Surprise Weekend in Boise = Delicious Food

Mike threw SJ a surprise 30th birthday party and so SEC and I went to Boise for the surprise. Gari, SEC, and I went for Indian food when we got to town. Sorry SJ, we missed you that night. Gari made us her famous biscuits! We love them so much! It was great seeing Gari, SJ, Mike, and their little girls for the weekend! 

A Little Reunion With A Couple Little Additions

 It only took two years of living back in Idaho to make it happen but SEC, SJ, GH, and I finally found time for a few days of fun together. We ate good food, colored Easter eggs with Eve (little Sandi), shopped, talked, shopped some more, talked some more, made Gari make homemade biscuits at 9pm one night, tried to take a group selfie, had 4 year Eve take a group picture (turns out our legs take good pictures, see below), and just a had great time spending together. Can it possibly be over ten years since we all met? We still look great and I love that SJ and Mike have added Eve and Claire to the group! Thanks for the great trip! Looking forward to the next go around!   

We also decided to dye the last egg in all the colors, hence the ugly brown one! 

 The best biscuits you'll ever taste! Oh how I've missed these amazing treats! Thanks Gari! 

Mini Reunion...Missing SEC!

SJ, Gari, and I were able to catch up for lunch over the holidays, we missed SEC! Hopefully all four of us can get together this spring! 

2011: Surviving Hard Times Plus Great Moments

My disclaimer: When I returned from my month in Idaho I was promptly welcomed by a cold that turned into a sinus infection, this in combination with a hectic month end my 2012 goal to pick up my blogging with more dedication has been delayed...by almost a month. I suppose that is predictable when you're busy living blogging takes a backseat.  


2011 in review:


It was a hard year: full of fatigue, sickness, anxiety, and loss. It was a year of survival, waiting upon the Lord. Luckily, my capacity to survive was expanded, thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 
   

I could give a laundry list of the hard moments of 2011 and for historical purposes I have documented them but for purposes of this post I will be dwelling on the great moments that happened amid the storms of 2011. I believe it speaks volumes to the mercy we still receive from God even in the toughest of times.  While many of these may seem mundane to some readers, remember this past year was not about thriving but surviving and being physically ill for over a year (more than normal) even mundane moments become great moments if those moments allow you to focus on something other than the constant feeling of fatigue. 


(in no particular order)


Arizona trip in March with my family (spring training, golf, shopping)
Participating in the videoing of the Mormon Message, Our Hands His Hands, Our Hearts, His Heart.  
Watching my freshmen graduate
Lots of service (mostly received)! 
Opening day of baseball season 
Golf league with The J-Crew 
BS & BW's wedding in April
SJ & NJ's wedding in July
JBH & HN's wedding in July (yes, lots of weddings)
Gordo's wedding 
Spending time with SEC, parents, and BW in Utah in July
Going to Israel, a once in a lifetime experience (and 11 days of physically feeling okay to make the trip)
Spending time with AR and MPR before they moved
Golfing at Deep Cliff (great day)
 AC and NB's engagement surprise
Cook club
Spending time with the Carlstons 
Yankees in the BAY
Thanksgiving with The Ellwangers
Hot tubbing (lots of hot tubbing)
My birthday!
Mama Berry coming in October to help me  
General Conference
Parents and G-parents visiting in November
Purchasing my new bed! 
FMC
Post-Thanksgiving dinner with the Jarvis family
Being with my little girls
Spending the month of December in Idaho

Jack Berry would be proud that I'm still spitting in that "damn mitt". 

Here is to a better year in 2012. 

The New Profile Picture Winner/Side Bar Refresher

Along with letting folks comment on the post to vote I also employed a ranking tool to gather  feedback from other friends using Peektree.  Peektree is the latest Silicon Valley start-up.  I actually am friends with the founders of the company and so it is exciting to see them launch after lots of work.  It is a very helpful, fun, and somewhat addicting (in a good way) tool.  You should check it out, try it, pass it along to others to use.  

The survey says...the green beauty by popular vote.  Mama Berry will be pleased with this pick...I still may throw in Big Mouth Beauty in a few months to mix things up, we'll see.   

Also, this is a good time to provide a refresher on what's available on the blog sidebar. 

1. The Mormon Message Video: Our Hands His Hands, Our Hearts His Heart 

2. Team Hydro!  You can already sign up for Sharkfest 2012 or donate to the Kate Finlayson research grant.  It is a worthwhile cause.  

3. The beautiful artwork and greeting cards by SEC.  She's very talented and just illustrated a children's book, for sale on Amazon.  Find it here!  It is a great Christmas gift for the kiddos. 

4. The button to lead you to Mormon.org, a great place to learn more about what I believe.  

Flashback: La Jolla Apt 211

SJ...always keeping us entertained! GH found this gem and sent it to me this week.

The Wedding Eve Luncheon And Schedule Debriefing

I sort of feel in love with Zupas and feel that we need one in PA.

It was great seeing the bride before the big day and it was even more thrilling to go through the well planned schedule of events for the coming wedding. SJ is a girl after my own heart! I love me a good schedule and I love even more getting to enforce said schedules (which was my awesome job on wedding day!)!

The bride and MB

MB obviously enjoyed her meal.

SJ and HC

The delicious salad that almost all of us order, named "Nuts about berries"...how fitting! And delicious!

SEC, MB, and I posing for MPR

The group, minus MPR (since she was the photographer.

Utah...Worth A Visit Every Now and Then

Wedding season is bringing me to Utah multiple times in July. I'll be the first to admit that I pride myself for being one of the few people that has only spent 5 days in Utah at any one time throughout my life. Every now and then though it deserves a visit. SEC lives there, that is reason enough. I miss living with SEC (Church Educational System backwards). I learned so much from her in the four years we lived together and I still learn from her whenever I get the privilege of seeing her. Her motto for life is summed up as this: Don't worry, be happy, trust God. Simple as it may sound, it is one thing to say it and another thing (impressive thing at that) to live it. Love you SEC!

So I've had this discussion multiple times with a friend whether his "Utah" mountains can compete with the Grand Tetons. I would send him photos of the picturesque peaks, taken by myself or family and he'd send me Wikipedia shots of the Utah mountains (what I'd call rocky hills). I must admit though publicly, in the right lighting Utah mountains can be picturesque in their own way.

Friday night SEC and I went with our old friend, RA (I've missed this guy!), to dinner at Panda (oh yes!), after we grabbed a Frosty for this Wendy's deprived girl, followed by the Art Center at BYU. This was my best find... Homage to Jackie Robinson. How sweet!

Oh yes, it had a DP label quilted at the bottom too!

RA and SEC in front of the coolest piece of modern I've witnessed in the last decade, book stacks in the shape of a crooked square. I was so tempted to try and pull out one of the books...

For those dear friends that I missed seeing this trip please forgive me (BW, JA)...it was a whirlwind trip...and I'll be back in three weeks to celebrate another blissful wedding so maybe then I'll get to see you.

Flashback: The List of Love

In college SJ documented my fickleness by creating “The List of Love” on Microsoft Paint. Her Dad was a professor so she used his password to copy the photos of seven or so guys I liked at the time plus one guy she knew that I detested, and a photo of my brother, made into a Paint picture, and made it my desktop background. She used the picture of my brother to superimpose it onto a photo of this boy, Daniel, to prove her long standing claim that they looked identical (that was pretty accurate and slightly freaky). She listed them out in order of whom she thought I should like. This practice of creating hilarious MS Paint pictures and saving them as my background was common place for SJ. I attempted for a long time to keep her away from my laptop by changing passwords, taking my laptop with me everywhere but she always found a way. In this particular instance I didn’t look at my laptop until I was in class the next morning, getting ready for a large presentation. Now mind you, I think three of the young men on this Paint picture were in this class, sitting rather close to me so anyone can imagine the horror I experienced when I almost exposed "The List of Love" to my entire class. SJ definitely is the MS Paint master and I simply became her apprentice. I would always protest every time she’d “paint” my laptop but I treasure each of those ridiculous Paint pictures she made me.

I'm not quite as fickle these days, SJ would be proud.

Love These Ladies...But Missed Gari!

SJ, JB, and SEC

SJ, SEC, little EJ and I got together over the holidays, Gari couldn't make it this year. Clearly if you compare the two photos here you'll realize that we really missed Gari, especially her long arms! Her role as photographer is irreplaceable, even though SEC was a good stand-in. I sure love these ladies. We are all still a little crazy (some of us more crazy than others). Thanks for a great time girls! Next time we'll have Gari with us!

Celebrating With These Girls (and Mike!)

We missed having SEC! Christmas will come soon enough.

Breakfast was good. Catching with with SJ, Mike, and Gari was great! Meeting little EJ was pretty amazing too. She has such beautiful blue eyes!

Oh and I'm Going To Celebrate Birthday Week...

with these weirdos!!! (with a new little addition!) Happy Birthday to US, to September!

Happy 27th Granny...

...I mean SEC!!! What a woman, not many women can pull off the curler look with such swagger. Sure love SEC, hopefully she'll love me after she sees this.

SEC's New Website Is Up and RUNNING!

My fabulous best friend, SEC, is an amazing artist and her new site debuting her beautiful work is ready for viewing. Check it out! It is awesome and will continually have updates.

Shalece Elynne Art & Design

Why I Heart Gmail

One word: Labels

Two words: Bright colors

***I also love that at the very moment I snapped my screenshot both SJs were green back to back on gchat. The simple joys in life.

When Your Mama Emails...

and she starts off with:

Hey a few things to tell you.

1. boring blog these days, no updates, i'm sure there is

something interesting happening.

You start to hear Ricky saying to Lucy...Lucy you've got some explaining to do...

What I've been doing (in no particular order)

1. Spending time looking at this blog that shows the newest addition, Evelyn Jean (EJ for short of course) to my "extended" family. (Congrats Mike and SJ!).

2. It is the third greatest month of the year...MADNESS IS IN THE AIR! Did I mention I have a 55 inch screen TV as a roommate these days to watch the Madness in all its glory? After the 1st and 2nd round I follow close between the big bro in the Berry Oil bracket. I've picked Duke to take it. Do I feel bad for the saps that picked Kansas to win it all? Not at all...N. Iowa is a classic example of why the Madness is so sweet.

3. Having massages and acupuncture on a high frequency basis (Hey folks don't be jealous alright. I do have this thing called cerebral palsy so I need them more often than your average pampered person). Turns out after awhile you mentally become accustomed to feeling like a human pin cushion.

4. Weekly trips to the temple. What is a temple some may asking themselves? Read more here.

5. Weekly dinners with JP...having a personal chef is a perk that I'm starting to love.

6. Making Sloppy Dans (Dan, the originator of the recipe, of course is not sloppy but awesome!). I'm slowly working my way to perfection with each batch! My secret weapon: making Mama Berry's homemade potato rolls to go with the Sloppy Dans. Freakin' Genius. (pictures forthcoming).

7. Prepping for opening day of baseball season, mentally and physically. See the countdown here...minute by minute coverage folks! GOOOOO YANKKKEEESSS!!!!

8. Bridal showering.

9. Supposedly doing my taxes (hehe...getting there slowly).

10. Enjoying Pinkberry as much as possible, as long as they have unlimited toppings this Berry will be smothering her froyo with every Berry offered.

11. Mastering the art of eye makeup blending.

12. Focusing on making my own happiness. "Mortality is a precious drop in the bucket of eternity. Why not make each minute pleasant and fulfilling? We must make our own happiness. As President Spencer W. Kimball once said, ‘Happiness does not depend upon what happens outside of you, but on what happens inside of you. It is measured by the spirit with which you meet the problems of life." Pres. James E. Faust “A Vision of What We Can Be,” Ensign, Mar. 1996, 10

13. Working on several blog posts that are forth coming...

14. Waiting excitedly for some of my Boring Berrys to arrive in PA on Wednesday!

***Blogging with diligence will be picked back up soon. Have a little faith and maybe I'll even get a few guest bloggers in the lineup too.

Thanks SEC!

The day after Christmas I went through the LDS temple and received my endowment in the Rexburg LDS Temple (to learn more about LDS temples click here). Afterward SEC gave me this beautiful water color painting of the Rexburg LDS Temple. The photo doesn't do justice to the quality and beauty of this gift. I love all my SEC artwork, but this one definitely is the most precious of all. Thank you SEC, you are so very talented and such an amazing friend.

Jess Berry Quote Of The Day!

There are diamonds in the rough, and then there are diamonds...You are a diamond

SEC

Birthdays All Around!

September is a glorious month! I actually know a minimum of one person per day that has a birthday from September 1st - September 13th, followed by more on the 16th, 19th, 24th, 29th. See how amazing September is? It is a wonder that anyone is born outside of September. Friday night my folks met SEC (BFF) and I in Provo where we celebrated at a Brazilian BBQ Mom's bday (Sept 1st), SEC's bday (Sept 6th), and mine (Sept 10th)! All the meat you can imagine! Only fitting for a birthday celebration! Thanks Dadio! You made us all feel special!

SEC and I at dinner

Dadio and Mama Berry

SEC and I on her actual birthday (Sunday)! Her family made one amazing meal! It was so great that after two years of not celebrating our birthdays together SEC and I were reunited for the best week of the YEAR! I love SEC, my best friend and one of the family. We are polar opposites in many ways and that makes us work perfectly! Thanks for making me feel at home again!

Taco Time with SJ and Mike

Just Thrilled!

Oh I love the face SJ!

The remnants of our delicious meal. We love Taco Time! Mike and SJ actually met while working at Taco Time when we were in college...yet just ask SJ who won a bet that Mike wouldn't ask her out within a given window of time. Good thing Mike wised up later. ;) I had always had a soft spot in my heart from growing up on the crisp bean burritos and then I move into an apartment with a girl that works there. Hello, discount and amazing fast food! Our friendship was obviously meant to be! Thanks for dinner guys! Can't wait for Christmas time already. We'll probably have to bag snow cones post TT in the winter though.