The Bergmanns Be Bloggin'

Tummy time and distractions

2011-09-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Aubrey turned 4 months on Friday. Wow, really!?!?!? Sometimes I say "wow, it's only been 4 months since I gave birth?" And sometimes, I'm like "wow, she is so old."

This has been a super fun month. Aubrey is really developing and showing her personality. She is a very happy girl in general. She LOVES people and is a social butterfly. While all of her developments are fun and exciting, they are also a little bit obnoxious :). Let's start with Aubrey's new love of being on her belly. She learned to roll a little less than a month ago. Now, she insists on being on her tummy all the time. One problem with this is that she can't roll the other way, so when she is ready to flip back over, she screams. Also, she has started to flip during the night. It's a little scary to wake up and find your baby face down. This was cause for a few restless nights for mom. Also, the first 2 nights that she slept on her belly, she woke up at 3:30 and 4:00 am.; a little rough when we are used to sleeping through the night. Now, she is used to it and sleeps the whole night on her belly. We tried fighting it and flipping her onto her back at first, but it is not worth the battle. The doc says it's fine if she is flipping over on her own, then she is strong enough to handle sleeping on her belly.

Showing off her tummy skills

In addition to spending time on her tummy, Aubrey is now very distractible. This new "skill," of distraction is at it's highest while she is eating. I now refer to feedings as a "three-ring circus." If I talk, if dad walks in, if the TV is on or if the dogs make noise, she loses focus and turns to whatever is making the noise. I usually read when I feed her, but I can't even turn the page of my book without her losing focus. In order for Aubrey to eat, we must be in a quiet, dark room, and even then, she will stop eating and decide it's a good time for smiles and a conversation. So, what used to take 20 minutes now takes about an hour. Though, it's impossible to get mad about her about this, because she is so precious when she looks up at you and smiles.

Mom and Aubrey

Dad and Aubrey

Another fantastic thing is that Aubrey is starting to laugh. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it is wonderful. The thing that really makes her laugh is when you kiss her belly. Apparently, that is really funny :)

Let's see, other updates: Shots, Aubrey's first cold, becoming fascinated with the dogs, enjoys grabbing things (including mom's hair... ouch!), playing in her walker, a lot of drooling and much more.

Cutie Pie!

Aubrey until now

2011-08-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

Here is my attempt to capture the last 3 months in one blog:

Well, Aubrey was born May 16, 2011 at 12:47 a.m. Mom was in labor for 36 hours and there were some scares during the labor. Aubrey's heart rate kept slowing down and they prepared us for a C-Section. Luckily, we didn't have to do that and Aubrey entered the world screaming, which was music to our ears. She was 6lbs 15 oz (which is exactly how much mom weighed when she was born) and 19.5 in. We spent 2 nights in the hospital and learned a lot. It was so weird taking her home. I don't think we have ever driven so carefully.

Aubrey's very first picture

Mom and dad welcoming their bundle of joy

Sleepy little girl

Brand new

Ok guys, I'm ready to go home

Welcome home baby girl

This summer was full of lots of love from many visitors. Aubrey is a popular little lady.

We loved being at home with Aubrey. It's crazy what a sharp learning curve having a little one is. For awhile, it seemed like the outside world didn't exist; it felt like it was just us, our happy little fam. We were very fortunate to have people making us meals and helping us out... it made the transition so much easier.

Pretty little girl

A picture of the times. Great Grandma Cele looking at Aubrey on an i-pad

One of Aubrey's first smiles caputured on camera

Look at Aubrey holding her head up high... she's a strong one

All bundled up for a walk

Funny pic :)

Enjoying the beautiful summer nights

The whole family :)

Aubrey taking mom in

Aubrey and dad having a serious conversation

Dad's already trying to convince her to be a Cubs fan

Sleeping with her arms in the air

Mom and Aubrey at 2 weeks

Daddy's little girl

The summer was full of fun times! We took Aubrey to the mountains many times. We went to Steamboat/Craig when she was just 2 weeks old. Wow, were we crazy to do that. We also made trips to Telluride, Montrose, Glenwood Springs and Winter Park. In addition to Colorado trips, we had an adventure out to Kansas. Aubrey is a pretty good little traveler.

Aubrey's first time swimming

Hanging in the mountains with Grandma

Hanging on the lake in KS.

Passed out after getting home from KS

Enjoy a concert in the park

Now we are back at school and Aubrey spends her days at Daycare with Cindy. Aubrey is a little flirt and smiles and coos at the little boys who are at daycare with her.

Aubrey is a happy, happy girl. She loves to smile and explore the world around her. She loves being around people and one of her favorite places to be in outside. She also loves to stand and be upright. Currently, she is mastering the art of sucking her thumb. She has also rolled over both ways, but one once or twice. She squeals delightfully at her toys. Oh, and we are now going on 3 nights of her sleeping from 8 pm-6 am... woo hoo. We are blessed with a wonderful little girl and are so excited to be with her every day.

Aubrey's pouty face makes us laugh

Aubrey loves bath time, but hates getting out of the bath

Loving nature...it's her favorite

Well, there you go. 3 1/2 months wrapped up in one blog. It's impossible to capture everything that Aubrey is in words and pics, but that's my best effort.

Goodnight :)

New commitment

2011-08-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it is extremely hard to find time/energy to blog. It is the last thing we want to do at the end of a long day. However, we were just discussing the fact that keeping up with the blog will be a great way to look back on Aubrey's life. So, we are going to try to blog at least once a month.

Wish us luck in this endeavor :)

Whoa baby baby

2011-02-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

Well, almost everyone knows this already, but just in case you didn't get the memo, we are having a baby! The baby is due in about 3 months, but this is the first official blog about our bundle of joy on the way. Here's the story to this point.

We found out that we were going to have a baby in September. We were getting ready to head to Craig to see Scott and Catherine and meet their new baby girl Allison. As Ang was waiting for Chris to get home from school, she took a pregnancy test, and low and behold, it was positive. Ang surprised Chris with a card and the positive test as soon as he got home. Chris was, in a word, shocked. I believe his exact words were "I need to sit down." It took him about 3 hours (almost the whole drive to Craig) to get the wide eyed look off of his face.

Well, we kept it a secret for awhile. Ang's mom came to visit at around 6 weeks, and we did tell her and Doug. They were very excited! Then, when we were in Breckenridge at around 9 or 10 weeks, we told Chris's fam. It took Deb a couple of hours to really understand what was going on. Then, a week later, we told Ang's dad when they came to visit. So, the families all knew and we waited until after we heard the heartbeat to tell the rest of the world.

A very blurry image of our baby at 12 weeks

Ang has kind of lucked out and had a pretty easy pregnancy. The first couple of months, she was exhausted, which is typical. There was one day where she was sick, but that may have been the flu. Other then that, she's been pretty lucky.

At 20 weeks, we went in for our ultrasound and found out that we are having a little girl! We were trying to keep the sex a secret, but the ultrasound tech accidentally put the report saying it was a girl right on top of the paperwork that she handed to Ang. Oh well. The 20 week ultrasound was really cool. We got to see our little girl moving around and sucking her thumb.

Ang~17 weeks

Ang~23 weeks

Right now, we are at about 26 weeks, entering the 3rd trimester. Only about 3 months until our little girl makes her way into this world! We are very excited an looking forward to meeting her. Now, we just need to get her room ready :)

Anyway, there is the story about our Baby Girl so far.

The Suns so Hot...

2011-02-01T09:04:00.001-08:00

Have you ever head Jimmy Buffett's song Mexico? Well, if not, listen to it. It will make you want to drop everything and head for a beach in Mexico. We were lucky enough to spend Christmas in Mexico. Chris's parents own a time share, and they were kind enough to book the whole family a trip to Cabo for Christmas. Here are some highlights.

Many hours were spent hanging out by the Infinity Pool. One of the greatest things about Mexico is laying by the pool or beach and relaxing. This was the perfect place to relax.

No trip to Mexico is complete without a walk on the beach. Here is Ang 20 weeks pregnant and enjoying the warm sand!

Here is one of our many trips into Downtown Cabo. Our resort was about a 10 minute drive from Downtown.

Sunset Cruise around Lover's Beach. Fine night with beautiful scenery!

Boys will be boys and play in waves.

Kayaking to Lover's Beach.

Whale Watching~ we got lucky and saw 2 whales up close! We were also lucky enough to see them jumping out of the water from our resort.

Christmas Eve, our last night before coming home.

What a great trip full of great memories !

Yet Again...

2011-02-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

It has been entirely too long since we have blogged. Sometimes I wonder what the point is, but then I remember. The reason I like to blog is because it saves memories and allows us to go back and see what life was like days, months and years ago. And since it is a snow day, here is my attempt at an update.

It looks like the last time that I blogged was in late July/early August. So, here is a month by month update with some pics.

August:
- Back to school- Ang is teaching 6th grade this year
- Chris starts grad classes
- Sean and Danielle's wedding

September:
- Ang birthday- 26
- Go to Craig to visit Whinery's and meet their baby girl Allison for Labor Day weekend
- Find out were going to have our own little baby (kind of important, so will dedicate more to that later).
- Winter Park trip with good friends

October:
- Breckenridge trip with the Bergmann clan.
- Ang's dad's clan comes to visit
- Halloween

November:
- We hosted our first Thanksgiving and it was a success!
- Chris goes to Catalina... first time for a fall trip

How do I not have any pictures of Thanksgiving???????

December:
- Ang goes to Cincinnati for an IB Conference
- Merri's wedding at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs
- Mexico trip with the Bergmann fam
- New Subaru for the Bergmanns
- 20 week ultrasound

January:
- Back to school after a great Christmas Break
- Trip to Gypsum and Glenwood over MLK Day weekend
- Chris coaches basketball, so far 4-0

Well, there are the major highlights. Once again, I will try to promise to be better about blogging, and once again, I will probably fail. Hopefully see you soon, but realistically, see you in 6 months.

When in Rome...

2010-07-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Well, Chris and I just got back from Italy. The only reason that we can afford to go to Italy in the first place is the fact that we have flight benefits through my dad. So, as soon as Chris got out of grad school, we jumped on a plane and headed to Italia.

Our flight route was a very interesting one. Because we fly standby, we only get on the planes if there is enough room. So, we flew from DIA to Rapid City, to Chicago, to Rome. On the way back, we flew from Rome to Washington, to Las Vegas, to DIA; not the most direct route :)

Once in Italy, we spent 3 days in Rome; Rome is FANTASTIC. We both loved everything that this city had to offer. There is so much to see, and an ancient wonder waiting around every corner. We were also amazed out how big everything was. The Coliseum and St. Peter's were enormous.

After Rome, we rented a car and drove to Pompeii, where we saw Mt. Vesuvius and the ancient ruins of the volcanic explosion.

From there, we drove up to Venice (a long, yet scenic drive). Venice was beautiful with canals and waterways replacing streets. It is exactly how you would picture it. We also got to see the World Cup final in Venice which was exciting!

After 2 nights in Venice, we hopped in the car and drove the Vernazza, Cinque Terre. We didn't realize that the road to Vernazza was a windy, dangerous road. But, it was completely worth the drive. This is a place that everyone should visit in their lifetime. It is picturesque Italy with it's vineyards, pastel buildings, beautiful beach and more.

From Vernazza we then drove to Pisa. This was a quick and fun stop. It was fun to watch all of the people pose in front of the Leaning Tower, and of course, we had to participate :)

Our trip was adventure filled and it was a great vacation for us. We are so happy and humbled that we got to experience such a wonderful place together.

Ciao

A peep show...

2010-06-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... we love summer! Chris is still working hard at grad school, but after today, he only has 3 days left. The 4th of July weekend will prove to be a busy one. We will head up to Craig to spend time with the Bergmann's and then back to Fort Collins to spend time with the Christners. Then, we hope to be off to Italy.

In the meantime, we are staying busy with little baby robins that were recently born in a nest in one of our trees! The nest is right outside of one of our guestrooms, so we can go look at them whenever we want! They are cute (in an ugly kind of way), and I must say they are also quite needy. It seems that the momma bird is always going to get worms for her young ones, and the show their appreciation by screaming at her whenever she leaves or returns. She is a great mama!

Here are some pics of the peep show:

Wrapping up June

2010-06-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, does time fly! It's hard to believe that June is almost over, which sadly means that summer is almost over too!

June has been a busy month for us. There are a lot of birthdays this month including: Deb (Chris's mom), Chris and John (Ang's dad), and I'm sure I'm forgetting others. And there is also father's day. Wow, a lot happens in June.

A couple of weeks ago, the Bergmann clan came up to Fort Collins. Lauren, Deb and Pete (Chris's sis, mom and dad) all came up to Fort Collins to celebrate Chris's b-day as well as to buy Lauren a new car. The car shopping was successful and Lauren got a new Honda. We then all headed to Denver for the Rockies game and met up with more friends and family. Sadly, as we headed to Denver (which, by the way, took 2 1/2 hours because of traffic), so did the rain. It was a rainy and cold game, but we did what we could to enjoy it, even if that meant spending time under the overhang rather than in our seats.

Also sad is that the rest of the weekend was rainy. Not just sprinkling rain, but pouring rain! It was a bummer because Taste of Fort Collins was that weekend, but we didn't get to go. Oh well, I guess when it rains, it pours.

Patrick, Janie, Lauren and Joe avoiding the rain

Bummed that it was raining :(

It's raining...it's pouring

Well, after the rainy weekend, Chris started Grad School. He is very excited and somewhat nervous to be a student again. So far, it is going great and it is only 3 weeks of the summer. However, that 3 weeks is very full and busy!

Proud to be a CSU Ram... again!

Then, this weekend we went up to Glenwood Springs. Chris and Jeremy (Ang's Bro) were up for Friday, Saturday and left Sunday. I (Ang) was lucky enough to stay until Wednesday. It was fun to spend more time there and I got to go tubing, go to the pool, go to pilates, go on a lot of walks, ride motorcycles and much more. I was really excited to stay longer than just a couple of days. It was also the annual Strawberry Days Festival, so we all went to the parade and fair.

At the Strawberry Days festivities

Hanging out in Glenwood

Spending time in Gypsum

Now we are all back in Fort Collins and enjoying the heat!

Well, like I said, I will be better about updating our blog during the summer, and so far, I'm keeping that promise. I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer as much as we are!

Summertime feelin' fine

2010-06-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Once again, our blog has been neglected. Let's just say, it's pretty much impossible to keep our blog updated during school. So, now that it is summer, it's time for an update! I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore, so sometimes I wonder if it is worth updating. But, one reason for updating it is so that in 5 years, we can look back and see what life was like now, because I think sometimes we forget the little things, so here it goes!

Summer is fantastic! There is nothing better than waking up and having no obligations. We spent the first part of our summer fixing up our backyard. This included covering the 8in thick, huge, pond and building garden bed over it. We also put in a small, cute, more manageable pond with some flowers. We laid rock, a walking path, planted lilacs, an azalea, roses, peonies and much more. We also have a fire pit, rock porch (built last summer) and we laid sod. So now, our yard is bigger and more useful! We are very excited to spend our summer nights out there.... if it EVER stops raining.

Our summer has also included hikes, reading, playing guitar, hanging out with friends and family, going to Rockies games, celebrating Chris's 28th birthday and much more... and it's not even half way over!

Oh, and kind of a big deal... Chris is starting grad school! He is going back to school for Educational Leadership and will walk away with his Principal's License. The program will last 1 year, which is great. I'm very proud of him for going back!

Our greatest hope is that this summer will include a trip to Rome. My dad works for an airline, and Chris and I get to reap the benefits of that, which means $150 round trip tickets to Rome. So, we kind of figure that for that price, we have to go to one of the greatest cities in the world. So far, the flights are looking wide open, but now we just have to figure out the details and hope that the flights don't fill up. So, maybe next time we write a blog is will be about Rome... we hope!

We want to be here...

Oh, and finally, I must mention that part of the reason this summer can be enjoyed so much is the fact that I got a job! In April, I found out that my position was being cut from 100% to 30%, which was very worrisome. But then, I applied for an opening at my same school and, out of 90 people that applied, I got it! I will be teaching 6th grade geography and I couldn't be happier. I am sooooo excited!

Well, those are the big updates. We will probably write again in a few months :)

Cheers,
ang

To Travel or Not to Travel

2010-03-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

Just some quick updates:

Well, here we are at Spring Break.... thank goodness! Time has flown by since Christmas.

Work/school has been going well. We are both very busy with coaching and teaching! Chris finished coaching basketball in February and now Ang is coaching volleyball.

The last weekend of February, we went up to Mount Princeton Hot Springs for our friend Heather's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful location.

Now we are on Spring Break. We were going to go somewhere warm (Orlando, Vegas, Hawaii, etc) flying standby, but the planes are so full, so we decided to stay here in Fort Collins for spring break. Our plans include: movies, going to the museum, taking walks, going out to eat, cooking yummy dinners, working in our garden (which doesn't exist yet, maybe it will at the end of this break), finishing teacher induction and maybe painting the bathroom. Who knows what else will happen.

Our spring break also includes dreaming of summer travels. The benefit of not traveling over spring break means that we will save money for an adventure over the summer.

Well, we hope everyone is enjoying the first signs of life and welcoming spring!

Merry Christmas

2010-01-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

Well, sadly, Christmas Break is coming to an end. Back to school, back to school...

We had a great Christmas. We headed up to Craig the Monday before Christmas. We spent a lot of time making (and eating) sugar cookies, building a puzzle, reading, playing guitar and relaxing.

A highlight of our trip was going to Steamboat where we watched the Olympic Trials. It was really fun to watch those amazing athletes. Then, we watched a free Big Head Todd and the Monsters concert in Gondola Square.

Watching the Olympic Trials. It was quite a hike up the ski hill to get here :)

Dinner in Steamboat

Christmas Eve included pizza and a car ride to look at all of the Christmas lights. The car ride was a little tight (6 people and 5 dogs) but totally worth while :) Then, we played Nertz and got some knitted socks from Deb.

Beautiful, comfy socks

Christmas was a great day. We had a great breakfast and opened presents. We spent the day relaxing and then had a wonderful prime rib dinner.

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

It was also great to see Scott and Catherine who were in town from Texas, and Kristin who was in town from California. We had an Ugly Christmas sweater party, which was... well... ugly! We were also super excited when we learned that Scott and Catherine will have their first baby in July!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Well, that about sums up Christmas for the Bergmanns. We hope that you too had a wonderful holiday!

Welcome 2010!

2010-01-01T19:34:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year

It is hard to believe that another year has already flown by. We rung in the new year by hanging out at the Benson's new house. We have spent the last few days helping them remodel their new home.

The list of improvements includes:
- painting: walls, floorboards, cabinets, etc
- scraping popcorn ceilings
- tearing down a wall
- inserting cabinets,
- tiling
- putting in laminate floors and carpet
- much more... phew that is a big remodel

It's sure to look great when it's all done. We're happy to be helping our new neighbors :)

Now you see it

Now you don't

With the beginning of the New Year, it's nice to look back and reflect about all of the blessings of the last one. Here are some highlights of our last year

Highlights of 2009

- New puppy Wrigley- we love him so much
- New, full-time job for Ang- very thankful to be employed
- Lot's of fun with friends and family
- Lauren and Joe got married
- Trip to Hawaii- which is where we celebrated our 3rd anniversary
- Thanksgiving in Gypsum and Glenwood
- Christmas in Craig
- Learning that Scott and Catherine are going to have a baby

All in all it was a great year!

Looking forward to in 2010

- Chris going back to school to get his Master's Degree
- Hopefully Ang will get her full-time job again for the next year (keep your fingers crossed)
- Another summer trip... hopefully
- Home improvements
- Many other fun things!

Here's to 2010 and all of the great things in store for us all!

Lots of Love

Winter Fun!

2009-12-20T16:24:00.001-08:00

We are officially on break!!! It was a last rough week at school, but we made it and no we are home free for 2 weeks! We have already taken advantage of our time by hiking, celebrating the holidays with friends, cleaning and running errands. Tomorrow, we are going to head up to Craig and relax and enjoy family. Vacation... we love you!

Here are some pictures of the Christmas Sweater Party

Girls making Christmas cookies while boys watch the Broncos (and interfere with making Christmas cookies :)).

Hiking Horsetooth

What's new???

2009-12-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Hello world!

Well, here we are with 3 days left before a two week vacation. Being a teacher is a lot of work (more than you might imagine), but we are very thankful that we have a job that lets us take time off to be with family at the holidays. We have 2 weeks of vacation time waiting for us!!!

Here are some updates:

Thanksgiving:
It was awesome! We started the holiday by spending time with Ang's dad in Gypsum. We went hiking, enjoyed a great dinner and played a lot of games. It was great to see everyone! Then, we head to Glenwood to spend Thanksgiving with Ang's mom and family. We had a great dinner, played games, played football in the streets and spent quality time with family.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to the lighting of the Hotel Colorado. We were really happy that Chris's mom and dad could make it down to celebrate! The lighting is a tradition for us... it is beautiful and gets us in the mood for Christmas.

Chris's Grandma:
Sadly, a couple days after Thanksgiving, Chris's grandma Joyce passed away. Her memorial service was a couple of days later and was a great time to get together with family and celebrate Joyce's life. She will be missed!

Getting ready for Christmas:
Would you believe that we are done Christmas shopping and have been for over 2 weeks? We decorated our house and have been doing a lot of baking and listening to Christmas music... love it!!!

Ugly Christmas sweater party:
OF COURSE! We had our second annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It was a lot of fun to get together with friends and enjoy food and great company. This year we did a white elephant gift exchange which was...uh, er, let's just say very interesting :) Pictures will come soon.

To go to Hawaii or not to go to Hawaii:
Should we go to Hawaii for Christmas??? Chris and I both now have full flight benefits (thanks dad and Amber!!!) and a place to stay in Maui (thanks Jack and Jana). Part of us is asking "why not?" Yet another part of us feels like we should stay here the entire break. Hmmm... I guess we will have to see if there are any seats open on the airplane. We sure do love Maui though.

Well, I guess those are our updates. We are excited for Christmas and to spend the holidays with friends and family. We will be going to Craig for Christmas and can't wait!

Merry Christmas!!!

It's Always Something...

2009-11-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

... and tonight it was vomit! Wrigley vomit that is. I was just hanging out in the living room talking with Chris and out of nowhere, Wrigley threw up. This was not just any, ordinary throw-up though. Oh no, this was black, tar-like, carpet-staining throw-up. It looks like someone poured a pint of oil on our carpet.

But, everything is ok. We were thinking that we would have to replace our carpet, but Stanley Steemer came to the rescue. They came over in a jiffy and got rid of the stain and cleaned the whole living room.

Wrigley is ok too. He went to the vet and got a complete check-up. They injected him with a shot that made him throw-up some more. He is back home (a little sad because of the rectal exam:)) and hanging in there.

So, 2 hours, $300, and an emergency vet visit later, we are right back where we started.

Life happens :)

Plenty of time to write a blog!

2009-10-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well, we have plenty of time to blog right now and that is because we get two snow days (today and tomorrow)! There isn't much that is better than getting a phone call saying that you don't have to go to school!

It is snowing like crazy and has been since last night. We have shoveled the driveway 4 times! Luckily we have 2 shovels and it goes quicker when we both shovel.

Today was full of relaxing, shoveling, taking a walk in the snow and wishing for another snow day (wish granted). Tomorrow will include a trip to the gym, baking, making chicken noodle soup and getting ready for school on Friday (sigh).

Sorry to our family members in Craig (also teachers) who never get snow days; maybe someday :)

Here are some pictures of our snow day!

Dogs playing in the snow while we shovel

Chris shoveling the back porch

Happy Snow Day!

More updates

2009-10-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

I am making a pledge to be more assertive about updating this blog. I guess once in a while is better than never... right? So here is my effort at capturing 4 months of life!

July 2009:
- We celebrated Lauren and Joe's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding up at Joe's family's cabin and the reception followed in Craig. There was a lot of celebrating with friends and a lot of dancing :)

Watching Fireworks up at Horsetooth Resevoir

At Lauren and Joe's wedding

Their Married!

- Trip to Hawaii: see below.

- Yard work: we used the summer to our advantage by creating a beautiful flagstone patio with a built in fireplace (Thank you to the Bensons for you help)!

August 2009:
- Getting ready for school. This is my (Ang) first year as a full time teacher... woo hoo!

Tucker and Wrigley - Wrigley is growing up!

September 2009:
- We celebrated my birthday and Labor Day by participating in Tour de Fat. It is a bike parade put on by New Belgium Brewery to promote riding bikes instead of driving. It is a fun, crazy event!

- Breakfeast tradition starts- we started a tradition of going out and/or cooking breakfeast every Sunday with friends

Tour de Fat

Note: This video is chopped off on the side in Blogger.
Click on the video screen to view full video on You Tube!

October 2009
- Winter park: We decided to head up to the mountains to check out the leaves. We enjoyed time with friends and a chance to get away. Thanks Jana and Jack for letting us stay in your BEAUTIFUL house!

- Merri's housewarming party in Severance. The highlight of this party was, of course, walking to Bruce's Bar and trying the famous Rocky Mountain Oytsers. They were a little too chewy for my liking... no thank you!

- Raking leaves- enough said

Winter Park Trip

Jack and Jana are sooooo good to us! Thank you!

There is a lot of life that happens in 4 months, but those are the updates. Hopefully we will be more loyal blog authors from now on.

Cheers and until next time...

Update

2009-10-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

Hello world,
Once again, it has been a very long time since we've blogged. Part of me thinks that we should just give up and erase the blog. But, then I think that this is a great way to look back on our lives, so I might as well update with the big events. So, even if nobody reads this, we can look back in the years to come and think about the good ol' days.

So, even though it was three months ago, I'm going to blog about our trip to Hawaii. It was a very quick decision and we knew that we were leaving only a week before we were on a plane. We lucked out because Chris's aunt Jana and uncle Jack generously offered us their condo in Maui. And another great thing was that we flew very cheap with my dad's buddy passes. So, we invited our friends (the Bensons) and we hopped on a plane to Maui.

We had such a blast. We relaxed on the beach, went cliff jumping, drove the Road to Hana, snorkeled, hiked, swam with turtles, wondered through town and much more. It was such an adventure and we wouldn't trade it for anything. And an added plus was that we got to celebrate our 3rd anniversary on the beach.

Check Out This Extreme Video! :)

We had such a blast. We relaxed on the beach, went cliff jumping, drove the Road to Hana, snorkeled, hiked, swam with turtles, wondered through town and much more. It was such an adventure and we wouldn't trade it for anything. And an added plus was that we got to celebrate our 3rd anniversary on the beach. Here are a few pictures:

Anyone out there?

2009-10-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

Does anyone read this anymore?

I'd rather be by the pool

2009-06-28T14:48:00.001-07:00

Well, we just got home from Craig/Steamboat. We were up there to celebrate Lauren's upcoming marriage with a Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party. It is a BEAUTIFUL day, and we have not seen very many of these this summer. I asked Chris to go to the pool with me, but he opted out and is taking a nap instead. And, I don't want to go to the pool by myself because we usually sneak into our old condo complex's pool, and I am too scared to be an outlaw all by myself. So, instead of working on my bridesmaid's tan for my strapless dress, I'm inside. Maybe I will gather the courage and sneak in the pool by myself if Chris doesn't wake up soon. Then again, if I go by myself, there will be no one to put sunscreen on my back... this is quite the dilemma.

The trip to Craig was fun and jam packed. We got there at about 6 on Friday night and had dinner, visited and went to bed. Then we woke up, Chris went fishing with his dad and the girls prepared for the Bridal Shower. The Bridal Shower was a Margaritaville themed shin-dig (thanks to Janie and all of her hard work), complete with margaritas, coronas, cheesburgers in paradise and Jimmy Buffet CD's. It was a fun get-together and Lauren got some great gifts to feather her nest.
Then from there, some girls went up to Steamboat for the bacherlorette party. We stayed in Shannon's condo (a friend of the Bergmanns) and walked downtown. We started at the Rio (as every good party should) and then went to a new bar in Steamboat. At the bar we met a member of the band Rusted Root, which was cool. Then we went back up to the condo and played some games.

All in all, I think it was a fun, memeroable day for Lauren. We will be back up in Craig in a week and a half for the big wedding. Congrats Lauren!

Fish Tales

2009-06-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

Summer has been great so far, even though the sun has been hiding!

Sadly, we are working. But we are still finding time to enjoy life. We have been camping, rafting, bbq'd with friends, gone to concerts, gone to festivals and visited family.

We also celebrated Chris's b-day with lots of good friends. We had a bbq with a lot of good food, good drink, good company and good fun.

Chris playing Baggo- Wrigley and Harvey are enjoying it too

BBQ with friends

The guys pretending to cook

Yes, Chris is getting older (a whopping 27 years on this earth), but who says old guys can't have fun? So, for his b-day, all of the families and I pitched in to get Chris a fly-fishing rod and all of the gear. We got him a gift card to Jax, and with the help of Jacob Benson, Chris made some purchases and is now ready to be a great fisherman.

This is the camping trip where Chris got a true taste for fly fishing- before he got his own gear

Camping up the Poudre

Happy as can be- seeing as how it was SNOWING during our camping trip- we did have a lot of fun, even though it was cold

Chris got to try out his new gear this weekend on the Roaring Fork in Glenwood Springs. We went up to visit family and enjoy the Strawberry Days Festival. We had a great time! We watched the parade, visited all the booths, ate gyros, bbq'd and went rafting. And while Chris didn't catch any fish, he is beginning to master the art of fly fishing!

Till next time,
Good night!

Neglect revisited

2009-06-23T21:18:00.001-07:00

So, clearly we are not very good and updating our blog. Does anyone even read this anymore?

We started blogging around Thanksgiving break last year. This tells me that at the time, we were on vacation, and did not have stuff to do. Clearly, that is not the case anymore. We are busy people and blogging is not at the top of our priority list.

But alas, we are going to try and get better at blogging again. It is after all, summertime!

Let's see if we can stick to it!

Neglect...

2009-05-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been neglecting our blog latley. I guess we are just too busy :) So, let's see if we can catch up since last time. Here is goes, in no particular order

- Chris shaved all of his hair off
- There are only 2 1/2 weeks left or school
- Ang's mom and Doug came to visit- went to New Belgium, made sushi and steak dinner, went shopping
- Chris's parents came to visit- Chris and Pete did a lot of yard work, Ang and Deb did a lot of shopping
- We repainted the wall- for a THIRD time, and we finally nailed the right color
- Ang accepted a full time job at Lesher- woo hoo income :)
- Wrigley is doing great and getting big
- Celebrated Easter with the Bensons
- Enjoying the spring and doing a lot of yard work
- Trying to decide on summer jobs: Ang is going to do grounds and Chris is deciding between 3 jobs... what to do, what to do???

Well, those are the big updates. We will try to be better about keeping our blog updated. Should be easier since summer is just around the corner.

Cheers,
Chris and Ang

Lessons from Catalina...

2009-04-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the beginning of the week...again! We only have around 5 more Mondays until the end of school... how exciting!

It has been a few weeks since we returned from Catalina, but the lessons that we learned there are still with us. Perhaps the most important thing that we take from Catalina is a desire to protect our earth. As you read this blog (and I'm sure more like it to come), we know that you may not agree with everything we say. And, we think it is important to let our readers know that we are not tree-hugging hippies who think global warming will doom our planet.

What we do believe is that we (humans) are using our resources at an alarming rate, and if we don't stop, we will run out of these resources. What humans are doing to support their wasteful lifestyles is not a natural part of the Earth's delicate balance. The population of this earth is enormous, and we can't continue to deplete our resources.

An example of the crazy depletion of our resources is given by Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat. According to Friedman, if the next billion people that are born (which will happen in your lifetime) were given just 1 60-watt light bulb (yes just 1 light bulb) to burn for the rest of their lives, it would require us to build 20 more 500 megawatt coal burning plants. And that is just one light bulb. This doesn't even take into consideration things like: computers, washers and dryers, blow dryers, microwaves, TV's and everything else that we plug in.

Think how much of this junk could have been recycled

What is so hard to understand is why people are so stubborn when it comes to having a positive effect on our earth. Why don't people recycle? What is so hard about it? What is so hard about getting reusable bags? What is so hard about hanging your clothes to dry instead of drying them? What is so hard about buying a CFL light bulb? What is so hard about drinking tap water instead of buying bottled water?

I might like you better if you recycled :)

Not only are these things not difficult to do, but they actually help YOU too, not just our earth. CFL light bulbs save you money! Using reusable bags saves YOU money at the grocery store (10 cents per bag... do the math). Drinking tap water is better for you! Recycling costs nothing.

If this guy can recycle... so can you!

People have gotten so used to their way of life, that it is hard for them to change. It is time to stop being lazy, and to start making decisions that give us a better quality of life.

By no means are we perfect regarding this. We still use our appliances. We still drive our cars, and more. But, we are still learning, and we are willing to try! We hope you'll do the same.

So, as you read our blogs, please note that we may every once in a while post a blog about this subject matter. That is because we think it is important. We would love input and open minds!

Don't blow it; good planets are hard to find- Time Magazine

It's a good thing our house has A LOT of tile!

2009-03-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Isn't it great that we are blogging at 11:45 a.m. on a Friday? Where should we be? Yes, that is right, we should be at school. Fortunately for us, we had a March blizzard and they called off school early yesterday. Then at about 11:00 last night, we were informed that there was no school today... woo hoo!!!!!! We love snow days!

To be perfectly honest, it is a beautiful day, and we really should be at school, because so much snow has melted already, and it wouldn't have been that hard to get to school. But, we are not complaining about the fact that we get to hang out, go to lunch together and get some projects done.

So, you are probably asking yourself WHY it is a good thing that our house has a lot of tile. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here it is:

Wrigley in the blizzard

Tucker in the blizzard- not quite as "velcroish"

Wrigley loves the snow, but he has a tendency to bring the snow in with him. We have nicknamed him "Velcro," because everything sticks to his fur. And therefore, it is a good thing that most of what he drags in ends up on the tile, rather than on carpet.

Look at all that snow! (Note that picture is taken from inside the glass).

Our snow days have been pretty lazy. Yesterday we watched a lot of news, and we shoveled the walk (by we I mean Chris shoveled and I took pictures from inside), and did some school work. Today, we slept in, picked up house and ran some errands.

The dogs helping Chris shovel

We are debating whether to start painting our orange wall. Right now, the orange wall is quite shiny and bright. We want to tone it down a notch, so that it is not quite at intense. We are also considering finishing the project that we started last week of putting in a dog door. We ran into some glitches with that project, so we may start it up again. Who knows... we'll see.

Welp, that is what our snow days look like so far! I'm sorry for those of you who were not lucky enough to get a snow day... that is sad!

Cheers!

Catalina Video

2009-03-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks!

Happy Wednesday, Hump day, hoping for a big blizzard that gives us a snow day day!

Chris made this video for a presentation that he gave today, so we thought we would share it with all of you! The song fits the video really well, and was written by Chris's friend Tyler Ward. The video gives you a quick glimpse of what our trip was like!

Keep on keeping on! Oh, and keep on praying for SNOW! Woo hoo snow day!

Back from Catalina

2009-03-23T19:41:00.001-07:00

Well, we are back from Catalina Island and back to work. We had a great time on the island, and now we have summer fever! Only one more quarter left until summer vacation... woo hoo!

2009 Kinard CARES Catalina Crew on the ferry

Here is a quick recap of our trip to Catalina:

We left on Friday morning, bright and early (actually so early that it was still dark... we were up at 4:00 am). We flew out of DIA to LAX and stayed at a great hostel in San Pedro. We got to walk along the coast, had a great lunch and greeted California with open arms.

Our view from the hostel in San Pedro

We left San Pedro via ferry, and headed to the island. We then gathered onto shore boats (which broke down in the middle of the ocean, so we had to switch to a different one), and arrived shortly at camp. Only 1 seasick kiddo... someone's gotta feed the fish :)

Composting... no waste in nature!

We made it to the top... look at that view!

The crew learning about world population and resources with solar baked cookies!

Camp was awesome! We were busy from 7:00 am to 9:00pm. Our activities included:

- Hiking (beautiful)
- A day snorkel (freezing... 55 degrees)
- Ocean kayaking
- Composting and gardening
- Night sky and night hike (starts are beautiful on the island)
- Night snorkel (an amazing experience)
- Service work (the kids transformed a garden/mound)
- Sports
- Sang around a camp fire
- Getting up early for sunrises
- High ropes course
- Much more

The final outcome of the crew's service project

We had a great time. Two Harbors (where Catalina Environmental Leadership Camp is located) is one of our favorite places! It is so inspiring, a great experience and as usual, we learned so much.

What a way to end the trip!

Welcome home to us! We hope that everyone had a great Spring Break.

Off to California...

2009-03-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it been a crazy week. The reason this week has been so crazy is because we are gearing up to head to Catalina Island with 20 9th graders. We are taking them out there to do service work and go to an environmental leadership camp. We leave at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow. We are really excited!

A view of where we will be staying next week:
Howland's Landing, Catalina Environmental Leadership Camp

Planning a trip like this takes up so much time and energy because there are SOOOO many details, and working around 20 people's schedules is not easy. But, we think that we have all the details figured out and we are finally ready to go! It will be worth all of the work when we are out on the island and living the good life.

Ahhhh... the good life!

Tomorrow, we depart Kinard Junior High at 5:30 a.m. and fly to LA. From there, we will catch a limo bus (It was just as cheap as renting 3 vans), to San Pedro, where we will stay in a hostel. Then, we will take the ferry over to Catalina Island, and we will then catch shore boats to get to the actual camp where we will be staying. It is a lot of steps to get to our destination, but once we get there, we will be home free. No more transportation and no worrying about food for 4 days!

Catalina is pretty special to us, because we went out there to do a service trip during college. Then, we got the idea to share the special place with students, and this is the 2nd year that we will be taking kiddos out there.

Our college Alternative Spring Break Crew- one of our best memories!

The camp teaches how we as humans can live a more sustainable life and learn from nature. A big staple of the camp is composting. We will get to go sea kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, play games, compost, bake cookies in a solar panel, do service work, garden and much more. And it is really great to share this with students, who then bring what they learn back home and share it with others!

Last year's Kinard CARES group

So, we will be thinking about all of you and wish us luck for getting 20 kids and 4 chaperones out to the island! We will blog about the trip when we get back!

Can't wait to be here again!

Long time no blog: February Update

2009-03-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is March 1st and we haven't blogged in quite a while, so here is an update. We will try to be better about updating this month, but no guarantees.

-Wrigley
The new pup is doing great... he is fitting in well with the family! He and Tucker are best buds. The cats are still a little uneasy around him, but they are slowly coming around. Wrigley is still a little shy around people, but he is starting to get used to our crazy life style. We are pretty proud of him because he already knows sit, lay down, shake, heel AND he is potty trained. Today, he had his first (much needed) bath, and did pretty good. All in all, he is a pretty mellow puppy and we love him lots!

Best Buds

Wrigley after his bath... check out that hair!

- Sports
Chris is finally done coaching basketball and what a way to end the season... District Champs! For the final game, his team was down 26-13 at half and they came back to win it... it was pretty exciting and much deserved. That is back-to-back District Champs for Chris's Mustangs. Chris doesn't know what to do with all his extra time (maybe he will actually use that gym pass now).

But, it wouldn't be the Bergmann household without one of us getting home after dark, so now it Ang's turn to coach... she starts helping with volleyball on Monday. Wish us luck.

The logo that Chris designed for District Champ shirts.

- Catalina
We are approaching Spring Break, and for us, that means flying out to California with another couple and 20 9th graders. We are taking the kiddos to an Environmental Leadership Camp on Catalina Island. This place is pretty special to us and we are excited to get back there. We fly out on Friday the 13th, yikes! Oh, and we can't forget to mention that Chris took a pie in the face (actually it was more like 4 pies) to raise money for the kids... whatta guy.

- Fun Stuff
We have been lucky to spend a lot of time with friends and family the past couple of weeks. The weekend that we got Wrigley, Chris's parents came down and we had a fun weekend. We played with the new pup, went for walks, went shopping, watched movies and ate DELICIOUS food. We ate a Five Guys Burgers and Fries (the best hamburger and fries that you will ever eat) one night and then the night after, we ate at Rodizio Grill... it was so good! It is a Brazilian Steakhouse where you get unlimited steak, chicken, fish, salad bar and more. It was so good.

Yum... Five Guys!

Last weekend, we went out and celebrated being District Champs with Merri, Drez and Caleb. We went to a little restaurant called Pappi's about 2 blocks from our house. We are really starting to like Pappi's.

Then this weekend, we decided on a whim to drive up to Winter Park to see Chris's Mom, Aunt Jana and Uncle Jack, Cousins Jaquelin and Tiffany and many friends. We left at around 5:00, stopped in Arvada to watch one of Chris's students play in a state playoff basketball game (they won... great game Alexus), and then drove up the mountain. We got there at around 10:00, visited for a little and then went to bed. The next morning, we had yummy breakfast and then helped Jaquelin, 6 and Maggie, 5 build a snow fort! It was a short visit, but we had fun!

When we got home, we relaxed for a little and then got to see old friends! Angela headed out to Old Town with Merri, bro Jeremy and many of Merri's friends. We met up with Lora, who we haven't seen in a year, so we were so excited to see her. Kallie and Kevin came out later that night as well. During all of this, Chris was at home playing guitar with Sean, who will also haven't seen in a long time. It was a fun night for them to catch up and make some music.

Well, I think that those are all of the updates for now! Whew that is a lot of reading... we need to become more frequent bloggers : )

Cheers!

P.S. Jana... if you read this, you will notice that we have no pictures from Winter Park... that is a hint that you need to send us some : )

Puppy Love

2009-02-14T16:02:00.001-08:00

Last night, Chris came home and walked in the door with flowers and a Valentine's Day card! When I opened the card, I little heart fell out of it. When I looked a little closer, I realized that it was a dog tag. Chris got me a puppy for Valentine's day! He is part Bouvier and part Australian Shepard. We named him Wrigley. He is a little fluff ball right now, but we think that he is going to get really big! He is really good for a puppy, He even slept through the night. Here are a couple of pictures and a video of our new pup!

Watch the VIDEO Below to See the Pup in Action!

Shampoo...really?

2009-02-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

So, I have had many crazy, painful things happen in my life. I will name a few here:
- I smashed my chin on a metal trailer, resulting in stitches and a gnarly scar on my chin.
- I got kicked in the face by my horse, resulting in plastic surgery and a cracked bone above my eye.
- Breaking my wrist in 6 places and getting a concussion because a snowboarder took me out on a ski hill.
- Getting shampoo in my eye.

Yes, that is right people... shampoo! Last night, I was enjoying a lovely shower, and I was squeezing shampoo into my hand. Somehow, on the journey from bottle to hand, shampoo ended up in my eye.

Now, you're saying to yourself, "it's just shampoo." But, I promise you, it was dreadfully painful. This was truly one of the top 10 most painful experiences that I have ever experienced, I am not being dramatic here.

When the shampoo entered my eye, I immediately stuck my head under the shower head... to no avail. My eye would no open, even when I used my hands to try and pry it open. Then, I called Chris up to help me! I immediately started crying, because there was nothing we could do and the pain just wouldn't go away. And if you know me, you know that I am NOT a crier! Finally, I laid down and forced my eye open while Chris squeezed tons of eye drops in. Even after that, I was still in pain.

I find it unbelievable that a little shampoo could cause so much trouble and pain. I advise you, avoid shampoo in the eye at all costs!

Oh, and just in case you are wondering what kind of shampoo it was... Herbal Essences was the culprit!

Un déjeuner français

2009-02-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

Sam and Josette's home in Provence. Meals were always delicious AND beautiful!

Well, here I sit on a Tuesday afternoon, FINALLY watching it snow! It won't amount to anything, but it's better than nothing I guess.

Since I only work part time, I have Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off. It is a bittersweet thing because on one hand, we don't get as much money, but on the other hand, I get some extra time to do things such as clean, cook, relax, plan and visit with friends!

Today, I got to visit with my friends from France: Sam and Josette. Sam is originally from Texas and Josette is from the south of France. They lived in the US, including Fort Collins, and they chose to retire in France and have been there for many years.

Sam and Josette

I never had the chance to study abroad, so when getting my second degree, I asked a French Professor what my options were for "studying," in France. After all, what kind of French teacher would I be with out spending significant time in France? I have traveled to France many times, but I have never "studied," there. So, my Professor introduced me to Josette. Two summers ago, I was lucky enough to travel to Provence and stay with Sam and Josette for two weeks. Josette gave me private French lessons, and I got to live the Provencial Life for a little while. It was a great experience.

Once a year, Sam and Josette come to Colorado for a month, because they have family from Fort Collins and Denver. When they come, they always invite Chris and I over for a visit. I have to say that it was really funny watching Chris get his first "bisous," from Josette when he met her.

Josette and I

Today, I went to visit on my own, because Chris was in school. I love getting to practice my French and get updated on European news. It was good to see my friends from France, and hopefully, Chris and I will go visit them in France sometime soon : )

Sam and Josette's home of Cabries, France

A Lazy Weekend... With No Guilt

2009-02-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

Hello all! Happy Super Bowl Weekend.

For us, this has been a very lazy weekend. We went to dinner and a movie on Friday, lounged on Saturday, went to Church and lunch today and now... more lounging. I love the fact that the Super Bowl gives me a reason to be lazy! We really have not accomplished much! I (Angela) usually feel really guilty and lazy when I have weekends like this. Then, Chris reminds me of how much we do during the week, and I begin to understand why we have weekends... to recover.

Our weeks consist of: Teaching (which requires a great amount of energy to be effective for our kiddos), planning, grading, cooking dinner, making lunches, driving to Wellington (Ang), staff meetings, basketball practice and games (Chris), cleaning, taking care of our pets, keeping up with e-mail, staying in touch with family, shoveling the driveway, working out, laundry and thousands of other little things that keep us moving from day to day. And somehow, we still need to find time for ourselves and each other. It is no wonder that we are tired by the time Friday night rolls around!

I have to point out that we are not this lazy every weekend and I also have to point out that we love what we do and our busy lives! But, every once is a while, it is totally ok to put your feet up and just relax! So, I encourage everyone to take a lazy weekend without guilt! You will be better off for it in the long run... sometimes we just need to breath!

Happy Februrary and have a great week!

Lovely Weather We're Having

2009-01-22T18:23:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day to be in the mountains!

We were so lucky to have a three day weekend last week... why can't every weekend be a three day weekend??? And on top of a three day weekend, we have had beautiful weather here in Fort Collins. It has been in the high 60's and even into the 70's here for about a week. All of this relaxing and great weather has us wishing it was summer vacation!

Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Ang's dad came up and we had a lot of fun with him and her brother Jeremy. We went out to eat, played games, met up with family and enjoyed the beautiful Fort Collins weather!

This Dog is ridiculous.

Making a snow angel
Look at that blue sky!

Then on Monday, we drove up to Cameron Pass and had a great time snowshoeing. We were a little worried that we wouldn't find any snow, but we eventually found some snow, though we did have to drive for a while to find it.

Tucker and his boots. We are NOT the kind of dog owners that dress our dog, but in this case, he has to wear boots or his feet start to bleed.

If you watch this video long enough, you will see Tucker trip Chris by walking on his snowshoes.

All in all it has been a great week and enjoyed the weather. We are expecting snow tonight, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.

Gather the troops...

2009-01-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons that we love Fort Collins is because of our friends! If we ever had to leave this town, we would be very sad to leave all of you! This weekend, the troops gathered at the Steak Out, where we enjoyed some company and some New Belgium.

The Boys
The Girls

Kevin, Merri, Sean
Kevin and Kal
Drez, Chris and Ang
Sean, Kal and Jared

Insomnia

2009-01-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

Ever since I got my wisdom teeth out, I have not been able to sleep. It has been horrible, because I LOVE sleeping. In addition, I have not been able to eat. This has been quite depressing because much like sleep, I also love food. I am very tired of eating soup and smoothies. I tried to eat solid food today (noodles) and it was extremely painful. In fact, I was in the most pain I have been in since I got my teeth out.

Well, we went to bed early tonight, because we start work again tomorrow. While Chris was slumbering away, I was laying there, hungry with a wandering mind. What did this lead to? Me thinking about food and how I cannot WAIT until I am able to eat real food again. The last few days, Chris and I have been eating separate meals because we can't eat the same food.

This got me thinking about how I really enjoy cooking. I enjoy finding creative, easy, cheap meals to make. I enjoy the process of throwing it all together. I enjoy eating the meals I make. And I enjoy that when I cook, Chris and I get to sit down and eat together. We usually always eat at the table (not in front of the TV), and usually we play a game while we eat (backgammon). So cooking leads to quality Chris and Ang time. Therefore, I love everything about cooking!

So, I bet you are wondering why in the world I am writing this all down. Well, here it is:
-Getting my wisdom teeth removed leads to pain and hunger.
-Pain and hunger lead to not being able to sleep.
-Not being about to sleep leads to thinking about food as well as thinking what I could do with my time besides lay and bed and be frustrated that I can't sleep.
-Thinking about food and being frustrated leads me to creating a new blog about cooking!
- My blog about cooking leads to ideas and shared recipes for all.

So, if it interests you, feel free to check out the new blog: http://angkitchen.blogspot.com/

Goodnight (I hope)! Maybe my percocet will kick in soon and I will be able to sleep :)

Not so wise anymore...

2009-01-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well folks,
It's official- I (Ang) got my wisdom teeth out yesterday. Way to ring in the New Year. I have been dreading this procedure my whole life, but it is finally done. Things went ok. Apparently I had the hiccups through the whole surgery. And last night I celebrated the New Year by having my head in a toilet throwing up all night. We think it was a reaction to the anesthesia. Whatever it was, it WAS NOT fun. But at about 9:00 (and after some very interesting medication), I finally stopped throwing up. Today, I feel pretty darn good, and haven't even had to take the heavy duty pain killers, just some advil. I predict a quick recovery.

Happy New Year to all!!!

Viva Las Vegas!

2008-12-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to All!

Well, we are back from our fun-filled Christmas trip to Las Vegas (which brought new meaning to the words 'Christmas Lights') . We had a great time, even if we did come back with thinner wallets. Yes, that is right people, we WERE NOT lucky in Vegas. But, you know what they say, Vegas wasn't built on people winning.

We got to Sin City on the 22nd and were there through the 26th. So, for those of you who are interested, here is how the trip went down:

The 22nd:
We arrived at the airport and made our way to the hotel (in an overpriced taxi mind you). We stayed at the Flamingo Hilton on the strip. We got there at about 5:00 p.m., but the rest of the Bergmann clan didn't get there until 1:00 a.m. from Craig. So, we hit up video poker while we waited for everyone to arrive. We also went to the Bellagio to look at the beautiful Christmas decorations and watch the fountains.

Ang with the 'not so traditional' Christmas Lights of Las Vegas!

The Fountains at the Bellagio

Christmas Tree at the Bellagio

The 23rd:
We started the day out by going to the grocery store. Since we had a kitchen, we figured that we might as well save some money for gambling and cook breakfast and lunch in the room. Then, the boys went golfing at Tuscany Golf Course. Can you believe it...golf in December!!! They had a beautiful day for golfing, which was fortunate because the rest of the trip was cold. While they were golfing, the girls lounged and walked up and down the strip. Then, we all met back up and went out to eat at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. It was food and entertainment all rolled into one. Then, we went gambling again, which turned out to be kind of a disaster. Ang had turned $50 into $110 playing video blackjack, but then lost it ALL! And Chris was on somewhat of a losing streak after winning $400 last time he visited Vegas. Oh well, it was fun. Then we went to a bar for a little bit. When we went back to the room, Chris and Ang went to the hot tub in the Flamingo pool grounds (beautiful). It felt good to relax a little after a day of tons of walking.

Nice Swing Chris!!

Chris and Dad (Look how green in December)

Chris and Joe on the scenic 18th green

Lauren and Ang with the "Big Ritas"

"Wastin' away again in Margaritaville"

The 24th- Christmas Eve:
This was a Take-It-Easy kind of a day. We had a slow start, but did make it out to wander the Strip for a little bit. We had dinner at the Flamingo Buffet, and then headed to the MGM Grand for a Cirque Du Soleil show: Ka. It was an amazing show with a ton of special effects and so much to see. It was perfect for Christmas Eve.

Great Vegas Show!

Chris and Ang in front of the Venetian

Chris really hits his stride playing the piano in the lobby of our hotel bringing Christmas cheer to all :)

The 25th- Christmas Day:
It wasn't your traditional Christmas, but it was a lot of fun and nice to get away. We started the day with stockings and celebration. Then we headed to a Brunch Buffet at Harrahs. While at Harrahs, we sat down and the Blackjack table, where Joe won $70! After that, we took it easy for a little bit and then went to a movie. We saw Slumdog Millionaire, which is a great movie... we highly recommend it! After that, we went back to the room and ate in. Then, we headed back to the Bellagio to look at the beautiful Christmas Decor. After that, we went out and gambled some more. We also got to meet up with Matt Kruse and his girlfriend Kelsey. How ironic that they were in Vegas the exact dates that we were! Merry Christmas!!!

The Fam at the Bellagio- Merry Christmas!

Chris and Ang- Bellagio

It wouldn't be Christmas without stockings. But only in Vegas would you find a HUGE Henikein bottle next to Christmas stockings :)

Christmas Morning- check out the view out the window

The 26th:
Time to go home. Chris and Ang had and easy flight home, because they got to fly right into Fort Collins! The rest of the fam...not so much. They flew into Junction at about 9:00 and then had to drive 3 hours in the snow. It was worth it though! We had a great trip!

2 Below and another Manic Monday

2008-12-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

No, not 2 Below the New Belgium seasonal beer... That is how cold it was today. And last night, it got down to -17 degrees! How exciting. It is the kind of cold where, when you go outside, your nostrils stick together. At least this year, Ang doesn't have to shovel snow for CSU grounds. Those 3am wakeup calls tend to get pretty tedious.

Where oh where shall we begin about today? How about when we let Tucker outside this morning and he couldn't even walk back to the back door because his toes were frozen together. Or, how about the fact that we had to leave the animals inside today so that we wouldn't get cited for animal cruelty. Or, how about that BECAUSE the animals were inside all day, Angela came home to a crazy mess (they went stir crazy). Please read the poem that Ang sent Chris today:

An ode to my entrance into our home:

Twas the day after the weekend
When all through the home
All the animals were restless because of the freezing storm
The brownies were flung and munched into
making them un-edible for me and you
The cats scurried making the carpets twist
and the silver tinsel all over the floor couldn't be missed
The cotton from Tucker's bone added to the frenzy
And the place mats weren't on the table, where they should be A towel was strung across the living room floor and the chairs on the couches aren't working anymore How I wish it wasn't two below So the animals could play outside I guess I should be thankful that the tree is still upright! Have fun at basketball! Love you

They seem innocent here...

Yes, oh yes, it has been a crazy day. But wait... there's more!

Today, at around 9:15, Ang got to take 50 junior high students to the nursing home where they sang Christmas carols to the resident's there. While it was fun, it was quite tiring. Meanwhile, at Kinard, Chris was forcing kids to run on the first day of basketball tryouts. At least he only has to cut 10 kids instead of 30 this year. What a Monday!

Is it a coincidence that both generations shown in the above picture of Angela's trip to the nursing home have trouble with bladder control?

Then, FINALLY, after an oh so interesting day, Ang got to come home and relax. She put on her sweats, grabbed and snack, and turned up the heat to try and get warm. Everything was going perfect until the electricty went out. No lights, no heat for the entire neighborhood...for almost 3 hours. It would have been wonderful, what with doing homework and reading by candlelight, except for the extreme cold! Not to mention, she was all alone while Chris was at basketball. Oh, and she couldn't leave because the garage door wouldn't open. Awesome! You can imagine Ang with her headlamp on trying to start a fire with no wood an old election ballot, some bark from the tree and a box of matches in the dark. If it wasn't so dark in the house, she could have definitely been able to see her own breath. Chris got home with some firewood just in time for the electricity to come on.

Angela's Survival Skills In Action
(very versatile for having no proper supplies)

But, alas, now it is 7:30, the electricty is back on, the heat is running, the animals have calmed down, the pipes didn't freeze and we are already thinking about going to bed! Only 4 more days until Christmas break and a nice cold 2 Below (the beer this time).

This is our beautiful Christmas home when the electricity is on :)

Cheers~

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

2008-12-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

And boy was it ugly!

This weekend, we hosted an Ugly Christmas sweater party. It was a night full of friends, food, drink and ugly sweaters. I will let the pictures explain... a picture is worth a thousand words.

World Class Rock

2008-12-07T20:32:00.001-08:00

Well, it has been a week or so since we have blogged, and that is because there is really nothing too interesting to share with everyone. But, it is Sunday night, I am planned for school tomorrow and I am waiting for laundry, so why not?

Music has been the theme of the week. On Wednesday, Chris got online and scored us tickets to the Fray at the Gothic theater (while he was supposed to be teaching mind you). Anyway, it promises to be a great show and we are excited.

Then, yesterday, we got up at 7:00 a.m., grabbed a cup o' joe and headed to ultimate electronics to stand in line for 2 hours. Why, you might ask, did we do this? To get a CD of course. But this is not just any CD. This is the 20th edition of the KBCO Studio C CD. For those of you who don't know what this is, let me assure you, it is worth waiting 2 hours in the freezing cold to get your hands on this CD. Every year, world class artists come to the KBCO Studio in Boulder to record unique, live songs. Then, the studio puts them on a CD, sells them and uses the money for AIDS relief. Pretty cool huh? Last year, I waited in line alone to get Chris the CD as a gift; this year I made him go with me. This years CD includes: Colbi Caillat, Jason Mraz, Marc Cohn and many more. AND, Chris knows someone who was able to get us all of the KBCO Studio C albums so now we have some awesome music to jam to! We think it's pretty cool.

On another music note, I am now one week away from taking 2 of my French classes to the Columbine Health Center, where they will sing Christmas carols in French to the elderly. They will then get a chance to visit with the residents and chat. I will be the first to admit that the kids don't sound the best when singing the songs, but it is not as bad as you would thing AND we have a whole week to practice. But, they are really excited and I think it is a great way to learn. I will let you know how it turns out!

Well, I guess that is it for now. Maybe there will be something more exciting to post at another point in time. Have a great week!

Driving Drives Us Nuts!

2008-11-30T18:44:00.000-08:00

Above you see a beautiful sunset over HWY 287 adding to the peaceful drive through the Poudre Canyon on the way to Craig CO. to start our Thanksgiving break. We always love to drive these back highways. It's always so pretty and so relaxing. It gives us a chance to breathe, reflect, and catchup with each other...

However, the rest of our driving was NUTS!! Below you will see a picture of the sheep blocking our way on HWY 13 between Craig and Glenwood. What a funny turn of events!...

The sheep proved to be only the beginning of a crazy driving week. After our great vacation, we left Glenwood Springs at about 11:00 a.m., thinking that we would get back by about 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. Boy were we wrong! Instead, what was supposed to be a 3-4 hour drive turned into an 8 1/2 hour drive because of weather and traffic. LONGEST DRIVE EVER!! We got to thinking, where else could we have driven in his amount of time? At least gas was cheap :) Our patience was tested, but thank goodness for i-pods, laptop computers and Disney Movies. It took us 1:45 to get from Silverthorne to the tunnel. Total trip: 11:00am - 7:30pm. We are just glad to be back now!

AT LEAST GAS WAS CHEAP IN FORT COLLINS!! :)

Thanksgiving Travels Lead to Christmas Spirit

2008-11-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We had a great Thanksgiving filled with family and fun! We made the yearly Fort Collins, Poudre Canyon, Hwy 13, I-70 loop. Yes... there was a lot of driving!

While we were in Craig, we celebrated Lauren and Joe's engagement. We're losing a Bergmann, but gaining two Padons. Congratulation you guys!

We then headed down to Glenwood (on our way, we were slowed down by a pack of sheep on the highway). We had a great Thanksgiving meal and played a lot of games and poker and spent lots of good time with family.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to the annual Hotel Colorado lighting. It is always a fun night with hot chocolate, craft fairs, fireworks and Christmas lights. This is the 3rd year in a row that we have gone to the lighting, and it never fails to get us in the mood for Christmas.

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving with lots of family, food and fun!

New Blog!

2008-11-28T19:35:00.000-08:00

Hey All! (probably not too many people:)

It's the Fort Collins Bergmann's just starting to get into the whole blog scene. We will be writing more through this holiday season.

Cheers
Chris & Ang