"That's what big boys do."

Ryan wanted to show his friends his new 4 wheeler since we got it yesterday. It is about a mile from my parents house to our old house, where all his friends are. Most of it is downhill, so I told him I would walk down to Brookside while he rode his 4 wheeler. Since it was downhill, and Ryan's 4 wheeler doesn't have any brakes, other than pushing the crank the oppisite way, I tied a rope on to the back of his bike and then around my waist, so he couldn't get away from me. He had a great time riding his bike down to our old house. Right before we got there, we crossed the road and there was a dead snake on the sidewalk. The snake had been there for some time and ants were eating it. Ryan tried to go around it but he hit it with his 4 wheeler. I told Ryan that he ran over the snake and the snakes guts went everywhere. Ryan's reply was, "Well that is what big boys do."

We went to the Woodlands house and hung out there for the next 2 hrs. Ryan's 4 wheeler was a hit. All the kids fought over it for the next 2 hrs.

While we were at the Woodlands, Sydney scraped her foot. She didn't need a bandaid, but to make her happy, we put one on. As we were driving home, I heard Sydney mumbling. I looked back and saw that she had taken her bandaid off her foot and for some reason put it over her mouth. That's Sydney.

Having a Brother-in-law as a mechanic = Priceless

I met my brother-in-law, Garrin, at his work this morning. He did some work on our Camry. He replaced the CV joints, turned the routers, and replaced the brakes and most importantly saved us lots of money. While Garrin worked on the car, we went to Garage Sales to pass the time.

Car parts (CV joints, routers turned, and new brake pads)= $100
What a dealership charges to install these = $500
Having a Brother-in-law as a mechanic = Priceless

We have been trying to teach Ryan that he doesn't get everything he asks for. When we go to Garage Sales, he assumes that we will always give him a quarter or a dollar to buy a toy, he "has to have". So in keeping with what we were trying to teach him, we gave him a dollar (which we told him was coming out of his piggy bank) and he could spend the dollar however he wanted to spend it, but once it was gone, it was gone and we wouldn't give him anymore. The first Garage Sale we came to after talking about his dollar, Ryan found a 4 wheeler/bike. He ran over to it and sat down on it, but never mentioned he wanted to buy it. He came back over to me and pointed it out to me. I told him to go see how much it was selling for. He ran back over but didn't see the price on it but forgot all about the price again when he sat down in the seat. I assumed it was more than a dollar and walked over to look at it. The kid selling it, came up and said the chain had fell of and it could be fixed. At that time, I saw it had a price of one dollar. I asked Ryan if he wanted to spend his dollar on it, but he said that he couldn't find the price. I pointed it out, and he looked at it and said, "Dad, it is 100 dollars!" (The price was written as $1.00) Which is pretty good that a 5yr old would even think that 1.00 was one hundred. I told him it was only one dollar. That was all I had to say. He immediately went for the dollar he had safely tucked away in his pocket. He paid his dollar and we were off to put his new toy in the back of the truck.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up and getting things ready to move.

I put Ryan down for bed and read him 5 books. After reading books to him, I went to leave and he said, "Dad you haven't sang a song." I told Ryan that it was late and I wouldn't sing a song tonight, maybe tomorrow. His reply "I'll pay you a dollar." Ryan's a funny kid.

Sydney, Do you want energy?

Finally Friday. Tonight I put the kids to bed. After I left the room, I stood at the door for a few minutes. Sydney was being noisy and Ryan said, "Sydney, do you want energy." Sydney replied with, "Yeah" Ryan said, "Then go to sleep." Two seconds later, Sydney was still being noisy and Ryan said, "Sydney, do you want to be a grown-up." Sydney replied with, "Yeah" Ryan said, "Then go to sleep." Of course that didn't stop Sydney. Finally Ryan gave up and said. "Well Sydney, you aren't going to be a grown up then."

The Negotiator

Ryan is becoming quite the negotiator. Last night after dinner, Deni mentioned that Ryan needed a haircut. He immediately declined. Deni offered him a quarter if he would sit still and let her cut his hair. Ryan thought about it for a second, as he said "hmmmm" and put his finger to his chin. He looked at Deni and put his hand up, fingers outstretched and said "5 quarters."

Since he is turing 5 next month, he has been using the number 5 quite often. No matter what Deni did, he wouldn't budge from 5 quarters. After hearing them go back and forth a few times, I decided to step in and pay the other 4 quarters, so Deni could give him a haircut. After the haircut, when we gave him the quaters, he immediately went to his whale bank and deposited them. There are quite a few quarters in his whale "piggy" bank. I'm sure he has been picking up loose change since we moved in to my parents house and depositing it into his piggy bank.

Mom and Dad left for the Berger family reunion up in Idaho. We didn't go since it was going to be an 8 hr drive for a one day reunion, plus it seems as if we have been going and going and going the last couple of weeks. So we are alone in the house for a few days. It is wierd that next week we will have a house again. Hopefully after we move in, things will settle down and things will get back to normal.

Seven Peaks with the kids

I went to Seven Peaks tonight with the kids, while Deni had a night out by herself shopping. We got to Seven Peaks about 6:30pm. We went to right to the "Cave In" ride with a double tube. After waiting inline for about 15 minutes, we got to the front of the line and the lady wouldn't let me on the ride with 2 kids. So I turned around to leave and tried to fight my way back through the line when I was called back and there were 2 single tubes that she said I could ride down. So I rode down with a reluctant Sydney, while Ryan came down the slide by himself. Since "Cave In" is completely black on the ride down, I thought Ryan might not like it by himself, however I was wrong. Ryan said "Dad, I went around and around and around." He thought it was pretty cool that he was able to ride the slide all by himself. From there we went to the Lazy river. Ryan said "Yeah Lazy River, Lazy River." Can you guess what Sydney said. "Yeah Lazy wriver, yeah." Rode the Lazy River around once, then off to the wave pool. The wave pool was fun and I survived with both kids by myself.

After I got home, I started reading a book called The Utah Goldrush, which is a book about the Lost Rhoades Mines, which are supposedly massive gold mines up in the Uinta Mountains. I heard some amazing stories last night about the Uinta Mountains last night and thought I would give this a read before I head up there the 2nd week of August. I'm sure I won't be able to read the whole book by the time I go, but thought I would start to see if I could get any insight/stories about the Uintas.

Our new house

For those of you that don't know. We bought a house in Spanish Fork, UT. We will be moving in to our new home the first week of August (probably the 4th and 5th) We will continue to have the same Springville phone number we have had for the last 5 yrs. Email us at bergerbr gmail com if you want our new physical address.

It might take us a while to get settled in, as I'm leaving Aug 8th to go on a week long camping trip as a leader for a Scout Group. I will be gone for 5-6 days, so I'm going to get all our stuff moved to the new house then leave. Poor Deni. However, once we get settled in, we will have family and friends over to visit.

Bathtime

I really like this pic and thought I would share.

Dinner time

We went camping last weekend (7/22 and 7/23/05) up Payson Canyon to Maple Lake. Sydney loved camping.   I think the thing she liked the most was that she didn't have to take a bath.   It appears from this picture that she ate ketchup and coals for dinner. 

Zoto and Blogger accounts

Created a Zoto account today to share pictures. Thought I would test this out.