My Soul Delighteth in Fatness

I am not one to make New Year's Resolutions. I seem to daily resolve to do better tomorrow.

At the beginning of this month I made a goal to read the Book of Mormon by Brett's birthday (February 11th). To do this, I need to read 17 pages per day. Breaking it out like this has helped me, but I am a little behind today so I will be spending much of my time catching up after the weekend with the kids home.

I feel like I am constantly worrying about the shape of my body. Any extra ounce of flesh hanging or otherwise etches itself into my body image. I can see it. I wish I could see what others see as I am told often that I am 'tiny'. I think my definition of 'tiny' is different than others I guess.

Anyway, I have tried not to ask for special blessings as I read the Book of Mormon this time around. I want to read because I need to read. Although, I guess I'd like to just have a more of a constant companion of peace. Peace with myself. Peace with all that goes on around me.

As I was reading the other day, I was going over my constant need to feel thin in the back of my mind and I came across this scripture in 2nd Nephi. Jacob is speaking to his people and he says:

50 Come, my brethren, every one that ^athirsteth, come ye to the ^bwaters; and he that hath no ^cmoney, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

 51Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your ^alabor for that which cannot ^bsatisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and ^cfeast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

Can you believe it? Let your soul delight in fatness!

Now, if prayers can be answered, they were answered. Of course that does not change my desire to become better every day, but I think I can somewhat give myself a break...maybe.

Vacation Day Conversation

Ryan and Syd were out of school on Friday. We laid in bed in the morning and watched HS Musical 3. Then we went to Springville to order some pictures. After we placed our order, we went to a couple of grocery stores. On the way home from one of them Ryan asked me if I had gotten into college. Towards the end of last year I did all that I needed to do to take some classes so I can finally finish my degree. Well, after much anxiety, and a lot of praying, I decided that I needed to put of taking classes for a little longer. I spoke with Sydney about it, but I guess I never told Ryan why I wasn't going. The conversation went something like this:

Ryan: "Mom, did you get in to college?"
Sydney: "Mom isn't going to go to college right now."
Ryan: "Oh, why?"
Sydney: "Because of us. She wouldn't be home for us, and Dad...."
Ryan: "...oh yeah, Dad wouldn't want to fix dinner every night. We would have the same things every other night. Cream cheese chicken, macaroni and cheese, cream cheese chicken, macaroni and cheese..."
Sydney: "...and eggs. Dad can make eggs."
Ryan: "Eggs for dinner?"
Sydney: "Oh, and Dad can make French toast. We could add French toast."
Ryan: "Gross, French toast for dinner."
Sydney: "We've had French toast for dinner before."
Ryan: "No, we've had other breakfast for dinner, but not French toast."

Me: "Sounds like you guys like me home to fix dinner."

Ryan/Sydney: "Yeah"

1/11/11

Today is 1/11/11. Look at all of those ONES! Ryan reminded me that it will be even better in November when it is 11/11/11.

But alas, it is not November.

It is January.

Thankfully it is not November. I'm not ready for that yet.

If it was November, my baby would be 8 years old. EIGHT!

So, since it is January, I'm going to make today special, for the ones in my life. I'll post edit tonight when I've figured it all out.

*Post Edit*

Well, my day didn't turn out like I had intended. I spent the entire day away from the house. So, I made chicken parmesan for dinner, along with whole wheat breadsticks (I won't do that again - the breadsticks part - at least not with that recipe). Dinner was good. The breadsticks were not.

For the past couple of days we have been science projecting. I told Ryan that cooking was often like a science project, at least for me. I try things and most of the time they are delicious, some of the time they are not. Luckily for me, my family still eats what I cook, even if it tastes like cardboard.

A Day Out With Mom

After our 'free' piano class, Ryan and I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a kit for a science fair project. We are going to experiment on which produce works better to operate a light bulb - a potato, a lemon, orange? Ryan was SO excited to get the kit. He wanted to go home RIGHT then and put it together...well, right then after we went and played a couple of games of laser tag.

Ryan had begged me to go since we were already 1/2 way there. I didn't tell him that we were going, but proceeded to head North to Lehi and he figured it out.

We played two games of Laser tag. I kept getting hit by 'Godzilla' in one of the games. It was actually irritating me and I finally realized that a woman was following me no matter where I went, and as soon as my gun was reactivated, she would nail me. I finally inched my way around a corner and kept her in my sight through a window. Take that Godzilla! Needless to say, I came in ahead of her :).

After our two games of laser tag, Ryan climbed the rock wall. He said he wanted to get over his fear of heights. Good for him. I hate rock climbing, and heights.

The first pass up the wall didn't last long. He made the mistake of looking down about two steps up. He decided that he would go one more time and he made it nearly to the top before he decided that it was time to come down. Poor little guy could barely make it down the wall as he weighs so little.

After our fun at Trafalga - Lehi, we went to Cafe Rio and shared a Tostada. Then we were off to get him some new Sunday shoes, and then we went home.

It was a great day out.

Free is Relative

On Saturday, Ryan and I went to the Piano Gallery in Orem for a 'free' piano class. We purchased a digital piano for the family for Christmas, and with it we were told that we could come to a piano class for free. We were promised that we would be able to learn to play the piano in just 3 easy lessons.

Ryan has wanted to play the piano SO bad, so I thought it would be fun to take him to the class and see if we could get a good start anyway. Of course I don't believe that you can actually play as well as is promised in just three lessons, but it was worth the day out I thought.

We arrived in Orem just before 9am. We took our seats in the classroom and waited for our instruction. People continued to trickle in, and then the announcement was made like this "Well, we tout this class as free, but you need to buy the  book and it is $18.11 with the government's share." Now, I don't mind paying for a book that should help me, and hopefully my family play the piano (of course we will need lessons as well), but I did mind that we were 'sold' on a 'free' class that wasn't really 'free'. On top of that, this guy is a relative to Brett's family. I guess I expected a bit more. Oh well, we purchased the book and will report back as to whether or not it was all worth it.

Going Private

I never thought I'd say this, but I think it is time for me to make my blog private. If you want to still have access to my whit, send me an e-mail - deniberger (at) gmail (dot) com or comment on this post and I'll add you.

Everyday Miracles

Miracles are happening every day!

Today I was put in contact with a man, 28 years old, who was born with the same disease that my son was born with. He is married, has a child, and is soon to be working on his PHD! He had chemotherapy as part of one of his three transplants.

There is HOPE for my son!

January 3

Ryan was in charge of a 'family fun' night so that he could pass off a requirement for his Webelos badge. One of his favorite things to do is to go to Trafalga. We often tell him no because we don't like to go to Lehi all the time. Brett needed to take the Camry in to the shop to see why it wasn't driving properly.

We decided to surprise the kids and let Ryan use his family fun night at Trafalga. I picked the kids up after school and we met Brett in Lehi. We dropped the car off and then we took the kids to eat at Texas Roadhouse, one of their favorite places to eat.

After Texas Roadhouse we went to Trafalga and we played a couple of games of Laser Tag. All in all, it was a fun day.

January 2

A new year always bring fun at church. The kids get new teachers, we move to a new time, etc, etc.

Ryan and Sydney are both in Senior Primary now. Sydney was SO excited to be in Senior Primary. I was called to sit in Sharing time with the Valiant 10 kids. My class was amazing. There were a few chatty kids in front of us, and behind us, but hopefully in time we will be able to help with the reverence.

I especially loved that we didn't have meetings after church.

January 1

Last night we let the kids stay up until 10pm to watch the New York City ball drop on the news. It was shown so quickly that we all missed it. Ryan did us a favor though and went downstairs and picked up a ball and dropped it on the floor for us. Sydney didn't get it at first, but then thought her brother was lame.

At any rate, we put them to bed and told each other  Happy New Year and we were off to bed ourselves.

Today we got a new heater for our house. It is more efficient, and really makes the house more comfortable. I was grateful for the man who installed it for us. He was here longer than 12 hours and it was a long day to have him here on a holiday.

We had planned to go on a date, but didn't want to leave our neighbor here putting the heater in alone. We took the kids to grandma and grandpa's and I picked up Subway on the way home. Brett and I shared a sub and then we played a couple of hands of cards while we waited for the last final touches to be finished on the heater.

It was nice to have a quiet house and to just spend some time with Brett.

Do you Believe in Magic?

We enjoyed our usual Christmas dinner at Brett's parents tonight. The kids have been SO excited that Christmas Eve has finally arrived.

After dinner/lunch, we came home and we waited for Brett to arrive. We took two separate cars as we had gifts stored at his parent's home.

Once Brett arrived we enjoyed the Nativity read by the kids, along with the Christmas songs that go with it. We started this tradition when the kids were tiny. It has been fun to watch over the years as they have looked forward to this special story. This year we had heard this story twice. At the beginning of the month I split the scripture verses up and we read a verse or two each night. I enjoyed how it really brought the spirit of the season into our home.

After opening our pj's and reading the nativity, and our traditional book from Grandma and Grandpa Berger, we were off to bed.

Ryan was so excited that Santa was coming! I was encompassed in his belief in the magic.

Santa to me is magical. I love that through his magic, we can help those around us. Not everyone is willing to open their lives to just anyone, but I don't know too many people who don't allow Santa in. It is through Santa that we can, if we choose, celebrate the birth of our Savior by loving, giving, and serving as Christ would. Christmas does not have to be about all of the commercialism that some associate with Santa.

I love that my children Believe. It's what makes Christmas.

Deck the Halls

Today we were listening to the radio. "Deck the Halls" was playing on the radio. Ryan came in singing "Deck the halls with bowels of holly"

I smiled and explained to him that it wasn't 'bowels' of holly. It was boughs of holly. We had a good laugh.

I'll Put that Box in a Box

One of our favorite movies in this household is The Emperor's New Groove. We are always quoting it and laughing.

Well, it is Christmas time and we live in a household that loves to wrap gifts in unique ways. Sydney wrapped her gift in a Sunkist Oranges Box so that Ryan wouldn't know what it was. Ryan clued it to it and said "I bet that Sydney wrapped my present in a box, and she put that box in another box, and on Christmas day, I'm going to have to smash that box with a hammer to open my present."

Funny if you've seen the movie.

Summoned By The East - Day Six, Boston

Day Six took us to Boston. Our flight left in the afternoon so we took the opportunity to head into downtown Boston.

There is so much history there. We took followed the red path that took us through the most prominent historical monuments. We viewed Paul Revere's home from the outside. We had thought to go in, but decided we might do it on the way back through. Well, by the time we returned to that area the place was packed and we were hungry.

We were able to see one of the original drums that was used during the battle at Bunker Hill. I know that change is imminent, but in a place like Boston, it is sad to see that so much has been lost to development all around. I imagined what it must have been like then, looking out over the harbor. Now, you cannot see the harbor from standing on Bunker Hill.

There was an AMAZING farmer's market on one of the downtown streets. I had just a tiny bit of anxiety knowing that I wouldn't be able to purchase any of it and take it home.

I'm weird that way. Here it is a month later that I have been home, and I still think I need to live on the east coast.

Reenactment of a military something....

The USS Constitution

A fish...

Summoned By The East - Day Five

Day five brought with it some more sight seeing. Brett was finished with work at noon, so I lounged around the hotel for a long time and then went to another museum to pass the time. This museum didn't allow pictures, but it was free to get into so I went. I saw muskets, and more muskets, and a LOT of Masonic items. There were also several items of clothing, bicycles, etc from older eras of US times.

Around 1pm we took Rich, Brett's co-worker from the UK to the airport. It didn't take long to get there and we still had several hours of daylight so we headed back to Salem to show Brett some of the sites there. He wanted to go to a store front that he had seen in some of my other pictures and take pictures with us in them. We walked the cemetery again, and went and saw Samantha, only this time I didn't take a picture of her.



When we were finished there, we traveled back to Concord, MA to see North Bridge, another point where the British army met up with the local Militia men. We were about 10 minutes late and the visitor's center was closed, but we were able to walk the grounds and imagine what it must have been like on that day.

Imagine, if you will, looking out your window and seeing soldiers march across your lawn. That is just what the owners of this house did. How terrifying.

I am truly fascinated by history and just wish I had a time machine so I could go back in time and witness some of these events. I'm sure there was a lot of fear and anxiety over all of this, just like we have fear and anxiety during war time today.

I have come home wanting to make more memories and have different parts of our days more special, especially dinner time. They didn't have the things we have today and all of their serving dishes served the one purpose. I love the thought of having serving dishes and nice dinner plates. I will phase those in over time around here and hopefully make dinner time a special event, rather than just dinner.

Summoned By The East - Day Four - Rain

Day three was full of non-stop drizzling, freezing rain. I spent most of the day in the hotel room watching the rain fall. I don't suppose I have ever experienced rain like it rained here. It was a little more than a sprinkle, but not a down pour. We tend to get either/or where we come from.

The view from my hotel room was no longer a beautiful skyline of trees. It was now a dark, cloudy, dreary day.

We were actually staying in Lexington, MA and the Minute Man National Park was only about a mile away from where our hotel was. I had decided that I would go there as they had a presentation about the Battle at Lexington and Concord.

Unfortunately for Brett, everything closed early so he missed all of the festivities.

When I arrived, there were 4 school buses. I couldn't believe there were that many actually with the weather that we were having. I didn't let that deter me though. I love kids and I didn't mind being around them. There were actually MANY, MANY 8th graders. I'm so glad I no longer have to be in that stage of my life, and for the first time on our trip, I was the minority.

The park ranger kept telling me that I could wait until the kids were gone to watch the video presentation. I think he was bothered more by the kids than I was. They were just normal teenagers, and like there are in all areas, some were smart mouths.

Here I am in front of a replica of North Church where the "One if by land, two if by sea" lanterns were. I took a picture of it and a man told me I needed to be in the picture so he had me stand there. What a nice guy...

Creativity of a 10-year old boy

I am amazed at Ryan's creativity. He was tasked with the assignment to write a story about a monster. I would like to share his monster, and story with the world. I have typed it exactly how he typed it. Hopefully he is taught proper grammar in the near future, but I still love it.

I kind of can't wait for Sydney to start writing stories as well. I say kind of because writing this stuff means that she is growing up, and quite frankly, I'm not even remotely ready for that!

Anyway, without further adieu, meet...

CLAWS



Everyone calls me Claws. I can see why because I have massive sharp claws. My real name is Gloobop, what kind of a monster name is that? So anyways, just call me Claws. I have seven fingers on each hand. Isn't it awesome! On my fingers are huge claws to protect myself. I have five eyes. (Two on my head three on my stomach.) My nose is like a nose on a big literally, I have a pig nose on my stomach; also I have very sharp teeth. I am '6ft.1' and 3 ft 1 in wide. I have different skin color when I am sad, mad, happy, or excited.

I smell like a garbage dump. I live in Tokyo, Japan and there is not a lot of garbage there. True my definition is different from yours. My definition is lollipops and posters of unicorns oh and Barbie's. My best hiding spot when people come around is a tar pit. You think it hurts? It feels like a hot tub to me. Nice and warm. I sleep and live in a abandoned restaurant. I always sleep under the bed of the people who used to live here. My house has posters everywhere and checkerboard floors. They have an old ice-cream machine yum.

The ice cream has mashed up bugs meat and soda cans mashed into a smooth paste. I always find the bugs for the paste in the corner because there are always spiders there. Every once and a while I hit the jackpot and find a Japanese beetle! I also eat my toe cheese every once in a while. But out of all of those foods my favorite is PICKLES!!!!!! I only get them any time my friend comes over. He is a shape shifter so I have him turn into a jar of mayonnaise grab the jar of pickles and run outside turn into a maverick (the fastest car in the world) and come over and turn into his regular monster state. I know it is complicated but it's worth it.

Some of my favorite things to do are to eat sleep and rave races with my friends. The shape shifter always turns in to me but I still always win. Every once and a while my friend steals a game station to play with us on. So that's my life.

Summoned By The East - Day Three - Plymouth, MA

Did you ever want to be at Plymouth Rock for Thanksgiving? I know as a kid, I did -- dressing up all pilgrim like, and eating good food. I'm pretty sure the best spot in the world to do that would be in Plymouth, MA, but I won't be there at Thanksgiving, so I'll have to settle for the mountains.

We were only an hour away from Plymouth. Again, I was able to get there without incident. One of the best parts of the day was when Sydney called me because she missed me. I loved that part.

I wanted to see Plymouth Rock. I pictured this amazing rock - big and anchor-like. As you can see, my imagination was FAR off on this one. Much of the rock is now underground, but it still isn't as big as I had once pictured it.



I got to see a replica of the Mayflower. I didn't spend the money to actually go inside it, but I took pictures, which were enough for me.


Here is one of the original homes built in the 1620's. I was fascinated by the S's on the sides of these buildings. I thought that maybe they meant South, however if that is what they meant, they accidentally put them on the North sides of some buildings. So, I'm not really sure what the 'S' stands for.



Check out the trunk of this tree. I couldn't stand back far enough to get a picture of the top of it, so the trunk will have to do. It just reminds me of something that has truly weathered the storms of life. I love it!



Oh, and there it is again...the H-ah-bor. Only this is Plymouth Harbor, in case you didn't know. Too bad you can't just pack this thing up and bring it back on the plane.



The cemetery here was wonderful. Very peaceful, and very sacred. There are many prominent people buried here. Prominent for the day anyway. I know I will never have a plaque such as these that mark my grave, but I realized again while standing on this hallowed ground, a lesson which has come to me before. Nothing material in this life goes with you. It just doesn't.





This view of the harbor is from Burial Hill.

Breathtaking.


Here is the first church that was built. What a magnificent building. I was constantly amazed a the enormity and craftsmanship of these buildings. These people were seeking religious freedom. How wonderful.



I loved the glass in this window. This home is a home belonged to someone who actually came over on the Mayflower. I was unable to view it because I missed the season that it is open. The home is 'leaning', and amazing that it is even still standing. It was built in the 1620's I think.


This statue is of a man by the name of Massasoit. He was a friend to the settlers

Summoned By The East - Day Two, Salem

I remember being fascinated by the story of the Salem Witch Trials when I was a kid. Never in a million years did I ever think that I might possibly be able to walk the grounds of this very interesting town.

But, as luck would have it, we were only 30 minutes away so on day two of our trip, I ventured out alone to Salem, MA.

I made it there without incident. I went straight to the Salem Witch Museum, and lucky me, I arrived two days after the main season ended for many attractions, but just in time to have a personal tour of the museum. I watched a 20-30 minute presentation of the hysteria of the days back in 1692. What a heartbreaking story. -- Girls being accused of possessing others through the devil and being hanged for it. --Men also being tried and convicted and either hanged, or pressed to death with heavy boulders.





It was said that if you could recite the Lord's prayer without mistake that you were free. A man with a noose around his neck did just that and he was accused of having Satan help him. He died anyway.

Many were put in jail for many years for the accusations. They even incarcerated a 4-year old little girl and chained her to a wall.

I loved my day in Salem. I visited the memorial created for these victims. It is a solemn reminder of what so wrongly happened to them.

I took pictures of the cemetery,


and of Samantha from Bewitched.


And then...

I took a small street and there I was...at the Salem harbor, or as they say in Salem - H-ah-bor. Seriously, I think I need to live on a boat in the harbor.

Summoned By The East

I'm going to go out on a limb here and betray the mountains that surround me, and just say that the East Coast summons my name. Really.

I had the amazing opportunity to accompany Brett on a trip to the beautiful state of Massachusetts.

He was on business.

I was on vacation.

...a much needed vacation.

We arrived on Sunday October 31st late in the evening. By the time we made it to our hotel it was after midnight, and we were both exhausted. So much so that neither of us could relax and go to sleep. We watched TV, and learned at 6am that morning that we must have been too loud for our neighbor because he started banging his dishes in his room, a sound that we wouldn't hear that early for the rest of the week. Sorry neighbor - and oh yea, just so you know, cooking bacon in your hotel room microwave is a HORRIBLE thing to do to your neighbors. I didn't think we were that bad of neighbors. We were gone all day every day, and even most of the evenings every evening.

Curse you hotel neighbor.

There. I said it.

On Monday, Brett went in to the office and I spent the day in the hotel room reading about all of the American history that I had forgotten from 5th grade. We were in the heart of the Revolutionary war country. I needed to know where I should spend my time vacationing while Brett slaved away at work :).

After work, we went to the Boston temple to take pictures. We would have gone in, but it's closed on Monday.

We had the grounds to ourselves.