Hey everyone!! Another year has gone by as we’re ready to get 2011 wrapped up and over with.

The Bernharts would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or happy any-other-holiday-you-celebrate … in other words: Happy Holidays to all our family and friends!!

Some highlights of our year:

• Melanie finished radiation therapy, started the reconstruction process, and has been given the “all clear” from her oncologist that she is currently cancer free!!
• Melanie and Lauren took part in the opening ceremonies of Supercross in Anaheim Stadium in February for their Breast Cancer Awareness event.
• Lauren started 10th grade, passed the 6-foot-tall mark… and made the Junior Varsity volleyball team at her school.
• Brody is still trying to decide on what he wants to be when he grows up. The choices he’s mulling over (so far): waiter, break-dancing bowler, or sound effect impersonator.
• Neil organized Octobeardfest for it’s second year, and with help from Melanie and many, many other friends…  raised $1,180 for cancer research.
• Melanie took a bartending course and passed to become a certified mixologist.
• My friend Tim invited all four of us to be on the Cancer Assassins float in the Chino Christmas Parade. Survivors and families were on the float, and Cancer Assassins raffled off a fully decorated tree that raised over $400.

Special thanks go to our good friend Mike Flores for having the patience to take our group holiday photo, which is not easy with a 3-year-old running around (as you can see in one of the pics below).

Here are some other photos from our holiday season for you to enjoy!

We started doing these ‘newsletters’ in 2008 as a way of getting out a list of the past year’s happenings out to all of our family and friends. This year’s newsletter is dedicated to two special Bernharts: First, my father, who passed away on May 12th. We all miss him very much. Second, Melanie… who has been a pillar of strength for our family since the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I would not be the person I am without having both of them in my life.

OK, now let’s get to some of the fun stuff from 2010!

Lauren turned 14 in April and started high school this year. She’s also decided to make good use of her height (recently broke he 6′ mark) and has taken up Volleyball and made the frosh team at her school. On top of that, she tried out and made the Goldenwest Volleyball Club team, which will help her get onto the varsity team at her high school faster. She is really excited about it and loves to play. We’re looking forward to watching her play in the coming year.

Brody is well into his ‘terrible-twos’ now, giving us a run for our money in the patience department. However, most of the time he’s a great boy and has definitely given us some fantastic moment of laughter. We took him to his first baseball game at the end of the Angel’s season. He even did the ‘wave’! He tried some soccer fun as well. Brody definitely takes to any sport that he sees, either in person or on the television… his re-enactments are very accurate.

In September, we all participated in the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure, in Orange County. We had many good friends and family come out and join us, as well as dozens of others who helped us raise $1,185 for the foundation.

Melanie completed her final chemo treatment on December 9th! We are all very glad that part of this whole ordeal is over and we can no focus on the next phase. She is excited to grow her hair back, too!

Neil started Octobeardfest: Guys grow their beards out for the month of October to get attention and help raise awareness and support for cancer research. In it’s inaugural year, everyone who participated helped raise $495 for our Stand Up 2 Cancer team. As you can see in the photos, Neil has gotten attached to his beard and has yet to shave it off.

Yes, 2010 was rough for us… but we’re staying positive, doing well and more than ready for 2011. Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful year to come!

Melanie walked the whole 3.1 mile course without any trouble. When we were done, the line for the bus back to the off-site parking was so long that she, along Lauren and I, walked back to the car… and even ran some parts of it. This was another 1.5 miles! This turned the 5K into a 7.5K. The only thing that could have been better was if it wasn’t so hot that day. Unseasonable weather had the temps in the mid 90s, which is HOT for how close we were to the ocean.

Here are some photos from the day…

When Melanie and I first started dating, we went to the Orange County Fair to waste our money on un-winnable games, scary rides that can be packed up and hauled off to the next county fairground location, and all of that indulgent and deep-fried food. The deep fried avocado and the Aussie battered potatoes are  favorites of ours!

In 2000, we did the photo booth thing with just the two of us. The following year, we started bringing Lauren to the fair with us… and began this tradition of annual family photos in the booth. After about 4 years, I started putting the strips together on the front of our refrigerator in chronological order. Soon after, I began scanning them in and combining them into one picture.

You should click on the thumbnail above to view the photo on flickr.com, where you can see it larger. I believe it’s my most viewed photo on flickr… I think it’s been blogged a few times, which gets it some traffic for sure.

Here is the single strip from our 2010 trip to the fair… Now, I need to update the header image on our family website to include the latest shot.

In 1971, my mother decided it would be fun to pick up and move the whole family to Australia. In March of that year she had heard some friends talking about the Australian consulate and some sort of program to bring workers to that country. By June, we were packed and heading to the airport. I was just barely 11 months old, so I do not recall any of this.

In 1973, we befriended some neighbors of ours, the Graveson family. Parents David and Anne had 3 kids…Two girls, Anita and Karin, who were close in age to my sister Stephanie, and brother Derek; and one boy, Erik, who was very close to my age. We spent lots of time hanging out together at the beach and having lots of fun. Both dads were very fun, and made sure that all of us kids were always entertained.

In 1977, my mom woke up one day and decided that she had enough of Aussie land, and said it was time to go back to New York. We made our way back, staying with other friends in the city until we settled in Port Jefferson, on Long Island. The parents kept in touch, and in 1979, when the Gravesons were relocating to another continent, they arranged to visit us when passing through New York.

The families made sure to get some beach time together and went out to Jones Beach on Long Island. Fun times on the beach included building huge pyramid sand castles, making hats out of beach towels, and singing/dancing to a song that David made up for us; we recall it being the “umkwa ka zinga” song.

The Graveson family have always been a huge part of our childhood memories of fun and happiness. And, after their visit to Long Island, our parents kept in touch ever since then via holiday cards and occasional phone calls. Us Bernhart kids would get updates from our parents at Christmas time on what their family was up to and where they were.

This past Christmas (2009), we learned that their father, David, had passed away earlier that year, after a long battle with cancer. Obviously, this really saddened us as we recalled once again, all of the great times we had with him and our families together. A few weeks after our own father passed away from a much shorter fight with cancer this May, my mother called their mother, Anne, to give her the news… and to talk about everything. My mom told me that she had a nice long call with Anne and they talked about all of the kids and grandkids. A few days after that call, I got a friend request on Facebook from Karin. Then a day later, another request from Anita. I then found Erik through their profile pages and sent him a friend request. And lastly, I found Anne there as well. My sister also hooked up with all of them. My brother, Derek, tried but didn’t like Facebook and removed his account. Oh well, his loss… we’ll have to keep him updated separately. Perhaps I can talk him into re-joining, and get my mom on there as well (good luck to me).

How great is the internet in this day and age? We can all share photos and messages with each other, and keep in touch much easier than if there were no such thing as the ‘net. Erik and I have sent some messages back and forth, catching up on what our own families have been up to. We’ve discovered that we both have some very similar interests and background. It’s been so great to see that they are all doing so well. It’s also been good for some self-healing in dealing with my father’s passing… to be reminded of how much fun it was having him as our father. I look forward to keeping in touch with them.

By the way… I sing the “umkwa ka zinga” song to Brody a lot. It gets his attention and he laughs and tries to sing along. Great for when he is fighting a diaper change!

We now have the living room filled with trains! Here are some photos that I took at Disneyland and him opening and playing with gifts. I have some videos as well, but haven’t processed those just yet. Stay tuned.

It was non-stop action with him; he was only temporarily occupied with my hole digging adventures. He wanted to be down by the water and watch the waves creep up. The water was freezing, probably in the mid 50s, but he did not care at all. He was all about looking closely at the water and sand, investigating every little thing he found. And, another favorite thing to do at the beach is dig in the sand, which is not normally a bad thing… but it is when he throws the sand up into the air and it gets into his hair and eyes. Good times!

I think we’re in store for some fun this summer when it warms up even more. I took many photos and shot some video! Here are some of the choice photos and a little video that I edited together… enjoy.

I always love seeing how Lauren has changed over the years! Now we have Brody in there and we’ll have more fun changes to watch.

The ever popular compilation of all the years:

2009:

Oh, and my mommy started giving me some things that she lets me put in my mouth. She usually doesn’t let me do that with all the stuffs I want to eat. There’s all sorts of neat stuff I find around the house, but mommy and daddy take them away from me before I get to taste them. Were was I?… oh yeah, these things she gives me are round and crunchy in my mouth. They call them cherry ohs or something like that. And there are some other thingys  they give me … they call those pups or pufs. Those taste different, and I like the cherry ohs better. Don’t ask me why, I just do.

Awww man, mommy and daddy have been taking me to this place by home… it’s sooo fun to go there. They put me into this hanging chair thingy and push me back and forth. Makes me laugh so hard, I LOVE it!! Daddy took some pictures of me in it. Mommy sits me on her lap and slides down this thingy… my belly feels all funny and tickly when we slide down. That makes me laugh too.

After mulling about it, I thought: why not set up a photo booth so that everyone can get their shots whenever they like. 2008 is the first installment of the annual Holiday Photo Booth series. The details on how I created the booth, as well as how I made the images into photo strips, can be found here. 2 separate days, and 145 photos later… here are the results.

Individual Shots – These are all the single shots that I put into groups for the strips.
Photo Booth Strips – This is all of the photo booth strips in one set.
Coming soon… links for family to order prints or posters.

Slide Show:
If you don’t want to bother skimming through all of the shots, here’s an automatic slide show that you can use to sit back and see all of the strips. (click on the slide show, then click on the play button at the bottom left)

This page is the official family newsletter for 2008. Why have it on our site? Partly because we’re lazy, but mostly because we can keep it here forever. In 10 years, we’ll all be able to go back through the newsletters and see what happened during each year. Sort of like our little annual scrapbook.

First, we’ll cover all of the important events of 2008, and below all of that will be a slide show of photos taken around the holiday season.

• Of course, the highest on our list is the birth of Brody! He joined us on 6/7/08 and has been keeping us busy ever since. 
• Lauren turned 12 in April and started 7th grade in the fall. She’s doing very well in school and enjoys Drama and Science as a few of her favorite subjects. Seeming to grow taller every day, she now matches Melanie in height… and they can wear the same shoes and some jeans, too.
• Melanie turned the big three oh in May, and Neil turned 38 in July. (we’re old)
• Lauren enjoyed her final soccer season. She’s claiming to officially retire from the sport (for now). Volleyball has her interest and she hopes to persue it more next year.
• In October, Lauren got braces put on. She loves to switch the colors of the bands now and then. Currently, she is sporting seasonal green and red.
• Back in March, while very pregnant, Melanie flew with her friend Rene to Loveland, Colorado. They surprised their friend Stacy for her birthday. Stacy knew all along that Rene would be there, but was bummed that Melanie wasn’t going… until they landed and Melanie was with Rene!
• Neil’s work travels were much less than they were in 2007, with only a few trips to Portland, Seattle and New Orleans (and he met bass player Jimi Jazz of Special Sauce on his flight to New Orleans).
• Melanie and Neil enjoyed just a couple of concerts in ’08. Jack Johnson in August (Neil’s birthday gift) and G. Love & Special Sauce in February (pregnant Melanie was a trooper for that show).
• In July… Neil’s brother came down to visit in July with his wife and son Colton. Brody’s other cousin, Jake was also there. We all had fun watching the 3 boy cousins. They were all born within 7 months.
• In August, we all went to the Orange County Fair and did our annual photo booth shots. This was Brody’s first time in the booth, and it’s getting crowded. Up on the header of the site, you can see a shot from each year we’ve done it, starting in 2001 on the left.
• Neil is enjoying his side work doing photography, and hopes to have more work soon.
• Melanie and Neil started doing baby signs with Brody. Hopefully in a few months he will be able to communicate with us. (a little at least)
• Early December, Brody cut his first teeth… two on the bottom. Read all about it here.

“It works like this: if you use Flickr, go to the sixth page of your photostream and pick the sixth picture there, then post it to your blog.”

This is a shot of Melanie taken back in October at some pre-halloween thing we went to at Lauren’s church. At that moment, I remember deciding that I should be getting more shots of Melanie. She didn’t think that it was that good of an idea… as you can tell by her expression. Oh well, I like the photo.

Click for a larger view.

Brody was born in early June of this year, 6/7/08 actually. Since then my flickr stream has been chock full of photos of Brody. He is the cutest little baby you’ve seen, so it’s tough not to keep snapping pics of him. This also keeps family and friends satisfied with new photos of him; they are all very aware of his page on our site, and are instructed regularly to go there if they want to see new photos of him. This is especially nice as we (and that really means “I”) don’t have to fiddle around every week or so with sending an email out to everyone with images attached. 

Today I quickly skimmed through my photostream and estimated that since June 10th, the day that the first photos of Brody were uploaded, he is in roughly 85% of the photos I post to flickr. Another thing I’ve noticed is that my photostream gets less views now. I suppose that this means most people see thumbnails of cute babies on flickr and don’t want to look at them. Case in point: the photo in this article I took as I was carpooling to work last week. In the 10-ish hours that it has been on flickr, it has gotten just about the same number of views as each of the last 4 photos posted before it… and those have been up for 3-4 days now.

Memories. And that’s just fine with me, the main purpose of me posting his photos is noted in the opening of this very article. Even more important, is the purpose of me taking them in the first place. I take them for me and Melanie… for Lauren, for our parents, our brothers, my sister… countless friends. But, mostly for Brody. For him to have photos to look at when he’s my age. I love to look at photos of when I was a kid. To hear my parents talk about what I (and my siblings) were like when we were Brodys age.

Priorities. Being creative has taken a back seat to what is currently more important: helping as much as I can at home with a 5-month-old, and spending time with him, with Melanie, and making sure Brody gets to spend time with the extended family. So, I have lapsed in my creativeness lately, but not totally. I still get to take lots of photos, but Brody is the center of the attention of it. One thing is for sure, we will have tons of great photos of him!

Creativity. Part of me still wants to draw those flickr viewers in to see my creative photos. The ones that don’t care to look at babys, but would rather look at a blurred car speeding along. It may sound vain, but I think it’s in the blood of any photographer to want people to “want” to view their photographs. At least for me, it’s a big part of why I photograph in the first place. I like to know that people enjoy looking at something I’ve created.

It’s been gnawing at me recently: gotta get out there an take some new photos! I pass things and can’t help but think to myself: I would shoot that, and this is how I would process it. Photography, for me, is part creativity, part meditation. It gets my brain to think differently, to break away from what could be clogging it up. It helps releive stress; a head-check if you will. I’m promising myself to slowly get some creative work done and post more of it. They will just have to be well blended among the shots of Brody and other family.

I used the Mapaset tool with a set from my flickr stream of photos I took on a work trip to Greece. I think it sweet! Flickr does not have anything like this that I know of. You can use the left/right arrows to scroll through the thumbnails in the set. Click on a thumbnail, and it shows you the location on the map above, as well as some details of the photo, and also provides a link to view the photo on flickr.

We parked across the street, and walked over to the field. Out of acres and acres of wheat, I would estimate that there was less than 5% of the crop left. And it had been left there as if it were waiting for me to get the shoot I was thinking of. We walking along the waist high wheat, using the part of the cut-down wheat where the tractors drove. Once we got far enough into the field, I smashed down some of the wheat to make a small area for them to stand in while I shot.

The photos came out very nice. And I’m definitely glad I got the chance to get out there before it was all chopped down. Check out the choice ones from the shoot.