Baby BOY Berry

We went in for our ultrasound to find out what the gender of the baby was on October 14th. It was just in time so that we could answer all of the "do you know what you're having" questions at Amanda's reception. The result...it's a boy! We are so excited, but I think Rick's dad is the most excited. (Rick is the only boy and needs to "carry on the family name".) Joe gave a big "YEEHAW!" when we called him after the appointment and gave him the news.


I'm glad those ultrasound technichians know what to look for because I wouldn't have been able to tell you anything about this picture!

Now we can move on to names...here are our top 5 at the moment in no particular order:

Maxwell (Max)
Jackson
Cooper
Davis
Truman

Let us know your favorite or send us some new ones!
We are open to suggestions!

Halloween '09

Brannon threw a Halloween bash at his house this year. Everyone got dressed up and had a great time. Jack and Valrie were tooth ferries, Ted and Stef went as Brannon and Amanda, Brannon and Amanda were Snow White and Prince Charming, and Julie and I were Ketchup and Mustard. Karen Campbell, I mean,Waldo even showed up!

Brannon busted out his cotton candy machine and the entire neighborhood got word. There were lines of kids waiting for that stuff. Fortunately, Julie and I were able to cut in line to get some...deelish!

Oh, Canada

This past weekend marked the closing of another of life's many chapters...Ms. Karen Campbell is no longer in the great US of A. She is making her way back to her home land of the True North. She will be greatly missed as my employee/co-worker, roommate/tenant, study partner/excel master, and most importantly my friend. M'lady, a few of my memories of your times spent in the Copper State...

Going to the cabin
Driving Amanda's car all summer...and maybe putting a scratch on it ;)
Taking long lunches to new restaurants
Laughing until we cried about random things at work
Hanging out with Bear and Coco and speaking in accents to them
Almost making it to Havasupai and getting caught in a flood (we will make it one day)
Dealing with "the idiot broker" at work (you know who)
Making salads at lunch
Not knowing what country you were in on multiple occasions
Getting to see your emotional side (now I know Canadians are humans too)
Going to Hole-in-the-Rock and taking sunset pictures
Running to the Felix and back and realizing after that neither of us really wanted to go that fast we were just trying to keep up with the other person
Laying on the couch in the mornings hoping you wouldn't get up, so I wouldn't have to go running
Studying for days on end in the Scottsdale Library...if that didn't bond us together for life, I don't know what will
You making Pannini's (I have yet to have one!)
Your family coming to stay and taking us out to some lovely dinners
You coming to American Thanks Giving (my Aunt Lynne asked me last week what your plans were for this year :( had to tell her you were gone)
Hiring and "firing" you...hahaha
You finding out we were pregnant before my parents knew by the "deer in the headlights" look on our faces when you asked us
Watching Anne of Green Gables
You sitting on "your spot" on the couch
The adventures of Mike Maughn (I still have hopes)
Amanda being fearful of your nighttime tendencies
Coming home to you sitting in the pool reading a book
You earning your workout name of "Muscles"
Waking you up and taking you out to breakfast because someone was coming to look at the house (thanks for being a good sport)
AZ State Fair...chelloooo Indian Fry Bread!
and...Lada dada di dada da da...

Those are just a few I came up with. I miss you already, but I am really excited for you. I know you are a little unsettled about the next few months, but for some reason I feel like you are going to land something and somewhere (and maybe someone...), where you are really going to be happy. Remember that you have been adopted into the Cross family and that means you now have 2 sisters if you ever need anything.

I love you and can't wait for the next 7 years of memories!

'09 AZ State Fair

To bid THE Ms. Karen Campbell a fond farewell and celebrate her last weekend with us in the good ol' U. S. of A, we decided to treat her like royalty, to associate with the highest quality citizens that our country has to offer. What better to do this than the Arizona State Fair; the place where dreams come true. Where you can go to get your smell of livestock fix, your annual dose of Indian fry bread, the best people watching around and to let the kid out, the occasional fair ride.

Brannon and Amanda came with too. Amanda was set on winning a stuffed monkey coming out of a banana. Poor Brannon spent a good $20 trying to win her the thing. We found this game that looked simple enough. We thought for sure we could do it. All you had to do was throw a wiffle ball off this backboard thing into a laundry basket. Easy enough right? Uh, nope...impossible. We had fun trying anyway.

If you're at the fair, you've got to ride the rides. They were giving out free tickets to ride the ferris wheel, so we hit them up and tried it out. We couldn't JUST do the ferris wheel though. Where's the fun in that? So we had a little competition. Julie and I, Brannon and Amanda all went down the EuroSlide, the stratified monstrosity you see in the picture up above. Uh, that's Rick by the way, in the front, coming from behind to steal the victory from the hopeful Dr. Gunnell. YES!

Last but not least...fair food. I mean seriously, where else can you get cotton candy, Indian fry bread or a deep fried pickle on every other corner? By far the best story of the night when it came to food was Kate Orme's corn dogs. Apparently little Miss Orme wanted a corn dog, so she went to one of the corn dog concession stands to pick one up. As she walking around, enjoying said corn dog, another man, at another corn dog concession stand called her over and said: "hey, if you throw the rest of that corn dog you have in your hand away, I'll give you one of mine for free." Apparently Kate hadn't had enough for the night, so she threw the 3 inches that remained of her foot long corn dog to get yet another foot long corn dog. And did she finish it? By golly she sure did. Way to go Kate, you make us proud.

Utrasound Pics

I went for an ultrasound and walked away with a CD full of pictures. I didn't know they were going to do some 3-D! Man, those are pretty crazy, makes it a lot more realistic. Here are some of baby's best poses!

Rick couldn't go with because of class, but I asked my mom if she wanted to come and meet the babe, so of course she came. They asked me if I was interested in finding out the sex....I was confused a little...I thought that wasn't happening until week 18, this was only about week 12. I hesitated a little because Rick wasn't there, but curiosity got the best of me. They said that it looks like a little boy! Rick was super excited when I told him. Sure, now he wants the baby...jk :) We aren't really picking a name yet though since 1 in 5 are wrong about sex this early. But it's fun to start thinking about. Oh, and the baby was actually measuring at about 13 weeks and 4 days in these.

Berry Baby!

We were trying to figure out what we wanted to do to get our weekend started on a Friday night. Our conclusion was to just get a movie and have a laid back night. While we were out I suggested we pick up a pregnancy test....we had been "trying" for a little while and I was late for my time of the month. When we got home we decided, "why wait?" so I peed in a styrophome Christmas cup and we watched as the 2 lines appeared :)

So, June 26th became a rather eventful night insead of just a laid back movie night.

Excited Daddy-to-be!

Baby incubator :)

We decided to wait and tell my family until every one was together. Everyone was going up to Greer for the 4th of July. Ted and Stef were driving in from Philly and I convinced Amanda and Brannon to come (I had to tell Amanda the news before-hand because they had decided not to go up because Brannon had to work, but the news changed thier minds and they came up). We called Rick's parents on our way up and told them the good news. This will be grandbaby number 12 for them and grandbaby number 1 for my folks.

Rick waited until August at his family's family reunion to tell his siblings. He blessed me and the baby in a family prayer...I think he caught them a little offguard :)

It's official, we are going to be parents...a little scary, life changing and very exciting!

Lake Time

We have actually made some friends in our new ward, Sarah and Jerry Johnson. They invited us to join them at the lake one Friday afternoon. It was a much needed break for Rick after finishing his final for his first 5 week course of the summer term. We had a blast!

Rick looking sooo good.

The beginning of one crazy ride!

Yep, it was a crazy one, but we survived and had a great BBQ after!

Thank you Johnsons!