Our (well, my) Favorite Family Park

On Memorial Day we ended up going to one of my favorite places, Usery Pass Park.  This place is full of childhood memories for me, cowboy breakfasts, hiking to the windcaves and even hiking with our beloved family doberman, Ty.

We had a rough morning deciding what to do and on a last ditch effort on our way out of town I suggested Usery.  So with that, we satisfied those who wanted to hike and those who wanted to go to the park without going too far out of town.  Plus, we enjoyed the wonderful reprieve from the heat we were blessed with this weekend. 

Isn't it amazing that the one who whined about going hiking all morning about a quarter of the way up the trail said, "This is fun! We need to get active like this more often!"  But the best comment from the hike came from Noah who announced, "I want to be a lizard."  Why?  So he can run on the rocks and not worry about slipping.  Gotta love that boy's mind!

Today we hiked to the sundial.  They changed the trail this year! It's hard to believe, but for some reason someone doesn't want people on the top of that hill!  Ah, but we know the way.  We enjoyed the view, found some favorite landmarks and identified surrounding mountains.

We made it all the way up and down the little mountain without a scrape.  But of course, Noah AND Walter tripped and fell, scraping their knees in the little parking lot by the car.  We went to a playground near our hike and enjoyed our picnic.  Right in front of our car, between the parking lot and the playground was this dove in it's nest.  Carefully positioned in the cactus, it didn't move as it watched us watching it, obviously on it's eggs. You would assume it was the mother but it had bright blue markings on the beak, head and around the eyes suggesting to me it was a male.  Just another reason why I love this park, the opportunities to observe wildlife.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the junior high school pool, bought a season pass (half off this weekend) and enjoyed a refreshing dip.  For Family Home Evening we drove out to the Gilbert Temple to see the Angel Moroni which was recently placed on the top of the spire.  (We also discussed why he's there.)  We ended our evening with dinner at IHOP.  The kids earned free meals for doing something at school and the coupons expired this week.  Quite a fun-filled day after all!

We are eternally grateful for everyone who has sacrificed their lives for our country!  We don't know how blessed we are nor can we comprehend the hardships of war.  Thank you.

Jesse's Back

This sweetheart of a babe finally got tubes in his ears.  He went through too many ear infections and rounds of antibiotics.  (Along with essential oils.)  Our ENT (ear, nose, throat Dr.) knows us well.  Bergen's could rack up frequent flyer miles in his office.  Between Keith's brother's family and our family our ENT has performed at least a dozen surgeries.  He always says, "I consider myself a conservative surgeon, and we could wait and see if things clear up, but you are those Bergens.  In this case, I recommend surgery."

Luckily, he had a cancellation and Jesse had his surgery within 5 days.  I had already given him time to see if his ears would clear up.  I felt that mom guilt when our ENT came and told me surgery went well and that he had to drain a lot of fluid out of his ears.  Jesse still had drainage 4 days later.

I think he has had a lot of fluid in his ears for about 6 months.  He doesn't complain much about anything.  I would have to be very observant to detect a possible ear infection.  Even just waking in the night for 15 or fewer minutes would be a signal of an infection.  He doesn't say any words yet, but since his surgery his baby babble has increased.  (Why did I wait? We are those Bergens!)  Jesse is so mild and sweet and his happy little demeanor has returned full swing.  I know his vocabulary will develop in no time!   His smile is bigger now too! 

I love this little guy!!!

Bugged!

We inherited some interesting things in our backyard.  We have just aout every type of landscape block, brick, wood and rock. Several nearly dead or dieing plants including roses, lantana, bermuda grass, aloe vera, Mexican bird of paradise, pompous grass, a queen palm and a grapefruit tree.  I think it is a collection of three different previous owners' ideas of landscaping.  Not to mention the pool that has been empty for who knows how long and needs new everything, not happening this year!  I think I need to start entering every backyard makeover contest out there!
One thing that we were excited to find is the grapevine.  It, along with most of the plants, have survived at least a year of serious neglect from being a foreclosure.  It is flourishing this spring!  We are excited for the bunches of grapes to ripen.  Last week Nicholai discovered some caterpillars on the leaves.  I developed a few caterpillar hunters when I offered to pay $1 for each worm found and killed.  I thought they were eating our roses, little did I know they were multiplying exponentially on the grapevine.
I have killed 1000 caterpillars in the past 5 days, no joke. I could swear, well, I did, at least twice.
Then, there is this little guy who is determined to save them, at least some of them.  They are his squirmies, his kids and he names a select few "Zoey".  He took them to school for show and tell and is fascinated by their poop.  I feel a little guilty for squishing a few,escapees, well, okay, not really.  Walter seems to understand the need to save the grapes from the caterpillars.  We will have to find another pet soon.  I don't know how long the squirmies will survive.  The price paid for caterpillars has gone down!  I already owe Nick and Noah nearly $30!

The Rain in Arizona...

Ahhh... everyone I know from Arizona loves rain,especially during our warm weather.  What do we do?
Play in it of course!  The boys waited until it had slowed down and the thunder and lightening had stopped, but then it was out in the mud.  Brings back my childhood memories of monsoon storms, even if it is only May.

If You're Ever in a Jam!

When we were first married, a girlfriend in my ward offered to teach me how to make jam.  Strawberries were cheap that season.  I bought the berries and she came over and wha-la! A new standard in the Bergen household was born!  Homemade jam was the only way to go, no store bought stuff here, well, rarely, at least. 

We were hooked.  Keith enjoyed it so much when we ran out of that first batch he said, "Teach me how to make it!" Okay!  (The same thing happened after I baked pies.)   So ever since then, Keith heads up our jam making.  We watch for the sales, usually at the end of the season. Really ripe fruit makes tasty jams.  We love Superstition Ranch Market.  You can almost count on 25¢ a pint strawberries every spring.  Perfect for jam.

So this is what kept Keith up late the other night.  I had hulled most of the 24 pints. (That really is the hardest part about making jam.)   We like the Sure-gel low surgar recipe in the pink box.  Another one of our favorites is peach made from Utah peaches.  Hopefully, we'll add some later this summer.

B.K. (Before Kiddos)  this would have been a 3 year supply, now we're lucky if it lasts a year.  Audrey has already eaten at least 6 pbj's.