Four Score and...4 years ago....

Well, we did it. July 29th marked four years of marital bliss for the Bergs. It's hard to believe that we have been married 4 years already! Here's to many more to come! :)

I was thinking (not too seriously) about what I have learned over the last four years... Here are a few things I thought of (in no particular order):

1. You can't eat like a boy and look like a girl.
2. God is GOOD--all the time!
3. Paul LOVES bacon.
4. Our best date nights are not an expensive dinner out, but rather order-in chinese food, a documentary, and a crossword puzzle.
5. If it weren't for 7th grade boy humor and plays-on-words we would rarely communicate with each other.
6. We are still too immature to have kids.
7. I fight dirty. (please reference "the orange juice fight")
8. We have grown to appreciate how different we are, and how essential that is to a healthy relationship. Cheesy, but true.
9. We really enjoy hanging out with each other.
10. Paul has more shapely legs than I do.
11. We are the first ones to make fun of each other...but the first ones to compliment too. :)
12. Paul writes better "thank you" notes than I do.
13. I am really good at laundry.
**but most importantly...especially for those who choose to visit us**:

14. Paul cooks bacon naked.


So.. 14...14 things I have learned over these years. :) I'm sure there are more, but that's all I have for now. :)

I love you, Pab. Here's to another 4 years. (that will sound better when we hit like 30 years or more...)

More to come.

Hotter than "H"!!!

So, today the temps are topping out at about 110 degrees!! It is hotter than anything I have ever felt. Everyone here is trying to be encouraging saying, "Oh, but it's a dry heat." Ok. Let me just say, 110 degrees, people, is still 110 freaking degrees--dry or not. It's like being hit in the face with a hot blowdryer when you walk outside.

Honestly, we are not built for the heat. As Paul says, he has a nice "winter layer" built in to his body, and this heat just doesn't work for him. :) I think I have that same winter layer...but paul knows better than to agree with me on that!! :)

So, anyway, here we are, air conditioning blasting away..holed up in our apartment until it cools down. Our last two electricity bills have been almost $200!!

More reasons why we will move back up north asap :)

The Orange Juice Fight

So usually Paul and I get along pretty well. It takes a lot for us to really get "P-Oed" with each other. But a few days ago... the "it" hit the "fan". :)

Honestly, I don't even remember how it started, but when I came to, paul was storming out of the house, and a blind rage took over my body. I paced the house desperately trying to find something to destroy that would really hit him below the belt. Then genius struck. I ran to fridge grabbing the two items that would have the greatest impact--his orange juice and chocolate milk. Hahah! This will teach him to sass me! I angrily poured the contents of each down the drain--with each drop feeling better and better. I then set the empty containers outside the door- a dark omen to anyone who enters, not to mess with an angry sugar mama.

It's funny now.... I knew orange juice and chocolate milk were the way to devastate Paul the most. He laughed too, after the sting wore off... hahaha!!

That'll teach him.

ps. lucky for him, my mom is in town and will re-buy these for him. She has always liked him the best.

Updates!

Well, its been a while since we updated this thing! Oops! We are just so busy with all of our very important life things, you know how it is... :) jk, we actually forgot the password and just got this back up and running.

So far life down here in AZ has been good. It's like 150 degrees-ish now, but the pool at our place has been a life saver! Paul has been really liking school, and landed a great internship at a company down here for the summer.

I quit my nanny job, and started working as a Speech Language Therapist in a school! I LOVE it. It's weird actually using the my degree for a living. Who knew all that tuition would actually pay off?? So, at least during the school year, I am Paul's "sugar-mama." and I love to rub that in. I'll generously leave a 5-er on his pillow in the morning...just to show I still care... ;)

We are looking forward to moving back to Minneapolis next June. Paul will graduate at the beginning of next May, and I will finish school at the end of May, and then we hope to re-pack all of our belongings and make the long drive back to God's favored state. :) We can't wait!

Please continue to pray for guidance and protection as we live down here. We have a grip of stray alley cats that Paul likes to torture by launching my free weights at them off the deck. I tell him not to, but he tells me he is 'defending my honor.'

More to come!

A Birthday Dance For Susie

Susie,

The girls and I threw together a little jig for your 29th birthday today. I hope you like it.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Valentine's Day

Since we are poor students, the challenge was to find a way to give a meaningful, heartfelt gift to Leah to show her how much I love her...totally free. Well, I came up with this bad boy, which turned out to be a home run:




However, in case you're afraid that I was a total cheapskate, we did dinner (Chinese food) and a movie (Godfather 2). I really went all out. Just keepin' the spark alive...

Day 2: Day of the 6 Hour Detour

On the road again:




The drive on I-70 out of Denver was beautiful. We were going steadily uphill while battling about a 40-50 MPH wind (Kurt - that's about as fast as you throw a baseball, on a good day :)




The first sight on mountains:




Well, Erv, you were right. On Tuesday night, Erv (Leah's grandpa) was emphatic that we check the road report before we left. We were staying with people we didn't really know, so we didn't want to ask to connect to their internet. Also, it was mostly out of sheer laziness and stubbornness that I didn't check. Apparently the interstate was shut down outside of Denver, but we didn't know that until we'd already driven an hour...oops.



We had to stop in Colorado Springs to check the weather and road conditions. I guess it's time to head further south:



Leah had seen enough mountains for the time being:


The beautiful scenery of Pueblo, CO:

(If anyone I remotely cared about wanted to move to Pueblo, CO I would first try and strongly discourage such a stupid decision. If that tactic failed, I would take a plastic whiffle ball bat to the back of there legs.)

Once we reached the very unglamorous town of Walsenburg, CO, we took a right and headed west on highway 160. We were just starting to make our long journey across the state. We were counting on the roads being better to the south. Back into the the heart of the Rockies:

Once again we were climbing severely uphill while battling the 50 MPH wind. Having our car loaded down with all of our stuff, and not to mention the McDonald's I ate for breakfast didn't help our cause much either. It was a really pretty drive (do I look like I haven't showered in 24 hrs. and have eaten a lot of beef jerky?!):



This was our first true disagreement during the trip. I'll let you be the judge, but in this economy, I'm pretty sure most of you would drop trow pretty much anywhere for a million bucks.




By the time we reached Wolf Creek Pass we had agreed to disagree on our previous argument. However, amidst the grandeur and beauty of our surroundings, Leah insisted on bringing up old wounds. I do a stellar "magic" trick ("Illusion, Michael.") where I make a toothpick magically jump in mid-air. This secret has long been a point of contention in our relationship, and Leah chose to give me the cold shoulder until I told her. Though the atmosphere of the car was icy, I stood my ground - as does any experienced illusionist - until she broker her silence and made me a delicious PB&J sandwich.



Driving though Wolf Creek Pass was definitely a highlight of the entire trip. It had just snowed there - hence the interstate being closed to the north - and the plows were still trying to clear it all out. We must have ascended a couple thousand feet, all the while driving with snow drifts 6-10 feet high on both sides. The trees were covered in snow and you could look out and see the river valley - it was just beautiful. On the way down, there was tons of slush on the road. Also, it was about a 7.5% downhill grade for 15 miles, so we had to ride the brake most of the way.







Chimney Rock...from Oregon Trail (through my dirty window):






This is just outside of Durango, CO. I would much rather live there than Pueblo, CO. Actually, I'd probably rather live most anywhere than Pueblo, CO - as I've previously noted.


Still in Colorado...10 hours later!




Entering Utah...finally!



The Archway Inn was a nice, cheap place to stay. If you ever go to Moab, the food from Cassano's is very good, however, the wait staff is not very adept. Leah wasn't feeling very well, so I bought her some Nyquil. I thought she didn't like the cherry flavor, so I bought the regular flavor...big mistake. It turns out cherry is the ONLY flavor she likes. The regular flavor tasted like black licorice covered with burnt hair. It was soooo nasty. Anyway, we both took some and slept pretty well.