My Favorite Goof Ball!

Obviously it is like watching myself all over again. Love it!

How Sentimental Are You?

Democrat Jack Berry Would Have LOVED This Find...

Poncho and Grandma Erickson on the other hand are NOT laughing...

Split political families are AWESOME!

What Better Place To Spend Your Saturday Than Here

Merry Yankees...Oh I Mean Merry Christmas

The Berry Christmas tree never has looked better!

You know you are a little too competitive when you get excited enough to take a photo of you winning Memory against a 3 1/2 year old. I wonder if there is a support group for overly competitive people I could join? (Mine is obviously the biggest stack on the right)

Joshy and I are definitely related!

Our favorite Christmas present, HR.

Sticking with tradition Matty wrapped Joshy's amo in duck tape. To:Josh From: His Hero (hahaha, funny Matty).

Averina and her dress-up box from Santa.

Anyone want a play-doh pancake?

Our little girls in their Christmas PJs.

Dadio in his new robe, replacing his 1976 mission robe. It is about time kid!

WOW...enough said.

DP lip smackers for those few moments when the real stuff isn't readily available.

Apparently I was a gift too...

Another Look-A-Like

Morgan and I are definitely related...no doubt after these faces.

Morgan however eats frosting so much better than I can!

Love My Girls

Happy 50th Birthday Dadio!

Dadio turns 50!!! He got three AMAZING Berry/Erickson style birthday songs! Can you feel the love or what? Happy Birthday Dadio! Hope the slippery slope down old age continues to treat you well!

Possibly the best action birthday photo I've ever taken!

Susie Q got him this rad headband...can you say Napoleon look-a-like?

Uncle Rich and Dadio showing us the "over 50 division" of the gun show!

My Own Personal Gift Wrapper

Who needs to bother with a shoddy wrapping job when Sam Jam can do ten times better? Plus then you can spend your time playing cardboard swords with your Mama (see below). She only hires out after she finishes mine though. :)

PS...it is completely wrong that by next Christmas Sam Jam will be taller than me...WRONG!

The Baby Whisperer

Hawaii Gun Show

It may have been something in the water in Hawaii but Dadio proves that his sons aren't the only ones that like to flex their "guns". This really explains so much about Matty and Joshy!

Dadio and Brad attempt to flex...oh man, I sort of wish I could have been there live to watch this. What a show. Hahaha

I'll bet this won't be the last time they pose like this!

Top "Must Dos" Completed On First Day In Idaho

1. Eat at Chiz's (thanks Dadio)
2. See Poncho and Grandma
3. Hold the new baby, HR
4. Hot tub with the girls (Morgan, Avery, and Sam Jam)...see photo above of my favorite little ones
5. Partake in Rhonda's homemade carmel popcorn

Sounds Like Me To a Tee

Guess what I may or may not have done already since I flew in? ;)

New Blog Picture Yes or No?

Mama Berry commented on the blog a couple of weeks ago that I need a new profile picture on the blog. How about this one? I mean, it is reflective of my personality right?

What will be waiting at the airport this week for me...

Seriously adorable! Might bring one back as my Christmas present to California.

Happy Duke and Duke Wedding

***Special note: Bouquet toss was postponed due to rain delay. Not to worry readers, it will be rescheduled for January. Stay tuned. The important thing to note is that the nuptials were NOT rain delayed! YAY YAY!

Saturdays JD and HC wedding was beautiful! HC was such a gorgeous bride.

PS: Love Duke's new haircut too!

Mer and I getting ready. It was early. Hehe

HC and some of her Crawford nieces.

Make-up Mike...not bad at all. ;)

Yummy...almost as yummy I bet as the soft serve yogurt served!

Hit One Out Of The Park Kids

Headed to LA this morning for the great Crawford/Duke Match up! Knock 'em dead! Happy Wedding!

CP + Super Berry Cereal = Smile In The Morning

If I were a cereal lover I'd love this cereal! Waking up to photo this morning made for a great breakfast! Thanks CP, making my morning twice this week! Very lucky girl indeed.

Being Ultimately Loving

God is NOT ultimately transparent, but He is ultimately loving. Or in other words, He sometimes withholds information but He never withholds love.

~R

Showing and expressing sincere love for others doesn't always include transparency on the parts of either party but love shouldn't be contingent upon another's transparency.

Share Your Happiness

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Buddha

Hearting Monday (Shocker)

1. Christmas present for my bros and I came in the mail...I actually took it for a test run

2. Met deadlines

3. Drank a DP and it was no Diet DP! (Last week someone left a bunch of Diet DP at my desk and I figured "what could it hurt to try just one?"...well it took three days for the Diet DP to be flat enough to be drinkable...moral of the story...go to the gym daily so I never have to start drinking Diet DP)

4. Surprise, funny phone call in the afternoon

5. CIDER!!!

6. Finding the lost LBD!

7. 19 days till Temple Day

Weathering Storms With Optimism

There are cycles of good and bad times, ups and downs, periods of joy and sadness, and times of plenty as well as scarcity. When our lives turn in an unanticipated and undesirable direction, sometimes we experience stress and anxiety. One of the challenges of this mortal experience is to not allow the stresses and strains of life to get the better of us—to endure the varied seasons of life while remaining positive, even optimistic. Perhaps when difficulties and challenges strike, we should have these hopeful words of Robert Browning etched in our minds: 'The best is yet to be' ("Rabbi Ben Ezra," in Charles W. Eliot, ed., The Harvard Classics, 50 vols. [1909–10], 42:1103).

L. Tom Perry, "Let Him Do It with Simplicity", Ensign, Nov. 2008, 7

Bouquet Toss Page Style

Note 1: If you are unfamiliar with the bouquet toss or the infamous history of me being involved in bouquet tosses I HIGHLY recommend you start this post with a refresher course here.

Note 2: In order to enjoy the full effects of this post I HIGHLY recommend enlarging each photo!

Shall we begin now...

This time I was up against rather stiff competition. I'd been sizing them up for awhile. The main ones to look out for were HC: we meet each other on the Frisbee and football field often enough that I realized she could (with enough motivation) take me down quite easily. Little Page: Runs track for BYU, is a Page so her competitive nature is on steroids (in theory people, in theory), and she at the time was just waiting for a proposal so the motivation was running high! Rebecca: The potential dark horse of the bunch. We haven't played sports together but I've heard plenty of stories, she's taller than little me so the could have been to her advantage, therefore, I had my eye on her.

I was positioned well, as step 1 states...Be in the middle (see picture below). My disadvantage: height, always height (which is why I MUST marry for height (and love of course)...I MUST give my children the most ideal athletic advantages I can muster as I already have HIGH athletic aspirations for them).

As you can tell, even though I was in the middle I am vertically challenged to say the least so my hands were no where near the bouquet. Also, note Little on the outside of the brawl just lurking, waiting for her entrance into the pack.

What is not captured in the photos: Once that bouquet came down into the mix of hungry women, Little Page and I both placed our best death grips around the bouquet and pulled. The crowd disappeared and it clearly became a two woman fight.

(Enlarge this one...promise...you want to enlarge this one)

Note the spectators laughing in the background, realizing that losing was well worth watching this struggle of strength. Notice when you enlarge the photo that it nearly looks as if I'll be eating Little Page for my evening snack (apparently the J-Dawgs didn't fill me up).

After a tug-a-war that was would be noteworthy on any playground during recess I finally decided that the honorable thing to do was to relinquish my grip and let the sister of the bride be the Victor for the evening.

Little Page's excitement is more fitting for scoring a touchdown. I would have thrown a flag for excessive celebration after the play had I been the referee of that toss. ;) We were both lucky enough to stay on our feet (note that we went bare foot...smart!), can't say the same for others.

The way I see it is this, at HC's wedding I am the dead-ringer. I am the 2009 Yankees coming into Game 6 of the World Series and Andy Petite is pitching...the clear winner. With Mer, MPR, Little Page, and HC out of the picture my pool of competition shrinks significantly. Sure I need to be aware of the dark horse SJ but the outlook for this upcoming toss is looking pretty bright.

Next live event: Dec 12th, Arcadia, CA. Wish me luck! Stay on those feet Berry!

Better Late Than Never

With HC getting married on Saturday the 12th (SOOO SOON!) I figured I better post the rest of my favs from the AR and MPR wedding. Weddings and marriages are so exciting and happy! We are all excited for HC and J.Duke wedding weekend in The LA!

***PS...yes the infamous bouquet toss post shall flow this...it is a must see!

My Palo Alto Family. We are so cute! (just so you know...it was MPR's idea to stick me in the middle). Love my PA family for sure.

This sums up MPR and I's relationship pretty well...I am sure I put her in a headlock right after this photo too. ;)

The girls with the bride (Little Page (BRIDE-TO-BE IN 2 WEEKS), Mer, Yours truly, MPR (BRIDE), HC (BRIDE-TO-BE), SJ, and KO. Possibly my favorite!

My two Matadero #6 stalwarts! Benj and Kenj are two of a kind.

BRIDE AND BRIDE-TO-BE!!!

This picture folks will NEVER get old. Actually when I need a good laugh I open up and look at this photo! Hehe...yes laughing as I type. Click on it to enlarge it (totally worth it)!

All the kids!

This may be the best...for several reasons really...let me list them.

1. BUNNY EARS (duh)

2. MPR's face

3. My face (honestly, why do I look like that?)

4. Benj laughing at the bunny ears

5. Dave Burke..lurking behind AR

6. SJ and her sunglasses

7. The fact AR and Mama Richards look completely normal amid the goof balls

Yes, we actually did sort of play football with that bouquet later in the evening.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen...that is love...adorable, nerdy, fun, selfless love.