the scoop

No...you're not hullucinating.

2007-09-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

I have finally succumb to the pressure everyone has put on me to update my blog. I did try to talk several people into just updating for me but, alas, here I am posting. I do appreciate all the people who bugged me to update (even though it didn't really work) and I appreciate Nalani's personal goal setting service (she called on more than one occasion to tell me that my goal for the week was to update my blog). I still live by Sarah's theory not to set goals that are too lofty b/c it will only result in a loss of self esteem when I fail to achieve them.

What helped more than anything was Ty locating the cord that connects from the computer to the camera - I hadn't downloaded anything since May.

I am beginning think that seasonal posts are more do-able for me. Since it is now officially Fall (and since I haven't posted since spring) - the time has come to do a little posting. If the stars align I may even post 2x's in one season.

The kids started school in the end of August. Lauren is in First Grade this year and Cole is in Third Grade. Depending on the day you ask them, they really like school. I am not sure I agree with them as the evening homework probing/prodding is already getting old. I am working hard at teaching the kids to take ownership of their school work. It was going well (or so I thought)until Thursday evening when Cole announced that his Unit of Inquiry project was due the next morning - he (loosly put) was able to get it done at ohh, around 11:30pm. Fun times!

Lily has a little playgroup (she calls it "school") that she goes to 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time. She really loves it (and so do I) and it has helped her with her separation anxiety. She will now also go to nursery on her own and actually looks forward to it! For us this was a BIG step! :)

Here are some pictures of the "First Day of School" (again, loosley put as they were actually taken about a week ago). I put in a picture of Cole on his birthday so you could see how his hair was just before school started. His teacher asked that he get it cut so that he would be in complaince with the dress code (which is what I was waiting for b/c I knew it would be better c oming from his teacher than me).

Seattle

2007-04-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

What a lovely group they are and what lovely flowers they have....at least the ones Jed did.

Jed and I (along with many helpers) were making flower arrangements into the wee hours of the morning. When we got to the point where we had the two largest arrangements to do, Jed did one and I did one (this one is Jed's...at least I think). At one point I said something to the affect that I thought they were big enough and we didn't want to use all the flowers in those two arrangements. Then Jed added another so I had to add another, then I added one more and he added one more until, well pretty much they were twice as big. And that began the flower competition.....I think we are still friends, right Jed???

This is when Jed decided it was the perfect time (right before Kami walked out of the temple) to break it to Richard that their flip house had water dripping through the light fixture downstairs. Notice the sick look on Richards face - classic.

Look how perfectly they are all holding their flowers, at the perfect angle. Hmmm...I wonder if there was a flower Nazi somewhere in their midst???

Jed may never speak to me again after seeing that I posted this picture. Doesn't he look like a natural? Too funny. The shirt doesn't look so purple in the picture - what do you think Jed? I know I am color challenged.

So I thought I was getting an awesome picture of a bridge and all I got was the road. Maile said "Hold the camera up really high." Evidently it wasn't high enough.

Picture #3: The inevitable happens. I start to lose my balance, grab Nalani and both of us fall to the side while hysterically laughing. The funniest part was that Nalani's lip was sweating. JK.

Picture #2: Karmen pushes Nalani forward in order to get on. Nalani utters a few choice words through her laughter.

Picture #1: Nalani gets on the lucky brass pig, but won't move forward so I can get on too.

Pike's Place market had the most awesome tulips for sale there were tables and tables of all colors of tulips and they had the best prices!

School Play

2007-04-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Cole's class did a play a few weeks ago - you can see how thrilled he was in the picture above. He actually did a really good job, he had his lines all memorized and spoke up enough so he could be heard. BTW - Cole's teacher is a single, charming, witty, cute canadian so if anyone is looking for a fun date let me know! (I am sure she would be horrified if she know I posted that on my blog)

Easter Time

2007-04-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

So I didn't get any pictures of the kids on Easter morning but I did get a picture of the Easter Basket Cake I made and I did manage to take a picture of my two cute cousins.....for all those single men reading this blog both girls are taken.

Fun times at School.

2007-04-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

Lauren's teacher sent me the cute bubble picture, in the e-mail she said "Lauren was so excited to play with the bubbles you would think she had never seen them before.....you have let her play with bubbles, haven't you?" Little does she know that she really may be onto something there - after all bubbles are a bit messy. JK. That was for all the readers who think I am a clean freak. I will say there was a time when that was true but I let go of that notion years ago........... seriously. :)

Bluebonnets

2007-04-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

This is our annual photo shoot in the Bluebonnets - which would be the Texas State flower. It is illegal to walk on them, sit on them or pick them. I think we covered all three of those areas. The pictures may incriminate us....and the other 10,000 people who took their pictures.

Cruisin'

2007-04-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

We weren't going to take any chances with the food being gone at the midnight chocolate buffet so we were the first in line. I think that may have been the closet I have ever come to a chocolate overdose but it sure was good.

This is us at Senior Frogs in Cozumel - it was QUITE the happening place.

Let's just say that I completely underestimated how high 800 feet was - now I have a real clear picture. Kim and I definitely got a birds eye view of Cozumel - we had a great time!

No that's not chocolate or any other brown substance on Ty's lips. That would be a random women's lipstick that Ty borrowed for one of the many funny games we played on the cruise. We won't even mention what Women's apparel items that Huy borrowed..... too bad we didn't have our cameras but we do have a video to use as blackmail in the future. :)

SHOW ME THE MONEY BINGO BOY... that was the phrase we yelled out each time we would see the guy that ran the bingo game - it was a real hoot! Judging by the picture you might guess that we didn't win the $5,000 jackpot. But, we sure had fun (and spent a lot of $$) trying.

When we would come back to our rooms at night we would find towel creatures waiting to greet us - it was always a treat to see what would be next!

We saw a cute little sea turtle while we were on the way to our snorkeling spot. I didn't take this picture but this really is the color of the water there. Anyone up for a swim??

This is 7 mile beach in the Cayman Islands. It was SO beautiful. The water was crystal clear and the most beautiful color. 7 mile beach has its name for a reason - you can see the ships (those dark blobs to the right of Ty's head). Who's bright idea was it to walk all the way back to the ships????

We went to "Stingray City" in the Cayman Islands. Let's just say its a little unnerving to have 20 or 30 Stingrays swimming around your legs. I thought I would be able to remain calm...no such luck. Good thing no one had a video camera to document my hysteria! Our guide told us to be careful and wash the squid off our hands because the stingrays would latch on to wherever they smelled the squid - that was my cue to rub the squid all over Kim's arm. I have never seen her move so fast in my life - too bad she got it washed off before the string ray latched onto her arm. That would have been some AWESOME footage!

Finally...cell phone reception!! It was SO funny to see everyone with their cell phones on the minute we hit the coast of Florida. Good thing we were only in reception for 8 hours otherwise I think I would have been on the phone (with one of the kids or my mom) the whole cruise.

You could add tree climbing to my list of talents except for the fact that I really couldn't get down from the tree and the bark was really rough. Good thing everyone didn't see this as an opportunity to leave me stranded!

This was our first "formal" night on the ship - the second formal night I wore jeans. Lessons learned. :) The best part of the evening was that we could order ALL the entrees if we wanted and ALL the desserts - I think I ordered all the desserts every night because, well, why not???

This is us (and a few of our closest friends) at the Southernmost point in the continental USA - only 90 miles from CUBA - we could see immigrants swimming in. JK!

We thought the ship looked so pretty at night. (I'm not sure if it was really all that pretty or if we were just so excited to see it after all the interesting transvestites we saw in Key West).

This is us in our little electric car in Key West. (note to self: don't ask if an "electric" car needs to be returned full - one of my more blonde moments.)

Costa Rica.

2007-02-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

My Mom, my Sister and I all went to Costa Rica for a week. It started off with us getting lost on the way to our hotel and not arriving until 2am only to find that the front desk was closed down for the evening. After that there was no where to go but up! We explored the area, relaxed, ate and talked and tried to improve on our Spanish skills. The water was the same temp. as the air, it was so relaxing to lay on the raft in the ocean and get fried! We had a fun time.

Jungle Zipline.

2007-02-02T23:07:00.000-08:00

We went on a zipline through the jungle. Before we arrived we had anticipated seeing monkeys, tropical frogs, beautiful butterflies, etc. We didn't see a single thing because we found out that we were in the "Dry Forest" and all of those things live in the "Rain Forest". That was too far away so we settled for a hair raising ride on the zipline. Somehow I didn't quite follow the instructions on the proper way to ride and I would get stuck in the middle of the zipline and then have to turn around and pull myself in. By the 10th jump off I had it down pat!

Where are we?

2007-02-02T23:04:00.000-08:00

We were CONSTANTLY having to stop and ask for directions because there was rarely a road sign to indicate where we were. The tough part was that between the three of us we only knew a handful of spanish words - usually the directions managed to get us more confused. It was always a welcome sight to see someone who looked like they spoke english!

Emergency!

2007-02-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

The bathroom's were few and far between and even when you saw one you didn't dare use it. The first time Alexa had to stop alongside the road I snapped a picture - later she got back at me because I said I would never go alongside the road. Never say never!

Local Gas Station.

2007-02-02T22:52:00.000-08:00

This was the closest Gas Station - there were some relatively normal gas stations but they were further away. You can't really fill up at a place like this because you would use most of their supply of gas for the week. Most of the locals drive motorcycles - it makes it much easier to navigate the roads!

Road Conditions.

2007-02-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

The top picture is a REALLY GOOD road. We were complaining about this one (you can't really see all the huge potholes in this picture) until we drove further and encountered some of the other roads in the area. It is a little un-nerving to drive through water (in a Toyota Corolla) when you don't know how deep it is and aren't sure if you are going to sink in the mud. Alexa started wading across some of the small rivers to test the depth - I wasn't as brave. Afterall, you never know what is going to be lurking in the water in the middle of the jungle.

Small problem.

2007-02-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

It's hard to tell in this picture but the back end of the car is roughly a foot off of the ground and the front bumper is smashed into the ground. We weren't sure which was more of a problem, the fact that the people trying to help get us out were incredibly drunk OR the fact that we had likely just lost the deposit on the rental car. Needless to say, I was hysterically laughing when I took the picture - clearly my mom didn't see the humor in the situation.

Just a few of the locals....

2007-02-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows how much I love reptiles and bugs so you can imagine my pleasure when we saw these friendly creatures for the first time. The last picture is a grasshopper - its hard to tell in the picture but it was at least six inches long. The monkeys were cute but the amount of noise they made was QUITE surprising. We thought it sounded more like a gorilla - needless to say we were a bit alarmed the first time we heard one.

These are a few of my favorite photos.....

2007-01-17T19:24:00.000-08:00

This was too cute not to include! I can see how American Girl products could get addicting. Luckily Lauren had an outfit that already pretty much matched the doll (not that she doesn't think she needs MORE matching outfits). Just in case anyone has girls who might be moving out of the American Girl stage (Sarah) just feel free and send any of the stuff our way. :)

I put this wonderful black towel that we were given (thanks huy :) over the back of the couch and had the girls quickly sit down for a picture before church a few sundays ago - I must say, I was impressed with the results. Lauren really wanted to have her American Girl in the picture since their outfits matched - of course it was hard to get her to look at the camera - 2 out of 3 isn't bad though.

Nalani and Sarah came down for a fun filled weekend of shopping, talking and eating. We had to do our typical self-portriat. We have probably taken at least one picture like this each year for the past 15 years! We really need to make a little photo album - we'll leave that up to Sarah.

On top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque (what you can't tell from the picture is that the wind is blowing 25mph and it is -14 degrees) - too cold for Texans!

Omi and Opa gave Lauren an American Girl doll for Christmas, then a few days later we visited the store (as you can see we did more than just "visit"). It was more than Lauren could have hoped for - she just loved the whole experience!

Omi took us to a very special dinner at the American Girl store. We were served a four course dinner complete with a tea set for the doll and a little "treat seat" for the doll. Lauren was in 7th heaven!!

We all went to Legoland in San Diego. We had a really fun time, I was just AMAZED at what they could build with legos. The replica of NYC was SO cool!

Check out the baby made out of Legos in the stroller - they thought of everything!

Lauren's favorite statue was definately Dora - it really was impressive!

Lily looks longingly at the kids on the rides "Oh, if only I could scare myself silly on that one!"

Opa and the kids having fun at the beach.

Are you trippin'? Yes, we actually DROVE to L.A. for Christmas. There's a first time for everything - right? (notice there is no mention of a second time - who was it that said to find joy in the journey??? I am still trying.) All kidding aside - the drive really wasn't that bad, as long as Ty and I wore ear plugs at all times. The week that followed made the whole drive worth it, we had a great time in Cali.

We have good friends that live 3 hours away, this year we met half way do to our little Christmas celebration. We all had a fun time but neither of us could stay long so the trip was SHORT! The reason this picture is a blur is because we only saw each other for 2 seconds. :)

My mom and I met in Provo to help Alexa get ready for the holidays. After wrapping presents for hours on end we all started to go a LITTLE nuts. A BIG thank you to Jed and Nalani for helping us AND for letting us stay with them!

Ty's family all met here for Thanksgiving we had yummy food and a fun time together. Cole's face says it all!

The Clark Cousins take a moment to pause for a quick picture.

On a very sad day in November my grandmother "MiMi" passed away. We remember her with great fondness.

Big Time Excitement!

2006-11-09T20:22:00.000-08:00

Lily is starting to be more and more observant. It used to be that I could make cookies without her taking any notice at all. Not so lucky anymore. She has come up to speed quickly - she begs for dough, stands there and waits for them to come out (not to mention screams b/c she doesn't understand why she can't have them THAT INSTANT) and then wants one immediately after they come out of the oven. She is a girl after my own heart, there's nothing quite like a warm chocolate chip cookie and a glass of cold milk!

Almost Undefeated

2006-11-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

Ty and Glen (Cole's best friends dad) have coached this soccer team for 3 seasons now. Last year they were undefeated - this year they lost one of their games by one point. We are now heading into the indoor soccer season where we have 3 practices a week! That in combination with Basketball starting up and Lauren's dance and Lauren's soccer. Just shoot me now. :)

The Princess, the Duck and the Clone Trooper

2006-11-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

As you can see they were a spooky (and blurry) bunch! The kids had a great time trick or treating. Cole was constantly 5 houses ahead running full speed so that he and his friend could get as much candy as possible. Lauren wanted to stop and look at each candy that she got. Luckily Lily was just content to ride in the stroller and get the candy that Lauren and Cole didn't want. She didn't even want to eat it, she was just happy that her basket was filling up. It was so cute when Lily walked because she really did waddle like a duck.

So many hair choices.........so little time!

2006-10-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

In an effort to make Cole feel better about his hair - our good friend Huy (wee) put together some choices for Cole. Maybe after seeing them he will be elated about his current cut!! TOO FUNNY and WAY scary. Perfect for Halloween! :) Thanks Huy.

Cole with Ty's hair

Cole with Lily's Hair

Cole with Lauren's hair

Cole with my Hair

Major blog-a-thon!

2006-10-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Short and Sweet (and in order):
1. Sad day for the Clark kids (and me too) - Bentley got ran over by a car.
2. Happy day for Courtney - she won Homecoming Princess for Sophomore Class.
3. Pre-season Mavs game - fun picts with the MavsMan!
4. Before Cole's haircut - a rash decision he made while we drove home from school - in hind sight I should have made him wait a week until after school pictures.
5. After Cole's haircut - he pronounced that he could no longer look in the mirror - he liked it better before.
6. Bernard Francis Gira "BF" - My grandpa passed away at the age of 89 - it was a sad time for us. Cole says BF will be busy taking care of Bentley. I didn't have the heart to break it to him that there were likely higher priorities in heaven than Bentley.
7. Happy Birthday to Tyrus - we didn't dare count candles this year, but we did have a fun time!
8. BYU vs TCU - we rounded up all the BYU paraphanalia we could find and had a grand 'ole time. Even better - the Cougars came through with a win for us!
9. Kim and I - every time we are together we get asked at least a handful of times if we are sisters - guess you can see why.

10. Shawn Bradley sighting - I couldn't talk anyone into getting closer than this - chickens! (guess that would include me too)

11. John Michael Montgomery - horrible picture - bad entertainer - fun time anyways!

Tears and Cheers!

2006-08-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

School is back is session! I didn't know whether to cry or shout for joy - so I did both. Well, I really didn't cry but if Lauren would have started to cry I would have had to exit quickly before she saw me break down. Cole had a great first day - he is in class with his best friend so all is well in his world. Well, that is until the spelling tests start up and the homework gets going full force. His teacher is new to the school and pretty new to teaching. She is young and energetic, Cole seems to like her already. The big thing this year is that the lockers are in the hallway! Cole was bummed that he didn't get locker #41 - but he felt good about the fact that he was one locker over from Jack, his best friend.

I was a little worried about how Lauren would do because she is a bit of a homebody. Even though she went to preschool 4x a week last year she still wasn't entirely ready to go all day, every day. It is a long day - we leave the house at 7:30 and she gets done at 2:45 but, Cole isn't done until 3:45 so will stay at the school and help Lauren and Cole's teachers with whatever they may need. So, by the time we got home today it was 4:15.

Lauren has the same teacher that Cole had and she is WONDERFUL. They started off the day doing an experiment with sprite and mentos. Mrs. Jammal asks the kids what their prediction was before she put the mentos in the pop and then she questioned them afterwards to see why they thought it exploded. Several kids thought it may have been b/c of the sugar in the pop - so tomorrow she is bringing diet pop - imagine their surprise when the explosion is even bigger! Lauren had a fun day - she was very excited to see Cole in the lunchroom. When I asked her how her day was she said that it was good and she felt really good because she helped out a little boy in her class that was really sad and missed his mom. She said she was able to cheer him up. That's my Lauren - always a helper!!

August 19, 2006

2006-08-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I am posting pictures of one of my kids baptism! Am I really that OLD? Cole's baptism went well, he had a great experience and best of all, he actually went through with it!! Those of you who I don't talk to on a regular basis probably don't know that for a while there I wasn't sure that Cole would choose to be baptized. About the time a good friend of ours got baptized, he started to say that he wasn't sure the church was true and that he wasn't sure that Joseph Smith was real, etc. He prayed about it for a long time and finally said that he knew it was true. I thought we had laid it all to rest until a few weeks before his baptism it all started to come up again. We didn't want to push him into getting baptized and wanted him to come to the decision on his own. Long story short, the church has a new little boy on the records. We really appreciated all our family that came into town, family in the area, friends that came into town and friends in the area who re-arranged busy schedules to be there for Cole. It meant a lot to us and to Cole as well.

Grandparents are Great!

2006-08-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Its virtually impossible to get a picture with everyone looking good and smiling at the same time but.....you would think that the older children would have an easier time. Clearly this is not the case with these pictures. Nonetheless, it was great having our parents in town and we appreciated them supporting Cole on the day of his baptism.

2006-08-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Gulf Shores, Alabama

2006-08-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip down to Gulf Shores, we had heard the beaches were beautiful and we found out it was true. We had fun swimming, playing in the sand, collecting sea shells, kayaking, sail boating, riding bikes and relaxing (well as much relaxing as you can do with 3 small children).

Seriously?

2006-08-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

One wrong turn is all it took and we were stuck in the sand. A lot of the roads on the island were still covered with sand from the storm, the road we took dead ended into a sand drift. Of course it was my brilliant idea to try and take a short cut to the other road through a strip of land that used to be a house. BAD IDEA. We sunk immediately. Needless to say Ty was not happy about the situation. I wish I had taken a picture when he was trying to dig out the back tire with the kids sand shovel. It was comical but I didn't dare laugh until I was out of ear shot otherwise I am sure he would have handed me the shovel. Luckily there were some really nice men who finally came to our rescue and got us out of there!

Photo Op

2006-08-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

While we were stuck I decided to make the most of the senery and take a few pictures.......

Hurricane Katrina

2006-08-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

This was on a small island, you could literally see from side to side. In the first picture you can see empty beach, a resident there told me that used to be all houses there and they all got wiped out from the storm. Of course this only solidified the kids concerns about a hurricane, luckily we saw this when we were driving home.

Land Ho!

2006-08-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

Lily is a pointer. Anything of any interest to her gets pointed at. I tried to tell her that it is a very rude habit but my words seemed to fall on deaf ears. :)

Ferry ride

2006-08-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

We drove our car onto the ferry and went across Mobile Bay, we saw some really interesting huge white jelly fish in the water on the way.

The underlying theme of the trip was hurricanes and tsunami's. So every time we did something we had to go through a barrage of questions regarding what we would do if a one were to hit at that moment.

If you notice the sky in this picture there is obvioulsy no threat of a hurricane suddenly descending. That didn't seem to bring the kids any comfort. Cole stayed in the car on the ferry for most of the trip in fear of a storm coming. I think the heat in the car finally drove him beyond his fears. It was very strange because Cole is typically the LAST one to be scared of anything.

It didn't help matters that the hotel we stayed at was basically devastated by the hurricane and had before and after pictures posted. With so much talk of the hurricane (Lauren was constantly saying Tsunami) I started to get a little paranoid and found myself looking for the hurricane evacuation routes wherever we went.

Shark Attack!

2006-08-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

After all of the worry about sharks being in the ocean we had to stop and take a picture inside the shark that served as the entrance to a local souvenir shop.

Relaxing...

2006-08-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Cole really enjoyed the warm water and especially enjoyed catching all the sea creatures. We had a small collection of crabs and jelly fish that we set free when we left.

Water Baby

2006-08-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

Anytime water was near Lily was clamoring to get down and get to it. She got more and more brave with her walking until finally she was able to stand and touch the water on her own.

Pool Time

2006-08-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

The hotel had such a fun pool, this is only part of it. There was a big slide, fountains, hot tubs and adult pools (which of course we only looked at longingly from a distance).

Crab Walk.

2006-08-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Lily is frustrated by the fact that she isn't walking yet but she doesn't let that stop her from anything. She tried and tried again to make it down to the water until finally we took her in and that's where she wanted to stay until we left the beach!

Buried Treasure!

2006-08-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

The kids finally talked Ty into letting them bury him in the sand even though he really HATES sand. They sure had a fun time and it sure took Ty a long time to get all that sand off of himself.

Finishing Touches...

2006-08-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lauren is a clearly a girl after my own heart. While Ty and Cole were building the sandcastle, Lauren was busy finding places to decorate the castle with the shells she was collecting. In the end there was probably more shells than castle...

Surf and Sand

2006-08-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

The kids had a great time at the beach. Lauren collected more shells than we knew what to do with, we had to put a stop to it when she was going on to the 3rd bucketfull. At first Cole was really worried about sharks (maybe that was due to the fact that I read an article, and for some unknown reason re-told it in the kids presence, about people fishing for sharks off of the beach). He was able to overcome the fear when he saw that there were many people in the water who were not being attacked. He rode several waves in on the boogie board and loved it!

Circus

2006-08-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

We went to the circus on Cole's birthday. I hadn't been to the circus in forever and was quite impressed. The elephants were my favorite, they did some amazing tricks. I was experiencing technical difficulties during this picture so it doesn't do them justice but it was cool.

Cool Cake

2006-08-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Being that I am not a professional (and that from start to finish I did the cake in 2 hours) I was pretty proud of myself but the best part was that Cole loved it!

Great to be Eight!

2006-08-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

This month is such a special one, it's birthday time for Cole....

It has been several years since Cole has wanted to have a party with his friends. (That could be due to the strong suggestion that if he didn't have a party he would get a bigger gift from us) We went to Main Event and went Cosmic Bowling and played Lazer Tag. Everyone had a great time.

In case you are wondering - Orange is not his favorite color (I am just re-living the days of the Pinto, JK) - but basketball is his favorite sport.

Tonsil Time

2006-07-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Lauren had to get her tonsils and adenoids out last Friday. She was sure brave when they wheeled her away. It helped that the nurses just ate her up - they thought she was the cutest thing they had ever seen.

Another bonus was the portable DVD player they had there - she was so engrossed in Barbie Mermaidia that she hardly batted an eyelash when they told her it was time to go - but not to worry she could take the movie with her in the bed.

The doctor said that her tonsils and adenoids were very large and when she was finally all healed that she would notice a huge difference with being able to breathe.

It has been a rough couple of days for her since the surgery but one thing I have learned is that she isn't much of a complainer when it comes to the pain - its the taking of the pain medicine that causes the complaints! Hopefully she will have a speedy recovery!

The girls

2006-07-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time visiting with Alexa and her family. We saw a few movies, went to Seven Peaks (Alexa and I even went on the Boom-a-rang), ate out and did a little shopping. Lakehouse was one of the movies that we saw - its a bad sign when you leave a movie, go straight to the computer and search for an explanation as to the meaning of it. I am still confused by it. We also saw You, Me and Dupree - I like Kate Hudson so maybe that helped but we thought the movie was cute and funny!!

GG and the Grandkids

2006-07-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

We tried our hardest to get everyone to look but it was to no avail. The group of grandkids is getting pretty big now - and Tyler and Madison aren't even in the picture. There are a total of 9 grandkids now!

Fun at the Falls

2006-07-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip up to BridalVeil Falls - the kids always love to go there when we are in Utah. Somewhere along the line on one of our trips between Idaho and Utah the kids got confused with the name of the waterfall - they call it Bridaho Falls. I believe that is a combination of Idaho Falls and BridalVeil Falls. We can't seem to convince them otherwise.

Bird Watching

2006-07-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

Lily took time out of her busy day to watch the birds and the squirrels through the window.

Cousins

2006-07-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

When we were in Blackfoot we got to spend a little time with Tyler, Madison, Megan and Matt. (unfortunately we forgot to take a picture with Matt and Megan in it) Cole and Lauren had fun playing with all of them. I couldn't believe how much they had grown!

Smores

2006-07-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Making Smores was a favorite night time activity. I am not sure what the kids enjoyed more, catching their marshmellows on fire or eating them. Cole would definitely say that his favorite thing was watching the squirrel (that Meg killed) burn.

Catchin' Some Air

2006-07-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

The boys (Ty included) couldn't get enough of the 4 wheelers. Cole and Daniel loved to see how high they could go when they went off the jumps - Cole liked to take it a step further and let go of the handle bars when they were in the air. It's a good thing we all practice proper safety advice and wear helmets, huh?

4 wheelin'

2006-07-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

We really aren't old enough to be turned loose on a 4-wheeler - but we did it anyways. The first time up a big hill was actually a bit scary. For a moment I seriously feared for our lives. It sure was fun though!

Bathing Beauties?

2006-07-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

Although we may all look relaxed, Sarah and Nalani really weren't. Initially we were tied up to the dock but the bugs seemed to be worse by the shore so I un-tied us from the dock (while they had their eyes closed, relaxing) and we started drifting towards the damn. Nalani was particularly worried since we have had one too many bad canoeing trips together. Not to worry though, I rowed us back to safety.

The boat crew!

2006-07-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Katie (Sarah's oldest), Daniel (my nephew) and Cole had a fun time on the boat. Although none of them wanted to be pulled on the tube - I think Grandpa's crazy driving last year scared them a little. They decided that jumping off the docks and going in the paddle boats was more their style.

Up, up and away!

2006-07-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

We flew to SLC and then Nalani and Jed picked us up and we drove to Island Park. I think by the time we arrived it was 3am (4am for us). The kids didn't sleep more than 10 minutes in the car. They were talking, giggling, telling jokes, etc. the WHOLE way. It was all fine for the first 2 or three hours, after that we all started to grow weary. Luckily Jed and Nalani were good sports!

A visit from Opa

2006-07-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

Since we don't live close to either of our parents, its always a special treat when one of them visits. The kids were excited to see Opa, unfortunately he was only able to stay here for a day and Omi didn't get to come, but we are happy to be able to see him for any amount of time. Omi sent some really cute clothes for the girls (they are both wearing one of the outfits that she got them). We are looking forward to seeing both of them soon!

First Fireworks!

2006-07-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Lily was fascinated with the fireworks. Luckily there were a few that went off before the real show because by the time it got dark, Lily was "done" watching.

Revenge!

2006-07-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

After getting hit with pies - the dads lined the kids (the brave ones) up and threw water balloons at them. Some of the balloons were thrown pretty fast, maybe in retaliation from the pie throwing? It was all part of the fun and games on the 4th!

Pie Throwing Contest

2006-07-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

The kids lined up in front of their dads and threw (or walked up and smashed) the pies at their faces. Ty was relieved that we only had 2 kids who were capable of throwing pies - unlike some who had 5 kids throwin pies! It was funny to watch and the dads were good sports.

Pie Eating Contest

2006-07-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

The kids went first and had a great time! Although they did have stomach aches afterwards, I'm not so sure they will be eating pie anytime soon..... maybe I should try this tactic with some of their favorite junk foods?

The moms were nominated to finish up the pies.Cole had to make sure that I got my entire face in the pie (notice the picture) so he held my head down! I really don't feel the same about coconut cream pie as I used to. UGH!

Longhorn Cave

2006-06-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not too sure why this cave was called "longhorn" - other than the fact that we are in Texas, more specifically we were in Austin. Home of the University of Texas Longhorns - college football champs last year! Hook 'em horns!! Ok, that was just a little side note. The cave was really cool (temperature too - it was a chilly 68 degrees inside versus a balmy 95 degrees outside). The picture really doesn't do it justice, we were 35 feet underground at one point and walking through a passage that you had to stoop down to get through. It proved to be a bit of a workout carrying Lily. The kids had fun exploring the cave with their cousins. There were several interesting facts that the guide told us (none of which I can remember) the only thing that stuck with me is that they have weddings and concerts in the cave - evidently the possibilities are endless, strange as it may seem.

Dancing Diva

2006-06-16T00:46:00.000-07:00

Lauren had her second dance recital this week. She

is definately in her element on the stage, there were

no worries of her suffering from stage fright. She did a

great job on her dances, we were proud of her!

Daddy Daughter Dance

2006-06-16T00:41:00.000-07:00

This is the 2nd year Lauren has been able to talk

Ty into doing the Daddy Daughter Dance with her

at the Dance Recital. This year they danced to

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and boy did they

have a fun time!!

Carseat Cutie!

2006-06-16T00:23:00.000-07:00

When we moved Lily to her "big girl" carseat
she was very happy to be facing forward. Most
of the time when she gets sleepy she can be
found with her blankie in her hand and her
thumb in her mouth.

I can't be accused of being Brittany Spears
now - here's the evidence.

Clark Cousins

2006-06-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

We were all excited to welcome the newest Clark

Cousin to the family. Adam is one month old in

this picture and he sure is cute!

Look who's One!

2006-06-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

As you can tell, the cake was definately Lily's

favorite thing. Clearly she is my daughter!

Birthday Girl

2006-06-15T23:40:00.000-07:00

Lily got this little walker for her birthday.
She was quite proud of herself when she realized
that she could make it all around the house by
herself. Well almost by herself - Bentley was close
by her side.

Keeping us laughing.

2006-05-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

I had Lily in the front seat with me while I waited for the kids. I looked over and saw her making faces at herself in the mirror - luckily I had the camera with me!

Stuntman

2006-05-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Cole has a lot of fun trying different jumps into the pool. I am not sure which is more fun for him - doing the jump or seeing himself in the pictures afterwards!

Pool Girl.

2006-05-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

Lauren REALLY wants to make the summer swim team this year so for the past couple of days she has been practicing. She is doing well but to make the team you have to be able to swim the length of a Jr. Olympic swimming pool w/o stopping. (At this point I'm not sure I could do that :) The try outs are next week, if determination is enough to get her across the pool then she will definitely make it!

First Swim.

2006-05-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Lily loved the pool. It was a bit chilly (despite the fact that it was 97 degrees outside) but it really didn't phase her at all. I tried to have her sit in her little inner tube but she would have none of that. She wanted to be out with the big kids!

Silly Lily

2006-05-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple weeks Lily has become a real ham! She laughs and smiles all the time. Just this past week she started climbing the stairs - we were all shocked to see her smiling and laughing from the fourth stair! She was quite proud of herself.

Finally Five!

2006-05-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

It seems like Lauren has been talking about turning five forever - now it's finally happened and she says she doesn't feel any different. I told her to add a 3 to the front of the 5 and she would definitely feel different! She wanted to spread her birthday out for weeks, between bringing treats for both of her pre-school classes, having a family party, a friend party and receiving presents in the mail it did actually last for what seemed like weeks! She is sure a sweet little girl!

Mozart in the making.......

2006-05-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

The school requires that grades 1-4 take strings class. Cole choose the violin (luckily for me it wasn't the bass). Although he doesn't readily admit it, he is actually quite good, especially considering the amount of practice he doesn't do. They memorized several songs for the concert and sounded suprisingly good for their age. Lauren is excited to be a first grader so that she can play too!

Music Program

2006-05-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Cole recently had his end of year music program, their music teacher "Mr. Yoder" is a favorite of everyone and I believe he must work some sort of magic (either that or he threatened to flunk him) because he was able to get Cole to sing - which is a miracle in itself. If you look REAL CLOSE you can see Cole's chin and mouth three rows back.

Play Dead.

2006-05-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

Whenever Bentley gets held like this he just flops back and it looks like he is dead. Cole gets a real kick out of it!

Bentley's First Haircut

2006-05-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Bentley was so embarrassed when we came to pick him up from his first haircut. It took him a few days to recover. The kids thought he looked better before his haircut when you couldn't see his eyes.

Seaworld San Antonio

2006-04-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Seaworld San Antonio

We went down to Seaworld with some friends of ours who live in Austin. It was still a little chilly out but it didn't phase the kids, they still wanted to sit in all of the splash zones. They were quickly over ruled on that idea. Lily was a real trooper (or should I say that I was a real trooper :) she rode in the backpack all day and fell asleep in it too. I did get lots of comments on her "texas sized" bow. Hey its true what they say, everything is bigger in Texas!

Viva!

2006-04-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

The VIVA! show was everyone's favorite. It was so amazing.

Fishing

2006-04-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

FISHING

My Mom and Todd were here two weeks ago. Todd is big into fishing, he got the kids poles and we all went to the lake. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any fish but we did have a fun time.

Lily at the Lake

2006-04-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

Although it may look like I am torturing Lily, she had a great time dipping her toes in the water.

Easter

2006-04-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

Easter

This was Lily's first Easter, more importantly it was a prime opportunity to find the girls matchy dresses. I had to pull Cole into the color scheme with a pink shirt too. Lucky for me, pink seems to be an acceptable color for boys right now.

Bentley Boy

2006-04-23T20:50:00.001-07:00

"BENTLEY"

This is the newest member of the family! We got him one month ago and I have been cleaning up #1 and #2 ever since. I got desperate enough and took a puppy potty training class which seems to be helping. Luckily I have another year before I have to tackle potty training Lily.

Bentley (named by Cole) is a sweet little guy. Everyone loves him - well except for Ty who is still in denial that we have a dog in the house. He only had one pet growing up, well that is if you count a lizard as a pet!

Cole and Bentley

2006-04-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Four kids

2006-04-23T20:41:00.000-07:00