T-ball for Ryan

Deni signed Ryan up for T-ball this year. When I was 10 or so, I played Baseball and really disliked it, however Deni grew up playing softball and really wanted Ryan to try out T-ball.

Check out this sprint home. He's not even touching the ground!



With Ryan's age group, they had one practice, got their team shirts and hats and a schedule for the bi-weekly games (no more practices). Ryan is on the Silverhawks. He seemed to favor his left hand for batting, so he is officially a left handed batter. His bi-weekly games are for 50 minutes. No score is kept, no one can really get out, and all the kids are allowed to bat till the everyone has batted, then they switch. This continues on till the 50 minute time limit has run out.

Tonight was Ryan's first game. He was so excited. He did lots of jumping in place and other movements that constitute the excitement of a 5 yr old.

Here are a few pictures of Ryan batting.





He was fun to watch. He was more concerned about the birds or airplanes overhead than he was witht he ball, but it was fun to watch him and share in his excitement.

Ryan Graduates Kindergarten

Today was Ryan's official last day of Kindergarten. All the Kindergarten classes got together and had a 30-45 minute presentation of songs they had learned. I took off work for an hour to come see the presentation. Grandma and Grandpa Berger came too. It was fun to see him up on the stage with his class.

After the "graduation" Deni thought it would be appropriate to take Ryan out to lunch. We went to Carl's Jr, Ryan's Favorite.

Next year Ryan will be in 1st grade. They just built a brand new elementary school close to our house that Ryan will be attending. They just finished it about 2 weeks ago. Because of the school change, Ryan will be losing some of the friends he made in Kindergarten this year, but I'm sure he will make new friends within minutes.

Shew fly, Don't bother me.

At dinner this evening there was a fly bothering us at the kitchen table. It was bothering Sydney more than anyone and she was starting to get angry. I finally said to her, "Sydney, say Shew fly, don't bother me." She waited a second and then said, "Don't bother me, Shoefly."

6yrs with Novell

As I got into work this morning, I have the following email in my inbox.

Dear Brett,

Congratulations on your 6 year anniversary with Novell! We would like to take this opportunity to recognize your contributions since your service date of May 1, 2000

Sincerely,

The team at Novell

It doesn't feel like I have been at Novell for that long, but Deni was pregnant with Ryan when I started and Ryan is almost 6. Time flies.

Tour de Salem

It's official. Deni's got a new bike! Not any bike, but a Trek Pilot 2.1

Last year this time, Deni was preparing for her first triathlon.

After competing in the 2005 Salem triathlon, I've heard Deni say a number of times that "it was the best day of her life." (of course excluding her wedding day to me). Last year, Deni had planned on riding her mountain in the triathlon, however she called Mad Dog Cycles in Orem and borrowed a road bike for the race. Since then, she has wanted a road bike. Finally her dream came true. Now that she has a fancy road bike, I've told her that she has to improve her time from last year, or we have to take it back. She's excited about the bike. I've ridden it a few times as well, it is much faster than my old moutnain bike.

March is gone.

I've been slacking. The last post I had was end of Feb.

I've been off of the blog as my hands/arms have been hurting me, however I'm on my way to recovery through quite a few massage sessions.

Hardware Ranch

Mom and dad took our whole extended family, except for my brother, Shane - which doesn't live in UT, to Hardware Ranch today. Hardware Ranch, is a ranch where hundreds of wild elk come down each winter to feed. It is about 20-30 minutes south of Logan, Utah.

We met my parents in Springville just after 8am, as they were riding with us. We left around 8:30am from Springville and headed North. We got to Hardware Ranch about 11:30am.



We took a ride out on a horse drawn wagon. Since there wasn't much snow left, they were using wagons instead of Sleds, but it still had two huge horses to pull us right through the middle of the elk herd.



Both kids thought the elk were pretty cool. Espically to get so close to them in the wild.



I was amazed that the elk just stood there and didn't run. It took us about 10 minutes to drive out in the middle of the Elk herd and back. The driver of the wagon would stop for a minute or two and explain something about the elk, such as their antlers, etc.



After we got back, the kids petted the horses.



We took our heavy winter clothing, thinking there was going to be alot of snow and that it would also be really cold, however the weather was nice. We probably should have had sunblock on instead of a heavy winter jacket.



We stopped at Burger King on the way home and ate lunch. After lunch we headed back home. After a quick stop at Stefanie's, we were on our way home.

Snow day

This last week I have been working a odd schedule. I work from 5pm till 1am (at home), then I'm on call from 1am till 8am the next morning. Since I work at home this week, I go to bed at the normal time (10-11pm) and sleep with my cell and am expected to answer it if it rings (how fun...). Knock on wood, I haven't been woken up this week. Not bad, as it has almost been a week since I started the schedule. Tonight is the last day. I get rid of the schedule at 8am tomorrow morning.

Working this odd schedule has allowed me to be home during the day and spend time with the family, which has been alot of fun. When it started snowing yesterday, I planned on taking the kids sleding, however it was very windy, cold and quite stormy, so we postponed till today. At our house we got at least 8 inches of snow over the last 2 days (more like 10-12 inches) I'm glad we did, as it was a perfect day for being outside and playing in the snow. The sun was out, there was no wind and tempature was above freezing.

Deni and I took turns sleding with the kids. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today.

Happy Birthday to me...

"Brett, you held out as long as you could, 9 yrs isn't bad. You've made it longer than most."

Today, we finally bought a mini van. (sniff) Not just any mini-van, but a '05 Toyota Sienna LE. We bought it used, but it is in great shape and will be a great vehicle for our family. (No more cramped long drives - yeah.) I guess it is Deni's birthday present to me (grin). I can't wait till Deni's birthday, so I can get me a new car. Ok - so it just happened that we picked it up today. It's not my birthday present.



Today is my 31st birthday though. It's odd to think I'm 31. My mom sent me a picture the other day of when I went to Philmont Scout Ranch as a teenager. I think I was 16 in the picture. Amazing it has been 15 yrs since I did that. Time is just speeding up, I guess. For my birthday, Deni got me a cool blanket. It is cool for a few reasons. It is an all weather blanket (soft fabric blanket with a water resistant shell) that zips up into carrying case. I thought it would be fun to have to go on picnics, camping, concerts, to the playground, etc. Here is Sydney modeling the blanket zipped up.

Ok, back to the van. It isn't that bad. Actually, this isn't like the mini-van's I remember growing up with. It is a really nice vehicle. Large (8 passenger), quiet, drives like a car, etc. I drove it home and got going 80 mph without realizing I was going that fast.



It is the best looking mini-van out there, in my humble opinion.



Since I was on call this weekend for work, we really didn't do much today, other than buying the car and getting me a haircut. Guess after you turn 30, it's all down hill from there (grin).

Deni's home

Ryan, Sydney and I drove to SLC Airport today to pic up Deni. We left about 11:45am, as soon as Ryan got out of school. Deni was supposed to land at 12:30, so we were pushing it to get up there in time. Both kids brought their posterboards they had made for Deni. Sydney's said "We missed you" and Ryan's said "Welcome home mom". When we got within 15 minutes of the airport, it got very quiet. I looked back and Sydney was asleep holding her posterboard. Deni called and had already gotten off the plane, so our plan of being there when she got off and holding the posterboards up wasn't going to work and with Sydney sleeping, we just drove up the to luggage area. I rolled down Ryan's window and had him hold up his posterboard as we drove up to where Deni was waiting for us. I got out to give Deni a hug and get her luggage in. Ryan's home made posterboard, colored by him, had brought tears to her eyes.

We drove home, stopped off at Wendy's for some lunch. We also stopped by and got my Canon 20D, which we had dropped off for a cleaning. There was a spot on the alot of my pictures, which apparently was some dust,dirt, or a hair. $42.50 later, it is fixed.

It is good to have Deni home. In our neighborhood, we have a man that lost his wife a few years back. He has smaller children. I thought of him a few times while Deni was gone and how hard it has to be. I'm not sure how people deal with a single parent situation, however I hope I don't ever have to deal with that. I'm glad that Deni is home with us.