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

Disneyland Part 2

Photobucket Album

Weathering the Winter! That is what it's all about here. Just a photo of one overnight snowfall. We've had many mornings like this and Darren heroically clears it all out for us before his 7am departures - total STUD! The kids and I then have the pleasure of clearing every couple of hours........So to stave off the winter blues, we decided to do ski lessons for the kids. It was blizzarding for the ski day, but it's been hard to find a day it hasn't snowed. So make sure you notice the weather in the mountains and what TROOPERS they were considering the cold temps and snow pelting their face (Jared with instructor and Rachel on her own). They loved it and did amazingly well for their first time. We were so proud of them! The other picture is of a sledding day we did, but the snow was so deep (up to their chests as you can see) they had a hard time getting up the mountain. You can see Rachel, but look closer to see Jared right behind her with snow-covered goggles: ) We also took a trip to Southern California, but can't get our pictures to work on the slide-show feature, so for now - that's all folks!

"PRECIOUS MOMENTS" - Just some hight-lights of December, the best month of the year!

Jared's favorite place these days - games on the computer.  Mind you NOT the old one we have upstairs for the kids, he much prefers mine in the kitchen....go figure!

Fun in the kitchen making gingerbread men and ladies!

First snowman of the season only to be followed by a massive ice slide in the backyard coming from the rock wall - its really fun actually: )

Fun with Dad who actually spent more time being the hero and shoveling all the walks and driveway.

Jared's birthday with Ninja turtle decor on top of the cake.  The plastics stick-icons are his favorite toys.  We asked him if he wanted REAL ones for Christmas and he said, "no I already have some."  We love his simple pleasures - he is the light of our lives and giggles all the day long.

Riding the Polar Express train to the north pole (Heber Valley Railroad).  Santa came and gave everybody a Christmas bell, its amazing we ALL could hear its beautiful ring!

Sweet Rachel's Birthday - she waited very patiently for her birthday and LOVES being 5.  She loves to read already and loves even more being second Mom to Jared.  Its totally cute!

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful, happy 2008!