many old and cherished items. Shannon lent support as we tossed the bread box Mom and Dad had in their first house 45 years ago. Mom is still utterly amazing to me, she works like a 25 year old. I keep reminding her that people her age take NAPS every day. One of these days she'll act her age: ) Go Mom!

Rachel and Jared out riding their bikes this morning. It's currently 43 degrees, but do you think they mind? At least the sun is shining and we are hoping for warmer weather soon. All in all, the Berrys are A-okay.

Disneyland Part 1