Family – Page 20 – David & LaReita Berky

General Conference weekend

Ben and Sam putting up their feet watching conference

This was a weekend of firsts for our family. The first time that we watched General Conference live, streaming over the internet. (Why not the TV? About 6 months ago we canceled our cable TV because we never really watched it!)

Dave and I were so impressed with the quality of the picture that came over the internet. Wow! Sometimes I forgot that this was on the internet. (Aside from the fact that we were in the kitchen watching it on the iMac. But it sure did keep us awake watching it in hard kitchen chairs instead of on the comfy couches.)

It seemed the boys did listen to some of it as they asked questions about some things that were being said. So the novelty of watching on the computer did capture their attention. We’ll see how many conferences into the future that lasts for!

While listening/watching on Saturday, I had to get my jam project finished to use up the peaches that I got from a fund-raiser. I’ve usually only done jam at my sister’s house. So this was a first for me – doing it all on my own. I made 33 pints of Peach-Raspberry Jam, along with different variations of that recipe (including using Xylitol instead of sugar…we’ll see how that turns out.) But the initial batches seem to have turned out pretty well.

Dave went to the Priesthood Session with Dave, LaMont and his boys (Austin, Brandon) and afterwards went to the all-you-can eat Mongolian Grill in Springville. A very good place to eat, especially for growing teenage boys, and adult men trying to eat healthier! Dave came home and said how impressed he was with the talks.

For me (LaReita), the talk that really stood out (in the general sessions) was Sister Dibb’s talk about safety lines. The example she gave of the construction workers that chose not to use the safety gear was very powerful. As I thought about it through the week, I was so impressed with how many safety lines our Heavenly Father does give us. The list can go on and on.

It was a wonderful conference!

Jacob watching Music and the Spoken Word

Jacob loves when music comes on. He always has to touch the thing that is making the music.

The door was left open and Jacob crawled outside and into the dutch oven pot, and squatted. Think we'll be cleaning out that!

World of Speed on the Bonneville Salt Flats

Sometimes I look through the “Hometown Mailer” that has coupons, etc. They recently added a calendar section which listed the World of Speed 2009 on the Salt Flats. I thought that would be a really fun activity to do with the boys. Since it would take 3 hours to drive there, we decided to make it worth our while and make it a Friday activity (since Sat was a shortened day). And yes, we did take the boys out of school, and Dave did his Friday workday on Saturday. Fortunately we borrowed the Lewis truck so we could haul all the stuff needed to make it a fun day on the salt; Bikes, trailer, Sun Oven, coolers, shade tent, water.

We wanted to leave at 5am to be there by the 8 am record races (those that had the highest from the previous day). But we didn’t get away until about 6:30am. We had so much fun talking and imagining what it would be like and telling stories. We arrived right at 9:30am. The boys were so excited when we reached the entrance, they were hanging out the window like little puppy dogs. (We did bring Ruxpin with us, but he didn’t have as much fun as we did.)

We passed the pits and got set up 1/4 mile away at the spectator parking. The boys got out of the truck and said, “This is salt?!? It looks like snow, but it’s hard!” Anthony even tasted it. He said that it was REALLY salty. 🙂

Streamliner - one of many that we saw. This picture is actually cropped, so it appears closer than it really was.

When we first arrived and watched the cars zooming out on the ‘track’, I had a big smile, excited to be there watching this fun event and sharing it with my boys. I started crying because I could tell that my dad was there too, smiling along with me!

The boys immediately wanted to start riding their bikes around, but we still had to set up the shade so we didn’t fry. (Which wasn’t too bad, but that was because we were in the shade in the heat of the day!)

Thanks to the Lewis' for use of their truck. And also thanks to the Leavitt communal property for the shade tent!

We brought quite a few chairs, but really only needed 1 out because the rest of the time kids were either biking, or just sitting in the truck bed. It was a pretty good set-up. A note on the hat Dave is wearing – it says, “Pushing 40 is exercise enough”. James really wanted his dad to wear it, so he did. What a good sport Dave is by driving 3 hours to a really dirty, grimy place to please his wife and wow his children. 3 cheers for Dave!

Anthony’s ‘new’ bike needed the back tire replaced, so today was a perfect day to work on that. Once Dave got the rusty bolt budged, it didn’t take too long to finish the job, and then Anthony was off!

Dave getting his exercise in for the week :) — Dave getting his exercise in for the week 🙂

Once we got the bikes fixed and the lasagna in the Sun Oven, Dave took the boys to the pits and the starting line to see the cars. Anthony said that he pumped up the tires in my (grown-up) bike, and in the kid trailer. So Dave took off with all the kids (and Ruxpin), while I stayed back to nurse Jacob, and get him to take a nap.

When the others got back, Dave told me that the tires weren’t really pumped up. So he nearly passed out biking 1/4 mile with 80 pounds of kids (plus his own weight) doubled by the weight of the flat tires! Poor guy!

Samuel liked playing in the salt while waiting

I decided I wanted to go check out what they just saw, and took Samuel with me. Everyone we saw was so friendly and loved to answer questions. Samuel mostly liked playing in the salt, especially while we were waiting for a launch to take place. There was at times some downtime while either course (there were 2 courses) had to be cleared when vehicles leaked oil, or dropped something. When we were at the starting line waiting for an Aston Healy to take off, this was the case. We waited about 20 minutes.

It was fun listening to the announcer – I heard one car, driven by a husband/wife team, with their kids as the pit crew, that it was “sponsored by Mastercard and Social Security”. Dave and I chuckled over that one.

While biking back to our camp spot, my cell phone rang twice in a row. I didn’t answer since I was biking, and wondered what the big emergency was. Found out that James had chipped a tooth, and was in severe pain. I had brought a few of my oils, but didn’t bring Clove to help deaden the pain. I gave him the choice of trying Basil, which does take away ‘stinging’ pain, but he whimpered and whined instead, and begged (!) for a dentist. We called Julles to see if she could look up a dentist inWendover, NV (just 5 miles away). We found one that could see him. However, James decided after about 30 minutes that he was ok, and could wait until we saw our regular dentist. (Which is a good thing, for many reasons!) I think he was also pretty hungry which made him even more whiny. So we ate our now finished lasagna, courtesy of the sun and the Sun Oven. Pretty yummy! (Though next time I will be sure to rotate the pan every 30 minutes or so.) And we even cooked some Toll House cookies on it. Though not very many, as Dave was ready to go and wanted to pack up.

We said good-bye to our next door neighbors, whom our boys became friends with their 5 year old boy named Hunter. He was pretty sad to see us go and take our bikes and scooters. (Benjamin did get some bike practice in.) I also talked to his dad about his foot-glove shoes he was wearing. Very interesting!!! I might see if I can find a similar pair to help me with my sore right foot.

We left around 4:30. Which it was a good thing we did leave earlier than expected, because by the time we got home and got everything unloaded, washed/scrubbed off, and kids (and adults) showered, it was 10:00 pm, and we were exhausted!!!

Though it was a really fun day and we are definitely making this a bi-annual event. Anyone want to join us?

Aston Healy – one of the first to race here 50 years ago

The Purple Buffalo being towed back to the starting line.

A street legal car, a bit souped up. This is what I want to do!

Watching a streamliner get pulled back from the wonderful shade of our tent

‘Smoking Dragon’ because it really pushed out the smoke when racing!

Human Speed Luge – went 208mph. Talk about a rush!

Murray Park and the Greek Festival

After cleaning and straightening up the house, we drove up to Murray to a park near Grandpa Smith and Aunt Marie’s home. The extended Smith family was holding a reunion gathering and luncheon. We arrived in time to see several cousins, Grandpa Smith and Aunt Marie.

The boys enjoyed playing on the playground and rolling down the hills. James worked on some requirements for the Athlete activity badge in Webelos. Benjamin, Samuel and Anthony also enjoyed running around the park and helping shag loose soccer balls as two teams prepared for a game.

After playing at the park we drove to Grandpa Smith’s home and had a nice visit. LaReita, Marie and the boys picked some peaches. The boys played with the bats, balls and cars while the adults visited. We signed a large poster that showed the family connections though Grandpa Smith’s grandpa.

After a nice visit we drove up State Street to the Greek Festival in Salt Lake City. It is held at the Greek Orthodox Church on 200 South and about 300 West.

We were able to tour a beautiful church with amazing stained glass windows built in 1924. The boys were intrigued with both the adult baptismal font and baby “font” which looked like a large metal vase, both of which were in the front corner of the chapel.

The boys also liked looking at the kneeling benches, decorative woodwork, stone pillars and the choir loft above and behind the main chapel area. It was very different compared to the stark somewhat less decorative chapels in LDS churches.

Anthony and James looking at a lamb on a spit

We walked outside and went to look at the displays, smell the delicious foods cooking and mingle with the 100s of people in attendance. We watched some Greek dancers on a stage and went out back to see the carnival rides. The boys were able to do one ride each.

Samuel and Benjamin choose to go in an inflatable bouncing tent. James and Anthony choose the bungee stretch where they were harnessed to a bungee chord and tried to make it from one end to the other. We then went to try out some of the great food.

We purchased two lamb dinners with feta cheese, Mediterranean olives, Greek salad and a dinner roll. We found a table and began eating. LaReita then went to purchase some bottles of water, a gyro, some baklava and other Greek pastries. Samuel really liked the Feta cheese! Benjamin finally tried some, but didn’t like it so much. Anthony…well, he ate all the dessert that looked/tasted like scones. Think he did try at least one bite of lamb.

Sam holding out the feta cheese for Ben to try.

As we were eating James took a few bites of the gyro and said “I still don’t like them, but this is the best gyro I’ve ever had!” Later after trying some more Greek food he said he hopes he gets called to go to Greece on his mission.

James played a dart game on the Midway and won a poster that says “No Parents Allowed”. He says he is going to hang it on his door. Then Anthony, Benjamin and Samuel wanted to play a game. They won a small stuffed animal and some dragon and eagle tattoos.

Mom feeding Jacob some greek food. He liked it!

Jacob also really liked the feta cheese with the cucumber and tomato. He has very grown-up tastes for a 10 month old!

As we were leaving Samuel decided he wanted to do one more thing, we insisted on leaving and he threw a massive tantrum. David had to carry him kicking, hitting and screaming out of the festival and to the car.

We got all the boys loaded and headed home tired but well fed.

Spanish Fork Wind Festival

Sam & Ben running on abandoned tracks. You can see the windmills in the distance. They are MUCH bigger than what you see here!

Our wonderful little town of Spanish Fork continues to have great events for the families here. Last year, to celebrate the new windmills that have been put at the mouth of the canyon, a new WindFestival was created. We actually went to the inaugural event and had quite a fun time (even though we arrived in our typical late fashion, and vendors were beginning to pack up).

This year we got there early (the day before in fact), for the Luau dinner and a few other events. We were up past the reservoir for the dinner, then we hiked down to the beach. (At this point, I must add that the boys started walking around the edge of the reservoir. Samuel was sitting down trying to get a rock out of his shoe when they started off. He then began running to catch up on the sidewalk above the slanted cement sides. His little legs were really pumping! He finally caught up at the half-way point.) Then we all went down over to the gun club where there was a large field for a special kite/wind demonstration, but the wind didn’t blow! (The first time in 60 days.) Dave was tired from the day and the hiking around and he almost convinced me to not hike back up to the reservoir to see the Kites with Lights. But we both relented to the boys’ pleading that we go back to watch. And I am glad we did.

Kiteman Productions used their waverunners on the reservoir to make their own wind and danced the kites. It was a great production and everyone was entranced. (Except Jacob who just wanted to go home and go to sleep.) They had music which they choreographed their flying kites. And to make it even more special, the kites were lit up so in the pitch black, we could see the beautiful lines they created. Really awesome!

'Kites with Lights'. BlackBerry didn't get the best picture, but it was still cool!

The thing that the boys will remember best about this year’s Wind Festival was that there wasn’t any wind to fly their kites. But they did get to try some rip-scooters (kind of like rip-sticks, but in scooter form). They thought that was a pretty cool thing. Dave took the boys the next day and they got to see lots of other fun things. Like for the grown-ups, trying a Segway, and seeing demos on how to use alternative energy sources. And of course, getting lots of flyers. (Of which there is a rocket stove that I think we will get to add to our Emergency Preparedness.)

Alex is here!!

Alexader Rodriguez-Vargas, LaReita's 1st cousin, once removed. So that makes him a 2nd cousin to J.A.B.S.J.. He is like an older brother to them. We love Alex! — Alexader Rodriguez-Vargas, our 2nd cousin, like an older brother to the Berky Boys

alex has come and it has been so exciting!!
We have been telling him all the past shtuff that we can remember. He also went with us to the Oquirrh (“Oker”) temple dedication.

~James

Spanish Fork Fiesta Days

Cambridge Ward's float - Builders of Eternal Families.

Spanish Fork’s big celebration for the year is July 24 (Pioneer Day). They hold the Saturday before the 24th a Children’s Parade, that has grown into a much larger event than what the original was intended to be. Now after the Children’s Parade, there are activities and festivities in the Library Park that last all day. It really is a lot of fun, but also exhausting!

But that’s ok, since summer time is about having fun!

The boys really wanted to take Ruxpin with us for the parade. I really didn’t want to have to drag him around with us in the park for the rest of the day, but I relented and asked Dave to come get us when we were done. Well, our day turned out much different than we thought it was going to be.

I had Jacob in my sling and Ruxpin on a leash and I walked down with them on the parade route down to the park. Ruxpin was very excited for the walk. Jacob loved all the attention too.

Benjamin, James, Anthony, Samuel (hiding in the house)

Once we got down to the park, there were activities galore. The first and most important for my boys and for LaMont’s family was to get to the Fish Derby. They really wanted to make sure that they caught a fish with their bare hands. For $5 each they waited in line for 45 minutes waiting for the fish to arrive. I called Dave and had him pick up Ruxpin, and drop off swimsuits. They really wanted to have swimsuits so they didn’t have to get their clothes wet.

Dave was a good sport and was taxi person for the next 30 minutes doing my To Do list (like going to the ATM to get cash, bring the swimsuits, then coming to pick us up when we were done).

But the boys had a great time! 2 years ago when we did the fish derby James was heartbroken to see his fish die before his eyes

Here's Sam using a net to try to get his fish

in the Ziploc bag. This year he did ok, but it was Anthony that was traumatized with the death of his fish. He started crying, asking for Dave to get to the park fast to pick us up so we could get it home and in the fish bowl. Even though we kept telling him that a trout can survive in a little bowl. He had to see it for himself. After quite a few tears, he insisted that we bury it in our backyard. So we did. We planted a plant over it too. Benjamin couldn’t wait to have his fish grilled up. (Which we still haven’t done yet. It’s still in the freezer.)

Anthony excited for his fish. After this picture James gives him the bad news that the fish is going to die.

James finally got his fish with his bare hands. It took him about 45 minutes, but he did it without the net!

We got home with the fish, changed their clothes (the boys, not the fish), and returned back to the park to do more activities. This time we brought along Jessica, Ryan and Savvy. (Boy that’s a full crowd to put in the van!)

There was also a jumping trampoline thing that was $5/jump for about 3 minutes. There was a huge line for this right after the parade, and Brynn Lewis waited in line for it for 1 hour. By the time we got to it at noon, there were significantly less amounts of kids there, so we waited about 10 minutes for a turn, and nearly everyone took a turn jumping HIGHER than they’ve ever jumped before. Too fun!!!!

James (10) is really getting brave about some things, and was getting some great flilps. — James (10) is really getting brave about some things, and was getting some great flips

Provo Colonial Days

Revolutionary War Dude explaining how they loaded a gun back then. A good marksman could get 3 shots in one minute.

Last year I heard about this free event that Provo holds called “Colonial Days” as part of their Freedom Festival. (One of the largest festivals celebrating our Freedom – aside from Washington DC of course.) So I loaded up the boys and took them.

It was at the Crandall Printing Museum and surrounding buildings in historic Provo. I didn’t know that the Crandall Printing Museum has the only fully-functional Gutenberg Press replica. We learned about where “upper-case” and “lower case” comes from. Also saw a replica of the Golden Plates, taken from a description that Joseph Smith recorded, including the ‘sealed’ portion. Because it was nearing lunch time Samuel was getting crabby so we didn’t get to stay very long in that part of the museum. So we ventured outside where we saw some Revolutionary War army items. Also heard a rousing rendition of the speech, “Give me liberty, or give me death”. James and I were the only brave ones in our family to say “Hear! Hear!” when the actor/orator was giving the speech.

We moved along and happened to run into a man who was telling about the Indian Chief Crazy Horse and why General Custer didn’t have a chance against him. Very interesting history!

Bully for him! A 98 year old registered scout! Look at his shirt!

We also saw a 98 year old man who is the oldest registered Scout in the Boy Scouts of America! I wanted to get all my boys around him for a picture. But Samuel was having a fit about his shoes, and Benjamin was not feeling well (left over from the dentist visit the day before). So I just quickly took a picture of him. Impressive with all his awards on his shirt!!!

We left before being to see everything. But I’m sure that we’ll do it again next year. And bring dad along to help.

Firemen for the morning

Julles told us that Springville was opening a new firestation, so we went over to check it out. Not many

Dad pointing out some of the controls to Ben and James

people for the ceremony (complete with a printed program – only in Utah), but more people drizzled in with the rain. I found the EMT explanation quite interesting, but the boys were much more interested in the big trucks.

But the LifeFlight that landed and their tour was very interesting. Not that there was much to tour through, just their pointing and showing….

Watching the copter land was quite noisy! And dusty!

The boys kept asking silly questions. But I thought it was interesting that the flight nurse had to have a certain amount of years as an ICU nurse, ER nurse and take flight school classes. (Makes sense.)

Here's cousin Ryan with Aunt June, checking out the helicopter

One of the funnest things for the boys was to go and be able to sit on one of the original firetrucks, now on

Here's cousin Ryan sitting in the original fire engine (with random girl)

display. It was used until 1975, and still was fully functional at the time of decommission. That wasn’t impressive to the kids. What was really cool was that they were able to ring the bell from the inside of the truck that made it ring on the outside. Anthony immediately went to work trying to figure out how pulling a cord from the inside would make the bell ring on the outside. He figured it out pretty quickly!

Wish I had brought my better camera, but the phone camera will just have to do sometimes!

What really made me laugh was that they began serving cookies/cake/punch at the Open House by 9:30 am. Talk about needing to help people that go into sugar shock!!! I told my boys, NO SUGAR because they had not eaten breakfast yet. Apparantly I didn’t get the memo to Dave. He let them have cookies and punch when I was off helping someone else. Sigh.

Smiling Benjamin! He's so calm...(sometimes)

Flag retirement ceremony

Provo’s Freedom Festival always hold a flag retirement ceremony. I thought this would be very educational for the boys to go see. I thought it would be a good FHE activity. I had them wear their scout uniforms (as did I and many others, even though they didn’t participate). June also came with her kids. Dave ended up having to do some work, so he wasn’t able to join us this time around.

It was a good opportunity to talk to my boys about respect, honor and service to our country. I had to keep explaining it over and over to Anthony. He kept asking why we were burning the flag. It is a rather difficult concept to grasp for a 7 year old.

Some Marines were also there and I made sure my boys noticed how well they dressed, and walked in formation. It was not too hot of an evening, but the heat from the fire at times was a bit much.

Benjamin showing his respect for the flag. Ryan did too, but it was getting kind of long.

Hiking Timpanogos Cave

One of natures wonders is right here in Utah County. Timpanogos Cave is 1 of 3 caves in the world that has a particular kind of calcium formation. I went once when I was a kid, but hadn’t been back since. (From that trip the only thing I remember was being scared, so my dad had me on his shoulders. And at one point in the cave his head got cut and required stitches.)

We went on Thursday with June and her kids. (Dave stayed at the office to get some work done.) Fortunately the day was beautiful (in the 70’s) with a bit of cloud cover. I had no idea that the climb was going to be that steep! When I pointed out to the kids that we were going to be hiking THAT mountain to get to a cave I said, “But we’re not going to the very top”. True, we didn’t get to the very tippy-top, but we certainly got darn near close to the top! I kept telling them over and over before we left, “You have to wear good, comfortable shoes. No cleats! And you HAVE to wear socks.”

We had a 1:00 tour appointment (when you are supposed to start hiking up). Me and my boys were late getting out the door because Benjamin couldn’t find his shoes. (The curse that is now mine since I always lost my shoes as a kid.) June had already got the tickets and the instructions so she filled us in as we quickly got to the trailhead. It takes most people 1 and 1/2 hours to hike to the top. So we had to hike quickly.

Taking a rest, but up against the rocks for safety!

But once we got started, it was quite the climb!! Extreme switchbacks. We had to stop and rest at every switchback plateau. Jess (15) kept saying over and over, “I hate switchbacks!” I was constantly reminding my boys that they needed to stay away from the edge, and to always walk next to the rocks. (And NO throwing rocks either!) Samuel (3) had a hard time remembering to stay away from the edge. Though there was always someone to remind him. Benjamin (5) was always right by my side (or hanging onto my diaper bag). Anthony and James were good troopers. And Jacob LOVED being outside and smiling at everybody that was coming down. The sling was great!

Jessica keeping Samuel safe during the tour

It tooks us nearly 2 hours to get to the top. (Just 1 1/2 miles, but very steep.) When we started the cave tour, we loved the cool 45 degree (F) temperature. But shortly into the tour Benjamin started to say, “I’m freezing!” And within minutes Samuel said, “I’m scared!” Since I was holding Jacob in my sling, I couldn’t hold him too. Cousin Jessica held Samuel’s hand and stayed with him for the tour. The formations were so interesting, and our tour guide was a junior high school science teacher, so he really catered to the young kids in the group. While showing us the long calcuim formed tubes, he said, “See these? They are hollow in the middle, just like a straw. So if you were to break off one of those and drink some soda through it, it would completely dissolve, just like your teeth.” I snickered and said, “Did you hear that boys?!” James wasn’t paying attention and said, “What? what’s so funny?” So I had to quickly explain it. But it was lost a bit in the retelling. I’m always telling my boys that soda is poison.

Halfway through the cave, a man came up to me and said, “This would be a great place to play some Baroque music.” It took me a few seconds to register, but it was James Rhodes. A professional violist that just played a Utah Baroque Ensemble gig with me in April. At the end of the tour he caught me up on his Chamber Music camp that he is holding for local students.

Nearing the end of the tour Jacob had enough and was exhausted. He starting crying and I couldn’t console him. Fortunately we hurried out of the cave and I was able to nurse him to sleep on a bench. Then we began the descent. (After explaining to the boys that they COULD NOT run down, complete with a story of a 3 year old boy that tripped and fell off the side and died. To which Anthony commented, “ouch”.)

On the way back down June and her kids (along with Sam) quickly steamed ahead because they had to get to a toilet. I took my sleeping baby Jacob (in comfy sling), James, Anthony and Benjamin at a bit of a slower pace. All the way down my boys asked, “tell me a story of when you were a kid”. It was a very good time to pass on childhood stories, mistakes that I made and learned from. We had a wonderful bonding time.

The amount of energy kids has constantly amazes me. Samuel nearly immediately fell asleep on the 45 minute drive home, but he woke up when we got home, and was awake until 11:00pm. I was ready to go to sleep at 8:30, but the kids were just as wired as ever. At 10:30 I was reading stories to Anthony and I asked through my own bleary eyes, “Aren’t you tired at all from the hike?'” He looked at me like I was crazy, “No.”

Three days later, my body is still a bit sore! The boys told a ranger, “if our dad came, he’d have a heart attack!” But that’s another story for another post.

Anthony thought this adventure was great!

The boys thought this looked like a dinosaur tooth.

Benjamin standing in front of a huge slide formation. "That would be fun to go on!"