Happy 4th!

Every year, I think "We're going to keep the 4th a simpler holiday this year. It shouldn't have to feel so chaotic." Aaaand then it ends up being CRAZY. This year, we drove to Pocatello on the 3rd to stay with our friends Dustin and Cami in their beautiful new house. Dustin is one of the M7 boys, and they've been our neighbors ever since we got married, so we're missing them a TON. (Now who am I supposed to borrow powdered sugar from at 10 PM when I randomly decide to make a cake??)

We went to the Pocatello parade in the morning, and tried our best not to melt away. It was HOT.

Levi's tradition is that you HAVE to go swimming on the 4th. So we found a spot on the river that was semi-shaded (although extremely dusty), ate our pizza, and then Cami and I decided we were done sweating to death. ...Plus, that water looked like you would probably start glowing green if you swam in it too long. So she and I packed up little Hadli, and went back to her house to take a nap while everyone else swam. :) THAT should be one of my 4th of July traditions... napping.... it's Patriotic right?

When everyone was finally together again, we had our usual M7 Independence Day BBQ, and then Levi and I jetted up to Mom's to watch the Menan fireworks. The kids were so excited that we made it in time.

Zane couldn't stand still long enough for a non-blurry picture.
Sparklers are just too exciting!

Our plan was to stay the night with Mom and Dad, and then come home, but what's the use of being young if you can't be spontaneous? Deciding that it would be a great weekend to go camping, we left Mom's at 11:30 PM Thursday night, made it home at 2 AM, and left the next day to go camping. It was definitely worth it though.

A thunderstorm rolled over us as we were cooking dinner, but other than that the weather was beautiful!

 

Holidays!!

Our friends all decided we should get together for a Halloween party this year, & it ended up being at our house. No biggie, until Levi said, "We're having a Halloween party! You can't have a party without decorations!!" And so... we decorated! 

I'm figuring out that all it takes to have a successful party is food and access to YouTube.
The boys were entertained for hours.

And then Thanksgiving was here! We spent the holiday in Arbon, giving our thanks and stuffing ourselves with Levi's fam. That evening, I was able to electronically be with all of my family at once! My uncle and his family flew to Oregon from Georgia, and so we all Skyped! We had Georgia Berrys (Mike's family), Oregon Berrys (the grandparents, Lloyd's clan, and Melinda's bunch), Nebraska Berrys (Mum and the kids - Dad does not Skype), and me - the Idaho/Utah Berry-Nutt.

This was the first time we've all "been together" since Levi and I got married. My heart was so full!

And then came Christmas!! We wanted to surprise Morgan and Zane, so we left Logan at 3 AM (yes, as in 0300 hours!) on Sunday morning and drove all the way to Nebraska in a snowstorm, so that we could hide in their rooms before they came home from church. So worth it! I WISH I had a picture of the looks on their faces when they found us.

Before we left UT, Levi and I had our own Christmas and opened all of our presents from each other. (We thought about waiting until we got back on Christmas night. And then we laughed and laughed and said "Yeah right!")

Yes, that is a "Santa-wrapped" present. I was pretty proud
of how it turned out!!

 

This was the first time since I graduated high school that I've gotten to be with my parents and the kids on Christmas. We had so much fun! 

We got up extra early Christmas morning to open presents, and then Dad had to go take care of the cows and we had to head back to Utah, so Levi could return to work the next day. We were hopeful that SOMEDAY we wouldn't have to take these lightening trips across dreary Wyoming to windy Nebraska to see my family....

 

 

  

We rang in the New Year with our friends out in Arbon, as we learned the joys of the "Just Dance" Wii games. I don't think I've laughed that hard in YEARS!

 

 

 

It's Independence Day!

Between the Patriotism, fireworks, sunshine, barbeques, swimming, parades, and potato salad, 4^th of July is easily my 2^nd favorite holiday, right behind Christmas.

With work and our callings and everything, I ALMOST forgot to paint my toes to match the holiday! Could have been a disaster.

Thank heavens for a long lunch break on the 3rd!

I’d never been to a fireworks show before, like IN the actual venue, so we got tickets to go to Logan’s show on July 3^rd and boy was it worth it!

All the Boy Scouts and Color Guard with their flags

 



We got to sit with Jenna and Skylar (aka Snowman)!

Before the fireworks, there was a concert by Kansas. Had I heard of them before? No. (They were a little before my time. Like by at least a decade.) BUT I did recognize a few of the songs. And for old guys, they sure could sing.

And then once it was finally completely dark...

FIREWORKS!



And for the first time I actually managed to get the Grand Finale on video. WOOT!

It was fantastic! I’ve never been able to smell the smoke or been covered in firework ash before. We couldn’t even get a good after picture because the smoke was so thick in the stadium.

And then Wednesday morning we all got up super early to go watch the parade out in Lewiston, UT. Levi was so cute in his Schwabs uniform :D

Then we had a barbeque with friends and went swimming until the fireworks in Lewiston that night. Definitely NOT as great of a show. But still fun to pack a bunch of friends into the back of our truck and watch them J

Jett had lots of fun playing with Baby Hadli. We have so much fun being with the M7 nieces :)



Is she not adorable beyond belief? We call her Boo, like the little girl on Monsters Inc. :)



Happy Independence Day!!

"SAAAAANNNNTAAA!!!! I know him, I know him!"

Even though we got married a week before Christmas last year, this feels like our first Christmas since we were opening all of our wedding presents and getting our new apartment put together last Christmas. This year we stayed home and opened presents all morning and then went to Lewiston to eat with Levi’s family and talk to Braden, our missionary brother.

Santa sure spoiled us this year!

A few things under the tree included:

New boots for me, in brown. So that my toes won't freeze on Sundays anymore. :)

And another pair of church shoes in black. Levi has EXCELLENT taste!

And he surprised me with an iPod too. Woot!!

I knew Levi really wanted a new coat for Christmas, but wasn’t sure if he wanted black or brown. So… I got one in brown:

<><> <><> <><>

(Mom says it's his race car driver coat. Ü I think it reminds me more of Wolverine though.)

And one in black. Nicer, for church and things.

(Picture soon.)

Levi has also been wishing for a nice frame pack to take hunting & hiking for a long time. Santa found one on Amazon thankfully, where there were lots of reviews and tips to help pick one that he’d like:

As you can tell, he was so excited that he had to try it on right away. Just to make sure it fit. I don't think it really goes with the bathrobe though. ;)

After opening up all the other wonderful gifts from our family and each other, the aftermath sure wasn't pretty...

Luckily my husband's OCD kicked in and the house was clean in minutes so we could enjoy the rest of the day with family and talking to Braden in Mexico! So thankful for the Christmas season. :)

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We also were fortunate enough to go to Island Park with several friends for New Years! It was a GREAT time! The boys rolled and played in the snow, the girls watched movies, everyone cooked and played games. What more could you ask for? Thanks to Colton and Brandie for the invite!! Hopefully soon I’ll be able to get some of the pictures off our camera; today it does not want to cooperate. Happy New Year to all!

We live in a Christmas House!!

Levi strongly believes that Christmas belongs only in the month of December, no sooner, and no later. This year though, I broke down his defenses and we started decorating the day after Thanksgiving. :D As we hung silver garland strands around our living room and dining room, I heard him singing “We live in a Christmas house, we live in a Christmas house!”

We even bought stockings this year, hung over the TV with care.

Last year I just did silver and red decorations since most of the wedding presents under our tree were wrapped in similar colors. Levi really wanted blue ornaments though, so this year our Arbon tree ended up looking pretty Patriotic.

To go along with the Christmassy sights, we had to add taste and smells. My absolute FAVORITE cookie recipe this year is for Caramel Apple Sugar Cookies. I drool just looking at these pictures…

That recipe will soon be posted too. It’s too good not to share!

We are SO ready for Santa to come!