red butte with reesa

This week was extra special because we got to spend three days with our beloved “Ressa,” my single and adorably talented sister Maresa. Despite her short break from Physical Therapy School in Las Vegas, she managed to make our week and visit us while on break! As she drove away yesterday morning, the builder looked on and declared, “Wow. Reesa so nice to visit us. I like it when Reesa comes to our house!” Don’t we all!

bear lake '09

(Sorry, the photos look better on the daily delights...I can put larger images on there)

It was so fun to look at last year's photos and see how much the kiddos have changed...

This year was exceptionally wonderful. Perhaps because...

the kiddos had a blast...



or because the new house Traci found was incredible...



or that the dancer got to chill with her idol "big girl" cousins...



or because I had plenty of time to adore our neices...



and nephews...



in all of their complete cuteness...



the explorer's blissful independence joining his older cousins...



or the builder's first brave tube ride with his older cousins, tipping into the water and swimming like a champ in his life jacket till the designer killed the boat and jumped in after him...



the grateful realization that the dancer required 2-3 swim suits per lake visit...(she didn't like to have a wet suit on)!



Thanks again to all of the Bergs...for keeping the tradition going, for delicious food, planning, and a delightful time!

Scott, Ryan, Katherine, Dale, Melissa, Chad, Charlie, & Sarah: oh, how we missed you! Hope to see you there next year!

an update & giveaway!

Just in case: we moved back to our condo in Midway and are very cozily happy!

Garrett (one year on the 12th) is truly busy, busy. Taking a few steps here and there, but mostly busy getting into whatever he can. He is a lover. Kisses anyone who will let him and has a special adoration for music and babies.

Anneclaire (2.5) is always drawing or dancing, painting, sticker-ing...she loves to create. At night you will find her in Carsten's spiderman or superman pj's (don't remember the last time she wore her own!) As we were finishing lunch this afternoon. We heard her exclaim from the bathroom, "Look, see that big snake poop? I do that!" Yes, she is potty trained and proud of it. :)

Carsten (4) is talking and understanding so very much these days...I've resorted to spelling out words quite a bit :) He loves to pray, and it is so sweet. He also loves to order AC around, planning their building projects, activities, and such. Still loves to cook and build. Truly, it goes so fast.

Carl is busy building the landscape side of the bizness now that he is licensed and done with his MBA. He has enjoyed relandscaping his mom's yard a bit and we have done a little gardening ourselves. He is playing in the Golf League and takes the kiddos one night a week so I can paint. What a guy. :)

I'm still trying to figure out this motherhood thing. (Does one ever really figure it out?) :) But loving the journey. I'm preping for the plein air contest the end of the month, and giving away a painting this week, so stop by and enter. I'd love to paint something special for one of you.

xoxo

march milestones

It's been a week or so of milestones. Garrett is still busy doin' his thing, loves to play with his siblings, empty everything he can find, explore, explore. He doubled his tooth count this week. 3 teeth in a matter of days: 2 came in Monday and 1 Wednesday nite. I could really use a full night of sleep!

Speaking of teeth, Anneclaire is also working on some as well, though not as forthcoming as Garrett's, so she's been visiting us in the night as well. I'm not going to go into detail of the other visitors last night. :)

Anneclaire has been seriously potty-training this week (only princess underwear). Today is the first day without accidents...(oh, hooray!). She's amazing. Keep it up sweetheart! Meanwhile, I'm embracing the poop until the next challenge.

Carsten? Oh, he gets more goofy each day. He cracks me up. Sometimes, when we disagree, he says, "Momma, I wanna talk to you..." It's funny. Discussion will be minimal one day, so one more thing to embrace! I love how he is helping me come up with our kiddo daily delight activities, it is so much fun!

Anneclaire is just so detailed. I love it.

Carsten's big milestone a couple weeks ago, was his first ski run. Way to go buddy!

Carl was so patient with Carsten, and willing to wait until he was good and ready. As for Carl's big milestone: his last day of his MBA is Monday!!! We will be celebrating his graduation in a couple weeks. Congrats Carlsberg!

As for me? Sleepless, potty-training weeks like this, bring accomplishment just in the survival I've decided. Though I've been enjoying painting the 2 largest canvases (I have ever painted) over the last week...Nance was right: you just use larger brushes (and more paint)!

some more video links

A couple videos of Garrett & his walker:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8434751070678589771&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3183730388020446706&hl=en

And one of Anneclaire last month at the piano:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6530255691362680154&hl=en

(perhaps she'll be just as interested in it as she is these days...) :)

Hi all,

So get out your bookmarks, linklists, blogrolls...

I have no idea who is reading our blog right now, but I'm notifying everyone just in case. Last nite byu called, asking for money (unlv called the day before), and wondered if kat-madsen@excite.com was still my primary email. "Well," I thought, "considering all the scams and Viagra ads I was getting, I wasn't even able to sift through the spam...and didn't I change my email on the alumni page last year?"

I know, it's annoying when you have to change an email, address, whatever, and now a blog address? Well, some of you have already figured this out, but I have finally realized that I cannot do it all. So in an effort to simplify, I ask you to save www.thedailydelights.com as our primary blog address. I will continue to post on our family blog, but for posterity and benefits along those lines...really just kiddo milestones, and only once every couple months.

On the other hand, I blog on thedailydelights daily...or nearly everyday. There you will find my blog assessing my latest projects (including a children's literature-based activity each day, called kiddo daily delights).

So there you have it! Hope to hear from you all soon and that you'll continue to enjoy our blog (those of you that are into that stuff) :)

I'll continue saving family and friend blogs on our family blog to keep in touch, so if I am yet again out of the loop, leave me a comment with your link would ya? thx!

luvs to all!

katrina, carl and the kiddos: carsten, anneclaire, & garrett

merry green christmas '08

How Silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is giv'n!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of his heav'n

No ear may hear his coming;

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him, still

The dear Christ enters in.

Peace, Love, and Happiness to all. May this week be a special one filled with loved ones and memories of holidays enjoyed together. Best wishes in the coming year!

All our love,

The Bergs:

Carl, Katrina, Carsten, Anneclaire, & Garrett

ward humanitarian christmas party

We had a great time at the Humanitarian Celebration tonite. Carsten, Anneclaire, & Jack spent most of their time perched up on the stage steps...a great hide-out for them as well. Rebecca and the primary kids did a great job singing.

siblings & talents of a horse

As Carl & I were cleaning up after lunch this afternoon, Garrett had just fallen asleep, and Carsten & Anneclaire were outsite on their "boat." So nice that winter has held off a bit and allowed them some fun adventures in the sunshine. As we watched them, Carl pointed out that the neighbor's horse was near the boat and that he thought Carsten was talking to the horse. Later he noticed that the horse had pooped and said that Carsten would probably tell us all about that. (just remembering our visit to the zoo, not too long ago with Jake and the giraffes...)

Sure enough, when they came in, we asked if they had fun and what they did. I asked Carsten about the horse. He got this huge grin on his face, you could literally see those wheels in his head a turning, and as Carl and I looked at each other, he explained that the horse had "pooped in his bum!" That it was so silly. I had to explain that everything poops....:)

christmas lights at temple square

A few more pics of our trip to temple square. Not sure if the kiddos' eyes have ever been this wide. Garrett was so ready for bed till he saw the lights. Fun times.

So Garrett started crawling Wednesday nite. Fortunately he doesn't go too far yet. Anneclaire enjoyed just sitting for so many months. They are all so different! :)

pediped giveaway!

The long awaited pediped giveaway is here on Momma Sassy! Pediped are my favorite kiddo shoes...soft for young-uns and a flex line for 2 -5 year olds. To be entered in the drawing just visit the pediped site, pick your favorite shoe and leave it in a comment on Momma Sassy's giveaway post. Good luck!

cousins, friends

This is Carsten's big little cousin Josh. Josh is 10 months younger than Carsten, but looks like he is a year older. :) Carsten loves his cousin Josh. He will be going into Primary in January, and he and his classmates have been visiting Primary the past few weeks. We were talking about how fun it will be for Carsten. But all Carsten could ask was why Joshy wasn't going to go with him. We tried to explain that Joshy isn't 3 yet. "But Joshy is almost 3!" "Yes, Carsten, Joshy will be 3 so very soon, but not before January, so he will have to wait till next year and go with Anneclaire.

Each afternoon, Carsten asks to play with Joshy. Next year these kiddos will probably all be done with naps, and oh the fun they will have in the afternoon. Till then, he'll have to wait for those special times they get to be together. :)

turkey day

cleaning these silly turkeys for the big feast

trimming the tree

For our Advent Countdown 29, we trimmed the tree.

So fun, here are some pics:

going private?

Carl & I have friends who have gone private, some going private, and have discussed our family's visibility...one reason I began thedailydelights and made it a bit more discrete.

Not to worry, we're still discussing it and all, but there are days like today when you find links to yourself and wonder how visible you really are out there riding the waves of the www:

and you see this or this...

So between writing for GetWithGreen and using WordPress.com, I'm learning a lot about the internet writing process. For example, just the name of your post makes a huge difference. And then there are the images we use. I had written a post on green flooring back in July and it has become one of my top five posts within the last couple days just because of the image I had found on Google:

Under the 6th image (yes, the second time you see it) you find my dailydelights and a link to my green flooring post. It cracks me up when people find this blog...I think its great.

As for Carl and I, we're still open and hoping friends and family will find, read, and enjoy our family thoughts and journal. Just a few things for us all to think about I guess.

it's never too early

to get them interested in helping with the laundry...5 months though? So cute, he stood there for quite a while, and got pretty frustrated when I sat him on the floor. They just grow and develop so quickly.

homemade holiday advent

For a while now I've been getting excited for Christmas and the thought of sharing it with our kiddos who are getting old enough to enjoy it more this year. I want to do something special with them each day until Christmas. Something that they help me do and look forward to each day. I remember baking a Christmas treat with our mom each day for 2 weeks until Christmas. I'm thinking something along those lines.

An advent calendar seemed just the way to do this and help the kiddos visually see when Christmas would arrive. So I pulled out an old box of envelopes that I've had since high school (I know, crazy. I think the glue no longer works, so this project is perfect). I cut off a 1/4 inch of one of the sides (so that we can put our daily activity inside).

With the pieces that I cut off, the kiddos and I opened the small papers and wrote things we would like to do together. In general, Carsten's ideas involved making cookies, and Anneclaire's responses mostly had 'pizza' included. According to the kiddos, we will be making football cookies, a snow fort, pizza cookies, and blue cookies. I wrote dance to the nutcracker, go see Christmas lights together after dark, etc. I'm going to try and post our advent adventures each day, so you'll just have to wait and see what else we planned.

After we finished our activity inserts, I glued the envelopes shut with a glue stick, so when the envelope is turned vertically, the top is open. We then began painting both sides of the envelopes in hues of red and green. We used paint brushes, our fingers, and did a bit of print making as well. I let them do whatever they wanted, and we all enjoyed ourselves.

As the envelopes were drying, I cut out letters with my holiday Pottery Barn catalog, to spell Merry Christmas, and Bon Noel, as well as some stars, the word peace, stockings, and a reindeer. There is one letter or image for each envelope, besides a few envelope spacers between the words that I left without magazine cutouts. While I was cutting the letters, Anneclaire was busy cutting magazines as well.

After lunch, Anneclaire took a nap as Carsten and I finished our project. We found some old string, pieced it together, and hung it on our wall in the dining/kitchen area. The activity papers were put into their envelopes (I looked at the calendar as I placed them, to make sure that the activities we would want to do with Carl, would fall on the weekend). As I hung the envelopes by wooden clothes pins, Carsten took left over string and constructed with it and our dining room chairs. Garrett happily played in his swing and watched us. The project took the majority of our Saturday, but I think it will be soo much fun.

As the architect of this advent, I reserve the right to:

• do any of the activities on days other than the envelopes dictate
• swap activities
• change snow activities when their is an absence of snow
• and so forth... :)

Looking forward to a fun filled holiday!

fires in yorba linda & LA area

I just wanted to thank Chad and Andrea for asking about my family and their home in Yorba Linda. Saturday night they were evacuated and met several ward member families at the church house. Fortunately, my family is safe, as is their home. Unfortunately, many hundreds of families in the LA area have suffered damage, even the complete burning of their homes to the ground. Several family friends have lost their homes, and I know that we will continue to hear about the devastation from the wild fires. My heart and our prayers go out to anyone who lost or received damage to their homes.

Currently, my parent's home is being remodeled (the entire first floor...basically everything except the bedrooms upstairs), it has been a stressful time for my parents (especially my mom), my brothers, and my Grommie who is living with them. They have been patient with the garage kitchen, flies for dinner companions, and having to do laundry outside of the home for months (things I take for granted everyday).

Just before my 16th birthday, we had a terrible kitchen fire that damaged the entire downstairs and smoke damage throughout the rest of the home. Photographs were probably some of the few things we could not replace. We had 2 minutes to salvage what we needed, and so I ran to my room and grabbed my photos, journals, scriptures, and my school backpack (not first on my priority list that night). Despite it being Sunday, we went to the mall that night and bought a few outfits as we had nothing but the dresses we had worn to church that morning.

We lived for 7-8 months in a rental home down the street with minimal rented furnishings and kitchen items. Our lives were extremely simple (well, for us kids...my mom was frantically trying to deal with the mess and purchase what we needed once the home was fixed), we enjoyed that time together as a family. Though I couldn't imagine my family having to experience that hardship again, I knew that they could do it again if they had to.

As time goes on, as the fires continue to rage, the tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, droughts, and hunger continue to devastate (whether literally or figuratively), may we cling to those that we love, continue to 'prepare every needful thing,' and reach out to those within our reach who can use our help and friendship. Love you mom and dad, Brig, Jonny & Grommie, soo glad you are safe!

carl & dale: LAs

click on the link below to see Carl & his dad's names side by side...

https://secure.utah.gov/llv/llv;jsessionid=a6BeuzuYfEXb

Congrats Carl! I know your Dad is soo proud :) luvs!

Carsten & momma at the movies

Yes, it’s hard to believe, but other than a Star Wars: Episode III when he was about 3 weeks old, today was Carsten's first visit to the movies. My friend Lesa and I had chatted about taking our boys to the movies, a special, outing with just they and their moms.

So this afternoon, we met Lesa and a couple of her friends and their kiddos for Madagascar 2. We arrived during the previews and though I tried to explain what it would be like during our car ride, the dark room definitely was a surprise. Immediately I spotted Lesa and tried to get Carsten to walk up the steps to their row where she was saving us seats. Absolutely glued to the overwhelmingly large screen, he he had a difficult time climbing and sitting down. It was probably a half hour before I was able to convince him that it would be comfortable to sit back in his chair, thanks to Lesa finding us a booster for him. And how long have the boosters been available? I can think of several movies in the not so distant past where a booster would have been handy for me!

Carsten enjoyed the movie, the popcorn, and the candy (left over from Halloween) that he packed, all by himself, for he and his friend Jake. About half way through the film, we went out in the hall for a drink. We laughed as he was struck in the face with the water. I offered to take him to the restroom while we were out, but he was already running back in to the theater, afraid of missing anything.

It was a fun afternoon. Thanks to Carl for letting us share this special time together. He and Carsten have decided that next time it is their turn and that they will make sure that Jack and his Dad Tom (one of Carl's best friends), join the crew.

sibling fun

I've been taking more videos of the kiddos, just haven't taken the time to put them online. Here is a funny one from the other night...Garrett was luving it, wish i had caught his hysterical laughter earlier:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6144493581490814455&hl=en

ps...i stopped the video as soon as Garrett got hit in the head to make sure he was ok, yeah, he's a trooper, just wanted to keep playing! I should have kept the film rolling.

bombay w/ grommie

We love visits from our GiGi! The kiddos we soo excited to go have dinner with GiGi. She is always so good to make time to see us, no matter how short her visit. She loves spending time with the kiddos and I made sure to bring in some of the wonderful books she has

given them, to the restaurant. Dinner at the Bombay House was fabulous as always. The Beaches were all there (other than mission serving TJ, we luv you bud), and we had a blast with them in the back room, where the kiddos could roam a bit without bothering other diners. The food was delish, and we got a kick out of our mystery dishes that we hadn't ordered. Soo yummy. Thanks for such a delightful time Grommie...can't wait to see you at Christmas! Thanks Richard for the magic tricks, reading to the kiddos, and just being Uncle Richard. And to the rest of the Beach clan: thanks for making time to be with us, we luv you all!

dinner w/ seanna

It's so great having Sean close, and we look forward to our weekly visits with him. One nite he even brought his friend Yuri. As always, it was a fun evening. Luv you bud!

bumble garrett

Show me the honey! Halloween was a big day, I had another rough spell of Mastitis and was very sick due to the medication I was taking. The kiddos and I somehow managed to get to our Music class with Miss Kristi and had a wonderful time. But that was all I could do. We got the kiddos ready and off with Carl to the trunk-or-treat, while I fed Garrett. I couldn't even get my brain working enough to remember where this cute bee costume, Heather gave me, had gone. Sure enough, a few days later, the kiddos and I found the bumble bee costume in Anneclaire's closet, just buzzing to be worn. They loved watching Garrett wear the costume and talked about what they had dressed up as for Halloween. Oh, and yes, it's possible that Garrett may be our first thumb sucker...at least an occasional one from what we can see. :)

anneclaire in a rare moment

Maybe it's not a rare moment, but a rare one when I can enjoy that pouty face, and capture it...we luv you Anneclaire. Every minute of every day and nite!