Fun with a Box

Obviously, it was a bit hot outside



Of course, we had a window for our box house.



Riley decorating the exterior

Corban and Riley hitting the back side of the house

As you can see, we had hours of fun with our "box house" Corban, Riley, and Vincent all play together quite often. So they all had a blast coloring their new house. Of course the square footage was not quite compatable to the needs of 3 small children, so I got out the duct tape and taped the flaps of the lid together to give em' atleast and extra square foot :)

They had tons of fun until the house was flooded just a couple of days ago. So until someone buys something in a really big box.... it was fun while it lasted!

Trip to Clifton!

I think when we come to visit, this is my dad's favorite part!



Josh and Sam hit it right off. Look at that smile!


I love this! Riley had been rolling all over Sam in the floor. When I told her to settle down, look who got the guilty look. Ha I am sure this is the first of many...

I loved this picture. Look familiar? That is so Sarah, Hannah, Leah and I with Grandaddy Wayne. Since we were very sternly told NOT to ask for food, we didn't. We just stood there watching him eat and lets face it, who can resist?

Well, not my father :)

Lovely Leah and Sir Samuel!

Dara, Greg, and I

Ebu, Pac and their adopted grandkids

Us on the way to Hannah's dorm. Ha, love you girls!

Hannah and Leah before the game.

Hannah and I before the game. GO CUBS!

This is the only picture we had of her standing still and smiling in her oh-so-cute outfit (thanks mom) I don't have any idea where she gets it...

LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture.

My mom and Sam. He wasn't to sure about he Pep Rally that week.

Me and the kids

We had a GREAT trip to Clifton a few weeks ago. This time I finally got some pictures! (cough)

Anyways, the trip was two fold. It was in part to see my family, go to the game, see Hannah's dorm room etc. But it was also to see Greg and Dara before they left to go to Singapore. As a matter of fact, due to the delay in this post, they are in the air right now flying that way. Dara will be back to tie up some loose ends, but that was the last time to see Greg for a while.

-Ebu and Pac, we love you SO much! Thank you for loving on my kids like your own and for loving me like a daughter. I can't wait til Ryne can fly us all to Singapore.... :)

My visit with my family was wonderful too. However, it was slightly different not having Hannah at the house. Although we did get to see her! We had a WONDERFUL meal for Labor Day. (Thanks pioneer women) I just wish I could have gotten a picture because it was beautiful! Yum!

Honey and Preacher, thank you so much for letting us come and visit. We all love you and can't wait to see you again.

-Oh and on this trip Riley started saying "Preacher, Honey, Cait, and Hannah" (We already had down some of the other aunts) Yah for an expanding vocabulary!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!

Riley LOVES to play with the rocks at the park. We just have to make sure that she doesn't eat the rocks :)


Riley and Sam both LOVE the swings. I love this picture of all four swinging!

Heres Sam chillin in the swing.

I love how infectious (sp?) Sam's grin is.

I am not sure why, but I really like this picture. I think it is because I love how Riley can do anything and Sam will laugh!

While they were here we even got to go feed the ducks at the pond. If there hadn't been so many ants, it would have been perfect!

This is probably Sam's favorite sleeping position: in someone's arms!

This is a few weeks late, but we were so excited that Ryne's parents got to come down and visit for a weekend. Thank you SO much for coming to see us. We love and miss you. We had a great time!

My very first Apple Pie!

I was so excited to attempt to make my first homemade apple pie! (crust and all) My friend Angie gave me this WONDERFUL pie crust recipe and Ryne likes apple pie, so it seemed like a good fit! I have not attempted a two crust pie yet but it is on my to do list. So instead those are "crumbs" on the top. (brown sugar and flour cut into some butter) I forgot to take a picture of the final product but it sure did taste good! Since then I have already made another pie and I even attempted my first chocolate pie this past Sunday. I think I am starting to fall in love with pies...

Some things that make me happy...

Ryne received a promotion at work and he now is a "black shirt". This happened a while ago but I am just so proud of him. He is always working so hard to provide for us and I was glad to see that was being noticed on the work end as well. You're my favorite Team Leader Ryne! I LOVE YOU!


Riley and Sam have been SO much fun. It is so amazing to see the way that they play together and can make each other laugh. I feel so blessed that Ryne and I can work out our schedules so that I can enjoy my children instead of paying a sitter. The older that Sam gets, the more that they do together. I love when I hear them talking to each other in the mornings before I go into their room. I love how Riley gives Sam a big kiss each night before she goes to bed. My heart is running over with Joy!

There is Always a Good excuse...

First of all I want to apologize because there has been SO many wonderful things that have happened in the past 6 weeks, but because I haven't posted in what seems like forever, none of them will get the proper attention. Also, the pictures below are in no particular order, I was just trying to put up some pics from the past couple weeks.

Well excuse #1 is that I had lost Ryne's camera and therefore could not upload pictures. Now I don't know about you, but I think posts need pictures! Excuse #2 is that even after I found the camera we have been SO busy I just haven't had time. However, here are a few of the things that have been going on here at the Bergren Household...

• We celebrated our first 4th of July as a family of 4! We tried really hard to get some good pictures but I guess we will just have to try again next year.
• We were VERY spoiled because we got to see my family almost every week in July! First of all we all went home for the 4th and then we all stayed because Ryne went with my dad on a Grace of Giving food run and we stayed behind to visit with my mom and the girls. Ryne had SO many good things to say about his trip with my dad; however, due to some technical difficulties, we have no pictures to show from the trip.
• We had a great trip up to Marshall, TX (we being: me, Sam, Riley, Hannah, Leah and my Mom) then we dropped Leah off and the rest of us headed back to Longview.
• It was SUPER to have both my mom and Hannah here with me. I LOVE YOU GUYS!
• Then Ryne and my dad got home and came up here to Longview.
• We all enjoyed and AWESOME Texas Baptist All-State Band and Choir performance that Leah was in that Sunday!
• We also squeezed in a great couple of days in Atlanta, TX at GG and GGP's new house. We got to visit with Aunt DD, Uncle Jimmy, Krystal and Pap too. We can't wait to go back.
• My cousin Rachel from VIRGINIA flew down to spend a couple of days with me!!! Thanks for coming. We LOVED having you here. I felt so special that you wanted to come and see me.
• Then we headed to Detroit, TX where all of my Grandmothers children and their spouces were there. We had a great time. We were just a few short of haveing ALL the family together. It was great!!
• Then we all headed to the Dallas area for our family reunion. We hadn't been there in atleast 5 years. It was so great to visit with family and to show off my kids. Ryne couldn't be with us but he was definately missed.
• My mom came home with us after the reunion. (You can come any time. It was great having you here)
• That next Monday, my grandfather had surgery on his rotator cuff. (that is why mom mom was here) Thanks to some great friends, I got to go and be with my Aunt Debbie, Grandmother and my mom while he was having surgery. Everything went really well and now he is recoving. Praise the Lord!
• Oh did I mention that Ryne and I had an anniversary somewhere in there? Thats right. Another year down and a lifetime to go. We had a GREAT day. Once again, some great friends helped out with the kids so that we could spend the day together. I love you Ryne. I can't imagine my life without you. You are the best!
• Then we were lucky to have some of the Midlothian crew come and visit us. I tell you, they are the best group of friends. We love you all so much and can't wait to see you again!
• Caitlin even got to come and stay with us for a few days!! Riley is even really close to saying "cait" Thanks for coming. We love you SO much!

Well that is just a few things. You can see why I have been so busy!

Life won't be slowing down here any time soon though. We both start school in less than a week. I am going to a WOF conference this week, Ryne's birthday is this weekend, and we have another guest coming to see us!

Hopefully it wont be so long before I post again but do continue to watch because there is something really neat that I/we have been working on and I will tell everyone about it real soon!