Oh, yeah...Easter!

Knitting is not my Forte (and onions)

A while ago my mom gave my a kit to knit some baby booties and a hat. Everything was included, even a video. I guess it was too advanced for me because it turned out waaaaay too small. My mom ended up taking all the materials and re-doing it for me. She is a pro with anything handmade, so I knew it would turn out awesome. Turns out that Aaron loves the results! He loves to wear his little bear hat and slippers.

Mom, these are for you!

He can put it on all by himself!

By the way, this little guy LOVES to eat raw onions!

18 Months old!

Here are the official photos courtesy of JCPenney! They always seem to do a good job, and for around $30 I can get all the shots I want. Sounds like a commercial, doesn't it? It's simply because in the past I have spent waaaay too much $$$ on photos for my kids, so I am justly proud of my frugality.

The only hard part is getting him to smile and stay put. He's such a momma's boy that he freaks out a little if I put him down somewhere unfamiliar, with someone unfamiliar trying to interact with him. We can see that tenacity prevailed.

Easter Egg Hunts and Cuteness

Okay, so I didn't get any photos of them actually looking for the eggs. Aaron would freak out every time I left his side. So I took a few pics around the actual event. Our ward had an East Egg Hunt eventfor the primary children, hosted by a family in the ward who had an excellent lawn for a hunt. It was a gorgeous sunny morning, albeit a bit chilly.
The little guy didn't leave my side for an instant, pretty much. But he had fun trying to put the eggs in his elmo basket. (Which I bought cheap after easter last year!)
Elena wouldn't even look up at the camera for fear her hoard of eggs would disappear. Yes, our kids are fans of the seasonal hunt and harvest. Especially if candy is involved!

Just a random shot from a day at the park.

Now here we have Daddy and son, both wearing the exact same jumper. Who knew kids' clothing couldn't last 33 years? Healthtex brand, everyone.


This picture makes him look so grown up!

Slideshow

Here's a link to a slideshow to just a few pictures of Jason. Yes, they have finally arrived!

http://family.webshots.com/slideshow/570639723GTwiVn

You may have to copy and paste it to a new window. Otherwise, if you scroll all the way to the bottom you can view the slideshow as well.

No More Sickies!

After two weeks of pukes, coughs, and so on; having visited the doctor 5 times, and the ER once for a chest x-ray, we can finally say there are no more sickies in our house! Yay! We had a rough patch there for a while. Elena's flu developed into pneumonia, and she dropped several pounds, reaching Aaron's weight. Not good! But we ended up with the right kind if antibiotics that finally nipped it in the bud. Take off, eh! Aaron never got as bad as she was, and never lost his appetite. (Not surprising, as he's known lovingly by all as "the Moose". He's a solid kid.)

Here we are at the doctor's office one last time- just to make sure we're all better, and for Aaron's 18 month check-up as well. One fell swoop. They were playing with the table together and it was so cute, and I was trying to get it on film, but whevener I get out the camera, they immediately are drawn to it. Hams. Maybe I need to learn to be more discreet...I thought it was cute enough to share, anyway. And all can see that the kids are alive and well!

The Last Image

Here is a short video I took of the three kids playing the morning we left Reno on New Years' Day. The cousins of course were oblivious to the fact that they were about to be separated. Little did we know, even more significantly, that I would be catching my brother on video for the last time. It's only ever so brief, when Elena notices Jason and calles his name and I pan over to the right.

I wish I would have kept the camera on him longer.

Aaron just cracks me up with his drama. He's always been this way. I don't know why! It's just how he came out of the box, so to speak.

The kiddos are having a jolly good time running in circles and playing along to morbid nursery rhymes. But they sure have fun together!

That morning our flight left around noonish, and Jason got up to hug us all good-bye, even though he had been up late with friends the night before, celebrating the new year. I will forever be grateful that he did, because I will treasure that last hug.

Miss you, Jason!

p.s. We finally upgraded our internet! Now I can put on all thepics and videos my heart desires!

p.p.s. Still waiting on the pictures!

Noreasters and Hats

Yep, this last monday we got 8 inches and it blew a nasty cold wind in your face if you ventured outside within the following 24 hours. They call that a "Nasty Nor-Easter" in this part of the country, because the storm came up from the carolinas and headed "Nor-east". I was so overzealous in having my kids experience the snow that they both caught a nasty virus. Good job, Mommy. The past two days I must have changed pukey bed linens 5 times. It's getting quite tiresome to say the least. The snow sure was beautiful, though. (From inside.) That having been said, I am itching for Spring weather. We all have a bit of cabin fever, and I am so ready to get started on my garden. If only I could figure out a way to keep the vermine out. Pesky groundhogs!


Here's just a random snapshot of my two little dirty yet adorable hooligans. Aaron really does look up to his big sister.

Now, to the hats category. I was working on the computer one night and I glanced over at Jim who was randomly wearing this on his head. It's one of the kiddy chairs. It caught me so off guard that of course it made me laugh and I had to take a picture. (Sorry, Jim.)




Also, I've been trying to give Spring subliminal messages by getting out some of the spring clothes for the kids. Elena loved this little hat and refused to take it off for a while.




As part of the very beginning stages of our potty training efforts, we have started to teach Elena about underwear. In the past she's just been wearing it over her diaper, but I found her putting a pair on over her jammies and I thought it was quite hilarious.





Take note of this old couch in the background because it's all gone now! Next time you'll see our brand new aesthetically pleasing couch that will match our room theme, unlike this ratty old couch. But, it has had a good run. Couch, here's to you!


A special thanks to freecycle.org for providing us a way to pass it on to another family who needed it.

Family Tragedy

I have been putting off this post for some time for several reasons. Firstly, because I want to have the right words to express the range of emotions I have gone through lately, and secondly, because I have been waiting for some pictures to be sent to me from some of the events that I would like to post about.

Many of you who read this blog already know what happened in my family exactly 30 days ago on January 6th. (A heartfelt "thank you" to all who have expressed your love and condolences for my family.) My baby brother Jason Bergam passed away due to accidental causes, and my mom found him in his room the next day on January 7th. Only a day before he was to turn 24 years young. I am not even going to get into any details, out of respect for my family and especially for Jason. Besides, they don't even matter. All we know is he didn't suffer. That's enough for me.

I loved my brother so very much and this hit me so hard. I will make a post later on about his life and personality once I receive some of his life pictures. I am waiting on a CD to be sent from home. I wanted at this point to share just a little bit of the funeral and family gatherings that came as a result of this tragedy.

It was held on January 14th at the Robb Drive chapel in Reno, NV- right across from the high school that I and all my siblings had attended. The same building where I grew up going to seminary every morning, where I later on had my own wedding reception, and where we had all just attended a ward Christmas party (and the entire ward was sick with the flu the following week). Who would have thought that just a few weeks later...

My brother Dan, who is a graphic genius, edited and airbrushed hundreds of photos for our display at the service. Including this one we had blown up to a 16x20. It was also the one used for his obituary and program. What a handsome guy! (I recall pointing that out about him as well in my last post...)



This particular photo was taken just over Christmas with all of us together. Dan was able to take my arm I had around Jason digitally. Simply amazing. Technology these days. I put all the finished photos together into two collages so people could see his life. Here's a bit of what the displays looked like.



We also had some digital frames with slideshows of him growing up- from baby to high school graduate. Mostly the school pics.



The service was indescribable. It was so full of comfort, hope, and people! It is a smaller chapel, but still there must have been several hundred people there come to show their support. We have a large extended family, so the reserved family section was pretty big. It was amazing how many cousins travelled hundreds, even thousands of miles to be there. I had family drive from Texas, Utah, Arizona, California. And others who flew from Alaska, Virginia and even Guam! The support displayed was so unbelievable. You could just feel the love in the room as people in the family had a chance to share memories of him, and many shared their witness of the reality of Jesus Christ's Atonement. It was a service filled with hope and confirmation that ours is a fragile existence, but we have the perspective that it doesn't end here. Death is not the end. We got so many comments from all sorts of people that it was the best funeral they had ever been to. Of course it helps that there were many musical numbers performed (music was Jason's life), including my Dad's. I don't know how he was able to do that.

Afterwards we went to the cemetary for the final service and dedication of the grave. (My parents bought a plot right next to his.) A lot of people came there too, as we had another short service where his friends and family friends were given the opportunity to say something as well. I have a few pictures from that event.



Some of the handsome pall-bearers. They were all cousins and family. We had ten in all.



This is the entire group from behind. I was able to videotape what went on there, which I am grateful for. This is only a portion of the people who attended the actual funeral service. A few of his friends spoke here. They loved him so much. We laughed a lot too because Jason was such a goofball. He was mostly known for his big old smile, but most especially for his hair. In fact, that was a nickname- "Hair". He was always experimenting. Lately it had been short and straight, but at our wedding it was long, poofy and curly. He was blessed with some great hair. Maybe I'll do a collage of that sometime. I was honored to have been the one to make sure his hair was done just right for the viewing.



The back of the group, closer up. It was such a warm and gorgeous day for mid-january. We hardly needed a jacket!



Here's my Dad speaking again in, as is usual, deep and profound words. It seemed to me that he was often doing the comforting when it should have been the opposite. But that's his kind and generous nature. A very selfless man to whom I look up to and admire for his strength and wisdom. He sang "O Sole Mio" as they were lowering his casket so we all wouldn't have to listen to the sound of the cranks in silence. He mostly did it for my mom.



Elena got another chance to wear her Christmas dress (since she was sick on Christmas). She ran amuck whilst the ceremony ensued. She kept sitting at random gravesites and inspecting trinkets left, smelling all the flowers- real and fake. She had fun doing that with her cousin Jackson. Some kind family members kept track of them while I taped. We stuck around until they put the sod down and put the gravemarker in. This was the final result:





I was so glad to have been able to be there for ten days and be with family to mourn together and to help each other heal. That time with family will forever be priceless to me. As family and dear friends left one by one, we all felt a great sense of urgency to keep in touch better and to be more a part of one anothers' lives. There were many comments on how unfortunate it is to have events like these to get the family together. So, many plans were made.

I will post more about my brother soon, with many many photos. He is an awesome person that I want to share with everyone. I feel like everyone should know him! So stay tuned...

Christmas in Reno

Phew!

We somehow survived the cross-country flight from Baltimore to Reno. We had two stops along the way, but first I have to say that I am never doing a 7am flight EVER again. The airport shuttle van picked us up just before 5 am, and the kids were NOT too happy to be woken up. Anyway, it all seems so long ago now. I remember we waited an hour on the tarmac to be de-iced before we even left BWI. It was no big deal though, since we were to have a 3 hour layover in Kansas City. So, that wait was a little less. But not much less. We had to wait there as well to be de-iced. All the flights were full as well- no elbow room at all. As Jim likes to call it "butt-cheek to butt-cheek". The worst part is the KC airport is so pudunk that you have to go through security just to get to your next gate. Jim hated that! Imagine having to go through that twice in one day with two wriggly toddlers. Then we stopped in Phoenix too, but we didn't have to get off, thank goodness. We finally made it to Reno after 8 pm. (11 pm our time) The kids were way too excited to go to sleep.

It was so worth it, though. We had a great two weeks in Reno.

I think the influenza virus has morphed into a bigger monster than anyone's immune system in the world has been up against. Everyone I know was sick over Christmas. We all got it in Reno. In fact, the entire ward had it right after the ward party. A lovely one-day flu. From what I hear, people across the country had to deal with stuff. A one-day epidemic! Luckily, we all took turns being sick so we could take turns taking care of each other. But nobody was sick on Christmas! What a blessing!

Christmas eve we had our traditional program, where everyone shares something, be it a story a song or whatever. Here's my dad playing the guitar. Even the little bitty ones joined in when Grandpa played twinkle, twinkle- which could be construed as a Christmas song! My bro Jason is on the left. You can't tell from the picture, but ladies- he's a hottie! (Only if you're available, of course.)



Elena wanted to sit in her carseat in its travel bag for our program. Funny kid. Probably really comfy, though...



Here are the three cousins on Christmas Eve. From left to Right is Aaron (15months), Elena (29 months) and Jackson (28 months at the time). Looking a mite sleepy, aren't we?


And here's the beautiful 16-foot high Christmas Tree. It produced many mystified oohs and aahs from the kids.

Aaron and Daddy.

This was our table setting on Christmas Eve. Sorry it's so blurry. It was so fun to have all my siblings present (there are 4 of us). And my sister's little family too. Harold and cousin Jackson. We're still waiting for my two bros to find significant others.

We woke up nice and late at 9 am on Christmas day. Yippee! We are relishing the Christmases when we can sleep in, for we know that won't last much longer! Here are a few of us opening gifts Christmas day. Doesn't Aaron look like that baby from the Labrynth? "You remind me of the babe..."


Elena got a baby doll whose eyes close when she's laying down. She thought it was so cool. She ran off to the stairs once it was open to examine it all alone where nobody could bother her.


Then she pretended to sleep too. So cute!


So much cool new stuff!
We also awoke Christmas Day to a foot or so of snow. At the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains this is not uncommon, however it has been quite some time since there has been a white Christmas. So, Jim wanted some exercise later on when all the unwrapping was done. Even though nobody had to go anywhere he wanted to shovel the snow off the driveway. Elena wanted to go out too. She LOVED the snow!



She loved grabbing handfuls of it and throwing it in the air to make it snow again. Aaron, on the other hand, HATED it.



'Nuff said.



Here's my attempt at a magical windowpane photo with the snow sticking to it. Until I have a camera that costs a million dollars, that's the best I can do. By the time we left on New Years' Day all the snow was pretty much gone and the temperature was in the high 50's. I quite enjoyed that, even thought the snow was nice.

This was pretty long so thanks for sticking with me!

To be continued....