Christmas and Birthdays

We were in Utah from Dec 19 to Dec 26 for Christmas this year. I wish I had done two things differently...
1. stayed LONGER and
2. taken more pictures.
Here are at least a few to remember the trip. We were able to meet the newest Bergstrom baby, Olivia. She reminds me a little of a mix between mclayne and cole as newborns. But she definitely has her own look and is gorgeous!
We also went to see the lights on Christmas Eve. Luckily, it wasn't very cold, but we did miss our red tree.












Once we were home it was time to get ready for the two birthdays. This year we kept it simple for Cole and just went to dinner. He did get PLENTY of presents though, and that's really all he cared about. I was going to take him to Chuck E Cheese for the first time also, but mclayne got sick, so we had to postpone it. I can't wait.;)
Cole at Mclayne's party (with Laynie's camera)

Since Mclayne turned five, we decided to do a big Tangled party for her. It turned out better than I could have expected (especially the cake), and everyone had a great time! The best part was we had it at a bounce place, so no cleaning! We had 22 kids and three days later still haven't opened all the presents.
I also loved that when they called her up at the beginning of the party she was SO shy...reminded me so much of my niece Kylee. The big hug she got from Kyle at the end was pretty cute too!
The big 5 year old

The whole group (minus 4 kids and 1/2 of Kyle's head)

Waiting for pizza.



We lit the candles and then the helper walked the cake to Mclayne at the thrown and she blew out the candles. What a princess.

October 2010

This was our October.
Visitors, zoo, museum, football(and a trip to see Big Al), soccer, more visitors, dinner downtown, the end of soccer, more football, oh... and
Halloween.*

During their first visit, we went fishing with Lori + Steve so Mclayne could re-catch her turtle. After a nice picnic on the dock, but no turtle or fish, we decided to fish for crawdad instead. I'm not sure who liked it more, Mclayne or Gpa Steve. We caught around fifty and Mclayne even held them!

Mclayne had a love/hate relationship with soccer, so pretty much the same as everything else. But through the highs and lows, she hustled(even though playing a year up), scored 2 goals, and got a trophy and ladybug soccer cupcake-cake to end the season. So, I'd call it a success. GO LADYBUGS!


This month three Utah games were within "driving distance," so Ryan and his parents went to Iowa, and all of us went to Wyoming and Air Force. They always put on a show at Air Force, with planes for the kids to sit in, parachuters, jets, and a live falcon half-time show. We love that stadium. And even better, Sarah + Kurtis and Jed + Ashlee joined us for the game, too.


Which bring us to Halloween. I woke up with absolutely NO voice on Sunday, so put a note and bowl of candy at the door and went trick or treating with Ryan and the kids. Halloween is my moms favorite holiday, so I'm used to over the top halloween decorations, but I was blown away by our neighborhood. We're talking cemetaries, black lights, smoke machines, blow up haunted houses, and on and on! It was so much fun, I decided to save my note for next year!

*not included in the list, but couldn't be left out completely are

1.the honoring of two Bergstrom traditions - at least one buffet during any vacation and Gma Lori offering to take the kids so Ryan + I could go out and then Mclayne throwing up.
2.on Monday we did go to Denver Children's Museum too, but it was technically November. i know, what?!

Slip 'n Slide 101

After almost two whole summers, I finally discovered the key to getting the slip 'n slide to last for more than 5 minutes...a hill and a little dish soap.



So for those of you feeling a little white trash, bring your kids and lawn chair over to my front yard.
{of course, the battery on the camera was dead so I had about 10 seconds to catch the moment!}

Hello Pre-school....

welcome back. I've missed you!
Both Mclayne and I have been waiting for school to start. She had a great first day and was so disappointed when she woke up sick this morning and couldn't go today. Hopefully she gets her energy back for her first soccer game on Saturday.




Of course, Cole needed his picture taken too. He caught something in Utah and woke up on Tuesday with a rash on his cheeks. This better not be a sign that we are all going to be sick all winter.

Mccall 2010

This year wasn't our most active, but was sooooo relaxing.
Tubing was probably the most extreme activity. And tubing on a hunormous six-man tube inside the wake is really not that extreme {that is until grandma laura takes the wheel...see third picture from the left}.



We spent most of our time at the {warm} pool where Cole mastered his wetsuit/lifejacket/unitard. He wouldn't use his arms at all while wearing it and just kept his arms up in a perma.treading.warter position. Interesting technique.
The pictures of me getting up on the ski and then crashing with not much in between pretty much sums up skiing this year. It was sad.


Mclayne tried skiing for the first time and had less luck than me. Hopefully next year will be better for both of us. Back at the pool, her body had an amazing way of defaulting to belly flop position. Good thing she had a life jacket!


Cole on the other hand is a little more graceful in the air {and in general}. Between the water, dirt, and driving the boat{for real} he was in heaven.


But by far the most exciting part of the trip was Ryan and Mclayne's big catch. Ryan was finally able to prove {mostly to me} that he can fish. It was a dream come true for Mclayne. At one point she yelled, "the mackinaw is back!" Priceless.
Cole, who wasn't even in the boat, was so excited he tried to take credit for the catch. Nice try, buddy.

Bear Lake

Unlike their cousin Olivia, my kids like SLOW rides on the wave runners. We're talking just.above.idle, put.Cole.to.sleep slow!

After the fourth, the fun continued with the California Bergstroms with a trip to the museum, crawdad fishing, painting rocks + sidewalk chalk, the botanical gardens, Chatfield, and a lot of playing. Cole was pretty disappointed to find the house empty when we came back from our summer trips and said, "I need my Berit." Thanks for the visit guys!

Fourth of July

We had a firework show on the 4th. It was a great way to welcome Sadie and the girls to Colorado. Thanks to a stop in WY last week, it looks like next years show will be a little {lot} bigger.

summer projects

We {ryan, and jt} started the deck this summer. Yay! Hopefully most of it gets done before the summer is over. With all the great help he gets from the kids, I don't see why it won't be...

* I can't find the before pics on the computer, but will post some before and afters when I find them and it's done.


I've also had some fun with a projector and paint this summer. Once again Mclayne decided to "help" with this project.

I {and Sadie} also put a harley on cole's wall. And the monogram from our wedding invitations in the master bedroom over the bed. This probably isn't very nice, but pictures of the final products will be coming later.

While I finished the painting in her room, Mclayne decided to do some art on cole, too. She acutally tried blaming it on Cole, and I believed her until he turned around.

Ryan and I had a trip back east a couple weeks ago, and we {well mostly I, since Ryan had to work most of the time} loved it.
I slept in and lounged around our {really nice} hotel, did a lot of shopping {but not buying} in Tyson's corner, had dinner and a movie with Seth and Susan, and visited the National Holocaust Museum in DC.
Then we made our way to PA where I spent a day with Marianne, did more shopping {but this time buying} in King of Prussia, and ate at some fun {and delicious} restaurants.


I bought this big Hartland bowl at Simon Pearce {on sale} and can't wait to fill it.



We also went on a tour of the Harley factory. Didn't hate it, but did get called "kiddo" and got blisters from my new yellow shoes. The Herr's chip tour is just as interesting {and way more delicious.}
Ended the trip on Sat morning with the worst mushroom smell that I can remember. I thought I had dodged it, but really, would a trip back be complete without it?!
Already thinking about my next trip out to PA {and NYC}!

We also missed these guys...but not nearly as much as they missed us!