December 2008 Photos
The December 2008 photo galleries are now closed. Snow play and Christmas dominated the photos for December, but that really isn't much of a surprise. It was a fun month; we are looking forward to more in 2009! The December galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's December 2008 Gallery ... (6 years, 5 months old)
Eliana's December 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 9 months old)
Olivia's December 2008 Gallery ... (2 years, 5 months old)

November 2008 Photos
The November 2008 photo galleries are now closed. We shot quite a bit of material in November, beginning in California at the party for Nana's 100th birthday and continuing until our recent trip to Utah for Thanksgiving. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's November 2008 Gallery ... (6 years, 4 month old)
Eliana's November 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 8 months old)
Olivia's November 2008 Gallery ... (2 years, 4 month old)

Thanksgiving 2008 Berrett Family Pictures
All of my family is at my Mom and Dad's house for Thanksgiving this year. We took advantage of the occasion to snap some family pictures:

	Since 1976, the Robert and Maryanne Berrett family has been composed of the following persons (from left to right): Bryon!, RJ, Mom, Dad, Mark Gerald, Brent Robert Dad really isn't that short, we are standing on a slight incline. I only have 2 inches on him (he's 5'11" and I'm 6'1"). I do have about 40 lbs on him in weight though. (Note to self: need to work on that.)
	My brothers... from left to right: myself, Mark, Brent, Bryan.

{Group family photo pending}

Disneyland 2008
When we planned out trip down to Chula Vista, we purchased our airfare with the express intent of allowing ourselves time to visit Disneyland. We had a lot of fun and the kids (of course) had a blast. We hit Astro Blasters first which, I think, was Livy's favorite ride of the day. Olivia and I went on Astro Blasters a few times by ourselves (there were no lines to speak of) while Kristy took Eliana and Berkeley on Space Mountain. Eliana was crying by the end of the Space Mountain ride and Berkeley said he didn't like it. They did like The Matterhorn though. We hit most of the kiddie rides and all of the bread-and-butter rides (Pirates of the Carribean, The Haunted House, etc). We spent about two hours in Toon Town... here is a picture with Mickey Mouse.

Olivia is absolutely fascinated by Mickey Mouse. Upon seeing Mickey Mouse, she exclaimed "It's Mickey Mouses!" and would not take her eyes off of him the entire time.

Here are some random pics taken throughout the day:

And there are a few more here.

(Updated Sun Nov 23 12:02:30 PST 2008 // added lightbox slideshow)

Nana's 100th Birthday Party
In the afternoon today we all assembled at the local LDS Church in the gymnasium (one of the few venues around that can hold the Sorenson clan). We had a buffet-style dinner (ham and cheesy potatoes) and enjoyed each other's company. Here are some pictures of various members of the Sorenson family seated at tables and enjoying the meal.

After the meal, there was a musical program which predominantly consisted of Nana's great grandchildren singing and playing various instruments.

Following that, Dan and Stacy presented a wonderful video that celebrated Nana's life. Some stills of the video are available.

Candid Photos
While everyone was milling about waiting for their respective turns to be photographed, I walked around and snapped some candid photos of a few people:

Sorenson Sibling Family Portraits
As part of Nana's birthday activities today, everyone dressed up for some pictures that document Nana's prodigious posterity. While the photographer was here, we took advantage of the rare opportunity to snap pictures of all of Kristy's siblings and their families. Here is a picture of Kristy with her 5 brothers and 5 sisters (they are standing ordered by birth with the oldest on the left and youngest on the right).

From left to right: Tamra, Rick, Dan, Tonya, Kristy, Laura, Scott, Kathryn, Tom, Robert, and Karen.

Each of the sibling's family portraits (with the exception of Karen... who deferred iirc) are included below. My kids have 36 cousins on Kristy's side and most of them are present here today. The oldest cousin is 23 (David) and the youngest is Jacob (2 months). I have included the ages of each of the cousins:

Kristy's sister Tamra and her husband Windsor and their family. From left to right: Aaron (age 18), Andrew (age 11), Tamra, Kate (age 10), Windsor, Annie (Tim's wife), Tim (age 21), and Ben (age 13). Not pictured: David (age 23), Shellie (David's wife), Richard (age 20 and currently serving an LDS mission in Boston), and "little Tamra" (who died at age 8 of leukemia but would be 17 this year).

Kristy's brother Rick Jr and his wife Jill and their family. From left to right: Andrea (age 20), Korey (age 15), Ally (age 11), Rick, Jill, Darian (age 13), Jonathan (Sarah's husband), Sarah (age 22), Richard III (or "R3", age 18).

Kristy's brother Dan and his wife Stacy and their family. From left to right: Tyler (age 16), Lauren (age 7), Stacy, Spencer (age 9), Dan, Ashley (age 12).

Kristy's sister Tonya and her husband Jim and their family. From left to right: Ben (age 10), Hyrum (age 2), Rachel (age 9), Tonya, Ammon (age 7), Michael (age 4), Jim, Emma (age 11), Jeremiah (age 12), Rebekah (age 6).

Kristy's sister Laura and her daughter Jenna (age 8). Not pictured: Laura's husband... Spencer the slacker.

Kristy's brother Scott and his wife Angela and their family. From left to right: Isabella (age 4), Angela, Andrew (age 1), Nathan (age 3), and Scott.

Kristy's brother Tom and his wife Amber and their family. From left to right: Brandon (age 3), Tom, Madison (age 6), Amber, Jacob (2 months).

Kristy's sister Kathryn and her daughter Hinckley (age 6 months). Not pictured: Matt (slacker numero dos), Elizabeth (age 6), Emily (age 3).

Kristy's youngest brother Robert and his wife Jessica.

Nana's Posterity
Nana (Kristy's paternal grandmother) turned 100 years old today. Here is a picture of her and three generations of her posterity: 1 son (and 1 daughter-in-law), 11 grandkids (10 of which are married), 39 great grandchildren (of which 1 is deceased and 3 are married). And there are 2 great great grandchildren on the way.

Not pictured: Spencer, Matt, Tamra (deceased), Elizabeth, Emily, David, Shellie, and Richard (currently serving an LDS mission in Boston).

Nana's Grandchildren

Standing (from left to right): Tami, Rick, Dan, Tonya, Kristy, Laura, Scott, Kathryn, Tom, Robert, and Karen. Sitting (from left to right): Richard, Ardella (Nana), and Bertha.

Note: the grandkids are standing in birth order... from oldest to youngest.

Nana's Great Grandchildren
Nana has 38 living great grandchildren; 39 including Tamra (who died at age 8 of leukemia). Three of Nana's greats are married (David, Tim, and Sarah); David's wife (Shellie) is expecting and so is Sarah... these two babies will be the first two of probably 100 or more of Nana's great great grandchildren.

Not pictured: Tamra (deceased), Elizabeth, Emily, David, Shellie, and Richard (currently serving an LDS mission in Boston).

Ocotober 2008 Photos
The October 2008 photo galleries are now closed. Not a whole lot to look at, even if you consider the pictures taken today in Chula Vista. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's October 2008 Gallery ... (6 years, 3 month old)
Eliana's October 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 7 months old)
Olivia's October 2008 Gallery ... (2 years, 3 month old)

Halloween in Chula Vista
We flew down to the Sorenson ancestral home of Chula Vista last night. (We flew on JetBlue airlines... and loved it! Goodbye Alaska Airlines; we will not miss you!) The primary purpose of our travel is to attend Kristy's grandmother's 100th birthday party tomorrow. Every one of her 10 other siblings will also be here, which is a rare treat. In fact, pretty much everyone is here with the exception of Matt, Spencer, Kathy's two oldest kids (Ebey and Emily) and my oldest nephew David (attending to his pregnant bedridden wife).

Today we spent the morning and early afternoon at La Jolla on the beach, then we returned to Grandma/Grandpa Sorenson's house for some dinner and playtime.

After dinner we went trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Many more pictures that I took today are available here.

September 2008 Photos
The September 2008 photo galleries are now closed. We were fairly busy last month with activities and took quite a few pictures. The end result is that the galleries are abundant with beautiful pictures of the kids. I love looking back at the latest chapters in their lives and think about the fun we had. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's September 2008 Gallery ... (6 years, 2 month old)
Eliana's September 2008 Gallery ... (4½ years old)
Olivia's September 2008 Gallery ... (2 years, 2 month old)

2008 Home Preschool Class Pictures
Kristy, Kathy, and Ang have started up preschool for the younger cousins around here. The class this year includes four outstanding pupils: Emily, Olivia, Nathan, and Isabella.

And here are the four of them together for a class picture:

Class pictures for "cousin preschool" is a yearly tradition, albeit one that was partially interrupted last year because of our attic renovation project. Check out the previous years of "cousin preschool" class pictures here.

August 2008 Photos
The August 2008 photo galleries feature pictures of Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia taken in bunches... like as Remlinger Farm, the Woodland Park Zoo, or during our recent inaugural rocket launch. As a result, the gallery pages themselves (see links below) seem a little bare. But if you drill down, you'll find some great August pictures. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's August 2008 Gallery ... (6 years, 1 month old)
Eliana's August 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 5 months old)
Olivia's August 2008 Gallery ... (2 years, 1 month old)

Tim/Annie Wedding
Kristy took a one-day trip down to Phoenix today to attend the wedding of my nephew Tim (Kristy's oldest sister's second oldest son). Here are the pictures she snapped:

August 2008 Remlinger Farms Photos
Kristy took the kids to Remlinger Farms today and snapped quite a few pictures. Enjoy!

July 2008 Photos
The July 2008 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's July 2008 Gallery ... (6 years old)
Eliana's July 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 4 months old)
Olivia's July 2008 Gallery ... (2 years old)

July 2008 Berkeley Birthday Party Photos
Berkeley had his friends over today for a birthday party in the morning and afternoon (11am-1pm). The theme for the party was baseball. We (well Kristy) had the great idea of making the activities for the party function as various aspects of a fictional baseball training camp.

The first activity ("Uniforms") consisted of the kids painting the first letter of their names on hats. The second activity ("Catching Practice") was a water balloon toss. The third activity ("Hitting Practice") was simply whacking at a piñata. And finally, the fourth activity ("Running Practice") involved the two teams - the red team and the blue team - competing in a relay race between some bases.

Here are the two teams... the blue team is pictured on the left and the red team is pictured on the right:

From left to right on the blue team: Becky (friend from Church), Nathan (cousin), Eliana, Jake (friend from school), Fox (friend from both school and Church), and Nandi (friend from Church). Not pictured: Ebey and Emily (cousins).	From left to right on the red team: Mitchell (friend from school), Samuel (friend from school), Berkeley (the birthday boy), Isabella (neighbor), Tucker (friend from Church), Isabella (cousin), and Olivia. Note pictured: Kate (neighbor).

Here are a couple of pictures of two of the group activities... painting hats and hitting the piñata.

After the games we hosted a lunch (of hot dogs), ate some cake, and opened presents:

July 2008 Olivia Birthday Party
We sent out Olivia's Party Invitations to a birthday luau a few weeks ago. If you didn't get a card - don't fret - we only invited local family (and the grandparents too of course). We made the best of the semi-finished backyard with some luau-themed decorations (e.g. tiki torches and the like). The kids were all provided with grass skirts, a flower (or a shell) lei, and the opportunity to get a tattoo on their forearm or calf. Olivia welcome her birthday guests in a new pink dress (with matching silk flower hair clip) and her new "pretty" shoes. Here are some pictures of the principal party guests:

From left to right: Eliana (age 4), Berkeley (age 5 yrs and 360 days), Nathan (age 2), Isabella (age 4), Emily (age 3), Hinckley (age 1 month), and the birthday girl Olivia (age 2). Not shown: Jenna, Ebey, and Andrew (oops).

We invited the wife of our home teacher, Kamaile, to teach the kids a simple Hawaiian song. I can't remember much of the song now, and the kids can't either... except for the part that went "poo poo". Heh. Here is Kamaile teaching the kids the song and the accompanying hand movements:

After the song we served a luau feast headlined with Kalua Pork and Teriyaki Beef. There was also plenty of fresh fruit to munch on. I wish I had taken a picture of the spread now. Suffice it to say, the food was deluxe and there was plenty to go around.

After dinner, we sang to the birthday girl and served the cake:

We served the cake with three luau-themed flavors of homemade ice cream... Coconut Macadamia Ice Cream with Chocolate Chunks, Pineapple Ice Cream, and Mango Ice Cream. The coconut ice cream was a big hit and I must say that it was exceptional, one of the best flavors Kristy and I have created. The pineapple was also very good. However, the mango flopped (and it was the hardest to make!). I don't think my mangoes were ripe enough as the flavor was very weak. Ah well.

Immediately following the cake and ice cream, Olivia opened up her birthday presents:

Pictured below are two of her gifts... a new umbrella and a new "sofa" (her word) for the attic playhouse.

But, by far, her favorite gift was a sing along cassette recorder that the Thurmonds bought for her. Just take a look at the pictures:

It was a great party! I wish some of my own family was there to enjoy it (maybe next year *wink wink*).

June 2008 Photos
The June 2008 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. We went picture happy in June as there were plenty of special events to document and record. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's June 2008 Gallery ... (5 years, 11 months old)
Eliana's June 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 3 months old)
Olivia's June 2008 Gallery ... (1 year, 11 months old)

May 2008 Photos
The May 2008 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. We took quite a few pictures this past month (compared to April). The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's May 2008 Gallery ... (5 years, 10 months old)
Eliana's May 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 2 months old)
Olivia's May 2008 Gallery ... (1 year, 10 months old)

Hinckley Birth
I had the day off today while Kristy is at work. After I sent Berkeley and Eliana off to school, Olivia and Ebey and Emily traveled over to Overlake hospital to see Sorenson grandchild #38... Hinckley Kate Thurmond. Yes, you read that right; there are now 45 persons on this earth (35 on Kristy's side) that have legitimate claim to calling me "Uncle Rus". Here are the pictures of the new youngster:

Sarah/Jonathan Kemp Wedding Pics
Kristy traveled to Ohio yesterday to attend the wedding of her oldest niece, Sarah. Sarah is the eldest daughter of Rick and Jill Sorenson. Rick is Kristy's oldest brother. Sarah and Jonathan (Kemp) met at BYU about 2 years ago and have been dating for about that long (as far as I understand). Sarah is majoring in Chemical Engineering and Jonathan is majoring in Journalism. I think they both graduate this summer.

Here are a few pictures Kristy took yesterday. The first group is a set that she took in and around the temple grounds of the LDS Columbus Ohio Temple (mouse over each picture for a brief description of the picture subject matter).

And here are a few of the newly married couple, Jonathan and Sarah Kemp.

And one of Kristy's Mom and Dad... Dick and Bertha:

April 2008 Photos
The April 2008 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's April 2008 Gallery ... (5 years, 9 months old)
Eliana's April 2008 Gallery ... (4 years, 1 month old)
Olivia's April 2008 Gallery ... (1 year, 9 months old)

March 2008 Photos
The March 2008 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's March 2008 Gallery ... (5 years, 8 months old)
Eliana's March 2008 Gallery ... (4 years old)
Olivia's March 2008 Gallery ... (1 year, 8 months old)

Eliana's Birthday Parties
Eliana turned 4 today. She had two parties... one for her friends and cousins (kids only) in the afternoon, and one for family in the evening. It was a busy day.

For the first party, Eliana invited several of her friends (and similarly-aged cousins) to the Second Story Repertory to see a musical perfomance of Cinderella. The kids all sat down right next to the stage (criss cross applesauce) with Kristy and Eliana's former teacher and friend Jana Bell. Mom, Dad and myself sat in the chairs. The play encouraged the kids participation and the kids were eager to oblige. After the show, Eliana and her entourage congregated in the theater lobby, ate cupcakes, opened presents, and were visited by the crew of the play (who sung Happy Birthday to her). Eliana became pretty shy at this point and refused to give Cinderella a hug, but instead clung tightly to my neck. Here are some pictures:

Eliana's (non-family) party guests:

In the evening for Eliana's second party, we had the family over for dinner (pizza), cake, and ice cream. My aunt/uncle (Anadeane and Layne) were in town, so they came over as well. We had quite a host of people attending, so the extra space up in the attic was put to good use. Here are a few pictures:

My little girl is growing up fast... for kicks, take a look at previous birthday party pictures:

Eliana's 3-yr-old Birthday Party Pictures
Eliana's 2-yr-old Birthday Party Pictures
Eliana's 1-yr-old Birthday Party Pictures

February 2008 Photos
The February 2008 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's February 2008 Gallery ... (5 years, 7 months old)
Eliana's February 2008 Gallery ... (3 years, 11 months old)
Olivia's February 2008 Gallery ... (1 year, 7 months old)

January 2008 Photos
The January 2008 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's January 2008 Gallery ... (5½ years old)
Eliana's January 2008 Gallery ... (3 years, 10 months old)
Olivia's January 2008 Gallery ... (1½ years old)