9/11

As Kevin and I were discussing the terrible events that occurred 10 years ago today I realized I have never taken the time to write down my memories of that day.

I was in the 6th grade. Kelsey a good friend of mine had told everyone on the bus that an airplane had hit a big building. I had no idea what the big building was and figured it was just a plane crash and like most of the other kids on the bus did not take her seriously. By the time I got into first hour which was Mr. Moratska's P.E class he informed us what was going on. I remember him saying "You will always remember that you were in PE when you were told about the 9/11 attacks". He was correct. I can even remember where I was sitting. The rest of the day however, is kind of a blur. We watched footage in each of my classes and did not do much work. Still confused about what these big towers were I remember going home and asking my mom "What was going on". I was scared and very sad but to be honest I was not really affected by the attacks personally until 3-4 years later when my brother in-law did his first tour over in Iraq.  Now ten years later he is on his third tour and I like many others are still feeling the affects of that day. So thank you Nathan and everyone else who has risked there lives to keep America the land of the free.

Washers

No no no I am not talking about the wonderful machines that we all have a love/hate relationship with. You know the ones that clean our clothes but require lots of work. Instead I am talking about a family game that Kevin kindly requested to my parents that they "leave it to us in their will". So let me explain the game. There are 2 long wood board that is about 4 feet long. There are three holes in each board. You separate them and then you stand at one and throw giant washers into the holes.

A couple Sundays ago I was craving washers, so I broke it out and we had a little family competition. It was one of those days that you just have to take a step back and look at the scene to see how blessed you are. I have an amazing family, the weather was great, and the game was fun. Perfect!

While watching Kevin and Kenzie dominate everyone, I decided to record Carson and his animal noises. Cute huh!

Hanging with my girls

So before school started I wanted to do one last thing with the nieces. So Kevin agreed to take us all to the drive in. So we filled up my dads pickup with foam and pillows and blankets, bought some candy and headed to the movie. The girls had a lot of fun and 2 of them even made it through both movies. Kevin and I sat in the mountaineer and let them have the pickup to themselves. 

I told them to act scared

Ice Caves Adventure

One saturday we were in need of an adventure. And since Kevin had never been to the ice caves we decided it was the perfect adventure. When we arrived we were the only ones there. We were able to take our time and spend some quality ice sliding time in the cave before anyone else arrived. Overall a great saturday adventure. 

Oregon 2011

Something that I always look forward to is our yearly road trip to Oregon. I look forward to it for many reasons, first of course I get to see my amazing in-laws and our cute nieces and nephew, secondly Kevin gets to show me around his home town, thirdly we get to enjoy some water and sun, fourthly we get to relax, and fifthly we always eat good food. And this year was no different. 

We began our trip by going to the Medford fair and going to a Clay Walker concert. It was a nice day out and a very good concert

We also hiked Table Rock while we were there. It was an easy hike with a great view. 

I also made Kevin take me to the beach. It was a bit windy so we did not get much playing time but it was still relaxing and beautiful. 

And of course you cannot forget about London loving Kevin. She was attached to him. It was so cute to see the two of them play. 

Weston and Kevin's matching shirts

 A few of the other things we did but are not pictured was float the river, play at Indian Mary, concert in the park, visit old friends, ate at Kalidascopes,  and school shopping (Thanks Pat), and lots and lots of dancing!

Here is a clip showing the Bergs dancing skills. Yes, that girl can shake it.

Our trip ended with a bang however. We were planning on leaving early Saturday morning however Friday night Kevin started complaining about a stomach ache. And before we knew it he was hanging over the toilet throwing up. After the first time he cheered up and thought it was over. Nonetheless it struck again and again and again and we spent most the night awake. Needless to say early Saturday morning we were just going to sleep. By that afternoon he said he felt good enough to ride home so we left Oregon about 3 and arrived in Caldwell at Uncle Steve's house at about 2 that morning. We were both exhausted by this point so we slept in and took it slow the next day. I was just lucky I never caught the bug.

Proud Wifey

Once we arrived home from  camping it was back to the books for Mr. Berg. I am going to admit I was really B-O-R-E-D for the week and was looking forward to our little vaca to Pocatello (home of the drive by shootings). Okay so it is really not as scary as I make it sound, but it is a scary town.  So I myself was surprised when I wanted to go. We booked a hotel in Pocatello so that Kevin would not have to wake up super early and drive there for his DAT test.  So the night before the test we headed to Poky. We went out to dinner and spent some time in our hotels hot tub. And of course we were responsible and went to bed early. I drove Kevin to his test that morning and then I went back to the hotel and slept some more. After waking up I headed across the street to the mall and spent a couple hours school shopping. I decided it was about time for Kevin to be out so I went and picked up a smoothie and headed toward the testing center. When I was almost there I received a phone call from Kevin telling me he was done. He did not sound to dissapointed but I was still to nervous to ask him how he scored on the DAT. I picked him up and he asked "do you want to know how it went or what my score is?" I chose the "how it went part". He continued on to tell me all about the test and how hard it was and blah blah blah. I did catch though that as he was telling me about how the test went he said "If I had to take it again I would have done ... differently" and so on. I realized then that he was saying "if" and not "when" so he must have done pretty good. He then said that as soon as you hit done your score pops up on the screen. And he did do good! He received a 19. Yes I know that means nothing to you so I will explain it in human terms. 17 is average 18 will get you into dental school, 19 is also very good at getting you in. He was in the 77 percentile of all test takers. Needless to say I was and always am a very proud Wifey. :) I love you Kevin T Berg!

Watch out Dental School he is coming to get you!

Yell-O Stone national park (That one is for you honey)

As Kevin spent endless hours upon endless days studying for a test, I begged for a break. And he obliged and called Jim and Lauren and Mark and asked if they wanted to go camping. They were all in. Jim and Lauren drove up from Utah and we picked Mark up on our way out and headed to Yellowstone National Park. Kevin and I have both been there once he was young and I was about 12 but neither of us remember much. As we arrived in the park we decided to stop and see the paint pots. We exited the car and thought we have a long drive to go before our campsite and still need to set up, plus its cold, so maybe we should see this on the way out. So we all jumped in the car and BAM the rain storm hit. I do not think I have ever been in such a bad rain storm. Cars were pulled over all over the side of the road and I think Kevin was tempted to as well. However by the time we hit Old Faithful the rain had stopped so we decided to try again to go see something. Old Faithful=Success! We were there for about 10 min before it went off.  

Jim and Lauren at Old Faithful

My love and I

The boys enjoying old faithful

              
After old faithful we headed to camp to set up. It only sprinkled a little which was good. We were all starving by this point so we decided just to roast hot dogs. Due to the rain storm some of our pillows and jackets and such that were in the back (covered by a tarp) still managed to get wet so we stood around the fire drying everything off and were a bit cold due to the dampness or the rain.

The next day we woke up and had a yummy bacon and egg breakfast and then headed to the grand canyon of Yellowstone. On our way we stopped to see some rapids, the mud volcano, and some wildlife. The wildlife pretty much consisted of Bison in which some were far away,and others were a little to close for comfort.

This is Marks "Duh Jim" facial expression

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and lets just say it was BEAUTIFUL! We decided it was a great place to eat lunch and enjoy the scenery.  Mark, Kevin, and I hiked down to get a better look at the waterfall and then all of us did another hike that put us right on top of the waterfall. Talk about take your breath away. 

The rest of the night consisted of yummy tin foil dinners and some jams from Jim and Mark. At least this night it did not rain so everything was dry and warm. 

 

The next day we headed home and on our way out decided to try our luck again at the paint pots. Which was very cool. 

The camping trip was much needed by all who attended and I think we can all agree it was lots of fun and might have to become a tradition. However, by the time we got home we were all exhausted and ready for a shower.