Team Clark - Est. 2004

What Henry's been up to

2011-03-22T19:50:00.008-07:00

I haven't really written much on our blog for a while now and so I'm going to go through my 3 kids, one by one, and go over some interesting points from their lives from the past 6 months or so.
Today I'll start with Henry (with a few family things mixed in).

Here we are last fall, hiking to the Grotto - a fun place up Payson Canyon:

We stayed in California with my parents for 6 weeks and Henry had so much fun with his Brundage cousins.
Here is Henry and Charlie just before a hike up Bishop's Peak mountain:

Henry and the cousins on Thanksgiving, eating ice cream cones:

Henry and cousin Will hugging goodbye after a fun Thanksgiving visit:

We have had a battle with Henry over taking showers pretty much his whole life - he just hasn't liked them. But through some miracle he decided that showers were okay! Here he is taking his first shower without crying and actually enjoying himself:

We love monarch butterflies and went to this cool grove in Grover Beach to see thousands of them hanging out in the eucalyptus trees.
Here is Henry looking at them through binoculars:
And here he is with Grandma Carole and Grandpa Joe:

We've gotten TONS of snow up here this winter(well, in my book, at least) and here is Henry helping to shovel the driveway:

Henry was very enthusiastic about decorating the Christmas tree this year. Here he is with Ella after all their hard work (note the flower headband - he can be very silly):

And here is Henry on Christmas morning - very excited about his new nerf gun:

For some unexplainable reason, I let Henry's hair get WAY too long - it just took me a long time to get around to having it cut (months and months and MONTHS). For a while it looked kind of cute, but then it started to look like a mullet with crazy long side burns.
Look how ridiculously long and bad it looks:
And here he is after a traumatic cut by me (he was sad because the hair was getting all over his mouth and face):

And last but not least, here is our little Karate champ. He's been taking karate for a couple of months now and he really likes it. He has advanced in one belt rank (from white to white with an orange stripe) and this last Saturday he participated in his first tournament. He was in 3 events and won one gold metal and two silver metals. After it was over he was sad that he didn't get a gold, a silver AND a bronze metal - he thought getting one of each would have been pretty cool.
Here he is in the sparring event:

Here he is in the padded sword fighting event (I can't remember it's name):

And here he is sporting one of his metals:

So - there you have it. Hope you're still with me and didn't get bored along the way! Any questions?

The COOLEST color game ever!

2011-02-02T12:44:00.003-07:00

Henry has been really interested in what happens when you mix colors and so I thought I'd look online to help us find a tool to know which colors mix to make other colors.
In our quest, we just found the most amazing game! The kids are loving it. Have your kids try it - you'll love it, too!
Here is the link:

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/experiments/colorgame/

Have fun and we hope you like it!

It's a....

2011-01-15T11:08:00.002-07:00

BOY!

We're so excited to tell you that we had our ultrasound and it's a boy. And so far he looks healthy.
Due date is still on for beginning of June and everything is on schedule.
We've been waiting for this little guy to come to our family and we're ecstatic that he is on his way!

Two New Updates

2010-10-28T18:52:00.002-07:00

Friends,

Another update from me (Amy isn't really feeling well enough to do this these days). There's only really two things to report of significance. Here they are:

1) We're going to California. Tomorrow morning we are leaving to go to California (San Luis Obispo). I'm driving them out tomorrow and Saturday (going to make it a 2 day trip). Amy and the kids are going to stay there for a few weeks (probably till around the weekend of December 10th). This is their annual stay with the grandparents and lately, it's been when Amy is pregnant and sick. Grandpa and Grandma Brundage are amazingly generous and always willing to help out. They'll help take care of Amy and the kids for the time they are there - while Amy is sick. the kids love going too as they get to spend time with the grandparents and other cousins. Unfortunately it means that we'll be apart for Halloween and Thanksgiving - a big bummer for me. I fly back to Utah on Sunday morning.

2) On Tuesday morning I lost my job. I had been with AtTask for the past 3 1/2 years. It's been a Jekyl and Hyde kind of job for me as I've had to adapt to 11 boss changes, three different roles, and long 12-16 hour days for most of the time I worked there. Yet, I learned a lot and gained some great friends there, so that has been good. I knew this was coming, but didn't think it would happen for a few more weeks or longer. Anyway, overall I think it was a good thing for us. I really needed a change and this presents an opportunity for growth with a new opportunity. We're not sure what we'll end up doing or going, and we're pretty open minded about it at this point in time. It's going to be a good experience to discover new things and perhaps new places. Who knows.

Well, that's it for now. We'll try to keep updating you on things a little more often.

Adam

An update and a secret message...

2010-10-17T17:25:00.002-07:00

Pay attention folks - there is a secret message in this post...

Anyway, it's been a long time since I posted on the blog. I thought I'd update everyone on things.

We've been living here in Elk Ridge now for about 2 full months. Here is an update on everything (hang on, it's going to be a little long).

Church
Amy and I got callings as primary teachers. We're teaching the 8 year olds (Valiant 8). We have 6 kids in our class (5 of which actually come to class regularly). It's pretty easy cause the kids are really good and they can read - much different than when we taught sunbeams. Anyway, it should be a pretty good calling. It's always fun to frame the gospel in a context that an 8 year old can understand. Odd how we also then tend to get it more sometimes as well...

Amy has already been assigned and fulfilling a visiting teaching assignment. I have yet to hear anything about home teaching and I don't think we have home teachers yet either - but I'm sure it will happen soon (maybe?).

Today we were asked to speak on Sunday - subject of "enduring to the end". I am an odd one and love to speak (I don't get to speak very often, though). I am excited to both study and share what I can about this subject. Amy won't be speaking though - due to sickness.

Health
We've been blessed to have pretty good health. Grace does have eczema, but it's not too bad and we've been able to keep it under control pretty well. Henry is the healthiest of us all and seldom gets sick. Ella gets small colds once in a while, but nothing else too major. We all got flu shots for free through my work and we hope to escape the flu this winter all together, although it won't matter much for Amy, as she's getting in all her quota (ok, much more than that) of throwing up right now.

In January I really scared myself by standing on the scale. I was a few pounds (like 2) from 300 pounds. Scary. So I began working on losing weight. I began just cutting calories and doing some exercise, but after 20 pounds down, I gained 10 of it back by April. So I decided I had to get drastic. We were recommended by one of our doctors to go to a guy named Dan Wilcox, at Total Health and Fitness. I met with him once, discussed the program he runs, and decided to go for it. We paid for a 24 week program up front and I began full force. It's been a great program and although hard at times, I keep plugging away at the pounds and getting in shape. I meet once a week with Dan and he weighs me, measures my body fat, measures my body, and helps me design a workout program and meal plan for the next week. Then I go and do it. Dan has been great to work with! I am down about 55 pounds total and have cut my body fat % by almost 15%. My goal is to lose about 30 more pounds and 12 more % body fat by January. Then, I will attack my fitness, flexibility, and shape with vigor. I want to ride the Lotoja this next Fall (a very long bike ride from Logan to Jackson Hole). Anyway, it's been great to lose all the pounds. My clothes don't fit me very well and one of my belts is now at it's last hole, but I love how I feel and look forward to finishing my goal. A total of about 80 pounds this year will be good - gosh I have a lot more work to do...

Home Life
Living here in Elk Ridge is an adventure. Living with family is always interesting. It's been good, however. The living space is pretty good and it's hard to be a more beautiful place. The kids certainly like the additional space to run around both inside and outside. We still have some projects to do: replace outlets, put in a few light fixtures, put up curtains, and other items - not to mention that we still have some boxes to unpack and organize.

We've been really happy with the flooring and paint that we did before moving in. It's nice and comfortable. Winter will be a challenge with the drive I have (35 minutes to work and nearly an hour coming back in traffic).

Kids
The kids are doing great. Henry just turned 5, Ella turned 3 in June, and grace just had her 1st birthday. Henry is enrolled in Karate and really seems to enjoy it. Ella continues to be the funny, party-girl that she's always been and says lots of funny things everyday. Her and Henry spend a lot of time playing together. Grace is still light as a feather - even though she loves to eat just about everything we give her. Since we moved here she has had a pretty difficult time sleeping, however, which is hard (mostly on Amy). Grace is crawling (mostly army style) fast and now can stand up while holding onto the couch or something else solid. She is still has big, bright eyes and is always smiling.

Work
I've been at AtTask for 3 1/2 years now and not sure when that will end. It's a good job, although it is full of drama sometimes. I've had something like 10 boss changes in 3 1/2 years with 8 of those in the past 2 1/2 years. Yeah, it's a little crazy sometimes - trying to re-adapt myself to a new boss with all new ideas and ways of doing things. I just keep working hard and surviving. One of these days either AtTask or I will decide it's been long enough and I'll be on to new things, but I'm really not sure when that will be. I continue to work on ideas of my own as well and one day I'll actually take a chance on one of them.

Well, I think that's about it. I hope all of you reading this are doing well. Feel free to drop by anytime. Oh, and yeah, in case you're wondering...early June.

Adam.

Henry's 5th Birthday

2010-10-06T15:13:00.003-07:00

We celebrated Henry's 5th birthday on September 29th. Henry had a great day!

He opened presents in the morning:

He ate lunch at Pirate Island:

And he had Provo friends up for a BBQ and cake in the evening:

(in case you are wondering, the glasses are protective eye ware for nerf gun play)

All in all a great day.

Happy birthday, bud! We love you!

The Clarks are MOVING?

2010-08-22T17:04:00.003-07:00

What?
Yep - we are moving on Saturday. It's been somewhat of a whirlwind because we just decided to do this for sure about 2 weeks ago. We are moving down to Elk Ridge to live in Adam's parent's house. We will have the basement pretty much to ourselves and we will share the upstairs living space. The Clarks are very generous to let us move in! There are 3 of them and 5 of us and so hopefully we won't turn their world upside down (too much, at least!).

This is our cute little house and it has given us some great memories. 6 1/2 years ago I bought it and moved in as a single woman. 3 weeks later I met Adam. 5 months after meeting Adam we were married and he moved in. And since then we've been blessed with 3 wonderful children. A huge part of our lives has happened in this house! As cramped as we are in here, we will miss it terribly and we will very much miss our good friends that live around us.

We found some good renters - a young family with one 3 month old daughter - and they will hopefully be signing the contract and sending it back to us in the next few days. They have agreed to a 2 year contract and they seem like really nice people.

We know this will be a good move for us to save money and to prepare for the next phase of our lives. We are excited for what the future holds for us.

Elk Ridge here we come!

Hooray for Adam's Birthday!

2010-08-07T23:36:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday to Adam!

We love you and we are so grateful for you. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to your family and your job. You are appreciated. You are loved. Enjoy this day - it's all for you!

Things we've been up to

2010-08-03T20:50:00.004-07:00

Here are a few things we've been doing the last few weeks -

Celebrating the 24th of July at South Fork Park:

Swimming lessons:
The kids are doing so well which is a relief because last year was somewhat of a disaster!

Gracie is 10 months:
She has 2 teeth (hooray) and she will hopefully get her helmet off in a few weeks (we're keeping our fingers crossed). She has also learned to army crawl and she's getting better and better at it every day.

Butterfly Garden

2010-06-29T18:37:00.004-07:00

We've had a butterfly garden for the last few weeks. The butterflies are painted lady butterflies to be exact.
We started out with 5 caterpillars; 3 were healthy and happy and we set them free to live on their own; 1 was sadly damaged by a curious 4 year old and so he remains with us for the remainder of his days; 1 had problems and so never successfully hatched out of his chrysalide. It's been interesting and the kids have had fun. I'm not sure if I'd do it again, though, because it's just so sad when things don't go the way you expect them too (sad for me - not necessarily sad for the kids)!

Here are the kids letting 2 of them go:

Check out the curled tongue on this one!

This is Limpy - he's the one that stays with us. He was originally just "hurt," but then eventually his wing fell off. Sometimes we take him outside to sit on the grass. Poor little guy (or girl, I guess!):

Our Bicknell Trip

2010-06-22T19:15:00.008-07:00

This last weekend we went to Bicknell, UT with Adam's brother's family (Jess, Jen, Abby, Leah, Lauren). Jen's grandpa lives on a ranch down there and they love to visit. The opportunity came up for us to go with them and we took it! (Thanks Jess and Jen)

Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Abby, Ella, Leah and Henry the night we arrived.

Ella on the beloved swings!

Adam and Ella going on a 4-wheeler ride.

Jess, Adam, Abby, Henry, Leah and Lauren hiked to the rock at the top of this picture.

Henry on the hike.

Henry sitting on the rock at the top of the hike (check out the beautiful valley!).

Leah, Abby, Lauren and Jess on the way down the mountain.

I was able to have a little visit with my friend Vanessa - she lives in the near vicinity (thanks, Vaness!). PS. Henry took this picture if you're wondering about the low angle...

Henry and Ella with Vanessa's kids (Nate, Kyle, Ryan and Katie).

We had a great time and it was great to spend time with family and friends. AND it was fun for me to finally see some of Utah (15 years later...).

June 9th is a special day

2010-06-09T20:40:00.001-07:00

June 9th has been a special day for our family for the last 3 years.
June 9, 2007 - Ella Mary Clark was born:

June 9, 2008 - Ella turned 1:

June 9, 2009 - Ella turned 2:

June 9, 2010 - Ella turns 3 today:

Thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate this special day!

Happy Birthday, Ella!

Gracie's Helmet

2010-06-08T21:04:00.002-07:00

Grace got her helmet yesterday. This has been a really long process and I'm glad we finally got to this point because we will only go up from here.
Yesterday was hard for me. Our appointment was in the afternoon and in the morning if I would think about it I would cry. I know, I know...but I couldn't help it. I just knew it would be hard for her and I was so sad about it.
She didn't like it at all when they first put the helmet on her, but it surprisingly didn't take long for her to adjust to it. I was expecting her reaction to be much worse. They warned me that even though she may acclimate alright during the day that she would have a hard time going to sleep that first night. And she did. She cried for about 2 hours, poor little thing.
She has to wear it 23 hours a day. We can take it off for an hour each day and we have to wash the helmet and her head.
Her head is super hot. It's dripping wet all day long. That's one of the saddest parts to me. She probably wonders why her head is so hot all of the time.
All in all she's doing great and I hope her head changes quickly!

This picture kind of shows the flat spot on her head:

Here she is with the cast (she was so sad!):

Here she is just before we left for the appointment yesterday:

Here she is after the appointment with her helmet:

There you have it. Gracie sure is a trooper, I'll tell you that much!

A little of this, a little of that

2010-06-05T09:49:00.007-07:00

I've just finally downloaded pictures from the last little while and so I'm going to do one post to cover a few events from that last few weeks.

Here are the kids on Easter Morning:

Here is an example of one of Ella's outfits (she likes to dress herself - sometimes it works out, sometimes it's funny):

Here are the kids being silly:

Here is Gracie in her highchair (I know, she looks like a boy with the blue bib...just ignore that part!):

Here we are celebrating Grandma Chris's birthday:

Here is Henry's "graduation" day for his second year of preschool (we still have one more year to go!):

Here we are at Lincoln Beach on Memorial Day:

Stay tuned for another post next week when Gracie gets her helmet!

We saw fighter jets!

2010-05-23T19:37:00.002-07:00

One thing that we all love in this family (not just Henry) is fighter jets. One of our favorite 4th of July traditions is to watch them fly over our house in the morning (during the parade) and then we watch them again fly over stadium of fire (we sit outside the stadium, of course). This picture was taken during stadium of fire in 2008.
Well, the reason I'm writing about this was because yesterday they flew over our house a few times - it was SO cool! You can hear them coming because they are so loud and so as soon as I heard them I yelled "everyone outside now!" They flew right over us twice and then they flew back and forth in the distance a couple of times, although we couldn't see them as well then (but we could sure hear them!). I was talking on the phone to my sister in law, Gillian, and she was driving on the freeway and they flew right over her, too!
IT WAS AWESOME!
We love fighter jets!

Anyone for raw milk?

2010-04-13T19:41:00.002-07:00

I've been thinking A LOT lately about changing the food we eat to be more organic and natural. It's something I've been working towards for a while now, but I've been reading this book called "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels. This book has pushed me and my thinking a little further along. She is very extreme in her thinking and she is all about natural food (to the extreme). I don't want to necessarily adopt all of her practices, but I have learned a lot from her book and it has given me a lot to think about. One of the things she thinks is important is eating dairy and meat that are from grass fed/range free type sources.
So today I went to check out a local health food store called Real Foods Market. I was hoping for a regular size grocery store that happens to be natural and organic, but it turned out to be another tiny one - actually even smaller than the others. But their big thing is their raw milk. It's unpasteurized and it's from grass fed cows. The sales associate told me how amazing this milk is for you and so I thought that I could just give it one gallon of a try. It was super expensive ($6.29) and you also had to sign a waiver saying that you understand that buying unpasteurized milk is risky. But again, I just wanted to give it a try. Oh - and I also got some range free eggs. Those were expensive, too ($5.99 for a dozen and they had a buy one, get one free, so I got 2 doz).
The kids and I have tried both of these things today and I'm not so sure I like either of them, actually! The milk is okay. It's thick and rich (it is whole milk) and the idea grosses me out just a little bit. It doesn't really QUENCH your thirst like regular milk does.
The eggs...I had a harder time with those. I'm kind of funny about eggs to begin with and so these are hard for me to eat. The yolks are a different shade of yellow and one of the eggs I cracked was bloody - that one had to go.
The kids liked both the milk and the eggs.
I don't really think I will be re-purchasing either of these products. Although there may be another version of extra-healthy milk and eggs out there to try.
SO - have any of you ever tried these kinds of products or anything similar? What have your experiences been?

Thoughts on Ty's Funeral

2010-03-14T20:54:00.004-07:00

A family in our ward lost their 4 1/2 month old son, Ty, on Wednesday to SIDS. I just wanted to take a minute to express some of my feelings about the situation and about his funeral.
This experience has been a really hard one for me. I don't know if that is due to me being a woman or because I am a mother. Maybe it hit home because Gracie is only 2 weeks older than Ty. Or maybe it is because of all of those things.
I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the whole thing. I knew that Ty was okay and that they would someday be with him, but I wasn't really FEELING that that was the case. I was only imagining and feeling the grief and despair that I imagined they would be feeling.
But then I went to Ty's funeral.
It was so sad. I cried the whole time. The coffin was so tiny. But there was a beautiful spirit of comfort in that meeting. Erica and Dan (Ty's parents) gave his life sketch, which actually surprised me. I couldn't have thought that they would be able to do such a thing. They spoke of the comfort and strength that they had been receiving. They spoke of how he had made them better people and how they wanted now to live their lives to be worthy to be with him again someday. Dan told intimate details of his last night with Ty and how special it was to him. And the interesting thing was that they were comforting and strengthening all of us. We were there to support and love them, and they turned around and did the same thing for us.
Being at Ty's funeral has made me a better person. It has strengthened my testimony of many things. One, of the eternal nature of our Heavenly Father's plan. How blessed we are to be able to be with our loved ones again someday. Two, we can be comforted and strengthened even in our darkest hours. We can truly seek after and find relief from the pain. Three, the Relief Society really is an organization that provides relief to those in need. So many sisters from our ward banded together to make that funeral happen. The Elders helped, too, but the Relief Society really seemed to be the backbone behind it. I'm grateful for the caring, compassionate nature of woman and what that can mean in the lives of those in need. Four, I was reminded of the covenants we make at baptism - "to mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort." I have never before mourned for someone else's sorrows the way I mourned for them. And I know that is Heavenly Father's way.
This experience has been a hard one, and it really has had nothing to do with me. My heart brakes for Dan and Erica as they will be faced with the reality of Ty's death every day for the rest of their lives. And after hearing their thoughts yesterday, I feel peace in knowing that they will be okay. I pray for their continued comfort and strength.

Underwear party at our house!

2010-03-04T11:50:00.003-07:00

I've been recently motivated to potty train Ella by my sister in law, Jen, and by my neighbor, Kandice. It's just such a task that I tend to push it off until a "better time," which rarely actually comes. So today I decided that even though I'm sick, we're doing it!
So far we've had one little success and Ella has found that if she is wearing big girl underpants, her babies and her puppies need to, too. If you look closely in the picture, each doll/stuffed animal is wearing a pair of Dora underpants. Ella is too cute, I tell you!

Karate Class

2010-02-24T21:06:00.003-07:00

Henry has also been taking a karate class through the community ed program. Tonight was his little graduation and he earned himself a white belt! He got to punch through a board and everything!
For some reason, he will not wear his gee, and now that he has the belt, he won't wear that either...he's funny that way sometimes. The only costume he's worn with his own free will and choice is his army costume.
Here he is hitting the board and showing off the board and his belt.
I kind of wish he liked it because karate teaches great skills like discipline and respect. But we'll keep trying different things and see what he wants to do. I won't mind if we come back in the karate direction, though.
We asked him what he wants to try next and we threw out soccer or baseball and he said he wants to do golf!

Tumbling Class

2010-02-21T19:52:00.007-07:00

Henry and Ella have been taking a tumbling class this last month. It was with a community education program and so it is just 1 month and 1 time per week and now it is over.
They LOVED it. Especially Ella. She thought it was the best thing ever. I thought about signing them up again because they loved it so much, but I think Ella needs to be just a few months older so she can follow directions better.
Here are a few pictures of them on their last day:

Congrats to Adam

2010-02-21T18:45:00.004-07:00

Adam has been working so hard and this last week he got an amazing raise that will be a HUGE blessing for our family.
Way to go, Adam!

Beautiful Ranunculas

2010-02-21T17:21:00.004-07:00

My very favorite flower in the whole world is a ranuncula.
We celebrated Valentine's Day a week late this year and my sweet husband searched and searched and found me some beautiful ranunculas. They're usually hard to find and only available for a short time during the year. I wanted them for my wedding, but they are only available on the other side of the world in September...so I didn't get to have them then.
Aren't they so beautiful? I love them!
And thank you to Adam for getting them for us to look at!

One more...

2010-02-17T20:58:00.003-07:00

The following is a conversation Henry and I had tonight while he was putting on his pajamas:
Henry: My underwear is stuck in my bum.
Me: That's called a wedgy.
Henry: What's a wedgy?
Me: It's when your underwear is stuck in your bum.
Henry: That's so silly!

Kids do the darndest things...

2010-02-17T07:53:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I was tossing a balloon back and forth with Ella. She's getting better at catching, but she sometimes wouldn't look at it and it would just fall to the ground. I told her to keep her eye on the ball. She promptly put the balloon up to her face and said, "Like this? Like this, Mommy?" The best part was the eagerness and enthusiasm in her voice. She is such a character.

Grace is 3 1/2 months old!

2010-01-24T21:45:00.008-07:00

I can't believe she's almost 4 months. Here are a few pictures of our cutest little Gracie girl:

She's a sweetie. And she's also a tricky baby. She cries a lot. But I can't imagine loving her any more than we do.

Ella's new bed

2010-01-13T21:20:00.003-07:00

We've been working on putting Henry and Ella into the same room so we can move the baby out of our room and into a room of her own. Originally the idea was to set up another crib in Henry's room for her, but today our friend and neighbor gave us a toddler bed.
Henry and Ella thought it was the funnest thing ever. And it was all fun and games until they kept leaving the room together and so Ella ended up back in her old room in her crib...maybe tomorrow night she'll actually stay in her new bed and get to sleep in there... :)

Update on our lives

2009-11-20T09:06:00.005-07:00

Hello to everyone and sorry I've been a little out of touch. We've been very busy!
Gracie is now 6 1/2 weeks and she's doing well, despite a few "issues" we've run into over the last 6 weeks.
Feeding issues:
At first we had trouble with feeding. My milk had a hard time coming in and Gracie lost a bunch of weight and then wouldn't gain it back and so the doc put us on a strict feeding schedule for a few weeks and we had to go in every few days to watch her weight. Eventually that all came together and she started gaining weight, which was great because the constant feeding and supplementing and pumping was a bit overwhelming and tiresome. She's now gaining weight just fine, although now she's been spitting up more and more. I'm not sure if it's reflux, but I'll just watch it over the next few weeks to see if it continues to get worse.
Head Shape Issues:
One other issue is that her head has become mis-shaped. She always has her head to one side and that has flattened one side, caused a bulge to go out the other side, pushed her forehead forward and pushed one of her ears forward, out of alignment with the other ear. SO...we're supposed to work with her on stretching her neck to the other side. If she's not improving by her 2 month appointment, we'll need to work with a physical therapist. Then we may or may not need to put her in a helmet at some point. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Gracie and sleeping:
She's been sleeping great! That's the good news. For the last week or 2 she will sleep from about 10:30 until 5:00 or 6:00 and the other day she even slept until 7:00 - it was great! It's so nice to have a nice block of sleep time, let me tell you!
Henry and Ella:
The other kids are doing great. Henry is really into playing computer and wii games and loves to run around outside with the neighborhood kids during playgroup.
Ella is into everything and acting very much like a 2 year old. She's a little stinker, but she's also so much fun and full of life. The picture of the marker on the cupboard was her masterpiece from yesterday. Yep - it's permanent sharpe marker. It came off the counter and the oven, but won't come off the drawers, the fridge or the dishwasher. I've been told to try magic eraser and so we'll have to buy one and try it.
Henry and Ella are finding how much it is to play with each other (most of the time), which is great for giving them something to do while I'm nursing the baby half the day.
Anyways - that's about it. Hope you made it through this long blog post!

Gracie's Blessing

2009-11-20T08:48:00.004-07:00

Okay! Now that I've finally posted the Halloween post, I can now move on to Gracie's Blessing.
We decided sort of last minute to do her blessing on November 1st. We weren't sure when we were going to do it, but then my dad was in town to pick up my mom and so we threw it together and it all worked out very nicely.
Here is a list of who was in the circle: My dad, Jim (Adam's dad), Jess (Adam's brother), Lance (Adam's brother), and Kevin (Adam's brother in law). Then Adam also invited our home teacher, Matt, and 2 of his good friend's, Matt and Howard. It was very nice of everyone to come and support us.
Adam gave Gracie a wonderful blessing and she only cried just a little bit! :)
The above picture of just Gracie isn't the best, but believe or not, it was the best of the few pictures I took that day...unfortunately...

Halloween Pictures

2009-11-20T08:20:00.005-07:00

These are a tad late...BUT I wanted to post a few pictures from Halloween.
Henry was an army guy - he's wanted that for a while now since he's really into army and war things.
Ella was first a leaf fairy and then Minnie Mouse (a couple of days before Halloween my parents picked her up a few costumes that had been discounted so we could give them to her for Christmas - for dress up. She saw the minnie mouse costume and wanted to wear it...).
We went to 3 parties - 1. Josh and Jessica Hakes party the weekend before Halloween 2. the party at Adam's work the day before 3. Our ward party the day of. And after the ward party Adam took the kids around to trick or treat for a few minutes. Needless to say, we had plenty of Halloween fun and ended up with WAY to much candy!

Thank You Provo!!!!

2009-11-03T23:30:00.003-07:00

Wow! What a night for Provo politics. Thank you to all you Provo voters who went out and voted. Thank you especially for voting for Laura Cabanilla, Sterling Beck, and John Curtis. These were hugely important races and after a long wait for change, finally, we have it. Thanks to those who campaigned, who read fliers, who hosted signs, who got involved in the discussion and cared enough to vote! I am quite excited for the possibilities presented us with the changes now brought to our city. Thanks, thanks, thanks.

Day 1

2009-10-06T18:23:00.005-07:00

Above is Mom feeling good and eating well. Below are some pictures of our baby girl's first day. She's a cutie.

Here she is with Grandma Carole.

And here with Grandma Chris. We are so glad both our grandmas could be there!

Everyone is well and should be home sometime tomorrow. The kids and I are both excited to have mom back home and to welcome our new baby.

Adam.

Finally Here!!!

2009-10-05T22:23:00.002-07:00

Grace Clark was born this evening at 8:15 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 18 1/2" long. Amy had her water broken by the doctor at 6:45pm and had an epideral right after that. We sat and finished watching a movie and then at 8pm the nurse checked her and she was a 10 already. The doctor came in, Amy pushed 3-4 times and the baby was out. Simple and easy. It was as perfect as it could have been. The baby is doing wonderful and so is Amy. Everyone is happy! Definitely worth the wait!

Amy has her cell, so feel free to give her a call or me a call (801) 691-3249. We are at UVRMC in Provo. Call me or Amy for the code and room number. Thanks for all your support!

No baby!

2009-10-03T08:00:00.002-07:00

This little girl is sure stubborn. As you can guess, the stripping of the membranes yesterday didn't work. It was the second time they've done it and I'm now dilated to just under 4 cm and 80% effaced. I don't know what she's doing in there!
Our next plan is to be induced Monday late afternoon/early evening if the hospital isn't full. The doctor I saw yesterday is one of my two favorites at the clinic and he will be on call starting Monday night at 7:00. So that's what we'll shoot for. I have to get the strep B antibiotic and so I'll probably go in a little earlier to get that going, but other than that, that is the plan for now!
Seriously - what IS she doing in there??

Newborns and the Swine Flu

2009-10-02T07:08:00.002-07:00

The swine flu is supposed to hit Utah kind of hard this month and so hospitals are cracking down to protect the newborns. Utah Valley (where we will be delivering) is not allowing children under the age of 14 into the maternity section of the hospital and if you are over the age of 14 you can only enter if you are completely healthy - no kind of sicknesses at all.
This is wonderful because I want my baby to be protected. It's actually a little stressful to have a baby right now with the idea that she cannot be vaccinated and she will be vulnerable to the swine flu. This is also terrible because I was so looking forward to Henry and Ella coming to see us at the hospital. Hopefully they'll be okay with waiting the 2 days until we are able to come home.
Also, Henry hardly ever gets sick - seriously, I don't remember the last time he was sick. Today he woke up with a cold...
On a similar note, today I will get my membrane's stripped (again) and HOPEFULLY we'll have a baby today or tomorrow - stay posted!

Henry is 4 years old!

2009-09-29T19:39:00.009-07:00

First of all, this is Henry 4 years ago today. Isn't he so cute?

Today Henry has had a birthday extravaganza. We started off with lots of messy presents this morning (everything he got has a lot of little pieces - plus there were balloons all over the ground and so our house is now a disaster!).

Then he had school and then we had a few hours at home. Henry and Ella helped get cupcakes ready for Henry's party.

We had a little friend birthday party at the park in the late afternoon. They ate cupcakes and opened presents and played with a balloon launcher that the kids LOVED (although I took no pictures of that...).

Then we went to Chuck E Cheese's for dinner and Henry and Ella had so much fun playing with all the games (I took no pictures of that, either...).

THEN we had a yummy peanut butter and chocolate cake (from Target) here with Grandpa Jim, Gillian and Kevin and our friend, Cristina (and Grandma Carole - she's been staying with us as we wait for this stubborn baby that won't come out of me).

Wow - long day. I'm exhausted! But I think Henry enjoyed the day and the many festivities.
Happy Birthday to Henry!

Just about a week to go!

2009-09-24T19:18:00.004-07:00

Well, we've got a week to go. Here is a photo, although, I don't think I look like I'm ready to pop in it. Sometimes I look at myself and think - wow, that is one big belly. And then sometimes I think - you know, it's really not that big. And don't mind how tired and old I look the picture!
I would like to have the baby tomorrow. :) So we'll see. Henry's birthday is Tuesday and our anniversary is Wednesday and so I want to stay clear of those days and I don't want the stress of worrying about it. But we'll see what's in store. Everyone send birthing thoughts our way! :)

Finished Kitchen Cabinets!!!

2009-09-19T14:14:00.004-07:00

We're DONE with the kitchen cabinets - hooray! We have been working on this project for far too long, but it is now complete.

Here is a before picture of the kitchen:
Here are a few pictures of the kitchen now:
This last picture shows the beadboard detail on the doors. We got that idea from Adam's brother Jess and it wasn't hard to do (well, I didn't do it, but Adam was able to install it fairly easily).

I really couldn't be happier that this is done. Seriously - hooray to be done!
Thank you to Adam for helping me accomplish my crazy visions!
And thanks to everyone else who has helped us with this project!

35 years to celebrate!

2009-08-08T06:20:00.013-07:00

Today is Adam's 35th birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADAM!
Luckily we have this file folder on our computer labeled "pictures of Adam" and it is great! Here are some fun pictures that have been taken over the last 35 years.

Here is Adam as a child:

Here he is growing up just a little:

Wait a minute...is that kid old enough to date??

Here he is on a mission:

Here he is post mission (I'm assuming these are post mission):
Here he is as THE greatest Superfan of all time:

Here he is as a great outdoorsman:
PS I've NEVER in my life seen a better rock skipper - he is seriously a world champion!

Here he is being silly:

Here is our favorite husband and father:
Adam Clark is our world - we love you, baba! Have a fantastic birthday today!

Poor, poor Henry!

2009-07-28T19:14:00.002-07:00

Our poor little Henry had a hard afternoon! He and 2 of his cousins, Abby and Leah, were playing in the "forest" behind Grandma's Chris's house and they stumbled across a hive of bees (or something like that - maybe they were wasps...we never actually saw them...). They were all stung multiple times and they were all very sad. There was a whole lot of screaming and crying! It must have been pretty terrifying for them to be attacked like that.
Henry ended up having 6 stings on his head and ears and arm and hand. He was so sad all the say home and all evening until he went to bed. And the worst part is that he was JUST stung on Sunday by a wasp on the back of his head and he was pretty sad about just the one sting.
Poor little boy.
Abby and Leah - we hope you're doing alright!

Fourth of July

2009-07-08T21:12:00.002-07:00

For the fourth of July, we had a little BBQ here with Chris, Jim, Kaitlin and Ammon, which was fun and very tasty. Then we headed up to BYU to watch the Stadium of Fire Fireworks from a spot on campus (we went to a little grassy field where the DT pool used to be). We met our friend's the Morgan's there and just camped out and the kids played and rode bikes until it got dark.
We got to see the jets fly over, which is always thrilling (one of the best parts of the day), but then they set off just a few little fireworks and Henry decided he was done. He went to the car and stayed there the rest of our wait. When the actual fireworks started Adam went to sit in the car with him to watch them, but he cried the whole time and he just wanted to go home. So after about 5 minutes of fireworks, they had about a 15 minute break (for who knows why) and we just decided to go home...so it was a long wait for 5 minutes of fireworks! But it was still fun and maybe we'll try again next year! Maybe...
Note Henry's new bike "training wheel bike" (that's what he calls it) in the photos - he LOVES it.

Freedom Festival Balloons

2009-07-08T21:02:00.003-07:00

We went to see the hot air balloons Friday morning (really early!). Henry is really into "flying" things and so we thought he'd enjoy this, which he did. He and Ella both enjoyed it. It was pretty cool. Here are some pictures:

It was surprising to see how many people showed up at 6am, but it was a fun little trek and we're glad we went.

I love to see the temple

2009-07-07T11:31:00.004-07:00

Today turns out to be a special day for me - it marks the 8 year anniversary of my first time going through the temple. And the funny thing is that I didn't notice the date or realize the significance until this morning, when I was in the temple.
I haven't been to the temple for a while - since the first week of February, I believe. So going today was a little special to begin with. I've just been needing to go so badly. And then I was overwhelmed with emotion when I looked down at my slip and saw the date - 7 July. I realized that it was my special day to be at the temple. And I guess that the new names they use in the temple must correspond to the date because they used the same name today that they used 8 years ago, which made it even more special.
I first received my endowment on July 7, 2001. I went to the Los Angeles temple with my mom, dad, Joe, Brooke, and my Aunt Liz and her 2 daughters, Nina and Bonnie. I loved it. I loved the peace that I felt the entire time I was there. I've never felt so peaceful in my entire life. I'm usually a ball of worry and turmoil and so feeling that peace was a witness to me of the sacredness of that special building and the work that goes on inside. After doing the initiatory, they lead me into the endowment room and I'll never forget the site of everyone lined up to go into the session. They were on a tall staircase, all dressed in white. It was beautiful. And then upon entering the celestial room it felt just like heaven to be greeted by so many of my family members (at that time 7 was a lot of family members for me...). And then afterward we went to eat dinner at Cheesecake Factory in Marina Del Rey, which for me was a perfect way to end the day - as good food is always a great way to end any day. It was a perfect day.
And the temple has been such a blessing in my life since. Today as I sat in the temple, my soul truly hungered to be there and I was so blessed to be nourished and filled during those short 2 1/2 hours. Sometimes I see people crying and my heart goes out to them because you just know they are trying to work through a hard problem. Today people were probably looking at me, thinking the same thing. But hopefully no one thought that because today my tears were tears of joy and gratitude just to be there. I just feel so very blessed to be able to go there. What a sacred privilege.
And then to top it all off, when I was in the dressing room, getting ready to change back to my street clothes, a complete stranger walked passed me, looked at me and said "you look so beautiful". It was so nice of her to say that since as most of you women know, when you're pregnant, the last thing you feel is beautiful!
I'm grateful I could go to the temple today. My life is much better because of it.

Less than 100 days!

2009-06-28T14:07:00.002-07:00

Yahoo - we finally made it to less than 100 days to go until this baby is born. And the only reason I know that is because of that little thingy at the side of our blog (I usually don't count things so far away in that fashion). Goodness gracious does pregnancy ever end?
I have to vent for just a moment(sorry Adam). It's really hard to not feel good. Ever. I keep waiting to feel just a little better, but it just doesn't seem to happen. That's why I CAN'T WAIT to get this baby out of me so I don't have to feel ill every single blasted day. Blah! Sometimes I really do feel like I'll go mad! I feel so badly for people who feel sick with a problem that they'll have for the rest of their lives. I can't even imagine. Those people have my heart and prayers.
Okay - I did my public complaining and I'll try to keep it to myself for a while!

Happy Birthday, Ella!

2009-06-09T18:19:00.004-07:00

Ella Bella is 2 years old today! We haven't done too much to celebrate because I'm getting over the stomach flu. But she was able to open a present this morning, play with some balloons this afternoon, and then open a few more presents tonight. That was pretty much the extent of her festivities. We will have a bbq and some cupcakes with family in a few days or so.
Here are some pictures of today:

Ella is so much fun and we are very grateful that she is a part of our family. We have been blessed these past 2 years with her presence. We love you, Ella - Happy Birthday!

It's a....

2009-05-19T12:47:00.001-07:00

GIRL! We are very surprised and very excited. We've been referring to her as a "him" the whole time...everyone seemed to know it was a girl but us!
Here are 2 pictures of her. For a skeleton picture, I think the open mouth one is pretty cute.
Hooray for our sweet little girl!

Spiders!

2009-05-15T19:43:00.003-07:00

Henry is really into bugs these days and so Thursday we got a few books from the library on bugs/grasshoppers/spiders/rollie pollies. He is LOVING them. But let me tell you something. In some ways, it's really fascinating to learn about all of these different kinds of bugs. On the other hand, I'm learning way more than I need to know about them! Particularly spiders. This is the book we have on spiders:

It's actually a great book if your child wants to learn about spiders, but I'm learning that spiders are much more than I thought they were and it's just so gross!
First of all, the whole 8 eyes thing weirds me out. And did you know that they don't actually "eat" their pray? They inject a chemical into their bodies (after their venom has paralyzed them) that turns their insides into soup and then they just suck out their insides? How gross is that! And there is a HUGE tarantula in South America called a bird eater tarantula that is about the size of a frisbee...BLAH! I would feel much better not knowing things like that! But I thought you might want to know that, too... :)
Anyways - this is a great book if your children are interested, but beware! You may learn way more than you want to!

Oh, how we love PIZZA!

2009-05-14T08:16:00.002-07:00

Adam's mom has passed on a tradition of making homemade pizza to many of her children and our family LOVES it! We make it often and it's just so tasty.
We made it last week and the kids helped. I especially like to make an all veggie one. Yummy!

Beach Day!

2009-04-17T15:27:00.002-07:00

Today we are having great weather and so we took the kids to the beach for a couple of hours. The beach was GORGEOUS! It was so warm (probably about 80 degrees) and it wasn't too windy while we were there.
The tide was out and so we were able to let the kids play in the lagoon area over to the side. When the tide is in, the water can be really deep with swift currents in that area. I don't think I can remember the tide being that far out, too - it was kind of different. It was good for us, though!
The kids had a blast. They played in the water and found sea shells and rocks and built sand castles. It was a fun time. I wish we could go all the time!
The weather is supposed to continue to warm up and so we told Henry we'd try to go back one more time before our trip back to Utah (which will be Wednesday and Thursday of next week).
Hooray for the beach!

Henry's Wish

2009-04-02T13:15:00.002-07:00

This is so cute, I just have to share it. And I wish I could have caught it on video because to watch him do it is precious.
He loves to make wishes and throw pennies into fountains. But every time he does it he just does the same wish over and over. He holds the penny up to his mouth and says -

"I wish, I wish, I miss my daddy, and I want to get on the airplane to go visit him."

Early Ultrasound

2009-03-17T12:13:00.003-07:00

So the doctor's office that I've been going to while here in San Luis has all of the mommies do an early ultrasound (anytime between 10 and 13 weeks...or something like that). I just got back from having mine and everything looks great. It was fun to see the little whipper snapper and to know that everything is going well. And sometimes they can tell the sex at this point, but the doctor who was helping us didn't even try. Oh well - we'll find out soon enough, right?

Hi from California

2009-02-24T13:29:00.002-07:00

I just thought I'd post this information for those of you who haven't heard yet.
The kids and I are in California for a while. I'm 2 months pregnant and I'm too sick to take care of the kids, let alone myself. Unfortunately my allergy therapy did absolutely nothing and here I am, pregnant again and just wanting to be put out of my misery. This time is definitely the hardest.
We miss Adam, but I think that everyone is better off where we are. We have been so blessed to be able to have the help and I pray everyday for my parents to have the strength to take care of my kids - because these kids sure do have a lot of energy. :)
If you're somewhere near Adam, stop by and say hi or give him a call - I want him to have all of the support he can get! Thanks -

Stouffers Mac n Cheese

2009-02-05T08:32:00.002-07:00

So somebody gave us a frozen stouffers mac n cheese last week and we made it one night. Has anyone ever had this meal? It tasted okay, I guess, but the odd part about that meal is the way that Adam and I felt after eating it. We both felt so gross and sick and we couldn't eat very much of it. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IN THAT THING?? That's all I want to know.
Anyone else had a similar experience with frozen stouffers food?
Blah! No more for us!

Potty Training

2009-01-17T08:41:00.003-07:00

Henry has been working on potty training this last week. He's doing really well, although he is still resisting just a little. Sometimes he just doesn't feel like it, I guess. He does best when he is naked, so we've had a lot of "naked time" for Henry this week.
One day we were giving high fives for going in the toilet and he said (while naked) "high five, hoo-hoo" and he gave five to his hoo-hoo (that's what we mostly call it to him...I know, I know, probably not the best idea...). Isn't that so funny? We're still laughing about it!

Albertson's Sale

2009-01-10T21:33:00.003-07:00

Did anyone go to the Albertson's sale this week? My good friend Brooke Stevenson helped me plan and go to the big sale today and I bought $205 worth of groceries and I spent $70!! It was all about working the sale and adding in coupons. I still don't understand half of it, but I do know that it was amazing!
If anyone wants more info on it, you can visit Brooke's blog (hope that's okay, Brooke) and she gives a more detailed explanation on how it works.
And the sale goes until Tuesday and so if you haven't gone yet, you should give it a try!

Wild Web Wednesday!

2009-01-07T12:24:00.003-07:00

We just bought a portable DVD player at RC Willey for only $20.99! Can you believe it? We've wanted one for so long and now we finally got one - and for such a great price. It may break in a year, but oh well - it was only 20 bucks!
We had to call into the web and then we will pick it up at the store because shipping on anything you buy on the web at RC Willey is $59.99. Yikes! But since we had the option of picking it up, that is the way we're doing it.
Hooray for Wild Web Wednesday!

9 degrees? Brrrrrr!

2009-01-04T12:13:00.003-07:00

I'm dressing for church and I wanted to know what to expect today. Weather.com says 9 degrees????? i don't even know how to dress for that. Seriously! And I guess the high is supposed to be 15. Come on 15! Anything is better than 9.
I guess that makes sense, though. I've been freezing all morning and I've been wrapped in a blanket by my kitchen window, soaking up the sunshine for the last hour or so.
Brrrr!!!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T08:26:00.003-07:00

Happy New Year, everyone!
Last night Adam's brother, Lance, came over with his wife, Nancy, and we played 2 games - Scattergories and Settler's of Catan - and we ate a lot of food and drank a lot of Martinelli's. It was a lot of fun. I'm really glad that they came over to celebrate with us. The only unfortunate thing is that we forgot to take pictures!
But I've gotta say, staying up late isn't the same as it once was in my younger years! It makes me feel physically ill and this morning - same thing! The sick feeling never went away while I slept! I didn't think I was THAT old, but I guess I'm pushing it. :)
I hope everyone had a fun celebration and that you're all off to a good start so far this year!

Quick Christmas Re-cap

2008-12-28T20:18:00.003-07:00

I'm so done with Christmas, but I wanted to at least post something about it before January.
We stayed here in Utah this year and had a very nice Christmas.
We had a nice Christmas Eve here at our house with just us. We at some soup (Brundage family tradition - well, it used to be!), made some cookies for Santa, read Luke 2 and attempted to have the kids act it out, but Henry REFUSED to play Joseph and he kept saying "I'm not Joseph, I'm Henry," and then everyone got to bed nice and early.
Christmas morning we had a fun time opening presents and playing with toys and games. Then in the afternoon we went down to Elk Ridge to spend time with Adam's family. We talked and ate yummy homeade pizza (Clark family tradition).
It was a very nice day and we were so very blessed.
So that's that - now let's get on to January!

Amazing Spinach

2008-12-28T20:15:00.002-07:00

Did you all know that in 3 cups of spinach there is only 20 calories? Isn't that amazing? Well, at least that is what it said on the bag. But I find that fascinating.
That makes yummy spinach salads all the more scrumptious!
Just a little thought...

Thank you, Aunt Brooke!

2008-12-28T20:10:00.004-07:00

Henry's best friend is his blanket. Seriously - he takes the thing EVERYWHERE. It was literally coming apart all over our house. While we were in California for Thanksgiving, Aunt Brooke was so nice to fix Henry's blanket (Aunt Brooke made it for him in the beginning). She put a whole new back on it and it's as good as new. We really appreciate this new life given to the all blessed blanket!

Interesting day at church

2008-12-14T17:39:00.002-07:00

Today was a very exciting day because it was Ella's first day of nursery. I have been COUNTING down the days until today because for months it has been very difficult to keep her happy AND listen to the lessons in Sunday school and Relief Society.
So we take both Henry and Ella to nursery, but before we get too far, one of the nursery leaders asks us to stay and help because they're short-handed. Although we were SO very excited to enjoy our lessons ALL BY OURSELVES we decided to stay and help (well, Adam stayed for just Sunday school because he taught the lesson in Elder's Quorum).
We stayed in with the younger half of the nursery kids and that was sure interesting! We've never been in nursery before and my goodness! Lots of kids and lots of stuff going on. I now sing praises to the nursery workers and leaders - they sure have a huge ordeal going on there. There were probably about 20 kids where we were and they said that there were a lot missing. Not to mention that there are about 3 or 4 other classes with the older kids!
So then just before the end of church, I was out in the hall with a very sad little boy who cried a little less when we were in the hall. Then all of a sudden one of the teachers runs out of a room and says "Henry just threw up!" I hand off the kid I was holding and I go in there and sure enough, throw up EVERYWHERE. And poor little Jonie - she was sitting so quietly and patiently on the floor with throw up all over her dress. It was stinky and yucky - and I was the mom! The poor people who weren't his mom...
He must have a bug because he's thrown up a few times since we've been home.
And listen to this - Jonie (the little girl he threw up on) brought a can of chicken noodle soup and a card that read: To Henry, love, Jonie. Feel Better! Jonie says "It's okay you threw up on my dress. I can have my mom wash it."
So cute! Thanks Jonie, Jessica, and Josh! That was really thoughtful.
So yeah - that was our fun day at church. :) Usually it isn't so eventful...

Gas, gas, gas

2008-12-07T09:07:00.004-07:00

Yesterday, I filled up my WHOLE gas tank in my van (it was on empty) for only $23!! WOW! I bought the gas at costco for only $1.48/gallon. That makes me VERY happy! This summer it was almost $50 to fill up that same tank.

Funny gas story:
Last Saturday we stopped in Barstow to fill up and just off of the freeway we pulled into a 76 station. We stopped at the pump, but then we realized that gas was $2.53. We thought that maybe we could find something a little better so we pulled away. Just around the corner we found an AM PM and the gas was only $1.75!!! Isn't that crazy? I can see it being maybe a .10 difference, but it was almost a whole dollar! That saved us about $10 on the whole bill. We were pretty shocked. Adam must have been inspired to go look for something different!

Ella's Seizure

2008-12-04T07:51:00.004-07:00

Some of you already know this story, but I thought I'd post it for the rest of you.
We came back from California Saturday and Sunday and we stayed in Mesquite Saturday night. Ella was working on a fever on our drive on Saturday. Before she went to bed we gave her some Tylenol, but she woke up at about midnight just burning up. I gave her some ibuprofen, but her fever just wouldn't break. We don't have a whole lot of experience with fevers - we've probably only had 2 since Henry was born - and so we didn't really know what to do. We put cold wash cloths on her and had her in our bed with us, but we left her jammies on her (which were really warm jammies - not a good idea). Just before 3 am she flopped over onto me and was sleeping. At about 3, she let out a big yell and started into a seizure. We both jumped up and Adam said to put her onto her side. We weren't exactly sure what was happening, but we did know that it was a seizure. Adam grabbed more wet wash cloths and put them on her head and I held her on her side. I was so worried she would stop breathing and I kept listening to make sure her heart was still beating. We really just didn't know what to expect. Adam called 911 and told them we had a 1 year old in the middle of a seizure. He left the room to wait for the paramedics and I just kept telling her to stay with me and that mommy loved her. I really had no idea what to expect. Once her body calmed down and her eyes relaxed back to their normal position, I took her jammies off and she was SO hot under them (they were just holding the heat in). She just layed there very still for a long time. Sometimes she cried a little. The paramedics came and said that her temp was 102.9 (which wasn't bad at all) and tested to make sure that she was getting enough oxygen. Her seizure was probably only about 1-2 minutes, which isn't dangerous. They said over 5 minutes is when it can be a problem. They told us that fever-induced seizures are really common and that they have no lasting effects. But they also encouraged us to go to the hospital to have them help us get her fever down and to check her out. Oh - and they also said that seizures take a lot out of you and so that is why she was just laying there so still - that her body was just exhausted.
So I took her to the hospital and they gave her both tylenol and ibuprofen at the same time. By the time we left her fever was down. And apparently if your child has had this kind of seizure they are more prone to have them again if their temperature rises too quickly. So now we have to be on alert with Ella and fevers!
I can't tell you how grateful we are that she is safe, but I also can't tell you how extremely frightening that situation was. I NEVER want to see one of my kids in that state ever again for my whole life. It has left a horrible memory in our minds.
We sure do love our little Ella Bella, though. She is such a joy and she keeps us on our feet!

Mischievious 3 year old!

2008-11-15T15:44:00.005-07:00

This morning Henry decided to play with our food coloring while I was in the shower! When I came downstairs he was sitting in the living room with his hands covered in color and I asked him what it was and his reply was "the bird feeder." It took me a little while to figure out what he was talking about, but I guess he called it that because when we make Hummingbird food, we add red food coloring. It came out of the tile, but not out of the grout. And everything came off his hands and his clothes, except for the red. We're still working on getting the red out! Does anyone have any ideas for cleaning the grout?

Below is the red leftovers! Crazy, isn't it?

Fall Leaves!

2008-11-09T09:22:00.003-07:00

On Friday Henry and I had a blast playing in some fallen leaves while Ella was "trying" to nap. It was surprisingly really fun - I never did stuff like this when I was growing up because we didn't have a lot of leaves during this season. It's a fun activity to do!

Ella Likes Tubs

2008-11-09T09:15:00.003-07:00

Ella loves to get into any kind of basket or tub. But she always needs help getting out and sometimes she needs help getting in. She's spend half her day in tubs if she could. She's such a nut, I tell you!

First Tiny Snow Fall

2008-11-09T09:03:00.004-07:00

We had a little bit of snow this past week (just a wee little). Although it didn't last long (it was gone by the end of the morning), the kids sure did enjoy it!

Ghosttown

2008-11-09T08:54:00.002-07:00

Has anyone seen Ghosttown? We saw it at the dollar movie on Friday night and we really liked it. It seems like movies aren't as good as they used to be and so we're always surprised to find one that we really enjoy. Try this link to see the trailer for the movie.
A word of caution about the movie, though, if you haven't seen it (the movie, not the trailer) - it has some bad language in it. Why do they have to do that? It's just so unnecessary!

Beautiful Fall Colors

2008-10-30T19:22:00.003-07:00

The trees have be SO fantastic this last week. Today I had the camera in the car and so I couldn't help pull over and take a picture of this GORGEOUS tree that caught my eye. Isn't it so beautiful?

Thursday's Hero

2008-10-30T18:54:00.004-07:00

Today we went to BYU to see Adam's brother, Ammon, be honored as "Thursday's Hero."
My understanding of what Thursday's hero is someone who the BYU football team chooses who they feel represents a good attitude and character in the midst of adversity. Someone correct me if I'm wrong... :)
We all went with Ammon to tour the football office and facilities and then we went out to the field where football practice was going on and Ammon got to be in the middle of all of the football players and they talked to him and gave him gifts and it was great! I think that it's even going to be on the news. It was a lot of fun.

This is one of the players presenting Ammon with a big Y flag that they were all going to sign before the afternoon was over.

Ammon chatting it up with head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Ammon chatting with quarterback Max Hall and...some other guy.

All of us on the practice field.

And one of my favorites - Henry with quarterback Max Hall.

Way to go, Ammon - that was so cool! Thanks for letting us come share that with you.

Confession

2008-10-15T10:33:00.003-07:00

I bought some new pants a few weeks ago and I couldn't decide between the smaller size and the bigger size. I wore them around the house for a while trying to decide (I had purchased the smaller size) when I spilled food on them. So that was my decision. But now that I have completely committed to them I now know that I should have exchanged them for the larger size. I feel complete buyer's remorse and I hate the feeling! They are just a little too snug to be flattering and I just feel sick about it.
Does anyone else do this or is it just me?

Vanessa

2008-10-14T07:14:00.005-07:00

Hey everyone - this is a little publicity for my friend, Vanessa's, blog (mostly for the ladies). You can find the link for it at the bottom of my friend and family list on the side of my blog page.
Vanessa is probably the most talented person...ever. And on her blog she does a lot of tutorials on how to do the things she does. Plus, it's just fun to see all of her creations.
And then it's also nice to see what her family is up to. She has 4 children and a husband who is serving in Iraq (for only 5 more months - yeah!). She is one amazing chica.
If you read this, Vaness, I hope this doesn't embarrass you - just know that I love you! I figured you didn't have a big enough following for your blog (ha ha)...

Lost sippy cup

2008-10-10T06:36:00.002-07:00

So, we've had a sippy cup go missing I think around Tuesday, maybe, and it had milk in it! It's so sad. I'm sure it's around here somewhere! And I'm pretty much come to terms with the fact that I will just have to throw it away when I find it. The idea of cleaning it out does not appeal. This sort of thing is frustrating to me! I like order and this is very much out of order...

Funny...no...ridiculous story

2008-10-02T18:34:00.002-07:00

So we went to the Gap today (Henry, Ella and I). We were in the men's sale section and there was this huge row of shirts - well, there were 2 rows - one on top and one on the bottom. I was engrossed in my searching and I sort of heard Henry say "this one is perfect for me." A moment later I look over to him and he is almost completely undressed (everything was off but the diaper, which was about to come off). I guess he was going to try on the shirt that was perfect for him or something. This is where the ridiculous part comes in. I go to put his clothes back on and his shirt was no where to be found. I searched and searched and SEARCHED through those blasted shirts and his shirt was GONE. I kept shaking them around in hopes that it would fall to the bottom, but it was not there.
We had some other shopping to do in the store and so we went around for a while and every once in a while I would come back to that spot and shake the clothes around and look under and over the shirts and still - NO SHIRT! I even asked a bunch of the sales associates, but they didn't know anything about it. So the whole time we were at Gap, Henry was wearing jeans, flip flops and no shirt. I wonder what people must have though of me!
Finally at the end I said a prayer (per Adam's request) and that time I was blessed to find his shirt under the other shirts. I guess it finally fell through.
Isn't that just the most bizzare thing? It was so ridiculous, I tell you!

For the love of Bounce and Chuck

2008-10-02T18:27:00.002-07:00

I've decided that 2 of my favorite things are Bounce and Chuck.
Bounce, meaning Bounce Dryer Sheets (outdoor fresh scent), smell SO BLASTED GOOD! I bought some at the store yesterday and ever since I have felt like one of those febreeze commercials where the people can't stop smelling it. It sure does smell great. And I love to go into my laundry room because the whole thing smells like it. It's just so fantastic.
Has anyone ever watched Chuck? Last year was it's first season and I really liked it. Although, it ended with the writing strike and so it's been off for about 9 months. The second season just started this week and I've decided that I REALLY like it a lot. I think it's my favorite show. It's on at a bad time (monday night at 7) and so I usually just watch the episodes online at nbc.com and it's great because you get to watch it with no commercial interruption. :) I sound like a commercial myself! Plus, you can watch it when you have the time (for instance, I just watch Monday's episode last night). Anyways, if you haven't seen it yet, check it out!

Happy Birthday Henry!

2008-09-28T20:37:00.016-07:00

Today is Henry's 3rd Birthday! What a big boy!
We are so grateful to have Henry in our family. He has been such a joy these last 3 years. Henry is a really good boy with a lot of spirit and he is a great big brother. Here are a few pictures of his life so far:

Happy Birthday, Buddy! We love you so much!

New Hair Cut

2008-09-25T10:25:00.003-07:00

So I got a little crazy and got a pixie hair cut last night. Well, I've been planning it for about a week or 2, trying to gather opinions, etc.
But you know what? I think I love it. I just showered and styled it for the first time and it was probably THE BEST experience of my life. It was so easy! And my hair has never been easy. For the most part it was already in place before I did anything and that is just NOT like my hair.
It's actually pretty fun.
Pictures are now here for your viewing pleasure (hopefully pleasure).

3 blessings

2008-09-22T15:22:00.002-07:00

I know I'm post happy lately, but I just can't help it.
I wanted to tell you about 3 blessings from today.
Blessing #1: I went to the doctor to get a refill on my allergy therapy stuff that I've been taking (some of you remember my story about it a while back) and they said that my body is no longer allergic to any of those things and I am done (after almost a year of taking it). Yeah! I'm not sure what that all means, but now I can (someday) get pregnant with a POSSIBLE hope to not be AS sick as before, since one of the things I was allergic to was progesterone. Supposedly...? We'll see, I guess! It was well worth the shot.
Blessing #2: I bought wipes at Costco today and when I was checking out the checker scanned a $3 off coupon for the wipes for me. I thought that was so nice of her.
Blessing #3: Adam has been given a new responsibility at work. They asked him to be over training the new sales team members. I guess he's in charge of designing the program and implementing it and he'll get to do some of the training, which he loves. He said that he's done a few trainings already today. This is a great change because Adam loves doing this and he is so good at it. Way to go, baba!

Cute Ella

2008-09-22T09:29:00.004-07:00

This is a dress that Ella's Aunt Brooke made for Ella's cousin, Maggie. We've borrowed a lot of Maggie's clothes and Ella finally fits this dress and it's so cute on her!

Old friends

2008-09-22T08:28:00.002-07:00

Our good friends, the Warrens, surprised us on Saturday night. They called and said they were in town and wanted to come see us yesterday. They came over for about an hour in the morning before church. It was so fun to see them! Emily is on the left and Laura is on the right. And the picture below is a picture of me and Emily about 15 years ago! The Warrens lived in San Luis Obispo for a few years when I was about junior high age. I babysat for them and I LOVED them. They moved away and we've been good friends ever since. I used to visit them all the time and we've just kept in touch. It's fun to watch the kids all grow up and it was so much fun to see them yesterday.

Yummy quesadillas

2008-09-21T15:31:00.003-07:00

This is probably my favorite quesadilla. It has refried beans, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, salt pepper and onion powder. Mmmm...I wish I had one right now!

Loving the outside and the water

2008-09-21T15:17:00.004-07:00

Henry and Ella love to play outside and they love to play with water. These 2 pictures are of them water the garden this last week.
The baby pool in the front yard came about because Henry started splashing in a puddle that was in the street in front of our house. I didn't want his clothes all wet and so I his swim suit on. Then as he started LAYING in the water I decided it was time to borrow our neighbors little pool.
They had a ball in that little pool. Ella was a sleep the first round, but she happily joined in second round.

Note the absolute fullness of Henry's diaper! It soaked that water right up!

By the way

2008-09-21T15:16:00.001-07:00

Just so you know, I'm posting a lot right now because I finally downloaded our pictures to our computer...

Bird House

2008-09-21T15:09:00.003-07:00

So I bought this bird house at Roberts one day to paint for our downstairs bathroom. Henry loved it from the moment we got it. He kept saying that it was his birdhouse. Well, I painted it and put it on the counter in the bathroom and occasionally he would get the stool and climb up there to pull it down so he could take it outside to play with it.
So then one day I was trying to convince him to let me cut his hair and I came up with this idea. I said what if we put his hair into the birdhouse after we cut it and the birds can use it to make a nest. Well, he actually liked the idea! So we did it - just a little, though. He didn't let me give him a complete haircut, but I got to cut at least a little off and we put it in the birdhouse and the birdhouse now lives outside by the front door (hair and all).
Now I just need to get another birdhouse for my bathroom!

Butterflies to our garden

2008-09-21T15:04:00.003-07:00

The butterflies have finally come to our garden! I've had this bizarre desire to attract butterflies to our garden and so maybe 2 or 3 years ago, Adam bought me a butterfly bush for mother's day. Well, we left it out in the store container too long and it died. Then last year maybe...?...Adam surprised me with a garden in our front yard and he planted this butterfly bush over in the corner. It was pretty sick last year and we thought that we might lose it. But we didn't! It's now a beautiful bush and finally we now have butterfly visitors - hooray!
PS If you know the difference between butterflies and moths and this one is a moth - just keep it to yourself because I like to believe that it is a beautiful butterfly. :)

Yummy Yaki Soba!

2008-09-21T14:54:00.005-07:00

We at the Clark house love to eat this yummy dish called Yaki Soba. An old friend from work, Pepper, introduced me to it and it's an easy, yummy meal. You get it at an Asian market and it looks just like a ramen package, but it cooks up just slightly different - instead of the liquid remaining to make a soup, the noodles soak up the liquid, then you add the noodles to sauteed vegies and you sprinkle the packet on top. Voila! Adam and I used to eat it when we were dating and first married, but then I think I got sick of it or something and we haven't had it for years until a few weeks ago. I had to photograph this momentus occasion! And look - everyone likes it! Hooray for Yaki Soba.

Poopy in the potty!

2008-09-01T08:48:00.003-07:00

Henry went poopy in his little potty for the first time yesterday! Hooray! Way to go, Henry!

Cravings for sweets!

2008-08-24T13:15:00.002-07:00

Does anyone else have problems with eating sweets? My goodness. I've tried to stop this week because I am completely out of control with it. I didn't have any for a few days, then for 2 days in a row I talked myself into eating a few treats. Then last night we were at a corn feed for my brother's ward and somehow I managed to stay away from all of the yummy treats. And now for today...I want a treat right now I can't stand it! THat's why I thought I'd write about it here to get support from other sugar addicts. :)
Anyone have any suggestions on how to be better with it?

Listen to this

2008-08-18T10:41:00.002-07:00

Henry did something that I was amazed at yesterday - something that he's never done before. We are at my parents house and his nursery leaders here seem to send a little packet home with him every Sunday. Yesterday they sent home this little page of stickers (a tree and a picnic blanket and kids and food, etc, etc) along with a page that he could put the stickers on. We worked on it together and he had the best time putting the stickers together to make a picture. When we were done it was time to go to my brother's house for his birthday dinner. Henry asked to bring the completed picture. When we were in the car he kept talking about about giving it to his Uncle Joe and how it was a present and how he would be so happy. When we got to their house he proudly gave it to him and told him Happy Birthday. I don't think Joe realized the significance of that moment. Henry has never done anything like that and he did it without receiving any prodding or ideas from us. I was so proud of him! What a sweet boy.

Camping

2008-08-17T11:25:00.004-07:00

While Amy is in California, I have tried to keep myself busy with home projects, golfing, work, and even some camping. This weekend I went camping with my brothers Jess and Lance. We went to the high Uintas, backpacking 3 miles into Bench Lake where we were the only visitors. It was a fun time and the mountains were beautiful! It did get quite chilly and we woke up with a lot of frost on our sleeping bags. You can see above the view we had from our campsite next to the lake. Also, check out the frost on my bag in the morning! Chilly for an August morning. The one with me fishing is at Notch Lake, a nearby lake that had good fishing. Overall, a great time.

Adam is 34 today!

2008-08-08T10:39:00.005-07:00

Happy Birthday to my Baba Cakas! I hope you have a wonderful day today. I posted a few pictures (I have only few on hand since I'm at my parent's house) of Adam...

The bottom picture looks so much like Ella, huh?

I love you so much, Babe - Have a happy day!

I'm a homemaker!

2008-08-03T19:43:00.003-07:00

Well, not really, but yesterday I canned for the first time. I must say, it was successful. I canned/pickled banana peppers that I grew in our garden. I got the recipe off a website and when all was done, the cans sealed and I think we've got a winner. Makes me want to try pickling cucumbers. mmm, I love pickles.

Also, you can see above here, a picture of my second zucchini that I picked from the garden. The first one got grilled up with a little garlic salt and mixed with fresh grilled corn, scallions, unsalted butter, and pepper. Tasty indeed.

This one will get cooked in some Yaki Soba (sp?) I think. or maybe some zucchini bread.

Fun stuff.

Anyone read #4?

2008-08-02T11:31:00.003-07:00

So who's read Breaking Dawn yet? I know it just came out last night at midnight, but it's possible that someone is already done!
I only just finished Eclipse (#3) this morning and so now I need to wait to borrow someone's copy when they're done.
Is the new one as good as the others and worth the wait? I'm glad I d0n't have to wait that long to read it as some of you have had to do this last year...

OCD with Twilight

2008-07-24T07:55:00.004-07:00

Okay, so I know I'm a little behind on all of this, but I just read Twilight and I really COULD NOT STOP READING IT. And when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. And now that I'm done reading it, I want to read it again, but this time hopefully with a slower pace.
I absolutely love it. And last night we watched a movie and there was a sneak peak for it before the movie and I CANNOT wait to see the movie! I hope it's just like the book and that they don't change it much. Check out the clip - it seems like it will be similar.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810010670/trailer
I want to read the next book in the series, but I don't want to stop all life around me again to do it and so I need to wait and cool down for a little bit... :)
Did anyone else have this kind of obsession with this book?

Ella walks!

2008-07-23T08:12:00.002-07:00

Ella has been walking so much this week - she has just taken off! She's still so wobbly, but she's doing fantastic. And she's just so proud of herself.
Oh - and she's also learned how to go DOWN the stairs, which is great. Now we don't have to block the stairs off and she finds forever entertainment going up and down the stairs. What a big girl!
Hooray for Ella!

Our Garden

2008-07-12T07:01:00.003-07:00

So, a neighbor owns a 5 acre lot a block away from our home and decided to let people who wanted, grow a garden in an enclosed area on the lot. So, I took him up on it, along with 3 others. I have about 300 square feet and am growing beets, onions, peppers, tomatoes, corn, squash, and cucumbers. It is located right behind the Carpenter Seed store located on the old State Street in Provo. Since these pictures were taken, I have staked up more of the tomatoes and weeded the onions. Notice I used two old stool bases for the tomatoes. They were $1 each at DI, which is about $3 cheaper than the wire cages at a store. Nice, eh?! It is fun to have a garden to take care of, but sometimes hard to take the time to water and care for it. Still, worth it.

Viewing

2008-07-11T06:09:00.003-07:00

Last night I went to a viewing of 3 people who were killed last Sunday in a really bad auto accident. It was something I haven't done in a long time (go to a viewing) and hopefully I won't ever do it again in that way (3 people all at the same time). I didn't directly know the people who had died, but let me explain the connection. Barbara and Roger Keep are some of my parents best friends and I've known them my whole life (they live in San Luis). Their oldest son, Mark, was married to a woman named Chris a few years back and they had 2 children together (Mark and Alissa), I believe. Chris had a son from a previous marriage - Tyler. Chris had been re-married to a man named Darren. So Alissa (age 7), Tyler (age 15) and Darren were all killed in the accident last Sunday, leaving just Chris and Mark behind. Horrible, horrible situation.
The whole Keep family was there and I've known them all so long, I have a great love for all of them - they're almost like my own family. It was sad knowing how sad they are.
Alissa and Tyler had open caskets. Alissa was dressed in a really pretty dress and her hair was all curled. Leslie said that unfortunately with all of the make up on her you couldn't see her cute freckles, which was true - I would have never known that she had them. She was holding a horse in one hand and inside the door of the casket it said "our little princess." The funny thing, though, was that she just didn't seem real. It didn't seem like a little girl once inhabited that body. It seemed more like a wax statue or something.
I didn't speak to Chris (I don't know her at all), but my heart hurt for her. How was she doing it? How was she standing there, smiling, and talking to everyone? She just lost 2 of her children and her husband. She had a sling on her arm and is still recovering physically from the accident herself. How could someone handle such devastation?
And poor little Mark. The Keep kids were so worried about him, saying that he has NO idea how to handle all of the this, which is understandable - he's probably around 9 or 10 years old. He was also in the accident and saw all of it happen.
This was an interesting and very sad experience that I wanted to share. It's been sad and touching to watch this situation from the outside - I can't even imagine, nor would I ever want to, what it must feel like on the inside.

Bread

2008-07-06T22:05:00.004-07:00

Check out my funny loaves of bread! We've been working on cutting down our grocery budget and so I've been making bread for the past 3 or 4 weeks. These 2 loaves were my first attempt. They look absolutely ridiculous (I kept picking pieces and putting them back and forth between the 2 loaves) and I had a funny time making them. As I was telling Adam about my experience he said to me "I can't tell you how many times my Mom left out the salt" and I said "...SALT...?" I forgot the salt, too!
It sure was a humorous first attempt!

Ward Camp out

2008-07-06T20:28:00.002-07:00

Here we are at our ward camp out last week. We camped in Diamond Fork Canyon and had a fun time. Ella stayed with Adam's parents, which ended up being wonderful. But we quickly learned that it isn't very easy camping with a 2 year old. We went into our tent to go to sleep around 10:30. Henry first decided that he wanted to go home and sleep in his bed and so he cried and cried. Then once we got him calmed down he decided that it was time to play and have fun and so he went through a phase of talking and playing. Then finally he decided to go to sleep, but I think he was on his second wind because he tried and tried and tried to sleep for a very long time before he actually fell asleep. I have no idea what time it was by then, but it had to have been past midnight. Then he promptly awoke at 6:30. We were sure exhausted the next day! And now he keeps asking to go camping. All in all it was a good time!

Happy Birthday, Ella!

2008-06-09T22:12:00.006-07:00

Happy 1st Birthday to Ella Bella. We are so grateful that she came to live with us one year ago today. What a joy she is! She loves life and she loves to have fun. She can be extremely stubborn, but also a very sweet, special girl. We can't believe that a whole year has gone by already. Here is a little slide show of her sweet little life: