Happy Halloween!

Halloween from Julie Berg on Vimeo.

Just Can't Resist...

Sorry, but this was too funny. :) Cute Halloween pictures of my fairy girl will follow later!

All of the Above

Wow...October 6th was my last post. That's a long time for me. The weather has been great so whenever we can we've been outside in the yard playing. Sidewalk chalk, swinging, picnicking, you name it. I've taken pictures or video quite a bit along the way, but I just haven't had the chance at night to do anything with it (I have to do the dishes and laundry sometime since we play all day!) So here's a compilation of everything I have accumulated.


All of the Above from Julie Berg on Vimeo.



Before going to the Lazy5Ranch where we fed all the animals in the video, Addie and I participated in a 5K yesterday morning. I say participated because we only ran about 3/4ths of the 3.3 miles. My neighbors totally put me up to this and then didn't show. Yeah...great practical joke! I've only run 3 times since having Jack, and 2.5 miles is the most I've done on an easy course. For the entire run while I was killing myself pushing 50 lbs (Addie plus stroller - no she's not that heavy!), Addie was asking where Maddie and Izzy were. Bla. One lady that was running next to us towards the end must have thought my ipod was up too high for me to hear her because she kept trying to motion to me that Addie was talking. I was like, "Yeah, she's been saying that for 25 minutes now." Either way, I beat most of the run/walkers with strollers and my fair share of junior high girls. :)

Cheap Cheap!

Anthony taught Addie one of his favorite words this morning. He's so proud. :)

Very exciting stuff going on here...tonight I skipped the elliptical machine and hit the pavement with Addie in the jogger for the first time in about a year. It went well enough. I only went about 1.7 miles, but it was getting dark so I was trying to stick to the route I knew would be lit. Instead of a quiet or whining Addie from a year ago, I got to hear the following:

Lots of: "Faster mommy, faster!!"
"Hi Moon!! I see you!"
Running through the trees: "Moooooon, where are you??"
Back out from under the trees: "There it is! Hiiii Moon!"
As we turned onto our street: "Goodnight moon! See you next time!"

I've never pointed the moon out to her. Maybe she's learning something at school?

She's Gone Country

For a good laugh, push play and wait for the end of this little video. This is from yesterday. In the morning, Anthony and Addie were at the Dixie Classic Fair. In the afternoon, they were at "Pickins at Priddys." It's an old general store built in 1888 that is still in operation. For three weeks in the fall, they have music and food on Saturdays. I'm not sure if it gets any more "down home" than this. Anthony's clinic gets together there every year. It's about 45 minutes away, so I opted to stay home and let Anthony take Addie. Apparently she was the life of the party.



She's Gone Country.... from Julie Berg on Vimeo.

A Good Day

When I was in elementary school, I got my first journal for Easter one year. I wish I still had it so that I could thumb through it and read what I wrote. The entries were pretty simple. 99% of them said, "Today was a good day. I got to play outside at school." or "We went to church." or "I had chocolate chip ice cream after dinner." On occasion there was a very startling "Today was NOT a good day. I got in trouble." or "It rained." or any other number of catastrophic events that can happen to a six year old.

Well, I must say that today was a good day for so many reasons.

To start off, Anthony took a 6 a.m. nasty diaper off of my hands. My hero! Then all I had to do was snuggle with Jack in the glider until 7:30 when it was time to get up. Tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

While I was feeding Jack, in walks my cute independent two year old. It's been chilly in the mornings lately, so last night I put her in the only pair of long jammies that still fit her. It just happens they have feet. I could write forever about the cuteness of footed pajamas. I will buy them for Addie until they don't make them in her size. Even then I'll probably still look for them! Either way, she was stinkin cute with her crazy hair and her belly sticking out as she walked around in her jammies telling me how well she slept.

Anthony and Addie went to the Dixie County Fair and had a blast. Video/photos will come tomorrow. I worked out while Jack slept. I put my ipod on shuffle instead of my usual playlist of new songs. Here is what it played for me:

The Seashores of Old Mexico - George Strait
I Just Called - Stevie Wonder
She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
Good Hearted Man - Tift Merritt
You'll Be There - George Strait
Me and Charlie Talking - Miranda Lambert
Sunday Morning - Maroon 5
Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

I couldn't help but laugh at my random music taste while I was exercising. These songs all remind me of other good days, 3 and 4 years ago. It was fun to reflect on what I was doing in my life when I downloaded these.

Other good things...Jack napped like a champ while I relished the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Wow is all I can say. I didn't even know how much I needed to hear the abundant messages on hope and faith! Until I heard these messages, I didn't even realize how much the global financial distress, energy crisis, presidential race, natural disasters (Ike...Iowa Floods), and terrorism (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech to the UN just about made me crazy) were stressing me beyond my usual fears about being a good wife and mother (daughter, grandaughter, friend, etc...)

Just a few talks that really stood out:

L. Tom Perry discussed the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle, citing Henry David Thoreau's experiences. If I only implemented what I heard in this one talk, my life would be improved 100% for it!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's eloquent, yet, simple instruction on faith and hope was exactly what I needed. Just as I was thinking that, it dawned on me that he was giving this talk because so many people need it. If you need to replace feelings of fear and despair with faith and hope, check it out. You can get it here. I promise it won't disappoint.

During the latter session of the conference, I enjoyed listening to Addie try to sing along with the children's choir while I fed Jack his cereal in the other room and reflected on how lucky I am. Now my babies are in bed, my husband is at his Priesthood meeting, Addie is singing herself to sleep, and I'm enjoying a house so quiet that all I can hear are the neighborhood dogs and locusts in the trees. Ahhhhhh. Today was a
good day. :)

Debate Watching

Yes, I was really paying attention to the VP Debate last night. At least a ton more than the actual presidential debate last week which I thought was a real snoozer. I just happened to be playing around on the computer at the same time and made this little video. I had some cute clips of Jack I was just looking for something to do with. :)


Break from the Debate... from Julie Berg on Vimeo.

Goodmorning!

Addie's excitement over her big girl bed has translated into general excitement over anything about the morning. She has rekindled her old habit of ending most of her sentences with "in the morning" and instead of saying hello to people she says "goodmorning!" She says "goodmorning" with so much enthusiasm that it's hard not to feel like you could start your day over right even if it's 5 p.m. Yesterday there was a little girl playing in her yard two doors down. Addie just stood on the fence watching her and after much prodding from me she shouted a "goodmorning" to her. Thank goodness the girl was sweet enough to yell "hi" back and make Addie's day.



Since changing beds, Addie does wake up a little earlier than she use to which is really fine since I'm up with this little guy anyway. I have still been waking Jack up at 10 p.m. to feed him so that he'd sleep until 7 a.m. By this time, Addie had been sleeping 12 hours but it wasn't all falling into place as easily with Jack. All of that changed on Monday night when Anthony and I went in to wake him up for the 10 p.m. feeding. He just smiled the biggest smile at both of us, then he refused to eat, then he smiled some more. Totally unnerved, I put him back in bed and he fell back to sleep until 7:30 a.m. Crazy. He's repeated it for the rest of the week. So now he gets the "easy baby" award. Sorry Addie.